BrandX
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Posts
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Quote:If by vigilante choices you mean, no B&E, my character might be there already. >_> But then, Spider-Man/Girl tend to do B&E and I think of them as usually non-gritty heroes.Originally Posted by Samuel_Tow
Of course
That is the one saving grace, and the reason why I like the actual story behind the events. Everyone is somehow incapacitated, and Jun is the only one left who can help. Even if she's not at their level, this is her big moment to step up and defy the odds. That makes for a GOOD story, I'm not questioning that at all.
It's what has to be done to the characters to achieve that which really disturbs me, and I see it as much as a sign of things to come as just a one-off story. The Freedom Phalanx used to be the last of the "classic" heroes built on, essentially, Truth, Justice and the American Way. And I liked that, even if I'm not American, myself. It bothers me that they had to be defaced in a manner that they cannot recover from to resume their place as such, because... It transpires that they never WERE that ideal of heroism to begin with. We never HAD such an ideal for heroism. Even the Statesman, the long-standing true good hero, the face of the company, as it were, is revealed to not be that great of a hero anyway, and to be looking for an out.
It concerns me that the world is growing less idealistic and more cynical, and the future for characters like yours and mine seems grim. Well, "grim" in the sense that we'll be forced into making morally questionable vigilante choices if we want to progress, most likely in some relation to the Well of the Furies, that great bottleneck of character development.
If you mean the games deffinition of vigilante, yeah, no, don't want to see all characters become like that. :/
But I might suggest waiting for the next big story arc, Sam. I think a lot of this story arc was more about them shaking up the ranks and giving villains a big win. -
Quote:Tanks survive. That's their gimmickOriginally Posted by Scirion
All that said, I'm not necessarily advocating changing Willpower "just because". I'm advocating buffing Regen and giving it Rise to the Challenge (that includes Stalkers, by the way), the powerset it should logically be in. WP can stay just the way it is, for all I care. I like the fact that by level 20, a WP/Ice Tank on DO's can be SK'd to 49 and solo-tank level 51 Carnies nearly indefinitely with a handful of inspirations. I actually deleted said tank because surviving was too easy. >.>
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Quote:Or they're listening to the other half of the player base, who want to see heroes fall, see some sort of realistic (and thusly in their mind terrible) ending to stories, because good things never happen.Originally Posted by Scarlet Shocker
We should be elevated above them not have them reduced in stature to below us.
I totally agree with your points here and the writing's been taking a tumble for a while now. To be fair, it's often tougher to meet our expectations than to churn out what we've gotten thus far, but there doesn't seem to be much effort put into a lot of it. It's production-line stuff, churned out to address the Content issue, without the Quality being considered - which is rather surprising in that the rest of the game seems to be getting distinct and high quality upgrades.
It seems to me, somebody's coming up with an idea for a story, and throwing it out there and it's not being challenged until it gets to us - there's an apparent and obviously distinct lack of editorial control.
Of course, this current storyline could just be their way of taking Jack out of the game entirely...I mean Statesman...so it was more about that, than what everyone says they're looking for.
Or it could just be the villains are suppossed to win this basically co-op storyline. -
Quote:Or you can have your character be the shining star during these tragic eventsOriginally Posted by Samuel_Tow
Personal note time, ignore if you don't care about my mentality behind this.
I may have made the situation worse for myself for one simple reason - I just got done writing "The Rise of a Hero," a story arc about Jun, the little girl that could which I'm playing right now, which both depicts her rise to prominence and sets her character up a one of the most dedicated, stubborn, uncompromising heroes I have ever made.
Jun is the girl I wanted to have hit Aaron Thiery in the mouth when he started talking about how the city had to be hurt for heroes to wake up, because she would never put people in danger under any circumstances. She's the one who shut down the Centre's "radio" mid-sentence because she doesn't care how much he does to reign Requiem in when his soldiers are still murdering people. She's the one who takes the Hero option at every opportunity without a second thought because that's the right thing to do.
Unwittingly, I wrote Jun to be the Naruto of my character roster. That is to say, she's the loud, brash kid who yells at adults having a crisis of conscience and punches people who try to argue for a grey-and-grey morality. She's the one always goes on about how heroes have a responsibility to the people, about how they literally and physically have no choice but to be heroes because lives depend on them. She's the one getting knocked down and then getting back up, and will keep doing so until the day she dies.
I say Paragon City has no ideals, because it is ideals I built Jun on. The great heroes of the past were her inspiration, and she will do everything she can to be an inspiration to others, even if she's probably younger than Penelope Yin. And that's how it should be. When people see a little girl bleeding from gunshot wounds, beaten and broken stand up and keep fighting, then they SHOULD be inspired to do the same. They SHOULD be inspired to put their differences aside, they SHOULD be inspired to put their personal tragedies on hold and do the right thing. Because no-one else could. The job of a hero isn't easy, but that's exactly why the people who do it are heroes. Because they take on this job that's full of pain, heartache and horror, and they do it anyway, so that others who are less capable of protecting themselves don't have to.
In an idealistic world, Jun would be an amazing hero worthy of admiration and praise. The trouble is that with every new Issue, the world of City of Heroes becomes less and less idealistic, turning more and more grim and gritty. For now, that sort of passion for the calling of the hero still works, but how long will it be before a hero like Jun will be expected to get shot and bleed out in a gutter when it's proven that enthusiasm for the right thing just gets you killed? How long before our heroes start realising that idealism is an outdated tradition in a world where nice guys finish last?
City of Heroes used to be a good world. Not ideal, obviously. Crime, drama, tragedy and more still took place. But at the end of the day, the world always gave me the sense that if you just do your best, if you're just a really nice person, if you fight hard enough and your ideals are good enough, you will eventually succeed and everything will be OK. It was an uplifting place I came to when I felt the real world wasn't fair, or when it felt like no good deed goes unpunished in my day-to-day life.
City of Heroes used to have morals I could aspire to even outside of the game. It taught me that being a nice, dedicated person was a good thing. It taught me that even one person doing his best can make a difference. I want those days back. I want to get back the days when a hero with nothing more than the guts to do what's right and a good attitude was already well on the way to success.
I want the happy City of Heroes back, and it's only getting sadder and more depressing, instead.
I like to think my main is much like you described. She fights to protect those who can't protect themselves. She fights to stop the bad people from doing bad.
She might be expected to be shot and killed for that enthusiasm, but that's when she defies those expectations and gets back up.
Quote from Angel Season Five, ""Heroes don't accept the world the way it is. They fight it."
Perfect quote for those type of heroes (and one of a few quotes I like to use for my main)...while the other heroes are getting shot down and dying in the gutter because they gave up, your character gets back up and shows the world she can fight against such odds.
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Quote:It's a good deal for those who would like to have those costume options at lvl 1.Originally Posted by Angelxman81
I dont care to wait till lvl 35 for the Roman armor.
I always run ITF a couple of times for each character to help leveling.
So, saving points again but nice to see people like to buy it.
Personally, I don't think I'll likely use those costume sets, so I didn't buy them, and if I do need them, I have no problem waiting to level 35 to get them.
However, I did buy Cupid's Bow. No other way I know of, of getting it in game. So while I'm not liking to make an archery toon without some alternate animations that make the set look more like DP than stand there and just fire arrows, I did want that option in case new animations occured, or I some how changed my mind on the set.
60points.
Also bought 2 Positron Blast sets. Check out the prices, was cheaper for me to buy the sets than just buy 5 of the set.
But I bought them because I exemp. For that reason, I find them useful
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Quote:What's that have to do with say, people who prefere to play Corrs over Defenders and Blasters, and thusly never roll the Ranged set on Defender or Blasters, since they never play it.Originally Posted by CactusBrawler
I'm just hoping beast mastery doesn't cost 800 points, y'know seeing as it can only be used by one AT.
That means the 800 points is going to basically 1 AT for that purchaser.
Now, one could say that's them limiting themselves.
True.
But a power set is a power set.
What one should really be hoping is that if this isn't free, that maybe they give MMs a free new powerset at some point. -
Quote:Yes. Friends dying is equal to one's daughter dying. Mhmmm.Originally Posted by Samuel_Tow
AND she can throw down, too! When I first found her, she was fistfighting about half a dozen burly thugs!
But you're right, Mercedes comes off as fiercely competent in this case. While all the Freedom Phalanx are spinning their wheels and blaming each other, she's working on preventing other people from getting hurt. Her home was just defiled, her life was put in severe danger, many of her friends died, but instead of crumbling like a Statesman, Mercedes got to work averting further disaster.
In my playthrough, Mercedes fell in battle because she's not that strong a fighter, but I can't really consider this to be her own fault. She isn't a fighter, she's a mage, and I was supposed to be protecting her, a task at which I failed. She didn't run ahead, she didn't fly off the handle, and she wasn't even all that rude.
On the subject of people to admire, I admire Mercedes Sheldon. I don't know how realistic her behaviour is, but I know I can respect it, regardless. -
Quote:The numbers dont include the bonus damage from form of the body.Originally Posted by Ludicron
Thanks for the numbers.
So from the minmax perspective staff looks pretty mediocre for a ST attack chain, with the achilles proc attack having such a low DPA, don't really want to use it. And the best DPA looks to be..Sky splitter? Is that number with the bonus from perfection?
Actually, does not perfection of body give you 20% damage buff? This would mean that not using sky splitter raises the DPA of all the other attacks as you keep doing your chain and keeping three perfection of body.
The problem I see with your chain is that you are using AS only every 5.5 seconds. As by far the best DPA stalker attack (post i22) it should be used as often as possible in any chain.
I wonder what a staff attack chain might be like with continuous perfection +20DB, therefore not using skysplitter except as a rare finisher. Any ideas how the +20% damage bonus would affect overall damage? Can you straight up add 20% to the DPA of any attack? I seem to recall hearing that minus damage resistance works that way because it is factored in at the end, but damage bonuses aren't as good for some reason.
This 20% from Perfection of Body obviously makes calculating the effectiveness of staff's best chain versus other sets a little more tricky.
I dont see why you couldnt add the +20% damage that way, but I kinda doubt it.
At most you could use Assassin Strike every 3.75 seconds. That's at max +RCH. Also it doesn't mean you'll have the Assassin's Focus stacked for the higher crit chance on the attack.
Hitting with the -Resist proc every 6.204 seconds, should be a good chance at keeping it triggered.
It also means releasing AS a bit sooner, but I bet PS has a better chance to build Focus than MB does.
What my chain doesn't do is let Perfection build to the +20% Damage, so it may be best to add an attack into the chain. -
Quote:It is when they used it for ENDRED reasons, which is perfectly innocent!Originally Posted by Bosstone
Are you actually saying it's not your fault you slotted a defense debuff HO into a defense buff power?
Though, Id then wonder why not just slot a lvl 50 ENDRED IO. >_> -
Quote:PS - 1.584 - 73.41Originally Posted by Ludicron
Can anyone give a list of stalker attacks with damage, activation, dpa (at lv50) etc? I want to play with attack chains and see how staff measures up to my other i22 stalkers.
Thanks
SR - 1.980 - 100.1
SS - 3.036 - 184.18
AS - 1.188 - 139.03
Doesnt have MB (the tier 1), but it's DPS is lower than PS (the tier 2). HOWEVER, I'm thinking it may be a mistake to take PS over MB. MB can slot the -Resist Proc, which with the difference in DPS between using those attacks, using MB may be better in the long run, due to the -Resist Proc.
So far, I think MB (or PS) -> SR (Serpents Reach) -> AS (Assassin's Staff) -> SS -> Repeat looks to be the best attack chain for ST. But that requires 345% Recharge in SS to pull off and 270 in SR, and less in AS. -
If IH became a toggle again, Id be in love! ^_^
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Quote:Thank goodness! Reconstruction is why I prefere Stalker WP over the other WP melee ATs.Originally Posted by Aett_Thorn
I agree with that, though Rise to the Challenge was taken out before the Devs created the whole "auras suppress when hidden" thingy, so having it in at the time made a Stalker pretty useless (see: why dark Armor was so bad before aura suppression).
I think you're right in how things will play out, but Invincibility is one of the key powers for Invuln, and I personally think it should stay, even if it needs to be modified. I don't know why the Devs gave Stalkers the Entropic Aura static boost versus the scaling boost. The only idea I have on that is that the Devs believe that Stalkers should be on the edge of combat, not the middle. To which I say phooey! Stalkers can be in the middle of combat as much as they want to be!
But I could see them replacing Tough Hide with Hide, and then replacing Invincibility with a straight +Defense/+toHit Toggle. -
Quote:Well Super Strength tends to come with it a bit of sturdiness.Originally Posted by Sylph_Knight
That's the interesting thing about psychic powers. There is a broad range of variations in potency and functionality within that domain of abilities. For example, someone who is telepathic may not be telekinetic or clairvoyant.
I get the impression that Malaise has psychic powers which Sister Psyche is not fully protected against even in optimal conditions. He has the power to rewrite someone's entire identity, which is a bit different from weaponized telepathy which can hijack subconcious facilities of the brain or result in a complete mind-wiping.
On that topic, the "mind-riding" ability is also a poorly-explained power in the CoX universe because it begs to question if it is the same as soul-swapping, which would be more akin to a supernatural/magical ability as opposed to a mutant one. The problem is that CoX covers both spiritual (supernatural) and psychic (psychological or psycho-kinetic) abilities without explaining the distinction between the two when it comes to determining one's identity, as one would expect rewriting one's identity would still render them the same person - only "brainwashed".
Thankfully the other big can of worms, the Praetorian's Seer Network, sort of makes sense because it really isn't so much about souls as each person is an individual unit hooked into a hive mind. The disembodied psionic energies you encounter in First Ward are explained as pure psionic energy which embodies the memories and emotions which Mother Mayhem found unfitting within her Seers that was stripped away from an individual and became an independent, parasitic essence that you "could" sort of explain away as being soul-less or as soul fragments with their own individual existence.
I've always argued that Professor X has had some serious writing problems through the years since his list of psychic abilities has broadened at some point or another over the decades that he's pretty much covered almost every major domain of psychic powers, and unfortunately he's been the poster boy for most psychic characters in comic books. This has spilled into the creative minds of writers through the years in other media and resulted is some pretty vague generalizations about the mechanics of psychic powers in general.
Super-Strength also has this same problem because the strength alone would not protect your body from the damage it would incur by using that level of strength without a way to mitigate the resistance or feedback. You would break several bones trying to lift a train even if you had the capacity simply because without some kind of Super Durability your body is still nothing more than muscle and bone - both which aren't the sturdiest things in the world. Ever had a pulled muscle or broken bone? And that's just from the exertion of performing ORDINARY tasks.
Also, it depends on how the Super Strength is defined (like tactile telekinesis).
As for psychic abilities always going to be hard to explain and set out utilizing in this type of setting imo. It can work in a setting such as comics or pen and paper RPGs, but CoH is just so varied, it just makes it difficult, at least I think so, to clearly define it and utilize it. -
Quote:Changing the white parts of the leggings to black, I think would be a good way to go with that outfit.Originally Posted by TeChameleon
Can't say I ever have converted clothes, GG. My last attempt at sewing resulted in a restraining order- I have to stay 50 feet away from any and all sewing machines at all times
More seriously, I still don't like the bared midriff, strange questions regarding the interrupted zipper aside- it's one more colour in an already busy costume. Overall? I actually quite like it. But she either needs more skin (for example, making the leather-ish... bellyshirt-thing... short sleeved could work, or maybe like the initial impression a lot of people had, that those actually were bikini briefs on bare legs... although I'm not sure that would be appropriate for Penny's character as presented thus far...), or else less skin, doing away with the silly bared midriff entirely.
At least (and this should go without saying, but eh, this is the internet), in my opinion. -
Quote:Well, from an RP standpoint, I can say you do that but then realize no matter how good the concept, how awesome the character, no matter how well the powersets match up to what you envisioned, sometimes the RPing aspect just doesn't play out as well due to various reasons.Originally Posted by _eeek_
No, but it's ... alien to my sense of logic, which, against all evidence, I do have. Unless you are GG and make the same character with the same name and powerset (I believe?) on each server, or Dechs, who makes the same character with different powersets. THAT makes sense to me.
Why take the time and trouble to get a character to 50, flesh out a fitting bio, trick it out with the best you can afford to see just how good it can be, if it's not (in your own head) a great and wonderful creation?
I don't get making characters knowing they are always going to play second-fiddle.
Plus, you know, they cry, and I feel terrible.
Now my namesake, is based on a character I wrote about way back when, when people were saying "What's the internet?"
So while I'll never actually go the way I envisioned her then (due to RPing), I've constantly tried to get her closer to it.
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Quote:I so want Freefall's outfit on that cover, for my namesake. *makes plans to go to icon*Originally Posted by Reiraku
I love Gen13 (or did anyways) as much as the next guy, but they kinda did it too at first.
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01. Hero One
02. Dra'Gon
03. Katie Douglas
04. Scirocco
05. Lady Jane
06. Tyrant
07. Black Swan
08. The Goddess Hequat
09. Mynx
10. Sister Psyche
11. Nosferatu
12. Diabolique
13. Neuron
14. Infernal
15. Ice Mistral (first one I wasnt sure on)
16. Hero-1
17. Dominatrix
18. Anti-Matter
19. Synapse
20. Ms. Liberty
21. Dr. Aeon
22. Imperious
23. Fusionette (Somehow, I think she'd end up winning this)
24. Positron
25. Idigo
26. Ghost Widow
27. Captain Mako
28. Proton
29. Vanessa DeVore
30. Barracuda
31. Penelope Yin (Im assuming the buffed up older Penny here)
32. Parthenon
33. The Clockwork King
34. Omnicore
35. Hro'Dtohz
36. Battle Maiden
37. Siege
38. Romulus Augustus
39. Lord Recluse
40. Faultline
41. Reichsman
42. Aurora Borealis
43. Statesman
44. Mother Mayhem
45. Numina
46. Faathim the Kind
47. Frostfire
48. War Witch
49. Sister Airlia
50. Silver Mantis (because Nemesis doesnt fight one on one for a reason! Also, it's part of his plot!) -
Quote:Wrong.Originally Posted by Zandock
Sorry, that's incorrect. You're even going to be charged for a set that is only cobbled together of existing powers and can only be used on a single AT now.
VIPS get Dark Control, Dark Affinity, and Dark Assault for free.
F2P players, will have to purchase them.
And while I think giving F2P access is likely a good thing, I don't think there's anything wrong with Paragon Studios charging them for the new sets. -
Quote:Originally Posted by Reiraku
It was called "The 90's". Pretty much every company in town ran that style in some form or another.
The exception!
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Quote:I know Wolvie's claws can't penetrate Cap's shield. I was thinking more along the rest of cap no protected by the shield.Originally Posted by Nericus
Cap and Wolverine have fought before, and Cap has won. Also Wolverine's claws couldn't damage Cap's shield before, and now thanks to the stupid FEAR ITSELF event that occurred recently, Cap's shield was shattered by the Asgardian called the Serpent (Odin's brother) and Tony had the dwarves of Asgard rebuild it and they mixed in some URU alloy into the shield so now it is even stronger.
Also even if this fight goes bad for the Avengers and THOR gets separated from his hammer, that's ok since Captain America can wield the hammer and its power.
Though I find it odd the one trained in various styles of hand to hand, loses to the American Brawler, who hasn't trained in any extensive style (at least not that I know of). -
Quote:Big guns are nothing compared to Liefields HUGE OMG WTF CHASE THE HELLCAT WOULD LOVE THAT!Originally Posted by Scythus
No, not his usual fare, but Cyber Force is very clearly using every Liefeldian motif; snarling faces, big guns, TITS!, robo arms, huge guns, TITS!, obscured feet (although some actually appear) and pouches.
All it's missing is someone with a glowy eye.
But eh, I see the difference in styles myself. And I loved the Cyber Force comic. I bought it when it returned, and sad I dont see it still around. 
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And I wouldn't call Marc Silvestri's style anything like Liefields.
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Quote:Cruddy? Cyber Force only got better as it went along. It went from an okay wannabe X-Men book to a great book all of it's own.Originally Posted by Scythus
How many of those cruddy team books did Image let Liefeld churn out?
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Quote:Except those lower tier freemies!Originally Posted by Bill Z Bubba
Everyone has access to IOs. Whether someone chooses to utilize them is irrelevant to the fact that they can.
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Quote:How to Train a Dragon did good use of 3D as well.Originally Posted by SuperOz
I saw it in 3D, and I wondered honestly why they bothered, Every single practical SFX shot with things blowing up you could clearly see the debris bouncing off the plastic protective shield for the camera. So instead of being drawn into any scene, I just became more and more aware it was a gimmick.
And one that wasn't used at all well. But then I only have considered Avatar, TinTin, Puss in Boots and Hugo to have been any films that thought about how to use the 3D effect rather than just slap it on for the novelty factor.
Beyond that, the crucial test for me (do I notice my butt going to sleep and I start getting uncomfortable) triggered. It's entertaining popcorn fare, but that's about it. I could drive a truck through the plot holes, but there's no point as it's not what these films are about. They're about Kate Beckinsale looking sexy in PVC leather killing things.
It succeeds.
S.
But yeah, it was for that fear that I went to the 2D.