AzureSkyCiel

what about rogue redsiders who'd like to be able to access the place early instead of needing to wait 20 more levels?

I so wish I had a working mic or I'd totally audition. But wait, what about Grym?

So I've managed to get my DP/Dev blaster to 32, and I notice while he's not terrible, he's certainly slow unless I pretty much ignore my secondary and just run in, literally, gun blazing, and I'm wondering if anyone has any good advice for building a good DP/dev blaster as well as strategies to make the most of both power sets.

A lot of people complain about how Statesman walked right into Darrin Wade's trap, but if you watch this trailer for the old City of Heroes Asian Launch, we see Statesman has a history of walking into these things.

Apparently walking right into magical traps has been something a bad habit of Statesman's as well as not keeping his toggles on.

Never assume anyone is powerless against you. Always prepare for the worst case scenario. Plus, as having unseen backup is cool so never be too proud of that.

So, randomly, here's a bit of my thoughts on how the last fight scene probably should have gone:

Scene starts up as usual, Wade springs the trap and nothing happens. States man then holds up a shattered chunk of the obelisk and basically informs Wade that he is NOT and idiot.

Wade summons Rularuu soilders and flees. Player then links up with States and helps him fight the Rularuu.

Once you beat them, Wade reveals his back up plan. The first part being a binding spell to stop you from further help/interference. The second is he's had another method of draining Statesman's powers the whole time that he's kept secret just for this occasion.

Cut scene of States' death begins normal, but ends with two differences. Monica points out to Statesman that the player can take care of the rest and how well they've done and how much they've grown. We don't fully see Statesman accept. only the ritual ending, and us breaking out from Wade's binding spell as he stalks forward with intent to finish the player, Wade is shocked that we could break free from it.

Fight proceeds as normal, this time when we check on States, we find out he's not dead just yet and gives us a bit of a farewell speech before finally passing.

Okay, so maybe that's not much better than what the devs already have. but in my mind it gives a little bit more credit to both Statesman (for recognizing and disabling a trap without even tipping the villain off he had until it seemed too late) and Darrin Wade. (who was able to prepare for a seemingly impossible scenario, and when it was needed, just shrugged and moved onto plan b)

Having recently finished this arc, I gotta say:

Darrin Wade's been soloing some serious prestige to get a solo SG base like that.

I mean he's got SIX power sources, four of which cost a million prestige each and two that cost five million. But how do his teleporters work when he's got no control items or beacons linked to them?

okay, now seriously, I enjoyed this but it was really disappointing how Statesman died without much of a fight. Unlike some players, I liked Statesman, so I felt he deserved better, I felt that way even more when I saw the cutscene.

So after eighty plus years of saving the world, he goes down like a chump to a chump who just became a super powered chump.

Would have been nice to see Statesman actually walk up to Darrin Wade even as the ritual was killing him to deliver one last punch that would cripple Wade for later.

So I'm trying to help a friend build an MM and she's stuck between mercenaries or thugs with time manipulation as the chosen secondary.

Anyone have any good builds for either or potential rolls? I apparently suck at building MMs myself.

Now on the note of Pandora's Box, I've come to take this interpretation of it:
Pandora's box didn't actually GRANT super powers, but it basically removed a mental block on human minds. (And I mean human minds)

Normally, in city of-verse, a human mind is closed off to the supernatural. If we're hot, we think it's a fever, if we see a wall, we'd only imagine climbing over it or going around rather than jumping over or running up, we'd see tank and think 'I can't punch that!' And with magic, we completely ignore it because it does not exist by our understandings of reality.

But with Pandora's box thrown open, we become inspired and open to new possibilities. We see a wall and think "I can make this jump", we have a high temp and realize "this isn't a fever, my fire manipulation mutation is starting to manifest!", we see a tank and punch it because we believe we can, we can suddenly also see ghosts, demons, and magic because we now realize they're VERY real.

It's also possible to subvert this mental block or be born without it in rare cases, such as Giovanni Scaldi and so forth.

It's a bit of s stretch, but it worked for me.

Firstly- On the note of tights textures, could we please get a woven fabric texture like what the Knives of Artemis have if it's not too much trouble? Doubly so if we could then apply this texture to various base costume pieces, tights, the sleeves, skirts, etc.

Second- Normally I'm against replacing old costume pieces, but I do agree that older tight coloring patterns and such could use a touch up. Many of them have blurry lines and are low resolution, though you seem aware of this issue.

Third- If it's also not too much trouble, perhaps we could get a "glow-tech" effect applied to some of the older patterns ala-Tron?

Here's how I deal with the Well of Furies lore:

"LA LA LA LA. I CAN'T HEAR YOU."

No, I'm not kidding. Since it's next to impossible to RP during Trials, I simply accept them as canon in broad strokes of story telling. If I want to, I'll say my blaster walked right in, wasted the place herself, made Marauder cry like a b@#$% and then proceeded to enjoy ale and wenches back in Primal Earth, and if I want to, I'll completely disregard the Well as being a source of power for any of my characters.

The Issue 22 lore only confirms it's possible to become incarnate-like without the Well. PPD, Tsoo, CoT (sort of), Arachnos, Banished Pantheon, Knives of Artemis (admittedly, they aren't the Knives of Artemis anymore), all of them gain Incarnate-like power without becoming incarnates.

So I just say the same thing's been happening with my characters.

My reincarnating Samurai is getting stronger through rigorous training and recalling his past lives (ala Desmond Miles with the Animus Bleeding Effect), my mages are simply learning greater magical theories, my tech-boys are innovating groundbreaking new tech.

And I will reach across the Internet somehow and punch you in the face if you try to tell me otherwise about my story.

The following a wishlist of mine for thing for AE, I will try to keep them as realistic as possible.

Powers:
-Street Justice, Time Manipulation, Titan Weapons, etc. to be added to custom critter power selections.

-The addition of many 'lost' powers and powersets to the proper archetype. (such as how scrapper and brute fiery melee does not exist, only tanker version, or how ninjutsu is the only true stalker armor set, all others are just straight ports from other ATs)

-Epic Archetype power sets (to avoid problems with kheldian shapeshifting, simply remove the shape shift powers from the power lists, afterall, we have novas and dwarfs already)

-The ability use existing NPC models with player powers. (Such as Statesman with electrical melee and shield defense. Okay, this might be getting a bit too high in the sky)

Enemies and NPCs:

-The addition of Imperial Defense Force, DUST, TEST (which I'm not sure is in there), Talons of Vengeance, Carnival of Light, War, and Vengeance, The Dredges, The Awakened, Shepherds, Midnight Masters, etc. etc. to the enemy group selections, contacts, rescues and such.

-The addition of "contact" Talk-to type NPCs in missions. (Branching dialogue preferred but optional)

-Also to give these NPCs the ability to speak multiple lines in the NPC chat channel (this would allow teammates to understand what's being said)

-The ability for these in-mission talk-to's to then follow you as an active ally, an escort, or turn hostile.

-The ability to have allies spawn at the mission entrance to greet you and follow you without the need to surround them with mobs and such.

-Also, the ability to place non-targettable or interactable NPCs in various positions, such as being a corpse. (Big bugger there when I was working on an arc)

Dialogue and Mechanics:

-The ability to string ambushes and patrols together.

-The ability to assign cut scene captions to the "approaching", "interaction", and completion of each objective.

Maps:

-Just... give us some of the new maps, please?

This is all for now.

To be honest, with some of the horrible things you do as a vigilante to get to villain, it's amazing you can ever go back to hero at all.

Just for fun, let's mix and match various powers of NPCs to make the most frustrating enemy group imaginable!
The winner gets absolutely nothing other than to wear the trollface and wear it proud.

To start off:

PPD SWAT equalizers with Nullifier grenades, sapper guns, chill of the night, and KoA Caltrops.

I'd say one of the problems is that some of the devs seem to have their own ax to grind on Statesman and likely Jack Emmert himself. So when the player base began making cracks about him, the Devs began including the jokes in-game making his character just that much worse.

I'd say let folks like Troy, BlueBattler, and Samuraiko write him to start.

Though some part of me would say, keep the self-righteous jerk characterization first, but let events of the SSA shake him up and knock him back to earth, have him lose almost all of his incarnate-dom but he realizes, just like his daughter managed to do many good things as just a diplomat, he too can still help other heroes. And while most of the time it's inspiration, he's still got years of combat experience that can let him dance circles around the common, petty crook.

But I also would do this partly because I'd love to give him a new costume/powers with a full Corinthian helm with bronze bracers and greaves, give him a bit of shield defense, willpower, electric melee, and street justice, maybe leadership powers too.