Steel_Shaman

Excellent work as always, D_R. I always look forward to your videos.

I knew all but 4 of them.
I couldn't remember the titles for Issues 2,4,13, and 15.

I've always loved super heroes. I read various titles all through my teen years, and played a couple of super hero pen and paper RPG's in college. I've also been an avid PC gamer ever since I got my first computer (a Commodore 64 -- yes I realize I just dated myself ).

When I first heard about CoH I scoffed at the idea of an MMO. I just couldn't see paying $50 for a game then having to also pay a subscription fee each month just to play it. Of course, I didn't know that MMO's did free content updates. Had I known that it might have affected my opinion on the matter.

Well one day I was at the store to pick up a few things and thought I'd go browse the PC Games section to see if anything new and interesting had come out. I had that itch to try a new game. I saw CoH on the shelf once again and thought "Oh why the hell not, if I don't like it I can always cancel the sub."

I've been playing MMO's ever since. I've tried other MMO's here and there, but I always wind up coming home to CoH. It was my first and is still the best.

Isn't this thread a little on the late side?
I was unaware AE was still that popular. Yes, I know some people use it to farm and whatnot, but it long ago ceased to be the PL'ing tool it was during its initial release.

I rarely get a character's look perfect at creation. Most often I will get the basic theme correct but then inspiration strikes while playing that results in an "evolution" of the hero's appearance. My second attempt is often way better than the initial costume.

1. Super Heroes.
2. The community in CoH is the best I've had the pleasure of joining.
3. Super Heroes.
4. Character customization is light years ahead of every other game out there.
5. Super Heroes.
6. Gameplay is fantastic. You can get a "flow" going in CoH that's hard to match with other games out there.
7. Did I mention Super Heroes?

Granted it's been a long time since I did any computer programming, so what I'm about to say may be a little dated, but I think this is probably the issue at work:

It's just a symptom of how computer random number generators work. After all, the numbers aren't truly random, but influenced by a random number "seed". As a result of how these algorithms work, computers can and often do get "stuck" in a range of numbers from time to time. This is why we have the streak breaker code. It's an attempt to limit how often and how hard this impacts the player.

So there's no intent by the Devs to cause the annoying streaks of missing we get on sometimes. It's just a limitation of computer technology they try to work around.

To the OP, ask yourself this question: Which mechanic do you like better, crits or fury? The answer to that question is your answer to which AT to play imho.

Me? I love Spines. Gimme gimme more spines scrappers. Spines/WP, Spines/Dark, Spines/Fire, heck I'd do Spines/Spines if I could.

Now if they ever give Spines to Brutes.......I'm done for. Absolutely done for. Because then I will have no farking clue what AT to play either as I love them both.

This isn't directed at any one poster in this thread, but y'know I've been thinking about this subject (MMO difficulty) a lot lately. Here's my take (be patient, this may take a bit):

The business model of an MMO is to get players hooked and then keep them hooked as long as possible so they keep paying. In order to do that content needs to be accessible to as wide an array of people as possible. Also, difficulty has to be at a level that the players don't get bored, but don't get frustrated either. Both boredom and frustration are equally bad because they both can ultimtely lead to the player cancelling their account.

But not every player has the same skill level with online games. What seems easy to some is hard to others. So developers are left with trying to figure out a baseline challenge level that works the best for their game. CoH has taken this one step further and made the difficulty level extremely customizable. Players can fiddle with it to get the experience they want.

But how do the Devs figure out what the "base" should be? Data mining statistics like debt accumulation, mission completion speeds, etc. It doesn't matter how many people come on these boards and say "CoH is easy mode," if the data mining shows that the average subscriber is appropriately challenged, then the Devs will view the base difficulty as being where it should be.

My honest opinion? The standard, base difficulty of an MMO is supposed to be relatively easy. It has to be to retain subscribers. Yes that does mean people that are good at computer games will feel unchallenged at times. That's why the Devs gave us a difficulty slider. It's an attempt to appeal to as wide a number of players as possible and keep the subscriber base going. Yes it's a business decision as well as a game design decision. It has to be. So the next time you feel tempted to say "CoH is easy mode" remember that to survive as a business it's actually a good idea in some ways. If you want more challenge, up the slider. Still not challenged? Turn off a toggle or two. We have the ability to create our own challenge, let's get creative and use it.

Well I think I'm done rambling for now.

I usually play Doms. When I see a Super Stunner I pop Domination and hold him. The rez is annoying yes, but then I just hold him to death again.

So bring Doms on your teams, it turns him into a kitty cat.

Darq, I get what you're saying from a build standpoint about Earthquake, but from a practical standpoint while leveling you will be miserable on an Earth/ Dom without it. While leveling Stalagmites alone isn't up often enough to use it every spawn. Being able to rotate out Stalagmites with Earthquake as each recharges is a godsend to a solo Earth/ Dom. Trust me, I learned this the hard way.

If I've misunderstood and this is a respec build for an already 50 Dom, pay me no never mind.

My pleasure, glad to be of help.

Just tested this on my Plant/Fire Dom and I can confirm it boosts both Rain of Fire and Fireball.

Stone cages do indeed stop KB.
I eventually decided to do both Mind/Earth and Earth/Psi. Why have one character when you can make two? I haven't played the Earth/Psi much yet, but the Mind/Earth is an extremely good soloist, especially against mez resistant lt's and bosses (largely due to the ST sleep being mag 4).

The one gripe I've had about the Mind/Earth is that he is VERY single target. Granted, Dom's aren't meant to necessarily be AoE monsters, but Earth Assault's ST focus is very noticeable. I have Tremor, but the damage from it is laughable, to be honest.

I'll probably try leveling the Earth/Psi soon. I like the amount of AoE control you get from Earth Control, and Psi Assault has a little more AoE in it than Earth Assault. Should be an interesting pairing.