Steele_Magnolia

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I must be either sheltered or not in game when these happen.

Has anyone noticed a patern concerning server/time/day?

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Twice last night on Liberty, 2 different accounts, advertising 2 different websites. I ignored/gignored and petitioned.

I heard from others on our server global channel that dozens of other players were also being spammed, this has been ongoing on Liberty for a while and is ramping up in frequency. It sounds like a 'bot program. The usernames are longstrings of randomletters like sdasffeqzrp or likewise.

(PS: That's NOT AN ACTUAL NAME of one of the spammers - I made that one up, I'm not indulging in a EULA violation here.)

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399% graduated with honors? Obviously they don't teach MATH at the university.

It's too bad you have to have an empath with 36 months veteran badge and 50 million influence to be able to afford a single healing set.

It's too bad they couldn't find a healing set for transfusers and twilight graspers with some accuracy in it.

It's basically a slap in the face to non-empath defenders, the whole I9 spiel. Empath, scrapper, tank, that's all the devs want the community to play.

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Bingo, spot on. For my defenders:

My 50 Rad/Rad defender is sticking with her Hami-Os and a few generic IOs for fill-ins.

My 37 Kinetic is going Generic IOs with a few sets (eventually).

So is my 24 Dark.

My 17 Storm actually is playing with Miracle, just for the hell of it since I primarily duo with her. Why not? Five-slotted miracle to say in your face, I'm not an Empath, so what? And three other minor sets. At this level it's cheap to slot. She'll grow into their full power eventually.

And my 36 Empath... the one defender heal set that got the lovin', yup, playing with lots of Miracles. Numinas are just too expensive. Forget it.

The way I see it, My blasters and scrappers will eventually play with IOs. My 45 Tank is having some fun, one set and lots of generics. I'm mostly ad libbing my way through this. Who has time for spreadsheets? I already waste too much time on this.

Isn't this supposed to be a game? I want to PLAY.

(My second post, first was my summary and review of my poll answers)

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One last observation, should have made my first post:

I perceive a difference in drop rate for costume pieces Heroside vs Villainside.

Costume pieces seem to drop Villainside a lot more. And the prices reflect that.

Devs - crunch the numbers and be honest about it.

I voted on all poll questions and am adding a post.

[u]1. What was your favorite 'feature' of Issue 9?[u]

A: Statesman's Task Force - While I do like the invention system, and did not expect to, I welcome the TF more. High level characters needed something more to do than twink or PvP.

[u]2. What new shiney were you most excited to get?[u]

A: New Costumes - No contest there for me. However, the drop rates and corresponding prices (30,000,000 for Fairy Wings) are pretty scary. The last option of this poll [Personal Storage] is a joke.

[u]3. Do you like the addtion of a dynamic economic system?[u]
You may choose only one

A: Yes, I think it adds to the game. - It's a real gift for people who enjoy that element of a game, and even those who don't can play with it, if they choose to. Or not. However, it has changed the game (see comments at end of post).

[u]4. Did you find the invention tutorial easy to use?[u]

A: Yes, I graduated with honors.

[u]5. How would you rate Issue 9 overall?[u]

A: 4 stars and a thumb.

I like (not love) the invention system. I really like the States TF, even though I've only done it once (and failed). I haven't done Hami and don't plan on ever doing it, hero or villainside. I like the costume pieces and am waiting to see more pieces on MY characters.... in time, in time. However....

The game has changed for this issue, more than any other. Issue 9's Invention System and it's corresponding aspects are inescapable.

The tutorial is easy, but it's the kindergarten primer of the learning curve for this system (even worse for the 'who reads the mission/guide anyway' types). I've explained and reexplained this more than once to some of my SG members.

To be invested in this system, there is a lot more. And it's expensive. Unless you're starting out with multimillions tucked under your belt, you had better sell, sell, sell right from the start and know how to play the market. And the market does favor the experienced players who have played games with markets before. This isn't for people on their first game.

Where before taking time out to sell between every couple of missions or upgrade enhancements every few levels took some time, now a great deal more down time is spent on inventing, transfers, auctionhouse trips. Large amounts of downtime are necessary if you really want to play with this. This is a radical change from the COH/COV of the last 3 years which was supposed to be different, simple, jump in and PLAY.

More than game mechanics have changed, but social as well, and often intertwined.

Rare is the TF or trial now that isn't a rush through grind for that rare recipe dangling carrot at the end. I miss the old style TFs and Trials.

Team chat, SG chat, Global channel chat, TF and Trial team building focus a great deal on the Invention system - getting those rare Recipes in those 4 hour blocks of time, rare pieces of Salvage, figuring out just where and how to get the components for the recipes.

The everpresent Invention chat I mentioned --- very, very annoying for the non-I9 fan. It's caused misunderstandings (yes, it HAS), nearly led to the destruction of a 3 year friendship (yes, it almost DID), and I know one 3 year vet and COH beta tester of this game who now almost exclusively solos to get away from it.

So, while most people are at least moderately happy, and I find I-9 inventions diverting and something fun to do on the side, your game has changed irrevocably. And despite the acclaim of this poll, not everyone thinks for the better... especially after we waited so long.

(A lot longer than it first appears if, as I believe, ED was in prep for this.)

PS: A final word. The only way I have been able to afford to play with Inventions is a friend who QUIT the game over this gave me 40,000,000 to do it with. That's what I'm talking about. And the developers need to keep in mind that those answering this poll are the top whatever fraction of a percent in the game who read, answer polls, and are the most knowledgable about this stuff. Who can actually find where to even attempt to get a Pangean Soil or Hamidon Goo drop for their recipes.

What good is a double drop rate with limited storage capability?

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The following is My Opinion Only. Your Mileage May Vary.

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On one of the first four pages on this thread someone brought up that SWG had been pvp centric as it's end game and had then switched to pve for a bit. <snip’d for brevity> SWG had to suck up that PVP paid the bills to begin regrowing now.

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I played SWG for two and a half years and have no idea where you got your information from but (from my viewpoint) it is dead wrong. If it’s your opinion, say so. If you have any facts, please present them. Unless you were inside the offices when decisions were made, you have no idea how or why things were done.

SWG did have a strong PvP element to it. You could also choose to never ever once in your entire game existence ever in any fashion even for one moment dip your toe into the shallow end of the pool of PvP.

SWG, at the beginning, was wonderful because it did not require PvP. The factions were nice and were available if you wanted to PvP but you could even join a faction and still not engage in PvP. You could explore, gather, build and sell to your heart’s content and never once take a shot at anyone.

Yes, the Great Holocron Grind was unsatisfactory to some players. Everyone wants to be a Jedi, but by allowing everyone to become a Jedi you cheapen it, and the Developers of SWG rightly appeared at first to know this. They made it something that only a person who really, really, really wanted to be a Jedi would do it. I can still remember the night I was on Ahazi server when the system wide message from Darth Vader went out. The very first Jedi had been “unlocked” and come into existence and everyone in the Ahazi Galaxy was warned to be on the look out. I would have loved to be that guy, that was awesomely special.

What killed SWG (IMO) was the Devs incorrectly bowing to the pressure of the very vocal and very whiny PvP crowd. This is in my opinion and the opinion of my entire 120+ Guild that left SWG after each successive change in how to “get your Jedi” altered things for the worse until they ended up with that stupid mist hidden enclave. Even then I knew more than a dozen people who stuck it out until finally SWG completely destroyed all Non-PvP experience and turned the entire MMORPG into a twitch game.

I think of SWG as a cautionary tale for CoX. If CoX continues to bow to the pressure from the PvP crowd they will continue the rush to failure.

In SWG, each PvP change made someone unhappy. Scores of people would hit their forums complaining about whatever had been changed. Things would get changed again and most of them would be even more unhappy.

Sadly, the people who were happy and didn’t want things to change didn’t say anything. They were happily playing the game until the game took away their pets, their crafting, their foods, their architecture and city building and exploring and gathering. And when the PvPers took things away from them, people left.

CoX is headed down the same path. I9 is a prime example of giving me nothing that I want and everything I dislike. Inventions are nothing more than “more powerful” enhancements with tweak’d out sets that will one at a time become nerfed as different FotM builds take the prize in PvP. In the mean time it will add “seller spam” in broadcast, it will have groups camping mobs or hunting areas and Kill Stealing Lts and Bosses that spawn. I have already seen threads (in test server forums) where someone complained that he spammed broadcast and request channel for over an hour and could not get anyone to sell him the recipe he wanted.

With less than two weeks open (on test) to the public, i9 has already proved that Seller Spam is going to be an issue. I foresee no way to avoid this. SWG had (at the beginning) the most comprehensive and versatile mercantile system that I have seen in any MMORPG. If you were a “trader” class, you could put your own kiosks almost any place you wanted, within limits of your level and what you owned of course. Even without that, every city had a Bazaar with numerous kiosks so that people who did not want to waste time on Non Combat skills could still sell their drops and products without having to stand in one spot and spam broadcast.

It didn’t matter. Every starport, every city, every place where more than ten PCs could commonly be found, there was at least one person standing around spamming broadcast. Coming into any starport was like hitting a wall of spam that lagged you upwards of three minutes. Maybe not the “end of the world” but certainly an eternity in MMORPG time. I had a friend on dial-up that could not enter the capital city of the three most populated planets. Trying to take a starship in would cause him to disconnect.

The only reason why I don’t feel CoX is destined for this is because the auction and invention system is so poorly thought out and badly implemented that I don’t think many people are going to do anything with it. Like the PvP Zones and the Arenas, it is (in my opinion) one more example of CoX bowing to the pressure of a group that is not their main player base.

Most of my friends do not engage in PvP at all because of the behavior attributed to PvPers. Warranted or not, until the “good” PvPers step up to the plate and start actively excluding the “bad” PvPers, my opinion isn’t likely to change. Yes, one bad apple spoils the whole bunch. If you “good” PvPers want to get rid of the bad opinion most of us have, you have to actively do something to stop the gankers, the childish smack talk and the horrible attitudes that are currently on display in any PvP zone.

The only “myth” I know of, insofar as PvP and CoX is concerned is that the Devs never intended to have PvP and it was added as a second thought.

I will say that there is no way that PvP was not going to come to CoX. Despite my opinion of it, there is money to be made in PvP. I believe CoX implemented it perfectly; it is put off into specific zones that you cannot enter “on accident” and even if you some how manage to stumble in, you have ample time to leave.

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PVP pays the bills. PVE does not.

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Of everything the OP said, this is what I disagree with the most. PvE obviously pays the bills quite well for CoX. The game existed for more than a year without any PvP content and the PvP content that is implemented is underpopulated and underused.

I believe that CoX is going to lose more and more of it’s hard core player base. The player base that has been here since opening. The player base that has seen the beloved nazis turned into funky interdimensional aliens. The player base that has patiently waited for the universities to be put to some use. The player base that WANTED skills, actual non-combat things that could be used, like detective work and inventing the ultimate nullifier, and even though we see our Universities being turned into factories we are still here. The honest, faithful, player base that still writes huge RP threads and submits stories to Artic Sun and again and again finds a reason to RP up from level one and fight Marrowsnap one more time.

This hard core player base is still here. It is still strong. It still has faith that the Developers won’t forget us. When i9 goes live, this player base is going to take a hit, it is going to lose more of it’s numbers. They are going to hope that the Invention system will give their characters a feeling of Batman’s utility belt, Mister Fantastic’s research room or Doctor Strange making a potion. They are going to be sorely disappointed.

And for a short time, PvP fans will return. They will sample the invention system. They will find it doesn’t allow them to farm mobs for elite loot, but that won’t stop them from KSing, Griefing as they try.

Then the PvPers will realize that they can’t corner the market on certain special drops, like SWG and EQ allowed. The PvP zones will remain underpopulated and underutilized. The Arenas will remain empty. And the Non-PvPers who left will not return because they will have lost faith that anyone in CoX is paying attention to what made this game great at the beginning.

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Roughtrade,

Thank you. You've said what I lacked the eloquence to say. I hope Positron reads this. And that he pays attention to it.

PvE player. I've been here since July 04, and every single word here you've said is true. All four of the PvE players I joined with have left over these issues. The first one left after ED. The second and third left about six months ago.

The last to go was my own husband, he left after the Valentines Event and the rollback of the temp powers (the 'problem' reported on test before the event went live), it was the last straw for him after one too many disappointments. He watches over my shoulder and has no interest in coming back.

I've also lost a few other friends in the last few weeks over waiting for the next issue.. and lo and behold, it's I-9. The last thing we wanted. And we know it's only going to lead to more PvP crowd whining and caterwauling, and then catering and nerfs.

I didn't play SWG, but I did play EQ. Hubby plays DDO. The other friends play WOW. They often talk about the glory days, and our teams and how we played COH... but they aren't coming back. Well done!

I play COH. I think this whole Wentworths/Economy: You no share with SG members, no base storage for dju! You sell!!!1!! strategy stinks.

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So what I'm saying is that all, not most, players who originally bought the game were doing so with the expectation that PvP was not part of it. As a result, there are players to this day who would run away in droves if PvP were suddenly implemented in anything even resembling the traditional way.

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Yes, many of us are still here.

Also, as the Writer of this said, those of a mindset tend to congegrate with those of like mind... the people I play closest with, obviously, are of like mind... not fond of or of the opinion that we would rather log off and go scrub the kitchen floor on our hands and knees with Pine Sol and a scrub brush than PvP. We're also not that thrilled with the idea of I9 (save for the QOL stuff like new emotes and with hope a base kick fix) and the Statesman TF.

The theft of entire SGs (many, many) over the last few weeks entire stock of salvage on our server is evidence of the temptation of the upcoming auction houses. Salvage has gone from being a useful base commodity and empowerment buff fuel once forged into components, into something now so valuable that less scrupulous individual players may now be tempted to steal as much as they can get from their own SG mates. On one end of the spectrum, it was a player a member of the SG for almost 2 years. On the other end, a fairly new one in an SG with poor rank controls, the player now known (after coordinated player-motivated investigation) who actively looks for such SGs and passes the loot to his own SG. Yet such incidents have happened more times than I can count on one hand in the last 2 weeks on my server. I name no names, I violate no rules here. Wentworths awaits, and people are preparing.

Ironically... I am one of the few people looking forward to the new Hamidon Raid heroside. The old Hami raid was a grind of /broadcast trashtalking and blather, mooching, with the same 40-50 people doing all the work. That said... I don't see myself doing it much once I try it, succeed a couple times, and get bored with it. I plan on doing the TF.

One more thing - last night, a fellow long time player said that the final thing that might be what made him leave was to see just how bad the broadcast Wentworth spam gets.

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While I don't necessarily agree with everything you mentioned, I certainly agree with the character ownership. This keeps me coming back to this game and creating new characters, coming up with new backstories and costumes. I love it!

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Actually, NC Soft has property rights to everything we create here.

You DC - Moocher pops in, takes your spot - You come back.

*****New zone instance*****

START OVER!

Sounds like Space Invaders, with the twist that the moocher gets your reward and you get screwed.

Edit: I can see teams of "invited" groups of 50 players trying to get their own instanced raid, I might try that with 49 other good players I know if we can arrange it in secret minus moochers. NOT on an open server raiding channel or other global channel. I seriously plan on doing the Statesman TF for my real rewards.

I understand, rules are rules, rants are rants, the twain shall ere meet and with good reason.

That said, I've seen threads mod-smacked, and been reading live at the time, that I truly do not understand the reason why. Usually this is the middle of the night EST (2-5am) whatever mod has responsibility for that timeframe.

You cannot use

Detail 1: Blast Goggles Up -with- Hat: Bandana

My favorite I8 feature: The "Story Arc" icon next to your contact name.

Channel: Whitmoore Apartments

Server: All servers

Purpose: Writing discussion and friendly association for writers of the COH RP Forums Whitmoore Apartments thread

My vote went to the storyline.

The story is composed of the specific groups - I love choosing specific groups as nemesis for individual characters and working their stories into my character's story, and thus becoming part of the overall City story.

And I too must comment that PvP made the list.... and PvE most surely did not.

(OOC: After long absence, reintro back into writing and reading the forums)

Myriam Tsirlin, only recently returned to the Supernaturals, had left as suddenly and unexpectedly as she had arrived.

That was to be expected when one held a reserve commission as a Lieutenant of the Israel Defense Forces Hero Brigade. In Israel, she was simply known as Exodus. No other name was needed, she was a national icon.

It had been a journey of epic proportions, from Russian widow to Israeli war hero. Russia, The United Kingdom, Atlantis, Israel, The United States, back to Israel and then Lebanon.

And right back here. To Kings Row. This part didn't look much different than the blasted parts of southern Lebanon she'd left behind.

Water, for my Roman Bath/hottub.

Curtains/wall hangings

If the devs are serious about not having player apartments and instead having bases fulfill this promise, then they need to implement a way for players to invite thier own alts into their own SG *without* having to have a second party or second account involved.

Until then, many (and quite likely most) players will not have a personal stake in SG base building because they're at risk of losing their place in their SG and any investment they have made.

I propose CuppaJo coffee shops in game!

Why not? We've got Paragon Pizza, Infront Steak House, Hungry Dragon, City of Gyros... It's time Paragon had coffee shops too.

Now that's a tribute. Permanent. In-game. And very fitting.

The Ampules belt is missing from the options list when you select Armored pads bottom.

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I believe it stems from fantasy MMORPGs (or MUDs even) when a player's weapon would be reduced in effectiveness in an effort to balance the game.

It comes from the phrase "You turned my sword into a nerf bat".

Thus "nerfing" something became synonymous with making something weaker.

"Hit with the nerf bat" is a derivitive, but still sees its origin in the original 'sword' phrase, and can be applied to systems outside of the normal weapon and loot ones.

Personally, I hate the word, and try never to use it when talking about the game to players. It carries a very negative stigma that I like to avoid whenever possible.

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You forgive me for using 'nerf' and I'll forgive you and yours for using the term 'diversification'

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And NC Soft "right-sized" it's staff in Texas. From the company's point of view of view it probably was necessary, but those on the receiving end surely didn't enjoy it and would probably call it a layoff. It's an extreme example, but illustrates that gussifying up a concept with a prettier word doesn't change the substance of it or it's effect.

(And yes, Burn was very broken. And I'd never take it now.)

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Infinity's experience pre-I7 has been that about 30 trollers and 10AMs kept him held. I figure either your Victory server numbers were off, you had some weird server issues and/or disconnects, or they did more to the Hamidon than allow him to attack while held. Given the top-notch type of communication we receive from the devs, I wouldn't rule out the latter.

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After peeling open several granite armored Stone brutes in Recluse's Victory, I'm starting to suspect that what the failed Hami raids needed is more Mind Controllers.

I haven't done any tests, but I'm pretty sure that 30 Hami-slotted Mind Controllers under a decent amount of AM would be able to chain-hold God.

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Now if I could only get a server transfer... My mind controller is on my original server Pinnacle. If only... sigh... my poor Liberty, I'm sorry, I am not up to playing her that many levels again.

/em whimpers at the thought.

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Just added this patch note to PvP section:

Being defeated in a PvP zone will carry debt if any of the damage to you was caused by NPCs. The amount of debt is directly proportional to the amount of damage you took from NPCs vs. how much was done by opposing Player Characters. The more damage dealt to you by NPCs means more debt when you are defeated.

* This means that you can no longer “escape debt” by being defeated by a PC after taking massive damage from NPCs, nor will you be penalized with a massive amount of debt if you are defeated by an NPC after taking a huge amount of damage from a PC.

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Thank you.

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On Test, the buffs seemed underwhelming. I just had a chance to test them on Live in exactly the kind of circumstances for which they were meant.

Up against Nemesis, EB version. I brew up a couple of buffs: Knockback Protection (only a single tech material, good and cheap) and Disorient Protection (costly, but I don't want to be stunned).

KB protection seems to work, but halfway through the fight I'm suddenly reeling around, stunned. Couldn't pop the health insp that would have saved me. Hmm. Didn't I just invest some fairly rare salvage in some stun protection?

These stations have the potential to be really cool, but as it stands (whether by bug or by design) they just aren't worth the salvage it takes to make them.

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Multiple empowerment stations will stack the buffs that are offered (by design). If we made the buffs as good as players "expect" right out the gate, they'd be WAY too good when stacked.

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I'm not touching these things with a 10' pole. If it takes multiples of these to be useful, takes valuable (as opposed to common) salvage, and eats up connections in my base... forget it. Storage is actually useful. Miniscule buffs that wear off and eat up rare salvage (and result in AV/GM buffs... if you ask me) aren't.

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Yep, well once the children that Drone teleport for 2 hours straight leave the zone it actually becomes fun..

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There's an easy way around this, of course: Stay away from the opposing base.

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Sensible people keep saying this and the sublime ease of the solution still makes me chuckle.

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Just to be an @!# I once had 3 friends, each of us with tport foe, yank someone halfway across the zone to the drone. Took several tries before we got it to work and it was quite fun. Even the target was amused.

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And, of course, long ago it was declared that absolutely no behavior in a PvP zone could ever be "griefing".

This is why, no matter how smashingly amazing and beautiful RV is, you won't see me there except at 4 am EST on a weekday, to avoid the PvP brats, just long enough to take a look around, get the badges.

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Wow, ye of little faith. Isolator is marked as "Hero Only". Villains can kill the contaminated for 100 years, and never get the badge. Only Heroes can get the badge.

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um... how is your average villain going to know that?
I can forsee a lot of villains trying, stealing kills from heros in the process, and then raising a fuss when they wonder why their efforts aren't being rewarded.

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This wouldn't be any more offensive than what already goes on in PvP zones. By comparison, it's tame.

Just move the one Contaminated over to Peregrine or somewhere so Villains will never see him.

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Depends on your perspective. If you ask a TA/A whether the developers pay more attention to the sets and ATs that get heavier traffic, the answer will be a slight rustle as we spin in our graves.

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Lumi, you are the Cassandra of the forums... you speak truth and bear the agony of being castigated for it.

On that note, another voice of clarity:

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And, frankly, is that treatment worse than the Blasters who have had their secondaries acknowledged as sub-par for over a year and to date have received two tweaks, both unrelated to the secondaries.

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I specifically point out two blaster PRIMARIES that need some love, one shared with our defender sisters (Archery) and one that's been around since day one (Assault Rifle). After mid 20s or so, playing these primaries is like hacking into a bank vault with a blunted butter knife. In Archery's case, add in ridiculously slow animation times and endurance costs... and don't give me the Dev's line of "we couldn't do it better". Just look at Wyvern or even the most piddly of Red Cap minions for comparison.

Devices, the secondary most often paired with it, has 3 powers (Taser, Smoke Grenade, Time Bomb) that are better replaced IMO with any other power pool power, including the mocked Jump Kick and Flurry of Blows.

Don't even start me on Defiance. Just don't go there.

Every AT needs some love, PvE is home on Friday night while PvP gets all the hot dates... only to know regret in the morning.