NewScrapper

I've noticed a couple things about the new Claws animations that bug me. (I've got a lvl 7 Claws/DA Scrapper.)

1) I seem to be doing a ton of right-handed attacks, very few left-handed attacks. I would kinda like to see the right/left/right/left action flow more. (This is just using Strike, Slash, Brawl, and Taser Darts, mind you.)

2) Whenever I miss with Strike, I still hear the claw sound go off in my left speaker only. I always wonder because of this if there's another Scrapper to my left. It's very distracting.

Other than these couple of items, I'm enjoying the new animations so far.

NewScrapper

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SR scrappers have to be very careful about where they engage in large teams with AoE prior to Evasion (which is 35, not 28 - lucky is not exactly stellar AoE protection).

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Maybe the devs' first step should be to switch Evasion and Lucky, then. With the other two defense types, the toggles are available first -- why should AoE be any different?

But another reason I would like to see AoE defense folded into ranged defense: The invulnerability set has a defense toggle and a defense passive, so why shouldn't super reflexes similarly get a damres toggle and a damres passive? It would be totally in concept, too: the idea is that you move so fast because of your SR that nobody can land a blow dead-on -- all you get are glancing blows, so that reduces the damage you sustain.

NewScrapper

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Not only is it perma with two SOs, with Quickness and 3 SOs it overlaps for about 30 seconds.

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Okay, I'm probably confused then -- maybe my issue with trying to do the Volcano TF was simply that at lvl 27 I kept taking a mountain of AoE damage with no defense against it. I just remember dying a LOT on that bad boy -- more dying than usual, I believe, and all the AoE was a huge factor in that.

NewScrapper

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you were getting knocked around??? with practiced brawler?????

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If I remember correctly, Practiced Brawler is a click power, not a toggle, and it isn't perma -- (is anything perma anymore?) So, if PB goes down even for a heartbeat, you're grenade-surfing.

NewScrapper

The problem I've always had with SR is that you don't get any AoE protection until lvl 28. Try playing against Council hand grenades in the Volcano TF at lvl 27 -- it's impossible. You'll be thrown into the air so many times your butt will never touch the ground until you're dead.

I think that AoE defense toggles/passives should be folded into the ranged defense toggles/passives. That would free up a couple of power slots so that the devs can put something better in their places (like damage mitigation toggles/passives, maybe).

NewScrapper

I was really looking forward to trying out an SR Scrapper after hearing about the SR buff. Now I'm not so sure I'll bother...

Did you know...?

The first appearance of the Fir Bolg (i.e., those pumpkin-headed villains in Croatoa) was during the Halloween Event. The giant monster Eochai the Pumpkin King, would randomly spawn in certain zones, and he would generate little Fir Bolg minions.

Did you know...?

During the Halloween event players could also play a "trick or treat" minigame. By clicking on nearly any door, heroes would receive either a "treat" (usually an inspiration) or a "trick" (a wave of special villains -- witches, werewolves, ghosts, vampires, or pumpkins). Players could earn badges by defeating a number of the special "trick" villains (except for pumpkins).

Did you know...?

At the end of the Winter Lord event, all large bodies of water in Paragon city were frozen over so that heroes could slide on them. This effect lasted about a week or two.

Did you know...?

The high frequency of Winter Lord spawns during the Winter event led to the phenomenon of "Winter Lord Babies" -- newbies who leveled up so fast from the XP off Winter Lords that they lacked basic game knowledge and had no idea how to effectively play their characters at such high levels. (Seriously, I had a lvl 23 ask me how to send a tell.)

Did you know...?

You know those little "flavor blurbs" you see upon entering a mission for the first time? For example: "You can tell from the scorch marks on the wall that the Hellions have been here." At first, those blurbs didn't exist. They were added later as a means of lessening the feeling of repetition players felt when doing missions. (Take a few moments and think what it would be like without them. It's quite a difference.)

Did you know...?

Used to be that the Circle of Thorns didn't have any "vanilla melee" minions, which made the CoT pretty tough for low-level heroes to deal with, as the best a new hero could hope for was Thorn Wielders and Archers. The Guardians were added later as a way to lessen the CoT's relative uberness.

Did you know...?

Corruptors in CoV were originally called Destroyers.

Did you know...?

At first, Tanker attacks did not possess any inherent AoE taunt ability. Tankers instead were forced to take Provoke for AoE taunts. This changed when the devs added the so-called "Punchvoke" ability to all Tankers, which was later more properly named "Gauntlet".

Did you know...?

Scrappers and Tankers both used to have the same single-target taunt power, called "Taunt". When the Tanker primary power became an AoE taunt rather than a single-target taunt, the Scrapper taunt power was renamed "Confront" to avoid confusion.

Did you know...?

Used to be, players who took the Teleport power had to be pretty quick on the draw to avoid taking damage from falling, as originally Teleport had no "grace period" for hovering in the air. It was strictly "pop & drop".

Did you know...?

Originally, most Dark Armor toggles wouldn't stack, which often meant that DA Scrappers would have to, depending on their present enemies, determine which Armor aura would be most useful and go into battle with that toggle alone switched on.

Did you know...?

The Blaster inherent ability "Defiance" was originally called "Desperation", but the name was changed due to player complaints that "desperation" didn't sound very heroic.

poz,

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[Influence/Infamy gained in SG mode] tapers down as you increase in level until it reaches zero around level 35.

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So...what exactly is my motivation for playing in SG mode? I'm not exactly an "SG HOO-RAH" type. My primary desire is inf to buy SOs. Anything my SG can get past that is irrelevant gravy to me. So, why should I ever enter into SG mode when SG mode shortchanges me?

NewScrapper

The first time I saw a Supa Troll I was excited. Fighting him was tough, but seeing him charging around like that, my sense of heroism just wouldn't let me pass him by.

However, the next couple of times I saw some Supa Trolls, they were just mulling around. "All this strength...nothing to do...." I was able, with my blaster, to pick them off one or two at a time, while the rest just mosied along in their little area. I eventually wiped out the whole group by my lonesome.

Personally, I was expecting that once a group of Supa Trolls spawned, they would chaotically run all over the place, but that doesn't seem to be happening. Instead, they pretty much stand around like Chick-Fil-A cows with signs saying "ZON EVANT HEER". Needs more excitement, in my opinion.

As regards the Steel Canyon fires, I got in on the tail end of one just in time to squirt the fire twice with the extinguisher before getting my @$$ blown all to pieces. 10000 damage? There'd better be one heck of a reward considering that kind of risk. (At least I can only collect debt once per kaboom.)

NewScrapper

With all the different types of missions available now, I'm thinking that it would be good to have some advance warning attached to the contacts' mission descriptions, perhaps in icon format.

For example, timed missions could have a clock out to the side, missions with villain waves can have a wave icon, escort missions can have a person icon, missions with archvillains and elite bosses could have certain icons, etc., etc. That way, a person would know what's expected of him/her before picking the mission.

The reason I think this would be a good idea is that, prior to doing my first "protect the artifact from villain waves" mission, I had no idea I was in a villain wave mission. I simply beat up the two goons threatening the artifact and then moved on to the next set of goons, only to hear gunfire behind me. I turned, and...lo and behold, there were five more goons attacking the artifact! I succeeded at the mission, but still, it really threw me that I wasn't done when I thought I was done.

And, of course, there are always those nasty AV and Elite Boss missions that don't specifically tell you that the villain at the end is an AV or Elite Boss. I remember the first time I did the Maestro mission. I expected an Elite Boss because that's what Heracles was, and I soloed Haracles, but when I opened the last door...purple AV! Run away! Run away!

So, I'm just saying that more info would be good, especially with all the new mission types coming out.

NewScrapper

P.S.: One more icon would be particularly helpful -- let us know if the mission is part of a story-arc, so that we don't get locked into a story-arc when we're really only looking to do a single mission.

Because of the "display lag" affecting the HP and END bars, it's been difficult to test out Defiance as I would have liked, but here are my 2 cents so far:

First, the presence/absence of the Defiance bar should be customizable. I, for one, don't want to see the Defiance bar -- EVER. It's distracting, and it serves no useful purpose to a blaster who prefers to stay alive a good long while rather than do uber damage with his last 2 HP. Instead, Defiance should kick in based on how the HP bar changes color. For example, if my HP bar goes from green to yellow, I'll know Defiance has kicked in for me. This scheme would make the Defiance bar even more unnecessary, as all I have to watch now is my HP bar.

Second, Defiance is not a power which I would EVER attempt to use strategically. I tried "playing the numbers" twice, and I died twice. So, for me, Defiance is always going to be nothing more than a tush-saving feature that will be activated through no intentional planning on my part.

Third, while Defiance is a cool ability, why not just give blasters the ability to Critical like scrappers have? I can think of one reason -- blasters having Defiance and scrappers having Critical keeps a firm distinction in place between the two archetypes. However, it's becoming clear from the forum responses that Defiance just isn't that good an ability at higher levels (due to very infrequent activations of the power) whereas Criticals are something that are good from 1 to 50 (due to the fact that a Critical can happen for any scrapper at any level, any time). So, my advice is just give the Critical ability to blasters as well, and then I think most low-lev and high-lev blasters will be happy.

NewScrapper

Vox_Populi,

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...Atlas and Galaxy are like night and day. Atlas Park is bustling with activity and crowded with low level heroes, while Galaxy City is quiet and empty. Only a few heroes stand around the Back Alley Brawler, while a huge mob surrounds Ms. Liberty. Any ideas why this is? And what can be done to make people want to go to Galaxy?

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I prefer to pick Atlas over Galaxy because Atlas gives access to the Hollows. Maybe if Galaxy were to give access to Croatoa, more people would be found there. Also, if arena usage ever picks up, I think you'll see more traffic there.

NewScrapper

I've said it a dozen times, and I'm going to say it again. Get rid of the death timer, and replace it with a system in which dead heroes get either 1/2 XP (pre-lvl 10) or debt recovery only (post-lvl 10), and 99% of the complaints about "I won't get my XP!" will go away.

NewScrapper

Miosane,

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...with the experience range if you are in a team and they are outside the experience range(i.e. not getting anything) the experience drop for your teammates are still there why is that?

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This is, I assume, to prevent one member of the team from breaking away from his/her teammates and getting better XP as a result.

NewScrapper

Here are a couple of suggested modifications to the XP Leash and the Death Timer.

XP LEASH MOD: Whenever you are within 300' of an enemy who is dealt damage either by a teammate or by you yourself, you are guaranteed the XP from that enemy's demise. (This rule applies whether you are alive or dead.)

DEATH TIMER MOD: Scrap the death timer in favor of assigning all XP earned while dead to paying off debt instead. Dead characters who have paid off all their debt earn no XP. Lower-level characters who don't earn debt would earn 1/2 the normal XP while dead.

I think the above suggestions, if implemented, would guarantee that any character who participates in a battle in any way, shape, or form would get the deserved XP.

NewScrapper

Thorny_Toad,

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One little attack. Is that asking too much?

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Not the point. Attacking isn't the defender's job. Defenders should be free to buff/debuff/heal at will without having to worry about random loss of XP.

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Or just don't die.

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Stupid comment. Death happens even to the best players. (Never underestimate your teammates' ability to get you killed in spite of all your prowess.)

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I really DO like the idea of sending wasted XP to debt. If debt is fully paid off, well then you've been dead WAY too long anyway.

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This is what I've been saying all along. Forget about a death timer. Death-exemp instead!

NewScrapper

Let me just state for the record that, having just gone through the headache of forming a hunting party in Boomtown, I absolutely HATE the new XP leash for 3 reasons:

1) Not everybody KNOWS about the XP leash. Unless you read the forums (which not everybody does) there's no way to instinctively know, "I have to stay within 300' of the kill to get credit for it." At least 2 of the people in the 8-man party I led a few days ago had never heard about the XP leash until I told them.

2) Some ATs -- *cough* Kheldians *cough* -- are naturally inclined to fly out ahead of the rest of the group and do mass kills, which is fine so long as they don't get more than 300' ahead of the group (yeah, right). One of the Kheldians in our party dropped out because his having to wait for the rest of us to catch up with him meant he couldn't get enough XP to satisfy himself.

3) Some missions are naturally geared toward splitting up a party. Example: "Defeat 20 clockwork in Steel Canyon." You are NOT going to find 20 CW in one place, which means you have got to split up to finish this mission quickly, and that means losing XP to the leash. There are some mods I think one can put in to remedy this -- e.g., for a "Defeat # <enemy type>" mission you should always give credit to the whole party for all <enemy type> defeated (i.e., if the number goes down, you all get credit).

Is PLing a problem? Yes, it is. Having a level 20 ask, "How do I send a tell?" is something that should never, ever happen. But inconveniencing the rest of us to tame PLers is totally lame.

NewScrapper

P.S.: Get rid of the death timer! Put all XP earned while dead toward debt instead! (Sorry, just have to plug that every now and then.)

Clintonian,

Here's some info that's since been obsoleted:

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Player villains don’t start out with fully functional power sets as their heroic counterparts, but instead must work their way up from being a common thug in order to prove their worth as a criminal and be recruited by a member of an NPC villain organization....Once the player villain proves his worth and becomes part of a NPC villain group, the villain group “empowers” the thug with superhuman powers. The player then is able to choose an archetype/origin.

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Lord Recluse nixed this later, saying that player villains will start out with powers at level 1 just like in CoH so that the super-powered fun can start right away.

NewScrapper

I can't believe that there are still people here who are posting things like, "This won't fix PL'ing, so don't do it!" and "Why bother trying to stop PL'ing?"

Get the point, people: THE DEVS ARE GOING TO DO THIS.

The devs perceive powerleveling to be a problem. Period. No further discussion of whether PL'ing is a problem is necessary.

After over 200 pages of various comments, suggestions, and complaints, the "XP leash/death timer" is still going to be implemented with Issue 4. Period. No alternative strategies for defeating PL'ing are needed.

So, GIVEN these two things -- PL'ing is a problem, and the "XP leash/death timer" is the devs' current solution to the problem -- the ONLY thing that should be concentrated on here is finding whatever "holes" in the solution there are and suggesting patches for them.

And along those lines, we also need to focus on what the devs have actually said about how the current solution works.

This is what Statesman has posted:

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If a player is in a zone, did NO damage in a combat and has been dead for more than a minute, he receives no XP. If a player is more than 300 ft. away from the mob when it’s defeated and did NO damage, he receives no XP. Otherwise, the player receives his full share of XP.

If players are on a mission map, they always receive their full shares. There’s no distance limitation. Teams can split up in maps – players can be separated by elevators – everyone receives their XP.

This system does not affect Mission rewards....

Now, let me clarify the situation with Badges and Defeat tasks. As long as you or any of your teammates are within 200 ft. of the defeated mob, EVERYONE on the team gets credit. This is not a change in Issue 4; this is the way that it currently works....

As long as someone on your team gets XP for a kill, the entire team will get credit towards a Defeat X mission or a Badge count even if they don't get the XP....

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Please take note of the italicized portion, because it's incredibly important. What I interpret the italicized portion to mean is that there is no difference between XP collection in Issue 3 and XP collection in Issue 4 if you are in a mission. In short, the "XP leash/death timer" solution is ONLY being applied to zones.

So, are there any "holes" in the solution as understood according to how the devs have said the solution works?

I have only found one "hole" so far: Giant Monsters in zones. Consider the following scenario:

You enter into a fight with Babbage in Skyway City. You and 50 other heroes are fighting him tooth and nail. You get to the point where Babbage is close to being defeated, and he kills you. If you did NO damage to Babbage during the fight, you now have the following options:

1) Pray that there is a defender around to rez you.
2) Pray that you have an Awaken or that somebody gives you an Awaken.
3) Pray that Babbage is killed within one minute.
4) Pray that you can go to the hospital AND hurry back to within 300' of Babbage before Babbage is defeated.

Since Scrappers and Blasters earn their pay by dealing damage, the scenario above is least likely to affect them. Tankers and Controllers, too, tend to spend at least some of their time on average dealing damage, so this scenario is only a little more likely to affect them. Defenders, of course, are the least likely to deal damage to a Giant Monster since they will be focusing on keeping their teammates alive, so they are the most likely to encounter this scenario. However, my point is that anyone of any AT would would be utterly hosed if the above scenario were to befall them, and I know that if I were to lose out on XP just because I took the alpha hit or I kept my team alive instead of doing damage, I would be beyond insane with rage.

My proposal? The devs should ensure that if you're on a team that fights a Giant Monster in a zone, you are guaranteed your share of the XP from the kill according to current Issue 3 constraints.

One last note: From the I5 changes to XP debt, it is clear that the devs are pushing people toward missions harder than ever before, so you should expect that any complaint such as, "I can't street hunt effectively anymore!" is going to fall on deaf ears. Just accept it: You're going to have to change your orientation from street-hunting to mission-farming. The devs want people to play missions. It's as simple as that. So stop whining, form an 8-man team, crank the mission slider up to Impossible, and start wiping out hordes of enemies whose sole purpose in life is to level you up like crazy.

NewScrapper

Statesman,

While the changes you've proposed are obviously beneficial to players, I can't help but scratch my head and wonder, "Why?"

NewScrapper

In case anyone is interested, here are the current standings in the "just for grins" Death and XP vote:

Those in favor of a "death-timer" option: 8
Those in favor of a "death-exemp" option: 4
Those in favor of some alternative option: 0

NewScrapper

I'm taking a poll, if anyone is interested in voting.

"Death and XP" Poll

NewScrapper

I've been away for a while. Have the devs said anything lately about whether they're going forward with the Regen changes as originally proposed? So far I haven't seen anything which says otherwise, but maybe I've missed something.

For the record, I still think Integration should be left alone, but I'm only lvl 30 now and just getting used to Instant Healing, so I still dont have anything to say about the proposed changes to IH.

NewScrapper

LordArkaine,

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But giving away items to lowbies? Is that an exploit? No... but it is immoral.

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Dude, you must really miss the 5th Column, 'cause you're acting like the "CoH-Nazi". I bet you've never set foot in Paragon Dance Party because you think dancing is sinful.

Seriously, though, since when is charity immoral? If I'm loaded down with DOs and SOs I can't use, they're still my DOs and SOs -- I earned them, and I can do with my rewards what I want. If I want to give them away to people who can use them or at least sell them, that's my business, not yours. Same goes for influence -- I can give it to whomever I want.

Quit dumping on others' generosity. It's not like anyobody's begrudging you your right to scratch and claw your way to a decked-out lvl 50 build by the sweat of your brow.

NewScrapper

Statesman,

1) I’m willing to give the 300’ thing a try if you make an exception for a team's fighting Giant Monsters. I don't want to see a player shorted GM-level XP because (a) he/she gets killed by the GM without having done damage, (b) he/she goes to the hospital, which is more than 300' away, and (c) the GM is defeated before the player can get back within 300' of the GM. My feeling is that if any member of a team deals damage to a GM, then the whole team should get whatever the usual share for the death of the GM would be, regardless of range. Other than this one exception, I can't see any reason not to give the 300' rule a try.

2) I think the death-timer is a bad idea which ought to be junked altogether and replaced with a death-exemplar solution in which all XP earned while dead goes to pay off debt, and I wish you would forego implementing the death-timer altogether in favor of introducing the death-exemplar solution either in Issue 4 or a later issue.

Thanks for your consideration.

NewScrapper