ketch

I complained about rocks. It was a stupid idea. It still is a stupid idea. An incarnate, or even a level 50 hero for that matter, shouldn't be KOed by a rock thrown by Joe Schmoe.

I have no problem with the fight with Tyrant. If it's difficult it's at least fitting. He's the Well's champion and we, though strong, aren't fully realized Incarnates. It makes sense to me that the fight should be difficult.

I think it's a bit too early to tell one way or another. I do, however, think it's note worthy that Absorb will circumvent HP and resist caps.

It seems like the critical reception didn't match its actual reception with fans. I'd certainly say it did more justice to the superhero genre than many other games of its era. Heck, even for a simple beat-em-up it had more variety in its mechanics than Streets or Rage or Golden Axe.

The one thing that really stands out on that list for me is the Neo. That story arc put the nail in the coffin of my comic book reading. It seemed to really mark the X-men's dive into gritty, grimdark stories. Occasionally, I'll skim through a comic these days only to be disappointed that things never got much better.

That's an easy fallacy to get caught up in. A lie only speaks to the invalidity of the lie. It certainly calls for closer scrutiny of what a person has said to determine what truths and lies they've spoken and in the future what lies they may speak. In the end though, the truth is the truth regardless of who said it. If Reppu had asserted that "2+2=4", would you throw that out as well?


To me it's not important who said that a Plant/Psi/Ice can compete with THB's build; if that is actually true is what matters.

I do say. Succinctly and clearly. Because I was agreeing with what Sam (and you) have both said, but mostly because I didn't want to diverge into the nuanced discussion of "plot" vs. "story". Now if you feel simply posting "I agree" isn't very constructive or conducive to a conversation I would ask why you bothered to post your silly image macro, which is neither. If you feel the conversation needs to tread some new ground then perhaps ask some pertinent questions such as "What story telling elements are missing from these arcs that make them fall flat?" or "How can they build characterization with the limited amount a player can interact with an NPC?"

Plot - Also called storyline. the plan, scheme, or main story of a literary or dramatic work, as a play, novel, or short story.

Story - the plot or succession of incidents of a novel, poem, drama, etc.:

Outside of a corner of academia, plot and story share the same common usage. As an internet forum, I hardly think we need to hold ourselves to such lofty standards... at least until someone touches on the newer stories and why they're breaking with the traditional 1-50 chronology.

To reroute this comment back on topic, I agree with what Sam is getting at here. A series of events, no matter how grand in scale they may be, offer little entertainment if they read like a history book. Great story telling, on the other hand, can make even the most common and mundane events very engaging.

Also Fire is given bonus damage in both Char and Ring of Fire while Plant lacks additional damage in Entangle. More importantly Fire is also faster in its activations (Ring of Fire: 1.32 seconds vs Entangle: 1.45 seconds , Char: 1.32 second vs. Strangler: 2.244 seconds). Those quick activations make a significant difference in dps.

These changes are exactly what I had in mind. I'm not sure why Seeds or Fearsome Stare have an accuracy of 1.0 while Terrify (and Siren's Song) has an accuracy of 0.9. This and correcting the damage on Roots won't be enough to topple Plant from its loft, but it will close the disparity.

I can't say that my experiences align with this. Fearsome Stare certainly isn't the mitigation of a hard control, but it is comparable to the soft control of other sets which lack the follow up hard control. Personally, I use it and Living Shadows slotted with -to hit. Out the door, that's about 25% -to hit, cutting incoming damage in half before considering the Fear effect. Pair it with Gather Shadows or Power Boost and you'll push 35% or better. As for Heart of Darkness, I experience the same with Flashfire; I wish the activation on both was lower.

I argued in the beta that the debuff numbers for doms should be the same as trollers. They are, in my opinion, just as vital to the overall balance of a control set as soft controls like sleep or knockdown. I think the devs put themselves in a pinch when considering the balance of these sets by ignoring the role debuffs in a mitigation oriented primary.

Following this logic Dark control would be a high tier set considering the fact than you can layer control more easily (due to two every spawn controls, Fearsome Stare and Heart of Darkness, both of which benefit from Domination) than Fire, Grav, or Ice, and arguably Mind; added to that the extra damage in both immobilizes and additional damage from pets. And yet, you've said of Dark, "though not on the bottom it is near it". However, it offers more damage and control than other sets.

I won't dispute that Domination plays a major role in how a set stacks up against other primaries for doms. However, I don't think it separates sets so clearly as you state. Earth control is a strong exception to your statement, providing ample control in spite of the lack of Domination for some powers. Gravity, on the other hand, benefits as much from Domination as Earth but suffers overall due to a few poor powers and some unruly mechanics in its every spawn control. Electric, while benefiting from Domination less than either of those sets, provides stronger mitigation than Gravity with its layered controls and sapping and is far better than Ice which suffers from internal conflicts.

I think Snowzone gave a fair assessment of Dark; it's not Plant (few things are or should be) and it's far from performing as poorly as Grav or Ice. It lies in a middle tier which most certainly exists.

Aside from those Plant specific issues, it also strikes me as odd that the secondary effects of control sets are largely ignored in balancing. Dark and Ice both take a dint to performance when moving from controllers to doms due to lower debuff mods for the AT, essentially the converse of the problem with Roots.

I'm not speaking of tiers of performance within a single set, but about performance across all sets. Domination does play a roll in that for dominators, but the same thing happens with controllers. For both ATs Plant is considered top tier, usually with the Earth and Mind for doms or Fire and Illusion for controllers. Everything else is placed "at the bottom or near it". There seems to be no recognition that there is a middle tier.

Despite being designed for dominators, Plant seems to serve as the gold standard for controllers as well which is problematic. There are things in Plant that are of questionable design whether it was designed for controllers or dominators. For example, why does Seeds boast better accuracy and duration than similar every spawn controls? Why was Roots given nearly double damage compared to other AoE immobilizes? To compensate for the lack of containment perhaps? If so, why wasn't it reduced in the controller port?

The phase tech is interesting and it does have some nice potential to show how our success or failure alters the world around us, but yeah... there are some issues. Even in the limited amount it's used in Praetoria I've experienced contacts phasing out of existence before I've completed their lists of tasks.

I'd love to see it smoothed out and utilized more, but unfortunately it probably wouldn't be worth the payout.

I agree. Darkness control is a solid set. However, I feel it's much better on a controller than a dom due to higher debuff numbers. The immobilizes also deal extra damage, though not as high as Fire or Plant's immobilizes, which benefits trollers more as well.

I think there is a distressing tendency for many to view control sets with only two tiers. It seems far too often if a set isn't performing at the level of Plant people want to relegate it to the garbage heap.

Unfortunately, it doesn't seem fixed for all powers. Haunt will fail to spawn the Shades if the target dies. It also fails if a target is intangible or untouchable, i.e. Carnie Master Illusionists.

Also, not quite the same, but still quite annoying is Warshades' Dark Extraction failing due to bodies fading out.

I don't see how it takes away the things you like. You can still go street sweep. The phasing isn't clearing every area in the zone. On the other hand, it is adding things that I like while not diminishing what you enjoy doing. In your own words it keeps variety without taking it away.

My hope for this is that we'll see more phasing tech. It was utilized a little bit in the AP revamp. Once you've cleared the area and completed the story arc, you'll no longer see Hellions rampaging there. That and more outdoor objectives like those used in Nova Praetoria.

It certainly would be nice for the game world to feel a little more alive with people flying/running/bounding through the streets.

I wouldn't disagree that DS is a poor power. However, I think it's better than it was before even though the situations where it can be used productively are very limited. Personally, I thought it needed a taunt effect ala Omega Maneuver.

Overall, I'd say the Gravity changes were okay though they certainly favored controllers. Impact was a kludge for a problem that didn't really exist particularly for dominators. The changes to Wormhole, however, were very nice (increased radius, no longer notifies enemies). Both the increased radius and aggro-free nature have made it much easier to utilize. There's less need to wait for a teammate to engage first which means a dom can move ahead and position mobs before others attack and the increased radius means fewer mobs will be left behind. The changes to Singularity were also welcome, but brought along with it some changes in behavior (more inclined to move into melee) that I don't recall being corrected.

They did prior to this change as well. I tested a number of times with a grav/storm before and after the change. You couldn't, for example, cast Tornado and Lightning Storm then phase (using the Phase Shift or temp power Ethereal Shift) and still have your pets do damage. It had been this way for quite some time before the changes made to DS.

As opposed to prior DS where it cut off all your options? Even all options for all your teammates. At least now people can choose to engage in spite of DS rather than having to wait it out.

I cannot agree with you enough about kd/ku. One particular offensive power in this respect is Jolting Chain. When used on lower conning enemies (which happens frequently after you've be granted a level shift via the Alpha slot) it scatters enemies like crazy because that knockdown is becoming knockback. I've suggested a few times that it should be knock up instead.

What problems has the DS change caused? From my testing it seemed to be acting pretty consistently... more so than the old DS. I'm curious to know what problems have cropped up.

What? Phase Shift is still a phase power. Assassin's Strike still retains its function as an interruptable, high damage power. They've altered the application or added functionality to powers by they haven't outright replaced them with different powers with different functions which is what the cottage rule served to protect against.

Those are some very interesting possibilities. Bonfire is a nice bit of damage when you can keep mobs in there. And the possibility of adding some more soft control into Hot Feet is also quite intriguing.