Arctic_Princess

I was very disappointed when I took the mini-nuke attack in Munitions Mastery to find that I was NOT firing a Council-style bazooka but instead had access to the various gun models, providing I had unlocked them.

I am assured by a friend that the trumpet Nemesis rifle looks awesome when using the attack, but I wants an oversized bazooka please. Especially as the power description mentions that the weapon is so hefty that the attack can be interrupted.

I will also jump on the 'it's probably a clipping issue' wagon. No reason why new enemies can't be designed to have silly, gigantic weapons though

But the endurance issues could be horrendous. I'd most likely need to re-respec back into Body Mastery, and I've only just started enjoying Weapon Mastery.

I suppose it depends on the primary too. My /SR is Katana so gets a nifty melee bonus from Divine Avalanche which is easily on a double (triple for foes without any slowing powers) at all times due to its quick recharge and Quickness.

I remember last year (or possibly early this year - I forget) we had an RP PvP event starting in Bloody Bay. My usually excellent Scrapper was at a severe disadvantage fighting Soldiers, Widows, Domis, et al, without any AoE protection. The shielder I fought alongside had very little in the way of problems. That alone is obviously not a reason to switch powers around in SR, but when you go from 'mass-arresting' (i.e. slaughtering) Carnies, Malta, and Nemesis, then get two-shotted it's a bit of a shock .

Story-wise, the Midnighter Club would be a good place to start at least one story arc/TF/SF from with regards to the Shadow Shard. Especially with that nasty piece of work Darrin Wade lurking about in Sharkhead, being all evil.

I have never done a SSTF because that kind of grindfest content does not appeal to me.

I'd like to know the definition of 'quick' too for finishing the first TF.

There is a workaround for jumping already in game. Depending on how long you hold the spacebar will change the height you jump. So, very quickly tapping the spacebar will cause the character to do a little hoppy jump, holding down will extend the full height of the jump.

This also applies to characters without Hurdle/Combat Jumping/Super Jump/Ninja Run. And it's neat.

Sadly the same does not happen with Swift, but then whenever I switch from playing a 50 to a level 1-10, I find running terrible (slow terrible). Hence why I love Ninja Run, even on robots.

And I RP.

And I live with the fact that Hellions should be putting any of my characters in hospital or making them limp along whenever they use Pistol.

£8.99/month is too expensive to just RP.

Super Reflexes suffers from being a legacy power (the Scrapper version anyway).
When it was introduced at the beginning, foes did not have much AoE until the mid-20s and exotic damage didn't feature until the 40s.

Arachnos and various other groups broke this pattern (especially Arachnos *shakes fist*).

Newer defence sets/powers have some AoE defence near the beginning.

I think a switcharoo with the passives and toggles is a good idea.

I also think that Focused Fighting could do with a smashing/lethal resist component - not necessarily slottable but just something to take the edge off of basic attacks. The passives already give out a resist bonus when the SR character's health drops to a certain point and I have noticed that benefit greatly, but SR has no other mitigation. Ice Armour (admittedly just for tanks) has, understandably, the slow effect. Energy Aura, whilst not my favourite set, has tricks, and Ninjitsu has them in spades. The other sets with defence have other bonuses such as healing or regen boosts, and slottable resistance.

I'm against a taunt/damage aura for SR for Scrappers. And I see no point in making it a Tank set. It would under-perform with most content because the alpha strike mitigation is a 50/50 with no healing or regen boost to back it up.

So to answer your question, yes it can be a pain and it's one of those sets that handles everything amazingly well post-30 (even Nemesis Snipers). Pre-30 could do with a bit of love, to make it less of a one-trick pony (it's also really dull to slot and VERY expensive to slot with interesting IOs/sets - well I've found it that way anyway).

And with Fitness becoming an inherent, I have no idea what to 'spend' my three free powers on. Fighting is out of the question - even more toggles would be insane. Although I'm tempted to finally take Hasten after all these years and become some kind of insane recharge junkie!

It's a shame about the cottage rule (from my limited understanding of it), because I've often thought that FF could do with some kind of slow movement power, instead of all Knockback/Repel/Defense.

The reasoning behind said power (Slowing Field, for want of a much better name) is: the caster throws down a field (Location AoE) which makes air/particles/insert reason of choice thicker, meaning that any enemies travelling through the field are slowed, and cannot fly/jump. It doesn't cause knockdown, so in many ways it's the same as Quicksand, without the additonal -def. I would also propose that said slow field negates KB (like most Immob powers). In essence the caster is still putting a wall between the team and enemies, but one which benefits either mowing down the opposition or escaping from them.

FF is one of those sets that I like to team with, but not play. In fact, when it comes to the ATs with FF/Ice/Thermal/Sonic as an option, I avoid rolling the 'shield buffers' in favour of the other sets, especially Storm and Dark, because they seem to have more interesting powers.

Nice idea. Also zombies, crawling from the ground (think Zombie Apocalypse).

I'd also have to chuck my hat in with the 'frowning upon' of these kind of arcs.

My personal opinion on the 9/11 subject is that an AE arc referencing it (in whatever way) would be distasteful.

And the final point about 'defeating terrorists' is, for me, a touch too Conservative. The challenge would be, in my opinion, taking a more detached view of history and actually exploring why those people are terrorists, but even that is full of pitfalls and traps. Otherwise it all ends up being Team America without the self-deprecation and irony.

I would like to see (but realise will never happen... *waits for the magical power customisation unicorn to trot into the scene*) an Underwater Trial.

This does not mean a whole zone or set of instances devoted to lame animation and power/vfx skullduggery, but rather a trial that has villains/heroes/pick flavour of choice going underwater to fight a threat.

The final mission, much like the Terra Volta respec trial heroside, would involve some kind of protective device power up gained in a room outside the big dome of water.

Coralax could feature heavily.

Missions leading up to this final trial room, that involves swimming underwater, could have an under the water (not underwater - different term) structure to them. Glass walkways with murky depths inches away. Odd lights, large shark silhouettes, perhaps even a few tentacles...

Now that's as far as I got with this idea, which I had a while back. I can imagine the look of a gigantic dome filled with water, superhumans having to stock up on air/magical pressure suits (yadda yadda yadda), but sadly not why anyone would do this.

Insects are interesting. I am resisting the urge to ask for Squirrels too. It's a strong urge but one that my medication is keeping in check. For now.

I think it's a good idea, but perhaps make it less creature-specific and turn it into some kind of Infection or Disease Control/Domination? Maybe Plague Domination?

Not that it would be limited to Dominators, of course, just that I think the concept of disease is more generic than insects.

Subsequently, some kind of Giant Insect Mastermind Pet could be fun.

The new alignment system is interesting, has a lot of story content, and seems to fit each alignment very well.

However, as it is a way of not only switching alignment, but also earning Hero and Villain merits, I would like to suggest that there be a few more missions for each alignment at each level.

I'd like to go one step further and suggest that, if not all then at least some of the extra content be geared towards the Epic Archetypes. I'm not suggesting that they only be for player characters who are PBs/WSs/Soldiers/Widows, but that they reflect those storylines too.

I feel it would go some way to addressing how the Epic ATs fit into the game world, rather than just which side they decide to join. For instance, Soldiers and Widows who are defecting from Arachnos is a big thing.

Perhaps we could have some examples within this content of operatives who are doing such a thing?

So as a Hero you may be protecting a defector from Arachnos, a Vigilante may be bringing them to justice despite their wanting to become a Hero/join the side of Good (because of the wrongs they have already committed), a Rogue may be smuggling them for cash, a Villain would obviously be killing them or ensuring that they are forever imprisoned as an example.

Kheldians who 'defect' might actually be an oppotunity to explore the lore a bit (!). As my knowledge of Kheldian Lore is sketchy at best, I'm not sure what the content would be for this.

I think from a storyline point of view it could add a bit more depth and from a gameplay point of view would help to make the Tip system a little more varied, simply by having 5 (say) more tips for each alignment to undertake.

*reads*

*reads again*

*checks pulse*

*pinches self*

We exist! Eureka!

Okay... fairly stoked by this. Okay, so I'm REALLY stoked. Especially as it involves a medium which doesn;t require external talent, like drawing or animating things.

Huzzah! Go go marketing department!

Aw, only stream-able (is that a word?) in the US. Looks intriguing though.

Expect an influx of Illusion Control/Empathy controllers Soon (tm).

(Yes, I've just rolled one!)

Hello,

I was thinking the other day about Proliferation. Specifically about Ice Melee / Ice Armour for Stalkers.

Conceptually I think it's a good enough idea but mechanics wise (specifically where the powers that need to be in are placed and what exactly gets taken out) I'm not so sure.

I'll start with:

Ice Melee

The following are from the Tanker secondary (hence the levels):

1. Frozen Fists
2. Ice Sword
4. Frost
10. Taunt
16. Build Up
20. Ice Patch
28. Freezing Touch
35. Greater Ice Sword
38. Frozen Aura

Stalker Powers

Hide, Placate, and Assassins's Strike obviously need to be in.

Taunt, Ice Patch, and Frozen Aura need to be removed.

The following is my proposed list of Ice Melee Stalker Primary:

1. Frozen Fists
1. Frozen Strike
2. Ice Sword
6. Assassin's Chill
8. Build Up
12. Frost
18. Placate
26. Freezing Touch
32. Greater Ice Sword

Now I may have put the (un)holy trinity of AS, BU, and Placate in the wrong order. Forgive me if I have.

Now to:

Ice Armor

1. Frozen Armor
1. Hoarfrost
2. Chilling Embrace
6. Wet Ice
8. Permafrost
12. Icicles
18. Glacial Armor
26. Energy Absorption
32. Hibernate

Icicles and Chilling Embrace need to go.

This removal, however, means I am one power short (as Hide comes in as the first power).

1. Hide
2. Frozen Armor
4. Hoarfrost
10. Wet Ice
16. Permafrost
20. Glacial Armor
28.
35. Energy Absorption
38. Hibernate

That's how I propose the proliferated powers to work on the secondary power structure.

So, what should be the level 28 power? Some kind of extra placate (similar to Ninjitsu's Smoke Flash)?

I am stumped.

Anyway, your thoughts and suggestions on if/why/what/where/when/how for Ice Melee and Ice Armor for Stalkers.

I thought this was just about summoning pets at first but the points raised so far seem reasonable.

Some extra animations - or rather existing animations attached to different powers - would be a nice touch.

I wonder if the in-development Kinetic Melee will have access to that? Or if it has graphical effects that are the only things that are customisable?

A certain Strikeforce makes me think of this for some reason...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q9hLcRU5wE4

Can't. Think. Why...

I'd like to see a few of the banners that adorn buildings in Paragon removed and/or replaced.

My biggest bugbear is that poor Elena, the Mystic, has been playing at that theatre for 6 years now!

Extra buildings like theatres, and indeed cinemas, would be cool. A few more unique buildings in fact.

The industrial districts in Galaxy and Atlas could be cut away and replaced by up-and-coming warehouse conversion apartments. As it stands, Kings Row and Independence Port are already the heavy industry parts of Paragon. With so many new Heroes starting in Atlas and Galaxy, I feel its time to reflect that they are much safer areas and that more people would flock to them to live and work.

Steel Canyon could benefit from having a few more hotspots and possibly even a handful of casinos. The main street that leads to the intersection with the giant statue and Positron needs a bit more night-time glamour, perhaps some neon signs.

And finally, there are some very interesting tall buildings in Paragon whose roofs are above the fly/jump limit. Perhaps a reduction in the height of the building could be made? As a super hero, I like to think that my characters can land on top of every building.

I think it's a good idea.

It also would probably get a better response in the Mission Architect subsection of the forums.

So you've worked your way through the power creation screen, now to give your power a presence in the game world.

I envisage several elements to the aesthetic side of this system:

Power Icon - what does the icon look like in the power tray, or in the buff window?

Naming the power - what's it called?

Player effects: Does the power do something visual on the player's side?

Enemy effects: Does the power do something visual to the mob?

Environment effects: Does the power cause screen shake, or place a pseudo-pet on the ground, or actually create a pet? (NOTE: I'm not sure a pet creation power would be a) a good idea, or b) in any way viable ).


Now animations do factor into a power's, um, power level. It would be game-breaking to have a mini-nuke that allows the player character to continue moving and with an animation/power activation time of 0.01 seconds! Also, I am not proposing a 'create-your-own' animation program. Awesome as it would be, it'd be a pig of a thing to implement.

So there would need to be variables based on animation and whether a power roots or not.

I propose that set animations (already existing within the game) are selectable. This brings another problem: what if someone wanted to create a weapon power? Ack! That means Weapon Customisation. ALL Weapons

However, considering that the booster pack would allow a signature power per character on an account then that's still a lot of usage (36 per server), ergo justification for developing, testing and making available the system to players. But I'm not assuming this would be an easy feat. Not by any means.

Then there's the choice of where the power comes from: Eyes, Hands, Feet, Weapon, Torso. Again, just using the predetermined places where powers are designed to emanate from.

Enemy animations are, possibly, an easier thing to handle (in that there aren't as many animations for being hit by powers as there are for using them - PLEASE correct me on that if I'm wrong).

The visual effects are then chosen as per the current power customisation system.

Finally the sound effects: again, I would suggest a selection of existing SFX for powers.

The more I explore this suggestion, the more I'm thinking it would be better off (if it was ever implemented) as a whole issue to itself! But nevertheless, I'll leave it as a Booster Pack suggestion.


ALSO - Ultimus, I hope you don't mind me taking your signature power idea and putting it through the wrangler to come up with this parallel suggestion. If you do object then please contact me and I'll take it down.

I've been reading Ultimus's thread on the special power customisation found here:http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showthread.php?t=117674

Perhaps this could be another Booster Pack?

Here's how I'd go about it:

The Booster Pack gives access to a power creator, either located in a University or in the costume/power window during creation/redesign.

The options available would depend initially on the Archetype of the character. This is where the basic coding lies: in other words, a Blaster cannot suddenly create a shield with Tanker level defense/resistance values. A Controller cannot create a buff with Defender level values. And so on.

The next part is the power type.

Ranged, Melee, PBAoE, Targeted AoE, Cone, Self Click, Toggle

Then its the turn of the power effects. Multiple effects can be chosen but there is a points system which precludes picking everything!

Damage: Front Loaded / Damage Over Time

Damage Type: Fire, Cold, Psionic, Toxic, Smashing, Lethal, Energy, Negative Energy

Secondary Effects: Simple Buffs*: +Range, +Endurance Recovery, +Regeneration, +ToHit, Phase, +Max HP, Heal HP, Heal Endurance, Resurrect

Secondary Effects: Simple Debuffs*: Taunt, Sleep, Disorient, Confuse, Hold, Immobilise, Fear, Defense Debuff, -Endurance Recovery, -Regeneration, Slow, ToHit Debuff, Phase

Secondary Effects: Intermediate Buffs**: +Damage, +Recharge, +Perception, +Resist Defense Debuff, +Resist Resistance Debuff, +Resist Endurance Recovery Debuff, +Resist Regeneration Debuff, +Resist Movement Rate Debuff, +Resist ToHit Debuff, Invisibility, Stealth

Secondary Effects: Intermediate Debuffs**: -Resistance, -Typed Damage, -Recharge, -Damage, -Perception, Regeneration Prevention, Endurance Recovery Prevention

Secondary Effects: Complex Buffs***: +Defense, +Resistance, +Movement Speed, +Resist Mez, +Mez Protection

Secondary Effects: Complex Debuffs***: -Movement Speed, -Mez Resistance, -Mez Protection

* Simple Buffs/Debuffs are those which do exactly what they say on the tin: They boost/hamper the properties stated in the list, and in the case of debuffs may apply one or multiple mez states.
** Intermediate Buffs/Debuffs are those which are usually unslottable and/or unstackable (i.e. there is no way to increase damage through a regular power like Fulcrum Shift, similarly the recharge rate is not slottable for Speed Boost or Hasten, and -Resist is also not slottable, etc.)
*** Complex Buffs are those which can relate to a variety of buffs (so Defense buffs can be against typed or positional attacks, resistance can relate to different typed damage, Movement Speeds can relate to different types of movement (Run, Jump, Fly, Teleport Range)).

EXAMPLE POWERS:

Self Click, Endurance Recovery Buff, Regeneration Recovery Buff
Ranged, Psionic Damage Over Time
PBAoE, +Defense (Melee), +Resist (Smashing, Lethal)
Cone, Hold
Toggle, +Resist, +Max HP
Targetted AoE, Smashing Damage (Front Loaded), Knockdown, -Resist

Special States: Placate, Capture, Only Affecting Self

These states are special because they do something 'special' to mobs/players.

They also present a problem in that the griefer could decide to create a PBAoE that inflicts Only Affect Self on allies. So I would propose that each special case have very specific uses in a craftable power.

Placate is a powerful tool, especially for Stalkers. A Placate that does damage would, naturally, take the affected mob(s) out of Placate status and be worthless. Therefore damage is not an option. A Placate that has a -Def (plus every other debuff) would be too powerful so Placate itself would have a high cost as an effect.

EXAMPLE POWER: Ranged, Placate, -Def - fine in terms of power cost because it's a single target power that happens to make the mob avoid the character whilst debuffing it.

EXAMPLE POWER: Cone, Placate, -Def, -Resist, -Regen, -End Recovery - NOT fine - far too powerful. The costs associated with this power would disallow the player to create such a power.

Capture is one of those special states that might actually benefit from a customisation system. It could also be the least popular choice as obviously having a Capture power that does psionic damage over time threatens the risk vs reward ratio, and would likely be disallowed. And teams may be annoyed by a PBAoE Capture power.

Only Affecting Self is used in Personal Force Field and Hibernate. It could be seen as a way of discounting a power (as you're no longer able to contribute to a team), OR quite a powerful panic mode. Again the cost would depend on what buffs/debuffs are used in conjunction with this state.

Discounting the cost of customisation

Self Debuffs are also a proposed feature of this system. They are a way of debuffing the player, if they so choose, and are optional (so that, for example, a melee character with no access to ranged powers can create a moderate damage blast and be done with it).

EXAMPLE POWER:

Self Click, +Defense (Melee, Ranged, AoE), +Max HP, (-End, -Regen after 2 minutes)

Toggle, +Mez Protection (Hold, Sleep), -Resist (Self)

Again there needs to be a way to avoid team buffs which are so awesome that the only way they can be allowed is to have counter measure massive debuffs attached to them.

So that's the first part of the idea for the Booster Pack. The next part will involve the aesthetic parts!

The PI AVs are an interesting set of examples: Depending on the map they are either very easy (Mother Mayhem, Malaise) or a pain in the posterior (Diabolique, Nightstar) due to their AI tactics.

Nightstar is a much easier AV to defeat when she's in a warehouse with a limited direction she can fly away in. When she's on top of a building in an outdoor instanced map, slightly different tactics are required (namely -Fly).

I can't remember when the changes were made to AVs, but there were a lot of complaints that fights against them (and Giant Monsters) were simply slugfests. Their regeneration rates were boosted so high that the presence of a Rad/ /Rad was required to make a dent in the health bar.

Then that was changed and Regen Debuffs were suitably reduced to make it less of an issue.

Romulus is an interesting Boss Fight, mainly due to the Nictus that surround him. On certain teams it's easy enough to gank him until he falls down, on others the tactic of separating him from his healing buddies is required (it depends on team make up and tactics).

Lady Grey is interesting in that you've come so far, even defeating a weakened Hamidon, and the final encounter with the Rikti Lord of War is interrupted by the presence of Honoree. The actual boss fights there are standard fare, but there is more of an epic feel to them (imho) that distracts from the final mission being 'just another AV fight.'

Going forward, I'd quite like to see the addition of Environmental Hazards in missions, including final ones with AVs. Hess has the lava, of course, which is where I got that from.

Multi-level final rooms also add a sense of tactics required as fighting space is often narrower, team split opportunities are greater etc.

And now I've had a thought about rewriting the Hess TF... Oh dear

...and the glasses have a rosy tint to them.

I'm not particularly keen on comparing City of... to games like WoW. They're not the same game.

The game 'back then' if the pre Issue 4 content is anything to go by, contained a lot of filler. Lots of missions designed the same, that sort of thing.

I joined a week before Issue 5 hit.

Croatoa was challenging, and to this day I cringe every time I see the 'Defend the Portal from Fir Bolg' and any mission involving Red Caps!

New content is challenging too, but my theory is that I've been playing long enough now to know what the system can throw at me. I know that when there seems to be no enemies in sight but I'm getting hit anyway, there's a sniper somewhere. I know to not stand next to Warhulks and/or large groups of Jaegers when their health bars are low, and so on.

In short I'm a better player than I was back then.

So I'm immediately suspicious of requests from longstanding players who want more challenge. I know from past experience, that it's sometimes an indication of the need to take a (hopefully short) break from the game.


Oh, and the Reichsman TF is not the shining example of awesome that it could have been - the SF is slightly better.

Imperious, States, Recluse, Lady Grey - examples of good and challenging content.

Hmmm: http://www.delcarsdungeon.com/mels/i...slayer_205.jpg

Sorry, I know it's a wee bit off topic, but it's been bugging me since I first saw this thread. Hequat and The First Slayer are strikingly similar in design...