Schismatrix

i had a pen and paper Champions character who came from a parallel world where a fully immersive FPS was very popular. It turns out the incredibly convincing effects in the game he played were really accomplished by linking the players' minds to heavily engineered and armed clone bodies that are then gated to the parallel worlds that are used as the battlegrounds. He eventually discovers that the games actually involve real injury and death for the inhabitants of the worlds where the games are conducted and starts fighting to protect the world from native threats as well as other players of the game.

i liked the idea of a superhero with FPS themed powers who comes to realize it's not a game when they shoot others. An inversion of characters who think the world is real when it's actually a delusion.

Musical monkey!

(It's such a versatile image i may even make it my avatar.)

i'm pretty casually hardcore. i mean, i've only ever slotted one purple set even though i can afford them. Of course that might be related to the fact that i'm more likely to build around defense bonuses and +max end with only a moderate focus on +recharge and +rec, so to me purples aren't especially worth the price compared to lower cost sets. Sure, i don't get most of the set bonuses when exemped, but i don't find set bonuses as needed on the rather easy content at lower levels. Still, i'm obviously not hardcore hardcore since hardcore players slot every purple set their character can use, and i'd rather keep my build costs around a few billion and focus on special purpose IOs than purples, which is definitely not hardcore hardcore. So i consider myself to be more casual hardcore than hardcore hardcore and i'm definitely not extreme hardcore hardcore or i'd be more hardcore about it. (If people can use "said" in a hardcore manner then i can use "hardcore" in a casually hardcore hardcore manner. So my definition of casual is being less hardcore than the hardcore hardcore are hardcore. Is that hardcore enough for the hardcore?)

So says the shepherd!
So says the flock!
...
Get the flock out of here!

Rum. Lots and lots of rum.

Also, my triform PB can do decent damage on a team that needs it, be an off-tank when required, and generally be fun to play if not awesome at anything in particular.

Still, i suggest rum. Lots and lots of rum.
Vodka will do in a pinch.

On Freedom: Lucky Stiff
On most servers (including Freedom): Feral Catgirl

As i recall Second Measure's post suggests that in Issue 20 (all?) lower level enemies will drop Incarnate Shards. Which admittedly isn't a big incentive at this moment.

Build more stuff and game more IRL with friends.

Most of my Kheldians and a few other alts have Hasten. Currently one or two of my frequently played alts do out of eight or so.

i suppose some people might consider Hasten necessary. i usually end up with recharge bonuses from sets that easily give me all the recharge i need without Hasten's endurance cost.

i've found that as time has gone by i've been using Hasten less and less in my builds.