Gemesis

I suggest that they change the -DMG in Granite armor to a -ACC

I get that for balance you do less damage, have slower movement speed, and recharge speed for the gain of +def and +res, but thinking about it, turning from a squishy human, into a giant rock creature I would think you would become stronger. I could also see that you're less accurate because of the change in size, or the fact that your joints are now rocks rubbing against each other when bent, or even that it's because you are slower, it gives whatever you're attack more time to move out of the way or block.

Because when you think about it, a standard fighting tactic is if they're big, and you're small, then they're stronger but slower, while you're more agile and faster.

And yes, I know this can easily be rectified with slotting more damage, but thematically it just doesn't make sense to me the way it is now.

I think I remember Posi saying once that they don't do puzzles like what you suggest, because five minutes after someone figures it out, it's posted online and isn't something that has to be solved anymore.

Honestly, I was getting ready to say something about this post, but after typing the first sentence, I realized how immature it would have been. So instead, I'll respond to a few of your complaints. First off, I do apologize to any/all who see this and think TL;DR

1: Badge requirements being cut-

Yes, it was asked for by the players, so that farming for the badges wasn't so much of a requirement to get them. There were plenty of people that had gotten the badges before the requirement was lowered. Personally I didn't see anyone getting upset about this, until now obviously. Does that mean you're the only one? No, of course not. But a lot of people didn't seem to mind that much.

On the issue of the 'fairness' of it.. since you did spend your time farming the badges, and now someone else can come along and get the same reward for less work, I have a real life situation to compare this with.

One of my mothers friends, was a nurse for a long time. She'd been working as a nurse for over 13 years. 13 years of hard work, and annual raises to her monthly paycheck. But after 13 years of working as a nurse, there were new nurses hired on, who were making the same amount of money as she was. New nurses who didn't have the experience, or job reliability as she did. Was it fair? No. Is it fair that you had to farm for your badges and now people can get them through regular play? No. Was she being punished? No. It's just that the demand for nurses was large enough at that time to where they were paid really well, and it came out to the same as someone who'd been there for a long time. She wasn't being punished, the new nurses were being rewarded. That's life.

'But wait! This is a game, it's supposed to be fun!' Exactly! It's a game, get over it. Also, it's supposed to be fun, not work, to get those badges, which is why the requirements were lowered.

2: Mastermind Customization-

Hey, I want this just as badly as you do. But they have said this is something they are looking into. Unfortunately it's not as simple to customize MM pets as it is for something like Fire Imps. They have acknowledged that it's something the players want, but RIGHT NOW it's not possible. Like a year ago it wasn't possible for us to have power customization at all. Have some patience.

3: AE Nerfs-

When I first read your OP I thought "Was this guy in a coma for a few months?" because honestly, this is old news. But maybe you were away from the game for a while, or something in your OP was a straw that broke the camels back, and this was something you've been holding onto. I don't know.

As for the nerfs, would it be nice for custom critters to award XP properly? Yes... and while it's not perfect, it's more balanced now. Make a critter that has zero to little chance of hurting you, you get get zero to little XP for it. If it was simply that you had a cool idea for a story that you can put out there for yourself and others to play.. that should be reward enough for you. If it's not, then I'm sorry, but again, it's a game. Either have fun with it, or quit. If it causes you stress, then you shouldn't force yourself to deal with that.

4: Empathy for villains-

Yes, this was asked for, and no Pain Domination is not Empathy. But it was the answer for Villain Empathy. When Pain Dom was announced the devs stated this. It's the most appropriate analog for Empathy they could come up with. Sorry, but this one that has to go into the "You don't always get what you want" file.

Lastly, two things you said that weren't really questions, but I still wanted to comment on.


"mebbe it's a Rant, but since the forums got moved around so much, i had NO idea where to put it anymores...."

If it's a rant, it doesn't belong on the boards. If it's complaints about the way things are being handled, and you want it to be on an open forum where other people can see and respond to it, then it would be best to go under the CoH Life - CoH and CoV General Discussions thread.

"i just hate to see the amount of subscribers drop before it's an unsupportable system."

Where do you see the numbers for CoH/V subscribers? I don't ask this rhetorically either. Many people who have complaints such as yours, or just generally think CoH/V is going to end soon, keep saying we're loosing people. Where are you getting this information, and is it actually valid? Is there evidence to support this? Because I'd like to see this for myself.

It's a small thing really, but every once in a while I forget how long ago I made my characters. I make a lot of toons and have probably delete d more than I currently have. While I can find the NPCs with the right initial to find out how many hours I've played my toon, or how many times I've played them, sometimes I just want to know how old they really are.

Now to clarify, I'm saying that this would only be for my own toons. Only I can see the birth date of my toons, and only you can see the birth date of your toons. Honestly, I don't want to know how old yours are, because then I'd be curious and might find your level 50 was created two weeks ago, and might judge you as a PLer, and then decide you're not someone I want to team with. I'm sure others would feel the same way, and I don't want there to be any broadcasts by random people "Hey Johnny Snow here is a PLer, don't play with him cause he doesn't know how to play his build" especially when Johnny Snow didn't even know he was being looked at that way.

How would I like this to be done? Same as the other things I mentioned above. Finding an NPC citizen with the right type of initial. Lets say "T". So I see a citizen walking down the sidewalk and his name is "Thomas". I click on him, and he says "Hey Johnny Snow, you first started your career in Paragon City/Rogue Isles on 6/23/08"

Now I know what you might be thinking. We've got the anniversary badges to do this for us. But, that's not completely accurate. Say I missed a year, or that I started playing CoH/V just after that badge was given out. I could still get it every year after, but I still don't know just how old that toon really is unless I kept really good track. Frankly, I don't.

As to why this is needed? It's not really. It's just a little bonus info like knowing how many hours you've played a certain toon. Like if I hit level 50, and I want to know how long it took me, I can find out the hours played, but not the length of time from birth to 50 in terms of days/weeks/months/years.

Thoughts?

You missed my point. You stated ALL base functions work. I pointed out one that doesn't. Now could be you just didn't think about base raids as a base function, or that you don't consider base raids a function since they've been taken away for a while. Also.. I didn't say a lot of people wanted base raids back. Just that there ARE people who want it. So pointing out that the people who do want it are a very small minority is meaningless. Sure there's a lot that has to go into base raids to get them working properly, and it's going to take time to get them working the right way, but lets compare something here for a second.

People wanted power customization. A LOT of people wanted it. Even with that high demand, it still took the devs a long time and a lot of work to get it to us.

People wanted to walk. Personally, I think it's pointless, and while I saw posts every once in a while, it wasn't a huge demand. Well, again, it took a lot of work, and now we can walk.

People want base raids. Might not be as high demand as PC, but probably around it if not more than the demand for walk. While the work that has to be invested into it is probably around it if not more, than PC. So this is not doubt where you got that 'demand doesn't justify the development cost' cost. But unless you sit down in a cubicle at NCSoft and chat with BaB at the water cooler on your breaks, how could you know that it's not being worked on regardless the demand vs dev costs?

Anyway, as I said at the start, you made a statement as if it were fact, I found a flaw, and pointed it out.

Okay, this was pretty much what I expected, and am glad for that.

Thanks for the advice, and I'll certainly remember it. One of the biggest things was I thought it was common practice to not use insperations at all in a PvP fight. Since that's not the case, I'll definitely not let that hold me back in the future.

Hey there guys and gals. As the subject reads, I'm attempting to give PvP a chance. Been playing the game for almost three years and had only ever done PvE before.

I won a costume contest on a blaster, and a dom who was in BB wanted to see it. I went there and showed him, then he asked if I wanted to fight. I figured what the hell, and went for it. And I enjoyed it. He had a brute and a MM there with him, and they all took turns fighting me one on one. I lost spectacularly to the brute and MM, but beat the dom every time. It was good fun.

Eventually we moved on to RV as we were all lvl 50, and wanted to go at it with all our powers. After a fight or two a stalker showed up, and he didn't want to play by the one on one fights we'd been having. I didn't mind, and I understand that's going to happen in an open PvP zone, especially when I'm the only hero in the zone. He beat me, then again, and again, and then some more, but he just wouldn't let me fight with the dom and brute. So we called it a night, and I left.

Today, I went to Sirens Call to hunt toxic tarantula's for the badge. Again there's a stalker in the zone and he wants to fight. I figure, I'm in the zone, and if I try to hide from him, he'd just hunt me down anyway. So we start to fight, and as soon as he gets low on health, he runs away. I don't feel like waiting around for him to heal up, and then assassin strike me, so I start to leave.

He complained that it wasn't fun because I was flying. I told him I'd turn off flying if he turned off stealth. Eventually he agreed, we met and started to fight again. Again when he got low on health, he hits stealth and runs. I wait for a minute to see if maybe I just lost track of him, and he says in broadcast that he must have DCed. I'm doubtful, but hey, it -could- have happened. I tell him I'm still there and will wait. Seconds later, assassin strike, and another quick attack, and I fall down dead. At that point, I left the zone.

Now don't get me wrong, if I die in PvP, I've got no problem with that, it's not like it really affects my toon with debt or anything, just costs me inps to trade in for wakies, or a trip to the hospital. Some one beats me, good for them. I'm new to this area of the game, and I know nothing about building for PvP. I don't expect to win every time(Or any really ;p ).

Really I'm just asking, should I just avoid the PvP zones, and only stick to arena PvP until I get a better grasp on the PvP system? Or should I just avoid the PvP zones when there are stalkers in them? Heh

You got my vote

Well, like I said, I did it for fun, I didn't do it just to get the VM.

Also, I remember seeing someone ask in the Player Questions once about the best way to get VM, and after he was told the Ship Raid, he said he'd done one, and on got 10 merits off of it. He also hadn't done in the intro arc.

Paragon Wiki said you can't earn any no matter how many Rikti you kill until you get the badge from the intro arc, but it's wrong. Possibly it's a bug, who knows?

Just a quick reply.

I went into the RWZ a week or so ago on a character that had not done the Welcome to the Vanguard arc yet. I saw there was a Ship Raid starting. Having done one before, and enjoyed it then, I signed up, and got on a team. By the end of it, I'd gotten a couple bars of xp, some decent drops, and 13 Vanguard merits.

I don't remember what level he was, if he was under 35 or not, but just want to remind folks, you don't have to have the badge to start collecting Vanguard Merits.

Honestly, with as much as this topic comes up(Hell people thought that multiple builds meant a full respec for AT/Power sets) that no one has even thought to make this suggestion(Which I doubt would ever happen)

Put into the game a mission arc, simular to the respec trials. Make it long(10 missions or longer) and difficult, so it's not likely people will try to solo it. Upon completion you get to choose between merits, or a 3/4ths repec(One time reward only. I call it 3/4ths, because you can change the power sets, but not the AT. So if you started as a Blaster, you stay a blaster). The catch? You loose half your levels.

Some people might not go for this idea, and understandable. I'm not sure if it would even be possible with this system. But think about it like this. The devs have said one of the main reasons that a full respec hasn't been added into the game is because someone could make a character that levels quickly, then switch to one that levels more slowly. Or that they would reach the hier levels switch their powers, and not have a clue how they work because they haven't played those powers.

By keeping it the same AT, you can't start off with a katana/regen scrapper, and switch to a fire/kin controller.

By cutting your level in half(If you're level 50, you drop down to 25. If you're 30, 15) then you get the chance to level up with those new powers before you get to the higher levels and people depend on you to know what you're doing. You still have the basic idea, because if you started off a tank, you got to level 50 as a tank, you still know how to tank. Also, the higher you leveled the character the more you loose. We all know it's easier to get from level 1 to 10, than it is from 40 to 50.

Foreseeable problems/arguments with this idea...

1: What about unlocked content? Like access to Cimerora, earned badges, Enhancements you had one the toon and costume slots!

By taking this type of respec, you go in understanding you would loose access to Cimerora, and Ouro. Badges(Like the ones you recieve upon training up to 10, 20, 30, 40, 50) you keep, but can't ever select them to be a badge title until regaining the required level. Enhancements, get sold off automatically. Same as if during a current style of respec, you chose not to put the same enhancements you had before into your new build they get sold off as if selling them at a store, same thing happens here, but without the chose. Costume slots get locked out again, but upon reaching the required level to get the mission that unlocks a costume slot, you don't have to run the mission again. It's a price you pay for this type of respec.

2: The system isn't capable of deleveling.

I don't know this to be a fact, could be it can since we can exemp down levels, but I'm not sure it would work for this situation. But one possible work around is when you activate the 3/4ths respec, the system essentially deletes the character, and recreates it with the same costume, but lets you re-choose the primary, and secondary power sets, and the color scheme for the new sets. It then takes you into the standard respec table to select your new powers and enhancement slots.

3: It's not really needed.

In the end, it's just not necessary. Delete and reroll, right? But like the OP said, this toon has sentimental value, or it has all the anniversary badges, and you don't want too loose that.

4: But then we have people at those half levels who don't know how to use their new powers. Going from a 50 stone tankers to a 25 shield tanker is vastly different power wise.

True, but we still have PLing going on, and when we find these people that don't know how to use their powers effectively now, we'll do the same thing to them then. For the people who actually want to play the game the right way, and learn to use their new sets, they would do the responsible thing and solo for while until they got the hang of it, or even, let a team their joining know they just switched their power sets. So maybe they shouldn't be the main tank, or healer, or whatever.

Either way this was just a thought, and I'm not actually saying this should be put into the game, just the only plausible way that I can see, for this type or respec to ever be put into the game should the devs ever decide to.

You know, I've read through this thread and like most people, I feel the need to toss in my two cents.

Vet rewards are fair.

As has been said, everyone earns them at the same schedule. I have to wait the exact same amount of time as everyone else to earn City Traveler. There is no way possible(As of this moment) for me to get the ability to choose a travel power(Fly, Super Speed, Super Jump, Teleport) sooner than anyone else. Or later even( unless you want to argue time that you canceled your subscription for..) We all earn this at the exact same pace.

Vet rewards are unfair.

I started playing CoH because I had a friend who played. Actually it was CoV, back before they were one in the same. So she'd started playing about... 9 months before me if I recall correctly. Once she'd earned Sands of Mu, I had the same "Hey, how is she using Flurry before level 6?" moments that have been brought up on this thread already, every time we played together until I finally asked.

I couldn't wait to get this power, and every time she got something new from the vet rewards, I could only sit there and wait. Over the two and a half years I've been playing, she'd unsubscribed her account a few times due to money issues. I did everything I could to keep my account active, so I could 'catch up' to her. Maybe someday even surpass her. I'm three months behind her now.

Why? Because it's not fair that just because she started playing before I did, that she gets access to cool things before me. Some of you say the vet rewards are mostly "fluff". To you, maybe.

Sure, it probably sucked at first when the game first came out and you couldn't even have a cape. I remember when I first started that I thought it was dumb you have to wait till you were level 20, and had to earn the cape. Now it's not a big deal to me if I wait a few levels before running the mission. But just because you went through those times doesn't mean you were suffering. I certainly don't see the time before VEATs were made available as suffering. Or the time before AE. I wanted to have both of those things, and I kept playing regardless of whether or not they'd come. But honestly, who's to say I wouldn't have gone through those early days just like the 63+ vets if I had either known about the game sooner, had money to pay for it(Not every kid gets an allowance), and had a computer that I could play it on.

I don't begrudge anyone who's played longer than me anything. But don't tell me I shouldn't envy you just a little. It may not seem like much to you because you have it already. Especially to those who have been playing since day one, because you at most, have to wait a few months before you get the new vet rewards that are announced. I have to wait years.


In summation.. if one day they decide to do away with the vet rewards system currently in place, as long as they don't make it impossible for me to achieve everything from that system, I'll be happy. If they make no change at all... I'm going wait, and be patient.

Thank you.

Actually Billz I believe he was referring to the "We need" part. It's not a need, it's a want. You could say that there are people who don't feel they can trust anyone to help transfer their valuables with, and I'm sure there are tons of them. But in the end, they want to give their alt the inf from another toon that has enough to spare. They don't need to.

Change is good(Sometimes). And the minute this feature because available(If ever) I'll be using the crap out of it. But I don't need it.

Vet rewards are lame, huh? So... you'll never/have never made use of them? You're join date says October of this year, but that doesn't mean you haven't been playing for years so you'll see me asking in the past tense and future tense.

You have never/will never have a toon wear a trenchcoat?
You have never/will never use a vet respec?
You have never/will never use a free costume token?
You have never/will never use the Sands of Mu/Ghost Slaying Axe?

Are you saying that if/when you do get to 66 months that you will not use those extra slots given to you?

A: No we don't need this. CoH is over 5 years old, and we've all managed without this feature this long. Would it be easier? Yes, bu do we NEED it? No.

B: You're making a suggestion ofr the game, which belongs in the Suggestions/Idea's foum. This forum is used for asking questions about the game, to get answers from other players. Like "Hey, how do I defeat Romulous when the Nictus keeps healing him durring the ITF?"

C: After seeing this thread I did a quick search and found three other threads asking for this same feature. All three of them posted this month. And believe me, this has been brought up many many many times before.

http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showthread.php?p=2331882
http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showthread.php?t=195008
http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showthread.php?t=193813

I'm just curious if others are getting this same experience.

I've only noticed it in FF, but four times now, I've had to drop Police Scanner missions because the mission door waypoint took me to the AE desk. Of course the AE desk isn't a door, and so I can't enter or run the mission.

It happened to me two missions in a row tonight. First one I dropped as a bugged mission, second one I had to petition, and got a GM to help me out. Either way, it's rather annoying, and I'm curious if anyone else has had this problem.

Also, I did /bug the mission, and the behavior, as well as petitioned it, so that's covered already. ;-)