BBQ_Pork

How much personallity can we really breathe into the Arbiters when the first thing we do is go straight into the training screen, take our power/slots, then run off?
We could change the flavor text a bit, but with identical uniforms and most people unlikely to click on "ask about this contact", there's not much.

Replacing the Arbiters with new and upcoming Destined Ones? Is Arachnos losing it's touch and needing to outsource? Sign of weakness. Send in more Longbow, it's invasion time.

People hate what they don't understand?

Seriously, just USING the Market to sell your drops (at "Sell it now!" prices) allows any character to be financially self-sufficient and fully equipped with functional enhancements.

Being fully equiped with pretty-darn-good IO's: Slightly more effort.
Being fully equiped with the topmost-tier IO's (PVP/Purple): Significantly more effort (talk about diminishing returns!), but doable without resorting to third parties.

There is already an effective price cap. It just happens to be 2 Billion, rather than 1 million.
Sorry, Blackwell, but I believe that your idea is not based on a full understanding of the Market.
Your perspective of what a "Large" sum is is different than mine. That's okay, but you've tried to put in a price cap that is far less than the $Inf cap for a character and I don't believe that it would work.

BTW, your attempt to brand any disagreement with your (flawed) idea as belonging to "Gold miners and hoarders" is trollish. Hopefully unintentionally so. Your idea should stand or fall on it's own merit, not on passive-aggresive posturing based on assumptions about those who will want to discuss your idea.

Lower-level characters CAN afford those expensive recipes for the most part*. Anything that they can slot (i.e. is no more than +3 to thier level) has a chance for dropping for them. The Random Number Generator being what it is, they will eventually recieve recipes/loot that they can sell for equivalent prices to what they want. Sell your drops.
*possible exceptions include, but are not limited to Respec Recipes. But then again, at low levels you can use Vetspecs, Reroll or wait until L24+ and run a Trial. So no great loss.

My global name is the same as one of my less eloquent heroes, having him as the "Press Agent" or such for the rest of them, (or even my villians) would be silly.

I've been thinking about the "generic statue with plaque idea" and have a few more details that I'd like on it.

There would be maybe a half-dozen statues in a prominent area in a populous zone. We're not going to turn this into city of statues.

1) Not all of your characters deserve statues. Should you be able to run up to a statue and click on it to see that it's dedicated to that L1 that you rolled up 6 months ago to name-squat? No. It should be one of your L50's who has done something for the city. I would say that he/she should have a few mission accomplishment badges as well. As much as the AE can be a legitimate method of leveling, a character that spent his whole career training hasn't actually done anything in the public eye.
2) The plaque under a generic statue should only tie to a character of yours that has the same basic bodytype as the statue. Otherwise, you can get a result of clicking on a Galaxy Girl type statue and seeing it dedicated to your Invuln/SS Tank "Macho McSmasher". Wow, didn't know he had such a sweet rack.

3) Lord Recluse wouldn't allow statues built in anyone's honor except his own. Sorry redsiders, but adding this in the Isles is going to be a bit of a stretch. Might need the "Usurper" badge at the very least, and then there would only be one statue. What one body-type would this single statue be?
I'd go with having it covered in scaffolding and tarps as it is a very recent piece still in construction, with it's body type obscured. Clicking on the plaque gives you the following message:

Yes, blueside gets the NPC comments too. The OP wants something just a little....more.

NPC reactions? Sure, certainly. They already can react to being rescued from a mugging, or comment about us as we are heading from a mission to the Market/trainer/etc.

Statues? I'd say no. I'm not trying to be argumentative, but there would either be statues on every single block in every zone or there would be a lot of folks left out.
There would be fewer statues if it were server-specific, but then you run into the problem of maintaining seperate databases for each server, or so I've heard.
The other alternative is for it to throw up a few very crude statues, remember your characters names as you log in and when you click on the plaque:

I can deal with the lightness of the story arcs, but the worst part for me was a single mission.
"Hey, dude." my contact addresses me. "Go beat up Statesman for lulz."
"Really? Okay, any reason other than just because?"
"Nope. Just 'cus. He'll be in AP by the statue. I told him that you said he stunk like rotten potatoes and would meet him there after school."
"Um.....okay." I whipped both my Patron and Recluse, solo, so how bad could this be?
*Epic and repeated booty-kickings for me and two teammates.*
(Solved by teammate grabbing a L50 (mission was mid-40's) and having them take care of it. I couldn't even drop mission.)


Gee, thanks for reminding me that no matter what I do, I'm still nothing compared to a canon character at full power.
And it was just for the lulz of my contact. No story behind it, no nothing. Not even a badge, IIRC.

Don't make me pull this thread over, mister!

I'd be willing to go with (Badge but no Merits) or (Merits but no Badge) in exchange for being able to enjoy this additional content. Especially if I could choose one, then the other by running it twice. Maybe I feel like being a Force of One.

In the meantime, I can run the existing allowed-to-solo content and whatever the "One Random Arc" button gives me at the AE.

Sorry, Mr. Lucky666, but the prime reason for not wanting a PvP flag (like another game or two have) is the expectation that some would simply target non-PvPers with repeated and incessant duel requests, to the point of harassment and spamming.
Would this really happen? I don't know, but wouldn't be surprised if it did.
I'm pessimistic about human behavior in general, but that's me.

From a Pro-PvP side, I still think this is a bad idea for PvP, as it would allow PvP in all zones, dispersing the tiny PvP crowd even further by scattering them across all zones. If no two PvPers meet, then there simply is no PvP.
There is a flaw in my statement though. Through Global channels, and the Arena channel, PvPers could still organize amongst themselves to meet and engage in that which they enjoy. Would they? Sure, some would. There is/was organized times for PvP contests on certain servers for instance. See your server's forum to check.


With the PvPers scattered across all zones, and the PvP flag turned off, it would certainly be even easier to get Shivans and Nukes.
Would you have the flag forcibly set to "PvP-On" when I enter one of the current PvP zones?

Maybe. I never mess with chat logging.
Just editting the tabs on the chat box and adding/removing the various "channels" from the various tabs.

I like the idea of the Bank Robbery zone event, but think it should be rather low-key.
Not interfering with regular zone hunting like the zombie/rikti invasions do.
Just an "ALERT! Bank Robbery in progress in $zone!" popping up in the Events channel. A marker like the active mission marker would pop up and the villian car would zoom from the bank to a semi-random hideout. Defeat the armored vehicle (give it huge HP) before it gets to the hideout and get the badge. Like killing a GM.
PPD helicopters give chase, so you keep the location of the mobile object on your map.
Fail to kill it and it arrives at the hideout, spawning a few EB's that run into the hideout.
Now the game has changed.
Anyone entering the hideout has just entered a small-medium (office?) map where the EB's have holed up, along with thier cronies who have kidnapped a few hostages to guarantee thier release. Defeat the villians, free the hostages to get the reward. PPD set up roadblocks outside and a PPD SWAT team gathers. If no one rescues the hostages within X minutes, PPD swarm the entrance and the event is over.
If multiple teams enter the mission, they each get a seperate map and mission, but if any of them complete the mission, then the event is over and the PPD disperse. Other teams that have already started thier missions may complete thiers.

Redside, a similar concept may occur, as a minor villian robs from the bank (or a jewelry store or whatever) and the R.I.P. swarm in. You, as the villian you are, seek to steal the loot from the other villian out of classic villian greed.

After combat, scroll back through General Combat, Error, etc. All of them.
Theft of Essence: Chance for +End was showing up in the Healing Delivered/Healing Recieved channels.

So then, I assuming they fixed Energy Manipulator: Chance to Stun when slotted in Speed Boost? That's the only one I could think of, and it's been a while since that one came up.
(Was being used by a guy at the top of the ski slopes one year.)

How hot do you really want to look when you're going to be accosted by Trolls, Hellions and the like? Dress poorly, put on bad makeup and hope that all they want is your purse.

I agree with these.
Also: Weapon Customization for VEATs. My Crab desperately wants to spray a crowd down with a Tommy Gun.

Well, you wouldn't. At least not in any meaningful way. Even if the range of a melee attack were enhancable, the amount of distance that you would get out of +20% would be negligible.

Anyway, I believe, that at this point we are in agreement.
Yes to allowing Snipe sets in Assassin Strike.
It would allow another, inexpensive alternative in slotting these attacks.