Winterminal

Just to point out: Beam Rifle launched with Freedom, and I believe Street Justice was three weeks behind it. So that's less than a month.

But I am just pointing that out. As far as I'm concerned, your point still stands: for them to release the more highly anticipated Staff Fighting only 2 wees after Beast Mastery was highly unlikely.

My bad. The "600 a piece" was based off information I had read in another thread, and I haven't had a chance to get in the game today yet. My apologies for the misinformation.

As of the closing of the Beta server, yes. No changes had been made to the position of the staff when held by the character.

I know we have at least 2 more four-legged-rig additions in the pipe for weekly releases, and it seems completely feasible that one will be released tomorrow but... I don't even care if Staff is out tomorrow or two weeks from now, I just want them to lay off the new rig.

On a completely unrelated note: Rufus, I know what your name is referencing, and I applaud your choice of name. Hail, hail Freedonia!

Excellent point. The first round of soft sound effect on beta weren't great, but they were a hell of a lot better than the... well, your description is actually very accurate! If those SFX launch, that could very well be a deal breaker for me.

I'm not sure why they are giving us yet another thing using the four legged rig, but then again, that doesn't show much reasoning either

Realistically speaking, they are still trying to give people the four-legged options they always wanted to give, but couldn't, and some kind of stealthy cat was in that group.

If there's anyone here who deserves a birthday present from Paragon, it's Michelle!

Interesting. I have heard of protection mode, but I think it is more logic than anything, as I am not overly excited about the set. I am not even planning on buying it immediately, as I would prefer to team with some staff users first, see the set in action, and check out some numbers.

This was my logic behind choosing the 10th as a probably date. I see them giving Beast Mastery at least 3 full weeks on the market before releasing the more highly anticipated Staff Fighting.

The danger isn't "telling people how to spend their money." It is more that publicizing these numbers gives a skewed view of how much/little money is being spent on the market, and could possibly lead to incorrect assumptions about how the Market has helped the studio.

I have not spent anything more than my subscription. Half of that is because I do not have much extra cash to devote to a digital (intangible) pastime, but the other half is that I tend not buy something unless I will use it, and I haven't had use for a whole lot since Freedom launched. Part of me wishes I did so that I could support the game more, but unfortunately I cannot afford to spend money on power sets and what not for the sole purpose of funding further development.

I guess I can see that for Crippling Axe Kick, since it's alternate animation is a haymaker, and for Eagle's Claw's alternate of the "face smasher" animation. But I don't see that in the rest. Storm Kick's "Gut Punch" and Cobra Strike's "Uppercut" look pretty much like one would think they should. In fact, the Uppercut in Cobra Strike looks almost exactly like Street Justice's Assassin's Strike.

It's funny you mention this, because I was just saying last night how I actually liked the alternate punches for MA because they were not as "smooth and flowing" as the Street Justice animations. All of the MA animations, including most of the punches, give me a sense that the character knows how to apply a focused amount of force into a single strike, much like a martial artist should. Where as Street Justice's attacks give me more of a "practiced brawler" or kick-boxer vibe.

This was one of the very few things that I thought the more recently released competitor beat us on. When I turned on Super Speed in that game, it felt, looked, and sounded a lot different than regular jogging. I would very much like to see something like that in this game.

I do this too. Or the dictionary. Or the thesaurus...

There is only one character on whom I ALMOST passed up IOs, and it was because the names of the Science SOs meshed with his origin concept perfectly. But ultimately, enhancements are invisible to other players (save for the bonuses the sets offer), so I usually write these off.

Now I am going to picture my character held in the "Oh no!" pose (i.e. the pose granted by Ice or Stone hold powers) trying to move their hand up to their mouth to "pop a break free." haha

You keep on using that word. I do not think that word means what you think it means.

Okay, yes, I am always looking for an opportunity to pull out a movie line, even if only partially appropriate

But "Mary Sue" isn't so much a verb as it is a noun. Personally, I don't think the story you laid out about your Praetorian version makes him a Mary Sue at all! He was mind-washed, which means no one, not even himself, knows that he helped create the Praetorian Clockwork. Dozens of other scientists could have been working on the same project, and odds are, Anti-Matter and Neuron had them all mind-washed. Again, no one would know.

A "Mary Sue" always seems just a tad implausible to me. Like if they dominate the spotlight or are too unrealistic or unlikely in other ways. Your character, Claws, as you suggest it does not give me that vibe at all. If he was named something like "Praetor Morris" and his bio boasted about creating the Praetorian Clockwork, or you as a player boasted about it in character (not suggesting that you would), then yeah, I would roll my eyes and write you off as a Mary Sue. But as is? I say make Praetorian Alvin Morris. Sounds like it could be interesting.

I will be one of the many to echo this sentiment. I have characters that span the spectrum.

Well, let's be specific, because difficulty level is malleable, not to mention choice of content will make a difference. If you are playing a Batgirl-grade character and taking on Maria Jenkins arc at +4x6, with archvillains when soloing, then yes you may want IO sets. But I bet the same level of challenge could be achieved by running an all SO build through the arc at +1x1, except that you would stay truer to a concept like that of Batgirl.

At least that's how I would do it.