Lazarillo

Prometheus is the absolute most likely, based on what we know, but he'd also absolutely be a disappointment. For it to be a truly entertaining twist, the letter writer should be a character we already knew and were familiar with when the letters started appearing, regardless of anything else.

...however, I do admit that if it were Dillo, I could forgive them for going against that rule.

So have I.
I am also going to conveniently not say, since, y'know, that way when it's revealed I can say I was right no matter what.

This is a significant improvement of value. I'm still not sure they're worth buying, given how frequently they drop in-game and how cheaply they can be purchased by not-my-actual-money, even when there's a streak of bad luck, but it's a step in the right direction, and at least means that the ones that drop from packs (they're getting the same treatment...right?) will no longer be considered just a few extra delete-clicks. Probably.

I don't believe the patch with the interface has been brought around yet. I know that on Beta the enhancements weren't tradeable/marketable, and the checklist function was still not included either.

I've caught Ghost Widow and Silver Mantis robbing the bank in Peregrine Island a couple of times.

And they're one of only two getting anything proliferated this round. Call foul on the Controllers, I guess, but they're almost out of options anyway at this point.

I suspect both the STF and the LRSF will be more or less redone from the ground up. If the Phalanx breaks up, and with both Statesman and Malaise dead, there's going to have to be some serious revamps to the villainside TF, and obviously, and just giving someone else the same TF as Statesman had would be kinda "eh". So I suspect both those two will be relegated to Ouroboros or the like, and we'll get two brand new, endgame-worthy TFs in their place. And I do mean "new", not a lame "Sutter and Kal get promoted".

Yeah, I agree, which is probably why Statesman is "off clearing his head" rather than "raining Zeus' Lightning upon any and all offenders" at this point.

I realize opinions will vary, but I've actually been reasonably impressed with the writing in the signature arcs. My one big beef with the story (Wade showing up to assist the Midnighters against the Rulu-shin in part 2) ended up being a nice little bit of foreshadowing that I had really put beyond them. But yeah, since a lot of the motive has been concealed in the background, only the villains who are a part of that background work really get to see it.

Personally, if I had a power-stealing obelisk, I'd probably want the world's most powerful hero to come try and solo me on my home turf. Just sayin'.

Since she's Statesman's daughter, she latently had his potential, essentially. However, even that is more or less just a means to Wade's end.

Alexis' death served two purposes. One, as has been noted, was psychological warfare against the Freedom Phalanx. Get Ms. Liberty, Statesman, and Manticore all fighting with each other. The other reason, revealed only in the villain arcs, was because Wade intended to carry out a ritual that would get him some Statesman-empowered blood (apparently not realizing that it can be purchased at the Black Market for a fairly insignificant amount of influence).

Warburg was, essentially, a convenient way to get Alexis to the Isles and buy Wade time for the ritual. He could have killed her by sneaking an assassin into Paragon, sure, but he couldn't have drawn the power he wanted.

Well, they sort of needed Marshall Blitz to play along to get Alexis there and, again, to help buy time. And the main way you get Blitz's attention is to suggest the liberal application of nuclear missiles. As for the problems it would've caused if Blitz had been more successful...well, Wade never really saw Blitz as particularly competent. He pretty much expected the heroes to ultimately solve the crisis.

To piss Manticore off, basically. The idea is to get him so riled up and seeing red that he's eager for a fight even against his own allies. Giving him that hope that he might have made it in time, only to take that away as a cheap taunt was basically just Wade's manner of icing the cake.

As noted, though, it doesn't really accomplish Wade's other goal, though. Yes, it could have been done separately. However, this particular method also helps isolate Sister Psyche a bit better. If all these other crises were going on and Malaise simply said "hey, help me out, I'mma go crazy", she might have not felt as compelled to take the risk of making that psychic link. By making it clear that Malaise was party to the plot, they put her in a situation where she would be more likely to force the information from him.[/QUOTE]

Open your in-game map and change from "zone" to "city"...
No, I mean it. Try it. I'm pretty sure it's the same map, but am not in front of the game to see for myself. However, don't be surprised if it is.

Wait, wait, there are books?! But how do you see Edward?! You have to see him in the movies, he's so dreamy!





...okay.
Nope, I feel dirty just having done that in jest. I'm going to go stand under a scalding shower tap for about an hour now.

You mean like the phasing technology that was just introduced into the game?

Bear in mind, I agree that it'll probably, or at least should be a change from ground up, for a variety of reasons, but it's not that they couldn't do exactly what you just described.

As to how the players could make a difference once the change is made...well, villains can already go back in time and put Recluse in charge of the Rogue Isles. Why can't they go back in time and frag Statesman too?

I think it wasn't so much that Malaise became more powerful, or was being boosted by someone else, as it was the Dirge of Chaos screwing everything up. Breaking the Dirge's effects was the main reason Psyche was weak enough for Malaise to take hold in the first place. And consider that once that hold was lost, she flattened him without so much as a finger-snap.

Blitz is pretty much an omnicidal maniac. He's dying and wants to take the whole world with him, so he was basically duped into thinking he was starting GLORIOUS NUCLEAR WAR and whatnot, when in truth, he was mostly just a patsy being used to get Wade access to Alexis. As to why Malaise did what he did...we still don't entirely know. The villains ostensibly lost round four, so whatever the intended result was, we're not currently privy to it, at least not heroside (I haven't played the villain one yet...I should get to that).