Gilfred

I just hope that NCSoft has done it's homework on this hybrid model. Otherwise they could kill this game, if they were to put truly game changing items in the shop. Ones that would give players that have the extra cash, unfair advantages over the ones that do not have that kind of cash. Even though it is an exciting time, I am still going to be looking carefully how this plays out.

I am looking forward to more information on this. I still do not know what I would lose if my account went to premium. Because there have been times in the close to five years I have been playing, where I had to let my sub lapse. So if I have to do it again, I am still not clear as to what I would be losing. I know that they have said whatever you have unlocked on your account you keep as premium, also what you have bought.

Also I would like to have a way of seeing either in game or at my account screen, what I would have if my account were to switch to premium. With that information I could make informed decisions on the best way to spend my paragon points.

Let's say I have a total of about 30 characters. How many slots will I have available on my account? What characters would not be available? How would the available characters be chosen?

Meaning I hope that NCSoft, will give us the players the information we need to make good informed decisions continues with spending paragon points.

I too was having problems with ouroboros. But not only your problem of not being able to start an ouroboros that I wanted to start. But when I was doing ouroboros missions. About every 5 to 20 minutes the game would crash. When I was able to get back into the game I just exited ouroboros. I have not had a crash issue since not doing any ouroboros. I will though try a few more things to see if I can find the problem since we seem to be the only two players affected by this problem.

I like some have the problem of having vet rewards that I should not have. My account says I have 4 years and one month of vet rewards. But the vet rewards says I have earned the 63 month vet badge. I know that there have been times when I let my account lapse. I know that I have not been playing the entire time but according to the vet rewards it is like I did not take a break when I know that I did.

Thanks for this thread I thought that I might have missed something. I may have missed an announcement where even though I do not have 63 months of active account time. I still wind up getting it because of some new program that NC Soft has.

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Sorry for not reading all forty pages. I have taken a break beta testing a game. I do not want to talk about it in the forums because I am afraid it may be against the rules. I need to ask some questions.

Let's say you have the following. Unless things have changed a well built Fire/Kin controller could easily defeat enemies spawned for a large team. A level 50 Fire/Kin controller, also the Fire/Kin can handle the mission for a team of eight. Next the level 50 gets 7 level 1 sk'ds them. Since they can be anywhere they could stay at Atlas Park and gain xp.

Now when the Fire/Kin defeats the enemies does the level one get xp equal to being a level 49? Or do they get xp equal to defeating level one enemies? If the first question anwer is yes then pro power leveling companies will love this new feature. I mean a pro powerleveler will be able to get 7 players to cap quickly intead of only one.

Every time I was not part of closed beta I got a different message than what I get now. Right now unless they have changed things you will get to the log in screen. When you enter in your password you are taken to the page where you see the training room server. Clicking on the training room server then about thirty seconds later you get the following message. Lost connection to DB server.

In the past I got the following message which I think is far superior. The message is as best as I can remember. Sorry but the training room is closed for the beta testing of issue (insert number). Your account has not be flagged as part of the closed beta test. Sorry for the inconvenience. Now if the message we get is something like this it would be better.

This way someone that just reactivated their account and their account would normally be allowed to log on to the training room they might think that something is radically wrong with the test server unless they have been keeping up to date about the game. I suggest that they use the message that I earlier said that I normally got when I was not part of the closed beta.

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I am sorry if this is cross posting but I need some help. I am having a problem here. In the past when I was not part of closed beta I always got the following message that bascially said the following IIRC. "Your account has not been flagged for closed beta." But now when I get to the log in screen.

Type in my password I get to the page where the training server shows up. I click on the training server and after about thirty seconds I get a message that says Lost connection to DBserver. Is this the new way of telling players that they are not part of closed beta? If it is then it is a strange way of telling us.

I know that issue 16 is on the test server. Last night as well as this morning I have tried to log onto the test server to see if I am part of the closed beta test. The reason is that in the past with other closed beta tests that I was part of I was able to get right in and start testing about one to two days before I got the email that gave me the invite.

Also I wanted to find out if I am not part of the closed beta then can I at least see how the new character creation tool looks. So when I tryed logging on I got the message that is in the title of this thread. Does this mean that I cannot even see the new changes to the character creation tool as well as not being part of the cloed beta? In the past when I was not part of closed beta it told me when I tried to log in period or at the character selection screen if it allowed me to see the changes to the character creation tool.

In the past when I was not part of closed beta I got the message that told me you account has not be flagged for the closed beta test IIRC.

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Why? kill all xp exploits with 1 system. Then you can let people do things that they consider fun while at the same time maintaining risk(time) to reward ratio.

At high level the system would limit the rate at which XP is gained for a character. Since it is a rate, the only way to measure it is over time. In that time there's going to be peaks and valleys. You don't want to penalize a team because a blaster used a nuke so you have to accommodate those peaks.

With all that being said, here's one implementation. Not by any means the only way to do this.
At the time a user zones out of a mission the server looks at the xp gained. If it goes over the cap (whatever it might be) the character is issued xp debt. I figured that would be gentler then taking xp away possibly de-leveling a char. At this point the char has to work off the debt xp before new xp is awarded. While the user has debt xp, he will not gain any inf or drops. Since you gained them before.

In normal scenarios most people will not see this. This would only come up if you found an exploit, or if you have a very low level char sked up to a lvl 50 team.

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Look as far as handling missions in AE that can be handled by deleting those that are obviously there for farming and PL'ing. Other pl'ing methods are tough to handle. Your system does not handle those that in a sense pl without actually doing just that. I mean that they go the fastest way possible without pl'ing. They would go to the sewers then go the route of TF's and use normal missions when they have too in order to reach the next level of the next TF. I have no doubt that leveling in that manner may exceed the normal limit. So they would be punished for leveling just playing the game normally. Yes there leveling is faster than normal. But that is the fastest that the game gives you unless normally playing AE has become faster.

I say the best way to keep spam out is to use what was earlier said. Give us the choice as far as who we receive email from. That way no stranger could email us. Besides why would a stranger need to email us anyway. Why couldn't they just talk to us when we are in the game with tells if they can send tells.

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In issue 13 the Devs added extra powers to the Ancillary and Patron power pools due to the fact that some of the powers were getting skipped a lot, or had problems.

I got to thinking about Travel powers, many of the common complaints about them and the fact that I very rarely run into people who choose or use some of the tier 4 powers, Group fly, group teleport etc. I also got to thinking about some of the common complaints about the powers. Teleport is too hard to use\laggy with the point click interface. Fly is too slow, Super Speed can't run on water or has no vertical element etc.

So here are some powers I suggest as add on to the Travel powers pool, these would be alternate Tier 4 powers, available at level 20 if the player has picked 2 other powers from that pool.

Ultra Flight - When you are in a hurry you have the power to focus all your concentration and energy into flying at a much greater speed than usual. However due to the concentration required, you can not use other powers while using this ability and while this power is active you are always moving. Recharge: Long

--Ultra flight would suppress all other powers while it is active, allowing simply for much quicker travel during flight, without giving players an increased ability for "hit and run". Ultra flight would also essentially lock on the "autorun" function so the player is moving forward constantly until the power is shut off. (The player can still steer.) This is to simply make it a faster mode of travel, rather than greater offensive ability. Also it would have a 2-3 minute recharge to keep players from toggling it on and off at will.

Ultra Speed - You have learned to focus all your ability to make yourself run at a much greater speed. While this power is active all other powers will be suppressed and you will constantly be moving forward. Recharge: Long

--This is less about making super speed faster, but as BaBs has said, the problem with running on water is that the game doesn't know how fast you are going, so you could be "running" on water while standing still if they let SS run on water. With the constantly moving forward enabled while this power is on, Speeders could run on water, and possibly up walls, if that's possible. Recharge would be 2-3 minutes and powers suppressed to keep from "hit and run" style maneuvers.

-Combat Teleport - You have learned that the element of surprise is a powerful weapon during combat. You have learned the ability to instantly teleport yourself very close to your foe. Appearing so suddenly next to your foe gives you a moment of being undetected and a small chance to disorient your foe with a quick strike. Recharge: Short, +Stealth for 5 seconds, +5% chance disorient for 5 seconds.

-- I thought this would make teleport more combat friendly. Rather than having to use a pointer to target your spot, you can just target a foe and activate it an appear right next to him. This would be a quicker version of teleport with lower special effects to make it less laggy during battle. Would have a slightly longer recharge than Recall friend or TP foe.

Shoulder Leap - You can use your super jumping skills to leap forward with a shoulder charge into your foes and cause them to be knocked back. AOE: Cone, Knock back, Damage: minor-moderate Recharge: medium.

-- This power would give super jump another combat power since I hear many complain Jump kick isn't that great. This would work similar to shield charge, or Combat Teleport, simply choose the target and activate to cause the character to leap suddenly forward, shoulder first. Has a short cone to cause knock back to all enemies in a tight group.

I am sure there are holes in these powers but I think they could be entertaining, fun and maybe round out some of the problems with power sets while not unbalancing any of them.

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First of all Superspeed has a cap of 88mph. I know there would be trouble for it to be higher than that. Flight's slower speed is made up by its vertical control. The travel powers as they are now each have advantages but are balanced where no one will be used more than the other.

This is the way it should a player should be the one to choose a travel power based on its advantages and be willing to put up with it's disadvantages. Now your combat teleport is fine as long as the combat version does not give you a jousting type ability. Meaning you will not be able to use it to hit the enemies without them being able to hit you. I would vote for a combat version for all travel powers.

Or you could add on a new power that would fit the travel power and the rest that would be more useful.

I have been having fun playing the missions made by other players. I have even tried my hand at making my own. But I have noticed something that MA could use to improve it. I would like to see a new search.

One that allows you to search arcs and missions by level. This would eliminate the need to look at each mission individually in order to find ones that are within your level. I know that MA will auto sidekick you but I just want to do missions within my own level. Some missions that are above your level and you are sidekicked are harder on you because you do not have as many powers as the rest of the custom enemies and the normal groups.

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I'd prefer seeing new powers and not as much prolif. ATs should be somewhat unique. Causes us to want to try all of them

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Even though I love totally new powersets, I agree with those that say, that if the sole reason to play an AT is based on the powerset then something is wrong with the way the game is designed. The draw of an AT should be the way the AT is designed. Meaning that if you want alot of defense then chose a tank, want high melee damage chose a scrapper.

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No really man, I had to stop doing research on my new SR build to reply to how much BS this is, most of your reasons for hating regen are completely null and it sounds like you are pulling the n00b mastermind stunt and neglecting your secondaries. I'd like to point out that every other set has more holes than regen (except maybe Willpower, since it's so spread out it doesn't get hit too hard by anything), Invunl has problems with elemental and energy heavy mobs, super reflexes has issues with lucky hits and +to hit, dark armor has problems with... ...actually now that I think about it dark armor is pretty effective once you hit SO level, and most of it's holes can be covered easily.

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Sir, I do not "hate" Regeneration. I am merely very disappointed in it, enough so to warrant me swearing off Regeneration and disavowing all evidence of me ever having a Regeneration Scrapper.
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I mean, for the record, I'm being completely serious. I'm hearing a lot of "OMG UR POST IS WRONG" but nothing disputing the actual numbers or observations in the guide.
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Damage mitigation is possible through three ways: One is by avoiding attacks (defense), another is by reducing damage (resistance) and the third is by preventing them from attacking (mezzes).
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If you're surrounded by five enemies and you've got defense, the five attack you but only two hit, that's 60% damage mitigation.
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If you're surrounded by five enemies and you've got resistance, the five attack you but have their damage reduced by half due, that's 50% damage mitigation.
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If you're surrounded by five enemies and you have some way to stop them from attacking, then the mitigation is variable but tends to be pretty high.
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If you're surrounded by five enemies and you're Regeneration, the five attack you and you take full damage. Zero damage mitigation.
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...and that alone is only a small part of why Regeneration is an inferior Scrapper set. This isn't as large an issue on Stalkers, because A: Stalkers have other, better options for secondaries anyway, and B: Stalkers aren't supposed to be attacked en masse in the first place.

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Well, the point is, everything has weaknesses, something is going to poke you in your sore spot from time to time and with a little effort you can usually get around it (heeeellloo, what are insps for class?).

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Good sir, I harbor no ill will, but I've shown that Regeneration has many, many smaller holes that add up to one enormous hole called "everything." I have seen people such as MagicFlyingHippy spend hundreds of millions of inf on IO builds dedicated to patching these holes and giving the set the defense and resistance it so desperately needs.
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On another note, I agree with Arcanaville's suggestion of giving Lucky to Regeneration and Instant Healing to SR. Considering that most Regeneration Scrappers end up cowering behind Tankers while the real heroes (like Blasters) lead the attack, the only thing they'll have to fear is AoEs targeting the Tanker (not coincidentally, this is why Spines/Regen is such a popular combination: All the ranged attacks mean that they won't have to worry about exposing their weak, defenseless selves to any danger).

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Not everyone that chooses regen will slot it properly. I have good experience with regen, just check my only fifty in my sig. Also he is trying to tell you that all scrapper secondaries have holes in them regardless how you feel about those secondaries. Remember you are talking about using numbers.

The only time I use the powers: Reconstruction, Dull Pain, Instant Healing is on the tough fights. This is true whether teamed or solo. No I do not draw aggro when there is a tanker on the team. Drawing aggro is the tanker's job. Just ask any of my sg mates in the Fighters of the Free World sg and they will tell you that I do not hide behind tankers. I have even face enemies +5 on teams.

For scrappers we have the fourth mitigation regenerating the damage taken. Yes there are times (very, very, very rare) when the enemies overwhelm your regeneration rate. And yes regen cannot survive the Alpha Strike, but I thought that was the tanker's job anyway. I think that you problems is that you cannot turn regen into a scranker. You want to be able to play a scrapper like a tanker.

Finally you have not address something that is a fact. Spines/Regen, DM/Regen are the two fastest leveling heroes in the game.

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I disagree. The problem clearly lies with /regen so the fix must come from within.

A suggestion I have pm'd to Castle recently and have had some good reviews on as well:

Replace Instant Healing with Phase shift, only you can stay in PS for 90 seconds unlike its counterpart from stealth. This will give a /regen the ability its needed since day 1 to not have to use the self rez as much and adds some much needed survivability to an already severly lackluster power set. Thoughts?

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That's a pretty good idea. Along those lines, I think that another step in solving Regen's survivability issues, without ripping off the mechanics of existing Scrapper secondaries, is to revisit the fundamentals...namely the piss-poor performance of the set's namesake.

Fast Healing + Integration = Lose embarrassingly.

To dovetail conceptually with your brilliant Phase Shift suggestion, my proposal would be to replace the increased healing rate in Fast Healing and Integration with unsuppressable, minus perception effects. Groups would be slower to aggro on a Regen Scrapper, thus mitigating its brittleness to the alpha strike and allowing Dull Pain and Reconstruction, Regen's true core powers, to shine as they should by reducing the average amount incoming damage that they would have to ameliorate. AND...this change would reward aggressive play, as quickly dispatching mobs that do aggro will reduce the burden on the secondary and magnify the awesomeness that is minus perception-based damage mitigation.

The true conceptual beauty of minus perception is that it doesn't make a Scrapper feel weak, just sneaky, and it goes with that whole Wolverine ninja thing that they always played up in the X-Men back in the day. Defense is always touted as the most powerful form of self-contained, proactive damage mitigation with the slogan, "You cannot hurt what you cannot hit." Minus perception is even stronger than Defense b/c, "You cannot damage what you do not notice to attack."

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While both ideas are good I would like to find out if my idea could help. What if instead of making a Phase shift and the -perception you would fix MoG. Even though the devs fixed MoG, but many still say not good enough. What if MoG had just a high damage resistance to all but psionic damage, mez protection, +recovery, and would last 180. Trading defense for a high damage resistance makes more sense because you are resisting defeat by boosting your damage resistance. The devs can have it with a very long recharge. The recharge could be 300 seconds unenhanceable. That way two minutes after using MoG it is ready to go again.

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I disagree. The problem clearly lies with /regen so the fix must come from within.

A suggestion I have pm'd to Castle recently and have had some good reviews on as well:

Replace Instant Healing with Phase shift, only you can stay in PS for 90 seconds unlike its counterpart from stealth. This will give a /regen the ability its needed since day 1 to not have to use the self rez as much and adds some much needed survivability to an already severly lackluster power set. Thoughts?

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I wonder am I doing something wrong, I mean I very rarely use my rez with my main in my sig. I have only used it about five times total since I got it at level 47. I would've used it more if I did not team with a few empaths or other heroes that had a rez.

Sir do not touch Instant Healing, that along with Dull Pain help me defeat EB's. I prepare myself for an EB by using Dull Pain, Instant Healing, Conserve Power. Then I pop two purples, two yellows and six reds, then I lay the smackdown on the EB.

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Someone get EvilGeko in here.

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The OP has made a reasoned and sensible post and I can do nothing more than agree. Well written sir, I applaud you.

I think it's clear that there is only one response that makes sense:

Buff Regen.

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Regen does not need a buff. What all scrappers have to be scrankers? No we do not need to be scrankers (scapper + tanker=scranker). This set at release was uber. Then out came the nerf bat and treated this set like a red headed step son. My main in my sig does not die often. Only on the hardest fights or enemies that I have not faced before which is not many.

This would include some EB (looking at Envoy of Shadows), Malta (if sappers run me dry), renegade vangaurd (still need to get more experience fighting them to truly be able to handle them better), and large spawns solo, since I am not use to fighting large spawns solo. Meaning there are times that some maps cause enemies to spawn where you would be facing more than you should for a solo hero set on heroic.

Things that you have not considered. Fact one that regen paired with either DM or Spines is the fastest level toons in the game period. The nature of regen is either finishing a fight at full health or in the red. If we are in the red then we get to full far faster than any other toon period, thus reducing downtime.

While we are in combat as long as our regen is not overwhelmed then we just heal it back. As far as Dull Pain and Instant Healing I only use them for the tough fights, which are few. Also reconstruction is rarely used. I like others here really doubt that you played this set at all. lol.

Powers like Reconstruction and DM's Shipon life when needed can usely keep me alive long enough to heal the damage taken. When I need more healing because it is a tough fight I active Instant Healing and Dull Pain.

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It's natural in these types of games where there are multiple "set choices" that one has to be the lowest performer out of the box. In some cases, these choices pay off in the end game by exceeding their own limitations, but the problem with Dark Armor is that it never actually quite does that without serious effort on the part of the dark armor user, be it proper building and slotting, or handpicking a team to cover your multiple weak spots.

Sorry if you can't accept that Im personally able to say "This set is the weakest choice available" without it being "zomg devs, plz fix my set" but that sounds like a personal trust issue on your end.

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If this is the message that you wanted to convey to the reader then you know that you had to write your guide differently. Instead of conveying the message of this is so weak of a set that you should never take it at all, to what you mentioned above. Instead of talking about the problems with fury generation you now know you should've said what you did here.

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I may have admitted it previously, Im admitting it again now, the fury loss from Oppressive Gloom/Cloak of Fear is overstated in the guide. It can be played around, and I failed to mention it in the guide.

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Maybe you can take the time to rewrite this guide and title it differently. Where instead of preventing readers from playing it just give them all of the facts, telling them the strengths and weaknesses of the set. Then allow the reader to make the choice for themselves. You may even add strageties in your guide.

Finally I do not call DR a crutch, it is a key power of the set, unless you want to call other key powers from other sets a crutch, or you want to call empaths a crutch. Heck you may even call inspirations a crutch.