Winterminal

The best we can hope for is that it may be an option post Freedom-launch, and I will certainly be hoping.

Supermax is pretty spot on.

-Alpha is really up to personal taste, though I may suggest Cardiac since you have a number of toggles (though I do not know what your endurance management is like).

-Judgment is hard to justify in my mind, simply because there is no weapon-based tree (yet). Though from your description, it sounds like you already have access to some energy force? So Ion or Void would do well.

-Interface is where you could really shine. I know someone who is very dedicated to their technology-based storyline, so instead of trying to justify all of the Incarnate powers, he simply took multiple Interface powers, and slots different ones for different situations. He says it works pretty well, and adds an adaptability to his character

-For Destiny, I'd say your best option is probably Barrier. It's the most tech-looking of them, and as Supermax said, it is easily justifiable as a force field.

-Lore has a number of tech-based trees. Just pick the one that's best for you.

I would love something a little more generic for this. Usually, "generic" is terrible, but the rainbow effect and explosion of light is a bit odd for some concepts, and I'd rather have something simple that I could justify than rainbow auras and light explosions on my Dom whose powers are all colored black...

Personally I am hoping that, once Freedom goes live, there is a purchasable "Super Group Re-Name Token" good for one re-name of a SG. That would be just grand!

That aside, yes, I believe they painted themselves into a corner. To improve on a system like the base editor, I gotta something (if not everything) would have to be taken away in order to move forward. Here's hoping I'm wrong...

*applauds*

Each one had at least one to which I audibly chuckled. Big fan of the "Rust Monster" :P

Thanks for that. I am going to stick with the "Teach a man to fish..." philosophy and just lay out some guidelines and possible paths he could follow. If he doesn't yet know how to fully utilize his character, me just giving him a build to copy and paste won't do any good, and may not be what he wants. Luckily, it sounds like he wants to build his toon very similarly to how I've built my own Ice/Ice/Cold Blaster.

"Single Target" is the name of the game. With that in mind, I'm going to run through the primary, secondary, and Ancillary power pool briefly to give an idea of what will suit his play style and what won't.

Ice Blast

• Your main powers will be Ice Bolt, Ice Blast, and Bitter Ice Blast. Your best strategy will probably be to quickly take out targets one at a time, rather than trying to focus your attention on the whole mob, and these three blasts are the tools to do it.
• Frost Breath: Your one viable AoE. Slot this with a Range IO (or an IO Set that happens to boost range) and you will greatly increase its effectiveness. This is a good tool on teams, but when soloing will work better once you've locked down your enemies.
• Aim: Should be a no-brainer. Take it and love it. This is the thing that makes even a Paragon Protector's "Moment of Glory" seem insignificant.
• Freeze Ray: This will be your best friend, because you can incapacitate an enemy while you take out his friends. Also good for stacking on a boss.
• Ice Storm: In today's fast-paced game, where (especially by 50) mobs tend to die in a matter of seconds, this power is better used while solo, and even then, you have better tools for the job (Freeze Rays followed by single target blasts). Its best use, at least in my opinion, is as prequel to Blizzard. Throwing this on a mob and following it immediately with Blizzard should kill nearly everything before it can run out of the area of effect.
• Bitter Freeze Ray: This should be considered a hold, despite its damage capability. You have enough damage. Due to its long animation, it is best to open with this move, and follow it up with Freeze Ray. Do this, and you can deal with two targets later, or hold a boss.
• Blizzard: I will admit that this is a very cool move, but not exactly worth it these days. It is a DoT effect, and enemies can sometimes run out of the area of effect before they are dead. By level 50, and by using your holds and ST blasts, you can likely kill everything in the same amount of time it would take Blizzard to run its course and then for you to recover from the Endurance crash. If you really want to use it, it is best to use Ice Storm and/or Shiver (from Ice Manipulation) first, to slow the enemies from running away.

Ice Manipulation

• Chilblain: You have to take this power. Since we are talking late game, this is best used on tough enemies (bosses and up). The DoT combined with the fast recharge can really add up, plus it can be used to keep enemies at range.
• Frozen Fists: It is melee, you are ranged. Skip it.
• Ice Sword: See above.
• Chilling Embrace: Aside from being a melee-ranged PBAoE, this attack will aggro enemies into attacking you, not something a blaster wants. Plus you have plenty of other "Slow" methods. Skip it.
• Build Up: Take it, slot it with one recharge IO (or more if you find you have extra slots) and use it as often as you can.
• Ice Patch: This is best used at choke points. If I am tackling a large mob, I will sometimes drop this at a door way or around a corner, and let the enemies slip and slide on it while I take them out. However, it is far from mandatory.
• Shiver: Great power (when used well). This power can really slow enemies down a lot, but, it has a VERY wide cone, so it is best to use only on teams (which is where it will be more useful anyway since the mobs are bigger).
• Freezing Touch: You have two ranged holds. And a ranged immobilization. This is melee, you don't need it. Skip it.
• Frozen Aura: Skip it.

Cold Mastery

• Snow Storm: You already have Shiver, you can skip this. If you want to take this power, skip Shiver, but I think you will find Shiver is better.
• Flash Freeze: This is an amazing tool while solo. Since your biggest strength is your single target attacks, this will incapacitate entire mobs (bosses+ excluded) and (with a little slotting) will keep them that way while you pick them off one by one. Since it is a sleep, they'll wake up if attacked, but as long as you are coming at them one by one, you can take out the entire mob without the effect dropping (again, once slotted). Don't bother using it on teams since there tends to be a lot of AoE attacks flying around.
• Frozen Armor: You are a squishy blaster. This is a great defense armor. Take it, slot it, and love it.
• Hoarfrost: A decent self-heal, but the recharge is extreme long. Inspirations will be more helpful, and you have Hibernate. I skipped it, and you probably can too.
• Hibernate: I love this power. If things aren't going your way, hit the button. Your enemies can attack you all they want, you are untouchable while your health and endurance quickly refill. Once you exit (or 30 seconds are up and it drops) your attacks should be recharged and you are ready to keep on shooting. (Beware: Praetorian enemies on the Incarnate Trials have the added gimmick of making this power useless... unfortunate, but true.)

My recommendations on other powers:

• Hasten - You want recharge, this is the best way. 3 slot it with recharge IOs.
• Defense-based powers - Not so much for defense, but so that you can slot the Luck of the Gambler: +7.5% Recharge IO enhancement in them. A few of these can really influence your global recharge in a very good way.
• If you notice, there are actually few powers in your secondary that I actually recommend taking. Use that opportunity to dip into your Pool powers. This is a great place to find useful Defense-based powers (Hover or Combat Jumping, Maneuvers and Vengeance from the Leadership Pool, Stealth from the Concealment Pool, etc.). Also, this leaves room for putting your slots where you really want them, and you probably won't be stretching yourself thin.

Pretty much any IO set will enhance damage and accuracy inherently, and most will have a few boosts to recharge as well. However, there is no right answer to IO sets, and to try and explain it would be ridiculous. I recommend your friend do his own research in this department. He should use Wentworths to sort through all the different sets under the different types, so that he can figure out which sets (and bonuses) will best benefit him. He can also use ParagonWiki's IO Set page to look through them all, though I personally feel Wentworths is better since it gives actual percentages.

Hope this helps! Let us know if he has any other questions.

Any chance you could get us some more details?

-Is he looking into SOs, IOs, or IO sets? If sets, how rare does he want to go?
-Does he play solo or team up the majority of the time?
-Does he prefer to stay at range, or like to get up close and personal?

I could go ahead and list a ton of feedback, but it will be much more structured if I can narrow it down.

Love this Michelle! I am very much looking forward to seeing who is going to die since I love the idea of a living and changing universe (and events taking place to the Signature characters encompass just that).

I don't want to put money on anyone, but I do agree with Venture's earlier post that, toward the end of the story line, it could go multiple ways, and it won't be clear who dies until it actually happens.

Leave aside the clipping issue...

The real problem, based on what we've heard from Developers, is that there aren't enough anchoring points to the character model for much more options anywhere, let alone separating hair from hats. Gloves, boots, pants, belts, etc. all require their own anchor point on the character model, and I believe hair and hats share the same anchoring point, it's just that you have access to different options for said anchoring point depending on whether you are in the "Hats" category, or the "Standard / Masks with Hair" categories. I believe it is also the same reason you get access to 3 "Details" under "Full Masks" as opposed to only 2 in "Masks with Hair."

This is a blurred line for me. Sometimes, I'll get to the naming screen and only have a theme to go on, so the hunt for a name begins. That hunt usually involves me brainstorming a bunch of names, and actually getting my second or third choice.

But there have been a number of times where I will have a fantastic name for a character, and I will just get tunnel vision. Because it is such a great name, it is obviously taken. I will pull out a thesaurus, I'll think up similar names, but try as I might, nothing fits. I will have been so fixated on that particular name being associated with that particular costume and/or power set combination, that nothing else will work (in my head) and the character gets demoted down to a saved costume.

To be sure, there is no shortage of good names still available. I find good ones every day. That said, a little part of me dies when I find out that a name as simple yet recognizable as "Spring" is held by a Trial account...

Most of my characters' names are the combination of two words. That said, here are a few of my faves:

Winterminal: Naturally my name sake and first toon, an Ice/Ice blaster. I've gotten a decent amount of compliments on this one. When I first set out, I was seeking a word I could combine with "Winter" and settled on "terminal" leading to an odd, yet unique, pronunciation of "win-TER-mi-nal" which I liked and lead to many people calling me "Winter" which I am fine with.

Wintervention: I get the most compliments on this name. Ice/Ice tank, along the same lines of Winterminal.

See also: Winterceptor, my Ice/Cold Controller, and Winterruption, my Cold/Ice Defender... I have a thing for Ice powers, so sue me...

Sagittarrow: An archery/devices blaster, I based his name (and powers) off of the archer constellation Sagittarius, then combined that with the word "arrow."

Phalanx Falcon: Not a combination of words, but he is a character very reminiscent of the classic comic book heroes, most notably Captain America since he is a Shield/SS tank. The thing I like about the name is the alliteration of sounds along with the iconic imagery it conjures.

I was also able to nab Arbiter Winters for my Arachnos Soldier

I LOVE this thread!

For everyone who is having trouble viewing the site: Make sure you temporarily disable "Secure Browsing" under Account Settings --> Security. I couldn't view it until I did that.

If you have "Secure Browsing" enabled, your web address will start with "https..." instead of just "http"

My vote goes to Defender.

I've played Sonic Attack on Defenders, and it is a lot of fun due to the high debuff numbers. I've only ever played Radiation Emission on a Corruptor, and it rocks, so I can only imagine what it can do with Defender debuffs.

Thanks for the update CuppaManga!

I am still running on Leopard. I put off updating to Snow Leopard because I did not see too much of a difference in the to OS's, and I didn't have the money (at the time) to update. Also, the game has always run spectacularly on Leopard (for me), so after reading about the numerous issues that players with Snow Leopard were experiencing, I'm glad I chose not to update.

However, now that Lion is out, I am considering upgrading to it (and I know I will have to go to Snow Leopard first to do it, but I have a hookup for that). I know Lion is brand new and all, but are there at least fewer issues to deal with? I would hate to spend the money/time upgrading to Lion, only to find out it is a downgrade in terms of game performance.

A tank or a brute because they tend to work well from day 1, and if you want to go complimentary power sets, fire/fire is worthwhile on either of those. An Ice/Ice blaster practically doubles as a mild controller, so I think you can skip the controller route unless she REALLY likes it. When duo'ing on my Ice/Ice/Cold main, there is no match for a tough melee companion.

I have run the entire spectrum on this. I'd say the majority of my characters are along the same lines as your namesake, Sam. They aren't necessarily focused on any one part of the in-game lore, but simply progress through a series of contacts, helping the "greater good."

I do have a few characters on whom I specifically incorporated into the lore, simply because the concept popped into my head one day and it sounded fun. For example, I have a tanker that (according to his back story) was subjected to Crey experiments similar to those used on Synapse. So in addition to serving the greater good, I was careful to seek out all arcs focused on Crey, eventually defeating Countess Crey, giving that particular character closure.

I actually had one character on whom I had intended to actually write completely unique content to take him from 1-50, using the Mission Architect. Though, due to alt-oholism and it taking longer to write the content than it would to play through it, that character was short-lived.

/signed, as always.

Pretty much what Sam said. I cannot express how frustrating it is to be able to sling yellow-white lightning bolts on my Elec blaster, but if I want to shoot off Static Discharge, or run around with my armor toggle up, it HAS to be lavender. Honestly, I find myself playing more in my costume which uses the default colorings purely because the unnatural coloring juxtaposition causes me so much consternation, haha.

I do so want to see a set like this.

Normally, I'd say "I think the suggested set is too melee-range centered to actually come to fruition." But the projected Dark Manipulation power list threw that argument to the wind. AmIrite?!

/signed.

Disclaimer: I believe that this has been suggested before, but I have never liked reviving threads once they are a few pages back (even if they are "young" enough to not be considered necro'd).

I am not a fan of the method by which the Judgment, Lore, Interface, and Destiny slots are unlocked, mainly because you have to unlock Judgment and Interface before having access to Lore and Destiny (respectively). I have discovered that I only want certain Incarnate powers for certain characters, and would like to ignore the others. I know that puts me in the minority, but I think my suggestion may appeal to anyone.

What if, when running a BAF trial, the Psychic Incarnate XP you received was put into a stock pile, rather than immediately applied to the next applicable locked Incarnate power? Then, the player could apply the iXP to whatever power he/she saw fit, rather than having to unlock certain powers before certain others. (i.e. If a player wanted to skip Judgment, but take a Lore power, they could apply the iXP immediately to the Lore slot, rather than having to wait through the unlocking of Judgment).

I realize this is hardly an issue currently since we can convert threads into iXP and have any slot unlocked in very little time, but I am thinking toward the future. If the current trend continues, then one can only assume that Psychic iXP will be applied to the unlocking of Hybrid and Mind, and Physical iXP will be applied toward the unlocking of Genesis and Vitae (I don't have the tree in front of me, so I don't know if those are the right powers on the right sides, but I hope my point is demonstrated nonetheless). And, again with continuing trends, we can assume that the higher abilities will cost more iXP than their predecessors. If a player decides that only the Vitae power (whatever it ends up being) would be good for a particular character, why should he/she have to unlock 3 other powers first, especially when they have no relation to each other?

I am leaving the Alpha slot as is because, after all, it is the "Alpha," the first step toward being an Incarnate. It should be necessary to unlock that one (not to mention, it is laughably easy nowadays).

TL;DR
(because I seem to be notorious for lengthy posts)
Since the Incarnate powers (at least thus far) have no functional nor name relation to each other, other than the type of iXP required to unlock them (Psychic or Physical depending on which side of the chart you are on), I propose that both Physical and Psychic iXP be stored up, and applied at the player's discretion toward whichever applicable abilities the player sees fit (i.e. Psychic for Judgment's side, Physical for Interface's side).

Also, I realize there needs to be some sort of safeguard to keep people from storing up a bunch of iXP to use once the next abilities are released. Perhaps a player can only earn iXP of a certain type equal to the total amount that would be needed to unlock all the abilities on a certain side of the chart? I don't know, I'm open to ideas.