ClawsandEffect
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Quote:I'm actually anticipating this to be explored further. With Penny now a member of the Phalanx and not just a contact in Faultline, telling more of the story between her and the Clockwork King might be a cool storyline to play out. And it would be a nice change from the Praetorian stuff.Originally Posted by SlickRiptide
Bringing this back around to Penny Yin, what we don't really know at this time is just how much his mental awareness of his situation has changed over the years. What has she told him, and what has he been forced to acknowledge about himself in order to have a relationship with her? Does he literally see her as a "clockwork princess" who communicates with him via radio waves? Does he realize that he is actually a psychic and that some part of his mind is responsible? How close is he to coming to terms with his real self and potentially becoming the Psychic Clockwork King of the portal missions? Is his relationship with Penelope the thing that might prevent that or, if she turned up dead in the course of her superhero job, could it actually catalyze that transformation?
His "crush" on her might be a disaster waiting to happen.
The second round of SSAs is actually somewhat hinting at something along those lines. -
Quote:Out of all the stuff mentioned in this thread, THIS has hit my must-read list.Originally Posted by Ironik
You, sir, are a true gentleman and scholar.
So, reprinting the earlier review, now with a graphic!
I started reading Peter Clines' superheroes+zombies novel Ex-Heroes two days ago and couldn't put it down. I consumed it as if I were a fire and it were a book.
It has marvelous characters, nifty plot twists and superb action pieces. It's about superheroes surviving the zombie apocalypse, retreating to Paramount Studios to make their last stand, trying to save as many ordinary people as they can. The only problem is, some superheroes have been turned into zombies, too, and the last of L.A.'s street gangs has not only survived but ruthlessly expanded. The story is so much better than that description makes it sound, believe me.
Clines is a lifelong sci-fi/superhero/fantasy fan who has been a professional screenwriter and currently writes for Creative Screenwriting magazine. Throughout the book there are references to a number of genre staples, from Aliens to Doctor Who to Star Trek and more, dropped in like fun little asides. It's smart and smartly written, wonderfully constructed with flashbacks and a solid sense of humor at times. Here's a sample quote from early in the book: People could say a lot of negative things about the apocalypse, but there was no arguing the air quality in Los Angeles had really improved.
What this book reads as is a terrific City of Heroes novel. Besides zombies, there are giant monsters, there's a character who is very much in the Healer mode named Regenerator, a Super Strength/Fire Tank named The Mighty Dragon (who later becomes known as St. George), a Dual Pistols/Dual Blades/Super Reflexes Scrapper named Stealth, a powersuited inventor named Cerberus, a Mind Controller, an Electric Blaster and on and on.
Very highly recommended, easily the best superhero novel I've ever read.
As a lifelong comic book geek and admitted Max Brooks fanboy, this book sounds like EXACTLY the genre blend I've been looking for. -
Quote:That's nothing.Originally Posted by Ironik
You should see my tarantula collection.
We have one that will be 12" in leg span when she's full grown. She's 7" now.
You will never find a spider pic that will bother me, as I frequently have pinktoe tarantulas crawling on me with no qualms.
Centipedes, however, are another story entirely. -
Quote:I saw Loki's gizmo as more causing the person affected by it to become fanatically loyal to him rather than actually mind-controlling them.Originally Posted by PRAF68_EU
But how do you get around "eh what am I doing that for?". Alignment is part of your personality. You would either have to override personality, wiping out expertise, or be using some sort of hypnosis to fool the person. In which case you would have to step very carefully to avoid breaking the control.
i.e. would Hawkeye propose taking someone's eye under normal circumstances?
As such, if Loki said "Get me in there by any means necessary", Hawkeye would take the guy's eye if it were the only way to gain access.
Also, remember that this version of Hawkeye (and all the Avengers for that matter) is based on the Ultimate Universe version of him. He was an assassin in that version, and taking someone's eyeball isn't much of a stretch for someone accustomed to killing people without necessarily even knowing why. -
Quote:Eh, it makes sense though.Originally Posted by PRAF68_EU
I would say the problem with the Loki scene is Hawkeye seems to much "himself" for someone who is being mind controlled.
If you're mind-controlling someone for their expertise in something, wiping out what makes them an individual will wipe out a lot of that expertise too.
If a scientist (for example) only does what he is told to do, he is useless unless the person giving orders is just as proficient as he is. -
Interesting idea.
I for one am betting that we will see cameos from a lot of Marvel characters that aren't popular enough to justify a movie or series of their own. personally, I'm hoping to see US Agent and Spider Woman amongst that group. Perhaps Darkhawk as well, he was cheesy when fist introduced, but he later went on to become a good character. probably a POwer Man/Iron Fist cameo as well. (trying to think of characters that would be logical to appear in a SHIELD series)
And probably the occasional cameo from one of the big names in a special episode. I'm sure Chris Hemsworth, Chris Evans, Robert Downey Jr., Jeremy Renner, Scarlett Johansen, and Mark Ruffalo wouldn't have an issue with coming down for a few days of shooting if they aren't busy with something else.
A series like this would go a LONG way toward establishing that all the recent Marvel movies took place in the same universe. A way to tie them all together without the need for crossover movies (which wouldn't happen very frequently, if at all) -
Quote:Originally Posted by Samuel_Tow
He speaks in sentence case later on, so I infer that this is just Mot speaking in a garbled voice through whatever barrier is holding him in, not because he enjoys randomly hitting Shift.
This is my take on it as well.
AC, you should run the Signature Story Arcs as well. The writing is a little more hit or miss than the new DA arcs, but there are quite a few characters getting screen time that you don't see much of in the game.
I enjoyed them, but I also make a point of not over-analyzing the writing in the game.
I won't give anything away, but if you're like the majority of the rest of us, there is a particular character you are likely going to despise by the end of the first one. -
Quote:No, actually they weren't capable of that pace before.
True, we're getting stuff at a more frequent pace. This just shows me that the game developers were capable of this pace previous to the Freedom model, but were too.....heck, I'm not sure -why- they didn't. Another slap in the face.
How many new rednames have popped up since Freedom went live? Every one of those new rednames is either a new employee, or someone who got promoted.
The income from subscriptions alone was not enough to pay all those new employees or the increased salaries of those who were promoted. How do I know that? Because they weren't here before the game had extra income from the Freedom business model.
The pace they are releasing new things at now is a direct result of the fact that they have more manpower to work on multiple projects at once.
All these new powersets? The powers department is probably separated into at least 2 teams now, headed up by Synapse and Arbiter Hawk respectively. Before Freedom it was only one team, as evidenced by the fact that we got one or two new powersets at a time, and they were few and far between.
New animations at an increased pace indicates a larger animation department. Same with new zones, new storylines, etc. etc. etc.
Everything we are getting more of before is a result of having more people available to work on it. Prior to Freedom they didn't have the money to PAY all those people. -
It depends entirely on whether the Clockwork King is in direct control of his creations at all times.
If they have any degree of autonomy at all, he can't be held responsible for everything they do.
If Pinocchio were to kill someone.....is Gepetto guilty of murder?
That's how I see it. I don't think the Clockwork King is ordering his creations to go around killing people. I also don't think he's fully aware of everything they've done.
This isn't a situation of guilt or innocence being crystal clear at all. I would wager that the only people who could really ascertain how responsible he is for the Clockwork's actions are psychics powerful enough to get inside his mind and determine how much of their actions he is consciously aware of. -
Quote:If you ever want to crank up your difficulty at all or take part in any Incarnate stuff or things like the Rikti Ship Raid, you will definitely want your mez protection.Originally Posted by Kimball
To answer the question about practiced brawler, at least so far I haven't really needed it. I carry a few mez breaking inspirations on me and that seems to do the trick. Of the factions I've fought so far Rikti seem to be the most mez heavy (mentalists) and inspirations have worked well. Will this not be the case later on? If I really do need practiced brawler I'll probably drop spring attack since it's more a fun gimmick power than anything else.
Also, Practiced Brawler also gives you knockback protection. I don't know about you, but I find knockback more annoying than mez, because you can't do anything while you're bouncing around, not even click an inspiration.
Gambler's Cut is faster. Consider this: Which will deal more damage: 2 Sting of the Wasp -or- 3 Gambler's Cut? You can fit 3 Gambler's Cut in the same time as 2 SotW.Quote:As for gambler's cut vs. sting of the wasp, why is gambler's cut better when it has lower base damage? I really don't need the -def with all of the accuracy I have. Is there some nuance to the slotting options that I'm missing here?
Also, because the recharge is so fast, it is much easier to fit a Gambler's Cut into an attack chain than SotW. Gambler's Cut has an animation time of not quite a full second, and a recharge of 3 seconds.
With a reasonable amount of global recharge you can get Gambler's Cut's recharge down to below the animation time of any of your other attacks. That means you can use Golden Dragonfly->Gambler's Cut->Soaring Dragon->Gambler's Cut->Any Random Attack You Want->Gambler's Cut......and you will ALWAYS have Gambler's Cut ready to use between your harder hitting attacks. You can't do that with SotW.
There are 2 schools of thought on this. One is that Aid Self is always handy to have in case you need it. The other is that it is better to spend that time attacking.Quote:Lastly, my thought on aid self is that it would be handy to have for the times when a big strike manages to get through my defense. With such a low chance to be hit I figured that interrupt wouldn't be a huge issue. Truth be told, If I had it right now it would hardly ever get used. I figured a self heal would be become more useful once I'm fighting some nastier stuff that has more than a 5% chance to hit me. If aid self is truly pretty worthless even at higher levels though I'm more than happy to drop it for something else.
I generally view it as: I'd rather have something and not need it than need something and not have it.
That said, if you have a decent amount of regeneration and carry some greens with you you should be fine without Aid Self. That's 2 power choices and several slots you can save yourself. -
Quote:Not to mention getting both parties banned if they get caught doing it.Originally Posted by Honbrid
Real money is fraught with potential fraud issues.
Exchanging anything with another player for real money is against the Terms of Service, and is one of the few offenses that will get you permanently banned.
In the simplest terms, it is because you are selling something that does not belong to you. You can sell it for influence, because the influence doesn't belong to you either, but the second real money is involved you are committing fraud.
That's why the devs here (and in other games) are trying to stamp out RMT sites. The RMT sites are making money off of something they have no legal right to be selling.
You want to sell something in-game for influence? Go for it, that's what influence is for. But don't get your PayPal account involved. -
This one is much more solid than your first suggestion.
I would say that it would be better to re-use some powers from Illusion Control and/or Psychic Blast for the personal attacks.
Probably Psionic Dart or Mental Blast as the Tier 1, Spectral Wounds as the Tier 2, and Psychic Scream or Psionic Tornado as the Tier 3/AoE.
Tier 1 pets would be Decoys, Tier 2 could be similar to the Haunts from Darkness Control, and the Tier 3 pet could be Phantasm.
Add a utility power of some kind and off you go (I would lean toward Spectral Terror as the utility power) -
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Abel Nightroad from Trinity Blood is another example of someone who uses a scythe as an effective weapon.
Odd how scythes seem to be common weapons in anime. -
Quote:I at least 3 slot it on SR characters.Originally Posted by Kimball
Thanks. That's some very good food for thought. Your build is better than what I came up with in every respect if I recall correctly. I especially appreciate the advice on not 6 slotting luck of the gambler. That frees up 5 slots right there.
The regeneration and max HP bonuses are useful for them. -
One thing I will say that is relevant to this thread:
Any power that was changed due to PvP needs to be reversed back to what it was before, since PvP and PvE can work differently now.
The animation and cast time of Energy Transfer was changed, if I recall correctly, because the 1 second hard hitting power was too strong as a follow up to Assassin Strike in PvP, effectively allowing it to circumvent the anti-one-shot code. -
I still don't see how Batman is even relevant in a thread about Devices as it exists in CoH.
Batman is not a Blaster, by any stretch of the definition.
When I think "Devices Blaster" The Punisher and Nick Fury come to mind long before Batman does. -
Quote:You also can't stab with a hammer, an axe, or a rocket engine on a stick.Originally Posted by Samuel_Tow
Animations are the trouble. You can't stab with a scythe so it's an ill fit for Titan Weapons
That's why Titan Weapons is Smashing damage. The damage it deals has nothing to do with whether or not the object being used is sharp.
And honestly, a sword that large would be bludgeoning people to death instead of cutting them anyway.
My point: Very few of the weapon using sets in this game make any kind of sense from a real-world-use perspective.
Dual Pistols, Dual Blades. Staff Fighting, Claws, even some of Katana's animations are questionable. If people want a scythe for Titan Weapons, I see no issue with it, as Titan Weapons does not mean stab or slash, it means "Hit them with a giant heavy thing" -
Okay, I'm going to ignore the Batman and guns part of this thread and respond to the OP's attitude throughout this thread.
Moon Dog:
Sorry chief, but your attitude of "I'm right and anyone who doesn't heap glowing praise on my idea is stupid and wrong" is not going to win you much support here, or anywhere else for that matter.
Given your registration date, and general lack of knowledge, I also find it hilarious that you have the audacity as such a new player to tell people who have been playing for 6-8 years that they know less about how the game works than you.
You don't like Trip Mine, I get it. But the game is City of Heroes, not City of Moon Dog. You're just going to have to accept that you do not get to dictate what is fun or worthwhile for everyone else.
Your entire case here has been based on Trip Mine being a useless power. Not only has NO ONE agreed with you, but several people have shown you proof of it being effectively used in more than the "niche situations" that you assert it is only useful in. Which you completely ignored.
If you want to win a debate, respond to the evidence of you being wrong instead of ignoring it. All ignoring it does is prove to everyone else that you can't refute the evidence. And if you can't refute the simplest evidence of Trip Mine being useful, your entire argument falls apart.
Have a nice day. Drop the attitude in future proceedings and you might find people willing to actually engage in a civilized discussion with you. Calling people pants-on-head retarded in your first sentence for having a playstyle that differs from your own is not a good way to start one of those. -
Quote:It also does -fly and has a significant slow component that will keep any opponents on the ground after the immobilize has worn off. It already does more than other secondaries' immobilizes do and is in no need of "bringing up to speed".Originally Posted by Moon Dog
1. Web Grenade: Add a lethal DoT as the super-thin strings cut into skin and armor to bring it up to speed with other secondaries' immobilizes.
If you don't fling your arm out, how are you going to get a decent spread?Quote:2. Caltrops: Fine as-is. Caltrops is always pretty badass. Maybe change the animation to the one used by the heal in Poison, which looks better than the current "fling your arm out like a tool" animation.
A) This isn't possible, and B) even if it were, it couldn't be done for ONE power without being done to EVERY POWER IN THE GAME. That is a ridiculously huge amount of work to do to give a minor adjustment to a single power.Quote:3. Taser: Alternate animation when using a weapon powerset, such as DP, Beam Rifle or Assault Rifle. Fires the taser leads directly from the weapon.
Have you ever played /Devices? Because what you describe here is exactly what Targeting Drone is NOW.Quote:4. Targeting Drone: With blasters getting an instant snipe in i24, maybe make this a toggle that gives you just enough to-hit to facilitate that instant snipe
This doesn't improve the power, it just makes it more annoying to use.Quote:5. Smoke Grenade: Turn it into a ground-targeted area of effect that lowers enemy perception and increases ally defense inside the area of effect.
Ironically, the one power you don't want changed is the one power in the set that IS being changed with i24. It's becoming Field Operative, which will give you a large amount of +Regen and +Recovery on top of what it already does.Quote:6. Cloaking Device: Cool as-is.
You clearly haven't played /Devices. This power is the reason most /Devices players play the set in the first place.Quote:7. Trip Mine: Get rid of this, as it is never used except in gimmicky, niche occasions (and the chance that you'll ever have someone with the power when you need to use the power is horribly low.) Replace with either a concussion grenade (ground-targeted AoE knockback, ideally used to corral enemies into a firing slot) or a flashbang (targeted AoE sleep and -tohit.)
First, if you take this power away my Sonic/Devices Blaster will kill you in your sleep, because that's exactly how he uses this power. On entire spawns.Quote:8. Time Bomb: Get rid of this, as I can't recall a point in time when anyone ever took or used this ability in serious gameplay. Replace with a standard build-up power, stick it lower in Devices. Maybe call it "Tactical Focus".
Second, the devs have mentioned having "something cool" in mind for this power.
It needs slightly MORE damage, not less.Quote:9. Gun Drone: Fine as-is. Maybe lower the damage and add a -def or -res component as the barrage of gunfire eats away at enemy protections.
This suggestion list reads like someone who has never played the set, just read the power descriptions and went from there. -
The last power can have higher resists still, as it is not a power that will be used all the time.
It should either have A) a very long recharge and a crash, or B) have a shorter recharge that cannot be reduced, and less of a crash. That will make it comparable to the Tier 9 of other powersets. -
Here's my stab at a reworking:
Tier 1) Armor Plating: S/L resistance. 22.5% (Scrapper, Stalker, Brute), 30% (Tanker) Toggle .21 EPS.
Tier 2) Insulated Shielding: E/N/F/C resistance. 11.25% (Sc, St, B) 15% (Tanker) Auto-power. End drain resistance.
Tier 3) Deflective Shell: S/L/E defense 11.25% (Sc, St, B) 15% (Tanker) Defense Debuff resistance. Toggle: .21 EPS
Tier 4) Brace for Impact: Mez resistance (Hold, Sleep, Stun) KB Protection. Self slow (minor, not as bad as Rooted). Toggle: .21 EPS.
Tier 5) Combat Awareness: +Resist (S/L/E/N/F/C) 5% for first enemy in melee range, 1.5% for each additional enemy, up to 10 targets. -Resist 7.5% to enemies in melee, up to 10 targets. Taunt aura. Toggle: .52 EPS
Tier 6) Well-Fitted 25% global End reduction. Auto-power.
Tier 7) Ablative Plates +Absorb 25% of base HP, enhanceable. 60 second duration, 240 second recharge.
Tier 8) Not sure what to put here.
Tier 9) Impervious: +Resistance (All but Psionic) 30% (Sc, St, B) 40% (Tanker) +Defense (S/L/E/N/F/C) 20%. +Regen, +Recovery. Self Immobilize. Toggle with 3 minute duration and long recharge. -
Here's the problem with the set:
The resistance numbers are WAY too high.
With the numbers given, slotting with SOs to 55% enhancement yields:
Smashing/Lethal resistance of 82.15%
Energy/Negative resistance of 89.75%.
The lowest resistances are Toxic, Psionic, Fire, and Cold, which come it at 51.15%.
That's 0.25% away from the Tanker and Brute resistance cap for Energy/Negative, and you can slot to get more than 55% enhancement pretty easily. Unslotted Tough will hit the cap for S/L resistance.
And the lowest resistances are still higher than the non-focused resistances on any other set. Invulnerability gets a lot of S/L resistance, Electric Armor gets a lot of Energy resistance, Dark Armor gets a lot of Negative and Psionic resistance. This set, as proposed, caps 4 different resistance types on just SO slotting. With creative use of the upcoming set bonus changes, you could potentially cap resistance to ALL damage types. That is way too powerful.
The set also has no mez protection. With no native defense powers in the set, you're going to be hit with every mez that comes your way. If they implemented this set as it sits, expect to spend 3/4ths of your time mezzed and helpless. Granted, the set only has 8 powers, so you could just add a power that gives it.
Also, if I'm interpreting the powers correctly, it also softcaps S/L/E/N defense with proper slotting. It's hard to tell, but I think that's what he means by some of the wording.
My suggestion: If you are going to suggest an armor set like this, first take a look at the existing armor sets in the game to get your base numbers. Also, look at how the sets are laid out. Every set has a hole or a weakness. This one's weakness seems to be Fire/Cold defense, which isn't really a weakness because a LOT of the Fire/Cold attacks in the game are paired with S/L, which means the ridiculous amount of S/L defense also contained in this set will defend against it.
I'm not trying to be mean, but this set is not very well thought out and needs a lot of work before it is something the devs would even consider thinking about maybe doing someday.
If I get a chance, I'll do a re-work of your suggested set that isn't quite as broken in various ways. -
So you want a power set that caps Scrapper resistance to all damage types after slotting?
No....that's not overpowered at all.
Also, your numbers put you at 53% Resistance to Smashing and Lethal damage, unslotted. And 58% resistance to Energy and Negative Energy. Slotting would get Tankers and Brutes very close to their 90% resistance caps.
The devs are NOT going to give us a power set that lets us cap resistance to every damage type in the game. Not without severe drawbacks (look at Granite Armor in the Stone Armor set for an example of what I mean)
But it isn't that overpowered, there is no defense in the set at all, and you neglected to add mez protection. -
Quote:I like that idea.Originally Posted by EvilGeko
A well built regen will have perma Dull Pain at the endgame. So I don't think more health is what's needed. IF and that's a big if (really look at it
) Regen were to have something added to it, I would add a big +ABSORB shield to the initial click of Instant Healing. But I would remove it's enhanceable regen portion as compensation.
So Instant Healing would go from:
600% Regen (non-enhanceable); 200% Regen (enhanceable); Recharge 650 sec
to
600% Regen (enhanceable); 50% Absorb (enhanceable); Recharge 600 sec
Which would be a slight nerf in its health over time in exchange for making Instant Healing a good tool to deal with burst.
However, I would add the Absorb to Moment of Glory. (I reconsidered)
I would add a moderate to high amount of enhanceable +Absorb to MoG that lasts for 120 seconds or until it's gone, whichever comes first.
You still get the 15 seconds of godhood, and some additional survivability after that, but not so much that it would be broken. If it were set to be non-stackable, the most an extremely high recharge build could do is refresh it.
Make the +Absorb, say, 30% of your character's base HP, so the base amount of +Absorb would be 401.58. If it were fully enhanceable you could get it up to around 782. Dull Pain would have no affect on this Absorb.
It almost sounds overpowered, until you consider how quickly your average /Regen will take 782 points of damage. In a tough fight, you get 15 seconds of MoG, plus another 15-20 seconds of Absorb before it's gone.