PoptartsNinja

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I wouldn't be opposed to the suggestions here but I do feel that they're somewhat on the nitpicky side.

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Perhaps they are a touch nitpicky--but since the Night Widow gloves seem tintable already, I don't imagine they'd be extremely difficult to port over.

As for the rest--I'd just really like access to the metallic shiny Arbiter costumes. They're some of the coolest in the game, and I could definitely see it being a 'special reward' for completing the Barracuda TF (since you earn the 'Arbiter' badge there anyway).

It'd be a nice touch to (what I've heard) is an already enjoyable TF.

I can (wildly speculate) about what you're thinking. What can the developers possibly add to the character creator that the Widow and Wolf Spider outfits don't already have?

Well, to put it quite simply, while the existing options are excellent for creating a canon Blood Widow / Fortunata or Wolf Spider; they're incapable of accurately recreating the look of an NPC Night Widow.

To illustrate, I've assembled a collection of pictures that reference the differences between the Fortunata Costume (which we can already recreate perfectly), and the Night Widow costume (which we can't).

The biggest issue with recreating a Night Widow is the non-availability of Night-Widow pattern gloves; and the lack of an appropriate Night-Widow pattern waist-cape. All other aspects of the Night Widow costume are currently creatable.

Night Widow Glove example: http://img11.imageshack.us/img11/310...fortgloves.png
Night Widow Cape example: http://img404.imageshack.us/img404/4...sfortcapes.png

Currently, the Character Creator is able to come close...
... but not close enough: http://img49.imageshack.us/img49/929...nightwidow.png

I suggest enabling access to the Night Widow pattern gloves and enabling a retextured waist cape that lacks the little pointy bits on the rump. Since these gloves are now colorable in the AE mob editor, it seems likely that they could be ported over to PCs with minimal effort. The cape would likely be more difficult, but would likewise make a good addition to the character creator.



So, that (mostly) covers the issues with Night Widows; but what about Soldiers of Arachnos? We can already recreate pretty much every canon (or semi-canon) version of the Soldier of Arachnos (apart from being unable to remove our helmets, anyway).

Well, unfortunately, this isn't quite true. PCs are able to recreate all variants of the Wolf Spider, but while PCs can come close to mimicking the look of an Arbiter, we lack the options that would enable us to recreate the look with a reasonable level of accuracy.

Another series of examples (again, green circles are things we can currently create. Red Circles are things we cannot):
NPC Arbiter Wolf Spider / Widow: http://img176.imageshack.us/img176/1...alarbiters.png
PC Character Creator Arbiters: http://img265.imageshack.us/img265/7...pcarbiters.png
Side-By-Side Comparison: http://img265.imageshack.us/img265/6238/pcvsnpc.png

As you can see, while the Wolf Spider can come reasonably close to recreating the 'Arbiter' look, the poor Arachnos Widows can't; both because of the square, non-split waist cape and because, while they're appropriately shiny, they're the wrong-kind of shiny.

The problem is: Arbiters are very, very shiny--and it seems to me, even if the option's not available at character creation; we've recently added a Task Force that gives players an 'Arbiter' badge--yet even with that badge we can't recreate the Arbiter's look.

My suggestion, then, is that the 'Arbiter' costume should be unlockable (both by the Task Force and for getting an SoA / Widow to level 50). This could be a limited, untintable costume (like the normal-colored Crab Spiders). Access to the cape would also be awesome (and could help alleviate some of the problems that the normal Huntsman cape has (mainly, that it only looks good on normally-colored Huntsmen)).



So, in summary (TL;DR version), the character creator would benefit from:
1) Access to Night Widow gloves and cape
2) Shiny Arbiter armor / cape / waist cape / chest symbol enabled by earning the 'Arbiter' badge from the Barracuda TF (or, better yet, enabled at character creation).

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If any Issue has ever been deserving of the "Freem!" moniker, it is most definitely Issue 16.

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Freem! doesn't even mean anything! That's why it's so funny!

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It means that someone on the Dev staff is a fan of Turn Signals on a Land Raider (and also owes Kren and Frep a nickle. Each. ): http://tsoalr.com/?p=98

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I've played Gravity Control up to almost 24, and... I'm not seeing more than one hold. In fact, I'm not seeing much in the way of hold at all.

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Control will always be the weak point of Gravity and Illusion. What control they have is enough to get by, but I can see why you wouldn't find it as solid as say, Ice or Earth's knockdown patches, or mind's confuse, sleep, fear, and hold.

As a set, Gravity's bonus is more apparent to controllers (where having two actual attacks for containment makes soloing quite powerful); but for dominators it suffers simply because it's AoE hold (generally considered weak) is considered one of its best control powers.

Honestly, I didn't even bother to take the AoE hold or Telekinesis on my Mind / Psi dominator. Between mass confusion, cone of fear, mass hypnosis, and my single-target holds she can regularly go entire missions without taking a single point of damage (unless, of course, I bump into something with an irritating level of psi resistance / defense (Malta Turrets! >:/ )).

My suggestion: Don't base your impression of an AT on a single powerset. If gravity's not working for you, give something else a shot. If you like to control, I really do suggest Mind. Really, all dominator sets have enough controls (hard and soft) to compete; Gravity's just the competitor playing the game with a knee injury. >_>

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OOps - Thanks, Fredrik - Changed the ID.

Pop - I'd have a lvl 20-54 range - At lvl 12 it was a little bit annoying at times with the Mezzes, but even the ambush would have been copable with on a scrapper or a tanke with better protection, I think. Psy Blast/Men6tl Manip is as unprotected as a catholic on his wedding night at lvl 12!


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That's a good idea. Otherwise, were the mobs reasonably well balanced? I've been thinking about altering or removing a couple of the mastermind types (I just wish you could get them a space-y ray gun without having to resort to pets. >_> )

Hm, I'll have to tweak the level range now that I15's out (I haven't had a chance to go back through that arc yet). 30-50 would really be more appropriate. Silverback's ambush would be pretty rough for a level 12. >_>

Arc Name: Wretch's 'Trike Force
Arc ID: 249890
Faction: Wyvern, Legacy Chain, and others!
Creator Global/Forum Name: @PoptartsNinja
Difficulty Level: Moderate to Hard
Synopsis: Wretch has a problem only you can help him solve! Form 'Trike Force Help Wretch, and help Wretch save Ghost Widow from a band of unknown assailants!
Level range: 20-30, 35
Architect's Warning: Missions will generally contain an elite boss, so solo-players may want to play on difficulty 1. No custom mob is set to extreme, although a few have been given an extra power or two.

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I think they should have a randomizer on the door sound effects.

Maybe one could be a squeak, another could be a fart or a burp, another could be a dog-bark and/or a cat's meow. We could even see if we could get the license to some of the sound effects from Starcontrol 2, and have the door call us names when we open it.

I see many potentials in this train of thought...

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...as do I.

Add a groan of pleasure and we have a winner!

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Done and done.

I'll even throw in a moan of ecstacy and a squeal of delight for good measure. On the house.

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What, no sigh of intense satisfaction? Next you'll be telling me you forgot your towel!

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Meanwhile it's funny you mention Light Poles around where I live people "break"* into light poles all the time to steal the wire to sell as salvage, it's a huge problem. Heck maybe Paragon has the same problem.

*Actually they pop off the access plate and pull the wire out.

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Well, perhaps they're trying to pry the glass out so they can sell the panels to Architect Entertainment?

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Secondly, you're giving the set mez resistance but not protection. Is that on purpose or do you just not realize the difference between the two? Mez resistance reduces the duration of effects and mez protection prevents the effect from happening. Also, you're missing any kind of stun protection or resistance. Is this purposeful?

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A typo more then anything else, I suppose (I got the definitions of the two mentally reversed). Those are supposed to be protection toggles. The lack of stun protection is supposed to compensate for the addition of confuse / fear protection.

In terms of the retributive damage--I half envisioned it spawning a pet when struck (which the game does keep track of). It's not reflected damage so much as a damaging pet that spawns when struck. If the game engine doesn't keep track of that, it does keep track of whether an enemy attempts to attack with melee powers, and so I could theoretically see acid blood as viable, even though it's likely highly unfeasible.

The choke and vomit would be a very powerful tool--I was originally picturing it as a clicky, but some comments made by others inferred that it wouldn't be useful enough in clicky format, so I should start with something a bit overpowered and then use the forum suggestions to try to bring it down to a more reasonable level.

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I don't understand why the stalker version of the melee set gets the tier 3 from the other version as a tier 7.

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Tanks also get Battery Acid as a tier 7, theoretically it's a more situational power with a slightly higher base damage.

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For the armor set

Why is the Stalker version missing the self heal?

As most sets have 1 or 2 weaknesses what is this sets weakness I didn't notice it looking through the armor.

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The self heal is Dull Pain with a different name. I thought about swapping it with resilience, but I thought an extra utility power might be appreciated.

The set's weakness is the lack of melee defense coupled with overall low damage resistance (fire/cold/energy etc resistance all come from passive powers).

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I would /JRanger this, but thats against the rules.

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So, what's wrong with it, specifically? I can't refine it into something that would be more viable without details. Just telling me 'no' doesn't help the idea improve.

Now, if you'd said "No, we have enough armor and melee sets already" my response would've been "True, we have quite a few, but diversity never hurts and even an odd idea like an armor made out of deadly, deadly acid could inspire something cool from the developers."

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The story was changed dramatically since the first version and now is getting pretty much rave reviews all around. Combine that with some interesting mechanics and the SF truly is the star of I-15, IMO.

If you are interested in spoilers, someone has posted screenshots of the entire Villain SF in a thread in one of the I-15 sections.

But if you don't want to spoil it, rest assured, the input of the players about the story was taken into account. And what it currently is bears little resemblance to what we first were presented with.

I give it 5 thumbs up and a piece of pie.

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If that's the case, I'm honestly thrilled! Especially if it means a general turnabout with CoV's mission writing in general--but I'll be thrilled to see another high level arc that treats the players with a degree of respect. ^_^

Thanks for answering this for me, I was honestly curious since I haven't heard anything since the complaints about the first version of the mission. I should've known--no news is good news.

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Boomtown: In your own opinion what will be the main feature of Issue 15?
Matt Miller: I think the villain Strike Force which frees Reichsman is the star of the issue.

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Given the apparent general opinion of this TF, I'm surprised this statement hasn't been laughed at yet.

Have they tweaked the story to make the PCs seem less like faceless minions? I'm all for a redside taskforce with a 'pay day', but from what I've heard the TF treats you like the gum on the bottom of Lord Recluse's shoe; and I don't see how that would be enjoyable.

I'm just going to cut right to the chase and ask you what you think. Acid Armor is designed as a mixed set (with reduced melee survivability) that punishes enemies for attacking them with melee powers.

Acid Melee is designed to exploit the typically low toxic resistances, and is a melee set that does -resistance. (-resistance values, per hit, should likely be 2.5-5%, "low but noticable").

So, peruse them if you wish, and tell me what you think! Anything you can suggest to help balance these sets would be appreciated.

Acid Armor (Brute, Tank, Scrapper Version)
Tier 1) Acerbic Armor – Toggle self +Res (smashing, lethal, toxic)
Tank values: Smashing, Lethal: 30%; Toxic: 50%
Brute/Scrapper Values: Smashing, Lethal: 22.5%; Toxic: 37.5%
Tier 2) Viscous Goo – Auto self +Res (Knockback, energy, negative, fire, cold, toxic, DeBuff Res)
Tank Values: Energy, Negative, Fire, Cold, Toxic: 10%
Brute/Scrapper Values: Energy, Negative, Fire, Cold, Toxic: 7.5%
Tier 3) Slime Shield – Toggle self +Def (Range, AoE)
Tank Values: Range, AoE: 15%
Brute/Scrapper Values: Range, AoE: 11.3%
Tier 4) Mordant Mind – Toggle: Self +Res (Hold, Sleep, Confuse, Terrorize, DeBuff DEF)
Tier 5) Acid Blood – Auto self +Res (Immobilize), (auto-hit) Dmg (Toxic) to foe when player is damaged by a melee attack
Tier 6) Caustic Aura – PBAoE Toggle, Foe Taunt, Foe -res
Approximate -res value 5-7.5% ish
Tier 7) Vitriol – Click self heal, self +Max HP
Tier 8) Stable Compounds – Auto Self +Res (DeBuff Res, DeBuff Def, DeBuff Regen, DeBuff Recovery)
Tier 9 (Tanks and Scrappers)) Noxious Fumes – Toggle PBAoE Foe Choke, Vomit (with a heavy endurance cost to make it prohibitive to run constantly)
Tier 9 (Brutes)) Acidic Rage – Click self +Dmg(all), +Res(all), +Def(Range, AoE)

Acid Armor (Stalker Version)
Tier 1) Hide
Tier 2) Acerbic Armor – Toggle self +Res (smashing, lethal, toxic)
Tier 3) Slime Shield – Toggle self +Def (Range, AoE)
Tier 4) Viscous Goo – Auto self +Res (Knockback, energy, negative, fire, cold, DeBuff Res)
Tier 5) Mordant Mind – Toggle: Self +Res (Hold, Sleep, Confuse, Terrorize, DeBuff DEF)
Tier 6) Blinding Spray – Click, Cone Foe -Per, -Res
Tier 7) Acid Puddle – Location AoE, Foe Knockdown, minor dmg (Toxic)
Tier 8) Stable Compounds – Auto Self +Res (DeBuff Res, DeBuff Def, DeBuff Dmg)
Tier 9) Silent Corrosion – Melee (single target), 180 second recharge. Foe -Res (-20% all), no agro.

Acid Melee (Tank version)
Tier 1) Corrode – Melee, minor dmg (Toxic), foe -res – Uses the animation from fire melee’s scorch
Tier 2) Goo Hammer – Melee, moderate dmg (toxic/smashing) – Uses the animation for super strength’s punch
Tier 3) Envelop – Melee, moderate dot (toxic), foe immobilize, foe -res
Tier 4) Taunt – ranged (targeted aoe), foe taunt
Tier 5) Build Up – self +dmg, +to hit
Tier 6) Acid Shower – PBAoE moderate damage (toxic) – Uses the animation from fire melee’s combustion
Tier 7) Battery Assault – Melee, high dmg (toxic/energy), +special (double energy damage vs. robots), foe -res – Uses chain induction’s animation
Tier 8) Splatter – Melee, extreme dmg (toxic/smash), targeted AoE chance for vomit, choking – uses the animation for stone melee’s seismic smash, has a chance to cause all foes near the primary target to perform the vomit / coughing animation
Tier 9) Venom Spray – close (cone (30ft)), high damage (toxic), foe -res – uses the animation from poison’s neurotoxic breath

Acid Melee (Brute/Scrapper version)
Tier 1) Corrode – Melee, minor dmg (Toxic), foe -res – Uses the animation from fire melee’s scorch
Tier 2) Goo Hammer – Melee, moderate dmg (toxic/smashing) – Uses the animation for super strength’s punch
Tier 3) Battery Assault – Melee, high dmg (toxic/energy), +special (double energy damage vs. robots), foe -res – Uses chain induction’s animation
Tier 4) Build Up – self +dmg, +to hit
Tier 5) Blinding Barrage – melee, minor dmg (toxic), foe -tohit – uses the animation from energy melee’s barrage
Tier 6 (Brutes)) Taunt – ranged (targeted aoe), foe taunt
Tier 6 (Scrappers)) Confront[/b] – ranged, foe taunt
Tier 7) Splatter – Melee, extreme dmg (toxic/smash), targeted AoE chance for vomit, choking – uses the animation for stone melee’s seismic smash, has a chance to cause all foes near the primary target to perform the vomit / coughing animation
Tier 8) Acid Spray – close (cone (15ft)), high damage (toxic) – uses the animation from poison’s neurotoxic breath
Tier 9) Slime – Melee, superior dot (toxic), foe -rech, foe -res – uses the animation from fire melee’s Cremate

Acid Melee (Stalker version)
Tier 1) Corrode – Melee, minor dmg (Toxic), foe -res – Uses the animation from fire melee’s scorch
Tier 2) Goo Hammer – Melee, moderate dmg (toxic/smashing) – Uses the animation for super strength’s punch
Tier 3) Blinding Barrage – melee, minor dmg (toxic), foe -tohit – uses the animation from energy melee’s barrage
Tier 4) Assassin’s Gloop – (envelops the target in a blob of goo – uses Assassin’s Eclipse animation, but a glob of slime instead of a skull)
Tier 5) Build Up
Tier 6) Placate
Tier 7) Battery Assault – Melee, high dmg (toxic/energy), +special (double energy damage vs. robots), foe -res – Uses chain induction’s animation
Tier 8) Acid Spray – close (cone (15ft)), high damage (toxic) – uses the animation from poison’s neurotoxic breath
Tier 9) Splatter – Melee, extreme dmg (toxic/smash), targeted AoE chance for vomit, choking – uses the animation for stone melee’s seismic smash, has a chance to cause all foes near the primary target to perform the vomit / coughing animation

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I’d like to shove an auto-turret up the backside of the Dev whom invented them.

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As a Psi user, I understand this sentiment completely. Additionally, I also posit that bank vault doors are equally unfun and both need to have their damage resistances tweaked.

You'll be bombarded with these, so if you get around to it, could you give The Invasion of the Space Ape Armada (ID: 81043) a shot?

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DramaQueen

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You're not even trying are you? At LEAST follow the rules if you're going to insult me. It's funnier and more clever that way.

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PerformanceKing?

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Relativity Be Damned by @Tragic Eight Ball

which is unplayable at the moment too.

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I tried it--couldn't get past Positron? since his MoG appears to be eternal, giving him time to regen 3/4ths of his health before he finally killed me.

I'm fully in support of more powers--the reason I did a breakdown of the ones you listed was to show you how difficult it is to actually think of viable options. With powers like "Whirlwind" in some pools, well... I think you start to get the idea. It's not as easy to come up with useful additions to the sets.

Here's a breakdown of the issues something like this causes:

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Flying
24 Turbo Boost - A Click Power. Allows the flyer to boost his speed for 30 seconds, doubling his movement. Recharge: Long.

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It's very easy to hit the flight cap. As it is, my electric armor brute with swift and lightning reflexes (and one +5% speed IO bonus) does it without a single extra slot in Fly. A temporary buff to fly speed might be useful at low levels, but that's what the GvE Jump Pack is good for (it adds to fly speed for about 30 seconds). At high levels, because flight (and super jump) get faster as you level, this power would provide virtually no benefit.

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28 Flight Acrobatics - Toggle. Increases Defense and adds a small bonus to flight speed.

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By necessity, the defense from this would be quite low. Also, area defense? Ranged defense? Melee defense? Or do you mean typed defense (and if so, what types? I can't think of a single reason why flying (and being away from any viable cover) would make you significantly more difficult to hit. If it's speed based, then this would only really provide Ranged defense--and I could see its value for helping to, say, soft cap a flying Fortunata's ranged defense; but otherwise it's of very little benefit.

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32 Aero Thrust - Click Power, melee. Using your propulsion power, you propel your target away from you for moderate damage and knockback.

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By necessity this would be weaker then a normal non-pool attack; or cost much more. Plus, Knockback is annoying.

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36 Air Strafe - A Click Power, allows you perform an attack without supression. 30 Seconds. Recharge: Long

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Only useful for blasters in PVP. Honestly, something like this would have virtually no value in the normal game; and suppression really isn't that big a deal.

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40 Death From Above - A Target, Click Power, allows you to fly directly towards a target, striking him for knockback. Damage: Moderate. Area of Effect: 15 Ft. Rad., Recharge: Long.

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They'd have to make this like Shield Charge / Lightning Rod for mechanics issues, and again, it would be significantly weaker then a normal attack from a normal powerset.


This idea has quite a few problems... the one power I could see them adding as a "tier 5" (also available at level 20) would be "Flight Acrobatics", because people are always looking for ways to increase their defense. Slap in some slow or immobilize resistance, and that power would be very viable.

Otherwise: Speed caps are in the game for a reason (engine limitations--if you move too fast, the game can't render things quickly enough which looks terrible); and while I wouldn't mind flight being slightly faster, Flight's low-ish speed is the price you pay for being 100% safe (and able to chat) while traveling.

A reasonable idea, but it needs a lot of polish and should probably be reduced to a more reasonable scope. I'd rather the power guys be working on whole new power pools, or better yet new power sets.

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Quick list of mind powers that any mind dom should have:

1) Dominate
2) Mass Hypnosis
3) Tk or Total Domination
4) Terrify
5) Mass Confusion

As long as you have those powers, you'll do well.

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I do just fine without either TK or Total Domination. Total Domination's recharge is far too long to make it anything other then an "Oh, poo!" button; whereas TK is too positional and draining to be really useful for a Dom (even if you've cornered a spawn, if you move in to melee you'll wind up pushing half of them out of the hold).

Total Domination's only really useful for stacking magnitudes on tricky bosses... and we have Domination for tricky bosses (and, if worse comes to worse, very few things resist sleep). Otherwise, I agree with the rest of this list.

PPD would be interesting if the PPD Shell was available, but I don't see where it would be branching in any definable way.

Honestly, I'm ok with "parity" as is (both sides have a team-centric AT. Heroside gets one that takes power from the team, and Villainside has one that /gives/ power to the team, which is odd but reasonable)

What I'd love to see would be a neutral Rikti EAT available for doing something (not level 50 content) in the RWZ. Ideally, it'd be a mix of blasts, melee, and some degree of defense with just a dash of control or buffage. A semi-braching tree where you could choose to focus on: A) More damage, B) Adding some buffs, or C) Adding some control to your experience.

The Devs have also said needing level 50 to have an EAT was a mistake, and that all future EATs will not have that requirement (but will likely be tied into a trial of some kind)

All places are accessable to runners. Wall-running, however, would be very limited since buildings tend to be very far apart and in some cases (Brickstown) are quite low and may not get you enough altitude to actually travel from building to building.

I expect a "wall clinging" set, apart from potential copyright risk, would be more frustrating then enjoyable as a travel power.

I'd be all for something like this. Or, better yet, Gravity Assault for Dominators:

1) Particle Acceleration: Ranged, Moderate damage (Energy)
2) Atomic Rend: Melee, Moderate damage (Energy), Foe Knockback
3) Crushing Anchor: Ranged, Minor damage (smashing), Foe Slow
4) Gravitic Distortion: Melee, High damage (Smashing / Lethal), Foe disorient
5) Spatial Rend: Ranged, Moderate damage (Smashing/Lethal), Foe Teleport, Foe Disorient
6) Reverse Gravity: PBAoE Melee: Moderate damage (smashing), Foe Knockup
7) Event Horizon: Close (Cone) Minor damage (smashing), Foe -resistance (smashing)
8) Singularity Cannon: Sniper, Superior Damage (Smashing), Foe Knockdown, Foe Disorient
9) Implode: Close, Superior damage (Smashing), Foe Terrorize(?)

Stone Melee / Electric Armor brute.
It's a bit slow going at first, and the end draw is brutal...

... until you hit level 35 and get your end steal; after which you never have to stop. Electric Armor's "squishiness" is compensated for by Stone Melee's huge numbers of knockdowns and other soft control; and stone just feels brutal (and is very fast animating, which is a plus for a Brute).