Dante

Yep, was thinking that too.

Well done sir, well done.

And we are so much poorer for that.

If that's true, and given actor's egos, I can easily believe it, then they should be cautious what they sign up for. It's not like we don't see Spidey's alter ego a lot of the time either.

Oh and one more thing: Peter, get a pancaking haircut!!

Absolutely agreed. I think maybe they've toned him down a little too much. There was something about 2008's Hulk that was incredibly primal and hit a chord with me. I guess I'll judge this one when I see it. I do think the skin tone is good though and I like that they've made his face look somewhat like Ruffalo.

And yeah, I squeeed at the trailer too. Total nerdgasm.

Just as long as it's not another Praetorian zone, please. Pretty please?

And if it's not the Moonbase, I'll settle for a space station. Given how amazing First Ward looks, I can't wait to see what the art team does with something like a space station.

I love it when I get pulled into threads. But seeing as I've been quoted...

The reason I'm still peeved is that the EU used to get official player meets and yes, we even had the joy of seeing Noble Savage and War Witch come over to see us. These have now completely dried up.

The only player meets we have these days are organised by a very dedicated player on her own time. And for the last one, the EU NC representative cancelled on the night before and failed to turn up.

The reason EU meets probably don't happen is a) the devastation of NC Europe and b) general economic recession. So, ok, I understand and that's just the way things are. But when initiatives like these are offered, it'd be nice to get the participation of players who aren't conveniently down the street from the office (no disrespect meant to those travelling to the Plummit).

For what it's worth, I think the voting is a great idea and I'm happy to be able to make some small contribution to the next costume pack. I also recognise that no product can be made by committee so there's a limit to how many players can get involved. It'd just be nice for players outside of the US to get that chance.

What he said. *sigh*

I'm really starting to despair at some of the decision making at Paragon Towers.

Ok, after the day I've had, you totally made me lol with that one.

Thanks, I needed that!

C'mon, we all know it's going to be Fusionette.






Or at least it should be. For comedy value at least!

It is.

It just fails to be after the umpteenth time it gets used.

I got sick of it issues ago. It truly is beyond tiresome. First Ward didn't even bother to try and have any villainy in it. And from what I've seen of it so far, New Dark Astoria is going to be exactly the same.

I'm hoping that this was a publicity error but I'm not counting on it.

I've been away from this thread for a few days so thanks for pointing out the immediate logic disconnect that I thought of the moment that I read this 'new lore'. Because it's not like we don't already have hybrid species in this game already do we? Especially not one with already established lore.

Which Well should my Warshade go to to seek more power? He's half Kheldian so can I ask the Kheldian Well? Is it mad too? Does it have a boner for Emperor Cole so I have to bash his minions around too? Or does the Kheldian Well even believe in champions? Is it scared of the Battallion too? Or do all Wells agree on these points? Did they all have a nice little tea party and agree to be a bit bonkers together like a bag of mixed nuts?

You see, it's this kind of writing that drives me up the wall about the Incarnate content. It's being written with very little regard for what it does to player characters. I mean, why even bring species into it? That makes the assumption that all characters must be human. In a game where we can make aliens, demons, other dimensional beings and even creatures that are just hyper intelligent shades of blue no less!

And it's not that I can't adapt. I have adapted a number of times in the six years I've been playing. But the Incarnate lore keeps changing every sixty seconds. First the Well is passive, then it's awake and sentient and talking to me, then it's mad, next it's not sentient it's being directed. And now it has an extended family with a Well of Cats and a Well of Rodents and a Well of Aardvarks. *headdesk*

The real issue here though is that the Incarnate lore is completely unavoidable. The Devs have chosen that in order to pursue the slots past Alpha, we have to subject ourselves to the trials and all the cruddy lore included with them. If the rest of the Incarnate powers had been implemented like the Alpha slot, I could happily carry on playing my 50s and thumb my nose to Prometheus and his god-modding plot. But instead, the Devs have painted themselves into a corner by insisting that we have to participate in this plot if we want those powers (same issue as the Patron arcs but they're nowhere near as dictatorial). And that means we all have to be funnelled down the same storyline, to hell with our concepts! I sincerely believe that there should be an 'Incarnate Difficulty Setting' that allows us to earn Incarnate rewards for an appropriate difficulty while playing through whatever content we enjoy.

I have no problem with the Well as A source of powers, that's great and has always been at the core of CoX lore. But it's a poor device at best and not one that needs to be extended to all of the lore in the game. I had no problem with the Battallion as an enormous, world consuming foe, nor did I think Rularuu needed roping in. Both were fine as they were, I don't care what their connection to the Well is. The writers need to spend less time trying to retcon everything so it ties into their new lore and more time using a gentle touch to make sure they don't shoehorn in every player into their 'uberplot'.

Apologies if the above reads like a rant. It's not, I just get verbose sometimes.

We play the game but we also get to shout and throw things at other players to distract each other.

Plus the usual bizarre costume contests and ritual pub crawl in the evening.

I wish I could say that was true. But as I've said before, there's nothing in character creation or tutorial that mentions the Well and how it empowers characters. In fact, the Well is barely mentioned in game at all until you get to Incarnate level. So one could create a character, freely play them till 50 considering their powers etc to be 'theirs', not gifted to them by some ancient power source. At which point they hit the Incarnate content and get treated to a nasty shock. This is part of the problem of the storytelling around the Well: it's simply not explained or foreshadowed enough in existing lore, it just got tacked on at the end of the game.

Now as a Lore Junky, I don't have that excuse these days. But expanding on existing lore, adding that 'here's what's really going on' twist is a risky proposition depending on how far back you go. I was hesitant to create a magic using Praetorian because nothing in the Praetorian backstory mentioned what happened to magic there. And then a couple of issues later, *bang*, here's First Ward and where all the magic in Praetoria fled to. But that was only the difference of a few issues.

The Well lore stretches back to the very beginnings of the game. It expands on a piece of lore that affects every single character ever created. If I were writing it, I would be very, very careful about how strict and defined that path was to more power. Because in doing so, I could trample on a lot of players' creativity. And alas, that's pretty much what the Incarnate lore has done, hence why some players feel rightfully annoyed about it.

I think that you have hit the nail on the head.

The real problem is that we've had over six years of being allowed our own interpretation of how our powers have manifested. To suddenly change all of that either shows complete contempt of player's own stories or ignorance at how much players love the freedom of creation this game provides.

Had the devs chosen for a far vaguer and less deterministic way for us to access our incarnate powers, I doubt we would see this much criticism of their story.