hepheastus

THEY DON'T....

They shoot an explosive arrow up your nose and keep trucking.

as a fire blaster I never had many melee attacks. melee attacks weren't the problem. it's the overabundance of DoT Pbaoe's and not an ounce of control or utility....

Did you guys think we were tanks or did you just run out of time pre release?

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Thought I'd post a further explanation about the Blaster damage explanation in "Ask Statesman."

That was - and is - the reason why Blaster damage is capped lower than Scrappers. I did forget to add that the ranged attacks of mobs deal less damage (typically) than melee attacks - and the Blaster is generally the target of raned attacks.

But many issues have come up - most notably, the perception that Blasters are too fragile at levels 35+. Their damage potential does not compensate for their low hit points.

And, of course, there's the complaint that some Secondaries have too many melee attacks - something that the Blaster avoids at all costs.

At the moment, Scrappers, and to a lesser degree, Tankers, are being analyzed. Once we establish a baseline, then we'll be in a better position to look at Blasters.

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state's I'm disapointed man.

scraps obviously have what it takes to survive...even THRIVE In melee. blasters can't even stay upright at range. hell they can't even stay at range. your reasoning is way off here.

Honestly man I know you're busy... but do you guys PLAY this game at all?

I think the Idea is inane.

Been playing this game for over a year. got one level 50 toon and 2 very close to it. I already did all of the missions. think I want to do them again? that's funnies. some new content.... new missions, contacts, areas.... now that would make a GREAT release. Instead time is being wasted on PVP.... Now that'll pull people back to missions...NOT. they'll be to busy power leveling their new made for arena combat uber toons.

Great move sparky.

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Geko, one question though.

Why does a heavy resist set (doesn't it cap out at what? 90?) like invul get a defense/accuracy boost with no real negatives, while an ice tanker has virtually no resists to speak of and is essentially no better than a SR scrapper in capibility?

And no matter how many times you stack EA, you could stack it 1000 times over and over again, there will always be a 5 percent chance to be hit, meaning we're no better than a well slotted SR scrapper with some gimmicky auras.

Stone is a nice mix of RES and Defense, and it's not game breaking, so why can't ice be similar or at least resist more status effects and toxic damage to make up for the gapeing holes in the set? (As of now, I can't think of any tanker set that resists or defends against toxic)

I think we deserve a slight bit of resist so we're not just a "oh we couldn't find an invul, stone tank, or fire tank, so you'll do" alternative.

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no real negatives? the ranged defenses in invincibility was GUTTED. There's little left there. Don't get me wrong. I think Ice tanks need work... I know what it's like to have a sub par power set and get ignored when you point it out. And I definitely DO NOT support this nerf. I don't support any nerf.... when does it end?

very well put together. very on point. you wouldn't be a MtG player would you?

At last. A voice of sanity. those who want the boosted difficulty can go invincible on missions or go after higher level bosses in hazard zones and what not. And teaming is rewarded.


And Pre pet controllers can still solo a bit and non resistant guys won't get squashed because a boss noticed them.

Hmmm....

Never thought I'd say this.

But can I join your fan club? I want my secret decoder ring now.

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I'm starting to really doubt the honesty of the answers we are getting from Statesman et al.



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bwahahahahahahahahahahahaha. gasp...... muwhahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha. wheeze....hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha haha.

It took you this long?

The problem is two fold as I see it. First the boss ramp up happens too soon.

I did the respec trial two days after the patch.

2 blasters
2 tanks. one fire/one invul
1 scrapper KAT/REGEN

and me a RAD/RAD defender. It was all I could do to keep those blasters alive. The damage on the jump bots was ridiculous. basically I they got aggro and a debuff wasn't on the bots a blaster died. My fields kept the hardier guys and me alive
but those blasters were dropping like flies. We barely managed to pull off the respec. I had to stand right next to the invul tanker spamming heals twice because even the fire tank and scrapper got wiped. then I got wiped. If it wasn't for that invul tanks tankiness we would have lost. no contest.

Next. Ramped up damage. If you want the bosses to hang around a bit longer that's cool.... donsen't mean you have to ramp damage up so much. My smash lethal as a scrapper is capped. If a +1 boss can hit me for 500+ damage... what chance does a squishy have? My rad defender took 400+ damage from an even level tank smasher through envenerating field. For someone without EF and blaster level hitpoints.... that would have been death. keep the hitpoints high. just bring the damage back in line to release 2.

I soloed ulor as a fire blaster.

Here's a hint. Lucks stack. bring lucks and disciplines. stack those lucks, stay out of melee range and eat two disciplines before engaging. He can be taken down.

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You guys said before the HOlidays "balance and bug issues make i3 not ready before jan 1." Then nothing. You guys come back, say nothing, change nothing... then BAM release it. SO if nothing changed, nothing was said... why didn't you release it BEFORE the holidays. You released the same version on the Live servers, that 10 days before "wasn't ready" on the Test server.


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Because the changes we made are not necessarily things you would notice. Stability. Networking. Databases. Just because a power wasn't changed didn't mean there weren't people working on the game.

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Networking? is that why I'm getting lost connection to map server errors every 4 minutes? even when the server load is light?

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3 not six. Any more will boost the kheldian beyond the damage dealing of blasters if you get the right ats. Also the nova and dwarf forms are for soloing. Nova does great damage and you can aerial bombard the mobs. Four Novas will decimate any mob group faster then several blasters.

And the kheldian is not meant to be a scrapper unless you use the dwarf form. Some people will slot out the dwarf form more. Others the nova form. Also I have never had a problem doing my missions when I play defenders, controllers, tanks. I always manage to get my missions done along with the other people in the team.

And if I outlevel missions so what? Flashback will take care of that. Also since I recall what contacts sell what non power ten I know to do those missions to get what my controllers, defenders, tanks need.

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I have no intention of flying aroud as a squid for 50 odd levels. And if you think 4 of those novas can out class even 2 blasters who have a full range of attacks and access to pool powers, you don't know what blasters are all about. And the dwarf form? malformed tank with blaster hit points. and the look of a giant lobster to boot. YAYYYYY.

If you like them play them. Personally? they suck. Enjoy your quantum rifle bolts to the skull.

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Kheldians suck solo.
Kheldians suck teamed.




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Ah you don't like a challenge then. Kheldians do have varieance in their builds due to the fact you can skip the shape shifting powers. The abilities of kheldians when properly built will quite the whiners. Heck you cannot cookie build them like other powersets so there is challenge.

They have unique story arcs and missions so there is a benefit to actually playing them since each of the epic ATs are two different game play expierences.

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way to presume what I like. I played a fire/fire blaster through 50 levels. got every debt badge in the game. every badge for damage taken. every badge for defeats. going up against red mobs with no defense and zero resists. and even purples is a challenge. Playing many of the classic AT's is extremely challenging. Playing a kheldian isn't challenging. it's pointless.

-30% damage. the need for 6 team mates to hit base line. so you can fill exactly what role in said team? Survive like a scrapper? nah. blast like a blaster... not really. tank like a tanker? (laff.) Defend? Control? none of the above. they are out classed by already exsistant archetypes in every way shape and form. And unique story lines? I wonder when you're going to have a chance to follow that story line since you'll be busy doing other peoples missions because you can't solo for [censored]?

And btw. I'm not whining. I have no need to whine. I'm not going to play a pleasbreakme or a wimpshade.

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Are you playing them solo or in a group? For solo play the kheldians were meant to be a challenge. For players who had played the game and learned the mechanics of proper slotting and power selection and who could determine from the enemies up ahead what powers and what inspirations to be used to win.

Kheldians are not a bash bash the space button character. A lot of complainers are those that powerleveled and therby never learned anything about the game besides how to cheat.

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Kheldians suck solo.
Kheldians suck teamed.

I started playing this game at release.

I Did not powerlevel.

I've played a scrapper, a blaster and a defender...

And I know suck when I see it.

They aren't cool.

They aren't epic.

They aren't ready for primetime.

I will not roll one.

I will not team with them because I don't want to die because of their poor design.

If you enjoy playing them more power to you. As far as I'm concerned they are a wasteful overhyped disapointment. And I can't understand why they were released in their obviously broken state. People played with these things. we tested them, tweaked them.... and they are sub par, by any measure. There is NO benefit to trying to level one of them.

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It should be noted that this is a rather significant expansion – and it’s free. Most publishers would box it up and force players to buy it at an additional $15 or $20, but City of Heroes Episode 3 is free. A new villain set, a new location, new powers, two new archetypes, that’s a lot of content.

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Does the guy who wrote this article know NOTHING about the MMO market? From all that I know about this update it is not that much bigger than any other MMOs 3 months worth of updates, actually more like 4 months. Especially if Cryptic keeps with its habbit of heavily recycling, which it looks like they are.

90% of the "new" powers are essentially old powers that have been nurfed a bit and given to an AT that does not have them in their primary/secondary sets.

New zone looks like it only has about 10% new stuff. all of the old zones look almost the same. All they ever add in these "massive" updates are the same old stuff coated in a thin layer of new art.

Odd thing is he says most publishers would box this up and charge $15 for it. Well when you consider that we pay $5 more per month than some of the older MMOs and it is about 3 months worth of updates, then we ARE paying about $15 for it. So, I guess he is right. There IS one publisher who would charge for this update.

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Hey don't get me wrong. the new stuff in the updates are okay. but I'm not holding my breath to play a fly freaking squid...(very un-superheroey) Nor is the addition of one new area. Some late game content that dosen't require me to ride geysers in an insultingly annoying manner just to get around might have been nice. something to ease congestion in PI since both the shard and the RCS suck it big time. Maybe a raising of the level cap so we could actually take some of our powers..... seeing as how 6 to 8 powers are wasted on stamina and travel powers. My scrapper couldn't take those epics if he wanted to. because I have to take and slot every damn power in my secondary now just to break even.... Of course my blaster could.... because his secondary is sewage. Having 3 good powers out of 9.... I would say 4... but I know what's about to happen to the status protection in burn..... Heck I can't even maximize those new defenses because I can't afford to add fighting. thanks to HAVING to take fitness.

All in all the whole damn thing is a wash. I'm left hoping my scrapper won't be screwed too much by the update. The other stuff? pfah.

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Sorry to spoil the fun, guys, but that date is certainly not THE day. It all depends upon the bugs we squash and so forth. He asked "When's Issue 3 coming out?" and I said "Heck, a week? It all depends on the bugs." There's no set schedule, though next Tuesday would be nice.

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honestly states... strigga. epics...epps.... I could care less.
I'm more concerned about the fate of my scrapper.

When will the changes be available for testing?

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Please, raise single target damage and/or lower single target endurance across the board. Single Target Blasters (Energy, Electric, Ice) and Scrappers (MA, DM) are dwarfed by their AoE counterparts, and many of the AoE sets have single target attacks (Flares, Barb Swipe) that are skipped due to their massive DPS and DPE inefficiency (sometimes compounded by animation length imbalance), so please don't leave them out.

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On another note, how does this solve the AoE power problem?

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If minion hitpoints go up (as they are), and single target damage and/or endurance go up, it shrinks the gap between single target DPS and/or DPE and that of AoEs.

If you are referring to the "level 32 Blaster AoEs can kill everything before it has a reasonable shot at retaliating" problem, It doesn't address those issues at all unless minion hps are raised to the point that you cannot one shot them with these insanely damaging powers, which would be really absurd.

My issue is with single target vs normal AoE/Cone balance, which can easily be fixed by raising villain hps and increasing single target DPS and/or DPE (though it would be simpler and easier to just lower the AoE/Cone DPS and/or DPE).

The Nova/Inferno/Thunderous Blast issue is a different issue altogether, which raising minion hps by 28% will not even come close to solving. You would need to change the purpose of these powers (kill everything in a 15' radius instantly) to solve this problem.

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I'm an advocate for getting rid of those powers altogether in exchange for something that does wide spread damage but dosen't drain the blaster of endurance... or some sort of defensive or control based power. I don't see how you can "fix" these powers without making them useless. And If it's going to be useless don't waste peoples lv32 power choice. I already had the awesome choice of hot-feet at lv38. don't give me two worthless finals in the same build.

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I've tried out the increased HP mobs on test and have come to this conclusion: Increased mob HP doesn't make the fight harder, it only makes the fight longer.

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False. No matter which way you slice it, a longer fight means using more endurance and giving the enemy more opportunity to damage you. That makes the fight harder.

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Indeed, and Statesman has said he want to make the game harder. I don't think the current difficulty is hard at all. Issue 3 is certainly "harder" but I don't find it too hard. Of course I am a mighty Electric/Energy blaster so your results may vary. Yes, if your character was on the marginal level of play this may make the game too hard. If not it shouldn't ruin it. If anything it may make the controllers and defenders have less need of soloing, as the marginal tanks and blasters now need to team with them to gain respectable experience. Hurrah for us all!

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BS. people will still solo. because they WANT to solo. Amp the difficulty up too far and those people will just reroll soloing builds or quit the game. Forced teaming won't work. This game isn't good enough for me or anyone I know to stand around and Spam LFT. I know some people like to team and that's fine. But I want to do both. That's why even my defender is built with soloing in mind. And I'm not going to lower myself to hunting blues and missing mission content. Make this game an unplayable grind and sadly I'm going to have to pack it in.

And btw... flying squids ain't gonna save the game. They're fine... but I want to take one of each archetypes to 50. I'm obsessive like that. Make that impossible and theres nothing left in this game for me.

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I'll drop a hint: the name of an upcoming Epic Archetype.

Incarnate.

Heck - I'll do another....

Coralax.

Happy Saturday!

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Statesman I love this game... but really....

You're despicable.

strongly disagree. blasters and others should team to take down extreme threats. we shouldn't need to team to complete routine missions or street sweep.... end of a story arc... yes... taskforce... yes... trial ...oh hell yes. Archvillans? you bet your [censored]....

Kill X villans.... NO
Find X clues.... Are you kidding?
street hunting within reason...no...

The human torch needed the fantastic 4 to take down DR. Doom or the frightful 4 or Annihlus.

He didn't need them to waste paste pot pete or to gang slap street thugs.

I hardly think giving a BIT of damage mitagation to an archetype that is almost entirely devoid of them is an unbalancing act... especially given the added difficulty of the post 40 game. No matter how good they get with a bit of damage repulsion they'll always be better teamed. I'd think defenders would enjoy not being responsible for every little boo boo that sends a blaster off to la la land.

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Although Eden is the funniest trial. Sewer with morons makes jungle rot look pleasent.

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that sewer trial was hard.... but it felt SOOOOOOOO good when we won.

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ok, so i just read the update on the epic power pools, and i have to say i think they will be very very bad.

the impression that i got from the given descriptions was that they are undoing the weakness of the classes. granted, this doesn't happen until level 41, but still.

giving blasters force shields and other defensive powers?
giving controllers damage dealing powers?
tankers and scrappers with ranged attacks?
defenders with... very vague description...

who thought it would be a good idea to try and soften or even nullify the biggest weakness of the classes?????

issue 2: group or die
issue 3: sorry about issue 2, now your character can do everything, no need to even speak to another player

allow me to say i love this game. i love the content, the graphics, the sound effects, hell i don't even mind that the game seems harder after issue two. and i've been super excited about epic and prestige stuff.... but these new power pools, seem destructive to the games social structure, and seems like pandering to the powergaming munchkins that think their toon should never have debt.

heck i'd rather see an epic power pool have lame powers with cool story/rp elements than this. like a light power that allows you to see better in caves, or a radar power that lets you know where mobs are. but i firmly believe that a blaster should never have a force field on him unless it was put there by someone else, and i never wanna see beams of energy coming from tankers and scrappers. these just seem poorly thought out

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you're nuts. I'm getting fire shield. I don't care if they give scrappers blazing freaking bolt..... I'm getting some smash letha l resistance. see the tanker wasn't even that excited about controllers getting temp Invul. my scrapper uses it. it's nice. on an AT with no other resistance or defense and much lower hit points.... it's not so nice. It an awesome filler... but it ain't the real deal. and fire tankers getting my fireball... freaking awesome. I hope they love it as much as I do.

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Three questions for the StatesMAN

1. Are you looking at status protection for blasters?
2. Are you looking at changing DEVICES at all?
3. What's your favorite ice-cream flavor?

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1) Blasters don't need status protection. Why would you be anything else if you didn't have to worry about being mezzed/held? Blasters should have no defenses. They destroy enemies. If blasters get defense, I want my controller to have damage abilities.


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Great... you heard the man statesman. At level 32 give us some defense.

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AoE's have NOTHING to do with surviving mezzes and everything to do with surviving everything...

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LOL

AoEs have everything to do with surviving everything.

Surviving mezzes is part of everything.

Therefore, AoEs have everything to do with surviving mezzes.



You said it. I don't absolutely not agree with what you haven't said unless you didn't totally mean half of what you almost tried not to say. Right?!



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nope just means you're narrow minded. Bottom line ANY nerf to blaster damage is a nerf to blaster survivability. if you can't see that I could give a damn.

In fact My blaster is already LV 50.... stick a fork in him. what the developers have planned is going to hurt the game. Less diversity.... why even play a blaster? for what? what's the ultimate pay off when your ultimate power is turned into the same sort of garbage that pollutes blaster secondaries? Hey if you people are cool with there being just 4 AT's.... and some epics. cool beans... because that's exactly where where headed.