Megajoule

IMO, there is another compelling point in favor of Pocket D and against WW: Pocket D disables toggles. (Not that the D doesn't have its own issues; and most of my characters have other, better things to do with their downtime.)

I cannot say for certain that making the same true of WW would entice me back, but it would definitely save those who do use the market buildings from the "secondhand smoke" factor. IMO, the people who won't turn off their noisy toggles or dismiss their pets pollute the immediate environment in a very similar fashion, except that howling demons are not (so far as I know) carcinogenic.

Not an arc, but a single mission. One of my friends actually made this one, not long after AE went live, based on an old joke by another friend about how most of the game's original missions were written:

"Rescue children from burning orphanage!"
Objective: Defeat 12 Orphans

I can only suppose that you have a higher tolerance for such things than other people who've posted in this thread, and/or are more pleased by the (virtual) presence of other players' avatars than displeased by how they act, considering it a net good.

I hypothesize that you may also enjoy large crowds and/or loud parties in real life? Because I, for one, do not (either).

but you see, Bright, Nethergoat seems to believe that enduring the insensitive, lazy and/or annoying behavior of fellow players is "socializing."

Or emerged from mole machines, which burrowed up from beneath (and then disappeared, to keep the city from being filled with huge eyesores that have a mountain of hp and give no xp for defeat).

I have a friend who plays the character "Longbow Widow."
You can tell she's Longbow (and totally legit) because, as her comrades point out, she's wearing red and white.

If I could give this post stars, Khorak, I would.

For most of my characters, their basic attack - the one you get at level 1.

Purely to cause hate: Roll back inherent fitness. And combined trains/ferries. And get rid of sidekicking/exemplaring entirely. Also, cancel Christmas.

Not sure if serious: Zero (okay, almost-zero) tolerance policy for farming. Hire more GMs etc to enforce it.

Note to OP: I was one of those who absolutely refused, back in the day, to stick bits of the Hamidon in my character(s) and who really wanted to see that come back and bite those who did someday.

a couple of issues ago, it was the Bettie Page lookalike with a whip that they were shoving in our faces. Now it's Penny, replacing one character whose "costume" amounted to lingerie with the paramilitary version of same.

This may sound odd, especially for a game based on comic-book superheroes, but do you think you could stop with the gratuitous fanservice? I know it's in genre, but IMO there's a point where it just becomes tiresome and embarrassing, especially when it's the writer's current pet that's being foisted on us (as it usually is).

Don't be a hero because someone gives you an M&M or a pat on the head.
Do it because it's the right thing to do.
Or just to grandstand and show off how completely outclassed this punk is by your PHENOMENAL COSMIC POWER.

(Or ignore it, because you've got bigger things on your plate now and another starting-out hero will surely be along to save this person... or for the coldly practical, meta reason that due to the way spawns work in this game, you literally can't clean up the streets, ever.)

"None of the above".

Nope, I got it for free. It's called "patrol xp."

My forum name, first main, first 50, etc etc is the defender shown to the left. I'll admit she doesn't get as much play lately, and not just because I've had her for so long; these days, it seems like most characters are already at or near the softcap (she's FF/Energy Blast), and while bubbling a team is easier than ever, I do wonder how much I'm really contributing. In-character, she's been away for most of the last few years, battling evil in another dimension - and by "evil" I mean "Nemesis", so I'm sure she'll be back in the fray this week(end).

My second defender is even more a victim of the game moving on, though not in a mechanical sense: he's a rad/rad, which still works just fine. He is, however, a Taxibot - created in the era when the Hollows ate lowbies and crossing it to your mission door meant taking your life in your hands, and a rescue 'port back to the Atlas gate was always welcome; before Ninja Run, or full travel powers at level 6, or jetpacks from Safeguards. Back when changing stations in Steel Canyon meant hoofing it, and changing your costume meant getting someone to 'port you to iCon and back to the safety of the Atlas tunnel. He's still fun to play on a team, and I'm proud to have him on my roster, but I must admit that the need for Taxibots has been greatly reduced over time.

My latest defender, a dark/pistols, was actually getting the hell played out of him only a month ago - he was the first character I ran through the new Dark Astoria (mostly solo). Right now he's on hold for a little bit while I work on a different alt, but he'll be back.

The OP seems to feel that he's already invested "enough" money in this game that he should get to play it - all of it, Incarnates included - for free from now on.

Doesn't work that way, mate.

I get my sense-of-not-being-alone by reading (and sometimes typing in) chat channels, not by being forced to stand next to the guy who can't be bothered to turn off Spine Burst or dismiss his howling demons.

Red Valkyrja said much the same, and probably more eruditely.

Funwrecker:
Just so. Nemesis is the very model of a Large (tinned) Ham.

We're being invaded. Again. This time, instead of aliens, zombies, or eyeballs with teeth, it's the marching band.