Eisregen_NA

I'd like to note that apparently, Arson side missions still don't have/show their own, separate timer. This was already an issue on Test, and Ravenstorm said it was under investigation/being worked on.

Otherwise, these are fun. Hectic, pulse-pounding fun.

Main drawback for me so far is that our 50s can't access the lower-level Safeguards without getting a lower-level character to help them out. I think it'd be nice to be able to go into a lower-level zone and do Police Band missions there to qualify for earlier Safeguards. We do get the police contacts in every Zone, whether we can use them or not -- might as well make them useful for something. And speaking of the police contacts, with them and all the Zone contacts (New Faultline, Striga, Croatoa) I think it's high time to get a system to sort/order contacts to our preference, or at least toggle whether certain contacts are being displayed. But that goes beyond the scope of this thread I guess.

[ QUOTE ]
It's purely selfish, I know, but tartans are more than one main colour with a stripe. They respresent families dating back centuries, and pride in those families.

[/ QUOTE ]

Alright. Cool. Uh... should I [censored] about the fact that I can't set up my family's 620 year old coat of arms as a chest symbol because we're lacking a heron symbol now? The game can only simulate so much.

Also regarding the new stuff. The masks Ghost and Neck Cover...? Aside from being fugly as all can be and off -Neck Cover covers the underside of the jaw, making it absolutely useless to simulate a high collar/turtleneck kind of look- these have a lighter line at the bottom, making them clearly discernible from whatever's worn on the chest. I don't think that lighter line should be there. People who want a clear distinction can just choose two different colours.

Maybe not a bug but more of a quality issue. Searched the thread as well as I could but it didn't turn up. Some patterns for male and female tops apparently have a much lower resolution than others. They appear very pixely, to the point of seeming unclean. The main culprits seem to be 'busy' spiky patterns and steep or curved angles, but at the same time similar textures end up looking much smoother. All screenshots taken with the same character at the same settings. Male model, no adjustments made. Just going through and changing patterns for comparison.

The Horns pattern is the one I keep noticing as the one that bothers me the most. Everytime I consider putting this on a character, the quality turns me off. As you can see not only are the arched namesake horns of the pattern rather pixely, but there's also some funky wrinkle in the pattern under the arm. Likely, the latter won't ever be an issue in game, but just seeing it bothers me.

In a similar vein is the old Pattern 3. The very steep spikes turn out rather unclean when looked at close up.

To make a counterpoint, look at the Diablo pattern. It manages a very smooth curvature into a slender spike while looking very sleek and clean. It would be wonderful if all other patterns would be as clean.


Also, the Claws pattern is an example of the 'busy' spiky pattern I was mentioning. As you can see the curves of the spikes are rather pixely. By comparison, look at the Jaws pattern which is a similar concept but looks much smoother. Getting Claws up to the quality of Jaws would be appreciated.


Again, not a bug in the technical sense, but really bothersome to me. Especially as I find the basic concepts of these patterns highly desirable and plain neat. Just their execution is a bit lacking when compared to the other excellent costume patterns.



Obligatory proclamation:

Jay is sexy and has the longest...



...Dev thread without any major flames.



Edit: Stupid typo in hyperlink fixed.

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
It's more like going through Superdickery's Wonder Woman section than picking up an issue of Marquis.

[/ QUOTE ]

Guy Davis' Marquis?!!

[/ QUOTE ]

While I loved that comic to pieces (I still have the original #1 from... Caliber Comics just before it went belly-up) I meant this Marquis. Link safe for all ages, thanks to Wikipedia which has everything and then some.

...might as well have posted this on the Virtue forums as I originally intended anyways, judging from the people who replied (not that I mind). I obviously didn't take that close of a look as not all of them were that appealing to my tastes, but I definitely remember one of a character called Heartbreaker or Heart Breaker in there.

As for it being light bondage stuff... if it was hardcore, I wouldn't have an issue understanding the motivation I guess. It's more like going through Superdickery's Wonder Woman section than picking up an issue of Marquis.

Out of sheer curiosity, I did a search for City of Heroes on DeviantArt to see what else there was aside from the usual suspects. Expectably, there was a ton of stuff, mostly comissions done by random people for COH players they knew. So far, so good.

But then I noticed a really interesting trend. About once per page of thumbnails I'd stumble over a picture of a female character, bound and gagged and usually placed in a somewhat demeaning pose. Usually comissioned by the players of the characters depicted.

Now, I don't have an issue with bondage in itself. Nor with bondage art for that matter. I'm just wondering what's up with that. I'm just curious if anybody has any idea what the players' motivation (aside from enjoying bondage art) would be for there to be such a notable amount of various comissions around. Are COH players just kinky? I know we have a high amount of same gender oriented people (bloody word filter), so it wouldn't surprise me if the kink factor was up there too. But right now I'm just wondering.

So, I figured if anybody around here would have insight into this stuff, I'd find them here. Anybody know what's up with all the bondage stuff?

I'm not terribly worried about the Marvel deal. The fact that it's going to be made for a gaming console suggests it'll be a faster, shallower game than COH, optimized for a gamepad with what? Eight buttons? I'm pretty sure it'll cater to a different audience than COH either way.

Meanwhile, Cryptic has a big project to work on and train new people on and learn new stuff on etc. One that'll bring in a lump sum of money. One that associates it with 'big names' in the entertainment sector (though I'm not sure being associated with MS is a good thing). These are things that can be used as bargaining chips and credentials in future deals. Once that is done they'll likely go into a follow-up to COH and bring all that experience from the Marvel MMO into the field with them, but this time they have their own properties they can work with.

For Cryptic, I only see good news in this. For the hardcore COH fans, it won't be an issue. The only people who might mind are NCSoft.

I hate to be a continuity stickler, just wondering if Longbow as an entity isn't too 'young' to already be able to produce ex members unless they're dishonourably discharged or invalids?

I'll gladly volunteer for the NPC for either Magical or Tech Medicine otherwise. (Giving preference to Magical over Tech, but both fields allow for enough technobabble to drown out lacking factual knowledge, so I should be safe with either. Just figure I'm better with the Magical er... cryptobabble? Thelemisnomenclature? You know what I mean.)

Mind you, I think I might have a ton of fun with my boy Stranglehold in the Aftermath scenario. Though I'm not sure if people wouldn't find the idea I'd have offensive (and no, it doesn't involve anything sexual).

In the Clinic, well, I have one character whose backstory would perfectly fit the profile and a few others who'd easily be able to sneak in as well. Though I still think it seems easier to succeed in that environment (succeed as in 'have fun, get to protray your character as intended').

Virtue is crawling with them. Just go to the Virtue Boards and check the sticky thread regarding SGs until you find one you like.

I think the 'Therapy Group X' bit is contained in the Clinic proposal, essentially. It's the same basic hook (or so it appeared to me), just better lit and cleaner I'd think.

As for the two major proposals, I like both, admittedly. However, the Aftermath scenario seems to invite the real walking firebombs to be brought out. After all, who'd be more likely to survive a doomsday scenario than the guys who can sneeze out a sun if they're not careful? (Which of course also invites casting against type, but you catch my drift.)

While I'm certainly not innocent of having such characters I'd prefer the Clinic setup due to a relative irrelevance of power levels and allows people to concentrate on interaction. So that gets my vote.

Main issue I see with your proposal is that it may be a bit too big in scale for some people's characters. Mine tend to be a mix of street-level people and some rather large concepts (like a guy who basically is an entire dimension on his own), but other people might prefer a more 'normal' setting. Never mind that I'd assume some people -myself included- would prefer a story being rooted more firmly in the CO* universe.

Just to throw a random suggestion out there...


Therapy Group X

A high security asylum somewhere in the Rogue Isles. Some people just pass through, but most stay forever. Some of the inmates are captured heroes, some are villains who consider the whole thing a vacation -- or are too dangerous even for Recluse to let run free, but too valuable to kill outright. Of course, the characters would likely be some of the more lucky inmates who didn't end up being used to power a drone or as spare parts for the Facemaker or for whatever makes people scream in the basement all night long.


Likely not everyone's taste, but at least I made a suggestion, heh.

Quickly growing post fountains are one reason I don't usually manage to post to these forums. If I'm on here I'm way too busy reading stuff. And by the time I'm done, there are new posts in the threads I just read. Definitely interested.

As for setting suggestions... are we talking heroes or villains? Or is that also on the to be determined table?

I am hereby officially suggesting... no, demanding, two additions to the game:

COH TF: Save CuppaJo from the clutches of Tabula Rasa, slaughtering your way past whoever is stupid enough to try and stop you. (TR signature characters or something like that?)

COV SF: Steal CuppaJo from the Tabula Rasa offices so you can sell her to the COH crowd.

Just chiming in to congratulate Statesman on having found another way to lower the effectiveness of Defenders, the supposedly most balanced AT, without actually touching the AT itself. Or offering any kind of balancing factor. AGAIN.

Yes, I realize that the new formula actually makes To-Hit DeBuffs better against +3s. But a lot of people like to actually solo their Defenders or play in smaller groups. Not everyone wants to run 8 man teams on Invincible.


Thanks a whole bloody lot.

Mind you, Quason, I'll grant that Hurricane in and of itself is a good power. My main argument is that the state of Defenders as a whole is such that a single good power... means jack in the overall scheme of 'balance'.

As I mentioned elsewhere, they'd have had to do all the changes they did to Regen, and give Regen Scrappers Tanker damage and give them Controller HP and remove their Mez Protection to put them on a numerically balanced level with Defenders as a whole. I somehow doubt Hurricane alone outweighs all of these factors.

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Cut knockback suppression to 5 seconds. Make PVP kb effects linger for a second or two so they're easier to stack.

Repel suppression isn't really necessary.

[/ QUOTE ]

What would be cool is if someone turned on Hurricane, they'd have no control over what direction they're going. The possibly just float to the other side of the map away from battle.

[/ QUOTE ]

What would be even cooler would be if all Regens developed cancer due to the unchecked cell growth and died.


You do notice that you haven't replied to any of the dozen of posts here that actually suggested means to overcome Hurricane, right? It would be nice if you, after serially befouling the Defender forums, would actually care to demonstrate that you're trying to do anything but try and get people riled up.

[ QUOTE ]
I'm a MA scrapper. I have no ranged attacks. Fine, give Defenders blaster like temp powers in PvP. You're not seeing what I've been trying to say in multiple messages. PvP is a mess. The devs more or less have to neuter every AT to make things fair, balanced, or whatever BS you want to call it. We all USED to have a purpose in the game that was specific to our AT. Now to make things "balanced" in PvP, we begin to lose that identity to try to make ATs equally be able to defeat each other. That ball chopping should apply to all ATs though. No one should be impervious to the other. Do I agree with this logic in the sense that all ATs should be the same, NO, NOT AT ALL. I'd prefer we all be nerf free and go have fun doing what each AT used to be able to do best in PvP like we did in PvE. That's obviously not acceptable though because there will be people who whine about one power being too strong, some being to weak. I know Controller's did it about Regen's MoG, and I know multiple ATs do it about Hurricane. So.. Shrugs. Fair is fair, right? Or is fair only fair when it's in someone's favor, not the others? Let the ball chopping commence!

[/ QUOTE ]

No, I'm sorry. You don't understand what I've been trying to say. As I already said, I have no problems with your passion in general. I do for a matter of fact know that Hurricane is easy to overcome, unlike Phase Shift for example. Other people have already served solutions to it, I won't because I figure everyone should have to find them for themselves.

My problem is that, from the get-go and not through later nerfs or adjustments, Defenders have been handicapped. And this is in a clearly numerically provable fashion when compared to Blasters and Controllers. Calling for any nerf to any power of an AT that has been set up to fail from the get go (and despite the deck being stacked in its disfavour continues to flourish due to some dedicated players) is like complaining that the kid in the wheelchair gets to use the elevator while you have to use the stairs.

Imagine Scrappers did Tanker Damage, had no inherent Mez Protection and Controller HPs. Now you're playing a Defender, roughly speaking. It's not unplayable, but there'd be obvious issues with the AT, non?

Point in case is that the person I was referencing wanted a Temp Power for the sole purpose of allowing him to overcome a design issue of his chosen AT(s)/Powerset Combination(s). I just asked for the same.

I haven't taken my Stormie into PVP territory lately, but before I5 at least, I could not kill an Invul Tank without using a ton of Inspirations with the Stormie, even if the Tank did nothing but stand there. I doubt I could kill one now. And Storm is a set with two damaging Pseudo-Pets and a -Res power. Now, I understand I'm dealing with a Tank. Tanks are supposed to be hard to kill and Defenders probably have the worst total damage output in the game right now if we include Pet damage for Controllers. I'm not happy with it, but it's a design issue.

Obviously, your argument, while factually correct is not compatible with the comparison in the sense it was intended to be read.


Fact is that right now, Defenders are a second class AT already, which is numerical fact (see Current Defender issues, assorted threads on these boards). Pound for pound, Scrappers are probably the most powerful AT out there on their own merits and throughout their careers. The latter trying to get the former nerfed is plain insulting.

[ QUOTE ]
Agreed. They should also add a temp power that will let you get past Hurricane. I mean there's one to help see stalkers, body shield against some dmg, an EMP gllove that sometimes work, and the web and stun grenades then rarely seem to work. The temps powers they have seem to give people the option to spend a little cash to try to put you on a more equal playing field with the mix of ATs you're fighting in the field.

[/ QUOTE ]

Oh yeah.

They should also add a Temp Power that lets a Defender do 80% of Blaster damage in a PVP Zone and gives them native Mez Protection.


It's nice to see people who argue so passionately about some point or another. Really. But the thing is, unless you've played a Defender for some stretch of time, you shouldn't be arguing for or against Defender powers.

As it stands now, Defenders for the most part have a Secondary -their supposed Primary, which just so happens to be used just as efficiently or better by Controllers in ca. 25-30% of cases- and a Tertiary powerset -their supposed Secondary, which does pitiful damage due to Blaster whining. Every Controller can get some amount of native Mez Protection from the APPs if they so choose. Every Blaster can get several toggle-droppers into their build if they so choose.

Defenders can do any of that only situationally, and are equipped with sub-par powersets. Hurricane is one of the few gems in Defender sets, and even that is a power that is used almost as efficiently by Controllers (Defenders get a better ToHit DeBuff).

Make you a deal: You see to it that Defenders get properly balanced against Blasters and Controllers, and then you can come back and whine about a single Defender power that's causing you troubles.


Someone made an argument about 'several Hurricane users with Mez Protection from another source' (paraphrased) and how they can only be overcome by a bunch of Spines Scrappers. Counter-question? What can't be overcome by a bunch of Spines Scrappers? That's right. Shouldn't this give you more incentive to call for a nerf to Spines Scrappers instead of beating on the already battered Defenders?




Give us 80% of Blaster damage in our Secondaries instead of 65% with some occasional but generally useless increased Secondary effect.

Give us 125% Controller efficiency in our Primaries across the board. (Equates to Controllers being 80% of Defenders.)


Or otherwise, stay the hell away.

Actually, there's one thing Defenders do really well. Profit from dead teammates. We do more damage with Fallout than Controllers, get better benefits from Vengeance and get a Vigilance discount.

They should rename the AT Gravediggers.

Here I was... sooo in love with _Castle_. I even went and looked up Cryptic's street address so I could send him German beer for Valentine's Day.

And now he has to go and ruin it by posting here and causing a flood of replies that just drug the Defender forum IQ down into the two digit range.


That said, I'm all for Hurricane being a click. You can mez me, but you still can't touch me. Pure genius.

[ QUOTE ]
Unfortunately this is enough to make many melees hate us and want it nerfed. the whole "I looked at that defender and he didn't die, please nerf him" craze. Granted anyone with a mezz can beat a storm defender, anyone with range can overcome hurricane and if a melee has buffs from their teamates (or learns to jump with a toggle dropping attack) they can overcome hurricane. So how is it overpowerful again?

[/ QUOTE ]

Because it's not idiot proof, and 99% of the world's population are idiots. The percentage seems to look a wee bit better considering this game alone, though, so not all is lost.

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]

Surely Dark Armor cant be any worse than SR is it...? (I made an SR, got to 25, and deleted.)

[/ QUOTE ]

DA isn’t any Worse than SR, but overall it probably isn’t any Better either.

[/ QUOTE ]

Most powersets hit a low point somewhere in the game. There's always a stretch where the next useful power is a few levels off but the enemies keep hitting you harder with each passing level anyways. For some sets is comes later, for some earlier.

In particular, I think SR's late blooming AOE Def is to blame for a lot of the set's bad rep. With the Passive AOE Def appearing at 28 and the Toggle at 35 while enemies keep using more and more AOEs, the road to 36 (and thereby fully slotted AOE defenses) just seems like a very long stretch. It might be a bit better now with the added situational Res from the Passives, but I very clearly remember an SR Scrapper that just got torn to pieces over and over and over again during a particular Manticore TF. It was a sad, sad sight.

So basically, what I'm trying to say is that SR hits a low point of sorts just around the time when the game starts getting harder on most people.

And for the record, Dark Armour on the other hand hits that low point -IMO- towards the end of the line. You don't really need both of OG and COF on one character, and a Self-Rez is handy but also underwhelming in comparison to the other Scrapper Secondary final tier powers. But by then you at least have all your conventional defenses properly slotted and the learning curve isn't that steep anymore.