CFIndustries

Oh darkest Gaming Gods of Evil, where shall I start:

--neat looking "gear" costume pieces

--the new robotic legs are very nice

--and did I hear the sounds correctly...if you have robot legs you will sound like the MM robots running around (VERY nice touch)

--the new Electric brute "zap-n-go" FX rock (suddenly I *am* interested in making one...)...so does his "explode" power

--the Paragon robocops are very cool looking, even reasonably intimidating

--the big Paragon Police "mechs" have some serious Robotech/Macross/Anime influences, interesting.

--finally we get to pick on the damned civvies! Push *me* down the street away from my contact, why you insolent...

--a nice touch spotted...the civvies react appropriatly to actions (exploding truck nearby sends them into stun-drunken-wobble)

--I so look forward to a new graphics card...had no idea what I've been missing with my FX turned down (now look what you've done!)

--I'm jonesing for the PhysX cards as well (argh!)

You disappointed me on Patron Powers, but you will likely safe-face with Mayhem Missions. Kudos!

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Did you know...?

The high frequency of Winter Lord spawns during the Winter event led to the phenomenon of "Winter Lord Babies" -- newbies who leveled up so fast from the XP off Winter Lords that they lacked basic game knowledge and had no idea how to effectively play their characters at such high levels. (Seriously, I had a lvl 23 ask me how to send a tell.)

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My friends and I took to calling them sn00bs. Had to avoid PuGs for about three months after that fiasco.

Did you know...

--At the last spawn of dev-played Heroes on Infiniti during the CoV End-of-Beta event, Statesman was the only hero who actively ran from the villains. Everyone else stood their ground and heroicly took the beat-down over and over. Statesman the coward, my lasting memory from the event. Muahahahahaaaaa.....

--That the contact Prof. Naylor opens up an arc is partially a tribute to the British Sci-Fi comedy Red Dwarf. Hence Professor "Grant" Naylor and many of the rescues being named after, and talking like, characters from the show. I've only done it once, but Lister, Rimmer ("Rimsey"), and a couple others were all there. And the dialog is all very British (including Naylor).

(One thing confuses me on the Naylor missions...my Bots/FF, Tech Origin, got the "Red Dwarf" missions, but my Claws/Ninjitsu, Magic Origin, didn't get the Red Dwarf missions from Naylor. Not sure why.)

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It sounds like DA will be the 'scrappiest' defense set for Stalkers, with CoF and OG available to toggle on to help mitigate incoming damage, though the self damage aspect of OG will be brutal on a Stalker, with such a low base Health. So someone could make a Claws/DA Stalker and almost feel like a Scrapper, with the damage over time nature and lower End usage of Claws.

I'm very curious what Shadow Dweller is and if it'll have Immobilize protection, which DA lacks.

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What I am curious about is how they expect us to play /DA. I'm envisioning a single opening AS, switch on the PBAoE and then scrap it out.

Problem being, on teams I can currently (with my 40 Claws/Ninjitsu) AS, scrap for a bit and use placate as it comes-up for additional mid-battle AS. But if I have a PBAoE running, then I'd have to switch that off first...that's too much to do mid-combat when I'm already barely contributing as a half-arsed scrapper.

I also agree about the activation time of these PBAoEs...hadn't considered that. They take a few seconds and you do get thumped while they come-up.

This makes the PBAoE's incredibly situational, and very skipable until the later levels (if taken at all). I can see using them with CoT for example, since I can rarely get-off an AS around them anyway, and my Claws/DA scrapper always found Fear + Gloom a great way to lock-down and disable Earth Casters. ;-)

I was also hoping that while Cloak of Darkness would likely go, that they'd use CoD's graphics for the /DA Hide.

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Grandville is NOT PvP! That would be Recluse's Victory.

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Thanks, scared me for a second there.

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What the heck is War Witch doing alive, fighting in Grandville?

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Either some kind of content or... it's a PvP zone... she's there on the internal test server testing. :P

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Back up--are you saying Grandville is PvP?

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How I made my animated logo:

- Installed the latest GIMP for windows
- put the different hearts to animate in different layers
- under ScriptFu/Animation picked "blend"
- saved result as animated indexed gif

too simple

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um... I think the answer is 7, but I could be wrong here.

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Could be worse, I used a 6-layer Photoshop CS2 file, ImageReady CS2, tweening, a custom background and a total of 35 frames for mine. ;-)

(Does being in graphic design for over a decade count as cheating?)

Sneaks onto bandwagon...

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I'll be honest, I'm a tad disappointed.

Not that I'm unhappy that Stalkers are getting DM/DA. That's fine. I was just hoping we'd see that Dual Daggers set.

But oh well. Perhaps the future.

As for what DA will lose in the transfer- I should think Death Shroud and Cloak of Shadows would be prime candidates, given one's uselessness for a Stalker and the other's redundance. Though it would be nice to have the second stealth already available in the secondary set, I doubt that's a precedent Cryptic would want to set.

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Friend and I were discussing this because I had a 50 Claws/DA scrapper "Stygian Cat" that I deleted due to ED, despite him being a friend favorite. He just became inviable without a pocket kineticist.

But, with /DA coming to stalkers, Stygian Cat will rise again as a villain! So we chatted how Styg might change:

Guessing Death Shroud, Cloak of Fear, and Oppressive Gloom go away because they'd kill hide. Though we did dream up some interesting "reverse supression" ideas to make them work, then decided they would unbalanced things too much.

We both hoped that Cloak of Darkness would die, but maybe it's graphics would be used for Hide. CoD (and /DA) had some unique looks, would be fun to make /DA have a unique Hide look.

Not sure how they'd handle the rest. Am hoping they have some new powers, even if they steal the FX from the scrapper /DA.

Resists instead of Defense was always a difficult thing to manage with the original Stygian Cat...Claws/DA was argueably the squishiest, least effective scrapper you could build...took a certain masochism to play that combo. Frankly, most fun I ever had to 50.

A Stalker Claws/DA is likely less masochistic as long as you stick to the AS-run-hide-repeat where the resistances and the obscene endurance drain are less of an issue.

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I like this, however, I'm worried about constantly needing to move my hand from my mouse to my number pad over and over... does that happen as often as I think it's gonna?
Then again, I tend to take a much more active roll in my play style. I don't sit back and watch my minions fight, I'm right there along side them. I feel pretty comfortable with just the heel, attack my target, and goto commands for all...
Right now my MM is still pre lvl 20, and I know I'm just beginning to understand what my MM can do.
I'm just wondering if anyone else runs into this, or if it just isn't an issue when you try it. Perhaps it will be more important when I have more than 3 guys fighting for me.
So is this the case?

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I have to admit I'm a "director"...as I gain in levels and team more I find I have waaaaay too much to do and be shooting alongside my robot. I'm constantly directing them, especially to avoid the current A.I. bugs.

I also have an odd keyboard setup. I have a Zboard and using the Gaming insert, which doesn't have a numeric keypad. So I had to buy an external one, and opted to install it on the left side so instead of letting go of the mouse I let go of the movement keys instead, which has worked very well (since I Hover during combat). I also mapped "attack_taget_near" to the keypad so I can quickly hit that and "Attack My Target." I've also got a footpedal I use for "shift" which lets me do alot more with the keypad than would otherwise be possible.

(Both the 20-key keypad and three-switch footpedal are by X-Keys...I'm a sucker for geeky stuff like this, as well as binds.)

If anyone is ineterested I can post my slightly modded keypadset, which include dismisses and such (liberal use of Shift+<keypad&gt. Heck, I'll post Jeff Spicer's (37 Bots/FF...my main) entire bind set if anyone thinks it might be useful.

Basically, it's Khaiba's plus the following mods (specific to Robots):

--I can dismiss specific bot classes (all the Drones, all the Protectors, the Assault)
--I can dismiss all
--I have a "panic" bind (stay, passive)
--I can buff (Equip, Upgrade)
--I can target (target_enemy_near)

The only mod that seems popular that I didn't do was the "individual bots" changes. I've never come across a consistant use for making a single Drone do anything, for example, and I wanted my binds to stay generic (so for example, my Bots/Traps simply started by loading Jeff's binds).

I'm such a bind geek I probably could have done this without the Khaiba binds, but I can't speak enough for them because I didn't have to re-invent the wheel and would not have known what tasks would be useful. These keybinds hands-down are the way to go for MMs.

And if you can muster the skills to use the dynamically loading ones (I believe "Binds 2, Advanced"), they are the very best.

If the devs were smart, this setup would make I8 or whatever.

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Hey, first time poster here. I have to say I love the keybinds and I have found a way almost perfectly to make individual pets attack with melle or range by either telling them to goto and attack or just attack. The problem is it takes a bit of finessing. The question I have is, are there any specific commands you can either make your pet attack from range or melee automatically?
Thanks for your time.

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No, this is on every MM's wish list.

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Yeah no kidding.

In the interim:

RANGE: Attack My Target, Defensive (or Aggressive )...at least for bots this will cause them to move forward just far enough to start attacking at range. Doesn't keep them from occassionally pathing wonky and running right up to melee anyway, but is a good 80/20 solution.

MELEE: Goto, <stance of your choice> and put the goto spot right next to the adversaries. Many times defensive/aggressive works, but I've had times where if the adversary attacks before they get to the goto spot they open-up at range, so sometimes passive is necessary to actually get them to the spot, then hit defensive/aggressive.

In case you hadn't noticed, I'm not a big fan of aggressive. Especially with the command bug, I prefer to micromanage their targets rather than risk over-aggro that aggressive always seems to manage.

Used the binds to do my first "bot pull" on a team yesterday. Something I do alot solo, but never tried it in a crowded team setting. The keypad binds are a must for this sort of manuever:

--Move team and all bots (goto) back around a corner (tanker-style pull prep)

--Move Assault Bot out of crowd

--Since I'm Force Fields, buff bot with shields

--Since I have Grant Invis, buff bot with Invis.

--Assault bot "attack my target"

--Toggle back to "all" and use "goto/passive" to bring Assult back behind team

--Utterly obliterate the sucker who follows Assult in to team ;-)


This proved a great trick when TP Foe wasn't working so well and the team was fighting high-con villains with only one brute and alot of squishies (doms and corrupters). Took a bit of convincing for them to let me try I think, they seemed hesitant. Worked like a charm though.

You can do this sort of thing without the binds, but it's tedious. I agree with the above post about this being the MM piano. These keybinds aught to be a default set from the devs.

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--Dragging on their name on the pets list is tough when you run 75% window scale.


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You can change window scale?? Holy Crap! *Smacks plam against face*

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Yeah, it does create some GUI wierdness though:

--Those little messages when you first enter the mission? The "OK" button is often right in the middle of the text and the goes spilling off the edge of the little window.

--The menu text in the Nav window does not move correctly so it spills off the right edge.

--The chat text can be odd to read sometimes. Hard to discern "a" from "o" and "," from ".", that sort of thing.

Yeah I run on a 17" monitor at something like 1152 or 1280, then scale my windows down to 75%...gives me a much wider field of view. Of course, had to turn-down my graphics settings to compensate (MX440 video card), but it was worth it not to have to have this tank-like view of the game around all the windows.

I keep up at all times:

--Target
--Nav
--All three power trays
--Inspirations
--Map (at minimum size)
--Upper and lower chat panes
--Team
--Pets

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Is there a quicker way of giving a minion a respite instead of dragging by any chance?

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Boy I would *love* that since drag-n-drop is not very practical for me:

--Dragging on their avatar in combat is tricky at best with them dancing around or overlapping each other.
--Dragging on their name on the pets list is tough when you run 75% window scale.

But in the end between the "heal" in robotics, the Protector Bots, and getting into the "heal pool" I do alright.

Finally got a keybpad (Zboard doesn't have one) and have tried the keybinds a couple of times now, with a few special tweaks for my own playstyle, and I love it! Highly recommend for Masterminds.

If more people used these I'd have to listen to alot less of the "MasterMinds suck on teams" crap. ;-P

Are the =/*-+. symbols on the keypad different than their main keyboard equivalents?

In other words is this valid in a bind file...

divide "em roar"
/ "em wallean"
add "em holdtorch"
+ "em ledgesit"


...or are "+" and "add" the same key?

Looking so see if all the numeric keypad keys are separate entities like the difference between "1" and "numpad1"

Thanks!

[EDIT: And I am referring to MM pet control...I wanted to do some other pet stuff on the keypad, but "/" is already in use on the main keyboard, and I have "+" and "-" already in use too. So fit they register separately on the numeric keypad that would be a boon!]

Anybody have a list or know a thread that includes the new I6 commands, such as those for Mastermind henchmen (i.e the "petcom" and "petsay" binds)?

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I don't mean to be insensitive to your mood (you are obviously upset about ED), but I was wondering; since you've deleted your only level 50s, can you still make Kheldians? I've seen this question asked several times before, but I've never seen an answer.

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I don't consider it insensitive at all.

I've been told that once your account is "flagged" for Khelds it stays that way. Doesn't really matter to me, I never could get into Khelds conceptually anyway. Like I said above, I love specialists, and Khelds are the most "generalist" of all ATs unless you really force it.

I started an all-human Warshade, but ED forced my hand there as well. All-Human Warshade is torturous enough pre-ED (if you don't want to do it via respecs), just masochistic now.

So in the end, my personal answer is "don't care."

But I will make a prediction for CoV: if they go with "evil" Epic ATs, I've already seen Nictus in a low-level Port Oakes story arc, so I have to wonder if Nictus will be available to villains eventually. =)

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hate to say this but... where is my tank?

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i mean when i have to worry about myself it makes it alot harder to keep aggro control... course fact we can only keep what... 14 mobs aggroed on ourselves kinda borks us in large group spillover combat..

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Couple of nights ago I deleted the only tank I ever tried, CFI-CONVICTION. Had a great concept that aligned perfectly with Iron Vixen's ideals. I didn't want to powerlevel, didn't want to herd whole maps, didn't even want to do much damage...I just wanted to be the tanker that keeps the team alive under the worst of the worst conditions. I wanted to be a good tanker, the kind I myself had not been able to easily find when I first started CFI-CONVICTION.

But before I could hit 20, Invul/SS gets hit by I5 and now I6/"ED". While it may not be "doooooom!" for tankers, it is "doooooooom" for why *I* wanted to play tankers and the *way* I wanted to play. I like playing specialists, not the "generalists" the latest rounds of nerfs seem to force us to.

So while I've watched this thread for a while, I'm done. I've deleted most of my heroes, including my two 50s (also gutted by ED...Pure Empaths and Claws/DA) and gone over to CoV. Might be the same "ED" system, but at least I don't have "it used to be like X" memories, so it doesn't feel "nerfed" like all my heroes do.

It's not the last we've seen of each other Iron Vixen...I look forward to your continued involvement with Masterminds. ;-)

My thoughts, and respect, to those tankers who decide to stick with it. =)

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States gave the defiant, no matter how many of you there are we will never give up spiel.

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My favorite moment though was when Statesman ran. A priceless villain moment. Well, either that or it was a lousy excuse for herding. That made the whole event for me...dozens of MM minions on "attack my target" chasing in his wake (he doesn't have supression!) and villains chasing behind shouting "Coward!" That's okay, he ran into the second group coming to join us and got summarily thumped. LOL.

Is it just me, or are you losing your enthusiasm with Invul/SS Vixen?

Me, I bailed on my CFI-CONVICTION on Infinity. All these changes every time I turn around is driving me nuts.

I'll pass on a bit of conjecture: Statesman is dead. The dude posing as Statesman is really Tyrant. He's either turning heroes into his own private army to go after Lord Recluse, or he's under Recluse's thumb and trying to weaken heroes. Either way, us heroes lose... ;-P

Good to see you on the CoV Beta forums Vixen, seem to recall I saw you in the MasterMinds forum.

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Well with the new enhancement diversification thing coming out I will have to rewrite the guide or append it here once we have some testing numbers. Hopefully we can still actually tank with this....thing.

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I never even got a chance to revisit CFI-CONVICTION based on your v2 guide and now the "ED" nerfs are staring me in the face.

If "ED" goes live, and I have no reason to believe 350+ forum pages against the idea will sway this from happening, then I quit. No idle threat considering I pre-ordered CoV. I'm paid through Nov. 22 and have no intention of renewing if "ED" goes live. I'm tired of the nerfs...not that I can't adapt to the nerfs in general, just that they are always huge, respec-requiring nerfs. So tired. Too tired.

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Just to re-iterate, the posts have been over 700 pages AGAINST e.d. The current thread is the second one. Not that it would sway the dev's.......

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Actually, current thread is THIRD thread, so we're well over 1000 pages. I'd say 98% of the volume is against. And for naught, I'm betting.

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Well with the new enhancement diversification thing coming out I will have to rewrite the guide or append it here once we have some testing numbers. Hopefully we can still actually tank with this....thing.

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I never even got a chance to revisit CFI-CONVICTION based on your v2 guide and now the "ED" nerfs are staring me in the face.

If "ED" goes live, and I have no reason to believe 350+ forum pages against the idea will sway this from happening, then I quit. No idle threat considering I pre-ordered CoV. I'm paid through Nov. 22 and have no intention of renewing if "ED" goes live. I'm tired of the nerfs...not that I can't adapt to the nerfs in general, just that they are always huge, respec-requiring nerfs. So tired. Too tired.

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Orbiting Death is a good attack. It does pretty good damage when slotted well, thing is though. It generates way too much aggro in large teams.

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Yeah, so does Dark Armor/Death Shroud...ouch. I agree, Orbiting Death is best used solo and on small, tight teams (2-3 people).

I've duo'd with another Warshade who has a more offense-oriented build (as opposed to my "controllerish"/defense build). Since I have my shields slotted better I go in with shields and OD, take the initial few rounds of pounding and he wastes them with his attacks. Works fairly well, even against Voids/Quantums.

So yes, beware the aggro of Orbiting Death to be sure.