Thunder Knight

I thought this topic was going to be about some sort of Pogo revival. (Which makes it even more appropriate that the topic eventually turned to the subject of skunks)

I've done the event multiple times on three different characters. Still waiting for my first proc drop. Ah well.

A big problem is that you continue to ignore one important difference between reality and fiction. In the real world, we can't really know what people are thinking, because in real life, we do not have magical mind-reading powers. We don't know people's true movies for doing anything. We can't ever really know if someone has turned over a new leaf or is only paying lip-service to the idea.

In fiction, however, thanks to things such as "omniscient third-person narrators" and "Word of God", we can know exactly whether these fictional characters truly regret what they've done, and whether they really want to try to make amends. (That's not even counting the fact that, in the world of CoH, magical mind-reading does actually exist)

So if the author tells us that a character in the author's story has undergone an "internal redemption, a change of heart, a sense of remorse", that's not "denial", that's the author telling us what's actually happening in that character's mind.

Using Dominatrix as an example of a Praetorian character who is now considered a "hero" is ridiculous. She simply makes sure that, every time we meet her, the choice is between going after her, or going after a bigger threat like Mot or Tyrant. She's not a hero, she's just a temporary ally in larger fights. (Just as Blue Steel and Lord Recluse team up for the final mission of the Mot arcs, but that doesn't make Lord Recluse a hero)

We, the players, have heard Dominatrix's thoughts (in her Personal Mission), and we know that she doesn't regret anything she's done, not even killing her own mother. She's a villain. We've heard Cole's thoughts, and know that he also thinks that brainwashing, enslaving, and slaughtering people was the right way to go about things, right up until the end, and he regrets nothing. He's a villain.

The only names suggested who have a chance at any sort of redemption have been Keyes and White, for reasons already stated. (And "a chance" doesn't mean "a certainty", it just means "a chance"). Cole and Duncan are not on that list.

SOs are nice if it's being run by the levels DFB was meant for - i.e., below 20, when normally you can't get SOs at all.

Also, keep in mind that, with the exception of a few newer arcs like Habashy, the game doesn't send you from one context right to the next in a straight series. You're really on your own for a lot of it, but that leaves you free to discover what's out there. Some days I just don't feel like doing arcs, and just run Radio/Newspaper missions for a while (or, at above level 20, Tip missions).

So definitely pick up a Radio from whichever Detective contact it highlights for you in Kings Row, whether it's Joe or Pep.

... and, again, you're comparing these fictional supervillains to Nazis and other real-world situations rather than to other fictional supervillains.

I point again to Magneto, who was a terrorist, a murderer, and a convicted criminal... and who is now a hero, leading a team of superheroes.

In-game, I point to Frostfire, who is a murderer and a convicted criminal, but who becomes a hero by the time of the 40-50 arcs, and who in the game's future becomes an Incarnate hero of Statesman's stature.

So it doesn't matter what happened in WW2, because this game is not a WW2 simulation. It's a superhero story. And in superhero stories, even the most villainous characters can change sides.

Don't worry, they're just defeated.

Well, we are talking about a genre where murderers and terrorists like Magneto can eventually become one of the good guys, Namor has jumped back and forth over the line ever since he was created, and even Penguin and Riddler have gone straight.

And we're talking about a game where Frostfire and Miss Thystle were both outright villains in early story arcs and full-on heroes in later ones. Nothing, not even morality, is fixed. (Especially in this post-Going Rogue age)

To wit:

Marauder strikes me as a guy who doesn't really care about "good" or "evil", he just enjoys the challenge of the fight. Heck, even in Lambda, he's fighting to protect something, because it's his job. Give him something else to protect and fight for. Point him at Arachnos or Nemesis and he'd probably be happy to take them down.

And Keyes, as said, would benefit greatly from a dose of genuine appreciation for his talents and inventions. They should of course be kept on VERY short leashes at first, but there's no reason that the surviving Praetorians should be exempt from the chance to turn themselves around.

While there are some existing powerset-appropriate transformation emotes, most need to be bought at the Paragon Market or with Incarnate merits (Lightning, Energy, and Martial-arts-style from the market, and Ice, Stone, Fire, and a different Energy from the Incarnate vendors)

It would be interesting to get a character-linked "free" one based on a specific attack from one of your powersets. (Not necessarily your primary powerset, depending on AT). No new animation, just a new use for the old animations.

Don't forget the Night Ward Incarnate arc, The Emperor's Sword. You also get your Incarnate Shifts for those missions, but not while running around in Night Ward between missions.

As for the topic question, I've done that mission solo twice, but only with Melee classes (one Brute, one Tanker, both 50+3). Of course, this is due entirely to those being my only Incarnate characters so far. (Looking forward to doing Incarnate stuff with my Mastermind, but he's got 11 levels to go) Anyway, I digress)

Really, you almost might as well do it solo at any level, since the NPCs tend to die long before you get to Romulus Augustus. Maybe a more support-oriented class could keep them alive up until the end, but for me the NPCs always died while fighting the first or second monster group (and a few were usually picked off by the Talons groups before even that point).

I'm not sure I completely understand the "it's so SLOW!" complaint about Energy Melee. Because, for example, Electric Melee has two attacks that are just as slow as Energy Melee's slowest attacks, one even using the same animation, and Jacob's Ladder isn't exactly speedy, either. Yet I've never heard any complaints about Electric Melee's speed. Is it just because Electric Melee's slowest attacks are AoEs instead of single-target?

The same goes for Kinetic Melee, which can't be explained by single target vs. multiple targets. Kinetic Melee's second-slowest attack (Burst, which has the same animation time as Energy Transfer) is also a PBAoE, and none of its attacks (even Concentrated Strike, its slowest) are as slow as Total Focus / Thunder Strike. Is it the elaborate animations that make the set feel slower than it is?

Welp, they walked right me, saying "Oh, he's AFK", as I typed frantically and all of my text showed up on my screen but none of it showed up in the video on Twitch TV until Zwill was long past me.

Right, I'm off to bed again. Good luck to whoever wins.

#3: Overly Attached Girlfriend
#2: At first I was like...
#1: Nope! Chuck Testa!

Edit: Goin' anyway. SLEEP IS FOR THE WEEK!

Assuming my computer doesn't explode from all the people on the screen at once.

Edit 2: Yikes, now I have stage fright.

I did manage to run the event with a different character later on, and we got all four "Perfect" badges in one run (as well as Roleplayer). They seem to be granted to everyone on the team, not just the person playing each role. (I don't know if that's WAI)

My bug was joining the LFG queue for the event, getting the "Enter" dialogue box, hitting "Enter", and then... nothing. The event never started, and I couldn't leave the queue. Eventually, it told me I wasn't connected to the server (even though I was still running around and everything was still moving and responding fine). Then it kicked me off, and I didn't try to join the event again.

I thought the new Dark Astoria was far more in the vein of Lovecraftian Horror than anything resembling a standard knights-and-wizards, elves-and-dwarves-and-hobbits D&D-style fantasy.

And if you think that magic or Lovecraftian horrors have no place in a superhero themed comic book game, then you've never heard of Dr. Strange or Shuma-Gorath.

My biggest disappointment with the new DA was - and this is minor spoiler for the end of the arc, so look away now if you haven't played through it yet, and yes I'm deliberately being wordy to make sure you have plenty of time to look away, plus I'm making it a terrible color so it'll be slightly harder to read, especially on the Villain skin - the "final boss", which took the form of a slightly larger version of the Sentinel, rather than something new. (I was expecting something even more alien, with the eye-on-a-stalk motif found in a lot of Mot's "decor")

Ah, yeah, I see. I got that one two months ago. I misread and thought he was talking about a newer one. Carry on.

Just a quick note - as of I23 there's a new solo Incarnate arc in Night Ward, too. Belladonna Vetrano (who adds herself to your contact list with a Call link automatically) gives it to you, and you can find it as "The Emperor's Sword" in Oroborous. It's six missions long (technically three, but the second one has four parts) and gives the same reward table as any of the Dark Astoria arcs.

Since the DA arcs only have five parts that grant that reward table (Max's arc has no reward at the end), but Gabriel is on a seven-day timer, you can use it as filler if you dont want to run any of the DA arcs a second time in a week.

Unlike the Dark Astoria arcs, however, its story is not self-contained. Since it's in Night Ward, it's part of the whole Pretorian storyline, and it's set as the second-to-last chapter of that story. It continues from the 30-39 Night Ward arcs (particularly in assuming you already know who Pendragon and Sir Bedwyn are), and some of the the events it sets in motion (including introducing two brand-new last-minute allies for Tyrant) are only concluded in the Magisterium Trial.