Peregrin

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...AR/Dev is totally worthless now.... Devices has been a worthless secondary since ED, and its not like its hard to tell.

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Um... I don't see it... maybe I'm missing something, but I've got a friend who's lvl 33 with that set and loves it. I can see that a lot of lethal/smashing damage gets resisted, but this was true before ED. I don't think I understand how this set got hit anymore than any other...

As for Devices, I'm not sure that ED would really affect how people use most of the powers (Web, caltrops, smoke grenade, stealth suit, targetting drone.... that's what comes to mind anyway.)

I thought that was a cool little addition.... however.... isn't the prison called the Ziggursky Penitentiary (or something like that), not Ziggurat? Isn't Ziggurat just a nickname for it 'cause it's shaped like one?

I've really enjoyed the game so far. Unless you're gearing up for a tourney (mandatory 40+ cards per deck), the Battle packs are enough to really get into the game.

So far I've purchased one starter and 2 boosters, and that was enough to compete with 4 friends free for all with 25 card decks (fairly big game to start....) Some of those guys had promo decks from CoV and one had purchased a couple of boxes, so it was a fairly competative game.

I was surprised at the game balance. So far there are no obviously game breaking cards, so there was only a minor advantage for those who'd purchased more cards (obviously I've played a few other collectable games...) As well, we all used different AT's, yet each one was viable alone.

With 5 people playing and a limited number of cards purchased, we had no hero clones. Actually, one guy changed heroes for the second game. Two or three had the same sidekick though.

Most importantly, I had a blast. I've played Vs. and dropped it within a couple of months (liked it at first, but they came out with some stupid game breakers and combos, not to mention that some of the game mechanics just don't make sense for the world they try to portray). I also play Star Trek, Battle Tech, and I've tried out a few others.

I personally think this is one of the easiest and fastest games to learn, but the gameplay makes it replayable, which is ultimately important.

I'm looking at moving from using Crey to using one of the groups present in CoV, especially if they have missions that suggest they are based in Paragon as well.

Does anyone know of a group that fits this description? I haven't had the chance to work through many missions in CoV at this point.

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Police Bot or Arbiter Drone now give a medium radius +Perception buff
to Players only who are standing near them. Once a player leaves that
radius, the +Perception falls off very quickly. This was done to prevent
a pretty nasty exploit.


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Thanks for the clarification Castle -- much appreciated.

Perhaps I'm inferring too much here, however, if the change was to
prevent a perceived exploit, the inferrence (to me) is that there are
(intentionally???) no true safe zones per se... ie. if a player can still
sneak into the area (when an enemy player *isn't* present) it still opens
up the possibility of a fight, albeit the 'victim' has a much better chance
to see the attack coming if he's near a drone when he does show up...

Hmmmm.... That raises some interesting implications, I think...


Regards,
4

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I haven't managed to read through all the comments here, so please forgive me if I've restated something.

A buddy of mine who's a huge stalker fan was playing one for one of the Beta events (Bloody Bay, I think). He managed to sneak past the heroes' drones and into the hospital bay. He sat there and killed them as they teleported into the hospital! Talk about serial ganking.

So, I don't know about giving heroes buffs, but the drones themselves need to be able to kill stealthed characters!

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...Well, to be quite truthful, invading the United States to "liberate" known criminals would be considered an act of war.

So the United States has/had a few options to respond....
International Law at its murkiest!

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I realize that much of what has been said here is biased, and most has clearly been written by agents of Arachnos and/or citizens of Mercy Island itself. For instance, the claims that Longbow instigated the incident at the Zig are as unfounded and unproven as those that Arachnos agents were directly involved. Everyone knows the war walls would keep such intruders at bay until the many heroes of Paragon could rally...

So though I am a loyal citizen of Paragon and a registered 'Hero' myself, having had appreciation for all that Freedom Corps has done for us as meta-persons, I feel obligated to point out that, unfortunately, he US government did NOT respond to the allegations against the Rogue Isles! As has been previously noted, Freedom Phalanx and Longbow acted without a formal declaration of war from their government, attacking all manor of installations and persons from the lowest citizen to those rallied to defend the Isles.

Were all of those persons morally above reproach? Certainly not. However, it remains that Statesman led his associates in an illegal raid on foreign soil. Remember, our 'Heroes' did not deny any of the details of the attack, but rather held them up proud for all to see. No matter how much we admire him, actions such as these need to be investigated and dealt with first by his own nation, and then by the United Nations if no suitable discipline is invoked.

As for the unproven allegations that the political ruler of the Rogue Ilses has some connection to the recent prison break, it is natural that criminals would seek to hide amongst those of the Rogue Ilses, as it is with any nation that doesn't currently have an extradition treaty with the US. This doesn't give Statesman the right to police their nation for them. Even if the allegations some day are proven correct, the US government and world stage must dictate the actions of the individual, no matter how powerful.

Although my loyalty to Paragon and her citizens remains constant, I am ashamed of my leaders. If the elected officials refuse to deal with the rogue actions of a few powerful residents, I myself will strive to see that a political alternative is given. The least we can do is see that those particular officials never see another term in office.

Yours patriotically,
Scarlet-Widow.

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I don't know,...the dev's for Star Wars Galaxies are pretty awesome...

Oh, and have you met my little friend, Mr Crack Pipe...?

** ...turns to look at reviews for "Rage of the Wookies"... **

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Did you notice how the newest 'combat update' brings SWG's combat professions a bit closer to CoH's AT's?

Had to laugh at them trying to peg everyone as either Damage Dealers (ranged and melee), Tanks, Healers, and Crowd Control. Not exactly the same (and you can mix professions) but awefully similar.

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... And quite frankly... it doesn't appear that they care at all what we think. They "change the game for the better." shouldn't the customer decide what better is? I wouldn't be shocked at all if a mass exodous took place from that simple fact alone.

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Well... I'm not sure where they'd 'exodus' to. It's pretty well established that, though it seems at times the devs have ignored the customers (gone ahead with an undesired change, and in some cases not even communicating that change) they still have a better track record than any of the other major games.

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... Unlike in an MMO, the DM can adjust the game on the fly, changing difficulty, making adjustments, and generally keeping the flow of the game. This, of course, means a good DM can prevent things from degenerating into a simple matter of who has the best stats and gear. Especially considering that a good DM can adapt to provide a fun experience for all different playstyles.

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Absolutely. As I've said before, we don't need all the formulas or exact numbers, only a little more info if we're going to make informed decisions. I only used the pen and paper example to illustrate that knowing the rules doesn't automatically make you a min/maxer. (I've had some poor DM's who could only go by the written rules, for instance.)

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To be honest, I believe there IS a negative to putting more information in. Because in a way, I think it actually causes people to feel like they are forced to do things a certain way. In a way, it tends to force people to "quantify" their fun...

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Maybe I'm not the majority of players, but personally, I am mining the guides for info and then I build the charcter I want using the guide stats. This allows me to make the character that fits my concept best.

For instance... no matter how many people tell me TP foe is a useless power, I'm not changing that part of my build. It fits my scrapper's origin and the playstyle I've developed for him. Actually, when soloing, I use TP Foe more than I do some of the 'recommended' attacks he has.

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...Try to understand that I am speaking out of frustration because I was looking forward to the arena so much. After testing it out, however, I lost interest very quickly. I tested SEVERAL DIFFERENT CONFIGURATIONS of blasters on the test server before i4 came out.

I started out in the arena using my lvl 50 nrg/dev blaster.... To my shock and amazement, to fight any form of scrapper was a waste of time. I was not an equal, but a mere punching bag for just about any form of scrapper I fought. ...

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You might want to check your tactics.... I had the same experience from the scrappers point of view (meaning good blasters used my regen scrapper as a punching bag.... couldn't get near them, but then I'm a teleporter... not the best for PvP.)

Yes, but those same blasters that can mop up crowds of minions with AoE suffer horribly at the hands of Bosses that tanks, scrappers, and even some controllers can handle.

I play a scrapper and a couple of blasters, and I don't really see much of a damage issue.... but the aggro and defence issue is huge. Especially when you figure in large AoE attacks like Fireball. Everyone lives longer than my blaster in missions, even the other squishies. I feel like I need to ignore my secondary in favour of a bunch of pool powers that don't fit my character concept, just so I can have some marginal defense.

My regen scrapper doesn't fair nearly as well as previously (died three times last time I used him.... it's taking forever to grind through missions now), so the nerf was definitely effective, but I'm still complaining more about the state of my blasters.... that in and of itself should say something.....

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Can you just smack stateman with a rolled up newspaper until he gets the point that we are not at less risk then scrappers (they have defences to deal with where they are, that has been PROVEN), and that we should be the "Offencive Juggernauts," of the game.

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Giving blasters a lot more damage would be game-breaking. I mean, if you really don't want ATs outside of blasters and tankers to have a point, then sure... Change the game so it's not so murderous to blasters, so that the risk is appropriate. Boost their damage some? Sure. Boost it enough so they can one- or two-shot anything up to bosses? Please, god, no. I'd never team with a blaster again.

I know you didn't advocate that much, Orochi, but I have seen other people advocate up to and including one-shotting bosses.

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So what's your creative solution then? Most Blaster really do feel underpowered and the most likely to die. Refering to someone else's exagerated post doesn't make a very good arguement.

I'm putting you on the spot, but I don't mean to put you on the defensive. I really do want to know what you think.

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Now, don't get me wrong. I fully agree with the fact that people shouldn't end up wasting influence on enhancements that will not affect their hero's powers thanks to caps. The Dev's SHOULD have some sort of way of indicating to the player that yes, adding another Flight Speed SO (for example) won't increase your flight speed anymore thanks to the cap.

What I don't understand, for lack of a better term, is peoples desire to Min/Max. To wring every last ounce of power out of their characters that they can. I'm not saying it's a wrong playstyle, and if thats what you enjoy, that fine. But I just don't understand HOW people find that fun.

I guess what it boils down to is that while everyone else seems to want to be the Supermans or Galactus's of the world, I'm content with being the Spider-Mans or Ambush Bugs of the world.

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Funny... my last post was written before I read this one.... in other words we're desiring exactly the same thing from the devs. We don't need all the formula's and the math, nor do we need the 'perfect' character, but we don't want to feel like we're making bad decisions due to lack of information, either.

I guess that kind of nullifies your 'everyone else' statement, though... I think there are more like us who are bringing up the topic, not just the min/maxers.

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...In the end, to me at least, I think the more "numbers" and "statistics" you have available to you, the greater the risk of cheapening the game and the more destructive it becomes to the enjoyment of the game.

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I've played a lot of tabletop games, strategy and RPG both, and at no time did knowing the rules (and all the math involved) cheapen the experience or guarantee me success. It did help me to feel I was doing my best. An example: Marvel Super Heroes RPG - I would look at the rules and create my concept. That was never a 'Superman' who was all powerful. Usually more like a Cap A or Spiderman. Super, yes, but with obvious weaknesses and vulnerabilities.

Now I know there are power gamers out there who would do exactly as you suggest, but those guys are pretty much doing that now anyway.

Personally, feeling like my character is 'cheap' because I'm wasting resources (enh's, slots, powers, my time) makes me less than satisfied with my gaming experience. I have bothered to look at guides and modify them for my own concept and playstyle, but I just wish I didn't have to take another player's word for it.

A little more info would give me more confidence that I AM making an informed decision. I don't need the math, nor do I need a perfect build, but I like to know rules of the world I'm living in so as to have the most satisfying experience.

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Exactly. I haven't slavishly taken Tough/Weave on my Regen precisely because I knew that Stealth offered a decent defense buff only slightly less than Weave and offered as a level 6 power.

Information could lead to singular builds, but I don't think that it will.

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Yeah... exactly. I did decide to get Tough, though, when I realized it provides almost 4 times the resistance that Resilience does..... I was a little surprised by that, seeing as how the descriptions are similare (one says 'some resistance' while the other says 'slightly resistant').

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...But, I CAN see where others are coming from when they want things to be perfect. They want to emulate a certain type of hero, and if perfection is a requisite part of their character's design, then it can be disconcerting to have that affect your gameplay.
....

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I found this statement generalizes those of us who would like more info on how powers and enh's work. I personally don't care if I ever have a 'perfect' character. Actually, having more info would probably induce me to have more varied builds, because I'd know I was only 15% from my resist or damage caps, for instance, rather than wondering if I was 2 enh's over. I could then make 'an informed decision' as to whether I could sacrifice that slot to increase my travel speed, or whatever.

Make sense?

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...I'd like to think this community is better then that, but it isn't. I'm sure that if Jack Emmert's house burned down tomorrow people would be stating on the boards that it "served him right for the regen nerfs" or something idiotic like that...

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Although I know you were refering to the 'nutcases' specifically, I just want to add that this is one of the very best communities I've been involved with online, and based on some other poster's comments, it outshines many of the other MMO's.

In short, I take issue with your use of the word community at the begining of this quoted statement,. You are really refering to a vocal minority, and not the community at large.

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Something I've always wondered...

Why do people feel the need that they *have* to be "Optimal" to have fun? Why does everything have to boil down to the numbers?

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Personally, I like to know how a system works so that I can develope my character the way I want, whether others consider is 'optimal' or not. I'm not satisfied with finding out from other players that 4 of my 6 slots and enh's are being wasted on a particulare power. I'm not a min/maxer but a little more info certainly wouldn't hurt my enjoyment.

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I completely changed my attitude on Statesman and the entire team.

This is Damage Control.

Period.

A ton of players have quit and so Cuppajo (bless her heart) is worried. She posts this now we all love the Devs again.
...

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Here I was taking it as a reprimand and reminder to posters to be more civil.....

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Thanks Cuppa for the post, But I am sorry any heavy negative comments from PAYING customers does contain positive learning for your dev crew.

1. We pay for this!

2. The whole concept behind a super hero game is to make powerful heroes, so if a person finds their much loved been weaken or the rewards being reduce (sewers and Karens). Of course we/I get pissed (see 1.).

3. It is an intentional issue, many people feel that the "reaching balance thru reduction" results in weaken a much loved character. How about "reaching balance thru improvement", so our loved Heroes get more powerful! I love it when I played with the retired Dark Iron on champion as a Regen/DM at 50 he rocked, kicked everything, much enjoyment.

4. Cuppa if you are concerned with Enjoyment, maybe think about 3. ???


Adults behaving like children? Adults paying out good cash and in love with their created hero maybe!!

Peace

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Even though your post is negative and somewhat passionate, it's still not rude or 'childish' like the posts Cupps pointed out.

A paying customer who says 'You suck!' doesn't do anyone any good.

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And in the end....

It's

Still

only

a

GAME!!!



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Obviously, whether due to time and money investment, or whatever, this is not 'just a game' to many players, and certainly not to the devs. That in and of itself is a tribute to the devs and staff..... even when they are a bit 'Cryptic'.

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...Change is stressful. We understand that. However, certain comments (and these are mild examples)-

"The Devs are retards. These changes are crap."

"Nerf <insert AT here> instead"

Are just unconstructive and honestly, put people on the defensive...
...Hurtful insults and disrespectful comments affect us. We are human. To have people disrespect you and insult you and something you have worked so hard on in front of the whole internet is disheartening and demoralizing at the very least.


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So when is the promised 'Nerf People' patch coming..... we've been expecting it from I3 at least!

Should we expect it for I5 or sooner?


Please consider this post as a sick attempt at humour and DO NOT take it seriously in ANY way


Actually, I'll just say that you guys do deserve our respect, as do other players who mutually treat others with respect. I personally appologize for any post that you may have felt didn't convey this toward Cryptic staff. Unfortunately I can only appologize on my own behalf.

Thanks again.

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I hope this doesn't offend your sensibilities, poor devs, but DUH. You make people fall in love with their characters - that attachment is a great acheivement of your's. You screw with those characters, and you're going to get a response. It might even be loud abd obnoxious like my three year old's.
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Here's a backhanded compliment for you. I guess he's saying that the reason so many people whine is that you've done such a great job creating such a great game that people really do care about it. I get frustrated with the answer, 'It's just a game.' If that were true I'd just move on to another one instead of trying to be heard over the crowd in threads like these.

Anyway, regardless of decisions I've agreed or disagreed with, regardless of how many posts I've put in to voice those views, you guys are still the best team as far as caring for your players, hands down.

Thanks.






And great sig there, Cuppa.