ketch

A badge of honor? All it tells me is that someone has dinged 50. It took me nearly a year and half to get my first 50, but (especially during the AE pl'ing fiasco) I've seen people with a 50 in less than 3 months. It certainly was exciting the first time I hit 50 to think I could roll a new AT, but this change doesn't retroactively diminish the excitement I felt. The clunky playstyle of Khelds did enough to tarnish the idea of "epic" for me.

The comparison to SW:G isn't very strong either. The changes to Jedi's came as a part of the disastrous NGE. It wasn't only unlocking the Jedi class for everyone. People were in an uproar about the vast changes made to the game with so little notice from the developers.

Easy solution: Make teams. Don't invite tanks. Roll out!

But yeah, I hate the old "Let me herd this" mentality. Still it's not worthy going red-side to avoid. The only thing that interests me there are doms, but I'll wait until I can make one in GR.

I'm having the same problem. Tried it in Firefox, Safari, and IE, but I can't get a larger veiw of any of the pics over at www.mmorpg.org.

Some of us enjoy complicated things and using tools that help to grasp a better understanding of it. In fact, one of the challenges that many people enjoy is taking something that seems sub-optimal and making it work as well as or better than the average. I consider it somewhat like trying to MacGuyver up something workable out of junk.


That said, I don't let the popularity of a set determine whether I play it. That decision is based solely around how much fun it is to play. After all, if all the cool kids stayed on the bridge, does that mean you jump off?

I concur. After hitting 50 with a mind/kin and an ill/kin, I don't think I'll be rolling anymore. Speedboost is definitely the most annoying buff to reapply and some people will go absolutely nuts if they don't have it.

Gitta out my forum, boy! Viva la control!

Anyway, that silliness out of the way, making the transition from blaster to defender to controller isn't going to ease things, IMO. I love controllers, but have deleted every defender I've ever attempted. I find the protection they offer weaker than a controller (especially when it comes to protecting themselves) and their damage even more anemic. You may learn a bit about buffing and debuffing, but that's only half a controllers job and probably the easier half of it.

The most important thing is what EmperorSteele mentioned. You have to play through with the character. Control is as much about knowing your enemy as it is knowing yourself. You have to learn which mobs need to be neutralized first (or in the case of confusion, which can help you the most), and what mezzes work on particular mobs. (It also helps in the case of toggled debuffs to learn which mobs are going to be the last standing. People tend to dogpile bosses and sometimes it's worth tossing it on a lieutenant.) I'll point to Nemesis as an example.

I absolutely detested fighting Nems on my first controllers. They have a wide range of units with varied protections against stuns, fears, sleeps, and confusion. For my mind, Mass Hypnosis became something reserved for soldiers, and it was worth it to stack confusion on that Werfer Jaeger because of all the extra fire power it carries. My earth troller started relying on Earthquake more against them and reserved the immobilize until after I had enough stuns stacked. Plant had to open with Creepers from around the corner rather than the standard Seeds of Confusion. I didn't realize all this the first time I faced them or even the second. (How would I know after playing my earth controller that they have protection against confusion?) Each primary brought a different way to deal with them.

For me controllers have a depth of game play that other AT's lack. You can control. You can buff. You can debuff. You can deal damage. You may not be the best at all of those things, but you have lots of ways to contribute to a team.

I had this same thought on the way to work today. Mez protection would be a highly desirable goal for many. I find the prevalence of sleeps particularly annoying though not as dangerous as other mezzes.

I find that being held, stunned, or slept leads to defeat much more often than being debuffed.

Or you can continue reading...

See the rest of the post where it recommends creating other attractive sets bonuses. Maybe if people have something else to chase fewer will chase after this particular goal.

You'll also have to forgive me this since I don't play the melee AT's, what defense set does not have defense debuff resistance? I see it in Super Reflexes, Invulnerability, Ice Armor, Shield Defense, and Stone Armor.

Why not add better Defense Debuff resistance to AT's that naturally have it? I can only imagine the up roar if they were to cut back the set bonuses. Perhaps, it isn't the best approach from a mechanical standpoint, but you must also consider player perceptions.

Sexy?

Anyway, the cat is out of the bag already and I don't think they can put it back in without causing a lot of trouble. Rather than nerf what already exists, I'd second Adeon's response of adding more defense debuffs.

Generally, I think the need to make other appealing alternatives available through inventions. Softcapping is relatively easy after all. Look at some of the other bonuses that could be appealing, but come in such small quantities that there's little point pursuing them. For example, the largest bonus for damage is only 4%. Why chase a couple set bonuses when you can carry some inspirations?

Rodion did say frequently, which is not always. But it does bring up an interesting point. Why is their a stigma associated with using inspirations? Many times I'll attempt to hand a wakie to a fallen ally to find that they are full of inspirations.

Why aren't people using inspirations to heal and prevent incoming damage? Sometimes you do get a full tray of something that won't help much, but I've seen the previously described scenario far too often for that to be the case.

Given that controllers and defenders can offer vastly different playstyles I don't see why this is hard to believe. I'll cite the example of Kinetics as an illustration. It is a good defender primary, but lacks the personal safety that would make it overpowering. Enter the fire controller with comparable contained damage and the safety of controls. We'll let the number of fire/kins speak for itself...

Also, bear in mind that Trick Arrow is not an overly popular controller secondary. I would imagine it falls somewhere around mid-to-low numbers. It is a good secondary, but it is often overshadowed by the likes of kinetics, radiation, and storm.

Good point. The Rune of Purification you get from Mortician and Midnighter accolade would do it too.

The immobilize in Gravity doesn't offer -kb, however your holds do. Wormhole's knockback is also a bit tricky as its magnitude will increase as you go up in level. At level 26, it's only a 10.3 mag knockback but will increase to 14.5 at level 50. After taking that change into consideration there is level scaling to consider as well. Basically, as enemies increase in level above you your powers will have a smaller effect.

For example, you just got Wormhole at level 26 and you rush of to face some +1 minions. Now your knockback is only 90% as effective, reducing it to a 9.27 mag kb. Some mobs may resist that. Some may not. It could even have varying effects on enemies in the same group.

Also, for Fire's question, you have a few options for lighting the slick. Like Ion said energy based attacks will ignite it. The Tech and Magic origins will both grant you a power that will do, but the are fairly short ranged. You can also dip into the Fire or Primal APP's for some more options there.