Adeon Hawkwood
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There are many, many reasons why the devs are unlikely to implement this sort of thing however I will limit myself to just giving you the response Positron gave when asked about it in the last Q&A.
Quote:Source: http://www.formspring.me/askcohteamWhat is the chance of having a "wipe clean" respec for a toon to repick powers or Archtype. I have been told the reason is no heroes ever change their powers. I have to disagree on that. Superman Red/Blue or Guy Gardner and their are a lot more. A vetpwr?
Posi - The reason isn't that those characters don't, it's more that a complete overhaul invalidates a ton of work we've put into making the game alt-friendly. -
The minimum you can debuff an enemies resistance to is -300%. Since that is essentially impossible to get to in any situation where debuffing resistance would be useful you won't notice the cap.
Resistance debuffs only increase damage. It is theoretically possible for the devs to make powers that debuffs certain debuff resistances (to hit and some others but not damage) however to the best of my knowledge there aren't any powers that actually do so. I seem to recall there is a power somewhere that debuffs mez resistance (effectively increasing the duration od mezzes) but I can't remember what it is. -
My issue with the idea of a gadgets pool is that it's a concept theme for a pool rather than a powers theme. The purpose of the power pools is to expand your character with ability types that they don't get in their primary/secondary. The powers you list (extra attacks, travel powers, stealth suit etc) are already covered by the existing pools.
A gadgets pool isn't necessarily a bad idea but it needs to provide something that is not already covered by existing pools. Personally my inclination would be a control pool since Presence is very specialized.
For example you might get:
1. Web Grenade (as the existing power but with a lower modifier on the speed debuffs)
2. Baton: Single target melee stun (as the day job power)
3. Tear Gas (or Sleep Gas): An AoE Sleep power
4. Stun Grenades: An AoE Stun (as the temp power of the same name) -
The wiki has the exact method by which recovery works:
http://wiki.cohtitan.com/wiki/Endurance
Also, since you mentioend six-slotting stamina I recommend you read up on enhancement diversification (short version: slotting more than three of the same enhancement type is generally a waste):
http://wiki.cohtitan.com/wiki/Enhanc...iversification -
It's been bought up a few times before (sword scabbards and quivers of arrows being probably the most requested). The primary issue with those sort of items is simply making sure they look good with every body type and animation in the game. In particular quivers (like jetpacks, another common request) run into problems due to the fact that character's backs are not all in the same place so for some bodies they end up getting partially buried in the character's back. Scabbards run into similar issues where certain leg based animations can cause clipping as can characters with wide hips and armored tops.
A work around some people use for RP sessions is to get weapon based temp powers and use those. -
Quote:Not at all, you said that if you skip either EA or FA you're not using everything TA has to offer. Since Trickshooter stated that most TA players he has met only skip one of those two powers your response seemed to imply that TA players should take all 9 powers. In any case if you're going to use that argument then you should be taking EMP Arrow for the same reason. If you skip EMP Arrow then you are denying your team the chance to fight a group at essentially no risk every 2.5minutes or the ability to force a drastic chance in a fight that might be going against you (depending on which way you prefer to use it and the overall quality of the team).Originally Posted by New Dawn
I don't believe that is what I said. I could skip EMP no problem. Your reply is now out of context no?
Every power has to offer something for either you or a team member. You can either take those powers and be able to offer conditions or skip them and be incapable of offering those conditions.
Your claim at this point (as I see it) is essentially that skipping EA or FA drastically weakens the abilities of the set but skipping EMP Arrow (probably the best AoE hold in the game). I fail to see how that makes any kind of sense so I'm going to ask you to elaborate.
I have a TA/A Defender. The build is moderately IO'd, I took all of the TA powers except for EA and all of the Archery powers except for Ranged Shot and Stunning Shot. I also have two leadership toggles and some powers from Dark Mastery (which at some point I'll get around to changing, the PBAoE nature of the powers is a poor fit for my style). So given all of that please tell me why you believe switching out EMP Arrow for Entangling Arrow will make my character stronger. -
Quote:While I can see the argument for it being a longer arc I am really glad they didn't make it longer. Few people actually enjoy the absurdly long shard TFs. Personally I think an hour to an hour and a half is the perfect length for a TF. It's long enough that it's worth the tiem spent putting a team together but not so long that you get bored. Additionally shorter TFs allow for a higher proportion of interesting enemies (like AVs). If I wanted to mow down hoards of mooks I'd farm, I play TFs for the interesting encounters.Originally Posted by Mr_Grey
I believe the Reichsman TF/SF is in serious need of an overhaul. Frankly, I would have made the whole thing about the Fifth Column fighting the Council... Or at least half of it, anyway. Limiting it to five missions is... Odd.
Frankly, if there were ever a story that was deserving of the six-hour slog timeframe that the Quaterfield TF is, it's the Reichsman plot. That is a lot of story that simply should not be compressed into five missions because, simply-put, most of it gets squeezed out by the constriction. I mean, the Council isn't even mentioned in those arcs, and they're still QUITE active. -
I can definitely see an argument for extending it. However, I think anything longer than a 1-2 hour day would be a bad idea. The city changes a lot between day and night (in terms of appearance) and you want players to be able to experience the different times. A lot of people play at roughly the same time during each session so the day/night cycle really needs to fit mostly within a single session for them to experience the complete cycle. If you assume an average session length of 1-3hours and a timing variation of +/-1hour (which seems reasonable to me as representing someone who occasionally plays on weekdays after work/school) then a total day/night cycle longer than 2-4hours is probably a bad idea.
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Quote:So basically you are saying that TA is only an effective set if you take all 9 powers and that anything else is failing to live up to it's potential? I find that assertion ridiculous. There is no set in the game that requires all 9 powers to be functional. The armor sets come close but even with them there are normally at least one or two powers you can skip without wrecking your defenses. Almost all builds skip some powers from their Primary and Secondary and in TA EA and FA are the most skippable powers. So yes by skipping one of them you might not be offering "all that Trick Arrow can" but by taking both you aren't necessarily offering all that your CHARACTER can.Originally Posted by New Dawn
By skipping EA or FA, people aren't offering everything a TA can offer. All those who do not see what they can offer can't possibly realise the potential levels of survivability that can be gained from them.
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My villain is basically a mercenary plain and simple. I think Jayne's quote in Firefly sums his general attitude up very well:
Quote:Hell, I'll kill a man in a fair fight... or if I think he's gonna start a fair fight, or if he bothers me, or if there's a woman, or if I'm gettin' paid - mostly only when I'm gettin' paid. But these Reavers... last ten years they show up like the bogeyman from stories. Eating people alive? Where's that get fun? -
Quote:As is TA would be a bit to good for a Blaster secondary. I would however love to see a blaster secondary BASED on TA.Originally Posted by HeavyTank
would love this as a blaster secondary...
This is slightly off-topic but "no heals and no buffs" is pretty much the POINT of Trick Arrow. The majority of the buff/debuff sets contain a mixture of both buffs and debuffs althoguh they are generally slanted towards one side or the other. The two exceptions to this are Empathy and Trick Arrow. Empathy is a pure buff set and Trick Arrow is a pure debuff set. Personally I don't think it's a coincidence that they are frequently considered to be two of the weakest buff/debuff sets in the game.Quote:Originally Posted by Iannis
TA on Defender or Corruptor? No thanks...not that i've ever seen a def or corr using TA to judge. no heals and no buffs? everybody says, 'why?'
In general the game mechanics encourage the use of both buffs and debuffs. There are a couple of reasons for this. The biggy is that buffs and debuffs stack in a way that one type alone often cannot match and in some cases stack multiplicatively (the main exception is -damage and +resistance which are applied separately and thus suffer from diminishing returns when both are used). The secondary reason is that, on average, buffs are more effective defensively and debuffs are more effective offensively.
So yes you can say "no heals and no buffs" but that doesn't make it an inherently bad set in the same way that "no debuffs" doesn't make empathy an inherently bad set. What it does do in both cases is provide a limit on how they can interact with the game mechanics which in turn limits their general utility. -
And now for something completely different...
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Quote:Agreed. The problem is that for the most part doing so is impossible without tossing the cottage rule out the window (with all that implies including forced respecs for affected characters). Personally I'd like to see it done anyway but I'm not the person who'd have to deal with the consequences (primarily huge forum flamewars and a possible drop in subscriber numbers).Originally Posted by Umbral
Rather than trying to give Blasters hard survivability mechanics (+res, +def, etc), I think it would be better to simply make the soft survivability mechanisms that they've already got better. You might make the complaint that it takes too much time to properly do so, but I think that's the problem to address rather than trying to find some way to give Blasters their APP shields earlier. Increase the duration on the control effects and proportionately increase the recharge. You'll get the same contribution with lower animation time consumption (which is a big issue). Modify a few of the powers to be AoE control powers rather than ST (since, in all honesty, an AoE control power on a long recharge would get a lot more use than a short recharge ST control power with the same duration). Also, I'd probably tweak most of those tier 1 immobs to, at the very least, have a chance to hold rather than simply immobilize. As it stands, they do almost nothing for survivability because you're just stopping the guy from hitting you in the face with his bat and instead use his gun.
On the specific subject of the T1 immobilizes the problem as I see it is they are a power that is actually pretty useful at low levels where keeping enemies at range reduces their damage output by a lot as well as doubling as an extra attack but that utility drops off a lot at higher levels where enemies have more ranged attacks and your attack chain fills out enough that you don't need an extra damage power. The primary exception is Web Grenade which remains useful at level 50 as a single target debuff. Adding a hold proc would work but instead you could lower the damage and add a useful debuff to them.
Adeon's guide to making a Blaster secondary:Quote:Originally Posted by Samuel_Tow
So, yeah - fix control to where it's viable, fix Blaster secondaries... SOME Blaster Secondaries. How would we help sets like Energy Manipulation and Fire Manipulation, however? They don't have duration-bound control to speak of. This is actually where an old question I keep bringing up comes into play - what are Blaster secondaries supposed to do? I've never been able to get a consistent answer to this, and I can't figure it out on my own.
1. Make a list of all of the pre-existing single target controls (except for ST immobilizes), PBAoE controls, melee attacks, damage auras and a few of the weaker debuffs associated with the desired theme
2. Write them on the dartboard
3. Throw seven darts at board, re-throwing until all seven hit a unique power
4. Add a single target immobilize as the T1 and Build Up
5. Order the remaining powers in roughly the order they occur in their parent set
6. ???
7. Profit! -
Quote:To be honest I always figured the idea behind poison was to make a weaker version of radiation that would be more balanced for Masterminds.Originally Posted by Seldom
I'd like it, but I have to note the set could use a look over. Radiation gets a lot of the same debuffage, but in AoE form. It kills bosses well, but it's not so good at survival vs. larger groups.
EDIT: Also, i second what Wonderslug said. -
The bonuses that you get from slotting sets are definitely worth it. The bonuses from any one power are minimal but when you start slotting lots of the same bonus they can really start to add up and allow you to do things that ED normally prevents you from doing.
The most common goals for an IO build are either soft capped defense (45%) or high recharge (with 110% for perma-hasten being a popular option) with hit points/regen probably coming in third (other goals are possible but the distribution of bonuses on the sets make them a lot harder). A lot IO builds also pick up a decent amount of global accuracy as a side effect of the primary slotting goal.
If you've got a well done HO build then as you note you'll probably end up losing some damage and accuracy in individual powers although the damage change will be minimal (most sets ED cap damage) and you'll make the difference up with accuracy. The big advantage of IOs for a blaster is that you can, with some effort, build up a reasonably substantial bonus to one defense type. Most blasters go for ranged defense but some (especially Blappers with ice mastery) go for smashing and lethal instead. If you want advice on specific slotting for your Blaster then ask either here or in the Blasters forum.
A useful tool for this is Mids's Hero Designer which most people use when planning heavily IO'd builds.
http://www.cohplanner.com/
To answer the specific question about purples the answer is not really. For the most part there are cheaper sets which are almost as good. The stronger bonuses from purples are nice but a well slotted build using more reasonably priced IOs is almost as good. -
Quote:Yeah, pretty much. My problem is mostly that the CoH ATs were originally designed around a DPS-Tank-Support triad that over the years has become less and less relevant to gameplay. The changes to AT balance over the years have ironed out the worst of it but there is still a general problem that certain power sets (primarily the high damage manipulation sets and the more buff-focused of the buff/debuff sets) can't really be adapted without a major revamp of the set which the devs are obviously loathe to do (after all plenty of people like the set as it is). The compromise the devs seem to be using is to make new sets which have similar functions to the old sets but move away from the DPS-Tank-Support triad (the differences between Empathy and Pain Domination or force Field and Cold Domination are good examples).Originally Posted by AzureSkyCiel
But my personal theory about secondaries like fire and energy for blasters is that in contrast to others, they are not about mitigation, but all about bringing the pain in the most intense senses, which is why they both have build up and lots of attacks. They mitigate damage (and well enough or poorly based on your outlook) by killing things faster.
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Agge and Keldarn pretty much hit the nail on the head. Level 25 IOs and above are pretty much the same as SO (level 25s are slightly worse than even level SOs). They do cost you a bit more upfront but as long as you're reasonably patient in your buying you'll save quite a bit more from not having to buy 6 sets of SOs.
If you need any advice for making cash (besides the obvious one of checking the market and selling drops) the markets forum is the place to go. -
Quote:I agree we'll never see the old manipulation sets revamped but I disagree slightly with you as to HOW they should be revamped. Mental and Ice are, to me, what all of the Blaster manipulation sets should be. Yes they have some attacks but their primary purpose is to keep the Blaster alive. Not through passive defenses like melee characters but by allowing the Blaster to control and debuff his foes to limit the number of attacks he faces.Originally Posted by Samuel_Tow
What I'm continually amazed with when it comes to Blasters is how they managed to get not just useful, but ESSENTIAL powers staggered AAALL the way into their Epics. Like Epic shields. Yes, they're cool. But are they cool enough to exist for only the last 5 levels? Or the Epic control powers, so good you have to be 41 to get them. These are not things you should have to wait on esoteric pools to provide. These are things that should have been IN THEIR POWERSETS. Screw Burn. Give me Fire Shield. Keep your Lightning Field. I'll take Charged Armour, instead. Or how about Cryo Freeze Ray. Or Sleep Gas Grenade. Or Surveillance. Or, hell, Body Armour. I can think of, like, four things I'd drop from Devices in a heartbeat if I could get a power that isn't a wasted power pick.
And you know what the worst part is? This will NEVER be fixed. Ever. The Blaster secondaries are set in stone... Were set in stone six years ago. They're not changing. Ever. And I can keep requesting that Epics be opened earlier until I get carpal tunnel syndrome, but that won't happen, either. Can't let players take the awesomeness that is Torrent too early, can we?
Devices sort of heads that way but suffers a bit due to several very weak powers (cloaking device and smoke grenade in particular) and a general attitude of needing setup time for full effect. If I was designing it from scratch I'd probably give Trip Mine a much shorter cast time (so it becomes more feasible to lay one in combat with care). I'd also see about adding a debuff trap (maybe a poison gas trap with an effect similar to poison gas arrow from TA) and maybe even seeker drones (the low magnitude AoE stun is similar to powers in other manipulation sets.
I think the problem Electricity Manipulation is that it's a sapping set without reliable sapping. Doing it from scratch I'd change Lightning Field to do more endurance drain and less damage and add in Short Circuit (or a very similar power) replacing either a melee attack or Power Sink (I'd then remove Short Circuit from Electrical Blast and give it Static Discharge instead). The general intent is that a /Electric Blaster should be a good sapper and an Elec/Elec should be a GREAT sapper rather than the current form where /Elec is a so-so sapper, Elec/ is a good sapper and Elec/Elec is a very good sapper.
Fire and Energy I don't really have any simple fixes for.
As a side note, I realize a lot of people like the manipulation sets the way they are and I can respect that I simply feel that if I was designing CoH from scratch I'd have taken a different route with most of them. -
Quote:As Duncan said it will probably take a few weeks to turn him. Alternatively you'll be able to start a new character in a neutral area (Pretoria) and then at level 20 choose to go to either Paragon city or the Rogue Islands as a member of the appropriate faction.Originally Posted by Logan Storm
Sounds good how long would the process take to bring a Blaster over to
the dark side and any idea if it would be a time consuming to do so? -
Hold your ground, hold your ground! Sons of Statesman, of Recluse, my brothers! I see in your eyes the same fear that would take the heart of me. A day may come when the courage of forumites fails, when we forsake our forums and break all bonds of fellowship, but it is not this day. An hour of trolls and flamed threads, when the age of the forums comes crashing down! But it is not this day! This day we flame! By all that you hold dear on this good Internet, I bid you *stand, Men (and Women) of the Forums!*
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My crab is called Jonathan King. I tend to lean towards "normal" names for my characters anyway and for a VEAT it just felt right to do it that way. I figure his official on-the-job title is Operative King but he doesn't use it in casual conversation (and unfortunatly there's no way to have different contacts use different names for you).
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Quote:True, but in general low-level heals are more effective than most other low level buff/debuff powers. Until they get to the mid-20s with SOs and some spare slots most other buffers and debuffers don't have enough enhancement in their powers to protect the team on their own. In particular those sets with 60s or 90s recharge patch debuffs aren't even close to having them up every spawn (or even every other spawn).Originally Posted by Tal_N
Actually low level healers aren't very effective to begin with, except for patch jobs. In general the biggest difference is made by some heavy debuffs and control powers. Healing reaches a point where it becomes useless if everyone is barely getting hurt but crowd control and debuffs is always useful and beneficial.
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Quote:Well once Going Rogue comes out in a few months you'll be able to have a villainous Blaster if you wishOriginally Posted by Logan Storm
Problem is Blasters are City Of Heroes not City Of Villans which I am Playing.
Unless I can bring over a Blaster over from City Of Heroes to City Of Villans
creating aBlaster is not a an otion wish it where as I love the Gun Drone.
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That being said I will say that an AR/Traps Corruptor is a more powerful character overall than an AR/Dev Blaster but it requires you to use the traps powers to their full effect. An AR/Dev who only uses web grenade and, targeting drone and gun drone from his secondary will be better than an AR/Traps who only uses web grenade and FFG from his secondary however. -
Quote:I'll do 100million infamy matching if the offer is open.Originally Posted by Fulmens
Who else wants some, yo?
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Enhancement diversification means that once you slot more than three SOs of the same type in a power the ones after 3 have a minimal effect. So you might want to remove the 4th defense from FFG and the 4th, 5th and 6th enhancements from Health, Swift and Stamina.
In terms of slotting I'd put at least two damages (preferably 3) in your attacks. You'll generally find more damage a lot more useful than extra range in Burst, Slug, M30, Sniper Rifle and Full Auto. The extra ranges in Buckshot and Flamethrower are more variable, I don't care for them but some people like them. Similarly it's not really worth enhancing the defense debuff in Burst. The Knockbacks in various powers are also situational, personally I find the base magnitudes are sufficient but YMMV.
As for your general build I really, really, really recommend you play a Blaster. You've made threads in both the Defender and Corruptor forums where you design a character around the blast set and almost completely ignore the buff/debuff set. The problem is that both Corruptors and Defenders are balanced around significantly lower base damage than Blasters since they are using their buff/debuff powers to improve the teams overall performance (and in many cases increase their own damage). You can make a Corruptor (or Defender) who completely ignores their buff/debuff powers and it is playable but it tends to be painful. You end up with a low damage Blaster with less health and without the extra damage or survivability to make up the difference. Conversely Blasters can get away with ignoring everything from their secondary except for their first power and Build Up (I don't recommend doing so but you can). So if you do (as seems apparent from your threads) want to play a character who doesn't have to worry about anything other than pew pew I think you'll do best with a blaster.
To use the example of an AR/Traps Corruptor I would almost certainly take at least the following for solo play:
Web Grenade (it's required but useful for setting up ignite against bosses anyway)
Caltrops (keep people out of melee)
Force Field Generator (Defense and mez protection)
Acid Mortar (resistance and defense debuff means more damage)
Seeker Drones (more defensive debuffs and can draw aggro)
I'd probably try and fit in Poison Trap and Triage Beacon as well. Trip Mine is fun but I'm generally to impatient to use it and Time Bomb requires way to much patience.