Reppu

Possibly, but I did accomplish a stir in the community to actually care about it's performance. It was, sadly, too late. It's not arrogance when it actually happened, I'd say.

Either way, semantics.

I think I'm being entirely fair. I ended up biting my tongue about Beast Mastery because I was told I was wrong. Funny how that ended up not being the case, right? The playerbase as a whole on the forums can be wrong. And many were. I, and a few others, were right; Beast Mastery was a damn mess.

So, let me ask this. You said a dev directly asked you to test Staff Fighting. What were the criteria you were assigned? Humor me, because I want to do a little match up here.

And it was Open Beta. You were not under an NDA so you should be able to tell me.

You'd be surprised at what one voice can accomplish. And even more surprised at what happens when that one voice is told they don't matter, and opt to be silent.

Sorry. You're wrong there. It's not arrogance, not in the least. It's simple fact. If I had stirred up the community sooner, Beast Mastery may have been in better shape. Would have? I can't say for certain. COULD have? Yes, I can say that.

That is why I feel responsible. I WAS too late.

Because it was discovered too late. I didn't get enough hands-on experience with Beast Mastery. Not soon enough. I was sadly busy during the early phases of I22 Beta Testing, and such things were not bothered with.

So, I'm unfortunately partly to blame for Beast Mastery not being detected as soon as it needed to be. And once it reaches the Final Stages... it's just too late.

Staff Fighting had MONTHS. Nobody said ANYTHING. That IS the playerbase failing and only caring about getting the sounds JUST RIGHT.

Refusing to acknowledge the problem because you aren't taking it seriously enough, because 'It's just City of Heroes', is why you, sir, are part of the problem I am stressing.

Good riddance.

... Except it is. Do you think that aesthetics haven't been an issue? Do you have any idea how unsustainable the gaming market is? It must be nice. Regardless, that isn't the prime topic here, I suppose.

Your last statement is a bit of a lie, because we've seen what Closed Beta Testing has done to fix the performance of underperforming sets. We've also seen what happens when a set ISN'T properly tested by the player base (Dual Pistols iirc was a case of this?)

The Open Beta VIP Testing has been abused to be nothing but a sight-seeing, data-diving aesthetics trash-fest. It's OVERWHELMED by people wanting to SEE the shiny, and not make sure it's doing as well as it SHOULD be. That is the issue.

Superficiality is winning, and it should be tied. Go look at the Beast Mastery thread. The Staff Fighting thread.

Beast Mastery had ZERO posts about it's damage, until I stepped in. It had some survivability concerns (because of NInjas being what they are), but nobody cared about it's garbage damage performance.

Staff Fighting is FORTY PAGES of complaining about the sound effects and the weapon models. MAYBE a couple of posts about the performance. MAYBE.

This is ludicrous. This is not testing. This is just "SPOILERS YAY!"

All I'm saying is, in regard to your last part? If aesthetics continue to be the driving concern over marketing in the gaming industry? The bubble will pop. It will not be pretty. This is a fact many, many economists who keep an eye on the industry have been saying WILL happen, and the effects ARE showing.

And this could be a legitimate 'fear' for City of Heroes, if it begins to rely on the Market more and more. Aesthetics are a dangerous thing to rely on. But, is it as fearful as the rest of the gaming industry, primarily the Triple A market? No. But it IS why I have a hatred for superficiality trumping all else. It is why I personally go for performance before aesthetics in my testing. Why?

Because a hundred people are talking about whiffle bat sounds. I'm being drowned out about performance.

Sigh.

The 'standard' should be 'competitive to the best'. That is all it needs to be. A new set should be 'competitive'. It does not have to 'win'. It does not have to 'lose'. It simply needs to be in the race. That is what I want, and what I feel should be strived for in testing. Competitiveness, not Outlier.

It's almost like if you're seen asking for buffs, you obviously want an Overpowered Outlier. Ludicrous.

Also, Staff was tested at 50 with the BEST IOs in the game (IE: PPM Procs off the market).

200 DPS on a Scrapper.

That's pathetic.

Yes, it was the best chain, too. Yes, it was an overly impossibly expensive build. In fact, it's in this thread, even.

There is no 'choice', which is why you argument fails to even stand on it's own two feet. If 'Beta Testers' would stop being lazy, sneak-peak only bumpkins and actually test performance, we wouldn't have to compromise. Do you disagree? I hope you don't.

We honestly need to go back to a Closed Beta Test at this point, where a select few people are intelligently discussing BOTH aesthetics and performance. As it stands? It's largely, since the Open Beta started for VIPs, been aesthetics clamoring.

So, yes. You're being blinded by superficiality because you've made a false perception of 'choice', and also have an opinion of 'it's City of Heroes it's kay if it's aesthetics only.'

No. THAT is killing the gaming market. FAR too many people for FAR too long are 'if it looks good, it gets my money'! Enough is enough. Stop making compromises where they are not needed.

Test both the aesthetics AND the performance. YOU are why compromises are made. Why should I care about aesthetics if you won't care about performance? Care for both and stop making a fake choice.

If you want performance, StJ is the way to go. Especially on a Scrapper. If you want style, well... both honestly ooze with it, so it really comes down to that concept.

Again, pure performance it's StJ hands down for a Scrapper. StJ has a lot of room for growth, while Staff Fighting is as good as it's gonna get out of the box for Scrappers.

It's a shame you can't accept both matter equally. I can only hope this problematic mindset is eliminated one day. Superficiality is far too dominate in the gaming market these days. And part of the reason why the gaming market is also in such shambles.

Enjoy your pointless destruction of that economy.

In Single Target? Definitely. In AoE... honestly, Eye of the Storm is pretty average. It has a wider radius than Spinning Strike, but that's all it has going for it.

Neither one should take priority over the other. Kindly stop supporting this. I'm well aware it's 'your money', but you're part of the problem, and so is everyone else who shares this mentality. I was right on the 'money' (or the lack that I paid for it) on Beast Mastery being bought out for it's aesthetics, and then the unhappiness about it's performance becoming a quick issue.

That was due to people like you being 'satisfied with aesthetics, performance is secondary'. Enough is enough.

I can answer this: TW/Fire is only a bit better than SS/Fire in terms of speed. It's not ENOUGH to warrant the re-leveling, re-trialing, and re-IOing. That is why you do not see it as often. IS there a difference? Very much so! Is it enough to bother with? Not to most people who are comfortable.

You said this...

Using Divine Avalanche isn't worthwhile either. It's a big DPA loss for both sets to use those powers. You know this. It's definitely not worth doing unless you absolutely need that defense.

The same for DS. Same thing.

All in All, Staff has it's versatility, but is that a 'good' thing for what it trades? I don't agree off the bat, truth be told. But time will tell.

... and we all know Stalkers got the better version. Form of the Body PLUS Build Up!

Fair enough. Still, though; would it be popular enough to warrant all that frame work? Definitely not.

And that's justification for this? No. No. A thousand times no.

Keep it to Life of Second Fetishes, people. As much as I liked Krypto, he was still just a poor attempt to appeal to a younger generation.

And I really don't want more four-legged PCs in Pocket D >_>

Yes. As unfortunate as it is, they're never going to nerf Titan Weapons or Street Justice. Our only alternative is to push toward that as, the unfortunate, new balance point. At the very least 'competitive'.

When you have a power creep, the level of 'average' shifts. A set like Katana, which use to be considered Good to Great, fell to Average. This? Is a problem, but you can't fix it easily. Do you nerf Titan Weapons and Street Justice? Do you buff EVERYTHING else?

If Paragon wants to sell sets, with the power creep THEY made, they need to acknowledge that. Staff Fighting, even if it's design was to be average, it fails to keep up with core melee set design. It's not offering a single powerful attack.

A set like Mace is Heavy AoE, with Average ST, and then has Clobber as a 'carry power'. We can compare Staff to this.

Staff has Heavy AoE, Average ST... and then no Clobber. What does it get? Some secondary effects that are kind of 'there'? It's Fire Blast Syndrome. Secondary Effects are rarely worth damage.

So, what do you do? What would YOU do?