Issue 19: Incarnates
By
Adeon Hawkwood,
Posted on: 2010-03-27 09:03 in CoH and CoV General Discussions
Incarnates? What the heck?
This can't be real. It's like Duke Nukem Forever finally coming out.
I'm wondering what these abilities are going to be.
Are we going to have to pick being an incarnate, if so which gods? Do they have to be the Greek/Roman gods or can you be an incarnate of Thor or somesuch?
Shall be interesting to see.
Doesn't Percy's late level arc hint at the powers all being simular in a way? Maybe incarnate was the first true super origin and all the other kind of evolved from it. That way incarnate levels are just you reaching the pinacle of your power and there by coming closer to the sorce of the origins.
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Issue 6 was around when CoV came out, right? It makes sense for them to have been working on a side-switching mechanic around the same time they created villains. Also, Issue 16 was last issue, and they've been working on Going Rogue for far longer than they were working on I16. Why would they split of a major part of Going Rogue for Issue 16?|
Originally Posted by Days_
I believe that that quote was a mistake by the journalist reporting what was said as, on the website where the blog (or whatever it is called) was appearing there was an introduction saying that City was 6 years old and had had 6 free expansions and was soon to be getting a seventh. This makes me believe that it was originally going to launch with 16 but, due to an earlier error or a misconception it was reported incorrectly.
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They guy also corrected his earlier mistake. It was supposed to be 10 Cryptic issues and 6, going on 7, Paragon Studios issues.
That does mean that side-switching has been in the pipe since the release of City of Villains, and I certainly do recall talk of side switching when Villains first came out (not by the devs, but purely as player speculation.) I agree with Psyte that side-switching was probably not worked on continuously from I6 until now, but kept to the back burned as a project they wanted to revisit some day and then pulled out fully when they decided to make Going Rogue.
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What? You didn't like the AE arc where I wrote "bananas" 500 times?? |
Originally Posted by Silver Gale
They set the groundwork for this with the "all Origins are interconnected" stuff in the Origin of Power arc.
Honestly I don't see the big deal. Statesman and Recluse are not such memorable characters that making their "gimmick" available to everyone risks losing anything important. And I'm kind of used to ignoring large chunks of fluff text ever since the whole AE thing. |
By the way, my guess for the I19 launch date would be before Christmas 
@Golden Girl
City of Heroes comics and artwork
Yeah, I'd guess late Autumn.
... what? Oh yeah, late 'Fall'.
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Why not? Your origin is just the origin of your basic/starting powers. The start of your story. It doesn't exactly prevent you from getting powers from some other way. For example... I could start out as a Natural origin. All of my powers are from me training really hard, and I'm good enough to be counted as a super hero. However, in one of my fights I'm subjected to gamma radiation, which gives me the power of flight and, later on, some minor fire abilities (power pool and ancillary pool). These powers aren't Natural in origin, they're more Science... but that doesn't automatically change me to a Science origin. My main powers, the core of my being, are still Natural... it's just I have something a bit extra now.|
Originally Posted by Kheldarn
Aye, I'll agree with this. In the game lore, it's mentioned that there was once a 6th Origin, but that it's been "lost". That 6th Origin was Incarnate. Technically, you can't become an Incarnate unless you start as an Incarnate, just like you can't start as a Science Origin character, and then become a Natural Origin character.
At least... not yet... >.> |
...Well, there's not a system ingame to show this right now, but there's really no problem with it from a story angle. After all, why can't a super hero get MORE powers from a different Origin?
And that's what I think the Incarnate System is. Even though it SHOULD be an origin, it's represented as you getting new powers on top of your existing ones, and getting a new origin for those powers tacked on to your character... but not replacing or retconning anything you already have.
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i dont think they would do it that way. far more likely(and less likely to tread on religious ad irreligious feelings) to make them incarnates of some broad sphere of primal power, like fire or energy or even an abstraction like the war or love. just would seem to be less likely to go too heavily against the grains for players.
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Originally Posted by Dr_Mechano
I'm wondering what these abilities are going to be.
Are we going to have to pick being an incarnate, if so which gods? Do they have to be the Greek/Roman gods or can you be an incarnate of Thor or somesuch? Shall be interesting to see. |
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While I see where you're coming from concerning a religious perspective, haven't the incarnates pretty much been restricted to Greek Gods? Statesman to Zeus, Recluse to Tartarus, Stheno to Medusa and such?|
Originally Posted by rian_frostdrake
i dont think they would do it that way. far more likely(and less likely to tread on religious ad irreligious feelings) to make them incarnates of some broad sphere of primal power, like fire or energy or even an abstraction like the war or love. just would seem to be less likely to go too heavily against the grains for players.
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Admittedly, Medusa isn't a god, but hey.
this could be awesome...i hope i can mod my main to full planeswalker levels of awesome
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Yes, or gods could be rolled up in there. Perhaps you are an Incarnate of some god or mythical being ( what god would Stheno be an Incarnate of? Medusa's not a god, and she's supposed to be her sister anyway ), not necessarily Greek; or that of something more abstract. Make it vague like "Science Origin", so you can make up a broader range of backstories.
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Originally Posted by rian_frostdrake
i dont think they would do it that way. far more likely(and less likely to tread on religious ad irreligious feelings) to make them incarnates of some broad sphere of primal power, like fire or energy or even an abstraction like the war or love. just would seem to be less likely to go too heavily against the grains for players.
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Arc #40529 : The Furies of the Earth
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Fixed, for the reality |
Originally Posted by ryu_planeswalker
this will be awesome.
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@Golden Girl
City of Heroes comics and artwork
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That's not necessarily true. Or at the very least it depends on how you look at it. Take Dark Age of Camelot for instance. It implemented several alternate advancement methods and I've never really considered any of them to be 'extra levels' even though the end result was that your character gained more powers and ability. Heck, even EQ's alt advancement system wasn't really 'extra levels'. Sure in both cases it takes XP and gameplay of some form or another to advance through them, but that's certainly not the same as extra levels, no more so than the bonuses we can currently get from IOs are.|
Originally Posted by InfamousBrad
Over and over again, they've said "We will never raise the level cap." Technically, they're keeping this promise, if the 10 Incarnate levels don't raise your base stats. But only technically.
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I suppose from one viewpoint almost any alternate advancement method is equivalent to levels though. I mean it all breaks down to 'kill things until end goal is accomplished' in the end right? It's just that the alternate advancement methods out there generally involve more hoops one needs to jump through be it finding the right loot, getting enough of some currency to buy said loot, completing quests/raids to unlock abilities/items or competing in PvP to raise some sort of PvP 'levels' to unlock abilities/items. I obviously don't agree with that viewpoint, but I can see how some folks might.
MA Arcs: Yarmouth 1509 and 58812
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But really, that's the most important way. The reasons that they have opposed raising the level cap have been technical ones, like purples being rendered obsolete and so on. Creating some sort of "parallel levels" gets around that.
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Originally Posted by InfamousBrad
Over and over again, they've said "We will never raise the level cap." Technically, they're keeping this promise, if the 10 Incarnate levels don't raise your base stats. But only technically.
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Arc #40529 : The Furies of the Earth
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Yeah, but as it's likely? to be Smashing and also looks slow as heck due to all the Kung Fu'ish gesticulating...I dunno yet. | Kinetic Melee looks like fun. |
Then again, I remember sets like AR root times and might reconsider.
PS: Thank goodness they at least avoided adding random/nonsensical backflips and spins (at least in the attacks we saw) such as DP is infected with.
Masterminds annoy everybody, sooner or later. Heck, Masterminds annoy themselves.
-ShadowsBetween
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Of course, it's also likely to be a 'safer' set to play overall, what with the (apparent) main secondary effect of knockdown/knockback in conjunction with longer range than most other melee sets. So that's a small something at least.
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Originally Posted by Blunt_Trauma
Yeah, but as it's likely? to be Smashing and also looks slow as heck due to all the Kung Fu'ish gesticulating...I dunno yet.
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MA Arcs: Yarmouth 1509 and 58812
Good point.
Masterminds annoy everybody, sooner or later. Heck, Masterminds annoy themselves.
-ShadowsBetween
I always imagined Incarnates like an extra Power Pool. Most of the Sig Heroes/Villains seem to draw from three Powersets.
If the Incarnate levels open up a ranged pool, then that will be a game-changer for level 50 PvP.
Speeding Through New DA Repeatables || Spreadsheet o' Enhancements || Zombie Skins: better skins for these forums || Guide to Guides
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Which is quite possibly why they made some of the changes in I13, and have said that it's still a work in progress, wiht more changes to come.
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Originally Posted by Zombie Man
If the Incarnate levels open up a ranged pool, then that will be a game-changer for level 50 PvP.
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@Golden Girl
City of Heroes comics and artwork
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well if its just ehnancement slots and stuff then it will not be as awesome as if I could say...call upon the Fires of Hades(Or some other fire based place) and the thunder of Zeus to smite stuff with.
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Originally Posted by Golden Girl
Fixed, for the reality
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My guess is that the incarnate levels will be the rewards for staying "pure" and not side-switching. The L50 hero badge is already Justice Incarnate.
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That would be really crappy.
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Originally Posted by Godpants
My guess is that the incarnate levels will be the rewards for staying "pure" and not side-switching. The L50 hero badge is already Justice Incarnate.
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Branching Paragon Police Department Epic Archetype, please!
Staff use?? Did someone say staff use? Yippee. I've been hoping that was coming. If they can give me that and the ability to turn off that blasted hasten glow I will be as happy as a pig in effluent.