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UltraAlt

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Posts posted by UltraAlt

  1. 10 hours ago, Coyotedancer said:

    The tone of the entire opening post is essentially "I think you're playing in a bad way and you should feel bad for doing it because you're killing the game".

    I think you are being defensive because you feel it is an attack on how you play.

    If you think power leveling is good for the game, then please post to explain why you think it is good for the game and helps player retention.

  2. 13 minutes ago, Coyotedancer said:

    Leave the rest of us to do our own thing in peace. It's not your place to tell anyone else what they're allowed to like

    They is stating their opinion just like you are.

    People are allowed to do that here.

    If you don't like it, you  don't have to read it or comment on it. No one is forcing  you to agree with what anyone says here.

    • Like 2
  3. 35 minutes ago, Solarverse said:

    The most fun I have ever had in this game is from complete strangers that I have never met, pugging some random

    I think I've won my PUGger for Life T-shirt a long time ago.

    I love a rolling PUG with people going in and out of it, always having to adapt and learn to gel as the team transforms.

    It makes me learn my powers better and learn how to appreciate how the other powers operate as part of the synergy.

    • Like 2
  4. On 10/28/2020 at 11:40 AM, ZacKing said:

    Until that and LFG instant port gets nerfed too.  🙂

    I don't know if the DEVs have posted on this point, but they may have - I don't know the exact intent of getting rid of the base macro.

    I don't think it is to limit our ability to move around THE CITY as much it is to use the powers to do it instead of a DEV tool that was hijacked.

     

    Way way back in the long ago days when the internet was just getting going, I was programing games in BASIC.

    Graphics were very limited and it was pretty much modelled after games with text characters making up the map and a single character being the character you were moving around the map. This said to say how limited the games were on that level.

    You roamed around the map from  your home base to make your way across the map to the enemy boss, defeat enemies along the way, defeat the boss, and take any weapons found along the way back to your base. Make it back to your base, you save the gear, level up, and the game saves for the next replay with the extra gear.

    So to test the game, there were various GOD-MODE powers that could be unlocked with codes. Make yourself invisible, invincible, unlock all weapons, etc.

     

    Reason I'm saying this is that, apparently, the base macro was a DEV tool and not intended to be a code that all players had access to.

    That being said - I do enjoy using it. 

    If the DEVs think it is too OP, I stand by them. They apparently feel that way and are trying to limit the impact its sudden removal will have on the community.

     

    My suggestion is to start parking your characters at base portals on-live and get the Day Job for base portals and patrol XP. When the change goes live, you will already have 30 base portal saved up and you will probably automatically unlock some SG portals that your whole team can use as well.

    Need to port back and forth to craft? You can do that from any base portal in the game. In and out doesn't cost any power.

     

    Need to change zones quickly on a taskforce?

    That's what Team Teleport and Mission teleport are for.

    Need to get to the zone quickly without it?

    You can open a base portal that everyone in the team can use.

     

    It seems like the DEVs aren't taking way the easy way to travel, they are just modifying how it is done.

     

    I am an alt jumper, so, yeah, it was a bit of a pain to move all my characters around to do this (and a fair amount of influence to equip all of them), but I have done it ... because, honestly, I'm panicking a bit too.

     

    So in finally, I think people are panicking about this. Take a breath and figure out how to go with the flow and adapt to the changes. It isn't that bad when it comes down to it.

    • Thanks 1
  5. On 7/21/2020 at 2:04 PM, MTeague said:

    If you do not have very high defense, you won't be able to use Aid Self / Aid Other when things are attacking you.

     

    EDIT:  that said, I use it on my Claws/SR scrapper and it's nice.  But that is a tricked out /SR build.

    You won't have things attacking as much if you're on a team with a tank with taunt.

    Just saying.

    That's one of the reasons why I said that they are "team powers" in my other post

    • Like 1
  6. On 7/22/2020 at 11:50 PM, DoctorDitko said:

    I think I have to concur, though, that the p2w Rez, End boost, and self-heal pretty much obviate the Med Pool. It could use some serious Dev love. As it stands, skip it!

     

    Disclaimer: Not a medical doctor. Do not take medical advice from Doctor Ditko.

    I have to take it all the time.

    Some pesky team mate who's name rhymes with Doctor Ditko never seems to be able to keep me (and sometimes my pets) alive when his characters have team heals.

     

    Med Pool is team powers. They rely on being in a team and working with a team.

    Stimulant is great when you need to be able to get a teammate out of holds, immobilize, etc.

    The delay in the powers isn't  huge issue if you are non-melee and you have melee on the team on the front line.

    It helps keep my pets alive even if I use it a secondary heal.
    The self heal is a fall back and it works to get some health back quick when I need it.

     

    Unlike THE CITY that I grew up in (er started playing in? I'm older than the hills and younger than the mountains, so it's all ... oh well...), there is a lot less concern for the other members of the team that there was. Or at least that's what I have seen.

    Not dis-ing on anyone so much as pointing it out.

    (not to mention those that would rather run headlong into a fight and die rather than take a moment to figure out how to defeat the enemy safely so they don't fall in battle, but that's another thread or reason for a reply to this one)

     

    Plus, can you really trust Doctor Ditko talking about the med pool? I mean look at his disclaimer! "Not a medical doctor. Do not take medical advice from Doctor Ditko." 

    So why listen to him about the Med Pool?!

     

    [Sorry, Doc. if you didn't see that one coming.. well... and, btw, I'll meet you on Beta tonight as planned.]

  7. On 10/28/2020 at 3:49 PM, Ultimo said:

    That's why I suggested knockback enhancers should ALSO enhance damage, so you could have the knockback without sacrificing your damage output.  I also suggested that knockback should do a bit of additional damage so that it's more desirable.  As you say, right now, people often don't WANT knockback, so it needed something to make people want it.

     

    The stun on Hand Clap is still very short when slotted... but that's kind of beside the point.  The thing is, it does no damage at all, and it really should (it does when Hulk does it... it even does it when Statesman does it).

    I disagree because every other power has to pay for the secondary effect so why shouldn't super strength?

    Want the knockback? Slot it.

    Want damage? Slot it.

     

    The only thing I can say about Hand Clap is that it is basically "stay in one place" knock back. I don't think basic stun lasts much longer than it does than an enemy to fly through the air, hit the ground, and get up again. The only thing I could see would be changing Hand Clap into knockback instead of stun and maybe increasing the magnitude of the knockback,.

     

    The power sets are worked to balance out and I think that the hand clap was part of the overall set balancing.


    I can see thematically that the hand clap could be a cone knock back instead of a stun. (I mean if you aren't slapping your hands on either side of the enemy's head.. I am confused a bit as to why that would be stun)

     

    Both stun and knockback are methods of control - the same as the other control effects. 

     

    Now being able to hurl more than just a boulder? I can see that. I mean gravity can throw all kinds of stuff ... looks different to everyone that see it, but it isn't always the same thing.

  8. Well, I'm in agreement on powerleveling. 

    My viewpoint is that the end-game is something tacked onto the end of the game, so, if you power level to 50, you aren't actually playing "the game" - instead you are simply playing the stuff tacked onto the end of the game.

    The game to me is about the character progression and development.

     

    People can play how they want.

    That's all well and good, but I think that players that want to explore the game through alting and actually playing the leveling part of the game (which I have obviously already called "the game") then they are more likely to spend more time playing City of Heroes rather than getting bored with it and looking for the next shiny object to run after.

     

    So I started started on Torchbearer because a friend was playing on that server. 1000 slots on the same server! Great. Probably have 60 alts on Torchbearer at this point, but what was great about City of Heroes before the Sunset was the different flavour of each server. So it came time to make alts on other servers. I admit that have a screen full over on Excelsior. I have 4-6 on the other servers at this point. All of these are themed superhero groups. Meanwhile back on Torchbearer it's mostly a hodgepodge of character origins and sort of a slush supergroup with no real defined theme (and a couple (2) small sg's of 2-5 alts that are themed)

     

    I'm not going anywhere as long as there is no P2P (versus F2P) going on and no P2W. I'll probably never be able to get into the donation window to support the game because people love this game so much. I really like the way that Homecoming is handling their version of City of Heroes. I left THE CITY because of the F2P, Farming, Powerleveling, and the Incarnate system (and related addition to subscription pay expected in order to advance ... if I subscribe to a game, that should be what I'm paying. I shouldn't have microtransactions on top of that. That's my view point; others have their own). [Disclaimer :: I have a lifetime All Access account on Daybreak]

     

    So am I exploring the other servers because there aren't enough players on Torchbearer?

    No. That is not the reason. I can find teams or teammates on Torchbearer pretty much whenever I want to.

    Torchbearer is pretty much steadily 3rd as far as population goes.

     

    Now I haven't had a lot of trouble finding teams on Reunion or Indomitable either and they are the lowest population servers.

     

    Am I looking for fire farms? Oh, no. In no way am I looking for fire farms. I'm not looking to get power leveled.

    When I comes down to it, I really don't like running on level 50 teams.

    My sweet spot for teamin is probably between level 1 and mid 40's. 

    At some point the game becomes a bunch of flashing lights and I can't even see the enemies. Just watching my power tray for recharging isn't that much fun.

    Also .... there is that incredibly annoying Incarnate system ... I'm not even... grrrr... yeah... like that even

     

    oh, before I forget ... Thanks for posting.

    • Like 3
  9. 26 minutes ago, DoctorDitko said:

    Well, technically they are replacing an exploit with an actual power. All the powers in the game have charges, recharges, or otherwise get used up.

    What would you suggest as a model for the replacement power? Even Rest has a recharge (though, thankfully, much reduced on HC).

    Base teleport macro with 10 minute timer purchased from the P2W vendor for 1 mil?

     

    New players won't now by default to park at the supergroup portal to get the Day Job power for free.

     

    I would suggest a free power that is Inherent that drops in to the tray that recharges every 30 minutes or an hour at the most.

    It still has the cycle-up/power-up before the transport and isn't instantaneous, but will get a newbie back to a base at the end of their play session.

     

    Maybe that is what the Oro is for now?

    But once again, this isn't something a new player would know about.

     

    Sure a new player won't be able to tp to a base if the don't have one, but a simple on-screen error message "You can't teleport to a supergroup base until you are a supergroup member or have a pass code. Supergroups can be formed a level 10 or send a tell in looking for group for supergroup membership or base passcodes."

     

    • Like 1
  10. 1 hour ago, DoctorDitko said:

    In general, missions written later were better than those made earlier. The devs were better attuned to the system, the writers more knowledgeable of the world.

    There were also a few non-gaming professional writers who pitched in.

    I'm not as enamored of villainy or praetoriousness (?) as I am of comic heroics, but there is still some good stuff to be played there.

    No sense wasting it.

     

    I wonder if there is any chance we could have an alignment that encompasses all three?

     

    What? Like the co-op zones?

     

    Heroes and Villains are already sent to run Praetorian missions in Night Ward and whatever the other Ward that isn't "Day" Ward for whatever reason.

    I'm pretty sure they can team-up there to run missions, but I might be wrong. I know they both get contacts there (or l

     

    Rikti Warzone is co-op... isn't it?

     

    I think Dark Astoria is as well.

     

    Plus we have that mechanic where we can go rogue or vigilante and do missions on the other side... if we really want to do that.

    Heck, we can even change alignment entirely to the other side.

     

    From a comic book mythology standpoint the wall really shouldn't have been torn-down enough to allow transfer. This used to be a very rare mechanic in comic books until it turned into the whole grey murky mess it is today. The point of the mythology was that there was ultimate good to offset the ultimate evil of the world.

     

    But you know all this, Doc, because we discussed how I thought the alignment change mechanic was a bad idea when they were planning on releasing CoH :: Going Rogue.

  11. 21 hours ago, honoroit said:

    I'd argue it's less 'I dislike cov' and more a self perpetuation of 'cannot effectively group with frequency of blue side, so I don't go there'. 

     

    Again, example planetside. Why would you elect to join the losing faction, if there weren't incentive to do so. Without incentive to do so gains are quicker on the winning side. Time investment efficacy dictates 'go with winners', and a faction is effectively suppressed or eliminated. 

     

    Giving people xp changes the user calculus. 

     

    And wth is wrong with you! Don't you like robbing banks and stuff? 

     

    As I said before the comparison to Planetside does not work.

    I too play Planetside 2.

    I could care less if my faction is undermanned or not. I play with my Outfit.

    If you aren't in an outfit in Planetside 2, you are missing a huge part of the game.

     

    So I'll bring that same analogy here. 

    I don't like to join clans or guilds. I have run into too many bad situations with them in most games. (thankfully, the Planetside 2  Outfit I am in is awesome)

    The one and only supergroup that I did play with pretty actively in City of Heroes which was a (I believe.. it has been so long) multi-server, multi-supergroup with both hero and villain SGs. Each SG had a night and time slot each week. It was the Repeat Offenders (and did run a villain with them from time to time).

    [I had a set of friends that I played with pretty much every day, but they weren't in a supergroup that I had with  friend - filled with our alts]

    Stumbled into it randomly because people were actively posting about the activities in LFG while they were running their theme nights.

     

    There are other villains online on whatever your server you are on. There are more than 8 villains online at any given time. Team up with them.

     

    You shouldn't feel forced to play a hero. But there is no reason to give you additional benefits or to gimp those that want to play heroes simply because you want more thugs (villains) to run with.

     

    The "win" is having fun. 

  12. I made the following - with related comments

     

    Beam Rifle/Time - [reposting in correct forum]

    Part of the Temporal healing description says "  If you are affected by the Accelerated effect, you absorb even more damage from this power."

    From what I can tell. "Accelerated effect" refers to Chronos which says " While this is in effect, the target has any healing and healing over time effects from Temporal Healing or Lord of Time significantly increased. Recharge: Long"

    So I think the description for Temporal Healing would make more sense if it read " If you are affected by Chronos, you absorb even more damage from this power."

    But maybe there is some other power that has this "Accelerated effect" as well.

     

    Similarly; End of Time says " Targets affected by the Delayed effect will suffer bonus damage." and Time Stop says "  Targets affected by the Delayed effect will suffer from a more powerful hold, however its benefits are brief." 

    Time Wall states " Time Wall applies the Delayed effect on its target."

    So I think the first 2 powers mentioned would read better as - 

    End of Time - " Targets affected by Time Wall will suffer bonus damage."

    Time Stop - "Targets affected by Time Wall will suffer from a more powerful hold, however its benefits are brief." 

    Couldn't tell if End of Time was doing anything, but I eventually was able to make out the animation. A bit hard for me to  pick out as I was working with a time controller or what not.

     

    Archer/Ninja

    This is fun, but it makes me want to take stealth and than respec out of it once I level high enough to get shinobi. Shinobi is the magic preset trick. Surprise! Seemed to take more damage from exploding zombies than the other two new secondaries. Nice to feel like a sneaky blaster without needing to have stealth.

     

    Water/Plant

    I don't so much like the spines animation for this, but I understand it is there. I would have figured this would have looked more nature controller like than spine scrapper/tanker. I can the melee part would have the spine animation, but the immobilize and holds I think would look better with just a caste pose (throw arm in the direction of the enemy or the sowing-seeds throw) and the plant animation for the actual immobilize/hold animation on the enemy.

     

    For the most part, all standardized blaster secondaries. Single target hold and immobilize as a base with flavor powers thrown in.

     

    Time seems to be the strongest, but I was slotted with IO sets because I had to rush to level to 30 since I couldn't find Agent Walkins in Steel and had to go to the Oro to pull it and had to be at least level 25 for that (no half-stepping 20 or 30 only options!). The other two I slotted with SO's only for Agent Watkins arc testing.

  13. Tested with level 20 SO Energy/energy scrapper. Ran with some 50's this time, which definitely altered the play balance.

    One switched characters to a brute which apparently had setting set-up pretty high because the 6 or 7th mission was packed with huge mobs. so that too skewed a strait up test at level.

     

    Energy/energy scrapper kept running out of endurance - even with whirling hands with one end reducer (reduced to 10 end per use) and 3 slotted Stamina and one end reducer in Entropic Aura.

    I don't know if this is an issue with energy scrappers in general as I don't have on on live and don't think I had one before the Sunset.

    Forgot again. So Whirling hands was often missing it's animation. The time would play out and enemies would take damage, but I wasn't seeing the animation. Character would just be standing there.

     

    problems found

     

    1) Defeat 20 Freak Show in Talos

    So yeah, level 20 and the lowest level freaks we saw were level 24!

    Might want to think about changing the zone as this seems to act like a tf so you can't run off and do other missions and come back once you are high enough level to fight the freaks. Tried handing off the star to the 50, but we stayed at my level. Somehow we managed to defeat them because they were 50's is my guess. There is no way a group of level 20's could take out mobs of 5-8 purple freaks. That's a bit steep.

     

    2) Investigate the Robbery

    Tried using team teleport to get to. Go figure. It's a talk to.

    I think it's the first talk to screen with the pharmacist/store owner. Dialog duplicates

     

    "Pierce pauses for a moment, then retrieves a list from her pocket. This is a list of all missing product from inventory. They took about $3500 of NSAIDs alone, but also tourniquets, sterile IV tubing, crutches, gauze pads, two walkers, iodine, hydrogen peroxide, and several suture kits. Total loss is about $9600 all together.

    This is a list of all missing product from inventory. They took about $3500 of NSAIDs alone, but also tourinquets, sterile IV tubing, crutches, gauze pads, two walkers, iodine, hydrogen peroxide, and several suture kits. Total loss is about $9600 all together. In my expert opinion, all these items are commonly used to triage people with severe wounds. That would be the standard fare for a combat field medic or an ER surgeon. I hope that helps you somehow."

     

    end of my testing on this for the day

     

    • Thanks 1
  14. Add more knockback enhancements?

    I mean if you want to knock them off the planet then 3 slot your knockback powers with knockback.

    Your teammates might laugh at a melee character knocking their own foes out of range, but play the game your way. 

    [Non-melee characters get A LOT of grief for using knockback - even the default without slotting.]

     

    Stun too short? Add more stun enhancements. 3 slot it!

     

    The only property destruction in City of Heroes is in the Bank Heist missions on the villain side. So that's a good place to "Hulk smash".

     

    I'm pretty sure Super Strength was one of the first powers built for the game. I mean sure, it was there at original release, but like  you say - it is a staple of superhero comics if not THE sign of being superhero.

    • Like 2
  15. 2 hours ago, Solarverse said:

    Most of the shields do not have Metal Shield variants. You can get plated or riveted, but not solid steel with that shiny steel look. Any chance of adding a Steel Skin to the Standard Shields?

    Wow, read the post name and I thought you were talking about "metal skin" instead of shields.

    Of course, there are other obviously that put on armor as a "metal" shell.

     

    So not needing an actual visible shield but going through the same animations without it.

     

    Sounds like a great Sentinel secondary to me in addition the Tanker and Scrapper sets. 

     

    Captain Atom.jpg

    Citizen Steel.jpg

    major force.jpg

  16. Contact is not showing up as an option in the contact>find contact selection at level 20.

    He is located at loc 2281.7 -74.5 -2579.8 in Steel Canyons north west side.

    He will talk to you at level 20.

     

    I have run the first mission 3 times at this point. Map is a variation of common factories if not a common factory layout.

    1) level 30 Blaster beam rifle/time with IO Sets with a mentor at 49 I think that held the mission. Ran through Oroboros. Pretty easy but swarms/ambushes a bit terrifying. The point I guess. They tended to spawn on top of me and explode immediately. Not sure about difficulty setting, but I think it was +1 based on the enemies. 

    2) level 20 Blaster water/plant with SOs.  Ran through contact in Steel. Easily handled on base difficulty. some mobs spawned directly on top of my character and exploded instantly.

    3) level 20 Blaster arrows/ninja with SOs. Ran through contact in Steel. Set at +1 player. stumbled on to some while "stealthed" (weren't there on the base difficulty). All the mobs were up and moving around on the other runs. This time there were many times when the mobs were all lying in a heap on the floor. This time, I went down the long hallway before clearing out the fourway room. This made the ambush all the more terrifying as I felt that I had to clear them out before looking for the clue. Ran circles around the room trying to get away with them. Running on a computer with Intel i7-7700 @ 3.6 GHz, 32.0 GB RAM with  an NVIDIA GTX 1060 6 GB,   and my connection is supposedly 100 mb/s connection  (just tested as 946 MB/s download and 890 MB/s upload). The zombies were doing a lot of sliding around instead of walking. 

     

    Survived all three times without falling.

     

    Contact is a bit annoying.

    There tends to be a good bit of talking down to player characters by NPCs in this game. This guy is a bad one for this.

    Sure he's a US Government Operative, but he's supposed to be non-partisan. He also appears to be enhanced himself based on what he looks like.

    Does he want heroes help or not?
    Why say he is going to give all the info and then complain when you ask him for more info?

    First option might as well be, "I don't care about the risk, just tell me where I need to go to track down these guys" or some such and then just give the player the mission and be done with it. "Okay, I don't suggest going in without complete information, but here's where we think they are located" blah-blah.

    Option 2 could be giving them the full dialog.

    Sometimes I'm in the mood to read some good NPC text, but somedays I just want a mission.

    "Sir! Yes, sir!" I think some of us get plenty of that.

     

    The writing appears good, and I'm looking forward to exploring the rest of the arc.

    I am very glad to see different lower level contact.

     

    From rooting around the map looking for Agent Watson, I see there is a signature arc. I don't know where this would be triggered for a player other than seeing it on the map and deciding to do it.

    City of Heroes Screenshot 2020.10.28 - 01.31.38.49.png

    City of Heroes Screenshot 2020.10.28 - 01.32.35.29.png

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