_Story_

What I would like to know then is how much it would cost me to buy back the rights to all my characters.

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Any example which presupposes a one-on-one fight is fundamentally flawed. COX balance in PvP is not based on 1-v-1 encounters; it's basted on team-versus-team encounters.

Sure, that blapper might jump out and whack the MM hard - and unless the WHOLE hero team does likewise, the MM probably doesn't go down. So s/he can still support their team-mates (buffs, debuffs, resummoning tier 1 and maybe tier 2's, heals, running leadership toggles, etc, etc).

Team-mates, by the by, who're going to be tryign to drop that BLAPPER (and said blappers allies).

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Wow... I must be on a lot of ignore lists because I posted pretty much the same thing just a few posts up and it seems to me either no one read it or couldn't read it as I've been set to ignore or something. I don't see what I could have ever said to deserve being set to ignore, but whatever. Not my loss. It does make it hard to share useful information though if no one is reading it.

It hasn't been just this instance either as many of my comments in almost all the forum sections I've been in have been ghosting through in a similar manner. It's really quite strange.

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So Bodyguard provides a bonus to all MMs, but a somewhat smaller bonus to /FF MMs.

So does this leave /FF MMs gimped, or does it bring them in line with other MMs?

And I mean in a team environment, not solo-versus-the-Zone play.

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Does it leave the MM with a FF secondary gimped? Definately. In a 1-1 situation, an MM without FF still has full access to all of the powers in his secondary. They can all be used usefully and to the fullest extent. The FF secondary MM is left with two powers, possibly the most important two, which don't help him at all. Considering that most FF using MMs will have put 3 SOs into each of these for increased defense, and at least 1 SO in them for reduced endurance cost (I went with 2 so I can combat buff without issues), that makes for 2 powers being effectively useless and a total of 8 wasted enhancement slots (10 in my case).

We are nowhere close to being inline with other MM secondaries in a 1-1 environment.

Currently, being an MM in a group doesn't extend your life expectancy over being an MM alone. Heroes target the MM instantly and automatically, ignoring pets and ignoring other villains, because they know the MM is the fastest and easiest kill in the game. This SHOULD change with the addition of bodyguard. Bodyguard should allow us to live long enough for the group healer (hopefully there is one) to keep us and our pets alive.....however we are still gimped compared to the other secondaries because we are less able to keep OURSELVES alive. We will still lack those healing/debuffing/attacking powers that the other MMs have to contribute. We will be able to buff our pets...so what...they won't be targets. We will be able to buff our team, and that will help them, but it still doesn't change the fact that bodyguard is allowing damage to bypass powers that are crucial to our secondary and damage our pets. If we don't have a healer on the team...or if the healer isn't close by devoting his attention to us then our bubbles are still doing us no good.

Even in team situations, combat is mobile and fluid, and MMs simply cannot be. Our pets lack movement powers, so when things become either RUN AWAY, or LETS GET EM, then we have a choice, like all MMs, of staying with our pets, or staying with our group. If we stay with the group our pets will no longer be in supremacy range and we become vulnerable all over again. If we stay with our pets then we fall into all of the same issues of being solo all over again.

If pets were mobile, this issue wouldn't be as bad, because we wouldn't have to get left behind as often, or leave behind our pets. Unfortunately, the primary issues MMs have been pointing out have yet to be addressed.....pet mobility, setup time, pet pathing, a moronically stupid AI, and lack of any reason for a hero to target our pets before attacking us.

Suriyama
40 bots and bubbles
Justice

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Here's the thing. The developers have already stated that they are not going to be balancing archetypes and powersets for one-on-one encounters in PvP. They balance the game for teamplay. In this case I'd suggest if you want to PvP and have Forcefields providing you the same defense as your henchmen then I'd suggest teaming with another Forcefield Mastermind and buffing each other. If you want healing for your henchmen then team with a character that has healing. In a team situation in PvP and solo/teamed in a PvE the Bodyguard feature is just as valuable to the Forcefield Mastermind as to the other secondaries. The only place that is feeling the hurt is going solo in PvP, and as I stated above the developers are not balancing for this.

The problem with putting a ToHit roll into the equation of the Bodyguard ability is the fact that it could reduce the incoming damage to a negligible amount, and with forcefields on the pets, even more so. This might be the same with resistances. So the developers decided not to include these into the equation to keep things balanced. This might still leave Force Field Masteminds feeling like they have little to contribute with their secondaries, but the nature of things hasn't changed and players are still going to try to take down the Mastermind first. Even giving their henchmen a taunt (or the Mastermind a placate) is problematic, simply because as soon as a henchman or two is killed a Mastemind can simply summon more to replace them and then we'd get a never ending (or possibly a one-sided) battle as the Mastermind just resummons his henchmen in battle. You have to look at things from a wider perspective and not just your own personal view when taking things into consideration.

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So I think your fight should be on the MM boards, asking to get a boost to FF. Attacking bodyguard IMO isnt the best route. I'm for a boost to FF since Im one too.

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This is definately a more agreeable approache I believe. Here is something I can actually agree with.

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I find it interesting that the developers give the community an interesting bonus to the mastermind archetype and rather than be pleased with it we have a thread full of doomsayers. They must be breeding like crazy! What are you people feeding them?

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If you don't have anything constructive to add to the discussion, why are you posting at all?

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Well, if there were any constructive posts to respond to I might have something to work with here.

I find it interesting that the developers give the community an interesting bonus to the mastermind archetype and rather than be pleased with it we have a thread full of doomsayers. They must be breeding like crazy! What are you people feeding them?

I'm suprised that this thread hasn't been stickied. Has anyone suggested it to CuppaJo yet? In fact, maybe this should get it's own forum section like the Forum Games. A City of Heroes/City of Villains Trivia section.

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Defenders aren't strapped to 6+ lead weights with the combined IQ of the current issue number, they don't need to stand around and command their "teammates" that are too stupid to not run right in front of a boss that's going to oneshot them.

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You've never been a defender on a pickup team I see.

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Oh the horror, the horror! R U A H34L0RZ??

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In PvP, what happens to you now? Presumably, your enemies just ignore your pets and Build Up+Snipe You, or whatever.

Now, if you've got your pets on Defensive/Follow, you're effectively being given up to 75% more HP, drawn from your pets.

Yes, it doesn't really bring your secondary into play, but that's not really different than before, right? Your pets die when you die, and in my experience, it's faster to kill the MM (unless using PFF), and ignore the pets than it is to target the pets.

Is your complaint that bodyguarding won't do anything, or that it won't do enough?

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What I'm saying is that the implementation clearly sets up FF secondary MMs as having huge PvP disadvantages. No other set is having powers bypassed by this implementation. Dark Miasma is actually being BOOSTED tremendously due to their AoE heal. The strength of FF is protection. I don't get the versatility traps, I don't get the offensive load of poison, what I'm supposed to get is defense...not so much for me, but for my minions.

What does this implementation allow heroes to do? They can now bypass all of the bubbles that I put on my pets. Sure, I will live longer. I'm not arguing that. My problem is my secondary is about PROTECTING my minions, and this implementation of Bodyguard allows heroes to bypass all of those defenses, ignore all of my minion's resistances, and simply pour the damage in through ME.

Other MM secondaries will allow you to be doing SOMETHING about it, either fight back, lay traps, use poison, etc. but FF doesn't allow for that, except for forcebolt....a laughably minor damage attack, which if they have acrobatics they can even ignore the knockback effect. Yes, it can detoggle, but even THAT is being nerfed with the detoggling changes...right?? So while Dark Miasma is using their heal, poison is using their various poison attacks, traps can lay down their mortar, triage beacon, poison trap, detonate a minion, etc., Even trick arrow, a set rarely taken, would have ways to fight back.... FF is supposed to do what? I sit there and watch my bots die because my secondary doesn't have any way to fight back...and the defenses it is SUPPOSED to provide are being circumvented by the very power that is keeping me alive. The trouble is 1) I can't run, because I'll run out of bodyguard range of my pets. 2) I can't heal my pets. 3) I can't effectively fight back. Now I get to put up my PFF, run for the safety of the zoneline, just to spend another 5 minutes making and buffing pets again.

Didn't ANYBODY on the design team think this through?

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Are you ignoring the fact that the force fields you apply to your henchmen will still be effective against the AoE attacks targetted against you? They will take their share of damage to you unresisted and undefended in the bodyguard mode, but the part of the AoE attack that targets them will be resisted and defended against. So in this regard forcefield Masterminds will have superior protection against AoE attacks than the other secondary types.

Nice. Seeing it all explained like that makes this extra ability seem quite desirable.

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Setting to Bodyguard
You can set any Mastermind Henchman to Bodyguard by selecting the Defensive Stance and the Follow Order. Your Henchmen must be within Supremacy range for this function to work.

Bodyguard Mode
When set to Bodyguard mode, the Mastermind and his Henchmen share damage from any attack that the Mastermind takes damage from. Each Henchman takes one “Share” of the damage, and the Mastermind himself takes 2 “Shares”. This is in addition to any damage that the Henchmen themselves might incur from Area attacks.

Example: If a Mastermind has 3 Henchmen set to Def/Fol, and he gets hit with a 100 point attack, each Henchman will take 20 points of damage, and he himself will take 40 points. (total of 100 points of damage).

Example 2: If a Mastermind has 3 Henchmen set to Def/Fol, and he gets hit with an Area Effect attack for 10 points of damage, then each Henchman will take 2 points of damage, and he himself will take 4 points. Henchmen that were also in the Area of Effect will take an additional 10 points each.

What Does This Mean?
Bodyguard will work as long as a Henchman is in Defensive Follow. This means that they will follow you around and attack back when you or they are attacked. Issuing an order of “Attack my target” will take them out of bodyguard mode, as will issuing any other stance or order. You can set as many of your Henchmen to bodyguard that you want. As long as the Henchman is in Defensive Follow and within Supremacy range, he is in Bodyguard mode. Being stunned will not turn off bodyguard mode.

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I like this. It's adds a benifit to the mastermind without taking anything away. It also encourages players using masterminds to be more active to get the most benifit from this ability. Previously a lot of masterminds have simply relied on their henchmen and their AI to do all the work for them. This encourages players to actually be there and interact with their henchmen.

I get tired of those people who keep asking for more, more, more. They want their job to be easy so they can sit back and relax. If I wanted to relax I'd read a good book or watch a good movie. If I want something to stimulate my mind in a more active fashion and challenge me then I'll play a game. This is a game. Not a superhero simulation where you can be whatever you want, without regards to challenge or balance. Games are all about challenge and balance.

So not only is this a good addition, it also encourages a more active playstyle. I like that. It encourages more thinking and strategy on the part of the player. While the lazy might gain some benifit from it, they won't see near as much as the active player.

As for those complaining about tanks? I think tanks are doing fine, outside of maybe a few small tweks here and there. I've found that tanks just need to be a little more active and a little more thoughtful in their tactics to see them as useful as they were previous.

Dominators I don't believe are anywhere near as underpowered as people claim. I think they just require a little more thinking on the part of the player. They require you to be on your toes a little more often.

I'm tired of players asking for changes to powers and archetypes to cover for their shortcommings. I've found many stategies to use to make the best use of many powers that some people are often decrying as underpowered or useless. Not every power has an obvious use. Sure, a lot of these powers may be entirely situational, but I find that when used correctly they can produce some impressive results. I guess the problem is there are many players who want everything to be made obvious and everything to be made easy. Powers that are predictable and take no thought to put to good use.

Anyway, I'm hoping that the developers introduce more changes to the game that can benifit any player but will even more so benifit the actively thinking players.

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It's time for Cryptic and NCsoft to make clear, accurate, number-based patch notes a business commitment to its clients. Because it saves time and effort, fosters good relations, and it's the heroic thing to do.

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It's not always easy when you have only a few minutes to grab what you hope are the right numbers and create your post before having to run off to do all the other important things, all while scarfing down the last of your sandwich and drinking the last of your cold coffee. Mistakes happen when things get busy.

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DONT BS FOR THEM
STATESMAN said himself they would make clearer patches, their hasent been a patch in MONTHS aside from fixing the /cov bug.

Jack has NO justification for not having good patch notes on the FIRST chance to make a patch note in MONTHS since he promised to inprove.

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From everything I've learned about Cryptic, they seem to me to be currently understaffed. This means that a lot of people working on this game are pulling more than their fair share. It also means that a lot more mistakes are bound to crawl into the woodwork that with a fully staffed team. The effort these guys are putting forth it's a wonder that the game has turned out to be as good as it has. You really should be praising them instead of berating them. Sure, call them on their mistakes and keep them focused, but stop ripping into them when something slip by them that would have slipped by anyone working in their situation.

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It's time for Cryptic and NCsoft to make clear, accurate, number-based patch notes a business commitment to its clients. Because it saves time and effort, fosters good relations, and it's the heroic thing to do.

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It's not always easy when you have only a few minutes to grab what you hope are the right numbers and create your post before having to run off to do all the other important things, all while scarfing down the last of your sandwich and drinking the last of your cold coffee. Mistakes happen when things get busy.

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Listen. I cut everybody slack. I know people make mistakes and that everyone has a life and more important things going on than this game. BUT, this is his business. All business is a mix of providing a product or service AND marketing that product or service. They have admittedly made mistakes in both and I am duly impressed and very forgiving when people admit to their mistakes. But when you continue to make the same types of mistakes, as a business or as an individual, it gets to a point where saying "sorry" just isn't enough. When you get to that point, you need to reevaluate what you are doing and take concrete steps to improve.

Is there anyone here that disagrees with my suggestion that it's time for Cryptic and NCsoft to make clear, accurate, number-based patch notes as a business commitment to its clients.?

Do you disagree Personamorpher?

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No arguements here. I'd like to see more accurate information myself as well. I just don't know if Cryptic has the staff needed to do this at present without overworking certain individuals and causing a lot of mistakes to creep into the picture.

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It's time for Cryptic and NCsoft to make clear, accurate, number-based patch notes a business commitment to its clients. Because it saves time and effort, fosters good relations, and it's the heroic thing to do.

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It's not always easy when you have only a few minutes to grab what you hope are the right numbers and create your post before having to run off to do all the other important things, all while scarfing down the last of your sandwich and drinking the last of your cold coffee. Mistakes happen when things get busy.

Did you know... that Phantom_Echo, Intuitive_Design, Storm_of_Dreams were all names for the forum user Personamorpher? He also had a habit of changing his avatar frequently and later changed it to several animated avatars. He also changed his signature frequently as well. This caused some confusion for some, but mostly a lot of negative feedback for the player in question.

He continues to suffer from the stigma placed upon him and his actions to this day, yet to a lesser extent. At the very least he seems to have lost any and all credibility and isn't taken very seriously by the other forum users. In the meantime there is still the question of how deep his identity crisis runs, and who is more confused - Personamorpher or those who witness any of his strange behaviour?

He currently has upwards of 60 characters spread between both the City of Heroes and City of Villains games. He seems to have finally decided to stick with one avatar with the discovery of City Game Tracker. His latest and longest lasting signature to date is as follows:

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Citizen A: Just who is that masked man?
Citizen B: I don't know, and I don't think he does either.
- - - - - - - - - -
Global chat handles of the man with the identity crisis:
Main (Live): @Storm of Creation
Main (Test): @Phantom Echo
Secondary (Live): @Personamorpher
Secondary (Test): @Psychokinetica

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Also to note is the ammusement he seems to provide himself by playfully poking fun at the incident(s) which spawned the Personamorpher identity and the continuation of the ever changing facade.

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It's against official NC Soft forum policy for a RedName to post under an account/name other then their official RedName forum account. If they have to reply to a post then they are required to use their RedName.

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I didn't realize it was an official policy...because no one has gone against one of those ever.

I really doubt this happens frequently or at all even...but the suggestion that an official policy would somehow prevent it seems a bit rose-colored, IMO.

A.

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Don't look at me. Cuppa said it first!

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Did you know... that any NC Soft or Cryptic employee posting in these forums has a RedName forum account and has to post under that account. They are not allowed to post under alternate non-rednamed accounts.

Also, despite that knowledge, many forum users will still claim that many of the people who have shown some form of support for an unpopular change implimented within the game by the developers as actually being a developer posting incognito.

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Did you know.... ?

That the developers, artists, modelers and programmers at Cryptic Studios have a device implanted in their foreheads which simultaneously video tapes everything they see, tracks their movements and controls their minds so that they are incapable of ever doing anything that the senior development staff at Cryptic or the executive board at NCSoft wouldn't like?

Sorry, I just couldn't resist; let's at least entertain the idea that the developers are human beings, as opposed to game-designing automatons, and might just possibly log in to defend themselves, contribute anonymously to discussions or bash particularly odious posters.

Not saying that it has ever happened; just saying it's not outside the realm of possibility.

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It's against official NC Soft forum policy for a RedName to post under an account/name other then their official RedName forum account. If they have to reply to a post then they are required to use their RedName.

Did you know... that any NC Soft or Cryptic employee posting in these forums has a RedName forum account and has to post under that account. They are not allowed to post under alternate non-rednamed accounts.

Also, despite that knowledge, many forum users will still claim that many of the people who have shown some form of support for an unpopular change implimented within the game by the developers as actually being a developer posting incognito.

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-The list of Tsoo bosses is the longest in the game, and some may no longer exist (and I know of nobody that has seen all of them, I have only just seen their names). They are: Dragon Fly (we all know these guys), Iron Hands (I saw a couple in Steel), Bronze Leopard (same with this one), Swift Steel (Talos is where I find these), Ice Wind (never seen one), Midnight (I think I saw this in a mission once), Death Moon (never seen him), Lightning Blade (I've seen one, but I forget where), Fire Dagger (Fire Lion is one of these, IIRC), Lost Son (I fought one random one in a mission), Death's Head (I think I saw one... maybe), Viridian Fear (dumb name, never seen one), Copper Serpent (never seen one), Far Fire (haven't met this one, either), Crescent (these guys have Grav and MA, so I'm glad to have never seen one), Herald (think Yellow Ink Man as a boss, never met one, though), and Sky Fall (Storm Summoning with a bow and katana, never seen one of these, either). All of the Tsoo had Superleap except Enforcers, but as far as I know, only Green Ink Men have it now.

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i've seen all of these guys in game, so yes thier all in game and now you know of someone who has seen them all.

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Make that two.

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Maybe if you weren't feeling so powerless and confined in real life then such in-game consequences wouldn't weigh so heavily on you? Well, that's my take on things anyway.

I think someone needs a nap.

*plonk*

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Careful there. You might just be affirming my existence. Can't have that happening now, can we? Everyone else seems to feel comfortable with denying my existence. You don't want to go against the current now, do we?

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You would think some villains never heard of Back Stabbing.

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Well, considering the way things are run in the isles, it's one thing to backstab the Council or other such factions, but another to betray those at the top of Arachnos. It pretty much amounts to a death sentence.

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You just have to consider your choice before you make it. Shocking concept, I know. Kudos to the design guys who came up with this, I'm dying to get my grubby little paws on it!

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Cool. You stick with the permanent choice when either they change either your PPPs or some other power that synergized well with your choice of PPP (thus driving that choice). I'll stick with keeping my choices reversible - just like heroes can, and just like both heroes and villains can for every other pool choice in the game.

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Like I said. Consider your choices carefully.

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I'm sorry, but your outlook really bugs me as immensely selfish. "I get what you want, so tough for you." Nor do I think my own perspective is just the same selfishness from the other side. Your preference actively removes choice from my character process, while my preference removes a story-based restriction from yours. It may be a canon-based restriction you feel is appropriate, but I can't see your "loss" if you didn't get this as equivalent to my own. After all, you could always imagine this was the backstory for your power choices. I, on the other hand, am disallowed from imagining anything else.

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So basically you are looking for a feeling of freedom and choice to replace the lack of such you feel in your day to day life? Maybe if you weren't feeling so powerless and confined in real life then such in-game consequences wouldn't weigh so heavily on you? Well, that's my take on things anyway. I'm not saying it's this way with everyone here who doesn't like the situation, but I get a feeling it does apply to at least a few of them.

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We also know about Grandville the 40-50 zone for villains. Grandville is Lord Recluse's seat of power. All that occurs there is under his thumb. PC villains just take their place at the bottom of the zone and have to claw their ways to the top so that they might be allowed to lick Lord Recluse's boot.

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Well, better to lick his boots than to get snuffed out because he thought you would become too much of a threat and not serve his purpose. This is Lord Recluse's island. He's let you live up until this point.

What I'm hoping is that villains will later get the choice of Epics (although lesser in power than the PPPs), and the heroes will get Patron Powers (after having the Epics toned down a bit).

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I had suggested to the developers, via a PM to CuppaJo, that the developers have Epic Power Pools AND Patron Power Pools for both heroes and villains. I suggested that they keep the Patron Powers as is, but make the Epic Powers lesser than the Patron Powers but greater than the standard Power Pool powers.

So this would bring Epics to the villains, and give the heroes Patron Powers from Statesman and company (unless Statesman doesn't give the option, as Lord Recluse isn't currently included in the list of available patrons).

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I'm currently happy with the idea for the patron power Pools, but I'd still like to see Epic power Pools for the villains, and Patron Powers for the heroes. My idea of lowering the stats a fraction for the Epics and keeping the Patron powers as the more powerful abilities would allow people the ir flexibility with the Epics, but also make the more powerful patron abilities desirable as well. I'm just not sure by how much would one want to diminish the Epics in comparison to their current levels and the levels of the Patron powers.