Zenyth

My PB's only claim to fame.

http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showthread.php?t=258913 (Cross necroposting so dont go bumping it...but its easier than reposting the whole thing)

Some days I don't cry after logging in.

Yep...all this GREAT NEW STUFF and we get ignored...Status quo maintained.

We really should be more proactive on this. We'll get called whiners a lot, I mean...how dare we not be pleased as punch with our AT. Hell, Im half willing to bet Sunstorm and Shadowstar just vanish...Shadowstar cause Galaxy got rocked, and Sunstorm cause "Wait khelds have contacts?". Then theres the new fifth power in the travel pools, of which we're locked out of flight and teleport, so no afterburner or long range port for us...and Im sure not expecting a "Buffing of the Kheldian" IO set to be "ready" when all the other AT's get their new IO sets that folks were talking about...

By this point, if they actually had stuff for us they'd have told us...we'd be the most ecstatic bunch in the game, the devs could do no wrong because holy crap they actually DID something for Khelds for a change...something that didn't require us reminding them that we'd be broke if they didnt, or that we actually exist and someone plays the AT's still...Im angry...Im sick of being left out in the cold and told "When we have time, when we have time", while they just go off and keep making new stuff instead of balancing the crap they put in the game years ago. Im sick of the same old run around that we get every single patch. The same old run around thats just there to shut us up...

Pardon my soap box ranting there, but I really am frustrated over all this...I like the devs, I like the game, and I am excited for the new stuff coming; but I've been waiting for a long LOOOOOOONG time for them to finally sit down and look at the AT of my main...who is my main in SPITE of the fact that he's a PB, not because of it.

So what can we do? Im open to suggestions, because its pretty obvious being quiet and talking amongst ourselves with the occasional politely put forth question hasnt worked. How do we draw attention, how do we get them to stand up and take notice and DO something? Its gonna have to be organized whatever it is, and we need to do it right, not just storming about with torches and pitchforks, because that just gets the whining label thrown around and being ignored. Internet petitions never work...speaking with our wallets wont work because we really aren't that big a portion of the player base, they'd never notice us. I really don't know, I just know I want to do something to get them to do something in return...

Well, lets take a look at who could be on the chopping block...

Positron - Has recently been getting some much needed characterization. Chances of death? Slim...Numitron (Ugh, I cant believe I just used that...) breaking would send certain elements of the fanbase into a frothing rage.

Synapse - Hasn't really had much characterization, and his only real claim to fame is he gets knocked out in just about every trailer. Wouldn't have the impact they're going for here...

Numina - I think its a bit late for an obituary in this case...

Manticore - All signs are pointing to it being him, which is why it CANT be him unless ONE THING occurs....Sister Psyche gets a bun in the oven...If we hear that she's expecting then he's a dead man.

Sister Psyche - The other theory involving Manticore, Protean offs her and Manticore goes on a vengeance trip. Possible, but a little too obvious for my tastes.

Citadel - Like Synapse, theres just not enough characterization for him. He's also a robot, so why couldn't they just build another? Didn't they already do that once before?

Back Alley Brawler - He's gettin too old for this @#!&...Bit of a dark horse in the ghoul pool in my opinion. While certainly a servicable member to go down, he's also one of the more grounded members, and one more likely to attempt to retire than go down in the line of duty. Which is the one caveat that'll determine if he lives or dies, if he says he's only a couple weeks from/thinking about retirement, then he's a dead man too...otherwise, I don't think it'd be him.

Statesman - the OTHER Obvious Choice. A great deal of the story lately has been put towards taking us OUT of Statesman (And the other Signature Character's) shadows. What happens when the worlds Premier Superhero takes a dive? Well, theres going to be a vacuum of power, Recluse isn't going to have his tried and true Nemesis around to stop him, villains in general are likely to get a little more proactive without the looming threat of Statesman showing up to ruin their day...meaning SOMEONE has to step up to fill his shoes. Someone like the players maybe? A passing of the torch if you will, and a fairly major impact storywise, also marketing, as they lose one of their favorite posterboys.


I honestly don't know who it'll be. The ones without the characterization wont have the impact something like this requires, and the ones with enough impact are almost TOO obvious. If I had to choose, id probably go with Statesman, it opens the way for a lot more villain activity (Proactivity for the villain players, stepping up their game/fame for the heroes) and keeps with the pattern of emphasizing that the PLAYERS are the important characters now. Also, being that he's tied to the well, and comic books being what they are, it wouldn't write him out entirely.

I think my favorite part of this has to be that almost everybody has this really uncomfortable look on their faces...everybody but Aragorn...who somehow, has GOTTEN the joke!

He's just sitting there, that sorta half-concealed smile, he's enjoying this.

Its not just mez protection from the team either, just having more warm bodies to be focused on besides you helps. If you've got someone running FF or sonic, or something then even better...

And yeah, ive been fairly lucky with my component drops. Ive got all of the destiny's at Rare, three of the Interface's (Diamagnetic, Paralytic, and Reactive) at least to rare, and two lore pets (Warworks before 20.5, and Polar Lights after...cause if you're gonna play a PB you might as well have as much PB as you can. Woo Polar PB's!). Just the one judgement and Alpha though. I may make a cardiac or musculature alpha when threads/shards permit, but Im trying to very rare the others right now.

Don't be afraid to help out as dwarf either. Snag aggro off the tank during the BAF sometime with dwarf taunt, take the sequestration warning, then let the tank have aggro back. You'll never see the three strike mez that way. Doesn't always have to be an "oh poo" moment to be useful...

Your build is actually kinda similar to MY build...

Click this DataLink to open the build!

I went for recharge as well, with a healthy smattering of defense. I slotted things a bit differently here and there, and I feel I managed to get all three forms fairly well off. My human attack chain is primarily just gleaming bolt, radiant strike, incandescent strike, mostly because with the recharge thats all you really need. Radiant and incandescent are gonna be recharging really fast, and gleaming bolts there just to play filler and drop the -res proc/stack my interface proc. You could probably change that out for glinting eye fairly easily.

I occasionally have end problems, but its mostly from not hitting conserve energy when its up, or from fighting things that do a lot of end drain anyways. The forms don't have end problems at all (Save for the situations with end drain happy enemies of course). Admittedly, I primarily team, so an abundance of recovery/end boosts from friends running the ageless destiny probably helps with that...So your mileage may vary in that regard.

I use Nova for AoE, Human for single target/AV, and dwarf for when I need to taunt/take a hit. Spiritual alpha, Ion judgement, Reactive interface, Clarion destiny while solo, rebirth most of the time when teaming. Could likely take Ageless to help with any end problems that occur while conserve energy is down, but I like the regen/yet another click heal. Go with what works for you...

I will say this though, if you're going into this trying to make a PB stand toe to toe with IO'd to the gills brutes, permadom's, etc, dont get your hopes too high.

Do the IO's help?

Oh definitely, they're wonderful...but are they gonna turn you into an unstoppable behemoth of destruction and PWN who runs all missions on +4x8 with walk toggled to make it fair for the enemies?

No.

I tend to run on +0x5, bosses off, while solo. Could probably tweak it a little more, but that's about where I'm comfortable. You're gonna have to find your own comfort zone, and try not to let E-peen envy get to you.

I think BAB will be safe as long as he doesn't utter one of the dooming phrases...

"What could go wrong?"

"That sound was probably nothing..."

"Im two weeks from retirement!"

...and my personal favorite...

"Im gettin too old for this @*&#!"

In my mind, my Peacebringer stands toe to toe with the strongest beings in the multiverse. A Superman, an Ironman, and a Green Lantern all rolled up in one interesting package. A living generator of cosmic energy, a Star given flesh. Too much energy for any one being to handle, so much energy he built a suit to absorb all the excess he gives off just doing what he does. A soldier in an endless civil war with his peoples darker side. A beacon of hope, a light in the darkness, a HERO through and through.

Course...whats in my mind and what happens in reality are two completely different things unfortunately.

Bring Breakfree's, abuse inspirations, conserve energy, and Lightform. Especially Lightform, don't try and save it till you really need it, preempt needing it and keep an eye on it for when its going to drop instead. It lasts a good while, and as long as it runs you shouldn't have end problems, your resistance should be almost capped to everything but psychic, you've got mez prot, and thanks to the model shift your power animations dont root you.

Keep your mission adjustments low. You just aren't going to be running around at +4x8 like your brute/scrapper/whatever does. Find something that's comfortable, personally I run on +0/+1x5 because I feel better about my kheld beating up lots of weaker enemies than I do beating up a couple strong ones. Just personal preference there. I also have self-rez, so I don't much care about dieing really, I suggest you learn to not care either. With just one recharge in it, and my various set bonuses providing recharge, I rarely find myself with it NOT being up. Debt is the mind killer, Debt is the little death...

Know thy enemy. Keep in mind what you're fighting and adjust to compensate. Malta Sappers are the bane of your existence, Carnies can be as well if you don't watch your end bar. They have the added bonus of control out of the illusionists. Rikti can stun, but otherwise aren't too big a threat thanks to their heavy use of energy damage. Cimmerorans on the other hand just hit hard in melee and debuff your defense. IDF have a whole slew of bad things, but you wont really run into them except in trials, teammates will help mellow them out a bit.

Dwarf Form - Change early. Don't let yourself get too low too fast, because the difference between an alive kheld in dwarf and a dead kheld in any other form is a very short amount of time or bad luck with controls hitting you.

Nova Form - You've got fairly fast flight, and superior range, abuse it. Duck around corners, find the sweet spot where some enemies may try and flip back and forth from trying to close to melee, and running to range. Use Nova against enemies you know don't have a mez user in the cluster, are mostly minions, or when you're in a group and want to hang back.


Break into Incarnatedom at 50 like the fist of an angry god. Just about all of the slots will provide you a HUGE boost in some of your problem areas...

Alpha - Helps take some of the edge off our lack of slots.
Judgement - AoE damage on a fairly short cooldown, you'll be able to bump your mission adjustments up a couple team mates worth on this alone.
Destiny - Human form mez prot, lotsa regen, def/res, recharge...all are useful, mez prot in particular, though I run regen on teams.
Interface - For soloing I recommend going the fire dot proc on reactive. For grouping, I suggest keeping around one of the others as well.
Lore - Pocket Buddies!


For Slotting? It really just depends on what you're after, we've got such a broad range of powers that can take a broad range of IO's. I suggest recharge myself, with a side of smash/lethal/melee defense. Our best attacks in human form are all primarily melee or PBAoE, and dwarf is what you'll be shifting into for survival, so the melee/smash/lethal is probably your best bet. Recharge is just plain nice for all the various cooldowns we have, a 16 second click heal, perma essence boost, hasten, being able to juggle Conserve Energy with Light form for end management...Id link my build, but I'm not at "my" computer at the moment.

Hopefully, you'll find some of this useful. Really, to enjoy your kheld it's gonna take an adjustment in your mindset. You can't go into this trying to find something to be "as good as <insert alt here>" at, because you just aren't going to find that. You're gonna need to fiddle with your playstyle, and start finding whats fun about the character regardless of his power level compared to everyone else. You do have some strengths in that you're a toolbox with a tool for just about any situation you can think of. Play to that, fill gaps as they happen, go Nova and AoE the cluster's your tank/brute gathers. Pick off minions fast, or focus down a boss. Go dwarf if you get in over your head. Use your Cooldowns, Use your inspirations, use all the tools in your toolbox and just find a way of playing your kheld that makes YOU happy. Im first in line to argue for changes and claim PB's are lacking, but I still enjoy my kheld in spite of his shortcomings. He's just fun to play for me. I hope you can find the fun in your PB in spite of it's problems too.

Two handed weapons?

Team Inspirations?

Delicious infoz...Yummy...

Makes me wonder what they plan to do with EAT's...

Still unlocked via leveling? (Doubtful)

Unlocked with Reward/Paragon points? (Likely)


If its the second, I hope they plan to do something about Peacebringers, otherwise somebodies gonna feel jipped they paid for that...

-=Mechanics=-

-Some solo effect from my inherent.
-Pulsar or Incandescent strike turned into the other's mez type. Stun or hold on both, not one of each like it is now.
-Knockback becomes knockdown or knockup from human form attacks.
-Solar Flare and White Dwarf Flare useable while in the air.
-Build Up becomes something more formshifting friendly, be it a smaller boost over a longer duration like a rage clone, or what have you.
-Taunt Aura for Dwarf form.
-Human Shields become defense rather than Resists
-Human form mez prot.
-Something done with Group Energy Flight...Im still of the mind to remove it, replace it, and give it to PB's at 30 for free...WS's can get group teleport at that level too. Id settle for it gaining some form of useful buff on its own though.
-Quantum Flight's end cost reduced.
-Photon seekers...more uptime out of it. Plenty of suggested ideas for this, Im not too picky on which gets taken, though Im fond of the "hell on earth" suggestion too.
-General Damage Adjustments to keep us in tune with the current balancing philosophy...in particular our early blasts need a once over. They're almost all clones from somewhere, unfortunately they're clones of lower tier blasts, adjusting the damage to give us better progression (Tier 1->Tier 2->Tier 3 instead of Tier 1->Tier 1->Tier 2). Also consider the dominator treatment, of boosting end cost and recharge for higher damage.


That's what I would want out of any serious attempt at PB fixes. I'd not say no to any other ideas folks have had, but these are what I feel are the major problems. You hit these, and I think most of the "wonkyness" and the "PB's suck" attitude will be dealt with. Though with all these improvements, we may have other, older problems rear their ugly heads...like not enough slots to put in all these vastly improved abilities. =P


-=Aesthetic=-

-Custom PB/WS characters in Architect, if you can make my doppleganger, you can let me make custom PB/WS characters.
-Alternate Animations in the Tailor (Alot of the abilities we got clones from already have these, I want my dwarf to punch the ground instead of foot stomp...hell I want my human form to punch the ground instead of footstomp...)
-Kheld Sash Costume Piece
-Kheld Eyeglow Aura



These are things I feel would help go a long way in improving the general good will of those of us who are playing khelds. They aren't as important as the mechanics changes, but they'd also go a long way in just making us feel like we aren't third class citizens in this game. A lot of the work is already probably done even, at least on the alternate animation front. Its really just a matter of plugging it in for the players.