DaveHill

At the risk of repeating something that's already been said a dozen times here (as if that stops anyone else):

T-shirts

Not the male t-shirts that are basically spray-painted on with no texture, even at the neck and arms.

Not the female t-shirts that either show a little belly or a LOTTA belly.

T-shirts. With some texture and folds, maybe, but at least showing some sign of substance and stretching all the way down to the pants.

Thanks.

Dear Amorpha:

While I have been gone from the city longer than I'd anticipated, my continued regard for you remains strong. You have been a boon companion, a steadfast friend, a steady partner, and, once the current unpleasantness has finally been resolved, I look very much forward to resuming our quite satisfactory and beneficial relationship.

With warmest regards,

Psi-clone - Champion

I'm with Castle on Fly. The "I have a chance to chat while en route" aspect of Fly is quite nice.

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Other than GV, which used to require me to use my flight temp powers for easy navigation, there's never been a reason or a place where fly would have been more useful than sj or tp.

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Two words: Shadow Shard. Certainly better than SJ there, and more versatile than TP.

For that matter, it's a hell of a lot easier to scout out a zone ("Find the twelve glowies in this outdoor map") with Fly, and it's better than anything besides SS in whipping through an interior map at high speed.

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You want people to like fly? Add in some epic feeling aerial combat. Give hover a resist to -fly. Make having true, unrestricted 3d movement actually mean something.

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True. It's nice to be able to bring the battle to various hovering mobs (e.g., Sky Raiders), but there's sense of aerial combat and movement. Though, to be fair, mobs on the ground don't move all that intelligently, either.

Yes, Fly is slower than other powers, but I find the versatility (and relaxation) more than makes up for it. YMMV (and that's what makes a horse race).

Let me just observe that PlayNC could earn a bushel of bucks by selling Outcast-style t-shirts. I mean, the Arachnos and Stateman styles are nice, but -- I love that lightning logo.

In the words of the famous Prof. Lucy Jones, spokesgeologist for Cal Tech, who was speaking with reporters about an series of earthquakes this past June that seemed grouped, but were not (as far as the boffins could tell) related:

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Random distributions, by definition, sometimes cluster, or they wouldn't be random.

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IRON MAN: Well, Cap, we figured out a way to rebuild Avengers mansion.

CAP: That's great, Tony.

IRON MAN: Put this on.

CAP: What?

IRON MAN: It's your new Avengers uniform. See? It's the same design as your current one..

CAP: But I'm the symbol of America! I wear Red, White and Blue!

IRON MAN: I don't follow.

CAP: Well, who chose Red and Yellow as the Avengers' official colors?

IRON MAN: (Whistles innocently.)

CAP: I mean, who am I supposed to be, Captain Red China? Captain North Vietnam?

IRON MAN: Well, maybe we could override the colors, just for you ...

CAP: And there's -- where's my star? My chest star? Like the star on the American flag. There's an "A" here now?

IRON MAN: It's for Avengers.

CAP: I'm not wearing this!

IRON MAN: But we need the mansion! This is the only way to get the team prestige we need. Spidey's agreed, Wolverine shrugged, and Luke said he'd worn a lot more embarrassing things. And it's not like you don't already wear an "A" on your forehead or anything.

CAP: Then let me use that one, and leave the star!

IRON MAN: Sorry, Cap -- team insignia only go on the chest ...

removed

This the only Dev thread I've responded to. Though I have numerous alts of various ATs, the different tweaks to their powers have been -- well -- the sort of thing you can adjust to, tactically. However ...

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Basic Stealth Powers (Pools, temp powers, and Powers not in a Defense set like Blaster Cloaking Device, Controller Illusion Invisibilities):

Toggles:
If you Attack, or are Hit - Critters see you. You loose half your defense buff (and your PvP stealth) for 10 seconds. Your translucency is reduced to indicate this change.

Clicks
If you Attack, or are Hit - All enemies will see you. You loose half your defense buff. Your translucency is reduced to indicate this change.

Primary Stealth Powers (Those in a defense set like Dark Armor/Cloak of Darkness, Dark Miasma/Shadow Fall, Storm Summoning/Steamy Mist, Warshade/Shadow Cloak)

Toggles:
If you Attack, or are Hit - Critters see you. (You loose your PvP stealth for 10 seconds). Your translucency is reduced to indicate this change. No Defense is Suppressed

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My main is an Illusion Controller. Who now, with his few AoE holds, can't hold very many for very long, and with his Invisibility can't do much else besides that.

First off, if it's in my Primary Power Set, I consider it a Primary power. I project Illusions. That's my job. Invisibility of various sorts is an Illusion. That's not Basic, it's not an Add-On or an Afterthought or a Pool Power. It's right there in my job description and in my Primary Power Set.

Not that it makes that much difference. The Defense bonuses are now so low that the difference between full and half is not that significant.

As things currently stand, I can still Stealth glowie missions -- as long as there isn't a high-Perception mob somewhere along the way. (I've never quite understood why clicking a glowie -- playing with the computer keyboard, searching the files, whatever it is -- doesn't have the chance of drawing aggro from nearby mobs, but that's probably planned for I6.)

But as far as combat is concerned, my Invisibility powers -- a goodly chunk of my abilities, mind you -- are useless. since villains react to "seeing" me faster than any attack I have can go off (ditto for anyone who I've made invisible), and since the defense has not only been reduced but now is half that.

I guess I'll stand back, throw nice, non-aggroing Deceives (until I6), use various Secondary powers to help my friends, shoot through the tanks, and hope that none of the baddies take a hankering to my tender flesh.

This feels like this was a solution in search of a problem. I haven't run across anyone complaining that stealth powers -- pool or otherwise -- were making the game not fun, or too easy.

And, from a "this is a game about comic book characters" perspective, this simply robs a huge super-power theme of all color or utility. The stealthy ninja. The invisible person. The master hypnotist that nobody notices. Nope -- can't do that any more.

Concrete suggestions?

I. Explain

1. Explain what the goal here is. What problem, specifically, was being targetted for solution, and how this was the least intrusive way to deal with it. Maybe folks will agree with you, or at least come up with some alternative ideas yo may not have considered.

2. Explain the rationale for group Illusion Controller Invis with pool powers, vs. with "Primary Stealth Powers." Like I said, with the Defense nerf it doesn't make that much difference, but it *feels* wrong.

II. Change

1. Leave things as they are.

2. Failing that, don't nerf the defense of these powers -- including the overall I5 reduction to Defenses. If I'm going to be "noticed," I should still get *some* substantial value from being, well, invisible.

3. Additionally or alternately, put in some sort of delay before bad guys figure out where you are. Or have a chance that they don't (negative aggro?). At the very least, mobs should not attack before an invisibled character's attack *goes off*. That just makes no sense from a gamepla perspective.

Nothing new here that hasn't already been said, but maybe one more voice saying it will make a difference.

Color me as another fan of GC:

1. I love the convenience of the tram to BAB (and the rest of the map).

2. I love the easy-to-navagate terrain around BAB. No impassable walls and oddly skewed staircases. Run up, do your business, run away.

3. I love the easy-to-navagate interior. Run in, run down the stairs, run to your contact. Why Atlas requires two extra changes of direction is beyond me.

Yeah, you have to go back to Atlas for the Hollows -- but the Atlas tram is almost as convenient to the Hollows as Ms. Liberty, and see #1.

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Hurdle+Combat Jumping is almost its own travel power. It's faster than low level Fly in a lot of situations. It's also probably the least safe method of travel.

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Unless you add in a bubble, which is not only fun to watch, but a lot safer ...