Memphis_Bill

You mean like they have to deal with in some of the RWZ arcs?

This isn't new.

That's what they said as they passed Aamco.

... except that doesn't happen. You can still complete story arcs you've outleveled.

You did see the "Better is yet to be seen," right?

Plus, unlike us, there's a tie to PVP that's absolutely needed for some main-quest arcs in the game. Population *density* is far more important to keep that happening there - as opposed to COH. (Should also be noted that you can only have one "side" per server - if you make an Elyos, you cannot make an Asmodean on that server. It'd be like forcing you to have servers as hero or villain only.)

Going to have to ask the mods' forbearance here. This contrast is actually needed.

For instance:
"Kill X rank 9 Asmodeans." Rank = PVP rank. And it keeps going up. This isn't a *required* quest, but it helps get some rewards. And as the rank goes up, the number of people WITH that rank obviously gets lower. If there aren't enough people, you're not going to finish that in anything close to a timely fashion.

"Rescue prisoners from location." Sounds straightforward, yes? However, the prisoners you rescue rely on PVP - specifically Fort raids.

Let me lay this out to you. There's an area called the Abyss. Three layers to it. Each layer has forts which control one of four areas in the top or bottom layer (the middle layer is the huge, extra-difficult one. I think, in the seven months I played, I'd heard of it being taken twice - once in asia, once in the US.) The forts can be held by Asmodeans, Elyos, or the NPC Balaur.

Fort raids themselves are major undertakings, typically requiring multiple Legions to take Artifacts (support powers and staging areas,) take down the guards - PC and NPC - and fight the Guardian Deity General. If there's little to no opposition, an area can be kept under control for months (part of the problem pre-server merge.)

Now, you get a quest to rescue the prisoners. For there to BE prisoners, the opposite side has to control the area. If the opposite side doesn't have the population to do so, *you can never finish that quest.* I had that sitting in my queue for weeks on Ariel on my main - to the point that, when control finally switched, my Ranger was absolutely overpowered for the NPC guards.

Last but not least, being a gear-based game, you *have* to PVP to really get to the best equipment - "Gold" gear - which gives considerable boosts to things like runspeed and attack speed. (An alternate path, getting "flash" armor, requires getting five characters to 30 and sending/trading/etc. the armor over to a character.... and there are upgrades, IIRC, farther down the line.)

Part of the concern with the merging, too (and I need to follow up on this once the Aion site comes up, now that my curiosity's been raised again) is that the newly-merged and newly-transferred servers would still have a race imbalance, leading to the same situation all over again.

TL;DR version: Aion requires not just population, but a certain density of population, due to its PVP centric nature. It actually CAN have the problem of "not enough people on a server" to affect gameplay.

Aion? Though "better" is still to be seen, long term (and US/EU as opposed to Asia,) they most certainly are PVP focused. Much of what you do is in the Abyss, and post-20, there's only one zone that's free from rifters coming out to do missions and hunt.

AS (or heaviest-hit) one, placate a second that's a bigger threat, work through the others. Use it to break up the spawn/ambush.

It's called Placate. Roll /nin and you have an AOE placate, too!

Honestly, though, I generally don't mind "homing ambushes." They let me draw them to nice bits of scenery to hide behind where I can get the first strike in.

Conversely, when you waste end with your normal attacks, you can't use the Vet rewards.

Again, run Herostats. Then go look at just how much they really ARE hitting, as opposed to "it feels like." Then post your Stalker build, with what your'e normally running - turn off sprint. Hide takes no END. Low level, put in Acc and END reduction before damage. (Saying this as someone with, yes, low level stalkers - who doesn't have an issue with the vet rewards.)
Why is your fire tank running 8 toggles? Fire, Plasma, Blazing aura, CJ, Tough...? Turn off sprint, that wastes plenty of END. Of course, if you're "running 8 toggles," you're also looking at a higher end Fire tank, possibly 50, which has its endurance management built up, as opposed to a low level Stalker which likely doesn't even have Stamina (and no Stalker secondary gives anything like Fast Recovery. Dark Melee gets DC at 18, Energy aura gets energy drain at 28... which doesn't qualify as "low level.")

Heh. Probably more true for Arena-Ladder folks, TBH, than zone. All of mine were "PVE builds." Biggest nod toward PVP would be perhaps adding in a stealth IO. And some would get that *anyway.*

Oy. That reminds me of the other thing that (IMHO) has helped break zones - SSKing. Used to be if you wanted a no-Tier-9 fight, you were in BB or Siren's. Now? You get the five-level bonus if you're SSK'd down (powers up to 35 in Siren's.) Warburg was a free for all, RV was for putting your full build on the line. And BB? There's even more a disparity between the "new guys" who can just come in (I tend to use it from 15-18 or so - or used to - to see how a build is doing... can they solo a bunker or not) and those SK'd down. I can't see that being fun for the lower end if it picks up again.

I guess that depends on your definition of "horrible." When I had ... i think it was a (pair) of Mind/ controllers break my Brute's status protection (and I saw how fast they were layering on holds - I think I had two full, stacked (non-numeric, non-full-icon-per) lines of holds and such on me) I got around to asking them about builds. Fun doing nothing? No, but 1v2, generic vs dedicated builds, I didn't expect to.

I had far too many interesting zone moments pre-I13. Fighting AlienOne's PVP 'shade while he was developing it (and how to use it) with my Nec/Poi MM. Yeah, I usually won, but the point was helping him tighten up what he was doing to actually kill me before my pets showed (or get around my holds, slows, debuffs, etc.) Eating a triple-AS on my PB in Dwarf form, or holding off a team of villains for several minutes on the same character, solo. Fighting (and finally whittling down) a Stone tank on my MA/Regen stalker - and when he tried trash talking, having his own side say "Dude, just drop it, she (my stalker) beat you." A running and very good natured rivalry (on my PB again) with a Stalker I don't think I've seen since I13.

Post-I13? Being suppressed for *using an inspiration.* Not bothering to take anyone with Teleport into the zones. The various suppressions - I could see what the devs were trying to do when it was being beta'd, but it seriously fell apart, and I'd call the situation now far more horrible than anything that happened - oh, I'd put it between I8 and I13 (once they had various geometry holes plugged, a few extra reinforcing drones, and the roof put on the villain hospital.)

Arena-focused PVPers probably have a different point, but I tended to prefer the "never know who you'll run into" side of zones.

Some do. There are three types, it seems -
- Go to a specific point.
- Go to where you were when they were spawned.
- Follow the player.

The last one's the type the OP's trying to deal with - and I'd have to make a suggestion similar to Zortel. (And if you haven't run a Stalker before, you're going to have to deal with similar tactics vs. Rikti (drones,) Knives, snipers, etc.)

Yes.

They're freebies. They're not meant to be overpowering. And you forgot the Ghost Slaying Axe (which has been a help to some of my Dark-using characters versus resistant ghost-types.)

Herostats, by the way, will track the accuracy for all powers - including the Vet powers. Pulling up a few characters, I see 90-95% accuracy on one of my lowbies, for instance.

Pick it up, run it, look at what's really happening.

Yeah, it probably is.

That said, two accounts, 170-ish (probably safe to say 180 at this point) characters.
Ones using dual builds? At least 31. (Not counting a few "trial builds")
No, I don't think we need a freespec per build.
Most common use - solo vs group build.

How long has it been since the base rent has been paid? Don't just go by "They're not telling me rent is due," there is a glitch that pops up on occasion where power and control will be shut off, but you won't be able to pay anything (they think it's paid up.)

/Petition in game to have it fixed.

4.29 END (with a 45 and 50 End Rdx) is not "not there." And what else to put in? More defense. IO sets. Being able to make UP the cost is not the same as having NO cost. Brawl has no cost (now.) That's also at 50 - the cost is going to be far more noticeable at lower levels. My Bot/FF (staminaless, because outside of casting/bubbling it's just not needed, really) will burn through nearly half his END bar bubbling just the bots. Does he make it back quickly? Yes. Does that mean it doesn't' exist? Not in the least.

Your "no cost" has simply SHIFTED the cost, to slots and/or stamina (or other means to make up the END.)

So yes, the cost certainly IS there, and is part of the balance consideration.

... except, of course, that the current effectiveness is partially based on the duration of the buff.

.... oh really? While the recharge is so minimal as to not be noticed, it is there. And there most certainly is an END cost. (2s/7.8 end each for FF, Sonic, Cold - numbers via mids as a controller. END is higher as a MM - 9.75 for FF bubbles, 9.35 for Thermal shields - by their numbers.)

So there certainly *is* an in game cost. And that's part of using them. As a MM? I don't really have much sympathy - that's what pets are for (I'm saying that having run Bots/FF through all three tiers.) You want in game cost, run an Earth/FF Controller where you're *extremely* active. Even having run that to 50, I don't agree with increasing the duration.

Now, if you want to argue that MM shield costs should be brought in line with the other sets, I'm all for it.

Arrrgh. I'm going to throttle you, Alpha, I swear.

Change your wording to "with a single attack" and you're right. "One shot" is meaning something else, generally - see earlier screenshots for demonstration and explanation. Rest doesn't remove that. It does, however, drop your defense so low you're almost guaranteed to be hit (and if it's a patrol, you're going to be dealing with multiple attackers.)

If I'm resting and a Rikti drone comes around the corner (and is able to do enough damage in one shot that it exceeds my HP) I *will* be hit while in rest, most likely, but won't be killed, as it's just one pulse of energy damage. If it's a Chief Soldier instead, I'll be killed, as I have to absorb two different "hits" of damage - one Energy, one Lethal.

All that said - Rest does have other drawbacks:

- Locks you in place
- Drops your defense to "guaranteed save by luck" levels
- Can't be used in the air (so you are reachable by whatever wanders by,)
- Disables some powers (PFF, I believe Concealment pool as well)

We're not talking about making Rest into Hibernate (available to several melee, all controller/doms, not sure about the other ATs off the top of my head) which *is* usable in combat thanks to it phasing you. That safety measure ensures it keeps recharge. Rest has enough drawbacks that there still has to be thought given to its use. Recharge shouldn't be an issue (and as mentioned, it's nonsensical to be "too tired to rest because I just rested.")

Eh. I used to go with that being the reason, as well, but having been in "other" MMOs that don't do that, I just don't see the issue being that severe any more.

Change to require a password for deletion as well as typing the character name, if that's the issue. *shrug*

See also RO. Offender already refers to a specific playstyle.