Smurch

As I say whenever this issue comes up: "How much are you willing to pay that you're right?".

If you want to force the issue, you certainly can win... if you have many thousands of dollars to spend to do so. If you're unable or unwilling to go to that level to assert your rights, then it's just best that you do not create any characters that you intend to use elsewhere on any online service of this nature anywhere, ever.

While in theory, rights are universal, in fact they actually only belong to those with the means and intent to defend them. Without such means, your best just playing it safe and not forcing the issue to begin with.

Um... I'm pretty sure that's true.

You know, I've never had any trouble with Malta (nor any of those other groups) on any of my characters. The only ones you have to worry about are the Sappers and those are squishy. The Vanguard are much, much harder. They are easily the hardest group I've faced in the game.

I only play villain side, so there may be a fundamental AT difference there.

Yeah I had a similar experience when I first ran into them with a ss/invuln brute. So far the only characters I've been able to take them down with without getting flattened have been MMs and my claws/regen stalker. Otherwise, they seem to shred anyone who gets close.

If you have the option to fight em at range do it, otherwise bring a healer.

You know... now that you mention it...

Yep. If they make an infringing character, it's their butts on the line. However, if YOU make an infringing character... it's STILL their butts on the line. So they don't have to be "fair" about what level of risk they're willing to take in regards to Valkyrie or Atlas as opposed to Joe-Ker and BattMann.

1996, just before the launch of Issue 7.

What's your favorite enemy group?

None of which will get him the name back.

I have a Energy/Electric brute. I can tank just fine. I do more harm to myself with transfer power than most foes. Electric Armor is great at tanking against anything that does Energy/Psi/End Drain, which at high levels is almost everything. It struggles a bit around the late 30s to early 40s against lethal damage, but it gets better around 43 or so.

You're going to struggle until you get stamina fully slotted at level 21. After that, you're probably still going to want Power Drain as soon as you can take it.

Once you DO have stamina slotted, the best way to get fury going is simply to up your difficulty. I found this out on my first brute. Bump to Ruthless (or higher!) as soon as you can handle it (that's +1 level, +1 team size for the I-16 equivalent). I find bigger fights against tougher foes make it alot easier for me to build and maintain fury.

Also, put Brawl on Autoattack. It's a great fury builder.

I would like it to come out next Tuesday. I am going to DragonCon this week and when I come home next week, it'd be really nice to have I-16 waiting for me.

So, get on it, Devs!

Erm, you think? Because I think the lesson of the story was actually "do what you love and then you'll truly be rich". The story was painting the poor fisherman as the "truly wealthy" man because he was doing exactly what he wanted and had a great quality of life, while the "rich" man was actually poor because all he valued was money.

I find even very low level characters can contribute to the team. I'll take anyone who seems competent and knows how to use the powers they DO have.

Issue 16 will have some changes to the AE that should curb some of the PLing going on in there. The difficulty slider will mean high level characters won't be looking for lowbies to bridge, which means less PLing for noobs. The reward changes in AE should put a damper on boss farms and exploit farms for many people. I think you'll see more people returning to more "traditional" teams once the impact of the changes sinks in.

Actually you're confusing cause and effect here. While it's true that, in most cases, if you give a poor person 1 million dollars, they'll end up poor again very quickly, and while it's also true that this is because they don't know how to manage money, it's a leap to say the reason they are poor is because they don't know how to manage money. It's the other way around, really. They don't know how to manage money BECAUSE they are poor. To learn how to manage money, you have to actually have enough to manage, which means being above poverty level. Otherwise you have no opportunity to learn money management skills.

I know this to be true, because I'm practically a case study.

Up until about 12 years ago, I was pretty close to dirt poor IRL. I was very, very close to being homeless a one point, sleeping in an unheated basement in the dead of winter. I owned a car but couldn't afford to put gas in it.

Today, I make quite a bit of money. Quite a bit more than I ever expected to, to the point I don't even really need to worry about money or bills at all anymore. I expect to clear six figures for the first time this year. I've been working my way up here over the past decade or so, a little at a time.

I didn't climb out of poverty with money management skills. I did that with marketable skills. I'm actually STILL learning money management skills. I've had to manage a 401k for the first time in the past several years. I've had to do things like budget and manage a money market account. But when I initially started making alot of money? Yeah, I blew most of it. I had no money management skills. Because until then, I had no money. I was still in the "survival" mode of thinking, living hand to mouth. When you live like that, you develop habits based around a "here today, gone tomorrow" reality.

I can see how a massive windfall for someone who is still in that mindset can evaporate pretty quickly. The further down the poverty ladder you are, the more likely that is to happen. If I were to receive a million dollars today, I have a very good idea what I'd do with it to put it to work for me. If I had gotten it 15 years ago, I'm not so sure I would have. I'm sure I wouldn't have. I don't think I'd have done something too stupid with it (probably buy a house, car, survival type things - I'm smarter than the average bear, I wouldn't have blown too much of it on luxury items), but I am sure I wouldn't have any of it by now, it'd be long gone.

I have a great deal of trouble accepting that figure. 1 million, yes. 3 million, possibly. But 300 million? I can't think of any way you could lose 300 million on a single fast food franchise without really trying or taking a very, very long time to do it. I mean, you'd have to run promotions like "A free $100 bill with every order!" to lose that much.

I know someone in the game who regularly complains that they have no INF ever on their characters. They also horde salvage and recipes, and start crafting IOs at level 10. They craft and slot every single IO that it's possible for them to use, and slot them over existing IOs. Anything they can't use, they still horde as much as they can, and sell what they can't to QMs. It's like they're allergic to the market and afraid to sell something they "might" need later.

Then they wonder why they're broke at level 20.

Sell! Sell! Sell! is definitely a good message for newbies.

It took me almost a full minute to figure out that it wasn't a franchise that sold Fish Food.

I'll see your 7lb burrito and raise you a 9lb burger
http://www.junkfoodnews.net/9lbburger1.jpg

That's available from Denny's Beer Barrel Pub in Clearfield, PA. They also have a 15lb, 50lb, and 100lb burger!

http://www.dennysbeerbarrelpub.com/i...d=55&Itemid=12

There are programs that will allow you to keymap your game controller, such as X-Padder and Pinnacle Game Profiler.

The best part is, if we can define words however we want, we can never, ever be wrong about anything, ever! Want to prove X = Y? Broaden the definitions of X and Y until they prove our point! W00t!

Hooray for muddying the waters!