Today's Dev Chat Highlights

I figured that was obvious since the 31st is the Keyes trial day.

Unfortunately I won't be able to make it to those Keyes Trial runs, but if the Beta afterward isn't Closed Beta, then I can at least gather a group of friends and try the Trial at my own time!

Oh I know, but our issue 'overviews' have been somewhat WYSIWYG on occasion. Regardless though it's nice to see even more things added to what you already thought was a good list.

I recently switched to Opera and I probably need to update Flash. So I'll try that. Thanks!

No prob! These UStreams are great fun to watch and participate in on. It'd be a shame not to be able to participate due to technical reasons!

I've said it once, but I'll say it again - the more they talk about this upcoming update the more I like it!

What?!? Could this possibly give hope to my long-running request for Archetype Logos as chest emblems!!!!!

Please, by all that is Holy, add Group Fly to the decline list!!!

From the UStream the chest emblem unlocks was stated as being Incarnate in theme. The chest emblems you get to unlock are for example, the Incarnate powers you're able to earn: Destiny, Judgement, etc.

I think that is the only one I'd put on Prompt. The rest I'd leave as Always Accept.

In about 7 years of playing I have seen only one player use Group Fly and that was the Kheldian version. I can't say I have seen it since. Is Group Fly all that common, or have I just been lucky enough to avoid it?

So they aren't account unlocked? Thats disapointing.

Extremely. Get aura, e-mail to character, claim it, look at it in the tailors, think "Damn, I should have given it to X instead", go grind again to get the astral or whatever to unlock it.

To expand:

One of the reasons I buy up booster packs, and especially the origin pack, is because I like having access to capes and auras from 1. I can make a costume from the start with that aura in mind. If something comes out later that I think would work well, I can change it.

With these new auras mentioned, I can't use them in the character screen. This means it's hard for me to think of a concept for using them, especially if I want to use something that ties into a specific power set combo/concept (And I tend not to duplicate power sets. The four exceptions I have is 2 SR characters (DB/SR and Kat/SR Scrappers), 2 Dual Pistols (DP/Mental and DP/Fire Blasters), Fire Manipulation (Fire/Fire and DP/Fire Blasters) and Shield Defense (BS/SD Scrapper and SD/Energy Tanker)

Sometimes, I'll log into the game, play about on the character creation screen and go 'Hey, this is a neat idea' when I mix an aura with a power, or an aura with a costume piece, and then comes the process of juggling characters to see if there are any I really don't touch any more and don't RP as.

With Auras locked behind Incarnate Content, Locked Per Character, and Locked out of the Character Creation screen, they might as well not exist for me, because it's just going to be a huge amount of frustration.

Unlock them for all, unlock them for all -and- let them be used from level 1, or just let them be used from level 1 without having to unlock them. It was bad enough in the past, before booster auras, when I'd have a character idea and then have to get them to 30 -just- so they could get the aura to complete them. It still annoys me now that I'm without access to those level 30 auras till then, and a voucher is a bit of a rubbish option. I've got 35 characters at the moment, with the vast majority in their early 20's. So that's a -lot- of vouchers or a lot of grinding to 30.

Keep the Acension armour for 50's and unlocked by merits. I'm okay with that, as long as it doesn't become ubiquitous. Those auras though? Those lovely, amazing new auras? Do the art team a service and let everyone experience them. They're hardly Incarnate-centric.

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SUPPORT - IT'S NOT JUST A GROUPING OF ATs
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More Than a Game
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Originally Posted by Zwillinger GG, I would tell you that "I am killing you with my mind", but I couldn't find an emoticon to properly express my sentiment.

Originally Posted by Captain_Photon NOTE: The Incarnate System is basically farming for IOs on a larger scale, and with more obtrusive lore.

This. Having to earn merits every time I want to try an aura on a character sucks. They should be buy once and unlocked for the account like the fugly Ascension Armour.

Well, Incarantes are lovely and amazing, so it does kinda suit them

I'd disagree in a number of areas, chiefly progression. The way to prevent players from unlocking new slots and abilities as soon as they come out is not to introduce new currency, but simply to use experience. While they wait for new slots and abilities, they could level up other ones to fill up their slots, and when a new one is out, they just earn iXP towards that instead. Normal content would award iXP. TF's and Trials would award more, with an end of TF bonus as well. Weekly Strike Targets would offer a double bonus for each character per week. Incarnate TF's, Story Arcs and Trials would award the most.

No shards, no threads, no random number generator to curse your life, no painful and time consuming 'alternate paths' for those who don't want to enter multi-team content for whatever reason. Just measurable progression.

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SUPPORT - IT'S NOT JUST A GROUPING OF ATs
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More Than a Game
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Some Masterminds do take it to move their army of morons around without aggroing everything in a 5-mile radius. It's certainly not common, but it is annoying to suddenly be caught in it.

I've seen Taxibots use it during badge tours to help heroes get close to badges that require difficult precise balance to stand on, such as that one on the guy's fist in Galaxy City, or on that other guy's hand in the Rikti War Zone. Belle doesn't like teleporting people into mid-air and letting them fall to the ground, even for a badge.

In some agreement here as I tend to juggle characters and character design in a similar fashion. From the prices mentioned though, my understanding is they may be fairly cheap. What I would prefer to see added: allow us to ALSO buy global unlocks for these items--at say 10x to 30x the individual price. So if an aura costs 2 or 3 astral merits (<--strictly invented price!) to get an instanced unlock token, what about a global unlock ranging from 20 to 90 astral merits as seen fit?

For those of us who are costume wh***ing altaholics, buying at 20x to 30x's the price would be a "discount" were we to put the aura on all characters. But most likely, none of us will. Instead what that buys is the convenience of being able to freely play with applying that to most any character as we try to see what fits.

I'd be up for the one time grinded out purchase instead of what I now foresee: log out, find an incarnate with merits, buy one token, log out, log in claim it, try it at the tailor. Nope. Remember a character it may work on. Start at step one, repeat. Nope doesn't fit. Start at step one with alt 1 for different aura. Repeat. Nope. Oops out of merits on that incarnate. Find new incarnate with more merits to continue process.

Ultimately, it just sounds like a PITA for those of us who approach the game an angle that focuses on creativity.