Paingod

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Secondly, I have no intention of removing melee attacks - it's just a "perception" by some Blasters that some of the Secondary Sets aren't as useful as Devices or Energy Manipulation.

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Yeah, I've always had this "perception" that getting into melee with anything on my Electric/Ice Blaster was essentially begging to die. I get enough Ranged attacks in my Primary that I can cycle damage forever. Why would I want to run in and try to slap someone, giving him the chance to gut me?

I wouldn't call it a "perception" ... No. Unless you've got some psychotic obsession with debt, building a "blapper" is pretty fruity.

I'd kill for */Ice to have more utility. If you yank all the melee attacks and PBAoE abilities, what do you have left? A self buff, an immobilize, and an Ice Patch? That's not a "Ranged" secondary.

Devices is ideal. Only ONE melee ability and it's a disorient attack. Everything else can be used at range, is a self buff, or is placed on the ground (melee-range optional).

Energy follows closely for the array of self-buffs, not melee damage (though I hear it's solid for that, too... But when a Chief Soldier kills you in one hit, do you really want to get that close to him?)

I'm glad to hear you have no plans to make Blasters in general more attractive to play as their designated role - Ranged damage.

/watches the steady decline of Blasters in groups

/goes back to trying to get his Fire/Ice tanker to level 50 so he can try a Kheldian.

Level 1 : Blazing Aura - 6 Slots (2 Acc, 1 End Red, 1 Taunt, 2 Damage)
Level 1 : Frozen Fists - 1 slot
Level 2 : Fire Shield - 6 slots (6 Resist)
Level 4 : Healing Flames - 6 slots (2 Recharge, 4 Heal)
Level 6 : Combat Jumping - 1 slot
Level 8 : Taunt - 1 slots
Level 10 : Consume - 6 slots (2 Acc, 4 Recharge)
Level 12 : Plasma Shield - 6 slots (6 Resist)
Level 14 : Super Jump - 1 slot
Level 16 : Kick - 1 slot
Level 18 : Burn - 6 slots (6 Damage)
Level 20 : Ice Patch - 1 slot
Level 22 : Tough - 1 slot
Level 24 : Acrobatics - 1 slot
Level 26: Swift - 1 slot
Level 28: Health - 1 slot
Level 30: Stamina - 4 slots (4 Recovery)
Level 32: Hasten - 6 slot (6 Recharge)
Level 35: Weave - 6 slots (6 Defense)
Level 38: Freezing Touch - 5 slots (2 Acc, 2 Hold, 1 Recharge)
<=====================Currently level 39
Level 41: Block of Ice
Level 44: Super Speed (Might be replaced with an Ice attack)
Level 47: Ice Blast
Level 49: Whirlwind (Might be replaced with Temperature Protection to cap Cold resist)

My only real problem was taking Stamina so late. Everything was fine until about level 24 - I just had to be careful - Then there was a pretty noticable suffering in the Endurance department and I moved to Stamina with all possible haste.

Getting to 18 with unslotted attacks and using Blazing Aura to tackle smaller herds of foes was a long trip. The plus side - I haven't felt compelled to respec yet.

I'm one of those oddballs who's always been a little annoyed watching a level 5 sitting on a Tram, gaining levels. This will certainly put a small crimp in that... like making the level 5 /follow his PL'er.

Maybe it'll also cut down on the random number of lowbies asking me to be powerlevelled. I might help a guildie, who I've known for months, but certainly not some random joe who happens to be spamming for free experience.

The adjustment for death and damage dealt seem like a strange addition, but since the "death penalty" in this game is the lightest one I've ever been a part of, this doesn't bother me at all. Great - .01 is still Great. ... Just a tad more incentive to not die, IMO... or at least, not stay dead after a fight. /shrug

These changes have near-zero impact on me or my playstyle. When I DO chose to PL someone, I always have them with me and trying to help as much as they can.

For them to want to fix this after so long, I think someone found some sort of exploit that they've decided to patch up, and it's not specifically aimed at powerlevelling in general.

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Also, when you mention 'powers with fear' does that include Rain of Fire, Ice Storm and Burn?

[/ QUOTE ] If you see a little white screaming face appear on the mob, then that mob has been hit by a Fear effect. If you don't, they haven't.

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I don't believe that only that one 'graphic' indicates fear. There are many powers with a minor fear component built in.

I hope they're considered - Or this will make those powers function as AoE immobilizes. While I'd enjoy playing a Blaster with a AoE moderate damage DoT immobilize, I think it would be dirty. Especially if you managed to stack more than one and just dissolved whole groups of foes who refused to retreat or advance.

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Why is Fly the only travel power with an accuracy penalty? It just doesn't make sense comparing it to the other travel powers and further gimps this power except for the "Wow, I'm flying!" factor.

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Initially, Super Speed had an accuracy penalty, but it also had a defense boost. People would toggle it off just long enough to fire, then turn it back on, since it's instant with no recharge time. When they killed the defense, they removed the accuracy penalty.

To get Fly you need to either take Hover or Air Superiority. While the attack is useful, if you want to fight while airborne, you need to use Hover. Switching between the two is painfully easy if you use the right keybinds or text macros.

Would I want to be able to fight while remaining in Fly mode? Yeah, it's much faster than Hover, but has no defense bonus. Am I worried about it? No. I just kick over to Hover when I fight and get a defense bonus from that with no accuracy penalty.

I have two questions, though:

- Will "AoE" fixes have trickle-down impact on soloability?

I'm openly anti-social. Forcing me to group would remove my desire to play this game.

- Are there any plans to give all Controllers soloability before level 32?

Right now I'm soloing sucessfully with an Illusion Controller, but it's the only build I can think of that's acceptably slow for soloing, the others are simply painfully slow. It takes me about 45 seconds to take out three even-con minions at level 18. At level 20 with Ice, it takes me about a minute per foe. A minute of real time, three minutes for one fight. My Blaster starts fights that end less than 10 seconds later. If just one attack (Like the level 1 Immobilize, to give people a reason to use it) had damage that scaled with level and stayed "Moderate", Controllers could solo much better than they can now. My Illusion Controller has gone 18 levels with two attacks: Spectral Wounds and Blind. I stopped using Brawl 4 levels ago.

Wow.

50% accuracy WITH a 33.3% boost.

Meaning Jack Frost was using Greater Ice Sword at ~20% accuracy?

Whoa.

While we're at it, can we get a "Porn Star" body type and "Couch Potato" body type?

Next up:

"Contaiminated can now spawn in the Sewers"

Please?

I'm a very odd person, and I intend on having every single badge I can get (Even the Medic ones, if my Blaster can find a way to) by my end-game. Not being able to get just *one* badge is like giving me 157 cans of cranberry sauce, and no can-opener. I'm sure I could cope without, but I'd make a horrible mess...

CuppaJo says:

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Killers – Griefers/KSers

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Not to completely misconstrue the intent of this thread for my own satisfaction - But I'm going to for a second.

It's good to see a Cryptic employee admit that there IS killstealing in this game.

It's alive and well, and ever a problem as it was on release.

Anyone with Teleport should be scare S***less of teleporting somewhere they can't see.

I mean - It's suicidal. What if you teleported and came back half-embedded in stone? You're dead. No saving throw.



For this game, though, I imagine jumping through walls was fun. That might be the *only* good reason to take teleport that I've seen so far. And it's been nullified.

Shame. I didn't even know.

I'm guilty of this. Level 34 Electric/Ice Blaster.

I spent the last two days farming specific foes for badges. I've earned 8 of them so far and have no intention of stopping.

Though I am aware of my surroundings, and if I see any actual group (not another farmer) fighting where I had been patrolling, I'll turn around and drag my train of death away from them and hunt in a more secluded place.

I have noticed, though, that respawn in an area where only I'm patrolling is very fast (whole groups respawn when the Lt. is killed) and as long as I keep a wide pattern, I complete the "Defeat 100" badges pretty quick (Well, quick is relative to extraordinarilly slow).

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My bad entirely - you're right - so go to Perez Park. Count the spawns. Go to Faultline. Count the spawns. Compare. Faultline will have 1) larger spawns and/or 2) tougher spawns (i.e. more bosses and lts.)

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From memory, I could swear I recall ...

In Perez, you can find a group of Hellions with 1 Boss, 1 LT's, and 7 or 8 minions. You can also find spawns of 2 bosses or a Boss and 2 Lt's.

In Boomtown, you can find a group of 5th Column with 3 LT's and 7 or 8 minions. Spawns always seem to have at least 1 Lt, and a good number of minions.

In the Faultline, you can find a group of Vahzilok with 1 boss, 2 LT's, and 7 or 8 minions. Spawns sometimes have 2 bosses and a handful of minions with a LT, or a mix between.

In Terra Volta, you can find a group of Skyraiders with 7 Lts who kick the everliving crap out of you. You can also find mixed groups engaged with each other that may have a couple LT's and a slew of minions.

In Dark Astoria, you can find groups of Banished with 1 Boss, 2 or 3 LT's, and 6 to 8 Minions.

When I get home tonight, I'll double-check if someone wants me to... this is just from trying to visualize the groups I've fought.

I just assumed all these were "Hazard Zones" ... I thought a "Trial Zone" was a mission you entered to begin one of the Trials (Like respec)...

;shrug

I may never understand why people obsess over experience in a game that has no definitive end.

So you want to optimize your rush to 50 ... so you can what? Reroll? Fight the same Big-Bad-Nasty a hundred times?

I could care less about my "exp/hour" ratio. I group, I have fun, I solo, I run missions, I sidekick friends to help them level, I wander around buffing random lowbies.

I *play* the game. You all seem to be *working* the game, and I find that kinda sad.

Not to crap on CoH, but the "End Game" is very very small, especially compaired to the epic games like Everquest. I know CoH is still learning to walk. EQ didn't start running, but it did start MASSIVE, and only got bigger from there. When I played EQ, I was never at a loss for new things to see or do for my level. In CoH, when I start over, I get to fight "Hellions, Hellions, or more Hellions with a sprinkle of Clockwork"

In EQ, while you did start as a worthless blob of flesh (Which I'm very glad CoH did away with), you could chose the atmosphere you wanted to hunt in, the foes you wanted to beat down, the dangers you wanted to face. I remember the grand adventure of cautiously picking my way from Ogguk to the Clan Crushbone zone and earning a high enough faction with the wood elves with my Troll that I could wander freely through Kelethin (Save the Banker - He always hated me) and scare the bejeebus out of newbies who had never seen a Troll...

All CoH has is combat. Lots and lots and lots of combat. It's a 3D Superhero version of Diablo without items. I enjoy the game for it's relative simplicity and casual air. Reading things like this thread make the casual air feel stifling.

Maybe CoH could use a crafting system to give it some depth. Let players craft their own armor and wear it. Let players design stronger and stronger inspirations that they can in turn sell to other players, or use for their own ends. Let players build temporary powers that they can use for very limited periods of time. Would I ever become a Legendary Grand Master Spandex Salesman? Probably not. But I'd love to buy something from one.

Maybe a darker style hero wants to befriend the Rikti, and is willing to work over their foes while turning a blind eye to them. Not every hero is a shining example of puritanical values. They all have something dark, something rough about them. Let me build Hellion faction early on and hunt excusively Skulls, while getting specific Hellion missions and rewards, and a decreased Hellion faction to the point where they might wave at me like pedestrians do, tell me how long I've played the game and congratulate me on my latest triumph...

There's a ton of little things that could be worked in too. Every time I pass a phone, it's ringing. Try as I might, I can't answer it. Is the person on the other end of the line willing to give me a mission to help them against X faction? Could I accept or decline? Maybe I could stop random civilians and actually interact with them a bit, maybe they can all carry one or two random (tier 1 through 3) inspirations and a handful of influence so they could buy Enhancements from me as keepsakes of our meeting, then another player could find that civilian and randomly get a nice find that he could acquire and resell for more - Cashing in on meeting a person who met so-and-so and gaining a little extra 'fame' for it.

CoH has so much potential beyond combat, and it all seems to be getting mired in the combat aspects and revolving around powergamers who will never ever ever be satisified with anything less than maximum level in 1 week. CoH already has the fastest level progression of ANY MMORPG I've played. It's fine the way it is. My higest level character is 31st. I could probably be 40+ by now, if I wasn't busy enjoying the game and trying new classes and abilities every week.

It makes me sad to see the game seemingly stall, but I do plan on sticking it out and seeing what we get when the game evolves beyond a 3D Superhero version of Diablo without items.

A variation on the Illusion Pet attacking Group Bug.

Ice Patch. I was toying with foes outside a door mission, just watching them all flop around helplessly while I laughed. The rest of the team showed up so we go inside.

As soon as we get in, Ice Patch re-appears under me, and we all start playing slip and slide for the next 15 seconds. Everyone in the group was completely baffled, and I just laughed and laughed. ... It wouldn't have been funny at all, had there been foes on the other side, making use of my Ice Patch to kill us all.

Probably has something to do with it being 'attached' to your character, but 'spawning' without correct 'ownership' so it's a neutral entity.