Jade_Dragon
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Posts
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Joined
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Bad. Yes. And yes, Sonic's worse 'cause it doesn't even get PFF.
Seriously, if you want to go with FF, you do avoid having to fire off heals all the time, but really your main powers don't give you much to do. You reapply bubbles every few minutes. If you want to use your knockback (and you probably should) you will be more active, but teams will probably complain about it. If you want to avoid both hassles, you will probably want to avoid FF.
If you're fine with it, then FF/Sonic is probably your best choice. The Proton Volley from Rad Blast will give you that "pew pew" feel that you're looking for (it fires four times
) but I've played FF/Rad, and I wouldn't recommend it. You have no way to raise your damage outside of your Secondary, Pool, or Epics, so you're not really going to be able to fill a defense/damage role unless you have a Secondary that REALLY does damage.
And honestly, Sonic isn't that bad an alternate choice. While you can't "turtle up" behind your shields, you do have Sonic Dispersion, which puts a bubble around you, and you have a few more options for offense. I've found Sonic/Rad isn't much better, as you have no options for knockback (early on) but Sonic/Energy could be okay. Although Sonic/Sonic is the obvious choice.
An option I don't really have an experience with, one way or another, is Cold Domination. There's no heal there, though, outside of Frostwork, which is an HP boost. It might be an alternative. You'll get the shields, but a lot more options as well. -
I mostly solo, so it's not relying on teammates to heal me. In fact, on my Ninjitsu Stalker, which is an alternate version of the same character, I have a heal, and enjoy the options it gives me, so it's not that I think heals are useless. You learn how to work around it, though.
In my case, I'm MA/SR, but I have kind of an unusual build. I don't really trust Defense for much the reason you give, it can fail suddenly. So I use Cobra Strike and Intimidate for additional mitigation, and as a fall back in case of emergencies. If I get hit that hard, I can stun the foe and take him out without using an inspiration, or maybe using one instead of two.
It does come down to greens, though. I rarely if ever need blues, so I just trade them in 3 to 1. (That was sure a useful addition to the game) And if I have to, I'll Rest. It's not like I'm slowing down a team when I'm solo.
On a team, I just make sure I'm not the guy people are firing at, if nobody has a heal. My FF Defender is pretty much the same thing. -
You got to 32 in 4 hours? Eh, this is why these threads always depress me.
I know what my hours and times played are, but I'm afraid I don't have that info right now. My Kheldians are pretty new, though, my highest is 30. -
Just to say it, this is why I've always insisted on not taking Aid Other on a Buff/Debuff set that doesn't have a heal power, and why the devs decided to make Tanker Taunt an AoE, since they didn't feel it was right to make them go to the Pool for Provoke.
Not to say that it doesn't take two to argue, because it does. But some people don't mind the fact that Dark Armor doesn't have any knockback protection, and feel it's part of the unique challenge of the set. The same with those who like the look of Cloak of Darkness granting them total transparency. Some like it, some don't.
Which is why I think customization is a great solution in this case since it is optional. -
Quote:Agreed. I used a dark grey on MA and SR and the effects became considerably more subtle. Of course, SR is kind of subtle to start with. And Dual Blades, unfortunately, can't be tinted, since you're already using the color for the blades.Originally Posted by Soulie
Just color your "bright" powers as dark as you can and they get pretty dim. -
Okay, first off make sure there are no spaces in your path. "C: \keybinds\bash1.txt" won't do it. It has to be "C:\keybinds\bash1.txt". (No space between the : and \)
Second, if you really, really want to use the CoH directory to store the keybinds, the path you want is "C:\Program Files\City Of Heroes\keybinds\bash1.txt". That path is really long, though, so I typically use "C:\coh" myself. It's short and easy to find just by opening the C drive. (Note, though, that if you load and save keybinds in game, they are put in the CoH folder. So you'd have to move them to your own folder if you want to save a copy of your binds for restoration later or something)
Third, you use bind_load_file to load the file you wrote AND in the file itself to load the next file. You won't use /bind at all in the file.
Fourth, I would use bind_load_file at first to make sure everything works okay. If you make a mistake, it should give you an error message to help track it down. Once everything works, go into your file and change it to bind_load_file_silent. -
1) Sounds like a bug
2) Has anyone tested this at a level other than 50?
3) I notice someone posted their Tier 3 MM henchmen was at -1, was the Tier 2 at -1 as well and the Tier 1 at -2? Or was Tier 2 at -2 and Tier 1 at -3?
4) Are Fire Imps at -2 now? Or still -1? -
Quote:I think that the point being made is that the game CANNOT let you have the same name as everyone else. Everyone's name must be unique. Otherwise, you'd have no way to single out the target of a /tell or /invite.Originally Posted by CocoCabana
First, no, they don't have to allow you to select your own name.
Where I see this becoming complicated is in the use of macros. If you can set the name of your powers, then when you go to refer to it as "powexec_name <name>" you would obviously specify the name you gave it. So if you ever changed the name of that power, you would break all your macros, and have to go in and change them all manually.
OTOH, this is similar to henchmen, and your ability to name them and then specify them by name in their macros. This can actually be used for some interesting results. (such as singling out part of a Tier, or combining two Tiers in a single command)
And this actually gets back to the original point. While you could theoretically name your powers, you would have to make sure you don't name them the same thing. If all your powers are named "Punch", how do you specify which to activate? -
Quote:Yeah, but Energy Assault also has Power Bolt with a 4 second recharge, and Power Blast with a 10 second recharge. Earth only has TWO ranged attacks, so if you made one of them the "Burst" type, that would leave only one for fast recharge Domination building.Originally Posted by Oathbound
There is precedent for it, Energy Assault's Power Burst is at 14sec recharge and 2.48damage scale...
There's also the fact that Power Burst has a shorter range than Hurl Boulder. You could bump it's damage and recharge to a 12-14 sec scale, but I think that's going a bit too far.
Again, you could make Stone Spears the Power Blast, and Hurl Boulder the Power Burst, but now Earth has no Power Bolt. It's probably a matter of opinion whether that would be better or not.Quote:EDIT to add:Sad thing is that with an activation time of 2.1seconds, the only way they could bring Stone Spears to the same DPA as other tier1 blasts would be to increase it's damage scale to 2.1, which would put it's recharge at 10seconds.
Actually, now that I think about it, one simple solution might be to just make Stone Spears and Hurl Boulder use the Melee tables for damage calculation. It wouldn't have to effect the recharge or End cost at all, but would increase the damage about 10%. It's not really a precedent that Hurl Boulder uses the Melee table for meleers, since that's pretty much true for all their ranged attacks, but it might fit with the theme that Earth is melee centric. (And that you actually make contact with the foe through your own direct application of muscle force) -
Quote:The only advantage CoD really has during combat is that it decreases the radius at which foes you have no aggroed can spot you. In other words, it cuts down on adds. In some cases you want adds, though, so you would likely turn it off.Originally Posted by Seldom
I see it as the 'stalking' option, where you can sneak about hitting stuff with less trouble from the outside. Using the damage aura, CoF, and/or OG negate it's stealth by aggroing nearby foes.
The Defense is better than CJ, it is about twice, and doesn't suppress. And it does give you a +Perception. Still, it's circumstancial enough that you can turn it off and on, IMHO. -
Quote:I don't think that would be too totally outside the usual standard, and would fit with the idea of Earth at range being a bit slow and ponderous. And 10 seconds for Hurl Boulder isn't even unusual, Power Blast is a 10 sec attack now. In fact, I'm kind of surprised it is only 8 seconds.Originally Posted by Oathbound
I think they could push it to 6second scale 1.32 blast and be ok. Yes that would hurt your attack chain (What you have for one anyhow) a bit in the very low levels, but between your sets you should have enough powers that by the teens you have plenty to do with those extra seconds.
I also think Hurl Boulder should be pushed to a 10seconds recharge attack. Better total damage will make it's long animation less painful.
Now, 8 seconds for Stone Spears and 12-14 seconds for Hurl Boulder, that WOULD be extreme.
I'm not sure everyone would agree with me on that being acceptable, though. There are certainly a lot of people who prefer 4 second or even 3 second starting attacks. -
Quote:They typically break the formula in favor of lower End cost or recharge, not greater damage. This is particularly true in the case of long animation attacks. Jump Kick, for instance, got faster recharge and lower End cost than Air Superiority because of its longer animation, not greater damage. And this has not been reversed, even when Jump Kick got its animation time reduced.Originally Posted by macskull
Not necessarily - contrary to what seems to be popular belief, they can break the dam/end/rech formula. It's just not likely to happen, though if it did this would be a good power for it.
This is not to say they wouldn't increase the damage, but the recharge time is probably already fairly long, and increasing it any further would make it useless for the purpose most Dom players put their first attack to, building Domination. So the attack is already pretty bad, any change has the potential to make it worse. Except reducing its animation time, of course.
I suppose the application of the modified activation time/End cost formula might be helpful, assuming it hasn't already been applied. I doubt that will raise the damage, though. -
Quote:You know, I've been thinking about this, and it might be possible to use the Dark theme on some of the other auras in Dark Armor to give you a sort of "silhouette" look. It would essentially outline your character, not making the costume visible, but at least you would see his or her outline. I'll have to experiment with that.Originally Posted by Lazarillo
Of course, since we ARE getting power customization, at least if the devs don't throw us a bone, it's possible to give non-Dark Armor powers a Dark Armor appearance, at least.
That's kind of the other thing I was thinking of, though, have an option that instead of making your character transparent, it makes it darker. Most of the powers assume that you are invisible, light passes through you, but to me stealth is also the ability to hide in shadows, to blend into a dark background. -
I like the suggestion that's been put forth before to add a Customization Theme to Cloak of Darkness to let you be only 50% or 70% translucent. That would equal the translucency of Stealth (pre-suppression) and Superior Invisibility (post suppression), respectively. I think that would be more than enough to make it obvious you're invisible, while not losing the ability to see your character's costume.
It's also interesting that Hide, Invisibility, SI, GI and Energy Cloak all have a 90% translucency when unsuppressed, but Cloak Of Shadows is the only one that is 100%. I can understand the idea that you're supposed to look like "Fluffy", you have a dark aura that is visible even though you're invisible. However, that's a theme, and maybe I don't want that theme. That's where the customization would come in. I think all the above powers (except Hide) could have an alternate theme where you dial down the translucency. You don't really need to be more transparent than Stealth to know that you're better protected than Stealth, right? -
Quote:But you do have good damage, right? It's just in melee. It was said up front that this was a strong melee set with weak ranged attacks. If you want or expect ranged attacks, there are other sets available for that. Like Fire, conversely, you wouldn't take that if you wanted to concentrate on melee.Originally Posted by Wavicle
See basically what you're saying here is that Stone Spears sometimes works as a poor man's Levitate. But we're Dominators. We can take the REAL Levitate. Our secondary ought to have attacks that are good for Damage, because our Whole primary is devoted to active defense.
Hopefully with the new animation they can shave a few more seconds off of it. But that was kind of the problem, BaBs didn't want to be coming up with a bunch of new animations, since he's been busy with customization. So in fact they ended up using one of the ones he developed for customization.
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Quote:Actually, I think it's important to distinguish between pets, and "psuedo-pets". Jack Frost, Animate Stone, Fire Imps and so on are pets, they are distinct from the AT that summons them and have their own stats and abilities. Lighting Storm, Lightning Rod, Blizzard, Rain of Fire, Ignite, and powers such as that eminate from the caster, then thus should follow the AT modifiers when determining strength.Originally Posted by EmperorSteele
Wait, why should Dom pets get to do more damage than troller pets?
OTOH, pets do not get their master's Inherent. Controllers can do as much damage as Dominators when they get Containment, so their pets also do as much damage as Dominator pets, they just do it all the time.
Control and debuff effects of pets seems to be a separate issue. Dark Servant certainly seems to be a true pet (although he does no damage) yet he probably should have different debuffing abilities based on who summons him. I'm not really sure what the devs think on this matter, though. -
A Snipe is really an opening move. While you can use it in combat, it's really more useful either to take out the first foe or to pull him, so you can take him out out of range of his buddies.
I also occasionally use it as a finishing move, if the foe is held, and it doesn't matter how long it takes to charge up. It can sometimes be faster than waiting for other attacks to recharge. -
Quote:I had seen the animation, so I knew what to expect. However, I was hoping for something like "stomp, and the ground explodes into a shower of splinters that shoots towards the foe". In the confusion of a battle, it's kind of hard to register exactly what the CoT attack is doing to hit you.Originally Posted by Jibikao
I am surprised that Stone Spear is actually a "foot stomp with stone spike" coming out. I thought it was going to be like throwing a Jarvelin (like those Rome warriors) or something.
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Quote:That would make its Recharge and Endurance cost much higher.Originally Posted by Spizzie
Or just up the damage of Stone Spears to fit better with the cast time.
You pretty much can't make Earth work as a ranged set. Even the animations the critters use are pretty long duration. So you have to either settle for a Basic ranged attack that lasts too long to do good damage, or recharges too slowly to be usable as a Basic attack. It's really the melee attacks that are intended to be the main ones used.
I hope we can see an animation some time, like maybe a "fling pebbles" that comes out really fast, like say in 1.67 seconds. I'd like to see an Earth Blast, but with the animations we have currently it's more like "Earth Throwing Large Chunks Of Rock Really Ponderously". Even with faster animations, I can't really see it being as fast as a true blast. Chunks of rock don't travel that fast.
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Maybe Demon Summoning will come with a second Secondary in Going Rogue. Obviously Thermal is likely going to be a match for it, but depending on the demon types, Cold Domination might be fitting as well.
We also don't know if there will be any other matching sets for Dual Pistols, such as a Secondary for Blasters. Although it looks like Maelstrom is Dual Pistols/Energy.
Oh, and also, remember that the more sets you get Proliferated, the less you have for later Proliferation. Eventually it will be nothing but Stalkers getting all the new sets.
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Yeah, there's no way to make them stay where they are AND attack. They will always try to move in range to attack foes if they've been told to defend you, and the foe is out of range. You have to play switch with Passive and Defensive mode if that's what you want.
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One combination I've been wanting to try is Thugs/Pain for the damage boosting possibilities. While you don't have a whole lot of team oriented boosts, there are a couple, and a few Res debuffs as well. Overall it should be somewhat better damage than Dark's Tar Patch.
Other possibilities are Trick Arrow, and Poison. Both will keep you very busy, though, and Poison's really more suited for soloing since it's so single target oriented. The advantage of Dark, though, is that your allies are really so well protected they don't need the extra damage.
For the attacks, I really recommend Empty Clips, as it's a great knockback as well as an AoE attack. However, whether you will want to take that and try to make it through the early levels with it, or take that and a single target attack, and respec out later is up to you. I really think the personal attacks shouldn't be ignored prior to the 20s, from around 18-22 all MMs go through a low point in their damage, and those attacks can help. I think too many people look at them only from a post-32 standpoint.
The damage is low, though. (And with Pain having so many dmg buffs that only effect you it's kind of a waste, although the damage could help if you want to be more active) As for petless Masterminds, while I agree it can be fun as a challenge, it's usually better to pick one of the tiers and have "a couple of friends" along with you. Since you have the option of having dual builds now, it's perfectly reasonable for you to try going petless or partially petless if you want to, and have your second build with all three tiers for teaming. -
Quote:Well, I think DPA is used entirely to avoid confusion. I typically call it DPR when it refers to recharge time. Although technically DPA should mean Damage per Activation, which really wouldn't be the same thing.Originally Posted by Wavicle
This is the only game I've ever played where people don't use DPS to mean Damage Per cast Second.
I'm not really sure how other games handle it, as the only other MMOs I've ever played have had automatic fire attacks that cycle at a constant rate. So DPA and DPR are the same thing. -
Quote:Right.Originally Posted by Frosticus
It is the tier 1 attack so it does ~56 damage. The reason it has crappy DPA and DPS is because it has a 2.1 sec cast time, which is 0.77 seconds longer than any other tier 1.
DPA is bad because it activates slow.
DPS is bad becasue it cycles slower than the others.
But at least it's not Propel.
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Quote:By DPS I assume you mean DPA.Originally Posted by Wavicle
What exactly is very good about it?
Again, it is the worst DPS level 1 attack Doms get. It is worse than Thorny Darts or Psionic Dart. It is about HALF the dps of most of the level 1 attacks like Charged Bolts or Ice Bolt. The knockup alone makes it very good?
I'm assuming it is a high damage attack with low recharge. Which would actually mean low DPS as well. But if it's only moderate damage with a long animation time, that would definately mean low DPA.