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Adeon Hawkwood

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  1. Adeon Hawkwood
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Blue Rabbit View Post
    I've got 6 days to go and I third the "for the love of all carrots, no more friggin' DJ!!!" sentiment.
    I'll fourth it.
  2. Adeon Hawkwood
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Katie V View Post
    I don't see this as a good thing. If they keep with the current trend of making successive trials harder, people will want to bring their low-level incarnates on these high-payout trials, but without enough incarnate powers and level shifts, they won't be able to contribute much. There's only so much dead weight a league can carry, and I expect PUG runs will have a high failure rate, while non-PUG leagues will have fairly strict requirements for joining.
    I never said it was the best option, I said it was the simplest option.
  3. Adeon Hawkwood
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Zwillinger View Post
    • ATOs (Archetype Enhancements) will be purchasable from the Reward Merit Vendor, for a combination of Reward Merits and Inf, and from Astral Christy, for a combination of Astral Merits and Inf. There will be a cooldown timer on the purchase of these items. The amount of Inf and duration of the cooldown are still being discussed and will be evaluated once all of this hits beta. This is in addition to their availability in Super Packs.
    • Enhancement Catalysts will be added to the game as rare drops from enemies defeated during Incarnate Trials and in the upcoming newly Incarnated Dark Astoria. Like ATOs, this is in addition to their availability through Super Packs.
    Now those are changes I can definitely get behind*.

    *Approval of changes, contingent upon reasonableness of final merit price. Offer Void In Nebraska.
  4. Adeon Hawkwood
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Wing_Leader View Post
    Then how do they propose to prevent insta-tier-4s via stockpiled resources without making an impossibly steep build trajectory for everyone else?
    Well it depends on what they really want. Personally my feeling was that they weren't particularly concerned about day 1 tier 4s anyway and that introducing the Thread components was more about limiting what content could be used to progress through Incarnate abilities. If their concern was related to time-gating I'd have expected them to impose much stronger time-gates on all aspects of the Incarnate Salvage (i.e. first time you run a trial each day you get the standard rewards subsequent times you just get a single Astral merit and a few threads, no E Merits, no component drop and no Astrals for completing each section).

    Now to answer your other question, assuming that they do feel a need to devalue everyone's stockpile's without introducing a new currency the simple answer is to drastically increase both the costs for the new slots and the rewards from the new trials. For example, multiply the number of components needed by 10 but also have each trial drop 10 components, 10 E Merits and about 50 Astral Merits. Essentially re-value the entire iSalvage system (this also has the advantage of making it easier to "gear-up" new characters, keeping raiders concentrated).

    The second option would be to depreciate old currency (a method used in the MMO that shall not be named) so E Merits get downgraded to Astrals, and higher-tier salvage gets replaced by threads (20 threads for a rare, 60 for a V.R.) so you can instantly buy a tier 1 or tier 2 but probably not a tier 3 or tier 4. Obviously this would upset a lot of people due to also affecting progress on the other slots (which at the very least would be hilarious to watch).

    The final option is to not worry about it. Unless they introduce much stricter time gating on rewards people will get day 1 tier 4s and the people with the large component stockpiles to do it will be running trials no matter what anyway. Given that it's reasonable to use passive encouragement to move people to the newer trials (better rewards, disabling higer tier slots in the old trials etc.). Some people choose to go from levle 1 to 50 just by playing Death From Below, does it really matter if someone wants to go form Alpha to Omega just running the BAF, especially if you make the iSlots beyond Lore/Destiny not work so he isn't screwing the balance?
  5. Adeon Hawkwood
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Ultimus View Post
    I'd give Energy Melee a new mechanic:

    Stunned Opponents have their damage transferred into 50% splash damage. This would give a reason for taking Stun.
    A sort of mini-containment? That's an interesting concept and I think it would work with the powers system. The main balance issue I can see is that if you're teamed with a controller who is stunnign alrge groups you get a lot more damage.
  6. Adeon Hawkwood
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Screwloose View Post
    But for some players it can be a downside as well.

    Some players struggle to see where they are supposed to be going and how they are supposed to get there.
    For players who have to be within 0.001% of peak performance it can provide too many options.
    For players who want to be self sufficient the large range of drops can make it seem difficult to collect all the parts of a Set.
    Well, I would say that if someone really, really wants to be in the top 0.001% of peak performance then they will do the work to figure out the best IO combination and the extra flexibility makes finding that peak a lot more satisfying.

    However I do agree that for a new person the sheer complexity can be a bit overwhelming. I know I've seen planty of poorly thought out builds posted on the forums (and made a few myself when I was first learning the system).
  7. Adeon Hawkwood
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Screwloose View Post
    It does have some downsides in that it is more complicated than more traditional Equipment based systems that I have seen. Providing more choice for players means furious debate between players about what you MUST have. The system can seem random and unfriendly to those who are unwilling to throw themselves on the wine dark sea of the Auction House.
    See to me that's the big advantage. A lot of equipment based systems have, basically, one "ideal" build for each spec. Our IO system gives a lot more flexibility to emphasize different things depending on your preferences.
  8. Adeon Hawkwood
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Blue_Centurion View Post
    Wow. If you look at a power and it requires more than 200% bonus above the 100% you are given, and you still think you can do it... Just wow. And gratz if you do.
    Perma-Hasten requires +275% and plenty of people manage to perma that. In general you can probably hit close to +300% recharge without external buffs on most characters (95% in the power, 100% from IOs, 70% from Hasten, 32% from Spiritual Alpha). Hitting the recharge cap is at least theoretically possible on a Time character* although in practice it's probably not worth doing.

    *Breakdown:
    95% in Power
    70% from Hasten
    32% from Spiritual Alpha
    50% from Chronal Shift
    153% from IOs (5 x Ultimate Bonuses, 5 x Huge Bonuses, 5 x Luck of the Gamblers, 3 x Large Bonuses, 3 x Moderate Bonuses)
  9. Adeon Hawkwood
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Mr_Kingkillaha View Post
    A suggestion I saw on these boards but haven't tried yet (I haven't played on my mm since I read it) is to keep your 3 small pets in bg mode always, and use the 3 bigger pets to attack a specific target. It sounds effective to me.
    This is largely what I do on my Bots/Traps.
  10. Adeon Hawkwood
    Nope, I love IOs, building a strong IO'd characters adds a lot of enjoyment to the game for me.

    I do agree with Aett that it would be nice if the IO meta-game was more nuanced. It really does feel like the only viable options for most characters are Defense and/or Recharge (and maybe regen for certain builds) with Hit Points and Accuracy as secondary benefits. It would be nice to have options to allow for more trade-offs in builds.

    Purple IOs are even worse, they are almost all Recharge based and a few Defense options would be nice for variety.
  11. Adeon Hawkwood
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Vauluur View Post
    Traps seems like a good set. I've never actually tried it because the cast times for some of the powers seem fairly long. Is that noticeable when you are on teams and trials? It seems as though you would just finish putting out your mortar or just finish laying your PGT and half the spawn would already be dead. Although, in those cases it could be argued that you don't need the PGT or mortar anyway I suppose.
    This is a concern with most debuff focused sets to one degree or another and is the primary advantage of buff based sets. The upside is that if a team is moving fast enough that you don't have time to use debuffs then they don't really need your debuffs so it doesn't really matter and you'll have plenty of time for debuffing when they do need them (AVs and such).

    Personally when I'm playing my debuffing Defenders (a Traps and a Time) I play more like a Tanker. On a fast team a good Tanker will move ahead of the team, getting into the spawn and grabbing aggro while the rest of the team is mopping up the last group and I play my Defenders the same way. I move ahead and start laying down the debuffs so that by the time the rest of the team arrives my debuffs are already in place and I can help with blasting.

    Now if you want a more Buff based Defender set to avoid the whole problem there are some sets that provide good buffs. Kinetics is an obvious choice, it's not the best set for damage mitigation but it provides excellent buffs and works well on a fast team. Cold Domination is also a good choice, you get some of the defense buffs from Force Field and combine with some decent debuffs for a relatively solid all-round set. Thermal and Sonic Resonance are not the greatest sets but they do provide resistance buffs (which people are less likely to be capped with).
  12. Adeon Hawkwood
    Just as a general thing if your goal is to provide support at level 50 I'd advise against a Force Field Defender. The fact is that at level 50 (especially in Incarnate content) there are so many defense buffs floating around that a Force Fielder is somewhat superfluous. Even ignoring IOs you tend to get things like stacked Maneuvers, stacked other Defense buffs and even Barrier driving a good chunk of the team to the defense softcap even before you add in the Force Field buffs.

    Now if you want to play a Force Fielder for concept reasons go for it but I suspect you may end up feeling a little bit superfluous at 50 (FF does rock at lower and mid levels though). One option to consider might be Traps, I think that would still fit reasonably well with the ex-Nemesis concept (maybe he's special ops and has gear Nemesis doesn't regularly use?). Traps has FFG which means you are still giving your team a good chunk of Defense and Mez Protection but you add in several other good general-purpose debuffs notably -resistance (Acid Mortar), -regen (PGT) and some crowd control (PGT and Caltrops).

    Regarding medicine on a Force Fielder (or a Trapper), it is useful to take Aid Self for soloing but most of the time you won't really need Aid Other on a team. Between your buffs and those of your teammates people are unlikely to take much damage and even if they do it'll probably be dealt with by someone else (either with inspirations or another power) before Aid Other animates.
  13. Adeon Hawkwood
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Kron View Post
    I was hoping to find a different formula where I can slot in the time of power's duration and its time to recharge and come up with how much recharge I need to get there.
    It's the same formula, you just solve for Recharge:

    Given:
    1. RechargeTime = BaseRechargeTime / (100% + Buffs - Debuffs)
    2. RechargeTime = PowerDuration
    3. Debuffs = 0%

    Prove that:
    1. Buffs = (BaseRechargeTime / PowerDuration) - 100%


    Proof:

    1. Multiply both sides by (100% + Buffs - Debuffs)
    RechargeTime * (100% + Buffs - Debuffs) = BaseRechargeTime

    2. Divide Both Sides by RechargeTime
    100% + Buffs - Debuffs = BaseRechargeTime / RechargeTime

    3. Subtract 100% from both sides
    Buffs - Debuffs = (BaseRechargeTime / RechargeTime) - 100%

    4. Set RechargeTime = PowerDuration and Debuffs = 0%
    Buffs = (BaseRechargeTime / PowerDuration) - 100%

    Q.E.D.
  14. Adeon Hawkwood
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Grae Knight View Post
    I have not bothered to check on my controllers, but do the pets get the level shift bonus like Lore pets in trials? If not I can see the problem.
    Yes, level shifts apply to all pets.
  15. Adeon Hawkwood

    Incarnate Info

    POST-ACTION

    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Mistress Rue View Post
    I recommend running Trials rather than collecting shards for your Tier 1 and Tier 2 alpha - it's far easier and quicker to collect enough threads and thread-based salvage to make those than shards and shard-based salvage. YMMV
    Agreed, plus you can trade Astral Merits for shards at a 1:1 ratio (which in terms of actual buying power is better than it sounds).
  16. Adeon Hawkwood
    Just as a general thought, I would not object to a system where female characters get access to more costume options than male characters. Male characters have two body size options which means that by default they are getting about twice as much time from the art team anyway. Having females get copies of most male pieces along with some female-specific pieces (for those that like corsets and such) would seem like a sensible compromise.
  17. Adeon Hawkwood
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Dr Harmony View Post
    The two exceptions I can think of are Luck of the Gambler +Def/+Global recharge and the Steadfast +Res/+Def, which both combine a level-independent global effect with a normal level-dependent enhancement value that goes up with level. For this reason, a tricked out level 50 (the big spenders) will often want the highest level of the enhancement to squeeze out a few more points from it.
    It's a toss up. In a lot of cases the resistance/defense gain from slotting a level 50 version of the IO is pretty minimal, especially if the power is already close to the ED cap for it anyway. The Luck of the Gambler IO has a difference of 3.9% enhancement between level 25 and level 50 while the Steadfast protection has a slightly larger 8.6% difference.
  18. Adeon Hawkwood
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Winterminal View Post
    The Corruptors vs. Defenders argument is a bit more plausible in my opinion. Corruptors lose nor gain nothing between solo and teamed situations. Defenders lose damage when teamed, but gain the ability to activate abilities at a lower endurance cost provided their teammates' health bars are failing. These days, endurance management is trivially easy compared to what it once was, so that part of Vigilance is much less meaningful now. While I've seen Defenders do some amazing things for their teammates' stats, I find the Corruptor's buff/debuff numbers to be close enough to the defenders, making the difference in damage (while teamed) much harder to justify.
    I guess it depends a bit on what sets you play. My two primary Defenders are Traps/AR and Time/Elec and in neither case would I be willing to trade Defender stats for Corruptor. I've got a good chunk of survivability built into both characters and switching to a Corruptor would cost me either survivability or require me to change my build to compensate costing me something else (such as recharge) and especially for the /Elec .

    Now for a less personal survival oriented set I can see the argument for going Corruptor and if I rolled something like a Fire/thermal it probably would be a Corruptor.
  19. Adeon Hawkwood
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by DreadShinobi View Post
    When I lead keyes I usually do the opposite and send MMs/low dps/low level shifted people to just collect glowies at the first and third reactor, +2/+3 Corrs/Scrappers/Brutes/Blasters etc get assigned to clear the reactors as they can do it much more efficiently.
    Well, leading Keyes I just let the people who want to get glowies go for the glowies . More generally if I were handing out assignments I'd probably send the tough solo characters (i.e. melee characters) after the glowies since they are less likely to get killed by the mobs guarding them. Conversely sending the squishier characters after the terminal mobs means that they get the full benefit of the stacked buffs and debuffs they can toss out.
  20. Adeon Hawkwood
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Zwillinger View Post
    I hear you, and I understand what you're saying, but to play devil's advocate; we also tie your forum account to your game account, which is why we want to err on the side of security in this case.
    It's a fair point but on the other hand once a computer is logged into the forums the only thing that does is grant forum access. If I want to make actual account changes I have to log into the NCSoft site whether I'm logged into the forums or not. Someone getting access to the forums can't actually do any harm to my game account; I guess they could get me banned from the forums but they can't do anything involving actual money.
  21. Adeon Hawkwood
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Celestial_Lord View Post
    Anything a Defender can do, a Corruptor can do almost as well and output a significant amount more damage. Anything a Tanker can do, a Brute can do almost as well and output a significant amount more damage. There's nothing in the game that a Defender can do that a Corruptor can't, and nothing in the game that a Tanker can do that a Brute can't. And the Corruptor and Brute would output a lot more damage while doing it.
    Personally I see the Defender versus Corruptor issue as one of personal preference. I prefer Defenders to Corruptors because I can get more personal survivability and I don't really notice the loss in damage.
  22. Adeon Hawkwood
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Zwillinger View Post
    The cookie has been set to 8 hours of inactivity AFAIK. This is as far out as it will be set.
    Seriously? That still means I've got to log in every single day. I could accept 24 hours but honestly this is the only website I know that has an 8 hour expiry time on cookies.
  23. Adeon Hawkwood
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Darth_Khasei View Post
    Keyes requires a bit of re-summoning and running around and is not "ideal" for MM's no.
    Honestly I find that Keyes works reasonably well for MMs. On the first and third reactors I mostly ignore the glowies, get my pets up onto the rector and start clearing out the warworks around the terminals. The second reactor I'm less useful (no need to clear warworks) but I can still help out with the goliaths and occasionally provide covering fire to people working on the terminals. Keyes does require a bit of running around but unlike Lambda you don't need everyone running around. Unless the league is entirely MMs it's pretty easy for a MM to provide a solid contribution while letting the more mobile ATs handle the running.
  24. Adeon Hawkwood
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Blue_Centurion View Post
    Personally I think anyone who buys these lottery packs is either rich, stupid, or both.
    Well, don't forget the packs also contain exclusive (non-tradeable) costume pieces so a lot fo people will probably buy them to get those.
  25. Adeon Hawkwood
    You are correct. Not all immobilize powers provide knockback protection to their targets and Gravity is one of the sets where they do not. However the holds in Gravity DO provide knockback protection to their targets.