Orynn

You bet your sweet, candy apples I would...

Save the game!!!

WW... I've nothing much to say that others haven't already said but this:

You're a diamond in the rough, my dear. Truly a gem.

And I will gladly take you to see any comedy you want. We can try and outdo each other in boisterousness and annoyingly loud laughter and it will be magic... like you and the rest at PS have made CoH.


My son and I will miss all that YOU and your friends have created and, yes, I was probably shedding tears with you Friday when this happened.

From game design to artwork, you guys are/were the best in the business and will be missed by millions. Best game I've ever played...

From the bottom of my heart to the very depths of my virtual soul...

I salute you, PS.

Love... is all I have for you guys and this game

Anger... is what I am left with after that love is stolen from me and thousands and thousands of other truly devoted fans.

My 12 year old is quite devastated along with me. He has been playing since 2004, when he was just 4 years old; it was the first game installed on the PC I built him that Christmas. He and I both just renewed our subs the DAY BEFORE this was announced too...

I had the honor of knowing you, Zwill and company, through good times and bad. I choke back tears when I salute you all at Paragon Studios for literally giving my son and I a way to bond that has seen us through a helluva lot these 8 long years together (single dad).

We over here in Michigan will miss you immensely. You are the elite; a unique group of intelligent, good-natured people who created something so very special and the highest caliber fun I've had in all my 38 years (and my son's 12 yrs) playing games of any type. Some of my favorite moments in this game were watching you all on Ustream... You are really a great team of folks and some of my favorite on this planet.

Go forth and rise again, my friends! I wish you all the best. You truly deserve nothing less.


From my son and I to you awesome people at PS and everyone in the community... We will never forget you

Love... just isn't a strong enough word


Goodbye, my friends, and truly fare well...

A couple things that deserve clarification:

#1. Gamble -
To bet on an uncertain outcome, as of a contest.
To play a game of chance for stakes.
To take a risk in the hope of gaining an advantage or a benefit.

So, let's cut the crap once and for all. Super Packs are gambling. As is going to a casino. It's just a different type of gamble.

#2. The idea that Super Packs are "play to win" is an apt description. The only room for nit-picking is in the word win. We all know there is no real winning in a perpetual game like an MMO so what we are all talking about, of course, is rewards. Super Packs are "pay for rewards" then, if mincing words is how you like to "win" an argument. Before the market existed, folks actually had to spend time and effort PLAYING the game for these same rewards. With Super Packs, that's no longer the case. Hence the "play to win" argument and why it is exactly what they are.

When I think back to all those spam emails I'd get years ago to directly purchase influence with real money I laugh at how Paragon Studios has really been able to outdo those folks with Super Packs and the whole market in general. I'm glad that any money that gets spent goes to the actual developers and not "farmers", don't get me wrong, but this is so ridiculous I do actually become marginally upset. I'm human and I care about this game. /shrug

Whenever you can literally skip content, actually skip playing the game entirely, and get all of these rewards by directly handing over cash, yes it does help the game developer's pocketbook and, therefore, help keep the game alive but it does so at the cost of those of us who don't have as much disposable income as others by alienating them and making the game feel cheap. The same way I felt sickened by those who clearly would buy influence online and so have far more "successful" or "powerful" builds than I.

I know folks who have far more cash then brains and they are now able to far out-earn me, in-game as well as irl, so it just feels overly disappointing to see Paragon take this route to overtly take advantage of such an ancient and unsettling method of garnering funds: selling to the highest bidder...

Just to weigh in...

I was one of many here who were around for the birth of collectible trading card games and I spent the better part of 6 years collecting. So, I understand the marketing dept's goal here and it is really unfortunate that it has come to this. To see just how far they can push an "addiction" and addictive personalities into the "real" gambling. It's insulting to me, though I can see how some would just fluff off such a thought.

Dev to Dev:"Hell, everything else is already random, why not just literally take the game out of it and make it a direct -$=random reward- system... oops, we already have that, we call them super packs!"

I won't buy any of these packs either. Costume set seems to be the worst part, if I am reading the other posts correctly. I also don't want a plethora of arguably useful common rewards strewn about my character.

-Boycott-

Ah, good point. So, slot Kin Com as usual but 6 slot it with a dmg IO for max dmg %? Or is the base dmg not a real priority?

This is the stalker-type mentality I was hoping for. Thanks guys.

So, Hecatomb full set or 5 Hecatombs and slot the 6th for interrupt redux? I usually go with Kinetic Combat sets for my melee dmg powers but it seems that a set capped at 35 doesn't do the dmg of a full blown 50 set, regardless of being the Hecatomb set itself. And with AS being the burst power of all burst powers, I'm guessing that the higher you can push that "Average Damage: XXX(XXX%)" listing the better...

Just made my 1st stalker a couple days ago and am coming up on the issue of how to slot or, rather, what set to slot into AS.

I'm a scrapaholic so I started to think about my usual slotting for a melee attack and then realized that this is a special case and, therefore, may require a special type of thinking.

He's a BS/DA stalker, if that helps.

Thank you kindly...

The coh launcher is the one we're NOT using anymore. You need the NCSoftlauncher as of today...

and I wasn't aware that the servers were down overnight or early this morning. Thanks for the info though as now I will relax and just wait, hoping that that's all it is...

... is something I cannot do. I've done all of the t-shooting I can do on this end afaik. Bottom line is that I can do anything at all on my PC and other PCs in the house but I cannot log into the login server. I get stopped by the usual checkyourfwallandrebootrouter nonsense and cannot proceed.

Everything has been done/tested and I was fine last night.

Any thoughts?

PS before you start asking if I've done this or that, I have. Router and modem reset, router taken out of the mix, PC reboot, ping tests (can get online fine using 5 other applications), ncsoftlauncher in use and ran the integrity check for all files, AV and FW disabled completely during all attempts past the 1st couple...

"Enhancement Unslotters. Available in the Paragon Market, but also available for free in Tier 9. Using an Enhancement Unslotter changes one enhancement at a time without you having to do a complete respec."


THANK YOU!!!!

I asked for this more than once over the last few years... and was laughed at by the community almost as a whole.

Vindication...


Oh, and you're welcome

Wow... a lot of very knowledgeable folks out there. I can't thank you all enough. This is exactly the type and breadth of examples and facts I was looking for.

/e bow

I have a lot to think about, now more than ever, but I do know one thing... I'll never look at defense the same way again. It reminds me of why I always figured the reason the def bonuses are so low is because they're just that important, from a dev/game balance standpoint. They need those bonuses to remain in those small amounts... because they matter!

Funniest thing is, the character that forced me to finally come here for answers was originally designed with tons and tons of defense. Weave, hover, stealth plus the reactive armor set, 5 of the 3.75% melee defense set bonuses (amongst other random melee bonuses) Went with shadow meld from soul mastery for what I call the "mini-mog" effect. I had another */elec scrap that had very good results without all the def bonuses this guy was going to have just using shadow meld so I was looking forward to this being a defense build. Reason I wanted to know if that strategy was worth going for was due to the sacrifice in dps that I was looking at. But that is surely a digression from the core discussion...

One last thing though... :P

Is ranged +def more/less important than melee as a scrapper? I'm just tired of the aoe and alpha strike deaths I have fallen victim to...

Once again, thanks a ton, everyone. I will now begin the mulling over process...

Ya, I guess more need be said about the reason I'm asking...

Basically, I have difficulty believing that 6-9% defense in a few areas or a few hp (approx 60-80hp?) is worth the slots I'm spending whereas I could cap out the resists of these powers with 3 slots using training IOs, spend maybe 1 more slot to fire in one of those special one-shot enhancements like 3% psi resist (Impervium Armor) and call it good at 4 slots. Slots are indeed at a premium with almost any build I can come up with... builds that I enjoy playing, mind you.

Also, a huge factor is that, in at least 2 of these instances, my scrappers are */elec so have access to power sink so never run low in, or out of, combat.

Incarnate slots aside, the end isn't a huge consideration but I wanted to know this "general consensus" answer(s) for any situation.

Thanks, guys. Much appreciated info so far

Just wondering if there's a general consensus in the scrap community regarding the slotting of resist powers for a scrapper. I specify scrapper and am asking in this particular forum because I never play tanks and assume the answer will be at least slightly different if asked there or in general.

In a nutshell, given what I deem very limited quality set bonuses for the resist sets, do most scrappers "in the know" or "power-gamer/number-cruncher" etc types slot with, like, 3 training IOs and the odd single IO set enhancement (i.e. KB resist) or do you folks really go for actual sets and maybe add the same aforementioned single IO quickie bonus and/or a training IO to max out the resist bonus, if not already maxed with the particular set itself?

Thoughts? Opinions?

Thanks!

Hysterical. Arrogance? If you knew me, you'd realize how wrong you were. I was trying to compliment the devs for listening to their players, of which I am a member, and I am accused of arrogance. Maybe you should look in the mirror? The arrogance of assumption perhaps?

Besides, I wasn't insulting anyone about not being able to move on. I wanted that person to be me, the one who posts like once a year and just wanted to suggest something and hope it happens, so I could move on.

IOs are a "BFD"? No kidding... /boggle. If you can read properly, the context in which I am speaking about them being little is in the reasoning behind why they are revered as so high on the "gotta-be-permanent-or-the-game-will-break" chart. That's like saying changing what my character can do like, levitate an enemy or shoot him from a long range with a snipe is LESS important on the permanency scale than merely how he/she has made those powers better? That's a bit daft imo. Have you even looked at the argument here from the devs side in ANY context or are you just agreeing cuz that's who said it? What it boils down to is a "just cuz" mentality. They said it was important so it is but everything they say is less important, is less important which is mathematically insane to say. Are these guy infallible? They've already literally fixed mistakes thousands of times!

Me>speak>wall

Just realized I'm feeding into the flame-nature of where this has been steered...

fin

Good point. I have a suggestion though. They could open up the in-game mail system so you could then email at least another 20 or so to yourself. Not sure if there's some negative to this but, I admit, it's possible. Maybe all of the emails would be sent after the respec is actually completed so you wouldn't have an unfinished respec result in the players being able to fool the system and truly make enhancements anything but permanent.

I don't agree they should be permanent though regardless. This game has remained viable and healthy due to the direct fact that we have the best dev team on the planet. One major reason this is the case is the fact that they listen and change with the players and the lack of a crystal ball. No one, not even the devs, can see the future and how this game would change and evolve, but it has regardless. Their ability to roll with the punches is one of their greatest attributes. If we can change what POWERS we even have for our characters and how powerful each one of those is through the number of slots, which is a LOT more fundamental and hard to justify than the little enhancements we have in them, then why does this part have to be so harshly regulated as permanent. The fact that we have the ability to do the 10 per respec thing is a complete breakage of any semblance of permanent.

The cat's already outta the bag on the permanency issue, guys. Learn, grow and move on. In this instance they can learn from my post, grow to at least address it or implement it and then we can all move on...

A. I'm not complaining. This is a suggestion forum. Hence, this is a suggestion.

B. I have a ton of respecs available to me, I have been around for a long time and have not taken some major break from the game wherein I came back and found my world upside down.

C. My point in saying there have been changes is because there have been changes... major changes to the game. The system is much different now than it was back when respecs were implemented. There was no economy... at all. No IOs, no invention system, nothing to worry about regarding this issue. That has ALL changed. I am SUGGESTING that the devs look at this and look at what they are essentially asking the players who have already done what the devs have asked in spending tons and tons of time on making a single or handful of characters really powerful by using the enhancements and recipes THEY MAKE AVAILABLE. The things (purple IOs) are rare enough. Once you have them, why would they say we can't keep them if we swap out inherent fitness or some other change made during a respec? No valid reason other than this draconian thought process of "oh man, we're sooo lucky the devs have made the game more viable and fun by handing us this awesome gift of a respec! I feel they have every right to make us go through a huge messy process wherein I could lose a crapload of my mega-expensive enhancements to use this precious and "rare" gift! Fanboi am I!!"

D. This is a game. If something makes a large enough number of players groan when they think of the daunting task of respeccing 3-4 times to save all the enhancements they have legitimately earned, then it should be fixed. It's about fun and this respec process should be as quick and painless as possible so as to promote getting that player back into the aforementioned game itself. This is a metagame process all the way and so should not be something that everyone needs to spend countless hours on thinking about and planning, then more hours actually carrying out said multiple respecs, and/or recovering from losing all the enhancements they lost by just doing "what the devs barely and grudingly ALLOW us to GET AWAY WITH".

E. I think anyone who doesn't think I'm right is also "right". I'm not saying anyone is wrong here. I do have a valid point though and, "right" or "wrong", I'm using this tool (the forums) to ask them to fix another of their tools (respecs). Because it doesn't work for me and many others. The same reason they brought about respecs in the 1st place and made every other change to this game... it helps the players have more fun and stick around.

F. Ask yourself what would really happen if we had a chance to cache our unslotted enhancements instead of throwing them away using a single respec like I mentioned? Any horrible consequences? I can't think of a single thing. Now, using the current system, we have posts like this and people who need to spend multiple respecs and possibly real money to buy said respecs in order to accomplish the same exact result, it just takes more effort and/or money. And the fun in that is... where? I think a lack of fun in a game setting is a horrible consequence...

Are you saying that the devs want us to spend more real dollars?!!? LOL of course they do! Are you saying that they want us to spend more time re-earning those same enhancements by giving them more real dollars to play this game for a longer subscription period?!?! LOL of course they do!

Are you saying that they think those affected will bother? Some will and some won't. But, either way, it gets done and the game itself isn't affected at all. They seem to think that by making these precious respecs painfully difficult in this ONE aspect it will net them some additional income? Maybe, but indirectly they may lose more than they gain in the end. I dunno. All I know for sure at this point is that it's a huge headache for me and, regardless of how many respecs or freespecs I have or will have, this is a large enough timesink for me to post about needing a fix. I've spent thousands of hours on my scrapper, even more hours thinking about his build and testing out variations on the test server. I don't think spending even more time on the actual respec itself makes it more fun for me, more game-balancing for them and us or even more lucrative for the devs. It's just a hassle, plain and simple. Last time I checked, the devs don't want their players considering anything about a game to be a major hassle... like grinding for shards...