Winterminal

I hear ya man.

On a console, I would pay $40-$60 for a game that I would most likely finish within a month. Sure, there's probably an online component to it, but odds are my interest in that wanes once I get hold of another game.

Here, I pay $15 a month, and get access to a multitude of experiences that far exceed any console game. I still have story arcs galore that I have never played, archetypes that have yet to make it past level 10, and power set combinations that I can't wait to try out.

Good game is good.

Your best options for primaries would probably be Fire Blast, Radiation Blast, or possibly Archery, but that one blooms later, once you have access to Rain of Arrows and can launch it every 30 seconds.

For secondaries, I would go with Fire Manipulation or Mental Manipulation. Both have a good amount of AoE attacks. Fire will give you more damage, but Mental will give you a couple more strategic utility powers. Choose according to your wants.

Hope you find what you want!

Unveiler: Hopping around PI works, and so does running Hero Tips. I don't know of any stand-alone missions, but if you are a high enough level, there is Maxwell Christopher's story arc that is chock-full of Nemesis (you can run it through Ouroboros too). With the right amount of teammates (or difficulty settings) you can get quite a few to spawn on any particular map.

Gearsmasher: Skyway City's high roads has always been my go-to place for Gears. But if you can get on a Synapse TF, that should take care of it as well.

Silver Bullet / Slayer: As said above, a Moonfire task force will make short order of both those badges. But if you are stuck solo, the "The Bog" area of Striga Isle spawns plenty of Nightwolves and Vampyri, all around level 25, so most anything 35+ can rip through mobs fairly quickly. Make sure you hunt the Vampyri when they spawn. The nightwolves are around all the time, but the Vampyri only spawn at night.

The only characters I've renamed have been done as rerolls, and done so before level 5. I've never bought a rename token for one.

My entire character lineup is male, any female toons I have made have either remained as saved costume files, or as a concept idea I wanted to try on a different server. Because I tend to get into the world of my characters a bit, and mildly team role play on a few of them, playing as female characters has always felt odd to me. So by playing males exclusively, not only do I avoid that strange feeling, but there is also no confusion between the gender of my characters versus the gender of the player behind them.

I have been toying with the idea of changing my global name for a couple months now. Since I started playing back in '07, it's been "Winterminal." (Which for anyone who may be confused, has the odd pronunciation of win-TER-mi-nal.) Thus my nickname amongst those who know me or see me around has become "Winter." Unfortunately, the global name of "Winter" is not available . If I could go back, I would choose something a bit more universal, but now, I feel that it would be foolish for me to change my global considering that is how everyone knows me.

I knew a player, who no longer plays, who started every one of his characters with "Sykotik." So his characters were things like "Sykotik Samurai," "Sykotik Sun," "Sykotik Vortex," etc. I think if I could go back, I might tailor my characters that way, with something underlying all of them that would define me as a player. But as it is... oh well! haha

If only names on accounts dubbed "Trial 59602" were going to be freed up...

I completely understand why that can't be done, returning players and all that. I just tire of coming up with a name, seeing it is taken, and finding out (through /getglobalname) that the account that's holding it is a generic trial. Oh well.

As for the release date, I'm still betting October or later, considering Mac users cannot yet access the full version of the open beta, nor access the paragon store, and Zwillinger stated here that i21 would not go live until that was fixed. Granted, that could be fixed tomorrow and a September release would be feasible. But I would rather plan for a later release and be pleasantly surprised if it shows up earlier.

/signed.

Same deal as most here. Sometimes things change, and it would be nice for the person in charge to be able to rename the group as appropriate. Give it a "cool-down" time (i.e. once every three months), make it a purchasable token, whatever you like. I would just like the option.

Appreciate the update, Zwillinger. Very glad to know that this is a major concern and that Paragon Studios is doing all that they can to get it fixed. You da man.

Now let's just hope Transgaming is cooperating in a similarly rapid manner...

While my lineup was small, I effectively reached all the goals that I wanted for the weekend, so no complaints here. Teamed up with Steele Magnolia's "Suicidal Tendencies" (up-thread) quite a bit on Saturday. 'Twas a lot of fun.

Pinnacle:
Sagittarrow (Arch/Dev Blaster): 47-50 (woo hoo!)
Talsor Vox (Sonic/Sonic Defender): 10-20

Justice:
Agent Valker (Psychic/Mental Blaster): 10-19

Good times all around!

Noble Savage must've been doin' work over 2XP weekend! Happy Birthday!

We can debate about "How we like to use which kinds of nukes" for days. The real question we need to ask ourselves is: Why now are the Devs entertaining the thought of removing crashes from nukes?

My theory is that the Devs' numbers show that nukes with crashes are not being used often, probably even less now that Judgement has been around for a while. I know that, in my case, this holds true. I use Rain of Arrows at least 10 times as often as other nukes. While half of that maybe to due to the extraordinarily short recharge time, another part of it is that, after I've launched it, I can go right into using any of my other attacks without having to pop a blue, or run in to use some endurance recovery power. And nowadays, I would much rather launch my Cryonic Judgement and be able to keep on shooting rather than launching Blizzard, having to hit a blue, having to re-toggle 2 or more powers and THEN keep on shooting.

In short, I believe that those that use their nukes as often as they are up are in the minority. While "less damage" sounds bad in my head, I know I would use my nuke attacks far more often if I didn't have to worry about any end crash. And considering how seldom I use crashing nukes now, I probably wouldn't notice the damage difference.

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I do want to say this: If such a change were to occur, I think PBAoE nukes and ranged nukes should be treated differently. As has been stated, an Elec/ or Ice/ blaster does not have to worry about being surrounded by anything their nuke does not kill. As to how to do that and keep things balanced between power sets, and in relation to the game, I do not know, there are a lot of variables to consider.

I hear ya. I agree, I hope that they raise the chance for Spreading to a decent percentage. Or perhaps a Disintegration Spread upon the death of the Disintegrating target?

As for your other problem, the one where all of his buddies are ganging up on you, here are a few possible solutions:

• Hover Blast - This is a tried-and-true method of damage mitigation for blasters. If you can stay up and out of their melee range, at least half of their attacks (and usually the stronger ones) are completely useless. If you can fit it into your build/concept, I highly recommend it. If not, there are other methods.
• Immobilzation Abuse - Use and abuse the T1 power of your secondary. Yes, it probably causes redraw with the Beam Rifle, but keeping the enemies away from you is worth it. If you are running Energy Manipulation, Power Thrust can still be useful, just not as much. If you are running devices, I would actually recommend Caltrops over Web Grenade as it animates faster, does some DoT, and can affect more than one enemy.
• Sniping/Pulling - Try sniping a minion that has strayed a little further away from his buddies. A small majority of the time, you can pull one or two off of the group and kill them without their buddies noticing, thus "thinning the herd" as it were. However, if the pull succeeds and only one or two enemies start charging you, I recommend letting them get a bit closer before finishing them off, as their death also acts as an alert.
• Using Corners - This is useful with pulling. After you snipe an enemy, whether you manage to pull just one or the entire mob, duck behind a corner or through a doorway. This forces the enemy (enemies) into a bottleneck, where you can easily line up AoE attacks, force them all onto a mitigating "patch" (Caltrops, Ice Patch, Burn, etc.), or use the angles of a room take them out one at a time.

1: Is the lore of this game significant enough to be a reason to subscribe?

IMO, no. But that is not because I dislike it or that I think it is bad (neither of which are true), it is simply further down my "list of values" than other things. I play this game to make my own superhero ideas come to life, and while some are based in the lore of the game, many could exist in any game.

2: Is the lore of this game fundamentally broken? That is to say, contradictory, messy, and poorly written?

It's here and there. Some arcs are a hot mess of seemingly random missions with only a loose storyline. Others are tight and have a very coherent and engaging storyline. I'll say this: the quality has been steadily increasing over the past year or two.

3: Do you like the current direction the lore is taking?

I'm going to take this to mean "heavy focus on Praetoria." If this is the case, then I am fine with it for the time being, but I am just beginning to tire of it. Granted, with the addition of First Ward and the different side of Praetoria that that will offer, it may become more interesting. But after i20.5, I began to feel like we were getting a whole lot of Praetoria-related content, and not much else.

4: Would you like the development team to spend a significant amount of time fixing all the old lore, even if that meant spending an issue not moving the game's story forward and just patching things up?

Just fixing the old lore? No because I am not sure how much of it really needs "fixing." But expanding on it as well as possibly updating it? Hell yes. A changing universe is a huge part of character immersion. The changes being made to Galaxy City are a huge step in (what is, in my opinion) the right direction. Basically, making "what if" scenarios come to life. For example:

• What if Arachnos expanded their base behind Faultline's dam?
• What if "the Zig" had a catastrophe?
• What if something actually happened in Dark Astoria or Boomtown?

Those are just a few ideas. But yes, adding on to old content is still "new content," and the plus side is it gives the impression that our characters are not living in a vacuum universe where nothing changes.

Hmm... From what you say, it sounds like we are about to run into the same problem that Blasters have with Dual Pistols: the set has a gimmick that makes it unique in relation to other blast sets (Swap Ammo for DP, Disintegration for BR), but due to the different design of blasters vs. defenders/corruptors, that gimmick is nullified. And since I've heard that the damage of Beam Rifle is sub-par without Disintegration, it would be worth suggesting on the feedback forums that the chance to spread Disintegration should be higher for Blasters than for Defenders or Corruptors. I'd suggest it myself, but since I have not played the set yet, I have no grounds on which to make that suggestion.

As it is, let me ask this: Blaster damage being as high as it is, do you find yourself needing Disintegration on anything but tougher enemies? For example, take a standard 3 person mob: 2 minions and a lieutenant. If you open with a snipe shot to a minion, could you finish them off with Single Shot, launch Cutting Beam on the rest of them, and then use a Single Target attack chain (Single, Charged, Lancer) to finish them off? If that's the case, you could completely disregard Disintegration except on tougher enemies (Bosses and higher), rather than trying to make it work when you do not actually need it.

This could all depend on what your definition of "level of usefulness on a team" is, what your opinion is of blasters in general, etc. But that's another conversation.

The first thing I remember is that most of this game is level 1-50, as opposed to 50+. Nowadays, any AT post-50 who has invested in defensive powers and/or the right IO enhancements and/or Incarnate abilities can wreak havoc on anything. So don't compare your defeat numbers or damage output to a level 50 in today's game (i.e. comparing it to your Assault Rifle toon). There's a big disparity there.

The way I look at ST sets is as follows: Take out the damage source with the least resistance first. In other words, yeah the Lieutenant is going to hit harder, but he'll also take longer to kill than those two minions and the damage from said minions will stack up. Blasters are strong, so two-shot the minions first before worrying about the lieutenant.

As to how to make Disintegrate work best, I am not sure yet how it works at all since I am not participating in the beta. Would you mind giving a quick overview of how it works with the set's mechanics?

The archetypes are side-specfic. In order to unlock the Kheldians, you have to level a Blaster, Controller, Defender, Scrapper, or Tanker to level 20. Simply taking a level 20 Villainous Archetype over to Paragon City will not do it.

The Arachnos Soldier/Widow were unlocked when you got your Brute to level 20.

Darn... but as je_saist said, glad to hear that it is being worked on.

On the brighter side, I am glad this has been made public, considering that I can now play the time during the time that would have been devoted to installing/updating the beta server. I'll just overnight it, then wait to hear word.

Thanks Z!

A decent request, it would be cool to see in-game. And I agree, as long as it wasn't HUGE and obtrusive, I do not think nearly as many people would have a problem with it.

Have you tried putting a similar post in the "All Things Art" thread?

First, I am with the others when I say: If you wanted to remain true-to-concept, there is Electrical Mastery, a set for which I can vouch as "worthwhile."

But odds are you knew that and wanted something specific from Mu Mastery. To that I say: They are Patron Power Pools. They were specifically designed to be obtained only after "pledging" to one of the Villainous Patrons, a concept completely absent from the Ancillary Power Pools. To simply give Heroes access to those powers would have discounted the worth of the Patron Arcs (regardless of anyone's opinions of them), and I am sure that is something the Devs saw as unfair to the arcs' original designers.

I know I am late to the party, but consider me among those who have done a complete 180 in reaction to these parts.

These look fantastic. Good on you, Devs! Way to stick to your original guns, but take the player feedback as well. I'll say it again, the Dev-Player relationship is what keeps this game going strong.

Thanks guys! Actually, it looks like all I needed to do was enable "Advanced Graphics Settings." I didn't even make any changes before logging out and checking in the character creator, and I saw the glow effects. I appreciate the help!