ClawsandEffect

Fire, because you don't see a whole lot of them.

Elude will also take Universal Travel IOs. If you're having trouble softcapping Ranged or AoE (AoE is harder) you can 3 slot it and put a set of Zephyrs in it.

Also makes a good panic button if you need to retreat for some reason (I can't think of a situation where a soft capped DM/SR would need to retreat, but you never know) as it increases your movement speed as well.

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Street Fighting/Brawling Set- I never thought this idea was very good for a powerset. Players just want the set because they want a punching version of Martial Arts.

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You're getting the reasoning of most people who want this set wrong.

Most people want a Brawling/Street Fighting set because it is the single most common ability used in every comic book known to exist.

Spider-Man is a brawler that happens to be acrobatic, people have argued that he is Super Strength, but I disagree. He IS exceptionally strong, I won't argue that. But two of the powers in Super Strength he is simply not capable of. Those being Hand Clap and Foot Stomp. He is super strong, but not to that degree.

Daredevil is also an acrobatic brawler.

Batman is a classic example of a brawler. He only recently has been written as having martial arts training. Historically, since the 40's, he has been depicted as an exceptionally skilled boxer/brawler. That was mostly because when he was created the American public was largely unaware of Eastern combat techniques.

Captain America would be a Street Fighting/Shield Defense scrapper. His basic training was 1930's and 40's American military training. Hand to hand combat was mostly brawling, with a few tricks thrown in (also known as dirty fighting)

Cyclops is a brawler as well. His powers don't give him any advantage as far as his physical ability is concerned. If he cannot use his optic blast for some reason he resorts to brawling and fighting dirty.

All of the Watchmen except Dr. Manhatten are brawlers.

Any character that is technology based will use street fighting if they are deprived of their technological advantage, provided they are not trained to function without it. Iron Man comes to mind here. Tony Stark does not have a great deal of fighting ability without his armor.

People want a Street Fighting/Brawling set more because of it's prevalence in comic books and popular culture than anything else.

If you have Karnak(Karchak, Karshak, Cashew, Kleenex, whatever his name is) unlocked already you can go back at any point and run it. You don't have to stay at level 15.

I suggest finding an Illusion controller with Recall Friend or a Warshade with stealth for the trial, the ability to ghost the obelisks really makes it go smoother.

In general I'd shoot for a below level 25 build.

Ran across another player the other day who said that controllers with no pets were absolutely useless because the powers before the pet didn't do anything at all.

Why did this player say this?

Because he had been running nothing but level 54 boss farms. Controllers aren't very useful when you are fighting nothing but bosses, because they resist the majority of controller powers, giving the impression that those powers do nothing at all.

So there you have a player who has a misconception of an entire AT because of a limited experience that does not naturally occur in the rest of the game. In normal content you will never find a spawn of nothing but +4 bosses. In AE it is very common.

Players getting a skewed perception of how an AT plays because of something like that is not a good thing.

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I wouldn't recommend sending a lvl 1 noob (especially from what I've been hearing about these new players we are getting) to a lvl 5 zone. For some this game is their first mmo. I can see the frustration from that scenario already.

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That's actually kind of the point. Sending a new player on their first character straight into the AE building is what we've been advocating changes for. Once they get sent to Kings Row (I like Steel and Skyway for this better, but *shrug*)
they will find the AE building and see that you can use it at level 1.

End result: They have at least played 5 levels of the normal content and have (hopefully) learned something about the basics of the game, like how to use the trains.

If they want to create a new character and go straight to the zones AE is in, there is nothing preventing them from doing so, but at least this way they know that AE is optional content, not the only content.

Edit: Prsonally I'm still of the opinion that putting AE buildings in the zones new players start the game in was a huge mistake. Unfortunately it is going to be an almost impossible mistake to fix. What happens when the buildings get taken away and the noobs that don't know how to use the trains have nothing to do?

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Second edit -> Sartol, how is it that you just started playing the game, but have a forum registration date from 2006? Just curious on that one.

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I can think of a couple possibilities.

1) He played a trial back in 2006 and didn't decide to buy the game until 3 years later.

2) He bought the account from somewhere, most likely eBay.

3) He shares a computer with someone else who plays the game and didn't realize they were still logged in on the forums. Entirely plausible if he is new and doesn't know you need a seperate forum account.

To the OP:

Scrappers and Brutes are good soloers.

I do suggest playing a Corruptor and a Blaster as well though. There are a lot of things Scrappers and Brutes will ignore that will hurt Blasters and Corruptors, and it will be good to know about them.

Pretty much any powerset combo of Scrapper or Brute will solo well.

Yeah.

Either he's just posting this to get a rise out of people.

OR

He seriously thinks this would be a good idea. My opinion on it is pretty clear in the second half of my sentence

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This one goes out to all those proud mission farmers out there.I support you 100% and willing to play and fight by your side,so I have this idea...

What if there was a setting that made it so that when you have cleared a map completely of enemies,and after killing the last enemy,the map resets itself,ready to be farmed again with all enemies reappearing on the map?You wouldnt have to leave and reset the mish at all!

The end : )

P.S.To all those people who wish to ban farming,and then whine,complain,and resort to farming to level up like a couple of snake-in-the-grass hypocrites because they cant find teams to level up with,this one goes out to all you people....

*smashes your heads with his stone hammer*

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This is either a troll post...


....or by far the stupidest idea I have ever heard.

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The problem, MajorPrankster, is not people who spend all their time in AE because they choose to. The problem is those who do because they do not know all their options. If AE is in Steel Canyon, newcomers to the game will encounter many aspects of the game before running into AE. After they do, they can certainly spend all their time from that point on in the AE. But it will be an informed decision, rather than an uninformed one. That is the key difference.

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All you did there was nicely say "I want these players to look at the other parts of the game."

The meaning is the same, "play the game the way I do."

Someone that chooses to remain un-informed of the games other areas and potential will do so with or without the AE. I have a friend that has for years now.

Some folks view the game in a completely different light than those of us that play heavily. They do not care, at all, about optimization, TF/SF perfection, seeing all the zones, getting badges or joining an SG. They just want to mash buttons, watch things blow up and giggle.

And that is OK.

If someone wants to learn all there is to learn about the game or not, they will, with or without the existence of the AE.

What I see in this thread and so many others, from the rants about farming, PLing and now the AE, are people determined to control others. Nothing more.

Some of the players of this game just cannot stand that there are others players that play differently than they do.

It's not about making any sort of informed decision. It's simply a matter of what they want out of the game.

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Wow, this is the best example of "seeing what I want to see, and nothing else" that I've seen in a while.

The issue is with the players that think AE is the ENTIRE GAME.

NOT with players playing in AE because they like it.

It has nothing to do with anyone telling anyone else how to play. But rather a desire for new players to be given the knowledge that there is more than one way to play.

Not doing something because you don't want to is one thing.

Not doing something because you don't know you have the option to is another entirely.

I have no issue with a player choosing not to explore the game and staying in AE the whole time. If that's what they enjoy, they are welcome to do so.

The thing I DO have an issue with is people staying in AE because the game gives them no overt indication that there is anything else to do. When you log a new character in, the first thing that happens is the Architect Engineer pops up and replaces your initial contact. Most new players would assume that talking to the guy that just popped up on the screen is how you start the game. When you complete the tutorial there is nothing whatsoever that informs you of other stuff to do, it basically just says "Enjoy!".

In order to make a choice, you first have to know there IS a choice. Many of the anecdotes recounted in this thread are stories of people who don't KNOW there is anything else to do.

I am of the opinion that the easiest fix for this problem is not a level cap on AE. It is removal of AE buildings from Atlas Park, Galaxy City, Kings Row, and Mercy Island. Coupled with that would be the Architect Engineer not being introduced to you until level, say, 12.

You could still access AE at level 1, nothing whatsoever stopping you from doing so.

But it would solve the problem of new players having AE shoved in their face in the first five seconds they have played the game, and being misled into believing that AE is all there is to do.

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I honestly don't care if some people never do anything but MA stories, but I really do think they should cut down on the number of AE buildings, and take them out of the lower level areas...that way new players will at least need to know how to travel to another zone and dodge the random perils of the streets...or whine until someone teleports them.

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This. Was it really necessary to cut and paste that building into every zone they possibly could? I'm so grateful to those who lobbied for it's removal from Croatoa.
Imo, the earliest zone you should have access to it is Steel Canyon on hero side... At that point you've been introduced to Radios, the Invention Tutorial, and have two zones under your belt.
Sure, you could take the train to Steel and just do AE, but at least you'd know where the train freaking WAS.
(I wish that was a joke... sigh)

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This.

A thousand times. This.

You learn about inventions at level 10 in Steel Canyon.

Change the Architect Engineer popup to when you zone into Steel Canyon, provided you are at least level 10.

Swap out the Obliteration set in Dragon's Tail with a Scirocco's Dervish set of 5. Take the extra slot and put it in Super Jump.

Find another slot from somewhere (Shuriken maybe?) and put that in Super Jump as well. Fill the 3 slots you now have in Super Jump with another set of Zephyrs and you should be at around 43% to AoE, while still being at 46%+ to melee.

I dunno. I suppose it would depend on how big the mailbox is and whether the cans can be stacked neatly or if you have to get creative putting them in there.

What? Not that kind of spam?

Nevermind then

The difference between IOs and the fluff items already mentioned is that IOs have a tangible effect on your character's gameplay.

An SR scrapper with IOs helping him to get to the soft cap will survive longer than one who is not soft-capped.

The ability to blow yourself up does not add survivability, in fact, it negates it completely.

Being able to wear a wedding dress doesn't make your powers recharge faster.

Having a High Collar cape at level 1 doesn't add a chance for extra damage to your attacks.

And so on.

That is true.

Green skin, purple pants, no shirt, Huge model, SS/WP or SS/Invuln means a Hulk ripoff.

The GMs won't care if you're making a Supa Troll, you will probably get genericed.

How about the ability to buy a level 50? Or unlock Epic ATs with a card swipe?

The more I think about it, the less I like the idea of buying IOs with real money.

You can already get a level 50 character within 3 days using AE farms (they aren't going away any time soon, either)

If you could then spend $30 IOing out your PLed character instantly, why even bother to play the game?

Getting your character IOed out is one of the rewards for playing the game. Everyone can do it equally if they are patient or play often enough. Having a character that is more powerful than the next guy's for the sole reason that your wallet it fatter is just unfair.

And that link isn't tenuous, it's gossamer. The amount of MA slots you have has nothing to do with the rate at which you earn tickets because you can still only play one arc at a time, no matter how many you have published.

The only way I would support this idea is with extreme restrictions.

The IOs purchased this way would not be tradable, and you could not sell them in the in-game market.

You'd get a window like Mid's has that has your current stock of IOs in it. Once you place a real money purchased IO in a power it is there permanently.

No moving the IO to a different power, no moving it to your enhancement tray. And if you respec while it is slotted, it is just plain gone.

Make sure all these things are explained thoroughly in the purchase screen and that refunds are not available for these purchases. Probably make them expensive as well, don't sell them in sets, sell them as single IOs.

If it were just "you pay real money and have an IO in your tray when you log in" then I'm gonna have to say no way.

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I have no idea what could be an alternative to Granite Armor that anyone would actually take.

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Speed Boost?

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That would be maddening to Stone tanks and brutes.

Give them the one power that would be most useful to them, but in order to get it they have to give up the power they need it for!

(Don't know if you read the whole thread or not, but the premise is an alternate tier 9 power, meaning you can take one or the other, but not both)

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On top of it, if I wanted to design something, most of it would be signature to my characters only.

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Now this idea I could maybe support. The ability to design a custom costume piece for just YOUR character. Within reasonable guidelines (once again, copyright/trademark, indecency/nudity come into play) It saves the devs the time and effort of putting a costume piece in the costume creator because only one character would ever get it.

Downside to that particular idea though: You would probably not be able to change your costume without losing your custom piece. This would be because of the aforementioned "not in the costume creator" issue.

Not a horrible idea. I don't see the developers going for it, but the idea does have merit.

It would require a new bit of coding put in to prevent sale or trade of IOs purchased this way. With the outrageous prices of some of the higher-end IOs it would be the equivalent of NCSoft selling Influence/Infamy for real money, which isn't going to happen. With the current price of level 50 Numina's Convalescence IOs being rather high you would basically be buying 100 million or more influence for $10 if there were no sale/trade blocks on these IOs.

Also, even if this did happen, I can all but guarantee purples will not be available this way.

I came up with an idea for Willpower.

A click power with the same recharge and duration as Dull Pain.

When you click it you gain the following ability for 2 minutes:

Whenever an attack hits you you gain a short term buff to resistance to the damage type of the attack. The amount of the buff would depend on how powerful the attack was.

Maybe the percentage of health lost to the attack divided in half? So if you get hit with an Energy attack that takes 50% of your health you would gain a 25% buff to Energy resistance for 10 seconds. As attacks come in your resistance level would fluctuate up and down based on how hard you're being hit and how often. Alpha strikes would cause a HUGE gain in resistance to that type for 10 seconds and then fade, letting your regen and normal resistance/defense take over.

Maybe call the power "Tenacity". It would fill the only real hole that Willpower has: the lack of ability to deal with burst damage.

Maybe give Invuln a 30 second duration click power that grants psionic defense or resistance.

Fiery aura could get a defiance-like click power that lasts for 30 seconds, granting a damage boost based on how much damage they're taking (NOT tied to HP like old defiance, if they heal it back they keep the buff) In my experience Fiery Aura's weakness is that it sacrifices survivability for damage, but when they die it's usually because they couldn't defeat their opponent fast enough with the damage they are taking. This would help that. I'm not even going to begin to go into numbers on this one.

I have no idea what could be an alternative to Granite Armor that anyone would actually take.

Ice Armor could get a slightly watered down version of Elude without the movement bonus. Perhaps make it a boost to all typed defense specifically.

Not a clue on SR or Shield.

Maybe give regens the option of current MoG or a version of old MoG that doesn't have the end crash but still prevents healing? Maybe halve the defense and make it resistance based? (I'm stretching a little here )


There's a few ideas for other alternate tier 9s that I came up with. I'll keep posting them as I think of them.

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I understand your intent behind level gating the MA to "force" people to realize that it's not the entire game. But at this point I think all that would do is slow down the MA farmers, not stop them.

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If I'm reading the OP's post correctly, he isn't mentioning farming, rather there are new players who think that the AE building and Atlas Park are the entire game and do not know of any other zones or content.

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This is exactly what I meant. I don't care about farmers at all. If that's what they want to do, it's fine by me. The problem I have is the new players that log into Atlas Park for the first time and the first thing that pops up on their screen is the Architect Engineer saying "Hey, come over here and talk to me". Which is made even worse by the fact that he replaces your initial contact when the window pops up. I'd even like to see that changed. Set it up so your initial contact remains in your nav bar after the AE guy pops up. Then in the course of wandering a new player will notice the arrow leading them to City Hall and their first contact.

Sometimes a new player will get curious about what else is in Atlas Park and may stumble across the train, discovering for themselves that there is more to do. Other times they will spend all their time in the AE building because no one in there ever mentions that you can do other stuff.

The people that spend all day in the AE building in Atlas are, intentionally or not, giving new players the impression that AE is the entire game. Notice I didn't say "farmers". It is entirely possible to spend all day in the AE building without farming. There are almost a quarter million arcs to play, and they can't ALL be farms.

Putting a level requirement on AE (10 or 15 would be good)or removing the building from Atlas Park would go a long way toward new players not getting bored with CoH and quitting after one month because they don't know that there is anything else to do.

The farmers will scream bloody murder if the building is removed from Atlas, but they'll shut up eventually and move somewhere else. (I mention farmers here only because people who want to run story arcs and not farm tend to avoid Atlas because it's so crowded nowadays.)

I've resigned myself to the fact that it's probably not going to happen, but maybe if enough people show concern the devs will look into the issue.

It's sad when I see a high level Kheldian who doesn't even know what an enhancement IS, let alone how to go about properly slotting them. There are a LOT of players that just recently started because of the new box on store shelves, and unfortunately, a large percentage of them know next to nothing about the game. And most of what they don't know is knowledge that you would gain from just playing. Since enhancements don't drop in AE missions, they will never have a full tray drawing their attention to the word "Enhancements" and remain blissfully unaware of their existence.

They don't know what a Task Force is. I first discovered Task Forces because I was curious about who that guy in the gold armor was who was standing in Steel Canyon. I asked someone what the "Task Force" he was talking about was and they explained it.

If a new player never leaves Atlas Park they will never encounter a situation where they will learn something on their own. And they won't be able to ask people about things because they don't know the questions to ask.

All I'm really saying is that new players should not be shoved toward AE first thing when they log into the game. Give them time to figure things out before exposing them to it.

Problem with paying for a review:

What if you pay for a review and it is declined?

They can't allow just anyone to pay 5 bucks and add any old crap into the game, which is what people would be expecting since they PAID for it.

So, you would have to spend real, hard earned money to get the costume generator in the first place. Then you would have to spend MORE money just to get a review of your creation. And THEN there's a high likelyhood that your design will not meet the developer's standards and will not be approved.

If something like that were to happen I could just see all the ragequits occurring because someone's Wolverine clone costume didn't get approved after they paid for a review.

The things we pay extra money for are guaranteed. If you buy a Booster, you are guaranteed to get all the costume pieces you paid for.

They cannot make the same guarantee with player created costumes for any number of reasons including copyright/trademark infringement, indecency/nudity, and the worst one, just plain poor quality.

Would anyone in their right mind pay $5 to possibly get a cheeseburger? Of course not. But most people are willing to pay $5 for a cheeseburger that is assured.

I'd go with Build 3 that Vitality gave you. It looks like a solid all around build that doesn't specialize in any one thing.

Exactly what Willpower should be in my opinion.