Thunder Knight

Storm Summoning's Tornado looks nothing like Scirocco's tornados (or Dust Devils), though they seem to have the same effect. Scirocco can summon up to five at once, while the Tornado power summons only one at a time (though it can have more than out out at a time, if you have enough recharge).

Though I should nitpick - while you can probably get away with Ice as a substitute for Water if you're going the classical route (Earth/Fire/Air/Water), it doesn't work for a Solid/Liquid/Gas/Plasma theme. Ice is, by definition, water in solid form, so it doesn't count as a liquid anymore.

Similarly, Steamy Mist is water in gaseous form, not liquid.

That said, I think Freezing Rain (the water's still liquid until it hits the ground) and Hurricane (its description says it's both a rain and windstorm) still count towards Liquid, so it still covering three of the four states all by itself. Pair it with something solid (even Ice), and you're good to go.

I'm glad to see Marauder still around. I like him. For all that I certainly appreciate a subtle villain who sits behind the scenes and pulls the strings towards some hidden agenda, sometimes I just like an in-your-face badass villain who gets out there and punches things. He doesn't need to become a hero (though I could see him becoming... not a hero, but essentially a weapon controlled by the heroes), I just want to see him stick around for potential future stories where we meet and clash again.

After going through the Night Ward story and the Emperor's Sword arc, it's also good to see Pendragon, a Black Knight no longer.

I... really don't know much about Aurora. For all the times I've done iTrials, I've only done MoM once, and didn't really know what was going on.

As much as I want to see them do more with the villains they already have (particularly Arachnos, who have lost their status as the Big Bads, which doesn't seem to be changing any time soon), I do like there being more "big name" feature villains in the game at large. I'm hoping that even Tyrant will eventually make a comeback in some smaller capacity (just as Reichsman did during the DA arc).

Um.. I use Shark on my main Electric/Inv brute. It's the only one with a decent widow's peak.

Anyway, I really like the way this set is shaping up. I see a few pieces I might have to grab.

Random comment:

Envenomed Blade and Reach for the Limit seem to be using coding techniques first developed for the Incarnate content, specifically the Interface slot (i.e., the ability to add a proc or DoT to attacks without having to individually add it to every single power in every single primary, like they had to do with Fiery Embrace way back when), though I can't be sure of that until I see them in action. If that is the case, though - neat!

I don't know if I'll be making a character with these, but that's mainly due to having so many characters I'm working on now rather than disinterest in either set. I have a concept or two that Water Blast/Martial Assault would perfectly fit, though.

Just a quick note here: I'd suggest Combat Jumping instead of Hover, if you want to squeeze out that last bit of Defense. It has a very low Endurance rate, and doesn't have the maneuverability issues that Hover does.

(Unless you mean you're running Combat Jumping and Hover, in which case... carry on)

He's probably gone over to the 800-Pound Gorilla's forums to ask how his brand-new free account can make a Death Knight.

The problem has absolutely nothing to do with whether or not "they're listening to the players".

The point is, as I read it, that we're being made "The best heroes" not by playing up our accomplishments and making us essentially equal to the Freedom Phalanx, someone worthy of joining them (whether or not our characters actually would is not the issue), but by instead simply making the Freedom Phalanx a bunch of bumbling fools who can't tie their shoes without my character's help.

I loved when my hero got to fight beside the Freedom Phalanx and especially beside Statesman, because my character looked up to them. I was excited when I started fighting with and against the big NPCs, the ones who appeared on the pre-Freedom loading screens (both heroes and villains), because I felt my character had really "made it" then.

I don't get that feeling from the SSA arcs. (Except at the end of the Patron Arc redside, after I've handed by patron and Lord Recluse their tooshies and they both acknowledge me as their equal)

I think a new mid-level Red zone would be nice - say, 15-25 or so, as an alternative to late Cap Au and early Sharkhead. Dean's arc is nice, but it's really the only thing going in that level range at the moment.

The WSF repetition really shows that there needs to be a new SF Redside, too, though I'm not really familiar enough with the existing TF/SFs to really say where would be best.

I agree on the new story arc going to King's Row. It'd give people a bit of a reason to not simply skip it, and Blue Steel (for all of his memetic badassery) is woefully underutilized in general. (He does stuff when you're not looking, but I think he only appears as a combatant in two missions in the entire game, once as an opponent, once as an ally)

I'm looking forward to new slots, yeah, and new Incarnate content in general. I've got two characters more or less completely Incarnated (both are +3; one has most slots at T4 except for Judgment, which is still at T3; the other is at all T3s except for Alpha), one who is fairly early on in the process (T2 Alpha, T1 Interface, nothing else unlocked), and one who will probably start the whole shebang in the next week or so (he's level 48 at the moment, more than halfway to 49). I don't even really care if the power seems underwhelming (see: Hybrid), I just like to have it. They're still generally less work than some of the Accolade powers I've picked up.

It's a weird situation for me. I generally don't like team content. I like to solo, so I can be the star of the imaginary story in my head. But I really don't mind and even enjoy most of the iTrials. (In fact, most of the team-only content in CoH in general, which is one of the reasons I stick around) And I'm looking forward to more New Stuff to Do with my Mostly-T4'd guy, even if it's just another arc or two like the Emperor's Sword.

And, just to clarify, it's not just Hasten. In I24, every single power pool, Epic Power Pool, and Patron Power Pool is going to have full light/dark color customization options, and ones that affect only the user (self buffs like Hasten, toggles including travel powers, etc) will also have Minimal FX options for the most part.

In general, trials, task/strike forces, and other group content are referred to by their initials. So you can check your LFG tab to see if anything there matches before you get too confused.

There's a difference, I think, between being evil and being a villain. A villain is a character archetype, while evil is a morality. A villain is an antagonist writ large. Regardless of whether he's killing kittens, robbing banks, or jaywalking, he does it with flair and style.

He's Lex Luthor, who is obsessed with defeating the undefeatable. He's Mr. Freeze, an emotionless figure seeking revenge for his wife and a cure for his condition. He's Dr. Doom, who already rules an entire country but who craves more. He's Dr. Drakken, who tried to take over a city using mind-controlling shampoo - and the power of rap.

He certainly can be the Joker, running around murdering people by the scores for the fun of it and nothing else, but that's not all a villain is.

I made this suggestion in another thread, but it was buried:

Change Total Focus's animation to Super Strength's KO Blow alternate animation (the two-handed axe uppercut) or possibly Cross Punch's animation, then give the former TF animation to Stun, and turn it into a copy of Thunder Strike (but with only a high chance to Stun as its secondary effect instead of TS's hodgepodge of Knockdown, Sleep, and Stun).

That also indirectly fixes Whirling Hands by making it one of two AoE attacks in the set rather than the only one. (Whirling Hands' radius, number of targets, and damage is actually exactly the same as similar PBAoEs in Sword, Axe, Mace, Dual Blades, Martial Arts, and even Kinetic Melee, so I don't think it should be changed without also changing those sets to match)

I think the general consensus was for tights and masks that don't look like they're painted on, as well as a few more styles not completely represented in the game (for example, the shorts-over-tights look - again, with the shorts standing out, not being painted on - common in the Golden Age)

Edit: whoa, ninja'd repeatedly while I was typing up this short paragraph.

Stone Armor isn't exactly low survivability with Granite off. I get 35% S/L Defense and about 40% S/L Resist with just Rock Armor, Stone Skin, Tough, and Weave, and I could probably get it up to the softcap with better IO Sets. My Psi defense is already at the softcap with just Minerals and Weave. (And I'm considering respeccing to replace Recall Friend with Maneuvers, for another ~5% or so)

I think all they'd have to do to make the set much more playable is to take the -Jump out of Rooted (but only have the status protection and boosted regen work when you're on the ground, a la Elec Armor's Grounded). I can deal with the -Run, even, but the -Jump is crippling.

This was mentioned before, but I'll just emphasize that they did specifically say that they were adding more Incarnate content in I24, so we'll just have to wait and see whether that includes more sources of Advanced iExp.