firespray
-
Posts
1305 -
Joined
-
Mutation for me. I think because my first character was a mutant, and I learned where all the stores were and everything. And I just kept playing mutants, because I didn't like it on other characters when I had to try to hunt down stores. Now, it's just tradition.
-
If you've already got your alpha level shift, you should be fine to run some of the trials. You'll definitely want to stay away from some of them though until you get some more experience and incarnate powers under your belt. In order (IMO) from easiest to hardest, they go:
BAF: This one is relatively straightforward for an incarnate trial. If you're new, and don't know what you're doing, just ask. Someone on the team will be able to explain it to you, guaranteed, since it's been out awhile. I haven't been on a failed BAF for months.
Lambda: Slightly more difficult than the BAF, but still not too bad for a newbie. The biggest key here is to understand what the temp powers do and when to use them. Unfortunately it seems like there's always a few people that don't get it. Running the mazes can be difficult too.
Keyes: I would say this one is on par with or maybe slightly more difficult than the Lambda trial, but you're probably still fine to run it at 51. The keys here are to understand how to unlock the terminals, and to understand the mechanics of the fight with antimatter at the end. Other than that, it's not too difficult.
I would suggest sticking to those maybe until you have another level shift, maybe run some TPNs too. After this, it gets a lot more subjective as to which trials are 'harder'. I'm listing them in the order that I've failed the most.
TPN: The enemies in this one are level shifted farther than in the others, but it's a lot more straightforward, and I've found that the gimmicks in the other trials make them more difficult than just having higher level enemies does. This one still fails relatively often if teams don't have enough level shifted people or can't handle things without killing the seers and don't bother to assign people to seer killing duty.
DD: While this one has the highest level shifted enemies of any of the trials, I think it's actually easier than UG or MoM since it's basically a series of standard AV fights. They're harder than those in the other trials, but without the gimmicks you have to use to win. The only minor exception is the last fight, but you really only need to have one or two people that know what they're doing to handle the glowie green balls.
MoM: Now we're getting into extremely difficult territory here. These fail a lot. The enemies are level shifted by quite a bit, and every single fight has some sort of gimmick that you have to get right in order to win them. Everyone on the league needs to be paying attention and following instructions pretty closely to successfully complete one of these. I've been on more that failed than I have successful ones.
UG: This one is about on par with MoM, I only put it as more difficult because I've literally never been on one that has completed successfully (out of six or eight tries). This one is also considerably longer than any of the others, clocking in at over an hour most times. Again, there are several difficult AV fights with gimmicks that must be performed correctly in order to win them. -
Blasters - Fire blast. I don't really think much of a secondary.
Defenders - Empathy/Psi
Controllers - Earth control, I don't know what else.
Scrappers - Martial Arts/SR, maybe katana/SR
Tankers - Super strength/Invulnerability
Corruptors - Don't know, I don't really think of corruptors as "Iconic"
Dominators - Fire/Fire
Masterminds - Bots/Traps
Stalkers - Nin/Nin
Brutes - SS/WP -
Quote:I do agree that some of the ice sets are maybe slightly underpowered, mainly ice control.Originally Posted by VKhaun
Ice.
I like ice thematically, but every ice set feels very low end to me. They lose powers to bad control like sleep, and always have miscellaneous other drawbacks like the area hold in ice control being PBAoE instead of ranged AoE, or Frostwork being a +hp on a long timer. I don't like the ice sword, and even the defense/armor buffs are very obtrusive and blocky so you can't see your character.
Ice melee and Ice armor I haven't used enough to judge for myself.
But cold domination is a very strong performer, and ice blast is a solid blast set too. The ice shields I agree look ugly, and I wish there were alternate VFX for them, but numbers wise, they're solid sets.
There are several powersets that I do feel lag noticeably behind others though.
Dual pistols - Long animation times and mediocre damage make it feel slow and weak.
Devices - Great for soloing, but clunky and difficult to use effectively on teams.
Energy Melee - Poor AoE damage, and ST damage isn't good enough to make up for the lack like it is in other sets like Dark Melee
Ice control - Relies too much on a mixed bag of soft controls, no real synergy.
Sonic Resonance - Falls FAR behind the protection that can offered to a team by forcefield. The few offensive powers it offers don't really close the gap.
Trick Arrow - Offers very few survivability buffs to teams, and the damage buffs it offers don't really make up the difference. Also kind of suffers from an identity crisis. It plays almost more like a control set than a buff/debuff set, though this one is a matter of personal preference.
Spines - Kind of the opposite problem of Energy melee. Decent AoE damage (though eclipsed by other sets now) and not enough ST damage to make it competitive. -
Quote:I agree with you. Mez is one of blasters' major problems. I really have my doubts that they're going to give blasters mez protection though. Maybe instead they could expand the powers that vigilance allows you to use while mezzed. So at level 1 it would let you do what you can now, but maybe by level 50 you could use up to T4 or T5 powers from your primary and T2 or T3 from your secondary.Originally Posted by Comicsluvr
Personally I don't think that Mez protection is enough but it would be a good start.
-
Quote:Except that it's a LOT of work to earn a second T4 incarnate power. Having two provides very little benefit beyond having one, since I can only use one at a time, so I don't see why we couldn't be allowed to respec them when we respec everything else.Originally Posted by Rajani Isa
You are not locked into your incarnate power picks. Therefore, respecs do not apply.
-
Quote:Or if you have a character of the same archetype that could use them, you can do the same thing without burning converters.Originally Posted by DreadShinobi
The best thing you can do with it right now is catalyze ATOs you have slotted in your toon, use enhancement unslotters on those superior ATOs, use enhancement converters til you get the ones you want, the gleemail those to the toon you need them on.
-
I hope they don't to be honest, unless they give us the option to respec incarnate powers.
-
Quote:I love you so much right now. I knew about the /auctionhouse command, but I didn't know until you posted something that I could shorten it to /ah. You're awesome.Originally Posted by Aggelakis
Many long-time players have access to the auction house from anywhere via /ah, and thus park themselves anywhere to do their thang, and the shadow of Atlas is a common place to park.
-
Quote:My first thought on this was some sort of buff like defenders' vigilance that tapers off as you add more people to the team. This probably doesn't meet your criteria of 'active and behaving the same way both solo and teamed'. And I think it's unlikely that the devs would buff blasters in this way, but there are several people arguing that any buffs should be developed with the sole goal of improving soloing, assuming that any improvement will help teams as much as it will help soloers. I'm simply trying to point out that that is a flawed assumption.Originally Posted by Another_Fan
Can you construct a performance improvement that helps soloing, doesn't help teaming and is actually active and behaving the same way both solo and teamed ?
I can't think how anyone would manage it.
The second thing I thought of is much simpler, and should meet all the criteria you mentioned.
Give blasters a small amount of mez protection. While it will help out blasters on teams, it will not be as helpful to them as it will be to solo blasters. Let's say blasters are given mag 3 protection to all types of mez. For a blaster soloing, this is a major improvement. A blaster on a large team is likely to be facing far more enemies in each group than a solo blaster, meaning there will likely be a lot more mez using enemies as well. And though the blaster on the team will have teammates to take some of the aggro, there are a lot of enemies that have AoE mezzes. So while the mag 3 mez protection will certainly be beneficial to the blaster on the team, it won't be as beneficial as it would be to the soloing blaster. -
Quote:What strawman? You specifically said any fixes for soloing will be as valuable for teaming. I'll prove it.Originally Posted by Miladys_Knight
Hyperbole much? Strawman much?
And calling it a ridiculous assertion is not hybperbole, it's simply a fact. It is ridiculous, since I've thought of fixes that would be valuable for soloing but not for teaming. For example the devs could give some sort of buff like Defender's vigilance that scales downwards as the number of players on the team goes up. Or they could give the blaster some low amount of mez protection, say mag 3, that would help quite a bit while solo where you're generally not fighting as many enemies, but would be less useful on a full team where you are much more likely to have numerous mez-using enemies in each group. I thought these up in less than a minute. There are most certainly more.Quote:Originally Posted by Miladys_Knight
Any needed fixes for soloing will be just as valuable while teamed.
Strawman, again. In fact the same one I mentioned before. Yes, I want a damage buff for blasters. However I have REPEATEDLY stated that I want a damage buff IN ADDITION TO (not instead of) survivability buffs. I made a few posts towards the beginning of the thread that implied a damage buff alone could fix blasters, but I've been convinced otherwise, and have since posted numerous times that I feel blasters should get survivability buffs in addition to damage buffs. You clearly read those posts, since you responded to them.Quote:Originally Posted by Miladys_Knight
So tell me exactly how adding damage as you want helps the blaster teamed in these situations? These are the EXACT teaming situations that the solo performance buffs we've been talking about will be useful on a team. Right now blaster damage is almost high enough to steal aggro even from a good tank. Buff the damage as you want and it very well could mean that the blaster could steal the aggro even from a good tank on a consistent basis (I'll trust Arcanaville to run the numbers on that I don't have her gift where that is concerned) this makes survivability buffs even more important than any damage buffs especially of the level that you are contemplating
And to answer your question above, adding damage would help because it would help the blaster kill the enemies aggro'd on him faster.
I didn't share because I didn't think I needed to. I assumed if I could think of a couple examples in 15 seconds, you could probably come up with some of the same ones just as easily.Quote:Originally Posted by Miladys_Knight
I notice that you didn't deign to share. Perhaps because they are trivial or not germaine to the real issues?
And here we have the strawman back for a second time. See my response above, since there's no point in writing it twice.Quote:Originally Posted by Miladys_Knight
You mean like adding damage will fix them? You can pour gallons and gallons of water into a 16 ounce container.... it will still only hold a pint no matter how hard you wish for it to hold more.
I don't see these two things as blasters' only problems. I feel that they also suffer from a lack of a clear and unique role on a team (and solo too for that matter). A blaster does damage, but a scrapper or brute can do a comparable amount and be considerably safer while doing it. A blaster has a little bit of control, but a controller or dominator (and some corruptors and/or defenders) can do as much or considerably more. I want blasters to get a damage buff because it helps to give them a clear role again. They wouldn't be as tough as a scrapper or brute, but would have a clear edge in damage. Simply buffing survivability to the level of a scrapper or brute would balance blasters, and would fix their problems, but they would be virtually interchangeable with any scrapper or brute.Quote:Originally Posted by Miladys_Knight
Since blaster problems on teams and solo boil down to being mezzed too much and being defeated too much
I don't see how you can't understand the simple concept that there are fixes that could be made that won't benefit players soloing and players on teams equally.Quote:Originally Posted by Miladys_Knight
I don't see how you could even spout such nonsense. Any fix that addresses these 2 issues will provide benefit solo and teamed.
And the strawman comes back for yet a third round.Quote:Originally Posted by Miladys_Knight
There is a difference between a fix and a buff. I want the broken parts of the AT fixed. You just want a damage buff. -
As I understand it, the ATOs are unique, and you cannot slot both the catalyzed and non-catalyzed version of the same enhancement on the same character.
-
Quote:It is as much the case as the ridiculous assertion that ANY fix that improves soloing will improve teaming as well.Originally Posted by Miladys_Knight
My point is that this is not the case.
Well, the tank gets the aggro IF there's a tank on the team, and IF the tank is in the same place as the rest of the team, and IF the tank is playing intelligently, and IF the tank's taunts overcome the threat generated by the blaster's damage, and IF there aren't more enemies present than the aggro cap. There are plenty of opportunities for a blaster to get plenty of aggro even on a team, and a lot of those if's are out of the blaster's control.Quote:Originally Posted by Miladys_Knight
On a team the aggro goes to the tank (if its a good tank) solo the blaster gets it all.
This is a ridiculous assertion. There are absolutely things that would benefit solo players that wouldn't benefit team players, or wouldn't benefit them as much I know this because I've thought of some. Just like there are things that would benefit team players but not solo players. I consider both these cases unlikely though. I think it's far more likely that any changes that benefit one playstyle will benefit the other roughly as much, and these are the sorts of changes that should be pursued.Quote:Originally Posted by Miladys_Knight
A team fix may still not solve the solo problems. The converse is not true.
Pursuing changes only with the end goal of improving soloing and just assuming that they'll fix teaming problems too is a terrible idea though. -
One thing to keep in mind with regen is that you'll be clicking regen powers more than you'd be clicking in any other set. So it can get in the way of sets that you want to be able to chain your attacks together quickly. This would be most noticeable on dual blades, titan weapons, and street justice, since all reward you in some way for using attacks rapidly and not interspersing other powers with your attacks.
As someone else already mentioned, if redraw bugs you, you might not like any of the weapon sets either.
Personally, I didn't like it, due to the lack of AoE, but DM/Regen is a great combo. DM is fantastic ST damage, and the to-hit debuffs, and the heal in siphon life add survivability to regen. -
Quote:And any fixes for teaming will be just as valuable while soloing, what's your point?Originally Posted by Miladys_Knight
That's calling the strawman yellow. Any needed fixes for soloing will be just as valuable while teamed.
Yes, I do want blasters to be the best at damage. That's what blasters are supposed to be. It always has been. AT balance doesn't get in the way of that. AT balance happens with that as the goal.Quote:Originally Posted by Miladys_Knight
What you really want is for the blaster to be a damage deity and AT balance is getting in the way of your desire. -
I have a couple questions on XP boosts. First off, do they stack? If I have some patrol xp, and use an xp booster, do I get the benefits of both of them? If not, which do I get?
And if they do stack, how? Are they additive, or multiplicative? I believe patrol XP is 1.5x normal XP, and the XP booster is 1.25x normal XP. So stacked would I get 1.75x normal XP or would I get 1.875x normal XP? -
Quote:Right, nor can you say that solo play is as common as team play with ANY certainty. We're both basically making WAG's here.Originally Posted by Comicsluvr
1) Unless and until you get access to Dev datamining you cannot say this with ANY certainty.
Likewise, I can't think of a circumstance (again, barring some funky mechanic based on number of people on a team) where boosting team performance wouldn't also boost solo performance.Quote:Originally Posted by Comicsluvr
2) I cannot think of a circumstance (barring some funky mechanic based on number of people on a team) where boosting solo performance wouldn't ALSO boost team performance. With regards to a Blaster a team is essentially a bunch of soloers running together because they get no exclusive buffs (by that I mean buffs that ONLY work on other teammates). The effectiveness of support ATs goes down solo because they now have part of their powerset they can't use. Blasters never suffer from this.
Therefore if Blaster solo performance were improved it would AUTOMATICALLY improve their team performance as well. Two birds, one stone.
I'll admit that the 'boost solo performance vs. boost team performance' argument is probably pointless, since by doing one you almost can't help but do the other. However in the very unlikely circumstance that they are forced to choose between the two for some reason, I think team performance is more important. -
Quote:But 3 white-con minions or 1 minion and an LT is only the most common event in the game if people solo as much as they team. I think this is far from the case.Originally Posted by Comicsluvr
1) You always to try to balance the AT/powersets around the most common event in the game. This is why the baseline metric is 3 white-con Minions or 1 Minion and a Lt. Those are the two most common spawns at +0/X1.
I was not making a serious suggestion that things should be balanced around PVP. I was pointing out how ridiculous I felt the idea of balancing everything around solo play was by comparing it to an equally ridiculous idea.Quote:Originally Posted by Comicsluvr
Trying to balance ANYTHING around PvP (possibly the LEAST likely event in the game because it's totally optional) would be nuts, no matter how difficult it is.
I don't think it's as different as you're making it out to be. Yes, finding inter-class balance is more difficult than finding intra-class balance, but it's clearly a goal the devs strive for, or they wouldn't have made the stalker changes they did. It's also obvious that some of the changes they've made haven't been strictly for numerical balance reasons, but because the players didn't find some archetypes fun. And especially in that case it's important to make sure team play is included in the changes, since people do more of it than solo play.Quote:Originally Posted by Comicsluvr
2) You can't balance anything around team play even if the team is a duo. It's tough enough to balance an AT internally with all the different permutations of Powers available. You add even 1 other toon to the mix and you've got an impossible mix of possibilities. What if it's a Tanker? Or a Defender? Or another Blaster? The sheer volume of permutations would drive you mad.
This isn't relevant to anything. I'm well aware that a blaster can contribute to a team now. Hell, a single fire imp with one attack is 'contributing' to a team.Quote:Originally Posted by Comicsluvr
3) As was explained before, any idiot can help on a team. You can set a Blaster to Follow the Tanker, hit his AoE on auto and leave the room and the Blaster is contributing.
What I want is for a blaster, played as intelligently, and slotted as effectively, as any other archetype to be able to make as much of a contribution to the team's effectiveness as any other archetype. And right now that isn't happening.
Strawman. I never said they shouldn't make sure blasters can solo more effectively. I said I want them to team more effectively as well, and that because teaming is (probably) a lot more common than soloing, fixing teaming problems should be higher priority than fixing soloing problems. I'll state again though, that I DO want blasters to be able to solo effectively. I just want them to be effective on teams MORE.Quote:Originally Posted by Comicsluvr
A character HAS to be able to be effective solo or else the game is punishing soloers. -
Quote:This is like saying that PVP is the most important balance point for an AT. Even if people do PVE content most of the time, the simple fact is that PVP is a much more difficult environment because other players are much smarter than AI, and because players are directly competing against each other, so power disparities between archetypes are more noticeable, so therefore everything should be balanced around PVP.Originally Posted by dugfromthearth
soloing is the most important balance point for an AT without a doubt.
Even if people team most of the time, the simple fact is that when you solo you have only yourself.
On a team of 8 you can go afk at the entrance and they can probably complete the mission. You are only 1/8 of the team. If you are only 50% as effective as everyone else the team is still at 93% effectiveness.
If you are solo and are only 50% as effective as another AT, you are at 50% effectiveness.
If the general population spends 90% of its time on teams and 10% soloing (I have no idea what the actual numbers are, just a general feeling that more people team more often than solo), it's kind of ridiculous to say that soloing is the most important thing to focus on.
Now I'm not saying soloers should be ignored. And most things that will help solo play will probably help team play (and vice versa). But I feel that making sure blasters can contribute as well on teams as other archetypes should be the primary purpose of any changes, and making sure they can solo effectively should be a secondary concern. More than likely though, any changes will do both, as I don't really see a reason why they couldn't. -
There are some of those that I'd legitimately like to see put in the game.
The bee bark and the "There's always one" identifier primarily.
Although... The custom power set is only $7800 if points are bought $100 at a time. If you could find 50 people who agreed on what powerset they wanted, and could each pony up $150, you could get a new powerset added. I might go for that actually. -
I've had about 25 or 30 scrappers over the years I've played. I took confront once just to try it out. I quickly realized it was useless though, since I could just as quickly get something's attention by smacking it around, and I haven't touched it since.
-
Quote:Eh, it could be. I'm not sure overall what percentage of time the general population spends teaming, and what percentage they spend soloing. I suspect teaming beats out soloing by quite a bit though.Originally Posted by Miladys_Knight
To quote someone, "This just seems selfish."
I'm sorry, but you're never going to convince me that solo play is the most important thing to focus on in a multiplayer game. I doubt you'll convince the devs of it either. Yes, they've made soloing a much more viable alternative than in many MMOs, but at its heart, city of heroes is still a multiplayer game.Quote:Originally Posted by Miladys_Knight
Actually I want blasters to be able to both solo and team effectively. On a well balanced team they do "ok", solo they don't have the tools. Giving them the tools to solo isn't going to harm them on a team. Since not all players play on high pop servers, or live in time zones where teaming is convenient, this is the item that should get the highest priority since it is the very reason that blasters are no longer the kings of damage. The other "non-soloable" ATs have been given the tools to solo (in their case it was damage) and marginalized the blaster.
There is considerable evidence that shows city of heroes is still primarily a multiplayer game. We have:Quote:Originally Posted by Miladys_Knight
I used to feel that way too but several things have demonstrated to me that it's not the case any more:
- CoV and the release of the "self reliant" "villain" ATs.
- The solo-ability buffs all "hero" ATs except blasters were given.
- PvP changes that took the focus of PvP away from team tactics and base raiding and turned it to solo tactics and zone play.
I can't really agree that this is "primarily" a multiplayer game anymore since (with the addition of the new DA content) you can do practically every thing and earn almost all available awards by soloing. The only things that come to mind that you have to have help with is a few simul-click glowie missions, TF commander accolade, and the SG base beacon for RWZ (which kind of flies in the face of having an SG in the first place). I was going to say Hami-Os but the market lets you get those without ever doing a Hami raid, STF or RSF and there are players soloing the STF and the RSF in any case. There are even people that can, with the advent of incarnate powers, solo all the pylons in the RWZ before they regenerate and drop the shields on the ship so they could get the beacon.
- Numerous task forces and trials which need a minimum number of players to start.
- A (sometimes extremely large) difference in the speed of rewards gained (XP, inf, merits, incarnate drops, etc.) in teams vs. solo.
- Inherent abilities which are more effective based on having teammates.
- Powers which are more effective if teammates are nearby.
- Numerous powers which affect only teammates and not the user.
- The fact that new content nearly always comes to teams first, and soloers later (if at all). The delay between the release of incarnate trials and the release of a solo incarnate path is a good example.
It's great that soloing is a valid option in this game, but it's clear that it is not the game's primary focus.
I realize that mez is (probably) the largest problem facing most blasters and something needs to be done about it. It's just not the only problem, and giving blasters mez protection but nothing else isn't going to balance the AT any more than giving them a damage buff but nothing else will.Quote:Originally Posted by Miladys_Knight
I have personal data that I posted in the thread in the AT and powers section that shows that my blasters spend a much higher proportion of their time mezzed than any other AT I play. I may be alone in that but I highly doubt it, especially since Arcanaville says that the devs have data that confirms that pretty much across the player base for the blaster AT. So its not really selfish, its not really conjecture, but it isn't going to convince anyone that simply lives in denial and isn't willing to check the facts out for themselves. It is probable that this is the root cause of blaster under performance and is why I've chosen focus on that aspect rather than the damage aspect.
I'm not sure why you think it needs to be one or the other, or even one before the other. Why can't there be a set of blaster changes that include both damage and survivability buffs at the same time?Quote:Originally Posted by Miladys_Knight
And I don't want damage instead of survivability buffs. The blaster needs the survivability buffs to function properly in the current game. If your house is falling apart and looks like crap, spending a bunch of money redecorating isn't going to fix the roof, replace the windows, and insulate. Sure it will look pretty but the first strong gust of wind to come along gives you the same problem all over again and you've wasted the resources that should have been spent making the repairs on cosmetics.
If you are advocating fixing the roof, windows, and insulation first and then putting a nice coat of paint on the house and planting daisies out front if there are any resources left I am in complete agreement.
Of course if they aren't willing to give blasters a damage buff, then buffing survivability more is the only option for balancing them with the other ATs. As far as I know though, none of the devs have come out and said conclusively that blasters won't be getting a damage buff. So unless it's taken off the table, I'll keep pushing for that as part of the solution.Quote:Originally Posted by Miladys_Knight
What if the devs aren't willing to have the damage scale exceed 10 or even retool the scale to make the blaster the only 10 in the game and the nearest other AT a 9? Even if they take the blaster to a 4 in survivability in that case it still isn't going to be enough to fix the issues and it still won't be comparable to all the other ATs. -
Quote:Other than the self heal, isn't this basically willpower?Originally Posted by BrandX
Just going to say, still wanting that Postional Defense/Regen/Self-Heal/Smashing and Psi Resist Defense set!
It's like perfect them for tough types who aren't Invulnerable!
-
Quote:They do defend themselves. They just do it posthumously.Originally Posted by Lycanus
Also....Tanks not defending themselves made me sad
I was actually kind of amused by that. My wife and I duo'd SSA7 the day it came out. She on her ill/rad troller, and me on my fire/sr scrapper.
My fire/sr is softcapped, so I didn't get hit by the explosion when the first few tanks died. In fact, I didn't really even notice it.
When we got down to the area where there were 6 or 8 of them parked close together, I jumped in the middle of them and started killing one. When it died, it set off a chain reaction and they all went up, killing me instantly. My wife and I both laughed about that. -
Quote:It is quite easy to softcap. And yes, the end is manageable, even without using your alpha slot, though it can be a close thing. My fire/sr has the musculature alpha, and has sustainable end with perma-hasten running a chain of GFS-Incinerate-Cremate, but he had to take the body pool and physical perfection and conserve power to do it. However, he was built before incarnate stuff came out, so I didn't really have a choice.Originally Posted by Abyssus
Have to be honest, i didn't even think about /sr lol. It's been awhile since i've had an sr scrapper, like pre-IOs. I have heard that it is fairly easy to soft cap. Is the end manegable(spelling, lol)?