Behold_Gravitas

_Castle_ in his post addressed your question, in case you missed it:

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Note: Blaster, Corruptor and Mastermind Trip Mines have drastically different percentages. I think this is a Bug -- I think the Corruptor/MM version was skipped when making these changes, or Trip Mine for Villains was increased, and Blasters were skipped. Either way, I'll be making changes to the chances for that in a future update.

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Lightning Rod looks awesome.

Great guide Lab!!

I have a lower lvl defender that I've been using in a pure support role. As you noted in your preamble, its really fun being a character that can dramatically change the tide of battle...of my heroes, he's one of my newer ones and actually most favorite in PvP.

Some questions:

I prefer zone PvP and have the leadership line for stalkers (PvP in Siren's, will move to RV when its out). I know you're a big proponent of Arena, but in your estimation and experiences in the PvP zones, do you think leaping pool is superior to leadership? Basically, of the three, leap, leadership and conceal, which two would you take, keeping SC and RV in mind?

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The Kronos can be spawned in any zone except the PvP zones, Atlas, and Galaxy.

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Actually, just this week (Monday) some folks on Triumph managed to get Kronos to spawn in Siren's Call. I was there to witness him in all his glory and see about 40 villains take him down.

If anything SF, archery does have the +acc bonus. Either Posi or Manticore posted about when the set first came out and if I'm not mistaken seemed to state that it was the highest bonus of all sets.

It gets +acc because its a drawn set and a buff because they wanted archery to have something distinctive since it has no true secondary effect. Wouldn't be surprised if NPCs have these bonuses; Wyvern seemed to hit a lot too.

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Agreed. So now to put the issue completely to rest, all of the accuracy buffing powers (aim, buildup, focused accuracy,etc) all need to have their base values brought into line with what the average defense power can push out.

I think 12.5% base buff for Aim and FA, and a 5% buff from Buildup sounds fair. Or even double those values for the non-constant buffs since their durations are so short.

(I know, I'm slightly exagerating how bad they need to be nerfed. Slightly.)

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Those values are way too low and I play an energy aura brute. Its the use of buildup PLUS aim that greatly hurts +def sets in PvP. Its this combination of augmented damage and acc, along with toggle dropping that makes melee classes vulnerable to ONE particular playstyle from ONE AT (the blapper). d.

What I'd rather see is eliminate or dramatically decrease the secondary effect of each buff.

For instance, buildup should be 100% dmg boost and no +acc. If this seems to harsh for sets with only buildup (melee), then make the +acc component a relatively low number, 16% or so...equal to a DO in boost. The same holds true for Aim. Currently as it stands, both powers get the benefit of at least 50% secondary boost, which under ED is a lot.

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@ Maldini: Non-tanks cap resistance at 75%. So regardless of what-ever powers a blaster gets w/o an external buffer the best they will do is 75%. Since they can be toggle dropped not a big deal.



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Yes I realize this, which makes it even better because a /rad will have a tough time getting the resistance of a blaster slotted heavy for resistance down. My point was to show that Blasters can cap their Smash/Lethal resistance solo, blocking 75% of the damage from Smash/Lethal Tanks and Scrappers.

Epic Powers are a joke and make the game so out of balanced as far as PvP is concerned that it's not even funny.

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Yes, epic pool powers are unbalanced. But in your comparison you forgot to include Unstoppable for that Inv tank. Its not fair to compare a lvl 1 s/l toggle to a lvl 44 epic power.

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A little off topic but can anyone answer this question. If two people are trying to get Gangbuster(Family Marcone boss badge), do they have to be in close proximity to each other to get credit for each kill or can they spread out and still get progress towards the badge?

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As long as you're in the same zone on the same team, any kill credits count for all members of the team. The xp leash applies only to xp in outdoor zones, but for purposes of badges, the devs left that alone. For example, I recieved the goldbricker badge flying through a zone when one of my teammates stopped to beat one up in a distant part.

Shoot, I liked the toggle dropping; I'm used to it from PvP and it certainly made him more challenging. I thought it was a cool "feature" to allow AI to toggle drop, almost as a taste of what players can expect in PvP. Oh well, kudos still to the devs for demonstrating that constructive feedback works.

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This whole discussion re: gender specific gear for Pre-order is really a non-issue, in my opinion.

How many people do you see running around with their CoH preorder run animations?

**edit - This just comes down to the have's and have not's, just like the snowballs during the early Winter Lord event.

There were quite a few people mad because the only way to get a snowball was to take down the WL and they didn't get the snowballs early.

In the long run, I only think 1 of my characters will wear the helm and only as an alt costume.

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While I agree it is a non-issue to me (as I don't care for any of the helmets), I believe those that asked about the gender-specific costume pieces have a legitimate concern. Its another instance where a "known" quality of life issue has been overlooked once again by the devs.

This is not analogous to the snowballs. Now if only male heroes could get snowballs from beating a WL, then its the same. Nothing stopped a particular gender from getting a snowball. The only thing that stopped you is if you didnt bother to log on for the month that WLs were running rampant.

An SG mate of mine is a woman, she plays only heroines. She ordered from EB Games; even if she never, ever was planning on wearing a helmet, the bonus is now locked out for her, unless she rolls a male character. Is that fair? Obviously she didn't pre-order for the bonus. But in effect, the current set-up is telling her, "hey no bonus for you, sorry."

New badges are always good.

Personally I don't mind some of the astronomical numbers for some of the badges you've created (the 1 billion X ones). I figure that your intention was a long term game w/ long term players, e.g. 2 years from now CoH is still going strong and those badges may be obtainable for a select few.

However, I would like TF badges to have the old souvenir texts associated with them, so when I look upon the Manticore TF badge, I can recollect who I fought and why I fought them. If possible, please consider adding a right-click info for EVERY badge.

I'd like the badges under achievements to be organized a little better as well. Each new issue just seems to drop achievement badges at the bottom of the list. Otherwise, kudos for badges.

Thanks much for the info!

Although I don't play a blaster, the blaster "desperation" move sounds very interesting.

As for the whole "defender" and "cap" thing, I'm pretty sure you have it right on the damage aspect. Think a redname said it once a month or two ago, in order to make defenders feel more "useful" in the 40+ game.

The whole store thing sounds like its part of States' plan to tweak the whole SO system in the game (increasing costs, so players rely more on drops to trade, etc). Did he say anything further to that issue?

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Rent is not heroic.

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Not too mention... Influence is supposed to be prestige, not real money (I know not everybody will agree with this statement but I think that is the way the devs see it).
Then, ok, I understand you loose influence when you buy enhancement ( What, BlackLight bought a damage enhancer? Guess he is not that powerfull then if he need to relie on such gadgets...)
But I don't see how the bases fit there... Having a cool base would (arguably) grant you prestige instead of costing...
Not that advocate this option, but I would like at least basic bases to be at a fixed cost...

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While rent is not a heroic concept, under the influence system it makes sense.

A hero has influence with the city's populace, whether that be with the guy/gal in the store that gives him the latest gizmo (tech enhancer), rune (magic enhancer), etc., to use to augment his/her powers. Paragon is a REBUILDING city because of the Rikti war; the city has prime real estate that it could use for office space, living space, etc., that its willing to give up to an SG for the implied protection of the city/neighborhood by that SG.

Thus, a group that "protects" all of Paragon, which makes the SG HQ more "advanced" or a "magnet" for villanous groups, requires more pull from the city reps and mayor or businesses, aka INFLUENCE. Paragon allows the heroes to locate their HQ in Founders' Falls (although Portal entrances are used, its just to "hide" the HQ that's acutally in a building/cave/statue in one of the city zones), that said villain group attacks, causing collateral damage. The influence "paid" per month is used to calm any city gov't nerves that said hero SG won't just up and leave the ruined HQ and surrounding neighborhood for the new hotness in Talos. Heck, the Fantastic Four has to pay rent on the Baxter Building. Just because they save NYC periodically doesnt mean that they get the right to occupy primo real estate space in the city!

As for the "rent" cost, I'm sure the devs will keep it at a modest level, so as to not punish the casual player/SGs out there. Perhaps the "fancier" the object, the more influence it costs in upkeep. Using a nuclear reactor to power your research lab may cost more influence then the SG next door that uses the city's good old power grid.

Yes, aoe wormhole is too much fun now

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If you battle in the Arena another hero in a weight class below you (weight classes are five level bands), you will be auto-exemplared to that weight class.

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Glad to hear the explanation on the Hami-Os!

On a side note, does this mean a lvl 43 vs. 39 match can take place w/o the auto-exemplaring? Or is the weight class a rigid lvl number, e.g. 30-35 is one class. Regardless, this might make for some interesting matches w/o an exemplar situation (e.g. lvl 32 power fully slotted vs. pre-32 match).