TheWeaver
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Posts
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Joined
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Quote:It's not just the Big Dogs - the LTs (Hombres) are mez resistant as well. Not to the extent of the Dogs, but still. Oh and Blast Masters are essentially a minion version of Demolitionists. Overall the Destroyers are Scrapyarders on steroids - not something easy to fight at lvl 10Originally Posted by Steel_Shaman
I agree on all points, especially the Destroyers. I remember the first time I fought them on a Dominator: "Hmmm......that guy seems to be immune to CC. Ok, I'll hoverblast!" This was followed by the Big Dog throwing not one but TWO chunks of rock at me, both of which appeared to feature -Fly and took off over half my life by the time he was done. His Footstomp (seriously? A Tier 9 attack on a level 12 mob?) once I landed unceremoniously on the ground finished me off quite handily. My personal response to that has been to always run the Loyalist Responsibility arc on a Dominator. That arc has absolutely no Destroyer missions at all.
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Don't get me wrong, I'm one of those that enjoys Praetoria - but to say that it is not more difficult than the 1-20 path in either Paragon or RI is just not being honest. And I have all the vet attacks - I simply cannot imagine what it must be like for a first time player. -
Quote:Please, for all that is good and holy, allow temp travel powers like Ninja Run and the flight packs work. I don't know about anyone else but I've pretty much given up on taking travel powers on most of my toons. I'd really hate (as in *really*) to have to start creating second builds with a travel power just so I can participate effectively in a Trial.Originally Posted by Positron
In Incarnate Trials, Temp Powers are disabled as well (we may let a sub-set of temp powers work, but we're still testing).
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The key with Psi Scream on an Elec/Psi is to... move. Get the spawn occupied (SF, SO, team, whatever), move in and DP and PSW, hop back and Scream. Put one range enh in it and you'll easily get most of a x8 spawn every time - that's boatloads of damage. You do have to move around though so if you don't like that (some don't) then you won't find Psi Scream all that effective.
Oh - and I don't understand what seems to be the prevailing opinion here on Synaptic Overload. That thing is seeds junior - just simply a great power. I have 5 Malaise in it right now and it hits fine, has good duration, is up at least once per spawn, plus the +rech. What's not to like? -
I find the comment about being surprised there aren't more Vigs/Rogues a bit odd. The reason for this is very simple - the system rewards staying at the extremes more than it does staying in the gray area. The ability to run on both sides does not balance out the ability to earn alignment merits from tips. On the average players will follow the rewards - no one should be surprised by that.
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Quote:This. There is apparently a militant wing of the casual community with which I'm unfamiliar. Seems pretty clear to me that the dev team understands COH's somewhat unique position in the market as an MMO you can treat as an occasional recreation and not a second job. If the forthcoming Incarnate stuff follows the same basic pattern as what they've already released then I don't see that changing.Originally Posted by Dromio
<shrug>
I'm casual. I started in the open beta and have played ever since. In that time I've been in no more than five PuG's. I'm in a very small SG, where only if everyone is on can we field an eight man team, so I solo well over 95% of the time. I have two kids in elementary school, a 50 hour a week job, and responsibilities in two households since my dad passed away. I'm apparently not one of your "we casuals" though because I've enjoyed the Incarnate content and other high level additions to the game. -
Oh and not that it will do any good (I'm sure it's a corporate directive), but the fact that you put integration with the NCSoft Launcher under "Service with a Smile" says that you and I have different definitions of "service".
That thing is vile and needs to be kept away from sentient life lest it cause irreparable damage. -
Quote:I realize that you aren't in a mood to hear anything that doesn't fit your preconceived notions, but on the off chance anyone is paying attention to you I had to chime in.Originally Posted by Toony
Not really the same but keep telling yourself that.
Needing to run an arc that was actually a major part of the story at the time/=/needing to grind for hours to make an AO.
Theres a difference between locking an area as part of a story and gear gating. For example in LOTRO you could not enter Moria untill you advanced that part of the story. This is not the same as being killed instantly in the watcher raid if you hadn't spent 5 months getting radiance gear.
But really I'm just gonna leave the thread for now. I didn't come to argue with the usual suspects who violently oppose any concern on the game. I came to air out my opinion for the devs to see. That is done. Have fun.
When the Incarnate stuff first came out I had exactly the same concerns you did. I play COH precisely because it isn't a raiding, must grind specific loot to run the important content, kind of game. I play sporadically and solo a lot. In short I was very afraid of being left out.
Fortunately what I've found is that it really isn't like that. It could be and for all I know it will be when the rare/very rares come out or with the other Incarnate slots. But for what's currently released it really is as simple as:
a) Run one arc that can be soloed by 90% of the toons out there (or if you have one that can't you can easily get a pug duo for).
b) Run one ITF (or if you don't like - any other of the 45+ TFs - the ITF is just the fastest).
Craft alpha component (doesn't matter which), slot it, and now you can run Apex or Tin Mage. Of course if you are like me and don't really like TF's much you'll likely just run each one once for the experience of having done it and move the heck on.
That's it, that's the list. It isn't game breaking, game changing or anything. It certainly doesn't require an IO'd toon. In fact the fully IO'd, purpled out toons may benefit less from the slot than toons with a more vanilla build.
So let go of your fear and give it a try - it really isn't that bad. -
Quote:I will never argue with someone about TA needing more -Regen -- it does and PGA is the perfect place to put it. Adding both that *and* -ToHit is asking too much I think, and isn't really needed (not that I'd turn it down).Originally Posted by Local_Man
Two of the things that TA really should have added -- more ToHit Debuff and a decent amount of -Regen. Both could be added into Poison Gas Arrow to make the power more effective. Without those, Rad just seems to be overall superior for debuffs, plus it has buffs. The main thing that makes TA stand out is Oil Slick Arrow, and you don't get that until 35.
Also, OSA stands out quite a bit - especially on a more ST set such as Illusion. And 35 is still more than 1/2 of your toon's lifetime, even if you toss it as soon as you hit 50.
But that's just me - I love TA and have never gotten in to Rad (for all that the numbers say it is a superior set). -
FWIW here is the build I run on my Ill/TA. It is perma-hasten and near-perma (< 1s off) PA and it did not require bank breaking. All the LOTGs were gotten with h-merits and it has only 2 purple sets (the two cheapest). If you cannot afford even those then you can replace the confuse purps with Malaise and the sleep purps with Call of the Sandman and you'll still have perma hasten and be 3 seconds off perma PA. I was planning to use Cloud Senses in Flash Arrow, but that set has gotten expensive and the 1.25% +rech isn't worth the cost IMO.
The biggest sacrifice to get the recharge is the fact that it does not use the Fire APP. Would be nice to have Fireball, but the build does just fine on its own (it soloed +1x6 w/bosses since the late 30's). There might even be ways to go that route too without too much expense, but the Fire APP was out of character for me, so I never tried.
BTW - I complete agree with Local Man regarding the skippable TA powers. I can count on zero hands the number of times I've used Flash Arrow (it is in the build to mule the +rech set). PGA is an interesting beast - it can be a useful alpha power early in life, then it becomes pretty useless , but the auto-hit -DAM is useful against AVs later in life. It also makes a good mule.
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Quote:Not necessarily. It is in at least the Blaster APP.Originally Posted by je_saist
that would imply you have a fire armor... and it took HOW LONG FOR...
no. no. no. Not going to finish that. I do NOT want random Hamidons dropping on me.
Anyways, I took several screen-shots, need to post them up, although I don't know if any commentary on the map is going to be of help this late in the (I'm guessing) development cycle. -
Thanks for the info - back to Mids for Plan B which appears to involve the Psy APP.
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I'm going Black Scorpion on mine. However, it isn't really for the shield (though I'm taking both it and PFF). The main reason is to help with recharge. I'm doing a no-purple, relatively cheap perma-Hasten, perma-PA build and between the shield, the pet, and PFF I get another 26.5% +rech.
I agree with LM though - Ill/TA is really a ranged build and if you play your cards right you won't personally be attacked much. In fact, if it weren't for concept restrictions (yes, I'm one of those players) I'd being going Fire APP on mine as well. From a sheer effectiveness standpoint it is probably the best. -
Did this mission on a Kin/DA stalker and while it was kind of fun once, it is not an experience I'm looking forward to repeating. Actually managed not to die, mostly by doing laps around the building and kiting mobs with the occasional hidden attack and the nem staff.
The part that I found particularly amusing was the notion that I was being filmed the whole time in order to make me out to be a powerful foe - meanwhile I'm running around the building screaming like a little girl. Good times.
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IMO saying that both Ice and Electric have a sleep is like saying that both Mind and Plant have a confuse. The statement is true, but it implies an equivalence that I don't personally see. But to each their own, I understand that many are disappointed with EC - I'm just not one of them.
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Quote:This pretty much sums up where I'm at, though I think I might sit more on the positive side of the fence.Originally Posted by Peacemoon
I think one of the major problems for the set is that no dev has really spoken out at what the overall philosophy of the set is. Obviously by analysing the powers you can tell it is going to play differently to its sister sets, but will it still be as effective? It lacks the long recharge AoE controls that other sets possess and instead has a lot more quick recharging powers that do soft control. Though the chaining powers are not as reliable as normal AoE's and if you miss the initial hit then the whole power just fizzles, plus it can take a while for the power to fully chain, especially Synaptic Overload.
I think with more extensive playtime and testing, we will start to see new stratergies and tricks emerge from the playerbase, especially as the set is pretty unique. What we can say with certainty though is the set is low damage. It will sit near to Ice and Earth and might be pretty rough solo at the early levels, especially with the long activation time of Tesla Cage.
Personally I have found the set to be pretty difficult to get to grips with and with not much to really show from it. I will admit though, this may be as much to do with my ability to adjust to a new play style as it is to do with the sets performance as a whole.
So at the moment I think we have a pretty open verdict on the sets capabilities. The optimist in me says that there is a lot of unrealised potential just waiting for a creative player to tap into. The pessimist in me says people will try play it like a conventional control set and not be pleased with the results, especially early on. I guess only time will tell.
My testing was with a Dominator, so YMMV on the Controller side of life. My impression was that it was a set that I had fun with and it could be very effective. I didn't team much, but I didn't find the sleep to be useless on teams. It ticks over fast enough that it has close to the same effect as terrorize (not quite, but close). I also found the sapping to be more than adequate - though it isn't the one button insta-drain of pre-ED SC, it doesn't take long for the mobs to be empty. Even with DOs Conductive Aura makes for a good enough Stamina replacement (again taking into account that Domination helps here too - so this might be a place where Controllers differ).
However, I completely agree that it is likely to suffer from player expectation - this is not your garden variety control set and if you play it like one, you will be disappointed (note, I'm not saying I yet know how to play it optimally, just that I know it is easy to play sub-optimally).
Overall I do think that the set has room for some upward adjustment and I wouldn't be surprised to see that at some point post launch. I'm not sure what that buff should be, but I know some things I would *not* like to see:
- More damage - this is a damage light set and that's OK - not everything is Fire Control.
- Doing away with the chain powers - I like that the set has unique mechanics, especially when it means you have to think a bit.
- In general anything that moves it close to be "just another standard control set with a different coat of paint". I think the idea here is layered control and I like it (not everyone will, but that's OK).
An increase to the target cap for Conductive Aura would be nice as would some minor -REC (though I didn't find that as much of an issue as others). Perhaps some low mag, <100% chance stuns added to a couple of powers - fits both with the Electric theme and the seeming desire to make this a "layered" control set (one power doesn't do the trick you have to apply multiple of them in the right ways). -
Quote:This.Originally Posted by Chriffer
Four months later: Has there been anything accomplished on this topic? Is this topic being worked on?
I consider this the single most important issue in my City of Heroes experience. I rate this more important than Issue 17, Going Rogue, and whatever the Television and whatever that other guy was arguing about. I want Task Force difficulty settings more than I want whatever is contained in any of those things... unless of course one of those things contain the Task Force difficulty settings and then I want that thing exactly as much as I want TF difficulty settings.
I know of several people who know longer play the game and would quickly and gladly reactivate their account once this issue has been rectified. Please let me know if you are doing anything or merely thinking about anything regarding this topic. It has been four months without update, news, progress or any information whatsoever.
I am one of said people who has lapsed into inactivity due in large part to the removal of this feature. Personally I would grant the "Master of ..." badge to everyone who even joins a TF if it meant that we could have a working TF difficulty slider.
At this point even just a "yep, we're still looking at it" would be nice (though not as good as a "yep, almost fix't"). -
Quote:This is a question we've been asking ourselves over in RO land (where we *do* have magical unicorns that bring us chocolate milkshakes BTW) and we've pretty much come to the same conclusion. Unless there is something we don't know yet you'd have to have one heck of a backstory and be a stickler for being in character if you ever played anything other than a vigilante/rogue.Originally Posted by SDragon
So... the only difference between being a hero and a Vigilante is that one gets access to both sides of content?
Why would I want to be a hero anymore?
(swap villains/rogues, same deal)
In fact, given the devs seemingly stubborn refusal to merge the markets I'm having trouble seeing the reason to play anything other than a vigilante. (Note - I say seemingly stubborn because they may have a rational explanation for the decision - I just haven't seen it articulated as of yet.) -
By in large I prefer the red side content and the red side AT's, but the red side market is a serious impediment to building characters the way I would like.
Assuming that the markets are not merged in GR (something I am personally stunned and mystified by) then I will likely end up starting all my characters in Praetoria (so I can access the ATs I like) and staying a Vigilante (so I can access the content and market I like). About the only downside of this is that I can't use the VEAT ATs. For those I'd have to go through the more lengthy complete switch and then fall back down to Vigilante.
Depending on how many folks are of like mind, the markets may merge themselves. -
Appologies if this has already been asked:
Is there a way to restrict search "New Posts" link to just posts in a specific sub-section? For me that would be English since I don't read German and my French is very rusty?
I would also like to echo the sentiments of those who would prefer that the board password not be required to be the same as the in-game password - very concerning that. -
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Objective
The black market's supply of low to mid-level Pool C and D recipes has dropped significantly.
I thought things were fine, but it seems previous supply was keeping it afloat for a few weeks, and now I'm having real trouble getting some lower level Pool C and D recipes. For example:
<ul type="square">[*]Impeded Swiftness Chance for Smashing - I see no sales in weeks.[*]Decimation Acc/Dam/Rech lvl 33 used to go for 12 - 20 million. The only sales recently were 5 of mine that I sold for 40 million apiece.[*]Kinetic Crash Knockback/Dam/Acc - I see very few going through.[*]Malaise's Illusion triple are abundant at level 50, but rare below level 40.[/list]I'm not sure if the playerbase will pick up the slack in this case. I don't play heroes, so can't compare with Wentworths, but I wonder if more merit generation opportunity is needed in the mid-levels to get people comfortable using that random-roll. (Another mid-range SF please!) Rolling and selling isn't much incentive if you can't use the inf to buy what you want.
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THIS
As a player who's play style has never included running lots of TF/SF I have pretty much always relied on the market as my primary source of IOs. And that source appears to be drying up. We probably won't know the full impacts and where the new equilibriums lie for quite some time, but the current trends indicate a heck of a lot of hoarding going on - which is never good for any economy.
I think that part of the problem is the sheer complexity of the current system. How is the average player supposed to know what all those drop pools and level ranges mean when it comes to what they can expect to get? Better to just hold on to the merits and buy exactly what they want. The pool system might have kind of maybe made sense when it was a random reward at the end of a TF. For the current system is makes no sense whatsoever and just adds to the confusion and lack of immersion. -
Note - this post is somewhat long and is based on my subjective experiences with a newly started Brute.
TL;DR version (subjective) - Merits are having a negative impact on how I feel about my progress in the game. It is too early to tell if they are having an actual impact on that progress.
On to the wall of text....
When I13 went live I started a new War Mace/Shield Brute as part of a sub-project within my SG network. This project is a light RP themed group (aka not min/max/optimized) and has enough folks in it that we can create teams across multiple time zones. We're using level pacting to help keep us all at around the same level (to the extent possible). The upshot is that at this point my level 27 Brute has run exclusively in teams where I'm usually no more than 2 levels off from the team leader.
The other aspect of the project is that, again to the extent possible, we are running story arcs and Strike Forces. We run papers/mayhems to get the temps and the contacts and then we start in with the arcs. So in my play time I've participated in a whole bunch of story arcs and helped complete a few of them. Since the group is designed for easy teaming folks are dropping in an out as we go so it is often the case that foks will help with some, but not all, of the missions in an arc. We also schedule SF runs and I've been able to run 2 of those - Virgil and Renault. So at this point I have 39 Merits - 25 from Renault, 9 from Virgil, and 5 from the Daren Wade arc.
On the face of it this doesn't seem bad - I've run 2 SF's and have about the same as I would have had - 2 Random Pool C rolls. But I don't *feel* as if I'm doing well - why is that? Well, the main issue is that others in the group that I team with have more Merits - in some cases significantly more - one guy has 110 merits. Why is that? He's only run the same SF's as I have - why does he have more? The main reason is that he runs a bit more often and thus is usually the highest level on our teams. As such he is the one that tends to set the missions and so the delta is all due to Arc bonuses. That's an additional 70 merits from story arcs. If I had earned that - heck if I had earned 1/2 of that - then I'd probably be feeling pretty good about merits. As it is, I don't.
By this time the fervant merit supporters are probably dismissing this and saying - "but you could have had that if you'd just tried a bit harder". Let's take a look at that.
When our group was running in Cap I was way behind (RL having taken over) and so I never even ran a single paper mission or got a single contact in that zone. The only way I could have changed that was to break off from my group and solo to catch up or have the group re-run a second set of papers. The first option would mean soloing which I find boring (and is exactly counter the purpose of this effort). The second option would either have meant other members out-leveling their contacts or taking no-XP. They probably would have done this, but it wouldn't be fair to ask it of them (it was already the case that they were hold on to Mayhems so others could get the temps we would otherwise have missed). The net result - no merits in Cap (other than for Virgil) even though I helped complete the PTS arc.
By the time we got to Sharkshead I had caught up and was within 1 level of the leader (his pactee wasn't playing much, so he had a boat anchor on him). We ran the papers and got Petrovich as our contact. Then we ran the Daren Wade arc and simul-completed the missions - presto, we all earned 5 merits. This was looking good. Next we start in on Petrovich only now things aren't working. The team lead and one other guy get Petrovich to give out his arc mission, but others of us just can't. After running 2 of the random missions he gives out and still not getting the arc we decided to just move on and start running the arc. So again, even though I ran every mission in it - no merits. Then we ran Renault and so here I am with 39 merits.
I want to feel like this is a wash and I have what I would have had anyway - but I don't. Instead I feel like I'm once again behind for no particular reason. I ran many of those arcs - why don't I have any more merits to show for it? In the past it wouldn't have mattered - but now it does (at least psychologically). Sure I could grind to catch up - I could run solo or go back via Oro and earn some merits - but why? Why should I have to do that? Is that really the intended effect of this system? If so, then for me at least it isn't working. It is reducing my enjoyment of the game, not increasing it. But I'm not much for formless whining, so what would I like to see done? What would it take for merits to at worst be neutral and at best improve my game experience (which I would like them to do)?
The primary thing is to figure out some way for folks who contribute to story arcs, but who for some reason or another don't complete their own arc, to get some level of merit reward. As I mentioned above, I'd probably feel fine (neutral) if I had recieved 1/2 the merits that the arc holder did and I'd feel great (positive) if I had gotten the same number.
<ul type="square">
[*]One idea that I've seen for this is to open up Oro earlier - at the start of the level band instead of at the end of it. That might help, but I'm not sure that would work for a group like ours. As I said - we have folks coming and going at all points - having to wait for arc start points to add team members would be a constraint. But it would probably be better than it is now.
[*]Another step would be to allow more control over the contacts and the missions they give out. I'd have more merits today (and be happier) if that darned Shark's contact had given me the fraking arc mission instead of a bunch of drek. This is a long standing bug that in the past made no real difference - not so much now - it needs to be fixed.
[*]Another idea would be to spread the merit awards out and simply give them for each non-paper/mayhem mish. That would provide the most flexibility in team formation and encourage running contacts (as opposed to grinding papers/scanners).
[/list]
As for the overall impact on the progression of my character - it is too early to say. If merits become the only real way to get certain recipes then I'm probably not going to be happy (pre-merits I could easily buy the recipes I needed and it is still too early to tell if that will be true post-merits). In the end I might be able to build the toon I want just as I have in the past (leaving only the sour feeling of lagging merit earning on a relative basis - which is completely subjective). I won't really have a good handle on that until I'm in the 40's and maybe not even then since the markets are in turmoil right now and will likely remain that way for months.
However, at the moment on a subjective basis merits are a downer - they make me "feel" like in order to make progress I have to play the game in ways I find un-fun. Whether that's objectively true or not, it is the way I currently feel and so I'm disappionted in merits right now. -
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Objective Feedback: The Baby New Year mission allows for the following exploit: Level 50 character teams with a bunch of level 10 characters. Level 10 character gets the mission. Level 50 character stomps through the mission in two minutes. Ding: everyone has 5 candy canes.
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Objective:
Conversely if you are trying to team "normally" and run the lvl 50 missions with the lvl 10 sk'd up (or the level 10 missions with the 50 exemp'd down) then the character that is either SK'd or Exemp'd will get no reward. I'm not sure if this is WAI, but I really hope not.
Subjective:
As it stand right now the BNY missions encourage mindless farming instead of standard teaming which I doubt is what the development team wants (though perhaps I have misjudged that).
Note - I am aware that this can be worked around by un-sk'ing/exemp'ing at the correct moment, but that just means more hassle for playing by the assumed rules. -
EDIT - Removed - user is a dork
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Subjective Feedback:
One thing I've noticed since I13 launched is that I'm paying a lot more attention to running story arcs instead of other content. I've found that sometimes this can be difficult unless I solo. The reason being that it is difficult to line things up for simultaneous completion. One reason is that there tends to be a good bit of level skew on the teams my SG network runs, so often I can't have the same story arc. Another factor in this is that even when I am at the same level it is often hard to get synchronized because the contacts insist on giving out their arcs at different times and in different orders. For example, last night I joined a team with some friends and it happened that we were all the same level. The leader was going to start running missions from Petrovich in Shark and I had him as a contact as well. So I went to go get the same mission - and couldn't. In fact, even after we decided to clear mine to get me synced up, it still didn't work. At that point we decided the heck with it so I'm not going to get any merits from that contact (because I'll out level him as we move on). Prior to I13 I wouldn't have bothered with any of this - it just simply didn't matter. Now I feel as if it does (maybe it still doesn't, but *subjectively* I feel that it does) and as a result I was a bit upset, instead of being happy to be running with my friends. Not an ideal situation.
One more bit of subjective feedback - I'm not sure that the merit awards for various story arcs are well balanced against each other (in fact it kind of seems like they were determined randomly). Case in point - the second story arc from Sister Airlia in Cim. That arc has 4 or 5 missions, 3 of which are kill alls and 2 talks. Two of the kill alls are against difficult mobs on large maps. One of the kill alls involves multiple EBs (solo) and large ambushes and is on a simply huge map. The merit reward - 3 merits. I see absolutely know way to run that arc in 36 minutes and thus maintain the 1 merit per 12 minutes that arcs are supposed to produce. Heck finishing the last mission is hard to do in 36 minutes. Do you really need data mining to tell you that?
More subjective feedback - I did decide to take 2 random Pool D drops using 60 merits. My reasoning was that I would slot 3 of the 9 things in the pool and only 1 of the 9 was likely to be worthless (and it can be avoided by taking the drop at lvl 30, at least I think it can if I read that text correctly). In the end I got 2 things that I slotted, so winner. I'm not currently prepared to do the same thing in Pool C, though I have no idea if I'm the exception or the rule at this point.
OK, all subjective, sorry. I haven't played enough or seen enough merits for objective feedback. -
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Flashbacks are treated like Task/Strike Forces - everyone gets the reward.
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Thanks for the info - never did any on test so I wasn't sure. This then might be a good source for me. I saw at least one suggestion for opening up the FB system earlier, which might be nice as well.