McNum

Yeah, I'm using AS outside Hide a lot more now. The quick critical is good enough for most fights, I just use the big hit of a hidden AS to open against bosses and the like when solo. It's just dirty to follow up Assassin's Blade with a Soaring Dragon critical. By which I mean I like it.

Yeah, the damage my Ninja Blade Stalker can do even at level 26 is just... amusing. I have caught myself thinking "That was a tough lieutenant." and then looking to see it was a boss. Elite Bosses are easy pickings, too, most of the time.

If there's one downside, it's the endurance cost. Since the old Placate, AS loop is out, there's no gap in end use, meaning the blue bar drains very, very fast. Something that will require a bit of power and slotting stunts to correct on my Nin/Nin. Should probably get a Miracle for Health and a Performance Shifter proc for Stamina. I was planning on taking some Leadership powers, but until I got the end use under control, they'll have to wait.

So, I think what I'm getting from all this is that this is still uncharted territory with both the Stalker changes and the ATIOs. In other words, no one has the answer yet. At least not for Ninja Blade.

Well, I'll go ahead and try it out myself. I got a pile of unclaimed Enhancement Unslotters lying around anyway, so I can take it back if it's wrong. I'll put all six in Assassin's Blade.

By the way, how do you upgrade the ATIOs into their superior forms?

Yeah, I'm trying to figure out how my Stalker plays now. Placate has become much less important, for instance, since I can get a decent critical by building up stocks.

She's still level 26, so there's a way to go yet. The single target attack chain I was thinking of was, starting from Hide: Spring Attack, Soaring Dragon Critical, Divine Avalanche, Gambler's Cut, Golden Dragonfly, Assassin's Blade Quick, Soaring Dragon Critical, Divine Avalanche... You get the idea.

I haven't tried this out in practice yet, and I suspect I'll have to substitute in a Gambler's Cut for Golden Dragonfly in a few iterations, but that's the idea. And, of course, using Flashing Steel when there are multiple targets. I'll figure out where to put Build Up with a bit of practice, and when I get the epic attacks if any of those could be useful. It's a work in progress so far. Plus, I need to remember to leave small gaps for Kuji-In Rin to trigger on auto.

So I put up bids for the full set of Stalker ATIOs, got five of them already, and I'm just waiting for the final one. Might have lowballed that one a bit, but it should go through within a day or two, I think.

But then it hit me, I don't actually know where to slot these things. All in one power, I got it that much, but what power do I put them in?

First thought is Assassin's Blade. Seems like the smart thing to do. Build up for an AS critical, proc hide, hit Soaring Dragon. Repeat. Is that a good plan? The other idea was slotting it in Gambler's Cut or Soaring Dragon, but I think the hide proc is more useful in Assassin's Blade, isn't it?

I don't know, not quite sure what to make of these IOs, but now that I have them, I want to use them. How do you turn them into the upgraded version, by the way?

The thing that bugs me about this arc isn't so much what happened. But that it happened.

This is part 6 out of 7. This should have been the part where the final showdown in part 7 is set up, allies are gathered, clues are discovered, and basically setting it all up to having our Hero or Villain get ready to take the fight to Wade. Instead we get yet another downer part. We get it, things are bad, you don't have to kill off everyone to prove it.

Frankly, what worries me most about this arc is that I can't see any way part 7 won't either feel rushed, or not be the end of the Wade story. There's just not enough setup time left to have a proper final showdown anymore. The whole Sister Psyche deal could have been postponed to the next arc, instead of just killing her off here. It's a waste of potential for the story, really.

I just find it amusing that a character named as a Wacky Races reference is now becoming a premier hero in the game. I wonder if one of her rejected hero names was "Pitstop"?

I don't have specific rules as such, but if I did write some down, it'd be much like this.

0: This is a game, it's supposed to be fun for everyone. All other rules must conform to this one.
1: Concept comes first, then powersets, then build optimization.
2: When making a character concept, be sure it at least plausibly fits in the game canon.
3: Be nice to other players, and have a healthy respect towards each other.
4: Teach those who wish to be taught, and learn from those who know things you don't.
5: It never hurts to be polite, even if some people find it amusing.
6: When I lead a team, anyone is welcome, unless they show me that they shouldn't be. (I will not tolerate racist or hateful comments when I'm team leader.)

But it all boils down to "Make cool characters and be nice to people unless they prove themselves otherwise."

Yay! Moon Nazis! The best kind.

This movie just looks awesomely stupid. And that's meant as a compliment.

I kind of wish they had given us a fight alongside Statesman before killing him. Maybe have Wade use his power drain on US and have Statesman take the hit. We do have that exemplar technology and even the level indicator in the status bar, wouldn't it have been interesting to use that? Statesman down for the count, but not dead, and your power draining level by level until Statesman gets between you and Wade. He gets fatally injured, but you get your power back. And then you fight Wade with Statesman's powers who has to summon the Rularuu aspect to cover his escape.

It's pretty much the same thing that happens now, except it uses that it's a game to its advantage and gives Statesman a fight rather than just walk into a trap.

You know, if I were a betting man, I'd wager that "Who Will DIE?" will end like this: Wade is summoning Rularuu, and you can see he is breaking through. Your character arrives, with both the Phalanx and the Arachnos patrons in tow, (since all signs point to a shared final contact). The Phalanx and the spiders are all needed to hold back Rularuu, who should use that gigantic model that has never been used in the game yet (except for a quick cameo at a wedding proposal). I mean that's the Destroyer of Worlds made manifest right there. Going up against that in a futile battle to delay it would be a very worthy thing to do. This, of course, leaves it up to the player to take on Wade who now has Statesman's power. All the while reality itself seems to crack and shatter around you due to Rularuu's appearance. Now wouldn't that be one awesome setpiece to finish this arc?

But for that to happen, the Phalanx needs to be mobilized and snapped out of it in the next part, and the same goes with enraging Lord Recluse redside. Part 6 should be building up for a counterattack. And that means calling the Phalanx out. Maybe even making Manticore grumpy. More grumpy. Grumpier than usual. But I'd think Positron would be quick to convince, and he's the leader now. Actually, I have no beef with Positron in this arc, he seems to be handling himself pretty well.

Bonus points if you get the option of killing Wade, and leaving him alive gives a short after-mission cutscene of Wade picking himself up, turning around and... Lord Recluse is there. End scene. Seriously, Wade is so marked for death by the big spider now that it'd be disappointing if Recluse doesn't get in on it now.

Hmm, I wonder if this arc actually is an occasion to use the full size Rularuu model. I do want to see what it can do.

I like this thread!

Anyway, to add a minor annoyance, how exactly do I arrive too late to warn Statesman in Cimerora? Now say it with me "I hate time travel!", but consider this. What, exactly is stopping us from going back to past Cimerora and leaving a message? Yeah, if we carve it in the floor, Wade would notice, but what about an Impervium plate, or, if you did the Hero's Hero arc, leaving the faceplate Statesman gave you there for archeologists to find with a message inside? Yeah, it's a far out plan, but I can time travel. "Being late" is not part of my vocabulary anymore. And that's not even getting into just using Ouroborus to rewind until I get a result I like.

But I'll admit it's a really minor nitpick, but most of our characters casually travel in time to go somewhere in the city. Casual time travel has a lot of implications for any story (which is why you really need to think hard before invoking it).

As for how the story should continue, well, I hope I get to yell at the Phalanx. Just a "What s wrong with you?! We need to stop Wade from summoning Rularuu! We don't have time for this!" yell, followed by a rapidfire brainstorm of how to find him (ask Portal Corps for any unauthorized portals to the Shadow Shard), how to push him out of his comfort zone by adding an unforeseen element (Hey, Vanguard? Rularuu is going to invade unless we stop this guy... could I borrow the Honoree for a minute?), and of course, giving Lord Recluse the full story of who killed Statesman. That ought to be enough to put some pressure on Wade. And when Portal Corps calls in the blip on their scope, I know where to go. (And so will Lord Recluse.)

I'm sure I'm missing something, but this thing needs to escalate next, and part one of that is telling off the Phalanx. It's do or die time. Plan to save world now, argue later.

Goku vs. Freeza is going to be awesome. I think Goku had it right the first time. He didn't mean "Saiyan". Abridged Goku can really drive anyone mad.

I'm liking the idea of i being a Kheldian of some kind. A Warshade would be great, especially if it gets the Synapse treatment with a custom AI to really go nuts with the Kheldian forms. Double Mire, Eclipse, Nova, Dark Extraction on player characters. Fun!

Plus, there's a great story built into Warshades as it is, and they're pretty under-represented in the game.

So the suggestion of "a female Warshade in conservative clothing"? Yeah, I could go for that. If I'm able to participate in the contest, I might just make one of those.

Besides, the Phalanx could use some dark purple.

Statesman wasn't angry? I don't know, I kind of see him as tranquil fury kind of guy. Statesman doesn't burst into a rage, he focuses his anger inwards. Well, i supposed I should talk about him in the past sense now...

Anyway, yes, Statesman fell for a trap, and yeah, I would have preferred if Statesman had needed to be weakened first, like facing off against some form of Rularuu aspects, basically letting Wade get a sneak attack rather than just having Statesman walk into the trap.

Although, there's one thing that amuses me. For all his preparations and planning, Darrin Wade forgot to do one thing: He didn't read the small print about Statesman's powers. Now, the Well, apparently, does respect power and trying to gain power, but Wade is in for an unpleasant surprise. One can only hope it happens in a very inopportune moment for him. You get the powers, you get the drawback, Mr. Darrin "Slave-to-the-Well" Wade.

Forgetting to turn off Sprint in combat. I do this all the time on non-flying characters, and it's just a waste of End.

That and hoarding inspirations. Yeah, that small orange is going to be SO useful that I should keep it forever. Then I get annoyed that I've run out of the good ones, like End and Defense, with a tray full of orange, yellow and red.

In response to the thread title: Yes!

Meaning, I do make a lot of characters, but I only focus on one or two at the time. So I'll make a character, play it a lot, then either hit 50 or abandon it, then make another character and do the same. I really only have one I keep returning to repeatedly.