Greycat

Beast MM without beasts. Robots MM which calls beasts. Ninja MM that calls pirates. Dogs and cats living together. Mass hysteria!

New powerset. Melee cones.

ALL CAPS? It plnoɔ qǝ woɿƨɘ anb ʞool liʞԍ tμiƨ. As far as the op? *shrug* It's a customization request. Nothing game-breaking - or unusual. I'd have no issue with it.

Eh, they mention "the new changes." Vague as far as which changes, how new, etc. *shrug*

Not going to allow herding a zone into a dumpster or an entire level at once, no. That's long gone (and should stay that way.)

... this sounds more like "Should be in beta feedback." (I'm guessing. I haven't had the time to check, and surprisingly with a vacation coming up I'll have even less time... still trying to figure that one out.)

Honestly... Don't worry about a "build." Yes, people can find them fun, but ... long as you're there clicking buttons and doing stuff to the bad guys and/or your teammates, you're good. If you're going to be playing your way up, there's not much point to a "build" for a while anyway. Just get some acc, end reduction and damage/holds/whatever in your powers and worry about getting fancy later. You'll get a grip on the game just by playing. It's not that complex. No, you shouldn't avoid a tank. You don't really need to know enemy "tricks" for the most part - just pay attention to what's going on. (Most don't really have any "tricks," and the ones that do are pretty quick to pick up, and often broadcast. For instance, Protean has this AOE that heals him... but you get a big "Back away from his siphon!" on the screen. So... back up.) But... yeah, there's very little I'd say "avoid if you don't want gimmicks." Maybe titan weapons, since momentum's ... just annoying, at least to me. Obviously hold off on the epic ATs (PB/Warshade/widow/soldier.) Tanks, brutes, scrappers are fine, sentinel's good for being able to seee what's going on with ranged damage and armor... *shrug* You have 1000 slots per shard. Don't be afraid to use them in order to find something that clicks (or lets you just change things up from time to time.)

... wait... you mean there's more to the game than that?

.... I just find this wording funny. 🙂 Just amuses me this morning.

Or at least have the untaken roles autoassigned.

You might not *want* an answer to this, but frankly it needs one. Just off the top of my head - What good a new set does: - Allows people to come up with (or better express) character concepts. For instance, my first character was a fire/SS tank back in i3, because that was "the closest" to the character I wanted to make, one I was importing from a tabletop game. But it didn't fit *well.* Then we got COV and I could make a SS/Dark Armor Brute, which was a lot closer - but redside, and still didn't fit. Then tanks got DA, and I had the closest fit yet... but it still isn't right. If we came up with a toxic/acidic armor set, it'd be almost perfect. So... new set would help there. - Provides a different play experience. Even on the same AT, different sets play differently and have different strengths and weaknesses, and pair with the primary/secondary differently. Fire/sonic controllers play differently than fire/kinetics, and are strong or weak vs. different groups. And that's before getting into different IO set possibilities and what *those* can do. So... yeah, by default a new set *does* let you do "something new." It might not be the new you want, but it is for a lot of other people. (And frankly, a new set gets a *lot* more mileage than new incarnate content... after all, there's a whole game from 1-50, too.) I'm not *against* new content, Incarnate or otherwise, but "what good is a new set" is just ... kind of short sighted.

Well, THAT was worth necroing a several year old thread for.

That estimate can be ... wildly inaccurate, though. (On the increased number of hours side, that is.) Something about how/when you might log off. Example, on live I ran with some friends, all made shield characters, we all pretty much exclusively played them on that team (short of hitting the market or doing some enhancements, etc.) Their times? All 80-ish hours, expected variations from the above. Mine was showing ... honestly I don't remember what, but something like 100 hours more. We all hit 50 at the same time when we checked it. That said? Time to 50 for me varies. Some characters get farmed, especially if they're just duplicates on another account, so time to 50 might be 10 hours or less. Some might never hit 50. Quite a few are in the middle of RP, so time to 50 includes weeks worth of time sitting in a base or just standing around chatting. I used to note it in my bios on my characters... My first 50 (where I didn't put in the hours) was something in the high-300s... thanks to being an early-COH blaster and running whole levels in debt (and no content at 38.) Checking the old CIT site, I have things like the fire/kin corruptor that was the last of my "One of each AT to 50" at 155 hours. (That was 2010.) So... yeah. It varies.

AKA jousting. (AKA "Pfft, Protean's easy," or "First hit on a Void.") Also amusing when you have two fliers at some distance from each other and put *both* on follow.

This is an example of a bad - or malicious, even - player. This is the sort of person who, back when the original Sonic Resonance graphics were literally causing people to have to log off and deal with migraines and other actual, physical health issues, would continue to spam the shield *causing* the problem when asked - then told - not to. This is not a power issue. This is a *player* issue. Which can be solved by: 1. Requesting they not do that, politely, explaining why it's not helping. (Suggesting standing to the side so they're knocked INTO the melee, for instance, as an alternative.) 2. Kicking from the team and/or reporting to a GM if they continue. Not accidentally happening to hit it at a bad time, but - as described - following the melee and then scattering them. 3. Player note, single star with a why, so if they move to another character you can tell what to expect in the future. And this is someone using it appropriately. Any power can be disruptive. Ice slick can keep mobs from joining an AOE. AOE Immobs, holds and fears can string out mobs to keep them from being grouped up. Caltrops can slow them down or make them scatter, as can burn. Taunts can pull mobs away from someone who needs those mobs for a buff/heal/defense. Or, properly played, they can be *useful* tools. Knockback is no different, other than having some "Grr always evil hate hate hate won't hear anything else" zealots.

Knockback is great and useful. M'kay?

No, no, and no it doesn't. That is all.

See, that's a different thing... I'll put those in pets, because while *players* can learn to use KB effectively and strategically, the AI in game is more A than I and never will.

... of course, hopping in on a warshade, miring, nuking, then folding space on the survivors (if any) is just hilariously fun.

Some people just have a kneejerk "KB bad, turn it all to KD grrrr!" reaction. This can be just from generally hearing "Knockback is bad!" or having bad experiences with people who used knockback poorly. (Or play melee and don't like the couple of powers that do that because they "have" to chase after the target - they'll be back, though, so...) I've had people say something about knockback when I join the team with (say) a warshade - for instance, I did that with an ITF. The team leader learned very quickly that not only do I know how to handle my KB, but I can also... surprisingly... knock things *into* the tank or AOE pile that would otherwise have gotten away. Or shifted into Nova and was knocking stuff down all day. I basically got a "wow, I didn't know it could be that useful" from them. Others I've had get very *insistent* that I completely change my slotting for them. Those, just walk away from. If they want to pay me real money to play for them, then I'll consider it. Then take the money and keep playing the way I know works. Or... for an example of having good *and* bad on a team. The TPN trial - you know where you're clearing enemies from the consoles? I come in, knock the stragglers away from it and into melee out of range - console available to be taken! .... only to have someone *not* paying attention to what they're doing knock others *right back over.* They could have moved ever so slightly and driven the group into the mass of baddies getting killed, but they didn't and completely undid what I'd done. Basically... when it comes to knockback, *you have to pay attention.* If it's single target? Consider the target "owned by you" if you're doing ST KB and kill it, don't move from one target to another. Don't do some AOE KB next to the tank or in the middle of the group (barring shoving more into a wall or something.) If you're just going to spam powers and mash buttons, do it on a powerset without KB. Because *that's* what gives it a bad reputation to some or reinforces the "it's all bad" impression. No, you won't. Unless it's got some sort of AOE debuff or you AOE the target while it's by the second group, they'll ignore it, just like they ignore them running by at 10% health while on fire.

Man, it's already a pain not to outlevel stuff given the various XP bumps. If the goal is to encourage seeing content? Make mini-chains of contacts. They do exist, in ways, with contacts handling certain groups or origins, and some interlinking stories (such as superdyne trade, or the Tsoo trying to sabotage other gangs) for instance. If there were a badge/reward for finishing those... sure. The idea's already in place when you finish some zone story chains, such as Faultline or Croatoa. Do all the mission contacts, there's extra merits (and I *think* XP? Too early for me to remember.) But just generically "XP boost for this contact!" this week? Meh. People will just zerg without really caring why, or ignore it because X mission set is too long.

I'll just say "You have 1000 slots per server. Use them 'til you find one or more that click." 🙂 (Plus if you like one side but not the other - like you like the control set, but not the support or assault... try pairing it with something else. They can *really* change the feel.) Thanks to the support side, controllers *can* be much slower if you solo. (The flip side being, a controller's the first one to solo Lusca, a rather large GM, back before we had set IOs and the various boosts. Also fire/kinetics controllers used to be fairly damaging.) However, if you plan on teaming, the "this solos slowly" wont' be as big a deal. Personal favourites... Mind/Fire just is a lot of fun on a Dominator. Mind/anything, to me, is fun. Earth and Ice are probably tied for my second favourite control sets, whether on controller or dom. They feel *controlling.* Can't explain it any other way. Illusion's ... not a favourite of mine. At least on controllers, since it feels like it's pushing you to *have* to build for recharge, relying on PA since there's not much real *control* there. The dominator version's tweaked a bit and does feel better. But... still. 1000 slots. Go nuts.

And the Knives of Artemis are only supposed to have 100 members or so. There are times to just politely ignore things done for game mechanics... 🙂

I'd have to think if anything like that was done it would have to be a generic "In memory of those who have gone before..." sort of memorial. There's just no way to know all the players who have passed from Kyodi on to now (or to respect their wishes if they wouldn't have wanted to be named.) Mind you, I knew and have played with players both who have in-game avatars and who don't, so from that perspective I tend to think it'd be the most fair. It'd cover everyone from "played from issue 0 and the entire server knew them" to "became their favorite game when they found it two months before the car crash, but not many people had met them." (And covers the practical aspect of "somebody needs to keep updating that list" if it's a list of names.) Not necessarily against the idea, but ... as mentioned, a generic one is probably the most practical.

You say that now, but we can see right through you...