Leo_G
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Posts
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Quote:lol, you can't skip it on a dominator.Originally Posted by psydar
I skipped it on my plant/earth.
I usually hate to simply ignore powers I end up picking but I make exceptions for some builds (see Boxing/Kick, which so happens to be on this /earth dom too). -
Quote:It's a matter of taste, really. And Blasters aren't the only ones with nukes, mind you. Yes, it's in their primary but so are they in Corruptor's Primary.Originally Posted by Samuel_Tow
I'm not against "final stand" powers. Not in the slightest. Powers like Unstoppable, Overload and Elude are easily some of my favourites. What I'm against is powers with very limited use an very dubious, unreliable results that nevertheless come with drawbacks which far outweigh their usefulness. I would sooner use Foce of Nature on my ex Energy/Energy/Force Blaster than Nove as a last resort, because Nova had an unreliable shot at hitting or indeed killing what's threatening me, yet it removes my ability to defend myself while Foce of Nature allows me to stand and fight and kill what's threatening me, at the cost of it then expiring, crashing my endurance and not recharing in another 1000 seconds. But at least when it's up, I know I can rely on it.
Blaster nukes are treading the wrong tightrope. They're trying to balance the ability to kill an entire spawn in a single hit with the fact that being able to kill an entire spawn in a single hit is badly overpowered in most cases, so they're kind of half-and-half, with the multiple damage components and the target cap and so on. More than anything else, they give a Blaster precisely what a Blaster doesn't need more of - shock damage.
By FAR the biggest problem Blasters have is that they have very little time to act, because the border between being alive and being floor pizza is often counted in seconds. A Scrapper can goof around, botch his setup, get hit about the head and still have quite a long time to react before things get really bad. A Blaster does not have that luxury, with the expectation that a Blaster's damage can work so fast that this short life span wouldn't be crippling.
But if I were looking for an all-or-nothing power on a Blaster, I'd want to see one which allowed me to do much damage by means of keeping me alive long enough to do so. All of my Blasters had more than enough damage to take anything and everything down, but rarely lived long enough to be able to do so. A power which gives me a window of opportunity where I CAN live long enough to kill stuff, at the cost of crashing me AFTER that fight is done if I don't drag my feet, is one I can respect far, far more than what is essentially a roll of the dice.
While you like the crashing armor clicks but hate the crashing nukes, I don't mind the crashing nukes but shy away from the crashing armor clicks if only because the crashing armors give a sort of false sense of security. Just because it's a big high-powered armor buff, you expect it to help you survive but its not always the case. Non-Brutes/Tankers only have 75% resists and even if you have capped defense doesn't mean you won't be dropped quick. And when you're teamed with buffers, those clicks don't do much extra.
If anything, I'd like more nukes that recharge faster and crash both HP and endurance. Why? Because Blasters are already getting pushed aside a bit with Judgements (not replaced but no one is picking the blaster for nuking but they *should*). A faster, bigger area, higher target cap nuke means you'll be dropping more stuff faster and more often. Better than what any non-nuking AT can do. And the team can cover you by managing what aggro is left and buffing/healing you so you can get up to do it again.
Sorry, Sam, but your bias toward Blasters is showing. I can really tell that your grievance is more with Blasters and not really their nukes.Quote:Originally Posted by Samuel_Tow
That argument is more to the effect that once you nuke, anything you survive is going to attack you, and you're going to be out of endurance with no toggles and potentially low on health. There are some nukes which have the benefit of control effects on them, such as Blizzard which leaves the Blaster pretty safe as enemies are slowed and slipping. But something like Inferno really just doesn't.
Furthermore, all nukes that I've ever used are slow, with animations of over 2 seconds. What this means is that you're sitting in essentially a large, full spawn, taking fire from everybody for over two seconds. Now, this is rarely enough to kill a Blaster, as I've found out, but it's usually enough to drop that Blaster into the orange, if not red. So if you nuke a large spawn and end up with orange health and no endurance AND a boss survived, then you are in deep, deep trouble, especially if said boss is a Tank Swiper or a Hewer Elite or a Gunslinger or some such.
First of all, shooting a hold at a problematic enemy before firing a nuke just means that the NPCs have that much more of an opportunity to kill you before your nuke fires, or to ensure you trade holds with them. Additionally, Blasters are the only AT I've ever played which is completely and utterly ****** without inspirations, if you'll pardon my language. If I don't have purples on hand in case I slip up or face a nasty spawn, I die. If I don't have break-frees for those holds at inconvenient times, I die. If I don't bring enough reds to the right fights, I die.
Granted, I tend to play mostly melee ATs and Masterminds, but I've never played a Scrapper, Stalker, Brute or Mastermind who was so completely SOL without inspirations at any time. Sure, I can't beat every elite boss on just my wits alone, and there are some exceptional situations where inspirations are mandatory, but as a general running theme, all of my other characters get more inspiration drops than they actually use. Except for Blasters, who use more inspiration drops than they actually get by a fair margin, so I never have any left over just in case I opted to nuke a spawn instead of fighting it conventionally. Really - why nuke and use up my inspirations when I can fight normally and very likely need to use none at all?
I find Blaster Nukes to be far too overbalanced on the side of caution. They don't do nearly enough to impress with with nearly the kind of reliability I'd want to see, and in return they have some of the game's most severe crashes. Seriously, the only thing which crashes worse than a nuke is Unstoppable, and I'd take Unstoppable over Nova any day of the week. Hell, I'd take Force of Nature over Nova any day of the week, and that ought to say something.
Yes, nukes are strong. I don't find them to be nearly strong enough to be worth the crash. -
Yeah, that's what I was noticing too, with the numbers that is.
I remember using Power Boost with my Grav/Ice dom and using Lift for hilarious effect a while back. Granted now, PB doesn't affect knock powers but it *was* enhanceable. Likewise, my Kat/SR has part of a KB set in Soaring Dragon and it does noticably boost the distance it sends targets in (and it's hilariously noticeable on grey targets) and this is sort of what I wanted for my Stone Spears.
So, when did they change it so that Knock up isn't affected by enhancements? Or is it just Stone Spears?
-Sigh- If I can't buff the distance, I might as well not even bother slotting the power...Too bad, I really liked the animation. But it's too slow and does such low damage, it really has no room in my build...And I'm not even a min/maxer! If I'm skipping it, there must be something wrong with it...this and Barb Swipe... -
A type of 'ninja assault' set where you use throwing weapons like shuriken, throwing knives and a variety of thrown weaponry but mixed with meleeing with said weapons (because you can still cut someone with a knife without throwing it).
I'd like the set for the Stalker AT as a melee set (with some range) but if need be, I can accept it as an assault set for doms.
Currently, the character is a Spines Stalker since it uses the same mechanics. If a new set isn't viable, alternate animations for Thorn Assault/Spines would work as well. -
Quote:Playing my budding incarnate Fire/Storm corr, I generally use my nuke as a means to an end of myself. Generally, if the crap is about to hit the fan (I've got phase shift up and know it's about to end for me) I'll just drop hurricane and shoot off Inferno. Anything that lives will most likely kill me (or get blasted by my tornados or lightning clouds) so might as well use what little endurance I have to take out as many foes as possible. It's almost cheating considering the chunk of endurance will just disappear once you die.Originally Posted by Samuel_Tow
Personally, I feel the problem with nukes is they're less a combat power and more a "skip spawn" button. Yes, they're impressive, but they're the equivalent to skipping the cutscene. Almost every time I've used a nuke, it's been to avoid a fight with a spawn, rather than as an integral part of that fight.
Thankfully, I have Soul Transfer too. So yeah, don't care if I die. I just get to stun the crap out of everything anyway and get my endurance refilled and don't have to worry about any -recovery.
And this is why I'd rather the nukes stay true nukes. We have far too few 'all or nothing dump' powers that you just pour everything you have left into. Everything's about sustaining your status as is. Nothing is about 'that last moment' or 'your final stand'. There's not enough sacrifice powers, self destructs and what not considering how many self rez, rez, and target dead powers we have...actually, it's probably why we don't. A nuking blaster with rise of the phoenix is pretty scary...way scarier than a blaster playing it safe with a mini-nuke. -
In-game numbers say it's an 80% chance of mag 0.67 knock up. It also says that it accepts knockback enhancements. When I hover over the power with the mouse on the enhance window, it says the value is boosted but checking the specific numbers says nothing changed about the KU mag.
Just curious if I actually decide to slot this power and enhance the KU, will it have a better chance of affecting bosses? -
I haven't made an AE arc in a while so don't know what the options is called or if the options are still available but...
Maybe what you're seeing is that whole 'ramp up' mechanic going on? I know there is/was other options when setting enemy groups on a map, but the one I remember is that ramp up one, where the enemies start out weak but get stronger the further in the map you go.
Basically what I'm saying is, it might have been *designed* that way to wave the levels of the spawns on a map so some spawns would be harder than others or harder toward the boss or the ambushes being tougher or whatever. In which case, I'd more likely side with the author having the say in how things spawn in an arc rather than the player. Sure, you can still say no bosses or AVs, but where and how they spawn should be left to the arc/author.
Sometimes, for effect, you want the level of the enemy to vary. Or just to mix it up some or keep the player on their toes.
Yeah, I find it annoying sometimes too when certain enemy groups spawn two levels higher than I asked...but the other times for the other enemy groups, I usually don't mind. You get to see if you can pull out that extra stop, use that BU/Aim, use that tier 9, pop those inspirations or bust out with the temp power to make the spawn just as dead as the last. And when the whole map is tough, then mayhaps the mission was suppose to be a rough road compared to others? Annoying as it may be, if you can still handle it, then you could have been running that difficulty the whole time. -
Quote:That actually sounds even *more* stalker-ish than it'd be on any other melee. Especially if it didn't drop hide or notify the mob.Originally Posted by BlasterMaster
Renamed Gravity Well as Warp Space, changed it for a teleport, as suggested, and changed the effects to be more in line with similar powers.
Make it a long recharging click (I seriously doubt a toggle TP is even possible...what would that even do? constantly teleport stuff around you...even if they're already right in your face?) with a wide range (20ft) that TPs foes around you. Switch the stun for a sleep and suddenly, that whole placating targets onto your teammates isn't so bad when you can huddle them up in one spot for them.
It just seems way too tactical a maneuver for a Brute/Tank. Besides, they have taunt which applies -range. They don't need a 'tp to me' move
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Quote:That sounds more like a Stalker set than a Tanker/Brute set. But since Scraps aren't team tanks, it could work for them too.Originally Posted by BlasterMaster
Here is a thought for a Tank/Scrapper/Brute armor. Out of Phase could be altered slightly to become a Stalker stealth, possibly removing Dopleganger for a placate.
For one: why would you replace the mez protection for hide? That makes no sense.
For two: placate is in their primary, not their secondary.
And three: why would a Brute want a doppelganger? That's just aggro not building him fury.
Just for parity, a stalker version of this set might be:
1. Hide.
2. Time Loop
3. Massive Density
4. Heat Slump
5. Out of Phase
6. Doppelganger
7. ? Antipode? (what is this, exactly? your description doesn't make sense to me)
8. 'Gravity Well' (need another name, and there is no repel toward...I figure this power is more useful than Time Warp. Basically, exchange Time Warp for Hide on Stalkers)
9. Warp Reality
So the major swap for Stalker is taking out Time Warp, sticking in Hide and shifting up Doppelganger to a lower level. I feel that'd work way better (either set up) on a Stalker than it'd ever could on a Tanker or Brute. -
Quote:While I can agree that the balancing mentality they used then may have been over the top, I still don't favor going in the complete opposite direction and abolish near every penalization attached to powers.Originally Posted by Samuel_Tow
I agree. The original Launch game design philosophy was heavily based around penalising mechanics. You get great regeneration in Instant Healing but it costs a lot. You get great defences in Elude but you can't attack. You get status protection in your Tankers, but you can't move. You get to deal huge damage over a large area, but you lose all of your endurance and you stun yourself for five seconds. The list goes on and on.
By and large, I feel no apprehension in saying that this methodology towards balancing powers has proven unpopular. People skip these "situational" powers because they're too dangerous to use and stick to the ones that do less but operate with much greater reliability. I think it's high time we brought Nukes into the current-day balancing methodology of producing more reliably useful powers even if they're not borderline cheating in terms of final performance.
It undermines the tactics and powers used to get by or dampen said penalties without raising the ceiling. So those powers that will completely refill your endurance after a crash? Or those quick witted enough to duck behind something when their HP crashes so they can pop a blue + Dull Pain? Or the set that can negate its own crash, making said tier 9 better than similar ones in that regard? Yeah, all that just gets stomped on and now you have to rebalance everything so it's all fair because everything is balanced in exactly the same way in every situation (i.e. homogenized).
Is it so bad to have a power that comes with a penalty? Then you might have a reason to actually take a power that makes up for said penalty. It's called synergy. -
Quote:Perhaps a +1 to target cap after lvl 41 for a 25 target cap at 50? Just the fact it can be slotted for damage/rech, can take procs and is affected by interface should be enough to keep it in the running with Judgement.Originally Posted by Winterminal
But as others have said, I could also get behind the "raise the damage" alternative (balanced across the individual ATs, of course). At least on Blasters, when they pop that nuke, the rest of the team should either be standing there drop-jawed or saying, "Psh, showoff..."
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Quote:When I make a statement about a power or AT, I give a 'this or that', a 'if you like doing this...' or 'it can do x and y stuff but not z'.Originally Posted by Jibikao
Look who is talking? Dude, you are like the master of "pressing your opinions" onto others.
Do you hear me going on about Stalkers sucking? Although I think some help could be had for them, no I don't and they don't. Do I think placate is a panacea for the AT? No, I even mention why is a candidate for a delayed/skipped power.
It's about what someone wants to do, not what you think someone should do. Otherwise, I wouldn't even have any Stalkers and wouldn't touch MA or EM.
I believe that's because those chains are their ST chains. All their combos end or use AoEs. I'm not sure if anyone tested for maxims on Stalker DB but of note; Attack Vitals is a string of ST attacks which can be chained continuously if you toss in Ablating between combos. No idea if it's optimal or not but then it's free ST damage.Quote:Now, I know for Scrappers and Brutes the highest damage DB attach chain doesn't use combos at all. Is that true for stalkers as well? -
See? People always forget about Sonic Blast...
But I'd personally be more behind ramping up the nukes so they're worth the crash instead. -
Quote:I wish people would stop trying to press their opinion so much.Originally Posted by Jibikao
Nah, I find delaying Placate provides better gaming experience during early levels especially if you don't have a heavy hit to follow up with. Placate doesn't improve dps at all. It has better use for soloers but I rarely solo on my stalker.
I find it better taking one more attack since we already take Assassin Strike at lvl 6. If you take AS + Placate, you don't have rooms left for other attacks or defensive toggles.
Placate: it's a power that recharges relatively decent. It stops a foe from hitting you until you hit it. It gives you a chance for a critical hit so long as you're not knocked from hidden.
In those levels, where you don't have slots or enhancements or endurance to burn, it's not like it's a bad choice. It needs no slotting to do it's magic, it's available early when you're hungry for slots and it can be used offensively or defensively.
Please, just pick it up depending on your playstyle.
On characters who I need my powers early so they're slotted by mid-level, it's an optional power to skip. On characters that can and do skip one or some of the earlier powers (See Martial Arts, Claws, Katana, Spines) and need more slots than powers, Placate is a great choice for this.
Is DB worth it? I'd say. I only have a mid level DB/Nin stalker (will get around to lvling it when I'm satisfied with where I leave my corruptor but then I'll probably spend some time on my Kin/EA stalker and Kin/Inv tanker after that) but it is fun to play and effective for single target and has some AoE spread in it too. It has nice options for IOs and comes with the optional tactics of combos to boot.
Just like it's a good suggestion to play at least 1 Kinetic Melee Stalker, I'd suggest at least 1 Dual Blades Stalker too. That, and Electrical Melee. -
Quote:I thought the well was the source of all origins. So wouldn't that make anything coming from it Science, Tech, Natural, Mutation and Magic all at once?Originally Posted by Thirty-Seven
No character who has Incarnate powers is "Natural" anymore. They are Incarnates and empowered by the Well which, I would surmise, is akin to some sort of magic.
I'd probably suggest we all keep ideas for possible judgements on a 'easy to customize as many themes' basis rather than 'oh that'd look cool' basis.Quote:Originally Posted by cursedsorcerer
Yes, it COULD be recolored to look like a black hole, and while that will suffice, a real black hole would not do Negative Energy damage, it would do Smashing damage which Void Judgement doesn't. Also the Gravitic Judgement I had in mind involves opening a rift over a mob and making junk rain down on them like a Propel on steroids.
It'd be nice to have particularly-specific-to-certain-type-of-powers animations for them, but it's unrealistic. -
Is a Fire/Storm Corr considered a damage type, a support type or a control type?
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Quote:Easy. Replace Burning Aura with Hide.Originally Posted by bAss_ackwards
I'd like the set on a Stalker, but I don't know how they'd change it.
That's it.
Don't know why anyone would think they'd do anything more since they haven't done any different with every other defensive set proliferated thus far.
There is no mechanical hurdle to bear for a Tanker that takes the Concealment pool...or were you unable to detect the sarcasm in the post regarding that?Quote:GOODNESS! What in the world is Dark Armor doing on a Tank?! They're supposed to be getting all the aggro, not Cloak-of-Darkness-hiding from it! Someone tell the developers they've made a mistake! -
Quote:I doubt that's why. The only offensive skills pulled from Stalker defense sets are PBAoE toggle damage which is rather useless. That's a far cry from the notion that Stalkers get no damage abilities in secondary sets.Originally Posted by bAss_ackwards
It is most likely that Shield Charge would be taken out though. Stalkers don't have any Damage abilities in their Secondaries except for Dark Regeneration and Soul Transfer, both of which are tagged for (trivial) Negative Damage. Probably by design to have difficulty against Typed Defense.
Ah, so Cloak of Darkness provides anti-aggro? Better warn those aggro hungry Brutes using Energy Cloak/CoD they're doing it wrong.Quote:Originally Posted by BrandX
I knew something was up with all those Dark Armor Scrappers and their Cloak of Darkness stealthing ability! Or using those mez toggles!
Those dirty Scrappers, they're being so inappropriate! We should shun them all! -
Quote:Tsk tsk.Originally Posted by MunkiLord
I want ninja scrappers!
It's thematically inappropriate for a Scrapper to hide behind ninja tricks. Just like's it's apparently non-thematic for a Stalker to carry a shield. -
Quote:...and Build up/ Follow up.Originally Posted by GuyPerfect
With the exception of Slash/Quills...
Honestly, Claws and DB are about as similar as Claws and Spines. The difference in range is really the main difference between Claws and DBs. Despite their relationship with Claws, I wouldn't say DBs and Spines are really close...that's how different each set is. -
Quote:But those exploration badges (for Mayhems) are the ones required for the accolade that grants the power. So offering a mission *just* for the badges would be basically handing the accolade over as well.Originally Posted by JKCarrier
I assume the main reason people want to flashback the Safeguards/Mayhems is to get the exploration badges. So maybe they can do like they did with Isolator & Jail Bird: make an Ouro arc that lets us get just those badges, but not any of the other awards associated with the bank missions.
But I'm not a badger. Dunno if said accolade is suppose to be simple to access or not. -
Quote:I say it *should* be changed just like every other PBAoE to a 50% chance and if not, all AoEs should get 100% crit chance.Originally Posted by Nalrok_AthZim
Burst from Kin Melee would like to talk to you.
And don't you DARE say that should be changed. >:[ -
Quote:Hmm?Originally Posted by Killerkitty
WANT... to killmaimburndestroybatheinbloodwhilechewingonheart of that animey abomination thing
at least it isn't sparkling.. I think.
seriously it makes me want to strap something down and hurt it slowly with not-too-sharp objects, with a mic and big amp to make the screams more enjoyable. AND THEN SLEDGEHAMMER ON IT'S CAREBEAR-LIKE FACE BAMBAMBAMBAM. Oh god that would be delicious, i feel better now
I guess you like my avatar. Thanks?
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Quote:That's not being a 'punk', that's being vulnerable. And mighty doesn't automatically mean invulnerable or super strong. Relatively speaking, a cripple in a wheelchair is still capable of bringing down an unstoppable meta that cannot be harmed physically.Originally Posted by Ironblade
Well, they're just like the groups in the comics: some are genuinely "mighty" and some, relatively speaking, are punks. Superman is mighty. So are Iron Man, Wonder Woman, Thor, etc. Batman is a punk. Aquaman is a punk. Some of them are in both categories at once. Flash has amazing powers but if you could catch him off-guard, a normal person could take him out with one punch.
In the Phalanx, Statesman and Positron are mighty. Manticore and Synapse are punks. BAB is a punk. Sister Psyche is like Flash - amazing powers but really easy to take out of the fight. -
Quote:You shouldn't have to play every power combination through every piece of content to say you've tried every power set. Some of us don't like repeating the same powersets on characters and I'm one of them although I break my own rule on that if you can vary the theme enough (like crystal Earth control, boxing super strength/martial arts, ice shield defense, etc) but that's beyond the point. I've played every scrapper/stalker set and want new sets to mix it up. No, I'm not complaining there's nothing to do in CoH but I am with the OP in wanting new power sets if only because it widens the scope of themes and concepts and may get players to play new sets or even repeat old sets but with new animations/customizations.Originally Posted by Memphis_Bill
And... really... you've played "Everything?" Every power combination through every mission?
So your nitpicking? Are you just putting yourself as an opponent of new powersets/animations/customizations? Are you just trying to defend the devs? Or just feel like putting down the OP? *shrugs*
And you can toss in specialty builds like Human form Peacebringer with accuracy bonuses that specializes in -def and using crafted temp powers as attacks (I kind of have such a PB myself)...that doesn't make these viable alternatives for new powers/animations.Quote:Then you get to do it with the *other* ATs. Even the Epics, Khelds? Humanform takes different strategies than a bi or triform, VEAT-side, a Huntsman (for instance) is going to play rather differently than a Bane.
I think your nitpicking (and lack of smilies) made your post sound less like a friendly suggestion from a seasoned player and more like a tool posting on the internet. But maybe I'm just bias >_>Quote:Just a few suggestions... from someone with (given the most recent count) 300+ characters, 26 (ish) 50s, who still doesn't think he can honestly say he's "done everything."
I dislike people that talk down on PvP. I mean, yeah, I don't do it myself anymore but that's mainly cause I only play in smaller windows of time. I guess if you don't have anything nice to say...Quote:Originally Posted by Memphis_Bill
Tip 1: Don't do that. Which, I'll say, it sounds like you have as a goal. (PVP excepted, of course, I get doing that - but, yeah, post-I13 pvp....)
And I'm not an opponent of farming either. Sometimes, you just reach a point where you don't feel like running a certain contact's missions so passing them up but I generally team up instead of farm. Exemp down or SK up. I personally enjoy the different team-ups you can have with people and building characters that have multi-use powers and tactics facing different foes alongside strangers that have different playstyles. But themes, concepts and roleplay also helps break up the monotony.
But I'd generally suggest taking a break. Play a F2P game or pull out some online shooter or something. But not something with the same play as CoX (unless that's all you want to play).