Silas_Dark

I'm trying to purchase the Vanguard Shield for my characters (80 points) and I'm getting the "quantity requested exceeds" message, but I don't already have it.

I have unlocked *some* of the Vanguard pieces on my level 50, but I don't have the Vanguard Shield on any of my characters.

Is there any way I can buy it?

Thanks!


Silas Dark

The Halloween Tip Mission isn't showing up for me at all.

When I activate a Costume Power, and defeat several Trick-or-Treat enemies, at some point I get the "Tip Found" message, but there are no Tip Missions listed under Contacts | Tips at all (not even the usual "tip info" contact).

This is a level 50 Hero that's been sitting on the Test Server for several months. I've never done any Tip or Alignment Missions with this character (on Test), but I have taken the same character through the entire Hero -> Vigilante -> Villain -> Rogue -> Hero arc on Pinnacle.

I started my first character as Loyalist and was given the option pretty early on to switch to Resistance.

I started my latest character as Resistance and, so far, haven't seen any way to switch to Loyalist. I can't get into the Loyalist Lounge to talk to anyone there, so I'm really not sure how to make the change in that direction.

What I really want to do, with this particular character, is switch back-and-forth at least five times to get the badge, but I have no idea how to proceed.

I checked out a couple of other "switching" threads, but I couldn't find an answer (other than "talk to Provost Marchand", which I don't know how to do, because I've never been Loyalist and he's in the Lounge).

Any help would be greatly appreciated, thanks!

[ QUOTE ]
First...I confirm that we're working on right now (as in pohsyb in the next room) to add CoV costume parts into CoH if you own both games....

Then we repeal the hated stealth nerf. The reason why: many well reasoned posts. It's that simple. You guys pointed out the problems.

AND now...we're changing the way Archvillains spawn. A ton of forum goers disliked adding so many AV's into missions a while back...so we've come up with a solution. If the team size and mission difficulty are ABOVE a certain level, an Archvillain spawns. Below that, players will face only an Elite Boss. If the mission is set on the first two levels of difficulty, it takes 4 heroes or more to spawn an Arch Villain. On the third level, 3 heroes or more. On the fourth level, 2 heroes. On the highest (Invincible), a solo hero will spawn an AV. Note this works in BOTH City of Heroes and Villains.

In order to incentivize larger teams, Positron is going to add a bonus to AV rewards!

[/ QUOTE ]

Thank you, thank you, thank you, THANK YOU!


Silas Dark
D.E.F.E.N.S.E. Incorporated

[ QUOTE ]
Actually, one thing that would help small SGs is to make the medical bay worth it.

As it is right now, Raids are the only reason to have a medical transporter. Since the transporter takes you to the middle of the zone instead of to the mission door, there's no reason to go to the med bay transporter instead of to the hospital.

I've seen a few SGs go through the same process. They work and work to get teleporters and a med bay. Then they find out that the Med bay has no advantage over the hospital, but it requires an extra level load. So they get rid of it and feel very disappointed that it wasn't as useful as it seemed it would be.

If the transporters could be set up to always take you to the mission door, the medical bay would be massively more useful. If you could craft a "recall to base" temp power after your base has teleporters, the teleporters would be much more useful.

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My SG is in this particular "boat" right now.

Since CoV/I6 came out, we have been struggling to get enough Prestige for one simple goal: To get a working Medical Bay.

So far, we've managed to build an Infirmary and an Energy Room, but we're still saving up for the 100,000 Control Room, the 250,000 Power Source, not to mention a Computer and a Database -- all of which we have to have before the Infirmary will function even at the basic 25% level.

All of this has been based on the assumption that leaving the Base after dying would take you back to the mission door (as it did in Beta).

We would still have to "take a knee" before going back (at least until that far-off day when we can afford a Workshop and Work Tables), but it would still be worth the massive amount of time and effort we're having to put into it.

Now we've been told that this isn't the case, and that a Medical Bay has no actual real benefit over just going to Hospital.

This is terribly disappointing.

We have absolutely zero interest in PvP/Raids (and are really too small, even if we were interested), so given the extremely high Prestige cost of everything and the fact that most (if not all) items are pretty much useless outside of PvP, we're starting to wonder what the point is in trying to have a Base at all?

At this point, we're seriously considering selling back the crap we've got so far and just building a few rooms of decorative stuff (if we even bother doing anything more with Bases at all).

Bases seemed like such a potentially cool thing too.


Silas Dark
D.E.F.E.N.S.E. Incorporated

[ QUOTE ]
Right now a lot of posts have talked about the high Prestige cost of Base items - and that they're bringing in a ton of Salvage but can't really do anything about it.

Bases, as they currently stand, really focus on mid and large sized groups earning Prestige - so the complaints have a good point. We're trying to work something out so that a smaller group can get something useful quickly - and also put Salvage to use! Can't promise a timeline, but we are working on it.

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Yes, please!

I would so welcome a way for those of us who never, ever plan to try to get any Items of Power or do any kind of SG PvP at all (and are really too small to, even if we actually wanted to) to still be able to build a nice functional Base.

We have a very small SG (a dozen members or so), and we're all on at wildly different times so there are never really more than 2 or 3 of us on at any one time. We team up together quite a bit, but the groups are small (obviously) and any kind of Base Raiding is out of the question (if we wanted to, which we don't).

So far, with all of us working our butts off to earn as much Prestige as possible, we have managed to create a Base with the following:

An Entry Room (there by default)
An Infirmary (non-functional)
An Energy Room (empty)

We are half way towards being able to afford to place a Control Room (100,000), but then we'll still be 250,000 Prestige away from having a Power Source, and then after that we'll need (if I understand it correctly), a Computer and a Database as well.

We are building the smallest/cheapest versions of everything, and placing no decorative items at all at this point. All we're really trying to do at this point is get a minimal functioning Infirmary.

We're getting lots of Salvage, but we can't do anything with it, and we're a very long way from being able to actually place a Workshop and Work Tables.

I think I understand why (for Raid/PvP purposes) you've set the prices so high (to try to keep SG's from immediately being able to build Uber-Bases), but it's keeping us smaller SG's from being able to enjoy the new Base feature at all.

Ideally, I'd like to be able to create our Base, up front, as either PvP or PvE-only, and have the prices be set accordingly (being dramatically lower for PvE-only).

If the SG ever grew, and for whatever reason we actually decided that we wanted to do Raiding, we would need to sell everything back and then go back and recreate the Base as PvP.

There shouldn't be any way for people to exploit this, since you sell back for the same price you buy for. So, while we would get all of our Prestige back (at PvE prices), when we made our PvP Base, we wouldn't have any unfair advantage over SG's that went PvP to start with.

Maybe it would also be possible to sell Salvage for Prestige? That way when you're trying to get your Base started, like we are (and can't even think about doing Crafting yet), you could use all of that dropped Salvage to boost your Prestige and actually be able to build more of your Base.

Just some thoughts. Thanks for listening, and looking into the problem!


Silas Dark
D.E.F.E.N.S.E. Incorporated

As of the most recent Training Room patch (and CoV Beta as well), having files in these folders appears to cause the client to lock up at the "Loading..." banner.

The only solution appears to be to remove or rename the 'data' folder, which restores the annoyingly loud default sounds.


Silas Dark
D.E.F.E.N.S.E. Incorporated

[ QUOTE ]
I did say one other thing - that dropped Enhancements are useful only for what you can sell them for - because everyone purchases their Enhancements at the store (or at least most of them).

[/ QUOTE ]

I think there are some things that could be done to make dropped Enhancements more useful (without having any negative impact on stores) :

<ul type="square">[*]Give Contacts the ability to convert other-origin enhancements to one of that Contact's origin types, without changing the level of function of the enhancement.[/list]For example, if my level 36 Mutation hero gets a level 38 Damage Enhancement (Science), he could take it to a Mutation-based Contact, and pay to have it converted to a Mutation Enhancement (still Damage, and still level 38).

This does several things:

(1) Instead of just being a means of getting Influence, drops are now potentially useful for levels that aren't sold at the stores.
(2) Gives Contacts an important new role, and causes the Contact's Origins to matter even more.
(3) Gives us something else to use Influence for.

<ul type="square">[*]Allow heroes to slot enhancements that are higher level than they can use, but have them be permanently converted to their current max level[/list]For example, if someone gives my level 15 hero a level 22 enhancement that I could otherwise use (if it weren't too high level), I can slot it and it will be permanently reduced to level 18.



Silas Dark
Magic Scrapper
D.E.F.E.N.S.E. Incorporated

My Gravity-control Wizard (Magic Controller) :

Gee Whiz on Liberty

Gee Whiz (close)
Gee Whiz (full)
Gee Whiz (action)



---------------------
Silas Dark
Magic Scrapper
D.E.F.E.N.S.E. Incorporated

[ QUOTE ]
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When on a mission, and all team members are of the same SG... make the NPCs and Enemies say the SuperGroups name instead of the players name.

ie "Thankyou Superfriends, I was afraid they would kill me"
"I here Aussieman and the Superfriends are on there way"
"Kill those meddling Superfriends"
"I would of gotten away with it, if it wasn't for the Superfriends and that hero Aussieman"

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This sounds really cool, but think how hard it would be to implement. Lets use this example and say your supergroup was named, "The Superfriends" - in that case the NPCs would be saying:
"Thankyou The Superfriends, I was afraid they would kill me"
"I here Aussieman and the The Superfriends are on there way"
"Kill those meddling The Superfriends"
"I would of gotten away with it, if it wasn't for the The Superfriends and that hero Aussieman"

In my opinion those pheases just sound a little silly and would detract more than they would add.

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I think the trick would be in how the writers use the internal token:

"Thank goodness for $supergroup! I thought I was a goner."
"Keep your eyes peeled. I hear $supergroup might make an appearance."
"$supergroup! Take 'em down, boys!"
"Drat! Foiled again. I keep getting thwarted by $supergroup!"

If the phrases are written carefully, I believe they should work correctly for just about any Supergroup name.


Silas Dark - Magic Scrapper
Blurg - Science Tanker
Quantium X - Mutation Controller
Grey 17 - Natural Defender
Santabot - Technology Blaster

[ QUOTE ]
What tweaks would you like to see for Super Groups?

What new features?

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<ul type="square">[*]Enhancement Bank[/list]I imagine this would be tied to Supergroup bases, and players would probably have to actually go to their base in order to "withdraw" them... but it would be really great if there were some kind of "drop boxes" through-out the city (or perhaps use existing Post Boxes). If you "drop" an Enhancement on the box (similar to giving a gift to another player), it is sent to your Supergroup's bank.

This would would give players a convenient way to contribute to their Supergroup, and avoid having to delete enhancements that they can't use (but which someone else might be able to, or the Leader might be able to sell to help pay the rent).

The Bank might also possibly accept Inspirations, so that you could drop spare ones in the drop boxes, and then the Supergroup Leader could give them out before Raids or other large group events.


Silas Dark - Magic Scrapper
Blurg - Science Tanker
Quantium X - Mutation Controller
Grey 17 - Natural Defender
Santabot - Technology Blaster

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*) My advice is: do not beat us with the Stick of Teaming. Just because you have had a good experience teaming is not a valid reason for forcing it on anyone else. If you want people to team, give them motivation to do so. You attract more flies with honey than vinegar.


[/ QUOTE ]

I keep seeing this sort of sentiment on the boards and I really think it's a good one... I know it would be lots of work, but my suggestion would be to have contact offer not two missions as it is now (one street sweep, one door), but rather THREE missions, roughly classified as:

* Street Sweep- self-explainatory. Leave this just as-is.
* Standard door (Minions and Lt's in the mission, scaled to fit the player numbers and slider settings at the time of mission launch- basically what we have now but with a far lower Boss spawn rate, with all Boss missions clearly defined in the flavor text) and
* Team/Larege Map- Missions for groups. Missions have Bosses, AVs, large maps (as in the huge, sprawling CoT underground bases that are sooooo cool but taks sooooo long to run through), etc. These missions can either spell out their difficulty in the flavor text (i.e.: "This will be a tough one [player], probably a suicide run without backup. If I were you, I'd go grab some teamm mates to take this base out!"), can be color-coded, whatever. And yes, some builds might be able to solo even these missions, but you can offer the cookie through increaded XP awards for groups that get larger as more players do the mission, etc. thereby ENCOURAGING team play rather than PUNISHING soloers.

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I still don't understand why my Contacts can't simply 'notice' whether or not I'm in a Team and offer me missions accordingly.

If I'm not in a Team, then I don't get offered Team-required missions. If I am in a Team, then the Contact says "Ah, Silas Dark, I see you have some friends with you. Good, because you're going to need some help for this one..."

That puts control firmly in the hands of the players. All I have to do in order to get the most Team-oriented (and Team-required) content is to simply Team up before I go to my Contact.

If, on the other hand, I only have a short time to play and I just want to do a quick mission, I can just grab a mission and play. Since I'm not in a Team, I won't be offered any Team-required missions.


Silas Dark - Magic Scrapper
Blurg - Science Tanker
Quantium X - Mutation Controller
Grey 17 - Natural Defender
Santabot - Technology Blaster

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I am upset that now I will never have a controller or defender. Because I will never make a hero that HAS to group to play. It's just not heroic.

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Choosing to group is a fun and rewarding time. Having to group is a grind, and it gets old very quickly.

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The choices we get to make about our gameplay can make a good game great. We need to have the choice to solo or group. It might be different if it weren't 8 months into retail, but we have grown to love a game that we can actually play without a huge group, and a huge timesink. Why take that away? Again I stress, not all AT's are affected, but I will never play an AT that has been....

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Exactly.

For me, it's all about creating a Super Hero based on a concept, and then working out which AT will allow that concept.

I want to be able to play quick stealthy characters and lumbering powerful ones, Super Heroes that use fire, and ice, weather, devices, radiation, gravity, mind control. Heroes that dodge, Heroes that resist. I don't care if the game calls them 'blasters' or 'scrappers' or whatever. I just want to be able to have a hero whose powers are based on fire or ice or whatever my character concept calls for.

The problem is, as things stand now (and the way they seem to be headed), most of those characters aren't going to actually translate into true playable Super Heroes.

As long as the concept is one that can be adapted to a Scrapper, I have a decent chance of making something resembling a 'real' Super Hero (although, sadly, some 'builds' are more viable than others). Some Tankers maybe, possibly even some specific Blasters (at least up until now).

If it involves powers that only fall into the realm of Defenders and Controllers, forget it. I suppose there may be some very specific 'builds' that are the exception, but for the most part, they all fall into that lovely un-comic-book-like MMO category of 'support classes'.

I love the idea behind my little Gravity Controller (he was my original character in Superworld and Champions back in college), and my psionic radiation defender too, but I rarely play them... and the situation just gets worse the higher level they get (and the more 'team encouraging' changes are made).

I'm actually seriously considering scrapping them altogether, and just creating a couple more Scrappers with different powers instead. It would be a shame if I had to, but I simply don't have the time to be able to devote to spending an hour searching for a Team and then still have any time left to actually play.

I'm not a power-gamer or a min-maxer, but I think I want what a lot of players want (not everyone, of course)...

I want to create and play a comic book Super Hero, with all of the cool powers that go with it. I want to be able to do missions and fight villains, just like they do in the comic books.

Sure, sometimes something comes up that is so earth-shattering or powerful (ie. Task Force or Trial) that we can only defeat it by Teaming up, and sometimes we just Team up because we can (not because we have to). But most villains? most problems? I should be able to handle them myself. After all, I'm supposed to be a Super Hero, right?


Silas Dark - Magic Scrapper
Blurg - Science Tanker
Quantium X - Mutation Controller
Grey 17 - Natural Defender
Santabot - Technology Blaster

[ QUOTE ]
Boss Changes

A solo player (unless the mission calls specifically for a boss in a spawn override) will create spawns with minions and lts. ONLY.

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If this is the case then there seem to be a lot of missions that specifically override Boss spawns.

Of the last few missions that I have done, all of them but one has had at least one generic Boss (orange or red) in addition to the main 'named' Boss or Lieutenant.

The one I just finished (Crey/Council) had two generic (red) Bosses and one 'named' (orange) Boss.

The one before that (Devouring Earth) had four generic (orange) Bosses.


[ QUOTE ]
I didn’t want to impact solo play by increasing mobs across the board. Instead, I focused on Bosses.

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The problem is that this has still impacted solo play, and it has also resulted in very 'lop-sided' missions. Minions are way too easy and Bosses are too hard.

If I leave the difficulty slider at default, minions and lieutenants pose no challenge or threat, but Bosses can take me out if I make too many mistakes or just happen to get really unlucky (they can dish out some insane damage in a single shot).

If I bump the difficulty slider up (which is what I want to be able to do, at least with my Scrapper), the minions and lieutenants get a little more challenging, but the Bosses become too risky to be worth it. All it takes is one mistake or just a little bad luck and I'm down.

I can't raise the slider any more than that without making it impossible to take on the Bosses.

The net result is that I can't really use the difficulty slider effectively, due to the Boss changes.

Not only that, but my other characters will be unable to do many (most?) missions, even at the default difficulty setting.


[ QUOTE ]
As for why we put Bosses in missions at all – in other words, why isn’t everything solo-able – the answer is simple. We want gameplay that encourages the best part of the game: teaming up. Soloing is fine, but a MMP really shines when you meet other people and play alongside them.

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Yes, and Team-based content is great. I like Task Forces and I think Trials are cool. I'm all for Team Missions, but I don't feel that they should ever prevent me from being able to log in and have interesting, content-based gameplay, whether I can find a Team (or want to spend the time looking for one) or not.

This is why I would really prefer to see Team Missions be offered from different contacts (or else have my Contact notice whether or not I'm in a Team, and if I am offer me Team-specific missions: "Ah, Silas Dark, I see you have some friends with you. Good, because you're going to need some help for this one...").

If I'm not in a Team, and my regular missions from my regular contacts require a Team, it simply derails gameplay for me. If I wanted (and had time) to join a Team, then I could go to my Contact and get a Team Mission (or else go to special 'Team' Contacts and get one).

Team content is great. Let's have more of it. Solo content is great. Let's have more of that too.

I just want to be able to choose, so that I can spend my time playing instead of going through my missions saying "No, I'll need a Team for that one"... "No, that sounds like it might have a Boss"... etc etc


Silas Dark - Magic Scrapper
Blurg - Science Tanker
Quantium X - Mutation Controller
Grey 17 - Natural Defender
Santabot - Technology Blaster

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I think the genre (and the great game) attracts many of us who want some online gaming experiences, but need it to be flexible enough that we can solo at will (instead of standing around trying to form a team for 10 minutes).


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Eighth - you've hit the nail on the head! Positron and I were just talking about this; part of the beauty of the game is that you don't need to wait in order to get to fun. I don't want to lose that in the rush to encourage grouping. Like I've said, I'm going to review the missions this week and see how many have bosses at the different level ranges.

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This is the most encouraging thing I've seen posted in quite a while!

The most frustrating aspect of other MMO's for me was the fact that I often only have an hour or so to play, and most of the time I would find myself spending the bulk of that time standing around shouting "Level blah blah blah blah LFG".

That's not fun.

I got City of Heroes. Installed it. Created a character... and just played. It was fantastic.

If I have time, I can join a Team, maybe even do a Task Force. If not, I can go to my Contact, grab a mission, and do it, all by myself, just like a real honest-to-goodness Super Hero. I love it.

With the introduction of the simultaneous 'clickies' and now the Boss changes (especially their damage output), it has started to feel like this might be becoming less and less true.

That's why I am so glad to hear you say that you don't want to lose the 'instant fun' aspect in the rush to encourage grouping.

Thank you!


Silas Dark - Magic Scrapper
Blurg - Science Tanker
Quantium X - Mutation Controller
Grey 17 - Natural Defender
Santabot - Technology Blaster

[ QUOTE ]
Statesman :
Tanker changes, at the moment, have a greater priority than Expansion 4's material. I made a mistake by not addressing these concerns earlier; I'm not going to compound it by simply saying "it'll happen sometime...."

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It sounds like I may get to dust off old Blurg and play him again, and maybe even sooner rather than later.

Cool. I loved the idea of the character (he was my first real character in CoH), but I found him increasingly frustrating to play.

One of the things I really like about CoH (besides the fact that we're playing superheroes... I mean, come on, superheroes! what's not to love about that?) is the fact that Cryptic seems to be making an ongoing effort to at least try to address issues like this.


Silas Dark - Magic Scrapper
Blurg - Science Tanker
Quantium X - Mutation Controller
Grey 17 - Natural Defender
Santabot - Technology Blaster

[ QUOTE ]
It'll let us step out of roles just that little, and that's fun. It ain't gamebreaking.

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Frankly, I'm in favour of just about anything that helps to keep CoH from just being "EQ with a coat of spandex paint".

I just like making comic book super-heroes with cool, comic book powers. The closer the game stays to that, the happier I am.

As long as we have something interesting to contribute to a Team, and can also still kick bad guy butt all by ourselves (in true comic book fashion), I don't see a problem.


Silas Dark - Magic Scrapper
Blurg - Science Tanker
Quantium X - Mutation Controller
Grey 17 - Natural Defender
Santabot - Technology Blaster

[ QUOTE ]
Does anyone know if there might be a badge they are not telling us about? Like a badge for getting so many treats. I could see them doing this, rewarding those that trick or treat so much that they get 1000 treats or so.

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I had the same thought.

I was also kind of hoping there was a badge for getting all of the other badges, but there doesn't seem to be.

Still, I had a blast last night with the Halloween event.

For a while I just ran around clicking doors and seeing what popped out. After a bit, I got a little more organised and joined up with a great Team and started seriously going after the badges.

I thoroughly enjoyed it (even though I played longer than I had intended to), and I will probably do it again tonight with one of my alts.

Heck, I might even dust of Blurg and let him give it a go.


Silas Dark - Magic Scrapper
Blurg - Science Tanker
Quantium X - Mutation Controller
Grey 17 - Natural Defender
Santabot - Technology Blaster

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
A real villain would lie and then laugh at us when that day comes and goes

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So maybe he is lying and it will come out then! I am on to your fiendish plot!

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Maybe he knows that we'll think he's lying, so he's tricking us by telling us the truth!

Or, maybe he knows we'll think that so he... uh...

Ow. My head hurts.


Blurg - Science Tanker
Silas Dark - Magic Scrapper
Quantium X - Mutation Controller
Grey 17 - Natural Defender
Santabot - Technology Blaster

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One thing that I would like to see addressed at some point is the inclusion of mission types designed to highlight the strengths of these "support" classes. Where are the "rescue civilians from a burning building" (Defender) missions, the "detain without damaging" (Controller) missions, the "destroy the runaway reactor core, up close and personal" (Tanker) situations? When there are missions that put every AT in the spotlight on occasion, not just the damage dealers, I believe some of the building acrimony re: solo v. group might go away.

Just wanted to try to provide a perspective that might not have been fully considered...

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Excellent thoughts.

Ideally, every hero should be able to feel like a hero (not just a 'support class').


Blurg
(Science Tanker)

[ QUOTE ]
I've read most of this these post, but many more have been added since, so hopefully I'm not repeating an idea. The argument has been made that at high lvls a well built controller replaces a Tanker. And we want SS to be more "comic book feel" as Statesman said. Well, in comics, I like seeing 3 things from Super Strength Tankers.
1. They pick up stuff and throw them (Hurl is too slow, but I would keep it, after respec, if it had Propel animations or a small AoE damage or knockdown effect around the target. just more personality for us folks that use hasten and don't need a filler power.
2. they grab people and give them the "hug of love". Or grab them with one hand and that person doesn't move. Single Target, Melee range Minor DoT, Hold. Perhaps its a toggle that has chances every tick to be broken. (I know, I know Animation/Game engine nightmare. I'll bring you coffee the nights you stay up late making it happen.)
3. they grab people and throw them. I won't be too greedy. They dont have to throw them into other people. Perhaps a better fix for Hurl is to convert it into this style power. The amount of time that it takes to pick up a badden throw them, they land and get up, is very hold like and very tanker like. I think #1 is only possible if "items of opportunity" were available but piece of pavement it thrown otherwise.

SIDE NOTE: in comics they carry big heavy stuff around with no effort. I see no way to place this casual ability into combat but perhaps a Super Group building a base in later releases should get a building discount for every Super Strength Tanker on their team, because they replace bull dozers and cranes.

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While reading the lastest CoH Comic (which I received in the mail yesterday), it became painfully clear what's missing in Super Strength heroes as implemented in the game.

Even in the comic (which is based on the game), heroes can grab villains, pick them up, etc.

A large part of being a Super Strength hero (comic-book-wise) is picking up, grabbing, smashing, throwing, and so forth. Very little of this is actually possible in the game, as it stands now.

I realise why we can't interact with objects in the environment. It's an unfortunate fact that there would always be someone who would find a way to use the ability to 'grief' others.

Still, it certainly seems possible that at least some of these things could be implemented within the existing framework:

<ul type="square">[*]We already have Hurl, just add some variety of objects and the power will at least somewhat emulate the idea of grabbing a nearby object and throwing it.[*]Grab a nearby object and use it as a weapon. Melee attack but implemented in a way similar to Hurl. Hero grabs a trashcan/mailbox/bench/etc and starts pounding his foe with it.[*]Wrap their arms around a foe and hold him in place, possibly even squeezing for damage.[*]Grab a foe and hold them up in the air, rendering them temporarily helpless. No real damage, but still useful (and very comic-book-like).[*]Pick up one foe and throw them into another. This would likely have a long animation time, but would damage/knock-down(-back) both foes.[/list]These are just a few thoughts off the top of my head, some of them derived from ideas you mentioned in your post.


Blurg
(Science Tanker)

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I've stated before - I don't want FORCED grouping.

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Then change the missions that require clicks on multiple blinkies at the same time so that, if someone chooses to solo the mission, it's possible to do so. I can see requiring the simul click if someone brings a group in, but, as they are right now, certain missions on Test are FORCING grouping. Marking them clearly so they can be skipped isn't an answer. I'm being forced to group in order to clear out my contacts' mission lists.

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According to Positron:

"If you encounter one of these and you do not wish to do it, simply take and complete the other mission choice your contact has. When you return, you will be presented with two more (random) missions to choose from."

You can read the entire post here.


Blurg
(Science Tanker)

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Being a tanker will always be about taking damage, being a meatshield. That my friends is not a comic book brick. That is your standard RPG warrior/tanker whatever you want to call it, and that is all it will be.

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Unfortunately, as much as I love CoH (and I really do love the game), this is one aspect of it that is pretty much "EverQuest with a fresh coat of spandex paint", and that's sad, given how much attention to comic-book detail the Designers and Developers have otherwise given this game.

The thing is though, that the whole idea of being a 'healer' or a 'meat shield' or such is very much an RPG concept and just doesn't fit into the comic book world very well.

Characters in CoH are Superheroes. Superheroes have different powers and abilities, but they all manage to not only group up to face world-threatening challenges, but to also somehow do super things, all by themselves. I can't think of one single comic book Superhero that would actually be a 'support class' (as the concept exists in MMO's).

Just like adapting a book to a movie, there are going to be some things that will simply have to be changed when you try to translate a comic book world into an online game. It's inevitable, and I think for the most part Cryptic has done an amazing job.

I understand the need for having Archetypes (even though I think it's unfortunate, and leads to a lot of the problems that have come up since), but by having specific AT's/power-sets that are designated as 'support' and having Tankers be intended specifically to "take damage" definitely moves the game further away from the comic book worlds it was based on.

I don't know what the answer is, and maybe there isn't one. Maybe, as you said, it will just always be this way ("that is all it will be").

I just know that CoH is a very unique game, and has the potential to be so much more than anything else that's out there.

I really hope it lives up to that potential, and I'd very much like to be around to see it when it does.


Blurg
(Science Tanker)

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We have gone back and removed the multi-tasking missions from Story Arcs and multi-stage missions. They still remain as “one-off” missions with some of your Contacts however. If you encounter one of these and you do not wish to do it, simply take and complete the other mission choice your contact has. When you return, you will be presented with two more (random) missions to choose from. Our goal is not to prevent you from completing Story Arcs or Multi-stage missions you started as a solo character, and we feel that this best accomplishes that with the system we have in place right now.

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THANK YOU!

I think group missions are great, and I would like to see more of them (as long as they're implemented in a way that doesn't prevent me from still being able to play story-driven content when groups aren't readily available).

To that end, I would like to eventually see:

<ul type="square">[*]Some special Team Contacts, perhaps in Hazard zones, that would give out little one-shot Team missions (sort of like single-mission mini-TF's).[/list]I really like teaming up, and I love the idea of Task Forces, but most of them just take far too long for me to be able to commit to in a single play-session.

<ul type="square">[*]Have my regular contacts 'notice' that I'm in a Team and offer me special Team missions.[/list]"Ah, Blurg. I see you have some friends along. Good, you're really going to need them for this..." etc etc.

Thanks again!


Blurg
(Science Tanker)