Rudra

While I generally agree with this sentiment and would like escorts to follow better, it makes sense for Amanda to be this way. Seemingly more so than other unwilling escortees, she is doing her best to get away from you. However, if you treat her like the typical dumb escortee and watch her on your map to make sure she is staying with you and move slow enough for the no inherent Fitness NPCs to follow, getting her to the exit isn't difficult. (Just annoying.) This tends to happen with escort NPCs on maps with elevators. Since the elevators are so far apart, you have to wait when the game has you exit until the escortee shows up. If you move away from the elevator too soon, they lose lock because of the distance between the floor maps of the instance. MMs complicate this with their pets. If a pet blocks the escortee from being able to exit, they return to the previous floor and lose you. An elevator bug that also shows up from time to time is when the elevators close before the NPC exits, forcing them to go back to the previous floor. This can result in the NPC being lost between floor maps, at neither floor, until they finally manage to exit the elevator. My recommendation is to always wait at the elevator, shifting out of the way of the exit if playing a MM, and wait for the NPC to figure it out.

Make a new chat tab, have everyone be on a team with you, and have team chat be the only chat in that new chat tab.

Then why are tactics and objectives part of every post you made on this thread? It is the largest part of your post, making the Rikti fight like they are human soldiers fighting a conventional human battle. Which they are not on both counts. The point of an invasion is to defeat the enemy, drive them out of an area, and seize that area for yourself. Attacking random civilians is not what a disciplined army does. So why should the Rikti beam down and attack the roving NPCs? They are not a threat to Rikti forces or Rikti plans. Why should the Rikti attack anything if there are no supers, the only threat to their conquest, present? They either already wasted resources with their bombing or the bombing was more effective than anticipated and there is no opposition left to deal with. Doing anything else is a waste of resources and time. There is no disciplined army that will go into a town and then just start shooting the buildings because they were expecting a battle but the opposing force was not there. You conserve your resources for the actual fighting needed to accomplish your goals. (Edit: And if you need to engage the enemy and they are not where you were expecting to find them? You move on. Even if the enemy was there and you fought them? When your munitions run low as the attacker? You withdraw and regroup. If you drive the enemy out? You regroup and move on. The Rikti have one objective in their raids. Find and eliminate the only threat to them. Everything else can be dealt with later.) Welcome to MMO video games. How is it worse? You are asking for an enemy to be weaker so you can fight it. (The ships.) You are asking for Rikti to spawn and roam rather than make use of their technology and attack us where we are. Which like you said, will make it easier to fight them. Especially when a league gets going and instead of the Rikti being able to concentrate their forces on a sizable super presence, have to wait for wandering spawns to find their way there piecemeal. The only thing I see the OP doing is making the invasion even easier than it is, rather than making it more engaging, while making the Rikti act like conventional human forces instead of the advanced sci-fi race they are. As for purpose? As has already been stated multiple times, there is a purpose. You just don't like it.

The most it takes is 40 players. The Tankers and Brutes, especially any with high energy resistance, take the aggro while the rest of the league dumps everything they have into the ship. Just like they do in the RWZ. Then they can move on to the next ship in the line. The point is to get as many players involved as possible and make the players feel like there is a threat. You are complaining that the invasion is underwhelming, and then you ask to make part of it even less dangerous, thus even more underwhelming. (Edit: Oh, and I should point out that not only has Superman been one-shot by a single alien ship, so has the entire Justice League in a single fight. On multiple occasions. They even had their collective butts kicked by a single robot. Multiple times. Just in different stories/eras.) So, the Rikti popping in near to the players does not give a sense that they are trying to eliminate you? Instead you want them to work like mission ambushes, and run from some random location to where you are, while you are most likely moving, instead of taking advantage of their technology and dropping their assault teams on your head? If you want more difficult spawns, such as larger groups, fine. The desire to not have the Rikti take advantage of their technological superiority however? Makes no sense. Especially since outside of invasions, the Headman Gunmen are most known for their teleporting. Again, it makes sense for the Rikti to pop in near their targets. Why should they fight humans on our terms? They have space ships with high power beam weapons. They have mass teleportation technology. Humans don't. Why give humans a chance to set up defenses and then have Rikti forces charge headlong into them when the Rikti have the ability to bypass it and negate any such human strategies? And why should the Rikti care about other objectives? In the first (two?) Rikti wars, they overwhelmed and annihilated human resistance. It was the super heroes that stopped them in their tracks. (Mostly because of the magic heroes and the team sent to the Rikti homeworld.) From the Rikti point of view, the supers are the only objective. Everything else can be dealt with easily after the primary (and only real) threat has been dealt with. That is mentioned in the Rikti arcs and the Praetorian arcs. The supers are the only threat, and so the supers are the only real objective. Look, I am very much for making the various invasions feel more threatening. The best way to do that in my opinion is by spawning larger than normal spawns. This will have the benefit of causing supers fighting in the invasion to congregate more to support each other, thus causing even larger spawns such as players try to force with their invasion leagues, which would also be larger than normal and make it feel more threatening to the players. The problem with that is what we already see in the invasions when leagues get going. The lag and server's inability to deal with the load. (Edit again: Oh, and the near constant Judgments being triggered wiping out Rikti faster than they can be spawned.) Having bosses be allowed to spawn even against lone players can also have that effect. The added objectives though? Just make no sense for the Rikti since they don't need to hold city hall or any other building. They need to eliminate the only threats that have ever proven capable of fighting them, the player characters.

To the best of my knowledge, the Rikti ships in the invasion are the same ship players fight in the Rikti War Zone. So they should be destructible. (And in testing, they were being destroyed by players.) The Rikti actually do have an objective. Eliminate super powered resistance to the invasion. So they beam to where the players are, because we are that super powered resistance. (Why don't they beam down to characters under overpasses, balconies, or other obstructions? The same reason why they don't beam into the bases and buildings. Their mass teleporters are likely LOS without a portal to move through so they can't, and they don't see the player characters under the obstructions.) So you want to take away one of the threats for the invasion? Why? A league, maybe even a high tier team, should already be able to take them down. They just have to watch out for the other ships in the invasion force while trying to do so. After all, it is an invasion. They are already beaming their forces down to their targets. If you know where your enemy is, why waste time dropping off forces nowhere near them and then instruct them to go find them? (Edit: Especially since that would mean they would then have to fight through any set up defenses, as opposed to popping in behind any such defenses and wiping out the defenders. If you want larger spawns? That would make sense. The consideration there is to keep it so that players can win still. As for why aren't the Rikti moving? Most likely they are holding the area they just took against any other supers that may be trying to get through the area.) This was done in Firefall(?). It made the game impossible to play on many occasions. (Edit: As in players would just not play after seeing the area overrun, and wait to log on after the server was reset.) Edit again: What it seems to me the Rikti are doing in the invasion? Phase 1, bomb the area to sow confusion and panic, scatter enemy forces, and soften the enemy's defenses/weaken enemy force strength. Phase 2, locate remaining pockets of resistance or possible resistance. Teleport forces to pockets of resistance and eliminate them. Attacking force strength to be "sufficient" to deal with detected targets so other forces are available to deal with other pockets or a large enemy force. (That's why if you get a large enough group gathered, you start seeing bosses and EBs, as well as significant numbers of Rikti attacking the players.) Typical conventional forces have already been stated to be no match for the Rikti, so eliminating the super powered threats, the player characters, is a much higher priority than trying to swamp established human defenses.

Author said was a full team of 8. That overrides anyone's No AVs setting.

The Freaklok are not your enemies. They are your allies in that mission. That is why they do not attack you on your way to free Bile, but instead fight the PPD in the courtyard. The bug isn't Bile latching onto a Freaklok. The bug is the Freaklok in question should not be flagged as an enemy. And because there is an enemy in Bile's aggro range, he is trying to kill it. He cannot kill it, because it is not actually an enemy. That is the bug to be fixed. The bug is not an escort attaching itself to an NPC. The bug is that an ally for some reason is showing as an enemy to you despite not being one. (My guess is that is why it is unkillable.) And because Bile was able to aggro on that Freaklok, the others END drained him.

Fox spirits can have anywhere from 1-9 tails. Any and every count is viable. However, spirit foxes are portrayed with an odd count of tails. To the best of my knowledge, there are no depictions of 2-tailed spirit foxes. Hence my request for 3 and 5 tails. (I'm not opposed to 2, 4, 6, or 8 tails. Just explaining my request.)

This is actually pointed out in the Hammers of Justice arc from Sgt. Schorr in St. Martial. Network tells you that he checked your finances and you are loaded. Lots of cash from all your previous missions/arcs. Yes, we actually buy things with influence/infamy/information, but money is mentioned in the game. (It is actually mentioned in multiple arcs, but only Network that I know of actually checks how much cash you have.) It is just presumed we are spending it on ourselves, our homes, our whatevers, but that it doesn't really come into play in our heroic or villainous lives except as background. Edit: It also shows up in various super hero cartoons and comics. Where the hero/villain needs some item to improve or use their abilities, but cash isn't accepted. Whether because they are dealing with a multi-dimensional dealer, and interplanetary merchant, an eccentric inventor, or whatever. They have to trade some arcane item they traded for previously, some hidden secret, some rare technology, or other things to get the components they need.

Ooh! If fox ears and tails are on the table, how about triple and quintuple fox tails? For spirit fox characters. (I'm guessing 7 and 9 would be too many to make work effectively in the game.)

Maybe more arcs like Vincent Ross' or Diviner Maros? In both cases, yes, you are the one doing all the work, but also in both cases, they expressly point out that they are helping you rather than the other way around. Diviner Maros even makes a point of telling you that you are beyond his means of fighting. So while you are doing the tasks they give you, which is unavoidable with how the game works, in both cases it is basically your op, just with their support.

Have you seen the Cosmic Balance inherent for Peacebringers? It does nothing with any of the Peacebringer's powers. Use any primary power you want. It will not trigger it. Use any secondary, same deal. (It works with teams only.) So yes, there are inherents players may not be able to consistently take advantage of. Depends on how you play.

Animation time for Taunt? 1.67 seconds Animation time before power effect? 0.667 seconds Time before -range effect is applied from power effect? 0 seconds, so it is applied at the same 0.667 seconds as the 41 second aggro grabbing effect. Frequency with which mobs with ranged attacks attack my Brute (or Tanker) when I taunt them? As quickly as they have powers they can use at range. So when a Tanker taunts a target? The target can attack and then move. Or the target can move towards the Tanker, stop to attack, and then resume moving towards the Tanker until the full 20 seconds of effect is complete. Or the target can be in melee range, be taunted by the Tanker, and keep attacking with their melee attacks. Once upon a time, Hurricane did in fact reduce the actual range of powers from enemies within its radius. Then melee characters pointed out that they could not fight their enemies while in the Hurricane, so all they could do was just stand there and die or run away. So that got changed. Now, if Hurricane does for some reason actually reduce the range of the powers themselves while used within it? I've never noticed since that was changed back on Live. The only things I see Hurricane doing? Is kneecapping the ability to hit the user, push the targets away, and draw them in closer. I have not noticed any reductions in range because that made it impossible for melees to fight. Even if it were only a -60% range. At 2.8 feet of range, a melee attack range of 7 feet reduced by 60%, would mean that my Scrapper, Stalker, Tanker, or Brute would not be able to hit that Tsoo Sorcerer while in the Hurricane. And I do hit them, with my melee attacks, from not next to their hit box, just in normal melee range. (Once I can overcome the -37.5% ToHit.)

Our tension is from a statement you made that I disagreed with. Don't read more into it than that.

I actually made a point of clearing out the tentacles before the ambushes on two different runs. (As a Brute, the ToV weren't a threat to me, and my character would have prioritized the survival of the boat and Marcus, so I hunted tentacles and ignored the ToV until too many had gathered to ignore.) The tentacles stopped spawning for me.

I guarantee it isn't. Why? First? https://cod.uberguy.net/html/power.html?power=tanker_melee.battle_axe.taunt&at=tanker Second? I logged in the game and checked Taunt. And it says it has -100% range strength. Third? I checked Mids. And you are showing a Scrapper's Confront.

From personal experience, when something needs done and a team or unit has done it together often enough? Not a single word needs to be spoken. I have many times found myself accidentally coordinating my efforts with others on my team because we were all used to falling in and fulfilling specific objectives.

Taunt is -100% range. Confront is -75% range. The mechanic for both is called taunt. Have a Tanker or Brute taunt any target. Watch that target still shoot them after taunting. Edit: As for Hurricane? Mobs that enter or or otherwise in the Hurricane will cluster around your character. There is your -range component.

Precisely. The slowed character isn't less invulnerable, the slowed character can't protect their vital points as well any more or get out of the way as well. So they are easier to hit and hurt. The only thing I can see "Command Silence" doing is turning off any Leadership powers until it wore off. That's it. Simply because leading does require active coordinating and silencing the leader will prevent that. (Unless they have non-verbal communications available such as hand signs.) (Edit: Or if they were a team/unit that drilled and fougth together enough to no longer need verbal direction, which would also render silence useless against their teamwork and coordination. Like with Malta. Or the Tsoo.) Edit again: Also, can we consolidate this discussion on 1 thread? This two separate thread discussion is frustrating.

Taunt has a -100% range strength effect. At -100% range, if it reduced the power's actual range, then melee characters would not be able to attack the Tanker at all. (Edit again: Neither would most ranged enemies.) Because they have no enhancements that can improve their range and a range of 0 cannot hit past the character itself. And yet? Mobs will still blast you or shoot you or debuff you as they move closer to you. Hurricane does not stop melee mobs from hitting you with melee attacks either. (Edit: What I notice inside the enemies' Hurricane? Is that -37.5% ToHit keeps me from landing my attacks until I get built up enough to counter it.)

I am neither refusing to acknowledge that nor am I arguing against it. My point is that Levitate is not a useless power. We would not even be having this discussion except for the fact you specifically called Levitate a useless power. (And then you comment how Lift is a good power despite being the exact same power, just a little more powerful.)

Welcome to City of Heroes where simply evidencing you have KB powers can get you booted from the team. Unlike KB, I haven't seen people complain about Confuse except here on the forums. So you lost me.

Are you sure they spawn indefinitely? I've cleared them out without them returning on several playthroughs.

So you suggest Taunt and Confront have their -Range effect retracted too? There are so few powers with -Range effects, and I saw a good opportunity to expand that list. Even if you leave it out, reduction to cooldowns, buffs, debuffs, heals, and control effects is huge. If you don't think it is, I'm not really sure how experienced you are with this game's mechanics. Power Build Up is massive when used before activating your party buffs or large scale enemy debuffs. Weaken from the Poisons set is used to debuff these stats on enemies, not just damage reduction. It ruins the effectiveness of literally anyone you shoot with it. To the point where any shields a Ruin Mage is applying to allies are at 93% reduced effectiveness. Most other buff effects are halved. It's just objectively false to say that's negligible or useless. So much of what enemies do is so much more than damage. Often the hardest enemy groups to fight aren't hard because they have high damage, but because of the secondary effects of their abilities. Tsoo Sorcerers are a great example of this. Most of what they do is -ToHit, healing, and control effects. They have almost no damage, but are the primary threat in most fights against a bunch of Tsoo mobs, to the point where players make a point of specifically taking them down first. CoT Ruin Mages have tons of buffs and debuffs that make fights a nightmare too, and require players focusing them down. Having a player in the party who can nullify a large portion of these issues while the threat is eliminated is impressive. No. My argument is that Command Silence, in commanding enemies to be silent, has zero mechanical effects. It would affect nothing at all. Like how the post you are quoting says, it "would be a truly useless power". Edit: -Range makes targets move to you, it does not reduce their powers' ranges. Edit again: And who is to say the Circle mages are even using incantations? They are multi-millennia old mages. Ancient mages and true masters, in both comics and fantasy, tend to no longer use incantations for their magic. It is second nature to them, an automatic channeling that can only really be prevented by preventing them from using motions to focus their magic. As for the Tsoo? They are more chi masters than mages. They even have Chi Masters as a mob type. So silencing them will do absolutely nothing to disrupt their abilities because they are manipulating their own chi, their allies' chi, and the flowing energy around them. No incantations required. Not affected by being silenced.

There are other aspects of the power set that can compensate? But the power itself is useless despite not needing other powers to compensate for it as is? Your argument is broken. Yes, there are immob's that have -Fly. None of them do anything to stop your enemies from attacking you though. Levitate knocks fliers to the ground and it prevents them from attacking until they get back on their feet. With a base 6 second recharge, it doesn't take much for that Mag 12.463 knock up effect to keep almost any target in the game unable to do anything but take damage while you keep slamming them into the ground. Levitate was the power you specifically called out as useless. And it obviously isn't. That is my point. That is my argument on that specific topic. Because a power does not fit your conception of what a set is supposed to be does not make the power useless. Especially one as useful as Levitate.