IronSpyder

Bah. The lack of a 10 - 15 strike force is annoying. Still, I guess it makes sense, given the lack of travel powers in most of that range.

So there really isn't a 10 - 15 SF? I looked high and low for reference to one, but nothing. I even PMed Alexa about it, but she didn't seem sure, either. Hmm.

Now I'm gonna have that Frank Zappa song running through my head all day.

Not that that's a bad thing, mind you...

There are many groups in the game that have one or more archvillains, or at least a monster. There are some, however, that have neither or only one. The clockworks are the only ones I can think of that have both an archvillain (the Clockwork King) and a monster (Babbage).

Since I'm bored at work, I'm interested in seeing what ideas people could come up with for AVs or monsters. Contenders are:

Family (no AVs or monsters)

Sky Raiders (an AV exists, but doesn't appear in-game)

Banished Pantheon (monster, but no AV)

Crey (2 AVs, no monster)

Malta (monster, but no AV)

Nemesis (AV, no monster)

Rikti (no AV or monster)

Tsoo (no AV or monster)

Vahzilok (AV, no monster)

I have a few questions, if States would be gracious enough to answer them:

How are these skills developed? Will there be an in-game utility to keep improving these skills?

We got an example of what the security skill can do - can we get some examples of what the forensics or communication skills (for example) might do?

Thanks!

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I just recently completed the preatorian story arc and defeated all of the archvillains (with help) and did not recieve any badge.

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Is that the level 40 - 45 arc, or the 45 - 50 arc?

The task force badges never did show up on test, but it's awesome that they're going in. At least doing the old Numina TF gets me some kind of reward >_>

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I think he means The Terra Conspiracy where you learn how Hamidon came to be and where his name comes from. Gotta read the clues.

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Oops. Well, it was a good 10 levels ago >_>

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I never got that one, unfortunately. I think my favourite arc was the "Will of the Earth". Although I don't really like fighting the Devouring Earth, the plot twist in there of finding out the "origin of Hamidon" was really cool.

Yes...

[/ QUOTE ] I finished the Will of the Earth story arc but I don't remember finding out the origin of Hamidon...Can you PM it to me?

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Since other people might want to know, I'll post a

BIG


HUGE


SPOILER WARNING!!




You have been warned!
























It turns out that Hamidon used to be a guy, a scientist who's first name I can't remember, but his last name was (obviously) Hamidon. He was an environmentalist, but a bizarre experiment gone wrong turned him into the being he is today. The rest of the arc dwells on finding his former girlfriend, who he wants to use as the "mother" of a new species of being.

I never got that one, unfortunately. I think my favourite arc was the "Will of the Earth". Although I don't really like fighting the Devouring Earth, the plot twist in there of finding out the "origin of Hamidon" was really cool.

Yes...

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Or he saved a bunch on his car insurance by switching to Geico.

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Exactly! I'm just saying that we don't know what to expect from this shady fellow!

Maybe he's toying with us.

Maybe in 2 days, he'll start a thread:

"Special announcement! The special announcement is that last night I had pizza for dinner! Hahahahaha!"

Yeah, it's a trick I bet!

Sweeeeet!

I have no idea what it's going to be, but

Sweeeeet!

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I think a better solution would be to have an alternate, AV-less mission to choose whenever an AV mission comes up

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Only if you get a permanent hit to your influence for "being a coward". Seriously. Who would hold in high regard a "hero" who made other heroes do the dirty work.

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Mandingo, how I grok your mouth music!

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What the original poster was trying to say is that Archvillains can be made trivial no matter how many powers they get or how hard the players are nerfed. Putting them in single person missions not only becomes frustrating for most players who like soloing, but to those who have the resources of having higher level friends, the fight can easily be made trivial.

Just the other day my friend, a level 17 tank came across his first Archvillain, Dr. Vahzilok. He could have gotten a full team to take the guy out, but that would've taken around an hour to find the specific people needed in the battle, and there's no guarantee that half of them wouldn't be idiots or want to try to take the team off on their own. What did Mr. Level-17 do? He called me up, with my level 50. One shot and Dr. Vahz goes down, and the guy can go on with getting more missions. After all it's not like he's losing a ton of XP by skipping the AV fight. At most he might get a DO, but I already bought him all the DO's he'll need until level 22.

Putting AV's in single player missions is giving certain players with the right connections an unfair advantage while making an unessesarily difficult hassle blocking others from playing single player (forcing people to team is a no-no). AV's are fun for a team to take on, but do not belong in single player missions where their combinations of powers make it often impossible for a single player to complete their mission.

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Yes, but you can do that with any challenge in the game (except task forces). You can trivialize street hunting, missions, bosses, archvillains, and defeat x of x missions by calling in a higher level player. If someone wants to treat it like that, it's their call, but I feel that they're ripping themselves off. They're intended as a challenge worthy of a hero, and it's benficial to treat it as such. With a well-assembled team (not consisting of level 50s), I've been able to overcome every archvillain encountered so far. This includes the nasty ones like Nosferatu and Anti-Matter. I'm currently up against Infernal, and I'll do the same thing to defeat him as I did the others.

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I think it should not come out till the bugs are worked out. From what I have seen/heard, there are more than a few.

I say October 10 or so. 3-4 weeks from now might be enough time to get the kinks worked out. Personally, I don't care for buggy release, so the more stable the better even if it's November

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That's a little extreme, I think. The content on the test server is definitely not fit for release just yet, but I wouldn't give it more than a few weeks, tops.

Well, you'll still get archvillains in normal story arcs too. Praetorians aren't the only guys on the block with archvillains - Nemesis, Nosferatu, Countess Crey, and Kronos all show up in normal story arcs, and those are just the ones I can think of offhand.

Not everything in the game is meant to be soloed. Soloing in the game is not some sort of God-given right that you are entitled to experience from level 1 - 50.

These archvillains gave me a tough time too, and still do, but with a great team, they can be taken down. I don't recommend waiting until you over-level the archvillain, though. First of all, all the minions will be several levels below you. Second of all, I've still seen archvillains like Anti-Matter and Infernal one-shot players that were a few levels higher than them.

Some of the archvillains are even con, like Nemesis. Most of the praetorians will be a few levels above you. Some of them can be avoided altogether, like Bile, Nemesis Rex, and the first few Envoy of Shadows encounters. Personally, I feel it makes sense that the Praetorian bosses should be tough - they are, after all, the equivalent of the heroes in the game. It would be lame to find out that Positron, Mynx, Bastion and the like were really pushovers.

Anyways, just go to Peregrine and hit the broadcast channel. I've always been able to find people to help.

Rats, now I'm hungry