IanTheM1

Except this wouldn't strictly be a QoL issue. It's a serious economy/balance issue.

As for when he said it, if it wasn't post IOs, it was likely close enough before they were released that he knew of their looming existence. I honestly can't say for sure though, since my memory of the I7-I9 period has grown hazy.

Anything that improves the ability to make concept characters is a good thing, IMO.

I'm not really clear on what RP oppositions there could be.

Of course, I'm still a little nervous about making everything a global unlock. Giving out special recipes for earning the appropriate badge/kill count for the weapon which can then be transferred to another character has always been a favorite alternative of mine.

Thanks for proving you haven't been keeping up with the thread. I pointed out this very point a few posts ago, and so I offered a secondary argument:

Please explain what logic there is in a hat (not even a full helmet) costing the same amount of accrued reputation as a giant robot. Considering the Vanguard willingly gives out disposable robots wearing more armor than is actually in the Vanguard costume set...

Moreover, I take offense to your tone. My "agenda" isn't nefarious, nor is it whining. And, maybe if the RWZ was the only end-game zone available, you might have a point about negative consequences of reducing a pointless grind, but since there's other content out there to experience, the prices are too damned high. I don't feel like spending all of my playtime in the War Zone.

And, to repeat this, since the point keeps getting lost: The thrust of these threads have always been to lower the prices. Not to give out the costumes for free, or as a booby prize. We're perfectly willing to work towards a goal, but the scale of that goal as it currently stands is absurd for those unwilling or incapable of doing Ship Raids. Not to mention those of us who would like to start a Vanguard character from level 1.

Incorrect. They did increase the rewards for the Trial. But everyone stopped doing them because actually putting effort into earning XP seems to be hard to grasp for some folks.

Because there's absolutely no harm in making it easier for everyone to get. And because, as previously mentioned time and time again, there are plenty of good reasons why people can't or won't do Ship Raids.

I guess the Devs should revoke the XP curve smoothing they did. After all, I never had a problem getting to level 20 in a timely fashion, and neither did anyone I know. Why change what's perfectly workable?

There's a good point: You know about the AE. That's nigh-infinite content, plenty of it built for level 50s and challenging to boot. Do those.

I'm also not sure why your team was having so much trouble determining if the shield was down. Last time I did the Trial, it was big, blue, and obvious.

I generally don't even have trouble on Brutes with longer animation times. But it also heavily depends on several other factors. It's a lot harder to do at earlier levels before you get all of your attacks, for instance.

(Why yes, I was teasing this line of argument out just to prove the opposite. Aint I a sneaky one.)

Cheers, mate!

I don't appreciate you impinging on my Dominator's playstyle.

And since I was talking about hard controls anyway...an entire stunned mob that isn't fighting back is going to cut into your Fury quite significantly.

Seeing as how we're talking about Willpower, it doesn't slow down the killing in that regard.

But if you insist, I'll make the same point again: Clearly we must remove AoE controls from Dominators. Mezzed groups don't attacks, hurting my precious Brute's Fury, which slows down the killing.

Also, only one Brute per team. And Tankerminds get shot into the sun.

...Badges?

I think my entire disagreement with you can be summed up with this:

My Brute's playstyle is to kill things. Then kill more things. Until everything is dead.

Knockback powers don't grey out my attacks, so all is good.

I'll simply disagree in regards to that first point.

Either way, I'm still not seeing the problem. Mobs on their butts are mobs that aren't doing damage. Momentary survivability goes up. In most cases, they'll be swiftly dealt with regardless. That said, sustained survivability may be affected, but that also heavily depends on what KB power, how many enemies, and other very specific conditions.

In other words, remove the fight, remove the need for defensive toggles. This is bad because?

I'm at a loss then. Either you're saying that KB affects Willpower's survivability or...that KB is annoying. I'm saying that if the average KB situation is affecting your ability to withstand damage, you're probably doing something wrong.

Otherwise, it sounds like you're far too deadset on maximizing RttC's bonus (and your Fury) even if it's not strictly necessary. But then this just loops back around to "showboating melee AT runs the show" argument that I'm very much trying not to accuse you of.

Replace all references to Dual Blades with any other set and/or any other AoE attack (or pretty much any other attack, period), then. My point still stands.

And my Dominator who can instantly stun an entire mob has to wait for the Brute to take alpha and herd the enemies because...? (I'll be fair, this is pure nitpickery, but it's an honest question.)

My question was in direct response to the idea that KB/scatter makes it harder to build Fury. In my experience, being forced to close the tiniest bit of distance while "chasing" mobs is nothing (especially with Swift) compared to getting almost zero Fury from a mob that doesn't attack at all, or even worse, when another Brute is already grabbing all the attention.

So, to get down to my point: Do Dominators also impinge on Brutes' intended playstyle? Do competing Brutes? And do you think that the 5~ seconds or less spent closing into melee distance on the occasional enemy is actually more hurtful to Fury?

And we're back to "melee ATs don't like pressing the W key". Oi. If the mobs won't bring themselves to you, bring yourself to the mob.

I suppose the bigger question is where you folks run into "scatter" in the first place. Considering that the large majority of KB is directional, and that the large majority of environments in CoX amount to "a hallway," I'm very unsure of how these horror stories about mobs being strewn to the farthest corners of the map even happen.

Except with Solar Flare is involved. Ugh. Solar Flare.

That's what I was getting at. I'm somewhat more amenable (though maybe not entirely so) to something like Chinatown because it exists in a clear, evocative way. I'm just foggy on the specifics of an Italian-themed area. Perhaps I'm just ignorant of places like Little Italy, but doesn't it pretty much boil down to a cityscape...with lots of Italian restaurants?

Not to mention my concerns with it being mostly a haven constructed for the Family. The devs have actually gone out of their way to try and distance the Family from being a strictly Italian organization.

The Vanguard set isn't the hardest to get, it's just the most tedious. Seeing as how you can only get the Red Cap daggers from one holiday-based mission, they're rare, but killing 333 Red Caps of any kind is actually pretty straight-forward.

And the Tommy Gun should theoretically be easier to get now that they made the Untouchable badge easier to get...but as far as I know the relationship between different Family bosses and the two different kill badges is still tangled and buggy.

Not that I disagree, mind.

On the whole, I dislike ideas for zones that revolve around a single ethnic group, especially since it just leads to stereotypes. (What exactly makes a zone "Italian"?) Plus the general nonsensicalness of scale. I could get behind, say, a Chinatown area since it's something that actually exists, but as an entire zone?

Family already get three really good bases of operation in CoX. Indy Port, Striga Isle, and Port Oakes. The real problem is that they get almost no time in the spotlight blueside, and they get a single easily-missed arc redside which is equally focused on the Mooks.

For someone who cares about crafting, more storage space is a godsend. For someone who doesn't, it's 5 more salvage drops I can wait before I have to futz with my inventory again or go sell stuff. Pragmatically speaking, that's has far wider appeal than say, a costume set.

And while I do like the Trainer TP idea, its application as a PL helper does give me pause. Not to mention its probable use as yet another shortcut power. I suppose those concerns are mitigated somewhat by the high vet level.

The problem is that MMs already are damage oriented. It's just that the overwhelming majority of their damage comes from their pets. And I don't see that changing any time soon due to the complete meltdown that would likely hit the MM player community if Castle reduced henchman damage just to buff the largely-skipped blasts.

Of course, if I had the opportunity, I'd love to revamp MMs entirely and try to bring them closer to their original design goal. And the best part is that it would largely have nothing to do with the henchmen themselves.

As for something more on topic...the only MM weapon change I'd still love to see is splitting each of the sets of three blasts into their own sub-pool and letting you mix and match, allowing things like Dual Pistols/Bots or Assault Rifle/Thugs.

I'm not sure how much you really mean this, but honestly I've grown tired of this argument. Willpower has 8 other powers, and while the rez isn't doing you any favors while you're still alive, the rest certainly are.

If a few enemies being knocked out of RttC is all it takes to faceplant you, apparently nigh-instantly, then it sounds like you're fighting enemies which are too difficult for you (and your team) to handle.

Brutes get a more limited version of Gauntlet. If you've been attacking the enemies surrounding you, they will be aggroed. And since you're Dual Blades, Typhoon's Edge is definitely getting lots of use.

Question: What are your thoughts on Dominators? Mezzed mobs don't generate Fury either.

Vanguard Merits are still level-locked at 35. It's one of my contentions with Issue 16, since they specifically went out of their way to lock them down. And even if they weren't, I'd also find your point a bit absurd anyway, since the raid is biased towards optimized, high-level builds.