Ravenswing

I have TP on my two Scrapper magicians, one slotted for range. I ran out of end (almost, had to pause) when I got the Vazy Plague mission. They are also both Regen, so that does help. It's fast, flexible, and it gets me off those damn caltrops.

It suddenly hit me yesterday that we the travel powers each require a different amount of skill to use. Flight requires more or less none. SS needs a bit, and an encyclopedic knowledge of the road system to get around the vertical component. SJ actually needs a fair amount to use efficiently, and part of that is knowing when to stop holding the jump button down. TP requires the most, especially when navigating somewhere like Steel Canyon.

Now what would be good is if they could add some mechanism to allow more natural supers to make use of the travel powers without fudging it. The most obvious idea would be a summoned motorcycle. Basically SS with a variant animation. Logically, it should lose the Stealth component so it would need something to replace that, perhaps a +Res. Equally, if we could have something as simple as a flight animation where you grow a jetpack, that would solve that problem.

Sadly, I doubt it'll happen. It's really a roleplay thing and historically those have been neglected in CoX.

Yeah, it would probably be awesome... but it's never going to happen, is it?

About the best I could imagine you getting is a model viewer like the one WoW has, and even then I doubt it considering that they had to deny us access to the offline character creator due to that wonderful Marvel lawsuit resolution.

Leipzig really cool Thomas Dolby song.

Leipzig is calling...

Once upon a time, a long time ago I attempted to run a plot with a load of investigation in it. Sadly, a lot of grandstanding resulted in adding to the reasons I quit the game, but I'm a sucker for punishment and some people really liked it so...

Would people be interested in me running a plot which would involve some set piece scenes played out in game, maybe some 'hijacked' missions so we could beat up real bad guys, and a lot of investigative work which would be handled through the forums and PMs?

It's really suited for characters with a detective or investigative bent, not uber-godlike beings from beyond space and time. (And this time I'm going to crack down on the grandstanding so people like that can actually have some fun rather than watching someone take over the missions )

Time required would be a few hours on a string of evenings spread over a few weeks, and some time to think about what your characters will be doing to investigate the 'crimes,' or whatever it is I'm going to have happen.

The primary opening of this will likely happen at GG, but non-GGers are welcome to take part, so long as they can cope with being around the GG crowd. I can arrange for non-GGers to be contacted to be pulled into the plot if going near GG makes your virtual skin crawl.

I would probably be aiming to kick this off next week, but exact timing is subject to interest and availability.

What do people think?

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Real sci fi, the truly great Sci if, follows this rule.

the idea is the hero

the setting, the trappings, the era, all irrelevant. the idea is what's important. this tends to propose a setting of the contemporary with a twist, that one thing that is different. but it is not necessary.

everything else like it is science fantasy, or low fantasy, high fantasy (not counting straighter fiction of course) i would say in many ways super heroes are high fantasy.

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I'd agree with that - pure sci-fi used to be written by actual scientists like Asimov, or at least those with a heavy scientific bias like Clarke - now it's written by authors instead - and I'm happy with that, because I'd rather have a well-written story than a hypothesis masquerading as a story

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Sci-fi used to have two distinct paths, and it probably still does, though I think less so.

What you're talking about is hard sci-fi: based upon extrapolation (sometimes rather badly extrapolated) current science. This is what we mostly see as sci-fi these days.

Then there was space opera, typified best (perhaps) by the works of E.E. 'Doc' Smith. His Lensman and Skylark books are absolutely classic works of science fiction, but the 'science' in them is so far out there that it's untrue. People nowadays consider this fantasy, because they have to pigeon-hole things and modern sci-fi doesn't include the weird stuff you get in space opera. (Star Wars takes the plot of a fantasy tale and implements it in Space Opera format. It is 'a fantasy' but it isn't 'fantasy.' )

Sadly, hard sci-fi rules out a good percentage of what people like in the way of all those good things we expect to see in sci-fi. To produce really grand sci-fi, you have to bend the laws of physics to breaking point. Teleportation: magic (Heisenburg Compensator anyone?). FTL: probably magic. FTL communication: probably magic. Charged Particle weapons: don't work in an atmosphere worth a damn. Artificial Gravity: theoretically possible, if you destroy a black hole to power it for a second or two. Even Invisible Lasers of Death, aren't. Anything that powerful ionises the air leaving a visible trail. Plasma Guns: nope.

And hard sci-fi has given us some of the funniest bits of fiction going from a current standpoint. There's a well known piece of artwork of a space pirate boarding a ship up a landing ladder, his slide-rule clutched in his teeth. Computers have always been underestimated (partially because what's the point in a starship crew when everything can be done by the ship's AI?), a classic case in point being Star Trek, where the computers are little more than adding machines (thought you can actually land a space shuttle using a Hewlett Packard pocket calculator ).

Oddly, the realisation that compters could be more has often come from non-scientists. Anne MacCaffrey, The Ship Who Sang, and William Gibson's Neuromancer. Modern conception of 'cyberspace' stems almost entirely from Gibson's work, and the guy knew absolutely nothing about computers when he wrote the book. Now Neuromancer-style visual interfaces crop up everywhere, the best example I can think of being in Ghost in the Shell: Standalone Complex. (IIRC, Gibson didn't invent 'jacking in' in the literal sense, that was someone else, though Gibson did use embedded interface jacks in other stories. I think Johnny Mnemonic uses one, though I haven't rid the story in a long while and it varies somewhat from the film.)


Um, anyway, what would I change:

I want to be able to walk.

I'd like to be able to see my weapons (sheathed) when I'm not in combat mode (optionally would be excellent, since I sometimes have civvie clothes and the clipping on coats and cloaks might be an issue).

In fact, I'd like for a lot more thought to be put into the roleplay aspects of this game. It's one of the poorest MMOs for roleplay.

From a pure roleplay perspective, I'd love to see 'free exchange' of characters between PC and RI. Sadly, given the way players are, this would simply result in a lot of ganking, and it would require a massive overhaul of the game, so I don't think it's ever going to happen. Given that one of the key attractions of CoH when it first came out was that there was no PvP (and a lot of people were sick of it in the existing MMOs), you have to expect that many would leave the game if it were made world-wide. I don't expect to be here for a huge period anyway, but I do think world PvP would totally change the atmosphere of the game; not for the better.

Yes, revamp the CoH missions, though (frankly) I don't find the CoV missions 'more compelling', just 'more railroaded.' Stopping the "and now I'm going to give you a mission door in Atlas PArk... yes, I know this is PI, you have travel powers, don't you?" missions would be a darn good start.

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No. By Mob, I mean "a spawn of enemies" not "a singular enemy".

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So, it's AoE and we need to talk Spines. I know the spines set like the back of someone I never met's hand...

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Edit: And I don't need to re-do my enhancement thanks, with 98% dam and 60% odd acc/end/rech with 40% global rech and Focused Acc my DPS is just fine. The only way to up my damage would be to slot for +Damage Bonus' or get Assault.

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Thanks for the information. Now, which sets are you comparing? Is damage really your only basis for comparison?


I do just prefer Scrappers. I tried a Brute at some point and just found it a bit weedy. It's kind of odd, really, since I play my main Scrappers the way you'd need to play a Brute. Hey ho.

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Well at 50, I can almost two shot a +1/2 mob on my Brute when I've got everything rolling nicely, which really only takes a mob or two, and she'll become far more effective when I get round to getting some IO's in there.

My Scrapper, however, is lucky to two shot a +2 Minion without a Crit, I'd need some more +Dam from IO Bonus' for that.

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You need to redo your enhancements. Crow could two-shot a +2 minion, but usually doesn't because I use DA a lot which is low damage. That said, I reliably three-shot targets, and what you're saying is that you do the same.

Now, add in the fact that katana is not a high damage set. It has moderately fast, moderately damaging attacks. If I used broadsword, I'd be putting out more damage per individual attack, and then I'd be two-shotting targets.

You can't compare two classes based on an ability you don't have on one (but are close to) and don't have on another. You haven't considered the greater picture and the variations different powersets bring to the equation.

Another example: I slot my kat attacks with one +acc, 3 +dam, because kat has an inherent 5% accuracy boost, and I have Focussed Accuracy. My DM Scrapper is never going to have the same damage output because I slot 2 each +acc and +dam. He's never getting FA. That's okay, because he still gets the job done

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Oo, sounds interesting. I may have found my next alt.

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I forgot to mention, DB/WP also adds Brute-like tendancies because with 'Rise to the Challenge' (aggro toggle that gives +Regen for each enemy in range) you have an additional Brute-like incentive to wade into the middle of a group of mobs.

Beware of crying out, "No worries, my regen is awesome!" and Spartarring into a large mob and face planting in front of your team, much to their amusement.

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(Quoted for continuity only.)

I made myself a DB/WP Scrapper. Thus far, she's awesome, but she hasn't got to level 10 (quite) yet. She's a walking blender! I'm actually considering retooling one of my old RP toons to use WP since it may actually fit his concept slightly better.

As for the 'awesome regen rate' thing... I doubt I'd ever think my regen was better than that on my regen Scrapper, so I don't see that as an issue. Not that that would stop me piling into a mob group and getting planted. Scrappers do that every so often.

I'd happily bring Enherreza out to play, she's funny. She makes a much better Stalker than she ever did a Scrapper. And she gets asked to hunt stuff, it's all she ever wanted.

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It's WHEN shields go live, most assuredly.

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I say 'if' purely because Shields have been 'coming soon' for such a very, very long time and were, at one point, totally rejected as causing far too many animation problems.

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My point, though, just to clarify, was that you said players would have a choice about trawling through the sewers, or going straight to the mission from the sewer entrance - when I click on the sewer entrance, how is the game engine meant to know which one I want to do?

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You would need a selection pop-up, as with trains or Base Teleport.

Of course, this is largely ignorable. I haven't done a Hollows mission since my first character (when I didn't realise you could just ignore them). You could be sent to a contact just inside or outside a sewer entrance, say hello, and then not bother doing any missions, just like the Hollows. It gives an optional mission path for people who want to team, and soloers could skip it.

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That said I found my Dual Blades/Willpower Scrapper blurring the lines a lot more because DB combos introduce a time-critical factor into fighting in a similar way to Fury - that hunger to leap onto the next critter mid-way through an attack chain so as not to 'waste' the resulting combination which other Scrappers lack by nature.

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Oo, sounds interesting. I may have found my next alt.


Re: WP, yeah, I missed that +Def on Hightened Senses. Okay, WP really is just a really weird set. Must try it.

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WP doesn't have a self heal and it is both resistance / typed defence based (plus regeneration ofc).

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I looked it up. The Stalker version has a Reconstruction. Indomitable Will gives you some +Def (psi). Aside from that, it seems to be more or less a resistance set with some bits of Regen glued in. That should, indeed, make a very good combination. Lots of toggles, I'd imagine endurance management is a pain in the early levels.

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Personally, I find my regen is more or less fire-and-forget.

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*shrug* Yeah, still. As I said above, I find IR isn't terribly reaction-based. I usually hit it just before a fight if I think I'll run into trouble. You may be right, though, maybe WP is the new "easy mode Scrapper" defense set.

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Scrappers don't cap at 60%...

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Sorry, 75%. I'd still prefer a higher level, but at least it's good for taking alphas. Big alpha strike were always the bane of regen.

(For some reason, I can't spell 'alpha' today without doing it three times. )

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Defenders - Can be useful for scraping the less capable scrappers

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You know this is wrong, don't you? Any self-respecting Scrapper views a Defender as nothing less than a font of glorious buffage. I spent a few ours once being followed around by two Empaths with a full stack of survival and damge buffs. Was sweet (and I think that was back when IR was a toggle): double Instant Regen, healing off the scale, never run out of endurance, one-shotting things left, right, and centre.

Of course, Defenders must never, ever, ever be allowed to attack anything, they might draw aggro and get killed and then you have to wait for them to come back and...

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I'll take Willpower over Regen thanks, Regen felt like playing a scrapper and my own personal empath, Willpower is very much fire-and-forget.

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Willpower didn't exist a year ago so I have no experience. Maybe I should make one. I vaguely looked at the set and thought it looked interesting.

Personally, I find my regen is more or less fire-and-forget. Turn on Integration and take stuff out. They seem to have made MoG far more useable (no massive health loss and lack of healing). IR is usually for use going into a fight, so that's just something to turn on. WP has a self-heal (IIRC), Regen has two. I think my issue with WP is that it's resistance based (again, IIRC) and Scrappers have a 60% cap on resistances. I'd have to see how it played out in reality, of course.

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It isnt compatible with shields, but has a defensive capability with the ricochet power to compensate for it, maybe the powerset itself has a + defense against melee.

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The problem would be more that the current powerset selection mechanism doesn't lock out some secondaries based on your choice of primary. However, Shields won't work with Dual-blades, so they will have to add that mechanism in if/when Shields goes live.

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Unlike brutes, scrappers can rest between mobs without affecting their perfomance. However, this rarely happens due to scrapperlock.

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And, if you're a regen Scrapper, it isn't necessary.


My main Scrapper was always designed to be a Stalker, not a Brute. I think Tanks aspire to be Brutes, to be honest. A kat/regen Scrapper has stupidly high survivability (at least, they did a year ago the last time I analysed it), better than most, if not all, Brutes, along with respectable damage output. Broadsword/Regen should technically have slightly better damage output with more or less equal survival. A Brute with a regen secondary would be utterly awesome, but it's not going to happen, it would be way over powered.

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Anyway, big server upgrades need big money and the CoX players rejected any more paid-for expansions to the game. "We pay our subscriptions and we don't want to pay for anything more," we said (apparently). Well, we get to live with that choice.

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We did?
I don't recall saying that myself
I quite liked the wedding pack and would not mind paying a little extra for more costume options.

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About a year after CoV came out, the prospect of a third game/second expansion (however you see it) was put forward by NCSoft and Cryptic. This resulted in a flurry of rather acid threads on the US fora and a lesser quantity on the EU stating that expansions should be free and paid for by subscriptions. The new expansion never happened.

I like the idea of the Wedding Pack as well and would love to see more things like that. However, they are not going to generate the same spike of revenue that adding in an 'optional' expansion which everyone just has to have really would do.

So, we are 'stuck' with a slightly slower rate of progress and no sudden leaps forward. Not entirely a bad thing and we do get progress. I took about a year off and I pop back in and find loads of things to do on my level 50 as well as new stuff to do with lower level alts.

Paragon Wiki is not written by NCSoft, to my knowledge, and can be wrong. He certainly was classified as an Incarnate/Mastermind at one point, but I think some ideas of what an Incarnate is have shifted over time. I don't believe the signature characters really have a proper AT. They can do what they can do, and that's it.

The whole point of the 'epic' archetypes is that they give you a bucket of powers, but you have to make choices and the resulting characters are 'more difficult to play' than a standard AT. I always hated the term 'epic' and preferred 'advanced'. There's not supposed to be anything epic about a Peacebringer or a Warshade, the classes were introduced to offer a challenge to someone who had already got an AT to 50.

So, the challenge of playing a blaster-based creature is the same as playing a blaster. You're a glass cannon. Don't expect the game to make up for your lack of tactics. PB/WS are team creatures: get a Defender to put some Mez resistance on you.

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who said all stalkers were ninjas?

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I didn't. It's the only example I ever read of assassination by polearm, that's all. Hard to hide a polearm to sneak up on people in real-life.

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(and they wouldnt want to miss out on another powerset now would they?)

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I'm sure they wouldn't like to, but it doesn't mean they would get it either. Capricious things, game developers.

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another sword, well, the only sword I think should be allowed in now is a claymore, or we would end up with City of Martial Artists.

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Claymores are basically two-handers, which is basically what Broadsword is meant for.

OTOH, if we state that we aren't going to have more martial arts styles or bladed weapons we are basically saying "no more Scrapper primaries."

Staff fighting has been suggested before, and if you added in a staff to the list of custom forms I'd even like it. I think it even made the official shortlist of possible future sets at one time.

To be honest, I don't think the powers need much explanation since they would follow the basic pattern for all melee weapon sets. If you look at them, they are all about the same with a couple of stylistic differences.

I'd see it more as a Scrapper set than a Stalker one. There's a story of a ninja assassinating someone with a spear having spent a couple of days hiding in a castle privy for this purpose, but aside from that, spears are not, I think, typical weapons of assassination.