ketch

That could be said of any controller with an immob. Heck, earth trollers have their own knockdown power so they should understand the pain more than anyone. IMO, the biggest offenders for negating knockdown are fire/kins and occasionally plant/kins. Plant, it can be noted, has a pet that will mindlessly spam an AoE immob too.

True enough that you don't need another heal with those secondaries, but it could benefit sonic, forcefields, TA, cold, and storm. In fact, I often see Stone mastery and Aid-self recommended for pairing with forcefields so that they have a self-heal. It would be nice to have a little more choice outside those two options.

To me, the self-rez has little value. I don't find myself falling often enough at the beginning or during the middle of battle for it to turn the tide. Either the battle is over in which case an awaken will do or the team is wiped out and it's best to hit hospital because someone is standing on my face. Of course, if the team has nearly wiped and you can self-rez then rez someone else (a case which works nicely with the sets you mentioned: Therm, Emp, and Rad) you might turn the tide. I would prefer something that helps prevent reaching that point rather than being quirky and of limited use.

As for fire/kin's, they'll throw a wrench into any damage tool you might want to give to controllers. Will an ice/rad be overpowered with FSC? An earth/emp? An ill/storm? Besides, I was under the impression many fire/kins are migrating to stone for the +HP, defense shield, and comparable damage of fissure. In any case, it was a throw away suggestion to stimulate discussion of what else could take the place of RotP.

Well, the problem here isn't specific to steamy mists. It's due to the -def effect in the Cimerorans attacks. Let a chop or two get through and suddenly you've been minced. Unless you have a sizable amount of lethal/smashing defense they'll quickly cut through it. (I have a fire/ff/stone softcapped v. smashing/lethal that has fallen to some unlucky hits and collapsing defense on the ITF.)

I prefer conserve power for that. Of course, prior to getting energy torrent I wasn't too attached to the primal pool. Energy Torrent + Force Feedback's recharge proc made it more attractive, and I get a lot of use out of conserve power and powerboost on my mind/rad.


After running 6 trollers to level 50, fire is the only APP I haven't used. I did try it on my earth/storm mostly for the elemental flavor, but it didn't feel like it added much to what I had so I respec'ed into Stone. I may give it a try on a mind/kin that is currently using the ice APP. Though I suspect it won't stack up well against the fact that ice offers two AoE's and a defense based armor. Aside from a rarely resisted damage type, I don't see what strengths the Fire APP has to offer.

Hmm, I wonder how people could have gotten to level 50 ignorant of the game mechanics. Oh wait...

Heck, this new system makes me more likely to exemp at any given level. Having more powers than the rest of the team makes me feel like a big shot.

You fool! Open the box!

I was going to offer some karmic balance but it seems I already +repped you today.

Great list, by the way. I didn't think about saving costumes on test. That'll be a great way to avoid the lag.

I concur and would like to add this. Drop off the contacts that don't have you involved in a story line. I generally don't get to see some of the low level story arcs because we're sent to contacts that have you doing random tasks. If a player wants random mishes there is the radio and no shortage of teammates who want to do radio mishes. Give us easier access to story arcs while we're leveling up.

Fear not. We're only talking about a cosmetic change here, not a mechanical one. Playing in granite is still going to feel slow and bulky, it's might just look a bit different.

Or open up the super tailor to everyone since it was a horrible idea to include in the Booster in the first place. Players shouldn't have to pay in order to replicate a thematic choice they already have.

Otherwise, I'm all for the change. Though it would be nice if the visual didn't stray too terribly far from what exists now.

Here, here. I liked these sort of open-to-all objectives when I tried the CO beta. It was fun to stumble across something where people could work together without being on the same team. Of course, they repeated too often, making it feel as if you hadn't accomplished anything at all. I like the general premise though. Couple something like that with the world changing mechanics in RV and I think you'd have a winner.

As for exploration in games, one of the most fun experiences I had was on a persistent world module in NWN called Three Towns (think of an MMO, but with a cap of 40 or 50 people to the server). As I was skulking through mountains fighting giants spiders I stumbled upon a cave and slipped inside for a look. There I found a little girl turned to stone. Probably not a good sign, but I crept forward bolstered by the a ton of skill points in Hide. I turn a corner and stare down a basilisk. No problem, keep creeping. Then another and another. Thinking I may be getting in over my head, I started back to the entrance. Somewhere along the way, I failed a hide roll and suddenly I've been exposed so it was time to run for my life. Sadly, my little rogue never made it out alive. I was petrified then shattered to pieces.

There were a lot of situations you could wander into and find yourself feeling not so safe. Maybe you would push a little further or turn back the way you came. Not knowing if the next turn brought an insurmountable threat or a safe haven was pretty fun. Of course, after you know where they were you avoided them until you hit a higher level, but even areas you would revisit would occasionally surprise you with a deadly trap or a the side trip into somewhere even more dangerous. The proximity of safety and danger was well paced and it seemed like the module had exploration in mind from its conception.

Of course, that goes to show that part of the fun of exploration is danger and that's something lacking in CoH unless it's self-imposed. In part, it's due to how our zones are laid out and filled with wide open spaces. Mostly I think it's due to the modes of travel we have. Flight and teleport keep you out of enemy range and superspeed grants you stealth. Superjump could be the most dangerous form of travel, but it even it allows you to escape danger fairly quickly.