DWish

I roll scrappers primarily with an occasional blaster or brute. Basically, damage.

My two defenders are a cold/sonic and rad/psi

Take that for what you will.

DA + Cardiac = awesome.

I have fighting, dark armor, 2 damage auras, spines frankenslotted.

Sometimes I wonder if I use any endurance at all.

I checked the numbers and I think endurance reduction is in the 90s for everything.

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In General, I think it’s a moot point. PvP appears to be a sideline issue for CoX. Despite the number of nerfs it appears to drive, it is not yet in my opinion the foremost issue in the minds of the Developers. It is my hope that the Developers will continue to keep PvP as a secondary issue, but it is my fear that they are more and more listening to the minority in CoX. And it is my belief that this will cause CoX to die.

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Here's a quick and easy way to own you even more, not that you need it seeing how you're on the wrong end of a losing argument.

How many people log in every day to play Counter-strike? Now how many log in to play Half Life?

I love Half Life 2. One of my favorite games of all time. FANTASTIC game. I haven't played Halo 2, but Halo 1 wasn't even in the same dimension, let alone league.

But I've played through HL2 like 4 times now, and I'm pretty sure that doesn't even touch the amount of time I've logged in CS.

PVP = Long Term. PvE = Short Term.

When people complain about a lack of end game content, it's because they overlook PvP.

Many games still going today that have been around for a while depend on user generated content, and that's what pvp is.

If you don't want CoX to die, and it will one day, then PvP should be supported and balanced.

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In the meantime, here’s a question for you all:

If PvE is such a dead duck and not financially worthwhile, why is it that I see threads over and over again about how PvPers are trying to get more people into their zones and trying to come up with more ways to have PvP forced into other zones but I do not think I have ever seen a thread started with the idea that PvE areas need to have more incentive to get all those PvPers to come out of their zones and join us?

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I'm sure this has been answered a thousand times, but I'll lend my own spin to it.

This is equivalent to players whining to the devs to turn up spawn timers for critters. It happens. PVPers tell the devs to force PVP upon the playerbase, the PVE crowd tell the devs to up spawn timers for mobs. Same thing. Steel canyon will always be full of Tsoo, Clockwork, Vahzilok, CoT, and of course Outcasts... but Siren's Call will not always be full of other players.

Are they ghost towns? Not really, but unless you are me, you don't really hang around in them at 4 in the morning badge hunting, getting temp powers, or doing missions. When the pvp zone has a low population, it stops people from staying. You don't stay there because it's empty, and it's empty because you don't stay there. It's a self perpetuating negative situation. When a pve zone has a low pop... broadcast is a thousand times less annoying.

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You are right about PvP keeping the game alive in almost every MMO ever existed.

The only thing WoW does right is that the PvE part of the game is absolutely endless. It takes players endless amounts of time to complete every single thing you can possibly do in the PvE spectrum, and thats just with one class.

Also, PvE in WoW is actually challenging. The PvE in this game is an absolute joke when compared to WoW in terms of difficulty.

Instead of making PvE challenging in this game and actually implementing AI that is more intelligent than the current one, our devs just add more contacts, more missions with the same maps, and more badges to collect. Every new AV acts the exact same way all other AVs do, except they have different attacks. The only AV that is actually different from the rest is LR at the end of the STF, because you cant just go straight to killing him. And guess what, the AI is easily conquered against LR. Send a tanker in to grab aggro, the rest of the team takes the towers, then back to LR. I mean, I would imagine that some dev out there would think "Hmm, you think LR would notice the towers being destroyed, perhaps we can actually make this mission challenging," but no, its just attack the thing getting the most aggro on me forever, which is the tanker.

And I never understood the reasons for badge hunting after I got tired of it. Badges do ABSOLUTELY NOTHING for you. At least in games with loot, the loot does something for you obviously. But the only "loot" or collectible things in this game are badges atm, until I9, and they do nothing for you. The only badges that actually benefit you are gladiators, but gladiator PvP is a joke. I can never understand why people badge hunt unless they are getting the accolades. The obvious is of course obsession, but do these hardcore badgers really ever step back and look at the uselessness of these badges?

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For that matter, why play this game at all? Do you ever step back and look at the uselessness of playing this game?

It's the same thing. Leveling to 50 or collecting 400 badges. In the end they BOTH are useless. It's just something done for entertainment.

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Yay! Now Tyberius Rex, my pankration-learned Roman Republic ghost-soldier scrapper can finally wear his Civvies!

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Pankration. *thumbs up*

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Here's a question for you _Castle_. Is the fact that Stealth is currently required for a Stalker to be playable in PvP being looked at?

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Is the fact that tactics is currently required for any AT who doesn't have perception already to be playable in PvP being looked at?

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What other class requires a certain power pool selection or their entire purpose is nullified vs a majority of opponents?

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Every one that doesn't have perception. And if you think that a majority of the opponents in PvP aren't stalkers, you're crazy.

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Perhaps picking stealth as a powerpool would not be so painful if it weren't completely redundant and useless for a stalker in PvM. Please look into this situation.

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Do you need perception in PvE either?

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Ahh, this will be good with ED coming.. we CAN diversify our enhancements, at least . Or will we not be able to slot this?

It still won't provide "one" shot protection, but 2-3 shot protection will be good

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This would be really cool, assuming you can enhance it. Scrappers would have to make the choice between slotting for endurance usage, or a little more resistance that only helps them when things have already gone south.

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Except that because they are auto powers Agile, Dodge and Lucky don't USE endurance.

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What is it with you wanting people to get into near death situations before you give them a buff for anything?

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Because that's heroic. Seriously, what's heroic about crushing everything in your path?

True, I don't believe we're super enough. Nerf 34,622 Code Named: Enhancement Diversification took care of the last bit of that.

But this is a bit heroic. I like the idea of reducing damage by taking a glancing blow, or getting hit in the arm, as opposed to the head, but I'd just like some more defense. Back up to acceptable levels.

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LOL . I knew it I knew someone was to ask to nerf Focus Accuracy .

You know what , in the end , if someone challenge you for the arena and you see that he has powers that might invalidate your defense , it may be wise to decline the challenge By concept this game let players select their powers and its VERY likely that in the world someday youll get your rear badly beaten by someone who isnt better than you but happens to have exactly the right powers to take you out .

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That's most builds. Maybe one of 4 To-hit buffs, or 50 defense debuffs. Almost every scrapper has focused accuracy. Most blasters have aim and build up. Invuln tanks have Invince. Controllers and defenders have def debuffs.

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What can you do about it ? No AT can defend against everything ya know ...

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Typo there. Let me edit that for you.

"Your AT can't defend against anything ya know ..."

There we go. All better.

I'd just like to know, what builds CAN SR beat? Squishies, if it's a BS with Headsplitter or a DM scrapper that abuses fear?

I play MA, and since that's about the ONLY primary that doesn't synergize with SR, yet is the most conceptually common pairing with SR, I'm pretty much done in the rear if I want to challenge my friend's mastermind when CoV and CoH link up. Or let's say I want to go with my super group into the arena? Nope. Better level up a different character, because mine's worthless.

Yeah. Good idea.

I guess I just can't understand why all of these people are complaining about the historically weakest damage mitigation sets getting something that might help them in certain situations. Sorry we don't want to be gimp. Our bad.

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Do the resistances stack and apply to all debuffs?

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Yes.

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I agree wholeheartedly with the spirit of this proposed change, but I think that it misses the primary problem with Defense-based sets (in PvP at least): the overpowering nature of toHit buffs. With a single click, an unslotted Aim, a moderately slotted Build Up, or a heavily slotted Focused Accuracy/Targeting Drone negates an entire Defense-based line, even fully 6-slotted.

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Understood; we're still working on this.

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I don't know about the rest of the CoH community, I only know what I see......

And if this is because of PvP, again you are going against what you said about PvP not being the driving force on power changes, etc.

I don't PvP....I have never pVp'd, I don't care about pVP, and really don't understand what all the hype about Pvp is.

If I wanted a PvP experience, I would have gone onto WoW and talked trash.

pVP should not be the contributing factor in anything that is PvE. PvE is what CoH is.

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All of you people ragging on PvP might as well give up. It IS the driving force behind all these nerfs, and it IS for balance. Stop playing against computer opponents, and welcome PvP.

Go to the arena? Hell no. Who cares about the arena?

I'm talking about CoV vs CoH. Anyone not exicted for this, may as well stop playing CoH.

Thank you Statesman. Thank you so much for this. If you also work on the to-hit buff problem, I'll actually consider using my MA/SR scrapper for PvP, rather than keep trying to figure out what regen build I want to use so I don't get my butt kicked.

There are around 50 powers that debuff defense. 50. That's an average of about 2 per set or so. It's like SR is Superman, but everyone's handing out kryptonite.

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Why atleast they get new powers. There is nothing for Scrappers or tanker. I love the way they have been left out in the cold.
Later,

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Us Scrappers got a lot of updates in I4. Look at all the nerfs we got. I guess we should be falsey pleased with all of them. All hail Devs. We bring sacrifices to you as poor peasant worshippers. NOOOOOT!

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The most balanced AT in te game right now is the Defender. Since Controller and Blasters share there powers already the

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Man, I love reading this. Defenders are balanced. [censored]. If defenders are balanced then so is Michael Jackson.

Let me ask, what is balanced about them?
That 3 of the primaries (Rad, Dark and Kin) can be built to solo AVs while 2 (Emp, FF) have no chance in hell?
That individual powers (RI, Darkest Night) are as effective if not better than entire primaries (FF)?
That (apparently) many defenders do not feel needed in higher levels (presumably due to Controllers being just as good/better)?

So how are they balanced?

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I think the balanced part of defenders is suppose to be the extra 9000 hours it takes for a defender to accomplise even the simplest missions and the wonderful impression of statues and/or corpses they do in the arena. Once all the other AT reach that level of perfection I am sure CoH will be perfect (ly uninteresting).

Also I think people are just looking at this wrong, it's not defender primaries that get getting shared with controllers, but instead controller secondaries and blaster primaries that are getting shared with their sidekicks the defenders. Defender's should graciously except the gifts of the real heros in the game, cause then maybe someday they will grow up and be real heros to.

Seriously ever notice how much better a blaster or controller is when they have a pet defender to cheer them on from the background. I just really hope that at some point defenders become Willows and not Xanders.

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Yeah. Try to destroy the world and not save it. Good point.

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not much in the way in the lvl 35++ content but it looks good

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DUDE! EXEMPLAR!

Jeezus!



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DUDE! NO XP FOR EXEMPLER!

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Wow. I'm sure your level 50s will have trouble with that. What with trying to get to the next level and all.


I'm really looking forward to trying out a sonic blaster, or maybe a sonic/sonic defender. Archery... doesn't do it for me.

Swords are better than knives, but knives are small and can be concealed. Guns are better than bows, but... guns are small and can be concealed.

I guess a bow is more "hero like", what with Green Arrow, Hawkeye and their illegimate love child Manticore. But really...

However, all the defenders should just be happy they aren't scrappers right now. You get new powers, we get nerfs. Tanks get nerfs.

If they EVER introduce a new scrapper secondary (shield) I'll be surprised, as that would just be more work for the devs come the every three month nerfing time.

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I mean come on, I have a lvl 37 fire tank. I know how long it took me to get it there and how much attachment I have to my character.

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46 hours (or so) IS a long time to play a video game the first time through, I'll give you that much.

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Statesman and I discussed community concerns in a conference call today and I wanted to share a few things with you that came up during the call. This is going to be rather long - just a friendly warning.

Background Info (AKA what is Cuppas relationship with the Dev Team?)

For those of you who have recently joined the CoH family or are just unclear about it, I wanted to explain exactly what my role is with the CoH team.

My job as a Community Coordinator is multi-faceted, but the main part of my job is to communicate community concerns to the rest of the CoH Team. I produce several status reports and participate in conference calls with the team in California twice every week.

I am also in constant communication with the rest of the team via email, phone calls, and in-person meetings. This includes the entire team, from the GMs, to CS, billing, Tech Support, OCR, the Dev team, the producers, marketing, PR, QA, network ops, and publishing coordinators.

I am "the voice of the community" as it were, not just a moderator. It is a powerful voice and it is a responsibility I do not take lightly.

I am also the conduit of information from the CoH team to you via the message boards. Yes, the devs do post here quite a bit, but I also post info from the other parts of the team (such as network operations) who do not post here. I am lucky as a community coordinator (CC) to have such a vocal dev team, many games do not and must rely on the CC for all communication. I am also lucky that the devs read the boards voraciously, many dev teams do not.

The Devs and Cuppa Discuss the boards -

After some recent comments the devs and I want to address some player concerns and clarify a few things.

Recent Regen Test Results

We have read quite a few comments that are concerned that the recent test results posted were the only tests done on regen. This is NOT the case. This was just a small set of data from a much larger range of tests. Statesman just wanted to post a small example of the results.

The comments the community has made have been read and were considered before Issue 4 went live. It was decided that the dev team felt the changes were needed and the issue went out with them.

No recent response to an issue -

Many times, if you do not see a response from the dev team about an issue then either investigation is ongoing and no conclusions have been made yet or the dev team is satisfied with the issue as it is. I want to stress that even though this may be the case, they are always reading your feedback and taking it into consideration.

The Devs Hate us!

No they don't. Despite all the comments by players to the contrary, the devs do not have it out for any AT/power set/power. We have a responsibility to the individual player to make their game experience fun, but we also have a responsibility to the whole community to make their game experience fun too.

This also extends to Issue content - we try to add a little something for everyone each issue. Every player has things they consider their priority for new content. Some love costumes, some like new art, some new story. We try to even it out to give everyone something. There is only so much time in the day - but we work as hard as we can to make the game better.

Official Threads, Posting, and You

Finally - The devs wanted me to state again why we have official threads and what they are looking for in posts.

Change is stressful. We understand that. However, certain comments (and these are mild examples)-

"The Devs are retards. These changes are crap."

"Nerf <insert AT here> instead"

Are just unconstructive and honestly, put people on the defensive. If you want to know what types of posts make the most impact take a look at this recent post -

"I jumped into the arena on test last night to check out the latest changes. While playing a couple matches, I really thought gameplay moved very slow. Not lag, but the interaction with players. With no super speed, suppression, etc. I certainly didn't die as much, but I wasn't damaging, being damaged, or encountering other players either.

I was playing a grav/storm, which has looong animation times for anything so that probably comes into play. But half way through the second match I just got bored with it, and found it niether frustrating or exciting - just, meh.

I'm really not sure what happened or if this is just my AT, but it would be a reason why I probably won't visit the arena half as much as I thought I would. Maybe it was the frustrating component and the danger of the suped-up PvP that kept me coming back night after night."

Not a glowing report - but simple, honest, tested feedback. We love seeing some of the more complex testing posts that some of you do - those are awesome, but I don't want the community to feel like it takes that level of post to be constructive or that you will not be listened to if you do not post that way.

Official Threads are not places we herd you to to ignore you - They are created so that all of the player comments on an issue can be easily read and digested by the devs. It keeps people from feeling like they need to post the same thing in 17 threads to make sure they are heard. The devs and I would encourage everyone to post constructive feedback in the official threads. They are the best way to get your concerns read.

I have seen comments that state that if the devs are going to be devs then they should grow a think skin and learn to take the insults. We disagree. We care an awful lot about this game. We pour our hearts, minds, and energy into making this game. Many of us have spent years of our lives working as hard as we can and trying our best to make the best game possible. We want players to have fun. We stealth team with lowbies to hear the reactions to things like super jump for the first time. To experience the joy of a great pick up team take down an AV.

Hurtful insults and disrespectful comments affect us. We are human. To have people disrespect you and insult you and something you have worked so hard on in front of the whole internet is disheartening and demoralizing at the very least.

The bottom line is we respect you and your comments, we do listen, and we are glad you play and thank you for being heroes. We ask for your respect in return.

Finally, thanks to all the heroes who test, provide feedback, and go above and beyond the average player to help us make the game. Thanks to the community who makes us laugh when things are rough and for all the kind words you have sent our way in the past year. We appreciate it!

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If you care so much about this game, its players, and want to make it fun, then why nerf everyone? Why not just raise the other powers up? Is your balance paradigm of 1 hero = 3 +3 minions (after SOs) so important that you are willing to alienate and completely piss off so much of your player base?

I have a theory on why you would do that. It's simple. Nerfed powers = more time to level = more money for you.

Well if I log a crapload of hours into a game, grinding and struggling to get through it, I'm NOT gonna re-roll another character and go through that again. Last time I got sick of grinding I quit for about 4 months. I came back, basically because of perma-elude (I was a SR scrapper back before the first buff, right out of beta) and figured I could do more than grind by street sweeping even conned minions, and MAYBE three yellow ones. IF I got lucky.

So I come back, all excited that I could actually feel like a hero, and before I hit 38, BAM. Here comes the nerf bat. Really took the wind out of my sails.

If I get back to the point where I'm not having fun because I can't survive in teams made of players I've either convinced single handedly to buy the game, or helped convince, I'll quit again. This isn't a warning. I'm just saying. Making it harder won't make people play longer. It'll make them quit faster. I have a ton of games to catch up on, including the Neverwinter and Morrowind expansion packs that I still haven't gotten around to.

I love this game. I really do. I waited patiently for around 3 years for this game. Back when it was first announced, to the time I got the beta invite for being signed up on the CoH boards since freaking 2001/2002. And I'm readdicted. However, I'm not playing my main anymore. I've switched to a regen alt. My SR scrapper can't take part in AV fights or team anymore, so all I can do with him is solo to level 50. No task forces, no trials, just solo missions. When it feels like grinding again, I may just take off.

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I agree with the OP 100%... it seems like the answer to the 'balance' issues is to make everyone weak... the game is hard enough as it is. I've got a ton of lowbie toons because it's a struggle to grind my way to a travel power, or slot my attacks... and all this balance crap is just going to make it harder.

The "reward" for hitting level 50 are *two* (well, they aren't really two different AT's) that are difficult to the point of being nearly unplayable... and now the "reward" for playing CoH for a year is to see your characters made weaker.

I can't wait for the 2nd year anniversary, when I wake up in the morning and find that Statesman has slashed my tires and knocked up my girlfriend.

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If people got boosted, instead of nerfed, the game would be easier instead of hard. That means faster leveling.

That means less time playing.

That means less money for Cryptic and NCSoft.

They still run a business, after all.

Let's hope that enough people get pissed off and quit to show them nerfing is not the right decision.