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Posts
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It's not that damage auras don't crit, it's that secondary power set powers don't crit. I'm pretty sure that Quills, a damage aura in a primary, *CAN* crit.
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Quote:In theory, I think that's great. In practice, not so much, because a game based on comic book concepts has to think which character types will be most attractive to players ignorant of game mechanics but inspired to play the game by its association with comic books. And Tankers are one of those high-appeal archetypes, because they are the best hero-side approximation of the traditional comic book brick. The brick is about as subtle as a runaway train. The tanker, however, requires a surprising amount of finesse to get a character who plays well.Every AT should NOT be noob friendly. If you are a noob and you don't know what you are doing yet, don't play a tank. There are plenty of other noob friendly AT you can play until you get a better handle on this game. This game is too easy to begin with already.
I think most folks have reasonable expectations that Controllers and Defenders will be tricky to play, and similarly reasonable expectations that Scrappers will be pretty straightforward. It's Tankers and Blasters where players who are not familiar with the game mechanics, but only with the comics that inspired the game, are most likely to be led into picking a character who is much harder to play than they expected. Whether this is enough of an issue to warrant actually changing anything, though, is a case I'm not willing to make. -
Gravity is fairly easy to fix, IMHO, with only minor Cottage Rule interference.
Switching Wormhole with Dimension Shift would make the set a lot friendlier at lower levels, for example. Power order is covered by the Cottage Rule, but I judge it a fairly minor violation compared to a complete power revamp.
Shortening the animation on Propel would be enormously helpful without violating the Cottage Rule at all. Making it a narrow cone would be even nicer, but could/would require a Cottage Rule violation by changing the sets for which it qualified.
Making Lift into an AoE knockup power centered on the target would be nice, and as long as the target still took damage, would not violate the Cottage Rule. However, Lift being placed so early in the set would never be considered a candidate for any kind of AoE control, thus, if it got this change, it would also need an order shift, and thus require a Cottage Rule waiver.
Changing Dimension Shift to be something more generally useful, while having the most severe implications as to how the set plays for people who like it now, could ironically be done without a technical violation of the Cottage Rule at all. Dimension Shift is an AoE foe intangibility power. As long as its altered form includes some form of AoE foe intangibility effect, however minor, it could be finessed as not violating the Cottage Rule - at least, not the letter. The spirit, however, would be rather seriously mauled by transforming Dimension Shift in this manner.
Basically, the literal interpretation of the Cottage Rule stands squarely athwart the most obvious buffs Gravity Control could receive *WITHOUT* making the set unrecognizable to people who like it now. To fix the set (assuming it is broken now, an argument for another time) without technically violating the Cottage Rule would require a great deal of rules lawyering, to such an extent that it would be far less harmful to just come out and say "forget it, we're ignoring the Cottage Rule for this set of changes."
That's how I see it, anyway. -
Nah, my assertion was that Invuln needs IO's to do what everybody else needs IO's to do as well, and that is both WAD and WAI. I tend to get wordy when I'm posting, I guess I just like the sound of my keyboard clicking.
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Quote:Where in my statement that Invuln is fine and doesn't need to be buffed do you find sufficient disagreement with your own sentiment that Invuln is excellent and doesn't need to be buffed to warrant a suggestion that I'm smoking something?I'm sorry, but what is it that people are smoking today?
Invulnerability is one of the best armour sets in the game. It has a solid self heal/+ HP, good res from the get go and a good +def aura. Add in Tough and Weave and you are laughing at about 90% of the mobs in the game. IOs just make it even more godly. -
Quote:There are very few sets that actually suffer for having a snipe, and some people really like them. For some reason. I don't have to like them myself to see other people liking them as a good enough reason to keep them. It's a different issue if a set, thanks to power order or trying to do too many things, or whatever reason, actually suffers from having a snipe, but I can't think of any blast sets that are bad, but would be fine if you replaced the snipe with something else. If it's not broken, don't fix it. If it is broken, make sure that what you're planning to change will actually fix it, then fix it. Only on Dominators are the snipes truly anywhere near broken, because only on Dominators is their utility so tiny and their presence in sets when something of greater utility could be present instead so damaging.You made a case for not liking them. Both Lord Mayhem and I have made a case for why we like 'em on our Blasters (for pretty much the same reasons).
IMHO. -
Quote:while a minor issue to me (since my /Elec Brute is already level 40), I agree that this would be a large enough improvement in the set to warrant discarding the power order portion of the Cottage Rule.Electric, I would make the energize power come earlier like it does for scrappers. Its not fair to brutes and stalkers all because of this cottage rule BS.
Quote:Next is gravity, its so long over due for a change. Remove dimension shift for sure and move wormhole to that spot and at 26 I would put back in fold space, which was the original gravity lvl 32 power. Dimension shift is the one power in the game that has done the most harm than good than any power I have ever seen. I have seen like maybe 2 players in my whole time playing CoX use this power properly and it not lead to the team getting slaughtered because of it.
Quote:Kheldians I would delete from existance and start over. They are nothing special, just a bunch of reused powers from other sets. I would start over with 100% new and unique powers for those ATs. I would make them into something truely epic something worthy of them being on a team instead of being a liability to the team.
Quote:Invulnerability I would restore it back to its issue 3 numbers so the set would be playable again. -
Quote:What we're seeing here is one reason why the Cottage Rule exists at all. It's there so that the few who are happy don't have their game destroyed by the many who want change, but can play another set to get something they like anyway. Think about it - you're a Gravity Controller who loves his set. You get lots of use from Dimension Shift phasing an AV out of the way so you can clear out his assistants before engaging him mano a mano. Somebody, who could have just played an Earth or Ice or Fire Controller, lobbies the devs to instead change Gravity Control. Yeah, he's happy now. Your life sucks, though, because there is no place else for Gravity Controllers to go if Gravity Control gets "fixed".You'll find yourself very much in the minority here due to the long activation time creating a ridiculously bad DPA. Ironically, most people would say the opposite: when it is taken, it is generally done more on Defenders than it is Blasters, due mostly to the comparative damage with other powers in the set. I would like to hear your thoughts on why you like it so much, as threads pertaining to snipes are generally one sided.
Don't get me wrong, the Cottage Rule is way overused IMHO. Gravity Control *DOES* need help, and the structure of the powers means that they either have to be switched in order or completely reinvented, either of which breaks the Cottage Rule. But order switching really shouldn't - yeah, for the span between 18 and 26, switching Dimension Shift and Wormhole would dramatically change the set, but at 50, it's a non-issue. Putting Lift at a later level and changing it to an AoE knockup field could solve the same problem, but again, order change = bad, so no go. That's where the Cottage Rule fails. -
Quote:Hmm, interesting idea. So you'd disassociate the weapon skin for Dual Blades from the combo system, and the set would be called something like "Melee Weapon - Combo" and could be chosen with any melee weapon in the game. And likewise, you'd strip the weapon skins for swords from the general purpose Katana and Broadsword power selection (no need for them to be different sets if you're not associating them with specific skins) and let people take those moves with an Axe or a War Mace if that's what they wanted. I like the idea. Even beyond the inherent Cottage Rule issues (which are actually pretty minor, since a Dual Blade skinned character using the combo melee weapon power set would be exactly like a current Dual Blade character), the manpower required to actually animate all the new moves would be enormous. But I like the idea.My nomination:
All weapon sets.
After deleting them all, I'd reconfigure them and combine them into 'Weapon Use'. From that pool, you customize your power use yet you choose whatever weapon you want.
So technically, you could customize a mace set using combos, a set of claws with a +def parry power, an axe with -def in each attack, etc etc. -
for just one power set to get completely reworked, which set would it be?
For those who aren't familiar, the Cottage Rule is a rule the devs try to follow that prevents them from completely altering the function of a power, or its placement in the power set, or the IO sets with which it can be slotted, except as the absolute last resort to solve a critical, must-solve problem which cannot be solved any other way. Thus, Electric Armor's heal still functions as an endurance discount power, as an example. Adding abilities is OK, altering strength of abilities is OK, completely transforming a power is not.
My nomination: Gravity Control leaps out at me as a set that is severely hindered by the Cottage Rule. Just putting Wormhole in an earlier slot would help the set enormously, and changing Dimension Shift to be, well, something other than a foe intangibility power, would really make it much more generally useful. -
Quote:The mission text that tells us we should bring friends hasn't been updated in most cases since elite bosses didn't even exist and we were guaranteed archvillains in those missions. Elite Bosses are a border case - harder than any other solo content, easier than any other team content (well, excect the abomination that is simultaneous click missions, which should be removed from the game with extreme prejudice). Most characters built with any attention at all to soloability will be able to solo most elite bosses, if they use inspirations. In situations where you can't, it's either an EB who is inherently unfriendly to your character (ie, heavy psi damage vs. Invuln) or a character who is either by power set selection or simple build choices bad at soloing.For balance issue, you have to take into account pool powers and insps, because that's the "normal" way of playing the game. Voluntarily imposing more penalities will obviously make things harder.
And even with pool powers and insps, you technically aren't supposed to be able to beat an EB solo. The contact always warn you that you SHOULD bring friends.
So, working as intented, you're not supposed to beat an EB solo. If you can do it, great, you're better then what is expected from the average player.
If you can't do it....while posing even more restrictions on your character... then that's the results that should have happenned. =P
edit: Oh, and if you insist on not using unstoppable, then you aren't really using invulnerability. It's like complainning that /stone is the worst set.... but skipping granite. -
Quote:Getting pasted by archvillains and giant monsters when you try to fight them without inspirations, IO set bonuses, or help from other players is both WAD and WAI. I don't see your argument getting much (any) traction until and unless you can show that Invuln is having difficulties facing content that is theoretically supposed to be soloable, and that those difficulties are greater than those of other sets.I've purposely left out IOs and pool powers because my argument is for an improvement that I don't "need"(my build on my invul is softcapped to s/l/e/n with one foe in range of Invinc) but that players who don't or won't IO out their toons. The missing survivability is easy to fix with IOs, and my invul feels incredibly tough with them. The whole point is, not everyone can or will be able to make up for their powersets unfair weaknesses.
I wouldn't say no to a small buff to Invuln's non-S/L resistances, I'm just not seeing an argument here that supports it. At least not in any sense that will have any credibility to the devs. -
Quote:Yeah, 20% base elemental and energy resists is awfully low, even enhanceable. For some reason, I thought Unyielding was granting 20% resistances to non-S/L/Psi damage types, which would make Invulnerability reasonably rugged against all but Psi. That's where I'd put the improvement if I were gonna change things.I can assure you 17% defense and 31% resistance doesn't help very much against the targets I'm trying to argue a buff for : Arch Villains. They WILL hit you and that 31% resistance doesn't take enough of an edge off to matter in the more non s/l fights.
That said, Invuln is still a really excellent set. The combination of a solid defense base to build set bonuses from and decent resistances, and even a good max HP buff all make the set worth playing if you want a really tanky tank, warts and all. -
Quote:Hey, he's a paying customer. One path to ruining a pay to play MMO is to go berserk with micro transactions so you have to pay the monthly fee and then shell out more to get the perks that make game play fun. That business model works for free MMO's, but it's dangerous for a pay to play MMO. I don't think Ninja Run is stepping across the line personally, but it's definately closer than any of the other boosters.You might want to get a doctor to check that entitlement level for you, I think it needs medication.
Like any service you are completely within your rights to change it. I am also completely within my rights to point and laugh at your reasoning (or lack thereof.) -
Quote:Fiery Aura also has excellent toxic resistance, thanks to the fact that Healing Flames stacks with itself. Even without slotting HF for resistance at all, you can get up to 45% toxic resistance with SO's. That's more than any other Brute secondary I can think of. If you expect to face lots of toxic damage, it's very nice. I'd say that needs to be included as a pro, or included as the caveat in the cons as another area where the resistances are well above average, along with Fire.FIERY AURA
Pros: More offense-geared set(the "spiked shield" of defense sets.) Excellent self-heal,
excellent self-rez, second "build up" power that boosts fire attacks more. Good endurance
recovery power.
Cons: Resistance based set without defense, resist numbers are fairy average except
for fire(which is at the resist cap.) Slightly low Cold resist. Status protect lacks immob
and KB protection, requiring extra powers or IOs to cover. -
Quote:What kept him was the fact that the other boosters were pure luxury items, that offered pretty much only aesthetic benefit. Ninja Run is an awesome quality of life improvement at low levels. No longer worry about outlasting your temp power jetpacks, no longer tied to the relatively glacial pace and weak vertical movement of Sprint, the lower levels are far more bearable.New content? You call a few new costume parts, 2 new emotes, 3 swords, 2 costume change emotes, and an unenhancable power that let's you do a few flips, new content? You talk as if this is a whole new powerset. If they released this as an issue, the joy of this would turn to outrage. (Remember i15?)
This is booster pack 4. What kept you here thru boosters 1-3 and the wedding pack? Give me a break. Your point of veiw on this reminds of something that would have been a topic on Seinfeld.
I don't care, if I start to get jealous, I can buy the booster pack. If it becomes the standard for super boosters to offer quality of life improvements at this level over what you get for your monthly fee, though, I might start to care. At that point, it's not just giving cool stuff to booster buyers, it's holding back cool stuff from existing paying customers to try and squeeze mroe money out of them. But this is the first strike in my book, I'm not gonna get all upset about it. If the ratio stays at 1 serious upgrade out of 4 boosters, and regular subscribers keep on getting cool stuff as well, I'll stay happy. And if it doesn't, well, I still have a WoW account I can reactivate with a guild full of folks I'll be happy to play with, and it would be far from the first time I unsubbed from CoX because the devs annoyed me badly. -
Quote:Haven't we already had this conversation in this very thread?Yes. Because having an uber MMO toon makes me a better person in real life. In fact, just the other day this guy cuts me off in traffic...and I think to myself..."What would my AR/Trap corruptor do?"
Oh, yeah, we have. Great.
Get over yourself. It's a big game, and there's room for power gamers and casuals alike. And while we're at it, can we stop with the straw man ad-hominem attacks suggesting that the other side is somehow morally inferior for enjoying the game enough to spend time thinking about it? Seriously, if I wanted a debate on that level I'd read a political blog or listen to talk radio. Oddly, I hold higher hopes for actual honest discussion instead of snide remarks about the other side from a discussion of a videogame. -
Quote:Not arguing your core point, but dropping from 95% to 90% hit rate isn't anywhere near cutting your damage in half.I can notice a 10% accuracy difference when it's the difference between having a 95% hit rate against +4s as opposed to a 90% hit rate, or to put it another way, missing twice as much which results in doing, in a best case scenario (missing -res will reduce damage further) doing only half the damage I could do.
I do agree that purples are worth it. What else are you going to do with your pretend money? -
Quote:Another issue is the bizarre imbalance of defense inspirations vs. resistance inspirations, which makes it easy to soft cap a moderate defense build, and borderline impossible to soft cap a moderate resistance build. Also the fact that most AT's cap at 75% resistance, which is comparable to about 37.5% defense, while all AT's cap at 45% defense.Having actually played both defense and resistance-based powersets, I can tell you that "defense is stronger" is an illusion created due to the overabundance of set bonuses and +Def pool powers that allow you to hit the defense softcap.
But really, when discussing Tankers, your core point is right - the superior of defense as a concept is an illusion created by the abundance of defense based pool powers and set bonuses. Defense and resistance both improve exponentially as they approach their respective caps, which for Tankers provide equivalent mitigation - but there's a lot more defense flying around to help you reach that point.
On the other hand, there's enough defense flying around for a resistance based character to get a substantial layer of defense - even soft capped defense to 1 or 2 positions, if he pleases, on top of his resistance. Such a character will be *VASTLY* tougher than a defense based character, because there's just not enough resistance out there for a defense based character to get any meaningful additional mitigation out of it. -
Quote:Hmm. Well, I think I'll still give Ice Control a spin. I've got a hankering to play Ice/Fire. We'll see how it works out.There's a thread from last month that discusses where Ice Control sits here.
To summarize, it has its uses, but generally speaking Ice and Gravity pretty much share the bottom rung. -
Quote:I just see this as a completely arbitrary balance point. I could elaborate, but really, that's the whole point - you're arguing for a limitation without establishing any need for a limitation. It will rarely be important - as I mentioned, the most obvious case to me is a Rad/Rad Defender whose team needs healing even with his buffs and debuffs in place. But rarely important still trumps never necessary, and I have seen no serious evidence in all of this that this kind of limitation will improve the game or the Defender Archetype in any way.There are plenty of Defender powers now that affect the caster. Having my idea of Vigilance, where powers that affect the caster, unless they debuff an enemy, not help build Vigilance is the compromise to have Defender attacks increase Vigilance. Where Vigilance gives what ever type buff is best, be it endurance discounts or sustained mez protection, or whatever.
Right now Healing Aura has a negative effect on Vigilance, the more you heal the less you get from Vigilance, so not including one of 3 heals Emps have available doesn't seem like much of a sacrifice to me. Inertial Reduction, Arctic Fog, Dark Servant, Dispersion Bubble, Sonic Dispersion, Triage Beacon, would all fall into the same category to me. -
Quote:I notice you didn't mention Ice Control at all. It seems to get forgotten a lot - or is it just a set whose problems outweigh its virtues?For all out pure carnage and damage...Fire/Fire or Fire/Psi. I'd say they are neck and neck in terms of perfomance.
For total lockdown: Mind/Anything....
Plant and Earth aint half bad either....
Gravity still has some problems but if you'd rather blast more than control, its not a bad choice. Mostly because you can skip so much of it...and the pet will most of the controlling for you. -
Yes. And by default it lasts 60 seconds on a 40 second cooldown. Which means when slotted for max healing (ie, healing and recharge), it gives 20 toxic resistance for 60 seconds every 20 seconds, aka 60 toxic resistance. I don't know of any other tanker primary that can stack its toxic resistance that high without using long, unsustainable cooldowns.
Note: yes, I'm aware that it's something like 19 seconds of 60 toxic resistance followed by 1 second of 40 toxic resistance. It's still a ton. -
Quote:The rest of Traps being awesome does not bring Time Bomb up to the level of even being terrible.Yes time bomb breaks the set with mez protection at level 8, an aoe hold with 1000% -regen, solid -resistance, a good immob etc.
Sigh i have to delete my traps/ toons now.
Just goes to show that a set can be awesome even if it has a sub-terrible power in it. -