Rudra

Yeah, I hear you, but I still have 50s that can't fight any higher. So I still disagree. This thread is starting to do some serious wandering now, so I'm just going to drop off it. If this pool gets implemented? Fine. I hope it does so with a Mag 1 limit for mez protection, but at least no higher than Mag 2. And keep the other resists low too. I do seem to be in the minority on this though. If it does not get implemented, I won't shed any tears.

Only the Jounin get the hidden status damage bonus from my experience. The Genin and Oni simply avoid being hit by anything that was about to attack but has not triggered it for a brief moment. Then they immediately do a normal damage attack that gets everything right back to smacking them. (Edit: It is why I have taken to never taking Smoke Flash.) (Edit II: And since Jounin already get their own Placate, and I've seen them use the Smoke Flash I give them, only to follow up with their own Placate, Smoke Flash is laughably useless in my opinion.) (Edit III: And even with the Jounin, I've only ever seen them get a single attack of increased damage regardless of them using Placate or Smoke Flash. So yeah, I don't count Smoke Flash as a buff or damage or anything other than a skippable slot to better build up my MM.)

I've got a bone to pick with this statement, but beyond this statement, I'm not going to make it. I've already had that argument and all it did was make me unreasonably angry. You are correct though. The x8 does not mean the spawns should take a team of 8 to clear. As has been said in another thread, the x8 only means the game spawns mobs in group sizes it would as if you were a team of 8 players. It does not account for how you build your character. It does not account for your AT or power choices. It simply spawns larger numbers of enemies to match the spawn sizes you would get if you had a larger team. And I believe this was included pre-incarnate because tankers, brutes, and some others were tired of asking for 7 other players to join them and door sit so (s)he could get the enemy spawn sizes (s)he could deal with solo. With that in mind, if anyone is using a difficulty higher than x1 as a basis for a need for this power pool, then your reasoning doesn't work. You are playing at a higher difficulty than the game was stated as being. For those of you citing difficulties higher than x1 to prove mezzes can get through your mez protection, but not necessarily as a reason for this pool to exist? Meh. Some spawns can achieve the protection breakthrough even on the normal +0/x1 difficulty, typically Tsoo in my experience. Your point is still valid though. There has been a lot of discussion as to whether this pool is needed, or if it is just a quality of life bit, or if it is power creep, or if it is progressing the game into even easier territory for those that are already yawning their way through everything. Again, neither for it nor against it, but if the magnitude of protection is low enough, this pool is not really a problem. Any mez protection higher than Mag 2 though, is excessive in my opinion. Firstly because this is a pool and should not be a mainstay or must have pool choice. And secondly because being able to routinely ignore even just lieutenants, let alone a boss regardless of how weak that boss' mezzes may be, is a pretty ridiculous ask considering the game already accounts for it. Squishies have range. They get mezzed? As long as they maintained their distance, they should survive long enough for the mez to wear off and do something even if they are not packing Breakfrees. I'm just one person and this is just my opinion, but there you have it.

As someone who plays solo 5 of 7 days a week, at +0/x0(x1) with most of my characters, I don't really see the problem with mezzes. Yes, I play at a very low difficulty compared to almost every other poster I've seen on the forums. Regardless of whether I'm on a corruptor, a blaster, or the odd dominator I bother making, I don't really have a problem with mezzes beyond the need to be careful and use some forethought. The blaster having the easiest time of the three in dealing with it. (Thank you, unmezzable T1 and T2 attacks.) I do have to admit though, there are times when my brutes at +0/x1 get mezzed. Typically because it is a Tsoo mission and I just got smacked by 4 Green Ink Men. Aside from the brief stun though, they aren't a problem. So I don't really see a mez problem. My corruptor got held and is in dire straits? If I'm a flier, I'm typically high enough that I'll survive until I recover. (Unless, you know, Malta.) I'm not a flier? I'll still typically survive long enough for the mez to wear off so I can get away to recover and plot my next attack. (Unless, you know, Malta. Or sometimes Carnies.) I don't really see a problem with the set as proposed as long as it is weak protection or only gives resists so the mezzes still apply. However, I also still don't see a need for it. Edit: And by weak, I mean Mag 1, maybe Mag 2. Enough to fend off a lone Fungoid minion's mez attack, but definitely not a boss.

I wouldn't call Smoke Flash from the Ninjas set a damage dealer or buff. It is a short radius Placate you can make a single ninja use. (And only the Jounin get any effect from it other than the mobs stop hitting him. And Jounin already have their own Placate.) Then again, Ninjas do seem to be an oddball set.... (Probably why I like them so much.)

1) T1, yes. 2) T3, yes. 3) T5, is either a cone or a targeted AoE (reference Photon Grenade from Robotics and M30 Grenade from Mercenaries) (Edit: Also contrast Life Drain ST ranged attack with heal component for Necromancy at T5.)

This. Of all the holes they could have put in WP, they gave it no resist to END drain and REC drain. The two defenses I most associate with being able to power through a situation, having the willpower to carry on. In the game's mechanics, is the ability to actually do anything. And yet WP has no such ability. A sapper sneezed 3 halls over? Oh no! All my toggles shut down and I can't act because I have no END! (Ridiculous exaggeration intended for both comedic visual and gross over-statement of problem.) I'm far less concerned with WP getting DDR than the ability to resist having their END pool completely wiped out by a lone minion. As for Bio? I never played it. I hate the visuals. They don't work for my characters, so I have no comment on it.

Mercs' 3rd tier 1 pet is a medic. Demons tier 1 pets are fire blast, ice blast, and hellfire blast (fire/dark). This really should be a different thread though.

And there is my concern. I've never played EQ, so not worried about how that game works. You are trying to create a druid set in CoX. That's fine. Problem: Druid spells include ice/cold (Ice Blast and Ice Control), plant (Plant Control and Plant Manipulation), weather spells (Storm Summoning), animal summons (Beast Mastery), and shapeshifting. Specializations include sea druids (Water Blast), stone druids (Earth Control and Earth Assault), Sky Druids (back to Storm Summoning with Electrical Blast), desert druids (arguably Fire Blast), and so forth. Making a do everything druid set for CoX is an interesting idea, but it also tries to do too much. When I first saw this post, I was hoping you had come up with something new. Instead, you present a mix of attacks that lets you tailor your damage type to your opponent. Seemingly by taking preferred powers from other sets and consolidating them.

Feels like you are trying to cover all damage types so you always have an answer to mob weaknesses. Pick a central damage type theme instead of grabbing everything please. I honestly expected the proposed set to be a lot of lethal/toxic (for piercing plant attacks) and smash/toxic (for crushing or blunt plant attacks).

Adding mez protection to the squishies is not really needed. Not in my experience. And I'm the kind of person that can run through multiple missions before I finally see a replacement inspiration drop. On a corruptor, one of my favorite ATs, I check the spawn, find the mezzer, then gank the mezzer. Deal with the rest of the spawn after. The primary mezzer is a boss? I blind the boss (Darkest Night, Radiation Infection, whatever) and do my best to drop him/her as quickly as possible, hoping the mezzes miss me in the interim. In the meantime, I'm flying out of the opposition's reach, so even if I am mezzed, I will hopefully not be swarmed to death. I can't do that? Then I hit and run the spawn until only the boss is left, then grit my teeth and go for it, popping reds and purples to gank the boss as quick as I can. Like has been said already, there are options for squishies to deal with mezzers. It doesn't always work, and if you have the inspirations, you can use them to mitigate the situation, but options are there. Again, I am not against this idea, but neither am I for it. Inspirations are a core part of the game. They are there to get you out of a bad situation. They are not build considerations. You can't rely on having them when you need to, but they are a consideration.

With Mag 10 mez protection, you need to be facing some seriously stiff mez opposition. Or a pair of Dark Ring Mistresses backing up those Illusionists... Or a few Sappers backing up those Zeus Titans with their Hercules Titan support... especially if they are higher level... ... maybe a trial AV... ... ... so yeah... pretty serious opposition....

I actually hated that about CO, which was the only game I played that had that. NPCs had mezzes that timed in for use just as the timer for reduced effect timed out, so they always knocked you or held you for full effect. Players however, would get sets that every power included knock or repel, and after the first attack, the whole theme of the set was useless because every attack added a stack of resist to the target and renewed the timer. (Hells, one attack was a sustain with repel that almost instantly maxxed out the target's repel resistance to immunity before you even got halfway through the power's attack duration.) It's an advantage of CoX that inherent mez protection does not exist to cause that. As for the debuff/resist power pool? I have no opinion. Blasters can still attack while mezzed. I don't play defenders so I don't know how well they handle it. My corruptors handle even mez focused bosses well, but all my corruptors fly and stay out of reach. I don't play controllers and rarely play doms, so no insight on them. And the other ATs have some protection built in. You want a dedicated pool for mez protection? I definitely won't complain. It never happens? I still won't complain.

Can't the walk mechanic be applied in some way? The toggle suppression instead of de-activation of kheldian powers makes way more sense than the current system.

Uhm... all the sniping sets, including Manticore, include interrupt enhancements.... Edit: Except for Exploit Weakness for some reason....

The kheldians felt like a challenge AT when they were first released. I'm not saying they were or are, but they were and are the only ATs with mobs specifically designed to destroy them that would be encountered in every mission. Even when they first start out at level 1. Yes, they have a blaster form. Yes, they have a tanker form. So yes, they can fill either role if needed. As someone who quickly learned to hate kheldians when they were first released on Live though, I don't think they are meant to compete favorably with the more dedicated ATs. They are the Jack of all Trades yet Master of None AT.

I really don't see proc damage being adversely affected by the ability to shave off a second from the long wind up of the non-combat snipe.

Agreed. You don't even need the boarding animation since like the OP says, it is not aligned half the time. Just make the transit window always selectable and you immediately go to that zone like with the ferries.

Probably because of how prestige powers worked on Live. They were awarded based on how many years you had been playing with a choice between two ranged powers that gave bonuses if you were the correct origin type, two melee powers, and one alternate choice later on with no bonuses. (Though the ranged powers were later changed to ignore origin type and you simply chose which version enjoyed the damage boost.) You only ever got 3 of the powers on Live, and the P2W vendor is just letting you shortcut the Veteran Rewards, since you needed like 7 years of play to earn them.

Ooh! Bear heads! And squirrel! And more varied beaks! And... yeah... I'm about to go crazy with requests. Agreed about grouping them into a single animal head category too.

I expect this to die in the cradle, but is there any chance of getting cat heads that aren't great cat? You know, like a generic house cat. And a rabbit head? We already have cat ears and bunny ears, and we have large and medium great cats, but nothing really domestic. (And can they also please have the hair options allowed? I keep checking to see if somehow I can have hair on my felines, and oddly enough, I never can. I'll check again tomorrow and see if I suddenly can now. 😄) *dons asbestos* Let the flaming begin!

If we're going to make hair unisex, can we also make them usable with the animal heads please?

Uhm... how do you get 3 focus ups? I see no such enhancement and the build up power only has a 10s duration.... You lost me. As for the snipe, you're saying getting Tactics should be sufficient to not have the interrupt time? I don't really understand your post. Anyway, Experienced Marksman is a set I've never heard of before but found. It has a single enhancement (Range/Fast Snipe) that makes all snipes instant cast abilities. So I guess we can just slot that 1 enhancement... but... I agree that it makes sense for the interrupt enhancements to reduce the interrupt time, not just make a portion of it not interruptible. I'm probably in the minority on this though.

I always thought the activation time was the short time after the long interrupt time and the mid-combat use was just the activation time without the lead-in interrupt time. So I also thought interrupt time enhancements made the snipe fire sooner. Shows how little I know.... whoops. Edit: According to Mids, Dark Blast's Moonbeam has a cast time of 1.33s. According to the game, it has an activation time of 3.33s, with a 2s interrupt. So if I'm reading this right, it has a cast time of 1.33s with a 2s interruptible charge up. So yeah, I was under the impression that interrupt enhancements reduced that 2s interrupt time, then the 1.33s cast time was layered on top, for a faster firing snipe. Live and learn I guess. Oh well.

As far as sound goes, for your argument, all TVs as far as I know have an option called dynamic compression, though it may be called something else based on manufacturer. It sounds to me like they are just asking for the game to incorporate a similar option. As someone who also has to play the game on very low, though thankfully nowhere near as low as the other posters, I can empathize. I recently turned the volume up to see if I was actually hearing a glowy or if the sound was just in my head. And I was amazed at the sounds I never knew the game had because of how low I have to keep the volume for combat. Adding an optional cap for sounds the player has to turn on as requested, say selectable from 1-10 sources at a time, would let everyone enjoy the game and hear all the little sounds that make the game but some of us are missing. While I appreciate you and six-six making mods for people to use, I personally have bad luck with mods. The only mod I use is vidiotmaps to avoid potential problems. And that is only because vidiotmaps does not touch the code, it simply replaces the maps' image files with images containing more information. I don't even use the mod for handling the mods, the name of which I can't currently remember. Asking for the option to be built into the game instead of a player mod ensures it does not break the game, potentially requiring the user to uninstall and re-install the game to recover from. And since it would be an option players enable to use, people like you that can play the game at higher sound levels would not even be affected by it since you would never turn the option on.