Neiska

Defense yes, resists, number of targets (vs tanks), self-sustain and such, no. There is far more than just DEF in play. But it does make me wonder on the "balancing" between the different ATs. How much more damage they take vs how much more damage they do vs tankers/brutes. Call it a hunch but I bet most do far more than 20% more damage than the tankers/brutes. Given that they can have the same DEF, that just seems a bit lopsided to me. I think you overlooked my point. A Tanker or Brute can survive even the -def debuffs, where other ATs cant. They have more hps, resists, even debuff resistance depending on the armor set. Now, I am not suggesting that a class cannon with 45% "should" be able to swoop into a pile of 50 mobs and PBAOE nuke them to oblivion. But what I am saying, is that they shouldn't just look at tanker/brute durability when balancing mobs damage and debuffs any more than they should look at blaster or corruptor DPS when balancing the mobs hitpoints/resists/defense. Sure, a tanker/brute might be nearly immortal. But it also might take them 4-5 times longer to do the same thing it takes nearly dps focused AT to do. And the entire situation leaves support focused ATs such as Defenders or Controllers in the dust. They would take even longer than the tanker, if they even could. All I am saying is that if you focus on balancing for the "extremes" - A tankers sustain, a DPS ATs damage, etc, - it really penalizes those not in either of those extremes. Which is why I think there is such a gap between which ATs/Powersets can solo the hardest difficulty just fine, even on autopilot, and why some are just "functional" at 50. But I am not suggesting everyone should be able to do +4/8 with elite bosses/AVs on. Personally, I try to see +2/6 as a good "benchmark", and anything beyond that as a bonus/hardmode. At least when playing solo. I was once a staff member for a similar sort of game for a number of years. And one thing I noticed is the more we made creatures for specific circumstances/builds/abilities, the more it hosed anyone else. And it got to the point where entirely optional things became compulsory or expected, which I would argue how many powers such as Maneuvers, Tough, Weave are now. It shouldn't necessarily be assumed everyone has those things, when balancing mobs, when it kind of feels right now that it is. Just my musings on the matter.

"I just want the paper!" *Doesn't want to farm, play the market, doesn't want to do TF's, just wants to pwn people and get paid for it.* *Me, sitting around 15B and I am not even considered rich by CoH standards* "K."

That is quite the take. Comparing CoH to Dark Souls is a false comparison. The game, and other players, don't exist as mere targets for you. And, the game isn't even designed to be risky co-op play. There are already dedicated areas for you to fight other players - the PVP zones. Since there are so few there, that should be a message that most simply aren't interested. And, for the record, people are allowed to enjoy games like Dark Souls without enjoying PVP. More of a Bloodborne or Elden Ring fan personally though. But just because its an option in a game, doesn't make it everyone's focus. And from where I sit, its you being the initiator here. Again, not to personally insult, but this is reading very much like a "I like to fight people. There are no people for me to fight where it's permitted. Let me go where they are protected and fight them." You are free to enjoy PVP. And I hope you do, truly. But I take a very dim view on strongarm-ing others into it, simply by their virtue of their presence in the game. I mean, lets imagine it for a moment - You are in atlas, talking with friends on fresh characters, deciding what to do and chatting away, when all of a sudden 5 level 50's dive out of the sky, or as you put it, "Combat Jump into it as a Tanker Mace" and just start absolutely annihilating them. Is that what you expect players to have signed up for, or even expected themselves? To me, that is quite Toxic behavior, and an example of why part of the PVP community is seen as it is - negatively. That isn't PVP to my mind at all. That's just griefing and ganking low levels. And what do you think it would do to the game and the community if such a thing was allowed to happen? You personally might enjoy it, but I doubt its a stretch to say that the majority of the community, especially new players, would not.

1 and 2 I have no objections to. But number 3 is where we have problems. As that would force people to participate in an activity they have already decided to not partake in, by virtue of avoiding open PVP areas. The moment there is an "open season" in a city, people will simply move. Even to their own bases if need be. You are essentially subscribing to "force" other players, unwilling ones, to engage in your favored activity. As an example, it would be similar if they turned off "all" INF gains outside of ITFs, or Farming, and "forced" players to do those activities, which I suspect most people would be very much against, including myself. So why is it alright for you to want to force your own play on others, but if the tables were turned it wouldn't be welcome? The fact few people engage in PVP when they can opt out says plenty. If they wanted to do that, they already would be. but if you tried to "force" it on players, a good number of people would leave. Myself included, if I was "forced" to PVP in order to play CoH. So you wouldn't find yourself with more PVP. (or at least, you might for a short time.) But before long, you would be right back where you started. And none of this is meant as a personal insult or attack, only describing for context. There "is" a point, when you try to "make" others enjoy something that they don't, either by force or by bribery, where they will go "screw this" and just move elsewhere. Food for thought.

1,150,000,000/80 = 14,375,000 per run. Honestly, depending on how long it takes you to finish a tunnel run, that is fairly optimistic. There are faster ways to make money than tunnel run. If you want to just make money quickly, learn how to play the real moneymaker in the game - the Auction House. Some of the richest people I know aren't even level 10. But in seriousness, you have mentioned prisms a few times now. Is this what this is really about? You want other ways to get prisms for auras? Or ways to get prisms from activities you personally enjoy? Again, hard to convey tone of voice via text here, so I want to express I am trying to ask respectfully and in earnest. Personally I am okay with having things that take time and effort to earn. If aura's were just like any other costume pieces, everyone would have them immediately. Heaven forbid a game actually have things that take time, effort, and dedication to get. There used to be games like Everquest where getting a single item, your epic, could take months of game time, if not longer, and a good part of the community never finished. Having an Epic should be just that - Epic. Not a participation trophy which is what the majority of costume auras and looks are right now. I do want to say that I have absolutely nothing against you personally, or even the PVP community. You guys have a kind of game that you enjoy but requires participation from others. But I think most people would agree that everything is essentially on the community itself. I wouldn't expect any handouts or bonuses from the HC staff, or if they did, I would treat it as a pleasant surprise. But I do wonder, have you folks in the PVP community tried to get organized? Make a PVP discord? Supergroups whose entire point is to support PVP? I mean, all that is going to fall on the players who want that sort of thing. I doubt any kind of serious PVP is going to happen on its own, or from the HC staff. So, just saying, it might be on the minority of you players who actually want this sort of thing to make it happen.

Personally, I wouldn't even bother other people. I would just find a quiet corner somewhere, super early in the morning when no one else was playing, (EST player here) and use my main to kill my alts over and over and the moment anyone else shown up, I would just leave or find something else to do. Or just move elsewhere. Unless goofing off with friends, like chasing each other with bats and stuff, or 1 on 1 arena-style gladiator duels, I don't particularly enjoy PVP. But if it was given any kind of reward, I would treat it as any other activity and analyze it to see if it would be beneficial for me to use it. If it was worth my time, sure, I might farm it. If not, then I likely wouldn't bother.

But that's just it. If it was 1 on 1 duels or gladiator kind of setup, I might be interested in that. But they want more people for the open zone kind of format, which is rarely equal or fair. It's who outleveled who or who gets the drop on the other. Aka, "ganking." And the thing is, unless players are "required" to go to such areas, people seem willing to DO the ganking, but not BE ganked. And I think suggesting such a playstyle not only be encouraged but rewarded in CoH to be a bit dubious. I mean, within hours people would figure out how to exploit. If if it was me personally, I would log in at 5am on a Saturday when there is "nobody" else on, load up my alternate accounts then find some dark forgotten corner and proceed to gleefully farm myself. Then cue the people saying "that's exploiting" or "it wasn't intended for that" and other similar heated discussions about the AE. Then when it is pulled the PVPers would go "why are you punishing us?" just as the farmers did/do. But I think the vote kind of stands for itself. If people want to "gank" there are other games for that in a much more controlled competitive environment. Many games have made entire series around it, such as Call of Duty and the like. But some extremes in the PVP community I suspect don't want a fair honest contest or comparison of skills in the spirit of good sportsmanship. Not all of the PVP community are gankers. But there are some that most certainly are, akin to Hardcore ganking in Diablo 3, or Stranglethorn Vale in Wow, or fully leveled 70s perched waiting for fresh 60s to enter the Dark Portal. I consider it borderline harassment to permit such activities. But so long as there is a way to "opt out" of it, I won't personally complain. But, I do find arguments of "we want PVP," but immediately any notion of any fair, equal fight and not just incentivized ganking mildly amusing. That tells me some (again, not ALL of the PVP community, but some, certainly) don't want a fair fight, they just want victims.

The problem is that if you balance against one extreme (in this case, Tanks and their durability), then it can feel unfair to everyone else who is not in that extreme. Lets take your fire mobs with debuffs example - 50 mobs all attacking 1 player with a mix of melee and ranged attacks. Sure, a well built tank could survive even that. But could a Controller? A Defender? How about a Sentinel? It's just my opinion, but I do think that ATs "should" excel at their particular role. It's their Niche. And for Tanks, that's surviving. But that is a build focused on surviving, not the typical or average. The game should be balanced on the average, not the Niche. Sure, if you balance against the average, then Tanks and some Brutes might be immortal. But that's kind of the point of those ATs - to be tough. Just my two cents.

Is this what you want to turn pvp into? Another form of farming or attracting players who don't care about pvp, or people you had to "bribe" to pvp? With respect, it's that kind of thing that keeps many people away, including myself. Personally, I wouldn't mind dueling 1v1 in an arena. But not me just flying through a zone doing quests and getting jumped by a couple of 50s and getting stomped and camped. This isn't a WoW PVP server and thank God for that. But if all you want is more people to be victims, then I want no part of such activities. And I wouldn't take part no matter what the bribe was. Even if they offered me 1 billion to be a punching bag, I would still decline because "that's" how much I dislike that form of "PVP." And I suspect I am far from alone. To me, that isn't even PVP. Not really. It's just Ganking. And call it a hunch that the kind of players who enjoy that, or are willing to be punching bags, have moved onto other games long ago. CoH is many things. Conductive to fair and equal PVP it is not.

Forward: Not a PVPer here. I have goofed off with friends on occasion, and it was all in good lighthearted fun. But I am far from a PVP expert. That said, I think PVP already has some rewards like badges and so on. And adding another "might" work short-term, but I doubt any carrot on a stick will work long-term if that is the goal. You can't bribe people into enjoying a game activity they don't enjoy. They may do it for a while, but after a time it will become a chore and they will stop doing it. Now, while not a PVPer myself, I can sympathize with those that enjoy that part of the game needing more (willing) participation. My advice? If you want PVP to possibly get more popular? Have its own special unique rewards - a currency, titles, costumes, something. "Exclusive" only to PVPers. And I don't mean the typical ones either. Have titles that actually take work to get, like "beat 1000 people in the arena" sort of thing. Also it might help if there were leagues or seasons of PVP, where things like wins/losses were kept track like any other kind of competitive activity. Perhaps even publically here on the forums. If there were reoccurring "seasons" of PVP, and special titles (not talking badge titles here, but titles similar to the DM events like 2021 base making contest and so on,) like "2023 League Champion" or whatever. TLDR - Seasons, Titles, and Recording wins/losses would do much better than just adding loot that is already obtainable elsewhere. If you want players to treat PVP seriously, then treat it seriously and not just randomly fighting in specific maps. It wouldn't take much to make PVP go from a "ganking contest" to a "contest between professionals" environment. Just my thoughts on the matter.

Kind-of sort of? I have heard people rp it as such but I have not read or seen any hard cannon lore about it. What I know of the game comes from mission fluff, and I can't recall anything about DJ Zero at all. But people seem to treat DJ Zero as omi-powerful and so on.

The funny thing? A lot of people assume Tankers have the highest aggro limit, but it isn't. It's Masterminds. Mastermind pets each have their own threat table, 6 per pet (I believe. I can find no specific data anywhere.) So let's do the math - 3 T1 pets (18) + 2 T2 pets (12) + 1 T3 pet (6) = 36 mobs. But, this isn't including the Mastermind themselves, who also have their own personal 12 target aggro limit. So it's "possible" that Masterminds have a "total" net threat table of 48 mobs per Mastermind. Again, no hard data to support those numbers, only what I have personally seen and experienced. It's what led me to multibox 3 Masterminds to Farm with, and those three Masterminds regularly engage 7-8 groups at a time, at 8 mobs each, that's 64ish mobs. I pretty much fight 2/3rds of the "Asteroid" map at a time. But this also lead to something else I noticed as well - Not all mobs are actively "placed." Because when I am flying around trying to aggro as many as possible, areas that I "cleared" before, now suddenly have fresh unengaged spawns. And sometimes I will even see different groups of mobs in the same spot, but from different accounts. (IE - one Mastermind will see a group of spawns in a certain spot, but the other Mastermind will not.) Which makes me suspect there is a limit on the number of things drawn in or rendered at a time. Again, no data or proof, only what I have noticed when trying to fight as much as possible at a time. Anyway, Tankers aren't the AT with the most targets. Masterminds - 36(?) mobs Tankers - 16 mobs Everyone else - 12 mobs I haven't really tried "swarming" yet with any of the other pet classes yet, like Controllers or Crabberminds. Because astute people might realize it isn't just "aggro-ing" things, its aggro-ing as well as surviving it, especially for pets. Which most Mastermind setups could not survive that many at once, you sort of have to build specifically for it. I suppose its possible for them to change things, but as it stands, it's already possible to swarm. Just few people really do so, and I typically only do so when alone. I have never tried to aggro an entire map and bring them back to the group on a mission before. Just my imput!

Personally I always loved the idea of DJ Zero being this absurdly OP strong being, stronger than anything we get to face in combat. And what's he do? Does he start an empire? No. Does he wage war? Kids stuff. Does he take sides in anything? Not a chance. Nope, none of that. Instead he uses his phenomenal cosmic power to make his own interdimensional club and plays music. With a ski slope. And allows pretty much anyone access. The only rules? No beef.

I figured it was something like that, similar to /time, I just wasn't sure which powers in FF were affected or for how long. Then yes, that is very good!

Hey Flea, sorry for the late reply but came across this while musing about making a necro/FF myself. But why Power Boost? What power in FF does it boost? I have very little experience with FF, and the only power I see that it might boost is Dispersion Bubble? And that's a Toggle? Unless I am missing something which is likely. Thanks Flea!

Not quite what I had imagine you would use on a Speed run Snarky. I expected some pimped up hearse with your coffin in back, or a Dragula. Not a 75mm mounted on a disposable scooter. But then again, I wouldn't be shocked in the least to see you ride into battle on a Moped while listening to "Ride of the Valkyries" by Richard Wagner.

It depends, but unless I am teamed with friends specifically for the purpose of speed-running it such as a Patron Arc for the Epic Pools, I generally dislike it. All too often when speed running, nothing is explained. I have done ITFs that I have absolutely zero idea what the story is, who the big bad guy is, what their evil plot was or anything. I have played off and on shortly after HC went public, and I have a few 600+ veteran level characters. And there are still ITFs I have yet to ever do or experience because all too often it is "go-go-go," at least when around strangers or random teams. When among friends things are explained and our goal generally is to have fun or to help someone, not speed through as fast as possible. Now I typically only do ITFs, Hardmodes and the like with friends, not random players. No. Sometimes I do things fast, sometimes I slow it down and enjoy the décor, story, enemies and so on. It all depends, if I am by myself, with friends, or with random people. It also depends on the specific mission or activity too. But I more often "don't" speedrun than I "do" speedrun. A few reasons. Firstly, I generally dislike the whole "go-go-go" mentality. Even more so when it's automatically expected, or when team members complain it isn't fast enough. to my mind, if a team is going to be speed running, it should be advertised as such when forming it, not assumed to be the standard or norm. The norm speed should be restricted to the slowest member, but that is my mere opinion. If I join a team, and it heads off as fast as possible, if I am not feeling it I will leave. Secondly, it comes off as elitist, or a flex which is typically something I take a dim view of. It fosters the entire mentality of "if you aren't doing X, Y, or Z you are a casual" or that anything that isn't kiss-your-elbow mathematically the best META then you are a poor player. You see this in the Discord at times, particularly in the AT discussion channels. Some vocal people tend to look down on you if you don't take something that is kiss-your-elbow best, or just want to try something new, experiment, or heaven forbid take something because its just fun or something you like the look of. Some people take their CoH pixels, numbers, and speeds and builds "quite" seriously. But this is hardly a problem only CoH has. ESO had similar community issues. In a since there were the "haves" and the "have not's." The Haves were busy people with things to do, they can and would blaze off through dungeons/missions at breakneck speed, often leaving the healer and tank trudging behind only to arrive at the fight nearly done, or even get locked out of it. This in turn led to a large shortage of Healers and Tanks where they are mandatory for high end content. WoW also had similar issues for awhile now, with Tanks specifically. Thirdly, and perhaps most importantly to me, if everything is boiled down to just a DPS race, it waters down everything else not oriented around DPS. Things like Buffs, Debuffs, status effects, and more. Many ATs specialize in non-DPS roles. But if only DPS matters, then it can leave players whose focus isn't DPS feeling like hey aren't contributing or as meaningful. If all the team does is steamroll content as fast as possible, then what's the point of Controllers and the like? I do want to add that this attitude also is not the "norm" but it can be quite frequent. And the more this kind of argument is presented, the more I resent it. TLDR - I generally dislike it unless I am alone or teamed with friends where the planned activity is speed running. Just my thoughts on Speed Running.

The only Barbies I would play with would be the doll heads that hung from my rear view mirror as I sped around in my war rig full on Furyosa style. I detested them, even when I was little. I don't care about the movie. I certainly won't be seeing it, but there are undoubtedly worse things in theatres and on TV these days. If I played one in CoH it would likely be Zombie Barbie, Crash Test Dummy Barbie, or Crimes Against Humanity Barbie.

From a building standpoint, having a mixed of ranged and melee powers can be good as it can let you slot different sets for different set bonuses. If you don't want the assault/melee I think you can always skip them, but from my personal preference and building philosophy more options are always nice to have.

Oddly enough, it was single MM farming that led me to this entire concept in the first place. Farming with a single MM isn't terribly efficient, they just don't hold up alone. At least to contend with Brutes, Tankers, or any of the other ATs capable of farming. And it was actually the pet threat tables/getting swarmed by 4-5 groups all at once that led me to this concept. If you dislike multi-boxing (and its completely fine if you do!), then your options are limited to actually "farm" with an MM. But multi-boxing MMs/pet swarming is very much a thing, or at least it was when I was actively playing. I have been on a bit of a hiatus but I still regularly check the forums. And a note on MM farming - its possible to be largely hands-free. With my setup at most I was alt-tabbing to pop a buff or incarnate power, and alt tabbing back. The inherent pet AI and MM class itself does the majority of the work. Again, is totally fine if you dislike multi-boxing. It definitely isn't everyone's cup of tea. But for many people it was something new, fresh, another way to farm that can be interesting or even exciting and enjoyable, rather than AFK farming with a Brute which can be mind-numbingly tedious or too repetitive for others. There is no "right" way to enjoy the game after all, but if you are expecting a single MM to be able to keep up with a brute on speed, survivability, damage, inf/minute and everything else, I think you would be hard pressed to do so 1 on 1. 3 on 3 though, the more enemies you fight at a time the more it favors the MM, due to expanded targets allowed. If you fight enough enemies at a time, you can actually surpass a brute. But I doubt a single MM by themselves would be able to do so. I am not saying its impossible, only that I have never found such in the 30 or so MM's I have experimented with.

It should still work. And while I have no current builds I can list there were no major changes to the powers that I did use. If anything, it would likely be better, but that is just me musing. I have not kept my builds publicly current and I am not actively playing much these days.

Seeing what manner of objects I can throw at AVs. Air Conditioners, Stop Signs, Pipes, Kitchen Sinks, etc. Lord Recluse: "Puny Heroes! You shall.. ACK!" Me: "Ya ya ya..." *flings toilet* I silently mourn that the power set isn't available for MMs.

For me, it depends on my mood and goals. Sometimes, I'll just make something new to try it, and just play it to see what happens. Sometimes, I'll do a hardcore(if i die, i delete the toon), self-found only, zero p2w abilities and see how far I can push it. Sometimes, I will have a sudden idea for a character that I can't wait to try, power-level it up to 50, fully kit it out fo 600-800m, go full t4's, and play it, all in the same day or weekend. I really like to experiment, try new things, and push a character to see just how far it can go in various situations. I am by no means an expert in CoH game mechanics, but to me the discovery and learning is part of the fun. Also, I have found that by doing it yourself, sometimes what works best for you as often as not, goes against conventional wisdom. Most of the time, I enjoy 3 boxing Masterminds. At this point I have mailed so much INF and EMP merits to myself, that funds are no longer a concern of mine. On a good day, I might walk out of the AE with 4-6 purple recipes. I used to take the time to craft them and sell them, but juggling 3 accounts to craft with is quite a bother, and often enough I just sell the raw recipes quickly just to get back to doing what I like doing, playing. So, there really is no one thing. After I started farming or semi-playing the market, it really isn't an issue. I don't even focus on getting MORE money, I just earn far more than I spend. And so long as my 3 main Masterminds are inf capped, I am quite happy. The rest just goes into the mailbox for alts and experiments. One thing I say is, is that it does seem that having money in the first place does make it easier to make more money. IE - having a character already fully kitted out, any INF gain they make from that point on, is a net positive. So I do think "time playing a character" once it's "done" is also a factor people might forget. If you are constantly just making new characters, then you are constantly spending money. If you wait a few weeks/month/etc between making new characters, then you will/could have a much bigger pile of excess money to spend on your next one, if you so choose. Just my two cents.

Jasperstone is quite correct. Aggro the things. ALL the things. And bring them to the Snarky.

If I ever found myself on a team with Snarky, I would endeavor, indeed, labor, to go out of my way to give him the PUG story to end all PUG stories. I would strap him into his coffin like a jet pilot, attach rocket boosters to it, outfit it with twin-linked belt fed tactical nuke launchers, close-proximity void plasma flamethrowers to keep the grabbers off, put a giant spinning harvester blade on the front (with side scoops to collect his preferred beverage), install an automated Blood Pudding dispenser, put on some spinning rims just because, with a pair of fuzzy dice and Ride of The Valkyries playing on Loudspeakers just to attract our enemies, and ride through every mission at break-neck speed like some sort of Santa's Sleigh of pure Snarky death. It would be cataclysmically epic, and near orgasmic in the sheer levels of shenanigans and hijinked tom-foolery that would ensure.