Tetsuhara

No, it's ok. Derailing is just fine. I think it's a clear sign of the mindset many of us Tankers are in right now as we watch the upcoming changes and come to realize that we're just not being listened to. In several threads I've seen staff and developers say how pleased they are by all the POSITIVE comments about the new changes and I just cringe.

What I'm trying to focus on now is possible ways to salvage the idea of this thread, if that's even possible at this point. The massive damage done across the board to almost all the Inv powers makes most of them useless. So, looking at Pool Powers, how would a mixture of Fighting and Leaping help? A little more resistance and some Defense from what I see, does it help at all?

Also, should we try and raise a little fuss about the lack of a Inv or SS complimentary Epic Power pool? Just a thought, since there's Stone, Fire, and Ice.

Thanks again all, and I'm holding onto hope till the last bell rings.

Two quick questions then...

One, I've been experimenting a little on Test in my copoius spare time (read, nil) and really I'm not seeing much that I can work with. Has anyone found any alternatives that might help mitigate some of the drops in resistance? Any of the Power Pools might have something to help that I'm not seeing? I'm just looking for things I might be able to do to help keep some version of this build workable.

Two, what in the heck is DDO? Please forgive my ignorance.

Heya, all. Been busy IRL and not had much chance to experiment on Life and Test, but what little I've seen doesn't give me much of a good feeling. But about the whole TI slotting thing, when I did my Respec recently I ended up three slotting TI, mainly because I just can't seem to keep my powers slotted with +3 SOs and therefore didn't want to slip below the magic 90% for S/L. By dropping a Dam slot from some of my attacks, I was able to pull it off.

Which leads to another question, how DO you all manage to keep powers +3 slotted all the time? The only time I manage that is at the 2-3 and 7-8 level number ranges. Considering I'm about to hit 40, I'm starting to worry about how I'm going to keep up my SOs. Anyways, more later.

P.S. Glad you like the JLU, Kimmie. It was originally gonna be cancelled after this season, but it got picked up at the last minute, so let's hope the quality continues.

I've been playing and GMing Champions since it first came out, so I understand well what you mean, Kimmie. I'd like to make a comparison between running a Champions game and what I see happening in CoH.

When a Champions game starts, all the players start off with the same amount of points, which means that pretty much everyone is at the same level of effectiveness. But as time goes on, people start to get XP and learn the game and their characters better and better and things start to evolve. People start focusing on things they want to excel at and learning how to use their experiences to do this the most effectively. Some players want to evolve their characters by hoarding XP and having a 'radiation accident' (I.E. Terra Volta) to shake up and change things. Others come to love their characters, warts and all, and keep them as they are and just develop them along their original ideas. Some get tired of their characters and want to start up new ones.

But in every long-term game, there comes a point where the GM suddenly comes to the realization that the players have evolved out of their control. They've learned the system, come to understand and know their characters well, and old challenges aren't, well, challenging to the players anymore. This is usually a watershed moment for a campaign, because the GM always takes steps to try and 'help' the game, and more often then not, ends up imploding it.

The usual methods are: Rework all the villians and game rules so things are just as challenging as they were when the game started; Insist that the players do rewrites and changes to their characters so they don't dominate any more; Cancel the game and say it's time to start up something new so everyone makes new characters; Or much more rarely, try to develop more interesting stories to run and different sorts of challenges to expand out the things the players can do.

I can't say the number of Champions games I've played that have died because of GMs using the first three above methods to 'fix' a game, despite the fact that the players themselves were loving it up till that point. The GM is frustrated because he feel boxed in by how the players have managed to 'work things out' and doesn't feel the game is fun anymore. And yes, I've been there myself as a GM.

This is how I feel the developers are looking at things. Like GMs of a game that's slipped away from them, and they want to find ways to rein things in again, even drastic ways. Maybe I'm so far wrong that it's not even funny. but I just can't shake the feeling that the developers are sitting around going, 'What can we do to make this game FUN again for everyone?' rather then recognizing that it's already fun, we just want more of it.

Anyways, thanks all for your time.

I totally agree with everything you said there, Kimmie. Being someone that works strange hours myself and doesn't have a lot of free time, I much prefer to solo whenever I can, and have quit many a game because I keep getting railroaded into having to group to do anything. If that's the direction CoH is going to try and herd people, then I'm sure as heck not renewing my subscription.

Havoc.

I too wanted to give you my farewells. I hope that something does happen to change your mind about leaving, but I respect your desires and certainly understand your feelings.

But I wanted to say that I thank you for the great work you did here and the kindness you showed me in the short time I've been back.

Thanks again and take care.

Just a quick comment, JLU is very much NOT a Teen Superkid show. Much of the storyline is drawn straight from the current and past run of DC comics, toned down a bit for TV. The Kara from this show IS the one from the Batman/Superman shows a few years back, so if you did like those, I think you'll enjoy these as well.

Hey, as I warned, here come the silly questions.

I've been experimenting on Test, having just figured out how to make it work. Same with CoH Planner. Was looking to Respec my 36 Inv/SS Tanker before I hit 37th and had to buy all new Enhancements.

I haven't been able to notice a difference in how fast I move between Super Speed and Super Speed + Swift. Is there some benefit to Swift I'm missing? I'm thinking Hurdle would work a lot better till I get a movement power that lets me get around obstacles.

Also, I've been reading a lot of debate over Hover vs. Fly. The main benefits to Hover seem to be the reduced End cost and the Def benefit. But if I follow the build as shown, Hover won't be truly useful for getting around till my late 40's. Treating this build more as a 'Respec at 50th' guide, would it be better to get Fly for now and Respec it later to Hover? And also given that, would there then be a need for Super Speed to get about?

Hello there! It's been a long time since I last posted anything to the boards, but considering I quit playing eight months ago and just came back, not a surprise. This is sort of a strange place to post this, but I'll show the reason in a second.

A big reason I quit was because I was continually getting derisive comments about my character, an Inv/SS tanker. Constant remarks like 'Dump that loser', 'Inv? Start over with a REAL tanker, like a Fire one', and 'SS? Worst possible choice'. The kicker was when I was invited to a TF group and when I told them what I was, the leader said, 'Oh, we needed a USEFUL Tanker, not an XP leech' and booted me from the team. I quit the same day because I liked my character and just got tired of the snide remarks.

I started up a week ago, having missed the game a lot. And my first night out, I got invited to a group and someone said, 'Wow, you should Respec. Check out the Superman build on the forums.' I got upset because I felt like the snide comments were starting up again, but I got on the forums and hunted till I found this thread.

All of that backstory is leading to this: This thread and the people that have commented on it have reaffirmed both my interest in CoH, and in playing my Tanker again. The advice has been great, the people friendly and helpful. I'm astonished by how much the game has changed since I left it, and gratified to see that there's such a fantastic group of people out there that want to help others. Thanks to _Havok_ and everyone else that's posted here.

P.S.: I'll be asking some silly questions and making some clearly ignorant comments here very soon, never fear. Just wanted to say this first.