Barata

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There seems to be two schools of thought developing about how to improve Flurry:

1) Make it a cone attack.
2) Improve the Stun portion of it.


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Actually, my recommendation would be to reduce the animation time by a third, but keep the graphics as close to the way it is as possible. I think being a little quicker would make it feel on-par with other powers. They did it to Flares, keeping the graphics about the same, but decreasing the animation, and it turned a very frowned-upon power into one that people highly recommend. There's no reason why Flurry couldn't benefit from the same treatment.

Radiation is definitely a nice set. It has some of everything in it.

I wouldn't dismiss Empathy as strongly as others though. You have a very nice damage/to-hit-defense buff in Fortitude, which can be slotted so that four of your teammates are buffed and deal an additional 30% damage, along with being more accurate and have more defense. Radiation and Dark lets you multiply damage, like someone else said, but it does have its drawbacks. When steamrolling through spawns, you'll find plenty of times where your damage-multiplying powers aren't ready. It can be a bit frustrating when you're applying Enervating Field to a mob, and just as it's taking effect, the mob dies and you have to wait several seconds for the power to recharge. Likewise with Tar Patch, you'll find you can lay one down and, if you're on a good team, blaze through the spawn and be at the next one before your tar patch is ready. They're absolutely great sets, but like all sets, they do have their minor drawbacks.

If you really like healing and want to play someone who does a lot of physical healing, then Empathy will give you a lot of it. I'd just recommend supplementing that healing with other buffs like Fortitude (to increase damage, accuracy, and defense), and the leadership line for yet even more buffs. That's if you have an affinity towards healing. If you're just looking for a buffing/debuffing support character in general, then the other powersets will offer more to the teams.

Does anyone like it? It was the final power I picked up on my dark/mental blast defender. I've been living with it because I HATE respeccing and it irks me that I have to rechoose and reslot every single power just to change the very last one, but man, I'm just not feeling that power.

Does anyone use this? How? Under what circumstance? And if you only have a single slot assigned to it, what would be the best choice of IO for that slot?

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Yet what I cannot understand is, despite the fact Controllers offer the same amount of utility and buffs, plus have a whole primary devoted to control, plus can solo perfectly well and offer good damage... people STILL say Defenders should be bad soloers because of what they offer a team.


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Logically, it implies controllers should be nerfed if defenders are considered fine.

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I hate to admit this because "nerf" is a four-letter word, but I've been pushing to have controller secondaries decreased. There is a difference between controllers and defenders. A defender has stronger buffs/debuffs. The problem is that it's not enough of a difference when you look at the fact that controllers have all that control. Don't controllers operate at something like 85% of the defender primaries? I feel it should be something like 75%. A controller secondary should bring something to a team. It should make a difference. But it shouldn't make almost as much difference as a defender. When comparing the controller secondaries to the defender primaries, there should be a very noticeable difference between the two. Right now, that difference is subtle.

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Yes, I do play controllers so I would be having my own characters nerfed. I also play defenders though, and I'd like to see them stand out more than they do.

One other thing.... I don't have a problem with defenders being a team-oriented archetype and I don't have a problem with them being slow soloers. If I feel like soloing, I play an archetype that does it more effectively.

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I don't quite get where this notion of the difficulty slider not applying to the AE is coming from. The current difficulty slider applies to the AE, why wouldn't the new one?

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Because a) they can prevent it

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Just because they can do something doesn't mean it's a good idea.

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b) it would actually nudge people back into farming normal game content and decrease AE farming;

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I believe it would also dramatically decrease AE participation overall. Providing such a huge feature to the PvE game but not to AE would kill it for me, and I believe for many others as well.

EDIT: Let me elaborate a little. Right now, it's very difficult to create an AE mission that expresses the full range of difficulties players might want to experience. The tricks you use to make AE missions more difficult - all-lieutenant or all-boss factions, extreme critters, etc - make them more difficult for everyone.

With the improved difficulty settings this problem goes away. You basically only have to balance the difficulty around what you think the minimum should be for the level ranges you're targeting; if players want more challenging - and more rewarding - content, they just bump up the sliders. Viola, problem solved!

To me, giving the new difficulty slider to the AE would be the best way of ensuring that the SFMAs get the attention they deserve, because people wouldn't have to choose between farm-oriented high-challenge/high-reward missions and story content - they can get both.

No, I think giving the new difficulty settings to the AE is far and away the better option. It's also much simpler conceptually (and presumably therefore easier to implement) because it only requires one difficulty setting system and not two.

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I read your first paragraph where you say if the new difficulty slider doesn't apply to AE, it will kill AE... and I just hope you are right and hope that it doesn't apply. It's not like AE needs anything to improve it right now. It's got the focus of a significant portion of the population right now. Where you say the slider will make it so people won't have to choose between high-reward missions and story arcs, I believe it will just make more people focus on high-reward missions. If people can generate 8-man all-boss spawns with only three people on a team, they'll do it.

AE already gives high rewards, it doesn't need a mechanism to increase those rewards even more. The virtual-team slider will just allow the regular content to catch up to the AE content, and give players an incentive to play regular content again.

I won't say that AE killed the game, but I will say that it changed the environment probably more than anything else did. I've noticed less chatter in all the zones, with the exception of AP of course. And there is a difference in how easy/difficult it was to find teams. So there is definitely a change in the environment. I've never teamed with high-level people before who didn't understand basic concepts, but it's happened a couple times now. Whether this is a death knell or not, only time will tell. I don't think it is though.

Still, I may end up leaving sooner than I had anticipated. Playing any game for five years is a pretty good accomplishment. I came to CoX because I liked the superhero/comic book genre and the idea of making a superhero and controlling him/her was too sweet to resist. As time progresses, there's less and less emphasis on the genre by the player base. I fully expected that as I've seen it with every other MMO I've ever played for a length of time. When it reaches a point where it doesn't feel like a superhero game anymore, then I'll consider switching to another genre. Never any hard feelings though as my time here lasted longer than I had ever anticipated.

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Lots and lots of people use Oroboros, I'm not sure where you got that one.


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Using an o-portal to switch zones doesn't really count as using Oroborous.


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Yes it does.

It's a great design because it serves a practical purpose everyone enjoys and also opens up a lot of content for those players who're interested in exploring it.

It also quieted multiple categories of whiners.

It's an elegant system and an excellent blueprint for adding multi-use content to the game.

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Yes. If you're using Oroborous to flashback and open up content at the various levels, you're fully taking advantage of the system. And yes, like you said, it's a wonderfully elegant system.

But if all a user does is just use it as a fancy teleporter, it's not really utilizing Oroborous. That'd be like saying "Eden is a great zone because I use it all the time to get to the Hive".

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Orobouros is nothing more than a transit zone to get to other locations. Players can access the flashback system thru their SG terminals.

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Which is what I usually do. I love the O-crystal I put in our base. I pick out an old arc I liked, stock up on some inspirations, get a buff from the empowerment station, and then use the crystal to go right to the zone with the mission. Very very nice!

I was discussing it with Nethergoat, but he seems to think that casting an O-portal to go from AP to Peregrine is using the Oroborous system and considers it elegant. Which is puzzling because building an entire zone with contacts and missions and a flashback system is hardly an elegant solution to traveling from one zone to the next.

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How, if you're so good at the game, could you possibly confuse the Cape and Aura missions? As a followup to that, how can you suggest that either are hard to solo at the earliest level possible?

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A curious twist to the cape mission is that when it first came out, a lot of people *thought* it was hard, and so tended to invite more and more people to "help" with it. Ironically, the more people you added, the harder it got to save the time capsule before it was destroyed, which caused people to add even more people to try to make it easier. I didn't know it was supposed to be hard and soloed it with all of my alts at the time without any difficulty.

Today, though, although the cape mission isn't necessarily trivial for neophytes, experienced players should have no difficulty soloing it with most archetypes. It is still actually more difficult to do it with "help" than it is solo, unless you're running a completely offense-less defender or something.

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So that's why people try to get help for the cape mission. I've had many requests from someone who needed help with this mission, and I never could understand it. I always just breeze right through it and couldn't understand why so many people would send tells out asking for help with it.

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For those not smart enough to figure it out, I deliberately provoked people to see who is naughty and who is nice....i now have several messages from people who did not post that were ALL nice. I have a list of the smart ones who i will help upon request and a list of people who are obviously not worth teaming with!

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So..... are you saying you're an arrogant jerk?

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Midnight Grasp doesn't take heal sets, so Im assuming you mean siphon life.

Siphon Life is pretty much part of my attack chains for dark melee, so the proc will be active unless you are just hanging around.

I'd have to say dont respec immediately, but maybe consider moving it the next respec you use.

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This is what I recommend too. After you use that power, for the next two minutes you'll have increased regeneration and recovery. If the power is part of your attack chain, you'll pretty much have that buff active almost all of the time you'll be in combat, and for a significant period afterwards. If you're standing around not fighting, you won't have the buff, but then again, you won't need the buff. So I wouldn't rush to get it out of there as it's still functioning at very very high efficiency. I'd just move it to Health when it's convenient or whenever I got around to respeccing.

I like the regeneration from Health, so I wind up three slotting Health with Heal enhancements, and then use additional slots for things like the Numina and Regenerative Tissue uniques.

I don't mind it. I wish it animated a bit faster, but I like the looks of it. I have it on an MA scrapper who's supposed to be a speedster. There's only three powers in the game that actually look like superspeed: Superspeed, Whirlwind, and Flurry. MA is all kicks, so I like tossing in Flurry now and then just because it looks cool. It works well enough at the end of an attack string where you know one more hit will take someone out, or when you just want to mix things up a bit. Numerically, it's meh, but visually, it's one of the cooler looking attacks in the game. I do get a kick out of it when the disorient takes effect. The effect of that blur of fists, and the enemy staggering back with swirlies around his head, makes me smile.

Back in the day, Storm Kick used to look like Flurry, so it was visually fun to mix the two into a combat sequence, but then they changed Storm Kick to just a generic bland animation. What I'd love is if Flurry had the same look as it does now, but animated a little faster and had a slightly higher chance to disorient, and if they gave Storm Kick it's old appearance back, but likewise made it animate more quickly.

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If they do get convinced to change it, I hope they manage to keep its cool appearance. Flares from the Fire Blast set used to be disliked a lot because it had a long animation. They revamped it so that it animates much faster, but it still has that same look and feel as it did before, which is nice. I'd like to see that happen Flurry.... the animation time cut by about 30%, but the same look. I definitely do NOT want it to go the Storm Kick route that I mentioned. Storm Kick was a VERY cool looking power, and it's very boring now.

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Part of the reason they're not considered casual is because you have to have several like-minded people who are committed to completing them.

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Proven false by those that have soloed them. Not even a second player is needed to be present at completion. They only need to be part of the TF and logged off.

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By fully removing team restrictions, they will then be considered casual play and no different than any other mission, with the exception of having a unique map.

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Proven false by the same fact laid out above. The current minimum team numbers are meaningless in light of the game's actual functionality, regardless of intent.

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What I said wasn't something I made up, but was the scenario carried out to a logical conclusion. If you remove teaming requirements, then why have arbitrary (since you like that word) level requirements?

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Slippery Slope Fallacy does not equate to logical conclusion.

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Just because some people have solo'd them doesn't mean they should be turned into content that is intentionally soloable. Slippery slope fallacies do work their way into MMOs over time. Most MMOs that I've seen that have been out for several years start out with minor changes, then another minor change or two, then eventually turn into something where the players left wonder at what point the game turned into something totally different than the one they originally signed up for.

A respec system that's user-friendly. Something where I can drop a power and pick up another, or move slots around. Not the current system where you start at level 1 and have to do every single thing from the beginning because you want to make a single change.

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But if all a user does is just use it as a fancy teleporter, it's not really utilizing Oroborous. That'd be like saying "Eden is a great zone because I use it all the time to get to the Hive".

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Yes it is, and no it isn't, respectively.

You're wrong an awful lot, aren't you.

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I take it you don't actually listen to yourself much. Anyone who would say what you say, and actually listened to themselves saying it, would shut up pretty quickly out of pure embarassment.

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I feel my argument carries quite a bit of weight.

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You are of course entititled to that opinion.

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TFs and SFs, with the exception of Rikti Mothership Raids and Hamidon (which nobody does anymore), are the only special content in the game. Degrade them so that they're on par with radio missions means you have no special content anymore nor anything that stands out.

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I agree, many of the older hero TFs are mostly generic missions strung together. I'm not sure how that's an argument to preserve minimum team sizes.

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My feeling is that the earlier task forces should be revamped because they don't fulfill their original design intention.... something that a supergroup would engage in over a couple evenings. Seeing as they're really not ever run that way, I really think those early ones should be streamlined a bit. Any of the newer ones written in the last few years have been much much better designed and need little, if any, modification.

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If the only thing making a TF "stand out" is the annoyance of putting together a team it seems to me getting rid of that annoyance would be an improvement.

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It's a shame you find putting together a team so annoying. What makes them stand out is that they're not something that's considered "casual play". Part of the reason they're not considered casual is because you have to have several like-minded people who are committed to completing them. By fully removing team restrictions, they will then be considered casual play and no different than any other mission, with the exception of having a unique map.


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Everything is just basic missions. If you get rid of size requirements, why not get rid of level requirements too?

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Presumably you've visited MA?

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I've taken part in MA arcs and farms. There's repeated discussion in the boards over whether or not the MA should auto-SK individuals.

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Why shouldn't a level 10 be able to run the STF or LRSF?

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Answer one, because they'd be useless.
Answer two, because its a carrot on a stick.
TFs at various levels are theoretically a fun prize for getting that far in the game (yes, the reality is often quite different with many of the older ones).

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TFs and SFs are not prizes, they're special content. I've never heard a dev refer to one as some kind of prize you get when you hit a certain level.

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Arbitrary TF team sizes aren't a reward to anyone, they're a pain in the rear. Ask most people who've tried to organize one.

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Purely subective.

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I bet a lot of people would like that too!

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Given the popularity of auto SK in MA, you're probably right.

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Just slide the difficulty level down so that a level 10 could solo it. Tons of happy people.

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Hmm, where did Bill suggest that?
Or wait, are you making stuff up to buttress your feeble argument?

I guess it doesn't carry as much weight as you think it does.

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As opposed to arguing just for the sake of it?
What I said wasn't something I made up, but was the scenario carried out to a logical conclusion. If you remove teaming requirements, then why have arbitrary (since you like that word) level requirements?

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Lots and lots of people use Oroboros, I'm not sure where you got that one.


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Using an o-portal to switch zones doesn't really count as using Oroborous.


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Yes it does.

It's a great design because it serves a practical purpose everyone enjoys and also opens up a lot of content for those players who're interested in exploring it.

It also quieted multiple categories of whiners.

It's an elegant system and an excellent blueprint for adding multi-use content to the game.

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Yes. If you're using Oroborous to flashback and open up content at the various levels, you're fully taking advantage of the system. And yes, like you said, it's a wonderfully elegant system.

But if all a user does is just use it as a fancy teleporter, it's not really utilizing Oroborous. That'd be like saying "Eden is a great zone because I use it all the time to get to the Hive".

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Greater flexibility is good. Homogeneity is not.

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This!

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Lots and lots of people use Oroboros, I'm not sure where you got that one.


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Using an o-portal to switch zones doesn't really count as using Oroborous.

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"Worthwhile" is purely subjective. I've found your arguments to not be "worthwhile". There's a ton of content in the game that you can partake in solo, just because you want to do something doesn't make it a good reason to be implemented.

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and vice versa.

Bill makes a much better case for opening up TFs than others do for keeping them gated.

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I feel my argument carries quite a bit of weight. TFs and SFs, with the exception of Rikti Mothership Raids and Hamidon (which nobody does anymore), are the only special content in the game. Degrade them so that they're on par with radio missions means you have no special content anymore nor anything that stands out. Everything is just basic missions. If you get rid of size requirements, why not get rid of level requirements too? Why shouldn't a level 10 be able to run the STF or LRSF? I bet a lot of people would like that too! Just slide the difficulty level down so that a level 10 could solo it. Tons of happy people.

"Hey, I just solo'd the STF!"
"Big deal. Everyone solos it. I solo'd it twice today with my level 11 Empathy/Radiation defender."

Ooooooh. The feeling of achievement will be staggering!

I actually like KR. I think it has flavor to it and very nicely captures the feel of a working-class industrial neighborhood.

Boomtown is a waste to me. There's no flavor to it, nothing interesting, just a lot of spawns.

When it comes to real dislike though, I totally dislike Firebase Zulu and those maps. An incredible amount of hassle to travel through for something that's not very interesting at all.

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and until they decide otherwise

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And welcome to the point. I've laid out my arguments for change. I've seen no worthwhile arguments against this change.

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"Worthwhile" is purely subjective. I've found your arguments to not be "worthwhile". There's a ton of content in the game that you can partake in solo, just because you want to do something doesn't make it a good reason to be implemented.

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Again you guys have said nothing insightful, go back and reread my past posts carefully.

I said Rommy can be done in 60 seconds, since he rezzes you have to defeat him 4 times.....so divide 60 by 4 you get 15 seconds to kill him the first time (not all 4 times).

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I'm with you. It's impossible for one person to defeat him that many times in such a short period unless they were using some kind of exploit. I've never even seen a team of people do it that quickly.

Unfortunately, I was told that it's against forum rules to call someone a troll, so I wont.

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I don't consider this really a controller problem here. It's completely a defender problem since the support sets get the proper numerical bonus across the board

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Not really. Secondaries that are used as a primary on other ATs generally are playing at 75% of the primary. Controllers walk all over this.

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That's where my problem lies. Controllers have their secondaries working at too high a percentage of the Defenders primaries. Sure there's a difference, but not much. I don't like to advocate nerfing, but it's seriously out of whack and I'm not sure what can be done other than lowering the value for Controllers. If you make the Defender primaries stronger, Controllers will still operate at the same percentage, and the Defender buffs/debuffs will be too strong. Lower the value for controllers just a little (even 5%), and maybe giving Defenders a slight damage buff, should go a long way to putting both archetypes on even ground.

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Drop the team member limitation on TF/SFs, but increase xp based on number of team members. Reward teaming instead of forcing it.

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Nobody's "forcing" you to do anything. And don't try the "if I want to do this, then I'm being forced.....". No. You're not. Nothing is forced on you.

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So why punish the soloist or the married couple that wants to take their time clearing all the missions and reading all the text?


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What punishment? Why do people, as soon as they're told they have to meet a certain requirement for something, think they're being punished? If you want to run a task force or strike force, start a team. The very name of them ("task force" and "strike force") implies a team.

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Having to waste X amount of time trying to put together a team is a punishment for people with little time to play.

Having to leave a TF/SF due to real life issues is a punishment both to the player and the team. Being able to start a TF/SF solo means that you can turn off your monitor, go deal with real life and come back to finish at your leisure. No put out team mates, no feeling bad for letting your team down.


[/ QUOTE ]"Punishment" -noun
1. the act of punishing.
2. the fact of being punished, as for an offense or fault.
3. a penalty inflicted for an offense, fault, etc.
4. severe handling or treatment.

Punishment is having your account locked because you did something offensive in-game. Punishment is being kicked from a team because you keep generating too much aggro and don't follow directions. Being told "you have to meet these requirements before you can engage in X" is not punishment. Why should people who don't take a drivers test be punished by not being given a license? Why should someone who just joined the game be punished by not being allowed to create a Kheldian? Why should we be punished by having to waste time by traveling across several zones to get to our mission? Why should I be punished by not being able to buy purple recipes at the vendors? For that matter, why should I be punished by being denied all the good IOs and being forced to buy them from other players through the market? Farmers get a ton of influence and recipes and it's not fair that they get those things just because they're willing to put the time into it, I should be able to get them too so I must be being punished since I can't.

There is content within the game that is special and requires special effort. Slotting up with IOs is one example. If you want them, you have to either keep fighting mobs until the one you want drops (and since it's random, it may never drop) or buy them from other players. There are archetypes that require you have reached level 50 with a character before you're allowed to create them. And there are story arcs that require you team with a minimum amount of other players before you are given them. If we want to remove the requirements from those task forces/strike forces, why not remove all requirements for all of the other content and just give everyone everything?