Seldom

Yep, I do play all sort of alts/AT's, but end up having certain ones that just end up resonating either with playstyle or story that if I really want to play them, they're the one I think of. To the point that when I scroll to them and see the other AT alts, I'm like "Oh YOU! I remember you! I forgot you existed!" In their defense, it's not their faults. They're all good rogues/vigilantes/villains/heroes. I'm just slowly losing my mind. I played dominators from CoV release, and my first 50 was a dominator. (Yes, from back when they had half damage without domination.) With all the buffs and time, the mind/psi dom has become my 'main,' both of characters and dominators. I still love trying other ones, but they have to do something different, and I still go back to the main one. Mind/ is just so great on a dominator, to the point that I've never used it on a controller. I had some even older characters, but none of them stuck the same as the one above, strangely until I made a bio/rad tank. They are often my go to 'alt' and my main tank by a long shot. I've used the same powers elsewhere on other AT's, but the tank's character made them stick. I don't go out of my way to have a 'main' for every AT, but sometimes there's one that just 'clicks', to the point that others can't compete. I wonder, as far as other folks go- is it concept or powers that make the 'main' characters stick? For me, I realized it's mostly when I have a concept that I love, I end up spending way more time with them than any others.

At the very least, I'd like to at the very least use the 'Warburg' rogue Arachnos alternate colors for most of those, since many of those models already exist, and no extra texture work would even need to be done.

I've taken to making pages for each specific AT, since it was hard to keep track of anything. Outside my 'main' I had a long term plan to fully 'finish' one of every AT, but new power sets and concepts came up, so it's now 4-7 of every AT, most of them finished. (Sets, incarnates, all that) It's hard to remember them all, much less use them. So I found a 'spin the wheel' app that can be customized, put in all my 50's. Now if I don't have a plan for my main or a concept to level up, I spin the wheel to see which 50 gets its time back on the road!

1. Change the colors for all my widows/soldiers! 2. Update costumes for my 'main' with all the fancy new costume options! 3. Level up my lowbie widow who's been shelved for a bit, to see the new tweaks and content as I level!

The worst possible answer: "It depends!" What enemies are you facing? As mentioned above, innate resistance weakens -resistance effects. Bosses have higher resistances in general, so on paper +damage is better in those cases. On the other hand, +damage is applied to the players' base damage numbers, and damage type. So for characters with high innate damage and little-resisted damage effects, as well as high damage caps, it's GREAT! But on low 'base' damage characters, those with often resisted *coughLETHALcough* damage types, or low damage caps, -resistance will be noticeable. Beyond these, damage buffs, while good for multiple matches, can be more tricky to keep up across a large team, depending on the power. A lot of +damage buffs are given out on longer timers or only to allies in an area. If you are playing with team members who hang back or run around, it can be harder to keep the whole team buffed. -Res, on the other hand, doesn't care where your ally is...as long as they all hit the debuffed target, you see the value.

To points of feedback: Thank you thank you THANK YOU for adding previews of these characters. I have always been scared when buying costumes that I'd buy the wrong one, and finding the right page on the homecoming wiki to see what each looked like was cumbersome. At some point, can we get civilian NPC costumes? I'd use the HECK outta them, for either an 'in disguise' or mild-mannered secret identity. (Especially if I could choose a specific NPC model, and match costumes to it!)

To me, while I do love the oddball power pairings, I do like to start with 'pure' combos. My altoholic tendenciess have made a few 'Missing' thematic pairs really stand out to me: Psychic buff/debuff: We have mind control, psychic blasts, the best you can do for these controllers/corruptors/defenders is....empathy? It still isn't psychic. It's more of the traditional game buff set than anything about messing with minds, or protecting from manipulation & psychic damage. Go ahead, borrow from all the psychic epic pools and fortunata buff powers! Leadership/battle strategies-type buff/debuff: There are no pure 'natural' support options, especially for the unpowered characters that aren't tech either. Earth buff/debuff: to go with earth control/seismic blast. Toxic blast sets: There isn't a mutant/bio blast set, and this to me is the missing match for 'Poison' defenders/corruptors and bio sentinels. Light blast: There really isn't anything that lets you do pure light/laser-type abilities. This would eventually play to the need for a 'light' buff/debuff and manipulation set. Weather control: Not the blast, nor the buff/debuff, but actually locking down enemies using weather effects. It's odd that we can have a storm/storm corruptos/defenders, but not controllers.

Wish list item: Group flight revision This is the ONLY power in the game that I actively get told to NOT use almost any time I use it. It by default forces other users to use a movement they may not be comfortable with It ACTIVELY DISABLES other players' powers that cannot be used with flight. The flight is EXCELLENT to help pets fly, since almost no summons actively fly. (Not sure why most summons just have improved jump) The power gives unlimited range flight for summons, which is awesome Flying minions/pets are AWESOME. Flying minions have FAR fewer pathing problems, something they struggle with even on hills. Suggestion: Reduce ongoing cost for group flight, and by default only effect self/summons, as well as providing the summons a strong -fly resistance Give the power an available hotbar power while toggled called 'air lift' that DOES affect players, but for added endurance cost. Hopeful final effect: Team members don't have to stay away/go to null the gull/shout at me to "stop that!" when they go airborne against their will, while my pet characters can whiz about with flying zombies and the like with abandon. For the rare occasions when I DO want to pick up non-fliers, I can do so, but only situationally.

I'm not sure if this is the correct place to bring this up, but it's a bit odd to me that Cold Domination's 'Frostwork' is being changed to "absorb", but empathy's 'Absorb pain' is still a largely wasted giant heal with a debuff to the caster that could arguably use this sort of transition far more. Absorb pain is often a skipped power, its effect often redundant to heal other due to the crossover of both being a targeted high heal. Changing absorb pain's heal to an absorb would only be a buff, unless I'm completely misunderstanding the interaction. On a nearly dead ally it would still be a heal, but with the absorb effect anything usually 'wasted' could be applied for some additional protection. This could be done without changing any existing slotting.

I'm sure this is the fruit of many hours of work and much discussion. Very glad to see NCsoft giving their permission, and all that effort come to fruition! Also, this gives me way more peace of mind. I've loved my years back in Paragon/Rogue Isles around here, but there was the worry at the back of my mind of what could happen if this got shut down as a black-market/pirated software. Having NCsoft's blessing assuages this worry!

I hear this each time empathy buffs come up, but I wonder, why would that be? Regen as an effect is great when layered, but looking at empathy, the most protection it can layer across the team is the at max around 24% defense from fortitude. (lower on controllers/mm's) Besides this, all regen does is give you more leeway between spot heals. Much of game escalates not in DoT, which regen directly works against, but in burst damage. Burst damage doesn't really care about regen until it hits truly absurd levels...but 500% regen is deceptively mediocre. This is the same as a willpower tank with all toggles off except Rise to the Challenge and 4-5 targets surrounding them. Watch how long that tank might last... that is not incredible/god-like survival. Recovery Aura is awesome, but it's an enabler with a low ceiling...there are very few powers players have access to that they don't run/use freely due to end cost. Most players, even without high invention investment, have found means to use their powers in rotation by the time their build is set up without extra buffs. recovery aura certainly shines in places like against -end debuffs (How there, carnies/Malta) but also doesn't give resistance to -end so drains still can bean issue with it up, if it's done in a big enough burst to start detoggling powers. It a wonderful convenience power, but not something unbalancing. Clear mind came up as it's asking for a power pick, but gives very little value for most of the game, while requiring way more micro than the effect rewards. The characters that need this the most have ways to resist mez already, and many foes don't actually even have any mez. So you're asking empaths to waste a power pick on something that and is mostly covered by a quick break free for the rare occasion. Adrenaline boost is potent, but only can hit one target...I will never compare how powers do with lots of other buffs, as that's not a given. As-is, it does make one target able to do ridiculous rotations with the +recharge/Recovery combo, I'd just want it to be something accessible via more than the +recharge set buffed builds, especially in a way that needs less cooldown tracking.

I kind of agree on the toggles, but unfortunately the costs are in line with the game. Empathy is strong with high recharge, but is hurt by the recharge/duration mismatches, and has less to offer in high control or good mitigation situations. That and it's focus on heals (a third of the powers) doesn't offer many different solutions.

Fair point to the age, but as sets are added or playstyles/understanding evolve, these two stuck out as the ones that need to work harder to do what other sets do with ease. As to Numina, I would rather a set be improved for characters and then resolve the bosses/enemies than hamstring players.

Being a recovering altoholic driven to have one character of every powerset, it's been eye-opening to see just how good some powersets are, and how the 'product of their time' powers line up to these. Two in particular stand out in my recent experience: Empathy (Particularly in the shadow of Nature affinity) and Sonic Resonance, in the shadow of Cold/FF/even thermal. Starting with Empathy: Absorb pain has a lot of overlap in a powerset that already has many heals. Many folks skip this, it doesn't add much new aside from a burst of what is available already. Suggestion: Add an actual absorb effect, with an added 30 sec duration, 18 sec recharge. This won't change slotting, but will give some more wiggle room for timing to save allies, if not giving some added prevention. The heal part AND heal debuff could remain, but only if the ally is damaged. Clear mind is a mez protection that's hard to keep up broadly, costs a full power slot in a game with limited mez enemies and plentiful other mez protection paths. In a powerset with limited protective capabilities and plentiful clicking, make it better at mental protection more easily used. Suggestion: Make this into a 30ft ally Aoe, (similar to shield buffs) providing broader mez protection to the team, as well as an enhanceable/non-stacking +15% psi resistance. Recovery/Regen auras both have 500 sec recharges. Meanwhile Chrono shift is 360 secs while doing a lot more, Wild bastion 240 for a similar heal area buff. Suggestion: Setting RA's to either 240 or 360 would make the powers for more available. Adrenalin Boost is a single target buff that lasts 90secs with a 300 sec recharge. Most other high impact single target buffs (temporal selection/forge) last 120 secs. Suggestion: increase duration to 120 secs to allow this to be kept up more readily. Sonic resonance: Disruption field is the same cost as many other toggle AoE debuffs, but requires good positioning from a pet/player outside of you (not always available) while only having a single effect. Suggestion: Make the power able to toggle on an ally OR an enemy, like enflame from sorcery. Add a minor -tohit to give unique pairing of multiple effects. Sonic Cage slows down any fight it's used in, and often protects a target from the kill speed of many players teams, leaving folks to wait for it to come down. Suggestion: make this a timed toggle, like dimension shift. 35 max duration, 60 sec recharge. Liquefy is handy, but lasts too short a time (30 secs) for its recharge. (300 secs) It does many things, but many of the effects aren't needed. Suggestion: pair down the effects, and extend the duration. Remove the damage, hold, -jump. extend duration to 240 secs, like emp arrow.

I remember back in issue 0, playing my first character: a rad/rad defender. After doing missions solo in atlas, (Though to be honest mostly street hunting) I decided to go to Perez as I'd heard that's the best way to get levels, and I couldn't wait to get hover. I went there, and the team leader told me radiation emission was bad (weak heal) but while he and the other tougher folks killed slimes, my job was to keep pumping heals. I was told to not use the toggles as they took away endurance needed for healing, and didn't kill anything. In retrospect I can see why they thought this way, especially if they came from other more traditional MMO's of the time. At the time I shared the account and had limited time, so didn't have time to get to know the game that well. Fast forward to the time CoV came out I had my own account and more time to learn the game, and for whatever reason I glommed onto v1.0 dominators. (The ones with lowest damage in the game sans domination) Starting issue 0 on a poorly understood version of one of the most versatile, powerful (at its job) defenders to knowing the game but playing one of the weakest archetypes in the game and still finding success and fun, I understood why the game was so good. Most games have a simpler number of dials they play with for approach. The 'trinity' aspects (damage, resilience, healing with a bit of boosts) certainly align to these. The biggest difference in my mind are that buffs, debuffs & controls have such a strong place at the table. This means that there's a huge spectrum of approaches, and these aren't limited by AT or role. Each powerset might dabble into many of the resilience/damage/healing/buffs/debuffs/control directions. Want control/resilience? Dark armor. Damage/debuffs? Rad/sonic blasts. Damage/control? Fire/gravity control. Buffs/damage? Kinetics. Every primary/secondary on every AT will give you new chemistry in this broad alchemy of approaches to combat. I know debuffs/control/buffs aren't unique here, but their power levels are pretty much on the same level as damage/resilience/healing, (and sometimes higher) making the 'optimal' approach really dependant on the team makeup. Can you focus on toughness/healing/damage? Sure. It might actually be hard to form a team that doesn't go beyond these in focus, but it'll still work. But so will a team with all control, all debuffs, all buffs, or best yet a broad representation of all. Now that you have all the different invention sets, it lets builds do things they couldn't do before, shore up their weaknesses, or do stuff you're good at at such a higher level it lends completely new tactics. This is one of the best reason for the longevity of the game: each set combo, AT, and build tends to have its own particular approach, making playing from character to character or team to team its own unique spin on things. Honestly, I prefer seeing teams make stuff that "shouldn't work" do so due to this complexity: I was on one the other day with only control types, masterminds, and one stalker. The buffs, controls, debuffs were so crazy the stalker was well nigh invincible, (We called them our sneaky tank) while the pets swarmed the weakened, helpless mobs. It was a hoot.

Strangely enough, the 'fastest' way to get high numbers of Prismatic Aethers are fully-kitted out specific builds called out for on high star-count ITF/Aeon runs. ( Good luck on qualifying for those on a non-particular build, much less as a new player.) Speed-running multiple 50's on a particularly easy WST, can also generate these quick, knowledge of how to do so and having multiple 50's to do so, again favor veterans. I appreciate the explanation, but the current means of generating Prismatic Aethers is *highly* tilted in favor of veterans, power builds, and a large stable of 50's. Many players I have encountered who spend time on farming use out-of the box costumes, and jokey names/characters. The current auction house rate is 3 million plus per aether, making the deluxe cost starting at 4,500,000,000+ inf. That's the inf that farmers and marketeers deal with, best of luck aside from that. We are left with a system that favors the wrong crowd for generation (Vets/farmers) and dangles a carrot for a particular crowd (Farmers) that is something most farmers I've encountered seemed ambivalent to.

Cosmetic effect feedback: These are all a great start. I know so many characters I have made that wanted more than one special effect, and have to either choose a specific aura/path, primary/secondary/epic options look to get things working, this will give (in theory) way more flexibility! That said, the fact that these currently only come in default colors will vastly limit my use of them. I know it sounds extra, but almost all my characters feature complete color customizations, so very few will fit with these. That said, these use the exact effects of a lot of armors, any chance these will get customization the way inherent/accolade/incarnates/temp powers do? Something that cost an arc, a Pay 2 Win visit, an Accolade getting customization, but not these seems odd. On the specifics: Effect: Flames- ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Looks good. Of the two 'flame armor' looks, I would've used the newer ones, these look more gaseous/glowy more than like flames. That said, if this will eventually be recolorable, this will work as a pro if it can work beyond a 'fire' look. Still for places where folks use auras for heads/eyes/haloes/etc. but still want to be fiery, I can thinks of many places this will be welcome. Effect: Chill- ⭐⭐ Very blocky. Without recolorablity to make these more transparent, these will hide most costumes. Effect: Earthen-⭐⭐⭐ Good for those that want an earthen/golem kinda look, but don't have stone armor. great for earth blast/control/etc. types. If this could have crystal looks, this will be even better than chill for ice characters. as is, niche, but has some good sets to match with. Effect: Shocking- ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Subtle sparks. This is AWESOME. it matches with all sorts of costumes, it's subtle, but good for mech suits/tech folks/zappy powersets/robutts/etc. This one has SO many good uses, as it's subtle, simple, and a nice accent. Effect: Psionic- ⭐ Purple-pink energy hula-hoops spinning all over your body. I don't have any characters that would even consider using this, even if it were free. I'm sure someone will. The effects are a bit gaudy, the colors uber-specific, and the look matches with almost no other powers in the game. Effect: Photosynthesis- ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Pretty! Simple, this is great for fairy folk, an accent on a formal look, on nature folk, or just those that like flowers. I can think of SO many characters and other players who I know who would LOVE this. Until they see it's 250 Prismatic aethers, in which case the folks I play with will either (A) forget it even exists, or (B) have everybody pool their Prismatic 8-balls and eventually get one or two of use ONE of these. Which leads me to pricing. Pricing: I know there was a lot of back and forth with this early on, but I wanted to give things the benefit of the doubt, and give things a 'wait and see' approach. Until the Halloween event, I had no expectation of EVER getting the 'tiny' transformation, which I would love on several characters. I play multiple evenings a night, often with large groups, often doing WST content, and itrails. I am not a grinder, but do have 12 pages of characters, 39 fully 'finished' 50's, all of whom played through groups/TF's/etc and weeks of play. These characters would love to have extra auras, and can all be used via aforementioned WST/iTrials to earn Aethers. I have since then bought ONE 'mini' transformation, and could only get that through an absolute Halloween grinding the entire event when prismatic aethers were given in a way that could actually match the current prices. On my badge character I bought enough for all the matrix/costume badges. On one character I bought 4 cop uniforms (cop character) On one characters I bought 2 CoT costumes. I still would like the 'Deluxe' for one character. I have since Halloween gathered ~200 Prismatic Aethers. (This playing multiple nights a week, and often a couple times over weekends) To purchase anything for 1500 Prismatic Aethers via the standard earning way, it will take me years. Can I buy more off the markets? Sure, but for pages of characters, I can either finish builds for multiple characters, or get one character a particular aura, and since I don't farm much, (if ever), the inf for doing this is just out of reach, Given the current pricing, please either reduce the prices for vintage/premium/deluxe costumes to be feasible for multiple character unlocks (Much less multiple unlocks for a character) or make the unlocks global, given the current pricing. Pricing Feedback: Standard: good as-is. I can pick up multiple looks for characters that it would be cool to have a 'disguise' or alternate look on. Vintage: these are not 10x times better than standard. Please consider moving these to being 50-75 a pop. Special effects: if you want these to be a common inf drain or a long-term goal, make them more commonly reachable. Making them TOO long-term makes people not want to grind for them, but disregard them. This is my opinion, but was echoed by all the folks I play with as well. I and the group I play with love making characters with stories and specific looks, but since seeing the prices, we just ignore this system for the most part. I would suggest 100-150 for these. Deluxe: Was this built just for those who grind nightly on farms on a main character? For a player with many characters leveled through nightly 'standard' story/TF/SF content, 1500 isn't going to happen. If you would like more people to even consider this, especially for more than one character (Which will ultimately have a far broader effect) at least bring it below 500 prismatic Aethers. Side suggestion: Please add 'Civilian' NPC costumes. This would be great for 'secret identity'/undercover looks. And please, not 'random fem/male, but specific civilian looks.

Pie in the sky: No morality 'lanes', but consequences for interactions. Choose to save people? Public adores you. Do everything undercover? Folks don't know about your character despite your rising skills and successes. Help people in only one city zone? That neighborhood loves you, but you're a nobody elsewhere. Choose to do everything just for rewards? You might get offers from both sides to do things. Steal stuff? Cops are after you. Try to rule the world? Heroes try to stop you. Try to rule the world legally? Politicians come after you. No levels: as you use powers, others unlock, but no numbers, and you can just as easily find trouble in mercy as in grandville, though mercy might be slower. Reputation and skill ratings become the main 'levels' Training/modification/invention/evolving/incantation means of advancing powers, outside of combat. If you want to to improve your powers in a new direction outside of those you commonly use, this would be a method to do so. Continuous zones: a world that seems more interlinked, rather than walled off neighborhoods/islands World events: most missions/opportunities come and go with or without you, not 'waiting' for the character. Depending on how you react good succeeds, or evil becomes empowered. You don't have to go to an NPC to be told to defeat a gang, you see a gang doing something, you can do what you want in reaction. Meaningful heroism beyond boss fights and genocide: actually rescue people, help people, protect people, non-confrontational big-picture ways that may cost/hurt the hero, but benefit others. Meaningful villainy beyond killing other villains: actually manipulate, steal, seize control, threaten to gain personal benefit in ways that offer both upsides and downsides. Meaningful NPC contacts: help an NPC enough, they are welcome to do favors, help you/serve you, trust you/fear you. Meaningful antagonists: Particular NPC's you can run into/defeat often enough that they start taking initiative against you. Have to assist an npc? maybe they attack that npc. Need to seize an artifact? Sorry, they stole it just to spite you! Objective based PvP: instead of punching villain players in the face, try to stop their minions from activating the weather machine. Want take a hero player down a peg? Wear a hologram disguise and frame them as you rob a bank sporting their face/costume/name without getting caught. They then have to uncover the plot and prove their innocence!

I would say the crab branch for soldiers doesn't get credit. They may not be great at putting down bosses, but a crab can have so much AoE it's absurd, all on an archetype that will have great staying power AND team buffs. Mind control doesn't get enough props for being literally the best stealth-friendly powerset in the game. Two aggro-less AoE controls, one of which is auto-hit. One aggro-less ST control that can turn the nastiest foe on its buddies before the fight even starts.That's right, a whole third of the set sets no alert or aggro, two of those three turn enemies onto each other, and the set has three hold powers, as well as the least resisted control types in the game. Broadsword doesn't get the props it needs as being as safe as it is, between parry and two awesome damager powers that juggle via KU/KD, it's good damage with good control. Fire armor on stalkers used to be an issue, but with defense IO's and the updates to the powers, it now has three heals, decent resists...it's my toughest stalker now, and a great favorite. My savage/fire/soul stalker shreds, and can play pretty much like a scrapper with better burst damage.

Any reason the many tweaks to psy blast powers are not tweaked for dominators as well? Psy assault is almost all psy blasts. Edit to clarify: especially faster cast times are appreciated on assault sets, as being rooted/animation locked when one needs to quickly layer on controls can be very dicey.

Character name: Dreameater Global: @Dream-eater SG/Base name: Midnight Guardians/ The Midnight Glade Shard: Excelsior Passcode: MIDNIGHTGUARDIANS-7892 Category: Multipurpose Base Under 7k Items Item count: 6,321 Solo base builder ABOVE GROUND: N edge: graveyard, resurrection rings, and hospital. Central N: Entry plaza. Portals to all city/isle/dimension zones, along the plaza or off branching paths from it. Labeled mostly, Gold star/mushrooms for Praetoria, floating rocks for the shadow shard. NPC's for icon/training/vendors. Back NE corner: time crystal in the forgotten temple NE edge (in autumn forest) mystic empowerment well. Central SE edge: traveler encampment/campfire/tailors Back SE corner: underground entry Central S: the stone tree, with ramps & portal to the tree top mission/meeting platform. Gazing pool to the power well beneath. SE edge/corner: Midnight mansion: 1st floor S: enhancement storage/potion vat, hidden stairs to basement. 1st floor N: Library, trainer/vendor/tailor 2nd floor S: mad mystic lab, crafting/storage/vault Down the N. side library chimney (requires flight) game/reading/entertainment room UNDERGROUND: Back SE corner: underground campfire (gaze into it to ascend) crystal mines E edge: (follow torches if coming from SE underground campfire) SG dining area, library, with personal sleeping quarters/spa/barracks NE edge: underground burial ground NE corner: The dreamer's nightmare room N edge: mystic orb shrine, back portal to all parts of the base NW corner: dark artifact storage/morgue/prison Central N: Underground shrine/fountain Central E: Underground waterfall/pool encampment, mystic portal to above Central S: power well, with a mini solar system powering the base's enchantments SE corner: stairs up to the mansion Screenshots: Edit: For visitors, if you can't find the way up from the basement/underground, (Hint: touch campfires, or find the hidden stairs!) "/stuck" is a shortcut back to the above-ground plaza.

Having a measurable amount of altitis, pools really can swing the overall playstyle and really make the character feel totally different. I do have some go-to power sets and archetypes, and centering on a less common powerpool/epic pool to change things up or fill in some blanks has been great. The healing pool, particularly with field medic making aid-other instant, and aid-self help endurance problems, makes filling gaps easier but also makes some characters far more cooperative. Teleport, especially with targeting binds, lets you easily transverse and skip annoying path bits with ease. Sorcery gives all sorts of options, from damage to support to buffs, all very good. Presence is a tough sell, but I love my taunting crab spider/ranged "brute," and having taunt+bodyguard on a mastermind will never cease to be hilarious on PuGs where the squishy MM can taunt alongside the normal meatshield. Fighting is less a distinct flavor, but super nice on defenders who become way more durable than anyone would expect with just a few armors on. Epic pool faves: Soul pool. So much good utility, control, all in a flavor all its own. No matter the AT, I find myself checking what it has to offer. Munitions on blaster pools. Not great options, but the flavor is so awesome. I love it, wish it actually worked better. Snipes on stalkers. Ranged assassin strike? Yes please. Fire mastery on dominators. For when your really want to play into being a blaster with holds. Leviathan shark attacks. Because sharks. Seeing giant enemies held in the jaws of a giant ghost shark will never be anything but wondrous.

I'm surprised nobody has mentioned the cone target cap, ranged targeted AoE's cap out at 16 while ranged cones cap at 10. This means in large team/high target situations a sizeable number of targets will be unscathed by cones that an AoE would hit. This is why cone-heavy sets like assault rifle, especially full auto, is actually not as good as similar sets with more traditional AoE's for mowing down mobs. This is besides the whole positioning issue, where cones require you to line things up. I don't mind this part, but the target cap difference always confused me.

Hello! I LOVE the fact that masterminds are getting some much-needed attention. Huge thanks for the past patch making group flight range unlimited for pets! That said, I still have an issue: Group flight affecting players Why is this an issue? Group flight is AWESOME for masterminds, and barely taken otherwise. Why? Pros: Pet pathing is bad, FLYING pet pathing is great! Instead of trying to find a zig-zag path up a hill, or find a way up to a second floor, they fly straight to the point! Flying pets look awesome! (especially bots with their rocket boots!) Ranged pets survive way better, out of melee range Cons: Players aren't comfortable flying. I have played with many players that only use superspeed because two dimensional navigation is way easier for them than three-dimensional navigation. There are a number of powers that CAN'T be used by a flying player, so group flight actively prohibits another player's powers The only current way to opt-out of group flight is for a player to visit Null the gull (NOT documented) to undo another player's choice of powers To be clear: This is the only power that when I use it in a group, other players almost always request I STOP using it. For the above reasons. Suggested solutions: A : have a new Null the Gull option: "Make group flight work only on my pets" Pro: This should hopefully take the onus off of others, making this something the player choosing group flight to stop bothering others Hopefully this would be easier to implement, code-wise? Cons: This would be harder to change given a specific circumstance, unless you hike all the way back to Pocket D This would still be something a player would have to read about/be told about, not something easy to use for a new player who doesn't read specific patch notes/forums B : Rename 'Group flight' to 'summoned flight', make it never affect other players, just summons/pets/minions Pro: This would make the power never conflict with other players This would hopefully be a quick-ish fix, code-wise? Cons: This would break the power for non-pet centric players Players could no longer help up their team/league member who didn't get a jetpack in a flight/un-jumpable situation C : new 'hotbar' toggle with 'Group Flight' running: 'Air lift' without this running, the power costs less still provides additional flight speed, and only affects summons/pets/minions. With it, other players are granted flight as currently occurs Pro: This allows the power to remain as-is, but by default it won't conflict with other users. the player can situationally drop/pick up fellow players Minion/pet players could more cheaply float pets around Cons: This would require more coding, I assume Yet. Another. Hotbar toggle. Some folks HATE all the pop-up toggle bar options, but they DO have a way to toggle those off.

1: I played since week one, back in 2004. I had been excitedly following the game's progress for a year or two after finding it on a gaming site as a preview, back when superheroes weren't mainstream and CoH was a rare Comic-themed property, and the fact that it was a unique property made me want to get into it right away. I upgraded my computer and got faster dial-up just to play the game. My brother and I shared an account, until we got seperate machines/accounts to play together. 2. Yes, I played a while back. (See above) I was deeply disappointed, and a little more bitter than I'd thought I would be. I knew games shut down, but the Devs of the time were making a lot of progress, were responsive & involved in the community. I thought the game was on the right track, and some of the customization being tested was what I had wanted from Issue 1...then it was all shut down. I was disappointed because I had formed friendships with certain players. I was disappointed because the devs seemed like nice people, and they were losing their jobs. I was disappointed because I was losing what became one of the only games I played. I was...oddly relieved because I was becoming somewhat addicted to playing it? 3. It was at first disbelief. A lot of players had tried to petition for the game to be re-opened, but nothing came of it. A lot of others had tried to make their own version of the game, only to fizzle. When I did load in, and make/play my 'main' character again, it was very much a feeling of coming home again. I texted my brother/CoH friends the news. It was a good day. 4. Make all of my previous characters again, firstly my 'main' character. Then all the others heroes/villains I had made/played. Then explore all the changes, new power sets, then play with the friends who did come back. 5. It's a little slower in development, but I appreciate the careful approach those running the game are taking. I appreciate the fact that much of it is around making things easier to play, and more balanced so that more folks can try new powers, create new power combinations, and play in new ways. The heart of the game (in my mind) is the customizability that the powers systems provide that mean your character and the next person's characters can play in unique ways. I had saved my old builds and characters, and costume files, so I loaded a lot of those (as mentioned earlier) but also created a lot of them in new ways, thanks to how many powers were either introduced or now allowed on different archetypes. 6. Yes, I make/play many characters but have one favorite. It was one of my first villains after CoV came out, a dominator, back when they were uncommon, and generally not strong. I still loved the costume, concept, and playstyle. It was the first character I ever played all the way until level 50. I met many of my CoH friends playing this character, and its name became how I was called when we talked over voice chat, just like many of them went by their main characters' names. It was the character I wrote a longer backstory for, an AE arc going through that story, and was the first I invested a lot into when Inventions went live. It was the character I tried to get most game badges with. I still have over 50 characters, and many I've remade and fully upgraded/leveled to 50, but if there isn't a particular role/powerset needed by my friends when teaming, I still most often return to the same character.