Samuel_Tow

I couldn't disagree more. Terra Volta is, to me, one of the coolest zones in the game exactly BECAUSE of its size. Unlike Boomtown, it actually has distinct parts to it, it has varied settings and it has interesting geography. This is pretty much the only place left in the city that actually looks BIG. It's a square mile of industrial buildings. It's pretty much as big as Sharkhead Island, and that zone's "industrial centre" is tiny by comparison. I DESPISE the CoV model of cramming a zillion small things all into the same zone because it makes everything feel so puny. Terra Volta is the complete opposite. Visiting it really was the first time I got a feel for the scale of Paragon City.

Occasionally, people forget that there's a whole large metropolitan area beyond the war wall and that the city isn't just made up of the small rectangles we have access to. Terra Volta is one of the few zones left that gives the full scale of just how big that city outside the war wall might be. I just love the sheer scale of this place. There are trenches easily 2-300 feet deep, vertical walls 100 feet up, entire sections dedicated to collapsed industrial architecture infested with the Devouring Earth, entire sections of power stations, webs of power lines... And then there's the reactor complex. GOOD GOD the reactor complex! This may well be the largest structure in the entire game. Just one of the cooling towers is larger than Cole's tower in the Magistrarium, and the thing is situated almost above the war walls.

This is the kind of large-scale civil engineering that really deserves better representation in the game. Sure, I get that it takes a lot of time and resources to produce this, but it has already been produced. It makes no sense to destroy it to fit an area not a tenth of it full size. The last thing I want is to see the CoV plague of small stuff migrate over to CoH. The last thing I want is for one of the last truly big things in the game to be reduced to a caricature of itself because... Why, exactly?

Terra Volta is awesome. If we want to do something with it, let's do something with it. But let's not just throw it away, please.

Yeah, I like the arcs, as well. Petty or big, these are exactly what I feel villains should be doing and exactly how I feel villains should be treated. Yeah, it's pandering to our egos and yeah, it's having the game take a dive for us... But you know what? That's why being a villain is so much fun And again - if Hammond is smaller-scale, then I'll simply run it with smaller-scale villains. Having that choice is appreciated.

They used Beast Mastery to make a baby... Now that's a story I'd like to see.

Stuff like this makes me feel old, but this really is 5th Column -> Council all over again. I could see if this is a brand new team making this mistake, but both Matt Miller and Melissa Bianco were there for I3. They should remember the mess that turned out to be, especially when someone (who may have been sacrificed to the masses) decided to remove all mention of the 5th Column, even from exploration and history badges. So Atlas died defending Independence Port from an alien armada.

Mess with the present if you need to, things change. But whatever you do, don't mess with the past. We've seen how that goes, and it's not wroth it.

That's very good to hear, Doc. This does actually go a LONG way towards alleviating the bad taste that the SSA1s left in my mouth. And if it sounds cynical, it really isn't - if you can pull off the story that deals with the fallout in such a way that it doesn't come off as huge backstage politics, I'll be happy to take back everything bad I've said about them. Fair's fair, after all.

Regardless, this is very good news. Thank you.

I'm not saying I'm discounting it, just that I didn't know anything about it. On the subject, Jim Sterling has a pretty good video discussing this[/url]. Personally, I'm on the fence about supporting authors I dislike as people, but I see no qualm in enjoying the works of authors I dislike as people if I already own it (and it's enjoyable to begin with). Not quite "death of the author," so much as if a work is enjoyable on its own merits, I can put aside the real world and enjoy it.

Hell, I can even enjoy Jay Naylor's artwork even though the stories in that guy's comic books make me sick more often than not.

The lesson to take away is I don't really mind absurd physique so long as artwork is done with style and artistry, I guess. Honestly, I don't even dislike the background in question, I just dislike Penny in it, and specifically her chin. I don't like her costume design, I don't like her leap-frogging a zillion other characters and becoming the most important, I don't like that Sister Psyche had to die for Penny to take centre stage and I don't like how she's being presented here.

I don't mind women being drawn sexy if that's part of their characterisation. Going back to the Gunslinger set, I didn't mind all the Saloon Girl clothes so much as I disliked there not being anything BUT Saloon Girl stuff in there for women. If a character is drawn up like Emma Frost and being sexy is part of her character considerations, then sure. I have a character inspired by Bunnie Love, myself. But that's not every character, and some really SHOULDN'T be depicted like this. Penny, to me, is one such character who just shouldn't have been drawn up like this, from inception on.

The Penelope Yin of Faultline, even if I were willing to grit my teeth and accept she's supposed to be 18, just doesn't strike me as someone who'd parade in high heels, arch her back to show off her breasts and routinely dislocate her ankles. I could buy it from Sister Psyche just based on how she's been presented. Swan, maybe. But not Penny. Even if she's not a "kid" any more (anyone get the feeling they aged her so they could pose her without feeling guilty?), she still strikes me as the kind to wear sensible shoes, use actual clothes and fight with a more practical style, as opposed to the twisted up posing of bustier models.

Let's take "Mother" as the most blatant example. Mother does not believe in pants, mother has a "boob window," and mother has gratuitous chest shots and panty shots. Excessive? Probably, but I get what the artists were going for, and I can appreciate it. But not every character is Mother Mayhem. Not every character should be treated like this. And what worries me is I'm not sure this distinction exists with our art team. I'm not sure someone can sit down and give me an account of which characters are OK to be used as cheesecake and which aren't, because I fear they're all fair game. I wouldn't, for instance, expect to see Valkyrie stick out her chest like she's trying to bust through a wall, curve her spine like a snake and sway her hips to look "sexay!" because that's not the character I understand her to be. Yet I still fully expect to see artwork of her doing just that.

Someone once took a cover of Wonder Woman swaying her hips and holding her lasso between her legs and redid it with a bunch of make DC heroes, and it looked pretty frikkin' weird with them in the cover. I probably don't know enough about Wonder Woman to tell either way, but she doesn't really strike me as someone to pose, either, being the warrior princess of the Amazons, so to me at least, the cover looks weird with her on it, as well.

What I'm trying to say is I see nothing wrong with "sexy" so long as it belongs to the appropriate people for whom it actually makes sense in-character.

I brought it up to give the problem a name, hopefully so you can see it. What Paragon Studios are doing is violating their own grandfather rule. Why you're attracting ire is not because you're defending the change, but rather because you insist on explaining it BY violating the grandfather rule. Badges are a record of activity. Even if that activity changes in the future, its record in the past should not change. If it does - and you say it doesn't matter - then that's a violation of the grandfather rule.

That same rule, but the way, isn't something I made up out of the air. Paragon Studios have used it for badges. Once upon a time, heroes weren't allowed to gain the Villain badge for defeating 1000 Longbow soldiers. Originally, this was done by simply not letting heroes fight longbow in any of their content. When Longbow showed up in the War Zone, people started farming them and earning the badge. This was quickly corrected by removing the kill counter from heroes. However, those who HAD earned the badge got to keep it.

I don't really know much about the person's actual life, just just his artwork. And I wouldn't say his field is without artistic merit. Believe it or not, I've seen a lot of very solid artists in that line of work. Hell, the highly respected Fred Perry is one, or was at one point.

Considering his line of work, I'd say he's one of the better ones out there. Sure, his human anatomy isn't exactly spot on, but human anatomy isn't terribly relevant to his work. That said, I find he's one of the better ones out there for head artwork.

Somewhere along the line, I fell out of the habit of reading souvenirs. On your suggestion, I'll read it.

That's one of the key reasons I don't roleplay - many of my characters don't play well with others, and many still are prone to violence to make a point. It's easy to write when I'm writing for all characters, but it's grating in an actual live setting with other people.

That's pretty much the gist of it, yes. I don't need much power to have fun, I just need to not die a lot and not take AAAGES to kill stuff. Electric isn't bad. I've played it on Stalkers, I've played it on Scrappers and it does well enough. Yeah, Praxis may not be godlike in terms of numbers, but then the game has never been exact in terms of how I want it to play, either. There are occasional lucky strikes, like what happened with Xanta when Titan Weapons showed up, but most characters are compromises of some sort. If I were writing a book or drawing a picture, I wouldn't compromise, but I still want to play the game.

And if I waste time, then I'll waste time. I pay good money for the luxury of wasting time having shallow fun

Keep saying that. I'm sure it'll become true at some point. In the meantime, saying that it doesn't matter what a character has done IS saying the grandfather rule does not apply. If you can't see that, then there's really no point in discussing the subject with you.

Doh! OK, why didn't I think of that? Thank you I'm not sure about the logistics of this, but I'll see what I can do.

I used to have Hover 3-slotted since way back when its base movement speed was somewhere around the speed of continental drift. However, after the last base flight speed increase, I dropped all my characters down to one slot since it seemed fast enough, and all my fliers had Fly for moving around.

So far, I'm trying to see if I can't get away with Hover with just one slot if I explore less, which I'm sure will be a great boon to you whenever we get to team again

Presence I actually did consider, but I'm not sure I'll have the slots and I DEFINITELY don't think I'll have the power picks for it. Well, I might have for the single-target fear, I suppose, if I can find a spare power pick and trade Confront for Challenge, but... That's not exactly a good trade for a Fear power that's not very good. I'd want to play around with the AoE Fear power because of the scream, but that's three power picks into the set and I just don't have the slots.

Leadership, on the other hand, I don't really think I want, and not just because I'm stubborn. Leadership is one of those pools I really don't like and have only taken on Masterminds, for the simple fact that it needs team-mates to really work. I know Leadership toggles work on me, too, but they're just so inefficient I feel like I'm cheating myself.

Plus, Praxis is not a benevolent goddess. She does not bestow favours, she only gives commands. She's actually a TERRIBLE deity to follow for any followers she's ever had, pretty much operating on the "please the goddess so we don't all die horribly" principle. There's nothing to be gained, just very much to be lost.

Endurance, yes, probably. However, I worry about power picks and enhancement slots. I don't see anything in Willpower that I don't want to have, and I can't say I see much in Electric Melee that I can do without. I don't want to lose Hover, Teleport or Long-Range Teleport (which has a prerequisite of Teleport Foe), I MUST have Soul Storm (which has a prerequisite of either Dark Blast or Moonbeam) and Leo seemed to like Shadow Meld, plus I like the stats.

That's not saying it's a done deal, but I can't figure out what I can drop. Hell, even Confront I like as a power.

What else do I do on the forums?

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I managed to get a peek at Penny's right leg on the background without the obstructions and WOW is this a weird ankle position. I'm not an artist... Or an orthopaedic, but that ankle position seems to me either severely dislocated or otherwise just inhuman. And it's not like I haven't seen feet like this, because I have. Jeremy Bernal was very fond of drawing them. What I haven't seen is an ankle bend BACK in actual real life. I know mine don't bend back farther than almost straight down.

Does anyone have evidence that that ankle position is even possible?

What you think you're arguing and what you're actually arguing aren't the same thing. You have consistently and bluntly insisted that the grandfather rule does not apply. In fact, let me quote you:

No, it is not. This is precisely what is relevant. Badges are a signifier of a specific achievement or a specific event. They were and are intended to represent that a specific character has done a specific thing. Changing a badge that has already been earned to signify an event that the character who owns it has not taken part in is not the correct decision. That's the grandfather rule.

"For my character who has already done it" is very much relevant, and very much the point. You cannot "explain" this without violating the grandfather rule. Yes, Paragon Studios are violating it themselves. If you would care to stop insisting that what characters have done to earn their badges is irrelevant, that would be a good start.

Or you can post more all-caps and censored words. Your choice.

You seem to be either completely ignorant or intentionally obtuse about what's known as the "grandfather rule." This is the same rule which allows characters using costume pieces which have been removed from the game to retain them unless they go to change their costumes, as opposed to having the piece yanked off the character. There is no intrinsic truth to what you seem to be fond of endlessly repeating as though if you say it enough times people will give up and agree with you.

I'm a guy and I can tell you it's doable, it's just a question of how you do it. Though you need kind of flexible ankles to pull it off, what MJ is doing is not the way to go. Again, you don't want to put the whole weight of your torso down onto one ankle. Trust me, that hurts.

Agreed. There's a reason I've been describing contemporary storytelling as a "systematic destruction of everything that made City of Heroes good" because we seem to have a writer staff that doesn't seem to like City of Heroes and is trying to make it into something completely different. Well, last I heard Paragon Studios is working on some new secret project. Why don't you make THAT all new and give City of Heroes some of the stories that made it back?

There are no dumb ideas, Ferl, and yours wasn't dumb at all. Praxis' needs are simply too specific in this case. I agree with you on the subject of Regeneration, as well. It was a very good fit, just in a different way. I had to pick something at some point, and I picked Willpower, but that doesn't make Regeneration wrong. I do disagree with Martial Arts on a fundamental level, but that's mostly based on aesthetics, which comes down to personal opinion. I specifically wanted energy-based attacks because of the effects those come with, and because usually some of them look less like hits and more like esoteric powers.

It's true, Martial Arts CAN look like dark energy. That's what it looks like on my reptile girl. So can Super Strength, for that matter - I've used it for that. At the same time, these still look too much like hitting people. I'm already making a compromise by going melee (something I did for the personal defences and higher base hit points), so I want to do everything I can to offset this and make the set seem less physical. Someone suggested Lightning Rod as the ultimate divine power... And try as I might, I couldn't disagree.

I resolved to not need it, I think. What I need fast in-mission transportation is when exploring large out-door zones, and a number of people asked me why I don't just use Teleport for that. Well, it's not useful in the cluttered corridors of inside instances, but that's not the question I was asked, is it? Why don't I use Teleport in OUTDOOR instances? Honestly, because Teleport doesn't explore the map between my start and end point, so I need something which will MOVE me between those points.

Or do I? When I say "I resolved to not need it," what I mean is I resolved to stop exploring every inch of every outdoor map I visit. That's what the Reveal power is for. Removing this need for smooth-but-fast transportation and using Teleport where fast transportation in-mission is required seems to have solved the problem entirely. I might still devote an extra slot to Hover at some point, but that's if I get any spares, which there might not be.

I don't agree about Moment of Glory, to be honest. I always found the original version to be more trouble than it's worth. Being unable to heal myself for two seconds and still being vulnerable to psychic damage, as well as the various untyped environmental effects, just seems like more trouble than it's worth. Yeah, it lasts 20 seconds now, but it recharges so fast I'm using it nearly every fight, and it can absorb SO much damage it's amazing. I can use it to take in a nasty alpha from a big spawn, I can use it to save my *** by giving Instant Healing enough time to have an effect, and I can generally rely on the fact that I have an "out" recharged at pretty much all times.

As for Regeneration for Praxis, you make a good argument, and it's one that I brought up, myself. Ultimately, I went with Willpower because it has Psychic protection, it guards against more things and I like both the names and descriptions of most of its powers. It may not be as good, but it fits the concept better.

I can't say I really see how Martial Arts could work for the concept, however. As I said, I need a set that's as hands-off as possible, and Martial Arts is all kicking and punching. From the air, no less, and for a VERY BIG character. It's weapon-less, yes, but it's too physical for my tastes.

Why I ultimately went with Electirc Melee is because it looks good in black, it looks kind of like divine power, it's somewhat hands-off on at least a few powers, it has Lightning Rod and... Well, because I had Blackheart's "Dark Thunder!" attack playing on a loop inside my head. Hey, if the son of Mephisto can use dark electricity, so why shouldn't Praxis?

I wanted an energy-based powerset for attack, and for melee ATs, that's a limited field. You have either Energy Melee, which I'm already using on another divine being, Kinetic Melee, which has too much arm waving and physicality, and Electric Melee. Yeah, Electric Melee isn't perfect, but a process of elimination brings me to it.

I actually spoke with Leo the other day who was very determined to suggest a Warshade to me. Visually speaking, the suggestion makes sense, and I probably would have gone with it... Except Warshades weren't on my list of ATs I will play for a reason. I just don't like how they play. However, if I had something that LOOKED like a Warshade but didn't play like one... And was customizable and didn't have glowing eyes... I might have gone with it.

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Honestly, if I could have picked a non-melee AT, I would have. Dominators really look the part the best, I'll agree to this much. The problem is that I want three things out of an AT - survivability, damage, confidence. I've played everything City of Heroes has to offer, and I've not found a non-melee AT that combined all three, aside from Masterminds. If we ever got that vaunted Assault/Defence AT... Yeah, maybe I'll reroll. But I've been saying that for 8 years now and it hasn't happened.