Telecommuter

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I'm with Eis for the most part. The Hollows was the place to go unload on a spawn and see how much you could take. That was really the boiler plate for my early characters, to see how much I could handle. Plus I bloody hate the Vahzilok.


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Actually, I treated the Hollows hazard spawns (which used to be conveniently near the contacts) as powerleveling-up opportunities. Power-munch some defense and damage inspirations, and go off and unload AoEs. It wasn't really a place for me to test my early builds because of the convenience of the contacts. (For that, I go to Perez Park and do my "hardcore" tests there).

LH, would you please relay my compliments to War Witch?

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I wanted to make the transition from City zone to Hazard zone less painful, especially since new players are 'forced' to go there by a Contact. I made this neighborhood a standard 'city' spawn zone.

[/ QUOTE ] Huzzah! Wonderful decision!


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I added Skulls, Hellions, and Lost to the mix. Also, you may run into Paragon Police or Longbow, but since they're allies, they'll help you out.

[/ QUOTE ] Yay! I like seeing them fight. It always struck me odd that the PPD were so "weak".

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Now there are Hydra, Coralax, and some Trolls wandering around.

[/ QUOTE ]Yay! New stuff ... and badges?

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Vahzilok have moved into the neighborhood, but usually only at night and in a very specific location. The Legacy Chain have a presence there too, a heroic group of mystical heroes who are there to help, not hurt the heroes of Paragon City.

[/ QUOTE ] Yay ... umm ... wait, I can't attack the Legacy Chain?

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In the guts of the Gulch, the spawn levels are 13 - 15. However, around the perimeter (to accommodate the Talshak mission), there are a set of spawns that are 11 - 12 only. These guys are clearly defined as they are the only spawns in the entire Gulch that are face down in the ground taking a dirt nap. If players want to drop down and go deeper into the Gulch, they do so at their own risk.

[/ QUOTE ] Nice! I like how you are consciously adjusting the difficulty from perimeter-to-deep.

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There are also some Tsoo but they're sneaky, and you never know when they're going to drop in.

[/ QUOTE ] Wow! You've really made the Hollows more diverse! I wonder if there are any flying enemies ...

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I pulled every single mission door from the zone and reassigned it to a specific contact AND that contact's neighborhood. What this means is; no longer will players have to fly across the deadly Grendel's Gulch at Level 5 for their Frostfire mission at the other end of the zone, dodging spawns that can make mincemeat of them in a few short hits.

[/ QUOTE ] To be precise, it's Flux's arc that really makes people travel around (to the opposite corner (skyway side) of the zone, usually).

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Meg Mason is located in Cherry Hills by the abandoned water tower on the hill where the Supergroup Teleport exit point is.

[/ QUOTE ] Huzzah! Makes her easy to find.


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I’ve always felt that the zone had promise. It just wasn’t being realized!

[/ QUOTE ] Agreed. Thanks for all your hard work!

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Especially so now -- as I'm getting married next Spring

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Yay, gratz, Red. =^_^=b



Now update your site with Willpower and Dual Blades.



*sigh* Would be nice to get really detailed information about the powers again, what with two new sets, and a lot of alterations to how powers work (change to root times for clicks and toggles, new Defiance, different times on Trick Arrow, etc.). Oh wells, still use the site for both making new characters, as well as checking out storyarc info (for making informed decisions on how gimpy I can make my Flashback arcs for badges).

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City of Data :: Powerset Quantification now updated for Issue 11

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Thanks for the update!!!

I noticed it even includes numbers for the new Blaster Defiance! Woot!

And links within the powers to the corresponding Pet power! Double Woot!

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...giving the game the nickname City of Commuters...

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I've never heard that before, but it's a funny and accurate way of making a point. I agree with you: the level 5-10 and 10-15 contacts (and perhaps the ones later as well) have an annoying habit of sending players on missions that are in OTHER zones.

Back when CoH was new, this "behavior" isn't unusual. I've played plenty of MMORPGs where I had to travel from one end of the "world" to the other end just to deliver a package. But then again, those other MMORPGs don't limit the number of "quests / missions" I can take on ... so I could load up on quests and get to complete them as I travel.

I actually enjoyed these "tour Paragon City" missions, so I didn't mind doing the contact's missions. After a few times, however, they do get "boring". So the radio missions help me avoid the regular contacts.

I think that's part of the reasoning behind the Hollow's new Detective. Tired of Frostfire, but still want to explore the Hollows? Go do the Detective's missions.


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...do what they really need to do (and yes, I know I sound like a broken record here), which is rewrite all original and issue 1 level 5 to 15 story arcs?

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I really doubt they would re-write any of the old story arcs. The best they would do is change where the mission door is placed ... hopefully, not as randomly as before.

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It's been stated, relayed by a red name from War Witch, that the Hollows isn't getting the full Faultline treatment. An added vehicle with rez tubes. A detective contact with Safeguard entry point. More variety of enemy groups. Looks as if you still need to zone to sell and level. After all, it's still a hazard zone.

Don't forget that the Hollows was meant to be an alternate and harder path to take instead of Kings Row and first half of Steel and Skyway. The problem now is that if you ignore Kings Row, you most likely not be getting the Raptor or Zero-Gee Packs which would be so handy for the Hollows. These changes fix those problems.

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Wait ... are you saying that the new Hollows Detective will lead to Safeguards that award the Raptor and Zero-G?

*runs to find Dev Digest*
edit: only one I found is Lighthouse's post about Meg Mason.

edit2: Oh ... I misread your post. You were suggesting changes that would put the Raptor and Zero-G safeguards into Hollows as a fix.

(blatantly ignoring the "complaining about the complainers")

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I find it intriguing that people are talking about how much it sucks to have to walk across The Hollows to get to mission doors, and how bad it is to not have a travel power.

BEHOLD!!!

RADIO MISSIONS!!!

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Yes, you are correct. Safeguards and the temp-travel-packs are important.

The sad part is that contacts point new players to the Hollows before they get to meet the detectives in King's Row. It's rather different in CoV -- the moment you leave mercy, the only way you'll gain a contact is to do Newspaper missions and rob the bank.

I'm still hoping that they change the way the contacts work. Introduce us to the King's Row detectives *first* ... then point us to the Hollows.

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I'm putting my money on seeing the Warriors in the Hollows. They are supposed to be connected to the Outcasts, right?

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The Warriors are already in the Hollows ... just not in large numbers. Iss 12 may change that.

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I'm shocked by how many people are giddy over this. It seems like the developers are taking all of the challenge out of this game. I liked the fact there was no hospital in the Hollows. It helps develop the players appreciation for the zones that have them.

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LOL! Funny response! I think there's plenty of other places that help the players develop that appreciation (Perez Park, for one).

In this case, we're really talking about a Quality of Life improvement for new players. Perhaps I need to remind you of what it is like to a new player with a level 5 - 6 character:

This new player has been following his contact's missions religiously; after all, it's the easiest way to find a bunch of enemies spawned close together for his level. So between level 4 and 5, his first contact finally introduces him to a second contact. And if he's unlucky, the second contact might be in the other starter zone ... let's say he started in Atlas Park, and now he has to go to Galaxy to talk to his second contact.

So he travels -- sprint speed, you understand, is nowhere close to what the travel powers provide. He gets to his second contact in Galaxy, and he's essentially told to go back to Atlas Park and pay a visit to the Hollows.

So now he travels back. At this point, frustration is mounting. The player wants to get to a real mission, not get this run-around. When he finally makes it to the Hollows, he talks to Wincott and takes the mission.

First surprise: it's a Defeat 10 street-sweep. Huzzah. Second surprise: the enemies congregate in large numbers. Back in the days when the Hollows was first introduced, there were a lot of people in Hollows ... so finding a group was as easy as showing up in the zone's Find list. Nowadays ... I rarely see more than 3 people in the zone.

So our poor new player with his level 5or6 character is forced to solo through that first mission. Let's say he doesn't use the "buy inspirations" trick ... he'll eventually get defeated simply by the overwhelming numbers. And now he has to go to the hospital.

Guess what happens:
-- Long Loading Screen to the Hospital
-- Go thru two "doors" to get out of Hospital
-- Long travel -- still sprinting -- to get to Hollows
-- Long Loading Screen to enter Hollows

Things like this is what frustrate many new players to any MMORPG. So I'm glad they've simplified that 4-step-process above to this:

-- Reappear at Field Hospital in Hollows.


To be honest, I'd rather have the Devs change that "first mission from second contact" to direct the player to visit the Detective in Kings Row. It's not good to make new players think that the Hollows is the natural progression.

(QR)

Yay! I hope they change the Cavern of Transcendence Trial as part of this change.

The mobile hospital is a welcome change ... I hate having to zone.

Repeatable missions ... is that a "Police Scanner" or a Talk-to-Contact thing? Would be interesting if there is some kind of Hollows Safeguard, eh?

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* Level Up Boost: Upon reaching enough XP to level up (at all levels), one of each type of large inspiration is immediately cast upon your character, and health and endurance bars are immediately filled.

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That ... ummm ... sounds familiar.

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* Chat improvements: Right click on character names in chat window to ignore, add to friends list, invite to team, etc. Drag any item (enhancement, inspiration, salvage, etc.) into the chat window so that you and others can click a hotlink to view the complete info box.

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This sounds familiar as well.

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* More Real Numbers: Players can now display stats on powers before they choose them enabling more informed power selection and new temporary powers allow players to display enemy stats.

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WOOT! Thanks Pohsyb!!!! I wonder if they are including how much damage and damage types in there.

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Thank you for clearing that up for me Cat. Something else I just thought of while going over the planner trying to figure my IO sets... If I slot with a set that gives me a 2.5% damage bonus, as a mastermind does that bonus apply to the damage my robots do, or is that a bonus only applied to attacks I perform myself? i.e. Pulse Rifle Blast or Photon Grenade.

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All IO Set Bonuses only apply to the character, never to the pets.

The only new special IO thing that affects the pets are specifically listed for the pets -- the IOs that provide "pet aura".

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# Combat Channel (found on the Chat tabs)

* Hit rolls have been added to the text in the combat channel.


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This helps A LOT! I would like to also ask that the hit rolls be placed in their own "channel" -- general combat channel is full of a lot of spam (like when my power recharges).

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Then finally people might stop slotting hover and combat jumping for defence

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... unless they're going for IO set bonuses.

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I'm confused by some of the numbers. First off, i'm unclear on the difference between "Accuracy Bonus" and "ToHit". Under Base, my "ToHit" says 75.00%. Ok. Sounds reasonable. Then theres a Accuracy Bonus thing under that. it says 1.30x bonus. Then what confuses me is right under that, it says "Ultimate Accuracy Bonus" -.70x from self. so something on me is decreasing my accuracy by .7? Are my set bonuses working backwards? I have 2 full purple sets, and that should be upping my accuracy by 30% Should my accuracy bonus be 2.00x? Anyone have any insight into this? Also, popping a yellow increases my ToHit, not my accuracy. should that be? A basic yellow insps says +25% ACC. not +25% ToHit.

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Where's Arcanaville when you need these calculations?

Accuracy and To-Hit are commonly confused terms ... so common, that even the game's "help text" is confused about it.

I can't answer that "-0.70x" accuracy bonus; I'd need more detail as to what your character is like.

But I can tell you that yellow inspirations have been giving to-hit bonuses for a long time now, and the "+ACC" in the description is a confusion. From what I remember, all the buffs in the game are to-hit-buffs (like yellow insps and tactics); and the only way to improve your accuracy bonus is via enhancements (and IO set bonuses).

If you need more detail, I'm sure someone will point you to Arcanaville's guide to defense. You'll find it in the Player Guides.

The cool part about this latest patch is that we'll be able to test-and-validate all the calculations made in guides like the ones that Arcanaville provided.

(QR)

Someone needs to copy the formulas that Castle had posted before (the ones where we see how Cast Time plays a key role in the magnitude and duration of the defiance buff.)

And from what I heard, the activation / recharge times of the Blaster powers (probably just the first 2 or 3) have been changed. I'm hoping someone figures out how much of that has changed (and update either City of Data or Mid's builder).

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I think it would be so awesome if you could choose an "outside" texture...
Like a remote island, or a underground lair with tunnels, or maybe a base in the sky.

Then place windows on the walls (and maybe the floor when your in the sky) around your base so you can see outside!

Kinda like in Pocket D!

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Well, to be fair, the Pocket D "windows looking outside" actually are windows looking out into a "real" outside. It's not a texture / picture at all. During the Wintersday Event, you can fly around outside.

I'm actually looking forward to some kind of implementation on this. Especially now that CoX is under new management.

It shouldn't be that hard to take the Pocket D approach -- the supergroup base being a single-floor construct floating in the middle of a background. And the background can be a copy of your choice of various zones: Atlas Park, Galaxy City, the "purple space" of Pocket D, etc.

With a little bit of work, they can take that to indoor missions, and have windows from inside the building looking out over the city.

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I'm still working on an updated and cleaned up version of this guide. .... But hopefully, sometime before Issue 11 rolls around, I should have it done. It might even fit in one post: that would be the first time in several versions.

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I'm just wondering if a new version has been posted.

And thanks for the detailed work! I'll confess that I still have trouble understanding this entire guide; but it helps to have a "history" of the discussions behind this.

Within the context of the recent "State of the Game 2008" address, I'm hoping we are able to easily verify more of these numbers in-game ... either directly or indirectly.

My Top Five from your list:

Last Updated 08/14/2007

1. Ability to set security level to individual storage devices

2. Increase destinations on Teleporter (perhaps through craftable aux)

3. Trading Terminal (allows connection to Wentworth or Black Market)

4. Super group Invention Storage (accessible by all in SG) (for recipes and salvage)

5. Portal in base give same zoning options portals outside of base give (ie, coalition-portal)

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I still can't see this whole "Invasions grief people" angle for the life of me. You get no debt, you can run past Warships, bombs, hordes of players and Rikti. Going under bridges or in buildings protects you. They've done a lot to convenience players.

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It's the lag that bothers me, especially when the fights happen in common lowbie areas -- like, around Ms. Liberty in Atlas Park, or right outside the Fort Darwin gate in Mercy.

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


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GIMP!

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He might have played it back when the combo was not yet nerfed. It worked really well when you could pump it with 6 damage enhancements, and team up with a controller/tank to keep the spawn tightly grouped. That was like ... pre-I3, I think

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So what's to balance out lower mitigation over all, worse self heals, no knockback resists, and a useless 9th tier power? Firey Embrace apparently ...

So I dunno, I guess having firey embrace is in the devs eyes worth all the cons.


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As a newbie to high-level tankers, I've been staring alot at the numbers provided in these forums. So I'll apologize in advance for my inexperienced opinion on the subject.

answering the "So what's to balance ..." question above, my opinion is that Fiery Aura is offering an offensive-minded aoe tanker the tools he needs. And this opinion is supported by:

1. Fiery Embrace to encourage pairing up with Fiery Melee's AoEs

2. Consume to feed the endurance-heavy aoes

3. Blazing Aura at level 1 as an offensive pbaoe taunting aura (correct me if I'm wrong about gauntlet working with blazing aura)

And I've become convinced that the Fire/Fire tank "misfit" was originally designed to pair up with the Defender "misfit" of Force Fields/*. And since the FF defender powerset was not catching on, they developed Sonic Resonance as the Fire^2 tank's partner.

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I'd like to do both, actually (and both my Brute and my Stalker use it!) But, alas, Aid Self isn't changing. Healing Flames, on the other hand, might get a boost.

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Huzzah for _Castle_!

You know, even if Healing Flames doesn't get a boost, I'd still buy Castle a couple of beers just for responding to a thread AND actually looking into the code to do something about it.

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Yes, there was a typo in the description of a blaster power that is now fixed.

There ya go, bug fix!

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Pilcrow casts Redname_Post at Cynicism
Cynicism takes 1 HP
Cynicism casts Witticism at Pilcrow
Pilcrow takes 1000HP
Cynicism has defeated Pilcrow

[/ QUOTE ]

Now THAT, was funny.

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With the one-shot fix, it's even better...

Telecommuter casts Redname_Post at Cynicism
Cynicism takes 1 HP smashing damage!
Cynicism casts Witticism at Telecommuter
Telecommuter takes 999HP smashing damage!
Telecommuter gains Full Defiance(tm)
Telecommuter casts Defiance at Cynicism
Cynicism takes 5 HP smashing damage!
Cynicism casts ROFLMAO at Telecommuter
Cynicism has defeated Telecommuter
You are in Chiron Medical Center
Nurse says "Welcome home, Telecommuter! Back so soon?

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It is very simple: We are going toware a "City of No Blasters" just as quickly as any fix to blasters might create the oposite. As the other ATs get perfected, the Blaster will just fade away, and it will be none but the most dedicated that play them until you start getting statements like "A Blast-what? Oh, you mean the fifth archetype. Didn't the devs remove them?"

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Honestly, I think the tankers are going to disappear first. Those who are level 40+ now were already 40+ back in the golden days of tankers. All the new level 1-10 tankers pretty much quit by the time they get to level 20 and hit the brick wall of nerfed defense.

If you have a level 20-something character, look around and you'll find a lot of scrappers, defenders, and controllers (in that order), followed by blasters, then the rare 1 or 2 tanks.

By the 30s, you will probably not find any more tanks ... meanwhile, the scrappers and controllers become very prevalent.

bump. needs to be added to blaster guides