Rudra

I disagree. Freeze Ray has no Slow component. So it not accepting such enhancements is hardly a bug.

I never understood why Hamidon was changed to give Empyrean Merits either. At least he only gives it once per 24 hours and doesn't give salvage.

Huh. Just checked in game and it says it does. I sit corrected. My apologies. (Edit: Also saw it has a slow component. Never noticed its slow. So, again, my apologies.)

Ok, but if it doesn't have a slow component, and you aren't after the sets, then why do you want it to accept slow enhancements?

MSR isn't Incarnate content, so why would it give Incarnate rewards?

*shrug* If that is the OP's intent, okay. Didn't feel that way to me since the OP didn't ask for a slow component, just the enhancement set. Never bothered me, but guess that makes me odd entity out. After all, it is a Mag 3 Hold on a Blaster that available fairly early in a set that lets my Blaster smack a target with a Mag 6 Hold effect. Mag 9 if I also take Leviathan Mastery. And up to Mag 15 with slotted procs. Hells, Bitter Freeze Ray doesn't take Slow sets either. Most likely because it too is a Hold. Does the game have any Holds that also Slow?

Erin West. And I love how upset the NPCs get when you make mention of things like Crey's Folly.

Really? Those are rather basic names for characters. I've had names taken from me in less time than that. I've even lost names while I was just random throwing a character together to reserve the name for when I transfer the transferred character back. And how long does it take to just random click AT and powers for a placeholder character that you couldn't care less what it looks like? It means nothing other than at least one other person also had a character (s)he/they wanted that name for. And was probably very surprised (and happy) to find the name available. (Edit: Now, if those names had been something out there like maybe Klex'ar of Vryxlpath or something else obviously made up and possibly unique as a name/concept? And then that name was lost because of a server transfer? Then I could maybe see someone watching the name to take or possibly riffing off the first player's idea. I would still doubt it, but at least it would be more plausible.)

I don't remember Freeze Ray having a slow component to it. Isn't it just a straight hold with damage?

They can't. Those aren't co-op zones. However, heroes can just hop on any tram in any zone and get to Kallisti Wharf. Villains have to go find one of the smuggler subs.

It happened with every online game I've ever played, so good luck with that.

My main: Ninja/Dark. Doesn't even happen to me zoning either. Not going to/from Kallisti Wharf for instance or when entering or exiting missions. Edit: Are you sure you aren't just hitting a lag spike from server traffic?

That isn't a recent patch thing. CoX has been doing that forever. When the servers are under a heavy load, rubberbanding and lost packets are fairly normal.

Are there specific maps or doors doing that? Because I've been playing a MM all week and that hasn't happened.

We have spellcasters in the game. Lots of them. We don't have robes for the same reason we don't have long skirts for females. There is severe clipping issues involved with them. (Another edit: The Carnies get away with it by not having legs. The Tsoo get away with it by not having kicks and going into a combat stance as soon as they aggro to hide their clipping.) There have been multiple requests for alternate animations that use wands and/or staves though. Fireballs are in the fire set. Familiars are available at the START vendor. Edit: Right, you also said power sets for wizards. Take the magic origin and any power set in the game. Blaster if you want an offensive wizard, Corruptor if you want a wizard that does both heavy offense and support, Controller if you want a wizard that focuses on battlefield manipulation, Dominator if you want a wizard that does battlefield manipulation with focused offense, Sentinel if you want an offensive wizard with strong defense, and Mastermind if you want a wizard that summons others to fight for them. (Edit again: Bonus points if you also take the Sorcery power pool.) (Edit yet again: And if you want a "traditional" D&D style wizard character, there are posts on these forums, including one from me, on how to make a D&D style wizard complete with lightningbolt, fireball, cone of cold, mass cat's grace, and other spells.)

Confront and Taunt serve the same purpose. Confront lets the Scrapper pick who they want taunted while Taunt lets Tankers and Brutes just grab everyone. (Being able to draw your selected target as opposed to the entire spawn does not make Confront weaker. It makes more tailored to the concept of the Scrapper.) Choosing to ignore Confront for the sake of buffing Provoke, choosing to ignore Scrappers because you only care about Tanker identity, just means you are choosing to step on Confront. Any -range is a useful tool when you want to draw targets in for any reason. Confront lets you spam the ability to draw in while Taunt tries to do it all at once. Provoke lets you currently draw attention away from others without stepping on Tankers, Brutes, or Scrappers' identities as provocation specialists. Adding 37.5% -range to Provoke still means Provoke can yank up to 5 targets from 60 feet away to come to the character while Confront can only pull 1 target from 70 feet. Autohit is a nicety, but a high accuracy still means you are going to draw at least 3 of those 5 targets just from Streakbreaker every time. And without even trying to go for recharge, you can be throwing that Provoke every 5 seconds. Those mobs didn't come all the way to you? Okay, hit Provoke again and have them finish coming to you. Or move the maybe 10 or 15 feet difference to them and drop them.

Let's simplify it and look at what the powers do. Confront: ST, autohit, -range. Taunt: AoE, autohit, -range. Provoke: AoE, hit check. Provoke sits nicely between Confront and Taunt. It hits more targets than Confront, letting the player grab the attention of more foes in a single try, but does not cause the targets to move to the character and can miss. The move to the character is nice, but not crucial to the ability to get mobs' attention. Especially since you can draw the mobs to you by using Provoke and then moving behind cover so they have to move to you to be able to target you because of being provoked. Confront has to target every target you want to pull off a friend individually. It being an autohit with a really fast recharge is great, but it falls behind in being ST. Taunt targets an area while being autohit, but only draws in the targeted mob. I'm not going to be able to change your mind, of that I am fairly certain. However, being able to affect multiple targets with a single use of the power at the expense of a hit check seems quite fair to me to sit between Confront and Taunt. With the -range being nice and all, but not critical to ATs that don't already specialize in drawing in enemies. And those ATs have either Confront or Taunt available to them. Edit: Now lets say provoke is given a -range component as well. Even with a hit check required, it stomps Confront. It does so because improving accuracy is ridiculously easy. So now a pool power will hit more targets than a primary power, draw them in to the character, and only has an easily countered hit check requirement. Why ever bother with Confront when Provoke is now so much better than it?

Uhm, yeah. The mission is to rescue Akarist and Zoria. So if Akarist dies, the mission can't be completed. Looking at the wiki, it seems he is downgraded to just a pet for that mission. In this case, he should probably either be changed to his normal status of boss or be granted invulnerability. (It is because of how the mission is listed on the wiki that I am fine with changing him.) (Edit: I should be honest.... I've never had a problem saving Akarist, but I know there is going to be a push to make him invulnerable or what not, so I'm just resigning myself to that outcome.)

Well, power pool powers are supposed to be weaker than primary/secondary set versions. Then you also have the considerations others have already posted. So to me, Provoke looks to be pretty well balanced between Taunt and Confront, with only the accuracy check making it weaker. And again, as a power pool selection, it is supposed to be weaker.

So @CommanderStryker got me thinking with the Musketeers proposal. So I'm here yet again with yet another MM primary set proposal. (Bear in mind I fully understand how much more difficult it is to make a MM primary, so I'm not holding my breath over this. However, I would still like to get a feel for how others view this idea and what improvements they would like to suggest.) Primal Guardian The primal guardian seeks to both defend nature and bend it to his will. Whether the primal guardian's intentions are benign or malign, the primal guardian has devoted followers to enforce his will, eventually culminating in the ability to call forth and command a primal spirit of nature itself to serve. Tier 1: Venom Thorn This thrown dart poisons the target, inflicting additional damage over time while penalizing the target's recharge. Tier 2: Scout (Use Immunes Engineer, not Incarnate version, no shield) Armed with javelins and spear, scouts form the bulk of the primal guardian's forces. Opening the fight with their thrown javelins, scouts disrupt and harry enemy forces. They then utilize their spears to finish off whatever is left to close with them. (Melee preferred.) (Powers: Mercurial Blow and Precise Strike. Both with spear model.) Tier 3: Throwing Axe A sturdy axe thrown with precision. Tier 4: Enhanced Training This power enhances your followers, bolstering their resilience and teaching them new techniques to use against your foes. Tier 5: Gas Acid Grenade This thrown weapon explodes into a cloud of nerve gas. While the initial damage is light, the gas' vapors cling to the target. This results in additional minor damage over time. More importantly, the gas gets into the targets' eyes and nose, making it more difficult for them to perceive their enemies, and so rendering their attacks less accurate. (Toxic damage on attack, toxic DoT, -ACC, -Perception) This thrown weapon inundates the target and the area around it with an extremely caustic fluid. (Toxic damage, toxic DoT, minor -RES.) (Change made to remove the more control-oriented aspect of original power.) Tier 6: Woodsman (Use modified Woodsman model. So it isn't the actual Woodsman. Intent is unarmored warrior, but doesn't use combat boots like the Warriors.) The elite of your followers, these skilled warriors are armed with bows and axes. (Melee preferred.) (Powers: Beheader and Chop.) Tier 7: Release the Hounds (Use Howler Wolf.) When the fighting looks to be particularly fierce, you have a kennel of war hounds ready to be unleashed on your foes. (Functions as Gang War, except with 'dogs of war' theme.) Tier 8: Summon Primal Spirit (Use Bres.) You have learned how to unleash a primal spirit of nature's wrath. This creature commands nature itself to doom your foes. (Melee preferred.) (Powers: Punch and Haymaker.) Tier 9: Ascendant Empowerment You can now imbue your followers with even greater abilities than before. Enhanced Training Powers: All: Improved damage resistance Scout: Javelin Throw (Use Pilum animation from Cimeroran Traitors.) Woodsman: Aimed Shot Summon Primal Spirit: Haymaker and Strangler Ascendant Empowerment Powers: All: Minor self heal (long recharge) Scout: Guarded Spin Woodsman: Pendulum Summon Primal Spirit: Foot Stomp and Lightning Storm That's my pitch. Let's hear the responses.

How about something like: Rallying Cry: PBAoE, click, long recharge. Clears current Stun, Sleep, and Hold effects (own pets only), +ACC (own pets only), +DAM (own pets only). (Edit: Because only clears current listed effects, recurring effects like Static Field or new applications of listed effects can still disable pets.) Edit again: Or you can make it work like this: Reinforce Morale: PBAoE, click, long recharge. -RECH, +ACC, +DAM. (Own pets only.) This could reflect your character's role in commanding and inspiring the henchmen, driving them to fight harder and more relentlessly. There are myriad options to reflect a battlefield commander buffing their soldiers without hamstringing the soldiers. Take your pick.

We can hand wave away the long, cumbersome, easily stopped reloading the same way we do reloading every other weapon in the game. We can address the ridiculous lack of accuracy those weapons had, despite their much better accuracy over blunderbusses and arquebusses, by giving them shorter than normal range. (Which can be compensated by increased damage or suitable secondaries to keep the power worthwhile.) The primary weapon being the rapier or epee is not true however, If combat distances close, then yes, those weapons were typically preferred. Until then though, most weren't willing to advance under musket fire and simply fired back with their own weapons. The proposed minions can also be equipped with flintlock or wheellock pistols. So for ranged combat the minions can use their musket or their pistol, and for melee they can use rapiers. So as far as reloading animations go, the devs can either devote time and resources to making new animations or they can just skip it and let the muskets always be loaded like the assault rifle. My question is would the set be melee preferred or range preferred. Because that will heavily influence how they fight and how the player utilizes them. The other question, well, concern, I have is the MM's innate attacks. The proposal has 1 ranged attack followed by a melee cone followed by a melee attack. (If retained, it should be ranged then melee then cone because MMs don't get their area attacks until the end.) MMs only get three innate attacks. And having the MM split those very limited attacks between ranged and melee means they lose out on effective chains. I would recommend either all three attacks be ranged or all three attacks be melee. And whether I recommend ranged or melee depends on whether the pets are range preferred or melee preferred. I'm also not a fan of the idea of taking away pet attacks. MM pets already have their flaws, and reducing their combat options for slightly faster ranged attacks or slightly faster movement does not sit well with me. Never mind that the proposed set has 10 powers. So I would like to see how the author addresses these concerns.

I've noticed the discussion shifted from adding more AoEs to Super Strength to discussing Rage. As far as the Rage part goes, I've never been a fan of Rage. However, that statement should be taken with a grain of salt because I've also never been a fan of Aim or Build Up. I will take Rage, but only when I'm out of powers for my build, because Rage is a good choice for amplifying my damage when things go sideways. I'm fine with players double-stacking Rage, to each their own. However, I wouldn't shed any tears if Rage was changed. (Not replaced, changed. Depending on the change.) As for adding more AoEs to Super Strength? I personally don't think that fits thematically. (Typically, when I see a super strong character in comics or cartoons making AoE attacks, it is because that character picked up a truck or a tank or some other massive object and is swinging that around to clear the area. If the character isn't using some over-sized weapon? The character is quickly pulverizing single targets consecutively.) I'm also very much a fan of having access to a set that focuses on ST attacks. My Super Strength Brute does just fine clearing out spawns quickly using ST attacks. (Just like super strong characters do in the comics.) I very much enjoy it. And should I want to spam AoEs, I can throw a Foot Stomp slightly faster than every 10 seconds. No Hasten or anything else required to get there. So I can only imagine what a player that focuses on recharge like Holy Quad players can get their recharges down to.

You know, with how this discussion is going, I felt the need to throw in my two cents too. So, here you go.

🙄