Fuzun

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How about making all of the Tanker powers having a [ VERY ] Minor AoE to them, with a taunt attached to the AoE?

Ex: Fire Melee: A small explosion around the target that sends some cinders around the target; mag 2 Taunt in a melee-ranged AoE around the target [ Not the tanker ].

Ice melee could have ice shards that go outwards from the target.

Energy Melee could have some resonating energy go outward from the target.

SS could have some similar type of resonance [ but not energy damage, making it not the same as EM ].

I don't know about the two others, but it seems like it would solve the Tankers' Damage problem and Aggro problem at the same time.

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The devs are adding a Provoke effect to Tanker attacks in addition to the curren Taunt. I'm assuming it's going to be an AoE at the point of impact.

So that means that Super Strength Tankers are going to have a one heck of Provoke with Hurl. With the Epic Power Pool for Tankers we will be able to get our heavy duty Provokes: the ranged attacks.

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Because then there would be around 75% less tanks than there already are...

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While I agree I don't see that as a very good reason not to do it. Seems like that would be a good reason to fix tankers though.

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I believe Statesman already comment on the SS/Scrapper issue. I don't recall the exact wording he used but that was the gist of it is was to keep certain power sets unique to certain ATs

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What exactly would come under the scholar catagory? Would that allow your hero to teach other people or to be the student or what?

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Well, taking the example of "using a skill to find all glowies", compare the four categories.

Detective: Ignore irrelevant glowies/find all "random clues" on a map. Remember the Mission of Nigh-Infinite Boxes clockwork indoor, where you had to search like 50 identical glowing boxes to find the right one?

Science: Locate bomb/computer type glowies as above.

Communications: Extend the length of time available to synchronize clicking on "multiple simultaneous objectives" glowies.

Scholar: Improved map reveal radius/find all "arcane/history" type glowies.

Of course, one could imagine other specialties as well... but do you really want to see "LF Scholar to PL Detective skills w/pay 100k inf" on the broadcast channel?

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Another possibility is Electronic, Security Systems, or what not. Rather then succesfully or unsucessfully, bypassing a base security system you have a change to disarm it.

If you would have normally not bypassed it and suceed, you might reduce the aggro radius of mobs. They don't know that you are coming.

If you have normally have bypass the securty system and blow it, they will know. There might be an increased aggro radius. Or there might more/bigger patrols in the mission.

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what I want to know is why was the magazine told before us on the board?

Did the magazine release the article too soon, or was this a consience decision by you? I really want to give you the benifit of the doubt, because I would hope you have more respect for us than that.

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No. Magazines have a 2 or 3 month lead time for getting issues out. My deductive reasoning reveal the following...

At the time the article was written Statesman, or whomever gave the information, was correct The SSOCS was slated for issue #3. But as Statesman posted, it was more complicated then originally thought. So they had to push back it's release to a future Issue. Q.E.D.

A Battle Plan never survives contact with the enemy. For programming: A project is always more complicated than you ever imagined. And when estimating how long a software project will take: Take your initial time estimate, double it and then add 2 days.

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That quote right there is where everyone is going wrong. "comic book Tanker" There are no Tankers in comic books. There are what I have always refered to as Comic Book Bricks, but there are no
Tankers.

Well, okay, maybe The Blob, but aside from that the Tanker Arcehtype doesn't really function like any comic book character. Sure their powersets are meant to recreate the Comic Book Brick "feel" but the main game function of a tanker is to take damage, as stated by Statesman himself.

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I think it's a matter of combining comic book "tanks" with mmorpg tanks. Comic books may not have tanks in the class AT sense, but from what I can tell, CoH models tanks after characters like The Hulk and Colossus, while scrappers are more like Daredevil and Wolverine. More of a difference in style than damage/defense ratios - those get differentiated and balanced, because it's an MMORPG, but I think they're trying to find a way to do so, without losing the style of comic book tanks, aka heavy melee types. Not to be confused with mmorpg tanks, aka low damage meatshields. While in CoH, maybe they want the Tank AT to be both, somehow.

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They can do it. I've been advocating have at least 1 big damage attack that when slotted w/ (3-5) SO's can drop an even con miinion in 1 shot w/o Inspirations or Build Up. This attack is obtaining attainable at somewhere in the teens. The attack has sufficient End usage and Recharge time (20-25 secs) to balance things out. This give Tankers their slow, but heavy hitting. It gives us that comic book brick feel, but doesn't upset the MMOG balance.

It seems doable for all Tankers. (Correct me if I'm wrong) The recent Damage increase to Knockout Blow shows it, at least to me. Blasters and Scrapper would still be the Kings of Damage. But that type of attacks gives everyone good reason to go after Tankers in PvP. The fear of "I don't want to be hit by that attack! He can punch a hole through Battleship Armor! Keep him away from me!"

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3. Plain and Simple: The Tanker primary Taunt power should have always been like Provoke.

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Thank you. Apprently some tanks disagree with you and would rather run willy nilly around the battlefield "tagging" mobs just so they can do their jobs. I prefer provoke.

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I disagree. Taunt is a ranged attack (yes attack) that EVERY Tanker wan get. Taunt allow Tanker to pull when they have a need for it. It can be invaluable at lower level before your DMG Resists are built up.

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On that note...does anyone know why higher level characters show up here and there? I was in kings row a while back and almost ran into a level 38 devouring earth on the steps of the police station. I've seen other high level enemies out of place numerous times. How do they get there?

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Higher level mobs outside of their usual zones are the results of ambushes. Even though my main is level 40, I still get the occasional missions in Kings Row, or even Atlas Park.

Overall I like the direction of the changes. But I do have a concern about doing more damage as more blows are landed. That change will not do much good in a group setting at higher levels. The combats don't last all that long.

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For those of us who weren't in Beta, and with the possibility this might be a live event, can those who were clue us in to what that event was like? For example is this going to be a minion plague for a few hours to fight, which if you aren't on then you will miss? Was the beta one annonced beforehand, so you could be sure to be there? Did it last for days, so you had a better chance of participating?

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A couple of days before it began. A Rikti ship was spotted in skies flying over Paragon City from time to time. After that huge spawns of Hydra started showing up at Blyden Square in Steel Canyon. There where other unexpected spawns in other zones. It all lead up to the climax of the actual invasion.

Rikti motherships appeating over all the City Zones. Groups of Rikti appearing all over the place. You could see the Rikti Portals a ways off as the energy ribbons shot up into the sky. Some heroes took up scouting duty looking for hot spots. When Rikti where spotted, the was put out and mass confusion, er combat, started.

The Rikti Commanders where nearly invincible. There were literally more 40-50 heroes (of levels 30+) surrouding the one in Talos Island. My Tanker was standing on the Commander's head literally, while I pounded away on him. They kept up for 2 or 3 minutes of continuous combat before that sucker fell.

When I first target the Ritki Command he was only a level 8 Blaster. It it was a bug and I had targeted some SK'ed player. But no, it was him. The commanders have a <Censored. This information is CLASSIFIED. Omega Level Security Clearance Required>

Oh man. That was soo much fun!!! If it is going to be alive event, I can't wait!!

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Just if the great god Balance decides it's too powerful now, they could think about losing that part instaed of upping cost.

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I agree, but if I'm not mistaken, I'm pretty sure Total Focus has a good stun length on it, so it seems perfectly balanced to my knowledge.

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Yes TF does have an excellent length of Stun. I've got my TF slotted with 3 Stun Enhancers, 2 Damage and 1 Recharge Reducer. This will stun an even level boss for 20 seconds. Do about 233 damage. And my TF will recharge in 15 seconds.