Rock_Crag

/signed

A while back... I was making an arc featuring my Soldier as the main enemy... trying to use it to tell his characters story. Imagine my surprise when I find out that VEATs aren't even an option in the custom critters screen. I had to settle for making him a Mace/Invuln Brute. That makes my panda sad.

For the games sake... I'd definitely say the attack cycle requires more work. If only just because there are so many different ways one can 'attack' even when just limited to one weapon animation.

Let's take a sword, for example. An attack called 'slash' seems like it would be pretty straight forward at first... but how does the character swing the sword? Swiftly, from right to left in a downward motion? Maybe they should go left to right? How fast should they swing? Is it a one handed or two handed sword? What kind of stance should the character take while swinging.

But because this is for a game... there are other things to consider. Like how far away from the body the character needs to swing the sword in order to make it look like they made contact with the target. Or how long it takes to animate. The designers of that attack might have a limit for how many seconds it should take. Or, if not, you may need to determine that number for yourself. If an attack animates too quickly, then it might be over-powered for that attack type.

There are so many possibilities. Longbow, Vanguard, Rikti... regardless of what the theme is... I think we can all agree it needs to be versatile.

Personally... I'd like to see a 'mind jumper' kind of deal. Where you can choose to 'posses' a Minion/LT/Boss* and depending on the kind of enemy it is... you gain different powers in your power tray. Functionally I think it could work similarly to the Kheldian transformations.

*Obviously this would have to be limited somewhat, so to avoid allowing someone to take over an AV or Giant Monster/messing with mission objectives.

A top 100 list you have to view one at a time? Looks like I'll never know who's passed 97.

Anyone see Buckethead or Les Claypool anywhere on the list? I declare automatic fail if they aren't at least top 30.

I'm a little worried. While I like the idea of being able to pick and choose what I get out of the game... It feels like the previously 'free' issue releases will end up costing money now.

Actually.. I'm not sure that explains it right.
I'm worried that... the value of our money will drop. In other words... The amount of 'stuff' we could get per dollar will diminish because the 'cost' per item won't be accurate enough.

I'll give you an example: Powersets on Beta. Last time I checked, each one is costing 800 points. That's 2 months of paid membership (or 30 bucks straight up) out of the customers pocket. Going Rogue cost, what... 39.99 new? And it had 2 new powersets *and* new content. Heck, we've even had 'free' issue updates with new powersets and at the most that could be considered 15 bucks just for the ability to play them.

See what I'm getting at here? I'm all for the new system (and free play in general) but let's not kid ourselves. Customers *will* avoid paying if they feel like they're getting ripped off. And then... you're only hurting yourselves at that point.

Yes, my apologies if I wasn't clear with my thoughts here. Xzero45 is correct.

There is pretty much no reason to play Praetorian characters other than for content.. and since the shiny nature of those new arcs has worn off... I see more and more people completely avoiding that part of the game and starting Hero characters in Atlas because it's the quick and easy way. Once Freedom and i21 goes live... and we have the ability to start any AT anywhere from the start... the need for Praetoria diminishes even further.

Raising a character in an alternate dimension is an *interesting idea*. It's a shame that it only ended up being nothing more than a springboard for the alignment system.

Let's just hope they plan to do something more with Praetorian content other than adding the occasional... slightly higher leveled content areas. *cough*FirstWard*cough*

First off, let me say that I think the Devs do a great job with the game. Mistakes are made, yes, but most are corrected... and the Devs seem to genuinely listen to/care about the players opinions... which is more than can be said about most games.

Having said that...

I really don't think the Loyalist/Resistance/Praetorian classifications were well thought out.
Players leave Praetoria and aside from the differently named badges and the occasional textual reference... we pretty much forget we were even Praetorian to begin with, much less Loyalist or Resistance members. They're status practically gets swallowed up by the Primal Earth classification system.

It seems to me that... instead of making Loyalist/Resistance a primary classification (so that you completely lose your group association as soon as you hit primal earth)... they should be more secondary. IE: Loyalist Villain, or Loyalist Rogue. The icon would still be for Loyalist or Resistance, but there could be a visual indicator to show you're also Villain/Hero/etc... A colored ring around the outside maybe? Red: Villain. Blue: Hero. Silver: Rogue. And Gold: Vig.

I don't know. I just always found it odd that... once you hit a specific level you were carted off into Primal Earth and your previous alliance got over-written by a Hero/Villain branding... of sorts. I mean... come on. Being Praetorian is almost as vaguely referenced as your origin. Almost.

Okay, did some tweaking and managed to get up to 32.9% S/L defense without sacrificing much. I also bumped my KB protection to 12.

http://www.cohplanner.com/mids/downl...13FE05B27CD7A8

I was considering putting a Glimpse of the Abyss +chance for psi damage in Cloak of Fear. Think that would be a good idea?

So I'm looking to make a Super Strength/Dark Armor brute on live. I've never messed with Dark Armor much, so I'm looking for some advice as to what I should build towards, IO-wise.

I'd heard Endurance Reduction is key, in order to take advantage of the damage/fear/stun toggles. I've also heard the biggest asset to the set is the self heal, so recharge would probably be important as well.

I'm also looking to slot for defense a bit, though... and I'm unsure as to focus on melee or ranged most. I made a quick build if anyone wants to run with it, but at this point I don't think I would mind scrapping it and starting fresh either.

http://www.cohplanner.com/mids/downl...9AE13F45A7DAFB

While I don't have any hard numbers for you... I can tell you this: It stands to reason that... the faster the set can attack, the more effective defiance becomes. Where as Scourge stays static no matter what. That being said, defiance also suffers from sets which have time-costing variables.... like redraw and activation time. Considering all these factors... (without the numbers mind you) It seems to me the Corr version of DP would have the greater benefit of extra damage.

Again, that's an estimation. I could be very wrong.

I have a food replicator in my attic, big deal.

I was able to log on. However, I accessed the store and tried to purchase the new power sets ( I assume that's how they wanted it done). Purchase was confirmed, I lost 3000 of my 10000 points but still don't have access to the power sets.

Edit: Accidental FPARN. Zwill was just too fast for me*.


*waits for the "that's what she said" joke

So.. what is this, like Justice League Unlimited for Marvel?
I haven't seen the show... I'm going to assume it's in the same category of quality. Just judging from that video, however.... it makes me wonder why anyone even watches the show. Seriously, some of those drawings are atrocious. Especially that disfigured Captain America. I was drawing better proportioned characters in my junior high days.

So many characters to choose from, so little time.

Favorite Praetor: Neuron. He's a genius, which makes sense considering how there is an emphasis of speed and electricity within his powers. One of my favorite things about reading his dialog during his story arc... is that he'll casually mention how he's doing 20 other things while talking to you. This is typical of a higher-up in an organization, but you really get the feel he's doing it because his mind works that fast. I also really dig the costume. I absolutely love his mixture of super-science tech parts with the classic tights and pattern/logo. It all works together really nicely.

Favorite Rebel: Noble Savage, of course. His story is interesting, but what stands out more for me is his costume design. I'm always a fan of asymmetry in CoH costumes and I certainly hope this means we'll get more options for it Soon™.

Favorite Primal Hero: Hero 1. Not only is his origin based around the legendary Excalibur, but he managed to come back as a twisted villain. Hero costume we iconic, villain costume was *awesome*. Yes it was mostly just the tattered remains of his original costume... but that's what I loved about it. I'd love to see more destroyed pieces options for our characters as well.

Favorite Primal Villain: Black Scorpion, no doubt. Just the armor alone is epic enough. Or better yet, those Crey Scorpinoid's. I'm a huge fan of any costume that breaks from what players can normally construct. You have no idea how epic it felt when I found out we could make Arachnos Crab Spiders.

Honorary mention: Metronome. Easily my favorite character concept in the entire game. A psychic entity that can posses robots? That's just awesome. Screw creating new characters, I want to see more from Metronome.

Is it possible to make customized enemies that act like snipers? Or will I have to settle for picking a sniper out of an already existing group.... like Nemesis or Crey?