spice_weasel

from what i've seen on the boards so far and experience in play only 2 offerings on the list would really count as 'novel'. as with everything else it would also come down to implementation, any one of the choices could be great.
but my 2 influence:
psionic and streetfighting. psi would be very interesting, especially in pvp. streetfighting could be very interesting if a few of the devices seen in some streetfights were available such as the blackjack/switchblade/brass knuckle type.

i've been hoping someone would run the numbers some. thank you.

note on the repairmen: they are grey, but, if bounced out by knockback, they will go a good distance and this is how they set about resurrecting the towers. it seems they don't have a preference towards towers and simply repair the nearest one. we had a tower resurrect twice before realizing what had happened. good guide

any statements on the new IO enh/sets regarding defence? in trying to eke out every last bit of 'no you ain't' from the set i'm wondering how the seemingly minimal upgrade of 2% defence bonus from 4 slotting focused fighting/senses with IO's over SO's is going to make me a happy scrapper? and/or whether defence really benefits from a shifting into IO's overall from a level 50 p.o.v. across the board through the passives as well?
i'm floating round test if you'd like to chat or could use a hand with testing specifics - on test @E-Razor lvl 50 claw/sr

Here goes...
May I present to you The Sentinels of Liberty Base
Entrance Hall
Transport
Medical
Libray/Research Station
Conference/Brief Room
Overhead

My first base, but of course I'd scoured this thread and the rest of the base forum. The base is aimed at RP and I wanted to provide varied 'scenery' for scenes. The limiting factors of prestige and space really forced me to face issues head on for functionality and design. Hopefully I managed to get across certain ideas along the way.
On a side note, I really dislike that base entrances seem like little black holes, I always preferred the 'underground lair' as it were.
My compliments to many in this thread on a great job with their bases.

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Just a minor point here...

The 'streakbreaker' code ONLY affects your attacks vs. NPCs. Not your attacks vs. other players, not NPCs' attacks on you, not other players' attacks on you.

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thanks for the info, although it appears counter to other info i've seen posted, but have no time to look for and post right now. are we sure that streakbreaker is not a global mechanic?

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Personally, I don't see why one power alone (Build Up) should buff the to-Hit level to the point of exceeding top-tier defense-only skills. And defense-only trees have been seriously abused; with streakbreaker involved the maximum dodge rate you can get is rougly 87% effective.

Defense-only sets NEED to be able to dodge two dozen attacks without getting hit, because once they're hit it's painful. I can understand if someone was running Tactics and popped Build Up, or several Insights, to get a fair chance at piercing a high-defense power. And Bu + Tactics + Focused Accuracy is a combo of 3 powers that SHOULD be devastating. But what's the point if there's no "Armor Piercing" buffs to do the same to Resistance that To-Hit does for Defense? It makes it simply no contest which of the two is best to have.

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qft (to a point)
defense is a fun set, the variables make it that way due to its unexpectedness. that very same 'funness' about the set however drops off as a level of 'seriousness' is applied; like, oh, i don't know, say....
PVP.
defence runs at an even greater disadvantage over time versus any other secondary due to its own mechanics combined with the game mechanic 'streakbreaker'. if sr has a defense debuff protection, then doesn't it also make some sense to have an accuracy buff resist as well against the build up or aim moments? certainly not a complete protection as stacking should be relative, but the disparity requires a resolution as any other set excepting dark armour (although at least it has a heal) has a measure of controllable decline or regeneration such as 'dull pain'. it's been mentioned 'well, just get aid self'. which is true, however shoehorning 2 powers into any super reflex build is almost impossible until the later levels as the only options for replacement are the passives (your only resists of any type) or attacks. i'm sure that the devs have seen the varied threads by just about any one asking about super reflexes in the scrapper forums is told the same thing. there are only 2 considered skippable (quickness and evasion), the second shows at 35. obviously builds are personal things with a variety of options.
and while i always appreciate a good numbers arguement, the one number that fails to show in any calculation to defence that i've seen by the devs is the addition of 'streakbreaker' in the equation during any fight, which again, drops your defence.

my 2 inf, now time to get the coffee (yawn).

#11 - turning on looking for team after a team has disbanded/or you've relogged to a different toon, actually doesn't put you on the search window. i've had countless times where i set the 'looking for team' and wonder why i don't get any invites, only to find the search window doesn't show me.
only solution i've found is too keep switching through the looking for ..team, them tf, then patrol, then ....' you get the idea. after about four or five rolls through the types, then hitting the refresh for search about 5-10 times and suddenly, there you are.

when the abbreviations we've all come to know and love doesn't get someone asking, 'what does that mean'?

just my 2 inf from a pvp perspective.
hi, i'm a long time super jump user, and really, i would recommend a second so slot for sj. it really does give you a large boost to speed and vertical movement. i've seen round the boards it caps at 2 but i'm really not sure. the extra distance/jump/speed comes in really handy if you plan to hang round in pvp zones much. regarding fly, i have mine slotted 3 flight so's and 2 end reduction. it goes along way if running multiple toggles during a long flight or during motivated aerial combat.

i agree bodyguard is an interesting addition. the issue i potentially see is one of player based 'operator usage'. the ability for a mastermind to maintain solidarity amoungst their version of the 5-6 stooges is very troublesome in pvp, and largish pve maps, depending on the target. if the aoe for bodyguard is the same as the inherent supremacy, then even dropping los from the pets becomes an issue. a use of tp foe on a mm will seperate them from the pets and render bodyguard useless, but then it just means nothing is really changed.
just my 2 inf.

this has been a very interesting thread. i am in no way qualified (beyond an opinionated measure) to comment on everything that has been argued for tactical advantage and disadvantage.
i do think it's worth pointing out from what i've seen, that stalkers seem to be the melee blaster that everybody who called for one, seemed to want. now that we're here, the call is different. i would agree that a snipe added to a stalkers repertoire is just a little outside reasonable. if a ranged power was required, a snipe shouldn't have been considered. now, that having been said, it's been mentioned (and rightly so) that powers with the same name and animation have different attributes across at's. until we see the hard data/context of a snipe in action we don't have much to really work with. there is likely some info i've missed along the way and would appreciate seeing it if i have.
on a final thought. i'm in no way a reputable pvp'r, but from what i've seen (and experienced), the stalker requires the least number of actions and smallest amount of risk once they've determined a +percep threshhold on the target/s. adding a snipe simply removes the need for determining any +percep threshhold making _castle_'s statement far less funny than even he intended it to be.
all in the interests of dicussion, so...flame on....

pvp is available to those that wish to participate in a free form rock-paper-scissors forum. it has a learning curve. i remember the first time is was ever hit by a stalker. [censored] was the second thing through my brain after the as. i didn't even know what one was at that time. lesson learned. pvp is a self leveling process that you can be a part of or not. personally, i try to coach while i'm there to help people with their experience, and at the same time play to the fullest of my abilities. i also happen to swear often still. just because people use terms like 1337 in broadcast means it doesn't happen in rl? kanye west just said he should be in the bible or some such. i bet he doesn't get what he wants.

my fave moment? i'm running my claw/sr scrapper in siren's and just logged in out in front of the villain base. i run a whoall before hitting toggles and see a familiar name with skill. thinking hey great, i hope i run into s.s.. now i'm moving to get the toggles/travel up and the countdown timer runs out. whack, but not dead (ty being of grace) and manage to sj out. what follows is an epic 15 minute joust fest across sirens with me hating placate more than ever because it saves their hide (punny) several times while whipping about trying to get health back from the last trade myself. nobody interupted, but there wasn't many there either. i finally bit the bullet from a last joust that looked very nice for me, but then placate, whack, i sj back and get hit again on a wrong turn at albequerque and out.
it was an excellent moment. the kind that make pvp'ing worth it in the first place. ignore who you have too, that is what it's there for.

might have been mentioned before but i didn't read the whole thing =P
i ran the justin augustine tf this weekend and had a teammate that decided it was a good idea to make a comment on how i was 'the worst blaster build ever'.
how about you wait and see just what someone can do with the build before making commentary like that? talk about rude. if it were a perfect world pve and pvp powers wouldn't need to be so different for the win, but they are. deal.

back in june the hotel i work in hosted the 2005 digra conference. this is a conference of a number of different professions including scientists, researchers, coders, etc. all looking at the nature of virtual worlds, interactions and culture. the virtualspace 'second life' is an example of virtual meeting space/open ended roleplaying tourism in an open environment that shifts on a semiregular basis. yes, eleitism has been mentioned, but thats no different than it's ever been really. even in CoX.
the continuing evolvement (um, new word? evolution /development) of these worlds and the technical interfaces required to utilize them are traveling on a path to virtual reality.
where the issue might lie for people in general is the spillover from these virtual cultures into the real world.
q- who here has played for so long at a stretch that once off the system the 'first' reaction to a rl scenario is 'game habitual activity'? a recent wired article focused on several game players of different genres who once back on the road had to mildly fight off the urge to work rl as they would the game. one funny example was pimkin and the actions that game requires. another article (i forget where) discussed several younger gamers and gta type activities. ecg monitoring suggested that several areas of the brain related to empathy had been reduced when considering the actions taken and if a person they had a passing relationship were substituted for the ingame target.
another study showed that people using fps were FAR more likely to shoot a rl weapon with greater speed and accuracy than those never having used a weapon or the game.
wayne gretzky hyockey player extraordinaire always stated his best tool for practicing rl moves, visualization. not too much different than game action really.
anywho, my two cents on a semi tangent.
happy trails.

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Gosh, I'd still love to see some weapon styles for Brutes.

Ball and Chain, or Halberd / Poleax would make my day, something big and impressive looking.

That and Shapeshifting or Duplication-based power-sets for Scrappers / Stalkers. Mmm...

Thugs definitely sounds interesting. I've been wanting to make a mafia-themed Mastermind.

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wow, that really got me thinking about what a toon would be like if it were mirroring the other toon in combat, even in a small way. like a few "open powers" that are reflections or close/useful powers of whats being used against the toon in a scaled form. as well as a few powers needed just to provide known quantities to use. it might be a learning curve but it still makes me smile just thinking about it in sirens call....stalker as'd you? placate him
defender just drained your end? debuff the crap out of her.
one question though, what do two 'mirrors' see in combat? hmmmmmm