LordXenite

[ QUOTE ]
...until YOU came along!!!

[/ QUOTE ]
I know... it's a talent I have...

Umm... I suggested lumping up all 3 shields into one Shield power and making room for 2 powers simply because I didn't want to suggest completely getting rid of those Shields altogether since I know that even though I don't take them at all, some people will be upset to see those shields gone.

[ QUOTE ]
I cannot believe there has been an 18-page thread about "suspension of disbelief" on a message board for a game based on a fictional genre that involves grown men, women and occasionally children putting on colored underwear in order to fight/commit crime, giving themselves names like "Spiderman" and "Mr. Freeze" in the process. Not to mention developing the ability to stick to walls, fly faster than light, shoot laser beams out of their eyes and build doomsday devices, jet-powered cars and battle armor out of supplies purchased from the local Home Depot.
**
A high capacity for suspension of disbelief is kinda intrinsic to appreciating the format.

[/ QUOTE ]
HEY!!!! It Could Happen!

WOAH! Guys... guys... GUYS! Let's not let this get out of... HAND!

(sorry, couldn't resist )

I'd take Kheldian shields, unite all of them into one power and make room for two new powers, and no, I don't care if that seems overpowered.

In my opinion, for a Warshade to abandon its Human/Dwarf form powers and focus solely on their Nova-form and its powers, would be comparable to any other AT taking powers from one of its power sets. Sure Nova blasts are quite effective, but the Warshade Human/Dwarf forms pack so much more than just DPS, you'd be missing a lot.

The aggro is generated mostly by those NPC's that you do not focus on and lock down with Snare, and as a result, once they move out of your IA range and return to normal, they may bring adds, or if it happens to be a Sniper-type enemy, you may be facing long ranged attacks.

All I'm saying is... the HP loss is meaningless, however, don't allow the fact that minion-level enemies become stunned to drop your guard... you know?

[ QUOTE ]
In the end Khelds ROCK!

[/ QUOTE ]What do you mean in the end? This is but the beginning my friend!

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
I find it very difficult watching any movie that displays contemporary computer systems... especially Independence Day where I was required to suspend my thinking entirely just so that I could believe Jeff Goldblum can decipher an Alien computer system and design a Virus to infiltrate it in just a few hours.

[/ QUOTE ]
I let him get away with it only because he's Jeff Goldblum.

[/ QUOTE ]
That, and watching him together with Will Smith is so funny!!

[ QUOTE ]
...many people simply click the 4 star option and move on...

[/ QUOTE ]
And... that's where a story comes in. If your story doesn't inspire me to send you feedback, any kind of feedback, you can assume I didn't feel much from your story. You see, stories are about causing some manner of change in the audience. Different people are moved/changed by different things. Some people appreciate the effectiveness crafted into a farming mission, some people despise that and appreciate story-telling instead.

The thing is, evaluating something and understanding what you like and dislike about it, and then putting that into a feedback comment, that process takes work, work which most of us do not want to do when we're playing a game!

[ QUOTE ]
I have seen a few that were blatant farm maps that I gave a decent rating because the creator took a couple mins to flesh out an amusing story as to why you were killing the mobs.

[/ QUOTE ]
Then those "missions" are no better than some of those OTHER-game "quests" to go and kill 10 boars. In my book, those farm-arcs won't even get much if at all.

[ QUOTE ]
So yes I will return to my original statement that I like the MA but am disappointed with player base.

[/ QUOTE ]
I'll one-up what you're saying: "I like people, I'm just generally disappointed with Mankind"

[ QUOTE ]
Also you said to put it up on the forums. That sounds like the kind of thing someone who was desperate for validation would do.

[/ QUOTE ]
I assume you mean that I said to put your story itself up on the forum. I don't recall saying such a thing, but I myself definitely put my story into some of the threads listed in the Forums. It's not that I seek validation, but I am definitely seeking passive promotion of my Arc. There's nothing wrong with that in my opinion, but were I to come and complain that my Arc isn't getting as many stars and ratings as I think it should, then I'd be exhibiting something that isn't very flattering in my opinion.

[ QUOTE ]
...I do not need to deal with the forumites and lore hounds ripping apart a story because I might have got a bit of the timeline off by a month or so.

[/ QUOTE ]
Actually, that's half the fun for me, discussing our points of view and how our own personal opinions shape the ideas we have. Venture for example, dislikes Nemesis arcs, and Talen hates it when dumb SciFi is employed. I (and others) sometimes agree with them, and other times disagree. If you don't see this as nothing more than a discussion then you don't have to participate.

The simple answer: "Some people get their endorphin rush out of a good story, others get it from simply facemelting the opposition yet others get it from the knowledge that their ways of doing something are the most efficient."

In other words, it's Human Nature to farm. That's why the farmers haven't gone away and never will.

<QR>

I've just come back from the year 2273, and I have to say people... the freedom of speech we enjoy today is remarkable! It turns out that in 2273, since all the World's problems have been solved (yes, people live to a 105 before looking a second over 25! there's no cancer, no hunger, no terrorists to be found and technology has rendered work obsolete so that people can now focus on what they like to do best...) people have turned to making the World a better place by ensuring thoughts and speech are as pure as can be, so essentially, the only approved word that does not get filtered (and believe me, their speech filters actually are installed in infants about 10 days after birth, and they physically prevent illegal speech!) is... OK!

OK?

Wow... I actually agree with everything Talen has said in his post.

Also, I think a lot of what people call SciFi these days is basically SciFantasy, which is to say, it's a framework where the story simply says it uses "Science" instead of saying it uses "Magic". The difference of course is that Science is REQUIRED to be an explainable and consistent framework, where Magic isn't really.

Stories that manage to take Magic and elevate it to the degree of being an explainable and consistent framework, are rare in my experience and it's just so much easier to just say: "It's a lightsaber and it works because it has a crystal in it, now shut-up and fight", or say "the power of the Deity flows through me... FIREBALL!", so I guess most stories do just that because it's easier to get the framework out of the way and get to the plot points.

Like Talen remarked about Jurassic, knowing how things work in the real world can sometime ruin some stories for you.

I find it very difficult watching any movie that displays contemporary computer systems... especially Independence Day where I was required to suspend my thinking entirely just so that I could believe Jeff Goldblum can decipher an Alien computer system and design a Virus to infiltrate it in just a few hours.

[ QUOTE ]
I created an SG called "The Master Baiters". It never got nerfed that I know of, but then I had deleted the toon that created the SG. Our motto was "We beat off villains!" And our symbol was an eye.

[/ QUOTE ]
Were you out of Beer... and, was this on Pinnacle?

I like my WS for the danger and when I'm full of energy and looking for some intense action, and my PB for when I tire after playing with the WS.

And practice makes perfect! Enjoy

[ QUOTE ]
So when a person picks Dual Blades as the primary, they'll be forced to choose the secondary that current players are limited to when selecting DB as the primary.

[/ QUOTE ]
The day when custom critters with DualBlades/Devices, or MindControl/DarkMiasma combinations would no longer be possible, would be a very black day for MA in my book. I would then have to re-evaluate my opinion of the MA and justifying spending time with it crafting stories would (for me) become even more difficult given all the other vast options for entertainment, in or out of CoX.

I truly hope you're wrong in your assessment.

The other part of your post where you recommend to the OP to form teams and play their own AE missions... that I totally agree with. It does seem quite selfish to me, but indeed it's a valid and effective way to attract attention to your own stories.

It'd be much more tolerated if the Team Leader were willing to round-robin story-arcs among the team members starting with the Team Leader (naturally) and going through everyone elses' arcs.

[ QUOTE ]
...I actually had it report to me that the use of the word god was profane

[/ QUOTE ]
Actually, depending on your religion, the use of the 'G' word is profane if it is done in improper context.

[ QUOTE ]
I can put a sentence such as 'bob rammed his giant member deep into his Auntie Edna's slippery hole' into the MA without difficulty. But 'the naked eye' is not allowed? What a crock. --- MrCaptainMan

[/ QUOTE ]
Someone SIG this STAT! ROFL!

You know what your problem is? Your problem is that you're even comparing arc ratings. If you're writing for the sake of writing a good story, you should be interested in the work you're doing and not in it gaining mass appreciation. I think it's already well established that the masses appreciate easily digestible material the less mental effort required, the better.

Don't blame people for looking after their own interests and focusing on what's fun for them, simply do the same for yourself.

[ QUOTE ]
They showed a trailer of the upcoming City of Heroes movie. It seems that in order to make things more appealing to the mainsteam audience, Woody Allen will be playing Statesman, Morgan Freeman will be playing Manticore, and Robin Williams will be playing Lord Recluse.
*
It seems that in the movie, Nemesis (Played by Jack Black) and his best friend/Heterosexual life mate Backalley Brawler (Will Smith) will be forced out of their appartment building due to it being purchased by Countess Crey (Julie Newmar) in order to make way for a new chain of Snuckies convenience stores. BaB's and Nemesis, desperate for a place to live, will then dress up as women in order to live in an all womans boarding house owned by the Carnival of Shadows. There, they will learn how to love and get in touch with their feminine sides.
*
However, in a heartwrenching story of redemption and hope, Citadel (Patrick Stewart) will learn that he has a long lost daughter, who is infected with incurable chick cancer. He will then go on a soul serching journey to connect with the long lost daughter he never knew he had before she dies. Thankfully, he has help from a lovable pantless hobo (played by guest star Troy Hickman as himself) who will teach him to love again as they get mixed up with the lonesome drifter Castle (Samuel L. Jackson) who is hunting Warwolves in a quest to avenge the death of his one true love, Becky the Tarantula Mistress (Sigourney Weaver), who was killed in a traumatic wheat thresher accident).
*
This is all capped off when Positron (Adam Sandler) is accidently sent back in time thanks to the time travelling car built by the eccentric genius Dr. Brainstorm (Tim Allen). Now, stuck in 1955, he must then make sure his father and mother marry while trying to figure out how to generate the 1.21 Gigawatts needed to get him back home.
*
I'm betting it wins an emmy.

[/ QUOTE ]
You realize of course that you just gave them a free idea for the BEST MOVIE OF THE DECADE, right?!

You want a challenge for Scrappers? Put lots of Minion level custom enemies that have overlapping Crowd Control and Debuffing powers set to attack from range, in a mix of Lieutenants and Bosses that have a combination of Willpower/*. Eventually you may be able to kill'em off, but until you do... seeing your Scrapper locked in place because his mez-protection eventually broke down (especially once all your Break Free insps are gone) is going to challenge you as a player for sure...

[u]An example setup could be:[u]
MindControl/DarkMiasma (Minion)
IceControl/DarkMiasma (Minion)
DualBlades/Devices (Lieutenant)
EnergyMelee/Willpower (Boss)

Spice it up with well-times ambushes of those Arachnos Cruise Missile and put the whole thing in a cave... then take two aspirins and PM me in the morning to tell me how you liked that cocktail

[ QUOTE ]
I must have missed a pronoun somewhere- I meant to convey I was trying a Warshade build after not quite liking Peacebringers.

[/ QUOTE ]
I think what threw me off is that you very smoothly went from talking about Peacebringer to talking about Warshade but if at all, referred to this as a change in build. Since I view them as two separate ATs actually, I got confused.

[ QUOTE ]
What would you recommend? Slotting for accuracy? Stun duration? Damage? Recharge? As much of the above as I can?

[/ QUOTE ]
If you're not going for set bonuses from sets slotted in UE, I personally like to frankenslot it for Acc;Recharge;Stun and if possible, a dash of Dmg;Slow;EndRdx. It really depends on what you want to use the power for. I like to use it as a stun AoE that will stop minions from attacking me while I extract the essence of the defeated NPC, then use Stygian Circle and/or Eclipse if they're up. Others may use it for DPS, but the thing about Warshades is that since we increase our damage potential with those nice Mire attacks, it should be quite easy to use either Mire power and then defeat one NPC and use UE and see a huge chunk of healthy minion-level NPCs melt away, more often than not, they'd simply collapse with no HP left.

The hardest thing to get right about UE is the timing and position of when and where to use it. The slotting totally depends on what you enjoy doing with the power. Since I enjoy stunning NPCs, it's usually +Acc;+Recharge;+Stun, anything I manage to get above and beyond that is sugar-coating.

[ QUOTE ]
I took Fitness because I couldn't really come up with something I might want instead. Is there anything that'll add to my survivability/damage output more?

[/ QUOTE ]
Increasing the survivability/damage output of a TriFormShade™ has to come from analyzing your combat tactics. The problem with pool powers is that if they're a toggle power, they're almost useless for a heavy form-centric approach because the power stops being effective a few seconds after you shift from Human-form and the toggle power deactivates.

Power pool powers that are click-powers are slightly better, but require you to be in Human-form to activate them, and their benefits carry over to the forms, but need to be refreshed whenever the power times out and its effects expire (i.e. Hasten).

Passive pool powers like Health and Stamina require our Kheldians to shift to Human-form before activating, and once we shift back to whatever form we require access to, the powers' benefit remains in effect for a few seconds still. The only benefit I can see to taking Health and Stamina (especially for a TriFormShade™) is if you plan to slot them with the +Recover;+Regen proc IO's. I forget what those enhancements are called, but if you don't plan to get them, perhaps the shields or Human-form attacks would be more beneficial.

Don't worry about it too much, you lose HP only when the stun effect actually stacks on an enemy and the HP loss itself isn't a big deal. What is a big deal is the aggro levels this power can result in...

If you're a Human-only, running your shields, Eclipse, Inky Aspect and running with a pet or two, I bet you could handle things a bit better... but for a TriFormShade™, it's more of an Orbiting Debt, or an un-used power