minimalist_NA

Yeah, I did the same, and feel the same. Total jerk move.

Wow, what a joke. Marketing really does run the company.

Or did they make everyone who attended the endgame panel sign an NDA? Alpha test of the Omega slot? Feh.

Well, some might see that as preferable to getting blindsided by a full-on Hamidon assault while their insane leader faffs about with a secret, unprovoked invasion of another dimension. Breaking Cole's power might at least allow some people (including the heavily-armed law enforcement and army) to mount some sort of defense against the real enemy.

If you can call it that. They basically hit the "Valkyrie" costume set, picked the ugliest colors they could find, and called it a day. Another revamp can only be an improvement.

Anyway, that isn't the most important question regarding those powersets. The most important question IS: Can we have "mop" as a Staff option, and "giant butterfly net" as a Titan Weapon option?

I guess that's really two questions in one, but still: WAY more important.

The thing is, without concrete examples of how any of Posi's changes have seriously, materially changed someone's gameplay experience in a way comparable to, say, the 5th column mess, I frankly see this as a lot of hyperventilating over nothing. You even agree that his original statement is reasonable, but you extrapolate the implications in such an extreme way that, frankly, I'm just not seeing any evidence of in game.

Of course, it's hard to quantify these things; say, whether, say, the EA "stealth brutes" are more or less affected by their recent power changes than the roleplayers are by the Praetorian changes. But it certainly seems to me, in a "fuzzy" way, that the creative leeway is being consistently applied.

I didn't even think your 'main' ones were any more of a problem, either, except for the one where Praetoria attacked first. And even then, the main issue is that if Praetoria attacked Primal once before, why is it such a huge issue/surprise to Praetorian citizens that they're going to do it again -- and I may be mis-remembering, but wasn't the original intent to write that original arc out of continuity altogether? And the current solution (writing into the new arcs a mention that the old arcs happened as well) was an answer to player outcry?

At any rate, I don't see it as a huge deal. Praetoria went from a generic goatees-and-all parallel dimension to a more fleshed out world. (It's interesting that despite the fleshing-out, the Praetors themselves have little to no added depth to them, but GR is more about how the minor players, including the PC, deal with the grey areas; but I digress.) I'm willing to live with some minor background changes for the sake of a better story.

And that's where the 5th/Council mess went so explosively wrong. It added nothing to the depth of the story (the Council is bland as can be, and the concept with the most potential, the Center, is completely ignored), vastly complicated and confused matters, and greatly diminished the weight of much of the 5th Column's history. But neither Positron, nor Positron's design philosophy, was responsible for that -- it was a directorial fiat from above, with no clear direction as to how it should be specifically implemented; rather than letting the writers drive the storyline.

Anyway, I find the whole kerfuffle over "canon" to miss the point entirely; the more significant consequence of Positron's philosophy is the situation we have now, where plot threads are left to dangle for years on end without resolution. Wasn't it, like, 6 or 7 issues ago that Hero 1 said (in some podcast) that we'd know the identity of the letter writer "within an issue or two"?

That's my reason for thinking a slightly more hands-on approach to story direction would be beneficial: you let those threads dangle too long, it leads to confusion; future writers may want to take that thread in their own direction, and that genuinely could lead to significant canon issues.

To tie this back to the last part of your post, I see no indication that Primal Earth isn't special somehow (if only to follow that hoary old cliche of sci-fi, which is that Earth, or the protagonists' Earth in particular, is the Most Important Planet Ever), and it is entirely possible that this will be addressed somehow in a future issue. Or it might not; we just don't know, and it's awfully premature to declare that it's a canon conflict for certain. But at any rate, it's something that's in everyone's best interests to address sooner rather than later. Best way to keep people on the hook is to consistently answer one question while raising another; raising 2, 3, or 4 at the same time (often while not answering even one question) is just askin' for it.

There are still haunts to War Earth and deliberate mentions of the shadow dimensions in those arcs, that seems to be more deliberate than a simple oversight or "glitch".

And the Underground spoiler only singles out Primal Earth, not "other dimensions" in general. This could speak to the idea that War Earth and the shadow dimensions are roughly under Praetorian control already, or that Primal Earth is "special" somehow (as usual).

Either way that's a real reach to go looking for "canon conflicts".

Even the real conflicts don't seem like a huge deal to me anyway, and I have to wonder if some apparent contradictions might get explained by one of the hundred or so dangling plot threads. Like the individual who has supposedly been interfering with the past, an idea introduced with Montague Castanella and Ouroboros, and then promptly forgotten.

It is a tragedy and a crime that that model has existed since the very beginning, yet has never been used.

If that isn't worthy of an Incarnate trial, I don't know what is.

In fact, have the next Praetorian trial start out with us fighting Dominatrix or somebody, then RULARUU BUSTS IN AND ----ING DEVOURS THE ---- OUT OF THE PRAETORIAN UNIVERSE.

End of Praetoria. Beginning of something wonderful.

One of the custom mobs in my group (Rogue Crey) is named "Security Guard", so it would not surprise me in the slightest if "security" was also a banned word.

The group is actually a mix of customs and the in-game 45-50 Crey Tanks (Voltaic, Cryo, Power); I may end up having to rename those too.

I'm working on my laptop away from home; once I get on my home computer (which has the locally saved critter data) I'm hoping I can avoid the slacks issue and play around some more.

Um, no.

He said it was designed with a specific aesthetic and endpoint in mind.

It was designed to be desirable (not "better"), something that for many people it will be simply by virtue of being gated. It also serves an economic purpose by adding incentive for players to run the trial at least a few more times (extending the 'life' of the trials).

You've said a lot of bizarre stuff in this thread (CoX didn't have raids or loot before? really? you'd never heard of the Hamidon?) but putting words in people's mouth -- especially such silly words -- takes the cake. But hey, easier to win arguments when you get to redefine what the other person is saying.

If that's the case, level-locking the Ascension armor makes more sense, with an in-game lore Incarnate to be modeled after.

Actually I didn't have any problem with Incarnate-specific costume pieces to begin with. I like the idea of having the "highest" characters have at least some degree of visual distinction, even if only a small fraction will ever actually use the costume pieces, probably.

Now now, let's all calm down here. You know, a famous man once said "turn the other cheek", and I think that's good advice.

It's a quite *obscure* quote of course, I doubt *anyone* here has heard it before, but not everyone can be as well-read, insightful, and just plain handsome as I am. Ah well, we all have our crosses to bear.

I asked for that. But we didn't get it.

Really? Well shoot, Barrier doesn't seem to be affected by my Nerve Alpha at all. I oughta complain.

I've been leaning toward the Clockwork myself, but I'm wondering: defense to what? Is it positional, typed, or "all"? From what i can tell, the "real" version of the Mender gives typed S/L defense, but I'd rather have positional.

Yeah, I was between c2 and b1 and that seemed ideal, plus I was able to pick off commandos that were trying to sneak between those buildings. This seems like a fine plan to me, and I'm looking forward to more successes when I get the chance to play again. Whenever that might be.

No more so than level 50 content has "devalued" lower level content. Which people still do.

And even if they don't, I wouldn't rule out a future, added incentive to do all incarnate trials, much like how the Weekly Strike Target can encourage playing through lower level TFs.

yes it is

considering the game looks very different now from how it did a few years ago, I wouldn't be surprised.

I don't see where competitiveness necessarily fits in unless you pvp heavily, since the incarnate powers mainly function within trials (or at least the level shifts), you shouldn't feel like you "need" to progress if you're not doing trials. And if you feel like that anyway, well, that's your hangup, not the game's fault.