Jade_Dragon

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Yes, but toggle herding is no where near as fast as herding with Force Bubble. I've herded with Darks and Rads and FF. Unless I'm doing something _very_ wrong with Dark and Rad, FF is clearly much better.

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Whether or not it is "better" is not the question. Whether or not this actually increases the kill rate of the Defender is the question.

Considering that most Defenders have at most three AoEs out of their nine attacks, including the nuke, you will STILL be doing the majority of your damage one foe at a time. So you will still be defeating foes slower, since you do less damage. The amount of damage it takes you to defeat a foe doesn't vary between whether you take him on one on one, or herd him.

You might as well say that Tankers can kill faster than Scrappers because they can herd foes into a group and then kill them with AoEs. Which might have been true before the number of AoE targets was capped, but it isn't true any more. Even a Fire/ Tanker isn't doing enough AoEs to raise his damage from 80% to 112.5%.

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But FF _can_ increase your damage, at least solo, by herding. Your nuke will be a lot more effective against a herd than against 3 guys.

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That's a minor advantage, somewhat akin to saying that FF lets you use your Sniper attack more often, because the chance you will get it off without being interrupted is much higher. While that may be true, it is hardly enough to compensate for the lower damage you do with the rest of your attacks.

Plus, there's no reason why Dark or Rad can't use the exact same strategy. They might be able to use it less often, Dark wouldn't want to herd a group that can stun or hold, for instance, but you're still talking about a specific strategy, not an overall boost that a Defender can use under all circumstances. Give me an example of something an FF can do to boost his damage THAT OTHER DEFENDERS CAN'T DO.

(So the argument that "You've got less to do, so you can fire more often" is nonsense as well. Any Defender can just stop doing whatever he's doing and fire, that's not an advantage, it's an implication that FFs have nothing to do but be buffbots)

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As to damage increases for Defender secondaries, my idea was to clean up some of the wierdness like mis-matched cones, and to raise the number of baddies Defender and Blasters nukes can affect to 20-24, rather than 16. I also wanted to see Defender blasts retain their relationship to Blaster blasts now that Blasters have been given a damage buff.

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Do you intend to give Corruptors the same buff? Because if you don't, that's completely unfair to Corruptors. They have only 75% of the defenses of Defenders (not to mention only 75% of their damage buffs) thus for balance they should do more damage.

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The Defender's secondary needs a buff. It doesn't offer anything I can't get in better form from other ATs that have FF.

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The problem with this logic is that it misses the one problem that FF has. The one problem that sets it apart from every other Defender set available. (except Empathy)

All other Defender Primaries GIVE their Secondary a buff. It's why Defender base damage is 65%. Pick any Defender Primary in the game but Force Field (and Empathy) and you boost that damage from 65% to 85%, 95%, or possibly even higher.

Conversely, if you GIVE Defenders more damage, that makes the sets that DO give an offensive boost even MORE powerful. To the point where you're doing more damage than Corruptors and maybe even Blasters.

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The devs long ago discussed why this couldn't happen, even if they were inclined to implement it. My recollection is it went something like - toggles work by pulsing every XX seconds, but det field makes the target unaffected by all powers so when it pulsed, the target would either not be affected by the Det pulse or they would have to be made tangible before the pulse, which would mean they could attack you before the next pulse.

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That's pretty much how I remember it too. It's not a dev post though, so grain of salt and all that.

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Darn.

Well, maybe we can find some way to put the damage boost there after all.

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I'm playing a Sonic now, and it's fun, but my team feels ALOT squishier and less safe then when I'm playing my FFer. And I really don't like that.

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Well, I think that's what I was basically trying to say. I was trying to use understatement, and not insult Sonic, but my own experience is that it NOT that much of an improvement over Force Field.

The honest truth is, Force Field is somewhat a victim of its own success. What it does well, it does VERY well.

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Jade, I loved your post! Very intelligent but I have an issue with this:

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1) Change Detention Field to a timed toggle power that automatically shuts off after a certain amount of time. This is no more a change to the concept of the power than it was a change to the concept of Phase Shift, and the code is already in place. Nothing even needs to be changed about the power, just allow it to be turned off at will.

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This would be great...in pve! In PvP, a Toggle PHASE on another player would be insane, especially since toggles are autohit! The last thing we need is someone toggling out a Defender, Blaster and just putting them on follow. The end cost would need to go up a LOT if this would be changed into a Toggle.

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It works like Phase Shift. After the duration of the Detention Field expires, whether you toggle it off or not, it drops.

Also, I'm not sure if you were saying this, but Detention Field only works on your ENEMIES. You wouldn't be able to Detention an ally.

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We like this! I would prefer a Defense Debuff component instead of a Slow, but good idea!

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I think Force Field really needs a Slow. Slow is a lot like an offense buff, just about every Defender has one. You'd think the master of pushing foes around and detentioning them would have one too, but no, it doesn't.

Defense debuffs are nice, but quite frankly, they don't adequately compensate for the lack of a damage buff. Back in the days before ED you might have been able to 6 slot for damage, not needing a slot of accuracy, but nowadays that's not possible any more. So when I say "offense boost", I mean either +Dmg or -Res.

I play a FF/Rad, so I wish the -Def from Rad Blast could compensate me for the lower damage. My experience is, it doesn't.

Mind you, a +Recharge or Endurance boost MIGHT be an alternate form of offense boost. This MAY be why so many people report that Empathy is unusually soloable. (Recovery Aura may boost Endurance high enough that you can use Hasten or something like that to get more DPS)

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This, I don't like as much. Force Bubble is pretty perfect as is to be honest. It's a great mitigation tool. The +damage doesn't fit thematically either.

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The problem is, there's nowhere else to put it.

Put it in the ally bubbles, and you'll have to add it to Sonic as well, plus the Defender himself gets no boost.

Put it in PFF and it's pretty much useless. Unless you use the suppression idea.

Put it in Force Bolt... well, I'd rather mess with Force Bubble than mess with Force Bolt. Having it debuff its target would add to its End cost or worse.

Put it in Repulsion Field - that's a possiblity, but it will only effect those foes you run up to and knock around. The debuff would have to persist for some time, but it would still encourage you to overuse the power. Conversely, if it gave +Dmg it would only effect you.

Put it in Repulsion Bomb - Actually, this would be closest to Sonic's ally targetted power, which does have the ability to debuff Res. But that would also make it too much like Sonic. Plus, Repulsion Bomb has already undergone a lot of changes to add disorient, I'm not sure I want to touch it now.

Put it in Detention Field - Actually, this is an idea I have had in the past. Detention Field restrains the foe that it is targetted on, and then has a -Res effect on all foes around the targetted foe. You could even extend the effect to a -Slow and -Def, and say that it is a "wade through" type field around the detention bubble that slows down the foes around it.

This would certainly make the power more acceptable to a team. However, it's a major change to its functionality, and is a bit too much like Sonic's Disruption Field. I think the change I suggested to Detention is all that's needed.

Finally, Dispersion Field - Although that's the one place you could put an AoE +Dmg centered on the caster, other than Force Bubble - or conversely, a -Res - I think Dispersion Field is fine as it is. It's Defense is obviously very good, and it already has a secondary effect, status protection, on top of that. I think adding +Dmg to it would make it TOO good.

OTOH, it would allow the Defender access to that damage boost a lot sooner, making levelling to 32 easier. I think in the end I want to put it in Force Bubble only because I think Force Bubble really should be a "great power", but I'm certainly open to coming up with a better place to put it if anyone can think of one.

As for the +Dmg not fitting, well, if you can think of a way to get a FFer's damage above 65% with something else, by all means suggest it. Honestly, an End boost or the like because you are "filled with power" by the Force Fielder might be more conceptual.

As I've said, though, this is "Force" Field. We are supposed to be the masters of Force. Talk of "if I wanted an offense boost I'd play a Kin" aside, Force and Kinetics are closely related. (We do share Repulsion Field, y'know)

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I see Sonics as being the 'fixed' Forcefields. It has Clarity, Debuffs, +Res shields and a cage as well.

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I hate to say this, because it's really demeaning to Force Field, and also, I don't really think Sonic is all that powerful. It works well, but not quite up to the standard of Rad and Dark. In the end, though, with a few minor exceptions like not having any knockback early on, I have found Sonic to be more soloable than Force Field.

Some of the "fixes" for Sonic could make good examples of how to "tweak" Force Field. The final power, Liquify, for instance, has some debuff effects in addition to its primary purpose, which is in effect to knock around everyone inside the radius, instead of push them out like Force Bubble does.

Of course, a lot of Force Bubble's problem is that in pushing its targets out, it removes them from any potential debuff effects. This is probably why the -Acc effect was removed, and pretty much makes it impossible to add any other debuffs. Even Slow, if we make it only on the inside of the bubble, would only serve the effect of making the bubble work with a smaller radius, not slow the foes outside of it. (But of course we could make the slow radius larger, to prevent foes from getting a "running start" as well)

Anyway, Sonic does sacrifice some damage mitigation for its offensive boost. The +Res it offers isn't exactly equivalent to FF's +Def. Then again, FF doesn't need as much of an offense boost as Sonic, it could be only occasional, like Dark's is. And Sonic does have some additional "tools", it has Clarity, and its own version of Repulsion Field.

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You have alot of valid points there Jade, and I won't argue most of them, except this:

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Now, personally I feel that the only problem with this arrangement is that Repulsion Field and Force Bubble are redundant.

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The powers are certainly NOT redundant. Not at all. One does Repel and one does knockback. One only knocks enemies that are near you and one can aggro the entire ROOM.

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Well, we are talking about concept, and in concept, the two powers are essentially the same. Just, as you said, one is REALLY LARGE RADIUS, and the other is REALLY SMALL RADIUS. Honestly, I think the problem is that you have two great extremes here, when what you really need is something in between. To be truly useful, the "wall" should be somewhere in between.

I've said this before, and you've said much the same thing when you said Force Bubble wouldn't work if it was smaller radius. Its radius is really determined by how far a foe can move in the time between "pulses". That's a constant, as long as we don't change the laws of physics. (Adding a slow is my suggestion to change the laws of physics )

As for the difference between Repel and Knockback, well, that is a technicality which is really only appropriate when speaking of foes that are resistant to one or the other. And adding Slow to the equation would, I think, cover a lot of those "holes". Anything resistant to both Slow and Repel can be dealt with by Force Bolt.

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I think Repulsion Field is a VERY good power. I'm sorry that you don't seem to think so.

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On the contrary, I respec'ed OUT of Force Bubble and INTO Repulsion Field. It was more appropriate to the style of play that I have, I solo most of the time, and so I need my foes in range, and not pushed up against some wall. That does not mean that I hate Repulsion Field or that I hate Force Bubble, but it does mean that I find the two redundant enough that I can take either one or the other, but not both.

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Like I said though, no cottages, I REALLY don't want to completely lose ANY of these powers.

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I can certainly understand that. I think my issue with Repulsion Field is:

1) It is too much like Hurricane, and exactly like Repel.

2) I wouldn't need it if Force Bubble were more of a compromise.

3) Force Bolt serves the purpose of pinpoint knockback control, and Repulsion Field (if it had a faster animation) would serve to keep larger numbers away from me. And as I mentioned above, it covers the status resistance hole of foes that are vulnerable to Knockback but not Repel.

The circumstances under which BOTH Force Bubble AND Repulsion Field would effect the same target should not exist. If Force Bubble is working, the target should be held out of range of Repulsion Field, unless you force him into the radius by pushing against a wall. You're really only going to get use out of both powers if your foe is resistant to Repel and not Knockback.

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I REALLY wish a redname would come in here and at least say something like: "We'll look at these ideas and consider them for sometime in the future" or even "We like where the set is, don't expect any changes anytime soon."

It would be nice to know if I am wasting my breath here or not.

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Unfortunately, I'm afraid that ultimately nothing will be done. It's certainly logical to believe that if the devs were going to add a damage boost to Force Field (and Empathy, for that matter, although at least they can boost their allies with Fortitude) they would have done it with they gave the boost to Dark. They probably didn't because, like us, they couldn't think of a way to do with without breaking the concept of seriously changing powers.

I've also mentioned how telling I find it that Force Field and Empathy are specifically excluded from Corruptors. TA is as well, and Empathy wasn't given to villains at all, but I think the absense of Force Field to Corruptors is a definately sign of dev thinking. Corruptors, with damage dealing as their Primary, need an offensive boost, and thus Force Field isn't appropriate to them.

This does seem to suggest at least some of the devs are aware of the issue.

First of all, I'd like to say that I do like the idea of Repulsion Bomb (or something else) acting like Bonfire. What I am reminded of is the recent post by Castle in which he says that Burn was originally intended to be a "Wall of Flame" type power. It was meant to prevent foes from walking through it, which would then herd them into an area where you wanted them. A couple of posts down, someone even mentioned that this would be a good concept for force field, as well.

The irony here is that it is obvious that this is what Force Bubble was INTENDED to be. It is a wall, clearly, a demarkation that your foes cannot, under any circumstances, cross. The problem is that that wall is CENTERED on you, and that it must, in order to be useful, be so large as to detain the foes outside of your range.

Secondly, as usual, I agree with BurningChick. FF is a one trick pony, or at best a two trick pony, while Dark has a number of tools at its disposal to mitigate damage. Just looking at the chance to hit and damage dealt alone, Dark already performs better than Force Field because both can give you that 5% cap to be hit, but Dark ALSO reduces the actual damage of that 5% that DOES hit you.

I agree that Force Field's knockback is something that can be useful IN SOME PEOPLE'S OPINION, but it is an opinion that is very much based on playing styles and expectation. Not everyone can handle knockback like an expert. More importantly, though, Dark has similar control abilities in Fearsome Stare, Parylizing Gaze, and most especially the Dark Servant. It's not like Force Field's ability to mitigate damage with knockback magically prevents all subsequent damage that the Defense misses, putting them way ahead of Dark. Knocking back foes, slowing them, and other "soft" controls are powers nearly ALL Defenders have, so you can't say that this somehow "balances" that Dark has damage debuffs, and Force Field doesn't.

The fact is, if we assume Force Field is supposed to be *the* defensive set, then there should be no QUESTION about whether or not it is the best defense. It does not provide a heal, Dark does. It does not provide a damage boost, Dark does. It does not provide a rez, Dark does. If Dark provides X damage mitigation, then FF should provide so much more damage mitigation than X that it is the OBVIOUS choice as a defense.

Force Field provides Defense, and Knockback. Plus a little disorient. If Dark provided ONLY -Acc, and Fear, then maybe it would be an even comparison. But since it doesn't, then FF should have more tools as well. And that's not "cottages" any more than adding -Res to Tar Patch was.

(BTW, for the record, when PFF first came out, it provided ONLY 95% defense. The resistance was added long after release, mainly because, more than likely, too many Defenders were dropping dead to the lucky 5% of shots)

Now, that having been said, I don't want Force Field to have Healing because I don't believe that's in concept. I don't want it to have Resistance because that's Sonic's area. I don't think any control powers are any more in concept (or even better) than Knockback. That leaves offense. I don't want to step on Sonic's toes, again, with -Res. But I do believe that FF DOES need a damage boost simply because that's innate to the Archetype. Defenders are balanced around being able to boost their damage from 65% to, I would estimate, 85% or so, and without that ability, Force Field and only Force Field is unfairly penalized.

Is that a "cottage"? Well, for all existing concepts of the FF powers, maybe. That didn't stop -Res from being added to Tar Patch, though, as I mentioned above. And personally, since the defining characteristic of Force Fields is "Force", I don't think that a +Dmg boost is out of concept. You could think of it as the Defender transferring energy to his allies to "build up" their attacks, or just simply getting behind their attacks and "pushing" them harder.

I'm also going to address the idea that a Force Field Defender must for some reason be "weaker" than the rest of his team so they have to "defend" him. That seems logical on the surface, and in fact, I think from a SOLO standpoint, the personal defense is just fine, he just needs more offense. However, a Dark Defender is not less protected than his teammates, and does not need additional protection from them. A Radiation Defender is not less protected than his teammates, and does not need additional protection from them. The discrepancy between the defense the Defender can generate for himself and what he can generate for his team exists ONLY for buff-type Defenders. And I'm not sure that's fair.

I do kind of like the idea of Personal Force Field "suppressing" when you attack, and it might not even suppress all the way, giving the FF some more survivability compared to his teammates. However, if you change PFF for Defenders, you must change it for everyone, Controllers, Masterminds, and even Blasters who get it in the EPPs. And if I had my way, I might suggest dropping Repulsion Bomb or Repulsion Field altogether, and adding a totally new, independent damage buff power. Perhaps something like an PBAoE Build Up. But that really does get back to "cottages".

So, here's my suggestions:

1) Change Detention Field to a timed toggle power that automatically shuts off after a certain amount of time. This is no more a change to the concept of the power than it was a change to the concept of Phase Shift, and the code is already in place. Nothing even needs to be changed about the power, just allow it to be turned off at will.

2) Use the previous poster's suggestion to make Force Bubble's radius less, but give a Slow component to prevent foes from pushing as far into it. This isn't a change in the concept of the power, you've just made it smaller. And you CAN make it smaller if foes can't "push" as far into it before they get flung out.

3) Add a +Dmg to all allies inside the Force Bubble. There's no reason for this other than to give a damage boost. However, it doesn't actually change the essential nature of the power, merely adds something else to it. (Like the -Res to Tar Patch)

Now, personally I feel that the only problem with this arrangement is that Repulsion Field and Force Bubble are redundant. One thing I MIGHT suggest is to make Repulsion Field the large radius Slow with the +Dmg, and Force Bubble the smaller Repel. That way you take both of them to get the full effect. However, that would definately be a change in the behavior of Repulsion Field. One advantage would be that the +Dmg would come at an earlier level.

The only other MMO I've really liked, although it was for the most part like all the other MMOs, had one thing that I think CoH ended up "borrowing" from them. And that was the debt system, and that was Earth and Beyond. While E&B was still primarily about spawn camping, and had precious little instanced missions (ironically, if it had, the Trading and Explorations systems might have worked) the fact that death was not really that significant a loss, and you could just jumpstart your ship, or take a tow and go on, did make the grinding easier. The debt system wasn't exactly the same, you could pay it off by logging off for a while, which you can't do in CoH, and you could get more of it, but overall, the idea was the same. You never stop progressing. You always move forward.

Even the ability to Warp past spawns was a way of avoiding the grind, the way CoH lets you fly over it.

I think the three innovations of CoH are as follows:

1) They eliminated spawn camping and hunting. With instanced missions, you have your own private set of foes to overcome to reach the goal. So there is no hunting because you always know where they are, and there is no camping because you don't have to fight against someone else camping the same goal to get to it. Even newspaper missions are a way of turning spawn missions into instanced missions, instead of forcing you to hunt. CoH is STILL innovating in this area.

2) The sidekick system. Levelling and the tendency in other MMOs for "getting to the fun part" to be getting to level 50 (or whatever the max is) is related. If you are at level 50, you are the same level as all of your friends. Thus, you can team with them. CoH eliminated the need to get to level 50 by making it so you could team with your friends, as equals, at ANY level.

3) Lack of loot and upgrades tied to character customization. This is related to spawn camping, as without loot, there is no need to camp. The greater insight, however, is that the devs realized that upgrades that effect your characters' appearance LIMITS your creativity. Since everyone has to have the exact same gear to be equally capable, everyone has to look exactly the same. So CoH uncoupled the LOOK of the characters and powers from their ABILITIES and allowed you to upgrade your abilities and your appearance separately.

I would like to make one minor suggestion which isn't really what this thread is for, but I'd still like to put it out there.

If player level is made available to Web Sites, could it include tenths of level, as well? One thing I've found annoying is that with all my alts, the character select screen only shows whole level. So I can't see if any of my alts are close to levelling, or still at the beginning of the last level.

I ended up putting together a spreadsheet of all my characters to track that, and I've suggested adding the tenths to the select screen, but if that data was available on the Web Site (or if this data is being made available for fan pages) then I could check it there.

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For Masterminds it's the bow, pistols, assault rifle, and pulse rifle for Ninja, Thugs, Mercenaries, and Robotics powersets. If you don't take any of those 3 non-pet powers available then you won't see your fancy weapon.

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Well, unless you're /TA...

Hm... how about a bow-like option for the Primary attacks so even if the graphics don't look like a bow, at least it stays in theme. I'm not really sure what I'm thinking of here, but maybe a medieval looking Arquebus for Thugs, and maybe something that looks like a laser bow for Robots...

Or maybe a sort of combo weapon that is a bow, but has a pistol built into the grip... Hum, I guess that would mean customizing the TA bows as well.

One reason I don't want to use the bow on my Ninjas/FF MM, though, is because the medieval look doesn't fit the tech theme of FF. A techy-looking, glowing green bow, on the other hand...

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will the weapon customization effect ninja katanas or bows?

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Yes, and this was actually a tricky combination to figure out. A Thugs/Trick Arrow Mastermind for example will be able to customize both their left and right hand pistol as well as their bow.

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Now THAT'S intriguing.

That means you have the potential of adjusting both Primary and Secondary. Maybe even Pool Powers as well. (It might be nice to change the Tricorder for Heal Other to something else)

Nah, they shouldn't be taken out of the game. Just regulated as a controlled substance and taxed. Perhaps made available only for medical purposes, for the treatment of SMASH addiction...

One thing that I have been thinking of trying, and which you might also try out (since you probably have a lot more prestige than I do) to get over the hump from the 355k starter base to the 1011k base with energy and control, is to use the Combo Generator with either a Mainframe or a Generator, but not both. As far as I know, you don't need to remove the Combo Generator. (Although I've never tried it, so it's possible adding other control and energy will "shut it down")

The only problem I've had with this plan is that you have to have BOTH the Oversight Center AND a room for the Mainframe or Generator. You can't put other Control or Power items in the Oversight Center, and can't put the Combo Generator in a Control room. (Even though it's listed under Control)

I also can't really tell if the Power part of the Combo Generator would generate enough power for the Mainframe, or if there won't be enough Control for a good sized base if you just went with the Combo + Generator. I'm trying to get the largest of the Workbenches powered up, but I can't seem to quite do it. So I may still need more power and control.

At any rate, that's a suggestion. The Combo Generator might still be able to supplement your power and control needs even after you have both rooms installed, at the cost of the Oversight Center, of course. (Then again, that's only 50k, far less than the cost of the bigger Control room you used to add on databases prior to getting the Supercomputer)

You also don't even mention the Turbine, which I guess means that it isn't needed.

Personally, I never really felt multiple Teleporters were needed, since I'm the only one in my SG, I always use the one, and just switch the beacon. So I used the space and prestige for a Workshop, and put in some Empowerment Stations along with the Storage. I haven't actually used the Stations yet, which I probably should since I've been hoarding Salvage for so long. But it's important to note they can be used to convert any kind of Salvage without spending the control and energy on a Workbench.

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OK, I voted, but while I'm all for brand new powersets, what is the big objection to porting over sets that already sit in multiple ATs?

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I'm going to assume this does NOT reduce or eliminate the possibility of that happening. Since creating new Power Sets will take much more time than simply porting over existing ones, the devs are asking about the former now so they'll have time.

I would like to request a similar poll thread for "Which existing Power Set would you like to see moved Hero to Villain Side, or vice versa". Just so people know it's still being considered, and maybe get some feedback about what players' priorities are.

(And I have a feeling I'm going to have to repost this comment every other page in this thread. Because it's coming up a lot)

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The biggest problem I can see with two-handed weapons is how do they implement that when there are off-hand powers in the game? How do you hold a staff and shield at the same time without it looking funky? If you ended up with certain combinations of powers, you could end up spending way too much time just switching weapons. Imagine having to pull a weapon for every attack or defense...

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A shield is a problem with any weapon.

Using a staff two handed isn't a problem, though. You put it away when you use your off hand, just like you do with any drawn weapon. After all, Assault Rifle is used two handed, and so is Pistols.

As long as you aren't talking about using a two handed weapon AND a shield, then there's not a problem. And Shield would be a technical challenge to implement anyway, so the use of it will have to be a compromise. (Or require the implementation of new technology, like an off hand weapon)

I voted for Street Fighting and Ball and Chain, but would have put Staff first if it'd been available.

I haven't voted on the Defenses because I don't really think I have enough information to decide between them.



Also, I'm assuming NONE of these suggestions preclude the idea that some of the existing sets may become more widely available. I definately agree with Brutes and Claws. And it really shouldn't need to be slowed down, Claws isn't really that much faster than Super Strength. (And it isn't nearly as damaging)

In fact, I'd like to also suggest a sort of "Beasial Fury" Defense which is a cross between Regeneration and Invulnerability, balanced for Brutes, and so less regeneration. But a good match for Claws. The only reason I haven't actually posted it in the Defense poll, is that I don't think it's a very well known concept. And I'd have no trouble making a Claws/Invulnerability werewolf. (I already have him, he just has Energy Melee right now)

I posted my reply to the weapons above, to the defenses, can I just say that can we please have a DESCRIPTION of the various power sets? Is Willpower a Batman-like, "he can survive in space just because he's that bad-***", or is it the Psionic defense set? Is Vibration Sonic, or is it a super speeder set, like Flash vibrating through walls? What is it about Force Fields that sets it apart from Energy Aura, outside of the graphics?

More importantly, where is Radiation?

While I certainly think Energy Blade sounds interesting (It would be in concept for my Blaster...) it is a bit redundant with Fire Sword and Ice Sword. At least Stone has a mallet and not a sword. And we have Energy Melee.

So I basically wonder where the "something different" comes in. My Blaster, BTW, chose Fire Sword. It was close. (And I call it an energy blade with hot plasma trapped inside it)

My personal preference, along with Street Fighting, would be a Staff. It's a common enough suggestion (and common enough in the comics) that I was surprised that it wasn't on the list. Hopefully enough folks will back me up here that there will be a "groundswell", as Ex Libris put it.

(Maybe we can compromise and make it an Energy Staff I can see it being a little difficult to implement, like Shield or Ball and Chain, but if they're on the list...)

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For some reason Dragonberry without clothes never seemed suggestive to me but seeing her with just a jacket top and no bottom made me blush , same with spinoski haveing a bottom but no top .

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I know what you mean, heh. Dragon girl wearing no clothes, ok, but wearing PART of her clothes? O_o

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I think it's the Looney Tunes influence. Looney Tunes you've got no problem with cartoon characters running around naked, as long as they have ONE (or very few) items of clothing. Bugs Bunny, for instance, has gloves, but doesn't wear a shirt or pants.

Dragonberry has a scarf and leg warmers, so she fits the "not totally naked" category. Put pants on her, though, and it's obvious she's not wearing a top.

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It would be like a DO suddenly selling for the price of a HO.

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One thing to remember is that there already is a certain upper limit of price already established by the presense of the stores. If you can't buy an SO for a reasonable price on the AH, you can always go to a regular store. And that will always ensure that the prices of standard Enhancements will be relatively steady. So TOs, DOs, and SOs will not suddenly be selling for the price of HOs. (as there is no rational reason to pay that much for one outside of influence transfers)

This doesn't apply to IOs and HOs, though. It's possible that IOs and HOs (and the Recipes and Salvage to make IOs) will be the only thing traded in the AH, and "normal" Enhancements won't be traded because the players that use the economy features consider them unsellable, or outside the realm of the "economy". I'm not ready to say that's certain, though. (I feel casual players will probably support a DO/SO traffic, as well, saving money over the stores)

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Good answer, but at the same time, doesn't that cast a shadow of guilt on anybody going into the consignment house? The official purpose of the place isn't to launder/transfer money.

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I hope you're not replying to me, because I can't understand how that applies to anything I'm talking about. Griefing, though, is defined as an intentional activity, if the interception isn't intentional, then it's not griefing.

More generally, it doesn't matter WHAT you do to grief, if the intention is to grief. If someone finds a way to grief by healing people, then it's griefing, but that doesn't mean healing is griefing. If someone finds a way to grief by chatting on a channel, then it's griefing, but that doesn't mean chatting is griefing. It is the intent to cause harm that is griefing, not the actual action involved.

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Let me know what you hear, because I'm almost positive this is not the case. There has been no indication that we will see a "recommended" price other than the price paid for the last 10 items of a given type.

The listing fee has been established as 10% of your asking price.

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Well, it's possible that I may give Positron the idea, which would be good, too. I'm pretty sure I've heard somewhere that there is a recommended price somewhere, though.

After all, if there is no recommended price, what do you bid if no one has ever sold that item before? (Something that will obviously be a question when the Auction House first comes on line)