MTeague

IKR? I'm hoping I can start earning some real-life Incarnate XP. And man oh man, I want me some real-life Ouroborous. How cool would it be to flashback to like, 2019 right about now?

My take on it? A good tank should be willing to adapt to what the team needs. If the team is kitted out well and can take the stray mobs here and there as the tank runs off to the next spawn, then do that, keep the pace going, keep gathering up the mobs, etc. But have enough awareness to stomp on the brakes if your team, for whatever reason, can't take that. Maybe you suddenly found yourself on a team of people who are levelling up their very first characters and dont' have any IO's yet. It does happen. Maybe you weren't looking and OH, this isn't all Council trash, this is First Ward Shepherds. Or Night Ward Awakened. Or IDF. Or other mobs that REALLY lay on the hurt. You leave half the pull alive to get the next before people are ready and you're probably looking at a team wipe. Be smart enough to adapt in those situations. Also be aware of what the team's expectations are for how to handle missions. Joining a team that wants Kill Most when you want Speed Runs, or joining a team that wants Speed Runs when you want Kill Most, is Instant Headache, just add water. Find out what it is first, and decline if it's not your flavor. *Everyone* will be happier for it.

50 in October

I don't think /SR needs any changes at all. That said, if you absolutely insist on buffing my Claws/SR scrapper.... I guess I'll muddle through the day one way or another. One thing of note: striking the three passives into just one passive does eliminate two LotG +7.5 recharge mules. though it's not exactly difficult for /SR to come up with 5. It would STILL have 5 possible places in set, with Elude (4 without), and the three toggles plus passive plus Combat Jumping is about the lowest of all possible hanging fruit.

Put Energy or Fire damage on Entangling arrow. Tactical Arrow already has this on their version. Admittedly yes, Tactical Arrow's version is a Blaster Secondary T1, not a Support T1, but still. Do that, there's an in-set way to light Oil Slick Arrow. T The damage can be as low as 1 hp, if you're afraid of this somehow being overpowered. And don't let it take any other kinds of IO sets beyond what it already takes. Just nonzero and FWOOOM! we can light Oil Slicks in-set. Done. Pour yourself a glass of whatever. I would not refuse Glue Arrow or Entangling arrow having additional -ToHit or something to be Defense-By-Any-Other-Name, but I'm not convinced it's needed. I would not refuse Flash Arrow having higher numbers, but again, I'm not convinced it's must-have. I do acknowledge that for Masterminds in particular, and even more so on Ninja Masterminds, having some kind of heals is *very* helpful. It's not always easy keeping your cannon fodder expendable resources valued employees summonable bro's standing. The T1's are squishy on a good day. However, /Cold Domination works right fine with ice shields and slows, but no heals. So I think Trick Arrow can work just fine with -ToHit and Glue Arrow. Maybe the To-Hit numbers need tweaking for this specific case, to make the effective defense contribution at a similar level. Then dip into Sorcery for Spirit Ward or Medicine for Heal Other as you see fit.

Honestly, if I had Infinite Time and other magic wands..... well ... first, I'd ensure I could retire filthy stinking rich in real life.... but after that.... I'd probably eliminate Arachnos entirely. Like zorch it out completely. Make the Rogue isles more of a No-Man's land of multiple balanced villain factions where your character plays them against each other and gradually claims areas of power for yourself. I get that they wanted a "Dark Reflection" of City of Heroes. I get that they wanted to have their own Doctor Doom nemesis to Statesman. But as implemented, the City of Lackeys feel in the low levels of City of Villains is very much offputting. I'd love it a heck of a lot more if certain areas were under Council control, others Family Control, others ruled by Crey, others by the Tsoo, each with some new Big Bads in each faction, rather than Recluse and the Patrons. But, no magic do-overs.

Wait, since when does Claws have Combos? Are you just talking about building stacks of Follow Up? Also, Dominators get Claws? Are you talking Thorny Assault?

I blame Google.

I'm not morally opposed to a change or anything, but I'd certainly file this under "Really Good Problems to Have". I'd just splurge on Winter-O's and kit out some new characters if I got close to the limit. Ultimately though, I just don't really value Influence. It's useful to me to buy things to kit out my characters, of course. But I don't chase it as an end in itself. If I were at max influence cap, but all my existing characters have all the IO's I want, and I therefore play "for nothing" because I don't get any influence.... okay. I'm fine with that. What was I gonna do with the influence anyway? Maybe I'd host a Backstory Competition or something? But full disclosure, I'm also the kind of player who can leave loot behind in Skyrim dungeons or Fallout zones and not care. I have some packrat tendancies in real life, but not so much when gaming

There's plenty of other options to Blap other than Martial. But Martial is CRAZY good fun. If you can squeeze it in, I recommend the Experimentation Pool as well. Speed of Sound/Jaunt, <filler>, Adrenalin Boost. The Combination of Burst of Speed and Jaunt will let you pretty much bamph around the battlefield at will. Pop directly into melee unless a few attacks, Bamph out to range, and blast away. Melee gets close? Bamph, now you're 30 feet away and across the Whirlpool or Tar Patch or Freezing Rain or whatever your team has. and Adrenalin Rush is just a very tasty thing to have on tap. Don't overlook Ki Push and the Kicks. Ki Push is a mag 4 hold (gets bosses in one hit) for 4 seconds and does ragdolling after. That's like 6 seconds of free hits on anything less than an EB. The Kicks can easilly knockdown mobs, ragdolling them until Ki Push is back up. Admittely, if you're AE'ing for a team, you're probably not using Ki Push at all. But it reallllly makes your life easier soloing. And it's hilarious to watch.

I can't get behind extra slots. That would let them rack more set bonuses that anyone else can stack. I'd be willing to talk turkey on Nova/Dwarf using other powers, but I have no dog in that fight, as my PB is humanform only.

I've been *extremely* skittish of PvP ever since Diablo 2 Hardcore, where people would ninja-hostile on you in attempt to murder your one-life-only character. Chargadins, Hydra-Sorcy's, Javazons, all the rest. It was generally done in a very trolling in-your-face manner. "Hahahaa, I killed your lvl 71 character for good, and they're dead FOREVER, now I'll dance around your dead body while you stare at the screen and rage". That kind of first impression of PvP in general kind of sticks with you. And I'll probably always view many aspects of PvP through that lens. That said, I have made the occasional foray into CoH pvp zones for certain badges. I accept that I can be ganked at any moment. I would not report anyone. I would not even request to be left alone. I zoned in, I put the "you are fair game" target on my forehead. That's on me. But I don't dally in PvP zones either. I get the badge I want, or a new Shivan, and i GTFO. If I'm repeatedly ganked, I'll flee the zone again at try for the badge again at 3:30 am some random night when I'm hit with a bout of insomnia / brain-won't-shut-up syndome. Exploration in general I very much enjoy though. I don't use Reveal, I prefer to personally explore all the nooks and crannies of a map, and stumble across misc plaques and explore badges by chance. EDIT: I accept that PvP can be done as a friendly competition. And I'm glad people can enjoy it on that level. I'm always going to remember my dead lvl 71 Paladin.

I spent 4 years in EverQuest getting team invites the moment I logged on my Enchanter, and nagged to switch if I loaded up an alt instead. I spent 8 years in WoW main tanking for a guild and scheduling my gaming time (and even my real life!) around the needs of the guild. Never again. Never. I still miss both guilds / both crowds. And I do still get nostalgic for both games. But, F**k That Noise. I'd likely give any such tell both barrels and /gignore them on the spot.

I actually like Eviscerate. The flip takes more time than I'd like, but it hits hard, and the extra crit chance is nice. I do tend to run more +2x5 vs +4x8 on my Claws/SR. I'm often surrounded on my scrapper but not to the same extent a farmer might be. I don't take Shockwave or Focus (I know, I know, I'm doing it wrong, but it's for concept reasons, I want physical attacks with the claws, not waves of force).

The Hellions last recorded words were something like "'Scuse me, while I kiss the sky!"

My solution to this? Don't scale everything up. You can still walk up to any contact, even the ones you "outlevelled", talk to them, and accept their missions, just as if you were of the appropriate level range. If you are of the correct level, everything happens like normal. If you had outlevelled them, then as soon as their mission becomes the active mission, you and your entire team are forcibly exemplared down to the top level of that contact's level range. You remain exemplared down until that mission is no longer the active mission. Either because you complete the mission and turn it in, or you quit the team of the mission owner, or the team leader switched over to a new mission, etc. Then all mobs, work exactly as-is. No need to invent lvl 50 Trolls and figure out what powers they should have access to, etc. A lvl 50 doing it exemplared down will still likely be overpowered compared to at-content because of all set bonuses they might retain, but that's no different from doing it via Ouro. By tying the exemplaring to the ACTIVE MISSION, it should be possible to invite others even after you accept it. It would not provide access to the Ouro challenges, or opportunities to earn the Ouro badges. Go to Ouro for reals if you want those. Some incentive is maintained to at least think about certain IO sets that cap at 30 or 40 if you might be exemplaring at lot (where everything scaling to 50 would toss that out the window) You could do the plot in a logical order, for any mission chain, (at least as long as it's clear what the logical order is... Praetoria's timeline can be fuzzy there sometimes) EDIT: Admittedly, this is not possible now. This requires dev work. And standard code rant applies, see dealer for details, offer not valid where prohibited by law, etc.

I'd love to see a newer-tougher Outcast group. We know from tip missions that Frostfire eventually becomes a Serious Major Mojo Power. And a good guy. I'd like to see him and Miss Thistle and the Outcasts who follow them blocking off a section of Khalisti and being like "This neighborhood is under OUR protection!" Fighting off incursions of Syndicate and High-Tech-Family in areas where the law is too overwhelmed / too bound by due process, etc. Something that shows Frostfire organizing some of other Outcasts as a mostly-force-for-good, even if he might need to crack down on one of his own folks who might go too far.

I do enjoy a fair bit of team banter. I tend to have an internal monologue of how my current character would approach any given mission. I struggle with the knowledge that that's probably a rare thing. I either solo 45-50, or just do a flood of lower lvl TF's for that stretch, because I cannot STAND the feeling of being carried / not pulling my own weight, and when you're a 47 player on a team full of incarnates, well... yea. I am a serious Map-Clearing-Fool. I have been ever since Diablo 2. Speed runs just jar me, partly because I'm not really focused on "finish this mission now now now, chop chop!", and because I'm sure the 65 mobs they didn't kill were all going to drop Purple Recipes and PvP Recipes. I'm much much happier with "Kill All" or "Kill Most" and avoid speed runs like the plague. I think it's all-too-human, not correct, just all-too-human, for us to tend to assume what we find fun is fun for everyone, what we find boring is boring for everyone, and that other people would have a vastly more enjoyable experience if they only played it the game the right way (ie, like me). Again, that's flat wrong, but I often have to stop myself from thinking that way. There is a lot of "Same Planet, Different Worlds" at play.

I thought it was "God, grant me the Serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the Courage to change the things I can, and the Wisdom, to hide the bodies, of those people I had to kill, because they PISSED ME OFF" though I suppose that works better on a coffee mug, than in actual practice.

Nerfing Regen is like a Fixed Point in Time. It happened in EVERY alternate reality. All of them.

My memories of the early issues of Live are a little fuzzy with time. But it feels like there's code in the AI that still tries to make this happen. I start beating up on a Family Hit Man. He runs, until he's standing in the middle of a gorup of his buddies, then turns to shoot me. They don't help him. If I don't shoot back, they won't aggro me. But he was clearly TRYING to run for help to chain aggro. I've seen this behavior from multiple enemy factions. Council, Sky Raiders, Malta, Carnies, Skulls, Slag Golems, Arachnos, Longbow, etc. But the aggro never chains. I've never been able to decide if that's good or bad. It could get REAL punishing, REAL fast, for those without a good means to stop runners in their tracks. Solo play could suffer SEVERLY if this were changed to chain aggro. That would be bad. But it's so titantically dumb that their buddy runs for help, stands right in the middle of them shooting at me, and unless I shoot back, they're like, "nah, it's all good Bob. You got this."

My Beast/Empath uses Leadership: Maneuvers, Assault, Tactics Fighting: Kick, Boxing, Crosspunch (costs far less END than MM direct attacks, and cross punch is quite good when you take all three, and makes sure I'm always in range of my pets for the Pet-Aura IO's) Flight: Fly, Air Sup, Group Fly (planned but don't have Group yet) Haven't chosen epic pool yet.

last summer?

My Human-Only-PB is collecting dust at lvl 11. The Quantums and the Voids, they enrage me so. Maybe I'll dust him off and try him more this week. By all accounts the Quants become easier to deal with at DO and IO levels, and as you get more slots to distribute.