Puppycrusader

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.

You come at Crabs with a lot of perspective I share, but there was something
critically important to be pointed out:

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.

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.

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!

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*!!!

[ 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.