Lightfoot

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I have two arcs published, one of which has gotten good feedback and will likely stay, the other has only gotten one three star rating and has not been completed(? Low level arc, no feedback with the rating, with an EB I routinely defeat when I come up against him in Billie Heck's second arc, and have beaten multiple times in testing with several Hero ATs).

I have several other arcs planned, but am waiting for Issue 15 before I get around to publishing them so that I don't have to make too many changes. I'll probably unpublish "Party" when I finish a new arc, but I think I'll leave "Beauty" up for the time being, although I'll need to make quite a few change when Issue 15 hits.

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wait a min. freaks are an exploitable loophole? A mixed mob of m/l/b's? with fly and stun and sleeps and rezzes? They arent customized, they are standard mobs in standard proportions. How in the hell is this an exploit?

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So far, Freaks status as the new MEOW has yet to be proven. The general consensus in the thread so far has been, unless there is some bug that makes a specific Freak mob give out extra XP, that the comparison is unfounded. The OP is simply responding to or asking about a rumour he heard.

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Positron's way. It's his toy and I don't want him to have another hissy fit.

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There was no hissy fit. The only people who saw a hissy fit were those that were making farms and exploiting the heck out of them, or those farmers that got caught up in the hysteria before reading Positron's post (if they read it at all). Don't believe me? Go back, read it again, and show me the hissy fit. I've made the challenge dozens of times now, and no one has been able to provide the fabled "hissy fit." You won't be the first.

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So if he has some way he wants it used (and he does) he should be absolutely clear about that. The only way to be absolutely clear is to actually build it that way.

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"Don't make farms in the Architect." This guideline was out there before the Architect even launched. How much clearer do they need to be?

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The devs keep beating around the bush and making everyone jump through hoops. It is boring at best. Cut to the end where you force MA to behave the way that he wants it by coding it in place.

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What hoops? Don't farm in the Architect? The only thing you are being asked to do is to practice some self control. This would be the opposite of hoop jumping. If you are "jumping through hoops," it seems to me that you are doing so because you are trying to find some way around the "don't make farms" edict. I say, "keep jumping." The sooner you find those ways, the sooner the Devs will be able to datamine how you did it, and the sooner those ways will be closed. All of your hard work will make for a better Architect for everyone who respects the Devs enough to use it the way they intended.

Has it occurred to you that in order to get the "MA to behave the way he wants it," there will always be the possibility of some farming? There are valid reasons to have a mission of all one critter type (Fortunata mission, Paragon Protector mission). Eventually, all the idiots who can't take a hint and persist in making farms will find that they can't publish missions any more.

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Powersets, Archetypes, whatever, what I want lies somewhere between the definition of the 2. Who cares about all the technical jargin crud.

My main point is, if the Kheldian and Arachnos Archetypes have their own unique Powersets that are limited to one specific origin, then why can't we have a magic origin E.A.T. or a technology E.A.T.

It does not have to be the only one either. Natural origin E.A.T.s have 3 choices. Science has 1. Give Magic and the other origins a special E.A.T. as well.

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I'm not againts new Epic ATs. I'd love to see Branching Longbow and PPD Archetypes. I'd love to see what they were planning for the Blood of the Black Stream, and why they abandoned the idea. I'd love to see Incarnates someday. As the game gets older, I expect to see all of these things in due time. However, I don't think they should go out of their way to "balance" the EATs around the Origins. At some point, it will become obvious that Blood of the Black Stream is Science just because "Science was the last one that needed an EAT."

In the end, Origin is just fluff, and shouldn't have any meaningful effect on the gameplay. Even the origins that I'm forced to pick don't limit my ability to tell the backstory I want. I'm planning an Arachnos Soldier who is Tech, not Natural. My human form Peacebringer and Warshade both leave the canon behind completely. Lord Aquarian is "the Star Child," birthed when the Moon entered the seventh house, and Jupiter aligned with Mars, heralding the Age of Aquarius. Is that Magic, or Natural? The Penumbral Walker is a spirit of vengeance, and very magical in nature. Automaton Arachnos is an obvious Nemesis plant within Arachnos. Rather than destroy it and send it back to Nemesis, Arachnos decided to keep it around and observe it, hoping to get insight into the plans of Nemesis.

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While, overall, I'm not against this suggestion, I think the idea needs to be applied carefully.

Any advantage/disadvantage system leaves itself very open to "min/maxing."

For example, if your flaming Corruptor were highly resistant to Fire, then Hellions bosses would pose almost no threat to you. In order to make it so that some of the content does not become trivial for your character, the amount of resistance should be relatively small (maybe 5-10%) and not enhanceable. IO Sets and Patron/Ancillary Pools will provide protection only if they exceed your "natural" resistance.

The reason why advantage / disadvantage systems can work well in pen and paper games is that you have a GM who can take all of these things into account. If the GM feels that youare getting more than your "money's worth" out of the advantage, he can either play up the disadvantage you took to balance it some more, or deus ex machina some of the advantage away (i.e.; Superman's "vulnerability" to magic - electricity isn't usually a problem, but Captain Marvel's "Shazam!" lightning can kill him). An AI doesn't have this freedom, so every eventuality needs to be planned for and programmed in advance.

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This will make being a non-melee AT just a little more viable...

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I wasn't aware that they were "unviable."

My Dark / Cold Corrupter needed to work a little harder against Circle of Thorns Spectral Demons and Knights, but I didn't feel like I was helpless or getting shortchanged. Even though their Negative Energy damage was doing full damage to me while they were resisting mine, the fact that other enemy groups later in the game are vulnerable to Negative Energy damage made up for it. And before the accusation that "my team must have kept me safe" is thrown out, most of her journey was made solo. Most of my teaming was done during the 47-50 range (I joined one Liberate TV farm for two runs to get me to 48, and ran Story Arcs with a team for the rest), and most of that against Nemesis and Longbow.

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If anime has taught me anything, it's that people over 60 are total badasses.

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I made a pair of geriatric superheroes in response to an offhand joke about "mature" roleplay.

This joke led to the creation of Granny Go and Dag Nabbit.

Both Granny Go and Dag Nabbit were superheroes in the 60's and 70's. They were in the Flower Phalanx together as Go Go Girl and the Merry Prankster. They eventually dropped out of the counterculture and superheroing as their powers faded. They fell in love, got older, had kids, had grandkids, and retired to Salamanca.

Flash forward to the new millenium. Shortly after the Rikti Invasion, contact with Salamanca is lost as Croatoa threatens to overwrite the region. An encounter with witches of the Cabal jumpstarts the powers of the retirees, in a slightly different form than they previously held. Determined to take back their community from the invaders, the couple get back into the hero game.

I haven't quite figured out how to bring the rest of the Flower Phalanx into the modern yet. Lord Aquarian, as a cosmic being would be mostly unchanged. Violet Starshine, as the high priestess of the religious cult founded by Lord Aquarian might have aged, and she might not. Rainy Day Woman probably had grandkids of her own, so she might return as Grandma Granite.

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I agree that they are part of the cost, but really, when I pick a pool, there shouldn't be a useless cost, that is all I am saying. A person with a NRG/NRG blaster, should not have to take boxing if they want toughness and acrobatics, that is all I am saying.

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If the cost is useless, maybe you need to reevaluate if you really need the power that you want.

And why shouldn't your NRG Blaster need to learn some basic fighting skills in order to take Tough or Weave. When Tony Stark realized that he was kind of useless without his armor, he went and got some hand to hand training from Steve Rogers (and inadvertantly revealed to Captain America that he was really Iron Man when he turned around and used some of those techniques against "the Captain" during the Armor Wars).

Most heroes in the comics learn how to defend themselves if they are denied their powers. You can always use this reasoning if you need to "justify" taking Boxing or Kicking to yourself.

For example, most of my flyers take Air Superiority. Then I remove Brawl from my tray, put Air Superiority in its place and make it part of my attack chain. Not a useless pick, by any means. I could do exactly the same thing with Boxing or Kicking if I decide to take the Fighting Pool.

In the end, if the "cost" in unbearable to you, then I put it to you that you didn't want/need the Tier 3 or Tier 4 power as much as you thought you did, and you are having trouble letting go of your previou conviction.

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I'm leaning towards the "good move" idea. We don't know if it'll be retroactive at all, either. In any case, I'm thinking that as a badge community we need to pick our battles better.

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If it's not retroactive, then god yes, go for it, but i don't want guys I just made getting the 1 year badge... maybe it's just me misunderstanding what Posi was saying... A difinet possibility i'm afraid. heh.

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I don't see that it is a big deal. I have some characters that I deleted and rerolled to take advantage of new, more appropriate powersets. Technically, they existed beforehand, but we can't transfer badges. Both Pallas Athena and the Bocor should have all the badges, but I rerolled them so that they could have the powersets they were meant to have (Pallas Athena - Shield, the Bocor - Villain).

The way I see it, making the Anniversary badges account wide kills one of the few valid arguments in support of a "full" respec.

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LoL I can see already this was a mistake.

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As this is the first thread you have posted in, much less created, I'll give you the benefit of the doubt.

There is a huge firestorm here in the forums regarding the creation of farming missions in the Mission Architect.

The Devs told us from te get-go that the Architect was not to be used for farming, and that farm missions would be pulled down. If the creator persisted in making farms, they would lose publishing slots. If the farms contained exploits, in addition to losing publishing slots, the farm creator could be banned.

We knew all of these things before Architect went live. Two weeks ago, they informed us that the bannings would begin, which sent the forums into a tizzy.

If your missions keep getting pulled by the GMs, there are three possible explanations.

1) It is a farm.

2) It contains offensive material. You should have also received an e-mail if this is the case. If you republished this mission without removing said offensive material, you should have been banned.

3) The mission violates the EULA by being a derivative work. If you wanted to retell the Dark Phoenix Saga, and filled it with X-Men, this is not the place to do it.

Don't do these things, and your missions should be safe.

That is all.

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This whole thing is an evil plot to get heroes off the streets!

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Well, duh!

Architect Entertainment is a joint venture of Crey and Aeon. Of course there is a sinister purpose behind it.

Tell us something we didn't know the moment we first heard of Architect Entertainment.

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That ended up turning into a conversation with someone who suggested I make an arc about it...so I did.

I proudly present for your approval and/or bashing:
Architect of YOUR DOOM - the vile truth behind the Architect Entertainment, arc ID: 197601

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I'll still do your story arc, probably tonight. Is there a particular level range it is best suited for?

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there are legions of pages ............ you found this thread immediately............ nuff said.

one

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And it took me just a few minutes to find the relevant posts.



'Nuff said?


P.S., actually, I think not. A well thought out idea, that shows effort put into it, along with a consideration for the effort it would take to program the suggestion will ALWAYS be better received than a "do X, because I think it would be cool!" post.

Virtually all of the sets linked in Lady Jades Suggestion Box put forth this effort. Threads like this are invariably buried within a few day's time. Would you rather your ideas quickly fade into total obscurity, or would you like them to part of a stickied post at the top of the Suggestions forum?

Up to you. This thread is a virtual guarantee of the former.

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From Lady Jade's Power Suggestion Box, stickied near the top of this very forum:

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Nightmare set: focused around fear powers. Im thinking fear and kin powers for movement debuffing and impact debuffing.

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I give you (Suggested and fleshed out by Mystic_Bubble):

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The first one is a Fear Induction Defender Primary. There are some crossovers with Dark Miasma and Illusion, but it's designed to focus on fear, and hopefully offers enough unique qualities that it doesn't seem just repetitive.

Some general commentary about the set before I list the powers. First, many of the powers levy a Mag 1 Fear. Now, this probably isn't enough to actually "fear" someone. However, all of the fear powers stack, so the Fear Defender could use his different powers--even the ones with only a Mag 1--to induce a hold-like fear effect, or to boost another fear power.

Second, all of these mag 1 fear powers also debuff the target's accuracy, recharge, and defense.

Third--and this is what I really want, but I don't know if it would be possible or unbalanced--the Fear Defender *feeds* off of fear. Therefore, every successful hit actually results in green numbers (healing) for the defender and nearby allies. Now, since this means that the Fear Defender can be perpetually fearing his opponents and healing damage with every single one of his powers, the individual numbers will be very small. However, they can be a steady flow. Think of it like DoT, but instead it's HoT (Healing Over Time).

OK, now the list:

(1) Induce Fear - single target. Mag 1 fear. Debuff.

(2) Mask of Fear - you cast a fearful mask upon an ally. Any foe coming nearby will be feared. Once foe leaves vicinity of ally, the fear passes away. Mag is greater but no debuff.

(3) Fearful Aura - Toggle. You emit a constant fearful aura. Mag 1 fear to any foe within aura. Foes are debuffed. Very draining.

(4) Dead Zone - Field Drop. Any foe entering area will be hit with Mag 1 fear and will be debuffed.

(5) Fearsome Stare -- like the Defender Dark Miasma power.
(6) Petrifying Gaze -- like the Defender Dark Miasma power.

(7) Trail of Terror -- this might need to be moved further up the list. It's an anchor power. Target is driven crazy by terror and runs around blindly. Will attack if attacked but then continue running. Nearby foes will be hit with a Mag 1 fear and will be debuffed.

(8) ?? Haven't decided on this yet. Maybe a stationary pet with a Fearsome Stare-like aura. Can be destroyed.

(9) Masque of Death - pet summons. Pet looks like a walking humanoid shadow. Emits a Mag 1 fear aura that debuffs. Can also touch foes to induce a petrifying fear.

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Goblins / Orks: for the mm AT. A similar design from the redcaps. I'm thinking knives and bows just like the redcaps except maybe throw in a spell caster in the bunch.

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There is a "Fairy Creatures" set and an "Ogres" set posted in the Power Suggestion thread, but nothing that utilizes Redcaps / Orcs Flesh this out some, and see where it leads you.

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Holograms: Scrapper set: Im thinking a scrapper can make more of himself and fight. (kinda like Naruto) Easily defeated holograms that look like the caster, and can do minor damage.

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I'm not sure how feasible this is, as it seems to go beyond the Scrapper idea. As a mastermind set, sure, but Scrapper? Can you come up with some powers and mechnics to flesh this out?

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Growth set: Tanker set: Im thinking kinda like a regen set. Except you can grow to about as big as the cyclops in the ITF.

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I give you, from the Power Sugegstion Box, originally posted by Living Conduit

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This is kind of a new take on a "Growth" powerset for Tankers. (or at least I haven't heard anyone else mention it):

I would call it “Size Manipulation” or “Size Fluctuation”, and it would only be a Tanker set (due to the fact that Scrappers and Brutes would be forced into the Tier 1 Power). The tier 1 and tier 2 powers would be “Increase Size” and “Decrease Size” respectively. Neither one would be useable at the same time as the other (a la Granite and most of the Stone set), but “Increase Size” would provide Resistance, while “Decrease Size” would provide Defense. The rest of the set would have powers that were available exclusively with one or the other, aside from possibly a self heal and maybe the tier 9. People would be able to make an Ant Man, Wasp, or Atom style character by focusing on the Shrinking sets; make a Giant Man, Gargantua, or Geronimo type character by picking the Growing Sets; or create someone capable of either feats like Yellowjacket or Goliath by picking from both sets.

The physical limitations of both growing and/or shrinking may be massive, but maybe it doesn’t need to be. Making the “Increase Size” set the size of the Kheldian Dwarf form, or slightly larger than the height proportion slider, would be big enough for my tastes. And to make the character slightly smaller than the character slider would be little enough for the “Decrease Size” set. Since you can change your proportions with just a change of costume (I know the only way to change your height is by changing your legs, but it may be possible for it to operate on the same principle).

Of course you could make this more/less complicated by splitting these into different powersets (depending on your PoV), but I’d like to see them as the same set.

Here is a sample of what I’d like to see:

Size Manipulation (Fluctuation)
Tanker Primary
01: Increase Size
01: Decrease Size
02: Particle Reintegration
04: Thick Skin
06: Heightened Reflexes
08: Unwavering Stance
12: Particle Deflection
18: Thick Skull
26: Disparate Particles
32: Particle Density

Increase Size (Available at Level 1)
[Toggle: Self +Res (Smash, Lethal)]
You can increase the mass and size of your body making you larger and more resistant to Smashing and Lethal Damage. Cannot be active at the same time as Decrease Size or Particle Density.

Decrease Size (Available at Level 1)
[Toggle: Self +Def (Smash, Lethal)]
You can decrease the mass and size of your body making you smaller, granting you higher Defense to Smashing and Lethal Damage. Cannot be active at the same time as Increase Size or Particle Density.

Particle Reintegration (Available at Level 2)
[Self Heal +Max HP]
You can draw upon special particles to add to your own health. Activating this power increases your maximum health.

Thick Skinned (Available at Level 4)
[Toggle: Self +Res (Fire, Cold, Energy, Neg Energy)]
When you use this power your skin becomes so thick that you become resistant to Fire, Cold, Energy, and Negative Energy Damage. Cannot be active at the same time as Decrease Size or Particle Density.

Heightened Reflexes (Available at Level 6)
[Toggle: Self +Recharge, +SPD, Res (Slow)]
When you use this power your size will grant you Heightened Reflexes that allow you to move faster than normal, as well as resist slow effects as well as increase your attack rate and movement speed. Cannot be active at the same time as Increase Size or Particle Density.

Unwavering Stance (Available at Level 8)
[Toggle: Self +Res(Knockback, Sleep, Disorient, Hold, End Drain, DeBuff DEF), self –SPD, +Regeneration]
While this power is active, you firmly plant your feet to become resistant to Knockback, Sleep, Hold, Disorient and Endurance Drain effects, and increase your Hit Point Regeneration rate. You must remain in close contact with the Earth, so you will move extremely slow and you cannot active Fly powers, Sprint, Super Speed, or Jump powers while this power is active. Unwavering Stance also grants you resistance to Defense DeBuffs. Cannot be active at the same time as Decrease Size or Particle Density.

Particle Deflection (Available at Level 12)
[Toggle: Self +Def (Fire, Cold, Energy, Neg Energy)]
While this power is active you are able to deflect Fire, Cold, Energy, and Negative Energy particles. Cannot be active at the same time as Increase Size or Particle Density.

Thick Skull (Available at Level 18)
[Toggle: Self +Res (Psi)
When you use this power your skull becomes so thick that you become resistant to Mental Attacks. Cannot be active at the same time as Decrease Size or Particle Density.

Disparate Particles (Available at Level 26)
[Toggle: Self Stealth, +Def, +Perception, Res (Immobilize)]
You replace the particles in your body with micro-particles, making you difficult to spot at a distance. You can be seen only at close range, or if you attack a target. Even if seen, your Disparate Particles grant you a bonus to defense. Unlike some stealth powers, Disparate Particles has no movement penalty.

Particle Density (Available at Level 32)
[Self +Res(Disorient, Sleep, Hold, Immobilize, Knockback All DMG but Psionics)]
When you activate this power, you not only become extremely resistant to most damage, but also to most Disorient, Immobilization, Hold, Knockback and Sleep effects. Endurance recovery is also increased. Particle Density costs very little Endurance to activate, but when it wears off you are left exhausted, and drained of almost all Health and Endurance. Cannot be active at the same time as Increase Size or Decrease Size.

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willpower , shields , dual blades lol none of these powers were player ideas........

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I beg to differ. Elements of Willpower were first suggested, developed by Addamsfamily in his "Body Mastery" suggestion from January of 2007 and Kitten_of_Chaos in her "Tough" suggestion from July of 2006. Dual Blades ("Dual Swords" and "Dual Wield Swords") were suggested in the Power Suggestion thread by Znemesis in August of 2006 and rpgfan8419 in September of 2007. I don't see a "Shields" suggestion, but it was the winner of a poll, alongside Dual Blades, from 2007(or was it late 2006?) for the next melee powersets we wanted to see. Willpower was the runner up in the same poll for Defense set. We got Willpower first because Shields had technical hurdles that needed to be crossed before it could be delivered. Growth was also part of the saem poll, but we don't know how it finished. It was also tagged as "having technical hurdles that will delay delivery if it wins," just like Shields.

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One really awesome thing, they did something to make the storage of arcs more efficient. I saw that an arc that is at 99.6% on live, when copied over to test, was only 75%! I ran through it and didn't find anything missing.

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Woo Hoo! It looks like I'll be able to put the third minion and second lieutenant back into the Fashionistas and Kary May Commandos. I had to pull them when I added allies to the third and final mission.

Have they fixed the damage scaling with Ninjutsu yet? I'd love for the Fashioninjas to be able to Hide again without them two shotting anyone who comes near. I had to replace Ninjutsu with Super Reflexes because they were too deadly.

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the game will be GONE TO THE AMERICANS!!1!


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The game was made by Americans ............. shhhh!! Intelligent people talking.

one

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It's amusing that you didn't get the reference. It's comical that you acted condescending over it. You are quite the laughable fellow.

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Yeah, old-time posters! *high-five*



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If the OP is curious, look up UNIQUEDRAGON, the post might still be around.

Or maybe someone has it saved?

That thing was comedy gold.

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I posted this thread to see what the overall outlook was about the subject from my point of view. I see the official farming thread but this is more or less about the people. I wanna know why "farmers are the badguys" when clearly a player cant stay competitive in pvp zones unless they farm.



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I see you still haven't bothered to do your research and learn what this whole recent "rper v farmer" idiocy is all about.

All of this "farmer hate" you are seeing is completely centered around the Mission Architect (and it is not as all-encompassing as you seem to think, the only reason it looks like that it because it touches your subgroup). When Mission Architect was being developed, the Devs told us very clearly that they did not want it to be used as a farming tool. When Architect was released, players ignored the Devs request, and made farms in droves. The Devs have smacked some of these players' hands, and the farming community turned it into an us vs them World War III. A simple warning and outline of consequences (that is all it was, read the posts for yourself if you don't believe me) was blown completely out of proportion, and a flamestorm of a magnitude not seen since ED ensued.

The Devs have not touched the farming anywhere else in the game. Every single farm you used to powerlevel or grind for Purple IOs prior to Architect is still there, waiting for you to use it. There has been no indication that Devs want to or are going to take them away from you anytime in the forseeable future.

In short, farmers are not the bad guys, and they never were. A bunch of them felt persecuted when they were asked to not make farms in the Architect, and then got up in arms when they persisted and were shown the door. When they got up in arms, they rallied the rest of their community and got aggressive, resulting in an agressive posture from everybody else.

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i really would like a serious explanation: why the perma 46 if the devs dont like farms? why castle in PI? why PI aint a lvl 40+ restricted area? why atlas is not a minus lvl 20 forbidden one?
its a one click in programming.

Thing is, devs need the farmers, and the rp'ers.
Too bad, they acted very drastically towards the farmers, and the farmed felt guilty, and are so ashamed with nonsense that they leave.

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There is an obvious explanation to the questions you ask, but no one who has worked themselves into a lather has bothered to consider it because it takes all the wind out of their sails.


THE DEVS ARE OKAY WITH THE FACT THAT FARMING EXISTS!

They have accepted that some amount of farming needs to happen in order for people to reach certain goals


You see, once all the ragequitters accept this truth, then they have nothing to be really mad about. They must then accept that they have been overreacting and making themselves look like idiots. And the farmers aren't leaving because they "feel guilty." That would imply that those who were farming in the Architect have taken responsibility for their actions, which very few have done.

The farmers are leaving because they feel persecuted. The sad part about this is that the only place in the entire game that they are being told they are unwelcome is if they make farming missions in the Architect. The rest of the game is exactly the same as it ever was, with all of their old farms still in place, and not going anywhere anytime soon. Thanks to the hysteria that was worked up inside the farming community, farmers took the actions against them in the Architect to be an attack against all farming. This simply wasn't, and isn't, true, but hysterical people, by definition, lose the ability to think clearly.

The Devs have only acted drastically towards farming IN THE MISSION ARCHITECT. They acted drastically because drastic action was needed.

This is why "perma 46" is still in the game. This is why the Behemoth farms and "Liberate TV" farms are still around. This is why Peregrine Island and Grandville are not level locked. (By the way, level locking Atlas is a spectacularly bad idea. Having veteran players around to show new players the ropes is one of the great things about this game.)

Look folks, it is really simple. The Devs asked us not to make farms in the Architect. Anyone with a modicum of respect for them honored that request. It is common courtesy, which, like common sense, just isn't all that common. If I invite you into my house, and tell you that I don't allow smoking in my house, don't be surprised if I ask you to leave if you light up a cigarette.

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The war against farmers will be long and bloody. There will be many casualties and the collateral damage will be extensive.

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Whew!

Good thing there isn't any such war, then.

The only place farmers are being told that they aren't welcome is in the Architect.

Accept this truth, move on, and lose the martyr complex, please.

(I recognize that the war on "AE farmers" has had collateral damage, and I sympathize with those who got hit, and think that it is a horrible miscarriage of justice that these people weren't taken care of, and publicly, before their three day bans were over.)

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Nice... 14 is still a complete mess, and rather than fix that, they go into beta testing with 15. Apparently the devs have learned exactly zero from the Issue 14 debacle.

Shame on them.

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So, what do you want them to fix that should delay all future development?

Broken mobs can and should be done in patches, and they should not tell us which ones they are fixing before hand. The search engine is being updated with Issue 15. Badges are being adjusted in Issue 15.

For the most part, the Architect is working fine for me. Obviously, your mileage varies.

If you are talking about the PR mess, why should that have any effect on game development at all? Public Relations is Public Relations. You don't need to stop working on other things in order to do public relations.

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There is no witch hunt against farmers or powerlevelers. It is a very targeted hunt against farming and powerleveling through the Mission Architect.

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As much as I hate to disagree and add fuel to the fire.. *sigh* the recent philosophy change of no more "Kill x" badges and the possible change to "Kill x" badges would seem to indicate that they want to shift away from having to farm content.

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So far, I have only heard of this shift in philosophy as it relates to the Architect. Removing these kill badges removes another incentive to create farms in the Architect, which is in line with the philosophy behind the architect from the beginning.

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Stop looking at pling , or farming as a bad thing. I personally have "payed my dues" with getting 5 characters to 50 doing teaming and soloing and all that. So my last 7 that I got to 50, I did pling and tfs. THIS WAS NEVER A BAD THING TO ME and was AN OPTION THAT I WANTED! I pay for this game just like everyone else, and if I don't want to spend months grinding a way to get a toon to 50 then I shouldn't have to.

I get on the forums and all I see is "farm bashing". Im grown and have 2 jobs. I dont wanna spend the remaining hours of my day getting 3 bars.

Farming allows me to put sooooooo much on the market. And I put it there for cheap too. It helps me help the economy of our game. Pling isn't bad. Any "character builders" know that getting a toon to 50 is pretty much just step number one. The recipes are the next step. Of the which, recipes are impossible to afford if a player just runs through contacts. I just did it with my ma/shield scrapper. After a month I was lvl 16 running in the hollows. Grinding out missions is for people that are new and people that actually prefer to run stories. It should not be the only method of game play.

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The fact that you have posted this rant shows that you have absolutely no idea what is going on. Farming isn't the problem. Heck, powerleveling isn't really the problem. The "problem" is doing both of these things in the Mission Architect.

In the run up to Architect's release, at the time of the Architect's release, in the release notes, and in the tutorial, we are warned that the Architect is not for farming. Those that persist in using the Architect to create farms will suffer consequences. That consequences have been handed out is the source of the current firestorm.

It is fabulous that you have "paid your dues." I fully support your desire to powerlevel past the "boring stuff." Before the Architect, if you wanted to powerlevel, you went to Grandville or Peregrine Island. It used to be that a new player would not be exposed to powerleveling unless they sought it out. This was a workable system.

Now, people are out there advertising powerlevel farms in every single zone, especially the beginner zones where it is easy to build a team of 8 and reap tons of XP. The problem is that new players are being drafted into these teams. You may be sick of the Hollows, but by inviting a new player into a powerlevel farm, you don't even give them a chance to see whether or not they like it before you take them past it. You have handed them a tray full of powers that they don't really know how to use.And once they learn to use them, they have all of our rich endgame in front of them. Part of the problem is that our "rich endgame" consists of two raids and four, soon to be six, taskforces, and going back and doing the things you missed in Ouroboros. You have taken them to the level cap and given them an easy button before they have become invested in the game. This quickly leads to boredom and a short subscription. Powerleveling new players is bad, and may the fleas of a thousand camels infest the armpits of anyone who powerlevels a newbie straight out of Outbreak or Breakout.

The other negative effect of farms in the Architect is that they clog up the system and make it difficult to actually find stories.

There is no witch hunt against farmers or powerlevelers. It is a very targeted hunt against farming and powerleveling through the Mission Architect.

And really, a month to level 16? On a Scrapper?

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I have a question, have the Devs ever said growth is not possible as a power set?

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We were polled (in 2006 ?), the same poll resulted in us getting Dual Blades, Willpower and Shield Defense. Growth was one of the powerset options in that poll. That same poll also mentioned that there were technical hurdles that needed to be overcome for sets like Growth and Shields, and if those sets won, it would take longer for them to be realized.

Shields and Dual Blades won the poll. Because of the aforementioned technical hurdles, the Devs gave us Willpower, which was the 2nd place finisher for Defense, when they gave us Dual Blades. They overcame the technical hurdles that stood in the way of Shields mid to late last year.

I would imagine that one of the technical hurdles to overcome for Growth would be how to code Growth so that it works in closed spaces that are sometimes a challenge to navigate for characters with a maxed height slider.

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I know there are lot's of powers for scrappers, but there isn't an actual melee power for scrappers, kinda weird eh????? (street fighting, striking, practiced combat for examples)

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Hopefully being worked on. They may Proliferate Super Strength and see if it satisfies us. I would like a fast punchy set, personally. I wouldn't turn down Super Strength, but I would use it AND Street Fighting if given the option.

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Elongation is never possible, is that correct?

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The big problem that needs to be resolved is that the game can't render the impact a power with the same properties as the source. They cannot make the fist that hits the enemy match the costume design of the arm on your character. Once they figure out Power Customization, the major obstacle to stretching goes away. Then they just need to figure out nine powers and how to animate them.

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Power proliferation - instead of porting directly, can they not change them slightly,

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They already do this. Blaster Psychic Blast is not the same as Defender Psychic Blast. In a similar vein, the current gossip is that in order for Ninjutsu to be ported, they need to replace Caltrops with something, and in order for Super Strength to go to Scrappers, they need to replace Rage with Build Up.

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wait, probably not because that would require additional work.

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This is dangerously close to saying exactly what you need to say in order to find yourself on Castle's or Back Alley Brawler's ignore list. Castle is the powers guy, and Back Alley Brawler is in charge of the animations. Implying that they are lazy is a surefire way to ensure that they never read one of your posts again. While it is obvious that these are things you really want to see, lobbing insults at the people who can provide it for you is not the best way to go about it.

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I'm not trying to suggest something easy to implement. I'm trying to suggest something I want to see and play!

Sometimes I think the Suggestion Forum settles into a kind of complacency. Too often I read about suggestions and a bunch of replies are "I don't think we'll be getting that" posts. I'm not trying to prognosticate about the future by guessing what the Devs have in mind or reshuffle toys we already have to see them in new ways. I want to see completely new toys added to CO*. Not just playsets (like the GR Praetorian Earth playset) but new action figures to play with.

I dunno. Sometimes I feel like I should take my toys and play elsewhere...

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So, let's think about these things a little deeper, then.

Shapeshifting:

1) Which Archetypes will the shapeshifting powersets be for?

1a) Old archetypes? How do they interact with the powers that are already there. Can you have a shapeshifting Primary, and a non-shapeshifting secondary?

1b) New archetypes? What is the inherent? What role / hole do they fill? Epic or standard?

2) What animations will be required?

3) Will the character be viable outside of the shapeshifted forms? If not, will it consist entirely of shapeshifting powers and forms (if this is the case, why bother making costumes)? If so, what kinds of powers are going to fill out the sets?

4) Why limit it to Praetoria?

Animal Masterminds

1) How many powersets are you talking? A generic beastmaster set, or a Great Cats set, a Birds set, a Dogs set, a Sheep set and a Sharks set?

2) What kind of animations will be required? Bear in mind that canines move differently from felines, equines, ursines and bovines (and alll of those move differently from all of the others, too). If you wish to have different species of animals, every single species needs to have its own set of animations in order to move realistically.

3) Why limit it to Praetoria?

I'm not trying to shoot you down, I'm just trying to point out that that making a new powerset isn't as simple as deciding to make it. There are a lot of questions that need to be answered. Until they are, you can't even get off the drawing board and into the programming.

This is why suggestions that attempt to answer these questions before they are asked are much better received, and suggestions that just say, "Do X, because it would be really cool! " are often shot down under a sea of, "X can't be done because of Y! " If you address the issues that might arise before they come up, it shows a well thought out idea, and invites more constructive discussion. If you don't take time to think about the issues, why do you expect others to take the time to think them out for you?

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Um... Role players aren't the problem here. At all. I don't know what planet you're from, but on the one that I play City of Heroes on, using the "rpers are ruining my farming" excuse is pretty stupid.

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Oh, I agree, but it's just as assinine as claiming that "farmers are ruining my rp."

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Well, I will agree there, but it's been a very confusing argument so far lol.

Sploiters are ruining all of our game, not farmers, nor even powerlevelers.


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And it is this confusion that is getting folks bent out of shape.

Exploiters are the problem, not farmers. The confusion stems from the fact that exploiters use farming to do their dirty work, as it is the most efficient way to reach their ends. It is likely that a large number of farmers know exploiters, so when the exploiters went ballistic over being targeted, their hysteria swept through the farming community like wildfire. Of course, the exploiters claimed that they were innocent farmers themselves, rather than admit to their guilt. Not knowing that their friends were exploiting the system for all it was worth, the farmers backed up their acquaintances and farming brethren, resulting in the current us vs. them mentality that has split our community.

The Architect is the center of the rp vs. farmer debate. Farmers could really care less if the rpers rp'd anywhere. Rpers could care less if the farmers farmed the Dev content ad infinitum, ad nauseum. Rpers are complaining that farming is twisting the AE system, which it is, and this is the only place where farmers can honestly say that rpers are "ruining their farming." However, since the Devs stated that they would not let the Architect be used for farming from the moment it was announced, and this has ben restated numerous times, I don't think the farmers have a leg to stand on in regards to their fued with the rpers over the Architect.

<QR>

I have a few costumes made, names camped, and characters planned for Dual Pistols, nothing yet for Demon Summoning.

Texas Hold Up is ready to get into the action as a Dual Pistols / Kinetics Corruptor. He is a time traveling Supervillain who decided on the Wild West as fertile ground. He is jumping forward through time to escape the Pinkerton Agent hot on his tail.

Agent Cole is his nemesis, probably going to be Dual Pistols / Devices Blaster, but / NRG is a possibility, too. Agent Cole is a Pinkerton, tracking a dangerous outlaw with mysterious abilities. He saw his quarry jumping through an unusual phenomena hanging in the air, and followed. The extra mass disrupted the time jump, and they both landed in the modern day. Agent Cole needs to make it back to the 1860's at some point, otherwise he will never be able to father the man who will sire Marcus Cole.

Annie Dromeda will be probably be a FF / or Kin / Dual Pistols Defender. Annie is a member of an intergalactic police force. She has recently become enamored of American television and movies, and will adopt cliche costumes based on famous movie gunfighters and action heroes (Lara Croft, Cat Ballou, etc.)

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Lord Recluse Strike Force? Statesman Task Force? Rikti Mothership Raids? Hamidon Raids? Purple IOs? The new 5th Column SF/TFs coming in Issue 15? You have played the game, right? Because alting is encouraged, the Devs have decided that creating content across all levels is better than concentrating content at the end.

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Its getting better, I grant you, but its still a paltry tithe (YES! I found an excuse to use the phrase "paltry tithe" in a sentance) compared to other MMOs.

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I was mainly adressing the hyperbolic assertion that there was absolutely no endgame. I'm perfectly content to level my 140+ characters through the game, but I'll happily admit that the endgame is anemic. I've never claimed otherwise. Anemic does not equal non-existant. Overuse of hyperbole did not strengthen the OP's argument.