Winterminal

I like the idea. Firespray said pretty much anything I would have said. And I am HUGELY proactive towards getting matching powersets across primaries and secondaries. That being said, I think the problems would arise when animating this set. The animations that exist in Energy Aura already look very kinetic-like, and even share some of the same animations/sound fx as other in-game Kinetics powers. And since Energy Aura has yet to be brought to blue side characters, I think there is a good chance that Energy Aura tankers could be just over the horizon. But don't quote me though

This is a subjective question, since a number of other things come into play here (i.e. the presence of set bonuses, how you have slotted which powers, are you a blaster or a blapper, etc.).

Personally I hate the end drain as a secondary effect because, as you say, unless you get them down to nothing, they can still attack with anything due to the mechanical differences between NPC Endurance and player-based Endurance. With that in mind, I have built my character as more of a ranged blastroller.

• I took both ranged holds (Tesla Cage and Shocking Bolt).
• I abuse Electric Fence.
• I only have 2 of the punch attacks (which I only use if the enemies come to me, I never run in).
• Static Discharge and Ball Lightning are a big part of my attack chain.

Having all that, plus Chance to Hold procs in Charged Bolts and Lighting Bolt, I can solo +1/+2 as long as I pace myself. Frankly, he's not my favorite character on which to solo because if things go wrong (a string of misses, early mez, etc.) I'm screwed, but I love teaming with him.

Again, it all depends on your build and your play style.

If they input something like this, it would almost definitely be a craftible power via Vanguard Merits. Though, considering the Ouroboros portal drops you off only a hop-skip-and-a-jump from either the Founders Falls or PI Vanguard bases, I don't know how likely it is we'll see it. That being said, I have a character dedicated to working with Vanguard, so I would get this power if it existed.

First, check out DrMike's topic. Lots of useful discussion/ideas there.

I teamed with a speedster-esque character a while back, and he actually built it quite cleverly.
-He went with the Martial Arts/Super Reflexes Scrapper, using the newer animations since they look a bit quicker. He also made great use of the Veteran Power Sands of Mu.
-To simulate the speed, he slotted up the Prestige Power Quick (which doesn't suppress during combat) to maximize speed and minimize End drain. He really zipped around mobs, and looked cool doing it with the comet-like streaks any time he moved. He said that, although it was slower than a slotted SS, it actually worked better than having full Super Speed, considering he had more control.
- He then slotted Super Speed with Celerity, which gave the "so-fast-you-can't-even-see-me" illusion, and allowed him to ghost missions extremely well, both conceptually and functionally.
-Finally, he said that he had hoped to work in Phase Shift (the final power in the Concealment power pool) to serve as both a panic button, and the whole intangibility aspect that comes with many speedsters, but had been unable to fit in (since he would have had to take 2 additional powers prior to it). I imagine with i19's inherent fitness, he may now have room for it.

So maybe give that a shot? I think the controller route might disappoint you in terms of gaining the full speedster effect.

It should be noted that, although it's one attack is Charged Bolts, the range is shorter (something like 50-60 ft, I think, as opposed to the actual Charged Bolts' 80 foot range.). So if you are shooting from range, and it is right next to you, or even behind you, it won't be attacking, which is likely why you've experienced that.

Also, you are not the first person to "wonder" about this power. It has been the subject of debate many, many times over. Some like it because it is unique among the Ranged attack sets and provides a Defiance damage bonus for 60 seconds (as opposed to other attacks bonuses that only last about 8 seconds). Others are not big fans due to its short duration and underwhelming attack strength. But since Voltaic Sentinel is working as intended, it will not be changed nor replaced.

I don't want to speak for the OP, but in my mind "locked doors" would be useful for status reasons. For example: Only SG members (as opposed to coalition members or temporary team members) can access rooms outside of the Portal Pad hub and crafting facilities. Or, only commanders and above have access to certain rooms. Sort of an "inner sanctum" kinda thing.

That all being said, I don't like the idea for the sole reason that access to those rooms has to be set and modified by the SG leader. And should something unfortunate happen in their real life, which limits or eliminates their ability to play, members of the SG might miss out on opportunites just because their leader wasn't around to promote them.

You could grab yourself a free trial today, that will last you a week. See if the gameplay is still something you enjoy. If it is, by this time next week, the $9.99 Going Rogue special will be only a few days away and you can purchase it. If not, then you've seen what you needed to see without spending any money whatsoever. It's a win/win.

As for CO versus CoX... First, though I never bought CO, the last time I passed it in the store it was $50, already more than the usual price for the Going Rogue expansion. Second, as some have said, it will be going F2P soon enough so you could probably wait for that if you ultimately choose that game. Finally, it too has a free trial option, so you can give it a fair shot. Ultimately the decision is up to you, but I think you will find the player community and variety of in-game content here outweigh the competitor.

If price is the only thing holding you back, like many of us have said, wait 10 days and you can get it for $10. And if you need something to do in the mean time, download the free trials of both games and weigh your options.

/signed

I'm totally behind this idea, for all of the reasons previously listed.

A red-side advocate would tell you, "Blue-side haz moar! Welcome to our world!" (I am not a red-side advocate, and obviously, I exaggerate.)

Putting aside the fact that I actually prefer the APPs to the PPPs, I do think that, now that switching sides is possible, there should be some sort of balancing aspect. I like the ideas of heroic versions of the Patron arcs. However, I think that they would have to be worded correctly. A hero wouldn't steal Black Scorpion's mace, but perhaps "confiscate" it for counter-intelligence purposes.

I would sort of liked to have had Blue-side patrons (namely, the Freedom Phalanx members), but given the wide variety of APPs available, that would have been hard to implement. (I mean, does blue-side even have a NPC Hero that would teach ice moves?)

This much I know: I can get Frozen Armor from an APP for my Ice/Ice blaster and controller. I would like to be able to get Frozen Armor on my Ice/Ice defender without having to go get the Leviathan Mastery PPP.

Hover-blasting is my mantra. Stick a Fly IO in Swift and I end up hovering faster than I would normally run (without any sprint power active).

I currently have Winter's Gift slotted there, so I hover as fast as anybody hoofin' it on the ground. Once the i19 mass-respec begins, I'm considering swapping that out for a LotG +Recharge, and adding Winter's Gift to Fly or something. (Although, with Fly's recent error-turned-buff, I don't need any further enhancements, considering at lvl 50 I'll be flying at the top flight speed with nothing slotted.)

Just finished the first story over this weekend. Wonderful job, Michelle! My quick comments:

- I wish I had a rich friend with a large estate who would buy me a tux and let me drive his Ferrari.
- I would pay money to see Statesman dance a tango.
- You were very successful in creating a vivid reality through your use of imagery and detail.
- Your dialogue is fantastic. It reads very naturally, at times almost like a script, which is a testament to not only your word use, but your grammatical sculpting as well. Kudos, that is something that can be very difficult for writers to translate to text.
- You chose your ending well. It was not sad at all, but it wasn't all "magic, sparkles, and happily ever after" either. And best of all, it left me wanting to read more.

My one piece of "constructive criticism" would be to just give future chapters a second proof-read. Thus far, I have come across a few more errors in book 2 rather than book 1. I only say this because I'm speaking as someone who prefers to hear what I can make better along side what I already did well. If you prefer not to, I will keep it strictly to "what I liked" for the future. Plus, from the details you included in your posts, I gather it was more a stress/time issue than anything.

So, what started as a curiosity about a link in someone's sig that said "Support Nerd Flirting!" has earned you another avid reader. I'm hooked, and I can't wait for the next installment!

Awfully snarky, Ben, but funny.

Not only would I like to see Frostfire get a new look, but I would love for a re-worked Hollows story arc where a new Outcast steps up to lead the gang.

Devices>Web Grenade: This power's cast time is about the same amount of time it takes an enemy to run from the maximum range into melee range. (In other words, an enemy running toward you will reach melee range before it is actually immobilized.)

There are a TON of others that I can think of, but most of them I can attribute to either a) I created the character before I had the option to see all of a power's stats before taking it OR b) I was newer and didn't quite understand certain game mechanics yet. My one example above is the only one I can think of right now that you really could not know without playing the game.

I'm a big fan of creating a story for my character, and I put some thought into writing bios, so the origin comes from his/her backstory. Rarely will I create a character without having some idea of what he/she is going to look like, and what her powers are, along with where they come from. By then, the origin choice is pretty straight forward.

I've posted this idea in numerous other topics, so this is a copy and paste of what I think is a plausible idea.

Body Manipulation

1. Front Kick (A 300 "This is SPARTA" animation (which exists already) with a high KB effect like that of Power Thrust from Energy Manipulation. Possible alternate animation would be the palm thrust animation of Cobra Strike from Martial Arts.)
2. Storm Kick
3. Dragon's Tail (Much weaker than MA's version, but with an accuracy bonus to ensure the Knockdown)
4. Weakness Exploitation - Click, Ranged Targeted AoE: You analyze and aim for your enemies' weak spots. Each enemy that is hit suffers a -Recovery, -Regen debuff for 20 seconds. This power does not aggro. (Recharge is about the same as Build Up).
5. Focus Chi (a.k.a. Build Up)
6. Adrenaline Rush - Toggle: PBAoE, Foe -DMG, Self +End, Self+Recharge. Borrowing from the idea of Willpower, as you are surrounded by more enemies, your body kicks into overdrive, causing you to take less damage from attacks and increasing your body's ability to continuously attack.
7. Smoke Screen - PBAoE -Acc, -Perception, Self +Special: After activation, each enemy successfully damaged afterward will be confused (Mag. 2, 10 second duration). **This power uses the Smokebomb costume change emote animation, combined with the smoke effect of Smoke Grenade from Devices. Then for the next 10 seconds, each foe you cause damage to is hit with an unstackable Mag 2 Confuse.**
8. War Cry (possibly need a better name) - PBAoE, Foe Fear: You let loose a bellow of power and determination. Surrounding enemies will be intimidated by your tenacity. (Stronger enemies will have a higher resistance).
9. Crane Kick - High DMG, Foe Disorient, Foe Knockback.

A few new powers in there, some of which could probably use some tweaking, but all of them can utilize existing animations. I tried to keep it different enough from devices, without making it too melee heavy. If you'll note, I more-or-less follow the skeleton of Mental Manipulation (which has been noted to be the ideal Manipulation set so far).

I am in complete agreement with you here Shadestorm, particularly the bit about "one big blob of grey with no more black and white."

Currently, I only have one vigilante, and it is because I had him written as a vigilante from day 1 of his existence. Naturally, I made him an official vigilante once Going Rogue went live, but I have no intention of ever setting foot in the Rogue Isles with him. Because, as you said, in my mind a Vigilante is a character who punishes the wicked rather than simply subduing and arresting them. I also agree that the tip mission choices encompassed that mentality quite well.

Now, I understand that the intention behind the Hero-->Vigilante-->Villain progression was that at some point a vigilante might go too far and kill someone by accident, or that didn't deserve it, or whatever, and complete their "journey towards the dark side."

I also get, and respect, that the alignment/morality system was kept general in order to allow for everyone to write/create their own story. That openness and flexibility is one of the reasons I love the game. However, I agree that there could be something more in there. But that's for a later post.

Personally, I love the idea of having an arch-nemesis, but I hate the idea of someone being able to ambush me wherever, even if they were in the parameters of what we set when we made the nemesis "agreement." My alt-oholism aside, eventually I would forget, and then get really pissed when I wound up dead while, say, crafting something in my SG base. I know it would be way different, but too many times have I been innocently trying to gather ore samples in Bloody Bay and had a big red "ASSASSIN'S MOVE" appear above my head.

Alternatively, completing tasks that would make things more difficult for my nemesis, or add a certain complication to my nemesis's missions, is an idea I really like. I would be all for options like:

• Giving your nemesis a random ambush per day.
• A booby-trapped drop at the completion of a mission, which would give some kind of random debuff or other semi-annoying-but-not-altogether-hindering effect for a certain amount of time (and perhaps ways to get around this i.e. a minor DoT effect simulating poison could be removed by visiting a hospital nurse).
• An instanced mission given as a response to any mission you just completed. For example: "While you were busy completing that task, your nemesis has made a bomb threat against the city. It is set to blow in 15 minutes!" Thus you have 15 minutes to get to a train station and load into one of the large scale city maps and find the explosives before time runs out.

I stuck to the "upon mission completion, you get..." idea because I think that would be the easiest in-game trigger for the tech side of it, and also most likely be the least intrusive to the player. Obviously, it would be restricted from happening during TFs and the like, where it would be intrusive to the player moreso than to their character.

I have a lot more to say on this, more than I thought I would! But I'll leave it there for now to hear some responses.