Titan Weapons is awesome.

I'm heading up on the mission to take on Mr. Magic... dare I ask what to espect?

When you DO face him, get ready to do it again. And again. And again, TWICE.

But seriously, it's not as tough as the Dirge of Chaos (the other mission you mentioned).

Finished it overnight, and you are correct... it wasn't, thanks to health and res boosts. But now I have some Oroboros thingie....

SO... this mean I can do the time warp and re-do levels?

Now it's on to spartan wannabes... problem is that I was taking on that jerkfaces minions and get warned that they'll be shutting down in a 1/2 hour for updates. >_<

If you use the new power you got (Orobouros Portal) you can go to a place where there's a contact that will let you go back and do some of the stuff you've out-leveled. It will automatically drop you to the maximum level the arc is set for (you get to keep powers from up to 5 levels above that, so if you're dropped to L9 you have all your power picks through L14) and you won't be able to do other stuff until you complete the arc or drop it. However, if you're in the right level range to get a new contact from the person in charge of the flashbacked arc, you'll get it (i.e. a L22 character will get new contacts at the end of an arc from someone in the L14-19 range).

You cannot use the flashback system to do bank missions you've outleveled, though. Which is why I make a point of getting all of my characters through the Skyway bank mission (self-rez) before they hit L21, even if I have to turn off XP to do it. (It was definitely a problem for Praetorian characters, who can't DO bank missions and can't leave Praetoria until they hit L20.)

---Dave

If you have a badge whore character, there are a ton of badges from Oz, too. It is very repetitive, though....

As for bank missions, you can always join a Skyway Safeguard team to still get the power you outlevelled..

Well, I'm working from the assumption that Bubbs will be soloing almost exclusively, given his play schedule.

---Dave

They've announced which member of the Freedom Phalanx will die, and that it will happen next month: HIGHLIGHT to view:
Stateman.

Given that there's no merchandising juggernaut behind the character, it's entirely possibly they'll stay dead.

---Dave

I am not surprised.


Meanwhile, man. Titan Weapons+Invincibility is fantastic on a scrapper.

Yeah. Given that this setting has far less merchandising going on for the NPC characters than say, any random Marvel or DC character, it's entirely possible that people will stay dead.

Well, also, wasn't the developer that character was based around leave the game like...forever ago?

I wonder if this means HIGHLIGHT to view:
Hero One/The Honoree will return to fill Statesman's shoes. Also will be interesting to see if this has any impact on the Rogue Isles and Lord Recluse, given the fact he's really taken a back seat in terms of the content with Tyrant taking more and more the "Supreme Villain" role.

HIGHLIGHT to view:
Maybe he'll switch sides and take Statesman's job!

Probably not, but.

That's...not entirely unlikely.

HIGHLIGHT to view:
Granted, I don't know how much "The Web of Arachnos" is regarded in terms of in game lore, but Stefan never saw himself as a villain in the first place, and he and Marcus were once like family. While the book ended rather harshly for the two, it wouldn't surprise me in the least if Recluse wanted a piece of whoever killed Statesman.

If for no other reason then because *he* called dibs on that honor.

But this is all conjecture. We all know it's really all just a Nemesis plot.

Yeah, I proposed Rust's basic idea elsewhere too. Seems like a logical step, although the replacement will definitely need a new costume...existing one is too dull. Maybe merge the two costumes somehow, and create a new headpiece that isn't tied specifically to either of the originals.

---Dave

Or if they want to be really lame, replace the dead guy with his double from another dimension.

HIGHLIGHT to view:
But all his doubles are EVIL!

HIGHLIGHT to view:
Bring Imperious into the Modern Day. Problem Solved!

*nod* I'm mostly interested on doing the alternate 'medic' arc with the detective, and taking out Thiery.

And your right, I'll likely be soloing everything. Could have been on at a reasonable hour yesterday afternoon... if Wrath of Khan wasn't on and if I hadn't taken a long overdue 4 hour nap.

What's gotten me curious about You-Know-Who dying is how this will affect content. I mean the STF, the LRSF, the final mission of the Villain AT arc, the Maria Jenkins arc and the "Alpha Unlock" mission will all need rewrites. And that's just on the top of my head.

Although, we knew SOME stuff would have to change no matter who died. All seven of the Phalanx run Taskforces, after all, and whichever dies would need to be replaced.

Meanwhile, Back Alley Brawler, as a signature character without portfolio, seems a natural choice to plug in, although there might be a multi-character shuffle (i.e. BAB doesn't simply replace the deader, but maybe replaces a survivor who shifts to take the deader's jobs).

---Dave

Plus, BaB pretty much always been portrayed with the other 7, despite not being a Phalanxer. Hell, he's even in the splash page of Chapter 1, and the cutscene at the end of Chapter 4 pretty much already puts him with the group.

Yeah, I could see it happen. Would be weird running a BaB TF though after all those years >.<

One other possibility is that the missing Taskforce will just be left alone and available via Oro, with BAB getting a new TF involving going after the prime mover behind Who Will Die.

Me, I hope that Wade's involvement in all of this means the Shadow Shard is about to get opened up to both sides and given some renovation. It's a cool idea, just poorly implemented and full of Statesman Fun ™.

---Dave

It's funny how ya'll are speaking like you're keeping a secret, yet you've already let the cat out of the bag with all the speculation.... Gotta work on that spoiler part, folks....

As for me, I hate BaB. Never did like the character. Hope he doesn't get a bump up.

Hey, I've been sufficiently generic. It's Devcon who blew it.

---Dave

In reguards to the 'you know who' situation... my guess is it'll make like F-Zero Densetsu... or Cap for the past couple years.

"Falcon only person who exceeds it can become Falcon. Jack Wheeler, you are Falcon from today"

So... anybody else having fun with the Winter festivities. Without really looking, exploring for badges, I ran into the boxes repeatedly... some spawning in the same spots. I've got like.. 8 candycanes, 5 temp powers, and ambushed by multiple snow-goons (who I beat some of thoes candycanes out of).

So... where do I cash in thoes candycanes again?

Pocket D, there's a grotto on the villain side. Enter there to get to the ski lodge. It's the... uh. Guy with Candy in his name there. There're also a couple holiday missions to do!

More specifically, once you're in Pocket D, it's on the second floor of the bar on the red side, overlooking the dance floor. It's a door with some snow and trees around it. Once through it, go into the top floor of the ski chalet, there's an elf standing by the fireplace. If you've never been to Pocket D, probably the easiest door to find is southeast of the trainer in Faultline, in between some of the stores lining the reflecting pool.

I'd mail you some candy canes to help out, but since it has to be done one at a time it'd clog your inbox long before I'd hit a useful amount. (BTW, did you ever claim that million influence I sent you?)

---Dave

So, earlier, during an attempt at the Lord Winter trial, the game crashed! But before it crashed, it threw out a pop-up error window... which said that customers would never see that window.

Whoops.

The villain side you say?



Oh yeah... Moritori is mad with da monies.

Cool.

BTW, in case you haven't noticed, the snowmen spawn within the level range of the zone, randomly within that range. So if you just want to harvest candy canes and not get any XP, cruise around Atlas Park opening presents. Of course, that also means if you're L22 and running around Talos doing presents, you're gonna be running away from purple-conning snowmen a lot.

---Dave, spent time last night running his L22 Katana Brute around Talos opening presents and running tips.

It amuses me to play the cloooones arc right after the introductory Ouroborous arc. I already know one way I could be doing things I don't know I've done!


Also, Ourobouros suggest something that Nemesis HASN'T Planned.... But also has him basically planning everything (timey wimey!) to stop it.

Eventually, all the vague implications about Mender Silos do get flatly stated. When I started play it was still all supposition and possibly a red herring, but when you finish Mender Ramiel's arc to unlock the Alpha Slot, it's cleared up once and for all. Your basic Kang/Immortus sort of thing.

---Dave

So I got done with the road warriors.... and got sucked into the clones... and now I'm fighting protean.

GOD is this aggrivating...

At the most... after using 5 res's... I was STILL only able to chip him down a small chunk. He keeps pwn-stunning me... GAWD! I wish I where using Geiger... she could at least hide in the rafters and range him.

Any tips (aside from the obvious 'get help')

You get a warning message shortly before the pwn-stun goes off, be prepared to break off and flee at that point. Scrapperlock will get you killed when facing Protean.

---Dave

Yeah... I noticed that. Problem is it doesn't go off when he's getting ready for his stun piledriver. Thoes instances I didn't immidiately die... I was left running away and making whatever shots I could at him.

funny how teh fear from Assasin's blow doesn't do squat.

Ah, yes. You have experienced the dreaded Purple Triangles. Archvillains have a big defensive power that makes them almost impossible to nail with status effects. If you have three Controllers all throwing Holds at Lord Recluse, he might actually be Held for a few seconds, but a single measily Fear effect won't do squat to even the weakest of AVs.

Oh, I finally got a Knight Errant badge last night, although if a couple of higher level players hadn't shown up to help out I wouldn't have had the damage output to manage it before bedtime. Red MacIntosh now has the badge, woot. And now I know what to look for.

---Dave

I ended up using the Complete Mission from the Contact on Protean. I... feel dirty.

When fighting AVs (or Elites when I solo) I tend to carry a tray filled in this way: first two "columns" filled with "luck" inspirations (purples), next 2 filled with "rages" (reds), and the last containing one Break Free, one Awaken and the rest filled with more Rages. Before engaging, I spam F2 and F3, using up half of the purples and the same amount of reds. When I see them flickering, I repeat with f1 and F4. That typically gives me enough defensive buffs and damage buffs to put them down. The others are just backups.

So any tips on how to nail this fedora wearing dingus?

I've ressed so much I'm in the whole for 11,000.... which is strange because I'm using Res tokens... even the self res!

and breaking even was murder.... I'd get ahead and then get wailed on back where I started. Though I did wander into the Bizzaroverse...somehow.

Oh, I did get on as GG... and found myself summoned by father time. Where EXACTLY is pocket D anyways? Do I need one of thoes oroboros watches or what?

after finishing the yin mission I backtracked to Steel Canyon to run the midnighter arc for the sake of getting into a mission I know I can get the oroboros token in.

Dying (except under certain circumstances) causes the debt, not the rez itself.

Pocket D can be accessed from four hero-side zones, and is marked as a green dot on your map. As mentioned upthread, probably the easiest to find is by the reflecting pool in the northwest of Faultline. Father Time gives a couple of holiday-themed missions, plus you can ski and stuff in the opened up part of the zone.

---Dave

So I think I'll make my Titan Weapons/Invulnerability scrapper's Praetorian double a Invuln/TW Tank.

Funny thing though... all the times I've resed GG in fighting Lost.... she didn't take any debt.

You don't accrue any XP debt when you're under level 10, so that might be it.

Here's a nearly complete list of situations where you don't accrue debt:

1) Single-digit levels
2) During special events (Rikti Invasion, Zombie Apocalypse, etc)
3) When you die from Self Destruction power (not applicable if you haven't bought that with points)

Additionally, if you have any patrol XP (blue on your XP bar), debt is subtracted from that first. So if you die early on in your day's run, it might just eat the patrol XP and not show up specifically as debt.

---Dave

GG is at 19 and Moritori is at 23

Check out your temporary powers, there's some that give debt protection.

If you still haven't found it blueside, go to Talos Island, Peregrine Island, Faultline, or Kings Row. Pocket D should appear as a green dot on your mini-map if you have them enabled. These are all from memory.

In Kings Row: If you exit the tram station and make a 90 degree turn to the left. Head over the water reservoir and over the road. There will be an empty lot next to a few apartment buildings. There is a truck parked in the open lot there. Enter the back of the truck.

Faultline: Go to the row of shops in the NW corner. There should be a jewelery store "Family Jewels." Next to it is a small nook with a manhole cover. Enter the manhole cover.

Talos Island: Exit the tram station and make a 180 to Wentworth's. At WW, turn north until you hit a building and jump over the wooden fence to the west. Follow that road west past the Hero Corp store. The next building should have a bunch of Pocket D flyers (pink) pasted near the entrance. Enter the doors.

Peregrine Island: From the tram station, turn 90 degrees to the left and scoot a bit to the west to follow the river north. Under the last bridge on the west bank is a manhole cover. Enter it.

When you get into Pocket D, you can find Studio 55(?) which gets you to Praetoria, and the ski chalet, which is only open during the Winter Event (or sometimes in the summer ala last August). If you want to find the ski chalet, just select Father Time as a contact and waypoints will guide you. There are two ski runs, one of which you can get three badges for times, and one luge run, for another 3 badges. For Studio 55, when you enter the main dance floor from blueside, hang a left and hug the wall. You'll see a ramp up to a portal, but stay between that ramp and the wall. At the end of it there's a tiny little room with a portal on the wall. Enter the portal.

Pocket D is a "co-op" zone, like Rikti War Zone, where heroes and villains can congregate without killing/arresting each other. Teleport is disabled in the structure, but allowed in the ski chalet.

So my roommate did the Vaz Plague Mission in Flashback and got hit with the debuff bug, is there a fix, or just contact the support staff?