Puppycrusader

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  1. From your description, I doubt this is the case, but do you happen to have
    firefox(or another browser maybe) open, and on the vidiotmaps site while
    you play?

    Something on their site does not get along with my firefox install while
    playing CoX, and will first disable FF's ability to display images, and
    then crash the game at some point soon after this is noticed. No
    other website has ever caused this behavior for me, so seeing "crashes"
    + "vidiotmaps" prompts me to check for this factor in your own troubles.
  2. You come at Crabs with a lot of perspective I share, but there was something
    critically important to be pointed out:

    Quote:
    Originally Posted by failwhale View Post
    Whale's Guide to the Crab Soldier

    Overview

    Level 20. Tactical Training: Leadership

    Take this power. I'll repeat, take this power. TT:L is often skipped over for TT:A. That is a mistake. Properly slotted TT:L will provide a greater damage buff, ensure that your accuracy for ALL powers is phenomenal, increase your perception tremendously, plus whatever set bonuses you swing.

    To give you some idea, slotted with Gaussian's this power will give you a 55.8% ToHit buff, 69.2% perception buff, 80% damage buff, 51% ResEffect Perception buff, Mag -5 confusion buff, Mag -5 fear buff, 60.55% Mez / confusion resist buff, plus the set bonuses.
    Gaussian's doesn't provide the massive to-hit and damage buff on a permanent
    basis when slotted. That's a side-effect of the way Mids(and possibly other hero
    planners) handle the data. Those extra boosts come from the chance for build
    up proc in the set.

    I'm a big proponent of it, I think it's an excellent slotting choice for TTL, but you
    will not be getting a consistant damage boost or the extra to-hit. These bonus'
    will only happen the proc fires off, which is a small random chance, but very
    nice when it happens.
  3. Quote:
    Originally Posted by Coolbreese View Post
    I may be mistaken, but didn't at one point the devs say the money from the Wedding Pack allowed them to put out VEATS?

    Maybe this pack will help push something else up sooner.
    Was there ever an explaination as to how that worked, exactly? I remember them saying
    it, but I don't recall anyone expanding on it as to how it allowed them to do so.

    I mean, did they hire more people with the proceeds? License some graphical bits and
    sound effects? Use it as bribe money for the higher ups, left in a bag behind a washroom
    toilet?
  4. Quote:
    Originally Posted by Noble Savage View Post
    But it'd be a lot more realistic and convincing.
    Hopefully this will be restrained when it comes to female character models.

    You art guys have been overdoing the breastices just a liiiiiitle too much lately.
    Not every superheroine is Power Girl. Witch parts are a good example - if you want
    to use them, you're required to take a very large set of implants as part of the
    package deal. That's not fun, and I'd rather not see that creep in to every
    updated costume part, as a dark valley of cleavage is not always more "realistic".
  5. Quote:
    Originally Posted by Emberly View Post
    Seriously scratching my head over people concerned about slots. You're not gonna lose any slots. You are still (presumably) gonna two- or three-slot Health and Stamina. You are gaining three power picks. How could this possibly introduce slotting problems on existing or future characters?
    Slot starvation, mostly. Three extra powers is three more powers to potentially
    need slots. Some builds are pretty tight on slots as it is.

    It's nothing people can't work around, and easily. But it is going to cause an awful
    lot of "junk" or "mule" picks, just to fill space, with the corresponding "I'd like to
    do something with this power, but can't afford to..." feelings to go with it.

    Basically more and more builds are going to feel like slotting tri-form khelds.
  6. Quote:
    Originally Posted by RabidBrian View Post
    Going off that logic we are supposed to be able to solo EB's solo then, which when you are saying we are not supposed to be soloing bosses by default, makes no sense. Just setting to 0/1 does not remove bosses from the game, which is what dechs was saying. The setting that allows you to fight bosses when solo does not turn all the lieuts into bosses, it lets you fight bosses, as bosses, when you come upon them. Setting it to lieuts only is making all the bosses that were supposed to be bosses, become lieuts. So no, even though it is the default setting, it is not the normal mode.
    Actually, the game goes out of its way to point out that you shouldn't be soloing EBs
    unless you're sure you can do it.

    Every mission with one that I can think of, that's not one of the early level "eb in
    title only EBs," has one of those "you should get a team together. Someone's there
    that's going to mess you up." warnings. And I think some of them do too.
  7. I'm always in favor of more western developers releasing soundtracks to their
    games, and would love nothing more than to buy this.

    But are these full-length BGMs, or about the same as the other tunes they've
    been working with in-game to date? Because the latter would be...way too
    skimpy for me to justify shelling out cash for.

    If they're actually full-length songs though, they've finally put out an extra
    worth my buying.
  8. Quote:
    Originally Posted by Arcanaville View Post
    Every time BillZ talks about performance, you should picture this:


    (Actual picture of BillZBubba circa I9)

    The riddle of SR? Shall I tell you? It’s the least I can do. SR isn’t strong, boy, stacking make it strong!
    What is SR without the slotting that enhances it? Look at the strength in my build, the defense in my powers, IOs gave me this!
    I'm only rarely interested what Arcanaville says about almost anything, but this made me
    laugh harder than anything I've seen all year.

    Thanks for that.
  9. Quote:
    Originally Posted by Noyjitat View Post
    I'm sensing a comment probably intended for me and I'll pretend I didn't read C and give you the chance not to make an idiot of yourself.
    Considering it was your opinion that was quoted and replied to, I didn't think it required
    unusual perception to assume it was, in fact, intended towards you. Maybe for you that's
    a more difficult connection to make, dunno.

    Quote:
    Its still only 10$. Are you really going to go through all that trouble just to get 10$ back for a purchase you made in a video game? 10$ for most people is a hour or more of work or 1/3 the price of cutting some old ladies yard. Or as babs posted, less fast food for you. (which is a good thing in the end)
    If you feel the principle is worth your time to do so, sure, why not?

    One of the biggest problems in the consumerscape is this. When we get screwed over
    (again, speaking in general, not on the booster pack in specific,) we don't usually
    do anything about it. Whether it's for $10 or $100, or whatever, we just shrug and
    go "oh well it's only X" and go on about our business. Granted that's more
    convenient to do most of the time, but it encourages patterns of bad behavior,
    poor customer service, and nickel-and-dime money making at the consumer's
    expense.

    If you want quality service delivered to you, you have to stand up and go "Hey,
    just a second here..." and let them know, when you feel you haven't received
    fair value for your buck. If OP or anyone else, feels that the booster pack didn't
    deliver said value for their buck for whatever reason, I wouldn't find it all that big of
    a problem to go about reversing the transaction. It gets them their $10 back(which
    would be worth double in personal satisfaction, in that event,) and delivers a
    message about product quality/service, to the people who listen the hardest.
  10. Quote:
    Originally Posted by Noyjitat View Post
    I hate to be rude but are you really that big of a cheap ***? Its only 10$.... What poor quality are you referring to? Ninja run is beautiful, the entire booster pack was probably the best one since the magic pack.
    It's this kind of attitude that leads to poor quality service being acceptable all across
    the consumerscape(not speaking on the booster pack, just this opinion.)

    If something is, to your mind, not worth the $value attached to it, it's not being "cheap"
    to think so, and not want to pay for it. That's called having an appreciation that money

    A) does not grow on trees.
    B) has value.
    And C) will not be handed to you by mommy and daddy all of your life.

    "It's only $10, don't be so cheap even though you clearly don't find it worthwhile!" is
    an incredibly frivolous and wasteful outlook, that really only leads to being taken
    advantage of.
  11. Quote:
    Originally Posted by Zombie Man View Post
    Too bad /ignore doesn't block quoted posts from people you /ignore.
    Well, he already read it once. Clearly that was enough - it's not like quoting it back to him
    is providing any new information, unless you mean to say your intention is to purposely
    circumvent board mechanics to harrass him?

    Or you're threatening to stalk him around the boards and quote every single post of
    lemur's back to him. Which would be at-once supremely funny, yet supremely pathetic
    (and very simular to lemur in both qualities)
  12. Quote:
    Originally Posted by FireWyvern View Post
    Funny that you say that, but then mention two very good sets (fire and invuln), saying they are a waste of time.
    Maybe you're doing it wrong.

    (Can't comment on dark, elec and nrg, didn't play them high enough yet)
    One of the first things he said in his rambling tirade was:

    Quote:
    Back in the days when we were heroes
    Heroes. In the Brute forum.

    Of course he's doing it wrong.
  13. Well... to a degree, it's opinion. All of the current brute defense sets will serve you fine
    for regular play in different ways, although different circumstances will make different
    weakness' stand out more. And the sets that are REALLY good, tend to make the "average"
    sets look weak mostly by comparison.

    That said, here's how I'd describe them.

    STONE

    Pro: VERY powerful final defense in Granite armor. Good self-heal/+hp power, status
    protection power has high end-drain resist and +regen. Good damage aura that
    both slows and immobs many enemies.

    Con: Granite has massive Psi hole, and other negatives(-dmg, -rech) that require outside
    buffs or massive IO spending to overcome. Set before granite, while rounded(and including
    psi defense), is "average" to "meh" protection in most areas. Granite armor overwrites
    personal costume/appearance, which may be huge dealbreaker to some.

    SUPER REFLEXES

    I have little experience with this set, since I hate click mez protection. So I'll skip it
    to not talk out my posterior, even though I'm pretty sure I know enough to comment.

    WILLPOWER

    Pros: VERY well rounded protection. High regeneration, QuickRecovery is better than
    Stamina and doesn't cost extra powers to take(although you can still take it for even
    more endurance recov.) Self-rez for less dependance on others if you die on a team,
    mez protect power covers fear and confuse. +Tohit debuff in aura power.

    Cons: Very few. Although since it lacks debuff resists, combos such as longbow
    nullifiers + spec-ops can cause complete and /total/ defensive failure in all ways,
    very quickly, if care is not taken.

    SHIELD DEFENSE

    See super reflexes. Can probably comment, but will leave to someone more qualified.

    INVULNERABILITY

    Pros: Also very well rounded set, good resists with respectable defense. Defense aura
    gives +tohit. Excellent "godmode" power to survive unexpectedly tough encounters. Good
    self-heal/+HP power.

    Cons: Requires taking passive powers to make the most of debuff resists and resistances.
    No fear/confuse protection in status protect. Zero Psi protection, even in godmode.

    FIERY AURA

    Pros: More offense-geared set(the "spiked shield" of defense sets.) Excellent self-heal,
    excellent self-rez, second "build up" power that boosts fire attacks more. Good endurance
    recovery power.

    Cons: Resistance based set without defense, resist numbers are fairy average except
    for fire(which is at the resist cap.) Slightly low Cold resist. Status protect lacks immob
    and KB protection, requiring extra powers or IOs to cover.

    DARK ARMOR

    Pros: Toolkit set - gives you straightforward protection and various utility aid. Extremely
    powerful(if costly) self-heal. Very powerful self-rez, high neg/psi resist. Status protect
    covers Fear protection.

    Cons: Utilities and damage aura add VERY high endurance use, oft requiring much more
    active maintenance of toggling powers on/off as needed. Self-heal likewise has large
    end cost, and must be minded. Low en/tox resist, avg resists otherwise. Status protect
    lacks KB and Immob protect, requiring extra powers or IOs to cover(although +stealth
    power in set does provide the immob.)

    ELECTRIC ARMOR

    Pros: Excellent resists, good self-heal/+regen/+enddiscount power. Lightning reflexes
    gives large +rech boost to all powers. Nearly invulnerable to endurance drain, +
    excellent endurance recovery power. Excellent "godmode" power. Energy resist is at
    maximum.

    Cons: Immob/KB protect come on a power requiring you to be "on the ground"(hello
    grandville webnade brigade! /ELA on the menu!) Pure resistance, no defense. Average
    negenergy resist. Zero toxic resistance outside of godmode power.

    ENERGY AURA

    Pros: Status protect power has Teleport protect(if this is a concern to you. Useless in
    PVE.) Good +stealth power, OK self-heal/+end power. Excellent "godmode" power. Some
    OK resists tossed on top of the defense. Endurance discount power.

    Cons: Defense is Typed instead of Positional, which may be harder to expand on with
    IOs(though efforts have been made towards balancing this.) Actual defense numbers are
    "average." +stealth power may hinder fury buildup for some.

    That's about my take on stuff, anyway. Other's mileage may and will vary.
  14. Still too pricey in comparison to the small return. No sale here - should cost half of
    what it is.

    But I approve of the sneak release!

    The forums keep getting nosier and nosier every issue about how noone ever listens to the
    testers, so why bother testing things? Cut out the middleman more often! It's good for
    everyone!
  15. Quote:
    If I am a winner, you permit NC Interactive, Inc., and NCsoft Europe Limited to use my name, likeness, photograph, hometown
    I really wish NCSoft contests didn't always have this "permit us to publically release
    your personal information" clauses. This has always been the deal-breaker for any
    participation for me.
  16. Quote:
    Originally Posted by FireWyvern View Post
    40% resist to psy damage as well as -rech resistance isn't what i'd call vulnerable. It's one of the best set to have if you plan on fighting psy enemies. (especially considering a lot of psy foes also have energy attacks)
    He may have been thinking of toxic, which is a pretty big hole late-game redside.

    Power surge helps fill it, but late game arachnos find elec armor to be very melty
    in general. Arachnoids aren't very nice to them either, but they're easier to avoid
    fighting.
  17. When I first was playing City of Villains, I got into Sharkhead, and eventually took a mission
    from Lorenz about getting some guy named Wormy out of a warehouse. Ok, not really
    superkeen on escorts, but they're more or less predictable, right?

    Then had the absolutely charming experience of a unique NPC carrying a body bag, who
    moved slow as heck, and took outrageously long, non-responsive pauses for, what I can
    only assume were frequent smoke breaks.

    Eventually, Wormy got fixed, put the body bag down, and followed along like any
    other NPC. A bit stupid, but easy to lead out. And all was more-or-less better.


    Well, at some point(most recent patch? Not sure) Wormy done got his body bag back,
    and is once again being a total jerk about the whole thing.

    WORMY!! PUT THAT BAG BACK DOWN *NOW*!!!
  18. Puppycrusader

    Underwater?

    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Zamuel View Post
    Depends on the writer...

    However, I more than understand your stance. At the same time, is there any possibility of maps with windows/portholes that make the rooms look like they are underwater without having to put up with the shenanigans of coding attacks for a submerged area?
    I'd sure hope so. If Sega could make an underwater research facility look good for
    their online games seven-eight years ago, I refuse to believe this staff can't make
    a decent one now.
  19. Quote:
    Originally Posted by Samuel_Tow View Post
    Here's the thing, though - that's a cheat. Mind you, I do it every time I can, but a mission shouldn't be coded such that you have to AVOID saving the people you're supposed to be saving. It's like the Lady Grey mission - with all those hideously strong Vanguard bosses, it's usually better to pull the spawns guarding her away, so that you rescue her, but don't get her to follow you. That spawns the bosses to defeat on your way out, which you can do without Lady Grey in tow, thereby keeping her out of harm's way. And since enemies won't attack NPCs that aren't attached to you, she's perfectly safe.
    Oh, I agree. But then, this is almost always true of combat NPCs when you're playing solo
    in low difficulties - lt-grade pets roll over quicker than a lazy dog. It's not unique to one
    or two missions. General Bonehead just rushes to get it over with a little quicker than the
    rest.

    I don't really consider it "cheating" to find alternate ways to complete missions. Am I
    "supposed" to fight my way through every single mob in a mission with a short timer, rather
    than run past/stealth to the objective? It's more or less the same thing.

    As stated though, I do find it an awkward and unneccesary way to do it, were the game
    playing fair with you. "Cheating" would be getting access to GM instant-kill commands and
    slaying everything on the map at once to complete the mission.
  20. Quote:
    Originally Posted by Seldom View Post
    Not sure if this is an okay place to mention this, or if Hero 1 is still following this, but while he's looking at frustrating mission he could look at this one:

    Contact: Serpent Drummer
    Rescue Captives from the Nemesis Army
    Dreams of Peace and Acts of War
    Part: Two

    Problem: General Aarons NPC is a Noob.

    Details: the mission, to be successful requires the general to be protected. Unfortunately, He has tiny hit points, an aggressive attitude, a gun attack, and a brawl attack. He uses the latter to run far ahead of the group into the middle of a mob, and punch them in the face.

    Solution Suggestions:
    A. Take his fists away. Er...tell the General he need not engage in fisticuffs when he has a perfectly good firearm. (Take away his brawl power)
    B.Give the general some combat training, so he knows how to take a hit. (Toughen him up HP-wise.)
    C. Teach the guy some strategic discretion. He need not risk his neck going it solo, he should wait for his team! (Put him on a defensive stance rather than aggressive)

    I'd vote B for this one - Give him AV level hit points, but change nothing else, to
    represent him being that old, tough, jarhead curmudgeon that he is! When I was you
    kids' age, I could've taken a warhulk with my arms tied behind my back, and both legs
    broken! And don't need no fancy-shamancy superpowers to do it - just my trusty .45
    and a working jaw to hold it!

    It's not a hard mission to succeed in solo though. You just skip right past the general
    and the rikti, and rescue/clear everyone else in the way first. But it is an awkward and
    unneccesary step of avoidance.
  21. Quote:
    Originally Posted by Hero 1 View Post
    Greetings: Unhappy Mission Players

    Thanks for bringing this up everyone. I originally worked on these missions when I was first brought on to the team way back when. I remember having technical problems with it even back then, but I thought we got everything taken care of, but it doesn't sound like it.

    I'm going to look into this mission and see if I can remove the 'stupid' and add in some 'fun'. Look to later patch notes for an update and thanks again for bringing this up.
    Part of the problem is likely what some people already mentioned - that spawning
    mechanics have been changed/broken, and are causing odd behavior presently.

    Another example/symptom of this is boss fights with enemies who will run away at some
    point, like Prof. Echo. With the way the game currently is, Prof. Echo will run as soon
    as he spawns, well before you can even see him, much less start combat. Not a big
    deal for him, since the missions don't fail on that, but it's made me afraid to even bother
    with Biff the Super Arachoid or Agent Crimson.
  22. Quote:
    Originally Posted by Zombie Man View Post
    The good news is that zoning has the effect that /unloadgfx used to have in that it does wipe out large chunks of memory and then loads the new zone. But it doesn't clear all the memory... this is the classic 'memory leak.'

    I've noticed this behavior as well, in a different game area. Using the Architect
    creator interface, every now and then viewing an animated NPC preview will MIRE
    me in GFX lag. /unloadgfx will not fix it, but zoning or restarting the client will.

    As far as general usage goes, as Master-Blade said, chat tabs also seem to handling
    things rather poorly. This has been a problem since changes came in to allow stuff
    like clicking on names and power data.
  23. Quote:
    Originally Posted by Goldbrick View Post
    I have a granite tank and a granite brute, both at 50. Thematically, I like that these characters turn entirely into a huge rocky monster. Nope, I don't care about seeing their skivvies, the granite armor is their costume.

    My only very slight dissatisfaction, almost not worth mentioning, is that the granite form is the same form as the NPC rocky monsters (and it's just the one form for men and women). How about a unique player-only granite form, or half a dozen from which to choose?

    My vote would be to please let things stay the way they are, if the alternative you have in mind is patches or slabs of gray rock here and there.
    I agree with most of this. Granite is also a state that can *not* be replicated
    by buying the science booster(and you shouldn't have to, even if it could.) The
    slow, lumbering movement; the heavy footfalls; those are also a big part of
    the transformation, and would not be kept by merely changing the height slider.

    If Granite is to be/needs to be changed, please either:

    A) Make sure the old version is available as an option.

    and/or

    B) Make sure any new versions replicate these effects, to keep the "feel" of
    granite intact through any changes.

    My preference would be a series of unique models to choose from, along
    *with* a less-obscuring version for those who must see their costume. If
    this is not feasible, then I'd say keep it as is/add new unique models, as
    the feel is more important than costume visibility.
  24. Quote:
    Originally Posted by fallenz View Post
    They are asking when they log in that they go start to the English Forums, not the front page with all choices. Just the English with the sub groups open.
    This. Having to click "english" each time is unintuitive. The new
    board design is a little claustrophobic as it is, but transition would
    be friendlier with a way to just go straight to the expected format.
    If the board software can't auto-detect region, then an option for
    it in user prefs would be nice.
  25. Puppycrusader

    The Devs Hate...

    [ QUOTE ]
    I tell ya, every time I run my favorite villain the NPCs on the screen cringe away in fear… some even run!

    [/ QUOTE ]

    I wish this were the case.

    What ACTUALLY happens, is every now and then the NPCs run
    away. But most of the time, they initiate Gamma Protocol - a
    trick all citizens of Paragon learn in school like a fire drill, taught
    to them by visiting Longbow representatives.

    Gamma Protocol is a clever mix of zig-zag evasion tactics, and
    a mass Delaying Action. To the average villain, it looks like
    they're running stupidly around like decapitated chickens. But
    what they're ACTUALLY doing is hindering the villains as much
    as possible until PPD and/or Longbow can arrive.