Barata

Congrats on your choice for fire/ice. It's a wonderfully fun combination. I can give a little advice, but I don't have a "build" that lists what powers you should take when. I prefer to just let the player know some of the ins and outs and let the player decide.

My own preference with my build was to grab a lot of different "utility" powers so I had a bigger bag of tricks to pull from. It lets me solo VERY well. Powers I particularly and strongly recommend:
Flares
Fire Blast
Fire Ball
Fire Breath
Rain of Fire
Blaze
Chillblain
Ice Sword
Ice Patch
Shiver
Freezing Touch
Hover
Char (Fire Epic)
Fire Shield (Fire Epic)
Rise of the Phoenix (Fire Epic)
Swift/Health/Stamina

Beyond that, there's a bunch of powers that could be very very useful if you can squeeze them in.

Inferno (your nuke, though not needed, still too good to pass up).


It could be difficult to squeeze in, but the Medicine pool and Aid Self helps. Aid Self gives a healthy dose of disorient resistance. Besides cutting downtime, using it just before a fight reduces the duration of stuns significantly. This can be difficult to add in to a build, so don't sweat it if you can't. Defiance takes some of the sting out of getting mezzed, so it's not as big a deal as it used to be.

Hover is good for MANY blaster builds as you can stay hovered even when stunned/held/slept, and Defiance lets you use up to three attacks. Getting mezzed on a blaster is closer to an inconvenience than the crippling status effect it used to be. Remaining hovered above the mobs lets you avoid the heavy melee attacks. It's great to see the Crey Tanks clustering around underneath you unable to hit you with those devastating melee energy attacks.

Slot up Chillblain. Besides the standard Accuracy, add in some Damage and Range. It greatly helps you keep things (even bosses) away from you, and the damage is not insignificant.

If you opt for one of the /ice melee attacks, Ice Sword does a nice chunk of damage. The combination of Blaze + Ice Sword executes very quickly and instantly takes out a minion. Sappers and other annoying minions can barely respond before they're wiped out.

Chilling Embrace lets you get up close more safely than you normally could. It's an acquired tasted and not part of the required ones for a build, but it is effective. It debuffs a mob's recharge rate by a LARGE amount, and also debuffs their damage. It tends to make mobs try to get away from you, which mitigates even a little more damage. Though you may not be a blapper, you can jump into a spawn to lay down Ice Patch, and the combination of CE and Ice Patch really messes up (they're slowed and can't get off the Ice Patch as quickly). I've found that I can stand toe-to-toe with many bosses because CE and Ice Sword slow down the recharge rate of attacks so well (besides debuffing damage).

Having two holds (Freezing Touch and Char) lets you hold bosses. Many of the powers I've been mentioning are situational (Chilling Embrace, Ice Sword, Ice Patch) in that you have to get close, but keep this in mind..... you want a soloing build. Soloing builds benefit from a selection of different situational powers. You have a larger bag of tricks you can pull from to get through many situations. Here's an example.....

In Peregrine, if street sweeping, you'll come up against a lot of Warhulk/Fake Nemesis combos. Two bosses, side-by-side, can be pretty messy for a blaster. What I do with my fire/ice is turn on Chilling Embrace, run up to the Fake Nemesis, and hit him with Freezing Touch and Char. He's now held and out of the picture for a bit. I immediately lay down an Ice Patch, keeping the War Hulk off his feet. I then start Rain of Fire, hit the Fake Nemesis with Blaze and Ice Sword, and reapply Freezing Touch and Char to keep him held. This keeps him from using his bubbles and becoming untouchable. I then continue to pound on the Fake Nemesis until he drops, laying down an Ice Patch again as soon as it's available. Once the FN is out of the pic, I then work on the Warhulk. The lieutenants and minions I don't worry about because the AoEs will take them out during all of this fighting.

Against Malta, the tactics change depending upon the spawn makeup. If there's a gunslinger, he gets priority and I use Freezing Touch/Char, then take out any sappers with Blaze+Ice Sword. If it's just a sapper, Char works well.

Aim+Shiver+Rain of Fire+Fireball works well on whole spawns, as does Aim+Buildup+Fireball+Breath of Fire.

I listed Rise of the Phoenix above, and I really recommend it. It's a game-changing power. You'll find that it removes any hesitancy you may have when approaching certain spawns. You're more prone to try different tactics and push yourself harder than you normally would because death (should your tactic not work) is no longer a negative thing. One click and you're not only back up and running again, but invulnerable and surround by stunned enemies. It very much changes how you play and lets you be much more aggressive than you normally would be.

Sorry I don't have specific builds, but I really just like to give examples and let the player decide the route they'll take. As you can see, fire/ice gives you quite a bit of versatility.

I nuke occasionally. I have a fire/ice blaster, and quite a few of my powers are situational. I have two holds, Ice Patch, Chilling Embrace, Inferno.... a bunch of powers that are fun, but not ones that are regulars in my attack chain. I go through periods where I'm in a nuking mood, so I nuke a lot. Then I go through moods where I shift my playstyle and use my holds a lot. At other times, I have fun jumping into a spawn and laying down an Ice Patch and Rain of Fire.

The nuke, like I said, gets heavy attention at times, and at other times I just forget it's there. I think that's what I like about my blaster..... he's very adaptive and allows me to switch my playstyle to fit my moods.

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You might have been able to eliminate those sliver guys by defiance buffing your nuke. Aim and Build up have 10 second durations.

For example if you target a boss in the spawn then hit Aim + BU, Charged Bolts, Lightening Bolt, Ball Lightening AND THEN Thunderous Blast your nuke will have done 19.8% more damage. The rest of your team would have had 4 more seconds to contribute AoEs and nothing of the spawn should have been left.

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I'm not sure about that. Does Aim and Buildup last long enough to last throughout those attacks to still be in effect when the nuke goes off?

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<QR>

This assumption is not restricted to AE.

A week or two ago I felt like teaming, so I hit broadcast and got a team together. As it happens the first mission I had lined up was "Rob the Mercy Bank", and I mentioned that in broadcast to let people know I wasn't forming an AE team.

Everything was going great until someone grabbed the money. Suddenly team chat looks like this:

Player 1: Oh no, someone grabbed the money!
Player 2: Exit quick!
Me: What?
Player 1: Don't kill the guards!
Me: But...

Several of the team run for the exit, and the rest of us are taken out by the now overwhelming security. Once everyone is either outside or faceplanted...

Player 3: What happened?
Player 1: Someone grabbed the money. We'd have completed the mission if we defeated the guards.
Me: Um... I wasn't planning on farming it...
Player 1: Really?
Me: No.
Player 1: Why not?

On reflection I realise that the Mercy Bank is a very popular levelling tool for lowbies, but at no point during recruitment or during the mission itself did I, or anyone else, use the word Farm. Having to explain and justify why I wasn't farming it was something I could have done without.

So it's not just an AE problem. It's just more pervasive in AE.

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hahahahaha! That's pretty funny.

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The dissatisfaction is far from widespread. There is some outrage: from about 10 people here, and from some who *have never posted before now*.


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That's how I see it too.

For the past five years, people have been pointing out on the forums how the subscription numbers are decreasing. Yet five years later, those numbers are still relatively the same. As a game gets older, I expect it to gradually lose subscribers. All of the long-term games have fewer subscribers as newer and shinier ones are released.

I'm sure nobody expects any game to go on forever, so I don't understand why anyone would worry over the fact that one would eventually close.

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Without going into the numbers, those sound like reasonable suggestions. As it stands right now, the STF is the only thing in the game in which a tank is on my priority list when I'm forming teams. I'm not saying tanks are bad or that I won't take one, just that they can become irrelevant quite easily on a decent/good team.

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Any AT can become irrelevant on a good team.
I've been on controllers, defenders, blasters, scrappers, brutes, stalkers, peacebringers, masterminds, corruptors, dominators, and widows where I could go AFK with no noticeable change in mission speed.

ANY AT can be made unessential on a good team. Damage, and Buffs can be wasted just as easily as defense.

[/ QUOTE ] True, but it's easiest to replace tanks IMO.

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Actually, it's equally easy replacing anyone, just click on the "invite to team" button.

Whether the replacement can effectively fill the role is another matter.

I've been with the game long enough to have been part of all of the discussions about how tanks are made obsolete by so many other archetypes, yet a decent tank still makes the team safer than anyone else.

I don't have any problems with people using knockback, whether I'm a tank or any other archetype. If a blaster knocks someone back out of my taunt aura, I figure the blaster should be able to finish him off. I do get annoyed though if the blaster uses the cone KB power to knock everyone out of my taunt aura as that could be very very messy. But if they want to single out enemies and juggle them around with KB, then they should go for it. Way too many tanks and Kins seem to think the team should center fully around their playstyle, rather than them adapting to the team.

--deleted--
Wrong thread....

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I absolutely HATE the contact system blueside. I play mainly blueside because the archetypes and atmosphere redside doesn't interest me much, but the contact system blueside is just HORRIBLE. I hate it from a player's perspective and I hate it from a design perspective. Why on earth are all the contacts blueside so freakin' afraid to actually go visit the zones they're so concerned about!?.

Every single original contact seems to concentrate their missions on any zone except the one they're in. I find that just unbelievable. It's like having a community representative for Philadelphia based in New York City.

When you work your way through a zone and finally level up enough to graduate to the next one, you don't want to be sent back to where you just came from. Not only that, but just from a realism perspective, it fails horribly. I get sent on missions to AP to defeat Sky Raiders or such, and they're not even in that zone!

If there's to BIG QoL features I'd like to see implemented that are heavy enough to warrant their own issue, it would be a revamp of the contact system heroside, and also to finally have a respec system. Our current respec system is as difficult as it could possibly be without intentionally being coded for extra difficulty.

Sorry, I started ranting. It must be a sore spot with me.

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Here's the problem I've always had with this. It's meta thinking.

Paragon City is Paragon City. The zones are just neighborhoods of a larger whole. People are thinking of them as separate entities where they really are part of a larger whole. It would be silly in the extreme to my mind to be stuck in one zone for every mission, unless it made sense with the story like Faultline or Croatoa.

If a contact sends you to Atlas Park that's because they usually want to send you to City Hall. I see no problem with having folks of all levels all over the game. I absolutely hate that villain side traps you for the most part in one zone. Sure it's a pain in the butt sometimes to have to travel across the game, but really in this game you can get anywhere inside about 2 minutes.

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I can see sending you to different zones for some missions, but when most of the missions are in a different zone, it just doesn't make sense. You run around Atlas Park, street sweeping and running small missions here and there, and the moment you leave it to get to Kings Row, what does he do? Send you back to AP. Repeatedly.

It starts to strike home that each of these contacts seems to have very little knowledge of the area that they're actually in. Get a contact in Independence Port that deals primarily with the council and it makes sense. They're all over the place. But what does the contact do? Send you to Talos or some other zone where you never see them at all.

It fails on multiple levels. It doesn't make sense to be running missions for a particular villain group in a zone that doesn't even have that group. It doesn't make sense that the villain groups don't really have much more than a street presence in the zone you are working from (their door missions are usually in other zones). And from a player/design perspective, it doesn't make sense that when someone reaches a high enough level to now "graduate" to a new zone, you keep sending him out of that zone back into the one that he's spent the last few days working in and is tired of.

Yeah, mix it up a little bit and send me to other zones. But let me feel that when I do hit 20 and move on to IP, I'll actually be able to enjoy some of the content there instead of having to level through my 20's by running missions in Steel Canyon.

Even the radio missions have a sense of flawed design to them. You can run 20 radio missions in Kings Row, but that bank never gets robbed until you're no longer in that zone. There's also that little thing about being told that a detective wants to see you immediately, and you trudge over to him to find that:
1) The bank in some other area is being robbed (what, there's no heroes there? I've been there. I've seen heroes there.)
2) They'll bring you there, but you have to travel across town to the car. At least Kings Row did it right by having the actual police vehicle right there at the police station.

I absolutely HATE the contact system blueside. I play mainly blueside because the archetypes and atmosphere redside doesn't interest me much, but the contact system blueside is just HORRIBLE. I hate it from a player's perspective and I hate it from a design perspective. Why on earth are all the contacts blueside so freakin' afraid to actually go visit the zones they're so concerned about!?.

Every single original contact seems to concentrate their missions on any zone except the one they're in. I find that just unbelievable. It's like having a community representative for Philadelphia based in New York City.

When you work your way through a zone and finally level up enough to graduate to the next one, you don't want to be sent back to where you just came from. Not only that, but just from a realism perspective, it fails horribly. I get sent on missions to AP to defeat Sky Raiders or such, and they're not even in that zone!

If there's to BIG QoL features I'd like to see implemented that are heavy enough to warrant their own issue, it would be a revamp of the contact system heroside, and also to finally have a respec system. Our current respec system is as difficult as it could possibly be without intentionally being coded for extra difficulty.

Sorry, I started ranting. It must be a sore spot with me.

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Also, Chilblain is the best 1st Tier of any Secondary. Period.

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This is very very true. Chillblain is a gem. Damage, slow, immobilize, -fly, -recharge.... all with conservative endurance usage and a decent recharge rate. I use it constantly on any blaster of mine that has it. It's a great power. And it accepts three different IO sets. I always six-slot mine, it's so effective in so many ways.

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I have issues with 2 of your statements here.

Saying Devices and Ice are problematic when solo is outright wrong. Devices and Ice are probably the strongest sets for a soloing blaster.


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I agree with this. At least, in regards to /ice. /ice is a very very strong set. There's a whole bunch of powers in /ice that mitigate damage and improve survival. I'd barely change a single thing in that set.

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Ahh, good old ultima online. i actually love the way the skill system is set up, and even befor ethe various changes that have made skill gains come much faster than in the old days, I find its easy to reach max skill level. Unfortunatly these days teh game has more grind to it than it used to thanks to the more recent (comparatively) addition of artifacts. Fortunately I play on Siege, and as much as it annoys me sometimes, there's nothing like full loot PvP to keep the prices of uber-gear in check. But I digress.

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Allow me to digress too....

It's nice hearing from someone who appreciated that system as much as I did. It felt natural, even if it was grindy. I was so sad when they broke the world into two instances, one with PvP and one without. As much as I hated being ganked, some of the best times I had were hunting down those PKers with other people. I remember getting killed by someone once using the paralyze/Corp Por combo. I was playing later with my more experienced character (a VERY fast katana-weilding fighter) when I came across him in the woods. We both stopped and stared at each other, and simultaneously started attacking each other. I ran for him while he started casting. What a rush it was to constantly interrupt his spells (katanas are FAST when you have 100 dex), and to see him continually try to recall. He got away, but not without a lot of sweat.

I loved that natural feel to the game. It was so exciting to be in a virtual world with all of those other people. Considering all of those other games didn't exist, it was a whole new genre. Very exciting times.

I've actually been considering starting the account back up again, though I think my old account was deleted. I couldn't reactivate it as the server said it didn't exist. I had kind of hoped my characters would still be there. I still may do that this weekend though and try making a new character. I don't know if I'll use Seige Perilous or not, it was always a very difficult server to play on, but I may do it just for a change of pace.

anyway, back to our original discussion....

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every MMO is about grinding.
the trick to if its fun or not is sugar coating.
if the grind is sugar coated just right, you dont really notice you are grinding.
the secret to a good MMO is making your grind with just the right amount of sugar coating.
when i first started COX the game was just so much fun and so neat to play i had a sweet time playing and never really noticed the grind at all.
but now that ive played COX for many years ive gotten used to the sugar flavor and the im very aware of the repetitive grind of this game.
i can only play COX in small doses these days, like an hour or two a day and I am constantly switching which characters I play to try to keep variety. Ill do one mission with one character, then switch to another character and do a different level/zone mission.

the problem with COH is that its all about your super powers and nothing really else. and you only get super powers through grinding levels.
there is the grind to 20 until you get stamina and your travel powers set up. i hate this grind, not having stamina is horrible.
then there is the 20-32 grind until you get your lvl 32 power. (this grind takes so long you can prob divide up into two grinds by the time you get to lvl 32 its like OMG finally)
then there is the 32-38 grind when you get your highest secondary power. the level 30's are some of the longest grinds in the game.
then there very very long grind to lvl 50.
so i find the grind is more apparent because I always have some set goal/level that I want to reach that keeps my mind on the XP bar all the time like watching a pot waiting for the water to boil.

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This is an interesting post, and it brings up something that I was thinking about. From your post, the entire game feels like a grind, and you admit that you've become accustomed to the taste of sugar. From everything you've posted, it sounds like you're finally tired of the game and burned out as you see the entire game as a grind.

Why do you play it that way then? I'm really interested in someone actually sitting back, asking themselves "why am I still playing?", and honestly answer that question.

I'll answer it for myself, as I've reached the point several times in several games where I felt it was all a grind. I was doing it out of habit. At some point almost every day, I'd log onto the game to have fun and socialize. At one traumatic period in my life when I became widowed, I logged in because the repetitive nature of grinding occupied my mind for a few hours and let me forget my grief. Those sessions turned into habits. It was something I was used to doing. When I did decide that I wasn't actually having fun anymore, and was instead just killing time, I still logged on and grinded because I didn't know what else to fill my time with. I'm curious why other people who are exhibiting burnout and are obviously tired of the game still play. For the same reason as me? (out of habit). Or for some other reason?

Is there any intention to resolve that? Obviously, continuing to play and grind isn't going to make the game gradually more fun again, so what are your long-term plans? Play until even getting quick 50's or purples isn't fun anymore and then quit? Take a break and come back?

Like I said, I'm curious as to why someone who finally admits that they've lost enjoyment of the game and just grind through it... still play. I'm not being negative or condescending when I say this, as I've done it too, and still do it at times. I just think it makes for an interesting discussion that has the potential of changing perceptions and possibly even restoring fun again.

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I only think something is a grind if I don't enjoy doing it.

I've not found playing the game to be grinding except when I used to hunt certain badges. Since I don't do that any more, I don't experience any grind but since that is based on my feelings of what I am doing it is pretty clear others might do the exact same thing as me and find it a grind and what I would consider a grind another player would not.

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That's more in line with how I feel. I decided a while back that except for the very low levels (1 through 6 or so), no one level is inherently better or worse than any other. That is, teaming and fighting and playing is pretty much consistent throughout the entire game (at least, for me), so I rarely feel the need to "grind". And when I do feel that I'm grinding, I reevaluate the desired result and question whether the ends justifies the means. Is the reward worth not having fun?

I want my supergroup to have the healing badge so it can get a few final components for our base. To do that, I have to heal. A lot. I found myself playing my dark defender (the toon with the best heals, I don't have an empath) more than I wanted to. So I reexamined my goal. I envisioned having those things for my base and if it was worthwhile to get them quickly, or would it be better to just let it happen naturally? I decided that having those items would be nice, but are unnecessary to having fun. Getting a reward quickly is fun, but it's also satisfying to finally receive a reward that took time. Realizing these things, I play my DD only when my mood hits me, and I don't feel like I'm grinding anymore. (though now that I'm getting close, the urge to grind it through is increasing in strength ).

My blaster has purples, but I only have about half of the ones I'm looking for. I could get on him and grind through and get those recipes, but I decided the cost would be too high. To force myself to play him excessively would remove an element of fun, and after getting the recipes for him, I'd still have the carrot-on-a-stick of wanting recipes for my other characters. So I decided to play him when I feel like it, and let it all happen naturally. After all, it's not like I don't have fun with him, he's my favorite character and always has been. Even without purples and even when he was level 10.

I thought this could make for an interesting discussion. "Grinding" has been tossed around a lot. Some see it as absolutely necessary, some avoid it through powerleveling, some don't do it at all, some may not even know what it is. People may even have different ideas as to what constitutes "grinding". I have my own concept of what constitutes grinding and have dropped games because of it, and even altered my expectations in a game to avoid it. So I thought it would make a good discussion.

My first MMORPG was the grandaddy of them all.... Ultima Online. I know, Meridian 59 was technically first, but UO was the first one to popularize the genre and tie together all of the things we expect to find in an MMORPG. Now, for those of you who haven't played it, UO has no levels. You have three stats: strength, dexterity, and intelligence. You started with a base amount of stat points you could spread out in those three stats, and the combined total of all three could never surpass something like 240 points (100 being the max in any attribute). Those three stats gave you your hitpoints and stamina and mana. What is unique is that after character creation, you no longer use stat ponits or skill points. If you want to become stronger, simply use skills that rely on strength and you'll gradually get stronger. Want to become better at a skill? Use that skill more often. Nothing prevented you from trying to cast a level 8 (the highest level) spell, but if your Magery skill was too low, it'd fail.

That started the concept of "grinding" for me. If you wanted to be a powerful tank-mage, you needed a 100 in Magery, so you had to keep successfully casting spells that were a challenge for you. You'd keep casting lightning bolt on yourself over and over and over again. If you wanted to be a GM Weaponsmith, you kept making swords or weapons over and over and over again. Very very grindy. With combat, it wasn't that bad because you would just go out and fight monsters and keep getting better, enabling you to move on to bigger monsters.

UO introduced the concept of grinding to me, EQ cemented it in place. EQ, being level-based, meant that the next "awesome" ability or spell was always the next level. Until you hit the max level, you had to grind away to get more experience. After you hit that level, surely the next level will be better, and the grind never ended.

Fast forward to CoX, and it's apparent that little has changed since EQ. Graphics are better, but all of the ingredients are there to make for a very grindy game. To be a high-level character, you need to grind away with combat and grind through levels. The grind exists as strongly as before.

Or does it?

Having played UO, EQ, AC, DAoC, JG (jumpgate), EQ2, WoW, SB, and CoX, I've found that grinding is a choice a player makes. It comes from the expectation or belief players have that some later point in the game is better than the point they're in at that moment, so grinding must be performed to get past the current position.

What's your own opinions on grinding? Is it something you do? Unavoidable? Avoidable? Good? Bad? Necessary? A state of mind?

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Stop looking at pling , or farming as a bad thing. I personally have "payed my dues" with getting 5 characters to 50 doing teaming and soloing and all that. So my last 7 that I got to 50, I did pling and tfs. THIS WAS NEVER A BAD THING TO ME and was AN OPTION THAT I WANTED! I pay for this game just like everyone else, and if I don't want to spend months grinding a way to get a toon to 50 then I shouldn't have to.

I get on the forums and all I see is "farm bashing". Im grown and have 2 jobs. I dont wanna spend the remaining hours of my day getting 3 bars.

Farming allows me to put sooooooo much on the market. And I put it there for cheap too. It helps me help the economy of our game. Pling isn't bad. Any "character builders" know that getting a toon to 50 is pretty much just step number one. The recipes are the next step. Of the which, recipes are impossible to afford if a player just runs through contacts. I just did it with my ma/shield scrapper. After a month I was lvl 16 running in the hollows. Grinding out missions is for people that are new and people that actually prefer to run stories. It should not be the only method of game play.

one


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Why do you grind at all? I don't understand why anyone would want to grind.

I've noticed some glitches lately at times. I thought it might be because I got a new PC with 64-bit Vista, but maybe it's a server glitch. I got booted once entering the AE building. Everything was fine until I clicked on the door, then I locked up. I also got booted entering my base. At that point, a supergroup member who was in the base got booted out too.

As for the OP, it just sounds like a glitch somewhere they'll have to iron out, not some kind of action against farming.

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Well, speaking as an RPer, farmers are not the only ones with multiple accounts. I have three. Also, I am an MMO veteran, not just a CoH veteran. Why is all this important, I'll get to that.

Every MMO I have ever played has a Eula and within that is always a clause dedicated to what should happen to a player if they use an exploit repeatedly instead of reporting it and letting it be. When developers get wind of these exploits they use data mining to look at the experience/monetary curve compared to what it looks like through the players that abuse the exploit. They then caution the player base that they will implement a "fix" or, as most players call it, a "nerf."

Also stated, or restated in most cases, is the policy to make adjustments to characters/accounts that continue to utilize said exploit since it is now found to be an exploit. The most recent example is not in CoH but WoW where people were abusing an error in programming where they could use two builds at the same time. Players went up in arms stating the "developers put it in the game therefore...yada yada yada." But that team did explain it was an exploit and acted quickly to remedy the situation.

My point is, exploits "are" exploits and "every" MMO development team act upon issues that allow players to gain experience and monetary compensation beyond the normal rate.

Do I think the badges should be removed? No. I agree they should be made easier to obtain. Will I give up my three accounts? No. I enjoy this game and the future that has been presented to me.

The solution to MA not being used as a farming tool is to simply go back to how you were doing it before, but do not be surprised if the developers change certain missions to include a timer once they discover that is the one being used. And if you think, for one minute, certain "up coming" hero MMO's won't do the same you are mistaken.

As my final point, I am an RPer. I play to progress my characters and their stories. I do not post on the forums often because I see a lot of hate whenever changes are made. Sometimes these posts are by RMTers, Trollers, even members of another development team trying to fan the flames. It happens and I'd rather not take part in the silly flame wars because I know half of the posts are not genuinely thought out, but merely put in place by people desperately wanting attention by crying "doom."

However, when I saw this post that slams RPers, the player base that is the least vocal on these forums (aside from the RP section and possibly Virtue) I finally decided to use my voice. I am a roleplayer (and a writer) and (like the books I write) enjoy watching my characters grow. Exploits are like turning to the last page of my books to see the ending. Yes, you know where everything is going, but what about the journey that you missed?

I have less than a dozen 50s (both red and blue) and I moved them there through normal casual gameplay over the last five years. When things get boring, same mission over and over climbing to 50, I use the character's story to liven things up. Whether its in my head or being the only one in the group RPing, I still manage to find a way to make the game interesting. After all, creating new characters, and new stories to go with them, is one of the main draws of this game.

-Gets off her soapbox-

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"Slams RPers"? What part exactly slammed RPers? Well whatever you imagined was slamming, why don't you pretend it didn't happen? RPers are good at pretend right?

I didn't say RP should be gone and I didn't degrade RPers. I pointed out that there are basically two minds in this game, the players and the RPers. And the devs seem to be catering their decisions and releases more to RPers than players over the past year or so. I was calling for more of a balance. While RPers are an important aspect of this game, they are the MINORITY. While many RPers may not post in the forums, the number of regular players that don't post is even larger.

I don't see the problem with things that allow others to get more enjoyment out of the game if it is not a genuine detriment to others. And I don't consider market prices to be so. I'm sorry if rising costs mean you have to leave Pocket D a little more often, but you can't expect the same reward for less work.

This game is grindy. And people say WoW is moreso. But the thing with WoW is you got new spells EVERY level, not to mention new weapons and armor. I had something to look forward to every time I dinged. New stuff to play around with. In CoX, you get one new power ever 2-3 levels. At the upper levels this is SUCH a grind. This totally effects the mentality of leveling. Getting enhancement slots doesn't excite me. Playing away for 3 levels with my only reward at the end of each being 3 circles bores me more than not. So I can't blame people for wanting to get past that as quickly as possible. And the end-game grind in WoW is much more enjoyable when you have an arsenal of abilities at your command compared to the mid-game grind of CoX and 3-4 active attack powers.

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Two things....

1) What I don't understand is why you think the game caters to RPers more than anyone else. I think you're mistaking their decision to stay within a certain genre (which all games do) with overattention to roleplayers.

2) Any game is grindy if you let it be that way. You compare it to WoW that gives you new stuff every level. It sounds nice. It's different than CoX, that's for sure. But is "different" automatically worse? My level 1 power is just as good when I'm level 50 as it was when I was level 1. Even better, actually! If I remember WoW correctly, you get new abilities at each level because old ones become obsolete. That's fine though. Each game has their own mechanism. You like getting new things every level, and you like the levels to come quickly. There's nothing wrong with that. Likewise, there's nothing wrong with how CoX does it, as it's just different. The "grind" comes from forcing yourself to engage in repetitive behavior for a perceived reward. What makes it especially grindy is that the reward in this case (a new level) is like a carrot on a stick. As soon as you get a new level, the next one is still waiting, so you never get fulfilled until you hit 50 when there's no new levels. That can be incredibly grindy if what you're doing is trying to get those levels and powers. It's also easily fixed in that you can just choose not to worry about new levels and new powers, and instead just play for fun. New levels and powers is inevitable. You don't need to "grind" to get them as just playing and having fun will yield the same results. So you can either:
A) concentrate on getting experience so you can get another level and have potentially less of a fun time; or
B) concentrate on having a good time and let the levels come naturally (which they'll do anyway).

Grinding really is an unnecessary choice a player makes. Oh, and when I say "concentrate on having a good time", I do not necessarily mean "roleplay". I mean whatever action is fun for you.

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Thanks for the replies, this thread gave me kind of a morale boost so I guess I'll give blasters another shot. Like I said, I haven't played any past 20 so I guess I haven't given them a fair shot, just keep getting sidetracked by other AT's.

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What powersets do you have in mind? Many people can offer suggestions as to good survival strat3egies with the available powers you have at any level. Here's some examples....

If you have the /ice secondary, you have a lot of mitigation. Open up with an AoE, chillblain the boss or lieutenant, switch to minions and hit them with an attack or two, chillblain the boss or lieutenant again (it takes two to keep a boss immobilized), finish off the minions, finish off the boss.

If you are Energy, do a buildup and the AoE knockback. You'll open up with damage, send them all flying (giving you a few moments to put more attacks in while they get up), use the remainder of the Buildup on the hardest-hitting enemy, take out the minions, finish up on the big guy.

If you have Ice, you have holds and such. Spread your attacks around, use AoE's as they're recharged. Your attacks slow down the enemies' attack rates, which mitigates damage.

If you took Stamina, you probably took Health too, so take advantage of it and gradually slot it up. It doesn't seem like it does much, but when slotted, it does help recover your hitpoints and reduce downtime

If you are a flier, then Hover when fighting. The ability to remain hovering even when mezzed is a huge boon.

Slot up your first two primary powers, and your first secondary power. These are the ones you can use when mezzed. Web Grenade is just a short-range immobilize, but it does add a -recharge and probably only needs slotting for accuracy and range. Other immobilizes that do damage though should be slotted for some additional damage. if you're going to be immobilizing mobs, get some damage out of it too.

Some power sets have "keep away" powers which are useful. Caltrops, Rain of Fire.... things like that. Powers that keep mobs away from you. They can make a big difference.

I really like the /ice set. If you've ever played controllers and like that archetype, you may consider taking that set. It has a good variety of tools that are very controllery. Root/damage/-recharge/slow/-fly via Chillblain, AoE slow/-recharge, knockdown via ice patch, hold, AoE sleep, melee damage shield, melee damage. It's a good set.

I've not tried it, but I've heard /energy has a lot of tools you can use for mitigation. Stuns, self-boosts, knockbacks. /mental mastery also has its own mitigation, as does /devices (an acquired taste though) and, well, most of the secondaries. Except /fire. /fire is mainly more damage, but does have some tools that could be useful like an immobilize.

This makes me want to log on my blaster right now and play for a bit.

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Usually I don't start having troubles until after lvl 10, maybe even 15+. That's when a blaster's squishyness really becomes obvious to me. Mezzes and debuffs make life hell, especially in a blaster's case. The only way around this that I know of are to use inspirations, but I have a pet peeve about relying too heavily on them (maybe for the occasional boss fight).

Currently I have a lvl 20 AR/devices and a lvl 18 Energy/Energy. I'm finding that the KB from energy really helps mitigate damage and help survivability, but AR still has a way to go before it picks up, as I understand it.

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Blasters have three attacks they can continue to use ALWAYS. Mezzes don't affect them. So what if you're mezzed? Just keep on attacking.

The latest toggle changes were a blessing to blasters with Hover. Hover above the mobs and fire down. Even if you're mezzed, you'll still keep hovering and can keep attacking, but you're out of range of brutal melee attacks. And if you don't have Hover, keep in mind most blasters have access to an immobilize. The hardest-hitting melee mobs can be easily kept at bay, even if they're bosses.

Like others have said, if you're having trouble, you should try different tactics. Blasters are lightyears ahead of where they used to be, and I think are one of the best-balanced archetypes in the game.

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Accelerated Reflexes i suspect would be considered more than a little overpowered for a pool power, 4th tier or not. It gives larger bonuses than the first two tiers of Fitness combined in one power plus a recharge bonus?

Not very likely to happen. Quickness is tier 6 for Scrappers (8 for Brutes) and it grants fewer bonuses in a secondary powerset.

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I don't think the tier4 power I've suggested for the Speed pool to be in any way shape or form "OP." I think it's perfectly fine to have Accelerated Refelexes boost your jumping and running speeds "slightly" more than Swift or Hurdle. Those are both tier1 pools afterall, an in the grand scheme of things, the slightly faster speeds than Hurdle or Swift would barely be noticed, if at all. You're talking about like a 1-2 mph difference here...I think it'd be justified to have it grant slightly more run speed, being a tier 4 pool power and all.


On the +recharge side of things, I went ahead and dropped that 15% +rech (which personally I don't think is too much either) to 10% +rech. This is only HALF the value of both Lightning Reflexes (avail lvl 20 for Brutes, same as tier4 pool) and Quickness (avail lvl 20 for Scraps, same as tier4 pool). Furthermore, it's not granting +res to slows, even though I think a minor +res to slows wouldn't be uncalled for at all.


Personally, I find absolutely no unbalance in my proposed Accelerated Reflexes power. None at all. You do, afterall have to go 3 deep into a Power Pool to get it. Many builds may not find the room or need to go that deep into the Speed Pool just for a minor +movement increase and minor +rech bonus. Things you can easily cover with basic IO recipe slotting.


I think it's a fine power.

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That suggestion doesn't do much for me. Hasten already gives a recharge bonus. You're adding a tiny amount of recharge as a 4th tier power when the first tier already gives you a BIG recharge. Granted, the recharge from Hasten is temporary, but even when you average it out, it's much more than that 4th tier one. And if it comes to increasing both runspeed and jump speed/height, I think I'd rather see that in the fitness line.

I think whirlwind would be fine if it was switched back to knockup instead of knockback. As a knockup power, it was VERY useful.

I generally agree that preventing damage is better than healing it afterwards. What I've seen in-game though is that many times, when you have that damage mitigation on a team and nobody's taking any damage...... you turn up the difficulty until people do start taking damage, making heals very welcome.

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Tier 4 Teleport power to me should have Assemble the Team added to the mix. Very useful and very popular.

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Yes, it is. But it's popular for those people who don't have the teleport pool and summon teammate power. The thing is that even if you only have the summon teammate power, it still doesn't take long to summon everyone.

As an additional 4th-tier power, how about a special form of Teleport that works a little differently? It would be Outdoors only, disabled in PvP zones, long recharge (a minute or two?), cost 90 endurance, and let you teleport to any location on the map. That could be useful.

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The sad part is I bet she doesn't even know how to navigate the game world AT ALL. I bet if she had to get from Atlas Park to Founder's Falls it would positively blow her mind. So even though they are not PL'ing per se (her leveling has been too slow to call it PL'ing, but faster than what a regular newbie would see) she is missing out entirely on the ACTUAL GAME. He's doing her a disservice IMHO.

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door missions are no more the "actual game" than anything else you can do.

PvP is "the actual game".
TFs are "the actual game".
AE is "the actual game".

etc etc

the game is the game, no part of it is any more inherently valuable than the rest.

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That's correct. But someone who is new really should experience the different types of things the game has to offer so they could make an informed decision. And I use the word "should" merely as a recommendation.

More and more, the game is becoming like a playground, where you enter and find different things to do. Most of the things involve fighting mobs, so take that with a grain of salt, but there's still a lot of choices you have.