Smokey_Bones

50% off ICON sessions is not a reward that is worth handing out. I have so much influence from normal gameplay over the past 4+ years that I could fill all of Crey's Folley with it. I'm just sayin'...

The other awards sound fine to me. I would appreciate very much if the FITNESS pool was included in the list of pools that eliminate prerequisite power choices. I have come to a point as a player to not even take a travel power any more if I don't feel like it... but having stamina available early and without having to take the other 2 would be outstanding.

Plant Control -

1. Carrion Creepers - Damage and ACC enhancements do nothing when slotted. Procs from invention sets also do not work.

2. Fly Trap - The AI is still broken. The pet refuses to attack held foes and has a bug in it's attack chain that causes it freeze in place and only use it's roots power.


These problems have existed since plant control was put in the game. It would be nice if they were finally corrected.

One note you should add to VG is that the max number of targets it will hold at a time is 5 unless the mobs are right on top of one another. If a held target is destroyed it will choose a new target and begin pulsing. When I got it I expected it to capture all in the AOE, but that is not the case.

I personally think FF masterminds should stop complaining. They chose a passive, and what I think is a rather boring secondary powerset for such a fun primary. The fact that it does not work well with the new bodygaurd feature just underscores that fact. My opinion of course.

Now if they changed the forcefield FX for masterminds to make little leprechauns with golden shields that swirled around your henchies, that would at least give the illusion that it was a cool secondary. Also, just my personal opinion... and a bit of a fantasy of mine. I'm a sucker for leprechauns.

After the rousing success of defiance for blasters, we now introduce the body guard feature for masterminds. We hope players find it just as situational and frustrating.

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if anything occurs within a fraction of second that brings a player from 100% Hit Points down to 0, we instead give the player 1% Hit Points

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By reading it, it sounds like this will prevent the enemy from 1 shotting you, weather that be in PvP or PvE. Your ability to 1 shot NPCs should not change, however.

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This is true, for now. It is my understanding that due to hero whining about placate, it will be changed to have a chance to hit as of I7.

I hope this is false, but I have heard it so much that I tend to believe it.

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I heard that anyone who helps to spread unsubstantiated rumors on the message boards about future power changes gets a free swirly by Statesman in I7. The swirly will be auto hit and unresistible. I hope it's not true... no wait, yes I do :P

Just wanted to let you know that I use your guide all the time. It keeps getting better and better! I really appreciate the time and effort you have put into this valuable resource.

Hey States, I want to thank you for the XP changes! There is one thing in I5 that I truly appreciate, and this is it.

In your balance vision you said:

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No single build or Archetype should be quantifiably “better” than another; each might be circumstantially better because of certain power sets. But the real difference should lie in the hands of the player – his skill and strategy.

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As far as primary powers go, the only circumstance in which we are superior to other tanks is when we are up against less common elemental damage. When we are up against the big S/L hitters, and baddies that are more than happy to chain KB across the zone, we are quantifiably WORSE when it matters most. What is the trade off… what is the element that truly makes us equal? Lets read some more of your statements, this time from the Tanker thread:

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Fiery Aura is better than Invulnerability

Invulnerability has superior Resistance to Fiery Aura in Smashing and Lethal Damage – the two most common damage types in the game. Invulnerability also has a better resistance to Cold Damage. Fiery Damage is better in the other Damage Categories, but it lacks ANY Defense Powers. Invulnerability, on the other hand, supplements its resistances with Defense (Tough Hide, for example).

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I’m going to assume you meant Fiery AURA and just mistyped the name of our set. In your “oops” here though, you inadvertently answered my question. DAMAGE. Eliminate the incoming damage by removing the threat. The best defense is a good offense. That has always been the explanation for the shortcomings of the set.


I5 Strategy: You are cutting defense across the board.


What does this mean for burn?

Burn does not have a quantifiable defense value; it cannot be adjusted or tweaked. You cannot scale what you cannot quantify; therefore it must be removed or made to suffer the same fate as other defense powers in I5… give it a value or chance of success so low as to not be of any perceivable value. You have effectively achieved this through your addition of high magnitude fear.


What does that mean for the Fiery Damage, Oops… Fiery Aura set as a whole in Burns current condition?


We now have lower resistance to S/L then any other set
We have no defense powers
We have no powers that offer knock back protection


Our marginally better resistance to elemental simply does not balance all of this. Your compromise of adding longer immobilization protection to burn does not achieve this either. It’s time for you to take a long look at the effectiveness of the Fiery Aura primary and find that balance within the set. I believe burn as it is on test, if given I4 level fear, achieves that balance. It is up to the player to decide when and how to use burn, thus the player decides how much defense benefit the power provides. Sounds like it fits into your vision just fine.

But, if burn is not the answer?

You are game designers. It is what you do. It is what pays your bills yes, but is your livelihood. It gives you a sense of pride, knowing you use your skills do the best job you can. It involves creativity, artistic flare, and sometimes tough decisions. I challenge you right now, take a look at the set… use that creativity… and make the set work. Effectively crippling a set by making a power worthless does not show me the level of effort I would expect for a world class game designer.

Be creative, show me what you've got.

I'm going to be honest with you and share my opinion about the sound effects.

They are loud, and very distracting. My first impression was, "how could anyone stand to play this set to 50 without quiting out of sheer annoyance over the sounds... no matter how good the powers are". I appreciate the council's sonic sounds, and would like to see something along those lines, something a bit more sonic.

Burn is now useless as an offensive power, and the fear factor is the cause. Scale the fear back to I4 levels or simply remove the fear totally. Combat jumping now has more utility than burn, a primary set power!

The changes you have made to the recharge and damage are resonable based on my testing and should be all that is needed to bring this power to where I believe it should be.

If it is your goal to impose a vision upon the players, and part of your vision is to remove the ability of fire tanks to use burn for offense, then simply remove the damage component or remove the power altogther. To leave it in it's worthless form would be sloppy work and reflect a lack of respect for your customers.