Chad Gulzow-Man

The very first power is the one that makes further debuffs more effective; it applies a unique status effect on the target, which (based on what I understand about how powers work) probably causes secondary effects from Time Manipulation powers to activate. It's definitely not an AoE effect--it only works on a per-target basis--but from what I understand, the status effect it causes works for ANY Time Manipulation users on your team, meaning this will be a great set to stack with other players.

There's also another power at T4 (I think? maybe T5?) that works sort of like a Forge clone... +Damage, +ToHit, and also +Recharge. Whomever has this power cast on them will receive greater buffs from among the other Time Manipulation buff powers (greater healing from the heal, better defense from the Mind Link clone, etc) for a time.

The powers I can remember are:

T1: DEBUFF: Single target slow + unique status effect (makes other debuffs more effective)
T2: HEAL: AoE Heal + heal over time
T3: DEBUFF: ???
T4: BUFF: Single target +Dam, +ToHit, +Recharge (makes other buffs more effective)
T5: DEBUFF: ???
T6: HOLD: Single target Hold (can be made more effective by using the T1 debuff first)
T7: BUFF: AoE +Def (Mind Link clone)
T8: DEBUFF: ???
T9: BUFF: AoE Buff (can't remember what it does, but it's the big swirly one from all the screenshots)

I'm sorry I can't remember more specifics... like, I know there's debuffs in there, but I can't remember if they're single target or AoE, or what each power does. I know there's some focus on Slows and -Regen throughout the set, though... I can't even remember any of the names... and I think I may have inverted the T6/T7 powers...

Basically, I just kinda suck, I guess.

Prices are not fully determined as yet, but the Comic Con build had each of the extra costume slots for sale individually.

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It's their way of saying that the only way to get the extra 5 costume slots is to buy them; they cannot be earned in-game through any means.

Same reason people think Megan Fox looks hot instead of trashy, I suppose. Different strokes and all that.

Basically what I was going to say... Then I saw someone mention Mind Control, so a Mind/Time Controller might be a good mix, too.

Like that would matter? It's still in closed beta. If you've ever been in a closed beta, you'll recall that numbers on new powersets change with virtually every patch.

What would be the point or relating the numbers on Time Manipulation when they straight-up said that the build they were showing at Comic Con wasn't even the latest beta build?

It's either a typo or it has to do with the fact that Controllers are a locked class for non-VIPs in Freedom.

Either way, Time Manipulation is definitely available as a Controller secondary--I saw someone playing a Grav/Time Controller at Comic Con.

Just for storage, not to enhance your powers with.

Not saying you're confused specifically, but there have been others earlier in the thread that were...

Sir, I am honored to be crushing your servers' storage space.

Do we? Every thing I saw at Comic Con seemed like the "Freedom" stuff was the part that's closest to being done, but even that was only the top level what-you-see stuff... none of us on the forums truly know how far away from release they are, and I'd wager that that includes folks who are in the beta.

You said so yourself: 20.5 was at least on-par with Issue 15, which was an issue. It was a major release that brought new content and new rewards.

The new zone maps are already done, so... the mappers should just sit on their hands until the group working on the new costume sets gets caught up? The animation team should quit work on Titan Weapons, since it's not being launched with i21, and Street Justice and Beam Weapons are already done? Not to mention whatever they're working on for Dominators... to heck with that noise!

You DO recall that Issue 7 didn't come out for nearly 8 months after Issue 6, right? Issue 8 was over 5 months after that, with Issue 9 following 5 months behind that. 5 months is actually the modal wait time we can expect between issues, and 6 isn't unreasonable for a major release.

Furthermore, if you look at the updates they did back when Cryptic was at the helm, we're getting a lot more content for the same amount of wait. And I, for one, really like the mid-issue releases they started doing this year; they've been an infusion of new content with new rewards that got released right around the time I started getting "the blahs" about nothing new to do. I think it's a great way to develop, and I hope they continue it in the future.

Let's just boil it down to this: if the wait for Issue 21 is such a problem for you now, I recommend you hang up the cape for a couple months and come back once the issue has released. I'm not saying I want to see you leave, but taking breaks from anything you love is healthy, and you're obviously getting burnt-out on what's available to do in game right now.

The things that Tier 9 VIP players get to choose from are:

• Consumeable items (that can be purchased from the store if you want them)
• Celestial Armor costume bits

Not sure how that's "on a totally other scale" than existing Vet Rewards. It sounds like different versions of the same stuff we have now.

It took me several seconds to realize that was a joke. I'm having a slow day.

Again, once you drop from VIP to Premium, you don't have any slots unlocked automatically. You're given a supply of Character Slot Tokens equal to the number of character slots you have earned/purchased in the past + 2.

You can use these Character Slot Tokens on any server (or combination of servers) up to the max, which appears to be 36 per server for non-subscribers.

LOL, the logout bug got me a couple times in the last beta.

I'd hit the boards and wouldn't see the beta section, and start freaking out... "I know I was in beta yesterday! Do they think I leaked something!?! What did I do wro--oh, I'm logged out. *click*"

Then why does his post refer to "Signature Stories?"

I'm guessing no, based on the wording from the link in the OP. When a VIP drops to premium, they're given a stash of Character Unlock Tokens, which can be used toward unlocking up to 36 slots on a server.

You will probably be able to shuffle characters from the last 12 slots around so they appear within the first 36, but that's another guess on my part.

But we're not on the Paragon Rewards program yet, are we?

I should have taken better notes about the Paragon Rewards based on what I saw at Comic Con, but I think that (and a couple other new rewards) are still account wide, whereas the T9 stuff with the circulating arrows drawn around them are for individual characters.

But no, I've not seen redname commentary specifically on this. I'm going off of memory of what I saw last weekend, which may or may not change prior to the release. And, of course, there was a lot going on, so my memory may be slightly flawed.

Just a typo. It's available on Controllers. I saw it with my own eyes at Comic Con.

I think Computer was saying he's excited about largely unslotting an existing character, but I could be reading that wrong.

The repeatable rewards are single/limited use items (consumeables) that you can spend your Reward Tokens on once you've already picked up all the other rewards. Unlike the other Veteran/Paragon Rewards, you can continue to claim these as many times as you have tokens. You can only claim these items on one character per transaction.

Such items include enhancement boosters and unslotters, and temporary double XP buffs, etc.

Just about anything that isn't a single/limited use item should be unlocked across the entire account. They've said several times that costume purchases will definitely be account-wide.

You will have to purchase or resubscribe to gain access to that arc again.

The same goes for First Ward content--if you drop your subscription, you'll lose access to the mission arcs there.

Correct on both. You pay per arc (technically, you get two arcs--the hero and villain perspective of each story) for Signature Stories, with one new story released every month. Once you've purchased them, any character on your account will have be able to play them, barring level and zone-access requirements of course.

Actually, I talked to Second Measure at Comic Con and he specifically brought this up. The fact that they've split into these strike teams is precisely why they're able to put out 3 (or more) issues a year instead of one globby issue full of unrelated content. I'd certainly argue that i20.5 was a bigger release than i15, too: there was only one mission (Keyes Trial) versus the two TFs (Dr. Khan, Barracuda) in i15, but there were a lot more costume pieces and fantastic QoL bonuses than i15 brought us as well.

And FYI, Issue 20.5 was already planned and in the works well before Issue 20 was released. It wasn't a bone thrown to keep the complaining about "only two trials" down; it was the opposite--the other two trials were released "early" so we'd have something to do while they finished work on Keyes.

So far this year, we've gotten i19.5, i20, i20.5, and we're definitely getting i21/CoHF within the next few months. That's a pretty good year for releases, especially since i21 looks to be the largest non-expansion release we've ever gotten.