totalpackage

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I only played a Thug MM for like 5 minutes but...the thug pets/henchmen are REALLY slow...I was waiting like a minute or two for my henchmen to get caught up to me to fight a Longbow boss.

I was using flight and was stopping every now and then so it wasn't like I was just SuperSpeed'ing away from them...

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They do seem to have a horrible time keeping up. Even with just sprint on they're always lagging far behind.

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FYI: Melee AT Patron Power Pool Ranged attacks which cause damage will be changed to using the Melee damage scale.

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Follow Up:
Stalker Snipe PPPs are back to being Ranged damage. The changes I'd made to keep them balanced got nixed.

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Why not just lower the dmg of snipe and keep it on the melee scale? that way in the description it won't say "high" when it's actualy the same as the med dmg range attack. It's understandable if it's too powerful but the if the dmg description for the power is based on base dmg without having the mod applied, that creates a lot of confusion as to what "med" or "high" really is.

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Definitely agree. I "high" damage attack should be the same as any other "high" damage attack in the AT. It's unnecessarily confusing when there are large differences in what "high" really means (or any other damage rating...moderate, extreme, minor, etc.)

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Well, I guess the vast majority of the silent majority is staying silent on this one. OK, I concede several of the points above and would be happy if DA sounds were quieted down to what most would consider a reasonable level. Just don't wipe them alltogether, please?

Oh, the one point made above that I have a problem with is the migraine allegation. I would posit that playing a video game for 8-10 hours straight, as I know many people do, has more to do with migraines than one set's sound FX. I get the same kind of headache no matter what toon I play if I play for too long, and can play any toon in moderation and feel fine.

Besides the eye strain and lack of real physical activity, nourishment, or lack thereof, can also be a huge culprit. Caffeinated beverages may allow for all night gaming sessions, but they also dehydrate you, causing headaches. Not eating right can do the same thing.


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You are correct that alot of those things do have an effect on physical well-being and the development of headaches, but in-game effects can make the problem worse.

For example, the original sonic shield effects would give me headaches after about 30 minutes of play. (they were very visible, rapidly spinning rings on every character on the screen) I could go for hours without any noticable trouble otherwise. They toned them down and while I still find it mildly annoying, I no longer have physical problems.

Repeating noises are also very annoying. Listening to the same 10 sec noise clip for an hour straight at the same time interval is really uncomfortable.

I'd be happy if hover was as fast as normal walking speed. That is comparable to the unenhanced speed on CJ.

Hover is just painfully slow to use in combat, especially for a melee character. The Ranged ATs can somewhat make due with the slowness depending on their specific mix on short and long range powers, but it just kills a melee-centric toon.

You spend the entire fight just trying to get into range. Isn't using it in combat the entire point of hover?

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100 mag stun? That's nuts...

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Yup. But it's true. Longbow in the late game get extremely annoying. Nullifiers can instantly drop all toggles and Spec Ops can instantly drain all of your end. I'm really not sure what the devs were thinking when they designed the late-game Longbow powers.

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Yeah, nothing like jumping into a group of longbow getting all 7 toggles dropped, stunned, and loosing all endurance. Worse part is that every group has at least one of each with a team. With 6-8 people, each group easily has 2 nullifiers and 2 spec ops.

(actually, I'm pretty sure the stun and toggle drop are NOT the same power....but it's still bad.)

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First of all, I can't feel comfortable at all with SC not having any +acc or +tohit buffs. I mean, hitting only 50% to 75% of the mobs in a spawn is not acceptable to me.


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SC has an inherent +Acc to it. It doesn't seem to miss all that much, certainly not as low as 75%. I find that if it does miss, a transference on the missed foe will take him out easily. Essentially, that negates the entire spawn. I would not go without all endurance drain in SC as it's all or nothing with endurance draining. If they're left with even 10% endurance, they're still fighting you which is bad.

In general, you can handle the attacks from a minion/leuit or two anyway so it's not a huge deal if there is an occasional miss.

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2.) Any thoughts on 6 slotting Thunderous Blast for Recharge and using it in your attack chain? I know you said you didn't like reactivating toggles, but if you could PBU, SC, FS, TB; and then have TB recharge fast enough to be up every other spawn (possibly quicker) it seems to me like it would be well worth it. Who cares if your toggles are down when the entire spawn is dead?

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It works pretty well, you just need to be okay with retoggling. You can get Thunderous Blast to the point you can use it on almost every other spawn as you speculated.

To use it, I typically SC, FS then Thunderous. Pop a CAB, retoggle as necessary and run to the next spawn...SC, transference, and you're back to full power. Without Transference nearly charged or a CAB, I rarely use it.

It's fun, but it can be dangerous. I use it alot more in a team setting with someone who can take the alpha strike on the next spawn and let me get a free transference after I nuke.


-This is a great guide that helped me alot in building my Kin/El. I picked a few different powers/slots, but my build is pretty close.

Making the game more difficult won't be the end of blasters. It will just be the end of blasters farming hazard zones with alpha strikes/massive AOEs. You'll have to stick to small groups of minions/lts for advancement like alot of the other ATs need to do.

Look at the way the game is now. It's heavily favors those blasters who can insta-kill large packs of near even-con mobs. With the ability to do so, grouping is not necessary and even discouraged to some extent since xp rewards tend to go down in groups. This game was meant to be done in groups, while having the option to solo. Currently (well, pre-update. I haven't done much testing post-update), most can solo almost anything of value. Obviously, this warrants some change.

The front loaded AOE damage also makes alot of the support classes unimportant. You don't need a tank, controller, or defender if you have blasters who drop everything in a few secs. Sure, they may make it a bit easier, but realistically they aren't needed.

Overall, very good ideas that should make tankers more useful, more fun, and less of a provoke-bot.

I'm especially interested to see #2, especially if the growing effect lasts for more than 1 enemy (i.e. a whole fight). A one enemy limited bonus would be good for soloing but more limited in group situations.

Can't wait to see it implimented.