BrandX

Originally Posted by Kron

So we all agree that the KD proc from Kinetic is useless?
Now what should I drop for the LOTG set or are there powers worth the full set of 6? Only ever hear recommendations for 1,2 or 4 slotting LOTG.

Originally Posted by CBeet

Should Ninjitsu be ported to Scrapper, I would like to see both Blinding Powder and Smoke Flash replaced with more Scrappy powers and for a few powers to be moved up the list, and of course there'd need to be a replacement for Caltrops. Personally I think Blinding Powder and Smoke Flash are very there as support for the Stalker playstyle, as in they're calculated uses for the tactical fight to put it in the character's favour. Scrappers, in my mind, froth at the mouth and charge in like a dancer of death and beat the snot out of everything in sight, so my suggested replacements are more to compliment that kind of playstyle.

Ninjas Reflexes
Danger Senses
Kuji-In Rin
Silent Steps, a simple stealth toggle with some +defense
Kuji-In Sha
Of Body and Mind, auto +resistance to Smashing/Lethal, +resistance to Placate/Confuse/Taunt/Fear. Replaces Caltrops.
Sudden Movements, a short-range targetted teleport which adds a brief +defense and invisibility, as well as increasing critical chance for the next attack, 90-120 second recharge. Replaces Smoke Flash
Bolas, a ranged cone Knockdown, Immobilize, chance for hold, 3 targets maximum, 20-40 second recharge. Replaces Blinding Powder.
Kuji-In Retsu

Thoughts? I know I'd want one

Originally Posted by Ultimus

Its cheaper to buy all the individuals pieces then it is to buy the set.

Set costs 400 Points,

Individual pieces are:

ACC/DMG -- 50 points
DAM/END -- 70 points
DMG/RECH -- 85 Points
DMG/END/RECH 113
Knockdown Bonus -- 70

Total cost 388...

Originally Posted by Deus_Otiosus

This is coming from someone who isn't that concerned about RP reasons for using or not using X power.

It would seem that its very hard to "pretend" you're a bad guy with the alignment system.

The Villain and even some of the Rogue tip missions generally require you to really get your hands dirty.

On top of that, you have to actually work for one of the patrons, and do all their dirty work for them.

And lastly, you are basically doing all of this to obtain what is effectively "power" - which is the least heroic thing you can really do.

It's a long stretch imo to write off all of that.


Even if you could write all of that off, your actual reasoning of doing all of that for ultimately a good cause is really what at best a vigilante would do. For someone who really wants to be a "pure" hero, even that is a step across a moral line.


While it doesn't help the OP, it seems to me that it would actually be easier (concept wise) to start out as a villain and be redeemed as opposed to a hero going villain and then turning around and going back to hero.


That's just a non-RPers opinion. I usually have a general concept for my characters and whether they will need to go villain or not will be worked out from the start as part of the concept. (and that's about as far as my concepts go)

Originally Posted by IzzySoft

I did! And was not really sure what those previous posters were talking about, so i didnt say too much!
I still wish there wasnt as much KnockBack though.. in Human form!
If I could I'd allow players to Slot KnockBack enhancements.. and Only Then would it Knock Back.. otherwise.. it would just KnockDown.. well, for the Humanform Footstop at least.

Originally Posted by IzzySoft

I dont know about you, but.. CoH is a great game and i've spent close to 7 years in it... and gotten great enjoyment! I feel kinda bad that I got to enjoy something sooo good and not really giving back to show my appreciation. So... once in a while... i purchase more character slots or whatever i think i want.. and I do it knowing that its going to secure CoH's future for a good few years longer. Or at least I hope it will!
You can delete characters if you want, but... lets let the developers ballpark the time/effort involved themselves!

This is the eventual AT, and as you can see.. even with VEAT', people will start asking for More VEAT Powers, More, More, More. They will eventually want most of the powers from some of the powersets added to a VEAT. And it wont just be one powerset.. Eventually it will be Most of the powersets! This new AT will Nip that need in the BUDDD!

Originally Posted by _Force_

I've got this totally rad idea that will fix the problem here!

So for 8 days, just 8 days, pretend your character is actually you, a guy or girl sitting behind a computer trying to make his/her character better. (You can go on hide on said character if you'd like to hide from the "shame" of stepping out of character to make your build better, maybe even make a plain costume that looks like you!) And then, once you've got that covered you can proceed to do the tips/whatnot needed to get to redside (Obviously it's not your character doing this, he's on vacation in Mexico right?) Once you get to redside, do that patron arc, get the power and then do your tip missions to become a hero again.

And then BAM, all the sudden your character comes back from vacation and WOW he found a shiny rock or whatever at the train station that gave him this cool power that makes him more powerful! It's crazy I know, I would have never guess something like the above was even imaginable. It's pure science fiction! Inconceivable!





Obviously I'm not a role player, so take all that with a grain of salt if you must.

Just sayin'

Originally Posted by Werner

You want recharge, recharge, more recharge, and then some defense. Recharge itself can give you defense in the sense of making Moment of Glory and Shadow Meld (if you take it) come back faster.

Originally Posted by Arcanaville

And the reason why blasters should have less than full protection is? Because, and I'm totally serious here, Blasters are the only archetype which is defined to have to occasionally die to be seen as working as intended.

Dominators get an entire control primary for damage mitigation but its not seen as extravagant for them to get mez protection - the real kind - in domination. It didn't seem extravagant for Widows to get it, and few thinks melee characters aren't entitled to full mez protection by divine right.

Not that I'm specifically asking for mez protection per se, but rather mentioning that giving blasters melee attacks without careful consideration of how they are supposed to use them, said consideration being consistent with the consideration given to all other archetypes, is part of the general problem of blaster secondaries not having a specific purpose. You look at Ice Manipulation and you think, ok, well that might make sense. Ice Patch and melee attacks; seems logical. Then you look at Fire Manipulation and you think, ok, six PBAoEs and no damage mitigation: that's suicide for most players. And it probably is.

Originally Posted by Adeon Hawkwood

I thought that was the poibnt fo Defiance 2.0? Give Blasters limited mez protection without giving them the full protection afforded to melee ATs.

Originally Posted by Amanita

I bought two complete LoTG sets for one of my alts, and before this weekend's out, I may pick up more for a couple of characters of mine who use WP as a secondary. I also grabbed one each of windfall and XP gain, those are useful when trying to level up another character.
I wish Numina would go on sale, I've got lots of alts who would be all over that!

Originally Posted by Dispari

I did mention the two ways of buffing archetypes a few pages ago. Stats and adding gimmicks.

I do think that there's such a thing as too many gimmicks. If an AT becomes too gimmicky they can be too unwieldy and eventually be too conceptual and hard to balance. Adding extra gimmicks means extra variables and you can't always assign a value to them. So you can't balance them in a spreadsheet and trying to ascertain value from data mining people playing can be just as problematic.

Stalkers are one of the most gimmicky ATs already. I do think they should be careful about adding more.

Originally Posted by Deus_Otiosus

I'm disappointed too. I was hoping for things like the exorbitantly priced Enhancement trays and other consumables like the enhancement boosters to go on sale.

Honestly, I thought more consumables across the board would go on sale.


Seems like a missed opportunity for the paragon store.

Originally Posted by IzzySoft

I see. It still sound to me like you want more variety in the Existing VEAT's.. not so much to remake a whole new AT! Sure, animations can be added.. some powers can have 2 different animation styles. You want Dual Handed stances instead of the Grip the Rifle stance! Thats understandable! Hehe.. now i cant stop thinking how silly those MasterMind Minions look, standing still with dual pistols! hehe kinda just want to say to them "There There.. that stance suits u very well" then look to the side and roll my eyes!

Originally Posted by Samuel_Tow

Actually, you have me right there with you. Pretty much since the beginning of time, I've seen Placate as a very good power in potential, but at the same time a power which is entirely too hamstrung by the... "Cautious" balancing of Stalkers circa I6. I realise how strong the actual placate effect is (that is to say, the one which makes enemies unable to target you), and I'm more than convinced that's why the power's use is so limited by time and animation. However, Placate has the strong potential to be a GREAT help with scoring Hidden criticals, but that's prevented by two factors:

1. Placate's recharge is very long. 60 seconds for all of ONE critical hit is beyond not worth it. Even if it offered a great DPA increase, it's still not worth much in terms of DPS because it's available so infrequently.

2. Its animation time is ***, especially in comparison to WHEN it applies its Hidden status. Let's be realistic - all Placate has you do is wave your hand. How does that merit a 2s+ animation time? Since it only gives you Hidden status for ONE hit, making it this long is just a detriment in terms of DPA. Not only that, but the power applies your Hidden status to you at or near the start of its animation, meaning you could have that Hidden status broken by enemies attacking you before you're even done animating. That's just bad.

Personally, I wonder if Placate shouldn't become two separate powers, with one being inherent. One would be JUST the "Don't attack me!" portion of Placate on a long recharge and one would be a means to regain your hide quickly. I've actually suggested changing Hide from a toggle to a click with a long duration (say 10 minutes) but a short recharge (say 20-30 seconds) that put you back into your Hidden status when you used it. That way, with slotting, you could drop a Hidden Critical on your enemies once every 10-15 seconds in combat without needing new powers for it.

I fully realise that Placate + Attack is rarely that much better than just attacking, which is why I primarily use Placate as a survivability supplement tool, but that's what I want to improve by finding a better way to regain your Hidden status than even Placate. It's slow and infrequent.

As for the Demoralisation aspect of Assassin's Strike... I'm thinking it could do more. At the very least, either have a longer Fear duration or a higher (absolute?) chance to inflict its fear component. The to-hit debuff is pretty handy for defence-based sets and it being unresistable is decent against AVs, but I've found the effect is too rare and lasts too short a time when I've used it.

And, no, I would not in the slightest be opposed to the Assassination Critical hit for scale 9.0 damage



I don't know what to say. I've seen Placate affect elite bosses, it just doesn't affect them for very long. And I'm really not trying to use it defensively so much as set up a Hidden Assassin's Strike, which tends to fail as often as it succeeds.

---

Also: I know people have been talking about the changes being "too good" and talking about dialling them back, and while I disagree (at this point, I don't think anything can make Stalkers "too good"), I have to say that as long as I can use Assassin's Strike in combat without it being interrupted... I'm OK with anything else that happens to the power. NNNOOOOTHIIING in this game is so good as to be worth its interrupt time, with the possible exception of summons that I can do outside of combat, but even then that's just more trouble than it's worth. Out-of-combat powers like Mission Teleport, Rest and so forth I can see being interruptible, as that's actually a not all that a bad means of ensuring you're out of combat when you use them, but for actual combat powers? HELL NO!

My primary concern is that I be able to use Assassin's Strike in combat. Everything else is secondary to that. I'd love to have the Assassin's Focus criticals, too, and I'd love to have Assassin's Strike from Hide be uninterruptible and hit harder, but what I really, really want the most is uninterruptible Assassin's Strike out of Hide. First and foremost.

Second after that, I want a better way to regain my Hidden status. Exactly how this is achieved isn't important: Better Placate, different Hide, re-hiding on critical hit or enemy defeat, self-hiding every 8 seconds like I have POTD, whatever. The means, to me, isn't as important as the acknowledgement that we need better tools to help us hide.

Probably third after that, I want to mess with Build Up and criticals in general.

For Build Up, I honestly do want to see it ensure guaranteed criticals for 10 seconds, though I hear not all sets can benefit from that. At the very least, I want to see it provide a 100% damage buff, if not more. Or we can do it like Swap Ammo and have Build Up enable additional damage components in each power.

For criticals, there is so much we could do... We could make critical hits from Hide do more damage, such as 150-200% base damage in addition to being guaranteed. We could have Hidden criticals apply status effects or debuffs. Or - and this is my favourite - we could have Hidden criticals still allow non-Hidden criticals to occur still, meaning if you're lucky, you can score a double critical from Hide. What this means is that, if you're lucky with Assassin's Strike, you could score your Assassination Critical AND score an extra 2.76 scale damage on top of that from Assassin's Strikes regular critical hit for some impressive, if fairly rare damage.

Personally, I'd up Hidden criticals and increase the damage on the Assassination Critical to scale 9.0 as a first step to make Hide more relevant, then increase the damage of hidden criticals to 150% base, but leave the out-of-hide Criticals as they were officially suggested. Optionally, I'd allow Hidden attacks to score their Hidden critical AND score their unhidden critical on top of this if the random roll is favourable. But that's just me

Originally Posted by JayboH

That's because they are. They did a VERY good job on the VEATs. I have always thought the inherent weakness to Kheldians gimmick should have been scrapped after ED hit.

Originally Posted by IzzySoft

> Keep the Dual Pistol animations we have now, combine it with various hand to hand moves from Street Justice and Martial Arts...

Hmmm.... If we learned anything form the new Incarnate system, then you know those would not be allowed at the same time. Maybe.. Maybe.. there could be a Cooldown Period before you can switch from one tot he other!.. I dont think everyone will like a melee mixing too much with Ranged damage! Well, Kinetic Melee has how many ranged Damaging attacks? But what do I know anyways?

Originally Posted by Pitho

What was changed on life drain?