Buji_

Ok most of my points are that I play a MMOG as a solo experience that has the benefit of expanding content, evolving storyline and optional teaming. I research my characters and pick the most solo friendly version I can, or sometimes the most fun looking. Most of the time I don’t look for teams, I don’t want to team, I don’t like teams. Several of the teams I’ve been on are great fun, but since I only play about 2 hours at a time spending 1/2 of it waiting for a teammate to come off afk, having to stop to find a healer, tank, blaster, oh the first healer quit we need another one. Can I adapt to I5 solo? probably. But I remember (maybe wrongly) the devs say that everything’s fine we’ll only be making minor tweeks before I5.

Other people see it differently that’s cool.

--edit removed the rest it was troll bait.

[ QUOTE ]
Burn was ridiculously overpowered in my opinion and was desperately in need of a hardcore nerfing. All this change means, by the way, is that you actually need to use and slot your secondary powers.

[/ QUOTE ]
So you have a fire tank? Or is this the opinion of an outsider? Have you lived through the first 17 levels of pain till you get burn? Then another 5 to slot it so it does some good? Or is this all from things you’ve seen and heard?

I will admit, and I’ve read other posts that agree, burn was over powered, I would have shrugged off having the damage decreased. I would have grudgingly lived with the excessive recharge rate. But having a HUGE fear component goes too far. Burn 5 slotted for damage does less then many other powers, but mobs run from it now. Statesman Sez. It’s because no one would willingly stand in fire. But mobs do that all the time. Blazing aura burns anyone that gets into melee with me, and they still do.
They get into melee with scrapers
They attack tanks while ignoring scrappers and blasters.
The stand around in AOE debuffs instead of getting away from the anchor.
Mobs are stupid. They should stand in fire and keep fighting.

[ QUOTE ]
Or, just for kicks, you could invite a controller or a controllerish defender

[/ QUOTE ]
And if I don’t like to team? If I can’t find a team? If I can’t find a controller/defender? What then?


[ QUOTE ]
Could it be that massive area affecting control powers were making combat too easy/predictable? I thought so. After all, where is the challenge in hitting one button and 100% (or close to it) locking down everything and being able to do that fight after fight after fight after....?

[/ QUOTE ]
100%? So you’ve never played a controller either.
AOE Control powers have an accuracy penalty so you need to add an Acc SO to get it to hit like every other power without any Acc.
Then you have bosses (have to hit twice successfully to hold)
AV’s (Look for the Invisible arrows)
It’s not 100% without a lot of work.
If you do manage to hold every one then:
Solo: you’re going to get killed when they get out of the hold
Team: Mobs already dead and the team is moving on to the next group.

Teams are looking for controllers to help with bosses. Holding the minions is a bonus. One that we can now do every 3-4 groups.

[ QUOTE ]
It was "fun" for those tankers because it was strong enough without counterbalancing downsides to greatly contribute to trivializing content.

[/ QUOTE ]
Without downsides?
Fiery aura has the worst defense out of any tank.
We need Tough from the fighting pool to cap slashing/Lethal defense
We need Weave from combat jumping to resists knockdown/back (Critical now)
Our Toxic Resistance is tied to a healing power with a slow recharge.
Those are the downsides we pay for burn. And why we don’t have slots left over for our secondaries, or for that mater a lot of secondaries.

My experience is that we also don’t do well in teams, Teams looking for tanks need tanks to take damage and agro. Compared to other tanks I’m squishy. And now with the fear component of burn I can’t hold agro.

[ QUOTE ]
Odd, but every issue that's had major power changes has included giving out free respecs. I also recall getting a free respec at Christmas and another at the 1yr anniversary. Oh yes, and we got one with i5 too.

[/ QUOTE ]
I was using an example from another game system so you misunderstood. I have a level 26 Fire/Ice Tanker. I chose that because the powers worked best for how I play. Mostly solo, few hours at a time. They have now changed the powers so I can’t continue playing as a Fire/Ice Tanker. I want to be an Inv/Ax Tanker, or a TA/A Defender. There is currently nothing in place that allows me to do this short of deleting my character and starting over. It’s not my fault that my Fire/Ice tanker doesn’t work for me any more the devs changed his powers on me. They can give me a repec a day for the rest of my life, but he will always be a Fire/Ice Tanker.


[ QUOTE ]
There really isn't a reason to be afraid of changes the devs are going to make unless you become dependant on a use of a power that allows you to easily handle content that is self-evidently not meant to be handled solo. When one can easily handle content designed for a team as a single person one should be expecting the nerfbat is going to come swinging.

[/ QUOTE ]
Nerf yes. Changing the feel of an entire power set no. When they take a power that defines the set and change it completely, then yes I’m afraid. When they do it to everyone then, Yes I’m afraid. And when they Sold the game almost a Year ago and they still are changing this much then, YES I’m afraid.

One last thing Dev Comment threads are nice don't change them, but it would be nice if the devs would, oh I don't know, Comment. I know they are set up so we can comment to the devs. I know that there is no guarantee that they will comment back. But when you ask for comments, 90% of witch could best be expressed as "WHAT ARE YOU THINKING.", and the only noticeable change or comment is changeing the patch notes when they go live away from the this "isn't how we intended the power", to "Pet powers were too strong with multiple instances out at once" It rubs me the wrong way. You want us to tell you what we think of a change, but never tell us anything, and none of the changes changed. If you ask of an opinion you should either say that you still think your right although not
"The devs are happy with the changes as they are"
Or maybe act on what we tell you.

Silence followed by inaction gives the impression of apathy. My preferred method is still placation followed by inaction, it gets a much better review from my customers. I also use apathy followed by action, but I gave up hoping for that from the devs long ago.

[ QUOTE ]

No one likes being depowered, no one likes feeling like they've had their toys taken away or reduced. I get that, but as someone who also is a GM for tabletop and live action games I can see where it needed to happen. I see the results of these changes as being very healthy for the game long-term.


[/ QUOTE ]

So let me ask you how often during one of your campaigns do you tell a character that a power you've let them have for over a year isn't working like you're original concept so they can't use it anymore?

Do you routinely have your player's inventories stolen during the night and tell them that the Gods of the realms decided that those things shouldn't exist any more so they can’t be replaced?

Do you tell your thief’s that their concealment value is just to high, and he's using it too much so you're cutting its effects in half from now on, and making him easier to hit if he’s spotted?

As a GM you should be outraged by these changes. you can't make this kind of drastic changes in the middle of a game and give either lame, or no excuses and expect the players to keep showing up to play.

"No one likes feeling like they've had their toys taken away." I feel like I've had my car taken away. And the only way to get it back is to go all the way back to the beginning and start again.

I have a level 26 fire tank. Statesman took a bat to him, then a steel pipe. And if I want to make him an invulnerability tanker I have to delete him and start over. Badges, inf, missions, levels GONE. Why would I want to scrap my fire tank, because my main attack, the power that I created him for in the first place is now is less then 1/4 as effective as it was in I4.
Just for those tuning in late count with me
1. It has 1/2 the Duration
2. It has 2X the Recharge Time
3. It does les damage.
4. It has a limit on the number of targets it will hit (I never came close to the limit but it still is a limit.)
5. MOBS RUN FROM IT. My blaster can do I don't know how much more damage with a Fire ball, but they don't run from him. Oh and they keep burning after a Fire ball but step out of a Burn patch and have no more problems.

States answer to the complaints above, use control powers to keep them in the burn patch. Tankers being know for there great control powers. Oh wait no. But that’s alright I planed ahead and have Ice as my secondary. But wait her comes statesman with that steel pipe I mentioned. AOE control powers are boring so once again. Ice Slick now is now is less then 1/4 as effective as it was in I4.
1. It has 1/2 the Duration
2. It has 2X the Recharge Time
3. It has a limit on the number of targets it will hit (I never came close to the limit but it still is a limit.)
And of course we won’t change the end usage after dropping the effectiveness. That would make sense.

I can’t stop being a tank. I can’t change my primary or secondary, I can change the powers I have with in them but why would I want to I created my too because burn sounded fun. And it was. Repeat WAS.

The only other MMOG I've played is AC and one of the things they added was a respec type thing where you could sell back powers you no longer needed. Here's the big difference; My sword guy could use a bow if he wanted. I wanted to I could at lv 50 decide, this guy would be much better off as an archer, it would not be easy, it would take a lot of time, but I could if I wanted switch over my skills to favor a Archer instead of a Swordsman. It might take more time that it would to create a new character, but I could.

COH has been a lot of fun, but it seems that with every update fear becomes more of a factor. Not fear powers in the game MY FEAR that my toons won’t be the same any more. Stop making these changes. Stop giving reasons like Our original concept, It was never supposed to work like it has been for over a year. Or you new favorite. We forgot to post about that. It wasn't intentional - it was an administrative error.

[ QUOTE ]

QFlight and NForm were being used by kheldians as "travel powers with perks" and now their use as "travel power" is non-existant. That is a fundamental change, and players who respecced and obviously didn't know it was coming deserve a chance to rebuild characters around what the power will now do.

[/ QUOTE ]
By the way from The introduction to the Kheldians in I3
“Neither Peacebringers nor Warshades can access the Flight or Teleport Power Pools. At first glance this looks like a major drawback, until you learn that Peacebringers inherently have Fly at Level 1, and Warshades can inherently Teleport. Kheldians can augment their travel powers with powers such as Group Energy Flight from the Luminous Aura set and Starless Step from the Umbral Blast set.”
Looks like they were supposed to use these as travel powers since the account needed to have a lv 50 toon they already did their time with out one. So what do the Kheldians do for travel powers now? (Freely admint I might not know that I'm talking about for the Kheldians)


Ps. I’m not blaming CuppaJo about the pach notes. You’re the messenger, not the designer. You put up with more of our garbage then they could pay me to.

[ QUOTE ]
Ok, during burn. The enemies run, then come back, then run, then come back. Read your little story. First you tried to turn it off. Then ran to get fresh air. Then came back to extinguish it. And actually. You stood outside of the burn patch, did you not? Which means, the enemies should step out of burn range, to extinguish the patch. Because honestly, would you STAND in fire?

[/ QUOTE ]

Would I? No. But I can't fly, set myself on fire without taking damage, generate a patch of ice below me without a large investment of money and time. While we're at it if a guy in spandex jumped off the top of a building and walked/leaped toward me I'd run away, if I wasn't just staring at him going "Whaa". Now add in him throwing chunks of ice, bolts of energy, or wielding a large battle ax and I would most likely either be running away screaming like a little girl, or curled up in a ball crying. I however am not a minion for a criminal group in a world where those kinds of things are common place.

Let’s assume I am. I have just received the insight needed not to stand in a patch of fire, and to instead run away. What else should I be smart enough to do?

1. Stay out of melee range against any melee attacker.
If I got a guy attacking me with a melee weapon, and I have a gun, Since all mobs have ranged attacks, I'm going to get out of melee range so he can't hit me and shoot him repeatedly.

2. Spread out against any aoe or cone wielding attacker.
The first time the guy I'm attacking pulls out a rifle and shoots me and the six guys I'm with, we split up and circle him. Maybe even take turns running up and smacking him with a melee weapon of our own. If he turns to fire at the guy that just stabbed him; he's not looking at me coming up with my bat. Cool!

3. Get behind cover from ranged attacks.
If I got a guy shooting at me, I'll hide behind some crates. He comes around the corner and I hit him with my bat, and then run away again.

4. I wouldn't listen to name calling.
I got a tank in front of me calling me all these names and I have a blaster behind me shooting me full of holes. I'm going to do some nasty things to the blaster and then use his weapons/body to explain to the tank why he shouldn't be so rude.

Honestly if people are smart enough to run out of a burn patch explain why they stay put for
Blazing Aura
Icicles
Mud Pots
Lightning Field
Radiant Aura
Radiation Infection
Choking Cloud
Snow Storm
Steamy Mist
Quills
Death Shroud
Inferno
Nova
Thunderous Blast
Blizzard
Any AOE Melee Attack
Any attack that does more then 25% damage to them
Anytime a Lt goes down why do the minions stick around?
A boss
An Elite Boss
An AV

If I got a guy holding a bat, and I just took down his boss that could throw lightning from his hands and fly, why is he still swinging the bat like it makes any difference? The fear effect is non tankish, not fun, an not in keeping with the brain damage you've given the mobs in relation to the rest of the world.

I stress again give me 1 good reason that someone would stay in hand to hand with a guy that only has a sword when he and all of his friends have guns? If you can't come up with a good reason that doesn't involve, well it would make all scrapers useless then take the fear away from burn.

OK I haven’t d a chance to test yet, it will take the rest of the night to get the patch. So I’ll start simple.

-edit for my misunderstanding.
Been rereading dev responses to the fear effect and having it pointed out the mobs running from burn is not a bug, that they should run because no one would willingly stand around in fire.

So sorry

But then why are they dumb enough to stand around and get shot? Electrocuted, burned with energy or for that matter watch someone fly out of the sky and knock out their boss and stand around and keep fighting. If we are saying the mobs are smart enough to run out of a burn patch then they should be smart enough to:
Only use ranged attacks against scrapers and tankers. “The guy only has a sword. Take out his kneecaps.”
Get out of line of site blasters. “He’s going after you, dive behind the crates.”
Spread out for cone attacks. “He breaths fire, get on either side of him.”

If mobs are too stupid to do any of these basic tactics then yes they should sit in the middle of a fire and say “I think I can take him, before my gun melts.”

I like debt (kinda) It lets me see more content. Mind you when I'm 1 level from a new power, I hate seeing all of the bubles gray.

I have a blaster that was in perma-debt from lv 6-12 (Would still be in perma debt but the WL hit and I jumpped at the chance to get a travel power.)

Not sure if this is the right place for this, but.

Not alot of us read the text when leveling anymore, but when you level up at level 6 I think you're told about enhancements. They tell you to drag one on top of the other to start the combining process. This ofcourse starts the replacement process. Could you change the text on this.