Dispari

I almost always see this happen in Atlas Park or Mercy Island. Rarely anywhere else. As such I figure it's usually newer players who don't know the system yet.

If it does happen, I stop fighting the enemies immediately, meaning they have to deal with it. I send them a polite "Please don't kill steal" message and move elsewhere. If it happens again, I call them out by name. If it happens a third time (has only once), I report them.

Sometimes people will insist and say that I seemed like I was in trouble, or it was an "in character" assistance, or something like that. I just let them know I don't need their help, and if I die it's my own fault (which is my universal policy), and if I need a team I'll form one. Once or twice I've gotten into a morality argument about people in trouble and there not being time to ask for help. I advised them it's best to always ask, because jumping right in is frowned upon, and you don't know the other person's motives. They could have it under control even if you don't think they do, or could even be TRYING to die.

If I'm ever in a situation where I think I may be at fault, or perceived to be at fault like if we both attack a group about the same time, I'll stop attacking, apologize, and move on. That way I can avoid any conflicts and let them know it wasn't intentional.

Generally, if you explain what's going on, people will listen. If you're polite about it, they'll pay attention to what you have to say. And it's good to educate new players on CoH ethics, especially about things that aren't written in a textbox anywhere.

Dispari's 7th Weekly Redside Costume Contest

Turnout today was about the same as usual. We did have enough to form two lines but I think that's standard by now. Here's a picture.

This week, our sponsor was Obsidian. We only got 3m in donations for future CCs, but I did make a couple contacts that may help in the future. Still, we're run 100% on donations since a couple weeks ago, so I'd like to remind everyone that if you'd like to donate, please don't hesitate to contact me here or in-game at @Dispari! 5m+ allows you to sponsor a VG, but you can donate whatever you want as an individual! Now, on to the contest.

PRIZES:
First: 10m (one male, one female)
Second: 5m
Third: 2.5m
Runner up: 1m (two of each)

Male runner ups:
Ipso Facto - level 3!
Twilight Utahraptor

Third place:
Doomghost - level 6!

Second place:
Shock Sight

First place:
Senor Malo

Female runner ups:
Raikou Shingai
Xel'Drynn

Third place:
BlindFaythe

Second place:
Herald of Apocalypse - level 9!

First place:
Knockout Princess

After the CC, we had a surprise zombie invasion!

No sponsor so far for next week yet. But we're on track. I believe next week we'll shoot for Sunday at 10:00 PM CST.

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Well, if you can soft-cap a Bane, it can't be that bad, correct?

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You can soft cap a Blaster.

CC starts in an hour!

The way I see the accolades:

All the villain ones are "hard" to get. Meaning that you can't just trip and accidentally get one. You have to do something that requires an investment of time, whether that be damage farming or doing an LRSF. They aren't too extreme, just a bit time consuming. You can get the accolades in a day or two each if you work at it.

The hero ones are divided between "easy" and "obscenely hard." There are some hero accolades that I've never gotten on ANY character, or even come CLOSE to getting even on my badger characters. Task Force Commander for instance requires you to do half a dozen full task forces, many of which are low in level, really boring and really grindy. Magus requires one of the most annoying badges ever. So does the Crey pistol, unless you snag the all PP arc.

I have all of the +HP/end badges on my main villain, as well as Demonic. They aren't too hard to get, and I can usually pick them up without too much effort. The only "hard" one is waiting until 45 to do an LRSF. I've never gotten all of the +HP/end badges heroside, and never gotten Magus. They're just too time consuming or grindy.

It'll be really lame if I have to run half a dozen task forces and farm Master Illusionists for hours just to get the stuff I have redside. I may heavily look forward to bringing my good characters over just for the accolades.

Somewhat related note, I've seen only the second version of zones live before. Population grows until a second version pops up, and then something causes people to clear out of the first one, making it despawn. And you end up with a ferry list like this:

Cap au Diable
Sharkshead Isle
Nerva Archipelago
St. Martial
Grandville 2

David and Goliath: Will be severely tweaked to allow more tolerable enemies. One AV will lose Energy Transfer, one will gain Strength of Will, all units will lose Rage/BU and Cobra Strike.

The Dark Past: Previously unreleased. Story of a necromancer. The new ability to rename, rebio, and recolor enemies will go a long way toward making this one a possibility. That, and the custom options so I can get rid of Detention Field for my FF ally.

The Night Owl: Previously unreleased. With the new reduction in filesize, I may be able to fit the extra units I needed in. Custom will go a long way toward making the units how I wanted as well.

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* The lame ranged attacks still exist and they're just as out-of-character as before, and are still extremely powerful. They need to be toned down to minor damage and be tossed into a pool for us to pick freely from rather than being forced a specific power.

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I am actually one of the advocates for the ranged powers to be there due to balance reasons, however I would like (and PMd it to Phosyb) if your selected melee set is a secondary set to allow the ranged attack to be customized out. The first set would always be the one with the ranged attack(s.)

This allow a player to pick, let's say, Martial Arts secondary with an Energy Blast primary and avoid the ninja star for conceptual reasons. You still would be forced to take ranged attacks but it would be more under your control what would it be.

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As I've been misunderstood at least twice, and once by a dev, let me restate:

I absolutely DO WANT the ranged attacks for melee-only units. They absolutely NEED to have ranged attacks to be fair and balanced. Ranged attacks should be MANDATORY for melee units to take. If they're set up as a secondary that may be different, but units who have no ranged attacks are exploitable.

However, we should be allowed to pick what ranged attacks we want, rather than being forced a specific one. I, for instance, don't want my Energy Melee units to throw energy blasts or my Martial Arts units to throw shurikens. I would gladly give them Hurl, Hurl Boulder, or Assault Rifle powers, but my units are melee/defense in most cases and with the system I have no way of making durable melee units without being forced silly powers I don't like.

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I didn't include Elude because a properly built SR doesn't need it. And yes SR scrappers do have access to a couple of those powers but already SR is using 6 powers to get what a Bane gets in 4 look at that. To my knowledge I don't think an AT should be able to take a couple of extra powers and beat a set specialty, like my Blaster can't take those powers and beat an SR scrapper. Oh yeah as for scaling resists I don't like the fact of losing health for resistances.

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There are a lot of balance factors between sets, but "number of powers" isn't usually one of them. If you're going to include pool powers, you have to do it universally. Otherwise you're only skewing the numbers for your own means. It doesn't matter that it's X number of powers versus Y. Earth only needs ONE power to have superior defense, but there are other factors at hand.

Number of powers isn't the issue, because SR uses more powers but as a result gets MORE defense, MORE DDR, and scaling resists. And "I don't like to lose HP for resistance" doesn't invalidate the existence of the scaling resist either. Try comparing things like end usage, not number of powers.

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Dispari said
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There's no instant gratification.

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... but Build Up, Aim, Inferno comes pretty close for me.

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Nova works just as well for me.

But my point was, the powers don't make you a good Blaster. The player makes you a good Blaster.

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Added a note to pieces of the Soulbound Allegiance IO set that will warn the player that slotting this enhancement into a pet power that summons a pet that is lower than level 50 will result in the pet not benefiting from the effects of the enhancement.

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Wait, does this include when exemped down?

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Did they ever come out and say "Working as Intended." with this IO? I haven't used it myself, but I have read up on it. I suppose I'm not surprised by this.

Number of People Impacted by Bug = Effort used to correct bug.

This fix causes another problem. How do I know what level my Voltaic Sentinel is? How about Tornado?

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Also, Fire Imps can never be level 50.

Good news:

* Good revision of the MA screen with stuff more plotted out. It's nicer, crisper, and has more tabs and details.

* MA now warns if an arc has EBs, AVs, and units on extreme (this can be circumvented by having them on custom with all powers, though it then warns that some enemies have custom powers).

* Custom allows much more variety in sets. I changed my previously extreme/hard SS/WP AV to not have Rage, IW, or Resurgence, and added SoW. I made sure my lieutenants didn't have Cobra Strike or similar powers. Totally dropped powers like BU.

* The mandatory insane boss settings were reverted. Custom goes back to the old standard, which means just the weakest attacks are required. Bosses no longer have to have Total Focus and Knockout Blow.

Bad news:

* Many options are still grayed out for custom. You can make a minion with Full Auto but not Flamethrower, Ignite, or M30 Grenade?

* The lame ranged attacks still exist and they're just as out-of-character as before, and are still extremely powerful. They need to be toned down to minor damage and be tossed into a pool for us to pick freely from rather than being forced a specific power.

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No. The devs are going to leave us in the dark this time. They think it adds to the mystery.

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I can't believe there aren't any patch notes! They probably aren't up because ____________!

A) the devs hate us
B) the devs are too lazy
C) the devs don't know what they're doing
D) the devs are too busy nerfing PvP and villains
E) the devs are too busy banning everyone for getting more than 12 exp/hr

Select your favorite five answers and claim it as undeniable truth!

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F) All of the above!!!!eleventy1!!

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That's why I said to pick the five you like best of the five options available.

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No. The devs are going to leave us in the dark this time. They think it adds to the mystery.

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I can't believe there aren't any patch notes! They probably aren't up because ____________!

A) the devs hate us
B) the devs are too lazy
C) the devs don't know what they're doing
D) the devs are too busy nerfing PvP and villains
E) the devs are too busy banning everyone for getting more than 12 exp/hr

Select your favorite five answers and claim it as undeniable truth!

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and what if that brute - the only brute willing to go - was /fire or /elec

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On a team with lots of +DEF, up to the soft cap, a RES-based Brute would benefit a lot and do very well.

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Wall of text crits you for 3019 points!

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It was only a wall of text after you quoted it. "Wall of text" doesn't just mean a big post. It means a gigantic blob of text that has no line breaks or paragraphs, which the post actually has. It's not hard to read.

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Which blaster is the best?

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It's truth time.

There is no best Blaster. There is really no best anything. Now, there are some above average sets for some specific tasks -- kin is popular for farming, for instance. But this game isn't about specific builds or mandatory powersets. You have a role, and how you decide to take on that role is up to you. All Blasters fulfill that role, but in different ways. Fire Blasters do more damage. Energy Blasters supply knockback and stun. Ice Blasters supply holds and recharge debuffs. Depending on the situation, each one has strengths and weaknesses. As a whole, no Blaster is "the best." If someone's looking for a Blaster, it doesn't really matter what sets you take. This isn't like most other MMOs. There's no "right answer."

People ask this question pretty often, always seeking the best of something. Best Blaster, best Brute, best travel power, best AT in general. Why are you asking for "the best" Blaster? Are you looking for a fast-track to success? Do you want the easiest time with the least amount of work? Do you simply want to be "the best" without having to think about it? Do you want to be accepted into teams more? Unfortunately, the game doesn't work that way. There's no cheat code to the easiest or best character. There's no instant gratification. If you really want to be "the best," what you can do is play what you want, learn how to be really good, and develop a playstyle that works smoothly and effectively. You have to be a good player to be "the best." You don't get a handicap.

If there was a "best," it probably wouldn't stay that way. If any set really stood out so far that it was painfully obvious, we'd probably see the same people who make "what's the best" threads showing up next issue complaining that it was nerfed. And "underpowered" sets are being buffed all the time, so there's no use trying to select a set based on its performance in comparison to the average. Play what you like and have fun doing it.

I just want the enemies to quit being so dang hard. That's what's keeping me from MA right now. That and the annoying out of character ranged attacks all my units were forced to have.

I thought for sure it'd be ready today, since the devs seem to like Tuesdays. It's possible it'll pop up this week still, but I'd bet on next Tuesday.

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yeah and with that example how does that promote teaming? I can invite a troller to my team and i know i have controls. I invite someone to my team in CO i either have to force them into a role or i have a hodge podge team..The CO sewer does not smell like roses to me

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Actually, i'd be more interested in teaming in CO then COH.

In COH, i HATE how so many people need the perfect team setup with tank-support-damage-control. What i love is when a random team just form, with mix-matched ATs and they succeed anyway. (cause outside of the LRSF/STF and hami, nothing really needs something special for average players)

Or i love when it's a team full of melee, just brute, scrappers, stalkers, blappers and tankers.


In CO, it seems like there won't be any "waiting for 30 minutes to find a tank". And people won't feel forced to play a pure "hearlorz" emp cause they think that's what most people want.

Everyone will only play what they truely want, and there won't be a way to know who's what "role" untill the team is made. (aside from broadcast =X but hopefully, the bad habit won't start) People will also learn to build more reliant characters i hope. So no pure buffer that can't take a hit and can't do damage. No awesome wall that can't hit a flie. And no nuclear weapon that gets kill by said flie.

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Actually, if Guild Wars taught me anything it's that the freedom to change ones build with a variety of powers on the fly means everyone has their idea of optimal and will try to force other players into it. In CoH, you look for support -- you find a Defender. Maybe you for some reason think Empathy is the only good Defender set, but there aren't any on, so you take an FF Defender or a Kin.

In a scenario like Guild Wars or possibly CO, if all "Defenders" can become "Empathy" at will, people who just want "Empathy" will tell people to change to it. If they don't, they get booted and the team looks for someone else who is willing to change.

Playing GW for a long time, I could only play what people wanted me to play. When minionmasters were popular, I had to play one. When curse powers became popular, if I wasn't specced for cursing, people didn't want me. I could easily switch to curse if I wanted to, but the fact was I didn't want to. I wanted to play my character. Ultimately, this is what caused me to quit.

To make that easier to understand, Monks in GW are the support class. They could spec into healing, protection, and smiting. Healing was basically just heal powers, which is what everyone wanted. Protection was useful powers that help to reduce or prevent damage, but as that couldn't usually keep people alive by itself (unlike CoH), people just wanted healing. If you were a Protect Monk, people didn't want you. They'd tell you to become a healer or kick you. And Heaven help you if you were specced for Smiting.

Now, if ALL characters can be anything, that's an even broader problem. If you invite a Scrapper to a team, he wants to Scrap. If someone is specced to melee DPS, they don't want to be told they have to be a healer or they're getting booted.

Or, in short:
*invite*
"we need heals"
"I'm specced into my tanking build right now."
"change 2 heals"
"I don't want to."
*boot*

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Hah, I wish I had a milkshake (so to speak, nyoro~n). But, unforunately.. I got my father's side of the genetics in that regard.

The terms 'flapjack' and 'ironing board' have been used rather accurately in other people's descriptions of me. As have 'shrew', 'flat', and 'occasionally berserk'.

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So when are we getting coffee?

I've done the LRSF numerous times and only had one team-wipe against the Phalanx.

...I don't really get this thread. People keep coming up with new reasons why it's not balanced, but none of them are true.

"You HAVE to have shivans!"
"I've done it without shivans."
"Well you HAVE to have nukes."
"I've done it without nukes."
"Mind Doms are REQUIRED!"
"We never take Doms."
"You absolutely HAVE to have specialized builds!"
"We've done it without (AT/build X)."
"You HAVE to have VEATs!"
"I've also done it without VEATs."
"Yeah well you HAVE to pull!"
"We don't usually pull."
"But you ALWAYS wipe!"
"No. You don't."
"But..."
"No!"
"Well it's still broken!"

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As long as half the team is corruptors, you're fine, right?

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Usually we only have 1 or 2.

I've been on teams with Godchild running that character, and I've seen AVs get drained to empty from it. It's pretty cool.

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I prefer redheads. Spicy!

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I've grown fond of my grey. I'm not dyin it for NObody!

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I dyed my hair gray in junior high.