Stealth_Bomber

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More to the point, I grabbed Red Zero's list and Revolver Laws list and will be going over them. Thanks for reposting them (both here, and in the other thead.)

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I just wanted to say thanks to _Castle_ for looking at our issues, and thanks to everyone who has posted here so far. Blasters are my favorite AT, and IMHO there is no question that we need an upgrade.

Keep those ideas coming in!

So, I PM'd CuppaJo about making this a stick thread. Here is the reply:

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Do this instead - once you get it fleshed out and colorized and all that send me a link to whatever thread it ends up being in and I will make sure he and all the other devs get it by putting it in a community report.

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So there you go, a chance at getting the Dev's attention. Keep those suggestions coming!

Great idea! I'm just trying to get stuff out there since we were asked.

I hope this post doesn't come out wrong, but.....

_Castle_, Blasters have had problems for a loooong time. There have been MANY, MANY, MANY threads here about improvements. They have gone on for pages. But, no one reads them, or at least a red name never comments, and they get wiped when the boards are cleaned up.

Our first problem is: we need a rep that regularly plays a Blaster and has played at least three combos (like AR/Dev, Fire/Fire, and Archery/Fire) all the way through the game to 50. We can tell you what we think until we are blue in the virtual face (and many folks here have), but unless our rep is involved in this AT, it won't connect.

Well, I started this thread to get the ball rolling.

OK, _Castle_ asked for it, so we need to provide concrete information if our AT is ever going to get help.

Let's avoid arguments here and just post what we think needs to be looked at. Examples would include:[*]Powers that don't work as they are written up [*]Powers that work as written up, but are not useful [*]Power Sets that need a re-vamp (I'm looking at you, /Fire secondary) [*]Stuff that works in PvE but not PvP, or vice versa

I'd have about 6 pages to post about AR/Dev, but Revolver_Law's thread is just so much better than anything I could write, so I'll just link to it here.

Archery's substandard damage, the repeated /Dev secondary
nerfs, let's get it all out there.

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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!

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One of the best announcements in a long time! This provides good balance for solo players and teams.

My wife and I have played together since about 2 days after I got CoH in May 2004. The costumes and online interaction were too much for her to resist. Her FF/Dark Defender hit 50 before any of my characters did.

Now that CoV is out, I'm not too sure how I feel about her Dominating someone else....

Just joining the chorus here.

1. Defiance has no appreciable benefit in the 35+ game, as far as I can tell. Even with ~18% increased hit points, the time between not-quite-dead and dead is so small that you can get maybe one extra Defiance-enhanced shot off. Maybe. Whoopee.

2. All the damage in the world is useless if your accuracy is not there. If this power is to be implemented, I'd rather see it boost accuracy over damage.

3. It really should start to scale as your Health goes down, starting from 100% Health.

4. The implementation of Defiance is a symptom of a larger problem, IMHO. Defiance, the decrease in power pool defenses, the absolutely incomprehensible changes to Stealth/Cloaking powers, the bugs in powers such as Trip Mine that go unfixed, the lack of attention to Secondary sets that are sub-par (Fire secondary still mostly useless after a YEAR of existence), all point to the fact that there is no major developer that plays or cares about Blasters in the 35+ game. Statesman himself can describe tactics for Controllers in multiple paragraphs, but his only words for us are to take MORE damage to use Defiance better???

As one poster put it, the Blaster changes are "meant to make us go away. Not go away mad, just go away." It sure feels that way.

My suggestion to fix most of the I5 complaints: Sack your current testers. Then, please, assign developers or their representatives to the archetypes and have them correpond regularly on the boards. Make sure they actually PLAY and understand the AT they are affiliated with. Then, perhaps, we will get useful, desireable changes to our ATs that players will actually USE and ENJOY.

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Greetings all,

I just wanted to take a minute to let you all know that your voices are being heard.

We wanted to start the re-launch of the comic with a bang. Mark, Jack and I came up with the no mediport plotline together. We didn't force it on him and he didn't force it on us. Rest assured that the heroes will come through this test unified and changed. Issue #3 will end this arc. In Issue #4 Troy Hickman (of Common Grounds fame) will be telling a more classic super-team story. Starting in Issue #7 Dan Jurgens will write a story-arc that features the Back Alley Brawler as the main character. It will also introduce an upcoming gameplay feature.

We plan on showing a lot of different sides of Paragon City and the characters in it. Some of it will be dark, some of it less so, just like the stories we tell in the game.

As always, thanks for your interest and passion.

~M

PS More about Statesman's origin will be found...you know the rest!

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Cool. We appreciate that you take our input seriously.

Can someone slip an Awaken to War Witch in the next issue? I bet she wouldn't tolerate this "no powers" stuff!

Personally, I liked the first series a lot better. It seemed like people were having fun writing it, sneaking in pictures of actual players, "MMORPG", and stuff like that.

This new series is just plain terrible: two issues about not having powers? Didn't we already run that into the ground with Iron Man running out of juice all the time in the 1970s?

How about an SG-only Synergy power, that only works when 4 or more of your SG are together in a certain radius? For instance, your accuracy increases a little, recharges are a bit faster, slightly more damage, or something like that. Maybe the SG creator could pick it at SG startup, like the colors and emblem. A graphic that floats around you like the Inspirations or Leadership powers do would let you know when it is in effect.

I agree with Istar, the idea of an SG-related TF is a GREAT one.

An all-SG calendar is also a fantastic idea, so you can plan events.

Let's not forget Perez Park!!!

When I first started playing CoH, Perez is where you went to group up, and that's how you learned what your role was in a group at low levels. Later, you could go Hydra hunting and get insane XP for everyone in the group.

Sadly, on Triumph at least, no one goes there now. I had a door mission the other day in Perez, and other than my team, there were about 4-5 other low level folks in the entire zone. Before The Hollows, Perez was so crowded that people used to argue on Broadcast channel about who was "kill-stealing" their Hydras, but now they spawn without anyone there to keep down the population.

I think there needs to be a few "Defeat 20 Hydra" missions to get people interested in the Perez zone again. Also, put a store, a Hospital and a contact in there so you don't have to run so far to get back to hunting. (OK, make it a little twisted if you want. Put the store and Hospital in the middle of the forest maze!)

I think I have met and teamed with some amazing people in this game.

I think that characters that make it to level 50 should have their names posted somewhere on this website.

I think that sometimes I hate it when real life interferes with CoH time (oops did I say that out loud?)

I think that the Flash would probably approve of Boombox emotes, but Batman definitely would NOT.

I think Supergroups were a great idea.

I think you should be able to be affiliated with more than one Supergroup.

I think this game has given my wife and I more enjoyment than any TV-watching or single player gaming ever could.

I think this game helped me introduce my 5-year old son to the idea of heroes and what that means in real life.