ClawsandEffect
-
Posts
7232 -
Joined
-
Quote:You've obviously never seen 2 Empathy/Sonic Defenders buffing each other before.Originally Posted by Patient_V
Oh no, a moderately survivable character with low HP, weak lethal damage, and no aggro control, crowd control, or debuffs that still falls on the low end of the contribution spectrum when it comes to most teams and leagues.
I'll lay it out:
Beyond soft-capped defenses, with no holes to any position or type.
+60% damage. +78.75% with Assault running. That puts a Defender pretty close to Blaster base damage. Also, permanent fast snipe on the sets that have one.
170% global recharge. AB being permanent makes it very easy to make Hasten permanent as well.
A better than Reconstruction heal available every 2 seconds at those levels of recharge.
Capped (or close to it) regeneration and recovery via the 2 Auras.
Stackable mez protection.
Since all that would be possible on a self-targeting Empathy Defender before IOs are even considered, you could focus ALL of your IO slotting on +Max HP bonuses, which is the only thing not available in Empathy. Defenders have the same max HP as Blasters. You could focus quite a bit on damage bonuses too, and surpass the damage output of a Blaster on a consistent basis.
An Empathy/Fire Blast Defender would be pretty ridiculous if they could self-target with their buffs. It would outperform a Blaster in just about every way. The Blaster might win in sheer damage output, but over time the Defender would win there too, since damage drops to 0 when you're dead, and the Defender would spend much less time being dead.
Edit: I just did the math. With a theoretical power that deals exactly 100 damage a Blaster will deal 112.5 damage, while a Defender will deal 65 with the same power.
A Self-buffing solo Empathy Defender will have +78.75% damage from Vigilance, Fortitude, and Assault. That Defender will deal 116 damage with that theoretical power, surpassing Blaster base damage.
When enhancements are considered, final damage at 95% enhancement will be 177 for the Defender versus 218 for the Blaster. That's not a whole lot less damage when you consider how much more survivable a self-buffing Defender would be. -
Remus is right.
A brand new Premium player can get all the perks I have right now for the lump sum of about $900.00.
Much cheaper than spending $15 a month. -
Quote:I was only half serious.Originally Posted by SinisterDirge
Having to change the name of the set from Empathy to Selfishness isn't?
The half serious part is that I see it as likely that the most common recipient of Adrenaline Boost would be the Empath themselves. Even on teams.
I'm not trying that hard.Quote:I don't think you are unreasonable at all. I think you are capable of better arguments than this...
I have enough other stuff going on that I'm not very inclined to put a whole lot of energy into arguing about a video game's mechanics at the moment.
As a result, you get some half-***** arguments out of me. -
Welcome back A_C.
-
Quote:Why not just remove the endurance bar and everything associated with it instead?
Cut endurance costs on all powers before level 20 by 50%.
I'm not saying that the endurance costs of the actual powers should be increased that drastically, just that all characters below level 20 should be granted a 50% global endurance cost reduction on every power they use.
There's nothing fun about having to use rest every third or fourth group because your endurance is running out, and with hardly any inspiration slots to speak of at that point, pre-buying blues isn't an option- Not to mention most new players wouldn't even think that far ahead.
It would serve the same purpose, since what you're basically asking for here is to make it so endurance is NEVER a factor you need to consider at any point in the game. -
You know, I owe a lot of people on these boards an apology.
I've been being a jerk lately, but it doesn't actually have very much to do with the things I'm responding to at all.
I've just been in a permanently crappy mood pretty much all the time due to things going on in my personal life I'm not comfortable sharing with a bunch of more or less strangers.
Because of those things, I find myself taking out my frustrations on other people because there is nothing much I can really do to fix the things that have me frustrated.
The end result is I end up arguing with people on subjects that, if I'm being honest, I don't actually care all that much about. I've been arguing just to argue.
So, if you're one of the people I've pissed off lately, I apologize. You probably didn't actually do or say anything that justified my response to it.
I typed this out after sitting down and thinking about the fact that I simply don't care if the devs allow us to make tank-mages, or really anything else I've been railing against lately. In fact, I'm starting to not even care about the game that much anymore.
I'm not going to rage quit or anything, but if I suddenly disappear it's because I decided that I just don't care anymore.
Sorry for the abrupt melodrama, now back to your regularly scheduled thread, already in progress. -
Quote:No, it was an honest question. I was not trying to say that is what you said.Originally Posted by Samuel_Tow
No, because that's not what I said. In fact, you post as though you only read the last sentence of my post and skipped over this part:
I was asking:
If the option existed to play the exact same concept as either
A) Armored
or
B) Unarmored
How many people would you expect to choose the Unarmored version? Even if the damage modifier was lower.
It's pretty hard to play a Soldier of Arachnos or Kheldian if your concept is being a guy who throws fire.Quote:Not to mention that both Kheldians and Soldiers of Arachnos already have ranged attacks and armour and yet people still play Blasters for some reason. -
Quote:We go back to getting a new power set every 1-2 years because they aren't making any extra money off releasing them faster than that.Originally Posted by Ukaserex
And those ramifications would be.....?
But it's okay....because they'd be free. -
Quote:Being a valid target for your own attacks when confused isn't hyperbole. It would be a natural result of being able to target yourself.Originally Posted by SinisterDirge
Like all the random bugs that instead of damage your target, heal them instead? If we are so worried about introducing bugs we should probably stop introducing any new powers and sets at all. Sound good? Or should we let the same process of finding and quashing bugs that has worked for the last 8 years handle this too?
I run a traps toon on the baf all the freaking time. Guess how many times I have been killed by my own trip mines, or been killed by my lore pets...
C'mon Claws, this is a little thin. Just because people want to target themselves doesn't mean they are all of a sudden not interested in supporting teammates. You are better than this hyperbole.
I find it amusing that I'm considered unreasonable because I take the stance that it isn't reasonable to want to get everything our way. -
Quote:It's not a matter of it being believable.Originally Posted by Samuel_Tow
I'm with Johnny on this one - I don't buy that a person who uses a rifle can't wear heavy armour and I don't buy that a person who uses a sword can use a bow.
It's a matter of game mechanics.
In order to have a balanced game, certain abilities lock you out of other abilities.
Would you be happy if you had a character whose concept demanded that they be a lightly armored archer, and that character absolutely sucked in comparison to the guy who wanted to be an archer too, but with all the armor your average scrapper gets on top of it?
Allowing the players to use armor sets along with ranged attack sets (to use your example), would completely destroy several ATs.
Who would want to play a Fire/Fire Blaster when they could play a Fire Blast/Fiery Aura character instead? You can make the exact same concept, but have no downside. Only the rare person who actually believes their character should have weaknesses would ever play a character who was NOT armored in some way.
Can you honestly say you would expect to see a Blaster as they currently exist ever again if we were allowed to mix ranged attacks with armor?
The reality of it is, you would end up with ONE character type in the long run: Armored DPS. and with the way some of the elitists around here operate, creating anything else would ensure that you would have a hard time ever finding a team. Who would invite a squishy character when they could invite an armored one who deals just as much damage from range?
Yes, the way the game is does limit character concepts, and that does suck. But the alternative is to have City of Heroes turn into something more like Halo, where everyone is essentially playing the same guy. -
Another thing to consider:
If we had the ability to target ourselves, we would also become valid targets for our own attacks any time we are Confused.
Would you enjoy queueing up a power like Short Circuit and getting hit with a confuse effect just before it fires, resulting in it draining YOUR endurance.....instead of the entire group of enemies you were standing in the middle of?
PBAoEs would hit YOU when confused.
A Confused Mastermind who clicks Nearest Target->Attack my target would have his own pets instantly gank him. That would make participating in a BAF very painful for them.
It would also very likely cause bugs that make your attacks hit you even when not confused. Remember the bug on Blaster Burn that caused it to damage you when you placed the Burn patch? Imagine random bugs cropping up all the time that make, say, your tier 9 nuke useless because it hits you too.
And all that is on top of having to change the name of Empathy to Selfishness. -
Quote:And those stories make for a great comic book run.....
Not even Superman spends all the issues fighting gods. The comics (the good ones at least) involve his limitations. The fact that he has human problems. The fact that he can't save everyone.
.....but a lousy video game.
On the other side: Non-stop epic fights makes for a pretty fun game, but a lousy comic book story, -
Quote:I should have clarified that better.Originally Posted by ClawsandEffect
Look at how powerful 2 Empathy/Anything Defenders are when buffing each other.
Now remove the second player without removing the buffs.
That's why.
You can't target yourself because if you could, it is doubtful the buffs in this game would be as potent as they are.
A self-buffing Empathy Defender who has Power Build Up would have:
Permanent beyond soft-capped defense, with no holes to any damage type or position.
170% recharge via Adrenaline Boost and Hasten, most likely permanent.
A better-than-Reconstruction heal available every 2 seconds or so with that much recharge.
Capped regeneration and recovery.
And now, they would have perma fast snipe without even bothering with Tactics or a Kismet.
Oh, and all that would be before you even took IOs into consideration.
That's why we can't target ourselves. I'm not even sure if the tech exists to change the effect of a power depending on who it is targeting, so if that isn't possible, then there is no way to allow us to self buff at a lesser power level without gutting the whole powerset. -
Quote:Look at how powerful 2 Empathy/Anything Defenders are when buffing each other.Originally Posted by Nalrok_AthZim
"Cannot target yourself."
Why is this?
Now remove the second player.
That's why. -
If you cancel your VIP subscription you will have to pay for:
First Ward - $10
Night Ward - $10
SSA arcs - $10 EACH
Any character slots above the 2 you get for free - $10 EACH
Any Free-To-VIP powersets if you want to continue playing them - $10 EACH
And you will stop getting a monthly points stipend, so any of those things you choose to purchase will cost you real money to get once you run out of points.
Still don't feel like a VIP? If not, I don't know what else to tell you.
The Pay-For powersets:
Street Justice
Titan Weapons
Staff Fighting
Beast Mastery
Water Blast
Beam Rifle
Bio Armor (soon)
That's 7 new powersets that we can use points to buy access to.
Free to VIP sets:
Dark Control
Dark Assault
Dark Affinity
Time Manipulation
Martial Combat
Martial Assault
(you have to buy all those sets if you drop your subscription)
Dual Pistols
Electric Control
Kinetic Melee
Demon Summoning
(you have to pay for these if you drop your subscription and didn't buy Going Rogue)
All of the above sets were released in the last 18 months. As a VIP you get more than half of them for free. Lets see....that's 16 sets in the last 18 months. How many sets did we get at all in the previous SEVEN YEARS?
Lets count:
Archery
Trick Arrow
Sonic Attack
Sonic Resonance
Dual Blades
Willpower
Shield Defense
Mental Manipulation
So, we got more new powersets in the last 12 months than we did in the 7 years prior to that. And we got them because the extra money we paid for those sets funded the next set.
VIPs get more than half those sets for free.
If you were careful with your points as a VIP, you didn't have to spend more than your subscription fee on the sets that must be paid for.
Still don't feel VIP? If not I don't know what else to tell you. -
To elaborate on my earlier point.
Take an encounter with Juggernaut, who is an extremely powerful character. have you noticed that the writers very seldom pit Juggernaut against characters like Sentry or Gladiator? That's because Sentry and Gladiator can beat Juggernaut in a physical confrontation with relative ease. There is no point to that confrontation unless the writers are trying to humble Juggernaut. In terms of Sentry or Gladiator's story, there is no challenge to it.
Now look at characters like Colossus, Nightcrawler and Professor X. None of the 3 of them can defeat Juggernaut on their own. Colossus can fight him to a stalemate, but will never win. Nightcrawler doesn't stand a chance against him physically. Professor X could telepathically knock him out, but Juggernaut wears a helmet that makes him immune to that.
But when the 3 of them team up against him, they will win. Colossus can keep him occupied while Nightcrawler teleports behind him and removes his helmet, allowing Professor X to knock him out telepathically. Alone, they can't win, but using teamwork makes it an easy fight.
That's the kind of balance the game tries to achieve, and it does so rather well most of the time. Some players can build their character to do a lot of things, but there aren't really any characters that can do everything. MMOs are at their core social games. Giving the players the ability to do everything by themselves basically would make it an online single player game.
I do agree that more character concept possibilities are a good thing, but I don't believe that it needs to come with more power. -
The problem with comparing comic books to video games is that they DON'T compare.
A comic book writer can pose a challenge to an utterly invincible character by presenting them with a moral dilemma that character has to cope with. A video game cannot do that, not realistically anyway.
I mean, honestly, when a video game player is presented with a choice, how many players will voluntarily make the choice that means they lose?
The first SSA storyline is a great example of that. Since the arc basically ended up with the player character ultimately failing, how many threads did we see crop up almost immediately with the theme of "My character wouldn't DO that"?
Video game players will not voluntarily make their characters weaker, and will not voluntarily make their characters lose. The reactions to the SSA making those decisions for us proves that pretty well. And because of that, the limitations imposed on comic book characters through writing are simply not possible.
There's another part of it, and it is purely my opinion. Do-Everything characters are boring. Superman on the DC side, and Sentry and Gladiator (Shi'ar Imperial Guard) on the Marvel side are good examples. Since the characters have no real physical limitations, the only way to challenge them is via writing out moral issues for them to wrestle with. You can only throw so many moral quandaries at a character before it starts to feel contrived.
Look at their weaknesses: Superman has a weakness so rare that only the extremely wealthy or well-connected have access to it. Sentry's weakness is a cornucopia of crippling mental issues, and Gladiator's weakness is his own self-doubt. Really? His own self-doubt?!
Those are weaknesses that a video game cannot possibly replicate in any kind of a believable fashion. How many people playing a character like Superman would ever go and fight an enemy that had his weakness? Very few. Most people would just go around pummeling things that cannot possibly ever hurt them. Superman beating up hordes of muggers and car-jackers isn't a very interesting story at all.
Even my personal favorite comic character, Ghost Rider, is a borderline do-everything character. The limits of his power have never been truly defined, and he once put down Galactus with a single Penance stare (in CoH terms, that's the equivalent of one-shotting Rularuu). What makes him interesting is that Ghost Rider is controlled by Johnny Blaze, who is a normal human with normal human limitations. He is not particularly bright, which leads to him being easily deceived, and he is idealistic, which leads to him making some stupid decisions on occasion. Ghost Rider is incredibly overpowered, but the fact that Johnny Blaze doesn't know how to properly leverage that power is actually quite limiting.
Edit to elaborate: Ghost Rider's limitation is another one that cannot be replicated in a video game. No video game player is going to make a stupid decision if it means his character will lose an encounter. And it is difficult to deceive a player without taking away the player's control of their character.
On the other hand, a character like Cyclops is much more interesting. He has a powerful ability, but he is physically a normal human being. There are tasks he is simply not physically capable of performing, so he needs to figure out another way of accomplishing them.
Spider-Man has a great deal of physical ability, but he is not nearly as limitless as Superman or Gladiator. There are foes he can't take on by himself.
Colossus is very strong and tough, but he can be beaten in a physical fight.
All 3 of those characters are more realistically limited, and they become significantly more powerful as part of a team. The team being greater than the sum of its parts is the main idea that CoH took from comic books. CoH isn't an issue of Superman, it's an issue of the X-Men. Yes, the X-Men can individually accomplish things, but they really shine when all of them come together on a task.
If CoH went more toward Superman, and away from the X-Men, it would lose a LOT of what has made this game so succesful. The tank-mage thing has been tried by 2 other superhero-based games....and it failed both times.
No matter who the player is, at some point being able to do everything by yourself gets old. That point may differ from player to player, but it exists for everyone. -
I really dig GreyScribe's re-imagining of the characters.
They are much darker, to reflect what the characters and the universe as a whole have gone through lately. The new names are great as well. -
Quote:Anyone who is anorexic or bulimic could potentially be offended by that character.Originally Posted by Aett_Thorn
Ummm...not a comic book character. But Annie Rexia (anorexia) with vomiting zombies?
I wouldn't petition it, as I think it's a rather clever name, but someone might get their knickers in a twist about it. -
Quote:Honestly, it's outdated.....and it wasn't a very good guide when it was written.Originally Posted by Supraman
Is this guide from IGN still a viable build? It's an Invisibility/Super Strength Tanker. It's from February of 2008 so it's a bit outdated.
Sincerely,
Supraman
Mentioning taking the passive Resist powers early is the thing that jumped out at me. They only give you about 10% resistance before you slot them, so there are many powers that will be more useful to you at low levels.
The guide will work, because it's pretty difficult to screw up a character so bad it's unplayable, but it isn't the best way to build an Invuln/SS Tanker.
Most players here are willing to help newbies figure out what's going on, so don't be afraid to ask questions. You won't get any "lrn2ply" responses here, because we understand that asking questions is HOW you lrn2ply. -
Quote:Make sure it is a NEW copy of it. If it's a copy that someone traded in, they've already used the code and it will be useless to you.Originally Posted by Supraman
Yet another option is to go to my local play & trade and buy the Architect Edition which i believe they were selling it for $15.
Each code can only be used ONCE.
Most secondhand game stores either don't realize this distinction when it comes to MMO boxes, or they do realize it and don't care. -
Quote:Premium players retain access to anything they have specifically purchased.Originally Posted by Supraman
Which according to the comparison guide would be:
CiteCode:* Access to City of Heroes Going Rogue which includes: * Four Power Sets (Dual Pistols, Demon Summoning, Kinetic Melee, Electric Control) * The Going Rogue Alignment System *Access to Praetoria and all of its zones *Access to First Ward missions. * Super Groups * Chat Channels: Local, Team, Whispers (Tells) * In-Game Mail * Character Slots: 12 per server * Auction House Use * Mission Architect * Inventions
Am i reading it correctly or do premium players get little over free players?
So, if you buy access to the Going Rogue alignment system in the Paragon market, you will retain that feature no matter what.
Same goes for any costume pieces, power sets, AT unlocks, etc.
The list you posted there is what VIP players get with their subscription that Premium players have to pay extra for.
Now, if you stay VIP for a certain length of time -OR- buy a certain amount of Paragon Points, you get a Reward Token.
For every month you are VIP or every 1200 points you buy you get a reward token.
You do NOT have to buy the points all at once, so if you buy 400 points 3 separate times you will get a token.
The number of tokens you own determines what you have permanent access to.
Note that you just have to OWN the tokens, you don't need to slot them. You get other things for slotting them.
As far as what you unlock for what tier of reward tokens, I don't remember it all off the top of my head, but you can log into the game and look at the reward tree yourself to find out.
Premium players get either very little more than free players, or a LOT more than free players, depending entirely on whether they have ever been VIP and how many points they've purchased.
The nice thing is, free players actually get a lot of stuff compared to other MMOs with a free play option. Free players get the entire game as it originally launched, and can take their character all the way to the level cap, with very little along the way that they cannot do. They also get 8 years worth of free content expansions. So, a free player today gets more than a subscriber did in 2004.
Also worth noting: To participate in the Incarnate system you MUST be a VIP player. No amount of reward tokens or points purchases will ever unlock that feature to a non-subscriber. That is either a big deal, or nothing to worry about, depending on your perspective. -
Quote:I can give you an exact figure.Originally Posted by EmperorSteele
So, what about the rest of you? Any ideas on roughly how much extra money you've given Paragon Studios ever since the game became "Free"?
I've given the devs exactly $15 more than they would have gotten from my subscription fee. I wanted Staff Fighting and didn't have enough points banked for it. -
I like the update.
Even the club hair.
Think about the kids most likely to join a gang like the Skulls. Emo kids would flock to a gang like that in droves. I don't know about you, but I've seen some absolutely ridiculous haircuts on emo kids. It fits perfectly with the idea that an emo kid joined a death cult, which is a perfectly logical thing to have happen. -
Quote:I would convert Frostwork completely to Absorb.
Cold Domination: Frostwork, same as above.
Couple reasons:
1) In the late game, many ATs are sitting very close to their HP cap already anyway.
2) You cannot see another player's current max HP total, just their HP bar. If a Willpower Scrapper is sitting at 2,365 HP through +HP set bonuses and heavy slotting of HPT as well as accolades, using Frostwork on them will be almost completely wasted.
Frostwork converted to Absorb would benefit all recipients equally, as opposed to the limited usefulness it has now.