ThugsRus

Okay, my attempt to make humorous metaphores to the current situation with Issue 16 failed miserably. Let's try a direct approach.

I build superior toons in CoX by careful examination of every tiny minute set bonus possible. My toons are able to solo 300 of any single type of boss in a single room.

What I enjoy is facing the hordes of enemies and laying waste to them all. I use no exploit what so ever. I expect to be rewarded for all my hard work, but the developers of this game insist on nerfing every high end challenge I can face.

My friends' who enjoy the same aspect of this game are all on the verge of quitting. I too am on the verge of quitting.

My question ... Is it time to quit? I can't seem to find any enjoyment left in this game and I don't want to abandon a game that I've invested so much in, but I don't see any light at the end of the tunnel.

Yes, I did copy and paste the definition of socialism from Wiki. What better way to make sure everyone was on the same page as for the definition of something?

Now that we can agree on the defintion, let's move forward with a debate with substance by discussing whether changing a game so that everyone's goal should be to reach a 50% quality character.

Yes, I agree some of the requirements for the accolades should have been addressed. Um ... 5+ years later seems a little over due in my opinion. It's only now that this change is put into place? Why on Earth would "now" be the time for this? I can only guess that this is to "throw a bone" to all the people who are furious with all the other changes that have been made.

So many forum posters are so eager to claim "DOOOOOM" any time anyone questions the developers. I think everyone needs to take a look at the numbers. After every issue release there's always a large increase in population. Why is it that the population on every server completely tanked since I16?

Socialism refers to various theories of economic organisation advocating public or direct worker ownership and administration of the means of production and allocation of resources, and a society characterised by equal access to resources for all individuals with an egalitarian method of compensation. It is characterised by unequal distribution of wealth and compensation according to work done. Contrary to popular belief, socialism is not a political system; it is an economic system distinct from capitalism.

Most socialists share the view that capitalism unfairly concentrates power and wealth among a small segment of society that controls capital and derives its wealth through exploitation, creates an unequal society, does not provide equal opportunities for everyone to maximise their potentialities and does not utilise technology and resources to their maximum potential nor in the interests of the public.

Therefore my definition of City of Socialism is a game where you are not rewarded for working hard and trying to achieve something "greater" than the standard. Every aspect of this game is going through a transformation into punishing those who work hard and rewarding those who are inept. I can't understand the motivation the devs have in what they are turning this game into, but 90% of my friends I group with are gone. Each night on vent, all anyone talks about is what new game are they trying. Aion, Champions online, and several others is all there is to talk about ...

It just makes me sad that the devs are killing this game. I'm not exagerating when I say I'm lucky if 2 people on my global friends are online, when 2 weeks ago I averaged a minimum of 15 friends on at any given time.

In keeping with the current strategy set forth to achieve an equal playing field, Issue 17 will continue to move City of Heroes / Villains into a more even game experience.

Below is a list of prior accomplishments we've completed already towards this goal:

1. "Normalized" PvP attributes to the point where basically all players are exactly the same and the outcome should always be determined by who has more players.

2. "Normalized" experience gains so that no player should receive any large bonuses based on increased difficulty or better play ability.

3. Reduced AE Ticket rewards to the point where it's actually silly to waste your time inside AE.

4. Stealth nerfed the drop rate on all recipe's so that when people actually stop wasting their time in AE, they can waste their time in normal missions, hoping for recipe drops that will never come.

5. Reduced the requirements for all accolades so that everyone can achieve the same attributes without working too hard.

Going forward with Issue 17 we will continue make this a more balanced game by doing the following:

6. Adding a cap to all items on the market so that no item can be listed for greater than 100,000 inf. Every player should have equal access to all recipes.

7. Increasing all set bonus' given by IO's. Reducing the cap for defense, resistance, recharge rate, and damage bonus. Every player should easily reach the new limits.

8. Implementing an xp scaling system. After you defeat an enemy that rewards any xp, you will receive a 5 minute cool down period before you can receive any additional xp. If you kill another mob during that cool down period, your timer will reset to an additional 5 minutes.

9. All Powers will have their damage re-scaled. Tier 1 single target damaging attacks will all deal equal damage no matter what character arch type is being played. The same scale will go into effect for Cone / AOE / Ranged / Melee attacks. The number used for each type of attack will be that of the AT who currently deals the lowest damage.

10. Hours of operation - Players will only be allowed 1 hour of game time per day since we've determined that this is the current average amongst our gaming community. This number is likely to change since we're doing everything in our power to get you to stop playing this game.

okay just tested WM / SR hard / hard. with perma-doube-rage on my brute I have no problem hitting the mobs. SR is definitely the way to go. Couple that with my defender's irradiate and i'm set.

I run +2 set for 8 ppl.

Hard / Hard custom bosses are very difficult. I dual box so I have multiple combinations to farm with. Prior to I16 I had two favorite farmers:

Spines / Fire Scrapper 45.02% smashing lethal defense and 52% resist.

AR / Fire Blaster with 46.4% smashing lethal defense and 49% resist.

Support: Rad / Kin Defender: 48% smashing lethal defense and 72% resist.

The scrapper is useless now. His damage is too low mobs scatter too much since i was previously doing back room farms.

The blaster is still fun but it's rather challenging since "build up" on mobs HURT. So i use personal force field to round up mobs and wait for Build up to wear off then take the shield down and destroy them. But even with this technique, it's not efficient.

So for my new farm, I've switched back to my old reiliable SS / Shield Brute. With Rikti War Zone not having a level cap anymore I can run level 1 heroes and villains there with my Brute / Defender combo.

I use War Mace primary because it's smashing damage. When you perma-team with a kinetic who has "increased density" picking mobs with smashing damage is awesome.

I tried a bunch of secondaries and wasn't thrilled with any of them. Rage destroyed me with SS. Regen was way too much work. Another power set with build up was not desirable. Earth seems pretty easy mode except for the mud pots which causes my defender to get "stuck" every now and then. Super Reflexes seemed a bit scary but I think i'll give that a shot.

I'm looking for an excuse to quit playing CoX so I'll respond.

I created a new farm last night in AE that works well for power leveling and for ticket farming. If you create a "mixed" custom group of 1 standard minion, 1 standard lute, and 1 CUSTOM boss, the pack of mobs will consist of 75% bosses.

So I create a hard / hard boss with War Mace / Granite Armor and the xp and influence rewards are the same prior to the I16 nerf bat.

The only downside is that the auto lackey brings lowbies up to 49 instead of 45, but what do I care, as long as they are still willing to pay me.

Random thoughts in no particular order regarding this build:

1. Dark Obliteration - I finally tested out some other pool powers and I've decided I like gloom and dark obliteration for pool powers. Dark obliteration does significantly more AoE damage than electric fences and ball lightning and it has a -to hit component that makes surviving with lower resists more likely.

2. Melee Defense - Now a days all I fight is 52+ bosses. 45% melee defense is good but technically it's not the soft cap against a 52 boss. I've since boosted my melee defense to 50% and survival is a cake walk now.

3. Rage - Rage is the most awesome power in the game ... when solo. I can't remember the last time I've actually used it, since having a kin in the group negates the need for it. I've been thinking about dropping it.

4. Proc in shield charge - I tested using FF+Recharge in shield charge and it has never fired as far as I'm aware. I believe there's some type of bug having it in this power so don't waste the slot.

5. Power selection order - My mids builds never represent the actual order I select the powers as I level up. The power selections are accurate and the slotting is accurate but I don't waste my time figuring out what level I actually picked the power. Most of the time I'm a level 1 leaving the AE and 50 when i come out. What's an SO? lol. I'm fully slotted with 100 set bonuses before I've actually killed my first mob.

6. Super Speed / swift / hurdle - People give me grief because I always choose swift over hurdle. I finally decided to try out hurdle and I do like the jump speed / jump height but I am going to respec back soon. The problem is with pulling large chains of mobs. If you are super speeding by a pack and use an attack on them to draw aggro, your power suppression makes you crawl away ... this is so annoying. I want my swift back so I can move faster while aggro'ing.

7. Compared to ... I've rolled a ton of other toons since my SS / SD and I've determined nothing is as good as this build.

Stone / Stone Brute - Unkillable brute that deals "good" damage. My stone can survive 16 AV's beating on me which is cool, but really a stone brute isn't needed since doing AV farms isnt' speed/efficient. Plus the damage output is about half my ss/sd.

Spines / Fire Scrapper - Hero side is fun, but the blue side doesn't know what they are missing out on. Tanks and scrappers have a 300% damage bonus cap while brute's have 750%. This means my fully slotted AoE monster hero does about 1/3 to 1/4 the damage my brute can. It makes me want to cry.

Fire / Kin Controller - The king farmer on blue side. Wow, made my fully slotted fire / kin and it's a joke compared to the power of brutes. Kill speed is like watching snails race.

Shield / Stone Melee Tank - Currently level 45. Should have him slotted and 50 by tonight.

Stone has a few awesome combo's that should play well with shield. FF+Rech in fault, and the -RES PVP proc in Tremor. Having 4 AoE attacks should be the sweet spot for no downtime also. I should try this with a brute, but I'm killing time on blue side lately.

So I haven't been keeping up with the forums since the migration but I see I have a bunch of outstanding questions here I need to reply with. First I'll post my current build, then I'll post some of my thoughts about this.

Deflection is slotted with 3 Luck of the Gambler + Gladiator's Armor: Resistance + Gladiator's Armor: Teleport Protection +3% global defense and a standard level 50 Resist IO.

True Grit is slotted with a set of 5 Panacea.

Phalanx Fighting is slotted with Shield Wall: Teleport Protection +3% global resist.

Melee defense is about 50%
Ranged is 46%
AoE is 36-38%
Smashing / Lethal Resist is 40% with Time Lord Accolade.
Recharge is 155% (ish)


Here is my current build.

Villain Plan by Mids' Villain Designer 1.401
http://www.cohplanner.com/

Click this DataLink to open the build!

Jack Stumper: Level 50 Natural Brute
Primary Power Set: Super Strength
Secondary Power Set: Shield Defense
Power Pool: Fighting
Power Pool: Leaping
Power Pool: Fitness
Power Pool: Speed
Ancillary Pool: Soul Mastery

Villain Profile:
Level 1: Punch

• (A) Touch of Death - Accuracy/Damage: Level 40
• (3) Touch of Death - Damage/Endurance: Level 40
• (3) Touch of Death - Damage/Recharge: Level 40
• (5) Touch of Death - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance: Level 40
• (5) Touch of Death - Damage/Endurance/Recharge: Level 40
• (7) Touch of Death - Chance of Damage(Negative): Level 40

Level 1: Deflection

• (A) Luck of the Gambler - Recharge Speed: Level 50
• (7) Luck of the Gambler - Defense/Endurance: Level 50
• (9) Luck of the Gambler - Defense: Level 50
• (11) Empty
• (13) Empty
• (40) Resist Damage IO: Level 50

Level 2: Battle Agility

• (A) Luck of the Gambler - Recharge Speed: Level 50
• (9) Luck of the Gambler - Defense: Level 50
• (11) Luck of the Gambler - Defense/Endurance: Level 50
• (23) Luck of the Gambler - Defense/Recharge: Level 50

Level 4: True Grit

• (A) Empty
• (13) Empty
• (15) Empty
• (19) Empty
• (43) Empty

Level 6: Boxing

• (A) Accuracy IO: Level 50

Level 8: Combat Jumping

• (A) Luck of the Gambler - Recharge Speed: Level 50
• (17) Luck of the Gambler - Defense: Level 50
• (17) Blessing of the Zephyr - Run Speed, Jump, Flight Speed, Range: Level 50
• (19) Blessing of the Zephyr - Run Speed, Jump, Flight Speed, Range/Endurance: Level 50
• (31) Luck of the Gambler - Defense/Endurance: Level 50

Level 10: Swift

• (A) Run Speed IO: Level 50

Level 12: Hasten

• (A) Recharge Reduction IO: Level 50
• (21) Recharge Reduction IO: Level 50

Level 14: Health

• (A) Numina's Convalescence - +Regeneration/+Recovery: Level 50
• (15) Numina's Convalescence - Heal: Level 50
• (46) Miracle - +Recovery: Level 40
• (48) Regenerative Tissue - +Regeneration: Level 30
• (50) Miracle - Heal: Level 40

Level 16: Against All Odds

• (A) Endurance Reduction IO: Level 50

Level 18: Knockout Blow

• (A) Hecatomb - Damage/Endurance: Level 50
• (23) Hecatomb - Damage: Level 50
• (25) Hecatomb - Damage/Recharge: Level 50
• (25) Hecatomb - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge: Level 50
• (29) Hecatomb - Accuracy/Recharge: Level 50

Level 20: Stamina

• (A) Performance Shifter - EndMod: Level 50
• (21) Performance Shifter - Chance for +End: Level 50
• (27) Performance Shifter - EndMod/Recharge: Level 50
• (27) Performance Shifter - EndMod/Accuracy: Level 50

Level 22: Active Defense

• (A) HamiO:Cytoskeleton Exposure

Level 24: Phalanx Fighting

• (A) Empty

Level 26: Super Speed

• (A) Blessing of the Zephyr - Run Speed, Jump, Flight Speed, Range: Level 50
• (29) Blessing of the Zephyr - Run Speed, Jump, Flight Speed, Range/Endurance: Level 50

Level 28: Rage

• (A) Gaussian's Synchronized Fire-Control - Chance for Build Up: Level 50
• (34) Gaussian's Synchronized Fire-Control - To Hit Buff/Endurance: Level 50
• (37) Gaussian's Synchronized Fire-Control - Recharge/Endurance: Level 50
• (39) Gaussian's Synchronized Fire-Control - To Hit Buff/Recharge/Endurance: Level 50
• (39) Gaussian's Synchronized Fire-Control - To Hit Buff/Recharge: Level 50
• (39) Gaussian's Synchronized Fire-Control - To Hit Buff: Level 50

Level 30: Tough

• (A) Titanium Coating - Resistance: Level 50
• (31) Titanium Coating - Resistance/Endurance: Level 50
• (31) Titanium Coating - Resistance/Endurance/Recharge: Level 50
• (43) Steadfast Protection - Resistance/+Def 3%: Level 30

Level 32: Foot Stomp

• (A) Armageddon - Damage/Endurance: Level 50
• (33) Armageddon - Damage: Level 50
• (33) Armageddon - Damage/Recharge: Level 50
• (33) Armageddon - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge: Level 50
• (34) Armageddon - Accuracy/Recharge: Level 50
• (34) Force Feedback - Chance for +Recharge: Level 50

Level 35: Shield Charge

• (A) Obliteration - Damage: Level 50
• (36) Obliteration - Accuracy/Recharge: Level 50
• (36) Obliteration - Damage/Recharge: Level 50
• (36) Obliteration - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge: Level 50
• (37) Obliteration - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance/Recharge: Level 50
• (37) Obliteration - Chance for Smashing Damage: Level 50

Level 38: Haymaker

• (A) Touch of Death - Chance of Damage(Negative): Level 40
• (40) Touch of Death - Damage/Endurance/Recharge: Level 40
• (40) Touch of Death - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance: Level 40
• (42) Touch of Death - Damage/Recharge: Level 40
• (43) Touch of Death - Damage/Endurance: Level 40
• (50) Touch of Death - Accuracy/Damage: Level 40

Level 41: Gloom

• (A) Apocalypse - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge: Level 50
• (42) Apocalypse - Accuracy/Recharge: Level 50
• (42) Apocalypse - Damage/Recharge: Level 50

Level 44: Dark Obliteration

• (A) Ragnarok - Damage/Endurance: Level 50
• (45) Ragnarok - Accuracy/Recharge: Level 50
• (45) Ragnarok - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge: Level 50
• (45) Ragnarok - Damage/Recharge: Level 50
• (46) Ragnarok - Damage: Level 50
• (46) Ragnarok - Chance for Knockdown: Level 50

Level 47: Weave

• (A) Luck of the Gambler - Recharge Speed: Level 50
• (48) Luck of the Gambler - Defense: Level 50
• (48) Luck of the Gambler - Defense/Endurance: Level 50
• (50) Luck of the Gambler - Defense/Endurance/Recharge: Level 50

Level 49: Grant Cover

• (A) Luck of the Gambler - Recharge Speed: Level 50

------------
Level 1: Brawl

• (A) Accuracy IO: Level 50

Level 1: Sprint

• (A) Endurance Reduction IO: Level 50

Level 2: Rest

• (A) Recharge Reduction IO: Level 50

Level 1: Fury

I adapted to only being able to use Elite Boss's. My new version is more challenging and has an added escort.

Well, appearently I made this mission too darn easy. I just got home from work and it appears quite a few people have beat it. Here are the Results

Congratulations goes to @Bad lil' Rogue. I will pay you when i see you online next.

http://i909.photobucket.com/albums/a...11/results.jpg

Is there a way you can look at someone else's *.storyarc file? For example if I like how someone has setup a AE mission and I want to review how the mission was built does a mission.storyarc file get saved locally to my computer when I run the mission that I can review later with notepad or something?

Nice Job Slax_ Can I ask how you completed it so quickly and easily? What AT did you use?

Name: Jack's One Billion Infamy Challenge
Arc ID#265817
Level 52-52
2 hour time limit
Defeat 7 Arch Villain (The 7 Deadly Sins)

Complete this 1 mission story arc and I will pay the first team 1 billion infamy upon completion. Upon completion you will get the reward code.

No accounts were banned. As with every MMO the motto to run with is "Exploit early, exploit often!"

Coming from a brute who has a 3 billion elec / sd and a 3 billion ss /sd. I have to say without a doubt, I love my SS/SD by leaps and bounds over my elec/sd.

I just followed suit. I put up a crafted Gladiator Armor +3% def for 1,000,000,000

I was working on my Field Crafter badge sunday - monday. I seriously impacted the price of stabilized mutant gen. I think I had them selling for 500k each for quite a while. Inert Gas, Spell Ink, Scientific Theory and Masterwork weapons probably took a hit too.

Yesterday I had to make 331 level 10 Recharge IO's so once again I impacted the price of Clockwork winders and Computer Virus' ... not that anyone would have noticed though ... lol

"Publisizing this information will probably lead to an decrease in the drop rate. If you like your new income, I'd consider editing the content. "

I posted that in immediate response to Mr. Turtle but you all ignored me and now our income has been nerfed severely.

Let me summarize ... I TOLD YOU SO !

Who do I talk to about transferring some villain side infamy for some hero side influence on Freedom? I've got 2 billion villain side and 4 million hero side. I'd like to balance this out.

So I bought a total of 40 pvp recipes when i first read about the bug for a billion infamy. I've sold back 17 of them and have broke even now.

I have 23 pvp recipes left to sell and I suspect this won't be fixed for at least another week. Everyone go buy pvp recipes this weekend ... daddy needs a new pair of shoes!

Just logged in and saw there was a patch. Holy cow, I had a heart attack until I saw that the PvP recipes still haven't been fixed. WHEW!!!!

My goal is to turn the 1 billion invested into 2 billion. So far I've sold back 20% of my goods (400 mil). At 50% I'll feel more comfortable because I'll have broken even.

Yeah, i did the same thing. I spend one billion infamy yesterday buying up every pvp recipe I could. Hope it turns a nice profit ...

So what's the math behind the diminishing returns? Defense and Resistance keeps dropping constantly while in PvP zones? So ... does this mean you should only fire up toggles AFTER combat begins? I just want to know how resists and defenses are calculated so I can maximize my slotting.