Nathan_NA

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not really. in terms of HP regen and overall amount, it's really not that huge, about 300 extra HP at level 50. It's only half enhanceable, so that 40% increase can only get up to about 58%.

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Let's see. For scrappers:

2100 is greater than 1500 (Scrapper HP at 50 with DP vs. without)

2400 is MUCH greater than 1500 (Scrapper HP at 50 with enchanced DP vs without)

I'd say it looks pretty significant to me. I'm mainly talking about a PvP perspective here. Those extra 300 HP mean surviving a few more hits, which gives more time to heal/run away/kill the opponent etc...

A few hundred HP make a big difference. People seem to accept the fact that stalkers are 'squishy' (when not hidden) while scrappers are pretty tough, and yet the only difference between stalker level defense and scrapper level defense is a few hundred HP!

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We found a bug in how +HP powers were working. The fix changed the powers so that Max HP were now enhanceable. Rather that disable that, we left it in as a bonus (though if I remember right, some are only half enhanceable.)

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The point still stands that this is a huge boost to tanker, scrapper, brute, and stalker sets that get +Max HP powers that dramatically affects the balance between these sets and other sets in the same AT that don't have similar powers. Reading that the change was accidental, and left in as something of an afterthought does not reassure me that the developers carefully thought out its impact on intra-AT set balance.

Statesman, thank you for realizing that Defense-based power sets are still lagging behind sets that rely on Damage Resistance or Healing.

I agree wholeheartedly with the spirit of this proposed change, but I think that it misses the primary problem with Defense-based sets (in PvP at least): the overpowering nature of toHit buffs. With a single click, an unslotted Aim, a moderately slotted Build Up, or a heavily slotted Focused Accuracy/Targeting Drone negates an entire Defense-based line, even fully 6-slotted. No one power should completely negate an entire power set, and in order for Defense based sets to be brought in line with Resistance or Healing based sets, this weakness needs to be eliminated. The problem can be attacked from any number of angles without severely impacting PvE, including reducing the base numbers on toHit buffs, adjusting the +33% toHitBuff / 20% Defense Buff disparity in SO enhancements, reducing player base accuracy for PvP only, or even altering the to hit formula (as posted by Geko) to favor Defense more than it currently does.

A change such as this would go a long way towards balancing Defense based sets against their peers. The other issue I would truly like to see addressed is that SR/Elude is required for an SR scrapper in PvP. The toggles and passives simply don't provide enough mitigation against an opposing hero, even when no accuracy is slotted and no toHit buffs are used. Fighting for 3 minutes then running away and hiding for a minute and a half isn't very fun and doesn't seem very heroic. If Elude is truly supposed to be 'situational' like MoG and Unstoppable, then some balancing is needed to make the rest of the set a viable alternative.

I realize that PvP and PvE must both be considered in the balance of a set, but the I5 changes hit Defense based sets especially hard in PvP. With City of Villains on the horizon, PvP balance is even more important. I truly believe these problems with Defense based sets in PvP can be worked out without negatively affecting the PvE balance of the game.

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a Defense build absolutely depends on the enemy missing his attacks!

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That quote just about sums it up.

Then, can we get hamidon enhancements that enhance defense and something else (recharge, perhaps) by 50% each? Currently, the defense buffs only occur in the triples, which means that +def based power sets won't stand a chance against the +50% acc enhancements.

I would like to see:

<ul type="square"> [*]SG alliances and alliance chat. [*]Ability of the leader to change SG colors/emblem after creation.[*]SG trial membership that expires if not confirmed after a period of time. Trial members would not have full access to SG resources, but would wear SG name and colors, though trial member status would be indicated.[*]SG event posting/calendar.[*]Upgradable SG bases/vehicles. Ability to buy a basic HQ then later add luxuries like trophy rooms, training rooms, hospitals, etc...[*]SG bank for exchange of resources among members and to make purchases as an SG (see above). Leaders would set withdrawl permissions.[*]SG instanced zones/missions. Two possible styles here: huge, climactic battles the entire SG participates in at once, or story arc missions where individual teams of SG members are each working on separate missions that contribute to an overall goal. This could span levels easily: e.g. low level team takes on street level villains, discovers clue as to who is pulling the strings. High level team takes out the villain masterminds.[/list]

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Nathan, I understand what you're saying... however...

This is not just one thread. This subject comes up almost every day. I don't recall seeing many threads about superspeed being underpowered, or superjump being a gimp power next to flight. (Although I do see a few threads about teleport here, granted)

But flight speed comes up all the damn time. There are a LOT of people that agree that flight is too slow, and/or that the accuracy debuff should be taken out. It IS a concern for a lot of people. And seeing as how I often choose flight for my characters, I'd like to see some love payed to it.

(Now you may ask, why do you choose flight for so many characters?... My answer is simply for style. I make a lot of flight-inspired characters. If it wasn't for that, I would choose either SS or Superjump for every last one of them.)

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I completely agree with what you say in this post. You say that a lot of people frequently post about fly's weaknesses, but don't generalize about the player base. I'm probably coming off as nit-picking here, but I really hate to see exaggeration and generalization weaken an otherwise very solid argument. State and emphasize the facts that support your case, but don't exaggerate them. Doing so just gives people that disagree with you a flaw to exploit when they attack your argument.

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If the scrapper had fly and the blaster had super speed, who do you think would win?

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Point taken. I agree with the poster that said the blaster has the advantage here. I don't want to get to deep into speculating about PvP, however, since we have no details about the system will work. My point was however that PvP will have an impact on how travel powers are balanced. I would rather wait and see how the travel powers play out in PvP before a major balance is done, rather than balancing now, tweaking for a while, then having to return to the drawing board in 2-3 months anyway. There is precedent for this. Statesman has posted that electrical blasters aren't being balanced vs. other blaster primary power sets because of the potential power of the endurance drain in PvP. Statesman also recently posted that he'd prefer powers to work identically in PvE and PvP where possible, so it seems that two separate balances for the travel powers is undesirable (in the Devs' opinion, at least).

I'd suggest taking a wait and see attitude before a major balance is done. I know this isn't much consolation to those frustrated with fly right now, since issue 4 is months away. I would say try to live with it for now. Fly is arguably a weaker travel power, but not game-breakingly so. A character with fly is not so "gimped" that one can't play such a toon and enjoy the game. Perhaps it needs to be balanced, perhaps not. Let's wait and see all the cards before making a play.

Re: Zarthos and CaptainPaladin

One can't make generalizations about the CoH populace based on a thread from the boards. As Zarthos pointed out, since it is not a random sample, it is not representative of the populace as a whole. Of the tiny minority of the player base that posts on the boards, an even smaller fraction noticed and posted in this thread. They chose to post because they had an opinion about the topic at hand. The sample is not random and is not representative of the population as a whole.

If back in November, someone had posted on an internet message board "Who should be the next president of the United States?" and 50 posters responded "Ralph Nader," should he have been made president?

That is not to say that the opinions that people post on the boards should be ignored. Rather, the devs can not make decisions solely based on the boards. They are one source of information among many. The devs have access to information that we, the players, do not. If they wanted to, they could check and see exactly what percentage of the population has each travel power. If they saw that people weren't taking fly very much and there were complaints on the boards, then perhaps they might think about changing the power.

I'm not saying don't voice your opinion. It is an important part of the process. Just don't make generalizations based on what is posted here. It weakens your overall argument rather than supporting it.

I personally agree that fly needs some love, but I think any changes should wait until after issue 4. I'd like to see a scrapper with superspeed and hurdle in the pvp arena vs. a blaster with hover and fly before I fully agree that fly is the weakest travel power.

I had flight for 30 levels and then respec'ed it out for super speed.

One thing I miss about flight that hasn't been mentioned yet: being able to get a bird's eye view of a zone to see where all the mobs are in a large area, a big advantage for street hunting.

I also strongly disagree that flight is the safest travel power. It is arguably the safest outdoors, but as other posters have mentioned, SS is far safer indoors because of the stealth component.