Details on Dark Astoria Makeover?

Ah, but I also avoid CoT every chance I get, unless teamed. Igneous and Vazhilok don't bother me that much, same for Trolls.

I have no inducement to deal with stupidly-difficult NPCs, unless the reward is increased. So..... if DA comes with a stupidly-difficult solo Incarnate path, I'll go back to BAF. I love to run UG, but this is not a popular trial.

Ah, see I haven't run all the First Ward content, as I had outleveled it on my current main when it came out.

Its likely if they maintin the justification of "invasion style enemeis are raids, individuals are content like da, but it could also eventually include rularru, he certainly has an army. and if they are enjoying revamping zones, the shadow shard has been requested heavily and some dev, think its posi, mentioned wanting to get to the shard eventually.

It's available via Ouroboros. Worth a run through.

Oh, I'll probably run it now that I've gotten that character to 50 and at least gotten some Incarnate stuff started. I had the "get to 50" goal when it came out, though.

Possibly, and that would neatly solve the 'speed of progress' problem.

I am hoping for content that will challenge but not overwhelm a team of 8 50+3 players; something like that should exist somewhere in the game.

Besides MoM, that is

you mean like a tin mage/apex task force but with more slotting requirements?

Funny, because each of those enemies are just as difficult or moreso than Praetorian enemies.

I actually haven't run those yet (been bringing a villain up to Incarnate level now that I have a hero there; and doing it the slow way, reading text and whatnot), but I heard they were doable with merely Alpha unlocked.

You can run them with the Alpha unlocked, but you'll be at a -4 level penalty, and since all the enemies spawn at 54 you'll be at an 8 level difference so..... you *really* want to have the Alpha slotted before attempting them, unless you have some really forgiving teammates.

Only the CoT, really. And only Praetoria throws these enemies at you in wave after wave of ambushes, at a level where you likely don't have sustainable endurance or a reliable way to regain health.

The only reason you need Alpha slotted is because of an arbitrary decision to use the TFs to show off the new level-shifting mechanics. There is nothing about the actual difficulty of the TFs that actually requires that Alpha. Personally, I think this artificial limitation is stupid, and essentially says "slot your Alpha or mooch." Then the trials come along with that participation metric that tells you mooching isn't allowed....huh?

I take it you've never fought the Minions of Igneous on a squishy, or tried holding a troll Gardvord. Seriously, you guys are just... wrong. And just ask some people here what they think of Vahzilok -Regen.

Well, they shouldn't really encourage mooching in a task force as it is >>

And it's just another kind of gating, except instead of level gating it's incarnate gating. I can kind of see them doing the same later down the line, designing stuff for incarnates and requiring later slots to have something in them.

And.. I'm not really sure you *could* design something that actually took into account which ability you slotted in your Alpha slot. It is essentially just a bit of a stat bump.

Or their -recharge. That kills me every time but I still like the challenge. I think the point is though, Praetoria is Ambush City with almost every other mission containing a chaining ambush when you don't have the tools to deal with them. I liked early Praetoria, it can be challenging if a bit frustrating. It's just the stupid ambushes and cruddy ending at level 20 that puts me off.

And I wish they'd remove the stupid gating on Apex and Tin Mage too. The 'Anti-Non-Incarnate' ray is potentially the dumbest tool I've ever had to suffer in this game's lore.

Anyway, we're way off topic by now. So I'll just say I hope the revamped Dark Astoria is a return to form. I'm still preparing my hat for eating if it surpasses my somewhat jaded expectations.

Nemesis' totally functional weather machine.

Heroes, Villains ♦ Reviews ♦ Retrospect

I can't say I've ever had the joy of bumping into that one.

This confuses me mightily. A TF comes along that forces you to have Alpha slotted or you suffer a penalty... wait, they want you to be MORE powerful or else they make your weaker-than-an-Incarnate character weaker still?

Juxtapose that with the fact that you can walk onto an Incarnate Trial the moment you turn 50 and begin to unlock your Alpha slot with, well, very little actual penalty (and the "anti mooch" mechanic you speak of doesn't really do anything as long as you try).

It just doesn't make a lick of sense.

I will admit that some of the ambushes are annoying, but really, the mobs themselves aren't any harder than anything Primal-side. Spectral Demon Lords and Gardvords have killed me more times than anything in Praetoria.

The redesign looks awesome. I'm really eagerly looking forward to it. Here's hoping that there's two contact chains, though... one for heroes, one for villains, like in Cimerora.

It's not a device - it's the will of Tyrant, empowered by the Well to give him control over the cosmic forces of Incarnate power - just think of it as the CoH version of the Lord of the Nazgûl's ability to terrify and weaken his enemies at the same time as driving his soldiers into a battle frenzy, or Sauron's will being strong enough to govern an entire realm and command all his forces, and cause even the light of the Phial of Galadriel to fail in the heart of Morder - they were both basically just buffing thier own sdie and debuffing their enemies

The way Devs have talked about it, there may only be one contact chain but you'll have choices to do good/bad things. Though the Repeatable missions will likely have 1 for each side.

No, I've never fought the Minions of Igneous on a squishy, or had to put up with Vahzilok -regen. For you see, I was getting PLd on fire ambush farms long before it was cool.

No, they shouldn't, so why is there a "mooch setting?" Why not just have it say "you must be this tall to ride" like every other damn task force in the game instead of adding this stupid mechanic and then explaining it with an even stupider explanation?

Cheesy supervillains always have a weather machine, and there is no supervillain cheesier than Nemesis.

There were no Preems when the TF was introduced. Simply flagging the TFs to "VIP only" would probably be a lot easier than the stupid level-shifting mechanic. Besides, the level shift doesn't actually deny access, it turns you into useless dead weight.

Ah, to you they are perhaps. To me, not so much.

I would much, much MUCH rather face a grouping of Reaper, cadaver, cadaver, Embalmed Abomination than:

A group of ten Praetorians. While your level 19 character deals with them, here comes a group of ten more! Right after than here come ten more, *HOSP*.

Now who wouldn't get all warm and fuzzy about that This, by the way is on +0/x0 difficulty. Praetoria overwhelmes you with sheer numbers, and minions with boss-level powers. Hate.

*chortle*

Then your arguments are automatically null.

"Ten?" What? Now that's an exaggeration if I've ever seen one.