Neiska

@marcussmythe - all very fine points, and I agree. You can change pools without rerolling (a good thing!). Power pool impacts, well, i think it depends on the AT in question. But they are on a different scale yes. Far as manditory def pools, i wish there were more places to get them in everyones powersets. That would make the defense/lotg mules less manditory. But back on the TW topic. My main point was that TW (i believe?) is only the 100% superior choice for Scrappers, and are not the best choice for brutes and tankers. (the "best" choice really depends on what activity you want to do I suspect.) And an overall nerf to the TW powerset wholesale might bring scrappers back to "even" with everyone else, but I fear it would make TW sub par for the brutes and tankers, which "might" put TW into the "axe" catagory for those later ATs. Which is why I wonder if they can just change the mechanics on an AT by AT basis, but thats a question for much smarter heads than mine. You did bring up a great point though. Would it even be possible for Homecoming to add in a sort of "change 1 powerset" sort of mechanic? Sort of like the respec token but just for a primary or secondary instead of just a relevel?

Well, going by this logic then we need to have a look at pools such as leadership, combat jumping, and speed. Because those would fall under the exact same logic. Nearly every build takes those 3 pools, leaving the majority of other pools largely untouched. This isnt 100% the case, but I would bet an entire box of coco that this is the case. "ya know, this is fun. But i wish i had taken combat jump/leadership to get my defenses capped, or to be mule-spots for more luck of the gamblers." I mean, its kind of the same thing isnt it? Such a clear superior choice that 95% of people do it leaving no real "choice" right?

Here is my experience with Tw/bio, I have both a scrapper and brute version. (I suspect I am alone that i actually perfer the brute!) These are not presented as "facts", just my own thoughts, experiences, and opinions. 1.) I found that TW actually underperforms, until you get enough global/recharge reduction from Luck of the Gamblers and set bonuses. 2.) I had other ATs and powerset combinations actually perform better when leveling up, and even as a fresh 50 with only a few sets. TW/BIO didnt begin to feel "godlike" until I started getting all my high end enchancements and incarnates, namely "recharge". Once I hit that magical "recharge" point, it just went from 0-500 fast. Before then? It felt clunky, awkward, unwieldly. Sometimes there were attack chain gaps. Or there were issues with Accuracy. Missing with TW just makes me wince to see, considering the windup time. 3.) Tw/Bio is painful to exemplar down/run ouros with. Even if you have a full attuned set of IOs, that wont prevent "power loss" that makes the entire concept work. I rarely see tw/bio on weekly TF runs for example. Anytime i see a Tw/Bio, its usually in endgame content. Rarely do i see them elsewhere. 4.) I would consider points 2 and 3 to be "powerset drawbacks". Endgame? Sure, you're Onepunchman. But any other sort of activity? It feels pretty "meh". Either your attacks are super slow, or they miss, and it feels like playing pool with a baseball bat. Even farming is a bit "meh". Sure, they "can", but I can actually farm and clear maps faster with my Mastermind than my TW/BIO, as odd as that sounds. Thoughts on nerfing - I do think the set is overtuned a bit. But perhaps not to the extent others make it out to be, at least not the powerset as a whole. It seems just fine on my Brute. And my scrapper vs my widow,, my Widow can hit "almost" as hard. (She actually does more damage than my tw/bio brute). She has a solid single attack chain as well as pop Psi Wail for massive AOE damage. while she has more team buffs with improved maneuvers, assualt, mind link etc. And CC options such as Aura of Confuse. So from a team perspective, I acutally think my Widow is superior to my TW/BIO brute or scrapper. Sure, the TW gives more damage.. ...but thats it. I would argue my Widow contribues nearly as much damage, plus all the other stuff which not benifits just me, but the entire team. All this while being def and res capped. So, changes may need to happen, bbuuutt I would urge not to "overtune" it such as other powersets have been in the past. Or perhaps a Change to the powerset on only X sort of ATs? I mean, if you nerf it too much then you will never see a Tanker or Brute take the set. As I hear its only the "scrapper" version that people seem to voice concerns over. Example - What if TW powers could no longer Crit? I am no number cruncher or anything, but that one change alone might bring TW/BIO Scrappers back to where everyone else is, but leave Brutes and Tankers laregely untouched. (I have no math to support this, its just an idea or suggestion.) I am just afraid of them nerfing TW too much, by using only the "Scrapper" version in mind, which would make the set even worse for brutes, and possibly unplayable on Tankers. I mean, I am one of the few brute TW/BIOs that I know about, and i nearly "never" see the power on tankers to begin with. Like, ever.

@mechahamham - after some thought 3 more quick points I would like to add. 1. "Speech control" is a dangerous line of thinking. First off, no one is going to agree on what is and is not acceptable. Moreover, Homecoming or any other company for that matter is NOT under any obligation to curtail communication that you personally dislike, find distasteful, or disagree with. And if they were, it would lead to something akin to 1984's "thought police", where options to disagree on anything are closed before a discussion can even take place. Is this what you really want? 2. However, Homecoming like many games already have tools in place available for players. If you see anything in a channel, you can simply leave the channel. Or even better, simply rightclick the persons name whose dialogue you find unlikeable for whatever reason, and select "ignore". Poof. Done. You never have to hear from that person ever again in the entireity of your Homecoming experience. 3. I would also argue that players complaining about powersets is a GOOD thing. Becuase it highlights to the staff which powersets might need to be looked at and tweaked. They have tweaked poewrs before, and certainly are likely to keep doing so. (such as the recent cleave targets change.) If everyone always said "everything is perfect" then the staff might assume that the numbers are good where they are. How are staff to fix energy melee or any other powerset for that matter, if no one is talking about it?

@mechahamham - A few thoughts. 1. - People are going to have opinions. For arguement sake, let us pretend that every powerset was mathmatically equal in every possible scenario, with regards to defense, offense, damage, buffs, debuffs, enemy type, game activity type, and choosen game difficulty. (Quite the undertaking to accomplish!) Even in such a state, you will "still" have people saying "Dont take X, Y is best, etc." Because it is very much open to personal preferance and opinion. Now, are the power sets equal? Far from it, and I dont think anyone is debating the fact. But one think I would like to highlight that is sometimes overlooked is what "investment" might be required to make a powerset "OP". 2a. - Which brings me to my point - some powersets require quite a lot of infamy, slots, and incarnates to reach their maximium. Lets take Titan Weapons for example. As others have pointed out, in end game it is quite strong, but doesnt exemplar down very well. This is due to the large amount of global/recharge cooldown required. Without Luck of the Gambler IOs, the powerset can feel clunky, unwieldly, and awkward. It will still hit like a truck certianly, but you might have gaps in attack chains. And to reach that level, it can be quite an investment. I have had sub-optiomal sets perform far superior while leveling up, and also as a "fresh 50" before getting over loaded with all the bells, whistles, and purples. So some sets and combinations that are often spoke about I would argue are only OP as long as you invest heavially into them. If you dont, they can actually underperform. 2b. - Some builds even have "zero wiggle room" for choice or "fun" powers, which can be a large turn off to many players who like to have "fun" things as well, and dont necessarially build to be 100% total maximum combat effectiveness. What I am saying is people often forget to consider what is "optionial" in a powerset. (What else you can take, while still being "OP".) As well as how much money/slots/incarnates are required to reach that point. Taking the often spoken about Titan Weapons/Bio Armor scrapper, there is very little wiggle room. Perhaps 1-2 powers are optional in titan weapons, where pretty much "every" power is required from bio. (Thats just how bio armor works, powers have a domino effect on their overall effectiveness.) So that leaves you with very little optional powers after you take your pool powers. Which can be a big negative to many players. 3. - Lastly, I would like to mention that the game is always in flux. It evolves, changes, gets tweaked as things are added or removed, and numbers get changed. Granted changes might be slow, but I dont think anyone is suprised by that. (Honestly, I am extatic we have dedicated staff to make changes at all to a game that is older than my car!) In closing I would simply urge people not to get trapped into the thinking of "what is most OP" or "what is the biggest numbers." You dont NEED the biggest numbers, which is something I consider the beauty of the game. I tried so hard to make my Crabber equal to my Scrapper or even my Mastermind, but it simply isnt possible. My crab soldier will never be able to solo what they can, no matter what investments or changes I make. And I have learned to accept that. And I am fine with her having a lower "solo ceiling". Because honestly, once you get trapped into "chasing the bigger numbers" line of thought, well, then you will only consider a handfull of ATs and powersets valid. I urge people to just focus on having fun. Personally, I consider lvl 50 3/8 as my "benchmark". If I can solo that, then I am happy. Every AT I have tried so far is able to do that, it just depends on how much money/incarnates are required to get them there. Anything higher than that I consider bonus content for the people who like to "red line" character builds. Some people like that. Heck, I like doing that. I like to push the engine and see what I am capable of. But that is hardly my only game focus and drive. After all, in the end its just pixels. Just my thoughts on it. TLDR - 1. People are going to have different opinions, no matter what. 2a - different powersets require different amounts of effort/money, you cant just look at flat damage numbers. 2b. different powersets have different amounts of "wiggle room" for optional/fun powers. 3. Things change. Focus on having fun, not just chasing bigger pixels.

My two cents, for what its worth. Are there bad cops? Certainly. But I think the good ones far outnumber the bads. Even other police condemn what happened, pretty much on a national scale. And people are still giving them grief, even after some police themselves are supporting BLM. Do I think violence is a pathway for advancement? No. Most certainly not. More deaths, violence, robberies, assaults and what have you, should not be tools for any cause to rally behind to my mind. Those don't "enhance" any cause, it only corrupts them. Black lives matter. But so do blue lives. And so does everyone's. Should police be held to the same standards and accountability as the everyone? Yes. In fact I would argue moreso because of the public trust and authority they have been granted. And perhaps a cost to cost audit of every police precinct might not be a bad idea. But with that, I don't think we should abolish the force who helps people in their most dire of need. The longer the violence persists, the worst it will be when the dust settles. I do think that police forces do need to be more aggressive with "weeding out the bad ones". Policemen with multiple complaints of abuse, excessive use of force, abuse of authority, and whatnot should be investigated. But, people need to respect police more to. We have had this discussion in my supergroups discord, and it did not go well. Some people will not accept a "neutral" stance, whatsoever. It's very much a "if you arent with us, youre against us." When I support Black lives matter, but I am against all the random chaos, violence, and anarchy going on right now. People have died out there from it, on both sides. Just how I see things. I just wish the violence will stop, but I don't think it will soon.

@Crysis- Hello! Yes, i am sleeping just fine, but thank you for your conern! 😉 And you are right, we did have a chat about /EA in that link you posted. I even read it over before I posted this one, just to make sure I had it right. The past 2 or 3 days now, folks on my server in the /help channel ingame were saying that (specifically) demons/EA was the new MM hotness, which had me confused, because as you pointed out wonderfully both in my other post and here, its kind of "just okay". It has some neat effects new to MMs, like the absorb, but not all the powers work as advertised, or isnt of great use to the MM themselves, just on teams. Personally it wasnt my bag of tea, because i found it far too clicky, and i tend to disfavor button-spam heavy builds. Had enough of diablo thank you very much! So I was wondering if I missed an update somewhere, or someone figured something out, or something else. Because ya, I don't think /EA is top shelf. Some may like it and that's great! It just lacks.. oomph. As far as why i made another post, well, i am still relativity new to the forums, and some forums I have been on have rules against "necro-ing" (posting/bumping) old threads, plus this was more of a request for verification. I did think that someone in help was just mistaken or giving bad advice, or heck might still be new like I sort of am. Because I had thought we had done a pretty good job at analyzing /EA and it wasn't the new "hawtness" that a few people in /help were making it out to be. But thank you all for the replys! It is appreciated. Just wanted to make sure I wasn't having a blonde moment there. Thanks Bunches

Hi fellow overlords, I have heard ramblings and whispers about the potent combination of Demons/EA, with even claims it's a top teir MM powerset selection. But I have seen very little discussion about it, much less any posted builds. So does anyone have any insight to offer or better yet, builds to post? Have heard rumors of people softcapping demons resistances with /EA, but have yet to see posted builds/numbers on that. My own experience with demons was demons/dark which was good. With EA it was Robots/EA, mostly for theme. It perfermed alright but EA seemed a bit buggy. The heal, absorb, resitance bubble, and damage debuffs were all good though. Would hope things like Amp up actually works on demons. It was largely a waste on Robots. So anyone got info to offer or is it all hearsay? Thanks bunches!

For me its my Robot/Time MM. Capped defenses, she can be team support/healer, can do the "tankermind" thing for nonincarnate content. She can immobilize groups or sit in the assualt bots patches of fire and just watch everything burn. She can contribite to group missions, and I can still farm with her. I perfer the city or moon map. The moon map is especially high risk/intense, but it is much faster. So shes not the most damaging of ATs to be sure, but she can contribute to basically any sort of team makeup or activity.

I dont really have a "main" AT character, I have a "main" roleplay character. Lore wise, she is a cyborg, based on shadow run/cyberpunk. But thats a good thing, because it allowes me to try out different ATs and powwerset combinations and explain by her "swapping out parts". That way I can try new things out, and still keep all of her friends/roleplay/supergroup/story contacts. But if I had to pick my favorte AT, it would be a tie between Mastermind and Crabbermind. I like the gameplay/flow of Crabbermind, but Mastermind just feels stronger, far as solo play goes. I am still learning about the game though, and I am tempted to take another stab at Crab Soldier here soon now that I have a good grasp of the endgame concepts. Sure, they aren't the strongest/most powerful things, but they are the most "fun" which I think is more important. Enjoyment vs bigger pixel numbers. Though I do hope they tweak/update the VEATS soon, as they sort of feel to be in a weird place right now.

Speaking from just my own server (Everlasting) the current market is... weird. And doubling INF at 50 would only increase the problem I think. I am no expert market flipper, but to my inexpert eye the supply exceeds the demand. People are still making alts sure, but the inital rush of everyone making lots of characters seems to have slown down. Just this weekend yellow salvage seels for just around 1k each, rare for 500,000 or so. Yellow recipies can be anywhere from 100 to a few million and often sell for more than Rare recipies. Rare recipies are around 1k to a few million. The value of purples has come way down, only a select few like winters are still over the 10-20 mil mark. The majority of even purples are below 10 mil each. Compaired to a year ago this is almost half what they used to cost. As I said I am no expert, but increasing the rate of money gains would only increase inflative price. There might be a brief peroid as everyone rushes the market to make quick buys, but in a week or so everything would have just increased in price, and no real lasting effect or market change would be seen. I am no expert farmer either, but I usually get around 5-8 mil per map. Perhaps more depending on drops. Enchancers and Catalysts are still good to sell, for around 80k and 2.5 mil respectively. I could use those to turn yellows/rares into purples, but I think it might not be worth the time as I already have some purples for sale that havent sold, and the price keeps going down. I am fine with the price dropping personally, but I think its a better call for me personally to sell enchancers and catalysts rather than gamble on making a big sale on the purples. I know thats how the experts do it, and thats great. Its just not for me. I would rather make a bit here or there and go on about my day. I just dont think doubling money would really do much, except add another zero or two to everything - prices, everyones bank account, etc. You will still have to farm, still have to earn stuff, you suddenly wouldnt find yourself among the wealthy elite and able to fully outfit each character with only 10 minutes of map running. I make plenty of money for my time, even if I get a ring of bad drops and not find very much. I can usually afford any 6 pc set I want within 8-10 maps, and often in fewer than those. And I am fine with the time required/investment required for do that. For my personal gameplay time, its a good pace of time vs reward. And honestly, I think its a good thing to have goals, objectives, and things to work for. This includes IO sets and gearing out your character. But if you think grinding a few maps to get IO sets is bad, just wait until you start grinding Incarnate materials. Thats the real grind to me. There is such a thing as "too" easy or "too" quick to get. For arguement sake let us say all vendors were suddenly like the p2w vendors. With a few clicks you can buy anything, no game currancy required. I think there would be an initial rush of characters as people wanted to try stuff, but in a few months there would be no farms, people wouldnt be running merit TFs, there would be few people around helping people level up, running PI, contact, tip, or radio/newspaper missions. And I suspect the player numbers would dip, and we would find ourselves with fewer and fewer people to play and roleplay with. These are the extremes of course, but my point here is that having things to work/grind/earn, is a good thing for the game longevity, the players and, the game economy. Just my two cents. Dont agree with the "make more money" train of thought.

For me its with my Mastermind. Outliving other team mates when multiple spawns are engaged and its nearly a team wipe, or fighting half of an AE map at once and clearing it faster than my brute/farmer can. It just feels like an epic moment. Emerging out of the smoke with a smile, burnt but unbroken, handing out wakies to team mates.

@Hardboiled Hero - then let us have a mutually respectful discussion and thought experiment. Firstly, we agree that team and solo play should be considered. However I would also like to point out that by your argument, the same case could be made for Damage, or Crowd control effects. But lets consider your example "batman stalker". So for our experiment, lets consider him a defense softcapped stalker. I would point out that this mainly benefits only himself. He certainly doesn't have the aggro capability to hold packs of spawns for the entire team, particularly when speed running missions. If anything, his own defenses makes the job of keeping him healthy easier for healers/buffers if he is teamed with such people. Now on a smaller team, say 2-3 people sure he might be good to eat the alpha strike. But I doubt that he will be tanking incarnate content and so on. So "superman" still has a need and role. Another thing I would like to highlight is that the number of people playing the game, vastly outnumber the people working on it. Which means there are far more people trying new things, finding new things (even to this day) and so on. There simply are more people doing things than they might have considered or thought possible. An example of this would be my own recent revelation with AE maps. People like to talk about brutes and scrappers, but for me my fastest map clearer isnt even a "Farmer". Specifically, on a small map such as the moon map. For me the quickest character I can clear it with surprisingly turned out to be my Mastermind. I am in no way saying my masterminds damage is anywhere near a brute or scrappers. However what it can do is bypass one key game mechanic that no "farming build" can - the aggro cap. It turns out that each Pet has its own aggro table. So, for arguments sake, lets say the most that Brute or Farmer can aggro at a time is 17 mobs. Well, I have 6 pets, each with their own aggro list. It isn't known exactly how many mobs a pet can aggro, but its quite substantial. So the brute fights 2 packs of 8 (16 total) enemies each at a time, where the MM can aggro and engage more than half the map - 5-7 packs of 8 (40+) enemies each, at a time. Its not a damage ratio, its a "how many can you fight at a time" ratio. So even though my damage per second is no where near the brutes, I still come out ahead in the end in terms of map clearing speed, simply because I can engage more than half the map within the first 10 seconds. Now, I only bring this up to illustrate a point. No one in their right mind is going to argue that Masterminds are more powerful than brutes or scrappers and deserve a nerf. Its creative "outside the box" thinking. You can apply this logic to nearly ever AT. Each AT has its own set of circumstances where it shines. Controllers have immortal pets that can be permanent. Tankers and Brutes can go full AFK when farming. Stalkers can skip entire missions together and stealth to the glowy at the end. A blaster can obliterate an entire spawn with 1 or 2 nuke powers and move on. Their damage, survival, CC abilities and so on are irrespective of one another. So lets refocus on your example, a defense capped stalker. Well, great for him. What can he do with it? Will it give him an unfair advantage over others? Will it let him break the game? I suspect aside from solo play, he himself will notice little difference on a team. But I am far from a stalker expert. (but I have seen some very surprisingly durable stalkers and blasters around). I feel in no way disadvantaged or penalized by people doing such builds. I am secure in my knowledge that I can do things that they cannot as well. It all depends on circumstances, difficulty level, team makeup, time/money invested in the build, and most importantly the activity type in question. I just think you might be comparing apples to oranges here. People being tough is not an ill thing. People being both tough and able to deal damage is not an ill thing either. For example, I doubt that defense capped stalker can solo AVs or super monsters, where others most certainly can, even though the stalker has things like stealth or more damage. (again, I could be wrong! No idea if stalkers can do such things.) I would urge you not to focus so much on the numbers, but try to focus on the overall picture. As @golstat2003 pointed out, wide sweeping changes are very unlikely anyway. And perhaps not worry so much about what other people are doing, or what their builds are capable of. If you don't want to make a defense capped toon etc, no one is certainly making you. I have many friends who play "roleplay" builds, and are having a fantastic time even if they aren't the most mathematically superior builds in the game. Just my two cents on it. Are some people out there super tough? You bet. Super strong too? Yep! Is that a bad thing? No, I don't think so. Not really. There is no one AT/Build that can "do it all". There are some that can come certainly close though. But as long as people are enjoying and still playing what is a really aged game, does it matter? This isn't a contest. There is no prize at the end. No medals to be given, no "worlds bestest COH player/build" to be had. In the end, its all about just having fun. I do hope you are having fun with the game @Hardboiled Hero, truly I do. And nothing in this post is meant in any way as a personal insult or attack. I just think perhaps you might have forgotten what made this game fun. The fact its such an old game with a dedicated fan base is astounding. Happy adventurers!

A pretty vague question. First off not all difficulties/ATs/activities are the same. Defense is only one small part of the overal entire aspect of the game. I would argue that CC at endgame/high level content is more impactful than having high defenses. My only complaint about defenses is it sort of pigeonholes a great number of builds into taking things like maneuvers/tough/weave just to survive. Not all mind you, just a goodly number of them. Personally i think they are fine as it is. There is enough variance between cc/offense/defense/debuffs/buffs/other values that each AT really has its place. Some could use tuning certainly along with some powersets, but, you can hardly blame Defense alone for that.

Thank you riverdusk, i will make edits, thank you for your contribution! As far as the END thing, i wasnt meaning to the power costs, i meant if an npc drains your summon of END, it isnt much affected. Reducing power cost is nice! But, draining/buffing the END of your minions (not their cost) doesnt make a huge difference, at least I have never noticed one.