TyrantMikey

Any introductory contact in a zone would be moved so that it is closer to a tram or gate. You wouldn't have to cross the zone to get to that contact.

I'd ditch the code that resets your contact to the detective for a zone when you first enter a zone. The number of times that's sent me off in the wrong direction is incalculable at this point.

I'd have detectives give you their cell numbers. You wouldn't have to run back to them to do bank missions.

I'd rewrite the content for your starting contacts so that they were actual story arcs appropriate to your origin. As things are right now, there's no connection between your origin and the missions you're given. And, I'd offer a badge and/or merits for completing the arc.

For characters that are in support roles, I'd grant them a diminishing damage buff from the lower levels up until about level ten (negotiable). This would only apply while they are soloing, and serves to mitigate how long it takes them to defeat foes. So controllers and defenders can actually survive on their own and level at a rate that is almost on par with their more offensive counterparts.

I'd add new types of mission objectives. Puzzles, traps, and so on. Make the players think. Add more to the game than just smash-and-bash.

With every free issue, I'd slowly add new textures to the office, warehouse, and cave maps. We don't have to introduce entirely new maps for players to perceive that there's new content. Slap a new coat of paint on it, and the game will feel fresh and new.

Bring back power proliferation. (Admittedly, this is only deferred, given higher development priorities, but it would be nice to see some powers proliferated again.)

And finally, I'd eliminate blue caves. But that's just a pure spite thing. Largely because I absolutely abhor The Cake Room.

Honestly, players who power-level will find ways power-level. If you were to close AE, you'd only penalize those players who use AE for legitimate reasons.

AE is designed to be a player-driven story-telling device. The fact that it's exploited by a subset of players to powerlevel their characters is irrelevant. Take a quick look at the sheer volume of stories in the mission browser. If you removed AE, you'd destroy all that content, sending a message to all those who had invested so much time into creating it. Sure, you'd stop the powerlevelers from using AE for that purpose, but they'd just find other ways to power level. So what would you have accomplished, aside from alienating all those players who had created all that content in AE?

I might even go so far as to hypothesize that in eliminating AE, you'd encourage powerlevelers to actively seek out new ways to powerlevel. It's the way they prefer to play; and if you take away their chief means of playing, they'll just look for another way to do it.

When I designed Plasma Fury (Fire/Fire Blaster), I borrowed from Superman's lore: he draws his power from the sun. He stores the power for extended periods of time and then rechannels it as plasma that he can control and ignite at will.

As he unlocks his incarnate abilities, he'll realize he is a living sun, descended from an entire race of them. Which, of course, will open up entire roleplaying opportunities for him. Where are the others of his kind? How did he get to Earth? Why is he there?

This all depends, of course, on whether or not Incarnate Abilities work as I think (and hope) they will.

I give you, Knockabout Nick, an Energy/Energy Blaster whose power is derived from an internal atomic powersource. His colors are green and black.



Not too shabby. I gave him Hasten because it works very well with Defiance. I tend to do that a lot with my blasters. And that's almost always when things go terribly, horribly awry:



Hasten has has always been one of those powers that can just completely ruin a theme. And yet, it's so incredibly useful that I feel almost crippled without it (which is, admittedly, my own darned fault).

I think these pics speak pretty loudly that Hasten is an abominable eyesore, and needs to be fixed, somehow, at some point in the not too distant future. If not Soon™, then Sooner™ rather than Later™.

I'd be really interested in seeing comparative shots of how Hasten ruins some of your toons and/or their themes. You know, kind of like the Roadkill Effect. Your brain screams "DON'T LOOK!" but you just can't help it. Your eyes are riveted to the gory details and you just can't look away.

In order to make civilian identities work as the OP suggests, I'm thinking we'd have to have something along the lines of a whole new interface. One where you:

1. Choose your civilian name. Superman is "Clark Kent" when he's in civvies. Batman is "Bruce Wayne." Who are you?
2. Choose which costume slot contains your civilian outfit.
3. (Optionally) Restrict that slot to these supposedly civilian-only clothes. Presumably, these are pants, shirts, coats, and the like. No pauldrons, armor, weapons, capes, spikey belts, or revealing clothes. And only solid colors. No auras.
4. Choose your civilian/superhero transformation emote. Cuz, when you decide to switch from civilian to superhero, you'll likely want it to be dramatic.

We'd also have to make civilian mode a toggle-power. You click the power, and your costume-change emote from step 4 above fires, and you're in civilian mode. Now you can only walk, can't use your powers, and you're dressed and known as Joe Schmoe, civilian at large, who can only walk.

Click it again and your costume-change emote fires, and you're SuperGuyExtreme, superhero or supervillain at large, with full access to his powers.

Having said all that, it seems like an awful lot of work to me. And what happens when you do get attacked? Stunned? Slept? Held? All of that would have to be resolved.

No, I'm fairly happy with the idea that my character's secret identity is ME.

Just throwing my two inf in.

My supergroup recently found itself having to rebuild from scratch due to *cough*hijiacking*cough* issues. So we're starting all over, from zero prestige. And yes, it's painful. Very painful. We had all the teleporters, storage bins, crafting tables, everything. Now we have just the starting room. I cry every time I think about it.

However, last night I took my level 50 tank into Oroborous and ran him through some flashback missions set to +0/x4. In just a couple of hours (under 4, I think), I earned over 4 million influence, and 30,000 prestige. That doesn't include what I earned selling the drops on the market.

I'll be doing the same today, in order to convert influence to prestige again. A few days of doing this, and we'll have a sufficient stockpile of prestige to expand our base into something useful.

It is sad that it takes this much work, but that's life in the big city. So if you're looking for ways to get your prestige faster, I second the notion that you should use 50s to do it. I also second the notion that flashback missions can help you. (Especially if you're a badger or a completionist, like me.) Also, I'd suggest setting your difficulty as high as you can tolerate it to increase the number of foes fought, to increase the prestige you're earning per minute.

Just my 2 inf, and probably not worth much.

I know I already replied, but I just have to get in here and rave about this tool. It has revolutionized the way I hunt for badges. I learned about badges I didn't even know existed, and now I'm out to get them. It was much easier to figure out what I was missing for other badges as well, and focus on those to acquire those badges (especially the power accolades).

I can see this thing getting far more sophisticated with time. If this thread hasn't been stickied yet, it should be.

This tool is phenomenal. Kudos to you!! And a hearty thank you from me!!

Here's hoping it gets widespread use!

Oh hell no.

I never get it right the first time.

I'd be broke if it wasn't for vet rewards.

Originally, I felt pretty much the same way that The Distinguished Mr. Tow did. I'd get the contact, they'd ramble on about the mission, and I'd be thinking, "Yeah, yeah, whatever," and couldn't click "Accept Mission" fast enough.

But then, over time, *game fatigue* set it. It was the same thing over and over. Run in, defeat all. Run in, defeat enemies, detroy objective. Run in, defeat enemies, rescue hostages. I got tired of it.

Contact missions, radio/paper missions, task forces, AE missions: they're all the same.

But reading the forums, I realized that you guys knew so much more about the lore of this game that I knew nothing about. And the only way to know that lore was to play the game, read the contact text, read the clues, and actually experience the story.

So I did. And the game became new again. On my 50. I took him through Oroborous, and I'm doing all the contact arcs that he's missed, and it's a fantastic experience.

So I think the presence of that immersive content serves a vital purpose: it adds an important dimension to the game that makes it more than just smashing and clicking. It makes it a game of discovery. And that appeals to me. It might not appeal to everyone, but it greatly appeals to me, personally.

This question is tougher than I thought it would be. Despite the fact that there are *lots* of deities on this planet to choose from, it can be tough to pigeon-hole your characters into one specific god.

American Argonaut is my favorite toon. 50 WP/SS tank. Essentially that other blue and red clad superhero we all know. I don't see him as an avatar of Zeus, or of any other deity on earth. Rather, I kind of think that maybe, just maybe, he is an avatar of the old Rikti gods who are striving to ensure that (1) Earth Prime doesn't suffer the same fate and (2) peace is restored between the Rikti factions. (Odd, I know.)

Plasma Fury is a 50 fire/fire blaster. It took him a long time to get to where he could be in control of his powers, but now he's VERY good at it. I'm fairly certain he's the avatar of a sun god.

Both Jacob Hunt (a DP/MM) and Sideshow Freak (Thugs/Poison) are definitely avatars of Loki. It's all about them, and god help you if you're between them and what they want. Oddly, Jacob is a Praetorian who's realized that the Invasion doesn't serve his ultimate goal, and he's moved to Paragon to fight against it.

Now we need an AE Arc.

"Where Has Obsidious Gone?!"

Be well, be safe, and here's hoping you come back into the fold some day.

Thank you kindly!

* Keyboard sensors detect when you are thoroughly enjoying the team you just joined. Nemesis is then dispatched to generate RL or SG aggro in your teammates, causing an immediate disbanding of the entire team.

* The one KB power that cannot possibly hit that purple boss 4 levels above you will hit him at just the right angle to knock him into the geometry so that you cannot attack him, but he can hit you with ranged powers.

* The above will happen in direct defiance of the "I just popped a yellow accuracy, and am guaranteed to miss" rule.

While I understand that thread is intended purely for GR, it's a shame there's no avatars there for Hero and Villain.

I really like Tow's reply.

However, your second idea has great potential...as a story telling device. If you're intending to roleplay the characters, it pits the two of them against each other in very dramatic ways because of the moral differences between them, and it presents fantastic opportunities for interpersonal conflict. To a reader. It would make a great story, or a novel. How you would roleplay it is another thing altogether.

If you can figure that out, go for it!! I'd love to see it!

EDIT: I suppose I should offer a suggestion, regardless of how paltry it is.

You could also consider the option that they have worked together for so long that Ultimate Damz has somewhere along the line lost sight of the fact that his sidekicks are growing in potential. Regardless of the fact that he's a hero, he's still human (or so we assume), and he has flaws. This might engender some resentment among his sidekicks, and eventually, when they realize their full potential (they don't really need him to treat them like children), one of them might decide that it's time to step out on his own. He doesn't have to necessarily do so with disrespect, and he can even do so with a certain amount of sadness: remembering what Damz used to be like. He might make it his quest to honor that memory, and get Damz to remember it as well by setting an example.

Perusing the 9/28 release notes, I found this tidbit: