Winterminal

First, I very much like Bill's idea of having multiple, distinct zones, for every flavor of hero. Or, if it must be one zone/city, make the center of it a flourishing, shiny, teched-up metropolis, then have a more gritty, less polished, surrounding area.

I would like this to be the center of a web, where story lines progress outward to specific zones, following themes based around origin and/or type of enemy you wish to face. For example, a character may choose that their story involves taking down corporate and mafia corruption, thus taking them through multiple linked or related story lines with enemies based around that. However, a big part of that system would be multi-faceted story lines that could lead you off the current path, in a manner similar to our current Tip missions or the Moral choice missions in Praetoria: a mission may include a meeting between two factions of different types of enemies (like Freakshow and Tsoo) and you could choose to follow and defeat the one you have been following, or move to the other and discover what their plot is. This is far from a fleshed-out idea, but that's the gist.

That would be optional, as you could also be more of a freelance hero, picking up contacts and/or missions from different walks of life all over the place, "going wherever the world needs you." From there, you could choose to progress through a whole story arc or decide that saving that one woman from the Circle of Thorns ritual is enough, and that their end-game plot is of no importance to you (currently).

I would also love there to be a reason for higher leveled heroes to return to the starter city/zone. I don't have a clear idea of what that reason should be, or what it would incorporate, but higher level heroes are necessary around lowbies, as a goal for which to shoot.

Lots of brainstorming there, few full ideas, but that's my two cents.

Fantastic! Grats Gale. May many more be in the future.

I doubt they would do it over a holiday weekend, especially one where "spending time with family, going to a parade, barbecuing, and going out to view fireworks" are all things the majority of this country will be enjoying, none of which involve a computer. While I agree that a double XP weekend in the near future would be nice, I just cannot see them doing it that weekend.

I'm betting meteor event, and I love the insight offered so far (anagrams on the name and the possible foreshadowing of a date).

My deciphering of the bottom of the article: "The meteor...event will be clear...in Paragon City...on the d(ate)...Sho(wn).

I'm going to go ahead and guess big meteor event for Friday, June 8th, 2012.

Except we won't hear nor see anything else related to this for another few months, :P

Bill, don't forget the orbital blasts...

Happy birthday Posi!

I have no idea how many of these ideas are possible, but I like nearly all of them.

The Teleport Beacon would be tough tech-wise to implement, I think. In any case, I think it should be zone-restricted, lest it be slapped with a recharge on part with Mission Teleporter. An alternative to this idea that might be easier to implement is a "Join Teammate" type power, which would work as a reverse "Recall Friend": you would teleport to a teammate's location on the same map. Doesn't do much good solo, but just another idea to throw out there.

LOVE the Afterburner idea, except I am inclined to give it a timer, kind of like a phase power. So you can have it toggled as long as you wish, even while stationary, but it only gives you a set amount of super-speed-flight time, after which you return to regular flight speed for another set amount of time. After the down time, if the power is still toggled, your speed will be boosted again. I agree, the endurance cost should be draining. Then tag (say) a 1-minute recharge on it (ignoring enhancements), to keep it from being abused.

As for the rest of the variations on the travel powers, how would you make these happen? Would they all act like fly poses where, once you are in forward motion, you activate an emote by some means which starts you ice skating or rainbow jumping, etc.? Or would this be like Prestige Power sprints, where you have multiple powers, all of which affect the player the same way, but have different visual effects?

Just got around to reading the installment from a couple weeks ago. Great chemistry there. And I have lived through a morning much like theirs.

Also that art is awesome. The first picture reminds me of one of my favorite pictures of Colossus and Shadowcat together. The second is pure win.

This is a little tough, mainly because I think of different things for those words. "Fairy" definitely conjures the typical Tinkerbell type image to mine. A small, winged creature with magic powers. "Sprite," contrarily, calls to mind a woodland creature, with powers based in the elements or in nature some way. (Nymph and sprite are interchangeable for me.)

If it is the former, perhaps a Kinetics Defender, with non-specific secondary blast, easily colorable to be "mystical energy" (I'm thinking Energy, Radiation, or Psychic). Coloring both the Kinetics powers and the blast powers in a multi-colored spectrum could end up looking quite "magical" and "pixie-like."

If it is the latter, I think a controller would be the way to go. Nearly all the primaries except Illusion would work here, if colored and justified correctly. For secondary, I'd either go with a complimentary secondary (i.e. if it is a fire fairy, go with Thermal Radiation), Kinetics (for reasons listed above), Rad (if colored well), or Force Fields (again, coloring can go a long way here).

First off, I gotta say, the last power reminds me too much (both in name and function) of a certain ability from a certain other RPG based around catching creatures in red and white balls...

Just had to "throw" that out there.

I love the ideas for the animations, and I think some of them would damn awesome, "Beam Slice" and "Prism" in particular. I would love to see this in-game. However, as others have said, the Dev team's priority is power function over form. Unfortunately, most of the secondary effects offered in-game are covered by an existing set, so this is a hard pitch.

/signed, for all the reasons people have listed. 'Twould be a fun mechanic.

I think this would belong in the RP forum, but that's not my call.

I would save my family. It's my nemesis: I'm sure I'll have another chance to capture him. Probably within the week.

I don't read the comics, but I do enjoy reading up on character histories with Marvel's Online Universe wiki thing on their website. So my one beef with this is Scott Summers' YOUNGER brother Alex (a.k.a. Havoc) is one of the first X-Men? Boo. I mean, I get that they pigeon-holed themselves when they made characters like Ice Man appear in the first trilogy, but still!

All that being said though, I will be there at midnight tonight

Skimmed the thread, sorry if I'm being repetitive.

Summary: I would gladly pay for a pack that contained all of that stuff.

This should be simple: The only things that should have to be purchased with Merits are things related to the Incarnate System, or rare IOs or IO sets (since those are rewards in nearly every other aspect of the game that requires a significant amount of time investment). Ascension Armor pieces, incarnate power icon chest emblems, Thread/Shard vouchers, Alpha Unlock: These are all things related to the Incarnate system, and therefore make sense to include here. Hell, even the Cape/Aura vouchers make some sense because they are something new players should earn (I guess), but older players should have easier/earlier access to.

I do not see how changing my costume via an ice block, "Swoon"ing, or wearing a bar code on my chest has anything whatsoever to do with being an incarnate.

I think Techbot Alpha has summed it up very well. Costume pieces, costume change emotes, auras, etc. appeal to large demographic of people who have little desire to repeat the iTrials; who play this game to watch their imaginary characters come to life. Therefore, locking the aforementioned features behind the iTrial rewards will force your players to play something they do not enjoy (which never ends well), and/or foster resentment toward the Dev team for making very appealing features difficult for said demographic to obtain.


Finally... I'm with the OP. I prefer to use what little time I can devote to this game to let my imagination run wild: creating character concepts, and watching those concepts come to life with the cosmetic features available. May I please have a way to obtain those features that does not include devoting my small amount of time to doing the same content over and over?

The big problem with holsters/scabbards/etc., if I remember correctly, was (and still is, really) the presence of or absence of the weapon. I am sure it would be fairly easy to draw a belt with a scabbard for a katana (ignoring, at least for the time being, the multitude of probable clipping issues). But due to the mechanics of the games, the artists either have to draw the scabbard with the sword in it, or with out it. There is no way (currently) to have the sword in the scabbard, then upon attacking and drawing the sword, have the scabbard appear empty. The same would apply with pistol holsters and whatnot. And let's not even get into weapon customization. A holster designed to hold 2 standard semi-automatic pistols would look different then a holster designed to hold 2 mini-uzis.

Naturally, people who want scabbards apparently wouldn't care if it didn't look particularly right. But is that really true? A costume option, for which you've been waiting a LONG time, finally gets introduced to the game, but doesn't work with your particular character? Even if a few could get past it, the general population of the game would, I think, be upset that it did not work across the board.

Until/unless they can get this looking fantastic and error free, I would rather not have them.

Based on the Overview page, and Second Measure's clarification earlier in this thread, here is what is going on.

- All itemized rewards (emotes, costume change emotes, Ascension Armor, Auras, Capes, etc.) are unlocked account-wide.

- Though they are unlocked account-wide, they are still gated behind the normal level requirements.

• Ascension armor will be unlocked, upon purchase, for all characters at level 50.
• The Astral/Empyrean Merit Reward capes will be available, upon purchase, to all characters level 20 and above who have completed the mission required to unlock capes.
• The Astral/Empyrean Merit Reward auras will be available, upon purchase, to all characters level 30 and above who have completed the mission required to unlock auras.

- The Cape Vouchers and Aura Vouchers, also purchasable with Astral/Empyrean Merits, are transferable via in-game email to alts. Upon using the voucher (however that occurs), that specific alt will have access to all capes and/or auras (depending on which vouchers were used) at ANY level that they would normally have only had access to at level 20 or 30, after completing the required mission. Essentially, this option is a way to make all capes and auras available to veteran low level alts (something that has been requested numerous times) while still requiring completely new players to complete the "rites of passage" in order to get capes and auras.

Well thought out, and not game-breaking. I like these buffs. I still wish Sonic Siphon worked more like Power Siphon or Siphon Speed (granting the user a buff) but I suppose that would be hard to justify based on the theme of the set.

/signed.

Okay, unfortunate server reputation aside...

Who else is planning on participating in the invasion tonight? Or will people be finding a nice, quiet instance mission and enjoying themselves there? Or another server entirely?

I plan on fighting the good fight, so just wondering who I may see this evening!

New Auras, some of them travel based! YAY! It's not an ice slide, but I just may be able to make that Frost Path work... (if only there was an alternate sprint power that was a slide and DIDN'T glow pink...)

And a HUGE THANK YOU to the Devs for making these available post-level 30 for anyone who has completed the Aura mission (as opposed to strictly purchasable via Astral and Empyrean Merits). So very grateful.

Group Shield Buffs! Woo hoo! Granted, I never minded the reapplication process that much, but as this will save on time better spent (IMO) blasting, I welcome it!

And even Mother Mayhem and all her "glory" get tiresome to look at after a while, so I am glad they are implementing the skip.