Kinslayer_

Well, my VG allows all our coalition members entry to our base.

It halps some of our smaller coalitions as we have TP's to all zones and our guys are a pretty helpful bunch.

Hmm,

I can be about tonight from about 17.30 until 19.00(Ice Mistral SF tonight) to run some tests.

I'll holler when I get in tonight on the Leader channel and see if we can get a few of us to have a few quick battles.

I have PvP builds of spine/regen, illu/storm, ninja/energy and PB ready to go.

Will think on some sets this afternoon and see if we can get anything done with such short notice.

Would like to try some sort */rad, */ice heavy corruptor team against a standard PvP Pentad team. Say 2 rads, 1 ice, 1 thermal and a brute(think we may be able to find an elec/elec on test if luck ) or stalker against an empath, storm, ice/en, tank and regen.

Will be interesting to see if it would be as one sided as previous hero/villain fights.

Peace, you've now made 3 posts on the forum in a brief time, all in CAP'S.

A couple of people have pointed out this is against the forum rules in your other posts. Please take time to check the rules as Bridger, the forum mod, may take a bit of a dim view if he continues to see repeated violations.

As for builds, a regen scrapper is probably one of the more forgiving sets for a new player.

I'd recomend pairing it up with katana, dark melee or broadsword to start with(claws isn't very good, though it is getting a bit of a buff soon, and spines is probably a bit more difficult to master than the others).

Dark and broadsword have the edge in damage but are endurance heavy and kind of slow. Katana is more accurate and quicker but lighter on damage.

From the regen side, your key 'early' powers will be integration, reconstruction and dull pain. By the time you reach the point where you can pick other powers, you should have learnt enough about your playingstyle to make your own build choices or ask more specific questions.

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Fire primary for blasters - total lack of utility, nothing but damage

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And this is where the differences of opinion that Idris speaks of comes in. A lot of people will disagree with that statement completly as damage is exactly what a blaster should specialise in. For an experienced player, fire is on of the best primaries about as long as you can manage the aggor it generates.

As Idris says, pick what you like the look of, not what people say is easy or 'uber'.

Main advice I would give is try several builds up to about lv 10 then decide which one you enjoy most.

First off, posting the same thread in different forums and posting in Caps are both against the board rules.

Back on topic. There's very little difference between the servers. Populations are almost identical, though Union seems a little bit busier on the CoV side than Defiant.

Captain Cathode has also given the impression that Defiant has the more active PvP community which is not true, again they're pretty much even. As a matter of fact, I've been teaming with several Defiant PvP guys who've commented on how busy Sirens is on Union.

The only real difference is that Union is the 'unofficial' RP server. That said, they acount for a small section of the population so don't expect everyone you team with to really think they are 'Zorg, the sun swallowing alien' as I can count on one hand the amount of times I've had an 'in character' moment since CoH was launched. RP is there but only if you want it, it's not forced on anyone.

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Is Brimmy the new The Question answers on a post card pls

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No. Question may have been blunt and argumentative but always gave his reasons and arguments and got a lot of respect as a result

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CoV is easier at early lvls than the good guy game

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CoV is not 'easier', in fact, teaming in large CoV teams is more challenging than CoH as the AT's don't blend as naturally. It's just designed a hell of a lot better. Hollows sucks becuase of poor design, not because it's difficult. An 8 man team can work a LOT better before level 10 on CoH than it can on CoV.

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with the new i7 tactical start coming and the not being able to rest in the hospital, do people not think that base snatching will get worse

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I'm pretty sure that Bridger said somewhere this was no longer going to happen?

They were having big problems on the test server in the US where heroes wouldn't leave their base, forcing villains to base camp. The reason behind this? Blasters would deliberately die then come running out of hospital with 'Defiance' maxed out and tear through the villains.

There was also an issue with empaths just camping the hospitals and spam healing while AFK to easily get the heal badges.

Personally, I hope they do keep it as my first port of call after I7 will be sirens for our SG's final heal badge

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oh stop it allready, what is this, like the 10000th thread about how bad the hollows is?
If you dont like it then dont do it, just go and talk to wincott and return to your regular contact....

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Yes, because as Brimmy so politely makes clear to someone who is a new player to CoH, with a bluntly rude post, these forums aren't the place for expressing an opinion without someone jumping down your throat!

First run down with a full 8 man team and was childs play with 4 brutes apart from a bugged mission which cost us a bit of time.

Would REALLY appreciate a healer of some sort on Thursday as I had to play my lvl 40 healer rather than my lvl 36 debuffer who desperately needs XP for the 3vP event

Deleted the original PM from Bridger about this before I realised people may be interested so I'll post a summary.

I asked Bridger what the chances were of arena terminals appearing in Pocket D, mainly because organising big PvP events across both games was a pain.

Not his exact words but the basic reply was "It's been mentioned to the Dev's and something they are aware there is a demand for but there is no official position on it as yet"

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ffs....its a game!!!

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That was - without a doubt - the bravest(or stupidest) first step on to these boards I have ever seen.

Good luck to you mate, you're going to need it

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I'd be more inclined to use the words in brackets. Given that he's not said something conciliatory to try and defuse the situation but has instead pretty much had a dig at both of those involved.

Will be looking at future posts from that user with interest to see how many flame wars he provokes!

Back to the source of the argument. Regardless of what the two warring factions may or may not think and agree on, if Bridger were to set a poll up asking:

"Are base TP'ing, mob TP'ing and drone TP'ing 'fair' tactics?"

I think we all know that the overwhelming result will be 'No'. I have TP foe on some alts and the only time I ever use it is when someone is running.

To a certain degree, TP'ing someone out of base is the lesser of the three evils and while I wouldn't do it, I can understand some people seeing it as a viable tactic, if the person is going to stay in base and wants to be safe, they can go in the hospital. I will never see the other two in the same light though.

However, if debt/xp were removed from PvP zones, I would see mob TP'ing as a viable tactic though I still wouldn't use it. Drone TP'ing on the other hand, no way. At least with mobs you have a chance to take action, against a Drone, there's nothing you can do.

Of course, all of these arguments could easily be neded is the Dev's done two very simple things:

- Remove debt/xp from PvP zone NPC's
- Stop enemy powers having any effect on players as soon as they enter the base zone. No TP's, no snipes and so on(with the exception of DoT from moves executed before they entered the safe zone).

This has been bought up time and time again but the Dev's have yet to take any action. You almost get the impression they're encouraging griefing in PvP zones.

Wow, this has dropped right down the board.

Is it worth dropping Bridger a PM and seeing if he can sticky it?

At first glance, none of the builds are what I'd really call the PvP 'uber' builds

- DA doesn't have the survivability of regen

- The NRG/NRG blaster 'may' have taken a big hit with toggle dropping. Guess this will show us that (unless you are planning on actually playing a blaster as a blaster instead of a blapper, which will be groundbreaking )

- Axe is probably not a great set for PvP on a tank. Tanks aren't expected to pump out damage but Axe has particularly slow animation and very high end cost. I've seen some axe builds work VERY well due to their damage output but they're one that does take practice to PvP with due to the end and animation issues, something you'll not really get in the limited time span of the event unless you've already got one on live.

Of course, this is all taken with a pinch of salt as you have no idea what's going to turn up on the night because of the nature of the event.

Personally, I'll be straight back to live if I walk into RV and see katana/regen, spine/regen, storm defenders, stalkers and blappers making up the majority of the population.

I'd much rather see a few more experimental builds turn up(looking at a dark stalker myself with the presence pool for fear overload)

Hmm, may be a bit tougher this time as the heroes are well aware of it now and are rallying recruits over on the 'Union Heroes' forum

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According to the list of union lvl 50s there are 17 Kat/regens, 14 DM/Regens, 12 claws/regens and a mere 8 spine/regens along with 8 broadsword/regens. In fact it seems that they are joint second least favourites with only MA/Regens being less popular at 4.

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Yeah, but that just highlights that people have built them purely for the PvP Uberness.

Few of the spine/regens I've seen are lvl 50, most being just over 30 so seem to have been rolled purely for PvP.

Was in Sirens last night and there was a mix of blaster, PB's and trollers with about 15-20 toons on Union.

Of those, 3 were stormies, 4 were regen/spines and 5 were blappers. On the villain side, there were probably about 12 of us by the end of the night, of which 8 were stalkers.

This isn't really a post to whinge, I'll fight any of them and savour my kills against these 'uber' builds more as a result.

I just think it's quite a sad reflection that rather than try to build something trickier to play and master, everyone goes for the easy builds. I've deliberately NOT respecced my lvl 50 katana/regen for PvP as I know it's the easy option and when picking a PvP build for CoV, I refused to go with a stalker

On a related note, was quite impressed with Morgan Le Fay on Union last night in Sirens. The first blaster i've seen there in a long while who played as a blaster!

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I'm sure i'll be around with Cannon at some point

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Oh goody, I take a sick fascination out of dropping flying targets with snow storm and Crim is particulalry obliging as I recall

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I think Spines are being rolled a bit too often these days, but I still dont see that many of them in Sirens.

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Take it you're on Defiant? Come take a look on Union and you can gurantee spine/regen will make up around 1/4 to 1/2 of the hero side at any given point.

Is total focus not the EM move where they jump up in the air in slow motion and hit you with an axe handle?

Well, I know Bru is joining for the Tuesday one and I'll defeinitely not be on for PvP this week. Too many of my VG need this SF and as the only dedicated healer in my VG it's my job to keep them alive

Will also be a little late for next weeks one but only about 20 minutes or so.

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At one point, the heroes were really pushing us back but suddenly seemd to lose interest and all leave.

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Probably went to watch TV.

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Hmm, Enervator. That's the defender I kept chasing half way across the zone with my Ice/Ice Exofrost MK IV

Sorry for pestering you so much but a lot of the villains kept ignoring you in favour of the more obvious targets but I knew you had the potential to really ruin our party which is why I was a bit merciless in my targeting. Was mroe to keep you out of the fight with buffs than to actually kill you

Well, I've got a couple of alts on Deviant but not enough to comment on PvP balance there but there are a few observations on Onion I can make about Sirens.

- Rarely see defenders on the hero side
- Nearly all the heroes seem to be storm defenders, spine/regen scrappers or blappers
- Numbers flip back and forth but villains seem more willing to switch to heroes when numbers are uneven than vice versa. That said, the numbers are in the heroes favour a lot more than they are the villains.
- The majority of villains always seem to be stalkers
- Rare to see Dom's on the villain side

Personally, with the exception of Saturday, I will just leave the zone as my villain if we outnumber the heroes too much. It's not teaching me anything and the rep doesn't bother me enough to gank the same few people over and over.

On the other hand, if the villains are heavily outnumbered, as long as I'm not getting killed without the chance to react as soon as I set foot outside of base and the opposition aren't using mobs, I will stay and fight. Nothing teaches you more than when you manage to get kills off while the odds are against you.

I do find it kind of sad when I'm in an outnumbered villain team and people leave purely because it's not a walk in the park but it's also sad when the opposition seem so happy to gank. Another thing that annoys me a little is when the heroes have anti AS tactics so all the stalkers leave. AS is a huge part of a stalker build but the number of them who seem to see that as the ONLY thing they can do is a bit poor. I know several stalkers who see the disabling of their AS as an inconvenience and a challenge rather than as an excuse to bail out.

As for the abundance of blappers and spine/regens? I really do have little respect for them in general terms(note the emphasis, there are some out there I have a lot of time for). Spine/regens are EASY to play and I think they're a lot easier to play than stalkers but they don't seem to get the same level of criticism as them. Stalkers can get lots of kills, but they also die pretty easily. Spine/regens get lots of kills and are one of the hardest builds to kill.

For Blappers, I'll reserve my judgment until after I7 and see how many of those who's only tactic at the moment seems to be total focus actually stay active in Sirens. I suspect most of them will spend the first few weeks moaning about toggle drops, respec their builds and find they can't kill on a whim now and go off and roll spine/regens instead.

Blappers, spine/regens and stalkers who only rely on AS just show a complete lack of imagination IMO.

I really do hope we see Blappers still around in Sirens after I7 but I get the impression many of them are only there because of the easy kills they can get so some of the regulars now will disappear rather than persevere and enjoy the challenge. I have a lot of time for blasters in Sirens who do not rely on blapping and those who say toggle drops are all that gieve blasters a chance are talking nonsense as nothing scares me more than having a ranged blaster on my tail taking off the huge chunks of damage they do.

Storm defenders? I'm afraid Hurricane still needs a nerf. Before everyone screams and throws a fit, I'm happy with the Hurricane power itself and the unrooting but it's the -ACC that makes this so unfair. As a ranged fighter, I expect to be thrown around and pinned to walls if a stormy get's close. What I don't expect is to hit build up and still miss 3 or 4 shots in a row as the stormy closes.

He he he, was great fun in there on Saturday though and the only thing that surprised me was that we didn't spawn a 'Sirens Call 2'.

Had at least 30 villains there at the start and was quite funny as we sat in base getting ready hearing a few heroes asking over broadcast 'any villains here?' only for us to come rolling out for a 10 on 1 gank fest and lots of brown lycra tights being filled on the hero side.

An hour or so in, the heroes started calling in reinforcements and it got a bit more even. At one point I think we had even sides with around 20 on each.

The main thing that allowed us to win out at the end though was that we had more staying power. Even when the heroes were fighting back and reclaiming some of the zone, we stuck at it for most of the day while the heroes seemed to put up a fight for short periods before throwing in the towel. At one point, the heroes were really pushing us back but suddenly seemd to lose interest and all leave.

The fact we had a global channel set up and was coordinating our hot spot retreats en masse also helped.

Only really heard of one incident that soured the situation when one of the villains was deliberately TP'ing heroes into mobs which was sorted out very quickly.

Personal highlight for me was when I'd chased some guy back to the hero base before getting the final shot in just before he reached safety. Unfortunately, a scrapper entered the zone and saw my squishy Corruptor all alone and chased me down. He obviously had just arrived for random PvP unaware of what was going as he chased me all the way back to the hotspot where 20+ villains were waiting. Seeing him suddenly try to reverse up as he rounded the corner of the building, only to go down under a hail of fire, ice, radiation and psy attacks while he said over broadcast 'uh oh' did make me chuckle.

A little disapointed with the villain tier 2 powers which are nowhere near as useful as the hero ones

Well, I'll be on with Exofrost MK IV and will be happy to:

A. Do it with Exofrost MK IV for the XP
B. Bring Kinslayer on to do it as quick as possible(TP/Stealth).

Guessing from your post that you want it mainly for the XP so will not be using any of the shortcuts?

If you are doing it for the respec itself, rather than the XP, it's sometimes easier to do the first one a second time. You still get the badge and respec, as long as you are 34+, but it's generally easier to get a team together and the 'Kill 3 Bosses' mission on the first is easier than the 'Kill All DE' on the second. It's probably offset by the fact there is no ambush on the second one though when you're fighting the AV.

I've actually got the first respec SF down to 24 minutes start to finish by using my RESPEC GUIDE and it's a nice prestige earner when exemped.

Just a quick post guys to say I won't be able to make it this week as I have an SF to do.

Bit of a shame as you won't be able to rack up a ridiculous number of kills at my face planting expense

However, I am toying with the idea of copying my lvl 40 fire/thermal over to test and respeccing him for PvP to take part in the international night.

Guess I'm a glutton for punishment doing it twice in one week but several of my Vg need it and can't make it on a single night so I'll be running two.

It's lvl 35+ and gives a nice badge needed for one of the accolades in I7.

Anoyne interested, post here or just turn up on the night at the contact in St. Martial.

failing that, send me a tell on @kinslayer

Or petition him. Not sure what the official line is but if that's not a form of harassment, I'll be surprised

Bah, been wondering where you Defiant guys have been lately and with Archy going, suspected the PvP VG was going to need some new members.

Was nice teaming with you on CoV Union and was great seeing the heroes actually getting a little bit fearful when you all went to Sirens en Masse

Thanks for helping me to see PvP isn't as abhorrent to us PvE players as I thought and showing that it can be good fun and offer a challenge the PvE side is lacking.