MarcyLiar

I've heard lots of complaints about playing CoV/H with people using Look n Stop Firewall (my personal favorite - it's lightweight, doesn't interfere with other programs, and it's HIGHLY configurable).

I just created a ruleset that should cover problems with CoH and CoV. Before, each time you loaded a map, you would have to alt-tab out of the game, and manually allow the port it was trying to use for that map. From about a week of playing & using LnS Firewall, I think I have the port range down pretty well. Here's the rulefile. Just cut and paste it into a text file with the extension .rie, go into the firewall setup, click on the Internet Filtering tab, and hit the import button. Select the file, check the checkbox, and you're set up! If I've missed any ports (like I said, it's only been a week), please let me know.

Note: Do not include the ----- seperators in the rulefile. They're simply seperators to let you know when to start/stop copying.

-----

[Rule0]
Statut=1
Valide=1
Direction=3
Filtrage=1
Avertir=0
Continuer=0
AlerteDlg=0
Name=City of Heroes
Description=Allow City of Heroes.
EthernetType=1
IPProtocol=1
EthernetAdd_PC_Criteria=0
EthernetAdd_PC0=0
EthernetAdd_PC1=0
EthernetAdd_PC2=0
EthernetAdd_PC3=0
EthernetAdd_PC4=0
EthernetAdd_PC5=0
EthernetAdd_Net_Criteria=0
EthernetAdd_Net0=0
EthernetAdd_Net1=0
EthernetAdd_Net2=0
EthernetAdd_Net3=0
EthernetAdd_Net4=0
EthernetAdd_Net5=0
IPAdd_PC_Criteria=0
IPAdd_PC_Bas0=0
IPAdd_PC_Bas1=0
IPAdd_PC_Bas2=0
IPAdd_PC_Bas3=0
IPAdd_PC_Haut0=0
IPAdd_PC_Haut1=0
IPAdd_PC_Haut2=0
IPAdd_PC_Haut3=0
IPAdd_Net_Criteria=0
IPAdd_Net_Bas0=0
IPAdd_Net_Bas1=0
IPAdd_Net_Bas2=0
IPAdd_Net_Bas3=0
IPAdd_Net_Haut0=0
IPAdd_Net_Haut1=0
IPAdd_Net_Haut2=0
IPAdd_Net_Haut3=0
IPFragmentOffset=0
IPFragmentFlags=0
TcpUdpPort_PC_Criteria=3
TcpUdpPort_PC_Bas=7000
TcpUdpPort_PC_Haut=7020
TcpUdpPort_Net_Criteria=0
TcpUdpPort_Net_Bas=0
TcpUdpPort_Net_Haut=0
IcmpCode_PC_Criteria=0
IcmpCode_PC=0
IcmpType_PC_Criteria=0
IcmpType_PC=0
BlockTCPServer=0
TCPFlagsVal=0
TCPFlagsMask=0
PluginForEdition=

[Nb rules]
Nb=1
-------

That should be all you need and your firewall and game will play together happily. It's been working fine for me all day and night today, when I've been playing.

If you haven't checked out this firewall and are displeased with your own (lots are known for interfering with other programs, causing compatibility issues, etc), try it out. And no, I do not work for them, nor are affiliated with the company or anyone at the company in any way whatsoever. Nothing wrong with endorsing a good and handy piece of software. It's nice and cheap too, unlike several other products.

Hope this helps at least a few of you. I've seen complaints ingame and in other forums - so it should.

Has anyone had good experiences with Poison Trap? It just sounded really, really useful. Hope it's one of the powers that comes into its own eventually, or is buffed by devs, etc. The rest of the set is very solid.

Oh, and I grabbed NT Breath early and I'm not regretting it. It could use 2 acc DOs, but that'll be soon. Very very useful so far with only 1 acc TO in it. I've always been a big fan of flows.

Great guide! Just got NB and can't wait to use it. Had high hopes for the poison trap, but eh, sounds pretty bad. And I'm sure the 38 power comes into its own. Sounds like a great debuff. And I loves me some debuffs!

Random number generators aren't very random, true. But they're also not terribly capable of producing an 8-10hit miss streak against even cons *several* times per play session. The problem isn't in the generator, it's in the streakbreaker.

Can my defenders also have all of the defender primary and secondary powers as well? I'll be your best friend.

I haven't read the entirety of this thread so I'm gonna ask a question that may have already been asked.

When changes go live, will the bosses remain at i2 strength (if you want to call it strength) or go up to i3 strength if you have your difficulty slider cranked up? If everything is gonna remain at i2 levels, I'm really, really gonna miss challenging battles.

[ QUOTE ]
The group bonus to XP already exists; why do you think the proposed increase of it would make any difference?

[/ QUOTE ]

Alright. I stand corrected. I didn't know there was already a group bonus to mission xp. I haven't noticed it. I get the same xp for clearing a mission solo as I do grouped. Always have. Save for the few times mission xp has gone completely weird on me - posted in the tech/bug forum about that one. The issue as I described it seems to have ironed itself out, but still, same xp solo as grouped.

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
No offense, I like your other ideas - but this is completely insane.

[/ QUOTE ]

Why do you think so? The only potential issue I can see with it is that it will make PLing that much quicker...

[/ QUOTE ]

My issue isn't with powerleveling. It's not because I'm a pure soloer. Cause I'm not.

I team about 80% of the time. I like to solo, and I'm grateful that I can solo effectively. But playing with others is often way more fun. That's the draw to a MMO for most.

There've been a few days that were horrible or stressful or what have you. Since CoH has been and still is my favorite game, it's what I do to blow off steam or just simply relax. But sometimes, after those 'days', I just want to log in, put myself on /hide, not have to interact with anybody, and beat stuff up. I'm sure everyone who plays CoH has done something similar.

Then there's Joe Solo. He doesn't play the game because he likes teaming or interacting with anybody. He just likes to kick [censored]. He doesn't play for the people. He plays for the unique content, the awesome story arcs, and the thrill of taking on a bunch of baddies at once and emerging victorious. There are plenty Joe Solos out there.

Me and Joe Solo are playing the game how we want to play it. We're not being exploitive or abusing the game in any way, shape, or form. Why should we be punished for playing how we want to play?

Again, I'm not Joe Solo, and quite honestly I have no personal beefs about the greater group xp (other than being able to outlevel arcs easier. it's already easy enough to outlevel them with the new mission difficulty settings) since I'm by and large a grouper. It's not gonna affect me much. It won't take any enjoyment from the game or slow down my leveling. I'm just saying that if a player doesn't want to team, let them be. Don't beat them down because they have a different playstyle than what the devs envision the game should be like.

It's just another step towards forced grouping.

[ QUOTE ]
• Team up XP bonuses will be increased.

[/ QUOTE ]

No offense, I like your other ideas - but this is completely insane.

I've never liked Boomtown. Lots of people dig it for low level hunting, but I'm not a hunter. It's too hard to get around when all you have is SS and Hurdle.

IP is another good hunting zone. But very poorly designed. It's too big. Some of the contacts are at the absolute extremes of the map.

KR, as said by another poster, has been outpaced by the Hollows.

I cringe every time I need to go to Skyway for something.

I *love* the Hollows. It took me a while to get into it, but the cop full of insps to buy near some pretty good hunting mobs makes it insanely easy to level from 5 or 6 to level 11 or 12. Load up on insps, take out a mob of guys, load up, etc. From 1 to 10 in a little over an hour.

Striga... best ever.

Oh, and the Shard is awesome. Wouldn't change a thing, really.

Oh, and I'm sure it's been mentioned - but some sort of 'traditional' supernatural/mythical AT. Vampires, Banshees, hell, even the Firbolgs we saw during Halloween. That'd be hot.

(controller set that has Chupacabras as pets? heh heh heh. joking.)

More Shadow Shard content (arcs, etc)
More costume choices
More varied body types
Maybe a new powerset or two, maybe a new AT or two
Increased level cap

We don't know much at all about I3. Speculation at this point is fair. Assuming it's gonna suck isn't.

I personally can't wait for I3. I2, while released early and bugtastically, was an amazing update. I still haven't seen everything it has to offer. I doubt Cryptic will let us down with I3.

And even if the only thing in I3 was a few epic archetypes - that'd be good enough for me. I've been waiting for new ATs for a while now.

Let's just hope I3 is tested a LOT more than I2 was before official release.