Memphis_Bill

/this.

Personally, I'd go with /Ice (for the two holds and Blizzard,) /Sonic or /Dark, unless you have a concept for the character.

If you want to go with dual builds with one being a soloist, having just the "self assist" power in Emp opens up a lot - but you're not going to be able to buff yourself much, so Emp/Ice would be useful in the two holds there. Dark to me is just fun.

/this.

If I'm on my Blaster and mention I'm nuking, if I'm saying anything more than the above it's to let the Kin know I'll need a Transferrence the mob after.

Think I've seen suggestions to add a "remote detonate" to Time Bomb. Give it that with the current timer (and maybe a faster setup) and I think more people would be fine with it. Heck, make it like the dynamite barrels (in Striga and some redside missions) - either it goes off by time, or by damage.

Prices are one of the reasons *for* "hoarding,* though - and as far as regulation, well, what we can hold in salvage racks (and the number of racks) is already rather limited.

Besides, any regulation is just going to meet what PVP IOs are seeing now. 2 billion cap? They'll take it off the market and sell it for 2+ billion (and avoid the AH taking a chunk of it.) If commons were restricted to - say - 20,000 INF or less, and Luck Charms are selling (blueside) for 50,000 or more regularly? People are going to sell them off-market.

And never listen to crap like this. Some people on Freedom don't get that people actually want to *leave* their server as well (transferred several off of there, personally.) No, no mass migration, other than concentration of PVPers.

The lower pop servers can be a lot of fun, as well. I prefer them *heavily* to Freedom. Personal experience, I have better teams and far more fun anywhere that's not Freedom. Servers tend to have their own personalities. Go through the server forums down below, some will have events scheduled at certain times, see if any match your schedule.

Try them all out. Or go through and ask through the server forums, get a feel for them there.

Biological twin, no. However, my first 50 (Therra Arcson) - later my first peacebringer (Therra Paladina,) I decided, had been such a PITA to the COT that, when she'd been trapped in a Council base raid (part of her trasformation story to a Peacebringer,) they manipulated things so they'd gotten some hair and blood samples from her.

Just killing her wouldn't have been enough, they wanted to make her lose the trust of the people she'd been helping, destroy her family and her name. But - they were blocked from duplicating her powers. So they turned back to the demons - and I had a Dark blast/Thermal Corruptor, Therra Malevola. (Who, frankly, also turned on the COT for creating her.)

Original: (by Graver)


Created "evil twin" :


I've got a few others - various versions of my forum-namesake, for instance - but they tend more toward alt-universe types.

"Don't use part of the system! Tell me what it is!" Sorry, you can't tell dark green from light grey? Even with colorblindness, I'd imagine some *shading* difference there would help. Still, if you're in the store - position in the list. Again, a sleep is going to be in a specific location. If I'm looking at a damage enhancement, I know the sleep isn't going to be anywhere near.

But, hey, go on, do whatever you want. I'm rather tired of arguing the point, especially when one of those trying to argue it has "I shouldn't have to learn anything" as their position to begin with, which is what got me posting in the *first* place, and another's telling me "names can only be relevant or it's too difficult" (tell me what I'm talking about when I mention a mustang?) while at the same time saying "Ignore this part and that part, too."

Go get all the hand-holding you want. This is me no longer caring to hear about it.

Psst. Transfer. not merger.
Incorrect. People who wanted to transfer from Freedom likely had it in mind before any mention of PVPers. Hell, *I* PVP some and I still transferred some off of Freedom. Had it planned as soon as they mentioned it.

Have you bothered reading? From one of my very own posts:

It's like complaining that you haven't gotten any cake when there's a piece right in front of you. Did you mention colorblindness? Oh my god, yes! And look, in that very quote! Mentioning it would cause problems! A-Freaking-Mazing!

So what are you ******** about when I've already conceded that weakness in the setup?

And still you miss the point while making much the same one - that they're part of a system that tells you what the individual item is.

For enhancements - color, icon, name.
You see the "IMHO" in there? Stating quite plainly that it's my opinion? That is everything I present it as, not as reading the devs minds, speaking for them, or otherwise being an "armchair developer."

You don't want to read that, don't read my posts. But you *don't* get to say what I can or can't post. In other words - don't be an armchair mod.

No, it isn't. Show me one place in game where all you have to go by is color and origin. Even with just those two pieces of information you can discard three, if not all four, of the enhancements in the example shown for any character ever made, as you know the origin.

It's like me showing you four swatches of red and asking you to tell me which is the stop sign, which is part of a yield sign, which is from a "hazardous materials" quad and which is from a Coke can. All other information that goes *with* that to make the system work is missing. And that's precisely what the SO icons and names (and alphabetization in stores) are - part of a system. The pieces combine to tell you just what you're looking at.

The only argument I've seen made here that has convinced me, in any way, that something needs to be changed or added is that of the colorblind person earlier. Why? Because their (not uncommon) issue breaks one of the pieces that makes the system work. And the solution, IMHO, that would be (a) least work intensive (as I believe we've been told "art time" is one of the most expensive to get,) (b) universally effective, and (c) least disruptive would be to add a line that says "Damage" or "ToHit Debuff" or some such. (Coming in second would be to get the popup help working again.)

Going from the descriptons on the wiki, with "close" being their descripton at up to 40' - since you're goign into aggro range to fire that off anyway. The way the game runs, you may as well consider it near-melee.

Ahh. Misunderstood where you were coming from with that, then. My apologies. That said, though - well, I'm going to repeat myself. "What incoming damage?" Their defense is through their controls, and quite a bit already brings doms into or very close to melee range.
Which is part of the reason for renaming it, as well. It's not "exactly" superstrength - it's got enough variation (and a change to a signature power of SS, namely swapping out Rage) that "really" calling it Superstrength would be ... well, not quite right. But I listed it that way because of the inspriation for it.

Like I said, I just think it would be fun.

No, IOing out a character for permadom, PVP IO farming, etc. requires a certian investment of time and effort. The Enhancement system is something you're going to encounter continually throughout normal gameplay. Colors will retain meaning (again, exception given to the case of the colorblind) by repeated exposure, as should location in the store list.

This isn't something you have to go out of your way to do. Hell, I'm pretty sure that - with the addition of "Invention" and "Memorized" to the list - even the IO recipes that drop follow that very order in your recipe list. It's literally delivered to you. If you go to the Auction House and click "Recipes," "Other" (so you're looking at plain IOs, not sets,) they're in the same order - right after the costume pieces. Open up a worktable, either in your base or in the university - they're listed the same way (with "Convert" added.)

I just can't buy that it's some incredibly difficult process you *have* to do, some arduous task that takes oh so long to learn. The order is put in your face with stunning regularity. The colors are consistent across TOs, DOs, SOs and non-set IOs. You're continually exposed to it.

You want to add a little line of text under the name that says "damage" or some such? Less of a waste of time than altering all the artwork - and, in the case of the colorblind poster and others like him, probably more effective. But don't try selling me on getting used to the order they're in being some horrific trial only Stephen Hawking and Einstein together could work out. It's just not that hard.

(Edit to add: I would, however, agree with Fleeting about organizing the "Superstores" better, the ones that carry every origin. That list is just unwieldy, and IIRC that *is* inconsistent - Ghost Falcon, for instance, carries the 40-45-50 IOs grouped together, where the Vanguard QM lists the enhancements in order for 35-40, then starts over for 45-50 before going on and doing the same to the next origin. That really is rather slipshod.)

If the enemy is held/confused/dazed/etc, just what is the dom supposed to be resisting? (While we're at it, see also Dual Blades. "Big Tough Guy" pirouetting around like they're in a production of Swan Lake?) I'll also point out here that most of my doms live in or very close to melee - and, a few sets excepting, will do things like try to solo Scrapyard's Followers at even or higher-conning levels (usually from 22-26) for the heck of it - often quite successfully if they avoid the Big Blue Boy.
Do show me where Dominators are "Physically frail." There's no strength indicator. I'm not restricted to "wimpy" body forms. And most Dominator assault sets are designed to bring the Dom into melee. Take a look at the Dominator secondaries. Count the Ranged, Melee/"Close", and other (self buff like power boost) powers.

Listed as set - Ranged/melee/other ("Melee" consisting of Melee, Close - 40ft or less, and PBAOE powers) :
Earth Assault - 2/6/1
Electric Assault - 5/3/1
Energy - 4/4/1
Fire - 3/5/1
Ice - 3/4/2
Psy - 5/3/1
Thorns - 3/5/1

That's two range-preferred sets, one balanced - and the rest very much melee, "close" and PBAOE powers. Dominators are a control and *assault* based archetype.

If you want to extend the "physically frail" argument - not putting words in your mouth, just trying to find your logical conclusion here - and argue that the Dom's assault powers are from "augmentation," well... you've just shot down the Big Tough Guy AT as well, as many of the same sets (heck, some of the same *powers*) are found in the melee ("BTG") ATs. Should those be removed as not being "tough guy" enough? Of course not.

To be blunt, it sounds to me like you've got preconceptions of the characters that "should be" Doms/Controllers/Defenders vs Tanks/Scrappers/Brutes. But I can make a scrawny Tank, goth-girl Brute, or musclebound Dominator with no effect whatsoever on their survivability or performance compared to any others of their AT.

Also, for martial arts - while yes, a set could be made of it, and I wouldn't argue against anyone trying, it's much more single-target oriented. You've got one power to directly replace (Warrior's Challenge, if looking at the scrapper version) and one PBAOE. I've run MA (including a Stalker to 50.) I can't see it as being a very satisfactory Assault set, even with putting a Shuriken or two in (I'm assuming you'd remove Cobra Strike and the taunt to fit them.) My opinion is that it would take a lot more reworking to be satisfactory and survivable. Superstrength, on the other hand, already has a touch of Range and definite PBAOEs (Hand Clap and Foot Stomp, with Hand Clap replaced above with Shockwave, essentially) and so is much closer to an Assault set. Given the AOEs and other peculiarities of the set, again in my opinion, Dual Blades is closer to an appropriate starting point for an Assault set than Martial Arts.

Plus, in the interest of full disclosure, I find Superstrength to be a far more fun set than Martial Arts. I've played both to 50 in some variant or other. Over the last five years, though, regardless of changes or new pairings, I keep going back to making more SS characters.

And I started out in the same place you did. I did not just step into COH and say "Oh, Dragon Scales, Illumination Grenade, of course!"

The tools are in game *now* to let you pick up what they are. Will you get to where it's almost automatic overnight? Of course not. But it's just *not as difficult* as some want to paint it.

Tools:
Color coding. I'll give on the color blind bit, yes, I can see that being difficult. It will deprive you of a tool. How they can change this without disrupting *everyone* in the game, though...

Order. From training origins on, they're always the same order - no matter the fancy naming. You'll always find an enhancement that affects, say, Intangibility (yeah, I know, nobody uses this) between Immobilizes and Interrupts. In fact, quick check of the wiki - just use this sheet until you're used to them. So it's probably easier for you than when I started! (Not to mention having the stores marked on the maps, and the Endurance Modification enhancement, for one, instead of Endurance Drain and Recovery - Recovery being why EndMod is where it is, in the R's.)

Right-click. Mouseover working or not, the right click will always tell you what it enhances.

Power highlighting. More useful with drops, but still - if you get a drop and say "Can I use this?" the powers it can be used in will always highlight. So if you think you have (say) a Defense SO and it's Confuse, you'll see you can't use it in your Defense powers.


You don't *need* to remember that Horror of Hermes and Benedict Tech Facial Reconstruction both enhance Fear powers. Just that you'll find it between the light blue (noticably light) Endurance Reduction and the Fly enhancements. Don't make it more complicated for yourself than it actually is. Just remember what order they're in - use that "cheat sheet" link and toss the rest.

Here, genius, let me make it easy for you.

For five plus years, I've been buying enhancements and using dropped enhancements. Think maybe, just MAYBE, I might remember them as I see them/hear them? Or that, maybe, just maybe, you could still *right click* and find out? Amazing, I know. Oh, there's also the small fact - if you haven't noticed - that as you click and start to drag a dropped enhancement from the tray, the appropriate powers *light up.*

I'm not after your "trust." You don't like it, too damn bad.