TyrantMikey

See, I think there are some powerful acting voices out there that haven't been mentioned yet.

• Morgan Freeman has a fantastic voice. And after seeing him in Wanted, I could easily see him as a villain. Also, he could easily play the hero living under the burden of a dark past. Listen to him in Shawshank Redemption, as well, and you'll know what I mean.
• Patrick Stewart -- British, polished, commanding. And yet, somehow vulnerable when necessary. I *could* see him as Montague Castanella.
• John Lithgow - Easily a bumbling villainous mastermind. Come on. Who can't see Lord Farquaad trying to take over the world?
• Craig T. Nelson - Voice of Mr. Incredible. Again, come on. The guy played an ICONIC hero for the modern, yuppified generation.
• Holly Hunter - Elastagirl! Stressed, trying to hold it together, with a strong sense of duty to her family and the world at large. Another fine performance.
• Leonard Nimoy - I've always thought the guy just had one of those voices. I'm not sure where or how you'd use it, but man would it be cool. Perhaps as a character like Citadel.

And for what it's worth, I see Samuel L. Jackson as a far better Crimson than a BABs.

Anyone catch Avatea's post about COH coming to PAX East? In it, she says something really interesting:

As far as rampant speculation goes, I suspect that with the content expansion, we're looking at time travel missions back to the initial Rikti Invasions. That would be when the Alpha and Omega Teams were around. Most likely, you'd be part of a taskforce or other story arc that would unlock the costume options. These would be tied to Hero 1's doomed mission to the Rikti homeworld.

I suppose the only character I have who is truly unique and would be an interesting addition to the canon is Sin of Paragon. He's a stalker wading through the scum of the Rogue Isles. He was born and raised in Paragon City, and aspired to be a hero, but grew disgusted when his supergroup mates seemed to have no interest in the plight of the citizens in the Isles. They were content to stay in the relative safety of Paragon, and even then, they would overlook certain types of crime as being beneath their notice.

So he left them, and found passage to the isles. He left his former identity behind, and established a name for himself as a ruthless villain taking out his competition. In actuality, he's protecting the citizens of the Isles by thwarting the plots and schemes of the other factions, fighting the good fight. He donned the name Sin of Paragon, so that his former teammates would know when they talked to them that his name was an accusation of their failures.

So, I was rereading the GR Info here and noted this:

I've also found it amazingly arbitrary that we can only have three active missions.

Sure, there's the chance you could outlevel the content, but that's true fo any MMO, or even COX where you have 3 missions.

I'm wondering why we have such a low limit for active tasks, when we have so many active contacts.

I've been monitoring this thread (lurking, really) as the debate has always held a morbid fascination for me. How others play doesn't really affect me.

But it dawned on me that I probably don't really understand the difference between farming and power-leveling. I think I do, but I'm not sure.

I believe that (from a COX perspective) farming is the constant, repetitive killing of a specific enemy for XP, inf and/or drops. The high rate of XP would seem to go hand-in-hand with power-leveling, but I'm not entirely sure. The drops, however, would help the player create a much more effective build, which certainly lends itself to faster leveling (or the acquisition of greater wealth).

Power-leveling on the other hand is defined as leveling at a far greater speed than the game designers intended. That one I can pretty much figure out (I think), and was pretty much evident during the initial release of AE. I think that a player can achieve this through various means (most of which I think are doable through AE farms consisting of 8-man teams against melee-only foes these days), and while certainly not as bad as it used to be can still get a character to 50 in a timeframe much faster than a dev likely intends.

But I am still not certain whether or not one concept is entirely separate from the other. It seems, from a COX perspective, that they go hand-in-hand. If you're power-leveling, you're likely farming. If you're farming, you're likely power-leveling (unless you're already at the cap).

Please note, I'm not judging anyone. I don't have any prejudices about personal playstyles or objectives. I wouldn't want someone dictating how *I* played the game, so I don't dictate how others do so (unless, of course, you work for an RMT firm ). I just want to make sure I understand the relationship between the two.

They always come back.

It's the programming. Srsly. The first time you did a mission with Doc Delilah and saw her avatar, you were doomed to return.

I would hope they'd get rid of any missions that explicitly required teams, aside from strikeforces/taskforces (double-clickies and whatnot).

I'd hope for tons of new maps. Particularly office maps that made sense. Whomever the chief architect is in Paragon City, he should be fired. They're patently unsafe in the event of a fire or other tragic, life-threatening emergency. Where are the stairwells? The EXIT signs? But, more realistically, how about offices that are laid out like real offices, instead of twisty-tangly hallways and corridors that look like hamster-runs with oddly placed rooms off to the side?

And while we're on the subject of new maps, how about maps in new settings? Certain factions seem to get relegated to the same settings that everyone else does and that just seems a travesty. I'd really like to see the Igneous get a series of maps (and backstory) dedicated just to them. The same is true of the Coralax (and expand them to cover the entirety of the universe).

We could use a *large* Gotham-esque zone, accessible to any character, where PVP is optional. Fill it with factories spewing tons of smog into the air, warehouses, a towering business district smack in the middle standing as a high-tech contrast to the run-down residential district hovering around the edges. It should have lots of contacts and missions. It should be suitably dark. Crime should run rampant, and the presence of gangs and the mafia should dominate here. This is the zone to bring Outcasts, Hellions and Skulls to real power, as an earlier poster suggested. Expand them to cover the full level range, and put them in direct conflict with the Family and the Marcones for control of the zone. Citizens here are living in constant fear of intimidation, extortion, arson and murder. It's the heroes' jobs to save them, and the villains' job to add to the chaos or further their own goals here, free of Arachnos' influence. And here, let the Villains directly kidnap civilians off the streets for a bounty, or rob them; let them set fires, bomb buildings and do all those dastardly things that villains do. Let the villains be villains, for once. (Note: It's NOT a co-op zone.)

I'd like to see lots of new mission types and goals. Puzzles to solve. Traps to avoid. New ways of interacting with objects (though I'm not sure how that could be accomplished). Smash and bash gets old, and anything that requires me to use my brain and employ a little smarts before I just wade into the battle grounds me a little more in the game world.

I'd like to see bigger, badder threats to the city on the loose. Something worse than a GM. I'd love to see something twice the size of Adamastor leaping from building top to building top in Steel Canyon, unleashing his (or her) fury on the city, destroying buildings, attacking heroes, smashing civilians. A single monster equivalent in difficulty to a Rikti Invasion or a Zombie Apocalypse, with appropriate rewards for those who take part in taking it down.

Okay, enough dreaming. For now.