InfamousBrad
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Posts
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Maybe that'll be the day we find out that Zwillinger was trolling us when he asked us how much we'd pay for a new archetype, because that'll be the day that the Rikti Epic Archetype appears in the Paragon Market?
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Except that Cryptic, which uses the same software for their games' forums, solved this problem for their users (apparently by embedding it in some kind of a wrapper?) almost a year ago.
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Quote:Yeah, I think that was it. Every time I go over to his place, he's got some new video game to show me, and it seems like other than the puzzlers, every single role playing game or story-themed side-scroller is more wrist-slittingly depressing than the previous one. City of Heroes' game world may be almost as much of a ____sack World as Warhammer, at times, but compared to the broader industry, it's a ray of sunshine.Originally Posted by Jalandir
That sounds like NiER. -
In general, I agree with you: the Praetorian War in general, the Dark Astoria arcs, and oh holy cats in particular the awful Dr. Graves arcs, are almost too depressing to play.
Comparison, against the broader industry: I was over at a friend's house the other night, a hardcore console games addict. He was showing off some newish game, I didn't catch the name, where the game goes the same way each time you play it through, but it's worth playing four times because each time through, you, the player, can understand more of the other side's language. By the end of the 4th run-through, you find out that you're not one of the last remaining human beings, you're a malfunctioning mechanical construct, and that over the course of the game you've killed off the whole human race, including several fights where you butchered whole schools full of children that you mistook for hostile ghosts. That's the direction the industry is going, right now.
But there are still times that City of Heroes gets it right. I've long been fond of Marshall Brass's original arcs. All four Faultline arcs rock. Dean MacArthur, for all of his horrible chummy sexism towards female player characters, hits the balance quite nicely, as other people have said. Operative Vargas is broad parody done right, in my opinion. Television is awesome; it's a deadly serious Nemesis plot, and your contact can't help the fact that the only way it has to communicate with you, hypnotically, is by invoking TV show cliches in sidesplittingly funny ways.
The one I'm raving about lately is Bane Spider Ruben, the new level 15-20 contact in Cap au Diable. I'm having a hard time figuring out everything that I like about this one, but among the things I've noticed is that there are lovely grace notes where it's obvious that both your character and he are aware of the absurdity of the situation we have to work with; even more than Marshall Brass's arcs, even more than Arbiter Daos' bits during the Vernor von Grun arc, I feel like it really nails what it's like for villain minions to find themselves in government.
But there's a TV Tropes page that I don't think I can reference by name here without bowdlerizing it, ____sack World? A story setting or game world where everybody is reprehensible in some way or the other, where even the so-called "good guys" are bigoted or clueless or vicious or callous in some way? City of Heroes feels like that, not all the time, but way too often lately. -
Quote:I'm sorry, Zwillinger, but I must respectfully disagree. It's not hyperbole, and what you just said is one of the standard hostile non-apology apologies: "I'm sorry you feel that way." At best. At worst, it's responding to someone who says, "I'm angry about what you just did" with "no, you're not."Originally Posted by Zwillinger
I am extremely disappointed at the amount of hyperbole being expressed in this thread.
They are grammar mistakes. Yes they happen, yes they can be annoying, but statements such as stating we "don't care" are out of line and uncalled for. Many a time I have seen Protean, Viridian and Doctor Aeon working until midnight for weeks at a time trying to eek in that last bit of content before a text lock so that you have more to play with in the upcoming Issue. Many a time have I seen our QA department working overtime to make sure that everything works as should, and sometimes grammar slips by.
I apologize that these examples occurred, and I will certainly pass the qualitative feedback along. At the same time, please remember that we do care, deeply, about this game and its Community.
File a bug report please.
Nobody here is saying that no typos get fixed; what we're all saying is that (a) way, way too many typos get past that process and (b) the ones that do might as well be permanent. What we're suggesting is that the development team is not budgeting anywhere near enough time or manpower to what the game industry calls "polish."
I think LordAethar nailed it when he described the result: a game that works reasonably well, that plays reasonably well, but looks shoddy - and, frankly, increasingly so lately. The number of glaring typos that make it through the beta process and then seem to live forever has gotten so bad, the last three issues, that I must add my name to the list of people, above, who have given up. I no longer waste time filling out /bug reports for typos. Why bother?
During last week's Coffee Talk, Positron said that he was blowing off a meeting to prioritize the bug report list. We're all quite curious to know: did that meeting end up allocating any time, any time at all, to typo correction? My guess is that it did not. -
Quote:Pancaking "A," right, man.Originally Posted by Ogi
... Basically, when you want the world to actually be saved send Vanguard not FP.
Could it be otherwise? Less picky recruiting, twice the recruiting pool, international legal mandate, and actual taxpayer support. With Statesman dead, Freedom Phalanx is an anachronism, pointless. If they want to even matter, the Phalanx and the Vindicators ought to just uniform-up in the candy-striper suits and become Longbow Wardens, gain some actual numbers and actual organization and actual legitimacy. (And they call ME a vigilante?)
With Statesman dead, can we finally admit that the Citizens Crime Fighting Act was an incredibly bad idea? -
Quote:Yeah, not to beat a dead horse, but it wouldn't have sucked if the Retro Sci-Fi pack had shipped at the same time, so my character could have ducked over to the tailor and put on a bubble helmet.Originally Posted by PSLAnimal
It occurred to me, after a while, that it would have been nice to have been granted a temp auto-power that did two things: put "atmosphere bubble" FX around my character's head, and gave him an invisible 200' radius PBAoE that gave the same bubble to any friendly mastermind minions. But as soon as I thought of that, I realized that Doc Aeon probably thought of that, too, and the powers and art departments laughed him out of the room for thinking they had time to do it. Still ... anybody who bought the whole SSA1 series paid $35 for it. Having the "you can now breathe in space" spell be visible should arguably have been included in that price. It's not like they'll never need it again. -
SSA#1.7 needs a badge: "I'm in Space!"
Yeah, I loved the maps, both in that mission, and the one in the south Pacific.
Boss-level Sapper Tanks sounded a lot scarier in my head than they were in reality.
You could have knocked me over with a feather when Lord Recluse didn't betray me at the end. I would have bet money he was going to say something like, "Oh, and by the way, [expletive]head, remember that broken mask you handed me a couple of years ago?" *WHAM*
Although, speaking of betrayals? I see that, during his short time in Arachnos, Manticore did not learn the first rule of betrayal: beat them down first, then monologue. Seriously, dude, you have Ice Arrow. At least try to lock me down, at least make me blow a break free, if you're going to give me time to unpack and buff all six 'bots, and get three of my four main toggles up, before you fire your first shot. He was monologuing so long I was beginning to think the game was going to give me a chance to talk him out of it.
I have to say though: for someone wielding the power of Statesman, Sister Psyche, AND Rularuu the Ravager, Wadelaruu was a pushover. I had a harder time with Ghost Widow (who was repeatedly one-shotting my bots through soft-capped +def) than I did with him, at least, once I took away his Apocalypse Beam. -
I have two melee characters for whom the vet-power wand and staff feel out-of-character, so I crafted Revolvers for them to use for ranged pulls and finishing-off shots against runners in the lower levels. I had another character that I leveled using the Plasmatic Taser the same way, to finish off runners.
Part of me feels like anybody who attempts the LRSF should bring stun grenades, for those annoying times where there is no controller or dominator or the team, or where they don't know what they're doing, so they can stun the green mitos.
But once I get past level 12 or at most level 20, the crafted temp powers get too annoying to use, because of their lousy and unenhanceable accuracy. -
Quote:Wait, what organization?Originally Posted by Night_Watcher
This makes them quite dangerous, and is the reason why my organization watches all attempts to 'ascend' in this way closely.
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That was a LOT less than seven hours. Servers are up!
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"Who Will Die? Part 7: You Mean, 'Who Won't?'"
aka
"Who Will Die? Part 7: Rocks Fall, Everybody Dies" -
*ahem* A "lone wolf" is by definition an insane wolf.
Is this going live at midnight PDT, or not until after the patch? -
I'm seriously not expecting Staff Fighting.
In the most recent Producer's Letter, War Witch listed the next four new things that would go on the Paragon Market. The first one went up two weeks ago tomorrow, the second one went up a week ago tomorrow, and the third one is Beast Mastery. You do the math.
I was just checking the forums to see if it was announced for tomorrow, yet, and to see if anybody could remind me what time the market usually updates, because I was debating staying up late to start my beasts/traps Resistance mastermind. But now that it looks like, instead of the market just routinely updating early in the morning, it won't update until mid afternoon CDT? Yeah, I think not.
Seven hours. Sheesh. Whatever happened to patches only taking four hours? -
Quote:Yeah, given my druthers, I'd either have them at all the joints (shoulders, elbows, and knees) or none them. Having them only at the shoulder seems kind of off. But I'll still be buying this set day one.Originally Posted by Draugadan
Only thing about the set I don't like are the shoulders. I wish the acordian (or whatever they are called) shoulders could be a shoulder option. But otherwise really cool set.
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Quote:I have a mid 30's necro/time. Once you get the Lich, and once all 6 pets get their to-hit debuff attacks and self-heals (even if they are dumb as a post about when to use those self-heals), you end up with a lot of seldom-resisted damage (and much of it AoE toxic, which is verah nice), and a lot of debuff, and the lich is a pretty darned good controller. Stack that with the AoE HoT, the AoE to-hit and damage debuff, and your own mag 4 hold, and it's a pretty sweet combination.Originally Posted by Broken_Wings
What you said about necromancy is very interesting to me, especially that you put them so much higher then the ninjas, I've always thought they were about the same.
I'm currently playing a robotics/time character but I have to admit I'm not too fond of the concept, something magic based like necromacy/time appeals to me more. Would you say zombies past 32 work about as well as the robots?
It was, however, annoying as heck up until level 26, and didn't really get good until level 32. Because, you're right, on their own the tier 1 zombies are roughly as fragile as genin. -
From best to worst: Demons, Robots, Thugs, Zombies, Mercs, Beasts, Ninjas.
Demons: Ungodly damage in seldom-resisted damage types, near-capped AoE debuffs. So completely over-powered that if the pets weren't so huge and the noises so annoying, everybody and his dog would be playing them.
Robots: OK damage through level 31, insane AoE damage after that, nigh-unkillable.
Thugs: Excellent damage, okay survivability, and Gang War is fun and very useful, but the Bruiser's AI is moronic.
Zombies: Start out as total garbage, but get awesome once you get to level 32.
Mercs: OK survivability, excellent (if oft resisted) damage, really stupid AI problems. Also, Serum is the single stupidest power in the entire archetype.
Beasts: Nearly impossible to keep alive prior to level 26, damage is merely okay, would be dead last if the mastermind attacks weren't the best in the whole archetype.
Ninjas: God himself could not keep the genin alive, and getting decent damage out of Smoke Flash is chancy at best. Definitely the most difficult set to play. -
Who has experience playing a dark/dark stalker since issue 22 went live? Is this the worst idea I've ever had? or merely a very bad idea?
I'm rerolling a steampunk "poison gas melee/poison gas armor" themed character, and because I love stalkers in general now, and because I prefer the scrapper and stalker APPs to the tanker/brute ones, I wondered if I would enjoy playing a noxious green/orange tinted negative energy aura surrounded, gas mask wearing, pseudo-Victorian inventor. Here's what I'm thinking ...
Hero Plan by Mids' Hero Designer 1.953
http://www.cohplanner.com/
Professor Broadleigh: Level 50 Science Stalker
Primary Power Set: Dark Melee
Secondary Power Set: Dark Armor
Power Pool: Fighting
Power Pool: Teleportation
Ancillary Pool: Darkness Mastery
Hero Profile:
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Level 1: Shadow Punch C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg(A), C'ngImp-Dmg/EndRdx(3), C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(9), C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(11), C'ngImp-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(15)
Level 1: Hide Krma-ResKB(A)
Level 2: Smite C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg(A), C'ngImp-Dmg/EndRdx(3), C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(9), C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(11), C'ngImp-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(15)
Level 4: Shadow Maul Oblit-Dmg(A), Oblit-Acc/Rchg(5), Oblit-Dmg/Rchg(5), Oblit-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(13), Oblit-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(17)
Level 6: Assassin's Eclipse C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg(A), C'ngImp-Dmg/EndRdx(7), C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(7), C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(13), C'ngImp-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(17)
Level 8: Dark Embrace TtmC'tng-ResDam/EndRdx(A), TtmC'tng-ResDam/Rchg(27), TtmC'tng-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(29)
Level 10: Shadow Dweller LkGmblr-Def(A), LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx(31), LkGmblr-Rchg+(31)
Level 12: Murky Cloud TtmC'tng-ResDam/EndRdx(A), TtmC'tng-ResDam/Rchg(27), TtmC'tng-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(29)
Level 14: Build Up RechRdx-I(A)
Level 16: Obsidian Shield TtmC'tng-ResDam/EndRdx(A), TtmC'tng-ResDam/Rchg(46), TtmC'tng-ResDam(46)
Level 18: Siphon Life C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg(A), C'ngImp-Dmg/EndRdx(19), C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(19), C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(21), C'ngImp-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(21)
Level 20: Dark Regeneration Nictus-Heal/HP/Regen/Rchg(A), Nictus-Acc/Heal(23), Nictus-Acc/EndRdx/Heal/HP/Regen(23), Nictus-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg(25), Nictus-Heal(25)
Level 22: Kick Empty(A)
Level 24: Tough TtmC'tng-ResDam/EndRdx(A), TtmC'tng-ResDam/Rchg(40), TtmC'tng-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(43), S'fstPrt-ResDam/Def+(43)
Level 26: Touch of Fear SipInsght-Acc/ToHitDeb(A), SipInsght-ToHitDeb(31), SipInsght-ToHitDeb/EndRdx/Rchg(34), SipInsght-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg(34)
Level 28: Cloak of Fear SipInsght-ToHitDeb(A), SipInsght-Acc/ToHitDeb(37), SipInsght-Acc/Rchg(37), SipInsght-ToHitDeb/EndRdx/Rchg(37), SipInsght-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg(40), EndRdx-I(43)
Level 30: Recall Friend Winter-ResSlow(A)
Level 32: Midnight Grasp Mako-Acc/Dmg(A), Mako-Dmg/EndRdx(33), Mako-Dmg/Rchg(33), Mako-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg(33), Mako-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(34)
Level 35: Oppressive Gloom Stpfy-Acc/Rchg(A), Stpfy-EndRdx/Stun(36), Stpfy-Acc/EndRdx(36), Stpfy-Acc/Stun/Rchg(36)
Level 38: Soul Transfer Stpfy-Acc/Rchg(A), Stpfy-EndRdx/Stun(39), Stpfy-Acc/EndRdx(39), Stpfy-Stun/Rng(39), Stpfy-Acc/Stun/Rchg(40)
Level 41: Torrent Posi-Acc/Dmg(A), Posi-Dmg/EndRdx(42), Posi-Dmg/Rchg(42), Posi-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(42)
Level 44: Petrifying Gaze Lock-Acc/Hold(A), Lock-Acc/Rchg(45), Lock-Rchg/Hold(45), Lock-EndRdx/Rchg/Hold(45), Lock-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg/Hold(46)
Level 47: Night Fall Posi-Acc/Dmg(A), Posi-Dmg/EndRdx(48), Posi-Dmg/Rchg(48), Posi-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(48)
Level 49: Tenebrous Tentacles Posi-Acc/Dmg(A), Posi-Dmg/EndRdx(50), Posi-Dmg/Rchg(50), Posi-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(50)
Level 0: Freedom Phalanx Reserve
Level 0: Portal Jockey
Level 0: Task Force Commander
Level 0: The Atlas Medallion
Level 50: Cardiac Partial Radial Revamp
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Level 2: Swift Run-I(A)
Level 2: Health Heal-I(A)
Level 2: Hurdle Jump-I(A)
Level 2: Stamina EndMod-I(A)
Level 1: Assassination
Level 1: Brawl Empty(A)
Level 1: Sprint EndRdx-I(A)
Level 2: Rest RechRdx-I(A)
Level 4: Ninja Run
http://www.cohplanner.com/mids/downl...60FD0772A7F54C
It totals out to about 40% to 50% res(all), roughly 10% def(all), about 47% single target and 20% AoE to-hit debuff, plus the AoE life steal, plus both mitigation auras.
I'm spoiled: my nearly capped sword/reflexes stalker can almost comfortably tank +1x8 spawns. After playing that, am I going to be able to tolerate this? Or am I kidding myself? -
Quote:Given how many of the Tsoo-themed contacts and missions are in Skyway City, a Skyway City revamp should definitely include Paragon City's "Little Cambodia" neighborhood.Originally Posted by Golden Girl
I'd love a Chinatown area for the city - I'd probably have a few Tsso missions in it
Given how little architectural change the Hmong brought to (real life) Minneapolis, it wouldn't take actually creating new buildings, or not very many of them, but it should definitely include new multi-lingual signage and maybe new civilian NPCs walking around.
My opinion only, of course, and subject to change if we instead move the lowl-level Tsoo storyline to Steel Canyon and make the changes to Skyway City, from the Admiral Sutter TF, permanent. Which I would be just okay with. -
Quote:You and I are on approximately the same page. If it were up to me, I'd have one (PPD) contact offer you the choice of one of two arcs, with the other one only available via flashback, the way that the middle arc in new Atlas Park is: you do some anti-gang stuff (maybe even street sweeping, only with markers to tell you where to go) to try to get started on the CoT, the Lost, the Hellions, and the Skulls, but then you get one of two series of missions (probably broken up into two arcs each) that tell the store of "The Bonefire Plot" - but sci- and tech-oriented heroes get sent up the Skulls/Trolls/Family side of the conspiracy, and mutant- and magic-oriented heroes get sent up the Hellions/Outcasts/Warriors side of the conspiracy. And then, no matter which of the two you chose, you get thrown into the ending, where the four lowbie gangs are being thrown at each other as pawns of the Warriors and the Family -- I really like your idea of having it in the form of a Perez Park Trial.Originally Posted by Zombie Man
Yes. One really good arc that tells the story all the other level 5-10 arcs tell (without the repeats, the sweeps, and FedExes) that leads to a Perez Park Trial.
(Of course, eventually people find out that there's another layer behind the Warriors and another layer behind the Superadine side of The Family, but that can wait until people get to Talos Island for the Warriors side of the conspiracy and until people get to Independence Port for the Family side of the conspiracy. But there should be a hint as to what's to come in both of those storylines at some point in the Perez Park trial.) -
Quote:Am I the only one who likes King's Row the way it is?Originally Posted by Golden Girl
I've been suggesting a revamp for Kings Row ever since Freedom started
It's got a lot of potential to be our "Gotham", and it'd be a great way to show newer players the darker side of the city early on - especially if they're more into gritty urban environments rather than the "Metropolis" setting of Atlas Park.
OK, that's not entirely true. Given my druthers, I would make two changes to it, both of them relatively trivial. I would rewrite the contacts' missions into actual story arcs. And I would replace one of the construction sites with the Cyrus Thompson Community Center from the end of Top Cow comic #6. But other than that? Leave it alone! Go make Steel Canyon less gang-infested, go push the Rikti into the alleys off Founder's Falls, go wrap up the story of Perez Park, give Boomtown at least some blue FEMA tarps, but leave King's Row (mostly) the way it is!
And I'll tell you why: ever since issue 4, stepping off the tram into King's Row is the first minute I feel like I'm actually needed. The people of King's Row need heroes, because, even with Blue Steel standing there, even with Paragon PD headquarters in the zone, it is obvious just walking through it: ever since Statesman bankrupted the King Garment Works for their Family ties, King's Row is the neighborhood that everybody else left behind, that nobody cares about.
When you step into King's Row for the first time, you may be only a level 5 hero, but these people don't even have that much.
When you step into King's Row for the first time, you may not know anything about the Circle of Thorns and the war of the gods, and you may not know anything about which of the city's many villain groups and corporations are Nemesis plots. But those are two of the main long-running story lines (the other two being Arachnos and the Fifth Column/Council conspiracy), and the clues that break both start with gang and street-crime crackdowns in King's Row. When you're level 5, you're so far back in the storyline that none of your contacts know anything; the time you spent street-sweeping in KR is why, thanks to you, your later contacts know enough to help you crack the conspiracies.
I love King's Row. Update the story tech, fill in the one missing building, but please, leave the rest of it the way it is! -
On our way to Thorn Isle for a last-minute WST.
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Quote:I'm the Infamous Brad and I endorse this message. Seriously, what is the point of having a 2XP weekend just for the dark controllers & dominators? Are we going to get another 2XP weekend for masterminds and meleers when we get our new powersets? Or are they just special because soloing the early controller levels is so painful?Originally Posted by Derangedpolygot
*Expletive deleted*
*Expletive deleted*
*Particularly colorful expletive deleted*
*Expletive deleted*
SO...Why are you bothering with a double xp weekend? Seriously, I've no momentum going into this weekend anymore. -
Quote:I got bit by this same bug the same day, and had the same work-around. How did you get out? I tried using Pocket D Teleport, and it errored out. I was worried that Ouroboros would kick me off of the team. I went out the exit portal and got kicked all the way back to Mercy Island, and it took me an uncomfortably long time to get back to my team for the last mission.Originally Posted by Sapphic_Neko
And to make things even better.
Echo is accessible from ouroborus, the hero one. Rogues are sent to villain ouroborus and therefore cannot get to echo: dark astoria.
Well thought out there
Found that out yesterday doing Citadel TF. Thankfully they had mission TP so could get there anyway, but poor design.
(Although the good news was that it let me grab those exploration badges on a rogue.) -
Two questions: did you play one to at least level 26? and did you take, and spam, your primary attacks?
I ask this because once you get all 6 pets out, and spam your primary attacks, they start spending most of their time with 6-10 stacks of Pack Mentality, which does pretty remarkable things to their +crit chance. Once I got to that point, mobs were disintegrating as fast as they were for my same-level demon summoner.
I also ask this because the "no ranged attacks" thing starts to matter a lot less once you start hitting mobs with -fly and -spd debuffs, which the mastermind primary attacks have.
With robotics, ninja summoning, thugs, and mercs, the mastermind primary attacks are things you take very, very late if at all. For demons, you take the first primary attack early, maybe, for the ranged pull and the lovely debuff, and probably skip the rest. Beast Mastery is designed to all-but require you to take all 9 powers to get the full benefit out of it.