je_saist

Ai. What I was thinking. I don't see any reason why this stuff couldn't be merged into the existing game... well... other than one particular problem

System requirements.

This came up a lot in the thread about graphics improvements being implemented in the game. Several players voiced the opinion that they wanted to keep using the computers they were using and not have to upgrade in order to keep playing.

A lot of the improvements we'd like to see... are simply too computationally intensive for the 2003 / 2004 system requirements. Maybe a new game would be the best way to break off and not burn bridges with players on Intel GMA, GeforceFX, and Radeon 8500 cards... That supposes though that NCSoft has enough money to front a completely separate development path... and that they'd be willing to do so.

That also depends on the game not being able to scale the current engine upwards... which so far, it has been capable of doing.

One of the questions I'd like to see posed at Hero'Con is what the Going Rogue machine specs will be... as I suspect they'll set a performance envelope for what the developers can do for another few years.

I wouldn't know about delay. I haven't actually used any VGA boxes.

As far as being cheaper, that was the cheapest one I could find. A well-reviewed VGA Box, like the VDigi VD-W2, runs around $40.

/signed

and now for the smart alek comment: The contact is working on the grey market. The Quartermasters are paid by Arachnos to sell to the Destined Ones. Contact's gotta make money somehow.

Sadly Nintendo doesn't offer a display port / vga adapter for the Wii...

That said, there are 3rd party solutions, such as this one: http://www.imarketcity.com/vgacaforcowi.html

Also, some monitors accept component input. Speaking for myself, I've got my Wii hooked up by a component to VGA adapter going into a scepter monitor.

ah. I get what he said now. Thank you.

I think I might also be able to guess why. Physical Pefection does work as two powers, it boosts both Regen and Recovery. I suspect given the way you phrased what's happening, that it's applying the power twice, once as a regen and once as a recovery.

And yeah, I don't expect that to last long.

em. no. I've bolded and colored the reasons why in the initial post.

They are Chance procs. They have really low proc values as well. So basically you're pet is going to be really, really, really weak.

I... don't think this last part is correct.

Under the power-monitoring window the procs and the powers are shown as separate.

So I went to test with my fire tank, did a quick respec, and here's what the regen rate / recovery rate looks like without the proc's slotted...





and what they look like with the powers slotted.





As can be seen, the proc's don't affect the power itself. As the real numbers show, the procs are based off your base stats.

In practice then, using Physical Perfection as a platform for the procs really isn't a ... good idea... unless you do nothing but play at 39+. Reason being the procs are based off of whether or not the power is active. Since the earliest Physical Perfection can be taken is 44, the power will only activate if you are 5 levels down... which is 39.

To demonstrate this, I actually took health somewhere in my 20's, then went to ourobous and dropped to 14. Without health, the buffs turned off.



***

Now, you can boost the effects of your procs. To boost the effects of the procs, you need to boost your base health and base recovery. The higher your base numbers are, the more you'll recover.

To demonstrate this, here's my stone tank, which has Earth's Embrace. Here's my base stats, where you can see that with 2246hp the Numina proc is running 3.37hp



When I hit Earth's Embrace and top 3212hp... The Numina proc is now pulling 4.82hp.



***

So yes, you can boost the proc effects, but you'll need to boost your base values for your HP and Endurance.

True, I had forgotten about those.

^^
This.

I can already tell you what the response would be.

There's already a method in game for players to gain a crafting table anywhere. Yes, the Field Crafter badge is rather expensive, and time-consuming to get : http://badge-hunter.com/view_badges.php?id=705

But if anybody needs to make a recipe that badly in the field, the option is available.

Not what I meant.

The Proc can activate against multiple opponents.

However, the Proc's chance to activate is generally determined by how many times the power is clicked on with your mouse.

There are certain cases where Procs can be slotted into toggles, such as the Ghost Widow Psi Damage Hold Proc that can go into a rad's Choking Cloud, or the Slow Chance for Smashing Damage that can go in a Storm's Snow Storm. In these cases, there is a flat timer that the proc has a chance of activating against.

The Proc activation It is not affected by how many targets the power itself can target..

Ergo, if you're a rad with the GW Damage proc in Choking cloud, sitting in a Mob of 16 isn't going to do anything to improve the chances that the proc will activate and damage surrounding enemies.

In the same way, yes, you can put the proc into Shockwave, and yes, if it activates, it can hurt everything targeted by Shockwave. However, the number of targets it can hit will have no impact on whether or not the proc activates.

procs only activate against the power being used.

So no, if you smack a full mob with Shockwave, that doesn't increase your chances of the proc going off.

I think you touched on the core of the problem here. When City of Villains was launched... it was simply called City of Villains.

However, when just about all other mass-market games have have launched expansion packs, those expansion packs have always carried the title of the originating game, then the title of the expansion. Doom 3: Ressurection, Half Life: Blue Shift, Half Life: Opposing Force, AvP2: Primal Hunt, and the aforementioned expansions from Blizzard and NCSoft, as well as expansions from SOE.

I think a lot of these name changing threads are created because Cryptic Studios set the precedent of naming an expansion as a spin-off title. Instead of something like City of Heroes: Villains we got the distinct brandings of City of Heroes and City of Villains... and the two were held as separate entities for... how long?

I think if the two had always been combined as one, rather than Villains as a separate product, these types of renames would never be happening.

The good news is, Paragon Studios / NCSoft seem to have learned the lesson... check out the logo for Going Rogue : http://www.cityofheroes.com/goingrogue/en/

It goes back to the traditional Main title first naming scheme

check you're pm's for the followup.

There's no way I can innocently ask if you've ever played with somebody who scrapper-locks or blaster-locks... I've had quite a few teaming missions with whole room aggro thanks to a scrapper or blaster forgetting what they were aiming at, or just tabbing and hitting F, or tabbing and firing.

I've also had quite a few teaming instances where I was the scrapper, brute, blaster RESPONSIBLE for said whole room aggro (sorry about that Cap TF...)

Something else to keep in mind is that you are playing a defender. Remeber, attacks are a defenders secondary power... it's not their strength. As you advance in levels you'll encounter many more enemy types that you won't be able to hold a candle against as a defender... CoT and Lost are just the start of what's going to be a painful road if you aren't teaming.

Ai, and as Percy is required for entry into the Midnighter Club / Cimerora, it's an un-droppable arc.

As Star Geek suggests, you'll need to take along a team for those missions.

I... don't think it's just you.

As I understand the history of the game the Hero Epic Archtypes were the Challenge Classes. They were meant to be played by veteran players who had experienced the game. Thus, they got travel powers at level 1. They got stronger defensive forms, and more accurate blasting forms. They covered a wider-range of play-styles...

At the same time, they also got mission challenges such as ambushes. They also got Sapper class and Ring Mistress Class enemies at level 1 in the form of Voids and Quantums.

Over time that Challenge aspect has been lost. Quants and Void's can still kill a Kheldian, but they no longer generate the utter horror that they used to. A lot of players also think of Epic AT's as being Better AT's. So, they approach Hero AT's expecting to find an easy mode of gameplay...

When the Developers made the Villain Epic Archtypes... the sense was further lost. Villain's don't get exclusive and dangerous enemies. They don't get the challenges at low levels that Hero's get. Their power sets are also better balanced to be more All-Rounders.

I think the best way I can describe it is this way: Hero Epic AT's are goal-less.

When you play a tank, you're job is to take damage and control aggro.
When you play a scrapper, you're job is to get in melee range and land as much DPS as possible.
When you play a blaster, you're job is to hang on the edges of battle and blast, and take out run-aways or things that get too close.

When you play a Villain AT, you have very clear points at what you choose what you are going to be. Are you going to be a soldier? Are you going to be a Crab? Are you going to be a Night Widow? Are you going to be a Fortunanta? Once you've selected what you are going to be, you only get powers for what you chose to be.

On the Hero Challenge AT's... if you've decided to go Tank and work on damage resistances / defense... you'll still be able to pick up ranged powers and status effects or low control. There's never a really clear point to what you're going to be.

A lot of people swear by WarShades because of one common goal. Being able to Perma the Eclipse power. With that goal in mind, it's easy to figure out what to slot to make a WarShade work.

Peacebringers... well. They really don't have a killer power to aim at. There's no central I want to do that that I've ever come across.

That loss of perspective, that loss of a clear goal for the class... I think is what causes a lot of burnout. It's why my own PB has stalled at 39 for literal years. I just can't ever decide "what" I'm going to do with her.

from a performance standpoint, the 7900 GS. To get an idea on performance, you can use the baseline card features which are listed here : http://www.techarp.com/showarticle.aspx?artno=88&pgno=0

The 3450 has a clock of 600mhz with a 64bit memory bus, and has 40 unified shaders.

The 7900 GS has a clock of 450mhz with a 256bit memory bus, 7 dedicated vertex shaders and 20 dedicated pixel shaders.

When looking at fill rate, the RadeonHD 3450 can do 2400 Mpixels and 2400 Mtexels.

The 7900 GS can do 7200 Mpixels and 9000 Mtexels.

On paper, the 7900 GS offers more performance

Now, I don't have a 7900 GS. I've got a 7900 GT KO, a factory overclocked edition... and I know from personal experience that the card will not run on a 250 watt power supply. I also know it wouldn't run on a 300 watt power supply. (if you're wondering, I was trying to use the card in a Soltek SFF)

You might be able to get the 7900 GS to run on a 280 power supply... it's power requirements aren't as high as the GT varients. I just really doubt it.

I do know that the 250 watt power supply I had in the Soltek was capable of pushing both a Radeon x1900 AIW and a RadeonHD 3650... so it shouldn't have any problems pushing the RadeonHD 3450.