Scarlet Shocker

The background for the forum page seems to have changed - previously it matched the forum colours now it's simply black. This is a purely aesthetic change but it's annoying and I cannot see anywhere to change my forum appearance preferences. Is this a bug and where should I look to change my forum prefs? TIA!

when I was a kid the same jokes were called schoolboy jokes. I guess they've just gotten older at the same pace as me!

Crypts are assigned their gender at first creation so unfortunately transcrypts are not possible.

The only powerset that must be balanced by its nature is Symphonic, because that has scales

I need a billion too!

Also; who in their right mind would think RIP would have any future given their obvious and abject incompetence at level 1?

Thinking a little more about this because I find the question interesting. If we assume (which seems sensible to me) that as we join the game as a new PC, the enemy groups have reached their natural place in the pecking order of Paragon City and the Rogue Isles there is no reason for those relationships to change dramatically, except and unless some great change upsets that ecosystem. That can be change wrought by the Players (via the Devs of course) - for example the impact that PCs have on the Outcasts and Trolls during the Hollows arc leaves space for other groups to fill those gaps. Then there's storied change -- imagine that the Trolls were able to make stable, intelligent SupaTrolls who could be utilised to take Skyway and then other city zones, forcing the Lost, Clockwork and other groups into retreat. Just a "for instance" but the relatively minor change has the potential to become a game wide change. Our Devs have experimented with that a bit I believe but I'm less familiar with that content so I don't want to speak too much about it but they've introduced "semi-new" factions as well as brand new groups. That could have become a much bigger story arc in itself over several issues, let alone pages - but that then becomes very resource intensive so the economics might not stack up - especially for a relatively small volunteer team. But let's take a silly hypothetical for a moment: The Council are struggling - they are effectively fighting a war on two fronts vs Paragon's heroes (us) and the Fifth Column. So their feeling the beat down. They need an ally - which might be considered difficult but choose the Trolls as relatively easy to manipulate, good footsoldiers, tough at lower level and once equipped with Council weapons much more lethal than previously encountered by players. That then gives a huge array of possibilities moving the story forward but the point there is that change must happen to maintain credibility. You can of course develop it any other way you choose too; once the Fifth find themselves under pressure they also seek allies... who would they choose to align themselves with? etc etc Possibilities are endless... but making it happen credibly takes a huge amount of effort

Four Street Specs... you know what's cumming. Oh of course you do. It's one of the most famous skits ever. Don't believe me? Oh alright then...

I almost always respec at 50, because I've got an error-filled build, some powers are useful on the way to 50 but I get less utility from them after and also I just want to optimise for my budget.

I didn't know this was a thing either.

Put the entire forum in your Grey Orangutang Shoecleaner and Roberta is your father's sister.

I happened to delve into my historical archives looking for a completely unrelated image and then this popped up. When I first began to play I met a guy who originally played with the Italian Posse on Defiant but soon became the core of our supergroup Shock Tactics. As we teamed I learned that he was an amazingly talented artist who created his own web comic with his then partner and he'd occasionally draw pics of our teams and SG members. I believe he's now in Canada working on various animated TV stuff. I'm claiming no credit for this - I think his global was @Zeltharis and this is his main, Corona, and (of course) Scarlet Shocker out to right wrongs. I just thought it was worth sharing. This would have been maybe 2007ish?

I've seen the movie already. Can you dig it? 🤣

Those might be a great hook for a few players but in my experience, the majority of players look for light relief, casual play where they can dip in and out of a game, don't need to think too hard about it and are entertained by feeling superpowerful. That is compounded by the fact that once the way to win in a game like this is worked out, it becomes much easier. When the Incarnate system was introduced some of that content was very challenging. Now people rinse through it in moments because the formula has been unlocked. Whilst I have some sympathy for the OP's view, I fear the practical execution of such a thing might be too difficult to achieve and not attractive to enough players to make it worthwhile.

In a living, non-static environment, where power struggles are the main raison d'etre of the story lines, it would make sense for different groups' power levels to ebb and flow. One morning you're strolling across Blyde Square and the Outcasts are bossing it, the next it's been overrun with Clockwork. Skulls run Kings Row until they don't because the Circle decide that this cannot stand. The issue with that in a non-linear story is that it becomes confusing for the participants (ie players) - One week Group D is the bigger focus, and then next it's Group H. And of course, development time can be very slow in MMOs so as the time is stretched out we might lose track. This is further complicated by the fact that during our own character journeys, from level one to 54 those powers and influences change. That is in part because we're able to face down tougher enemies, and also new content is introduced, but also because the story line has evolved over literally a couple of decades. But with a relatively static game, it becomes difficult (not impossible) and time consuming to portray the various inter-group rivalries of our enemies. If the Skulls rise to the top in one issue, surely the Council and Freaks might resent that and put the beatdown on them and then it's all different again. That gets all a bit Game of Thrones, or Roman, with deals, assassinations, stuff happening more or less behind the scenes, which would be amazing for a novel but would we get the best of it in a player led "front loaded" experience where our primary role is to punch evildoers in the face, where politicking is less of the story than the action? There's a compelling argument to say give all the enemy groups a day in the sun to rise and become a focus but every day has a sunset too. We could end up in a circle that sucks up development time and doesn't add too much to the overarching story line. I don't object to this idea but to me, this is where a dedicated group of volunteer (non-Dev) writers could create stuff in the Mission Architect in a kind of "Para-Lore" series of missions and arcs that give those interested a chance to experience it... and might make the MA more relevant to today's game. Also, why are the Trolls not included in the choice selections? Is the OP Trollist? 😉

I actually think we have the right number of shards and there's populations to suit all tastes. Excelsior is great if teaming is your thing and you want to get something done rapidly and Everlasting meets the needs of our RP community. But the low pop servers have great advantages too. It seems to me that if superheroes existed in a real world setting they'd be few and far between - they would be the last bastion of law and order in a world where it failed and where most who had powers would use their power to serve their own ends regardless of the law. So to become special (ie a player character) would leave you up against the odds. It would literally be a couple of you at best against very powerful enemies and that's where the real feeling of heroism comes from (or supervillainy if that gets your vessel buoyant. As things stand we can meet most players requirements as a community and even if some shards don't meet your needs personally you have no requirement to play on them, just do your thing where you wanna do it and don't fret about anyone else.

Cottaging has never been a rule here. Long may that continue!

Question I've not seen asked here yet: Are you running XP Boosters of any kind. DXP booster means you earn no inf while levelling and the others reduce inf gain commensurately. Just something to bear in mind if unaware

Good question. I like the thought of all major power sets having a "mentor" kind of figure that unlocks those powers for PCs. I think it works well for villains and heroes are kind of missing out just getting those powers when available rather than having to earn them in some way. It needn't be a difficult or long quest, it's more of a right of passage thing and needn't be "gifted" so much as unlocked from within - the mentor just opens a metaphorical doorway, so to speak that enables the PC to gain the new powers. If Scarlet Shocker were to have a Patron Pool it would have to be electric and there's not much wrong with that already, thematically. I would probably rejig a Gremlin pet and fit that in somehow and make it quite controlling, a hold, immob, lots of -End etc, but its electrical nature would mean it needs to be resummoned

I agree with most of this but I genuinely believe that getting rid of XP Boosters would do a lot to encourage people to play the game rather than race to 50. The thing about them is they are now almost ubiquitous (or seem to be) and they encourage faster levelling rather than playing the game through the levels as intended. A few DXP boosts and a couple of hours in a Pocket D farm and you're almost at 50... an afternoon if you're slacking. I don't see any scenario where that's good for the game and we've all seen players who arrive at a TF on a freshly minted 50 with no clue how to play or what to do, and those players aren't gonna stick around because they skipped the parts that got the rest of us into the game in the first place. I'm sure this isn't a popular choice nor do I imagine it would ever be implemented. However, imagine this; Offering a DXP weekend over a holiday - remember how that worked on live? A sudden influx of older players who'd moved on, a few newbies who enjoyed the content, it would bring a shard to life and that would have an ongoing effect for quite a while. Reducing XP gains from the AE would also help greatly. AE as conceived was for player generated content - and there is some amazing stuff in it - but it's overshadowed by farms. Yes, they provide utility and can give a character a boost but again, they detract from the game itself. Making changes after this length of time would get the torches and pitchforks out I'm certain but it would improve the game's health longer term.

Well you'd need to get your baps out first

They were used to block entrances to bases and Ouro, thus preventing players from accessing their destination I believe. I think the Boombox pet would need to vanish if you move far away, and they should be noise cancelling so that only the newest wtihin a given radius can make any sounds

we need a boombox vanity pet

Gouda mighty

Ah, the Black Country where A is for 🐴