MTeague

There are threads on this topic on a recurring basis. I am unaware of any firm plans, but I'm sure the devs are aware that many players consider endgame content unsatisfying. Some recommendations. Go to First Ward / Night Ward. If you've already outlevelled them you'll need to use Ouroborous but the mobs in those mission arcs kick it up SEVERAL notches. Shadow Shard and the Rularuu are just as tough as Malta if not worse. The Eyeballs in particular will beat up Defense based builds and take their lunch money unless you have good team backup (support / control, etc) You can currently try to form a team of like minded individuals who have a second build using ONLY SO's, no IO's at all, no incarnate powers at all. This may or may not be easy, but it's a thing you could try to do right now.

I'm at work so I can't fire up the game and try it out, but my Fire/Fire/Fire Sentinel has Cauterizing Aura slotted, and I noticed a big difference. The health bar stayed maxed a LOT more often for me, and I needed Healing Flames far far less often. I would recommend checking your combat log. I beleive you will see many pulses of heals happening, even if you don't see green numbers floating up. Or, maybe there's some difference between Sentinel / Stalker versions and one is fine and the other isn't. Could be.

I don't know about anyone else, but I'm reasonably confident I could play the game as-is for another 3-5 years, even if the only new missions added are AE storylines. EDIT: I'm very much character-driven / story driven though. Heck, I still find myself firing up Skyrim every so often if I get a new character concept in my head.

I teamed half / solo'd half. I admit, I solo'd more towards the end of CoH Live. Some of that was just XP had become so easy to get and I didn't want to outlevel entire tiers of contacts as I gained xp. Sure, Ouro is there, but I just like doing a FEW story arcs in each level range, and the mayhem/safeguard, as I level up. It's a thing, and it is so whether or not it is logical. But early in, XP came slowly enough that I had zero problems doing my own missions AND helping on teams, and still not wildly outlevelling things every time I turned around. I also had far more tolerance for repeated wipes on things like Oldschool Posi. Tolerance I gained in EverQuest and WoW, because honestly compared to those games, dying in CoH barely counted as a speedbump. The team goal was still in front of us, and I still wanted to finish the overarching goal of the TF. When people left after like 3 wipes on oldschool Posi. I just told myself they must have NEVER done any other kind of MMO ever before.

Hey! There's no call to nerf /Regen again, much less only nerf regen ONLY for those players who play on Redside!! Oh... you mean, only for ArchVillian NPC's? Well... that's different.

I'll admit, I have an Energy/Energy Brute, named "Red Havok" who well, yes, does have the Hammer-and-Sickle on his tanktop. Thematically, the character is NOT a nice person. 2nd Generation, never forgave his father for bringing them to America where they lived in the poor side of King's Row, murdered his own father after years of daddy issues, and is basically an unthinking brute on a rampage. I don't interact with other PLAYERS that way. To other PLAYERS I try to be as polite and helpful as I can, regardless of which character I'm logged into and regardless of what that character's headcanon'd backstory may be. But I admit I would be kinda "awwww" if I had to give up the chest emblem on him. Is he a Cold War Stereotyped character? Oh you betcha. Will someone find it offensive? Probably. I never really thought about it in those terms before reading this thread, but logically, someone, somewhere, will look at him and say "really? you think everything can be reduced to a 1980's us-vs-them fear?". Are there plenty of examples you could draw from comic books that do the exact same thing though? Oh yes, most certainly. Uploaded images, I don't think you can really get to work, because in order to render on each person's machine, the image needs to be present on each person's machine as part of the game's data. So maybe you could SUBMIT an image, but until it were somehow APPROVED by the devs, it would not become part of the game's files. So anything too offensive should just be laughed out of the house, and the offending uploader could very easily get a strike added to their account depending on how far the devs thought he crossed the line. OTOH, I could totally see the devs saying "and why do we want to open this barrel of migraines? What's our motivation here? I have enough to deal with without people second guessing which costume designs I approved or disapproved." So I would not be surprised at all if zero changes are made, no matter how many players want a change, just status quo in perpetuity.

Not opposed to the idea. But there's also the option of Interface powers that do not come with a DoT at all. Diamagnetic, Gravitic, Paralytic.... or you could stop at a T3 Total Core Cognitive or something, and just not proceed to the T4 (which is where my Mind/Kin controller is currently)

As the Order of the Stick shows us, be mindful of food allergies when trying this

Given how much +Acc to All Powers, and Tactics/Focused Acc/Targetting Drone/Kismet +Acc people run with, I'm honestly not sure this would be noticed unless it a was a GIANT amount of +Defense to AoE. I think at most you'd slightly adjust how people slot, and we'd be right back where we started in short order. I think straight up Damage Resistance To All based on number of nearby mobs is a better bet, with EB's providing more of this than Bosses who provide more than Lieut's who provide more than Minions. So it becomes a priority to burn down the big guys, or, break their formation and string them apart. Or, to have support to debuff mobs, Or, to have Controllers to lockdown (idea being that said damage resistance aura gets suppressed when a mob is mezzed)

Honestly, if this happens at Homecoming, I can probably run around paragon city, take some screenshots for sake of screenshots, and hang it up again. Or it will be a purely single-player game for me where other people also happen to be running around. I do not enjoy teaming at lvl 50 on most characters. The Incarnate powers are FAR too overpowering. Already, for the 45-50 grind, I either solo that, OR, I join only task forces or lower level teams or flashbacks. If you CAN run TF's at lvl 50, it won't be long before it becomes expected/demanded that it be lvl 50, and people will build their builds around it, only using IO sets that go all the way to 50, planning their builds around incarnate powers being available for EVERY mission they join, etc. Now, is my personal objection to this enough to cancel the entire idea? No. I'm one player. I don't have veto power. But I really do think we'd lose something if all content were scaled up, instead of having our characters scaled down to match the content.

I mean... you could just... pick up Fly... or Hover... or Mystic Flight... and pair it with a "Celestial Armor" belt option and declare it an "Anti-Gravity Flight Belt". But I sorta get .... sorta. Lots of people would rather never ever spend a single power selection on a permanent flight power if the temp powers are available. It's probably a good thing I'm not a dev, because my reaction would be "Remove all infinitely purchaseable temp powers! Problem solved!"

I still struggle with this. I enjoy my nice casual CoH. I enjoy "Bring the player, not the character". I enjoy knowing I can slap together a team of ... pretty much....anything... and not even always a full team. Very often 4-5 people and just roll.... and we can do.... the VAST majority of the game. I like being able to solo on ANY character ANY powerset combination. I like being able to march into a warehouse full of baddies alone and have NO DOUBT that I can wipe the floor with all of them as long as I know how to leverage my powers, when to use my inspirations, and even other things like how to Captain-Hit-and-Fade to thin a spawn if it's just too much to chew all at once. But I also miss when teams teams were PSYCHED when a Bubbler joined the team. Or when the Blaster, Tank, and Scrapper would all make nice with the Empath, hoping they'd be one of the two people to receive Fortitude. Or when having some mixture of Lockdown vs Support was a GIANT boost, and it wasn't all "Meh, everything dies in one AE volley, who need a Controller." I definitely enjoy pre-incarnate content FAR MORE than incarnate content. Yes. I want my shiny incarnate powers, because they are shiny, but I often question whether they were a good idea. But I recognize, I can't simultaneously have it both ways with an across-the-board change. I do think OPTIONAL difficulty settings that kick it up several notches would help recover some of the feeling of "Better get your game face on, this TF is Oldschool baby!" when you DO choose to queue for a Hardcore TF. i do recognize, that, so long as it's optional, many would just NEVER use it. EVER. Even me personally, I would not use it every night. But I would be up for it at least half of the time, even if other nights I'd want my stompy facerolly steamrolly arcadey goodness. Maybe only 1/6 of the population would use it at all, on an occasional basis, same way darn few go to the Night Ward. But I really think it has to be a different "mode" of play. I don't you can cover both arenas with the same set of rules.

Now if they could make Mezmerize (and like powers) do a special type of damage that DOESN'T break sleep, that would be game-changing. Possibly overpowered, but probably not. Teams still won't wait, they'll attack anything on sight. So it would only really help a soloing controller.

Also, Widows to be able to use other types of Claws? Pretty Please?

There was an era when "Bullet Sponges" were really all that could be done in a computer game to make something more difficult. That time is LONG since past. Now admittedly, bringing CoH code into the present day is no small task. That will take years, esp with a volunteer dev team. But the time for Bullet Sponges or solutions like "Just use +5 mobs" should have been LONG gone before shutdown. I want mobs that will RUN and GET HELP from other groups of foes, ambush me around corners, have trip mines setup in my path, maybe take a NPC hostage, like Sigil / Kadabra Kill in Heather Townsend's arc, etc. I'm keeping expectations low. But if you ask me what' the right way to increase difficulty, that's it.

Huh. I confess, I have never come across someone who used BOTH run options on the SAME character before. Fair enough, idea retracted.

I don't think Sprint automatically includes the same +Jump that Naruto and Werewolf get. Also, sprint is a slottable power that can take Celerity:+Stealth. But maybe Remove Ninja Run and Beast Run from the game (stay with me.... not done yet....) Add "Super Run" as a P2W power, or if it's easier to implement, as an inherent (it's already free or so close as to make no difference....) under Power Customization, let Super Run have a "Ninja Run" animation, or a "Beast Run" or "Plain Run" animation, etc. Could gradually add more animations over time if merited, and this would divorce the look from the power itself.

I completely agree with both Redlynne's analysis of the problem, and the proposed "Leadership" solution. That said, ..... I'm not anticipating that any changes actually happen. Because you still have the same root problem. In theory, the HC Devs have far more freedom to act, if they also agree with the analysis and proposed solution. The NCSoft Devs answered to corporate masters and the almighty profit, as well as the plenty-human-enough experiance of having faced the Angry Mob after Enhancement Diversification and not wanting to experience that kind of rage directed at them ever again. The HC Devs, in theory, just need to make sure they can manage monthly donations and nothing more. I do not believe this kind of change would seriously threaten that. (though I fully expect that statement to be challenged by other posters). Solo'ing Defenders / Controllers would not really be so heavily impacted by a "Leadership Resistance Aura" change on mobs because they're probably not running at x8 and have access to more -Res anyway. And esp if this "Leadership Resistance Aura" could be detoggled by Stuns / Sleeps / Controls, it would make teams like to have some Controllers/Doms on hand as well. Sidebar: Confuses. I don't think you intend for Mass Confusion / Seeds of Confusion to turn the players into Unkillable Gods, so this +Resistance that mobs supply to nearby friends would need to be suppressed if Confused. Farmer Brutes / Tankers would be taking another serious hit after the Double Influence Changes, and pretty much guaranteed they would go THROUGH THE ROOF in rage. You may still feel the change should be warranted, but go into it eyes open. This kind of change would hit them SUPER HARD. I think this would be best approached as an optional difficulty setting rather than something placed on the whole player base, at least to start with. Even if you eventually WANT all players to have to deal with something like this, I think it's best to provide players a chance to get their feet wet and retreat to safer waters if it doesn't go well, and also would allow time for bugs / unintended consequences to be reported by a self-selected team of volunteer testers.

Ah, fair point. and Sleep would be out for the same reason.

Awesome episode (it intro'd Na'Toth!!), and awesome adjusted quote. However, I'd say 1 second of Stun may be better than 1 second of Confuse. If they're terrified they should, generally speaking, be cowering for their lives and blubbering in fear, not shooting their friends during that 1 second. A stun vs confuse would seem to prevent any action at all. But again, at least on my mind/kin, I..... just really dont recall this being an issue period.

I get that a lot of people are goal-oriented, but ... I can't support this. There's already so many rewards in the game, more influence than people know what to do with, and characters are already ridiculously powerful. Plus it's a never ending treadmill. Get rewards up to lvl 2000, and someone will hit it. Probably already HAS hit it. At some point, you choose to play the character because you LIKE the character.... or it's time to move on.

My checklist for any Mind Control Overhaul I do NOT want a pet. I want my Confuses. I do NOT want a dedicated Immob power. I like my Sleeps. I would like to see the cooldown on Mass Confuse significantly reduced. I accept it will probably never go as low as Seeds of Confusion (which is honestly gloriously OP), but i'd like it dropped to 50% of the current Mass Confuse cooldown, OR, set to 150% the Seeds of Confusion cooldown, whichever is GREATER. I mean, I get that Seeds is OP, but Mass Confuse is a T9 control power here. It's the "Control" nuke. For Teleknesis, I would like to see one of two things. EITHER, remove the repel (and adjust max number of targets downward, if it's considered too OP), OR, make it a location click power that repels affect targets to the selected location, and immobs once they are at the target location. (if the technology / engine can support this) in both cases, I would want the endurance cost to remain Quite High. either change would make this signifcantly more powerful than it currently is. It should be DIFFICULT / impossible to perma this. Confuse should trigger containment. The target trusts you and is enthralled by you to the point of attacking their own allies. They should be completely blindsided / taken unaware by any attack you use against them. Since @Redlynne's list appears to qualify for all of the above (in one measure or another), I support his proposed changes. I have not experienced the problem @SwitchFade has had with Terrify. Maybe I have decent defense and they miss my Mind/Kin, maybe I'm just used to healing back up with Transfusion so much I don't even think about it. I would be okay with some kind of unenhanceable short term stun or unenhancemable to-hit debuff on Terrify if that's what it took to mitigate a returning volley fire when terrifying a crowd. Or maybe no changes at all, and just once TK has been enhanced you just TK, and then Terrify and the TK will prevent return fire for you (as well as trigger containment....)

I never run below +1/x1 with Bosses and EB's. If my character cannot solo that, they are unworthy of appearing in my character roster. As they get access to more power and more slots, I will crank that up. My Claws/SR scrapper and my Spines/Regen stalker are both currently at +2/x4, and I think they could probably go higher. My Invuln/SS tank and my Plant/Psi Dominator are both currently at +2/x3. My Mind/Kin controller is currently at +2/x2. In terms of drop rates, I believe @ImpousVileTerror is correct. But I have pride issues, and I require my characters to fight harder groups when I feel that they can reasonably do so. EDIT: Though I also tend to use the exact same settings regardless if I'm fighting in Night Ward or Shadow Shard or on a Malta-Centric story arc. I do NOT adjust difficulty slider based on the type of enemy I'm fighting.

You could just..... slot it the same anyways? Don't change a darn thing no matter what is permitted? 🙂 I know.... I know.... and in THEORY, I could walk past an open cabinet without closing it..... in practice.... not so much.

Maybe I just don't have enough alts (35 character total), but I still enjoy the low levels, NOT having status protection and NOT being able to rely on eveyrthing hitting. Not for forever, but I like seeing each character gradually come into their own, and then the feeling of "I have arrived" when they come into their own, and I cna start soloing +2/x3 missons with bosses and EB's. I'm not at all shy about disabling XP though. I like to make sure I get each Safeguard/Mayhem mission AT CONTENT level, and I'd easily outlevel them with teaming if i didn't disable XP. My favorite low levelling areas are probably Goldside, 1-20 (any of the three zones, really) Hollows, 5-18, Redside, Peter Themari and Marshall Brass arcs.