OneWhoBinds

So... my thoughts...

Mission 1: I hate Ghost Widow with a passion.

Mission 2: Oh, yes. Now I remember why I haven't done the Shadow Shard Arcs.

Mission 3: Love the visuals. Love the dialogue (Well, hero side. Villain side gets very little.) Mako actually does something other than whine! Wow!

Mission 4: Black Scorpion is not the worst ally we've ever had. (I'm looking at you, Lady Jane...) But his suicidal charge at the HIGHLY EXPLOSIVE Tanks meant that in both runs I did, he failed to live past the third tank group. As a result, I must nominate him for the most useless ally we've been saddled with in a long time.

Mission 5: SPAAAAAAAAAACE! And why are none of the others targeted by the Apocalypse beam? I feel very put upon. Fortunately, I came with plenty of greens... Also, did anyone actually tell Recluse and the Patrons no? I'm curious if you actually can end up doing this one solo... but not so curious as to actually try myself. (At least, not with the characters I was using.)

'Mission' 6: The Hero side epic walk was nifty. The Villain side fight with Manticore was... pathetic. We've beat him how many times over the course of this arc alone? I want to say four times before this point, but I could be wrong. Either way, what did he hope to accomplish here?

So, in final tally... Statesman and Sister Psyche are dead (with their powers possily absorbed into Rularuu, but I'm not sure if that would actually make a difference to such a being.) Malaise is dead. Wade is a near-vegetable that is likely to be a guest of the Vanguard for the foreseeable future. Marshal Blitz is MIA, but we know where he isn't - in Warburg. The Evil Aurora is still tooling around in Tyrka's body. Posi's been nominated to take over the Freedom Phalanx, but I notice it didn't say he's accepted that role yet. Penelope has... in the most boggling reveal of the arc... been inducted into the Freedom Phalanx.

So what does the future hold? Who will take over the Statesman Task Force, and the Sister Psyche Task Force? (Huh... those are both in Independance Port... Maybe a zone-revamp of IP is in the next Issue?) Will Darren Wade be replaced in Sharkshead, and - if so - by whom? Will Penelope Yin be replacing Malaise in the Scirocco Patron arc and the Lord Recluse Strike force? (And if so, I'd like to go on the record of saing 'OWW!' right now. She was not an easy fight, at all.)

So, not a bad ending. What's next for the SSA?

Well, tomorrow should bring about Who Will Die #7, the finale of the debut Signature Story Arc.

So, now it's time to look ahead, to SSA #2, and ask a question. At least it's a question I haven't seen an answer to yet, so I apologize in advance if this is just a case of my Search-Fu being weak.

After the initial run, will SSA #2 be considered a seperate entitiy from SSA #1, as far as rewards go? Or will we be limited to the getting the Rewards Table only the 4 times for both arcs?

I really don't care all that much, but I would like to know one way or the other.

Okay, first off... I'm not realy convinced and Scrapper change is necessary, given the solid nature of the AT. I can see an argument that there is nothing 'Unique' to Scrappers anymore, so... I came up with an actual honest idea.

There is a single power available to all Scrappers that just about none of them use, and for a good reason. Confront is a Single Target, half-strength version of Taunt, after all, on an AT which possesses the general attitude of 'If you want Aggro, stab something in the face.'

So, my proposal: Alter how Confront works. Instead of being a single target/half durration clone of the Tanker/Brute Taunt, make it stronger! Magnatude 6 (or higher), full durration instead of half of the Tanker/Brute version (or higher!), and a 90% Range debuff, instead of the standard 75%. This would ensure that, not only would High-rank targets be affected, but that they will concentrate on the Scrapper to the exclusion of everything else, and even be kind enough to walk right up to where the scrapper is most dagnerous.

In short - let Scrappers inflict an enemy target of their choice with a form of Scrapperlock! ^_^

Of course, this would probably be accompanied by a much-increased recharge time, and a chance to miss in PvE, so YMMV. But I think it would be something Scrappers could hold up as 'Unique' without being a real buff.

Then again, I'm probably overthinking things, so...

Quick question... on an Invulnerability/Super Strength Tank, do you think it would be better to slot Might of the Tanker into Jab, or Punch?

I came across this while playing the last mission in Brother Hammond's arc:



Is anyone else getting this guy showing up? More to the point, does anyone know what he's actually supposed to be?

Forget the One Off missions. There at least you are doing something (even if a Radio mission would be a better use of time in most cases.) It's the "Talk to X to learn about this Feature and/or Story Arc" missions that grate on me. We now have a 'Find Contact' feature that automatically alerts us to those contacts. The new tutorial teaches us about Notoriety contacts, so I don't need to head over to King's Row and hear about it again!

I suppose I can give a pass to the PVP zone intros (as I can't figure out a better way to tell people about them...) but beyond that? All these busy work missions need to be scoured from the game.

Right... Seraphim, Twilight Men, Revelation, Killing Crew, and Fear Factor.

Gentlemen. Ladies. Our course is clear.

We need AE arcs! Arcs with your interpretations of these enemy groups!

I'll get to that myself... well, just as soon as I finish going through all the new I22 content. Then it's to AE!

I have to admit, I like this idea, too. Makes some degree of sence.

I'm not sure how the arcs would play out... (What gives the player access to these new powers?)... and I'm not sure yet another Electric Epic pool is really a good idea... but this has much potential.

I would definitly put in Galaxy Girl for one of the 'Homage' characters. Now that Galaxy City is but a time-lost memory, we should have something keeping her in the game.

I am mostly pleased by this news.

...

With one nagging question. Why not port the Renegade hat to females, too?

Well...

The death scene was touching. I think it would have been better to see Statesman actually fighting for a bit (against an aspect of Rularuu, maybe) before dieing, but it worked well enough.

The missions themselves, however, were pure filler. I can almost FEEL someone going "Oh no! These are boring! Quick, throw in these random Signature Characters, to liven things up!" Seriously, most of the Signature Character fights in these missions served no purpose to the plot of this story.

Outside of that, now I honestly hope that Statesman* stays dead... it would invalidate this entire arc if he were brought back now. (* - okay, if someone else gets the Zeus powers and takes up the Mantle of Statesman, I guess I could live with it... but I think I would still be dissapointed.)

People bring up a good point about Wade in issue 23... but I'll wait until he's actually dead (or at least presumed to be dead) before asking that. What I will ask is about Malaise. While I don't think there's anyplace in the world he's just standing around in, I know he shows up in several high-level missions... is he going to be replaced there, as well? If so, by who?

It's close. It tells me a scythe is possible.

But the Demon Axe is NOT a scythe.

This happens to the Ghost of Scrapyard, too. I suspect it also effects Lusca and other zone events that aren't player triggered, but I've never bothered paying attention to see.

Near as I can tell, if a Winter Lord is spawned somewhere in the zone, no other zone event can begin until it is defeated, unless it is something a player can trigger.

I'm still hoping that the Rularuu Titan Weapon, when they finally release it, is a scythe.

...

I expect to be disappointed and just find larger sword with an eyeball, but I am HOPING for the Scythe...

Here's an unusual request... but I'm not really sure where else to take it. (If this would be better off in another forum, please tell me where.)

Okay, first, meet Mr. Smilez:



Bright and happy looking fellow, isn't he? It's too bad I don't actually play him, no matter how many times I reroll him.

Here's the thing... I like his look. I am continually surprised that I got this name. But... I have never figured out what AT and powers to use with him. Or rather, the most appropriate power sets are on the sole AT I've never been able to play for long.

You see, Mr. Smilez here is actually one of four characters I wanted to make in this game, before I actually got City of Heroes. I was immediately disappointed that two of those characters simply could not be made when I first started playing (Although, with Issue 22 bringing Darkness Control, and Staff Melee coming soon after, there is a glimmer of hope for them.) A third character was easy to make, and sits stalled at level 43.

Mr. Smilez, back when first conceived in a Pen and Paper Superhero RPG, is a sorcerer who specializes in Illusions and probability manipulation. And therein lies my problem.

Illusion Control is exactly what he is supposed to be about... but I can't play Controllers for love nor money. I get frustrated and abandon them EVERY time around the early teens, as I find their kill speed too slow, even on Illusion Control. (I mostly solo, as I suck at building teams, and actually want to experience game content, not just farm, which seems to be what most teams want to do when I do join them.)

So does anyone have a suggestion on an alternative to an Illusion Control Controller, which would be appropriate for this character? Because unless the suddenly announce that Illusion Control is being ported to Dominators, I'm not going to be able to use that primary.

Thanks for any suggestions!

Has there been any word when the Winter Event will start this year?