Cyclone_Jack

Pure <REALLY REALLY CENSORED> Pwnage!

I can't wait!

Cyclone Jack

Overall, I had a great weekend of play on Liberty, Protector and Virtue. I had a few performance issues, but I'm pretty sure that was 100% on my end. (I was tired of getting random errors and reboots so I dropped a stick of RAM out to see if I have a bad stick, so I went from 2G to 1G) I was only Map Served once, and that was on Virtue at WW in Talos, while swapping between the game and the forums.

I think the devs did a great job and look forward to next double XP weekend.

Cyclone Jack

I'm just curious if the dual wield set has axes available. I mean, dual wielding axes could be pretty dern groovy, and would still maintain the look of lethal damage.

Cyclone jack

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Could you imagine what would have happened to the (fictional) Regen Rep over Issues 3 thru 6?

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I laughed at this. Still laughing, actually. That would rank up in the top 10 worst jobs ever.

As for the OP, I'm tending to lean more towards disagreeing. The main reason is simply the open communication the players have with the Devs, and vice versa. At any point in time, I can send a PM to a Dev and get a response. Granted, they will not respond to everything, and sometimes they can be a little short. Statesman once responded to me with "Hmmm. Interesting." (it did fit the what I sent him) They are busy people, but they do take the time to read every PM and respond to the majority of them. I've sent Castle more PMs than I can count, and I would say he responds to about 90% of them. Granted, these are usually quick, short and to the point questions, but they do take the time to answer them.

If there was a mediator, I don't see what they could do that we don't already do.

Cyclone Jack

Very well thought out post, and not something I would be against. I think each AT has their own little community and those that post there frequently know the difference between the real issues and the trivial issues. If it is player voted, then I don't see any issue with this, especially if they can get yanked out for whatever reason.

I'll have to think about it for a bit more before I say one way or another, but the concept is solid.

Cyclone Jack

OR its a time flux that works in a similar fashion that RV works, and is something the Devs can trigger in a similar fashion as the Rikti Invasion. That could be neat-o.

Cyclone Jack

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If there were no Prohibition, then not only would that take away one of the greatest boons to organized crime, but Rhode Island would not have had a rum running 'business' to give rise to local organized crime, nor the local economy.

Without so much organized crime, Paragon city would be less of a magnet to super powered heroes.

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Indeed. The more I think on this, I'm wondering if this goes back further than we are thinking. What if this goes so far back as to eliminate, displace, or alter Nemesis from the time line?

Cyclone Jack

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Question for those that recall. What and when was VE Day?

Cyclone Jack

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I don't think the first Paragon Times Article and this one inhabit the same timeline. Wasn't Recluse still in charge of the Rogue Isles in the first one? I think we're dealing with two seperate (maybe two of many?) time lines here.

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Correct. The last article stated "Recluse of the Rogue Isles" while this one take him completely out of the Rogue Isles and into South America. But both mention the Outbreak Plague being out of hand.

Hmm....

Cyclone Jack

I hope I'm not overstepping my boundaries when I say...

W.T.F. !?

Cyclone Jack

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My vote is Nemesis. Here is why:

YOU are the Hero of Paragon City. YOU are the Villain of the Rogue Isles. The story of either game has YOU as the key role. Lets take in to the next level. I am the Hero, YOU are the Villain. WE join together to unfold the plot behind the Rikti Invasion. WE reveal that Nemesis was behind this original Invasion. WE help prevent the Second Invasion.

Now, If I am unable to complete Outbreak, then the time line of events following changes. This somehow prevents YOU, four years later, from escaping the Zig. Now WE cannot do anything about the Second Rikti Invasion.

(Going out on a limb time)

As for how to stop this from happening...we look to Ubelmann. As the time line changes, something very different may happen to the 5th Column and/or the Council. Something causes the Reichsman to be destroyed, something that the 5th Column cannot allow at all costs. The 5th use you to go back and fix what is being changed by Nemesis, basically turning you and them into a temporary ally. You must ally with the 5th Column to prevent yourself from fading from the time line. You must work with the 5th Column to make sure Nemesis fails in his attempt to prevent the Hero from stopping Outbreak, which in turn prevents the Villain from escaping the Zig. Without working with the 5th Column, you will no longer exist.

Confusing? All time travel is.

Well, that's my 1.05 at least.

EDIT: Now that I really sit and think about it, I don't foresee the 5th having much of anything to do with this. It was an interesting concept, but Ubelmann would have been dead four years later due to the radiation of the time travel. Well, wait. You did not intervene with his plans, and Requiem did not assist you in thwarting Ubelmann, which means Ubelmann would have been able to finish his project and go back into the past. My brain is hurting. This is why time travel sucks. Too many infinite possibilities, which again fits the teaser wallpaper.

Cyclone Jack

Nice try BAB, but as of one of my last PMs to Castle, he wins in the 'witty response' category. And quick too. Your post took much too long. I'm sure that if you are nice to him, he'll let you see the post. *evil grin*

Cyclone Jack

That was pretty cool, Ex. Its nice to see the Devs get playtime when they are good. Perhaps once I11 is announced we can let them continue those games in progress. And as far as Mace:TDA, I forgot about that one. I enjoyed it for a good bit when it was first released. I got pretty damn good with the Executioner. *evil grin*

Side question: What is the devs' opinion of AT-43? I see the box there, I was curious to see how people liked it. It looks interesting, but I'm not sure I'd like it (though I do like Confrontation).

Cyclone Jack

/unsigned.

The Eden and Sewer Trials are some of the best/most unique content in CoH. They are fun and have some interesting an unique maps. Instead of eliminating a portion of the reward, I would rather see the Devs take the time to fix and update the Trials.

Cyclone Jack

Yes, I worded it poorly.

Cyclone Jack

lol

Hasten was a very heated debate for Blasters back in the day. I never took it on my build for the longest of times. It wasn't until my 40s, when I copied over to Test to test some builds, did I play with Hasten. Since I wasn't used to having it, I ended up not using it much at all, mainly just for a few tough battles. On live, I still do not have Hasten in my build. On the flip, I took it very early on a Fire/Fire Blaster to cycle up the AoEs a bit faster.

A lot depends on your play style and number of attacks. If you don't mind getting in melee and have some melee attacks to compliment your ranged attacks, you may not get a lot of benefit from Hasten. On the other hand, if you try to stay out of melee and only really have your three Blasts, then Hasten could be of benefit to you. Other things can factor in with Hasten. Since Ice/Ice has so much Slow and -Recharge available to them, they can afford to wait a second or two for their bigger attacks, since the enemies aren't attacking them as often. If you didn't take /Ice, and thus do not have access to Shiver, Chilblain or Chilling Embrace, then you would miss out on a large portion of the -Recharge skills, which Hasten could fill the gap for.

If you want to hear that it is possible to get to 50 without Hasten, then yes, it is possible. I made 50 without Hasten, back in Issue 2, though I was already ED compliant in my attacks (1 Acc, 3 Dam, 1 End, 1 Rech). Many Blasters back then were not (1 Acc, 5 Dam or 1 Acc, 4 Dam, 1 End), and also swore by Hasten (they also never took melee attacks, unless they wanted to get laughed at ).

Another thing to remember, Hasten has an Endurance hit when it crashes, and combined with Ice's hefty End usage, it may make early leveling very difficult due to lack of Endurance. If [i]I[i/] were to put Hasten on an Ice/Ice Blaster, I would not do so until after SOs became available (so around 24+). This can allow you to get both SO Ends Redux in a number of heavy Endurance using powers, as well as get Stamina if you feel you need it. If you get Hasten, then I highly recommend Stamina.

Cyclone Jack

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You should add IOs and HOs to your guide if you get the time, also try including a sample build (like yours)

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Yeah, the new guide has both HOs and IOs added, as well as a slew of other possible useful information. I still need to finish up a few things on the Secondaries and go over my IO info a few times, then finalize the color and formatting, then add in my huge section on Ice Storm and Blizzard with all the possbile information you never cared to maybe know.

Needless to say, with RL and other weird things getting in the way, its taking much longer than originally anticipated. If I'm lucky, I might get an hour or three to work on it every two or three weeks. Hopefully, nothing changes is the next update, because I don't think I'll be able to get it done before I10 hits...

Cyclone Jack

Very interesting. I enjoyed reading the City Scoop and will have to keep my eye out for future issues. It has a good layout, is easy to read, and is both fun and informative. I will agree that the Crossword Puzzle was fairly simple, but I've been playing since launch and hit the forums on a regular basis.

One thing I wouldn't mind seeing is a Strategy section, maybe call it a Survival Guide. Perhaps pick a random enemy, state their strengths and weaknesses, their powers, and different approaches to the situation. One could tackle issues such as Boss fights (How do I solo a Master Illusionist), Faction strategies (Argh! Ink Men and Sorcerers), and specific encounters (Help! Elite Boss!). All as told by veterans* of Paragon City and the Rogue Isles. (*Not a veteran player per se, but by a character(s) that has been around and knows the ins and outs of the different factions and encounters out there. Someone who recalls old battles and tries to help the newer generation of Heroes/Villains. Kind of like a cross between Steve Irwin and Bear Grylls.)

Nonetheless, keep up the great work. This is one of the greater tools to help build the community, and I have seen a number of posts in this thread that were a posters first post. Great job to all those involved!

Cyclone Jack

Yes, BFR aggros at the start of the animation. It is how the engine works and is not likely to change. I currently do the Freeze Ray + Freezing Touch + Shocking Bolt, and just cycle them when need be. I miss BFR when I RSK, but I've learned to manage with just Freeze Ray. BFR does make it a lot simpler, and I think its a great opener from time to time, but once you get another fast Hold, BFR goes the way of the dodo. As well as Ice/ performs, I don't foresee any changes to BFR.

Cyclone Jack

The one thing that I have just recently been looking at is DPE and EPA overall, and thats one thing that struck me as odd. I'll be mentioning that in my I9 Guide. (I say that, been working on an updated guide since I7, just get side tracked too often).

Actually, I do a bit of both. I have found Sleeps can still be useful on a team, though a lot depends on the team and the circumstances. As for BFR, I'm actually not a fan of the power and haven't had it in my build since Electric Mastery became available. It has its uses when leveling, just for the ease of Holding a Boss very fast. I do not think it is a well balanced skill though, stat-wise. I've even dropped a line to Castle on it, though he is stubborn and is powerful in the ways of the Jedi Mind Trick.

Cyclone Jack

This is the only place I can think of to do some formatting/color checking for the new guide. The next few posts will just be a glimpse of the I9 Guide.


Ice Blast

Ice Bolt
Level 1

Acc: 75.0%, 65.0%, 56.0%
Dam: 0.80 Cold, 0.20 Smash (1.0)
End: 5.20
Act: 1.17
Rch: 4.00
Rng: 80’
Slo: 20% -Speed, 20% -Recharge
Dur: 6.00

Some people have questioned taking this power, but with the quick recharge and decent damage slotted out, not to mention the least of the endurance hogs, it is a good skill to have. Remember, the Ice Blaster has 3 single target [ranged] attacks and this is one of them. It’s better to defeat an enemy with low health using this quick recharge skill than one of your heavier attacks and have to wait for the recharge…and this happens throughout the game.

I recommend at least 1 Acc, 2 for PvP, and up to 3 Dam. The remaining two slots may be slotted with Recharge, End Redux, Range, or Slow (or a combination thereof) if you feel the need. To start, I would only 2 or 3 slot this skill until your other single target attacks are slotted out. It doesn’t do as much damage as your other attacks, but is still quite useful and you’ll be using it throughout the game’s duration.

Inventions: Ice Bolt is a great candidate for a 4-slotted Invention Set like:
Entropic Chaos (+10% Regen +2.5% Max End)
Decimation (+1.13% Max HP, +2.25% Max End)
Thunderstrike (+2% Recovery, +7% Accuracy)
Devastation (+12% Regen, +2.25% Max HP. +3% Damage)
One of the nice things about Ice Bolt is that you can get away with only 4 slotting it with either Standard or Set IOs without much sacrifice, especially since the slight loss can be made up with other Set Bonuses.

* Ice Bolt accepts Ranged Single Target and Slow Set Ios.

Hamidon/Synthetic: One option is to slot 3 Nucleolus Exposure (Accuracy/Damage) HOs and leave it at that. Since Ice Bolt is already a cheap, fast recharging power you can easily make up the loss with a bit of Set IO slotting. Another good option is to slot 3 Centriole Exposure (Damage/Range) and 1 Acc IO. This will get you maximum Damage and Range and still give you good Accuracy.

<font class="small">Code:[/color]<hr /><pre>
1 SO 2 SOs 3 SOs
Acc: 99.97%, 86.64%, 74.64% | 124.95%, 108.29%, 93.29% | 146.17%, 126.68%, 109.14%
Dam: 1.06 C, 0.26 S (1.33) | 1.33 C, 0.33 S (1.66) | 1.55 C, 0.38 S (1.94)
End: 3.90 | 3.12 | 2.66
Rch: 3.00 | 2.40 | 2.05
Rng: 96’ | 112’ | 124.8’
Slo: 26.66% -Speed | 33.32% -Speed | 38.98% -Speed
1 IO 2 IOs 3 IOs
Acc: 106.80%, 92.56%, 79.74% | 137.85%, 119.47%, 102.92% | 149.325%, 129.41%, 111.49%
Dam: 1.13 C, 0.28 S (1.42) | 1.47 C, 0.36 S (1.83) | 1.59 C, 0.39 S (1.99)
End: 3.65 | 2.82 | 2.61
Rch: 2.80 | 2.17 | 2.00
Rng: 100.4’ | 119.7’ | 126.8’
Slo: 28.48% -Speed | 36.76% -Speed | 39.82% -Speed
</pre><hr />

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This is indeed something that I could get behind. I think ChaseArcanum has come up with a great idea of getting the missions into the game in a fairly simple and straight-forward manner. The difficult part, however, is actual implementation. I think by improving the features available to SG Bases, we can get to the point to where players can create their own missions.


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The more I think of it... the more polished I think our editors may already be.

I remember reading in an interview that the devs' "zone builder" is essentially integrated with the game engine... you can probably say that the base builder is a natural extension of it.

If that's accurate, then a "watered down" mob placement and scripting element might not be too-too difficult to port. Still an investment, mind you, but one with many pieces already in place.

The trick would be: would it offer enough to bring in more subscribers to make the investment worthwhile?

I'd say yes, but I love being GM/storyteller.

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If the Zone Builder is integrated into the game engine itself, then I think this is something they should sit down and seriously consider. Adding a simple scripting element shouldn't be too difficult, though it would be time consuming, and it doesn't even have to be near as robust as the old StarCraft scripts. Sorting and placing Mobs would just be a subsection of objects, separated by faction of course. In the Base Editor, when you click on something, you get a little window that describes the object. They could add both description and a properties tab there.

Not only do I think it would bring in more clients, I think it could bring back a number of inactive clients. It is something new and unique for players to do, both in playing with the toolset and actually playing through missions created by other players. We have some very talented people on these boards, and if just a handful of them got together to make a few missions, we'd get some really fantastic stuff.

There is, of course, the concern of "Does the player mission fit the current story of City of?" If it doesn't, there is already an answer. Alternate dimension and/or Portal Corp. We already have good CoT and good Carnies in alternate realities, which can be traveled via Portal Corp. I don't see why a few of these player made stories couldn't be a part of some alternate reality.

Now, if what you way is true and the outdoor world builder is as integrated as the indoor map builder, then I think we would have the potential for some really, really good stuff. With the talent we have on the boards, I'm sure we'd be able to churn out at least one or two well designed zones, complete with story arcs and more.

Cyclone Jack

This is indeed something that I could get behind. I think ChaseArcanum has come up with a great idea of getting the missions into the game in a fairly simple and straight-forward manner. The difficult part, however, is actual implementation. I think by improving the features available to SG Bases, we can get to the point to where players can create their own missions.

Step one would be to alter the interface in Base creation to use something similar to the system used in the CS. Allowing players to sift through Styles/Rooms/Objects/Mobiles/etc and then filter by name, would allow players to sort through the thousands of objects that would be needed in Mission Creation.

After that, they would need to change how objects are placed, allowing players to place objects how they see fit, not determined by a rectangular bounding box. This would allow players to put a chair up to a table where it should be, place jars and bottles on objects that currently cannot take them even though there is no reason they shouldn't, put objects inside an another larger hollow object, etc.

Then allow players to place NPCs, complete with pathing, powers, and possible AI choices as well as conversation quotes. This would allow players to place a Doctor with Aid Other in the Infirmary that walks a specific path (or three), recognizes a wounded player is nearby and goes over to heal them, and has a variety of things to say when they are idle, healing, or clicked on. You could even get slightly creative and have a few If Then Else options. If 'Player' is 'Bitterfrost' Then Say: "Good %timeofday%, Bitterfrost. How is your battle with the %villaingroup% going?" Else Emote: "Jumpingjacks"

At this point, the only thing left is to allow players the use of prefabs, multi-floors, and special objects like Oranbega teleporters. Prefabs should be easy as they are preset rooms with preset connectors. Elevators and Teleporters could be set up as objects with Properties. A connects to B.

Yes, there is a lot more to it than that, but by expanding upon the Base Creation System they could both make SG Bases much more interesting and robust, but also be working to get that much closer to allowing players to create their own missions. Of course, this only allows player created indoor missions. Outdoor missions could use the current prefab maps that are available. I would guess that outdoor maps use a very different toolset than indoor maps and may be beyond the scope of what the Devs are willing to do, beyond releasing the tools themselves (which is probably beyond what they are willing to do).

I know I personally would go to town on making small stories pertaining to Outcasts, Banished Pantheon, Circle of Thorns, Freakshow, Sky Raiders, Malta, Knives of Artemis, Carnies and Reflections. The big one for me, though, would be Malta. I have a Task Force from hell for them that I would love to play.

So, whatever it takes. /signed

Cyclone Jack

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First off, this post is *NOT* a precursor of any particular impending change. The topic is strictly informative and for discussion.

I'd like to know about breakpoints for To Hit and Defense and how you, the players, think it should work. I'm not talking about mechanics -- I'm talking about the expectations you have in a fight.

1) You have the default To Hit value (ie no buffs), your target has no Defense value. How often do you WANT to hit him? Conversely, as the defender, how often do you expect to be missed?
2) You have the maximum possible To Hit value, and your target has no defense value. How often do you WANT to hit him? Conversely, as the defender, how often do you expect to be missed?
3) You have the default To Hit value, and your target has the maximum possible defense value. How often do you WANT to hit him? Conversely, as the defender, how often do you expect to be missed?
4) You have the maximum possible To Hit value, and your target has the maximum possible defense value. How often do you WANT to hit him? Conversely, as the defender, how often do you expect to be missed?

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1) 50/50
2) 85/15*
3) 15/85*
4) 50/50

*I say 85/15 and 15/85 to leave room for DeBuffs. If I have a max ToHit, I still want to have room for Defense DeBuffs to actually affect my attack as well. At the same time, if I have base ToHit, then ToHit DeBuffs still need to have an affect. DeBuffs would take it from 85/15 and 15/85 to 95/5 and 5/95, respectfully.

Cyclone Jack

You are welcome. Stay tuned for an update *soon*. I'm expanding on the powers a bit more and adding to the combos section as well as adding enemy resistances and mez protections in the enemy section. It might be too much information, but I figured "The more you know..." and all that. It is also why I put that stuff at the end of the guide, its all optional information that's just 'good to know' for when you fight them.

I may end up having to rethink my layout, though, as the introduction of IOs and Set IOs is going to make things interesting. I may have a separate section with just IO information. Still need to think on that.

Cyclone Jack