Seldom

Whilst I believe the OP overstates his case by a good margin, I wonder about the whole "Normal gamers wouldn't want those! They don't care! They just want SO's!" thing. There are two means of character progression in this game: the powers, and the enhancements. Even after the first is complete, the second can be continued. The game has been around long enough that inventions are known to some degree. Anyone familiar with RPG's and/or MMO's knows a bit about 'equipment,' which is what our enhancements are, basically. (They just don't alter appearance)

Enhancing progress is far less straightforward than power progress, as with the many set bonuses and effet IO's, it all comes down to 'what are you aiming for?' Defense? HP? Wierd extra damage types? Accuracy? Purples are the 'best' way of obtaining many of these attributes.

What bothers me is that the means of obtaining these has escalated to a point where many find only consistant farming/flipping a reasonable way of gaining a complete set. Both of these practices are rather solitary, and quite frankly, dry and repetitive. If the way to reach the 'pinnacle' of character progress is to do such, I find something to be awry.

But that's me.

(And please, do not compare the way other MMO's grant their 'leet lewt.' Just because others do thing worse doesn't mean something can be done better.)

What?? No 'Mokey Island?' Goodness, man, I am appalled.

Pssst...'fan art' might make more sense. The title just begs for immaturity.

For the human "mez" problem, I wonder if having an unenhancable hold/stun/sleep defense would be viable. This way They could have a set number to get out of suffering said effects. Human forms could more readily use the powers they have, while dwark form woul dbe far more reliable.

Just a thought.

I am by no means a kheldian expert, and my favorite kheld, being a human only pb, is still quite young. And to be honest, of my characters, he simply is way down there on the powerscale. Darned if he has some really cool powers, though, and crazy as it is, I actually like the sounds. The light.

And yet....it's meh. And I have little hope for his future. Having played mostly 'squishy' archetypes, I know just how debilitating mez is, and I know that going straight human will be even tougher, as later on there are groups that can lock one down until you drop, if you lack a break free. (Rikti, malta, I shake mine fist at thee!)

I always wondered about the dwarf=mez armor thang. Forgive my stupidity, but I thought dwarf=tank form, a.k.a. not killing well, but surviving it all. But I'm sure if peacebringers had mez armor, they'd be unstoppable tank-mages that killed all in sight.

I do see the -resistance idea working out well, as that seems more credible than simply making peacebringers higher damage than their cousins. That said, the kb=evil crowd might still have issue. But with enough -resistance, they could overlook it. Dead knocked back targets mean no chasing anyway.

(That said, I'd actually like the kb to be more reliable if power can get someone out of my face, let it do so. If not, the 'it may give you breathing room' thing is a bit...annoying. I like to know my tools, how they will react.)

Perhaps things like this?



Edit: had to get the image working.

Protector is my second 'home' server, but I hate to say, it's only used for heroes playing with friends. (They lured me over from my 'red' home on Champion)

People may be on, just playing with their groups. Going to and fro between missions in shared zones I do see a few villain folk about. From my experience on Champion, I'd say red sides are often a lot slower, but the way arcs stay in one zone, without hunts has the side effect of making areas seem even more sparsely populous. Unless you're at a hub, most teams stay in a zone and can just hop from mission door to mission door.

There's sort of a dichotomy in developer treatment for the canon/epic/whatever you wish to call it treatment.

Patron/Arachnos, for whatever reason, seem to be treated somewhat in 'canon' mode..."These are part of our story, they come from our canon sources, they can't be changed" kind of thing.

Yet we can enhance our patron/Arachnos powers to do drasticly new things, or act in ways absolutely unique from canon. Bane spiders without maces, fortunatas with claws, mastermind crab soldiers; patron blasts that can hold foes in tesla cages, patron powers with a chance to do absolutely new damage types, the list goes on. Don't get me started on the male widows wearing yellow and fuchsia.

There's a bit of inconsistency, and I, as a concept design nut, would say that devs should pick a side- in this case, I would hope they'd choose the 'open' side. If they want all of this to be absolutely canon, not diverting from their story, wouldn't it make sense for all the Arachnos/Arachnos powers/patron powers to be un-customizable? No slotting, no coloring, just lots and lots of set in stone 'temp' powers. No? Not fun? Then perhaps loosen up, admit the players have control over their 'epic' and patron' abilities, and do with them as they please. Pink mu lightning/green psy blasts and all.

Though it is often skipped, I recommend taking cloak of fear post haste. Of course you must then slot it asap for accuracy/endurance. The combo of cloak of fear and oppressive gloom means that most things near you can't get their heads straight enough to attack you, and slows down incoming damage so that dark regeneration has time to refresh.

Some may build differently, but I've found the two make one into a mob fighting machine. Dark armor thrives on many targets, particularly soft ones. It's not as good vs. singular tough high damage/high burst damage enemies, though.

(Oh, and get used to slotting end reducers for /dark...it get's pretty juicy without.)

Not sure if this counts, but I don't have so much a specific song for characters, but genres of music I play with each character. Here are some I've been pretty consistent with:

Sir Bastion, a ghost knight: epic classical orchestral pieces

Mr. Plutonium, idealistic/carcinogenic radiation hero: happy 50's/60's pop

Dreameater, spectral psychic dreamer that drains souls: quiet/romantic/sad string classical pieces

Deathsman, brute consumed with bringing death to al that lives, thus bringing lasting peace: peppy oldies love songs.

What I'd add: (if I could)

The ability for the game to handle moving surfaces:

This could be used for vehicles, moving missions, moving platforms inside missions, and so on. Nothing in this game that moves can be interacted with in a model-to model way, which is part of why, in my book, things seem a bit dull, zones wise. Because so little is moving. The ports are full of cranes in the same spots they've been for 5 years. The big freighters don't move. Many cars don't come and go. The streets don't get crowded with traffic. Nothing moves but NPC characters and a few intangible/slick cars that drive through each other.

Reputation:

If my hero has destroyed a million council, the council I come up against will fear him. They've heard of him. If he's spent tons of times in Kings Row, cleaning up crime, civilians there will look up to him as a local hero. My villain who's slain a million longbow will get the same reaction as the hero to the council. If he's pulled off a thousand heists, and wrecked tons of foes, he will be widely feared. If he took down Lord Recluse, his patron, and the Freedom Phalanx, he'd get respect.

Decisions/Plans:

The ability for my villain to make a plot, and go through with it. As he does so, either enemy NPC's or player nemeses interfere to thwart said plots. The ability for my hero what task to do, and consequences for said decisions to come about. (Save city hall from a mad bomber, or thwart a chemical robbery?)

Greater interactivity with the city:

A.k.a. zone 'event' missions: help cops, rob an armored car passing through, halt a gang war, kidnap a rich mob boss, so on. Besides that, for hero missions to be given, not asked for: (i.e., you log in, police chief asks for help with a robbery, contact calls about a new council tip, positron asks about a Vahzilok problem when you have a large team assembled in his range) Villains can 'Find' missions in zones. Sneak past guards to find valuable tech plans, break down a longbow ship to seize all of its armaments, etc.

More than just 'combat' missions.

Espionage, saving people from a disaster, multi-objective missions involving diversions, avoiding, puzzles, investigations, bosses that must be fought through more than just 'hitting them harder.' (For the last, where they'd have specific protections/traps set that would need to be deactivated/destroyed to make them vulnerable.)

That's all.

To the OP: As somebody who plays the redside more than blueside by far, and has for more accrued in the 'red' than 'blue' side, these would be my observations.

The redside moves slower. As such, it is less prone to fluctuations, or at least the fluctuations are slower to happen. There's also less supply- as such you see some outrageously overpriced things at times, which can be very profitable or draining depending on whether you sit on the supply or demand side. 'Rare' items are lucrative, but if you want them, especially at a decent price, you will have to be patient. (And find ways to acquire them yourself.) Easy to find items, or low demand ones, however, sell for a pittance many times.

Blueside there are just a lot more numbers. As one who only plays there with friends away from my home server, it's a little harder to get into without first finding some lucky/expensive drops. And what's lucky/expensive will change pretty fast, so you must pay more attention to trends. I have noticed the cheaper stuff sells better, so if you you the blue market often, you could get the numbers to pay the bigger numbers that everything goes for. Or be patient and try dredging up stuff posted low...I find I've gotten more 'valuable' deals blueside, as I guess fewer people list low redside than blue for the "good stuff."

Hm. I play a /dark brute quite often, and find that for the foes affected, the little ticks from oppressive gloom are better than the bigger ticks enemies give when they aren't stunned. But then again, I didn't go for defense in my IO's, just recovery.

Point taken about the wandering, though. (Note: I do have good luck with OG with the chance for immobilize+chance for -tohit purple. Those two can help performance.)

Keep in mind, some of hide's defense suppresses with its stealth. I believe mids shows the hidden, unrevealed numbers. With hide on, but in combat, hide gives 1.875% defense.