Roderick

I am a D, though on occasion I've been a C. I tend to spend as fast as I earn, typically keeping 1-2 billion available for whatever I may need, and typically 100-300 million on any given character.

By now, we're all familiar with Titan Weapons, and most of us have probably heard that the new tech that made TW possible is being shared with Assassin Strike in the near future.

The way I understand it, when you use one of these powers, it checks a flag (either Momentum or Hide), and selects one of two different powers to activate, depending on the state of that flag.

In the past, we've been told that we can't customize Mastermind pets because the power summons an entity from the critter database, and the critter is too far removed from the Powers system for customization to work.

Now, this suggestion isn't going to give full customization, but, if the devs were to clone the critters summoned by the Henchman powers, giving different models to each set, and then clone the summon power a few times, having each summon tied to a different set of visually distinct but mechanically identical pets, and then replace the actual Summon power with a Titan Weapons-style power that selects the appropriate pet group... Well, it seems like it should work.

There would likely be some back end work needed, and art assets would need to be created or taken from elsewhere (Vahzilok for Necromancy, Sky Raiders for Mercs, Circle of Thorns for Demons, etc). Depending on how it can be set up, we might have to select one theme for all pets, rather than on a per-power basis, but even that is better than the current system.

I'm not saying that this would be easy, but it's quite possibly the closest we've ever been to having the tech to make custom pets work.

Side thought: This tech might also make it possible to choose between the existing transformation of Granite Armor and the overlay-style Granite Armor that Back Alley Brawler suggested way back, when he said we can't have an option for both. Who knows where else it might work? Maybe Titan Weapons is the Holy Grail of power customization!

EDIT: Further reflection makes me realize that, in the case of Titan Weapons and Assassin strike, the flag read by the powers is set by the Powers system. Power Customization is done through the Costume system, and I don't know if the two systems can talk to each other enough to make this happen. But if they can, this could be a benefit to players and devs alike. And if we're *really* lucky, someone already thought of this, and testing and/or development is already happening.

The animations are actually quite fast, except the momentum builder once every few seconds. More recharge is a good thing!

-Damage auras are WAY better on Brutes.

-TW's big AoEs are WAY better on brutes.

-Electric Armor Brutes and Tanks will both easily cap their Energy Resistance. Brutes will get about 60% Smashing/Lethal Resistance (including Tough), whereas Tanks can get 80%.

-Tanks get Energize at level TWELVE. Brutes have to wait until 28. They also get Lightning Reflexes 2 levels earlier.

-Tanks have to wait until 35 and 38 to get their two best attacks, which Brutes get at 26 and 32 (but that's true for most Tank/Brute melee sets).

I give you: The Fabulous Flaming Bunnyman!

Wow. I agree that the animation is kinda dumb, but a < 2 second animation that only plays once when you toggle up (So maybe a half dozen times in a play session, if you die or exemplar below the level of the power a few times) is the deal breaker?

I just can't wrap my brain around that. If it were a persistant or replayed at regular intervals, I could understand it, but this is just bizarre to me.

I already get a bundle of 5 Dam/Rech/proc enhancements on every new character I roll. You have to have preordered Going Rogue from a specific vendor, or have a certain reward level to get them, but something like what you're asking for already exists.

In case you're unfamiliar with them, each enhancement grants Damage and Recharge enhancement equal to an even level DO (16.7% to each) and has either a damage proc (One each of Psi, Smashing, Lethal and Energy) or a Knockdown proc. All the procs have a 10% chance to trigger and last until level 20. Once you train to 21, the procs stop functioning, but the enhancement values remain. At level 22, you can use SOs, which are far better, so you might as well replace these at that level anyways.

And as has already been mentioned, the low levels do go by fairly quickly, especially if you team a lot, so you don't really need more than these - And these enhancements are more of a bonus than a necessity.

The store bought enhancements are identical in enhancement value and set bonuses to in-game enhancements of the same name. There are two major differences:

-The enhancements level up with you, so when you level up, the enhancement value gets slightly bigger, until you reach the max level for the enhancement. They do NOT level down with you when you exemplar; the enhancement values scale down just like regular enhancements.
-The set bonuses stop working when you exemplar below (the minimum level for the set - 3) rather than (the level of the enhancement - 3).

Ultimately, they aren't that different from the regular versions, but they're very handy if you are having trouble finding the enhancements you want. Whether they're worth the points is a call that only you can make.

As demonstrated by my testing, a level 50 gets the same Inf regardless of the setting when at their natural combat level, and when exemplared. Care to elaborate as to when that setting actually makes a difference for a level 50?

Unfortunately, I can't find anything more specific than "a mid-issue patch in i16", but there was a bug fixed around that time that was, prior to the fix, causing all XP earned by 50's to just vanish. After the bugfix (with redname confirmation around that time), all XP earned by level 50 characters is supposed to be converted to Inf at a 1:1 ratio and added to the regular XP rewards (Which is what the "Double Inf, no XP" setting actually does; it's not actually a direct doubling). If you're seeing an instance where level 50 characters are NOT getting this XP -> Inf conversion, that's a bug, not WAI.

Each account checks its eligibility for rewards independently of the others. If you had a Level 50 on a T1 free account farming AE, it would get no rewards. If a character eligible for rewards joined them, they would get their share of rewards normally, but the first character would still get none.

I played the first SSA shortly after midnight PST on the morning it was scheduled to go live. I haven't been online when any others have gone live, but I've seen other store items go live in the wee hours of the morning several times. I'm gonna have to agree with Eric: Expect the SSA to go live anywhere between midnight and early morning PST.

I accepted the change, and was left at level 16, just as I had been before. I asked the team, and nobody else had received the popup.

I have no idea what happened, but during a Posi 2 earlier this evening, I was informed that the leader was now level negative 1.5 billion and that I would be kicked from the team if I didn't agree to be exemplared to level 1. I had been suffering from some hideous lag, and I suspect a corrupt packet slipped in somewhere and confused the client.