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Yeah, this week is Beasts for MMs, next week is WWD #7.

Hopefully we'll finally get to fight the full sized version of Rularuu at least. Seeing that screenshot of him moving around in Steel and realizing that he's almost at the zone height limit all by himself just makes me sort of giddy. An actual GIANT Monster!

Maybe the cover will be literal this time, and he's so big that we have to fight him in space.

Oh, We have ways around that.

The eagle has landed. The crow flies by the moonlight. Sic semper tyrannis.

Yep. Same case for Faultline and presumably RCS. If you logged out in any of those 3 when they were closed down, you can still go back.

Galaxy City and DA were slightly different, though. People in Galaxy I believe got teleported to AP. People in DA are still there, and the zone connection got changed to Ouroboros rather than Talos. In both cases, the "original" zones don't exist, the originals are just prefixed with "Echo:" and have had the contacts removed.

They didn't, those zones don't just get thrown out. I'm positive the original Paragon Dance Party is still around and inaccessible, and last I heard, characters in the old Faultline are still there now. The crash site should still be there as well. I'm guessing the only reason they're not in Ouroboros is because those badges are still obtainable, unlike Dark Astoria and Galaxy City.

I believe it got answered on a ustream. I guess "variety" would be a better word, expanding the capabilities or just flat out increasing the potency of the debuffs. Not literally the range, though.

The recharge portion of the ATO procs is an enhancement, not a proc itself.

And, as mentioned, the Scrapper crit bonus is a global buff. Once you slot the ATO, you'll notice a pink Hasten icon as a constant buff. If you catalyze it, it turns into a Darkest Night icon, and offers a better chance to crit and more recharge from the enhancement.

I'm saying that the rationale doesn't make much sense, but that I understand where it comes from. If you try and analyze the situation devoid of any personal investment and emotion, you're not going to find a good reason.

I'm not suggesting that at all. I understand the reasoning perfectly, and I'm fine with it. Disappointed that I won't get to play a set I want to and level it up quickly, sure, but I have plenty of other characters that I could be leveling as well.

Maybe not as much as you'd think. Perception of the issue is key to reaction. People reacting here more than likely know that Staff was in a state of greater polish/completion than Beast Mastery was at the same time. An admittedly smaller group will tell you that even now (Reppu would probably still have a few choice words over how well the set is put together). The idea that "x is done, then y is done, so x is released, then y is released" is still fairly prevalent in people's minds. The f2p transition and subsequent change of how content is delivered obviously tosses that right out the window.

Technically, it is. Both sets are "done". Unless there's a patch between now and BM's release, no bug fixes/tweaks are gamebreaking enough that they couldn't literally flip the switch right now. Marketing wise, yes, I get that it has a date and isn't being "withheld" in that sense. But the whole issue stems from people not understanding marketing. The "Black Pebble is evil and soul-less" humor exists for a reason - because some people honestly, at some point, though that.

Sure thing. Wasn't trying to argue at all, but I'm glad I was able to at least make it seem that way.

Oh, me too. I've wanted a Staff/Dark Brute ever since I played the combo on beta. But, then again, every time I get that nagging sense to be infuriated or even really disappointed by decisions like these, I remember that without the increased revenue from the f2p conversion and the market stuff, we wouldn't be getting this content at the pace we're seeing now. Ever since VEATs squeezed themselves in a whole issue release ahead of schedule due to the wedding pack, this stuff sort of became expected for me.


It was the best analogy I could think of. Staff and BM are technically in the game right now, but switches just need to be flipped first. Heck, Staff was in the game in i21. Obviously in an incomplete state - and completely absent from Stalkers, which likely changed due to the reaction over Titan Weapons - but you could link the powers in chat and look at the numbers all the same. On the disc DLC works in a similar manner. Characters, maps, stuff like that, they're all on the disc, but switches need to be flipped. The way they do that is by having you pay and download an unlock key (which are usually about 100kb or something close) and tada! Suddenly content.

Call me crazy, but all I can think of when I see Silos now is...



Great job on the comic as well, GG!

If you try to make sense of it in a completely binary manner, of course it doesn't make sense. The marketing "plan" behind it all makes perfect sense though, and as we're all well aware, marketing is an evil Lovecraftian cthulu monster who sits 3 cubicles down from Positron's desk, spreading its unholy influence to the development team.

The long and short of it is rather well orchestrated:

Week 0: Release i22. Include VIP-only powersets, VIP only costumes, VIP only incarnate trial, VIP only incarnate zone. Aim is to keep people in for a month.

Week 1: Who cares, you're still riding off the buzz generated by 22's release. Put out some silly cosmetic item, take a week off, throw frisbees to people in Atlas, etc.

Week 2: Put out overpriced cosmetic pet that increases influence gain in time for double xp. Fact that it can die makes it seem worthless (thus avoiding the "pay2win" mentality), obsessive "store completionists" and minmaxers still nab it regardless.

Week 2's weekend: Double XP event. Nabs a bunch of people to return and re-up for subscriptions so they can level the new shinies release in 22 faster.

Week 3: Most likely Beast Mastery. May not sell as well as a melee set, but you've hit a sweet spot where there are the highest number of VIP players eligible to use the set since Masterminds are gated. Also, there's quite a few people still around from double xp. Anyone who has their account lapse then has to buy back Masterminds if they want to keep using that character but don't already have access, or re-up for more VIP.

Week 4: WWD. People are still in VIP to see the grand finale, and it'll likely heavily tease the next issue (Pandora's Box) to encourage more VIP subs. It's also just in time to meet the monthly quota.

Week 5 or 6: Staff Melee. Doesn't particularly matter since all 4 melee ATs are able to be used by free accounts, and melee ATs are the largest portion of the playable ATs, and therefore have the broadest appeal. By this point the hype has died down from i22 and double xp, and they'll use Staff as leverage to keep the excitement going as long as possible.

So, why are people angry over that? Because Staff was up first on beta, was in a "complete" state far before BM, has had minimal changes and attention paid to it aside from altering the sounds, and is being held back purely for marketing purposes. It's the same hate that stems from games having DLC on the disc and you have to buy access to it, or pre-order at certain retails, etc. Nobody likes being played by marketing.

It should, yeah. If you have musculature though, it's most likely going to annihilate any minions/lieutenants that the effect would work on before they get a chance to fire off any attacks.