RemusShepherd
-
Posts
703 -
Joined
-
It's an interesting show, and I don't think it's going to find its pace for the entire first season.
Heroes had a grand, epic scope...but they never delivered on it. They had very few special effects and they wussed out on every fight scene.
NoF is the opposite -- they have great special effects and they use them all the time. But the scope is tiny. It's all about who's dating whom and how to protect their little family.
I think the storyline is going to force them to increase their scope to epic proportions. But it's going to take a while to get there. If they do that and keep up the excellent SFX, it's going to be a terrific show. Right now it's a ABC Family soap opera, and not that appealing to me. I watch it but it only grabs my attention when something heroic is happening. -
Quote:If your primary is Dark Armor, bosses are the only things that matter. With OG, minions might as well not exist.Originally Posted by Lord_Thanatos
Unless you are just fighting high level bosses, that is completely false, Ice melee has very good AoE damage and can easily kill mobs and mobs of minions and LTs. If having a footstomp clone for an AoE isn't enough along with all of Ice melees other powers. then nothing is enough.
Its ST damage is pretty terrible tho. Which is why soul mastery is an amazing powerpick for ice melee. gloom ftw.
I agree that Ice melee has great AoE damage, but DA doesn't need that kind of support. -
I have a Dark/Ice tank, and she is a mitigation machine. With an area-effect stun, fear, knockdown, sleep, and to-hit-debuffs, and a single-target hold, she can nullify almost anything. That's without *any* ancillary pool, since she chose to get tough+weave instead.
I would not, however, recommend soloing a DA/Ice. The endurance requirements are harsh at early levels. Even at max level her damage is not very good, and she relies on the damage aura to do most of the work.
Frost breath is one of the best damage-dealing powers in the ice set, and you'll regret not taking it. But it may not be strictly necessary. -
Quote:Also because if you are burning calories, you are losing fat while building muscle mass. If you only diet, you're likely to lose muscle first and keep the fat for a while.Originally Posted by Dark One
The thing about the exercise is that the more you do it, the more your body will burn the calories after you stop. If you are cutting out 100 calories and burning 100 calories, you are actually making a 200 calorie reduction. That's why diet and exercise tends to be effective, since you are hitting it from both angles, rather than just the one.
Adding muscle will help later, as the more muscle your body has the higher your metabolic rate and the easier it will be to maintain a healthy weight. -
Quote:Maybe it's the tankers I play. Most of my Dark tank's defenses come from mitigation, and she needs to stop next to enemies in order to heal. My Ice tank can handle anything except hordes -- throw enough enemies at him and the streakbreaker will force them to hit and take him down. He would not have survived that council base. Defense debuffs are also a concern, and these days they are very common. I've gotten invuln tanks to the mid-20s. I would list their vulnerabilities as psi, -def, and endurance drain, any of which are fatal.Originally Posted by Obitus
But the complaint that Regen is more survivable than anything else -- especially Tankers -- is at least four years out of date.
Recharge debuffs, I'll agree with; they're a problem. -Regen only matters in long combats and can be remedied by taking out the problem opponent. -Def and -Res doesn't bother me -- I don't have any defense. I just got Weave at 47, and I only have 2 IO sets. It's just an amazing character, straight off the rack.Quote:Regen also seems to have more glaring situational holes than a lot of other sets (-recharge, -regeneration, -DEF, -RES).
Maybe part of this is the 'take out the problem' defense. Tanks can't take out the most dangerous opponents as quickly as a scrapper can.
I wish I could get into Shield and SR, but I hate click mez protection. I have a level 30 Kat/Fire scrapper, but he's all offense and I don't expect miracles from him. I'll have to shop around for another kind of scrapper that plays as wonderfully as my regen guy. -
I don't play Scrappers often, but I've had a MA/Regen that I've been quietly levelling when I feel like kicking bad guys in the face. He just made level 47, and I've begun to notice something.
He just can't die.
I mean, he *can*, but he doesn't, as long as I'm paying attention and my reflexes are up to the task. A low-level stream of damage comes at me, I hit Reconstruction. More damage? Dull Pain. A Boss knocks me to red health in one hit? Moment of Glory. The combat looks like it's going to last awhile and Reconstruction can't keep up? Instant healing. By the time any of these emergency buttons wear off, one of the others is recharged again.
And if I take an inspiration I can do truly crazy things.
The other night I was on a PuG tips team that had no coordination, and they accidentally pulled most of the inhabitants of a council base. Everyone else, including the tank, died in minutes. My scrapper continued fighting, long enough for some of the rest of my team to run back from the hospital, die again, and run back *again*. I did eventually fall because I queued up the wrong power and reached for a drink of water without noticing -- pilot error.
Last night I went on a LGTF. We had no stealthers, so at the final mission I volunteered to run in and Assemble everyone in the final room. I ran through -- no superspeed, mind you -- a huge mission full of Rikti, getting hit by barrages of psi and energy blasts. I had one tight spot when I went down a dead end, but other than that it was easy. (I should note that I'm pretty sure our empath hit me with Fortitude, which lasted about halfway through the run.)
Is this normal for scrappers? Is this normal for a high-level regen?
I play tanks quite a lot, and I don't think they can do what the regen scrapper can do. I'm wondering if other kinds of scrappers are this insanely durable. If so I may need to play more of them. -
Quote:Yep, six years. That's relativistic travel for you. Try this calculator -- you want the 'Long Relativistic Journeys' section.Originally Posted by DumpleBerry
Only six years? That can't be right.
Again, from the point of view of people on Earth it would take 22 years. But only six for the people on the ship.
And note that six years of constant 1 G acceleration is far beyond anything our technology is capable of, right now. Just because the trip is possible doesn't mean we can start today. -
Quote:Best theory I've heard is that the 'fuel' was general-purpose nanotech sludge that the shuttle needed to fly. When it wasn't contained and directed by a machine the nanites performed a default operation, which apparently was medical. They analyzed Wikus and tried to 'fix' him.Originally Posted by BafflingBeerMan
Was it the fuel that sprayed Wikus and started his transformation or was it part of the defense system for the canister? Why would the fuel do that? Maybe it ties into the bioengineering the aliens seemed found of?
-
Quote:By galactic standards it's as close as we've ever seen. Temperatures that allow liquid water, only 1.5 G gravity, and only a 6 year trip from Earth. The only possible lack is oxygen in the atmosphere...and we can put a colony in a dome.Originally Posted by DumpleBerry
New definitions of the terms "habitable" and "nearby," I take it?
Yeah, 'habitable' and 'nearby' would seem to apply in this case. If you're looking for a garden of Eden out there, you ain't gonna find it. -
Quote:Oh, and anything done by The Protomen.Originally Posted by RemusShepherd
Cartoon Heroes by Aqua.
(The video is from Comic Genesis and features dozens of webcomics, including one of mine.) -
Cartoon Heroes by Aqua.
(The video is from Comic Genesis and features dozens of webcomics, including one of mine.) -
Quote:I feel the exact same way. But I turn it on because normally there's nothing else in that timeslot that interests me, and because the music is all right and sometimes they do a mashup that's excellent. It's background music. I wish I could have my TV auto-mute the show whenever the music isn't playing.Originally Posted by Arnabas
Why is everyone so big on Glee?
I tried watching it. Sat through maybe two episodes and part of another, but the complete absence of any likeable characters drove me away.
I had Glee on by default last Monday, so I missed the premiere of NOF. Won't happen again next week. -
Quote:"Filth, I'm glad to say, is in the mind of the beholder.Originally Posted by Agonus
Oh there's innuendo all right, but I was expecting 1000 Ways to Die type stuff by the way the clip was getting hyped..
When correctly viewed, everything is lewd.
I could tell you things about Peter Pan,
or the Wizard of Oz -- there's a dirty old man!"
-- Tom Lehrer. -
Quote:It's about 20 light years away, which is very close by galactic measurements. If you had a spaceship that boosted at 1G, flipped around midpoint and decelerated at 1G, you'd get there in about 5 years subjective time. (By Earth time it would appear to be about 22 years.)Originally Posted by Mr_Squid
Come on! Someone invent a slipspace drive, or a warp drive, or a hyperdrive, or ludicrous speed or SOMETHING so we can go visit all the aliens already!
No need for a warp drive; if we knew how to live in space and if we had enough fuel, we could reach this planet. Of course, those are two pretty major 'if's. -
By 'PUG', Xeaon means a lot of people who already know each other from hanging around the VirtueUnited and other channels. Hell, I have a lot of new characters that don't have any SG -- they just tag along whenever X or RK get something together. Think of them as reserve members.
The old storm AV was killer. The new one is less frightening. Significant changes seem to be that his hurricane had reduced debuffs; he no longer can attack or use his hurricane while bubbled up; and I think his natural regen was reduced.
I was honored to be along for the ride for this CoP. By the way, I discovered the best method of clearing the spawn points: Omega Maneuver. Seems to cut through rularuu like, well, like shrapnel through a flock of eyeballs. -
Quote:Rumor on another forum is that copyright issues prevent the Oracle from showing up in the cartoon.Originally Posted by Durakken
Wonder why Cat Woman is in that though. She's not a member of the Birds and the costume she's in is from pre-modern so >.>
It's Batman's show, so he has to win the competition for maleness, I suppose. That's probably why they didn't mention Superman -- what could they say bad about him?Quote:Also, the three of them talking about how hot Batman is pretty much a long standing thing.
I thought it was a nice touch that Black Canary didn't get assigned any of the punchlines, which implies she's been faithful to Ollie and doesn't know any of the heroes mentioned that intimately. -
Quote:Uh, sure.Originally Posted by Nalrok_AthZim
... can I quote this?
Seems like the choice for smashiest primary is between super strength and stone melee. I haven't played any super strength character to high level yet, and it didn't feel that smashy, but maybe that's because I was using the alternate animations. It felt more like a powerful boxer than a world-shaking collossus. -
I was thinking of posting that video here, but I was worried about being banned again for sexual content.
Honestly, that's one of the filthiest songs ever. It's also one of the funniest. And it's from a show that six year olds watch, so there's no reason the mods here *should* take offense...but they have hair triggers when it comes to sexy stuff. -
Quote:I have a stone melee/wp, and he's only level 37 so far, but OMG. Talk about brutish. If he wants to regen health, he wanders *into* a horde of enemies. He knocks things around like the world is his pinball.Originally Posted by TheBruteSquad
If I was told I could only keep three characters, they would all be brutes. And they would be my stone melee/willpower, superstrength/fire armor, and fire/stone armor.
The first is tough as nails and hits like a truck. I built for recharge and max hp, not defense, so he's not as tough as he could be... but he can handle the War Zone Challenge and until the fury change could solo rikti pylons. That's tough enough for me.
He has Quick Recovery *and* Stamina, and I'm going to get Physical Perfection. With that outrageous endurance recovery, I then intend to slot all his attacks for recharge and accuracy. Screw damage enhancements. If you hit someone with a granite hammer enough times, they will feel it. I'm talking about buzzsawing screen shaking attacks, limited only by the animation time. I don't see how much more brutish you can get. -
Hmmn. The 'Optimus Rhyme' mention reminded me of this character, a SS/Inv tank that I haven't gotten out of Praetoria yet:
***
Hi citizen!
My name is Adolf Chattanooga. (Yeah, yeah!)
You know, the honor's all mine
to save this city from crime.
I'm from a far off world where everybody is shy.
Your planet's much more fun, I thought I'd give it a try.
But when I picked a label,
my license to enable,
your last sixty years of speech was untranslatable.
So now I am known
as hero Adolf Chattanooga. (Yeah, yeah!)
My language should be now fixed,
with an occasional glotch.
My voice is strange because it's from a box in my throat.
In fact, the Adolf android's piloted by remote.
I'm safe aboard my saucer,
Watching over all, sir.
But the droid'll beam in where ever there's a monster!
I guess I'm still shy,
even as Adolf Chattanooga. (Yeah, yeah!)
But in my alien way,
I'm here and saving the day.
Yes, any hero would say,
I'm here and saving the day!
*** -
Quote:Dr. Venture *is* a pompous ****. He'll never change. The series isn't about him. It's all about Hank and Dean and their character growth. Rusty is there mostly as an example of how bad the boys could grow up to be if everything goes wrong.Originally Posted by Unknown_User
So far I really haven't seen much character growth or development in Dr. Venture other than being a pompous ******* to everyone around him.
I read something online where somebody was asking why The Venture Brothers aren't a bigger deal. Metapocalypse had a hit album. Robot Chicken won an Emmy. Aqua Teen Hunger Force got a movie. But The Venture Brothers is better than any of them -- in my opinion it's the best ongoing series on television, anywhere. Why isn't it as popular as Dr. Who? It deserves to be. -
If you want a modern band that redefines the term 'Rock Out!', look no further than Killola. They're like Joan Jett turned up to 11. I'm at work so I can't give you links but they're not difficult to search for.
-
Quote:I know exactly why.Originally Posted by Warp_Factor
This is correct. Hulk's lethal rampage was solidly canon in the buildup to Planet Hulk. At some point between then and when World War Hulk started, Marvel softened on it and appear to have unofficially retconned it. It's a weird situation, they've been very contradictory about it. Not unlike their handling of Ghost Rider continuity, only this happened in a much shorter period of time. Hulk killing people in Vegas was clearly canon at that point, and was just sort of forgotten about. By the end of World War Hulk, no one seemed to acknowledge that Hulk had killed people.
If Hulk killed someone, it contradicts everything that's been laid down about the character over 40 years.
If Reed Richards shot the Hulk into space without a good reason, it contradicts everything that's been laid down about *that* character for over 40 years.
The writer of FF put the murderous rampage in to give Richards a good reason. I guarantee he did not vett it with the writer of the Hulk book, and it's never been mentioned there. It was lazy writing, in order to give a character some contrived motivation. That way Richards can continue to look like a hero (instead of a goddamned Hitler, which is how he came across in Civil War). Then they'll forget the rampage and/or retcon it so that it wasn't the Hulk's fault, which will allow the Hulk to continue to look like a hero.
Over any long time scale these things happen in the comics biz. I hate how flaky comics continuity is, but that's just how it goes. -
Quote:When was this? Because it was never mentioned in Hulk's book, as far as I know.Originally Posted by Scarlet_Phantom
After his rampage in Las Vegas he ended up killing 26 people.
I suspect that some other writer introduced that crap to make their hero look better when going against the Hulk. I would be surprised if it's in main pre-WWH Marvel continuity. (If it was during WWH, I could believe it.) -
Quote:I disagree with this. There are valid ways to build a character without Stamina -- I have three characters like that, myself. Most of the player base chose Stamina. But there were other options. Now the choice has been taken away.Originally Posted by The_Cheeseman
I find it odd that you think making the worst-designed power pool of them all inherent means that they are adding new pools. The devs are simply working to enable the level of variety they intended characters to have from the very start, before they realized that their game pretty much sucks without Stamina. In other words, players have been unfairly penalized in the area of customization by poor power design the entire time, and by fixing that error, they are opening up the level of individuality that was originally intended.
I think by now they've realized that most CoX players value customization over min/maxing. If there was a power pool that did nothing more than give you more costume slots, players would pick it. So there is no inertia for player choice, here; any power pool that allows players to feel more unique will be used.Quote:Also, from a game design standpoint, creating new temporary powers via the invention system seems to me to be a strong indicator *against* the creation of new power pools. I mean, why spend significant development resources to design a number of new power pools, which must be balanced against other pools (and probably will need to be at least somewhat superior to most pools, to combat player inertia--that is, the inherent resistance players always feel against anything new) when they can cover any situational holes in the powers structure with invention powers?
No. I'm assuming that the game system in CoX requires that players need 18 powers to choose from, for levels 1-38. Some powers in the primary and secondary powersets will be unwanted, either because they are weak or because they are against concept. Before you could take Fitness and patch those holes; now you can't. The existing powersets are too few and too similar to allow players to customize themselves adequately, and thus more options are needed.Quote:Basically, you're making an assumption based on fairly illogical premises. You assume that just because they're removing one pool, they have to add another one to replace it.
Game design space is a consideration, but it's a distant third behind customization and ease of programming. There are many powersets that are functionally similar, and thus compete for design space, but that are different enough in either graphics or effect to allow players to customize themselves.Quote:The only compelling reason to add a new power pool would be if the developers feel that there is adequate design space for a new set of powers that would add unique new capabilities to existing characters.
But if you examine the design space it supports my argument. Most of the remaining power pools have similar game effects -- they are defenses and melee attacks. With the proliferation of temporary debuffs, movement powers, and ranged attacks, there is a huge amount of unused design space and customization options that are being introduced as temporary powers that do not exist as power pools. All of these would be trivial to implement as additional power pools, and now when we're losing a pool would be the time to do so. That's why my instinct tells me more pools are on their way.