Dante

I'm not going to go into the roleplay aspects as others have covered that and I'll raise my hand as someone who routinely ignores parts of the game such as the names on Enhancements and the ridiculous Dr Brainstorm explanations for powerset proliferation.

No, for me, the problem is wider than just that. It's that a major strength of this game is customisation, to be able to create the hero or villain you want. And over the years, it's been a case of one step forward, two steps back.

Villains were locked into their Patrons, having to endure the Patron symbol scrawled all over their avatar if they wanted an epic shield. Some powersets were so hidiously coloured, it was hard to pass them off as anything else. If you were a Radiation Emission user, you got to be bright green all the time (good luck explaining that one!). If you were a street brawler, you had to accept using flashy kicks rather than a straight punch to the face. It was just how things were.

And then things changed. We were able to colour our powersets and let our imaginations run riot. I, who had never touched Rad due to the horrible colour, rolled three Rad characters within the space of a week now it could be magic, or fire or nanites or whatever. Villains could respec out of their Patrons or even better, take an epic powerset that had no horrible symbols or lore requirements to them. And that street brawler guy? Now he could be a proper street fighter, swapping all of those flashy martial arts moves for practical punches to the head. Awesome! What a way to fire peoples' imaginations and unlock previously unattractive sets to roleplayer and non-roleplayer alike! (Even if it did mean getting completely obscured when some PuG team-mate shoves a completely black Fire Shield buff on me. Grrr...!)

And now we come to the Incarnate content. And suddenly all of that freedom, all of that creativity gets stuffed back into the box and we get shoved down one very specific, very limiting storyline that dictates where our powers are coming from. I agree that the Lore slot is the worst culprit here, the others at least can be passed off as orbital cannons or new techniques but there's very little wriggle room for creativity and that's what I'm finding stifling. I don't mind running certain arcs to gain new shinys, I'll happily spend an hour blasting through the ITF for my Roman armour. But this is a long, ongoing story that I have no love for while other, potentially better stories go neglected (or get hideously retconned into the 'new lore' - Vincent Ross, I'm looking at you) and I doubt it's going to be over anytime soon. And that's what makes me sad.

Personally, if I ever get to meet the Well, I'm going to toss a whole load of sodium down it, just to make it pay for putting me through this.

Given how I shudder each time I zone into Croatoa to see Gaelic butchered before my eyes, I'm not sure I'd really want to see the Devs' take on other branches of mythology.

That said, I reckon Incarnate content should have some god bashing involved so I can't see them stopping anytime soon. But I'd still rather fight Rularuu than another mythical figure.

I'm just going to say that I'm grateful for an EU event and the efforts that the organiser(s) are putting into it. If it wasn't for them, we wouldn't have an EU meet at all.

Welcome back. Hope you like how things have changed.

There's a half decent pub within walking distance of the place and it does decent food too.

As someone who plays strange hours and does not enjoy large raids but does enjoy small, fun, story based missions, this is an excellent suggestion.

I heartily approve.

To be honest, the overwhelming focus on this area of lore when there are other, far more interesting parts out there is making me consider the future of my subscription for the first time in five years. I'll wait and see what else i20 contains but it may well be time to take a break for a few issues.

I'm not sure I'd want a TF to be lore free, I like stories. But anything other than Goatee Paragon would be very welcome.

Just perfecting my evening dress now.

It occurs to me that now I've played through Ramiel's arc more times that is comfortable, we now know that the Well can take over Incarnates who chose the short path to power.

If Cole isn't Cole and is actually the Well taking over his body, I think it might want to make me fight him a bit more. I'd be able to express some of my dissatisfaction with the Well physically.

[[Inserts standard rant about how the EU get less and yet pay the same money.]]


[[Signs suggestion, leaves thread.]]



(Yep, same here, all 36 slots on Union filled, most on Defiant filled, nowhere to go from here. Poo. )

I have a Mind/Ice Dom at 43. I paired them together because of stacking -recharge but they don't really synergise very well.

Ice is a melee focussed set with three melee attacks and a slow aura. It's damage is good but it will eat your Endurance for breakfast. You do get Power Boost though which is comes back up quickly and does lovely things to your Primary.


Oh and just to let you know, I have an Earth/Fire and he completely outshines the Mind/Ice in terms of control and damage.

Welcome to the club.

CoX has got some absolutely superb villains that are screaming for more content and yet instead we have potentially the dullest villain group issue after issue. I have no idea of what else is in i20 but I really do hope there's more than just more Praetoria.

I'd far rather be punching Rularuu in the face than getting one shotted by guard towers for my Incarnate status.