City of Heroes: Live Forum Archive

Oedipus_Tex

Legend

  • Posts

    3840

  • Joined

  1. Oedipus_Tex

    mind/time?

    POST-ACTION

    This is my take on it. Capped Ranged defense as long as Power Boost is used, insane recharge times on Mass Confusion and Total Domination (personal best I've ever had in a build I've done--hats off to Chrono Shift).

    Someone on the Corruptor forums pointed out recently that Power Boost can be slotted with defense based Hami Os and this boosts your defenses even higher. This is technically an exploit of an exploit. But screenshots confirm it works, and if you want to figure out the math you may be able to move some slots around and hit better defenses than I have here.

    This build assumes you will be using Spiritual alpha.


    Hero Plan by Mids' Hero Designer 1.952
    http://www.cohplanner.com/

    Click this DataLink to open the build!

    Mind Time: Level 50 Magic Controller
    Primary Power Set: Mind Control
    Secondary Power Set: Time Manipulation
    Power Pool: Speed
    Power Pool: Flight
    Power Pool: Leaping
    Ancillary Pool: Primal Forces Mastery

    Hero Profile:
    Level 1: Levitate -- Decim-Acc/Dmg(A), Decim-Dmg/EndRdx(3), Decim-Dmg/Rchg(3), Decim-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg(5), Decim-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(9)
    Level 1: Time Crawl -- Acc-I(A)
    Level 2: Dominate -- BasGaze-Acc/Hold(A), BasGaze-Acc/Rchg(9), BasGaze-EndRdx/Rchg/Hold(29), BasGaze-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg/Hold(33), HO:Perox(33), Dmg-I(33)
    Level 4: Temporal Mending -- Dct'dW-Heal/EndRdx(A), Dct'dW-Heal/Rchg(5), Dct'dW-Heal/EndRdx/Rchg(7), Dct'dW-Heal(7), Dct'dW-EndRdx/Rchg(15)
    Level 6: Confuse -- Mlais-Acc/Rchg(A), Mlais-Acc/Conf/Rchg(13), Mlais-EndRdx/Conf(46), Mlais-Acc/EndRdx(48), Mlais-Conf/Rng(48)
    Level 8: Time's Juncture -- DarkWD-ToHitDeb/Rchg(A), DarkWD-ToHitDeb/EndRdx(15), DarkWD-ToHitdeb/Rchg/EndRdx(17), DarkWD-ToHitDeb(17)
    Level 10: Temporal Selection -- Dct'dW-Heal/EndRdx(A), Dct'dW-EndRdx/Rchg(11), Dct'dW-Heal/Rchg(11), Dct'dW-Rchg(23), Dct'dW-Heal/EndRdx/Rchg(37)
    Level 12: Mass Hypnosis -- FtnHyp-Sleep(A), FtnHyp-Sleep/Rchg(13), FtnHyp-Sleep/EndRdx(23), FtnHyp-Acc/Sleep/Rchg(29), FtnHyp-Acc/Rchg(42)
    Level 14: Mesmerize -- HO:Nucle(A), Dmg-I(50)
    Level 16: Distortion Field -- ImpSwft-Dam%(A), G'Wdw-Dam%(19), Lock-%Hold(19), NrncSD-Dam%(37)
    Level 18: Total Domination -- UbrkCons-EndRdx/Hold(A), UbrkCons-Acc/Rchg(21), UbrkCons-Hold(25), UbrkCons-Hold/Rchg(25), UbrkCons-Acc/Hold/Rchg(27)
    Level 20: Super Speed -- Zephyr-Travel/EndRdx(A), Zephyr-ResKB(21)
    Level 22: Hover -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A), Zephyr-Travel/EndRdx(27), RedFtn-Def/EndRdx(40), Zephyr-ResKB(43)
    Level 24: Combat Jumping -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A)
    Level 26: Terrify -- HO:Nucle(A), HO:Perox(31), HO:Endo(31), Ragnrk-Knock%(31), HO:Nucle(34)
    Level 28: Farsight -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A), RedFtn-Def/EndRdx(34), RedFtn-Def/Rchg(36), RedFtn-EndRdx/Rchg(36), RedFtn-Def/EndRdx/Rchg(45), RedFtn-Def(46)
    Level 30: Hasten -- RechRdx-I(A)
    Level 32: Mass Confusion -- CoPers-Conf(A), CoPers-Conf/Rchg(34), CoPers-Acc/Conf/Rchg(36), CoPers-Conf%(37), CoPers-Acc/Rchg(43), CoPers-Conf/EndRdx(46)
    Level 35: Power Blast -- Thundr-Acc/Dmg(A), Thundr-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(39), Thundr-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(39), Thundr-Dmg/EndRdx(39), Thundr-Dmg/Rchg(40), Thundr-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(45)
    Level 38: Chrono Shift -- P'Shift-EndMod/Rchg(A), Efficacy-EndMod/Rchg(42), Dct'dW-Heal/Rchg(43)
    Level 41: Energy Torrent -- Posi-Acc/Dmg(A), Posi-Dmg/EndRdx(42), Posi-Dmg/Rng(48), Posi-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(50), Posi-Dam%(50)
    Level 44: Slowed Response -- Achilles-ResDeb%(A), AnWeak-Acc/Rchg(45)
    Level 47: Power Boost -- RechRdx-I(A)
    Level 49: Conserve Power -- RechRdx-I(A)
    Level 50: Spiritual Core Paragon
    ------------
    Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(A)
    Level 1: Containment
    Level 1: Sprint -- Empty(A)
    Level 2: Rest -- RechRdx-I(A)
    Level 4: Ninja Run
    Level 2: Swift -- Flight-I(A)
    Level 2: Health -- Mrcl-Rcvry+(A)
    Level 2: Hurdle -- Jump-I(A)
    Level 2: Stamina -- P'Shift-EndMod(A), P'Shift-End%(40)



    Code: 
    | Copy & Paste this data into Mids' Hero Designer to view the build |
|-------------------------------------------------------------------|
|MxDz;1482;697;1394;HEX;|
|78DA6594496B53511886CF4D6EAC193ACF69D3791ED20645378A6027D146238A136|
|A0C6D5A2FA4494852D0A53FC08D2EEA809DD0E2442B286D71E75A11178A82FE0507|
|EAB07013BFDEF74D1BC985F0E47CE37BCEF9EEF55F19742D8F5C3BA0B4A28148289|
|90C0EC4A2A9442C1209276CFED0A431A6E4B1FB8DE878C349632A9C27ABFAED904C|
|B4773320B368CCF21F9C9E98F06E2606FDA1A8119F8E8452462CAA1C8198249D888|
|7C3E34EF3EF70C498BC9C7299FF47C3A1B8119DFC6FE11E8A1B63DE40C2980A4582|
|C3B1C45838291593A970E26A95486A93DF234DF149EB6A46D0AE2BCB2DF236A8DF0|
|177DE0567CBB67294720B7CBA7A2C75502A6DD3DE5B94F248FC07B0F623D8F089DC|
|2F61BA520D1EE4CE493D2B35588F68A64DF7833B8E92C7C08251F089C0C61CDB066|
|CAE3F60EF4FB0EF17F91B9C973E79A6C8B4356F0D5A0A5E5A4C5FD13AB90A2E48AC|
|9DF5EDD4E4606F07B55504C0166A7C2A7032C7790A755CA7C18A7360ED19B0F32CF|
|85072F291A3E5EFC3B9F8782E8BA2A1103E6BE19266EA2D9942AF92BFC86F09C1BE|
|2C2866EFE243F0958D805583E410E81E069B652E4BD9BBF43373BE8076F195F3ACC|
|ACBD1D3CD987607D65D8CAD90D84AC4AA4AC6AE08AAA9A79AFBAAE3BDD7ED21F722|
|BFD1F45BD57DD96F0D67A886751AD9ABD949BAC09E7CDE7501D8241A3CD4E0E9C6F|
|93D93753DEBD59F67AF0BDCFBC5CCF9815D41B0F712F85A06B289B94DF750AF6D81|
|5C2467C1F639B0671E5C927DB4428BA5F526EFFB3AFB7076365C4A75F07C3A9E23A|
|FF305D8B70AFAD6C875F081D4EDE67D75BF927AA5D2F31DEABE15BD5EBE935EEEFF|
|8DD8FA7926FDB4D5EA59EF6E5A9ECDE1C958D25D39DEFE1C8B2FC7B22BDB62879ED|
|D3951A3399680BEF5CD501AF5D98BB6BE05E9AF0EF153BFD60CFFF76CDB61CDFC1E|
|7DCBB67520EEC7B64DD36E706E67C0E332F43EF8D2FF008495E4A8|
|-------------------------------------------------------------------|
  2. Oedipus_Tex
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Greenykins View Post
    Eh?

    No one looks good in a fauxhawk.

    I think it really, really depends. Some guys (and girls!) look great with a fauxhawk. Not everyone is a frat boy with a popped collar. Even the guy in the provided picture is kind of hot.

    Also, this list underscores every reason I hate men's magazines. The person who wrote this sounds like a total dirt bag (not my optimal choice of words). I wonder what Olive Garden he was partying at on a Saturday night when he wrote this.
  3. Oedipus_Tex
    Weird possibilities would be the ability to widen a cone, extend the reach of short ranged attacks unnaturally far, the ability to increase the radius of PBAoEs/radials, and changing target caps.
  4. Oedipus_Tex
    I half wonder if the next innovation in trial mechanics will be glowies that do nothing but automatically fail the trial if someone clicks one. That would be the logical progession in "challenge" from what was introduced in MoM and TPN.

    Less sarcastically, I don't take a relativist approach to the griefablity of design. There are reasons we can't attack other players outside of PVP zones, reasons we can't break into other people's Wentworth stashes, and reasons some powers have confirmation dialogs. It's not just a matter of throwing up your hands and saying "well, there's always going to be some way for players to harm each other, so anything goes."
  5. Oedipus_Tex

    Tpn

    POST-ACTION

    Quote:
    Originally Posted by DreadShinobi View Post
    They do already. This is pretty much standard for any MMO dev team, they listen to whoever ******* and moans the loudest. And it shows *looks at the sad state of the keyes trial and the overall difficulty level of everything else in this game*

    Right. Keyes was a much better investment for the game back when no one wanted to play it.
  6. Oedipus_Tex
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by UberGuy View Post
    I'm not nuts about the fact that the trial has a mechanism that dumb people can fail for us. That doesn't mean I rag on the devs for putting that in. I'm going to rag on the dumb people, for not being able to handle such a simple mechanism.

    <shrug>

    I think situations that suck, suck. I don't care about the source, I'm still going to stay away from it. On the rare occasion I do bother with it, I'm fine just telling people not to use any AoE ever, because I have zero trust in other players (read: random people on the Internet) to correctly guess when it is ok and when it isnt. Plus even having to explain that adds even more time to an already bloated conversation about this trial. Definitely a case of KISS.

    EDIT: I'm also intrigued that you put enough trust in players to assume some of them won't hang around fighting Maelstrom outside no matter what you tell them.
  7. Oedipus_Tex
    Just figured out--problem power is Dominate. Only took 45 minutes of looking. Thanks and disregard.
  8. Oedipus_Tex
    I'm having a moment. I just did a respec of one of my 50s and seem to have misplaced two slots. Thing is, I've looked over the build in game versus Mids for thirty minutes and can't figure out where the missing slots went. One is missing from Super Speed and another from Weave. I'm sure it's something obvious, but can someone spot where the slots are? I can verify that this character is level 50.


    The slotting in Mids:




    In game (with extension of tert powers; I can verify none of the powers not shown have more any additional slots):







    Here is the Mid's build if it helps:

    Villain Plan by Mids' Villain Designer 1.952
    http://www.cohplanner.com/

    Click this DataLink to open the build!

    Cold reader: Level 50 Natural Dominator
    Primary Power Set: Mind Control
    Secondary Power Set: Icy Assault
    Power Pool: Speed
    Power Pool: Leaping
    Power Pool: Leadership
    Power Pool: Fighting
    Ancillary Pool: Primal Forces Mastery

    Villain Profile:
    Level 1: Levitate -- Thundr-Acc/Dmg(A), Thundr-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(3), Thundr-Dmg/EndRdx(3), Thundr-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(5), Thundr-Dmg/Rchg(5), Thundr-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(7)
    Level 1: Ice Bolt -- Thundr-Acc/Dmg(A), Thundr-Dmg/EndRdx(7), Thundr-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(9), Thundr-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(9), Thundr-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(11), Thundr-Dmg/Rchg(11)
    Level 2: Dominate -- BasGaze-Acc/Hold(A), BasGaze-Acc/Rchg(13), BasGaze-Rchg/Hold(13), BasGaze-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg/Hold(15)
    Level 4: Super Speed -- Zephyr-ResKB(A), Zephyr-Travel/EndRdx(50)
    Level 6: Confuse -- CoPers-Conf(A), CoPers-Conf/EndRdx(15), CoPers-Conf%(17), CoPers-Conf/Rchg(17), CoPers-Acc/Conf/Rchg(19), CoPers-Acc/Rchg(19)
    Level 8: Mass Hypnosis -- FtnHyp-Sleep/Rchg(A), FtnHyp-Sleep/EndRdx(21), FtnHyp-Plct%(21), FtnHyp-Acc/Sleep/Rchg(23), FtnHyp-Acc/Rchg(23)
    Level 10: Ice Blast -- Thundr-Acc/Dmg(A), Thundr-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(25), Thundr-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(25), Thundr-Dmg/EndRdx(27), Thundr-Dmg/Rchg(27), Thundr-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(29)
    Level 12: Hasten -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(29)
    Level 14: Combat Jumping -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A), Ksmt-ToHit+(31)
    Level 16: Power Boost -- RechRdx-I(A)
    Level 18: Total Domination -- UbrkCons-Hold/Rchg(A), UbrkCons-Acc/Hold/Rchg(31), UbrkCons-Acc/Rchg(31), UbrkCons-EndRdx/Hold(33), UbrkCons-Hold(33)
    Level 20: Frost Breath -- Posi-Acc/Dmg(A), Posi-Dmg/EndRdx(33), Posi-Dmg/Rchg(34), Posi-Dmg/Rng(34), Posi-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(34)
    Level 22: Maneuvers -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A), LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx(36)
    Level 24: Telekinesis -- EndRdx-I(A)
    Level 26: Terrify -- N'mare-Acc/Rchg(A), N'mare-Acc/Fear/Rchg(36), N'mare-Acc/Fear(36), HO:Perox(37)
    Level 28: Burnout -- RechRdx-I(A)
    Level 30: Boxing -- Stpfy-Acc/Rchg(A), Stpfy-EndRdx/Stun(37), Stpfy-Acc/EndRdx(37), Stpfy-Stun/Rng(39), Stpfy-Acc/Stun/Rchg(39), Stpfy-KB%(39)
    Level 32: Mass Confusion -- Mlais-Acc/Rchg(A), Mlais-EndRdx/Conf(40), Mlais-Acc/EndRdx(40), Mlais-Conf/Rng(40), Mlais-Acc/Conf/Rchg(42), RechRdx-I(42)
    Level 35: Conserve Power -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(42)
    Level 38: Bitter Ice Blast -- Thundr-Acc/Dmg(A), Thundr-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(43), Thundr-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(43), Thundr-Dmg/EndRdx(43), Thundr-Dmg/Rchg(45), Thundr-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(45)
    Level 41: Energy Torrent -- Posi-Acc/Dmg(A), Posi-Dmg/EndRdx(45), Posi-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(46), Posi-Dam%(46), Posi-Dmg/Rchg(46)
    Level 44: Tough -- S'fstPrt-ResDam/Def+(A)
    Level 47: Weave -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A), RedFtn-Def(48), RedFtn-EndRdx(48), RedFtn-Def/Rchg(48), RedFtn-EndRdx/Rchg(50), RedFtn-Def/EndRdx/Rchg(50)
    Level 49: Temp Invulnerability -- GA-3defTpProc(A)
    Level 50: Spiritual Core Paragon
    ------------
    Level 2: Swift -- Empty(A)
    Level 2: Health -- Empty(A)
    Level 2: Hurdle -- Empty(A)
    Level 2: Stamina -- Empty(A)
    Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(A)
    Level 1: Domination
    Level 1: Sprint -- Empty(A)
    Level 2: Rest -- Empty(A)
    Level 4: Ninja Run



    Code: 
    | Copy & Paste this data into Mids' Hero Designer to view the build |
|-------------------------------------------------------------------|
|MxDz;1505;665;1330;HEX;|
|78DA6594D96E126114C7BF6186D2B214B016E8C252DADA0A1441BDD55AA1AD4D8AC|
|178E12E4ECAA44C42193243137BA5555FC3F501BC717D106BDC5EC1256E778AA773|
|FEB4893381FC66FEE73B3B4CE566D9FF74797B5E48C15253B5AC5AD9D8D05B6AC73|
|03D67D5CEA6A936652184AF6434EB295353EB9AE9A1E7C4DEA95AC968754CA399AF|
|E8AD7AEF21BE6F5EB02C75B3D9C9AFAC6DF5EEC32BAD86666A2D1271E3AD1A14E17|
|C5BD3EA7EFB765553DB7A6B3DD87BA0B456436F07ECE7257DBDD121EBD4625B5FCB|
|574D7D436DD6960C734DB36A15D5EA68E6D67E1731AA7686BE2777DBB0AFAE5BDC2|
|7C415E17A4C2C121F309527E04366DF23E65FD77FBEBB36F8F4C3A71F67BD88E945|
|8C79CA2BB1AF2CBD71D979FD3BE05BE6E03BE6248D56B60F7725F993CBF62F7E649|
|EA2386ED4E0BECADAE00D664805AF310F5C076BCC05F2F5B0AFE2B9C0DAC1CBE015|
|66E42278892991CF00F20DA0E7187A8BA1E751CC6014BD8E6306694AE6431FBE2C6|
|C60846C01D802C392AD25FE601F9433C8394510E74BA485517B78916B4B2C81CBCC|
|D419B0CC94C967083E43CF384EEA3973E205F8127CC50C535DC3A86B18754D8698A|
|7295E14754527F87C99B411EC756407E7DF831F985327C8AC08E18A083106FF31F4|
|2551BE38E61BBF85F3B7C16DE6A13BE05DF01E73917227E19BFCCEDACC0FF027F88|
|B79F83788BC091A661A7DA6A1F56C7D14771A71A7B1F30C769EC1CE33D8790E3BCF|
|61E7498A3B8B99CF62E639CC7C0E339E7B0D620732CD20CBB5886C54B27F030A697|
|9D6DC79ECE1C82018047DCCA21F0C3053544301F10A47653BDE672FFDFFA0495DBA|
|C45787F2C5A17C7328E3CADE3B803EBB4A7A5FE9661CD68243293A94630EE5B8435|
|975285565EF8D82DA0642F4DE4025F6758E7EFD452EBFFB0FA29A0602|
|-------------------------------------------------------------------|
  9. Oedipus_Tex
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by UberGuy View Post
    No, you don't. There is never a reason to hold back AoEs on Maelstrom. Whoever is telling you that is wrong. There are no civilians out during that fight. While some are present when Maelstrom first appears (before they run out of the area), the Public Opinion bar disappears immediately, so even if you blast the civilians then, it shouldn't matter.

    Careful--this isn't true during the part where the Telepathists, Technicians, and Maelstrom are all out at the same time and all sapping public opinion. For the sake of precaution, most leagues I've been on just say "absolutely no pets, aoes or confuses outside, ever." It makes it less likely you'll suffer a catastrophic failure for one person's mistake.
  10. Oedipus_Tex
    It all depends.

    You can eat a purple and get defense. No inspiration provides recharge.

    What's right for the build depends a lot on the character and what they will be fighting.
  11. Oedipus_Tex
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by EvilRyu View Post
    Take the zombie setup. THere is always one fool who is endangers the group because their loved one got bit by a zombie yet they do not want to let them go. If I were the leader of a group during that type of issue, I would not be afraid to bust a cap in the person as soon as they get bit by the zombie. No need in waiting till they turn. Kill them now or you can stay them with and share your brains with them but we wont be taking them with us.

    Admission: zombie movies completely freak me out on a fundamental level, no matter how lame the movie is, and the issue above is part of why.

    While zombies aren't real, the idea of a fatal contagion or major disaster very much is. And the corollary issue of zombies is that until a person turns, they are still a person, and killing them or even just abandoning them is a morally ambiguous act. A related idea would be "Why would anyone care for plague victims, the logical thing to do is kill them before they can spread disease."

    Now, people in zombie movies do tend to suffer from one extremely unlikely turn of chance, and that is that every bite has a near 100% chance of transmission, and every case is fatal. While that transmission rate is theoretically possible, a more realistic scenario would be the disease affecting/killing most people, but at least some surviving (although possibly disfigured). Given this fact, the act of killing or abandoning a still living person, if the situation happened in the real world, is fairly complicated. Part of the horror of the situation is (for me at least) zombies used to be people. Horror movies tend to gloss over this by making it very clear when the person has changed from human to monster, but real life would probably be a lot less generous.
  12. Oedipus_Tex
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Samuel_Tow View Post
    Yeah, that's kind of the point. You ARE overpowered against the normal content because you're far more powerful now. It's the same reason you stop getting missions against the Hellions when you hit level 20.

    These are two different issues. You stop getting rewards from Hellions after you out level them. You don't get to just keep fighting them forever but getting more and more powerful.
  13. Oedipus_Tex
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Agent White View Post
    If it has no bearing then you don't need to bring it up when you bring up the nerf.

    The way they were being nerfed was just removing Emp merits. You could still get salvage drops, it just meant a less reliable way of getting a Very rare, and that's what upset people. It's true it wouldn't have entirely solved the problem, the higher trials needed tweaking (some might argue Underground still does). But it wasn't a wholly bad idea, it was simply bad because it was their -only- idea.

    I brought up the nerf to counter the idea expressed in this thread and others that people not running enough trials is an invention of the message board posters. The developers raised this issue, and the proof was the intended nerf, followed up by a fairly explicit statement of such.
  14. Oedipus_Tex
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Tyger42 View Post
    WoW is pretty toxic. Not really the game itself, but the community. So many people have had such bad experiences there that there's a lot of knee-jerk hatred toward the game.

    I think part of the reason is also that the games don't really compare. They both have levels. They are both RPGs. Your powers are mostly based on stats/enhancements and not physical skill. But beyond not much really matches. So, I think there may be some suspicion when the games are compared that the reviewer didn't really understand CoH, similar to when anyone in CoH uses the word "healer" or demands a tank. I don't know whether that's justified in this case, since I think this review was fair. But I do think being a good at CoH requires you to un-learn many of the lessons picked up in other games. In some ways its almost easier to train a totally new player than an experienced MMO-er, who arrives with his or her own assumptions. I know there was plenty I personally had to forget in order to make the adjustment.
  15. Oedipus_Tex
    Thanks for the thoughtful replies. Sorry if you feel attacked. I think Arcana is right; the Internet is feral. People around here do sometimes flame each other, but most of it is pillow fighting rather than the kind of conflict I've seen in other games.

    I do hope you stick with this game for a while. I've played some of the games you've reviewed, and while they are all different, I find most of them stick pretty heavily to the standard model of MMO. When I started playing CoH I was determined to never play another MMO again, because they all seemed the same to me. I was recruited by a friend to play for the free month and was initially unimpressed. It wasn't until about a month in that it "hit" me how different this game really is.

    For one, the various power sets really are substantially different from each other, and, truthfully, in a lot of cases totally different than anything out there in the MMO market. I hope you get a chance to play around with some of this. Check out sets like Kinetics, a support set with a heal that requires you to bounce an attack roll off of an enemy. Look at Ice Control, a set that does up-close crowd control using a constantly running PBAoE.

    Moreover, I think part of CoHs success is that it is both accessible and extremely deep/complicated at the same time. The powers initially seem pretty straightforward. But the more you learn about them, the more you realize you will never know everything about them. The way powers interplay, the ways you can slot them, the surprising or hidden benefits or penalties that are in there, make this game suitable for numbers-hounds to pour over and investigate for hours and hours. But the powers are still understandable enough that most new players can understand their basic functions pretty quickly...

    ...and players like me can play around with a tool like Mids' Hero Designer forever, whether for my own characters or for someone else, planning every small detail of a build in order to make it capable of truly amazing things. Most amazing of all? You may very well be the only person in the entire game with that build, and it is substantially different than what other people are using, beyond a few percents here or a few seconds there like I find in other games.

    EDIT: One other thing I hope you stick around to experience is how responsive the developers of CoH are. I think in a lot of ways this game makes it clear that it belongs to the players. A good portion of loyalty to CoH probably has to do with the willingness of the developers to work with the community to implement features it would like to see.
  16. Oedipus_Tex
    Well there are some surprising ways this trial can get you, too. For example, Cognitive Interface. Even attacking something single target with that slotted can mess you up because the confused enemy can attack a civilian or a camera.
  17. Oedipus_Tex
    IMO the review was fair but I also think CoH is a game that takes a bit longer than most MMOs for the mechanics to fully sink in. The reviewers feelings were pretty similar to mine the first time I played it. If he had played a bit longer I think he might have come to understand better what it is about CoH that crushed the other two superhero games, if nothing else.

    I would generally agree about low level combat being slow. Before Stamina was made inherent, especially. I do wonder why we are one of the last games standing with long recharge on Rest powers.

    CoH unfortunately doesn't really market its best features, which IMO are an unprecedented amount of freedom in terms of solo/group options and the inability to outlevel content. I've been far far away from this game for a little while, so to speak, and some of the things I find shockingly bad about that place are the need to balance teams around role, the ability to out level an instance and come back to it so high that you dominate it, and the fact that just getting the whole team to the mission entrance is a huge pain. It's simply unacceptable to me that in 2012 MMO developers are still releasing games without at least a nod to exemplaring mechanics to prevent missions from becoming loot runs led by players 10 or 20 levels higher than the intended party. Frankly, someone by now should have stolen CoHs model, in which your favorite character never outlevels content and can always go back and play it without ruining the experience for the rest of the team.

    Overall a fair review, though.
  18. Oedipus_Tex
    Another option is Earth Melee/Shield/Fire Brute. Change the look of the shield occasionally to ice/geode/fire depending on mood. Color some of the Earth mallets blue for Ice, some brown for Earth. Shield charge is you "riding on the wind."

    Kinetic Melee represents wind well if you can find a way to fit it in.
  19. Oedipus_Tex
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Agent White View Post
    Most players will never want to nerf anything unless it's negatively affecting them personally, which is also why they'll -fight- against any such nerfs that affect them, whether it's better for them in the end or not, so sometimes the Devs do have to be the bad guys. Any player attempts to do such are always met with snark and vitriol because players aren't allowed to dictate to other players 'how to play this game'. So really it's a no-win situation when it comes to 'doing bad things for the good of the game in the long run', because players will always be petulant children.

    The fact that players normally don't support nerfs has no bearing on whether nerfing is always good. Nerfing the BAF and Lambda rewards--and specifically, the way they were being nerfed, which penalized you for gaining too much XP relative to trial completions--was not going to fix the much deeper issue of people staying away from the remaining trials.
  20. Oedipus_Tex
    The specific category I think really needs new options is Slows. I'm not sure why, but Slow sets routinely give lower bonuses than other sets. It leads to me skipping over these powers to 6 slot something like Boxing.

    New options for Teleport, Flight, Run, and Jump would be nice too. Just have to be careful with some of these being inherent now.

    A KB set clone of Baslisk's Gaze would be nice too. If there were a KB set with a good bonus after 4 slots, you could still use it and actually slot powers for damage or procs.
  21. Oedipus_Tex
    My take on it is below, based loosely on my Ice/Fire Dom build I use for iTrials. Perma-dom with capped Ranged and Psi defense. I took Spring Attack just because; it can be taken out for other stuff if wanted. At level 50 with Spiritual Alpha added in most of these powers are perma or very close.

    Note that actually building this to be perma at low levels will take a lot of work, because LotG is level dependent. You need a low level character to provide those IOs most likely. To do it on my main character I level locked a toon at level 20 and run Tip missions until I get the IO... at least in theory, once I am no less lazy and bother to do it.

    Sidenote: As long as this character stays in perma dom mode, I believe its also protected completely from the confusion power in the Underground. I could be wrong about this.


    Villain Plan by Mids' Villain Designer 1.952
    http://www.cohplanner.com/

    Click this DataLink to open the build!

    Solar Icecap: Level 50 Magic Dominator
    Primary Power Set: Ice Control
    Secondary Power Set: Psionic Assault
    Power Pool: Speed
    Power Pool: Leaping
    Power Pool: Fighting
    Ancillary Pool: Psionic Mastery

    Villain Profile:
    Level 1: Block of Ice -- BasGaze-Acc/Hold(A), BasGaze-EndRdx/Rchg/Hold(3), BasGaze-Acc/Rchg(3), BasGaze-Rchg/Hold(5)
    Level 1: Psionic Dart -- Thundr-Acc/Dmg(A), Thundr-Dmg/Rchg(5), Thundr-Dmg/EndRdx(7), Thundr-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(7), Thundr-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(9), Thundr-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(9)
    Level 2: Frostbite -- GravAnch-Immob/Rchg(A), GravAnch-Immob/EndRdx(11), GravAnch-Acc/Immob/Rchg(11), GravAnch-Hold%(13), GravAnch-Acc/Rchg(13)
    Level 4: Super Speed -- Zephyr-ResKB(A)
    Level 6: Arctic Air -- CoPers-Conf(A), CoPers-Conf/EndRdx(15), CoPers-Conf%(15), CoPers-Conf/Rchg(17), CoPers-Acc/Conf/Rchg(17), CoPers-Acc/Rchg(19)
    Level 8: Hasten -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(25), RechRdx-I(50)
    Level 10: Mental Blast -- Thundr-Acc/Dmg(A), Thundr-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(19), Thundr-Dmg/Rchg(21), Thundr-Dmg/EndRdx(21), Thundr-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(23), Thundr-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(23)
    Level 12: Ice Slick -- RechRdx-I(A)
    Level 14: Super Jump -- Zephyr-ResKB(A)
    Level 16: Psychic Scream -- Posi-Acc/Dmg(A), Posi-Dmg/Rchg(25), Posi-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(27), Posi-Dmg/Rng(27), Posi-Dam%(29)
    Level 18: Combat Jumping -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A), DefBuff-I(29)
    Level 20: Boxing -- Stpfy-Acc/Rchg(A), Stpfy-EndRdx/Stun(33), Stpfy-Acc/EndRdx(33), Stpfy-KB%(34), Stpfy-Stun/Rng(34), Stpfy-Acc/Stun/Rchg(34)
    Level 22: Drain Psyche -- Dct'dW-Heal/Rchg(A), RechRdx-I(31), Numna-Heal/Rchg(31), Acc-I(31)
    Level 24: Tough -- S'fstPrt-ResDam/Def+(A)
    Level 26: Glacier -- UbrkCons-Hold/Rchg(A), UbrkCons-Acc/Hold/Rchg(36), UbrkCons-Acc/Rchg(36), UbrkCons-EndRdx/Hold(36), UbrkCons-Hold(37)
    Level 28: Weave -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A), LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx(37), Ksmt-ToHit+(37)
    Level 30: Spring Attack -- Erad-Acc/Rchg(A), Erad-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(33), Erad-Dmg(39)
    Level 32: Jack Frost -- ExRmnt-Acc/Rchg(A), ExRmnt-Acc/Dmg(39), ExRmnt-Dmg/EndRdx(39), ExRmnt-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(40), ExRmnt-EndRdx/Dmg/Rchg(40), ExRmnt-+Res(Pets)(40)
    Level 35: Subdue -- Thundr-Acc/Dmg(A), Thundr-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(42), Thundr-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(42), Thundr-Dmg/EndRdx(42), Thundr-Dmg/Rchg(43), Thundr-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(43)
    Level 38: Psychic Shockwave -- Erad-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(A), Erad-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(43), Erad-Dmg/Rchg(45), Erad-Dmg(45), HO:Perox(45)
    Level 41: Link Minds -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A), RedFtn-Def/Rchg(46), LkGmblr-Def/Rchg(48)
    Level 44: Indomitable Will -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A), LkGmblr-Def/Rchg(46), RechRdx-I(46)
    Level 47: Psionic Tornado -- Posi-Acc/Dmg(A), Posi-Dmg/EndRdx(48), Posi-Dmg/Rchg(48), Posi-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(50), Posi-Dam%(50)
    Level 49: Mind Over Body -- TtmC'tng-ResDam/EndRdx(A)
    Level 50: Spiritual Core Paragon
    ------------
    Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(A)
    Level 1: Domination
    Level 1: Sprint -- Empty(A)
    Level 2: Rest -- Empty(A)
    Level 4: Ninja Run
    Level 2: Swift -- Empty(A)
    Level 2: Health -- Mrcl-Rcvry+(A)
    Level 2: Hurdle -- Empty(A)
    Level 2: Stamina -- EndMod-I(A)



    Code: 
    | Copy & Paste this data into Mids' Hero Designer to view the build |
|-------------------------------------------------------------------|
|MxDz;1509;678;1356;HEX;|
|78DA6594596F125114C7EFC02096450A2D5D2DA594420B2D2D718B51634C376B4A4|
|2A5BEA938C1099D0467083326FAA455BF86EB07F0C5F583B8BCF8055C6AEBF26AF0|
|30E7CF920C81FCEE3DDB3DFF397728DC5909BC5CDF3D2FA4D0724D31CDF28A714BD|
|315CB68780A4A55ABB88510819251531AF18D8A5A51EA5E324C7482CACB866E358C|
|5A8E9CEDF554D77BC13495DB352B57343543D72AED7D7843DF511BAA6EE5DA0B5FD|
|1A022A5BAAADE0CD8CB4D55A96B7A35686FD6B4EA8E45BB88BDDB566B6ADD68588A|
|45452757EB5AA553BFA09896DAB8CB22AAAD1646A8DD34FD4EB484D89FA65B7C709|
|10659B83E831F99F227A6B71BEB118F0979F23D651E7A023E671E7E013E639EA45C|
|89736569CB65DB7CDBE06566E00A58624ED333E5239BC2FD856DA7C8E091B807CF5|
|5B61DB9012ACCFE6BE07566A4CC4C503D2FE7BABC59EE6B04CC833EAADF078D7DD0|
|1881A641681D84D621681C82C6D394EB47BF7ED41BA63383B005A1C14F71213C8BD|
|02BF4F18639F60E7CCB3CFA1E67509D30F72E85A312FB62EC93C837809E07EEB12F|
|7E1FDC654E3D021F800F9901EA252A49F6FCA305B6C5D07BAC84FD18EFDD74CE30F|
|720865B0BBA1367287F145A465731B735701DBCC84CAE3065AA338E398C434BB21F|
|FC27ECBAD21081EBBA26BEF1FD8BFF60A6BE32CFD2D993D03DB9CFB55307E02F66F|
|A37F807FCCB0C526E02B909CC790E739EC35CE730E70CE69EC19C43943B03CD33E8|
|29B3C79CFF0EA2C7F9731426BB45222CC42C34CF42F3829FB918664E534C1631D97|
|60C7C0B98498A6272383B87BBB3F81AC41DCAE30EE571779294B384B92D657077E4|
|CEBB4C5FFA8844D7D2CC38BC4B0E4BDE6139E6B01C7758361D96A2DCF96710926DE|
|9EBEFBCF7CD3D1F79A55EEF7EAFE5122DD2B2F8E9883AE8B5C4F939B41CCD2D7A53|
|F228FE1FD8CAFEC7|
|-------------------------------------------------------------------|
  22. Oedipus_Tex
    Taunt is one of the only -Range powers in the game. I even use it solo. YMMV but I'd personally never skip it.
  23. Oedipus_Tex

    Tpn

    POST-ACTION

    In my limited experience, the number one place this trial fails is right after the first phase where you have just defeated Maelstrom inside and have to boost signals in random buildings while the psychics are outside. You start 150 or so Public Opinion. If the league falters at all at during this portion, you will lose in approximately 5 minutes, faster if someone hits a civilian. This is because the Technicians drain public opinion faster and faster the longer they are alive, and the meter starts dangerously close to the fail point already. All of the following will lead to a very quick failure:

    - Players not knowing where to go when this phase starts
    - Too many people trying to fight psychics
    - People trying to fight enemies at the terminals instead of letting taunters pull them

    In addition, if the final two terminals aren't clicked within a few seconds of each other, you miss out on an additional +30 public opinion. Most leagues (by that I mean the one league I successfully ran this thing on) reserve terminals C and D for this purpose.
  24. Oedipus_Tex

    Tpn

    POST-ACTION

    The link in my sig shows a video with instructions on what to do. The instructions aren't perfect and don't show the location of the buildings, but it does show the basics of this trial. The video also doesn't indicate that the team should assign specific people to click the final two terminals in each building at the same time in order to maximize PO (a feature I dislike, TBH).

    Building locations basically go right to left. But you are right that without any map indicators, its kind of a mess.

    I'll be honest and say I'm not a big fan of this trial. I made the video just because I figured these kinds of questions would come up. The trial is basically pretty simple but at the same time very confusing and extremely subject to failure if even a single person doesn't know what's going on.
  25. Oedipus_Tex
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Terminotaur View Post
    What I'd like to see is the trials not necessarily be easier to complete, but at least be more difficult to fail.

    This is more or less my take on it too.