Squirrel_Mark1

I think you're overlooking 2 huge things >.> honestly.

You bring up interesting points but:

1) CoH is a very simplistic game by nature. It's designed to be about combat; because combat to most people is the 'interesting' part. I don't totally agree with that (I'd love some social interaction with NPC; being able to request an enemy surrender, etc).; however it really is designed on the simple black and white table of good and evil. There are good people; and there are bad people; and CoH lets you easily see who the bad guys are; so you don't have to feel guilty when you smack them around.

2) The much larger thing I think you're missing; is that the Super Hero genre is about wish fullfilment fantasy; not about what's *truely* just or right; but rather what *FEELS* just and right.

Real justice can be very complex; and doesn't always leave everyone satisfied. Example: A murderer may get 15 years in prison through a plea deal. That plea deal may bring in 15-20 people just as bad; but the family of that particular victim feels cheated. Justice was most likely served as best as possible in the situation; but it wasn't wholly satisfying.

Real justice has to have alot more mercy too, because we can't clearly see who the 'bad guys' are. They don't stand out with orange boxes around them.

Super Hero justice is different. Super hero justice means saying "I know who the enemy is, what they are doing to make my life and the lives of my countrymen/relatives/friends hell. So I'm going to do something about it." It's about taking control of a situation no real human can control. Is it truely just to pound a mugger into the pavement for taking someone's purse? Prolly not. But it *FEELS* good.

We can't do it in RL; so that's why we have superheroes in the first place. They let you avoid the complex and difficult world of real justice where you have to deal with due process and warrants; and instead get right to what feels good; SMACKING THE BADGUYS!

So, I don't think your opinions would be incorrect if the situation were a real world thing... but it's not; it's a super-heroic world in which our enemies really are clearly defined; they wear uniforms and walk our streets armed.

It'd be like living in Iraq; except the al-Qaeda people have "al-Qaeda Gunner" above their head. A real criminal is as hard to tell from the populace as an insurgent is in Iraq (I use this because its an easy example to grab at; Vietnam works as well); that's why we have due process and such in real law. Because criminals don't wear name tags.

See what I mean? ^^ You are of course; entitled to your opinion. If I don't like it I'll just beat the snot out of you! <O.O> (Hey, I'm a villain! <,< (JK JK!)

[ QUOTE ]
This would be so much fun.
Soccer teams will be made and people will be screaming: "NERF Energy and Force Fields, they are beating us in CoH Soccer!!!"

[/ QUOTE ]

Now *this* would be cool <,<; Honestly <o.O> You could create an Arena event like this too; I mean, in addition to the free-floating red ball of "wth" <@_@>;

I also disagree with Great Scott's assessment for another reason:

While yes; compared to most defender sets TA is control heavy; it is *NOT* a Control set. There's too much debuff, and not enough control for it to be a primary control set.

Flash Arrow and Smoke are admittedly close.

Entangling Arrow is admittedly sub-par to most single target Immobilizes (which is saying something).

But Glue Arrow is actually rather potent. It's far better than say... Caltrops; because the attack rate slowdown is fairly substantial, and with the change to it's recharge its now actually *usable* on a regular basis.

Poison Arrow is the same way; though I believe the -Damage aspect of it needs increased; it is by definition a debuff; that has a possible control side effect. But that's not the 'point' of hte power; the point is still the debuff.

2 -Resist effects (one of which carries -Def); are also *debuffs* not controls. Ideally Disruption arrow should have something added to it; since it's currently *just* -Resist.

Oil slick is pretty good as is honestly; yeah, you can technically gimp yourself by not grabbing a power to ignite it; but it's not as though you can't read the description and make a decision long ahead of time.

Plus as a Defender powerset, I think all but Dark can ignite it right? It ignites for Fire *and* energy damage.

I haven't gotten EMP arrow with it yet; so I can't say a thing about it; but it is rather reminescent of the top end Rad power.

Really, only Ice Arrow and Entangling Arrow are totally "control" powers; everything else contains debuffs as a large part of their payload; or in the case of Oil Slick, does damage.

Ideally; here are my suggestions:

Entangling Arrow slow effect remains, and has -Acc added on top of that (caused by trying to struggle with the net). The -Acc on this should be fairly large because it is a lowbie power and thus "bread and butter" as some would say. This could be effective for debuffing bosses.

Flash Arrow's -Acc should be strengthened; or a secondary effect should be invented for the power; retaining its 'non aggro' status.

Disruption Arrow should have an additional secondary effect added... -Res 2x in the same set; especially for a power that requires mobs remain located in an area without giving any additional compensation is a bit... not good enough. Perhaps a chance to Disorient every so many ticks; yes, it'd enhance the "control" aspect of the set, but nowhere is it written you can't have a "controllery" defender.

I do think this set should never have been given to Trollers though... it's far far to late to change that now; but perhaps leave the Troller version of everything as-is; while buffs only translate to the Defender and MM versions (or even just Defender version).

Ok, fresh from testing on my Bots/TA mastermind:

Changes are pretty helpful. Glue Arrow is *much* better now >< I mean it was always a good power imho; but now I can actually use it every fight; it was of prime importance to me because of the way my Bots work.

Flash arrow being auto-hit again is a godsend <x.x>; I understand making it To-Hit for PVP; but for PVE it just never had enough effect for me to see the logic in it.

Oil slick still stubbornly refuses to ignite when I use my Pulse Rifle Blast on it; Pulse Rifle is energy damage, so that should light it yes?

Disruption arrow has always been nice; but the new recharge is making it really *useful* and not just convienent >.< So that's good. The slow in Entangle I'm not really sure about... it could help with bosses I suppose; and stacked with Glue Arrow I guess; It's better than what it was that's for sure.

I need to respec into Poison Arrow again though; I ditched it a longgg time ago when PGA was single target for MMs and now that it's not I know I'll want it back. >.<

Uhm... basically; we're headed in the right direction. ^^ I do feel *something* is still missing from the set (no, not a heal <-.-> I'll hurt you if anyone says that)

I think there's still a bit of 'need too many powers to get the same effect' going on; ie: you have to unload most of your set to get the effects of someone using half of Rad or Dark.

Course that may just be my bias as a Mastermind; I do have 65% of the maximum numbers.

[ QUOTE ]
The AS animation should be some type of Siphon Life one... where you suck the soul out of your target.

[/ QUOTE ]

Very much agreeing here >.< this is what I actually anticipated.

As for the loss of Soul Drain; that was kind of necessary to make the set work as a *stalker* set ><

Can you imagine *trying* to AS someone when you'd have to use Soul Drain first? Impossible. To keep it on par in a stalker sense it needs build up. (Remember, you're not a scrapper!)

That said... I'm also slightly disappointed in the loss of Dark Consumption >< once you *are* out of hide there's no reason you can't use that (Look at the secondary).

Frankly I'm surprised Shadow Maul didn't get the axe... that was the power I thought looked most tempting to drop in favor of a more stalkery one. It's high DPS sure; but... it's just not... stalkery to me <,< oh well. (And no; I don't think it was ever a "signature" power of the set... I always felt Siphon Life was more signature of the set honestly).

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Yes. It's coming. Safeguard missions. Being worked on right now (outside my office, in fact).

[/ QUOTE ]

Dammit, States! You're not supossed to respond to "Calling out Dev" posts! They're against the rules.

--------------------
Currently listening to Cheap Trick's Dream Police

[/ QUOTE ]

Quiet you! >.<

[ QUOTE ]
Yes. It's coming. Safeguard missions. Being worked on right now (outside my office, in fact).

[/ QUOTE ]

If I hug you States; will it creep you out? Cause like, I seriously want to but I don't want to invade your personal space >.>

Uhm... <,< but yah that's awesome! <@_@>

I love the new claws animations >.<; they're fast; and to be honest they have a *very* good look when chained imho; it feels... scrappy I guess >_< I dunno; the animations are recycled but... eh; that doesn't bother me I guess.

First off: HOLY COW >< that was awesome! <,<

I just got done with my first Mayhem mission and... all I can say is that was among the coolest things I've ever done in an MMO in a non-story-based way. Particularly awesome was blowing the crap out of the parking meters and spilling the change everywhere <,<

The hero I got was a normal boss on Malicious; named Overdrive (I think) something like that >.< Energy/Energy blaster. At first she was kinda mean; because she would *only* hit me; but once I set bodyguard back up I was OK; still hate how they only focus on the MM.

Now then: Huge bug time ><;

I didn't get xp for *any* of the defeats I made in the mission; nor the mission itself >.<; none. zero. zilch. No Inf either.

It was just like the tutorial in that aspect >.< I /bugged it in game; so hopefully that'll help.

Also the time bonus thing people have mentioned was happening for me too; I couldn't seem to keep the time up high enough to have a real chance at the bank without giving up on optional objectives fairly early >.<

I only had one optional going >.> I found a building guarded by 3 Crey; and when I beat them I got a key... using that key, I went downstairs and there were weapons of all sorts lining the walls <o.o> and several safes to rob! <,< mwahahahaa... it was great!

PPD Shell and PPD Psi Officers are both *awesome* >.< this is the kind of enemy we need more of... interesting! I didn't see anything else but them and some longbow though <;.;> was really hoping to fight the huge Policebots; but I'm guessing I didn't cause enough mayhem >.<;


When I finished the mission; I got what might be the blandest temp power ever; but also a very good one: Max HP boost. Just a basic auto power that boosts max HP for 24 hours; I think I only gained 100HP; but for a mastermind >.< that's a fair deal (I only have 600 some without it; 700 some with it).

Anyways; Cryptic... once the bugs are worked out of these they'llbe *amazing* >.<b Thanks for the awesomeness!

Now we just need a heroic version <O_O> (Arachnos base trashing anyone? <,< Or a PVE 'battlefield' similar to the stuff in Siren's Call; but with destructable objects and of course, just PVE)

Took time to get used to but... I love it <O.O> bodyguard is *amazing* >.<;

I learned something (I haven't read this whole thread; sorry if its a repeate); Telling your pets to attack; doesn't change their state anymore!

Thus; you can tell them to attack and *retain* Bodyguard <o.@> at least it was working for me tonight.

Just keep em defensive.

<'x'> I'll just switch my recharge enhancers to end redux <,<; easy! <'x'> Less you were already 3 slotted with recharge

Actually; you'd pay the same monthly fee anywhere else... and likely wouldn't get as many free updates (you'd still be paying for expansions; you just wouldn't get half the free stuff we get).

I hate to say it but; I think some of us have gotten a little spoiled on the free content thing... I mean; I love it; but remember that your 15 bucks a month does *all* of the following:

Server maintnence/hardware upgrades; stuff we never 'see' but the stuff that keeps the game from crashing into a fiery hell (like EQ used to back when I played)

Salary (for a whole lot more people that just the devs)

Content updates (which they never quite promised us a specific number... they've given us targets; and trust me; I want 4 per year as much as anyone... but I also have played MMOs for a very long time; 3 a year, 2 a year, we're still far better off than most games).

Frankly also; I believe that while the *number* of issues may slide down; the quality will increase.

Compare for example: Issue 1/2 vs Issue 3/5 (content wise)

Rikti Crash Site - I've heard nothing but complaints about it. And alot of people asking when it'll be redone. That tells me it wasn't a high quality zone.

Peregrine - I've been there a few times... and it's rather bland. The only thing interesting to me there has been the Malta groups that occasionally appear; but the backdrop itself is... boring. Though Portal Corp is kinda cool.

Neither of those zones is dynamic.

The Hollows - Decent place for XP; not very dynamic either; and *EXTREMELY* deadly for a fair number of low level characters. Again; has been complained about many times.

Strigia - Has been praised *many* times for being interesting and unique; the zone *is* interesting; things move; the Council patrols make sense; and the air battles you see going on are just plain awesome even if it is just a repeating animation. (Compared to the "alright, everyone line up 18th century style... with sniper rifles... 10 feet away" animation we see regularly in mob fights).

Croatoa - Easily imho the most interesting of all the PVE zones in CoH; not just the *type* of content; but the fact that the world feels immersive. Enemies *really* fight eachother; using powers and everything else at their disposal. The world is alive; the tuatha roam in packs; while the Fir Bolg turn themselves into trees and lie in wait. And the Cabal's whole Combat Air Patrol thing is just too cool imho. Combined with the ghosts comming out at night; it's a much in depth zone than the rest of CoH.

Most of CoV's zones follow the Croatoa mold; they *breathe*; things happen in them; there are gunfights, longbow patrols, mob executions... etc... things *happen*.

So yes; the number of issues has gone down; but the quality (judging by CoV; Strigia, and Croatoa) has improved *drastically*.

So I'd have to challenge you; which do you prefer? TONS of new content; which is just like the old content with new mob skins; but absolutely no new 'life'; or a smaller amount of content with some seriously *interesting* parts to it?

I myself far prefer the latter. Yes the wait is longer; but the payoff is outstanding. The retail boxes will definitely be in addition to issues; and I suspect they'll be 'super issues' in a sense... ie: instead of one or two zones; and maybe a few powersets; we'll see several zones, a few powersets, and maybe an EAT too.

Remember, they want the next several EATs to be very special; while Kheldians for many felt a bit hacked together. (Not that they aren't quite cool; but they weren't as well integrated into the CoX storyline as they could have been because there was *0* real build up; no.. the 5th Column/Council War doesn't count; we had no indication of anything about the Nictus involvement with the Council till post-issue)

Anyway; sorry for that but I'm really getting annoyed with the attitudes of some people here. Call me a fanboi if you want; you'd be wrong on it, but I suspect that's what'll come right about... now.

Flame away! <sigh> Damn kids.

<sigh> <;.;> You all realize what this means right? <;.;> I'm gonna be here for a long long time <x.x>; oh wait... that's a good thing <,< <dance>

[ QUOTE ]
You know, for *once* I completely love a piece of design by the devs, and what happens?

Everyone else hates it.

I like the Patron Powers, I like the reddish electricity, it's cool all around, imho. Sadly, hardly anyone seems to agree.

[/ QUOTE ]

Lol <;.;> You and me both! <,<;

The red lightning I've loved ><; the design idea about Arachnos is also very cool imho; Honestly, I'd prefer heroes get Patron pools of their own as opposed to the current epics.

Maybe I'm just biased though; because I'm a scrapper hero side and my epics kinda suck <-.->;

Oh well >.> I like it; but no one is obligated to of course.

Not sure about that exactly >.> I do know someone who had written permission sent to NCSoft from the owner of a copyright on a manga character so she could use it. She'd been genericked; and manga artists/authors have a pretty broad tolerance for the use of their characters (in Japan; fan-comics are commonly sold... for example; it'd be like creating a Superman comic; selling it at a con; and possibly being congratulated by someone at DC on it. Rather than busted horribly)

So it's possible that they changed it even just because they expected "no one will ACTUALLY try this..." and of course... people did; and got permission.

But then that opens up the can of worms "But I saw <X> character running around; and I petitioned them; why aren't THEY genericked? I got genericked." And then of course you have to waste GM time explaining to them that that person has permission.

OR that person gets REPEATEDLY genericked by the GM staff; as keeping track of which accounts do have permission to use copyrighted material and which don't would get tedius.

I'm sure that's basically the reason it was removed... it was supposed to give the illusion of "We'll let you if you convince them" but they likely thought it would never happen >.> and...

Of course that's just my theorizing. I mean, if I were Cryptic; I'd never expect someone to actually get permission either; it's just one of those things... it's not the past of least resistance, and most people wouldn't even bother to try (they'd assume they'd never have a chance).

This of course; is purely theory.

Well, with all that I just did >.< I think the distinction between the two versions is now great enough one can honestly call them seperate characters who happen to have similar faces/hair (but even differences between those parts); and they share a name and weapons.

That's one great thing about CoH <'x'> It's totally mutable. I mean, you can say "we own your background story/look/name" etc... but with the exception of the name; you can change *all* of it. So without a whole bunch of screenshotting (which even then >.< they weren't close enough even then I don't think)

Err... I'm just rambling >< sorry.

Anyways >< I think I'm OK now. I mean I won't ever know for sure unless Cryptic really wanted to sue me <x.x>; I would hope not; it's a company I rather like lol; plus who knows if my novel will ever take off <~.~> It's not even finished lol!

<sigh> wish Artic Sun would have replied; but he doesn't even work here anymore does he? <;.;> Oh well >.< can't blame him; who wants to get involved in this mess any further than they already did <>.<>

(Thanks everyone for the help btw <~.~>; sorry if I seem a bit nuts; this is important to me and well... I won't be skimming an y EULA's from now on >.< you can bet that!)

[ QUOTE ]
I am really in the same place as you mistformsquirrel, I have a couple of concept drawings of my characters, and he has a pretty generic outfit that no one could say I'm using CoX's costume pieces. I have a stripe that goes from the waist up and down the arms...like Spider-Man's red section, however my suit is purple and green. It's always been that way, and CoH just happened to have the same thing, so it worked out. Next, he wears jeans. I'm pretty sure anyone can wear jeans. And sneakers. Other than that, he has black skin (real black, not african) and glowing purple eyes.

I guess what I really need to do is find those old sketches I made.

I'm hoping that simply publishing my stories (that has nothing to do with CoH) and turning them in for my senior project is alright and CoX won't sue me for writing down my ideas.

[/ QUOTE ]

Yeah <~.~> Until I know more from rednames; I'm using this as a failsafe (since I'm 99.9% sure they don't have a screenshot of EVERY costume I've ever had <o.o>; that'd just be creepy).

I'm doing an extreme makeover of my character >.> bodytype of course I have to leave alone; and I'm leaving the face and hair alone because otherwise it's just not 'her' (as in, it even ruins the CoH specific concept); but her costumes are totally different now.

She's a samurai in the 'real' (ie: my) world (well ok not a real samurai; but samurai-esque); in CoH I've re-done her so that she's wearing A) A robot armor suit. B) A motorcycle jacket (sleeveless) and jeans; C) A covert ops leather outfit with a mask.

I've also made my skin 2 shades lighter >.>

Of course I'd love to continue playing my character as she was intended; but in the end I can't sacrifice 'me' (Ie: my creative parts) to play a game <~.~> as I said before; if push comes to shove, and I've got a choice I can make, then well, CoH comes out on bottom prioritywise. (And I love this game; so that's really saying something).

So for now the CoH Yumii has no backstory, and has 3 costumes that would definitely never ever fit in my novel (given its a fantasy novel <,&lt.

<x_x> I'm glad I haven't made many of my other characters, and most of them were lowbies so they've been long deleted. This one is 38 though <~.~>;

[ QUOTE ]
I am not a redname, but here is my opinion anyway.

Technically you're screwed, but in practice you should be fine.

TECHNICALLY:
Assuming that Yumii was not legally protected before you clicked the 'enter Paragon City' button, you licensed Cryptic to use the character name Yumii as it represents a catgirl with a Katana, wearing the specific costumes you choose for her in the game.

Technically, if you then profit from Yumii (the katana wielding catgirl in those specific costumes), Cryptic has the right to legally shut you down and profit from her themselves.

Note that this does not give Cryptic the rights to all Katana-wielding catgirls. It especially does not give them the right to Katana-wielding catgirls named something other than Yumii, or who wear a costume not depicted on Cryptic's servers.

So, change the name in the novels, use none of Cryptic's backstory and you can have a legion of katana-wielding catgirls.

However, the rights to the specific combination of name and appearance do not go away once the character has been genericed or deleted. What goes away is Cryptic's liability. Once the character has been genericed or deleted, Cryptic has done their part to avoid ownership issues, and you can no longer sue them for using your character (assuming they don't continue using your character).

But if the character was never legally protected by you in the first place, you can't sue them for using it. You expressly gave them permission to use it.

IN PRACTICE:
If someone /petitions your character Yumii, and emails them a link to a published story about a Katana-wielding catgirl, it will be much cheaper and easier for Cryptic to generic the character than to hire a lawyer to hit the publishing company with a Cease and Desist.

In fact, they could choose to be nice and allow the fan use of their property to continue, basically ignoring the issue.

If, years later, the character Yumii the katana-wielding catgirl starts to make millions of dollars, it is unlikely (but possible) that anyone is even going to remember that she started in CoX (don't say so in interviews) and come after you for money.

I seriously doubt if Cryptic has legions of lawyer-monkeys scanning the media for any character that might have come from their game, then scouring the servers (over 17 million characters have been created) for matches.

However, if you did say that the character came from CoX originally, and the character were such a cash cow it was worthwhile, they would have the right to ask you for money. Even if the character had long been deleted by then.

Again, to avoid even this remote and unlikely possibility: In your fiction, use a name other than Yumii. You already stated she looks different from the CoX version, so that shouldn't be an issue.

Finally, about the name:
I think Yumii is a common Japanese name, so Cryptic can't do anything based on the name alone. It is the combination of the name Yumii + the specific look as depicted within CoX that Cryptic was given rights to.

You can't 'get your rights back' for a character you never legally protected in the first place. If the character was never legally protected, you never had (legal) rights to it in the first place. Any number of people could claim they thought up the idea of a katana wielding catgirl named Yumii first. And some of them might be telling the truth. 'Having rights to a character idea' begins when the character is trademarked, or a story is copywritten.

[/ QUOTE ]

Hmm... this is helpful >.< ok; how's this then...

See... the name has been a huge chunk of who she is for a long time; I know that's silly but it's true >.>; so changing her name is like killing a part of the character.

*however*

Her costume is quite different; and she's been around since... hmm... 4 years before CoH came out <,< I didn't register her with the copyright office *but*; I read this which I found interesting; of course it doesn't do a darn thing in the case of Trademarks >.>; but...

==========================================
When is my work protected?
Your work is under copyright protection the moment it is created and fixed in a tangible form that it is perceptible either directly or with the aid of a machine or device.
=========================================

This is from www.copyright.gov (ie: the copyright office website).

So in a technical sense; since I have several dated drawings of her from even that far back; she's 'mine' in that sense...
but as I said that doesn't do anything trademark wise; and while I can prove my original ownership clicking the EULA is admittedly saying "Ok" >.< So... I dunno.

But here's what I was going to say... her body/skintone/face are all *similar* between the CoH and non-CoH versions; but her outfits and attitudes are vastly different... as well as backstory obviously; so I guess that's what interests me to know >.> I'm not using their costume pieces at all.

>.>; <sigh> Last game I skim the EULA on lol <;.;> Up till now I really always just thought "You agree not to be an [censored] in-game." was the gist of it >.> well and "You can't sue us for your character existing in our game." >.>

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Why isn't it 4 out of 5, like dentists?

[/ QUOTE ]

Because no squirrels were involved in testing

[/ QUOTE ]

O Rly? <o.O>

I'm just going to ask point blank -

If I get my character genricked (I mean; I'd be completely *100%* willing to have a GM neutralize my costume and name); essentially building a new character on the old template of powers... do I get my rights back for my character?

Do I get them back if I delete the character?

I'm going to use my own character as an example here because she's not published yet; I want her to be; but if I'm already SOL... well, I'd rather everyone here get the best understanding as possible.

So, if someone with the knowledge (ie: redname) would be so kind as to analyze this situation; tell me where what falls >.> I would appreciate it.

Ok; on your servers, I have a character named Yumii. She's a catgirl with a katana and fast reflexes. She has no travel power per-se; totally natural character.

Her backstory (though I'll admit it's currently not listed; I need to do a good writeup of it); is that she had been kidnapped by the Circle of Thorns on her way to school; in the middle of the ceremony that would have allowed a CoT soul into her and thus possessed her body... a strange white spirit offered her the handle to a sword. She accepted (rather desperate situation); and defeated the circle gathering in a burst of energy. After that, she spent alot of time training with the spirit (who turned out to be a distant ancestor). Now the spirit has dissipated/returned home/ceased wandering (I told you it was incomplete); and Yumii has decided to use her abilities to aid the city.



Now my version. (As far as I possibly can; if I'm allowed to >.> the following is (C) me >.>; or at least I'd really appreciate people not taking it <,&lt

Yumii; who has a very similar look I might add (the same 'wedge" type hair; well, not quite as far forward, and with further out bangs >.&gt but still a catgirl; still wielding a katana and still rather fast (though not nearly as fast as the CoH version. This one is a fantasy character, not a super hero.)

Backstory (I'm being basic here for obvious reasons);

Simply put, she and her mother were shipwrecked during a diplomatic mission to the mainland. Yumii was 5 at the time, and doesn't really remember her mother, family, or even the shipwreck. They both washed ashore, but her mother passed away only a few hours after; Yumii was rescued by villagers from a nearby fishing village. She was taken in by the village bakers; and knew a fairly happy childhood until at the age of twelve her home burned down. (An accident with the stove).

Yumii's 'unique' heritage (she's a catgirl; the people on the mainland are human) has long brought her the ire of the village wise-woman; and she, and others who believe what she says about her being 'demonic'; use this as a pretext to run her out of town, hurling rocks and insults. She hides in the woods and is later picked up by a band of adventurers; who she works with for a time before retiring some years later to a city in the north. (This is where the story actually begins >.&gt

Obviously; the stories are vastly different; the second has no relationship to CoH *at all* with the exception of name, bodytype and the ears/tail thing; and I still haven't come up with a surname for her; dunno if I ever will.

As for 'likeness'; I never intended her to just wear one outfit all the time. Of course, this is a novel project anyway; so it's not like you'd expressely see her outside of perhaps the coverart. But even then; the clothing I doubt would resemble much that's in COH; the closest being the Robe tops; but even then it'd be vastly different.

So here's my question.

Given the above; am I totally safe to continue with my project (the below part?); or how can I rectify it? Because if I'm going to sacrifice one of the two; I'd gladly sacrifice a character name/likeness within CoH to preserve my out of CoH ability to use them. But given the disparity of the characters... I just don't think they're close enough in anything but their faces and names for it to be an issue.

So; really hoping this one can be answered >.<; Actually; I normally don't do this kind of thing but... I'm going to PM this scenario to Arctic so I make sure he sees this. It's too important to my mental well being <x.x>;

<O.O> HOLY CRAP.

[ QUOTE ]
Welcome to the nuthouse Cricket. Nothing worse than super-powered nuts, yanno. Anyway, welcome.

[/ QUOTE ]

Actually there are worse things <. .>; but mentioning them would get me destroyed by the Powers What Is >.> so in the interest of not dying I'll nod my accent >.> (ascent? >.> darnit I don't remember how to spell it! >.< you know what I mean)

Oh, and hi Cricket! <^_^> I'll be your resident squirrel/cat thing that's far to lazy to get an avatar himself <. .> I don't eat much at least. Oh and I tick people off obscenely fast <@_@> so I've got that going for me! <. .>;;;

TAKE ME WITH YOU!!!! <T.T> <hangs onto shoe> <;.;>

*whispers* These people are CRAZY! I'm the only sane one left! <;.;> save me.......... <is left pathetically in the dust>

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]

FYI: my first COH character on Live was (is) a Fire/Fire Blaster.


[/ QUOTE ]

GIMP!

[/ QUOTE ]

Aw c'mon, it's not gimp when you've got a good team! Fire Breath + Fire Ball + Fire Sword Circle does BI equivalent to Thunderous Blast, and all 3 attacks fit in the aim+buildup time window.

And you can pull off thi combo at level 16 with both aim and buildup for preternaturally good AOE damage, although unless you have a Tank and a Controller Backing you up, you usually end up dead if you try it.

Anyhow _Castle_, if you're still reading, any opinions about the idea to give Blasters range in their primary? 20' attacks to 50' for example.

Howabout my idea to add one SO's worth of recharge to every single target ranged attack (or most of 'em anyway) to allow for easier chaining, given how Blasters can usually only get 3 non-situational single target attacks (not counting aoe fillers) to chain pretty much period?

I'm of the opinion that a range buff to the 20 footers + a recharge buff would solve many of our "we don't have range!" complaints, along with much of the "our ranged damage sucks because we don't have good ranged attack chains" issues.

[/ QUOTE ]

Listen to Arc Salvo! <,<;

Wouldn't solve the secondary problems; but it'd be a huge leap forward for the primaries, and likely would make the secondaries much more livable.

I'm betting Shadow Dweller is solid defense actually. Think about it...

You lose Cloak of Darkness; it's known that for stalkers, Defense is critical &lt;o.O&gt; and y ou can't very well re-hide when your primary source of "defense" (-Acc); comes from using Cloak of Darkness.

Its prolly just ranged defense; not likely ALOT; but something.

*EDIT*: Meant Cloak of Fear for -Acc &gt;.&gt; sorry

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
But still...; Explain this one to me everyone...

How come my scrapper; who is imho rather decently balanced, can do an Extreme damage attack with an improved chance of critting, a minor AoE to it, -Def... etc... in melee (where I live);

But a Blaster can *only* do Extreme damage with *no* chance to crit *AND* a chance to be interrupted with a long wait time to fire; with their snipe. Which generally has no secondary effect but maybe knockdown.

[/ QUOTE ]

The words don't mean especially much, they aren't scaled the same way between sets. "Extreme" damage for Dominator for example (Total Focus e.g.) at 65% base blaster damage is left in the dust by most of the upper-BI blaster moves.

You are mistaken about high damage just on the snipe. Many moves in blaster secondaries do very high damage. No it isn't ranged damage, but it's very high damage none the less. In /Electric there is a lot of 100% AOE knockback, some %chance of sleep and disorient and a 100% hold at the end. /Energy has a lot of %chance disorient and single target 100% knockback and a 100% disorient at the end with high mag. /Ice has -recharge and -speed. Not too bad imo, and the scrapper is almost completely limited to smashing/lethal damage except for Dark Melee.

Particularly for /electric and /energy, blasters are pretty well ahead of scrappers in my experience, and it's easy enough to see if you just take the scrapper attack BIs and multiply them by 1.25 (125% base blaster dmg). If you blap, you have access to many attacks that compare very favorably to scrapper attacks, and you retain ranged and AOE damage too. You just don't have any real defenses, which to me is acceptable.

Since you're a katana scrapper, here's a comparison:
Sting... 4.025L
Gamblers... 2.91L ST
Flashing... 3.45L Melee cone (5 targs)
Divine... 2.91L ST
Lotus... 4.51L PBAOE (10 targs)
Soaring... 6.25L ST
Golden... 7.91L ST

And that's all lethal damage, every bit. And that's if you took every attack, which you might not have chosen to do; your alternatives would be to take attacks from pools, which generally suck except for Air Superiority. By comparison here's an Energy/Energy blaster (not my favorite and imo not optimal for damage, but very popular):

Bolt... 2.22E + .55S ST (2.77 total)
Blast... 2.77E + 1.77S ST (4.55 total)
Torrent... 1.83E + .83S Rng Cone (10 targs) (2.66 total)
Burst... 3.11E + 2.11S ST (5.22 total) - note this is at level SIX
Snipe... 5.55E + 2.11S ST (7.66 total) - note this is at level EIGHT
Explosive... 1.11E + 1.38S (2.5 total) Rng AOE (16 targs)
Nova... Some very random amount that is around 12.05, PBAOE, once every 6 minutes or less depending on slotting (yuck)

And we haven't touched the secondary yet, where the real damage is:
Thrust... 1.11E + 1.11S ST (2.22 total, 100% knockback)
Punch... 1.94S + .833E ST (2.77 total, %stun)
Bonesmasher... 2.77E + 1.77S ST (4.55 total, higher %stun)
Stun... 100% stun (you don't take this for dmg)
Total Focus... 2.77S + 7.11E ST (9.88!! total and 100% stun)


[ QUOTE ]
If they even just made the snipes into normal attacks... *that* would help alot of things.

[/ QUOTE ]

they already are (see secondary attacks)...

[ QUOTE ]
My AR/Energy; Dead at 19; I can't stomach going further. My Elec/Elec...... don't ask. My Elec/Eng Blapper... dead; can't stomach an Ice/Eng; Fire/Energy is fun for now but I expect to quit her soon somehow; it just can't last. Impossible.

[/ QUOTE ]

Sounds to me like you simply do not like blasters. If you think Cryptic is going to rework - let's count - six sets that you mention above (and I expect many more that you didn't try because you weren't attracted to them in the first place) - that's pretty unrealistic, maybe you're better off sticking with scrappers.

[/ QUOTE ]

I need to explain better then.

Here's the problem ok...

Scrappers deal massive damage in melee, and some sets can at range.

Blasters deal fairly good damage at range, and massive damage in melee.

Back up a second.

Do you see the problem?

The secondaries *don't count*.

Why? Because for all the insane damage they have, a blaster is A) Not a melee AT; they are *defined* (Repeatedly) as a Ranged AT; and B) because they lack the survivability to live in melee without some pretty choice pool spending.

And what about /Fire blasters hmm?

/Devices?

The problem is with the primaries though; largely.

They are difficult to chain together; being "at range" means absolutely nothing (The advantages to being at range are so miniscule in comparison to the drawbacks of having *no* protection; that its not even worth considering); and to make it worse, a blaster can't even stay AT range; because many of their moves require them to get close.

Thats ignoring the secondaries.

I'm talking about all the "Close" attacks in the primaries.

Alot of it is left over from back before ATs existed, when they grouped powers together to form sets.

Blaster Primaries *look* like a Hodgepodge, and in fact they *are* a hodgepodge. They aren't "Blast" sets by and large; they are "A little of this, a little of that".

Electric (Example)

2 Single Target damage attacks

1 Single Target Hold

PBAOE End Drain (Pretty mediocre damage)

Ranged AoE DOT

A summoned Pet (I've not used him, so I won't comment beyond that I've heard he's not all that good; but again, reserving judgement; haven't picked up Sparky with an Electric yet)

A snipe

A ranged nuke (Haven't used it; but I hear wonderful things);

That primary consists of 2 'real' single target attacks.

Thats it.

2.

Everything else is either utility, situational, or near-melee.

And look at the Electric secondary; one of the *GOOD* secondaries for blasters.

Tell me this, what is *lightning field* doing in there?

I'm sorry but I'm not buying the whole 'use the melee attacks or stick to scrappers' thing *at all*. Just because Scrapper is my main doesn't mean I don't have alot of experience blasting, it just means my blasters haven't attained the same level. Thats it.

I actually have more blasters than Scrappers if you go for number of characters; and while their levels might not be huge, they've seen a good variety of what can be done to a squishy AT at the lower levels.

(For reference, I've also played many defenders, trollers, corruptors and dominators as well; so I've got the squishy angle figured better than you may realize.)