StratoNexus

You are starting to argue semantics, a good sign that your points may have less merit than you believe.

It is not a fact that a controller or corruptor adds more to a team after mitigation is nigh total. Defender damage buffs, resistance debuffs, and defense debuffs are higher which makes their offensive contribution potentially larger than the other two. Defender blast sets will generally provide more damage to a team than most controllers will bring. Corruptors have the damage edge, as intended.

I will not argue against increased defender (and corruptor) damage, I think both of those ATs could use something to put them more on par, perceptually, with MMs and controllers.

Meh. Rising to the challenge when the fit hits the shan works for me. I liked old defiance and I enjoy vigilance as is.

I'd be OK with that. It is like that now, really. At the lower levels, +35% damage from defiance has much more impact than +35% defiance will have on a level 50 with +99% enhancing and 17% global damage from IOs (or larger outside team buffs you do not often see until the later levels). Think about trying to build up high levels of defiance when whole spawns wipe with just FSC+Fireball+teammate's contributions (most people don't fight +4s all the time, although vs. +4s, in my limited experience, defenders shine nicely).

A good kin on a team can render all of defiance pointless with just ID and FS. Does that mean defiance is useless and needs to be changed?

Your claims that IOs (your own and teammate's) make defenders and the defender inherent less worthwhile are exaggerated. The fact that only a very small amount of people can run as you outline below renders the line of reasoning you are pursuing an outlier, and one that should probably be ignored.

Just as people suggest we should not "nerf" the standard game due to IOs, I'd imagine that philosophy extends the other direction. Defenders do not need to be changed because all your SG plays is super IOd characters who have capped defense and high order defense debuff resistance (or avoid the more difficult enemy groups, choosing to fight less annoying mobs at +4 instead).

I have never met an IOd character who couldn't use bubbles at +4, despite having seen defense capped Shield scrappers tank Lord Recluse on all scrapper STFs and IOd Stone tankers in granite surrounded by Arachnoids.

Maybe its because I seek out Carnies, Malta, Arachnos, Arachnoids, Knives, Rularuu, and challenging customs in AE. This could render my experience as an outlier, best ignored as well.

If you are on a team and the whole team is taking almost no damage:

• You should consider moving faster.
• You should consider turning the difficulty up.
• You don't need any more power.

"My defender's team rarely takes any damage therefore my defender needs to be improved," does not seem like a compelling discussion point. You might want to drop that angle, for a few reasons.

That is hyperbolic (and the ?!?!?!?! makes it look like hyperbolic hysteria ). The maximum benefit is normally irrelevant, since you can get significant aid from Vigilance even with light damage on a small team.

It has always been nonsense that those who heal can gain more benefit from vigilance than those who cannot. If there is a disparity (and I am not saying there is), those who can heal probably gain less from vigilance (since every defender with heals also has ways to prevent a significant portion of incoming damage on top of being able to remove their own vigilance buff).

"Think the Rikti, think Praetoria, think any of those other nasty places..."

Are you sure we have made more enemies than friends? Sure, we players interact with the enemies mostly. But the contacts dealing with dimensional travel are always talking about techs and scientists (there is a notable lack of them mentioning diplomats, admittedly) doing stuff in other dimensions.

You could probably make the argument that Portal Corp brings more danger than good. That was a common theme in the Stargate TV show. The Air Force occasionally needed to justify the cost and risk of the program.

I am pretty sure that the primary mission of Portal Corp is to make contact with civilized dimensions. It is possible that seeking unpopulated earths for resource acquisition is primary, but making allies is at least a secondary mission.

I am very glad you enjoyed yourself and thank you for your words here and in game. It gives me a lot to think about.

One of the things I am really glad to see, is that the last mission had you questioning what to do and why. That is actually one of the goals, although it does not seem to be having the effect I had hoped in any of my run throughs.

The larger (and colored in some cases) Nav text is kind of odd. Even I find it jarring. Since the arc has so many mechanics that can confuse, for now I am leaving it in. I have received either positive feedback or feedback like yours, where they were not sure if they liked it or not. For now, I am just going to go with, "Its noticeable, and since the goal is to make the user notice the Nav text has changed, it is successful, even if jarring."

I would like to add that you get more information if you help him, since he is more forthcoming and the information is not filtered by Longbow.

I did make it quite easy to succeed in reality, but of course you do not know that the first time you run through it. A ten minute timer, with 4 glowies to click on an Arachnos lab map should seem pretty daunting. IME with running through it with a few dozen people, most people seem to feel a bit rushed and under the gun (even though they have no need to be, but I am glad the feeling is there). Many people also miss one or two of the glowies.

Yeah, it is a bummer that the Grandville beach map has the bugged spawn sometimes. I am hopeful that since it is used in the arc that won this contest, there is a higher chance it gets fixed, sooner, rather than later.

Agreed, I went for a more personal evil, that was less than world encompassing. It does not seem to resonate with everyone.
Mission 3 - Help the traditional bad guy in return for information, or turn the "villain" trying to help over to authorities, not knowing if you will get the info you need then.
Mission 4 - Save the traditional bad guys so they can do more evil in the future, or let them die with whatever happens to non-fortunatas hopefully being not too bad. I am happy that almost everyone who plays the arc, decides to clear this map after mission complete.
Misison 5 - No one sees the choice in mission 5. I am not convinced it is because I have done a poor job communicating the idea, but rather that the game has taught us not to play the way I am asking us to play in this arc. The arc has Complex Mechanics, and people scratch their heads as to what to do throughout, IME (even in mission 1, I have seen people wonder).
The last mission is overwhelming and goes too far out of normal CoX gameplay. I think the only way I'd get people to choose the other path, would be to spell it out, because none of the clues I have added seem to help. I think I need to add something more about the conflict in an earlier mission, but I already have such a daunting amount of text, that I am hesitant to add more.
When I run through it with people and the final (or sometimes even Constance) boss bugs out, I use the alternate path to end the mission. So far, the reaction has been mixed as to completing the arc that way.
My goal is to have the last crystal spawn all alone, which I would hope would make people think about it more. I cannot do that as part of a chain, because then it becomes totally indestructible. I tried having it spawn at mission start, but then it sometimes spawns close to something else, which can cause the mission to end before you experience much of it at all.

Most defender combinations should be able to out damage most controller combinations, definitely pre-epic level, and probably even after that.

I might decrease the gap between defender and corruptor damage slightly (I'd increase the damage of both those ATs, if there was a problem with either ATs population).

How can killing tens of thousands of people not be seen as terrible and evil?

In order for this not to be an evil for the greater good scenario, the act of killing tens of thousands of people has to be NOT evil no matter the result.

Is killing tens of thousands of people not undesirable, regrettable, terrible, harmful, injurious, characterized or accompanied by misfortune or suffering, unfortunate?

There is no moral dilemma over dropping a bomb that you know will kill tens of thousands of people?

Others thought differently.

Evil for the greater good does not have to be a gray issue. The greater good can be quite clear while the act that brings it about is still quite regrettable and unfortunate. In my opinion, dropping the atomic bomb is very black and white. It was the best way to end the war with the least loss of life. Killing tens of thousands of civilians with the bombs was terrible and evil, but better than the other options.

Is your argument simply that there cannot be "evil" for the greater good? If the action results in the greater good, the action is therefore not evil by default?

If the details of the order are what matters, then it doesn't matter that it is an order at all.

There are two premises I am trying to counter in this discussion.

One: Your character had no choice because someone else makes the decision to drop the bomb. I cannot imagine I have not already countered that completely. Can't we all agree at this point that your character does indeed have a choice and could disobey the order?
Two: The greater good that comes from dropping the bomb means that dropping the bomb is not doing evil for the greater good. That line of reasoning seems so obviously circular and wrong to me that I don't know how to counter it, which is probably why I have failed up to this point.

500% includes the base damage of the power.
So...
You get 100% just for using the power.
You slot the power for 95%.
Build Up gives you 100% for 10 seconds.
Let's say Defiance gives you 40%.
You can easily get 20% from set bonuses.

That is 355%.

+recharge is generally better than +damage from set bonuses though, that way you can use your best attacks more often.

At your level, either of the arcs in my sig would be appropriate.
The Empire - One Alliance is a simple action movie, no solid theme, just an excuse for special effects (the goal of that arc was to mix Malta and Knives and put them on maps I enjoy playing, I still play the arc all the time, but I like strange things). This arc contains no enemies higher than boss rank. As a Fire/Fire scrapper, do you like being shot by a sapper while standing on Caltrops and trying to figure out how to get around the issue (or avoid it)?

The Better Part of Valor was written for Dr. Aeon's challenge and is (mad) science related. I like the story in this one, although the mechanics of some of the missions are questionable. There is one EB and one AV in this arc.

I do too. That is my point. The ironic thing is that WN (and now you) keep trying to use the specifics of the order and/or the greater good that came from dropping the bombs to defend the action, not the fact that it was an order.

Its not that fact that it was an order from above that makes the act defensible. It is the details of the order that you are defending. That is all I am saying.

If Truman had ordered the crew of the Enola Gay to drop the bombs on Detroit, MI or Reading, PA, would it still be OK because they were just following orders? Would the crew of the Enola Gay been justified to instead steal the bomb because the president had gone off his rocker or should they have just followed orders and eliminated Detroit?

You are missing the point. "I was just following orders" is not a defense for killing tens of thousands of civilians.

"We were stopping a war and saving the lives of millions" IS the defense for killing tens of thousands of civilians.

Greater good opposed to "evil" act. I think I remember learning one of the other planes to work on the bomb runs was named Necessary Evil.

That is the whole point of this type of story. People debate where that line is drawn. Each individual makes that decision.

It makes it in my care. I become responsible for what happens to it or with it. If my friend gives me his gun and he tells me to shoot a tire, I am in control of what happens after that. I choose whether or not I believe shooting the tire is a good idea. I shoot the tire or fail to shoot the tire. If I choose not to shoot the tire, someone else may come along and shoot it anyway, but that is not an excuse for me to just shoot it if I believe the tire should not be shot. If I shoot the tire, I can't claim that it was not my fault because it was not my gun, not my bullets, and I was told to do it.

They give you the bomb (making it yours) and you can choose not to follow orders and instead take it to a deserted pacific island. "I was just following orders" is not a good defense, as has been pointed out by PW. It may mitigate the act somewhat, but its still pretty unfortunate to choose to kill tens of thousands of civilians.

If you did that without there being a greater good outcome, I am pretty sure most people would view it as outright evil, even if you were ordered to do it. Some people would view it as evil despite the greater good outcome.

Isn't that the very definition of evil (killing tens of thousands of civilians) for the greater good (saving millions of soldiers lives)?

I would guess that blaster mitigation is designed to be found in teammates first, then minor active controls/debuffs second, and when those fail (or, preferably, when you predict they are likely to fail), then the inspiration tray.

It is clear that Contagious Confusion has a very good proc. Without that proc, WoC is bad. With the proc, it is pretty spiffy. Either the proc is over powered in auras, WoC is drastically underpowered, or both.

On a defender, powers you can actually get are probably more important.

You know, if they ported MA to blaster secondaries or made a Pistol Manipulation secondary, that might work for me (although I still really want a DP/Inv/Wpns scrapper).