TC

I don't know what it is, but I love inspecting players and when characters have a story it makes the world feel so much more alive. It's disappointing when I find a really good story but I can tell the writer was cut short by the limit.

Thanks, I'm not super familiar with the rules here: is my thread okay to keep up? Or would it get closed as a duplicate topic?

This has probably been posted before but I couldn't find the suggestion, so here it is. Pretty straight forward, I just want more description space. I'm not an RPer but I like stories and fleshing out my character's background is fun. I find the amount of space allowed for a description somewhat restricting. It's currently capped at 1023 characters and I think 2046 (doubled) would be enough to do what I want to do with my character's backgrounds. There may be some technical limitation that I'm unaware of here but I doubt it's server space as another 1023 characters of text is a few KBs, at most.

Some others have essentially suggested to do other content but I understand your pain. You're in the zone, enjoying a story, getting immersed, and then... you have to abandon your story to do a different story and then go back to the story you were already doing? It doesn't make a lot of sense to me with the current state of games. I think the level requirements, both min and max, should be heavily relaxed. I understand your pain but I also have much more trouble with outleveling contacts that I want to do. If my character is destined to be Talos Island's greatest savior (from a headcanon standpoint), that character should be able to do all of the contacts for Talos Island instead of getting forced out of the zone.

Bumping as this happened again on a fresh character. I can reset my keybinds plenty of times after creation but after the character seems to be in their mid-20s I can no longer reset my keybinds. They go back to whatever I reset them to the 5th-8th time and I cannot get the new ones to stick.

I highly doubt it. Nothing has changed on my end to allow any of this to happen. Also, my first few attempts at setting keybinds were successful during the same play session; they worked just fine. I just randomly cannot change them now.

I've made a ton of characters but for some reason, on my most recent character, I cannot get my keybinds to save. It's that simple. It worked fine for my first few inputs, but my most recent changes will not save no matter what I do. Every time I zone it resets to my previous setting. This is my first new character since the latest patch so I think it might be related, but if it's not and there's a solution for this please let me know.

Any idea when the Interface procs are getting fixed? Thanks for all the hard work 🙂

Well, yeah... Stalkers are a damage AT, I'd hope they do damage. The knock up, in my opinion, hurts more than it helps as I can't attack the target for .5-1s while it's in the air.I suppose that's preference. The +def is kind of pointless as softcap def is a part of most builds. The -def is nice, this is true. I do enjoy the -def against certain mobs. And the knockdown... eh, I guess I'll take it. It doesn't typically work against bosses which is where I would need it. But other meta classes have these kind of nice bonuses as well, it's not really a relevant point. Elec has -end, Rad has -def and a knocdown and it's own special bonuses built in, etc. Power choice isn't really relevant. The hide procs at the end of the ability and all of Ninja Blade's animations are incredibly fast. I am already planning the next part of my chain when it procs. If you have the reaction speed for this, you should probably play an e-sport. My justification, again, is feel and the fact the set is, comparably, very weak when put up against other primary sets for Stalkers. I'm not a nerf for balance kind of guy, I'm a buff for balance kind of guy. I'd rather see this set buffed up than the other sets nerfed down to it's level. Not to mention the original argument for the change was the GD is rarely ever used as an AoE ability... it's nice when it happens, but you get maybe one other mob in it's tiny cone from time to time. It's effectively a ST power that occasionally hits something behind it. I have backed it by comparing it to every meta set currently out that significantly outperforms it. I think this is time number three I have tried to showcase the power difference between Ninja Blade and other sets like Savage Melee, Psionic Melee, Radiation Melee, Street Justice, Electric Melee, or Spines. I would go so far as to say a lot of the Stalker sets are weak and could use a buff, but I'm not playing all of them; I'm only speaking to the set I can confirm is weak by comparing it with incredibly powerful sets that I do play. I just want my preferred Stalker set to even excel at Single Target instead of getting outclassed by alternative powersets. Again, even with the proposed change, I find it difficult to argue the set would even get close to the meta sets.

Stalker, as a whole, is relatively underperforming unless you do take specific sets. A lot of the sets that do have AoE or non S/L damage are arguably the best sets and are typically the newer sets (to Stalker). Savage Melee, Psionic Melee, Radiation Melee, Street Justice, Electric Melee. All of these sets probably still outperform Ninja Blade quite a lot, even after my proposed change. Throwing some power to sets that have been forgotten is a great thing, in my opinion. I suppose you could argue it's middle of the pack for Stalkers, but overall I think the powergap between good sets and bad sets is pretty big for Stalkers. I don't have personal experience with all of them, so I am only speaking to the one I'm passionate about and having a thorough understanding of, however. Which is why I think giving it some more guaranteed single target oomf in a really satisfying, predictable way that simultaneously covers up a flaw with how the unique AT IO functions with the Ninja Blade attack chain would feel great. My Elec/Shield Scrapper does slightly less Single Target damage to mobs with no S/L resistance and more single target damage to targets with it while simultaneously utilizing multiple TP nukes. Again, I don't see why not when things like Elec/Shield exist in the game.

But I am claiming it is imbalanced and underperforming. It is clearly a lackluster set compared to it's peers. I've stated this multiple times and drawn multiple comparisons. This is true for just about every lethal set, or AoE lacking set, in the entire game. Also, my main reason is how it feels more than anything else. Again, with the way attack chains work in CoH, I cannot reasonably utilize SD for the hide procs even if I wanted to. The attack chain moves way too fast and the procs are way too random. It's not just because SD deals suboptimal DPS (but more burst). It's because often the procs just get flat-out wasted because GD is next in my chain and it procs .2 seconds before GD activates. It's negative synergy. This is not true for veteran players as evidenced by decreasing player numbers. You can only re-roll so many times in a game that came out in 2004. Rebalancing powersets or adding new features to existing powersets and making the game more challenging are the two most important things that can give this game longevity, in my opinion. I never said the set felt pretty bad, I said this instance in particular felt pretty bad. Overall the set is very fun to play. My suggestion is one that I mainly desire for gameplay feel, but it's the cherry on top. And it's a warranted cherry on top, as evidenced by blatant balance comparisons you don't seem to want to acknowledge. Single-target focused Stalkers are potentially the least desired team AT in the entire game and many AoE focused builds from a large number of powersets are able to solo +4/x8 content quickly. I propose to give up nothing. The set simply deserves a buff, like the vast majority of lethal sets, and this would be a way to do that that would also feel great while working within the AT IO set they introduced to the game. Also, it does not feel like 50% crit rate at all. I don't know where I can check this number, but from personal experience it feels like 30%. Either way, I'd rather just make it crit and not roll the dice.

I wasn’t sure on this and didn’t have time to check but thanks. I was pretty sure there were already some exceptions to the rule.

I voted. I don’t want to see any hard changes to the current game, like changing IO sets to different things, but I would love higher difficulty settings. I think changes that should be made to the game are two fold: 1) the game needs to have harder difficulty settings, full stop. Personally I think an M+ approach like from WoW would fit perfectly with CoHs instance based gameplay approach. 2) Re-tune ATs and existing powersets so that they feel and work better. I think the server has been far too conservative with changes, especially when you look at what the other servers have done since the re-launch of the game. I think this game would benefit a lot from an overall buffing of weaker sets, especially s/l sets, while simultaneously offering players greater challenges within the game.

I think this is a good thing, but within reason, of course. Changes are healthy and good for the game, in my opinion. Lots of games buff and rebuff their classes quite often and this adds game longevity as the game is changing and offering new things to try out for players. These changes should be reasonable, of course. I think Eagle's Claw getting a cone would be a bit silly, but personally I think it could use a light damage buff; it's damage is not up to par with it's animation time. Eviscerate getting a cone and the 100% crit also seems very reasonable to me. These are all S/L sets that could use some love and still likely would not make the classes meta; especially when compared to things like Electric/Shield, Fire/Kin, tanky Blasters that don't even get end drain when nuking entire groups with 25s CD ults on repeat, etc. I don't see any reason to not give some of the Stalker S/L classes this kind of treatment, at all, which is why I'm suggesting this change. Going the distance and giving large PBAoEs the 100% crit modifier is a bit much, however, and this would be a good place to draw the line. Scrappers are tankier than Stalkers, and that's where the difference should lie. But if the counterparts need some numbers tuned, by all means, tune the numbers. Either way, relatively minor changes like what I'm suggesting aren't necessarily "runaway buffing" in my opinion. Exceptions are good, and should be made for as many powersets as possible to make sure they all feel good within the current iteration of the game. GD not critting out of hide, especially randomly proc'd hides that appear during the attack chain and come from an IO set not originally in the game, feels pretty bad.

Not sure why some people seem to think you have to turn it into a single target ability to allow it to crit out of hide. They have made much crazier changes on the server. Hell, the changes on other servers are way more drastic than what I'm suggesting. I don't see why we can't have both the crit and the tiny cone. It's probably entirely possible and I don't think the change would really make the set even close to OP. Elec Melee/Shield characters can Lightning Rod/Shield Charge entire groups to death on repeat ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ but there's no nerfs or intentions to change that. I simply don't see why we can't have both.

Exactly! Modern times call for modern solutions.

I'm not sure why you seem so upset, it's just a personal suggestion. I care more about how a set feels than anything else, and watching my hide procs go to waste because GD can't crit out of hide feels bad. Not to mention it would still be a lethal set and still outclassed by other sets, even with this change, lol. I simply don't see why it shouldn't be made, it's a buff to a lethal set, just let it happen. Lethal sets need some love, across the board.

This doesn't seem too bad, it would probably be fun, but it doesn't really solve the synergy issue with the hide proc feature from the AT IOs. A lot of my procs just go to waste since GD is my main damage dump 😕

If this is true, through countless hours of play-testing it's really not much higher, and doesn't affect my point much. This is where we get into the nitty gritty of Ninja Blade/Katana. People who are really passionate about NB/Katana do not take Soaring Dragon as it's actually sort of bad. It has by far the longest animation time out of all of the single-target abilities in the powerset (which is what NB/Kat does) and when you do the math on an IO'd character it's actually a DPS loss. GD (the main selling point for the entire set, aesthetically and ability-wise) has a recharge and animation time that is extremely quick and fits perfectlywith Sting of the Wasp/Gamblers Cut, which all combine together to charge up the AS 100% crit Stalker passive incredibly fast. SD is a net-loss on DPS for NB/Katana. I'd like to say that hey, maybe it's worth taking to take advantage of the hide proc, but the reflexes to stop the regular attack chain to utilize it would be insane as the regular attack chain for NB/Kat moves extremely fast; it's the main selling point for the set. Also, to top it all off, SD knocks a lot of enemies into the air high enough that your attack chain is broken for about a second. This is still a very useful reason to go for the guaranteed crit. So... this kind of supports the idea that Ninja Blade should probably excel at ST, especially considering AoE is meta, and that GD deserves to crit out of hide, like MA Eagle's Claw does. So, both MA and SJ support my argument. Staff Fighting gets Sky Splitter, Dark Melee gets Midnight Grasp, Fire Melee has Greater Fire Sword. Fire Melee is the best comparison; Greater Fire Sword is a Fire attack that, according to MIDS, does more base damage than GD, AND it's fire/lethal, AND it gets the auto crit out of hide. I said I could go on, I just didn't want to stress the same point for every set. I guess I had to though. Again, a partial crit is still a crit. TF from EM partially critting from the hide proc or from placate is still really, really useful compared to GD's... well, very little crit boost. Er.... I'd like my Ninja Blade character to remain a melee toon and not whack people with a sword that has a 5-yd invisible extension.

Ninja Blade has a niche problem that many probably don't care about but it's a rather huge flaw with the set that can be fixed easily. Quite simply, Golden Dragonfly does not crit when attacking out of hide. The reason for this is because GD is a cone, and not a single target attack. But it is a tiny cone, and rarely used as a cone. The cone is a rare occurrence that feels kind of cool when it happens, but is not really much of a feature of the power. Unfortunately, this small "feature" makes it so that GD does not crit when used out of hide. Which, when compared to many other sets, is a massive drawback that is pretty unnecessary. Just about every stalker uses AS out of hide, but this is then followed up typically with a placate and then their quintessential level 32 power for even more burst. For Street Justice this is Crushing Uppercut, for Energy Melee it's Energy Transfer OR Total Focus, for Kinetic Melee it's Concentrated Strike, for Martial Arts it's Eagle's Claw. The list goes on; just about every set (except for Broad Sword, that has the same exact issue that Ninja Blade has) their 32 extreme damage power does, in fact, crit when used out of hide or placate. Many of these powers already have a leg up on Golden Dragonfly simply because they're not S/L. My proposed change is simply to allow Golden Dragonfly to get the auto-crit when used from hide or placate; it feels really bad as-is. Especially considering the unique Stalker AT IO that randomly grants auto-hide... when you're in the flow of a rotation and you get that auto-hide just before you use GD and don't get the benefit of the IO proc because GD doesn't crit out of that randomly granted hide... that feels really, really bad. Tl;Dr: Golden Dragonfly doesn't crit when used out of hide due to a small technicality and it's unnecessarily harsh. Thanks for coming to my Ted Talk.

Really don't want someone else running around with my name. A unique identity and server reputation is part of the fun of the game.

The cone is extremely small and Lightning Rod, the giant PBAoE from Electric Melee with superior damage, doesn't have this debuff. Seems super unbalanced to me. Are you sure? The info I see for that power says it can't crit from Hidden at all. Ah you're right, my mistake, I'm using the PINES descriptions and it seems to be missing. Sorry about that. But either way, for abilities like Eviscerate from Claws or Greater Fire Sword from Fiery Melee to have it, it still feels really bad. And the cone is genuinely tiny, no one ever bothers lining it up. You might be thinking of Thunderstrike which is both a single target and AoE around that target and can 100% crit that target but the AoE will get the AoE reduced chance. To explain it more, it is a 2-in1 attack: an energy /smashing damage to a target and an energy AoE. Each part has its respective category crit rage out of hide. This isn't what I was thinking of, I was simply mistaken, but this is a great point none-the-less. I didn't know this, thanks for bringing it up. Perhaps something like this could be applied to Golden Dragonfly?

The cone is extremely small and Lightning Rod, the giant PBAoE from Electric Melee with superior damage, doesn't have this debuff. Seems super unbalanced to me. Are you sure? The info I see for that power says it can't crit from Hidden at all. Ah you're right, my mistake, I'm using the PINES descriptions and it seems to be missing. Sorry about that. But either way, for abilities like Eviscerate from Claws or Greater Fire Sword from Fiery Melee to have it, it still feels really bad. And the cone is genuinely tiny, no one ever bothers lining it up. Those are both single-target attacks (when used by Stalkers, in the case of Eviscerate). I could see them making an exception to the rule in this case; the cone is tiny and the end cost of the power is clearly balanced as if it were a single-target attack. But as it is now, Golden Dragonfly and Headsplitter are behaving exactly according to routine. Of course, but that's the suggestion I'm making. It's genuinely a huge debuff to the already underpowered set to not get auto-crits out of hide from the quintessential power from the set when most others do.

The cone is extremely small and Lightning Rod, the giant PBAoE from Electric Melee with superior damage, doesn't have this debuff. Seems super unbalanced to me. Are you sure? The info I see for that power says it can't crit from Hidden at all. Ah you're right, my mistake, I'm using the PINES descriptions and it seems to be missing. Sorry about that. But either way, for abilities like Eviscerate from Claws or Greater Fire Sword from Fiery Melee to have it, it still feels really bad. And the cone is genuinely tiny, no one ever bothers lining it up.

The cone is extremely small and Lightning Rod, the giant PBAoE from Electric Melee with superior damage, doesn't have this debuff. Seems super unbalanced to me.