Comicsluvr

A few points I wish to make before I begin:

1) Studies seem to indicate that if a person receives a negative response to an action or effort he/she tells ten people about it. This is negative advertising.

2) Similar studies seem to indicate that if a person receives a positive response to an action or effort he/she tells ten people about it. This is positive advertising.

Now, with all this being said, I would do the following:

1) Hire a fifth person (preferably Arcana). Clearly the City of Hotties team is incapable of even the most basic quality control (my chosen field btw) otherwise they would have seen that SC was grossly overpowered during Test or (gasp!) even initial development. If you FIX the problem before it leaves the design room then it's not a problem and doesn't NEED fixing.

2) Said person begins the same Forum Judo that was mentioned on Page 1...comparing the numbers of Cannon with it's closest power and claiming that in certain circumstances the other power is even better. Issues a challenge to others to prove him wrong (which will send the ultra-competitive twitch players into a feeding frenzy for about a week). Post the real numbers after 5 pages of hotly-contested debate claiming that the team has devoted exhaustive time to balace the power (which is not a lie since this was obviously done before it was released. Just omitting the facts about the timing of the work...).

3) Said person then crafts a modest buff to #3 which might take 4 months to accomplish alone but since it affects a small percentage of the players and they seem happy anyway nothing lost there.

4) The initial team fixes #1 before it becomes a problem that THEN needs to be addressed, making the whole team look stoopid because they do this for a living and yet managed to make such a terrible blunder. Removes a potential negative blowback from players later which, in the long run, is a net positive.

5) Send the lead designer for SC home for a weekend with math homework. It was his responcibility to catch it in the first place. A little scolding is warranted.

6) Raise the jiggle factor if the system can handle it. Since 95% of the players are 15-25 year old men this will please the largest portion of the player base with the least chance of negative feedback. It will distract most from any hiccups in #1, give the folks NOT involved in the debate over #2 something to talk about and likely won't affect the players in #3 at all.

When you run so close to schedule versus man-hours of work needed people hurry and mistakes are made. Having even one extra pair of eyes looking at things can help catch a host of problems before they become REAL problems. The profit margin might suffer on the short term but in the long run players will be happier with the better-quality product, tell their friends about how few bugs there are and so forth. This has the potential of raising the player base and slowing the departure of players devoted to the game but frustrated by the constant mistakes.

Btw in my several years on these forums this is one of the best threads I've seen. Praise to the OP.

U have seen them placed in altars and desks before. With care you may even be able to submerge it completely since the click has a short range as opposed to an actual surface. This needs to be confirmed though.

I have dashed headlong into battle thinking the team was behind me only to be left alone way too often. One friend commented 'Oh no! They pulled Comicsluvr!'

It's a common joke with us.

Believe it or not part of it might be theme. I simply don't build characters I can't form a solid theme for. Now an Ice/Dark I can figure out (lord of the frozen underworld?) but some folks may shy away from not being able to put the theme together.

Or they're so busy with the other uber builds they haven't gotten around to it yet

Please don't try to bring the real world into the game. Otherwise my AR Blaster will cry when he shoots targets closer than 600 yds...

One thing to realize is that your teammates might notice your playstyle as well as the uber build.

I've been on PUGs where one player, not the most powerful or most aggressive, stood out to me. Not the character, but the player. He's the one who always says GJ when someone levels or lets others get the glowie or says 'Hey I found a badge! Anyone else want it?' etc. He contributes to the team through his play style, not his toon.

Someone like that can add to ANY team no matter what they play. If their build is uber too then all the better.

I used to help fledgling MM players when I first started Redside. I started an all-MM event called MasterMind Mondays and even had a Dev show up once. I helped other MM players who were having trouble and I felt great doing it. I still team with some of them on occasion and we still chat about those days.

Having an uber character is only part of being recognized and remembered. The greater share come from how you play, not what you play.

Years ago my friends and I played a variety of RPGs. We were a pretty tight group and whenever one game closed another would open and, schedules allowing, we all knew who would be involved.

One of my more astute friends realized that we were becoming too cut off from outsiders. We didn't know a lot of other gamers but we knew a few and they were good people. He started this grand scheme of running three games at a time with three different GMs all on the same night in the same place. The three GMs would confer and interweave their plot lines and even swap players from time to time. We all met a wider group of people and had more friends because of it.

I'm not saying that your friend is wrong to prefer playing only with established friends but as you said he met YOU through one of his rare PUGs years ago didn't he? If it can happen once it can happen again.

I don't love the various TFs and Trials because I've been on some teams in the past where I was derided for being the new guy and not knowing what was going on. I know how this sort of attitude can sour a game fast and I left for over a year because of it.

But for every jerk out there you can find many good players and even a few real gems. The people you invite to your SG and chat with during the game.

Perhaps the sheer size of the Trial Leagues is too much of a shock. My first MS raid was a bit intimidating and Leagues can be the same. Perhaps what you should try to do is bring in ONE new player...someone one of your circle knows and trusts to not be rude. Play with him (boy that sounds wrong...) for a while and let everyone get used to the idea. If it works out then add another. Only bring in people you reccomend or are reccomended by people you know and respect.

There's nothing wrong with only wanting to play with good friends. But there's also nothing wrong with making your circle of good friends bigger. I cannot imagine having a whole league made up of friends of mine but I bet it would be a great feeling if it all went well.

I have too many of these to recount them all but one stands out:

I was on my Brute Warmaster Mars. I was a relatively new player and was asked to join a RP SG with a very rich background and theme. So I'm the new guy running an arc with the founders of the SG and we're getting creamed. I stood over the bodies of the fallen, refusing to run despite them telling me to do so. I fought like a demon, used every Insp I had and won the day with about 25 HP left. Praise was lauded on me by my peers for my courage and skill.

Then as I hit Rest I realized that I'd accidentally dragged it over Self-Destruct instead in the fighting.

I survived the most hellish fighting in front of a great crew only to blow myself up.

Yeah, I lock my control bars now lol!

Thanks very much everyone. It sounds like a nice set with some different mechanics. Now if I can just come up with a good theme lol.

In the midst of all the Incarnate hype I've decided to try a Kinetic Melee Brute. I was looking at Mids and the Power Siphon ability in the KM set has me a bit confused. As described the power "...modifies your other Kinetic Attack Powers so they are now capable of draining the strength of your enemies and adding that strength to you. This effect can stack up to five times."

Firstly, the Recharge/Duration cycle prevents PS from stacking at all so I'm a bit lost there.

Secondly, how exactly does the 'draining the strength of your enemies' thing work?

I like the look of the set and I'll be coupling it with SR because I have few SR toons and they seem to fit well. Just trying to understand the new stuff.

Thanks in advance for the help.

Ever since I started seeing the softer crashes of some of the other T9s (like WP) I've hoped for an Invul upgrade. It's fine for the last few percent of an AV...but if I've survived that long why do I suddenly need it?

It's the power in my Invul builds that I skip which, as was said above, is sad for a T9. Maybe after we get some more Incarnate content the Devs can take another pass at it. Unlike a whole new set it can't be THAT hard to rebalance an existing power.

The whole Thread/Shard thing is designed as an alternative path to Incarnate content. Mostly for solo players or people that for whatever reason don't like TFs.

The time span is slow for sure but not unreachable. But soloists should know that the Incarnate road is a long one.

I have LOTS of toons, some Resist, some Def, some both like Invul and WP. I know that being soft capped on Def is the end-all be-all for Def (like Elude) and Granite is pretty much the pinnacle of Resist.

I also know that there's LOTS of -Def in the game. How about -Resist? I actually prefer Resist toons to Def ones for some reason but I wonder how much -Resist is out there and in what form?

Thanks in advance.

I've been on a few Superteams and even a few PUGs where the sheer pile of debuffs made the team roll.

However now I'm running an Ice/Cold Defender with Snow Storm and as I team and solo my way up I can't help thinking if I'm not wasting my time on some of the big targets.

My question is what's the top-end for debuffs, either toggle or click, for Bosses, EBs, AV,s and GMs? Will a single debuff do any good or will it take 3-4 (or more). Is it even worth using them against the biggest targets like Romi, States and Recluse? I know that most of them are AoE so they help against flunkies near the target but as for the big honcho are they doing any good or are they too resistant?

I want a /Rad MM.

And a /Sonic MM.

All I'm gonna say.