BrainBrillo
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Posts
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Joined
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Quote:Well, then...Grr. NCsoft can throw this on their store, make a bunch of money in a giant hurry as all these players rush to snatch up a specially de-"massived" version of CoH, *AND* the company keeps rights to the IP if they ever decide they need it for some reason.Originally Posted by McCharraigin
They might agree to it. Heck, they might even invest in it. City Of Heroes used to be their baby, and from what I read they wish us the best..and didn't Jack say he was thinking of sending headhunters to Paragon to see if they could hire some of the very talented out of work Devs and such people ?
And they hired BABS back. I will always love them for that.
Lisa.
Meanwhile, the players get to keep a "preserved in amber" form of the game for solo and small-group play. It ain't saving the game, but it means that all your characters don't vanish into the ether on 12/1/12.
The more I think about this option, the more I feel there's really *no* good reason for NCsoft not to do this if they simply don't want to worry about managing CoH but insist on holding the IP. Beyond getting a Cryptic signoff on this, is there any real disadvantage to them selling this closing MMO as a 1-(say)8 player game? -
If it were strictly single player, the existing game with no ability to play with other people, I'd happily pay $50. (Thank God that Dark Astoria exists, else all the Incarnate stuff would be borked.)
If they made it the whole game plus the ability to invite friends, I'd happily pay $100.
I have to imagine this would be the quickest way for them to make some fast cash off the IP, both since it takes minimal programming and I can't see them being super determined to resurrect it somehow. Given that the shutdown seems to be largely stemming from NCsoft having a cash-flow problem, I have to imagine this would be a win for everyone involved, at least compared to simply shutting off the servers.
...and then I remember Cryptic would have to agree to it. Sigh. -
Quote:This. I played an EM stalker to 35 before realizing just how severely the set was gutted to balance for PvP. Imagine how many more powersets would have had similar travesties visited upon them if not for i13.Originally Posted by Chad Gulzow-Man
Also, the pre-i13 PVP (specifically, the fact that PVE and PVP used exactly the same numbers) is why Energy Melee was crippled so badly. So it gets a double thumbs-down from me.
I will concede that the issue 13 changes killed PvP. I will then go on to say that, freed from concerns of PvP balance, the devs went on to make a lot of great PvE content. No way could we have gotten the 13 new post-Freedom powersets if the developers had needed to make them work in PvP.
Really, that's what I'm going to miss most about CoH - casual difficulty and no (alright, vestigial) PvP combined with immense personal customization. I seriously cannot think of another game that combines these three attributes with the mountain of content CoH has (and until 8/31, continued to produce). -
Quote:Gave out my two Going Rogue codes.Originally Posted by BrainBrillo
PM me. I still have a pair of Going Rogue box codes I was hoping to use to entice friends to join the game.
Remember, you can only apply codes that have NOT previously been applied to the account. -
PM me. I still have a pair of Going Rogue box codes I was hoping to use to entice friends to join the game.
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The nature of the beast with MMOs is that once you're established, you have a core of fans who we'll never leave until the lights go out. The granddaddies of the modern MMO, Ultima Online and Everquest, are still going after well over a decade. Countless MMOs have folded, but most of those never really caught fire in the first place, and died within two to four years - Tabula Rasa, Matrix Online, Asheron's Call 2, etc.
My question is - is CoH the oldest MMO to formally close it's doors? By my math, it will barely edge out Star Wars Galaxies - SW:G ran from June 26th 2003 to December 15th 2011 (about 8 years, 5.5 months), CoH will run from April 28th 2004 to November 30th 2012 (8 years, 7 months).
I know it's an odd thing to think about with everything ending in a few months, and I'm sure there's some minor MMO I'm forgetting, but I'm hoping CoH achieved some sort of milestone with it's run. -
Quote:Alright, I'm not a tech admin, but the servers won't actually be available to do non-CoH related work until 12/1/12. Would finding brand new servers in the next 3 months really be that much harder/costlier than shutting down this game and reallocating the hardware? The whole shutdown decision reeks of flop-sweat and panic...Originally Posted by gameboy1234
Guild Wars 2 just had a very successful launch. They are in fact in need of more servers. This might be a "resource reallocation" issue.
...which is largely my beef with how the game's end is being handled. I can accept that it's just not profitable to keep developing for the game (manpower being very expensive, as was pointed out earlier), but I find it hard to believe that just running the servers is a losing proposition. And with a nearly-completed issue sitting on beta, replete with a brand new powerset for sale on the market, it just seems like they're leaving money on the table.
I get that the game's ending, but the abrupt, fire-the-team-with-no-warning way it was handled suggests something more than a cost-benefit analysis was behind the shutdown. The "NC Soft's way in the red" and "Cryptic's holding on to the engine" rumors/explanations provide explanations why - and given most corporation's reluctance to explain anything they don't have to, I fear they're the best we'll ever get. -
Quote:I've never used an IO, and the AH is crap. I've just proven that nobody should ever be anything but a free player, ever!Originally Posted by RemusShepherd
I don't think I've ever used a server transfer token, and the SSAs are crap.
Remus, you've laid out an extremely thorough and effective argument why a
1) Tier 9 player,
2) who purchased Going Rogue,
3) doesn't like Incarnate content,
4) doesn't like SSAs,
5) doesn't need or care about more character slots, and
6) doesn't care about transfer tokens
...would be better off as a Premium. Based on the six points above, I agree that *you* would be better off as premium. But those six points are not true of everyone in the game. And even in this case, your argument boils down to "I've discovered I can get everything I want from this game, in perpetuity, for less money. How DARE they!"
The VIP/Premium split was always going to boil down to some content that was available only to VIPs, and there's no way EVERYONE was going to like that content. The fact that you, personally, DON'T like that content means...that you don't like the content, and may no longer be interested in being a VIP. It is NOT some sign of an evil conspiracy by the devs to screw over VIP players. -
Quote:Seconded. Using ALL the purchaseable sets would require making at least six different characters that I'm not sure I want to play.Originally Posted by BrandX
Five powersets free is still more powersets in 11 months than what we got before.
And then I go back to the thought of, just because it's an option, would you play it?
Does someone make and actually stay with every new character they make with a new powerset?
If you DEMAND free access to new powersets as a VIP, check the beta. Then decide if you want to spend your stipend points on it. -
Quote:Well, thumbnail sketch from the market of purchasable powersets that are not VIP content:Originally Posted by Organica
It'd be interesting to come up with a list (or wiki page) that listed all the new power sets that have been added since launch, and if they were free or part of a box set/purchasable from the market.
...
I mean, most people know this, but it'd be nice to have a chart or something to point people to when we get silly complaints like this one.
Melee: Street Justice, Titan Weapons, Staff Fighting
Ranged: Beam Rifle, Water Blast
Support: Beast Mastery, Nature Affinity
Freedom went live in late September 2011, so say we've had 11 monthly stipends from then until now. 11*400=4400, enough to pay for five and a half purchaseable sets -so stipend alone means you cannot get two of them. It'll be enough for six come September, but by then Bio armor will most likely be added, leaving stipend-alone purchases still two short.
The Tier 9 VIP, though, has 11*550=5500 points, enough to pay for another one and almost two. So the Tier 9 VIP is one short. If Bio armor is added in September and nothing else is added in October, the Tier 9 VIP will be able to get all extant purchaseable power sets.
I leave it to someone else to compile the list of VIP-free powers added to the game.
For my part...I mostly just don't care. My only purchased power set has been Titan Weapons. I don't have to have the new shiny, and if I *were* super determined to experience them I could always (as a VIP) hit them on beta and decide if they were something I wanted instead of all the other options 800 PP gets me. -
I know it's not what you're looking for, but on the sword front:
http://wiki.cohtitan.com/wiki/Iron_Blade
Lasts 3 days and you can get it back via Ouro. Not exactly a pool power, but the time rather than use limit means you can even incorporate it into your attack chain if you want. -
Quote:This character is going to be tanking on a 3-man team with my girlfriend and brother a lot, so Taunt and Defensive Sweep are keepers. Think I'll respec out of Crushing Blow, maybe drop Titan Sweep in a higher-level respec if I'm finding I don't need it.Originally Posted by Hopeling
None of the powers in TW are bad really, but you don't need or necessarily want all of them in a single build.
IMX, having both Crushing Blow AND Defensive Sweep is unnecessary. Titan Sweep isn't bad, but you can do without it easily enough, considering how much other AoE you have already from both primary and secondary. Like any Brute primary, Taunt is optional but very helpful if you ever tank (and the TW taunt looks great).
Definitely don't skip Follow Through, Rend Armor, Whirling Smash, Arc of Destruction, or Build Momentum.
Thanks for the help. -
Leveling a TW/Fire Brute, because I'm original like that. With fire being as clicky as it is, and with none of the powers being skippable (since I love self-rezzes), is there any attacks in TW that are generally felt to be not worth it or just not necessary to achieve a full rotation?
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Quote:Whenever there's any ambiguity, I call them "Association Football" and "American Football." Though I wish the term "Gridiron" football would take off in the latter's case, the sport is pretty much an oddity outside the U.S. and Canada.Originally Posted by Schismatrix
Look, if all ya US "football" fans could agree to call it "armored rugby" or some such, and finally accept that "soccer" should be called football, then it would be much less confusing and annoying for everyone when you're talking to anyone from the. entire. rest. of. the. planet.
Besides, wouldn't "Armored Rugby" sound more macho anyway? -
Quote:Ah, yeah, I'd overlooked the mez protection in Traps. That's huge. Only other place to get that is Sonic, and while that provides some resist and awesome -res debuffs, it offers even less healing than Traps.Originally Posted by Adeon Hawkwood
No, Thugs/Time is a good Tankermind combo, I just find Bots/Traps to be a bit better.
You are correct that Thugs/Time is extremely easy to softcap but Bots/Traps isn't that much harder and offers several other advantages. First off Traps provides mez protection which is pretty important for a Tankermind. Even with softcapped defense you will get hit by mezzes occasionally and for a Time that means that Time's Juncture goes down (ouch) while the Trapper is virtually immune (except for Sleeps). Now the AoE heal in Time is useful to an MM but in my experience a Trapper can do just fine with Triage Beacon and a single target heal (either Repair or Aid Other depending on preference).
As for Bots versus Thugs, Bots has a couple of advantages. First the Protector Bots have a quite nice heal (which helps make up for the lack of heals in Traps). Secondly Bots concentrates most of the AoE damage in the Assault Bot which (especially if you give him the OF proc and the Chance for Build Up proc) makes it easier to keep some bots in BG mode while still maximizing your AoE damage.
Factoring in IOs and Incarnates it evens out a bit. Time can take Clarion to close the Mez hole while Traps can take Rebirth to give a strong "all my pets are at full health" heal. Thugs does get a slight IO advantage due to Gang war and the ability to double-dip for Aura IOs but it's not a major difference.
Also - how does "Detonator" interact with human pets? It seems that a nonhuman pet outright dies when you throw the ability on them - does the human pet have much chance of living? Does it mess with your AoE placement in the process of not dying? -
Quote:Going by theory, Thugs/Time seems to be the winner. 16% unbuffed defense from the stacked lieutenants' auras, plus 9.375 from Time, plus a 9.375 -to hit PBAoE aura a tankermind can actually position themselves to use, plus an AoE heal for pets to recover from bodyguard damage. This seems like the easiest combo to both cap defense and have an AoE heal. Is the boss pets' taunt abilities too much for a tankermind to overcome? Or is there something else I'm missing that brings this combo down?Originally Posted by Adeon Hawkwood
For Primary you probably want Robots, Thugs or Demons. Personally I would say that Robots is the best of those but the Thugs and Demons are only slightly behind.
For secondary Traps, Time, Dark and Forcefield are the best for a Tankermind. I personally prefer Traps because it has mez protection (which Time and Dark lack) but also has better utility powers than Forcefield but all of them make a decent Tankermind. Storm is marginal, I've seen some very impressive Storm users but it's a very hard set to play well (I really suck with it).
Bots/Traps is probably the best easy-mode Tankermind. -
Swung by on Monday at 10 and 11 EST, no raid forming. These no longer happening?
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I've heard people talking about a regular Saturday Hamidon raid on Virtue, so I figured I'd inquire about it here. Is there a regular, open Hami raid that runs on this server?
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Got to the mission where you have to "Recruit Captain Castillo". We defeated him three separate times, with him actually staying to the end of his life bar the third time. Our immediate objective went blank and nothing happened. We defeated all the Sky Raiders on the ship but still nothing. FWIW, it was a three man team and Castillo was spawning as an AV, per settings.
Has this happened to anyone else? Anybody have any tips for avoiding it if they have? -
Quote:Have you ever had something you didn't like about the game? Then you've agreed with Venture.Originally Posted by Techbot Alpha
Edit: You also made me agree with Venture. Bah, I say!
For my part, I play this game for the GAME - the story is just fluff. I enjoy it when it's good, and ignore it when it's bad. C'mon, people, we're dealing with a game based on comic books - if the writing weren't wildly inconsistent, it wouldn't have that *authentic* feel. -
Quote:Thing is, with the long recharge, it's less important to *sustained* single target DPS than the currently proposed version. If spike single target damage were super important to this game, we would have seen a lot more appreciation of Stalkers prior to the I22 revisions. Would you concede that the current version on beta makes snipes unskippable?Originally Posted by StratoNexus
It is an interesting choice. A scale 5.52 attack is not something I want to see, because even at 45 second recharge and a long animation time, that is unskippable (and becomes O.O with fast-cast). I want the snipes to be attractive, not Assassin Strike for blasters. Others do want what you suggest though, I have seen many ask for it.
So while I don't support your idea, it has its supporters.
Personally, I'd rather see an AS-like power in the blast sets over a power that is awesome DPA and DPS if you reach an arbitrary +hit number, and largely useless if you do not. I don't like something this central to an AT that alters your core rotation based on outside buffs or build contortions. -
Quote:Seconded. I don't have a problem with a returning player being told they don't have access to a character because of the archetype - I do have a problem with the player burning a character unlock and still lacking access. SCR applies, but it would be nice if they could prevent players from unlocking characters they can't actually play.Originally Posted by Father Xmas
Well it boils down to the point that the game allows you to unlock a character whose AT you don't have unlocked. They really need the throw two unlock icons on those character slots.
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Quote:In counterpoint, let me offer that my suggestion addresses your concerns in these paragraphs. Blasters can use Build Up and Aim to make the snipe fast cast each time it's up, and Corruptors and Defenders get to decide if they want to work at hitting the 22% cutoff for the half the time aim will not be up. And the damage buff and recharge nerf make it much more attractive when it's up, but less important to overall sustained DPS.Originally Posted by StratoNexus
The core of Sniper powers is to be situational. I very much like that the change keeps that flavor while also allowing the possibility of more consistent use. I am concerned that defenders and corruptors can make it perma-fast cast as easily as they can, since I think that detracts from the situational flavor, but I do not think it is a deal breaker.
The simplest change that, IMO, will make the "unfairness" concern fade, is if they make the fast-cast snipe's animations reasonable. That way adding snipes into your chain is an improvement, but not so large an improvement that it must be done or else you fall significantly behind. Also, the difference between perma-fast cast and occasional fast-cast becomes very small.
And the devs will have to do some other work to buff blast sets, but the y already need to do a pass on every snipeless set. -
Posted this awhile ago, but it was deep in another thread and kind of got lost.
Suggestion is: double the damage on all snipes, and increase the base recharge to 45s. This makes them better as alpha strikes, better as spike damage (when insta'd), and (about) half as important to sustained DPS - in other words, a useful but situational ability. Plus, it means a blaster can alternate popping Aim and Build Up to always make it instant whenever it comes off cooldown - Corruptors and Defenders get to decide if they want to tie themselves in knots for half of the time the snipe will be up without Aim. Damage-wise, this makes snipes a bit less than 90% as effective as a stealthed Assassin strike, and almost 25% better than a critical unstealthed Assassin strike - but on three times the cooldown.
I know this undoes a lot of the individual set-balancing this change would make (like salvaging AR and Dev from the dustbin), but the devs could do that separately without altering how most blast sets play.
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Quote:Dude, *Everquest* is still around. *And* adding new content, if only on an annual basis. If people think that the game's heyday is coming back, yeah, they're kidding themselves. But I do not think it's unreasonable to expect this game to still be around in 5-10 years.Originally Posted by Vel_Overload
I'll give you that Arcana... but some people where were acting as if the game would be around fooooooooorrrrrreeeevvvveeeerrrr. Which it won't.