StratoNexus
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Posts
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Quote:I think I give up. Hell Veats get great mitigation, Status prtoection, and scale 1 damage.Originally Posted by Stormfront_NA
Also I would like to see the return of the added base hit points for Defenders to be in between those of a tanker and a blaster.
I believe a simple reduction of the penalty employed against Defenders's damage of 0.6 to 0.9 (Tankers get a 0.8) would solve the damage issue, and adding the MAG 4 Status effect resist to the Epic armors, would do quite a great of difference to the Defender, and I would expect those to be minor code changes.
Why not defenders and corruptors too? Damage mods - .9 for defedners, 1 for corruptors. Let both get mez protection from epics! Woo Hooo! Throw in scrapper level hitpoints FTW!!!!! -
Quote:I can understand your concerns. In order to alleviate those concerns then we would want to maintain some divisions beyond just global channels, and it may be entirely appropriate to utilize more than one method. One obvious method is multiple instances (Atlas Park 1, Atlas Park 2, etc.). Another method is the fluctuating instances (like Guild Wars, and apparently CO have).Originally Posted by PeerlessGirl
Sure, if you ignore everything that happens in the streets in your once gated community (re: local) and only focus on your own house and keep your door locked (I.e. private globals) but before when your community was gated (or at least had an officer at the gates) less of those people came into it, and your streets were cleaner.
yes, they can freely log in and create a character on "our" server now, but to do that they must take the effort to do it, for the express purpose of going there, either to grief, to RP, or to hang out with friends they know there (RP or not) the same is true if you use a server transfer now. But by dumping everyone into the same "pot" now all of those people are together, without any special "effort" to be there, just everyone dumped together.
There is a difference between starting a new game in serverless (i.e. Champions) and taking a 5 year old game, with 5 year old community/server boundries and trying to force them together, and it shouldn't be done. It will, at least personally, impact my enjoyment and my gameplay experience, and considering I'm on the fence as it is (though i16 and GR look promising) this would certainly push me over.
Another method is to maintain the current servers as is, but place the character choice first. Start Game, Check for Updates, Load Log-in Server, Log-in, Load Character Selection Screen, Choose Character, Load Server Select Screen, Choose Server. That way your characters are not limited to one server, you can maintain current communities, but if you find a need or desire to head somewhere else, it is a simple matter of logging out and then logging back into another server for that night, that play session, the next hour (this idea could be accomplished with multiple static instances instead of random, fluctuating instances).
Having enjoyed some events on Test where I can join up with forumites I would normally not be able to play with because we are on a variety of servers, I have found that I am really addicted to the idea of being able to play the character I want, with the people I want.
Possibly. It is hard to say what would generate more revenue, as I believe there is a lot of potential business lost due to the server structure in this game.Quote:Edit: There is also the fact that, purely from a business standpoint, it knocks NC out of selling character transfers, so that's quite a bit of money they wouldn't get, another reason I can be fairly sure they won't do it. -
Quote:I rarely see roleplaying in broadcast on Virtue. I conclude most roleplayers speak in team, global channels, or in local. My serverless vision would not eliminate any of those options.Originally Posted by PeerlessGirl
I've played on other servers also. I spent a short time on Freedom (something I never want to repeat ever again) the sheer amount of leetspeak and unintelligable broadscasts was nearly deafening. Now imagine for a moment if you will, merging those people with the people on Virtue. You have to admit this will not lead to a positive outcome.
I believe global channels allow those gates to exist much more readily than separate servers do. All of the "other" people we might not want to let into our communities can freely log onto and create characters on "our" servers right now. They cannot join my private channel freely.Quote:It would be akin to having a lived in a gated community or owned a Condo, and suddenly now anyone is allowed to move in without even a background check, or meeting the qualifications of the community you've set up, Some might see that as positive (those who want in but couldn't get in before) others who were there, and liked the way their communiy was working, likely would not. -
Quote:Who is this "us" on Virtue you speak of? I play on Virtue. Yet I have not met you, unless in a PuG. How did I (and thousands of others you probably do not know) not ruin your community already? What features exist on Virtue that do not exist in the rest of the game? Where do you roleplay? Do you really think Virtue is that different from the other servers, because take it from someone who plays on multiple servers, it is not different.Originally Posted by PeerlessGirl
But it's always been an unspoken, unwritten rule that Virtue IS the RP server for CoH, if they want to go to a Serverless archetecture, and leave us out of it (since the rest of the populations of the servers except Freedom MIGHT actually equal the Virtue population) that'd be fine with me. Or if if the individual servers could vote on their inclusion/exclusion, that'd also be fair. The short answer is, that was the expectation when Virtue was around, and if you go to Virtue, you should be prepared to RP, if not, it's probably not the server for you.
I disagree that turning the thread in to flamebait is the only outcome here. I am very interested in your objections and am also glad you were able to forgive my snarky first comment, because I want to hear possible issues and objections to the idea of going serverless. I appreciate that you have so far been willing to listen and think about my replies to your objections, and you should know that I am listening to and pondering your comments as well.Quote:Sticking around and arguing over an issue where we philosophically differ is only going to turn an otherwise productive thread into flamebait, and make it much longer than it is already. Until I actually see evidence of this sort of proceedure occuring, I'm fine. Once I do, I'll take actions as I see appropriate. Beyond that, I don't see much to discuss about it.
Community in an MMO is probably the most precious things we have. I was never a big fan of video games, but have played this one for nearly five years. That is all because of community. I want to go serverless to promote community building, but need to understand the potential pitfalls and hopeful solutions in order to talk about the topic honestly. -
Quote:This would be a non-issue, IME, especially with global channels already in game we can all use to communicate.Originally Posted by SDragon
PUG? Not really gonna happen. Good luck trying to get all your guys into the same instance too.
I do not know tons about publishing and maintaining game servers for a huge game like this. I would however be astounded if each server was A machine. Each server must be a massive series of machines as is, but maybe I am wrong.Quote:Because we have... what? 12 severs? You realize those are actual machines? Each one. To "merge" them... well. You can't stick them together like Voltron. You'd have to move all the data onto ONE sever. And this server now has to be strong enough to handle 12 times what it was before. -
Quote:Alright, you got me there. Are you blind?
Nope. But starting your reply like that is certainly going to help me to listen to you, yup. *nods sagely* 
Okay, not blind and apparently able to reason as well. If you are currently able to engage in a community while simultaneously ignoring other communities, why are you afraid something bad will happen to your community if there are more communities to simply ignore?Quote:Not all of us use friends lists and global channels, and not all of us are part of the "clique" or "community" as a whole. A good portion of the Virtue "Community" I don't associate with, as a matter of fact.
Those are available and have been used. Serverless would be better still.Quote:To quote my former boss, "That sounds like a personal problem". NC put things in place to help you remedy that situation, cross-server global chat, and character transfers (only 9.99 a pop).
I'd rather stay here, thank you. Global channels and global friends should allow for thriving communities.Quote:Go try to RP in CO, and see how well that works out for you.
I am not sure why this would be an issue in CoH. It should be easy enough to use global channels to meet up and role-play and game-play with your community.Quote:They can't form a cohesive RP community because there's one massive server and tons of constantly changing never-defined instances.
I am not sure what is unique about game Servers. All they do is fracture a community (which is their intent, for stability and performance purposes). There should now be ways to maintain stability and performance without chopping your players up into forced communities, instead allowing them to form their own communities.Quote:NC has a chance to maintain something unique, and something to differentiate it from "the other game" besides just being there first, and better. Hopefully they'll see that and stick to it. -
Quote:Are you insane? Thousands (tens of thousands, maybe) of people not in your little clique or community already play on Pinnacle and Virtue. Your community is safe, as long as you can maintain your global channels, your forum sections, and your friends lists.Originally Posted by PeerlessGirl
CoH does that, and I might as well just go play CO who is already using a stupid "mega-server" environment. It destroys the RP communites of Virtue and pennicle by doing that. If they do, I might as well go play another game that destroyed its RP community before launch, heck at least it looks better.
That would be the dumbest thing NC wound ever have done.
Full stop.
I play on many servers right now and would love nothing more than to be able to play any of my characters I wish to play with any of the characters people in my community may want to play. Instead, my community is occasionally fractured, because I want to play a character on Pinnacle, while 3 others want to play characters on Guardian, while 2 others want to play characters on Liberty. Sure, we often capitulate and join up on the same server, but how often is at least one of us not playing the character we really want to play, because it is on the "wrong" server?
I encourage your desire to protect your community. I feel the same. I see my community suffering because of the Server system. I know a serverless system would only strengthen my community, because I have often seen a bunch of us on and chatting with each other, but unable to actually play together, because we are on different servers. It is fun to chat with each other. It is more fun to chat and play together. -
Quote:You may call me a dreamer, but I see it as the first step towards a serverless environment. I know, wild hope, but sometimes hope is what keeps us going.Originally Posted by Maynia
Mesuspects I'm not seeing something important here, but how is implementing a queue system that will get used on all of 2 servers out of 15 for about 10 days a year worth doing? O.o
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Quote:Empathy is, IME, more than appropriately compensated in teams, you just have to be very active.Originally Posted by Turbo_Ski
Sonic and Empathy are the only sets that are inadequate while solo and not in anyway appropriately compensated for such while in teams.
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Quote:Arch / Fire - Damage yes. Especially, if you use the secondary. Jumping into melee to do that can be hazardous. You could play a ranger and under utilize /Fire, but that would seem to defeat the purpose of looking for a challenging build (I assume you want a build that even built well might be difficult to keep upright, not a MAN type build). Ranged stun doesn't come until level 26. That is past the level of your TA/A, but maybe you normally make it higher than that in these trials.Originally Posted by Fury_Flechette
I think archery/fire would be easier than the TA/A Defender, mostly because you have damage and ranged stun. Sort of the same for the electric/fre.
Elec/Fire, built to maximize its potential, would also spend a lot of time in melee range of dangerous foes. Its control comes at level 18 though.
Sure, solo those builds might be easy to keep alive. If you plan on teaming, as I implied from your original post, and attempting to use the obscene damage of FSC and FS, it should be more difficult. -
Quote:I like the option of the quicker recharging attacks myself, it is one of the reasons I enjoy both Rad and Fire Blast. That being said, going from 1.5 to 2 second recharge is meaningless, but going from .6 DS to .84 DS is significant.Originally Posted by Rigel_Kent
I'd rather they stay right where they are: 1.5 and 4. ATs are subtly stronger when they can make meaningful choices between very different options, and subtly weaker when they're stuck with choices between very similar options. Some corruptors and defenders whip out their calculators and pick the powers with the highest DPAT; some corruptors and defenders take an alternative approach, taking advantage of the fast recharge angle with procs and the like. Having the option to go either way is nice.
While I do not want the blasts to be changed to the standard 4 and 8 second recharges, I do not mind 2 and 6 (or even better, 2 and 5 as Frosticus suggests). -
Quote:That is fascinating. I will now repost the original post in this thread as Turbo_Ski reads it. Once you read the below, Turbo_Ski's position is much more clear. Apparently we did not have the secret decoder ring needed to properly read the original post until now.Originally Posted by Turbo_Ski
I'm not a fan of anecdotes that are crafted to be propganda to promote one AT while simultaneously defaming another AT with 20 or so people immediately showering them with praise for doing so. It's even more insulting when they use a power that has a history of being used to grief melee ATs in the early days of CoH and CoV when outdoor farming was commonplace. Then really rub it in by having the protagonist be a heroically painted jerk in response to the antagonist's request to cease and have it all painted as an injustice when the protagonist is kicked from the team for his jerk response. Tie it up with the moral being that the smart defender performed a good deed and was kicked solely for doing the good deed and that the other AT is full of jerks and idiots.
Anyone that already agrees that defenders are holier than all other ATs will immediately jump up and praise the OP and flame the hell out of anyone that disagrees or has a differing opinion from them.
Thing is these type of pro-defender propganda anecdotes happen at least once a week on the defender boards, so you'll have to forgive me for immediately coming off as negative here.
Quote:Originally Posted by Fury_Flechette
Apparently, I committed a mortal sin by pushing mobs against the walls when the tank (the leader and moron like all tankers) failed to hold aggro.
The team was compromised of a WP/Energy tank (team leader, no taunt, no AoEs, useless like all tankers), a bunch of squishies (mostly blasters and 1 controller) and me, the lone defender (FF/Sonic, supreme amongst my teammates). We enter a radio mission against Freakshow and the team is doing relatively well, because so far the numbers of spawn were reasonable in size and my defender was awesome, singlehandendly protecting the whole team.
Then we get to the one room in the lab map, the one where there's a ramp leading onto a platform which in turn has two other ramps that lead to a mezzanine that circles and is above the first platform. The tank decides to wade in and bring the entire room to the corridor because every tanker has to play that way in order to try to prove their awesomeness.
Obviously, it wasn't a good idea (duh, it was a tankers idea) since there were so many Freaks and while the tank did manage to get their attention, the Freaks started to scatter and go after the rest of the team once they were in the corridor.
Within a few seconds, a couple of the blasters dropped and the rest of the team was injured. To buy them some time, I threw up force bubble and trapped about 17 or 18 Freaks against the corner of the corridor. Mind you, this was the first time I used force bubble in the entire time we were teamed.
Apparently, this act enraged our tank, and I am sure every tanker ever on the earth also felt insulted, the twits.
Tank: "Force bubble herding = fail. Stop it!"
Me: "Oh you mean like tankers that can't hold aggro = fail."
Tank: "People should NEVER use knockback on teams."
Me: "They're all in one corner, it's not like they're scattered"
And that was it. I got kicked.
I realize that force bubble can be obnoxious if used badly, but I didn't leave it on the entire time, and given the situation the team was in, I thought it was entirely appropriate. The mobs weren't scattered but neatly stacked in one corner, enough for the blaster to down them with a couple of AoEs. The tank with his weak taunt aura (RttC) and his single target energy melee attacks couldn't hold aggro well enough, pathetic lout. I generally, don't tell tanks that they have to take taunt (I have a tauntless ice/ss tanker, that is awesome, almost like a defender), but his build really seemed to need it.
I know that my response was a bit on the snippy side, but I found it ironic that I was penalized for using my powers when the tanker couldn't really fulfill his role. I also got the vibe that somehow I, the lowly defender, was infringing the tank's personal territory and I don't just mean this player, I am talking about tankers in general.
Anyways, that's been the first time I've been kicked from a team in close to 3 years. Stupid Tankers and armored toons everywhere should just die. -
Quote:Woe is the poor Rad defender.
Other sets, like Rad, Cold, FF, and Sonic don't provide adequate offense OR defense (compared to other ATs).
While I think all defenders are great, I have seen people often complain about some defenders. Never before have I seen a person place Rad on the "woe is me" list. -
Quote:Blasters are not for everyone. If you find yourself really put off and not having fun, it is definitely understandable.Originally Posted by GreenBone
Yeah, there are several posts mentioning the use of Inspirations, but to me (and only IMHO), any AT that requires the use of Inspirations, well.... nuff said. Too bad, really, as blasting is just so darn fun to have to be constantly peaking around corners, retreating, converting inspirations and using self rezzes. As said, too, at high levels the damage isn't so hot either - so I feel more like a wimpy wow character who can only take on one boar it's own level.
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Quote:Perhaps I was not clear. I do not understand why you do not agree with "a 1s animation Neutrino Bolt and a 1.67s animation X-Ray Beam."
Just pure speculation on what will happen with Castle's inconsistent tier 1 & 2 balancing scheme. No need to clarify the details, since the details are probably wrong.
I think that statement is a bit too general. It can be a significant issue. I think more often than not, it is probably an insignificant issue, and in the case of Bolt and X-Ray specifically, I definitely think it is insignificant (if they even keep the defense debuff, which I think is likely).Quote:Ignoring debuff duration times on powers while other aspects of the powers are toyed with is a significant issue reaching well beyond one AT's version of one power.
I like to tank with my Fire/Fire/Flame blaster. That doesn't mean its right for me to claim that /Fire Manipulation Blasters need Tanker level (or just more, for less hyperbole) mitigation because so many of those powers are designed for staying in melee range.Quote:Also, some undercurrents of telling people how to play their blasters in your post. Tread carefully. Some people like to debuff with their blasters.
If someone desires to kill slowly with a blaster in order to debuff, that is fine. That does not mean the devs should design blaster powers with that in mind. They should probably design blaster powers with the idea that "enemies are not going to be living as long vs. a blaster as they will vs. a defender, so the debuffs do not need to be as long lasting."
Back when Castle asked for a discussion about Defiance and blaster performance, I argued quite a bit that blaster damage level was fine and that extra mitigation (through debuffs, controls, and/or self-buffs) was what was really needed to improve the AT. Instead of that, blasters were given more damage. I think that states pretty strongly the design intention of blasters is about eliminating enemies as fast as possible. -
Quote:Blasters can teach you some new tactical skills. Which enemies are best to get into melee range with (even if you lack melee attacks)? Which enemies can you immob and then be better off shooting from 80+ feet? How best to accumulate, convert, and use inspirations.
My first 50 was a Dominator, so I'm don't feel I'm tactically insufficient or don't know when to retreat.
That is what makes Devices special. The other sets are a bit more free in movement and use in combat, and do other things better than Devices. But nothing is as good as Devices at providing safety, especially when solo.Quote:But no other secondary (no, not even /ice) seems to offer /Dev's safety. -
Archery is a very nice set for defenders because it blooms early and late. You get great single target damage early, because Blazing Arrow comes at level 10. By level 25, it can be doing respectable AoE damage with fistful and Explosive. Then of course it gets RoA, which is just amazing all around.
Sonic is way ahead in single target DPS, it is even noticeable on Lts., IME. The low tier attacks recharge nice and quick, making the set feel good. Shout, for all its faults, comes early enough to help in those tough late teen levels. Its AoE is under appreciated, IMO. The quick recharges on Howl and especially Shockwave make them greater than one would think, but Shockwave can make it tricky to use. The big problem here is that it sucks your end bar away, which is problematic in the lower levels, although as a Rad, AM can help there.
I have always been pleased with my Storm / Rad defender, Irradiate and Haze work very well and when I get high enough I get to add Neutron Bomb to the AoE goodness.
I would avoid Ice, honestly. I love the set, but it blooms late and its AoE is lesser than the above sets (for all of Ice Storm's goodness, its recharge is just hella long). -
Archery / Fire Blaster
Elec / Fire Blaster (although Tesla Cage comes at 18, it should be tough getting that high)
Cold / Archery Defender -
Quote:I can buy that, thank you for the clarification. I still would not want to encourage new blasters into single target builds, but instead suggest that it takes some experience to learn when to, and more importantly, when not to use your AoEs.Originally Posted by Snakebit
If the blaster in question is experianced enough to have the situational awareness to realize not only what the blaster himself is doing, but what everyone else is doing AND experianced enough to realize that any particular teammate is more of a threat to the blasters survival than an aide, then I agree. The AoE blaster trumps the ST blaster. But until the blaster player in question has learned about the tactical considerations of good and bad teams and good and bad players, then I suggest a more relaxed single target approach. A bad AoE blaster is worse than a mediocre ST blaster.
Take the AoEs, slot the AoEs, but be cautious in their use. Hold of on them until several seconds into the fight, after tankers/controllers have done their opening moves, using single target attacks during that time, unleashing the AoEs when it is safer. -
Quote:I disagree with this sentiment. Blasters are best used in conjunction with their AoEs, as that is their greatest asset to a team. As such, blasters operate best when they are very reliant on teammates.Originally Posted by Snakebit
The fact that you say you only have one AOE will help in teams. AoE will generate a LOT of unintentional aggro. When grouping with mostly single target attacks, focus on the peskier mobs first, as you will take them out quickly. Don't rely on other teammates for anything.
While in a PuG, it may be best to start tentative, but if your teammates seem competent after a spawn or two, I'd strongly encourage you to rely on them for a great deal and allow them to rely on you to kill as much as possible as fast as possible.
I am not saying one should not make and play single target blasters, I have one myself. I do, however, disagree with recommending it and I wholly disagree with the recommendation to not rely on teammates. -
Quote:I am having trouble understanding what you are saying here? Of course, those will be the animation times of those powers. The question is whether or not NB gets bumped to a 2 second recharge and X-ray gets moved to 6 seconds (with the corresponding damage increase), like Archery had done.Originally Posted by Rigel_Kent
Anyway, I think it's reasonable to expect a 1s animation Neutrino Bolt and a 1.67s animation X-Ray Beam (even if I don't agree with it).
I think you overstate this issue. Blasters are supposed to be less effective debuffers and the durations on these debuffs really are not all that bad as is, although NB is kind of tiny. Remember, enemies are not going to be living as long vs. a blaster as they will vs. a defender, so the debuffs do not need to be as long lasting.Quote:As long as the debuff durations are increased to match the longer recharges (and maybe go back to the debuff durations on blaster psi dart and mental blast too), I won't complain -- too much. Debuff duration about equal to animation time plus base recharge time is the way to go for minor debuffs like these. -
Quote:Shocking Grasp is extremely good.Originally Posted by Olympus_NA
Well I am coming to the higher levels of my Fire/Elec blaster and while using mids I found a few questions.
Is Shocking Grasp any good?
Is Rise of the Phoenix worth more then one recharge slot?
Is Thunder Strike a problem?
RotP is situational. It works fine with one recharge slotted. If you can spare a few slots, its not a bad place to throw some, but I would not prioritize it for slots.
Thunderstrike is not terribly problematic. It has a longish animation. It has AoE knockback, which is sometimes good and sometimes not as good. Skippable, but not a bad choice either. -
Quote:Your solution to someone on the team making a foolish mistake is to stop playing?Originally Posted by Turbo_Ski
If the fool is armored and aggroing more than he should, those idiots that follow him into his suicidal endeavors are even bigger idiots.
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Quote:They could leave Brawl as it currently stands and add a new power called Cuff which is unslottable and costs no endurance. Cuff could be a power automatically added at level 5.Originally Posted by Sarrate
Except, it currently accepts set IOs, so if some is using it as a set mule now, you'll potentially break their build. It'd be probably be a small change in the grand scheme of things, but I'm sure they'd catch some flak for it.
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Quote:Sometimes, even supreme idiocy can be saved. Those are the times I relish most on my bubbler. Not everyone wants to do that and I respect your right to let idiots die without trying to help them.Originally Posted by Turbo_Ski
As long as you're getting most of the team in your bubble most of the time, it really shouldn't matter if a few teammates scatter about. If a teammate runs out of your field and gets themselves killed somehow, it's in no way your fault and nothing you do will save them from their own idiocy.
Sometimes, the idiots put the whole team in danger though, but apparently you feel its wrong to save the team from those idiots if those idiots are armored?