Memphis_Bill

Since when?

How do you know they weren't going for them anyway?

Then don't go in there.

I don't tend to find Hamidon raids all that much fun, even with the "shinies" (HOs.) Therefore, I don't go in the hive.

Don't like PVP? Don't find the risk of being attacked worth the shiny? (Which, if you're complaining, you don't.) Than... don't go into a PVP zone.

You *do* realize how small aircraft can be? Like this, or if we head to flying car concepts we have things like this, which would fit nicely in COH, frankly, or this, shown on a test flight, or others.

That said, I wouldn't be surprised if the two problems with them would be tracking (turret tracking, that is, as you mentioned) and potentially damage - as if I'm beating on a tank with my SS tank/brute, I want to see it getting dented.

Actually, I wouldn't mind seeing a range of military vehicles - there are groups enough that could use them. Tanks, missile launchers, and APCs. Have your fliers have to deal with AA missiles and quad-AA guns.

I'd suspect, as well, that you'd only see them in instanced maps or special areas, though (similar to the Mole Machines, who themselves are insanely difficult to destroy - which could be another problem.)

Why do you assume it's only that direction?

I moved several from the more to less populated (and one or two from about equal to about equal.)

Couldn't stand Freedom, moved a few off of there. Moved one I just wanted to finish up with some friends from Virtue to Victory. Shuffled one between "homes" from Pinnacle to Victory, another from Infinity to Victory.

Number moved TO Freedom or Virtue? *0*

Any "connection" felt to those? Nope.

... can I quote that exactly?

"Feel pain in Arabic! Be healed in Swahili! Your mind is now clear by the power of Sanskrit!"

/this.

I have several "long term playable" characters. Of them all, the only ones with anything capped are my two fire tanks (where the only way you can not cap fire resist is to not run any armors, honestly.)

Capping is not essential to playing a character seriously or health - long or short term. If you *want* to chase it, fine, but it's no more essential to character playability than a Bugatti Veryon or Rolls Royce is to being able to drive, or $500+/bottle wine is to eating.

The rest of the discussion is interesting and a worthwhile thread. But that initial statement is just flat out wrong.

No, it wouldn't. People paying attention and respecting the "This is a PVP zone, you are at risk of others attacking you whether you want to be attacked or not" instead of complaining when they are - now, THAT would solve everything.

Plus how would I get my other-side-defeats, rep badges or bounty if I had to click *every time* and all I got was "no, you can't attack me?" You'd be gutting zone rewards. (that aside from having to gut things like shivans, the mini-heavies, nukes, etc. because of the sudden lack of risk in getting them.)

/this.

While I'm not sure about the suggestion right offhand, if someone's intentionally logging off, they're doing so through a menu item or command. Currently, if you D/C (power goes out for a minute, say,) as far as anyone else knows you're AFK. When you come back, it'll even tell you "That account is already logged on."

Now, as it sits, it just boots the character when you try to log in. I'm thinking TCS is basically saying "If that happens, give me an option to continue on that character and location the game's currently at." The character's already - in his OP - taking up space in the Hive.

If the character's timed out (it will kick you after... what, 10-15 minutes?) you'd still be SOL, and that to me is fine.

Could this be abused.... potentially, I suppose, but I can't see people yanking the Ethernet wire or force-closing the program just to log back in a few minutes later - just say "Going AFK for a sec" and park instead. (Team-wise, leave the decision in the leader's hand. In Aion, if someone disconnected, their listing went black, and they were auto-kicked in... I want to say 5 minutes. Perhaps adopt that system if worried about them taking up space?)

Not a matter of "being in agreement 100%," but just keeping it focused somewhat instead of branching off into other things. Makes discussing good *or* bad points about it more of a chore.

It's *exceptionally* difficult to build a character "wrong." In fact, some of the builds people play with seem to go against the "theme" of an archetype - for instance, "Blappers" are Blasters who go for up close, melee attacks more than sitting at range (the name is a mix of "Blaster" and "Scrapper.")

There's also a lot of variety within each archetype - if you build (say) a Fire/Fire blaster, it'll play quite a bit differently than, say, Ice/Devices (which, come to think of it, I never hear anything about.) Sometimes just changing one part (the primary or secondary) can lead to a vastly different play style. And then there are pool powers - travel and other supplementary powers - that can change how you play as well.

If someone offers advice ("You might want to try" or "I see you doing this, try this out and see if it works better for you,") listen. If someone says "You took that, you're an idiot, noob!" ignore them. (This goes for slotting enhancements, "you have to spend X on Y IO sets to be effective!" and so forth as well.)

Now, you say you're coming from other games. A few things to keep in mind:

1. You don't need a healer. Or a specific group of characters. The team will play differently depending on makeup, yes, but you don't "need" anything specific.

2. Don't equate a specific AT with a specific role. (Which goes back to #1.) For instance, in Aion we had priests who could become chanters (buffs, and you pretty much always knew what they'd have) or clerics (the "healers.") One cleric was pretty much interchangeable with another - there might be some difference in cast time or whatnot, but they were all pretty generic. Here, you could have a defender who focuses on team health and upkeep (Empathy,) buffing (Force fields, for instance,) debuffing (Radiation, Dark,) or some mix of the above. All of them will make great additions to a team, but they'll do different things.

3. Jump into the fray. Generically, other games seem to discourage you from fighting more than 1-2 things your level, and often seem to require more players for an individual enemy. Here, you'll routinely handle greater odds (an old rule was 3 minions = 1 player, and that is exceptionally conservative these days) and barely break a sweat.

4. Experiment! Assuming you're on the US servers, you have 11 servers with 12 initial slots each (expandable by buying extra slots up to 36 per server.) Try out a couple of different servers, for one (I generally like Pinnacle and Victory,) but even if you find a home you don't want to move from, make "experimental" characters on the others to see if you like certain sets. (You can even move characters around for a fee - so if you make an experimental one you really like on, say, Triumph, but you're playing on, say, Guardian, they can move - and often quickly.)

5. Experiment, part 2 - Don't be afraid to "mess up" a build. You can redo a build in a respec, which will let you change everything (except which primary or secondary set you have, your archetype (class,) and origin - and these the devs have stated will not be allowed to be changed.) There are a few ways to get a respec - there are three trials (at 24, 34, and 44) you can run (you can run them multiple times, but only get a maximum of three respecs from them,) respec recipes (rarely) drop, veteran rewards can give a respec, and often with new issues, if there are power changes, we'll get "freespecs" as well. Plus, we have dual builds - they unlock at level 10, and you can change between them every 15 minutes (say, for a solo vs team build, or concept vs teamed, PVE vs PVP or whatever you want.)

6. Many games are a grind to the high levels where you "finally get the good stuff" - gear or whatnot - and/or where the game "finally starts." The City Of games are about getting there - so don't get into farms and powerlevel through expecting everything to be at the end. Enjoy the trip.

(As for history - started with a Fire/Superstrength tank, my forum-namesake. First 50 was an electric/electric blaster. Been playing since just before my forum reg date on the left. I play everything, everywhere.)

/this. A lot of work needs to be done on PVP right offhand before getting new "stuff" in. (Not just fixing mechanics, but seeing what they have planned for base raids, for instance - they've hinted at "something" but not near term.)

I wouldn't object to it, mind you. I just wouldn't expect to see anything for some time. We've got such a small PVP population (even counting the "casual" folks who'll go in and screw around, but not create builds, etc. for it - like me) it's hard to really push for new stuff or changes.

/This.

I prefer Galaxy.

Cancel and restart billing with the special (if it comes up,) or pay for it via paypal - which is what I did with the 6+1 last time. (restarted billing, that is. Switched over from a 3-mo. too.)

What was the impact the last several times they've added previously non-existent sets? (see also Accurate To-Hit Debuff, Accurate Defense Debuff, Accurate Heal, Taunt, Recharge Intensive Pets, and - oh yes - purples themselves?)

... and absolutely none if you take Teleport (or try to use Dwarf form as a Kheld.)

Oh, yeah, I know that. Mac's just the one I tend to see most out "in the wild" here. Not meant to knock on the other PVPers that give out good info (without being twits about it - and no, not saying you're being one here.) Just using him as an example.

... then how about "If the target is already defeated, there's no self-damage and recharge is halved?" Which, if that tech could be made available, would also be nice for things like rezzes and Absorb Pain.

My main complaint with the original idea is that it doesn't sound like it'd "feel" like Energy Melee (and to me wouldn't make a lot of sense.) How would it interact with Fury, as well? (first En/En was a brute, so that tends to be where I come from with that.)

That sounds more like the way the Sands of Mu/Ghost Slaying axe/nem staff/blackwand are handled - I'd have no issue with that (though there's always the "that's the last one to select, blah" for some people, i suppose.)

Of course, there are the people who are partway through the costumes (really anyone over 3 mo.) - afaik there's no way to "respec" these, so they'd be somewhat stuck - which goes back to the "If they'd done that at the beginning" argument.