Samuel_Tow

People who think and understand what is required of them will do that. That's the definition of "intelligent." And intelligent is something a computer is not, not unless you can call an abacus or an algorithm intelligent. They can be programmed to account for many variables and recognise certain more common situations, but again - that's programmed. Unless a machine can stop, think and understand what you want it to do, then do THAT, rather than simply tracing through the procedures, it is not intelligent.

I've never had any reason to play over half the ATs. For instance, I've never had a reason to play Tankers, so when I get their sets on Scrappers or Brutes, I jump for joy. This will not change with Going Rogue. It'll just allow me to play my favourite powersets with more freedom, which I can't see a downside to.

Maybe it's because I didn't study maths in English, but I have a really hard time imagining someone saying, say, "two proofs."

I don't mean to say it's not badass, but it isn't as regal as it could be. If I'd gone with something like Dark Blast, then I could concede, but due to personal limitations, I can't really use characters with that powerset for this concept.

Slayer is a good example, though. However, and I say this with all the respect he deserves - he's scruffy. His suit us drawn as wrinkled in the close-up, he has that huge belt that makes it look like his pants are pulled up all the way to his checks and his jacket is unbuttoned. In essence, he's a MODERN vampire of sorts, and I've actually ripped him off already He's definitely a good concept, and I don't know why I keep forgetting about him. I guess his vampirism isn't very pronounced. Not like, say, Dimitri from Darkstalkers. Geez, talk about an OBVIOUS vampire

The reason I actually even bothered with this, though, is I kind of liked Alucard's pic in the dialogues, which showed him with a huge cape, several layers or ornate clothes and a giant blue scarf/handkerchief thing up his front. The look was a great hit with something like the old Victorian/Prussian aristocracy when they wore ornate, embroidered clothes with the big sleeves, poofy pants and... Well, something like this minus the dorky hat.

But, as you said, there re many ways to make or sell a vampire, and I shouldn't try to argue against other representations. For instance, the Dimitri I mentioned before is a very good example of the opposite scale of vampirism - constantly glowing monster with fangs Basically, all of his attacks have him morph into something horrible and scratch or slash at you. In a sense, his style of fighting is probably the best representation of a vampire fight I've seen anywhere, better than even Slayer, because he's so obvious and over-the-top. However, and I have to emphasise this, a large part of this is because he's actually using a lot of magical powers and relying less on direct claw attacks. Bats, teleporting, transformations, magic, etc. And with Darkstalkers crappy combo system, you just don't get to slash at things much, anyway.

Blade's vampires... I plain don't like. They're just thugs/soldiers, only with fangs and super strength. Deacon Frost manages to stand out on nothing more than the actor's ability to make a point, but the rest are just... Bland. This actually goes for Bloodlines, as well. Everyone talks about this game like it's the best thing since sliced bread, but I just couldn't stand it. Ghetto vampires combined with a crappy combat system and depressing settings just don't work for me. If I have to quote Vampire: The Masquerade games, I'd quote Redemption and leave it at that.

Hmm... Not a bad idea. But doesn't that sort of sidestep the issues of turning into mist, draining people of their life and quasi-mind-control? I don't actually know, honestly, as I can't really say one way or the other. On the one hand, Dark Armour seems the most appropriate. But on the other hand, it is a terrible set... Effective, maybe, but such a pain to play.

Leviathan Mastery
Spirit Shark and the Jaws version can represent a vampire's control over animals, Water Spout for weather control, Summon Guardian for their tendency to have subservient lackeys, and Hibernation for when they rest and regenerate all of their damage near instantly.

I'm unsure if you are able to recolour Hibernate to make it more visually fitting, unless you're going for a pirate vampire.[/quote]

Huh... Not a bad idea, actually. This might finally give me a reason to pick Fish Mastery on a character. It deviates slightly into Hellsing's weird crap category, and I'm not sure I'd be able to look past the "land sharks" problem (or Chum Spray), but that's definitely an interesting concept. Worth a look at the very least.

This is probably where gameplay takes precedence. I like the idea, but can you honestly justify taking more than one travel power? I mean, I've seen people do it, and I always question the point of that. If I'll have Teleport, say, why take Super Speed? Or, better yet, if I have Super Speed, why take Teleport? Purely practically speaking.

Right, right. My bad. I got carried away explaining why my obsession with swords isn't silly

Also...

Mutation is typically a trait possessed since birth, as it is defined in-game. What you're describing is Science, and fits well with Blade's style of vampires as a disease.

While the assertion has some merit, I don't believe it holds true. The reason people, or myself, at least, requested an extraction of weapon draw from out of weapon powers was because powers just took too long. Some powers may have had filler animations, but many did not, causing weapon powersets to have absolutely no flow to them whatsoever, even with the weapon drawn. Because weapon draw time was appended at the end of each attack, weapon sets would sing, wait, swing, wait. This was especially terrible in Broadsword's Disembowel, which gave you a full second of doing NOTHING while empty frames played out. By excising draw from our of weapon animations, it allowed weapon sets to flow from one attack into the next, becoming faster but, in effect, LOOKING much faster than they had actually become.

Basically, no-one likes to fight by firing one attack, then waiting around before he could fire another. People complained about the low levels where lack of attacks causes this, but at least for non-weapon sets, more attacks and more recharge fixed it. For weapon sets, nothing could fix it because the gaps were written into the powers, themselves. Removing those removed the problem. Removing or streamlining draw now can't cause the same level of dissatisfaction, because the root cause for dissatisfaction - non-flowing attacks - is not coming back. Dissatisfaction at any change, no matter what it is, is to be expected, but a good change would only incite a few grumbles, and I don't foresee such a change inciting much more than that. Nothing, really, much more than a few people complaining about how it was the wrong thing to mess with entirely.

In the long run, though people still complain about weapon draw as a penalty today, I'm fairly confident that no-one would want to go back to the days of no weapon penalty. About the only remaining complaint is what the original complaint was all about back then - interrupting the flow of attacks. Whether it is or inst a tangible slowdown, stopping to draw a weapon too often just looks bad. I dare say a lot of people would rather lose draw and keep the delay than lose the delay but keep the draw.

Next nearest, actually, but that doesn't help. Next nearest keys off the last target you had selected, so if you accidentally select an enemy far away, the next target will be even farther away. And if enemies move around, you can actually miss selecting someone. Say you have an enemy target, he runs away past everybody else, you hit Tab and you select the next spawn in the distance because the enemy is now farther than everybody else you're fighting.

There is a specific bind that targets nearest enemy and nearest enemy ONLY and will not tab through anything on repeated presses. I believe it's /target_enemy_near but I'd have to check out my /cmdlist to know for sure.

The point was never ridiculous spawning, it was ridiculous missions. I can live with a badge or two being hard to attain as long as they bring no benefits. But since I can only drop a mission once ever three days, and one of the Hunt Carnies on Peregrine comes up in the middle of an arc, those mission are a real, tangible roadblock to content.

You don't need badges. You NEED to finish these missions.

Yeah, and aside from Jim Temblor, how old is all of that stuff you mentioned? The Hollows is I1, which puts it at Q2-Q3 2004, and to the best of my knowledge, the missions themselves have not changed, aside from a couple of cutscenes. Striga Isle is I3, which puts it at either Q4 2004 or Q1 2005. Since I got my Katana Scrapper to 50 in January 2005, and he'd had the I3 Katana animations since he was level 20 (and ended up with 750 hours on the clock) I'd vote for Q4 2004. Croatoa is I5, which is pre-CoV, which puts it at some time in 2005. Probably Q2.

That is all, by the definition of what the words mean, five year old content. Nothing has changed about these zones. At all.

Do try to read carefully, please. I mentioned the Positron TF because it is part of the 1-15 content, because it is 5 years old and because it sucks. Just like the Atlas Park missions, just like the Kings Row missions, just like the Hollows, Striga and Croatoa. Very much all the content prior to CoV is five years old and BAD BAD BAD by now.

The missions aren't bad because they're repetitive. The missions are bad because they are bad. Old, outmoded design which shafts you with defeat-alls for no reason, which has precisely zero narrative value and which is, in very real terms, just "go there, kill this, click that." Newer content, from CoV onward and especially from Faultline onward does much better with the narrative and with making missions easier. But the old content is very, very evidently just basic excuse as to why you have to go into an instance and beat up a boss and his cronies, then click a glowing filing cabinet. Literally we're looking at newspaper missions, only they come from contacts.

And the Hollows, Striga and Croatoa are the worst. Pointless, aimless hunts that contribute nothing to the story, a complete LACK of a cohesive story even within the contacts' own mission rosters, and they end up in TFs that barely anyone does these days. The Hollows, especially, ending in the Caverns of Transcendence, an 8-man timed Trial against some of the toughest enemies in the level range, burried deep within the Troll tunnels stuff in a level band that everyone outlevels by the time they even get Karsis. Yeah, fat load of good the story does when you're missing the last chapter. Same for Striga, same for Croatoa. At least Faultline was designed around having a story with an end you could experience.

The old content is bad because it's bad. Fixing it is imperative. And by your own admission, the new players aren't bored of the old content and looking for more, so fixing missions does not rob them of something they're desperate for. What it gives them, in return, is a game with content that doesn't frustrate you with pointless timesinks introduced into the game for no reason whatsoever.

On the one hand, that seems to hold true for everything in the game. It's rare I've seen a game which accounts for every odd, unexpected transition the player could imagine as much as this one does. A lot just snap between certain animations that aren't likely to be executed one after the other. That's GOOD. It makes the game look more polished and more professional.

On the other hand, precedent to the contrary already exists. The Ninja Run stance allows you to fight, and does so with no animations or transitions of its own. If you attack while in it, you just morph into the start of your attack and end up in your respective combat mode until you move, at which point you return to Ninja Run mode. It's already in the game.

Lastly, and this is probably a stylistic argument, but I'm not actually against the slightly abstract act of weapons appearing in our hands AS we're swinging. This is a technique originally pioneered by Devil May Cry, which allowed Dante to switch between his guns and his sword with NO holster/draw animation in-between. One moment he's slashing like crazy, the very next his sword is gone and he's shooting guns. He didn't reach back to put the sword away, he didn't reach down to grab his guns, he's just switching them on the fly. Now, you'd think that would look bad, but it doesn't. It helps keep the action fast and combat smooth, so it's not actually all that obvious in the long run.

Personally, if it were up to me, I'd just put a simple transition between combat stances over the span of a few milliseconds and just key the weapon attack from there with the weapon quick-spawning right at the start. In fact, I have precedent for this - the Undead Slaying Axe on the Male model used to do just that when you were flying. I had a Broadsword Scrapper who could mix the axe like it were a regular attack because it played no draw. He just went from, say, Hack directly into Undead Slaying Axe like he were using the same weapon, only the weapon morphed in his hands. If we had that, I would not complain ever for a minute.

Hellsing's Alucard is impossible to replicate in City of Heroes, plain and simple. Even ignoring his hell hounds and other weird crap when he opens all of his seals, he's still a fighter who has guns for absolutely no reason other than because he's holding back. From what I've seen, he's completely immortal, practically invincible and virtually unhurtable. Even if we could get that kind of staying power on a character in City of Heroes, that would come at the cost of a severe limitation on practical offence and effective range. Because Alucard is essentially running constant God Mode, he gets to be a tank-mage of varying degrees of overpowerdness, meaning he's not subject to balance. We are.

Incidentally, Alucard is a perfect example as to why tank-mages in their extremes are a bad idea. He's boring. He never loses, never really takes any meaningful damage, and all he has to do to win is do that toothy grin, release a seal or two and basically pwn whoever he's fighting. It was fun once, funny twice, repetitive three times and not worth watching from then on. He started out as a cool character, but simply grew into little more than a bully.

So, yeah... All that is to say, in a roundabout way, that while I'd love to wait for Dual Pistols and use that, I really don't think there's any way that could work. Not with our AT balance. I can't replicate the one most famous vampire who uses dual pistols, and I can't really replicate what I'm after besides, so even though I LIKE the idea, it's just not doable from a practical standpoint.

I do like your outlook on Dual Blades, though. Originally I wanted to go with Broadsword, but there's one aspect of the set which normally works for it - its brutality. Broadsword shares a family with War Mace, so all of its animations are vicious bashes that look really cool with a sword, but also lend themselves to unrefined strength a lot more so than they lend themselves to skill. All of my Broadsword Scrappers are power fighters, which fits them well, but this Vampire might do with something a little less "Urk!" That, and Broadsword, to my eyes at least, really only works with large weapons due to how the animations are made. I've tried playing with small swords, and it just feels iffy. A truly sizeable, long sword is the only way for me, and that goes a bit too much into camp and too much into Devil May Cry. That, and I'm running out of large swords to use. I guess I could use the Rularuu Sword at some point, but to be honest, I don't like the Broadsword option. The blade slab is too thin.

Dual Blades, on the other hand, don't need to be large, and in fact look actually kind of silly if I go with the largest options, like the dual Impervium Katanas. I wouldn't quite go with "small," as things like daggers just look silly, but the Valkyrie swords are actually perfect for this opportunity. They extravagant, they're ornate, they're unusual... And they're shiny One of the reasons I haven't made more Dual Blades characters is I lack any Dual Blades options that are truly to my taste. Since we don't get the Roman swords in there, I've had to make do, and that really saps the fun out of it. But this time, I think I can stick with these.

That's pretty much where I stand. Scrappers are spastic monkeys, but compared to Brutes, they have the patience of a sage.

Basically, I don't foresee any ATs replacing any others. We've already seen so far that every player already comes with his own baggage as to which is "better," and history has shown that no-one can ever agree on anything completely enough to matter. Yes, some people are going to favour Corrupters over Defenders, but I'd bet dollars to doughnuts that there are plenty of people who feel the complete opposite.

At the end of the day, each AT comes with its unique set of skills and playstyles, and none is truly "better." Smart team leaders will know that the player behind the keyboard is much more important than what character class he picked.

Both of these options require a lot of waiting, and if I sit on this too long, it'll lose its appeal. I might just do that, mind you, I'm not saying no, but... I have Broadswords coming out my nose at this point. I'm not sure I could get excited about one again, and Dual Blades is something I've barely played (have one to 40 and that's it), so it's alluring. But then... Broadsword is also kind of regal. So I don't know.

I actually thought about that. Mace I'm not too keen on, as I've tried it and... Let's just say "it could be better." Battle Axe is one of my favourites, but with the kind of COST it comes with, compounded on top of Dark Armour... Ugh! It sounds like another Stone/Stone, and I don't think I could handle that. Not a bad idea otherwise.

It's not like the old one was exactly big. They reduced it in size and made it easier several times on player request.

Uuh... OK, that'll definitely make things easier.

A sword is a noble weapon, that's how. Tsunamis are generally not considered to be noble weapons. You don't have to believe me, or even agree with me, but this notion exists and has existed in fiction for some time. I'm somewhat dubious it exists in real life, where concepts of nobility aren't really as respected or upheld, but in fiction, that's generally true. If there's some kind of holy weapon or long-lost powerful magical weapon, it will almost always be a sword. Holy Hand Grenade aside, you don't often something like a pike or a mace take up the "most powerful" spot very often.

Precisely. The sword isn't a requirement on the side of vampirism, it's a requirement on the side of style. I can very much make a vampire who punches things, and it'll actually be more true to the source material, but in terms of cool factor, it would be substantially less so. That's actually a major plot point in Kull the Conqueror, where Kull is convinced to give up his axe in favour of a sword, as a more civilised weapon, as opposed to the barbarian axe. Eventually he goes back to his axe and kicks ***, but the point remains. Even Obi-One Kenobi couldn't resist dabbing into this, calling the lightsabre "An elegant weapon from a more civilised age."

Basically, a finely-crafted, heirloom sword is a good representation of both the fanfare and the regality of aristocracy. An aristocratic vampire would hold on to all things ornate and beautiful, using them to enhance his guise of nobility. Furthermore, and this enters into finally coming up with a concept for him, I actually enjoy the conflict of a vampire, at heart a savage beast, who seeks to resist and restrain his instinct by holding on to things of beauty, style and refinement. So instead of tearing people apart with his bare hands, such a vampire would pick a cleaner precision weapon with a proud and noble history.

Basically, I want a sword because it looks cool, and because I could key a story off of that and related little touches.

*edit*
Also, one of my biggest examples is Christoph, from Vampire: The Masquerade - Redemption. Easily one of my favourite vampires, not least of which because he fought to preserve his humanity even in the society of callous, feral vampires.

Nah, I need something more refined than just punching with darkness.

I don't actually plan on taking Cloak of Fear ever again. It costs too much and does too little at too low an accuracy value. Eh. I wouldn't really need Presence with Oppressive Gloom properly explained away, and while I'd want Phase Shift, I'll probably reserve that to any free slots I might end up with. Frankly, I'll probably make use of my City Traveller status and skip a travel power prerequisite to fit in a Phase Shift prerequisite, so power picks shouldn't be too bad. I'm not convinced I'll want fitness, but we'll see how that goes.

Oppressive Gloom is more a mesmerising effect, disorienting and weakening people just by sheer presence. Death Shroud is a more sinister, more corrupting effect that actually adds physical illness to those around the vampire. Being that one of the oldest scares about vampires is the fear of death and disease spread by the dead coming back to life, it actually fits. Vampires corrupt, after all. That, and I'm taking a more liberal interpretation of concepts.

It's tempting to do that, definitely, but it's still Fire damage, and I need to come up with a reason why it burns. For my Dark Fire Brute, it was a simple explanation - his was the essence of destruction, so it just made things no longer exist in a process very much LIKE fire (oddly similar to Itachi's Amaterasu, as I recently found out), but for this guy, I'm looking at more sinister, less obvious attacks. Less burning people alive, and more poisoning and cursing them. That, and I really don't want punches and kicks in there if I can help it. It is not dignified to soil one's hands like this.

And...

Ew!

That's not a bad idea, actually, but ironically, it's incredibly close to another character I have. He's a "good guy bad guy," who preaches doing good, but is actually a bigoted butcher who spins people's heads with talk of justice but ends up perverting them into cold-blooded murderers. And the funny thing is, despite what the guy is, I actually have trouble convincing real, actual people that he's a good guy, because I write him to be ambiguous enough

I'm not sure what I'll do with the vampire dude. I'll probably play him as a counterpart to the other immortal villain I have, who's sort of a rich, eccentric philanthropist millionaire involved in rather messy crime out of sheer boredom. That, and the inability for him to suffer any permanent damage but creasing up his white suit. This guy ought to be the more reserved, more mysterious immortal who wouldn't be out giving interviews and laughing with full lungs, or even monologuing. I don't have a motivation for him yet, though. Since I feel like making him a Rogue at some point, I may drive that motivation to be more simple survival than anything else. We'll see if I want to make him villain by choice or actually leave room to explore Going Rogue.

Yeah, that's been a running problem for several years now. You'd think they'd either stop making maps with these little niches, or at least add invisible walls in there so ragdolls don't slide in, but we keep having that same problem. Ugh!