Profanation

For the past week or so, I have felt like the population on the servers has been way up. Perhaps it is just my perception, but I have seen a lot more people on the streets and have gotten much quicker team invites than in the past several months.

I also have a habit of checking the info on all of the toons I team with. One of the things I always check is the vet badges to see who is new to the game and who has been around for a while. I see a pretty even split of <1 years, 1-2 years, and >3 years. I recently got my 60-month vet badge, and I still regularly team with random folks who have as much time in the game as I do.

It isn't all that common to hold the same job for five years, let alone play the same MMO for that amount of time, especially with the plethora of new games and game systems that are out there to try. I think CoHV has a niche following that will outlast the doom-sayers. One thing is a constant in the game in the five years I have played. There are always people who write posts about how the game is dying. And then I team with them six months later and they lol about how they came back. I thought I was done with CoHV, and then I played that other superhero MMO and ran like the wind back to this game. I like superheroes. Lots of other people do to. The game is appealing visually and intellectually and that will keep a lot of people hooked until something significantly better comes along.

And OP, I am NOTcalling you a doom-sayer for asking this question in the "Player's Questions" forum. I think it should be off limits to flame any question here because of the nature of the category in the forum: either answer or stay silent, but don't criticize the question. I think it is legitimate to call into question the longevity of the game before spending more time and money developing characters in it.

I like a lot of the points that have been raised in this thread. I, too, have found it tough to stick with leveling my VEATS, and my highest one is a 29 nw. I really have not known why, I just lose interest in them quickly. I am not sure it for the same reasons expressed by the OP, but I find myself struggling to stick with one for any length of time.

Given that most people in the thread have highlighted "freedom to choose" (through respecs, dual builds, etc.) as a positive point of the game in general, I would advance the following suggestion: widen the range of levels that one could branch. Branching could open as an option as earlier as level 10 with a forced branch (and respec) if you have not done one already at lvl 24. Meaning, you can begin building your toon with branch powers as early as lvl 10, but if you get to lvl 24 and have not selected a branch, you would be forced to at that point, along with the forced respec. I would go one step farther to say that you could run a story arc at 42 to win the right to re-assign your branch, but other than that, branches are not respec-able normally, just like a standard AT primary or secondary.

I have been experimenting with this as well on my fire/dark. I have found +0/x3 running from lvl 38-40 has been a lot of fun. I dropped down to +0/x2 after a lot of dying vs. arachnos and the end drain, but everything else has been challenging yet doable x3. I think as I pick up some of the patron powers, I will be able to up the difficulty more. I don't even feel like I am fighting minions anymore, the AoE just melts them by the time I unload my ST blasts on lieuts.

I would suggest finding a decent AE farm team and lvling the character to the low 20's when he can...

Oh wait. Scratch that.

Yep. It's going to be a slow and painful road to the mid-20's when your powers will finally synergize to a point when you feel powerful. Until then, choose missions carefully based upon enemy group and mission goal. And, of course, teaming will always be faster and more fun than soloing at the early levels. Even a bad pick up group is at least an adventure!

I just wanted to thank you for all of the work you have done in helping players fix this. I am happy to say that after several months of frustration, installing SP2 fixed the problem. Thanks again for all of the tips along the way.

Wow! Congrats!

This is irritating. The patch was correcting some very minor things, but they opted to go forward with it. It caused a serious server stability issue, so they bring the game back down. They tell everyone to go to the forums to read about it, and then the forums cannot handle the volume. The server status screen is displaying that every server is up when they are not.

I am sorry to sound cranky, but both times I have tried to log in today have been a bust. Even more, it seems poorly executed every step of the way.

Nobody loves me. Everybody hates me. I think I'll eat some worms.

Is there currently any app that customizes the forums for iPhone browsing? It would be great if there was something that simplified the forums (larger text, fewer images). Along the same lines, I sincerely hope that Mids never goes the iPhone app route. I will never work again if it does.

[ QUOTE ]
Why so many AoE Controls on a /solo/ pve build? You don't really need them if you are just soloing.

[/ QUOTE ]

Well, the AoE holds are largely what I am postponing until later in the build, when there is not much left to take. Plus, when i16 hits, something like MH could be really helpful for taking out Diff 1 or 2 spawns set for multiple players as a soloist to increase drops and xp/minute. TD would help if things got out of hand a bit. This build is looking forward to the new difficulty settings in i16, but I still am interested in feedback about its viability then and now.

What is the damage component to terrify? Is it a viable AoE attack in addition to an AoE control? Or is the damage negligible? Or is it good just as a place to put a fear IO for set bonuses?

Lastly, while I am building around solo play, I don't want to prohibite myself to it. I don't want a build that potential teammates look at useless to a team. I would like to have a build that on a high lvl sf with a kin or two around would be a lockdown and damage superstar.

I know there was another mind/nrg build post last month, but I thought I would introduce a new one given the strength of mind and the new buff(s) to nrg.

I have been playing since November of 2004, and I have high level characters in every archetype except doms. I have never been able to get into them, due in large part to the low damage outside of domination and the heavy endurance usage in the early levels. The i15 buffs have peaked my curiosity. I am primarily am interested in solo PVE. I am finding power choices tricky through the teens and twenties because there are a lot of great attacks and a lot of great controls, and they all can be selected at the same time. I am also coming from blue side running controllers where the feel of containment+attacks feels much different than the attack arsenal that doms have.

I am specifically worried about choosing to take Confuse, MH and TD fairly late in the build, and not fitting in Terrify at all. The early levels go by so quicly that I don't really worry about sequence up to 20 or so; but I see so many people taking MH and TD early in the build. Soloing, I don't see how that would help unless you were soloing on high difficulty and worrying about large spawns or stacking magnitude of mesmerize and dominate.

Also, I am wondering if power burst is a powerful enough lvl 38 attack. Mids' numbers suggest that is a Greater Power Blast, but I am wondering if it is underwhelming as a ST attack.

Here is the build I am working from:

Villain Plan by Mids' Villain Designer 1.401
http://www.cohplanner.com/

[u]Click this DataLink to open the build![u]

Doctor Id: Level 50 Natural Dominator
Primary Power Set: Mind Control
Secondary Power Set: Energy Assault
Power Pool: Fitness
Power Pool: Leaping
Power Pool: Speed
Ancillary Pool: Mu Mastery

Villain Profile:
Level 1: Mesmerize -- Acc-I:50(A), Acc-I:50(25)
Level 1: Power Bolt -- Acc-I:50(A)
Level 2: Dominate -- Acc-I:50(A), RechRdx-I:50(3), Hold-I:50(3), Hold-I:50(11), Hold-I:50(17), Acc-I:50(17)
Level 4: Bone Smasher -- Acc-I:50(A), Dmg-I:50(5), Dmg-I:50(5), Dmg-I:50(13), EndRdx-I:50(40)
Level 6: Levitate -- Acc-I:50(A), Dmg-I:50(7), Dmg-I:50(7), Dmg-I:50(13), RechRdx-I:50(15)
Level 8: Power Push -- Acc-I:50(A), Dmg-I:50(9), Dmg-I:50(9), Dmg-I:50(11), RechRdx-I:50(15)
Level 10: Hurdle -- Jump-I:50(A)
Level 12: Swift -- Run-I:50(A)
Level 14: Combat Jumping -- Jump-I:50(A)
Level 16: Confuse -- Acc-I:50(A), Acc-I:50(43)
Level 18: Power Blast -- Acc-I:50(A), Dmg-I:50(19), Dmg-I:50(19), Dmg-I:50(23), RechRdx-I:50(23)
Level 20: Stamina -- EndMod-I:50(A), EndMod-I:50(21), EndMod-I:50(21)
Level 22: Super Jump -- Jump-I:50(A)
Level 24: Power Boost -- RechRdx-I:50(A), RechRdx-I:50(25), RechRdx-I:50(27)
Level 26: Mass Hypnosis -- Acc-I:50(A), Acc-I:50(27), Sleep-I:50(37), RechRdx-I:50(37), RechRdx-I:50(46), Sleep-I:50(46)
Level 28: Total Focus -- Acc-I:50(A), Dmg-I:50(29), Dmg-I:50(29), Dmg-I:50(31), RechRdx-I:50(36), EndRdx-I:50(37)
Level 30: Total Domination -- Acc-I:50(A), Acc-I:50(31), RechRdx-I:50(31), RechRdx-I:50(34), Hold-I:50(34), Hold-I:50(34)
Level 32: Mass Confusion -- Acc-I:50(A), Acc-I:50(33), RechRdx-I:50(33), RechRdx-I:50(33), Conf-I:50(50)
Level 35: Hasten -- RechRdx-I:50(A), RechRdx-I:50(36), RechRdx-I:50(36)
Level 38: Power Burst -- Acc-I:50(A), Acc-I:50(39), Dmg-I:50(39), Dmg-I:50(39), Dmg-I:50(40), RechRdx-I:50(40)
Level 41: Power Sink -- RechRdx-I:50(A), RechRdx-I:50(42), RechRdx-I:50(42), EndMod-I:50(42), EndMod-I:50(43), EndMod-I:50(43)
Level 44: Charged Armor -- EndRdx-I:50(A), EndRdx-I:50(45), ResDam-I:50(45), ResDam-I:50(45), ResDam-I:50(46)
Level 47: Surge of Power -- RechRdx-I:50(A), RechRdx-I:50(48), RechRdx-I:50(48), ResDam-I:50(48), ResDam-I:50(50)
Level 49: Telekinesis -- EndRdx-I:50(A), EndRdx-I:50(50)
------------
Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Sprint -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Rest -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Domination



Thanks for being kind and constructive. All feedback is appreciative.

OK, client. I just defeated an archon fake nemilussionist monster av for 5 kabillion xp. Welcome to the future, Client!

OK, I don't have a hijackthis to post at this time, but is it at all meaningful that everytime I dc, the character who dc'ed comes up as offline for 49,710 days when I re-log?

I actually had to use my inhaler by the time I was done reading the announcement.

You could potentially get 14 levels in a day if you stick to the high xp/hour activities. Stick to a sewer team in AP from about lvl 2-8 and then head to the Hollows. Join a team about +2 and do the Frostfire mish about as many times as you can. You will hit 14 4-5 hours.

That being said--this is the worst possible way to enjoy game content and learn your powerset. But if your goal is to simply get to fourteen because you are on a trial and want to experience the game post travel powers, this will get you there fast.

In terms of archetype to use, if you use the above formula, it doesn't really matter. My fastest leveling character 1-14 was my empath because every awful PuG is looking for a healer (as well as some very good ones).

*hangs head in shame and healer self-loathing*