PRAF68_EU

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never see an NPC widow without a helmet

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We do. Nocturne.

Kalinda appears without a hemet in the comic too.

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We do see soldiers without helmets yet the player soldier (female at least) is stuck with one. (even more bizarre is that under that helmet is a range of mask options that the exposed face widow characters dont have.)


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Exactly. the reason you don't get them is they arn't finished yet. Give it a couple of weeks.

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Arachnos clearly uses science and technology to buff its soldiers...

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In the same way that the US Army uses science and technology to buff it's soldiers!

(the main difference with the US army is that for them Combat Training: Offensive works in reverse).

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the origin of fortunata and mu seemed logically to be magic

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You might try reading the background then, rather than trying to work it out for yourself, especially if you RP.

Mu are magic. If you had a Mu SoA they would have to have the magic backgroud, but Mu isn't available to players.

Fortunatas are trained to use the natural psionic talents that most humans in the CoX universe possess to one degree or another.


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the philosophy behind that core

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The philosophy behind EATs in CoX is they have predefined backgrounds, as opposed to base ATs which are generic. This has been developed for years.

Checked. Quantum flight stil does not take fly sets.

This is because it does not take fly speed enhancements.

This is because it caps fly speed out of the box.

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why cant widows have any outfit

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1) It's a uniform.

2) the widow chest piece, shoulders and collar are incompatable with lots of regular costume items.

3) You can make a regular costume at level 10.

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why on earth can't faces at least be seen in the female soldier outfit

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Coming soon.

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And only one Origin...not only that but conceptually the most difficult to convince at an rp level 'Natural'

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On the contrary, you wouldn't be RPing and arachnos soldier faithfully if you background was anything other than natural.

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was it just rushed to hit before AoC began?

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Yes. It needed to be done for the issue not to be lost completly. However, the core content is complete, they can tinker with cosmetic stuff later.

Quantum Fight doesn't take Flight sets, unless they changed it in issue 12.

Since Quantum Fight is hardly an essential PB power, my response is mearly to shrug my shoulders.

I think you are completly missiong something. Just about anyone of any level of ability could build and play a Night Widow and have them be quite effective. However, someone who didn't know exactly what they where doing could very easily gimp themselves with a bane spider. That's not balanced. That's not good design.

That's exactly what happened with keldians. Excited player unlocks keldians for the first time. They then find thier kelidian isn't very effective (yes, it's because thier build and play style isn't exactly right, but they don't know that). Not only do thy give up on keldians, thinking that they are gimped, they also tell all thier friends that keldians are gimped. It gets around and people who persevered with keldians find themselves unable to get a team, because the word on the street is that keldians are gimped.


This is why class/AT balance is so important in a MMO, when it wouldn't matter in a single player game. If an AT or powerset is percived to be weak, they find it difficult to get a place on a team.

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a claw scrapper doing a heal or epic attack gets the redraw.

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That's because those powers aren't part of the same powerset.

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Why give them a gun and a mace in the first place?

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They didn't. They game Banes a Mace and Wolf Spiders a gun. They just decided not to make branching a penalty by cutting you of from powers that where previously available. It alows people to still play wolf spiders after level 24 if they so wish.

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Do spiders actualy suffer from redraw while doing gun and backpack attacks?

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I think they have to redraw the gun if they use it after a backpack attack. The backpack doesn't have a draw time, but using it puts your gun away. Not certain about this though.

It's designed to be a drawback.

On a bane, it is intended to deter you from cherry picking the best rifle and mace attacks.

Which would be fine, if the bane was up to par in the first place.

This is the way it has to be. The arachnos costumes are incompatable with normal costume parts, so you can have an arachnos uniform, or a normal costume, but you can't mix pieces.

The existing sets that use the new system are:

Dual Blades
Archery/TA
War Mace

After issue 12, this extends to:

Broadsword
Battle Axe
SoA

Sets that still use the old system for the time being (because of balance issues):

Claws
Katana

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No but I couldn't help but notice there are more than the usual ways to skin a cat with this game and considered that they made a character where people have to think.

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Sure, there are lots of ways to play a bane spider. If you play as a blapper you will do quite well. However you will still be outshone by the other SoAs however you play. The best way to build your bane spider is to respec into a crab spider.

Bane Spiders are not gimped. That is not the problem. They are, as Stalky says, lackluster. There is nothing they can do that one of the other SoAs can't do better.

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I'm pretty sure that was changed pretty quickly after it went Live.

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Key word highlighted.

All the problems, and the problems with the proposed solutions, had been pointed out at least 3-4 weeks before it went live.

And if the players could see them streight away, why couldn't the developers see them before it hit beta, since they are supposed to understand the game so much better?

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Crediting them with some intelligence.

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Some, but not to much. There where loads of people telling Castle that Stealth IOs in auto powers would be broken, on the US forums to, but he went ahead anyway.

There are loads of people saying Electric Armor is broken on stalkers, but has there been any change?

So, no, I think the devs will operate a suck it and see policy. let it go live as is, then fix it a couple of years down the line when the data mining results are in. I hope I'm wrong.

As for a secret hidden way to play bane spiders wich makes them good but no one is smart enough to have figured out yet!!??? Might as well believe that Elvis is alive and working a milkman in Birmingam.

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Redraw should be factored into the cast time. With or without redraw the cast time should be the same. Its a new set with which such a mistake shouldn't be made.

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They changed the system. Now redraw time is designed to be a factor in weapon sets, and is not included in cast times. The pauses that followed attacks where you didn't redraw in other sets are in the process of being removed.

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I thought Follow Up and Build Up couldn't both be picked in the one build?

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Abslolutely correct.

In simple terms, stalker AT melee damage multiplyer = 0.9, crit for double, = 1.8. bane/widow AT multiplier = 1.0, crit for +67% = 1.67. After that, the longer the fight goes on for the stalker will start to fall behind in terms of damage. However if the bane spider stays in melee range they will start to fall behind in terms of being dead.

However, comparing the team performance with stalkers with SoA isn't realy legit: Stalkers are now accepted by the devs as underperforming in teams. Using AS, the stalker will do round about 4 times as much burst damage as an SoA.

You also can't include Venom Grenade on a bane without forcing redraw, and hence slowing your attack chain significantly.

Those powers are all exactly the same as existing powers apart from them having different graphics and doing different things though.

It sounds like you are looking for "flashness" over substance, and you like to be railroaded into a paticular stype of play. In which case, no, you probably won't like SoA. Bye.

There are no new ATs and no new powers.

You have powers that do damage, powers that protect from damage, powers that buff and powers that debuff. All ATs are [ QUOTE ]
just a mix of other ats

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Can you explain me how a bane can be played (in solo) in a way which wouldn't be the one of the stalker ? Of a poor stalker without as ?

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If you do try to play your bane this way, you will spend a lot of time faceplanted. Banes simply don't have the melee range defenses to play like a stalker.

The most effective way to play a bane seems to be as a blapper. Open with your strongest steath strike, then jump out of melee range and use you ranged attacks.

However, with thier strong team buffs, banes are far more desirable on a team than any stalker.

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Without me mathing it, the burst dps looks awfully close to stepping on a stalkers toes but burst damage I guess is essential to what Banes do.

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You need to do the math then. Bane (or Widow) burst damage isn't even close to what stalkers are capable of. Even a stalker who neglects to take AS will do more burst damage.

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So, the answer to my question was no. Fair enough.

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Nothing on the forums about specific roles intended (I don't think any of the SoAs where really designed with a specific role in mind).

There is the in game introduction:

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Characters with Arachnos Soldier training begin their careers as Wolf Spiders. Wolf Spider characters have a strong mix of Melee and Ranged attacks and strong protective powers available via their power armor. Beginning at level 24, the player has to choose whether he will progress down the "Crab Spider" or "Bane Spider" path. Crab Spiders gain access to the "backpack" and the powerful claw/cone attacks it provides, while the Bane Spider track provides stealth and a stronger focus on melee.

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Which, if you take it to literally, will see you doing a lot of faceplanting.

LOL, I don't know about your mother, but mine would find it difficult to turn the computer on, never mind play CoX!

I've no objection to epic ATs being a little harder, after all, they are supposed to be for experienced players. However it's not very good when a bane spider has to use all thier skills and tricks and years of experience just to keep up with a Night Widow played by Stalk_obot's mum.

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you dont think outside the box

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Boxes exist for a reason. If an AT isn't good for anything people wont team with them, people won't play them, and in effect the devs wasted there time creating them. Ok. Go on. Think outside the box. What can a bane spider do better than one of the other SoAs? Why would anyone want one on thier team when they could have one of the other SoAs?

If you actually read what I said, you would know that I said any AT can easily solo in CoX, including all the hero ones. I know because I have played most of them. You clearly are failing to understand the point. Banes can solo quite well, just not as well as the other SoA. They can team quite well, just not as well as the other SoA.

I think you are missing the point. A fire/fire tank has almost the same powers as a fire/fire brute, but they don't play the same.

It's not better suited for soloing.

It's not better suited for teaming.

It's not better suited for melee.

It's not better suited for range.

It's not better suited for PvP.

It's not better suited for PvE.


It's clear the devs had no specific role in mind for banes.