_Darkblade

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5. Freespecs Is this the end of them? I will be forthright: I was disheartened that there was no Freespec for all the power tweaks and changes lately, in particular when there were changes to 4 of 9 Energy Melee powers. I felt that merited a Freespec, I'm sure others had their own pet power changes they felt the same. There has been a lot of balancing lately and we've been left to use whatever methods of Respec we have left - and now to pay for them. So, are Freespecs dead?

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Positron indicated in a previous post that freespecs will continue to be available, as long as there are power changes of sufficient magnitude to warrant one.

As for my own personal thoughts on this service, I don't see myself using it in the foreseeable future, since $10 in my opinion is quite steep. But I suppose that for those who want to take advantage of it and have no other means of changing a character build (maybe they've blown all their previous respecs), it's nice to have.

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NCsoft NorCal Studios is pleased to announce the pricing and details for the coming Optional Additional Character Slot feature. As we previously announced, we heard the request for a system to allow more characters on a single server and this is our answer. City of Heroes is a unique game that offers many playstyle options; options that are growing in a large way due to Powerset Proliferation and the addition of the Villain Epic Archetypes in the next free expansion, Issue 12: Midnight Hour. To accommodate playing more characters on your favorite server, we will be including the following features in Issue 12:
<ul type="square">[*] All current subscribers will receive 2 free character slots, each of which can be used on the specific server of their choice. This is to help you make new characters to take advantage of the new features of Issue 12, even if you already have maxed out your “home” server’s character slots.
[*] 1 free character slot will be granted retroactively on a yearly basis through the current Veteran Reward system. Every 12 months that a subscription is maintained will unlock an additional free character slot that the user can apply to the server of their choice. Thus, existing players will be eligible for up to 4 additional character slots at the launch of Issue 12. This will continue into the future for Veteran Rewards given out every 12 months, so you get another slot for 5 years, another one for 6 years, etc.
[*] Additional Optional Character Slots will be available on a purchasable basis. These are one-time fees, not an addition to your monthly subscription rate. The additional slots can be had at the following price points:

• 1 Optional Character Slot for a one-time fee of $5.99
• 2 Optional Character Slots for a one-time fee of $9.99
• 5 Optional Character Slots for a one-time fee of $19.99
[*] Players can have up to 36 slots per server, with an update to the character selection screen that lets you re-organize your character list by Drag and Drop, as well as easily flip between up to three pages of characters available on that server. All customers benefit from these great new User Interface features included with the revisions for Optional Character Slots.[/list]The above features are planned to be made available at the launch of Issue 12: Midnight Hour, which is currently in closed beta testing. Be sure to check out this feature, along with the rest of Issue 12 when we enter the open beta testing period that should be starting in several more weeks.

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I think some type of neutral/lawful/titling/coding system would work best. That way there would be a place for everyone- for those who would prefer that a thread stay on topic, and also for those who wish to threadjack to their hearts content (for lack of a better expression).

Overall, I do think there are many viewpoints that have been stated over these pages that have merit. Live and let live, though caution has to be exercised so that any personal philosophy we have in this regard doesn't make life miserable for someone else. The OP, rightly, sets the overall tone for the thread in question, and so if a request is made for it not to be jacked, then he/she should be respected for his/her stance. If someone were to make an honest mistake, don't be so quick to hand him over to the wolves. And perhaps most importantly, think before you post.

But, I'm going to focus on two things. First, the constant threadjacking isn't just a quality of life issue, but as Ex pointed out in a post previous to this one, it's also a technical issue. If it's something that can, at least eventually, drag down the forums, and make the use of such forums difficult for others who also use them, then ironically enough it can also be categorized as a QoL issue for those involved.

Second: Ex, several times, has jumped in and asked, or prodded us, to find some type of solution so as to avoid exercising any authority as a forum administrator and finding one for us. As she commented above, there would be strict guidelines and such that would have to be enforced, which I'm sure would be unpleasant for everyone.

In my opinion it really isn't all that difficult a thing to do if we let respect and consideration for others primarily drive any motivation we might have to post something.

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pretty obvious.. Protector has the most incoherent forums of all.

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I haven't replied directly to the issue at hand (yet) but I will say this:

If anyone, at any time, had any questions as to what troll bait would be defined as, the quote above would be your answer.

Please, if we're going to come to a solution on this matter, be constructive.

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I mean I may be missunderstanding, but does that mean I10 is going to be some of these preplanned sets? or that it will contain no new power sets? I feel a little like I'm shooting in the dark.

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According to Lighthouse, none of these will make it into I10.

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Finally, let me add my name to the chorus that would gladly pay $50 for a significant expansion that was this fall and had a lot of new stuff for everyone: powersets, costumes, loot, story, etc.

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Doling out the proposed features in the expansion for free may keep an additional 50 dollars or so in our pockets, but it also means that they would take quite a lot more time to be realized since they would be spread out over several issues.

Personally, if the content is meaningful and there's enough of it such that everyone of varying level ranges will have something to do, I have no qualms in paying for it. Plenty of other game developers have used paid expansions as a means of significantly pushing a story forward and adding new features, so if Cryptic went this route it would hardly be anything new.

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I've been thinking about this recently, and the melee set that I think would work brilliantly would be Staff Fighting. Think Bruce Lee in 'Enter the Dragon' and the scene where he takes on about a dozen martial artists with an 8' long staff. In addition to straight-forward attacks, it opens itself up to things like foot sweeps, multi-target strikes, stuns, parry-repostes, knockouts, paralyzing 'nerve' strikes, overhead slams...the list could go on.
Visually it would be a feast for the eyes, with whirling staff effects, poses, pinwheeling sweeps, spinning turns, elaborate attack patterns etc. Give the staff a mettalic look and it would be even better!

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My regenner is already at 50. Way back when (I forget exactly- it could have been around I1 or I2) Statesman mentioned something about a bostaff-type set. I remember saying to myself as I read that that if it ever materialized, I would take my MA/Regen toon and reroll him.

I voted for psi weaponry and energy blade, but I could get behind dual blade, too. I'd also love to see a quarterstaff or nunchaku set, or radiation melee.

Hell, I'm just happy that after 3+ years that any consideration is being given to adding tanker and scrapper sets.

"Reads this post and ponders the intriguing possibliities with his MA/Regen Scrapper".

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Along this line... What can you tell us about the various +Stealth IOs from the Travel Sets?

Specifically, can they be slotted in passive powers? If so, how is this going to interact with NPC hostages and such that won't interact with a stealthed character?

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Currently:
<ul type="square">[*]They can be slotted into passive movement powers.[*]You can have one of each type on your character for some massive bonuses.[*]Escort NPCs will not follow you if these are slotted on your characters.[/list]
Now, before the uproar starts, I have to say that unless we find a satisfactory solution for the last item on the list, these IO's have a high probability of being cut before reaching the live servers. Even if that problem is solved, it is still unlikely that you will be able to slot all 4 versions in a single character -- either that, or the stealth aspect will be reduced greatly.

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I have a question.

I currently play 2 /dark villians. On a few occasions when fighting in a mission, I'd pick up an ally upon reaching a certain point who would then assist in fighting mobs and/or clearing the mission. And this is while shadowfall is running, so clearly there is some type of +perception involved.

So, why can't escort NPCs behave in a similar manner? I would think this would be a thorn in the side particularly to stalkers, who rely on hide for much of their defenses. But if it is possible, that would obviously mean the problem cited in number 3 would be solved.

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MoG kicks [censored] if you -KNOW- how to use it. I have a 40 MA/regen scrapper, and MoG has -never- failed me. Noticing that it has failed a -50- tells me that the -50- doesnt know how to use it.

End of discussion.

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I don't know that that's the case at all. There have been a few, like yourself, that openly admit on these forums they get some use out of MoG, but that's doesn't necessarily mean that the ones who have it and die because of it are bad players, and neither does it mean that the power isn't flawed in it's execution.

My level 47 MA/Regen scrapper doesn't have, and will never take MoG as long as it performs the way it does. In fact, I could never in good faith recommend that anyone take MoG. Using lucks and a dull pain/IH combo to get through sticky spots is a far more viable option, and has even been proved to be more advantageous in actual gameplay conditions.

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One more quick question for everyone (in particular the TA vets that have been responding and testing in this thread): what are your thoughts in regards to 3 slotting Flash Arrow for debuffs? IIRC doing so would only take you from a 7.5 to 13% rate, which is hardly gamebreaking. My current position is that the slots are better spent elsewhere, but I'm curious as to how others feel about it.

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You're not going to get a 13% debuff with Flash Arrow. The base debuff value (for Defenders) is 6.25% (I believe this is the number _Castle_ is quoted as providing; if I'm remembering wrong someone please correct me). With three to-hit debuffs you get to about 9.75%. I can think of much better things to do with those extra two slots than getting an extra 1.125% to-hit buff per slot (the default slot gets you to 7.5%).

I'll likely be keeping Flash Arrow in my build for the -perception, and under the logic that some debuff is better than no debuff. But I'm certainly not giving any more slots than it comes with.

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That's even worse than I thought. I just have a debuff in the initial slot, and it certainly isn't getting any more.

One more quick question for everyone (in particular the TA vets that have been responding and testing in this thread): what are your thoughts in regards to 3 slotting Flash Arrow for debuffs? IIRC doing so would only take you from a 7.5 to 13% rate, which is hardly gamebreaking. My current position is that the slots are better spent elsewhere, but I'm curious as to how others feel about it.

Edit: I should add that during my above test run it's performance was very subpar. On a few occasions I attracted unwanted aggro, despite flashing one mob and attacking another one nearby.

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I've yet to get a TA up high enough for oil slick, so I ask:
Is oil slick a location power, like a rain, or an AoE, like ball lightning? I don't think locations are subject to AoE limitations; if something wanders in to the location area with time remaining, it gets affected. At least that's my understanding.

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Oil Slick Arrow is a location based power. Any outside mobs that wander into it are affected.

And now, for my follow up post with testing results that I promised a couple of nights ago. I intended to do it that very night, but the character copy tool was having problems.

I respecced my TA/A archer again, Sgt. Scorpion, current security level 27. Without going into too much detail, I'll just quickly summarize by saying that the slotting for blazing arrow remained the same as my last test run: 1 acc/3 damage/1 recharge/1 end reducer, all SO's. The only key difference is that the enhancements were all +3's, as opposed to them being even level before.

I ran a total of 3 missions, all a mixture of Tsoo and Family, with the average mob level being 24. All 3 of them took place inside warehouse maps. This is currently an old story arc that I'm in the midst of completing, but I seriously doubt that fighting even level mobs would have anything to do with whether or not the slick would light. I made every effort to use it as frequently as possible, which generally was whenever there were 2 or more foes in a mob.

And now (drum roll please) the results. And they were nothing short of spectacular.

Mission 1: 9 attempts, 9 hits, 0 misses, 9 ignitions. Lighting percentage= 100%.

Mission 2: 10 attempts, 10 hits, 0 misses, 10 ignitions. Lighting percentage= 100%.

Mission 3: 8 attempts, 8 hits, 0 misses, 8 ignitions. Lighting percentage= 100%.

Average ignition rate throughout all 3 missions: 100%.

This is a complete turnaround, to say the least, from my initial test experience when the 5/31 patch hit the TR. At that point, I ran a string of 20 OS activations, only to have it light once. Others have since reported on the streakiness of the power, but I have yet to get results that even come close to that test run that night. One caveat that I just thought of though in reference to the mission level: It allowed me to move relatively quickly from start to finish. Running through an even level mission would probably mean that I would be proceeding at a somewhat slower pace, giving me that many more opportunities to test it. This could very well skew the results- in other words, more opportunities would possibly mean I wouldn't receive a perfect hit/ignite ratio. I could go to Croatoa, where I should be able to receive even level missions right away.

Another thing that impressed me was that I was never in a situation where I was even close to running out of endurance (my archer's build is currently stamina free). Again, this will be somewhat different upon running even level missions, but it's very likely that the omission of the fitness pool will translate over to his live build once I7 finally comes down the pipe. The situation will only improve once he hits his 30s and has the opportunity to slot end reducers in all his attacks.

All in all, I'm very pleased with the performance of Oil Slick at the moment. It very well may be bugged in regards to long streaks without igniting it, or it may somehow be some sort of streakbreaker coming into play, as I surmised before. I'm not really sure, but overall I would think it's performance now is world's better compared to what it was in the past.

Just a couple reasons off the top of my head as to why I think Flash needs a stronger acc debuff:

1) It's really no more effective than Smoke Grenade, with a few cosmetic additions to it. It just doesn't seem balanced that the devs took a power from a blaster secondary, made slight alterations, and then stuck it in a defender primary. It really doesn't play to the strength of the AT, which, besides buffing, is to debuff.

2) The power in it's current incarnation lacks focus. It's quite possible to pick up unintended aggro despite the pseudo-stealth aspect of it, and the accuracy debuff is nominal. Just what, then, do you use it for? What are its strengths?

3) When playing TA, you have to choose between entangling and flash as openers, neither of which are really great powers. We're already well familiar with flash's problems, and despite the fact that entangling is now more valuable due to glue's ability to ground fliers, on it's own it's still lackluster. Significantly upping flash's acc debuff percentage would in fact be a boon to low level TA defenders, since they would have an effective way to mitigate incoming damage. As they start off, they would actually have something that would be considered useful. It would also underscore the same mantra that many of us have been repeating for quite a while now: a set with no heal and no direct buffs to speak of towards fellow teammates should not only debuff, but do it quite well.

Boosting flash's acc debuff percentage, along with giving the set another source of -regen besides EMP would, I think, make it overall much more effective. In fact, I would say both are necessary in order for it to take another major step forward. The changes currently on test are welcome ones, but I still don't think we're quite there yet.

Incidentally, my next round of testing will be via missions to get a better idea of exactly how all this will play out. I'll be recopying my toon over so as to respec again and change some slots around, but blazing will still be 6 slotted. The only difference is that all my archer's enhancements will be +3's. Anyway, I'll follow up later on with a post as to the results.

Soul, your post brings up an interesting question.

What's the success rate for lighting the slick on the controller side? Is it the same? More? Less?

It probably should be less given the added control they have from their primaries. If it's the same, I can live with it. And I'm not trying to open up another can of worms here, but if they can get it to light 100% of the time, then it's only fair it be the same on the defender side as well.

Talk about a change in circumstances.

I just finished another minitest with my archer in regards to oil slick. I didn't change anything in regards to slotting, and activated it in the same general area.

Out of 20 attempts, blazing arrow hit 20 times, igniting the slick 20 times. Again, no, this is not a typo. This time I had a 100% success rate in lighting the oil slick.

Clearly something isn't right and this test alludes to the streakiness of the power as a couple of you outlined above. This is just a wild guess and may not make any sense, but could the streakbreaker somehow be coming into play here?

In any case, it is nice when it does light. If only it did so with some more consistency. Hopefully a red name is taking a look at this.

Ironically, before this latest patch hit test, my oil slick was lighting roughly 80% of the time. While it wasn't perfect, I was able to live with it.

Eh, forget the cool factor. This thing hasn't been working right for going on a year, back when I5 came down the pipe. Just let it self light (thereby being a benefit to certain sets that have no inherent way to light it anyway) and the problem that continues to plague this power would be fixed.

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From the 5/31/06 Training Room patch notes:

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• The Oil Slick Target should be easier to hit now.

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Well, I ran out and did some testing. Testing was done using Blazing Arrow with two +3 accuracy SOs (if I had thought about it beforehand, I would have removed them; I may get in a subsequent test tomorrow with base accuracy).

As far as the patch note goes, it is accurate. Out of 50 Oil Slicks, I only missed once (and hit it on the subsequent attempt). I still don't understand why there's a to-hit check on our own power, but it is much better than it is on live.

That said, there's the second part of the equation that has yet to be addressed. That being Oil Slicks that are hit and destroyed, but outright fail to ignite. Out of the 50 Oil Slicks (all of which were hit with Blazing Arrow and defeated), only 24 actually ignited. This isn't a typo or math error. The success rate of lighting my own Oil Slick was only 48%.

Is this a bug with Oil Slick? Is it just Blazing Arrow? Is this the intended success ratio? (if the answer to that last question is "yes" then please help me bury my TA Defender)

I'd be interested to see other players' results. I'd be even more interested to hear some developer feedback.

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OK, something's definitely up.

I just logged off from test with Sgt. Scorpion, my level 27 TA/A defender. I ran a short test with oil slick, using blazing arrow slotted for 1 acc/3 damage/1 recharge/1 end reducer (all even level SO's). I activated the slick 20 times, and the results are appalling.

While the ability to hit more consistently is nice, the fact of the matter is, out of 20 tries, I missed 3 times, but the slick lit only once. No, that wasn't a typo. ONE TIME.

I admit that part of the cool factor is being able to use an arrow as a followup attack and light it. But I'm beginning to think the best way to fix this would be for it to just light by itself and be done with it.

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flash arrow is not an -acc power, it's more of a targeted stealth power with some -acc. the main thing about it is the -perception

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And it's because of this very reason that flash arrow is currently borked (for a more extensive discussion of Flash Arrow, see the related thread taking place in the defender forums here). The power currently has no focus and doesn't really fit into a defender primary in it's current form. The lack of any appreciable accuracy debuff component in the TA set as a whole is still one of its big drawbacks and is in need of some attention.

GP, if you want to run another round of tests, I'm game. Besides the PB, I have a level 30 rad/rad defender that's available (I could even play him to try and gain a few more levels before the time of any prospective 2nd go round if that would work), and beyond that, a level 41 (soon to be 42) MA/Regen scrapper that I could exemp for testing purposes.

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Notes: Somehow, the numbers on this compare well to the Dark Miasma team. Admittedly, we weren’t playing in a toggle-friendly mode, but the fact of Luminara’s relatively low damage taken stat is something I can’t explain at the moment. Mobs were Flash Arrowed, but a 9.6% accuracy debuff doesn’t account for her taking less than half the damage she did with the Storm team. My best guess is that by this point, everyone was running in with her rather than behind her, as the damage seems to be spread out a bit more evenly among team members. Anyone who was on the team that can remember this detail?


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I believe you're correct. I, at least, was by this point accustomed to her berserk charges, and was making a point of charging in as close to her as I could, with my damage aura running. Note that I took nearly 2k more damage than in Run 2, and nearly 4 times as much as in Run 1. A lot of that is due to a conscious effort to pull aggro away from Luminara. I also found myself actually relying on my self-heal in this run--it had mostly gathered dust in the first two runs.

That brings up something to consider with this test: We did three runs of the same mission, with all the same characters except for the defender. We were, I think, working together much more effectively by the third run, and familiarity with the mission undoubtedly improved our efficiency as well.

On a slightly ranty, non-TA note: Nemesis Vengeance sucks. I kept an eye on my accuracy stats, and most of my primary attack chain stayed below 70% for the whole test. After the last mission, most of my attack chain showed an average between 40% and 55%. Granted, this is mostly against +1 and +2 enemies, but I was also leading off with Soul Drain as often as possible to buff my accuracy. I took a quick poll of the others after the test, and they mostly reported similar accuracy. It appears that Vengeance was cutting our modified to-hit roughly in half on the average. It really should be made non-stacking.

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If I remember right, during this mission I was making more of a concerted effort to switch to nova form and clean up by blasting while everyone else was in melee or near melee range. That was undoubtedly a factor in Lum's lower damage intake as well: the mobs simply weren't up as long.

While my herostats was borked, it definitely did seem that I was missing quite a bit more than normal.

Just a quick note on TA's animation issues: I'm not sure that's gonna change very much. _Castle_ did make the comment that they wanted to make the set look as smooth as possible. Another possibility might be lengthening the debuff times so we wouldn't have to reapply so much, but that would undoubtedly mean dealing with longer recharge times and/or higher endurance costs to compensate.

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Take mog

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Hey, Heph. While I do appreciate the advice, I'll just redirect your attention HERE. After all, we don't want to completely derail the Trick Arrow forums with a discussion about MoG, do we?

Among my toons, I have a level 34 PB, and a level 30 rad/rad defender that can be used to participate in this. Thurs. evening would be a good time for me as well.