PeregrineFalcon

Because some sets (Mercenaries & Assault Rifle) are garbage and need to be fixed. How do you do that without changing powers? Ok, so which one is it? They should never change powers or they should only change them after due consideration? You can't have both.

I agree with you on this. However, one of the developers posted that that's exactly why they nerfed Rune of Protection. They felt that squishies should not have a power that gives them near perma status protection. I can probably dig up the post if you really want to read it. I get what you're saying, but that's just not possible. That would prevent the developers from changing powers at all. They can't possibly know what powers you take and why. If they nerf a power by only 2% that may be enough to make you no longer want to have this power and so you'd want to respec so that you can have a different power instead. That's why the live devs would hand out free respecs whenever they made any significant power changes. I don't remember if they also do this on Homecoming. If I had to guess I'd say they do because they do seem to be pretty good at going out of their way to not screw the players over.

Yeah, cause that's a great way to ensure that the devs will never fix it. Tell me I'm wrong.

So I took a bit of time and went back and read some of Infinitum's posts. Which I had not done before my last post responding to him. I don't think he's trying to "bend facts", so much as he's just writing in a less specific and/or technically accurate manner, which is typical of a lot of people. For example: While this statement isn't technically, objectively accurate, it is generally, effectively accurate. Frankly, I think we're all nitpicking a little more than is good for us. Ok, now I've gone and confused myself. I forgotten who I'm supposed to be mad at now. 🤬

Which is exactly why your point doesn't make any sense. With the right Defenders on my team they can turn my Blaster into a tank. The fact that they can also do this to a Brute is therefore a moot point. And this "point" that you made doesn't change the fact that the Brute ATO is objectively garbage, especially when compared to the Tanker and Scrapper ATOs. It also doesn't change the fact that some players feel that there is no point in playing the Brute AT because they are inferior to both Tankers and Scrappers. A point which I don't agree with, but that they feel that way is true.

A Tanker ATO where the Tanker gets a damage buff x damage taken would be great. Similarly a Brute ATO where the Brute gets a Endurance reduction and/or damage resistance x damage taken would also be great. Isn't that kinda what this whole thread is about? "Nerf Tanks because Brutes aren't objectively better than them anymore!!!!eleventyone111!"

I don't know what will happen, but we all know that the redside population died on the retail servers after side switching went live.

I hate to agree with you on this, but it's just true. I love my MMs, and I love being able to play them blueside with my friends. And I love the idea of villains being able to be redeemed and heroes falling from grace, in theory. The way it was done in game resulted in some serious balance issues that just didn't exist prior to all of the ATs being able to intermingle.

Agreed, but that's not what happens. What happens is that negative posts get hidden and that positive ones do not, and it really gives the impression that dissent is not allowed and that The Council does not want to hear anything that does not agree with the changes they are making. I also agree that people should test changes before they object to them, I've even said as much in the feedback threads. And look, I've already said that sometimes you have to ignore negative feedback. A part of my post that no one seems to have noticed. But the fact is that people are getting banned for negative feedback, but no one is getting banned for saying "I love these changes! I love the devs!" Both types of posts derail the thread, but only 1 of those types of posts are being erroneously classified as "abusive behavior", and resulting in forum suspension/bans.

Not entirely disagreeing with you here, but that's not exactly what I've seen. What I've seen, with the last 3 pages, was GMs allowing posts in the focused feedback threads that were happy with the changes. It was mostly posts critical of the changes that were hidden/deleted. As I said, several pages ago, once the Homecoming devs decide to do something it gets done. Sometimes they'll tweak it a little one way or the other, but it gets done. So they ask for feedback but then they ignore it when it doesn't go the way they want it to go. And sometimes I get the impression that the more vehemently people on the forums are against it the more the devs dig in and are determined to make the change just to spite the most insulting forum posters. And, to be fair, sometimes you have to ignore negative feedback when you're in a position of authority, which the developers are in relation to this game. That fact isn't going to stop me from complaining when the devs ignore that feedback though. After all, what's the point behind having feedback threads if we're only allowed to give positive feedback?

Ok, so Brutes are better than either Scrappers or Tankers when on a team with the right composition. Is there some reason why that can't be ok? Can't some ATs do better solo and others on teams?

Ok, so at this point we've established that Tankers don't do anything better than Brutes, other than survive. Which is, inarguably, the entire purpose of that AT. However, Brutes are tougher than Scrappers. And they can also, in certain circumstances, do more damage than Scrappers. Those two points seem, to me anyway, to be the purpose behind the Brute AT. So what am I missing here? Am I just being stupid, or is this really the non-issue that it appears to me to be?

One of the things that I dislike, and this is something that I've seen going back 2 decades so I can't blame it on the Emp merit change, is that people will ignore the Beta/Test server changes being discussed on the forums and then come on the forums to explode and the changes the day they go live. My reaction is almost always "You know, we've been discussing this for the last 6 weeks. If it was a problem then why didn't you say something then?" Because if more of those people posted on the forums while the change was still on the beta/test server it might actually have been reverted or at least improved. Once things go to the live server they're seldom reverted, seldom improved, and almost never removed, and that goes for pretty much every game I've ever played.

Torchbearer is the best server. It was the first publicly available City of Heroes server to come up and stay up after The Snap. (RIP Bree server)

I'm still not convinced that this mythical balance fairy that developers are always chasing is something that can, or should, be caught. Sure, similar ATs should at least be in the same ballpark, but I don't think that they all have to be. Scrappers, for example, can solo way better than Defenders. I don't believe that's a problem, other people feel differently. A lot of people complain that MMs can't handle the hardest difficulty content. I love my MMs but, once again, I just don't see that as a problem. I think most of the complaints are just nit-picking and navel-gazing by people who just don't want to admit that the real problem is that they're bored. They don't want to leave because of the feeling that "We finally got back what was so unfairly taken from us!" But the truth is that they're now bored by City of Heroes and they either don't realize it, or some part of them does, but they can't admit it even to themselves.

Are Tanks really so great that they're overshadowing Brutes now? Do they down Pylons faster than Brutes? Do they clear content faster than Brutes? Do they farm more than Brutes? Other than survive, what do Tankers do better than Brutes?

I honestly think that both Brutes and Sentinels are suffering from the same problem. The devs don't know what to do to fix them that won't completely invalidate their adjacent ATs. How do you fix a Brute without invalidating Tankers and Scrappers? How do you fix a Sentinel without invalidating Blasters and Corruptors? Frankly, I don't know. And I suspect that the devs don't either.

It's been repeatedly suggested, even in a thread started by a moderator asking for these suggestions, that Mercs and Assault Rifle get a major fix/buff. And while both have received a minor change, it was neither a fix nor a buff. So it's easy to argue that they are listening about some things, but not so much about others. And yeah, I am aware that they're a small team and can only work on so many things at once, which is probably the real reason that some things get addressed and others ignored.

Understandable. Especially considering that the Homecoming devs, based on past history, are extremely unlikely to actually implement any suggested improvements. Are you willing to tell us what you think of our suggestions, should we make them? No pressure, old bean. Like I said, I do actually understand your point of view on this.

Realistically, there's no improvement that can be made to Brutes that won't help farmers. So the devs can either just nerf them into the ground (which will just cause people to farm with another AT) or they can do something specifically to thwart farming, or they can just fix Brutes and not worry about farming. But please don't not suggest anything just because you think it will help the farmers. Anything done to improve Brutes will help farmers. .

How would you improve Brutes if you could? No sarcasm for my part, it's a serious question. (I know it's hard to tell with me sometimes)

Soon (TM)

There's no need to apologize. You're welcome to come back once you get done playing in the mud. 😁

What, really? I think that I would remember if men regularly had female names and vice versa back on live.

Agreed. Although I wasn't responding to something that you'd said to Rudra, but something that another post said to him. In any case, I'd personally prefer it if things remained exactly as is, at least in regards to Energy Blast. But that's because I don't believe that knockback is a problem. I agree with the dev that adding a KB>KD toggle would actually cause more problems than it solves. And while I wouldn't have an issue with the devs adding ACC or DAM to a KB>KD IO, I also don't think it's necessary. Personally I'd rather the devs spend their time on fixing "more broken" things, like MM Mercenaries or the Assault Rifle powerset.