Jophiel

*tap*tap*tap*tap*

Heeellllooo.... hello? Level five here with 92 days since last played! Hello? Come on! I could at least be picking up Day Job badges! *tap*tap*tap* You there? I'm bloated with patrol experience here. Don't make me wait for Issue 19... Guys? Anyone?...

Yeah, that's cool. Pick the level 50 again. Jerk.

In a game like CoH, I don't understand where the complaint is that there's too much "plot". If you had to stop halfway through a taskforce and answer questions about Spanky's Boardwalk or had to locate the next mission door solely using clues gained from the history of Superdyne, I could see a complaint. But having a window to click through doesn't really affect gameplay for those who want to just hit the objectives and move on.

How does it negatively affect your gameplay to have an "overload" of information you don't want? The worst thing I can think of is that your own self-made bio doesn't match with game canon but that's a really minor complaint.

Provided it's not required to play the game (this is an MMO, not a puzzle/riddle game), give me as much information as you want. People who don't want it will click their mouse, find out that they need to "Free John Smith from the Freakshow" and skip the ending blurb, rushing along to find out that now they need to "Disable Three Terminals". There's nothing really wrong with that and it's good that the game allows you to play that way if you so choose.

On the other hand, if you're into plot then it's great that the game provides it. You want to know esoteric lore, you can find it out. You want to actually read all those plaques and signs and statues and learn the early history of Paragon City, it's all there for you. Or just click them and run on, looking for that badge. Whichever.

I usually have my characters' costumes done either right out of the gate or by level 2 or 3 once I can see them in the daylight and make a few tweaks. I'm usually satisfied enough with them that I rarely bother with cape or aura missions because I don't need to tinker further and came up with a costume concept that didn't need a cape/aura back at creation. Likewise with unlocking costume slots.

I seem to be an oddity in this though.

Is it really that high a cost for a sure thing? I mean, at the end, you're guaranteed to have exactly the recipe you wanted. How long would you have to PvP on average to gain that same PVP IO?

If you think it's quicker to PVP (and it should be since that's the intended route) then go for it. If you'd rather take the alternate route for a sure crack at the exact PVP IO you want, there it is.

In the market forum, there's four or five threads (edit: My mistake -- there's eight threads on the first page) selling one of the most sought after IOs so evidently people are managing to get them. The sudden bloom of them would make me guess that everyone's A-Merit gathering is paying off at about the same time.

Maybe he plays a tank and saw another tank with a temp power pet.

Mr Imposible, there are some temporary power pets with limited charges anyone can use such as Shivans, Warwolfs, Vanguard Heavies and Amy Jonnson. These are usually acquired by completing specific mission arcs, task forces, zone events or purchased with special merits.

"Lawful" is respect for a strict and established order. It doesn't have to be respect for the current established order. Heroes don't stop being "lawful" while running the Statesman TF just because they're undoubtably in willful violation of the laws of the Rogue Isles while trying to defeat its Head of State.

Well, a rogue seems to be one in it for personal gain and wealth. I also see a rogue as having some moral boundaries in that I wouldn't expect them to blow up an orphanage full of crippled kittens just for $10 whereas the right kind of villain may do it just for giggles.

Vigilantes put their quest for justice/vengeance ahead of man's law or due process. I'm not a big fan of the "Let's let a thousand crippled orphan kittens die if I can just punch this villain" storyline for vigilantes as I personally see it more as "Getting the bad guy is more important than staying within the law but a moral compass is what keeps me from being one of the bad guys". Unfortunately the tip missions for vigilantes seem to have you more concerned with punching bad guys than paying any attention at all to the welfare of others. That seems more like a villain who just likes beating up other villains than it does a less-than-pure hero.

As for your character, I suppose it depends on your goals. I have a vigilante but it's a "hero" who finds the laws constricting and traditional heroes such as the Freedom Phalanx to be stuffy and full of themselves. Breaking into the PPD to get some info is completely fine with her and there's nothing wrong with keeping that cash and equipment she "confiscated" from Crey rather than giving it over as evidence if it helps finance her own equipment development. I have a rogue who is happy to rob banks, jewelry stores and steal shiny precious things but isn't out to be overlord of the world or wantonly kill people just because. She's in it for fun and greed and thinks "power" would be desperately boring if it meant she had to make the trains run on time. Cops and Longbow and heroes in her way are just part of the game but she has no stomach for murdering "true" innocents.

Eh, bit skimpy for the price. Of course I rarely use auras anyway so -- for me -- it has even less value.

I won't bother moaning and griping about it. Folks who think it's worth it should buy it and enjoy it. I'll save myself ten bucks and hold close the lesson the Party Pack taught me: Just 'cause they make it doesn't mean I have to buy it. And I'll wait and hope for a more traditional booster with a focus on costume pieces (I know auras technically qualify but you know what I mean).

I used this guide as the basis for my War Mace Shield tanker and he's a beast at level 50. Like others said, he really started to come into his own in the late 20's or early thirties and just became unstoppable from there. Like one level I was playing +1/x3 and a couple levels later I was running +2/x8 and going AFK during combat to refill my drink. Slotted up with sets now, I have to work at it to get my endurance bar to move under the 85% mark.

Even if you don't use War Mace, there's a lot of good basic Shield information in there and slotting suggestions.

Edited to add: If you haven't or don't usually, I would recommend looking at Frankenslotting to maximize your slot potential, especially in regards to END consumption. Two Defense/EndRx set IOs in one of your shield toggles is worth more than a generic Defense and a generic EndRx.

Lookin' awesome! You do great work.

I'm a big fan of the stuns myself. Not as flashy as KB powers but it's funny because they seem to stay stunned forever.

The mines beneath Paragon City are exhausted and abandoned. Digging new tunnels would cause all of Rhode Island to crash down below sea level and the ocean would rush in to cover it.

I've been in AE missions where I outleveled a mob ranking (Say I'm lvl 31 and the only minions in the mission are 5-30 and stop spawning) and took the large hit in xp for not having a complete set of minions/Lts/Bosses. I've never tried to fight spiderlings exclusively so I have no idea if that'd be applicable here.

Check the name thread sticked at the top of the forum. Both people calling out names they've found open and people letting folks know of names they've recently released. You might find something you like.

It's correct that the dots measure server load rather than population so upgraded servers with more people might register less dots than older server hardware with less people.

That said, we don't know how different the server hardware is between Virtue and Freedom and the difference in population is largely academic since groups & task forces are easy to find here.

Just draw him a smiley face and it can be whoever he wants it to be

Happy birthday, Bay!

Playing with my higher level (post Stamina) projects and everyone under 20 is on the back burner. I have six or so characters that are just around lvl 4 who are waiting on I19 to really get started. I could play them now and respec them later but I'll probably enjoy playing them more with inherent fitness, health and swift/hurdle.