Great_Scott

Step 2: Making an Argument One-Sided.

This is a critical skill, and will come to guide every post you make, as your understanding of it increases. One simple truth of Internet discussion boards is that wherever there is an argument, there is two (or more) people talking about different things. Since the discussion is actually about very close (but different) topics, nothing meaningful can be said.

What am I talking about, exactly? It's easier to show than tell. Let's pretend that there is a discussion about Special ED going on, and two people are going at it...or so they think.

Poster 1: I don't like Enhancement Depreciation because all my toons are gimpy and it's not fun. I've tried testing it and I didn't like it one bit. Why, oh why, is this happening to me? Did I run over State's dog when I wasn't looking?

Poster 2: There's plenty of fun in the game. Why can't you find it any more like I can? I was on Test, and my Grav/Empathy/Presence Pool Controller works better than ever! Go 13% END reduction!

Poster 1: Er, it's great that you're having fun, but that doesn't help me. I can't understand why Hurdle needs to get nerfed! Do I need to respec into the Leaping pool just to get some jump speed?!

Poster 2: You're some kind of power-gamer. Obviously you're only upset because your perma-Hastened, Stamina-abusing self is worried that you can't 6-slot HO-HO's per power any more.

As you can clearly see, although they are responding to each other, and building their arguments as they go, neither one will make the slightest headway. Poster 1 is talking about how his "relative fun level" is going down, and Poster 2 is talking about "the evils of power-gaming". Not only are they not listening to each other (that's normal), they aren't really even on the same topic.

This observation can be turned into both defensive and offensive tactics. I'll discuss offensive tactics first, since they are more fun.

Firstly, once you understand that two people are just not on the same topic, you can helpfully point this out, and help them to understand that they aren't getting anywhere. Trolls, after all, are good samaritans. Using the above example, the following might be appropriate:

Great Scott: Poster 2, I wasn't aware that Poster 1 has posted his level 50 build. I think it might be a good idea to consider that he's having less fun with his movement powers. We really need to make sure that travel powers don't get affected by ED. Maybe a base movement speed buff? Also, Poster 1, have you considered dropping the Stamina pool and going with Speed? You'd have to take Hasten, but SuperSpeed is much less affected by ED, and you would save some slots, too.

Let's examine my post in response to Poster 2.

Superficially, it gives both posters good feedback, offers a good way to improve the game (ED not affecting Travel Powers), and gives Poster 1 valuable "build" advice. Realistically, this will both spark discussion, and absolutely infuriate both posters.

Poster 1, if he actually takes my (good) advice, will notice his horrid and inept attempts at inter-zone travel as he learns the "joys" of no vertical movement whatsoever. Not only that, but he's used to leaping everywhere and will notice this problem more than most. I'm implying that Poster 1 will have to respec into Hasten, and I've also intentionally misnamed the Fitness pool; just in case Poster 2 missed that he has Stamina. I'm also implying that Poster 2 is the person arguing the wrong topic ("might be a good idea to consider").

Just as a bonus, I'm also reminding Poster 1 that he will save slots, when I'm guessing he has no real need for them anyway - he's at least 4-slotting Hurdle if he's complaining about ED.

The net effect is that I've confirmed all Poster 2's fears about Poster 1's build, and I've given Poster 1 good advice that he won't want to take, and also illustrates his problem perfectly at the same time. It would be a minor miracle if neither poster responded. Far more likely my reply would spark a sprited debate about how/whether Travel powers should be affected by Special ED. Pure Trolling, completely non-obvious.

Secondly, once you see the subtle subject differences, you can guide the thread along the path you wish it to go without threadjacking. In fact, you can stay competely on-topic. After all, thread-jacking is a bad, troll-y thing that other people do. See the following response for reference:

Great Scott: Poster 2, I'm not sure that we should be straying onto the topic of whether power-gaming is ruining the game. We should stick with how ED affects recharge times, and power sets as a whole. My Pure Empath, for example, is having trouble keeping big teams alive under ED; heck, I think I have 6 powers with Recharge SO's 6-slotted. I just don't think that ED is a net positive. I might have to /respec into Stamina, since my auras won't be up as often. Maybe I'll get the Medicine pool?

Superficially, this post illustrates a major problem, and helps bring the thread back on-topic. No hyperbole or misinformation here. Realistically, we've already established that Poster 2 is a anti-powergaming reactionary, so this whole post is one giant red flag and Poster 2 is the bull. Let's check all the Blatant Assumptions in this post - it's like an overstuffed burrito from Hell.

1. I've got Hasten.
2. I don't have any powers that aren't 6-slotted with the same enhancement.
3. I'm going to be getting Stamina.
4. I'm trying to continue being "overpowered", even after ED.
5. I'm specifically mentioning Recharge times, since Poster 2 is a Hasten-Hater.
6. I must be some kind of Min/Maxxer...An Empath worried about the Medicine pool?

As a special bonus, I've mentioned that I'm a "Pure Healer", that's always a hot button for someone. My post, while being on-topic, and reminding everyone to stay on-topic, has utterly derailed the thread. All cars crashed, no survivors.

Use this information sparingly, and with caution. After all, a post that has degenerated into pure chaos isn't useful for anything.

Defensive tactics involve what I call the "Retcon". Since these are a comic-book game forums, we might as well use comic-book terms, right? The Retcon involves looking for inconsistancies or not-on-topic items in your own previous posts, and pointing them out retroactively. After all, you didn't really mean what you said - you just weren't clear. Let's see this technique used with the above example:

Great Scott: Poster 2, I'm not sure that we should be straying on to the topic of whether power-gaming is ruining the game. We should stick with how ED affects recharge times, and power sets as a whole. My Pure Empath, for example, is having trouble keeping big teams alive under ED; heck, I think I have 6 powers with Recharge SO's 6-slotted. I just don't think that ED is a net positive. I might have to /respec into Stamina, since my auras won't be up as often. Maybe I'll get the Medicine pool?

Poster 2: G-S, you're full of B-S. Any Empath worth his beans knows to slot ACTUAL IMPROVEMENTS in his powers, not +Recharge. If you were actually slotting Heals or Recovery in your Auras you'd not only be a better Defender, you'd not be affected by ED at all, as well. Get back to me when you have a clue...Medicine pool? What the heck?!

Great Scott: Poster 2, my build isn't really a good example of a common Hero theme - I'm thinking about the Medicine pool because this is a Tech hero, and the animation fits my character. I wasn't discussing build options, really - I'm talking about how long recharge powers weren't altered to reflect the effective Hasten nerf... especially considering that many recharge times were altered for Heroes with perma-Hasten.

Superficially, my post makes sense - I was talking about ED, not my Empath. The Medicine pool defense was a little weak, but I didn't have much to work with there - it's tough to defend statements custom-designed to get commentary from other posters.

Realistically, not only have I deflected criticism about my post, I've moved Poster 2 on to new, enticing targets. My comment about Perma-Hasten causing powers to be indirectly nerfed (this is a common misconception) will open new vistas of discussion; my "inability to play an Empath" will be completely forgotten.

I could, of course, have gone on the offensive and pointed out that I've played 67 levels of Empaths (2 Heroes), and...oh jeez... 220 levels of Defenders (scaring myself), but that would be worse then useless. Assuming that Poster 2 believed me, and assuming that Poster 2 agrees with me that they all weren't Powerleveled, he would just offer that he has had different experiences, and I'd look like a self-important know-it-all. Which you never want other people to see, especially if it's true.

Step 1: Flame Wars are Something Other People Start...And You Don't Finish.

Let's hit the burning ground running and talk about Flaming, and why it doesn't work for you.

Firstly, random, misdirected (or undirected) Flaming gets the thread locked. Nothing kills a thread faster than a hard lock, and if there's anything a Troll DOESN'T do, it's "suicide by Mod".

Secondly, indiscriminate burning is a quick way to be labeled a "Troll", and, once you're labeled, it becomes impossible to affect the discussion in a meaningful way. Ironically, no good Troll will do this, and, in fact, most of the time the label is applied to people who don't deserve it. While the irony is delicious, don't eat too much or you'll get some on you.

In any event, avoid negative labels at all costs. The best way to view your forum reputation is as a piggy bank, which you build up by appearing smart and reasonable, and spend by using Stupid Forum Tricks. Everyone loves SFTs, so building up a modicum of street cred is a major goal.

Lastly, flaming gets people distracted from the direction that you are trying to take the thead. In the larger goal of "generate discussion by any means necessary", it's easy to forget that flames aren' t just useless - they are a net negative. Nothing gets talked about other than the flames, and that's not good for our (or any) purposes.

Step 0: Making a (black) Mark.

Yes, there is a step zero. Stop and think... before you start to post, and build up a large reputation based on your name, the first thing you need is a good, solid, Forum handle. Don't be uncreative (like me); pick something really memorable.

Funny is good, strange is better, both at once is best. Don't use your Toon name, or your Account login, unless that toon name is really nice (I could have been "Captain Innuendo", "My Hero, Zero" or "The Flaming Excremental"...on second thought, maybe not).

Don't forget your Avatar. It doesn't need to be high art, or animated, but it needs to be something that is very different from everyone else out there.

I don't need to see Pilcrow's name, or Stupid Fanboy's. The whole "dancing <censored!> / Mary Poppins" thing sticks out. SF's "White Flag" sticks out. Mine involves the irony of a "great" person that made his Avatar in MS Paint ...and it shows. No one has ever gotten the joke, but it's there.

Prelude: What, Me Troll? A Seven-Step Program.

Trolling is both a science and an art. It takes both skill and intuition to properly post for the best results.

But before we get into advanced techniques, we should discuss just what trolling is, to be clear. Trolling is the process of posting for maximum response.

I'm not talking about random flaming, or name calling, or thread-jacking. They all have their (warm) place, but that's not trolling, that's merely posting without manners. Any Troll can do that, but not everyone has what it takes to be a good Troll. I can't tell you what art is, but I can show it to you, and describe some techniques to maximize the abilities you already have.

Note: I tried (really!) to get this all done in one big post.

Sadly, it's just too big of a project to do all at once.

Rather than wait week after week without posting anything, I'll release this Magum Op/Ed in stages.

Sorry for the inconvenience.

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I have a level 22 ice/ss tank and playing it is both frustrating and fun. On one hand I like the challenge but on the other I often end up running away from fights leaving my team mates to fend for themselves. I hope they throw ice tanks a bone in the next release....

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If you have to run away, you need better teammates, and as my ex-paratrooper tanker-playing son says, "a brain and a plan".

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Agreed.

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Yeah, I know. I love being forced to think when I'm goofing off. That's the epitome of "fun", or something. For someone else.

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It's the easy way out to whine about how things are and say "what's the use?"

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Actually, it's not easy.

Not giving up on my Claws/Regen for every Issue (and in-between!) finally caught up with me in Issue 5.

Spending more that a year trying to squeeze every bit of performance out of a Hero (so I wouldn't have to take MoG or IH) kinda beat the feedback out of me.

I finally caved in and respecced into IH....a few days before the new, "click" version.

Now I play Defenders, since they provide a visible benefit to the Team that my "concept" Tanks and Scrappers no longer can.

Now, that said, if you're interested in adding some Heroes to the team, by all means let me know. At the moment, I've got:

L31 Energy/Energy Blapper
L36 FF/Psi Defender (2)
L37 Empathy/Psi Defender
L27 Sonic/Sonic Defender (2)

Any of those should fill out the "non-Tank" part of the pentad just fine.

While I have zero interest in testing some more, I'm always very interested in playing with a good team.

Thanks,
-> Scott.

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End result? Well, no one was that familiar with their builds. The Controller was defeated by getting too close to another spawn. The Peacebringer carelessly tossed off attacks and ended up aggroing too much. After those two defeats, we settled down and functioned fine.

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Well, here is the problem in a nutshell. My "fun" cannot and should not be dependant on the skill of other players.

If I sacrifice ultility powers and soloing ability in order to be more successful (more specialized) in a team setting, then by definintion I should be able to "carry the team".

By default? No. Every Tank should be able to "Tank" with aid from the team, even wtih a suboptimal build.

Guarunteed? No. Every Tank should experience some risk when doing his function. "Some Risk" includes the possibility that there is no Defender or Controller on the team.

But if a Tank is totally specialized toward the job of "meatshield", wiht one-slotted attacks, then I fully expect that the Tank should be able to hold and survive aggro from two full spawns for the 30-45 seconds it will take a poor team to defeat them all.

I don't feel that most builds can do that.

While Tanks are currently both functional, and able to help the team, "playable" does not equal "fun". The current power difference between Tanks is where all customization lies.

If the overall ability of Tank powers are reduced too much, two different bad things happen: all Heroes take the same powers at the same levels with the same enhancements, and no Hero will pick a playstyle different from any other.

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Heh, I find it funny how people go from "Statesman knows too little about his own game!" to "Statesman knows too much about his own game!"

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Actually, no. The actual quotes mean "Statesman knows too little about how we play the game" to "Statesman expects too much effort from his players".

An argument isn't invalid just because it's poorly articulated.

You missed a question: "Why do the Invulnerability set encourage herding when herding is frowned upon?" (this is a Invincibility reference).

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This will mean I don't need Taunt any more, which is a net plus.

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So... what role do you see your tank being in?
Me? I like to protect my less-defended teammates by being able to hold the aggro of the things
we're fighting.
I honestly hope people aren't abandoning taunt because they saw it as a herding tool and not a
somewhat essential ability for an effective tank to have.

lol... boggles my mind a bit.

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You hit my point exactly, HansJanus. You see, a well-played Tank can keep aggro on 12-15 mobs WITHOUT Taunt, Auras and Punch-voke can handle that (especially since I can replace other enhancement with Taunt Duration because of ED)

Taunt is really only needed to grab momentary aggro from LTs/Bosses who peel off to attack a damage dealer..who, now, with ED, is doing less damage (and so my Taunt effects are harder to break).

I can replace Taunt with a melee attack, and be absolutely fine. Since there is now a Taunt limit, no ability the Tank has available will keep 2 full spawns on him, and the main use for Taunt was to... 1) Grab initial aggro (not applicable due to the 17-mob limit), and 2) Pull fleeing mobs back to him (unneeded due to the new limit).

Which is nice, since there are other powers I'd like to take.

I understand that this is a perverse viewpoint, but it's quite true. Taunt no longer has a use to an "active" Tank. For a "passive" Tank, Taunt has a hard limit of 5 targets per use, so you can't keep your team safe unless you are very active or have a Taunt aura....so if you're keeping your team safe post-I5...no need for Taunt.

Thanks for the clairification, States!

This will mean I don't need Taunt any more, which is a net plus.

D'oh! Thanks for the temporary boost. I imagine that the number-crunchers will notice this sooner or later.

It's actually pretty bad...but compared to ED it won't make anyone's radar. I wonder what else is being stealth nerfed while our attention is elsewhere?

Good plan, Norfed.

I'll mention this to my SG tonight. This could really help us finish some tough missions.

Thanks,
-> Scott.

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I had hasten in some of my characters and didn't in others. It was not a *must have* power, but it was still a very strong power.

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Hasten was never a must-have power. Hardly any of my Heroes had it. The "theme" Heroes I had that DID have perma-Hasten needed it.

You are assuming that because a Power is powerful it *must* be taken. That assumption is wrong, by your own admission (I had hasten in some of my characters and didn't in others.)

The only explaination that I can see for why the I6 changes as they are, they are very positive for the game and makes the game a lot more fun is that you disapprove of other player's build choices.

When viewed in that light, your response to this post is technically a form of greifing.

Sigh.

Moving both Damage and Recharge to Schedule "B" does everything that the Devs want ED to do, and doesn't do many of the things Players don't like about ED. (Travel powers not able to be 6-slotted, etc)

But I suppose Dev solutions aren't allowed to make sense...

Thanks, Positron, this is helpful.

It really doesn't change the core ED problem of "I've got these extra slots....and not much to do with them" problem, though.

This combined with the new ability to free up two slots for Recharge in most powers (duplicating the current effect of Hasten) pretty much balances Attack power sets.

We are now (forcibly) free from "needing" Hasten and/or Stamina. I don't fully understand how these powers were a problem, but since I can now compensate for their loss, it's a non-issue. Good solution.

However, neither Endurance Reductions nor "extra slots" for Recharge Reductions has any positive effect on the following sets:

Empathy
Sonic Resonance
Force Field
Super Reflexes
Regeneration
Invulnerability
Stone Armor
Ice Armor
Firey Aura

I consider that to be a problem.

EDIT: I just had another idea. Why can't a Knockback % Chance / Stun % Chance / Damage-Over-Time % Chance Enhancements be created?

Mobs already have resistances to status protections, so I don't believe that creating new enhancement types to change the Chance of a secondary effect, rather than the Duration, will break anything.

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but we’ve finished making large changes to the power sets.

LMAO - this is too rich.

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Apparently, they are done with the power sets.

Silly me, I thought that meant they were done with the nerfs.

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Yeah-up. This is going to be, as my dear mother once said when driving off a cliff on accident (really), "Intensely interesting".

And here I thought Empaths didn't catch any major nerfing. Boy am I a dumb-<censored>.

The nerfage is starting to get beyond the ability of CoHplanner builds to compensate. Fun, fun.

.

All "doom" kidding aside, I'm really starting to get concerned about the disconnect between the players and the devs.

Am I supposed to dual-box two Kinetics defenders on two accounts to get recharge and END use under some kind of control? Is that really what we're going to end up with here?

.

This is like some kind of cutesy "arms race" between kids that want to stay up late and their parents. The parents, in the end, always win. Of course, that's exactly the kind of "war" that everybody loses.

Bringing the focus back to CoH, unlike those darn kids, I don't like paying for the "privilege" of having to outsmart people to have some fun.

I can do that for free, somewhere else.

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Second, now that there's actual risk involved, now that I'm not invincible with IH running all the time, the game is actually fun. I was so bored of my main (37 MA/Regen Scrap in I4) that I just stopped playing him.

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I'm so frustrated with my Fast Healing + Health toon (never had and couldn't take Instant Healing, role played "regen", not "I'm not hurt"), that I've shelved him.

It's good to see that you're having fun, though.

My weird, strange builds are suffering on a much lower setting.

Incidentally, why aren't you playing on Invincible? You seem to like the XP, and it's still very doable for most Scrappers...

Just a sec...putting on my "Dev Hat"... ok! done.

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Please advise me what is 'fun' about movement suppression?

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It stops ganking in some, specific, Arena matchups.

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Please advise me what is 'fun about capping my Nova's AoE?


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What ISN'T fun about this? Why would someone be Nova-ing more than one spawn? That's not playing the game as intended, and so it can't be stopping any "fun".

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Please advise me what is 'fun' about reducing my base resistances?

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This change adds "fun" for Sonic Defenders. After all, their "fun" counts, too.

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Please advise me what is 'fun' about reducing my few defenses (Stealth, Hover, Hasten)

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This is the much-talked-about "fun increase" for Force-Field Defenders. In addition, sleepwalking through a mission where nothing can hit you isn't "fun". Oh, and it reduces the Defender's role, as well.

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Please advise me what is 'fun' about reducing my two Dark Servants to one and reducing their effectiveness?

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Danger can be exciting, and excitement is "fun"! Multiple Dark Servants effectivly added Controllers to the party roster. Since Controller AoEs were reduced, pets that could duplicate an extra Controller need to be reined in as well.

Now DDD's can experience the "fun" of "the threat of Defeat", like other power sets.

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Please advise me what is 'fun' about reducing the effectiveness of my enhancements for content that doesn't exist yet?

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We'd have to do it some time, in order to add more "fun" later! And we're doing you the favor of having plenty of time to get used to the new power performance, so you'll be all ready for the new content...when it arrives.

Devs: Challenge is always fun. Oh, and this exact amount of challenge, too. Otherwise, you'll get bored and leave, or something.

Players: Challenge is sometimes fun, with some toons. What's the deal with this level of challenge, anyway? None of my toons work, I'm leaving.

Moral of the story: Challenge is defined differently by every person. Even worse, it's defined differently by the same person playing a different toon.

Furthermore, people that are "bored" by CoH because it's "too easy" are still here playing it, after 5 Issues. I don't see that argument as holding as much weight as the Devs seem to.

While I agree that enviorment changes might affect some players less than power changes, this:

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I5 wasn't about nerfing the casual player.

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This isn't the case. Or, more precisely, nerfing the casual player was an unintended (severe) consequence.

The power changes radically change how some power sets play. It more importantly alters most pool powers.

This will make anyone without knowledge of the new numbers (casual players) choose and slot powers inappropriately.

Joey Smith has no idea that Weave is now 4.33% base in Issue 5.

In fact, unless he's astute, he might not know that it was dramatically changed. All that will be obvious is that, even after mob to-hit reductions (if he even read the patch notes), he's getting hit more and dying more.

A halfway decent no-numbers player might even notice this and, say, 6-slot Weave, thinking that there would be an improvement to his Hero for those 5 slots.

That's what I see happening to the casual player. And, let's not forget, a truly "casual" player isn't extremely loyal to this game.

If it's less fun, they'll leave, and they won't try Hero Planner or come to the message boards first. They'll just cancel.

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Strangely, I don't have issues running missions on heroic with any duo, let alone tanker/blaster or tanker/nova kheld.

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I don't, either. I'm sure that even a Ice/Ice Tank + Claws/SR Scrapper duo can run missions in the Hollows on Heroic by being careful, using Rest every time it comes up, and buying inspirations before every mission.

This doesn't mean that playing that way would be much fun.

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And oh yes, I play on pickup teams quite regularly. I see all sorts of 8-ball team configurations work well and all sorts that don't. The only common denominator I can pick out is the teams that make no effort to coordinate and work together are debt waiting to happen and far moreso than in i4.

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I have an equal and opposite experince in a PuG. 2 Storm Defenders and my Melee Blaster were teamed up in a -1 mission. Easy.

Except for the fact that all the enemies were consistanly pushed outside their Buff auras. They were utterly unhelpful to me, and I was utterly unhelpful to them. Skill didn't enter into it, we were all excellent players.

I went an logged in with another toon, which wasn't what I wanted to do at that time.

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When I stopped, in i4, trying to boost my +defense from power pools and substituted the medicine pool and aid self, my survivability went up, not down. In i5, I don't have and I don't miss the medicine pool and I didn't pick up pool defenses.

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You choice. This has nothing to do with the numbers in-game. By level 30 or so, all you are doing with this approach is spiting yourself. You will eventually have all your attacks slotted. When that happens, any amount of defenses are good, since there is nothing else to do with the slots.

My Blaster has the entire Fitness and Fighting pool slotted up, and I didn't ignore 6-slotting my attacks. I don't see why you respecced here, because there aren't any powers to drop your defenses FOR. This, as I said, only applies 30+, of course.

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Groups going after content that is closer to everyone's level plays directly into making me more survivable, and that plays directly into me providing a better benefit to my team.

After all, a defeated blaster deals no damage.

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True, but irrelevant. My point was that a 6-Defender team that needs more damage won't get another Defender. Blasters/Scrappers simply have more damage, and when damage is being reduced by the level mod, more is good.

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The only content I would really want a tank for would be fighting an arch-villain, and even then a couple controllers work wonders, or a defender-buffed scrapper, or even a dwarf-form kheldian.

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You follow up this with....

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Fighting +level cons means enemies inherently hit more often and hit harder, and one's own defenses and powers and accuracy are lowered versus them. Taking return fire from +0 to +2 level minions is a lot differant than taking return fire from +3 to +5 or higher level minions. My blaster can two-shot a +1 minion without much stress and in 3-4 shots knock out a comparable Lt.

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That. Be consistant. Assuming a Tank has no role, then pointing out a situation where a Tank is most useful? Maybe we should craft a specific Team to argue with.

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It used to be "why get a blaster when you can get a scrapper who can do almost as much damage and require almost no looking after?" Now its "we need damage, any blasters or scrappers LFT?"

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You're welcome to your opinon, however, even after the nerfs, Scrappers..

1. Do more damage than Blasters. This is no longer debatable, and has been buffed into outright fact.
2. Are still more survivable than Blasters. I'd take Scrappers for the Status protection alone.

While I'm not the type of person that will Min/Max my Team, someone concerned only with maximum efficiency will not recuit a Blaster after level 25 or so.

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Err... really? Hmmm.... Well lets see, my sonic defender seems to enjoy the benefits of Vigilance. It gives me a lot more latitude to contribute damage to help defeat the bad guys, while sustaining disruption field, and using sonic siphon on tougher mobs, without worrying about having enough end for the next round of sonic bubbles....

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This is a great use for Vigilance! I agree that that's the optimal thing a Bubbler can do.

Watch helplessly as everyone dies, and use the Vigilance bonus to Blast Away/Take Aggro from the people in trouble, die yourself (since you can't bubble yourself), and then get debt before the team wipe.

That's thinking outside the Box, I agree. My teammates would never expect me to ignore them and start Blasting my way out of trouble.

In fact, I'm not sure the activation on Mental Blast would even finish before someone who got lucky-hit through a bubble gets hit again and dies....hmm, have to test this.

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So you want every victory to be easy, a guaranteed win? Are you hear for level 50 or the journey thereto?

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I play mostly Defenders. I get kicked if the going gets rough...for not doing my job well enough.

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So, play on heroic where things are your level (boosts your real accuracy, real damage, and real survivability in comparison), complete missions faster for the mission xp bonus, enjoy the increased experience overall, and stop thinking that invincible is a standard for anyone.

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Here I'd disagree. If I could play the Old (Issue 4) Heroic level of difficulty, I would. Unfortunately, Heroic in Issue 5 matches up fairly well with Invincible in Issue 4.

So, from a gameplay perspective, I can only choose "Old Invincible" and go up from there.

If there was a setting to fight -1's or -2's in missions (to simulate Issue 4) I would do so. There isn't. We are all playing on Invincible by design.

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Yes I realize my answer is deeply sarcastic, but I find your assertion that you are constantly in over your head to be disengenuous at worst and indicative of a stubborn refusal to learn new tactics that aren't dependant on abilities that make fights trivially simple and reduce the "risk" in the risk vs. reward equation to near-zero consistently.

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The Issue 5 Nerfs have made it so, Yes, Indeed, me and everyone I play with are in over thier head. This was especially apparent when my friends and I rerolled new toons, that were suffering under nerfs that were designed to limit L35+ toons.

Did we cope by trying new Tactics? Yes.
Did we use the new Rest every time it came up and take frequent breaks? Yes.
Did we learn new and interesting levels of detail about the AI? Yes.
Did we level? Yes.

Was it fun? No.

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So you ignore your entire secondary and wonder why you aren't as effective? /boggle.

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There's actually an (outdated because of Vigilance) formula for this. IT works quite well. Any Defender with more than 4 slots in Blasts prior to Level 20 is a bad one. I thought of it as overly sarcastic until I started asking Defenders about their builds.

Sure enough, the ones with attacks slotted early weren't doing much for the team.

Of course, I'm falling afoul of the Forum Assumption that "Anyone with a Strong Opinion has Doesn't Know What They are Talking About."

I get told I'm misinformed constantly, mostly be people that don't know that I've played every single primary powerset beyond 22.

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The entire argument that "I play to be a superhero" tends to be based on the unspoken last-half of that sentence "...compared to the others on my team." Now that everyone on a team has to actually play their charcters to make more than a "how fast do we win" differance, those that used to win or lose team-level content without needing a team to win or lose are suddenly "not super" and feel "the game sucks".

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This isn't just wrong, this is borderline insulting.

My opinions aren't just my own - they are shaped by the aggregate of me and the people I play with. When I mention that I've seen something, it doesn't mean I'm championing it.

When I say "This will cause bad XP/Hour" I'm not saying I play that way, I'm supporting an argument that people who DO play that way won't recuit Blasters. I say that because I've seen it. Do I personally agree with that? no.

Keep this stuff out of your posts. It just isn't helpful in any way. Thanks.

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Oh wait, all ATs are superfluous.

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Strickly speaking, this isn't true.

All-Blaster and All-Scrapper teams underperform terribly.

All-Tank teams can at least spread out aggro when a member gets in trouble.

Tanks are only superfluous when there are no Controllers or Defenders on a team.

A rare occasion, I know...

The Ganker reported each and every member of "Sailor Princesses of the Silver Millenium" SG.

Yes, that also means our SG name was hosed, too...along with some of our toon names.

Toasted, for one of our toons costumes appearing too much like Sailor Mars after refusing a certain someone an "kiss" emote.

Amazing, eh?

Also pretty cool since many of these people only keep thier accounts for this SG. Nice.

I've since talked to everyone, and I guesstimate only 6-7 cancellations. On the bright side, this means I'll have some space opening up in my Global list.

EDIT: Sorry, the level of everyone was the 35-40 range.