Melancton

It all depends on who is responding.

I can think of several folks who will describe a couple of alternatives in their answers and not just say, Give more specifics.

Local Man, for example, has often posted alternative playstyles in his answers, such as how one plays an Ice Controller at range versus how one does it in melee. He is extremely helpful and has a fine bedside manner. And there are others like him on the boards.

Problem is, the answers can get humongous, depending on the topic.

I infer that you may be objecting to a curt, dismissive tone to some of these responses. Some of that just may be the problems with writing as a mode of communication, ie, it comes off horribly though it was not intended that way. And to be fair, some of the OPs can come back with a "TL/DR" response and wonder why they got War and Peace instead of a concise answer, which can certainly Kindle The Flames.

I still have to ask questions upon occasion and I have gotten all sorts of replies, some of which were Less Than Charitable. But I have also gotten some great, well-written and very helpful responses, and I try to not worry about the Snark, whether intended or not.

It is just another reminder that when the fresh-faced Newb earnestly inquires as to where to find the Lost in Kings Row, he is unaware that this exact same question has already been asked 37,841,314 times, so be merciful and kind!

That works, but not so well for that particular character. Paul is talking about the qualifications for an Episkope, usually rendered "bishop" or "elder," and not about Jesus. If you want to link Grav with Jesus, this quote from Paul works better: "The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus be with you." Romans 16:20 (NAS)

Obviously, Jesus was using Lift on the moneychangers' tables, too... (Yeah, I'm reaching here.)

But the basic problem with Jesus as a character is that He would really need to be Level EleventyBillionInfinity.

Well, if the idea is to model Jesus, the Gospels clearly demonstrate that He was a single-target healer, albeit apparently hundreds one after the other in any given setting. He also said He could only be killed if He laid down His own life, which will be a tad tough to pull off in the game. But God apparently has a great sense of humor (just look in the mirror ), so I shan't fret about the Holy Singularity or the other silly details that ensue...

I have never played any Empathy characters. My Controllers have all concentrated on controlling. If the notion is to "Heal First" and do some controlling when not actively healing, then the question can be broached as to what Primary would be most effective, but one might also wonder why an Empathy Defender would not be the first thought, as one would get more "oomph" on the AoE heals. But as to how to get the most mileage out of /Emp in the OP's scenario, I cannot offer anything more than the obvious suggestions already made.

Without a trophy, that contest is also Up The Proverbial Creek, ZM.

Sister Flame bemuses yet again.

This was a common bug for me, regardless of my level. Steph stiffed me constantly. Not only would she not give me the Ring, she would not give me the Warwolf Whistle, either! What a Wi-otch!

So I would petition and get my stuff in fairly short order. Happened on about six heroes. HOWEVER...

Before the Forum Migration (hence I cannot look for it,) I seem to recall an announcement to the effect that the Ring will henceforth NO LONGER be awarded if you have outlevelled Stephanie as a contact at the time the mission is run. This irked me a great deal since I typically juggled Faultline, Striga and Croatoa, and sometimes it made for outlevelled contacts if I had anything else go on. I cannot say if that got put into effect or not. It may have been countermanded. But I remember the announcement.

So I would certainly petition it and see if they will award it to you. As I said, it had gotten to be a common bug for me. Hopefully, they never carried through with the No Ring For You plans.

Linus: You've heard of the fury of a woman scorned, haven't you?

Charlie Brown: Yeah, I guess I have.

Linus: Well, that's nothing compared to the fury of a woman who has been cheated out of trick-or-treats.


It would seem that trophies should be added to the list.

I still bring Lightning Storm out, but I am aware that it will not contribute a lot anymore. That is a total shame. The "fix" on Lightning Storm happened inadvertantly... they were fixing another problem altogether.

From the time I started up in March, 2005 I had read in guides and the forums that one of the benefits of Hasten was that pets summoned while it was active also received the benefits. I thought this was an intended feature of Hasten. So the "problem" was there for years and the "fix" took the Storm community by surprise. Adding to everything is the unfortunate truth that written communications are very difficult, so the announcement was not exactly met with a standing ovation.

Like you, I would hope that Upon Further Review, the devs would tweak Lightning Storm as you describe. I really don't think the old fire rate with Hasten was a gamebreaker. Any increase in the fire rate would be a big improvement.

Okay, what have you done with the white spy?

If it is a common sight as you say, Cryptic could be in a world of hurt. I see the stray Superman or Iron Man in CoH, but it is not common. If Cryptic is not vigorously stamping out infringement, I would bet that Marvel has folks looking into it.

And in their petition for a Million Billion Dollars in Damages, Marvel's attorneys will note that Cryptic had previously produced a superhero themed game capable of infringing on their characters, which led to a massive lawsuit and settlement... and EVEN WITH THAT EXPERIENCE Cryptic created YET ANOTHER game that easily allows infringement, and do not do much to stop it, blah blah blah.

Just defending a lawsuit is a huge drain in money, resources and mental wear and tear. And Cryptic might not be able to fend another one off with this being their second game with such "problems."

You know, if the last time you walked down that dark alleyway you got jumped by 10 gangbangers who assaulted you, you would not merrily traipse down the same alleyway again.

Low level missions, not so much now.

When I started in March, 2005, I printed out copies of the maps to navigate and printed off guides to powersets. I was daunted by having to crawl up overpass ramps or take massive detours to get to missions in Atlas Park. I hardly knew the capabilities of my powers and was clueless as to the range for aggroing hostiles on the street. In Galaxy, there were what turned out to be Vahz in front of my mission door, and they were red to me... they also had weapons and tactics I had not seen before and I was down within seconds. I found numerous other ways to get sent to the Hospital before ever getting to a mission, and I was wracking up debt at level 5. Now, when you start talking about the Maze in Perez Park that was filled with red-con mezzing baddies, or being sent to Outer Mongolia in the Hollows up a mountain with the Annual +7 Madness Mage Convention in full swing, it gets even tougher and more frustrating. I hung in there, but it was a steep learning curve and there was a "Reserved" sign on my hospital bed.

Well, now there are Raptor Packs at lvl 5, Assemble the Team vet powers, Mission Teleporters (not to mention Base teleporters, Pocket D teleporters and Ouroboros later on), debt at lvl 10, XP Smoothing, low level Accuracy Boost and Super Sidekicking. There are now Vet Powers like the Nemesis Staff and Sands of Mu and a perma Temp power for Origin to fill in the attack chain in low levels. Most of what made the game so tough four years ago has been modified.

I still prefer teaming to soloing, though, and it is simply easier to run through the Sewers to about lvl 7 or 8 than try to herd a team of lvl 1 cats to a series of mission doors. Afterwards, I run the regular content on teams, and make sure to hit Faultline, Striga and Croatoa at appropriate levels. I like the Midnight Club membership missions and Mercedes Sheldon's missions once in the club. I like to run Frostfire and even the Caves of Atta now that I know how to act in those situations. But for me, hitting the sewers for a bit of concentrated action is preferable to trying to team to run Atlas or Galaxy missions. Often, I could not get any takers in those low levels and had to run missions solo. A sewer team for a bit for me is the way to go early on.

Have your Stormer hit you with 02 Boost to prevent the big energy drain and then they really won't be a big deal. There always seems to be one of those little swine popping out of nowhere, but if the sapping does not drain you, then it is much easier to clobber him.

Better behave when De PoPo are around.

Good on you, Kryhavoc.

I rolled an Earth/Rad for i16 and sent out some tells the other night for the Outcast HQ mission in the Hollows, and got only one reply. It was a newbie with a Dual Blades Scrapper. I had already gotten my raptor pack (I was lvl 8) so once we finished in the Hollows, I had him follow me to Kings Row. I had a safeguard mission ready as it turned out, and got him his raptor pack.

I think being able to fly will seal the deal for a lot of trial account visitors. This fellow asked a lot of questions, and I showed him many of the ropes, and sent him the link to the Wiki for the more complex questions.

Now that I have a lot of high end heroes, it is always nice to be able to read a good bio on a low level guy and be able to, in addition to showing them the ropes, drop 10 million inf on them so that they can get good equipment from the start. They are always humbled and grateful, since they were not expecting it or begging for funds or the like.

Back in i3, I had someone drop 300,000 on me and that made all the difference. I like to pass it on.

Oh, and while we were heading to Kings Row, I showed him the entrance AND the exit to the train, and warned him about trying to board the train via the exit. Maybe there will now be ONE hero who did not wait in vain at the exit, trying to board...

...and Mr. T will now take his rightful place as a member of the Freedom Phalanx (Super Strength/Chains)

Oh my goodness! What a great list!

Does this mean SteelClaw will be posting an awesome video now??

So all the badges that appeared had police attached to them and they escorted you away?

__

Eh, don't let them get you down, Steelclaw. The stray anonymous griefer should not mess the ambiance for your broadly acclaimed posts.

From City of Oz to your many lists, the accolades are many and well-deserved. It is like running for President and carrying all 50 states... don't sweat it if you don't carry the District of Columbia, ya know?

Mr Bowler, I am at work so I cannot comment on how I set up my Plant/Storm, except to say that I have left him as I leveled him and not added Purple sets nor Hami Enhances, and he plays very powerfully. I typically have no endurance issues and things recharge fast enough for me.

My advice for you at the moment is that I would not buy a Respec recipe unless you are hot to trot and/or will be using enhancements you already have a great deal. Two thoughts:

1) Running a respec mission is a breeze (no Storm pun intended) when you have Seeds and Freezing Rain. It is always possible to mess something up if your team is bad enough, but my Plant/Storm runs it for merits and grins. Baddies who are not shooting each other are debuffed heavily and/or flopping around the reactor.

2) You could always go to a trainer and use your Alternate Build. Now if you are already lvl 50 and need the Purple sets you already have, etc., that will not work, but if you are relatively low in level and will not be replacing a scad of expensive enhancements, that could be the way to go.

If i16 is close enough to going live, then 3) The Devs will probably give us a FreeSpec applies, too. That could be a couple to three weeks, though, so that may not be soon enough for you. But I would run a Respec Trial if I were you rather than drop the Infl on a recipe.

Plant/Storm has been a ton of fun. The only catch on pairing Plant with Storm is making sure that the AoE Immob hits folks before Tornado can send them flying and then "Target in Air" prevents application, but otherwise it has been great.