The_Paladin

I like the fact that all the lights go out when the event starts, too. The arena looks particularly odd when not lit up. I do like the little details like this that are thrown in.

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...mobs that are defeated still doing their damage after defeat....

Hopefully these are new bugs and not new WAI.

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Thanks for pointing this out. I've noticed this, too, and I hope it is a bug and not a new "feature."

I haven't read through the entire thread, but if someone hasn't mentioned it yet:

Let us put some of those pinball machines in our bases!

Rollback! Brilliant.

Thank goodness! I've been wondering whatever happened to Stan & Lou!

Thanks, Hertz!!!!!

Correct me if I'm wrong (and I'm sure you will!), but I thought ragdoll effects were all unique client-side. What I saw that happenened to that Vortex Cor Leonis Force isn't what you saw happened to him, and not what the third person on the team saw, etc.

Do the demofiles even record the specifics of ragdoll?

Don't worry about outlevelling zones, they can just "exemplar!"

Right "ALT" by default "expands" your power bar one row. Chances are CoH caught the ALT before Windows did, or you hit ALT by itself.

My level 50 characters have their Faultline mini-map's fog-of-war reset each time they enter Faultline. Just like the Shadow Shard zones always do for the same characters.

Non-ambush mobs in safeguard missions have super-ultra-massive perception. They see through stealth/superspeed/etc. "tier 1" cloaking. They even see you from further away than their "wild" counterparts in City/Hazard/Trial Zones. I haven't had the opportunity to try out stacked tier 1 or tier 2 cloaking such as invisibility.

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I concur when I did my safegaurd missions with Superspeed I wasn't even close to the malta and they would turn away from blowing up boxes and such to fire on me from a long distance. This definetly is not the perception that malta in regular missions or even on the street have. I tested it by running through (within 10ft) of some on the street and they didn't even look at me. But in the safegaurd missions they see me and shoot even if I run past at up to 60ft. I wonder if it's a stealth bug in safegaurd missions? or maybe working as intended to make it difficult to complete,all I can say is thank goodness for status protection, I wouldn't try that with my blaster

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I can verify this, too. Last night doing the Skyway safeguard mission, Trolls would start firing on me from 60+ feet away, even though I had superspeed going. They were NOT ambush mobs, just street loitering mobs. I couldn't go anywhere without being fired on by Trolls (the ambushers in Skyway are Lost, not Trolls). Stealth just did no good at all.

Safeguard missions have issues with stealth.

As for the original poster, you discovered that the Warburg scientists are the only hostages that can follow you while stealthed. All other hostages can't, and never have. NPCs that fight with you aren't considered hostages, and they will follow you while stealthed, but the Warburg scientists are the only non-combat NPCs that will follow you while stealthed.

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Spoilers follow.

The Clockwork are not actual robots; they are hunks of metal animated by the mental power of the Clockwork King. Having a Clock hang out with you would require the King's complicity. Or I guess building a working robot yourself that just looked like a Clock. But why would a hero do that?

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Re: Why would the Clockwork King allow you to have a pet "Sprog" (It looks like a Cog and a Sprocket combined)? If you've been to "New Faultline" on test, you'll notice the Clockwork aren't necessarily the "bad guys" in all cases. Obviously the CWK may let you have a pet Sprog for a reason known only to him.

Or, you know, it could just be a fun little reward for your characters which has absolutely no impact on gameplay.

I created Kuros Paladin back in April of 2005.

On October 11, 2005, Power Paladin hit 50.

On October 11, 2006, Kuros Paladin hit 50. It took me 18 months. Of course, altoholism didn't help.

If interested, you can see a screenie at http://www.knightsunlimited.com/imag...1-23-10-13.jpg

Special thanks to the Looney Bin for all their help!

Positron,

Thank you again for providing us with useful information.

I have one question though? Why are ALL the exploration badges in PvP zones the "villain" graphic? I know it's petty and small to think this, but isn't it sort of giving the PvP zones to the villains? I just ask because it bugs me everytime I view my hero's badges and see those exploration badges with the red "X" graphic.

Ok, I have 2 questions. The 2nd being: Will the Shadow Shard TF badges ever get their artwork fixed?

Thanks, again!

A lack of imagination and a bit of frustration.

The Princess Of Lies
Zako Zako Hour 2
Fate Zako
Brave -yukki-
Hidden Zako
The Best In The World, Genkimaru
Zapper Zaku
Dragon Fight
The Princess Of Lacroa
The Legend Of Lacroa

Of course, the only playlist I have on my work computer right now is SD Gundam Force....

The respec badge descriptions change when you use the associated respec.

For instance, before you use the respec it will read "...your powers seem to be fluctuating." After you use the respec it will read "...has permanently changed your powers."

So, in a way, the old badge is being replaced with a new one.

In Soviet Russia, Badge thwarts you!

But, seriously, has anyone figured out what makes this progress? Just taking out CoT? Completing CoT missions? Bouncing a Thorn Wielder up and down with Lift in Perez Park? Anything?

Actually, it would be nice if you are just introduced to the PvP contacts like you are currently introduced to contacts. The only difference being the nice big red text that appears on the current introduction.

Instead of forcing a character to travel to the newly introduced contact, he should be able to just accept them as a new contact. As it is now, that PvP contact (as well as Hollows/Striga/Croatoa) stays in your contact list regardless if you take any of their missions or not.

It never made sense to send a character into the PvP zone just to "learn" about it, and then possibly get ganked while reading the text. If anything, it should have been a contact in Skyway/Steel Canyon/Kings Row standing next to the helicopter/gate.

I agree with the OP. Every single one of my contacts suddenly were stuck on "Go into PvP zone" mode until I went there.

And you can usually get in and out in 30 seconds if your system renders the zone fast enough (my counter starts and ticks away 5 seconds before I can actually move, so in reality I only have 25 seconds. I wonder if players with slower systems have less time).

But what REALLY irritates me is you get a nice little warning AFTER you accept the mission. This is unacceptable. Don't pull a little "oh, BTW, where I'm sending you to is a zone where you may be killed (I thought heroes were KO'd not killed) by other players," statement AFTER I accept the mission. This should be stated up front and in the nice big red text that you get after accepting the mission.

The PvP introduction is borked. It should never have been "required" to be introduced to it. Just like the Hollows/Striga/Croatoa. Especially since we've been told repeatedly that anyone who doesn't want to do PvP never has to, but we are sent into a PvP zone just so that we can continue our PvE content.

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Huh? Wait,... huh!? Did I just read this right or did I miss a recent patch note? I was under the impression that the team that does the most damage will get the badge, so now it is any team that contributes 25% or more damage? This is better, not exactly what I would love to see, but better.

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It's always been >= 25% damage. I don't know where the >50% damage theory came from. Since I first started playing this game I've seen multiple teams get badges for non zone-event Giant Monsters (read not Lusca or Monster Construction). Evidence that it was >= some amount less than 50%.

So, no, it was not a recent patch.

* Supergroup Name: The League Of Extraordinary Bickerers
* Website (if any): None
* Leader or Recruiting Officers: Peace Paladin*, Farad, Kid Viscous, Msgt. Psmith, Pea Chee, Gog M' Gog
* Preferred Method of contact: Ingame /tells
* Guild Description: "There is no problem that can't be solved with a bit of bickering." Basically a supergroup of casual players willing to help others. Most characters in it are support role (defenders, controllers). A start-up SG whose charter members guide their newer members through their formative levels.

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Turn SG mode on, and set all the colors to your default costume colors. SG mode stays on, and you get to keep your normal costumes.

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Except for SG logo.....

My impression of what's going on with Defiance. Please, let me explain a bit before getting there just so that you see my view of how balance seems to be "working as intended" and I want my 1 post to count. I apologize in advance for the length.

First, blasters are the damage kings in the devs minds. As a result that must balance with defense. Let me repeat this. If an archetype is about dealing high damage it will not get any defense. It's the glass cannon, looks beautiful on paper, and in the imaginative states. Big guns don't get armor. The blaster archetype is all about hitting hard. I have no problem with this concept. It makes sense. The devs have this image in their heads about blasters being the damage kings and as a result we must pay for it by being as fragile as a house of cards. However, in their attempt to "balance" they've left all the blaster advantages on the left hand side of the scale, and left a lot of other archetype advantages off the right-hand side of the scale.

Range. Any blaster in his 40s knows this is a problem. Range is not a defense. It is only a defense from melee, and in the 40+ game range fails as a defense because the devs see only damage-dealing attacks as a risk. Status attacks come from out of my attack range. Every other archetype out there can get some protection from status attacks that does not involve the inspiration tray. Using scrappers' need to be in melee range as their payoff for getting mez protection is unbalanced, as mez attacks do not always come from melee range. The tanker and scrapper are at no additional risk to sleep or hold than the blaster, yet they get additional defenses for them. Blasters are specifically not given any defenses from mez attacks because it does not fit the "glass cannon" vision. I feel blasters will never be given mez protection because of this stubborn view, and it infuriates me.

Aggro management. Blasters become the target of villains for no real apparent reason. I can single-target in an 8-man team even after waiting until the tank and scrappers have gotten the foes' attention, and still end up being the target of 4 or more foes. I have no problem with a foe that I attack turning on me, but when I attack with snipe or other single-target attack, his 3 buddies should not be turning on me when they're standing next to the tank or being attended to by the scrapper(s). If I use an AoE, then I've just annoyed a lot of villains, and I deserve the aggro I get, but single-targetting in a team should NOT lead to being multi-targetted in return.

Life-span (solo). I've seen it many times even at 35 where 2 shots from a foe take me out. The first is ranged with a status, the second is melee. A blaster's HP has three states in the 35+. Green at 90%+, 25% - 89%, or 0%. The speed at which his HP changes is drastic. Again, with no defenses this makes sense, and I expect it. It's why I plan my attacks instead of running in with guns (or gloves, I guess) blazing. When a blaster starts taking so much damage as to hit 40% he is not going to survive much longer. Like every other archetype, a blaster will have 1 of 2 results from a fight. He survives or he doesn't. But, blasters tend to reach the results a lot quicker in both cases. He either takes out the mob surgically and immediately, or he gets to see which flavor of Jello is being served at the hospital. The latter will generally occur everytime something Goes Wrong. To give definition to Goes Wrong, a blaster need only miss twice in succession to start the inevitible down-hill slide. The third successive miss is usually the fatal event.

Scrappers get random criticals regardless of their current state (it changes based upon the foe they target). Scrappers need not put themselves into any additional risk to get this advantage. Controllers will now get 2x damage to targets they hold. They get 2x damage for hitting a target that probably can't retaliate. Controllers need not put themselves into any additional risk to gain this advantage. Tanks get punchvoke for no additional risk. Defenders get....a rock, I guess.

Defiance, however addresses none of the problems the blaster archetype has. It provides additional POTENTIAL offense, but blasters are already offensive builds. Defiance is putting a more powerful engine into the already fastest car in a race as the frame is about to fall apart. All it will do is get you more spectacular fireballs for the audience. And we all know we need more spectacular fireballs in the late game.

Defiance is what the devs want because blasters cannot be allowed to have native defenses. To the devs, blasters must be a spun glass cannon. To allow them any native defenses would turn them from spun glass cannons into iron cannons. Still not titanium, but now too much defense for their power potential.

Sadly, Defiance will be the "you got your lovin', the money's on the table" response that blasters will get for the near future. Not only will this be the attitude we receive (if any, since we get no real response except vague "looking into it" or vague "increased/decreased" numbers), but blasters have taken a hit in the shorts in other departments too, which the devs seem to have overlooked in their zeal to "balance" the game.

Defiance as is is too situational. If we are to have an inherent power, make it less situational. To the point that it is useful. Scrappers' criticals cannot be relied upon, but they are useful. Controllers' 2x damage cannot be relied upon (have to lock the target down first), but useful. Defiance means has too many hoops to jump through, and even if I jump through those hoops, I've only just then put my lottery ticket into the box, because that +500% damage boost can still sail right over that foe's head.

In some ways, I feel like Defiance is an S&M dream. The more you get abused, the more you like it. Could we please have our increased damage shots at least appear differently when they miss? Maybe have it look like a giant pea, or a banana peel, or something equally amusing? I want to at least laugh when I faceplant because my "special power" failed. Perhaps a nice big Rube Goldberg type setup. First the mouse has to pull the plug on the HP beaker, which then drains into a bowl on a spring-loaded scale. As the scale goes down, it begins to jack up another spring on a giant boxing glove that eventually shoots out at your target. But it only hits the target if the mouse was able to eat the cheese at the end of the maze first. That's kind of what Defiance is, anyway.

Another open letter to all healers out there. If you team with Power Paladin, please keep him in the green. I don't want Defiance, but my mommy says I have to eat it for strong bones.

RedTomax,

I recently completed this mission, and I think you might need to bump the kick-off mission up one notch and throw on another one instead. I do recall doing a mission prior to the first mission you have listed, and I did find a memo in it. Sadly, that was 5 levels ago, and I do not have the details anymore, but my level 30 scrapper has not yet accepted any missions from his new contacts, and I will keep an eye out and take screenies if I get it.

Thanks for the guide, btw. It's been VERY useful.