Pamprin_Ninja

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Every time a Burn Tanker joins my team on the live servers, it's like someone flipped the boring switch to 'ON.' They run in, hit their macro ("Herding, wait for me to say when"), don't get hurt, and kill everything.

It doesn't matter what archetype I am playing. It doesn't matter what anyone else on the team is playing. The Burn Tanker is a one man show. Anything the rest of the team does aside from buff him just screws up his herding and slows down the XP gravy train.

I don't give a rat's butt about the herding part since any Tanker can do that. Here's the part that is ridiculous: by the time the Tanker says "ready!", everything but bosses is already dead. In the words of my Fire Blaster friend last night, "this is f***ing boring now."

Thank you for nerfing Burn!

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I've experienced this too. I blasted around with a great team for a while; then we had a burn tanker join and we headed into Eden. The tank immediately started rounding up enemies, making sure that one of the controllers was flying overhead and dropping heals. A couple of minutes later, he got everybody in one spot and burned them to the ground. I couldn't even work out what I was supposed to do, other than try and push stragglers back into the fray.

Having said that, I realise that far from every fire tanker behaves this way. The ones that do though... man! Whatever floats your boat I guess, but I can't pretend to understand it. Maybe desperate to play a Kheldy?

The burn change strikes me as being somewhat typical of I5, i.e. it was needed (much like Regen or controller pets) but the solution currently offered seems very heavy-handed and over the top. Surely there are better ways to fix the problems than just playing with the ol' spreadsheet numbers?

The new mission customisation seems like a good step in the right direction, even if the implementation might need a little polishing. (But what's new in software development?) Despite the clamour for new zones, new powers, new costume pieces and the like, it would seems that what most players unconciously want is more variety in their gaming experience.

On a similar front, the introduction of customised mission maps turned many heads. Unfortunately, even though the maps are being produced at a good clip, they are still only beginning to graze the overall number of available missions.

Call me crazy, but has anyone there at Cryptic thought about producing 'spawning scenery' that adds itself in select locations in the more prevalent mission types? Such scenery would be tied to whichever gang of villains 'owned' that map, for instance:

* The Hellions would have graffiti alpha-ed over various walls, and small shrines and fires located throughout their stalking grounds. Some Hellions could even be shown 'praying' to their occult idols.

* The Lost would have no doubt gathered together all sorts of random debris and scavanged goods to horde throughout their sewer homes. Garbage items lying around, etc. etc.


The idea isn't really that far out, it is more about rejigging the map system slightly to accept the addition of multiple scenery components. Once that's done, the effort spent on creating a custom map can be applied to a whole swath of missions in one fell swoop. It's all very reusable resource. ^_^

Badge Ordering: Having some sort of collapsable tabbing on the left-hand side of the badge lists would be a great idea. And certainly, they are getting a bit 'sprawly' now that there are so many of the things... they do need a bit of re-ordering in general.

Isolator: Players are begging for a portal mission with Contaminated in it. ^_^ The badge text will need to be changed though, obviously. The badges are there to take advantage of the completist nature of many players, so... might as well go the whole way, eh?

History Badges: It would be very cool if we could go into the badge list and for each History badge, have the matching text expand into the matching plaque text that makes up that badge. Something along the lines of:

History Badge:
+ Plaque 1
+ Plaque 2
+ Plaque 3
+ Plaque 4
+ Plaque 5

Heck, maybe the plaques could even show up as you collect them and then when you have all plaques, the badge stops being 'shadowed' out.

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Why are they doing so much damage so quickly?
Because there are so many of them at once, usually.

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I don't think so... I've jumped into groups of 12 blue Skulls before, and although it can almost end up with me in hospital, that's yet to happen. Close but no cigar. To try that with the Trolls, meanwhile... those Superstrength Jabs and Punches are much harder and faster in comparison. Each one seems to do the same damage as a regular attack perpetrated by an ordinary ganger; but the difference here is, the Troll can chain straight into another attack. At least the ganger has the decency to wait!

I love the new Troll and Outcast powers, I do! ^_^ I just want to see the actual damage knob turned down a bit, especially on the Trolls. Certainly not so that they are at the same level of difficulty as a Skull or Hellion, by any means. But as an incredibly rough number, it seems that the Trolls are maybe twice as difficult - certainly, I feel like I've gone from being able to take out four equal-level gangers, to taking out maybe two similar Trolls. And if we get into +1 territory, there's an actual posibility that on a bad streak I have to run before arresting even one Troll.

Actually, you know what would be great? Turning down the Troll accuracy too. All that Supradine and raging can't be doing anything for their aim!

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Why do I keep getting knocked down?
It looks like Disorients on at least some of the Troll Super Strength attacks got changed to Knockdowns. They were probably changed from Jab to Punch. Knockdowns are marginally less annoying than Disorients because they will not drop your toggles, and majorly more annoying because Disciplines offer no protection against Knockdowns.

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Yup. Not really sure whether it's a step up though... more of a step slightly up, but mostly to the side. If a Troll hits me with a KD, then I'm looking forward to probably being hit at least twice more in the attack chain before I'm back up again. If there are other Trolls around, at present level that can very easily mean seeing half of my health disappear in a matter of seconds, with *no* way to escape or otherwise counter.

Again, I'm loving the powers but the KDs for Trolls minions should be turned down too... maybe even off entirely. To me, the most important change with the Issue 2 Trolls is an artistic one; the new powers they have gained really translate into a unified appearence: every Troll has the capability to hit you with a good looking, golden-halo'd punch to the ribcage. To me, that's done a lot to subconciously outline their identity. Outcasts? Elemental powers. Trolls? Now I instantly think 'Superstrength', and that's cool.

To me, pulling out the actual new Superstrength powers would be a huge mistake. The problem definately lies in the way the powers are implemented. Rather than directly using the same powers available to Heroes, I think it would be best to take the good parts - the look, the animation, - and then alter the stats of said powers to better fit the Trolls. Should regular minions have Superstrength damage? I don't think so. But why can't the Trolls have the 'appearence' of Superstrength attacks?

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Just what is the difference between a Troll Gunner and a Troll Bruiser now, anyway?
The Gunner can lower your Defense before he starts pounding on you....

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Really? I'm not being sarcastic; I genuinly can't tell the difference. ^_^ Last fight I had, a Troll Gunner took some potshots at me with his submachine gun and then ran over to finish the job. His friend, who for legal reasons we shall call 'Trollkin Bruiser', ran over to me for a bit of manly hand to hand sparring - but not before softening the target with a couple of bursts from his submachine gun. Wait... which one was which again?

I think the problem here is that all Troll minions have merged into one type, and whilst understandable, that needs to be pulled back a little. The actual mechanics are pretty good, I think. Rather, I'd like to see the Bruisers be returned to using their humble weedy handguns. And I would also like to see the Troll Gunners keep their weapon out when fighting, thus identifying themselves more clearly.

(I mean, personally, I'd love to see the Gunners get a 'Superstrength' golden-glow version of the 5th Column's infamous 'I have a gun and I can still brawl with you using the other hand, ja!' maneuver. Then maybe a new animation where the Troll uses their Superstrength to slam the stock of the gun in your face. Modify Kick to work whilst the weapon is in hand, keep the golden-aura theme. Then finally, when the Troll starts to get enraged (presumably from losing HP) then can grab their gun by the business end and start swinging it like a club... how Troll would that be? ^_^)

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Why doesn't the Outcast Torch have a melee punching attack like his compatriots?
He does, Scorch, level 1 Fiery Melee power. That's the move where he reaches out for you with both hands. Torch AI seems to prefer ranged attacks, though; they're the last to close for melee.

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Ah, I thought maybe that was the Torch's melee attack. It doesn't look like much though, does it? I mean I understand if they want to keep the Torches hanging back... but personally, I'd rather see all of the Outcasts mix it up a bit. Remember the days when we were so niave, that to us the only difference between a Brick and a Lead Brick was the one had stone-covered fists and the other a giant mallet? (Oh, and the latter would always run away. ^_^) I liked those days.

I think it would be fun to differentiate the different Outcasts further; into those whose Elemental attacks have focused on melee, mixed or long-range fighting. Nothing too scary, I just think it would be neat to see a Torch hit me with Scorch... or maybe a (currently-non-existant) flaming punch; or maybe even a weak-***** Fire Sword. Again, the premise being the look of things, not giving the Outcasts more damage (like they need it.) Which again, means divorcing their superpowers from the current Hero superpowers, and giving them versions with all the look and flavour but not neccesarily the same stats.

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I just wanted to add my two cents in that I really like how the Outcasts and Trolls aren't just another generic gang. Maybe they are a little on the overpowered side, but I really like that they use attacks consistent with their style, and don't all just break out shotguns and baseball bats. It adds a lot to the flavor of the game, and that's something I really enjoy.

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I completely agree. Don't get rid of their new powers! I think it gives them a great flavour, much more so than they had before. I'm not one of the 'Hey, keep the game difficult, I like it more this way!' crazies. Those new Trolls are harsh. But rather than taking their new powers away, could you just slash the damage in half on the minions instead?

If there's anything I want to see gone, it's the Earth powers that the Trolls have suddenly picked up. Stone Mallet? Me Troll, me no understand new Earth power! It seems a bit out of place with their other powers. Maybe those upper-ranked Trolls should be getting more Superstrength melee powers instead, maybe even Rage?

All I figure is, stylistically the changes brought about in Issue 2 were a step forwards, not back. Why change this? Instead, look at the issues really bugging people at the practical level:

Why are they doing so much damage so quickly?
Why do I keep getting knocked down?
Just what is the difference between a Troll Gunner and a Troll Bruiser now, anyway?
Why doesn't the Outcast Torch have a melee punching attack like his compatriots?

Hmm... some of us still hoping to see more damage on our Tanks... *crosses oneself.* I don't know; seeing either endurance costs going down some more, or maybe endurance recovery going up when not fighting? Not sure; but I am loath to all the downtime in between battles right now.

I still wish SS would lose it's AoEs and get a big damage boost... maybe slow the casting times to compensate... agh *throws hands in the air* I tell you what, I can appreciate the Dev's dilemma. Statesman has anything but an easy matter to solve here.

Certainly, nobody seems to have much of - pardon the pun - an axe to grind with the Axe secondary, so that may well be a good direction to go in.