SirFrederick

One for the list: the common real-world name 'Byron' is blocked. No idea why.

D'you know, I just went back and looked at the trailer, and noticed something baffling: the chap in the frock coat in the video has a dark coat, red vest and white shirt - an obviously logical and visually pleasing combination, but impossible in-game!

I'm not so bothered by the clipping issues - obviously, everything working with everything else would be ideal, but better having lots of options with some clipping than lots of restrictions. (That said, there seem to be lots of restrictions anyway, as it's implemented now - the lack of sleeveless options being an example.) Incidentally, colour-matching the new corset with a trenchcoat makes an awesome three-piece for ladies.

Colour issues:

The colour-locked hair on the new Male/Huge hats is... well, baffling. Surely locking the colour of the goggles would make more sense, in the absence of a third colour choice.

The new jackets and sleeves seem to be coloured in such a way that they can only match each other - choosing, for instance, a Steampunk pack jacket and the classic Blazer sleeves will create a noticeable difference. Why, for pity's sake?

Also, I love the colourable coat/vest on the Victorian Steampunk jacket, but surely there's a better option than having the shirt colour match the coat's. Matching the vest would make more sense, or defaulting to white.

Model issues:

Huge models seem to throw the new pieces right out of line. The new hats create a strange gap at the back of a Huge model's neck, like he's wearing an ill-fitting wig. The sideburns of these hats do not line up with the beard, especially with the Steampunk pack beards. This is an issue for a number of old Huge hats, but is particularly noticeable with the forward-pointing sideburns of the new hats.

Now I look at it, the new Male hats have an unusual clipping issue - the model of the hair disappears into the neck, especially when in a combat stance. My hosting's down; otherwise, I'd post screenshots.

Also, the Male Victorian Steampunk 03 Jacket - the double-breasted waistcoat - has a button problem. The second row of buttons from the top isn't moored to the coat itself, and floats around alarmingly when the waist slider is adjusted. There's a similar issue on the 02 Jacket - one of the buttons pops right through the coat when the chest slider is maxed.

Personal thoughts:

I'm not quite buying the texture on the Male 01/02 coat. It looks very light and wrinkly, like a cotton lab coat. Victorian frock coats were typically heavyweight wool constructions, the kind to survive a bomb going off. Also, the waist seam is a good touch, but it sits considerably below the waist, isn't straight, and doesn't go all the way around - making it look less like a seam than another wrinkle. Also also - there really ought to be buttons on that thing. Honestly, you could just copy the buttons from the Baron coat - they'd be perfect.

(I don't mean to quibble - the models really are fantastic, and the textures on the waistcoats are great. It's just that darn coat - it just doesn't look like a real piece of clothing.)

You know, like a beret, or a tweed country hat.

(Okay, okay - it's the maximum effective rank you can get a given stat to. I'm not 100% on the mechanics of it all.)

Many of these - particularly corpse-running - are especially punishing for casual and/or solo players. Getting into trouble and not being able to get out on your own, and losing your cash, levels and/or gear as a result, is a nasty risk to face for a player without a big guild.

Hubris fails to destroy? Hubris as a pet? Divine punishment for Hubris? My Brute, Lord Hubris, is worried by this conversation.



(Incidentally, you can meet him and his Dickensian sidekick, The Chimneysweep, in AE Arc "The Steaming of the Punks.")

I admit, in my DP/Energy Blaster's early levels, I was quite excessively fond of knocking enemies down with a punch and then finishing them off with a single shot. Rather suited his thuggish personality. Relied on being close to a wall or something to counteract all the knockback, though.

So, hang on - what does this mean for the Teleport Stealth IO?

Yeah, I like 'em too. They show off the pretty character designs (not just the body that Mother Mayhem wishes was her own... I'm rather impressed by Siege's new design,) and if you're bored with them, they give you a few moments to alt-tab out, load up the news, check the washing, feed the ostrich, whatever. A little pacing helps me keep up with a frantic TF/Trial.

Well, hell, you don't expect law enforcement to work for free, do you? It's unreasonable to expect anyone to pay for your rescue but yourself!

... http://youtu.be/vLfghLQE3F4 ...

I'm throwing in my vote for a dedicated Incarnate forum. I'd suggest as a subsection of the GR forum, though Bill raises a valid point if GR-capability should become accepted as the norm.

ToTing in costume in PI, I picked up three Halloween tips in the past 45 minutes. I'd say it's just the RNG playing tricks on you. Keep at it, and best of luck!

I'm on a lappy, an Acer Aspire 5551G, with an ATI Radeon HD 5650, and Ultra Mode runs just fine on max settings. Modern laptops are pretty decent, graphically.

I'd hardly say shoehorning. This is just the continuation of the Origin of Power storyling which has been boiling away... at least since Issue 12. I quote:

SISTER PSYCHE: "...all atoms are connected. If the atoms are connected, then the things that bind them are as well. Who knows, maybe we all get our powers from the same place."
POSITRON: "But it does reveal some of the underlying tapestry that binds all of us together. I believe that all of our powers and abilities are connected in a sort of web... that might be the wrong word - let's say a net. This net reaches across to the mutants, the magicians, those that have been altered to become something more than human and even to people like Manticore that aren't directly connected to it. I once thought that the natural and technological heroes were somehow separate from the world of powers, but now, because of Dr. Brainstorm's work, I'm starting to think otherwise"

We're now learning that the Well and the Origin of Power are one and the same; a metaphysical entity to which space-gods and/or enormous monsters are closer than we tiny flesh-creatures. The Voice of the Well is new, certainly - and, frankly, a bit tacky - but learning that creatures like the Leviathan draw their power direct from the same source as States and co. is a revelation, surely.

One of Anti-Matter's missions has Interrogator Kang wondering of Longbow "I wonder, are these some sort of foreigners? Perhaps from the East?" If we consider Kang a reliable source - and I don't see why not - then there are human civilisations outside of Cole's rule, who are considered both foreign and potential enemies.

Now that I think about it, most of my favourites are groups which cause all sorts of trouble, but have the potential for good behind it all. The Scrapyarders and Luddites, of course... the Freaks, who have their different ideological factions, some reformed and thoroughly decent folks... the non-Red Cap Croatoans, too. Though the vast bulk of the Vahz are psychopathic lunatics, their group's structure seems to be very loose indeed, and I get the feeling the Doctor himself means well, and could have done better - and, unlike the Clockwork King, he still feels some responsibility for his actions.

Here's my take: I like the Incarnate content, but I think it's too particular in labelling itself "Incarnate content." And, for that matter, the source of our new powers as "The Well of the Furies." We've had these Origins of Power arcs for issues and issues. We know that all the Origins draw from a single original source. The real bombshell of the new content, far as I see it, is that those Incarnates who we thought were a sixth Origin actually draw from the Origin of Power itself (or OoP, making we Incarnates 'Oopses',) and that the silly old Well of the Furies as actually a wellspring of that same source of all superness.

Correct me if I'm reading reading the signs wrong, and scold me if I'm being dreary and obvious, but I think it makes me feel less like we're abandoning our Origin for a new one, and a compulsory story which comes with it. Rather, we're simply returning to the very roots of our powers, giving us an edge against our old foes, and matching new ones literally more powerful than any we've met before. Without the silly labels, the concept seems more reasonable. We are still saddled with only one way to -gain- this new power - this suspicious new goofy-looking Mender. But, we know alternate paths are on the way. We only know of the Praetorian trials so far, but if there aren't more on the drawing board, I'll eat my least-favourite hat.

I suppose a Heroic loyalist who then joins the counter-Praetoria activity in the end game could believe in Praetoria while being disillusioned with Cole himself. They oppose his needless paranoid expansionism which endangers the hard-won peace within Praetoria; they seek to either convince Cole of the impossibility of his dreams of multidimensional rule, or they hope to replace him with a more restrained leader.