Techwright

I was going to suggest Blue Shield as a TF giver, but then realized he probably made a phone call, and all the bad guys we'd have faced immediately surrendered. Blue Shield jokes live!

Interesting that you bring that up. While we have TF's served up by trainers, I wonder if we could bring the other two members of the South Korean W.I.S.D.O.M. team (Rose Star, Spark Blade) into the game as Task Force givers. They're defined, they may even have models in the files of the game, but were never put into it. Those two do seem like they have room for more story, and Matthew has demonstrated cool and smart thinking in intense situations. Just what you'd want in a credible TF giver. Do you refer to the War Witch in Pocket D? I thought I'd heard she was one from an alternate dimension, though now that I think of it, I think someone suggested she's the Prime Universe War Witch, but can only manifest as alive within Pocket D. I admit my knowledge is lacking for a concrete answer. Hellions; I can't recall ever hearing who their boss is. A TF might emphasize that. Skulls: I don't recall all the dialog, but were there not more relatives or Lords of Chaos than were brought down in the Eagle Eye arc? Seems reasonable some would be out to free/restore the Skulls. Outcasts: Frostfire's story has a resolution, but I'd always thought he was just one of the highest ranks, not necessarily the highest. Also, would love to see a TF, whether before or after Frostfire's resolution, where we learn there's a leader for each powerset, overseeing training in their particular ability, and collectively acting like a war council or joint chiefs of staff. We'd have to take each down for a victory. Freakshow: Although I like them, I'm not really into seeing another with them. There's the Penny Yin TF, and the Sister Psyche TF is still available. Both heavy on Freaks. You even get a bit of them in the Numina TF, and they're the focus of one of the Reactor Trials. I'd rather let another villain group shine. It could be. I'm only asking for the contact to be in-game already. As I think about it, I wonder if inspiration could be had by the original names for some of these groups, names that were discarded. Like "Skeleton Crew". That said, there's material that hasn't been touched much that might make a good TF/SF, and any new character will require designs and models. That's a lot of work. That's an interesting idea. A TF to drive a foothold into recovering Galaxy City, would be a fresh perspective. I wonder if such a thing could be spun into a dual feature: a TF and an SF both hoping to create a foothold into Galaxy City, each for very different purposes, but having to interact with the same characters, items, buildings, and situations.

Which NPC already in game (I'll allow for characters that currently don't have a model, just a text reference to them) should have a task force or strike force that does not already? What might be the focus of their TF/SF?

I've a character in the mid-20s now that I was surprised to discover was squishier than probably any other character I've played. There's not really any defenses in the first and second power sets, at least nothing that provides a designated protection. He's pretty much the "best defense is a strong offense" type. I'd like to know what's probably the strongest minimal choice(s) from the third column: 1. Combat Jumping 2. Tough & Weave together 3. Maneuvers 4. Other? I deliberately didn't mention the archetype or power sets because I'd like to look at this from an any character situation, if possible, just in case I see something like this on a future character.

I hope I didn't imply banning them. That was not my intention when I said "violation status". I agree that making them aware of policies is the way to go. I've mentioned it before on the forums, but back in 2005 I created a flat out duplicate of a favorite hero completely disconnected mentally from how that violated the rules. Someone was kind enough to point out the situation and I'm very grateful they didn't handle it otherwise. I drastically altered the character immediately. That's really all I'm asking here. I'd actually like to see creative homages that don't cross the line. I like creative. It's why I hang out in the "post your costume" section.

I'd never considered Romulans as "gold side", but with Cryptic involved, I see your point, especially since they're not a true side, and you join one or the other main sides part way up the ladder. That was one of my issues with the game. Romulans were not fully developed in the game. I enjoyed the ships, I liked what was there, but I wasn't enthusiastic with "We're a dying species. Divide up and fight one another." The costuming section was also atrocious. Different pallets for different costume pieces, even among pieces that clearly should have the same color pallet. And the costume parts were terribly buggy. I could not get my team's uniforms to match the way I wanted them to look, because some characters lacked components that other characters had. That played heavily against the game for me, as Romulans are some of my favorite characters in Star Trek, and I preferred playing them. I didn't have a problem with ground combat, per se, but I grew annoyed over time at space combat which always in a dragged out fight amounted to the NPC ship moving up next to me and forcing us both into a spiral shooting at each other. No real tactics involved. The lootbox mentality also ruined it for me. I was forever frustrated getting more lootboxes than my inventory could handle, and often replacing real drops. Otherwise, I did enjoy the game, and it had some great looking shots for it's time.

*Psst...guys, hide it! I got a feeling it's not the right time for the reveal.* *Noooo...HIDE it! Don't push it to a corner!*

Am I missing something? What's with the sudden (apparently) uptick of licensed character duplicates tonight? I've seen Wonder Woman, Aquaman, Cheetah, Hawkman (and I think I spotted Hawkgirl in a crowd), Sue Storm, and others. I wondered at first if there was a supergroup involved, but no SG listed on those that I checked. None of them except one had a clear knockoff of the character's name, Most had partial references or clever references. I'm all for homage characters, but last I checked, duplicating a costume and powers took it from homage to violation status. I will say one of those had different powers, but an obvious name/costume. I'm used to seeing one or two occasionally, but the unusual volume of them had me puzzled.

Are the owl references on redside? I honestly don't recall owls mentioned anywhere. That's an interesting travel power suggestion, though I would add that, until they allow attacking from a flying carpet, the owl should be given the same limitations as the flying carpet or jet surfboard. Chest symbol seems the best way to go. I suspect it has the least animation needed, if any. (I suspect the animation is handled in other ways and the graphic is just loaded up. I heard a rumor recently that there was only one animator on our volunteer dev team, so the less pressure on them, the better. I'd love to see several new chest symbols, not just an owl. In the case of more costume animation, a couple of the face masks that @UltraAlt posted seem good inspiration, rather than make a full owl head/body. But again: one animator. Honestly, I'd thought you'd ask for swimming dog options first. Not sure why. On this we agree. My very first character (didn't last long) back in 2004-2005 was an attempt at a polar bear look on a hero. The results were less than adequate. I've wanted some decent bear stuff, at least a chest graphic, ever since.

Dollars? So we'll be playing for real money? I can get behind that. Wait, is that US, Canadian, Australian, New Zealand, East Caribbean, Bahamian, Bermuda, ... Joking aside, I wonder if we ought not develop an INF currency icon.

I'm not even sure it's a "jogger". It doesn't have power jogging action, it has "power stepping action". Wait, it also says "No batteries needed"...so is it really "power"? And how is it a "Villain Chasing Machine"? Just what villain would you chase in a non-powered, non-jogging, stepping machine? The Slug?

Might I ask what is off-putting? I've not played STO in years, and I did leave due to some frustrations with the game, but largely I enjoyed it. I'm curious to know if the problems were similar to what I saw.

I brought another of my Original Game creations back to life: Originally a controller, Thistle Wyld has been reinterpreted as a plant control/thorny assault Dominator, and has had slight adjustments in name and costume. From left to right: Original Game first costume, Original Game last costume, Homecoming modifications

I believe they had something like this for the theater posters. And those were universally changed, not just server changes. So, at least at one point in the OG, the tools existed for changes. Clientside billboard mods shouldn't need to be approved, but then, some folks post videos. Is there a disclaimer if something appears on one of them that may be problematic?

In my experiences, there are speed runs and there are speed runs. By that I mean there's events where everyone knows to take shortcuts, but still fight some of the time. Alternatively, there are those speed runs where one or two know all the extreme shortcuts and don't really allow any fighting. The other 6 or 7 players are relegated to little more than standing inside the door and gain very little XP from the event. I've done many speed runs where we still fight part of the time. The cloaked speedster might be off on level 4 looking for the McGuffin, but we slower, more conspicuous types still manage to drop several of the first floor mobs before the goal is met. I'm fine with this if it is announced ahead of time. I've been on a few of the other kind though. With those, so far, it's never communicated in advance that only one or two will run the show, and no thought is given to XP, just the end rewards. Those I might tolerate on a first run for a character, just to get the badge, but not subsequent runs. This is a game. I log in to play, not to be a token figure. I'd also add that the longer the TF, the more agreeable I am to doing a speed run. The shorter TFs, like Posi 2 or Yin TF, I'm happy to take the KM approach. I'm also agreeable to certain instances being run in speedy fashion even on a kill most TF. For example, the "rescue Dr. Todd" mission during the Moonfire TF: I favor using a team teleport to the exit once we secure Dr. Todd, due to the chance at mission failure as well as the NPC's ability to get stuck or confused.

What about duplicated zone cases? Granted, that would be a rare situation, and nothing different if it is only a location being sought, but if the zone is maxed and they leave (which is essentially the base hospital), "returning" might mean entering the alternate zone. Would specific characters/items that they were hoping to interact with (say, an ambush) still appear in the duplicate zone?

I have never seen a 100 millimeter inf. I'm actually curious now.

It's worth a look. I think I'll run the character again through Yin TF a few times this week to see if I can duplicate the issue. I'll watch the combat logs as @lemming suggested. This discussion has actually made me quite curious if it was a single factor, or multiple just weirdly timed, and of course whether it's player or NPC related. I accept from the discussion that if it is "player" created, it most likely was a bug.

Honestly, I'd pay good INF to a P2W to get a chainsaw or a blow torch. I've been wanting to pollard that forest for decades now. Eden, too.

As one who sometimes has to use ignore due to others' behavior in chat functions, I'm liking this thought. Nine times out of ten, I just am trying to get past a problem, not trying to silence them forever, and the pop-up might just serve as a good reminder that I left someone in a time-out that I should have cancelled anyway. I've only had two problems necessitating more serious action in the past. One, back in the original game, was essentially a stalker, and one in Homecoming made a point of logging into a second account to confront me about my choice to mute them on their primary account. The rest I'd consider as temporary time outs. Were I to receive such a pop-up in a league, I'd immediately check my ignored list to see if I could remove the ignore. If I need to use ignore still, I might just negate it for the duration of the league, then renew it.

First, apologies. Yesterday was not a good day and this bizarre incident capped it off. I made my statement and left without considering that I'd not given enough information. I'd not mentioned the TF involved, but yes, it was a Yin TF. The character I was using was a level 50 Sentinel Energy Blast/Energy Aura. The powers that all dropped simultaneously were: Kinetic Shield Entropy Shield Power Shield Maneuvers (from Leadership pool) Nothing else dropped at the same time. For example, I use hover a lot on this character, and it remained functioning. I keep tabs on my endurance at all times and it was not discharged. In fact, I was watching every control like a hawk the last half of the TF trying to figure out if I could match the power shut-off to some visual of a teammate's power being activated. This problem occurred only when standing next to the team (I'd moved far away towards the end), and occurred in areas where no Freaks were, such as the Council sections of the task force. At least one person was using some sort of team bubble, and possible other domes/bubbles. Hard to tell in all the fireworks going on, and they were using a coloring that made it almost invisible (I'm actually grateful for that). I'm not saying they were the one at fault, it was just the most obvious possibility, and as I've not played characters that do a lot of that, it increased the likelihood in my perception. If I understand the description presented for Dimensional Shift, that one can only hit opponents locked in the "bubble" by entering it first, that does sound like the weirdness I encountered, at least in part. Does it give one an error message if on the other side of the bubble and swinging at an opponent within? It says nothing about de-toggling player powers, though, and the two effects always seemed simultaneous.

I played the game for a while, but it felt off. Like making Mom's legendary coffee cake using a synthetic sweetener instead of sugar. I was also not a fan of the "spam a minor power to eventually charge greater powers". I much prefer our delivery system. Oh, and as much as our "mitts" get derided, they appear far better than those ugly claws that game calls "hands". YMMV. I did look at the opening several minutes of the video, but at over 40 minutes, I'll need to see the rest later. It does look interesting however.

Had a TF today that I encountered something I'd never seen before. Not sure why I've never encountered it in all this time (not like this anyway), and honestly, I'm not sure what the power was. Clearly I've never played it. I think it has something to do with domes or bubbles. In the chaos of battle it was never clear. I just know two things immediately happened: 1. I suddenly couldn't hit anyone. Not that I had bad aim, the game was telling me there was no target though I was standing right next to them. 2. All my defensive toggles went down simultaneously. All. Of. Them. This happened repeatedly throughout the entire TF and when I asked courteously that whomever was using it, if they could not use it in close quarters combat, I got silence...and several more rounds of it. I ended up fighting far on the edge to keep my defense toggles active, notably reducing my effectiveness for the team. A. What is this monstrosity thing, and why does it affect teammates drastically? Honestly, the way it was used on this TF, I'd rather face a mission of Malta Sappers. At least it's the enemy de-powering me, rather than an ally. B. Why does it not come with a required course, test, and 20 hours of range practice time before allowing operation?

That looks Kraken-like, which might fit with the seas around Chimerora. I read 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea at some point after I saw the Disney movie. I was surprised to learn that Verne didn't create a single giant squid, he created a giant cuttlefish swarm. Slightly smaller in physical size than Disney's creation, but many more of them. Perhaps the challenge could be to create a Swarm Giant Monster, where (unlike the multiple Titan Robots) the members of the swarm cover each other, rather than fight independently. I'd find it upping the challenge if I'd not hit just one but have to watch my back and sides for the others. I don't know if it would be possible to have a creature grab and throw a hero/villain, but it would change things up if they had a chance to snag any within arm's reach and fling them away for distance and smashing damage, maybe even lethal.

It's too bad they didn't make the curtains toss-able like the items grav powers throw. It might get a little visually confusing then, but less of a navigation hazard. If you're referring to the ones that are mostly black, I'd not been thinking of these, but yeah, I actively avoid them. The dark-on-dark is just ridiculous. Even my Dr. Nightlight can't illuminate them, and I tried to tune his look for bright white light.