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Quote:You might not have noticed, but there's a tiny bit of origin customization in the Incarnate arc. The power that you take from Trapdoor takes on an appearance suitable for your origin. There may be other touches further on in the storyline, I'm not sure.I wish that the different origins reflected sub-genres and affected what missions were available to you (or possibly affected specific elements within missions). So Natural characters got more film noir-ish stories, Tech got some evolution of a tech-society stories (Blade Runner, etc), Mutant got stranger-in-a-strange-land, identity politics, etc stories, Science got some cerebral detective stories (ala "Bones" or more fantastically "Dr. Who") and Magic got some spiritual searching, nature of reality stories.
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Quote:I remember connecting to the Red Dragon Inn on a 300 baud modem. I think that makes me an Oldbie.There were also the Oldbies, people who had been role playing for more than 5 years. Now, by more than 5 years, I mean more than 5 years on a forum. It doesn't really matter how many years you've been playing dnd or doing other forms of role playing, the only way to be an Oldbie was to have been role playing for a long time on forums. Or you could claim to be one as long as you made suitable references to things which were old and role playing related. "Back in my day, we played Neverwinter nights on a 28k modem and we thought it was the bee's knees in our America Online chatroom."
Quote:Originally Posted by MayorOfAngrytownNext you'll tell me that there's a Battletech MUSH site still going too. -
Quote:But the design of the Death Star is very yonic. If it were designed by a male, it would have had a huge gun barrel sticking out of its side.That's very male planning - focus only on making the biggest possible weapon, and then sort out the details later
Quote:The garbage chute with human-sized openings that you've just built right beside the cell doors? -
It's been interesting watching this meme move around the world. It showed up on broadcast news last night, too. It's complete rubbish, but it has spread like wildfire.
What happened is that a Chicago paper interviewed an astronomer, and that astronomer mentioned in passing that the astrological signs have changed in the last 10,000 years. That brought out the headline, "Astronomer says star-chart is changing", which was condensed (because the news condenses everything) into, "Scientists change astrological signs", and once they realized *that* made no sense, it's now "Your sign has changed."
Some notes:
1. Scientists don't give a dram about astrology. Astrologers are not being 'forced' to change their signs and symbols.
2. The 'change' in the astrological signs has taken place slowly over the past 10,000 years (since the Babylonians first wrote about them).
3. No recent change has been made to the zodiac, by either people or the stars.
4. Ophiuchus always existed. It has been a equatorial constellation as long as any of the others. It was ignored by the people who made up the zodiac, probably because they wanted 12 signs to match the number of months.
Nothing has changed. Nothing is going to change, except over millenia or possibly in human superstitions. The news just latched onto some cool bit of trivia that a lot of people always knew. -
I have a Elec/EA stalker in her mid-30s, and I love the character. Highlights of Electrical melee include Lightning Rod, sure, but I like the minor detail that you can slot a 'Chance to heal self' proc in almost every melee attack. This seriously increases the character's durability.
EA seems adequate but unexciting. Energy Drain is another power that helps you stay alive in combat, but in general the EA set feels...typical, nothing special. At least I'll never have to worry about endurance. -
Quote:My Plant/TA scraptroller has capped (75%) S/L resistance with Temp Invulnerability, Tough, the Cardiac incarnate boost and some IO sets. It was my goal for the character. I didn't care about soft-capping defense, I wanted the character concept to be physically tough.For instance, on a Controller or Defender you can get over 60% resistance to S/L by combining Tough with an Epic Shield. That is a very noticeable amount of protection. However, this does NOTHING to help you avoid mezz effects, which are the bane of any squishy AT as far as I am concerned.
And she is -- against anything with slashing or lethal damage. But that damage type becomes rarer at high level. Against any other damage type she's very squishy. Although not as squishy as those controllers with softcapped defense once the new high-level mobs start in with their defense debuffs. Avoiding mezzes is a good benefit of high defense. But then, I think that I might get enough IO sets to softcap my scraptroller's ranged defense anyway.
Defense is the more popular option, and its kryptonite (defense debuffs) is more uncommon than my scraptroller's kryptonite (anything but S/L damage). If you want to go for just defense, listen to Biospark and don't bother with Weave or the fighting pool. But going for layers of both resistance and defense is an option. You'll have to commit more slots to it and buy more IO sets for it, but it is possible. -
Mary MacComber appears at +4 levels by the end of her TF. Perhaps the Purple patch is making her KB scale up to over 12 because of the level difference?
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I *don't* RP. However, I insist on good bios, because the character concept is central to the enjoyment I get out of this game.
So all my info blocks contain either A) Information told in first person POV that describes my character, as if you walked up to them and asked 'Tell me about yourself'. Example (the real bio is much longer, but this is the gist of it):
"I'm the daughter of a Tsoo shogun, whose mutant powers marked me as destined for greatness. Feh. I renounced his criminal life, and I will find my own."
...or B) Information told in third person that could be found by a cursory web search or asking the appropriate authorities in Paragon. Example:
"If you want a job done, call a professional. If you want a job done with as much property damage and innocents maimed as possible, call Agent Cyclone."
In both cases, there is some explanation of why my character is a hero/villain/vig/rogue.
I have two characters whose bios are just their theme song. Not the name of a song; the actual lyrics to a new song that would be their theme.
So. What does this say about *me*? -
I have three KB IOs also. One is good for general use, but I wanted three so I could go on Hami raids. Hamidon and friends will knock you all over the place with only 1 or 2 IOs.
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Quote:Yes, but there was a third option -- revitalize Star Trek with an eye toward long-term storytelling.If he did, he's the worlds greatest salesman. Considering that before the 2009 movie Star Trek basically had no future, Abrams got an incredibly good price for it.
Quote:And as I mentioned previously, I believe that to be a matter of highly subjective opinion. Reasonably intelligent movie goers have come to the opposite conclusion. Its not just the "stupid masses" that like the 2009 movie. I had to "turn my brain off" for every single Trek movie, from TMP to Nemesis, including WoK.
I'm not referring to the technobabble on the show. That's expected. It isn't a matter of how intelligent the movie goers are. It's a matter of stupid storytelling. I can handle it if they get the tech wrong; I can't stand it when they get the characterization wrong.
Quote:Take TVH, which is often considered the next best Trek besides WoK. What grand moral questions of the future does that present to the viewer? Save the Whales? Its a fun adventure movie, but it doesn't struggle with any big moral dilemmas.
Quote:It comes down to the 2012 movie. If that also does well, and it uses the launchpad afforded by the 2009 movie to tell a deeper story, the trajectory of the two movies combined will I believe silence all but the most hardcore detractors of the Abrams Trek movies. If it doesn't, I'll be the first to criticize the 2012 movie for going in the wrong direction. -
Quote:'Sponge' is the most perfect name I've ever managed to nab in this game.I'm thinking of changing my DM/Ice/Earth tank's name to Stalemate. She can't be killed, but she really can't kill them either. Not at a reasonable pace, anyhow. But she's fun to play. I turn on all the toggles and just start throwing out the control powers.
Soloing with DA/Ice is hilarious if you're not pressed for time. All the minions around me are stunned, feared, AND slept, I have two Lts in ice holds (or stacked holds on a single boss), and whatever's left is dancing on an ice slick. Then comes the hard part -- dealing damage to 'em. -
Quote:Yes, it's because DS wakes them up. I know, CoF puts them under again, but they get an attack off anyway. Yes, they can only be woken up once every five seconds, but often it takes them more then five seconds to make an attack. I just don't want minions attacking me.Can you clarify why you wouldn't run CoF and DS together? Is it because DS would wake them up? Wouldn't CoF just Fear them again? I know DS ticks every 2 secs. What is CoF's tick rate?
The fact that they're both extremely endurance-heavy toggles is a secondary factor.
I use CoF+DS against bosses because it debuffs their to-hit while simultaneously doing some damage. This would generally be solo -- if I'm on a team I often will not use DS at all, because its damage is negligible compared to what my team produces and I hold aggro fine with taunt and my other toggles.
To summarize:
OG only: On a team where aggro management is not difficult and damage output is not needed, or when you're having endurance problems.
CoF only: On a team against stun-resistant minions. (Cimerorans or Nemesis)
DS only: No real reason to do this.
OG + DS: Typical auras for general work or for soloing.
OG + CoF: On a team where mitigation is needed but damage output is not. Can also be used while solo for maximum mitigation (comboes nicely with Frozen Aura).
DS + CoF: Do not use against minions. Can be used with bosses to debuff and hurt them, usually when solo but sometimes with a team.
DS + CoF + OG: Everything is going to hell and you're getting desperate.Seriously, I'd only do this against an AV I needed to debuff and contribute damage to but who still had minions I wanted to shut down.
It takes some strategic thinking, but that's how I play. Your mileage may vary. If you come up with new strategies let me know! -
I keep saying Panacea -- I'm pretty sure it's Theft of Essence. I don't memorize these stupid names. I know that it was the one that was not very expensive. I'll double-check it tonight.
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Looking at the design space in this game, they seem to be treating the defensive
sets as combinations of 'major' and 'minor' mechanics.
Invulnerability -- Major in Resistance, minor in defense.
Stone Armor -- Major in Resistance and Defense.
Dark Armor -- Major in Resistance, Mitigation, and Self-Healing.
Ice Armor -- Major in Defense and Mitigation.
Willpower -- Major in Self-healing, minor in defense and resistance.
Shield -- Major in Defense, minor in offensive boosts.
Fire Armor -- Major in Resistance, minor in offensive boosts.
Electric Armor -- Major in Resistance, minor in endurance management.
And let's include the wider possibilities of non-tank defense sets:
Regeneration -- Major in Self-healing, minor in resistance.
Super Reflexes -- Major in Defense, minor in resistance.
Energy Aura -- Major in Defense, minor in resistance and end management.
It looks like they chose the non-tank defenses to focus on one mechanic, and then tacked on some resistance to adjust their balance.
All of the sets except Super Reflexes also have some kind of healing mechanic (shield has a +health power), but only in the case of Regen, Willpower, and Dark Armor are they central to the usability of the powerset. (Ice and Stone tanks might disagree with me here.)
So what combinations are left unused?
Self-healing + offensive boosts; a Regen clone with self-buffs. Didn't someone post a 'Berserker' powerset? Probably not defensive enough for tankers, though.
Resistance + Mitigation with no self-healing? That might make a good 'Force Field' or 'Psi Armor' set.
Major in both Defense and Self-healing? Might be overpowered. Both of those mechanics are tricky to balance.
Self-Healing + Mitigation with no resistance or defense? I picture this as a good 'stretchy' powerset, with stuns and knockdowns. Probably not defensive enough for a tank.
...and that's about it. I don't see many combinations that wouldn't be duplicates of what we already have.
I like the idea posted above of an 'Ablative Armor' set, using the Mastermind mechanic of summoning some kind of minions to soak up damage for you. That's thinking out of the box. We need more ideas like that if we want to expand the options available to tankers. -
Oh, it's playable without them. It's just not at full potential. Before being fully slotted I used to only run Tough and Weave if I was on a team with endurance buffs. And I'd never run CoF and Death Shroud together. (You ordinarily don't want to, except against bosses.) And sometimes I'd just stop fighting and let my toggles deal damage filled my blue bar filled. These days I don't have to use those starvation measures.
If you don't want to get the procs, get to 50 and commit to using the Cardiac incarnate boost. It fixes all problems. I like to use the Spiritual Boost, however, because it it buffs recharge and heal -- supercharging Dark Regen -- and the Rare versions will also buff slows.
Quote:It does seem like i'll be running alot...ALOT...of toggles on this build.
All I'm saying is, don't even look at the Leadership pool. -
Quote:Interesting option. I'm not an expert in IO sets, but that sounds like good advice.Siphon Insight. Ice Melee is somewhat short on powers that will take Kinetic Combat, and Siphon Insight gives you the same S/L defense bonus, and the whole set can be gotten cheaper than ONE Kinetic Combat most of the time.
Quote:The stealth suppresses in combat, I have never noticed it affecting my agro holding ability. -
Quote:I went with my friends from work to see TPM. We organized a day trip and the whole office convoyed down to the movie theatre to see it. Afterwards we met in the parking lot, shaking our heads at how much productive time we had just wasted.The difference, though, is that while tons of people went to see Phantom Menace, lots of them admitted point-blank they went to see it because it was Star Wars, and it could have been two guys drinking coffee for two hours and they would have gone to see it because it was Star Wars.
But TPM, as bad as it was, at least fit into the Star Wars Universe. The new Star Trek is a reboot -- the 'alternate universe' explanation was just a loincloth they draped over the truth. They rebooted the franchise with this one, and in the process they made it something else. That new franchise promises to be fun but it is not the old Star Trek. The old Star Trek was fun and smart; it invited the viewer to contemplate the possibilities and moral questions of the future. The new Star Trek is fun but stupid; it insists that viewers turn their brains off in order to accept the plot holes and inconsistencies.
As far as the short-term strength of the franchise is concerned, 'fun' is all that matters. The new Star Trek has that, and it will do well. But the long term future is bleak. Unless they put some intelligent depth into the storyline, the franchise will collapse again when they run out of stories to tell with the central cast, or when the central cast retires.
You can only tell so much of a dumb story before it becomes too stupid for even the most moronic mouth-breathing consumer to accept. In my opinion, Abrams sold the future of Star Trek in order to revitalize it for a short time. -
Quote:Bah. When we pioneered dark armor back in the day, did we have inherent fitness? No. And we had to wade through Malta scrappers uphill, both ways. You kids.Dark Armor has been a hot topic ever since Dechs posted his DA Sucks! thread. At least that's what brought it to light for me. I'd like to thank Dechs for promoting DA and dave_p for his Ice Melee guide.
I've had very minimal DA experience and the little of it I had left me with a bad taste (end hog). Well, I hit 50 with my SD/SS tank and I needed a new project. With inherent fitness I figured now is the time to try my hand with Dark Armor again.
Quote:Night-Shivers was born, my DA/Ice melee tank. I'd like to promote conversation on this particular pairing because aside from playing him, talking about him is the next best thing. I have a level 50 DA/Ice tank named Sponge that has attracted some attention. She's terrific. This powerset combination packs more damage mitigation than any other AT in the game. Name it, she has it -- resistance, defense, AoE fear, AoE stun, holds (single target only, alas), AoE knockback, and an AoE sleep. The DA/Ice tank is the best combat Controller in the game.
As a tank, she's not top of the line, I must admit. I don't think she's been the main tank on any Master run (except Master of Apex -- more on that later). She falls down a lot for a tank. But she gets right back up again, stunning everything in sight, and that seems to work for most circumstances.
Two things: One, the endurance usage is extreme. I've slotted her with the Panacea +recovery proc in Dark Regen, the Numina +recovery proc, the Miracle +recovery proc, the level 30 +recovery proc for health whose name I forget, *and* the Performance Shifter chance for +endurance proc...and I can still run her dry if I'm not careful. The cardiac incarnate boost helps, but I like using the spiritual when possible.
Second, be willing to cheat.Your team will not mind; they would prefer you keep standing rather than falling over to see your limits. Use inspirations. Craft a Kinetic Shield temp power. And most importantly of all, do Stephanie Peeble's arc in Striga to get the Wedding Band temp power. The Wedding Band is how I tanked a fully vengeanced Bobcat on the Apex TF. It is my secret weapon. At level 50 with an uncommon incarnate boost equipped, I have used about 40 minutes of the 2 hour duration. (When it runs out, I can re-acquire it through Ouroborous.)
Without temp powers, your resistance will max out at around 65% S/L, somewhere around 40% against energy if I remember correctly. Your defense will be not great -- Weave + CoD + IO set bonuses. You will live on your mitigation. This means that you (and your team) will be able to ignore minions completely, and you will have the tools to easily handle lts and bosses. AVs and giant monsters are your only threat, and for those you need either team support or your temp powers or both. With the Kinetic Shield I'm soft-capped on defense; with the Wedding Band I'm hard-capped to S/L resistance. With the temp powers on, I can and have embarrassed stone tanks on my team. (To be fair, they probably weren't bothering with temp powers.)
Quote:Cloak of Darkness (I dropped CoF in the aforementioned respec - still not sure it was the right choice... I also dropped Tough during said respec, to be picked up again at 22)
Cloak of Fear is a situational power, but it's very good when those situations arise. Every once in a while you meet an enemy that is immune to your stuns, slows, and knockback mitigation. (Cimerorans come to mind.) Then CoF is great. I also use it to debuff the to-hit on AVs, but I'm not sure how effective that is. I recommend slotting it for to-hit debuff, accuracy, and endurance; not fear.
I do not like giving any tank a stealth power. I didn't take CoD until stamina became inherent. I've been using it and I think its defense has helped a bit, but I'm still not sold on it being necessary.
DA/Ice will not play like Dechs' DA/Fire. He has good damage output, and he survives things long enough to kill them. DA/Ice has to just keep on surviving. When soloing I kill most minions with my damage aura. It takes a strategic mind to know which mitigation to use in which situation, and soloing with this character will take a lot of patience. It results in a great character, though. Good luck with it! -
Quote:Star Trek III: The Search for Spock spent a lot of time with the enemy commander. Which was part of why it sucked so badly, as Christopher Lloyd made a terrible, campy Klingon.Besides Wrath of Khan and First Contact, what Star Trek movie has spent a lot of with the villain(s) as opposed to the main cast?
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Quote:This is not true, because I am That Guy.You remember that guy you always hated playing AD&D with? The sadist who created nothing but killer dungeons and laughed when your favorite character died to a kobold? We hired him.
In general, however: LOL. Well, done, Steelclaw. -
I loved this show. Yes, it's campy, and that's a good thing. We needed a real comicbook-like TV show. Heroes and No Ordinary Family have proven that 'realistic' TV shows about superpowered people suck.
What thrills me the most is that The Cape did two things exactly right.
One is colorful characters. Other 'superhero' shows have had characters as bland as paste. Some people were complaining that The Cape himself is a bit boring, but you gotta admit he's more interesting than Peter Petrelli. All the villains and supporting characters on The Cape are colorful and memorable. Yes, that means they have to be campy but that's okay. The show is doing a good job with character design so far.
More important than that, however, is that this show knows what a superhero is. A superhero is not someone with powers. He's not someone who saves people. Heroes save people. Superheroes inspire people to save themselves. That seems to be the theme of this show, from inspiring The Cape's son to inspiring the prison director to stand strong. A superhero has to be a symbol, and the writers of this show understand that. Well done.
I hope this show survives. It has some rough edges, but its heart is in exactly the right place. -
Quote:I want to re-reiterate that I am *not* complaining about the new eeeeeevil missions. I love 'em. They're just not right for this character.I like how people were complaining about how redside couldn't let you be terribly evil and now that we have tip missions that do let you be terrible and evil, people complain that it's too evil.
The real problem is having to go redside just to get powers that match a character concept. If I were to complain about anything, it would be that patron pools aren't automatically universal. But that's a nitpick -- I am not complaining about anything, this is not a complaint thread. -
Quote:Whereas I will pounce on it faster than a catgirl in heat.I have 0 interest in the animal pack if is going to be heads and claws from different animals... This is the third pack I will not buy, with mutant and origins (and of course party pack).
They'll bring out a pack for you later. This one is for me.