AzureSkyCiel

Actually, I once had an idea for an old Western style Villains zone where it would kind of make sense for it's history after the villains go through it to be obscure, and all in all the whole plot would be a mind screw.
The idea was that it was two zones, the villains lived in the Wild West Past of the zone with missions occasionally sending them to the present or more modern past (like the 1960s), heroes would live in the present and occasionally dive backward in time. It is, up front and made clear to you on the villain side, and to a lesser extent, the hero side: This is a Nemesis Plot. Nemesis has apparently been monkeying with time travel and set up a stronghold in a California goldrush boomtown that was seeing the last legs of its prosperity and invites PC villains for a bit of a hand with promises of wealth, power (lots of temp powers both sides for this), and even would let villains in on what this grand plot of his is, and the big question is just how does this all tie in with his plot? He could easily take over the world or help his past self in his current standing, and if his small boomtown grew into a full city down the road, why has he apparently abandoned it?

In the end, the big idea was to provide a mystery that spanned across time and alignments as well as provide real insight into Nemesis, both the faction and the villain beyond "he's behind everything".

And now, after a long silence, I cast my level 9 thread necromancy and bring back new example of an alternate power selection that would not have to do with elemental weapons...

Alternate Fiery Melee! The alternative concept I see to be done for fiery melee would be to add another sword attack as well as more kicks and punches to make it feel like a Fiery Martial Arts ala Firebending in Avatar.
So without further ado..

For scorch- Fiery Punch: Really nothing too different from scorch only with a smashing damage component and perhaps using the animation for either shadow punch or smite from dark melee with a fire motif, the upfront damage could maybe be about 40% smash with the remaining being Fiery DoT.
Concept: Fiery Martial artist
Effects: Melee, Minor DoT (Smash/Fire), Rech: Fast

For Fire Sword- Blazing Crescent: Using Storm kick with a fiery motif, just because few things scream "martial arts" like the crazy-over-the-top sweeping-outward-crescent kick. A Sleep effect was added as a supplement to storm kick's stun or fire sword's DoT, the idea being that kicking an opponent (most of the time in the face) with just leg that leaving a trail of fire and ember would produce almost a char effect, leaving them, literally, choking on your last attack until you hit'em with your next one.
Concept: Fiery Martial Artist
Effects: Melee, Moderate (Smash/fire), Foe: 30% sleep chance, Rech: Moderate

For Combustion (Replaces Breath of Fire for scrappers and brutes)- Blazing Arc: Basically a cone attack with the fire sword, probably could have kept the name of the NPC version, but Fire Sword Slice didn't quite seem like it would cut it, no pun intended. Also, personal view says it would use the broad sword "slash" motion instead of the formal "slice" power which has always seemed strangely weak to me in the otherwise brutal looking power animations of broadsword. This was also a bit difficult since I only recently noticed Tankers don't get cremate at this level, or any level of fiery melee.
Concept: Fiery Swordsman
Effects: Melee (cone), High DoT (Lethal/fire), Rech: Slow

For Cremate (For brutes and scrappers)- Blazing Axe Kick: So, this one would involve a unique animation of basically your character doing a forward flip with one leg extended and bringing it down in a gravity assisted axe-kick for probably a bit higher damage than cremate to make up for a longer animation time.
Effects: Melee, Moderate (fire/smash), Rech: moderate

For Breath of Fire (for tanks)- Heat Wave: So, taking from Kinetic Melee's Repulsing torrent in terms of animation, basically this would, combined with a few other things, add to a tanker's damage mitigation though gratuitous KB/Taunt Paddle Balling, with the mobs possibly ending up in the baywatch run from the reduced speed.
Concept: fiery Martial Artist
effects: Ranged (Cone), Minor DoT (fire), Foe: Knockback, slow, Rech: moderate

For Fire Sword Circle- Infernal Burst: Basically, this attack would be faster animating and recharging than what it replaces, it would also posses an actual secondary damage mitigation of a knock up (not a low grade knock back, but actual knock up), and a sweet animation of an upper cut creating a fiery cyclone around you... The draw back is that it's got the same end consumption and has a and self damage and -regen effect, literally meaning you can kill yourself with this attack if you get too careless. But hey, who wants to live forever?
Concept: Fiery Martial Artist
Effects: PBAoE, Moderate DoT (fire), Foe: Knockup, Self: -Regen, Damage, Rech: Moderate.

For Incinerate- Blazing Fists: Basically using the animations of Kinetic melee's body blow, only instead of ending with a double open palm strike, it would hit with closed fists that would carry a front loaded 50/50 smashing and fiery damage with a fire DoT. Just imagine kinetic melee's trails... only with fire.
Concept: Fiery Martial Artist
Effects: Melee, High DoT (Smash/fire) Foe: Knockback, Rech: Slow

For Greater Fire Sword- Vulcan Blaze: Basically a fiery version of Shadow Maul as a tier nine with the Chance for Hold.
Concept: fiery Martial Artist
Effects: Melee, Superior DoT (smash/fiery), Foe: 15% chance for hold, Rech: Slow

you know what might be a cool look for Aeon City in Cap Au and the luddite village?
This:

just from seeing the posts alone that actually debunk this quite nicely, I now have another question to ask... Is it possible to delete this thread while it's still decent?

Also Sam, on the note of Scirocco's sympathy, had mostly imagined that it was far more downplayed compared to Ghost Widow's, namely that until a Manticore lore post (which, yes, may still be questionable), Scirocco's "curse" was just something he made up to psychologically cope with the fact that he is actually evil, and unlike Ghost Widow, it was brought to the player's attention. (I mean, he attempted to remove all free will from the world in his betrayal arc!)

And yes, I seem to have fully misunderstood the full concept of Mary Sue, though I had thought Self-insertion was not entirely needed, but only what the author felt was cool. (After all, an author can admit weakness about themselves but can defend or coverup weaknesses of a fictional creation of theirs)

Finally, to Je Saist, well you do make a decent argument, when most of the Devs picked their in-game avatars After-the-fact, I think they dodge the bullet on the Self-insertion domain similarly to Gabe and Tycho.

Also, on the Note of Lord Recluse, yes, it was my oversight that in terms of Hax he's probably the Worst offender since his listed AT is Master Mind, but he has a powerful array of attacks, crazy resists, and can summon two boss-class henchmen. Though he may make up for it since he has no support skills for his henchmen.

Now before you flame me all to hell and back by either support or hate. (Yes, it can be possible to flame with blind support) realize that regardless of the evidence, debunks, support, or outcry you might see in this thread, the question about whether you like Ghost Widow (the character) lies solely with you and that should be all that matters.

Now then, let's look at the facts that I am presently aware of-

1. Ghost Widow is beautiful, loved by her allies and fans (both in and out of the game's universe) and respected of or feared by her enemies for her power.

2. Ghost Widow, despite being a villain who ascended to general rank under Lord Recluse and possibly his right hand as well, she is still portrayed with a great deal of sympathy (despite being a monster who ordered a woman to kill her lover to just to prove her loyalty).

3. Ghost Widow's alternate incarnations or analogues are also supposed to be beautiful and powerful.

4. Ghost Widow's costume is highly exclusive, possessing two capes, namely flowing hair, a waist cape that was not even available for Widow PCs at launch, and a color that actually isn't replicable in the present palette system and possessing the night widow patter we also cannot use.

5. Ghost Widow has a very cool unique Power, and PCs can get it too, but hers is much much more powerful as a mag 100 hold, and hers is an AoE. And when players found a means to defeat this since it bypassed all conventional mez-protection, the Devs sought to nerf the players abilities.

6. Ghost Widow's whole powersets are unique! She's supposed to be a dominator but she uses Dark Miasma, a Dark ARMOR power, and otherwise uses her special patron powers and Dark Blast, meaning unlike a real dom, she only needs to close into melee for a quick heal, which she can also do from a ranged with Drain Life and Twilight Grasp.

This is pretty over-the-top and actually an old idea for a TF/SF of mine, but considering it would require a heroic standing or a VERY self-preservationist villain stand who actually likes living in the Isles, it seems decent enough to make it a Morality Alignment mission too.

An International Incident!: While checking the news on your PDA, you find something shocking on a live broadcast. Scirocco, the Desert Wind General of Arachnos has taken a small army of Arachnos operatives and seized the Warburg Nuclear Weapons facility in the name of Lord Recluse and the Rogue Isles and is now threatening various nations to withdraw all Longbow forces from the Isles. Judging by the reactions of various World Leaders and the nervous comments by Arachnos officials, it's clear Scirocco is acting entirely of his own in a gambit to become a hero by having all the Rogue Isles destroyed!

Hero: You have to put a stop to this madness! You'll need to get in touch with some of your contacts and possibly your friends to confront Scirocco and talk him down from this. The Rogue Isles might be a bad place but there are still innocent people who live there and not EVERY villain deserves to be reduced to a silhouette on the remains of a smoldering wall! This might also be proof that if Scirocco's THIS desperate to do something heroic, he can be talked into a more reasonable heroic action that does not involve violating the Geneva Convention.

Vigilante: You almost have to tip your hat to the fallen hero for pulling a gambit like this, but he still needs to be taken down. You might need to bring a few friends along and pull some strings with your contacts to get there.
But once you're in and the Rogue Arachnos General is down for the count, you can have the nuclear weapon's facility "mis-fire", this will make other nations think Scirocco had attempted to launch the nukes and attack the Rogue Isles on their own.
Scirocco would be down, the a wretched hive of scum and villainy would be wiped off the earth, and while you're in the area you might as well swing by Havana for a few Bahama Mamas and take down some illegal exporters to round off a job well done.

Rogue: Whoa! In terms of grandiose this really takes the cake. Still, the Rogue Isles makes a good place to operate or lay low and your genius means you know how to profit event from this situation. All you need to do is go into warburg, knockout that Desert Wind Dunce, hijack the nukes, and either sell them on the black market, or threaten to launch them from a hidden facility of yours in the world (they can attack a whole nation, but trying to track down ONE villain is a bit harder) while holding it ransom for ONE MILLION DOLLARS! (Or more), and in the best part is, Arachnos itself will likely even congratulate you for this! You know you've got it made when you'll have World Leaders and villains lining up for deals outside your door and Lord Fuzzybutt signing governorship of St. Martial over to you.

Villain: What an idiot Scirocco's being! What you know you have to do is go down to the Warburg Nuclear Facility, knock that dunce down, and launch those nukes yourself!
Now the big question will be where to bomb first? Italy or France?

"Mechanical Tails"? Something like...






those? Okay, I realize the they're all anime examples, the third one is neither robotic (or at least mechanical) or a tail exactly, but it seemed fairly close yo a mechanical tail, and I couldn't find any western examples. Well, there is our own Black Scorpion.

I will confess, I will be buying this pack.
Personally, I'd rather not.
No, no one is putting a gun to my head, BAB (the character) did not bust into my room and start pounding my head on the keyboard, nor had maelstrom threatened to read his and scirocco's collaborated poetry from their Hot Topic nights.
I am buying it because marketing and/or the devs had apparently heard some of use commenting "I would buy a booster with just X!" which... included emotes, and decided see me put my money where my mouth was.
But you know... When I said I'd buy a booster with emotes only I had kind of expected more than eight.

Also, I really would like to see what marketing or the Devs have to say about all the negative feedback they've been facing so far.
No booster has EVER met this poor feedback. Not even Mutant. (A thread which Devs did respond to) So why the silence.
Not even going to try to tell us what experiment you are trying to perform?

you know the most painfully ironic thing about the bushy tail?
We probably would have gotten it for free, but in order to sell the mutant pack, they added it in AT THE PLAYER'S DEMAND AND NOW WE HAVE TO PAY FOR IT.
Nice job breaking it, playerbase.

Simply put it: defeating Tyrant in the possible future content should grant the badge title "Sic Semper Tyrannis"

Heroic/vigilante Scrappers: Headstrong by Trapt

well, it all depends, for example, in terms of related powers, I feel that the Devs deliberately leave things open as plothooks for players, namely the Nuclear 90, I rolled a Rad/DP defender as one of them, or my Praetorian Wind(kin)/SR scrapper is supposed to recieve the mantle of Gregale from the Dark Watcher when he leaves Praetoria.

But for actual, blood relations? Well... I sheepishly admit, my DB/SR brute is supposed to be the great great newphew of the Lady Grey. Part of why he gets put through his paces in the Vanguard and why she always seems disappointed in him.
Though, it's not something that comes up often. and I like you, I try to make sure it's within reason of the canon.
And the way I see it, as long as it is reasonable, I don't see why not.