Seldom

I'd go with option 1. It's one thing on weapons where something actually changed, like weapon scale, but if you compare the issue 1 hair/faces to more current ones, it is a bit telling. Obviously changing these would have to preserve the old asthetic, but if you can use a higher resolution version it would help.

Oh, and while you're at it...can we get some of the glow mechanic on costumes/faces? I look at some coloring options lick 'lock' and 'circuits,' as well as some of the glassy-eyed 'supernatural' faces, and think that using the glow mechanic introduced on mutants would be nice. Perhpas the coloring could be introduced as a new option for tights? (i.e. tights>tights sleek> Tights glow)

*edit* One more thing: PLEASE re-evaluate the color white. In 'tops with skin.' It has a flesh hue, even when used on a non-caucasian skinned character. It looks tackier still on caucasian characters, like they're dressed in tissue paper. On other costume items, white is a light grey and not white at all.

My Necro/Poison mastermind, "Silent Seth" is a character I like a lot. He's a tortured youth (literally! Yuk yuk) who used his toxins to escape imprisionment, and necromancy to reanimate those he revenged himself on...

But poison. Oy, poison. It has such great powers, and then some that just aggravate me. Not because the set's bad, but because it's got a few powers that while fun in concept, are overly reduced to impotency in practice. (Poison trap, noxious gas I'm looking at you.)

As the pets are squishy enough as is, the lack of mitigation from poison feels restricting. He's still great as an extra team member, but my goodness, he's got his rough spots. --And those roughspots are the exact ones that would be fixed if two certain two powers were fixed, giving some better (though still limited) AoE mitigation/debuffage.

Rawr.

They don't drop. They are earned by 'reaffirming' yourself as a hero/villain. If you are a hero, and do hero tip missions, eventually you'll get a hero morality mission. The first time you get 50 normal merits; ever after you'll get one hero merit. Same goes for villains.

You can also buy one every day in the crucible/fort trident for 20 million+50 merits.

Note: changing grey or to the other side deletes purple merits.

I generally like the unique names, but there's one catch: if you ever have a good name, and want to move the character, rest assured you'll lose your name.

Also, I'm probably in a minority, but I'd love for there to be a time that a character can hop from server to server without paying transfers. For that to happen, name frexibility would have to be part of it.

One idea I had would be this: You choose a name. all are available, but it places an auto "_(II)" on the end. [Or (III), (IV), (V) etc.] This doesn't show up anywhere but in the names having over heads and the search function. The first guy gets the perc of being the one without a numeral. There would be no "Captain Person (I)."

If the first character to use that name does not log into the game for 9 months or so, then Character Name_(II) gets to be "Character Name." The guy who first got the name then logs in? they get the (II), (III), etc. Again, the roman numarals would not be used in dialogues, info, or any such things. They would simply be there to differentiate if two (or more) of the same name were on.

The AE is hurt, but not dead.

When it came out, it was used to make boss grindfests and fun arcs. The boss grindfests got slammed; this impacted a few genuine story arcs, but they could be adapted rather easily.

Farmers fell off a bit, arcs seemed to keep going okay.

Custom creatures became the big farm, arcs continued. Custom creatures got slammed; this hurt man a real arc too.

Then custom creatures got xp rewards recalculated to meet their powers. Yay! 'ally' critters got slammed. Not yay. All missions with objectives besides 'defeat/collect X' Got hurt.

The issue is this: in the search for quelching farms, devs took broader and more damaging steps to all arcs that not only compromised the farms, but the arcs they wanted people to make.

I like making arcs. My fellow gameplayers like good arcs, but the game is about not just an adventure, but gaining the rewards along the way. Disagree with this as you may, if a player can do two things, both fun, and the first gives half the rewards of the second, they'll go for the rewards. The AE changes have left many arcs invalid/outdated, with inferior rewards for any time you invest in them.

If the devs fix it so that missions with ally critters aren't inferior anymore? I'm totally on board. but I won't say for the long hall...the development has made it clear that the efforts of the mission writers is secondary to farm damage control, and they won't spare the rod even if it might bruise the good apples too.

How to revive it? I can't make concrete predictions, but if the devs take steps to actually promote the good versions of the AE, the ones they want to see more of, that will help. ( This assumes they make sure these version give full rewards for their effort.) If they make sure that the ratings system is less abusable and that non-farm arcs aren't needlessly damage, that's good as well. An improved search Ui would not hurt either.

As is, the devs have scared off the farmers in many cases, (purposefully so) as well as many of the writers. The continual reduction to rewards for the time has scared off normal users. Put rewards back on the writer's stuff, you get writers and users back. For now? It's too hurt to use in a stable fashion. There's out dated junk, junk, good arcs that don't give a reward, good arcs that are outdated, and good arcs that give a fair rewards. Not many players have the constitution to go through a lot of that for the diamonds in the rough.

Yes, I have to agree with the people that say 'a good pklayer' but assuming that, there are still some that are just good to have around.

A good blaster: honestly, I've heard people say things like "we need a tanker/brute," "we need debuffs," and "we need some healing," but it's far less common to hear people say 'we need a blaster.' Yet I've been on so many tf's, missions, etc. where having a blaster or two who knows how to (a) stay alive and (b) make sure the enemies do not follow (a) made the whole thing smooth as silk.

A good dominator: I know, people like their 'trollers, but I've found it's often due to the secondaries. Doms just have control and damage, but their controls really rock the house. If you have somebody on the team that can lock foes down, knows which to lock first, and knows when to hit the magic button to lock down hard targets, you've saved yourself a major headache. The fact that you can stop worrying about problem targets because they have it covered no matter what makes them a great asset. Yes, I know 'trollers can do this too...I've just found the control over the extra mag/mez duration makes doms shine with a good player at the helm.

A good trick arrow player: knowing when to use the debuffs, where, and how to stack them may not be rocket science, but I've seen too many that drop them as battles move or finish, wasting the debuffs. ...And yes, I know slotting comes into this too. But while a trick archer won't bring you back from the dead, they can make smobs melt, throw down hold, and keep thing clumped. A good team with a good trick archer makes the group into a steamroller. Sure the set might need a few tweaks, but it's still darned helpful.

A mastermind with their pets controled in binds: the fact that they bring aggro distractors, damage, and buffs/debuffs is great..but if you don't have to worry about the pets in the way or runaway minions? Golden.

A good empath. Only three of the powers are heals, folks. Seeing half the team sporting fortitude and the mez fly my way only to float away without asking for a clearmind? Awesome. Also when they notice when the team is clumped and throw their RA's without shouting "Gather! runto me runto me! NOW!" 'Tis good stuff. oh yeah, and noting that when ever you get hurt, you get unhurt without saying anything. It's good. The best empaths I've seen let me concentrate on my job before realizing Oh yeah...THAT's why I've been hitting well, surviving, coming through stuff with way more health/energy...because they're awesome but didn't need people to ask/come to them for help.

To the OP: did you use fireball? Its damage was reduced a bit ago to compensate for containment.

Fire/ has hotfeet, a PBAoE toggle for damage. Psi has two of its most potent powers, drain psyche and psy shockwave, that activate as PBAoE's as well. Add in that Fire's group hold is PBAoE, and that its stun and immobilize can be done from both long and short range, you have a combo that not only controls well from the center of a mob, but with drain psyche and psy shockwave it actually survives better from there.

This used to be even a bigger boon when psy shockwave did extreme damage to a giant range. /Psy was rebalanced, psy shockwave was tooled down as the rest of the set was tooled up, so centering a character around that one power became a bit less useful. It still works, but won't win any farming races...which seems a big thing to some folks. I dunno, I never got all that, but that's me.

Try it, if it's fun, enjoy it. If not, then there's something else I'm sure.

If I recall correctly, spiders did get ancillary pools back in beta, but they got pulled. Why? the sets they gave were in many cases ill-fitting. As GR was pushed out on tight deadlines, and once pools go live they can't have powers completely changed/removed, the devs seemed to have opted for a 'wait until later, but do it right' approach.

Which I'm cool with. heck, as GR approached many hoped the same would be done for ALL villain ancillary pools, as there seem to still be some awkward placements and pool choices. (Like the level at which ancillary pools gain armors/AoE's versus where they come in patron pools.)

So, wait and see, I guess?

As to claw customization/blast customization? Yes please. Okay, if you want to restrict it in the first slot, fine. But we have a bunch of extra costumes we can do crazy stuff with. There's no reason we must have pink mental attacks and the funky blood widow claws.

And note, there are different mace models you can customize from.

Most have an arachnos look to them, but one is more of a spiked club. You can see them here: http://paragonwiki.com/wiki/Weapon_Customization

I really find the 'every man' characters to be problematic. Perhaps because my own sensibilities often lie outside the norm, perhaps because I overanaylze underlying motivations for stories' creation, I just find them to be something of an assumption. When that character comes on screen or into a story complaining about the things the creator thought you'd complain about, sekking the things they think you're after, it pulls me out of the viewing/reading/playing experience.

Why? Creators in games, movies, novels are telling you their story. there's no way around that. Their story will have its own assumptions, paths, and nuances. If they're good, these will give the feeling of continuity, give a certain logic or path to their creation. If the story seems to make a certain action make sense for the character to do, and gives the personality a reason to do it, I'm right there with them. But when they turn to me, nudge me and say this is what anybody would do, amiright?

You may question this last point, as I did basically say "if it makes sense to me I'm on track" and then turn around and say "if the character's doing what I'm supposed to have done, it's no good." Here's where the creator steps in: they can present me with a situation I'd never think of, nor could I have predicted it...but when the character makes their choice, given the information the character tells me about the systems in play, the character's personality, and the overall situation, the character can do things that I would never think of and still be an interesting and relatable entity. The best creators can make characters that stand for thing repelant and still make them seem 'realistic' in their own world.

The thing for me is this: does the character have enough nuance/motivation/history to seem like their own entity? if so, their personality does indeed become interesting. But when the character is painted with bland strokes of charcature, stereotypes, and rote archetypes they aren't. And to be honest, many of the various media's 'everyman' characters are the worst of these.

When I make characters in this game, I'm doing just that. The stories assosciated explain pasts, reactions, and/or motivations...but they don't have to be mini-me's. In fact, I only made one character once akin to myself, and I couldn't stand it. It just didn't make sense in the setting in which it was placed, doing what it did.

Characters with their own thoughtlines are interesting in that you have to look at things cockeyed, around a corner, or with a change of glasses from your standard viewpoint. I immediately know what I'd think I'd do if you present me with a situation; but put me in the shoes of, say, a young woman who lives in a dreamworld, a grizzled ex-inmate dealing with new freedom and despondancy, or an optimistic but amnestic radiocaive ex-corpse, and it's a bit different.

Heh. The in-game descriptions are often neglected as powers are changed. Unfortunately, the best way to find what a power does goes back to the detailed info tab, as the descriptors tend to be fuzzy/old at times.

Sometimes I wish such UI elements had a bit higher priority.

Forgive me if I'm wrong, but I'm pretty sure it no longer buffs damage...instead it adds something like a 100% proc for bonus fire damage on top of attacks. Is this incorrect?

Happy returns. For your Mind/Psi:

Psi dart is only slightly beefier than before, but is still fast. Which is good, in my book.

TK thrust now does excellent damage, almost as high as mind probe.

Mental blast is now on par with subdue: the only big difference between the two is subdue immobilizes, mental blast has its -recharge.

Psy scream does very good damage now. It out damages psy shockwave.

All dom snipes do very good damage now, psionic lance is no exception. It can all but oneshot an even con minion in many cases.

Psy shockwaves' radius now corresponds to its graphical range, so it's not so huge. It's now the same radius as any other PBAoE attack. It does have a max target limit that's higher now, making it the only AoE that can hit 16 tagets, if that's worth anything to you. The stun is still good too.

So, um, we're sharing youtube clips that may be a bit past due, but are still good?

Poison has some good powers. Weaken is a beast whatever way you look at it. The issues with poison: its AoE mitigation is a sleep trap. This will only sleep those immediately over it when tripped-not after. Since pets can't be told to stick to their ST attacks, even sleeping foes will often be a problem for an active mastermind.

Envenom is supposed to be the secondary big hitting debuff, but instead it's a non-stacking -30% res, -50% regen, -22.5% def.

Since dark can layer its -50% regen every 8 seconds with twilight grasp, (stacking!) and has an aoe -res with -30% res, the only point where poison's envenom isn't worse off than dark is its -def. As it is ST, this is hardly a strength.

Last of all is poison's final power, noxious gas. This is a 20 second duration debuff that takes 5 minutes to recharge and has to (a) be on a pet at close range, and (b) will die if that pet dies.

So, Poison has three powers that range from kinda underpowered to downright impotent in practice. I would very much like if envenom had its stats boosted or became at least partially stackable, if the poison trap's -end could sap foes to impunity a la the cunductive aura for doms, (The trap's -end is pretty much useless as-is) and the noxious thing became a toggle. But that's not my call.

If you aren't the only support around, /poison makes a quite decent 'other-ran' support set. It's handy solo against a few, tough foes, and is indeed still strong versus hard targets. You'll find /dark to be a lot more versatile in many instances, though, and far tougher in all instances.

I love my Necro/poison mastermind, but he seems to have fallen prey to a very conservative balance when his secondary was drawn up.

Pimp theming does not seem to be the limitation; all of the devs' answers have come down to this: The engine finds NPC customization to be problematic.

Why? It seems pets, along with granite stone armor and the forms for kheldians are very simplistic. They just use an NPC model in a library, and the system doesn't seem to be set up now to handle customization of the NPC library.

The thugs for masterminds, for instance, use differing models. Yet there's no way to make sure your arsonist always looks the same. It just doesn't specify.

That said, It's been taking a while for the next round of customization comes out. I very much hope that if they can solve the kheldian/granite issue, they can also give masterminds the ability to manage their troops' style to some extent.