IanTheM1

So in other words, IOs ruined the game. Got it.

Still, there are better ways of countering defense than giving them an I Win Button against it.

Then that's still terrible design. Defense should not be inexplicably nullified over other forms of mitigation. (Yes, I know the IDF have lots of -Regen floating around too.) I notice the IDF have all of two resistance debuffing enemies, in comparison.

Suddenly why exactly my /Stone Brute feels nearly useless running Lambda is clear.

At this point I'm forced to ask: Why do enemies even get +To Hit? As in, instead of +Acc?

To be fair, the grenades are a one use shot to cut Marauder's defenses. You'll probably still want to stock up with a few before he gets there, because otherwise the timing gets sketchy waiting for resupplies.

Still, it's pretty obvious that if you don't get enough acids as fast as possible and shut down the portals immediately, your chance of failure goes up drastically.

As for the time bonus: Every time you get 1 Grenade and 1 Acid, you get a little more bonus time to loot and I think it also bleeds over into the overall time limit to defeat Marauder. But I bet an entire league could swarm the labs and clean up within the base time limit. Then maybe cut back up to the warehouse to get a few grenades, maybe...

In before "lrn2play"...oh, dang.

Lambda was sold on being completable with an 8 man team, and the raid system is designed for PUGs. From what I saw those two are simply mutually exclusive.

There's also the fact of the matter that the molecular acid is so wildly more valuable and raid-altering that I'm tempted the next time I run to have the entire league or at least a much larger group raid the labs rather than split evenly.

It really wouldn't be nearly as bad as it is if the human bosses didn't spam battle drones. Without their hyper-stacked buffs, Marauder's horde might be surmountable.

I had thought it was directly brought up in the Family backgrounder, but all I found was this:

I swore it explicitly mentioned where the pure Superadine in Frost's possession came from, but evidently not.

However, more bits from the official launch-era timeline of Paragon City, 'Other Worlds Discovered':

and

While the Dark Watcher bit of the theory seems largely speculative, it's otherwise just connecting dots that are already there.

The $5 you placed in advance on the CoH pre-order went towards the cost of the box ($50 at launch, I think, right?). If you really did pay "extra" then I'm afraid you got ripped off by your retailer, not NCsoft/Paragon Studios.

I'm pretty sure that describes PVP in general.

The idea has potential. A streamlined PVP subsystem bringing to mind other competitive PC games could possibly work, and I would be inclined to try it, as a non-PVPer.

Though I do kind of agree that you're essentially building an entirely new game at that point. Sure, you'll be cutting out, say, a third of all powers...but then comes the headache of trying to balance them.

...It now dawns on me that PVP in general should really probably be handled on a power-by-power basis, but doing so is too time intensive for them to ever actually accomplish.

It's even better if the hostage is combat-active and is standing in the Caltrops. Have fun watching their health melt away while they stand there doing nothing.

It's been how many issues since unrescued NPCs started taking damage? That above all else is a bug I'd really like to see fixed already.

Seeing as how, IIRC, he was the primary creator of the game's initial story bible, I'm going to respectfully disagree.

Of course, all this talk about lore and story telling just makes me miss Manticore. :/

There is, for lack of a better name, what appears to be a Crocodile Isle (it really does look like a counterpart to Sharkhead) due south of Cap Au Diable. I have been waiting for them to do something with it since I6.

I've always suspected Hamidon is an Incarnate. It also nicely fixes/retcons/explains the, what was at the time, weird "Power of the Hamidon" bit from Lady Grey's TF.

A psychic attack? A joining of minds? Hmmmmmm.

But why would Hamidon willingly support an empire of technology and humanity? Because he gets a number of benefits from it.

1) Two of the greatest scientific minds in the world, working on potential useful projects. Such as the introduction of portal technology, allowing him to see and access more worlds yet to be devoured. There's also the question of just what technology powers Neuron's ability to clone Cole and his Incarnate-level power...

2) A puppet army to bait Primal Earth with. What better way to intentionally yet invisibly cripple the remaining strength of Praetoria by egging Primal Earth to come kick its butt. And if the IDF can weaken Primal Earth in the process...

3) A large chunk of the remainder of humanity, all in one place, and nice and oppressed. Enriche keeps their minds docile, allowing for easy introduction of the Will of the Earth when the time comes...

4) The Devil's greatest trick was convincing the world he was whupped by a tyrannical pretty boy, and locked away behind "totally reliable" sonic fencing, and turned into not much more than a boogeyman to scare people into putting their trust and faith in, oh yeah, the Devil.

In short, what I am in fact saying is...it's all a Hamidon Plot.

This is remarkably similar to something I came up with for a project I've been working on... However, in this case, it's too similar to set bonuses, and doesn't really validate origins. Origin doesn't seem to really do anything here other than presumably force you to jump through an extra hoop when crafting these boosts.

Sets need what, skippable powers? I vehemently disagree. Especially now that we're in the era of Inherent Fitness, a player should be interested in all of the powers in their sets, and never disappointed in their choices due to poorly designed ones.

I was under the impression that all they did was add the destroyer. Am I missing something?

Don't all Incarnate abilities work (well, apparently not level shifts, I've picked that much up) as long as you're not exemplared below level 50, regardless of what you're doing?

I suppose I could reconfigure my complaints into "Hey, I want something to do on my level 50s that isn't a raid" if I've been somehow misinformed.

Perhaps it was a poor word choice. I meant devalued as in Incarnate trials designed for low level Incarnates would be potentially made incredibly easier by higher level ones.

Regardless, my point is that those concerns are far more tangible than a solo path noticeably depopulating the team path.

I question how sound that premise is, though. My response to being forced into raid content, or grinding Vanguard Merits Mk. 3 is to simply not participate at all.

Would opening up a more viable avenue towards steady solo Incarnate progression derail raids all that much? How many people are/are going to be participating in the raid content because they have to, rather than because they enjoy it?

Keep in mind that I would fully expect raids to still be faster, and between the very loud contingent of raid-lovers making their presence known, the new raid queue facilitating fast and easy team building, the inevitable Issue launch rush to new content, and the folks that turn these encounters into a science...I really doubt that the raids would be turned into ghost towns.

Actually, what I would fear far more is the Incarnate system collapsing under its own weight. If they add too many raids or things to do, they'll spread the Incarnate population too thin. I also fear that high level Incarnates could start devaluing lower level Incarnate content. None of these things are going to come into effect quite yet, but once all ten levels are in and there's a more diverse population of Incarnates working their way up the ladder it could become a problem.