Cowthulhu

No Lingering Rad? Too bad. Splendid power.

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I don't feel the new bosses are equal to a +1 boss now. I have characters who used to be able to take on a +2 boss as easily or more easily than a +0 boss now, maybe more, and my risk of one-shotting wasnt as high on the old +2.


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They are just +1.

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So, are you saying that a even-level boss should have the same difficulty as a +1 boss from Issue 2?

Hmmm. This doesn't match my experience at all. While I have really enjoyed the changes, I can tell you with a straight face that some of the boss fights I've had in Issue 3 have rivaled Issue 2 AV fights for length. No, seriously. I don't just mean solo...I mean in groups of 2-4.

I think I could have taken out an entire group of circa-Issue 2 +1 hydra (including 2 bosses) in a similar amount of time that it would take for an even level boss currently.

Again, I like the new difficulty, but I think it would be worth double-checking and seeing if this is working accurately if the above quote is what you intended. Maybe we're all nuts, or maybe we aren't

Thanks

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I would LOVE to do Pulp stuff...but would it sell? That's the issue.

Doc Savage. The Shadow. Agent 13. *shudders* Such great potential from the Pulp world.

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The Shadow, The Phantom, Sky Capatain...that would be amazing.

Ever play TORG, Jack? I loved the Pulp setting in the game.
Seems like there'd be a way to add a bit of that feel to the game through a villain group. To really give that kind of feel to the game on deeper level might be tough to do without changing game mechanics.

I think that it is the nature of games to be repetitive. Either one likes the repetition as presented wiith the confines of a particular game or not.

I think it is amazing, that even after playing this game for about a thousand hours, that it continues to surprise me on occasion with something new and wonderful.

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I would assume this also works for BS?

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I'm planning on using it, but many don't seem to. The reason is that the animation foor parry appears to be bugged. At the completion of the animation there is a period (maybe a second) where you can move but not attack.

Then again, I'm working on a weird build with no hasten and no stamina (BS/Regen).

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The mission briefing certainly does mention *named* bosses, e.g. 'defeat Archon Bahlasti and his men' leaves you in little doubt that there's a boss coming

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Actually, I'd have to disagree with that statement, for the simple reason that named mobs sometimes turn out to be Lts.

I agree with that. After a well-deserved vacation, it would have been nice to have gotten a status update saying the community's concerns and comments had been heard, but that they intended to proceed as is or with X changes. It's a matter of communication and perception. The perception by many will be that "I said this sucks and they don't care". A simple communication of what was happening might have averted some of the fallout that is to come.

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I am shocked, absolutely flaberghasted that a team that used to do such a great job in communication has done this.

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While I think Don may be being a tad melodramatic here, I agree it would have been nice to have the dev team come on after the holidays and say soemthing on the order of "We've been reading and have noted your concerns, but we think things are working as intended. We're going to make the Issue active and see how it shakes out, but will be watching closely." As it is, it seems people feel like their concerns are being ignored. I don't think that's the case, personally, but it isn't hard to see where that perception could arise.

Just a note to all that there is a change to toggle debuffs in Issue 3. These powers now have a max range of 300 feet. If you get further away from your anchor than that, the toggle will shut off.

The best advice I can give you:
Always be prepared to turn your anchors off at a moment's notice.
Toggled anchor powers stay on until a) you disable them or b) the target is defeated.

If you get a runner with an anchor on them, they will aggro anything they come in contact wiith. Normally, you don't want to have that happen and you should be on the lookout for this. Also be wary of anchors getting knocked off ledges and railings and making the denizens below unhappy.

There will also be situations where you may want to shut off a toggle because the anchor has been moved and is no longer in an advantageous position.

The corollary to this is that you must have a target in order to shut off a toggle. If there is an enemy in line of sight, this will never be a problem. If, however, you have no enemies in sight (imagine being in a cave tunnel and your toggle runs around a corner) and you lose your target lock on him you will not be able to turn the toggle off. If you have a teammate or an NPC handy, though, you're in luck, because targeting them will allow you to disable that debuff.

Not only do we have the rock tie-in, but we have the great pumpkin himself as well. Oddly though, that spot we found him in over in Talos wasn't a pumpkin patch, nor did it seem terribly sincere.

I had this thought to write up a little peanuts CoH bit with CB repeatedly getting rocks then going to town with them on the pumpkin king as Linus shrieked in horror, but I honestly didn't think I could do it justice.

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I thought I'd post here to explain why developers make changes to MMP games. In a nutshell: because they think it'll make the long term enjoyment better.

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Starting at level 22, when players get S.O. Enhancements, they quickly outstrip their foes.

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This is one of those areas where computer games differ strongly from tabletop RPGs. With (many..I'm talking old-school style) tabletop games, players spend literally years reaching the highest echelons of power. When I was working in tabletop rpg development, one of things that at first really surprised me to learn was that it takes a very long time (years) after a new D&D rules revision to figure out of some of the game elements, like XP progression and advancement, are broken or working as intended. Lord_Recluse would know more about this than I do, though.

While computer games remove some of the human factor (by limiting choices, effect combinations, etc.), they basically go through this same process in a very short amount of time. Most people aren't going to play for years to max out their characters, so character progression is faster. And no matter how well things go in the development stages, there are going to be some unintended occurrences.

In the case of CoH, it's clear that the various power combinations, with SOs in them, have led to some unintended effects, leading to a game that is easier than the designers intended. Unlike with tabletop games, though, the designers can't sit back for months and subtly mold the game at their leisure. They really have to be sharp and on their toes to maintain the integrity of the game.

I don't envy their job (actually, that's a lie) and thank them for making CoH a great game.

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Heck, a single +4 should be a challenge to several heroes. But it's not. That's the problem.

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I agree, that is the problem. In-game, we talk about the scaling problem a lot. It isn't much more difficult to kill +4 minions than to kill +3.

My cocern is that if the plan is to make +4's more difficult, how is XP going to scale? Right now, you need to kill mass +4's just to get to level 40 before City of Villians comes out.

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I'm curious as to how they intend to fix this without compressing the level spread in groups too far, like the initial version of the purple patch did. I'm wondering if we might be in for not only increased hp, as has been rumored, but increased damage as well.

Well if he means the trial zones as a whole, and not just the trials themselves, then I'm confused again. (That seems to be happening a lot this evening). I was flying around TV, and the spawns I saw looked no different in size than Perez or Boomtown. Was I just looking in the wrong spots? (I didn't scour the place or anything, just took a quick buzz around).

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And apparently you're not aware that Faultline itself is a TRIALZONE. It's even listed as such on quite a few sites...along with PP, Boom, etc...

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PP and Boom are hazard zones, not Trial zones.

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Oh - low level trials - Sewers (upper). Faultline.

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Ok, I guess I haven't explored these areas enough. I poked around a little bit in the upper sewers one day for kicks and saw many small spawns but nothing that big. I was probably just in the wrong area.

I was in a trio in Faultline once a couple of months ago on a CoT hunt mission. I thought this was just another hazard area. My mistake. Street sweeping isn't my thing, though, which is why I haven't really spent any time there (just wandered into TV for the first time too). My preference is for missions, truth be told. The new mission rewards should be a nice bonus.

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Currently, there are no spawns anywhere that are worth tackling with a 5+ person team. Unless you are herding, which looks to me like an exploit, even 4 people is a bit too many.


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The Trial Zones. These are designed for teams sizes 6 to 8 or so. Those spawns are HHHUUUGGGGEEEE - and challenging (at the low and mid levels). But many people don't take the challenge.

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I'm confused. What low-mid level trial zones would those be? I haven't played on test, but there's a new low level trial, yes? What else besides the sewer and Hamidon, neither of which are approachable level-wise for my characters IIRC.

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Or he saved a bunch on his car insurance by switching to Geico.

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Nah, they saved a bunch on development costs by switching to Geko

Thanks for the guide!

I got my storm/psychic alt up to 14 last night. I rely on psionic lance a great deal (I have it and scream 5 slotted and both will have 6 at 15). For stormies, hurricane and/or gale can be quite helpful in getting a snipe off. This is especially true with hurricane in a confined area. I can snipe all day long and rarely get interrupted.

Scream is an absolutely wonderful cone attack. I have one (training) range increase in it, but I'm not sure it really needs it. I can't stress this enough...I really hated the other cone attacks I've tried but Scream is very easy to use and effective.

Curveball,

Try this page: http://www.falstaffenterprises.com/CoH/

Falstaff has created batch files that you can edit with the keys you want to bind functions to, then it spits all the files out when you run the batch. Perhaps that will help.

Ahz,

Those last two changes did the trick!
Thank you so much. I'd love to see Joe incorporate these into his 2.4 set and also the tweak that eliminates the combat spam.

Thanks again to all in the thread who have worked on this so hard, including Falstaff for the great batch file.

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Sadow wrote:
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Oh yes just something I found out recently, if the last line of the bind is "<key> "$$"", you will not get spam all over your screen

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Sadow,
This has got to be the single most helpful new item I've learned about binds since the +/- bind_load trick. Fantastic!

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Cool, but what's the +/- trick?

Ahz, I did as directed with the batch file for Joe's binds, and it didn't work at all.
Blastoff didn't work properly (just jumped).
When hover turned on, sprint continued to come on.
Pressing F toggled whether sprint would come on, but would not disable hover.

Suggestions?

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I am going to miss you Massive.

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Awww comeon, Joe!
I thought you weren't supporting your set anymore!
At Azhurdan's suggestion, I'm getting the batch file and will try his suggestions.

Ahzurdan,

I switched to your binds today because the version of Wasabi's that I was using didn't likr a character having hover without fly.

I'm really missing mouselook, though. Can you tell me how to add it?