Liquid

[ QUOTE ]
The Council is made up of the Nictus-controlled people, etc, of which Requiem was one from the start. It would appear that him and the rest of his troops decided now was the time to take over.

[/ QUOTE ]

Take over WHAT?

Requiem was already in charge.

I'm really annoyed with the change (though happy that they claim they are restoring the history plaques), and even more annoyed that a repackaging of an existing villain group is being labeled as "new content", but I will say this:

ONE Story Arc or TF to explain the 5th/Council conflict and takeover would be enough to satisfy me. If Statesman, or any other Dev for that matter, posted in this thread saying "there is a story arc/TF that goes into detail about the 5th/Council war" I will be satisfied. I would also (obviously) be satisfied if someone who has actually seen something of this nature on the Test server, says that it is already there.

Another thing of note is that we were promised two things in Issue 3: a council and a war. What we got was a renamed villain group we already had as the council, and a couple of spawns and newspaper articles as a war. There is obviously no turning back on the Council thing, but at least we could ask for more in the "war" department.

War is a big word, it doesn't describe a couple of fights. If all they are giving us is spawns, at least we could get them all over the place (like 4 or so spawns per zone), especially in Steel Canyon, Boomtown, and Brickstown, the three major areas of 5th/Council influence. And it would be nice if they had dialogue that might help explain what is going on, I didn't see any when I watched and fought them in IP.

Striga Isle is very cool, I'm thrilled to finally have alliance chat , and I'm moderately happy with the mission difficulty slider (there should be some way to restore pre-Issue 2 +0 only missions to the low-end game). Just wanted to add some positives in there.

Can you look into double-damage type attacks (Dark Melee, Energy Blast, etc) vs. Defense buffs and Accuracy Debuffs? Geko has stated they take double the penalty, and not only does this seem unfair (having a second type that might not be resisted doesn't make up for hitting half as often), but it even seems like there is a bug making it WORSE than that.

Thanks so much for the update, Statesman. Overall, I am very happy with your information. I have a couple of specific comments:

[ QUOTE ]

6. I do know that Unyielding Stance and its immobility is an issue. I'm going to be thinking about that a lot in the coming week.


[/ QUOTE ]

Thank you SO much. Please also consider Rooted, Ice Armor's lack of sleep protection, and Fire Aura's general clunkiness of status protection through an offensive power and a heal. When you start thinking "they need a weakness", remember that our damage output is low, and we have no defenses (with the slight exception of stone) to psionic or typeless damage. Also, remember that Scrappers do NOT (and should not, being melee) have weaknesses in their status protection, despite the fact that their job isn't to have everyone in the room beating on them full time.

I do not play an Ice, Stone, or Fire Tanker, but I know that Invuln is not the only one with status resistance woes.

[ QUOTE ]

2. After analysis, Scrappers CAN NOT reach the same levels of resistance as a Tank.


[/ QUOTE ]

You should look at the guides on the forums for how Invuln Scrappers can reach 90% resistance to all but psionic/typeless damage. It involves perma-unstoppable and perma-hasten. This is the ONLY thing encroaching on Tanker territory.

[ QUOTE ]
Regeneration, though, is a small concern.

[/ QUOTE ]

As a Tanker, I used to think Regeneration was overpowered and capable of tanking adequately for a group. I now have a level 37 Regen scrapper with 6 slotted Tough and Weave, Perma-Dull Pain and 6 slotted Instant Healing. The only thing I can tank better than a Tanker is a psionic AV. That's it, and it's questionable (I can tank Malaise and Mother Mahem, but not the Clockwork King). I was so, SO wrong when I thought a regen Scrapper could tank adequately for a decent sized group.

Post-IH Regen is the bar where all Scrapper sets should be at, in my opinion, though MoG and Revive should be made useful. Revive should bring you back at full HPs and Endurance like all other revival powers.

Also, Raimi Arcade is named after Sam Raimi, creator of the Evil Dead series.

Dialogue references:
Nemesis Automotons saying "I need those TPS reports" (Office Space)

Copper Dragon saying "You must defeat Copper Dragon to stand a chance" and "Attack me if you dare, I will crush you" (Street Fighter II)

The Family saying "Let me introduce you to my little friend" (Scarface)

Warriors training, saying "Be like water" (Bruce Lee)

Here's another one:

Doc Whedon is a reference to Buffy The Vampire Slayer creator Joss Whedon, who is currently writing the Astonishing X-Men, and rumored to be directing X-Men 3 now that Brian Singer is on the next Superman movie. Joss is often used as a "script doctor" for various movies, Toy Story being one of them, hence the "Doc" part of the badge.

And of course, if you kill enough Vampyrs you get the "The Slayer" badge.

I agree that if you allow crossover of the melee sets, Tanker numbers will dwindle. I'd at least like crossover of the Defensive sets, so we could have more variety. I'd really like to have my SS/SR character.

I don't think I should bother pushing for it though, Statesman sounds pretty "vision-y" on the subject.

[ QUOTE ]

*Performs the dance of joy*


[/ QUOTE ]

No longer do the dance of joy, Numfar.

[ QUOTE ]
Quality vs. quantity.

Some people want to have tougher fights with three whites.
Some people want to have tougher fights with twelve whites.

What's the difference? Why can't "minions" at level 30 be considered a challenge in groups of three? If they're appropriately scaled up with powers and, most importantly, XP, then it's really just a matter of preference.


[/ QUOTE ]

I wanted to quote this to make a point:

I don't want to choose between quality and quantity. I want variety. I want to have situations where I am challenged, and situations where I beat the holy hell out of something. Now, if this means creating "back-loaded" missions, great. I don't need it to be white-con minions that I can swat like bugs, I just want something in missions (you can choose to fight blues and greens outside of missions) that I can smash.

Front loaded missions had the variety, but being frontloaded instead of backloaded made them anti-climactic, as we had nothing to look forward to once we took out the first room or two, so it felt like a waste of time. Also, greys were probably too low, greens should have been the lowest.

If, when you complete the difficulty slider, you had a "back load this mission" checkbox, that kept the overall range the same but skewed down the mobs in the front down to -2, and raised the mobs in the back to either +2, or +1 with more LTs than minions, this would be a nice option...

An option that people who didn't like it wouldn't have to use.

[ QUOTE ]

Also - think of the technical ramifications. Let's say that 10 minions equal a hero at level 40. <snip>The performance issues boggle the mind.

[/ QUOTE ]

Then how about making LTs more frequent instead?

A lot of us really enjoy the mook aspect. Being able to swat aside SOMETHING is really fun for us, it makes us feel like superheroes. For people that primarily do missions, all we have as options for this are white-con minions. Underings almost never appear, and those that do... well, it takes me longer to kill a blue swarm (slow powers, smashing resistance) than a white minion.

[ QUOTE ]

2. The Tanker's defense stats can be matched by a properly slotted Scrapper - but the Tanker can not approach the Scrapper in damage.


[/ QUOTE ]

This actually isn't the entirety of the Tanker/Scrapper issue. The other thing that makes Scrappers better than Tankers is full mobile status resistance. Please remember this. They get to have fun in this fast-paced combat, running around and fighting things, we have to stand in one spot (Stone, Invuln), or be vulnerable to a particular status effect (Ice, Fire).

This isn't fun in such a fast paced game, and slowing the game down isn't something anyone would want as a solution.

[ QUOTE ]

1. Tankers will get a "provoke" like AOE effect on their melee attacks. The more a Tanker lands his blows, the more and more mobs he'll attract. The bonus here is that it's not exactly like Provoke (it's not ranged) - but it makes a lot of sense. Some huge monstrosity is bashing the heads of a villain group - they're going to get more and more concerned about taking him/her out....


[/ QUOTE ]

I think this proves that Statesman listens to us. This is, hands down, the best idea ever put forward for fixing the Provoke issue, and it was put forward by people on the forums.

I can FINALLY drop Provoke now. Thank you SO MUCH.

This will make the best cross of the comic book tanker feel with the MMO Meatshield role.


[ QUOTE ]
2. As a Tanker lands more and more blows, he'll start doing more and more damage. The longer the fight, the more powerful the Tanker becomes. I can't say that the Tanker will do as much damage as a Scrapper - but it'll certainly be more than he does now. This ability really gets to the core of a comic book Tanker. He's extremely powerful - but at the start of a fight, he holds himself back some. As the battle progresses, he lets loose....I prefer this system to a power because this way it's inherent. It's simply the nature of the Archetype. And it also sets the Tanker apart from the Scrapper's criticals.


[/ QUOTE ]

This sounds really cool. I personally am pretty happy with my damage after the KO changes, but after running numbers, we still do less than 75% Scrapper damage, so I'm happy to see this.

[ QUOTE ]
but I thought you'd like to know at least where we're going, even though we don't know when we'll get there.


[/ QUOTE ]

Again, thank you.

Thanks for the helpful response, Mirai.

The problem is, I know all these tricks. This wasn't an issue for me (other than the annoyance of having to spend a minute and a half of downtime between them).

The reason I brought this up is because it is a level 4 mission. I don't know about you, but I'd like new players to get into this game. The more money Cryptic makes, the more they can do for the game, and the longer it will last. New players will see those guys and likely have no idea that they have these tactics as options.

The reason this game has done so well is because anyone could get in, and feel like a superhero right out of the tutorial. Now, I as a seasoned player from the beta, just managed to die in my first mission out of the Tutorial. this happened because I was facing a +1 lt and minion at level 2, and my newbie enrage inspiration did me no good, as I simply couldn't hit them often enough to kill either of them before they did me in. I had two attacks, while the 5th minion alone had three.

It isn't about me. I'm fine. A brand new player that came here looking to feel like a superhero might be a little frustrated, and seeing as how the missions haven't changed on the way to level 4, they might decide to quit. I don't want that. New players shouldn't feel frustrated 2 hours into the game.

[ QUOTE ]

Actually, here's the solo possibilities: 1 lt., 1 lt. & 1 minion, 2 minions, 3 minions, 4 minions.

[/ QUOTE ]

You sure about that?

Here are 2 +1 LTs and 2 +1 Minions, right at the beginning of a solo level 4 mission.

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
On that topic, I'd say Spiderman, Nightcrawler, and Daredevil all have defenses that outshine their offenses. Should they be Tankers?

[/ QUOTE ]

These characters are about evasion, not mitigation, a style of defense that’s available in the Scrapper pool. It’s also available in the form of ice armor, but I think we can agree the concept behind evasion there is different and not something you’d assing to any of these characters.


[/ QUOTE ]

You say Hulk is a scrapper because his offense outshines his defense, I say ok, but then wouldn't these other characters be Tankers for the same reason, and you say "no, because SR is a Scrapper power". Super Strength isn't a Scrapper power either, so doesn't that eliminate your "the Hulk is a Scrapper" argument?

[ QUOTE ]

So, it sounds like you’re asking for a level of power tied to a frequency that just isn’t practical, as anything faster would be unbalanced compared to like-damage powers. The new Knockout Blow supposedly lets you one shot minions. However, it has an abysmally slow recharge time of 25 seconds, and costs over a quarter of your endurance pool to use. Now, that’s fine. Knockout Blow is meant to be a situational power, not a bread and butter attack.


[/ QUOTE ]

I don't want all my attacks to be like Knockout Blow. I don't know where you got that idea. One or two is good, and I certainly wouldn't want to replace Jab, Punch or Haymaker to get them.

I'm pretty happy with Super Strength as it is now, damage wise, after the KB change. So we can drop that discussion, I'm done with it.

In fact, I'm done with discussing this with you altogether. You claim I'm taking it personally. I'm only taking it personally because you are making condescending remarks like "try swinging at the air once every 6 seconds", and you keep pulling crap out of thin air like "I want all my attacks to be like Knockout Blow" and "I want knockback removed to increase my DPS". You portray me as if my thought process was that of a 10 year old: "hey this makes me feel powerful lets do it all this way". If you want to present counter opinions, that is great, but you have been pretty insulting to everyone throughout this whole thread. I know I have been rude as well, but after asking you to tone it down if I would, I would expect a reasonable and considerate person to do so. Instead you decide to say it is my problem.

I really regret being supportive of you earlier.

[ QUOTE ]

And everyone needs to stop comparing this game to the Marvel or DC universe heroes. It's like me howling about how my 18th Wizard in EQ isn't like Gandalf. They are silly comparisons (they won't be when Marvel's MMOG comes out but that's going to be their utter mess to deal with).


[/ QUOTE ]

Your level 18 wizard in EQ is like Gandalf. You are confusing (in my case at least) requests for playstyles with requests for power.

I agree with your sentiments about Scrappers being fast and tankers being slow, and personally, I think Hasten should be balanced with Combat Jumping and Hover. Make it a toggle, give it a training or DO recharge time effect, a 5% defense bonus and a small movement speed boost.

[ QUOTE ]

The friction is simply caused by a difference in perspective. Save for the Hulk, I find super-strength to be a match every one of those characters you mentioned. Colossus, Rogue, and Captain Britain did not come across as overly slow to me.


[/ QUOTE ]

The Hulk isn't slow either. I'm willing to sacrifice speed to actually feel strong, it's a balance concession I'm willing to make.

[ QUOTE ]

You believe a Tanker needs to be able to one shot minions at the cost of speed, despite the fact that minions in this game are low-end superpowered individuals and not your everyday street thug.


[/ QUOTE ]

I want SOMETHING to feel strong against. Taking 4-5 hits to kill the weakest things I fight, when I'm supposedly really pissed off, isn't fun. That's all I ask. I have one attack now that does this, THAT attack is slow, and the others are fast, so it seems like maybe we got a decent compromise between what you and I want out of the set, offensively.

[ QUOTE ]

And to be honest, the Hulk seems more like a Scrapper to me who happens to be tough. The madder he gets, the stronger he gets, isn’t that how it goes? Not the madder he gets, the more invulnerable he gets. I’ve seen the Hulk get hurt plenty of times, I’ve never seen a limit to his strength though. He is primarily damage dealing, toughness secondary. Sounds Scrapper’ish to me. I think Wolverine even coined him as one, once.


[/ QUOTE ]

Well, whatever. Super Strength isn't a Scrapper set, so in CoH he'd have to be a Tanker, whether his offense outshines his defense or not.

On that topic, I'd say Spiderman, Nightcrawler, and Daredevil all have defenses that outshine their offenses. Should they be Tankers?

I think the offense/defense thing was a bad line to draw for Scrappers vs Tankers. I think it should have been speed/damage, because that's how it looks in the source material. They should have let offense/defense be based on enhancement slots and power choices.

[ QUOTE ]

I hate to say this, but damage dealing is not the domain of the Tanker archtype. They are a medium damage class. Scrappers and Blasters are high damage classes. It clearly states this right at character creation so there are no surprises.


[/ QUOTE ]

The manual also says that Tankers have a "powerful, but not exceptionally quick offensive punch". Should I make sarcastic remarks about how you picked the wrong AT, now that we are getting our set to fit that description?

[ QUOTE ]
Seriously, if high damage and one-shotting minions is your thing, you should have played a Scrapper or a Blaster.


[/ QUOTE ]

I wanted to play someone with Super Strength. I was given one, and only one option, Scrapper ain't it, and I don't feel super.

You are still being pretty patronizing. It really isn't helping.

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
No, actually I just believe that characters like the Hulk are, at worst, too imbalanced to exist in CoH in the first place, and (at best) the pinnacle of extremity when it comes to a Tanker example. And neither of those represents a wise model to base a tanker on in the first place, so I honestly don’t understand why people continuously pull him out as an example of how a tanker should be.

[/ QUOTE ]

I agree with this statement. A comic book doesn't really have to worry about balancing its characters. A video game does. Too many people tend to forget this.

Then again these types of debate are to be expected due to the genre (they happen in every MMOG but much moreso in this one).

[/ QUOTE ]

Yet there is nothing wrong with the current Scrapper AT? The way Scrappers are, currently, is how comic book Tankers are, they are only missing the aesthetics. We are missing an entire AT of fast, medium damage melee characters that handle hordes of minions in team situations like Nightcrawler, Captain America, or Batman. Instead we have meatshields for taunting them.

I just think this game would be a lot more fun if the two melee classes were split into Minion killer and Boss killer, instead of Boss Killer and Immobile Taunter.

It's too bad that things have been done as they have been done, because now people want to hold on to what they have. I can't blame them for that, but it is frustrating when all I want is some minor aesthetic thing, and the head guy tells me that he thinks it's "flavorful" for me not to be able to have it. It's just aesthetics!

I agree that games need balance, I annoy the hell out of my friends talking about balance. But while the Hulk may be too powerful for this game, something like him with less power would not be. A Broadsword Scrapper with Super Strength animations, sounds, and names would play JUST like the Hulk, Rogue, or the Thing.

Why must I be forced into the meatshield role to have the aesthetics I want? I'm not asking to be overpowered.

[ QUOTE ]

No, actually I just believe that characters like the Hulk are, at worst, too imbalanced to exist in CoH in the first place, and (at best) the pinnacle of extremity when it comes to a Tanker example. And neither of those represents a wise model to base a tanker on in the first place, so I honestly don’t understand why people continuously pull him out as an example of how a tanker should be.


[/ QUOTE ]

Are you an MMORPG veteran? I think maybe this is causing the friction here. I don't want to play a meat shield, and when I conceived my character, and saw that the only AT that got Super Strength was Tankers, I thought of people like Colossus, Rogue (my favorite character), Captain Britain, and The Hulk. No, I don't expect power on their level if everyone else doesn't have it, but the point is that these are people who go after the biggest guy in sight to trade massive blows with them. What I got was someone that was supposed to keep large groups of enemies in check by Provoking them over and over while someone else takes out them, AND the biggest guy in sight.

You know what would make me, and a lot of people asking for "comic book tankers", insanely happy? A Broadsword Scrapper (with knockback instead of a def debuff, or at least the choice) with Super Strength animations, sounds, and power names.

Hardly unbalancing, if you don't already think Broadsword Scrappers are not balanced.

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Skulls don't take Dyne. The Warriors just train in ancient weaponry. And don't tell me that Crey scientists are super-humanly tough.

[/ QUOTE ]

Er, Skulls are all over Dyne. Did you miss that whole plotline the first 14 levels of the game?


[/ QUOTE ]

No. I'm pretty sure that plotline said that they sell Dyne, they don't use it or they would be Trolls.

[ QUOTE ]

And do you honestly think Crey scientists are the Warriors are powerful enough to be level 30+ and 20+ villains respectively and somehow not be considered superhumanly powerful?


[/ QUOTE ]

I guess I don't equate level with superhumanity. Especially since the Natural origin exists.

But whatever. I don't care what the reasoning is. I just want something I encounter fairly frequently in missions to knock out in one hit. It's fun, and it makes me feel superhuman, I don't care if it's an Underling and worth insignificant or no XP, but I don't want to have to go to Atlas every 5 minutes and kill-steal some newbie just to feel strong. The thing is, the only underlings I see with any frequency are DE swarms, and they have smashing resistance and slow effects, so it actually takes me LONGER to kill them than minions!

[ QUOTE ]

I find it very odd that you would say that, as I have watched you push in the past to have knockback removed from all Tanker attacks

[/ QUOTE ]

I seem to remember responding to a quote by you that requested at least leaving knockback in haymaker, and saying "I agree here, at least leave this, but make it 100% knockback". You know what I'd love? A kick that knocked people across the room on the level of Power Thrust. I don't care if it did 0 damage, that would be fun as hell, and useful.

[ QUOTE ]
when discussing ways to increase Tanker damage. Not Tanker’s avoiding irritating their group members because it fouls up their lame AOE playstyle, but simply to improve Tanker damage.


[/ QUOTE ]

Whoa. I never advocated removing knockback to increase DPS. Ever. I have never used that reasoning. Krunch uses that. I could care less about DPS. I care about Damage per Hit. I want to be able to knock out a minion in one hit. I just got that, so I'm pretty ok with that whole situation.

I've only supported knockdown because I'm sick and tired of having people [censored] about me knocking things out of their AoEs. My own roommate, who I've been friends with for 7 years, doesn't want me using Hand Clap, my FAVORITE power. So, unless I want to abandon him in the game, I don't even have the option of finding a more understanding group.

[ QUOTE ]

That’s strange, I can’t seem to find the thread started by Tankers titled “Make us a useful archetype again: fix the AoE debacle”. It must be here somewhere.

Are you sure you know exactly what everyone wants?

[/ QUOTE ]

Not everyone, I'm sorry for suggesting that. There is a good sized group of Tankers that don't know what they want, and cheer more damage in any capacity. By "we", I meant everyone who agreed with me, which means I probably should have just said "I". I just wanted more damage per hit, though I am probably done asking for that after the Knockout Blow change, even though the other sets are still far ahead of us, with more attacks like that.

Can we tone down the sarcasm a bit? I realize I've been that way to you as well, and I just don't really think it's being helpful either way. I know you are frustrated, and so am I, but we might get somewhere if we aren't so abrasive about it. Heck, maybe we can get Krunch to use his pull, or whatever, to start a sort of side-campaign to solve the real problems in this game while he is also campaigning for the band-aid fixes.

[ QUOTE ]
Now, I actually agree that minions in this game are all superhuman.

[/ QUOTE ]

I forgot to address this.

I feel it is important that there is a very abundant class of so-called "normals" to make us feel superhuman. These are foes we should be able to take out quickly and easily, via multiple AoEs, high damage single target attacks, etc. I took these to be minions, as many of them seem that way. Maybe Underlings are supposed to represent this, but they are really, really rare (and DE swarms certainly wouldn't qualify as "normals")

Then, we should get our challenges from less frequent, but more powerful foes. LTs and Bosses. LTs should be like the average super powered minion, and a Boss should be a hero's equal.

I view a team like the old-school Magneto and the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants as an Archvillain and a mix of Bosses and LTs, not as a Boss and several minions.

[ QUOTE ]
If every AoE blast knocked evreyone all over the map, well, AoE attacks wouldn't be so dangerous. And that would be comic book like. Unfortunately, the devs didn't go this route.


[/ QUOTE ]

Wow. You know what? That would totally rule.

Of course, I'd still get yelled at for using Hand Clap, since it doesn't do any damage, and would be a "wasted" AoE.

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
How many thugs do you see Cage fight that take more then a single blow? I don't care if it's exactly the same damage, but there should be some balance between the secondaries. I don't care if I one shot minions, but not taking a decade to go through a group solo is reasonable.

[/ QUOTE ]

If this is really the problem you see with the tanker class, your error is in how you perceive thugs in this game. You don’t fight Timmy who just robbed a convenience store with his handgun, you’re pitted (at a minimum) against gang members that are now superhuman because of drugs like dyne.


[/ QUOTE ]

Skulls don't take Dyne. The Warriors just train in ancient weaponry. And don't tell me that Crey scientists are super-humanly tough.

[ QUOTE ]

Do you really believe that AOE blaster in your group is going to be happy you’re more comic-like now when you send 15 villains sailing in different directions after clubbing them with your AOE telephone pole attack? He’ll hate you more than ever.

I often hear developers suggest that players don’t really know what they want. I think that thought matches very well when players request comic book tankers.


[/ QUOTE ]

Screw the knockback DPS issues. That was never my problem to begin with. If AoEs weren't the king of all in this game, then we could do things like this. The game design is what is interfering with it, and you seem very happy to (and are even fighting to ) leave things at the status quo.

We know EXACTLY what we want. We want this game to be less "gather everything up for the AoE". If scattering foes was actually a benefit, as it should be, then none of this would be an issue!

[ QUOTE ]
Then why didn't you choose a powerset that fits that description? Slow but heavy damaging attacks are not how the base powers in the super-strength pool work. And before someone comes back with the answer of "concept", ask yourself how many other powers from alternate powerpools you picked, not because they fit your concept, but because you felt you needed to in order to have a better tanker.


[/ QUOTE ]

Zero on the power pools that don't fit my character bit.

We wanted to feel Super Strong, and fast, low damage attacks doesn't fit the bill, alright?

from your later post:

[ QUOTE ]

You’re saying you want to be more like Luke Cage or Colossus, and I don’t understand how super-strength (damage wise) in its current form makes you feel like you’re not that way.


[/ QUOTE ]

Pretty simple really. Someone Super-Strong shouldn't take 4-5 hits to knock out a street thug or a lab scientist. It's not about the red numbers, it's about the feel. When they raise minion HPs and XP, it's really going to piss me off, because I JUST got the ability to knock someone out in one punch.

After reading these posts of yours, I no longer believe that you built your character based on a concept. I believe you took a set you saw as a fast attacking set and are now fighting to keep it that way.

[ QUOTE ]

Just if the great god Balance decides it's too powerful now, they could think about losing that part instaed of upping cost.

[/ QUOTE ]

I agree, but if I'm not mistaken, I'm pretty sure Total Focus has a good stun length on it, so it seems perfectly balanced to my knowledge.

Base damage at level 35 on KB is 114.75. That's up from 63.17 when it was "superior-" on test yesterday.

Yeehaw!

I feel bad though for the people that don't like the animation. I happen to love it, but since nothing else in the set has been increased, those who won't take it due to its silly animation didn't get anything.

[ QUOTE ]
Everyone has access to discipline inspirations.


[/ QUOTE ]

I'm sorry but, I did this for a few DE missions, and ran out of disciplines 1/4 to 1/2 way through them. One insp won't even last one fight if you have about 4 people, unless you are teamed with some kind of Uber AoE blaster. I just decided that soloing these missions while my friends were offline was less (but not much) of a hassle than having to run back to a contact to buy disciplines after every 10 or so fights.

[ QUOTE ]

Other players that I group with frequently have powers that aid in protecting me from effects like mez.


[/ QUOTE ]

Aren't you lucky. I had that for 25 levels, then my Empathy Defender teammate was so horrendously bored with just being around to CM me that he changed to a blaster. Then he got so bored with the game that he quit.

I think you just have a good, patient team that keeps you from noticing how crappy the Inv/SS build really is. I had that too a couple months back. I totally had no problem not having US, and doing substandard damage, until 80% of my team quit the game. I think I was even on here telling people that Knockback was a benefit and they didn't know how to use it, just like you are now. Oh how times change.

Those of us who don't have Empathy or Force Field defenders following us around need something, and US is all we have until 32, and Unstoppable... blah. I just want Integration or Practiced Brawler, not the uber-unkillable power that shuts off my toggles and makes me risk instant death every 2 minutes.

I agree that removing knockback was a much, much less desirable idea than removing the root from US, but we've been shot down on that already. We are being forced to choose between undesirable options, since we have been told flat-out no on the desirable ones.

[ QUOTE ]
Despite the obvious dislike many of you have for rooting powers, it seems that everyone would rather have powers changed so they mesh better with the rooted concept rather than pushing for a change in powers like Unyielding Stance which cause you to be stuck in one spot in the first place.

[/ QUOTE ]

Wrong. This push was attempted numerous times in beta. I believe Havok's words were "They are married to the concept of the root". We have given up on this because Cryptic is being bull-headed about it (no offense meant, you just are, guys). Someone in charge, possibly Statesman, thinks it is cool, and therefore doesn't seem to care that the majority of us don't find it to be any fun at all.