_UBV_

In your post you've addresssed 3 different topics.
1st is archetype design.
2nd is team composition and balance.
3rd is soloing speed.

These need to be addressed seperately, as an MMO should be balanced around a team not solo.

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Capt Random Man: “Hey, we should totally hook up some time. I live in New Yucks, where are you from?”
Daughter Girl: “I was born on Pluto, but now I live at the North Pole with Santa, protecting the elves.”
Capt Random Man: “I meant in real life.”
Daughter Girl: “I can’t tell you. Santa doesn’t like visitors.”

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Ha! Brilliant.

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Level 20: ACID ARROW. 3.33 second animation. Applies a 20 second unenhanceable 15% damage resistance debuff and 15% defense debuff, auto-hit in PvE, to the target and up to 16 targets in a 25 foot radius around it, with an unenhanced basic recharge of 20 seconds.

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Acid arrow requires a to-hit check and its radius is only 8.

WOW! Forget tech wings...

This was originally posted by a dev...
It also includes the later changes to Trip Mines (/Traps mine were overlooked during the initial nerfing and were later fixed...)

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Here is a complete list of all powers which have DropToggles associated with them and the percentage chance of the attribute taking place. In the case of powers which have a chance of dropping 2 toggles, I calculated the chance for this to happen and included it in the list.

Note: Includes the later changes to Trip mines


Inherent: Brawl: 5% for 1 Toggle
Blaster: Devices: Trip Mine: 10% and 4.9333% for 1 Toggle; 0.49333% chance for 2 Toggles
Blaster: Devices: Time Bomb: 19% for 1 Toggle
Blaster: Electrical Manipulation: Charged Brawl: 5% for 1 Toggle
Blaster: Electrical Manipulation: Havok Punch: 22% for 1 Toggle
Blaster: Energy Manipulation: Bone Smasher: 22% for 1 Toggle
Blaster: Energy Manipulation: Energy Punch: 5% for 1 Toggle
Blaster: Fire Manipulation: Fire Sword: 5% for 1 Toggle
Blaster: Fire Manipulation: Fire Sword Circle: 22% for 1 Toggle
Blaster: Ice Manipulation: Frozen Fists: 5% for 1 Toggle
Blaster: Ice Manipulation: Ice Sword: 22% for 1 Toggle
Defender Force Field: Force Bolt: 8% and 2% for 1 Toggle; 0.16% chance of 2 Toggles
Controller Force Field: Force Bolt: 5% for 1 Toggle
Mastermind Force Field: Force Bolt: 5% for 1 Toggle
Defender Force Field: Repulsion Bomb: 27% and 5% for 1 Toggle; 1.35% chance of 2 Toggles
Controller Force Field: Repulsion Bomb: 19% for 1 Toggle
Mastermind Force Field: Repulsion Bomb:19% for 1 Toggle
Defender Force Field: Repulsion Field: 5% and 2% chance for 1 Toggle per 1/2 second; 0.1% chance for 2 Toggles per 1/2 second
Controller Force Field: Repulsion Field: 3% for 1 Toggle per 1/2 second
Mastermind Force Field: Repulsion Field: 3% for 1 Toggle per 1/2 second
Defender: Kinetics: Repel: 5% and 2% chance for 1 Toggle per 1/2 second; 0.1% chance for 2 Toggles per 1/2 second
Controller: Kinetics: Repel: 3% for 1 Toggle per 1/2 second
Corruptor: Kinetics: Repel: 3% for 1 Toggle per 1/2 second
Peacebringer: White Dwarf Strike: 5% for 1 Toggle Defender
Storm Summoning: Lightning Storm: 20% and 4% for 1 Toggle; 0.8% chance of 2 Toggles
Controller Storm Summoning: Lightning Storm: 17% for 1 Toggle
Defender Storm Summoning: Thunder Clap: 12% and 2% for 1 Toggle; 0.4% chance of 2 Toggles
Controller Storm Summoning: Thunder Clap: 8% for 1 Toggle
Warshade: Black Dwarf Strike: 5% for 1 Toggle
Stalker: Assassin's Claw: 22% and 4% for 1 Toggle; 0.88% chance for 2 Toggles
Stalker: Assassin's Strike: 22% and 4% for 1 Toggle; 0.88% chance for 2 Toggles
Stalker: Assassin's Blow: 22% and 4% for 1 Toggle; 0.88% chance for 2 Toggles
Stalker: Assassin's Blade: 22% and 4% for 1 Toggle; 0.88% chance for 2 Toggles
Stalker: Assassin's Impaler: 22% and 4% for 1 Toggle; 0.88% chance for 2 Toggles
Stalker: Assassin's Eclipse: 22% and 4% for 1 Toggle; 0.88% chance for 2 Toggles
Dominator: Bone Smasher: 5% for 1 Toggle
Dominator: Total Focus: 64% for 1 Toggle
Dominator: Incinerate: 5% for 1 Toggle
Dominator: Blaze: 64% for 1 Toggle
Dominator: Ice Sword: 5% for 1 Toggle
Dominator: Greater Ice Sword: 64% for 1 Toggle
Dominator: Mind Probe: 5% for 1 Toggle
Dominator: Psychic Shockwave: 64% for 1 Toggle
Dominator: Skewer: 5% for 1 Toggle
Dominator: Ripper: 64% for 1 Toggle
Mastermind: Assault Bot Smash: 5% for 1 Toggle
Corruptor: Traps: Time Bomb: 19% for 1 Toggle
Corruptor: Traps: Trip Mine: 10% and 4.9333% for 1 Toggle; 0.49333% chance for 2 Toggles
Mastermind: Traps: Trip Mine: 10% and 4.9333% for 1 Toggle; 0.49333% chance for 2 Toggles


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We've got a nice tweak to the Domination ability coming down the pipe (it will crank up your Mez resistance while it is active)

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!!!

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Ok after I've calmed myself down a bit, I'm wondering...
Mez resistance or mez protection?

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We've got a nice tweak to the Domination ability coming down the pipe (it will crank up your Mez resistance while it is active)

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!!!

In case anyone is confused about why you'd want to heal farm...
This setup is for getting the 'Damage Taken' badges.


Tough - 100,000 points of damage
Indestructible - 500,000 points of damage
Adamant - 1,000,000 points of damage
Unbreakable - 10,000,000 points of damage
Nigh Indestructible - 100,000,000 points of damage
Invulnerable - 500,000,000 points of damage
Immortal - 1,000,000,000 points of damage

Dev post.
Without a dev post it's just a rumor...

Awesome change!

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This change has no effect on a player who does not have any Defense.

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Just wondering if you can clarify this...
Is this change for all ATs with defense or only certain powersets?
Do defense buffs get this change?
Do Inspirations get this?
Do Power Pools?

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4 Buff!
If Fortitude is recharged. Hit someone with it. All too often I am on a team with an Empath, and no one has a red head. Even if you hit the same person, it's a big buff and it needs to be continually recharging. Every time you rest, check Fort. If it's recharged, hit a blaster with it.

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Fortitude is awesome.
I'm very happy you mentioned this.

It's sad that some Empaths are so focused on healing, that they forget about our 'preemptive heal'.

22.5% goes to 32.5% for one Blaster/Scrapper.

From what I heard, there's a new badge for healing 1 billion hit points. That will be virtually impossible to attain.

I suggest lowering it down to something epic but still attainable like 10 million.

The Illuminator
The Illuminator in Blyde Square
Quick!! I need makeup!!


Illuminator - Peacebringer on Triumph Server

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They should just let us buff ourselves and be damned with the consequences.

The only set that'd get really crazy would be Empaths and they'd still be no more powerful than Dark Defenders are now. And their damage would still suck.

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Empathy would be a bit overpowered.

Adrenaline Boost - Endurance worries are a thing of the past. +Regen and +Recharge as well.

Clear Mind - A near 'Practiced Brawler' level of mez protection.
No Knockback protection but that can be remedied by Acrobatics.

Fortitude - A very high level of defense and also a nice accuracy and damage boost.


With only those 3 powers, I'd bet Empathy would become a new FOTM.

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Basically, we've already committed to looking at several Archetypes and builds for I5 and afterwards, but I've said nary a word about Defenders. Why? Because of all the Archetypes, we're happiest with them. There are certainly issues with individual sets and powers - and those we're always looking at. Defenders, however, don't have any overarching problems.

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Yay! <ducks the nerf bat yet again >


Anyways, this is my opinion on the state of Defenders.
I've played an Empathy Defender to 50 and I also have a 38 Dark and a 22 Force Fielder. Defenders are my favourite AT.

Empathy - Generally fine the way it is. There are a few issues and bugs with some powers but overall they're pretty useful throughout the game. Empathy Powerset (Minor) Issues

Force Field - In my opinion, Force Field needs a boost.
They are now the only Defender set with no way to increase team damage.
They have a weakness to Sleeps and Psychics.
And some of their powers aren't very useful. Repulsion Bomb, I'm looking at YOU!!

Radiation Emission - A very good powerset. Fallout/Choking Cloud are of dubious value but the rest of the set more than makes up for it.

Kinetics - A great offensive powerset. There are still some issues though.
Speed Boost/ID could have their durations increased. ID has a few holes in its protection and I don't see any reason why its on a painful 60 second duration.
Also, there are a few bugs with Transfusion and casting it on a nearly dead enemy. Kinetics needs love

Dark Miasma - A very good powerset. No complaints.

Storm Summoning - A few simple tweaks would make Storm a lot more team-friendly. In my opinion, the biggest issue with Storm is Freezing Rain.

With skill, the Knockback on other powers can be managed and can even be very useful. The scatter on Freezing Rain cannot be negated by most Storm Defenders. The only ones that can 'control' Freezing Rain are Storm/Dark and Controllers. Tanks cannot control the scatter either, so basically one of the premier Storm debuffs is usually more harmful than helpful.
A simple solution would be to remove the damage and fear components from Freezing Rain.

Summary

Empathy, Dark, Rad and Kinetics all work well and have a 'role' to fill. Empathy is a great buff/heal powerset. Kinetics is a great offensive buff set. Rad is a great offensive debuffer. Dark is a great defensive debuffer.

Force Field is a great defensive buff powerset but that's all it does.
Its defense has holes. (Psychic, Sleeps)
Also, some of its powers are not very useful.

On paper, Storm should be a great all-rounder similar to Dark and Rad but more often than not it can't realise its potential due to the counter-productive scatter caused by most of its powers. A few small fixes would make a world of difference.

You can't heal yourself or get healed when using Absorb Pain.

These things don't work:

Healing Inspirations.
Healing Aura.
Other heroes healing you.

Regen Aura and Adrenaline Boost are 'technically' not heals.
They are Regen buffs. Because of that, they work.

Things that can heal you:

Regeneration Aura
Another Empath's Adrenaline Boost
Fitness/Health
Your 'natural' health regen

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Now, let me clarify the situation with Badges and Defeat tasks. As long as you or any of your teammates are within 200 ft. of the defeated mob, EVERYONE on the team gets credit. This is not a change in Issue 4; this is the way that it currently works.


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I think I can clarify a bit:

As long as ANYONE on your team is within 200 feet of a defeated enemy, the WHOLE TEAM gets credit.

(As long as their in the same zone of course. )

Edit: Ah, you beat me to it!

Once again, you're missing the point.

8 mission Task Force, fine.
40+ raid, fine.
40+ raid just so you can keep up, not fine.

When they add another way to get HOs, you will not hear another word out of me.

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I'm fine w/ you not wanting to compete in heavy weight competition.

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I want to compete, but if you have to repeatedly raid an encounter to be equal, then IMO that's borked and goes against the 'spirit' of the game.

You wanna put in a lot of hours in raiding to get HOs?
Hey, that's cool, good for you.

Some people don't want to raid, and would much rather earn HOs doing other activities.

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Respec trial is the same thing as doing a raid. Whether it takes 60 or 6, it still requires other people to do it. PLus i do those missions all the time. I'm telling you set at invincible, w/ a 6 to 8 man team yeilds so little as far as lvl 51 enhances. After about 8 hours of play I get sometimes none, sometimes 1. BUt in the last week, i've gotten almost 1 hami origin per 1.5 hours of raiding. On the other hand, For the exact same amount of time spent doing my missions and hunting i got 1 per every 3.5 hours of playing.

I think it's clear what's more elusive right now. At least on my server....maybe others don't have the numbers to make it happen. Or they just can't work together well enough to get it to happen. Defeating evil isn't all about doing what you want. It's about fighting evil however it sprouts up. If hamidon rules your server cus you don't want to fight him.....U are the problem, not the enhancements.

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Respec trials give out a 53 enhancement at the end. (They're limited to accuracy, damage, end redux etc.)

My server, Triumph has many public raids. I have not joined in because being in a very different time-zone means that they may be raiding while I'm still sleeping/eating etc.

I am not the problem. I was led to believe that this MMO was not about scheduled raids, loot etc. For almost a year this MMO has been very casual-friendly. This current situation leads us down the path of more hardcore MMOs. A path that should not be taken and should hopefully be rectified soon.

I think you're missing the point.

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Currently:

To get an HO: You must participate in a Hamidon Raid.

To get a 51+ SO: You can hunt.
You can do the respec trial.
You can do higher difficulty missions.

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When there are more casual-friendly methods available to get HOs, then it will be as well-balanced as the current SO situation.

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Point of contest. From lvl 22 - 50 what is the progression....we get so's...get a few nice enhances that do 2 things....out lvl them....back to so's. Really neato.....nothing after so's......Hami origins are as rare as lvl 51+ enhances. Actually, so far as it has been last week. hami origins are easier to come by than a proper lvl 51+ origin so. Since hami origins are easier to come by now for anyone on justice server than a lvl 51+ enhancement of the needed origin, the so is more rare and should be removed from the game for beng loot.

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Actually Level 51+ enhancements aren't that rare. They can be obtained through respec trials, hunting and increasing the mission difficulty.

The main thing that sets the HO apart from the SO, is the playstyle required to obtain them.

Currently:

To get an HO: You must participate in a Hamidon Raid.

To get a 51+ SO: You can hunt.
You can do the respec trial.
You can do higher difficulty missions.

IMO, The only thing that needs to be changed is to add more methods to obtain HOs and make them require an overall greater amount of time/effort.

Edit: This will:

1) Encourage raiding as the most efficient method to obtain HOs.

2) Both raiders and non-raiders, can work towards getting HOs through other means, albeit at a slower pace than raiding.

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If ho's are loot. Then so are the shard enhances u get from trials and taskforces.. So are the Hydra enhances.....In fact so are SO's, and DO's, and trainers......

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They are all loot, yes, but an HO is a rare, unique form of loot.
Currently, you cannot outlevel them, they are far superior to SOs and can only be obtained one way. Participating in a Hamidon raid.

Hydra enhancers and SOs before level 22 also fit into this category but the difference is they are not permanent and can be outleveled.

I'm not against raiding, it is wonderful to see a whole server band together against a common enemy. However, when you are forced to into a certain playstyle in order to progress, that's crossing a dangerous line.

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Either all enhancements of all lvl's are purchasable or the game gets rid of enhancements altogether in favor of an applied AP either manual or automatic is the only way to make it as even a playing field as possible w/out making it straight brawl battles between players of the exact same AT.

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Yes, I agree an MMO will never have an even playing field, but shouldn't it strive to be as even as possible?

As suggested before:

Encourage raiding as the most efficient way to get HOs.
BUT, make it possible to do other activities to get HOs.

The non-raid activities should be balanced so that it takes a greater amount of effort to get the HO, than by simply raiding.

This will encourage raiding while providing non-raiders an oppurtunity to compete. This introduces choice. People who are time-constrained or play at odd hours will still be able to outfit themselves with HOs.

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Of course everything posted about in this tread, only matters at lvl 47+, which is the soonest you can slot HO's. That means for the vast bulk of people playing CoH, this is a non-issue.

Yet people are saying that allowing HO's in to PvP will be the death of PvP as a whole... Even though they can only be used for 3 lvl's.

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There are many people who have hit Level 50, myself included.

PvP should be something that is fun, fair and should allow all competitors an equal chance of winning.

Look at the original Half-Life for example. That game is nearly 7 years old and people still consistently play it day in, day out! How did it survive so long? PvP

After people were finished with the PvE aspect, it was a fun, fair PvP that kept it going.

To many, PvP is not about pwning your fellow man, but should instead represent more content to enjoy.

If done right, PvP will solve many Lack of Content complaints, which is why some, (myself included) are complaining about the current lack of equity.

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I believe that the ONLY way to solve this is go All or Nothing.

Give ALL players, regardless of dedication, time and playing style preference, access to HOs. Make all methods of obtaining them require an equal of near-equal amount of effort.

or

Disable ALL HOs.

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Also once I again ask:
Two highest level ladders one a HOdown and one a NO HO zone, where is the problem with this? Is this not win win?

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I really don't care about ladder standings, winning/losing.
To me, those things are secondary to having a good, fair fight.

However, I do care about being out-classed by someone who can dedicate a lot more time to raiding than I can. So, in order to have a fair fight with someone, you must be able to keep up with them enhancement wise, BUT, isn't the whole design philosphy of CoH supposed to be No Loot?

Also, I do care about not being able to ever have a fair fight with Hamidon-equipped heroes and vice versa. Limiting the amount of heroes I'm able to fight would be a very bad design decision.
By splitting PvP in two, you will miss out on the opportunity to fight many skilled heroes, simply because of your enhancement set-up.

Don't get me wrong, I want raiders to be rewarded with HOs that they can use in PvP. But, I do not want to be forced into a repetitive encounter to keep up with them. If we could buy them, do missions for them etc. that would be great.


I believe that the ONLY way to solve this is go All or Nothing.

Give ALL players, regardless of dedication, time and playing style preference, access to HOs. Make all methods of obtaining them require an equal of near-equal amount of effort.

or

Disable ALL HOs.


"There will never be a fair fight in an MMO so why bother?"

Yes, builds and slotting will still give someone the advantage, and IMO that should be the ONLY advantage that one gets.

After that, the match should ideally be decided on tactics, skill and luck. The match should not be decided on who has participated in the most raids. That PvP model has been tried and has failed on numerous occasions.

The best PvP model, is one where both sides are on an equal footing. In an MMO this is not possible, but it does not mean that we should not strive to get as close as possible to that goal.