City of Heroes: Live Forum Archive

Peacemoon

Legend

  • Posts

    661

  • Joined

  1. Peacemoon
    I remember Geko, he posted a few things occasionally. There was a big thread about invuln, burn and tankers being literally immune to damage. Like Castle he spent too long on the melee forums. Us poor 'trollers, atleast we got containment when they took away our 12 Fire Imps/4 Singularities etc

    What happened to Geko anyway? I don't remember Geko leaving and Castle arriving, maybe I wasn't playing at that time.
  2. Peacemoon
    • There were no radio missions, everyone had to do the long storyarcs if they wanted missions.
    • We used to street sweep in Hazard zones for good Xp, gradually working our way around the zone as we leveled up.
    • No one knew how to fight Tsoo Sorcerers and almost every group would wipe at least once against Mr. Po.
    • Debt was HUGE, you could easily have half your level in debt if you died a handful of times.
    • Debt would not decline while you logged off, and you didn't get any silly Xp bonuses!
    • Trolls, Outcasts and Warriors were just Hellions and Skulls but different colours.
    • The Terra Volta trial was the only way to change your powers if you didn't want to delete and reroll, and it was VERY HARD
    • If you wanted enhancements after 30 you had to find your origins contact and do a mission before they would sell you anything.
    • There was no train to Founder's Falls, you had to run - BOTH WAYS!
    • Level 40 was the cap and there weren't any APP's.
    • Capes and Wings didn't exist.
    • No one knew about Stamina until it was too late.
    • Each person had to be individually sidekicked and you always had a few people at 4 levels below the leader who wanted to leech.
    • If you exemplered you earned no Xp.
    • There was no such thing as Ouroboros for travelling.
    • Everybody shunned you if you were Kinetics because you were, well duh, Kinetics!
    • People didn't know what Speed Boost was but thanked the Empath anyway.
    • Kinetic's heal would scale with the level of the enemy, if they were +5, it would heal for hardly anything, if they were -10 it would heal you 5 times over.
    • Wormhole only had a CHANCE to stun enemies, a chance!
    • There was no such thing as containment damage for Controllers. You either teamed, or you waited. Or you took Air Superiority.

    Okay, I'm done for now! ;-)
  3. Peacemoon
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Brakkus View Post
    Update:

    My troller is now sitting at lvl 41. I have 8 procs spread out in my powers. I open with snow storm, hit stalagmites, then follow with cages. Then VG and EQ gets laid down, with sleet intermixed and stoney attacking. I have an ae to myself, I set it at +3 enemies and set for +6, and can easily solo the mish now. EASILY. No hastle. No fuss. No dying. Every spawn is immobb'ed, choking, bouncing, and slowed to a crawl. It is sooooo nice to finally be able to solo and kill things efficiently. I rotate every attack (fossilize and nem staff) against the lts so they roughly all die together while stoney kills them too. I keep stoney shielded with the good ole ice shields. I gain just shy of a 1/3 bar of experience per spawn at lvl 41. It takes less than a minute to kill a spawn, and is finally very rewarding. On teams, this alt shuts em down, and I like that.

    Thank you all for the input!!!!

    Brakkus
    Sounds like you are having a blast ;-)
  4. Peacemoon
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Local_Man View Post
    I'm in the camp where I prefer to have Stone Cages over two slows. For lots of reasons: (a) Stone Cages have -Fly which will handle the problem the majority of the time . . . plus there is -fly in Quicksand, so once they are on the ground, you can keep them there. (b) Stone Cages sets up Containment, as others have mentioned. (c) Stone Cages + Stalagmites act as a hold. While the Slows reduce the movement of the stunned foes, some often do wander out of the AoE of the slow. (d) Stone Cages is your fastest recharging control power. You can fire it off every few seconds. Add a proc or two, and that damage can add up. On the other hand, the Slows will only fire off procs every 10 seconds, and you don't have as many procs available. (e) Stone Cages + a corner to hide behind is just as good as an AoE hold . .. up every few seconds and able to be made perma at LEVEL 4! (f) There is a significant value to -Knockback . . . depending upon your teammates. Just try teaming with a Peacebringer. And if you realize that the -knockback only works for 12 seconds, you can use that to your advantage, since the Immob continues long past then. Cast Stone Cages, and just as the 12 seconds starts to run out, you can then use Earthquake or Freezing Rain a/k/a Sleet to make them bounce in place. (g) People complain that Stone Cages conflicts with Earthquake and the knockdown in Sleet/Freezing Rain -- just don't cast it. Too many people think that Stone Cages has to be spammed, but it can be used stragically. (h) Personally, I like the graphics of huge stone things locking down foes. It also makes the foes easy to see.

    While there are some benefits to having both slows, I think the better choice is to take Stone Cages. The combo of Stalagmites+Stone Cages is just too good and fast as a "First Strike" control. Both Earthquake and Volcanic Gasses take a few seconds to work on the entire group, but Stalagmites is your only "instant control" AoE power.
    I have to agree completely with Local Man here, on every point he listed actually. Stone Cages offers a lot of benefits to a team and to a skilled Controller.

    Also in the first reply Tex mentioned taking hasten and as a result, super speed. I'm not disagreeing its useful, but it is by no means compulsory. The higher level you get and the more recharge and global recharge you use, the more its effect is diminished. So unless you are going for something like perma PA, its something you can safely avoid it without losing much. Most recharges are quite competetive without it also. YMMV.
  5. Peacemoon
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by saltyhero13 View Post
    My main gripe is that the set plays fairly slow on a controller (at low levels especially). I really wish they kept the damage component to the Conductive Aura. The stun was clearly overpowered; I don't see why they dropped the damage aspect (I speculate that it was out of fear of turning into another Fire Control Clone). This set really needs help at low levels. Since we are stuck with the powers as-is I am hoping that the devs reconsider moving some powers around to help bolster the set for earlier play.
    Well I personally wasn't happy with Hot Feet V2.0 because as you said, the stun was very overpowered and Hot Feet itself already makes Fire Control an outlier in terms of damage. Giving Electric Control its own version seemed to set the bar at Fire Control's level, which wouldn't be good for all the other sets. Having said that, now that the power doesn't stun and the fact the set as a whole lacks in other areas (like reliable hard control) I have changed my thinking; I keep feeling the power should now be doing some minor damage with each tick. This would require giving it a substantial end cost however. The only drawback is it wouldn't work well with Static Field's sleep which as you rightly point out, is the crutch of the set.
  6. Peacemoon
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by macskull View Post
    2. Not positive about the accuracy (the version before the change required a hit check, not sure if the current one does), but it does detoggle when mezzed which means you'll be retoggling a lot since the set lacks real mitigation.
    I'm not 100% sure, but I think the self +recovery and +regen buff does not require a hit check. Just like similar self buffing toggles such as Invincibility or Against All Odds. The -Endurance every 2 seconds though does require an accuracy check, similar to how Hot Feet requires one.

    Quote:
    4. I believe Static Field follows the same rules as other AoE holds with respect to duration, recharge, and radius.
    It has a radius similar to Ice Slick, which is about 20 ft. I think. The duration of the patch is 20s and the power has a 40s recharge. My anecdotal testing shows a pulse rate of 4s.

    Quote:
    5. Synaptic Overload would be a really nice power, were it not for the fact that the chain is slow to jump and if the chain misses, it's all over. It was certainly useful running at -1x6 when I was testing my Elec/Kin (where I had enough recharge thanks to Siphon Speed to have it up every mob), but it's not entirely reliable so it falls short compared to other AoE confuse powers.
    I agree completely. The main problem with the chain powers is they are just not as reliable. You will always have a 5% chance to completely fizzle. Coupled with this is the fact that Synaptic Overload has approximately a 1.5s gap between jumping from one enemy to another. So you are looking at quite some time for the power to fully spread.

    The power is no-aggro which is great, but what I found was that if I wanted to wait for the chain to fully apply before attacking, the spawn was at risk of self destructing before I engaged. You could start with the sleep, but that is just lengthening the "set up time". The redeeming factor is that the recharge and accuarcy are pretty good and so the numbers seem to be balanced as if it was a cone power, not a straight AoE.
  7. Peacemoon
    I think one of the major problems for the set is that no dev has really spoken out at what the overall philosophy of the set is. Obviously by analysing the powers you can tell it is going to play differently to its sister sets, but will it still be as effective? It lacks the long recharge AoE controls that other sets possess and instead has a lot more quick recharging powers that do soft control. Though the chaining powers are not as reliable as normal AoE's and if you miss the initial hit then the whole power just fizzles, plus it can take a while for the power to fully chain, especially Synaptic Overload.

    I think with more extensive playtime and testing, we will start to see new stratergies and tricks emerge from the playerbase, especially as the set is pretty unique. What we can say with certainty though is the set is low damage. It will sit near to Ice and Earth and might be pretty rough solo at the early levels, especially with the long activation time of Tesla Cage.

    Personally I have found the set to be pretty difficult to get to grips with and with not much to really show from it. I will admit though, this may be as much to do with my ability to adjust to a new play style as it is to do with the sets performance as a whole.

    So at the moment I think we have a pretty open verdict on the sets capabilities. The optimist in me says that there is a lot of unrealised potential just waiting for a creative player to tap into. The pessimist in me says people will try play it like a conventional control set and not be pleased with the results, especially early on. I guess only time will tell.
  8. Peacemoon
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by MrYukon View Post
    we had brawl and we were grateful for it.
    And we slotted it!! Wait.. was that just me?
  9. Peacemoon
    Updated with numbers.
  10. Peacemoon
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Driver 8 View Post
    So I pretty much do the opposite. Shut everything out. Comfy chair in spouse's room, glass of iced coffee, fullscreen, no music... ahh heaven. Duo or trio at most, cuz large groups make my brain explode. Duo with spouse usually, or chat verbally while I'm soloing and she's doing big pugs. Every hour or so I go out on the porch for a smoke break even if I'm not niccing, to let my brain cool down.

    So relaxing. I've been a gamer all my life and this game is becoming my all-time favorite.
    Have to agree completely with this.

    I love to sit down, focus on the game and run an Ouro Storyarc or 2 with my boyfriend for merits. Though I don't mind teams, I couldn't imagine playing the game with 7-9 things going on all at once, that is just *crazy.* I prefer to focus on 1 thing, and do that 1 thing right.
  11. Peacemoon
    I thought I'd begin the discussion by posting a summery of the set. All numbers are taken as level 50.

    Quote:
    1) Electric Fence: Single target immobalize, Moderate damage (DoT). Knockback protection.
    • 30.59 Energy damage over 9.20s.
    • 1.20 Accuracy.
    • 4s Recharge time.
    • 7.8 Endurance cost.
    • 1.67 Activation time.
    • 80 ft. range.
    • Mag 4 Immobilize. 27.94s Duration.
    • Knockback Protection & Anti-Fly for 15s
    • -2.8% Endurance for 6.2s (I count 3 ticks so thats -8.4%)
    • 20% Chance of -100% recovery for 2s.
    • 30% Chance of +2.8 endurance on caster.
    Quote:
    2) Tesla Cage - Single target hold, Moderate damage.
    • 30.59 Energy damage.
    • 1.20 Accuracy.
    • 8s Recharge time.
    • 8.53 Endurance cost.
    • 2.17 Activation time.
    • 80 ft. range.
    • Mag 3 Hold. 22.35s Duration.
    • -7.0% Endurance.
    • 30% Chance for -100% recovery for 4s.
    • 30% Chance for +3.43 endurance on caster.
    Quote:
    3) Chain Fences - Area effect immobilize, Minor damage.
    • 9.18 Energy damage.
    • 0.90 Accuracy.
    • 8s Recharge time.
    • 15.60 Endurance cost.
    • 1.17 Activation time.
    • 80 ft. range. 30 ft Radius. 16 Targets max.
    • Mag 3 Immobilize. 27.94 Duration.
    • Anti-Fly for 15s.
    • -10% Endurance.
    • 40% Chance for -100% recovery for 6s.
    Quote:
    4) Jolting Chain - Chaining knockdown power, Minor damage.
    • 9.18 initial energy damage. 11.12 energy damage per successful jump.
    • 1.00 Initial Accuracy.
    • 8s Recharge time.
    • 10.40 Endurance cost.
    • 80 ft. Range. 10-15ft range for jumping.(No ingame number so based from my own experience.) 15 Targets max.
    • 2.07 Activation time.
    • 0.66 Knockdown on any enemy hit by the power.
    • -10% Endurance on initial target only.
    • 50% Chance for -100% recovery for 8s on initial target only.
    Quote:
    5) Conductive Aura - PBAoE Toggle. -Endurance on enemies. +Recovery & +Regen on self per nearby enemy.
    • No Damage.
    • 1.00 Accuracy.
    • 15s Recharge time.
    • No endurance cost.
    • 20 ft. radius. 8 Targets max.
    • 2.03 Activation time.
    • -10% Endurance every 2s.
    • +5% Regen per nearby enemy. +40% with 8 enemies in range.
    • +3.13 Recovery per nearby enemy. +25.04% with 8 enemies in range.
    Quote:
    6) Static Field - Location AoE. Pulses a sleep every 4 seconds. Also slows speed and recharge.
    • No Damage.
    • 1.00 Accuracy.
    • 40s Recharge time.
    • 15.60 Endurance cost.
    • 60 ft. range.
    • 2.03 Activation time.
    • Mag 3 Sleep. 25.50s Duration. 4s Pulse.
    • -40% Slow to all speeds for 25.50s.
    • -30% Recharge for 25.50s.
    • 50% Chance for -3% endurance.
    Quote:
    7) Paralytic Blast - Aoe Hold. -Recovery.
    • No Damage.
    • 0.80 Accuracy.
    • 4 Minute recharge.
    • 15.60 Endurance cost.
    • 80 ft. range. 30ft radius. 16 Targets max.
    • 1.67 Activation time.
    • Mag 3 Hold. 14.9s Duration.
    • -7% Endurance.
    • -100% Recovery rate for 8s.
    Quote:
    8) Synaptic Overload - Chain confuse power.
    • No Damage.
    • 1.00 Accuracy.
    • 1 Minute recharge.
    • 8.53 Endurance cost.
    • 80ft range. 10-15ft range for jumping.(No ingame number so based from my own experience.)
    • 2.37 Activation time.
    • Does not cause aggro.
    • Mag 3 Confuse. 22.35 Duration on any enemy hit by the power.
    • -10 Endurance on initial target.
    • -100% Recovery for 8s on initial target.
    Quote:
    9) Gremlins - Summons 2 large elementals of lightning at -1 casters level. They have 3 powers: 1) A pulsing PBAoE aura that deals minor damage. 2) Jolting Chains. 3) Electric Brawl.
    • 4 Minute recharge time.
    • 26 Endurance cost.
    • 2.03 Activation time.
    • Electric Brawl:
    • 27.81 Smashing damage, 22.24 energy damage. (50.05 damage total)
    • 1.20 Accuracy.
    • 4s Recharge time.
    • -7 Endurance.
    • 30% Chance for -100% Recovery for 4s.
    • Jolting Chain:
    • 13.35 Initial energy damage, 11.12 energy damage per successful jump
    • 1.00 Accuracy.
    • 6s Recharge time.
    • 40 ft. range.
    • -10% Endurance on initial target only.
    • 30% chance for -100% recovery for 4s.
    • Aura:
    • 6.67 Energy damage.
    • 1.00 Accuracy.
    • 7 ft Radius. 3 Targets max.
  12. Peacemoon
    I have a few in mind.

    First a Grav/Rad Controller who will duo with a Bots/Traps MM. They will be a Mr. and Mrs. combo who will join a leveling pact If you see them on Virtue be sure to say hi!

    Second will be a SS/Willpower brute for when my bf doesn't want to play, will give me something to work on by myself.

    After that I'm not sure, I'm toying with idea of a Druid type character since thats the one thing our SG lacks, but while that lends itself nicely to Plant or Earth control with Storm, I already have way too many contol types and a /storm controller already. So we'll see ;-)
  13. Peacemoon
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Wonderslug View Post
    Difficulty settings came in with I3, I believe. Team scaling didn't go away until the GDN/ED combo was complete in I5/I6. Between I3 and I6 it was possible to get 55s in regular missions, if you were on a full team on Invincible (50 +2/+3 for Invincible +2 for full team = 54/55).

    I have vivid memories of +5 Carnies, and a fight with a level 55 Nightstar that took approximately forever.
    Level 55 Carnies, I bet that was a sight. Maybe we can expect something similar for the incarnate stuff?
  14. Peacemoon
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Carnifax_NA View Post
    The only one I remember personally is the Terra Respec trial back in i4 or i5, when everything was conning at least red. That used to always spawn at max diff as far as I remember.

    Yep, you'll just have to start training todays bunch of young whippersnappers how it was in the good old days Gramps
    Lol l I could try! Todays youth doesn't have the perseverence though to hack it I bet. It'll be all "Its too hard, I give up!" ;-)
  15. Peacemoon
    Perhaps my brain isn't plugged in properly today, but I swear that enemy level used to increase by default according to team size. I never remember Citidel's TF being populated with +0 enemies for instance. It always used to be red con minions not white con.

    My memory is probably just simply playing tricks on me or I'm thinking back to very old times. I guess I will have to start some +4 TF's and watch them squirm ;-)
  16. Peacemoon
    Recently I've been noticing that on big teams or even in TF's sometimes the enemies level is not increased. So what happened, I used to really enjoy teaming and the crazy fights that +3 x8 missions used to bring. These days however its more often then not turning into a right snoozefest as we fight +0 x8 spawns as a full team. I mean, is that even worthy of being rewarded merits?

    What happened to the glory days of huge spawns of high level mobs? I use to love the challenge of that. Right now either the game is broken or I'm surrunded by wimps, not heroes.

    Either way, bring back the old difficulty
  17. Peacemoon

    I feel so dirty...

    POST-ACTION

    I only have 2 50's, which is odd considering when I started playing. I usually find out whether I like them or not by their 20's.

    I often get bored of characters in their low 40's, especially once the "They will get better once they get x power" rationale is no longer applicable and I have to face the truth.

    I can't imagine deleting a 50 though, they only get there if I really love them ;-)
  18. Peacemoon

    No traps guides?

    POST-ACTION

    Silas thanks for your traps guide, was very informative and funny ;-)

    Working out a build for my bf's Bots/Traps character and this has helped immensely!
  19. Peacemoon
    Speaking of web pages is anyone else having problems with the drop down menu on the main CoH page? I don't have the forums bookmarked and been finding the drop down menu a real pain lately.
  20. Peacemoon
    (Internet ate my post so here is a not-so-well-worded repost)

    I have a lot of sympathy for the thematics argument, although I am a thematics kind of man. I like my games to value the theme, setting, lore and feel of the world and its characters so that they become that much more immersive.

    Unfortunately as games get older, the novelty of thematics tends to wear off and people get tired of the way they limit gameplay. So games tend to follow the trend of game mechanics the longer the game lives, rightly or wrongly. Hence now in certain other games with Blood Elf and Tauren Paladins and Space Goat and Darvern Shamans. I suppose you could label me conservative not liberal when it comes to ongoing game design.

    Now with GR we will all have access to all AT's. As a result I think the question has somewhat turned on its head. It's no longer why no Super Strength Scrappers, but why don't not a Super Strength Brute? Its already available, very similar in playstyle and thematically much more appropriate.

    Also for the record, I would prefer new sets to more proliferation. Proliferation is ok occasionally, but it is pretty much just the recycling of old content.

    Je_saist did a beautiful and elaborate post which better explains my position. Followed by some comical and almost childish attempts at rebuttal
  21. Peacemoon
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by JD_Gumby View Post
    Not every power has to be helpful for steamroller teams. For teams with patience, and for solo play, it's a fairly useful power to keep spawns off you until you're ready for them (everything else dead, everyone healed up, big powers closer to being, if not fully, recharged, etc.).
    I don't disagree with the notion, but this argument could be used against any request for a power change.

    Also what makes Dimension Shift a special case for me is it isn't just any old power; its location and its relevance to the set makes it Gravity's answer to flashfire, ice slick, stalagmites, mss hypnosis etc. If Gravity had some oher viable aoe control before 26 Dimension Shift would not be the huge deal it is, just like Black Hole is not as much as a problem to Dark Miasma.

    Its when you look at the set as a whole that you realise how much of a problem Dimension Shift is for Gravity. Believe me if the set was designed differently I'm sure people would view Dimension Shift like they view Salt Crystals for Earth.
  22. Peacemoon
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Memphis_Bill View Post
    Irrelevant.


    Incorrect. The cottage rule is that any change to a power will not alter that power's fundamental purpose, whether you think there's "nothing wrong" with the power or not. For instance, Energy Aura formerly had just a power sink that drained END. EA could use a heal. Did they replace power sink? No. They added a healing component to it. They did the same thing with Electric armor (Energize.) The power's initial purpose remains.



    Yes, and they're not going to screw over the "handful of people" (myself included) who take the power. My post isn't misplaced, your understanding of the cottage rule is lacking. Thus my pointing out of the APP/PPP changes - that was the last time they tried breaking the cottage rule and replacing "powers nobody takes" with "more useful" ones (their own words.)

    For instance, Dominators mace mastery. They wanted to replace the "nobody takes/less useful" targeted AOE with Personal Force Field. Guess what my 50 Dom has as a PPP... and what power (wanting more damage) I was using. PFF is many orders of magnitude less useful to me. They ran into that with *every single change.*

    They will not outright replace a power with one that's completely different. So, looking at the OP (emphasis mine: )


    the answer would be "no." Reason? The cottage rule.
    You know Memphis there is a fundemental flaw in the 'cottage rule'. You will note that it has no impact on the vast majority of powers which the devs can just tinker the numbers to make it effective. However it does have a massive impact on poorly designed powers like Dimension Shift. It is a serious flaw and I can't imagine any other game following it. there has to be exceptions to such a rule.

    What is preferable, and what makes better business sense:

    A) Gravity Control which is regarded as the weakest control set, stuck with a control power at 12 which is also regarded as perhaps the worst power in the game. Single handedly this power makes Gravity a bad set, because at 12 all other control sets take off. The set is unpopular and struggles to be effective.

    B) Gravity Control which has been overhauled and is now more popular, more effective and more fun. Very little has changed, but the Dimension Shift has had a massive overhaul into something that actually helps a team.

    Now thats the dream, and I woke up from that a long time ago so I'm not kidding myself, this is a hypothetical argument. Still, people who smuggly sit on Dimension Shift quoting the dev handbook to CoH do rile me.

    Something more constructive: what could the devs change about Dimension Shift to make it more useful, while still keep the intangible? Well Arcanaville came up with the concept that you didn't have to send them to a nice dimension, and they could get random debuffs on their return. I thought of how the inatangible could turn into a sleep after 10-15 seconds, effectively providing a hard lock sleep which could then be broken after a little while. Also making phased enemies untargetable would help Di. Shift.

    Anyway, I still remember when Wormhole was not an AoE Stun and just an AoE teleport, so that itself is proof on how things can be improved.
  23. Peacemoon
    I was posting about changes that should be made to Dimension Shift years and years ago, by now I have long given up. I think the only people who care don't have the voice to make it happen. You would have to propose something -all- controllers could get behind.

    As for 'cottage rule' (I hate this term), people should note that its a great rule for blasters, scrappers etc because DAMAGE powers are very very rarely designed wrongly and need changing from the ground up. Control powers or buff/debuff powers however really suffer from it. Also even though no one takes Dimension Shift and not many people play Gravity, some forumites would still cause an outcry if it was changed.

    People don't seem to understand the concept of 'exception to the rule', and if Dimension Shift changed, somehow that means everything would be at risk of complete change.
  24. Peacemoon

    Contiguous map

    POST-ACTION

    On one hand I would enjoy it, because the vision of seeing the whole of Paragon City would surely be spectacular.

    On the other hand, if it was all contiguous it probably wouldn't stand up to the vision.

    Also with zones, you can always imagine other parts of the city which aren't accessible. The bits inbetween the bits. The unexplored and unknown. I quite like that feeling
  25. Peacemoon
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Steel_Shaman View Post
    I made a grav/energy last night. Not bad. The KB's and stuns in /energy seem to offset Grav's weak control very nicely.
    Maybe true, but Gravs weak control isn't really an issue until 12+ I find. Thats when other sets generally take off and when Gravity is left with Dimension Shift