UberGuy

I haven't had any issues with the new launcher, and like some others, I find it faster and simpler to use than the old one. I run Win7 Profiessional with UAC enabled.

There really does seem to be some misapplication of what the Cottage Rule would be. Powers get changed all the time. They aren't changed into something else entirely.

Cobra Strike for ages and ages was a very low damage attack with a 100% chance stun, and now it's a fairly high DPA with a 80% stun. Both parts of that change are non-trivial in effect on play, but Cobra Strike is still an attack that does damage and stuns. The change to CS was dramatic, but it did not violate the "Cottage Rule".

There are other examples along this line, such as Conserve Power becoming Energize for Electric Armor and Power Sink becoming Energy Drain for Electric Armor.

The change to Fiery Embrace, already mentioned, was a fair bit more dramatic. The fundamental mechanics of the power changed significantly. In the end, though, it's still a power that gives a 20 second buff to damage, which, at a very high level, is what it was before. The power was improved immensely, but the Cottage Rule was not violated.

What the "Cottage Rule" prevents is, for example, Cobra Strike becoming a ranged foe teleport, or a self buff of some sort that doesn't target foes.

Propel having it's DPA improved would not in any way violate the Cottage Rule. Propel being turned into a non-damaging foe hold would violate the Cottage Rule. Propel being turned into a targeted cone is probably unlikely, but would probably not violate the Cottage Rule.

Based on the above definition, I approve of the cottage rule. I even approve of it in cases where it means we have powers that I would never take, as is the case with foe phase powers. I acknowledge that just because just I don't like a power doesn't mean it should be changed. It just means I wish it would change, and if the only useful way it could be changed would be to completely revamp it, and I do not think the powerset is actively broken because of that power (or powers), then I don't see my wishes as compelling reason for change.

Force Field could be updated/improved without running afoul of the Cottage Rule.

I am glad there are pets that aren't honkin' big. I do wish the boss pet was something other than just a different color, though. It could be bigger and a bit ... meaner looking without being super-sized.

I was thinking maybe like a Peacebringer in it's godmode.

I level up in regular contact story arcs. I typically do so solo. I start doing things that are high-speed and high value after I get to 50, because at that point I am looking for rewards that are not XP, and a 50 has pretty much top-rate earning potential (barring market use, which is about the player, not so much the character).

Point of order (ie nitpick), criticals don't "exceed" the damage cap. There's not actually a damage cap. There's a damage buff cap, with the numbers stated (I think, didn't double check). Technically, criticals, scourge, containment, etc. are extra base damage, that happens to have various conditions on whether or not it applies. (Bonus damage for modern Fiery Embrace for Brutes, Scrappers and Tankers works like this too - all their attacks have bonus base fire damage that is conditional on a flag set by using the power.)

I like Chaos' spreadsheet.

One thing I thought of that's not on it right now is using tickets to create invention salvage. That seems potentially worthwhile to mention, since both things are on the table, and as far as I know, it's actually a moderately common activity.

You have to be a VIP to use the VIP server, so if you let your sub lapse, you almost certainly lose access to it.

It's possible there might be a way to gain access via sufficient veteran status, but I'll be a little surprised.

Other than the VIP server concept, which I worry might cause some fragmentation, I'm not seeing a downside to the way they're doing this. (I probably won't miss anyone personally who would run off to a VIP server, but I might miss being able to team with them if too many do it.)

They're basically turning trial accounts into a "free" way to play the game without expiring. They're leaving nearly everything identical for people who continue to pay monthly (as I intend to). And they're creating a middle ground, so that if you were a subscriber and stop, you get a graded level of access that depends, among other things, on how long you were subscribed before you stopped.

The changes where the veteran reward system is becoming the "Paragon" reward system also sounds good to me. I think some people may not like the notion of being able to buy (or at least pick) what used to be vet rewards, which it sounds like what the system will enable, but I think that's great.

I am fairly optimistic. Cautiously so, but fairly so.

All my characters start in Galaxy. It keeps them away from Atlas /broadcast.

Anyway, interesting tidbits. I like it when they do stuff in this format of media taken from the game world (like the notes from the Omega Team time capsule).

I'm not a fan of the loss of QR, but I suspect that fixing that probably calls for changes to what powers are given to all Stalker secondaries. (Given extant examples of slottable inherent powers, I believe that Hide (at a minimum) should be inherent. Using that approach to give QR back to Regen Stalkers means giving powers back to all the other secondaries.)

I'm a lot more aggravated by the interaction between the increased Stalker HP, Dull Pain, and the Stalker HP cap. Taking a Regen Stalker along on the iTrials has really made me pine for the lost +%HP that interaction costs. I've been aggravated by it on paper ever since Stalkers got their HP buff, but the iTrials aggravate me with it in practice.

It's not just team content, it's oversized team content. If you end up drawing focused fire from stuff that's meant to harm an oversized team, you're going to eat dirt. A lot. Many of us, including me, are spoiled by being able to do just that sort of thing - take on foes that are scaled in number and level enough to be a challenge for a mid-to-full-sized team. If you do that in the iTrials, it's likely to hurt, a lot, by design.

There are things I don't like about the iTrials. If you're low HP, there's not a lot you can do about things like Siege's repeated AoEs, several of which are enough to make low-HP characters reliant on the one-shot code to survive. I'm not a fan of how frequent that sort of thing is these days. I really haven't had a problem with Lambda, though. Yeah, I die more until I get my level shifts. I try to do what's smart, be aware of the limitations of the foe AI, and stay with my teammates as much as I can. I've been fine. Maybe it's because I face things sort of this dangerous on a pretty regular basis by choice. I have a good idea where my characters' knife edge survival boundaries are.

Eh. I don't really prefer L/S defense on my Regen builds. With typed defense, you get outstanding defense to those debuffs and mediocre defense to increasingly common stuff that hurts a Regen running Tough worst. I prefer consistent positional defense to everything with the risk of -defense from certain mob factions to inconsistent defense that often varies by mob within late-game factions. While you do suffer from ranged defense debuffs with positional defense (Longbow and Malta can suck for this), you suffer from ranged energy and negative attacks with L/S defense. Also, particularly late game and in Incarnate content, even less ranged stuff is typed L/S.

If you're seeing lots of SS/FA Brutes running around it's because there was a time when it was a popular farming build for Villains. That was about its area of affect (AoE) damage capabilities, though, not really its (single-target) damage, which is what most people focus on around here when talking about DPS.

Way, way, crazy oversimplified question.

FA grants a high bonus to damage (and generally to DPS) explicitly because it is one of the weaker survival sets. For ages people complained that it did not live up to how much weaker it was compared to sets like Shields, which provide a basis on which you can build for immense survivability and very high +damage. There are other sets with damage auras - what sets FA apart is Burn (which was only recently improved after being nerfed into the floor for years - seriously) and Fiery Embrace. At the same time Burn was "un-nerfed", FE was changed from a Build Up-like power that only really worked best with Fire Melee into the beastly power it is now. And finally, after that, people started saying "hey, now FA feels worth it compared to Shields".

Giving that away to other powersets would just put FA back at the bottom of the pole again.