Lycantropus

That's been a personal challenge for a long time with me. I don't know why, but I've had this thing in mind to create something that represents the 'perfect' speedster character.

I've tried a lot of AT/power combos with mixed results.

My favorites have been:

Living Lightspeed- Illusion/Kinetic Controller: Made him a kind of Scrap'troller and tried to get the costume to match with the Phantom Army under the concept of "he's so fast you see more than one of him". Took Fighting, and of course Super Speed. Since I primarily solo with him I had fun with it and got a number of melee powers so he can fight alongside his multiple selves, the flash powers making them useful when matched with Containment.

Solarstream- Fire Melee/Super Reflexes Scrapper: Fairly straightforward. Fire has some pretty fast attacks, good AoE's, and SR because he's moving so fast he can avoid blows. Only thing that stands out that I found made this guy feel faster is I also took Teleport and keybinded it to my middle button on my mouse. That "burst of speed so fast you can't see him move" feel. Great to pop in and fire off your AoE's into another group. This is an older character; in the 'woulda', could'a, should'a category, I may have made him shield for the 'shield charge' if it had been available at the time for the same reason.

My most recent and the one that captivated me the most (and it's on my home server)

ImpulseIV- Electric Control/Kinetic Controller: Before Electric Control came out I made this guy to 50 on a Kinetic/Electric Defender. I really never was happy with him though, since the main thing I wanted to do with him was play the role of sapper. There were a lot of tools to be had, but none that could maintain the lack of endurance and while I could sap one thing really well, there was nothing like an aura to help maintain the effect for groups. That got me into more trouble than not most times (fitting his name at any rate). After Electric Control came out, I moved the original to another server and remade him. He now does everything I wanted him to do originally, with the added bonus of having semi-permanent mez protection (due to Indomitable Will- working on making that perma but man it's tough!) If you play it like I do, Cardio is a must on the Alpha slot LOL.

Anyway, I love the play of ImpulseIV, but I think for pure feel of Super Speed, Living Lightspeed probably feels the most 'fast', and Solarstream is just a fun straightforward super speeder type character. Auras and Sprint powers help make these guys feel even faster, and don't underestimate costume design/colors when you want something to feel 'faster' (wish winged boots still had the option for the full body aura it used to have).

Hope these help!

I was talking to my wife and son just after logging out to the character select screen. Being distracted slightly and not really knowing what I wanted to play next I was just clicking on and looking at my various characters. I happened to pause to say something after selecting one of my huge characters with the reflective Valkyrie shoulders and boots, and in the course of that noticed that there was a city scape reflected in the kneecaps and shoulderpads.

I checked a villain with similar traits and noticed that the city scape was the same (regardless of blue or red background). We all started looking at it trying to figure out where the character is 'standing' in the character select screen, but we couldn't identify it from the buildings and such with anything we know of in the game.

At the right angle you can see where the 'sun' is, and it looks like someone is standing in the lot in front of the buildings (but not sure about that though)

It's nitpicky and weird, but I thought it was kind of neat, and was just wondering where did that image come from? Is it in the game or is it, like my son suggested, maybe an easter-egg of some kind (like the offices the Dev's work(ed) in at the time)?

Lyc~ the curious werewolf

I didn't say I minded Besides she probably puts it better (or at least more concise). I tend to get wordy. Sigh... I love my luv.

Another thing is (and I've notced this more in Founders Falls than other zones) is when you get a radio mission to stop a bank robbery and it's in the south in a cave...

What kind of bank operates out of a cave?

I would have to say one of my favorite lines comes from the Diviner Maros arc.

In the last mission two Freakshow are talking together:

Disclaimer: I am not by any stretch of the imagination a 'hardcore' PvP'er. I would consider myself casual... at best.

To be perfectly honest, what I liked about it was the exact same thing I disliked about it.

Most folks are calling it 'speed' but I prefer the term 'dynamic' and think this distinction is important. PvP was most enjoyed for its fast-paced play. The problem, for me, was when it became a contest of invisible jumping beans with brief periods of activity, only to break apart after the initial spot target and DeBuff/spike damage. Stealth, speed, and manuverability were extremely common, which made sense because it was effective. However, I think that was the same thing that was causing the problems. This didn't lend itself to the epic superhero/supervillain battles you read about.

Post 13, the pendulum swung too far the other way lending itself to stop/go herkey-jerky fights, but that's beating a dead horse.

The only reason I'm posting is because I think the key word here is 'dynamic' play. The feeling of constant motion and activity. Out of everything that could be said about pre-I13 PvP, THAT is what appealed to me.

Give a hard cap to movement speeds/height/etc if you must to make it more accessable, and lend itself to more toe to toe comic book battles. That I understand. However, for me at least, the feeling of consistent movement and activity is key.

Hope this helps.

This suggestion is nothing complicated, but I think would help with some folk's goals of in-character play options.

Simply put, add Vigilante tips in the Rogue Isles that let them 'clean up the place'. Have them work with longbow, topple criminal plots, and take Arachnos and the other lawless scum of the Rogue Isles down bit by bit.

Add Rogue tips to Paragon. Let them rob banks and cause mischief. Have them fight heroes and let them plunder the fair city of Paragon. That's something I'm sure a lot of villain players have wanted to do outside of Mayhem missions since City of Villains came out.

If you really want to get crazy with it, how about adding a special contact (like the radio/newspaper contacts) specifically for Rogue and Vigilantes. Have a Longbow contact in the Isles with knowledge of criminal activities they need stopped by an 'outside force'. For Rogues have a sleasy underground informant they can meet that knows the 'ins and outs of the city' "Hey, the museum is getting that shipment of gold and jewels for that exhibit they're doing next week. I happen to know when they're going to be in transit...".

I just think heroic Vigilantes and fiendish Rogues should have a larger scope available to them than a transitional alignment. For a number of character concepts these alignments fit far better than the straight up Hero or Villain, if just because someone has a villain that wants to terrorize Paragon, or a hero who wants to help make the isles a better place. As it is, I can run Vigilante missions all day and get a nice merit boost every couple of days... In Paragon, but if I wanted to stay in Paragon, I could have stayed hero.

I know I could (and do) Run Paper/Radio missions and kind of fill in my own blanks, but I just think the Rogue/Vigilante experience can be a whole new way of playing the game too.

Thanks for your time!

I'll point out that I rarely PvP. I like the idea of it, but have never been satisfied with any incarnation of it enough to really get involved.

That said, I have enjoyed previous incarnations more than this one.

What I like about current PvP (with justifiers)

Like many others have said the seperation of PvE and PvP systems was a great change, but now the PvP system is so different from the PvE, It's daunting and a little undesirable to want to bother learning the intricacies (at least to me). I play to have fun, not crunch numbers or learn to game systems.

Unlike many others, I like the idea of Travel Supression. However this was because I got really tired of previous PvP incarnations promoting "invisible Mexican jumping bean syndrome". PvP full of stealthed, super-speed, super-jumping spikers wasn't my idea of fun, and kind of antithetical to epic super hero/villain face-offs I was hoping for. However, I also get that fast is fun for PvP. It's current incarnation is clunky and the stop/go of it really is disconcerting. Perhaps if there were caps that were constant though consistent, to allow for more dynamic PvP movement? There's got to be a middle ground somewhere.

The -range in Taunt. Nothing else to really say here, though I'd love to see a few other powers in melee sets get similar treatment in the field of PvP.

I like how mez works as a less binary component, but am not crazy about the toggle supression (though I understand the damage toggles and the like de-toggling). However, I feel it's a little overboard though with the stop/go (much like travel supression). Maybe they could last longer or be more effective overall in exchange for not supressing toggles (Tanks can stand and take it longer, Buffers can continue to help their teammates while they're trying to free you, though in a highly reduced capacity; i.e. can't individually buff, but stay in the heal/def/resist/stealth/whatever area).

I can't argue the numbers or details, but I know what 'feel' I'm looking for when I PvP, and while some iterations are close, this game hasn't hit on it just yet.

I see folks say they want "fast" a lot. Maybe the word "dynamic" will have a greater impact based on what I think I'd want, and what it seems most folks really desire?

Anyway, for what it's worth...

Lyc~ the "had to stick his nose in it and say something" werewolf...


Edit: Re-reading this it sounds very melee-centric. It's not intended to be. While my main hero is a Scrapper, the best times I've had in PvP was playing Blasters and my FF Defender. Each of which would benefit from these changes as well. I never took my MM in there just to see how he flies, but I bet he'd like my suggestions too.

Had my comic dealer order it for me. After Common Grounds I'll readily support your works! Picked it up Wednesday and really liked it. I even thought the PSA in the back was a nice touch and really fit the rest of the feel of the book. I'd go into more detail about what I liked, but don't want to really give spoilers or pre-bias someone based on what they interperted my opinion as.

I mostly lurk the forums, but I just had to show my support and enjoyment of the first issue and look forward to the rest!

Lyc~ the quietly literate werewolf

How about if the soul of an infant is one who has lost enough power as to be 'new'?

In this instance it seems that it's an act of desperation, or at the least, self preservation. A soul would expend the energy it would need to perpetuate and bring itself back to 'full strength' (i.e. create a physical form in which it can grow, or regain, power) if it were waning. A waning soul would need to 'rebuild' itself. Re-Learn, like an infant would re-learn how to be an enlightened self-aware being?

Those that would aquire enough 'energy' in life would expend their energy to 'move on' to the next level of life, one would presume. Of course, there would be exceptions or 'near misses' like the Buddhist Bodhisattva or in more western terms, a saint or angellic being perhaps?

If you're looking into concepts of population growth like most truisms in a world society, that energy has to go somewhere. As that energy 'degenerates' it must go somewhere. The 'leavings' of the soul's energy that is strong enough to continue, but not enough to 'move to the next phase' become the buds of new souls born to the world. Again, these would be infantile and unknowing and would have to learn... thus the process continues and the availability for the population of the world actually increases over time.

This line of thinking what you were meaning?

I really liked it.

I've heard some folks say it's simplistic, and at first glance kind of thought that myself, but I think the goal of the film was to appear that way... at first. I think a lot of it was about the characters outgrowing their simplistic "four-color" style world, and becoming something more than their expected roles. The dialogue was witty and overall it was just a fun movie.

I'll definitely add it to my library when it comes out.

And yeah... Forget-Me Stick

/e drink

I raise a glass to one of my favorite Devs.

/e explain

He brought much to us in the time he was here, and gave us much of what we asked for, and needed, in order to express ourselves in-game.

/e flex /e backflip

And gave our characters great animations for their attacks so that they would fill us with joy when we played them.

/e drat /e grief

He will be greatly missed.

/e bigwave

Hey there Back Alley Brawler... Mr. Bruce, if you're still checking the thread!

/e fancybow

It was an honor to have your work grace this game, and for that, we thank you.

/e howl

Especially for this emote, if you're the one who did it

/e salute

You will be missed, sir.

/e thankyou

Lycantropus

Having read the first few pages of this thread, it appears many share my view that this was a very lackluster pack.

I did purchase it, but after seeing all it had to offer, I would be hard pressed to make a similar purchase in the future. I really hope this isn't the start of a trend, as others seem to think.

Add in a few Hawiian shirts (like the PPD wear), an overhead disco ball temp power (almost like the minor buff pets) and a few more emotes like a shoulder boombox option, or a lazer light show emote (using the lights from the club maps), or a DJ option (table with a record/mixing board on it). Charge the $9.99 if you want, but make it worthwhile. Heck, one or two of those things above (that mostly exist in game already and could have been modified to fit) would have probably made it worth the 8.

Overall, this pack was rather disappointing, and not worth the 8 bucks I paid for it. I hope this was just a fluke, and future packs will be back to the same high standards we've come to expect from you guys

I don't know if this has been said somewhere else, but...

If we can't get jet packs as another 'back' option (like wings, capes, etc.) can we get them as Hover/Fly animation options? This one has been a sticking point with me for a while. Also, do all the jetpack options have to be the sky raider one? How about the one purchaseable by heroes in the Shard look like the Longbow ones (properly colored versions of the jingle jetpacks) and the ones purchaseable in Grandville Goldbricker versions? This would create at least some degree of diversity if they can't be back options.

Also, I like many others, would enjoy seeing alternate animations for Pool Powers. It was mentioned once that this would be difficult as there's no way to 'flag' a character for any particular Pool, unlike pre-assigned Primary and Secondary sets. Why not make it like an invisible 'badge' that unlocks the 'costume piece' that is the Pool #or Ancillary or Patron# when the player takes the power (like unlocking the Mace 'costume piece' for selecting Black Scorpion). Is this viable data-wise as they're only allowed 4 Pool and one Ancillary/Patron?

All that aside, I'd like to see unlockable in-game skins for mastermind pets. Not just customizing what's already there per-se (which would also be nice) but I mean actually being able to unlock faction skins (no change to powers) of your pets in game. Like:

#lower pet, medium pet, upper level pet)

Thugs:
Hellions (Blood Brother, Fallen, Damned)
Skulls (Grave Digger, Death Head, Bone Daddy)
Trolls (Trollkin, Garvord, Supa Troll)
For Heroes
PPD (Cop, SWAT Officer, SWAT Sergeant)

Necromancy:
Vahzilok (Cadaver, Abomination, Eidolon)
Banished (Husk, Chamber, Shaman)
Circle of Thorns (Spectral Follower, Spectral Knight, Spectral Daemon Lord)

You could also maybe do ghosts or the pirate ghosts, but not sure how that would look with the powers necromancy gives?

Mercenaries
Spetsnaz (Ryadovi, Efritor, Serzhant)
Family (Button Man, Capo, Underboss)
Council (Covered face, Open face, Archon)
5th Column (Similar to Council, since there are so many variants)
Nemesis (Lancer, Hussar, Sergeant)- and the red alternatives
For Heroes
Longbow (Soldier, Sergeant, Officer)

Ninjas
Tsoo (Random enforcer types, Random Ink Men types, Ancestor Spirit)
Knives of Artemis (Mercenary, Blade, Hand)
For Heroes
Longbow (Soldier, Spec-Ops, Warden)

Robotics
Council (Zenith Mech Man, Mk I Zenith Warcry-hover is only in appearance, Mk II Zentih Warcry (the big guys)
5th Column (Mek Man, Steel Valkyrie, Mk II Wolfpack)
Nemesis (Jaeger, Automoton, War Hulk)
Arachnos (Spiderling, Drone, Disruptor)
For Heroes
PPD (Drone, Guardian, Enforcer)

Demons
Circle of Thorns (Hordeling Lasher, Hordeling Berzerker, Hellfrost)
Circle of Thorns (Behemoth, Behemoth Overlord, Blade Master)- This is debateable, but I think it would look cool

Keep in mind none of the powers would change, I just think it would be cool to have unlockable 'skins' for MM pets that could further integrate characters into the game world. I'm sure there are tons more I forgot and more coming in GR but you get the picture.

Anyway, overall, any ammount of personalization is wanted, warranted, and will be well-accepted I think. Anything that let's us make our characters more of what we want them to be visually is a good thing.

Thanks much for your time!

The ones from Mom and Dad Save the World

...

I rest my case.

Another good guide

I came to a lot of similar conclusions with my AR/Traps Corr when I was building him (I miss the old PGT too). The big difference was I went for stealthy toe-bombing tactics (using Invis Ally on my Force Field Generator- It only got destroyed occasionally from AoE's, otherwise it was ignored). Granted, most of the play he has seen was when the PGT was brokenly awesome, and it's been a while. May have to re-evaluate his build, and will definitely use your guide if I decide to!