Bean_Sidhe

I'll get around to updating for I5 sometime soon, when life allows it.

I'm in favor of having defiance give us limited status resistance, like a scaling accelerate metabolism. The fewer hit points we have, the quicker we shake off mez effects.

We don't need more damage. At higher levels, defiance will give us the extra fraction to hit the damage cap. It's not a big boost unless they're going to allow defiance to act outside the cap.

My guide to Energy/Energy Blasters (v2.0, Issue 4) is now back up.

My updated guide to the Energy/Energy blaster has been posted.

Bean Sidhe's Guide to Energy/Energy (E²) Blasters, Version 2 (Issue 4)

Thanks

This guide was put together to look at the energy/energy blaster as a whole, not just the individual parts. Thanks to Snipe-Fu and Pulsewave for their guides to Energy Blast and Energy Manipulation respectively. Thanks to Ian_Of_Moore for the Brawl Index. Thanks to my supergroups: Omega Corps on Victory and the Legion of Freedom on Virtue.

Overview

E² blasters have a wide variety of attacks and buffs early on, allowing you to get a quick jump on your opponents. E² blasters can effectively solo and team; the trick is knowing how and when to use your powers. Not everyone appreciates knockback for what it is and what it can do. That's a nice way of saying it. There are many who outright despise knockback, mostly melee types. That's OK. This is mostly a byproduct of blasters using it inefficiently and not for the greater good. Beginning blasters want to use all of their powers, not just energy blast, like a great big hammer. Like the saying, if your only tool is a hammer, everything begins to look like a nail. Experienced blasters realize they have a toolset. A hammer is one tool out of many. Many times when teaming, you need a scalpel. In making this guide, I'm assuming several things. You are planning to have stamina and slot it, you are planning to have perma-hasten, if you select a power as an attack, you're going to slot it as such. If you don't have the slots or inclination to slot out an attack, don't bother selecting it. Other ATs can afford to do that, as damage is not their primary concern. It is your primary concern. Tanks can focus on their defenses; controllers and defenders have plenty on their plates. You have your attacks. Don't neglect them.

Accuracy and the Damage Cap

Accuracy is not a simple additive process. Your accuracy enhancements are a multiplier to the base to-hit, just like any other enhancement. In other words, one white SO accuracy will multiply your base accuracy by 1.33 (33%). Six white SO accuracies will multiply your base by 3. This is all well and good assuming your base accuracy is positive. Enough defense and to-hit debuffs will overwhelm your base accuracy, making your vaunted accuracy enhancements worthless. To-hit buffs, like aim and build up, are added to the base accuracy, not multiplied after the fact. Modifying your to-hit buff can have a huge effect on your accuracy. Of course, once you manage to get your base accuracy positive from to-hit buffs, your accuracy enhancements come into play and things start to get ugly for your target.

The damage cap for blasters is 400%. 100% base damage, plus 300% buffs. Six white SO damage enhancements will provide a 200% buff to damage (33% x 6 ˜ 200%), leaving 100% unaccounted for (Build up). This is true for any attack. There is no magical slotting for one power that will make it hit the damage cap in a different way from another power.

Primary Power Set - Energy Blast
<ul type="square"> [*] Power Bolt - 2.7778 (2.2222 Energy/0.5556 Smashing)
Recharge: 4; Animation: 2; Endurance: 6; Available: 1

Power bolt is a great starting attack and should be the second or third attack you take, Power Blast being the first. It's simple, it does good damage for what it is, and it recharges quickly. Combined with Power Blast, you have a basic cyclical attack that will carry you through the entire game, start to finish. Slotting: 1-2 Accuracy, 4-5 Damage. I always go with just one accuracy enhancement, but suit yourself.
[*] Power Blast - 4.5556 (2.7778 Energy/1.7778 Smashing)
Recharge: 8; Animation: 2; Endurance: 10; Available: 1

This is the first attack you should take at the beginning of the game. Combined with power bolt, you have your base 1-2 punch. These are reliable things to lean on when you're in a tight situation. You don't always have the time to set up the perfect attack, so alternating blast and bolt is your standby. With perma-hasten, the cycle time on these two powers is negligible. Slotting: 1-2 Accuracy, 4-5 Damage. I always go with one accuracy enhancement, but suit yourself.
[*] Energy Torrent - 2.6666 (1.8333 Energy/0.8333 Smashing)
Recharge: 8; Animation: 1; Endurance: 12.5; Available: 2

This is your earliest area of effect attack. It is a cone of energy with a 40yd range along with a good chance to cause knockback. It's a very useful attack, even for a blaster type that is primarily single-target. I recommend getting it and slotting it fully. This was a difficult choice though. It is useful to have that cone power in tight spots - sometimes you just need to hit everything in your way. Slotting: 1-2 Accuracy, 4-5 Damage. I always go with one accuracy, but suit yourself. SnipeFu recommends 1 Accuracy, 4 Damage, and a Cone Increase. Again, whatever floats your boat. In a team situation, this power can hit a lot of packed foes who will, in turn, ignore the resident tank and begin to pummel you mercilessly. Use with care. Blaster "Range-voke-fu" is powerful enough to put you in the spotlight long enough to make a difference.

PVP Note: The best utility Energy Torrent has is ferreting out invisible controllers. Blasters don't have any innate ability to see through stealth, so an invisible opponent is difficult to defeat. You can target pets and let loose an area of effect attack with the hopes of catching them in it. It's not a bad strategy, but definitely more of a last resort than a primary method.
[*] Power Burst - 5.2222 (3.1111 Energy/2.1111 Smashing)
Recharge: 10; Animation: 2; Endurance: 12; Available: 6

Power Burst is a very popular, high damage power. So why would I recommend that you not take it? It is all a matter of having both the power choices and slots available. I've seen several prominent blasters choose this over energy torrent. The difference in damage is clear. I've played both ways and I find that I have plenty of powerful, close range, single target attacks. The others have some secondary utility while burst does not. Therefore, it was cut. The range is not large enough for it to be a primary cycling attack unless you plan on being really close all the time. It's a close range tool that can be filled by energy punch and/or bonesmasher, both of which do more damage and knock toggles off to boot.

Before you say "Well, I don't plan on doing PVP", remember that the status effects in your secondary stack - energy punch and (more likely) bonesmasher have a chance to add magnitude. This is another important factor in selecting. I'll deal with that when I get to those powers though. Slotting: 1-2 Accuracy, 4-5 Damage.
[*] Sniper Blast - 7.6667 (5.5556 Energy/2.1111 Smashing)
Recharge: 12; Animation: 6; Endurance: 16.5; Available: 8

Your longest range attack packs enough power to drop minions with one shot. It's a great pulling tool and great first shot to initiate combat until you get to the upper levels. Definitely take it and fully slot it. Slotting: It has a base 20% accuracy buff, so go with six damage. You should be using aim, build up, or both when firing sniper blast. One accuracy isn't a bad thing, if you really want to be sure though.
[*] Aim: 10 second duration 100% to-hit buff and a 62.5% damage buff.
Recharge: 90; Animation: 1; Endurance: 6; Available: 12

This should be a no brainer. Take it when it's available. I have aim three slotted with recharges. Some people are happy with one slot, others with more. Three seems to work for me. It is not a bad idea to put some extra slots in this and put to-hit debuffs in it. Certain enemies, both in PVE and PVP, can increase their defense to ridiculous levels. Certain scrappers, Ice tankers, Paragon Protectors, Storm defenders and their PVE equivalents can all either increase their defense or debuff your accuracy. See the section above on Accuracy for more information.
[*] Power Push - 1.1112 (0.5556 Energy/0.5556 Smashing)
Recharge: 8; Animation: 1; Endurance: 10; Available: 18

This is a little used and little understood power. It's also incredibly useful at high levels. Think about it this way - it's not an attack, it's a control power. It doesn't do enough damage to be considered one of your main attacks, but it has a large accuracy bonus (40%) and will always knock something back. Better yet, it has pretty decent range on it - this means that, unlike power thrust (in the secondary set) you can keep somebody away from you without letting them actually get into melee range. With all of that said, this is still a power that gets low priority. It's very useful, but not to be taken at the expense of something more vital. If you pick it up, it doesn't need any further slots - pop an extra accuracy in it and you'll be golden.
[*] Explosive Blast - 2.5 (1.1111 Energy/1.3889 Smashing)
Recharge: 16; Animation: 2; Endurance: 17.5; Available: 26

A long range area of effect attack! What could possibly be wrong with this? The damage is awful for something you take at level 26 and it scatters your opponents everywhere. Energy torrent drives your opponents in the direction of your choosing; this power annoys friends and enemies alike. Tanks will hate you, your girl (or boy) friend will stop calling, and your mother will disown you. You get the idea. I have seen explosive blast apologists saying that with proper slotting (1) and in combination with energy torrent (2) you can take out a group of white conned minions...

To have this fully slotted to do this you'll be at least level 29, three levels from getting your real alpha strike. Time to get out of the kiddy pool! Don't waste your time. At most, you'll use this to farm for badges when you're much higher level.
[*] Nova - 8.3334-16.6668 (2.7778 Smashing/5.5556 Energy + 4.1667 Energy * 0-2 (25% chance of * 0, 37.5% chance of * 1, 37.5% chance of * 2)
Recharge: 360; Animation: 3; Endurance: 11*; Available: 32

Where explosive blast fails, oh great and mighty nova succeeds. Rolling up on large, tightly packed groups begins to trigger a drooling influence and you start classifying all mobs by how packed they are - "nova" and "non-nova" encounters. This costs eleven endurance to activate, but will drain you dry and leave you unable to recover endurance normally (without stamina or some other endurance recovery buff) for ten seconds. Always have an endurance inspiration available in case one of the targets gets up. You should always use this in conjunction with aim and build up. You want to maximize your accuracy and damage for this, because there is no mulligan. Slotting: 3-4 Damage, 2-3 Recharge. With four damage SOs (133%), aim (62.5%), and build up (100%), you'll have a damage buff of 295.5% - make sure at least one of your damage enhancements is in the green and you're at the damage cap! Yay us! With the alternate slotting (3 damage), pop a red pill and you should just about be in the same place.

Important Note: Before the "suppression craze", it was easy to have super speed and stealth stack to give you "ghetto invisibility". You could wander up into the middle of a group, hit aim, build up, nova and the crowd would disintegrate on cue. Now, when you activate nova suppression kicks in. This means that the crowd probably can see you and start attacking. This is bad and will require some thought. The best way to adapt is to set yourself up on the edge of the crowd with their backs to you so they will have a delay in seeing you if they spot you at all. Consider yourself warned![/list]
Secondary Power Set - Energy Manipulation
<ul type="square"> [*] Power Thrust - 2.2222 (1.1111 Energy/1.1111 Smashing)
Recharge: 6; Animation: 1; Endurance: 8; Available: 1*

This is your mandatory level 1 power and not a bad one, all things considered. It's really nice if you just want someone to back off and give you some space. Slot it with one accuracy and leave it. It doesn't need or deserve anything else. At level 50, I don't even have it on my power tray anymore.
[*] Energy Punch - 5.4445 (2.6667 Energy/2.7778 Smashing)
Recharge: 4; Animation: 1; Endurance: 6; Available: 2

This does more damage than power burst with a very quick animation and recharge. It's great for PVP because it has a 100% chance to drop those pesky toggles. If you take it, no one is going to blame you. I had it and played with it, but it ended up being one of my late cuts. It is a very good attack, but I didn't want to spend as much time in melee range as having three melee attacks would force me to do. Slot it normally as you would any attack.
[*] Build Up: 10 second 62.5% to-hit buff and a 100% damage buff
Recharge: 90; Animation: 1; Endurance: 6; Available: 4

This set gets build up well before any other set, so take advantage of it. Take it at level four and don't look back. The early bonuses you get from this will help you considerably. I have mine three slotted, although those slots are lower priority than many of your attacks. As with Aim, feel free to put extra slots in here and consider some to-hit buffs. If you have to make a choice of aim and build up as far as to-hit buffs go, choose aim - you'll get more mileage for each slot as it has a higher base to-hit buff.
[*] Bone Smasher - 7.2223 (1.6667 Energy/5.5556 Smashing)
Recharge: 8; Animation: 1; Endurance: 10; Available: 10

Now it gets interesting. I chose to have this as my close range attack over power burst for several compelling reasons. The range difference is not significant (15yds), the damage of bonesmasher is significantly greater, the recharge is smaller, the endurance use is smaller, and it has a 50% chance to disorient - which is nice for later. It's a great power and, in the early to mid game, excellent as a finisher for when you knock someone down with one of your many knockback powers. This is such a great attack that you truly can't afford to be without it. It's vicious and the animation has a feeling of finality about it.
[*] Conserve Power: 90 second endurance discount
Recharge: 600; Animation: 1; Endurance: 10; Available: 16

This gives all of your powers a 50% endurance discount, basically making your endurance bar not budge for 90 seconds. That would be 90 seconds of unlimited output, an impressive thing at any level. I was kind of annoyed that almost everyone can get this power now with the auxiliary power pools, but we get it 25 levels earlier, so I'll live. Fully slotted and optimized with perma-hasten will you only 60 seconds of downtime to your 90 seconds of conservation. Several people ask if you can ignore stamina if you have this - well, I suppose you could but I wouldn't recommend it. Especially at higher levels, you'll be running toggles and firing quickly. Every bit of endurance recovery is useful. It's especially nice to have this activated just before you nova, as recovering will be that much quicker with your reduced endurance costs. Slot this with as many recharges as you can manage. Get this at level sixteen, even if it pushes stamina back two levels.
[*] Stun - 0.6945 (0.4167 Smashing/0.2778 Energy)
Recharge: 20; Animation: 2; Endurance: 12; Available: 20

I've heard good things about this power and I've used it once or twice. I wasn't impressed. It is a control power and has a good disorient, but not as powerful as total focus. Once I drop total focus on someone I need more damage. You could use before level 38, but once you get to total focus range you really need to respec out of this power. I don't use it and I wasn't horribly impressed with it when I did. If you decided to go with this, slot it with an accuracy and as many disorient durations as possible. You might as well make it really good at what it does.
[*] Power Boost: 15 second secondary-effects buff
Recharge: 60; Animation:1; Endurance: 10; Available: 28

This power gives a 100% buff to the following effects: Disorient Duration, Sleep Duration, Confuse Duration, Fear Duration, Immobilize Duration, Hold Duration, Knockback (Knock-Up) distance, Repel strength, Run speed, Fly speed, Defense Buffs, Heal Accuracy Buffs, and Endurance Drain. This power takes a little getting used to as you really can't see the effects. Many people dump it without giving it a chance because they don't notice a difference. The difference is there, I assure you.

Whenever I go into a tough situation, boost is activated. Just before I drop total focus on some poor, unsuspecting boss - it's there. It's not only a great power, it is a must have power for anyone if only for the application with total focus. The movement speed buff is nice, enabling you to not slot your movement powers as much. Get it, love it. It has a quick recharge, so I just have one slot in it. You can put more, but it won't take many to keep it available all the time. Some blasters have experimented with making this a perma-power with perma-hasten and six slots. They said the animation became annoying. There is some movement interference when it is activated, so I can understand the frustration.
[*] Boost Range: 30 second range buff
Recharge: 60; Animation: 1; Endurance: 15; Available: 35

This is a very useful power and many people swear by it. It is not something that fits into my build though, so I didn't take it. By all means take it if you plan on keeping your distance. I have used it before and it's nice to increase your sniper range. There have been times when I've been so far away I was able to snipe a target and he didn't aggro because he had no idea where I was. One recharge should be enough here.
[*] Total Focus - 9.8889 (2.7778 Smashing/7.1111 Energy)
Recharge: 20; Animation: 3; Endurance: 22; Available: 38

The granddaddy of them all, the mother of all melee attacks. There is no choice here. When you get level 38, this is the power you must choose. Only nova has the possibility to do more damage. No other melee attack will come close. It has a 100%, high-mag disorient. You walk up to previously unattackable bosses and drop this on them. Ten seconds of freedom to open up with everything. If you activate power boost before attacking, it turns into twenty seconds. Twenty seconds is an eternity.

There are a few bosses who are somewhat resistant to disorient (titans, warhulks, devoured) - a follow-up bonesmasher will finish the job most of the time. I slot mine with an accuracy, and five damage. People are tempted to slot disorient durations in it, but slotting for damage accomplishes the same thing - reduces the time your opponent will be able to act against you. Instead of being disoriented longer, they'll be defeated sooner. Take your pick. With a base damage so high, it would be a shame not to maximize it. [/list]
The Big Picture
The E² blaster is a powerful and versatile character to play - so versatile that many people make the mistake of trying to do everything and end up being ineffective. Early on they are great long to mid range fighters with a variety of attacks and the oft-maligned knockback keeping opponents on their backs. In the upper levels they have the ability to take on any single opponent, barring archvillains, with little to no problem.

You can switch the type of attack pattern depending on the situation. Against an archvillain, you can get into a routine of power bolt, power blast, and energy torrent - keeping a decent range (around 40 yards) while the melee types get up close and personal. Against small groups (three is the normal spawn when solo) you can build up (or aim) then snipe, bonesmasher, total focus each foe respectively. They'll be lucky to get more than two shots (total) off at you and they won't survive each of yours - even if they show up orange to you. (Note: Build up is better versus orange conned foes, aim may leave them with a sliver of health. Use both if you're unsure). Bosses can be had with a leadoff total focus, followed by a bonesmasher if they're resistant. If you're fighting two bosses, power push or power thrust can be used to effectively keep the other boss out of the fight until you're done with the first. When a boss is in a big group of minions - power boost, build up, aim, total focus, and nova. That will clean up your problem.

As far as auxiliary pools go, I go with the fire pool. Energy is more consistent thematically, but the fire pool has a ranged hold - something the energy power set is lacking. For that alone, it is worth to get - both for PVP and PVE applications. It even allows you to help out during the hold phase of a Hamidon raid. With power boost, your hold is pretty effective. Fire Shield is a great defense power and should be fully slotted. The other two powers in the set are not needed, but are fine if you think you have room for them.

I discussed this in the original "blaster response to Statesman..." thread, but blasters will not get a damage cap increase because of the nukes at level 32. Because we can do so much damage to so many enemies, we are treated as if we do that much all the time which is not the case. These are effective if and only if we destroy the group and don't aggro extra opponents. If more than two enemies are standing, we're usually in deep trouble.

The only way to balance blasters is to provide some form of "risk mitigation" in our secondaries, much like the scrappers have with their entire secondary set. Device and energy are good, but not perfect. Ice, Electricity, and Fire are mediocre or worse.

To me, the number one priority is some sort of mez defense. In the high level game, the vast majority of opponents have some way to mez you. The risk to scrappers is minimal because their mez protection is high enough that they can ignore it most of the time. All it takes is one shot and a blaster is as good as dead.

This doesn't have to be some sort of integration-light, but maybe a +defense versus mez attacks, making us harder to hit by them. Ranged defense is also something that has been discussed and has merit. At least it would give us a fighting chance to not be someone's punching bag for the 2 seconds it takes for us to be defeated.

[ QUOTE ]
Level 38: Total Focus

This ability helps you focus, totally. Basically, it's like a slower version of bone smasher that does even more damage. However, even more so than bone smasher, the combination of slow animation and melee range leaves you vulnerable. But unlike bone smasher, this ability also has a chance to knockdown, along with a chance to disorient, so if it doesn't kill whatever you hit with it, it should still leave you covered.

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Total Focus is 100% disorient for 10 seconds. The only time it will not disorient a foe is if they have inherent resistance to it. It is a very high mag disorient, so it will stun (most) bosses with one application. Power boost doubles the duration to 20 seconds. As far as I know, it doesn't do knockdown. At least, I've never seen it.

In the upper levels I found it more beneficial to lead off a fight with total focus rather than sniper - but this is a playstyle preference I'm sure.

Omega Corps

We're a very active super group covering all levels. We regularly have group nights to play together and we will often switch to other characters in order to help another member out. The core of the group is based in Raleigh, NC although we have members from all over the country and a few from Canada too.

Since global chat came out we split into several groups for alts. Membership is available in many of these to accomodate.

Membership requirements: We'll let anyone in on a trial basis. Once we play with you enough to get a feel for what kind of person you are, we'll probably promote you into the fold. We play often, but we don't want griefers or people who are only interested in power leveling. We play to have fun, although we do have twelve level 50s in the group at the moment.

Contacts:
Bean Sidhe (@bean_sidhe)
Crimson Cannon (@crimson_cannon)
Micro-wave (@micro_wave)
Templegate (@aftermath)
Liralina (@omega_lira)
Ambrosia Oak (@ambrosia_oak)
Damien Frost (@damien_frost)

Check out our website: Omega Corps
We have profiles, images, and forums for all members and allies.

That makes sense, Ariel (80% full, btw). It keeps in line the major power/enhancement differences while keeping the level spreads reasonable.

The main problem now is the same problem you have when looking for a pickup team. "Level 33 blaster looking for an opponent in the ultra super middle weight division". We have 15+ weight classes. I don't have a problem with it, but it could lead to some lonely nights at the arena looking for a dance partner.

Good work.

[ QUOTE ]
A) You have a weight class of 12 and 13.
B) You have a weight class of 14 to 21. Ie., you say that a 14 should be able to take on a 21.
B2) I don't think that travel power = auto-win. It will be hard to kill someone who wants to fly away (or invis), but they won't be doing any more damage to you when it comes time for them to finally fight.

[/ QUOTE ]

Didn't say it was perfect, just an alternate. Right now they are in groups of five - are you suggesting that a level 5 can take out a level 9 or 10? Taking out a purple opponent controlled by the system is not nearly the same thing as taking out one controlled by another person. If it makes you feel better, split that weight class in two: 14-16, 17-21

They're bringing people down to the weight class, not the level, from what I can tell. The gap seems to be about four levels, which is still significant PVP. If they bring the highest level down to the lowest, then my scale is even better - no major difference in ability will be lost.

You're right. Travel powers do not automatically mean a win, but I think you're discounting it way too much. Whether it is a ranged attacker keeping distance or a melee attacker closing it, superior mobility is a definite tactical advantage in any form of combat.

As to the small division of two levels - so what? Is there some mandatory restriction that says that divisions have to be uniform in size?

[ QUOTE ]
Currently the Weight Classes are as such:

Strawweight-(Level 1 to 4)
Flyweight-(5 to 9)
Bantamweight-(10 to 14)
Featherweight-(15 to 19)
Lightweight-(20 to 24)
Welterweight-(25 to 29)
Middleweight-(30 to 34)
Cruiserweight-(35 to 39)
Heavyweight-(40 to 44)
Super Heavyweight-(45 to 50)

[/ QUOTE ]

Here is an alternate distribution. It is not even, but divided by important levels (enhancements and power selection):

Strawweight-(Level 1 to 5) - pre power pool
Flyweight-(6 to 11) - pre dual-origins
Bantamweight-(12 to 13) - pre travel power
Featherweight-(14 to 21) - pre single origins (wide and varied fights here)
Lightweight-(22 to 26) - single origins and perma powers (stamina becomes effective, as does perma hasten)
Welterweight-(27 to 31) - pre primary set completion
Middleweight-(32 to 37) - pre secondary set completion
Cruiserweight-(38 to 40) - pre auxiliary power
Heavyweight-(41 to 46) - pre max auxiliary
Super Heavyweight-(47 to 50) - access to every power available

Mephe is right. I could respec out of fitness quite easily. Right now I have conserve power six slotted with perma hasten. It has a downtime much of about a minute, compare to an up time of close to 90 seconds (if I recall correctly).

Plus, looking on the other side of the coin - half of energy manipulation's signature powers have been pimped out to every other AT as it is - everyone can conserve power and power boost now it seems. Heck, defenders can now do total focus. It kind of makes the energy manipulators a little less unique and special.

Well, you wouldn't want to make it completely dependant on players. It's easy enough to fill in NPCs to do the bulk of it. The generation of missions gives the lower levels more of a living, breathing experience.

Well, I think I posted earlier that actions are implicitly more important than motivations when determining villains, not to discount motivations at all. It's how you do something, followed by why.

I would love, as a villain, some control over missions and strategy. I think, if the design were solid enough, the most fun would be to have a trickle down effect - higher level villains implementing plans (from a series of available options) that will trickle down into lower level content.

The upper level villain plans will sometime depend on the outcomes of other players who may not even be aware who they are working for. You get a cog in your wheel with some low level hero interfering and it gives the game a real vibrant feel.

The villain chooses a goal mission - within the framework provided here:

Motive: Money
Action: Chaos
Location: King's Row
Objective: Lower Property Values to drive people out. This is not feasible as a personal objective as it will notify too many heroes of your plans. (Higher level PVP, will ruin any of your sneakier goals).
Goals: 10-20 spawned missions for villains and heroes
Success: Over 50% successful villain completion. If heroes win 75%, your name will be linked to it (spawning some upper level hero missions against you, there is a chance of this even with success, but much lower).

A low level villain could get a mission like:

"My people tell me [VILLAIN] wants some people to cause havoc in the storefronts around King's Row. If you do a good job, you'll get your name circulated among the in-crowd and maybe you'll get some more work."

Some hero will get a contradictory mission, setting up some PVP if needed.

"Thugs are breaking into storefronts all over King's Row. You've got to stop them!"

That would definitely be good in tailoring higher level content down the road for a villain - they get more specialized and the missions begin to reflect them.

[ QUOTE ]
or use a giant laser to sign his name on the moon

[/ QUOTE ]

A Chairface reference! Excellent!

I've thought about the classifications more and more and I think they could work. The beauty of language is that you can find a way to fit almost anything into an existing framework if you try hard enough. I just don't know why we have to stick with five.

My main concern with City of Villains is not what origins or archetypes I can play - my concern is all story/content related. You can often tell a better story with a villain - they are much more interesting characters. A good villain makes a story many times better. I would prefer to have more origins and archetypes for villains in order to give players more room to spread out. I don't see why we have to artificially constrain it to 5 groups in order to mirror the heroes. There is no reason we can't split it up to account for differences within each concept.

[ QUOTE ]
If you insist. However, the Enhancement loot as it now is in City of Heroes is pretty damn silly too, if you ask me.

[/ QUOTE ]

Yeah, I've always wondered about that. I mean, if my main (a magic blaster) was really carrying around all of these charms my stealth would be negated by all of the jingling. Circle of Thorns hate me 'cause I'm always after their Lucky Charms.

[ QUOTE ]
AH! but "the Blob" (depending on which version of the movie I guess (NO, not the Marvel character, the oozing pseudo alive creature) was consuming as part of its nature, and perceived as evil, and "good" people, heroes if you will, battled against it. Its possible to have a human form bad guy with a blob attitude, consuming or doing its natural "thing". And yes, I would not mind playing a Villain who carries out that style of "evil". So I guess I'm agreeing with you because the slug/blob thought is very close, but I'm disagreeing only that I think it is and should be possible to play an origin/motivation like that. I consume because my physical state causes me to grow, and do such things, not because I benefit from it.

[/ QUOTE ]

Hunger/survival is a valid motivation. That would be an interesting character and a good reason why some "villain" is destroying "randomly".

[ QUOTE ]
Sometimes villains don't need motivation.

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This is 100% false. A creature without motivation is a slug, the proverbial bump on a log. You don't wake up in the morning and decide on whim to destroy the world or rob the bank. Even the dog telling you to do it is motivation - granted you're insane, but it's motivation.

An anarchist who believes the only way for people to be free is to topple the "establishment", a religious fanatic who wants to "cleanse" the city, an iconoclast who wants to make everyone equal by tearing down the most established heroes, an eco-terrorist who wants to stop pollution by any means necessary.

I've had several villain ideas and few of them fit into the "I'm a bad person and I want to do bad things" mold. Sometimes villains think they are doing the right thing. Their methods are what make them villains.

Take Magneto for instance. He may have some of the other motivations, but his primary motivation is to protect the mutant "race", same as Professor X. His methods are different, making him a villain.

Actions determine a villain, not his thoughts. This is why there are times when heroes and villains can team up for a common cause - they both BELIEVE in the cause.

In a super-heroic genre, villains believe the ends justify the means. Heroes do not. That's the difference between them. This is a case for certain heroes becoming villains (as I stated in an earlier post, I don't think there is that much of a difference between many of the so-called heroes in the game now and the villains they fight).

The Devouring Earth strike me as ideological villains (although, to be honest, I don't recall all of the storyline specifics). At the base, they're no different than a super-hero group that is very environmental conscious. The hero group goes after the environmental offenders and stops pollution. The villain group decides that everyone who is not part of the solution is part of the problem and acts accordingly.

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Even a group such as the 5th Column uses different means to its end of domination: it uses technology, and werewolves, and vampires, and the master race, and so on. It has the take-over-the-world endgame goal but it has different gambits that it uses to achieve this.


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As for the 5th column, I'm wondering if this Council of War storyline in the next release doesn't have to do with a basic ideological difference within the Column. A faction of the group believes that the 5th Column as a whole is losing it's focus - racial purity, aryan ideals, etc.

I guess my point is that motivation and goals are linked, but not identical. Taking over the world is a goal, but it's not a motivation. WHY do you want to take over the world would be a better question.

I think you're forgetting an important one: Ideology.

I think that deserves equal billing in villain motivations. Not even villains within a single organization need to have the same motivation.

I have a question:

Do END reduction enhancements affect only the activation cost or do they have an effect on the EPS cost as well?

EDIT: Never mind. I figured it out.

I think I brought this up in the months prior to the initial beta. People didn't seem to like it, although the CoT and 5th Column prisons haven't elicited too many complaints.

I love the idea. I think you could actually have a whole series of missions from within the prison - rebuilding a villain group and getting henchmen, etc. You don't get sent to prison until a certain level (kind of like debt that way) and the missions to get out are progressively harder. If there was enough content, it would be incredibly interesting. A sort of prison hazard zone (the one in Brickstown for instance).

A prison trial for CoV isn't out of the question too. I just think it would be cool.