Jade_Dragon

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  1. Quote:
    Originally Posted by Melancton View Post
    I, too, have waited for GR to roll some Villain ATs, and I was interested as to how Scourge would function. I figured the blasts would be more Blaster-like and the buff package more Controller-like as compared to Ye Olde Defender, but I will just have to see how Scourge sorts out as well.
    Well, that depends on what you mean by "Controller-like". If you mean the buffs make a Corruptor perform more like a weaker Controller with some slight holds, then that's not really the case. A Corruptor is not as good as a Defender at buffing/debuffing OR as good as a Controller at holding and stunning. Which means even the control-type powers in the Secondary are weaker than they are for Controllers, which get better control magnitudes for those powers than Defenders.

    If you just mean a Corruptor has Controller levels of buffs and debuffs, then yeah. It's not that major a difference, and it's not that major a difference in damage either. 10% here, 15% there, not really as much as, say, the difference between a Scrapper's defenses and a Tanker's defenses.

    The Inherents pretty much balance out too, 30% in the case of a Defender, but that drops to about 15% of total damage with slotting, and disappears totally on a team or if you have strong damage buffs. The same 30% (I'd say 25%, because I don't believe the part about the last 10% of HP being a sure critical) in the case of a Corruptor, but that's against AVs or EBs, and against minions it typically comes so late as to be negligible. As others have mentioned earlier, since Scourge is a critical it can be used consciously to take out stragglers and conserve End by using weaker attacks, but honestly the Defender gets better burst potential with Aim. So you're essentially shifting the burst damage from the start of the fight to the end of it.

    My take on the matter is, as long as you have a strong debuffing Primary (for Defenders) or Secondary, (for Corruptors) the two will almost interchangably. Sonic Assault on top of that will bring them even closer. The higher the debuffs, the more the Defender catches up with the Corruptor's damage. And everyone else will be doing more damage as well. (This type of Defender is usually called an "Offender" and this is the best combo for an damage dealing Corruptor as well)

    On low damage capability buff (not debuff) oriented sets, though, like Cold Domination, Empathy/Pain Dom and even Sonic Resonance, the Defender will not be able to match the Corruptor's raw damage. Then again, even the Corruptor will suffer somewhat from the low damage potential, moreso because it is supposed to be his primary purpose. It's in that area that the Defender and Corruptor become more different, with the Defender having more of a team support role and the Corruptor being more of a hybrid Blaster/Controller.
  2. Although I tend to start out a game with mostly male characters, over time I've developed a group of alts that are about half and half. Some of it is because I created a few characters for my sister, hoping I could talk her into playing. Then again, when she actually did create a couple of characters of her own, one of them was male.

    I must admit that while I don't play female characters for the butt thing, I do notice it from time to time. The female model in this game is pretty nice, and the spandex looks good too. In fact, my main female character, a cyborg, has the Tech Wired bottoms, and I would have figured she would look pretty armored and not too "sexy". But the lines of that pattern do seem to nicely highlight her curves back there.
  3. Quote:
    Originally Posted by Impish Kat View Post
    Sometimes, the lack of texture actually works to the advantage . Yes, a bikini with "real strings" would be great, but then it would destroy the "bare" illusion I can get when I put it under an open jacket, like so:
    Honestly, I don't see that "Eden" top getting anything but maybe stitching around the border. I think it's conceptually part of the idea that it is just hanging in space with no way to support it. Strings would not be required.

    It's probably glued down.

    'Course, if that's a bikini top in that pic and the string just isn't visible because it's white, that's different. I suspect you can just switch to the Eden top though.
  4. I've got to say that the new "Tank Top" on females, which clearly has stitching around the edges and very detailed straps, looked very nice on one of my characters, and I switched right to it on her. It just seemed to fit with her look perfectly. So adding that kind of detail to some of the existing Tops with Skin designs really seems like a good idea to me.

    On the other hand, I can see where some folks might want the "body paint" option as an actual body paint option. Or at the very least, some sort of material that wouldn't have seams and would look skin tight. So honestly, I think the best solution would be a sort of combination of 1 and 2, replace the option where it is obviously an improvement graphically over the original, but keep the original (or even improve it) if there's a conceptual difference.

    I suspect Tops with Skin is where the duplicates would show up most often just on principle.

    As for non-animated tails, I would say definately leave them, for instances where that animation is going to be mutually exclusive with something else. I believe you can mix a tail with wings or a cape (I hope this means one day the animated hair and butt cape combo of Ghost Widow becomes available for players ) but I don't know if trenchcoats (and butt capes, for that matter) can be combined with tails.

    Anyway, in some case a non-animated tail can be better than no tail at all, just as the non-glowing Glowing Eyes face option, even though it's not better than a Glowing Eyes aura, is better than no glowing eyes at all, and can be combined with other auras.
  5. Honestly, I haven't the foggiest. Probably the main character I have to concentrates on Fitness will go with the Teleport pool for a travel power. He already has all four Pools and didn't have room for one.

    Then again, I recently respec'ed out of Boxing on him since I could make Storm Kick look like a punch. So that opened up that fourth pool. So yeah, likely Teleport.

    Other characters I will probably go with some of their Primary or Secondary powers I had to skip. My Thugs/Dark Mastermind, for instance, I skipped some powers to make room for her attacks, as I wanted her to be pseudo-petless. In fact, I suspect more MMs will be picking up attacks now, even if they don't slot them, just for looks or for global IOs.
  6. I have an onboard NVidia with both my laptop (pretty much forced to use it there) and my HP Pavillion desktop. Although I recently bought a new video card so I could see Ultra Mode, when the old card burned out I played on the onboard graphics for several months.

    As others have said, likely it will not look very good, and you'll have to turn all the video options way down, but depending on the system it may work.
  7. Quote:
    Originally Posted by Aura_Familia View Post
    One caveat. As a Rogue you can't START the arc for patron pools. If you were a villain when you started it you should still have access, as you stated.
    Why would a Rogue be unable to start the arc for Patron Pools? It is not because he does not have access to Villain Contacts. Is that specifically locked when all other Villain Contacts are not?
  8. I do like the idea of suppressing toggles, but that's kind of mutually exclusive with my idea of allowing toggles to be turned on while in Nova/Dwarf form, but it drops you back to human.

    That was my solution to the issue of macros to return you to human form not working while powers are animating, which was added a while back to cover some exploits involving the costume Temp Powers.

    If you could leave the toggles up and suppressed, though, and have using one of your other Human powers (like Mire or Essense Boost) drop you back to Human form, that would be fine.

    And did you know that the new Alignment Powers work even in the forms?
  9. Quote:
    Originally Posted by Oneirohero View Post
    Ah okay! It all makes sense to me now! I didn't do the number-crunching on that one so I overestimated the amount of speed increased. Thank you Rooftop_Raider and Zombie man for clearing that up for me. A few miles per hour shouldn't be too much unslotted.

    Also, thanks everybody being so civil about this thread.
    And you can always do what I do, and slot a Fly Enhancement in Swift instead of Run. Even if you never pick up Flying, that will give you just a little bit of a boost with any of the Raptor Packs.

    Of course, I suppose you can just leave the Power with no Enhancement slotted in it. That would give you the minimum boost, just what the Power comes with.

    I suppose the devs could make the powers so that if you don't slot them, they have the same rate as if you don't take them now. Then make it so three slotted, they are the same as the power three slotted. That would just take raising the bonus of the power and subtracting that from the base. However, since the powers are in percentage of the base, I think that would end up being so complicated that figuring out the math involved isn't worth it.
  10. Well, I'm happy enough about the Fitness becoming Inherent issue, however, I do wonder if the Pool will be replaced with a new 10th Pool.

    If it is a Pool of "good out of the box" powers, that might resolve this whole issue.

    Of course, me, I'd like to see Vehicles.
  11. Quote:
    Originally Posted by Carnifax_NA View Post
    Max != usual.

    SoAs do have a higher potential HP, probably to keep them in line with Khelds, but it's not the norm.
    Honestly, Kheldians don't have as high an HP cap as they need, and SoA have more than they need. Although with Serum or the Bane Armor they can get it to typical meleer levels.

    A Kheldian in Dwarf form gets +75% hit points, though. That's a pretty big number.
  12. The Morality Mission will be the same for each level band (10 levels) but there should be a bit more variety in the Tips themselves. Then again, I've gotten kind of used to a certain selection of them.
  13. Well, I must say this explains why I was seeing them, because I've been respec'ing and switching builds a lot.

    I wouldn't really care if I lost the badges, but I still intend to stay the alignment for 7 days anyway. It'll take me that long to clear out my remaining missions before I switch sides.
  14. Quote:
    Originally Posted by Ryuuk View Post
    The attacks are balanced AGAINST the pets. In simple terms, they want an AT to have X damage capability. Since pets are strong, anything else must be weak. If they make personal attacks stronger, they must make pets weaker or damage potential goes up. I don't believe anyone right now thinks MM damage overall is too low.
    The damage of the attacks is balanced against the pets, but their End cost is not. The End cost of the attacks is, by design, imbalanced, in order to pay for the fact that pet attacks don't cost you any End. But that solution isn't balanced, because you don't HAVE to take the attacks. The End cost for your Secondary is balanced to pay for the pets, and that's balanced because you CAN'T avoid taking your Secondary. You are forced to take one at level 1, and it is more difficult to support your pets without them.

    Let me give a hypothetical example that I think explains this issue. Let's say that tommorow, the devs announce that they have made the following change to Blasters:
    • The first three Blaster attacks have had their damage cut in half. The Endurance cost of these attacks, instead of being similarly reduced by half, have instead been increased by 25%.
    • All other Blaster attacks now cost no Endurance. That includes Aim, the control powers that do little damage and apply a status effect, and even the Tier 9. (The End crash still remains, but it costs no End to cast, and you can continue to attack since none of your attacks cost any End)
    • To answer complaints from the Beta testers, the second attack you gain at level 1 has been replaced by the Targetted AoE attack from the set. This has no End cost, as stated above. The replaced attack has been moved to later in the set.
    Now, considering the above, I will ask you three questions.

    1) Would you consider this balanced?

    2) What do you feel would be the most likely result of this change? Would you consider it likely that one week after this was released, few Blasters would still have those three attacks?

    3) Most importantly, if very few Blasters still have those three attacks, are they accomplishing the task of "paying" for the attacks the Blaster is getting for no End cost?
  15. Quote:
    Originally Posted by Ryuuk View Post
    One of the first 2 powers does have an offensive benefit, it is a pet. Therefore even if the second was not an attack, you could not make such a character.
    Of course you could. Let's say that the second power available to you at Level 1 is Upgrade. So you take Upgrade, and whatever the first power is in your Secondary. You have no pets, and you have no attacks. Presumably, you would have to Brawl your way to level 2, or use the Vet Rewards. In the absense of either, you would have no way of earning XP outside of joining a team.

    Sure, it's foolish, and it would also be foolish to continue to avoid the pets or attacks, choosing only powers from the Pool or Secondary so that you would end up at level 50 with nothing but Brawl. But it's POSSIBLE. And one of the reasons why the devs limited you to a selection of three powers at level 1 was they wanted to make sure no player ever made the mistake of selecting only support powers, that were incapable of defeating foes.

    Now, if it was reversed, and Masterminds had their pets in their Secondary, then they would be forced to choose the henchman. (Actually, they would be forced to choose the attack, but let's assume for the sake of argument the Tier 1 Power was moved down into the first slot) But BOTH of the first two powers have to be offensive, if the Secondary power is not offensive, because they can be mutually exclusive. You can choose to take one and not the other. (And oftentimes Masterminds do, since the other is the attack)

    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Ryuuk View Post
    All of the attacks available to MMs(primary, pool, app) are balanced now. They are balanced against the rest of the offensive capability of the AT. There simply isn't any argument to be made that MMs need either more damage or even more endurance-efficient damage. Right now MMs have one of the best levels of mitigation and damage combined of all ATs in the game.
    The ATTACKS are not balanced, the PETS are balanced. You just finished recommending that the attacks be removed. That doesn't sound balanced. If all of the attacks were removed from the Primaries, the Power Pools AND the Patron Pools, Masterminds would still do the majority of the damage they commonly do right now.

    The attacks aren't even balanced against each other. The Pool attacks have higher DPE than the attacks in the Primary and APPs. They don't have the higher Endurance cost. The only reason that isn't an issue is because the Pool attacks are all melee, and very low damage comparative to Patron pools. And actually, one of the most Endurance efficient things a Mastermind can use is a Vet Reward or Temp power, since he not only doesn't have to spend a power pick or slot it, but it also does twice the damage of his "normal" attacks.
  16. I honestly could swear that Mercs and Ninjas had a "Okay, I'm off!" animation when you dismissed them, in which they ran away or disappeared into the darkness. Thugs, too, although I haven't played them lately to see if they're dropping dead instead of running off.

    As mentioned, the Jounin is supposed to disappear in a smoke flash, and even says "Into the shadows..." or something of the like as you dismiss him. But I think I've seen him dropping dead, too. I think the animations are bugged or something.

    (Wasn't the first to mention this, but there you go)
  17. Quote:
    Originally Posted by Ryuuk View Post
    Total non-starter due to the cottage rule, but I don't think MM primaries should have attacks at all. They can't get good or even mediocre attacks because their pets are so powerful, and as stated why have near-useless powers in any set, much less 3 of them? If an MM really wants attacks, he can go to pools or APPs, just like any other AT has to do to get powers outside of their normal purview.
    The problem is that the attacks were clearly meant to provide protection for the Mastermind in the event that he has lost all of his henchmen. Sure, as Samuel said, it is more efficient and better in the long run to stop attacking and begin resummoning your henchmen on the fly. Particularly since Bodyguard can be more valuable to your survivability when you are being overwhelmed. However, if you are at a sliver of health, and a single foe is at a sliver of health, it is entirely possible that firing a single shot would prevent you from dying, while taking the cast time to summon a henchman would lead to you taking a hit that would kill you.

    A secondary issue is that the devs NEVER want to leave you with no offensive powers. You are forced to pick among your first two powers in your Primary set, and they must both have offensive benefit, or you will be able to create a character that cannot deal damage AT ALL. Unless the devs gave you two Tiers of henchmen at level 1 to choose between, which I suspect they would not do, your second choice must be an attack. So in essense, that attack is useless for all other levels, but is intended to get you to level 2 so you can take the other Power choice.

    Finally, removing the attacks from the Primary would not help the attacks in the Power Pool or Patron Pools, which although you have the choice whether or not to take them, still have the same issue of being based on the MM's 0.55 damage modifier. They are just as useless as the Primary attacks, and taking the Primary attacks out of the picture doesn't change that. I would honestly rather see them all balanced. (Although at least the attacks in the Power Pool already cost the same as the other ATs)
  18. Well, first of all, I want to thank Samuel and Carnifax for getting involved in the conversation and making counter suggestions instead of just dismissing the idea. You two are, in fact, making a pretty good case for the two opposing arguments for solutions in this matter. I have to say I back secondary effect buffs more than damage buffs, for the same reason I would have backed the same for Defenders. But I also think that even with more utility, the End cost issue is also something that still needs to be addressed.

    As for Defenders, well, they were given an Inherent that helped out their damage, but only under very precise conditions. (i.e., primarily while solo) This could suggest alternate solutions as well. (One of which I'll get into, below)

    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Samuel_Tow View Post
    And when I say I want them to be attacks, I say this because they LOOK like attacks. Again - if I fire a rifle, I want to shoot people, not debuff them. If these were supposed to be debuffs or control effects, they should not have been modelled after lethal weapons designed to kill.
    Keep in mind, your attacks do no more and no less damage than those of your henchmen. Individual attack and henchman compared to individual attack and henchman, your Tier 1s are probably doing less damage per attack than you, and your Tier 3 somewhat more (he gets the big attacks like Knockout Blow) but all examples are trivial compared to the damage any other Archetype could do with the same attack.

    Your henchmen are doing trivial damage too, but they still carry rifles, pistols, swords and beam cannons. No one protests that those attacks should be "support" because they do such minimal damage. Primarily because that damage does not come as a single attack, but as a volley from a squad of attackers.

    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Carnifax_NA View Post
    I said DPE. A masterminds DPE is basically trivial because once the pets are summoned there's no additional cost (unless one falls over). You can't just analyse the DPE of the attacks, you also have to take into account the damage the pets are doing as well.
    Actually, DPE is not the issue because DPE is not the true quantity that is being measured. The true quantity is time to zero End. If your DPE is 1.0, but you are doing massive damage, you will exhaust your supply of End in no time. So when people talk about DPE, they talk about minimizing their Endurance cost so they can come as close to matching recovery as they can.

    Any AT with a lower damage modifier has a lower DPE than one with a higher modifier. That's simple math, the AT uses the same Endurance to get less damage. A Mastermind, however, pays 25% more Endurance ON TOP of its damage modifier. That is not trivial, because the cost in Endurance in using attacks is similar in nature to the cost in slots and Power choices in taking attacks. Other choices are both more efficient in terms of slots, and more efficient in terms of maximizing time to zero End. Taken together, these facts make Mastermind attacks extremely unpopular.

    Remember also that attacks use up more Endurance than toggles, and they are likely to use more Endurance than click support powers as well, because they have much lower recharge times. Masterminds tend to have more spare End than other ATs, because they tend to use their attacks considerably less than the other ATs. It is attacks that normally drain Endurance. (And this is likely why the devs chose to use them to try and pay the henchmen End cost, but all that did was discourage people from using them)

    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Samuel_Tow View Post
    Trust me - I take, slot and use my personal powers. Almost all the time, you'll see me pumping rounds into enemies myself.
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Samuel_Tow View Post
    I honestly don't know why people keep claiming Masterminds almost never use endurance, when my Masterminds are entirely and wholly endurance-bound.
    See? And this reflects my own experience, even when I'm just using the Vet attacks. Certainly the cost of summoning and upgrading the henchmen is high in End cost, you must typically take time to recover before you are ready to fight at full capacity after summoning or resummoning your henchmen.

    And as Samuel said, no one is suggesting giving Masterminds an End cost reduction across the board. The question is whether or not the End cost for the attacks, specifically, is adding to the inefficiency of the attacks as compared to the Mastermind's other Powers in general.

    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Samuel_Tow View Post
    Making a good attack out of a useless attack is hard, complicated and often downright impossible. Making a mediocre attack out of a useless attack, on the other hand, is very easy - make it cheap and be done with it. And I'd sooner have mediocre attacks rather than useless attacks with mediocre debuffs on them.
    I think this is a good concise summation. The problem is, as I stated above, Mastermind attacks HAVE to be mediocre. At the best, a Mastermind could be (could be, mind you, as an exercise in game design) capable of twice the damage of an individual henchman. Any more, and the Mastermind's share of the damage becomes so great that it is the pets that become trivial.

    This means that with the Mastermind outnumbered one to six, he is at best capable of doing 2/5 of the damage. (if you assume each Tier gets an equal share) An attack that does 40% of what any other AT can do with its own selection of attacks would be considered mediocre, no matter how much damage that is. It could have a recharge as long as Knockout Blow, with a damage comparable, and it would still be considerably weaker than any other AT's comparable attack.

    Another suggestion I have seen in the past is that as a Mastermind loses henchmen, his attacks get stronger to compensate. This seems counterproductive, we should probably not encourage Masterminds NOT to summon their henchmen, but it would help petless Masterminds, and Masterminds that are in the situation of having to recover from a henchman wipe. Attacks really WOULD become useful under such a circumstance.

    Perhaps a "Vengeance" kind of effect, where every time a henchman dies the Mastermind gets a +10% or so boost to damage could apply for, say, 30 seconds. It's also important to note that Controllers, the only other AT that has a damage mod equal to Masterminds, and which have a similar issue with starting out with weak, inefficient damage dealing powers, get Containment to double their damage to a meaningful level. Masterminds get no such bonus because they do have their pets making up the remaining portion of the damage, even from level 1.

    Honestly, even if my suggestion is used, or any other method to add Taunt or debuff effects to the attacks, it will probably still be necessary to lower the End cost. Otherwise, it will still be too costly to take and slot the attacks for the effects that they cause. This does not mean the reduction has to be dramatic, even lowering it to the same cost as the other ATs, or reducing it by the same 25% that the Secondary is raised, would be a major turnaround in the argument about usefulness.
  19. I drew a cyborg girl with a robotic tail at one point, but dropped it halfway through because I didn't like the way it was looking.

    It was like a disconnected "chain" of parts, though, floating in the air. Like she had a train of little drones following along behind her. That might look cool ingame...
  20. Quote:
    Originally Posted by Lascota View Post
    I really HATE party poopers, but I disagree with giving Thugs something like Swap Ammo... because I think there's a better way to do it.

    As a countersuggestion, I recommend they create two new IO categories: Ranged Pet Damage and Melee Pet Damage. They could create two to three sets for either type, and include Fire Damage with DoT bonus, Toxic with DoT and Chance of Choking, and Ice with DoT and Chance of Slow.
    Um... that would change the damage type of your pets, not you.

    Although I suppose a set called Mastermind Attacks with an IO that adds a Taunt proc (or whatever) to it might accomplish the same goal. That really wouldn't limit Masterminds to be the only ones who could slot the proc, though, and, well, I don't think the devs really want to limit IOs to one AT like that.

    Sounds like you're on the right, track, though.
  21. The damage is only about +20%, and doesn't even scale with Enhancement slotting. So personally, I slot my Sniper Rifle for Recharge and no damage, so I can apply the bonus damage more often. It's a bizarre mechanism, though, and I don't know what the devs were thinking.

    In fact, I was looking at City of Data, and it seems as if the extra damage is being calculate as if it were a Lieutenant level critter, instead of based on the player's modifier. Which is just strange. I really have no idea if this is intended, or there is some sort of strange bug.
  22. Quote:
    Originally Posted by Samuel_Tow View Post
    The problem is that I'd define this as a villain through and through. I'm so adamant about this, in fact, that I've put my money where my mouth is years ago and designed a villain who is pretty much like this - a person who claims to be fighting for good and justice and rainbows and unicorns, but is in fact little more than a cold-blooded murderer who will kill villains, common crooks, civilians of questionable morals, heroes who question his version of justice and just people who have been "tainted" by evil by being involved with anything evil at any point in their lives regardless of circumstances.

    And then I see people who do pretty much that and still go on and do hero content. Ugh...
    Basically, a Vigilante is the folks who do this in Paragon City. A Rogue is the people who save kittens from trees and help old ladies across the street (not for FREE, of course!) in the Rogue Isles.

    I must admit the Frostfire one made me go, "Petty, much?" But I've found there are Vigilante missions in which you basically break the law in order to uphold it, and then there are the ones where you go out of your way for vengeance or victory, not caring who gets caught in the crossfire. Such as the one where you overload the psychic amplifier, knowing more than just the villain might be hurt.

    Some vigilantes would be willing to do those missions, others wouldn't. There are many kinds of vigilantes, just as there are many kinds of heroes.
  23. I always assumed that, just like Origin, the Paragon City hero registration people created categories to classify the types of powers Heroes have. It would be helpful to know what support such heroes might need (medical facilities, training instructors, containment of power effects) and what support the heroes could give to the PPD or other Hero groups. Plus, of course, helping heroes identify their capabilities to potential teammates.

    It could be that the Rogue Isles (or Arachnos, who apparently are the ones in charge) chose different categories to be different, or because they had different ideas about what capabilities were most important. Or, there could be something about the mindset present in the Rogue Isles that subtly alters the capabilities of the archetypal superbeing. At any rate, now that the two groups are able to intermingle, I would guess each side would add the categories of the other to their databases to simplify the classification.

    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Dementor_NA View Post
    See, now there's a key error alot of people make; the mastermind archtype of City of Villains is not synonymous with "supersquad leader". Mastermind minions are generic, throwaway thugs.
    I wouldn't say that any of my Masterminds regards his henchmen as "throwaway". I realize that is the concept, the Mastermind minons are "cannon fodder", designed to absorb damage and be discarded as they outlive their usefulness. But that's hardly universal to all masterminds, and there's nothing saying that your henchmen can't be drawn from a LARGER pool, to which a minion returns when injured, in order to heal.

    Besides, I've always assumed they had access to the same medical teleporter technology you have. Sure, the animations do show them dropping dead, but you can ignore that. (Especially since it seems like dismissing my henchmen now makes them drop dead, instead of just leaving like they used to)

    Anyway, when it comes to most of my Masterminds, I name all of their henchmen, and I assume it's just the same "people" every time. Whether it's a robot that had its AI downloaded into a new body, a Merc or Ninja that used the medical teleporter to go back and get healed up, or a Thug who is, well, already dead. The more evil of them might never admit out loud that their henchmen are "friends", but it must mean something that they keep calling them back anyway.
  24. I managed it, but it was WAY harder than I expected. I went into it figuring I would just use Starless Step and Gravity Well, single out the Voids, and take them on one at a time. I'd done it a couple of times on other ATs, and figured the strategy would work, even if it was slow and tedious.

    Unfortunately, I don't know if it was my difficulty, or an innate resistance, but the Void Stalker Lieutenants turned out to be immune to my Starless Step. I just COULD NOT get them to teleport, no matter how many times I tried it. Finally, I managed it by overloading on Lucks, charging in in Dwarf Form and taking on the Stalkers, and taking out as many as I could. If I died (which was often) I either loaded up on Lucks again if there were any Stalkers left in the spawn, or picked off the Hunters one by one from behind an obstacle.

    The Council Boss at the end, in comparison, was a pushover. He was one of those Ascendants that hide behind a shield, but I just pounded on him until he put up the shield, then just stood there and waited for him to drop it. He wasn't really hurting me enough to be a worry.

    I was thankful the mission is in the 30-40 band and not the 20-30, as I don't think I could have taken it on with my 20 Warshade. He has Starless Step, but not on his main build, which is the only one I have fully slotted. I actually got frustrated a couple of times because I ran into a Void (just a normal one, in the mission) started to Starless Step him, and remembered, "oh, wait, I can't do that yet."

    Fortunately I got him to 24 in the Tip missions, and as soon as I did I picked up Dwarf (it's a Human/Dwarf build, but I didn't want to put off Stamina or Stygian Circle) and respeced, and picked up Starless Step when I did. If I ever do it again, I will probably turn my difficulty down to -1, or at least 0.
  25. I don't think there will ever be "Epic" Archetypes in this game, in the sense of "godmode". Unfortunate, but true.

    And if there ever were, there would be more to unlocking them than just getting a character to 50. (That's always the problem, though. So-called "Epic" classes, no matter how hard the devs try to make them to earn, will always be unlocked by some guy within 24 hours of when they're released. Well, okay maybe a week. )

    I will say that your idea does sound kind of like where I think the devs are going with Incarnates. Except it won't be a whole new AT you start over with, you'll take your existing characters beyond 50.