Jade_Dragon

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Let me try again: Is the whole Mission Architect a big virtual reality?

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Oh well its [REDACTED] there there is [REDACTED] and [REDACTED] (^_^)b

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Well, you could always write a story arc that begins like it's taking place in the virtual reality, and then the villain comes along and tampers with it or something. I'm sure there are ways to get around this conceptual issue.

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Some of these need to be used in existing missions. It always amuses me when my female character is called "him".

Another easy way to find that big building in Port Oakes is to target the Quartermaster in the center of the map. He is at the top of a building and is either reached by getting in an elevator in that room where you pay SG rent, or in the building across from it. (I'm fairly sure it's the same building, but not 100% sure without actually going into the game)

I also look for the big reflecting pool which is located between the two tall buildings that are the landmark for this area.

Sandy
Here are her scales sliders

Note that I made her legs very long, but her other sliders are almost all the way to the minimum. The main thing is to make the shoulders and chest narrow, and her head and forehead very large. That's what creates that childish look.

She's a teen, (around 15) which is why she has the longer legs. If you make the legs short, it makes the look much younger. In fact, since you can't make the breasts go away altogether, I find short legs to look a little odd on girls, since it makes them look around 10, but the chest suggests more around 13. Note that if you make the legs really long, though, it makes the body smaller by comparison, so the extremes actually work better than the middle. (If I could give Sandy really long legs AND arms, like she just had a growth spurt, that would make the look perfect)

By contrast, boys with shorter legs look much closer to 10. Here's a male version of my Sandy character. (He calls himself Stepynnwulf) Actually, I think the legs are around the half position there, I have another character who looks younger, but unfortunately I have no pics of him.

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Question: Can I take, say, Whirlwind at level 6 as well?

It'd be silly to do so, but I want to know if that's possible.

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No, the final tier powers like Acrobatics and Whirlwind still have the normal requirements both in terms of level and power selections.

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I must say, I was thinking that it would be nice to be able to take Phase Shift with Superior Invisibility and Group Invisibility, and not be forced to take Invisibility and Grant Invisibility instead because you want to be able to be incorporal. Still, I can understand, this wasn't meant to provide access to all high level Pool powers, just the travel powers.

Concealment wasn't even in the list of Power Sets opened up in this way. (Not that Stealth isn't perfectly fine as an option for a "getting around baddies" power, instead of Invisibility)

I posted this in the Suggestions forum, but I thought I would post it here, too. I also posted it a thread about keybinds, but at the time I was kind of making it a hint. Anyway, since this is likely where the devs will be reading, this is where I am going to put it.

Changing to a different build causes you to lose all of your macros, that is, the macros are specific to the build. So, in order to make use of multiple builds, if you have many macros, you have to reenter them all manually. This can take considerable time.

Thus, I'm asking for the ability to load and save macros, just as you can load and save keybinds. Or at least, copy over the macros from one build to the other, so the player can edit them as needed. I would much prefer the ability to save macros, of course, as it would be far more useful.

I can't see any problem with saving macros that wouldn't already exist with saving keybinds. And in fact, keybinds are not restored to the default when you shift your build, and you can't have multiple versions of your keybinds for different builds. (Unless you load them) So being able to customize your macros, and tie keybinds to them, would certainly be helpful in customizing your control options to your build.

Great, totally lost the post.

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Currently the Cyborg Auras included in Superbooster 1 are only available to characters who have completed the Aura mission at level 30 or higher. However, development is in process that will enable all characters to use these Cyborg Auras from level 1, and will be implemented as soon as possible.

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Assuming that this is new technology that allows Auras to be available at level 1 when they weren't before, would it be possible for certain auras to be made available from level 1? I am thinking specifically of Eye Auras. There is already a glowing eyes face option that can be used as a sort of eye aura, but it would be nice if we could use any face with glowing eyes.

This would also be consistent with the eye auras in the Cyborg pack (although I believe those are Combat Auras) and the Kheldians. And there are shoulder capes and certain wings that are available from level 1, so it would be an option you can "upgrade" to another aura at level 30, just as you can upgrade a shoulder cape to a true cape at level 20.

Alternately, if it is decided that Combat Auras as a catergory could be given at level 1 (much like shoulder capes, again) then maybe Combat Auras could be added which are the typical glowing eyes. This would actually fit one of my Eye Aura characters better than her current setup, and I'd definately switch to it. (I've actually thought about switching costumes to have her eye glow turn "on" and "off")

I like the idea of Combat Auras being separate from regular auras, so you can have both, (and an eye aura and some other aura) but honestly I don't think that'll happen. Shoulder capes and regular capes can't be selected together, and neither can wings and capes. So I doubt the devs would change the way the system currently works. (At least we can have an aura AND a cape)

And although having Eye Auras from level 1 would make the Glowing Eyes face redundant, I still wouldn't remove it, so we can have glowing eyes and another aura. It means using the specific face, and it isn't really a glow, but it's better than nothing.

I'd even go so far as to say I'd like some other auras, like fists or arm auras so they can be "upgraded" to full body, but I think the eye aura is good enough, and the precedent is there with the glowing eyes face.

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I love the Cyborg Pack, but was a little disappointed in it not including a Cyborg Chest. Yes, there are a few pieces that can you can use, but I was hoping for a see-thru robotic chest (similar to the Clockwork but prettier).

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Actually, I am still waiting on a complete skeletal robotic set, with both legs and chest, similar to the skeletal robotic arms we currently have. In other words, the Terminator.

I would actually use it, too. I've got one of my characters set to as skinny as possible, with robotic parts, but it's still not "skeletal" enough.

The only concern I have about it not working is if there is some reason the arms can be see-through like that, but the rest of the body can't. (I can't see clipping being the issue, but maybe it's that gaps would be left between the limbs and the costume pieces on them. But I've got no problem with that, it's like a skeleton wearing armor, he's supposed to look like he's clattering around in there)

I will add that for a Force Fielder, particularly if you plan to solo, Repulsion Field can be as useful as Force Bubble for the specified task. Slot a Knockback in it (or an IO set, there's one nice one that gives a damage boost with only two IOs) and it gets funny to watch how far foes sail from you. The main advantage is that unlike Force Bubble, you aren't keeping your foes out of Cosmic Burst and Electron Haze range. The main disadvantage, of course, is that you aren't keeping them out of melee, either. (They get one hit on you before they go sailing)

I also HIGHLY recommend trading Neutron Bomb for Repulsion Bomb. Damage and animation time are exactly the same, so you aren't losing any DPA, and while the recharge time is longer, you will FAR make up for it in your ability to keep foes off their feet. It no longer knocks back, so in a team, you can just drop it on the Tanker (or whoever he's punching, rather) every time it recharges.

I have a /Sonic Corruptor I have taken to 30 as well. (And will eventually catch him up to my 45 Def) As you said, the protection is somewhat lower, but the damage is somewhat better. Not that much better, since Disruption Field needs a teammate, but when you ARE on a team (or can get a pet) the damage is nice.

If you plan to solo a lot, I would say that FF is the better choice although the damage isn't as good. If you plan to team, you can bring a lot to the table with Sonic. Plus, the one thing I miss on Sonic ALL the time is PFF. PFF is the ultimate tanking power, although actually using it to hold aggro takes some timing and creativity. (And it is really only possible in emergencies)

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Glad to see the FF discussion continues!

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Must have been because I looked in here, because there was nothing, and then I looked again and there were all these posts.

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Maybe I was misunderstanding the definition of the word "proactive" then. I was interpreting it to mean that all effects and prevention were applied BEFORE combat, and that nothing was done during combat. That's how I was translating the word. However, your two comments have shown me that I'm in error of mistranslation.

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Actually, I think I understood what you meant. However, in replying to Gargoyle, I think I figured out that I see it more as a grey area. To me it's a balance, just because Force Field can be used reactively doesn't mean that Empathy isn't MORE reactive.

Plus, of course, there's the obvious benefit of being able to recover HP faster than your allies can regenerate it naturally. I think that that's actually an indication that healing is really much more powerful than other forms of mitigation. It is, as I have pointed out before, the only form of damage mitigation that was not nerfed in the GDN. Individual healing powers have been reduced, but there has been no universal across the board cut of all healing powers by one half.

Of course, it is just so difficult to compare healing to other forms of mitigation that it's impossible to tell if that's fair or not. It does, however, in my experience, get frustrating.

And I'll add, all frustration aside, being the sole Defender in a team of 8 and keeping them all alive (with the help of the lone melee heal of a Kin -- and her "tricorder" ) I have learned that I CAN keep that post combat recovery to a minimum. And I may even be getting as much Vigilance as the Empath.

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Damage is fundamentally mitigated before it happens through methods designed to prevent it from being applied to a character, after it happens through HP regeneration, or during it's application through damage reduction.

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As I said previous, I don't agree or disagree with Philotic, but I think I see where he's coming from, and where you have a difference in terminology.

You are defining "proactive" as "before the attack". That is, all FF powers are proactive because they prevent the attack from hitting the ally the foe intends to hit. The attack is either deflected, or the foe is prevented from firing. Thus, the damage mitigation is "proactive", it occurs before the attack itself hits.

However, Philotic is not using the term in that fashion. In fact, it really isn't proper to use the term that strictly because we are talking about "proactive" in regards to Vigilance. Vigilance is a power that provides Endurance to the Defender AFTER HIS ALLIES HAVE TAKEN DAMAGE. Therefore one could define "proactive" as taking action not before an attack hits, but before the ally has taken damage. "Reactive" would be an action taken after the ally has taken damage.

In other words, you are entering a grey area here where your allies have already been hit, and you are now taking reactive action to prevent FURTHER damage. Your action is not proactive because you didn't take it prior to the start of combat, as you would in applying bubbles. Instead, you take action during combat, just as the reactive Defender would take action to recover the damage taken not after the combat is over, but while the combat is still going on.

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Therefore FF is proactive. It can only prevent damage from happening. There is NO argument that can state FF removes damage after it takes place (which is the realm of a reactive defense set).

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In this I have to agree with you. FF can only prevent damage from happening, it cannot remove it. Unless you get Aid Other from the Medicine Pool, which in my opinion goes outside the concept of Force Field, your allies must rest in order to recover any damage they have taken.

To use the terminology above, a reactive set can take proactive action before the combat begins, take both reactive and proactive action during the combat to remove damage and prevent more, and take reactive action after the combat to remove the remainder of the damage. Force Field can only take proactive action before the fight, and proactive and reactive action during the fight. Once the fight's over, the FF cannot help any further.

Then again, Dark's post combat capabilities are limited as well, so that's not unique.

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all those "situational" powers that FF has? Yeah, when your team has almost no health... you can use ALL of them. Why? Because you'll have the endurance to have Force Bubble, Repulsion Field, Dispersion Bubble on all at the time time while you're running all over and whacking things with Force Bolt, Repulsion Bomb and Detention Field.

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Honestly, as I have played more on teams, I have come to agree with you more. The situations have definately come up where the proper use of Repulsion Field, Force Bubble, and Repulsion Bomb have helped the team recover when the "big 3" bubbles fail. The energy wouldn't be available if my teammates weren't taking critical damage, although quite honestly, I have felt Vigilance kicking in even previous to real trouble. Then again, my group is a large one, and we are always running with 8 members.

Even so, I am hard pressed to eliminate a description of "proactive" from FF. Knocking your foes on their butts may save the team, but it's not the same thing as eliminating the damage. And the truth is, the more capability you have to eliminate the damage, the less capability you have to prevent the damage. So "reactive" and "proactive" are not the same thing. Even though "reactive" sets can take action to prevent damage before it happens, and "proactive" sets can take action once the allies start taking damage, that does not make them identical.

And the difference is still much more noticable solo and in smaller groups. In fact, in working with a Sonic Corruptor I believe I've concluded that specifically when solo, proactive defense works much better when coupled with high damage. If you can heal up after the fact, you can buy more time to defeat the foe.

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Why do minor bugs take higher priority over balance reasons?

Why correct bugs (That are essentially nerfs) when you have SERIOUS balance issues with animation times in sets? It once again creates unfairness between powersets.

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Well, look at it this way. If you were going to sit down and look over all of the attack sets with the goal balancing them in terms of animation time, wouldn't you start by going through ALL of the powers, and first making sure that the animation times were CORRECT for the intended cast times?

Granted, according to BaB it was not balancing the different power sets against each other that was the goal, but instead adding Shield to the power sets in the game. But isn't that essentially what we are talking about, making sure that the animation time WITH the shield is the same as the animation WITHOUT the shield, and thus making sure that an attack set does not change its game balance when you select Shield to go with it?

For that matter, has anyone done an analysis of how Flying effects the animation times of attack powers? Could it be that if you are Flying all the time, you can actually have a higher DPS with a particular attack set than if you are on the ground all the time? Wouldn't that have a major impact on game balance?

(Certainly this is true in some cases, although it's negative, not positive. We know there are certain powers that don't work unless you're on the ground. That would definately be an example of Flying effecting your character's balance)

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Yup, the buff icon under my health bar was the one I was talking about, and it's been commented on as a "known issue" not listed in the "known issues" elsewhere on the forums.

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Ah, okay well then Elude not flashing as it is about to run out is most certainly a bug. It BETTER be a bug.

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Another problem I noticed is that my icon for Elude, which used to dim just a few seconds prior to Elude dropping, didn't any more. Made for some risky playing in the TF.

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Buff icons in the icon bar (under your HP/End) are supposed to flash prior to the effect running out. So you should see an indication that Elude is about to expire. I'm guessing the power icon going grey too early was a bug and was fixed. Since there's supposed to be an "official" indication of that, now, I'd say that shouldn't be a problem.

Unless the buff icon was the icon you're talking about, anyway...

What I'd like is the ability to choose precisely which buff Icons I want to see. That way I can have my "god mode" icons showing so I can monitor them, but turn the others off.

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With the advent of the Valentines' pack, you can now have a tuxedo buttcape and a normal cape at the same time. Enjoy!

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That's interesting. Of course, Ghost Widow has both flowing hair and a buttcape, so clearly two "flowing options" are possible, if not accessable to players. My thought is, though, is there some reason that maybe that combination doesn't look good? Like, for instance the two capes flow according to the same algorithm, and thus move in exact sync with each other.

For Ghost Widow, who only appears in a few cut scenes and occasionally as a character, that probably isn't too noticable. But if you were looking at it all the time on your character, it might become annoying. But I guess I don't know if that's the case or if they "flow" separately.

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Jay, having said that we are only allowed to have one cape, has ruled out us having things like loincloths, tabards, Mu capes, and flowing hair.

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Ehhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh?!?!?! Nane Yate?!?!?!?!?!?! Chikusho!! Kam-besh-tay ku-ray. But seriously no no loin clothes? can't they just make them mutually exclusive with back options like "trenchcoats"?

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Well, I can understand loin cloths, that essentially means a cloth in the front but not in the back. Think about it.

The same with a tabard, or even a dress, where you've got a part that hangs down in front and part in back. Even if you make a split skirt kind of thing, it's still not going to work.

The long hair, though, I don't see. I can see not having hair AND a cape, or long hair AND a trenchcoat. Then again, you can't have a cape and a trenchcoat, so it is obviously possible to exclude some options when you pick others.

I consider it pretty much obvious that if I want long hair that actually animates and flows, then that means it has to be a back option, like a cape or wings. It might be selected from the head menu, but again, like trenchcoats that's just a interface issue. It's actually still a back option, even though it's presented as an option for the head or torso.

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Since the team was so small, we had a lot of flexibility. With few people, there was little time lost due to infrastructure and bureaucracy. If I had an idea, I'd run it by Hero1 or Positron and, after a few minutes discussion we'd go back to our desks and "do it." A lot of "let's try it and see if it works" development took place.

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Sometimes a small team is an advantage. I'm sure you know the origin of the phrase "Adding manpower to a late project makes it later."

Conversely, though, expanding the team only means there is more room for such creative "experimenting", as long as they have the time to get up to speed and get the chance to get their hands on the code and experiment with it as well. I don't think a larger team necessarily slows things down, it does allow you to work on more things at once.

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I doubt a set of costume data is more than 1k, certainly no more than 3-4k. It also wouldn't need to take up server space at all, it would just store the configuration data on your local drive, the way it does when you save binds to a file.

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When you record a demofile, all of the information needed to describe your character's costume is recorded in about 10-15 lines of text. The same goes for any other player characters in the demo. So theoretically, that string of text should be enough to store the current state of your costume, when saved to a local file, and recreate it when loaded back into the editor.

The only thing I'm not sure of is what legal ramifications would be involved with that. The out of game costume editor got nixed because of the possibility that you could create copyrighted characters (i.e., by Marvel) and store them on your local hard drive. Even though no one would see those costumes but you, it was apparently enough of a concern that NCSoft nixed it.

In the online realm, CoH can delete (or change) any characters that violate copyright. They can't touch what you've saved to your hard drive, though, or at least it'll be difficult enough to ensure all copies you may have made of the file are deleted that it may be considered a threat to their arrangement with Marvel.

I'd still like to see actual numbers displayed for the actual sliders, though, so you can write down the numbers yourself. And of course, make the height slider available at Icon.

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Both are correct. The decision to keep Ice/Ice as a tanker only set was something I came to when we first started talking Powerset Proliferation, long after the COV beta. Ultimately, the concept was not adopted anyway, so the point is extremely moot.

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Well, as I said before, maybe some sets could be made that are unique to particular ATs. Like as I suggested before, make a Armor set that's more like "Cold" than "Ice", which fixes some of the problems with Brute Fury. It would mean more work, but it would certainly give Brutes a set that would be unique to them. Although that's more a secondary goal to just giving them an ice concept.

I always envisioned Street Fighting as something similar, a Scrapper specific version of Super Strength. Although if past releases are any example, Street Fighting would be released for all four Archetypes that can accept it. Maybe if a bunch of AT specific sets were all released at the same time?

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Castle said, “No, never!” and Positron said, “Yes, do it!” In the end, the decision of which sets to give everyone bounced back and forth multiple times. The next question is, “Why did Castle say no?!” At the time, he wanted each AT to keep certain sets so they were only found on that AT – Ninjitsu for Stalkers, Elec/Elec for Brutes, Ice/Ice for Tankers, etc. Ultimately, that concept was set aside later in the process, but some aspects of it remained in the initial pass of Proliferation.

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May I suggest, if this is to be the case, that specific themed sets be come up with that are OBVIOUSLY unique to that Archetype? While I don't begrudge the idea that Brutes should have some Power Set unique to themselves, my question then becomes "Why Electric?" What is it about using electricity in melee, or as a defense, that makes it exclusive to those character concepts that are villainous, brutish, and gain power over time as they become angry?

There are obviously concepts like Empathy and Poison which seem to be unique to "good" and "evil". (Then again, Empathy isn't exactly unique to one AT) Maybe we can extend that to special sets for other ATs. Then again, do we hold a set "in reserve" until a new unique set can be made, or give the players the choice now, and the uniqueness later?

This is a very old discussion, and there is no real way to either take it to one extreme to another. You CANNOT give all power concepts to all ATs, as noted with Brutes and Ice, and yet you can't get rid of the overlap that already exists. I don't have a problem with denying a certain AT a set, but there should be some other AT that CAN use it.

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I would say you need to be patient. The Devs didn't have the time or resources to do more that simple ports (with the exception of Mind Manip). I'm sure electric/electric will make it next time, because as you say, they just need to adjust one power.

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Except that it's NOT just Mental Manipulation. It's also Electrical Assault, and Electric Melee and Electric Armor for Stalkers. Stalker sets have to be adjusted anyway, so you're not really buying that much time by picking Electric over Ice. Maybe if you have to make as many adaptations as were made for Dark, but I'm guessing it would be more like Willpower. (Just swapping one power for another power, instead of redesigning whole groups of active and passive powers to get the same results)

My question is, if we're just going to be patient and wait for what comes next, then what DOES come next? Electric for Tankers? Ninjitsu for Scrappers? Electric Control and Earth Assault for Dominators? A new Primary for Masterminds? Redesigned Ice or Cold for Brutes? Shields? Street Fighting? What is the priority?

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Bottom line, Ice armor has too many AoE toggles. It would need to be adjusted before it was implemented as a stalker secondary. No Ice secondary...no Ice Primary. Nuff said.

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I can see that. The biggest problem would be Energy Absorption, for the same reason Stalkers don't get Invulnerability. A defense that scales with the number of targets is contrary to the concept of Stalkers.

I don't think Chilling Embrace would be an issue any more than the AoE defenses of Dark Armor is an issue, you can simply turn it off if you don't want to alert a group of foes, or turn it on in an emergency if you're overwhelmed.

Just as Rise to the Challenge was replaced with Reconstruction in Willpower, though, Invincibility or Energy Absorption could be replaced by another power. IF Stalkers get either. I just think Ice Armor is a more likely choice since Invulnerability is something Brutes can get, but Ice Armor isn't. (Unless it's true that Ice Armor without Ice Melee would be okay for Fury building)

Put me down as in agreement that this Proliferation is a big "miss" for Tankers and Stalkers. Sure, I can understand that Conserve Power is a duplicate for Electric Armor, just as Caltrops is a duplicate for Ninjitsu. But Electric is a highly requested set on the hero side, and even though it may still come out later, I feel the time would have been better spent on replacing a single power and coming up with another Tanker Primary later.

As for Stalkers, the Ice/Ice combination, again, has been requested many times on the villain side. Stalkers are a second best solution, since Brute players would prefer it, but to have Ice Armor at all on the villain side would be a plus. All giving Electric to Stalkers does is further imbalance the distribution.

Mind you, I love Electric Assault. (although the writer of the article obviously misplaced the correct name) But this Power Set Proliferation seems to be a little Electric-centric, and not necessarily where it should be.