Techwright

I'm pretty sure the Brits celebrate "Good Riddance Day" and just don't tell us Yanks. 😁 Whether they close the banks or not is another matter.

I love the Storm Blaster set and already have 2 characters wielding it. That said, not everything is perfect to my personal interests, and I'm well-aware it will vary for others. I'm a range striker, and as such, I prefer to fight, well, at range, not in melee range. While I do have powers for close-hand combat, such as Lightning Storm, I'm not fond of the movement of Storm Cell towards enveloping me, forcing me into melee range combat if I want continued bonus effects. If I place it on a spot, I'd prefer it remained on that spot. I've taken the effort to recognize that is where most of the enemy are, or will be moving towards. Having it always drift towards me means that I must be constantly moving to keep it at bay, and I prefer doing that, especially in caves, only when forced to move by opponents. YMMV. I'd like to hope that some day, a change will be made and it will have about 7 seconds on the spot I place it, then move swiftly to me rather than a somewhat slow pace. But reality is reality. Since Storm Cell will drift towards me regardless, Therefore my tactic should be not only to drop it on a spot where I know or anticipate a lot of enemy to be, but to drop it in a directional path where a lot of enemy will be. Oh, and the movement isn't exactly "glacial". I tested it again before writing this just to make sure my memory of it wasn't skewed. Slow, yes. "Glacial", not so much. As to it vanishing, Storm Cell ends exactly when the button become available again. I wish more powers worked like that! While it does have a slight border of steam clouds, these are easy to lose clear visual of in full storm combat mode, especially if there are more storm blasters in the fight. I've opted to turn on the timer function of the tray controls, and it's beautiful. I get a countdown on the button icon telling me exactly when the power ends and is available to hit again. Short of giving PBAoEs the green ring of auto-fire, this is a pretty good solution to knowing when to fire it up again, especially in the chaos of heavy combat when visual cues are fuzzy. Oh, and keep in mind that Category Five functions as a second Storm Cell, one that stays in place. While it's respawn is slower, This gives you a chance to drop something on a mess of enemies, have it stay in place, and keep the damage bonus going until it wears out.

I recognize some of the English dub actors' voices, but I'm not seeing them listed in the imdb.com page on the movie.

You're "seal clubbing" comment reminded me of what killed instanced PvP for me back in my WoW days. I was playing the lower level PvP stuff like Warsong Gulch (around maybe 2006-2007) and realized skill was secondary to gear. Not really happy with that, but I figured if I could level the playing field, it would be skill again. So I set about getting as much of the rare "twink" gear as possible. Got it to about 85%-90% of maximum and was having good results as a lot of the twinks were gear only, no skill. I'd built a rogue-killer shaman during the time that rogues dominated Warsong Gulch. That all ended the day one rogue, completely twinked out, stopped in their tracks and literally let me attack them for over a minute. Despite my fairly high twink status, I was unable to deal enough damage to drop his health more than 75% before he regenerated. Winning no longer had anything to do with skill and all to do with how much extremely rare gear one possessed. I left PvP almost immediately and never returned. As to Lost Skies, it reminded me a bit of the lengthy demo of the upcoming game Aloft, though Lost Skies looks more intricate and with greater visual detail. Aloft has a less-realistic styling, and lets you craft floating ships of your own design from various materials found on sky islands. You may also use crafted glider wings to get around. I don't think the final result will be as detailed and visually beautiful as Lost Skies, but it might scratch the itch a little until the better game comes out. (The vid I've linked to is a bit off in its clarity. The game is much clearer, but it should give you a rough idea of the game.)

No it would not be outside. I do have several storm characters and can attest to the power and adaptability. So if considering a earth controller, I'll have to take a secondary with damage ability, then? I've several controllers with varying levels of damage. I'd like something I could solo with if necessary, though it's not necessarily a prime focus.

I have one crab, and I stopped with him at about 25. It's been some time back, but I remember feeling he was under-performing and that might need to rethink him as a huntsman. Honestly, for both those and Widows, one big turn off for me was the lack of costume customization right out of the gate. For having been the "elite" archetypes back in the day, there sure wasn't much to show individuality. I realize this works well if you're playing a grunt in Arachnos, but it's terrible if you're playing a break-away character asserting their individuality. At least the Wolf version had some limited head customization. No costume contests for the Widows! I don't know what would be involved, but I'd like to see more customization for their costumes. For huntsmen, for example, would it be possible to have a trenchcoat over the armor instead of the cape? Maybe limit costuming swap outs to X-number of component swaps so that the archetypes will always have something that shows they're origin, but leaving enough changes to create more individuality.

Of the Earth or Stone archetypes that have ranged or control powers (not looking at melee at the moment), which would you say is the best? And from that archetype, what would be the most effective complimentary power set? I created a pair of "earthbenders" some time back, ran them to 50 each, but I always found the results lacking. I'll not say which two setups, as I want to see un-influenced results, but I would like to try again with something more impactful.

Wondering if the OP wasn't sure because AE was pulled from Atlas Park to make way for the relocated Fort Trident. As @Darmian notes, it's still found in several other areas.

A good thing to point out. Those of us who've wanted to donate to the game but always miss the opportunity due to the rapid response, can still have an impact, and at our slower pace.

Costume or bone crest as well? The latter might be quite tricky.

Yeah, accordion makes sense that way. Ramen: I've personally taken to sub for "2 thumbs up" since there are 2 chopsticks up. (BTW, is this gluten-free ramen? It might be important to some.)

I've not noticed any drop in performance. Are you sure some neighbor's not hacking your cable? Actually, that's not a bad idea. I think I've read that not all the shards are on the same server. If that's accurate, you might test by moving a character to each of the other servers temporarily, and if the rubberbanding continues to happen on other servers, there's a stronger possibility that this issue is happening at your carrier's level rather than the game server. If, however, tests on other servers don't yield a result, then the problem may be something related to Excelsior's server. There's probably better tests, this is just a "poor man's" test.

Trike's referring to the fact that the particular statue's gaze is deliberate by the game designers. They placed an exploration badge marker on the fire escape specifically talking about the statue's intrusive gaze.

I feel the same way about Dick Van Dyke. Every time he pops up somewhere, unexpected or not, it's a gift to his fans. I hope the rumors are true, that he won't pass on until he's learned a proper Cockney accent.

Remembered another one and a documentary that's almost more like a movie. Both of these are life-affirming films. I had no idea what to expect with either, but ended up so taken with both that I told all my friends. Movie: This Beautiful Fantastic - a young, eccentric writer clashes with a curmudgeonly neighbor over the state of her back garden, to the point of creating a real threat to her stability. Yeah, the description is not much, but I didn't want to give away too much. Documentary: The Biggest Little Farm - a couple with no farm experience tackle a dead-earth small farm with the intent to transform it into an example of a farm in harmony with nature. The husband, who is a documentary producer films their first 10 years. The film runs the gamut of human experience and emotion: joy and sorrow, successes and failures, life and death. Bonus: really catchy, uplifting theme song.

THIS LOOKS LIKE A JOB FOR.... (Psst...Lou, who do we have for on-call tonight?)

Was in Peregrine Island the other day when I realized another possible badge: number of snipers eliminated. Possibly a lower count, like say, 50, since there's only 1 or 2 in P.I. at a time, and many would be trying for the badge.

That would be Freak. Hmm... I don't see "jock" on this list...

Is it the same mechanism they used to change the theater posters? 'Cause those could use some cycling as well. And yeah @SnoBahr, I'm all for new billboards occasionally in-game. It would be nice to see an ad for the tiki beach area they added to Talos, for example.

Might work. I think I'm back from an errand in the next state over by then. Try seeing if we can get a full team.

I think you answered your own question. Just try being an ordinary citizen standing alone at a bus stop for 15-20 minutes in this city. (Actually, that might make an interesting mini-game. Play an ordinary citizen, see how long you last through a set of daily routine instructions: wait at the bus stop, walk to lunch, survive an attack in your office, etc.)