Zombie Man

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Ninjas do get a bonus to SPD with the 2 tier upgrade do they not? Nonetheless, my soldiers seem to move pretty quick on test lately, I think they gave them a boost or I have just not paid attention to them. Anyways, what are you, a statue? You can't move to counter the hero?

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Normally, when I have a Blaster above me, I don't run 50 yards away to a nearby building and run up the fire escape so that I can get higher in the hopes I can get close enough to hit that Blaster. Yet, that's what the minions do. Should I be following them on their useless path just to stay in Bodyguard range? Sort of goes against me being the Mastermind.

WRT speed: On Sprint alone, I can outrun my minions (except for the Ghost) and initiate an auto-tp on Test. That's a level 41 Necro and minions that are fully upgraded and enhanced.

And before anyone says, "Get Group Fly, then," let me point out Group Fly is too slow to catch up to other players (about 2/3 the speed of Fly) and minions go slower than the MM in flight and keep dropping out of Group Fly. Enhancing the speed of Group Fly does not enhance the speed of the minions in the Group Fly field.

Bodyguard is just too limited to be the fix for MMs being the weakest AT in PvP.

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2. Players ignore the minions running after them and circle back and attack the non-shielded, low-hp, and Bodyguard-less MM.


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You can't tell them to return to you while the person is circling back ?

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The person circling back has a Travel Power. The minions don't have a Travel Power. They don't even have Sprint and they travel at slightly less than Sprint speed.


Rather than give us MMs what we've been asking for in PvP, i.e., Travel Powers for minions or a small chance to Taunt for the minions, they gave us Bodyguard, which would work in theory if defending minions stayed in Supremacy range or if it wasn't tied to Supremacy range. The way Bodyguard functions means that it is not the fix needed for MMs in PvP.

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What I believe is happening here is some people taking issue with bodyguard, when they really are taking issue with Defensive mode. This is because, in my opinion, that the majority of people who are playing MM are still using those three dinky pet macros provided to you in simple mode, none of which even use defensive mode. Let's review:


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Those three little macro buttons that you get at the start of the game...they can be edited. Try changing one to defensive/follow. If I can figure that out in a handful of seconds...anyone can.


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Let me get something straight...

I KNOW HOW TO PUT MY PETS IN DEFENSIVE/FOLLOW MODE.

That's not the problem. The first thing I did was create defensive/follow macros to get Bodyguard on demand.

The problem is that: DEFENSIVE MODE TAKES MINIONS OUT OF FOLLOW MODE WHEN ATTACKED.

When the MM is attacked by a foe while in Defensive mode, the minions stop "following" the MM. The minions "follow" the foe. The minions run out of Supremacy range and Bodyguard drops.

In PvE, in small rooms and hallways, this is not a problem for two reasons:

1. Foes aren't that far away, and rarely run far away.
2. And even if foes are far away and the minions run out of Supremacy range, thus dropping Bodyguard, the foe AI will still most likely attack the minions.


In PvP, it's a problem because:

1. Most PvP is outdoors, and players attack from far away or run far away.
2. Players ignore the minions running after them and circle back and attack the non-shielded, low-hp, and Bodyguard-less MM.


Let's put it this way: Would you want to play a Tank, Scrapper, or Brute with even greater defenses than you already have if all those defenses were transferred to a slow moving shield which can easily be coaxed to leave you, and dissipated every time you chose a target to attack? Well, welcome to MM-in-PvP-World.

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This is one of the more extreme instances, but it's not the first time I've seen a team completely fall apart in one of these mishes. Is it just me, or were Mayhem Missions designed to turn fully-functioning, competent teams into a gaggle of blithering idiots?

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CoV/H players are not used to timed missions being so tightly timed. The /bug that caused you all not to get bonus time made it a lot more urgent... and thus, sloppy.

When we can do normal timed missions in one tenth the time given... we generally don't pay attention to the time. However, when it will take 3/4 of the given time to do the mission, and you bump up the difficulty such that multiple foes have the ability to kill you when you're not managing the fight well, then you can expect.... MAYHEM!

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Soloed the FF mission on Relentless and it spawned Luminary as a hero. I couldnt put a dent in her with my MM. Not cool.

If I am solo, I shouldnt have to face an AV lvl mob. I dont need to be spending 335k infamy every time I get a Mayham mission to change my difficulty.

Devs need to change this before it goes live.

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Umm, regular missions do this too. If a mission in a regular story arc has a Hero or Archvillain in it, and you're set to anything above +1 difficulty, you get them at full strength.

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Ummm... no. If you're solo, only diff level 5 keeps the AV/Hero. Below 5, they are demoted to Elite Boss.

IOW, For a solo player, demotion of an AV/Hero occurs at diff levels 1-4.

For two players, demotion occurs at diff level 1-3.

For three players, demotion only occurs at level 1.

In addition, there's another kind of demotion, if you're solo at diff level 1, Bosses become Lieutenants.

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Addressing other posters: Right now, the above demotion scheme does not apply to mayhem missions. Positron posted above (yes, even if the thread is long, read it before posting!) that the named Hero at the end is random. They're going to change that. So stop posting, "They should change that!"

If you want to make your point and if you're soloing a mayhem mission on anything but level 5 and you get a Hero, then /bug it in game.

The Glue Problem: If the problem is that two mobs can stack multiple slows and floor your ToHit, then yes, that is a bug that should be /bugged in game. Afterall, they stopped the Earth Mage's Mudpots from stacking.


Ambush Agro: Keep /bugging it everytime an ambush ignores pets and teammates to focus on you. That should not be happening. We all know they can code CoV ambushes to work like the old CoH out-of-mission ambushes that seek you across a zone, but their agro can be grabbed from their target.

When set to easy level, the Mayhem mission is ridiculously easy... except for the random named hero at the end who may be a Lieutenant, Boss, EB, or Hero (random for now, Posi said he's going to change that).

So, when people complain about the other spawns in the Mayhem missions being too hard.... I'd like to know what difficulty level you're set at, because if it's anything but easy (level 1 villainous), I have absolutely no sympathy for you. It's like soloists who run on level 5 and then keep broadcasting they need help with an AV. Or groups who do Strike Forces at higher difficulty levels or bring along a low level leecher who isn't pulling their weight (but wants the xp!) and complain they're too hard.

And if anyone want to make the argument that they should be able to set their difficulty level to 3 or 5 and leave it there for every type of mission... forget about it. That argument has no traction with the devs, or with common sense.

So, if you're going to complain about a mob being too hard... tell us at what difficulty level, please.

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Just a heads up...when you get a key, read your clues...they're rather helpful

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Which is fine if the normal "Clue Found!" pop-up actually popped up. Instead, a buried menu item was updated.

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Just a heads up:

I have several devs reading this thread, and are working on the bugs you guys are finding, and on ways to improve the Mayhem Missions (such as making the end Hero non-random; currently the end Hero you get is totally random, and has nothing to do with anything you did in the mission, we are looking into changing that).

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I have a raelly bad bug for you... when I use my gravity powers on LOWLY 5hp Civilians... they don't get crushed into little balls of bloody fleshy goo.



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Nor do they change the rating of the game by allowing players to kill helpless civilians.

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Suggestion for Civilians

When attacked they 'dodge' the attack and run straight for the nearest door. They can still cower a bit or be knocked down, but in the end, the run and hide out of sight. This way, we have a new goal: clear streets of civilians. Once the last one has hid themself, we get a time bonus.



Suggestion for Named Hero

For a solo player:

At difficulty level 1. it's a Boss.
At difficulty level 2, it's a Boss+1
At difficulty level 3, it's a Boss+2
At difficulty level 4, it's an Elite Boss
At difficulty level 5, it's an Elite Boss+1
At difficulty level 6, it's an Hero
At difficulty level 7, it's a Hero+1
At difficulty level 8, it's a Hero+2

[Of course, only difficulty levels 1-5 can be chosen by the player as the starting level.]

For each two side missions done, the level difficulty of the final boss goes up one.

For 4 players, the difficulty level goes up one.
For 6 players, the difficulty level goes up two.
For 8 players, the difficulty level goes up three.


This would mean that a solo player on level 1 who does just the bank job, will get a Boss. If that player does 4 side missions, he or she would get a Boss+2.

A solo player on level 5 who does just the bank job will get an Elite Boss+1. (This allows soloists who run at highest difficulty level to avoid a Hero fight.)

A team of 8 that's starts at difficulty level 1 will get always get at least an Elite Boss. If they do four side missions, they get a Hero. If a team of 8 starts at difficulty level 5 they will always get a Hero+2.

Another thought on what give bonuses:


After a while, I started to assume that bonus times for breaking things were governed by two priniciples:

1. First time I destroyed a type of object. It seemed I got a bonus for my first parking meter, first car, first bus stop etc....

2. The rest of the bonuses for breaking things were hidden in specific items. E.g., if the zone had 40 cars in them, maybe four of those cars were designated as bonus time cars. So, if you were unlucky enough to destroy all but those four cars, you wouldn't get any car bonuses. If you want to make sure you got all the bonues that cars give, you've got to destroy all cars. (Those who know what operant conditioning based on random reinforcement is... you know why this makes mayhem missions so addicting and exciting.)




The other bonuses were for resisting or avoiding arrest. Obviously, they came every time a spawn of PDD or Longbow were defeated. The other times that seemed to happen randomly... I'm guessing that was an ambush I successfully avoided for a certain amount of time. But, that's just my guess.

Background

Me: Level 40 MM

Mayhem Experience: First time.

Broker: Grandville, First time filling his bar.

Diff. Level: Villainous (level 1)

Zone: Founders Falls, Misc Villains: Devouring Earth (sometimes boss had key, sometimes minino)

Keys: 4 Keys, but only three waypoint markers (kidnap, arson, theft v. Nemesis). Is fourth key secret mission? Is it for Jail mission? Is it for the bank?

I did all four missions, cleared the streets and headed for the bank.

Signature Hero: a no-named, Holo Man, who was just a Lt. (that's right, after all that damage I did and all that time I spent).



Level of Hero: We know it's not time spent in mission or damage done. It's not strictly based on level. Could it be that if you've gotten your three contacts from your broker, the mission kicks up in difficulty? Does it kick up if you go down a zone level? (e.g., If I went to Nerva or St. Martial to do a mayhem mission, would the boss level increase?).



Clues: I didn't know what the keys were for, or what the nature of each side mission was. Someone above mentioned getting clues. I never thought to look in my clue window.



There are custom select commands, such as: target_cumstom_next enemy
It can take arguments such a object or mypets. Worth looking into.


Prison doors don't fit right. Pets and foes go through them.

WRT the TV contact:

Many have said that they can't earn enough inf. in time to get this contact before outleveling it.


So... ummm... what is its level? Why do you assume it's 40-44? Could be 45-50, couldn't it?

The Rikti contact is definitely 40-44, and we can assume that the robot contact is 40-44 since Toxic Tarantulas abound at level 43. So, with the TV being in a more dangerous and higher level zone of Grandville, wouldn't it stand to reason that this is the 45-50 unlockable contact? Do you think after playing to 50 and doing lots of 'end game' content, you could hit 20 mill inf. and then play that contact?

In a group running on Relentless in an indoor mission that was all hallways (Arachnos base map), Bodyguard was freaking unbelievably overpowered. I, as the MM, would literally tank a group of 10 mobs that were +2 levels with bosses and lts.

I would run up to the group with my bodyguards behind me and throw Darkest Night on the boss. Then they all attacked me. The damage was spread around, I threw an AoE heal (Twilight Grasp) as my pets and my teammates waded into battle. I went in, too, to continually heal.

I took the alpha strke to myself and shrugged it off. I stood in the pile of AoE attacks and was barely scratched.

The */Dark MM was already overpowered, and Bodyguard makes it more so... in PvE.

See my post above why in PvP, Bodyguard is practically useless in PvP, and the MM continues to be the least effective PvP AT.

Bodyguard, IMO, is a huge, huge mistake.

See ya when I PL myself to 50.

Why Bodyguard is a Miserable Failure

1. The main point of Bodyguard was to help MMs in PvP (we didn't need any help in PvE).

2. While Bodyguard does help in PvE (where we don't need it), Bodyguard is nearly useless in PvP. The following addresses the PvP situation...

3. Bodyguard needs two conditions for it to actually be on and providing the protection to the MM: A) Pets set to Defensive/Follow; and B) Pets under the influence of the Supremacy inherent MM power, which means these two conditions must also be met: a) The are close to the MM; and b) the MM is able to affect the pets, i.e., he is not phased, or in a PFF, or resting, or held, or stunned, or sleeping.

4. MMs generally don't have Mez protection (except FF). Bodyguard only mitigates damage, not Mezzes. And we weren't given any Mez protection in the PPP. So, when I'm mezzed, which is constantly happening in PvP, and Supremacy is off, then Bodyguard is off and I die in one shot.

5. The Defensive/Follow stance sounds like the pets will stick close to the MM, however, that is not the case. In Defensive/Follow, pets constantly go out of range of Supremacy, and thus, also out of range of Bodyguard This goes beyond the 'spaz out' problem where pet AI is /bugged. Even under normal operating conditions, when I, or any one of my pets, or any one of my teammates, or any one of my teammate's pets are attacked, my minions leave me to go attack the foe. This may not be so much a problem for the ranged pets, but the melee pets are very quick to run out of Supremacy and Bodyguard range. All it takes is for a teammate two buildings over to get hit. Or a blaster on top of a nearby building to hit me... and *zip* all my pets are gone and Bodyguard is worth less than defecation.

6. But, a dev might say, "Bodyguard isn't meant for constant protection, it's to stop an alpha attack from killing you." And I will say, "How is it possible that a dev doesn't have a clue about how MMs are played?" Again, if one teammate is attacked, my pets leave me, and I have no bodyguards. Do you know how often that happens? ALL THE TIME! That's what PvP is all about. You devs are on record that PvP isn't meant for one-on-one, we should be teaming. Well, in Defensive mode, my pets are just as defensive of teammates as they are of me. In Defensive mode, "Follow" is practically meaningless. The only way I can keep the pets near me while engaged in PvP is to issue GoTo or AttackMyTarget commands which takes them out of the ironically named 'Follow' state, and thus, no Bodyguarding. To get pets to come back to me to protect me, I have to take them out of Defensive/Follow!

7. The continued lack of travel powers for pets make Bodyguard nearly useless. You still haven't fixed problems with Group Fly or Group Teleport. You still haven't given pets anything more than the ironically named 'auto-teleport', which means that as I travel, the pets are only in range sporadically. The pets are still out of Supremacy and Bodyguard range when I travel. When they run away from me because they're chasing after a ranged attacker or protecting my teammates instead of me, it takes them a long time to return to me to protect me when I'm being attacked.

8. The continued lack of control over melee v. ranged attacks makes Bodyguard nearly useless for melee pets. We've been asking for this for a long time, the ability to tell pets whether to use their melee or ranged attacks. But since we don't have it, my melee pets run off after a foe while in Defensive/Follow mode, making Bodyguard pointless.


Possible fixes:

1. A new, extra command that leashes pets by telling them "Stay in Supremacy range" would be an ideal.

2. Fix Group TP; fix Group Fly; fix Auto-teleport by having the MM enable it on command; give pets real travel powers.

3. Make Bodyguard not dependent on Follow mode. Simply Defensive mode. This way we can issue "Attack/Defensive" and "GoTo/Defensive" commands so that we can keep the pets near us while they're protecting us.

4. Scrap Bodyguard altogether. Many of us suggested long ago an inherent ability in pets to Taunt (maybe a 5% chance per attack, or 1% range Taunt aura per tick), you can even limit this Taunt to when they are in Supremacy range, because, Supremacy range isn't a problem if we can use any other mode but Defensive/Follow, which does not keep minions in Supremacy range.

Exploration:

Zone Name: Grandville
Badge Name: Overlord
Badge Description: You've visited the beach outside the Granville city walls, where Lord Recluse viciously repelled an invasion of Longbow landing crafts.
/loc: 1357 -440 -597
Reference Points: second level of a bunker


And, upon getting the above Overlord badge... I GOT A NEW ACCOLADE!


Accolade:

Accolade Name: Demonic (Villain)
Power Included: Demonic Aura: Self, +Res(All but Psionics), +DEF(All but Psonics), -SPD, -Recharge, -ACC
Other badges Associated to earn this badge, if known: Overlord
Icon: Green Shield
Effects: Blue Gaseous Body Aura, Lasts 2 minutes,
Description: The spirit of a demon resides within you. Bringing to the surface of your mind can make you highly resistant to all types of damage for a short time. You mustn't let the demon inside you out for too long, however, or it just may cost you your mortal soul.



As for finding out what else is needed for this accolade, the only other exploration badge I have from Grandville is Guttersnipe. I have all other Exploration Badges, and the History Badges (we haven't found a new History Badge from any plaques in Grandville, have we?) And I haven't been to RV yet. I have all the SF badges, too.

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Took time to get used to but... I love it <O.O> bodyguard is *amazing* >.<;

I learned something (I haven't read this whole thread; sorry if its a repeate); Telling your pets to attack; doesn't change their state anymore!

Thus; you can tell them to attack and *retain* Bodyguard <o.@> at least it was working for me tonight.

Just keep em defensive.

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You mean they're still Bodyguarding while attacking, or, once they kill the target of an AttackMyTarget command, they revert to Follow, and, since they're still on Defense, they go back to Bodyguard once the target is down?

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I really don't understand the 4 min lasting pets and the 15 min recharge time. Why so long to recharge it?

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I'm guessing with Recharge Reduction SOs you can proly get the recharge down to about 7-8 minutes. So your pets can be up about half the time.

Only Controllers and Masterminds are going to have perma pets, by design.

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Which also depends on the pet: Controller's Phantom Army is not permanent. Mastermind's Dark Servant isn't permanent (nor the Defender's version).

With triple slotted hasten and triple slotted temp-pet, you can get perma-pet by constantly recasting. My Dark Servants on both my Defendrer and MM are perma this way.

The Hero base in RV is 'under Atlas.'

So, I'm guessing you talk to the guy in D.A.T.A. and go through a door there that leads to the underground bunker with the portal. Level 40+ only to get through the door (wild spec).

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Right. Tar Patch comes to mind.

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Tar Patch does not cause this effect, because it does no damage, and thus the villains do not fear it.

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Foes running away is caused by more than fear from damage. When they are prevented from attacking for a set amount of time (and they really want to), they decide it's best to run away and try again later. Sometimes, they run so far they lose agro (Tar Patch certainly does cause agro on the Hate/Threat scale) in which case, they simply walk back to their spawn points.

Tar Patch causes this effect if they need to run in for melee or run out for ranged attacks and the Patch is keeping them from doing it. Also, putting them in a Patch and remaining out of Line of Sight will also cause this 'feeling' of frustration and make them run away.

After 90 levels of Tar Patch, I can assure you it certainly can cause 'feelings' of flight.

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Why do I get the feeling the new retail box will NOT be a new add-on (in CoV terms) but will instead hold an AT, new powers, a badge, and some other goodies that will only be available to the players who get the add-on code?

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Because... that's exactly what they said? In addition to what you mentioned, there will be a whole new... realm. That's why there was a poll on whether we wanted arctic or desert or underwater zones. I don't know how ambitious this new retail expansion will be... a few zones, or maybe something to rival CoV. I'm sure it will be priced accordingly, e.g., if it's just two zones and some goodies, you're not looking at $50 US, but maybe $20 US (wild spec on my part).






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This would coincide with the fact that they said the new EAT's would not be unlocked by reaching a level goal and it'd be easier to do this than to code a TF or something in the game that could be abused to get this AT.

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I'm having trouble parsing that. Sure, you may have to buy the 2007 Retail Expansion to unlock an EAT, but keep in mind we've been promised at least one new EAT for free in Issue #9, according to Positron's address.



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In general to the thread: Keep in mind that Issue #6 was pretty much concurrent to CoV Retail. (Yes, I know it wasn't laden with CoH goodies, esp. for those who don't like PvP, but there was something). So, between CoV Retail and the 2007 Retail Expansion, inclusively, you have 4 free issue updates (#6, #7, #8, #9). Both #8 and #9 and all future ones should be addressing new CoH content as well as CoV content now that #7 will be 'completing' CoV.




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Actually, I'm surprised that the Retail Expansion of 2007 isn't already announced to be an Asian themed realm considering CoH/V's entrance into the Korean market.... Kingdom of Super!

I updated the City of Heroes history in Wikipedia. So far, the future looks like:

Issue #8 (pending, later in 2006) - Veterans' Reward system which will be a thank-you to long time subscribers with gifts not limited to powers, costumes, and base items. The first part of more end-game content for Heroes and Villains (when the rest will be added is unclear at this time).

Issue #9 (pending, 2007) - New content in the form of a story-arc leading up the the retail expansion. Revised content in the form of revamping zones in City of Heroes using the lessons learned in City of Villains (presumably meaning including types of missions such as escort missions or waves of attackers) and adding new content to underutilized zones. New zones, new tile sets. Unspecified new powersets and an unspecified new archetype.

Retail Expansion (pending, 2007) - Not a standalone, but an expansion for both Cities. The type of new zones has been supposedly influenced by a player poll. [2] Info for Issues #8-9 and the Retail Expansion can be found here [3].

Were you saving that up for a quarter of a year? Can't wait to see what you'll add in August.

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Every case I've seen of a Blaster or other player "drawing aggro from Tanker" is the NPC not being taunted. I've seen NPCs blasted to a sliver Health by a teammate go running by my Tanker. The NPC always stop and turn their attention to my Tanker.

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It's because you're pretty.

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did i miss read somewhere or are we going to get a free respec with the 2nd Anniversary as well? or was it moved to coming with i7?

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Moved to I7 hitting live. Hopefully, it will also be present when it hits Test so that we can, you know... test things.

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Recluse's Victory sounds awesome, the Lord Recluse Atlas Statue is terrifying and disturbing (as a Hero).

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What's with the Nike whooshes at Recluse's feets? Arachnos has a new motto: Just Pwn It!