Ineffable_Bob

Sweet. I can't wait until I can make EbonFlame actually have, well, ebon flames.

Thanks, everyone.

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I also travel a lot, and I definitely wouldn't recommend taking a Mini. It's not really built to be toted around.

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That's more or less what I'd figured, but glad to hear it confirmed.

Anyone else use a Macbook of any kind to play? What sort of specs?

I already have a PC laptop for work, FYI, a Dell D630. It does OK but there's some annoying flickering and the heat gets really bad after an hour or so. If the Macs aren't any better then I won't bother.

I've had various and sundry issues with my PCs lately, and I've always wanted to get a Mac anyway, so I've been thinking about taking the plunge. I need portability for work travel, which I do fairly regularly for 2-4 weeks at a time.

The obvious choice is one of the Macbooks, but the price is making me think twice. The Minis look cool, but I don't know what I'd be giving up with those (other than the obvious need to have some sort of monitor/keyboard available on the far end of the trip).

What are people running CoH on in the way of Macs? Is one of the lower-end laptops sufficient, or will I need a Pro? If I go with a Mini, which configurations have folks been using?

Thanks for any input!

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Thug Bruisers Hand Clap should now cause Knockdown, rather than Knockback.

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Woot! Even if he's still too dumb to go into melee without hand-holding, at least this'll help him to stay there.

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"HeroStats does not work in the Mac envrionment, as it uses Windows .Net programming."

Hmm, I wonder if it might be possible to get HeroStats working with Mono? Mono is an open-source re-implementation of the .Net runtime for Unix-like platforms (including OS X). The main development is being managed by Novell. I think the .Net API's might be somewhat limited right now for Mono, though, so not reallly sure if you could get HeroStats working, but might be worth a check?

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One of the people in closed beta got this working. I'll try to find out who.

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I'd love to hear from them, too. If they can submit something about how they made it work on the HeroStats development mailing list (details of how to post are on the HS website), I'd like to put it up on the HS site.

The Cyborg pack description says it has a "Self-Destruct Temporary Power". What does Temporary mean here? Does it go away after you use it once? Does it only last 30 days?

Can't complain about the minimum spawns, it's exactly what I suggested many moons ago on a thread about this exact issue. Now if they'd just take one of my other suggestions and reform the Shard TFs...

In the early days of the City, Scrapper's three sons Dark, Essar, and Reg were well known. Often overlooked was Scrapper's fourth and youngest child, a girl whom all called Shinee. For she was the most easily amused of all the Children of Statesman, and rarely performed any deeds of note, but rather wandered off in pursuit of shiny objects.

One day Shinee was following her brothers through the canyon of steel, and her eye was caught by the light of the sun reflected from a lake. Laughing happily she plunged into the water to catch the sunlight, creating much spray and beautiful rainbows. When she tired of this game, she rested upon the shore, and there it was that she first saw her cousin Invuln in battle.

Invuln was a child of Tank, and his strength was great in those days. He would choose his ground and stand firm, daring his foes to topple him from his unyielding stance. Rare was the enemy that could injure Invuln through the power that manifested as a glowing light around him. Any enemy that drew too close was dazzled and unable to flee, forced to impotently attack until Invuln deigned to notice and fell him.

Shinee was captivated by her cousin's shining figure in the midst of battle. For days she followed his steps, delighting in every moment. Occasionally she would help to fell his foes, but more often she would simply watch, captivated by the glowing light of his power.

Invuln soon grew weary of this state of affairs. "Cousin, must you follow me to every battle?" he complained. "I have deeds to accomplish and no need of an audience." But Shinee took no notice.

Thus Invuln went to his father, Tank. "Father," he said, "I have need of your wisdom. There is a child of Scrapper who follows me everywhere, admiring the light of the power you have bequeathed to me. Tell me how I may avoid her."

Tank thought on his son's request, but no answer immediately presented itself to him. So he went to his brother Scrapper, saying "Brother Scrapper, I have a question about one of your children."

Scrapper immediately replied, "Reg didn't mean it. He's a good kid, just gets a little carried away."

"No brother, I speak of another of your children. Shinee has become enamored of the light of my son Invuln's power, and refuses to leave his side. He wearies of her presence, but try as he might, nothing can distract her for long. Have you any suggestion on this situation?"

Scrapper thought for a moment, then shrugged. "If she likes his power so much, give her the same. She won't use anything I give her anyway."

This pleased Tank, and he returned to his son, finding Shinee nearby as always. "Young child of Scrapper, come here." When she came near, Tank rested his hand on her head and called forth his power, transferring a little of it to her - though not as much as he had given Invuln, for after all she was not his child. "Now go into battle, Shinee, and see what I have given you."

Shinee did as she was bidden, running directly into a nearby group of Skuls. As she fought, she began to glow with the same power as her cousin. Pleased, she thanked her uncle and continued to battle foes wherever they could be found, for in battle her newfound power shone brightest. In time, she became as well known for her deeds as her brothers - a child with the power of both Scrapper and Tank.

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Jock, I somehow missed this thread during its first incarnation. I'm getting to read these for the first time, and I must say, masterfully written. I do have one correction to make to your story...
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Scrapper had three sons, Dark, Essar, and Reg.

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Where is the retelling of the [censored] child, Invuln? It is commonly overlooked now, and seemingly erased from the history books as well?

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Inspiration, thanks Sarrate. Much love to Jock for his stories that started this all.

This is the story of how a child of Scrapper gained some of the power of Tank.

There's been several comments made around how some of these new features could impact various things created by the community - websites, programs, etc. I've addressed how the various upcoming features could impact HeroStats on the HeroStats blog. Of course we'll have to wait and see what the actual implementation of these new features will look like, but I feel pretty safe saying that the demise of HeroStats is in no way imminent.

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PW.. I thought Herostats linked with Cityinfoterminal.com. I have my characters on cityinfoterminal and not badge hunter. Herostats verifies my badges there..

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Both sites are supported.

If you're having issues with the synchronization, there's some troubleshooting that can be done. The first thing is to make sure HeroStats is reading the badges at all. Usually when one character works and another doesn't, the problem is related to your chat tab setup.

If the badges do show up in HeroStats, but not on the site, I suggest you post your issue over in the forums for whichever site you're using.

Outstanding original post. All the things mentioned are basically the reason that, despite many of my real-life friends jumping onto the WoW bandwagon, I never could get into it and stuck with CoX instead. Sidekicking especially is something I just can't live without, now that I've played a game that does it right.

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If this means I get to have my badge list online, always updated, without having to download and run herostats to verify them... YAY!!!

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Agreed. I would love to no longer support the whole badge-verification function.

That isn't to say that sites like CIT and BH will go away. I think they'll just start getting information from NCSoft instead of HeroStats. The rankings, missing badge lists, badge requirements, etc. that those sites provide will still be in demand.

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In my opinion PvP participation will not dramatically improve even if every idea on the list is implemented. Don't misunderstand me, the concerns expressed are genuine and the list is important. I am positive that implementing these changes will improve PvP for those who are already doing it. I see nothing here that would bring me into PvP in CoX, and I spent two years playing Lineage II.

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Funny, every item on my list was aimed at bringing new people in PvP. Maybe none of them work for you specifically, but I've been around long enough to have a feel for what the average non-PvP/casual-PvP player is looking for in a system that they'd use more. Now I agree that a lot of the items on the original list aren't going to mean anything outside the current PvP community, but saying that all of them are unimportant to the PvE-only/casual-PvP community is going too far.

Separation of PvP in the manner you describe is, in my opinion, an awful idea. Not only would it further exacerbate the dividing line between those that PvP and those that don't, it would require the developers to divide their time and effort on what would effectively be two completely different games. Not gonna happen, not while this is run by a for-profit business.

Oh, and your opinion isn't unwelcome - everyone's opinion is welcome if stated clearly and politely. You're just not going to get a lot of agreement.

First off, a bit of background on me: I don't consider myself a PvP'er in CoX. I like PvE and do it most of the time, I rarely PvP and then mostly just with friends and SG mates. This was not the case in other games - for instance, I played WoW for a while and loved the battleground PvP there.

I joined the original discussion that resulted in this list because I felt that it would be useful to have the perspective of someone from the non-PvP mainstream of CoX.

That said, here's the stuff I'd list as my top ten (with minor commentary as to why):

1. Participation rewards: There aren’t any meaningful rewards to encourage participation in PvP. Add zone rewards that are for PvPing, not for doing PvE activities in PvP zones. & The current rep and bounty system doesn’t reward new and learning players. Look at changing the reward system we already have to one where you gain just for participating but still gain more for winning. I'd remove the word "zone" from "zone rewards", myself. Any activity where you actually are PvP'ing should generate some kind of reward, no matter where it happens. I have some ideas on how to do this but I'll not clutter up this thread with 'em. This is important from my perspective because it brings more people into the PvP world. The more people doing PvP, the more likely PvP concerns will become a priority.

2. Instanced PvP missions: There are no true instanced PvP missions. A popular suggestion is Hero vs. Villain in PvP enabled Safeguard/Mayhem. This is important because it could be the catalyst to get more balanced PvP activities that people enjoy. (In this context the term "balanced" speaks to the number of players on each side.) PvP zones have interesting things to do, but are rarely (if ever) evenly balanced on both sides. Team arena matches are usually balanced but there's nothing to do other than blast each other.

3. New PvP player imbalance: New PvPers feel overwhelmed as they try to get the hang of things. Consider adding a newbie friendly zone with debuffed damage, debuffed movement, and buffed resistance so players can learn basic mechanics at a slower pace. I completely agree with the first sentence, but don't agree with the solution in the second. It's important to have some way to get new players involved in PvP without them being incapable of winning. Note the wording there: "incapable of winning" rather than "always losing". I'm not saying newbie PvP'ers should be killing veterans, only that they should have a fighting chance. The current PvP zone setup, the imbalance of power sets, the massive advantage granted by a PvP-spec build over PvE specs - all these things make it nigh impossible for new PvP players to have any chance at all.

4. Cross-server: While we know it might be impossible until a server-less configuration, cross-server zones are very, very high on player wish lists. & Very few people use the arena on live because of the lack of competition there, while test server arena is filled with people. Allow the arena to be cross-server. Similar to #1 above, this is important because it promotes additional participation in the system.

5. PvE vs PvP builds: A good PvP build can be very different from a good PvE build. Allow players to toggle between build so they can use the same toon to be good at both PvE and PvP. I completely agree with the first sentence, but don't agree with the solution in the second. Rather than allowing toggling between builds, the gap should be narrowed between a "PvP build" and a "PvE build". This might mean some nerfs, and that's OK within reason. If I want to spend the time to tweak my toon for PvP, I should be better than someone that doesn't spend that time - but not so much better that it becomes almost impossible for them to beat me. That's the scenario today, and it's a major reason that the majority of CoX players rarely (if ever) PvP.

6. Dev involvement: Having no PvP contact on the dev team makes feedback unnecessarily tricky. Tell us who we can talk to and what they want to know. Communication is the key to resolution of any issue (or in this case, list of issues). This may not happen unless a lot more people start getting into PvP, because the Devs have to focus on the things that are important to the majority of players. This is one reason it's so important to get more people involved, as I've stated above.

7. Map holes: There are places in the Perez Park map where you can get behind the trees. & There are holes in the Eden map where you can fall and end up in total darkness at 1 HP. Stuff like this is just silly to find in a mature game. Should be a pretty easy fix, too.

8. Powerset Balance: Hero and villain combat is not balanced, especially in the 40+ game. The most popular suggestion is to open up a set of APP for villains and allow them to respec out of their patron pools to get those. I don't agree with the wording on this but it is part of the larger problem, which is that there's imbalance across power sets. Some sets are so much better than others that just choosing the set at character creation gives you a giant advantage in PvP. Sometimes it's just a particular power in a set, sometimes it's more. There are multiple possible solutions and I won't clutter the thread with them all, but I will say this - fixing this problem is going to require some nerfs as well as buffs.

OK, that's only 8 but some referenced multiple list items. I know a lot of you reading this are avid PvP'ers, and I know some of my list aren't top ten things for someone already involved in PvP. But keep in mind that the majority of CoX players don't PvP much if at all, and I believe these are the things that would be steps in the right direction to get those people involved.

Nicely written guide. I would like to add one thing - if you slot Gravitic Emanation, it'll become your opening power for every fight. It's an AoE stun and knockback, so it gives you lots of time to beat on the mobs before they recover. Against normal mobs you can do GE and then Nova attacks will wipe them out before they ever recover. Against bosses or stun-resistant mobs, use GE to knock them down, get in a few Nova blasts, then go Dwarf while the Fuzzies do the damage.

I registered and got my confirmation for GenCon, but it says location and time TBD. Is there an official post somewhere stating where and when we're meeting up?

For what it's worth, the veteran stuff now goes up to 346. That's the last one, Non-combat Pet - which makes a great title.

Please don't listen to anyone saying the story arc rewards are a bad idea. I love the idea of better rewards for more story arcs. Now, I do understand that there's some L50s that already have done the arcs - but why not just make those recipes also drop from high level AVs and/or task forces? Then 50s can get them one way, and up-and-coming toons can do the story arcs.

Great read. I've been on many superteams of this sort, but none of them have lasted because of people dropping out. Best attempt only made it to the mid-20s before we were down to 2 people. Fun to read about someone who made it work.

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In an upcoming patch, here are a few things you'll see:
Increased Maximum ranges for attacks like Blaze.

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Not going to complain about this, of course, but please don't nerf any other aspects of the power (i.e. damage) to compensate. I'd rather have the short range, it's not a big deal to bounce in and out of Blaze range with Combat Jumping/Hurdle.

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Some improvements for */Fire (No, no powers were switched out. No Fiery Embrace, I'm afraid. )

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One of the weaker secondaries, this is good.

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Some improvements for Fire/*

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Huh? Why on earth would you make improvements in Fire primary? It's outstanding as it is! After 50 levels of Fire/Ice/Fire blasting, the only complaint I had on the Fire primary was that the animation on Fire Breath made my toon look silly. I hate to complain about buffs to any set, but come on...wouldn't the time be spent better on something like AR, where the increased smash/lethal resist at high levels causes all kinds of grief?

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A very minor improvement for Gadgets...I mean, Devices! (Yeah, it was a dumb mistake -- typing in haste and all of that.)

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Can't hurt, after ED gave the big smack-down to Targeting Drone.

We love ya, Castle, but please - prioritize. If it ain't broke, don't fix it - and if it's broke, at least look at it.

I didn't have time to read through the whole thing, but it looks good, nice writeup. And I see you use HeroStats a lot, always a plus in my book.

One thing I did look at was Siren's Song. You're correct that EMP is a better effect, but EMP is also much longer recharge and has that annoying -recovery component. If you're soloing or in a small team, Siren's Song is an excellent crowd control power. In larger groups, there's too many AoEs to make it worthwhile.

If you follow step 1 and solo, then you can fairly easily destroy all sorts of things on the way to the bank and you'll have plenty of time to spare. I almost always solo mayhem missions, and I've had upwards of 30 minutes available when entering the bank on multiple occasions.

What works best is to make a beeline for the side missions except for the kidnap mission. That one takes too long to be worthwhile. Kill the cops on the way, those 30 second bonuses add up when you only have to beat up 3-5 minions to get them. And destroy whatever objects you see that will give a time bonus. On the lower levels, don't bother with cars, trucks, and large crates, they take too long.

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* Ability to drop missions. Coming soon!(TM) I know this will make a lot of players happy that they don't need to contact Customer Service just to continue thier story arcs

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...provided that it doesn't lead to a drop in your commitment to fixing bugs in individual missions.
Don't get me wrong. It will definitely be good to know a mission can be dropped if we can't complete it, but at the same time we do want to complete those missions too.
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At the same time, thank you for working on these issues and keeping us informed.

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QFT. Couldn't have said it better myself.

The map and badge links are broken, yet another victim of the naming of "that badge site we can't name on this forum". Fixed links:

Maps
Badges

Although personally I much prefer City Info Terminal for badge info.