Grey Pilgrim

Combat Jumping is going to be a good idea for you, especially since you're going for defense. It's a very cheap toggle to run and has a nice little boost to all defense that will stack nicely.

Burn as is... well, I'd say it's optional for a Fire/Fire Tank. Sure, you can use it against AVs, but you have good ST damage already. Also, Burn is very situational. You can still take it if you have room, but I find my other power picks to be more useful to me all or most of the time, personally.

I do wish Burn was a good power to have at all times... it should still be a key part of the flavor to the set (like Shield Charge is for Shields), but it just isn't with how situational it is.

But as I said, grab it if you feel you have room and won't be nixing another needed power.

They still can when people are talking about things currently in-game. Most of the heated threads right now are about future things they can't discuss (not to mention that they're quite busy).

That's actually another reason I want GR to get here... I do think more sets could use a bit of tweaking from Castle, but I know he isn't going to touch them until that GR stuff is done. Kind of a long hiatus for some of that stuff, even though there aren't any REALLY unbalanced ATs out there (mostly just some powersets that need some adjusting).

Eh, no worries, we should hopefully find some more. We have a good starting lineup.

Shout out if you want in, people! Couple of spots to go.

Well, I took this all as them being goofy and joking around (I do like how they do their in-character voices... they fit altogether too well and make me laugh). I guess I should hope that this is for real now, otherwise people are going to be ticked? I do wish they would make an official announcement so we know for sure. Hasn't speculation bitten them enough already?

And dang, Flux, I just teamed with you last night. Is this what I get in response, more dhoom? If this all is for real, it may be them recognizing that "hey, we should put out something before GR, it's been awhile since the last issue," rather than lifting something OUT of GR (and even if they did, they might put something else in to replace it, for all we know). I certainly don't see it as a comment on GR as an expansion. Put away the tinfoil hat!

So, I'm all for more content... nifty graphics, meh, I can wait. To which evil overlord do I bow for more content?

Hey all, have we ever heard an official reasoning for why Crystals can be spawned randomly by Kheldians? I finally played through the final Kheldian arc (my Peacebringer is within sight of 50, at level 46), and it's pretty clear from there that there are supposed to be limited amounts of crystals, and that their coming to Paragon poses extreme danger (and defeating them and the two Nicti in the Council makes things safe enough on earth that some Kheldians can move on to other hot spots in the galaxy).

Yet... they'll get plopped down everywhere, at random, if a Kheldian is around or on a team. That... doesn't make sense. So, have we ever heard WHY they have been set up as they have? By the storyline, we really should only be seeing these Cyst Crystals in the Kheldian story arcs and in the caves in the Imperious Task Force.

I guess I can roll with Voids and Quantums popping up (though they don't work with some groups well... but I could see this being tricky to change up on a tech end), but the Cysts really do bug me. They're not a problem to defeat, but they really should be unique encounters, which they're not with the current setup.

Yeah, I think that's mostly the form-switching at work. You want to adjust on the fly and be active with what you have on, what powers you are activating, etc. Every encounter can have (or maybe require) a different approach.

That's not necessarily a bad thing, but that's not as simple as my Scrappers are, who mostly dash in and starting beating stuff up. The most tricky thing they have to do is reposition for better AOE sometimes, and not that often.

I don't find my Khelds to be that much more work or less active than my Blasters or Controllers, though.

Heh, I would guess that as well. It is a bit more dramatic to send them flying everywhere, but it does make things a little annoying. My PB was teamed with another PB last night, and I was tanking for the team in Dwarf. I found myself wishing he wouldn't scatter mobs with Solar Flare, hehe.

Yup, it was and is still reduced. They're still worth dropping as their attacks can still stun you, and it can add up, but they're not nearly as much trouble as they used to be.

I remember having to really prepare for a fight with a Void on my Peacebringer when I was level 7 or 8. I'd buff up and go all out in Nova. Even then things could be a little hairy- especially if they stunned me (these encounters got easier and easier as I leveled, though). The Warshade I started up after those changes isn't even noticing the Voids, other than to pick on them as much as possible. *chuckles evilly*

Part of me kind of misses the challenge, but I know it was a bit over the top for them to be doing extra damage to us, and contributed to people not like the AT.

Yeah, I find it useful to hold off on most damage auras until after Stamina, too. I know some people think it helps out with damage before then, but I just see it draining my endurance really fast, heh.

*chuckles evilly*

I told him to let me know what he wanted to do. He finally told me! Heh, he actually put the money on me without knowing what I could do... he asked after he paid 100 million to help him out in game for a few hours. Not sure if that's a compliment or not!

Tal and I have joined forces (well, I'm this is me working after being auctioned off, but this will be fun) for a Master of the Imperious Task Force attempt. He says he has a few other people lined up, so I believe we will need at least three more people to give this a try Saturday night at 7 PM Central/8 PM Eastern.

Currently, we have a Stoner (not sure if it's a Brute or a Tanker), Grey Pilgrim, a Fire/Fire Tanker, and Tal's Stalker. I think we have a possible kin for one of Tal's slots as well (can't remember what all he told me in game, sorry Tal). At any rate, more damage, buffing, and debuffing would be great for this, as I think we have the aggro side covered. Shout out if you want in. Should be a fun challenge.

Tal, please post and let me know how many people you have and their names, so I can make sure to get them in right.

1. Tal'nor of Ja (Stalker)
2. Grey Pilgrim (Fire/Fire Tanker)
3. ClarenceZ (Stone Tank/Brute)
4. Dealdy (Dom?)
5. Astrolynx (Peacebringer)
6. Nericus (Golden Radiance, Rad Corruptor)

If you're going to be on a server much, Postagulous, check out that server's channels... it makes it a lot easier to find teams. But I must say I haven't had too much issue with making teams on Victory and Champion just by using the search function... might be the time you play?

I'll try to remember to shout it out in Victory's section, though that is a long ways out from now. I'll do my best, though.

Puce, go ahead and slot a PvP IO set (or enhancement), but Fiery Aura doesn't really need it. I don't know that you were necessarily saying they're needed for Fiery Aura, but I could see less knowledgeable types thinking you were saying that, which isn't true at all.

Hera, my MA/Regen Scrapper begs to differ with your impression of Regen in late levels.

Fiery Aura is pretty nice for Consume, which you can get early on... helps the stretch to Stamina quite a bit. Adding in Healing Flames made it so I could drop most of my toggles while soloing early on. I can also attest to Grey Pilgrim doing well in those early TFs (though he does miss the big ST attacks you get in the 30s with Fiery Melee). KB is probably the most annoying thing for the set at those early levels, but not too much is doing it before Acrobatics levels, at least compared to higher level mobs.

Zamuel, The Television was posting in a thread saying it seemed like a bad setup to have the market load the entire database of transactions, as that caused a bigger load time when first opening it. My guess would be that they're trying to make that process better (perhaps not start at loading anything), not necessarily merge the markets. I'm all for merging the markets (though I do like how some salvage is much cheaper redside... makes that part of crafting nicer), but I can't really read merging the markets into that kind of elliptical (yet funny) post.

EB, I do like this idea. Little bits of customization to story arcs and TFs like this would be fun. I'd also love to see a nemesis system here. Those would add a lot of variety and differentiation between all our characters.

It's... Valentine's Day. And it fits the theme of that day. It's not like they're tossing out a bunch of "defeat 500 of 'x' foe" and see how quickly you can do it!

Yeesh, we really do need some Going Rogue tidbits if people are seeing negative things in a goofy Valentine's contest that ties in with the game. I was thinking it was a funny innovation from the Secret Admirer badge, myself.

*added*

Ocho, you're hilarious. Good one!

Did not!

WoW was repetitive for me in that the stories weren't too in depth, and a lot of the things you are fighting get reskinned all the time (in the teens, you fight a smaller, purple reptile, in the 20s, it's a little bigger and RED! Wow!). Also, most cave missions off of the main map had very similar layouts (do note that I think WoW has some neat looking locales and dungeons, though... the reason I don't play it is how grindy and not fun it's gear focused, big team end game is).

But yeah... all MMOs are going to have this to some extent. I was in the STO beta for all of a week and a half, and I ran into the same type of room (a control room of sorts) about 4-5 times in the little bit I played. It's somewhat the nature of the beast.

That's no reason to rest on laurels, of course. I would like to see regular additions of unique maps and maps to be used in more common missions, as they really do liven things up. I'm guessing GR is going to do this, but we obviously don't know yet.

Well, it does depend. There are some Psychic attacks that are typed only to psychic, so Shields can get hit by those easier. However, most of them do have a typed component, so it isn't TOO much of an issue. For the Carnies, another bonus is that your high defense helps you dodge their end drain on defeat that can make them annoying.

That's another reason adding defense to Fiery Aura is nice... you get to dodge annoying things like that more.

Part of this is the whole "we got a new shiny, but we want MORE new shinies!" attitude. Mission Architect was nice, but we wanted more content from the devs (and more options for the MA, darnit!). People have been asking for power customization for years, but we want more tilesets (and more customization, darnit!).

Heh, it would be frustrating to be a developer, I think. I think I do want more maps and tilesets, as it does make a big difference in the variety of the game to me (and this would be both unique ones, and ones used in common missions). After my long hiatus from the game, I really enjoyed the little touches that had been added. Running around AP, mobs were doing more natural things (rather than clumped around in aggressive groups), leaning against walls, etc. Same thing for a few of those missions you can get from your first contact, as they have a unique map (firelit, smokey room for the Hellions, a Superadyne lab for the Skulls, etc.).

Just one unique map can help out a lot, too. Some TFs stand out more to me because they have a unique map or look (Synapse, ITF, LGTF, etc.).

I do want this balanced out with other things in-game, of course, but it is something I'd like to see along with a bunch more story arcs and such to play through.

Yeah, my Shield/SS is at 50, but I like playing him fairly often. I keep waiting for this to come out to take him for a spin again, as I want to see the new looks some more.

The desire has been posted about a lot on the forums, so I don't know that it's a secret to the devs (and I doubt that any of them is against the idea). I dunno, it'd just be better if they just acted on it sooner rather than later (and we're already at later, heh).

But part of it is that Paragon Studio's marketing department needs to move. Castle has posted today, saying he can only comment on things that don't reveal what's coming, so he doesn't step on toes of marketing a nd such. Which does make sense. What doesn't make sense is why so much about Going Rogue is being kept mum. Likely we'll get an announcement this week or next by the sound of things, but that's still weeks too late in my mind. People were pretty patient waiting until January for the most part... once that broke and we got nothing was... not good.

That's part of where all the "dhoom" comes from. People don't have anything to talk about, so then they start conjecturing wildly. Give us some solid info, and people will tear that apart for a week, ready for the next bit of info. Little tidbits are better than random conjecture.

Eh, not too different from what we have been saying for a long time. We really do need more maps and more tilesets. I know running around redside really opened up how diverse things felt for me while playing- if the devs could do that again, it would make a real difference for normal content and the AE.

I don't really care about the "we're stuck in a city" comments. Jack Emmert tried to make a big deal about how CoX is limited to one city (talk about a blatant oversimplification), and I don't see it that much. Our only real limitation is maps and tilesets- you can come up with more variations on bases, labs, apartment buildings, different types of outdoor environments (Zamuel's newest AE arc made me wish we had more forest and jungle maps), and CoX would be fine for variety.