The_Alt_oholic

Looks like you already have a lot of good info.

So I'm just posting to say - Welcome to the City!

Cool. Have a good one.

are you paid up on your base rent?

Base rent is based on storage items now instead of base size.
Did you possibly add storage to your base recently?

I have 3 legit arcs up.
I'm working on about 10 or so more. I'll rotate missions in-and-out as I get new ones done.
I can adapt.
I'm looking forward to the updates to the MA.

Go to the Official Farming thread -
https://boards.cityofheroes.com/showthre...SID=&fpart=

If the moderators are doing their job, this thread should be shut down soon.

My 50 blaster is energy/energy. It rocks.

Yeah, other people don't like the KB, but you can work around that.
It's mainly group dispersion that the other players complain about.

The game doesn't really end at 50 for me, but I due then to play alts that haven't hit 50 yet instead.

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"Don't just assume a potential new team mate wants to do AE missions at all .. Farms or not!" This happened to me enough that I now ASK what type of missions before I even consider joining a team.

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I pretty much want to know what kind of mission it will be, what is the level of the person running the team, what is the difficulty set on, and where is the mission going to be - before I will even join a team.

Even with "send tell with your level before invite" doesn't even mean a tell will be sent with that much info.
If I do get a tell, many times it will include a lie. Like "We are a level 25 team". The leader is actually level 22 and they are fighting level 25's. I can understand some leaders wanting to do this to get the "biggest bang for their buck", but I'm no sucker. I can create my own team as well.

I'm definitely against farming. Farming/PL'ing in the MA have definably been tagged as being "against the rules". So if anyone has problems with me not joining an AE farm team, I probably have already put them on /gignore and 1 stared them.

I like running police missions, but some don't even consider them to be "normal" missions.

I think it is polite to always send a tell when inviting people to your team asking if they would like to join rather than just sending them an invite.

However, as there are trial accounts, I do tend to send a tell and then an invite if the person I'm inviting is below level 15 - as, if they are on a trial, they will have no way of responding in many cases.

And yeah, I definitely ask before I head anywhere to do a mission. I've been burned to many times ending up going some place and finding out the team was a farm or something else that I didn't want to be involved with. I've even gone that far, stated my objection and then been kicked from the team, so I know others' people's pain in dealing with jerks of such caliber.

That is to say, when I have a search comment that says "no bridging, no farming, no PL'ing, no kidding". I don't expect to arrive at a mission with my level 45, be expected to sk a lower level in order to bridge for them, and then be kicked from the team because I won't sk the lowbie for a PL. At least the leader on the team is a jerk, the others telling me that I'm wrong for not aiding in their conspiracy - as far as I'm concerned, they are wrong as well.

I'm not playing to work the game, exploit the game, or be used by people doing either. I'm here to play the game and have fun.

It seems a pain sometimes to have to go to such lengths to run with good people, but when it happens. It is great.
I managed to get on two good teams today and I ran a couple over the weekend.

I'm all for good AE content. By "good" I mean, non-exploitive missions that were created for content and creativity and not to abuse the mechanics.

This is pretty much why I consider Statesman to be a traitor.
Not only has "Statesman" (Jack) turned his back on CoX, it was in an effort to make big bucks with Marvel Online (which no matter how good or bad it was would have been competition for CoX), then he goes on to massacre the great gaming system that was the great and infamous Champions the PRG by using the remains of Marvel Online for the mechanics (the Champions mechanics both for powers and combat would have held up in a computer environment as they are all mathematically based), then stamping on the Champions name on the travesty, and finally sticking in the (laughable) "signature characters" (we always considered them to be examples of how not to make characters - especially Foxbat!), but the studio he is part of begins bashing CoX in order to hype Champions Online.
I'm not impressed.
Is he the plague of plagues? No. He brought us CoX and that's a great thing. It's just selling out CoX, leaving it behind, and then trying to replace it.

Statesman's a traitor alright. Don't let that star-spangled costume fool you.

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People with your playstyle bore the crap out of me and cause me to quit teams.

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Good, then I wouldn't have to kick you.

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Yeah, I do think Tanks need Taunt. Was I unclear on that? No.

Did I say anywhere that I thought Kins should bypass having SB? No.

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No, elsewhere you got bent out of shape because someone considered Kins lazy if they weren't putting SB out all the time. Now you're calling Tanks bad players if they don't take and use taunt. You're insight is incredibly enlightening, you should post about it in the Tanker forums. I'm sure you'll find no complaints and well reasoned arguments against the idea. You'd certainly prove me wrong if everyone agreed.


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Ha. Yeah. That's funny.

You know when I start yelling "Taunt tanker, Taunt!"?

Its when I've had enough of the Tank saying repeatedly, "sb me!", "heal me!", whatever "ME".

The Tank not only isn't concerned about why they might not be getting the SB, heal, whatever as quickly as they want it....the Tank is saying "...me".
I've never seen a tank yell out "sb the group". It is always about the tank getting what they want.

That's when I yell, "Taunt tanker, taunt".

And, btw, that's for the benefit of the whole team and not just my character...unlike the tank who is only looking out for themselves.

...oh, and remember what this thread is about? Grant Cover!
And my point was that it was very useful to a team, and the stance has been "well, other powers are more useful to me."
Surprise, surprise!

Tanker-tude is real.
Do you really need to keep proving it in your replies?

PS. I never said a tank was "lazy". A Tanker - posting in multiple forums - was insulting Kins. More Tanker-tude.

It makes me ashamed to play a Tank. Fortunately, when I play a tank, I leave the -tude behind and work with the team.

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Heres a quote from the Official Guide posted here at the website ::

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The Tanker is the “big man” of the hero world, combining
massive defense with a powerful, but not exceptionally
quick, offensive punch.
Tankers make effective solo Heroes, at their own deliberate
pace, but they are also in demand by teams,
where their function is to keep enemy attacks off the
lightly defended Blasters, Controllers and Defenders.

[/ QUOTE ]

[/ QUOTE ]

Wait a second. Haven't you stated before that you hate tanker's attitudes of being too full of themselves. That they shouldn't complain if Kinetic players don't spam SB. Now, you're going to use an outdated guide to support something you blasted someone else for doing.

You saying that Taunt is necessary to play a tanker right, is the same as saying a Kinetics has to take SB to be played right. Not all tanks need Taunt, hence, its place as a secondary power. I have many tanks who have no problem maintaining the aggro cap without Taunt. I've managed aggro for plenty of teams without it without a complaint. Obviously it's not needed.

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Yes. Indeed many Tankers do have Tanker-tude.

But if you want respect as the "big man", you have to earn it. Tanker-tude doesn't cut it in my book.

How many times have you heard a Kin (or anyone for that matter) yelling at a Tanker to Taunt?

If you did, I'd say it was a pretty good chance it was me. I've never heard seen anyone else do it.

Yeah, I do think Tanks need Taunt. Was I unclear on that? No.

Did I say anywhere that I thought Kins should bypass having SB? No.

I have been on countless teams where the Tanker did not control agro, thought that they did, and bragged about the fact while those behind them fell because they didn't. Then they had the nerve to blame the other players for not being able to defend themselves.

Jump up and down. Run around in circles. Have fun chasing your tail.

BTW, the guide isn't outdated. That is still the intent of the archetype.

I'd go with kinetics for the win myself.
If not, I'd go with the rad.

I dislike the graphics effects of thermal. They are very busy and make it hard for me to see combat clearly through a team that is on fire. (I haven't played villains much for a while, but I recall that Thermal is the one that has fire shields..right?)

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A brute is like a scrapper, but more tank-like. I say "tank-like" because brutes were not designed to be tanks. They do have tank-y powersets though.

A stalker is like a scrapper, but not as strong defensively.

A corrupter is like a defender but backwards, with their damage as primary and support as secondary.

A dominator is like a controller mixed with a blaster - control + damage

A mastermind is unlike anything else.

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Yeah, I thought that was a real good explanation. I was tempted not to write anything....but I have a couple of personal things to add to this great explanation.

Stalkers seem to work best on the strike, run and hide, strike tactics. It might seem strange on a team, but this really does work well. Assassin strike, take a couple of strikes, then run around the corner to get hide back, and return - repeat. Their Crit Inherent only works when they are hidden, and the Assassin Strike does best when hidden, so really - this tactic makes a lot sense.

Dominators seem to me to be like Controller with a secondary that is mix of scrapper primaries and blaster secondaries. I really like Dominators because of the domination inherent. Just when you think Dominators are out of the mix because they have no endurance - they can pop that Domination and they will be fully charged with end and doing extra damage. (I am quite baised toward Dominators on the villain side)

(as far as I'm concerned) Masterminds are the tanks of CoV. It's just a matter of their armor is separate from their bodies and so are some of their attack powers. Mastermind pets are very controllable. It is specially important to keep track of/manipulate their settings from attack, defense, and heel. Pet control can really make or break a mastermind.

If I was team leader and you were running unnecessarily quickly into battle and putting the rest of the team to any kind of risk, I would give you three warnings before kicking you from the team.

I can almost guarantee that one or more other members of the party would then congratulation me on my patience in allowing you the opportunity to curb your impulsive behavior.

I know, because I have had to do this on more than one occasion.

If I wasn't leader, and I saw you repeatedly putting the team at risk. I would say something. If there wasn't a change, then I would simply quit the team and find/start another one.

Once you are on a team, it isn't just about you. You aren't solo. You are part of a team. Act like it.

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It is a Teen game. Personally i think kids should not even touch that game. It is not for them. Simple as that.

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Well it is up to the parent to decide, that is the reason for the rating system. The only thing I really see that could warrant this as 'teen' is the online experience with other players. The gameplay is certainly E10+.

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The content is Rated T for Teen. It isn't E10+ by any stretch of the definition.
As soon as you as the first Hellion comes at you with a baseball bat or shoots a gun at you it is no longer E10+.
The content that changes in actual game play actually goes to M or AO in some situations.



That's why I'm against children playing this game. It is clearly marked on the box and at log in as "T for Teen". There is a blind-eye turned to this, but I think that the parents are being irresponsible.
The rating systems are there for a reason.
We each have our own stand on this, so there is no need to debate that part of the issue.

The DEVs tried to create the game so that there would be no such thing as kill-stealing. In this regards, having "Arrest X# of Y" missions was a glaring oversight.
The only thing that can really be stolen is the actual arresting of the enemy - that final blow that puts them down. Most of the game/xp is not related to the final "arrest" but to the damage that you have generated to the enemies. The only time that it is is when you are on a head-count mission, and those are the exception to the rule.
If someone is following you around doing this - waiting until you have almost killed something and then making the final hit in order to take credit for your arrest - then you could petition the person.

If someone is randomly running by and helps out with a mob?
If I see a character is hurt (I always have the health bars running), I will do what I can to help them.
This could be anything from heals, buffs, giving insp, and taunts to actually beating up mobs that are chasing them or finishing off a foe or two if the player is about to fall from lack of hit points.

As far as that goes, if the character falls and the enemies are still there - should you arrest them or leave them?
I figure everyone wants what experience they earned so I tend to take out the enemy that were being fought if I can't defend/aide the character that was fighting the enemies fast enough. At that point, the fallen character gets xp credit for their part in defeating the whole mob. This is xp that they wouldn't get if the mob wasn't defeated.

I've also run around the City healing and bubbling characters. Some feel that that his cheating as well. It's all a matter of perspective.

In this game, there is no such thing as kill-stealing. Heroes are helping heroes in battle. And villains, well they are just villains.
You will get credit for the damage that you do.
Don't sweat the little stuff.

99% of the time the other person thought that they were helping.
A simple tell in local "I'm okay" would be enough for most players to back off.

I can't say one time in the last several years that I have gotten involved with an injured hero fighting a mob where the player said anything negative to me about helping out. I would say close to 80% of the time I got a "thanks", "thank you", or "ty" in local, broadcast, or a direct tell from the character that I had assisted.

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And besides, I find the notion that "the big picture" means that I have to build for teaming to be absurd. I build to the strengths of my AT and my powersets and I build to facilitate my playstyle. If that means build for soloing, then build for soloing I will. If that means build for killing stuff and killing stuff only, then so be it. Grant Cover may help, but it doesn't help enough to justify its cost.

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You can build your character anyway you want. I know that I do.

You can build your character for soloing PvE or fighting in PvP. The builds are different.

If you are really trying to be a "team-minded" player, then you pick powers differently than you would if you were planning on soloing.

I understand why players are frustrated when they feel that they are sacrificing for the good of the team and the others could care less. You admit it would be a sacrifice to take the power that would aide the team.

I would say the same goes for play styles.

It's up to you if you want to be a team player or not. Its up to you to decide if you want to play as part of a team or expect others to play as a team by following you while you do your thing. I'm not saying you do that or not. I don't know what you do or how you play if I haven't been on a team with you.

I play all different kinds of characters, but by-and-large I'm always trying to look after my team mates if I'm a team leader or just a member of the team.

Some players don't care if they fall in combat or if others fall in combat. I know that I do. Falling in combat is a punishment.
Fewer and fewer players are treating it that way.

I expect people to be defensive. We all are.
I still think that you would want to protect your friends if you could, but maybe I'm wrong.

Many disagree.
When I play a scrapper, I often hang back with the squishes to kill those that enemies that get through to be in close range with them. This happens quite often as Tanks aren't keeping he agro and/or tanks and scrappers (sometimes PBs and WSs) are rushing ahead and leaving enemies behind that quickly close with the squishes that are behind them.

Grant Cover not only protects the rest of the team, it protect those that are around the scrapper. That means the tanks that are taunting (or should be taunting) and any squishes that are in melee combat range.

People can tell me all day how powers that help the team are negative to team dynamics, but I'm not seeing it.

I don't see how Grant Cover has any Self -SPD or Self Slow characteristics.

It in no way limits mobility.

If you are actively defending that you don't need a power that would help protect your teammates, I have to ask how is it job minded to ignore your teammates?

If you just want to solo, I agree there is no reason to have Grant Cover.

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You see, some tanks don't need to use taunt. Not with they have more than one aggro aura, and use gauntlet to their advantage

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I play tanks. Taunt is better at keeping agro better than any aura or gauntlet.
In fact, tanks were lacking in fulfilling their role so much in the game because they weren't taking Taunt that the DEVs instituted Gauntlet on all Tanker attack/damage powers, so that Tanks were force to take at least some of the agro that they were intended to take.

The picture is bigger than you think some times.

The other Archetypes are there for a reason. They each have a role.
Taunt is there for a reason too. It's their for the tanker's role.

Heres a quote from the Official Guide posted here at the website ::

[ QUOTE ]
The Tanker is the “big man” of the hero world, combining
massive defense with a powerful, but not exceptionally
quick, offensive punch.
Tankers make effective solo Heroes, at their own deliberate
pace, but they are also in demand by teams,
where their function is to keep enemy attacks off the
lightly defended Blasters, Controllers and Defenders.

[/ QUOTE ]

What better power...

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... to keep enemy attacks off the
lightly defended Blasters, Controllers and Defenders.

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...than the one that was created to do that?

It seems to me that a tanker not taking Taunt is denying the whole point of the archetype.

Frankly, I'm not surprised that a reply in this manner in regards to my post.

Grant Cover would help to defend all your teammates, why on Earth would a tanker want to do that?

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Tankers ...function is to keep enemy attacks off the
lightly defended Blasters, Controllers and Defenders.

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Looks like you came back to pick up where you left off.
You left complaining about PvP to return to complain about PvP.
Nice.

Find something else to do besides complaining. We heard it all before you left.

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Today I was in a team with 3 other shieldies (I was on my shield scrapper) and I mentioned "This entire team would be pretty unstoppable if we all had grant cover.". The response I received was basically "Well it does nothing for me so I don't like it."

....

Am I just making a big deal out of nothing here or should more shieldies start looking at the bigger picture?

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There are many players that do "miss the big picture" as they are too concentrated on themselves.

Tankers that don't take and/or actively use Taunt are "missing the big picture".

What where they missing by not taking Grant Cover?

They were missing 2 additional Grant Covers (yours +2) because they didn't take it. The other players would have 2 additiona Grant Covers because the others didn't take it. And you missed 3 levels of Grant Covers because none of them took it.

What does it do for them?
It allows them to be beneficial to the team.
Some people are too self-centered. They are only thinking about themselves and could care less about what is happening to the rest of the team.
They are making solo characters and then teaming to get the benefit of teaming without actually helping the team to perform better.

Yes. The teams work a lot better and are far more effective if all the members of the team work as a team in order to augment each others powers.
Unfortunately, there are many players that do "miss the big picture" for many reasons. They aren't team-players; they are soloing with a team.

There really isn't anything that you can do about these kinds of players unless you are leader. If you are leader, the only thing you can really do is kick those players from the team and try to find a more team-friendly player - but that is hit-or-miss for sure. I've seen sg/vg's demand power requirements - either you take those powers by a certain level or you are kicked out of the sg/vg.
The only kind of character that you really have any control over is your own. You can do what you think is correct. You can work to be part of a team. You can check out what your team mates are doing and try to make the team better by augmenting what they are doing.

There are active and passive forms of leadership. By augmenting the other characters powers, you are organizing the team into a better functioning team - even if it is just your part. By organizing the team, you are taking on a leadership role on the team - even if you don't have the star.

So don't bang your head into the wall trying to convince other players that some powers are beneficial for teaming. They will either pick them, or they just don't care about teamwork. That's on them.

Suggest tactics or strategies that will help the team function better. If you can get people to listen to that, it is the first foot-in-the-door towards getting someone else to understand what teamwork is. Once a player sees what teamwork can do, eventually some of the benefits of teamwork will seep into their minds. Hopefully, once they start to get a grip on what teamwork is really about, they will begin to understand why helping their teammates is a good thing. Once they understand it is a good thing to help teammate, then those players can begin to rethink how they select their powers and will understand why taking "support" power often is far more beneficial in the "big picture" as compared to just looking out for themselves.

The only character I have that is strictly a "vampire"/kindred is a storm/dark defender.

You get a lot of good drains in the dark scrapper set. I have a goth character that's a dark/dark scrapper. Dark Armor drains a lot of endurance and can be kind of a pain to deal with.

It looks like you are looking mostly for the villain side though.

So yeah, a Stalker would work well. I'm sure some would be against claws, but I think that they work well for vampire.

I'd say any combo of dark, claws, and weather control would work as far as vampires go.

I wouldn't over look willpower or regen. Regen is green, but regen is pretty obviously a trait that vampires are known for.

Yeah, swiping names is right out. Read the EULA and Codes of Conduct and it is pretty clear on that. That goes for blatant costume rip-offs as well.

A random generated name? Huh, I see.

I ported over a Ravos from a WoD game that I played in. The powers don't match exactly, but the illusion set didn't really work with the way that he used his powers at any rate. That's why I went with the Storm/Dark.
His name is Vlangdel. He's over on Protector.

I think you're probably likely to run into a lot of vampire/kindred over on Virtue. As Virtue is the unofficial RP server, you'll most likely find your best RP experience there. Check out the Pocket D - there are always players there RP'ing on Virtue.

oh, almost forgot - I always make up my own character names.

I create most my characters by character conception.
Which secondary fits your character conception best?

Sure storms is fine. It has great debuffs. There are no self heals though and the targeted heal (though it works like a limited Clear Mind) doesn't heal a great deal. All this aside, Stormy's are a of fun to play!

Farming is a seemingly accepted exploit.
Want to exploit it more?

Go ahead. Push the barrier even more.
I guess the DEV posts about farming exploits in the AE and the damage that their presence have done to the MA just make no difference to some people.
All they want to do is find another way to abuse the system.

Yeah, I'm sure that the DEVs are going to give you something else to exploit by farming so that you can get even better loot.

if they are crazy enough to implement this, I hope they add enhances that are plus 53 as drops - which can't be slotted by anyone.

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Myth: Average players are worse off because of the market

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Fact:
<ul type="square">[*]I had characters in the 30's that didn't have enough inf to completely slot with DO's before the Market existed.[/list]Fact:
<ul type="square">[*]The average player can sell their IO salvage and recipes to contacts and have more inf than my characters did before the Market came out.[*]If they sell their IO salvage on the Market, they can make even more inf.[*]If they even take half a minute to think about how the Market operates...[/list]