cohRock
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Posts
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Joined
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My team was unable to complete the Manticore Task Force last night. Full report in the bugs forum:
* http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showthread.php?p=3880264
We got about halfway done, then we got stuck inside a door to a timed mission -- I don't mean "inside the mission"; I literally mean "inside the door".
Has anyone else had this problem? Has anyone completed Manticore successfully since i21 was released? -
My 8-member team was unable to complete the Manticore Task Force on Friday evening, 16 September 2011. The problem occurred at around 21:00 Eastern time on the Infinity server. From this one failure I do not know if it is a permanent bug or one-time fluke.
The problem was that we were unable to completely enter a mission, "Defeat Security Chief, his men", which is a 90-minute timed mission occurring about 50% of the way into the TF. The mission door was located in Brickstown. Upon entry, the screen would go black, and remain that way for several seconds. Then the screen would show an image of the door from a Brickstown view, with your character apparently stuck within the door itself. Movement commands were ignored, as was the /stuck command. Players could, however, converse. Every player got stuck in this manner.
In an attempt to fix, we logged out and back in. This freed us from the door, and we were standing near the door within Brickstown. Seven of us were auto-rejoined to the TF upon relog, but one player ended up booted from the team. Two of us tried again to re-enter, and the same problem occurred. -
Quote:I'll assume you are correct -- which is kind of like saying, "I'll assume this quarter-flip does not land on its edge".Originally Posted by Arcanaville
I have to concur with others that point out whatever people's general opinions on tanker SR, being second to Granite (which is what I'm assuming you mean by second to Stone) is not just outside the margin for error of my evaluation of Tanker SR, but practically numerically impossible.
But I did mean stone tank. In my play style, Granite armor is an option, not a permanent state. So is Rock Armor + Minerals. Etc.
My guy was level 31 when I posted.Quote:The best level 30 tanker? Maybe. Second only to Granite? At level 34 maybe. At level 50? I don't think that's possible, much less likely.
That would be great to see, since Elude seems to be mostly useless for a tank SR build. How about Elude for a tank gets replaced with, I don't know, let's call it Eclipse It's characteristics would be something like:Quote:We'll see, but I'm betting tanker SR gets +health added somewhere within a year of release.
1) same recharge and duration as Elude for scrappers and brutes
2) essentially a combo power of Dull Pain and Instant healing
2a) the Dull Pain portion would be 2/3 as strong as a regen scrapper
2b) the Instant Healing portion would be 2/3 as strong as a regen scrapper
3) offers toxic resistance equivalent to that of a stone tank's Earth's Embrace
4) offers fear resistance (hey, better than nothing, and a tier 9 should be unique)
5) same crash as Elude -- endurance goes to zero for 20 seconds at end of duration
6) slottable with health, recharge, end reduction, and resistance
7) allowed sets: health and damage resistance -
Quote:Incorrect concerning the "eggshell" characterization. My experience playing on Beta is that SR tank may be 2nd to Stone in survivability. Sort of the anti-stone in one sense though -- SR's get Quicken.Originally Posted by Hyperstrike
Not really. Such a tank will have easily cap-able defense. But without underlying resists and heals, it's an eggshell.
See below thread for my report on SR/Dark:
* http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showthread.php?t=269982 -
Lohenien,
While I do miss Tactics, I cannot say the original advice given has proven itself wrong. My tank is very robust, and is well equipped to battle lead any team. I agree with you that Elude is overkill for this build, though. Thanks for the incarnate advice, btw. -
Quote:It just occurred to me that this res/dfn IO could also be added to Stone Skin, with minimal impact on a "granite tank".Originally Posted by cohRock
Since my guy also has Brimstone Armor, he can also slot Steadfast_Protection:res/dfn, adding 3% global defense. While less important with Granite up, it's a very nice addition to my normally-up armors (Rock, Brimstone, and, when there is significant incoming psi damage, Minerals). This IO can also be added to Granite but if you use 3 slots for defensive IOs, your total resistance will be degraded.
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I don't know what you mean by a "granite tank" -- avoiding all your protective powers except Granite Armor, Rooted, Mud Pots, Earth's Embrace, and Stone Skin, perhaps?
My guy is a "stone tank" -- he has all primary powers, and only uses Granite situationally. This allows him to 3x4 the Gift of the Ancient's Set. I.e. 4-slotted in 3 powers:
* Rock Armor (dfn/end, dfn/end/rech, dfn, and dfn/run_speed)
* Crystal Armor (ditto)
* Minerals (ditto)
Granite Armor can also be slotted with 3 members of the set (dfn/end, dfn, and dfn/run_speed). I 6-slot it, with the other 3 slots going for resistance.
In addition to 3-slotted Swift, the run-speed penalty of Granite and/or Rooted is drastically attenuated. The dfn/run_speed "gifts" add 30% to run speed (7.5% each). It doesn't let you jump, or attenuate the damage and recharge penalties of Granite, but you can lead your team without everyone wondering why they are snails.
Now add the total set bonuses of 8% recovery (2% * 4), 10% fire resistance (2.5% * 4), and 5.4% max endurance (1.8% * 3). You can see that any endurance problems your character might have are pretty much eliminated by the double-pronged cure of more recovery and more total endurance. Since my guy runs Assault and Tactics, this benefit is very important.
Since my guy also has Brimstone Armor, he can also slot Steadfast_Protection:res/dfn, adding 3% global defense. While less important with Granite up, it's a very nice addition to my normally-up armors (Rock, Brimstone, and, when there is significant incoming psi damage, Minerals). This IO can also be added to Granite but if you use 3 slots for defensive IOs, your total resistance will be degraded.
So yes, these are two ways in which IOing a stone tank is definitely "worth it". -
My guy is 30 now, and I am finding him to be an extremely robust guy. While he is not a stone tank, he could very well be the next best thing.
I haven't followed either of the above progressions. Here is the build as he has actually chosen it:
1) Shadow Punch, Focused Fighting
2) Smite
4) Focused Senses
6) Practiced Brawler
8) Leaping:Combat Jumping
10) Shadow Maul
12) Agile
14) Dodge
16) Evasion (includes taunt aura)
18) Siphon Life
20) Fighting:Kick (as someone suggested above, should have been Boxing.)
22) Fighting:Tough
24) Taunt
26) Quickness
28) Lucky
30) Soul Drain
He'll probably take Fighting:Weave at 32. As of level 30 all defensive toggles are 4-slotted with an end reduction and 3 defense SOs. The passives are single slotted. This gives him positional defenses very near 44%. At 31, he will have Tough 4-slotted with end reduction, SteadfastProtection:Res/Def, and two resist SOs (currently just one of the SOs). His rep is set to +1 foes and *2 foe count. He can surround himself with 2 or 3 groups of foes and watch them beat away at him. When his scaling resist (finally -- it takes a while) kicks in he sure feels like a stoner.
My question is, do defense debuffs subtract from the top or bottom? By this I mean if Weave brings him above 45, but defense is capped at 45, what is the effect of a defense debuff? Is defense subtracted from the capped 45%, or is it subtracted from the bottom, meaning the extra defense from Weave is actually helping significantly?
Assuming I do take Weave at 32, the remaining build is likely to be:
32) Fighting:Weave
35) Dark Consumption (the earliest I can take it
)
38) Midnight Grasp
41) Energy Mastery:Conserve Power
44) Energy Mastery:Physical Perfection
47) Recall Friend (?)
49) Hasten (?)
Any more comments? -
Quote:Nope. It's knockback. Phooey.Originally Posted by cohRock
20) Fighting:Kick (I believe it 2ndy effect is knockdown not knockback.)
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The vast majority of my characters end up with Tactics, so choosing the Leadership pool in this build was more or less done out of momentum. As I think about it though, you guys are right. Foregoing Leadership in this build is a net gain. Instead of:
20) Leadership:Maneuvers
22) Leadership:Tactics
24) Fighting:Kick
26) Fighting:Tough
...
32) Midnight Grasp
...
38) Lucky
...
49) Taunt
use:
20) Fighting:Kick (I believe it 2ndy effect is knockdown not knockback.)
22) Fighting:Tough
24) Fighting:Weave
26) Taunt
...
32) Lucky
...
38) Midnight Grasp
...
49) ? Focused Accuracy ?
This saves both the endurance load of a pool toggle and the four slots I add to Tactics in order to 5-slot the Adjusted Targeting set. Weave offers more defense than Maneuvers. The loss of Maneuvers to team defense could well be offset by the much earlier Taunt, which might stop teammates being hit just as much. And if he really needs the extra toHit provided by Tactics, getting Focused Accuracy would be a reasonable substitute. -
I'm experimenting with a Super-Reflexes/Dark_Melee tank on the Beta Server. He just made level 12 and upgraded to DOs. I like the combo so far. DM was specifically chosen because it seems to augment SR well. It offers both a self-heal attack and an endurance-gain AoE attack. Additionally, all of its attacks have a -toHit secondary effect, which effectively adds to his defense.
Unfortunately MIDs does not yet support SR for tanks, so I'll just type out the planned build:
1) Shadow Punch, Focused Fighting
2) Smite
4) Focused Senses
6) Practiced Brawler
8) Leaping:Combat Jumping
10) Shadow Maul
12) Agile
14) Dodge
16) Evasion (includes taunt aura)
18) Siphon Life
20) Leadership:Maneuvers
22) Leadership:Tactics
24) Fighting:Kick
26) Fighting:Tough
28) Dark Consumption
30) Soul Drain
32) Midnight Grasp
35) Quickness
38) Lucky
41) Energy Mastery:Conserve Power
44) Energy Mastery:Physical Perfection
47) Elude
49) Taunt
All my other tanks get Taunt soon after gaining mez protection, but squeezing in both the Leadership and Fighting pools makes the build quite tight. I wish I could skip Shadow Punch -- having both it and Kick seems a waste.
So far as invention sets, he'll be getting 2 Steadfast Protection enhancments in Tough (End/Resist and Resist/Defense). He'll also "4x4" Gift of Ancients; that is, the 4 defensive toggles will have 4 slots each, all containing:
* Defense/Endurance
* Defense/Endurance/Recharge (bonus: 2% recovery, 8% total)
* Defense (bonus: 2.5% fire resistance, 10% total)
* Defense/Run_Speed (bonus: 1.8% gain to max endurance, 7.2% total)
With the extra recovery and endurance from GoA, plus extra endurance of Atlas Medallion, he may not need to use Energy Mastery Ancillary pool. Earth Mastery with Salt Crystals and Quick Sand might be interesting alternative.
I'd appreciate any feedback. Thanks. -
Imagine my surprise when reading The Economist magazine, and I came upon a picture of the Praetorian Guard costume, v2.0.
You can read about it online at:
* http://www.economist.com/node/21525838
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For about a year now, ever since I got my 22" HD monitor, I've had a recurring problem during play. I lose sight of my mouse pointer. There is no graphics glitch or anything, just a white arrow hiding in plain sight somewhere on the large amount of real estate it can occupy.
For example, in the midst of battle, a teammate grants me a Mystic Fortune buff. I instinctively start moving the mouse to the center of the screen to the requester, so the buff can be allowed. But somehow, all of a sudden the mouse pointer is no longer in my focus. It had been behaving fine, as I instinctively use my power tray to respond to the needs of battle. But now that my concentration has shifted, and needs to focus on the location of the mouse pointer, I cannot find it.
At this point I usually try to move the pointer to an edge of the screen, where there will be less real estate to search. Actually this works, but it feels like I've wasted seconds searching for the darn thing, which never used to get lost. Is anyone else having the same problem? -
Lots of grumbling.
Quote:There would be no need to respec if you had already done so for the inherent fitness powers. They would just be granted at slightly higher levels than 2.Originally Posted by MaestroMaviousIf it meant having to comb through my littany of alts and begin respeccing again....
NO.
Quote:Originally Posted by ketchEveryone goes back to crappy pre-inherent-Stamina days until level 11 so Regen can feel special? No, thanks.Caulderone is correct about the stacking; I never meant to imply otherwise. It's sort of a side-issue, but let me do a quick compare of Regen to Willpower:Quote:Originally Posted by CaulderoneNo! The advantage they have, even now, is that Fast Healing and Quick Recovery can be STACKED with health and stamina.
They still have that advantage.
IMO, there had been a sort of a dynamic equivalence between these scrapper sets. Regen has to wait for mez protection. Willpower has to wait for QR. Now I feel the scales have been tipped strongly in favor of Willpower. Like I said, this comparison is not the main focus of this thread.Code:Regen Willpower Quick Recovery at 4 Quick Recovery at 20 mez protection at 16 mez protection at 10 several heals no heals little damage mitigation lots of damage mitigation
Glory! At least one other person "gets it."Quote:Originally Posted by ArnabasLol. Everyone seems to be against it, but I will agree. When they announced that they were going to drop everything in your lap at once, I was surprised and wondered why they hadn't decided to go the route that you're suggesting.
Now, I admit that I enjoy having more endurance at lower levels, but I understand what you mean by "creeping easiness".
Quote:Originally Posted by SilverAgeFannope. especially on the no rest until 3. that's just silly.Delaying Rest from level 2 to 3 is what? Less than 30 minutes of playtime for a soloing player at default reputation? That is even if he has to pause play to recover some health or end.Quote:Originally Posted by ZortelFrustration from having to wait around for rest to recharge, or having to scrimp together inspirations, is not difficulty. It is not enjoyable difficulty. It is fake difficulty that stands between actually playing the game. My Ice/DB Tanker guzzled endurance like mad, even with careful toggle management and trying to use the best attack for the least endurance to finish enemies. Before inherent stamina at 2, it wasn't harder to play him. It was more annoying to play him. I'd get through a mission and think "Oh god that was painful" and then log to someone more fun to play who isn't tuckered out so easily.
As far as delaying Stamina from 2 to 11 (as apposed to getting it at 11 instead of 20), who will that affect, really?
* tanks/brutes/scrappers who have a damage aura that they take early in build
* players who take Hasten early (possibly. at least for 2 minutes out of 5, while up)
* and, mostly, players who don't realize (or are to stubborn to accept reality) that running Sprint and/or Ninja/Beast Run severely impacts their endurance during battle. Personally, I always shut these off at the beginning of a mission -- even if the character has both Stamina and Quick Recovery.
For the large majority of characters, they just don't have enough powers before level 11 to really notice whether they got Stamina at 2 or 11. Almost all players, though, felt the lack of it when they had to wait until 20.
While it's true I knew the post would be generally unpopular, it's a serious idea worth discussion. My posting history and (out-of-date, sigh) guide demonstrate that I'm not a troll.Quote:Originally Posted by Stone Daemonis that troll I smell?
Quote:Originally Posted by SilveradoIf it had been like this from the start I would've had no problem, but changing it at this point would be a d*ck moveYou guys are probably right. But .. sometimes nerfs are beneficial, even when unpopular. A lot of you remember the screaming and hollering when Enhancement Diversification (ED) and the General Defense Nerf (GDN) came out. (I was more of a grumbler. Screaming gives me a sore throat.) Yet where could the game have gone without these changes? With players at already uber levels from their own-self powers, who needed buffer characters on their team? How could inventions have been implemented? What use would it be to become an incarnate at 50 if you had already achieved self-uberness at 44?Quote:Originally Posted by UberGuyThis horse is way out of the barn, and I'm pretty sure it's not coming back.
I don't believe my suggestion is anywhere near as significant/nerfing as either ED or the GDN. In fact, I see it as an enhancement to the way most of us took these powers from the fitness pool.
I think you missed the point of Arnabas' example. S/he was illustrating creeping easiness in general, not my specific idea. I'm betting a lot of long-term players know what I mean, even if they won't admit it. I like most the following changes, but their cumulative effect has been to slightly dumb-down the game, IMO. Some of my examples are:Quote:Originally Posted by Samuel_Tow, in reply to Arnabas
I can see how much Hurdle, Swift and Stamina would have helped with that. Health I can kind of see making a SLIGHT dent, but if you went AFK in the middle of a mob, you were either fighting something really weak or you'd otherwise built your character really strong, because inherent Fitness helps you be proactive more than anything else.
* inherent fitness at level 2
* debt reduced to almost irrelevance
* accelerated XP gain thru level 24 -- how many early contacts have you never seen in years now, because you just level so darn quick?
* inter-zone travel via Ouroboros and enhanced trains/ferries has made base portals, well, quaint. Heh, I remember when base portals were a dev-send! -
I have a level 24 Archery/Devices blaster. The last two powers he has taken, Targeting Drone and Smoke Grenade, have been disappointing. While the toHit on the Drone is greater than Tactics would be, it is only about as strong as the defender version of Tactics. The description states that it will also boost the damage of a sniper rifle, which would seem to leave out his Ranged Shot snipe. (He hasn't taken RS yet, so I don't know for sure.) The only real advantage I see is that it is a little cheaper end-wise to run than Tactics.
His Smoke Grenade is aggroing foes. Aren't these types of powers supposed to be non-aggro? I'm not sure its worth having if using it means that a whole group of foes starts shooting at him.
Am I missing something in these two powers? I'm seriously considering respeccing out of both and getting Assault and Tactics instead. -
One of the dev mottos for several years has been "give players what they want". Which is good, to an extent. IMO, though, some things are becoming too easy. For example, granting everyone the fitness pool at level 2. Just too much goodness all at once.
Consider slowing down the rate at which the inherent powers are granted. Most of my justification for this suggestion relates to the creeping easiness, but in one respect, I believe there has been an actual unfairness. This relates to the difference between regen and willpower scrappers. One of the advantages that Regen had was that it could get Quick Recovery at level 4, while Willpower scrappers had to wait until 20. This advantage is irrelevant now that everyone gets Stamina at level 2.
Here is one plan for spreading out the inherent powers. Basically, players will be granted one inherent at every odd level from 1 to 11.
1: Sprint (no change)
3: Rest (moved up from 2, for consistency within the set)
5: Swift (one earlier than it had been available in fitness pool)
7: Hurdle (one later than it had been available)
9: Health (five earlier than it had been available)
11: Stamina (nine earlier than it had been available)
I feel this is still a huge win over the need to take fitness pool powers, while "spreading the wealth" of slottable inherents over time so players can actually feel the boosts one at a time.
Let the grumbling and glory begin!
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all except training room: up
Training Room: unknown (as it often is while actually up) -
(North American servers)
10: unknown
2: down
The gerbils appear to be waking up. -
I believe today's patch also updated the icon for the Ninja Run power.
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Except for Stone Fist, his attacks are 3-slotted with damage. The only power which has 3 recharges in it is Hasten itself. And endurance had been a problem, outside of Granite, until he picked up Physical Perfection, granting a significant boost to both recovery and regen. (End. was not a problem within Granite armor, because with the -0.70 recharge penalty, he didn't use end very fast.)
If I understand what you are saying, the Musculature damage boost will not overcome the Granite armor damage penalty. I.e., even though Granite effectively removes one SO of damage, the Alpha slot damage boost would not replace the "missing" SO. Right?
In that event, the Spiritual recharge boost definately sounds the way to go. -
My very first character is a stone/stone tank. He has earned his incarnate alpha slot, but it is not yet slotted. I'm not sure which direction to go. I would like to reduce the penalties of Granite armor, which reduces both attack rate and damage.
Attack rate is reduced to an extent such that the Hasten power needs to be up to pretty-much counter the Granite armor recharge penalty. Hasten is a 70% recharge boost, so I would expect the Alpha Spiritual buff, at 33% recharge, would reduce the penalty by about half. Is this correct?
Damage is reduced to an extent such that it is like losing a damage SO in each attack, normally about 33%. I would expect the Alpha Musculature buff, at 33% damage, would completely eliminate this particular penalty. It might even be better than that, due to a reduced ED penalty.
He has Hasten, and he typically only starts up Granite when he needs to. He has the full set of Stone armors at his disposal. When he starts up Granite, he also starts Hasten, which is not set to auto-run. He also has the Physical Perfection Ancillary power, as well as Assault and Tactics. So his regen, recovery, damage, and accuracy are already receiving some buffage.
Given this backdrop, which do you-all feel would be the better Alpha choice, Spiritual or Musculature? -
.. in the twilight before sleep a name comes to you. You have to get up and create Fay Smelter, evil fire corrupter, before you forget.
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Tex and Fitz, thank you. I do have an ATI Radeon HD 5700 series graphics board:
Driver Packaging Version 8.791-101026a-107889C-ATI
Catalyst™ Version 10.11
Provider ATI Technologies Inc.
2D Driver Version 8.01.01.1094
However, I play numerous other characters regularly with no problem, and played this brute in the last few weeks from around level 32 to 43, all with the same board and driver.
Could there be a driver problem that would suddenly start affecting just a single character in this manner? Also, on the original crash, he was just exiting the Vault Reserve in Cap Au Diable, and the contact tab was not even open. -
Sigh, I guess I'll try writing them later.
Quote:Subject: Mail Delivery Failure
Date: Thu, 13 Jan 2011 14:54:25 +0000
This message was created automatically by the mail system (ecelerity).
A message that you sent could not be delivered to one or more of its
recipients. This is a permanent error. The following address(es) failed:
>>> >>> support@ncsoft.com (reading BANNER): 554 You are not allowed to connect. -
Talbein_Vikshus, I don't feel you "threadjacked" this. For all I know, your symptoms and mine could be part of a common underlying problem.
Master-Blade, closing the contact window in safe mode, then relogging normally, does seem to allow me to play Lickity Zplit. I just cannot ever look at the contact window without freezing and crashing again. None of the other windows cause a crash. There are several active contacts, but the contacts shown are the Rogue Isle Protector and Regent Korol. The Regent's gauge is 50% full, and she is a "Comrade". She has given me the "Punish Countess Crey" mission.
Presumably a server restart occurred this morning, and I'll report the current status in a reply to the email I received from support.