macskull

Forum Cartel
  • Posts

    5210
  • Joined

  1. Quote:
    Originally Posted by je_saist View Post
    Are you aware that from the launch of Issue 4 Colosseum in May 2005 to the release of Issue 13 in December 2008 the percentage of the player-base partaking in "PvP Content" never rose above single digit percentages?
  2. Quote:
    Originally Posted by GreenFIame View Post
    I would never pick Fiery for Farming, It's just not as good.
    Fire is the best secondary for farming, bar none (unless you're fighting a specific kind of custom mob that's better handled by other secondaries, which is very rare).
  3. Not to rain on your parade or anything, but there isn't enough redside activity for a Hami raid to really get going (or at least there wasn't shortly after I18 launched, and the population's declined since then). Doesn't help that several of the players with extensive redside raid experience no longer play.
  4. Scrapper is the easy winner here. Defensively the Brute's stronger simply due to its higher HP, but it's not that much higher (and if you're softcapped you shouldn't be getting hit often anyways). Scrappers have a higher damage modifier right out of the gate, on top of a higher damage buff modifier, meaning Soul Drain will do much more for you on a Scrapper. For almost any other primary I'd say go with a Brute, but DM's an exception to that.
  5. macskull

    Team Arena

    If you came back for the PvP you just wasted $15.
  6. macskull

    NW or Fort?

    You're not playing a VEAT for the damage, you're playing it for the disruption (the ability to drop Stalkers out of hide, basically). Fort's the better option because they have a wider variety of ranged attacks.
  7. I suppose you could say that.
  8. This thread got all weird after I left, I see.

    Also, hello.
  9. Quote:
    Originally Posted by Supermax View Post
    AR attacks have a higher base acc than most other sets. From a design perspective, they figure that's enough compensation. Not saying I agree with that.
    Sure, but once slotted out in normal gameplay every character with every powerset is going to be rolling 95s unless they're fighting characters with stupidly high defense or way higher-level than them (not entirely common) so unless you're talking early levels the higher base acc is largely wasted. People don't necessarily like Aim for the tohit buff, they like the damage boost it comes with.
  10. So I'm leaving for basic tomorrow morning and as such I won't be around for at least a few months and possibly more. I'll pop back in from time to time, so don't get too insane without me!

    Gonna miss everyone even if I am pissed at Con for coming back as soon as I am leaving.

    <3
  11. What is this I don't even
  12. The GTX 460 should perform substantially faster than your old 9800GT. The 9800GT is from mid-2008 and the GTX 460 is from mid-2010. The GTX 460's obviously not top of the line (and really wasn't when it launched) but it also supports DX11 and OpenGL 4.1 while the 9800GT supports DX10 and OpenGL 3.0. These aren't a huge difference for CoH since this game's not programmed all that well (i.e. your system might run Crysis with all settings maxed but still not run CoH all that well without some tweaking) and uses neither DX11 nor OpenGL 4.1 as far as I'm aware. The GTX 460 will use more power so you're going to want to make sure you've got an ample power supply, but honestly in terms of performance you should be happy.
  13. Also depends what AT you're talking about. While many aspects don't change from AT to AT (I think recharge is the most common example of this, though there are others), there are ones that vary widely, like regen, resistance, and defense.
  14. Quote:
    Originally Posted by MrLiberty View Post
    Eh I think its possible to reach a balance between Epic Shields being useful for anyone and Sonic/Therms/Pains, etc being Viable/useful for their resistance buffs. But like I said this would have worked much better when Stalker AS was what it was, Blasters did real damage, and defender debuffs were unresisted.
    If I'm not mistaken, a redname (think it was Sunstorm?) said they'd toyed with the idea of leaving holes in the epic/patron shields but passed on that idea (don't know why, as that would have been better than the current system). Perhaps a better idea is to give the shields a standard amount of res/def to the damage types they protect against normally, while giving them a smaller amount against damage types they usually don't.

    For example (using the Corruptor powers):

    Dark Mastery/Dark Embrace:
    PvE numbers: Smash/Lethal 20.63%, Neg/Tox 11.25%
    Current PvP numbers: Everything 20.63%
    Proposed PvP numbers: Smash/Lethal/Neg/Tox 20.63%, everything else 11.25%.

    This ensures there is some weakness with each shield while still providing at least a marginal amount of protection against "exotic" damage types. Next step is to standardize res/def within each AT - for example Defender Temp Invuln provides a higher resistance to every damage type than any other shield simply because in PvE it is the only shield that does not protect against damage other than S/L.

    EDIT: Also part of the reason global resists are problematic is because we also have very liberal free base resists. Without that 40% on all the squishies you'd still have enough of a gap between slotted and cap that +res buffs would be useful, even with DR on. However with DR and base resists factored in now you really don't get more than a few percent out of buffs.
  15. Quote:
    Originally Posted by blaackbarrier View Post
    damage-type standarization (epic shield changes) was the first step in dumbing down team pvp. especially after psi-resists could be achieved by bringing in forts into a match (which is how team emo got that win against ajax's team that cant be bet in tpvpl season 2).
    when I say I like that change I'm referring generally to dueling situations, not team stuff. Outside of psi the damage type wasn't that big a deal on either the hero or villain ladder since heroes had Sonic and vills had Sonic and Therm.
  16. Quote:
    Originally Posted by gameboy1234 View Post
    It occurred to me while reading the above that if the solution to any problem in PVP is "bring inspirations" then it might be worth it to see what PVP looks like without any Inspirations at all. Achieving balance would be easier, I think, if Inspirations weren't there to throw a wrench in the works.
    I realize this is off-topic, but I'd like to raise a point here: inspirations are balanced in that everyone has access to them, and that as implemented they allow for deficits in builds to be overcome or for an otherwise less balanced encounter to become more balanced. I think one of the nastier side effects of DR was reducing the usefulness and effectiveness of inspirations - inspiration management was considered a skill prior to I13 because if you didn't predict your opponent and bring inspirations accordingly you'd end up hurting. These days you'll more often than not see people bringing trays full of greens or blues (if fighting a Therm) because that's all that's really effective.
  17. There are some things I like about the current PvP implementation, though I need to qualify that statement by saying there are only parts of those things that I like, not necessarily the entire mechanic as a whole.

    I like PvP IOs though their current drop mechanism severely diminishes their usefulness as a tangible PvP reward. I like that epic and patron shields give protection against everything as it makes the choice more about what "flavor" powers you can take instead of what damage types your shield protects against. I like that damage is based on activation time except how that change screwed over AoEs and little was done in regard to higher-tier powers doing more damage as they're supposed to (compare Ice Blast and Bitter Ice Blast for an example of this). I like the "buff" period before arena matches (though I'm aware it removes some of the skill of having to buff teams on the run as the match starts).

    EDIT: Oh yeah, I also like the ability to turn off some of the changes within the arena interface, and I like selectable maps.
  18. Since I see several questions about which archetypes work best, here's a quick, non-numbers-heavy breakdown just for starters.

    * Blaster: Blasters were semi-popular before AE (Fire/MM and especially Arch/MM) because they could tackle standard-sized mobs before the mobs were able to return fire, thus negating their squishiness. I've seen some well-built Arch/MM's do great things on the Battle Maiden and Council farms, but those are old hat post-I14. When utilizing efficient farms, Blasters fall behind these days.

    * Controller: Fire/Kin, Plant/Kin (decent but not as good). Again, popular before I14 but unless you are running Stone Mastery or carrying lots of purples you won't do well on the current farms. They're still decent at regular content.

    * Defender: lol

    * Scrapper: Spines, Fire Melee, Elec, with Shield, Fire. Probably the fastest of the hero ATs currently, though Brutes outclass them due to Fury and taunt auras. If you've already got a farm-ready Scrapper these can work but if you're starting from scratch a Brute is the better choice.

    * Tanker: not much point, honestly. They can't kill mobs as fast as a Brute or Scrapper and their extra survivability is more than what's needed. When a "squishier" melee AT can already survive long enough to defeat the mobs, the Tanker is just trading damage for unnecessary survivability, which isn't a good trade.

    * Peacebringer: lol

    * Warshade: Warshades actually work decently if you put enough inf into them to build for recharge and potentially HP. I have used my triformer in the past to farm Freakshow and Battle Maiden, though I prefer my Brute since it's simpler. Again, these can work but a lot of inf is required to get them to a good point, and they've got no way of keeping the mobs packed tightly so you need to kill quickly or risk chasing mobs down.

    * Brute: Likely the best, given their survivability and ability to more or less outdamage Scrappers. Even with the lower damage cap, a Scrapper only beats out a Brute when capped by a small amount, but under normal circumstances (i.e. lots of Fury) the Brute will be closer to that cap than the Scrapper. Simply put, given the current farming trend there is no other AT that can outfarm a Brute in terms of raw inf gain per minute (and by association, kills per minute).

    * Corruptor: People liked Traps Corrs (especially Fire/Traps) before the Poison Trap nerf in I13. Don't really see them much anymore except as support (often Fire/Kin or Rad/Kin or really anything/Kin). An odd cross between a Defender and Blaster as far as farming goes. Some of the fastest farming I've seen post-I14 was a very early boss farm where a SS/Fire Brute, Fire/Kin Corr, and Fire/Psi Dom ran through together, but more on that later.

    * Dominator: Dominators were probably second to Brutes before the I15 changes to the archetype, which not only lowered the effectiveness of high-recharge builds but also gutted the /Psi set as used for farming (basically, high-damage and high-recharge PSW). Way back when Family still gave full XP someone ran some numbers and a Fire/Psi Dom was actually able to outpace an SS/Fire Brute in inf/min but that hasn't been the case since that XP nerf, let alone the Dom changes. They're still decent, and I'm not sure how they stack up to Controllers anymore, but I abandoned my Fire/Psi as soon as I had a workable SS/Fire.

    * Mastermind: Again, Traps was okay before I13. The last time MMs were relevant was that one farm with the GMs where MM pets stayed at native level, but for standard stuff they're just not good.

    * Stalker: No. Just no.

    * Soldier/Widow: Crabs can work since they have respectable AoE output and good survivability, but more money needs to be put into them to obtain higher levels of performance. Banes aren't all that wonderful as they lack meaningful AoE and are relatively squishy. Forts again lack AoE, even if they are survivable. Widows have respectable AoE, but it's the same issue that Crabs have - costs money to make them competitive and that money's better spent on something that would be better out-of-the-box.
  19. Quote:
    There are things a good PvP flyer needs
    Like real travel powers that offer real mobility with fewer disadvantages, as well as offering useful prerequisite powers? Yeah, something like that.

    The only real advantages to fly are the ability to go to the zone ceiling, and the ability to essentially ignore KB if you're on the ground. Those two advantages can be gained by several temp powers that are almost as good as the real thing, so there's no point in building such powers into a build. At any rate, you're trading mobility, maneuverability, controllability, speed, Hasten, Combat Jumping, and much of your escapability for powers that can be easily replaced.

    There are far more powers that can counter fly as a travel power than can counter SS/SJ. If you rely on fly as your primary movement, you need to have another travel power or you're screwed, because as soon as the zone sees you've got fly they'll be on you like white on rice with webnades, snowstorm, shark jaws, and all manner of -fly, which the SS/SJ users can just shrug off. -Jump is the biggest annoyance to an SS/SJ user since there's really no such thing as movement slow anymore outside of specific (relatively rare) builds and powers, and even then they still have full horizontal mobility. If you get brought down out of fly and you don't have any other travel powers you're screwed, simple as that.
  20. KB resist works the same as mez resist (it's not protection). If you have 1000% mez resistance, you're still going to get mezzed, but it will be for a tiny fraction of a second (and will come with the requisite annoying retoggle of certain powers). Likewise if you have 1000% KB resist (and no KB protection, but there are no powers that grant resistance and not protection so this is really just a mechanics question because it never happens in the game) knockback will approach, but never reach, mag zero, and you'll get knocked down. The only things that are going to KB characters with knockback resistance are powers that deal unresisted knockback higher than mag 10 (Sister Psyche's Levitate, Rikti bombs, and one of the Warburg nukes, I believe). Otherwise that knockback will be reduced to a tiny decimal before the 10 points of protection is applied, so you won't get KB'd anyways. Characters that rely on Acro or KB IOs (or armor sets with no in-set protection, or "odd" armor sets like Elec) may still get KB'd by anything higher than their protection.
  21. Zone PvP was fun before the changes, even if sides weren't even, because a few good players could really tilt the scales if the other side wasn't coordinated or prepared. You could have a team of two or three skilled players holding off four, five, six opponents, and because they knew what they were doing they were able to at least fight to a draw if not force a retreat. It was fast, it was dynamic, it was unpredictable. Those are the experiences that made the PvP in this game what it was. Likewise, dueling was a test not of build but of skill - sure, there was the rock/paper/scissors aspect, but when you pitted two good players against one another those were some of the greatest matches to watch.

    These days, that experience is largely limited to big-team arena PvP. It's not as dynamic as it once was, and it's not quite as fast, but it's still fun because it requires coordination and if you're not careful about what you do and when you do it, you'll find yourself on a respawn timer. I miss being able to go into Siren's on a PvE-built Scrapper and being able to hold my own against a few opponents, but that's not what bothers me the most. Honestly, I had a great time during last year's Freedom league, mostly because we proved that unconventional non-jump teams can be at least somewhat viable despite the rule changes (and the playoff matches, those were intense). Actually, this was probably my favorite PvP experience post-I13. Managing to win a match on Eden with a Storm team and not dying while having the other team on my *** 90% of the match was intense.

    My experience with PvP in other MMOs is limited to a bit in Champions and some during the DCUO beta, not much to talk about there as I think CoX still has a superior system. In regards to other games, it's been mostly Halo and Call of Duty, but again I like the fast pace of games like that.

    ...Otherwise... if the development team does not have the time or resources to further develop the PvP mechanics for the time being, at least prioritize the PvP-related bugs that are out there. There are bugs - potentially game-breaking ones, at that - which have been unfixed since I13, and even more that have been unfixed since at least I6 (placate, anyone?). We as a community may not react as well to bugfixes as to positive mechanics changes, but a constant stream of bugfixes at least lets us know that you guys do care.