Lurker Hunter

Perhaps instead of a pulsing light for the entire screen, have an indication marker saying "You are ___ yds away from ____!" Either that, or a pulse on just the map would be wonderful.

Not only that, but some maps (such as the Praetorian tech maps) have so much ambient noise it's hard to pick out the glowie sound. I could not go forward in Calvin Scott's storyline because of this, and since I couldn't auto-complete it I just gave up.

/signed, as I often play without sound or with music in the background.

To add mobility could potentially sacrifice from its other qualities, and I would not want that to happen.

/unsigned

I've voiced my opinion before on how it's unfortunate that "tourists" can't reaffirm their alignment overseas, as I envision most (if not all) my "tourist" characters to work in the opposite territory (vigilantes to kick villain butt, rogues to make money).

(spoilers ahead)

Today I tried a vig->vil tip mission involving a group of defecting Arachnos. I thought "okay, I'm going to beat these guys up and show them they can't just turn good." It all seemed very vigilante until I was given three choices on how to torture one of the Arachnos characters (of course ending with his death), until I snapped the Huntsman's girlfriend's neck, and then beat him to within an inch of his life before spitting in his face and killing him, all while they were begging for mercy.

I'm all up for beating up bad guys because they're bad guys, but torturing them and brutally murdering them? I was quite a bit turned off by the lack of merciful decisions, but then I tried another one for good measure; the one with Archon Demitri's hero-sapping devices. The only way to resolve it was to kill four (presumably innocent) heroes who were captured and being leeched! It's not even as if you try looking for another solution, or that the heroes are damaged beyond repair.

Basically my point is that some of the vig->vil tip missions I've seen so far start out as good premises for vigilantes, but then become horribly twisted. I like the scenarios, but the lack of any real choice (besides whether or not to accept the mission in the first place) is unfortunate.

Purples I couldn't care less about, new AoE sets would be cool but then again I get by just fine by frankenslotting Air Bursts and Detonations in there.

I would much rather the time and effort be spent into refining the Incarnate system or working on new ideas. It would be nice to have new sets, but not if it detracted from cooler things.

As always when this comes up, I say YES to PROPOSITION NEMESIS!

Actually that's the first time I've said that, but I think I'll keep saying it... and I mean yes to creating your own nemesis, not having your characters subjected without your will.

As far as I'm concerned this is going to be a whole month of people not taking care of their spawns, sometimes leaving them at inopportune places like mission doors or even trainers.

Nemesis is fine as it is, people just can't grasp the notion of disabling the Lt's and/or killing the bosses/minions first. Agreed about the easier groups, though. I want to see more of the Crey Scorpion tanks especially...

I would love to see not necessarily a change in damage, but a change in secondary effect (or potency of).

The attacks in Demon Summoning, for example, are useful in that they always apply -res for both your pets and teammates, making them useful debuffing tools. Same with Necromancy.

But then you get Robotics' attacks. The first does nothing aside from its damage, the second has a chance of knockback, the AoE has a small chance to do a piddle stun. What use is that? What's worse is that this set is the only opportunity to use the Pulse Rifle in the entire game, and it's not worth it at all.

There's no way that the devs intended these powers to be completely overlooked, why even have those three attack powers if that's the case? My suggestions:
1. Add desirable secondary effects to every personal attack that happen every time the attack hits. For example, -regen for the two single target Pulse Rifle attacks, and then a knockdown for Photon Grenade with the same chance to stun.
2. If there is no desirable secondary effect to add, raise the damage or lower the endurance cost.
3. Add a mini-vengeance effect for pets that applies only to the MM in question. If your Frost Demonling dies, you're granted with +15% damage and +5% to-hit buff for about 10 seconds OR until you summon another one. If your Demon Prince dies, raise that to +45% damage and +15% to-hit buff. In this capacity it's possible for the Mastermind to utilize his personal attack powers in dire situations, but not enough to make blasting his number one priority.

What always got me was the Lift power being so LAME. I want to fling my opponent into the air, hold him there for a second, and utterly destroy him with the ground. I'd also like the option of instead of slamming him into the ground, shooting him far off into the distance, perhaps off of a ledge (giving me full credit for the fall damage) or into a pole (ditto).

I'd also like the option (particularly for SS characters) to lift a dead enemy and throw it into another enemy/a group of enemies. And while we're at it, have Hurl be a two-part attack, one that readies the boulder and one that throws it. That way you can prep a boulder for an opportune throw. Which in turn knocks the enemy back into a wall and crushes him!

Pipe dreams.

Snipes have always seemed relatively useless to me. I'd much rather them have much higher damage in exchange for higher recharge time/animation time. Additionally, (also a small quip with Devices, though I still love'em) I want to see the Targeting Drone have a higher damage bonus, for ALL snipes (the highest going to Sniper Rifle for the lack of a Build Up power, of course, but even with other sets taking Devices means not taking Build Up).

Alternatively, for elemental snipes such as Blazing Bolt, I'd LOVE to see them get the "Thunder Strike" treatment: high single target damage and medium AoE damage. Even if the single target damage remained the same, the utility of the power would increase greatly.

Still alternatively, give snipes the "AS" treatment: if it doesn't outright kill the target it has an AoE fear/to-hit debuff. Snipes and AS share the same principle, a high-powered attack that comes out of nowhere and deals massive burst damage.

Thoughts?

Most powersets lend themselves towards magic than any other origin, I'd sooner want the ability to use custom weapons for the blast sets to fit my tech/science characters.

I also wanted to add that I really like how the devs gave personalities to the SWAT Officers that accompany you in one of the missions. I loved feeling like I was fighting alongside characters rather than robots.

And if the villain one is better, I can't wait to play it.

The idea of utilizing stealth rather than brute force has always been intriguing to me, and when a game rewards stealthy actions it makes things a lot more awesome.

Unfortunately in City of Heroes this idea doesn't translate well, as stealthy maneuvers always seem to be outclassed by brawn. Especially as a Stalker, but also with Cloaking Device/Superior Invisibility/Pool Power stealths, it's almost never been more profitable to approach situations in a stealthy manner. Yes, it's fun, and that should be all that matters. But the stigma towards Stalkers is unavoidable, moreso as the level goes up.

My Suggested Stalker Improvements:

1. Critical Chance Influenced by Debuffs/Controls
Logically, an AT that values precision would benefit most when their enemy is at a disadvantage. It would make plenty of sense to increase Stalkers' viability against weakened opponents. In this regard Scrappers/Brutes would outdamage Stalkers in normal situations, but when enemies are locked down and vulnerable the Stalker should have the most advantage.
Alternatively, just have slight extra damage (maybe unresistable depending on balance) trigger when a target is under a defense debuff/control, perhaps scaling to the magnitude of the debuff/control.

2. Improve Sniper Attacks
Again, with precision being a Stalker trait their APP sniper attacks are relatively useless. My suggestion would be to increase the critical damage to that of an Assassin's Strike, and to compensate increase the recharge rate by 30 seconds or so. This would provide more situational bonuses for the Stalker, while not allowing the sniper attack to be its primary method of attack.

3. Design Optional Mission Objectives with Stealth in Mind
There are already the occasional patrols that summon ambushes, but anyone who can take out the patrols power through the ambushes anyways. I'd like to see an optional objective near the end of the map that affects the entire map, such as a terminal that disables all of the robots in the building, or a desk containing a master key that allows the party to take a master elevator to the final floor. And I'd like to see these optional objectives interruptable, but not disable stealth.
This way, it would actually be useful to have a Stalker scout out the rest of the map. If more missions had this kind of stuff, Stalkers would become more useful to their completion.

4. Do Something About Escorts/Allies
Negative stealth is obviously one of the worst things to happen to a Stalker. It's particularly annoying to try to escort someone while under this debuff. I don't know what to suggest for this, just that something be done.

Any thoughts?

With the Incarnate stuff consuming plenty of attention I almost forgot about the new lowbie arcs. Just played through Roy's (the Medi-porter one) solo for the first time, it was a truly fantastic arc! Nance/Dean set the standard with their arcs, and Roy's was even better than theirs! It was fun fighting Costillo again, he was a riot with his antics! And I nearly soiled myself in the last mission when the Zeus Titan came in and started wrecking me! Bravo, devs.

I'm glad the devs are continuing to put in quality low level content even with the "elder game" in the works.

Granted this is a step up from what we had previously, and I am thankful for that. But the best place to be a vigilante is a hive of scum and villainy, such as Batman in Gotham City, and with these one-sided missions a lot of potential has still been untapped.

I was under the impression that the new tip missions in "tourist" zones would allow Vigilantes to reinforce their Vig status in the Isles, but I was disappointed when I saw that there is only one choice: Villain. I want to go to the Isles to beat up villains and be a dark hero, to walk the line between good and evil. Not to be forced to cross it to participate at all.

One more reason for me not to go over to the Isles.