Sir_Helm

Good post. Slight concerns about mapping pet commands to SHIFTed versions of movement keys though.

Additional inspiration for budding MMs looking for keybinds can be found on Khabia's Numpad Guide on the US Forums.

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you post another one of these threads

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Or read it.

Oh balls...

Unlucky - you got conned, Mr OP. Doesn't sound like their first sting either. Good cautionary tale though, thanks for posting it.

Unfortunately it's not entirely fair to criticise the system in place because GMs cannot distinguish intent from salvage logs, nor can they distinguish between:

1. SG member Player1 with access stealing insps/salvage/enhancements,

2. SG member Player1 with access asked by second SG member Player2 to remove insps/salvage/enhancements. Player2 then reports Player1 for stealing.

Theft for personal gain is socially unacceptable, but it would be equally unacceptable for policy to allow the above situation to occur. I hope this bad experience hasn't put you off CoX, running an SG, or continuing to participate in the typically pleaseant (if occasionally shouty and neurotic) community.

Hope the @name being chuckled around is just a nickname and not the actual name, btw.

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And somewhere a unicorn cries out in horror at the inhumanity of it all.

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A Unicorn getting successfully Trolled? I thought this was CoX not WoW? Pass me the +19 Spangly Lich Hammer, some Trousers of Awesomeness and my Fabulous Hat of Fail.

Insert boar/bore joke here.

Good article, been a while since I swung round ED's way. I wonder how many people are getting uptight because some of the points are too close to the mark?

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And *please* give some degree of buff for teaming with other Kheldians; all Kheldian teams are worse off than teams with only one or two Kheldians because of it.

By comparison, our current SG VEAT team (5 Crab Spiders, 1 Widow & 1 Dominator) is nigh-indestructible

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I think you've hit the nail on the head, my friend. SoA stack much better than multiple Kheldians in teams - I've joined the SoA Night of one of my SGs and we're in serious danger of out-leveling content. Certainly any 8-person Villains team made up of 4 SoA with any two of the Tactical buffs active each will work excellently with any other combination of villains ATs.

Rather than considering Kheldians 'jack of all trades' I would call them wildcards, capable of fulfilling two or three roles in a team depending on build. I think the sheer flexibility of a Kheldian is as valuable as the team buffs of a SoA, having levelled a triform PB to 50 and compared the experience against teaming with my lvl 36 Crab Spider and teaming as other toons in teams with one or more SoA. But as Spad rightly points out SoA are better in numbers than Kheldians.

Although, if you think about it, the villain epics are soldiers - wouldn't it make sense thematically that they team with each other naturally?

On the otherhand with the Great Storm coming and at least the Kheldians facing a fairly grim fate - maybe now is the time to retouch their inherents (bonuses for other Kheldians as well as non-epic ATs) and backgrounds as an organised military force? It would certainly make for interesting metaplot if nothing else.

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after a patch when a player first logs in a huge thundering DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM! should sound

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This would certainly save some time.

Inspired by some of the excellent suggestions above I'd like to add:

*. Flag players in a full team player on the search box.

I'm in favour of a vast majority of the suggestions in this thread except for the ones that are protecting against player idiocy (e.g. oops I sold LoG Unique at a store, or whoops I sold Hammi Goo for 100 inf).

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Another event to lag the server to death.... nice.

I hope it dont carry on after the haloween event.

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Gz on first DOOOM!

I don't think I'm going to get a chance to take part in the preview, but definitely looking forward to the Halloween Event.

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(ML) I do feel there is an argument on behalf of those who are so hopelessly addicted to MMOs that they will pay anything willingly or unwittingly.

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If there is then I think it's a pretty weak argument. Should the sale of smaller size of chocolate bars be argued against due to obesity? Should half pints not be served at pubs because of alcholism?

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(Alp) kthxbai
Can anyone interpert for me please?

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My interwebs translator is not to hand, but I suspect when used to quote a post and used as a one word reply it means: "I cannot be bothered to formulate a proper reply so I am going to use 'ironic' l33t speak in a mistaken attempt to make my target look foolish, but instead make myself look like a bit of a bumpkin."

I don't think selling respecs is a bad idea. I also know that with 3 vetspecs plus an innevitable freespec knocking around on most of my toons I'll likely never buy one. I don't really consider 'slippery slope' with no supporting evidence to be a valid argument against selling respecs.

As one wise poster said up there somewhere - start getting strophy about game balance affecting transactions once they actually exist.

Not by virtue of a toon being FotM or "Farmer's Delight". I got put off playing a character that was a midget because his point of view was too close to the ground, but I grew out of it.

Make Crab Spider backpack legs transparent/translucent to the toon's player if they are blocking their field of view?

Well I'll be mogadored.

I like (and I think suggested before now) auric recipes - burning wings, Synapse-style speed blur, etc. I'm very impressed with some of the glowing weapon options from the Talsorian forges (Claws, Broadsword, Katana, etc) - I'd be very keen on more of these, particularly flaming swords.

However the seperation between costumes and abilities means that you can fully control the appearance of your toon without compromising effectiveness. Apart from occasionally burning out your team mates eyes. So I'd be against costume parts that gave buffs.

It's a great idea, but you'd have to operate at a discount or face people previewing the designs, making notes, then rumbling off to Icon/Facemaker to make it themselves. The Internet - full of freetards.

Some folks really do have the touch at costume making. As an extension you could make a costume for a target player (limited by the body type), present it to them, and pass it along as a trade. Representing a custom job, maybe.

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I just goes to show how so few of you actually bother to read everything... well done May you live your lives in half truth never seeing round the corner.

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Is that like the truth contained in the Frequently Suggestions?

I'm curious - what have we all missed?

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I am aware of all these things, but again, and you said it yourself, noone uses teleport. Why? The answer is simple.. because they don't like it. NCSoft has spent ALOT of time and effort on something that noone uses because it is flawed. Everyone defends this power with "you can do this and you can do that" but still noone uses it.

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I use it and like it, though I like all the travel powers. I'll accept your statement if you replace 'noone' and 'they' with 'I', big man.

Who doesn't love Nemesis and his big metal spikey hair. Great TF concept, but I think you're missing a prime opportunity to use the Giant Nemesis Crazy Horse [tm].

Maybe if global PvP is balance or immersion breaking, why not take another approach to encouraging pvp? For instance TFs that were based in PvP zones with enhanced rewards, badges, even an accolade. Send an event alert to the relevant side (Villains for a Hero TF, Heroes for a Villain TF) when the TF is formed, when an instance mission is completed, or a hunt/outdoor objective (e.g. phone-run) is started?

You sure it's not a message from the card provider? Sometimes they can get strophy if you've gone over the card's daily limit, paid a large bill or two, or the Tengu the Bat Spirit has indigestion.

It's good concept - I like the idea of being able to go into opposing faction areas and do missions. Could even make 'Hostile Territory' and 'Behind Enemy Lines' story arcs for this purpose.

Unfortunately the reputation system suggested is deeply flawed in that if you make the people that can attack an invading PvPonaut dependant on status rather than comparative level then what happens when a lvl 50 Hero wanders into Mercy? Only lvl 1-5 Villains can actually attempt to arrest them?

Instead, why not add a feature that borrows from Rikti Invasion code and automatically make a PvP Hunter on home territory (e.g. Hero in Atlas) the same level as an Invader (e.g. Villain in Atlas) only for the purposes of fighting the invader, but no effect for facing native critters and other challenges? Then as your reputation goes up the relative level could be raised, other buffs added on top (extra acc, damage, resistance, defense, etc).

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Code addition: If a fight is not in the same Status level, the winner gets outdoor XP debt, no cap.

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I thought that initially, but then realised it'd be a REALLY good way for lvl 50s to get the debt badges by going to low level enemy zones and stomping lower level players. It'd be a sure fire way to put off people from embracing opt-in global pvp.

My DB/WP scrapper to be one of my best general purpose toons I've created - great at early levels if you get the first two combos as soon as possible, good PBAoE/Melee Coning, strong against single targets, good survivability against large mobs (Rise to the Challenge). Doesn't always stand up to a hammering from AVs, but if the Scrapper is tanking the AV something has gone wrong with the plan. The tier9 on WP is pretty meaty and the crash is pretty light.

BS/Inv scrappers make good nutcrackers - on a large team you'll be more likely to face more bosses and AVs, and these will be your targets given you can deal and cope with burst damage.

Energy/Energy blasters are excellent artillery - mucho damage, bit of stun and knockback. Defiance 2.0 has made them even more monsterous, so sink alot of early slots into the 1-2 attacks and the cone.

The only issues you will face is ppl whinging about knockback, so if you can try and position yourself to knock mobs sideways and/or into walls, and avoid punting critters into the next mob. Also it's not so heavy on AoE (avoid Explosive Blast as it just scatters mobs), but the Nova is excellent and if you go Munitions Mastery you can end up with LRM as a nice boost to AoE.

Archery is *excellent* - highly accurate, low end, longer ranged than most blasters, with mid-to late game AoE that is pretty supreme as your tier9 is a large targeted AoE with a ludicrously fast recharge (60 seconds without slotting/hasten). I've been running it with Devices which has some nice tools early-mid game to keep mobs away (caltrops, web grenade, smoke grenade), a good Stealth toggle, Targetting Drone (just incase you want more accuracy), a recently upgraded tier9 that gives you a mobile turret with pretty good game. Post lvl-32 the following attack chain decimates mobs: Rain of Arrows (tier9 ranged AoE), Explosive Arrow (mob targeted AoE), Fistful of Arrows (Cone, shorter range than the rest of your arrows, need to close a bit).

Global PvP: it's a nice idea, but will always suffer at least one jarring flaw for each potential solution.

If it's always-on, then folks that do not want PvP will be put off. If its by-consent only (e.g. you turn on an option that says "I am happy to be attacked by ppl and affected by enemy faction powers") then you've got a break in immersion if villains bounce on by in Atlas that can't hurt you but batter other Heroes for example.

You also need to find a way to disincentive high level toons taking out other toons that are substantially lower levels just for the "lols".

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Over the many years and now several hundred comics that I have collect I can not once re-call a contemporary story line that ever had time travel with in it. Please if you could point one out I would appreciate it.
...
Further one of the main attractions of this game is that it is firmly entrenched in science fiction NOT fantasy.

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Most DC 'Crisis' crossover events have had an element of time travel - 'Crisis on Infinite Earths' (80s) had different eras merging and overlapping, 'Zero Hour' (90s) was an attempt to reset the universe by a hero gone insane, DC 1 Million had the JLA from the 85th century turn up and invite the present day league to the future to celebrate Superman's return from his Solar Fortress of Solitude in the Sun (!). I'm almost certain that golden and silver age DC involved more fruity time travel than you could shake a banana tree at.

As to the second point - I would say the true attraction of CoX for the people that I've played along side is that it caters for many different tastes, not just science fiction. Other posters have highlighted far more eloquently than I that when telling a story about a hero the background flavour is both pervading and yet incidental at the same time. That Skywalker boy could as easily be carrying a magic sword of +10 glowing instead of a pseudoscientific laserous chopper.

I like how there's a game I can play a Avalonian knight with a magic sword and armour just as easily as a hulking mecha with devastating fire power, a spandex clad mutant misanthrope packing claws and really big hair, a crazed super-strong cyborg that jumps tall buildings with a single bound whilst on fire.

I'm happy that there's a Magic origin along side the other four more contemporary origins, that the world supports both Clockwork and Circle of Thorns, Mu and Longbow, Ghost Widow and Positron.

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change "step up" with "yo mother f*er"

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How about... no.

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Be fair: it's proper bling, innit?

It's a nice concept, but shares alot of similarity with Super Strength, unless you're looking at a more Scrapper-flavoured version of that power (as Broadsword might be considered to Axe).

If we're talking urban combat I'd like to see more use of improvised or concealed weapons - knives (lethal DoT), knuckle-dusters (smashing stun), pipes (smashing lethal knockdown), Throw-a-Brick (short range smash/lethal stun) in addition to some ugly unarmed attacks: knee breaker (Smashing Slow) and some of the attacks listed by the OP.

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Or maybe I'm just bitter because I skipped travel powers on my Crab Spider (had too many important combat powers to take) and had to put up with 2-slotted Hurdle + CJ for 30+ levels

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Seriously? That's hilarious. I bet you're popular on teams.

No travel supression sounds like a nice inherent, but could lack balance especially considering Conditioning. I like the idea of a long recharge 'Black Heliport' to the center of villain zones, but between the Rogue Isle Ferries and Ouroborus I don't see the need.