Sandolphan

I'm having a big problem as well with the trivial nature of enhancements on the newly balanced defense.

Just for fun here's an idea: change all training/dual/single origin enhancements to be .5%, 1%, 2% respectively. Then just set the defense percentages about where you want them to stay and they will. In fact, just set all powers just under where you want them to be, and even 6-slotted they won't fluctuate more than 12%.

There, problem solved. Nobody needs to bother about customizing their heroes, but you won't have to worry about anything breaking the game.

Of course, how much fun and enjoyment would we get from that? About the same as we'll get from the trivial defense enhancement scheme you're currently looking at.

***I simply cannot see any reason to slot at all if there is no PERCEIVABLE benefit.***

-Sandolphan

Name: Ebony DeFeu
Powers: Fire/Fire
Origin: Magic

Story:
Ebony’s parents wanted a child desperately, but after trying for years their efforts proved fruitless. Having all but given up hope, they were approached one night by a renowned mystic, who offered them the opportunity to raise a foundling child. They jumped at the chance, but were sworn never to question the child’s origin. They named the girl Ebony, and loved her dearly. As she matured, certain physical attributes became apparent; she grew to very tall and powerful, her skin turned a reddish color, and small horns sprouted from her forehead. In time, a penchant for starting and controlling fires manifested itself. The family moved often and to more isolated places, as Ebony’s appearance would frighten many who saw her. Thanks to her parents’ teaching and wisdom, Ebony never saw this as a defect of herself, but rather as a weakness in others. She felt pity for the ignorant of the world, and decided to use her abilities to teach by example, coming to Paragon City to begin her crusade.

Still, there are those terrible nightmares…


-Sandolphan

Pulling a hostage guard group from a packed room full of mobs using stealth+sspeed:

Target one of the hostage guards. Pull using one of the techniques listed above. When the target is clear of the room and approaching your safe area, toggle off sspeed to drop out of invis to stealth only. This will bring the rest of the guard group without agro'ing anything else in the crowded room. Finish off the mobs. You've just rescued a hostage from a room of death with minimal gambling.

-Sandolphan

There doesn't appear to be a Rikti ambush if the head is chain held. We usually use two controllers spamming holds, he is never released for the entire battle...no Rikti.

Also, I had originally thought the field generators were just the things helping to hold the Hydra in this dimension. I always assumed you held the head and defeated it with the cannons as the correct way of doing the trial. I can't imagine fighting the head *without* holding it, generators or not.

-Sandolphan

Since I'm in a mood to complain...

Just turned 38 and before choosing a new power, I copied Sandy over to Test to try out ST. I would really like to have another aoe control ability, but sadly ST is not it. Went to Brickstown and tried the power on many different mobs of differing levels. In every case, ALL mobs scattered (orange con and down). I mean every member of every mob I tried it on scattered and ran...FAR. Even an orange boss (freak tank) ran after attacking me, once the mag was overcome.

This power is just not viable the way it is currently, at least to me. I have never ever wanted mobs to scatter. It's very disappointing, after the experience I've have with my Mind controller and my DDD's fear.

Perhaps I'm missing something, maybe my tactics are lacking or I don't understand how Geko wants us to use this power. As it is now though, ST is less than useless to me. It has no place soloing, infiltrating, in teams (instant kick material!), or anyplace I can come up with.

Please fix this (and Superior Invisibility...my other current annoyance). Thanks in advance Geko!

-Sandolphan

Along with those issues I agree with from above (alliances, offline and inactive management, banks, costume options) I would like to put forth the following for consideration:

CoH generally seems to lack a lot of the driving force for organizing a true community. Steady groups are generally small, and composed most often of RL friends or small cliques.

As a contrast, I played EQ for 5 years, and the communities there are huge...on the order of hundreds of individuals on more than a simple name-recognition basis. I could zone in to many of the standard meeting places, send a 'hello' out in open channel and be met with tons of greetings, not to mention the slew of /tells that would ensue; and the constant stream of friendly banter going on made the whole experience immersive, friendly and enjoyable.

The reason for this is EQ has CONTENT that requires large communal action. The system is of course loot-driven, and that creates the desire to tackle the content requiring large groups (ie raids). But it gets people to join together for great things, and thereby people get to know each other very well in large numbers.

It's the difference between living in a neighborhood where nobody talks to their neighbors...and one where everyone gets together several times a year for block parties, Labor Day/Memorial Day cookouts, parades, etc.

CoH thankfully does not have loot as a primary means of advancement, but because of this it also lacks loot's strong driving force for tackling large scale content. In my opinion, CoH needs something BIG to draw together large numbers of people who want to work towards some greater goal, and foster the spirit which I see lacking. Hamidon is the only example of an attempt at this, but one raid-level encounter is not sufficient to foster a grander community. And it can't just be one such encounter, it should be a whole system of things to do.

Like maybe supergroup-level content!

I'm not really sure what to offer you as a suggestion beyond that; I merely wanted to express my hope that you can work on something to bind together the players. I don't know what your numbers tell you, but it seems to me that everyone is roaming around in tiny cliques, with a lot of loners soloing. It feels like a large, cold and lonely city at times, even with my long friends list.

(Maybe a small concession to player greed: it's very difficult to get Task Forces going...perhaps offering dual-enhancer SOs as a reward for completing them? At least this Trial/TF-only incentive might get more people involved in doing them...I like to do missions and TFs almost exclusively. It would be nice if there were people at the contacts looking for TFs, instead of the emptiness I usually see when looking to start one.)

Thanks for listening!

-Sandolphan

Definitely agree with binding ctrl-# to the third tray. The current ctrl-# has only been an annoyance when I accidentally hit it and mess up my power bars, until I manually click them back.

The shift-# is vital to empaths and others needing to quickly target teammates. Leave that alone please.

(Also, since we're adding a third tray, how about reconsidering adding a second auto-power?)

-Sandolphan