MsSmart

I concede that a massive change to huge number of IO types where you reverse defense with resistances, could be perhaps hurt the balance. But if we limit the type of IOs that the reversal of resistance and defense with regards to how many combos in a set is required, would like provide the utility I seek for the support types. I would think Defensive set of IOs with reversed Resistance with Defense, would not be unbalanced, since Defense IO slotting powers are few for support, in general short of weave and leadership, you may get one or two more additional opportunities to slot them. I can see "pure" buff and status effect sets, that is powers that purely does a status effect (hold, immob, etc) or buff (regen, recharge, etc) would have versions where the resistance improvements based on numbers of IOs in the set with defensive improvements. Note that powers that does something else and has a status effect as a side would not get these reversed IO improvement sets. Grey Cat: The reason you don't see support dying like flies, is because the player does pay much more attention in order to survive than a melee for obvious reasons, besides that, its the IO builds that makes the difference, a huge difference! But the price of this survivability you see so well and comment about, does come at a price, that is their support quality is modest at best. What I seek is to find ways to improve in that support quality. My first stab of improving the quality of support was by making it easier for support to Franken-slot their characters with out compromising their survivability, and to do that, if the defense improvements came before the resistance improvements in some IO sets, it would then, go a long way to accomplish my goal of having better quality of support through Franken-slotting. Now a little context: I have tankers, really ultra survivable tankers (some I am yet to see an AV or bunches of mobs hurt them), yet despite of being super tankers they have reasonably descent DPS because I can Franken-slot ( you would think the price of being invulnerable, would be really bad DPS). Since I can, why do I say I can Franken-slot them very easily? Because a huge number of IOs give me regeneration or recovery with the first 2 IOs, and the 3rd and 4th IOs loads me up with resistances; little wonder my tankers get to be so good so easily. Scrapers don't have it so easy, for they are mostly defense dependent for survival, and unlike support, they get lots of defensive IO slotting opportunities, yet a little help with the reversed IO improvements will go a long way in helping them as well. As a question for my edification: I saw comments of issue with Blasters (DPS), having better defense (doubtfully they would get much out of this, since they get so few defensive powers to take advantage of the reversal), and potentially more DPS. Can someone describe, why is it so bad, for the "glass cannon" folks to have? How does it break anything? Please note, I am not saying it does not, all I am asking is for the how, what are the mechanics, I see this as a learning opportunity, so please help me learn and understand. Thank you Sue

This is only a recommendation to assist support classes to have better means to provide support, as opposed to spending the majority of their IO slots in trying to figure how to survive first and then see what is left to help the team do better. The above statement, addresses the dilemma of all support classes, do I use my IO slots to be more survivable so I am more likely to be able to support (buff) my team mates albeit a bit mediocre; or do I remain highly susceptible to be spammed status effected, and killed since I am glass jawed natured but my buffs are out of this world? When designing these support alts, it is very much a bit of magic and science to it, what is the best compromise between dying real quickly and not being able to do my job, but while I can, wow are my buffs good or being extremely survivable but my buffs are nothing to be excited about. So this QoL is to make these difficult decisions less hard. If you look at the vast majority of IO sets, you will see that movement, regeneration of hits and end are usually given in the first two IO combos, by the third IO combo usually you see resistances bonuses, the fourth IO combo is usually improvements to damage, accuracy, and power recharge buffs, and lastly on the 5th and 6th IO you see specific and positional defense improvements which are very valuable to support type's survivability. Because support types have to use 5 and 6 IOs to get what they critically need for survival, they do not get to "Franken-Slot" as much as in my experience my melee types can; which has tremendous impact in your character's performance. By having on the 2 combo give specific defenses at 2.5% each for 4 different forms of specific attacks, and the 3rd combo give 2.5% to the three positional defense types, it will allow the support to use the remaining slots to intensify the effects of the powers used for support, that is my healer can heal you faster and with greater magnitude, and also be more resilient to the spam status effects and barrage of NPC AOEs, PBAOEs, etc. Same with other support classes that provides you buffs or de-buff the enemy. Also note that this recommendation would also provide great benefit for Scrapers type classes as well, which is always a good thing :<) Hugs Sue PS: I do not, repeat, do not, advocate to change existing IO sets! I am asking for new ones to be created over time, and not immediately, but perhaps release a couple of IO sets per game release, thus a slow steady improvement.

I would like to see more incarnate trials like TIN MAGE and APEX be made, not after more of the biggies that requires leagues, since as of lately trying to form large teams in the game seems to be getting increasingly difficult. Also more solo incarnate missions, such as Burden of the Past, but not be tediously stupid. The walk thru a pointless maze in the first mission, is just plainly abusive and way too boring, please avoid time sinks like this in the future. Thank you Sue

If I want to wear a hat or helmet, in general my lady supers go bald, with the exception of the cowboy like hat. Would be great if there were more hats with hair, or a way to set hair of choice and super-impose the hat or helmet over it would be even better. Sue

I am old, and color textures that are near each other are lost to me, so being able to set the colors would be very beneficial for me, or ensuring at the code level that colors are truly different from each other would be just as good. Thank you Sue

Perhaps, instead of having missions within missions, each mission should be stand alone Sue

Would prefer to see the 2 giant robots in the third mission of ITF get activated and added to the fight... Sue

Would be nice, if respec operated like MIDs, would help make it less error prone, and would make it less susceptible to issues such as not fully trained when respeccing Sue

Thank you for your post! Your observation on why would a controller for instance be totally helpless to a control attack, while a melee who is hard to injure is totally immune, does defies logic and I agree with your perception. Yet in a cookie cutter way, I suppose that it was simpler for the developers to just make the melee types the all together bastions of soaking of whatever comes regardless if it is damage or an effect. And treated the whole affair in a binary manner with subtle variations in the melee side, such as a tank's status protection is greater to a scraper for example. My largest issue with the status protection bit, is that it was mostly treated in a binary fashion. While I totally agree that "support" types do not have as much need for very strong status effect protections such as those afforded to melee, I do disagree with their total lack of status effect protections. Consider this, a pathetic LT mob has status protection while a controller/defender/etc. Has zero magnitude protection, this does not truly pass the good sense test. So I have advocated, in the past, for an innate or a means to give support some status effect protection, key word: Some. The real discussion is how much? My Rad Tank gets 13, My Invulnerability Brute gets 10, My Ninjitsu Scraper 10 as well, so what makes sense for a support type? Obviously zero, is the wrong answer. I can observe that a scrapper who is not generally intended to be the big time taunt only has 3 less magnitude protection, so would a support who does area effect (think of a kin) would need protection because the nature of their power is asking for mob attention, would 3 less than a scraper make sense for a magnitude 7 status effect protection? but many other support types do not attract as much attention, but they do, life is not truly binary. Maybe instead of the 23% less than the Scraper gets from the tank, lets make it 46% which still leaves us at a MAG 7 protection! Or perhaps we go a bit in the arbitrary side and say only half of what a Scraper gets, that would be 5 magnitude protection. The next real problem to tackle, is how you give say those 5 mag protection points to the support, for instance a storm defender's steamy mist would be an ideal candidate, it affects the character itself, but anyone else within the mist also benefits, think of how much that would indeed help stalkers with AV effects! While MAG 5 is not good enough versus AV affects, but it is against single minions, etc. Do remember that multiple status effects do stack, so if the support is dumb enough to get a large group of mobs interested in her, well she gets toasted. Hugs Sue

Hi this is a simple Quality of Life suggestion. The proposed expansions, do not have to be done in one sitting, they can be gradually added. Also it would be awesome, if teams or leagues could have a leader talk to Null the Gull, and be sent to the various environment zones, like some kind of Null based LFG. There are accolades and badges that requires special environmental situations that are not always available year around, such as the Elusive Mind accolade which requires a Rikti Invasion to be underway, or the badges from knocking doors while wearing a costume to get the tip to do a mission, etc. It would be nice, if one could visit the ole seagull, and have him transport you to a Null the Gull zone that provides the special environment; for example it sends you to a Halloween town, with active doors and contacts to do the Halloween tip missions. Or it sends you to a zone constantly under Rikti Attack. As I said, only a suggestion from a badge collector Sue

I fully love this suggestion Sue

Would be happy to, but when I play my squoshies, I hardly ever die, but then I am a veteran from the live days, have awesome IOd builds, etc. The issue is not all players are as experienced say as you, and their builds are not as sharp as yours. That is why, I make suggestions to help the newbies; folks like you have such mastery of the game, that a lot of the deadlyness of the challenge can be avoided by knowing what to do. The only time, I do die, is because I am testing my build to determine her limits. But I do suggest go do an ITF with just your average mix of folks, and observe who is doing the face planting; it is a binary proposition melee vs support, so just track as you go during the ITF. Sue

Splendid idea! Sue

Hi: This is only a request for future development, not a do or die thing. The concept is an expansion of an MSR event, instead of being immediately ported to the Vanguard post at the end of the MSR, you are given a choice to retire to the vanguard post (default choice) or to penetrate the ship. Anyone who clicks penetrate ship (stays in league mode) and is transported inside the ship. You battle with your allies through a maze of corridors which leads to alien dimensional transport portal and for say 20 minutes you are ported to the Rikti home world! You can treat the home world in a similar manner as a mayhem mission, you can go to their world and trash it! While you do it, waves of their own security forces obviously rally out to deal with the intruders (same way as it's done during the regular MSR. Once the 30 min is over, you are ported out of their world and placed in the Vanguard base as it is done in a normal MSR.

Hi: I read that in the latest release MM's could take an EoE and their henchmen would enjoy the benefits as well; which is great. But my question, why limit it to just EoEs? Why not let the effect of any inspiration affect the pets? This way the MM can help their pets be more accurate, heal via inspiration, augment damage, etc. Taking this a step further, why limit this ability to MMs only? The average person loves their pets, and go to through considerable effort to keep them happy and healthy. Lastly I am not positive if Lore pets benefit from EoEs as henchmen, there is no records to say one way or another. But as suggested above, any player could take an inspiration and affect their support staff, and thus the Lores would be included. Hugs Sue

Hi: I had suggested in another thread to have the Rickti Invasion year round in a schedule similar to GMs in selected locations... Upon thinking this a bit more, why not have the Rikti continuously invade RWZ (well they already did or are in the process), it would make the zone more dynamic, and more immersive. The zone already has a cruiser patrolling, so it can be made to carpet bomb along it's path and thus, make it possible for players to acquire the destroy 25 unexploded bombs badge. The entire zone is "invaded" already or strongly contested so killing mobs there counts towards the 100 Rikti killed badge, and lastly the 10 heavies needed for the badge, can be already found around the crashed ship thus making the badge accessible as well. Sue

That would come handy, yet if I have to choose, I prefer the PBAOE effect mechanism is a much quicker way to dispense buffs. Both upgrades, would be fantastic as well. The reason I prefer PBAOEs is that since many mob's Status Effect attacks are area ones as well, having an area solution would make sense, also it takes less clicks to execute which in a tough battle can make a difference. Sue

Cause statistically take a look at the arch types that does most of the dying, and hence, they need help. A simple observable, having alts on both sides of the fence, I can see the need. As a melee, I need my support boosting me, while boosted, watch me tear thru the baddies, but they are no good to me if they are dead or in la la land due to status effects. From a support perspective, say healer, the tanks today are so well built by design that they really do not require much help at all, I have several tanks than when properly IOd, I am essentially invulnerable for the vast majority of the situations. Now must of my buff customers and heal customers are blasters and scraper types, why because their main defense is defense, and too many mobs have defense de-buff (imagine the tanks moaning if the attacks were mainly resistance de-buff) so my buffs and heals are truly needed in tough battles, of course being a support, the term glass jaw is quite appropriate, so a great portion of my time is spent just trying to survive the AOE status effects being spammed, area damage attacks, the mandatory rear ambush, etc. I know that if I am going to make a difference via support, I got to be alive and not status effect neutralized. The major problem is I can't carry enough break frees and heals for myself since often I can't help myself to stay active an entire mission, and the inspirations I happen to need almost never drop. So with a little thought, it comes obvious who needs the most help, in order for them to do their job. Sue

I love the idea, being an emp myself... It is much more convenient to have as many support powers be a PBAOE, thus it allows you get a good number of players, those players who need your buffs, heals, etc. Would know to cruise nearby you, and this way you can focus more on your focused heals on those melee getting their hinds handed to them, besides staying alive, since most healers are rather soft. A dead healer or neutralized healer is of little consequence to their team as a Stormy, I really wish O2 was a a PBAOE so as many as possible could benefit from the ability as possible, and be a better second line healer/supporter. Sue

Hi: I been waiting for this week for along time, since i had 20 level 50 alts trying to get the elusive mind accolade... When the Rikti in their schedule attack, they attack as many as 4 different zones at a time, with just a few minutes between each commenced attack. What I am asking instead of shut gunning the attacks, spread them out. Lets have one attack, let them leave the zone, then moments later the next zone is attacked, and so forth. This way players can form leagues, even during low turn out hours, and be able to get the badges required to get the accolade, also regardless of what time you logged on, you will have a chance to get into a Rikti attack and start working towards the badges. Lastly in consideration for those players who can only play during low turn out hours, having leagues of 14 or more to get the heavies to spawn is rather harsh, could you have them spawn with a team of 8 instead as the minimum requirement, and let the duration of the attacks be sufficient for a team of 8 to get the 10 heavies? Only a suggestion, also it would be good if the Rikti attacked more often and not once a year during Rikti Invasion week, not saying to stop the Rikti week, but have also, above and beyond, Rikti invasions during the day at different zones at a spawn rate similar to GMs, for example for blue side the ideal Rikti "GM" spawn sites would be Talos and PI and have them be attacked in a GM like schedule each day. Hugs Sue

I believe, I made quite clear the intent and motivation. I truly do not get your negativity.

Love it! Sue

You may have a point there, perhaps you can make the two incompatible; so you can only slot a duration reduction or augmentation in any given IO

Oh no, not what I said... what I suggested the moment you slide a booster +1 on the attuned IO, it becomes a +1 IO enhancement, you still need to slide 4 more to make it +5 Sue

You drop the caps that affects both, the support will drop like flies. I disagree that the melee would suffer the most, only when farming would they be within a tidal wave of mobs, and yes dropping the caps would be the end of the farmers. But the support types, are still subject of AOES, PBAOES, and the melee do not and can not keep all mobs taunted (I play a 5 slotted taunting tank and keeping the aggroe is really difficult), so the concept of the heroic melee in the middle of the storm is getting solely beat up, while the support are on the beach sipping a pina colada is not accurate. My observation is that universal "pseudo" nerfs, usually is heavy handed on the support types. That is why, I kewep suggesting for challenge aimed at melee, and not support.