Justaris

Doesn't hurt to share.

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And who is Candlejack, anyway?

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Candle Jack

ED was ultimately a good change, most for the reasons TonyV outlined above. I think, far more than what ED actually was, it was the way ED was introduced that really rankled and still incites strong emotions in some people today.

Honestly, ED wasn't that bad. Coming close on the heels of the GDN and badly handled in terms of PR, however, it felt like adding insult to injury. In hindsight, that wasn't what it was, but that's certainly what it felt like. I'm glad these changes were made, but I'm still not convinced the way they were implemented was anywhere close to optimal.

On the flip side, I still see people sometimes who claim that X character was "retired due to ED" or is now "unplayable due to ED", which is hogwash.

Probably your greatest strength is going to be Adrenaline Boost, though Fortitude is another strong contender. Empathy has some really excellent buffs. Recovery Aura, Regeneration Aura, Healing Aura, Heal Other - those are all fine, but I'd rather an Empath skipped those than skip either of their most powerful buffs. Sounds like the OP is generally on the right track, though.

Superior Invisibility and Group Invisibility both provide 'invis' level stealth without the "Only Affecting Self" flag. So you could run Leadership toggles, AOE debuffs, whatever, while those were active. Supremacy, too, in the case of Group Invisibility (since you can't get Superior Invisibility as a Mastermind but you could be affected by Group Invisibility if you were teamed with a Controller). Of course, any attack or debuff is going to cause enemies to notice you regardless of how much stealth or invis you have going.

It depends. If you're talking about Invisibility the power, then yes, neither your pets nor your teammates will benefit from Leadership. This applies to any "Only Affecting Self" power, including Invisibility and Phase Shift. While you have this flag on, you will be unable to attack and any toggle debuffs you have running will not work.

However, there are ways to obtain what players typically refer to as 'full invis', meaning being completely unnoticed by most enemies, without using a power that has the "Only Affecting Self" flag. Typically stacking two stealth effects will accomplish this while still allowing you to provide Leadership benefits to your team and pets as well as Supremacy to the pets.

Probably the most common way of accomplishing this is using a stealth toggle power (e.g. Shadow Fall, Stealth, Steamy Mist) and Super Speed, although a +Stealth IO and Super Speed or a +Stealth IO and a stealth toggle power will also work (as will a +Stealth IO in Super Speed itself).

It sounds like what you want is the pseudo-invisibility of "full invis" rather than Invisibility the power.

Okay... I didn't "pick the single thing" you don't do, I pointed out the flaws in many things you were doing. But it's increasingly obvious that you aren't interested in discussion, you just want other people to affirm your perspective and anyone with a different perspective is somehow wrong and (bonus points!) your intellectual inferior for not seeing things your way.

Sorry, don't buy it. It's always a bit tougher to find regular teams when a new shiny comes out, and it's more true now because of the exploit farms. That's all it is. Not some overarching trend or problem with the game. If you won't take steps to make things easier on yourself, that's your loss.

As for people "not keeping up", if this is your idea of debate, I'm guessing it's not you who was proven superior when they elected to disengage and talk about pie instead. You seem more interested in attacking posters than discussing this issue, which tells me that you already know what to do to alleviate your problems but just prefer to complain. That's not a position a rational person can hold discourse with. So you can add me to the list of people you've declared yourself superior to, because I'm done trying to reason with you.

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Let me explain how I go about looking for a team because you all obviously think I don't know [censored].

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Your attitude certainly doesn't help people's estimation of your intelligence and/or ability.

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I begin looking for a team by broadcast "lvl X AT powerset LFT my lvl+". I do that a few times, just enough that it isn't annoying. Then after a failed lft request...I move on over to my /search tool.

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Reasonable so far.

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I find every single person withina reasonable range of my levels usually 2 down, 1 up. I start sending tells, Interested in a level X Whatever team? Generally, I get no reply because people on Freedom are either busy or they are all [censored].

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Okay, first red flag. If you're aiming for a very narrow range you're not going to have as much luck, even on Freedom, unless you're playing during peak times. Don't be afraid to reach out to people further below you and SK/LK them. If there are people a few levels higher who have their LFT flags up you might even drop them a line, though that's less likely to be effective.

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Then I broadcast, lvl X team lfm, whatever lvlish...Generally this will get me some results, tho recently the results have not been as good, mainly on red side tho. Then we do our missions.

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Generally any broadcast recruiting is going to be the least effective means, but it has its place in with the other tools. I notice nowhere in all this are you using SG chat, Coalition chat or global channels. You mentioned earlier that your SG had died while you were away for some extended period of time - so build it back up, or join a new one. Form coalitions with active groups. Above and beyond all that, get into a global channel. More than one, preferably.

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Lately i noticed that ppl quit teams more often and fast, they have been poisoned by the ubuer leveling.

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Yes, this is part of the fallout of the rampant exploiting recently, and it tends to be worse on Freedom. You may have to put up with higher turnover than you're used to, but turnover is and always has been part of team leadership and high turnover on Freedom is fairly typical. It's worse now than usual, but not by all that much.

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If none of this works, I start sending tells to those gayed out lvl w/e "Any room for a lvl blank blank?" I do not have any Freedom Channel atm, i hate for my chat box being all cluttered, also, my SG is currently dormant.

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The reverse invite thing is useful as a last resort, but by your own admission you're not making use of several tools open to you because you don't want to. Because you "hate for [your] chat box being all cluttered". If you're not willing to use everything that's out there for you, then you really have only yourself to blame for the results.

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It's all well and good to cast yourself in the role of the intrepid rebel voice against the quiescent majority, but what you need to recognize is that if the majority is against you then there's an excellent possibility that the majority is correct and that you are mistaken or flat-out wrong.

As the self-proclaimed maverick it's incumbent on you to make your case unshakable so that it can stand against the masses and be proven correct. If you can't do that, either because you don't have the support or because you don't care to do so, then you're going to get the predictable reaction from the community at large and frankly, should expect it to be so.

You've already had many good replies to this thread which have basically said the same thing - it's more than possible to get teams with a little effort (especially if you make use of all the tools available and don't just set your flag and broadcast LFT spam), even in the wake of the Rikti Comm. Officer exploit debacle which had many people doing nothing but exploiting in AE farms. At this point it's not exactly clear where you feel the game or the community has fallen short, except perhaps that it's not what you would like it to be.

Whatever you hope to accomplish, engaging in attacks on individual posters (regardless of whether or not you believe it justified) gets you nowhere.

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Which brings me back to my 2 main points.

PvP has for a fact diminhed.

I have found in my experiences on Freedom that it is somewhat harder to find a normal team. Ask these forum guys and gals how many of them have teaming experience on Freedom...

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Okay, point 1 - PvP is less popular / "has diminished". Yes, obviously. A number of the prominent PvPers and even whole PvP SGs were, shall we say, less than happy with the I13 changes to PvP and stopped PvPing or left the game entirely. Since the new PvP is still in the process of being born, I'd say it's to be expected that it'll be slow to gain new proponents. So yes, there's less PvP.

As for "it's harder to find a team", especially on Freedom... only if you're doing it wrong. A number of factors - an emphasis on instanced content, new customizable /hide options, the advent of global channels and the existence of good, stable Supergroups and Coalitions - have all combined to offer more options for the quick and easy finding of teams. Someone who does not make use of these options, yes, is going to have a harder time.

You can't just rely on blind invites, broadcast spamming and your LFT flag or even on Freedom you may have some trouble getting teams quickly. If you use all the tools you have available to you, however, there's no reason you should be having trouble at all. Other folks in this thread have already said as much. In the short term you need to be using tells and global channels - in the long term you need to be adding people to your friends list, beefing up your SG / finding another one and/or picking up good coalition allies.

Freedom is probably one of the easiest servers to find teams on quickly and I don't have any trouble even on far less popular servers. And yes, I play on Freedom. Also Justice, Infinity, Liberty, Triumph, Pinnacle, Protector and Champion. And sometimes Virtue.

It's all well and good to cast yourself in the role of the intrepid rebel voice against the quiescent majority, but what you need to recognize is that if the majority is against you then there's an excellent possibility that the majority is correct and that you are mistaken or flat-out wrong.

As the self-proclaimed maverick it's incumbent on you to make your case unshakable so that it can stand against the masses and be proven correct. If you can't do that, either because you don't have the support or because you don't care to do so, then you're going to get the predictable reaction from the community at large and frankly, should expect it to be so.

You've already had many good replies to this thread which have basically said the same thing - it's more than possible to get teams with a little effort (especially if you make use of all the tools available and don't just set your flag and broadcast LFT spam), even in the wake of the Rikti Comm. Officer exploit debacle which had many people doing nothing but exploiting in AE farms. At this point it's not exactly clear where you feel the game or the community has fallen short, except perhaps that it's not what you would like it to be.

Whatever you hope to accomplish, engaging in attacks on individual posters (regardless of whether or not you believe it justified) gets you nowhere.

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PvP went from flawed-but-enjoyable to completely-unplayable in issue 13, don't even bother.

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How good PvP is post-Issue 13 is debatable - you'll hear some people say it ruined PvP and others say that it's been a good change. Many of the old guard of PvPers left over the change or at least stopped PvPing as a result of it, since it fundamentally changed the way PvP worked and this meant many of the old tactics and 'power builds' were no longer applicable. Also, the Devs aren't done tweaking PvP and it will probably be a few more months before we arrive at the final version of "the new PvP". Some, like myself, are holding back trying out the new PvP in a big way until these changes are complete

Keep in mind that you probably did choose *something* at six. In fact, you have to, the game won't let you just choose nothing. You probably have a new power from your primary or secondary powerset, maybe a new attack? So it's not like you didn't get anything.

Hope you enjoy your trial and come join us for the full game. If you have any more questions, don't be afraid to come back here and ask or ask in-game on the Help Channel. If you type /hc QUESTIONHERE you can ask other players in-game your questions. Good luck!

Okay, you want to look at the right column, the one that has your inherent powers such as Brawl and Rest. Scroll down if you need to and see if you have the Flight pool. If you don't, then you most likely accidentally chose a different power after you chose Hover, which un-chooses Hover.

Don't worry, you'll have more chances at levels 8, 10 and 12 to choose Hover again in order to have Fly unlocked for 14 if it turns out that this is what you did.

Keep in mind that you can only pick up one new power at a time. A common mistake new players make is to pick up a power pool power (such as Hover) and then they pick something else, not realizing that they're actually dropping Hover in the process.

Did you get another power at level 6?

If yes, then you didn't get Hover. Sorry. If no, then click on Powers and you should see Hover in the far right column and you can drag it into your tray from there.

It's an interesting idea, though of course you'd need a ship capable of dimensional travel since the Rikti world is in another dimension (there's more to it than that, but that way lies Spoiler Country).

Given that "endgame content" raids currently consist of Hamidon and the Rikti Mothership raids (and STF/LRSF if you count those), we already have a Rikti-themed high level event and I personally would rather see them take a different tack, perhaps something related to Rularuu and the Shard.

It's an interesting notion, however, and as we continue to learn more about the Rikti as new story arcs reveal information about them, I'm sure some form of travel to the Rikti homeworld is in the game's future.

There hasn't been an official announcement of one yet - we can speculate, but it's just that - speculation. Smart money says there'll be one sometime in the summer.

Provided that toggling "Unkillable" on automatically turns all rewards (xp, inf, prestige, MA badge credit) off, I support this as a useful tool for players testing and tweaking their arcs.

This would allow for more point testing. If I've just changed one aspect of Mission Three, this expedites my testing process. However, if the player can earn any kind of rewards while in Unkillable Mode then I'm against it for abuse potential.

Any badges for testing your arcs should not be awarded if any part of the arc was done in Unkillable Mode. This would further encourage (some) players to play through at least once without the protection of godmode.

Psst.. pretty sure Captiosus was using that example precisely to highlight the pitfalls of arguing from anecdotal 'evidence' and probably is well aware of the facts concerning the servers.

It's good that you point those out for the benefit of everyone else in the thread, as it probably can't be said too often, but I think you may have missed the point of the quoted post.

Once again (and this is the last time I'm going to post this because you don't seem to be at all interested in actually suggesting something), you have yet to suggest what these new inherents would actually be or how they would resolve the problems you claim that Tankers and Defenders have. Also, healing's not the only thing a Defender might use endurance for, but we'll let that one go since it's an entirely different can of worms.

As for "i want to be able to kill as much as i can as often as i can", certain ATs are always going to be better suited to solo PvP than others.

That's how it is. Even if you did graft on this extra damage boost (or whatever it would be, you've never said), it's not going to change the nature of the ATs. Some are still going to have the edge over others. The only way you can even that out is to make everyone copies of each other with different costumes.

This seems more like a wishlist than any kind of workable suggestion, and it's a wishlist that should probably take a backseat to more important and called-for additions.

So, again, /unsigned on this one. We don't all need to be the bomb in duels in order for PvP to be working.

Edit: Speaking to your edit on the post above - I can respect the honesty of you at least admitting you didn't really have an idea when you posted this. The +recharge thing is interesting but probably incredibly broken in application - either you hit the DR caps in short order and it's relatively useless or you plaster your opponent into a wall and it's overpowered. As for gaining large amounts of +Def or +Res, it's an interesting mechanic and one that could grant survivability rather than damage. This would be more likely to work, I think.

Ultimately, I don't think an extra PvP-only inherent for just two ATs that supposedly need the help is worth the Devs' time here, but at least you've given this some thought and there's now something to be discussed. I may not consider it a good suggestion, but I can't say it isn't a reasonably considered and presented one anymore, so I give you credit for that. I think we're not going to get anything further that's productive out of this so I'll leave you to the next respondents.

Again, if the intent is to move towards a 1v1 balance for PvP (i.e. duels), that probably isn't going to happen, ever. Like most games of this type, CoX seems to be going for a team vs team balance.

"Useful" inherents aren't a requirement for these ATs to perform in PvP (See Rad/Psy Defenders) and this amount of extra work to add in second inherents for all ATs (or just for the two you think need them) seems like a lot of Dev effort for little result. Basically a waste of time, at least in my estimation. You also still haven't said just what these new 'useful' inherents would be. Even if they wasted their time on something like this, why wouldn't the other ATs get one too? Or at least Masterminds and SoAs, the others without a 'useful' inherent?

Still, if all of this is aimed at duels, it's probably a waste of breath. Whatever you feel the 'final word' is, PvP is not going to be balanced around duels. Balancing around 1v1 PvP isn't going to work unless you basically turn everyone into reskinned versions of each other when they step into a PvP zone.

And for the record, no, I'm not a hardcore PvPer. I did PvP occasionally prior to I13 and I've elected to wait until the Devs are finished redoing PvP before venturing into it again in a significant fashion.

So a bunch of new coding for second inherents, but only for those ATs who have inherents you don't find "useful" in PvP now? Or new PvP Inherents for everyone? And what would these new inherents be? It's not clear what you're suggesting here, aside from "damage". If the intent is to move towards a 1v1 balance for PvP, that probably isn't going to happen, ever.

The word you're looking for is "Inherents". It might be a good idea, before suggesting changes to the game, to understand a bit more about how it works (or take the time to learn).

You're correct in your brief summations of Vigilance (Defender Inherent) and Gauntlet (Tanker Inherent). You are, however, incorrect in most of your other statements. Supermacy (Mastermind Inherent) has nothing to do with Resistance. It pertains to the effectiveness of the pets (+ACC, +DAM) when they are in range of the Mastermind. Perhaps you were thinking of Bodyguard Mode.

As for the other Inherents, you're correct that Brutes, Stalkers, Dominators, Corruptors, Blasters, Scrappers, Controllers and Kheldians all get something that in some way confers additional damage or has the potential to do so. However, they accomplish this in a number of different ways.

Also, in addition to Tankers, Defenders and Masterminds, SoAs also do not have an Inherent which relates directly to damage. Controllers get their extra damage only on Containment targets and then only when using powers to which Containment applies. Scrappers do not get Criticals with every hit. Blasters, Dominators and Brutes must all take steps to build up their damage bonuses and lose them if they are not actively maintained. Kheldians require teammates of the right stripe to gain their damage bonuses and must remain in close proximity to them to get those bonuses.

So yes, while many of the ATs can get some kind of damage bonus, they arrive at it in very different ways. It's not clear why you think every Inherent needs to have something to do with damage-dealing and changing the inherents seems like a needless thing to do, especially for Tankers, many of whom rely on Gauntlet to help them to hold aggro and perform their roles on teams.

Having a second inherent just for PvP seems likewise silly. The Inherents are supposed to be play into the central role of the respective AT and for the most part they do this well (Vigilance is debatable, but given the great variety of Defender primaries anything probably would be).

In short, /unsigned to this.

Anything and everything, really. One of the great strengths of Defenders is the tremendous variety in the powersets - there's more difference between Defender primaries than there is between some other ATs.

I'll briefly talk about a few of my favorites and I imagine others will do the same, but really you can't go wrong so long as you play whatever you choose for what it is rather than trying to shoehorn it into being something else.

Dark Miasma - fantastic powerset with the power to control, debuff, heal, buff and rez. Offers probably the best set of tools to single-handedly rally a losing situation into a victory. You can floor the ability of enemies to hit anything. You can rez multiple players at once in a radius around you. You can hold, stun and cage. You grant stealth, defense and resistance to your allies. You have a shadowy pet who follows you around, and the two of you also have a heal. About the only thing you don't have is mez protection powers.

Sonic Resonance - a powerhouse of a set that is the master of Damage Resistance. You grant Damage Resistance to your allies and yourself, you debuff the Damage Resistance of your enemies (effectively increasing the damage output of everyone on your team). You also command a mez protection power, a dispersion bubble and a cage power.

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I mean as a main healer, not just damage or solo. I think thermal, if made a primary, would be better than most other healing and res sets.

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While I'm not opposed to having Thermal Radiation as a Defender primary, this is a terrible reason for it.

First off, it suggests a really poor understanding of a Defender's role and of the game in general (a "main healer" isn't remotely necessary in this game and focusing on that to the exclusion of all else is more wasteful than helpful since the same contribution can be made and then some by a player using both his primary and secondary powersets).

Second, this suggests a really poor understanding of Thermal Radiation, as it's a toolbox powerset of buffs, debuffs and healing powers. If someone were to attempt to make a 'main healer' character, they wouldn't need Thermal to do it. People have been mangling Empathy in this way for a while now.

If you want to play support, more power to you, but the sooner you understand the complex mix of buffs, debuffs, control, healing and/or attacks that any decent support character brings to the table in this game, the better.

Credit cards are probably the easiest way, but yes, there are game cards you can buy to pay for your subscription.