Live Feedback: Issue 12: Villain Epic Archtypes
By
0roro,
Posted on: 2008-05-20 11:40 in Developers' Corner
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Our first power in the secondary which we are forced to take is a pointless 3% resistance to Sm/Le, while widows is a nice 7.5% defense to melee.....something worth taking.
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That Wolf Spider Armor also grants you auto mez protection. That by itself makes Soldiers superior to the blueside EAT, in my eyes 
That said, I would not complain if the base resistance in the auto armors for Soldiers was increased a bit. After all, NPC Soldiers have considerably more resistance to s/l.
(QR)
So far I haven't had much of a chance to play mine yet, but I must say I'm loving them. I have nothing but prise for both the widows, and the spiders. I can't wait to see how they'll do at higher levels.
Great job guys!
I have personally been enjoying the Widow to lvl 15. I have been teamed with other widows and spiders and its great having all the buffs stack on eachother. I don't see us all staying on our VEATs but as of now it's a pretty awesome combo and they are definitly way better the the Epic Heroes. I personally don't like that we can't make many costume changes but thats just something that i can change out later. Overall I say good job, at least up to lvl 15 
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While widows are pretty fun at low levels, Wolf Spiders are a nightmare. It is an absolute miserable grind to get to 24 so you can drop the wolf set like a bad habit. It takes all 3 ranaged attacks plus pummel to take out an even con minion.....wtf? Heavy Burst has been completely castrated. Our first power in the secondary which we are forced to take is a pointless 3% resistance to Sm/Le, while widows is a nice 7.5% defense to melee.....something worth taking.
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Wolves are slow moving when going solo, played them on test and knew they would be. Figured they would be since they're pretty much AR Corrs but without all the ranged attacks and support buffs from any Corr secondary.
I won't even get into how well they do on teams because it's a completely different animal that what you're talking about.
All I can suggest as a solo player myself, is to:
Take your WAWG
Take you Venom Grenade
Take your TT: Man
Take Mental Training, Hasten and Stamina
If you have any -Def procs (especially Achilles Heel), use them
If you can fit in Frag Grenade and a FF proc, use that too (avoiding HB for the time being)
You'll need to play into the Wolf's secondary and ramp up their speed to maximize them
Apparently, I play "City of Shakespeare"
*Arc #95278-Gathering the Four Winds -3 step arc; challenging - 5 Ratings/3 Stars (still working out the kinks)
*Arc #177826-Lights, Camera, Scream! - 3 step arc, camp horror; try out in 1st person POV - 35 Ratings/4 Stars
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At level 10 a wolf should pick up maneuvers. 10% def to all for the team is close to a FF defender dispersion bubble without the mez protection.
At level 12 a wolf should pick up venom grenade. -20% res AOE to each spawn is close to a /Rad troller enervating field without the worry of an anchor.
At level 16 a wolf should pick up assult. 15% damage is close to a /Kin troller siphon power thats up all the time with no tohit problems.
If you dont pick up these 3 key team powers on your way to 24 welcome to your nightmare. I can only assume people dont understand that a wolf is more like a defender than anything else.
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I definitely Agree with this Post, Folks. The 3 items above are Exactly what I did on my Wolf in the 12-19 Range and I "put him through the Ringer" in that range by Soloing Marshall Brass's and Operative Wellman's Arcs on various Diff settings.
I guess to people who are used to playing Brutes or MM's... It IS going to feel a little underpowered but that's par for the course on a Class that is inherently a --->Force Multiplier<--- instead of a solo powerhouse. But as long as you do the above items and then get your Shivan Shard for those "OH SHI-" moments, you should be fine.
EDIT: If you can afford one... putting an Achilles proc in your Camera Spin is the way to go!
On my Wolfspider, I had no major issues at all soloing the Sea-Witch once I got SO's which is more than I can say for my BloodWidow at that level 
As for Bane Spiders being "Squishy"...which is a complaint we all heard a lot of in Beta... I think that's Entirely an issue that really only comes home to roost after level 41 making it a Patron Power issue. ...Same goes for any Wolfspider that don't Branch either. Their lack of Survivability in End Game is entirely a product of bad Patron Power Planning which for Villains in general is just the normal SNAFU we're mostly all accustomed to by now anyway and the only way we'll ever make headway on it as a Faction is to get Positron to reconsider that EPIC SNAFU.
I havent even made it to lvl 10 yet. In equal playing time my Widows has been fun and is 14 now. My Wolf is 9 and I am hating the experience to 24. Back in BEta when I played my first wolf, Heavy burst was single target HIGH damage. I think that made all the difference to me. All this minor damage crap is just horrible. Why do wolfs even have rifles? we mise well be throwing pebbles.
Where the hell was the Patch note indicating that Heavy Burst was nerfed??
Are you talking about CLOSED beta? B/c in Open it was doing fine damage so long as you had an Achilles in it, followed up with Venom, and then Sprayed it again. Combined with with Mace BeamBlast, I was literally taking down huge packs of minions in 3 or 4 attacks
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I havent even made it to lvl 10 yet. In equal playing time my Widows has been fun and is 14 now. My Wolf is 9 and I am hating the experience to 24. Back in BEta when I played my first wolf, Heavy burst was single target HIGH damage. I think that made all the difference to me. All this minor damage crap is just horrible. Why do wolfs even have rifles? we mise well be throwing pebbles.
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Well, technically, they seem to be submachine guns rather than rifles (except for the shotgun choice... pity there isn't a shotgun blast in the mix... but that's kinda how I think of my Frag Grenade), which traditionally fire pistol ammo rather than rifle ammo. Now as much as I would like higher damage also, I find that they are generally sufficient in that area, and actually pretty impressive in large teams. Not only do they have the force multiplying team buffs (and at half the base endurance of the leadership pool, 3x effectiveness with maneuvers, and twice the base recovery of any other AT), but they can do a ton of AOE work. Heavy Burst may not be impressive single target, but when you rip into 5 guys with it, you're doing a LOT of damage overall, especially if you hit then with a WAWG (locking them in place and halving their attack speed) and a Venom Grenade (more DOT plus -20% resist debuff), that Heavy Burst gets pretty nasty. I found myself using it all the friggin time, and just enjoying the carnage.
The key to getting the most out of a Wolf is hunting in packs 
Dear NCsoft, if you go through with this shutdown you've guaranteed you'll not see another dime from me on any project you put out, ever.
http://xx-starhammer-xx.deviantart.com/
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Heavy Burst may not be impressive single target, but when you rip into 5 guys with it, you're doing a LOT of damage overall, especially if you hit then with a WAWG (locking them in place and halving their attack speed) and a Venom Grenade (more DOT plus -20% resist debuff), that Heavy Burst gets pretty nasty. I found myself using it all the friggin time, and just enjoying the carnage.
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I would have to shoot a mob of even con minions 7 times with Heavy Burst to kill them.....that is not impressive. Your talking about other powers in an attack chain. Heavy Burst on it's own is a joke.
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Single Shot on Wolf Spiders is ridiculously slow to fire. It has a 1.67s animation, compared to the 1s it takes to fire Burst. There's a lot of extraneous movements and it annoys the hell out of me.
I feel it should be cut down to a 1 second animation time.
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I completely agree =/
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Single Shot on Wolf Spiders is ridiculously slow to fire. It has a 1.67s animation, compared to the 1s it takes to fire Burst. There's a lot of extraneous movements and it annoys the hell out of me.
I feel it should be cut down to a 1 second animation time.
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I completely agree =/
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I agree 100%. It is especially noticable when you go from pummel to single shot. You take what seems like foreever to take the shot.
I'd just like to say I think Pummel is good as is, but single shot needs the cast time sped up, Burst should do slightlty higher damage, and Heavy burst should do moderate damage instead of minor. The Wolf set is in no way close to over powered. They could double the damage of every attack and it still wouldn't be overpowered. I just think Wolf should be enjoyable to play like Night Widow, rather than a suck fest you can't wait to respec out of at lvl 24.
Oh, and our inherent should include a run/jump boost so the whole fitness pool is our inherent.
....and CT: Defnsive should give 5% defense to all for both VEATs. The 7.5% melee for widows is ok, but the 7.5% to ranged for Soldiers is lame. It becomes a skippable power if you go the bane route. Why not have it %5 to all to it is helpful to all the paths? Banes stay up close to do the dirty work.
Do all the Bane's Mace really need to have an untintable BRIGJHT red nipple on the end of them? I would really like to see costume slots 2-5 have access to all the Mace, but I would be happy if they just made the bright red nipple tinitable. It looks pretty silly with most costumes. Besides that it is kinda hard to be a dark, mysterious, sneaky Assassin when your weapon has a giant glowing red beakon on the end of it.
I have an issue with the Crab Spider. Just one tiny issue. Serum.
Your character pulls out the syringe to inject itself.. and then beats her chest. The heal takes -way- too long.
I've died maybe ten times within an hour because I needed to heal myself up and hit that power, panicking.. and I would die right as the heal finally decided to go off.
It's not much of a power if you need to use it in a pinch to save yourself... Only if you go 'hrm.. maybe I should use this ahead of time...'
... That and it seems the crab spider attacks are dramatically weaker than the wolf spider attacks.
Edit: There's also an attack, Longfang.. which sounds like bullets being shot out of one of the spider legs on the crab spider.. but it says energy damage. Energy.. bullets ? O.o
The glowy red thingy is the source of all their powers. Banes were originally so damned creepy and awesome shock-troopery-guys that they broke the game, and only the last minute awesome-nerf of the red dot meant they could squeak under the cap imposed by Awesome Diversification.
A real answer? That's where the lasers come from, and maybe they need something like that on the model or the animations looks stupid.
It would make just as much sense to have whatever creates the laser beam enclosed inside the mace.....if they are gonna keep the giant red nipple on the end of all the mace options, at least make it colorable.
I am extremely let down by the storyline of the VEATs... no new experiences, no new enemies... one mission - wait till 5, 2 missions - wait till 10, unbelieveably boring and poorly designed.
This is a major major let down in my opion as this game has some amazing storylines and arcs in it and the lackluster performance on the part of the devs makes me sad.
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I am extremely let down by the storyline of the VEATs... no new experiences, no new enemies... one mission - wait till 5, 2 missions - wait till 10, unbelieveably boring and poorly designed.
This is a major major let down in my opion as this game has some amazing storylines and arcs in it and the lackluster performance on the part of the devs makes me sad.
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The later arcs are pretty good actually.
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I am extremely let down by the storyline of the VEATs... no new experiences, no new enemies... one mission - wait till 5, 2 missions - wait till 10, unbelieveably boring and poorly designed.
This is a major major let down in my opion as this game has some amazing storylines and arcs in it and the lackluster performance on the part of the devs makes me sad.
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The later arcs are pretty good actually.
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A moot point if the early levels don't hold peoples' attention long enough to get there.
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I am extremely let down by the storyline of the VEATs... no new experiences, no new enemies... one mission - wait till 5, 2 missions - wait till 10, unbelieveably boring and poorly designed.
This is a major major let down in my opion as this game has some amazing storylines and arcs in it and the lackluster performance on the part of the devs makes me sad.
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The later arcs are pretty good actually.
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A moot point if the early levels don't hold peoples' attention long enough to get there.
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Gasp if that was a problem then hero side would have been dead long ago.
I think the arcs are great once they start coming together. It really solves the whole 'well I'm just some pawn of Arachnos' problem you normally get early on, by making it very clear that you're your own guy. You basically walk up and punch fate in the head until it cries and does what you tell it to. It's sort of like a lower-level and longer version of the last Patron arc in the way it makes you feel like you're actually doing something big.
All of the SoA arcs are really a letdown
The story is extremely predictable and really doesn't even get good or interesting until 40+, where you're treated with a one mission arc and then a 3 mission arc. Up to that point, the 2-3 missions every 5 levels are really uninteresting, and could probably be condensed to one long arc at 15, instead of stretching Fortunata Hamilton all that time.
Also, needing to unlock the 45-50 Alan Desslock arc is kind of confusing, as most people I know, myself included, save the big Recluse fight for as close to 50 as possible. Luckily I did it at 47 this time, but I was pretty much convinced there wasn't one up til that point.
⊂二二二（ ＾ω＾）二二二⊃
@6X - Arc IDs: 9882
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. . . . I would rather the VEATs hadn't been introduced at all rather than be introduced with these limitations placed on them. Now if/when I play a VEAT, my play experience is going to be tainted by the knowledge that the developers, who were aware that many people (I'm not the only one who feels this way, though some have tried to marginalize my opinions on this matter as being irrelevant) share this view, knowingly chose to give us something new, but insist that we can only use it in a way that lines up with their themes . . . .
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I think this is a little extreme and wanted to disagree. I think that the VEAT Arachnos-only them makes perfect sense. And c'mon ... rather have no VEATs at all than a not-extremely-yet-still-very-customizable costume for them? This is being blown out of proportion. I have zero issues with the available costumes for VEATs, as it fits the storyline. Also -- I recall a lvl 10 mission handed out for VEATs that allows access to a 2nd costume slot at this low level. I found no restrictions on this slot... storied in to deceive a fellow Arachnos to believe you were a hero. Mission is over... I still have the 'stume slot.
DB background
DB at the bookstore
DB in the movies
DB is wanted by FBI
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The key to getting the most out of a Wolf is hunting in packs
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QFT.
DB background
DB at the bookstore
DB in the movies
DB is wanted by FBI
If they were going to make epics so generic why not give us a cooler class of villains like freakshow, think of all the costume options for them, or even rikti since they were in the last issue so much. Heck i'd rather play as a rikti monkey. Im not one to usually complain but my 50 vill has been waiting for epics since issue 7, and I hate Lord Rec-looser and ive always hated the fact that i feel like im working for him...*sigh*
At level 10 a wolf should pick up maneuvers. 10% def to all for the team is close to a FF defender dispersion bubble without the mez protection.
At level 12 a wolf should pick up venom grenade. -20% res AOE to each spawn is close to a /Rad troller enervating field without the worry of an anchor.
At level 16 a wolf should pick up assult. 15% damage is close to a /Kin troller siphon power thats up all the time with no tohit problems.
If you dont pick up these 3 key team powers on your way to 24 welcome to your nightmare. I can only assume people dont understand that a wolf is more like a defender than anything else.
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