Impkin

Odd. I've never had an AS get interupted by NPC collision.
I have been pushed out of range *before* I could activate it and gotten an 'out of range' error. Once I start an AS it doesn't mater where the target is or where I am. It goes off, and hits or misses. I've AS's a guard half way across the Casino. I got NPC shoved and the guard ran off. Both *after* I had activated the power.


The NPCs in this type of mission act as designed. I've never read anything by a Dev that said they would alter this behavior. I did read a dev post in Beta that said this was an intentional hazard for this type of mission.

I don't like it either. Makes life hard for any melee attack, not just AS. I've requested in the past that the attractor effect be removed. It isn't that they run around randomly. That would be (almost) OK. The NPCs are attracted to the player. Do the casino theft in Sharkhead. A player can get all of the NPCs to gather in any corner the player is in. Then move to any other corner and in about 15 seconds all the NPCs will be clustered in that new corner.


Thing of it is, I do appreciate the change of pace. Having to deal with 'environmental hazards' gives these missions character. For me it balances out and I still have fun.

Just as an FYI: Seems there is a common misconception about the "Nuke".
Read the descriptions carefully.

There are 3 types. None of them are damage dealers, they are buffs/de-buffs.
I’ve gotten them all personally. I’ve talked with many players that expected the ‘nuclear’ payload to be high damage. It is EMP, not TNT. Drains endurance, not health.

I’m not knocking the rewards. They are a lot of fun to get. I only want to set peoples expectations.

Jonyu (Brute Rep?) made this post in the Brute forum that I think is worth mentioning here:
[ QUOTE ]
I've seen a lot of complaints about this so I brought it up before we went live. We changed it so certain toggle effects fade out but it didn't make it into live. Dark Armor shouldn't be so bad anymore once this gets updated. The same goes for Mud Pots.

[/ QUOTE ]
What wasn't clear was if it was only those two powers and only for Brutes.

If only most (or all IMHO) of the constant looping sounds would be changed to fade out like Super Jump does.

Description: Shadow Fall loop
Folder name: powers
File name: miasma_lopp.ogg

Note: miasma_loop.ogg is used in a lot of the various "Dark" power sets for both powers and their FXs.

I think it is totally awsome that more of the looping sounds will fade out like Super Jump. Hopefully it will be all of them.

Untill it goes live though, check out this:

How to silence specific game sounds

It is from the CoH guides forum.

It explains how to silence specific game sounds in a manner that is acceptable to them. Please note that "acceptable" does *not* mean supported, as explained in that thread.

[ QUOTE ]
.ogg files can be played by by Winamp, as far as I can tell. If this is the case then the process of pinpointing individual sound files should go *much* more smoothly, but I'm at work and can't try this at the moment. Has anyone else tried this?

[/ QUOTE ]

If you installed Audacity, I think it installs a decoder that allows Windows Media Player to play .oggs. It might have been some other .ogg editor though. I played around with many

However, the orginal game sounds are not on your computer as .ogg files. Any further discussion on how they are stored or how to listen to them in their original/game installed format would break the agreement that allows this thread to exist or I would explain further, sorry.

[ QUOTE ]
As of the most recent Training Room patch (and CoV Beta as well), having files in these folders appears to cause the client to lock up at the "Loading..." banner.

[/ QUOTE ]

Something else was causing this for you.

I silenced some sounds in CoV beta, never had a prob.
Was on Training room Sat and Sun, no prob.

[ QUOTE ]
Think of a "melee blaster" with one hell of a single-target alpha strike, and that's the Stalker.

[/ QUOTE ]

A melee blaster with status protection. Makes a big difference in the later game and PvP. I don't mean this to be argumentative. I just want to point out what seems to often be ignored. Look at the entire package when one is considering how good or bad a certain aspect is.

In addition, teamed with a Dominator or any villain with any kind of hold power they become more like Scrappers with an extreme alpha strike. Once Placate is fixed even more tactical options will open up.

I personally felt that their stealth was fine. I never expected to be able to kill, hide, kill, etc. Once I shoot my AB wad then it’s good old fashion fighting time. Being able to attack, hide, attack, etc. is a Ganker, not a Stalker.

I have no troubles dealing with enemy agro. Choose your targets well and don’t try to go toe-to-toe surrounded by enemies (melee and ranged). Move! What do you think all that junk like crates and such (world geometry) is for? Decoration? “You think that’s air you’re breathing?”

Hit-and-run down the long open hall doesn't work, true. One gives the enemies too many attacks before you can get out of range. However, make them chase you all around a room with objects or around bends in halls and you can whittle their numbers down taking very little damage.

Dingly_Dang
[ QUOTE ]
Do you happen to have the name and location of the file for Death Shroud?

[/ QUOTE ]

Sorry, I don't have access to that power to test for it. Nothing is called deathshroud or something similar. If it isn't one of the ones used for Dark Armor try the two Matuse mentioned above.

If none of those are it then you or someone with access to that power will need to hunt for it. PM me with an email address and I can send you the complete list.


Arch77
[ QUOTE ]
Anyone know what the sound is for a "bubble plopping" sound?

[/ QUOTE ]
I think you are describing Stone Armor: Mud pots

Description: Mud pots loop
Folder name: powers
File name: mudpots_loop.ogg


Heraclea
[ QUOTE ]
What do I use to silence Portal Corp portals?

[/ QUOTE ]

These things had me cursing at my computer. They use 4-5 different sounds and some of them aren't obvious from the names. Unfortunately at the time I did it (about 7 months ago), I wasn't taking notes. CoH is currently unplayable for me due to the mega-patch (I6) causing severe rubber-banding and mapserver disconnects. It took me 20min to go from the tram in Sky to about half-way to the TI exit where I gave up.

Try these, Folder\file name:
Peregrine\reactor1_loop.ogg
Peregrine\reactor2_loop.ogg
Tech\Room3x_loop.ogg
Tech\spacemachine1m_loop.ogg
Tech\spacemachine1_loop.ogg
Tech\Teslaroom1_loop.ogg
Tech\Teslaroom2_loop.ogg
Tech\Teslaroom3_loop.ogg
Tech\Teslaroom4_loop.ogg

Things should calm down in about a week and I'll verify these if no one else has by then.

Yep. One of those Kheld "boom" sounds is also used for the CoT ritual animation. There are other sounds they make too so you can still hear them. The screen still shakes.

Description: Peacebringer shapeshift "boom"
Folder name: powers
File name: nova4.ogg

Description: Warshade shapeshift "boom"
Folder name: powers
File name: nova2.ogg


These might also be used for the Energy Blast:Nova power (and others?).
There are four files in the "powers" folder: nova.ogg, nova2.ogg, nova3.ogg, nova4.ogg. I have an Energy Blaster with Nova. Nova still made the sound when I tested it after silencing #2 and #4. However due to its recharge time I only tried three times. It might use any of the four at random (it sounded the same to me all three tries). Or it might be positional (user hears one sound, observer hears another). Also, when CoT are doing that green glow ritual thing it sounds a lot like this. I didn't check.

When silencing a sound understand that sounds get re-used. In addition, more than one sound can be made simultaneously. For example miasma_lopp.ogg is one of the looping sounds heard when running a dark armor. It is also made by the FX of enemies under the influence of other various powers.

One can't be selective in this regard. Any object or action coded to make a sound does it by playing the related sound file. If you have silenced that sound it will be silent for everything that is coded to play that file. Also worth noting is the same sound may be used in different files. If you hear a sound you know you silenced it is most likely a different file being played. You will need to silence that file too if you don't want to hear it.


Sound Information:

Description: Hasten activation
Folder name: powers
File name: hasten.ogg, hasten2.ogg

Description: Targeting Drone loop
Folder name: weapons
File name: targetdrone_loop.ogg

Description: Prestige Power Slide loop
Folder name: enemies
File name: Green_loop.ogg

Description: while flying or hovering
Folder name: powers
File names: air_loop.ogg, Flight1.ogg, Flight_loop.ogg, Flight1_loop.ogg, Flight2_loop.ogg, Flight3_loop.ogg, Groupfly_loop.ogg, Hover_loop.ogg

Description: Super Speed activation
Folder name: powers
File name: Run5.ogg

Description: Super Speed loop
Folder name: powers
File name: ForceField5_loop.ogg

Description: Fortitude loop
Folder name: powers
File name: intel_loop.ogg, Intel2_loop.ogg

Description: Dark Armor loop
Folder name: powers
File name: miasma_lopp.ogg, obsidian_loop.ogg

Description: Ice Armor loop
Folder name: powers
File name: IceArmor_loop.ogg, IceArmor2_loop.ogg

Description: made when using (or queuing) a power that hasn't recharged yet
Folder name: frontend
File name: Recharge.ogg

Description: Shadow Cloak loop
Folder name: enemies
File name: Blue_loop.ogg

It would take quite a lot of time to list "everything" in one post. Besides, I don't know them "all" and frankly I'd rather spend the time playing. I'm sure most players feel the same way. For an example on how difficult it can be to identify the correct folder and file name look at Prestige Power Slide below. My hope is that with time this thread will contain the most common sounds players wish to silence.

Posting requests for folder and file names.
Search this thread first before requesting sound file names and locations. If you don't do a search first then do not be surprised if your request goes unanswered if that information already exists. An easy way to search only this thread is to click "(show all)" near the top right of the thread. Then press CTRL+F to get your browser to pop-up a find window.

Please keep in mind everything that is involved in responding to requests [see the next section]. Understand why there may be delays in responding. Identifying and providing this information is done as a courtesy so please respect that. Limit yourself to the sounds that significantly detract from your play experience. The sounds that give you a head-ache. Ones that you go out of your way to avoid.
Not significant: "It would be nice if I didn't have to listen to that."
Significant: "As much as I love this game, I can't play it anymore because of that sound."

Only describe what causes the sound to be made in-game. Try to be as specific as possible. For example, "the sound Hasten makes" is a little vague because it makes one sound when activated and another sound while it's running.

Please don't critique sounds here. You don't need to explain why you don't like a sound. Show consideration for the people who bring the game its depth and immersiveness through sound. If you feel strongly enough about a change that would make things better there are several methods of directly providing that feedback where it will do the most good. This thread isn't one of them.


How can I find the folder and file name information for myself and/or respond to requests?
It is simply trail and error. The key is to have a list to experiment with. CuppaJo provided me one. She has offered to do the same for others. Please keep in mind the volume of PMs I imagine she gets! No need to go flooding her in-box with these requests. You may PM me with an email address (it is a big list) and I'll send you the one I got from her that also has my notes on the ones I've experimented with.

What you do with that list is use it to experiment with silencing various sounds until you discover the one that silences the sound you intended. To experiment one silences the sounds you want to test. Then you start up the game and see if you got it. If not, you have to completely exit the game (quit to desktop) and try again. Sometimes you do this over and over and...

Sometimes it is straight forward. Take Hasten's activation as an example [see below]. It is a player power called Hasten. Makes sense it is in the "powers" folder and the file is called "hasten.ogg". (I'll explain "hasten2.ogg" in a bit.)

Sometimes it is not so straight forward. The Targeting Drone loop is a good example. It is a player power called Targeting Drone. In the "powers" folder are two files called "targeting_loop.ogg" and "targetng2_loop.ogg". But guess what? Those weren't the right ones. The correct one is in the "weapons" folder and it is called "targetdrone_loop.ogg". That wasn't too hard either.

Sometimes it seems bizarre. Look at Prestige Power Slide. "enemies" folder? "Green_loop.ogg"?!? It took me a long time to get that one right. One must keep in mind when doing these experiments that the folder and file names were not picked to make doing this easy. They were chosen by the sound designers for reasons that make sense to them. They are the only ones it needs to make sense to. How did I stumble on the right folder and file? I shotguned it.

First I look for the obvious names that would match like with Hasten. Two files had "hasten" in their names. I copied and renamed my "silence.ogg" twice to the powers folder I had made. Then I started up CoH and activated Hasten. Bingo! Got it first try. If I had wanted to I could have gone back and disabled one or the other by renaming the file. (I like adding "_" to the front of the name. When sorted by name it shorts up at the top of the list and is easy to rename back to the original name if I need to.) Because it was a very tight shotgun spread I didn't bother. Flight/Hover is another good example.

When obvious doesn't work I widen the spread by trying blocks of ten or so files that don't seem to obviously belong to some other power. For example I never tried "IceArmor_loop.ogg" when looking for the Dark Armor loop.

For the really tough ones I use a sawed-off shotgun. With Prestige Power Slide I silenced every sound that ended with "_loop" that I hadn't already tried. I checked to see that it was at lest one of a list of about 40 sounds. Then I started splitting the list in halves and trying again until I narrowed it to the one I wanted. As an example of what I mean I'll use a starting list of six fake file names for brevity.

1st game launch for this test:
Sound1_loop.ogg
Sound2_loop.ogg
Sound3_loop.ogg
Sound4_loop.ogg
Sound5_loop.ogg
Sound6_loop.ogg

No sound heard. One of them is the file I want.

2nd test run:
_Sound1_loop.ogg
_Sound2_loop.ogg
_Sound3_loop.ogg
Sound4_loop.ogg
Sound5_loop.ogg
Sound6_loop.ogg

It made the sound so it must be one of the ones I disabled. We silence sounds by substituting a silent sound file. We disable the substitution by renaming the file or deleting it.

3rd run I have:
_Sound1_loop.ogg
Sound2_loop.ogg
Sound3_loop.ogg

The sound is quiet again. I deleted the other 3 files, but if I thought I might be trying them again soon I would just disable them with "_".

4th game launch it looks like:
_Sound2_loop.ogg
Sound3_loop.ogg

It makes the sound. WooHoo! Even though it makes the sound again I know the correct file name now because it has to be the silenced sound file I disabled.

5th and final test (I like to be sure ):
Sound2_loop.ogg

I hope everyone now understands what is involved and what you could be getting into when you request the sound file listing. Please understand what you are asking someone else to do when posting a request for folder and file name info. Realize why I requested that you limit yourself to the sounds that *significantly* detract from your experience while playing. When you do hunt down the info on your own please post your final results in the manner requested if you think it likely someone else would want to know too.

Please use the format in the following post as a template for providing the information. This is all anyone needs to silence a sound using the method described in the initial post. Additional information may be deemed inappropriate by moderators/players and warrant the deletion/reporting of that post.

The first and most important thing to do is read this thread by CuppaJo:
A note on viewing pigg files.

Request to moderators: Please delete any posts that break the rules, not the entire thread.

Requests to readers: Please report any posts that break the rules.

Rule 1: Do not ask or explain how to view or change *.pigg files or any other CoH files.

Rule 2: Do not ask or explain how to view or change *.pigg files or any other CoH files.

Rule 3: Do not ask or explain how to obtain and use software for viewing or changing *.pigg files or any other CoH files. See the section in the first follow up post on how to respond to requests for sound file names and locations if you want to contribute.

Rule 4: Do not ask how or explain why this works. Questions and information of that nature might be considered "reverse engineering". Better safe than sorry.

Please comply with these rules. Doing so is what will allow this information to remain available in these forums.


OK, OK! I get it. So how do I silence a sound?
These instructions are meant for anyone with minimal Windows knowledge. I want to provide enough information so that every CoH player can improve their personal game play experience. Do not be daunted by the post's length. If you can play CoH you can do this.

The way to kill any game sound is to put another sound file in the correct directory with the name of the sound file used to make that noise. This replacement file must be in the Ogg Vorbis format and it can not be of zero length. In other words, to kill a sound you replace it with one second of silence.


Where do I get one second of silence in the *.ogg format?
However you want to. How I did it was to use a free program called Audacity.
I got it here: http://audacity.sourceforge.net/

- Run Audacity.
- Click on the "Generate" menu. Choose "Silence". It should have created 30 seconds of silence.
- Use your mouse and highlight about one second. This doesn't have to be exact.
- Click on the "Edit" menu. Choose "Trim". There is also a button following the "Cut", "Copy", "Paste" buttons called "Trim outside selection" that does the same thing.
- Click on the "File" menu. Choose "Export As Ogg Vorbis..."
- Call the file whatever you want and save it anyplace you want. I recommend calling it "silence.ogg" and saving it to the Desktop. You will be copying this file to folders you create and renaming it so keep that in mind when deciding what to call it and where to save it.
- Exit Audacity. You won't need to use Audacity again (for this) unless there is something wrong with that "silence.ogg" you just made.


Why don't you just provide a link so I can download a silence.ogg?
If I could afford the bandwidth and knew how to do it, I would make a "silence.ogg" file available for download. But I can't and I don't so I won't. If someone wants to provide a link to a "silence.ogg" I'm sure it would be appreciated by many players.

Please do not provide links to anything other than a single silent sound. Not even a silent sound pack. In order to do that the sound pack would have to contain the actual folder and file names used by CoH. Such a link or pack, especially if it was a modified CoH sound, could be considered as distribution of copyrighted material and subject to consequences.


OK, now that I have a silent sound what do I do with it?
You need to know where to copy it and what to rename it as so the game will use your silent sound file instead of the default sound file. The base location for all your silenced sound files is:

C:\Program Files\City of Heroes\data\sound\ogg\

This assumes that you installed the game to its default directory. If you installed it someplace else then you should know enough to adapt these instructions to fit your custom installation.

*You are not making any changes to any files owned/installed by CoH*. Simply put: if any of the following folders already exist then you or a 3rd party put them there. You or the 3rd party would need to handle it on your own.

- Open the "City of Heroes" folder and create a new folder called "data".
- Open the "data" folder you just created and add a new folder called "sound".
- Open the "sound" folder you just created and add a new folder called "ogg".

You now have your base file location set. The sounds will be grouped in sub-folders inside the "ogg" folder. Each sound you wish to silence will go in a sub-folder. The name of the sub-folder depends on the sound.

The information provided for a specific sound assumes you have already created the above base folder. The "Folder name:" provided here is located in the "C:\Program Files\City of Heroes\data\sound\ogg\" folder. The name of the folder is where you copy your "silence.ogg" file to. The "File name:" provided here is what you need to rename that copy of your "silence.ogg" file to.

That is all there is to it. The next time you launch CoH that sound will not be made. If CoH is running while you do this (not recommended), exit completely (quit to desktop, not the log-in screen) first.


Example:
Description: Targeting Drone loop
Folder name: weapons
File name: targetdrone_loop.ogg

To silence this sound you copy your "silence.ogg" file to a folder called "weapons". If you have never silenced a sound that goes in the "weapons" folder then you will need to make a "weapons" folder first. Once you copy your "silence.ogg" into the "weapons" folder you then rename it to "targetdrone_loop.ogg".

Specific how-to:
If you hold down the "Ctrl" key you can click on and drag the "silence.ogg" file to the "weapons" folder you created. It will make a copy. You can also right-click on "silence.ogg" and pick "Copy". You then right-click on an empty spot in the open "weapons" folder/window and pick "Paste".

To rename the "silence.ogg" file you copied into the "weapons" folder right-click on the file and choose "Rename" (or highlight it and press the "F2" key). Type "targetdrone_loop.ogg".


I did what you said, but now CoH doesn't work right!
How do I undo this?
If you followed instructions then it will work. If something isn't working as you expect then something was not done right. Try again. Go slower. Follow the instructions more carefully. If the sound you expected to be silenced is still making noise then either the description was misunderstood or the wrong folder/file name has been posted.

The quickest and easiest way to undo this customization is to rename the "data" folder you made. I use "_data". Or just delete it. If you suspect that your customizations are causing problems playing CoH then undo them.


What happens the next time there is an update or a patch?
One of the great things about CoH is it keeps improving. Should the name of a folder or file change in a future patch the game would default back to playing the intended sound.

If just the sound was changed (the folder and file name remain the same) a customized client would still play the silenced sound. If one wished to hear the changed sound they could either disable the "data" folder or the specific sound file by renaming it.


DO NOT ASK TECH SUPPORT TO MAKE THIS WORK FOR YOU.
This customization is totally and completely unsupported. If you are having any technical issues of any kind you will need to rename or delete the "data" folder *before* you contact Tech Support. I have been doing this for over a year. This customization has not caused any issues for me or any of the people I have done it for.

Also, *because this is totally and completely unsupported*: should the program feature that allows it to work change there are no grounds for demanding that the hypothetical change be undone. You can ask. You can plead. But there is no basis for calling it a bug and demanding a fix or reversal.


A comment about courtesy.
If you found the sound bothersome then most likely so do other people. This customization *only* affects your client. Other players will still hear the sound(s) unless they also customized their clients.

Be courteous to your fellow players. Just because you aren't bothered by keeping a power running all the time now because you silenced it doesn't mean you should keep it running when you don't need it. You obviously didn't like hearing that noise. Why inflict it on others when there is no reason to? Turn off your powers when you are just standing around chatting, training, buying, etc.


Giving credit where credit is due.
This isn't my brain-child. Someone explained the concept to me over a year ago. I am sorry that I do not remember who they are. All I've done is come up with the format to present this information and the how-to steps for enabling all players to benefit from it should they wish to.

A huge thanks to CuppaJo and the rest of this Forum's Moderator team for allowing this thread. Because of its content I asked before posting. This is just one of the uncountable ways they continually show that providing a fun, enjoyable game for as many people as possible is what motivates them.


A special THANK YOU! to the sound designers.
A big concern of mine is that this thread might be taken wrong. What I hope y'all take from this is that setting the volume low or muting the sound entirely simply isn't an option. Different people are sensitive to different things. That's all there is to this thread. Half of the game experience is auditory. You have the most wonderful toy box. Thank you for sharing your toys with us!

Is this a bug or by design?
When switching to Dwarf from Swift is still in effect for about 5 seconds. It takes about 3 seconds to switch forms so one ends up with about 2 seconds if increased run speed as a Dwarf.

When switching from Nova/Dwarf form back to Human form Swift takes about 5 seconds to kick in.

I can’t tell if Health and Stamina behave this way also.

[ QUOTE ]
"Peacebringer defense debuff animation no longer shows up. Unknown if the debuff itself is gone or what."
I still see the purple defense de-buff shields spinning around the villains on a successful hit with any power that says it also de-buffs defense. Not all PB attacks have this secondary effect. Maybe this is an intermittant bug?

[/ QUOTE ]

Oops. The above applies to Nova and Dwarf forms only. They still have the de-buff FX. Also as a correction, all Human form PB attacks that do damage claim to de-buff defense.

Should be:
"Human form Peacebringer defense debuff animation no longer shows up. Unknown if the debuff itself is gone or what."


Regarding the PB 'pets':
Ideal would be to fix their AI so they work as advertised. One would think that the same AI used for Fire Imps would be used for these. They run up and melee when they agro on something. The difference is their ‘melee’ attack is to explode and die.

The power’s endurance cost and recharge rate, as well as the damage they do are assumed to be balanced with (normal) ‘pet-like’ behavior in mind. In other words the pet caster has no direct control over what enemy they attack. The only minimal control a pet owner has is to move and hope the pets follow.

This should be kept in mind when requesting that the ‘pets’ respond to what the owner has targeted. If this became a targeted attack: endurance use, recharge times, and damage would get adjusted. It would end up like Dawn Strike (and then not be needed) or a Sniper Blast like power (or as previously suggested here LRM like). High Damage, longer range balanced with a long and interruptible activation time with a very long recharge. A ranged ‘alpha strike’ power would be the better choice as given it becomes available at the same time Dawn Strike does.

I would prefer them to work as advertised.

Thank you TheDeadEyes for compiling this!

The following is just my *opinion* on the ones listed that I have direct experience with. Where I disagree, I hope I have worded things such that no one takes it personal. There is enough back-and-forth bickering between some players that I almost panned this thread. I am afraid the Devs may also. It is not my intention to add to that.

Anything not discussed I either don't know enough to offer a valid opinion or I agree with it. My post is long enough without all the "I agree. I agree." I do agree with most of it and that should be noted.


"Teleport animation fires off twice (depart & arrive)."
This isn't specific to Khelds. All my TP'n toons do this. It's not a "bug". Maybe it was an intentional change to that power's animation (I don't know). The extra animation doesn't prevent anything else from happening. One can TP right away again, or do anything you could before this change. Note: One is still stuck in Hover mode for a bit like it has always been and still bound by those limitations (Dwarf can't stomp because it isn't on the ground, etc.)


"XP reward for Quantums/Voids does not equal risk."
It isn't directly supposed to. This is not a bug. The additional risk is due to being a Kheld. The risk isn't hard to mitigate. Qs don’t use guns when they melee. Pop some inspirations and Voids go down almost as easy as the rest of the villains. They both are certainly riskier than the rest. Just not to the point they should have better rewards. The reward is the ATs' versatility and free travel powers.

As a quality of life/suggestion: What would be a nice thing are some badges. A token that shows one doesn't avoid Q/Vs whenever possible. Something that adds just a little bit more encouragement for non-Khelds to defeat them too. Not part of an accolade or anything like that. If DE emanators grant badges, if healers get badges for doing their job, why can't all ATs get a token reward for reducing the head count of the only villains that are an AT specific nemesis for Paragon's newest citizens?

As a quality of life/suggestion: Q/Vs should not spawn as part of ambushes (both in-mission and in-between missions). "Boss" class villains should not be allowed to also be Qs unless that is specifically part of that mission's design (no random "Boss" Qs). Remember that when Q/Vs were designed, Bosses were weaker.


"Peacebringer defense debuff animation no longer shows up. Unknown if the debuff itself is gone or what."
I still see the purple defense de-buff shields spinning around the villains on a successful hit with any power that says it also de-buffs defense. Not all PB attacks have this secondary effect. Maybe this is an intermittant bug?


"Cosmic Balance range is too short to be useful and should work in all Kheldian forms. Needs to be brought "in line" with other inherent AT abilities (such as Gauntlet, Criticals, Defiance, Vigilance and Containment)."
" Dark Sustenance range is too short to be useful and should work in all Kheldian forms. Needs to be brought "in line" with other inherent AT abilities (such as Gauntlet, Criticals, Defiance, Vigilance, and Containment)."

The range for both 'interlink' Inherents should be equal to the Pool Power:Leadership ranges. They aren't? (I don't know. What is the current range?)

They should not work in all forms. One of the trade-offs for getting 6 or 8 more powers (don't forget the form based travel power, ACC+ for Nova, status protection for Dwarf) while only filling one power choice slot is you loose 'interlink'. A 6th level PB/WS in Nova form is already far superior to any other 6th level AT. Adding an additional power by allowing 'interlink' to function while in Nova/Dwarf form is too much.

What exactly is meant by, "...brought 'in line' with other inherent AT abilities..."? This isn't the only Kheldian Inherent. Free travel powers count also. The only thing I think needs to be done is to add some visual indicator when 'interlink' is actually providing a buff. Maybe add color to the black and white icon when we are in-range of teamamtes. Otherwise the Inherent package Khelds have is actually better than the rest of the ATs' and is balanced by Q/Vs.


"Warshades are extremely dependent upon corpses to function."
That is the point and charm of that AT's human form power set. It is what makes them unique, fun, and rewarding to play. I don't want a repackaged Dark Defender/Scrapper. Or a PB clone that uses a darker set of colors for the FX.

In PvE: I often come close to or hit the damage cap with Sunless Mire. Combined with the powers that aren’t corpse dependant I have no troubles creating the corpses I need. If I am unable to generate corpses then I am picking battles that are above my abilities and I should be having a tough time doing it.

Playing a WS (or with one) in PvE takes different tactics than other ATs. It is more important to take out some minions first. When in a team a WS should explain how much access to corpses matters *before* the fighting starts. Tell the Tanker to move and take the villain's AoEs with them so you can get to the corpses with less risk. Let the damage dealers know you need some corpses as soon as possible in any fight so they should take out a few minions before moving onto the LTs and Bosses. Let the Defenders and Controllers know that you will be diving for corpse piles whenever/wherever they are available so they should cover you as best they can while you do it.

In PvP: The main issue here is that PvP wasn't kept in mind when the power set was designed. Corpses are unavailable to the point they can not be considered the same potential resource as in PvE.

I suggest that WS powers that normally require a corpse as a target should (in addition to corpses) accept an immobilized or held player (and contained player pets) as a valid target (like Containment). This would need to be balanced a bit further becasue the powers are meant as single use per corpse.

Perhaps only if that contained player or pet is also at some low health level like 20% and only for one activation. The once-only counter for that target should reset if their health goes above some level like 50%. (This second condition is akin to Defiance.) They would then have to be brought back down to that low health point and contained again for them to count as a corpse. These heath levels would need to be balance such that it is dangerous to try to take advantage of this immunity to the WS's powers in PvP (again akin to Defiance).

Unchain Essence would damage the target for its normal PvP amount, not destroy it. Dark Extraction would allow a WS to create only one pet per player in this way, per fight. Or maybe the pet pulled from that player would have to expire first before another one can be extracted (still following the Containment+Defiance like rules).

This would also be a good 'rock-paper-scissors' thing for PvP pet users. They would have to consider the potential resources gained by their opponents when facing WSs.

Draining a helpless opponent in some way fits the AT's concept. It would provide similar capabilities as the PvE game because many of the WS powers are Controller-ish in nature. While not all WSs will choose these powers, keep in mind that PvP is a choice too. There are many possible builds across most ATs that are not PvP friendly yet are PvE effective. When looked at this way it is not a Kheldian issue but a general PvP issue *if* the PvP corpse dependant issue gets resolved in some form.

Two more general Kheldian PvE bugs
- Rescue/escort mission NPCs don't see the Nova forms as a player. Maybe Dwarf forms also.

Next time you are in a mission where you need to rescue an NPC and escort them someplace, try defeating the last villain guard in Nova form. When you do this ensure another villain or NPC is closer to the rescued NPC than you are. They will attach themselves to that closer villain/NPC. They won't follow you, they follow that other toon.

Workaround:
If it is a villain they have become attached to you can get them to latch on to you by defeating that villain. Provided you avoid the circumstances that cause the issue (be in human form and standing right next to the NPC when you defeat the villain).

If they have attached themselves to another NPC that you can't remove from the mission then you are unable to complete the mission. Reset if you can or petition a GM.

Example of when you can't "complete" due to this issue. (A little vague because I don't want to give any spoilers.) One of the Croatoa missions has you escort several NPCs to a location. They don't leave the mission when brought to their destination point. They stay to do something else.

I rescue NPC1 and it follows me. I rescue NPC2 and it follows NPC1 instead of me (due to the bug). NPC1 arrives at destination following me. NPC2 gets there too because it was following NPC1. NPC1 then goes to his scripted spot and NPC2 follows it. Because NPC2 was not following a player, it never gets counted as arriving anyplace. It doesn't do what it is supposed to. I can't defeat NPC1 or train some villains to defeat it for me because that would result in mission failure. I can't escort NPC2 to the destination because I can't get it to follow me. The mission is now impossible for me to complete.

BTW: The GMs are awesome! After reviewing the issue thoroughly, GM Byla set this mission to "completed" for me, enabling me to 'unlock' Croatoa's TF contact. *Any* other MMOG I have played would have resulted in the GMs saying "Wow! You're right. That is a nasty bug. Sorry, we can't do anything about it."


- Flight suppression immobilizes Nova form for a few seconds after attacking.
Unlike other ATs, Nova form's Flight is not optional. Nova form doesn't have a Hover speed so suppression drops movement/Flight speed to zero.