FlyingCodeMonkey

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Well, if you've got immobs you'll be able to immob him in place once Castle gets his fix in.

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Possibly. We don't really know if Mako was one of the recipients of the bonus Immo protection, or not.

There are already other AVs who do resist Immo, but it tends to be an individual characteristic. Don't get me wrong, though ... I hope Mako is one of the AVs who was blessed with extra Immo protection and who will be losing it. He can be crazy difficult to contain.

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Might have been not hitting, might have been Castle temporarily adding immob protection to the triangles - I think they blocked it last night, and won't now.

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Possible. I'm not sure if the build we played included Castle's Immo change or not (this was while Test was closed). For Mako though, I could believe it. Nothing seemed able to restrict his mobility in any way, and I figured it was just a (very irritating) part of his theme.

Supremely irritating was when we were foolishly using Freezing Rain to debuff Mako, and the Avoid effect in it would cause him to freak out and super jump away. He'd regenerate a quarter of his health before he'd return or we could catch up with him again.

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If he didn't run so much, Mako's Elude would be fairly readily broken by popping Geas of the Kind ones on your damage people. Assuming they all have it. But you'd need to be able to keep him in one place for that - maybe with a controller or two spamming immobs, neither of the controllers I ran it with had any.

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I never noticed Immos working on Mako except when his purple triangles were down (in which case he was Held anyway, so meh), but it may also have been because we couldn't hit him consistently.

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It is not allowed to put TO/DO/SO ACC in it. Well I see that the IO sets have ACC and hold. Does that mean the ACC will actually work in the power?

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I've wondered the same thing, actually. Along that same line, does CC accept Endos? I've never tried it because ... eck, putting Endos in CC? I don't have the patience to gather enough data to determine if it makes a difference, anyway.

An eternity ago, before I included Tactics on all my Controllers as a standard practice, I had CC but I was frustrated that it couldn't accept Acc. Someone mentioned in a random topic that To-Hit buff should work on it though, and that's how I ended up with Tactics everywhere (not what it used to be ... thanks ED, but still).

But now, I realize I don't know if the Acc in CC is truly unenhanceable, or if it's only that the power doesn't accept normal Acc enhancements.

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Not a big fan of this school of design ("The powers you normally use will be ineffective here"). It reminds me of the purple triangles and how utterly kludgey they are.

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In this case I suspect it's more the "unintended consequences" school of design, not that that's any greater comfort.

FYI to others, don't bother trying to lure LR away from his towers. They'll buff him no matter where he stands on the map. That problem was fixed about a week ago.

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and then they would just starting running around like a super speeder on meth until they regened.

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Ah yes, be advised ... this is very important.

DO NOT use any power containing an "Avoid" effect on them; ie., anything that signals "leave this area." That includes Freezing Rain, Caltrops, Burn, and any others. Mako, at least, runs like a maniac and afaik cannot effectively be speed-debuffed, so if you drop Freezing Rain on him, by the time he settles down again he'll be half-regenerated.

I've run the States TF twice: one success, one failure. The failure was because we gave up after trying for a half-hour to kill Mako ... as a result of this exact problem. The next time we made sure no Avoid powers were used (having learned our lesson from forum discussion); Mako stayed right on me (the tank) the whole time, and he died in a heap. It makes a huge difference.

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The split crafted enhancements on the other hand look to be almost exactly along the lines described here and significantly weaker than a Hami Enhancement.

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One for one, yes. A two- or three- (or four-) aspect IO is worth less per side individually than a comparable HO. HOs get 100% of their value per aspect; that amount is reduced for IOs. This was necessary so IOs wouldn't completely overpower HOs.

Complete six-piece sets of IOs continue to compliment each others' values though, so high-level finished sets are often competitive with HO slotting.

It's hard to beat three Nucs + 3 SOs, or three Golgis + 3 SOs, but some sets are close, and some of them also provide nice bonuses. You can also mix HOs with IOs in any combination that suits your purposes.

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Maybe I'm way behind the learning curve here but the crafted enhancements that I was looking at today - comparing them to my level 50+s seem to be about +7.5% stronger across the board. Making a single crafted enhancement look like a nice little improvement over a 50++ - or any ++ enhancement for that matter.

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You're correct. The best IOs you can craft are several +% higher than any SO.

They have to be, in return for the investment.

Note that as a result of ED, replacing SOs with IOs is most effective when you're using only one or two of that type. Three IOs of one type get reduced pretty significantly by ED, just like SOs. Two IOs of a type will be reduced somewhat by ED too, but not too badly.

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IO sets, based on everything I have read thusfar and my understanding of ED, would further reduce the number of slots that are needed for a power. Granted my first illustration is likely not feasible, but what about another power, like headsplitter? Right now, I have it 6-slotted with various enhancements and HOs. With IO sets, would this mean that I could reduce a 6-slotted power down to, say, 3? or even less?

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In many cases, yes ... that's one way to look at it.

The way I tend to think of it is closer to ... in most (if not all) cases, a complete IO set will provide more overall enhancement from a number of slots than you can get if those slots were filled with SOs. For example, currently a complete Doctored Wounds set (at level 50) provides something like this:

EnduranceRed: +75.5%
Healing: +97.9%
Recharge: +97.9%
Bonus: FearRes +2.2%
Bonus: FireColdRes +1.3%
Bonus: ImprovedHeal +4.0%
Bonus: RechargeTime +5.0%
Bonus: ToxicPsionicRes +1.3%

That's more than eight SOs of enhancement for an investment of six slots. So yes, sets can give you more enhancement in fewer slots. Some of the lower- and mid-level sets only take up four or five slots, but they're worth five or six SOs of enhancement. In those cases you can add more slots to supplement them, or decide that what they give you is good enough and invest the slots somewhere else. Sometimes it will also depend on whether the next bonus you could get is a really nice one.

You can also mix sets within a single power to emphasize the things you want to enhance most, assuming you can find the right recipes. The possibilities are almost endless, and there are some wicked nice combinations.

The benefits to using them are similar to HOs, and in a few cases the amount of enhancement you get is very comparable to HOs.

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I don't really understand the advancement table. What are the four columns representing?

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Those columns are enhancement schedules: A, B, C, and D.

A being things like Accuracy and Damage (and many others); B including Defense, Resistance, and Range; C is Interrupt, and D is Knockback.

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Where are the tohit buffs? I only see one in the paragonwiki info, which is the unique in Kismet.

+accuracy can cause issues, but +tohit is considerably worse for defense in pvp, I think.

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According to Arcanaville, everywhere you see "Accuracy" listed as a set bonus, it's actually To-Hit buff.

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You honestly want to take your 50 and redo the Dr Vahz story arc? Not me. I already suffered through that with my 50 once. I should get the drop grandfathered-style.

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Actually, sure. I really don't mind. After Issue 5/6, none of my older 50s were retroactively awarded Base Salvage drops based on how many missions they'd attended in their careers and the statistical chance of their getting salvage drops along the way. It would have been nice, though a bit more unwieldy than checking their Souvenir lists, but not necessary. Similarly, I don't mind exemping my 50s to repeat lower-level Arc missions that offer the new I9 rewards. All of my 50s scale down well to whatever level.

In fact, I certainly do want to be able to do that, and a Flashback-type system is probably the only feasible way, even if they can't implement it until after I9. It would have to either (1) be a sort of micro-TF that auto-exemps your team and locks you into the Arc missions until complete, or (2) even better, a normal series of play-as-you-wish missions that also auto-exemps the team inside mission doors.

It's something they've said they can't have ready by I9, and I accept that. Probably the best possible interim solution (by no means an easy one) would be a one-time handout that awards recipe drops based on your completed Arc Souvenir list. There's just no practical way to address the "I would have done more arcs if I had known" or the "I would have run more of my own arcs if I had known" problems, though it's unfortunate.

But tying invention salvage drops to Arc completion has created a very nasty situation that can probably only be solved with a Flashback-type system ... if indeed they choose to solve it. I seriously hope they will. Would they be farmable? Somewhat, I guess. I doubt it's a real problem, though. I don't know the system but I doubt the early, short Arcs give recipes nearly as good as the later, longer, not-so-farmable Arcs.

For the reasons Pax_Arcana stated, Story Arc Flashbacks would need to be treated like "Mini TFs." You should be able to visit any out-leveled contact and run their arc exemped to the appropriate level, locked into it like a TF until finished. In this case everyone should get the reward screen (also like a TF), not just the owner.

To keep things from getting complicated, it would possibly also have to restrict levels on the low end the same way TFs do, too ... to head off the problem of a level 15 being sked into a level 50's Flashback of a level 35 Arc, complete with high-level reward.

I wasn't too concerned about "Flashback" until now, but it's seeming like the only logical and complete solution to the Pool B problem, even if it's something they have to add after I9 goes live.

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Maybe I'm missing something here, but when the rubber actually hits the road, how much difference is there between a story arc and a task force? They are both nothing more or less than a sequence of missions.

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Well, not quite. Task Forces are indefinitely repeatable (which is good) from broadly-available contacts (good), and they auto-exemp you to a proper level (also good), but they all require a certain minimum number of players (not good), and most end with an irreducible AV or Monster that few ATs or players can solo (bad).

At least until you get into the later 30s and 40s, where Arcs are really long, but the AVs in story arcs can be demoted to more-manageable EBs. The biggest difference is that TFs are repeatable for anyone, while Arcs can be out-leveled and cannot be repeated.

IF the City designers insist on Story Arc completion being Pool B, then I maintain that we must have some way for out-leveled characters to revisit those arcs. Suppose an out-leveled character (or 50) can visit any Arc-owning Contact and be offered their Story Arc as a sort of mini-TF? While running those missions, you're auto-exemped to the highest in-range level, like a TF. Same for teammates. You can't run other missions until Arc completion, again like a TF (though you can still Quit).

It isn't a perfect system, and running old Arcs in-the-style-of small TFs might be a complicated feature for which there's no time. However, I think it would completely solve the "Pool B" problem by giving anyone the ability to revisit old arcs, even for contacts they weren't originally offered. Badgers and completionist players would love it. It would also be like instantly being given a few dozen "new" little Task Forces to run with a big bonus ... no minimum team size. Hey, you guys want to run the Freakshow War mini-TF tomorrow evening? It's the best way to get the Tank Swiper Shoulder Pads salvage and recipe we need for that invention. And so on.

Bonus, if you chose to run some of your out-leveled arcs from Hollows, Striga, Croa, or Fault, then you have a way to get fun things you may have missed along the way ... the Wolf Whistle, Talshak, Rune of Warding, Wedding Band, Yin Store, Ernesto Hess, Geas of the Kind Ones, and so on. Think of it as a partial solution to the "need new content at 50" problem: allowing those 50s to replay old Story Arcs they missed, and solving the problem of how to get invention formula rewards at the same time.

Old Story Arcs = Mini Task Force. Make it happen!

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Now I hear you guys... you all seem to dislike the Story Arc aspect of this system. I've had some discussions with the team yesterday about what we could do instead, and still keep the flavor of the four pool system, because having the extra three pools allows us to not only reward risk/reward, but time/reward as well. Takes longer to do a Task Force? Here's a nice bonus you can't get anywhere else. Finish the Respec trial, but already have all your Respecs?

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Late to the thread, but what the heck.

"Seem to dislike" is indeed too diplomatic. Having anything available only through finishing arcs is a mistake. Look at my sig, Doc. Every one of the characters I play regularly is a 50. At this point, I enjoy playing my 50s and I'm pretty much out of the leveling game. Naturally, I'll want to improve some of the favorite characters with Inventions, but how many Story Arcs do you suppose are still available to me? Heh ... not many. Maria, Harvey, Crimson ... in most cases, I've finished them all.

The idea of being guaranteed a good reward for an arc is okay. It's the idea of some of those rewards being available only for finishing Arcs that's bad. Worse, the reward is only presented to the Arc owner anyway.

I know you want Arcs to be special, but the big xp bonus at the end is already pretty special. Maybe Pool B should be "Mission Completion" rather than "Arc Completion," with drop rates adjusted accordingly as a result of greater eligibility? I'm not exactly a fan of introducing loot drops into City anyway, but since there's no avoiding it ...

You need to be very careful introducing something like this three years into a game where the drop rates of individual items have rarely mattered in the past. Specific enhancement drops aren't vital since we can get what we need from the stores. Specific base salvage drops aren't crucial since everything gets refined into components. Specific invention salvage/recipe drops only from certain activities reminds me uncomfortably of the bad old days of Diablo 2.

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D'oh! My bad! This is a Prime example of what happens with lack of sleep!

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Admit it ... you guys were up all weekend playing, too.

<QR>

FYI, both of the doors I've seen described in this topic are, in fact, accessed through the Arachnos tunnels underneath Faultline. Both the one underneath the Freakshow-controlled building, and the one off the left side of the map.

Rubble, rubble, rubble! Why is there no Rubble pet? Unfair!

/c'mon, the model already exists!
/stone tanks unite

Jack was never exactly in tune with City players, at least after launch. Before then, I have no idea ... wasn't in beta. Posi seems to care a lot more about what we want than Jack, who focused on what he personally enjoyed. The latter point is nearly indisputable.

The article was interesting on the subject of bases, though. I had never thought of the design as being sort of "collectively individual," but that explains the whole "Add Personal Item" concept. They made a few mistakes, though. Lots of people, maybe even a majority, don't care at all about base design. I didn't until I inherited ownership of two of them. Although the systems aren't exactly complicated, it's formulas and junk that just doesn't interest a big segment of the City population (just like PvP raiding, actually).

Then there's pricing. Fabrication costs salvage and placement costs prestige, so sg leaders tend to keep base permissions as tight as they can. Base construction is kind of a tight thing. If too many people drop rooms and objects, the result can get incoherent and dysfunctional very quickly. F.ex, my bases have zero decorative rooms; none. Another guy wants a big meeting hall with a huge conference table, though ... just to have it. Never mind it consumes footprint, serves no functional purpose, and we'd never meet in it. We have different priorities.

Good in theory, not so much in reality.

Kin is an extremely good set as-is, throughout its career. It needs no changes. Do not draw the developer eye to Kin.

Not currently true, according to what's been posted. At some point in the future yes, having an IoP will automatically open your base to raids. That's why one of the requisites for running the trial is having a raid-capable base.

At which point a lot of people will delete their IoPs. But until then it'll be fun.

Are the door spawns really zone-specific, not character-specific? I thought I vaguely remembered from the last time, when spawn level varied slightly according to whoever it was who clicked the door for the trick.

If it's zone-specific, why wouldn't higher-level characters head to lower-level zones to speed up the process with easier spawns?

If it's character-specific, why wouldn't higher-level griefers head to lower-level zones to spawn dangerous mobs to let run through the streets?

Or do doors in a given zone only respond to characters within a certain per-zone level range?

Announcement needs more details about the Halloween activities (ToT, badges, costume salvage, etc). Hopefully those are coming in a later announcement nearer the actual beginning of the event. As y'all are fond of observing, a big chunk of the player population doesn't post on the forums regularly.

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So, the Jump Jet power helps those with Super Speed or Super Leap the most?

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It's a godsend to my super speeders. I think 7 of my 9 main heroes are speeders. 99% of the time, it serves me fine. The remaining 1% is composed of

1. Walls in Perez
2. Canyons in Terra Volta
3. Badges in high places (Top Dog, Ace, Keen Sighted)
4. Mission doors in the middle of Boomtown
5. Nightstar's rooftop
6. Certain rooms in Oranbega
7. Cemetery walls in Dark Astoria

Now, 99% of those 1% are no longer a problem. 30 seconds is enough for the occasional boost I need, and the recharge is acceptable. In the Shard the Jump Pack will save a speeder from one missed geyser jump, but that's about all. Other forms of travel or recall will still be far superior there.

Can't wait to try it on my Kin with IR running. That ought to be some jump.

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A fix for Group Teleport will be coming in I8.

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Which would be ... replacing the power with Teleport to Waypoint?

Yeah, yeah. I can dream.