Talen Lee

[ QUOTE ]
It'd stay useful and make more sense than a flat-out damage buff.

[/ QUOTE ]You have to convince players it's enough to be noticeable and feel powerful, developers that it's not too much to be noticeable and feel overpowered, and marketing that it's worth bothering with at all to try and capture an almost locked-in section of the market. I ain't holding my breath.

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Lately, I've been exercising more and eating a little better. Nothing earth-shattering yet, just a half hour or so on the treadmill and buying decent meats, cheeses, and breads at the grocery store instead of making Wendy's runs, but it's a start.

[/ QUOTE ]

I'm really glad to hear you're making a change. That's really the reason I posted at all - if even one person decides to change their habits because of this, or a few people stick with a program they were wavering on, it makes the loss more tolerable to bear.

- KD

[/ QUOTE ]
You know, it does kind of make the wheels turn. I wonder if there could be some kind of program started among the gaming community to try to get people to be a little less sedentary? I'm in Atlanta, for example. I wonder how many of my fellow Atlantans would get behind doing something like going out to Stone Mountain once every few weeks, meeting up at a gym, and other such activities? Maybe all of us keep in touch online to share ideas for activities and reports of how it's going?

[/ QUOTE ]I'm envisioning now a gaming group that plays in the meeting rooms of a gym after they've done an hour of exercise. "Come for the gaming, but get some workout done."

I'm not being sarcastic.

My grandfather died of a heart attack in his late forties (if I remember correctly), my father was terrified of the same fate. I know I've inherited a weak heart, and that's part of what keeps me motivated to stay reasonably healthy. Still - your friend can say he has the legacy of helping other gamers improve their lives, which is quite frankly, pretty special.

You forgot the cry of 'I've done it!' and 'So have I!'

[QR]

Cloak of Fear isn't a very good power on scrappers.

On the other hand, Temperature protection isn't a very good power on scrappers, barb swipe isn't a very good power on scrappers, that claws attack that you can get at first level isn't a very good power on scrappers, taunt isn't a very good power on scrappers, etc. etc. etc.

'I don't like it' is not the same as broken. And powersets can have weaker powers, just as they can have stronger powers. Who here would give up the AE nature of Dark Regen (and its therefore massive effect) if it meant CoF could be, say, mag 3? Who is willing to give up from Dark Armor to receive buffs? Because I don't think anyone's yet made a convincing case that the set needs help, just that one of the powers in it is a bit sissy.

it's the texts that was tripping me up, it seems.

I find myself direly amused by the idea that you get a powerboost-style buff that can only be sustained by attacking. Higher-tier attacks would sustain it longer.

It is a ridiculous idea, but it still amuses me.

I did give that a shot - usingg copy-paste from emeditor to CoX - and it still yielded squat. Maybe I've got the directory tree wrong?

[QR]

Invulnerability requires you to pay attention and play well. WP doesn't. The kind of people who tell you WP is glorious and invuln is bad are the kind of people who don't recognise the gap their skill is making. Since this is a thread full of broad, ridiculous assertations without evidence, I figure there's mine.

Oh, and here's my anecdotal evidence: Without any buffs but accelerate metabolism, I've seen a invuln scrapper tank the Psychic Clockwork king on a team of 3. And the funny thing is, she didn't die, and the clockwork king did. So clearly, invulnerability has no psi problems.

Okay, this is what I got:
<font class="small">Code:[/color]<hr /><pre>
// POPMENU File for Battlebriar's 5 costume options
//

Menu "BriarCostumes"
{
Option "&amp;1. Classic Demagogue" "cc 0"
Option "&amp;2. Vanguard Uniform" "cc 1"
Option "&amp;3. Skinny Green" "cc 2"
Option "&amp;4. Riot Gear Suit" "cc 3"
Option "&amp;5. Opera Wear" "cc 4"
}
</pre><hr />The thing is, it doesn't work. I'm double-checking the menu itself - I assume if the menu has problems, the whole thing will fail - and I'm trying to load it with /popmenu Briarcostumes.

What am I screwing up? Is it subdirectories that are the problem?

[ QUOTE ]
Dark Armor is a great secondary if used correctly, but using it has a heavy price and I don't feel the mitigation in high stress situations is really that much better than other secondaries to warrant the cost. This is my attempt to get Castle to make some tweaks to the set:

[/ QUOTE ]In the theoretical guide How to get Castle to Make Changes, the very first thing that is written there in massive obsidian words that are wrought with fire and impressed upon the foreheads of the gods themselves is thus: PROVE THAT THERE IS A PROBLEM. Seriously, this should be the first thing on anyone's list, but it really isn't. You gave an opening paragraph that provides some vague, airy-fairy commentary on how you don't 'think' it's worth it. You did no numbers. You proved nothing. There was no attempt on your part to make a case that changes should be made, you merely moved on to producing changes. You move on to a solution for a problem that doesn't exist.

If you just wanna talk about cool what-if scenarios for dark armour, okay, sure, knock yourself out, but don't think it's going to convince Castle.

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
I suspect that nothing we see on the test server can be taken as a statement one way or the other as to how the changes will affect dom popularity once they go live. To few people read these boards and/or play on the test server to get a good sample population.

[/ QUOTE ]
Many people don't even read patch notes - they won't know anything's changed at all, except they might notice they do a bit more damage or a power recharges more slowly than it does now. Most people, if they find out at all, will find out by word of mouth.

[/ QUOTE ]Unless it gets mentioned in the gmotd. And if people aren't reading that, well, [censored] them.

[ QUOTE ]
While it's true that Dual Blades is one of the less endurance intensive secondaries for a tanker, I think that the potential of having both QR and Stamina is probably the main advantage of the Willpower defense set.

[/ QUOTE ]Unless your attacks have truly ludicrous quantities of recharge socketed, and piteously small amounts of endurance reduction socketed, quick recovery should be more than enough. But then again, your somewhat specific attitude towards the endurance mechanic is well known.

I think the main problem here is the use of the word 'need.' Ie, you need these powers, because if you don't have them you don't like the effect. So you have to actually make choicse and sacrifices. That sounds to me a hell of a lot like want.

Same thing about stamina. Quick Recovery is better than Stamina. If you went invulnerability, you would have less endurance recovery and need to take three powers for Stamina. But that's better? Hogwash.

This game is based off Marvel and DC in the same way Marvel and DC are based on greek myth. Ie, they're mostly stories about larger-than-life people who don't have to deal with the annoying ramifications of their actions and can focus on the cool ones.

Sounds to me like a good thing. PVP being approachable might mean people do it.

If you need Stamina and Quick Recovery on a tanker, you're slotting badly. If you need tough and weave on a willpower character you're demanding a hell of a lot.

[ QUOTE ]
I would be curious why so many players consider it a weak set.

[/ QUOTE ]Long animation time is the thing I hear cited the most.

Oh, sure, if you want to have good powers, I suppose. I'd also advocate mind/.

[ QUOTE ]
Are you sure the factions in "Origins of Power" offer bonus XP? I have this weird feeling you were getting boosts from patrol XP without realizing it, especially if you've been in the MA with that character for a while.

[/ QUOTE ]I was unfortunately confusing the CoT-and-Rikti mission from Ashley with the just-CoT mission from OOP. My main bugbear was with the writing and the fact the non-arc offers such a massive story arc 'reward.' This means I keep coming back to running the arc, which is something of a facsimile of a success.

[ QUOTE ]
Finally, I agree with you regarding that arc's writing quality. Frankly, nearly all of the content released since NCSoft bought the property has been sub-par IMHO. I don't know if you've run the VEAT arcs yet, but ugh, they are embarrassingly bad.

[/ QUOTE ]They're another part of what got me riled up to point the gun at the official writers. Around the time the I13 arcs were being pimped, they mentioned they were the work of a 'new guy' who had done a few arcs already, which indicated that these were probably his 'work' as well. Truly terrible writing.

[ QUOTE ]
As a comparison of dev-created content to MA farms....fail.

[/ QUOTE ]The arc is terribly written, with a terrible premise and terrible execution. The only reason I run it on every character I have is because it gives a grotesquely inflated XP reward.

Same basic premise as a farm, from where I sit.

A lot of meh powers, but the important thing is, the only real essential powers in the set come at 26 and 32. Prior to that point it's all your secondary and pools.

Noting this so I can find it in the morning.

Yogi - I'd recommend ice or gravity. Ice gives you control powers that makes you want to remain in the middle of things (good for combustion, soul drain, consume and dark consumption), and a solid pet who'll stand in the same basic district. Gravity lets you herd stuff for your AoEs and puts less pressure on you to pick up its vital powers and slot them up in the early game.

(I'm mainly just recommending gravity to see if anyone has a heart attack)

[ QUOTE ]
Er, so what you're saying is someone copied the villainside "Origin of Power" badge mission and changed the last mission to be a farm?

[/ QUOTE ]The punchline is a little more oblique than that, Eva.

[ QUOTE ]
Most detailed review for a farm I've seen. Usually people wouldn't even bother. :P

[/ QUOTE ]Yeah, I know. I don't know why this one felt different from all the other AE farms I saw, but dammit, it really felt like something needed to be said to keep this kind of terrible writing from crapping up the AE.