BlackStormer

[ QUOTE ]
This thread is solely for discussions regarding the the new defense scaling system. From the Issue 7 Training Room patch notes:


Modified PvE critter accuracy. Defense powers will now work equally well against critters, regardless if they have higher accuracy. For instance, your defense powers will work equally well against a Boss or any critter up to 5 levels higher than you, as it does for an equal level minion. Previously, a more accurate critter could circumvent much of your defense, but this will no longer happen. This change is designed to alleviate the disparity between Defense and Damage
resistance powers (for instance, a player with super reflexes will now be more effective against a high level critters, a boss or Arch villain) This change has no effect on a player who does not have any Defense. More accurate critters may have a greater chance at the extreme low end of the To Hit scale than previously due to this change. For instance, an Archvillain whose To Hit previously was set at the 5% minimum, will now have a 7.5% chance to hit. This change does not affect PvP.

All off topic posts will be removed. Please do not post bugs/feedback/balance issues before testing this content.

[/ QUOTE ]

Cricket:

The only problem with this is with ED in place, it cuts the defensive bonuses by 40% since the inherent defensive bonus is weaker than the other enhancements. So I propose you raise the enhancement bonus from 5%, 10%, 20% to 8.3%, 16.7%, 33.3%. This would allow us to have better defenses.

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
HOWEVER THIS IS ALL A MUTE POINT, BECAUSE UNLESS YOU WORK FOR NCSOFT I'M TALKING TO A WALL ANYWAY. SO THIS WILL BE MY LAST POST IN HERE. THANKS!

[/ QUOTE ]



Unintentionally ironic in no less than three separate ways; impressive.

[/ QUOTE ]Well I see that things hasn't changed since I left.

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
That invention system has dogged the poor man for well over a year now. Maybe once it goes live and the game world is committed to one system, he can finally sleep at night.

Poor poor sweepy statesman... ;.;

[/ QUOTE ]

I bet the Statesbaby has more to do with his lack of sleep.

[/ QUOTE ]

I think that's just a ruse! He doesn't want to let on how much he really does care about the skills/invention system!

And don't you dare bring up the arch-enemy and legend systems. The man is weary enough as it is!

States, go put your feet up and have a Zagnut bar on us! You've earned it buddy!

[/ QUOTE ]

If you think baby statesman keeping his daddy up at night is a ruse, then I suggest that you have one and you will see with a screaming baby at night no one sleeps.

[/ QUOTE ]

For the average mortal, this is correct. But remember, States is an incarnate! Along with inheriting a fraction of Zeus' power he may have also absorbed the diety's parenting abilities. Dr. Spock be damned, it doesn't take a masters of mythology to know how well Zeus handled fatherhood. And to think his kids still turned out okay!

(Of course I'm joiking here and no offense meant to the big man and his bouncing caped crying crusader. )

[/ QUOTE ]

Ahh young hero but you must also remember that the son has inhereted the father's abilities and like Zeus who was the son of the Mighty Kronos, he may surpass the father which means right now that would include screaming. Can you say Sonic boom

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Great idea. Comdemn a game before you've seen anything about it other than Marvel and Cryptic are working together to make it.

[/ QUOTE ]
I'm not sure why someone should be all that optimistic or pessimistic about the Marvel/Microsoft deal. While the potential is there for 'blue skies' results for MUO and CoX, there are several concerns as well. I'm not sure why discussion of that should stop now, considering that people have been discussing just this scenario since MUO was first announced many moons ago.

Microsoft's track record is mixed at best, there's been many long-winded discussions over the last couple of years about how there are more pitfalls to creating a superhero MMOG using pre-existing corporate IP as opposed to studio owned IP, and most people remember how well having "two separate dev teams" worked with CoV. This deal has obvious benefits for Cryptic Studios, but I'd have to agree that for current subscribers all this deal does is create this big unknown factor for the next couple years. Cryptic doesn't have a sterling track record of developing two properties with similar code bases and engines, let alone a track record of managing two dev teams working on completely different code bases and engines. In fact, few studios have a good track record of developing multiple MMOGs - this isn't just a concern because Cryptic is doing it.

I wish Cryptic the best, honestly. I just don't think anyone should get too excited or depressed at this news. How can anybody outside of Cryptic and Marvel and Microsoft feel anything about this, really? There are far too many unproven, unknown factors involved as far as the consumer is concerned.

It's interesting, and that's about it, as far anyone outside the company can judge at this point.

[/ QUOTE ]

I agree Clinton but with an added Caveate. What will add interest and intrigue to all of this will be what DC will do because they too are abiout to enter into the world of MMOs.
I cannot say that this will be bad or good either but it will be interesting.

Both of these comic giants have alot to bring to the table, both are well established with countless villain and hero groups, with rich storylines that would be a boon to storyline gaming. For example, Crisis on infinite Earth, or the Genosha saga. So cross you fingers and toes boys and girls, the ride is about to get bumpy.

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
That invention system has dogged the poor man for well over a year now. Maybe once it goes live and the game world is committed to one system, he can finally sleep at night.

Poor poor sweepy statesman... ;.;

[/ QUOTE ]

I bet the Statesbaby has more to do with his lack of sleep.

[/ QUOTE ]

I think that's just a ruse! He doesn't want to let on how much he really does care about the skills/invention system!

And don't you dare bring up the arch-enemy and legend systems. The man is weary enough as it is!

States, go put your feet up and have a Zagnut bar on us! You've earned it buddy!

[/ QUOTE ]

If you think baby statesman keeping his daddy up at night is a ruse, then I suggest that you have one and you will see with a screaming baby at night no one sleeps.

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Besides, by the time MUO comes out, I'll be more than ready for the switch, as I'm sure most of us will be.

[/ QUOTE ]

There's one. How many to follow?

Oooo look, the marvel MMO lets me do X, CoH/V doesn't. Oooo, the marvel one has better performance cuz it's written under the heavy guidance of MS and thus will be coded in D3D... heading out. Oooo, the marvel one let's me be a wolvie clone without getting the smackdown by the mods. 50K players exodus.

Sorry folks, not seeing an upside here.

Unless Cryptic intentionally makes the combat system completely different and uses the extra advertisement to gain more players.

Whatever. We'll see. For now, I'll maintain my pessimism.

[/ QUOTE ]

Bill, can I ask you a serious question?

How long do you want City of Heroes to exist without a sequel? As it is now, with just issues and perhaps future expansions to sustain it?

I've been here since day 1 and even I most likely will want a sequel in another year or two. Simply adding more graphic effects onto three year old code just leads to more bugs.

In the 2-3 years it'll take for this Marvel MMO to be developed, beta'd, and released, I fully expect CoH's lifespan to be towards it's end. I'll be here until the servers get shut down, but expecting more than 4 years of life out of a MMO in this day and age is asking for too much.

[/ QUOTE ]

I never thought I would say this but I absolutely agree with Taser but he is right. This game will end but the genre will go on and that's good thing and the sequel will come out that will be better. Good point Taser.

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Besides, by the time MUO comes out, I'll be more than ready for the switch, as I'm sure most of us will be.

[/ QUOTE ]

There's one. How many to follow?

Oooo look, the marvel MMO lets me do X, CoH/V doesn't. Oooo, the marvel one has better performance cuz it's written under the heavy guidance of MS and thus will be coded in D3D... heading out. Oooo, the marvel one let's me be a wolvie clone without getting the smackdown by the mods. 50K players exodus.

Sorry folks, not seeing an upside here.

Unless Cryptic intentionally makes the combat system completely different and uses the extra advertisement to gain more players.

Whatever. We'll see. For now, I'll maintain my pessimism.

[/ QUOTE ]

Here is something you may not have thought of. How about the reverse. Can you imagine cloned Statesman walking around in the Marvel Universe? I can. There is no doubt that there will be some players who will leave. However, if Marvel system isn't like COH then they will probably come back. With another MMO it will make both companies compete for our business and competition is almost always better than monopolies. Also when this game goes the way that all MMOs do then you will have a younger MMO along the same lines to play in. It's a win/win situation for all of us because that means the genre won't die and that's what we really want to continue to be able to play Superheroes. So don't worry it might be the best for all. I doubt that the system will be the same as this one as far as enhanceable powers go.

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
I'm in the dark, what was Posi referring to when he mentioned a project between Cryptic and Microsoft?

[/ QUOTE ]

Go here.

[/ QUOTE ]

If it were xbox only, I'd understand this move. As it's ported to PC as well, I have no idead what the hell Cryptic is thinking.

"Gee, let's have 2 superhero MMOs! We'll compete with ourselves!"

Thus diluting both player bases.

I don't get it.

[/ QUOTE ]

You should, it's much cheaper than dealing with constant lawsuits. That was the deal they made with each other to put the infringement battle to rest.

[ QUOTE ]
I'm not saying this just because I'm a "city of" fan, like most of us who post on these forums are, but..

I don't see how a marvel based mmo could succeed. The thing about "City of" is that the heroes and villains are completely original. With a game based on Marvel everyone will be clamoring to be Wolverine, Cyclops, Storm, etc. The Originality factor goes to the wind.

I'll be sticking to "City of" thank you. The variety of costume options in this game speaks bounds for what this game is about-- ORIGINALITY. A Marvel game will never be able to top this game on that count.

[/ QUOTE ]

That kind of thing happens here too. It will die down.

[ QUOTE ]
I'm in the dark, what was Posi referring to when he mentioned a project between Cryptic and Microsoft?

[/ QUOTE ]

They are helping Marvel create their new Superhero MMO.

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
I was using a light-hearted analogy to illustrate a point about human nature--you've taken me out of context. Keep to the subject, bud. I'm not talking about politics or astrophysics, I'm talking about day-to-day observations on a sub-set of people that play this game.

[/ QUOTE ]



Awll no, you made a sweeping generalization about how the world works with absolutely no reference to City of Heros at all.

In fact, you made a sweeping generalization defending sweeping generalizations.

Let's look at it again.
[ QUOTE ]

Just because I can't "substantiate" with hard data doesn't mean it's any less accurate,

[/ QUOTE ]

Actually yes it does, by definition.

[ QUOTE ]
like in this example: most jerks don't have a lot of friends. Can I substantiate that with numbers? Have I met all of the jerks in the world? No, but from observation one can make these kinds of accurate generalizations.

[/ QUOTE ]

So take a subjective term "jerk" an unquantifiable AND subjective variable "number of friends". Then, set-up a straw man argument that somehow you would have to meet all the jerks in the world in order to be able to gather actual evidence to back up your unsubstantiated claims.

And, of course, once you are called on your shoddy debating techniques:
-Accuse ther person who points out the flaws in your logic of nmt having a sense of humour
-Claim you were taken out of context
-Accuse the other person of straying off topic despite the fact your original point was off topic and
-Claim you made caveats in your initial claim you didn't, despite the evidence being quoted in the body of the same message

Do you teach a course in poor discussion technique?

In short: all generlizations are wrong; including this one.

[/ QUOTE ]

Simply untrue,

All generalizations are not wrong. That in and of itself makes you wrong because you chose to generalize. For example, all water on the planet is made of oxygen and hydrogen, all people, that are human live on planet earth, all life on planet earth must eat to survive. All of these are generalizations that are true.

Secondly your supposition is also incorrect about not being able to prove something automatically makes it wrong. That too is a generalization. It is the basis of all science that a theory without prove can neither be right or wrong until it's has been proven to be one or the other. Also it's is a supreme amount of arrogance to assume that you can prove everything in the universe to be true or false based on your limited understanding. We must admit that there are things we believe in that cannot be proven to be true at this time but in the future maybe so. Like a man can fly. Without that belief man never would have left the ground. So before you critcize him for his technique, I suggest you review your own.

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
The majority of Blasters are not careful or skilled (very in the minority). In my blurb I alluded to this.

[/ QUOTE ]

Well, that's a good point.


[ QUOTE ]
My point was merely to demonstrate that blasters work amid a habitat of debt, moreso than the other archetypes. And I wasn't making 'amazing generalizations'--I sited specific circumstances on how most blasters get into debt,

[/ QUOTE ]

It's the terms like "most" and "majority" that are making me think "generalizations". However, it's probably not fair to nitpick your word choices.

My point is that earning debt is directly influenced by our playstyle choices. If the majority of Blasters are not careful or skilled enough to avoid living in debt, then I don't see that as a problem with the Blaster archetype. It is possible to play a Blaster who doesn't rack up much debt at all. You seem to be expressing that debt is automatically a feature of playing a Blaster. I disagree and say that Blasters who are constantly in debt are making choices that are earning that debt. A Tanker or Scrapper who constantly takes on too much can be in the same situation.

Knowing and staying within your limitations is an important part of this game, and debt is how the game encourages you to do so (in the future). People who don't learn from that debt will continue to get more of it frequently. If those type of people are gravitating toward playing Blasters, then, maybe that would explain why so many Blasters feel like they are always in debt.


[ QUOTE ]
as well as illustrating the clear nature of acquiring aggro as blaster: Blasters generate far more aggro because they out-damage controllers and defenders and are in highly-offensive postures (e.g. rapidly activating offensive powers agumented with build-up, hasten, aim).

[/ QUOTE ]

All true. Blasters trying to solo a group appropriate for a Tanker or a Scrapper of their level are looking for pain (more true the higher the level in question). Grouping is the same, or even worse, since Blasters often have powers with the potential to shift all the villains spawned for the entire group directly onto themselves. That's a good reason to group with a Tanker or two, and make sure they have agro firmly in their grasp before tossing down agro-robbing AoE's.


I have two Blasters that I play. Each of them is defeated from time to time. Neither of them live in constant debt; in fact, I'd say that most of their play time is spent out of debt. I'm not trying to be difficult or annoying, I just disagree with what some of what you're saying because my experience is different.

[/ QUOTE ]

You see though the only problem with that is originally the Blasters were supposed to be the mega-damage dealers in COH. That's why the developers didn't give them more health. They didn't want to create Tankmages. However, when the developers started to modify the other classes the Blasters got left behind. So that's why Blasters have the most debt because it's an AT, that's major function is to do Mega-damage and it doesn't. That's the problem.

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]


I more than acknowledge that there are good blasters; however, they are in the minority. Even you have seen your fair share of blasters hit the deck due to bad judgement (errors that usually gets weeded out by the late lvl 20's). When I say *majority* I should've qualified that for accuracy: "the majority of blasters I've seen..."

but when you see a trend, as I've explained, it typically rings true. Ask any primary non-blaster what they see, and they'll tell you that they see a trend, too...most blasters aren't too bright with their aggro management. Or are you going to dispute this, too, and say "substantiate it"?



[/ QUOTE ]
I have to agree that more often than not it's a blaster that makes poor decisions and die when I team with them. As a result I will only team with select guys and gals I know are good players. If I had a nickel for everytime I saw a blaster firing away on a boss (one I'm fighting and not needing help with either for that matter), aggro'n the whole pack of minions around him, and getting attacked and dying, then get blamed cause I should have been there to defend them, well, my subscription would be paid into next year easily!

Why is this? I don't know. Like Synch said, a lot of blasters I have teamed with or just seen street cleaning, fall prey more often than any other AT. Part of it is poor play, and given the weaknesses a blaster has (namely minute HP's and utter lack of defense) of course a blaster who is not in tune to strategy will accumulate debt much more rapidly than other AT's.

A lot of other AT's play poorly too, but they can afford to, since they have a better scenario to work with, i.e, not as much damage as a blaster, but better DEf and higher HP's.

All in all, I think a simple rule of life holds true...If something offends me, it might just be because it's true. Attacking Synch because he's telling the truth doesn't accomplish much. If the DEVS took a poll of all blasters and asked if they would give up some of their massive damage for more HP's and Def, I wonder what the results would be. Anyone can get into debt quickly if they can't play (although now they won't realize it until lvl 10!) but the very make up of a blaster makes it easier for them to accumulate debt, because poor play feeds on the weaknesses of the toon.

So chill, and don't take stuff so personally. There are very few absolutes in life.

Peace

[/ QUOTE ]

Not suprising considering that many of the guys that I run into that play Blasters are from the first person shooter games. Based on my observations, the idea is shoot fast and often and be the last on standing.

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
The majority of Blasters are not careful or skilled (very in the minority).

[/ QUOTE ]

This was pulled directly out of your bottom, and you know it. You cannot speak for "most Blasters" when it comes to their skill or how careful they are, because you have no way to substantiate the statement. You have not seem most blasters play, because there is not enough time in the day to do so.

Do blasters draw more aggro than other squishies? Sure, and they can't lock them down as effectively as some controllers. Do they have minimal defense? Certainly. Does that mean they are not careful or skilled? Not at all, in fact, I'm glad my first 50 was a blaster, becuase it made me a better player and gave me a good understanding of MOB AI.

You may have teamed with some crazy blasters, granted. My blaster never hit the debt cap, was hardly in perma-debt, and solo'd most of her carreer.

Please don't make assumptions about "most Blasters" based on the ones you've seen in game. If I were to make the statement that most blasters were very skilled about MOB AI because of how squishy they are, I would be talking out of my bottom, too.

[/ QUOTE ]

He shouldn't have made a generalization about most Blasters but I have seen many Blasters play very recklessly and there are enough forum complaints about Blasters to give a certain amount of credence to what he said. Also perma-debt is more likely in Blasters especially in higher levels because of the amount of debt you receive after level 30, multiple defeats on TFs and bad pick up teams can create more that enough debt that it will take several days for you to work the debt down and if you get defeated during that time, that adds to it, so perma-debt is again possible.

[ QUOTE ]
Synchronicity:
[ QUOTE ]
Ya know, being a blaster = being in perpetual debt.

[/ QUOTE ]

Adron:
[ QUOTE ]
Uh, no.

[/ QUOTE ]

Synchronicity:
[ QUOTE ]
Umm, Yes.

[/ QUOTE ]


When you put your statement into the form of an equation you may have given the impression that you were saying "All blasters are in perpetual debt.".

If you did mean that, then you're wrong. Even before the I5 debt changes there was no reason that a careful and skilled blaster couldn't avoid permadebt. Yes, you'll be defeated from time to time. Probably more than most Tankers or Scrappers (which should come as no surprise, since those archetypes have more health and better defenses). Having a lot of debt isn't the same as being in perpetual debt, however.

If you didn't mean that, then you might want to avoid using absolutes (in this case, an equation) to express non-absolute concepts. If you do, then people will be more likely to understand what you say.


[ QUOTE ]
The *vast* majority of blasters (blasters who play other ATs, mind you) feel that they manage debt far longer through each level than your corresponding tank, scrapper, controller and defender. They are the primary squishy. Why? Because they aggro like no controller does (since controllers lock-down the baddies) or any defender (blasters easily outstrip defenders in damage, if you're about to make the offensive defender example--mobs go attack the one that inflicts the highest damage per attack). After all, who do you see on the ground the most? It's the blaster who has tanker-itis, or the fire-blaster that opens with the AoE salvo that ticks off every last minion...bonehead moves, to be sure, but there are plenty of boneheaded blasters. I know I started off that way, too.

The only time you see defenders and controllers hit the deck is from AoE damage, or some uber-dumb move like going toe-to-toe with a lieut or a boss.

[/ QUOTE ]

Those are some amazing generalizations. What exactly are you trying to say? Just that Blasters are the squishiest archetype, and are able to draw the most agro when they want? Or also that we should feel sorry for the poor Blasters because of this? Are you advocating a change, or opposing one? I've gone back and read your posts in this thread and I'm at a loss to understand what your position is.

[/ QUOTE ]

He is correct. Blasters by definition don't have either the health or the defenses to withstand an apha strike from multiple foes if he doesn't drop enemy cons with the first shot. Pre-I5 Blasters drew a significant amount of aggro for the damage that they do without the ability to heal himself or respites available a Blaster could find himself on a quick trip to the hospital. Also in teams the Blasters are also the first ones to fall from AOEs, good Blasters can mitigate that by pulling alot but pulling doesn't alway work and a Blaster can be overrun without the ability of the instant kill a Blaster can find himself or herself face planted in an instant. Now after I5 with the new changes to the cons, a Blaster is in even more danger because of defiance, and enemy cons doing more damage thus negating any extra health that was given to the Blasters in I5. Besides the higher you are in the game, the more damage the bad guys do in single shot incriments and that was before the added damage of I5. So perma-debt is not only possible but likely.

[ QUOTE ]
When a Blaster’s health drops below 40%, they will begin to see an increase in their damage output. A small increase at first, but the lower their health gets, the bigger the increase becomes.

This thread is for you to provide feedback to the Devs on the above issues. You are allowed to post ONCE in this thread. Make it count! If you post more than one time - the extra posts will be removed.

If a dev responds this count will be reset.

[/ QUOTE ]

After extensive testing of the Defiance abilitiy, I have to agree with everyone else. This power is very useful at lower levels but extremely ineffective starting at level 22. However,
here is a suggestion to make Defiance worth having.

The Defiance power should be changed to when you start taking damage your meter fills up the more damage you take, the faster your meter fills even if you heal yourself, your meter is still filling as long as you take damage. Howerver, once you stop taking damage your meter decreases. This would allow blasters to heal themselves and still take advantage of the Defiance.

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
It is entirely unacceptable to say "100% working as intended, will not change" and then change it barely two weeks later. I think it is unacceptable to change it ever, without explaining the reasoning behind the change but that is just me.

[/ QUOTE ]

If the developers decided that something was (or was becoming) a balance issue, they have to fix it. They can't just toss up their hands and let it go on just because they said they wouldn't beforehand. Game balance trumps all.

[/ QUOTE ]

Unacceptable! It's fine to say there are problems and they are under review but to give a generic answer such as "working as intended" when it's clearly not, then that's a problem. Honesty is always the best policy when you are dealing with everyone, especially your paying customers.

[ QUOTE ]
My only problem with Defenders is lack of Mez Resistance.
Nearly everything else Bar Blasters, has access to some form of Mez Resistance. (Blasters being able to Kill Quickly)
If Defenders would have access to something like the Psionic PP, then we would be better rounded, and not being the first things Held/Slept/Confused = Dead
This might just be, due to my Kinetics Origin, which in itself has some flaws that need addressing.

[/ QUOTE ]

Each defender's weakness is supposed to be balanced against every other defender's weakness. Some defenders are more versitle than others like the Darks but that doesn't mean there aren't problems with specific ATs. Forcefield defenders are having a hellova time with certain powers in their set.
So it's not all cake and ice cream. I wish it was.

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Secondly, I have no intention of removing melee attacks - it's just a "perception" by some Blasters that some of the Secondary Sets aren't as useful as Devices or Energy Manipulation.

[/ QUOTE ]

Yeah, I've always had this "perception" that getting into melee with anything on my Electric/Ice Blaster was essentially begging to die. I get enough Ranged attacks in my Primary that I can cycle damage forever. Why would I want to run in and try to slap someone, giving him the chance to gut me?

I wouldn't call it a "perception" ... No. Unless you've got some psychotic obsession with debt, building a "blapper" is pretty fruity.

I'd kill for */Ice to have more utility. If you yank all the melee attacks and PBAoE abilities, what do you have left? A self buff, an immobilize, and an Ice Patch? That's not a "Ranged" secondary.

Devices is ideal. Only ONE melee ability and it's a disorient attack. Everything else can be used at range, is a self buff, or is placed on the ground (melee-range optional).

Energy follows closely for the array of self-buffs, not melee damage (though I hear it's solid for that, too... But when a Chief Soldier kills you in one hit, do you really want to get that close to him?)

I'm glad to hear you have no plans to make Blasters in general more attractive to play as their designated role - Ranged damage.

/watches the steady decline of Blasters in groups

/goes back to trying to get his Fire/Ice tanker to level 50 so he can try a Kheldian.

[/ QUOTE ]

There are 2 conception problems with Blaster that I have found.

The first problem that I see is the Blaster as the Arch-Type is defined. A true Blaster is a force to behold. The Blaster is an energy jauggernaught no matter what that energy is the sheer force of the powers at this heroes command should be unparralleled. Engaging these kinds of heroes whether it be close up or far away should be a dangerous proposition because of the raw power at their command. However, where the Blaster really excells is in their ability to drop you at range. This is "in my opinion" of what a blaster should be.

The second problem as I see it is the misconception of power uniformity. Every powerset is not going to be equal. The concept that we should make all the powers the same and that will make everything fair is hogwash. Some powers are going to do more damage than others. That doesn't mean that the secondaries shouldn't be more just as effective. However, the problem I have with the secondaries is the lack of synergy and effectiveness.

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]

...snip...
While I can see saying perhaps that psychic is the best, I don't agree that it is by a long shot. I've seen bubbles defenders with dark and rad quite enjoy their choices in secondary sets.

I just didn't believe it made as big of a difference with bubbles as it did with others. YMMV.

[/ QUOTE ]

Well, Psychic doesn't STOP you at all from working with tankers&scrappers. It's just that with Psychic powers positioning is nearly irrelevant, which means that you can be where the others of your team are. While with radiation with a bunch of Energy blasters you'd be crippled.

Also psychic has a better synenergy with Forcefields because basicly when you're a FF defender you're always less protected than anyone else (No Deflection or Insulation for yourself) and since psychic is very much a single target set you won't attract heaps of aggro (as you would with for example the cones in the dark set).
No. I'll maintain my stance. Dark blast and Rad blast are two sets that are less than ideal when you're FFing. You can be happy with them, but then you can be happy with almost any Defender combo.

The best sets are Electricity and Psychic. Psychic because it has several strong single target attacks (and they all have built in debuffs, TK with its built in knockback and Will domination with Sleep). It doesn't draw alot of aggro, and who ever you hit is less able to hit back.
Electricity may lack the high powered TK&WD, but it does feature Tesla Cage which is VERY nice if someone starts gunning for you.
Energy isn't an FF Offender set, but can work well if you're primarily using your secondary as defense (balanced or supporter strategy) since it features knockback with everything it has.

Dark likes its cones, which are short ranged and require offensive positioning and pulls aggro like there is no tomorrow. Of course it CAN work, if you're mainly using Dark blast, Gloom, Moonbeam and Dark Pit (and not Tenebrous Tentacles and Night Fall). If you go the single fire route you will have ACC debuffing and decently powerful attacks which don't require loads of positioning. But Tenebrous and Nightfall are really the most lovable parts of Dark Blast, so giving them up....well, it would pain my heart.

Rad is a lost cause if you happen to end up with blasters, and a dangerous route even if you don't. It doesn't reduce enemies attack with longer ranged attacks and it has short ranged with all its bread and butter. Rad means DYING alot unless you got expert tankers with you, so rad needs a set which is more self-defensive, like Radiation Emission or Dark Miasma.



Of course ALL of these sets (except Rad, and in this case Electricity) work well if you're going to Solo (because you need to debuff enemy aggression) and don't have to care about covering a team, but FF isn't really Solo friendly since its holy trinity (DS, IS, DB) are highly team oriented.

[/ QUOTE ]

I have to disagree here. FF/Energy works well together. Not only does the knockback help keep opponents on the ground, also works in synergy with force concept of energy. Energy damage is one of the highest in the game and putting up a bubble and forget it since it auto protects you give you a BIG advantage when it comes to damage mitigation and offesive strategies.

Excellent Post!! However, I think you may want to rethink the idea that a Forcefielder doesn't solo well considering I do it all the time. Also Dark Defenders also solo well too and can be what you would call a very strong Offender. All in all though this was a very accurate and well thought out post.

[ QUOTE ]
DAMIT i dont want to have to wait 3 months to solo good, cant you PLEASE test and release these in a quicker patch or something?

[/ QUOTE ]

I can solo with very little problems. In larger missions I do die a bit more but I usually can make it up faster the way the blasters do. Especially with the extra damage I get in nova form.

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Black Stormer, human form Kheldians have an innate -30% damage resistance penalty to all damage types.

[/ QUOTE ]

AND THEY ARE GOING TO REMOVE IT!!?
WHAT A LOAD OF BUNK.

[/ QUOTE ]

Maybe you misunderstand, a -30% damage resistance penalty means we have 30% LOWER resistance than everyone else.
Removing this means we all get 30% MORE resistance.

[/ QUOTE ]

Thank you I did misunderstand but I am still very upset about them lowering our health. It's okay to play a jack of all trades, I did that as a Dark Defender, but it's something different to make us sitting ducks for the voids and the others with ion blasters. I don't understand why they don't leave our health the way it is. Can anyone explain this?

[ QUOTE ]
Black Stormer, human form Kheldians have an innate -30% damage resistance penalty to all damage types.

[/ QUOTE ]

AND THEY ARE GOING TO REMOVE IT!!?
WHAT A LOAD OF BUNK.

[ QUOTE ]
The ones I spoke of (removing the -30% debuff, etc.) are all in Issue 4. Just wanted to give you an update.

[/ QUOTE ]

I am curious what does this mean? What's a -30% debuff and how does it effect us?