anachrodragon

You're missing Sonic & Storm here:

Ribosome Exposure - Increase Damage Resistance and Endurance Reduction:
-Defender/Controller - Sonic Resonance - Sonic Barrier, Sonic Haven, Sonic Dispersion
-Defender/Controller - Storm - Steamy Mist

Also, just noticed these are under Lyso, but not under Enzyme:

Enzyme Exposure - Increase ToHit and Defense Debuffs, and Endurance Reduction:
-Defender/Controller – Sonic - Liquefy (-DEF, END redux)
-Defender/Control - Storm - Freezing rain - (-DEF, END redux)
-Defender/Control - Storm - Hurricane - (-ACC, END redux)
-Defender/Control - Storm - Tornado - (–DEF, END redux)

Any chance of looking into pet behavior around lighted oil slicks? Controller pets (fire imps in particular) tend to avoid it like the plague. Kind of counterproductive for a Fire/TA controller to have a power in the secodary that works against their pets.

Sure, I would love to see skills in CoH/CoV, but I'm pretty much resigned to the fact that it's not going to happen. Instead, there are other games that have skills systems and multiple forms of advancement. I decided to try WoW for a bit, which I'm sure isn't even the best of them, and I'm currently getting my skills and economy fix there.

I love CoH for the fast paced action and great team play, and I continue to play it for that. As far as skills and other stuff goes, I'm really not holding my breath.

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Which ones are worth it? The button-mashing damage dealers sure don't know, and I am beginning to become skeptical about their effectiveness. Flash arrow rocks, I know that, but other than that....someone please let me know if poison gas, acid, or disruption arrow is worth it.

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I recently fixed the Sleep portion of Poison Gas Arrow for all AT's, and fixed the fact that it was single target instead of AoE for Masterminds and Controllers. So, that one may be a bit better than folks are reporting in I7.

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:O

FIX OILSLICK TOO!

when ignited your pets run away. my fire imps are useless when they ignite oil slick and run away then refuse to ever step where the ignited slick was

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Agreed. When the oil slick target is there, my Singularity humps it like mad... and when it's gone and the slick is on fire, pets avoid the area like the plague. Or maybe this some sort of a "feature" introduced in preparation for the Valentines day wierdness...

Answering for myself, and on behalf of my own defenders:

50 Rad/Dark
39 Kin/Rad
26 Dark/Elec
22 Storm/Elec

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1) Is this really about soloing?


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I don't think it's 100% about soloing (I'm not a soloer myself), but I can't deny that defender soloing is an issue either. Both the fact that we have an inherent that is of no benefit solo, and also that ED hit our damage output very hard are big problems for the folks who do solo.

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2) Do you want to be unequivocably perceptually better at damage mitigation than controllers?


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No. I play controllers, and I love my controllers, and I fully understand that stopping a target in their tracks is the best form of damage mitigation. I don't think that defenders need to compete with controllers in terms of control, but I do think we could use role other than "not as good as controllers at mitigation" and "not as good as blasters at ranged damage." I'm not sure exactly what that is, but as things stand now, defenders don't have a very good niche.

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3) Do you want to do unequivocably perceptually more damage than Controllers?


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Yes. After all, we do have a whole powerset that's damage oriented. Unless they change the focus of our secondaries, we should use them for what they're meant to do... and that's damage.

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4) Do we want a better harmony between our Primary/Secondary at the expense of versatility and variety?


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No. I haven't read all the posts, and I'm not sure exactly what's been suggested, but the versatility and variety among defenders is one of the strong points for the AT. It seems like it would make more sense to increase that in some way, rather than reduce it.

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Which brings up an interesting point. Over the course of CoH, defenders have seen relatively little change. Sure, powersets were changed here or there, but the AT as a whole has hardly changed at all. Instead, everything's been changing around defenders.

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This is exactly what I was getting at earlier as well. The only thing I think is really wrong with defenders is just that they've been left behind as the game has changed. Controllers have been given more damage, blasters have been given more hit points, tanks and scrappers have been balanced and rebalanced, and of course all ATs were hit with the big nerfbat of ED... The whole game has become more PvP focused as well. Defenders haven't really been looked at in the context of how the game's evolved. So we're left with mediocre damage, long recharges, various strategies and playstyles that no longer work thanks to ED, and poor performance in PvP. In any case, it's not that I think defenders are bad, they just need some buffing to compete in the current game environment.

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Just imagine if you will... a controller with a Dark Miasma secondary. *SHUDDER*

-River

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Storm, Rad and even Trick Arrow secondaries can be controlling and debuffing monsters. Dark would be scary, but only a little bit more so than what already exists.

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Any other ideas?

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Sorry to be a complete pessimist, but considering how low priority the small changes seem to be, I don't anticipate any large changes to the AT in the foreseeable future. In the short term, I'd say if you're having fun with your defender, by all means play them and enjoy them as they are. If you're dissatisfied with the inequities between defender/controller powers, PvP performance, etc... Then now might be a good time to roll up a controller.

Seriously, as I read through this, I'm actually kind of glad that my Rad/Dark defender is 50, my Kin/Rad defender is on the verge of retirement already, and my new main is a controller. As a long-time defender-a-holic it's a shame, but as CoH has changed (nerfs, PvP focus, etc...), defenders have been mostly left behind... So if I'm going to enjoy the game as it currently stands, I think I'm sticking with controllers for a while.

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Defenders=Empaths. That's the CoH being presented.

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And a /Emp controller is still better in PvP

Ok, now that I've taken a moment to read and digest the whole post... First, I want to say thanks to Castle for devoting time to investigating the defender issues, and also for getting back to us with a nice long explaination. I really do appreciate the dev's willingness to listen to players in this game.

Now, regarding the issues themselves... I'm seeing some problems:

1) Defenders don't want to be forced into a role of being a buffbot. However the dev attitude is a bit strange to me. On the one hand we're being told "You have all these great situational powers to use, so you *should* be more than buffbots" And on the other hand we're being told "It's by design that controllers use your situational powers better than you do"... "oh, and it's also by design that your damage and debuffing abilities are effectively useless in PvP." What does that leave us with? Pretty much just the role of being buff-bots.

2) There are a lot of things on this list that are "low priority" or "we'll get to it eventually." Some of these issues (like the entire Trick Arrow powerset) have been recognized problems for a long time now. Now I understand that dev resources are limited, and that CoV has been the focus for the past few months. Still, between I7 being mostly CoV content, and comments about some of these CoH issues being low priority, I can't help but wonder how long we'll be waiting.

3) It saddens me to say that I may never roll up another defender... I also may wind up deleting an old storm defender. Let's face it, controllers are better at defending a team (I love my controllers BTW). Controllers are also better at PvP, and since so much of the new content is PvP focused, I guess I'd better keep playing controllers if I want to experience that.

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* Bug: Pets (such as Phantom Army) will often attack the Oil Slick target. (Concern)


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This *should* be fixed. Let me know if it is still happening.

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This is still happening. My Singularity was ferociously humping an oil slick target last night.

Statesman,

Some of us are dissapointed, not because we don't like CoV, but because the last couple content updates for CoH were heavily clouded by the I5 nerfs and ED with I6. I for one was really hopeful that I'd have some great CoH content on the horizon to look forward to... and maybe even help to get over the mixed feelings about the last two issues.

That being said, I continue to have fun with CoH, and will eventually settle on a CoV main I'm sure. However, I'm still wishing for things like content in CoH hazard zones, revamped TFs, new high level content (non-PvP), and maybe even non-combat skills someday. I got my hopes up that I7 might bring something in the way of new content for CoH, but it looks like I'll be waiting for quite a while.

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Streak Breaker (I just talked to Poz about it
If you miss three times in a row, then your next attack will always hit.

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Are we talking even con mobs with no defense bonus here? Or does it vary depending on what you're fighting? Will I still have that same streakbreaker against +3 Nemesis boosted with a good dose of Vengence? Because I know I've fought them in the past and missed more than three times...

I understand that people may forget that the low levels are less accurate in general, when they're used to playing high level Heroes who are fully SOed.

However, I really think out of all the sets you mentioned that Dark Melee, and to be really specific Shadow Maul, needs to be looked at again. I've never had missing streaks (on any character) as bad as with that single power. In fact, I've often suspected that Shadow Maul somehow debuffes the player's accuracy rather than the mob's.

I ditched my DM scrapper early on because of utter frustration with that one power. I also have a close friend who, despite having 2 accuracy SOs in Shadow Maul, was so frustrated with the power, that he finally respeced out of it on his level 50 DM/Regen. I think if you asked folks who play Dark Melee you'd find that many have a love/hate relationship with Shadow Maul.

You do realize that now you're just making us fiend for more accolades, as well as more special costume rewards, right?

This is what has worked for me:

Organize an event on your server, just as you would organize for a task force or trial. Get an eight person team together, have a few of them grab carnie door missions or outdoor missions, and then run them on invincible. Don't worry about farming MIs at all. There should be enough MIs and pets (sometimes 2 MIs per spawn) that you'll make progress on the badge, and get a nice rate of xp at the same time.

I've been co-hosting a "Saturday Morning Carnies" get together on Victory, and it's been a blast. Challenging missions, no worries about farming, good progress on the badge, a lot of xp, and a lot of fun. What's not to like?

Now that I've done a bit of testing with TA as both a defender primary and controller secondary, I'm going to have to agree with many of the folks here. Trick Arrow is going to need some tweaking to be a strong debuff/control defender primary. Ideally, I'd like to see it performing similarly to Dark, Rad, or Storm defenders. Unfortunately, that's not the case now. The defender sets I've mentioned all have more than just debuffs and control to bring to their teams:

- Dark has a heal, a rez, and team resist/def/stealth from Shadowfall.

- Storm has a heal (+ minor mez protection) and team resist/def/stealth in the form of Steamy Mist

- Rad has a heal, a rez, and recharge/dmg/end recovery from AM

All three of these existing defender sets also have strong control and debuff options as well.

The problem I'm seeing with Trick Arrow is that its a debuff/control set, without any other real benefit to your teammates. It's fantastic (maybe even too fantastic) for controllers who want extra control options, without having to worry about all that "team support" stuff. However, for defenders who want to support a team in multiple ways, it's underwhelming. I'm concerned that for defenders, the "team oriented AT," Trick Arrow just don't seem team oriented enough.

Yes, it's a fun set to play and has very nice animations. I like my TA defender, and will certainly play her with my husband and friends. However, I doubt that she'll see much use in pickup groups or around casual players. I just don't feel that she contributes as much to a team as a Rad, Dark, or Storm defender might.

That being said, my Grav/Trick Arrow controller is shaping up very nicely indeed. For controllers, Trick Arrow is fantastic as it allows a control/control primary and secondary.

I agree with everyone who's said the Croatoa badges are too large. Hopefully they'll be reduced to a size consistant with the current badges in the game.

I also think that the 1 billion badges should be reduced (maybe to 500 million). And that the zookeeper badge should have its requirement reduced too, in light of the new limits on powers.

Also, if the badge list posted earlier on the forum is correct, then I have a few comments on these:

Alumnus - It would be nice to have something gender neutral, like "alumni." I know that's plural, but it's better than implying the character is male.

Pumpkin King - This really just sounds silly, and although as a badge junkie, I'll want to get it, the title doesn't really make it one to be proud of.

Pumpkin Master - Again just like above.

Paradigm - The text posted earlier was "You are a Paradigm, that which all other heroes aspire to be." If that's been reported accurately, then I'm wondering if you meant "paragon" rather than "paradigm." A paragon is obviously something to aspire to, while paradigm is just a philosophical framework of ideas. Hmmm...

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I did say one other thing - that dropped Enhancements are useful only for what you can sell them for - because everyone purchases their Enhancements at the store (or at least most of them).

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So cynical States... Some of us do hand them out to our teammates. They make nice gifts for lowbies too

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Jack, let me hit a nail on the head:

So long as ANY archetype can hit a resist or defense cap (or equivalent) on their
own, merely by their own power choices and slotting, you will never achieve this
goal.

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I tend to agree with this statement. I'm not the type to cry nerf, but it's reasonable to think that some of the defensive sets make the game far too easy, and may see some changes. Personally, instead of nerfing these sets, I'd much rather see improvments to mob AI to limit herding, and I'd love to see more dificult and challenging content added... especially in the higher levels.

Harder fights = more of a need for buffing/debuffing = more interest in having defenders on the team

Now as for the defender/controller overlap, I play both, and love both... but I do think it's unfortunate (for both defenders and controllers) that controllers don't have any unique secondaries. Still, that isn't something that's going to change. I suppose what could be a viable compromise would be to continue to buff some of the Defender primaries, in cases where there's little practical difference between Defender primary and Controller secondary. They've already done a little of this by increasing the power of the Kinetics heal for defenders, and increasing the slow effect of Freezing Rain for defenders. It's probably an area where more could be done... and without hurting controllers.

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Just to clarify, this means that the official stance is that from levels 45-50, COH changes from being a loot-free game, to being a loot-based game. I'm not sure why the devs want this, but it's their game. Shame, some of us liked COH because it wasn't like other mmos.

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I guess it's time to buy some Hammie-Os on Ebay

Seriously though, I don't think it's a big deal to have something special in the 45-50 range. I only hope that there's more content added in the high levels soon, and that stuff like the special enhancements become a bit more accessible. I mean, there are definitely improvements to be made to the current system, but I don't think they break the game.

Nice. Been thinking of picking it up for my Ill/Emp. The changes sound pretty good.

I have a question about step one. Does "Go" require the Sprint power?

Some great suggestions here, and I'm glad to hear that the devs are looking at the underutilized zones.

I think at the very least, there should be contacts and some sort of story arc for each hazard zone. It's one of the things that makes the Hollows so great. You can street hunt or do door missions... and some of the door missions are even pretty unique (like Frostfire). It would be very cool to see some door missions in Faultline. Personally I'd like to see interiors that are partially colapsed, etc... that are consistant with the flavor of the zone. I mean it would be pretty cool to climb through piles of rubble to reach the next floor rather than taking the elevator all the time.

Some of the other suggestions are great too. Some kind of portal or helipad system would be great, if only to get people from the hospital and back.

I think if you give people the incentive to come to the zone, they will come, and they may even group up and help each other get around. I mean look at how players are willing to go all the way across the Hollows without any travel power. I'm betting greater rewards and more interesting plotlines will even encourage some of the SSers to give Faultline another try.

I absolutely love the Hollows, and I hope the devs decide to breathe some more life into the other hazard zones. I've been to Fautline once, badge hunting with my flyer, and I kept thinking "this place looks so cool, but needs something to entice people to come here." So how about adding some contacts, a story arc, a trial or something? Hell, I think I'll post in the suggestions forum now.