Memphis_Bill

Photobucket might be resizing them. It seems to go through periods of doing that, or there's a setting or something. (I honestly don't recall.)

I know if I try to edit mine to be a little smaller, it says "Oh, you're shrinking from 1024x768!" for some reason... which I'm obviously not.

Wait, a Peacebringer? Who plays a Peacebringer? >.>

*Incandescent Strike's the thread*

In that case, my suggestion to you is to just accept that some people are going to feel that way and will be upset by the change in availability. Just like I don't see how badging is enjoyable, or some people don't see how PVP is, or can't see RP as anything more than a waste of time or the like. (Or gaming, or almost any other activity.)

But like I said, my biggest concern with it is that having these more widely available via direct purchase may move the bar on assumed power in game content.

Perhaps not how it's intended, but it is how it comes off.

Yes, the game is a luxury, designed for enjoyment - but there are items meant to be more difficult to get inside the game, goals you need to "stretch" one way or another for, whether that's trying for straight drops, researching and working the market to get the INF to buy it or what have you, and having those items available for straight-up purchase ruins that aspect of the game for some.

(Disclosure: Not me. I don't care about IOing, etc, as long as I'm having fun. My more vital concerns are where it sticks the bar for assumed levels of power in later content. If it's truly impossible for a character on all- or mostly - SOs to finish starting in issue, say, 25-26, it's bad for the game.)

I've run with one worse: one of the first halloween events, trying to take down a GM. See a Rad/something Corr looking for a team. "Hey, great!"

Not so great. He was a "healer." Not a single debuff, just the dinky AOE heal and the rez. I don't even think he had AM. At somewhere in the high 30s.

Which, y'know... fine if that's what he's into, but he should tell teams he doesn't have any debuffs.

Dechs, some people are what are labelled as "achievers." It's what they enjoy in the context of the game, and these responses will be framed in the context OF the game. And honestly, I agree with them to a point.

You can, after all, use the same argument for many other things. Why should someone make their own X when they can just go buy it elsewhere? Well, they *like* the sense of achievement, of having taken the time to go through and "earned" them *in the context of whatever it is.*

Some people try to put this down as "elitism," which it isn't - but at the same time, yes, for some people the fact they *did* do things the "long way" and it's now being just handed out for a bit more cash is disappointing. Obviously, not everyone feels this way - not even the "achievers" that did it that way will - but some do.

(Similarly, what if they had a "badge pack?" Pay $15, you get every badge in the game handed out to every character on the account? Some people put in a lot of time earning them in game - would you think they wouldn't have the right to be very disappointed at seeing that come into the market?)

Putting them down for feeling this way is, frankly, a bit rude.

I "get" your viewpoint too, don't get me wrong. I don't think either point of view, though, deserves to be put down like that.

Last coffee talk (I think it was) someone brought it up. They didn't have that "we have some serious issues when we consider porting it" (which, by now, they would have, I'm sure) reaction. More of a shrug and "probably future proliferation."

I use the combo in one of my AE arcs, actually - Bots/Kin. I think the biggest issue is that minions now rush into melee even faster, so you'd really ahve to be on your toes if they decide to start haring off after something.

... hmmm, beast/kin. Might be entertaining to watch...

This. Especially the second part. Really tickles my "driver update" sense, personally.

Thus the "Supposed to be doing this."

Were it successful, I'd say it was doing it.

I'd have to disagree. Most teams really don't care - as long as you're not sitting back at the door /em dance-ing or otherwise working against the team, as long as you're participating and everyone's having fun, it's good.

There's just not that much "slack" to be had or to pick up, quite honestly. And I have yet to have someone say I don't have (for instance) enough defense or whatnot. Years ago (literally) I had a person or two complain that my Defender wasn't a "healer," but... really, they pretty much refused to learn, and it got to where "we need a healer" (outside of fairly specialized areas) was a red flag that it was going to be a bad team.

Specialized instances? Sure, someone may want to make sure everyone's +2 at least, etc, etc. But for the other 99.7% of the game, it just doesn't matter.

Just for the record, I hope I didn't come off as hostile with that objection. It wasn't meant to be, I just felt the point really needed making.

As far as the question itself...

I don't tend to care, in most situations, if I'm "less powerful than my peers," unless I'm running the same powerset/AT at the same level with what should be the same slotting and I'm falling behind somewhere. That usually tells me I should pay attention to what's going on because I'm missing something somewhere. It's a learning process.

Other than that... heck, like I said. I ran an Emp/Psy. I played Earth/FF to 50. Certainly not fast/powerful characters (in terms of damage and the like - my pylon soloing time is "hahaha, really, no, go on" and having it fall over short of breath from laughing at the attempt. Then having it one or two shot me.

I'm not honestly sure how to answer. Because I can say "Yes" and "No" with the same character at the same time in some instances. For instance, I have corruptors (Dark/Therm is a great example of this) with dual builds that you could say are "powerful enough" yet "not" - in both builds. The team build is very strong in support, yet weaker in offense than it could be. Another build on the same character has offense just pouring off of it, but team utility... er... yeah, not there, so it's less "powerful" than it could be. But that's why it has two builds - so I can vary the strength for the situation.

I've never gone to the extremes you can go to - petless masterminds, nothing but pool powers, nothing but TOs, etc. - because I know I don't have the patience for that. I also don't min/max.

I've had concepts I *thought* would be potential underperformers (grav/kin with powers chosen or skipped for a concept of a "fake Nictus") that weren't anywhere near as bad as I thought they would be. So I've *planned* to have to deal with that at times.

And I think I have one character I've level locked for RP reasons (not supposed to be "strong enough" to progress past 10 yet.)

So, TLDR version... I guess "Commonly, no, but on occasion or depending on definition, perhaps" would be my answer.

... wait, what? I missed the memo.

*shakes head* Seriously?



... and yeah, I do think that's deserving.

(And yes, I do actually like the Sixth Doctor.)

*nitpick* You get about 1/3 of a bar for buying the badge. (Just ran through it for the heck of it to make sure I was remembering it right.)

Now, the *old* tutorial also had no-XP mobs (or we'd have level 6s coming out of it at least, just from badge hunting heroside) and staged XP, but it was passed throughout the mission and paced much better - you felt you were getting rewarded as you did things.

Right now, you get XP as you:
- Jump the crevasse (!!!)
- Finish fighting off a few shivans.
- Help Blue Thunder or whatever his name is (which is where you level)
- And you get a tiny, tiny smattering of it, not when you finish the giant shivan, but when you buy the badge.

It's somewhat poor pacing in a way, though I do understand them wanting you to be level 2 for the giant shivan (so you at least have one other power to use.)

I think, if I had to redo this, I'd give less XP through the first three items. You don't level before fighting the shivan - you'd be at maybe 2/3 level at that point. BUT when you're sent on, you're given a temp power to use on the shivan (taking care of the other attack.) Defeating the giant shivan awards the chunk of XP to level, you train, then are put on the helicopter to your starting zone.

(OK, technically you *don't* defeat the shivan - it drops down at half health, being "driven back," but you've accomplished the mission.)


The argument about the time it takes... eh, I'd call a bit of a sidetrack. Yes, it takes longer to run the tutorial. It's supposed to - the tutorial's *supposed* to be taking the time to teach you things. The experienced player should know these things and is rewarded by being able to skip it and get to the faster, pure-mob-killing XP.

I'll object to this being called "gimping," because you're now calling a chunk of the playerbase gimped for not using, or not being *able* to use, IOs. You can do *quite* a bit with SOs - and as you should well know, for quite some time you had no choice.

Heck, I've been running an Emp/Psi - not a high damage character by any means - on SOs through (a) the Mender Ramiel arc and (b) Dark Astoria. Only place I've had trouble, really? If you've gotten far enough into it, one mission that seems to be based in assuming you *are* on a team or have Judgement, etc. already. Does it take a little while to solo some of the stuff? Sure. But up to that one mission (with suicidal NPCs again) I think I'd faceplanted once, and that would have been avoidable.

Now, if you said "only TOs/DOs/no enhancements at all at 50," that I'd call intentionally limiting the character, and some people *do* do that just for the challenge. Same with "Only pool/temp powers."

It's the difference between having a car and having a car that's been tuned and modded to within an inch of its life - yes, the tuned car (should) perform better, have a higher top speed, better handling, etc. but that doesn't mean the *base* car it started as and that most people drive quite happily is "gimped."

The whole "Destined ones" bit, honestly (as I try to recall my various villains careers) is *supposed* to be kinda-sorta hidden, something you learn about as you go along (not one of the unlocks, btw, this is the main "arc.") You're one of a lot of people who "might" be the Destined One. Since you're at 37, you don't know what it is yet - but you're near the end of the story, so I won't spoil it for you.

You obviously have a Widow or Soldier of Arachnos. Lore-wise... it's bad they lowered the unlock for them, and worse that you can buy the unlock, because initially they unlocked after getting a villain to 50 - which means you *should* have been exposed to the storyline.

It's easier after you have been to make the mental shift to "OK, I played through as the villain they busted out of the Zig (Ziggursky penitentiary for superpowered criminals, in Brickstown - which to me adds a few other problems, but eh,) now I play as one of the Arachnos folks who's a bit miffed that the bosses felt they had to bring in outsiders - *I* deserve this!" if you've seen the whole thing villainside.

The grouping system is... fairly easy, but again, poorly documented. Drowning in Blood doesn't take long (20-30 minutes, taking your time) - get your team, click on the LFG box, pick Drowning in Blood, hit Queue.

The tutorial has moved beyond the "early" story. You won't find Shivans wandering around in Cap, but you will find them in Marshall Brass's arcs. And yes, they look much different... because they're a different group of shivans, which as far as I know only gets explained in that Drowning in Blood trial (There's some explanation on where *they* came from, but right now I can't think of where it was - if it was even in game instead of the website.)

Are you hunting solo? Doing missions (a) with a team (b) against family/Marcone should lead to bosses spawning, which makes it less of a grind. And honestly, with just one other person if you're street sweeping, I found the rate of bosses popping up increased noticably.

True. But they don't have to be 50s, since it's usable at 14 (and obtainable before then, actually.)

... see also "Get your alignment 'reaffirmed' and run the SSAs for hero merits," as well.

All right, one (with a bit of level shifting) transferred.

PB in the other thread - Therra Paladina

Not connected to the old one (well, a touch on villainside, since the entire villain storyline is kinda-sorta tied to being a "destined one") but, since you're level 37, you should try to get on a team running Drowning in Blood (the second trial, open to everyone 15+.) You go into an instanced version of Bloody Bay, and get to see the new and old shivans - and, in a change from "the leader's the only one who sees the info," if you click on the old shivans, they'll tell you some of what's going on.



You dont' really run into the "new" shivans much (yet.) The old ones, you'll see quite a bit villainside when you're in Cap, you'll see them in Bloody Bay, and in the Ouro entry arc.



I'll be honest, I kinda-sorta like the unlock system redside - only since there aren't as many zones, so it gives some variety. However, the fact they're *hidden,* and not very obvious as to what level/what you do to unlock them, is a huge, HUGE downfall.




You have to be "exposed to time travel" to unlock Ouroboros. Yes, that's vague, but there's a fair bit that'll do it. Having someone else give you the portal (now at 14 or higher) will do it. Some of the arcs with Dr. Aeon will do it. I'm kind of surprised Cimerora doesn't... thought it did. Perhaps you need to grab a badge to "prove" you have been - much like going into Recluse's Victory (40+ zone) and grabbing a badge will do it. Heroside, the Science contact in Brickstown (30-40)'s unlock mission will do it... There are a few ways. But, again, true - non-obvious.

Heh. I'm poking my nose in as well. I'm looking at my "I know I was doing something here..." Warshade - I remember, for some reason, thinking of chasing +Regen (for the hell of it, I don't IO seriously,) then stopped that partway through and went for... er... something.

Need to do some build tweaking

Because...
Just like people go and make sure to uncheck "Send me advertisements about XYZ" even from stores/websites they visit, despite those being a way to try to get people to make money for those stores, some people are well aware of the Paragon market and will go there if we want to buy something on our own, but want to get rid of some of the "clutter" of stuff they don't have in the costume creator.

Takes very little, and a non-irritated customer (even if the irritation might be slight) is a much happier (and more willing to spend money) one.

Tried to duplicate that and couldn't.