The_Solitair

I am typically highly critical of the Devs, but this is by far the best and most thought out feature I have seen added to the game since beta of CoH.

Well done!

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Super Reflexes really does not make that much sense. How do you build up Fury when in Elude... Duh.

[/ QUOTE ]

*sigh*

The same way you do when not in elude: attacking and being attacked. Not being hit. Being attacked. Being missed grants you the same amount of Fury as being hit. Even if they miss you, you get Fury. The amount of defense you have does not affect your Fury generation. Only the amount of incoming attacks. Fury is generated when someone attacks you. Fury is generated if you are hit by the attack. Fury is also generated if you are missed my the attack. Misses generate the same amount of Fury as hits do. If you have 16 people attacking you and missing, you will get the same amount of Fury as if the same 16 people were attacking you and hitting. Only the number of attacks matters. Being hit does not matter. Being missed does not matter. Being attacked matters. Defense does not impede fury generation.

tl;dr summary: Defense good, slow bad.

[/ QUOTE ]

And thus ice armor is bad as it slows down the incoming attacks and thus slows down the amount of Fury built up.

[/ QUOTE ]

Which would hurt in PvE, sure...however, in PvP it is virtually impossible to build fury unless you are in a 1-1 slugmatch with someone willing to stand still and pound on you.....so building fury isn't really an issue.

Besides, Fury is still broken, the devs know it, admit it, and STILL refuse to fix it. Fury is stupposed to build in PvP at the same rate it would if you were attacking and being attacked by an AV. It currently only builds at the same rate as when attacking a minion, which is why Tanks tend to do more damage than brutes in PvP.

[ QUOTE ]
and I keep saying: None of that matters.

Cold Domination adds exactly TWO things that Heroes couldn't ALREADY do. Frostworks and Benumb. That's it. Neither of those is effected by Power Boost.

Thermal adds NOTHING. Heroes could already do EVERYTHING Thermal can do.

So can you explain to me again just exactly how does that effect balance in any way?

[/ QUOTE ]

example: There are plenty of losers who 2box in PvP and some that even find it necessary to 3box in order to be successful. Given this fact, imagine this: Psi/Psi blaster (so you have a damage type that most people don't have defense or resistance to), with a combination of Frostworks, forge, ice shields, fire shields, ALL POWERBOOSTED. Now, imagine a hearo group running around with all of the above, plus fortitude, CM/clarity, sonic shields, regen aura.

GET THE PICTURE?!!!!

Heroes are already able to outbuff villains by an enormeous margin thanks to powerboost. Now its just going to get worse.

[ QUOTE ]
It seems typical of the forums of late. Devs say were getting 20 powersets ported over, and people cannot seem to find the good in this. The list gets announced and the first 30 posts all seem to be "OMG DEV HATEZ VLZ< I GONNA CRI NOW!"

*sigh*

I don't think they could have released a list of sets that would have made the community happy.

[/ QUOTE ]

Ice armor or regen for my brute would have made me happy.
Broadsword for a brute would have made me happy.
Empathy for corrupters would have made me happy.
Kinetics for MMs would have made me happy.
Illusion for Doms would have made me happy.

Giving scrappers energy aura would have made me happy.
Giving tankers energy aura would have made me happy.
(why should villains be stuck with the ultimate in craptastic)
Giving thermal and cold secondaries to heroes, who will use the buffs to MORE effect than us to start with, and then will be able to powerboost them on top of it....that is guaranteed to make people angry.

Giving scrappers fire/fire so they can Fiery Embrace+BU+Greater firesword crit +dots = 1 shot kill. let alone however many other attacks they can get off in that time period......sorry, not going to make villains happy.

Heroes recieved very very GOOD powersets, while villains recieved garbage in return (with a POSSIBLE exception of storm secondary). And for those who are hoping and praying the VEATs make up for it.....COME ON. You know deep in your hearts that anything made for villains has to be WORSE than warshades and peacebringers......and those are pretty poor excuses for ATs.

[ QUOTE ]
<QR>

I just had an epiphany while reading all of these "Devs Hate Villains" posts.

The problem isn't the powersets being proliferated.

Let that sink in for a minute....
















Which powersets, exactly, do Villains want that they don't have in some form. Masterminds want /Kin, but Corrupters have /Kin, so it's not like Masterminds don't have access to it.

Aside from the Blaster Manipulation sets, which aren't easily portable, the only portable sets unique to Heroes that Villains don't have in some form after this Proliferation are Illusion Control, Empathy, Broadsword, and Katana. Every single balance issue you are complaining about now would still exist if all of the remaining complete sets were ported over.

So, which powersets would fix the problem of Hero / Villain balance?

I submit to you that no Powerset proliferation will be enough for you, because Powersets aren't the issue. No matter what you get from a proliferation, Blasters will always PWN Villains because they have access to Energy Manipulation and the APPs. At this point, they can't just shoehorn the best powers of the Blaster Manipulation sets (for example: Conserve Power, Boost Range and Power Boost) into any of the Villains sets. Archetype design, Energy Manipulation and APPs are the things that are causing the imbalance you bemoan, not "the heroes are getting our good powers."

[/ QUOTE ]

You obviously only half understand the problem. Currently heroes have access to empathy, sonics, and FF. Those can all be powerboosted (thanks to the ability to take powerboost from an epic set) for effects that dwarf anything a villain can do. Now, two more powers are being added for hero powerboosting enjoyment, thermal and cold.

First of all, corruptor buffs and debuffs aren't as good as those defenders get. Second, defenders are able to get powerboost to DOUBLE the effect whern corrupters cant.

Yea, I think we're a little upset that not only are you taking the villain sets that you didn't have access to, AND are going to be able to powerboost the effects, but add insult to injury, villains aren't getting the sets we most wanted (regen or ice armor for brutes, empathy for corrupters, kinetics for MMs, BS for brutes, illusion for doms). The power sets villains wanted the most weren't made available while some of the BEST powersets that villains have were made available to heroes.

THAT is why we are upset. Balanced is screwed up enough as it is....This is just going to make it worse.

[ QUOTE ]
mmm k, let's see here...

for the redside:

corruptors - get the weakest, clunkiest blaster primary (lol attack chain)

brutes - get 2 smash/lethal sets (lol s/l damage after level 40), and yet another secondary that has no self-heal, is toggle-end-hog-horrid pre-stamina, and lacks acceptable aoe protection until lvl 35

stalkers - get the weakest brute primary, and the second-weakest brute secondary (lol energy aura was already available to stalkers)

doms - get a mix of the weakest blaster primary with the weakest brute primary, and a controller primary that is location-based (lol pvp)

mms - get a secondary that specializes in causing enormous chaos on mission maps (lol teaming with mms)



and for the blueside:

blasters - get psi and more psi (and are the ONLY AT to get a new power designed especially for them - i'm shocked, really, I am!)

scrappers - don't get energy aura

tankers - dont get energy aura

defenders - get the best corruptor secondary

castle and posi - WTF????!!!!! enough is enough already!!!! can you PLEASE give the Vills some G*D D**N love???????

i can't wait to see wtf the Villain "EPIC" AT's are going to be like...

[/ QUOTE ]

Very well said. I'd just like to add one thing.....

Fire/fire scrappers. Fiery embrace+BU+greater fire sword with crit = 1 shot kill on anything in the game villains can field except possibly a fire armor brute. Yes, 1 hit kill, because the ticks of damage will count as seperate sources.

Those heroes complaining about fire/fire....they're idiots.

[ QUOTE ]
I would like to know where I'm wrong about Ice Armor being counterintuitive of fury, if you have the chance to shoot me a PM so I can correct myself during future debates on this topic.

Also, hey guys, Ice/Dark Melee tanks!

[/ QUOTE ]

I think the point is that ice armor is a really effective set. It protects FAR better in PvP than SR does, and in PvP its nearly impossible to build fury anyway, so any adverse effect from ice bears absolutly no consideration.

[ QUOTE ]
for all u how think Dual Blade is not a good PvP toon u r wrong. If u want to prove me wron just come to Justice PvP and i will show u. I built my DB/Regen for acc and rechar. my Dam output is so fast the person im duelin has no time to heal. just ask about Takai that is me. ppl used to talk about claws the same way but i build my claw/SR b4 IOs and i got to 400rep solo in a month. I racked up 34 rep n 1 hour solo. So i close with "PROVE ME WRONG"

[/ QUOTE ]

Taki, Look me up in RV some evening....I'll be happy to prove you wrong.

Faery Princess

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
This was to address CAP RUNS.

[/ QUOTE ]

You believe they changed every single TF and SF in the game just to address Cap runs?

[/ QUOTE ]

Yes, I for one DO believe that they changed every single TF and SF in the game just to nerf the ability of villains to run Caps.

I've been playing since the original hero beta...and we've been soft spawning missions for YEARS now. Why did this change suddenly get made? Because running Caps has become virtually the only way that type C recipes ever find their way into villain hands. I ran the RSF 2-3 times a NIGHT for months with a steady group, we soft spawned the first mission every time.....no nerf for that. I don't think I've ever been involved in a villain Respec TF that didn't soft spawn the vine room. No nerf for that either. What changed? The fact that people villainside found an efficient method of doing Cap runs.....

Sad thing is....I can totally see how this will make farming for drops so much easier......

Too bad the Devs can never think things through before they screw with the game.

[ QUOTE ]

Both games use the same servers, there is no hero only or villain only accounts unless you bought the games seperate after NCSoft bought City of Heroes/Villains from cryptic studios. You will find very few places that still sell them seperate.

[/ QUOTE ]

The fact is that server populations are 1/3 villain and 2/3 hero at BEST, regardless of what time of day or server you look at. Quite often it is more along the lines of 1/4 to 3/4 in favor of heroes. The prices on the hero auction house are very low in comparison to what villains have to cough up for the same recipe, salvage, or enhancement. What was just done only helps ruin the villain economy further.

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
I've slotted Endurance Modification IO Sets into powers that accept them ..

However, the Endurance Modification percentages are not registering or displaying on the power.

[/ QUOTE ]

I am experiencing this as well....just made a post about it...should have read here first. Anyone know if it is just not displaying correctly or if it is not applying it?

[/ QUOTE ]

I can confirm this. I have 2 performance shifters (chance for +end and +42.4% end mod) plus an IO for end mod (42.4%) slotted into stamina. The only end mod listed for stamina is 42.4%, so either the standard IO isn't being listed (which they were before I swapped them out for performance shifters) or the performance shifters aren't.

I am definately getting the +10 end every now and then from the unique, but I'm not entirely sure the other performance shifter is having an effect....I also don't see the bonus in my power list from slotting 2 performance shifters (should be a 5% movement increase).

You can add my name to the votes for:

Selectable maps
Lack of villain +perception
selectable inspiration tiers
No meaningful rewards
PvP count
Fury bug
Placate bug
Arena level issues
cage issues
PPP vs EPP balance
Bounty system in all zones
FLIGHT IS NOT VIABLE IN PVP

Realistically, they (the devs) just don't care about villains. Placate worked fine, until they decided to nerf it. Once nerfed, it became broken, but that was just fine with the Devs. Brute fury building has NEVER worked right in PvP, not in CoV beta, not since it went live, NEVER. Devs have no plans to fix that either. Devs stated patron powers would be more powerful than those of hero epics before they were implemented....bald faced lie!

Face it, unless the overwhelming majority of players suddenly starts playing villains, the devs aren't going to care about villain problems.

Currently 2/3 of the player base at any given time of day is on heroes. When you have twice the numbers of heroes as you do villains, it only makes sense to cater to the overwhelming majority, and let the rest suffer.

[ QUOTE ]
Lately, I have noticed that the purple bubbly effect of Confuse (from Mind Control) seems to appear and disappear on enemies at random. I don't know if that is due to some issue with my system or the game, regardless there it is.

[/ QUOTE ]

Its not just you. The purple confuse bubbly definatelly vanishes at times, but the mobs still attack either other. sometimes the bubbly even reappears, but usually not.

Dropping caltrops doesn't drop hide, but the second an NPC takes damage from the caltrops, they immediately aggro to you and see you with no problem.

[ QUOTE ]
The problem with "datamining" is the fact that it doesn't actually gauge the effectiveness of an AT. Anyone who's actually played a Stalker knows how hard it is to fight against truly skilled opponents, or even minorly clever opponents.

I suspect the D:K ratio is skewed by the newbs who walk into a PvP zone, stand around chatting around their favourite badge locations, and get their [censored] stabbed by their friendly neighbourhood EM Stalker, repeatedly, because they just stand around doing nothing. It's simply ridiculous to base the effectiveness of an AT, and the priorities in fixing GAME BREAKING BUGS on a stupid and easily skewed calculation.

Castle, Posi, any other dev watching: Fight a high-end, dedicated PvP SG. Tell me how many Stalkers they use. Then ask them why they don't use any. You'll find out how "extremely effective" the Stalker AT is.

[/ QUOTE ]

The problem is the data itself. A person skilled at number manipulation can use raw data to prove anything they want. Sure, if you take Kill-Death ratio, stalkers may prove to be the least killed of all ATs, but as long as there is no penalty for dying, Kill-Death ratio is meaningless. The only data that has any meaning for this game is Kills per Hour. Judge how many kills each AT averages over a period of time, and THAT will really mean something. From what I have been a witness to, blasters may die more than stalkers, but they get a LOT more kills than we do as well. I can't begin to tell you how many times I've been in a nice big melee and see a dead blaster come back from the hospital with low health firing a flurry of attacks. He typically gets 2-3 sometimes 4 kills before he's spotted and swatted. Its not like it takes a rocket scientist to come into a fight with ranged attacks at the damage cap with 30% unresistable damage and swat down anything they see. Even my electric armor brute with energy resistance far beyond the cap will die from such a blaster even if they are firing energy damage....it only takes a couple more hits...after all, 30% unresistable no matter HOW high my resists are. Corrupters, dominators, stalkers, they die instantly, MMs survive a little longer if they are in BG mode, but that doesn't mean much.

[ QUOTE ]
When the LRSF had level 54 heroes, we routinely won it with a very specialized team in less then 90 minutes without stacking vengance.

Now that the heroes are lvl 52, I completely agree with Maximum in that you need an aggro holding brute and a couple of corruptors but you don't need stacked vengance in order to win the event by any means.

The STF is the same way, we have run it on test multiple times and have only lost due to people having to quit or dc. All the AT's can participate and add value and again you don't need to stack vengance.

[/ QUOTE ]

Please let me know how you get the RSF to spawn with level 52 heroes in the final mission, because I do 2 of these a night, and I'd love to see them lower than 53.

[ QUOTE ]
How about no stacking of Shivians, or Nukes, or Veng. Only one of each max active per team? (though it may not currently be possible per Castle's comment)
This keeps the soloist safe and makes the team thing a little more difficult.
Just my .02 inf for a middle of the road solution.

[/ QUOTE ]

NO

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
This cripples our future content. If it's tough to do with Nukes and Shivans, it's impossible without. If it's tough without, it's easy with.

[/ QUOTE ]

Adding to this puzzle is somthing I think is important. And something I think a lot of people overlook.

Shivans aren't on our tray by default. Clearly there's an open question about whether they're hard enough to get, or related factors like how many per run, or how strong per Shivan. But we never have to go get them. It's a choice.

I could trivialize the game regularly with Shivans. I don't. I get them for really hard fights that I either can't win without them or that take so long I don't want to do it without the help.

In other words, I use them for what they're presumably meant for. I don't skate through the rest of the game with them, because there's no point. That's not fun for me.

Do I need to be protected from myself? Made so I can't bore myself by intentionally making the game too easy in that way? I'd rather have the option, honestly, to clear those damn hard fights, or clear them faster.

Should so many of our missions have AVs in them even when we're solo? Should even some EBs be as tough as they are? How do you account for differences in powersets? In ATs? In the powers of the EBs themselves and how they counter some powersets? Some EBs are a joke to one character and a bane to another. A fun fight often lurks somewhere in between.

Are Shivans, Nukes, or what have you "balanced"? I'm not going to argue that they are. But do I think they serve a purpose that they serve well, and removing them or severely neutering them would be a bad move.

Should we have a tool to push us over those challenge humps? I think we should. How do we make it so you can only have that tool when you really need it? I have no idea. And so I am reluctant to advocate removing it.

I have no complaint about the change to Vengeance, except for one that's old news. It's the only buff in the game that's (supposed to be) non stackable. I hope the change to make this one power non-stackable isn't something that will become a balance trend. I tend to doubt it will, but I am still wary.

[/ QUOTE ]

As far as shivans and nukes for the RSF are concerned.....I do 2 RSFs a night, I farm bio and chem for two different toons every single night, and always make sure I have at least 3 shivans on each. If I am willing to take the time out of my day to enter open PvP zones and farm techs and shards while any number of Heroes are looking to prevent me (most villains understand RSF prep and won't interfere) from doing so, then I have every right to use these temp powers in my RSFs. Nerfing the powers would be an injustice to the time I spend on a daily basis prepping for my RSFs.

[ QUOTE ]
This is a VERY VERY important issue. Not Vengeance per se, but in the levels of difficulty that the Devs are allowed to design into the game.

Over and over, players want content that 'any PuG can have a reasonable chance to defeat'.

They also want 'truly challenging content that is worth the bragging rights and not a boring grind'.

One way of doing this is to have content that is truly challenging, but also have some 'kryptonite' for it in the game: in this case, Nukes and Shivans. A PuG can do this with Nukes and Shivans, or by stacking Vengeance...can you do it without?

But then these tactics developed for extreme situations become the easy fix for every bump of difficulty in the game. See a Brute? Nukes and Shivans! Why not, it isn't like you don't go farm for Nukes and Shivans first thing after logging on anyway...

This cripples our future content. If it's tough to do with Nukes and Shivans, it's impossible without. If it's tough without, it's easy with.

This is further complicated by the fact that the Nukes and Shivans are in PvP zones. If more people PvP'd, the Nukes and Shivans would be as tough to get as they are 'supposed' to be.

You could take the Nukes and Shivans out....but not until after new replacement content is designed.

It's an interesting puzzle. How tough should tough be?

[/ QUOTE ]

I have a suggestion that would allow the same encounter to be used as either a "Pug" encounter or a "bragging rights" encounter.

Take the RSF for instance.....do it on the lowest difficulty (as most do) and you get your random Hami. Do it on the highest difficulty and you get to PICK your hami (or your invention recipe). Now....any PuG can pick up shivans, nukes, and have at a low difficulty RSF, or a group of experienced players can crank the difficulty of the strike force and do the same thing for their choice of hami (I know I'd never do a low level again if I could pick....no more cents!!!

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Then try to complete it with no rads, stoners, vengeance, shivvies, or nukes. Oh, and have at least 1 dom and 1 stalker on the team. None of this "Oh, but these guys did it" cards people throw, I wanna hear of YOU doing it, with builds.

Call me when you're done.

[/ QUOTE ]

What a ludicruous attitude.

I know people who run it regularly. I don't happen to, because I either wasn't the right level or I've been waiting for I9 because I prefer the notion of a Hamidon raid to the LRSF. And part of that preference is exactly because the LRSF has promoted AT- and powerset-elitism.

But I know people, as in I'm in the same supergroup and/or chat rooms or voice coms, who run RSFs regularly. And they do it with no stoners. They do it with no rads. At times they do it with none of either. They do it with a core of around 5 people, with three "pity slots" that can be given to Stalkers or MM's with the "wrong" powersets.

I know these people. They aren't making it up when they tell me how the SF is going. And I've got no reason to make it up when I tell you. I'm sorry if you haven't found a team that can do this. They exist.

[/ QUOTE ]

I belong to one of these groups on Justice that runs RSF 2 times a night every night (and sometimes 3). We take all ATs, all builds. Cold cold corrupters who don't have their shields? NP, there are 2 of them who do it with us regularly. We have done it with 3 MMs before, with 3 stalkers before, even with 3 doms. The issue really isn't the ATs and builds who do the RSF (I do it regularly on my SS/elec brute, EM/nin stalker, and Bots/bubbles MM), but rather the fact that Vengance really is a Must. If you only have 2 vengance you have a rough RSF ahead of you, and better have some really good players with really good builds and shivs for the final mission. If you have more vengance then you have more flexability in the ATs and builds that you can take with you.

If/when they nerf Vengance then I'm afraid people will find that less "pity spots" will be given out for RSF groups.

Great....so when you fix this, are you going to take into consideration that it is an almost required power for RSFs? Keep in mind, villains have 8 level 53 heroes to fight in the last mission, and they aren't single pullable. Your beloved heroes don't have to worry about anything, you made their statesman TF nice and easy, with every AV easily single pullable (you said you learned from your mistakes made in creating the RSF....but that doesn't do us villain players a whole lot of good, now does it?)

You want to nerf it in PvP...fine, but don't change it for PvE.

[ QUOTE ]
J/k , for some reason, us fools in pandemonium are still pvp'ing our villains.

[/ QUOTE ]

I also pvp primarily on my villains, since playing a hero is like turning on godmode. I can't believe that blasters are still crying that they need BUFFS to their damage, and that they need resists, etc. etc. There are so many problems still inherent in the villain ATs, and the most powerful of the heroes wants to be BUFFED.

[ QUOTE ]
And on a second look, bodyguard is broken at the basic level. That is because bodyguard is really empathetic dmg spreading, not bodyguarding. As long as TP enemy is out there no amount of this type of 'bodyguarding' is ever going to help me in PvP play.

Here is an idea on how Bodyguard should be. As long as a minion is in supremacy range the MM shouldn't be able to be targeted for direct attacks (though the minions can be). Simple, to the point, no fuss. An actual Bodyguard power.

[/ QUOTE ]


That is the bodyguard suggestion I have made many many times. It is the best possible way to increase MM survivability in PvP while forcing heroes to deal with the pets FIRST, or rely on AE attacks.

1. Give all minions in supremacy range a 20% to intercept attacks aimed at the MM. This means that with all 6 pets out an MM would have 120% (automatic) chance of a pet jumping in front of an attack aimed at the MM (once the attack is actually fired, the target the hero has selected would change and he'd realize who/what he actually fired at...he could then concentrate attacks on that pet to get rid of it). This would mean that pets could still get their full defense and resistance against the attacks. If it is too much, then reduce the percentage chance of a pet intercepting the attack....10% seems too low, but 15% may be acceptable (that would give a 90% chance with 6 pets out).

This would force heroes to deal with our pets BEFORE targeting us. It would allow our pets to still use their defense and resistance (so FF MMs wouldn't be adversely effected). Sure, we'd still have the same health, and we wouldn't be sharing damage, but heroes would have to go through at least SOME of our pets before they could get to us.

THAT is what bodyguard should be about.


Suriyama
40 bots and bubbles
Justice

[ QUOTE ]
Now I dont know if this has been said but the only way to make a MM a more dangerous PvP enemy is, when the MM dies the Minions dont die and get huge Res, Acc and DMG Buffs, makeing players have to deal with the Minions first. Although some might complain about this it really would make PvP moreinteresting then the standard Gangbang that I've experienced with Bodygaurd

[/ QUOTE ]

Absolutely won't work. Due to the lack of movement abilities in our pets, even if they got those boosts, heroes would be able to kill us and run off, still ignoring the pets.