Demetrios Vasilikos

I might of cared except for when i went to DDos forums to try and rally some fellow gamer allies to try and support us here most mocked our game and laughed at its impending demise sooo....frell turbine and all its games.

Ever since the case of Megan Meyers I have been keenly aware of how wretched our world has become, where people can stalk and manipulate children with little fear of the consequences if they do it with enough buffer.

In my mind these people who use any intermediary to bring emotional or physical harm to another are no less guilty then someone hiring a hit man to take a life. Yes the hit man pulled the trigger, but he was little more then the weapon directed by another.

Children and adults are very vulnerable to this more so each day because far to many are willing to turn a blind eye or put it on the victim. Such are people dangerously close to the social elitism that men like hitler tried to make the world bow before.

The world more then ever needs people to stand up and band together against indifference and apathy. More then ever the world needs super heroes.

To paraphrase a section of James Gordons Eulogy for bruce wayne from the Dark Knight Strikes Again.

There is no room in our wretched little world for a man who sees far and who sets wrongs right. We're chubby,coddled little things, content. Well-fed. Bruce Wayne a hero wasnt so goddamned accommodating as we are. Bruce Wayne saw something wrong, he punched it out. He threw it through a window. He stomped its face in. He stopped it cold.

We are in trouble deep. We need him.

We need a hero!

To be fair from what I understand most terms of service include us actually surrendering any personal rights to our creations on the slim chance we become so famous in game they can steal our character to turn into an NPC. Or adopt it as a more noble case in reguards to our fallen forum poster from years back who was the source for our in game NPC Coyote.

This has actually been something of a boon for me in how it made many bits of CoH lore open to me to draw upon for characters to adopt and develop into my own rather then let them be forgotten names in old arcs.

Since all content in CoH is their creation I never had to fear the infringement issues that would plague you in a game theoretically like one based on marvel, if I wanted to say make a relative to a known and TMd character id be violating the law.

CoH has let me use names like Bentley Berkeley, Demetrios Vasilikos, and Count Alphonse Crey along with many others all because they where part of the game world and not connected with any DEV characters.

So although I didnt create the first page of Bentley's story I did add many to it, and developed him for the RPers of virtue from a name barely recalled from some old arcs or listed on the Midnighters Charter, to an active mystical mentor to the magically gifted of Paragon. From the mythical immortal man to the blaster who had tanks asking him how he could out tank them. Such moments of my time in the game will always shine brightly.

Something I could never do in CO, because cryptic doesnt own Champions, is just leasing the digital rights to it. Something I couldnt do in DCUO, and something I doubt marvel will let happen either.

CoH let me become part of its lore and its just another reason it is the best at what it does!

To be honest another story that the mysterious immortal scholar of the occult Bentley Berkeley would of been happy to help with.

Oh yeah I went there.

Also serious dig up WWs body give the stuff to crey and they will have a nice living body for her to posses, and they could do one for numi to probably. Seriously guys Crey Cares!

I would know since I am The count Alphonse Crey too! Yeah I went there. Finally T'Keron Valmaz would wipe posi out of existence just for sniffing the air around numina. Yeah I went there.

Saying that, thanks for the story bits posi and keep up the hope we lovers of COH lore will be carrying torches in AP right until the end.

AND PLEASE FOR THE LOVE OF GAWDS tell me something about Bentley Berkeley. Has to be one of the least developed and most interesting characters from early coh story arcs.

For those curious about my earlier post in the thread Ill spell out what RPers over in CO have simply come to call The Silence.

When you are either ignored or marked as a spammer by another player( yes I said just ignoring someone else puts a mark against them) you are given a point that the general CO community tends to feel has no wear off time. So no amount of time between them helps reduce it.

Further it has been proven a single person can induce this using ignore then un ignore and do it again, 20 times and a person will be hit with a 24 hour chat ban.

No the GMs never fix it over there, One of the most well known and player turned forum community rep Biff Smackwell was hit with a 24 hour chat ban several days in a row after saying Wolverine Sucks in zone chat in MC.

I myself( @SkyTomCar over there when/if I ever can stomach setting foot there, was then hit with a 24 hour chat ban while trying to explain the issue in detail in zone chat that ignore spammer was a tool meant only to be used for those trying to do the whole ebay gold seller BS.

Keep in mind newly made purely FTP accounts have the power to do this, so there is no fear of reprisal towards those who keep a few throw away accounts active for the purpose of Silencing.

In fact rumors there abound about a player SG known as The Silencers who spend their time actively traveling around known player hubs and targeting players at random just to be true griefers.

CO does have a few strong points if you cough up the cash to sub or buy a free form character slot, but the reailty is also this when certain changes happened to crafting many fun flavor items with unique effects where removed, but left in grandfathers to those who already had them. So literally new players although for numerical stat purposes wont be behind, Neither could you ever use a high lvl power replacer( no longer drop) known as the brainwave scrambler pistols to make a psionc based pistoleer like my character there psike( a sort of psionic homage to spike from cowboy bebop) Not only that but for those of you not familiar with free form who instead use ATs, only a few free ones have all the tools needed to be a competent stand on your own character which is the rule of survival in CO. There is no holy trinity there among the experienced each character is either a mage tank or gimp

I still recall the last time I bothered with a group for the resistance AP, and how only I and one other really participated in the final battle as the rest of the team just could not stay alive on their own against such a lengthy fight with a truly big bad.

And if you want to make a non super being mundane character in the theme of batman etc then good luck, with no self heals, or superior damage mitigation powers, all the tricks,devices, and melee ability in the world wont let you withstand something like a cosmic over there for long.

As someone who has on occasion ( including within the last 6 months shamefully) actually plays CO, I can tell you the OPs link is to a thread that is a work of pure fiction only possible because the CO forums community was gutted not to long ago with the conversion to PWE.

Within the game itself is a vicious and vocal anti CoH sentiment and anyone coming from our game with love for it in their hearts will not find such an attitude tolerated there. If you do not vocally espouse hatred for CoH and in general act like a degenerate then you will find little fun there.

Currently and for more then a year now CO has been under the plague of the chat ban. A player tool which once served as a tool to help stymie gold sellers, It apparently never occurred to the Devs such a tool could and eventually would be abused to cause grief.

Currently its impossible there to hold any public social events, or even RP in known RP locations because it only takes one person to quickly abuse the mechanic and cause you a 24 hour chat ban that will make ANY form of communication with another player in game impossible. Some of the traditions that CO had handed down from CoH players who turned traitor and went full time champions like costume contest cannot even be held there as within moments of posting a broadcast you will find yourself struck by the silence.

CO could indeed have been a next gen CoH but it wasnt, and will never even be a close second to the memory of what we will have had taken from us too soon.

NC Soft better thank you sir, your post may well get me to give GW2 the chance I was plotting on before this gut wrenching news. However NC Soft you would be wise to not forsake us our game entirely and give deep consideration to seeking out a worthy caretaker for our world and secure both the respect of your current fans and their desire to give support to future games you release.

As was said you once took a chance with CoH and garnered a strong enough community in the shadow of the giant that was WoW. It payed off, and it only did that because of the players now feeling such a deep sense of loss. A game does indeed have to end, but this is not yet that time.

Like most of us since the news hit have felt a weight upon my shoulders, a stone in the gut urging me to try to come up with some way to fight the coming Darkness. To push back the long fabled end of our world that all of us have fought so hard to keep safe.

It was as I was speaking with a younger hero, a child of our city who had not been old enough yet to take to our streets and do battle as so many of us did so many years ago. We spoke simply, of the D and how it has long served to bring a sense of community into an otherwise often chaotic multi verse.

I told her of how once it was a hidden place, no more then a warehouse converted to a rave scene, but it served as a sign to us all that higher powers recognized our growing numbers and our need a place to gather when not wearing our masks and capes.

Then i remembered even farther back to before the D, to the time we would throw parties upon the roofs of Paragon, Most often they started small a group of friends blowing off steam from a long task force or the like, but always those passing by where greeted with welcome, and numbers would swell into block parties upon the roofs of a neighborhood. I often felt it was such parties as these that drew the attention of the Powers that be and the D made its way into our world.

So now I suggest that on Talk Like A Pirate Day we gather dressed in pirate garments not in the D, but upon the roofs and in the streets of Independence Port. We spend the day in good cheer making war upon the coming Darkness with the light of happiness found in the company of good friends old and new and show the Powers that be how we used to party not confined to some dark corner, but out in the light welcoming all and showing evil everywhere that no matter what they may do Heroes always know how to throw a party as well as a bad guy off a roof.

To all those I have had the pleasure of leading through task force after task force, spent countless hours fighting shoulder to shoulder with, and just shared a drink or two at the D I say it was worthy time spent.

Demetrios Vasilikos

Bentley Berkeley

Invisible Falcon

The Hero Of Tomorrow

Alphonse Crey

Black Flying Fox

If you knew them then you knew a part of me.

I wish this was one time Doc Vahz could bring life back but I think not even he could revive CoX.

I know I know, another thread on what blasters actually NEED to feel fun and effective for more then the rare few devotees of the art of blast fu.

Yet it seems although there are many threads and many more posts debating this few start with a clear point and most seem to descend quickly into a debate. So rather then keep posting in everyone of those threads Ill just add my voice and let things fall where they will.

Blasters are even atm one of the most potent and powerful ATs to play, however sadly it often requires taking very specific power comboes, most specifically one of the newer sets, to feel more competetive in modern CoX.

For me once Psi/Ment came out I never looked back, deleted all my other current blasters and never felt the need to roll another. For me Bentley Berkeley was the last blaster Id ever need. Ive barely even dabbled in dark blasts despite that being the power type I originally yearned for years to have added to blasters. In fact I never thought they would be so silly as to give a top DPS AT like blasters psi dmg which imo is the best type of dmg to do.

What makes Psi/Ment so good from my perspective. well even way back when I leveled it, Its ability to shred things like clocks, one of if not among the most annoying and even feared lower lvl mobs in paragon, along with drain psyche to sustain and psi tornado for soft cc, lets you dominate at a very early lvl range in TFs like synapse, or even old clock heavy posi which I rather enjoy flashback soloing to this day on Ol BB.

Dark ofcourse also has some nice advantages like to hit debuffing and a self heal.

So what I suggest althought not as easy as an inherent for all blasters is this. Power Reviews and hopefully modifications to all blaster sets that existed at launch. I feel it is these sets that each need things like soft CC, Self heal/end recov, and debuffs improved upon, not the AT as a whole which imo especially with builds that combine either ment 2ndary or dark prime do terrifyingly effective dmg while being hard to put down.

I see people talking about given sets needing a Power Pass. Well personally with the endless blasters are worthless debate, it seems to me most of their sets should be on the top of the list for review.

Id like to start off by saying its always nice to see fellow fans of cox lore comment on the old arcs that helped give us the world we all love( Hopefully). Cadao is actually one of my faves, an old friend really since he is among the magical community that my beloved blaster Bentley Berkeley feels so at home among.

To be fair though many newer bits of content have been great. I really reveled in the First Ward with my character Demetrios Vasilikos and was sucked in completely the first time I encountered the praetorian version of the monster that my characters DNA memory core is crafted from. *Spoilers) When I watched him fall and could only carry on and offer my own leadership to his followers it was a moment to rival any found in game.

On the topic of content with options you can actually fail, well those challenges are always options in themselves. If your not up to trying to save lives then dont try, dont think you can fight an army single handedly then bring friends. Not every Super Hero is capable of the same feats. Batman for all his skill,training, and wealth still cant do what Superman can. And thats ok, that is why we have super groups and teams. Batman knows his limits and knows how to treat other living beings with meta human powers like the TOOLs they are. When I am on my batman esque toon The Invisible Falcon I never hesitate to manipulate the team to get the task done in a heroicly timely fashion even if it increases thier risk.

If you go into DA with no incarnate power then dont really complain if you struggle. It is INCARNATE CONTENT and designed imo with players running characters actually worthy of the term in concept and design. Frankly my batman esque toon for example is ignoring the new DA zone. its just to magical for his preffered RP content. Meanwhile Bentley Berkeley my beloved blaster has enjoyed running the content usually around +4x6 and AVs on since usually you get NPC assistance for them making even solo less problematic then fighting the praetorian AVs solo was once so long ago.

When BB took on that army single handed facing scores of minnies and cyces oh it was glorious fun. When he challenged those harpy biatches and saved the lives of both his old students and friends in a fierce and short epic test of who was more powerful I felt properly satisfied well beyond what a 0 risk of fail design would of allowed. Failure means nothing negative in terms of gameplay and if your character cant then that is as much a part of thier story as anything else. In D&D you cant always control the scenerio, even the dice can turn against you. Dont be afraid of those dice, embrace the risk and revel in the reward of freedom to try and fail if that is fates will.

All I can say is this thread proves one thing above all others. Scrappers are probably the most loved/loathed AT in the game.

Im rather surprised by the endless debate though. No one really argues that scrappers dont NEED any actual upgrade. Yet some just demand that they get a new shiny for the sake of a shiny.

What I find most odd is the endless talking over ST and AOE style. I myself always started with the plan to make a character specialize in a style. My BS/Regen scrapper was happily focussed on single target and quick to put himself against the biggest baddy in sight asap. Really if I wanted to play an AOE killer Id just go play my blaster lol.

My Claw/WP scrapper actually feels abit like a blaster since he went arms mastery and uses his shurikens and ranged claw attacks in concert quite alot. He is definatly more aoe centric then my BS though.

My MA/Shield scrapper definatly is more of an aoe fighter, but mixed with some very impact feeling single target attacks. Which possess some decent soft control effects to add some extra flavor to the fighting style.

However its probably still my first and oldest toon, my last of the first years T'Keron Valmaz a Kat/SR who remains my favorite. Possessing an inherent global recharge far above the common man, his elude down time is almost the exact length of time phase shift shields him from all harm. His attacks recharge so fast any one I need is up when I need it. His extreme focus on single target combined with the handy pyro judgement to back his demon powers has let him start to reach the goal he has long had to regaining his lost status as lord of demons. Its how well the entire incarnate power system has benefitted him that tells me the Devs do play the same game we do and one must of had an SR toon they really wanted to see excel without the crutch of Dark Melee.

Indeed this thread does make me feel good, for it shows scrappers love to scrap on any front.

Im guessing what you are asking is what most would call the optimal pairings which is still ofcourse somewhat opinion though some forum posters over the years have released videos to back up thier views.

Ill stick mostly with the ones I personally know and have seen in action firsthand by myself or others over long years of play.

Dark/Regen Scrapper: My friend who I helped learn about IOing and even just earning merits to help aquire those IOs more casually eventually had to retire his permamently simply saying it had become too dull with nothing in the game to make him feel even remotely threatened solo. I still fondly recall the first time I watched him solo charge an AV ( the one at the end of the sara moore TF) and afterwards say it was the first time he ever went at an AV not afraid. How people can grow eh.

Single Sword/Regen Stalker: always was good on scrappers, and imo makes for one of the scrappiest stalkers even pre upgrade. might lack the full end recov of a regen making team centric builds like leadership abit less appealing, but that just makes the choice of the solo centric builds I favor using phase shift for an ultimate oh **** power much easier. Doesnt mean for a second my batman esque MA/Ninja stalker isnt my fave stalker toon still.

Psi/Ment Blaster: Personally I do believe Dark/Mental may be a superior blend but I made my psi ment when it first came out, and really cant imagine ever needing to play another blaster since I had tried every power set combo for blasters before the release of psi and found them all worthless. Not that I believe blasters themselves are in need of an upgrade, rather I feel more advanced blaster secondary sets akin to Mental and now Dark manipulation need to be the focus for future blaster tweaking. Update older secondaries by adding some decent health recovery option akin to the heals blasters can now gain in our more modern sets. This combo I also believe is the ultimate expression of characters like combat mode jean grey, and with the ability to make multiple builds one can use fire mastery for pheonix mode, and one force mastery just to express stronger TK powers.

Ice/SS tank: Probably the best DPS/aggro holding tank I know personally in game. Sets a standard few other so called tanks have ever competed with. Sad thing is the guy isnt even purpled up maybe only a 2 or 3 billion build at the most. Hits harder then most scrappers I see in action, holds aggro through his dps alone often calling taunt a broken and exploitive mechanic to depend upon. When bad guys charge him over the blaster you dont go thinking man thats silly to avoid the big dmg, you think damn they are smart trying to overwhelm that hulk before he tears down the caverns bare handed.

Fire/Kin Troller: Do I really even need to bother explaining? Well I have known a few, one is a favorite TF running friend of mine, and with thier help ive knocked out sister psyches in under 45 minutes, a synapse in about an hour flat( with 4 manning babs) and a few ther fun exemped TF challenges. Not to mention the fact they clear ridiculous amounts of inf and drops when they farm.

Kheldians: Both human form, cant stand the squids nor the lobsters and dont tolerate them on my teams out of sheer disgust. Human form builds by lvl 50 especially with clarion to fill thier mez vulnerability, will become true supermen and all the Inv/SS tanks can go cry thier eyes out.

Dark/SR brute: The scrapper kind could solo 8 AVs at once, the brute kind by all rights would have to be better in such a long drawn out slug fest. Especially since the strength of the scrapper build was in using the to hit debuff sets, meaning brute rage actually is a much bigger boost in such a test at least in theory. My dark sr scrapper is alot of fun, but when I imagine what I could do with him as a brute it is about the only combo I do feel brutes can do better then scrappers with.

The great thing about all these and any optimal build is few are so good without an actual understanding of the game itself. IO sets, timing with powers in various circumstances, and understanding the strengths and weaknesses of a given set is what allows us to enjoy even using so called gimped comboes to great effect when we think outside the box.

Ill step into this thread partly IC and partly OOC. Good luck figuring where the line between them is.

2 of my characters really took to the SSA. I made alot of *friends* here on the forums recently pushing the advantages and improved immerssion players can experiance if making Lore Based characters no matter if your in RP or not. While playing through the series as Bentley Berkeley one of the founding members of the Midnighter's, an Immortal, and powerful psychic/wizard dating back to the days of ancient Cimmorea, I had no shortages of moments where it felt like I was THE RIGHT MAN for the job at hand.

From the Circle's involvment, to The Midnighter's, encountering Lourdin whom I had watched with concern for years never trusting in the Mind Witch's so called rehab. Seeing my former student Wade take all he had learned of my war against the cult of the "Dark" to attempt to undue what my old friend the Doctor accomplished so long ago. This was an more then just another evil would be black mage to be dealt with. This was a real chapter in my story unfolding before me.

This IMO meant that the DEVs POSI included had got it RIGHT! They had created a story that if played by a character made to fit within the games campaign setting it would feel like a personal AE story arc. That by the end not only had I the satisfaction of saving the day but doing so in the role of one of the most unsung characters of COH lore. The fact that the new DA and its arcs only add to this whole is just icing on the cake.

If there was true malice for Statesman, I think it only accuratley reflects no few of the players like myself who long saw the Tyrant-State as an abomination and open threat to the safety of humanity. That a being like Sister psyche was nothing more then a mind ****** witch who had stolen years from other women to sustain her own life. She was easily one of the most morally questionable origins of any character in the lore.

To be honest I dont like many of the so called Icon Heroes. The new generation of names like the Dream Doctor dont smack of superiority but rather a peer and for some an old friend good to have back in the world. Characters like Blue Steel and Sister Psyche especially stank of hypocrisy since day one, and getting rid of as many of them as we can over the coming year is IMO a GREAT WAY to evolve the games world.

My oldest character T'Keron Valmaz will truly mourn the day Infernal may fall, but I hope at least that battle is one I can choose to join on one side or another and see his end come in glory.

Likewise Ghost Falcon can always count on Invisible Falcon and Crey Global enterprises to carry on should his day finally come.

This is a pretty interesting topic that I can definatly relate to. As an avid Lore RPer of virtue, I also am one who subscribes to the Build reflecting on the concept. Meaning if your suppose to be a mundane human then dont build a gawd, and if your going to try and RP as some superior being from magneto to silver surfer class, or be a doc strange or Mephosteles then your build better have the BAMF! to back it up.

I even feel compelled to relate stories concerning two of my favored characters, on quite the opposite end of the spectrum from each other inspite of both being scrappers.

My oldest toon is T'Keron Valmaz, lord of demonkind. For more then 6 years I have done my small part to try and breathe life into one of the most interesting if very often unknown bits of lore, concerning Infernal's best friend, and how our resident Heroic Half Fiend came to our primal earth.

Some on occasion get stuck on the Lord Of Demonkind thing feeling this was the soul reason for taking such a concept on, and is some attempt to justify godmoding. It is infact the opposite in intent, meant to set a standard showing there is a place for RPing such powerful concepts, but drawing upon the game lore for limits and logical origins was essential to avoid true godmoding.

This idea was born in first year while on one of my early toons who was a D&D PC inspired dark elven concept. I came to cox directly from a D&D table top group where one of the friends had shown me the game during its beta, and all effort was invested in getting my current comp at the time and internet access upgraded to handle an MMO, something I hadnt gotten into during the early craze of EQ, PnP groups and the pleasure of chucking dice was more common to come by in those days.

It wasnt long though before I came to notice that despite some aspects of coh blended with D&Ds multi verse fairly well, A drow just felt kind of silly to play.

One day I was pondering this very thing as I stood under Atlas. When a nearby IC conversation caught my attention. Some folks had been RPing some general hero chit chat when this really low lvl dark defender showed up and started talking about how they where the ancient god of death and chaos etc etc and no one was calling them out on it, and worse a fair number actually seemed to try and be building up such RP since they where on magic origin characters.

To me such behavior was a dangerous trend that could not be tolerated if virtue RP was to become something meaningful. So I started bringing up just some of the basics. Id already encountered DA and it had quickly become one of my favored zones, temp powers like the idol of lughubu, sands of mu, and undead slaying axe all became objects every alt would persue aquistion of just for the fun of playing with them.

So I started to quiz them, maybe grill would be a better word, on just basic stuff. They didnt even have a clue how gods came to exist in COH lore, nor did they know who Tielekku was. And promptly shredded into them explaining that if you want people to RP such things with you and take them seriously the least you could do is learn the lore around such concepts.

Then and there I swore Id make a lore based character to set the standard. To walk that fine line between sane Rpability and over powerful cosmic being. And anyone curious on how I do it is free to look T'Keron Valmaz up in game on virtue anytime I happen to be on.

On the flip side is my character Invisible Falcon. My main version of if now days is an old claw/WP scrapper. He became the main one due to having old fitness powers rather then the new inherent ones. This I believe reflects very much on the OPs pondering of self gimping. But I dont call it gimping to be honest.

IF has no lvl 50 purple IOs in his build, has 3 powers used up taking hurdle,health, and stamina. Uses no complete sets but rather more frankenslotting procs for effects like disorients and knockdowns to reflect a more martial arts type claw fighter. He also doesnt use Rise to the challenge, nor the self rez or lvl 38 power which I honestly cant even recall the name of atm since I have never used it on my WP guy lol.

As for his incarnate use, he doesnt run I trials, and earns his up through slow and steady shard drops being converted, and the occasional wst if its one that suits him. He does have and use judgment but more in the way batman would use a super powerful explosive against something like Mettallo as seen in the great superman/batman public enemies animated film which I highly reccommend to fans of either character.

Funny enough IF still has people say he seems a very powerful build and he is definatly in the poor man do it yourself build range.

As the Blaster Bentley Berkeley of Virtue, I think I can safely say I fall into the "Be as much a part of the game's world" group as one could. For a long time now I have simply chosen to avoid in game aspects that dont fit with a given character as much as I can without crippling the character.

To that end its more likely I use a generic or discrete vendor rather then head to the stores, with perhaps the exception of good ol Pandora's Box. I love that little shop and demand a powerful day job accolade to be added there so I can log off and on in my favorite location again

For example my mere human character, outside of the initial incarnate unlock arc which i did while helping another so as to say it wasnt his own personal adventure, only has earned inc shards and threads through general gameplay and WSTs and the like. No Itrials for him, they just dont fit his concept. Sure it was slow steady progress rather then bang and done, but it didnt hurt him in anyway to take some time getting there.

I have been here a while and likely wont ever quit permamently. This means I never feel pressure to go through new content with every alt over and over immediatly. I usually pick one character most suited to what the apparent story seems to be and go with that.

Bentley Berkeley as you can imagine has been enjoying both the SSA and new DA arcs ALOT! Fit him like they where custom AE arcs. Ah the rich and satisfying play that comes with a truly immerssive Lore Based RP character.

Just my two inf on the current tank vs the rest of melees discussion that has taken over.

IMO characters like superman are not a tank but more like a PB( Yes pure human form PB can make some pretty impressive Melee only with eye beam SS type fighting style builds while possessing self protections to a nearly unstoppable range).

A Tank as they exist in COX is most closely resembled to me in comics by Colosus and wolverine.

You see Col was never in the top strength ranges in marvel. Hell I recall years ago a x-men spider man team up against the juggernaut who was only half powered because he had shared it with black tom as a B day gift. Even at half juice Jugs was way stronger then Col. Col only could take the beating, not give it back.

Meanwhile poor old wolvy. Sure he is borderline indestructable, but even with his cut through nearly anything unbreakable claws he was really not in the league of cosmic class adventurers so many of his fellow mutants were worthy of. Nor was he very smart. Compared to the nearly captian america like mentality cyclops was portrayed with in the early days and his super nova power classed eye beams....well yeah the damage spectrum is pretty clear.

Think about wolvy after he lost addy, even when his regen went into early era deadpool ranges. Still just a punching bag for the really big baddies so that cyclops can just blind side blast them with impunity.

In an all out fight with a being like apocolypse or even mr sinister youd not put your money on wolverine nor cyc in a one on one, but at least cyclops as a real chance at planning a viable way to use his REAL POWER to put down such titanically poweful foes.

But then again lets think of it this way. Hulk was always a Regen/SS brute with fighting,jumping,leadership, and body mastery. Built with extreme global recharge in mind. Superman is something above all standard ATs and hence why I chose the PB as my preffered AT to rep them. Now days 50+ with clarion to round out thier melee AT like mez pro, they in large teams with all the buffs feel about as powerful a team build as I could imagine. Not counting some of the human form WS I have met in my time.

A tank does exactly what its meant to, take abuse, and with work deal solid if not exceptional dmg without an optimal combo. Whether or not such a thing is needed with the current ATs isnt really important since they cant goa nd remove an old AT even if it has become that outdated.

IMO it always was a bad design concept, taunt aggro. I feel the only 2 things that should draw aggro are DPS and healing powers. with healing other powers attracting the most attention. Mobs should be designed to smartly pick apart our teams, not play into this idiotic attack the meat shield mentality. If we remove tank taunt, and force all ATs to shoulder thier fair share of attention in battle, then we could get closer to the true comic genre we all so adore.

Then give tanks an ability I saw another suggest something akin to. Make tanks first hit on a mob who is aggroed to another be the attention getter ability. make tanks ahve to work by chasing around each mob as it goes after the piking empaths who should be healing less and doing more to actually end the fight faster.

On a side note. I simply dont bother with content that feels wrong for a given character, If my character is supposed to be super human then I ignore content with them where those things capable of threatening me seem to mundane.

Case in point. Those silly rocks, granted O concur that the debuffs are the logical reason they can hurt even so called god like beings. However I much prefer to tailor my experiance based on my characters concept and so pick and choose what I do with each one. I dont see any reason or need to play all content with all character.

So although I feel for those embarassed when they drop to a mob stoning them, I equally feel you could easily not run that trial with that specific character. No reason to rush character progress to the point you make yourself angry with the game.

Some of the early post where pretty good in this thread then it devolved into mostly complaints about not feeling super man enough.

Id agree that just about any NPC described as creating thier own world or dimension in anyway is a great canidate to suspect of being ascended.

As some may recall in Lore, all gods started as nothing more then natural spirits who learned to feed on the emotions of sentient races. How old humanity is still hasnt been clarified fully in cox lore, and even is debated in RL especially among the occult/conspiracy groups which are not an atypical source of ideas for comics and movies.

Nowhere in lore have they ever supported the existance of a god in the grand cosmic made all of existance sense of it. I myself assumed it was the Dream Doctor who made the shadow shard with the help of the other founding icons of the Midnighters like Bentley Berkely or our resident The Shadow wannabe hanging out in RWZ. An immortal and a plane walker working with a master of the astral/ethereal sounds like a viable group capable of making the shard.

Beings like Mot and Tielekku are as far as I can tell younger then the human race, and in ways just leeches getting fat off of the latent psyich energy of us all. It may be the Wells do the same, and now apparently being keyed into races the question remains is the Well statesman was bonded to the Well of Humanity, the Well of Earth, or a portal to another race, one that like kheldians preys upon humans needing our bodies as host. I often joked in RP that whatever Zeus is, it is like a grand daddy space squid.

For fellow fans of the Wild C.A.T.S comics you may recall the main evil alien species was all about searching the galaxy for the most powerful beings to take possession of to further thier power.

Granted invasion of the body snatchers is an old plot, but a good one and frightening. The question is should the heroes of Paragon trust any being that does this. Have we made ourselves vulnerable by allowing PB PPD?

How does our choice to open our arms to the Kheldians impact our future when we know the fate of thier entire race is doomed.

Finally we know Twilight son is the last kheldian in the future, new lore suggest being the last could allow one to take up considerable FORCE or some such, could that little squid ******* being a Ascended in sheeps clothing, COuld he actually be possessing Silos even someone?

Keep the conspiracy alive!