Some stuff I really enjoy

I have been throwing out some criticism recently and I realize that many of my posts have been negative so I wanted to post about some things I am really enjoying recently.

~ Staff Fighting Animation Tempo. I really like the animations on this set. Unlike Dual Pistols, the animators were able to design the tempo of the animations and sounds and hits so the set feels like the character is fighting fast even though the animations are standard length. I appreciate that the feel of the set invokes a rapid tempo even though I was concerned that the break dancing PBAoE would hurt the feel for me. The feel of the set is really good.

~ Dark Control. I really like the tactical options of the set. It played well and had good options through the entire leveling process, and it's very fun and effective as I do DA arcs. I love how the set split the pets so you get Haunts early on and the hound at 32. This avoided the problem with Fire Control (where it just isn't fun for 32 levels until you get Imps) nicely. I know the set has gotten some flack for not being powerful enough, particularly when compared with plant, but I am enjoying it.

~ Signature Story Arcs. I like the concept, and I like the execution. I like that characters running though these the first time can stack some hero merits but you are more limited on repeat. I like that they can tell stories that can really change the game world. I love the three mission length of them. For me that length is the sweet spot for grouping with friends.

~ New Content. I really like that new content is so much better, for the most part, than older content. As an example, I really enjoyed the new Steel Canyon story arcs. They are executed so much better than older content. I like the Positron Task Force revamp. I liked the clone story arcs, particularly on the villain side. You can really tell the difference when you hit the 30s and finish Croatoa and you are stuck with doing Bricks or Founders and its just bad. The best thing about this is it makes me confident that new stuff that comes out not only has a high chance of being entertaining, but that the leveling process will continue to improve as you generate new content to fill the 30s and 40s with new arcs and areas.

I like that new content avoids the mistake that more missions in the arc equals more epic. Some of the ancient high end arcs with 15 missions are tiresome. I like that the newer mission arcs avoid defeat all missions on huge maps, and I also like how DA missions make destroying all enemies on a map into an optional goal.

~ Dark Astoria. Thank you for providing, for the most part, solo content that rewards incarnate level rewards. I am enjoying the arcs so far for the most part (despite my complaining about Black Scorpion and the taunt mechanic) and earning incarnate rewards for solo arcs is nice. It hasn't prevented me from doing the iTrials, but it gives me something to do when none are running or when I would just rather solo. I realize that players have discussed the specifics of the reward frequency, but please continue this overall trend.

~ iTrials. I feel that having a good selection of high level raids improved the game. While I might not want to be forced to raid, or to have to repeat raids over and over to advance, I think as an addition to a solo path for advancement they are a great addition to the game. I am currently adding incarnate abilities to a new alt and being able to run in Dark Astoria and jump into a raid forming in the Looking In Group channel to accelerate my progress is great. I like the variety and being able to play in multiple ways. Maybe it was a rough road getting there, I really like the final result of DA as a solo incarnate zone for advancement supported and supplemented with iTrials to break things up.

~ Official Looking For Group channel. Thank you.

~ Freebie Fridays. Love it. I like how you put in a small costume piece this week even though I am pretty sure I will never use a pretty princess hat. I like seeing what is available each Friday. I also like how you left the last one going through the weekend.

~ New Power Pools. I just want to say that I know it was a leak, but I am ridiculously excited to see the introduction of new standard power pools. I hope they are cool enough to provide variety from the Fighting - Jumping - Speed - Leadership - Medicine rut I've been in.

~ New Costume Items. Now that females have Baron coats and we are all on the same page on the whole tinting issue I like the quality of the new costume pieces I have seen. The new retro space stuff looks really good, and I really liked the recent pieces I've been seeing. Even pieces that I personally didn't like seemed like they were good quality, they just didn't appeal to me personally which is totally cool. I love the communication we are seeing from the new artist and the response to player feedback.

~ New Tsoo. I've always like the Tsoo conceptually, so creating new high level versions with glowing frikkin' tattoos is just awesome. I also like how we get to interact with some of them instead of just using them as generic enemies in some on the new arcs.

Thanks!

I've been running through SSA1 on my character at -1/x1 difficulty just to get through it. I have played the first ones before, so I'm skipping the text. But the actual mechanics of the arcs are surprisingly interesting.

Speed clicking the glowies ahead of the pumicite ambushes
answering the questions of the rularu
destroying the power suppliers and turning on the anti-aircraft weapons vs Marshal Blitz

They really are interesting missions instead of just defeat all clockwork in the warehouse x3.

The content is much better than before in every way I can think of.

Penelope Yin Task Force: It's not up to the level of the Positron revamp, ie no really new maps or anything, and I saw someone in game call it a "trash TF" (they didn't elaborate), but for my money it's a vast improvement over the old Sister Psyche TF. Not that I particularly hated Sister Psyche's TF -- it was one of the better of the old Freedom Phalanx TFs, possibly even the best of the six. I mean, old Positron and Synapse were/are both pretty horrible with endless repeat missions, and Citadel gets knocked for the same thing, and Numina suffers from all the problems associated with the zone hunts... and Manticore is just really generic and boring... so yeah, probably Sister Psy was the best of the six. But the new version is an improvement. It's fast, it actually takes place in the zone it starts in, and most importantly, just like Posi 2 it ends at a location where the enemies are actually providing a threat, instead of bombing another random, generic sewer. It takes one of the cooler old maps and instead of twenty minutes of boredom you get a really exciting battle on the same map. That's all good!

New Power Sets and Costumes: Yes. Moar please! (I think they need a "magic blast" or "magic staff/wand blast" or somesuch....)

Dark Astoria: I think most players would agree that they hit this one out of the park. Well done!

I've found myself enjoy everything that's come up so far in this thread, and want to add my support.

I also want to mention that Trilogy, the semi-hidden Night Ward contact, is awesome. We need more somewhat tongue-in-cheek content to balance out the really heavy stuff going on I say.

co-sign most of the stuff in this thread.

Really, the massive improvements on nearly every front during my year long hiatus are positively startling.