Jade_Dragon

Well, this is a more complicated issue even that that.

We are dealing with a couple of things here. First of all, we have a wireframe "mesh", over which a texture is applied. The wireframe shapes the way the texture is stretched, and so the texture itself, if viewed flat, is distorted. Typically when a computer editor builds an avatar, it lays layers of images over a texture, and whatever is in front "shows through". Thus, for instance, the chest symbol is very likely "painted" on top of the body texture and thus is the final layer that ends up visible, even though they are technically all at the same depth.

Complicating this, the CoH editor apparently also lays color information on top of the textures. Thus, for instance, if you have a Tops with Skin option, the texture is that of skin, but the color is of a shirt or top or whatever. The chest symbol may be somewhat the same thing, although it appears to at least lay a solid texture down as well. But the colors of the symbol are customizable because you can lay that down as a layer too.

Now, you come to the situation of a shirt over the upper body, or a shoulder decoration or belt that can clip. This is placed over the body, and is itself a wireframe, with its own textures and layers. That normally has to be placed outward somewhat of the body, so parts of the body mesh don't stick through the accessory during animation. That's what's meant by "clipping".

Anyway, I'm fairly sure than unless the symbol is itself on a jacket or shirt, which it can be, it can't clip. It is distorted by being formed to the shape of the wireframe, but it shouldn't be able to clip.

OTOH, changing the dimensions of the chest, or the arms, certainly would cause clipping. Because any accessories placed over those models would also have to have their dimensions changed as well. That's effectively what the sliders do, and in essense the sliders have to adjust every single wireframe that is used by your character, from chest and arms and legs to shirts and jackets worn over the body, shoulder decorations and capes to even the powers you use, such as Stone Armor's rock layers.

I was saying that it probably would be possible to go from "flat" to "not quite flat" if the slider adjusted the proportions of the chest in that way. Making the breasts flatter, and not smaller.

The current armored top, in fact, is "flat", and is altered by the chest slider in just that way. The only reason that's not usable for what is requested here is that the only textures available are those that are fully armored.

Well, I would think the zombies are more survivable, since they have resistances, and after 32 they supposedly have a life drain power. Of course, if they are dying before they can get off the life drain, it can't really help. And genins have innate Defense. The question is, is the Defense stronger than the Resistance, which against the kind of damage zombies are designed to be strong against it really isn't.

Again, though, if you're trying to keep your Tier 1s out of melee because they are getting slaughtered, and they're the Tier 1s in a melee set, you're not getting anywhere. Bots and Thugs the Tier 1s are not melee. Necro and Ninjas they are. Maybe they throw a shuriken or two, but if you're holding your Genin out of melee range, you aren't making use of them except as cannon fodder anyway.

Maybe what Ninjas really needs is a Melee Defense that can stack on top of their general defense. That way they will actually have a chance to survive in melee, where they are supposed to be. But until the devs actually decide there is a problem and something is worth doing about it, I don't see anything changing. The problem is that MMs are extremely strong in their baseline, but they don't really get any stronger than that. If you make an MM able to handle Task Force enemies as easily as any other fully IOed AT, it will be too strong for the regular content and just steamroller over it.

As long as everyone gets their content, the Rogues and Vigilantes can.

That's kind of the point, though. If A-Merits really ARE all that great that no one ever plays Rogues or Vigilantes then obviously the balance will need to be revisited. However, I don't see that happening yet, and I think we need to wait a while before we judge how well the system is working.

There may be individuals who think, "Well, you know, I've found that there's no reason to be anything but a Hero here, and everyone I know is reaching the same conclusion. We're all running these A-Merit missions over and over". But I think if anything this thread shows that it tends to vary according to your own style, and the style of those you tend to group with. So the problem may look bigger just because you're that kind of reward-oriented player.

Someone else is going to say, though, "I don't care about the rewards. I want content. I want to tell some stories. I want something to DO!"

Same here. Maybe I can give some good advice.

I really like crafting, but I don't play the market. I just use whatever I find. Of course, across as many alts as I have that can be a LOT of IOs. I certainly don't plan it all out ahead, though, like most do. Same with Merits, as you said. They'll come, with time.

Demon Summoning it is quite worth it to take your attacks, as the -Res increases the damage for all of your pets. This has single handedly made it in vogue to take attacks now. Well, for DS anyway. Everyone else it's still regarded as stupid. Tankerminding is still around and as powerful as always.

You do not need to resummon when you zone, and upgrades are AoE now. It costs more End, so don't make the mistake of trying to buff all your henchmen like you used to. You should really only need to summon and buff once, as long as your henchmen don't die, but I personally find it annoying to lead henchmen through zones, and so I tend to dismiss them between missions.

Ah, Fury. Max Fury has been lowered from about 85%, 90% if you were lucky, to 75%. However, the minimum has been raised from about 40% for a bad build to 65%. In short, it is much, much easier to raise Fury now. It does not decay as quickly as long as you are still in combat, so you can still fight that one final foe with full Fury. It's just that's 75% Fury now.

For the guys who were able to steamroller through a whole mission with 85% Fury, that's a pretty big nerf. I suspect you are going to find that the going is easier, though, even though you may not be able to make the numbers as big as they used to be. On the good side, you can use attacks like Sands of Mu or go through a Rage crash and you won't be killing your Fury.

Mmm... uh... eh... heh. Well, see, I really like the MA. I even wrote a couple of missions I got some way into. But then other things came along and... well, you know...

The MA is extremely controversial for the potential for it to be exploited. If something can be found to speed up levelling, it usually gets around really fast and immediately appears in huge numbers. I suspect the "bad press" has actually discouraged people from trying the MA. There is some nice stuff in there. But finding it can be hard.

I suggest you put it on your list of things to try, but don't make it high priority. And you should probably ignore the offers of "Looking for one more for MA farm!" Probly not what you're looking for...

Dunno, never noticed any triangles myself. The nurses are definately cool. (Especially if you are a visiting "tourist" and can't get them from Contacts)

Oh, this is SUCH a good thing! As I said, I craft a lot, and send recipes between my characters. I used to do this with a personal SG, but this has made it MUCH easier. The 1 item per email limitation is a bother, but still way faster than trading via two accounts.

Absolutely not. In fact, one of my best tips for making lots of influence fast is to buy 40+ SOs off the Market at 5000 inf each, and then turn around and sell them to a vendor. You can easily raise the money to restock a character that just hit 22 with SOs that way. Or come up with the inf to craft a recipe. I don't consider this to be something sneaky, I figure if high level folks are putting their SOs up on the Market just to get rid of them, they're intending for lowbies to use them like this.

Some of the salvage on the market, though, wow. That stuff that sells for 1 mill or more inf. You have to either watch out for it in the recipes you find, and sell any that would cost too much to craft, or hoard your own drops. Selling a good valuable Rare drop can net you a lot, though. So basically it comes down to knowing which of the Rare salvage are going to be useful to the IOs you might use.

You can play the market, too, but that takes time.

Um, well, first of all it's not free to run the smallest base plot any more. However, the cost is now based on your amount of storage. So if you have lots of storage you'll pay more.

SGs and Rogue/Vigilantes gets complicated. Basically, where that's concerned a Rogue is a Villain and a Vigilante is a Hero. A Rogue cannot join a Hero SG, but he can join or stay in his Villain SG. When you go from Rogue to Hero, or Vigilante to Villain (a one way trip in both cases, you have to go all the way around the circle to get back to where you were) you are not "kicked out" of your SG, but you can't access the base, and lose leadership status if you had it. You will probably want to quit the SG and join one on the other side.

The bad news is, even if you are on a team with allies from the other side, you can't enter their base, even if they give permission for teammates to enter. I'm hoping this changes, but at least with the combined monorail lines and ferries it is a lot easier for "tourists" to get around.

That pretty much convinced me to never again believe the devs when they say, "We can't do this." It may be hard, it may take time, we may have to be patient, but no, nothing's impossible any more.

Inherent Stamina/Fitness. If any of your characters had Stamina before, go respec them. You can pick three more powers, although you won't have slots for them if you choose to keep the same slots in Fitness. If you DIDN'T have Fitness, you should not have it.

HEATs/VEATs are now unlocked at 20. If you've never tried them, try them out. Kheldians got an upgrade, they are now much stronger in Human form, and their "Balance" power now works in the Forms. So does Inherent Fitness. So yes, you can slot Hurdle for jump and your Dwarf will be a high jumper. VEATs are just awesome, especially Crab Spiders with the cool arms. And they can side switch, too, although you're forced to start on their respective side. (They can't be created in Praetoria)

Dominators got a revamp. They now do the same damage outside of Domination that they do in it. They still get the stronger controls, mez protection, and End recharge from Domination. Stalkers got a revamp too, somewhat earlier than that. (You might have been here for that) Defenders now get a damage bonus when they are solo or on a team of less than four, and Tankers do "Bruising" with their blows, which reduces the Res of their target.

Can't think of anything else right now.

Well, maybe not height and skin. But there are certainly ways to give the illusion you are taller or shorter than you are.

Honestly, one of the main reasons women have breast implants is to more closely fit a stereotype they feel they ought to fit. I think it's sad, personally, but there's a lot of pressure to conform to that. Particularly in girls the age of the OP. And honestly, I'm not against anything that helps someone's self esteeem.

I guess it comes down to whether you view that kind of stereotype in this game as a healthy fantasy, to indulge in "what if" and maybe achieve some catharsis, or as an unhealthy extension of that pressure that's put forth by society in general. The truth, as with any media, is probably a little bit of both.

You are looking for this. There's also a sequel. Pick it up, it's lots of fun!

This is an MMO. The "making progress towards those powers I want" is part of the idea of the game. If you don't like that, then you don't like that. There's nothing wrong with that, but this sort of game is simply not for you.

This isn't a game you buy once, play for a week, and then throw it away. Or you could, but that's not the best way to play it. What this is, what makes this an MMO, is that it is a SUSTAINING ENVIRONMENT. The game doesn't cease to exist when you're not there. It's always there, always other people playing it, even when you aren't. It's not your own little private virtual world, it's a shared world, that continues to evolve and change. Or at least, you hope it continues to evolve.

There are MMOs that go on a "free to play" business model. But they are either substandard, they make their money by enticing you into additional purchases, or both. One way or another, you've got to pay for this game, it takes servers, and maintenance, and sustained development, and SOMEBODY'S got to pay for that. It doesn't take any additional money to pay for Call of Duty, that game is done, the programmers have moved on to something else, and it's never ever going to change. You're not going to end up paying $15 for Call of Duty for the next month, you're going to end up paying $60 for Call of Duty 2 or 3, of 15 or whatever next number there is in the series.

I don't know what to tell you about your friends that don't want to play more than once a month. I will say that if you or they are insisting that you have to grind to 50 so you can start playing, you have WAY missed what this game is about. You can team with anyone, of any level, in this game thanks to sidekicking. So if you and your friends don't want to spend the same amount of time levelling then you won't have to worry about being able to team. Instead of trying to grind through the game, why don't you try playing it, and enjoying the journey, instead of the destination?

Honestly, if you don't like the game because of the gameplay, you're not going to like it at 50, either. You might as well just decide that now. But personally, I find the fun of this game is in the teammates. It's not in the gameplay, it's that this is a shared world where I get to watch my friends achieve their goals as well.

Well, one reason I mentioned Ninjas is while the Genins do a lot of damage, Jounin and Oni do more, particularly with you backing up the Oni with Smoke Flash. Lich is somewhat less of a damage dealer, it is more the Tier 1 and 2 in that case.

OTOH, Necro tends to be somewhat more survivable.

Thugs is really the set that is built for it, though, the Enforcers have the majority of the damage, the Punks aren't really that damaging without the Arsonist (who delights in getting his fool self killed) and the Bruiser is likely the most resiliant Tier 3 available. And you can send him into melee while the Enforcers can stand back out of the AoEs.

Totally off topic, but I believe your sig quote should actually be:

"The avalanche has already started. It is too late for the pebbles to vote."

Mind you, that's just the way I remember it, and it's not like Kosh was ever clear.

*Tilts head*

You're probably right. I guess I thought that pointing out that Robots has two healers was meant to contrast against another set having only one healer.

Thugs has no healer; you are thinking of Mercs.

*Tilts head*

Are you SURE this is not a troll?

No, seriously, there are far too many MMOs like that. Why in the world would you want to be given everything, and ONLY THEN be given something to go do with it? To me, that is boring. I do all this work, do all this grinding, finally get my character to level 50 so I can go out and run missions -- for what? What am I gaining? What reward am I getting for playing? My character is ALREADY everything I could want in him. What purpose is there in playing him any more?

To me, the purpose of an RPG is in the earning of a level. Earning that footstomp or that Phantom Army is my goal in playing. Once I've GOT them, it's either off to the next goal, or start something new and fresh. And I shouldn't NEED that footstomp prior to earning it, unless I'm teaming with friends that are all over 30 and I'm in my teens. (And I've been there before, and its awkward, but can be fun in its own way. Besides, it usually doesn't last more than a couple of weeks) The game is designed to increase its challenge as you level, so you should not be "at partial strength", although the system is certainly not perfect.

Even the Incarnate system, or "raids" in some other MMO, are just another way of levelling and achieving new goals. You are never given everything to start with. Each time some other MMO raises their level cap and adds new goodies, they make obsolete all of the old "goodies" that everyone worked so hard to own. So then you start off earning your Hurl and your Footstomp (Omega Hurl and Hyper Footstomp, now) all over again.

You may want that rat race, but I don't. And since this game is well known for going 180 degrees from that direction, I'd hazard a guess most other players don't either. We want an endgame that supplements the journey to 50, not forces us to grind to 50 so we can start it.

And I'll add that your stated goal above would be completely the opposite of what you claim you want. The LAST thing the casual player wants is a grind to 50. If you are truly serious about ensuring there is content for people who can only play occasionally, for a few days or weeks every couple of months, you would demand more low level content. You know, like GR. Perhaps more powers or items that could be opened up in the lower levels. It seems like the last thing you should be asking for is for the whole game to start at 50.

I'm not sure what exactly you are asking, but I do know the chest symbols basically conform to the shape of the breasts. The symbol is somewhat distorted by this, becoming narrower at the base. It's not a 3D projection onto the chest, to preserve the shape of the symbol as viewed from the front.

Which I'm guessing is the reason why it is smaller. It would look even more distorted if it were the same size as the male version of the symbol.

Here is a good example. You can see the atom symbol is further up and smaller. (This was a character I originally thought up as a dog, as on the right, but as there were no dog models available in the game at release I gave the powers to another of the characters in my "origin story")

Yeah, with Batman's, well, willpower, you would expect him to have good Psi resistance.

Then again, SR is pretty good defense against Psi, since it doesn't treat it any differently than any other attack type. You only have to worry about the untyped Psi attacks. And Ninjitsu fills in that hole.

There are arguments for all three, really. Willpower I tend to see more as the "too stubborn to die" types, like Indiana Jones or Rambo. You can fill them full of bullets, and by the end of the fight they'll probably only barely be able to stand, but somehow they're still going and still fighting. Batman can be like that, but more often than not he avoids being hit by simply not being where the bullets are aimed.

I think this is the problem. Basically, Thugs and Robots you have a single Tier providing a huge, slottable Def to all of your henchmen. In Ninjas the Def is on each henchman, and I believe it is NOT slottable. (CoD says it isn't, and I'm inclined to agree from my memory of the powers) If, say, the Tier 2 Jounin had a power similar to Mind Link, or even if the Oni cast a Fire Shield, they would be much more resiliant.

Likewise, Mercs seems to be built around the idea that the Spec Ops' control powers are supposed to be their damage mitigation. But leaving that to the randomness of the AI means that most of the time that mitigation is wasted by using it at the wrong time.

Necromancy, at least, has a self heal on every henchman, and the Lich debuffs to hit, as I think do various powers from some of the other henchmen. Plus, even if a henchman dies, that means you can bring it back even more powerful.

I also have chat macros set up. When she activates Unstoppable she announces "Rerouting power to Structural Integrity Field. Reactor to 110% output. Full Power Mode!" Her normal Unstoppable crash macro says, "Reactor reaching operational limits. Total shutdown imminent. Prepare for AI reboot." This warns my teammates I'm about to crash and they need to either be ready for me to duck out, or to watch my back as I burn a few Inspirations to recover.

If I go with the Self Destruction combo (which of course I can't if hasn't recharged from the last time) the macro says, "WARNING! Reactor core has been breached! Critical failure in ten seconds! Prepare for AI download to backup body." Then after she explodes, she "teleports" the backup body back into the mission. (that is, I use an Awaken) My teammates tend to follow this up with "It's a good thing you have lots of backup bodies."

And as Madam_Enigma said, I tend to use these macros even when solo. It really helps to give you a sense of the character, and helps immerse you in the action.