Ultimus

When Issue 21 launches I plan to start a new character to re-immerse myself in everything. I made a character temporarily to mess around with and had a question about Praetoria.

With Praetoria as a new starting zone, how long do you stay there for? I mean can you do 1-50 in Praetoria (Via soloing and not run out of story arcs) or is it something where after like level 10 you are going to be put in Paragon or Rogue Isles?

Also I assume that at some point in Praetoria you become either a hero or villain?

I remember that avatar and name

That sounds awesome. Although I am still trying to wrap my head around Incarnate and how these NPCs work mechanically. I understand if you enter an incarnate TF you get a -4 levels put on you. Outside of that, if you have full incarnate powers (Which increases your defenses and offense ten fold) I don't see how the enemy group is a match unless they deal untyped damage (Because if you are at resistance cap?) or if they have so many hit points that you need the extra damage.

YES! You are right, thats exactly what it is. I can see I have that pet (Didn't notice it). Its strange that it implemented a CD key.

At first I was a bit concerned because I hadn't logged in at that time to implement a CD key.

So according to my account I have 5 perks added to it. I know what 4 of these are, Super Boost 1, 2, and 3. I also have the perk of the Mac Edition. This leaves one perk that I am not sure what it is. Its just labeled "perk" and I cannot find anywhere in my purchase history getting it. Its labeled as being applied April 28th, 2011. Was there anything special going on this day like a patch update?

Also note I have other perks on my account but they are labeled, COH retail, pre order, COV collector's, DVD edition, GVE, and wedding pack.

I've gone through the entire store looking at what I don't have but it seems this perk doesn't apply to Booster's 4 or 5, party pack, origin pack, animal pack, or steam pack.

Anyone have a possible idea of what it may be?

Oh and another random question regarding badges, are there any new accolades that grant powers? How did side switching effect accolades? Example would be the Villain version of the accolade Demonic (That granted like +res all but psi) gave a blue fiery aura, I believe the hero version didn't.

Also what about the villain starting area badge jailbird? Can it be acquired? If I remember correctly the contaminated badge was obtainable post the tutorial but I forgot how. Does Praetoria tutorial have a badge?

How about the Coming Storm? Was it ever answered who was sending those notes in Ouroboros? Or what exactly the Storm was?

Is Manticore gone?

And did BABS just disappear or was there a post made? How exactly did it go?

Yes I recognized both the names... usually the avatars remind me.

Actually I just haven't really played in over 2 years... but lets take a look at some things:

1) Power Customization, people said it was impossible back in 2005. Now for some powers you can change the animation and all powers the colors.

2) Inherent Fitness Pool: Did they nerf this at all by making it inherent? People were screaming for this since issue 0 and now its finally inherent. No longer do you have to waste 3 power picks on this.

3) A good friend of mine named AtomicTermite used to always message me on these forums and in game. We would often discuss the best min/max builds and what AV's or Giant Monsters I was soloing. Last time I spoke to him was 3 years ago and he was asking my opinion if Brutes were going to get /Regen. I said no and gave reasons why I thought it would be overpowered (Even though I really wanted it).

I now stand corrected, as I read the Brute forum and read the patch notes, Brutes are getting it. (Installing the beta client to see this for myself) -- I even sent the guy a PM stating 3 years later I have eaten my words.

4) Brute damage cap nerf -- Ah, I predicted this way back in COV beta. However, back then people weren't worried because it was very rare for a Brute to hit the damage cap but I math showed they out damaged scrappers when both were capped. .75 X 8.5 (Brute brawl index of .75) and Scrapper Brawl index of 1.12 or 1.2 with criticals factored in with 1.2 X 5. Essentially 600 scrappers vs 6.375. I suppose with the combination of Going Rogue Castle (If he even works as the powers guy) decided to change it. -- I wouldn't be surprised if the res cap / defense cap is nerfed for them too at some point.

5) Incarnates: I don't know much about this so I can only touch lightly. However, people always wanted a way to advance past level 50 because it was "too easy" to reach the cap. (Thats opinion of course, especially with the days of people doing behemoth farms or the old school tanker dumpster dives). Anyways, with the IO system put in place (Or the super secret alternate advance system or whatever it was originally called) people would farm for those purples day in and day out. (Granted these came much later)

Now at a quick glance the Incarnate system reminds me of something inbetween the Talent Point system of World of Warcraft and the Alternate Advance system of Everquest. (Original Everquest, Planes of Power / Luclin Era).

6) Soloing -- I am not sure how exactly the incarnate system plays out but I wonder how it effects things in terms of soloing. The most powerful soloist character I created was a Bots/Traps Mastermind that took down giant monsters with ease. I don't know if things have changed in terms of soloing. (Is there a new AV class? Or GM class?) -- I still remember the days of when I was just starting out and Ill/Rad was the best soloist in the game with Perma Phantom Army... I am trying to remember the guy's name but I can visual his avatar having like a Peace symbol or something but I remember he was the guy that soloed Lucca (The giant monster in COH world port city... has like 6 tentacles and a head you take down... as you can tell my memory is a bit faded) and that took place in like issue 3 or 4. Maybe earlier.

7) Veteran Powers -- I remember the big complaint on these when they were first launched. As I logged in to claim my 81 or 84th month veteran reward I scrolled through them to see what there was. The ability to slash command an auction house? Free exp? Etc. Very nice... which leads me:

8) Combined Auction Houses: Oh I remember people debating how this would destroy the economy of COV because Infamy was much more valuable then Influence... etc etc. We stand here today with a combined auction house.

9) Familiar faces, at a quick glance I saw Arcanaville and EvilGeko still posting. I also remember that Zombie guy that I think really hated me because I would start a new topic on everything -- Also saw a poster named Serrate that I remember (And that avatar).

10) Unique Dragon has 37 posts... hmm

...and finally:

10) Free to play -- Well I have always been a subscriber since the game launched in early 2004. I've always supported this game because I thought they did something right with bringing something fun and new with the combat system and the communication the developers employed with the players. Do I cancel now once it goes free to play? I doubt it.

Now if I could find a way to time travel back to 2005 to report all this but according to Einstein's Theory and Stephen Hawking you can only time travel forward...

*******

Oh and if any number crunchers or people that like to min / max want to share some nerfs that have occurred or power set changes please share them. I am curious whats been modified.

Thanks,

Ultimus

Edit: And let me add Samuel_Towe, Memphis Bill, Steelclaw to that list of names I recognize.

Ah thank you, that makes sense now.

I just wanted to collect all of my veteran awards which I realize won't carry over? Been subscribed since day 1 and still not planning to quit

So I saw COH is going to be free to play. I have never let my account lapse and I have had Going Rogue sitting there in the collection edition box for over a year unused. So I decided today to install everything and login once again before the new free to play goes live.

Well I installed Going Rogue from the CD and the launcher is not working. It just hangs as if I have no internet connection. I've taken a video with my IPHONE to show exactly what I mean.

Could anyone help me in figuring out what is wrong?

Thanks

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VDQlmB5av9U