SpittingTrashcan

Exactly. The thing is, I don't actually consider that a bad thing. More importantly, it's only correct if you feel that it's important that some people be relatively more whatever than others. I look at a boost for everyone as a boost for everyone. Just because no one is now exceptional, does not mean that no one has benefitted. The phrase your'e quoting sees power as money: when everyone has more money, the value of money decreases. I'm looking at power as a tangible good: when everyone has more goods, everyone is more wealthy in a real objective sense. If I had twice the money I have now, and so did everyone else, I wouldn't be richer than I am now - but if I were twice as strong, twice as healthy, lived twice as long, and so did everyone else, I would still have a better life than I do now (though I might not be aware of it at all times - it's easy to take things like not dying of smallpox for granted).

Magnifying the pettiness and shortsightedness of only those people who are lucky or ambitious enough to receive that magnification is not any better. In the world I see around me, power falls into some hands by chance and into others by ambition, and I find myself desiring a more equitable world, in no small part because there exist people who in every practical sense can kill me and get away with it. Why should the presence of superpowers change that reasoning? Already, there exist people on this world, the world we live in, who can order the destruction of humanity. They have the means, and in theory they have the authority, and indeed the mandate to do so under certain circumstances. If your premise is that no human being can be trusted with that much power, then we are already doomed.

Then again, perhaps the practical short-term solution for the City of Heroes world is to reverse-engineer, mass-manufacture, and universally distribute Nullifier Rifles. Those things work *great*.

(I'll have to run a test in AE sometime to see how many Sappers it takes to bring Statesman to heel.)

I see what you did there.

Or: Arachnos is right. It's not that they actively hate their unexceptional citizens; they're just not important enough to matter, and unlike in Paragon City, they don't bother to pretend otherwise. You can phrase it callously, as Arachnos does - we're not going to help you because it's not important to do so - or you can phrase it diplomatically, as Paragon does - we're not handing out mediporters to everyone, because they're a limited resource, and saving heroes so they can continue to protect citizens saves more lives than using those resources to help citizens directly - but the upshot is more or less the same. All men are not created equal, and that has practical consequences.

Weirdly, the best hope for a fair and civil society may be to empower everyone - and Arachnos is working harder on that than any "good" faction, simply because of their neverending need for foot soldiers and their willingness to rush in where angels fear to tread. Come to think of it, a lot of the antagonist factions are far more liberal in dispensing power to the people than any of the nominally righteous...

This might be true, and I would be interested in experimenting. However, regardless of whether it is true or not, it is certainly not explicitly noted anywhere I was looking. If indeed there are extra merits granted for completing the optional objectives, it would be nice to see them called out somewhere.

(In both the runs I've done so far, we hit the optional objectives regardless, because they were there.)

These values are specifically calibrated to let the bonus stack up to 5 times, for a total bonus of 25% resist and 12.5% defense before enhancement, or about 39% resist and 19% defense with three SOs of enhancement. Of course, these values are for illustrative purposes only - the cast time, recharge time, duration, and bonus applied could all be tweaked for balance purposes. Changing the cast/recharge from 1 and 5 to 2 and 4 would leave the stacking the same, but double the activity penalty, for instance.

No actually I was making an unsuccessful joke. Because I forgot that Kal actually does give an item (or rather, a temp power you can trade for a Notice at 50). Oh well.

Wait. Wait. Okay.

City of Heroes is Feng Shui?

That makes... an astonishing amount of sense.

Speaking for myself, my animosity for Venture - and, as of late, you as well - does not stem from the fact that you are critical. I have no problem with people who have a high bar for what they find enjoyable, although I feel that having less exacting standards does make life a lot more amusing. What irritates me is that of late, neither of you can phrase your objections to what you find distasteful in a way that does not also implicitly insult everyone who doesn't find it all that bad. There is a world of difference between "I don't like this" and "This is objectively stupid and wrong," because, as I believe has already been pointed out, the latter implies that anyone who disagrees with you and finds it enjoyable or tolerable must therefore also be stupid and wrong. There are lots of occasions where I will say the former. The latter is a much stronger claim and I would not state it in any matter of taste, as it turns the debate from a disagreement over preference into a defense of one's own discernment.

You can claim I'm misquoting or misrepresenting you, but if that's not the impression you wanted to convey, then you failed to convey your sentiments effectively, at least to me.

Ironically, I actually agree with you and Venture on the substance of the issue. The game's writers lean heavily on second-person narration, it's been an ongoing complaint for years, and it's not difficult to avoid. But I've reached an understanding with them, and I think a lot of other players have as well: if they don't care enough to write well, then I don't care enough to read.

I was thinking more along the lines of converting HVAMs into Empyreals 1:1, at first, but frankly Rogues and Vigilantes get screwed enough on rewards already (especially considering that Rogue is explicitly the mercenary alignment). Those extra ten reward merits they earn in lieu of HVAMs would be more use with your suggestion. I'd tack on an inf cost as well, though; soloing is good for the wallet, and we could use more inf sinks.

Though frankly, I'd rather just have all-new, all-brutal solo or small team Incarnate content. And a pony.

Did it with eight, none with Lore/Destiny shifts, one of whom dropped out after the street sweep and another of whom dropped out after the lab clear (taking 3 temp powers with them).

Results not typical for a PUG, I'll grant...