Quinch

As the title says, any Ice Blast/Ice Manipulation blasters want to share some advice about the set? I'm planning to roll one so I'd like to know what to expect.

I've played the whole game {i.e. Lv50 while having completed every single mission} on an AR/Dev and I've found it just peachy.

There are a few powers in Devices that are a complete waste, I agree - time bomb, cloaking device and targeting drone, in my opinion - but on the whole, an AR/Dev can easily play as a hybrid of a blaster and a controller; between caltrops, toebombing, gun drone and ability to instastun a boss, properly used devices are a spectacular survivability tool, while the primary has a very nice selection of solid AoEs.

As the title says - there are few things more annoying than investing heavily into accuracy and still missing one in twenty attacks anyway through no fault of your own. The idea of random fumbles with something you're supposed to excel at might work in D&D, but has no business being in superhero genre.

{note: keep critical hits for both players and NPCs - being able to spec for total defense would be gamebreaking in so many ways}

From time to time I hear complaints about the usefulness of Teleport as a travel power, mostly due to its inherent susceptibility to dropping to one's doom due to lag and long animation time that makes it tedious to use over long distances.

So, here's a quick suggestion - teleport the player the moment the reticle is clicked, and extend the hovering duration after the teleport to match the total animation+hover time.

If the actual animation time could be reduced or otherwise changed to allow for more rapid teleporting, so much the better. For balance's sake, the endurance per jump cost remains the same, so bottoming out the blue bar remains a possibility, even moreso if the power is used more frequently compared to recovery rate.

Just to point out, I like the idea. Also, some TFs might actually pull it off - afterall, there's several lowbie groups that make a reappearance in the higher levels, like Family or Clockwork.

So, while I wholly agree that it would take time, effort and the inevitable balancing, each of the groups in task forces could get the Lv45-50 treatment, where existing mobs are granted more powers and other tweaks to make them more on par with levelcapped characters.

Just an idea, anyway.

Far as I can tell, the Technical Questions and Bugs forum is still here.

Hmmm... as long as the range is severely limited, for example in the Caltrops range, I figure why not.

...did Power get a new forum account?

Talk to field agent Keith Nance in Talos Island - he should appear automagically in your contact list once you hit Lv20. Mind you, at Lv30 and above, said arc is no longer available normally, though you can run it via a flashback.

1} I'm not familiar with WoW-style raids, so I'll be guessing about what you mean by your question. With much more interest in PvP than PvE, there aren't any major conflicts between redside {CoV} and blueside {CoH}, and none outside the actual PvP zones. There are two major events that involve more than one team - the Muthaship raid in the Rikti War Zone, and the Hamidon Raid in the Abyss/Hive. The former is a co-op endeavor where a whole lot of people fight their way across a downed Rikti spaceship - the primary reward there is a very rapid accumulation of Vanguard Merits which can be traded in for various goodies {most cosmetic, but plenty of practical uses too}, while the Hamidon raid grants a special enhancement to all involved.

2} There are Supergroups, which are basically the equivalent of guilds - you can join one at any level {provided you're invited} or form your own at Lv10 or above. Supergroups can also join each other into Coalitions for improved organization or base convenience.

3} As I mentioned in my earlier post, most of the action is indoors - while there are Giant Monsters and events spawning in various zones, those are mostly tackled for badge rewards. Your contacts basically act as the quest dispensers - you can talk to them and they'll give you a mission. Protip: if you get a mission in the butt end of nowhere, you can abandon the mission and retake it - most missions spawn in quasi-random locations, so you can save a lot on travel time.

4} Still plenty. Not sure about exact numbers.

5} See my first post - other than the wholly optional invention system, getting "gear" that will allow you to fight adequatly isn't a problem. There are three primary tiers of standard enhancements - Training {TOs} with... fairly small benefits which are available from levels 1 through 14, Dual-Origin {DOs} which have twice the effectiveness of TOs, which start at Lv15 through Lv24, and Single-Origin {SOs} which are twice as effective as DOs, which start at Lv25 and up. Keep in mind that you can slot an enhancement that's up to three levels above yours, so you can slot DOs at Lv12 and SOs at Lv22.

For added perspective, there are task force challenges that neutralize effects of all slotted enhancements, and they're still very much doable.

The race is on!

First things first, welcome to City of Heroes, both the game and the forums. When in doubt, ask - as a quick glance around the forums will show you, the natives are friendly.

Second thing, forget everything you have learned - there's a lot of things in WoW, and MMOs in general you might take for granted, and the slant in CoH is generally far more toward "fun" than "time sink" {unless the second stems from the former, which is... frequent enough}.

As for the tips and guides, there's ParagonWiki {note: avoid the Wikia mirror - it's out of date, run by gold farmers and occasional malware ad} if you need a general info dump - all things gameplay-related are there, from numbers, contacts, archetype descriptions and so on.

If you're interested in knowing how different archetypes play {and how different powersets within the archetypes do}, swing by the archetype forums. There's plenty of experienced players around willing to share the knowledge.

And finally, there is the Mentor Project, if you're looking for someone to actively guide you while you're getting your feet wet.

Edit: Some more stuff I missed...

While there are various global channels for various purposes {such as the one for the Mentor project}, note that every server has its own Help channel - there should be a tab for it in your chat window by default. You can talk in it using the /hc command, so it's a good place to ask on-the-fly questions from other players.

A lot of the game is instanced - that means that empty streets can lend to the illusion of a server being deserted, while in reality, most of the players are in indoor missions. The /search command {or the Find Member button in your team window} will pop up the search window you can use to look for teams or teammates.

Tying to that, it's considered polite by most players to send a tell to a prospective teammate and wait for a reply before actually inviting them. To that end, if you're on a trial account {and thus cannot reply to tells}, try entering something along the lines of "Trial account, can't reply, just invite me" in the team comment window, to avoid the one-way communication problem.

On a general note, try everything. You have twelve character slots per server, which means there's plenty of alts to roll. Dying is, in true comic book fashion, a joke, so there's little to be afraid of save for the inconvenience of running from the hospital {and that's only if there's no rezzes of any kind on hand} back to the mission.

Gameplay-wise, there's no "holy trinity" of the tanker/DPS/healer - healing, while useful, is still only on par with the ridiculous variety {and strength} of buffs and debuffs available in various powersets. Thus, a team of any composition can handle most challenges as long as everyone is familiar with their strengths and weaknesses. It bears mentioning, however, that a team with more diversity still has more room for error, as the gaps are less pronounced.

There's also no need to rush to the level cap - the content is more or less evenly spread across all levels {though there's still a slight bulge in the Lv20sh range}, and with store-bought enhancements {i.e. gear} being pretty much sufficient, there's no need to grind for loot or money either. The Invention System allows for even more customization of enhancements, if you've got the spare cash to throw around.

Virtue and Freedom are the two most populated servers - Virtue is the unofficial "roleplayer central", with all the fun and occasional drama that entails, while Freedom has the reputation for a more hardcore "MMOs are srs bzns" crowd. Having spent very little time on Freedom, though, feel free to take the latter with a grain of salt.

Enjoy, and feel free to ask some more if you've got any more questions.

Solution: Simple
Rent auto-payment option: Implemented
Problem: Resolved

Honestly, I'm for it - as long as it doesn't require diverting too many resources from the official development.

As for the quality, the average quality of an amateur voice actor is fairly low - but we also have a very large pool of potential contributors to choose from. A method of voting from other users on the quality of an individual's voicework and a means to easily insert downloadable "voice packs" into the game {windows with certain text calling set audio files, maybe?} seem like a simple enough infrastructure to build on.

I don't think it would take manual rewrites of missions. Consider this scenario, for example, for the patrol setting;

Player enters the mission. Spawn points on each map are predetermined - as the instance is initialized, a random number is rolled for each eligible spawn point - that number is compared to the set chance for a patrolling group, and if equal or greater, the group tied to that spawn point is set to patrol mode, instead of static. Again, there's no telling just how much code it would take to implement this mechanic, but there would be no need whatsoever for manual editing of existing missions.

It might have been suggested already, but.... any chance of adding an "average price" value to the market UI, showing either over a certain period of time, or since the price wipe? It would help a lot against manipulating the perception of supply and demand the way histories of the past five sales do.