Ultimo

Ya, that's a result of the retcon into the "speed force." I grew up with a guy who was just fast, and that was plenty... so I'm trying to stay consistent with the speedsters I grew up with.

Ya, I always cherry pick the powers I want them to have, but even at that it's nearly impossible to properly balance them. For example, the NPC version of Canadian Shield was doing more than 200 damage with Punch, compared to the 40 damage the actual character was doing... and that's when I made him as a BOSS. Making him an EB or AV would only make things worse. But, beyond that, there's the discrepancy between the types. Canadian Shield as a Boss is an almost indestructible juggernaut capable of obliterating any PC in seconds, while Dr. Solomon the Controller is defeated in seconds himself, without being able to do much of ANYTHING to a PC. I understand, it's likely difficult to balance things when you can have combinations not possible for players, but I still feel like a balancing pass is needed.

As I'm trying to recreate some characters, I'm finding a problem exists that I remember having even back in live days. The issue is it's impossible to get some kind of consistent balance for my custom NPC enemies. Basically, it amounts to this. If I want to make an epic enemy, that the heroes need to pull out all the stops against, they're SO ridiculously powerful that they're practically oneshotting the player characters. Then, if I make them lower rank, to reduce their absurd damage output, they become absurdly flimsy, and offer no real challenge at all. For example, I created a version of my Tank character, the Canadian Shield. I had originally planned on making all my NPC actual heroes and supervillains Elite Bosses, the logic being that WE are stronger than bosses, but weaker than Arch Villains. However, I knew ahead of time that making Tanker type characters as EBs makes them too strong, so I started as a Boss and figured I could upgrade him as necessary. As a boss, his attacks were doing 200-800 damage, on average. This is enough to nearly oneshot my L35 Mastermind. Considering he's got to face absorbing dozens of such attacks, there's basically no way for him to survive an encounter with the Canadian Shield as a Boss, let alone as an Elite Boss... and even thinking about making an Arch Villain... there's just no way. Meanwhile, my NPC character based on my Electric/Traps Controller was obliterated almost immediately when created as a Boss. The discrepancy between the power sets is pretty extreme, and the discrepancy between the ranks (ie. Minion through AV) is also pretty extreme. I feel like a balance pass is desperately needed.

I did consider suggesting an attack in Super Speed similar to the Shield Charge attack... It blitzes in at high speed and creates a powerful shockwave at the destination. Seems to be in character for the set, what do you think? As for the other suggestions, I'll work towards that. Unfortunately, it means he won't actually play like an actual speedster for some time. Have to make do, I suppose.

So, my project of creating characters based on the JLA goes on. Now, I'm working on making a character representing the Flash... but I'm finding it kind of daunting. Initially, I made him a Scrapper, Street Justice (for the multiple strike attacks, since they look faster than other similar attacks) and Super Reflexes, with the Super Speed pool. I considered making him a Tanker, since it seems to me the job of the speedster on many teams is to draw the fire of the enemy and avoid getting hit... but it didn't seem quite... right. Anyway, the problem I've been having is that there seems not to be any really mobile power sets. Even Super Speed doesn't have any powers or effects that you can use WHILE moving. Even if I fight with Super Speed toggled on, it suppresses the speed boost, so he no longer runs fast. My question is, how would you design a pure speedster, like the Flash or Quicksilver? As an aside, perhaps they could do something to revamp the Super Speed set? Perhaps swap out something for a toggle power that causes damage in an arc in front of the character, or perhaps in a wake around him, relative to how fast he's moving? Some kind of mobile attack.

I have a great imagination. Heck, I don't need to play the game at all, I can imagine everything about my character and his adventures.

The more detail we are able to give a custom nemesis, the better, but honestly, I'd be content to see them just appear at random in missions. That is, you design the nemesis (similar to how they're designed in AE), and the game just attaches that character's attributes to your character's file. Then when a boss is needed on a mission, the game could randomly pick a nemesis from one of the characters in the mission. Instead of a generic Council Galaxy Adjutant, you're taking on an actual unique villain. It would just give missions a bit of variety, a surprise here and there, and some extra enjoyment for the person whose nemesis appears. They might even just restrict them to tip and radio missions. Clearly, missions that have specific enemies already should not have any possibility of a nemesis appearing. Again, AE is fine if all I want is to fight the same foe in the same way all the time. There's nothing terribly engaging about it if you know what's going on, because you WROTE the story. Plus, there's no chance I'll bump into someone ELSE'S nemesis in an AE mission. Sometimes the most fun had in the shows and films is when a hero finds himself facing off with an ALLY'S enemy.

Most of my characters are based initially on existing characters, but over time, I try to move them away from the initial design. Some of them remain closer than others, but I try to get some distance from it. Sometimes, it's just their powers that are the same. Other times, I use the same costume colours in a very different costume. In every case, I do try to make them more unique as I go. Wolverine is just the starting concept. I plan to work out something more unique when I play him a bit.

So, I'm working on a character I want to base on Wolverine. My initial question is, Scrapper or Brute? I initially thought Scrapper, but with Wolverine's tendency to go berzerk, the Brute's Fury might actually be more in character. What do you think?

Well, I'm not a coder, so I've no idea how feasible the idea is. I just wanted to put it out there.

The problem with using AE (and I've done so), is that these enemies never appear except when doing THAT mission. I feel like it would be cool to have my nemesis (or a teammate's) appear in a mission at any time might be kind of nifty. Imagine rolling confidently through a mission, and suddenly you find yourself face to face with an Arch Villain. That cakewalk might suddenly get very interesting. I'm not suggesting having a whole story built around each nemesis (and you're right, CO's system was a bit limited), but it would be cool to have a nemesis that could just show up. I hadn't thought about the Kheldian thing, that might be a way of introducing these characters into missions... the code is already in the game for that. Anyway, it's just a thought.

Over at Champions Online, they had a fantastic option to create a Nemesis for your character. This is definitely thematic, most significant heroes have a nemesis (some have several... Batman has Joker, but Superman has Luthor, Darkseid and Brainiac). It was kind of nifty when that nemesis would show up in a mission here or there. I don't know if it's even feasible, but it would be AWESOME if we could devise a way to incorporate this idea into THIS game. How awesome would it be if you were to find your Nemesis has randomly appeared in a mission you're on. Imagine if you were on a mission with several players and SEVERAL of these nemeses turned up! Any thoughts?

I don't want to be the only one seeing it. I want my character to look like my character to anyone looking at him.

As a fan of Darwyn Cooke (RIP), I always loved the way his renditions of Superman, Batman and others wore longer shorts instead of briefs. I'd love it if there was a legs pattern representing longer shorts. I quickly banged out the kind of thing I'd like to see...

Well, I don't do anything sorcery, I'm sticking to classic Doom for inspiration. All tech. Group Fly is kind of a must, it's just SO good with the bots. I do like having a personal attack, but I could easily rely on Air Superiority for that. I even have a bind for those rare occasions when someone does try to melee with me: "Fool! Dire does not engage in petty fisticuffs!" followed by an Air Superiority and Force Bolt. Sorry, "Repulsion Bolt." What was the point of renaming that? I find the new name kind of... repulsive.

My MM is based on Dr. Doom, he's Bots/Force Fields. He uses several pools, including Flight, Leadership, and Fighting. My intention is to get into the Field Mastery pool, but he's not at that level yet. I'm sure I could drop the Fighting pool, I don't use it much, except for Tough and Weave. It just feels like a bit of a nerf.

I haven't been able to redesign the character in Mids, it's still using the old power setup.

Well, it used to be that my Protector Bots could cast a heal periodically. Now, they don't have that ability, it's been assigned to the Maintenance bot, which means instead of taking one power (Protector Bots), I have to take two in order to get the same effect. My build was pretty tight as it was, it's meant leaving out ALL my personal attacks... which is discouraging. I mean, MM personal attacks are pretty trivial anyway, but even so, it's a loss.

I'm feeling conflicted about this fellow. I have lost a power slot, since I now need to take this power to replace an ability my Protector Bots used to have. More, the drone itself just looks like a cannibalized torso floating around (indeed, when dismissing the pets, it transforms into a Battle Drone). Anyone else feel like this is actually a bit of a nerf? I mean, the bots are still pretty strong, it's just cut into my ability to take other powers a bit.

I'd even settle for being able to use specific existing enemy groups. One of my Masterminds would most likely be working closely with the Council, for example. I'd also like to be able to adjust the look of certain specific minions. For example, I really dislike the look of the Commando (3rd tier Merc). My Mercs are supposed to be elite, disciplined soldiers, the sleeveless guy just doesn't fit the aesthetic I'd like.

Does that hide the effects for everyone or just me?

So... the mission is the first of a 5 parter. A local store is being shaken down for protection money. The contact asks you to go talk to the owners, who will describe what happened, and who was involved (and the son will rant about it, setting up a rescue later). After the interviews, thugs will appear and be easily defeated. The contact will explain the implications of the testimony of the two owners. I think they do have to get this information from the owners, but it doesn't have to appear as a dialog. I had thought to have the information appear as clues. I'd RATHER they be dialogs, but I don't know if that's possible. Part of the point of all this is to create missions that aren't just "Go in, fight bad guys, repeat over and over."

So, I wanted to build a series of missions. The first one has the players visiting a shop (I planned to use a jewelry or pawn shop), where they would interview the two owners and their son. There would be NO villains present until after the interviews, at which point there would be an ambush. Ideally, the ambush characters would arrive, the player would have an opportunity to talk to them, and then the fight would happen. But, I'm having problems. To begin with, I can't figure out how to make a scenario with no enemies in it. Then, I can't figure out how to put the NPC owners in the shop for the player to interact with. I had thought to make them collectibles, or some such, and add their testimony as Clues. Finally, I don't know how to make the ambush happen only after all three interviews have been done. Does anyone know how to make this work?

Thanks for the thoughts, all. I suppose I'll stick with the power sets I'm using. However, this still leaves the question, Tanker or Brute? I solo 90% of the time, so perhaps I'd be better off Tankering... but I do enjoy the durability... Well, I won't be deleting anything yet. Oh, and I should say, I'm not using any sets or IOs, my characters are all using SOs, since they're all around L30. Seemed a waste to make IOs I'd outlevel fairly quickly. My endurance related ones (ie. Performance Shifter, etc.) are all... infused(? don't have a level, I'm not sure this is the term), so the level doesn't matter. Once they get to 50, I'll worry about more elaborate slotting.

So... I'm wrestling with a quandry. I've always played Tankers. I just like the durability. However, I've recently had an eye-opening experience. My main tanker, the Canadian Shield (though he still can't get his NAME), is Invulnerability and Super Strength. I recently finished the Freaklympics arc, and it took me FOREVER. The final mission took around 3 hours, because it took SO long to defeat every foe, who would heal before defeat, then ressurect, then heal again before defeat, then finally be defeated. Add to that the nonstop endurance drains making the horrendous endurance management of the game even WORSE... and it was just no fun at all. Then I went to my Submariner homage character. He's a Brute, using Street Justice and Willpower. Now, he wasn't doing the same story arc, but absolutely everything he did just felt FAR easier. He was still PLENTY durable, and just never seemed to have any endurance woes. On top of that, he was doing 2-3 TIMES as much damage as the Canadian Shield was doing. It left me questioning why I would play a tanker at all... and left me questioning several of my characters. The Canadian Shield uses Super Strength, which I always found underwhelming, and Invulnerability, which seems GREATLY inferior to Willpower. The Stalwart Star is a Shield Defense/Martial Arts tanker, who runs out of endurance in seconds, despite having two endurance reduction in ALL his attacks and toggles, PLUS Performance Shifter, Panacea and Numina's in Stamina and Health. Marshal Mantic is a tanker using Dark Armour (though, I'm not decided on this, I'd rather have less obvious effects) and Radiation Melee... but I'm really debating whether to stick with the tanker. A large part of my problems on most of my characters is that they're nearly impossible to play without them running out of endurance in seconds. I abandoned my Electric Control/Force Field controller, my Storm/Electric Blast defender, and many other characters ENTIRELY because they couldn't use their powers without being out of endurance after defeating EVERY foe. That controller would defeat one minion, then PFF until his endurance came back, then defeat one more minion... then run away because PFF hadn't recharged yet, and he couldn't fight anymore. Honestly, it was THIS problem that made me quit playing CoH back when the game was live. In any case, the issue I'm working through now is whether to remake my tankers as brutes... whether to abandon sets like Super Strength, Martial Arts and Invulnerability (which are just too endurance heavy) for other sets, like Street Justice? I'm feeling quite torn.