Lord_Regulus

1) Get on a large team with Controllers/Dominators to benefit from your Dark Sustenance which will grant you mez protection. 3 Controllers should do.

2) Carry around Break Frees or pick up Black Dwarf. You can switch forms while mezzed. Other than that, perhaps slot +Mez Resist IOs, but I don't know what good that will do.

I went full ranger with my Archery/EM build.

Boost Range + 3 DMG/HO's in every damaging Archery Attack - All Melee Attacks = Fun!

My Rain of Arrows and Fistful of Arrows goes a ridiculous range. Taking out blues in Hamidon raids has never been more safe. I don't need to be anywhere near the goo.

I am also working on getting the Cardiovascular Alpha Slot for +Range and am going that route soley for more range. By the end of it, I can probably target through a friend to shoot a guy I can't see normally because of max view distance.

My first Mastermind and my first Villain was my Ninja/Trick Arrow. I love the combination late game. The controlling power of the Oni mixes with your bag of Trick Arrows. With Aid Other and a close eye on my pets, I have been able to keep my Ninjas alive and killing things. It is my favorite character to play!

Instead of seeing KB as a bad thing, just learn how to effectively use your KB. on Indoor maps, corners are your friends.

Trick Arrow is a fantastic powerset that offers a lot of control potential, but it is a later bloomer for sure. Once you have Oil Slick Arrow and EMP Arrow it gets a lot better. I would also suggest for your Ancillary powerset grabbing Power Boost from Mace Mastery. With the right slotting, your EMP Arrow will keep a mob Held (including bosses sometimes) for almost a minute.

You should really be benefitting from the control aspect of your character with the combination of you and your Demon Prince. You should plan on getting some */Mez HOs a him around for late game and use your Ice Arrow in conjunction with his Ice Hold. You should be able to perma-hold an Elite Boss with that combo.

/TA allows you to send your minions in while you stand back and debuff the snot out of everyone. It allows you to see the entirety of the battlefield which is contained by you through immobilizes, holds, and slows while debuffing the enemy to hell.

If you haven't done so already, make a macro or bind a key to petcom_all goto so you can send your minions into the middle of an area while you open up debuffing them. I do this with my level 50 Ninja/TA, except I only have it bound to send in my Genin and Jounin because the Oni works a lot better when not in melee for my playstyle. The only problem I see with this is your Hellfire Demon getting a lot of attention with his DoT Aura. If I am not watching that guy, he get himself in a lot of trouble.

Final words, get all the arrows you can and slot them (maybe skip slotting flash arrow because your pets are resistance based), keep the battlefield under control, and look forward to HOs and perhaps you won't get sick of that MM.

You can out damage a single bot with your attacks, you cannot however outdamage 3 bots firing at the same time. Do not go down the dark and lonely road of pet skipping. You're just going to gimp yourself.

Castle will leave a large void in the development chair and here on the boards. It's a sad day to see ya go buddy. Good luck in your next creative endeavor!

Blast Sets: Energy Blasts, Fire Blasts, Assault Rifle, etc
I'd like to see every blast set of this type have a single hand animation and add a new costume part "Arm Cannons". I've always wanted to make a robot like the 5th Column and Council. Yes, we'd see a giant surge in Mega Man clones, but I want to make a robot firing an arm cannon dangit!

I would especially like this on an Assault Rifle blaster. As it is now, the only weapon that makes sense firing buckshot, flamethrowers, regular rounds, rockets, cyrogenic freeze blasts, etc is the UGLY Legacy Assault Rifle (AKA The Super Soaker) and the Redding Rifle which requries you to get merits and can only be accessed late-game. I am more readily accepting of "suspense of disbelif" with an arm cannon like Clockwork have. This would, of course, entail changing all "Drawn Weapon" animations and be more trouble than its worth probably for arm cannons, but I'd like to see it.

Classic Powerset Revamp
There is a GIANT discrepency between old powerset animations and new ones. Broadsword, Axe Melee, and Mace Melee bear all the same animations for goodness sake! We need some new styles of bashing, slicing, and hacking out foes to death for essetic purposes if nothing else.

Blasting Set Nuke Animations
Why not do a fist punch into the ground instead of exploding your body outwards? It could work.

Epic AT Customization
Now that Arachnos can switch over, let us suppliment our Crab Backpacks with something more Heroic. Vanguard Crabpacks anyone? I can understand getting a few spiderlings and reprogramming them for heroic purposes, but teleporting in Arachnos bombs? We might want to have the option to change that to a PPD bomb or something.

Kheldians should also be allowed to recolor a bit too IMO.

Uzi and Sniper Rifle Animations for Dual Pistols and Assault Rifle
Why give us the option for these weapons if they don't look right at all when using them? Uzis would be a bit easier to rework due to the fact that a few of the animations are already there, but matching the sounds would be rather challenging. It is a real stretch to see a Sniper Rifle firing Full Auto. If you could, rework some animations to match a few of the weapons.

Commando
The Commando is a great pet on paper. He has the effectiveness of an Assault Rifle blaster with the Ancillary power Rocket Launcher. But the Commando suffers from having too many options of attack, recharge times, and differing ranges.

Firstly, I would argue that the power choices available for the Commando are confusing to the AI due to the number. When comparing the Commando to all other Boss pets, the Commando has 8 attack powers he can choose from whereas the other sets bear only 6 or 7 active attack powers. The ones bearing 7 powers are the Bruiser and the Oni and that is because the Bruiser needed a ranged power (Hurl Boulder) and Ninjas being an intensive melee set, the Oni deserved to have a melee combo (Fire Sword Hack and Fire Sword Slash). The Commando has 8 powers to chose from, one of them being brawl, which makes it hard for the commando to use its powers effectively. I find the Commando uses Burst and Slug far more than any of his other powers and can sometimes get stuck in using them. The Cones and AoEs are used unpredictably causing attack patterns to be hard to learn.

Secondly, I would argue that it is easier for the AI to select which powers it wants to use and are far more effective when selecting which powers to use because the distances at which these powers can be used are rather uniform. Most pets have ranged or melee combinations that can be used effectively, but the Commando has Cones and AoEs that are all over the board in terms of ranges.

• Brawl – Melee
• Burst – 75 Ft
• Slug – 75 Ft
• Buckshot – 40 Ft
• M30 Grenade – 70 Ft
• Flamethrower – 40 Ft
• Full Auto – 75 Ft
• LRM Rocket – 150 Ft

Only a player can properly use these attacks to their fullest by constantly changing their distance between the enemy and monitoring power recharges. Streamlining the Commando’s powers to work at a more uniform distance would greatly ease the burden on the AI and the player’s need to micromanage. Brawl also makes it harder for the Commando to use cones. Brawl is the enabling tool that lets the Commando use Buckshot and Flamethrower point-blank on a single target ruining his chances to use cones. Other pets combat this with their high damaging powers being AoEs like the Assault Bot’s Swarm Missiles. All the Commando has for an AoE is the M30 Grenade which with his tendency to run into melee, has a handclap effect and blasts targets in multiple directions causing more harm than good. It is the same with medic in this sense with his grenade. The surprising thing is that the grenade itself doesn’t do much damage at all for both pets and only spreads enemies around rather than doing significant damage.

Conclusion
The Mercenaries set suffers unnecessarily from powers that could be reworked and updated to boost effectiveness. I am personally surprised that they haven’t had much work done with them except for a few minor improvements here and there that helped slightly, but never addressed a problem. Please consider reworking the powers developers and establish an apparent direction you want to go with them. Boost their damage to a Single Target or widen their damage potential to multiple targets. The set is lacking in effectiveness when compared to most sets for the reasons listed above. Even in the ideal world of everything working perfectly with Mercenaries, there is far too much of a need to micromanage positioning of pets to utilize their available powers to their fullest extent to match other sets when compared to other sets which require little or no management to significantly outperform.

Spec-Ops
Spec-Ops are arguably the most broken and useless part of the set. Their potential functionality is destroyed by long recharges making their use of controls unpredictable. I can see where the developers were going with the Spec-Ops. Singling out a target to pin down with web grenades and unloading single target attacks from a distance while using controlling powers to debuff and mez the surrounding targets. Problem is, this is far too hard to do with the amount of Knockback and the rate these powers recharge.

Firstly, The Spec-Ops are less effective than the Soldiers because of the uneven ranges of the powers. Their SCAR Heavy Burst is does less damage than the Assault Rifle Heavy Burst and their SCAR Snipe is on par with the Auto Fire of the Soldiers and this is understandable because the increased range and control powers they have. This benefit is rendered useless by their control power’s short ranges as well as having two melee powers which I find gets them to run into melee more often than not making their long range useless. This range is actually does more harm than good. Their AI prefers to use their single target long range attacks because they are available. You have to send them in closer to open up with their control powers first and this requires much more micromanagement and effort than it is worth.

Secondly, their control power’s recharge is not equal with their effectiveness. There are only two powers that I find useful as far as controls in their set, Rifle Butt and Web Grenade. Rifle butt is a great control because it has a high magnitude and has a decent recharge. It can actually stun things. Web Grenade is good because if you slot your Spec-Ops with immobilization duration, the immobilize actually lasts a decent time. The biggest problem though is that their Flashbang Grenade and Tear Gas are both so long in recharge that it becomes almost impossible to keep track of. These powers are great on a first barrage on a mob, but rarely are used at first because of their preference to Snipe. The powers within a fight are used randomly and can be wasted on a target that is running away and not be up for the next first barrage. The magnitudes of these two powers also make them useless within a fight. The powers must be used by both spec-ops together to even phase a Lt. or boss for the full duration of the power. Arguably, these powers are supposed to be used as debuffs. If that is the case, then make the recharges faster so the debuffs can be significant. You can’t slot a duration of a –Attack or –Tohit debuff and having to wait 2-3 minutes for a 20 second debuff that is only being applied to a small amount of targets isn’t worth having at all.

Thirdly, in relation to the previous paragraph, the durations of their powers are nullified when fighting higher level mobs. The full duration of these debuffs and mezzes is negated by their decreased effectiveness on high level enemies and are only worth having against even-leveled enemies. This is counter-intuitive because as one gains power, it should be easier for the Mastermind to take on tougher challenges, but increasing the level makes the spec-ops almost entirely useless because of the level difference. They are summoned at -1 added to fighting +2s or +3s effectively makes the duration of any controlling or debuffing aspect null and void in comparison to say the Leadership of Enforcers which provides a lasting benefit.

Lastly, what is the point of Stealth on Spec-Ops? There is none currently except for a run speed debuff and a defense boost that only comes into play when stacked with other outside defense buffs.

Spec-Ops need to have their entire power combination looked at. Having melee stuns and long recharging powers coupled with long range attacks completely ruins their desired effectiveness in battle as a supportive lieutenant pet. I currently have my Spec-Ops slotted with Damage+Mez Hamidon Origins and the only control power that is worth anything is their Web Grenade. Please look at the Spec-Ops power choices and make some changes to them.

Medic
The medic is one of the sore thumbs that brings the entire set down. I sometimes dismiss him because he gets in the way more often than not. Before the upgrade to AoE upgrades, I left him at with only equip.

The medic is the reason I think that Soldiers are unjustifiably doing far less damage than other sets. In theory, the medic should be able to mitigate damage with his heals, but having two other sets with better heals and secondary Mastermind Power Sets bearing heals and power pool heals, his ability to help his allies out leaves much to be desired.

First off, his Med Kit power is lacking in overall effectiveness. Compared to other pets that heal, his heal is on par with the numbers, but he is outnumbered by Protector Bots and out-ranged and out-damaged by other support pets like the Ember Demon. Other healers can be attacking from afar and still heal a minion in peril for a distance with a 80 ft range and faster cast time. The medic has to get within 25 feet of the damaged pal and throw slowly cast heal on them which puts them in danger with their fellow soldier if they were being attacked by a large number of enemies. The Med Kit does more harm than good sometimes putting the medic in the line of fire with the person he is trying to heal winding up in both soldier’s untimely deaths.

Secondly, stimulant is useless the way it is used. Having a status protection randomly cast on people doesn’t help. Since he cycles through the list of potential targets, there is no benefit except from a miraculous save if a person is being controlled. Higher tiered pets have enough protection for most NPC mezzes that stimulant is wasted on them. If I need a pet to be unheld, I can easily use a secondary set or throw a break free on them. Stimulant is completely useless in its execution and only serves as a reminder that the medic can heal. Most likely, it would be too hard to code for the Medic to detect the presence of a mez so this power should be changed to something more worthwhile.

Lastly, Frag Grenade is a problem power. It does decent AoE damage on paper, but since the soldier is -2 to you, the damage is far less potent. Instead, it causes unwarranted chaos within a mob with a fluctuating chance for knockback. Now, I actually enjoy knockback on my characters. I use it to its fullest on my Kinetics/Energy defender, Archery/Energy Blaster, and Assault Rifle/Energy Blaster. But the really problem is the fact that it is a chance for knockback. This isn’t a problem when comparing this to any other Mastermind Primary set with Knockback, the rest of the set can utilize the enemies downtime with their own Cones and AoEs that don’t cause knockback. Assault Bot Missiles + Battle Drones Full Auto Lazer for instance is great because the Knockback allows for great positioning of the Full Auto Laser attack to hit more enemies than it might have without it. A Bruiser’s Handclap can spread a mob out, but more likely than not the enemies are going to be stunned for a time allowing the thugs to clean up the mess easily while the enemies that weren’t stunned may try to surrounding the bruiser again because of his massive damage generating more threat. This Medic’s frag grenade could only really assist the Commando, but since he is already doing so much knockback by himself, causing too much knockback makes this hard to perform. More on the Commando later.

All in all, the medic does more harm than good in-game. What looks good on paper doesn’t necessarily translate into the game well at all.

Soldiers
The first two pets you unlock in the set fit the bill for what you’d expect from a soldier, except maybe their choice of wardrobe (Grey?). They have four powers, Brawl, Burst, Heavy Burst, and Auto Fire. With this chain, the easiest to compare to Looking over their powers, they do a decent amount of damage, but their overall damage output is slightly lower when comparing the numbers of Battle Drones. Keep in mind that it is also lethal vs. energy damage and lethal is by far more resisted in the game than energy.

Soldiers | Battle Drones

• Tier 1 - 8.61 | 8.72 Damage
• Tier 2 - 14.25 | 14.27 Damage
• Tier 3 - 17.90 | 17.90 Damage
• Tier 3 - 5 | 15 Degree Cone Arc

The last number set is the one I want to point out. The stats for these two powers are basically the same with minor discrepancies here and there, but the major difference which places soldiers far below the damage of Battle Drones, the Cone Arc of the Soldiers. Anyone who has looked at the numbers or has seen both sets in action can tell right from the start that Battle Drone’s cone is superior due to its larger arc with is three times that of a soldier’s burst.

This difference is unjust. The balancing here cannot be validated by the rest of the set which I will discuss later. In all aspects, Mercenaries are worse than Robots in healing, damage, and controlling which I will discuss later. The only explanation I could think of for this discrepancy is that the Mercenaries set is supposed to be a single target set. If this is so, why is the damage of this attack the same as the Battle Drones? There are three Battle Drones as opposed to two Soldiers and they do far more damage to a single target than a Battle Drone. Is it because of the –defense component of Assault Rifle powers? This doesn’t validate their performance either because of Supremacy and the Rifle’s heightened accuracy of 1.10 as opposed to most powers of other pets of 1.00.

If Mercenaries set is supposed to be able deal damage to a large mob, increase their firing arc to be on par with Robots should be a no-brainer. If it is not, then significantly increase the damage done by the power itself and limit it to a single target. The way it is now, the power makes no sense to be as low as it is. Even if I do attack a target at the furthest range I can with soldiers, I can still only get 2 or 3 people if they are standing shoulder to shoulder if I am lucky. With sets like Thugs and Robots, I can easily get at least 5 people within a mob.

A Deeper Analysis and Reasoning why the Set Should be Changed

Introduction: After reading the concerns mentioned in the recent “Improving Mercenaries” topic, I had a question that I didn’t want to get embedded in page 12. Developers of Mastermind pet sets, what was/is the your goal for the appeal of having Mercenaries in the grand scheme of pet choices from the beginning of CoV beta until now?

Personal Theory: The Devs intended the set to be primarily single target. But on that note, why give AoE controls to Spec-Ops?

Background: I just dinged level 50 on my Mercenaries/Pain Domination Mastermind about 6 minutes before the servers went down tonight and looking back, I just can’t tell where the Devs were going with the Mercenary set and I am really confused.

Analysis of their Balancing
Overall: Looking back, it would seem that Mercenaries have been balanced by observing ideal conditions that would only occur in the rarest of circumstances that can only happen on paper.

Example of “Ideal Conditions”: A Freshly summoned level 50 mercenaries would open up with the Commando unleashing a rocket launcher at the centermost mob while the Spec-Ops begin launching mass-controls into the center of group causing group mezzes from their Flashbang Grenades and Tear Gas in succession and the Soldiers open up with their Full Auto mode and Frag Grenade. Afterwards, moving up slightly from the assumed knockback caused by the Commando’s Rocket Launcher, he would then use Full Auto himself in a cone hitting most of the mobs causing their untimely death. The Soldiers could begin opening up fire on those left with their Heavy Bursts and Bursts while the Spec-Ops trapped any runners in a web grenade and the Commando use the rest of his cones and AoEs before focusing on targets.

Looks like a very rewarding first assault dealing massive damage, decent controls, slight –tohit and -def debuffs, and continuous fire from the Mercenaries. Sadly, these circumstances are so rare in occurring that saying it is almost impossible doesn’t describe how rare this would actually be. I’d say the chance of me developing super powers in real life would be more likely than this.

Mercenaries are lacking in the ability to perform. Looking at the pets individually when comparing and contrasting to other Mastermind sets makes one question why their functionality is so low and where their balancing is justified. Also, their special abilities such as controlling and healing are outperformed or rendered useless by AI, recharge, and magnitude.

My main argument for their balancing or lack of is their AI. The set’s ability to use Cones and AoEs properly is frustratingly difficult and will be discussed on an individual basis for each pet. Human Intelligence is a main factor in Cone and AoE power use. On my Assault Rifle blaster, I know that to fully utilize a Cone, I need to back up away from the mob and target the centermost enemy if I want to hit everybody with my flamethrower, pets cannot determine this and instead use their powers based on availability and chance. The way I generally overcome this shortcoming on my other Masterminds is by micromanaging my pet’s positions and placing the pets in appropriate positions to maximize any cone and AoE usage. This is easy on other pets due to predictability and speed of attacks. On Mercenaries, this is incredibly hard due to many animations bearing the same animation which has taken me a lot longer to guess which powers they use more frequently and their incredibly long recharge on powers which makes me guess when they are going to use a power. That, coupled with their power selection leaves much to be desired when it comes to a first volley on an unsuspecting group of enemies. This will be discussed in further detail on an individual basis later.

Dear Developers, What is Your Vision of Mercenaries?

Summary: Devs, what do/did you intend the Mercenaries set’s unique appeal to be? Mass controls, heals, and mez protection balanced by loads of continuous lethal damage looks good on paper, but they are Out-gunned, out-controlled, and out-healed by every other set. The only unique thing about them is the fact they are soldiers-of-fortune.

Argument: Soldiers need to be re-examined for balancing issues on the basis that the AI is not intuitive enough to use the powers they have available to their full potential. Even though most ATs have a powerset “lacking in power” so to speak, they do not share the same problem that mercenaries do, player intelligence VS. AI.

Personal Recommendations:

Soldiers
Rebalance Auto Fire

• Proposal 1 - Increase its arc to 15 Degrees: Provide a larger area and lower the damage done. Make it perform more like the Heavy Burst from Arachnos Soldier powerset and you’d make a lot of people happy. This should only be considered if Soldiers are considered to be mostly Single Target.
• Proposal 2 - Limit Auto Fire to a Single Target and Increase the Damage: I very rarely am able to get the constellations to align perfectly to have a soldier use Auto-fire when enemies are lined up. The fact it has a potential to hit multiple enemies lowers its damage.

Medic
Improve, Change, or Remove Stimulant: AI limitations make it to where as of now, it’s only purpose is to reinforce the idea that he has a Healing Scanner. It is not viable to incorporate it into balancing because of the very simplistic implementation of the power itself.

• Proposal 1 - Either Have the medic detect the presence of a status. Hardest to implement, but would make sense rather than just cycling through the list.
• Proposal 2 - Change Stimulant to a Different Scanning Power: The medic’s scanner can be a multipurpose tool. Why not have it be a Single Target enemy debuff like Surveillance or maybe a stronger heal with perhaps a +regen component a long recharge. A green scan can be anything. Just look at Crey Scientists and you’ll get the idea.
• Proposal 3 - Change Stimulant to a Different Power: Like maybe a passive +Regeneration aura called “Battle Medicine” would be a good alternative.

Change Medic’s Frag Grenade
The medic does not to significant damage with his frag grenade. It is more like a soft-control power than anything.

• Proposal 1 - Change the Knockback to Knockup: I personally enjoy knockback sometimes, but the rest of the set does not benefit from the knockback.
• Proposal 2 - Change from Frag Grenade to a Non-Damaging Controlling Grenade: Have the medic support the Spec-Ops by firing a small Glue Grenade or perhaps an EMP Grenade. If the dev’s desire is to trade damage for control-ability, having a lot of knockback screws up the notion of providing controls.

Spec-Ops
Improve a Spec-Op’s Overall Control and Debuff Effectiveness
Spec-Ops are severely lacking in their function due to AI limitations and long recharges. To fully utilize their control functions, you literally have to constantly micromanage them to make sure they are using their controls on targets and monitor recharges. While possible, compared to other pet types, who would want to do this?

• Proposal 1 - Boost Recharge Times on Powers: It is frustrating to see a 3 minute recharging Hold+Damage Debuff be wasted on a Lt. Running away from a battlefield. Boost the recharges of the powers significantly so that these events are less frequent.
• Proposal 2 - Boost Recharge Times, Increase Mag and duration, and Limit Mez to 1 target: If they are single target, then this would make sense to be able to effectively remove 1 or 2 targets from a fight.
• Proposal 3 - Overhaul the Spec-Ops: Rethink the Spec-Op’s role in the set. What else can two Special Forces do?

Make Stealth Have a Point or Remove it
There is no point for Spec-Ops to have stealth aside from the fact that they are stealthy.

• Proposal 1 - Remove Run Speed debuff: It’s just annoying to be honest.
• Proposal 2 - Include Stealth Strike with SCAR Snipe: Other stealth enemies can do this. It would at least give Spec-Ops a bit more damage and a reason to Stealth
• Proposal 3 - Remove Stealth Altogether: It does nothing right now. Even if you stack Stealth with Grant Invisibility, what is the point of having an invisible minion that can’t benefit from being Stealthed? Do you want players to use Goto commands to place them into the middle of a mob to use controls from the start?

Commando
Modify Power Choices

• Proposal 1 - Remove Flamethrower and Buckshot, Increase Recharge times of Full Auto and add Heavy Burst: Take a lesson from the Enforcer and give the Commando’s Full Auto a recharge boost and have more lethal damaging cones put into his build that can be used from afar. Flamethrower and Buckshot are too hard for his AI to use effectively and reliably.
• Proposal 2 - Remove Brawl: There is no need for him to have a brawl. He can shoot multiple attacks from far away and point blank. Having a power choice that moves him into melee reduces his effectiveness considerably.
• Proposal 3 – Rework Current Powers to be used at Greater Distances: Flamethrower can be turned into an Incendiary Grenade dealing Fire damage over time and Buckshot isn’t necessary to have at all with M30 Grenade. The 40 Ft ranged powers are sore thumbs in the grand scheme or primarily ranged combat.

Mastermind Powers
These aren’t nearly as important as the pet’s powers, but I believe these should be looked over as well in regards to M30 Grenade and Serum.

M30 Grenade is a good AoE to have and the Mastermind can use it judicially to boost combat effectiveness. But there already are several grenades being tossed around already which would lead me to think that a Heavy Burst power like the Arachnos Soldiers have would be more beneficial to doing damage. I believe many Masterminds would share the same sentiments.

Serum is also a good power in my opinion, but the duration is far too short for its recharge. Boost the duration to two minutes or reduce the recharge considerably. But since Serum isn’t very popular, I am sure people will suggest changing the power to something different altogether.

I like the above idea, but I would never want it to be implimented. The point here is to bring the Soldier MM back up to snuff with the rest of the sets, not have it left out in the cold like it is right now.

Giving Merc pets this set of bells and whistles would be an avalanche ready to happen. Soon people would be asking why they can't have an Oni with an Ice alternative or a Zombie pirate with two hooks acting as claws. Cool idea, but I would rather not have this considered being implimented.

Ah, guess that makes sense that the chipset is called a "Graphics Accelerator" and not a "Graphics Card".

Well, cutting back on memory seems to be a good option as well as cleaning up a bit. After running Uniblue Power Suite, I was able to fix any registry problems as well as defrag my system. I ran CoH on safemode and hunted outside and doing one mission for about two hours with no issues except for my usual graphics hiccups indoors. It should be noted that I usually don't have an issue when hunting outside except for the occassional lock up for no apparent reason. I then ran in normal mode and it didn't crash for about an hour doing various things indoors and out, but I may have just gotten lucky. I don't mind that the graphics spaz out every-so-often when indoors, but it is just that it may wind up crashing my game if it messes up really bad. Last crash I had ended up some textures and walls just disappearing entirely and the only thing I could see of NPCs and player characters was their shadows and one Coucil soldier's boots (for some reason). After that the game quit out on its own.

I shut down some running programs through msconfig, am not very good at determining if the programs are neccesary or not even after researching them. turned off the Toshiba ones without a hitch (except for the HDD protection program, I like that one). Does anyone know of a list with Vista 64-bit programs that can be shut down without causing damage? Only things I find are lists saying to shut down unneccesary programs without them naming any.

Reposted the correct information Zombieman. Wasn't aware that CoH had it's own lil dxdiag report mabobber. I was wondering why mine was so long in comparison.

Ok, so I got this new computer because my other laptop suffered a massive stroke (Aka Graphics card went out and took the motherboard with it) so I now have a slightly less advanced machine that can run CoH, but it keeps crashing. I tried setting my graphics to the bare minimum, but the same glitch keeps happening. When I am indoors (in a mission or inside a building) the graphics just hiccup. Walls vanish and come back, character parts vanish or warp and come back, and after a while, my cursor resembles Missingno from the original poke'mon (for those of you who do not remember, it's just a pixilated mess. I have tried everything I could think of that is in my computer capabilities, but I am at a loss. The Dxdiag is at the bottom. It crashes with some sort of .dll failure that I forgot to write down. I don't want to purposely crash my game again because sometimes my computer runs like a slug after it crashes and I have to force reboot the system. If someone can help, that'd be great.

EDIT:

-CoH Helper-

---System information gathered by CoH Helper version 0.1.1.8---

DxDiag gathered at September 21, 2009 16:29 (-05:00)
Operating System: Windows Vista™ Home Premium (6.0, Build 6002) Service Pack 2 (6002.vistasp2_gdr.090722-0700)
System Manufacturer: TOSHIBA
System Model: Satellite A505
BIOS: InsydeH2O Version 1.40
Central Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo CPU T6500 @ 2.10GHz (2 CPUs), ~2.1GHz
Memory: 3964MB
.Net Memory Report: 2081MB out of 3963MB available
Page File: 5621MB (2487MB currently in use)
C Drive: (WDC WD3200BEVT-26ZCT0) 207983MB out of 293255MB (70%) free
D Drive: (MATSHITA DVD-RAM UJ880ES) zero-size drive
Windows directory location: C:\Windows
DirectX: DirectX 10
DirectX Diag version: 6.00.6001.18000 (64-bit version)

Display Notes: No problems found.
Sound Notes: No problems found.

No problems found.

No problems found.
Input Notes: No problems found.

Monitor: Generic PnP Monitor
Monitor's Max Resolution: (blank)
Video Device Name: Mobile Intel(R) 4 Series Express Chipset Family
Manufacturer / Chip: Intel Corporation / Mobile Intel(R) 4 Series Express Chipset Family
Video Memory: 1759 MB
Driver Version: 7.15.0010.1670
Driver Date: 3/3/2009 2:14:30 PM
Driver Language: English

Sound Device Description: Speakers (2- C-Media USB Audio Device )
Driver File: USBAUDIO.sys
Driver Version: 6.00.6002.18005
Driver Date: 4/10/2009 10:39:36 PM

Sound Device Description: Realtek Digital Output (Realtek High Definition Audio)
Driver File: RTKVHD64.sys
Driver Version: 6.00.0001.5809
Driver Date: 3/12/2009 7:33:18 PM

Sound Device Description: Speakers (Realtek High Definition Audio)
Driver File: RTKVHD64.sys
Driver Version: 6.00.0001.5809
Driver Date: 3/12/2009 7:33:18 PM


WMI Information
Motherboard Manufacturer: TOSHIBA
Motherboard Model: (empty)
Motherboard Product: Portable PC
Motherboard Version: Base Board Version
BIOS Manufacturer: INSYDE
BIOS Name: InsydeH2O Version 1.40
BIOS Version: TOSINV - 1
BIOS Release: 20090608000000.000000+000

Registry Information for Current User
Resolution: 1366x768
3D Resolution: 1366x768 (Not using renderscale)
Full Screen: Yes
Maximized: No
Screen Position: 0, 0
Refresh Rate: 60Hz
Vertical Sync Enabled: No

Physics Quality: Medium
Maximum Particles: 50000
Max Particle Fill? 10.000
Physics Card Enabled: No

Anti-aliasing: None
Anisotropic Filtering: None
Texture LOD Bias: Smooth
Water Effects: None
Bloom: 1.000 (turned off)
Depth of Field Enabled: No
Desaturation Effects (Sepia) Enabled: No
Shader Detail: Low (with world bumpmaps)

World Texture Level: Medium
Character Texture Level: Very High
World Detail Level (Vis_Scale): 1.000
Entity Detail Level: 1.000
Shadows Enabled: Yes
Gamma Correction: 1.000
Geometry Buffers (VBOs) Enabled: Yes
Suppression of Extra Player FX Enabled: No
Suppression of FX When Camera Close Enabled: Yes
Close Suppression Range: 3.000
Show Advertisements: Yes

Audio Mode: Performance
3D Audio: No
FX Sound Volume: 0.035
Music Sound Volume: 0.000

Show Advanced Graphics Options: Yes
Overall Graphics Quality: 0.600
Reverse Mouse Buttons: No
Save Login Username: Yes
Transfer Rate: Unknown bytes/second
Current Game Version: 1600.20090902.5T2
Installation Directory: C:\Program Files (x86)\City of Heroes

Mod files in the Data directory
No modifications found

-HijackThis Report-

Below are the proper reports.
Logfile of Trend Micro HijackThis v2.0.2
Scan saved at 4:33:59 PM, on 9/21/2009
Platform: Windows Vista SP2 (WinNT 6.00.1906)
MSIE: Internet Explorer v8.00 (8.00.6001.18813)
Boot mode: Normal

Running processes:
C:\Program Files (x86)\HP\Digital Imaging\bin\hpqtra08.exe
C:\Program Files (x86)\CyberLink\PowerCinema for TOSHIBA\PCMAgent.exe
C:\Program Files (x86)\TOSHIBA\ConfigFree\NDSTray.exe
C:\Program Files (x86)\HP\HP Software Update\hpwuSchd2.exe
C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Symantec Shared\ccApp.exe
C:\Program Files (x86)\CyberLink\PowerCinema for TOSHIBA\Kernel\CLML\CLMLSvc.exe
C:\Program Files (x86)\TOSHIBA\ConfigFree\CFSwMgr.exe
C:\Program Files (x86)\HP\Digital Imaging\bin\hpqSTE08.exe
C:\Program Files (x86)\HP\Digital Imaging\bin\hpqbam08.exe
C:\Program Files (x86)\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe
C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Media Player\wmplayer.exe
C:\Users\Zachary\Desktop\HijackThis.exe

R1 - HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Search Page = http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=54896
R0 - HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Start Page = http://www.lord-regulus.deviantart.com/
R1 - HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Default_Search_URL = http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=54896
R1 - HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Search Page = http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=54896
R0 - HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Search,SearchAssistant =
R0 - HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Search,CustomizeSearch =
R0 - HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Local Page = C:\Windows\SysWOW64\blank.htm
R0 - HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Toolbar,LinksFolderName =
F2 - REG:system.ini: UserInit=userinit.exe
O1 - Hosts: ::1 localhost
O2 - BHO: AcroIEHelperStub - {18DF081C-E8AD-4283-A596-FA578C2EBDC3} - C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Adobe\Acrobat\ActiveX\AcroIEHelperShim.dll
O2 - BHO: Skype add-on (mastermind) - {22BF413B-C6D2-4d91-82A9-A0F997BA588C} - C:\Program Files (x86)\Skype\Toolbars\Internet Explorer\SkypeIEPlugin.dll
O2 - BHO: (no name) - {5C255C8A-E604-49b4-9D64-90988571CECB} - (no file)
O2 - BHO: Groove GFS Browser Helper - {72853161-30C5-4D22-B7F9-0BBC1D38A37E} - C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office\Office12\GrooveShellExtensions.dll
O2 - BHO: Java(tm) Plug-In SSV Helper - {761497BB-D6F0-462C-B6EB-D4DAF1D92D43} - C:\Program Files (x86)\Java\jre6\bin\ssv.dll
O2 - BHO: Windows Live ID Sign-in Helper - {9030D464-4C02-4ABF-8ECC-5164760863C6} - C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Windows Live\WindowsLiveLogin.dll
O2 - BHO: Java(tm) Plug-In 2 SSV Helper - {DBC80044-A445-435b-BC74-9C25C1C588A9} - C:\Program Files (x86)\Java\jre6\bin\jp2ssv.dll
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [TUSBSleepChargeSrv] %ProgramFiles(x86)%\TOSHIBA\TOSHIBA USB Sleep and Charge Utility\TUSBSleepChargeSrv.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [PCMAgent] "C:\Program Files (x86)\CyberLink\PowerCinema for TOSHIBA\PCMAgent.exe"
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [NDSTray.exe] "C:\Program Files (x86)\TOSHIBA\ConfigFree\NDSTray.exe"
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [cfFncEnabler.exe] "C:\Program Files (x86)\TOSHIBA\ConfigFree\cfFncEnabler.exe"
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [TWebCamera] "%ProgramFiles(x86)%\TOSHIBA\TOSHIBA Web Camera Application\TWebCamera.exe" autorun
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [GrooveMonitor] "C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office\Office12\GrooveMonitor.exe"
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [HP Software Update] C:\Program Files (x86)\HP\HP Software Update\HPWuSchd2.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [ToshibaServiceStation] C:\Program Files (x86)\TOSHIBA\TOSHIBA Service Station\ToshibaServiceStation.exe /hide:60
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [Adobe Reader Speed Launcher] "C:\Program Files (x86)\Adobe\Reader 9.0\Reader\Reader_sl.exe"
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [ccApp] "C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Symantec Shared\ccApp.exe"
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [CLMLServer] "C:\Program Files (x86)\CyberLink\PowerCinema for TOSHIBA\Kernel\CLML\CLMLSvc.exe"
O4 - HKCU\..\Run: [igndlm.exe] C:\Program Files (x86)\Download Manager\DLM.exe /windowsstart /startifwork
O4 - Global Startup: HP Digital Imaging Monitor.lnk = C:\Program Files (x86)\HP\Digital Imaging\bin\hpqtra08.exe
O8 - Extra context menu item: E&xport to Microsoft Excel - res://C:\PROGRA~2\MICROS~2\Office12\EXCEL.EXE/3000
O9 - Extra button: Send to OneNote - {2670000A-7350-4f3c-8081-5663EE0C6C49} - C:\PROGRA~2\MICROS~2\Office12\ONBttnIE.dll
O9 - Extra 'Tools' menuitem: S&end to OneNote - {2670000A-7350-4f3c-8081-5663EE0C6C49} - C:\PROGRA~2\MICROS~2\Office12\ONBttnIE.dll
O9 - Extra button: (no name) - {5067A26B-1337-4436-8AFE-EE169C2DA79F} - C:\Program Files (x86)\Skype\Toolbars\Internet Explorer\SkypeIEPlugin.dll
O9 - Extra 'Tools' menuitem: Skype add-on for Internet Explorer - {5067A26B-1337-4436-8AFE-EE169C2DA79F} - C:\Program Files (x86)\Skype\Toolbars\Internet Explorer\SkypeIEPlugin.dll
O9 - Extra button: Skype - {77BF5300-1474-4EC7-9980-D32B190E9B07} - C:\Program Files (x86)\Skype\Toolbars\Internet Explorer\SkypeIEPlugin.dll
O9 - Extra button: Research - {92780B25-18CC-41C8-B9BE-3C9C571A8263} - C:\PROGRA~2\MICROS~2\Office12\REFIEBAR.DLL
O13 - Gopher Prefix:
O16 - DPF: {5727FF4C-EF4E-4d96-A96C-03AD91910448} (System Requirements Lab) - http://www.srtest.com/srl_bin/sysreqlab_ind.cab
O18 - Protocol: grooveLocalGWS - {88FED34C-F0CA-4636-A375-3CB6248B04CD} - C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office\Office12\GrooveSystemServices.dll
O18 - Protocol: skype4com - {FFC8B962-9B40-4DFF-9458-1830C7DD7F5D} - C:\PROGRA~2\COMMON~1\Skype\SKYPE4~1.DLL
O23 - Service: Agere Modem Call Progress Audio (AgereModemAudio) - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\system32\agr64svc.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: @%SystemRoot%\system32\Alg.exe,-112 (ALG) - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\System32\alg.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: TOSHIBA Web Camera Service (camsvc) - TOSHIBA - C:\Program Files (x86)\TOSHIBA\TOSHIBA Web Camera Application\TWebCameraSrv.exe
O23 - Service: Symantec Event Manager (ccEvtMgr) - Symantec Corporation - C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Symantec Shared\ccSvcHst.exe
O23 - Service: Symantec Settings Manager (ccSetMgr) - Symantec Corporation - C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Symantec Shared\ccSvcHst.exe
O23 - Service: ConfigFree Gadget Service - TOSHIBA CORPORATION - C:\Program Files (x86)\TOSHIBA\ConfigFree\CFProcSRVC.exe
O23 - Service: ConfigFree Service - TOSHIBA CORPORATION - C:\Program Files (x86)\TOSHIBA\ConfigFree\CFSvcs.exe
O23 - Service: @dfsrres.dll,-101 (DFSR) - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\system32\DFSR.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: Intel(R) PROSet/Wireless Event Log (EvtEng) - Intel(R) Corporation - C:\Program Files\Intel\WiFi\bin\EvtEng.exe
O23 - Service: Hamachi Service (HamachiService) - LogMeIn Inc. - C:\Program Files (x86)\Hamachi\hamachi.exe
O23 - Service: InstallDriver Table Manager (IDriverT) - Macrovision Corporation - C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\InstallShield\Driver\1150\Intel 32\IDriverT.exe
O23 - Service: @keyiso.dll,-100 (KeyIso) - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\system32\lsass.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: LightScribeService Direct Disc Labeling Service (LightScribeService) - Hewlett-Packard Company - C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\LightScribe\LSSrvc.exe
O23 - Service: LiveUpdate - Symantec Corporation - C:\PROGRA~2\Symantec\LIVEUP~1\LUCOMS~1.EXE
O23 - Service: @comres.dll,-2797 (MSDTC) - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\System32\msdtc.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: @%SystemRoot%\System32\netlogon.dll,-102 (Netlogon) - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\system32\lsass.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: PnkBstrA - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\system32\PnkBstrA.exe
O23 - Service: @%systemroot%\system32\psbase.dll,-300 (ProtectedStorage) - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\system32\lsass.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: Intel(R) PROSet/Wireless Registry Service (RegSrvc) - Intel(R) Corporation - C:\Program Files\Common Files\Intel\WirelessCommon\RegSrvc.exe
O23 - Service: @%systemroot%\system32\Locator.exe,-2 (RpcLocator) - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\system32\locator.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: TOSHIBA Modem region select service (RSELSVC) - TOSHIBA Corporation - C:\Program Files\TOSHIBA\rselect\RSelSvc.exe
O23 - Service: @%SystemRoot%\system32\samsrv.dll,-1 (SamSs) - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\system32\lsass.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: @%SystemRoot%\system32\SLsvc.exe,-101 (slsvc) - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\system32\SLsvc.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: Symantec Management Client (SmcService) - Symantec Corporation - C:\Program Files (x86)\Symantec\Symantec Endpoint Protection\Smc.exe
O23 - Service: Symantec Network Access Control (SNAC) - Symantec Corporation - C:\Program Files (x86)\Symantec\Symantec Endpoint Protection\SNAC64.EXE
O23 - Service: @%SystemRoot%\system32\snmptrap.exe,-3 (SNMPTRAP) - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\System32\snmptrap.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: @%systemroot%\system32\spoolsv.exe,-1 (Spooler) - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\System32\spoolsv.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: Symantec Endpoint Protection (Symantec AntiVirus) - Symantec Corporation - C:\Program Files (x86)\Symantec\Symantec Endpoint Protection\Rtvscan.exe
O23 - Service: TabletService - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\system32\Tablet.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: TOSHIBA HDD Protection (Thpsrv) - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\system32\ThpSrv.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: TMachInfo - TOSHIBA Corporation - C:\Program Files (x86)\TOSHIBA\TOSHIBA Service Station\TMachInfo.exe
O23 - Service: TOSHIBA Navi Support Service (TNaviSrv) - TOSHIBA Corporation - C:\Program Files (x86)\TOSHIBA\TOSHIBA DVD PLAYER\TNaviSrv.exe
O23 - Service: TOSHIBA Optical Disc Drive Service (TODDSrv) - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\system32\TODDSrv.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: TOSHIBA Power Saver (TosCoSrv) - TOSHIBA Corporation - C:\Program Files\TOSHIBA\Power Saver\TosCoSrv.exe
O23 - Service: TOSHIBA eco Utility Service - TOSHIBA Corporation - C:\Program Files\TOSHIBA\TECO\TecoService.exe
O23 - Service: TOSHIBA HDD SSD Alert Service - TOSHIBA Corporation - C:\Program Files\TOSHIBA\TOSHIBA HDD SSD Alert\TosSmartSrv.exe
O23 - Service: TPCH Service (TPCHSrv) - TOSHIBA Corporation - C:\Program Files\TOSHIBA\TPHM\TPCHSrv.exe
O23 - Service: @%SystemRoot%\system32\ui0detect.exe,-101 (UI0Detect) - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\system32\UI0Detect.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: @%SystemRoot%\system32\vds.exe,-100 (vds) - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\System32\vds.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: Viewpoint Manager Service - Viewpoint Corporation - C:\Program Files (x86)\Viewpoint\Common\ViewpointService.exe
O23 - Service: @%systemroot%\system32\vssvc.exe,-102 (VSS) - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\system32\vssvc.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: @%Systemroot%\system32\wbem\wmiapsrv.exe,-110 (wmiApSrv) - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\system32\wbem\WmiApSrv.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: @%ProgramFiles%\Windows Media Player\wmpnetwk.exe,-101 (WMPNetworkSvc) - Unknown owner - C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Media Player\wmpnetwk.exe (file missing)

--
End of file - 11075 bytes

[ QUOTE ]
Ninjas/Anything - Yakity Sax

[/ QUOTE ]

I don't agree with that
My Ninjas: I Got Hurt Feelings

Edit: Since it doesn't translate well into text, (Insert Sarcastic Voice when reading)

White Null Space: A gigantic white expanse going in all directions. Nothing in it, just a giant white place with no beginning no end for a very trippy mission.

Is there any way to check one's current bindings to a key? I figured out a way to have both my Genin and Jounin goto with one click of the G key but I can't seem to remember it. It is possible, but I don't remember what I did.