DarthMord

Even if it's supposed to work that way... it's extremely counter-intuitive. Most blasters I know tend to have an eye on an escape route as they approach 1/3rd health. I'm not hanging around for a damage & Accuracy boost when I've reached my "Get the H E double hockey sticks out of Dodge" point.

The power should be useful to me under normal play or reward intelligent gameplay. All the CoV inherent powers meet this metric. Containment, Gauntlet, Criticals, and to some extent Vigilance all meet this metric. Why should Blasters be left out in the cold?

Besides, Defiance was supposed to kick in at 50%. I've yet to see it do so before I reach 33%. It's not working as advertised/described regardless of what the Devs & QA are saying.

I used to the admin for an online game an old ISP used to run. I seldom saw the problems the players did. As it so happened, I was over at a player gathering for dinner one night and she showed me what problems she had been having. The kicker? She was performing a set of actions in the same order & manner that I would and was running into problems. That got me thinking. The problem? I was testing from INSIDE the ISP network rather than as someone connecting TO the network. On the inside, I had little to no latency of any kind (20ms ping or less). Connecting to the network like our customers showed me a different story, one fraught with lag, packet loss, and slow speeds.

Yet everything was working fine from an admin view.

It makes one wonder if they truly play their game like we do. It's one thing to log on and create a character. It's another to see how we do and try to imitate / learn it.

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http://www.openmindcreations.com/j5/coh/defiance.jpg

Note: level 50 blaster
At 1/3 or so life I had .1 defiance, it wasn't until I was almost dead that the bar actually went up.

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*Working as intended*

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It's supposed to kick in at 50% health, not 33%. Which is what I see when I play my blaster. It doesn't begin to kick in until my health is at 1/3rd or less of max. If it's that low, I'm already bugging out unless I have support healing me.

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A Tankers job is do soak up damage so they get a bonus to their resistances. Scrappers and Brutes make up for this by dealing more damage.

How can you complain that Brutes have to wait 8 more levels to get an inferior version of Unyielding when they're getting powers like Knockout Blow at level 8 compared to a Tanker at level 20?

Powers are balanced by the grand scheme of the archetype, not via individual powers so it's not fair to compare power for power versus the various archetypes. Brutes are more than fine as they are.

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Problem is Jonyu, both you & Statesman have missed the whole point. The penalty to Unyielding was put in place to counter the really good resistances it USED TO GIVE. Unyielding no longer gives those great bonuses, just really mediocre/low ones.

As such, if the -5% Def was balanced against GREAT bonuses, why is it still "balanced" against GREAT bonuses when the GREAT bonuses are missing?

It's a sad state of affairs that using a power results in MORE damage than it mitigates. But given the response States gave to someone in a PM and your response here, I have doubts whether either of you will fully grasp our points.

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Just an idea... maybe create a post that gets updated weekly, and put as a sticky on the Test Server forum, called "Soon..." which lists things like this that are in short or long term development?

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Good idea.. in theory.

In reality it would work out like this. The players see a change on the thread and one of two things is likely to occur.

1. Much [censored] and moaning done months and months before a change is even being considered truely being put in the game. We would hear complaining about nerfs when the devs are only "seeing what will happen" with no intention of putting it in the game.

2. "OMG! YOU PROMISED!" Something good shows up in the thread. Players rejoice, but months down the line it doesn't happen because of various technical issues and game limitations.. or just because it would be THAT hard to implement.

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People said the same thing when Turbine Entertainment did the same thing. There were people like yourself who foretold doom & gloom.

As it turned out, there was little of either. Turbine had several categories that they sorted things into and it was clearly stated that anything on there was subject to change and that as things moved into "next patch" status they became more reliable/likely to appear in-game. They still do this and it gives their palyerbase a roadmap of where things are heading and what's happening.

It works remarkably well. But then Cryptic will never know if it works for them until they try it. Given the lack of updates the "Known Issues" link gets, I'm not so certain it'll work here like it did for Turbine.

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First...I confirm that we're working on right now (as in pohsyb in the next room) to add CoV costume parts into CoH if you own both games....

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Works for me. More is better (except for nerfs. Those should be used sparingly and only when appropriate)

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Then we repeal the hated stealth nerf. The reason why: many well reasoned posts. It's that simple. You guys pointed out the problems.

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Works for me. This is more like the Issue 3 Devs I remember rather than the Issue 5 & 6 Devs.

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AND now...we're changing the way Archvillains spawn. A ton of forum goers disliked adding so many AV's into missions a while back...so we've come up with a solution. If the team size and mission difficulty are ABOVE a certain level, an Archvillain spawns. Below that, players will face only an Elite Boss. If the mission is set on the first two levels of difficulty, it takes 4 heroes or more to spawn an Arch Villain. On the third level, 3 heroes or more. On the fourth level, 2 heroes. On the highest (Invincible), a solo hero will spawn an AV. Note this works in BOTH City of Heroes and Villains.

In order to incentivize larger teams, Positron is going to add a bonus to AV rewards!

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This last part... it sounds intriguing. I like it. (please ignore my previous text. Apparently I can't read.)

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Bases, as they currently stand, really focus on mid and large sized groups earning Prestige - so the complaints have a good point. We're trying to work something out so that a smaller group can get something useful quickly - and also put Salvage to use! Can't promise a timeline, but we are working on it.

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Suggestion: multiply prestige earnings for each member, based on how few other members are in the SG. When that goes live, apply the same multiplier to each group's current Net Worth, and adjust "free" / "unspent" prestige accordingly.

First thing would be to decide what is a "mid-level" group; let's pick 40 members, just because it's a round number - and use a nonlinear progression, so that the increase to prestige earned is ever greater, for the same number of embers "short" of the previous threshold.

So, 36m to 40m = 100%

31m to 35m = 110% (like having ~34-39 people earning prestige) ...? That's a 10% gain, for 5 members "lost".

Make the next step 15%, for the same 5 "lost" members: 26m to 30m = 125% (like having ~32-38 people earning prestige) ...!

Continue the progression:

21m to 25m = 145% (like having ~30-36 people earning prestige)
16m to 20m = 170% (like having ~32-34 people earning prestige)
15m = 200% (like having 30 people earning prestige)

Wait. Pause a second, and re-evaluate. At this point, each member lost is also 20K prestige lost. Up the rate of gain, but make it linear, and per-member:

14m = 225% (like having ~31 people earning prestige)
13m = 250% (like having ~32 people earning prestige)
12m = 275% (like having 33 people earning prestige)
11m = 300% (like having 33 people earning prestige)
10m = 325% (like having ~32 people earning prestige)
9m = 350% (like having ~29 people earning prestige)
8m = 375% (like having 28 people earning prestige)
7m = 400% (like having 28 people earning prestige)

Pause again; nice round number ont eh bonus, let's kick things up a notch, with this few people prestige income will be extremely low, no matter what:

6m = 450% (like having 27 people earning prestige)
5m = 500% (like having 25 people earning prestige)
4m = 550% (like having 22 people earning prestige)
3m = 600% (like having 18 people earning prestige)
2m = 650% (like having 13 people earning prestige)
1m = 700% (like having 7 people earning prestige)

There. THAT, I think, would address the difficulties of small groups; it has flaws, yes (too many alts in the same group = shooting yourself in the foot WRT prestige income).

You can simply measure the current net worth of a group at the moment the patch goes live, spent and unspent prestige together, and multiply it by the appropriate number from above, based on how many people are in the group right then. Just put the patch live without warning, and noone should be able to pull off any exploits, either. ^_^

The benefit of doing it that way is, you don't need to evaluate the price of items, not now ... and not stuff you add in the future. If a group's membership changes, their base doesn't have to be re-evaluated for cost, so their "unspent prestige" total need never be touched.

All that changes, once the patch goes live, is how much Prestige each SG and Vg has at that moment ... and after that, how much prestige any given hero accumulates per defeated enemy ...!

This means less effort TOMORROW, net month, next year, and so on. Keep Base-building prices balanced for the mid-to-large group, and fluctuating memberships will take care of themselves ...!

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I like this idea. It normalizes everything towards a mid-sized group and yet makes it easier for a small group to build a base while not penalizing the mid to large groups' ability to build a base.

In essence, everyone wins and walks away happy.

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This one came from a Hero,second fight with Aurora Borealis.

After she gets defeated,she replies with the now famous Darth Vadar reply:NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!

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You do know why she screams that out, right?

Very nice change. I noticed this the other night when those 4 arachnos guys were still following me around even though my wife & I were both Hidden.

Thanks to the Devs responsible for this QoL fix.

Button5 is the correct name. I use it all the time to summon my force field generator for my MM.

I also use target_enemy_near. I find it's highly useful to take out the closest threat rather than tab through a half million targets to get to the one that is hurting me.

Actually, I believe one of the raid teleporters DOES fit in the 2x2 room. I want to say it's the magic one.

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There might even be a few red names who play CoV/CoH with thier significant others...my husband and I play all the time!

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My wife & I both play as well. Most of the time we are playing together in a duo but sometimes we play solo as well.

They do that, and the servers will be brought down until that bug is fixed. Regen would be too powerful otherwise.

Why? Cuz Devs & fanbois have said so.

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Hey guys,

I wanted to take a couple minutes to let you know that we aware of this issue. We want people to at least know where the PvP zones are and how to get to them. We don’t want players to feel forced into PvP combat. To address this issue we are going to take several steps. Players will be sent to liaisons that will be outside the PvP zones. They will explain that there is mission content available from a contact within the zone but will not, I repeat will not, force you to that contact. If the player wishes to go in the zone and find the contact they are free to do so. Just like a Task/Strike Force contact, PVP contacts don’t need to be introduced. As soon as a player clicks on them, they will offer mission content.

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Hey Manticore, are you guys going to fix it such that those of us who outlevelled those PVP zone contacts can go back to them and get missions from them?

My VG only needs to buy a generator and a mainframe... we're 351k prestige from doing so. I'm not only turning out to be the base architect but also our resident crafter.

I still believe you guys went a bit high on the baseline generic stuff for bases.

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I figured that my values for the time players spend on and how much they can make in an hour would be off, it's why I need the help with it. If anyone posts what they believe to be more realistic numbers then I'll gladly put them in and recalculate things around them. I might get that done tonight, but I'm working off GMT time (it's currently 10:10pm), so I might not. Either way, I'll have it updated tommorrow.

Also Jester, if you could be on around 12am-1am GMT (7pm-8pm Eastern US) then I'll meet you on then and we can get things sorted out. I could be on a little earlier or later than that, but not by much. If I don't see you then I'll send you an e-mail/pm/whatever with some ideas.

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Last night, I was in an Unyielding difficulty mission with my controller in sg mode. She made a total of 817 prestige in 15 to 20 minutes. I can normally do 3-4 missions per hour with her if I push myself, 2-3 per hour if I don't. From what I've recorded of my prestige gathering thus far, this appears to be about the typical rate for my controller whenever I play her (800 to 850 prestige for a typical mission with ~45 mobs).

As per my figuring... it would take me around 529 missions at that level of reward in order to build a basic supergroup base that had the entry, control room, energy room, workshop room, generator, mainframe, and basic workbench. That's on top of the existing amount of prestige I already have and that I bring the SG total up to 15 people from 11.

I'm not holding my breath on that one happening. I don't believe that Hampton Roads ranks high enough on the food chain to really be considered. If anything, they'd have him hit up DC.

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Bug: Enemy ambushes in missions start aggro'd on the Stalker, negating much of the effectiveness of Hide. Instead,In-mission ambushes should be targeted on the *location* of the PC at the time the ambush spawns. The enemies should basically be given a 'Goto Aggressive' order. - EntropyAvatar, 6/10/05
Castle: We're working on a fix for this for post launch. This isn't just a Stalker issue, either. It affects Master Minds as well, though in more subtle ways.

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I've sen the "fix" for this in-game...and I'm not that impressed.

Now, instead of spawning and aggroing towards you, they simply spawn right next to you (If you are out of the line-of-sigh of their normal spawning point).

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That sounds like a bug. The fix is not live, yet, to my knowledge. I am not positive it has made it past the design stage, since it requires code and each and every mission that uses that code to be altered.

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One thing I've noticed... it's possible to avoid the in-mission ambush. Twice now I've had the ambush come running and *stop* near the location where I had captured the NPC. By being quick and on the ball, I was able to duck down a side corridor, avoid the ambush, and escape with my captive for mission complete.

Thing is, the villain group I'm in will skew the numbers. We only have 10 people in the group so far and we've managed to buy two rooms (nothing in them yet) over the course of the weekend. At the rate we are going, I'll be able to drop a room per day into the base and start populating the base the with room contents by next weekend. Even going by piecemeal.

Alone, I've amassed more prestige than the next 3 people in the villain group and they aren't slouches either. Thing is, you need to start in SG mode early like level 1 or 2 kind of early especially since you don't start losing Infamy until level 25. Sure, once I hit 25, I'll need to make sure that I have enough infamy to upgrade enhancements at 27/28. But other than that, I'll live in SG mode while I'm out earning xp.

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We know Jack was States, but who was who else?


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I was in there teleporting and special delivering arrows to the masses.

~Sean

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I just want to know why you kept running away from me every time I got near you. I even called you out as the cowardly dog you were and yet you still didn't have the dignity to face me.

I guess all it shows is that my robots > your arrows.

Heroes are wimps!

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I wonder if ol' Emmert will actually be in front of the computer or if Statesman will just be an NPC. WOW that would be cool to open unlimited bottles of kick butt on the lead designer of CoH.

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You HAVE seen him deal over two thousand points of damage in one hit in the Vs. Tyrant mission, haven't you? We're talking about a guy who one-shots Rikti battle cruisers.

Don't think you're gonna be able to put a mez on this guy, either. XD

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Similar has been said of Hamidon too... yet we can still mez him with our high level heroes. I believe that if we can get enough Dominators together to mez him, we can have our Brutes, Stalkers, & Corrupters take out Statesman while the Masterminds stand back and provide melee/ranged fire support.

I don't believe that States would be able to withstand the entire might of the villainous population. Besides, we have Lord Recluse on our side.

Let's do the math... Lord Recluse, Ghost Widow, Scirocco, Mako, Scorpian... plus well over 6000 villains...

VS

Statesman, Freedom Phalanx, and 2-4k Longbow (some of whom are actual mundane people, not heroes).

I don't see Statesman winning that. Heck, the last time States tried to assault Lord Recluse's base, everyone he took with him got spanked hard.

I'll bet 100k Infamy that Lord Recluse & his forces will reign supreme by night's end.

It's actions like this that make me wonder about the ethics of some of the people on the CoH Dev team.

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so...


Mr.States + Mrs.States................... Mr.Recluse + Mrs.Recluse
...............||................................. ...................||
...............||................................. ...................||
.........Statesman........................Maiden Justice & Lord R.
......................\\.......................//
.......................\\.....................//
.........................=====||=====
................................Miss. Lib + Mr. X
.............................................||
..........................................Ms. Lib




so...Lord R. is Statesmans Brother in law? and also Ms. Lib's Great Uncle?

oh wow....i need to lay down now...

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Nicely done.

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Ya know... I know **WHY** Lord Recluse hates Statesman so much... States is an in-law and he's sleeping with Lord Recluse's sister. Worst possible combination one can have. Everyone knows that in-laws are one of the most pure forms of evil on the planet... on top of dating your friend's sister... Man... I'd be pissed too.

Numbers are posted on the CoV forums. Do a search for posts by me over there during the last two days. You'll find the post.

If you are in the Beta, shoot me a PM on the beta boards and I'll discuss more with you.

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well said.

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Agreed.

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Taking your suggestions into account, I've added Defense to the Power Pools to EVERY single damage type EXCEPT Psi. In other words, the Pools are no longer limited to Smashing and Lethal.

Frankly, my original idea didn't account for the fact that some pools would have been situationally more useful to certain Tanker and Scrapper builds...This change addresses the inequality.

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It is really nice to see you addressing this player concern. Would it be too much to ask to also get the descriptions of the powers in game updated? I know that takes time but I am asking regardless because I think it is important.

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I'll 2nd, 3rd, 4th, whatever this. We will definitely need updated power descriptions detailing what each of the +Def powers do now. This will help with the goal of "No uninformed decisions".