Redlynne

Ninja Run was beautifully done ... for players.
Would it be possible to extend the beauty of Ninja Run (animations, sounds, etc.) to Genin, Jounin and Oni(?) pets of Ninja Masterminds? Be nice to hear that "whooshing" noise all the time instead of the clattering clomp of all those combat-booted feet.

My forumulation is that the Intangibility effect is timed to be less than the Activation time by a small amount. That means that the Intangibility effect duration *expires* before being automagically reapplied 0.1 seconds after it wears off. Thus, you never wind up with a situation where you're trying to apply an Intangible effect onto a target that is already Intangible.

It's also why the formulation for PvP is set up the way it is ... since it gives you an 8 second duration of applied effect before self suppressing for 15 seconds, which then, again, results in a "does not apply while already in effect" result.

Like I said, this means that intermittently there will be a (0.1 second) window of opportunity for PvE Foes caught in a Dimension Shift to successfully attack out of it during the 30 seconds in which your Intangibility can "stick" to the targets ... but the odds of any attacks from inside the effect being successful are pretty darn slim (0.1 seconds is 2.5% of 4 seconds).

Immobilize + Stun = Hold
If you're going to throw down a Stun along with the Immobilize, stop beating around the bush and just make the combination a Hold power instead of an Immobilize + Stun. The only "reason(s)" to go Immobilize + Stun are (a) Cottage Rule, and (b) so that the durations/magnitude on the Immobilize and Stun can be different from each other.

As for mitigating a re-alpha from mobs coming out of a Dimension Shift, it ought to be easy enough to code a -75% Damage Debuff onto the power which last 4 seconds longer than the duration of the Intangibility effect. That way the re-alpha "is allowed" but winds up "wasting" most of the power of the attack(s) during those 4 seconds after rematerializing in OUR dimension. Re-alpha mitigation ... solved.

If Castle were to recode Dimension Shift as a Toggle ... I'm thinking it would look something like this.
Note that such a change would NOT require *breaking* the Cottage Rule ... while at the same time GREATLY enhancing Player control over the power.



Dimension Shift

Level: 12
Type: Toggle
PvE damage scale: 0.000000
Accuracy:1
Modes required:
Modes disallowed: Disable_All
Range:60 feet
Activate period: 4 seconds
Interrupt time: -
Cast time: 1.17 seconds
Recharge time: 90 seconds
Endurance cost: 1.73
Attack types:
Effect area: Sphere
Radius: 25 feet
Arc: -
Max targets hit: 16
Entities affected: Foe
Entities autohit: Foe
Target: Foe
Target visibility: Line of Sight
Nofity Mobs: Always

• +3 Intangible, Unknown for 3.9s PvE only
• ThreatLevel -1 for 4.1s PvE only
  Effect does not stack from same caster
• +6 Immobilize for 4.1s PvE only
  Effect does not stack from same caster
• Grant "Temporary_Powers.Temporary_Powers.NoPhase" (-) [Ignores Enhancements & Buffs]
• +3 Intangible, Unknown for 8s If target is a player
  Suppressed when Phased1, for 15 seconds (WhenInactive)
• ThreatLevel -1 for 8s If target is a player
  Suppressed when Phased1, for 15 seconds (WhenInactive)
• +6 Immobilize for 8s If target is a player
  Suppressed when Phased1, for 15 seconds (WhenInactive)

Encourage BAB to (re)use a more "visible" animation to indicate which Mob(s) have been affected by the power, to reduce player confusion when Dimension Shift gets used, and we'll have a winner. Just need to be willing to accept that for 0.1s every 4s ... Foes "trapped" inside the Dimension Shift can successfully attack out of it.

The Grant Temporary Power property is what causes Phase Self effects to last no longer than 30 seconds before self suppressing for 60 seconds in already existing powers. Applying it here means that Dimension Shift will have an upper limit of 30 seconds to Phase Others before the toggle suppresses itself (if left turned on).

If Castle were to recode Dimension Shift as a Toggle ... I'm thinking it would look something like this.
Note that such a change would NOT require *breaking* the Cottage Rule ... while at the same time GREATLY enhancing Player control over the power.



Dimension Shift

Level: 12
Type: Toggle
PvE damage scale: 0.000000
Accuracy:1
Modes required:
Modes disallowed: Disable_All
Range:60 feet
Activate period: 4 seconds
Interrupt time: -
Cast time: 1.17 seconds
Recharge time: 90 seconds
Endurance cost: 1.73
Attack types:
Effect area: Sphere
Radius: 25 feet
Arc: -
Max targets hit: 16
Entities affected: Foe
Entities autohit: Foe
Target: Foe
Target visibility: Line of Sight
Nofity Mobs: Always

• +3 Intangible, Unknown for 3.9s PvE only
• ThreatLevel -1 for 4.1s PvE only
  Effect does not stack from same caster
• +6 Immobilize for 4.1s PvE only
  Effect does not stack from same caster
• Grant "Temporary_Powers.Temporary_Powers.NoPhase" (-) [Ignores Enhancements & Buffs]
• +3 Intangible, Unknown for 8s If target is a player
  Suppressed when Phased1, for 15 seconds (WhenInactive)
• ThreatLevel -1 for 8s If target is a player
  Suppressed when Phased1, for 15 seconds (WhenInactive)
• +6 Immobilize for 8s If target is a player
  Suppressed when Phased1, for 15 seconds (WhenInactive)

Encourage BAB to (re)use a more "visible" animation to indicate which Mob(s) have been affected by the power, to reduce player confusion when Dimension Shift gets used, and we'll have a winner. Just need to be willing to accept that for 0.1s every 4s ... Foes "trapped" inside the Dimension Shift can successfully attack out of it.

The Grant Temporary Power property is what causes Phase Self effects to last no longer than 30 seconds before self suppressing for 60 seconds in already existing powers. Applying it here means that Dimension Shift will have an upper limit of 30 seconds to Phase Others before the toggle suppresses itself (if left turned on).

Ninja/Trick Arrow MM: Ku no Ichi (of the Ku Clan)
Oni: San
Jounin: Shi, Itsutsu
Genin: Roku, Nana, Hachi

For those who don't speak Japanese, the above, when translated into english are:

Ninja/Trick Arrow MM: 1 of 9
Oni: 3
Jounin: 4, 5
Genin: 6, 7, 8

If you do know Japanese however, you'll be able to spot additional layers of puns that don't translate all that well ... including the fact that "kunoichi" is the word for "female ninja" (for starters).

Actually, the Dimension Shift power COULD be converted into a Toggle ... but you'd need to live with a consequence of the power being an "intermittent" Phase power.

Activation: 5s
Intangible: 4.9s
Immobilize: 10s

If you do something like that, every 5 seconds there'd be a 0.1 second window of opportunity during which affected targets would be able to "attack out" of the Dimension Shift. Most of the time however, their attacks would fail. The Immobilize effect would double stack on itself so that when the toggle drops, affected targets couldn't immediately move. The Intangible effect would thus expire a fraction of a second before it gets reapplied.

Took me a while to figure out you'd used Bottles for your chandeliers. Nicely done.

Actually, the answer to the attack a phased target problem has already been solved ... by Hamidon. Hamidon attacks go right through Phasing these days, so the underlying tech to resolve the problem already exists.

The question is ... which power to apply the effect to?

My vote is on Gravity Distortion (the ST Hold). All that would need to happen is for Gravity Distortion to have a property added to it which adds +10000% Resistance to Intangibility for 1 seconds [Unresistable] to Target along with whatever allows a specific effect to "pierce" Intangibility (see Hamidon attacks). That makes the Intangibility effect expire its duration in under 1 second, no matter how large the MAG is ... rendering the Target vulnerable to attacks again.

Only downside to that is that there are other Intangibility effects in the game (Fake Nemesis person force fields for instance) that would also be "pierced" by this ... not to mention what it would make possible in PvP if not moderated somehow.

On my MA/SR, I specced into Focus Chi for a while (I'd levelled up without it) ... never got in the habit of using it, since I was always saving it for a "rainy day" against something nasty ... and simply found the power sitting unused in my tray all the time, not doing anything for me. No fault of the power, it's just that my playstyle didn't adapt to using it.

So I respec-ed out of Focus Chi and picked up Warrior's Challenge instead ... which I *do* use a lot, since the recharge time is short and there's hardly a downside to using it (aside from a slight loss of DPS). I'm much happier with the scrapper taunt than the build up power ... simply because of my scranktroller playstyle I use with NO GET HITSU.

AE really was totally overblown (a building in EVERY ZONE?!? really??) so as to give it maximum visibility. Then when people found they could exploit farming inside of AE, the city zones emptied and everyone went to the "favorite" AE building ... while all the other buildings were left as vacant as the arenas (still) are.

AE should basically only be present in 4 hero accessible zones (King's Row, Independence Port, Peregrine Island and Pocket D) along with 4 villain accessible zones (Port Oakes, Sharkhead, Grandville and Pocket D). All of the other AE buildings ... especially the ones in Atlas Park and the Rikti War Zone ought to be condemned. Especially the one in Faultline.

Frickin' Faultline has an AE building in it?!?

Simple.
Everybody gets their own SG and you coalition them all together.

Everyone gets their own salvage racks.
Everyone gets their own invention tables.

Only problem is, you'll be limited to only 10 SGs in your coalition (each).
Still, everybody gets their own personal base ... and if they want more stuff in it, they just need to play more ...

One of the aspects that I really liked about the Banner Event for Halloween was how you didn't get a map marker telling you exactly where the final boss was. Instead, you got a "Range to Target" counter which gave you a general sense of where to go.

I'd love to see something similar to that implemented for mission doors too.

Essentially, what the interface would be like is that when you're beyond 300 ft from the mission door, you don't see a marker on your map indicating precisely where it is. Instead, you get a "Range to Mission Door" counter in your map compass, just like you did with the Banner Event. Only once you're within 300 ft of the mission door do you get a precise fix (like we currently have now) complete with map marker and a pointer on screen indicating exact distance and direction.

This would turn the task of "Finding the Mission Door!" into a bit of a mini-game scavenger hunt operation, rather than just a mere "travelling" task.

Now ... why would *anyone* want to go to the extra effort of having to FIND mission doors like that, if you don't (and never have) need to? Because it could be made OPTIONAL (see in-game character options menus) and give a small mission reward if chosen.

These sorts of mission door pointers are only relevant in three circumstances (currently) ... find a door to enter an instanced mission ... find the public police phone to complete a "patrol" objective for a pizza run mission that has you cruising the streets ... or go hit up a contact to talk to them in person as a mission objective. Any and all of these three things could get the Banner Event "mini-game" treatment, where you don't get a precise fix on the location to go to until you're "in the neighborhood" of where you need to get to.

Note that this means that "Gain a New Contact" could similarly be converted to take advantage of this mini-game ... such that new contacts are not simply "given" to you, they're granted as a result of a "mission" to simply go talk to them (for the first time), similar to the "Go Talk to Wincott" mission you're given for your first trip out to The Hollows.

So first, there'd be an enable/disable option for the Precise Locations of Missions in your options menus. Then there'd be a slider bar to choose how CLOSE you need to get before getting a precise fix on your destination. The slider bar would go from 50 ft up to 300 ft in 50 ft increments. The range on the slider bar would then determine the size of the bonus to Mission Complete rewards of Influence, Prestige and Experience.
50 ft = +10%
100 ft = +9%
150 ft = +8%
200 ft = +7%
250 ft = +6%
300 ft = +5%

The mission holder's settings determines the Precise Locations of Missions settings (enable/disable, range and complete bonus) for the entire team. While a team task is selected, the Precise Locations of Missions settings is "locked" ... meaning that this setting can only be adjusted when there is no team task (ie. mission) currently selected. Having no team task currently selected often happens automatically after returning (or cell phoning) a mission complete in to your contact.

I feel that this sort of addition would add a greater sense of enjoyment and realism into the CoX playing experience, because among other things it would encourage players to gain (more) familiarity with the local environments so as to recognize (more easily) landmarks and other features of the game ... rather than just doing the sort of GPS "A to B" movement plotting we so often engage in now, where the environment is merely scenery to get beyond ... and obstacle to be bypassed, on the way to the mission door (which we know the exact location of so long as we're in the zone).

As you can probably imagine, using the war walls as "shortcuts" for a contiguous route is fairly simple.

Now try doing it as a "cross country" run where you're using rooftops, power lines, fences, parked cars, traffic lights(!) ...

I've built a keybind that rather than using /reloadgfx instead uses /unloadgfx. The same keybind also resets my camera and then moves my camera position 30 ft back behind my character (so I can see stuff around me for PBAoEs and selecttargetnearest$$follow commands) all in one go.

Ah yes ... reading without comprehension or context.
That's why we call them n00bs.

Having a Ninja/TA (yes, you may laugh uproariously now) I can definitely say that Ninjas are almost totally defense-less against incoming damage. Their native self-protection does not even approach wet kleenex level. This means that your best tactics for employing them do not revolve around stand-up, drag-out fights where your ninjas go toe to toe with whatever it is you're up against. Essentially, what I've found myself doing, simply in order to keep my Ninjas alive so I don't have to keep constantly resummoning them all the time, is to change tactics from a "rush in and kill them where they stand" kind of scrapperlock bulldozer playstyle over to more of a "divide and conquer" type of playstyle leveraging Flash Arrow and Teleport Foe abductions. It's slower soloing, but it's also very reliable, and lets me chop up enemy groups into smaller chunks where I can maintain a permanent advantage of numbers (lots of numbers, few enemies being murdered) so as to take apart almost all of my foes sequentially, rather than in parallel.

Ironically then, Ninjas "work best" when they can gang up on isolated targets (I call it "feed 'em to the Ninjas!") rather than operating as a(n uncoordinated) group of blappers+stalkers with a fire controller backing them up. Then again, this would be the case with ANY Pet-centric archetype, so that's not exactly high praise.

Ninjas really are ADHD children who forgot to put the pillows in their pajamas armor.
They do great single target damage ... but you almost have to be Ninjas/FF in order for them to live long enough to make use of that damage in mass combat.

And against AVs? They're not even kleenex.
ACHOO!
Dead.

I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that Propel would be a better power if it was converted into a Snipe attack.

Think about it.
The animation is *already* almost as long as a snipe attack.

Propel
Cast Time: 3.5 seconds
Recharge: 8 seconds
Range: 60 ft
Endurance: 9.36
Damage: 1.96 multiplier

Snipe (Defenders and Blasters)
Cast Time: 4.33 seconds (3 second Interrupt)
Recharge: 12 seconds
Range: 150 ft
Endurance: 14.352
Damage: 2.76 multiplier

Such a *simple* change would make Propel a FAR more useful power. And it's not like you'd need to remove IO sets from it by making such a change, since Castle would only need to permit Propel to accept Sniper Sets in addition to the ones it already takes.

S imple.
E asy.
E ffective.

Not even being contemplated.

Oh I'm grateful to Arcanaville ... don't get me wrong.
Doesn't mean the +Acc bonuses handed out like "free candy" on half the IO sets in the game isn't overdoing it, especially when most of them are like +9% a pop.

Here's the thing ... from someone who's not addicted to Hasten.

I can build attack chains that "work" just fine, with minimal downtime, without Hasten. Furthermore, there's a synergistic effect in which because I don't have Hasten, I'm not burning through my blue bar in quite the same way I would if I did have Hasten. That means, net effect, my combat power feels more sustainable over the long(er) haul, which is an important consideration (for me).

I'm not working off a parameter that says "use THIS power as often as possible!"
Instead I'm working off a parameter which says "use this power as often as is practical" ... which you'll have to agree is a very different metric for success.
Furthermore, my decisions are based around having a power available for use "often enough" that I can work it into my regular attack chain, without letting it sit there, fully recharged, waiting for me to use it simply because I'm too busy animating all sorts of other things.

Basically, I find ways to synchronize the animation times of my attack powers such that I don't * NEED * to have Hasten. And because I plan my builds and my playstyle that way, the addition of Hasten to any of my builds would actually have a far lesser impact than you might think. That's because animation times are one of the irreduceable factors in the game. So just like there's a concept of "Over Healing" above and beyond what is "necessary" in a given situation, producing "wasted healing" ... I also believe that there's such a thing as "Over Recharging" above and beyond what is "necessary" as a matter of routine, producing "wasted recharge" which doesn't really benefit your character's throughput as well as the numbers on paper would lead you to believe.

So no ... I've learned to live without Hasten ... and I do not feel the poorer for it.
I stand by my earlier statement.

Speaking as a MA/SR scrapper ... the absurdities of accuracy set bonuses (and how high they can stack up) always felt like the devs were saying (to the DEFensive powersets), "awww, your entire primary/secondary is still managing to protect you somehow? here let us FIX THAT so it's completely worthless all the time (in PvP) by default."

How many player powers have Defense Debuff on them? About * 50 * of them.
How many player powers have Resist Debuff on them? About a dozen?
How many player powers have Regeneration Debuff on them? Do I even need a second hand of fingers to count that high?

Which protection scheme collapses most catastrophically from cascade failure brought about by Buffs and Debuffs? DEFense.
Which protection scheme intrinsically resists the very Debuffs meant to Debuff it? Resistance.

"Hey ... there isn't enough +Accuracy sloshing around in the system yet! Let's add more on, like ... half the IO sets we're gonna put in the game! And let's make the bonus really HUGE! Like, 3 to 5 times as huge as any of the global mezz duration bonuses or resistances or the defense bonuses or resist bonuses or ... well ... anything except RECHARGE! Yeah, that'll be popular!"

</threadjack>

Personally speaking, I've refused to use Hasten in any of my character builds ... and never been the poorer for it.