Target_0

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That, and the man designed Silver Age Sentinals, so I feel he should get extra attention for a kickass job

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Is it a kickass job if there are glaring typos in it?

Capes = Doom?

A nerfarious Recluse plot?

Tune in next week to find out ...

Arena bugs/fixes?

Rage? Note the wink: You're a joke.

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Pretty sure she was referring to a negative comment being made about Cricket and CJ, or to anyone for that matter. Talking to yourself with two accounts to further your own drama doesn't make it any more believable.

And what any of that has to do with this thread, I don't know. can we please keep posts in here on topic?

-M

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i actually only have over 50 free accounts but am currently using just this one but good luck in your career as a detective

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Good luck in your career scamming people into buying lemons instead of cars. Then again, if you're half as good a scam artist/accomplished liar as you are here ... who needs luck?

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* Veteran Respecs for Kheldians will fail if the Veteran Sprints Reward has been collected beforehand. All Enhancements in your tray (NOT the ones slotted in your powers) before you begin the respec will be lost. The only known workaround is for Kheldian characters to [u]NOT[u] claim the Sprint Powers prior to using a respec.

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In my experience, it is the claiming of the perma-temp powers (Ghost Slaying Axe, Sands of Mu, etc.) that cause the RespecFailed error, and not the Prestige Sprints. I have tested this several times in various manners on the Test server. I can respec fine if I claim just the Prestige Sprints. But if I claim the Axe or the Sands, I fail miserably.

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This is not just happening to Kheldians. My Scrapper is having the same problem. Selected Sands of Mu, took all the prestige Sprints, then after going through and completing a respec, I get an in-game window noting a 'RespecFailed' error and no changes are made to my character.

I've heard that others have lost any Enh they had in their trays before they tried to respec, including HOs.

One of the best threads I've seen in a long long time. Kudos.

Is this a sneak peek into this new system by any chance?

Wow.

Starting today I've been trying to read the boards to stay abreast of current events, although not interacting with them; taking a brief break, if you will. I've followed this thread as it grew, and shrank, then grew again. I've listened to both sides make their case, and noted that neither side is interested in compromising ... oh well, sometimes it happens. I had no desire to get involved either, as I've had enough of threads getting mixed up with personal vendettas, and threads that end in flame-wars in general.

But this, I can't pass up ...

Causing debt to another player in PvE is definitely discouraged. If not, there wouldn't be police drones in Portal Corp today. But in PvP it's valid and acceptable? What makes the difference? Why is it unacceptable behavior in one zone, but not even worth a slap on the wrist in another?

It is understandable that PvP zones have no real way of easily policing "right and wrong" within them. GMs must have a hell of a time trying to arbitrate the hundreds (maybe thousands) of "griefing" petitions they get in a day. And it's not easy trying to find a solution that is fair and equitable to both sides of an argument, especially if both sides are paying customers. Taking up a moral stance and sticking to it when you will be damned one way or the other is not a position I envy. But IMO, taking a stance is better than taking no stance at all - it seems like PvP zones are moving towards a "laissez faire" attitude towards what goes on within them.

A very good friend of mine once noted that "PvP will be the death knell for this game." I wouldn't go that far, but I can't argue that it hasn't had a definite detrimental impact from certain perspectives. At this point, PvP is an entirely different game from the original PvE game ... and they don't really gel at all, IMO. That's an entirely different discussion though, and frankly I don't even care to debate it. All I know is that the more time that goes by, the more I see threads like this. And the more experiences I have within PvP zones, the more I see previously agreeable people degenerate into elementary school bullies. All-in-all, the less I want to be involved with open PvP at all.


Back on topic: There's a difference in playing to have fun, and having fun by ruining other people's fun. There's a difference between winning a friendly competition, and dominating an opponent by superior firepower or numbers or some other unfair advantage.

And each of us should damn well understand those differences, whether we admit it here or not.

If for some reason you don't know the difference at this point in your life, there's no point in wasting my time by trying to explain it.

Didn't team with, but just bumped into Juzam. He is in fact big and blue.

Current Heroes

Current Villains

Links go to a page updated regularly.

1) Judith - A Perfect Circle
2) Vivrant Thing - Q Tip
3) Novacane - Beck
4) Down Slow - Moby
5) Zombie Zoo - Tom Petty
6) Landmine Spring - Quicksand
7) Well You Needn't (Alternate Take) - Thelonius Monk
8) Connection - Elastica
9) Blame It On The Tetons - Modest Mouse
10) No One Else - Weezer


Dang, no Poison The Well, no Dillinger Escape Plan, no Botch ... not at all representative of my harder tastes

*hiccup*

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Actually the deal is this:

We removed Recharge Enhancements from all Henchmen powers because it WOULD affect the recharge rate of the summoning power itself, and NOT the recharge rate of the Henchmen's powers.

This is inconsistent to ALL other Enhancements that are slottable for Henchmen... the Enhancements ALWAYS affect the powers of the Henchmen, and not the summoning power itself.

To avoid confusion, we just removed the option.

And I believe it was a good call, seeing as how many people would be confused as to how it would work if we left it alone.

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Is that true for other AT's pets as well? I'd read that recharge enhancements were affecting my singularity's powers, and not just how often I was able to summon it, but I haven't timed it or anything. I'd be nice to know for sure.

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I tried to be specific by mentioning "Henchmen" instead of "Pets".

The above statement by me applies ONLY to Mastermind Henchmen powers, i.e. the summoned pets that can be controlled via the command icons. Pets that are summoned "uncontrolled" (even those summoned by Masterminds) behave as they always have in regards to Enhancements (i.e. the Enhancement affects the power, not the pet).

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What about Hasten? Does that affect Henchman Summoning recharge? (don't plan on it for my MM, but curious).

I miss Upsen. No word on if the pink-kitty dude was swayed into trying CoV Beta I assume?

Golly gee-whiz, thanks ...

IMO: you really don't understand, appreciate, or respect your playerbase if you think this was well planned out and a fair deal.

Ah, Upsen leaves behind a legacy. I vote that Controllers should be encouraged to wear pink uniforms with Cat Ears.

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Was alot of fun duo-tanking with you, Mal. You adapt to a partner well.

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"Love is in the air ... everywhere you look around ... "

Tankers seem pointless to me now. Invulnerability has always been a prototypical hero ability, and it's performance is extremely lackluster post-I5. The amount of slotting it takes to bump up to half my previous survivability really does not leave a lot of variety in builds, and barely leaves anything left for offense. And poor Ice Tanks in general. I understand that having a high-level Tank being able to survive almost anything was a cause for concern and really didn't have much risk. However, the end results were too drastic in my opinion for non Smashing/Lethal damage. Additionally, these changes have really hit early-level Tankers very hard.

I've been playing my Scrapper more as a result, and frankly with good Defenders/Controllers backing him, I see no need for Tanks at all - not even for some AV's like Mary Macomber, Nemesis, Anti-Matter. Only the really tough AVs seem to require Tanks on team from what I've seen and played. What does that tell me about the nature of tanks? This. They have no real place. They don't have a required function. They are replaceable in teams. I've stopped playing my tank, because it seems like his inclusion in teams is more of a charity than it is a requirement or benefit to them.

Since I5 hit, I've barely seen many Tanks in-game, and I've played with even less. And the 45+ game is really no much worse or harder for it. Now more than ever, I wonder why Tankers and Scrappers were ever differentiated. They should have been the same class, only differentiated by whether you wanted to slot Offensively, Defensively, or balanced between the two. But at this point, Pandora's Box has been opened - I have no idea how you can rectify this. I've already deleted all my low-level tankers, and each day it gets harder for me to NOT delete my lvl 50 Inv/SS and free up a potentially useful slot on Champion.

*EDIT: It's been stated that each AT bring something useful to teams, but no one AT should be generally required. To me, that is no longer the case. Tanks need a Defender backing them OR a Controller managing additional aggro. Without either of these, a tank is not worth the team slot UNLESS it's for specific AVs.

The defense debuff protection is a welcome change, but I would have preferred it to have been worked on and developed a bit BEFORE the global -Def was introduced. How long do Ice Tankers, Super Reflex Scrappers, and Force Fielders have to play seemingly crippled or under-performing characters until they see results?

I've run my SR Scrapper in a lot of teams with other Scrappers. Even after including Tough/Weave into my build with the SR powers, I'm still taking more damage, burning through more endurance, and doing less damage than other Scrapper types of my level (currently 23, fully slotted with SOs). To Emphasize: even after adding Pool powers and slotting Defense heavily over Offense, SR is still out-survived by other Scrappers. That has nothing to do with being debuffed with -Def; the set is inherently weaker than the other secondaries.

I've said it before in regards to SR: Combine the Ranged/AoE passives into one power slot, and the Ranged/AoE toggles into another. use the two free power slots to add utility powers to SR; Examples: 1) a passive power to increase Health/Endurance regeneration (does both at 1/2 the capacity of the Fitness pool, and you can slot for either health or endurance recovery); 2) a click similar to Adrenalin boost; 3) a click similar to either Dull Pain or a click version of Mind over Body. Other forms of damage mitigation are needed. What's the point of only having +Def if it's at a poor level? And as far as concern about changing the Power Set: I have met few if any SR's who skip any powers other than Quickness and/or Elude - all the other powers are usually taken almost without fail.

*EDIT: Having more fun with Scrappers now than I've had with my Tank since I4 when the nerfs really started. And yes, he was 50 with resists capped long before that, so it's not a matter of risky survival being factored in - it the character's effectiveness.

"What kind of energy?"

Awesome. Nice work.

Same here. I modified my original costume to darken all colors to black/grey levels as well.

Most sucky people are just very vocal about being sucky, Upsen. The nice ones don't yell so much.

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who dug up this dead post. there are rules about digging up dead posts. lol like anyone is goin to bother with hami anymore lol

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See, you were wrong X.

Everyone should make note of the accepted guidelines at the very least even if you don't choose a raid costume in-and-of-itself.

How does something stickied get "Accidentally removed"? I thought the point of making something sticky was to keep it in very open view and not easily removed by accident.

Glad to see this is back at least.

EPILOGUE

Powerfrost checked his terminal noting the current status and locations of all F.O.R.C.E. Operatives, starting with the subject of his conversation. Still apparently in the same cell of the Zig, as always when not on an active mission. At this point there was nothing more for it to see or hear, and it decided this was enough for now. It had been away for too long as is. Through the closed door of Powerfrost's office it glided, down the hall trailing behind the tall blond man who was lost deep in thought. His anger was soothing, wonderful. It could not help but pass a hand throught his skull savoring in the sensation of the furious outrage, while the man simply twitched his head and scratched his left ear. 'A dangerous game,' it thought. 'This one is wary ... ' it knew without a doubt.

It pulled itself away from the psychic and passed through wall after wall until the night sky blossomed above it. Picking up speed, it soared away while intoxicated and lost in ecstacy, savoring the remnants of rage it had ingested. It arrived back at the cage, the Zig, just in time to hear a guard yelling into his room through the narrow view slit.

"You have 20 seconds to acknowledge, prisoner T0 050304! I repeat: you have 20 seconds to acknowledge!"

It materialized to the left of the door inside the cell, and shifted back to visibility, just as it turned to face the guard through the slit with piercing, glowing red eyes.

"I acknowledge," it whispered.

"JEEEEZIZ!!!!" The guard cried as he jumped back spilling onto the floor and lost his hat. It shivered ever so slightly with delight at his momentary terror.

"Is there anything else you require?" it asked. It simply watched as the guard got up, defiantly snapped the window shut and briskly walked away to continue his rounds.

It drifted over to the bed in darkness. It did not require the lights, and kept them off in preference. It knew their monitoring device in the upper left corner did not need light either. As it sat upright on the bed, it deftly removed the subdermal implant chip from beneath the pillow and had it reinserted in its chest (an easy enough task to remove their metal spy from its body, considering it could turn itself as thin as air at will) in one swift motion too fast for the camera to catch. Their magic eye could see in the dark almost as well as itself, but not well enough.

'Termination.' it mused. Unlikely they could succeed. Then it's thoughts turned: 'Was once a man ... ?'

It found the idea distasteful, and quickly pushed it aside. It then settled into thoughtless, timeless silence ...

SEEDS OF RUINATION

Powerfrost was startled to attention by a knock at the door. How long had he been staring blankly at his terminal? Fifteen minutes, or an hour? He grunted as he rubbed his eyes and barked "It's open!"

The door opened sharply and swiftly as Wille Zur Macht strode into the room, then snapped shut decisively behind him.

"Director," Wille nodded in greeting as he looked over his superior, "Are you sure you want me to interupt you fun?"

"If I had any more fun, I'd kill myself." Powerfrost motioned to the chair in front of his desk, but Wille shook his head.

"Nein, If I remain standing this will go much quicker and you won't keep me as long, then you can finally depart from this damnable office at a reasonable hour for a change."

"You know that won't work," Powerfrost replied as he leaned back in his chair, "But I appreciate the sentiment. This project started well, but this next wave of candidates ... there's a lot of potential, and a lot of potential damage."

After a moment passed, Wille began again: "You wished to discuss something in specific ... ?" Wille inquired. "Or perhaps, someone in specific?"

Powerfrost leaned forward again "Who would you say is the highest risk candidate?"

"Raindance" Wille replied immmediately and without hesitation.

"Ra-..." Powerfrost began with his mouth agape, working soundlessly for a few seconds. "Raindance?!" Wille simply nodded. "OK," Powerfrost admitted, "now you've piqued my curiousity. Please, go on ... "

"You disciplined her recently." Not a question.

"Ah. Yes. Look, I give the same speech to everyone here who butts head with our resident butthead," Powerfrost sighed, "The Devil's a manipulator who ..."

"Director..."

Powerfrost stopped. "Fair enough. You have the floor. Monosyllabic answers from me."

"I would strongly advise against disciplining her on front of the others." Wille continued. "Incidents like that will poison her, and set her against us. And individuals like Handsome Devil will make it a point to have such incidents reoccur as often as possible."

Powerfrost closed his eyes and nodded, but Wille continued. "At the same time, showing favoritist treatment to a trustee like Raindance will sour the other candidates on their perceived chance at redemption."

Powerfrost couldn't help but laugh and smile. "You love playing devil's advocate," he said, quickly followed by "No pun inteded."

"Of course," Wille smirked in return, "and I'm well aware of your opinion on Devil being a 'Lifer' here." At this, his smirk dropped. "Sadly I must agree."

"Point taken," Powerfrost noted. "But you'll understand that I must point out you're quite the manipulator yourself. You know what I meant when I asked my question," Wille gave a hint of a weary smile as Powerfrost stared at him flatly. "Now that you've gotten that off your chest, can you answer the spirit of my question?"

Wille frowned, gave a resigned sigh and pulled back the guest chair as he sat himself in it. "There is quite a range of remarkable 'talents', shall we say? Handsome Devil is quite clearly a threat and makes no attempts to hide it. It's for that reason he is kept under the strictest surveilance. Others like Lazerwolf, GeoSynch, or HappyPhlogiston, have histories of unpredictable psychotic episodes. We've had some progress with counselling and medication, but they..."

"My turn to interupt," Powerfrost interjected. "Stop dancing around the subject and let's talk, Wille."

"Ja," Wille replied. "Yes," he then corrected himself. "You know the saying about 'the quiet ones'?"

"Is that akin to 'The Squeaky Wheel Gets The Grease', only in reverse?"

Wille considered for a moment. "I suppose it is, a little," he admitted. "From my upbringing, though, the phrase is 'The quiet ones are not meant to strike where the enemy is aware, but where they are unaware' ... "

"How very 'warrior-poet'-esque" Powerfrost noted without breaking his stare. Wille simply regarded the Director above the rim of his glasses and leaned in closely. "I sincerely wish you would reconsider my offer to probe..."

"NO!" Powerfrost boomed as he slammed his fist on the table. "Absolutely not! Dammit, Wille! I knew you wouldn't let this go so easily! The Ruined One is off-limits to you, and that's final!" Both men stared at each other across the desk for a moment, Powerfrost choking back outrage as Wille seemed to bite his toungue and attempt to swallow his pride. "I know you've read the files, Wille. You know his history, you know what he's capable of, NeverMind ... "

"Was an amateur. Security level 7 only. I could ... "

"NeverMind is dead, Wille." Powerfrost interupted, then sighed heavily. "I just heard today. His family's lawyers finally succeeded in their case, and they had the Doctors at Crowne Memorial Hospital pull the plug in accordance to his living will. His brain is going to science, while the rest of his organs are being donated to patients on waiting lists. Wille, he's too dangerous to you specifically. Especially if you don't relent on this need to prove something regarding him. I'm not willing to risk you trying something that may turn you into a vegetable. Or kill you."

Wille simply sat still, resolute and quiet, until he was sure the Director had finished. "Fine," he admitted. "It ... he, whatever, ... is off-limits to me." Wille leaned forward, "Who will watch him then? You, for twenty-four hours a day? Raindance? The others in the program?"

Wille shook his head. "At least the others are being treated, or are showing progress, or at least we know what they want and why they are participating. We know nothing about this thing you found."

"You just reminded me about 'souring candidates on their perceived chance at redemption', remember?" Powerfrost noted. "Ruined One is a he, not an it. I don't want to hear that kind of talk, Wille. You've come farther than that." After another brief pause, he continued. "M.A.G.I. sources believe that he was once a man, but they think he may be the victim of some sort of curse that made him what he is now. He may have roots in humanity that we can bring out again."

"Do you believe that?" Wille asked sharply. "Do you believe it's even possible?"

"I don't have the luxury of saying 'No', Wille," Powerfrost replied. "F.O.R.C.E. is the only chance he has. The only other alternative given was ... " Powerfrost hesitated.

"Termination," Wille finished for him.

"Yeah, that," Powerfrost admitted. "No one is sure if he can be confined. Hell, we're lucky we can keep tabs on him as is with his abilities. But you've read his Psych Evaluation, he seems cooperative. Predatory, but logical. Even if he is creepy as all Hell." Powerfrost looked Wille dead in the eyes again. "But I still don't want you connected to him at all. Your powers are still growing, sometimes in spurts and sometimes exponentially. There's no guarantee that you'll have the full control necessarry to prevent ... something ... from going wrong around him."

"You're the boss," Wille scowled. "I disagree, but I will honor your orders." He got up, then checked himself and asked "Will that be all?"

"Yes, thank you," the Director replied. "Can we please make this the last time we have to speak on this?"

Wille said nothing for a moment, then whispered markedly " 'The quiet ones are not meant to strike where the enemy is aware,' Director. And we know very little about it-HIM" Wille corrected himself at the last minute, then turned and left Powerfrost staring at the closed door.