Techwright

I also liked the outfit in the miniseries. My understanding was that it was on point to the comics. However, a great many people mentioned something that bothered me as well: the lack of a helmet.

I could see the hawk. A bird of prey is just a predator with wings after all.

It's also listed towards the bottom of Incandenscent's wiki page, including a photo of her in the conference room. No clear percentage is listed however.

If you're thinking in terms of team contribution, something with ice might be helpful. Ice slows, holds, and even completely freezes, buying teammates time to repair, recharge, and slaughter aggressively arrest. Depending on the archetype, ice can disrupt an enemy group's rush at your team, especially if there's more than one NPC group that's been aggro'ed. I personally love the polar opposite nature of ice & fire: one to slow/hold, one to do high damage. I have multiple characters in different archetypes with this arrangement. But that is me. You play you.

Regarding Clark: I'm actually intrigued. They've combed his hair a different way, enough so that a quick inspection might have me looking elsewhere rather than see Superman in glasses. I've long said the story should be retconned to say that Clark got the glasses from his dad's AI who designed them with some holo tech or some such to subtly confuse people as to Cal-El's look with the glasses on. That way, someone like Lex would look at him, say they're of similar build and hair color, but that's it. Regarding the Superman outfit: I can't condemn. Even if he's not so muscular, he's in way better shape than me. 😌 I'm wondering who Blue Man is supposed to be? Martian Manhunter? Elongated Man? Blue Beetle?

🤯 You...are a mind reader! Actually, yes, I like tech, but I'm serious about the full set. I'm all for science, natural, and mutation as well and have characters with all of them. It is a personal preference, I realize, but I'd be very much for a rotation of releases focused on each, one at a time.

I agree with all of that statement. MCU Falcon has (mostly) been an amazing character all on his own. I get that Falcon in the comics becomes Captain America for a time, but with wings that can act as shields, the actual shield looks awkward with MCU Falcon, like something tacked on to an already significant tech load. Add to that the fact that Falcon is not a super soldier (something I'd had hopes would have happened with so much of the chemical floating around in the mini-series) and I'd much have preferred Bucky to wield the shield. Using the cyber arm as a shield only gets one so far, and Buck doesn't have a lot of extra tech to rely upon. I'll probably watch this, but my interest, which initially was peaked with that phenomenal aerial fight scene at the start, and continued by Walker's horrific fall from grace, was greatly curbed by the ending of Falcon and the Winter Soldier. Capt. Falcon going on some preaching session about railroading a "little girl" after she'd deliberately murdered a number of people and repeatedly called it justifiable and everyone else's fault shows a serious lack of understanding in the Falcon character, IMHO. The Isaiah Bradley story arc was incredibly painful to watch, especially as I was born into a state that was just coming out of the Jim Crow era bearing the scars from it for years, but I could accept the story, knowing some of the rotten things done here in the past, and I loved the resolution to that arc. I liked the Bucky redemption arc best, as he's first freed from his mental conditioning hell, is forced to work against his rescuers, then has to face an incredibly painful confession to a friend. I also liked the scenes with Falcon's sister's family, including the banter with a calmer Bucky flirting with Falcon's sister. Those just felt right (well, mostly. The banker scene was cringy). All that to say, I'll probably watch the movie, but likely after I read reviews from early viewers.

Interesting. Makes sense since that's where Cryptic was at the time. Has anyone checked to see if Providence has an extensive cavern system underneath? That is, has anyone ever checked and returned to tell the tale? 😉 I don't remember where I'd heard it, but I remember someone associating Paragon City's land with the ocean corner around Point Judith Lighthouse (Siren's Call zone?), which includes "Great Island" which looking at it kind of gave me Talos Island vibes. https://maps.app.goo.gl/CUJbhiBFTNMAaEtM6 At the time it made a certain sense because Peregrine Island does not appear to be in a bay but the last land before ocean, though admittedly there are no corresponding ocean-edged islands in that corner of the state, unless you consider the more distant Block Island (to the south) to be a corollary to Peregrine Island.

You mean titles like "Helper", as oppose to the currently selectable badge titles that also appear with the name, yes?

I saw Sovereign and others holding torches for the fallen several days back (a good tribute) and it suddenly occurred to me that I never see AFK with them. Is there some override possible to keep the game from logging one out for AFK?

Unless you're from the American West. Then it is "varmint".

Though I've not jumped on beta yet to test, and I accept that there's always a chance I may not like something, I can't fault you for trying hard, and I'm deeply appreciative of the effort you've put forth. In the event you see a previous comment from me in another thread mentioning my distaste for what I perceive as an over abundance of magic in a game I thought would be a balance between 5 origins, please take no offense. I was only stating a personal opinion and preference. I've nothing but respect for the entire volunteer dev team. It's part of why I've gone through more than a dozen other games these past 5 years, but always maintain CoH.

Agreed. As one who runs "Master of..." completely casually, in the vein of "I gots nothin' better to do...", I'd point out that I'm probably not alone in saying I've so many badges, why go for another that others probably don't even notice? Now if there was some temporary reward involved, besides a nerf bat, that might entice me to try, my interesting would likely increase. We already have an in-game template for that: the rewards at the end of DFB and DIB. Those rewards last until level 22, I believe it was (maybe higher for DIB) and definitely helped out, especially the endurance boost during the teen ranks. Why not affix a reward with a badge, some sort of boost for the next X number of Veteran levels? One time only or repeatable after the previous one expires, doesn't matter.

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.