Neutra

Well I don't know Electric's numbers and it's been mentioned a bunch of times that the planners aren't always right with the BIs, so all I was saying was that I would like for the numbers to be on par with Energy so that no one thinks of just Energy when they want strong Melee.

If Electricity already has those numbers then just ignore my suggestion to change them. Heck, that helps out my list by cutting it down. So thank you for the corrections. I never doubted that Electric had a lot of melee and that it hit hard, I've seen it in PvE and PvP. All I wanted was to be sure that it was doing the appropriate amount of damage when compared to Energy.

WARNING: LONG READ

Ok, here is my list of things to change. I'm not going to focus on primaries right now because they don't require as much work as the secondaries do at this point. One thing at a time. The only thing I will mention about the primaries are CRITICAL points that are continuously brought up:

AR and Archery need to do more damage.
Period. Raise their BIs and allow them to do additional damage for being lethal attacks. I believe it was Arco that said that Full Auto has a chance to do an additional bit of damage at the end of it's attack. I'd like the same code to apply to AR and Archery for all of their attacks. Conceptually if I shoot you with an arrow or gun, it will hurt you, but I may also shoot you in a vital organ or weak spot and thus do some extra damage to you. Thus, the term "lethal" damage.

If both are paired with Devices then they lack Build Up which helps an enormous amount when trying to deliver a giant burst of damage. Lethal damage is also highly resisted within the game. This is why many feel it justified to give them some kind of buff to damage so that they are able to keep up with the rest of the primaries. I understand that they have their inherent Acc buffs, but the other primary sets have an inherent ability and ALSO deal a good amount of damage.

Bitter Ice Blast has an advantage that must be addressed.
This advantage is that it has a longer range than the other high damage, short ranged attacks in the primaries such as Blaze, Shout and Power Burst. Ideally we would like for this range (which is 50 ft. I believe) to be given to the other primary short range, high damage powers. If this cannot be done, then I think it would be justified to shorten BiB's range to that of the other primaries so that it does not allow one Blaster to have such a nice advantage (in terms of risk vs. reward) over the others. It's a lot safer to deliver damage from 50 ft. away than 20 ft. away, especially if you have a long, rooted animation such as Shout.


With that out of the way I would also like to mention that at this point I don't want to ask for global buffs to our AT, such as increased range, either. The calculations for these kinds of buffs will take many weeks I feel, along with an extended amount of testing. I know that many want changes to come soon to our AT rather then later, so asking for these kind of things, while interesting, shouldn't be brought up at this point if we want the programmers to change our AT within a few months. I would rather have such long work and testing be applied to figuring out the proper values that should be placed upon AR and Archery's attacks.

I'm going to start with Energy and Ice because I've grinded both sets to 50.

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ENERGY
Power Thrust - No change. If an enemy gets into melee the power knocks them back, even moreso with Power Boost which is also in the set. Power fulfills its purpose of melee control.

Energy Punch - Great damage, fast animation. No change. Power fulfills its purpose of high, melee damage.

Build Up - Standard power to AT, no change.

Bone Smasher - Great damage, fast animation. No change. Power fulfills its purpose of high, melee damage.

Conserve Power - Some would say this power isn't worth it because of the recharge time. I don't believe this power should be thought of in terms of taking the place of Stamina or something similar. Slot for Endurance or take Stamina if you have endurance issues. For what it was designed to do it works well. It is a TOOL that allows you to cut the endurance cost of all your powers by half, greatly increasing the amount of things you can activate during a period of time. No change.

Stun - If an enemy is engaged in melee, the power can be used to stun it and then move out of melee. It has a long animation, but it also applies a very long stun. Power fulfills its purpose of melee control, no change.

Power Boost - Great tool for boosting holds or other effects that one is going to use. It lasts for a good bit and has a descent recharge. Some would argue that it should be permeable, but then we might be stepping into Controller territory. This kind of power should be used with planning before engaging into a fight. If you need to Total Focus a boss for a bit, use it. If you need to hold a Sapper at the beginning of a fight, use it. No change.

Boost Range - Great tool once again. Lasts for a few seconds so should generally be used, like Power Boost, with planning. Descent recharge. No change.

Total Focus - Probably one of the biggest reasons for getting the Energy secondary. Mag 4 stun along with extreme damage. Long animation which is paid by the disorient and damage. Power fulfills its purpose of high melee damage and melee control, no change.


ICE
Chillblain – Standard Immobilize. Helps to control target from getting into melee. No change.

Frozen Fists – Bring up to BI of Energy Punch. When people think damage, they shouldn't just think Energy. Change only requires changing numbers and testing.

Ice Sword – Bring up to BI of Bonesmasher. When people thing damage, they shouldn't just think Energy. Change only requires changing numbers and testing.

Chilling Embrace – Add Minor damage to it so as to be on par with Blazing Aura and Lightning Field. Reduce End Cost slightly because it really is an end heavy power. It works well in PvP to prevent an Assassin Strike. In melee it allows you to slow someone if they get too close to you so that you have an opportunity to move away and return fire. Change requires changing some numbers and testing.

Build Up – Standard AT power, no change.

Ice Patch – Some want to make this so that you could target the area you want to freeze, but Controllers get Ice Slick and it would require a bit of a power change. This power is a tool as well that should be used with planning. If you think it will save you if you have a bunch of inc melee then you're already dead, the animation will kill you. Put it around a corner or drop it after aggro has been established by someone else. Power fulfills its purpose of melee control, no change.

Shiver – Huge cone, great slow. Power fulfills its purpose of melee control, no change.

Freezing Touch – If an enemy gets into melee the power can be used to freeze them. Fast animation and great recharge. Power fulfills its purpose of melee control, no change.

Frozen Aura – I was so let down when I got this power. Horrible accuracy, only Mag 3, if that. Long animation and above all, it's a sleep. Sleep is very tricky to use in a team setting and solo the giant endurance cost of it is hardly justified. In all of my CoH career I've only known and seen one /Ice take and use this power. Subsitute this with Greater Ice Sword. Allow grandfathering of old power for those who took it. Bring BI up to level of Thunder Strike (BI of Thunder Strike should be between Bonesmasher and Total Focus as later explained) Change requires animation for Greater Ice Sword, which is already ingame, changing some numbers, changing overall powerset selection and testing.


ELECTRIC
Electric Fence – Standard Immobilize. No change.

Charged Brawl – Bring up to BI of Energy Punch. When people think damage they shouldn't just think Energy. Change requires changing some numbers and testing.

Lightning Field – Pretty sure it has minor damage, if not then it needs it. I would also like to make it a Foe Immobilize if it hits. The reason being, if I get too close to someone with a huge field of lightning it should hurt me and the shock should be so great that I can't move for a bit becuase of the blow to my body. You could then have a chance to move back out of melee and retaliate, just like Chilling Embrace allows. Change requires adding some numbers and status effects to power, animation for electric immobilize, which is already ingame and testing.

Havok Punch – Bring up to BI of Bonesmasher. When people think damage they shouldn't just think Energy. Change requires changing some numbers.

Build Up – Standard AT power, no change.

Lightning Clap – From what it's description says, it sounds like a good power, but I've never really read anything good about it. I would just want to make sure Knockback occurs each time, it doesn't have a horrible accuracy and the Disorient is Mag 3. Power would fulfill its role of melee control and allow you to move out of melee. Any changes would require changing some numbers and testing.

Thunder Strike – Bring up BI to a level between Bonesmasher and Total Focus. It shouldn't be Total Focus level because it comes earlier, can disorient and can do an AoE Knockback. When people think damage, they shouldn't just think Energy. Change requires changing some numbers and testing.

Power Sink – Great tool for endurance, no change.

Shocking Grasp – Never heard anyone complain about this power. No change.


FIRE
Ring of Fire – Standard Immobilize, no change.

Fire Sword – Bring up to BI of Bonesmasher. When people think damage, they shouldn't just think Energy. Change requires changing some numbers and testing.

Combustion – Bring up BI to a level slightly higher then BI of Fireball. You are in melee and should be doing more AoE damage then an attack which you have at range. Change requires changing some numbers and testing.

Fire Sword Circle – Bring up BI to a level slightly higher then BI of Firebreath. Should be stronger than Combustion so as to be different and to match concept of high damage from Fire Sword. You're also in melee so damage should be greater than a power you are using at range. Change requires changing some numbers and testing.

Build Up – Standard AT power, no change.

Blazing Aura – This power should have the same effect of making foes run away from you like Rain of Fire produces. It should also retain its damage since people are running into you while you're on fire. If foes run away from you, it gives you a chance to run away and retaliate like Lightning Field and Chilling Embrace allow. I'm not sure if the same "run away" code can be applied in PvP, but if not then have it produce a Fear effect on anyone it hits. Change requires changing code of power effect and adding Fear animation, which is already ingame, into power code and testing.

Consume – Tool for getting endurance back. What's not to like? No change.

Burn – When I think of Burn I think of Ice Patch as well. Like Ice Patch you can't go in thinking this power will save you from an inc melee barrage. This power takes planning to use. It should cause foes to run away in PvE if they hit it, just like Rain of Fire. In PvP if the same code cannot be applied it should cause a Fear effect. It should also most certainly do more damage than the Tanker version if it hits. I understand that it won't hold guys in place like Ice Patch, but it's supposed to buy you time, not give you complete control. Changes require changing power effect code, adding Fear animation, which is already ingame, changing some numbers and testing.

Hot Feet – I'm not sure how well this power could play out, but a melee aura that only makes the guys move around you slower doesn't seem like it's help keep you alive for very long. The speed debuff is nice, but if it does nothing to recharge then a foe can just continue to plink away at you with no penalty. I would substitute it with Greater Fire Sword. Allow grandfathering of old power for those who have it. Bring BI up to level of Thunder Strike. Change requires adding Greater Fire Sword animation, which is already ingame, changing some numbers, changing overall powerset selection and testing.


DEVICES
Web Grenade – Standard Immobilize with - Fly. Have you fought Malta? No change.

Caltrops – Kinves of Artemis seem to use it pretty ok. Good slow and good area coverage. Works well if use is planned ahead of time. No change.

Taser – If an enemy gets into range, the power can Stun them and allow a Blaster to run out of melee and retaliate. Have you fought Malta? Power fulfills its purpose of melee control. No change.

Targetting Drone – Should give a buff of 33% (1 SO) at least and still allow you to slot it for ToHit. No damage buff, it's a TARGETTING Drone. Lack of Aim on AR is made up by the fact that this is always continuous and provides a ToHit Buff. Because of ED it is not as beneficial since you can only slot 3 of something, but it does free up having to use between 1-2 slots for Acc within powers.

Smoke Grenade – Not broken anymore. Does a descent debuff I believe, no change.

Cloaking Device – No movement penalty and is a Self Stealth without having to dip into a power pool. If you take any action outside of sneaking around, why wouldn't you supress it? It's not supposed to be a shield of some kind, it's a tool for getting around if need be or for PvP. No change.

Trip Mine – Does good damage and can be stacked with other mines. Don't want to make it targettable just yet since it would kinda defeat the purpose of laying it down for someone to step on and set off. I just hope the bug that existed that made it not go off at times has been addressed. No change.

Time Bomb – Make it targettable so as to be able to be set off by other powers. Would help make it more beneficial since you don't have to time it exactly for it to do max damage. Change requires changing and adding in code from Oil Slickin Trick Arrow set and testing.

Auto Turret – When fighting Malta, one of these doesn't do too much damage, so I say increase the damage it puts out. I would also like to see it be made mobile later on so that a Device doesn't have to drop it over and over again or dip into the Teleport pool to drag it around. If Voltaic Sentinnel does nothing but damage and follows you around, why can't Auto Turret do the same? First change requires changing some numbers and testing. Second change requires an animation change and testing.
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I feel that after these changes everything would be on the level of utility and damage of Energy. Electric, Ice and especially Fire would be doing great damage. The situational powers would be more helpful as well. Everyone must remember that this AT requires a LOT of planning at ALL times when playing. It's not EASY mode for CoH. This AT is one of, if not the hardest to learn to play and master. I am all for making things easier for the casual player, but you can't make things so bland and helpful and riskless that the AT becomes boring. The attraction that many of the veterans always talk about is the razors edge that we are always dancing around. Blappers live for the rush of gunning into melee when they don't have to. It's a very fun AT, which can be frustrating, but with a few changes, all of the secondaries can be made wanted and useful so that we don't lose any of the thrill that comes with being a Blaster.

If they boosted our range, what would happen to the people that slotted 3 Ranges into their attacks? What if those same people picked up Boost Range? What if at that point you're hitting stuff so far away the game just becomes a joke? What if in PvP you can hit people from on top of buildings and chase them down from such a far distance away that they have no chance to react? Would everyone be accepting that?

If we increased the effects of our control powers, would the Controllers feel like we're stepping on their toes?

If we took away some of the melee and made it ranged, would everyone with a Blapper be happy or upset? How long would it take the average person to adjust to a new playstyle? Would everyone who doesn't read the forums be in agreement of what is going to happen if they're power changes?

If Power Boost and Conserve Power were made so that we could use them more often, would we just never run out of endurance and have greater control than some of the Controllers? If we buffed our control and then buffed Power Boost, would it be too powerful? Would we be too powerful with close to limitlesss endurance?

I like a lot of the ideas in here, but I mostly like the ones that just change some numbers. The whole range thing is now really starting to bother me in that if we get a boost in it, it would take a long time to test and retest and make sure that it won't break the game down the line. I would lean more towards the "range increases with level" option since it's in the late game that guys like Malta and Nemesis start to really screw with us. Early on fighting Family and Tsoo? Pfft, please. Anyways, I put out those questions to see if people are thinking about these things when they make their suggestions. Like I said, some of the ideas in here are creative and sound fun, but there is a big difference between what we can write and hypothesize on the boards than what actually will work out overall in the game.

If you think I'm overthinking all this, let me remind you that Cryptic isn't one to just take an idea and throw it into the game. From all of the people who I've brought into the game, every single of them has agreed that for the most part, what Cryptic puts into the game is well designed and thought out. I'm sure if you asked Castle how many scenarios and overall schemes run through their heads when implementing just one little change, he'll tell you it's not just 2 or 3.

I think some of you guys are being rude to SOCKERROCKER. It's great that we all have the ideas we have, but there are some people who, like him, think that the AT doesn't really need that much help. I ask people in game every now and then if they thought their Blaster sucked and they responded with a definitive "no". They loved their char and were happy with the way they were. Any changes to it and they weren't really overly concerned with it.

My other point is, we're the guys on the forums. We're trying to balance this among our little world. I have yet to see someone say, "well what would the casual player who doesn't read the boards and doesn't care about max efficiency think of all this?" There are a million things to consider when trying to change an AT, and I know the point of this thread isn't to find them all or figure out balance, but it really got to me the way some of you were talking back to SOCKER. His original reply got flamed to all hell and back and not one person thought, well hey, maybe he sees something we don't and that makes him think the way he does. And for that reason, maybe we're looking at a change the wrong way. Yes, I know that if the majority thinks something is wrong then there is probably something wrong, but if the minority has a different point of view, there's a reason for it. Anyways, I'm going to get yelled at for sticking up for him, so go ahead.

You too?!



Noooooo!

::runs off to jump into a mob of +10s::

Take care where you go Arctic, it was great meeting you. Good luck with everything.

Can I just point out that even though the secondaries have a lot of melee powers, that doesn't mean that you run into melee to use them. Consider this:

You're standing outside of a mob with your team and shooting away like a good blaster. Suddenly someone turns on you and starts charging your way. You try to run back and shoot at him to whittle his life down, but he catches up, so now he's in melee and he can hit you for a lot more than when you were at range. You need to take this guy out fast. So what do you use? Your ranged attack that deals regular damage or that melee attack (i.e. Bonesmasher) that does sick damage? Well the choice, I would hope, would be the melee attack. Boom, he's dead with one hit.

Now, in this scenario, was the melee attack used to go rushing in and start blapping away and trying to outdo the scrapper or tank or anyone else? No, it was used as support. Support in the form of high damage to mitigate a threat in melee range. So technically speaking, looking at all the melee attacks as being there "so that we can get into melee" isn't necessarily true, especially since they fall into our secondary which is labeled "support". You can call [censored] all you want on it, but it is logical. No one ever said that you had to run into melee at first because you have melee attacks. If a Blapper dies, he knows it's because he can't stick it out in melee like a Scrapper. If a Blapper dies and calls foul for not having mez protection or resists or defense to help him survive in melee, well then he's not thinking the way a real squishy should.

Blapping is a playstyle and not the base vision, I feel, of what the AT is supposed to play out like. Because so many took the route of Blapping, then we had the issues come up with the Scrappers and the need for them to be able to compete with our high damage attacks. Furthermore, the logic above about melee attacks being support throws out any kind of argument about attack chain improvement when in melee. The melee attacks, in the above scenario, are not supposed to be our prime form of damage output and thusly do not have to support some kind of attack chain for maximum efficiency.

Just thought I'd through out a different prespective to think about.

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Plus, every other AT would react badly I'm sure if Blasters got even an ounce of mez protection.

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What, even the Khelds?

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You mean the tank mages? Nah, I'm sure they could care less what happens to everyone else. I love my Warshade and don't care what anyone else gets, I have everything I will ever need.

And I like that idea of +perception when using Aim, makes sense.

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Let's not talk in black-and-white absolutes. I deliberately indicated that my proposal wasn't for a mez-resist power. Even a "light" version of tanker/scrapper mez-resists would be overpowering, and would be "must-have". Further, Tormentoso seems to be missing my arguments with respect to defenders and controllers having their own means of dealing with mez.

And statements along the lines of "They're never going to give us <fill-in-the-blank>," miss the point of threads like this. Most of this thread is necessarily "Never gonna happen." The point is to throw out ideas and compare and contrast, not second-guess Dev thinking, which is a losing game since Statesman regularly (if unintentionally) contradicts himself, and things like ED stay behind the scenes for months until they spring them on us.

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Well the only reason I said it was because I'm pretty sure I remember way back when one of the Devs commented that it just wasn't going to happen because it would break the image they have of the Blaster. If you remember at one point we DID have mez protection when they gave us Unstoppable in the Force Mastery, but that dropped after a few days (Tankers weren't exactly 'thrilled' that we got their power) We also already have some mez resistance if you want it. Health has the Sleep resistance and Acrobatics has some Hold resistance. It's not much, but it is something you can get. If you want real mez resistance, get a Defender. Our AT can't "do it all".

And I wasn't aiming my comment at anyone, I just saying what I thought about the overall "mez" issue. Nothing is to say, like you said, that if we ask for it in here we COULD get it, since the Devs do contradict themselves as you said. So by all means keep asking for it if you want it or think it would help.

Honestly, though, I don't want mez protection, I feel it would just make the AT boring. Plus, every other AT would react badly I'm sure if Blasters got even an ounce of mez protection. The only time I have problems with mez is when I myself do something stupid and rush into a situation without looking at it fully. Being a Blaster is about planning. You can bum rush the first couple of levels all you want, but come late 30s and onward, you're going to be living permadebt if you keep doing that.

They're never going to give us mez resistance.

Yeah, from what I was told and understand, animation time is VERY limited ALL the time and any kind of animation change takes time because it has to be able to happen in EVERY single instance in the game (i.e. while in Fly, SS, SJ running backwards, etc.) and with every single body type combination possible. So while it may seem easy, it takes a lot of time. And I hope people don't think the animators intentionally tried to screw some sets over with longer animations. I'm sure they just wanted everything to look beautiful, which it does, and flow well with the theme of a powerset. So any animation changes that people may want will take a long time to incorporate into the game.

Quicker fixes, such as changing mere numbers within already existing sets, could be tested much quicker and brought live within a shorter time frame. Not saying it will take 3 days or something, but a month or two VS half a year or so. I really feel that if everyone wants to change the secondaries into something useful, it's going to have to start with small changes, like making Frozen Fists and Charged Brawl be on par with Energy Punch. Or swapping out powers like Pilcrow said that are already implemented in the game: Taking out Frozen Aura and replacing it with Greater Ice Sword or something.

But then comes the debate of what do we do with the people that have already taken the power? Do we force everyone to take powers that are being swapped out? Do we let people grandfather in already existing builds? These are very serious questions that can turn the balance of our already fragile AT into a monster project. So as I said, I think we should first look at all the sets, decide once and for all what our "standard" is going to be, and then look at how we can bring up everything to it.

For now I think we should start with the secondaries and then move into the primaries since we have a limited number of them vs. the primaries and each one needs to be able to flow with any primary one may pick. I would prefer that people who have played a set to 50 comment only on that set and not try to delve into other sets that they aren't too familiar with. I'm not trying to discourage discussion, but many arguments arise from people who have played a set to 50 vs. a person who has played it to say the 30s. The late and early game for us are two VERY different worlds and having experience in both is very necessary so that one can fully support their arguments when discussing a problem within a set. If you've played more than two sets to 50 then your assertions should definately be more clearly defined and constrained mostly into those sets.

With that said, if you guys seriously, and I mean dead serious, want to change our AT, then we need to take the initiative, start an official thread and let Castle know we're going to help him out. I'll volunteer if you want to open up the thread, leave it for a month and let everyone insert their proposals into it. It won't be limited to just one comment per person, as many sometimes remember something they left out, but I'm serious. No more whining or arguing or double posting or anything of that sort. Say what you want fixed, support it with numbers, demos or RL experience and then stop. If you have something else you forgot to say about a set, then repost it. If you disagree with someone, then start a new thread about it, don't go cluttering up our information thread.

That thread will exist solely for the purpose of collecting information from everyone. It will remain open for a month, or less depending upon if everyone gets their comments in early enough, and then after that I can sift through it, take out all the repeated ideas, classify and break down everything into suggestions for each power and then suggestions for overall changes, stick it into an excel sheet and then hand it off to Castle. He can then come back and, like in the Defender thread, go through every single bullet point and tell us what can, can't or might be done. This will take time, which I know no one really wants to do since it's been so long since any real changes have happened to our AT. So like I said, if you guys want to do it, then let's do it and be serious about it and I'll PM Castle our suggestion tomorrow.

Gil! Where the heck were you? I was trying to find you to say hi and talk about your stories, but alas, I couldn't They said you were the fellow with a beard and ponytail, but that was like 20% of the people there, lol. I did just want to say that I loved everything you had done before you left and that I wish you luck in the future with all your endeavors. I also wanted to get a picture of you and Arctic together just for kicks Oh well, maybe next time.

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EDIT: Atrocious pun deleted after I had enough coffee to wake up and realize what I had typed.

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LoL, I figured you guys would be tired today. I say you should have left it XD

Maybe it's just me because I don't really read into every villain group's background, or remember little details from missions, but I learn sooooo much from these things. I love knowing who the real leaders of all these gangs are and hope we can fight them one day.

::desperately tries remembering if he's fought any of the bosses mentioned as well::

As always, thanks for the great read Arctic.

Yeah but if you fail the final mission of the story arc, I believe the clue or arc or whatever after that says that Kronos escaped to the Rogue Isles. I remember that because at one point on the beta boards we had a MM joke about having Kronos as a pet and someone said that it could be possible since he did escape to the Rogue Isles at the end of that arc, and sure enough, a bunch of us went and checked it and it did indeed say that he took off to the Isles. So you never know, he could be around at some point, which would be awesome because he's my favorite GM

Well, with the time they've had and the recent outcries/suggestions people have been making about EM, all I want to say is don't expect DM to be something on the level of EM. In case you've never seen DM in action or PvP, it hits, hard, REALLY damn hard. So I'm sure it's damage output will be reduced. DA isn't bad except for it's 2 status cloaks being somewhat odd for a Stalker to be sporting around, but otherwise I think it'd be a solid set. And I pray that they add some other kind of lvl 38 power to it instead of Soul Transfer, oy.

I have no idea who they were, but I REALLY wish I could remember their names. There were 2 people actually. The first one was some Scrapper who introduced me to the world of Duals and how to slot my powers. I had gone like 16 levels with trainings and had been slotting my stuff with 1 Range, 1 Damage, 1 Accuracy, 1 Endurance Red, because I didn't know you could put more than one of the same type of enhancement in my powers. That was a huge change for me.

The other was this Energy Blaster way back when I was getting into the 30s. I had just teamed with him and a few others to work off some debt and he noticed that I was doing really crappy damage. After the mission he pulled me aside and asked me if I had Single Origins in my powers and I said, "What the heck are Single Origins?" Long story short, the guy pulled me to the Science store in IP and helped me buy some enhancements and WOW did the game ever change for me.

Special Mention goes out to Lil' Scrappy and Wanda and all those other guys from his SG who helped me take out the Kronos and a bunch of other high level stuff that I could never find a team for.

Sadly I don't think I ever played with any of the TA guys way back when since I soloed about 85% of the game with Neutra. I remember seeing your names all the time back when the raids were big and we were doing them for the first time, but that was about it.

Ah the memories.

I tried talking to him after having used my 1st respec and not having gotten the 2nd and nothing. I got the 2nd respec, didn't use it and nothing. I did the actual 2nd respec trial and got an SO and didn't use the 2nd respec yet and nothing. I used the 2nd respec and nothing. I'm thinking of actually talking to the first respec NPC and then the second just to see if that does anything, since I've never actually spoken to either one.

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Were you playing solo?

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When mine happened, yes, I was. I had also Placated the enemy, I wasn't hidden from Hide. I don't know if that has anything to do with it. Also, this has happened only once so far, and it only happened after I hit 37 and added 3 Damage slots to Eagle's Claw. Between levels 32-36 I never had it happened. When it happened this time I could clearly tell because there was a huge jumble of numbers and letters above the enemy's head.

Bwahaha, I got a double Crit on a Longbow Minigun today. Poor guy orange con got one shotted, it was glorious.

Holy crap! That's insane.

::runs off to mess around with Eagle's Claw::

Yeah but at that level 2 MMs can take out anything. They have their godmode going on...unless the fight the AV at the end of Ice Mistral's SF. Then not even 3 survive

Slight spoiler for the previous posts comment, so don't read if you don't want to hear it (highlight below):

Johnny is like Maestro on crack, and he will use Dreadful Wail and wipe out your party if your not careful, so bring someone that can rez/heal. And for god's sake don't stand near him, his Shout does disgusting damage.

Wow, a group that actually has the Supercomputer. Never really thought about buying that thing yet. We have a full, raidable base and had thoughts of buying the next plot size, but we decided to save up for a mega plot down the road. Anyone else doing the same?

The Ice Mistral SF is pretty short as well and has a unique map at the end. Did it with 4 people: 3 MMs and my little Stalker butt. Not hard at all...until the final room. It's not MM friendly and the final AV will, well, you WILL die. No one can survive his, god what would you call it, Mass Genocide? Seriously, either it's broken or it's made that you have to run away through part of the fight. The only other group that I know that completed it wiped 3 times before finally killing him. The badge at the end is awarded though and it's called Crystal Keeper, it looks cool. Oh and there are Carnies in the damn SF, ugh.