Lazarillo

Somehow the tone of this post made me think "there is no Hamidon, only Zuul ".

This seems kind of like a doofy explanation to me. How exactly do all these villains end up "missing"? Incarnates: godlike powers, but too lazy remember what they did to the cosmic threats?

Nor does having an all star cast ensure quality. Meh, no reason yo do the event really in that case. The system isn't fun and the only character who I sorta wanted the enhancement for is my LOLPeacebringer who can just as easily stay retired.

See, you get it! They need something to set them apart from the Rikti and the Nictus outside of "no, see, the big blue guy totally said they were powerful". And being crazy buccaneers, who seem really ridiculous but are, nonetheless, super-legitimate as threats go, would be a great way to do that.

Yes, but the point, according to Hawk, was that he didn't want people to have Hybrid up all the time. It's supposed to be more like a "god mode" power. Personally, I don't think the Hybrid powers are nearly powerful enough to warrant temporary status, but I'm not the Dev in charge of Incarnate powers.

Most "serious threats" are pretty generic. Which is probably what the Batallion will be...generic.
But if they are a totally serious threat...that also happen to appear to our Earth-centric senses as campy space pirates...well, I'm not sure there would be anything more spectacular, or less generic from an apocalypse-level threat.

Sure you can. If the genre and setting were any excuse, the Magisterium would be nukeproof. Since it's a persistent shared world, the fact that I can go through Pocket D to Nova Praetoria and see Marauder taking on new Powers Division means we can never win against Tyrant, right?
Of course not. For the same reason, there's nothing really wrong with plot developments being based on the idea that an enterprising Incarnate villain has, say, taken complete control of Warburg in Blitz's absence.

True enough. It's a little painful when during Beta for Dark Assault we're told "no, guys, Snipes will totally be better, you'll see", though, and the change doesn't really end up adding any justification to Moonbeam's presence.

Now we're back at "Might makes right" again.

Ah, my mistake. "History is written by the winners".

"Might makes right"?

Really? I knew they used "beneath your notice" for villains but I could swear the scanner said "they don't need your help here", or something similar. Did it change at some point, or am I just crazier than I think I am?

I thought we were pretending that he only did that because nobody was home.

Oh, definitely. I also miss old Faultline, sometimes.

Well, I think the official justification in that regard is more along the lines of "your awesome actions over the last ten levels now have resulted in this zone not needing hero support anymore", sort of like how you can take down Doctor Vahzilok near level 20, and though his zombies don't stop spawning, per se, their level means they probably won't aggro to you anymore, so they're not "really there".

Or something.

Granted, as far as the topic at hand goes, a little variety never hurt anyone, and some of my characters' backgrounds are tied to certain zones, to the point that it'd be kind of fun to use radios and Tips to let them cover their "homes".

This sort of came to my mind before; I wonder if it would be possible to use the "change what's activated by the a power's button" tech present with Titan Weapons and the revamped Assassin Strike, along with the instant-recharge trigger in Water Blast to basically turn the planting power into a triggering power once a bomb was set?

Tyrant? He barely has the reigns on his three little little city wards.