LyteInVirtue

Seriously, if they wanted to make it more challenging, add more mitos.

The AI think I can kind of understand, it makes things more challenging and less brainless. The Agro issue makes sense, though makes things a lot more tricky.

Attacking through holds though is rather insane. Nothing else in the game can do this.

I would rather have them increase the mito total, which coupled with the AI/agro changes makes this much more difficult, but at the same time gives the heroes a reward for clearing through them. After all, with each mito defeated, heroes fighting it have a chance at aquiring a +3 SO, Salvage and a large inspiration. More risk vs more reward. Nothing has been added to make the reward better here, and with the massive HO farming that has gone on over the last year, many will look at this content as something skippable if it can't be done without too much stress.

Previously, Zerging the Hamidon in a controlled fashion as in previous raids would get enough people to do this moderatly easily. Now, Zerging isn't possible, coordination is paramont. It's hard enough to get 100 people to do something together, it will be even harder to get them to do something specific to accomplish it.

I predict a server will accomplish this soon. I also predict that after it is accomplished, interest in it will significantly drop off. Servers that raided daily will cut back to 1-2 times a week.

This is highly unfair for people who just got a character to the 45-50 range, and did not have access to raiding earlier. Without hero buffs to counter it, accomplishing this is going to take more effort than people are willing to offer routinely.

The answer to 2 can be found with something that is a problem with 1, the Shadow Shard. It was added less than 2 years ago. They added teleporters so you can travel the zones faster. They added stores so you don't have to leave.

However, outside those 6 repeatable contacts and the 6+hour TF's, there's not a lot to do there. Just a lot of fluffy colors.

The Hollows I can understand not having Stores/Trainers because there isn't one in Perez either. Add it to Perez before you move to the Hollows.

While you're making changes to Perez, allow us to beat down some of the trees. The "maze" idea isn't very fun. It never was. Perez Park, reducing level 50's to level 10 frustration status since 2004.

PvP has elements that people enjoy. Bounty and the Rockets are fun for some people. BB is usually a ghost town though, as most people get furious if you try to fight them while they are trying to refine ore. RV has a lot of "Capture the Flag" for you in the pill boxes. It has "Protect" stuff in holding the pill boxes. Sure, there isn't a capture, but 2 out of 3 ain't bad.

However, PvP does not a game make. There needs to be stuff in this game that appeals to CoH people so that they don't balk off to someplace else soon.

i8 will include content for level 50's that will allow them to get more powerful. i7's delay has been the single most troubling thing, because it's not a problem with vision, but with the actual development of the game. Ideas come in, and are not being processed in a timely fashion. People are likely leaving the game for it, though i7 will offer a ton of stuff for robber side when it comes out. The problem is with the cop side, who will be waiting about a year before new non-PvP content comes out.

The problem comes with 2 year old content being all some people have now. After 35 and Croatoa, what is there for you to do that is 'new'? Sure, you can do PvP zones till 38, but then you stop gaining XP. You can run the missions till later, but what then? The Shard feels old now, and after you get past the 6 or so repeatable contacts, in many cases before 42, all you have left are the extremely long tedious Task Forces there. There are 4 zones, with so much potential, but nothing there. The 40-50 game has some great arcs. However, none of this content is 'new'. Most of it has been out for at least 2 years, some of it slightly less than that.

It's clear to me that the last few updates, and prospective updates, has focused primarily on PvP. Not everyone likes PvP. This isolates some of the player base. I don't look at the nerfs as being a killer of the game. I look more to the fact that doing X 6-12 times gets boring. Give me something varied, something randomized, that I can enjoy.

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The issue you are describing of critters being aware of you even after you blind them is the same problem Stalkers have with Hide -- once you have Aggroed a critter, it always knows where you are, despite Stealth or Perception changes. It's how our AI has to work, currently. It is something I'd like to see changed, but it is 'difficult.'

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PleasepleasePLEASE tell me this is being worked on...

Up the cap Taunt effects to 10 and I'll be a happy tanker. PvP usage is going to be borked anyway, as it's hard to find a middle ground. 6 slotted taunts for taunt effect in i4 were too much. Now, they're significantly lower than what they used to be, and it's more like a perster than a taunt.

I don't mind the to hit checks on it, as long as the taunt ability is viable. If I can't hit some targets, they'll most likely be ones I'm not entirely concerned about (ie Ice Tankers/SR, etc). I just want to be able to pull off a target from attacking one of my teammates. After that, I really don't care what it does.

I'd have to go back and check, but I believe it offers a 10% buff to your HP and some new costume options.

I haven't checked the costume options yet.

Well if we're rising the dead horse...

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1. Without Provoke, they are not a real Tanker. Those people who enjoy the MMP role of "meat shield" have trouble holding aggro properly.
2. The Tanker's defense stats can be matched by a properly slotted Scrapper - but the Tanker can not approach the Scrapper in damage.
3. The Tanker doesn't "feel" like a comic book Tanker should. And frankly, this one really, really bothered me. Because our game is a comic book MMP.

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#1 seems to be ok, in PvE. PvP -may- be solved with gauntlet being added somewhat to PvP, but we'll see when it goes on test.

#2 is still off. Tankers can get to higher levels of protection, but is it really needed? A fully buffed regen scrapper can do more than a tanker can, and the tanker will need buffs to survive. The question is how much more buffing/healing will a scrapper need to match a tanker, and I believe that currently is minimal. Tankers can gather and maintain more agro, but is it really needed? Probably not.

#3 is where I have the problem. Let's give Tankers something in reverse of what Bodyguard does for MM's, they take damage off of their teammates automatically. Tankers could act as a 1 part, and the teammate could be a 2 part, so one tanker on a team means that the teammate would take 2/3s of the damage they normally would take because of the tanker. 2 tankers would make it 50%, and 3 would mean they would take 40%, etc. I think this could be beneficial to teams, and mean that even if tankers can't hold the agro, they still act as the sheild of the team.

Here is the link I was referring to, started on 4/7/06.

Again, -not- a stealth nerf. This was talked about already.

While I don't recall it from the patch notes, it was talked about when this went to test.

This is -not- a stealth 'nerf'. Do a search in the Training Room, I believe it was talked about there.

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Jonyu, poz and Positron are working on an 'Invention' system, which branched off of the Skill System work. The 'Salvage' system used in bases is an offshoot of the skills system design as well.

Unfortunately, I don't think anything more in depth than that is scheduled at this time.

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Castle, I'd still like to see something that would allow content determined by skills. Invention still makes me a thug, I invent and use them for my contact's bidding. I want to find something, use my own ability to track down something, and be rewarded for it. I posted about this in the Suggestions section. I don't think it would be that much harder to initiate, and could be a means of adding in options for people that have run all the missions dozens of times, and are looking for new content, without having the content revolving around a zone or level range.

IMO, that's what EM gets as a result of having ET and TF. Light damage up front, somre real damage backloaded.

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It's just very nice to have someone looking at things, even if it just ends up being passed on. We understand that issues like Defiance lag aren't really one-man fixes, but it's a very nice change.

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4. Finally Spines should be all toxic damage.

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Are you NUTS? Theres only one power with enhancable toxic resistance in the game, and a couple powersets that NEED to lethal defense to avoid being constantly stuck in place.

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Which ones were you missing, Unstoppable, Granite Armor, Unyeilding, Personal Force Field, Dark Embrace... should I go on?

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My main is a Fire/Fire/Energy Tank She was going to be F/F/F but I didn't like the Fire ancillary pool as much as I had hoped I would.

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All I want for Christmas is for CuppaJo to be the Tanker liason to the devs...

States, I think the biggest issue that tankers seem to have is that scrappers appear to be able to find defenders to assist, and make the need of a tanker secondary. If you have a scrapper, defender and controller in a group, and you have an AV, why get a tanker when you can get a defender who can buff everyone's damage/debuff mobs, along with adding enough to make the scrapper be able to tank the AV?

Likewise, with the reductions in i5, scrappers got a 12.5% damage buff. Tankers got a taunt cap and agro cap in i6. Tankers are feeling neglected, and the climate here is bad. Offering us something, anything, that will buff our defenses comparable to scrapper offenses would be lovely. As it stands, many tankers feel they must have a defender to tank AV's. That's an inversion of what the climate was like in i4, when defenders felt that they were not needed. Likewise, with defenders and controllers both being able to buff, there is more than enough options to helping a scrapper do what a tanker could. While tankers do have an edge, some scrappers can have higher resistance/defense to some attacks and more HP than tankers (see Fire tankers opposed to Invuln scrappers against a S/L/Cold mob). And that's without any buffs.

We're trying to tank, States. Give us something to let us do our job better, and we'll be happy.

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the point blank fact of the matter is that tanks didnt need to be nerfed as hard as they were and we do deserve some compensation as per the fact that our primary powersets are very undiversifiable.

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Note: Scrappers received a damage buff of 12.5% to their base damage as a result of i5. Tankers received a limit to taunt.

I agree, tankers should get something more. Maybe a 12.5% base HP increase?

Again, I've grouped with DA scrappers for over a year.

I wonder where you guys were then, because people have been complaining about it for that long.

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The single-target Taunt is not supposed to work in PvP. If it is, it will be fixed in the next build.

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Note the "Single Target" part, Taunt, like tanker's taunt, will still be effective. 50% chance to taunt will probably still be there.

Maybe we need to change the descriptions, taunt and punchvoke, to make it clearer?

Both my tankers are invuln. That has left me with a 15% reduction in everything but S/L and of course psi, which didn't change.

Def dropped off some, but it's liveable. I have to dip into a power pool to cap S/L. That's ok though, because Granite is the only one that can do that as well.

The big downside for me is that it was a huge damage reduction. Invuln before had always ment that I didn't need to slot accuracy, so I had my main attacks 6 slotted for damage. Now, that number is half that. That's more than a 33% reduction in overall damage.

Agro control is fine though. Sure AI caps at 17. Even Invince missions won't have that many mobs all together unless there are 8 in the group, but if that's the case then we'll need to have 2 tankers there. Set up two groups, one holds some agro while the other grabs the brunt and gets the buff/debuff for a bit till that group is gone. That tanker moves on to the next set, starts agro while they clear up the other, and the support tank moves into position following the lead tank. It's simple, it can be done, and everyone will be happy.

What this means is that 2 tankers have to work together. There needs to be support for debuff/buff as well as damage to take them down, because tankers can't deal enough damage to really crack into things as well as they used to. Enter scrappers and blasters. Controllers help with overflow of anything between the groups so that the squishies stay alive to take down the groups.

Basically, 1-2 defenders, 1-2 controllers, 2 tankers and 3 blasters/scrappers should be able to run invince missions with ease. Less than that and you can run it with 1 tanker, and the other AT's to aid with what they are good at.

That -was- the plan. Make sure everyone has a role. Tankers can't challenge scrappers for DPS now, and scrappers can't challenge tankers for agro control and protection. Defenders are highly important, but have trouble taking things down, and dealing with agro. Blasters still deal a lot of damage.

There's your balance. That's what we have now, and that's what I've seen. A single tanker should not try tanking an 8 person invince mission by themselves.

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Once you get access to DOs, slot everything that is not passive with a Endurance Reducer. Then use the leftover money to get a Accuracy for each attack.

Always take the first two basic attacks and do use Brawl, those are your main Fury builders. Save your heavy attacks for when Fury is up to at least 40%

Anything else you can find in the Art of SMASH! guide.

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Never took the first attack, and I always start with my heaviest hitting attack. 3, 2, box and brawl have worked fine, and I garner enough fury from one set of mobs to move on to the next with a full meter.

"Guides" are only ment for people who want to follow other people's pattern. I'd suggest people try it out, see what builds up fury to your liking, and stick with it. After that, it's smooth sailing to 40.

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haha I just wanted to be the first *evil grin*


edit: omgbbqnerfitnerfit!!!!

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Die.......... There will be no nerfbats untill I2 lol.

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But... States said no more major power changes. He wouldn't lie to us, would he?

Note: Brutes really don't need to slot up a lot of damage. SMASH takes care of it. TO's should be acc, maybe a end redux or two to keep you going without resting, and keeping that end meter, and more importantly that fury meter up.

0.0 fury makes baby jebus cry.

*points to sig*

Um yeah. I still have a few levels till the build comes into it's own, as 90% of the time I'm without toggles.

Dark Regen is my new favorite power though. Recharge is a lot faster than I thought, and it's the perfect "OH CRAP" button for me if I take on too much.

End is an issue, but I'm sure all brutes are facing that, with the exception of EA after 28. Stamina is helping, SO's in that will help more in a few levels. SO's in end redux in attacks and shields will also.

As others have posted, I'd like to see more evolution in the storylines.

There are thousands of heroes, primed and ready, to rid the Rikti from the Crash site. Give us something to do there besides prep for the 3rd respec and street sweeping.

The Rularuu have been around for over half a year now, and it looks like with Bases, things will pick up, but can we get something else in there besides cyclical stories and half a day TF's?

Some 50+content would be great. Some 35-45 content would be even better, as more people stumble at SL39 then any other level. I'm hoping based on the increases in levels of the new zones (20-30, 25-35) the next will be 30-40, which could help with that.

I'd like to see some zone reconstruction from the devistation. Maybe one issue where Boomtown is getting pacified so that the zone can be habitable for people again. Maybe fixing Faultline. Better yet, make it hero driven, a special TF that if completed enough times by the players on all servers, the zones will change. Reward us for working to a goal of saving the city. Let us have an impact on the overall story of the world. Maybe 4 TF's, Crey's Folly, Boomtown, the Hollows, and Faultline, where whichever zone's TF is completed the most, in 2 issues the zone will get redone, with new content as a result of the changes.

I'd also like to see arc customization. If X hostage isn't saved, the arc takes a different turn.

Thank you for listening.

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This is interesting, but unless the cap for Scrapper damage resistance is limited to 75% instead of the 90% damage resistance cap for Tankers there would be absolutely no reason whatsoever for people to choose to play Tankers. Scrappers under your proposal would be superior in almost every single way.

Good suggestion, Silikate.

dmd1966

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This has been discussed before.

In order for scrappers to hit the cap, they need to access a variety of powers, take other pools, and still don't compare HP wise.

Sure, there's a build out there where you can build a scrapper that matches def and res caps attainable by tankers, but tankers a: do it easier b: do so with less management, and c: do so before SL40.

The problem lies with two things, if scrappers can sacrifice some damage to max def, why can't tankers sacrifice some def to max out damage? While criticals are random, and tankers don't like the idea of them, statistically they add between 5-15% to overall damage to the total output of a scrapper, depending on the types they are fighting. Therefore, not only are tankers limited by less than 75% damage output (including buildups and ranges of the set on as often as possible) there's still that extra percentage that tankers will never be able to surpass unless we get something.

States has said that there's a "comic booky" like change in production. Throw in the inherint taunt, and tankers will be able to tank better than scrappers could, just by autoagroing everything with just attacking, while a scrapper would have to get presence, limiting the powerpools available.

I think the idea of opening all the "type" powers to everyone would be a great idea. Blasters who want to get dark blast could do so, and you could have a mind blast/mind manip blaster. Some very strong superheroes didn't have THAT much defense, so this makes sense there as well. It also helps to realize if attacks from one pool are weaker than others, based on overall comparison.

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I did my 34-43 respec and took Provoke, does that mean I have to wait til 44 to respec? Do we get a free respec in that case?

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HAHAHAH... ahaha..ha.

Yeah that'd be the day. Then anytime a new update comes out, you'd have to offer a free respec to everyone, just to balance.

Because you know if they did that and let tankers get another respec everyone else will [censored] that they want a respec, and the newer tankers will complain that they want 4 respecs because the older ones got 4, yadda yadda yadda, Statesman gets triple bypass, dies, and then we get a developer that is anal retentive and doesn't listen to anything we ask.

2 weeks ago we didn't have any respecs, if you burned all three out in 2 weeks, well that may have been a bit hasty.