Peacemoon

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Then came the Positron Task Force. "Hey guys, come to Steel to meet me and start my TF!" "Okay, great, we're here in Steel." "Okay, good. Now, go to Skyway." Huff, huff, huff. "Okay, we're done in Skyway." "Great! Now come back to Steel!" Huff, huff, huff. "Okay, we're here." "Cool. Now go beat up these guys in Skyway!" "Again? Okay." Huff, huff, huff. "Vahzilok are terminated, sir." "Good job, guys. Now, head off to Perez Park." And so on, and so forth...


After all that running around, I decided to cool my heels and do some AE missions in Atlas Park. Yes, I know, I'm dirty.


Then, out of sheer and utter boredom, I decided to organize a Citadel TF.

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So you spent ages doing a Posi TF and got bored? Then after a brief stay at AE you wanted to a do a Citadel TF? That is some pretty quick leveling, suprised no one else has commented! :P

Anyway back on topic, Blueside might have some issues because of it being dated, but people are quick to criticize it I think. Each zone has a good layout and a good theme. Redside all the zones seem very bland and the same as each other except one or two noticable buildings.

The only thing I don't like about blueside, is that a lot of the missions, ESPECIALLY in the 30 - 34 region are VERY dated and the same missions are repeated from different contacts. Even down to things like captives referring to you as "rescuer" instead of "$name" just to highlight the point.

Magic can also relate to a magical item that gives someone their power. Peacemoon for example is a magic hero and while he is a naturally powerful psychic, it is his magical amulet which allows him to control the weather and grant /storm powers. :-)

the subject of these replies is getting pretty bad.

From the main index I started reading "My legs are.." in the latest post section while clicking on archtypes and powers forum, only to finish the sentence with the title of the original post "..opened!" Needless to say, I was worried what kind of forum I had clicked on!

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Controllers were hit very hard in i5 by the troller nerf. Global Defense Nerf, and Enhancement Diversification also hit every toon as well.

From what I recall, most likely this is incorrect or has errors or is incomplete on some level, the major troller nerfs since you've been gone consist of: <ul type="square">[*]All AoE mez effects were reduced in half for duration[*]All AoE mezzes were increased by twice for recharge duration[*]Affected AoEs were pretty much any AoE, and not just mez including APP Ice Storm, Freezing Rain, Flashfire and Bonfire, for example.[*]Major pets no longer stack, they are perma for the duration of the zone/mission. Casting a new pet will dismiss the old one. No more 3 Jack Frosts or 21 Fire Imps.[*]AVs no longer are affected fully by a majority of the debuff types. They highly resist most debuffs.[*]Purple triangles of doom still exist on AVs. No more standing beside Tyrant with hurricane and flooring his accuracy. Some debuff types work better than others, and buffs to players tend to fare better against AVs.[*]Pets no longer respond to +recharge buffs, eg. speed boost etc. Note that this is for the pet's firing rate and not the rate at which the pet can be recast. Note that for something like speed boost, the attack rate of the pet is unchanged but the movement rate and endurance modification is increased as it did before.[*]Fire imps are now cast at -1 to the caster.[*]Many powers across the sets are slowly being harmonized to common values. Eg. Mind confuse and Illusion deceive. Some have been changed but not fully standardized. Eg. Thunderclap in storm is no longer autohit but the mag is still low so it only affects minions.[*]Most controller powers have been reduced in effectiveness versus their defender counterparts, where they used to be close/identical in duration/power. Eg. Damage amounts in Storm/ are higher than their /Storm counterparts.[*]Fire imps still freak out on oil slick from TA set.[*]Hurricane no longer debuffs on a .1 second tick rate, it debuffs on a 1 second tick rate.[/list]'Buffs'<ul type="square">[*]Pets can move across elevators.[*]Pets that had random numbers (PA and imps) are now fixed in number.[*]Controllers get something called 'containment' which grants them a damage bonus when (most) mez types are active upon the target. This allows the controller to solo much more effectively. Only powers used by the player grant a containment bonus. Pets do not get the bonus, and most pseudo pets and rains do not either, although this is not consistent. Eg. Freezing Rain does not gain containment bonus but APP Ice Storm will.[*]Controllers have a chance to score a critical mez whenever they use their mez power. This is a +1 bonus that shows up as "overpower" so controllers have the innate ability to mez a boss level enemy in a single attack.[*]Pet AI is considered improved for Poo Man and Jack Frost.[*]Pets no longer are affected by -recharge debuffs, eg. siphon speed etc. Note that in the siphon speed example, the movement rate of the pet will still be affected, just not the pet's attack rate.[*]/TA has had a significant buff such that it is no longer gimpy feeling, and is quite powerful.[/list]
Various other notes<ul type="square">[*]AVs now can spawn as an 'Elite Boss' on heroic level to allow for solo players to complete missions.[*]One shot code allows for players to survive some extreme level damage that could previously defeat a player from full health. DoT or multicomponent damage can still 'one shot' players. NPCs are exempt from the one shot code, including your pets.[*]Many phase shift and hibernate powers are now on a 30 second timer maximum versus perma.[*]Perma hasten is no longer common but still can be achieved.[*]Powers received an over 18% reduction in endurance consumed because of ED. [*]There is a streak breaker code that allows players to eventually hit a high def target or be hit. This means that regardless of your defense or to-hit debuffs, you can eventually be hit if you allow your attacker enough swings.[*]Set bonuses from slotting specific Invention Origin Enhancements (ie. loot) is now the best way to outfit characters. Hamidon origin enhancements are used sparingly, for the most part, where IOs won't fit or may not give as much bonus[*]Hamis no longer give +50% bonuses (in general). They are functioning mostly like combination SOs now.[*]Some power aspects are on a reduced bonus scheme, even with ED in consideration. Eg. range bonuses and accuracy debuff enhancements and limits are on a different category/schedule than accuracy and damage limits[*]Many Epics (now ancillary power pools) have power changes and addition of another power to choose from. Many have 5 powers to pick from instead of 4. Most 'epics' for controllers were reduced in damage from i4. Eg. Ice Epic Ice Storm no longer had blaster damage associated with it, even with containment bonus Controller APP Ice Storm no longer does as much damage as the Blaster version[*]There is a second build (available at the trainer) to allow you to rebuild your toon without unslotting or losing your current build. You can swap between builds A and B just by visiting the trainer. This allows you to have things like: you current build now and your new spec, or single target build and an AoE build, or PvE build and PvP. The builds are from the same power sets, eg. fire and kinetics can't be changed out, but everything else can be different between builds, including your pools, APP, powers, slotting and order, as well as the IOs and set bonuses that they contain.[*]Almost all powers have a maximum number of targets that they affect. Usually you can only draw the aggro of about 20ish attackers, so you can no longer herd zones or entire (large) maps at once.[*]Game now shows numbers. You can see detailed info when you manage your enhancement slotting. As well you can also see your own combat attributes in the powers UI in game.[*]Toggles. Defensive toggles no longer drop during mez. They are only suppressed. Offensive toggles are dropped during mez. This means that Armors and concealment buffs automatically bounce back after being held, slept, etc.[/list]
Oh yeah, and welcome back

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Great list, I like how you mention the positives as well as the negatives. In hindsight I'm sure people will agree that some of the nurfs (21 fire imps) were a step in the right direction, despite the 40+ page thread it generated at the time. ;-)

Don't rely on the sleep portion of blind. Trying to manipulate the mobs into getting it to work is a waste of time and mental energy. Its occasionally nice when it happens, but even then sleeps are routinely broken, especially if you have an army of pets like Illusion does.

Best to go for the usual acc/acc/hold/hold/hold/rech slotting.

My question is, when I bring up FireImps, I know I get three of them, do they expire? or are they there until they die (or I zone)?

They live until you zone or they die. They have an infinate duration.


But my other question is, can I target them somehow (like MM's can their minions) or will I have to click on each one and buff?

You can target them just the same as MM henchmen, buffing them with single target buffs or if you group them around you, buff them with PBAE buffs. Thermals PBAE heal and resist buffs helps keep the imps alive.

post this on the relevant server forum

It always seems like in the U.S they are very quick to cancel a show if it starts underperforming. I suppose its more competitive over there and there is more of a focus on the money and profits. Over here in the U.K shows can go on for ages, especially if they fill a niche market. Although that is the benefit of the BBC I guess? ;-)

Isn't it true, that if it was not for the U.K audience, '24' would never have been even given a chance. I can't even imagine how they even considered axing a show as amazing as 24. These producers should do more to help shows succeed. Having one hand hovering over the plug, anxiously waiting for a show to fail is not helpful.

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the player has little influence on its effectiveness. All you can do is buff shields and try to keep dispersion on everyone.

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*double facepalm*

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I'm sorry you disagree but in my experience it is true. The difference between a really good FF defender and a bad FF defender is very small aslong as they do the bare minimum, maintain buffs. On my FF defender I never felt I could utilize my skills. I know you get repulsion bomb and force bolt but really you can only do so much even with precise knockbacks/knockdowns.

This is why I personally would recommend a /FF controller, because the controller primary allows a good player to have a much bigger impact on a team setting.

Problem is, people set the bar too high for empaths.

Asking the average player, who is not always that great at the game to have an awareness of everyones health for healing, everyones buff bar for buffing whilst maintaining a view of the battle so that they can help out with blasting is just asking for too much. Yes, good players can do this. The average player will struggle to achieve it.

I rarely see people get this critical of say scrappers and blasters. Even if a blaster is using his primary completely ineffectively very few people notice aslong as he is constantly blasting.

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I've always find Mass Hypnosis useful. For example, softening the alpha strike from a mob, give them the Mass Hypnosis/Total Domination combo without worrying about return fire from those you miss with the hold. Also, great for chilling out an ambush or an over-aggro'ed mob or setting up containment for Terrify. On a team without a tank, mind feels even more useful with its aggro free controls to take out the alpha strike.

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This a thousand times. My mass hypnosis has a little over 20 second recharge, you can throw it around all over the place for everything you just described. It is easily one of my favourite powers of the whole set.

As a /storm it is also great for using with thunderclap.

Forcefields is very good, but can also get quite boring as outside of your shielding, forcefield doesn't bring much to the table. Repulsion bomb is about it.

I've never been a fan of cold domination though, I find the shields extremely annoying. Visusally it makes your team very unappealing, bubbles on the otherhand are transparant and easier on the eye.

I have a FF defender and really didn't enjoy it once I reached the 20's. The shields remain good, but the secondary never seemed to do much in terms of damage. The character quickly became quite boring for me, it seems to plateau early and the player has little influence on its effectiveness. All you can do is buff shields and try to keep dispersion on everyone.

Personally I think forcefields is a much better set for controllers, despite the fact the controller version is not as powerful. The controller primary means you have a lot more interesting stuff at your disposal, giving the character much more variety and in my opinion makes it much more enjoyable. People will disagree, but that is just my thoughts.

"Except "healers" are useless, unless your use for them is to pad a mission."

Well what is the definition of "healer"?

Is it an empath with heal aura, heal other, absorb pain and medicine?

Is it anyone with a heal power?

Is it someone who refuses to use any power except their heal?

I'm assuming you mean either the first example of the last example, but even in those examples, a "healer" is never useless to a team. They may underperform compared to a person who takes a more holistic attitude to their character, but that doesn't make them useless.

The best characters always utilize every aspect of their power sets, regardless of archtype or set. Any character which focuses too much on one specific role is going to underperform in this game. Whether they are an empath focusing on healing, or a tanker focusing on defence to the exclusion of all attacks.

Well Bad I agree with you kind of. As a controller I usually end up taking the lead and most of the team normally follow me, not because I have the star but because my control powers lockdown most mobs as an opening move. Especially if I do a blanket sweep of mass hypnosis before beginning. (one of the only AoE controls which wont cause aggro)

Having said that, I much rather have a tank, its less riskier. If something goes wrong and I'm leading, I usually end up eating dirt. If we have a tank who can jump in first, it just makes my job much more safer and much easier. When I'm on teams with a good tank, I always let them lead and don't take point myself.

As for AV's, I only have experience of the low level ones, and they don't usually pose much of a threat.

Well just to quote myself from the other thread:

'The problem is some people are so obsessed with disproving the whole "we need a healer or we'll die" theory, that they have actually gone one step further and tried to prove that healers are not just not needed, but are indeed useless.'

Personally I would try something more like this:

Hero Plan by Mids' Hero Designer 1.401
http://www.cohplanner.com/

[u]Click this DataLink to open the build![u]

Test: Level 48 Magic Controller
Primary Power Set: Mind Control
Secondary Power Set: Force Field
Power Pool: Fitness
Power Pool: Flight
Ancillary Pool: Psionic Mastery

Hero Profile:
Level 1: Levitate -- Acc-I(A), Acc-I(9), Dmg-I(11), Dmg-I(13), Dmg-I(13), RechRdx-I(15)
Level 1: Personal Force Field -- RechRdx-I(A)
Level 2: Dominate -- Acc-I(A), Dmg-I(3), Dmg-I(3), Dmg-I(5), Hold-I(5), RechRdx-I(7)
Level 4: Deflection Shield -- DefBuff-I(A), DefBuff-I(7), DefBuff-I(9)
Level 6: Confuse -- Acc-I(A)
Level 8: Swift -- Run-I(A)
Level 10: Mass Hypnosis -- Acc-I(A), Acc-I(11), Sleep-I(15), RechRdx-I(19), RechRdx-I(19)
Level 12: Hover -- EndRdx-I(A)
Level 14: Fly -- Flight-I(A)
Level 16: Insulation Shield -- DefBuff-I(A), DefBuff-I(17), DefBuff-I(17)
Level 18: Health -- Heal-I(A)
Level 20: Stamina -- EndMod-I(A), EndMod-I(21), EndMod-I(21)
Level 22: Total Domination -- Acc-I(A), Acc-I(23), Hold-I(23), Hold-I(25), RechRdx-I(25), RechRdx-I(27)
Level 24: Dispersion Bubble -- DefBuff-I(A), DefBuff-I(27), DefBuff-I(29)
Level 26: Terrify -- Acc-I(A), Acc-I(29), Dmg-I(31), Dmg-I(31), Dmg-I(31), RechRdx-I(33)
Level 28: Mesmerize -- Acc-I(A), Acc-I(34), Dmg-I(37), Dmg-I(39), Dmg-I(39), RechRdx-I(39)
Level 30: Telekinesis -- EndRdx-I(A), EndRdx-I(40)
Level 32: Mass Confusion -- Acc-I(A), Acc-I(33), RechRdx-I(33), RechRdx-I(34), Conf-I(34), RechRdx-I(40)
Level 35: Repulsion Bomb -- Acc-I(A), Acc-I(36), Dmg-I(36), Dmg-I(36), Dmg-I(37), RechRdx-I(37)
Level 38: Force Bubble -- EndRdx-I(A)
Level 41: Indomitable Will -- RechRdx-I(A)
Level 44: Mind Over Body -- ResDam-I(A)
Level 47: Psionic Tornado -- Acc-I(A)
Level 49: Force Bolt -- Acc-I(A)
------------
Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Sprint -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Rest -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Containment

I've left the 41+ slots and powers for your discretion. This build will give you great control, great support and good damage. If I was to make a Mind/FF, this would be how I would do it.

Well your post is very confusing for me.

You mention you enjoyed being a Mind Control/FF controller, a character I might add that would specialise in supreme control and player buffs. Yet you then go on to say you feel useless because you do zero damage and mass hypnosis, total domination and telekinesis do no damage? The whole point of those powers is not to do damage, they have far greater utility. Surely you don't expect controllers to have heavy AoE in their AoE controls?

Lets just get one thing clear, a Mind/FF controller is never going to be about bringing large amounts of damage to a team. Just because groups like to storm through packs of mobs, doesn't mean you should discount your ability to shield your allies and lockdown the mobs. Mass hypnosis is far from useless in this setting, but that is a whole different arguement.

Now personally I slot my single target attacks for damage and use my AE attacks for control, but I tend to solo 90% of the time and only team occasionally. However I've never found myself lacking in control on any team I've been on.

As for slotting and powers:
Confuse: Doesn't need that many slots in my experience, you only really need an accuarcy or perhaps 2 at the most.
Mass Hypnosis: I would swap the range for a sleep
Total Domination: go for Acc/Acc/Hold/Hold/Rech/Rech
Terrify: That is good for damage, but if you want control get to recharges in there atleast
Mass Confusion: Personally I think 3 Acc is overkill.


I don't have much knowledge on the rest, but you should really try and include repulsion bomb.

Actually I just saw, you are missing deflection and insulation shield. What are you thinking!

The problem is some people are so obsessed with disproving the whole "we need a healer or we'll die" theory, that they have actually gone one step further and tried to prove that healers are not just not needed, but are indeed useless.

Now I've teamed with lots of teams, some with healers and some without healers. So I have quite some experience on both sides.

My experience?

Having a healer is what I consider "easy mode" or the "safe option." An averagely played healer, such as an empath will quite easily keep a team alive providing there is some other form of support to back them up. So if you suspect the team may actually not be all that good, a healer might be able to keep the team moving. Also, healing is quite straight forward, it is a concept people will understand even if they are new to CoX. Again this reinforces the belief of it being a safe option.

However healers can only do so much and don't usually speed up the team's ability to kill faster. I'm sorry for any healers who read this, but I have rarely been on a team that has had healers and has still overperformed. If I had to grade the team, healer teams usually sit at 3/5 or 4/5. They are never the best, but they also rarely outright suck.


Now for teams without healers, there is a much bigger variety of performance. I was on an 8 man Manticore TF yesterday with 2 Trick Arrow defenders and myself a Mind/Storm controller (without 02 boost) and we blazed through the TF in just over 2 hours despite not having a healer. We even pulled 4 full groups and still lived as we locked down and debuffed them all to oblivion. Heals? They were not needed, and if they were, everyone has respites that they can utilize. I really enjoyed this TF.

However I have also been on teams that has had no healers, but also had players who are not fully aware of how to best use their powersets. These teams could hypothetically perform VERY well, but unfortunately some players have less knowledge then people expect and the team underperforms horribly. I have been on many teams that have lacked healers and proven to be a total nightmare. Especially if you are a good player and put yourself on the line to make sure the team is victorious, but the end result is that despite the team winning, you are the person who repeatedly eats dirt. Teams without healers generally go from anything from 1/5 to 5/5.

Overall, a team with a healer is safer then a team without a healer and is more likely to perform adequately. A team without a healer could potentially perform much better however it could also potentially perform much worse. It is a bit more of a gamble.

People quite rightly get upset when an ignorant player demands that the team invites a healer. The player in question obviously does not have the knowledge which if possessed, would tell him that healers are not required. However if my experiences are true, then it is quite likely that a bunch of average players would find having a healer less riskier and generally the safer option which is more likely to succeed. From their perspective, you can't blame them for wanting someone who can heal.

In conclusion, teams can do very very well without a healer, but they can also do very very badly. This depends on the quality of the players who are involved. If you are on a team with inexperienced or bad players, a healer might be a safer bet. However if you are teamed with good and experienced players, you could quite happily live without one.

So are healers bad or good? In my opinion they are just another way of allowing the team to succeed. They real reason this whole topic is discussed so heatedly is because of the need of some to try dispell the necessity of healers.

In my experience Vigilance is pretty good, but only if your primary allows people to get hurt. (Say empathy, where you can heal them back up again after)

If you play any kind of primary which prevents damage, such as force fields, Vigilance will rarely get used.

So its not entirely useless, I have had times where I could be running 4 toggles and spamming every attack I have and still not be able to fall below 90% endurance. However overall I agree, it should be changed to something else.

It should be something similar to a Controllers "overpower" ability I think, where buffs, debuffs and heals have a chance to critical for extra effectiveness.

What about "Completist"?

With Peacemoon, I decided to make a character I would stick to and invest all my time in, to the exclusion of all alts. I wanted to experience all the games content on him, a lot which I had done before and some which I hadn't.

This meant doing every mission and taskforce in the level range and getting every contact to maximum reputation. Also aiming to get most of the badges I could.

With the amount of content in the game, it was only possible to do it with XP turned off. So this feature is one of my favourites. I had to turn xp off every 5 levels so that I could complete all the missions before proceeding to the next batch. I think I was level 19 for well over a week while I finished everything off.

Insane? Yes! However I find it very fun. I even got to experience Croatoa for the first time and it was great fun.

More souvenirs then I care to read though, and tons of merits ;-)

I fail to see what roleplayers have to do with the Devs clamping down on farming?

To say wide-spread farming doesn't impact anyone is incorrect and very shortsighted.

Psi resist has to be worse then lethal. Lethal may have a broader variety of mobs who possess resistance, but mobs who are resistant to psi are usually VERY resistant to psi. Sometimes be as much as 50%.

The problem is powers like PSW are left untouched even though everyone who has used it knows it is overpowered. This should have been changed years ago. I support the PSW change, but why has it taken so long? It isn't exactly a new phenomenon.

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My problem with Speed Boost is that the developers have balanced it not around recharge, endurance cost, or power, but around a cost in irritation. The power is literally balanced around the idea that "yeah you can use it to keep a team running, but boy is it annoying!"

I used to develop spells for a different MMO (not that this gives any special weight to my opinion). In that game, we routinely rewrote spells that fell into the "too good to be true but annoying as heck" pile. SB is a perfect example of that kind of power. It's like the game is beating you in the face with the power. It's a combination of it being simultaneously (IMO) overpowered, having a short duration, and a very fast recharge. To NOT use the power is a huge mistake, because it is so effective. But to USE the power is so annoying that you just wish you didn't have the power at all.

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This is a good post, and I agree with it entirely. In my opinion speed boost should be more like fortitude. Perhaps increase its effect a bit more to compensate but then as a Kin you wouldn't be under constant pressure to cast, cast and recast. Same for increased density.

Thanks guys for the replies, it is an interesting discussion. Although some people have suggested just out right kicking people, I rarely would ever do that. The only time is when someone has only just recently joined a team and made a very big and bad impression.

I will probably start with a PM in future and take it from there depending on their reaction. A good leader has a duty to weed out these people, but not at the cost of a good time. Knowing when to rock the boat and when not to is a skill in itself. Unfortunately my comment on Team did create an atmosphere in last nights TF, so it was a bit silly but hey, I was annoyed and wasn't in the best of moods anyway. ;-)