Montaugh

I'll prob take 2000 points actually purchase stuff I would like.. then 8000 points in just bug hunting.

hmm it would be an interesting number to datamine. Most time played on a character, then break it down via total time played on an AT, on specific powersets, ect.. that would be really interesting to spot the trends for. Some I am sure would have really high creation rates but their playtime might be wicked small.

I wouldn't go about curing all the worlds ills, or making things better for everyone. People should look to each other to solve these problems not to someone that can cure everything at the drop of a hat.

I would definately not give anyone the curse of immortality. For life to have meaning it needs to end, and you need to have struggles and triumphs. I would not want to deny anyone that. Sure their lives might be complete garbage but everyone has the potential to better themselves, if they don't and expect things to be handed to them, well they ultimately get the life they deserve.

When I do something though I'd be very subtle about it. I would give people ideas, flashes of insight that could potentially improve everything for everyone and then let them run with the kernal to see where it would lead to.

In the end I would be very low key about it, and most likely no one would even know that I ever existed.

I would have to go with Earth and then Thermal.

Earth gives you amazing amounts of control.

Thermal provides shields, heals, buffs as well as really decent debuffs. Its a good all around mixed set.

I'd have to go against Kin... not because its not a good set but because Kins are freaking everywhere. It is very easy to end up on trials and general content with multiple kins, and kins don't play that well together in my opinion. 1, Kin is great. 2 Kins are nice as they can SB each other. 3 or more and its pretty much not adding anything more in terms of +dam/-dam end recovery, and especially recharge as people are either hitting the caps or are so close to the caps the additional buffage is meaningless.

....I just had images of Singularity using combat jumping inside of combat and Super Jump outside of combat.. bouncing up and down continously. Needs a boing sound effect.

I have a feeling it will only be able to be slotted into .. Immob, sleep, Fear, Confuse, hold and stuns as those are the powers which are enhanced by this set.

My personal feeling is to only three slot the set and go for the 6%-12% duration increase. Then apply other set bonuses which also leverage duration times for those powers. A few extra seconds isn't much but it adds up over time. I'd slot it in the ST immob/AOE immbo or ST sleep/AOE sleeps powers personally.

I actually like gravity control and have 1000's of hours playing various gravity combinations (most often grav/kin). (I found the kin aspect went really well from a gravity standpoint. FS and Siph Power were like increasing the force of gravity to such levels that it was harmful, Inertia Reduction was reducing the force of gravity, Siphon Speed again reducing gravity even more. Transference/transfusion about making it easier or harder to rest and recover)

Conceptually I love the Gravity/FF/Psi or Grav/FF/Primal for a telekinetic character, or heck even Ice and Fire for the Cyro and Pyrokinesis.. earth not so much. I think it fits the typical thought of mental character better then mind control. Its a very Jean Grey sort of combination.

Gravity though is a set you will either love or hate. It takes a very long time before you get your bread and butter AOE control (like level 31 before its fully slotted long), and Dimension Shift is a love it or hate it power.

I love soloing with a gravity controller but not really teaming with them as both wormhole and Dim Shift are unique control abilities which don't always work in a team setting.

A huge aspect of playing a gravity controller, which goes counter for most (well pretty much every other control set) is knowing when NOT to use your AOE control powers. Unlike say earth or fire when tossing out the AOE disorient whenever its up isn't a bad thing.. suddenly relocating the mobs on your party, or phasing them out can be a bad thing. This aspects gets worse as you get higher in levels as control itself isn't as needed at level capped IO'd out levels of play. That is personal opinion though.

I'd give it a try though as conceptually its a great combination..

On and if you wanted you could go with Fire/FF, or Fire/Thermal/fire for a pyrokinetic sort of character as well.

Like you said the dominator is about control and damage.

A controller is about Control and buff/debuff. The buff/debuff is personal preference on the style of play you want while on a team, and how you want powers to help you would while solo. One thing to keep in mind with a controller is that most buff sets work better for controllers then either Defenders or Corruptors simply do to the fact that most controllers have pets which they can apply the buffs to.

For a controller soloing control is your defense and offense rolled into a single set. This can make them extremely safe solo, but depending on the sets also very slow until the APP pools. Typically you want to mez a foe with one of the following (immob, disorient, hold, sleep). While the foes are under the effects of one of those listed mez effects they are contained and you do double damage allowing you to quickly remove a mob from the encounter. Applications of buff/debuffs will make this process even faster.

On a team a controller plays like a combination of a dominator and a defender/corruptor only without the damage offering. Containment is nice but you won't typically outdamage those ATs all of the time (some sets may outdamage other sets though).

Finally keep this in mind, the controller is the ultimate defensive AT in the game. It is the ultimate defensive AT simply because it uses two defense sets, no other AT in the game does that and this makes the controller's playstyle very unique. Now I know that people often cite defenders as being the best at defending a team.. but the mix of control and very good buff/debuffing will hedge out a defender in overall team protection, and because of containment and ability to leverage both buffs and debuffs they often solo much better then defenders, especially in the higher levels.

Its a very fun AT with a fairly very unique playstyle but its a playstyle that is quick to pick up and run with.

Question with the VIP Server Transfer

First month I get 1 server transfer. Next month rolls around and I didn't use my previous server transfer. Do I now have 1 or 2 server transfers now?

I'd like to be able to exemplar down and run tip missions for any sort of tip that I come across. Perhaps a slider or choice option that allows for us to select the level that we would like to gather tips for. This would provide varity not only in the mobs fought, but also within the morality arcs themselves and expanding any level of tip will effect all characters equally.

Add a third option to respawn.. Respawn inside mission entrance.

This would allow players to..

Respawn to the hospital. For insp collection, and full health/end bar fillage

Respawn to SG base. Allows you to basically refill your inspirations from storage (teir 1, 2, 3, or 4 insp versed Tier 1 only)

Respawn inside a mission (for all missions)
This will cause you to respawn at the misison entrance.

I find the respawning inside of a mission to be a very cool and enjoyable feature, but also frustrating as you can't tell if going to the hospital will keep you in zone, if it will send you to the actual hospital out of zone, or will cause you to respawn in a prison. As a long term player even I get confused at times as to which will happen as it can very mission to mission, or map by map.

If you are in a mission with a prison.. Replace all options to "Respawn in prison", or "You have been captured!!! Respawn inside a prison." to indicate that you are going to go to a jail in that mission.

Add /localtime and /servertime to the powers monitors so that players know what time it is both locally or via servertime.

Possibly /gametime or /VIP so you can see the date when your account expires/needs to be renewed.

hmm a challenging encounter to me is something that I don't just walk all over but I have an actual chance of death every so often. This typically changes depending on the AT that I am playing at the time as to what defines a challenge. What makes up a challenging encounter is very different to different people.

For me challenging is typically running between a 4/0 to a 6/1 setting, bosses may or may not be added depending on AT, in higher level play obviously. I really dislike characters that can't handle large groups of mobs weak mobs because in group play it is only going to get harder, and if they can't handle that in solo play how can I expect to deal with it in group play.

Difficult encounters are when powers just don't work the way they should. . The rules changed.. purple triangles of doom are a great example of difficult when I'm playing my controller. Mobs specifically designed with unreistable damage is another one. Not being able to use your powers without flat out dying over and over again. A great example is an Elec/Fire blaster verses Nemisis Jaegers, The blaster has long animating pbaoe effects verses mobs designed to blow up on death. So you kill then all at once and suddenly are being blown to bits for your reward, because you are in melee with them. So I guess the best way to explain difficult is when your typical playstyle is forced to change drastically from how you typically play.

Finally I will add to the difficult/challenging dynamic... Frustrating.

Frustrating is when challenge is exceeded at the same time that Difficulty is exceeded. So you are expecting lots of deaths, and the rules for normal play are broken at the same time. This is like trying to take on two EB's that both have purple triangles in normal mission play as well as multiple groups at the same time. (like the intro to the incarnate arc). For some characters that is meerly a challenge, for some its a difficult encounter but for those rare few that are under the effects of both and it quickly becomes a frustrating encounter. The chances of winning a frustrating encounter are tiny and you can see it coming down to lots and lots of deaths, auto completion, or requiring a team for your character.

Another aspect of frustrating is when something is designed so that your powers just don't work at all. The BAF escape phase for control and slow effects. Resistance to effects is one thing, flat out immunity is another entirely. During that phase my Grav/Kin/Primal is basically reduced to a Crushing Field, SB, Siggy, and my incarnate pets. Its not challenging as all the mobs are doing is running, Its not difficult as no one dies during that phase. But it is the absolutely most frustrating encounter in the game that I have experienced so far. That absolute helplessness verses the LTs knowing that there is nothing I can do to stop or to personally kill them before they escape, that the entire purpose for your character to exist is meaningless.

They did a great job with this reboot. I can't wait to see more of it.

For Gravity Control..

Have Crush and Crushing Field add a cracked ground effect under the effected target. This would provide a nice contrast between something under the effects of increased gravity verses something under the effects of decreased gravity that the Gravity Displacement and Gravity Displacement Field produces.

Dim Shift.. perhaps use the dark shadowy clone effect from the positron TF on the mobs effected. So rather then being paler they would be all dark and shadowy..

Not sure if its covered by FX exactly.. but I would like to see animation times on some PBAOE attacks standardized/reduced. Irradiate has like a 1 second cast time. Short Circuit, and Combust have 3 second cast times. All of which do DoT damage. This would be a huge quality of life change, especially for blasters.

I have to agree with the Illusion/Empathy.. those two sets are just made to go together so well that its not even funny. Healing from hiding and confusing from hiding are wonderful combination.

One thing I am interest in.. will buff sets cost the same as say an assault set.

Its an interesting question to ask because as players certain powersets are going to offer more bang for the buck then other powersets simply because of the number of ATs which use that powerset.


Take Ray Gun for example. Its used by corruptors, Defenders, and Blasters. At a 10 dollar value that isn't to bad, we're paying about 3.33 (1/3) each Archtype.

Titan weapons.. Tanks, Scrappers, Brutes, Stalkers.. about 2.50 for each AT use that powerset.

If they came out with Time Control for sale.. only two ATs can use that powerset so suddenly we are paying 5 bucks for those two ATs to use those powersets. Not the greatest of deals verses ray guns or titan weapons.

Time Assault comes out.. only one AT in the game can use that powerset. Suddenly we are paying 10 bucks for that singular AT. This is a horrible "deal" on behalf of the customers.

Then when you start pairing Primary/secondary matches it gets even more interesting. The biggest winners there are Buff, and Ranged as they are used by not only the widest varity of characters, but also the widest varities of playstyles. Buff alone offers the defender, corruptor, controller and masterminds each with very different playstyles so IMO will always be a good set to buy, then if you mix a new Buff set with a new Ranged set you are adding defenders and corruptors again as well as now adding blasters to the mix.

If you purchase Melee and Defense sets we are only effecting the four ATs that use that sets. So its pretty much a wash as its a similiar playstyle offering.

When you are talking about Control, Assault, Support, Henchmen sets it becomes much less cost effective, especially in the case of Dominators as overall they would have the worst cost to AT ratio as the Control and Assault are two of the least used power sets in the game.

So value wise players would be better off to purchase sets that can be used by the most ATs rather then sets that can only be used by only one or two ATs. Some sets are just worth more bang for your buck at the end of the day and its something that should be kept in mind when they start selling powersets.

Now I know that they could impliment new ATs which is great for the Control, Assault and Henchmen powersets.. but support is so far across the board it can't really work with any other sets simply because it ranges from Devices to Fire Manipulation. To many powers are reused for melee or for Defense, and imagine trying to play an Empathy/Devices character.

I think the entire arguement comes down to what sort of blaster you are. Unlike melee damage sets which do differ.. the difference between ranged sets is far greater then it is between melee sets in terms of damage, and the secondary sets are so far more across the board then any other primary and secondary sets out there. Naming them support and then having a range from Devices to Fire Manipulation makes no sense.

This is the funny thing is that you may not even notice it because if someone spends a lot of time soloing/small grouping with Elec blast up to the level cap it will be pretty decent to them.. until they step on a team with a Fire, or rad, or duel pistols.. heaven forbid an archer.. let alone a group full of incarnates and suddenly you get that true sense of how abyssmal elec's overall performance is.

I think if you are playing a Fire/fire or a Fire/whatever you won't feel superflous even in the end game as Fire/ is just that good. but if you play an Elec/fire blaster or an Elec/whatever you will feel it. The performance differences between sets is just too great at times and needs to be brought closer into balance.

My hunch is that it will be Citadel that will bite it.

Citadel makes the most sense to kill off as he just sort of exists and doesn't have any sort of real personality behind him. He has never really been a major player in the game and his TF is one of the more bland TFs not only in overall mission design but also storyline wise. So his death can be used to spur on something far more interesting.

Though that brings up an interesting discussion.. can you really kill off an AI...

You might be recalling the untyped Defense..

From the patch notes back in 2005, issue 4 release

Added missing attack types to Gravity powers (defense now applies to all gravity attacks). (Player and Villain versions). Bug fix so you can defend against the powers properly.

I don't recall an untyped damage.. but the secondary effect of Gravity even back in Beta was always movement slows. Not recharge/movement like ice but just movement.

I start with Concept. usually its hmm I wonder how an elec/fire blaster will be.. then I work out a background for why they have those powers. Like being a being of living plasma that is inside of a tech suit that lets them control those powers. Like how the different power mesh together (volt sentinel for example is actually the living plasma being stepping out of their containment suit). Then I decide on the Costume and most of the time fill in the background story. And around now it all fall apart as I can't come up with a name...

You never want to put players into situations where they can phase out other players. I played with Dim Shift back when it was an Ally Phase power, I am one of the reasons that it was changed to a Mob phase power for what I was doing with the power during the greif phase of the testing and that was with a single ally being phased out.

A field phase that is just asking for all kinds of trouble. Its a clunky effect that makes phases actually harder to use then they currently are and increases the potental for intentional and unintentional greif. Imagine dropping that on a BAF.. or on a foe you couldn't phase.. but your allies still get phased.. like a Hami raid.

Phases are interesting, but they are so limited in scope and use that they should only be used in very specific situations, but not as player control tools. Phasing is useful as a Self Phase, or for NPCs to Phase out players like the Rularuu Wisp bosses do.

Offensive phases as the mechanic stands do not have a real purpose. Look at PvP and PvE as its a great example of this. When you phase someone you are giving them a chance to heal, rest, recharge. You have to phase yourself to then attack them. So why would you phase them in the first place if you yourself needed to phase to attack them. The attack phased, while phased was intended to be used by self phasers each phasing out and attacking each other. So that you could chase someone that phased out to avoid a defeat. But if they were already phased no power exists to bring them out of it and such a mechanic while useful in pvp would be so rarely used in PvE that it would be largely useless.

This is why I suggested going after the phase mechanic itself. Fear was largely a useless effect, it wasn't all that fun to cause the mobs to run away in terror, heck it even got removed from burn, I'm wondering if/when it will get removed from Rain Powers. When they changed fear powers they vastly improved the mechanic. Altering offensive phases into a mechanic that works is exactly like altering run away fear into the fear we know today. Its not breaking the cottage rule, but changing the underlying mechanics to improve gameplay.

I actually like the idea that Leo had..

crud I forgot it was going to be on... Should be OnDemand though so I can watch it before I watch Outcasts tonight.

I was reading the getting rid of the cottage rule thread and I was recalling all the changes that gravity has undergone, as well as how some other sets were altered. I was also thinking about my current experiences playing multiple archtypes and how things have drastically changed over the years.

The game was hard at one time.. I died 15 or so times today on my blaster (or at least it felt like it cause I died A LOT) but it wasn't that big of a deal. Patrol xp soaked all the debt that I would have earned and I still had plenty of patrol xp to see me into the next level. If I had died 15 or so times back in 2004-2005 I would have been in a perma debt situation.. I would have been so far in the debt hole that I most likely could never have climbed out of it.

So basically situational phases had a purpose.. dying sucked and putting up with a 30 second pause in combat was worth it because dying sucked. Now dying doesn't suck so much, and that phase isn't as needed and is rather annoying. 30 seconds feels like forever in the fast paced gameplay that as evolved over time. Not to meantion that we have temp powers to phase ourselves now. Every character can craft one of these and use it to basically pause combat and recover if needed. You don't need to phase the mobs anymore. Its counter to all other design in the games.. buff/debuff effects, other control effects.. all of those can do what a phase used to do but they don't basically pause the game.

Now onto basis of the idea.

Back in the day.. Fear powers used to cause mobs to run away. It was changed instead into basically a breakable hold. When attacked the mobs would be free to act, and would then go back to become held again. This changed things drastically as fear became a very effective control from a not so effective control.

So why not take a page out of that book and add a little gravity quark to it. That quark is Singularity. Siggy is intangible, but can be attacked. So we know that intangible creatures can be attacked. Intangiblity and phased are two seperate properties basically.

So here is the idea.. Dimension Shift and offensive phase powers in general (all 4 of them) are altered as follows.

First you apply an intangibility effect.. This allows players to move through the mobs as per phased mobs now or singularity. This doesn't make them immune to damage though. Just lets people walk through them, actually handy if they are blocking something and is overall a neat effect for posiitioning.

Second you apply a held effect but like fear its breakable and reapplyable.

When its breaks they are allowed to attack and attack the player that attacked them, and then are reheld.. this continues for the duration of the effect and they always remain intangible. I don't know if dropping the intang inside a player model would do bad things.. if it doesn't I can see the intang effect being removed and then being reapplied when the power is broken.

You're not changing what the power does, but rather changing what the Phased contol type does, this has been done before Ala the old run away fear to cower in terror fear we currently have. We are basically adding a new control type Intangiblity.

I think it could be a neat power effect and I've not seen anyone approach the power by altering Phase itself so I thought it was a unique idea.

The run away fear effects are still around in some powers.. just like how some powers can keep the current phased effects basically powers that effect self as the power is meant to only have an effect self effect applied to it. This also gives intangiblity enhancers a purpose and potentially an IO set designed specifically for them. This allow allows the powers to be changed in how they work.. you could have single targets, cones, pbaoes, targeted aoes, placed aoes.. A lot of options and varity that we currently don't have in regards to offensvie phase powers.