Ascension

[Papias]

In the Mender Ramiel arc, Power Overwhelming, we get a glimpse of the power of Ascension, and it felt glorious. It would be really cool to have an story arc to achieve permanent ascension for level 50 incarnate characters that we want to retire to this lofty level. These characters should not be allowed to join teams or leagues since it would likely result in perceived game imbalances. 

Edited May 18, 2023 by Papias

[TheZag]

There might end up with more missions that use the effect but permanent in any form wont happen.  Some players have completionist toons that would get locked out if they did this and then couldn't complete new content going forward.  It would basically be a im done with this toon and ready to delete it mission.

 

[Papias]

22 minutes ago, TheZag said:

There might end up with more missions that use the effect but permanent in any form wont happen.  Some players have completionist toons that would get locked out if they did this and then couldn't complete new content going forward.  It would basically be a im done with this toon and ready to delete it mission.

 

They could still solo the new content from Ouroboros missions if they want to experience it.

[Greycat]

While it's amusing for one very short mission, I'm in the camp of those who'd absolutely hate it - even before getting to the "permanently retire" and "can't join teams." (I tend to just zip to the mender and hit the dialog trees because after the first time or two, it's just not that interesting any more to me.)

 

(Also, as far as "just ouro it" for new content - doesn't help if it's a task force.)

 

Plus I could see any permanent change like that causing problems down the line - I'm an altaholic, I've got a ton of characters, but I could see someone doing this to a favourite character and then... "Wait, I can't join my friends doing stuff? How do I undo this?" being an issue.

[Papias]

4 hours ago, Greycat said:

While it's amusing for one very short mission, I'm in the camp of those who'd absolutely hate it - even before getting to the "permanently retire" and "can't join teams." (I tend to just zip to the mender and hit the dialog trees because after the first time or two, it's just not that interesting any more to me.)

 

(Also, as far as "just ouro it" for new content - doesn't help if it's a task force.)

 

Plus I could see any permanent change like that causing problems down the line - I'm an altaholic, I've got a ton of characters, but I could see someone doing this to a favourite character and then... "Wait, I can't join my friends doing stuff? How do I undo this?" being an issue.

What if Ascension powers were disabled when teaming? Or perhaps keep Ascension powers enabled for groups if Ascended content were ever added in the future.

Edited May 18, 2023 by Papias

[Rudra]

Or perhaps we don't grant post-game timeline powers that render all foes completely harmless and defenseless to players for general use?

 

Edit: If the intent is to retire characters at that goal of omnipowerful, then we can just retire the character when we finish going full incarnate and declare they achieved that power. Delete character and make a new one, or place somewhere to mark it has ascended to full omni-god status and leave it there.

Edited May 18, 2023 by Rudra

[FupDup]

There are a few other missions that give you uber god powers. The two I know of are the last mission in Vincent Ross' arc (redside) and the last mission of Pandora's Box Part 5 (you have to kill the Warhulks to get it). 

 

As for making that permanent...gonna say probably not to that. 

[Papias]

I've been playing around with the Playtest Buff power on Brainstorm. Its less than 1/20 the buff of Limitless Radial Freeeeem from the Mender Ramiel arc. However, I am still finding it very fun. Perhaps something like this could be a good starting Ascension power or final Incarnate power.

Edited May 19, 2023 by Papias

[Bionic_Flea]

You can experience that rush in the game now!  Steps to follow:

 

1.  Get to level 50

2. Trick out your level 50 with your favorite incarnate powers, especially Judgment.

3. Go to Perez Park, Hollows, Boomtown, or other similar low level hazard zone.

4.  Let it rip!

 

Especially fun is using knockback powers to try to send them over buildings!

[Papias]

13 minutes ago, Bionic_Flea said:

You can experience that rush in the game now!  Steps to follow:

 

1.  Get to level 50

2. Trick out your level 50 with your favorite incarnate powers, especially Judgment.

3. Go to Perez Park, Hollows, Boomtown, or other similar low level hazard zone.

4.  Let it rip!

 

Especially fun is using knockback powers to try to send them over buildings!

Thanks for your helpful and well thought out suggestion. However, on careful reflection, I'll stick with the direction that the original developers were trying to take us. On the QA at the end of the original game, Positron made it clear that the power in the Mender Ramiel arc was the intended power for ascension.

[Luminara]

Null the Gull grants that level of power, on request.  And a badge.

[Rudra]

2 hours ago, Papias said:

Thanks for your helpful and well thought out suggestion. However, on careful reflection, I'll stick with the direction that the original developers were trying to take us. On the QA at the end of the original game, Positron made it clear that the power in the Mender Ramiel arc was the intended power for ascension.

I don't recall Positron saying the way our characters were in that mission of the Mender Ramiel arc ever being a planned final state for our characters. Just that our characters would progressively become more powerful on their journey to that level. Do you have a link or reference I can check that shows Positron intended our characters to actually have that level of power? Because I'm pretty sure the Live devs had no intention of ever getting our characters to that actual level of power except in very specific missions.

[Greycat]

And Incarnates were generally just going  to be the grind the game didn't have for so long on the "Hey, new zone/enemies that make your old gear obsolete!" they way they were described, with each additional tree (with its own "currencies" of merits and different sort of XP/iXP/AIxp/XXXTREEMExp/whatever.) The very Korean-MMO type grind that we didn't have (or need) to that point - don't forget, when we went "freemium," all that was locked behind having to be subscribed, too.

 

Yes, we were going to go from Incarnate to Ascended to Transcended to whatever else, probably a COH 2 that didn't have all that scabbed on (and don't get me started on the ridiculous, annoying Battalion storyline.) They didn't have an end point mapped out for this that we know of.

 

As far as "what if they were only enabled for that content?" On the one hand, that should frankly have been what happened with Incarnates, or at *least* they should have been *majorly* watered down - I'd give "Alpha's always active" as a cookie for making it. But you'd then have the devs having to create content for a smaller and smaller segment of the player base. On the other, you'll have people who *have* gotten tier-whatever of those powers complaining they can't use them in (say) ITF, or (again) having to segment it so they're only active in ... I don't know, eight-star difficulty.

[Saiyajinzoningen]

no thanks this is the ultimate power creep

[Ruin Mage]

On 5/19/2023 at 9:44 AM, Papias said:

Positron made it clear that the power in the Mender Ramiel arc was the intended power for ascension.

Source?

[nihilii]

The Ascension mission mechanics feel pretty boring to me. You're capped on every stat, and you get a huge DoT tied to every attack. So in the end nothing in your native powers matters, except having extremely fast animating attacks with low recharge.

The last Pandora's Box mission FupDup mentioned is a great deal more fun. Gradual power increases, stacked together boosting you to godhood.

Edited May 23, 2023 by nihilii

[Arc-Mage]

If this was to happen I fear you would turn into the equivalent of a Force Ghost from Star Wars Galaxy. Something that is part of the game but can not actually play any content.