Combat

This thread is not asking for incarnate salvage (or as I like to call it iSalvage) to be sellable on the market, or tradeable.

This thread is asking what you would pay for these types of salvage if they were sellable. It's an entirely hypothetical attempt to see what the "value" of these untradeable goods is.

For what's it worth, I'd pay about 50 million for a rare and 100 for a "v.rare".

*quotes around edit*

I use silver, not because it is innately better money for tickets spent, but because it is quicker and easier. The time spent on deleting tons of bronzes could be spent playing or farming, and that time is more valuable to me than the inf I could potentially earn by bronzing.

Just a thought: Make Poison Trap sleep/drain endurance while not alerting the mob. That way it could be placed ahead of the group and the mob would be slept and drained of endurance by the time the group got to it. Then it would be very useful, but not necessarily overpowered (because it would be resisted by AVs, and wouldn't be as effective during a fight)

Achievement: Did some pretty amazing things on a STF the other day. I half soloed black scorpion and scirocco when the group double pulled (as in got them to half life before the group changed targets), and I tanked towerbuffed LR on a scrapper while the granite tank was getting on his feet.

(Dis)achievement: Took the temporary power right as I read the leader say "And remember to let me get the temp".

For one on one (ie, nothing to use for buffs), probably KM/Fire or KM/Elec

Just to be clear, I agree with you Sam, and I actually hated it when CoH was so opaque with regards to power numbers. I had no idea whether "extreme" damage was better than "superior", if x power did something better than y, etc. Real numbers have made the game much better in that regard.

Two more things:

1. Respecing would be easier. Way easier. It would be as easy to create a build in the game as it is in Mid's Hero Designer (or is it Mids'?). I'd make it so you could choose what would go in the power, and when that enhancement is made it is automatically placed in that slot. Respecing would not be level by level, but would start at the end result, and let you add slots and powers as you go (with logic protocols or whatever that stopped it from letting you place slots that would be impossible (such as 6-slotting your level 49 power.)

2. Arcanaville, I respect you and the many things you have done for our game. But I disagree with quantitative versus qualitative building. I prefer quantitative because I want to know what is best. I believe it is instinctual human nature to want to be the best, and having a system that is unintuitive to min-maxing is simply abhorrent to me. While I'm not trying to speak for everyone, I will say their are others like me, who will want to find out whether it is better to take the power that absorbs 30% or reflects 15%. Making it harder on people like me doesn't necessarily increase the enjoyment from playing the game. For instance, I HATE WoWs mechanics. The may not be the best example for the type of game that you are describing, but I believe they fit my case well (and yes, those both can happen.) As previous posters mention, even accuracy is unintuitive and hard to understand.

I cannot tell from the numbers if a WoW character is good or bad. That upsets me, because I don't understand how to make a character better. To continue using WoW, I don't know whether I can survive a raid boss, or if the many types of "endurance" powers will keep the blue bar full, or whether my character does enough damage for high-end raiding.

Making building unintuitive does not make min-maxing go away, but it does add frustration to those who want to maximize their abilities, or even know whether a choice is an improvement or not.

First thing I'd change: The engine and the server-side level of infrastructure. Basically, I'd like the game to run smoother, faster, and with less lag regardless of the level of system you play the game with.

Once the system was up to it, I would build the game in two directions (which is somewhat what has happened). First, I would build the game for bigger battles. As a solo hero, you would be equal to an enormous amount of minions, a large amount of lts, and a fair amount of bosses. Essentially, the aggro cap would be larger and powers would hit more targets, mobs would be designed to pose less threat in lower numbers. This give the potential for the game to feel epic to those who like mowing downs tons of guys.

The other direction is the polar opposite: I would try to create creative one-on-one encounters with AVs, GMs, and the like, and I would try to put these encounters throughout the game, starting at nearly the beginning. Take for instance, an encounter with Dr. Vahzilok that I came up with in about 3 minutes:

Your contact sends you on a story arc to uncover why bodies have gone missing in Kings Row. You find that they have been kidnapped by Vahzilok to use as experiments. Further raids on Vahzilok bases discover that the experiments were to create a water-based form of a virus that would kill large portions of Paragon City's citizens, but the survivors would be immune to most forms of disease, cancer, and have extremely prolonged life. Vahzilok will attempt genocide in order to form a master race.

With no time left, your contact sends you directly into Vahzilok's sewer base. He himself is weak, without his supersuit of bodies, but you cannot kill or arrest him because he has rigged the virus to be loosed on his death or incapacitation. You could either try to destroy the base by force, which would give him time to put on his supersuit, or try to to stealthily sabotage the virus-holding tanks, then incapacitate him, knowing the virus tanks wouldn't work.

This isn't a perfect example, but I'm created it in a short amount of time. I'm sure the devs could do better. In fact, I'm positive. I'd love for a large number of AV fights to require thought, rather than x amount of DPS. Before I go on, I'd make 1 Hero = 1 AV as my metric, instead of the old 8 heroes = 1 AV used by Statesman.

Other things I'd change:

I'd create the ability for GIANT monsters. With a new engine, the current inability to fight large mobs could be erased. I alluded to the fact that I want a general power increase. Heroes, of almost any stripe, should be equal to an AV, or large numbers of mobs. These are what multiple heroes are for. The new Supergiant Monsters would start at the 5th Column/Council giant robots, and go to Ruluruu, Shiva, and other Galactus type supermobs.

I'd reduce the number of city zones on the heroes side of the game. There are WAY too many, and they tend to spread out the population enough to make the game look like a wasteland. Say the Rikti finally won for stories reasons, and all that's left of Galaxy City, Independent Port, Brickstown, and Peregrine Islands are charred craters. All the remaining zones would get a huge facelift, equivalent or greater than given to Faultine, and a new zone will be established for the 40-50 range to replace PI. These zones would all be GR quality or better. A similar thing would happen villains side.

Costume parts would be added. You know what people want from this thread, so I won't go into great detail. Basically, moving body parts and customizable animations.

Contact numbers would start fairly reduced. All extraneous contacts would either be erased (killed by the Rikti/Preatorian/Shivan invasion), or updated to current game standards. Story Arcs would be polished! I would say at least 1 unique map/enemy/enemy group per contact, so that they are more than the newspaper contacts that are spread throughout the game.

Sound would be good enough that I will finally run the game with sound. Also, maybe an actual ingame score would be added. The Atlas Park theme that you hear when you first enter there would stay (that is the only time I turn the sound on now).

More space/underwater/volcano environments. We've been stuck in Paragon City (and the Rogue Isles) for 7 years now, and while we've managed to go to different dimensions we still have never left the state of Rhode Island as far as I know. That would change. We still have S. America, the Arctic/Antarctic, Africa, Asia, Europe, etc. Not to mention more exotic locations.

No more suppression. I understand that rooting makes powers look better and is simpler to do, so I wouldn't necessarily erase rooting, but travel powers will not suppress in PvP, PvE, or in any part of the game. On that note, travel powers will be divided into 3 levels of strength: Combat, Zone, and Interzone. Because the War Walls would go down (did I not mention that? Oh well, that will happen too), you will need to travel faster to move between zones at a decent speed. To do so, you would use your max power Fly, SS, SJ, or TP. You know how Superman can fly faster than a speeding bullet? That's interzone travel. Combat level would be things like Combat Jumping and Hover, and would give a small combat bonus, as well as being more maneuverable. These would all be ONE power however. You'd pick up SJ, and get the three teirs of power.




I understand most of the above is impossible or next to it. Still, this is what I would want from a CoH2. Since the above might take 10 years (or more!) I think I'll stick with my good old-fashioned CoH1 for now.

Theoretically, a Widow should be able to outdamage a scrapper. They have very good DPA attacks, and lots of +dam effects (dual-assault + FU). However, they are not as survivable, and much more prone to 2-shots than the scrapper. The attacks chains also tend to be really end draining as far as I've seen, especially ones that use a ridiculous amount of +recharge.

If you want to do crazy scrapper stuff, go Claws/SR. Widows can do even crazier stuff and are great on a team, but in order to maximize their effectiveness they need to be team players backed up with a lot of support.

I like the system we have now. I'd prefer if the cap on certain things (such as max HP) was raised considerably for melee archtypes, and would like to see force fields, fortitude, etc., give bonuses to max HP. This way they'd help even softcapped characters, and would help make them feel "tougher", and make defense less "Amazing, then dead". Oh, and scrappers would get a slight boost to their resist cap.

Achievement: Made a little over 1 billion (1.1 actually) in 4 days

(Dis)Achievement: Started at 30 million instead of zero, didn't use just the market

Yes you can use any two T3s.

Achievement: Got a LotG and Numina +regen/recovery on merit roll (I have actually gotten a roll of ALL LotG, Numina and Miracle)

(Dis)Achievement: Forgot to get lucks before Lambda trial on my Spines/Fire and learned the exact time it takes for my RoTP to recharge.

I don't know about other builds but here is what on my non-supered out (ie regular game build) Spines/Fire scrapper, from one run of FRONTLOAD-fuzzy kittens +4/8:

Influence: 5,507,509
Time: 1:57

Reactive T3, 75% damage- 67165
Blazing Aura- 23427
Quills- 11531 (shows 1886, but I'm assuming it's tracking Quills as the power Flashpulse and that is the number for quills crits)
Spines Burst- 8192
Throw Spines- 23410
Fire Ball- 12942
Burn- 15432

I have no idea how good/bad these numbers are, but I can say that Burn, Quills, and Blazing contributed way more than my other powers, simply through the reactive proc.

Thanks bAss, your build is quite a bit better rounded than mine. I think I actually forgot knockback reduction...

And just to prove I'm not a hypocrit (or build-challenged), here's my build that meets the above goals:

I'm going to try a "challenge" now. Character is a Spines/Fire Scrapper, infinite influence. Goals are:

1. Defense to 32.5% at all, or at least Sm/Le
2. Recharge as high as possible
3. Must have fire ball (for concept).

Feel free to post builds for other characters before this challenge gets answered, but I think it will be interesting to see what we get for this.

While I thank you both for responding quickly and with commentary, I do not think it is quite as simple as you put it.

First, I DO plan my builds in mids. I have over 100 of them, in fact. I started a thread on the scrapper forum called "The Build Thread." I'm not asking this because I'm not a planner, I asking this because the current respec system is outdated in the age of IOs and we need to change the system for the use of the players.

First, enhancements are not as simple as they were when respecs came out in I2. Instead, a build can literally have 10 or less enhancements that are the same. Going from one build to another with freespec (given out when changes are made, sometimes extreme), is nearly impossible with the current system in one respec. This makes it hard for that QoL part of the game to function correctly.

Indeed, if I wanted to switch from a build with SOs, to basc IOs, to set IOs frankenslotted, to set IOs and uniques, to purples, to PvP IOs, I am going to be looking at 20-30 respecs, minimum. It shouldn't be necessary to respec multiple times to change a build, either from a change to the game or to increase the power of the build. We should't have to plan our respecs in stages (which I do, by the way) in order to make sure we don't destroy vital enhancements.

This system also works with, not against the devs. The area I call "Purgatory" is un-useable space. It still keeps the basic idea of enhancements (permanent once slotted), but makes it much easier for the player base. These enhancements are still permanently away from the rest of the game. Note, that part of the use of this area is simply a spot to put enhancements to prior to respecing, so you can change more than 10 at a time without deleting. Your cannot sell these enhancements, or put them in a build unless you are respecing. It doesn't break the game, or break the devs "rules."

((I meant nothing in the following post as a personal attack, merely as an extra-explanation of my idea))

I believe that this idea will solve a major QoL issue many have with this game. Let me explain:

I want the ability to send enhancements to a place where they are useless. And before you stop reading this and say "WHAT?!?", let me further this idea. This place, which I will call "Enhancement Purgatory", is free to use. Any enhancement can be put into it, and the place has an infinite storage space. Unfortunately, it will either be impossible to take enhancements out, or will cost money, depending on what best fits the developers taste.

What is the use of such a space? When respecing, I often find that I can do little with one respec. The 10 storage space maximum means I cannot fully slot the build and often have to say goodbye to many enhancements that are quite near to me, or make many respecs over time to get to the build I want. Instead, you would be able to use Purgatory Enhancements only when you respec, and could then slot whatever you want, and/or put the unused enhancements in Purgatory. In this way, respecing would become much less of a hassle for me and other players.

Why Purgatory, instead of just giving players infinite storage normally? Well, the developers of this game have made it clear, for good reasons, that players should not have an infinite amount of usable, hassle-free space. Purgatory is infinite, but it is finite in use and function. Players would not want to store all their enhancements in Purgatory because of the fee or inability to take enhancements out.

Finally, enhancements already in a build should be able to be put in "semi"-Purgatory status, where the are used until a respec, then pulled into Purgatory when a respec occurs. In this way, players could pull wanted enhancements from one build to another without using multiple respecs.

I believe that this idea would be a great improvement in player QoL without stepping over bounds the developers have made in storage. Please sign on if you agree, and hopefully a dev will consider it as "A Good Idea" endquote.

Achievement: Soloed Adamastor on a DM scrapper with no purples/PvP IOs, despite his resistance to dark.

(Dis)Achievement: Took a couple Envomened Daggers to finish him, could only do it with T4 Cheatworks and Interface

My goal is to start by getting well-made builds for all 77 scrapper types, plus a different build for each of those types at different expense levels. So yeah, we have plenty of room to go.

Note that it doesn't have to be a "Break the World" achievement to list here. It could be something like:

Achievement: Got my Traps/AR Defender to level 2

Disachievement: Actually slotted TOs.

Just to encourage everyone.

European License Plate Designer has been selected as new title.

Temporary Power- Day Job: European License Plate Designer-

Logging out near Europe will grant you a power that will allow you to come up with long, confused strings of numbers. By logging out near Europe, you will receive charges for this power. After 21 days of logged out time, you will receive the European License Plate Designer badge (Hero), or European License Plate Processor (Villain), that will increase the rate that you create charges for your Long Strand of Incomprehensible Characters Creator.

((Like I said, it seems a little clumsy, and I'd love a better format))

I saw something similar to this in another forum, so I'd like to start it here. Basically, post your achievements/(Dis)achievements in this thread.

Example:

Achievement: Soloed ITF, Hero's Epic/Hero, Mender Silos TF, with AVs on and no purples/pvp IOs.

(Dis)achievement: Relied basically on incarnate abilities to do so.

Achievement: Ragnarok recipe dropped on Romi kill

Achievement: Unlocked T4 Interface and Lore

etc.