Socorro

So very signed! However, I think the Trials might fade to relative obscurity (a la Cathedral of Pain) due to the difficulty of finding enough players to fill them.

I pretty much don't like monthly comics due to how they treat time. They try to make time 'slower' in the comics so they don't have to age their characters too much, but they also reference current events and personalities in an attempt to keep the books relevent.

This causes contradictions. Example: in the 80's the Avengers comics reference Ronald Reagan; currently they could go Pay Barrack Obama a visit, yet we're supposed to buy that they only aged a couple of years.

I prefer mini-Series type comics that are self-contained, like Watchmen. Over the course of that series, we glimpsed the lives of characters over a relatively small window of time during a pivotal event. And now that story is done.

I've got a Brute with Health 6-slotted, with the Numina, Miracle, Regen.Tissue, & Panacea Procs. Not sure if this is good slotting, but it sure is Unusual I think (and keeps me blue bar buffed)

I'm considering Proccing out Duel Wield and Empty Clips for my Thugs MM. I know MM attacks are not supposed to be the greatest, but it annoys me that sometimes you're really better off not even getting them. In an attempt to make them useful, I'm thinking of putting all the damage procs I can in them, along with procs like the feedback recharge, maybe Ragnarok's knockdown... See what happens. What can I say - I love doze Pistols

Never took an MM on a trial prior to the recent changes, so don't know how bad it was...

Since changes, I'm Incarnatin' my Thugs/Traps MM.

BAF: no problems: felt useful during all phases; just have to insure your pets aren't attacking AVs until they reach the league designated points. Easy.

Lambda: felt useful except sabotage phase, like every other MM. I ran around with group and tried to help with my piddly personal attacks, but mainly just hoped FFG would catch up and offer some protection.

Keyes: Been on 3 (all successful). Have no major troubles getting pets up ramps, etc. My key to having pets not attack Anti-Monitor is to use an Attack/Passive Macro. Basically, I pick a Target, use macro, Pets attack Target only. Once target is defeated, they instantly enter Follow/Passive mode. I then pick next target, rinse and repeat. I can fight Adds with AV right in the mix without worrying my pets will snag him. The Pulses never really seem to nail me that hard, even though I was almost never in bodyguard mode except at the end. Med Pools helps with what damage I get...

My biggest problem in the trials is that aggravating 'Pets-Ignore-You' bug. They'll just stand in one spot and not follow you or do anything else. If the bus is heavily in effect, dismissing and resummoning doesn't help. I know this bug isn't confined to trials only - that it can show up elsewhere, esp. when zoning, but it seems to manifest more in the trials for me. In fact, it's only trials for me lately *shrug*

My main is an SS/WP Brute (just your basic super strong/super tough metahuman). I don't plan on rerolling her, per se, but I do picture her often using her Super Strength to pick up heavy things and bash people that look at her funny. So...depending on how the set looks and behaves, I'm contemplating re-rolling her with that set, and sort of playing Both, with the idea that some days she feels like smashing stuff with her fists - other days she prefers I-beams. Just can't see myself fully enjoying one way or the other wholly...

Now, I'm all for another round of new SS animations that simulate you hitting stuff with large objects. If that happened, I likely wouldn't bother with the above pseudo-reroll concept. But I'd probably make a new character concept for titanic weapons.

I've been on a DKTF ITF - Most fun I ever had on one

Our Devs aren't ignorant. They know this situation exists. So, obviously, they want the Trials to be ran and are using the carrot method to make it so.

Why they don't want a more balanced approach I don't know, but I'm certain they've weighed everything and are purposefully doing this. From their viewpoint there has to be a greater payback in this method.

We can all try to guess this. My guess is they want the Trials to be ran now because it's their new toy and they want it to be played with - not fall into immediate relative obscurity like the revamped Cathedral of Pain (which I've yet to run).

I believe there will come a day when 'normal' content, solo and otherwise, will allow good progression to incarnate powers. Like many here, I wish it were already so, but I can tell you this -- even though I like the trials, I'd probably almost never run them if these alternatives existed right now...and that is what I think the Devs are trying to avoid.

Players like me not running their trials...

I do feel somewhat railroaded, but again, I like the trials ok, so it hasn't been horrible.

Were I a trial hater,though, I'd be livid

My SS/WP Brute is sort of like a living power battery, so I'm collecting 'electrical' type tertiary powers, Mu Mastery, ION Judgement, and now...Storm Elemental Lore.

Working well...

The biggest QoL boost for PPs I can think of (outside of customization) is getting rid of the Stupid Required Power picks. I HATE having to pick Boxing/Kick before I can get Tough. On 9 out of 10 toons it's a complete and utter waste. Come level 14 I should be able to get Fly without first having to get a Flippy Haymaker Clone (yeah I could get hover, but I'll never use it on a Melee toon - at least Air Superiority gets some use...)

The level restrictions should be enough (They're enough for our Primaries and Secondaries). Yes, this would enable us to pick other more useful powers. And what's the problem with that? There doesn't seem to be much concern in the game lately about us becoming Too Powerful.

This should apply to Epic Pools as well, IMO.

My main is a WP Brute, and I've long given up that she was just a 'super tough/never quit' type like Rocky Balboa. Not when she can leap off the highest building and not even twist an ankle.

I see the point about certain sets that seem to iconically go together not meshing any better than 'odd' combos, but as has been stated already, the odd combos don't need further discouragement to people playing them. In fact, I wonder if that might be part of the plan...

I remember when D&D 3rd ed. came out. It was sorta known that Clerics were historically one of the least played classes. With 3rd ed., the Cleric was a class that could wear armor, had pretty good hitpoints, AND access to spells up to 9th level, many of them that buffed basic stats that made the Cleric better than any fighter. A true tank/mage, the Cleric might have become the most powerful class in the game. Much discussion was made on how intentional this was to encourage people to play a traditionally less-popular class.

Does similiar thinking apply here? Who knows?

Concerning 'iconic' supers, I don't have much problem with how the game handles powerset synergy, but individual power combos sometimes seem to really screw things up. Take the traditional flying superman archtype. Your most powerful ability, Footstomp, cannot be used at all whily using your most archtypical ability('flying'). Superman fought while flying all the time. Any superman homage you make in the game, using SS/Inv, likely won't be.

And of course, what messes up iconic more than anything is visuals. There are lots of iconic heroes that can move and attack incredibly fast...yet I can't recall one of them that has flaming yellow energy around their fists due to speed (thanks alot, whoever developed Hasten)

Will we ever get that loincloth look WW has? I'd pay a full booster pack price for that entire outfit...

If you can get near S/L softcap on a WP Brute, it's almost unstoppable. It's expensive - you have to get several sets of kinetic combats to do so, but I think it's worth it. Combined with her awesome regeneration, my S/L softcap brute routinely pulls the AVs in the trials. Fighting at +4/+8, only Rularuu cause her major issues. And the endurance managment is gravy - she runs 10 toggles while fighting and I only have to really watch endurance during rage crashes. So yeah, they work.

I'm with Johnny on this. SS and Fly not syncing well together only ruins about half the iconic superhero examples out there. And it has kept me from modeling toons after them. I've got a SS Brute that would used Hover and Fly *IF* footstomp could be used while they're on, but nope, she run and jumps instead.

If aethetics is the problem while in the air, let Footstomp be a 'handclap' while flying, more forceful that the other handclap so that it causes damage, and let Hurl be superbreath, some sort of directed shockwave, or whatever. But let them be used.