Great_Scott

Mieux, I play Scrappers, Blasters, and "Blappers".

I can tell you from personal experience that Blasters do 60% more damage than Scrappers in the early levels. It's simply how they are slotted.

In the 20's and into the 30's, however, Scrappers get the extra slots to put into thier attacks, and Blasters get extra slots for....utility/travel powers.

By the mid-30's, Blasters have an effective 10% damage bonus compared to Scrappers...the difference between the base damages, basically. Yes, Scrapper damage is resisted more often. Yes, Scrappers might not have an entire attack chain 6-slotted yet.

Let's call that a 25% damage difference between the two in the mid game. Scrappers get Criticals on average, 5% of the time. One in every 20 attacks does double damage, so we're down to a 21% real difference.

Ok, is a ~21% damage boost + range (but less than many mobs) equivalent to the capability of Scrapper secondaries? That's the question...so far, the answer seems to be: no. Do you agree?

You clearly don't play an Empathy Defender, _Ilr_.

If this is true:
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In many a pickup game, I've witnessed many empaths spending just as much Endurance on Rezzing a Blaster as they do healing him. ...there's just not enough time to keep them alive when things go bad.

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...then you had a sucky Defender.

I 3-slot my Fortitude with +DEF and actually took Regeneration Aura.

If I'm healing anyone, even the Blaster, I screwed up and didn't apply a buff to someone. Better to be a buffbot than a healbot, (or rezbot!) any day.

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Frozen fists is not useful, no matter what, no matter how you slot it, period. It would be better served by any other power you could think of. Same thing for energy punch.

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Er, without EP my character would be unplayable. Maybe you should rethink that?

Thanks, FrostyBot. Input is good, and funny hyperbole is even better!

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Seriously, people. Exp absorption is a thousand times less kludgy than XP ranges and it pulls the heart out of PLing faster than Kano doing a fatality move on Mortal Kombat. No "Range" kludging. No "This works on missions, it doesn't outside.". And the end to unlimited exping that defines powerleveling. It'll keep the fun in teaming up, and that means the critical Rule Number One* is not broken.

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I can see this now..."Everyone meet at the Tram in Bricks! Need your Influcence Badges? Send a tell!"

Statesman comes out and "Bans Influence Mongering". Blood is shed, and martyrs are made. Real fun!

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Kill the range code. It's invoking Rule Number Two*. I want to be an all-natural free-range hero, not a leashed hound.

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I was wondering about this....so does Free-Range Hero taste better? Is that why you want to be one?

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*Rule Number One: Always have fun. Rule Number Two: If not having fun, see Rule Number One.

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I follow that rule everywhere I go; it scares people...

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Thanks for adding on to the idea and helping it to take better shape. I honestly thought I would read feedback like "Worst. Idea. Ever" or "That sucks". Or even "Damn you for second guessing the devs, they are great and everything they do is great, quit CoH and leave us loyal happy players". Or something to that effect.

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I don't know why you expected that. This is a good idea, one that kills "powerleveling" right at the source. Overall, most of the arguments have been over a definition of "powerleveling". Attempts at a better solution are always welcome.

It does it nondisruptively, and requires no change notice. It won't affect teaming or SKing or Exemplaring. I can't see how any plan can get better than this one.

The only Caveat that I can see is that the cap needs to be set medium-high, and extra XP needs to converted into influence, so that some powerplayers can get something from an arrest over the cap.

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You can not receive XP if your combat level excedds your security level by X(2-3) levels.(Excess to debt and inf just like rsk) And when you train you have to visit an level approiate trainer.

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Why couldn't I think of a cool idea like this?

No normal player will ever not train for 3 levels.

The only thing that concerns me is that this might not be annoying enough to affect PLing ...but on the plus side, it has absolutely no effect on most players.

People claim various things on this thread, so when my Blapper was 20K in debt (at 26!!!), and I was asked to "Middle", I did so. The PLers involved were quite polite, so I interviewed them to see what this was all about.

In this particular case, the level 6 Defender was PLing to get all his Primary powers (up to 18th or so), so he could SK and help his level 31 friend.

Oh, and we waited underneath and to the back of the Tram, so that no one's framerate would be affected. (Who says that noone reads the boards? )

So far, my experiences seem to be that this is harmless, just like I imagined.

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I have to agree with you; this is a kick in the groin to the regular players and not the true targeted audience

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I disagree to an exent. I feel that in the current incarnation, that is, within 300 feet / 100 yards and/or hurting a mob outside of missions is allright.

That's not the point of our complaints, though. As far as I can tell, what people really have problems with is that Developers are making this kind of change in the first place.

Stopping PL'ing, specifically? I don't care. I don't really think it's needed, but PLing doesn't affect me...either way.

Devs making game changes based on player habits / playstyle? I couldn't care more! This has to stop and it has to stop now. The job of the Developers is to...

1. Add new content.
2. Balance new content against old content.
3. Address Player concerns.

I sure hope that the Devs can justify this change by using "job #3, lots of people are complaining". If this is the case, majority rules say that PL'ing is fine.

If they are making changes because they feel like it, then they are telling me how to play. If I need that there are many other MMO's I can subscribe to.

Statesman, if you take away anything from this post, it should be "Don't ruin CoH on a whim, and don't ruin CoH for whiners."

Thanks.

I like your list a lot, but I think that you missed something obvious...all of the place names in the Hollows are named after places in New Jersey.

Everyone correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't Cherry Hill, Eastgate, etc, all either cities or townships in NJ?

Just a thought...