Starhammer

So for today's update, Feb 14, you have a small Typo... *Entrusted dotting i's and crossing t's and the like...

That's neat, but I was referring to the name display over a character's head, not the chatbox.

The difference between military RANK and game LEVEL is that upon gaining a promotion, someone in the military doesn't have their accuracy or durability automatically increase. It is absolutely not the same thing. Similarly, JOB TITLE LEVEL 3 does not make you more competent at your job description than you were at JOB TITLE LEVEL 2. Hopefully, the title was awarded upon proof of increased competence or dependability, but it might also just mean having the right cousin, or blackmail photos. Either way, the back and forth is gaining nobody anything, unless the desire is to teach me I should shut up and stay off the boards.

It's not just the expense of the enhancements themselves, but so little time is spent between 1-22, it's often pointless to do more than throw some DO acc in the attack powers before you reach worthwhile IO levels. But yeah, I agree, something "alternative" is better than merely "better"

I'd like if we had an option to color our character names, say using the same interface as we use for chat channels and titles. A lot of folks use help setting to alter their character name color (I've done so myself) but it puts a Helper, Help Me, or Roleplaying tag on the character that may not actually be relevant. Having the option to edit name colors without that would likely eliminate many inappropriately used tags, and also allow things like coordinating the color of a character name with an outfit or increasing/decreasing visibility (what I expect f often the intended purpose currently) Obviously, team and league membership would still take precedence as they currently do.

There's quite a few brooches I would use by themselves for some costumes if it was an option.

Something I'd love to see would be a SG setting to allow a member's entire @Global roster to share their member character's access/permissions. That would prevent much of the need for roster size increase and probably the need for a lot of coalitions too. Even without that, having a character's @Global handle be listed on the Supergroup window would be nice.

The problem here is that it's not long before most characters are using IOs exclusively anyway. Before committing the development resources to altering dropped enhancements, we'd need them to be more useful than IOs. which of course would undermine the existence of IOs. I think what I'd find most useful is a "setting" in START or with Null to automatically "sell" loot enhancements (convert directly to sale price inf upon receipt), and just never deal with them again from that point forward. I suppose another direction, which might make origins feel relevant again, would be to make Origin-specific IOs with some themed bonus. That also seems more complicated than I want to think about now though.

"Levels" are an illusion. They are a game tool, not something that should be considered by lore or descriptive environment. What level are you? What level is your mom? What level is the dog next door? What level is the bouncer at that club? Whether Superman is level 1 or 50, thugs are gray to him. Bullets are meaningless. But some chump with a Lexcorps Kryptonite Laser (Quantum Blaster) might ruin his day. Whether Batman is level 1 or level 50, a rough encounter with a SWAT guy might leave him with a dislocated shoulder and cracked ribs, or he might wrestle literal gods and win. And yet, these two beings are still on par with each other.

I do hope this is just an oversight that will be corrected, but the new Spring auras seem to be missing from Soldiers of Arachnos.

That is the standard of dissent we should all strive for 🙂

So in reference to the NeoTokyo thing, I have a (truncated) copy of some suggestions regarding this from the old Live boards. This may or may not be of interest 🙂

I'd like to see new Day Jobs for Gambler and Construction Worker. I'm not really picky about the bonus they'd provide, but something to do with an inf buff would make sense. Construction Workers get good pay hence maybe a stable % buff to inf earned, and Gamblers might get a % chance to double inf like a short Windfall. Neither needs to be significant really, I just want the day job badges.

Every armor set should have a min FX option. Wherever possible, form should be divorced from function, leaving the invisible math behind the scenes and putting the descriptive assets in the player's control.

This would be a nice addition to the S.T.A.R.T. vendor, in the same way you can purchase a restriction on what inspirations drop for you. That way, those who might find it useful could get it, while everyone else could keep things as they are.

What I 'want' is wholesale, yes, as was suggested by someone, similar to what we see in some other games like ESO, (and to a lesser extent, SWTOR & STO) and so on. We gain levels and advance our abilities, and the world around us keeps itself morphed to our level rather than us having to be in the right place (or engage in dysfunctional extra steps) to be its level. What I'm suggesting, considering the resistance to wholesale change, is doing this to a few specific factions, maybe to certain story arcs (Ganymede and Scratch's Spring Fling missions would be a good test bed, requiring only 3 factions that already function across the full level range, so minimum consequence for trying it out), or even to a specific zone (I think Cimerora would be a neat place for it, especially considering the relatively small number of enemies that would need to be changed... but a new zone built around a Moon Base complex with both space station and an underground ocean where Neptune has been building an army to reclaim the Earth would also be good) in order to allow more folks to get used to the idea slowly, and as they inevitably realize they didn't actually lose anything besides nuking grays, continue the project forward over the years until it becomes the default, especially for new content. Things like sidekicking and Ouroboros were workarounds for a problem. They each addressed it in their own way, but they were not really a solution. Don't get me wrong, they're both significant improvements, especially sidekicking as it stands. They just aren't quite enough. This is, in my opinion, a better way and how it should have been done from the start. Obviously it wasn't, and now the spaghetti code is baked into the lasagna as it were, but using this as a new workaround could eventually replace the need to fix the unsatisfactory default.

That was part of my idea as presented too.

Some of the standard melee sets already include (short) ranged attacks, Claws, Spines, and now Axe. A Lunge could also fill the role of one of these attacks, adding more examples of "ranged" potential already in melee. This idea is just an evolution on that. It's still primarily a melee set idea, not half & half like Dom Assault or VEATs. Just Melee with options. I find I'm always trying to add a ranged attack or two for runners and the like, and for holding purple sets. This also helps ensure, if they're built into the set from the start, that they're thematically appropriate to the melee set, as opposed to being a Nemesis Staff or something. Also, Rebirth calls them Guardians? My mistake, I thought they were calling them Paladins. I'm not very knowledgeable of Rebirth, just a few of the rumors. I still like Guardians better, but Wardens would do the job.

So every so often (usually under a different name used on another server group) discussion arises about an AT using Support/Melee powersets. This is just some thoughts on that. I would prefer "Guardian" as an AT name over "Paladin" Even setting aside potential (probably unlikely) confusion with the Clockwork Paladin, I feel like "Paladin" has a bit of a medieval fantasy theme almost hardcoded into it at this point (The AT certainly isn't going to be an armored artillery cannon [if you don't get that reference, don't worry about it, just ask one of your Army buddies later]). "Guardian" is a lot more open to thematic interpretation. Even using Melee and Support sets, I would like to see some differences in power selection compared to standard versions. For one thing, while I would like to see the melee sets be more or less what other Melee ATs use, I would like to see at least one ranged attack built into the mix, preferably at Tier 2. Something thematically appropriate to the rest of the set. Energy Bolt for Energy Melee, Throwing Dagger for Broadsword, things like that. Perhaps Mace could have a Pistol attack (Police baton idea for the mace. It leans a little more specific than I prefer, but I feel like at least one of them should come with a gun). And a bit shorter range, like Sentinel's 60 feet. Enough for engagement and smacking runners, allowing more variety in tactics without being a dependency. Also a container for Ranged Damage purples. Perhaps at mid-high tier, a shorter ranged (again, 40' like Sentinels) ranged AoE. So still a predominantly melee set that still feels a little different in usage from others. I think Melee should be the primary, but the damage should be somewhat higher than Tanks, yet lower than Scrappers. Furthermore, even if they didn't in other ATs, each Guardian Attack power should have some sort of debuff attached to it to lean into the Support role of the AT in general. For the Support secondary (Let's make them a smidge better than Controllers and Corrupters, but not as good as defenders) go with most of the same Support themes as already exist, but as a rule try to lean in on making every set have some point blank AoE powers. At least 1 click, at least 1 toggle. All buffs/heals should be self-effecting as well (This may require some rebalancing with bubbles of various sorts). Much like the attack has a pair of ranged powers, I'd like to see the support lose a pair of support powers in favor of two defensive powers (self only), one toggle, one auto. These two powers should each hold some status protections. Being designed to be in the thick of things, they should be a bit tougher than Defenders, even if not so much as ATs with proper armor sets. Some of the support sets already have PBAoE toggles that can be repurposed with little or no change to fill this need. As a note, no powers that would phase an enemy out of interaction. Those just feel like grief powers as is. For their AT power, I would suggest a passive PBAoE buff of significant radius, like 40-60 feet, that buffs the secondary effects of everyone's buff powers... so a boost to leadership, other support ATs, and so on. Obviously still affecting self also. They make everyone a little better at what they already do, but without having to click a button to do so. Epic/Patron pools should probably offer a bit of range/control and a defensive toggle that is weaker than what most ranged ATs get but offers a little more status protection and maybe some regen/recovery, along with a pet at Tier 5. These options let the character choose between filling in holes or supplementing what they already do. The best mix of variety, in my opinion. Anyway, just what I'd like to see. Your views may vary.

Having a /petcom* Leash [value] command would be a nice addition. Not only keeping them close during travel (having them also inherit your travel powers would be nice), but setting a range beyond which they will not stray even if set to attack aggressive.

I just wish we could expend a power selection on making the origin attack a real attack, taking slots and the like, and scaling through the full level range. Even at level 50, they have some use as is, but the ability to keep them fully relevant (at appropriate expense of course) would be very desirable. Stick it in the "Inherent" pool, and let players choose one of them at level 14, if they so desire.

I think the better solution is making weapon models proliferated throughout the other weapon sets, disregarding name and damage type. In this game, wherever possible, form should be divorced from function, putting the descriptive aspects of a character in the hands of the players. As for the 'gather' ability itself, I'd love to see this in a melee AT damage aura, such as armor sets with a Gravity, Hydro, or Weather theme.

I did. MMs are certainly less annoying to play now, but they still too often feel like an inventory management minigame.

I can't speak to AE functionality as knowledgeably as I'd like to. It's just not a subsystem of the game I've managed to dig into thoroughly. I do know that when you're building a custom enemy you're able to set the level range and choose what powers it has access to, which determines how much xp it will provide. But let's look at the hordes supporting the GMs in the War of the Vale in Croatoa. They do not seem overwhelming when fighting them at low levels (any more than such numbers would seem overwhelming in any other content in level appropriate zones) nor do they feel irrelevant as a threat at high levels (any more than any level appropriate content in standard zones). They feel like they fit the situation, no matter what level you are. The same feels true of the Clockwork trying to build the Paladin in KR. I can't just stand there with a lev 50 damage aura and go afk, knowing they'll pop like mosquitos on a bug zapper, but low level characters can also take part and contribute meaningfully. The Spring Fling missions also show content allowing the full range of character levels (well maybe not level 1s and such) to be quite functional. Does a full team of 50+ characters steamroll it? yeah, but they do that to everything anyway, so they're as much an outlier to the topic as level 1s. But it's something everyone in the middle can take part in, being meaningful and relevant, without having to engage in some workaround like altering your own level with a local TF (which still leaves you restricted in where you can go without having to change it every time you zone, or whom you can team with.) The wedding event that was just released reinforces my view on this, and compels me to say all named NPC heroes and villains should also be on this list (even moreso than the omnipresent groups). Ultimately, I feel very strongly that making more content accessible and relevant to more characters in more places is good for the game.

Suggesting a non-solution is rude. It's trolling at best. I'll be adding you to ignore now.