RachelRiley

[ QUOTE ]

keeping moving doesn't do jack [censored] for an AS.. all the stalker has to do is not move and have it que'd when the hero comes close enough

[/ QUOTE ]

Yup, you just made the long list of people who dont know how Stalkers work, but insist on posting anyway...

[ QUOTE ]

but a solo Defender/Controller will never see a solo stalker with Hide + Stealth active

[/ QUOTE ]

No, this is the problem! We have been told over and over and over that PvP is NOT balanced for 1vs1 play, and yet this is what it ALWAYS comes down to... What a Stalker can do SOLO vs what [Insert Squishy Here] can do SOLO...

The game IS NOT balanced for solo play, and IT WILL be broken when you look at it from a 1vs1 perspective!

Sure a solo Stalker will completely own a solo Defender... Look at what happens in teams though... Got news for you, heroes working AS A TEAM completely destroy Stalkers, unless the Stalkers also have A TEAM, then things get a bit muddier... Muddy is exactly what we call balance!

For christs sake! Why cant everyone get off this "X AT can do this Solo and Y AT cant" kick! It isnt the point!

[ QUOTE ]

Actually, I haven't asked for one thing from anyone except the Stalkers who like to kill you without risk to themselves.

[/ QUOTE ]

Right here is the crux... The first line of your response to my post...

You think that Stalkers put themselves at no risk when they try to AS you...

Never mind the fact that Clear Minds fly around the PvP zones like crazy these days....

Never mind the fact that Tactics is a very popular power of heroes in the PvP zones...

Never mind that any Hero can buy IR Goggles in Sirens call when the Heroes have control, which is still most of the time on most servers...

Never mind that there are a number of Auto-Hit auras that WILL foil stalkers attacks from hide 100% of the time....

Never mind that with the coming change, all you have to do is to keep moving to absolutely INSURE that you will have at least an opportunity to pop a green after an AS...

You know Buffy... I'll leave it at that, others can continue it if they like...

You claim that you havent asked for a nerf to Stalkers... My question to you is what exactly has been your goal in the fairly recent and numerous (and often ill-informed) posts that you have been making, if not to ask for a Stalker nerf?

You had a lot of credibility on these boards, due to your reputation as a hard core number cruncher, but all I have seen from you on this issue is emotion based nerf herding....

Too often do we see the words, "It isnt fun" or whatever opinionated expression is the favorite of the day...

Go back to running honest numbers Buffy... Do that with impartiality and you might actually convince some of us... But right now, your posts read a lot like nerf herding whining... Sorry.

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
The only way for a Stalker to do what you described is to time the click juuuuuust right. Or click as fast as possible and hope for the best.

[/ QUOTE ]

the second thing you mentioned is actually alot easier then you describe. I do it on my stalker quite often against people with super speed (yes, my stalker is fast enough to run past someone with SS and stop to start clicking on AS till they run by. You can ask the many heroes in Protector's Sirens Call about that. Quickness, sprint, swift, 2-slotted SS will do that)

[/ QUOTE ]

Well, obviously, that is what he did. I used a poor choice of words with queue it up. He guessed my route to pass by him, clicked AS as I sped by and I was hit some distance away, since I didn't break LOS. The thing is, you have to do more than just keep moving around. You have to never step within 5 feet of a Stalker that is ready to click the button. It should not matter if you even have Whirlwind going since most have knock protection. You just have to keep moving and break LOS (of an invisible foe) every 3 seconds

[/ QUOTE ]

What you are saying is true, if the goal is to never ever get hit. That isnt the goal of the proposed change to AS. The proposed change isnt making it easier for you to escape the Strike, it's only making it easier to escape the instant defeat from the strike.

Someone who keeps moving may not avoid the strike, but (after the strike lands) will have 1% hitpoints and be out of melee range of the Stalker. It opens up a window for that moving squishy to pop a green before the Stalker can close back into melee range to deliver the killing blow. In the case of Spines, correct me if I am wrong, but doesnt the heal of a health insp happen immediately whereas the damage from a ranged spines attack doesnt land until the animation ends? So, even in the case of a ranged follow up attack, the target still should have a very short moment to react and attempt to heal.

Buffy, you seem to be asking that the Developers change Assasin Strike in such a way that a Stalker can never ever use it on a moving target, or a target that moves within the 4 second animation.

I dont believe that this is reasonable.

[ QUOTE ]

he already had it queued up.

[/ QUOTE ]

Sorry Buffy, you're wrong.

You cant do this with an AS, it works like a snipe, If the range check or endurance check fails the attack interrupts. The only way for a Stalker to do what you described is to time the click juuuuuust right. Or click as fast as possible and hope for the best.

Buffy, with due respect, I'd like to also suggest that you might be better off if you would roll up a Stalker and experience from the other side.

My opinion of CoV enemies...

[ QUOTE ]
Hear-hear, Million!

Let me alter the last statement slightly:

"_Castle_, please undo the mistake that was made with Endurance Drain."

[/ QUOTE ]


???? Soooo.... In other words....

"Gimme my super ability back"

Soooo.... You nerf herd stalkers because somebody nerfed your power set? If end drain makes a comeback, something I would support, you'll sit down and shut up about Stalkers?

Didnt think so... Let the crusade continue as scheduled...

[ QUOTE ]
Whatcha at right now?

[/ QUOTE ]

Doesnt matter, the fix isnt live yet, so he'll probabybe zero in the morning.

[ QUOTE ]

I'd be lying if I said I knew how placate works (never got a stalker that high) but it's either limited AoE (since the stalker I kept beating to hell never managed to placate me as I was hovering above and at a bit of range) or single target only.


[/ QUOTE ]

The power, Placate, is single target only. If I placate you, all your buddies can still see me. If any of your buddies register a hit on me, the placate effect is broken.

Now, the Ninjitsu secondary power set also has a power called Smoke Flash. Smoke Flash is an PBAoE. It has a long animation and will only affect enemies in a small circle around the Stalker, essentially melee range. Smoke Flash also does NOT give the Stalker his Hidden status back like Placate does. So, Smoke Flash cannot be used to immediately get another Assasin Strike off.

Yes, it is a problem on a lot of servers.

I have it on good authority that the Developers are looking to correct the problem. So, I would say, tolerate it as much as you can and petition players for doing it whenever it impacts you.

It isnt likely that the petition will have much effect other then acting as a pointy stick in the Devs ribs... "When you gonna fix this?" poke poke poke

This sounds buggy to me... I wonder if it is at all related to the GD missing when target is moving.

While the extra crit is nice, I would point it out to Castle. Better for a power to work as intended then have a bug that will just inspire cries of "NERF!"

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
ahahah i've got a good guess about what that pretty nasty exploit was

[/ QUOTE ]

You got it Here's a Freedom Supergroup, Tribute, camping the villain hospital killing them as the spawn. They're quite proud of the tactic.

Here's what it's like logging into your toon in the hospital:
http://everquest2.247xtreme.com/albu...6-15-26-17.jpg

Don't try to leave!
http://everquest2.247xtreme.com/albu...6-15-24-23.jpg

I'll hide back here and watch them kill folks as they try to leave. *Note* One girl has probably quit the game because of this. They were pretty rude taunting her telling her very graphically what they were going to do to her warm body as they repeatedly killed her after pinning her in the room with hurricane:

http://everquest2.247xtreme.com/albu...6-15-16-55.jpg

Names in the pics are Aeolus, Storm Angel, Johnny Priest, Mind Eraser, Omega Boost, St Jimmy, and a few others.

[/ QUOTE ]

Warspawn, have you sent these via PM to anyone? I was in the zone the time you are referring to, and the trash talking by a couple of the individuals was beyond acceptable.

As for the Hospital camping... Why is it that the Hero hospital..

A) Has a drone about every 5 feet and the Villain Hospital does not?

B) The Hero is designed so once a Hero exits the doors they can immediately go in any direction, while the Villain hospital is designed in such a way that a couple Stormies can prevent any player from exiting the hospital?

C) Why are the Hero respawn tubes totally unaccessible to the Villains, but the Villain respawn tubes can be hit with AoE powers?


I was in Sirens Call this evening just prior to the server restart and was prevented from leaving the hospital for several minutes. All I wanted to do was cash out and log off before the servers shut down.

This type of Hospital Camping is griefing, and those who know me know that for the most part, I think just about anything is fair in PvP.

Near the Natural Quartermaster in Sharkshead, there is a battle between NPCs... I always see blue NPC text that Banana-nator has defeated Curious Fred... Always get a giggle out of that...

[ QUOTE ]
I see your "if" but I still do not see a Dev post that supports your statement.

And before anyone says anything . I'm a member of a 3 person VG. I don't expect to have a PVP base anytime soon .I should not have one . It should take time and work to get a basic functional base. But The current prices and rent make having anything function a long way off, if ever.

But What I do see is a total lack of response from the dev as to whether the system is working as design or what that design is.

[/ QUOTE ]

Actually... I believe the post that Ed_Anger is referring to was on the Beta Boards, which can no longer be accessed. I remember it also.

[ QUOTE ]
Eventually all games get marked down to 19.99 or lower by stores so they can make new shelf room for newer games. Which is why we'll probably see a CoH+CoV bundle sometime next year to give them both new release shelf time, like the CoH Special Edition did for CoH.

(Just to point out: that doesn't mean the "retail" price for the game has changed)

[/ QUOTE ]

This is incorrect in the case of Wal-Mart... Wal-Mart currently sells CoH for $19.96. It is what is called a modular replenishable item, meaning that if it runs out, more are ordered for the space. This is not a clearance item. Wal-Mart is not attempting to make shelf space.

[ QUOTE ]
Wal-Mart's prices aren't "retail" prices. That's actually Wal-Mart's biggest selling point and the reason it's so controversal with small stores and other chains that don't have the means to sell things so cheap. But Wal-Mart has been smart to set prices so low that people actually end up buying more from them in the longrun.

Any other store, Best Buy, EB Games, Software Etc., CompUSA sells it for 29.99. I know because I was out looking for the DVD edition and only found the standard edition for 30 bucks.

Think of it this way: Best Buy has been known to sell CDs for 9.99 a lot as a draw to get customers into their store. While there, they hope the customer buys enough to offset the discounted prices. But that does not mean that the CD's retail price is now 9.99 because Best Buy sells it at that price. The Manufacturer's price will still be the same 16.99-19.99 CDs are priced at today.

Wal-Mart does this a lot with their video games, too, because to a lot of people Wal-Mart is their video game store. Look at their newspaper ads this week. They are selling Tony Hawk's Underground 2 for 19.99. That's not it's retail price, that's Wal-Mart's discounted price.

[/ QUOTE ]

Oh I agree Taser, that is what Wal-Mart does... Once upon a time I was in Wal-Mart Management... But to toss around what is essentially MSRP as gospel of what the game is selling at and then totally ignore the dicount retailers, Wal-Mart, K-Mart, Target, etc etc is not being completely honest. I know for a fact that CoH still holds modular space in every Wal-Mart in the country... That is EXTREMELY significant.

I would be curious to see a tally of units sold from different retailers. I'd be willing to wager that the discounters like Wal-mart are the lion's share of sales in the past few months.

[ QUOTE ]

Also - another comment on discounted games - currently, City of Heroes is $29.99. Certain stores can run sales - like Lineage 2 is free with a Guild Wars purchase at a local chain.

[/ QUOTE ]

Uh... Not at the largest retailer in the world, Wal-Mart... They have been selling CoH for $19.96 for many months now.

I dont really care much about this conversation, actually agree with Statesman on this, but to say that CoH retails at $29.99 and blatantly ignore Wal-Mart, is well... You be the judge.

[ QUOTE ]
This was from my last batch of Responses on the Beta Forums:
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Placate issues

[/ QUOTE ]
There is a bug with placate (which I did not know was a bug, until geko told me!) in that it is supposed to completely remove you from the targets hate list. That means, if you placate and get out of the critters visual range, they will not chase you when Placate wears off -- they no longer know about you. I'll be working with Supermartin and his AI team post launch to get this working properly.

[/ QUOTE ]

So, that will take care of part of the problem. As for the rest, it isn't likely to change, until one of the AI guys gets a substantial amount of time scheduled for it. In other words, it is something I want to see fixed, but there is no ETA as to when or if it will be dealt with.

[/ QUOTE ]

Weeee!!! Gotta love a Dev who is still posting at this hour!

[ QUOTE ]

Croatoa, I'll outlevel it before my contacts give me a contact there probably. Why did you make this almost the same levels as Striga I'll never understand. We want to play it but the majority of the SG can't get the initial contacts and almost all our defender team is 25.

[/ QUOTE ]

Just wanted to point out that you can go to Croatoa at level 25 and talk to the mayor NPC and start the Croatoa missions. Just as you can start the Hollows content at level 5 just by visiting Lt Wincott, even if your first level 5 contact hasnt sent you to Wincott yet.

What I dont get is why the break in Croatoa content. I hit 25 with my Stone/Stone tank and immediately went to Croatoa to play the "new" stuff. I had finished the first three contacts by the time I was about halfway through level 26. Now, for some silly reason, I have to wait until level 30 to restart the Croatoa story line.

It had crossed my mind that if I had repeated the "Stop 30 Fir-bolgs from escaping" 100 times instead of getting a level 48 AR/Dev blaster to guard the door for me while I cleared the map on my second try, I might have been able to seemlessly proceed with the Croatoa content.

(( Just a tip for those trying the 30 Fir-Bolg mission... Level 48 caltrops are very helpful... Trip mines... Not so much...))

As for other Issue 5 stuff...

Archery - Not very impressed. It just doesnt feel very "super"

Sonics - Annoying. Started a Sonics blaster, played about 14 levels and decide that I couldnt possibly stand to listen to all that crap for 50 levels. Couldnt stand looking at the Sonic buff set.

Trick Arrows - This set is more interesting. Verdict still out.

Firefighting in Steel Canyon - interesting diversion, nothing more.

New Mission types - I them. I love the missions that have rescued heroes fighting side by side. I like the wave attacks. (Except the 30 Fir-bolg mission, what kind of nuts are you?)

Forced Teaming - THIS SUCKS! I hate that in Striga, I am pretty much required to find help to get past the Maestro AV. I cant imagine a way to successfully beat the 30 Fir-bolg mission in Croatoa without a team! This crap wouldnt bother me if I had the option to skip these missions or even willingly fail them to move on.

Well, I've babbled enough.

In short, there are some things I like about Issue 5... Some things I really really hate. But honestly, I really only have one reaction to Issue 5 so far...

meh....

Statesman and Crew,

I have spent a fair amount of time over on the Test server since Issue 5 testing began. Mostly with my Invuln/Ice Melee Tanker. I will be the first to say that I have long felt that Invuln Tanks were seriously overpowered. My concern is that the changes as they appear on test seem to go somewhat overboard. My tank is still in pretty good shape against smash/lethal based bad guys, but that's about it. Put me up against more then just a few of anything else and I have a heart to heart with the earthworms.

But the real concern is, after quite a bit of experiementation I have discovered that I am far better off by simply not taking many of my primary powers (Resist Physical Damage, Resist Elements, Resist Energy) and using pool powers like Tough and Weave. Previously, my tank made use of all of her primary powers except Unstoppable (never like the Unstoppable crash), now it seems I will have to respec many of my primaries out to remain a viable member of a team.

I would like to request that you guys take a hard look at the changes to Unyielding. Player testing seems to put Unyielding at an extremely reduced effectiveness with what seems to be a very nasty Defense Debuff. Many very experienced players feel that Unyielding is no longer worth taking either. Many feel that acrobatics and a few break frees in the tray instead of Unyielding will be better. I'm not too that point myself yet, but that is mostly because I'll apparently be running several toggles and it takes awhile to get through all the animations for TI, Inv, Tough, and Weave. So, for now I'm sticking with Unyielding and trusting my other Defense powers to hopefully offset the unyielding de-buff.

I would much rather be faced with new lower caps on resistance perhaps, even coupled with some resistance reductions also. I ask that you consider lowering the caps a bit and give us some of our Elements and Energies etc. Or even better, maybe reduce the resistances and defense for elements and energies, but not so much.

Thank you

Rachel Riley