Thunder Knight

With the next major update, it seems like there really won't be any such thing as basic "Hero Archetypes" or "Villain Archetypes" anymore, there'll just be ten "Basic" archetypes, any of which can start as a hero or villain. It'll probably only be the four Epic ATs who will have to start on the "proper" side (and even they'll be able to switch sides after they hit level 20).

Right now, Pretoria is much nicer-looking and has a more interesting branching storyline than the other two areas, but its enemies are generally tougher (without actually giving you any more experience). Villain-side has an ugly starting area which is difficult to get around without a travel power, and only two possible starting story contacts, but has some fairly interesting story arcs that are very different for each set of contacts. Hero-side has a choice of two starting areas (both very clean-looking, but with older graphics), with five possible contacts in each (depending on your character's Origin), but the mission arcs (questlines) they send you on are on the dull side and all rather similar (not to mention often indirect).

With the next update (not expected for another month or two), however, the Hero and Villain parts of that paragraph will no longer be true.

... is CDMoyer a moderator here?

Ignoring the technical aspect for the moment, the only way I could see a Total Respec working from a balance perspective is if the character were reduced to level 1 in the process.

The character could keep things they've unlocked (like accolade powers or extra costume pieces/slots), but have to start leveling aaaaaall over again. And that's realyl to the player's benefit, because they'll get to learn their new powersets, just as if a comic character suddenly got a whole new bunch of powers replacing their old one. (See: Electric Superman for the most prominent example)

... that said, it's still not worth the time to implement, when you can pretty much already accomplish the same thing by deleting and recreating the character.

If all the other objectives are done, then you probably missed an enemy somewhere, tucked away in one of the hidden nooks of that particular map. (If memory serves, that map has quite a few hidden nooks, too)

I thought I read that the Mercy redesign isn't as drastic as the Atlas redesign in terms of the overall layout, but getting around will be much easier anyway, due to the travel powers revamp.

In any event.. yay snakes.

The funny part about the series is that, at the time it was made, half of those classes didn't even exist. Barbarian, Acrobat, and Cavalier were all added to the game for the first time two years later, for Unearthed Arcana.

Also funny is that there's an official 3.0 or 3.5 (I can't tell at first glance) book with stats for all the main characters (though those stats make them seem much more powerful than the show ever did), as well as a mini-adventure, "Beneath the Blade of Sword Mountain". Yeah, Eric still has just the shield. He uses it as a bashing weapon (with the feats to support that).

Oh, yeah, and that final script (entitled "Requiem") was finally officially produced... sort of. It was done as an audio play (without the original cast) on the US version of the 2007 4-disc boxed set (not the 2009 3-disc re-release).

I just don't like that they're presenting going back to the Superman/Lois/Clark love triangle status quo of the 1960s as being a "bold new direction" for Superman. (Jim Lee's words, not mine)

Mostly, though, I just wish that Captain Marvel (a character who has been so terribly mishandled for the past five or six years that he would have benefited more from a clean slate than from attempting to fix him) had been one of the 52.

The other problem with that sort of Tutorial is that it has the potential to have characters get "stuck" as Rogues or Vigilantes, who right now are GR-only. Brand-new free players (the ones most likely to be using the tutorial in the first place, at least after old players are done checking it out) aren't going to have access to side-switching.

Well, I presume that a "Leadership But Only Me" Power Pool would also have reduced End costs to go with the reduced area of effect.

On the original subject, the new powersets look amazing (Time Manipulation / Beam Gun Defender = Captain N The Game Master?), but they really shouldn't be using the word "Premium" to describe them, since they're already using that term for something very different.

"Hey, I'm a Premium player! Why can't I access the Premium powersets?" "Well, you see, Billy, 'Premium' can mean many different things...."

A */Traps Corrupter is probably your best bet, yeah, with another possible choice for primary being Fire (if you want to go heavy on the "explosives").

When I first unlocked the Kheldians, I made one of each, to see which one I liked better. (Both of them wearing very magicky outfits - my PB with the high-collared magic cape, the WS with the skull mask and baron jacket)

I had a terrible time with my Warshade. I died a half-dozen times on the first mission arc, against regular troops and Void Hunters. I never managed to complete it beforeI got completely fed up. My Peacebringer had no such problems. She tore through enemies like crazy, even the Void Hunters.

Aside from that, I like flying and hovering much better than teleporting, so the Peacebringer had that going for her, too.

I don't play her much, so the Peacebringer is still only in the high teens, but the Warshade was deleted long before he even hit level 5. He never even got to the point of learning Orbiting Death (and I don't think it would have helped me more than Essence Boost, since I was trying to stay at range with both classes).

Did I do something wrong? Possibly. At that level, the two classes are more similar than not, so it should have been equally easy with both of them. Do I want to remake him and try again? ... not really. The Warshade may have the numbers, but I just like the Peacebringer more.

As was brought up in another similar topic (by the same OP, no less), Ninja Run is an Inherent power, while the origin powers are Temporary powers.

So it's not a matter of "usefulness", it's a matter of classification. Temporary powers suppress in iTrials, while Inherent powers don't.

Easiest solution from a development standpoint would just be to make the Origin powers Inherent instead of Temporary. (Easiest solution from the OP's standpoint, however, would be to use another of his three builds for an alternate means to light that OSA)

He might be playing multiple characters simultaneously. Somehow.

According to the Server Status page (not to mention my attempts to connect), the servers are indeed still down.

... actually, as I type this, it looks like they're starting to come back up. Just as I was about to go play something else.

I interpreted the original posters' "controlling NPCs" suggestion to mean random pedestrians, not actual enemy combatants, but that opens up a different set of problems. (It'd be utterly hilarious, though)

The only "vanity" powers I really want is the ability to use Costume Change emotes as regular emotes, without actually having to change my costume (or make two identical costumes and just switch costume slots)

You can only change your height and/or gender if you have the Science Super Booster pack, and even then only at Cosmetic Surgeons, not normal tailors.

If memory serves, the targeted enemy takes Smashing/Energy damage, while the surrounding foes take only the Energy portion of the damage. The target and the AoE all have the same chance for knockdown and stun.

Edit: darn ninjas

Edit 2: just checked the in-game numbers on my 50 Brute, and it looks like the Smashing and Energy damage is almost the same (41 vs 40).

For the record, you don't have to go blueside to learn APPs - all applicable villain archetypes (i.e., all of them but VEATs) unlock them automatically at level 41, just like heroes, regardless of their current alignment. You don't even have to have Going Rogue installed, it's a part of vanilla CoH/CoV now. (I know this because my level 50 Elec/Invuln Brute has Energy Mastery, and I don't have Going Rogue - he started as a Villain, is currently a Villain, has never been anything but a Villain, and I couldn't switch him to another alignment even if I wanted to)

Kheldians don't get access to any Epic pool powers, Ancillary or Patron. They can go redside and run the Patron arcs, but no new powers unlock.

Something occurs to me...

Megan in the cheerleader outfit, with the laugh track? That might have been one of Artemis' memories. In the previous episode she was shown watching a sitcom called "Hello Megan" on a Nick-at-Nite-like television channel.

... could it be a hint that Megan, like her comics counterpart, is not entirely who she claims to be?