New efforts!

[Felderburg]

Ok, im a little confused by the level of power Posi just desplayed in the exerpt a few pages back.  He can function as a self-sustaining source unto the Well of Furies?  Interesting position since at that point he's not the Well's chosen one.  Maybe lore wasnt fleshed out to the degree it is now...

After Manticore kills Statesman (it makes sense in context), Prometheus gives Positron the power of his Flame to bring back superpowers to the world. Posi gets back to Atlas Park and WHOOSH! The powers return to the metas.

MANY YEARS LATER, in one of the villain arcs, you go toe-to-toe with Positron, who has had years to master Prometheus' Flame, and try to steal it from him via a good old-fashioned beatdown.

Michelle
aka
Samuraiko/Dark_Respite

The arc in question is actually a Strike Force: http://paragonwiki.com/wiki/Mortimer_Kal_Strike_Force (see also: http://paragonwiki.com/wiki/Flames_of_Prometheus). Based on the description of the in-game power, it seems like the flames are equivalent to the first step of becoming an Incarnate. Based on the mechanics of the fight in the Strike Force, it seems that acting on his own, Positron has gained almost a Lore slot ability (although the pets he spawns are unique). Of course, trying to make an NPC with special powers equivalent to player characters' Incarnate slots is a little disingenuous, but regardless it seems that Positron was well on his way to using the Flames to unlock his Incarnate potential.

The actual relation of the Flames to the Well is in question, though: http://paragonwiki.com/wiki/Lore_AMA/Sorted#292 It seems that they are two different ways to get power from the "Source" - one that goes Source-Primordials-Wells, and the other that goes Source-Primordials-Dimensionless (Prometheus)-Flames. So it would be quite interesting to see if that difference plays any role in Positron's power, or how things that normally dampen Incarnate power would affect him.

I have the CoH comics available in my Google Drive: https://drive.google.com/#folders/0BzbPxewaK5DgdTlFM0p6czRuVU0 Note also that I edited Blue King 1 - the original PDF download has a page in the wrong place.

I can't locate any *functional* archives of the comics online. The archived version of the main comic page from old CoH site points to a bunch of dead ftp links ( http://web.archive.org/web/20121014173246/http://na.cityofheroes.com/en/media-and-downloads/comic-archive/ ).

http://www.cohtitan.com/forum/index.php/topic,4203.msg140128.html#msg140128 This thread has info on getting things from the CoH ftp (no idea if it still works).

I once saw a petless Ninja/TA mastermind that was missing a lot of good powers from /TA like disruption arrow because it "didn't fit his theme".

That's just a half step above a brawl only character.

Well, that's a decent reason for having or not having powers. It sounds like the hideless stalker just didn't understand something.

Edit:

Ok, im a little confused by the level of power Posi just desplayed in the exerpt a few pages back.  He can function as a self-sustaining source unto the Well of Furies?  Interesting position since at that point he's not the Well's chosen one.  Maybe lore wasnt fleshed out to the degree it is now...

First off, read the Lore AMA question I linked above, as well as the comic - it will help explain a little bit about the nature of Posi's power (it's actually interesting in that his power has little to do with the Well, and was granted by a guy who works against the Well, in a way). But secondly, the canonicity of the comics is certainly in question. In the AMA, Posi said he tried to add things from the novels when he could, which implicitly extends to the comics and card game. But certain parts of the comic directly contradict what we saw in game, particularly where Praetoria is concerned. But then again, some things are canon - like Manticore's proposal to Psyche, and in this case, Positron's gaining of the Flames.

However, this leads to a huge question - if that part of the arc is canon, that means that the rest of that storyline happened, right? So why was the Hard Crash never seen or referenced in game? We didn't even get an Ouroboros arc about it. You would think that Arachnos firing off a magic spell that takes every super power away from Paragon City, and using Arachnobots to rebuild would be a pretty big deal...

[Samuraiko]

The Mortimer Kal SF, right. Briefly spaced on the name, I've been zonked for the last several days. Ugh. (That's also the arc where we first really see that Posi and Numina are more than 'just friends', if memory serves. Whatever.) And yeah, I agree with Felderburg that the MKSF was the first step in showing Posi taking Incarnate levels. And the ironic thing is, in the comics, he wasn't SUPPOSED to be the one to get the Flames... Prometheus was originally in the process of giving them to Manticore!

The problem is that the canonicity of the comics and the novels has always been sketchy at best. And trust me, I argued HARD that we NEEDED an arc of "The Day The Powers Went Out." But, unfortunately, no such luck. On the bright side, we DID get an arc for "Smoke and Mirrors," which was arguably the best of the Top Cow comic arcs. :)

FYI - I have ALL of the CoH comics in PDF saved on my computer at home. If they're not made available elsewhere, I'll be happy to post them in my dropbox or something. (And I have a few of the actual physical ones too - was so happy to get the one with Positron on the cover, given TCOSR and all.) :D

Michelle
aka
Samuraiko/Dark_Respite

[Noyjitat]

Actually in 2-4 years most people will have the exact same computer they have today. Only hard core gamers and a small percentage of other computer users upgrade before the card goes out these days. These days people are keeping their computers longer before upgrading. It's one of the reason's the industry is seeing a downward trend in sales.

That and prices are stupidly high now. Back when the gtx480 was top of the line I paid 600$ for it. Now were up to 1000s of dollars... I finally switched back to amd gpus and cpus after watching prices continually rise.

Amd is about half the price,  (sometimes less) runs cooler and has the same great quality and performance. The only downside being that most games run better on nvidia (atleast that is usually the case)

[Eskreema]

1.  Thanks too all who posted in reponse to my question.
2.  My continued thanks and support for "Team Ironwolf."
3.  And thanks to *all* for continuing to be the best forum ever!

[AlienOne]

That and prices are stupidly high now. Back when the gtx480 was top of the line I paid 600$ for it. Now were up to 1000s of dollars... I finally switched back to amd gpus and cpus after watching prices continually rise.

Amd is about half the price,  (sometimes less) runs cooler and has the same great quality and performance. The only downside being that most games run better on nvidia (atleast that is usually the case)

The key is to not ever buy the "latest and greatest." Wait for the "latest and greatest" to come out, and then watch the price for the previous "latest and greatest" fall through the floor. (Example: iPhone 4 when iPhone 5 came out). This is the way the electronic industry is set up... They release new "features" every year, and most of those features are not "must have" most of the time--they're "nice to have."

As long as people realize that, they can ALWAYS find a good deal. The stuff that's way too expensive today will be entirely affordable in 2-4 years, and those will be the things that people buy in 2-4 years to upgrade their current systems. And guess what? Those systems they buy in 2-4 years (which are then affordable because it's not the "latest and greatest") will be perfectly able to run ANY of the games being created now. Remember when only the "top end" systems could run the Crysis game? Now a lot of people's "top end"  systems are considered old and by extention no longer top end, and they can run it.

This is why I say most people will eventually have exactly what they need to play a game made with the Unreal 4 engine. Everyone acts like they're going to have to go out there and buy a Titan card to do it, when in fact, you could buy whatever is "top end" currently in 2-4 years...and get it for a steal. It's just how things work. It's how things have worked for decades now. Anyone who believes otherwise obviously has never followed the industry.

Can't afford a PS4 now? Don't worry... It'll drop in price just like the PS1 and the PS2 and the PS3 did. Why? Because there will be a PS5.

Why does Hollywood first offer a movie on iTunes/Vudu as a "buy only" option before they offer it as a rental weeks later? And why does that rental price then drop months after that?

Think about it. ;)

Anyone who advocates for developers to not develop things that have higher system requirements "because I want to keep my 10-year old system" is only impeding progress in the industry. Do I subscribe to the whole "you have to get the newest/best/greatest piece of equipment right now"? Absolutely not. I just stated above that people should opt for the NEXT choice to save money.

However, upgrading is an inevitable part of gaming/computing. If it wasn't, none of us would have any personal computers, and only large corporations would be using them as large washer-and-dryer-sized systems.

The Unreal 2 engine was a huge improvement over the Unreal 1 engine. The Unreal 3 engine was a huge improvement over the Unreal 2 engine. The Unreal 4 engine is a huge improvement over the Unreal 3 engine.

Progress, people. Definitely appreciate and continue playing those old games (I certainly do! I'm re-playing through the original Baldur's Gate right now), but don't complain when you can't run the newer games due to your refusal to upgrade your system in over 5 years. That's just silly.

[BadWolf]

My experience with an Emp Defender (Millennium Girl on Virtue, if anyone remembers me) was that it was almost like having a mental flowchart.

1. Does anyone need healing right now? At the low levels, this was frequently "YES!" What with training origin enhancements, fewer defensive powers, inexperience with the playstyle for that powerset/archetype, et cetera, people took damage and I did a lot of healing. Mostly Heal Other, with Healing Aura used to shore up HP so I had to do less triage and Absorb Pain used primarily on the tank to keep them from dying from alphas. As I went up in level, my heals were needed less and less.

2. Do I have any buffs ready to go? Strictly speaking, unless someone was in emergency status and it was heal or die, I'd buff as soon as they came up. But at the higher levels, buffs became even more important. Long after my heals were no longer needed, Recovery Aura and Fortitude were constantly popular, and Adrenalin Boost was much sought-after. (Regeneration Aura was nice, too, but never a big deal for most people.)

3. Shoot things. I wasn't much of a damage dealer, but if nobody needed healing or buffing, you can bet I'd throw down. Psychic had some nice debuffing effects to its attacks that usually made up for its low damage.

I found that when I followed the flowchart, I was always contributing. I also found that the closer I got to 50, the less time I spent on the first step in the chart and the less people cared about how much I could heal. A good Empath was never just a healbot.

(That said, I loved playing Masterminds more than Defenders. It was like being a Defender, on a team where everyone actually listened to you and did what they were supposed to! More or less. :) )

[Cailyn Alaynn]

AMD Vs. Intel CPU wise is (for me) an easy choice. My 4.0 GHZ 8-Core CPU cost about $200 from AMD. An Intel equivilant would have been a grand.
I've also had better personal experience with AMD CPUs.

NVidia Vs ATI is also an easy choice. NVidia GeForce series or bust.
EVERY single ATI card I've owned has died, they've got HORRIBLE drivers that crash like they were coded by rabbits.
As I mentioned before...I have first hand experience running CoH stuff in Unreal Engine 4 on like a $200-250 NVidia GeForce GTX 660 Ti. At max graphics, at around 100 FPS.

I'll also mention that I believe each person can have a 'better' brand. I've had complete awful terri-bad experiences with ATI, but I've known people who've had the completely opposite experience.
...There's no excuse for Intel's $1000 CPUs however.
Seriously, my ENTIRE computer is around $1000 in cost. ...Maybe $1,200.

(I love how this thread can have like 2-3 different discussions going on simultaneously.)

[Blackstar5]

(That said, I loved playing Masterminds more than Defenders. It was like being a Defender, on a team where everyone actually listened to you and did what they were supposed to! More or less. :) )

The problem with masterminds is you have to keep a tight leash on your pets, otherwise it's "LEROY JENKINS" without the damn chicken.

[icecigal]

I'd like to personally thank Ironwolf and everyone else involved for their efforts. I have been wandering homeless through cyberspace since my home was taken from me. Briefly visiting other worlds but sadly none of them were right for me. I want CoH back yesterday but understand that I must be patient.

[umber]

With all the defender talk going on. Am I the only one who had the mindset that controllers were the better supporters on blueside?

The notion of "support" can be difficult to pin down but in general I agree, when I wanted to to bring the most tools possible to help the rest of the team shine I brought out some flavor of controller.  Guess that mentality reflected in my Defender alt count being rather low, I almost always found potential Defender concepts having a better fit with a Blaster, Corruptor, or Controller.

My SG would frequently run All-AT ITFs, as I recall the fastest run we ever clocked with was an All-Controller team with the All-Defender team not too far behind, but still, and perhaps surprisingly, behind even just a bit.  For a "low-damage" AT a group of 'em would steamroll spawns like they weren't there.

[Serpine]

Can't afford a PS4 now? Don't worry... It'll drop in price just like the PS1 and the PS2 and the PS3 did. Why? Because there will be a PS5.

While I agree with most of the rest of your post in application to video cards and the like, it isn't really as applicable to game consoles. Barring rare operating systems requirements in the software, a computer game made 2-4 years from now will likely run on a computer made today, particularly if you upgrade some components. However a game made for a theoretical PS5 will not run on a PS4 since they are designed specifically not to. With consoles you are lucky if they let you run a game for a previous unit on a newer one.

Though if all you want to play is the last console generation's games, you are set between clearance consoles and bargain bins.

[Blackstar5]

The notion of "support" can be difficult to pin down but in general I agree, when I wanted to to bring the most tools possible to help the rest of the team shine I brought out some flavor of controller.  Guess that mentality reflected in my Defender alt count being rather low, I almost always found potential Defender concepts having a better fit with a Blaster, Corruptor, or Controller.

My SG would frequently run All-AT ITFs, as I recall the fastest run we ever clocked with was an All-Controller team with the All-Defender team not too far behind, but still, and perhaps surprisingly, behind even just a bit.  For a "low-damage" AT a group of 'em would steamroll spawns like they weren't there.

I've run a few all troller teams and was just amazed at how fast we could wipe the map.

[Serpine]

I've run a few all troller teams and was just amazed at how fast we could wipe the map.

Considering how well they often did when I was in them, I sometimes wonder if single archetype teams of any type (assuming reasonably competent players) were superior in general to mixed teams in CoH. It is like the early "degenerate" decks like the all Plague Rat deck in Magic the Gathering that brought about the limits on how many of the same card you could have: They hammered a single design point so far that a regularly balanced deck would have difficulty countering it (though one with a counter would shred them). Encounter balance may not have been set up to handle the raw amount of lockdown or debuffs or damage or defence or etc that a pure team can generate.

[AlienOne]

While I agree with most of the rest of your post in application to video cards and the like, it isn't really as applicable to game consoles. Barring rare operating systems requirements in the software, a computer game made 2-4 years from now will likely run on a computer made today, particularly if you upgrade some components. However a game made for a theoretical PS5 will not run on a PS4 since they are designed specifically not to. With consoles you are lucky if they let you run a game for a previous unit on a newer one.

Though if all you want to play is the last console generation's games, you are set between clearance consoles and bargain bins.

I wasn't assuming that PS3 games would run on a PS4... I was primarily addressing the issue of people (much like the previously mentioned Titan cards issue) thinking they "have to have" the latest and greatest. Let's take the Playstation game "The Last of Us." There's a PS3 version of the game and a PS4 version of the game. There is an obvious difference in price of not only the systems but the games themselves. Why? Because one is "remastered." Sure, one looks better than the other, but is it really worth it to spend $400+ extra dollars for that? Why not wait?

[Mistress Urd]

Considering how well they often did when I was in them, I sometimes wonder if single archetype teams of any type (assuming reasonably competent players) were superior in general to mixed teams in CoH. It is like the early "degenerate" decks like the all Plague Rat deck in Magic the Gathering that brought about the limits on how many of the same card you could have: They hammered a single design point so far that a regularly balanced deck would have difficulty countering it (though one with a counter would shred them). Encounter balance may not have been set up to handle the raw amount of lockdown or debuffs or damage or defence or etc that a pure team can generate.

Well buff/debuff stacks well, so those teams will be fine. After that I think the key word is "competent players". An all blaster team might have a couple of minor issues, but I suspect with good players even AV fights won't be too much of an issue. (incarnates made things very easy)

[primeknight]

I would love to try out a mixed superteam of all controllers.  What about all masterminds, that sounds devastating as well. 

Going to extremes: I'm envisioning an 8 person team made up entirely of robot masterminds.  All those laser blasts filling the map :) And as far as controllers go, how about an 8 person team made up of only fire controllers:  24 imps on the field would be just like the old days when a fire controller could summon up to 15 at a time.  Oh, the good old days. 

What about a team made up of half controllers and half masterminds.  All buffing + extra damage from the MM and so much control.  But would only 4 controllers be enough to lock down an AV (or would it even matter at that point with all the buffs/debuffs)? 

[Taceus Jiwede]

Blasters you either destroyed or died very fast, any good blaster would tell you that dead enemies do no damage to you but living enemies kill you.

Actually, a good blaster will tell you "A dead enemy does no damage, and the live ones are next"

Blaster's could be very, very durable if slotted and played correctly.  I was able to wreck some serious shit on my blaster while taking an extreme beating.  I had even tank kited both Reichsman in Dr Kahn and Battle Maiden on the Apex TF.  Battle maiden managed to drop me a few times but it was doable.

However it was highly based on being free so if you got held or slept or anything.   You were going down fast.  Hold's are a blasters worst nightmare

[BadWolf]

The problem with masterminds is you have to keep a tight leash on your pets, otherwise it's "LEROY JENKINS" without the damn chicken.

Unquestionably, and I'm sure everyone has their "pet aggro" horror stories. But if you could keep your pets properly focused, and heal and buff them, I don't think I've ever had more fun in the game. They just swarmed the enemy and shredded them to pieces. Robot/FF was my finest creation--I could walk through mobs of +4s and not even realize they were attacking due to the stacked and restacked force fields.

[Optimus Dex]

I once saw a petless Ninja/TA mastermind that was missing a lot of good powers from /TA like disruption arrow because it "didn't fit his theme".

That's just a half step above a brawl only character.

Mine was pistol/ thugs . I took gang warfare and had it slotted to be quick to comeback. It was fun for a while to just to see if it could be done. I started a Joe Normal with just brawl and run but tired of the exercise at  lvl 8. My petless MM went to 22.

[The Fifth Horseman]

AMD Vs. Intel CPU wise is (for me) an easy choice. My 4.0 GHZ 8-Core CPU cost about $200 from AMD. An Intel equivilant would have been a grand.
I've also had better personal experience with AMD CPUs.

I'll be the one to vocally disagree.
Performance is not decided by clock rate alone, nor number of cores.
Intel doesn't have octa-core CPUs in their consumer desktop range, only the horridly overpriced "enthusiast" range.
For $200 you can get a Core i5, which will run cooler, consume less power and provide approximately 10% better performance per core than your FX-8350. As far as gaming goes, that is more important than number of cores, since it will affect any game regardless of how well or (more commonly) poorly it is optimized for multi-threaded operation.

AMD theoretically is better priced for overclocking (all of their CPUs are unlocked, as opposed to current-gen Intel CPUs where you need more expensive "K" versions and more expensive motherboards as well), but that will increase their already-monstrous power draw and heat output, requiring an expensive and likely rather noisy cooling system.

What's the #1 killer of computer systems? If you answered "overheating", you win a cookie and advance to the next round...

NVidia Vs ATI is also an easy choice. NVidia GeForce series or bust.
EVERY single ATI card I've owned has died, they've got HORRIBLE drivers that crash like they were coded by rabbits.
As I mentioned before...I have first hand experience running CoH stuff in Unreal Engine 4 on like a $200-250 NVidia GeForce GTX 660 Ti. At max graphics, at around 100 FPS.

I've got a nearly ten year old Radeon 9600. It was still in working order this April, and oddly enough it only freaked out when the system itself experienced power issues due to a failing PSU or driver corruption due to failing HDD.

Far as nVidia vs AMD goes, it's the CPU situation again, except AMD does have a better price/performance ratio as opposed to nVidia's lower power consumption and TDP. To each their own, of course.
My current rig uses an Intel CPU (an i3 I was able to get at 25% discount some months back) with an AMD GPU.