Zamuel

That's a very good idea. The Warburg scientists can be told to stop following you if you'd like them to and I'd love to see that added to all PvE allies.

That's something they said too. Dug up the thread: http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showt...hlight=stalker

While technically a PPP, isn't Mace Mastery able to match War Mace and your Arachnos Mace?

Technically you could outright initiate a power dampening field to cancel powers but that would be incredibly broken, obviously. I don't think anyone tested self phasing while fighting the early versions of Lord Winter and I don't think there's anything in the game currently that detoggles (without stuns/sapping) to test this against.

Yeah, I've gotten to test it a moderate bit on a semi-static team and even saved the day a time or two. It works well as an absolute defense style of AoE hold in that you trade the ability to attack your opponent for higher accuracy, longer duration, and the inability for the foe to resist it. It just needs the kinks worked out.

I actually consider Propel the worst part of the set, which is problematic considering when you get it. Other sets are getting sleeps, confuses, AoE knockdowns, or slow patches with strong debuffs while Gravity gets...Power Blast with twice the animation time. lolwut? How good Lift is spotlights the problems with Propel and Lift comes sooner. It's a shame since Propel has a cool animation.

Gravity Control:
A Buff Thread for Mastering the Universe
Ah, Gravity Control. For some of its fun and unique quirks, it's marred by those same oddities that make it difficult to use to the same effectiveness as other control sets. I hereby offer a set of suggestions to buff the set without breaking the cottage rule. My views are colored by my own experiences so some things may seem different from other people's opinions. Also, I won't be going in order since I'll be explaining my reasoning for some of these.

• Singularity: Singy is fine. Its controls generally compliment yours, it survives a beating, and it's able to draw aggro when you summon it amongst enemies due to the Repel field. After 31 long levels it is the light at the end of the tunnel.
  
  
• Lift: On the other end of the leveling spectrum is oddly what might be your best control (which says things right there...). Knockup instead of knockback, strong magnitude, recharges relatively fast, and Dominators recently received a damage boost so it's nice as an attack on its own.
  • My sole suggestion is to give Controllers the same damage buff Dominators got recently
  
  
• Wormhole: I should be calling this the best control of the set but despite excellent positives (AoE Teleport Foe with high magnitude, stun, does not require line of sight, stun magnitude is improved by Overpower/Domination) there are three key negatives that taint it. First and foremost is the animation time which is 3 seconds which gives enemies plenty of time to kill you if aggroed. That leads into the next problem, the enemies are aggroed before the point in the animation where the actual stun and teleport kick in. Finally, the high KB actually winds up interfering with the positioning benefits of the power. My suggestions are thus:
  • Shorten the animation time from 3 seconds to 1.83 seconds. This makes it the same amount of time as the hold already in the set.
  • Adjust the timing of the stun effect so that it is equal to or 0.25 seconds before aggro is initiated.
  • Lower PvE Knockback from 14.54 magnitude to 7.27 magnitude to reduce scatter but keep the most of the current effect.
  • Increase the radius from 15 feet to 20 feet. This allows more synergy with the AoE hold which is a 20 foot radius.
  
  
• Gravity Distortion & Gravity Distortion Field: Considering Gravity Control is different from other sets, the knockback prevention is in the holds instead of the immobilities. Both are pretty standard other than this so my only suggestion is to increase the amount of -jump, -fly, and -speed it has to fit the thematic control of gravity. While not much, it would be a means to slow down enemies who resist the holds.
  • Increase -Fly from -1.6 magnitude to 4 magnitude
  • Replace JumpHeight -50% with JumpHeight -500
  • Increase RunSpeed, FlySpeed, and SpeedJumping from -0.5 to -0.8
  
  
• Crush & Crushing Field: The reverse on which power offers the knockback prevention may offer an interesting way to buff the set. For a set about controlling gravity, it seems odd that the set lacks any form of locational AoE knockdown. I propose that the immobility controls have a chance of a single application of knockdown during the setup. Also, it should receive the stronger slows proposed for the hold.
  • Add 50% chance of 0.5 knockback on target
  • Update description to state: Creates a localized gravitational field strong enough to Immobilize a single foe. Crush can also bring down flying entities and may even knock some of them off their feet. This power deals Smashing damage over time and can Slow the movement of targets that escape its grasp. Damage: Moderate(DoT), Recharge: Fast
  • Increase -Fly from -1.6 magnitude to 4 magnitude
  • Replace JumpHeight -50% with JumpHeight -500
  • Increase RunSpeed, FlySpeed, and SpeedJumping from -0.5 to -0.8
  
  
• Propel: Propel bugs me. With a 3.5 second animation, it's one of the longest animation times in the game for what's just a single target knockback attack as opposed to a summon, snipe, or nuke. It essentially suffers the same problem as Wormhole but perhaps is worse for the single target nature and that it requires line of sight. Lift has a much shorter activation time, longer range, and higher magnitude. While shortening the activation seems obvious, it still needs something else, especially since the set is not as synergistic as others. I propose adding a stun component so it can be combined with Wormhole for bosses with stun resistance. Stun also helps with Overpower, Domination, and Containment. The more daring suggestion is to help it synergize with Dimension Shift by allowing it to ignore phasing and for it to deactivate enemy phase states. Hamidon shows that you can have attacks that ignore phasing but it's a delicate situation to put such a power in the hands of players. Outside of PvP, phasing isn't common so it may not be an issude but there may be problems within PvP.
  • Reduce animation time from 3.5 seconds to 1.83 seconds
  • Add mag 3 stun for 6 seconds
  • Allow Propel to be slotted with Stun enhancements and IOs
  • Add IgnorePhase
  • Add Phase -100 for 15 seconds
  
  
• Dimension Shift: It had to be brought up at some point. The AoE nature probably works to the detriment of it rather than as a benefit. I'm willing to deal with that and if Propel got the ability to remove enemies from phase since that alone would be a huge buff. However, Dimension Shift has rather specific problems past that which can still make it a headache even when you use it properly. The visual effect is currently connected to the immobility effect. This should fine except for those times when enemies are immune to the immobility so it's not obvious that they are phased so attacks are wasted on what you thought the attack missed. Also, the end of the phase is rather abrupt considering the mobs see you the entire time they are phased. I propose adding a sleep effect at the end of Dimension Shift that can be enhanced by Sleep enhancements and IOs. This gives the player a warning that the effect is ending and gives them a small window of opportunity after it ends.
  • Increase Immobility magnitude from 3 to 10
  • Add a 6 second Sleep effect of magnitude 3 after a 29 second delay. Sleep animation is the "holding head in pain" animation.
  • Allow it to slot Sleep enhancements and IOs

I think a special mention should be made for phasing/intangibility as a whole. Considering almost nothing resists intangibility, boosting magnitude doesn't seem like it has use. I propose that Intangibility enhancements be changed from boosting magnitude to boosting duration. Also, I suggest that Dimension Shift, Black Hole, Sonic Cage, Detention Field, and Phase Shift all be standardised to these rules and allow Intangibility slotting. I understand that it may not be feasible due to coding difficulties but I feel this would be a much better option.

Have you heard of this wonderous activity called PvP?

What about the Abandoned Sewer Trial? Considering the way the temp works combined with a set time limit it would seem like it would be highly unlikely for a non-MM to solo it. Perhaps a Controller or /dark Defender due to the pets and I heard that in the past the pets were stronger.

They've actually admitted to this. Plus, the testers focused more attention on the redside version than the blueside one.

Team Elimination matches

Date: April 2
Time: 9:00 PM EST
Level range: 27-31 & 47-50
Rules: Travel Suppression off, Diminishing Returns off, Heal Decay on
Map: Random with resets allowed for Cage
For the March (ignore the date...) event I'll be holding several random selection team elimination matches. The first two will be level27-31 to give the midlevel players a chance to jump in and enjoy the event. The next three matches will be level 47-50. Each match will have the teams re-randomized and number of entrants will determine if it's just two teams or multiple. Teams will be random so naming probably isn't needed but team names must be in accordance with the EULA and Message Forum Rules and Guidelines.

There will be a 10 million inf drawing at the end of each match for a total chance of up to 50 million in prizes. This may possibly expand so keep an eye on this spot for updates.