Pax__

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Nah. This sucks. Some of us on the east coast that can't squeeze in a trip to the west coast for Pax are getting shafted. I would have preferred a temp power reward that expires after N uses that something more permanent like a costume set.

While I still think PA, PAX and CoX rock, this move is the fail.

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I'm not beating this dead horse again. People will either agree that having an incentive for visiting NCNC is cool, or they're going to lament not being able to get ever item in the game.

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... and why can't the in-game item be something as innocuous as a badge?

Or, here's a thought: why does it have to be something in-game, at all?

... you (or a proxy) can make it to Germany, but not the East Coast?

Bah.

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So.......instead of a patch do we get a patch for the patch, or do we get unpatched which means everything falls apart and the game resets back to Issue 1? Just for clarification...

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Sorry if any of you were confused by my message. The Live servers will stay at version 17.20080521.1 that they have been running on since May 28th with Issue 12: Midnight Hour in full effect. We will not be updating to version 17.20080528.1 that is currently in testing on the Training Room as we had previously planned. We'll update you shortly with details of what will be going to the Live servers when. Thanks for your patience and understanding.

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... what about those of us that had started downloading and applying the new patch, before it got pulled? Are we S.O.L. ...?

In no particular order:

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Vanguard Merits now will display ‘Merit Awarded!’ instead of ‘Salvage Found!’ when they are awarded to a player.

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Huzzah! Nice little tweak, this.

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Flight / Hover - Hover is now resistant to -Fly effects.

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EXCELLENT - this will now give yet more reasons to actually take and use Hover. Very, very good.

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Increased Stalker Melee damage multiplier from 0.9 base to 1.0 base.

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--and--
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Increased Stalker Hit Points multiplier from 0.95 to 1.125

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Though smallish changes, these might make it more possible for me to play a Stalker, despite soloing most of the time. Certainly, it's worth a try!

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All Stalker melee attacks now have a chance to critical while not hidden. This chance is equal to 10% plus 3% per additional team member within 30’ of the stalker at the time of the attack. This only applies to PVE targets. Stalkers old chance to critical Held or Slept targets now only applies to PVP targets.

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Very interesting change - makes Stalkers more team-friendly, without requiring them to team with Dominators: ANY team-mate will boost their chance to get an extra out-of-hide Critical or two.

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Using an Assassination attack and missing will no longer suppress Hide (though lesser stealth and invisibility powers will still suppress) if the attack misses. If the attack hits, Hide suppresses normally.

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!!!!

LOVE this one!

!!!!

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Arachnos Widow / Widow Training: Animation/Activation time changes for some Arachnos Widow Claw attacks.

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... I see these are still going through the Tweak Mill, eh? ^_^

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I am still of the mind that with millions of combinations of names out there and the already in-place policy of purging lower than level 6 names on inactive accounts, nothing more need be done. It's up to the player to find a name they like and can live with.

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I'd like to see the cutoff raised to 10, or even 15. Other than that ... I agree wholeheartedly, the current system works reasonably well.

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[...] the excuse of being [...] "called for military" is crap... Just pay up, dude. $144 is NOTHING compared what you spend on fast food, movies, etc.

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/EPIC FAIL

I don't expect that the soldiers in Iraq - who're being SHOT AT, not to mention having to worry about bombs, grenades, and sundry other engines of dismemberment and death - get to stroll over to a McDonald's very often, hey?

And as for your dismissing being broke ... guess what, chowderhead: some of us live on VERY tight budgets. Maybe someday when you're not getting free room and board from your parents, you'll understand that SOMEtimes, it's not "hmm, order pizza tonight ... or pay CoH this month".

Sometimes it's "EAT this week, or pay CoH this month?"

Not a happy choice. And noone should ever dismiss "I'm broke", until they've FACED that very sort of choice.

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I am under the impression that the ammount of people who will or would return after 18 months of having their account inactive is very slim to none.

[/ QUOTE ]Military. Money trouble. If it weren't 3am I might think of other reasons.

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New baby.

Serious illness, or death, in the family. (For example, my mother spent several months on deathwatch for my grandmother, taking care of her as best she could ... she didn't even have enough time each day, between her work and taking care of her mother, to get a full night's sleep in ... let alone recreational activities. Had she been a player here, I doubt she'd then return very quickly afterwards, either.)

A serious illness YOURSELF, possibly resulting in an extended hospitalisation.

...

Yeah, plenty of reasons.

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<ul type="square">[*] 1 free character slot will be granted retroactively on a yearly basis through the current Veteran Reward system.[/list]
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Huzzah! That is EXACTLY what I suggested, when the topic of extra character slots first came up ... loooong before i12's beta started ... ^_^

This also means I will have two Vet Slots, and in six months, a third.

Huzzah!

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Strange, because I get hardly any lag in Grandville.

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What the hell kind of supervillain ultracomputer are you using?

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Dual Pentium 4 2.8GHx processors, 2.5GB of system RAM, and an ATI Radeon x600 256MB video card. Wait, uh ... maybe TWO of those x600's, the device manager has the x600 on one line, then an "x600 secondary" on the next line.

Strange, because I get hardly any lag in Grandville.

What are your graphics settings? Maybe you need to turn a few of them down, when going into Grandville?

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And really how much do you PVP? Saying that Villains stronger means that either you are just trolling or crazy stupid. Which one is it?

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I'm not sure the "or" was really appropriate, there ...

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I would also vote allow newspaper missions/contacts to go to 50 in Nerva/St. Martial until (if it can be done) Grandville gets an overhaul or another high lvl zone gets made. The lag is really bad there, and only there for me.

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This is probably a problem with your video card, video RAM, or system RAM. Getting a better video card, and/or increasing system RAM, would probably help.

Honestly, I suspect system RAM more than the video card; I only have a budget-model ATI Radeon x600 for video, but with 2.5GB of system RAM ... I hardly ever have any lag in Grandville. On Virtue, mind, which has been retty damned busy the past couple weeks (to the point of splitting into two shards of hte same zone, pretty much constantly).

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Wow. Character generation for those obsessed with the statistics, but completely lazy about costume design. It's like the anti-City of Heroes.

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Not really, I tend to use a costume set as a base (justice, stealth) then add bits on top from other sets to customize it.

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Same. I'll often start with a simple "set X" base, and then tweak the costume to-and-fro until I get something I like.

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Thanks i guess. And i play like 1 month, so lol just sign in the forum right now. Anyway im laughing here ....almost lol.

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To your credit, you're laughing NOW. Some might have stayed ticked-off, moreso for having been fooled. You'll get along just fine here, if you can pull up and say "argh, they DID get me, har, har" instead of staying upset. ^_^

Very, very nice QoL feature to see. I look forward to making far too much use of it (must ... make ... new ... ALTS!!!).

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April Fools! Good one!

*laughs controlably*

.....

This is an April Fool's joke, right? 'Cos...

*looks at it strangely*

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^^ This ^^

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It did get their attention, but it didn't get much of a change.

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So - instant gratification, or don't bother?

Sorry, I can't agree with that. If you don't want to make constructive contributions to the thread ... if you think it's all a waste fo time ... well, here's an idea: don't wast your time ... the door's that-a-way.

OTOH, if you want to voice yur dissatisfaction with X or Y feature on redside, and give sme decent details? Or even just comment on other suggestions / complaints (either to agree or disagree) ...? Great, welcome aboard, glad to have you!

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sadly, this thread is a waste of time.

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We have redname attention already. If you think it's a waste of time - go. We won't miss you.

It could, but then, there's nothign wrong with Scorpion being the "lots of defense" option. I mean, "powered ARMOR" is his big schtick, after all ...

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My creative take on Scorpion would be Offensive Piercing, and poison, and Utility stealth, but that is me looking at a Scorpions

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Hmm, a toxic vomit-like attack could work - or, a toxic grenade attack. Yeah, that'd be pretty darned cool. Keep i mind, the idea is for these to work with every pet, all primaries and all tiers, equally - preferably with as little animation-difference between pet types as possible.

For utility ... since he's all about the machines ... a very short-radius Smoke Cloud (with -Accuracy / -Perception) would seem to fit. So, then:

[u]Black Scorpion[u]
<ul type="square">[*] (Defensive) shield vs lethal and smashing[*] (Offensive) Toxic grenade (small targetted AoE)[*] (Utility) Smoke Cloud (very small PBAoE, constant, -Acc/-Percep)[*] (Visible aura) ... the smoke cloud should be sufficient.[/list]


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And just to be clear on what I mean by "small" and "miniscule" and stuff, to throw some numbers out there:

[u]Ghost Widow[u]
<ul type="square">[*] (Defensive) shield versus energy and negative energy (20% resist); protection from fear (just enough magnitude to need two Fear powers applied, or a critical hit from a Dominator's Fear power);[*] (Offensive) when defeated, spawns a "Fluffy" - the essence thing warshades rip from corpses - which is set friendly to the MM, but does not respond to MM-level controls;[*] (Utility) mild stealth radius (say, +15')[*] (Visible aura) Black smoky tendrils[/list]
[u]Captain Mako[u]
<ul type="square">[*] (Defensive) High Pain Tolerance (straight out of willpower, same numbers)[*] (Offensive) 10% to-hit buff and 10% damage buff[*] (Utility) perception boost (+30%?), and some resistance to placate?[*] (Visible aura) blue-green tendrils[/list]
[u]Scirocco[u]
<ul type="square">[*] (Defensive) shield versus energy (30% resist)[*] (Offensive) "Lightning Field", with halve or one-third the radius and effects.[*] (Utility) boost to movement speeds (not much - 20%, maybe), attack rates (10% here)[*] (Visible aura) red lightning[/list]
[u]Black Scorpion[u]
<ul type="square">[*] (Defensive) shield vs lethal and smashing (20% resist)[*] (Offensive) Toxic grenade - small targetted AoE.[*] (Utility) Smoke Cloud - very small PBAoE, constant, -Acc/-Percep (-10% and -20% respectively?)[*] (Visible aura) ... the smoke cloud should be sufficient.[/list]
So, overall smallish numbers - if they look non-small, it's because you need to remember ... these aren't really slottable. Hell, set everything except the damage on actual attacks to "un-enhancable", even.

The best thing, IMO, is that for an MM? There's really an element of "Which one do I really want?" involved. Melee types might favor Scirocco for that lightning field, but ANYone might like it for the speed and attack-rate boosts. Flipside, the stealth from Ghost Widow is nice, and folks with "delicate" pets that die frequently would love the "spawns a fluffy when defeated" bit. Mako is the sort of "all around useful" option there, while Scorpion (thanks for hte inspiration, Ex!) gives a whole extra attack, of a nice damage type and an AoE.

So there's no particular "you're gimp if you pick him" choice, and no particular "you're gimp if you DON'T pick him" choice either. And that ... would make, for MMs at least, the choice of Patron ...
<ul type="square">[*] A meaningful choice, because each Patron would favor a different Tactical style vis-a-vis employing the Minions;[*] Something to look forward to, because it continues to improve the pets that, for most MMS, are the focus of their power and levelling[/list]
Does it march in lockstep with the idea of "fill in the gaps" ...? No - but I think that PPPs shouldn't be about filling in gaps. Remember, that Villain Archetypes are already very broad, very "jack of all trades", in nature. They don't tend to HAVE lots of gaps, and especially not the kind that need filling.

Brutes would probably love additional resistance or defense, maybe some recovery and self-healing - the less downtime they have, the more SMASH! they get to do.

Corruptors would probably love another couple buffs and another pet to lay the Buff Love down on (and for a PPP, if they aren't "Everyone gets 'em" ... I'd say, give them full MM-level controls, but no upgrades or Bodyguard).

Dominators ... maybe some buffs for their pets (and themselves), some debuffs for the enemy? Another AoE-ish Hold, to help lock stuff down, would likely be appreciated.

Stalkers ... well heck, a second Placate would never be unwelcome, I suspect. Self-buffs, especially a Focussed Accuracy-like power, would certainly be well received. And, why not - a second Assassin Strike type of power. We are talking EPIC Stalkes here, yes?

Masterminds ... some control, the pet upgrades detailed above, maybe a bit of personal defense/buffs, and ... well, I'd be happy with that. And my main is, you guessed it, an MM.

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See, that's what I assumed MMs would get when the PPPs were announced. Possibly getting another pet? Meh. Possibly getting another upgrade for your pets? Now we're talking! It wouldn't have even had to do much, maybe just give the pets some sort of damage shield or hit point boost so they'd survive longer.


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Off the top of my head ...?

[u]Ghost Widow[u]
<ul type="square">[*] (Defensive) shield versus energy and negative energy; protection from fear;[*] (Offensive) when defeated, spawns a "Fluffy" - the essence thing warshades rip from corpses - which is set friendly to the MM, but does not respond to MM-level controls;[*] (Utility) mild stealth radius[*] (Visible aura) Black smoky tendrils[/list]
[u]Captain Mako[u]
<ul type="square">[*] (Defensive) High Pain Tolerance (straight out of willpower)[*] (Offensive) 10% to-hit buff and 10% damage buff[*] (Utility) perception boost, and some resistance to placate?[*] (Visible aura) blue-green tendrils[/list]
[u]Scirocco[u]
<ul type="square">[*] (Defensive) shield versus energy[*] (Offensive) "Lightning Field", with halve or one-third the radius and effects.[*] (Utility) boost to movement speeds (not much - 20%, maybe), attack rates (10% here)[*] (Visible aura) red lightning[/list]
[u]Black Scorpion[u]
<ul type="square">[*] (Defensive) shield vs lethal and smashing[*] (Offensive) ??[*] (Utility) ??[*] (Visible aura) ... something like TempInvul gives to brutes?[/list]
I'll admit, I choked a bit on Scorpion; I'm not sure what to do that would be universally useful for almost all pets at all grades. Note, yes, that's the plan here: it wouldn't matter WHAT primary you had, you'd get the above powers. Useful, a nice added touch (with an appropriate "aura" like effect), nonspecific enough ... and IMO, reasonably thematic.

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Everyone gets a pet, except the pet class ...? Huh??

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This is something I've always found amusing, because from the moment the PPPs were announced just about everyone assumed that MMs would be getting yet another pet. PPPs, like the APPs, were meant to partially fill gaps in the functionality of the ATs. Thus the melee ATs get some ranged attacks and control, the ranged/support ATs get some defense shields and self power/damage buffs, and so on.

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The problem with that thinking is, the CoV archetypes are already pretty "jack of all trade" in nature, and don't really have many "gaps" that can be filled in. Also, MMs - whose primary includes ranged attacks - get ... yes, another ranged attack (for Black Scorpion, it's Mace Beam Volley).

Also, the PPPs were supposed to be "better" than the APPs; I think "more of the stuff you'e good at", at least as an option, would have been nice.

Heck, rather than a new pet, I'd commit murder for an upgrade, thematic to the patron, which can be applied to ANY pet type.

However, I'd've been less irked if maybe, say, Corruptors got a pet ... and that was it. (Doms already have a pet.) It's just that everyone except MMs get them, you know?

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with the lack of trials

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Villains have the exact same number of trials as Heroes. 4. The three respects and Hamidon.

The other hero trials grant pool C.

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Cavern of Transcendance.

Sewer Trial.

Eden Trial.

Those are three that Heroes get, and Villain's don't. No comment on their quality, but nonetheless, they ARE options.

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This is pretty minor but I would like it if the protector bots each applied their bubble to the MM. As of now they only apply one to the MM. And maybe while they are at it (not sure if it is in already) make it so that the merc medics will heal the Mm if they don't already.

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HELL. NO.

That would be brokenly powerful. Seriously ... the defense you'd get form that would be WELL over the top. I logged in briefly to take a look - all hail the Attribute Monitor! - and grabbed some screenshots of my Robotics / Forcefield Mastermind, and his defense percentages.

Here, take a look for yourself. I think those numbers speak for themselves ... especially when you consider I can enjoy all that defense, and have my robots in "Follow/Defensive" - a.k.a. "Bodyguard" - and get a net of 75% damage resistance to everything that manages to SOMEhow land a hit on me, as well.

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Then there's the general stupidity. I was terribly disappointed (and complained about) the NPCs in the villain Invention tutorial. Aeon University is supposed to be the the knowledge center for the villain capital of the world. This is where budding mad scientists go to learn their craft. I could see them being quirky, but every last one of them is characterized as a venal incompetent! Where are the faculty that could be believably working on a Phased Linear Oscillation Transduction device to "Show Them - SHOW THEM ALL!"?

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*chuckle* ... down in the hidden lab, actually WORKING on the P.L.O.T. device - 'cause they're too smart to get dragged into performing actual teaching duties. Duh! ^_^ The guys up top that we talk to? Rented / purchased Nemesis automata, programmed to get students through teh curricula and back out the door aASAP (and route gullible nonpowered "future test subjects" to a particular door for, er ... "extra credit", yeah ...).

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The place of Arachnos in the Rogue Isles and their relation to the Player needs to be better explained: I invited an acquaintance to leave WoW and try out CoV. After they had been playing for over a week I showed them around Pocket-D, pointed out the Hospital Porters, and related how they had been so well-used during the first Valentine's Event. I then had to explain to them the Rikti War and Rikti Force Field/Teleporter Technology, the Destined One project, and Arachnos' Survival-Of-The-Fittest creedo. After I got done with all of that she said "Oh, that tutorial and first set of missions makes a bit more sense now".

The whole villain side assumes 1. you have already played and understand the story from Hero side 2. you understand Arachnos inside and out 3. you already know why you were broken out.

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Good points, here. They should be paid attention to.