NC_Iceman

I don't get the fuss. I used to play with a group that met on a regular basis: fire tanker, fire blaster, and me, illusion/emp controller. After a while me and the blaster became completely superfluous. As a matter of fact, try to be a controller was actually COUNTERPRODUCTIVE to the fire tanker's herding.

I gave up xp powerleveling after grinding multiple 50s in DAoC. Games are meant to be played and experienced, not rushed through as fast as possible. Each combat can be a unique experience. Changes made so other players using their powers don't interfere with fire tankers is not a bad thing. Changes made so there is not just one tactic for every mission is not a bad thing. Bringing diversity to a game that already is in dire need of it, given that combat is all we do, is not a bad thing.

So rather than scream nerf all the time, embrace change for the new experiences it can bring.

I know this is going to upset a lot of tankers, but something like this was needed. I've been in too many groups where as a controller I was asked NOT to control because it interrupted the fire tanker. The whole sequence of play was watch the fire tanker burn and everyone else deal with whatever else might go wrong, or heal the fire tanker if s/he needed it. Boring. A tanker's role should be agro management and damage absorption. A fire tanker is an offensive tanker role, so it should be a build that trades some damage absorption for damage dealing ability, but not to the point that it makes the rest of the group superfluous.

I will make one concession, however, and that is that if the damage and recharge is being reduced, the devs may need to look at removing the fear element. That would only be fair.

This is a neat idea, but it will be difficult to execute.

The issue is the RATE at which blasters lose health. One hit at high levels immediately puts a blaster into defiance range, doing more damage, thus earning more agro? The second hit then kills unless the defiance dmg boost finishes the opponent off.

This is a neat idea, but I'm not sure it addresses the issue of blasters being 1 and 2 shot wimps at 32+, which is the crux of the AT imbalance.

What if defiance dmg came with a some kind of cc component, or something that did not draw agro?

I've noticed sometimes Galaxy City is the first choice when finishing up outbreak....is it not random, or based on current population?

I usually pick based on when I feel in the mood for something different....I now find the Galaxy city mission travel times slightly shorter, so I go there more often.

Some very positive changes listed here towards adding variety to the mission structure. Not enough, mind you, but a very good start that I am looking forward to trying out.

I am curious about the half xp debt in missions. While appreciative, since this is by far where the majority of my deaths occur, I wonder if this is meant to imply further negativity or discouragement towards street hunting.

I would like to see something done to make street hunting made more viable again simply as an ALTERNATIVE to missions UNLESS more street missions ae given or the variety of missions changes enough to where players are simultaneously encouranged and engaged to spend most of their time with missions.

I liked the old one, I like the new one. The old one felt more in tune with the game, where the new one feels like it's trying to stand more on it's own as a comic rather than a tie-in.

I personally see room for both, but I understand with production costs et al....maybe the first could come back in a web version?

Nothing against the great art in the first one, but I do love the new art.

As far as the no black heroes, I try to look beyond such things as ethnicity...

I caught the voices behind me eating my Cheetos. Now I am out. Damn them.

As stated, NCSoft is the publisher of both GuildWars and CoH. And the team behind GuildWars are a lot of the founders of Blizzard and original brains behind Warcraft, Starcraft, and Diablo, though IMO Guildwars is a different game from those.

I love CoH becuase there is nothing else like it out there. It's not another fantasy ratkiller. You are a hero saving the city, fighting crime with fantastic powers! I still hope for more interactivity with the world. I don't want it to become another item collecting madfest like most games, but there needs to be more depth to it that just the missions. It also needs to become more solo friendly at higher levels than it currently is.

WoW I have a love/hate relationship with. It's one of the best MMOG designs out there. The mission stories are deep and well written, the environment feels alive and interactive, and it's the easiest and most solo-friendly game I've ever played. If they can only resolve their technical issues; it is plagued with communications latency problems, with each server being it's own unique animal of issues. But I must confess, this one sucks most of my playtime now for it's depth of crafting, lootgathering, and questing. As for the religious implications of demons someone mentioned, I've never understood zealouts' inability to separate reality from fantasy and their own fears. Christ and the devil's gateway to this world is through us, not our games.

Finally, while Guildwars is kinda fun and definitely good for tactical PvPers who like group on group battles, soloers and ganker will be disappointed with the inability to be uber and the pace of the game. I was looking for the next diablo, and I didn't find it. Instead I found a relatively weak individual character, and I play games like this to feel powerful. But if there's a free client trial, by all means, download it and try it yourself.

Glad to know this is being looked at, but frankly, Blasters need to be put at the top of the pile. The weakness of blasters comes into play sooner than 35, if you ask me.

Overall, as you level up, mob damage and "dangerousness" increases due to versatility of powersets and damage output. Meanwhile, player damage resistance does not scale up according.

The result: soloing much past 30 goes from moot to impossible for non damage absorbing builds. Tankers and scrappers stand out clearly as the superior spec at these high ends.

To resolve this, I think a couple of things need to happen. First, for nearly all classes, damage resistance needs to scale up better, in line with that of those we oppose. We are supposed to be fighting equals. I can't one shot them w/o using aim and buildup, why are they oneshotting me? I don't see them activating aim and buildup...

Second, blaster secondary powers being melee oriented has been pointed out as illogical since beta. Give blaster more support powers in the secondary line, esp. temporary defensive powers. If I see the enemy activating aim and building and he might be targeting me, let me activate my temporary defensive energy shield or fire shield, or risk being one-shot. Another great secondary would be resistance to crowd control powers. Being cc:ed is death to a fragile blaster.

In summary, there are definite weaknesses to the blaster now that the game has grown and we have levelled far beyond they days of "City of Blasters". The secondary power sets have proven their inadequacy. Time for this class, often thought to be overpowered, for their time under review.

I have to say....this would make a killer event.
Tricks would be:
- how fun would it be w/o deformable terrain?
- players would have to be able take them out somehow (basically like giant winter lords)
- would they need to be able to rampage from zone to zone for the full effect, in effect "leaping" security walls? Probably not, just fade in and out ala sim city.
- best effect would be for heroes to have tasks to either clear the path in front of the monster, engage the monster, or rescue/clean up after the monster somehow.

This is a very cool thread. Yes, Tsoo is apparently a Hmong word, but the art style of their dress draws from various asian influences, mostly Japanese it seems thouhg. I'd love for one of the designer or artists to chime in on this thread to say where they drew their styles from.

As for localization, yes, they meant translation for different regionalized versions of the game. Not only would they have to translate the text but they'd have to record new audio as well, meaning finding new voice talent, rerecording. et al. Personally I think it would be worth it for an expansion, as the game has proven both profitable and to have legs.

Unisystem is supposed to emphasise storytelling a bit more, better for episodic gaming like a comic environment.

Rumor mill says they are going to be doing the next Stargate game too, since AEG lost the license and Sony has partnered with Eden.

Any chance of existing characters getting a free icon trip with I4? It would be nice to be able to make over our sub 20 heros to what they were meant to be with these new options.

The quote under Miki should read:

"I'm looking for sailors. Have you seen any sailors?"

I really, really hope they added samurai armor, too, but I haven't seen it yet...

<looks at his copy of Kingdom Come, looks at your opinion of Alex Ross, and throws your opinion of Alex Ross out the window>

I'd LOVE to see a CoH combo of these two...KC is one of my favorite collaborations.

Remember when you had to be lvl 5 to ride the tram?

As for the tutorial, I still do it with every char. Easy lvl 2, 2 insp, and an enh, and a badge if you want it.

We need to see how this works on test, but it is ESSENTIAL that this be made usefull as a CROWD control power, as CC is what it is supposed to be about. Making them run away isn't controlling, in my book. If I'm grouped, I want them cowered where my teammates can deal with them.

But as stated, lets see how it plays out on test, and return comments then.

Invis will rule in a scrap like this....I love playing the Romulan, lol

I like the idea of utilzing the - and = keys, ala WoW for extra powers.

I like the idea of a third bar too, but I hear the Kheldians, who have to switch between sets. A third bar is fine, but we still need a keyset for hotswitching bars or sets of bars.

Not that I have played one, but from what I can tell Kheldians are meant to be jack of all trades. Without necessarily being weak or lacking, they just don't excel specifically in any one area. I've grouped and duoed with them, and they seem to do fine. I already know I'm going warshade once I get a 50.

As for the role they fill, they are great all around fillers to have for full teams. I think they compare mostly to defenders, but with a little better damage. Keep in mind most are sugardaddied by their 50s, so they are packed with the best enhancements influence can by, usually. That guarantees a certain level of performance.

Lol, the only issue I have with the Ks are the loud shaking BOOM when they transform....that is kinda annoying.

Don't know if this is still relavent or not, and I'm sure it's subject to change, but many moons ago States said that though you would have to purchase CoV as a separte game and would pay for it at the same rate if you only had Cov, if you had CoH and CoV you would only be billed one rate. That was the plan then, who knows what will happen once it goes live, but I'm REALLY hoping that's how they treat it, like a full priced expansion pack for those of us that own the original game.

One $14.99/mo fee, please!

I don't thing Serge is a coicidence, nor are any of the zillions of cultural, pop-culture, and mythological references in this game. The devs are obviously well-read as well as having seen a lot of B movies, lol.

The designers of this game do a great job of listening to its fans without caving unduly to board noise. Everyone I know who plays it and sticks with it is impressed with the balanced and interesting power sets, a credit to their testing and balancing.

Those I've known who have left the game have always had one universal complaint, and that is the "sameness" of mission styles and layouts. I think this is being addressed slowly over time, and I hope more is done to address this in the future so they come back to reevaluate the game in the future.

Simpleman said it, more costume options are a good thing. Just because he said anime-inspired does not mean they are going to look EXACTLY like anime. Sheesh, I've already seen some excellent anime characters out there. And it doesn't mean big eyes, either. This is the other big worry I keep hearing. It probably just means asian clothing options. I personally am hoping for historical samurai armor, it was an option I wanted from the beginning.

We've got plenty of time. Wait to see what shows up on test before you start fretting unduly.

Number 1 feature I want to see is more interactivity to missions. Fundamentally they are mostly all the same - clear the lair. I know it might take more AI coding or something, but if there was more that the bad guys were doing, more to interrupt or interact with, it would go a long way to combating the charges of "sameness" that plague missions in this game.