Lemur Lad

Overall the game keeps moving in a positive direction but the scope of what I've seen in the last year or so got me thinking, what else is there? In my mind, there's one major area that is still lacking: the Audio system.

I know there have been some good incremental changes recently. However there could and should be a long hard look at the system as a whole, and how to kick it up to the new level of awesome.

Here are 3 areas I think can be improved:

Player sounds-
Here's where some aspects of customization come in. Of course I'm not expecting full speaking audio that new games like SW:TOR are making, however I think it could be possible to expand the the sounds characters make in combat and travel and emoting. Distinct male/female sounds, and even distinctions between large and small characters. Additionally, control over the kinds of sounds made by certain costume pieces would be nice. It's great to hear different sounds when I run across metal or pavement, but it would be even cooler to hear metal legs or bare feet sound differently. That leads into area 2:

Environmental sounds-
As I said, there are good environmental sounds, but there could be more. Power sounds in some sets are crisp and very visceral (War Mace). In other sets the sounds are somewhat "mushy" and indistinct. On top of that, I feel that NPCs could go a long way to feeling more distinct if they had their own range of unique sounds. Fighting the gangs should sound a lot different than fighting Nemesis. Some groups already manage this. The ghosts we fight here and there do a good job, and so do Clockwork. They could be better though. Additionally, the open zones could do with a lot of improved soundscapes. Civilians are virtually silent, as are vehicles. Giant Monsters would feel a lot more impressive with special noises (Ghost Ship and Hellion Fires do a fair job already).

Music- There are some great bits of music here and there in the game. There's not enough. I think a dynamic music system could lend itself to both of the other areas I've listed above. Potentially a layered system of instruments and rhythms similar to what is seen in Spore could provide a lot of variety without a lot of work. Players could build their own "Theme Song" as could different enemy groups. I'm not necessarily talking about constant music at all times, but a kind of dynamic scoring that generates music at key times would be great. Imagine a system that integrates different aspects of each player's themes, and combines them with the theme of their foes, and generates a kind of score that plays through a mission. Someone dies and a bit of defeat music pops. They get rezzed or make the killing blow and a little triumphant beat comes out.

This is completely an extension of an idea, I have no idea how technically feasible it would be. I just think the game could be a lot more engaging auditorially.

But there IS remaining work in updating the editor to display pools you've picked. There IS remaining work to provide scripts for the other power pools. There IS work left to do to get the poses to display correctly in the editor.

It is more work then just adding a field or two in a spreadsheet and copy pasting.

Besides, the chances of them doing all that groundwork for Flight and not doing the work needed for the other pools, is slim.

No one is arguing that applying existing scripts/emotes to the next round of Power Customization would be cool. However it's disingenuous of you to try and minimize the amount of work it would take, and trying to convince people that half-measures are the way to go.

Short version: be patient for the next round, and don't make assumptions about how easy things would be.

Remember that very little actually goes away in terms of costume parts, but does get renamed. Like the Glowing Eyes face, a lot of parts get renamed and shuffled on the listings. Feel free to keep posting parts you think may be gone, and folks will help you find them if they're there to be found.

a) is correct. team size is set to difficulty or actual team size, whichever is greater. There's no way to get a team size of 16 for example.

Also to note, there's nothing you need to do to get these slots. They will just be there available for you to claim in the character select screen.

While it's pretty easy to get massive +regen bonuses, there's a point where it doesn't do as much good. I'm not enough of a math head to know it though. You can work on a healthy boost to base regen, but you end up getting more mileage out of decreasing the amount of incoming damage, and increased recharge.

No matter how much regen you have, it's going to be vulnerable to damage spikes. It's better to make sure your hit points are capped most of the time (easier with accolades than IOs), and then boost your recharge so that MoG and your heals are up as often as possible.

If changing the permissions doesn't work, try deleting that file and letting the updater fix it by redownloading. I've had issues with my copy of test and certain PIGG files from time to time, and that usually clears it up.

If the answers you're getting don't thrill you, consider running some story arcs instead of a full fledged TF/SF. If you head to the Hollows, the storyline and contacts all run within that zone, and tell a cohesive story. Additionally, any villain contact tells a cohesive story, and they are actually some of the best in the game. They let you invite more/less people, and while the others wouldn't get any special rewards for the arc unless they had the same missions themselves, it can still be fun.

I recommend the Unlockable Contacts in particular. They have some really interesting stories. In fact, I tend to think of the first one, Veluta Lunata to be the villain equivalent of a lowbie Task Force.

It's pretty easy to get a group working together to get the Pirate Badge, then go to the contact and run her missions together as a group. You get the badges for Ghost hunting, and her arcs have some cool temporary powers as well.

This happened to my girlfriend and I, when her account lapsed for a very short time. However it only happened for one of our pacts, all the others were fine. Support reinstated it, but I think only because one out of many that didn't break.

I'm going to say this so it's said. It sounds like a fun idea to go to the con at the last minute, but you should realize one important thing. A lot of the "fun" of a con happens after hours, either in the hotel or in nearby clubs or bars. That means adult beverages and such, and it's bad enough getting busted for underage drinking in your hometown, much less several states away.

You shouldn't be considering drinking, and you should be prepared for the fact that you may get left alone because you can't go along with the older folks. I'm not trying to be a downer about it, but I don't want you to be shocked that it's not as much fun as you thought and you got left out on some of the activities.

On top of all this, travelling on a bus for days, going to rooms with lots of people, living rough staying up late, is a big pile of risk for the H1N1 this year. Some devs already got sick from going to PAX, and it's likely more people will get hit at Hero Con. There's a reason why people in your age group are at the top of the list for the vaccine when/if it comes.

To be honest, even when I was your age, I would have considered doing this, then decided against it. It does sound like a lot of fun, but it also sounds too last minute and too risky.

Consider keeping tabs on the planning for another con next summer, or the next Hero Con. You'd have a LOT more fun if you planned ahead, saved up some money, and found a friend or two to go with you, or meet there at the con.

If you do go, I wish you the best of luck. If you decide against it, don't be sad, there will be other fun things to do.

They'll announce it ahead of time, they've learned their lesson on that front at least.

You can get a code for the Mac Edition and apply it to your account. This unlocks the special items for that edition. The Valkyrie costume pieces have some very roman looking pieces, including a face mask that is very similar to Statesman's.

http://paragonwiki.com/wiki/Valkyrie_Costume_Pieces

You can buy either the full edition (with 30 free days), or the Item Pack alone:
https://secure.ncsoft.com/cgi-bin/St...pen&category=2

The wiki page doesn't show the face mask by itself but it is available. I can get a screenshot of one of my characters with it if you want, I even have an evil Statesman costume copy.