Ironik

Any plans on fleshing out specific story arcs or series of missions tailored for each Origin? Or perhaps tailored to each of the upcoming Epic ATs?

I'd love to have a completely different experience with a Tech hero than I do with a Magic hero.

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Unlike most blasters, I think Defiance may be... Overpowered. We'll have to see. That's a heck of a lot of buffing, there. And you're making it even MORE worthwhile?


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I'm just wondering, have you played on Test?

Here is the way it works.

Once your health gets really low (like 40% I think is the number the devs say, but it's been more like 30-35% from the looks of my health bar), you start earning defiance for EACH time you are hit. That means that you have to take a bunch of hits to move the meter up to that 500%. . . AFTER you are at 33% or lower.

Any sort of heal (inspiration or power of any rank) kills the Defiance meter completely. . . back to 0.

So it really doesn't get used often, and in the higher level game it really isn't used. Blasters that take damage that low are reaching for health inspirations immediately because not doing so would equal xp debt.

In a game with experience debt, this kind of archetypal power isn't that useful in PvE. .. However, I think the idea is to use it in PvP and I can see it working dramatically well for a blaster that is grouped with a Sonic Defender (sonic defenders can buff damage resistance. . . this means the blaster might be able to take as many as 5 to 10 hits after getting that low in health before dying and could conceivably fill their meter).

However, for those NOT playing with a Sonic Defender, it means getting an occassional slight buff to damage when your health is really low.

I can totally see every blaster respeccing into any and every damage resistance pool power though. If we could survive 5 hits after getting low enough that the meter starts working, then we could probably get at least one attack off that has like a 100% damage buff.

Oh, btw, forgot to mention. Each power you cast ALSO drains a point on the Defiance meter, so you have to KEEP getting hit while at low health over and over for it to go up. The highest I've seen my Defiance meter get filled (with a lowbie character that can take more hits even) is 1/3.

I'd really love this power AS IS if the game didn't have xp debt. I think it will be a fun edition to PvP too. However, I'm really glad they are moving up the time when it starts going up because that means we might actually get use out of it when we aren't lucky enough to group with a Sonic defender.

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I didn't know any of this stuff... is this accurate?

This does take away the idea of playing constantly in the red by having FF/Sonic bubbles and popping Lucks.

As far as I'm concerned, the Defiance issue is dead. It's a nice little addition to the game, but I'm never going to play with it in mind. If I get the buff, great; if I don't, no biggie. I'd much rather they spent their time fixing broken stuff rather than adding this sort of marginally useful thing, but since it's already here I'll take it.

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Or something personal against Synapse?

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Well, being that Synapse is a Blaster with just Super Speed as a defense, Manticore just figured he was already at the debt cap, so it didn't really matter if Synapse got trashed while scouting.

You see, one thing that was omitted from the trailer was that States and Manticore were on teamspeak when he told Synapse to head in on the regular team chat. States wanted to see how Defiance worked for a blaster (which we saw the results of that test) and Manticore was just surprised that Synapse fell for it.

Very pragmatic, that Manticore. I like him.

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I'm sending you the bill from my doctor -- I think I pulled a muscle laughing at that!

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The stealth changes perhaps make the least sense of any of the I5 changes we have seen so far.

It doesn't make any practical sense that Stealth, Cloaking Device, or whatever should shut off simply because you attack. Thematically this change makes no sense at all.


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Actually, you lose only half the buff, though. And it does make sense... Lets say your Solid Snake, and hiding in the shadows with around six guards out in the open about five feet away from you. Now, they haven't seen you yet, so your perfectly safe. Now, lets say you need to take one of them out, and whip out your non-Silenced pistol.

You cap one of them in the head, dropping him like a stone. Problem is, the other five guards now know your there, thanks to the fact that they just heard a fricken gunshot go off five feet from them and their buddy is now bleeding all over the place. Now, the guards arn't stupid. They don't know exactly where you are, but the fact that you just fire a really loud handgun has given them a general idea of where you are. So, taking their handy dandy AK-47 rifles, they open fire on the spot where they believe your hiding.

Now, because they don't know exactly where you are, their shots won't be accurate. But with *THAT* much ammo flying in your general direction, you can bet that one of them is gonna get lucky. So now you might be wondering, well what about the other groups in the area? They shouldn't be able to see him!

Well, lets say another group of guards come in. Now, they are certainly going to wonder why their buddies are suddendly trying to cast magic missiles at the darkness... Er, I mean, why they are unloading their precious, precious Ammo at that shadowy wall. Well, odds are they realize (Or the other guards comment) that there is an intruder there. So, naturally, they join in, trying to send our buddy Snake into that big ol' foxhound in the sky.

(Also, I only use Solid Snake in this example because he's a favorite of mine. Feel free to insert your own favorite stealth character. Sam Fischer, Snake Eyes, Sly the Racoon, it's all good)

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Actually, I've always envisioned Stealth as more like the Predator's light-bending field. The reaction you describe is similar to the one in Predator where they unload an unholy hailstorm of bullets into the jungle where they think he is, yet despite that just barely nick him.

Which pretty much describes how the various Stealth powers work now.

I'd much rather that different ATs receive different buffs, since Blasters need it far more than Tankers. For story purposes, make it a range thing. The farther away you are when you attack, the greater your buff. Because it's harder to see the Predator at a distance than when he's nearby, and because accuracy should decrease at range.

(And per Statesman's original post, using "loose" when you mean "lose" drives me nuts. This is why I named my WoW pet "Peeve.")

Told you guys there was a reason.

Luck to Statesbrother! Tell him to say "hi" to my cousin.

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On a different note,

When are DA Scrappers FINALLy going to be fixed?

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By "fixed" do you mean "neutered?" Gonna have to catch 'em first, methinks.

I don't want to be a negative Nelly about the Defiance thing, but... ah, well, with both feet here I go.

The concept is okay, but in practice Defiance doesn't do anything for me. I'm thinking the original name "Desperation" was more apppropriate, because it really is a "take you with me" kind of power rather than something to rely on in everyday gaming.

As mentioned by other posters, Defiance encourages a reckless style of play that simply incurs more debt. If you hit that last guy then you're golden; if you miss him or if there's more than one baddie nearby then you're toast. It works better in teams than solo, because you have more of a chance to survive when you have a sliver of life left, but you tend to either be dead or running like hades. If I were to play normally, then Defiance would almost never be a factor. By the time I get down to that 5% health where it kicks in, it's time to stop gunnin' and start runnin'. I'm already dreading pick-up groups where the healers refuse to heal my Blasters so that Defiance can work.

I'm not sure why this feature was added when truly annoying bugs like the inability to buy inspirations on TFs wasn't fixed sooner. Personally, I'd much rather have that bug fixed than this weird QoL thingy. My Blasters really don't need more damage -- they need some mild resist to chain holds or suppression taken off their travel powers so they can go screaming out of a fight when necessary.

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Cal here is 100% accurate that he's right.

In Bizaro World.


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But in Bizzaro World, wouldn't he be trying to make people say he's wrong?

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Brane hertz, stop now.

Can't recall if my Photoshop stuff has been included (been away a while) so here's the link (in my sig).

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I think folks are missing the point. They're all too fixated on the whole "It doesn't sound like it's a sports article"; "It's too OOG"; "It needs box scores and quotes"; and all that. The thing has one simple job--explain the functions of the Battle Terminals. That's it. It doesn't have to entertain you. It doesn't have to talk about other sports. It doesn't have to expose corrupt politicians. It doesn't have to give you Statesman's shoe size. That I chose to invent a sports column as a vehicle--hey, my fun and my choice. It could easily have been a bulleted list.

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Ah, but how much richer it would be if you could squeeze in that stuff. I think it conveys the information necessary quite adequately, despite being hampered by such things as "PVP." Overall I've enjoyed the articles quite a lot, but striking that balance between information conveyance and verisimilitudinous style should always be the highest goal. I think you hit the mark more often when you aren't shackled by the need to explain game mechanics; that need definitely increases the difficulty factor.

My only criticism of the piece is the joking nature of the passing comment about the Rikti invasion. For Paragon City, this has to be one of the greatest tragedies/disasters of all time, and given that a follow-up mini-invasion happened just a year ago, I can't imagine joking about it would be well-received. The Paragon Times would receive numerous letters decrying such a tone, fulfilling the same function these forum responses do.

Say, maybe you should have a forum section called "Letters to the Editor."

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I went away from the computer to check on some CoV stuff and *wham* I received 5 or so PM's asking "what is the Blaster's role?"

Answer - Ranged damage.

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Thanks for the definition. Very much appreciated. However, if our role is ranged damage, why so much melee in the secondaries? Currently, the only Blaster secondary I will play is Devices because of the sheer amount of melee in other sets.

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I look at my level 50 Energy/Energy Blaster and I see that I've taken FOUR powers from his Secondaries. And the only reason I took Power Thrust is because I was forced to do so. Lots of Blasters like the melee powers, specifically because of the massive damage output. They also have a line of credit at every city hospital. For my playstyle, a melee power is one of last resort. It's the big boom you dispense right before you engage that credit line.

My Ice Blaster has holds instead of melee, which seems more suited to the "Blaster = range = life" ideal. Unfortunately, he's also saddled with worthless powers like Chilling Embrace and Shiver, only effective in melee range and Endurance drains. Necessitating Stamina. The real problem with "Blaster = range" is that half the maps aren't conducive to ranged attacks. And even those that are don't favor the Blaster because villains have greater range. One mez pretty much equals death. The only place you can safely hunt with risk on par with Scrappers and Tankers is outside. Once I got Boost Range + Hasten, I could double-buff BR, enhancing my Snipe's range and slowly whittle a boss down without aggroing him.

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Now, the issue is more specifically - what does a Blaster do that a Scrapper can't already do?

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Currently nothing.

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Pretty much. Snipe is about the only thing that comes to mind. Even the weakest of my Scrappers has a survival rate far exceeding the most powerful of my Blasters. Just the fact that my Scrappers can retreat to rest makes a huge difference.

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Or, even worse, is a Scrapper inherently "stronger" than a Blaster.

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In the game's current form - yes. Having Blaster damage with incredible defense makes them stronger IMO.

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Most of the times my Blasters have gone to the hospital is because the mez lasted just long enough for the bad guys to get in an extra hit. The appearance of Break Frees were a Devsend, but you don't always have those. I think a relatively simple yet helpful change would be to just give Blasters a slightly faster healing rate. Just a little tiny boost, just enough to avoid those deaths by holds.

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We want each Archetype to have a well defined role, and part of our Scrapper testing is aimed directly at this.

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I can tell you from experience that the Blaster's role of ranged damage is currently broken. There's nothing that we can do that another AT can't do safer than we can - that's just wrong.

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Pretty much the only defense Blasters have is a good offense. (Isn't that in the manual? It's been over a year since I read it.) But a teensy bit of help in the defense department wouldn't hurt.

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Secondly, I have no intention of removing melee attacks - it's just a "perception" by some Blasters that some of the Secondary Sets aren't as useful as Devices or Energy Manipulation. This is a rather frequent refrain in PM's (and the occasional forum post). This is something that we should also explore...we want all the Secondary sets to be fun.

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Personally, most of the fun is gone when I have to venture into melee range. For someone to even make good use of these melee powers, they have to take the Fighting pool. No player should have to use power pools to preform their ATs role.

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Yep, that was the same problems Tanks used to have, and the solution of Punchvoke -- while not to everyone's liking -- actually solved that particular problem. (I love Punchvoke.)

I made a melee Blaster just for the fun of it, and he is a hoot to play because of the enormous risk, but he folds like wet paper and spends half his time in the hospital. Consequently he's only level 6 or something. I can imagine once I've been able to max out his defenses and slot up his melee powers he'll be quite the little terror, but getting there will be a Sisyphean task.

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Your logic is flawed. If the devs are going to do this (and I have to agree that is will happen, since I believe the devs have no interest in any playtesting other than seeing if the code works as they plan). There is no point in attempting to find the "holes" since the entire concept is far worse than whatever holes are created.

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I disagree with you. This statement on the Regen thread is why.


[/ QUOTE ]While that is clearly stated, I am unaware of any change since issue 2 that has been plainly stated as a bad idea by what (at least to me) seemed a majority of posters (at least) were not in favor of and removed as a result. I'll believe it when I see it. I would believe it more if you ( or anyone) can point to a couple or recalled changes (not tweaks)

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Just incase there are those here that have not checked the Official Regen thread in the last few days (which is now locked by the way) the regen nerf for I4 has been cut. They have decided that their testing was not what it needed to be and will be redoing their testing.

Statesman on Official Regen Nerf now a locked thread.



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As much as I appreciate Statesman's apology and retraction over the Regen thing, Ericose does have a valid point. Players on the Test server seem to have just about the same reaction, percentagewise, to any changes that the general population has. And most of the unpopular changes on Test go through and become unpopular changes on Live. I haven't been keeping track of it closely, but hopefully the Devs can make a quick comparison (provided those threads are archived at all). I may be way off in my impressions, but that's the way it's seemed to me.

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And that doesn't cheapen things? That makes even less debt than what States said.

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Gah, you're right. My bad. Forget what I said. Leave debt the way it is.

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Couple of changes we're making in I5:

1) Instead of the first five levels being debt free, the first TEN levels will be debt free.

2) XP debt will be halved on mission maps (that includes outdoor mission maps, too).

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Well, that sounds... weird. Are people just not doing missions any more or something?

Removing debt is what a lot of players are crying for, but by taking out the disincentive to dying you'll cheapen the game. Instead how about if you cut debt by 50% per death in a mission? First death = 100 debt; second = 50; 3rd = 25, and so forth. That would give players a reason to keep trying instead of giving up.

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Given the date, I thought I should post something. However, one of these things is not true.

<ul type="square"> Icon doesn't operate in CoV territory. If you want a costume change, you go to the Facemaker.

Killer mimes.

There are 5 new archetypes in CoV.[/list]
I love being evil!

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You have boggled my mime.

I haven't made my mind up about this, but it does suddenly clear up a mysterious incident I had a month or so ago -- a random hero ran up to me, invited me team and was asking me to do all these distance tests with Snipe and whatnot. Coincidence or Stealth Dev? Hmm.

That's exactly what's been proposed by the Devs. Relics and items of power. "Flags" in other words.

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I'm not opposed to players being able to make informed decisions. I'm opposed to "players who have invested their time and have obtained rewards legitimately" being treated as though they did something wrong.

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I don't consider it "wrong"...because I would like to do it myself. I cannot. Apparently my connection won't handle the Hami raid. So I'm left out in the cold while others can put in the "work" to gain an advantage over me. This effectively takes away the PvP option from me. I was looking forward to it...

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Actually, it only takes away the 45-50 portion of it, and even then it might not. (Teamwork for the win.) You'll still have 15-45 to play around with it.

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I like the idea of 'not logged in characters' being present, but as with the above post, don't see why they can't just instantly run off through 'emergency doors' upon base invasion - whether to support in other ways or to flee the battle.

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I pretty much hate this idea, especially for my heroes -- they do not run!

If our characters are going to be present while we're offline, then during a base invasion they need 1) to stay and fight, and 2) not incur debt when they lose.

This is why I prefer base-centric servants and video monitors/crystal balls displaying offline heroes in other parts of the city -- it maintains game immersiveness and avoids all the attendant problems of having offline player characters present.

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I have a better idea. Instead of offline SG mates, specific predetermined bad guys you've defeated. 'Working off their debt to society'

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Complete with ball-and-chain for those magic cave-bases, or modern ankle lowjacks for high-tech bases. It would be hilarious to watch a bad guy base prisoner run away in terror from a base attack hampered by his leg shackles, his running reduced to baby steps!

(I'm so amazed this thread is still here. I'm equally hopeful that we'll get servants of some kind, since the Head Spider himself liked that idea upthread. )

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Here is the main problem with the new Rage. It has nothing to do with aggro or anything else.

It is, quite simply, not fun. It's not fun to stand there totally unable to act for ten seconds every two minutes.

This is a game. People play games in order to have fun. Anything that takes away from that fun does not belong in the game.

I don't think you will find ANY tank who says that the new Rage is fun. I sure don't think it is. But in order to avoid the un-fun part of Rage, I have to give up doing decent damage, which is also un-fun.

This was the problem with the original Rage. Getting chain-mezzed because it dropped and stunned you was not fun.

The same with the second version of Rage. Losing all your End, dropping your toggles, and being chain-mezzed was not fun.

While from the perspective of debt and experience the new Rage is far superior, it still is no better than the other two. Standing there like a moron while things pound on you, unable to respond, is not fun.

Once Rage is fixed so that it is fun, as anything in a game should be, the complaints will vanish.

As it is, if we want to have fun, we're penalized for it. The message given by all this is simple. "You're a tanker. You're not supposed to do damage."

"But we're superheroes!" you say in response. "We're supposed to bring the hurt to the badguys!"

"It doesn't matter, you have a role, that of meatshield, you're not supposed to do damage and we'll make sure that if you do you're penalized for it."



It's supposed to be a game... but how is this fun?

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BINGO!
Give SablePhoenix a prize!
The latest version of RAGE is extremely UN-FUN!

Do I die using the new Rage? Not yet...

Did I die using the old Rage? Yes once in awhile the disorient of an attack would tip the balance and I would almost always die in that situation if solo....

As an Invulnerability Tank my endurance is a precious commodity. Having to deal with these limitations is TEDIOUS and mind numbing as-is but here comes RAGE 3.0 with its 25% endurance hit and increased chance of toggle drop... YIPPEE!

Rage used to be a use at your own risk power. Sometimes it would bite you in the behind but it added a little OOMPH to a weak attack set and put SS'ers in the same league as Energy Melee, etc... Now Rage is the bumbling, annoying, IRRATATING power that constantly interrupts gameplay every 2 minutes ARRGGHHH!!!

DEV's please consider making RAGE a TOGGLE power and make folks 6 slot the damn thing so that they can run it all the time. That level of investment, enhancement wise, should more then balance things. If THAT doesn't float the boat then I suggest GETTING RID OF RAGE altogether, Boosting SS base damage for all attacks by 25% and give us BUILD UP instead.

I just HATE this new version of Rage and it has completely robbed me of any sense of fun when soloing with my Tank. Sweet Jesus! It wasn't like Rage let us hit as hard as scrappers anyways.... Even if a SS Tank could hit the 400% damage cap his attacks where nowhere near as potent as a scrappers. So what gives?

What makes me angry the most about these changes, was the fact that Cryptic just started making them without so much as a warning to us players. Suddenly one day there was changes on Test.... and now its LIVE!... Rage is a fundamental power in the SS line. You just can't blind side your player base without at least giving them fair warning. At the very least talk to your players and ASK for their input. Come up with something that is mutually acceptable to both sides...

These changes to Rage should have NEVER made it to the Live servers. Until Rage is changed into a format that the majority can agree on and is FUN to use, then it should really be reverted back to RAGE 1.0 and more testing be done on the TEST SERVER .

QF
One very disgruntled player.

PS - If anyone feels the need to flame me, don't bother. I obviously wrote this post in an ANGRY state of mind. My favorite hero hasd been altered in an unacceptable and extremely UN-FUN manner and I'm at my end of my rope.... *sigh*

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Meh, I don't care about Rage. I said months ago it should just be a weaker version of Build-Up... it's not like Tanks can ever do the damage a Scrapper can, even with all the additions to damage output. Besides, Scrappers get Build-Up/Focus Chi 22 levels before Tanks get Rage, so I don't see the problem with just giving Tanks a 75% version of BU/FC. Tanks will always be behind on the damage curve, which they should be, but all Tanks should at least do similar levels of damage to each other.

I was going to delete my Tanks, especially the Inv/SS ones, because we never did get the comic book-y toons we were promised. Then the WLs came and I was able to powerlevel them a good dozen levels, which took some of the sting out of playing 'em. Rage was never a power I was interested in before, and it's not now, so no loss to me. But everyone has a point where they hate the changes to their characters, and you guys have finally reached that point.

Welcome to the club.

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I will say, I'm not the only person that thinks there is a rollover error in acc, though. I was testing accuracy the other day in a mission with +2 and +3 mobs. I had an attack chain of seven consecutive attacks miss, four after BU and 3 more after Aim, and long miss-runs happened several times during this mission. Then it went away in the following two missions. That sounds like either a roll-over computation error, or a random number generator error. Accuracy bugs are, of course, a big joke now, but even I'm beginning to get the feeling something is intermittently wrong.

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You know, I noticed this last night. I had runs of 3 or 4 misses in a row shooting at even to yellow con enemies (won't count the runs on the oranges, those I consider just bad luck). And I also missed far too many times with BU+Aim+Snipe on orange and red con alpha strikes. It was so bad that I kept checking to make sure I had switched from flight to hover. Yet earlier in the day I was hitting right about where I thought I should. Most of those times I noticed it was when I used a yellow to improve my accuracy. So I wonder if there indeed isn't an overflow problem.

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I've always had Accuracy issues -- the inspirations frequently make my hit ratio go down, and Aim was so relentlessly deleterious that I respecced out of it as soon as I could. It's almost like the percentages are reversed when I use Aim. Energy Torrent almost never hits anything despite Build Up, Acc inspirations and Acc enhancements, so it's going in the next respec.

My Blaster is squishy and his targeting is out of whack -- it's sometimes amazing that he's survived as well as he has. On other occasions, though, everything seems to work great... even Acc inspirations. Weird.

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Rikti invasion was nice...Halloween worked well...and the Winter Lords had some good stuff.

[/ QUOTE ] The poor Ruularuu, forgotten already their invasion was so pointless...and the 5th/Council battles, obviously not important enough to be considered an event.

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Well, the 5th/Council thing was too short, really. I had experienced it on Test, but didn't even notice it had gone to the Live servers until I was specifically asked to join a team working the street war.

The less said about the Rularuu the better. I sure didn't enjoy getting all that debt -- logging in to find I'd been killed while still loading sucked. And they were so hard players just stopped fighting them after the first couple of days.

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Dragon Con - no.

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What exactly do you have against the Southeastern U.S.? You skipped D*C last year after hitting practically every Con in America and now you're skipping it AGAIN?

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I'm guessing it's all that damn suntea. Bleh.

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What's even more disturbing is that my two accounts are used by multiple family members. Since some are minors this makes this system a game breaker. Mature language can be sent innocently to the minors by other users thinking that the mature user in ingame. Have the developers thought about this aspect of the game? How does this bridging of account charachters benefit the game?

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How minor are we talking, here? If they're under 13, they shouldn't be playing. If they're over 13, they can likely teach you some choice language, including explicit sexual stuff. I rather doubt there are a lot of sexual predators playing CoH... and anyway, it's your job as a parent to monitor what your kids do. If nothing else, you can record all of the text and peruse it later.