Winterminal

It is a decent combo that sort of evolves. You'll spend most of your career before 20 as a ST damage dealer (since you'll have Shriek, Scream, and Shout all by lvl 10). Howl and Psychic Scream are both decent cone attacks, but I've found Howl to be underwhelming compared to the surrounding single target blasts, and Psychic Scream's animation is a bit long in my opinion. You can definitely skip Shockwave, since the damage is minimal and you'll get better mitigation later on.

Siren's Song is what makes this combo go round, and turns you into a PBAoE monster while solo. Or, if you are like me and prefer to pick your enemies off one at a time with single target blasts, Siren's Song works great for that too. Slot this up for accuracy, sleep duration, and maybe recharge depending on how fast you are burning through mobs. This allows you to run in to the middle of the mob, hit Drain Psyche and hop out while avoiding most of what would have been an alpha strike. Then of course, once you get both Dreadful Wail and Psychic Shockwave, you can drop back-to-back mobs with few leftover enemies and barely taking a scratch since you are attacking while they're asleep.

Finally, if you are looking for powers you could probably do without, I would skip Shockwave (just not that good), Mind Probe (will be come obsolete in later levels), and World of Confusion (though that is definitely a personal preference, as I know some people who love to run WoC all the time).

Mental Manipulation is quite melee/PBAoE heavy (5/9 moves). If you are someone who prefers distance (like myself), you might want to consider a different secondary. But if you don't mind getting up close and personal, these two sets can compliment each other very well.

Serva, I completely agree. Thunderous Blast, Thunder Strike, Lightning Rod, and even Short Circuit all outweigh Ion Judgment in the SFX department. That little "zap" sound should be reserved for the Praetorian Clockwork Mender electrical attacks (though I think they may be slightly different).

Void sounds like a black hole mixed with a Nova-style attack, Pyronic is an explosion, and Cryonic sounds like a blizzard is blowing icicles through a solid object. Ion needs some THUNDER!

I would love to see a sort of live-beta-test of this idea perhaps within the Kheldians. The amount of people requesting some Kheldian attention is steadily growing (especially among Peacebringers). Since they are already archetypes that are suited for multiple roles, why not add another facet in there? Say you get to choose where you want your powers to excel (damage, defense, secondary effects, ranged vs. melee, etc.). So someone could choose, at the character creation, to have a more blaster-esque Kheldian, with a higher ranged damage output, but smaller numbers from their defensive shields. Also, an increase in ranged damage would also increase the damage output of their Nova form (so as not to make the form insignificant). Obviously, that's just one example, and this is just an idea that popped into my head. It is far from well-thought-out, and I'm sure would be quite the nightmare for the programming team.

As for the rest of the game... I'm not so sure it would be a good thing, unless there were proper balances put in. Of course, there would be the 15-20% of the player base that would make their toons the way they wanted, even if it meant that they were "gimping" themselves in the process (in relation to the overall population). But the rest of the player base would go for the most effective power type combo, with few variations. Some would do it out of their want to be the strongest and have the best stuff, others would do it just to keep up with former. Whatever the reason, character diversity would decrease significantly, and I think that is a big draw of this game: You cannot do it all with one character. If that were the case, people would get bored faster, and the game would probably have collapsed by now. But when all the servers are in the yellow on a Saturday night, you know you are doing something right. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

Again, I am not totally against the idea, but I would have to see a really good system be put in place before I could get behind it.

I'd love to give my two cents, but they would be a repeat of what everyone else said. I say you finish it. That Strike Force is the FIRST we are hearing about this, and the wording is vague at best, left open to interpretation. I say you are totally green-lit to finish this story.

Plus let's be real, Positron would have to meet Infernal's approval to get anywhere near Numina. I don't know if anyone in Paragon, even Positron, can get the good graces of that guy.

I completely support the idea, if only because your main goal is to get more people involved.

That said, I actually think this will become less of an issue in a month or two. By then, most people will have finished cycling their 50s through the trials for their specific goals (whether that's just two 50s going for a simple T1 of one slot, or 5+ 50s all going for T4s in everything). I am betting they will become events scheduled through SGs on a weekly basis or so, much like Hamidon or Ship raids.

Up until now, and probably for the next couple weeks, there has been and will be a surplus of non-incarnate 50s. But eventually, the demand will decrease and so will the supply of players. It could very well turn out that Lambda will be the more oft run trial, simply because league leaders will have an easier time filling a Lambda league than finding an extra 8 people with new 50s for a BAF league.

So again, I am behind this idea, but it may eventually be a moot issue.

Yes. This is why I got into AE in the first place. But then I realized I was sort of alone in that mentality, haha.

I'll show if I can! (By "can" I mean if I can get my partied-out brain to function at what will be 11am for me :P)

Somebody beat ya to the punch. Er, topic. I believe what you're looking for can be found here.

I gotta go with what Memphis_Bill said. If you are talking about revamping old content to match up with the new stuff, then I am all for that. Or just focusing on upgrading content that already exists. Though, zone rebuilds/upgrades (Boomtown, Crey's Folly, Faultline, etc.) should be done over a few issues, to keep with a realistic in-game time line.

But if we are talking about stripping down code, rewriting, etc... For starters, I do not believe they could do it in one issue's worth of content (that's not a lack of faith in the Devs, I just believe the job is HUGE). I would be all for seeing this done, even if they had to do it in bits and pieces over time.

When an MMORPG has been around for this long, has gone through as many staff rotations as it has gone through, and contains the enormous amount of content that we have access to in-game, there's really two ways to proceed: Either take a step back, look at your foundation (what you started with) and make any necessary fixes to bring it up to par with the newer stuff, or you close the book on it, acknowledging your job-well-done, and start something new and fresh based off what you have learned. Given that an MMORPG's survival relies on a constant player base, and creating an expanding world to keep the interest of said player base, I would prefer the former happen, even if it was an on-going process.

Paragon Studios has reached a big mile-stone by introducing an endgame into CoX, and we are at the very beginning of what looks to be an intricate endgame system that can lead multiple directions. Thus, the Devs have made a commitment to furthering this game, so let's not forget where the game started. It would go a long way, publicity wise, for Paragon Studios to be able to say, "Not only are we introducing a new direction to the game, but we are bringing the old stuff with us and upgrading." It advertises a development team that takes care of both their new and veteran players, and is aware of their entire creation, not just the latest add-on.

Congrats on winning against the odds. I gotta wonder: Do these players really having nothing better to do with their time?

I had a similar situation yesterday: people entered the warehouses for acid/pacifier grenades before everyone was ready. Granted, I don't think they were trying to sabotage us but rather just being selfish and doing their own thing (which is bad in its own right, but at least it isn't negatively directed toward other people).

The one I have gotten the most compliments on: Wintervention

Runner up would be Phalanx Falcon.

It's definitely the most unique sniper move out there. I can't think of anywhere else in the game where you can find that sound effect, and you fire four projectiles, where as others are usually just one or a sustained beam (as in Fire Blast's Blazing Bolt).

I, too, really enjoy the sfx of Proton Volley.

I think the last episode felt rushed, but I thought they set it up nicely for a good plot line in the second season (which I hope comes to exist).

I would bet money that the season was slated for a set quota of episodes, and the writers had to wrap up multiple plot lines in one 60 minute installment. If the powers that be decide that the show is worth continuing, a contract will probably be drawn up to include a larger number of episodes.

Things I want to see in Season 2:
- George ending up with a decent power that allows him and Jim to team up.
- A little more combat action from Stephanie.
- SOME KIND OF COSTUME FOR JIM! We've established that the same fictional heroes from our reality exist in theirs, so the need for super-powered beings to conceal their identities should be common sense by now.

It's Nemesis. DUH!

I agree, it seems like it should be Prometheus, or we are made to think so.

If you are set on this concept, go for it. Just let me say, as someone who tried, that the results were less than desirable, for two reasons (in my opinion): The quick feel of the DP animations clashes with the generally slow-but-powerful animations of EM, and the redraw of the pistols is a pain in the butt. (I'm not one to complain about redraw, it is what it is, but it kills this particular concept.)

Having said that, I would use your pistol powers far more than trying to melee. Take Hasten and slot it up quick, since that will help you keep a constant stream of bullets. Using standard ammo gives you a decent amount of knockback, which is very present in the Clerical combat, and the secondary effects of Swap Ammo aren't all that present with Blaster debuff numbers. Suppressive Fire is a great opening attack and will buy you some time (Piercing Rounds should go before it, but that's post-26). Executioner's Shot is a great finisher. (An approaching enemy should get to melee range just as ES finishes its animation, making for a point-blank killing stroke that sends the enemy flying back in rag doll fashion. I SWEAR the game goes into slow motion when it happens!)

Basically I would get yourself a bunch of recharge and decent slotting in Stamina and use the guns as much as you can. You will feel far more like a Cleric than if you actually try to punch something.