Toshi

I love Psi Blast and Mental is quickly becoming my favorite secondary. I just don't feel they work well together. Both have strengths and weaknesses. Have you consider Psi/x or y/MM ?

I went the route of Psi/En and En/Psi and it overcame of the Psi resist issues and really ended up making for 2 of my favorite characters in nearly 5 years of play.

If you post some builds, be they Psi/MM, Psi/* or */MM I will do my best to help you critique.


TTR

Most of my active scrappers are either WP or Regen. My WPs have Aid Self. I just don't enjoy playing sets that are entirely passive. I consider Regen and WP 1A and 1B on my top Scrapper secondaries list for my play style. Can't go wrong with either in my book, but success with any set/power/character comes from the player more than the metrics.

That's why I won't deal in absolutes like "Regen is useless now that we have WP". I have seen some players do some wacky, over the top madness with sets I would not have touched. It all comes down to you.

TTR

My Rad/Electric leverages end drain. It is nice. But it is not an end all or be all. The character isn't built around it to be sure.

I think of drain as icing on the cake. End drain on its own is not reliable enough to make up the cake.

It sure is nice icing though...

TTR

For me there is nothing more important to me than the blue bar. I can't help teammates or Defend at 1% Endurance. I can still fight at 1% health but that ain't gonna happen at 1% endurance.

Blue trumps all, at least for me. I would work in Stamina sooner rather than later, but I am constantly doing something in a fight.

No Halfenders on my roster.

TTR

Yuri may be right. Much like Issue 15 this post has no power updates or commentary.

Targets.

Having just completed a Win7 conversion this weekend I offer the following:

Nvidia Drivers, there are some dated around 5/7 or 5/9 for W7-64
In Game - Turn on Advanced Graphics options, adjust to preference

Once I did that I duplicated my Vista64 Settings (High AA, Ansi, 200% character/world, etc.) and was seeing framerates equal to or surpassing vista.

Best of luck m8.

This entire topic seems to have done little but stir up folks. It appears to have been nothing more than a Fait Accompli posting without any stated or obvious intention to alter course despite well stated and on-point feedback offered by the community.

Not the first time. Probably won't be the last. You would think some of us veterans of this community would learn. CoH won't be the only non-WoW clone in town forever. Then they will learn....

Any ETA from a Redname PM on this hitting Test?

TTR

Parry and Divine Avalanche?

On the NDA boards these were only going to protect vs. one specific damage type - should they not recieve the same def vs. all but psi treatment the pools recieved?

Without breaking the NDA: We Probably should have Parry/DA use the same structure as the pools for the sake of consistency and to prevent problems with at least one class under NDA that can potentially use typed defenses with Parry-type powers.

TTR

Nothing fixed here. The problem with Defense and To-hit is still here and very real. It is a shame that we have a give-up instead of a real fix. An opportunity lost.

TTR

Yup, that is ugly.

Above and beyond the negative effect of the CE change on Ice tank survivability (backed up by your numbers) there is something even more insidious about this change: The "adjustment" to CE appears to have been co-opted into a "There, All Fixed!" package by the developer. I do not expect anything further to come our way for quite some time.

Between this ice tank /ignore, the near global ignore on most substantive issues and the horrid Defense typing issues in both CoH and their new darling CoV (CoH 1.5 w/ all the same honesty, trust, and knee jerk changes - Anyone who thinks CoV is going to somehow be different is kidding themselves) it is real easy not to login.

Thanks for the Homework Amigo. No reasonable person would fault you for throwing in the towel. The only people that appear to be listening at this point are already in the foxhole with you.

TTR

We can talk about 5% this and 20% that until we are blue in the face and it will matter little; nothing will change in this the age of I5 without Mohamed coming down from his mountain. What I would like to hear is:

• Someone is actually steering the ship and has a definitive course plotted
• An apology for yet another duplicitous incident (far from the first)
• A moratorium on MMO buzzword clichés, including but not limited to; The Vision, working as intended, missing patch note, etc. etc. Consider our $15 a month a mandate sanctioning CoH to be treated as a no-spin zone.
• A sincere commitment (publicly) to honesty, open 2-way communication, and improved customer relations from this point forward.

Until some of us see something positive you can have your Closed CoV Beta Invite. Put all the lipstick on the pig you that you like. Without meaningful change it will just be CoH 1.5 with the same trust issues, knee jerk adjustments and fractured communities. I hope we will see energy spent fixing substantive issues and working towards gaining your communities' trust back.

TTR

7% damage resist and defenses surpassed by a single parry could easily be considered a waste of coding time. It's too bad that we are not deemed worthy or deserving of legitimate communication and answers to questions (READ: not Astroturfing) despite monetary and charitable rewards being offered for such dialogue.

TTR

So 3 cases of beer and some top shelf liquor have now been offered. My business will match dollar for dollar the cost of these offers with a donation to the Charity of your choice in your name, all for some honest answers to legitimate customer questions.

We want honest answers - not the fine display of Astroturfing that the Force Field Defenders received. Give us honest answers (hopefully with some metrics included) and it's 3 cases of beer, some top shelf Vodka, and a Donation to the Charity of your choice in your name from NTC.

It is ridiculous to have allow things to get to this point and escalate this far.

The ball is in your court.

TTR

Circ and I both offered considerable quantities of adult beverages. So either they are on the wagon or just can't be bothered.

tick tock tick tock

TTR

Holding out for new powers isn't going to happen at this stage of the Issue 5 release. Let's lower the bar (again) and shoot for some tweaks to defense values and with a bit of luck EA, the once crowning jewel of the set, the main driver for 26 levels of suckitude can, at the very least, be on par with invincibility.

Having the defense-ice specialist getting out defensed and out iced routinely by tankers and some scrappers is counter intuitive and frustrating to say the least. Give Ice tanks a role. We pay for and do in fact deserve to enjoy the same content as the better performing or preferred tanker primaries.

Late I5 Suggestions:

- Tweak Absorb % - 7% is a waste of coding time and does nothing to address longstanding Ice Tank Issues (AVs, monsters, natural 20’s, 1 or 2 shot kills)

- Consider a static defense bonus for Wet Ice if EA values are intended to be very low.

- Review Defense % for EA - the endurance recovery is nice, but a lot of old timers have come to rely on it for defense. 85% down to 14% (assuming one spends slots on something that is only worth ½ point and is willing to herd) is a tough pill to swallow.

- To deter herding, adjust EA Defense per mob and cap. One major thrust of this issue was to deter herding. With the current EA metrics Icers are being channeled towards the very behaviors that the Dev Team are trying to eradicate.


TTR

We have some forward progress with the recent 2-way communication and reported damage absorb. That is a start. We still have quite a ways to go, but for the first time in months I am encouraged.

Consider the following open issues:

- Defense values. The alleged "kings of defense" getting hit one out of five swings vs. even cons in a Heroic level mission seems ill-conceived and not fun to play.
- Endurance consumption for Wet Ice. If Wet Ice is going to be status only (.5 defense is not worth mentioning) should endurance costs not be lowered?
- Icicles. More than double the endurance cost of the comparable fire-set power for roughly half the damage. Screams for a cost reduction and/or a new feature, such as an accuracy debuff.
- Permafrost, even with small Tox resists is nei-useless and probably not worth slotting for all but the theme tanker.
- One/Two shot kills could still be a serious and real threat unless the new damage absorb is massive. Making that absorb massive could actually cause some balance concerns in regular missions. A Damage Coefficient (see below) could solve the 1-shot issues while keeping the new damage absorb tame and free from future nerfs.


I have not had the opportunity to test the new damage absorb on CE. If that is to be our only "fix" this patch, it needs to be high enough to eradicate some of our AV issues. If the value is low (I.e. below 30%) it will not get us where we need to be. Think of an attack from some of the bigger boys doing 3000+ damage (it does happen, often). 15% of that attack is nothing in the grand scheme of things. The Ice tanker is still down in 1 or 2 hits, all the while we have wasted coding time on a fix that does not resolve any issues.

Some how CE is going to take a nerf out of this mess. WHAT?!? Lowering the recharge/speed debuff on CE when we have already admitted/established that Ice is under performing seems like we are working backwards instead of forwards. Move the new absorb to Permafrost to make it worth taking or leave it on CE, just do not nerf CE downward when we have already proven and/or admitted that Ice is not even close to meeting expectations in I4, let alone on test.




Damage Coefficient - an Immediate Ice Tanker Solution
I am still screaming for a damage coefficient. Set a max damage value that no single attack can do to an Ice Tanker. 33% of max base hit points for example. Damage from a single attackover the coefficient is discarded (in the case of a critical, each number generated by the critical is lowered to the coefficient.)

Attacks by Minions, LTs, and Bosses do not generate the level of damage required to exceed the coefficient in a single hit and therefor would not be affected. Damage inficted by Monsters and AVs, who easily generate the damage required to do 33-100% of our hits in one or attack would be lowered. This has been and still is our #1 issue to date.

Minimal coding would be required for a Damage Coefficient to be put into play. The power would be passive, requiring no artwork or animation. Developers would remain in direct control of the power as there is no “damage coefficient” enhancement in the game, so we eliminate the worries about “powergamers” using the power in a manner that does not meet “The Vision”. Herding would not be promoted one iota with a damage coefficient as minions-bosses are simply not capable of dealing 30%+ of an ice tankers base hp in one hit.

This would solve the one shotting issue immediately with minimal coding and get us away from this Band-Aid model we have now. It would allow the developer to directly set an AV metric; “This is where you should be”. That metric could be tweaked and tested at any time just by changing the value for the coefficient. No retooling of AVs, new animations, slots, etc. required.

Ice Tankers pay for in do in fact deserve to enjoy the same content enjoyed by better performing or favored Tanker primaries.

TTR

I will match Circ's offer. Just communicate with us.

TTR

Statesman,

First off, some unpleasantries; Paying subscribers requesting acknowledgment of issues and soliciting feedback is no where in the same vicinity as crying. That was either a very unfortunate choice of words, or people who give you $180/year are being overtly insulted. Do us a favor and make your meaning clear so we can make informed decisions as to where we go from here with our gaming dollar. With that out of the way…




The accuracy decreases, while globally beneficial for many ATs does little to nothing for resolving some long standing Ice Tanker issues (i.e. 14+ months).

• One Shot Kills from damage scaled to harm better performing tanker primaries
• Higher endurance cost from Primary line than better performing tanker lines (partially addressed by I-5 EA)
• Only Tankers who have to contend with the Random Number Generator as their number one threat above and beyond the enemy who needs arresting.



The following is a copy and paste from an earlier thread discussing tanker fixers in general and includes some Ice Tank feedback from subscribers. This thread is located in the Tanker forum: http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showf...o=&fpart=1

Toshi’s Ice Tank Suggestions:

What do I want? More than 30% defense vs. all but fire and psi. I want my primary to count for more than a luck and discipline inspiration cocktail. I would like to not get 1 or 2 shot by the AVs and Monsters that Tankers are supposed to tank. I want to pay for and enjoy the same content as other tankers.

Disclaimer: These are ideas that I have been kicking around for some time now, most of which are a direct result of our Ice Tank community’s excellent feedback and input. These are in extreme draft form and only ideas that would require testing and your excellent, constructive feedback.

Some basics:
Permafrost is a prime candidate for retooling and/or replacement. Consider it a placeholder for any of these powers.

Messing with CE is a bad idea IMO. It is currently a very beneficial power. Replacing the slow with another effect takes away from the Ice Tank flavor. Adding another effect to CE would be an invitation for yet another Ice tank nerf.

I am personally shooting for any ONE of the following (not all).




Power Name: Arctic Field

Description: AE damage debuff centered on the Ice Tank, reducing damage taken by the ice tank, and possibly some team members. This helps to address damage taken by +Accuracy, Monsters, AV’s. One shot kills might possibly be addressed, depending on debuff value.

Animation: Dependant on AE size. If a large size is deemed “balanced” we could re-color Enervating Field or Choking cloud with blue and white tones. If a small field size is selected, a re-coloring of CE to different shades of blue, white, or maybe even red could be used for the effect. A tame animation, such as Invincibility re-colored to Ice’s palette would also be suitable.

Specifications: Power would operate in a manner similar to Enervating Field without the resistance debuff (i.e. mobs do not take more damage). Net result would be a 20-30% off the top reduction of all non-psi damage. Endurance cost values of .5 – 1.0 EPS. Radius, Debuff Value, and EPS should all be tweaked and tested by the Ice Tank community.

Since Damage debuff is not eligible for enhancement, the debuff metric could not be changed by the player. Future adjustments to the power due to heavy slotting would not be a concern.

This power could easily replace Permafrost. Almost all of the code needed for the power could be recycled from other powers (EF, CE). Animation recycling and re-coloring is a path of least resistance and would reduce the time to implement such a solution.






Power Name: Snow Sheath
Description: Ablative Armor. Ice Tank gets x# of temporary hit points. Damage taken after defense calculations are taken from this pool of hit points. Design goal is to prevent one shot kills and improve the Ice tank’s survivability vs. +Acc, Monsters, AVs and the “natural 20” dice roll.

Animation: Recommend no animation due to Ice tank “cluttering”. If an animation is desired, a re-coloring of rooted from the Stone primary would be quick to implement.

Specifications: Power would be a click buff on a reasonable timer. When activated the Ice Tank would have an HP buffer of around 30% Base HP. Any non-psi damage taken would come from this pool first.

Values of 20/30/40% of base HP should be tested. Recharge is recommended to be permeable with Hasten and/or multiple recharge SO’s, due to the length of most Monster or AV fights.






Power Name: Arctic Core

Description: Damage Coefficient. The Ice Tank would have a damage coefficient that prevents any single hit from doing more than a fixed percentage of the Ice Tankers Base HP. The goal is enhanced survivability vs. AVs, Monsters, +Accuracy mobs and to prevent one shot kills. This power would not be readily exploitable in a herding capacity as very few, if any, minions are able to generate the damage numbers required to take a large percentage of a tankers HP in one shot.

Animation: None Required, passive power.

Specifications: Passive power, replacing Permafrost. Power states that no single hit can do more than x% of an Ice Tanks base HP. Recommended value is 33%, but values anywhere between 20% - 60% of base HP should all be tested. Note Psi damage is not applicable in this design draft as it is an Achilles’ Heal that almost all tankers contend with. Topic of psi is open to debate.

For example an Ice Tank has 2000hp at his current security level. The tank is struck by a S/L/En/Ne/F damage attack that would normally kill the tanker outright or reduce his HP total to a level where the next hit by just about anything kills the tank. With a Damage Coefficient in place, that hit can do no more than 33% of the Tank's 2000hp and is reduced down to 660 points of damage. A very stout hit, but not a one shot kill.

Values would need to be tested, especially with Perma-Hoarfrost. Aside from the obvious benefit of damage mitigation and removal of the One Shot Ice Tank kill, Artic Core has a dev-friendly side effect.

AC does not promote herding as most minions/LTs/Bosses are incapable of generating the type of damage that would be required to exceed the coefficient in a single hit. Groups of +1/2/3/4 mobs would still hit for their normal damage, thus mass numbers of mobs still pose a grave threat to the Ice Tanker through the 5% auto-hit or the Random Number Generator. Promoting herding is a bad idea and this power steers clear of such promotion entirely.


Bottom Line, my negative feelings expressed in the preamble not withstanding; Ice Tankers pay for and do in fact deserve to enjoy the same content as better performing or favored Tank Primaries.


In the short term: Please provide feedback regarding the current zero-defense state of Wet Ice and Energy Absorption on Test.

In the other short, i.e. not long term: Make Ice Tank repairs an action item. Don’t just pay it lip service; let your actions speak for you (unless the 33% defense has already.) The numbers are there. The feedback has been here for multiple months, now going on multiple quarters. Your subscribers pay for and do in fact deserve to enjoy equal content. That is not happening now with Ice Primary.

No tears were shed or any other activity resembling crying observed during this post.

TTR

Sadly my Ice tanker is not the only character that has gone into Hibernation. Good luck boys. We gave it a good try and had a heck of a run.

TTR

I have created a plea for Ice Tank Dialogue post in the tanker forums.

http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showf...part=1#2694953

If you folks could give it the occasional comment or bump it would be appreciated. This thread and Havok's Analysis thread were highly referenced. Let's keep the (constructive) commentary going. Maybe something can get done that does not involve snowball fights or PVP. Maybe....

TTR

Other ideas - just shot gunning.

Idea #1 Ablative armor - Tentatively called Snow Sheath, Frost Sheath, Snow Drift, etc.
Click power that provides a buffer of #damage absorption. Enhanced by heal enhancers at 33% per enhancer. 1 minute recharge? Test various base numbers (100, 250, or more)? Replaces Hibernate or permafrost?


Idea #2 (my fav) Pulsing Blade Turn - Tentatively called Renewing Ice, Ice encasement, etc.
Borrowing from that "other" game I played for 2+ years, self PBT (pulsing blade turn). Every x seconds (10?) the ice tanker's PBT negates a melee strike that his penetrated his defenses (rolls high enough to penetrate armors + EA). Toggle power. Moderate endurance costs (icicles or another amor?). Accepts endurance cost enhancers. Replaces Hibernate or permafrost?

A PBT type power would provide us a measure of protection from one shots by allowing for a buffer when an AV or large mob rolls a 20. It is only good for one attack per x seconds, so it would not be overpowered in regards to herding which the dev team is clearly dead set against. It would not be a S/L resist cop out and would keep ice tankers unique (at least for this game, LOL).

Just ideas. Thoughts?
TTR