GuyPerfect

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  1. Quote:
    Originally Posted by Vice_Virtuoso View Post
    Now, if we could just get a worthwhile Mids equivalent for iPhone or Android.
    That's uncanny. TonyV and I were talking about that just last night.
  2. Quote:
    Originally Posted by elvnsword09 View Post
    Could the Hydra be genetically engineered Hamidon lifeforms used by the Rikti against man in the war.

    Words words words
    A) The Hydra come from a different dimension all their own.

    B) The Rikti stole the Hydra to use on Primal Earth, where they made the beast in the sewers.

    C) Praetorian Earth never had a Nemesis (the dude died without turning evil), which means he wasn't there to start the Rikti War in that dimension (which would have been mighty inconvenient for the Rikti).

    D) The Shivans are sentient leftovers from the destruction of the Shiva, and their 3D models were likely just based on the Hydra ones. No lore connection there.
  3. As one whose feedback is appreciated:


    New Incarnate Trial - Keyes Island

    I've been looking forward to this one. I was a little wary of the other Incarnate Trials when people were saying things like "guard towers that ignore defense tankers are worthless now wah wah wah," but having tried them for myself I see that they are in fact just as reasonable as the rest of the game. Having a third activity for Incarnate advancement sounds like it can only result in good.

    Though for Keyes Isle in general, could you scale back the dark sky in Neutropolis a bit? Currently, it triggers as you're half way across the Lambda Sector interior, which is a bit jarring as you romp through the zone.


    More New Lore Pets

    I knew there were more coming, but just how many knocked me for a loop. I'm especially interested in Polar Lights and Storm Elementals, since they're not so much commanded soldiers as they are essences of bidding. They also really help with the concept sticker that was catching people when all we had was IDF mobs.


    New In-Game Merit Rewards

    That's a lot of new costume options! And Super Inspirations. And vouchers! Architect Tickets may have been an odd fit save for purchasing Salvage, but I really like the direction the Incarnate Merits are headed.

    Purchasing IO recipes with Incarnate Merits is also appreciated, but the thought occurs to me... If you guys are marketing your new content on the merit that those recipes are too "hard to find or inconvenient to obtain," isn't that kind of saying the other systems for getting ahold of them are unreasonable or lacking in some way? Just sayin'. It wouldn't harm anyone to lower the Alignment Merit cost, for starters...


    Team-Up Teleporter Expansions

    More control is never a bad thing. I've personally never had issues with unwanted guests or disorderly conduct on raids I've conducted myself, but the fact these improvements were made suggests there's a good reason for making them.

    I've never used the LFG option to join a random League (presumably what these Open Leagues are all about), since the system simply didn't work. All I ever heard about it is that it launches as soon as you get the bare minimum for participation and therefore no one is able to complete the Trial. I'd really look forward to using it if I knew its problems were being addressed.


    Quality of Life Upgrades

    The AoE shields could be good or bad, I suppose. If the powers don't cost more Endurance to use, I'll call it good. But if one teammate happens to be standing 31 feet away and you have to expend another 20 Endurance to protect them, I see it getting ugly fast. It's been noted already that Masterminds have gone through this with their Henchman upgrades (and Henchmen are WAY easier to group up than teammates), so let's learn from history rather than repeat it. (-:

    Interstitial cutscenes are not skipped, such as the only cutscene in Lambda Sector... So basically the announcement makes an entire point marketing the fact that the BAF intro can be skipped?
  4. As far as the "signal to noise ratio" is concerned... There's like, what, eleventy dozen happy customers for every doom sayer? That being the case, this thread is very encouraging!
  5. Quote:
    Originally Posted by Amy_Amp View Post
    I think Claws and DB are a better comparison like Kat and BS are, but they have their own distinctness like Claws vs. Spines does as well.
    Eh, not sure I'd say so myself. Dual Blades is quite a bit different from Claws: no ranged attacks, the combo system, a melee cone for the tier-9... Dual Blades does share some similarities with the light -Def attack and Follow Up-esque damage booster, but the set as a whole (again with the combo system) makes for a different ball game entirely.

    With the exception of Slash/Quills, Claws and Spines are nearly mirror images of each other not factoring in the set-wide differences like damage/recharge and secondary effects.


    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Sailboat View Post
    It might bear mentioning that Spin is a fantastic attack, particularly for Scrappers. It's the second-highest-damage Scrapper PBAoE after Fire Sword Circle, but it recharges more than twice as fast (9.2 seconds vs 20 seconds) and casts slightly faster as well.
    This is true, and I don't disagree with you. (-:

    I had more in mind the comparison between Spin and Spine Burst when I started this thread than Spin versus all other Scrapper powers.
  6. GuyPerfect

    Catgirls unite!

    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Red Valkyrja View Post
    I guess we need to roll more veterinarians...
  7. ...Specifically, Claws and Spines. The two powersets are siblings much like Broad Sword and Katana. I've leveled both on Fiery Aura Scrappers and have learned much. Despite the similarities, the sets are worlds apart and really show the strengths of opposing styles of gameplay.

    In general, Claws is much quicker, with lower activation times and recharges than Spines. This is attractive when stringing together attack chains, because casting all the powers repeatedly in rapid succession makes for a beautiful display of constant damage output. In contrast, Spines is slower, but higher damage per attack, with enemy speed and recharge debuffs, and a dose of Toxic damage-over-time to boot. It's heavier-hitting as far as orange numbers are concerned, but it is not rapid enough to spew out a constant stream of damage like Claws does.

    Let's take a quick look at the pros and cons of both powersets on a per-power basis...



    Swipe - Barb Swipe

    Swipe is a very quick attack. With an activation time of 0.83s and a recharge time of 1.70s, it's one of the fastest attacks in the game; faster even than Brawl. You cast it, do a decent chunk of damage, and move onto the next attack. It's about as elegant as they come when dealing some damage on the spot.

    Barb Swipe is insanely slower with a 2.43s activation time, but deals more damage by a fair amount (by about 18%). This clearly makes Swipe the winner between these two powers, but that's taken out of context. Barb Swipe is the quickest attack in the Spines powerset, which means things get really hefty really quickly.



    Strike - Lunge

    Strike is another quick attack like Swipe. Used together, these two powers constitute a pretty good set all by themselves in the lower levels. You're never standing around waiting for them to recharge, and their damage is admirable for their levels. Later on, the two powers are constantly recharged and ready to go, making for not one but two little filler powers when you need to hurt something.

    Lunge casts faster than Barb Swipe and does more damage. Did that make sense? It does have a much longer recharge, though (4s compared to Barb Swipe's 1.5s), to offset its awesome. I've found it to be the sort of functional staple power of Spines. Lunge and Strike are peers for the most part; each edging out over the other in terms of big numbers versus fast numbers.



    Slash

    Spines has no analog to Slash. It's a whole 'nother attack, dealing slightly more damage than Strike, but inflicting a decent -7.5% Defense debuff on the target. Of the five powers mentioned so far, this one has the lowest DPS by a narrow margin below Lunge. It does, however, make landing subsequent hits a lot easier, especially at the lower levels. And hey, it's another attack. How can you go wrong?



    Spin - Spine Burst

    The usual PBAoE attacks for melee sets, these powers are great for dispatching crowds. Spin does about 40% more damage than Spine Burst, which is substantial. It also costs less endurance by about 40%. It also recharges--guess what--about 40% faster.

    The discrepancy here is something that can be argued to give Spine Burst more than a 40% advantage, and that's its 15 foot range compared to Spin's 8. In situations with a high concentration of enemies (such as scrapping through an aggro cap), Spine Burst will deal more total damage by merit of collision detection of all things.



    Follow Up - Build Up

    There's some major differences here. Spines gets the same traditional Build Up many other sets get: +20% ToHit and +100% Damage for 10s with a 90s recharge. This suits Spines just fine given its longer-casting, harder-hitting attacks.

    Follow Up, on the other hand, is a spectacle of a self buff. It's +10% ToHit and +37.5% Damage for 10s, which makes it seem inferior to Build Up, but there's a catch... Instead of a one-off click power, it's an attack in and of itself with a 12s recharge. It does a little more damage than Swipe, even, and the benefits of the power can be reapplied constantly.

    With recharge, Build Up still has 35 seconds of downtime, but Follow Up will stack with itself for 4 seconds at a time. Mixed with Slash, Follow Up almost matches Build Up in terms of improved hit chance.



    Confront

    Not too noteworthy. They're just listed here for reference.



    Focus - Impale

    Here's where things get interesting. Both of these are ranged attacks (40 feet) with decent damage--nearly identical over time. They also both apply a status effect to screw with the enemy. For melee sets, these powers are distinctive.

    Focus deals less damage per cast but recharges faster. It applies a flat-rate knockdown to the target, which can serve as meaningful mitigation for incoming damage. This isn't just a chance for knockdown either; unless the enemy resists it, they're gonna topple over. Even in melee range, you can keep that nasty boss on his back much of time time while you wail on him.

    Impale, on the other hand, is an immobilize (as well as a decent attack in its own right), which is especially helpful for when things inevitably try to flee.



    Quills

    Claws has no analog to Quills. It's a run-of-the-mill damage aura toggle power like the kind you find in defensive sets. It keeps its -Speed -Recharge debuffs too.

    Unlike defensive auras, Quills does much lower damage, but has a chance to land a Critical Hit.

    Despite the implications from the icon, Quills does not deal "extreme" damage. The overlay used was presumably chosen to differentiate it from the icon for Spine Burst.



    Eviscerate - Ripper

    These powers are delicious. They're very similar: double back flip, fast-recharging, high-damage (a good 140 per target each at level 50), 90-degree cone attacks that are pretty easy to set up for deadly group strikes.

    Ripper's a hodgepodge of Lethal damage with Toxic DoT, -Speed -Recharge, and 60% chance for knockdown.

    Eviscerate only gets one tick of Lethal damage to its fame, but it has a fixed 15% chance to land a Critical Hit, which is much better than average for Scrapper attacks.



    Shockwave - Throw Spines

    Further displacing themselves from the world of melee sets, Claws and Spines feature some sweet ranged cone attacks. Both are very large with a 90-degree spread angle, and have 30-foot range.

    Shockwave slams enemies with 1.45 magnitude knockback, which will toss everything on its side. This is knockback and not knockdown, which might be an issue depending on your defensive and epic powersets. If nothing else, you could always jump up and cast it straight down to keep enemies from scattering too badly. Shockwave does about the same damage as Strike.

    Throw Spines is an exotic attack with the usual -Speed -Recharge and Toxic DoT. It's fairly fast-casting for a Spines attack, and certainly isn't anything to shake a stick at. It deals somewhat more damage than Lunge and recharges about as fast as Ripper. Whereas Shockwave's knockback may render it impractical in some cases, Throw Spines is a suitable entry in ordinary attack sequences.
    __________

    All-in-all, the two sets are similar enough to be considered peers of each other, but are different enough to suit two totally opposing play styles. Spines may turn people away with its lower "damage per activation second" and visual effects (they don't call it Banana Melee for nothing), but as a set you don't see a lot of, I do recommend giving it a try.

    For me, personally, having tried both with Fiery Aura, I'm gonna have to give my vote to Spines. Build Up + Spine Burst + Burn (with a side order of Quills and Blazing Aura) is much more attractive to me than Follow Up + Spin + Burn.
  8. GuyPerfect

    Catgirls unite!

    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Chad Gulzow-Man View Post
    *I* read it as "Catgirls untie!"
  9. GuyPerfect

    Catgirls unite!

    I'll take a propeller beanie that spins itself! The ladies will be like, "So are you just happy to see me?"
  10. Quote:
    Originally Posted by Solo_One View Post
    highlighted for emphasis
    It's chargin'. He never did get to fire his lazah because he swallowed it.
  11. Quote:
    Originally Posted by Benchpresser View Post
    (Though how a ghost has email is beyond me...)
    I imagine she checks it on a computer.
  12. Quote:
    Originally Posted by ShadowsBetween View Post
    Or it could be that whoever is writing that little sidestory sort of forgot that Numina is supposed to be a ghost.
    Sounds like someone forgot that Numina is not a ghost. (-:

    Just ask Ghost Widow. She can harm other ghosts, but she cannot harm Numina.
  13. Quote:
    Originally Posted by Jophiel View Post
    FYI, some people run with signatures off.
    And man has life been so much better ever since I made that decision.
  14. While it won't work for changing the costume you're currently wearing, you can use the Character creator in the Mission Architect. If you earn the Mission Engineer badge, you can access it from everywhere--complete with fully-functional costume creator.
  15. Quote:
    Originally Posted by SpaceNut View Post
    Woodsvale is attacked by Devouring Earth creatures. The hero Woodsman is killed.
    According to the Woodsman's description, the Devouring Earth killed him and used his power to take over Woodvale, creating Eden. My first thought was that whenever Eden happened was when the Woodsman was killed, but further investigation suggests otherwise...

    One of the Savant plaques states that Synapse rescued people from Woodvale as the Rikti were tearing it apart, which means that Eden didn't happen until after the first Rikti attack in 2002. By this point, we have two potentially-conflicting accounts as to who destroyed Woodvale.

    The description of Eden itself states that the Devouring Earth directly responded to urban development, and the Reconnaissance Officer states that it was primarily a fight between Crey and the Devouring Earth.

    All well and good, I thought. Maybe the Devouring Earth and Crey were at a stalemate until the Rikti showed up, at which point the Devouring Earth were able to kill Woodsman and take over. But then there's this:

    The revelations from Scout during the Numina Task Force suggest that the Devouring Earth took Woodsman a long time ago. Numina states that Scout was active "in the early part of the twentieth century," which implies that he stopped being active since that time. This can be explained by his capture by Nemesis (which did indeed happen a long time ago), but he specifically states that happened while searching for the missing Woodsman. The Woodsman is revealed to have been abducted by the Devouring Earth and, as the Shard of Kalak can testify, reduced to a spiritual essence.

    What to take away from this? Perhaps the information is conflicting with itself. If not, then the Woodsman was taken by the Devouring Earth in the early 1900's, but his powers were not used to transform Woodvale into Eden until sometime after the first Rikti attack in 2002.
  16. Quote:
    Originally Posted by Seschat View Post
    Now second question: Lambda sector giant cannon is the *only* enemy on my screen, and neither TAB or ctrl-TAB will target it: I must click on it to select it. Why?
    It's equipped with Tab Cloak. The version in Neutropolis proper actually has a full-fledged Target Cloak. (-:
  17. Based on personal observation over the years, it seems to order all visible enemies according to the time they entered the screen. Pressing Tab cycles down that ordered list from first to last.
  18. Quote:
    Originally Posted by SpaceNut View Post
    * The goddess Merulina falls silent, leaving the Coralax unguided and confused.
    Vincent Ross's arc states that the Leviathan beneath Sharkhead Isle is in fact Merulina, who transformed at some point during the Oranbegan civil war to destroy the Mu. Since Hequat imprisoned it under the island (where it seems to be in a state of forced sleepiness), Merulina hasn't had much to say.
  19. Quote:
    Originally Posted by Samuel_Tow View Post
    Serious question here. I like the character, I want to play him, but I can't bring myself to sinking down what will end up being an entire day fixing his sorry *** if all I have to look forward is "repeatable content." Because beyond that, I'm out of ideas, and it seriously sucks. I like this character.
    This isn't the answer you want to hear, so just ignore this post.

    To everyone else... In my experience, the game is quite a bit more fun--leveling or otherwise--when I play it with other people. I don't have any problem whatsoever running generic missions on a team of all 50s.

    There was a time when I'd look at offline games, even RPGs, and see how they had distinct beginnings, goals and endings. City of Heroes isn't like that. It just goes and goes until it stops going. Sure, you can roll a new character, but what's the point? That's when I realized the joys of teaming with friends (or random passersby).

    So the moral of the story is: if you're trying to play this game alone, it's gonna suuuuuuuck.
  20. This image was rendered over the course of about two and a half weeks:



    Incidentally, this only applies to Hero radios and special missions, as far as I can tell. If you run newspapers redside, you don't get them. Ever.

    It's the one case where devs hating villains was actually good for the villains.
  21. Quote:
    Originally Posted by The_Coming_Storm View Post
    I challenge you to confine yourself to sprint.... on all your toons.
    Done. Doesn't take too long to get from point A to point B in the Incarnate Trials.
  22. Quote:
    Originally Posted by The_Coming_Storm View Post
    Hmm, thought Jaunt was the phase shift temp.
    It's the arena teleport power.
  23. I've heard of a few people crashing due to this same problem (and I've had individual textures go black on me with message boxes); it's definitely something wrong with the game and not your setup.

    NCsoft support is blissfully ignorant as usual and will send you down a roundabout path of disabling your antivirus software and whatever else they can think of, but the problem lies in the City of Heroes software.
  24. Quote:
    Originally Posted by Bubbawheat View Post
    Just because one's a man and the other's a woman automatically creates sexual tension in people's minds.
    I noticed the same thing when discussing Paolo Marino and Beladonna Vetrano.