Blackfeather

A change in lieu of Dimension Shift sounds reasonable, maybe with a spin that makes it more distinct from it.

Ah well. Put together, it does sound like the game is flexible, but not in the ways that are meaningful for me personally - that is to say, fun and varied (and influential) crowd control, along with an enjoyable pet archetype. Not exactly riveting tanky/blasty/healy hero material, but that's mainly how I play in CoH.

Something along those lines for Salt Crystals/Flash Freeze would be nice, yes. Not sure how it'd be calculated, but probably something to do with duration would be a good start, since they're long and enhanceable. The 'less fragile sleep' idea was kind of inspired by CO's "hold" (in quotations) - basically the duration of holds in that game were reduced when an enemy was damaged. I thought it'd make sense for some Sleeps to adopt that.

Definitely some kinds of additions would be nice - debuffs are helpful for sure, though I do think that being able to improve the amount of control that different sleeps provide would be useful as well. So adding onto that: Mesmerize/Mass Hypnosis/Siren's Song/Spore Burst: implement the suggestion of making enemies knocked down when they're slept, meaning that they'll need to get back up once they wake up - all of these powers seem designed around physically putting an enemy to sleep, so it makes sense for them Salt Crystals/Glacier: implement a more durable sleep, reducing the duration with which a sleep lasts for depending on damage dealt/attacks received. These powers are based around trapping others in fragile prisons, so I think it'd make sense for them.

I believe the last 20 merits are awarded as part of completing all the story arcs in Faultline (the Aftershock badge). Try checking the story arcs you've done in Ouroboros to make sure they're all counted as completed, or see if you've got that badge - it's located under Accolades.

That makes sense - and yup, I've definitely seen that "break-free" mechanic in action from some videos and so on; more action-y way of responding to controls, which seems to support my view of the game being much more action-oriented. The game does sound like a rather different system to CoH's for sure. The endurance equivalent in CO seems to be designed around cycling around different powers, whether that be an energy building attack, or something else. I imagine that was done to help add to said action; interesting seeing how the two games differ I'll say.

I see - so in other words, freeform has the potential to make sub-optimal builds easier to create. I've heard CO is a bit more challenging than CoH as well; with that in mind, it sounds difficult to balance a character between desired powers to fit a theme and playing the actual game well.

Mmhm - I did manage to watch a powers tutorial about that; charging up is optional, but makes for a larger effect when used for some powers for example. It's a different system for sure, with different pros and cons, I imagine. The endurance management system it provides is an interesting concept, and it does seem to suggest that CO is definitely designed around trying to be more dynamic than CoH - that again might be a draw or a turn-off depending on one's preferences, I suppose. Freeform characters from what I've seen definitely allow for a lot flexibility; a friend of mine touted their Final Fantasy-esque character wielding lots of different elements for example. That being said, it seems like a flexibility of a different kind. Or at least not the kind of flexibility that I'd prefer to have (e.g. playing as an Earth Controller rather than a 'superhero that wields the element of Earth').

That's a bit of a shame for sure. I play Controllers and Masterminds due to the feeling of strategy and order that I get due to them - it sounds like CO is better for playing as a more classic superhero: punch things out, charge up laser blasts, etc. Crowd control mightn't exactly be what playing as a superhero comes to mind for some, but it's fun in its own right for me. Looking at some gameplay of it, it's certainly seems quite action-heavy - things like holding down the mouse button to charge up attacks, etc. Quite fun in its own right I'm sure, but definitely not my cup of tea. Even if it's optional, and powers can just be activated with a single tap without having to worry about it...well, the fact that it's a feature in the first place speaks to a system that asks for a different way to play the game, if that makes sense.

I'm going to have to ask for reasoning on this one. I'm unconvinced.

Does it only happen when using safe mode?

Oh...that's a shame. I don't really care about dealing large amounts of damage myself. Crowd control's much more fun for me, as are Masterminds - locking things down to prevent groups from being overwhelmed is a great feeling. I have to say I really like CoH's flow, so I was wondering what was meant by CO feeling smooth and so on. Taking a look at a quick video on the game, I imagine it has some appeal...but it's probably not my cup of tea, considering the archetypes that I prefer to play. It certainly seems much more action-oriented though, which I suppose is nice for some play styles.

Out of curiosity, how would one play a Controller or Mastermind in CO? Can one forgo those energy building attacks entirely? And what do you mean by flow?

I'll have to try Champions Online one day to see how it plays, but the "building energy via a basic attack" mechanic doesn't sound that appealing to me. Certainly it works for specific kinds of superheroes/supervillains (i.e. those that primarily blast/punch their way through things), but it's less appealing for other kinds of characters, such as what CoH would consider Controllers and Masterminds say. What use is a basic attack to a hero focusing on locking down an enemy, or directing pets across a battlefield? Personally it makes much more sense to cut out the middle man, which CoH very much does.

Can confirm it works. But would be nice to not need to go through that step of course.

I much prefer tab targeting myself - my reflexes can't handle something more dynamic! 😅

I'll admit I kind of like the redraw animations on Dual Pistols - they look stylish, even if they take a little longer to start up in a fight. Might a "Redraw" customisation option for such fellow odd people be a thing, if Dual Pistols ends up being looked over as well?

That makes sense - in comparison, AoE powers are much more usable in this game, and definitely speed things up a lot. Holds are also available right from the start for Crowd Control classes, which don't care about damage; it doesn't look like Everquest has any easily accessible equivalent to that.

Sleeps definitely have their defined uses at the moment for sure. Though I have to wonder why they were so valuable in something like say Everquest and its Enchanters for example when they're considered less so here.

The way I see it, the main draw of Phantom Army is not the damage that it brings to the table, but its damage mitigation - perma-Phantom Army is essentially like carrying three Tankers in your pocket, keeping your character relatively safe from harm. Certainly, there are ways of increasing their damage via resistance debuffs and Soulbound Allegiance, but there are definitely more damaging options out there. However, Illusion Control/Radiation Emission is a solid combination, and it's quite capable of doing things such as soloing Archvillains to my knowledge. How much damage were you expecting, and what kinds of troubles are you having at the moment?

Created a Dual Pistols/Super Reflexes Sentinel, a hired gun who named himself Shimenawa after the rope that demarcates a place of sanctity/purity. His name is a boast, as is his outfit: dressed in white, any damage would clearly show against him, yet he remains pristine. It also ties back into how his outfit literally binds him - he covers his eyes for the challenge of it. Screenshot 1 (Suppressive Fire) Screenshot 2 (Pistols) Screenshot 3 (Empty Clips)

That's fair, though one thing to note is that the Sleep status effect doesn't necessarily mean being put to sleep in the traditional sense (such as Mesmerize) - Salt Crystals is flavored as being encased in fragile pillars of salt for example. Similarly, Havoc Punch is flavoured as leaving an enemy writhing from electric overload. I imagine Defibrillate is similar; sending pulses of electricity to keep an enemy writhing.

I'm pretty sure that chains targeted at team members will prioritise team members - inverse is true for said powers targeted at pets, which will prioritise pets.

I imagine the intent is for Defibrillate to work mostly as a panic-revive, when a lot of the team is down to give them a chance to recuperate and fight back while the enemy is slept - that being said, I imagine Energy Manipulator should allow it to proc a stun fairly reliably alongside it.

That'd be quite interesting, and makes sense - unconscious enemies would probably be easier to hit. Definitely agree on that, and I personally think it's fitting with Sleeps too; have somebody fall asleep on the spot to the ground, rather than fall asleep standing. I also wouldn't mind it as a status effect that's used on my character, as compared to Sleeps which reapply themselves, which would definitely be much more annoying to face.