McNum

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Hurray for continuing to ignore every discussion on Power Customization that's ever been had!

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Hooray for shooting down suggestions without either:

A: Providing useful critisim.
B: Linking to previous discussions about that specefic suggrestions.

After all, since you claim this has been shot down several times in the past, you can easily provide a link, right? In fact, the burden of proof is on you now. Prove your claim. Link me.

Hooray for ignoring the current discussion about Power Customization. While I made a suggestion for implemeting Power Customization, my original post was aking if an implementation like this was good enough for us that want Power Customization in the game.

So again, hooray for actually reading the posts!

It IS the lesser version. The greater version goes something like this:

"For every powerset make a greyscale version and allow us to change primary/secondary colors of the power like we can in the costume creator."

This not only means to have to recolor every single power in the game, but also to add at least four new values per character in the database. Pirmary color 1 and 2, and secondary color 1 and 2. Then the game must reference these values and add them to a greyscale version of the power every time a power is used.

Compare that to "Copy the powersets and lets us pick a different colored one." and there's a major difference. This should work mostly like a powerset addition, which we know is possible since it has happened several times already.

The big hurdle I see here is existing characters, but finding a way to allow a character to change a powerset to a different colored copy sounds to me like less work than making every single power infinitely recolorable and make that look good.

Also, with this method, power colors could be added gradualy. Maybe Energy Blast in one issue and new swords in another. It's not an all or nothing deal like the greater version is.

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I was just wondering, would anyone be happy with a lesser version of power customization?

When I mean is that we're probably thinking of something with costume creator power, but as far as I can tell from what the Devs said, it's not going to happen any time soon. Instead, what if we got copies of current powersets with a different color "baked in"?

For example:

Energy Melee (Red) - The current one.
Energy Melee (Blue) - What Luminary uses.
Energy Melee (Green) - Maybe taken from the Shivans.

or

Broad Sword (Classic) - What we have now.
Broad Sword (Tech) - What the Knives of Artemis use
Broad Sword (Magic) - Maybe taken from the CoT or Necro pets.

or

Invulnerability (White) - The Hero one.
Invulnerability (Black) - The Villain one.
Invulnerability (Gold) - A new one, for the shinyness.

That way we could still have some influence over how our powers look, but we wouldn't need to rewrite half the game to do it. A powerset is a powerset, this one is just another color.

Would we be happy with something like this? I'd be, but would you?

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See, this is very much along the lines of what I was thinking about it. I've wondered if maybe the way to color customization is simply new powersets that are recolored versions of the old sets. You've brought up a good point that some of this stuff exists already, just not for PCs. The stumbling block for me on that idea though, is that it would only benefit new characters-- you can't re-choose your power sets in a respec.

But you've helped indicate which powersets would best benefit from coloring options; it's been correctly suggested that some sets probably wouldn't, such as Stone armor, etc. To me, the sets that benefit the most from color customization are the energy related ones: fire, electricity, energy, radiation, even dark. I'd love to see a white version of the dark set.

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Stone armor isn't that hard to think of alternates for.

Stone Armor (Rock) - The current one
Stone Armor (Crystal) - Like the crystal DE, will change into one of those for Granite form
Stone Armor (Earth) - A less jagged, more black/brown version. Maybe the old version made stackable?

As a side note, I'd love to see a crystal version of the Stone Mallets. Maybe as an axe?

Martial Arts is going to be a bit left out, Super Strength, too, but they'd be hard to think of a way to color for a more complex system as is. Also, the Mastermind pets might be difficult to change, too. But most powers have some kind of colored effect going on or a drawn weapon and I'd imagine a lot of AR Blasters and Corrs would love to replace the Frankengun with something else.

Anyway, an idea like this would have to be handled in stages, since I'd imagine recoloring a powerset isn't an easy task. I'd like s system that would allow a limited power color respec, meaning if you have a powerset that's changed, that character would be allowed to repick the color once. I know the FF Defender in my sig could go for the Legacy Chain pure white Energy Blasts.

I was just wondering, would anyone be happy with a lesser version of power customization?

When I mean is that we're probably thinking of something with costume creator power, but as far as I can tell from what the Devs said, it's not going to happen any time soon. Instead, what if we got copies of current powersets with a different color "baked in"?

For example:

Energy Melee (Red) - The current one.
Energy Melee (Blue) - What Luminary uses.
Energy Melee (Green) - Maybe taken from the Shivans.

or

Broad Sword (Classic) - What we have now.
Broad Sword (Tech) - What the Knives of Artemis use
Broad Sword (Magic) - Maybe taken from the CoT or Necro pets.

or

Invulnerability (White) - The Hero one.
Invulnerability (Black) - The Villain one.
Invulnerability (Gold) - A new one, for the shinyness.

That way we could still have some influence over how our powers look, but we wouldn't need to rewrite half the game to do it. A powerset is a powerset, this one is just another color.

Would we be happy with something like this? I'd be, but would you?

Whilte total color customization would be great, I'd be happy with just a few choices per powerset. Like Energy Melee (Red), Energy Melee (Green), and Energy Melee (Blue) or Broadsword (Classic), Broadsword (Tech) and Broadsword (Antique).

I wonder how many sets already exists for NPC use? Could be interesting to take a look at.

The blue Energy Melee is alredy in the game, likewise for red and white Energy Blasts. Of course, this means recoloring every powerset by hand and making a way to select different versions of the same powerset without clogging up the interface.

But alternate versions of the same powersets would be a-ok with me. Plus, this would cause no new information to be shared between players since it's just another powerset.

I'd probably keep some effects standardized, though. Getting healed should always be green, for instance.

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Still don't understand what the big deal is. I think people need to relax and just put it out of their mind.

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I think that is the problem, actually. The constant red admin messages, where half of them won't affect the character you're playing makes people admin blind. Do you read every single admin spam? I don't, and suddenly one of them isn't "WARNING: Rikti invasion forces have been spotted heading towards Atlas Park!" but rather "The servers are shutting down in 5 minutes for emergency maintenance." That last one can get lost in the Rikti spam, and is much, much more important, and does warrent an all tab bulletin. The Rikti spam devalues the Admin channel, which in itself is a major issue, since that's more or less the most important channel in the game.

That's my problem with it, at least. The spam itself isn't hard to ignore, but it's the fact that I'm learning to ignore [Admin] that is my worry.

I voted costumes as my new favorite shiny, but it's because my number one new shiny simply wasn't there. The ability to slot ehnancers at levels 25-30 and never, ever, need to reslot all of my enhancers again. Sure, I might want to swap some out for a set or something, but I can just run a character on level 25-30 generic IOs and it'll be more or less the same as the SO'd characters I've played so far. The reslotting every five levels got old, and expensive, really fast.

Enhancers that don't expire. Now that is a really nice shiny. The economy? It's too soon for me to think about that. I hope it'll stabilize soon. I do think the costume pice prices are insane, though. Way too little supply in that supply/demand scale.

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for example, we dont have any missions with an insane amount of waves of ninja mobs ( think kill bill, or any hong kong MA film)

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Chimera and his hundreds of ninjas would like to have a word with you. After they've stopped ambushing me in waves upon waves of disposable ninjas. Go in there with a full team and you'll get enough ninjas (and caltrops) to fill several martial arts movies.

I kind of want a Tsoo AV to be a Sorceror with AV powers. Hurricane, Teleport, and some kind of nasty attack. He'd be a pain to fight.

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Issue 10 will focus on a level range that you guys have been clamoring about for a while.

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Hooray!

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I'm thinking 35-45 will finally get something.

How convinient that that's more or less the Rikti levels. They start at 30 and kind of fade out at 45-50. I hope it's Rikti, for the scourge that a few years ago were a global threat, they don't get very much exposure right now. Yeah, they have the Crash Site, but who goes there, apart from the 44+ Respec?

Will you need a badge to start the TF?

I'm asking because if you don't have Statesman's Pal, he shouldn't technically be there, and I think Recluse requires the badge you get from beating him in the Patron Arc.

Very nice guide, I just got my Elec^3, Candle Fly, to 50 and that was a fun ride. I actually started her off the I5 guide because the Blaptroller concept sounded like a blast (pun kind of not intended) to play. I really like the versatility of the triple electric, especially in the later levels, and that you need to use that to stay alive. That and Havoc Punch is addicting.

Among Candle Fly's highlights are: Preying on Rikti Bosses especially Mesmerists for fun, humiliating the Malta repeatedly (a Blaptroller is surprisingly good against them), duoing a +2 Battle Maiden AV with a Mind/Kin Controller (I tanked her. Really!), soloing a +2 EB Tyrant (no nuke, no shivans), and finally reaching 50 with no PL'ing and before getting all debt badges and only one held badge (she does have Adamant, though).

If I had to give advice for the Elec^3 based on my experience then it would be:

Know your foe.
If it has a Hold or Stun, it gets Tesla Caged first. If it's a boss who resists Holds, drain 'em.

Don't play fair.
So the enemy is held? Drain 'em anyway. He hasn't seen you? Close the distance fast and take him out with a 1-2 punch. Holding and draining is not too good for any foe, no matter how strong or weak they are.

Use active defense.
The Blaptroller can't take a lot of punishment, but you can prevent at lot of it with a pre-emptive Tesla Cage or drain.

Consider Defiance. (Yes, really!)
Since a Blaptroller is capable of disabling a foe in multiple ways, remember that low HP and no incoming damage isn't that dangerous. Exploit this by unleashing high Defiance Havoc Punches on the disabled foe. But make sure you can keep the foe disabled (See "Know your foe" and "Don't play fair"). Just don't play for Defiance, but recognize the opportunity for using it on a disabled foe to end a fight fast.

Anyway, great guide and thanks for introducing the Blaptroller to me in a comprehensive, but easy to understand way.

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Gentleman...Start your Doomgines!

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That wasn't meant as a DOOOM! Far from it. I was just wondering if it was an oversight.

Besides, how can it be first come, first serve when:

1. You can create new instances with only 50 characters (including those already raiding) in a zone.
2. Hamidon is manually spawnable.

I kind of expect a somewhat sizable team size needed to take him on still. Maybe 20-30 characters. So if "they" have 20-30 characters already raiding and "we" have 20-30 characters wanting to raid, we'll get our own instance and spawn our own Hamidon.

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Interesting article. I noticed the 50 player cap too. I never raided Hamidon before, how many people could you get in there before?

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I think the Hive instances at about 200, give or take 20-30.

This Hamidon looks to be interesting to fight. It'll be good to shake up the good old "clear mitos, hold Hamidon, kill Hamidon" strategy. It's served us well, now it's time to move on.

Wait a second, I just spotted a flaw in the set up.

Max members in an SG: 75
Max amount of characters in the Hive/Abyss: 50

So... Does an SG make a Hive 2 and do a 32/33 man raid in each?

Fun idea: The Hami-race. Spawn two or more Hives/Abysses and see who finishes first. You only need 50+N characters to create N instances. (Leave one character in Hive 1, 50 goes to Hive 2, spawns Hive 3 and so on.)

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What of those of us trying to transfer the ITEM itself to another one of our characters on another server? Say I get one of the "uniques" that doesn't work on my one character, but would go excellently on my character on another server. If I list it too low, someone else will more than likely snap it up...sure I get the Inf for it, but I'm out a really rare item and either have to find it all over again (which may never happen) or pay whatever exhorbitant amount someone else wants for it. If I set it too high and someone sets one for lower, it's not such a big deal I guess. Inf is easy enough for me to come by, sure I'm out the inf, but I gained the item I was wishing to obtain (while still having the mine up for sale).
Still, this is a system that is too easily exploited.

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Put out a pre buy on it first. If you get one for the character that could use it this way before putting your own up for sale, good for you! You can still put the one you have on the other server up for sale, or keep it so you have two. If not, you put the item up for sale with your alt and your other character's pre buy should pick it up. Unless, of course, it's a really popular item, in which case someone else has a prebuy open.

This raises a question. In which order are the prebuys processed? Highest first? Lowest first? Or first come, first serve?

My guess would be either high or low first. Probably low.

Dispersion Bubble shouldn't be able to draw aggro as it doesn't affect enemies at all. If you get Hamidon aggro by skirting him with the bubble it's very likely just standard proximity aggro than the bubble. And you most certainly can't pull aggro from a taunted Hamidon as a bubbler. Now Force Bubble, that's something else. But using Force Bubble at Hamidon is silly.

Other than that it's good advice. As a bubbler you are visible, and easy to spot.

Also might I add: Coordinate with your fellow bubblers. Should your sever not use a "All raiders must Group Fly" strategy, then if there are more than one bubbler, put one in the air and one on the ground. And if there's only one, be the one on the ground, since mezzed heroes will then fall into the Dispersion Bubble and be freed.

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(A bit off topic) They do that with global warming too. I think we'll realize that the water level is rising before it's too late... We're not just gonna all drawn one day out of the blue...

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It was very off topic. Certainly, I am not the ONLY one who prefers we focus on one piece of propaganda at a time (video game "violence"). I saw your point, but I wish folks like you would go start their OWN threads or blogs about Global Warming or the Iraq conflict somewhere ELSE.

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When someone claims that a video game, book, movie or even a voice in their head made them commit the crime. I feel that the person should be immediately examined by a psychiatrist no waiting not even a single day would pass. Then if they are proven to have a mental disorder then they would be put in an institution for the criminally insane. If not then they should stand trial and not be able to use that as a defense.

Part of human nature is to pass the buck. Finding a scapegoat to blame other than themselves as teenagers or adults for their actions. Parents that do not truly do their job of raising their children properly because they just do not care want to have something else to blame.

If they stuck Mickey Mouse in with porno movies and said that Walt Disney's toon are just as sexually explicit then Walt Disney would sue. For crying out loud this is a teen rated game. The rest of the games in the mix are either R rated or for Adults only. You can correct me if I am wrong but I think that Best Buy has a policy concerning video games. That policy is that they will have any mature or adult rated titles in there store. There may be other companies like but I just do not know.

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Well, Minnie Mouse DID appear topless in many of her early movies. I think a lot of the early Disney females did, actually.

(Now there's something to quote out of context...)

It's a bit of a toss-up for me as well.

I like the costumes, the storyline and the PvE combat more or less equally well.

PvE wasn't an option, so that's out. Story vs. costumes? Well the thing about I8 that I look forward to the most? Wings. Sure, New Faultline is nice, but... I want wings more.

So I chose costumes. After all, being a CoH style Hero is about fighting evil and looking good while doing so.

PvP isn't really my style, and badges? They're nice and all, but not that nice. I won't grind for badges, if I get one it's because I earned it through playing.

Just wanted to add that spawns with multiple Sappers are easy if you bring Forcefields along. Insulation Shiled kills Sapper End Drain since first they have to hit, which the high Energy Defense makes difficult, and then the drain is nullified with the End Drain Protection.

Cytoskeleton Exposure - Increase ToHit and Defense Buffs, and Endurance Reduction.

You can add Defender/Controller - Forcefield - Dispersion Bubble to this one. Uses Defense Buff and End Reduction. I pretty much run that toggle all the time in combat, so I've three slotted it with these. Light as a feather to use now. You can also use it on Deflection Shiend and Insulation Shield, the small bubbles, since buffing a full team can be a little exhausting on End.

I'd expect that you can use the Res/End HOs for Sonics in much the same way, but I forgot the power names.

So basically you make a "petcom_all follow defensive" macro and hit it when you take damage, then go back to whatever setting you like when you stop taking damage? I could see that working.

I know one thing, this ability will make Bank Heists a lot less painful for my Mastermind.

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Ok, but what is a "pull"?

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There's a big spawn ahead of the team, attacking it head-on may cause losses in the team.

Someone with a taunt or ranged attack goes a little ahead of the group and taunts/shoots a single or a small number of enemies. If the pull succeeds, only a few enemies will follow the puller away from the otherwise way too powerful spawn.

The few enemies that followed back are easily decimated by the team.

In other words... Divide and conquer!

"You know, I hear Ghost Widow's tower is haunted..."

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One question. You say it works for critters too, does that mean it works for enemies? Or just us and pets?

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If it helps I had a bugged Mud Pots on a character and whenever an enemy stepped into it, I got sytem messages about critters. So I'd bet "critter" is game engine speak for "attackable NPC", such as enemies and hostages.

I may not have found all of them, but here's a few I'd like:

Luminous Eidolon (Mmm... Rad debuff...)
Crey Protector
Chief Mentalist
Dark Ring Mistress (Might have to be a little expensive, though)
Hercules Class Titans, complete with combination ability.
Blood Brother Brawler (For the sheer fun of it)
Sky Raider Egineer
Sky Skiff
Boss Vampyr

You could make a nice team out of those.

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Oh, and I do remember at least one more episode with him in it. Perhaps two, but I cannot remember if the two scenes I remember are not from the same ep...

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I think Shreik was in three episodes. His origin one "Shreik", one (sorry, forgot the episode name) where he garbled all speech citywide and threatned to set this power on kill unless Batman surrendered. The last one he was in was "Where's Terry?", I think. Basically Batman goes spelunking in the subway system, gets caved in by Shreik, meets a kid that helps Batman out and... well don't want to spoil it.

That said, Shreik like powers would be fun. I do hope that they have bearable sounds.