Winterminal

While they may have missed the subtext of your post, Wendy's point still stands: Many of her characters have had enough time to accumulate so much salvage and so many merits that they need only run the Magisterium Trial a handful of times, then immediately slot the newly unlocked power with a T3 or T4 due to stockpiled salvage/merits. The problem the Devs were trying to avoid in i20 (i.e. people crafting top tier Judgement, Interface, Destiny, and Lore powers due to saved up Shards) is present anyway.



As for me... I have no interest in the Hybrid power. Kind of boring in my opinion. *shrug* I'll run the Magisterium Trial once, for the experience, with my one character that I've decided will be my semi-phenomenal-nearly-cosmically-powered character, then go back to the rest of the game.

I'm in Bill's and Astra's camp: most of my 50s have an Incarnate Power or two, but they are mostly just conceptual extensions. I gave up trying to keep up with multiple incarnates long ago.

1.75 years. Going Rogue/i18 launched in August of 2010.

As far as I am concerned (thus, my opinion), the Devs misinterpreted. Yes, there was/is a group of people that was/is fed up with the Praetorian story line. But I think the majority of people that had complaints about it were annoyed more so by the focus on the Well of the Furies than on the Praetorian story line itself. That, and that we had already fought the Praetorians in Tina Macintyre's arc and Maria Jenkins arc. And defeated them! But now they are back...?

That may just be my opinion though.

A level 45-50 arc would be no sharper a turn for the Loyalists than the level 15-20 arc we have now. In fact, the turn would arguably be more gradual. If there was an option to go all the way to 50 as a Praetorian alignment, it could (and probably should) be written in such a way that that final arc would be "the straw that broke the camel's back," since there would be an extra 25 levels of content that could gradually reveal Cole as a tyrant.

Night Ward is 30-35, not 40. And the events in First Ward and Night Ward, while referencing Praetoria proper, have very little to do with that story line.

All I am saying is that there were two incentives to starting a character as a Praetorian: one was, well, being a Praetorian, the other was being able to start any regular archetype as any alignment. The latter incentive disappeared just over a 1 year after its arrival with the addition of i21. The former incentive technically still exists, but again, it only applies up to level 20, before you become just as much a hero or villain as any other character.

With no real incentives existing any more to roll a character as Praetorian, save for RP/personal story reasons, what is to become of Nova Praetoria, Imperial City, and Neutropolis? With Cole being defeated, and the Devs shifting their attention to the arrival of Battalion, it seems to me like they will just remain there, as empty as Boomtown. Which, given how much higher their visual and writing quality is over Boomtown, is an utter shame.

But I guess that's my opinion.

You are right, and that's the problem. In lvl 1-20 Praetoria, it doesn't mean a damn thing what you choose, you are still going to end up a Hero or Villain, and still end up fighting Praetoria. I am not arguing the writing of the story. In reality, it had to be written that way just from a sanity and logistical standpoint, regardless of how much I may have wanted to create a character that fought for Praetoria. What I am suggesting is that it would have been smarter to allow players to remain Praetorian up to level 50 and THEN have all the story lines funnel towards "Cole is evil and, for the good of the people and/or your own survival and gains, you must defeat him and his regime." Bam, you are right there, ready to start the Praetorian Incarnate Content, rather than leaving Praetoria behind for 30 levels (which go by a LOT slower than the first 20) and only having two TFs (one on each side) that pit you against Praetoria.

The part that is lame, to me, is not that my Praetorian character will have to fight Cole regardless of what alignment I choose at the beginning. I get that. Rather, it is that I have to say, "Wait right there, don't move, I'll be back in 30 levels." It's like if we could go through Wincott, Flux, Julius, and Talshak (the Hollows story line), but then had to wait for level 50 before we could attempt the Cavern of Transcendence Trial.

This is the direction I would like any Blaster modifications to travel. I have spoke out against such things as defensive increases and mez protection because I feel that the Blaster should keep its title of "offensive juggernaut." I totally agree that Blasters need to be able to survive long enough to be the offensive juggernaut, but I think they should to that by doing offensive things better, rather than increasing their defenses.

I will echo this. Those are some great incentives.

Currently, it is still considered a leak, since the Sorcery Power Pool is not yet in open Beta testing. We can discuss the pool itself, since we got to see a closed-off option of it on open Beta not too long ago (that option has since been removed from the Power Pool list on Beta). The powers themselves were leaked due to someone illegally fiddling with pigg files, but discussing those on these forums is, for the moment, not allowed. If you want to find out more info, just google "City of Heroes Sorcery Power Pool" or something of the like, and you should be able to find some details on outside sites.

That's an opinion. I'm not agreeing nor disagreeing, just saying.

I do, however, have to disagree with this. If this were the case, there would be some way for Praetorian-started characters to remain a Loyalist or Resistance alignment past level 20, or at least exclusive arcs in Paragon City or the Rogue Isles (tied to the Agent of Praetoria badge) that allow them to complete tasks for/against Praetoria along their journey to 50. Also, to have most of Praetoria's defeat confined to iTrials or TFs like Apex and Tin Mage II (that really need the Alpha slot and thus VIP access) screws over any Free/Premium players who have purchased Going Rogue and started as Praetorian. Add that to the fact that we can now start any alignment as heroic or villainous, and people see little point in starting their journey in Praetoria, since they HAVE to end up a Hero or Villain at level 20 regardless! In my opinion, the Praetorian starting option is still salvageable, but there needs to be an incentive there, something a player would not be able to get/do by starting as a hero or villain.



As for i23: I wish I was more excited about the "big stuff" on its way, which frustrates me because I am usually excited for issue releases.

Introducing a brand-spankin'-new zone in Praetoria in the same issue that the Praetorian story line basically ends seems counter-intuitive.

I am not excited at all about the Hybrid slot. I fail to understand how being forced to repeat the same piece of content multiple times over for one power can be thought of as a "good time." And since I detest archetype homogenization, this power really turns me off.

I am very much looking forward to the LFG channel, Quick Travel Portals, Super Groups being available for Free/Premium players, and the Chain Mail and Leather Armor costume sets (more customization options are what I enjoy most). The new Penny Yin TF interests me as well. I just wish I wasn't starting to feel "over" Incarnate stuff.

This.

And I believe it is just the angle at which the guy on the right is standing that makes it look as though his helmet is off-center.

This is somewhat true, despite how much I dislike it, because distance is essentially 100% DEF to melee. Compare how much more survivable a hover-blaster is to a blaster confined to the ground. At least for me, my hover-blasters are a hell-of-a-lot safer to play, and require fewer run-'n-gun-'n-run-some-more tactics since the enemies are typically out of melee distance.

I agree 100%.

Personally, I'm all for an increase to the ranged damage modifier, but it would obviously need testing. I would much rather Blasters be given some improvements to their offense than any defensive countermeasures.

This.

Be realistic people. If you need a gauge for how long stuff takes to develop, let's look at how long it has been since the initial concept drawings for the Retro Sci-Fi costume were presented. And it appears that Dink has been working pretty steadily on that since. That's one costume set. Granted, it is a bit more complicated than others, but still: one (1) costume set. I think they deserve a little slack for not releasing a costume set, story arc, or power set every week.

At the very least, do as I do: look at it as an opportunity to save your money.

/thread, haha


Just to name a few:

- Lemkin Synapse-speeding his way towards me, and I use Power Thrust just as he reaches me to send him flying through the air in the opposite direction. I swear the game went into slow motion as I hit him.

- Doing something similar to the above, but with Executioner's Shot on any minion or LT. (It usually times out that they get to you just as you fire.)

- Using Nova to finish off a large mob JUST as Force of Nature wears off, followed by "/e catchbreath," followed by laughter from team mates.