Techwright

I was reading the beta description of warriors and the word "critter" caught my eye. I'm guessing this use is for something else, but it got me wondering: would it work thematically if Warriors got a mastermind with predator animal control or something similar (Read: fewer pets, more personal fighting)? I'm not talking bee swarms, I'm talking lions and other ferocious types. Warriors respect natural strength (even if they then go an augment it with magic relics) so to me, at least, they'd respect a member who could not only fight but was alpha to a pack of predators, control their strength to his beneficial use. Thoughts?

Those who've already been into the labyrinth with a team, do you feel that a standard 50 can fare well in a team, especially those archetypes that traditionally are squishier? Or is it to be one rez after another for them? By "standard" I mean a newly-minted 50 who is using non-set, non-HO crafted level 50 enhancements. Trying to figure out if this is going to end up being the playground of those who heavily use Mids to plot their character's sets usage. That said, the new zone sounds interesting and I definitely want to try it, even though my grumpy self sitting on my shoulder points out that it appears to be yet another "magic" zone to the exclusion of the other 4 origins. I also look forward to seeing the changes to the Warriors.

Not clear if you've had too much coffee or not enough. Are you getting enough protein? 🤨 Might have to start calling you Grouchycat. 😉 j/k I've felt for a while that CoH might be able to pull off a Sportsmaster/Casey Jones powerset or even dual powerset. Not sure what archetype, but probably should be a mix of ranged (javelin, lawn darts, disks, shotput, etc.) and melee (your suggestion of hockey sticks, boxing, etc.).

Hey, just visited and your hard work really shows. It's a marvelous base, and you should be proud. One thing I like is that your interactive elements (stores, portals) are neatly and thematically grouped together and not terribly far from the base portal. That's one thing I've been annoyed with on some other bases that are very nice looking, but the designer has forgotten the functionality and spread all the interactive elements around a large base to integrate them into a particular look. For me, a base starts with function before form. I did get into the shops look so much I uh...may have...clicked on the smithy shop doors looking to interact with an NPC. May have.

Heh. I'd not planned on showing my WoW refugee, but that shoulder piece comment got a laugh and changed my mind. This is Bladespark, my Titan Weapons/Electric Armor Brute, and yes, he very much has the requisite shoulder pieces. He came about because I was dabbling in the costume creator one day wondering if I could make an homage character to my days in WoW. Turns out, I can, he's appropriately 3/4 human height, and wields a 2-handed axe making him similar to WoW dwarf warrior class. I even tried to make his name similar to dwarven smithing names I used in WoW.

Welcome Home!

A belated Happy Freedom Phalanx Day! Freedom Phalanx was founded 92 years ago, on July 4, 1932. A question that's been bugging me: why was Vambrace referred to as a single entity? The wiki mentions the 2-man hero unit as both Team Vambrace, which makes sense, and Vambrace, noting that one of the books speaks of Vambrace as if an individual, including noting retirement and death as if singular. Were the game lore creators trying to reference DC Comics Firestorm (which in the original model was an actual fusion of two people: a scientist and an athlete) but doing it in a Tony Stark kind of way? (For those new to the game lore, Team Vambrace was a 2-man team composed of a scientist who invented and maintained the Vambrace armor, and an ex-football player who wore it. They were founding members of the Freedom Phalanx.)

I presume then that the robot doesn't replace damaged track. A single rail would exceed that 40 kilos (88 lbs.) Too bad. The idea of a robot that can removed warped rails and rebuild track is very appealing in a USA context, especially if it can work more or less 24/7. We might one day actually get a decent rail infrastructure if that were to be put into effect.

Likewise. I actually played it for several months. Ironically, I predicted the lore about 8 years before WildSTAR was released, and certainly before I knew about it. I was playing WoW and CoH back then, and a friend asked what I'd like to see in an MMO for the future. What I described was a sci-fi/sci-fantasy concept pretty similar to WildSTAR, though without magic, without the cheeky attitude the game was known for, and with a few extra details they didn't have.

Well, at least it's not soup cans. Imagine seeing "Campbell's" written backwards. Considering there are art galleries that specialize in displaying forgeries, I'd say Manticore's eccentricity is not so far out. Now having them all near each other is rather odd, unless he's deliberately inviting a study in comparison/contrasts.

Another bit of an update: 20 minutes of the film were shown at the Annecy Film Festival, and I've read that it was very well received. There's a spoiler-laced synopsis at Fellowship of Fans. Note that whomever composed that report could have utilized a proofreader. Seriously. What I've read in that summation is closely in line with what I've learned of Helm Hammerhand and his story as told by Tolkien. Let me continue in a spoiler box, though I'm just summarizing:

Oh no. No, not at all. In fact, I can't remember the last time since...I dunno...since last week? Jesting aside, my main is an Energy/Energy blaster (aka NRG/NRG). There are other KB powers besides those powerset, which I find highly annoying, but mostly depending on how they're played each time. With NRG/NRG I've learned two important steps: 1. If one is going to play a full 6-slotted power without wasting one slot for KB-to-KD enhancement, Then an NRG/NRG needs to learn to direct their shot. One has to put a bit of brain into it up front each shot and try to find the wall, pillar, or other obstacle that will stop the target(s). Move to the opposite side and fire. If far away enough, with enough experience, one might try a wall-less shot if it can be lined up so the target(s) will land near the tank. For this, I've found hover or flight is almost a necessity, though in cramped caves, there's not much that can be done. 2. The game, blessedly, has a choice of powerset layouts. I can build one with KB--to-KD enhancements, which will underpower me, but I'll be an effective team player, and then visit the trainer to swap to the second layout to go run some solo missions where I can unleash with no one but myself to harm. While I pray for the day the devs create a toggled choice: KB or KD on NRG/NRG so I can do KD and have a full 6-slots per power, I'm not holding my breath.

You made the point better than I could. I'm not opposed to the concept, but even some minor item given might be problematic in this specific case. I gather Troo wanted to do something nice, and I accept the spirit of that. ...and his little dog, too. Don't forgot the little dog.

In days of yore we used to have Double XP weekends. Now we have S.T.A.R.T. to get that anytime. There are still, however, faster routes up the XP ladder especially combined with S.T.A.R.T. double XP. Farming of course, but Task/Strike Force is another. I'd like to suggest, whether in rotation with the Task/Strike Forces or something like quarterly, that contact missions have an occasional week where their XP is ramped up enough that contact missions become an interesting alternative to running the same cycle of TFs to advance quickly. Hypothetically, this will reduce burn out on TFs (possibly the game even) and introduce/re-introduce players to mission work. (I'm not really going to try to contrast it with farming. Farmers gonna farm pretty much regardless.) Perhaps something could be considered for street clearing as well?

I'm trying to recall the details of the conversation but @Dacy and I had a forum chat that migrated to discussion of a similar context a while back. I believe Dacy made some comment about coding problems, but I don't want to ...ah wait...found it.

I'd appreciate it if they could somehow unlink enhancement storage from component storage. Hypothetically, that could then allow 18 of each, though at a loss to total base piece count. I was very surprised the day I discovered they worked from the same piece count maximum. I have to ask: if it is a matter of server storage, would that same server storage be taxed, and even more so, if we made a super group per character and used all the storage bins? Even so, last I read in the wiki, coalitions are limited to 11 supergroups, so if you have 20 characters (LOL, so low), you're going to have to make some decisions.

Seems like a fine idea. Not sure what's needed to execute it, though. I recall the terminals in Atlas Park used to be able to list characters at least with stats on them (other players characters, that is. Currently it lists your own) so I suppose the game has some sort of built-in listing capabilities. How that translates to a wall plaque, I don't know. Maybe add statuary/holograms of the fallen Freedom Phalanx members in the room corners, or such?

If it shows up on a flat screen looking anything like an homage to his glitching, synthetic self, I'm all for it.

/em holdtorch This is the forum I find so important, but I hate it when there's a new entry. I saw Sovereign and several others holding torches in Excelsior's Oroboros today. With one of them I noted a comment on Anne Marie.

Commenting on the illusion and mind control bits, I've had an illusion controller for a very long time and I feel it is a powerful character in the end game. That said, I very rarely solo with it, though I've done a lot of duos. If there is a downside, it is that he didn't get the chance for pets until rank 22, so he was dependent upon teamwork to get him to that mark and a bit further to get the pets up to strength. I've paired illusion with storm, and it is a potent combination. You definitely can solo with it in endgame, I just prefer team work. Mind control has some psionic power. Psionics is a power more often seen towards the endgame, but could be anywhere along the way. I've only just hit 50 with a mind control\psionic dominator. It was a lot of fun to play, though weirdly I felt like I was taking a lot of individual shots, even though I had some area of effect and conical ones. I just used routine enhancements. I've not had a chance to design his build around enhancement sets yet. I'm not sure I'll ever solo with him, but he'll definitely aid a team. He's definitely a bit of a glass cannon, so I'd look towards getting some defense from the so called "third pool" of powers (far right column of selectables) as you advance. Definitely look at Storm Summoning. The set is awesome. I'd also suggest looking at plant, ice, earth, and dark sets. Ice lacks a little in damage, but is massively effective in locking down and/or slowing opponents.

Um...yeah...you may want to dig a bit deeper. Start with the whole "Captain Marvel" thing. In short: the two (and others) have a long history of pilfering each other's work and using the legal system to work it out. You've got a lot written and I'm trying to process it all, but basically, when creating a similar character to an established one, you want something that the viewer will say "I know what you're trying, and you're not blatantly ripping it off. Very cool." I've said it before, but my mistake as a newbie in the original game was to make the Green Hornet. A nice player explained, and I changed it. I don't recall what, but let's say I changed it to Black Bee, kept the costume but made it all black & dark grey, taking the white scarf GH often is seen with and swapping it with The Shadow's red scarf. I make him a street brawling brute. (GH is usually depicted as a boxer who eventually learns martial arts from Kato). The name and costume clearly hint at the concept but make enough of a difference that it's not considered too close. The "DNA" is obvious, but it is a derivative. But if I were to keep the green hat and overcoat, keep the brawler, and call him "Mr. Reid" or "Britt the Hornet". it is still the Green Hornet.

I'm much the same way on all points.

That is really heartening to hear. Dave Georgeson's announcement speech a decade ago had me very, very excited, and I was terribly sad when EverQuest Next and crew were canned unexpectedly. I've seen bits and pieces of what look like EQN design pop up in other things since then, and I've wondered if some of the crew moved to those games. Very interested now to see what happens with this one.

Pre-Alpha animation looks like it is in a similar style to WildSTAR. Nice. Top Man was key on both Ultima Online and SWG. Definitely one to watch. The lore given on the website's video sounds like a cross between Star Trek and WildSTAR (significant portions of the galaxy terraformed by an ancient race whose tech is hidden throughout the worlds) Functionally, having game-world consequences for not tending to details in the nearby area sounds like a descendant of concepts from the never-brought-to-market Everquest Next. As do other details like alterable terrain (voxel destructability perhaps?), though in Everquest Next pre-alpha it was temporary, and here he states it is permanent. I wonder if he means within the boundaries of player "owned" territory, like a base. I'd find it bizarre if players tried to permanently strip-mine a planet leaving nothing but core. I'm wondering what the basis is for that floating character movement in the video. It doesn't look like low gravity, at least in a pre-alpha form. Maybe jetpacks that have not had the graphics constructed yet? Small complaint: why does it feel like every sci-fantasy/space concept must come with it's own spearhead-tailed, horned devil? IMHO it shows a serious lack of character creativity. I'd not be surprised to find out their lug has cloven hooves as well. Separately, each of these elements is fine, but collectively, it is neither catchy nor clever. EDIT: Forgot to add that I hope this space fantasy doesn't have magic, or at least disguises it as something like "cosmic power". If I'm sitting down to play a space game, I'm not looking for space Gandalf to show up. There's plenty of (probably way too much of) magic games out there already.

Why do I feel that youngster is Back Ally Brawler successor material?