IanTheM1

I'm so glad this thread showed up, so I can post a theory I came up with earlier today:

Who says Rularuu is a strictly a bad guy? If Faathim is an aspect of Rularuu (and he definitely is, considering the huge hole in the big guy's chest), then clearly Rularuu had some amount of benevolence.

This also makes the entire tale more tragic in several ways, with the Midnight Squad being forced to cage the equivalent of a bear who wandered into town and most of Rularuu's/the shard's problems being blamed on Lanaruu completely losing it, likely as a result of being unbound from Faathim's influence.

Technically, Combat Level is the true power threshold measurement, it's just that CL is so closely tied to Security Level that they're essentially the same thing.

I've been busy working on something good! I'm proud to announce two new VEAT Arcs published and waiting for feedback:

#377044 - Moving On Up (Levels 5-10)
Now that you've established yourself as a can-do sort of agent, Arachnos has bigger and better jobs for you to do. And you never know, you might just bump into a VIP along the way...

#377045 - Media War (Levels 25-30)
Longbow thinks they're better than everyone else. It's time to show the world that the boys in red and white aren't so squeaky-clean.

*tries to imagine what a Whip nuke would be like*

Because then it would undercut the entire point of GR. Why would anyone actually bother to do the story arcs to turn a character over to the other side (or develop a neutral character to the side of their choice), if they could just roll up a new heroic Brute right from the get-go?

Let's go for the hat trick...my MA arcs.

I love the Time Bandits, and their arc is a love letter to the backstory of the game. Making Your Name is the first arc I've made as a replacement to the frankly abysmal dev-made VEAT arcs. The Arcanous Librium is the least important of the three, but I think it's a cute arc.

I'm also tempted to throw in the Godby Organization, which starred in a previously-published arc of mine, but I'm not afraid to admit that they're essentially a European combination of Crey and Malta.

To be honest, it seems like you've got things backwards. The problem with Mercs is primarily an offensive one, and the problem with Ninjas is primarily defensive.

But then I repeat myself...

And the totebags that charities give out don't cost $500; that's not what you're paying for.

Read Memphis Bill's post, Alpha. Paid extras don't get given away for free.

Early access to powersets yes what???

(And hey, so that's what Alpha and Omega are. ^^)

Oh wow, hadn't even noticed the thread necromancy.

This isn't something that would work in terms of replacing any existing systems, but it is an interesting idea for a specific set's gimmick. IIRC, Shield Defense in beta flirted with an interdependence between the first two toggles (or at least said so in the descriptions), and this passive add-on idea could've fit for the set. "Deflective Coating" would add elemental defense to your main shield toggle and so forth. That would've been really cool, actually.

Name: Paragon Youth Corps

Currently Recruiting: Always looking for new members, coalitions with other teen groups.

RP Level: RP-intensive, but OOC chat is alright.

PvP Level: Almost zero - we only PVP for story purposes.

Theme/Concept: You've heard it all before - we're your standard teen group. We're self-managed, and have a laid back attitude.

Activity: We currently only have a small number of active members, but activity is semi-daily, and can be somewhat sporadic. Weekends are the best for more intensive RP/events.

Requirements for Membership: Your character must be a teen. (Though this rule is stretched a bit - we accept up into the 20s.)

Leadership: Assembled Girl, Psykera

In-Game Contact: @IanTheM1

Out-of-Game Contact: IanTheM1 (PMs preferred - I check the boards more often than I check my global messages.)

URL: VirtueVerse and Our Forums

Coalitions: Several other established teen groups. Some are less IC than others.

Other Details: We have a fully-functional and RP-accommodating base. We have no prestige goals/requirements, the base is effectively complete.

Name: The Young Entrepreneur's Club

Currently Recruiting: Yes. Anyone with the skills of thievery, deception, and carrying large sacks of loot.

RP Level: In-Character is a must, but otherwise we're not strict about OOC chatter.

PvP Level: No particular interest in PVP, but be our guest.

Theme/Concept: We're a collaboration between several like-minded individuals, mutually working towards similar goals, ones generally based around the concept of theft, that is, taking anything and everything that's not bolted down.

Activity: We're available when necessary. Necessary being whenever we're around.

Requirements for Membership: For starters, being a thief might help. Having some skill doubly so. Fitting within some definition of "young" is also good.

Leadership: Trick of the Light

In-Game Contact: @IanTheM1 / @IanTheM2

Out-of-Game Contact: IanTheM1

URL: Maybe once our little club grows in size I'll consider "allocating" the webspace, but for now, no dice.

Coalition: Not a one. But then, we're the exact sort of loner types who wouldn't necessarily need friends. After all, we've got money.

Other Details: It's been taking some time, but our base of operations, a humble estate, is just nearing the completion of its renovation. Any attempts to garner more Prestige will be appreciated, with the reward being a secluded and cultured retreat open to all members.

Now, obviously, a band of "free marketeers" such as ourselves wouldn't be much without elaborate plans involving the liberation of expensive articles from various sources. Suffice to say, we're capable of drafting up such plans for group involvement. ((Two MA writers available for potential SG arcs.))

Name: The Mancini Family

Currently Recruiting: Yes. We need all the muscle we can get. Y'know, for our legitimate business.

RP Level: In-Character is a must, but otherwise we aint strict about OOC chatter.

PvP Level: You wanna PVP? That's good for you. Just don't expect the Don to follow ya in.

Theme/Concept: Lemme lay it all out for ya's. Don Mancini came on down from New York with the goal of running up lots of green. We're talkin' filthy, stinkin' rich. So now here he is, with his criminal empire just in the plannin' stages. Surely you're smart enough to realize that gettin' in on this thing while it's just gettin' started is a good investment, eh?

Activity: We're around. What that designates changes from week to week, but we're around, capisce?

Requirements for Membership: Gotta be willin' to get yer hands dirty, gotta be willin' to follow orders when yer given 'em, and gotta be willin' to be the best at what you do.

Leadership: Don Mancini

In-Game Contact: @IanTheM1 / @IanTheM2

Out-of-Game Contact: IanTheM1

URL: We aint got one'a those yet.

Coalition: None'a these either. But hey, you want in? Always good to have some friends, if you catch my drift.

Other Details: Currently we're workin' on renovating this little hole in the wall into a good an' proper restaurant, obviously it requires a little scratch, and a some clout with the spiders. We aint gonna twist yer arm or nothin', but anyone willin' to help build up some Prestige would be appreciated.

We also got a nice little circle of informants workin' on our behalf. Means we get some extra work now and again, usually involving us shooting some other guys in the face. We get more members of our little organization, maybe they'll start givin' us more work. ((We've got two able MA writers willing to put together arcs on a regular basis.))

My preferred idea for music: Instead of a global music tab, the Devs would package several sound node objects into the MA (similar to how certain musical elements are handled in missions already, AFAIK).

The big difference is that instead of being stuck putting it at the start of a mission or throughout the whole mission, you could add these musical objects to the spawn zones of boss encounters and the like, resulting in dramatic stings.

To elaborate on my position without having to multi-quote, and instead simply write one big counter argument:

I'm not blindly opposed to defensive set bonuses and their uses. Allowing a Super Reflexes Scrapper to increase their defense is somewhat reasonable, if perhaps going back on the Global Defense Nerf. (Also lol @ SR Brutes being worthless without softcapping.)

However, and this is a mighty big however, Blasters were very definitely 100% clearly NOT meant to have SR-level defenses. Speaking from experience, I did not have to make any sacrifices in my build to reach the level of defense I have on my Blaster. There are no half-slotted powers or under-slotted damage values. And most of the sets I used were dirt cheap, at that.

Is my build as efficient as it could be? Am I even soft-capped? Hardly. But I'm still pushing approximately 20% (lowest, melee) to 30% (highest, ranged) defense to all three attributes on a class that has no good right to have much more than 10% while solo. And this is on top of my 30% S/L Resistance from Temp Invuln. And Smoke Grenade.

The solution is definitely not to add more defense debuffs, and that is quite possibly one of the worst ideas I've ever heard. Not only are you making the game harder for everyone (not just defense-based characters) to accommodate the outliers, but you'd have to find a way to A) land the debuff reliably (going to make it auto-hit too?) and B) make them prevalent enough that such characters can't possibly avoid them by simply not fighting those enemies. Cutting the set bonuses in half would be easier.