dugfromthearth

A basic issue with powersets is that they are almost all fine with SO's up to level 50. IO sets and incarnate powers are just so game breakingly overpowered that they screw everything up. As long as the devs just balance for SO's, few powersets need help.

battle axe, electrical blast, and devices are about the only ones that are really lagging

there are plenty that are not top tier, but very few that are noticeably below average.

for me it is the Victorian Decor aura. I mean the idea is just stupid - a Victorian Decor aura, what would that even mean? And then looking at it in the costume creator it looks weird.

But in play I have rarely seen it look less than awesome on characters that use it. I don't know if just good costume designers tend to use it, or the aura is that good. But it just looks cool and really fits a variety of themes.

What costume piece do you think is dumb or bad, but turns out to be really cool in use?

Play Pinnacle Redside
or just go to the Shadow Shard on any server

you will encounter no one in local or broadcast at all to disturb your play

People keep pointing out individual mutants as if that were the problem. But there are individual mutants - there are no mutant groups or storylines beyond the Outcasts.

Can you name a mutant group other than the Outcasts?

The problem is that the other origins are essentially manufactured. Need tech minions, give them powered armor. Need more wizards, train them. Need more naturals, train them.

But you cannot manufacture mutants to fill out a VG.

The solution to this in comic books is the combined origin. Something happened and a bunch of kids born soon after are mutants.

Smallville has a meteor crash that produced a generation of mutants. Static Shock has some event that produced a generation of mutants.

I don't know how old Crey's Folly disaster was - but there could be a group of mutants that were created by that. There must be other disasters - or just make one up.

the saddest thing I saw with CoX was a scrapper challenge where they had dual blades and stood in place in RWZ cycling a few attacks to defeat the spawn. There was no action to the fight and basically no thought or tactics. Just cycle attacks.

if my character does not need to move in a fight, I pretty much delete the character. I love sands of mu - maneuvering around to get a lot of foes in the cone. I like immobilizing a foe then getting cover from them.

so does your character move around in combat and do you care?

idea for a theme/mechanic that would be unique

preparation (wizard/dragonball Z):

the set is overpowered, but each power has a longer than normal activation time. You don't just toss out a healing ball, you channel your essence into it, do a little dance, shout Hoduken, and then toss the ball. Ideally you would use this with a gimmick - release. Each power in the set generates a power (some could be interruptible) but does not fire it. Then you click the special release power that fires it off. So you could prepare a heal orb before combat, then release it quickly in combat. You could only have one orb prepared at a time.

there are two ways you can view powersets:
different power selections/mechanics that provide variety in play
different graphics

If you believe that the difference between fire and ice is that fire looks like fire and ice looks like ice - then allowing multiple power choices so that any set can be ST or AoE or whatever makes sense.

if you believe that different powersets should truly have different powers and mechanics than you are going to hate letting people choose their powers to make each set whatever they want.

Personally I think of powersets and choosing graphics. I hate when mechanics get in the way of enjoying a set I would like (dual blades).

Ideally for me you would choose a powerset type - controls
then each tier would present a balanced set of powers and you would just choose the one you wanted.

Earthquake/Ice Slick/Static Field/Flashfire, etc - choose the one you want

just wait until some player posts "Level X <AT> looking for anything"

then give them a /tell with anything you can think of doing with them

which reminds me - who thought that a server called "virtue" was the place for online roleplaying?

To be pedantic, there are a ton of zones that could use a revamp. The question is which should be next. The answer has to be which one would help the game the most if revamped, not which one needs a revamp the most.

They could revamp an existing zone that gets used to make it better. Atlas is an example of this. If everyone plays there, improving it affects everyone. The only other zones that "everyone" does are Steel, Talos, and PI. All three of those are pretty good already. I don't really see any significant improvements there.

The other real consideration (assuming that redoing a zone costs the same whether it is a total redo or a partial) is a zone that is different enough that making it good would add something to the game.

Boomtown is a wasteland - but we already have Hollows and Faultline as wastelands. I can't see people getting excited about another such zone.

IP is mostly water surrounded by land, with a huge bridge. That is different. I can imagine it being cool, but they would have to make the water itself interesting somehow to pull it off. A nice idea, but seems unlikely to pay-off.

Perez Park has a forest in it. Croatoa also has a forest, so it is not unique. If done well, I can see PP as being a cool zone with a different feel.

Founder's Falls is unique with its canals. It is also pretty and an active area populated by NPC's. It is a level that lacks much content, and people in general just seem to skip somehow (go directly to PI or something else). Having a 30-40 zone that was the place for 30-40 characters to be would help a lot with teaming. Adding content there would be great.

I say Founder's Falls as the next zone to revamp.

a roleplayer flag would be nice

what use is local besides roleplaying?

Can't make something up like a new alien race. And no fair just tying it to an existing NPC like "Ron Hughes turns out to be an alien and they invade".

Things like:
An Ouroboros arc where Boomtown got destroyed
The further adventures of Habashy and his wife
Shadow Shard refugees trying to fit into Primal Earth
etc

I would like to see some time travel stories into the history of the Rogue Islands - there should be some pirate adventures among the islands

the key is whether you enjoy it

the game is not set up for snipers. Which means it will be unused many places and godlike other places. If you like the style and are willing to accept not being able to use it many places - then go for it.

You can level with it simply by street sweeping

it won't be of much use in teams though

kin used to be a speed boost buff bot, before they changed how buffs work

now kin is a lot more active than a FF, but not ridiculously active

Many would quit if they only allowed one characters, merged servers, etc. Major changes cause major annoyance.

But what would be the smallest change that would make you quit?

Remove one item from the costume creator?
Nerf one power?
Remove one contact?

I have so many alts that destroying one wouldn't make that much difference to me.

My biggest worry is actually adding more DxB trials so that there is no one left to team without outside of them. The devs can leave the other content, but if the players won't play anything else I will be done. Fortunately DiB does not seem to have caught on like DfB.

is your favorite character a ss/fa brute? an ill/rad controller? a bots/dark MM?

Or do you prefer a FF/elec defender for some reason?

I have fairly specific requirements for characters that I enjoy that I have learned over the years. Since I don't play high levels (I delete and start the characters over) they are not usually the top tier sets but some are.

My current favorite is a sonic/dark corr which is ridiculously good. I don't hear it being discussed much, although /dark is known to be top tier.