Rudra

Uhm... what does that have to do with this thread's discussion?

On an MM character? The mayhems are stupid easy at low level. I don't even plan a route to limit the ambushes on my way to the bank like I do with some other ATs. (Edit: Specifically my Dominators. I'm not very good at running support ATs.) I don't need to drop the difficulty to -1. I play at default difficulty. And if I'm feeling a little bold on my level 7 MM? I may even increase the difficulty. I absolutely never drop the difficulty when on a MM. However, I also don't skip my T1 secondaries on MMs since those are typically my AoE heal to keep myself and my pet in the fight. So yeah, I guess we are playing different games, because I find MMs to be easy mode for playing the game. All it takes is paying any attention at all to your pet(s) and giving your pet(s) support. Stalkers are definitely more annoying since the ambushes ignore your Hide ability. So when I see a notice of an ambush spawning, I make sure I'm not next to any other spawns and just butcher the ambushes when they get to me. Yes, some missions can get rather tricky, but that is mostly from multiple spawns being almost on top of each other in my experience, because I'm suddenly fighting an EB and still have 0 enhancements of any kind slotted, or because I have to find something that isn't showing on the map with lots and lots of little crannies the objective can be hidden in. On my starting characters, I play at the default difficulty. (Game shows +0/x0, but it is really +0/x1). I typically leave my difficulty at that level unless I'm on a character I want greater rewards on per fight, at which point I increase the difficulty. My high level characters are run at +2/x4, +3/x2, or +4/x8 depending on the character AT and build unless the character is one I'm not interested in dealing with the slog with. My Praetorian characters used to have difficulty because the ambushes in Praetoria like to stack and quickly, but I haven't seen that happen any more even on the Resistance betrayal mission from Chloe or the Destroyers attack on TPN. Without those layered ambushes? Those missions are as easy as every other. Any new player that may struggle with the game can find help on how to deal with the various situations the game throws at us in the Help channel, the Broadcast channel, the forums, the Discord, their teammates, and even just reading the tips that appear on the loading screen. As soon as they find out what the game does, they suddenly find themselves no longer struggling. And even if they don't avail themselves of the available tips and help? The game automatically loads Twinshot and Dr. Graves at level 6 so new players can run through yet another tutorial in case they skipped the starter tutorials and learn how things like current enhancements makes the game easier.

There is no justification for the Fighting pool to be made inherent. Just like there is no justification for the Leadership pool, Speed pool, or Leaping pool to be inherent. As much as I didn't like the Fitness pool being made inherent, at least there was justification for it.

Except it is. I'm almost always playing solo. The game is easy. It was meant to encourage team play, yes, but it also had to be designed so that solo players can play too. And that was before all the power creep. The game is very easy. Mastermind: Leave pets in Defensive Follow, and they absorb part of the damage meant for you. While still smacking everything to kingdom come. Stalker: Assassin Strike and Placate are your friends. Blaster: is mez immune with their basic attacks, so blast your opponents into oblivion. I don't play Controllers because they bore me and I don't play Tankers because I prefer to get my attacks faster. (And I still won't play Kheldians.) However, every AT I've run has had absolutely no problems clearing anything. Now if you're trying to solo +4/x8 at low levels before you've fully slotted your character at level 50? Yeah, that's not going to happen. The game is not balanced around Hard Mode content. So that argument is completely irrelevant to the discussion. Edit: In fact, Hard Mode content was added specifically because players were complaining the game was too easy.

How did I never think of doing that with my felines?!?!?!?! 😆 If I recall correctly, that was for adding a 7th slot to a power. I may be wrong though.

Uhm... just red side? Pretty sure the costume creator can't be set up that way. Getting those as a costume option (no side limitations)? Sounds good to me.

Good to know. Thanks. However, now I am even more confused by @Saiyajinzoningen's post.

I'm not understanding. Sorry. Teammates are already marked on the map. As are NPCs you or the team has picked up. (The thing about waypoint markers, they don't move. So using the Siren's Call PvP bounty system as a reference, a marker is placed where the target is at time of posting, and then that marker is eventually deleted and a new marker placed after a set amount of time has passed. So even the current player waypoint marker is a static thing, just deleted and replaced every x period of time. You can already do that by right clicking where the teammate's map marker is to set a waypoint.) (Edit: On layered maps, the teammate can /loc themselves and post those coordinates in team chat. Clicking the coordinates sets a waypoint marker.)

What if i demand a request phrased as a demand in the form of an emoji? ... I have no idea how to respond to that....

You see, that's not a requirement. I would love for explanations for a great many emojis and "No"s posted on the forums. I've even gone back and asked for those explanations. However, noone is required to explain themselves. Everyone is free to just say yes, no, or nothing at all. Everyone is free to just post an emoji. It's just something that has to be accepted. (Trust me on this. I've been yelled at so many times on this forum for requesting an explanation. Apparently I'm very bad at phrasing requests and everyone reads them as demands though.)

Emojis without explanation are the norm here. People like to express their feelings toward a post, but are disinclined to get more involved than that. It happens.

Fitness was never removed. It was made inherent so that every character got it for free. (Back on Live, I had characters that retained the actual pool as a pick rather than use the inherent version. I think @Greycat kept such a character until shut down. I however, wound up respeccing those characters, so lost that option.) Some power sets and even individual powers are still outperforming others or under-performing against others. Game balance is not a static thing. It is a constant struggle to find. And adding Task/Strike Forces, power sets, or ATs does not disrupt game balance. At least not anywhere near like taking away existing power prerequisites and giving even more enhancement slots to players.

That is actually easier than you think, depending on the AT and build. The tricky part of doing that for me? Being able to spread out spawns enough that I'm not being swarmed by more than I can handle at a time. (I'm not an uber player.) So running away from fights falls into my core strategy so I can recover and resume the fight after. (So I find it much more preferable to duo it or solo lower difficulty ITFs.) That's the point. The game isn't difficult. At all. And the OP would make it even easier. Because players would be able to fully optimize their builds, which they can't do right now because they have to be choosy about slot placement and power picks. I remember when the Fitness pool was made inherent. I was against that too. I had no say in the matter because I wasn't on the forums, but I do remember the arguments. And as predicted, with the need to pick the Fitness pool removed, players simply found a new "mandatory" pool to replace it. (Hello, Holy Quad.) The discussion so far has been civil. No angry posts have cropped up yet. People are simply stating their responses. Let's start with the added enhancement slots. Whether 2 slots, 4 slots, or other. With those added slots, players can get more set bonuses on their powers. That is more global buffs on their characters. More buffs a character gets, the more powerful the character is, the easier the game becomes. Now let's look at removing power pick requirements from pool powers. Now instead of having to take a prerequisite power, players can find other powers that better maximize their combat ability. That makes them more powerful. Which makes the game easier. (And likely will then lead to renewed requests to increase the number of pools we can choose from to 5 so those extra power picks can be utilized in an even more efficient manner.)

Hello, Raikao. This has been debated to death on other threads. Multiple times. I am currently disinclined to go into it again, so I instead recommend doing a little reading on this forum. (Edit: Also, as a heads up, there are players that don't put any extra slots into Health or Stamina. Very few of my builds get extra slots in those powers, and if they do, it is usually 1 extra slot. And if I want a slot anywhere else? Those are the first places I pull extra slots from.)

You're right. Apologies. The edit was on my post after that.

Check again. That's not how it works. Only the first zone is like that. Why did you edit out the edit that said to check an update post on the matter? I did already check again. That's why that edit is on that post.

Really? I'm not even against the OP, but I find that line of reasoning hard to swallow. How long does it take a mob on average to regain his/her/its feet after being knocked down? Just with a Mako's Bite Damage/Recharge, Accuracy/Endurance/Recharge, and Accuracy/Damage/Endurance/Recharge slotted; absolutely no other enhancements slotted so no set bonuses from anything, no other powers picked so nothing else is affecting its recharge, Vicious Slash is down to 5.41 seconds of recharge. Just 3 enhancements. That's it. Want me to finish building the character and see what it gets down to just slotting for general combat and survivability? How about if I chase the Holy Quad and include Hasten and all 5 Luck of The Gambler procs we can use and still get the bonus? How about if I factor in other sets that also give a global recharge buff? Or how about I turn on Blood Frenzy and see what 3 or 4 stacks of it does for its recharge? (Full disclosure: My Savage Melee/Fiery Aura character has a recharge of 4.45 seconds on Vicious Slash. And most players would find my global recharge buff on the character to be laughable.) Like I said, I am not a fan of the lockout. You have no idea how much I want to be in favor of the OP. However, your argument fails to convince. You are citing an attack with a 67% chance of scoring a KD effect, that can with only 3 enhancements that each split their effect between recharge and at least 1 other buff for reduced effect, no set bonuses of any kind, and not even factoring in Blood Frenzy's own effect since the power grants TWO stacks of Blood Frenzy for being used for another +8% recharge by itself, as the set lacking mitigation. (Edit: And that isn't even getting into the other things Savage Melee does. All I'm asking for is that you give an honest debate about the set. The lockout sucks, I agree. It definitely looks required for balance to me though.) Edit again: My personal take for getting rid of the lockout? We lose the endurance reduction and recharge effects. All of it. Gone. The Blood Frenzy stacks empower the finishers to do more damage like they do now. Maybe slightly more. Or lose either the endurance reduction or the recharge reduction, and reduce the other by half, keeping Bloody Frenzy as a boost for the finishers. Under those conditions? I could see no need for any lockout to exist on the set any more.

Savage Melee has DoTs that continue the damage after the initial damage from the attack, -Def (All), KD, - running speed, jumping speed, and jumping height, and an AoE damage gap closer. So it does have mitigation in the form of KD in an attack that can be used every 9 seconds before you slot enhancements or factor in Blood Frenzy. And it does have defense debuffs in a cone attack that reduces DEF by 9% for 10 seconds that can be used every 7.5 seconds before you slot enhancements or factor Blood Frenzy. And both of those attacks grant Blood Frenzy, making their recharge better just by using those attacks. Edit: And Blood Thirst revokes the lockout while granting 5 stacks of Blood Frenzy too.... https://cod.uberguy.net/html/power.html?power=scrapper_melee.savage_melee.blood_thirst&at=scrapper

Even at 2.5 stacks average, that translates to 15% END discount for all powers and 10% +recharge for all powers. Without need for any enhancements, enhancement set bonuses, or power picks. Take away the finishers? And now you can sustain the full 5 stacks for 30% END discount for all powers and 20% +recharge for all powers.* Without using enhancements, enhancement set bonuses, or using up any power picks. Pretty hefty boost.... Now I for one am not a fan of the lockouts. (I can work with them though. On my savage melee character, I do my best to avoid having the full 5 stacks of Blood Frenzy. So I hit a finisher as soon as I have four counters.) That said, what Blood Frenzy gives is rather strong. What would you give up to maintain the balance? Edit: * - I say this because it never seems to take me any time to get my stacks back. And no finishers means nothing to consume the stacks any more.

I thought that was disabled? Though since the Base Transporter power has the same recharge as the Long Range Teleport power, I suppose that works as a suitable sub for the Long Range Teleport power. Just have your base teleporters at or near the base entrance. (Especially since HC took away the need to have all the explores for a zone grabbed while in SG mode or part of a SG before being able to grab the zone beacon for the teleporters. Thank goodness for that change.)

Now I'm left wondering if you realize the pun....

They get by the filter as well.

Ok. So say I’m the parent of a 13 year old who identifies as queer. They create a character who also identifies as such. Then they find that people cannot read that in chat because they have their filter enabled to sort out offensive words. How would you explain this to them in a way that makes them feel like they’re welcomed and supported by the folks in charge of that filter? I guess tell them it is a double standard society is still working through like female anatomy is bleeped out but male anatomy isn't in the game? (I got curious, logged on to the game, and tried several words. Sex, heterosexual, homosexual, queer, and various body parts to test.) Edit: I should probably also state that out of my test words, the words sex, heterosexual, and homosexual all got by without being filtered. (Edit again: As did the words transexual, pansexual, and asexual. As well as gay and lesbian. All perfectly fine by the filter. So looks like only queer is filtered.)

The green Fast Travel power just gives you access to the Long Range Teleport power as well as the other teleport powers like Base Transporter in a single power instead of having to slot and click each individual power for use. You are still using the same gold icon Long Range Teleport power, just through an intermediary power.

Okay, it's weird. I grabbed a Nerva Archipelago explore to test again, and it failed. Then I tried again after it recharged, and it worked. So I guess you have to wait for the unlock to take.