Acemace

No kidding, it sounds like it wasn't terribly interesting.

It's one of the perks of living on the west coast if you play cox, unfortunately east coasters often miss out. But have fun and be sure to report on all the tidbits. And pics, like last year.

Heh, yea we all know you purchased one (was it 2?) lifetime subs.
No worries, that game will surely be around for more then a couple years.


Well let me hypothesize actually. It will unless, DC Universe Online fixes it's animations and ends up being amazingly fun, while Star Trek Online turns out to be a wonderfully popular game, and Cryptic's interest in their latest game wanes (their history so far) in place of STO and the new "secret" Atari/Cryptic project in development.

In that silly hypothetical, I'd give it three years.

I halfway agree with you, though I think it will last at least three years, barring unforeseen meltdowns.

To counter that games launch, these guys did offer closed beta spots for Going Rogue to everyone who just keeps a paid account through Oct.
That's what competition does.

Leadership pool can be useful on a melee character, but the accuracy/damage/defense buffs can be surpassed with io sets, without sacrificing extra survivability.

Some Ice tanks take tough and weave, as a away to get as close to the cap as possible.
edit, i see the poster above me pointed that out.

Covering your bases.

As Hera and others pointed out the two are pretty identical, here's a little more info if it helps.

Both have one PBAoE and one Cone, the PBAoE are identical, but the cone recharges faster for war mace, and has a wider arc (45) at slightly lower damage.

Bash has the same Damage, Endurance Cost, and Recharge Time as Beheader. It has the same chance to Stun as Barrage [EM].

Pulverize has the same Damage, Endurance Cost, and Recharge Time as Chop. Pulverize has a 20% Stun mag 2 chance. Energy Punch [EM] has a 30% Stun mag 2 chance. This power has the same dps as Axe but has a less effective Stun than EM.

Jawbreaker has the same Damage, Endurance Cost, and Recharge Time as Gash. Jawbreaker has a 75% Knockup chance while Gash has a 50% Knockdown chance. This power has the same dps as it's equivalent in Axe but has a better chance of Knockup.

Clobber does more Damage, with higher Endurance Cost and slightly slower Recharge Time then Swoop. Clobber has a mag 3 Stun, while Swoop has a 70% Knockup chance.

Whirling Mace has the same Endurance Cost and Recharge Time as Whirling axe. Whirling Mace has higher damage than Whirling Axe and the same chance to Stun as Energy Melee's Whirling Hands.

Shatter does less damage, but costs less endurance (11. to 14.) and has a faster recharge than Cleave (12s to 15s). Both powers have an 80% chance of Knockdown, while shatter has a much larger cone (45 to 20).

Crowd Control does less damage, but costs less endurance and has a faster recharge (12s to 15s) than Pendulum. Crowd Control has a 60% chance of knockdown while Pendulum has a 50%. Crowd Control has a higher Range, Radius, and hits twice as many Max Targets (10 to 5) as Pendulum.


Both sets currently have fairly good attack speeds, some disorienting and knockUp/Down capabilities, an accuracy bonus, moderate to high endurance use, heavy smashing aoe, and strong ST damage.

On the other side you could say both sets comparatively lack a "wow" power ie Total Focus-Knock Out Blow, although Crowd Control is now like a half Footstomp.

Check out Starsman's charts to get a better idea where the two sets stand in relation to the other secondaries.

And weapon customization might also help you in deciding.

Whatever you decide on, have fun. =T

Yea there are people who like it, I think most question why you wouldn't test such a large change before live.
Some have referred to it as a bait and switch.

But hey it's not my game, so que sera sera.

Basically the way the game played from alpha (sept 08) on up to Sunday, was altered (fairly sweeping reductions to various powers and defenses) by an untested patch on the games launch day, along with a stealth xp reduction.

A few people made some comments about it over there. lol ;]

Mondays nerf was geared to fix that (literally), you're weaker+need help=more teaming.

I've been tooling around BFHeroes over the summer on a 22 gunner, plenty of noobs to pwn, much fun 2b had.

Waiting for i16 and GR beta to take me out of one of many dormant coh periods since 04.

Maybe after a few more rounds of stealth nerfs, the games magnetism will be irresistible to us all.


What level have you gotten to so far Dinah. Any 40's running around.

We kicked some gooie lobster butt down there, fun was had.

If Sappers xp is ever reduced, I'm taking sterno and match to my original game cd.

One of the biggest consistent complaints in CO alpha/beta was it's lack of teaming necessity.

Sorry OP, as pointed out most of CoX is already solo-able, and the situations where a team is required here, are virtually the same in CO.

This can be a fairly harsh area for less then solid suggestions, poster beware. ;]

The point in my earlier post was simply that while "players haven't left the game in droves because of various nerfs". The nerfs from 05 on also haven't "added any subs since the first big push to reign in player behavior began."


2005 alone gave us, among other things, HO nerf, agro cap, global defense decrease, enhancement diversification, mission timers, increased difficulty of Shadowhunters wolves, burn nerf (justified imo), sewer trial/av/gm/glowie xp nerf (all justied, again imo), nerfs to invul/regen (perpetual regen nerfs ).
Enormous changes were also made to pve powers in 05 for pvp, a few of which were highly unpopular (more powers had their effects boosted then reduced).


"Has the player base increased since then..?"

CoX had a peak subscriber base of 197.000 plus in 2005, there were just under 125,000 in September, 2008, the last quarter before ncsoft ceased to disclose their quarterly sub numbers.
CoH market share through the years.

As Bill points out, server population ebbs and flows, usually increasing with each issue release. But to say server population hasn't decreased since it's peak in 2005, is baseless in fact. And just silly.


Like I said, It's an aging game, players haven't left in hordes solely over various nerfs. But nerfs historically haven't driven subscribers back since the "player behavior campaign" (my term) began in 2005, either.
Just as diminishing returns for PvP, haven't had the desirable effects on that population since i13.

Logical statement? Certainly not to some.
O-\-<]:

Naturally you would.

Has the player base increased since then..?


Or how about the increased difficulty of Shadowhunters wolves, or mission timers, or the agro cap, or even ED, and GDR. How about diminishing returns for PvP.


Players haven't left the game in droves because of various nerfs, but it hasn't added any subs since the first big push in 05 to reign in player behavior began.


Nerfs in general are unpopular and tend to stand out in the collective memory, eclipsing positive changes.


It's an aging game, subscribers are bound to leave. Nerfs aren't driving them back.