Tic-Toc

Am I missing something, I hit with shadow maul fairly often.

Is it just ranged cone attacks, exclusive to certain ATs or heroes?

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I saw this guy his hands tied behind his back and his feet stuck in a bucket jumping all over the dock.

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THAT'S my favorite one as well. We had a good time fighting the other guys as we watched him try to jump away to safety in his bucket. Golden...

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When I ran across this guy, he fell off the ledge into the water and continued to hop around.

Another thing to make infamy manegement a ton easier is to not deck try to deck out your toon with SOs the second you hit 22.

I specifically didn't buy DOs for my brute until I started getting them as drops on a regular basis, and I still haven't made the transfer over to SOs at level 26. I've bought a few for some critical slots, and used the few I've gotten from story arcs/task force rewards, but mostly I'm still using DOs. I sell the DOs I get as drops to the appropriate origin 'store', and upgrade or replace them when they turn red.

When I'm getting SOs dropped regularly, then I'll be slotting SOs in my powers.

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At higher levels Brutes get the power to summon Synapse and throw him at enemies as a range attack.

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As cute as this is, why CAN'T brutes and tanks toss teammates? Nothing in the world would make me happier than being able to toss a scrapper/stalker buddy at an enemy mob, especially if it gave them some sort of very short duration damage boost. Would love to see the game have more power combos, where 2 ATs could combine for a special attack of some sort.

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This change addresses the inequality.

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I hope you realize for the two Def based melee sets (Ice and SR) there is still a giant inequality.

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How so? These changes should ensure any power pool defense will stack with any defense in both of those sets.

Here's how I've been thinking of defense lately, it's helped me make better sense of how things work now.

Positional defense (melee, ranged, AOE) is your basic avoidance defense. Dodging, ducking, jumping out of the way, etc. Defense type defense is deflection, either blocking attacks or being covered in armor so that certain types of attacks just bounce right off of you.

Positional and damage type defense don't stack, but that's ok. Being in armor doesn't make you dodge better. On the other hand, if you're trying to dodge an attack and fail then the armor may still protect you because the to-hit roll is going to be checked against the highest defense value. Really, this is the same thing as checking an single attack against both defense types. If it's accurate enough to hit the higher defense, it would hit the lower one as well. Checking against the higher defense just saves a step. Making 2 attack rolls versus two defenses isn't a good idea, this could severely impact the combat system in very nasty ways.

I know some people have suggested alternate systems that would stack different defense types to some degree, but this is just how I'm rationalizing the current system.

Psionic damage is non physical, so it makes sense that it is almost never included in a damage type defense. Psionic attacks aren't stopped by armor or blocking after all...of course you can still dodge them, so they are covered under positional defense.

Really glad to see the other physical damage types added to the power pool defenses, this makes much more sense to me now. Very eager to see these changes in game.

I wouldn't mind seeing a change in terminology in game. I would love to see defense classified as two mutually exclusive things, like avoidance and blocking rather than just +DEF (melee, ranged) and +DEF (all but Psionic)

Already did, Cuppa said she wouldn't sticky it because she didn't want people to think it was the ONLY way to raid Hamidon.

I'm not sure I agree with that assumption, but she da boss.

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One thing to keep in mind about the number of 50s is many people, like me have one and then about 8 alts on each server. So yes I have a 50 but I have a ton of non-50s that make 8% actually seem likely to me. Even on my home server I only have one post 40 and that's my 50. Everyone else is all over level wise. I come up with a story for a hero and I make him. I don't always play him far but I do have like 4 or 5 servers filled with sub level 10 guys.

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I've been playing since May of 04 and I have 1 level 50 toon. That's me playing 3-4 hours a day, 6-7 days a week.

I spend a lot of time on alts, talking to people, and doing things like raids that don't net me any level gains. Also a lot of badge hunting.

Once again, proof that empirical data collected through in game testing and concise, polite posts are the best way to bring these things to a devs attention.

Good job.

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No, I believe Statesman is saying that all power pool defenses, in parallel with providing melee/ranged defense, will also be providing smash/lethal defense.

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Yep. That's what it meant.

As for changing the way defense works...eek. That's not really an option. There's simply too many things that would break...It's just not do-able.

As for why only S/L? Because in these powers, that simply made sense - and because of the prevalence of S/L damage throughout the game.

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I agree, S/L is the most prevalent damage type in game. But specifically for tanks, most of us already have very very solid defense to S/L damage, either in defense or resistance. We could really benifit from the ability to branch out into power pool choices and pick up a bit of extra defense to help protect us from what our primaries don't. As it is, it's a minor boon to most tanks and just a much better boost to the non-tanker ATs.

Psi defense may not make sense, but defense against any type of physical damage definitely does. Just as easy to dodge a fireball as a bullet.

But hey, thanks for looking into this and at least making it work at all

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You answered most of your questions yourself. The writing is on the wall, all their eggs in one basket as you put it. I5 was the beginning of the transition of turning CoH from a PvE based experience into one focused on the PvP aspects to be introduced with CoV.

A majority of future content, I would wager especially end game content, is meant to be player generated...ie:PvP.

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Erm. No. PvP will be an optional part of gameplay. Always.

The changes in I5 had very little to do with PvP and a lot to do with boring PvE. It's that simple. No conspiracy there - I think I've stated this several times.

As for the supposed "emphasis" on PvP - I think you'll see that it's just ONE part of City of Villains. It has PvE content levels 1 to 50.

We'll continue to add new PvE content (which I5 did exclusively, I might add) in the future.

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No matter how many times you say this, people will always be calling you a liar and saying every change made was to make the arenas better.

*sigh*

So...why just S/L damage?

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Wow, this almost fell off the boards with the last housecleaning.

If you haven't been to a Hami raid but intend to go at some point, you might want to read this.

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I've got a local copy in word...keep intending to put it on my website so I dont' have to worry about it expiring.

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I like them as pets, they just need to be smart enough to actually attack a target on their own.

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Even better, how about if they DON'T attack until we attack, then attack our target?

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Then they'd be a pre-fired, high damage, ranged AE attack in human form.

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Tic_Toc
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Your suggestion would effectively turn them into a normal ranged attack.

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Yes, it would. That was the idea.

But it would still be a unique power, and unlike any power existing in CoH. The closest power to that would be in my opinion the LRM attack, and thats a stretch. Will Photon Seekers be changed into what I suggest, doubtful, but does it currently work well, nope. So something needs to be done to fix it.

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No, it would basically be like every other ranged AOE power, except it would be 3 missiles instead of one and do a lot more damage. That doesn't belong in the human power set or any power for that instance.

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*Highlighted for emphasis the part that sounded overbearing*

Disagree with the suggestion, fine and dandy, I can live with agreeing to disagree, but telling me it doesn't belong anywhere is like saying "I don't like your idea therefore stop speaking".

I stated my suggestion as something that I think would be neat, and yes, different, and no, I do not think my suggestion is like every other AoE power in the game. It's about as different to typical AoE attacks as how it currently works, only you get to chose the initial target, after that the following Seekers pick their own near the location of the first target. In other words, they aren't pets any longer and are activated like a normal ranged attack, and that is where the similarity ends, and now they take on a behavior more like what they are now.

Example: Group of 6 mobs, you target one in the middle, then the first seeker flies off at it, roll a to hit, like any other attack, then the following seekers pick targets near the first and roll to hits as well. If there are less targets than there are seekers, then some unlucky mob will get attacked multiple times. etc etc, im not going to work out the whole A.I. logic here, but you get the basic gist of the idea.

Be nice, and most importantly, be conciderate of other people's opinions, wether you like them or not, they are entitled, just as you are.

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That's not what you said in the first place. Your original suggestion would function identically to a ranged AE attack. You target something, fire off the power, it travels from you to the target and goes boom. It also has 3 seekers, so all three of them go boom and do extremely high damage, way more damage than any other ranged AE attack available to blasters. That's currently balanced by the fact that they can't be guided and unless you're standing right in something's face it's very unlikely that all 3 will hit the same target. Anything else would be unbalanced.

Also, your most recent explantation isn't what you originally suggested and is actually very close to what they do now, exept the none of them explicitly go for your targetted mob. Seekers should not be guided, not without reducing their damage. They're fine the way they are, they just need to have the obvious AI issues looked at, mainly take less time to aquire a target and detonate on them and follow you more closely.

I'm not being inconsiderate to you and I'm not sure how you read my reply as that.

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The boom is a neat effect but it gets annoying when you shift forms a lot - which I do. I'd at least like the effect toned down a bit. If switching forms was only done occasionally, I'd be fine with the way it is but when the form is part of an attack chain - well, imagine if every fourth attack you used caused the screen to shake, a bright flash to completely fill your view, topped off with a loud boom. It's a bit much - for me.

On the general topic, it's nice to see geko is looking into the issues raised here.

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I like the boom. it would be nice if the supress extra FX toggle would disable this as well.

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I'd really like to see Khelds suck when solo in human form, but be total monsters in a full team. But I think I'm hopelessly outvoted on this.

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Yeah, you probably are

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Got it.

I am fixing the legitimate bugs now and having the other issues looked into.

thanks

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PLEASE!!! PLEASE look at END cost for human form powers. A reduction would be a welcome adjustment. As a scranker-PB, I have 6 slotted Stamina and END reducers in Shining Shield and my 3 melee attacks... sucking wind EASILY against 3 foes. VERY dependant on CoBs and Conserve Power to keep a moderate pace.

Also, some kind of Stasis protection or even just KNOCKBACK protection would be HEAVENLY for PBs.

Worst thing about my scranker build is the friggin' knockback that MANY foe groups have.

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Do you have hasten?

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What I meant is that people shouldn't comment on the usability or effectiveness of a post nerf power without using it first, even if only on test. You're not claiming DOOM on this issue, but my point was that people don't try to use the power before deciding it's worthless and dropping it or throwing a fit. It's hard to convince someone a power is still useful when they've given up based on a description alone.

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Okay, I'm all for not relying purely on numbers to judge a powers worth rather than actually playing with them in game...but this instance is not the same case.

WHY invest 10 slots into 5 powers for a "travel" power when you can achieve the exact same results with 4 slots in a free power? 3 slots if you're not that picky. 2 slots if you have Nova form. That's not opinion, that's simple fact.

QFlight's a panic button now, no more/no less. It's basically the same thing as being able to get Phase Shift without having to get 3 other powers first. AND you get max flight speed. It's not a completely useless power, but unless you were the type of person who wants that short duration oh crap power, it's not worth taking. It's certainly not worth slotting anymore.

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Tic_Toc
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Your suggestion would effectively turn them into a normal ranged attack.

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Yes, it would. That was the idea.

But it would still be a unique power, and unlike any power existing in CoH. The closest power to that would be in my opinion the LRM attack, and thats a stretch. Will Photon Seekers be changed into what I suggest, doubtful, but does it currently work well, nope. So something needs to be done to fix it.

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No, it would basically be like every other ranged AOE power, except it would be 3 missiles instead of one and do a lot more damage. That doesn't belong in the human power set or any power for that instance.

It was my understanding that the way QFlight works is that after the initial period passes, the endurance cost of powers would dramatically ramp up over time. In effect, this almost works the opposite way Conserver Power does. It makes perfect sense that a 5 end heal would be unuseable even with a full end bar, if that 5 end heal eventually requires 125 endurance to activate. The only real issue is the error message should read "Not enough endurance" rather than "out of endurance"

I think the devs tried to do something different and unique for Quantum Flight by taking conserver power, changing the endurance modifier to a number larger than one, and making pulse with a long duration so the effect stacks over time. It's just ended up seeming weird and buggy.

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In regards to Photon Seekers:

Lately every time I cast them, they are virtually useless. My standard tactic for fights is to cast my self buffs (hasten, conserve energy, essence boost, build up), in that order, then finally cast photon seekers and turn into Dwarf, and charge my foes.

Then as I defeat mob after mob, slowly I might add, since im mostly a single target attacker while in dwarf form, I watch in general amusement as the photon seekers flit about like moths and pretty much do nothing useful. Eventually I defeat my mobs and they just expire.

As a Peacebringer, I would rather not even have a "pet". I would rather photon seekers become more like their namesake "seekers" and just be turned into a guided missile volley with a long recharge due to it's high damage potential.

In it's current form, it's next to worthless, even if it does randomly lock onto a target and explode, it's usually not a target that matters. I would prefer the ability to target a mob, then click photon seekers, and cause a volley of seekers zip out at it, and have the first seeker hit my target, and the following seekers hit random targets near my original target mob.

Frankly speaking, I don't get a "pet" feel with them, they feel more like scud missiles, so if missiles is what you want them to be, then at least make them patriot missiles.

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Your suggestion would effectively turn them into a normal ranged attack.

The only problem I have with seekers is they sometimes take too long to select a target, and there's no real sense about which targets they select (ie it's never the highest con target or closest target at all times). Would also be nice if they didn't detonate on an already defeated target, but that might conflict with the two reasons above.

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Well, I for one am certainly not suggesting removing the phase component. My suggestion is that rather than the current ludicrous implementation where End costs ramp up until you either turn off the toggle or fall out of the air, you instead shut off the phase component while leaving the max speed fly intact.

As it stands now, the only thing Q-Fly has going for it is the instant activation phase effect. I plan to pick Q-Fly back up at 47, but I have no intention of putting any additional slots into the power. As its only real value now is as a phase power, my 6-slotted Stamina (and Conserve Energy) are more than sufficient for its limited duration usefulness in most situations.

Edit: For the record, Q-Fly only needed two additional slots for perma use, not the three required for Energy Flight to cap--although my understanding is that two additional slots would get it pretty close to the cap (I have never added any slots to a travel power used purely for travel--I've always had other powers I deemed more important; OTOH, I did seriously consider adding a couple slots to Energy Flight when I respecced last week, but felt that using it to supplement Super Speed would mean I was still traveling as fast as I needed to with just the default slot).

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I was a proponent for changing Quantum Flight to Max Flight + Stealth or Invis but now I think it is better as a short duration emergency power.

However, I think it should be available earlier, the activation time should be instant, and the end cost needs to be significantly reduced.

the fix for the Sally's spawn rate has not gone live yet. Don't think it's even on test yet.

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Paladin rare? I see him up quite a bit. You guys must just be passing through the zone at the wrong times, much like it took me months to get my Devilfish badge. Jurassik I just got lucky with, was hunting out there when somebody spotted him.

Adamastor, HIM I'm not sure about. I'm in Dark Astoria all the time, checking all the spawn points, and nothing.

Anyways, thanks a lot Positron. Looks like I'll have to wait a little longer yet to get my Believer badge, but I've still got a bunch of other Croatoa badges to work on in the meanwhile.

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I spent about a week camping KR for Paladin, 2-3 hours a night jumping between spawn points. Finally caught him at the weekend, right before I was going to log off around 2 or 3 am. Someone else who'd been camping a spot spotted him.

Catching some of these spawns seems to be a lot of luck, I KNOW that they don't have a max spawn time of 1 hour because I've camped for many of them 2-3 hours at a time. So if Sally is supposed to be the rare spawn...something's not right.

The thing about Adammaster, Jurrasik, and Krakken to an extent is they're way off in the middle of nowhere. You pretty much have to get really lucky while in the zone, or spend a significant amount of time camping for them...because even if you get a warning from someone that spots one of them, you're not going to be able to travel there before it's taken down. I would love to see these guys spawn at a maximum of 1 hour, and the things in the more easily accesible zones/areas at 2-3.

Also, any monster that only awards badges to the highest damage team should spawn more often.

Anyone know if the Sally hit counts for an entire team?