VKhaun

I finally just logged onto beta to look at the weapons. The dev's screenshots aren't that great and don't include everything. I'm going to post some shots here for those who can't or don't want to bother.

I'm a LITTLE worried about someone not liking that I post it outside VIP beta, but then again I see lots of stuff posted early. Olympian Guard, Beast Mastery, and Staff fighting were all in the 'post your best costume designs' thread before they were released. So here goes...

Here are the weapons.
Armor and back pieces are in a post below.






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New post for armor below.
Should have reserved. /facepalm.

I agree with Hopeling. Set should be available as a whole, not just pieces. You especially shouldn't hold back parts we're low on like weapons and back items.

IMHO, if not super packs, then events. The whole deal with vet rewards was that you have to keep playing to get them. That remaining true would alleviate a lot of the contradiction in giving them away to those who aren't T9.

Maybe give all devs a 0end toggle that when they are hit by a frisbee, fortune, or buff from a player that player gets Celestial unlocked. As more T9's rotate out, different devs could bring different toggle abilities for different sets to various events, or do an event with winners like hide-and-seek while running the toggles for multiple T9's... then only the few who found them would get a bunch unlocked all at once when they found them and cast something on them.

If not a toggle, then an aura maybe, something like that.

No. I get tired of messing with melee cones and things in an MMO really quick. My main is FF/BR and likes to dig in and hold a point. My new Rad/Archery plans to just hover and endlessly chain archery attacks to turn GM's into pin cushions. My Bane is way beyond lazy and just lobs grenades, runs leadership, and smacks down adds that get through the front lines.

My TW/Fire brute has solo'd to 40 so far and has done all her combat standing still in an AE mission with a pile of enemies, and she is TONS of fun. Constantly near death, banging inspirations as they come in, holding and combining, watching stats go up and down, managing when to use the timired heal/endo vs using inspirations. Deciding when to do that long TW animation to start momentum. VERY busy, very fun.




Related Rant:


CoH isn't that kind of game IMO. You can play it that way, sure, but personally I go to shooters and action games for that.

I've had it out a few times now with people who were Diablo2 vets that don't like Diablo3's skill system or Inferno mode because they don't get exactly what the OP here is saying.

D2 vets always ran the toughest thing they could find and did exactly as the OP here says... stood and spammed attacks while tanking everything. So they weren't really 'playing' actively, and D2 was sadly the best of the bad bunch. Titan Quest was exceedingly boring with nothing but an endless -albeit very pretty- parade of loot pinatas, math, and carpel tunnel. But many people loved it because they play it just like I play City of Heroes... more about the character and building it than the actual combat.

D3 has been designed to have more interesting enemies to fight. The first thing the D2 vets cry about is that the beta is 'easy' because they are doing the same thing again, crushing the content with stats and levels above it. If you play through the D3 beta once and try to never be hit and assuming the damage later would be so high you couldn't afford to get hit, you will find that it's a far more interesting game. Taking out Bloaty fat guys that pop into more enemies, mixed in with skeleton archers without getting hit, is more engaging than anything found in TitanQuest including bosses, and more importantly it's INTENDED. TQ enemies had no AI to them, they just stood and fired. To hit them, you had to take arrows. The game was about math and was always meant to be, but in D3 instead of dodge chance, you have things like projectile slows.

Andarial, Mephisto, and Diablo were decent fights in D2, but as said almost no one actually fought them. They just got up the gear and pots to be able to tank all the damage while they murdered them as fast as possible. The Skeleton King is hands down the most fun boss fight I've had in an ARPG outside of an arcade -again- when I try to never be hit.

And what's the end-game there? A difficulty setting where the entire game flattens and you can't just out-level or out-gear the content. You will HAVE to fight the enemies, set up cones, dodge things, etc. The skill system some people hate for being adaptable on the fly, is picture perfect for that.

Updated I'll make a thread when I'm closer to 50 if no one feels like critiquing this here.
http://www.cohplanner.com/mids/downl...0F7F01ECACC04C

Any thoughts on the dedicated AV/GM solo build Claws? (-or whoever)

I assume goals are softcap defenses, hover, gapless SnapShot-AimedShot-BlazingArrow and perma AM. Agility Core Paragon.

This was my first crack at it... The 'cast time' on snap and aimed add up to 3.37 if you round up. I have blazing at 3.41... .4 of a second away from gapless? I think I can live with that. Worried about my endurance though. I don't plan to run World of Confusion or Choking Cloud, but even without those I only have a little over 1.0 to work with while my debuffs are up. Think I need to free up a slot or two to put end mods in AM.

Click this DataLink to open the build!

This makes four characters (Bane Spider, Rad/Archery, TW/Fire, and FF/BR) in a row I love and I still haven't made any of the shield builds you've helped me with haha... I promise to use this one, Claws!



EDIT---
I wasn't set on power sets 100% but I was certain I wanted a weapon AR/BR/DP/Archery, but after trying out snap/aimed/blazing while hovering in my costume I have for this concept I'm very happy with archery. I never liked snap shot on the ninja MM with a wood bow, but somehow hovering with a vanguard bow and cycling more attacks it looks a lot better.

I am set on Defender now, because I prefer the ATO set with the heal proc giving me a constant stream of little heals, I used it on my FF/AR before I rerolled him to FF/BR and it served me very well.

Still not sure what to do with AR and DP. I want characters that use them but I'm not sure what. DP looks like it's made to pair with /MM on a blaster, but AR begs for build up as well. Think I'll just hold those two names and wait and see what new sets come out for a while. Plenty to do with my current few.

I like yours better.

Crossbows and staff fighting pikes for the minions. Two different LT's, one BS/Shield in leather/chain and one with a TW in plate armor. Wizard boss.

I don't know about holy wings and fly on a wizard though. Would that be weird?

I love your Angels idea, and I'd point out that many players still say the game is missing a melee+support AT. I would like to see a paladin type MM set that could cover all of these things you've touched on and that gap.

1) Mace Melee Attack
2) Medieval Infantry henchmen. (Bows and pikes that use staff fighting)
3) Mace Cone Melee Attack
4) Pet Buff (More attacks, shields for Knights)
5) Heavy Mace attack
6) Two knight Lieutenants. (BS + Shield w/buff at lv6)
7) Divine Intervention (All pets get wings and fly, and some other buff.)
8) Heavy Knight Boss (TW, plate armor.)
9) Buff (Heavier armor for all)

Thank you for the replies.

I really hate snapshot's animation, and before I got to this point people were telling me to use beam rifle. My main is FF/BR and I don't usually like to repeat sets, but I do like BR, you can customize the laser color, and there are lots of different rifles to pick from. The bow string going through my arm was already getting on my nerves again too...

Tell me about the -regen effect. If I am using Disintigrate constantly, can I skip Lingering Radiation, or would I still need that power in the solo build? The BR attack chain looks like it would be more complicated, but I don't mind any of the power animations so I would just go with whatever is optimal there.

EDIT--
You know I just realized I may have made a big mistake with this thread and asking around. I want to solo GM's! I have been saying AV... Would anything here change if I said focusing on GM's?


Snap Shot? Really?
Seems like Aimed Shot and Blazing Arrow would do it with all the other things I have to work in. Aim, Lingering Radiation, AM, Hasten (If I need that.), plus time spent moving if the AV moves.

Or at least between all those other things I could use something slower like Fistfull of Arrows or Explosive Arrow as my third attack. I would want explosive capped out on damage/recharge anyway if I were to group with it -AV/GM solo IS primary focus, not backpedaling on you, just saying it's a perk.-

After lots of tells in-game I don't think I'll ever be satisfied with anyone's explanation of DPS short of actually testing both myself so I will decide based on the other things, and the defender clearly wins at everything else. I even prefer the defender ATO set giving me constant healing without having to work the PBAoE heal into rotation.

I only got one person in /h that gave me a real answer, and that was corruptor. Supposedly scourge adds up to significantly more damage than the the differences in the powers.

I really like this combo and really want a character for this purpose.
Still looking for replies so I don't feel the need to reroll later.

Bane Spider.
War mace stalker with a pair of single target ranged attacks off the mace including a debuff that don't trigger weapon redraw, super leadership toggles and a double tap grenade launcher that does AoE resistance debuffs and AoE fear.

Radiation Emission + Archery, for soloing AV's.
Defender or Corruptor? Why?

Lots of questions like higher base corruptor damage and scourge adding up vs +20% defender damage and higher -res value, if the difference in accuracy debuffs is tangible, which has more HP (and so heals themselves for more), etc. But I want to play the character tonight, so a straightforward answer and why is all I'm looking for. I'll research mechanics later when I'm in the mood for making a build or have down time at work.

I don't understand all the rationalizing of Hero side in this thread. Like it's something people continue to actively decide based on story or zones. People shun red side because 'bad guys lose'? lol what?



CoV had a weak launch because of very few new sets (MM's launched with 4 primaries IIRC, and Doms didn't have many secondaries which were mostly copy/pasted old powers anyway.) balance issues, and ugly lumpy starting zones.

Blue side has, and always will be, more popular simply because people want to play where the people are. Do you think Freedom was somehow 'better' than the other servers and that's why it's on top?

WoW is only popular because we all know everyone wanted to look like a bad cartoon back when that came out and the other MMO's were being too realistic!

No... Population = Population, and CoV did not launch well enough to grab it's fair share. The farther general population declines, the greater the difference will be because the difference will be more noticable and the need for people will ever increasingly fuel the decision to go Blue where the people are.

/rant

I recently did a new (to me) arc in Steel Canyon against the Tsoo and protecting a museum. The boss of that used Staff Fighting IIRC. Does anyone happen to remember if he used a staff that's not available to us?

I think costume parts are a perfect carrot on a stick for players, but I agree with the junk drops comments. I would rather see more parts from the various badge types (new, or existing ones retroactively granting the new pieces).

I'm at work and can't make the character right now, but damnit I call dibs on Wingdings Man!

Could you post a few better screens of the mecha beam rifle, please? I'm at work, won't leave for another nine and a half hours, and I haven't checked it out yet. My main is a FF/BR tech defender and I'm dying to see this beam rifle LOL.

I recommend FF for pairing with BR because it performs well at long range. I was originally FF/AR but the cones were short and the AoE grenade had knockback. The FF bubble is a range of 50 IIRC. Your narrow cone laser shot benefits from the range (cone is widest at the end) and your final attack power is a nice long range AoE. Disintigrate is another long range attack instead of beanbag.

-EDIT
I see now that someone has posted a pic in the City of Mecha Stuff thread, but more would still be awesome!

Interesting, and has the potential to create new gameplay. I think the devs should check how hard this would be to do, and consider it.

EDIT--
I'm not big on the switching part, but I like the idea of another character on your account being used as backup.

You know how if you ctrl+click a power you get auto fire? They should make a new modifier+click to put some other color ring around your powers and when that character is brought in as a computer controlled backup, those are the powers they use and toggles they attempt to run.

Maybe this could be a high end incarnate power... either a power to bring in another character, or maybe the incarnate power marks that character so that THEY can be summoned and used.

Details need working out, but it's a neat idea IMO.