Greycat

People are going to do this regardless. Complain about powersets, tell people "everyone takes X" even if everyone doesn't, etc. Short of getting rid of people, you're not going to stop this. Granted, getting rid of "people" is tempting at times - let the meerkats rule the world now, they can't do worse - but not really feasable. (Amusingly and off topic, my spell checker wants to change that to marketeers... )

I'll either correct it, or test it (if possible) and (if then necessary) correct it. If I don't know, I either leave it or - if I'm "mostly" sure it works differently, will chime in, but make it clear that "I thought it did this, actually...can we doublecheck?"

Oh, now you've doomed yourself 😄 There are horror stories from those who have tried to untangle the spaghetti mountain of COH code. From the sounds of it, changing things to get more slots would probably... I don't know... make all Controller powers suddenly taunt every enemy on the map and drop team damage into the negatives or something. When they added the server slot (for things like the Lambda trial temp powers, etc?) In beta it completely broke Dominators and Kheldian forms. That said, yes, I'd love more slots. And more flexibility with existing slots, like not having to take two slots for a helmet/hat on and off option, for instance.

<snip for brevity> Yes. Many things changed. Among the things that changed: - More content, as mentioned. - Sidekicking changes. (Say it with me. "You are getting too far from your mentor. Your mentor is too far away! You are back in range of your mentor. You are getting too far from your mentor. Your mentor is too far away!" ... I can't help it, I'm superjumping just at the edge of mentor range!) - No debt under L10. - Half debt in missions. - Debt cap changes. - Patrol XP Among other things. I mean, we KNOW it sped up well before shutdown on live. We've had the "Disable XP" option for a *long* time specifically because of it. And yeah. When my first 50 was an elec/elec blaster back in i3? I *really* got to hate debt in the 30s specifically because of that content gap in the 35-40 range. I think I ran out early in level 38.

At least on a limited basis. Right now they're a joke. I just finished the final Kheldian arc early this morning (or was it last night... I don't know, I couldn't see my watch, it was dark.) In it, you're told Arakhn and Requiem - with their plan on taking over the Council from the Center in ruins - are desperate, and bringing something dangerous. What are those dangerous things? Cysts. These crystalline structures, which can maintain a Nictus without a host, which allow almost instantaneous travel across interstellar distance, are a threat, and are being positioned to begin a Nictus takeover. They're built up to be a major threat - appropriate for the final act in an epic storyline you've played from 1-50. And when you finally get there and face these? Place attack on auto. Sit and wait. Nothing is summoned, nothing happens unless you're too close (and even then, you - as a Kheldian - have energy/negative energy resists. You get knocked back a bit.) This is a major threat? My rent is more threatening than this. Yes, along the way you fight (in different missions) Nosferatu, Requiem and Arakhn, but the Cysts, for such a big buildup of what they are in lore are as threatening as pottery. At least the ones in the ITF have Nictus around them, even if they don't spawn anything themselves. They at least *look* like they did their job. Let the Cysts spawn Unbound Nictus again. (This also would have the side effect of giving a Warshade something to feed its Mire and Eclipse from.) At the very least, in that arc. Otherwise, they're pretty much nothing but a letdown.

Red Caps actually do have high level versions. They need to due to the holiday stuff with Snaptooth. You will occasionally see a level 50 Red Cap group in Croatoa - at least I did on live. Not sure if that spawning got fixed. Some groups are "segmented" - either through the entire 1-50 run (COT, Council) or with gaps (Tsoo disappear by 30, then show up in Incarnate variants, as do Banished Pantheon.) And there are quite a few more without high end, level 50 critters. The *rest* of the Croatoa critters (Cabal, ghosts, Fir Bolg and Tuatha don't - the holiday GMs are levelless, and the ghosts they summon are a different group.) Red Hands don't show up. Trolls, Destroyers (goldside Troll analogs, think that's the name,) ghouls/experiments, spetznatz (though they barely appear,) I don't *believe* the neoshivans do (and the shivans are ... one mission? so they can get added to the "with a gap" group,) - and a lot of groups are sort of "barely" there at 50, used for one mission or one arc (you don't *really* see high end Shivans, to my recollection - I half recall the mission from Ouro exemping you, as it is, but might be wrong.) It would still be a lot of work, yes.

I couldn't say what builds, but yeah, I've done it in the past. Some sets have skippable things, some are just chock full of goodies. (And some are situational - I often run dual builds, especially on support characters. Group build, lots of the primary/secondary, solo build, possibly as few as 3-4 powers out of it.)

Absolutely.

Welcome. Much of this is already done, as has been mentioned. YOu get merits for the various Atlas and Mercy arcs, as well as badges, merits (not many, as they're short arcs, but that's consistent) and even badges for getting everything in a zone done. And the stat boost - at least through 20, when you're pretty set with your own powers - is done through DFB. (Itself probably part of the issue you're describing - it gives those boosts, plus early level SOs.) What would be needed is more variety. Redside doesn't have another starter zone. Blueside lost one. Blueside, at least, you get some variety (hollows/kr, sky/steel/faultline, talos/ip, focusing on different groups and such.) When you've made a bunch of alts... well. (I do still tend to play through some of it, granted.) Part of the other reason people skip, though, isn't just what some people mention with "wanting to feel powerful," there's also" wanting to feel effective." Masterminds leap to mind for me here, especially in the 18-mid-20s range. You have three -2 minions, two -1s, no top tier and no second buff. They die *fast* (especially with all the AOE introduced - looking at you, Demolitionists.) It was just an annoying range, so I get people wanting to skip that as much as they can. And no, not everyone chases accolades and buffs. 🙂

It's the american medical system. Of *course* you have debt after being in a hospital. 🙂 (Serious answer, if you're not 100% sure if it's patrol XP or debt, hover your mouse over your XP bar - not the circle. It will report XP, patrol XP and debt.)

>.> NO idea what that's like. Nope. Ooh, sale... (I will say the PC+ membership has more than paid for itself.)

Back on live - when I was trying to make that bots/ff work and it was pretty well driving me away from MMs as a whole - this was me. I went to the MM forum, pretty much described what was going on and said "So, is there a set I'll actually enjoy or is this class just not going to mesh with me?" After a little discussion, they suggested a thugs/poison (since, really, I wanted to be busy, not a spectator) and that was a *fun* (and pretty fast) ride to 50. So, yeah. It might be the sets. Or it might just be the AT not clicking with you. Nothing wrong with either one of those.

You've described... pretty much what I mean when I've said, in the past, that I find the "nothing can touch me" builds boring. For me, they're like cheat codes (disclaimer before anyone misreads that: no, I am not saying people using high end IO builds are in any way cheating.) Might be fun for a bit, but after a while it takes something vital away from the game and I just can't enjoy it. I may not go with "gimmicky" (or what would probably be labeled "self defeating") but I pick up what seems interesting, play through and just try to be mellow about it. Haven't had to post looking for help with something ... pretty much ever, though if something unique spawns or I'm running something with a badge (or I see something GM-ish to be defeated,) I'll mention it.

Flip side being, if I'm going to do a lot of damage but the self-damage has to stay, I'm all *for* it. I like making choices like that, if it's worth it.

I think my favorite is from Dual Blades. *Stab* "Got your kidneys!" *slice*

Eh. Throw a couple more in here. Some multi character bits. Variations on the first character, to start - Therra Paladina (PB version) vs Therra Malevola (Dark/Therm made by the COT.) Followed by Feliney Assault and Feliney Mischief.

The containment bit and pretty much everything after was more directed at the OP and the idea in general. Not clear, I know. Sorry. 🙂 And I wasn't really looking at "worked better," but more that more doms (remember, not everyone min/maxes stuff, so I'm not talking numbers here) would probably be attracted to it since they've got more of an offensive... "tilt," I suppose, than controllers. Even controllers would be... variable depending on secondary. That was more of my mindset, in any case.

OK, "Putting a couple of NPCs in a social zone that can easily be avoided if one chooses shouldn't bother a reasonable person as much as this seems to bother you."

Not sure how that's the opposite, I just said melee control would be interesting. Not that this setup was definitely the way to go. 🙂 It is immob heavy. And the PBAOE hold is a "chance to" hold, which... eh. I think I'd rather have a *hold* hold, for the sake of survival. Cone immobilizes (T3) aren't unheard of, just normally in a ranged set (Tenebrous Tentacles.) And I had to look at PWiki and refresh my memory on what was in which secondary. I did miss the bit about the taunt, which is *not* what I'd want on a 'troller or dom. Honestly, on my doms I'll often put off the AOE immob - it gatherers a lot of hate, and if you're in melee, you don't want things shooting at you. The T9... should definitely be something else. Not sure what. I'd probably move the T7 up, and make it... essentially smoke from fire control. (Targeted AOE -per -acc.) To help with getting into melee range. You are squishy, after all, and Fire's not bad to take ideas from, since ... well, hot feet. Often on the fire 'trollers I've played - and don't forget, controllers want to set containment for more damage - it's a matter of something like smoke - AOE hold or immob - wander in with hot feet and reapplying immob. (But Fire's whole thing is damage, so...) Zepp does have a point in that survivability has to be considered - but needs to be considered in the set itself, if this is designed as a *control* set, since it's going on squishy, lower HP characters. It's worth working over a few times, though, just for the sake of being a different playstyle option. Wonder how it'd pair with /Rad or /Time on a controller..

I seem to recall the main complaint on live was that by 50, you were doing one of the most resisted damage types so it felt like it was falling behind. Personally, I enjoyed the set, but I could see where they were coming from. (50 MA/Regen Stalker.) It *was* amusing taking that character against an MA/Regen scrapper and just calling it a draw after 15 minutes or so of just healing damage repeatedly. 🙂 Fairly sure this was pre-IO. Early IOs at most.

Eh. Keep them separate. No real reason to link them. I like the different atmosphere. That's comparing apples and all season radials. Putting NPCs into a social zone shouldn't bother you as much as this seems to.

... I think I got through the first attack. Wasn't it G Gundam that had someone with a shining finger or some such? Something about burning sensations? 🙂 (Serious answer, melee control would be ... different, and probably taken much more with dominators.)

While I wouldn't mind Wind control, "In production" could mean a lot. 2-3 barely worked on powers mixed with a few close placeholders, no specific graphics/animations, etc. Not necessarily "close to release." (No, no inside knowledge on just where in the pipeline it was.)

Haven't rendered this one - mostly since I haven't managed to find something I like to do the armor with - but an old fave. CTI Dreamer. (CT = Crey tank, experimental - and, er, liberated - armor, I = Illusion.)

Sunday swap time... Though today we're just Lost and Wandering.