Infamy

On Virtue, I lost two character slots this way and my daughter's account lost three... This must be fixxed yesterday! It is hard to play the much touted expansion if you cannot create a Praetorian character because your slots keep vanishing. Not good, not good at all.

Just about every PBAOE is broken. No one is in range long enough to actually be affected. What's more, the devs aparently had some morbid fear of these already useless powers... they still root and those toggles drop rather than being suppressed in PVP.
Ever try using a /DA toon in PVP? Gawd help you if you do... You can spend 5 times as much time trying to turn on your toggles as it takes every other freaking toon in the game to drop them. And, the way mez works now, they WILL drop them. Over and over and over with a single power.
Until this is fixed, I have to question ANY seriousness on the devs' part about PVP. Restructuring the mechanics so that already uber-weak PVP powers are now TOTALLY useless? Wow, we REALLY needed that.
PBAOE toggles need to supress only, just like any other toggle. Likewise, their area of effect (vs. players only) needs to double in radius just so the SS-bunny-hopping masses have a CHANCE to be hit with a tick of one of them every now and then...

Which brings me to the next issue. If every PVP toon needs a single power combo to compete, then that's a combo that needs to be controlled better. They put in travel supression to stop constant jousting... it failed due to no fix for the forward momentum mechanic. Everyone just uses SS and hops around letting their forward momentum to keep them kite-jousting around every melee toon out there. In effect, their attempts to curtail the phenomenae only made it worse.
I know this will draw out the haters, but mobility in PVP really needs to slow down if it's going to be a draw for most players. I don't mean that it needs to move at a crawl, a happy medium would be fine. But, when I enter RV to see nothing but a swarming mass of foes moving around at break-neck speed (which is just about all the time) I just leave. There's no point. Even with a team, unless we all have invested in exactly the same exploit of the mechanic, we cannot even try to make an impact.
The devs should actually invest their time in examining real word tactics. If one side of a conflict has the mobility to extend or close distance gaps at will, the advantage is overwhelming. The opponent may as well be standing still. In such a competative environment, all combatants will flock to that advantage until everyone is a mind-numbing homogenized vanilla in that aspect... or they just lose.
That is broken.

Star Strider Forces Registry:

Name - Infamy
Global Contact - @Infamy
Level of Classification - Threat Level 50, Brute
Origin - Aeon Labs, Cap Au Diable, Rogue Isles (Science)
Villain Group & Rank - Decimators, Control (Leader)

I just have to ask... will there be villains and heroes any more? It seems that being firmly good or evil will accomplish nothing but to harshly restrict the zones you can play in. With the smattering of zones they have, why would ANY villain stay a villain?

I ask the powers that be to think about this from a mechanical, non-storyline viewpoint.

Look at the server populations, as an example. People aggregate on the servers with higher populations for the purely statistical advantage it has for getting a team. Now extend that to red and blue sides. With the majority of zones and majority of players blue side, staying "bad" is absurdly punative. Fewer zone options than any other "alignment" and no way to get to where most of the players are?

Unless there is some SERIOUS benefit for villains staying villainous, I expect a flood to the rogue side of things at least. More likely to the Vigilante side, as they will default to the most populated side, yet retain their ability to go back to the Isles should they get the urge.

Get ready for City of Vigilantes. I acknowledge that the MMO can't mimic the comicbook genre realities as well as some would like, but one of the BIG norms is the large number of villains compared to heroes. CoX has already deviated stongly from this, but get ready for the willing suspension of disbelief to totally crash... there may soon be only one side: the murky blue one that can still go anywhere and do anything content-wise.

Yes, this may be pessimistic, but I cannot think of a reason given yet that could explain why it would not happen within weeks of GR's release.

Is there a solution? Any ideas?

Though I submitted these for various catagories in the MA awards, just wanted to advertise that the following arcs are up and available for play. Feedback is not needed, but always appreciated.

Pulp Classics 1: The Hollow Earth
Arc ID 204904

Enter the Tyrants
Arc ID 337026

Radical Sheikh
Arc ID 336578

Do I get to fight Saker, Ratman, Behemoth, Electrocutioner, Shapeshifter, and Chrysalis? 2 Moldy Oldy points to the people who get that one...

Edit: Doh! Beat to the punch on the Elementals references!

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I were him, I'd be more considered with the mass-exodus of PvPers.

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That group has to BE a mass before they can MASS exodus. The established PVP base (if you can call it that) took many issues to build up to it's anemic state (and even then, most of the activity was on the non-live server).
Given that a new PVP base will also take time to build up (i.e: many issues just like PVP 1.0) I think Castle does have time to fix placate. And, he should probably do so before it becomes an issue as PVP picks up... if he waits, he will be playing catch up.
The best way to surpass the pre-i13 PVP clique's numbers is to get rid of the roadblocks in the way. So, if he wants the grand experiment to succeed, he will fix placate (finally).

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If any effect remains ...it un-placates them. This includes stuns, sleeps, debuffs, Demoralize, etc.

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As of the last patch, being placated now counts as a status effect due to it's ability to prevent you from targetting the placater. This should alleviate the current incarnation of the placate bug by having placate break placate. We hope this solves the problem.

-The Management

Um... normally I am not the first guy to call doooom, but why not just give them an I win button... coupled with Sonic Blast this will be a pocket controller with blaster damage, res debuffs, and psi damage.

Subdual – Immobilize
Mind Probe - Recharge slow
Telekinetic Thrust – Knockback
Drain Psyche – Debuff hit point and endurance recovery
World of Confusion – Mass confusion
Scare – Fear
Psychic Shockwave – Mass recharge slow and disorient

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You don't see Superman or Wolverine get two-shotted when they're in a climactic fight, or Magneto. The fights go on for a while (several panels or several minutes) with a LOT of back and forth.

Why can't my superhero, of whatever AT, be able to stand up to damage from another player? These should be epic fights where we throw each other down and pound and exchange blows for a while before a winner is declared.

Instead, what we have are hyperbuffed Blasters and Defenders two-shotting people (hell sometimes one-shotting off Inferno DoTs) and the rest of us playing catchup.


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And there you have it. CoX cannot be a game of MMO PVP. It must be a game of MMO PVP for people who like the genre. Superfast non-stop jumping around and two shotting people is NOT what they want when they come to the game. Those who do like that can get it in a dozen other online PVP games that do it much better and with more balance. Superhuman combats need to SEEM like superhuman combats. Like the movies or like the comic books themselves. Both DC and Marvel have MMOs in the works. Compete or die NCSoft. It's that simple.


1- Slow things down. This does not look like anything we have ever seen in the source material. This looks like nothing we really WANTED to see.

2- Balance the playing field to the extent it is possible. It can never be perfect but this "why bother" alternative has led to nearly abandoned PVP zones.

3- Make story driven fights a reality. Zones are nice, but story driven, instanced battles with objectives (that are not corny, canned arena matches) are what is needed.

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* Fix Defense

* Fix Defense

* Either a) Tone down stalker animation times or b) reduce their survivability ...; far too easy to 2-shot someone in 2 seconds

* Give partial credit for Bounty - KS'ing favors the Blaster and Stalker (etc) who can finish the target that you've been working on for awhile... Isn't this done w/Experience when 2 different unteamed players who defeat a Mob on the street?


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I agree on these points, except for that stalker thing. This obviously refers entirely to EM stalkers. My animations are not all fast, and I do only smashing and lethal damage.

Yes, fix EM (on tanks too) but JUST SAY NO to nerfing my stalker any more than he is... it is already too hard to finish many toons before dying... and that's ASSUMING I get the drop on them.

Try more like 4 shots to take down many blasters, while blasters can two shot me right through my defense without needing to be hidden or worrying about interuptions. Try playing from the stalker side with a defense based protection set and a non-EM primary set b4 nerf herding please.

1- In PVP the smashing/lethal disparity needs fixing. Any toon based on these damage types is not PVP viable regardless of what you do.

2- In PVP, defense sets are next to useless. Even with overload running, I am hit with 95% accuracy. +Accuracy simply escalates to the point of absurdity. We need Resistance to Defense set parity.

3- Tankers two shotting villains? Yes, tis true. This "medium" damage AT is doing just that. The culprit? Energy Melee. The set the devs refuse to balance. Toons with no right to do so are mega-burst damage kings. My stalker can't keep up with tanks... TANKS for gawd's sake!

4- Oh look I entered the PVP zone and I am greeted with a dozen superspeed, jumping bozos with EM! Look, a major problem with PVP is that it TOO fast. There is no way to actually fight. It is a constant Energy Melee joust. So much for travel supression.

5- So much for fear supression as well. Getting hit while under a fear affect in PVP often has no "release" when you are struck. You are in an unbreakable "uberhold" and just have to breakfree or sit and die. Not what was intended either, but yet another exploit that the devs refuse to patch.

6- The devs claim PVP is rock, paper, scissors. It is not. It is rock, paper, scissors, atom bomb. Fix balance. Fix the exploits. Here's a news flash to the devs: You are not avoiding fixxes in PVP because it is unpopular. PVP is unpopular because you refuse to fix it.

I am not going to ask what is coming down the line. I know you can't tell us Lighthouse. I just want some simple answers about what is even on the radar. Not any promises or "this will happen soon(tm)". I just want to know wether the devs considder the following problems. That is a surer indicator of long term survivability.

"Issues that we wonder whether the devs are even looking in to(tm)." :

1- Two expansions have focussed (to a greater or lesser degree) on PVP. PVP remains hideously unbalanced. No steps have been taken to make it work. No meanigful steps have really been taken since CoV release. Is this off the table? Is CoX PVP dead so far as future expansions are concerned? More broadly, players do not like to see a sizable part of the game languish and die due to a lack on concern on the devs part. If it can happen to the PVPers it can happen to them. The long term survial of CoX does depend on the answer.

2- Hero/Villain balance remains a huge sticking point. Any objective accounting of content, zones, badges, accolades, Epic ATs, expansions, (etc., etc., ad nauseum) favors the heroes. Does this strike the devs as an issue or no? Can we expect more of the same or is love for the villains even considdered "on the radar"? If the rule of "any expansion must adress both sides equally" is still the rule, then the hero/villain disparity has been enshrined for all eternity. Thus, two equally costly products (CoH and CoV) have had a huge disparity in the time and energy devoted to them. Does this not bother the devs? The long term survial of CoX does depend on the answer.

3- The resistance vs. defense disparity has seen some patches and make shift work, but it does not work yet. Just ask any toon with a maxxed out defense set how well it works. So long as more accurate foes undo the defenses of such protection sets this will never be fixxed. This will (I realize) require changes to the basic combat engine. Not a small task. This makes me think that it is off the table forever and resistance sets will continue to be the beter deal (with fewwer slots invested in them too boot!). Do the devs even considder it a problem? This problem is ultimately not about the protection sets, but rather, about the "problem fixxing paradigm" of the devs. More to the point, is producing a permenant fix for fundamental problems part of the devs' vision? Or are makeshift patches the rule? The long term survial of CoX does depend on the answer.


4- Drum roll please... STALKERS. One tenth of the basic ATs is broken. It has been broken (in a PVE sense) since the begining. What's more, the dev rule for adressing the problems seems to be a special one reserved only to Stalkers. Other ATs get balancing attention and the reply with regards to PVP, is "we will see". On the other had, any change to Stalkers is approached like it is radioactive and must be proved and double proved to be harmless to PVP before implimented. Thus, nothing really has been implimented. In the end, this question has less to do with Stalkers than it does with double standards. Players are unlikely to keep playing a game where this sort of uneven treatment is the norm. If it can happen to one AT, it can happen to others. Good player/customer morale depends on them not hunkering down and waiting for the other boot to drop. Likewise, good player/customer morale depends on the belief that all integral aspects of the game are treated fairly and not written off. The long term survial of CoX does depend on the answer.

5- Few promises are made, but the ones that are made must be kept. IOPs and bases are an issue that I am not sure you fully apreciate. Contents are subject to change, we know. But promises made on the product box are a deal enforcable by law (if needs be). If you can disregard that one, then nothing is safe. Again, see player morale above. For the record, simply never delivering is not a "change during play". Simple ethical behaivior would require a good faith effort to make IOPs, meaningful PVP, and meanigful Base Raids a real part of the game. Do the devs even care about this one? If the attitude is that "no follow through on this one is OK" or that "we appologized, so we don't have to fix it" then trouble is ahead. When the devs do make promises, do you intend to keep them? The long term survial of CoX does depend on the answer.


There you go. I have tried to address this to the attitude of the devs and design teams. THAT is what will ultimately determine the State of the Game in the years to come.

Name: Decimators

Currently Recruiting: We are recruiting as soon as the SG limits get raised. We previously had to split into two coalitioned SGs due to the 75 toon limit, but will reintergrate and fill in the empty spots soon.

RP Level: RP at each player's discretion. We have hard core RPers and non-RPers alike.

Theme/Concept: The Decimators exist for the most traditional of villain reasons. We are going to take over the world. Of course our allies in Arachnos and our coalition mates will be seated at our right hand when our plan comes to fruition, but in the end we will be on top.

Activity: Multiple active members every day, active coalition, SG teams whenever possible, occaisonal base raids (when a foe is available), SFs when the mood strikes us.

Requirements for Membership: We want active and mature players, age is immaterial. We keep the channel chat clean and family friendly. We require that members represent us well... after all we are going to rule the world.

Leadership: Infamy

In-Game Contact(s): Global @Infamy

Coalition(s): X-Patriots, Global Co, Gaia's Banished, Rogues Gallery

Other Information: Highly ranked SG. Base is maxxed out on transporters and empowerment stations. Tons of storage. Raid ready with a 100% defense ratio and 75% offensive ration. Crafting and invention tables. The whole nine yards.

I once predicted that we would never see anything new for IOs, never get weapon customization, never see server transfers, never see anything new for Tankers and Scrappers, and never get to go back to missed mission arcs. I am very glad I was totally wrong. I take back almost everything bad I have said about the devs.

You are getting a little too deep. Look at this in comic book terms and broadly known symbology in history and the public mind.

The midgard serpent, Jormungandr, depicted in a blocky mechanical style, formed into the symbol of infinty, and wreathed in a halo of fire.

Nazies used Norse myth (and Wagner's rendition of Norse mythology) extensively in their propoganda.
Vandal, Reichsman, and the Fifth Column in general are technologically advanced.
The symbol of the never-ending representing the fact that the 5th cannot be destroyed.
It will always arise from the flames like a phoenix, just as it did after World War Two.

Now get out there and stomp on some Nazies!

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Constructive notes:
Lag seems to be directly related to AoE type effects...

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I have found the same problem: With Death Shroud and Opressive Gloom running, it is a bear... add in a Hand Clap and it turns glacial in speed.

I've got 3 50s thus far and let me say that I take them our for special events, but it's not like we were ever intended to use them all the time... that's why we have 8-12 toon slots per server.

That being said, my 50s do the following:
Base Raids
Zone PVP,
Crafting,
Holiday Events,
Lord Recluse Strike Force,
Just the odd misison for the hell of it,
Giant Monster hunts,
Annnnnd... Soon-to-be Villain Hami-raids
Soon-to-be Inventing

I am sure there is more that I am missing...

Don't know if there is a guide though, but there are guides on all those individual subjects somewhere.

I am not sure if this is I8 related as I have never done the Ghost Widow Arc before, but I was fighting in the mission from Ghost Widow where you raid Portal Corps and kidnap Dr. Crow.
A level 46 Transcended Quantum spawned level 51(!) photon seekers.
Has anyone else been on the recieving end of this?

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This I agree with. But this isn't a problem with bodyguard. This is a problem wiht pet AI. They need to make pets a bit smarter, or give them more modes or options in controling their behavior.

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QFT.
I did a little test run with follow and defensive mode. There are major AI Issues:

1- They simply do not react to most attacks. In my tests they would wait till I had been hit 2-4 times before finally deciding to react. This is insane for a bunch of ninja who cheerfully reply "Hai! Iwill protect you!" when I give the command. They should commit seppuku in shame.

2- When they DO react, they run away from me, at the attacker, and out of supremacy. This is the bitterest of ironies: I must micro manage the b4st4rd5 to get them to go into melee in most cases, but when on defensive/follow they can't charge into melee with the enemy fast enough! Somewhere a dev is cackling madly.

Look, I will be the first to say that this seems like a great power, but the AI is NOT up to it. It needs improvements for this to work. It may be an excellent abillity, but it is only as strong as the pre-existing code it relies upon... which is not very strong.

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Sparcetriel (First Respec Trial)
Location: Southeastern Nerva Archipelago
Level Range: 25-30
Auto-RSK Level: 30
Villain Groups: CoT, Wyven, Legacy Chain, and Longbow
AVs: Thorn Tree


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Are you certain it is not 24 minimum like the COH respec? I went up to the contact yesterday at level 24 and he did not give me the "this is too hard for you" speech... he just told me to get 4 members... looks like level 24 to me. Please some one let me know.

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And I've been told that PVP isn't that popular in COH to begin with. I'm not sure how much of an impact the PVP areas are going to be for me.

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There are reasons that PVP has been less than successful in COH:

1- It is very counter-genre for Heroes to go out and beat each other senseless to the exclusion of villains... you could be out fighting villains. Don't get me wrong, the odd encounter in a mission with a AV-bot doesn't cut it, but then niether does fighting other heroes all the time.

2- COH is built on the same MMO team template of the past... you NEED certain ATs to fight effectively and individual fights between single heroes are not satisfying as they were never apparently meant to solo against each other... Arena fights between "equals" often turn into slaughters or stalemates. For example, a tank on tank battle is often futile... they can't effectively hurt each other. An empath against... well, ANYBODY else is equally pointless as the empath gets wasted.

3- It takes too long to get a fight going... sitting around waiting for an even match can be an all night affair.

4- There is no reward for winning. Nada, nothing. You burn your online time and get zilch for it.

But, I expect that hero/villain PVP will be better...starting with a new paradigm that will bleed over into COH from COV. By some accounts, the villains are more geared towards solo play and AT vs. AT balance. Hopefully this will herald a change to the ATs in COH to more balanced play...