Is Origin (magic, natural etc.) pointless

[Sergio]

I assume in the dark distant past it had some point but I cant for the life of me see the purpose of it now. You get some freebie weapon like Tranq Dart that it too weak for even a level 2 villain.

Or is there some very important element of the game I haven't quite stumbled upon.

[EmmySky]

I make mine all natural (except a very few that predate this practice) because its just easier.  Old days: it directed your starting contacts and store choices.  Back then I was mostly magic because I knew where the stores were lol.  Now I agree with you, I dont see as how it matters much.

[Shadowsleuth]

 

As @EmmySky mentioned it would determine your starting contacts (with each contact having a different enemy type for you to fight).

 

On live I avoided Science & Tech origin because it meant you would be fighting either Clockwork or Vahz, and at the low levels before your powers were slotted up those weren't great things to be fighting. (Being hit with toxic or mez on a lowbie isn't fun.)

 

Give me Hellions, Skulls or Circle of Thorns over that any day.

[quixoteprog]

It also determined which enhancements you could use once you started using DOs and then SOs. And mobs of different origins are more likely to drop enhancements associated with their origin. Clockwork drop tech stuff more than other things. That was one of the reasons your starting contacts were aligned with your origins.

 

The problem is that because you don't have all that much storage on your person, and in the beginning you did not have bases and stuff, it has always been so much easier to just sell all your stuff at a store and then buy enhancements when you levelled up every five levels that the need to do any sort of trading and thus generate an economy never materialized.

 

I think with the creation of the IOs and sets this came about. But still is not all that compelling.

[SaintD]

It determined your starting contacts, which no longer matters, which D/O and S/O enhancements you use, which no longer matters (because you should be making I/Os), and your starting newbie power.

So no, it basically doesn't matter. Consider it an RP choice that goes with your concept.

Quick note, however. Your starting newbie power gets a massive bonus to damage that drops off as you go up in levels. Up to about level 5 it is almost certainly going to be the most powerful attack you have.

[Roderick]

It determines which set of titles you have access to at level 25. Other than that, it doesn't do much any more. It doesn't even matter for your origin temp power, because you can just go to P2W, revoke the one you were granted, and pick the one you want. It does affect which Veteran Powers from P2W get the origin bonus, so if you plan on using your Nemesis Staff or Blackwand frequently, pick an origin that matches it.

[Luminara]

Origin powers offer a small degree of additional flexibility.

 

Example:  Oil Slick Arrow can only be ignited by fire or energy damage.  Creating a tech or magic */TA or TA/* character means one can select any primary or secondary available without sacrificing the ability to ignite OSA, or relying on procs or limited-use temp powers.

 

So no, they are not pointless, or outdated.  As with everything in this game, nothing is truly worthless, merely less valuable to some and more valuable to others.

[Rathulfr]

2 hours ago, Luminara said:

Example:  Oil Slick Arrow can only be ignited by fire or energy damage.

 

I thought they changed that so that almost any damage can ignite the Oil Slick?  I could be wrong, though.  *shrug*

 

[Williwaw]

No, still only energy and fire.

 

What they *did* change here is that you can trade out your Origin power at the P2W vendor, so you can grab the Tech or Magic Origin power regardless of what your Origin actually is.

Edited December 9, 2019 by Williwaw

[Extor Prime]

Mostly flavor.

[Xeres]

Like others said it doesn't matter that much anymore., but I still like having it in the game.

[Nafsmar]

For some reason my characters are predominately science origin. Maybe has something to do with my love of Spider-man. Who knows. The West Coast avengers brought me to Marvel but Spidy kept me there.

[Tahliah]

All of my toons are magic origin because it's easier for me to remember which Nem staff / Blackwand to get and which store to go to.  Back in the day, you had to unlock origin-specific contacts and complete their arcs, so I always chose magic, then, too, so I would remember where to go and what to do.  Nowadays, you can just pop an enhancement guy or gal in your base, and you're set. 

 

I think that role players and people who put a lot of thought into their toons' backstory and bio care about this, but for practical purposes, I'm not sure origin matters all that much.

[merrypessimist]

For the record you can pick which version of the nemesis staff/blackwand you get regardless of origin.  So even a science type can get the knockback free Blackwand with the origin bonus, and if for some reason a Magic character wanted a spinning knockback want it could pick the origin bonus Nemestaff. 

[RikOz]

I usually have some RP reason (if only in my own mind) for the origin I pick. Or thematic reasons. For example, I have a "supergroup" made up of twelve of my alts; they're all Science origin because they all got their powers from a super serum created by the team leader. The lone exception in the group is Natural origin, because she's a Martian and was already a trained warrior (Broadsword/Shield) who didn't need any superpowers, and the fact that she's not human meant the serum wouldn't have worked on her anyway. She's a member because she was already a personal friend of the team leader. (Actually, there's a mutant in the group, but that was a mis-click when I rerolled her after I decided I didn't like her original powers, so for RP purposes she's still Science.)

Edited December 11, 2019 by RikOz

[Sir Myshkin]

I love how most people are just repeating the same response, but in different ways. The diversity of our players 🤣

 

I remember my first character origin being Mutant, running around and playing for a bit, then rolling another one and deciding to do Magic, and noticing (eventually in the 20's) that there were very specific looks for each of the SO's. My second character I ended up (apparently) experiencing a lot of Magic-oriented enemy groups as I ended up with a lot of Magic SO's. What's interesting about that fact, for me--and why it stuck--is those ones are (imo) the simplest to identify and clearly see their color (yellow=accuracy, etc). Going forward I decided to make all of my characters, no matter what, into Magic Origin because I wanted their SO's to be simply identifiable.

 

Fast forward to Homecoming I made a Robotics/Kin MM as... /em drumroll Magic Origin! I got a /tell a week in to someone going "Interesting Bio, how does that whole tech thing turn into Magic? Like Magic granted or...?"

 

I was like, "What? ...Ooooooh. About that..."

 

So these days it's really about thematic choice, and the illusion that it gives towards the meaning and idea behind the characters more than anything. And easy SO colors.

[Megajoule]

It's pure flavor now, but flavor is important to me.  I wouldn't want to eat the same thing every day, especially not if it's unsalted crackers or rice cakes. 😉

[SaintD]

As meaningless as it is, I too always have my origin match the character regardless. I have, in fact, deleted and remade characters at low levels because I made a mistake with their origin or otherwise wanted to change it.

If my character is magic origin with cyborg arms, there's gonna be a damn good reason for it in the bio.

[Erydanus]

On ‎12‎/‎9‎/‎2019 at 6:32 AM, Sergio said:

You get some freebie weapon like Tranq Dart that it too weak for even a level 2 villain.

That's actually not true. The starter powers like that were buffed to do significant damage and rapidly diminish with leveling up. At level 2 they're still very strong, maybe enough to 1 shot an even level minion. But they should do good enough damage to be worth using through your first DFB, for instance. And with only 1 maybe 2 actual AT attack powers, it's a nice fill.

[Bill Z Bubba]

On 12/11/2019 at 5:54 AM, SaintD said:

As meaningless as it is, I too always have my origin match the character regardless. I have, in fact, deleted and remade characters at low levels because I made a mistake with their origin or otherwise wanted to change it.

If my character is magic origin with cyborg arms, there's gonna be a damn good reason for it in the bio.

 

A whole buncha this. Happily, the vast majority of my characters are tied into my Diabolical Hierarchy so magic gets chosen but for the few that aren't tied to that, origin must match powersets/costume.

[Williwaw]

On 12/11/2019 at 12:54 PM, SaintD said:

As meaningless as it is, I too always have my origin match the character regardless. I have, in fact, deleted and remade characters at low levels because I made a mistake with their origin or otherwise wanted to change it.

If my character is magic origin with cyborg arms, there's gonna be a damn good reason for it in the bio.

My first Brute (Elec/Invuln) was loosely based on Black Adam, but I saw the Robot Arms in the costume creator and used that to build the character, forgetting to change the origin.

 

So in the end his backstory picked up other elements.  His actual powers are magical, while the cybernetics are a life support system, due to being grievously injured, even more than his invulnerability could prevent or repair.  Since he'd been a hero, he was given crude-looking cybernetic parts meant to be temporary until the new sleek ones were finished, but the whole thing broke his mind and he turned to a life of villainy.  (Then, when Going Rogue was introduced, I had him slowly crawling his way back to heroism - he was a Rogue when the game closed)

 

He was one of my favorite characters, primarily because of messing up his Origin.  I don't know why I haven't recreated him here.

[Troo]

@Sergio as related to button mashing and pure numbers origin currently does have little impact. Especially as related to higher level content.

 

That said, origin does play into many player character's backstory or origin story.

Also as others have said, for much of the game, it does still play into enhancements and origin powers.  Specific enemy group can drop certain origin dual origin (DO) or single origin (SO) enhancements.

 

It has a marginal impact on the game. Especially compared to selecting archetypes and play style.

[Tahliah]

On 12/9/2019 at 10:03 PM, merrypessimist said:

For the record you can pick which version of the nemesis staff/blackwand you get regardless of origin.  So even a science type can get the knockback free Blackwand with the origin bonus, and if for some reason a Magic character wanted a spinning knockback want it could pick the origin bonus Nemestaff. 

I knew you could pick either option, but i did not know that origin bonus worked if your origin did not match the choice.  Great to know, thanks! 

 

I pick both, but I get the origin bonus only on the Blackwand.  Can I get the bonus on both or just one or the other?

[Lost Ninja]

7 hours ago, Tahliah said:

I knew you could pick either option, but i did not know that origin bonus worked if your origin did not match the choice.  Great to know, thanks! 

 

I pick both, but I get the origin bonus only on the Blackwand.  Can I get the bonus on both or just one or the other?

AFAIK You can only buy one with a bonus and one without.

 

I tend to pick natural as it can have either bonuses: Nemesis is Sci, Tech, Natural and Wand is Mutant, Magic, Natural. Though as I tend to AE through the first 20 levels these days I tend not to even buy them.

[merrypessimist]

12 hours ago, Lost Ninja said:

AFAIK You can only buy one with a bonus and one without.

 

 

Yeah, you get ONE bonus power and one no bonus power.  Which is which is your call when you buy them.