For it to work the way the OP postulated, the power would have had to read something like this, "When you give this character a move action, it ignores the effects of characters and terrain on movement."

Sorta kinda, more or less. I hafta admit, I was having some confusion when the whole "there is no optional" thing came out, 'cause I'd assumed that meant that everything was just on and on the go all the time. You know, being non-optional.

But now I understand that I still have to assign, say, a power action to do a thing, but assigning a power action does not necessarily mean that a power I have which is triggered by a power action must be triggered. So... I still have the option to use a power or not use a power.

Having said that, I'm back to where I was at the start. In that I don't fully see a distinction between the first part of your answer and the second, besides the removal of a game term.

It's really more that "non-optional" is no longer a thing.

Sorry, I'm being discursive. Don't mind me.

There are a few differences.

For example, the old optional powers (if you were going to choose to not use them) needed to be canceled as an action was assign; no choosing mid-action to not use them. Meanwhile, the "may" wording frequently does cause the timing of the choice to occur in the middle (or even end) or an action. Further more, once canceled, an optional power remained "off" until the turn was over. So sometimes you had to choose between turning off something right now (to gain a temporary benefit) versus having that thing functioning later in the turn (for possible future benefit). With "may", everything is decided on a case by case basis.

Or do you mean you don't see a different between "may do X" and "I am assigning a power action to do X"? In that case, take something like Willpower... it is always on, there is no action to activate it. If it wasn't for the "may" in the Willpower description, your Willpower character could never choose to take pushing damage.

Maybe I can make it simple for you.

There are two keywords you need to learn GIVE and WHEN.

(and then the bonus keyword MAY will make much more sense)

GIVE
To use a GIVE action you must specifically GIVE an action to specifically do that effect. If there are two GIVE Actions available such as Flurry and Exploit Weakness GIVING a Close Combat Action only activates the ONE particular effect you specify (not both).

Example #1
For example you have Flurry and Exploit Weakness. You GIVE that character a Close Combat Action. That leaves you with 3 choices. 1) Use the CCA for Flurry. 2) Instead use the CCA for Exploit Weakness, or 3) Use the CCA as a regular Close Combat Action that does not involve either Flurry or EW. You must specify exactly which choice you intend before rolling any dice.


WHEN
Some powers trigger WHEN something occurs. You have no choice on these powers. WHEN event X occurs effect Y is triggerred. If event X is triggered WHEN a Close Combat Action occurs then giving a Close Combat Action for any reason will trigger that WHEN power and you proceed without option to effect Y.

MAY
Now that being said, sometimes effect Y says WHEN X occurs you MAY do something interesting. When it is written like that although the power must be used without option, the effect Y itself contains the "MAY" option to use or not use the resulting effect.

Example #2:
WHEN you give a character with Blades a Close Combat Action the BCF powers automatically triggers, but the BCF power allows you by the word "MAY" to choose whether or not to roll dice for your damage value. So that part is upto you to choose.

Example #3:
On the other hand, If you give a character a Ranged Combat Action and thus he makes a Ranged Combat ATTACK and happens to be next to a friendly Character with Enhancement, then Enhancement is triggered. Enhancement does NOT have a MAY option so you have no choice and must add the +1 to your Damage Value whether you want to or not (subject to the rule of 3 of course).

I know I am being redundant but I thought if you had a power that was not a "may" use power you had to use it, period. Such as, using P/T power for Quasar. I mean, it never made sense to me but that's how I tried to explain it to our venue people. Now I am just confusing myself. :/

There are two types of powers in Heroclix. They don't actually have names, per se, but I describe them to new players as "active" and "passive".

In a nutshell, no powers are optional (that ship has sailed), but active powers require that you give a character an action specifically to use said power. In other words, you must decide to activate them (hence "active"). They are always "there", on stand-by, waiting to be activated, but they need that action to get things rolling. And if you don't give the character an action specifically to use said power, then it isn't activated and it is still just sitting there, waiting to happen.

Meanwhile, passive powers require no action to activate. They are on and ready to go always. Some may require a specific something to happen (Stealth, for example, doesn't do much unless LOF is involved), but as soon as that something happens these powers are there to get the job done. Your character doesn't have to do anything specific to make these powers activate.



Like I said, you won't see those terms in the rule book (and it does get a little more complicated in some corner cases), but that's the quick and dirty way I use to help out new players.

So.. in a nutshell.... optional and non-optional?

Aah! Joking. [Except not.]

Really, it's functionally very similar to the old optional/non-optional system, but this way is a bit more streamlined a bit more often, and saves a little bit of ink, perhaps. This, I think, is another case of me allowing lingering old rules to muddle my comprehension of new [or, perhaps in this case, the same] rules. This is all more of a linguistic exercise, really.

Okay, okay, I think I get this all, but why is 'optional' no exist anymore, and 'may,' which implies option, exist? Wouldn't it just be easier to keep 'optional' and 'non-optional' around, rather than add 'may' to the wording?

Also, since pushing and willpower were brought up, I might as well ask this to make it more clear. Is the pushing aspect of Power Cosmic and Quintessence optional? I don't know if I have the current wording, and the old one said 'do not take pushing damage' implying that it was non-optional. I know those terms technically don't exist in Heroclix anymore, but it is easier to use them than being round about in my question.

No, Power Cosmic and Quintessence characters will never take Pushing Damage. I would guess that that is the reason Maelstrom only costs 225 points. You can't push him into his better clicks.

Indomitable on the other hand gives you the option to take the Push Damage. It says that you can use Willpower. And Willpower says that you may ignore pushing damage.