Scarlet Shocker

Overpriced, huge marketing budget, no real talent behind the skilz, but a lot of social media Basically BrewDog for zombies.

... life is just too much to bear sometimes

now, Who would that be?

That's fair enough but I kind of feel that Action Jackson is more... blaxploitation kinda thing... much more punchy than I see with the toon you've posted. That is not to say you're wrong, in any way. It's how we are both seeing a thing with different lenses. I think the outfit is really great but for me personally it doesn't fit the name. Somehow, I'm feeling there's a discordant element there but hey, that's me, and this is your character so I hope you find something that fits.

I've never played one, but I looked at the images and see "melee support" so I'm thinking somebody who is 2nd line, gets in there to biff the enemy behind the tink, but also lays down some solid controls and some handy buffdebuffs. I'm thinking Dominator with Energy Assault component and a primary powerset that doesn't have too many obvious "power FX" - so not ice, or fire etc. Maybe Arsenal/EnA or Mind/EnA... something like that. One thing I'm not clear on from the OP's original is what is his name? I am working on the presumption it's not the OP's forum handle but knowing that might give insight into his raison d'etre

Regeneration only works if you have a Doctor.

That's their Away strip

Don't limit yourself. Play all the things

Experiment: ATs, Powers, Pools, APPs, PPs, Blue, Red, Gold, Marketing, AE, creating, playing, vending, flipping, defeating, killing, switching, EATS, VEATs, zones, arcs, SFs, TFs, content, PLing and all the rest of it. You'll find something you like

Scarlet Shocker was my 2nd toon, born on Defiant back in 2006. She was always an Electric/Electric/Electric blaster even when blasters were pretty well obsolete but when I came to Homecoming I remade her on Excelsior as an all electric Sentinel. There's a Scarlet on every shard, just cuz, but that one is by far my favourite. I much prefer playing it, easier to play, more resilient and the slight downturn in damage output is a small price to pay. so I totally get the OPs PoV

Disconnect time can be a problem in other ways too. My Ice/Time corruptor is now just an Ice/ corruptor

I like the concept of this pool and some of the powers. One of my bigger concerns is the vulnerability to certain powers, which goes against most of the game... as others have pointed out they kind of mirror and reflect existing powers but put them in one box, but how would these pool powers stack with other powers from different sets, and how would they stack with other players carrying them?

Teleport, Combat TP and Hover probably all suitable to get around, as in blink in and out. Gravity and/or Storm if you're a Poltergeist and throw shit about

I love Skyway as a concept but given how swiftly we level it's eminently skippable. I think a lot more needs to be done with it and it's a good example of how XP boosts do not help the game because there's actually some pretty good content there for sweeping. (Less in story arcs, admittedly, at least as far as I recall.) I remember when I first saw Skyway destroyed in the horrible Duray arc I must admit I gasped in shock and I think I genuinely shed a tear but the Duray vs Duray thing put me off the whole story more than eating Ryker's breakfast

...take him here and get him checked out. You will also be able to get a nice valet so he'll be spick and span for his next round of nefarious diabolisms.

The Silver Sorbet considers this thread to be inspirational and I have no doubt you can guess her powers

I don't know about you but I change my boots daily, rockets or not!

If it was just about Sleet, then Storm should be allowed because Freezing Rain is the same power and /Storm gets it sooner

I wholeheartedly agree with many of the comments here, and yes I understand it was an early response to the beginning of the game itself at the end of the Rikti invasion. But I think there's an interesting point that many of the PPD in the banks are kheldians - why is that, and what is their motivation to join the PPD? If these powerful extra-terrestrials are joining the PPD en masse why aren't they joining other branches of the security services? Why do the PPD need the help of heroes when they have shape changing types who can wipe the floor with most metahumans? If Peacebringers are so good why hasn't Longbow recruited some? (And conversely why hasn't Arachnos recruited Warshades?) To me it kind of jars in that it leaves a lot of unanswered questions. Surely it can't just be really lazy writing can it?

There are many posters in the city saying as much. I don't know who pays for them but they've been there a very long time. They hint that the "enemy" is the other, the alien (literally in this case I guess) - the undesirable that YOU, dear citizen need to be afraid of. Non-humans are bad. Except the PPD. PPD is full of Kheldians who are ready to protect the banks. PPD Kheldians don't seem to protect ordinary citizens when the Outcasts or Trolls are getting up to nefarious crap on the streets of Atlas Park or Kings Row. I've never yet seen a Kheldian PPD officer in Perez Park rescuing anyone from the Circle of Thorns. But if a bunch of villains try and take down Kings Row or Skyway City bank... they're all over it like measles on RFK Jr. So what are they really about? The ultra-capitalists protecting the almighty dollar? Propping up the banks Of course, I'm being very tongue in cheek here, But it does seem weird that this anachronism has stood for so long. Is there any reasonable explanation? I'd love to hear it.

And you rob the place blind, you say publicly "this place was great once despite its faults and is still worth saving" and you and your team move back in using Primal resources as tools where needed and you oligarch the shit out of it as you fight to become top dog. Your public face is one of benificent philanthropy and good works "We'll bring Praetoria back into the fold" while you work to reinforce it. Your USSR analogy is apt because it's not difficult to argue that the Russian Federation is significantly stronger and in a better strategic position today than the USSR was in 1989. As for Hamidon, Keyes just ripped him a new asshole even at the cost of his life and the Primals have always managed to deal with their version. Sure, maybe their version is weaker but together you are stronger... A showdown with Praetorian Hami is inevitable because nobody on any side wants the pair of them tag teaming on Primal. That would be a Hami sandwich too far. Some of the Praetors will be almost certain to stand by you (beats incarceration on Primal Earth) and you can probably use some of the nastier AVs from alternate dimensions, Reichsman for example - incarcerated and then had the crap kicked out of him despite beliving himself to be invincible - who would be lusting for revenge. Plenty of other examples too.

You've summed up well the state of the Praetorian government with a concise precis. But I fear you may be missing one point: There are plenty of self-interested characters who nail their metaphorical colours to the mast throughout history. There are those who do it for selfish reasons and those who do it for ideological reasons and/or a combination of those but generally they accumulate power to themselves under the umbrella of their Master's ultimate power. We see it in Praetoria itself where his Praetors align with him because that's their best hope of power, they squabble amongst themselves and their machinations are many and varied but they obey him until it suits them not to. Arachnos is exactly the same, as was Soviet Russia, as is North Korea and the PRC. I highlighted a part of your text where I think you're making a judgmental error: Some people seek power but they recognize that their power is tempered by those higher in the food chain so they ensure they have that ear and wield the power they get from that for their own cause. Grima Wormtongue. There currently is no way for a player character to be pro-Cole and then once he's fallen wish to either assume that place for themselves or to carry his mission forward using their own vision. We are booted out of Praetoria into Primal Earth and told "there you go, you're free now, go be a good guy or a bad guy in a different universe but this one is closed to you."

But you're RUGged enough to take it

just revisiting this briefly I've been playing Spandex Ballet on our regular Sunday casual team on Everlasting - a Staff/WP scrapper. Low 20s now, and it took a while to get there but I must admit it's turning into something fun. Without doubt the most fun scrapper I've ever played, even at only lvl 21ish She's got an attack chain which took a while and whilst I doubt she's going to ever excel at any one particular task, she will make a very good journeyman melee toon by the feel of things thus far. A few end issues as you might expect but nothing horrendous. I'm actually enjoying the Staff Fighting... the powers are interesting and different and I don't need to worry about strange combos. I can see myself investing in this one over time!