Sardan

Especially Faultline. Fantastic story arcs, and you don't have to leave the zone as you do them. But you have to just go to those zones and click the initial contact when you're the right level, they're not automatically inserted into your contact chain. At level 15, go to Faultline and talk to Jim Temblor to start his arc.

Same deal with Striga, which is another cool zone--when you're level 20ish, go to Striga and talk with Stephanie Peebles. She has a story arc that gives out a super-handy temp power, the wedding band.

Same here. If this really makes it into the game, it'll be a heck of a great QoL improvement.

I would like to nominate Eryq2 for the position.

I'd flip that around. If we did NOT know him, then it'd be entirely appropriate to question his integrity. But Smurphy is a well known player.

Yes, minus whatever cut Smurphy takes and minus a potential 10% server transfer fee that may be incurred.

Oh, and I'll bite for 50M!

Yeah, I probably should've made the title "Superteams and themed teams!" but that doesn't exactly roll off the tongue. It's true that a traditional superteam has a force multiplier effect built in so that you get some kind of stacking buff/debuff that makes them scary-powerful. But I've seen plenty of themed teams that are just as fun. An all-Claws brute team would be an example of that. (As to Kitsune's "Why Claws?" Because it's new to brutes.)

Both superteams and themed teams are fun, and they're both a pain in the butt to keep going past about 3 or 4 play sessions pre-i16.

Anything at the softcap for ranged defense. Easiest is probably Super Reflexes, but Shields would work too.

Electric Armor is immune to end drain, so it wins the "what's best against Sappers" argument if budget is taken into account.

Yes, the softcap is 45%. That's what to aim for. The only reason to get higher is to provide a cushion against debuffs. Depending on what defenses you start off with, you'll either want to maximize defense against attack type or positions. For example, an Ice Tanker usually tries to get Smash/Lethal defenses to 45% because most attacks have a Smash/Lethal component. Remember even if an attack does 90% energy and 10% smashing, your defense against Smashing will apply. Other characters like a Super Reflexes or Shield Defense scrapper will work on positional defenses (Melee/Ranged/AoE) because that's how their shields work.

Wish granted. One of the major bullet points the devs showed in their San Diego Comicon panel discussion as a key goal for Going Rogue was to reinvigorate the early level game play experience.

If you look at low level villain content, it's really much better put together than the equivalent hero content. I expect a similar leap forward with the new low level Going Rogue content.

Sigh. Eryq, I know you don't like marketeering. I know you'd rather farm than play the market. I totally respect your choice. It's a game, and you should do what's fun for you!

But the OP was explaining how to get a decent starting bankroll for a new character. He explained how it's not hard and it doesn't take too much time. Do you remember being so broke you couldn't afford to fully SO your character until he was in his high 20s or early 30s? I sure do. The OP was kind enough to share a straightforward technique to create a nest egg for a new character. Why you feel compelled to damn it with faint praise, I don't understand.

I don't think so. The most you can do is not have it show publicly.

If we weren't going to have side switching, I'd be more sympathetic to the OP's argument. As it is, it truly is pointless. Once GR is live, if you want a blaster-equivalent red side what you'll do is create a villainous blaster.

I'm going to revise my statement from "I'd bet money this won't happen" to "I'm 100% positive this won't happen." If you read Posi's latest interview, he talks about two new signature characters being introduced with Going Rogue. One is Desdemona, a demon-summoning mastermind. You pretty much don't get more inherently evil than being able to summon demons. She's the one switching sides to become a hero. No respec needed to trade in her demons for nice neutral robots or whatever.

To avoid getting this forum embroiled in an off topic conversation, I'd say go here to check it out.

Two words:

Broccoli beef

...... Okay, so those particular two words have nothing to do with this game, but damn I love broccoli beef!

You're talking about some powersets not being allowed to switch sides? I'd bet money that won't happen. The fundamental idea is that you have a change of heart about your path in life, and you're going to take whatever powers you have but live differently. Not that you somehow magically get reinvented as an entirely different character.

I don't get this. Vahz only go to 20, so you'd have to fight them at 20, with access to your powers through level 25. Yes, you'll get XP but that strikes me as awfully inefficient.

PLing and farming are heavily affected. By killing bridging and by allowing farmers to do their thing without bothering anyone else, the old days of farmers/PLers nagging others to bridge or pad are over. It's true that i16 makes farming easier than ever, but I think it's quite clear that the devs are bothered less by this than by the old days of people who weren't interested in farms being nagged to fill or bridge.

As you point out, getting this right is hard. I gotta believe the devs are strongly disinclined to go down this road again. It has to be painful putting in weeks designing a huge area only to have it entirely ignored by players.

Personally I like what they did with the Abandoned Sewer Trial--they put the entry point waaaay deep in this creepy dangerous maze. Back when people still did the trial regularly (admittedly only for the insanely high XP of the Kraken), it was fun just getting to the entrance. And by "fun" I mean running like a lunatic through the sewers screaming "OMG OMG OMG don't eat my face!" Good times.... The main problem is that no one runs that trial any more. Another cautionary tale of the perceived rewards not being worth the required effort.

But I do like the combo of a highly desirable but optional task that requires you to run the gauntlet. If they can get the balance right, it's pretty awesome.

Roffle? I do laps of the Storm Palace with no probs on my SR scrapper. There are no Overseers there--those are the ones that would slice through SR's defenses. There are only Brutes and Wisps. The main problem I have is that in the rare event an Honored Brute hits, he hits for something over 1300 points of damage so I have to be quick to use a green insp in that case.

This might not be obvious to the OP, so I thought I'd mention that the most important positional to softcap is melee, followed by range. AoE's are less common so it's common to see builds that don't bother softcapping AoE. My own preference is to softcap it too, but realize it's not as important as melee and ranged.

Elec/Elec will be better in i16. I personally like dealing out AoE damage, and Elec/ is very good at AoE. One important tip: put a Force Feedback Chance for Recharge in Thunder Strike (but not Lightning Rod; doesn't work in that power). When you're surrounded by enemies and use it you'll usually get a hefty recharge buff.

They're replacing Conserve Power (which was hardly needed) with Energize, a power that provides a nice heal. I haven't tested it personally but reports from folks in open beta are encouraging.

Stamina makes a huge difference, as does slotting your attacks with End reducers. In i16 another change is that Brawl will use no End at all. You can use that as a filler attack to build Fury rapidly.