Dispari

Besides what Claws said, which is totally true, it makes sense for us to have characters who can change sides.

"[V]illains should stay in the Rogue Isles, and Heroes should stay in Paragon." Why? No heroes should ever be anything but good, and no villain should ever be anything but bad? No villain ever started off as a hero but collapsed into badness? No hero is an ex-villain?

I have characters who fit these molds. One of my MMs used to work for a government organization as an assassin until circumstances forced her to flee to the Isles. She's a hero turned bad. Without the expansion, all I can do is pretend. Further, the "limitations" you're proposing don't actually prevent people from pretending to do it, only the ability to actually do it. It stops me from playing a Controller in the Isles. It doesn't stop me from playing a hero in the Isles.

[ QUOTE ]
Now with 13.75% + CJ 2.5% + L:M 3.5% = 19.75% and I will let you do the enhancment math from there.

[/ QUOTE ]
Bane:
TT:M = 10%
Cloaking Device = 3.75%
Enhancements = * 1.55
Total: ~21%

Widow:
TT:M = 5%
Foresight = 7.5%
Mask Pressence = 2.5%
Enhancements = * 1.55
Total: ~23%

These are the numbers the two have. Pool powers not included, because BOTH of them can take pool powers, and the numbers are identical, so all that means is the numbers change but Widows are still ahead.

This doesn't include Mind Link which is another +15.5% DEF for Widows which even with SOs and no Hasten is 90/200 for uptime. Widows also have the option of Elude (not that I've ever needed it).

Even if you aren't going for sets, it's pretty trivial to get even level 25-30 DEF/RECH pieces to toss into ML, which gives it a 120s recharge (75% uptime). I did this on my Widow, who had those IOs and no other IOs until 50. They cost her almost nothing. Add Hasten and the uptime grows.

[ QUOTE ]
if anything you'll be seeing tons of Trollers and Blasters redside replacing Corrs and Doms

[/ QUOTE ]
I love all these wild speculations about stuff being replaced. Everyone seems to think that the ATs they personally enjoy will be replacing all the ATs on the opposite side.

Though I have to admit, it'd be really funny if it all became true and redside was all Defenders, Tanks, Controllers, and Blasters while blueside became all Brutes, Corruptors, Doms, and MMs.

[ QUOTE ]
Lets try reading
Here is what I said

[/ QUOTE ]
Thanks -- I did read what you said. Please note that I said ML is still up most of the time on a basic build. When it is up, Widows have an extra +10% DEF and ToHit over Banes. Throw in Hasten and some IOs and it can be permaed. But it doesn't HAVE to be perma to be useful. It's still a big chunk of Widow survival even if you're using SOs. Please don't conveniently ignore powers because they don't fit your unusual criteria.

And if you want to only compare powers that are up all the time and ignore situational ones despite the benefits they may add, you'd have to ignore the fact that Banes have pets (like the previous poster noted). You'd also want to ignore Surveillance.

This is still really strange to me, though. I play a Widow and think Banes need a buff because I was underwhelmed when I did my Crab's dual build as one. You play a Bane and don't want them buffed?

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
I saw a post just earlier today claiming that all Defenders will be replaced by Corruptors and all Tankers by Brutes. Now you're saying the opposite.

[/ QUOTE ]
They're all on the way out. I have it on good authority that there will be a new AT called Tankmage......

What?

[/ QUOTE ]
Nobody will play Tankmages if they can make Magetanks!

I dream of a nerfless game, where when one set outperforms the others, instead of slightly reducing the power of that set, you simply buff EVERY OTHER SET. Then when you introduce a new set (Willpower) that turns out to be stronger, you simply buff FIFTEEN OTHER SETS. And you keep doing this until all sets are capable of soloing Hamidon, and you have to adjust the power of every single enemy in the entire game just so that they can keep up, and we end up with enemies that deal damage in the thousands with regular hits just so all the numbers balance out.

That would be way better than having to suffer "nerfs" !!!

[ QUOTE ]
I'd have to give the first place nod to Invulnerability as well. Any time anyone mentions Stone as the top dog it comes with the Speed Boost caveat. Reliance on outside buffs is a weakness in my mind which puts stone behind Invulnerability and Willpower which are both "fire and forget" sets. Ultimately though Willpower winds up taking a back seat to Invulnerability due to the lack of a natural self heal.

[/ QUOTE ]
On the other hand, WP has massive +regeneration and a natural +HP boost, so it doesn't really need a self-heal. Even my WP Brute can meander through groups of enemies by herself. Invuln also has a weakness to fear, confuse, and psi damage, which WP does not.

[ QUOTE ]
Widows = Very High Melee Damage and High Defense
Crabs = Pets, High Ranged Damage, Debuffs, and High Resists.
Banes = High Melee, High Defense, Minor Resists, Pets, Debuffs, and One good range attack.

[/ QUOTE ]
This is inaccurate, though. Widows and Forts can soft cap pretty easily with Mind Link. In your comparison you didn't include Mind Link, when it's up most of the time if you include DEF/RECH IOs in it and/or use Hasten. With some minimal work it can be perma for Widows.

And Banes are not "high defense," they're moderate. They have just as much as Crabs, but with cloak, which only adds a little. Suppressed they only have about 25% DEF (possibly less, I forget -- my Bane build also runs CJ which is +2.5%, so the actual number may be closer to 22%).

The high damage part is a maybe, as Widows can attack much faster and for very good damage. The debuffs are pretty minimal, and you have to consider that Widow attacks all do -speed/-recharge, and Forts get mezzes.

The pets I'll give you, but Crabs have more pets.

Overall, they do less damage with less DEF than Widows, are less durable than any of them, and have less mez protection (Banes have mag 6, Widows/Forts have 10.4, Crabs have 14.4). Their damage is still pretty good and I'd definitely say they aren't at the bottom for that, and they have some decent utility powers, but they still lack in some key areas.

If I was to tweak Banes any, I'd give them +mez protect (up to 10.4) and +DEF. They have more versatility and utility than your average Widow with things like Surveillance, pets, and Venom Grenade. All they need is the ability to stand up for as long.

[ QUOTE ]
...That's *not* stoked about Going Rogue? For me, I see less pros and more cons. Like, if defenders make their way to villains, corruptors will most likely be ignored. People will prefer Tankers to Brutes. Am I just being overly-negative?

[/ QUOTE ]
The game's going to be really hard to play when all Corruptors are replaced by Defenders, and all Defenders are replaced by Corruptors, to infinity until the game folds in upon itself.

Seriously, I see tons of complaints that all X will be replaced by Y. And just as many saying that all Y will be replaced by X. It works fine in co-op zones, doesn't it?

I saw a post just earlier today claiming that all Defenders will be replaced by Corruptors and all Tankers by Brutes. Now you're saying the opposite. I don't think either is true. I doubt any AT will be any less or more popular than it is now by any significant amount. People will still play the ATs they like, just on the other side. If people wanted to play Corruptors instead of Defenders, they'd already be playing Corruptors, for the most part.

Electric Control. Dark Control.

Earth Blast.

Dark Assault. Dark Manipulation.

[ QUOTE ]
I kinda enjoy the challenge. They are "bosses" after all. Imagine you fight a team of lvl 54 Longbow Wardens or Gun Slingers. I believe they'll be even more nasty to fight.

So why should Customized Bosses be inferior?

I was laughing a bit when the Brute on my team got killed consistently when he jumped in. It was a big group of lvl 54 bosses afterall. Technically, you are "supposed" to die without proper support/planning.

I enjoy the current challenge. If my team does well, we still get great exp! Not as good as Ritki Farm for sure but it is a very acceptable rate.

[/ QUOTE ]
It's not that we want custom bosses to be "inferior." We want them to be on par with existing units.

ALL custom bosses now get tier 9 powers. They do tremendously high damage. On the lowest difficulty, level 50 bosses can do 950+ damage every 20 seconds with 11 second status effects.

Take a second to think that over. All level 50 bosses can do 95% of a squishy's HP every 20 second and keep them statused more than half the time, with one power, not counting the 3+ other attacks they get, at minimum. Make them level 51-53 and they'll kill a squishy in one or two hits. And many of those tier 9 powers that they get by default have bonus accuracy.

That's just on the lowest difficulty, too. Upping the diff adds things like Build Up and AoEs. Sets like Broadsword end up with the two strongest attacks on Standard and are absolutely devastating.

We don't want them to be easier than normal bosses. We want them to be equal with normal bosses. Normal bosses can be hard, but try fighting custom ones with something other than a Brute. They will one or two shot your squishies every time. Most normal bosses don't do that.

[ QUOTE ]
My one wish for CoX is one, just one full issue, with nothing but bug fixes. Please?

[/ QUOTE ]
Okay, but since every Issue comes with a handful of bugs, we'll just end up back where we started!

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]

And hey, where the hell is my [color=orange]moon zone[/color}???

[/ QUOTE ]

The moon zone is not what you think it is. Very appropriately, it butts up right against King's Row. They decided to utilize that blocked off entrance on the back end of the zone. I just hate to think of what problems will rear their head with it.

[/ QUOTE ]
Really, I think it's about time th--huh... wha?! Eww, you got orange all over me!!

For those of us not "in the know," what means this Open World Content?

We had a fun one today. I seem to have hilarious luck, so it stands to reason that as I was typing the "We're starting NOW" message, a zombie invasion occurs.

Zombie invasion!

After the invasion, I gave everyone some time to line back up and we started. I also forgot to take a pic of everyone who showed up. This week we began with female contestants. Black Helix helped me judge again.

PRIZES:
First: 10m (one male, one female)
Second: 5m
Third: 2.5m
Runner up: 1m (two of each)

Female runner ups:
Hunter Silent
Curse of Me

Third place:
Flintlock Rose

Second place:
Apple-Pi

First place:
Aurohra

Male runner ups:
Explosioner
Technoid Terror

Third place:
Boss Croc

Second place:
Supereon

First place:
Lord Stormbringer

We also have good donations coming for next week. Already we know we'll be sponsored by Abyss Empire (by Krosun), and at least one other person. If we raise enough donations we may do a 20/10/5 next week. I'm tentatively scheduling the next CC for Sunday, but my account expires in a few days and I can't afford to re-up it right now (for the first time in several months). If I can't get any money to resub though, I'll have to do the next CC on Thursday.

Just as a reminder, the CC starts in 2 and a half hours at 8:00 CST.

We'll be judging male and female winners separately. In both instances, first prize is 10m, second 5m, and third 2.5m. We also occasionally give out runner-ups which will be 1m each.

As always, meet on the steps of the university in Cap au Diable, and leave team.

I'd be happy to oblige!

First character: Tomatre
The monkeygirl. Tomatre is a normal-looking girl except for her monkey tail. She wears lots of different outfits as long as they're fancy and interesting. She's overly playful and flirtatious and is always looking to have fun. You can learn more on her VV page.

Second character: Victoria Noir
Classy French Widow. Vicky's a short woman with a classy attitude. In public, tends to be overly formal and polite. Doesn't change the fact that she's an effective assassin! Check VV to see more.

Third character: Mitsu
Modern-day Valkyrie. Mitsu has a lot of different appearances and outfits, but this is her standard one. She's a vicious valkyrie who fights for good or evil -- whichever side seems to need a blade at the time. Mitsu also has a sister, so if you do happen to want to draw her, lemme know cause Mitsu would hate to appear without her sis. You can visit the twins on VV.

Wow, I was using both of those maps in one arc.

[ QUOTE ]
Not to mention it breaks theme on alot of characters.

[/ QUOTE ]
Yes, this is a major issue for me and something I care a lot about. I'm in MAJOR support of the option for us to PICK which ranged attack our units get. Of course, some of them wouldn't be available due to redraw, and the game should force you to pick SOMETHING, but I want to be the one who decides what type of ranged attack my Martial Arts guys have and not be stuck with throwing stars.

Right now we're on schedule to do the next one Saturday night at 8:00 CST. I'll post if anything comes up between now and then.

We'll be doing a 10/5/2.5 for both male and female costumes.

Sorry I'm a little late on delivering this info, but as you can imagine I'm just not that eager to jump into editing my stuff for the worse. Here's a rundown of what the patch did to the units in my Troll arc.

MINIONS:

Troll Bully - Super Strength/War Mace. They now don't have Haymaker. That's mostly a good thing, since they had some pretty high damage before. They also lost a mace power, but gained Throwing Knives. So they have two ranged attacks now instead of one. Overall this one is a plus.

Troll Ruffian - Martial Arts/Assault Rifle. This unit has Assault Rifle as a secondary just so she'd have ranged attacks. Now, Martial Arts gives shuriken, which is out of character for Trolls. This does allow me to drop Cobra Strike, which is good because my Trolls have enough stuns already. Secondary is unchanged. For gameplay this is a minor improvement, but I gained a ranged attack I didn't need when I already had a whole secondary with three ranged attacks, and ended up with something that skews my character concept. Overall I consider this a minor negative.

Troll Usher - Thugs/Stone Melee. Basically, nothing changed.

LIEUTENANTS:

Troll Annihilator - Martial Arts/Willpower. The MA change is really for the better. To get rid of Focus Chi, I dropped him to Standard. This also makes him lose Cobra Strike and Crippling Axe Kick, but still has Crane Kick. These units were really overpowered before. For secondary, it's no longer possible to give them Heightened Senses at all, which means minimal defense to the exotic. I would like to give them QR, but I can't without adding RttC. They also again have that damn shuriken. This change overall I'd call it neutral. Some stuff I'd really like to have/not have (QR, HS/shuriken), but at least the unit isn't overpowered anymore.

Troll Crusher - Stone Melee/Earth Armor. Hard now gets BU, so had to drop to Standard. For secondary, I didn't want the heal power, so I had to drop to Standard. That means no Mud Pots, no Crystal Armor, and no Minerals. Overall, slight downturn. This was supposed to be a defensive unit.

Troll Decimator - SS/Inv. NO! The unit has Rage on Hard, so there's no way I'm giving them that. Putting them on Standard gives Jab, Punch, Haymaker, and Hurl. Not too bad, but they had Hand Clap before and now they don't. Hard now gives them Dull Pain, which I don't want, and putting them on standard makes them lose Invincibility. I also can't get Resist Elements/Energies no matter the settings. This unit is worse off.

BOSSES:

Supa Troll - SS/Inv. ... ... ... This unit now has Knockout Blow stock. Which as a level 50 boss does 950 damage with an 11 second hold. There's no way I can get rid of it. He didn't have it before. His secondary is okay except I can't give him Invincibility without Dull Pain, but he's so powerful I probably wouldn't want to. Large change for the worse.

Mega Troll - Energy Melee/WP. Sigh, same as above. Now has Total Focus, which does 950 with an 11 second stun. Not only that, he has POWER BLAST which is 100% out of character. Secondary... I don't know, I guess it's about the same having HS. I'd like to give him QR, but again I can't without RttC. This unit is now a huge fail. Way harder than before and also way out of character.

Giga Troll (EB) - Energy Melee/Inv. Same primary problem again. These units were hard enough without having TF. At least I got rid of BU, but that was only 10 seconds of pain, not huge damage every 20. TF on a level 50 EB does 1300 damage. There are 9 of these in my arc. Secondary has no Invinc. And again, power blast. Ugh.

Grogg (AV) - Energy Melee/Shield Defense. The original was extreme/extreme (since he's an AV) so nothing really changed here... except he now shoots energy blasts from his hands. Fail.

Tanya Atta (AV) - SS/WP. Original was extreme/hard. Nothing really changed for this character.

So, just in that one arc, ALL my units except the final AVs are now on standard/standard. And yet, are still harder in almost every case AND half the units are now doing annoying, out of character things that I hate. Most of the units hit way harder, especially bosses. If this arc was hard to solo before, I can't imagine how bad it is now.

Here's my thoughts: Please stop with the massive standards for bosses. If this was done for farming/exploit reasons, it misses completely. Those people don't fight bosses in melee. All you did is make lieutenants and bosses MASSIVELY difficult for regular players. 950 damage from a boss is almost enough to one-shot squishies, and these are standard on EVERY boss.

Please crank it back so the first 2 powers in each set are mandatory, for each rank, and that's it. PLEASE DO NOT go i15 live with the power selections but still have tier 9 attacks standard on bosses. That would be a bad mistake. Bosses are now way too hard. I'm ending up putting all bosses on standard, and they're still too difficult. Adding the power to pick stuff on top of that won't help. I just want to GET RID OF powers like Knockout Blow and Total Focus.

[ QUOTE ]
Yup. If we had brutes on the hero side with all available powersets from tanks and scrappers, I wouldn't bother with scrappers any more than I bother with tanks now.

Brutes > Scrappers > Tanks.

(And I've no doubt that my scrapper brethren are about to beat me senseless as a heretic.)

[/ QUOTE ]
I would, since I much prefer sustained damage with crits than having to build up to damage. I like just being able to one-shot things right out, instead of bouncing into a group with BU and doing my strongest attack and watching things NOT die.

There's a lot of "if we had these and those... why would anyone play these anymore?" theory, but I really don't think any AT would be any less popular than it is right now if we had the option to make all of them on either side. Each AT is different enough and has enough of its own role to still fit in.

[ QUOTE ]
Not just that, but it also included text you might have typed up to that point. It wasn't uncommon to see people saying "wwwwwwweeeeeqqqqeqwesssssdsdadddHi" in globals.

[/ QUOTE ]
I hate to break it to you, but this still exists.

I'd like to play a red Blaster or a blue Corruptor. Or, really, I want to play the blue content with my Widow who has done all the red content.

I'll be making a post later today to outline all the changes this patch has on my custom units.

I expect to change almost all my units for my Troll arc to standard, republish, and then ignore MA until i15.