Caraecyn

when talking about morality. relativism and absolutism are both terms defining a type of moral view. if you want to drag out a definition, don't go look up what relative and absolute mean, go look up what relative morality and absolute morality mean.

when you say something is Evil, if you do not apply that statement back on yourself or in other similar situations, you are being relativistic. If you apply the statement too all of the cases given, you are being absolutist. I suppose you could be an absolutist in governed morality, whatever your chosen authority tells you to do, you do. This is generally not the way the term is applied though to my understanding. Rather then a central agency for actions being the important part in a moral consideration, the base act removed of circumstance is consideed.

Case in point Statesman as portrayed in the comics is an absolute moralist. He believes killing is wrong in any cisumstance, going so far as to censure Manticore for killing Protean, a known assassin and overall scumbag.

My point about moral absolutism is whatever you state as a morality is applyable back on you.

for instance
"Crusaders – Questionable moral strength and courage (Willing to do whatever is necessary to overthrow Cole, including the use of nuclear weapons.)"

That is no better then the regime the crusaders are trying to overthrow.
That Warden Resistance work with this faction and help keep them hidden means that the wardens share responsibility for the crimes.

This is not a 'straw man' argument, this is simply applying morality equally, overthrowing the regime for its cruelty and murder with cruelty and murder is not a case of good and evil. This is a power struggle. Wardens are not exactly clean either since they are involved in setting up their oposition to die be branded traitors and the like too.

I am endeeavoring to insert as little perosnal bias as possible since most of what I see is fairly biased.

example 2
If you claim a murderer is evil, then you kill a murderer You have commited an evil act. You can make the excuse that this was to prevent future murders but death is still death.

In this case I have in no way argued that one should not kill a murderer, I only argue that if you apply the term evil to an act it is evil for anyone who does it.

Subjective morality, this is where you apply morality based on a set of preferences.

The problem with this is people like to go off into the world behaving pretty much as they wish. Without a clear absolute belief, people can justify just about any action and thus everyone's actions are justified, including murderers, etc etc.

People really like this system, but only when other people choose some sort of absolute for their morality. This sort of disproves subjectivism, it only survives so long as there are rules, which it claims do not really exist.

There are certain core principles that unite people clearly. People do not like being harmed for instance or killed.

You now there are plenty of philosophies that reject good and evil as polar opposites.

But let us look at an absolutist Morality.

Resistance are murderers or accessories to murder.

The populace are either synidcate criminals or support regime that does evil,

The hamidon is an empowered being for the purpose of oposing threats to the earth's survival. It does this by murder and theft of identity.

The primals come in and they are trying to impose their will and culture on the praetorians or steal form them or kill them.

Everyone is absoluty dirty here, everyone is then evil.

When people talk about wanting absolute morality they really need to be certain they are getting what they want. The sword of truth cuts both ways. Murder in the name of justice is still murder. Using an absolute definition of good and evil means that any gray act is an evil one.

Now to skip on over to reality, when faced with a decision between life and extermination, I think it is good to choose life.

Oh yeah, if your country dropped a nuke on you while you were serving it. how well would you take it? How would you respond? Who would you feel like saving?

You know I have always been a bit uncomfotable with accepting Longbow as the good guys since they hose their enemies with fire. That happens to be against the Geneva convention; flamethrowers, gassing and such. The praetorian police weapons are all set up as nonlethal. I sort of wish a revision in powers would happen for longbow along those lines.

In fact when I think of Longbow what comes to mind is being hit with a sonic grenade and then 2-3 of them pouring out fire, even the wardens don't leave as much of an impression.

<<It is, ultimately, black and white because Cole offers no other choice. Either you are with him or against him. So everyone must choose. If you think he's right, you're on his side. If you don't, you're not.>>

That is an absolute set of choices but that is not a choice of good or evil. That is not particularly a moral choice for some either. I was more trying to communicate a moral question that seems often overlooked by people.

"what will you do to ensure the survival of humanity?"

Cole had a fortress made and boxed up everyone. Now as I understand it, for the most part, people chose to come out of the apocalypse to live in his city.

I mean given becoming a mutated monster and having a clean safe city where I am not represented nominally, I think the city is my choice. I also think I would shoot the idiot rebels who are endangering the sanctity of my haven.

Is it fair, is it good, well these questions cannot even be asked as a drooling mutated monster thing.

It is kind of interesting te lengths to which people will go for their opinions to be validated.

Now am I confused or did Cole stalemate Hamidon? Apparently no one else could even do that.

So after that he is the driving force behind herding up everyone into a walled off mega city to protect them and keep them human.

The question put before the audience, i.e. us, is not just of whether the ends justify the means, but also how far a person should go to protect humanity. Killing people, torturing them, and modifying their mental state, that can labelled these as evil all day but if the other choice is extinction, well that is where an absolute black and white morality breaks down.

Look at the resistance, blowing up hospitals, threatening those protective walls, just for their freedom. It is an modern perversion of the ideal of liberty. Liberty which did not even exist as freedom before John Locke, is not just about getting what one wants. It is about responsibility as well. That is to say we have to deserve freedom, we have to be responsible, shouting fire in a crowded theatre is not responsible. Threatening the only barrier between humanity and extinction is not pursuit of freedom. In the case of mutual benefit or mroe seriously survival, a giverning body is expected to do what is needed to protect its citizens.

Now before someone posts about it all being a set up by the 'great emperor', I hope they will consider how that would not be supported clearly by canon, hence an opinion, just like those that suppose Emperor Cole may not be the utterly evil villain. (stones and glass houses?)

oh! one great motive for Cole never letting a single hamidon seedling into primal earth, never harming innocents and never nuking areas , would be because he wants to live there! Seriously, why wouldn't he want to bring his version of Utopia, without Hamidon threatening humanity. With a ncie and weak hamidon in primal earth he and his people would have it made. Just rememebr nuclear weapons, war and despoiling the earth make hamidon stronger too. The Hamidon is tied into the earth's self defense mechanism, if you happen upon some rubbles walking around their description explains how they arise naturally from devatastion.

and sold =)

I'm selling a gladiator def proc lvl 10.

looking at 2.5 billion

send a message to @rageycat in game or a PM with offer.

If someone offers more I will consider them first.

well now that the breath of the zephyr set has been reduced, acrobatics isn't too bad a choice if you can handle the ednurance it costs. Evene unslotted, its a nice 9 mag kb protection and 2 mags mnore of hold protection.

I have several builds that use both methods for KB protection, Acrobatics is just cheaper slotwise.

Hero Plan by Mids' Hero Designer 1.621
http://www.cohplanner.com/

Click this DataLink to open the build!

chop n burn: Level 50 Natural Scrapper
Primary Power Set: Katana
Secondary Power Set: Fiery Aura
Power Pool: Leaping
Power Pool: Fitness
Power Pool: Fighting
Power Pool: Leadership

Hero Profile:
Level 1: Gambler's Cut -- Mako-Dam%(A), Mako-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(7), Mako-Acc/Dmg(7), Mako-Dmg/EndRdx(9), Mako-Dmg/Rchg(9), Mako-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg(11)
Level 1: Fire Shield -- Aegis-ResDam(A), Aegis-ResDam/EndRdx(3), Aegis-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(3), EndRdx-I(5)
Level 2: Flashing Steel -- Erad-%Dam(A), Erad-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(5), Erad-Dmg/Rchg(11), Sciroc-Acc/Dmg(13), Sciroc-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(13)
Level 4: Healing Flames -- Dct'dW-Rchg(A), Dct'dW-Heal(25), Dct'dW-Heal/EndRdx/Rchg(25), Dct'dW-Heal/Rchg(27), Dct'dW-EndRdx/Rchg(27)
Level 6: Combat Jumping -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A), Ksmt-ToHit+(29)
Level 8: Divine Avalanche -- HO:Nucle(A), RechRdx-I(15), HO:Lyso(23), HO:Nucle(29), C'ngImp-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(31), HO:Cyto(31)
Level 10: Swift -- Run-I(A)
Level 12: Temperature Protection -- S'fstPrt-ResDam/Def+(A)
Level 14: Super Jump -- Jump-I(A), Jump-I(15)
Level 16: Plasma Shield -- Aegis-ResDam(A), Aegis-ResDam/EndRdx(17), Aegis-ResDam/Rchg(17), Aegis-EndRdx/Rchg(19), Aegis-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(43)
Level 18: Health -- Mrcl-Rcvry+(A), Numna-Regen/Rcvry+(19)
Level 20: Stamina -- EndMod-I(A), P'Shift-EndMod(21), P'Shift-End%(21)
Level 22: Acrobatics -- EndRdx-I(A), EndRdx-I(23)
Level 24: The Lotus Drops -- Sciroc-Dam%(A), Sciroc-Acc/Rchg(45), Sciroc-Dmg/Rchg(45), Sciroc-Acc/Dmg(45), Sciroc-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(46)
Level 26: Soaring Dragon -- Mako-Dam%(A), Mako-Dmg/Rchg(31), Mako-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg(33), Mako-Dmg/EndRdx(33), Mako-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(40), Mako-Acc/Dmg(42)
Level 28: Burn -- Erad-Dmg(A), Erad-%Dam(36), Erad-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(37), M'Strk-Dmg/Rchg(40), C'ngBlow-Dmg/Rchg(40)
Level 30: Blazing Aura -- Erad-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(A), Erad-Acc/Rchg(36), Erad-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(36), HO:Nucle(37), M'Strk-Dmg/EndRdx(37), EndRdx-I(43)
Level 32: Golden Dragonfly -- Sciroc-Dam%(A), Sciroc-Acc/Rchg(33), Sciroc-Dmg/Rchg(34), Sciroc-Acc/Dmg(34), Sciroc-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(34)
Level 35: Boxing -- Mako-Dam%(A), Mako-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(46), Mako-Dmg/EndRdx(46), Mako-Acc/Dmg(48), Mako-Dmg/Rchg(48), Mako-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg(48)
Level 38: Tough -- Aegis-ResDam(A), Aegis-ResDam/EndRdx(39), Aegis-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(39), EndRdx-I(39)
Level 41: Weave -- HO:Cyto(A), RedFtn-Def/EndRdx(42), LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx(42), LkGmblr-Rchg+(43)
Level 44: Maneuvers -- HO:Cyto(A), HO:Cyto(50), RedFtn-Def/EndRdx(50)
Level 47: Tactics -- EndRdx-I(A), EndRdx-I(50)
Level 49: Consume -- Efficacy-EndMod/Acc/Rchg(A)
------------
Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Sprint -- Run-I(A)
Level 2: Rest -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Critical Hit
Level 1: Ninja Run
------------
Set Bonus Totals:

• 9% DamageBuff(Smashing)
• 9% DamageBuff(Lethal)
• 9% DamageBuff(Fire)
• 9% DamageBuff(Cold)
• 9% DamageBuff(Energy)
• 9% DamageBuff(Negative)
• 9% DamageBuff(Toxic)
• 9% DamageBuff(Psionic)
• 3% Defense(Smashing)
• 3% Defense(Lethal)
• 17.1% Defense(Fire)
• 17.1% Defense(Cold)
• 18% Defense(Energy)
• 18% Defense(Negative)
• 3% Defense(Psionic)
• 3% Defense(Melee)
• 18.9% Defense(Ranged)
• 17.1% Defense(AoE)
• 5.4% Max End
• 4% Enhancement(Heal)
• 20% Enhancement(RechargeTime)
• 18% Enhancement(Accuracy)
• 5% FlySpeed
• 60.2 HP (4.5%) HitPoints
• 5% JumpHeight
• 5% JumpSpeed
• MezResist(Held) 9.9%
• MezResist(Immobilize) 9.9%
• MezResist(Terrorized) 2.2%
• 40% (2.24 HP/sec) Regeneration
• 1.26% Resistance(Fire)
• 1.26% Resistance(Cold)
• 6.25% Resistance(Negative)
• 20% RunSpeed
• 2.5% XPDebtProtection

I've thought on this ever since I came back and learned of ED.
My poor Dark Miasma/Elec Blast has to get quite an overhaul,
so i slotted it up for controls and got as much buffing as I
could with a greta deal offocus on damage. Standing up to
Giant monsters is nice, not being able to kill them, kind of
defeats geting all those buffs.

Anyways I have one statement about balance.

It seems to me that no mater what powers an AT has, they
can only use so many of them at once. Discounting IO's for
instance as I was under the impression the Devs told us they
do when considering game challenge.

A defender while on a team spends most of their time buffing
or debuffing usually. This what they are good at at least.
But when soloing,alot of those buffs and debuffs are not as
useful and get in tehw ay of dealing damage. I think one of
the reasons controllers solo better is because their forms of
deterrant for enemies allow them to strike more often or even
to damage their enemy while mezzing them etc.

So here is what I do not see being take into account, the loss
of damage that occurs while a defender is buffing/debuffing.
Also,if the defender is focussing on damage, there is a loss in
buffing and debuffing. Now it is true toggles allows the defender
to benefit from their priamry and secondary at the same time,
but these powers are never cheap endurance wise. But even the
toggle heavy radiation set has clicks to inetrfer with use of a
secondary.

With the two powersets competing with eachother how is balance
lost by making defenders do more damage?

oh and one other thing a team of defenders is strong, but a team
of any one AT is strong. collectively a team of tankers with damage
auras is going to be strong. 8 blasters do ungodly damage etc etc.
why is a large amount of defenders being on a team singled out?

I just wanted to mention in reference to steam power that it has been used to run mechs and various other things throughout scifi/fantasy. In general, the idea behind steam in these instances is that some brilliant-insane person has discovered a way to get it to work in impossible ways according to conventional belief. How does it work? why steam? These are questions that some stories try to answer, which controverts the whole use to me. The idea is that only the scientist type makes it work. It is not even certain they know how it works. It could be like the clockwork king with psionic puppetry dressed up, it could be magic, it could be the reality bending madness of the creator.

This is acceptable to me as any other science fiction deus ex machina. Annilation of antimatter with matter to power a craft amongst the stars that can push itself apparently across the galaxy by using a warp field to reduce its mass, does not come across very different to me. Especially, when somehow said vessel must travel light years, but in at least one presentation was only moving at fractions of the speed of light.

The first thing i was told when a friend saw my energy/kin was that the sets were conflicting and thus a bad idea. My friend would probably have been right... if I tried to pretend I had fire or some other set. You work with your powersets' strengths.

You use transfusion, siphon power and siphon speed primarilly on one target. Make sure its a nice easilly hit minion that you purposely keep right in melee with you. It has lessened damage hits less often and heals you. Everything else gets your attention and that minion dies last. To that effect you can use energy torrent on groups and knock them in one direction, away from your helper minion.

here is my low lvl build
1 power blast
1 transfusion
2 energy torrent
4 siphon power
6 power burst
8 hasten
10 siphon speed
12 stealth
14 super speed
16 hurdle
18 health
20 stamina
22 speed boost (not necessary if you plan to avoid teaming)
24 repel
26 explosive blast
28 inertial reduction
30 hover

a note on repel, this is one of those powers that works as a panic button. Also as a boss killer, you simply herd the boss into a wall use transfusion etc, You cna cut it off if the end cost is getting to much, but by this time the boss is weakened and slowed and ready for your blasts to take it apart the rest of the way. It is not necessary, but sicne I was told it too was useless and a bad idea, I decided to find ways to make it worthwhile.

hasten and super speed (as well as stealth initially until I replaced it with combat jumping and a stealth IO) let me do more quicker and move about unseen, a nice bit of help when you want to position yourself against mobs. With hurdle its pretty nice going and being able to get out of trouble fast (especially when siphon speed misses) helps.

I am still tinkering with the final power choices as I just chose crap at random since it was pretty unimportant once I got to fulcrum shift