El__D

That's Kili (the dwarf firing the bow in the introduction montage). He just looks larger than the others because he's closer to the camera and standing up while most of the others are sitting.

Mind, it'd be cool if Aragorn was in the movie, and given that he'd be in his 20's around this point in the time line (I think) it would still be feasible, but Jackson already has numerous old characters returning on-top of all the new characters (plus all the extra stuff from the addendums beyond the Hobbit itself) so I doubt our favorite 'actually 87 years old' ranger will show up. Mr. Jackson can only put so much into two films. xD

...Awwww....

As for the Tanker's Role in-game, I'd say its the same one as it's always been. Get beat on by mobs and laugh at them while keeping their team alive. Same role they've got from level 1 to 50+. Beyond that, they can pull mobs and do extra aggro management with Taunt, and some manage respectable melee damage (mainly with /Fire or /SS).

The only major difference I can see is a buff-saturated team, but by then the Tank is an unkillable god amongst squishier gods (and probably has a better damage bonus as well) so instead of focusing on aggro could just go all out and beat the Hell out of stuff. Tanks can Smash too, it just usually takes a bit longer.

Genre Savvy would like to have a word with you.

Your characters live in a world that has been populated by superheroes for around the past 100 years. There are numerous stories and records about conflicts between Heroes and Villains (the plaques, contact and mission dialogue, the back story behind Paragon City/The Rogue Isles, etc.) around that your characters would more than likely know about and have as a frame of reference.

Beyond that, the experience of the individual character comes into play. For example, I've got a character who has been fighting crime in Paragon City for over 10 years (his first step up into the direct 'superhero' scene was with the Outbreak and helping with the Rikti War). When he went in to the 4th WWD Arc, he picked up on the fact that Malaise was planning something; he avoids answering your questions, telling you more information, and basically stalls you until the Dirge hits. My character may not have known what Malaise was stalling them for until the sound-system activated, but it's pretty obvious that he was up to something.

Heroes don't see everything coming, but if you don't use previous arcs, dialogue, and information you've gathered to at least try to get an idea about what might be happening, the only trope that Hero will be using is this one.

I never said they shouldn't make a more toned-down, alt. version of the animations. Just that what they had is what comes to mind when the ideas of 'Staff Fighting' and 'Super Heroes' are combined; a big, flashy set full of the spins, strikes, and fancy moves that still look like it'd pack a wallop if it hit you.

Doesn't mean I think they shouldn't have alt. animations that are more practical as opposed to the spectacle move set Staff comes with. Hell, I've been wanting a version of that for Dual Pistols for a while (the Master Mind pistol animations and Thug animations would probably work for half of them already).

Perhaps I misphrased my post a bit, and I apologize for giving the wrong impression.

As far as Endgame content itself goes, yeah, we're still in the 'Level 1-10 zones' right now. As far as total character progression is going? We're still continuing up the ladder (or rather, have found a ladder of divine light reaching down to the plateau that was the big five-oh).

Your characters themselves aren't knocked down back to level 1 status, and you surely aren't made humble. Remember how, all the way from 1 to 50, your character would do story arcs started at a certain level, and as you leveled up the enemies would get stronger as well (as you moved through their forces) until you finally fought the Big Bad at the end of the Arc (or moved on to the zone Task Force)? That is the same progression the iTrials are using, except they give you much more challenging content than the 1-50 story arcs that do account for your new found godly powers.

In a sense, I look at each iTrial as a condensed Task Force. Strikes like these that would have taken characters not climbing the Incarnate ladder hours to do (if they could do it at all), but due to the powers and level shifts we've earned (continuing power advancement beyond level 50) we can pull off these raids and assault operations in under 20 minutes.

Part of the complaint I'm seeing is more than likely due to the Incarnate system coming after so long having had that 'Level 50 = Full Stop' in progression. Folks are used to having 50 be the big, end-all be-all with nothing more to learn. Then the iTrials come along with new ways to advance your character and bring stronger foes along with it as well (which fits right along with the rest of the advancement of the game) and it throws players for a bit of a loop. Level 50 is no longer the end of the road as far as progression goes, and the idea that there are NPCs that are better than them still irks some folks, but that is where the path to godhood comes in.

You're character isn't a rookie; all the level 1-50 stuff has still happened and you've got all the experience and power that it has given you. However, learning all of that was never an easy thing, and there were numerous challenges and battles along the way to making a character a fully-fledged, world-saving Hero. Why should the path to godhood itself, ultimate cosmic power, not require tasks and tribulations as well? You are going beyond where you were at level 50, ascending to an even higher point in power, and the things you need to accomplish will get more difficult accordingly.

The game mechanics are more difficult as well, to also reflect this new advancement. Reason being, if it was more of the same 'go in, kill cetain mobs, fight AV, done' stuff that we got at level 50, it wouldn't feel like an accomplishment. It would just be more of the same content we've had, already done and done over again. What new things can you learn, new power can you attain if you just do the same thing you did back at level 15 with Dr. Vhazilok in Posi's Task Force? The iTrials have all of these dynamic, new mechanics in them because, at level 50 and beyond, those characters are the only ones that can actually access the tools and powers (both the 1-50 powers and the iPowers) that you need to overcome them.

But, to cut a long post short; we are no longer at the pinnacle of our powers, as another ladder has appeared for us to climb, and the climb farther up won't be easier than the climb we've already undertaken.

Well said, Praetor Tow! Those puny weaklings should know better than to face the awesome might of the just lords of Paragon City! How dare they attempt to attack us! We'll show them the error of their ways!

Over the top response aside, we're already more powerful than 90% of the game. You can already play a god. Go wipe out half of the Council army and almost all of their inner circle of super-powered commanders on your lunch break. Go beat up aspects of a being that devours dimensions for his breakfast because a man in a lab coat asked you to and you have nothing better to do that day.

But as for the iTrials? You're in Godhood 101. You are at level 1 as far as the Endgame goes. You've bested all the threats in Primal Earth, but Praetoria and the Well is the bigger fish that swam on up. The Hero has to overcome in the face of adversity, that's the point of the 'superhero' story.

I don't doubt we'll get more things like what you've suggested as our characters get even stronger, but right now? We just started accessing this power and are only somewhat better than we were at level 50. Once we get around to the Omega slot? I can easily see what you're talking about come up in-game.

What you are asking for, they've already done.

The Praetorian zone invasions that the Devs did had numerous (as in many more than 10) War Walkers, armies of IDF, and pretty much all those AVs (the whole group of Praetors themselves, then copies, then more copies of those copies).

It took a lot more than just 20 player characters to manage all of that, both incarnate and non. Well over twice that amount. Something that huge was a zone event for a reason.

The iTrials are targeted strikes, not one big all-out assault. Statesman doesn't have that power, Hell Emperor Cole doesn't even have that much power and he's backed by the Well. What makes you think we do, when we've just gotten halfway done with the iPowers?

...What authorities? Vanguard is sanctioned and fully supported by the United Nations; there isn't a group above them. The only 'questionable' things that happen within Vaguard are the renegade Vanguard operatives in Gaussian's arc (which are dealt with at the end of that arc) and the 'working with open villains' thing, which is explained by 'the enemy of my enemy is my friend' against the threat of the Rikti.

Paragon City does welcome aliens. The Kheldians are more than proof of that. What they don't welcome are alien invaders and extra-dimensional threats (a la the Rikti). And no one is 'subjected' to the Vanguard; you don't have to work with them if you don't want to. I have no issues on how they treat the invasion force that almost turned the Earth into a smouldering crater.

IMO, if you're a "4,000 year old deity" that is coming into Paragon City, as a level 2 character (assuming you've done the tutorial) you are 'new to life' again. A new world, a lack of followers and power, and a lot of different super powered beings that are a much stronger than you are means you are going to have a lot of new things to learn and adapt to.

As far as the the pigeon holing, that's just in the optional intro comic; you don't even have to read it if you don't want to. Besides, even if you do, that comic isn't referenced in the rest of the tutorial, or the rest of the game for that matter. All the game treats it as is that you were in Galaxy City at the time of the attack, and either helped out and stayed to help more, or helped out and threw in with Arachnos. Also, you don't receive your superpowers from the fallen hero, he absorbs some strength from you (or you take it from him, if you go Redside). You either give him a wakie, or gank him.

All that leaves is the 'proving yourself' thing which, as a new character, yes, you'll have to do. It was the same in the old tutorial and beginning missions, it's the same now, with the added bonus of setting up a storyline that actually goes all the way to 15-20 (so, you know, it seems like a continuous lead-up rather than a bunch of one-shots).

Indeed we do have Tights Sleek options for Gloves and Boots, though there is a disparity between them. The Glove selections for Tights Sleek allows for all the original gloves options (Smooth, Folded, Flare, Spiked, Finned, Large, and Banded). However, the Boot selections for Tight Sleek is only the standard Smooth option (so you can't have massive Tights Sleek boots or put fins/spikes on them, etc.).

This is almost exactly the Res values I have for my 50 Fire/Fire Scrapper, so you've got that assessment correct. As a /Fire you are by no means nearly as hardy when it comes to soaking damage from toggles as other secondary sets, but...

Yes. Yes. And more yes. You want Healing Flames to be up as often as possible, and to provide as large a heal as possible. Healing Flames is the bread and butter in /Fire, as it provides a massive heal (which more than makes up for the lower Resistance scores), and can be stacked easily for Toxic Res.

Psi Resistance can be a problem, but with a few select IOs (Impervium Armor:Psi Resists and Psi Resist set bonuses like in Crushing Impact) you can build up a small bunker of Psi Resistance to help blunt the damage (I've got around 15% on my Scrapper, thanks to the aforementioned sets).

However, Psi Resistance isn't as big of a hole in /Fire as Status Protection and Status Resistance can be. Healing Flames is pretty much key to this set, and anything that keeps you from using that while mobs beat on you is a bad thing.

I slotted quite a few Knockback Protection IOs into my build, and took Weave for the Immob. Protection (and as a LoTG:+Rech mule). Just as well, a few select slots and sets used to build up Mezz Resistance (Titanium Coating set bonuses and Impervious Skin: Status Resistance for armors and Crushing Impact again for attacks) can really help knock down the time you spend mezzed as a /Fire. This is really noticable in large missions and TFs, especially at the higher levels when mobs can easily stack mezzes.

Something that I found to be really helpful for /Fire oddly enough is slotting for +Regen. On average, I've got around 20 hp/sec. coming in from Health, unique IOs, and other set bonuses. Combine that with the huge heal from Healing Flames (just under 50% of my HP bar up around every 16 seconds) and the fact that /Fire takes more damage than most sets doesn't seem nearly as hard to counter as it might look initially.

As far as slotting for Defense goes, I've never done a build like that myself (as I mentioned above, I focused on Regen and filling the Status holes that /Fire has) but I would assume that if you did make a build for Defense, you could get away with less slotting for Healing Flames and on the Status Effects (given that you won't be hit as often). Just going with the 30-35% Def. range (if you couldn't reach 45%), provided you were willing to carry a few purples with you, would probably work fine, though I'd attempt to get the Def. values as close to softcapped as possible (fully slotting Weave and probably Stealth, taking Combat Jumping and Maneuvers, and using a lot of +Def set bonus sets like Kinetic Combat and Touch of Death).

Hope this has helped some!

- El D

A lot of zones (especially Blue-side) sit empty because frankly, we have too many of them. You have so many zones you can do content in, so many zones with newer content, and many zones where players already congregate, that there have been zones that are consistently empty unless a mission, TF, or GM Hunt sends you there.

I remember back when I first started playing, waaaaay back in 2004, Perez Park was a pretty busy place. Teams running through the mazes of trees, fighting mobs, and figuring out the game. Now? No one is ever in that zone. And as far as I know, Dark Astoria never even had that going for it. DA has been an empty, foggy space, as dead as the zombies that 'live' there, for as long as I can remember.

So, instead of adding yet another zone to the game, they're re-fitting an old, barely utilized zone using things that the players have been wanting: Solo Incarnate content, and a revamp of Dark Astoria itself.

As for the other reasons why the Devs didn't do (or rather wouldn't have) this treatment for the Shadow Shard: Development time, and resources.

A) Those zones are HUGE. Even if they skipped out on a full visual revamp like they're doing with DA, it would take a lot longer to get the revamp done. They just have so much more map to cover in the Shard, it'd take them probably until Issue 25 to unveil everything.

B) There are four of those massive zones, which compounds the time it would take to revamp them all even more. This would take a lot longer than just revamping the single DA zone, and would take time away from the artists and graphic designers that could have been used on things like new powersets, new costumes, etc.

C) Content. Compare Dark Astoria's little bits of lore and few arcs to the four huge, winding Task Forces and various other contacts that are in the Shard. They'd need to re-vamp numerous old Task Forces, instead of making a single new, stream-lined Trial and some new content (Hero/Villain Arcs and Co-Op missions).

Also, the Shard could be getting some more content/Dev Love later on. With the Rulu-Shin showing up, all the references to the 'Coming Storm' in the Shard, the fact that Incarnate content will be far from done when Praetoria's story ends, and that we've never actually fought Rularuu himself in-game (or even seen all of his various Aspects in-game either) we have plenty of reason to look to the Shard for future content. Besides, a revamp of the Shard has been something players have been wanting for a while, too.

tl;dr Version - Players have been wanting DA re-done and Solo iContent, two birds with one stone, Shard content could be in the pipe later on (especially if players keep asking about it)

Edit: Ack. I post this, only to scroll up and see that Wendy has beaten me to the punch with my own comments. That'll teach me to take too long editing my posts, I guess xD

Luckily, there is a Wolf pet option (no word on when it'll come out). In fact, it was the first one we found out about (use [Wolf Pet] to pull up in-game info). It'll probably look like the wolf models used in the new Halloween trial.

Also, I agree on the cost. At most, the vanity stuff should cost a single month's worth of points (400). On another (slightly threadjacking) note a unique vanity pet as a Tier 9 VIP reward would be pretty cool (doing specific costume sets for that stuff all the time might get a little stale, if only for lack of options aside from costumes).

Just a clarification, Malaise doesn't even touch Psionic Defense or Resistance. He's an illusionist, who takes his own madness and physically inflicts it on the real world (Illusion/Kinetics/Dark Blast are his in-game powersets). He made a illusory construct of Alexis Cole-Duncan floating in mid-air. What he fooled was your sense of sight; he didn't go about messing with your head.

Also, add my voice in support of the 'Who Will Die?' SSAs. Things don't always go so well for the Heroes, sometimes the villains do have the upper hand for a while, and things like this do happen. CoH as it was (Heroes always triumph!) was more Saturday morning cartoon. With arcs like these to bring more grit and villainy to balance it out, its more comic-booky in writing (after all, CoH is a Superhero Comic based MMO).

Upon seeing all the startled faces on the various heroes he passed, Andrew decided that choosing to wear his old Arachnos uniform probably hadn't been the best of ideas.

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