OneWhoBinds

With some exceptions, I completely agree.

Some GMs - Lusca, Deathsurge, and the Croatoan Monsters, off the top of my head - I think the event should begin with the GM encounter, and develop from there.

In some cases, I can even easily see how to branch the event...

For example, the Ghost of Scrapyard.

When the strike begins, in addition to the normal Scrapyarders on the streets, a large group shows up in front of the Hell Forge (or whatever it's really called.) There, they are facing off against Cage Security.

Here, the players are faced with a choice:

1) Break the Strike - defeat X number of Scrapyarders.

2) Start a Riot - defeat X number of Cage Security.

The first path would involve defeating continuous waves of Scrapyarders, (with some piddling help from Cage Security forces) until you finally take out a certain number of Foreman enemies (and possibly take out the Sea Witch along the way), which triggers the final phase, as the Ghost of Scrapyard shows up to crush your heads.

The second path lets the Scrapyarders invade the Hell Forge. While Cage Security is forced to deal with the riot, the 'allows the players' to sneak into a Cage warehouse and liberate a large quantity of the Red Coral Cage has dug up. Of course, the player's aren't the only ones trying to take advantage of the situation... they will have to deal with not only Scrapyarders and Cage Security, but Slag Golems, CoT, Coralax, and maybe Freakshow as well. This path either results in another encounter with the Ghost of Scrapyard, or in facing off against several 3-4 EB level enemies at one time.

Both paths should result in a reward table, possibly with separate badges for both paths. (And, if the Ghost of Scrapyard can be faced in both situations, these should not include Hammer Down.) At least one reward should be incarnate salvage (probably 2-5 shards?) but that one would obviously be locked to level 50s. (And probably can only be rewarded once every 20 hours.)

Another reward could be the Ghost's 'Spectral Hammer' (I know, he doesn't seem to actually wield a hammer, but go with it...) temp power. It would basically be like the Gabriel's Hammer power, but would do heavy Smashing/Negative Energy damage, instead.

That's just my thoughts on how to update that one event, though. I hope the Devs do consider revamping the GMs - and all other Zone events, for that matter - when they get around to touching up the old zones.

After all the times they've had to 'fix' Energy Aura, only for it to fall short yet again?

The Devs probably want to make sure the set is finally acceptable to players, before porting it to the AT where it is the primary power.

Minutely so.

Is the ability to hit 5 more targets in Cleave vs Head Splitter (Both attacks more likely to be used as single target, rather than as AoE, do to their limited cone size) make up for Broadsword/Katana having Parry/Divine Avalanche?

No, I don't think so.

So, here's to hoping Battle Axe gets a few tweaks sent its way. I won't pretend to know what should be done... but I think something needs to be.

Oh, I know that. But will they still be needed for those badges? Will you absolutely be required to go to the Echo to be able to read those specific plaques, before you can get those badges?

Meh... Titan Weapons look like it will also be another way to express 'Super Strength,' which broadens its appeal.

Considering that it sounds like EA will be relying on the 3.8% - 5.9% defense, still? That 'need stealth' park includes combat. Which is when I generally reallly want to see the character clearly.

Please Devs! Include a 'No Fade' option for Energy Cloak!

True. But that was only because they had one, maybe two shots, and then they needed to discard the gun.

Now, don't get me wrong. Wielding a gun and blade at the same time can look awesome, regardless of how unrealistic it is. And in a game where people fly and shoot lasers from their eyes... realism isn't too big a concern.

BUT - it's a narrow niche appeal. Just like those forsaken Dual Pistol animations... they only fit certain character types, and if you don't play one of those, then it just looks stupid.

Now... a character that HAS bot, but uses them one at a time... that's got a broader application...

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I had not even considered this combination until you mentioned it.

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I must consider this closely. I may be rerolling my Stone/WP brute as a Stone/Regen brute...

If you are playing a /Regen, and have used ALL your panic buttons in a single battle, before one of them recharging... then you did something wrong.

Regen is a very clicky powerset, and it requires actually thinking about when you click those powers, and actually having the powers to click.

Reconstruction? You will probably be using this a lot.

Dull Pain? If it isn't Perma (and on a SO build, it won't be,) this should be the first panic button hit when the going gets tough.

Instant Healing? This is basically a 90 second god mode, as long as you activate it when you've got the health to last.

MoG - Actually recharges faster than IH, and should be used as needed.

Revive - Regens die a lot. It really shouldn't slow you down much.

The saying goes that if a Regen Scrapper doesn't die in the first 20 seconds of battle or so, they aren't going to. I see no reason why this wouldn't be even more true for Regen Brutes.

Same here. If this somehow gets overlooked, I'm going to keep passing this one by.

Oh, he will be. He'll still be in the Hero Ouroboros introduction mission, after all.

That said, I'd like to see what happened to all of the original tutorial NPCs - hero and villain.

Thank you!

Ice Block, Stone Block, and Fireworks are kinda meh... but Pure Energy and Nuke look awesome.

Ugh... this means I actually have to try and make enough E-merits to buy them.

Yeah... no. There is only the one Steampunk hat for females. It's the same one that we had access to before.

The patch note suggested that they "Added extra hats" - which implies two or more additional hats. I'm seeing no additional hats.

Maybe the Devs can actually add them in when they fix the Victorian Chest Detail - which is currently clipping through the female body model regardless of what the sliders are set at.

Wait... what? Where can you see this?

Er sorry, I didn't make my point clear.

I've run both the trials multiple times. I'm already sick of them, despite having only unlocked Judgement.

My point is I don't like running the same thing over and over again. The majority of the game, blue side and red, has enough options that I don't usually get too bored. But the 'End Game,' at least right now, consists of two task forces (that no one is running) and two trials that... I'm bored with.

If I'm not enjoying myself, I'm not going to push to continue advancement. So until there are more options, I think my level 50 is stalled, again.

(The point of Power-leveling and farming is in the whole 'running the same thing ad nauseam' aspect. I don't enjoy them at all, so why would I enjoy running two missions over and over again, no matter how many objectives there are in them?)

Two problems with that. First, as mentioned, Poison doesn't really need more -Regen. Secondly, that is ignoring this little thing called the 'Cottage Rule.'

This power, it seems, was balanced around the idea that Sleep is a potent kind of mez. We all know it is not.

My suggestion is as follows.

Now, IIRC, despite there being a visible 'cloud' of gas, it only actually hits those near it when it detonates. After that, the gas is just an effect. This should not be.

Adjust it so the gas cloud acts as a patch. Reduce the durations of the Sleep, but have the pseudo-pet make a to-hit check to reapply like the Static Field power from Electric Control. It's useful there, it will be just as useful here.

Secondly - have the End Drain also make multiple checks (although this may or may not be part of the sleep checks) End Drain is useless unless it can take a target to 0... but if this is a 25-30s pseudo pet that checks once a second, even at a low chance, that end drain can end up being significant.

There you go. THAT is a poison trap that would be useful, without violating the cottage rule, or being redundant. Probably not something complimentary to KB-heavy pets, but still useful.