RCTankboy

Donut!?!?!

Joo got a dynejelly donut? Troll loves some dynejelly donuts *prepatory salivation*

*A big, green fist punches upwards through the floor, followed by a second one, followed by a large supatroll head* dum hole! why it not come in troll size?

*looks around and bellows* "Detra is DETRA!" *then howls, then pauses..*

Where da hell Detra at? Rocko go thru all dis trubble to dig express tunnel from troll cave and be all surpisey and dere no Detra? Troll want Money back!!!!!!!

Different from my last post entirely, and hopefully not another wall of text.

Event:King of the Mountain PVP
Location:Those giant floaty useless rocks in Oroboros? Certain Floaty islands in Fire Base Zulu? (Imagine KoTM on one of the deathstars in FBZ!)
Gameplay:
KB powers only, with all dmg turned off.
KB resist powers allowed.
PVE mechanics.
SJ/SS/Flight/Tp turned off.
If you fall off within a certain distance of the floaty thing your fighting for, you are tp'd back the base of said floaty thing.
Make Locations Co-OP, like RWZ. (Kinda silly having two different Oro's when code already exists that can differentiate between hero an villian in game.)
Scoring:Rep for Who can hold the peak longest.
Rewards:Pvp recipes, merits, whatever.

Event: Kickball PVP
Location:New Giant Arena in a zone unto itself and Co-op.
Gameplay:Well your "Referree" has the ability to randomly wormhole in an object of at least a certain size like a "car" and the teams have to knock it through the goal. Simple!

More options: Added would be an option for slows, stuns, and holds to be allowed or not. To add a twist, Bluewall off the gamefield so spectator can watch like at a real event.
(Yeah I already hear the arguments about multiple teams playing at once blah blah blah. )

Solution:Teams playing can choose to allow their match to be one chosen at random to be played on the main field. During Special Events , like Playoffs, The entire match of the playoff teams would\could be auto-set to play in the big arena.
Travel powers would be in full effect, the ball would be targetable but indestructible, but all player damage would be turned off.
Scoring:Goals!
Rewards:Pvp Recipes, Merits, etc

Other ideas:
Make the HIVE a CO-OP zone as well as Fire Base Zulu. Actually, certain zones in FBZ would make Great PVP zones. As it is, RV is the only place where 50's (aside from Arena) can truly flex their muscles. Need more End Game Zones. CO-OP Hamiraids would be fun. Nuff said bout that.

I cant comment on the (numbercrunchy) problems with PVP, but I will say that I had just started getting into zone pvp on pinny in i12 and was starting to like it alot. I didnt have uberbuilds and yes I died a bit.

I mostly played an Emp on a team. I enjoyed that more than scoring kills. Occasionally Id take my tank in and goof around. After i13 all that changed. All of those changes then, and since, make zone pvp just unenjoyable.

Now, just to help underscore why this should even matter to the Dev's , or maybe more importantly, to the beancounters who employ the devs; By the time i started to get into zone pvp, I was bored with CoX. I didnt have to run every mish and make every power combo for every AT to discern the tedious repetition of the game. Running more toons to 50, in every possible combination, was never going to change THAT component of the game, EVER. So Zone pvp, at 2+years, was me finding something NEW to do and keep me IN the game. Something unpredictable and engaging.

Then i13 came out. I felt like something had been stolen from me;namely fun. I lingered in and out of the game pondering a replacement for CoH until AE came out, and I hooked up with some freinds to make a Troll SG (thats another story). AE has its uses, depending on who you ask. Thats another debate.

PVP *can* be the mechanism for keeping the playerbase in the game, IF you can keep, scratch that, if you can RESTORE the fast paced action of PVP. Most of the DR and Travel "changes" should be rolled back, or word it however you like to hide the fact you *are* rolling it back. Buffing the survivability of support toons means NOTHING if youve taken away\overdiminished their whole purpose for being there. There no real reason for a support toon to go into a zone for pvp because any team that *is* in there is built to target-stun-kill. Rinse and repeat as many times as there are targets. Being a Life support system for Clear Mind and dodging AS attacks is not fun. Oh, support AT's were givn more resistances? Yeah, thanks alot. Now the big orange number signaling my death is just as orange as it was before.

PVP *can* be the endgame content, or a part of it, if it is simplified; not mucked up more and more by trying to make things "equal" for all. What good would having a gold. silver , and bronze medal be to the Olympics if you made everyone run the same speed around the track? But it doesnt end there, as the one real "reward" removable from the pvp zones (PVP recipes) have been made a crapshoot at best. I have better chances at Roulette in Vegas. Imagine running the same race as everyone else and you all cross the line at the same time but someone randomly gets the medal ? How many people would WANT to watch the Olympics then? Hell, Who would want to compete their either?

PVP has gotten TOO restrictive and TOO complicated for the other 90%ish of the playerbase to bother with. More Proof? Why was it deemed necessary to create an entirely new pvp recipe set with bonus's that only work if youre in a pvp zone? Thats a rhetorical question , because only the devs, enmasse, could ever answer it definitively. Supposedly it was a carrot to get more people to pvp. But really? Why would I want to run in a race for a random chance to get the medal, no matter how much harder I worked to finish said race?
The race rules need to be corrected, not introduction of new lottery rewards.

I understand that there need to be a *few* changes in how things work between pve and pvp. However, you need to make things simpler (as less restrictive, and different from pve), not more COMPLEX (as more restictions, then buff to compensate for restrictions, and also introducing sets whcih further highlight the disparity between pve and pvp, oh and lets not forget the lottery effect).

The very true perception that you need to spend Billions to have FUN in a pvp zone (since dying faster than the timeout counter and tick over is not "Fun") needs to change. THEN you will see much more of that non pvp playerbase sticking aorund and shelling out money even in THESE financial times, for longer periods of time.

Im in the game and (logically) DP is greyed out...not...happy....

I just back got from Gamestop and GnR isnt even in the system, anywhere. Not even in the TBA. Nor at Bestbuy.

Sure would like to have DP before Thursday...sigh...

Im happy to say at least 1 one of Domino33's toons found a home, in our troll "cape group".
Got'em on the email list already! We're very glad Domino agreed to join our little gang with his Troll.

We also recently moved as a group from Pinnacle (WHEN are the sg base xfers going to get created\enabled???) to Virtue, looking for more teaming opportunities. While our rp mostly consists of riffing (using troll talk)on anything we hear someone say, its still pretty darn fun.

As for "Pokkit D"; I usually stand in ther eon my Supatroll, Rocko. Schecky is right, its a wierd place. However, Ive seen some pretty heavy rp occur. I have even been invited to an RP AE arc that was VERY well done! Dont knock Pokkit D to hard tho, there are some good non trolls in there, but it takes time to find them, thats all. Well that and lots and lots of donuts...

/e resumes eatin dyne donut while watch da lil non trolls be silly.

Danigt I shouldnt have logged out! Now I cannot get back in either!

Er...I saw a box or two of MA at my local Gamespot. Who wants me to get it and send it to them over there across the waters?

Honestly, Boxing a game and shipping it to retailers is *expensive*. I wonder if CoX has the money to do it? Just another wild guess to explain the situation.

Seriously, Who wants those boxes, if theyre there? There taking up valuable shelf space that WoW could be using! PM meh!

Im glad the Posi is changed. It was time it was updated, and hopefully shortened significantly. Many players have complained about it, and adding a Dark Mirror npc to it is just an opportune way to mesh in the GR coming out, not the sole reason for the update.

SGInvites by email would rocketh verily.

As for Emailing Cash, wow thats a huge QoL improvement for me. Its still unclear to me if items can be mailed blue to blue and vice versa. The announcement wording is a bit haphazard. If items *can* be mailed to same side alts, then ..like...WOW. I would be able to cancel my 2nd account then!...oh heck, did I say that out loud?! Dangit, now the devs WONT allow items to be mailed just to keep all those extra accounts open!

Sorry Guys, didnt mean to blow it for us..oh well.

Moving tails? Well that will give the furries something to purr louder about...dang nekkidpsychofurryhotties always struttin by distracting me and messin up my sniper shots....Next theyll be asking for litter boxes!!.....What was I saying?

Nevermind, Im off to come up with a DP build...for my SupaTroll! Troll is TROLL!

Actually Hover works great with devices. I user an AR/Dev build with +100% rech for pvp. Hover allows staying out of close/melee range with no grounding while the high rech allows decimation.

Still the build works very well in PVE. Its slightly more single target, than other AR/dev builds,but the high dps is great for the boss/av fights. Even if you eschew pvp, and add in aoe galore, hover and dev can work nicely together. CD+stealth io add a chunk of def, while TD adds nice tohit. I dont need build up, and my attack chain is up so quickly defiance generation isnt an issue. The whole BU vs TD thread is more of "which flavor do you like? Chocolate or vanilla?".

Its a matter of taste in the end(no pun intended). What is most important is building something you enjoy playing in a style that is most comfortable to you. Admittedly , dicovering this combination might take time, but youll learn a lot from it and be a better player in the end.


...and we need many more "better" players. Seriously...like as if we could mail order some...just add water..etc

Was doing some testing....seems the 10 minute clock resets if you kill the same toon again. Is that supposed to happen?

Confirmed killing NPC's still give money and insp drops in pvp zones, but yeah, all you get now from killing a player toon is 1 rep.

I find it hard to believe this is working as intended.

My recharge in snipe is 6 seconds right now. Activation time is 4 seconds. This is in Sirens with %118 global rech. I can fire snipe2-3 times before a target gets in range of *any* of my other attack powers. I use snipe, A LOT.

Lengthening the recharge time of snipe to an unmodified 18 seconds for a negligible dmg boost is *not* a buff, this is a stealth nerf. Flame me all you want, but facts are facts no matter how blind you choose to be. This is a nerf, period.

The numbers Im seeing show this as a decrease in dps over time instead of an increase.
Example:
Sniper Blast: Increased this power’s damage scale from 2.76 to 3.56, increased its recharge from 12 seconds to 20 seconds and increased its endurance cost from 14.4 to 18.51.

Old scale 2.76/12rech=.23/sec
New Scale 3.56/20rech=.178/sec

Shots/min Old: 60seconds/12sec rech=5
Shots/min New: 60sec/20 sec rech=3

So youre doing LESS damage over the SAME amount of time for MORE endurance. All snipes would be better served by removing 2 of the 3 accuracy checks they go through for a power that is supposedly going to be more accurate due to the time it takes to make the shot. Missing 2 shots in 5 with %96 to-hit and %1.93 accuracy is ample evidence of this.

This is yet another stealth nerf like Domination received.

Wow! Even the Panacea proc is biased against my AR blaster!

Blasters with /Dev are very good, if you build them carefully. Ar is at the bottom of the pile unfortunately. Fire and sonic hurt like hell. Energy has scary. range and fast recharge.

The exact build you use depend son which zone you intend to pvp in most often.

Ive had an AR\DEV build since i7. It was my first 50, and I love it. It is NOT the best blaster out there as far as raw DPS, but I think it can be one of the most fun, if you like to use strategy.

If you no like think, make Energy or Fire blaster. Raawrrr....

Typical Disclaimer: This is based on my experience, preference, playstyle. Still Generally all this will hold true for
nearly all playstyles using this combo. Actual user mileage may vary.

Suggestions rather than posting a build:
>If PvP'ing, You must decide which zone is the lowest you are going to play in most often, and focus your build from there.

>Recharge is key to dps, pve or pvp. You can get over %100 recharge by level 25 if youre willing to spend the money, and
are willing to be patient. Yes, you *can* do this without Hasten. Look for the 5 cheapest purple sets and pick powers
accordingly. Slot as many LoTG +Global Rech as you can, from powers that slot Def. There are other little tricks you can use as well.

>Stealth is only %0.00000000001 less important than recharge speed. Throw ANY level stealth proc from Celerity or Unbounded leap into sprint. Putting it in Sprint makes it available at any level, and it adds 300ft to CD's 389.

>Devices: You MUST have Targeting Drone and Cloaking Device, period. Youll want your travel power, TD, and CD, in
your build before your PvP zone level of choice. In TD, either use Adjusted Targeting or Gaussians, and get that chance

for buildup Proc. I personally recommend the Increased Perception proc as well if PvP'ing. LoTG in CD.

Webnade in PvP can save you from melee pain when flying, and I highly recommend Hover and Flight, pve or pvp. Webnade anywhere else can help you tie down annoying bosses who run or help you get away when in trouble. Has an awesome neg fly effect even if you dont immoblize target.

Tazer is melee. Youre an AR\DEV blaster. Tazer bad. Use as a mule for a purple set. Can be useful but only when forced
to french kiss the enemy against your will. It will add some spice to your brief relationship but runaway right after, and dont call them the next morning.

Caltrops can help you from being Stalker bait in PVP. It has its uses in pve but makes you an aggro magnet to anything
with a ranged attack. Good for blocking doorways and stuff for a few seconds. Stacks nicely if you have the recharge and
used with webnade. You can stack this over your head if you stand near a vertical object, with practice, to prevent being
AS'd from Above.

Timebomb is overly situational. Use only as a mule for some io set if you have no other choice.

Tripmines. Very Situational, but fun. Shines most when you have tons of recharge. Slot for Damage\Acc, then stack 5-7
on the same spot for boss kills. Throw caltrops down to slow mobs when crossing over or timebomb wont detonate in time.
You have about 4 minutes before it will self destruct. Plant a field of them along mobs projected path, caltrops. Slug to
pull mob then break LoS. Watch the screenshaking fun ensue. Not for use on teams with no patience. Wonderful to use
when playing with a tank who knows how to use them. Used with Tpfoe and caltrops, makes for interesting pvp fun.

Gun Drone. Highly situational. Aggros easily. Can be used as an aggro magnet. End cost is WAY to high compared to pet
duration. Easily destroyed. I liked being able to set it in doorway when it was stationary to tank for me. Flip a coin to
decide whether to get it or not.

>Assault Rifle: You must get Burst and Slug. 6 slot both.
Burst has great rech, and reduces target def. Slot 3 Hami Dmg\Rng and 3 procs, with one proc being a chance to hold.
Slug is like snipe-light. Long range high damage and chance for knockdown. These are your mainstays in pvp and with high
recharge, youll be a terror.

Shotgun. Short range Cone KB. Useful for a "get the hell away from me" power. Unless you have a reason not to, skip it

for..

M30 grenade is part of your AOE Trinity of Death. . Range and KB and AOE. Lots of fun and good dmg. This is my "get the hell away from me" power. Slot a Purple set in this.

Snipe. Out of order but no less important. This youll need in PvP or PVE. It has 3 accuracy checks, so youll need all the
to-hit buffs you can lay on. Chance for knockdown. Worth it though. Many ways to slot it. I once had enough range to
snipe things I could barely see. With enough stealth, mobs lose aggro before they get close enough to see you. With Slug,
snipe is great for pulling that one guy in the mob when used with care. Must Have.

FlameThrower. Awecome for close range to med range cones of death. Slotted to have close to the same rang as Full auto,
is part of your AOE Trinity of Death. In Pvp dont bother, skip it.

Ignite. Used to be awesome, now the animation times make it marginally good for the duration it lasts. with that in mind, I say skip it now.

Full auto is the final part of your AOE Trinity of Death. Add a bit of range to this to get the best use of its cone, but you wont regret it. Pve it is a true tier 9, but doesnt leave you drained of end, and can rech decently. In Pvp dont bother, skip it.

Other Pools:
Fitness. Swift gets 1-2 fly speed common IO's.
Heatlh Miracle + recovery, Miracle heal, Numina +Regen/Recovery, Numina heal, and if you can find one, a Panacea +hp/end proc. Regenerative Tissue +regen is an *almost* must have but as a blaster youll need end a hair more than regen. Still if you can fit it in, slot it.
Stamina 2 common io's, a performance shifter end mod and a preformance shifter change for end.

Leadership. Assault with 2 end red. Tactics use Adjusted Targeting or Gaussians, and get that chance for buildup Proc if
you havent already. Vengeance use a mule for a LoTG +Global Rech. Yes maneuvers can give you a slight def boost but uses
to much end. Vengeance mules the LoTG proc and costs nothing, and give a bigger boost when used on a team. Defense is almost irrelevant in pvp atm, dmg resistance is king.

Flight youll need Hover and Fly. Hover is fantastic in pvp, so add 3 flight ios, or even 2 ios from a flight set, and a LoTG
+Global Rech. Flight gets 2 common flight io's, but slot as you see fit. Irefer flight as a travel power, even though its dissed hard for its slowness. I like it as its the lazy mans travel power that gives unlimited vertical and horizontal movement and is easy to control.

Speed. Hasten only if youre not getting all your recharge from set bonuses, or plan to use SS as a travel power. Im not a
big a fan of hasten as I used to be, but its a cheap way to get %70 recharge. Easy to get perma hasten with a little time
and money. SS is nice, and has some stealth that stacks with CD and stealth procs. SS and SJ suffer from Travel
suppression more heavily in some pvp zones (like RV) than other zones. Youre an AR\Dev blaster, you dont want to be in
the middle of a ground based pvp fight. You are death from range, and personally I think Death from Above at Range is
one of the safest places to be.

Epic pools.
Here its kinda of a matter of preference. A PvP Optimzed build for this blaster looks waaaayy different than a PvE one.

Good thing you have an alt build(bad for your wallet though). The muntions set fits themtically, and Cryo freeze ray holds a cheap purple set.
Surveillance is a new toy im playing with and lowers the def of a target and lets you see some neat info on them. Try it
on Recluse sometime and prepare to get eye strain from bulging eyes.
For RV pvp, anything that slows an opponent is king. Again remember youre a squishy blaster and range is your friend.

Slot\choose accordingly.

I have this slotted on my level 50 blaster. He's getting 65hp a tic in PvE.

Here's something unusual I did notice though. I had my combat tab open and was watching to get a sense how often the hp+ was firing off, and it seems to only fire off when *NOT* in combat. Not what I was looking for but an interesting discovery. This was over several TF's and AE missions in PvE.

Meanwhile, the end+ piece fires off regularly, combat or no.

Any one else noticed this? Is the hp+ supposed to work this way or do we have any info detailing it?

Make Tyrant a hostage instead of an enemy.

Dont go in this mish with a squishy, or without lots of wakies and an appreciation for faceplanting, or some combination thereof.

I loved it. Literal tons of smashy to be had, and freaks lining up for blocks to get their ration from me and my trolls.

As for the risk\reward ratio? Well, theres no way this can be confused for a meow mission, ever.

We made an outdoor version to allow some vertical for those suffering from claustrophobia. Same premise, same carnage, same fun.

Good job JD, and I will shamelessly confess I stole the concept from you for mine. Imitation being the sincerest form of flattery etc etc...

Why not have both?

First, Fall from Grace\Rebellion.
Let a Hero\Villain defect to the other side, but they have to start from level 1 to "prove their sincerity". This means you get to run content (maybe youve run it before but now youre interested to see how youll do with this character). Some would be interested in doing that, some wont, but allowing them to get new badges and some logical subset of non duplicated accolades would be incentive for more than a few.
Character would be exemped down, and Powers would become available as you originally picked them, as you level up. Slots too if the Devs think the coding is worth the effort, otherwise it would be just like as if you were exemped to 27 who hits 28: the power you chose at 28 and all the slots on it start working. Devs choice on this.
Make it only available to level 50's. Make it seem like an AT option to those who have earned it.
Make it one way. Once you switch sides, you cant go back, permenantly that is(See Probation\Duress). If a Hero goes rogue then he's rogue for life, and vice versa for Villians. This can be logically explained as "you have burned your bridges, and going back would mean life in prison, or death from ex-comrades."

Probation\Duress
Let Heros\villians temporarily join the opposite faction, pretty much as the OP described. Only exception is not requiring the sponsor to be higher than the "guest". Let a 50 join a team; if hes higher than the sponsor, make him exemp to the sponsors level. That prevents a whole host of issues, lets 50's go to the otherside.
characters that have Fallen from Grace\Rebelled, could be prohibited from going back, or could be allowed to be sponsored. Arguments abound for both options. Im leaning toward the latter.

New Zones?
Im all for new zones and content. Im totally for underwater options in every zone that its applicable. Id love to see sealife you can interact with in applicable zones(sharks that bite, dolphins, sea snakes, pirahna's, etc). Underwater cities? Totally!
However, Id rather the Devs go to a system of "Issues" be new zones\content" and "Releases" between issues focusing *exclusively* on bug fixes. The cycle now seems new zone\light content\power\lotsa bug fixes for last Issue. I went through i13 content in less than a day. The zone is beautiful, etc, but thats disappointing.
This would actually be good for the devs sanity wise, as they can know what to expect and focus on one set of things rather being stretched to thin on many things.
I dont think we need new zones or a new level cap. Implementing this by itself would be enough to fill an "Issue" and the subsequent "Release".

I have Group fly on my Ill/Emp, and my Emp/Rad.

It has its uses, for instance in the Eden trial while taking out the Titan. No one but the tank (maybe) wants to be on the ground during the Titan's footstomp.

Hami raids are another. Group flying the Blaster team is handy.

Ships raids, well, you need some longer ranged Blasters to stay out of most of the ranged Rikti powers.

I do agree it needs a Prompt, the -acc removed, and the flight speed for others buffed significantly. Would this be so hard to do before i14?

For the record I saw TTP used by a Def on a Farm map. I didnt know what was happening the first 3 times we were tp'd.

Fighting a mob, bright flash, still fighting a mob, bright flash, fighting a mo..wait a sec, didnt I kill that boss already? where did those stairs come from? etc..It Was Insane.

I think a combo of the broken Group Fly and TTP would be VERY useful in Hamis and Ship Raids. The shame of it is using 2 powers to cancel out the negatives of each. Im contemplating and alt build with this combo just for Hami/Ship Raids.

[ QUOTE ]
Now when will they admit the mistake that is i13 PvP?

[/ QUOTE ]

Hmm if we use this and other dev confessions as a guide (based on time lasped from act to confession) Id say a couple of years at least!

Seriously though, I totally respect Posi for stepping up and taking ownership. So few people are willing to do that these days.

As to his comments about side switching, I drool for it. It *should* be done because the precedent for it is well established in the genres this game is based on. Hey Devs, how about a goal of i16 for this? (i15 should be alll bug fixes imho, but that just me. )

Someone mentioned a third kind of character that could wander back and forth from blue to red side; would this new "class" be like the 'grey side'?

Seriously (again), for side switching; If it meant that:
1) its one way
2) only available at level 50
3) have to start over from level 1 ( a] thematically to prove youre serious and to gain the 'trust' of the hero community' and b] to give you a chance to earn badges that you cant get any other way but form low levels)
4) my build would be preserved as is pre-reformation\betrayal and powers\slots became active as they normally would as leveled up (thus any io sets slotted would still be there although behaving as if exemped)

..Id do it in a heartbeat.