Scarlet Shocker

Yes, probably. If she changed, I have missed that. Where would I find it?

It's a big world out there and room for all perspectives. I tend to agree - it's one reason why MacDonalds is so successful, because you can go into any one of their places and get (roughly) the same product. That's comforting. But I also think consequences have their place, doubly so in a two decade old game where character development is a core component from the moment you create your first toon. I don't mind "break the world" in one sense so long as it can be put back together in the end (one of my big gripes with Avengers: Endgame was how it changed everything and not for the better) so it at least makes sense... and I think that with our game the timelines and Praetoria just added layers of confusion. But, we are where we are and mustn't undo that because that would be the worst outcome. We can only build on what we have.

I must check that out. Thanks!

This has been a subject nurdling in the back of my mind for a little while without necessarily getting to the fore and making itself apparent. However this thread got me thinking seriously about it and it occurs to me that there are a ton of loose ends, some dating back a long time that haven't ever been tied off. I'm trying to think of specifics but it seems like we rarely ever get story lines completed - and the Praetorian arc(s) got dropped IIRC because Matt Miller decided we'd got bored with Praetoria before it was finished. Regardless of how you view that notion it seems it would be great to get some of the older tales wound up. Frostfire is one such thread that isn't just dangling, it's painful to watch. Frostfire was an epic encounter in the Hollows arc, one of the unforgettable stories in the lore of our City but then his rehabilitation - which still seems incomplete - was an epic disappointment, making damp squibs look exciting and entertaining in comparison. Scirocco - More disappointment. I appreciate this is one of the last of the live "big" stories and perhaps didn't get the love it deserved because devs knew the game was doomed but it was fundamentally poor and didn't do a signature character justice. I get they wanted to move him to the light side, but I felt no compassion or empathy for him in that story Whilst I love the first revamp to RWZ and the Vanguard/Lady Grey/Rikti arcs there that story also got dropped and hasn't progressed. Matt Miller mischievously said Lady Grey was a "sleeper agent" and she does have a cut scene with Lord Nemesis that strongly indicates they have a long, complex history and yet we've never been given an opportunity to learn about that. Similarly, Hero One seems to be inhabiting some kind of mysterious UndeadRikti status, where he is not alive and not dead (and both in pain.) He has a shrine (which curiously is hidden away from public gaze - I find that very odd in itself. Most heroes have great works built in their honour so the public can remember their sacrifice - his is tucked away in the depths of Atlas City Hall.) But what is his actual status? Is he cured? And whilst we are on the subject of Rikti - the two factions seem no closer to reaching an accord - and yet they still come out and attack us from their crashed craft in RWZ. Why have Vanguard and the Heroes put that issue to bed yet? Stop them invading and force them to the negotiating table! Sister Psyche got a dreadful deal in "Who Will Die?" That of course begs the question why Aurora didn't come into play again given that there was a pre-existing relationship already - and that in itself is a story definitely worth telling - maybe there's a whole mid-level Aurora arc to be discovered at some point. There are plenty of other loose ends here - I have a couple of others that spring to mind but I know few of us enjoy walls of text so I will leave it here and invite you to bring us your reminiscences of loose ends and how they could be handled. I will give you one potential solution to a couple of the loose ends I've covered here. I hope you think it makes some sense.

This is a bullshit thread. OP is playing a superhero game in a fictional titular city, in a fictional multiverse and he objects to some of the villain groups because they are not realistic enough What's wrong with that picture?

I wanted to comment on the image as a whole not on actual technical aspects of the art. It could be little more than a stick Wonder Woman. What struck me is how it referenced our own world. I appreciate that our City has millennia of lore to build upon. Atlas himself is barely novel, but as an image it resonated with me because of our great city and despite the fact that the sky did fall in on it once, some nameless heroes brought it back. It just got me nostalgic for a thing that exists.

Beat me to it! It's a cool place to explore if you're high enough so you don't get trashed the moment you walk in!

I think we have to cast a wider net - for example there are simply too many Marcus Coles in game in various states of "being." In fact I'm having so much trouble keeping them straight in my own head I feel that a Cole Porter would be useful to keep 'em straight

Arrest = Constipation

Ultimately, whatever terminology we use, or how we figure out its operation, I'm struggling to work out how you can "arrest" someone with a high explosive device by detonating it. Unless you want to arrest some of them here, a bit over there, some more under that door lying on the ground, a bit through that hole in the wall and a large chunk of them in the next street.

Placement is critical. I propose "Oh Sh!"

This came up on my bluesky feed today and hit me like a brick. Apparently it's from the 750th Hardcover edition I am out of the loop with comics these days and this post isn't a critique of WW, or the art... but it still caused a pang and I wanted to share

The fact you took what was essentially a fluffy throwaway so seriously is actually flattering and slightly odd too but hey 👍 To be kind of serious for a moment (a rare event I know but hang in there) I think we might be focusing on the wrong word. The operative word in the power is actually Bomb. A bomb rarely ever moves under its own power prior to explosion. They tend to be static (unless free falling from aircraft for example) and have limited guidance, if any at all. Mostly bombs are placed or dropped are totally reliant on that placement to determine their effectiveness. The only way you can change that is to add a motor of some kind to your bomb, but that then makes is a "Missile" which is another thing entirely and would require a different name. A missile can be delivered remotely but will only very rarely lie around waiting for some unfortunate to pass by before doing its job. Missiles tend to be aimed, fired and then explode post-haste. It's all rather quick in the scheme of things, unless it is faulty. Bombs, by definition can be set to go off on impact, or when other certain preconditions are met, such as time's passage, air pressure, a very unfortunate foot etc. So yeah, I'm good with remote bomb in theory. It's a bomb. You put it down, walk a safe distance, and activate it, remotely.

It's not remotely remote!

politically or emotionally?

I don't have huge experience of melee but I built a /KM tank and that was delightful to play. I think there's a small, but vocal clique in game and on the forums, that demand moar power from everything and they will rarely be satisfied until you can punch the lights out of Emperor Cole with six slotted brawl. To that small cadre, the fun and quality of the AT, power sets and combinations thereof is if no importance. Combine that with the fact that in any collection of sets only a couple can be outliers, so only one or two out of all the available options, can be great (or perceived to be bad) then you have plenty of space for powers that perform well, without being necessarily outstanding. The real question is, how enjoyable is it to play? If you're enjoying it, then it's perfectly acceptable. If not, what would increase your enjoyment? I doubt that "better performance" is the answer because that simply shifts the power play elsewhere

I fundamentally disagree with your question, therefore I have no response you would accept.

I've made various iterations of my "main" characters in the past, Villain versions, Praetorian versions, and sometimes even versions of themselves in the same scenario on the same shard (see my previous threads re Glass Fox & Vitric Vixen for more about that if you're interested.) Ultimately I find it quite underwhelming and I'll try and explain why. I usually create a character with a defined theme/back story - something that inspires me to roll them rather than simply rolling a character and playing it. Usually it has to have something going for it before I even log into the game. (Yes, I do spend time thinking about this game when I'm not in it. I'll leave it up to you to judge whether you consider that sad or amazing. Either way, keep your judgements to yourself 🤣 ) That then tends to mean that the character develops through playing it - rather than forcing it to fit to a pre-determined path - and making that character a reflection of another that I've already experienced a significant chunk of the journey with, often feels far more limiting than it gives benefits. I'm playing a shadow of the same character, rather than developing a character anew, from scratch. I guess that is one reason why I dislike homages to other comic characters. Not because I dislike them, or reading their exploits in comicbooks, but simply because I want to write my script each time I click a button, not follow somebody else's creation. Even if that creator is me.

ok, well disregarding my off-the-cuff and somewhat dismissive previous response - the story you tell in this quote is way more interesting than the first three minutes of the video that I did watch. Respectfully I suggest you try and tell a story that captures the imagination. You've clearly got smarts - you're better at Bash than I am, which is obvious, but that did zero to capture my imagination. A story needs to capture the audience within seconds and hold them and sadly on this occasion you failed in that. Better luck next time.

tl;dw

Han or Napoleon!

VEATS can be a lot of fun, and my SoA is one of the most potent characters I've ever rolled, running straight up the central path, despite the forced respecs. However Alain Dessoc's arc is dogshit. It's a cheap nasty clip show of somebody else's greatest hits and makes me want to hurl.

Have 2 portals - one entrance, one exit, both on the sky islands and use the whoosher/jumpgates from the Shadow Shard to reach the main Ouro floating space station thing. You could actually use ice like in the Frostfire mission at the arrival portal to ensure those arriving get sent to the centre

I doubt the concept of a nemesis repeatedly showing up is copyrightable - It's been a major story concept since time immemorial, and was popular in pen & paper RPGs for decades. It may be that Cyptic's system at a technical level is patented (I'd be surprised if it wasn't) but I can think of different ways to implement a system such as that. The real skill is balancing it right - it's one thing to have an arch-nemesis who you encounter sometimes during your journey in a game but there are two really important criteria there; a) It must be relatively infrequent and b) you should be able to finally defeat them close to the end game If you have somebody turning up too often it stops being fun and becomes a PITA and if you can't ever defeat them it can feel demoralizing and leave the player frustrated , thinking "What's the bloody point?" And of course the Nemesis has to be personal to you - which in an MMO is very difficult to achieve and a "clone" is too cliched to bear real scrutiny.

That's a very fair point. Gold side too! I'm guessing that if they could make the tech work it would be relatively easy to do but given the issues with the kiosks to date I suspect they are in about as useful as a chocolate teapot