Mirai

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So I'm right. blasters are comedic relief. the [censored] Clowns of CoH.

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So all you have to do now is join the super group...

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"Blasters have way more range and have more cones/AEs than scrappers, and it's not enough because..."

There's how you begin a reasonable discussion on this topic.

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Right!

It's not enough because being at long range doesn't buy you much. The enemies generally do less damage at range, but blasters have minimal protection. If the blaster does less damage than the scrapper and gets killed more often, then a choice between a blaster and a scrapper for a team should result in scrapper just about every time (player skill being equal).

It seems to me that either blaster aggro should be reduced or ranged protection increased, or both. Also a damage boost in the high levels would probably be appropriate.

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The point is more that in general damage being ranged isn't that big of a plus. Especially when you have no reason to fear being in melee. Especially also considering that to really pump out damage blasters need to be in melee also.

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And especially considering that pumping out the damage at range draws heavy aggro. It can be a negative at times in a team. I'm with you on all that.

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It doesn't matter that it isn't exactly Blaster level damage, it's good enough to the point where a Blaster isn't needed.

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Two scrapper sets with two ranged attacks each, one with a maximum range of 30' and one with a maximum range of 40', make blaster ranged damage unneeded?

I'm not counting ancillary power pools, because they show up way late and don't add all that much. What few scrapper attacks there are simply don't measure up as any kind of replacement.

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We can attack from range. No, some of the scrappers can do that as well.

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Scrapper ranged output is nothing compared to blaster ranged output, and scrapper range is at best half of the range of bread and butter blaster attacks.

Yes, some scrappers can do damage at range. No, it does not compare to blaster ranged damage.

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It's the custom weapons, new costume options, new powersets and new AT's that I'm excited about.


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I've just about given up on those. I don't even hear a "soon" on them. I would very much like to see them as soon as possible, but I no longer expect to see them.

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My advice to the content crowd who were bashing States' quote above: Get level 50, enjoy the content of getting level 50.

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Heh heh. Issue 5 will be out probably long before I get my main to 50 (I'm level 36 now). I'm enjoying the content too much to level quickly.

I'm not bashing Statesman for the delay. I can wait. It was just a bit of a disappointment, since we were under the impression that SSOCS was coming out very soon. I'm glad the PvP crowd will be getting the arenas in Issue 4.

Hopefully all the arena tweaking won't delay SSOCS longer. I suspect the devs will be awfully busy adjusting the PvP versions of the powers to get them balanced properly.

Aaah!

Delayed again.

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Instead of putting sticks into the game to punish you for not grouping, it's putting carrots into the game to reward you for grouping. Boosted XP awards on teams should have no effect on soloing.

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Agreed. I'm mainly a soloer, and this won't affect my ability or desire to solo in the least.

Works for me.

Yes!!!

I may just go back to teaming when these ideas are implemented...

I can understand a bit of an endurance drain at the end. A complete endurance drain seems extreme. This power is not in the same league as something like Nova.

That lost mission has been that way, I think Torrynt was just observing an example of the problem of multiple bosses in many missions.

Also known as the Unlucky Pete mission. Also a Joe? Anyway, it's interesting that the named leader is a lieutenant, while there are also multiple unnamed bosses wandering around. All in a level 10-14 Lost mission.

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What possible defense can be employed against something that wipes you out in one stroke?

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Well, Enervating Field and Darkest Night for a couple. They debuff damage. But not all defender types have such defenses.

Debuffing accuracy still leaves at least a 5% chance to hit; or in other words you'll get killed around 1 in 20 times with one shot attacks at best.

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So this is even the case for missions that went live recently, not just the older ones, and it is gating the entire Stiga Island mission series for me.

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I haven't got very far in the Striga Island missions myself, but one of the early ones from Stephanie Peebles has a surprise Council boss that you're required to defeat (it's a kill all mission). There's another surprise Council boss in a timed mission, but he's not part of the objectives.

I have been checking carefully for even a remote hint of a boss in the mission descriptions. Over the past two days I've been required to defeat at least seven bosses. There were exactly zero hints of even a leader in any of those missions prior to accepting them. A couple revealed that there would be a named leader only AFTER accepting the mission.

This matches my memories of old missions. Bosses have much more often than not been a surprise. In fact very many missions in the 30s require you to defeat all opponents even if that isn't mentioned in the mission objectives!

I see no point in /bugging it, as Statesman suggests. It's the rule rather than the exception. Most missions with bosses in them simply have no warning. A huge overhaul in the text for missions would be required.

Statesman,

Thanks for the great game. This has easily been my all time favorite computer game. The boss boost of course is challenging. In order to adapt, I'm making the following changes:

1. I'm quitting my supergroup.
2. I'm turning on /hide for all my characters.
3. I'm turning off my chat window for all my characters.
4. I've resolved never to team again.

Mind you, I love this game and I'm sticking around. I'm just very introverted and I react badly to forced teaming. Ironically, I was teaming more and more before Issue 3 came out, and getting ready to work with others to face the archvillains, but that idea just doesn't seem remotely workable for me any more.

I love the new zone, and it's neat to see the new Kheldians zipping around. I like all the power changes, although I'm sure there are quite a few others who are upset with some of them. Keep up the good work, and I look forward to Issue 4.

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Why not?

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Because there should be great threats that require teams to fight. AVs and monsters fit the bill. There are also task forces and trials designed specifically for team play, and as far as I'm concerned those are great to have in the game (even if I don't do them myself).

Having said that, Lady Jade is throwing out a bizarre and silly statement. The issue here is the ability of players to solo most missions, which requires being able to solo bosses. There are of course unsoloable missions already (AVs, simultaneous bomb defusing), but they are a small percentage of the total number of missions.

Making bosses too hard would drive unsoloability of missions to an unreasonably high percentage.

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Do you really think your going to find the same level of enjoyment soloing your characters a year from now as you currently do?

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Yes. I mainly solo. I'm not anti-social, I like having other players around in the game. But I'm very introverted. I like to do my own thing. Team play grates on my nerves big time. I do team now and then, and I've had some good team experiences, but nothing that attracts me to teaming on a regular basis.

I've been heavily addicted to this game since last June. All my soloing hasn't detracted from my game enjoyment so far. I'm sure it WOULD detract from YOUR game enjoyment. You have to keep in mind that different people enjoy games differently. There are people who enjoy and work best in groups, there are people who prefer to go it alone, and there are many who like a mix.

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The social interactions between players is what keeps players involved with their games.

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It's what keeps you involved with your games, apparently. Please do not extrapolate your personal tastes onto everyone else.

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They are only upping the Boss/AV/Monster HP by 25%.

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If that was the case, I wouldn't be too worried. It's their increased damage output along with the HP boost that I'm worried about. Even my scrappers will have a harder time, since they don't have much more hit points than blasters.

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Hell, the way it is now, they'd have to gut the game and sew it back together inside-out to make even level (though still orange con) bosses unsoloable. I think what Statesman was referring to was the fact that he never meant for controllers and defenders to solo bosses and he tried make it so blasters have a hard time. That's what I believe he meant.

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Bosses on test (as well as AVs and monsters) have been significantly boosted in hit points and damage output. This is not a bug, we now know that it was a change intended for release in Issue 3.

You may find that it is a little more difficult to solo bosses for all archetypes, not just defenders and controllers. Sure, there will be builds and tactics and determined players that will be able to bring the boosted bosses down, but the move is designed to significantly reduce the soloability of bosses.

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Just so you know ... there are no ambushes in hazard zones.

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You know, I read that, but since I read that supposed change I've had three (3) ambushes in Perez Park. These were ambushes in the 30s, way above the level of Perez Park, one just last week.

Now I only had two enemies attack me each time, so it was no big deal. I didn't /bug it, although perhaps I should have.

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Now my level 32 controller with those two missions deep in level 40 DE territory in Founders... well, I'm not sure what I'm going to do about them.

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See, I expected something like this, so I planned in advance. There are probably several approaches, but I decided on taking Phase Shift at 30. At 31 I had it slotted up so I don't lose endurance while phase shifted.

Sure enough, I had a mission in the L40 DE territory at 31, and it even had a sniper guarding the entrance (bad timing I suppose).

I also had a mission at the far end of Crey's Folly, in high level Freakshow territory, past all the Crey and Nemesis snipers.

I expect to start this kind of thing all over again eventually when I get to Peregrine Island. And the whole reason I started on the Concealment line in the first place (beginning with Stealth) is the deadly forest maze in Perez Park. All in all, the Concealment powers have been amazingly useful for me.

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Frankly, you could increase minion HP and damage by 100% and it wouldn't significantly effect my play.


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But I bet the big boost to boss HP and damage will slow you down a little!

The correct spelling is "pedagogical", pedagogically speaking.

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Combining the very informal "chan" suffix with the formal "desu"?

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It's quite common. "Desu" is better thought of as a polite form. There are also more formal versions of verbs, along with polite and informal (and others...).