Johnny_Butane

Modeling has little do to with the 'look' in question. It's partly a texturing issue and partly lighting/rendering. They actually deform/animate better and have better body anatomy (if not realistic proportions to start from) than characters in CoH.

What I'm saying is one could take those same character meshes(for the most part), retexture them, light them better and place them in a similarly re-done environment, they'd look fine.


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There's little thinking involved with Protean, and he's a poor example of design.

He's basicially the devs flipping off melee ATs because really they are the only ones who have to adapt to, or are put at disadvantage by, his gimmick. That makes it a poorly designed gimmick IMO. They wouldn't do a boss fight with an enemy 100% immune to all ranged attacks, so why should the inverse be acceptable?

Positioning as a fight gimmick may work in other super hero MMOs but they don't have long rooting animations, movement supression and as big of a melee/ranged division as this game. Those fights can be more dynamic because that game and its combat was designed to be more dynamic from day one. It doesn't work here because this game wasn't. Here, the devs went out of their way to discourage jousting and run-n-gun by design, so creating an encounter where you force it on 50% of players is bad design as far as I'm concerned.


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That's a just syptom of the real problem; designing an AT solely around something as limited and and artificial as aggro control was a mistake.

Honestly, if enemies didn't stick to Tankers like glue, what would be the point of them? The fact that aggro control is so easy and automatic is frankly the only saving grace for Tankers, because they have little else to offer (lolBruising).

Would requiring them to work harder just to maintain aggro make them more fun? I doubt most people would think so. Gauntlet allowing people to focus on attacking (and generating threat as a by-product) is really the only thing that's kept the AT going. Aggro control is already such a niche, making it more demanding or requiring more focus on it wont make it more appealing.

Hami is one of the biggest insults to Tankers I can think of. "Your critical role in fighting this massive threat to humanity is to cycle Taunt over and over and maybe occasionally use an inspiration or heal."

Because that feels just like being a super hero. I'm reminded of the non-existant issue of The Mighty Thor where he fought Galactus by saying "Urrh!" over and over while smacking his palm and fist together for ten pages straight while other people did cool stuff.

I'm tired of people who min/max, outfit their character with tons of IOs and do everything they can to make the game easier on themselves and then complain the game is too easy to play. If they want challenge, they can unslot all enhancements and run a STF with the debuff options turned on and enemies set to +4. If that's still too easy, maybe this isn't the game they're looking for.


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Playing devil's advocate: How is that really any different than needing to be an Incarnate to beat the badguys?

If you're a swordsman, you're not beating the badguys by virtue of your superior melee abilities and swordsmanship; it's because of whatever magical or technological MacGuffin the TF or SF requires.

For most characters, the Incarnate powers shown don't really build on your character's theme, unless in the case of Judgement you happen to be using an elemental themed powerset like fire, ice, electriciticy or darkness.

I don't really see the difference, besides one being permanent and other other not. Neither is really going to feel like a power or ability intrinsic to your character, depending on what your character is supposed to be, and will be just as alien and arbitrary as someone handing your time-transposed bone club wielding caveman a blinking ray gun and telling them they'll be using it to defeat whatever the threat of the day is.


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The key world there is "being seen as". As opposed them actaully being more powerful. Meaning it's more of a story thing.

There's nothing that's been shown of the first five levels of the Incarnate system that suggests to me that all Incarnate players will be able to go toe to toe with Statesman and Recluse in RV, or solo them in their native form as level 54 AVs. Unless of course, the other 9 slots come with a level shift like the Alpha's ultimate menifestation, but there's nothing contrete to suggest they will.

That being said, they could save a lot of time and just make the entire Incarnate system a simple text box that pops up every once and a while that says "You are now more powerful than Statesman and Lord Recluse!" and call it a day.

The bottom line for me is if the game mechanics, mission design and power design still enforce that you're not their peer, then it really doesn't matter what the flavour text says. Heck, you can already pretend to be more powerful than them in AE, so you don't have to wait for the Incarnate system to pretend in the rest of the game


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Do I have to point out that these effects were already done and in game?

-Steam Jets is exactly the same as the build up effect with Self Destruct.
-The Tarot Cards particle effects were done for the Magic Booster.
-Half the trees in Paragon drop leaves. I doubt it was much work make the particle effect emmit from the character and stick it in a menu.

Those are just the ones that jump out at me. I wouldn't be surprised if there's more.

At best these are slight tweaks of existing effects. I don't think someone who already paid for the Technology Super Booster should have to pay for them just taking an existing effect that was created for that pack, setting it to loop and sticking it in a menu.

That goes for the other two. Just like the Open Present emote, they're looking to charge us twice for stuff already in game that they did very little work to repurpose.


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Sure, but the problem is

1) These packs feel like they coming way too often now. After the Party Pack debacle they shouldn't really have been thinking about one until the new year, and they shouldn't have done one so soon after a major expansion to begin with.

2) The devs have been charging extra for stuff they shouldn't be. An emote that's been in the game for years? Dance emotes created for, and originally included in, Going Rogue? The long requested ability to change your character's height after creation? They had no business charging extra for those and not having them part of issue releases (and in the case of the GR emotes, part of GR).

3) The packs have adversely affected content releases. Instead of being extra, IMO we're paying for stuff we used to get for free. I don't care if the devs claim otherwise.


Those other MMOs that have a sub fee and don't produce as much content as this game used to or go overboard on numerous MTs? I don't play them. Hint hint.



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I suspect his characterization is going to be unlike how he was in YJ or in Teen Titans.

In Young Justice he was the scrappy, overconfident and a girl chasing wanna-be ladies man. He wasn't outright stupid, but didn't have the best judgement.

In Titans the writers made him pull a 180 and was more emo, indecisive with serious self-confidence issues and was a little bit of a dumb jock.


So far in the animated series we know he's fresh off the government clone farm as of the first episode of Young Justice. He wears military fatigue cargo pants and combat boots. He looks serious in every shot released of him and is pretty stiff in the group shots.

I wouldn't be surprised if he started off being a lot like 'Superman X' from the Legion of Super Heroes cartoon; a gruff, dehumanized 'good soldier' who develops more of a personality over the course of the series.



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One thing I geeked out on was how each their ice powers were distinct and used in different ways.

Mr. Freeze had what could be called an AoE "ice thrower" (flamethrower but with ice). Icicle II had more of an Ice Melee/Icy Assault thing going on. Killer Frost was more of an Ice Control Dominator. Captain Cold was like Dual Pistols with Cryo Rounds (except with one gun).


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Mr Freeze says to the picnickers: "Enjoying the family time? My family has other plans."

One could infer from this that Freeze and a number of cold-themed villains have formed a group and these attacks are organized for some purpose.


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Resources.
Where are they getting the metal and materials to create the armor and weapons for all these troops? Let alone house and feed them. There just isn't enough space in Praetoria. They can't just go out and mine, seeing as the Earth is covered in DE. And you think suddenly tripling the population wouldn't cause a huge problem with their existing food production?

From another dimension isn't a viable response from what we've seen. Neuron is *just* getting to the point of having a large scale portal generator ready for the invasion, and it takes up a whole tower. They simply couldn't have the capabilities to be sending out large scale resource gethering crews and have off-world processing and production. It's just not in their means from what we've been presented with GR.


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http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showthread.php?t=218838


He didn't say "There's a new booster pack of them coming out alongside of GR".

He said they're "in GR" meaning as part of GR. Said emotes were in the GR beta, they are used by by GR NPCs and with the exception of people using the pack, are only seen by people who bought GR. They were made and intended for GR. That's pretty cut and dry.


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I argue they have none of those. That has not been the picture of Praetoria shown to me from playing the Going Rogue content.

The entire planet has been vastly depopulated by upwards of 50 years of the Hamidon Wars. A disproportionate number of these have been the super humans. We never see it stated explitictly, but Praetoria the city (NP, IC and NU) is likely the largest stable settlement of humanity left. Other cities exist, but I don't get the impression they're back on their feet yet and able to commit troops or resources.

No matter what arcs you take, Praetoria is still in upheval when you leave. The Resistance is still going, the people may be rioting when their Enriche was cut off, the new zone events suggest further mass protests, etc. Also, the Emperor may be counting on Maelstrom to provide him with key info about Primal Earth, but anyone who's done the missions with him in it can tell he's about three bullets short of a full clip.


Really, Praetoria is the side with the severe disadvantage; all it would take is one strike team to go to Praetoria and blast a hole in the miles of undefended sonic barier (or threatening to) to throw them into total chaos.


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Encouraging people to leave means you also get to enjoy news of more devs being let go and is the best way to torpedo chances for future expansion packs and funds for content releases. Think I'm the only one not keen on grinding Demonic Spiders? Think again.


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Except, canonically some Loyalists are against the Invasion. Marchand sends Loyalists to Primal Earth to avert an all out war. Marchand is a Responsibility Loyalist. Power Loyalists on the other hand would more likely go to the Isles.

As a Loyalist, chosing Paragon over the Isles is the ultimate choice you make between Responsibility or Power. The game says as much.

"Go to Paragon City. Become a Hero. There may still be time to save the innocents of Primal Earth from Cole's invasion, if you can convince them that not all Praetorians seek to destroy their way of life. You'll have to go to Primal Earth and help the people there in any way, shape, or form in order to show them the goodness that resides within Praetoria. Perhaps then, Cole will see that an invasion doesn't have to happen, that the war effort can be used to help secure Praetoria from monsters like the Hamidon."

"Go to the Rogue Isles. Become a Villain. Why would you want to go to help the people of Primal Earth when all they've shown is disdain and hatred towards Praetoria? If you go to the Rogue Isles, you can carve out your own destiny, your own path for power, for glory, for whatever you want. When the time comes that Cole invades, you'll either join alongside him, or fight him off using your new found power."


To me, if you're a Loyalist in Paragon and you take on and complete a task to sabotage the Mediport system, or even perform some espionage, that should act like an instant Morality mission and boot you to the Isles because it goes against why Loyalists chose to go to Paragon in the first place.

For all we know, perhaps it does.



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Why? Why would they be tough? Everything I've seen of Praetoria as a Praetorian in Going Rogue indicates they're not that hot:

-At level 19, my character alone easily beat a clone of Emperor Cole that had half his power.

-Most of their super humans are dead.

-Their military has been structured around fighting the specific threat of the Devouring Earth. They shouldn't be that prepared to fight a planet of superhumans, even if they've been preparing to fight a planet of superhumans. "No battle plan survives contact with the enemy."

To put it in some historical context: the tactics and training the US practiced in WW2 and Korea left them unprepared to fight a very different war in Vietnam.

The state our Praetorian characters leave Praetoria doesn't lead me to think the Praetorians will be waging the war united. Even if Cole has the people's support, the people are Enriche-addled normals who the game describes as having never raised their voice, let alone fought.

So why would the Praetorians be tough? Because they have battle suits and robots? So do the Rikti, with technology hundreds of years in advance of either Primal Earth or Praetoria, plus the Rikti are psychic to boot.

IMO, Going Rogue didn't do a good job of setting the Praetorians up as a credible threat for level 50 heroes or for Primal Earth. Quite the opposite.


Three things:

1. I'm against enemies who /take longer/are annoying/are tougher yet don't have commensurately greater rewards.

As they appear in the revamped Maria and Tina arcs, the Praetorians fall into this catagory.

In the case of the two new TFs, if they contain more of the same, they can rot for all I care. As long as Incarnate Shards drop from any old 50, why should I deal with the devs Demonic Spider BS?

2. I work all day and when I come home, I don't want to have to work more at a game I pay for because the min/maxers want more "challenge" after they did everything they could to remove challenge from the rest of the game for themselves. If Demonic Spiders is all I have to look forward to from the rest of the end game, why should I stay subscribed? Story? I can read the story on Paragon Wiki for free. It's easy that way because most of the story is told through text anyways.

3. Also, I don't get off on the devs moving the bar two notches higher and justifying it because the Alpha slot moves characters up one notch. That's not my definition of becoming more powerful. Also, I'm frankly not impressed with the Alpha and I think it alone is a poor place to begin the Incarnate system. While the abilities in the rest of the system do interest me, the direction the Incarnate content appears to be going kills any desire I have to chase it, with or without those Incarnate powers.


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Can anyone else at the Con confirm they said this?

And next week as in the 11th to the 15th or the 18th to the 22nd?



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"I don't know what I'd do if I ever lost my dear Aurora. Maybe...put on 30lbs of muscle and go live in the storm drains..."



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Rainamker, the studio that now owns ReBoot, announced in 2008 they were working on a feature length ReBoot film. AFAIK, nothing since has been heard of it, but some early test animation that some fans think is from it showed up on one of Rainamker's demo reels last year or so.

Note that all of the writers and creators of the original series are long gone and there's been rumours the film would take place in the ReBoot universe but follow different characters, so I wouldn't get my hopes up.



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