cohRock

... maybe start building a second alpha power?

I did not know it. Thank you.

I don't follow. Right now our developers are compensated by us giving them a virtual pat on the back for a job well done. Does this amount to "well compensated"?

It would eliminate the ghost hanging over our heads. At any time, NCSoft could order the shut down the fan servers, and Homecoming as we know it would go away. Also, an active, employed by CoH, development stuff would focus full time on the game. The current Homecoming developers are doing a great job, but imagine what they could accomplish if they didn't have to work a full-time job elsewhere. @SeraphimKensai, yes, the Homecoming code base is "out there", and fan servers would continue to run. The same is true with Ultima Online, which has had fan servers for decades. So the argument that fan servers would automatically doom a commercial implementation is by no means a sure thing. Since the commercial game would offer a free-play option, many casual and even dedicated players would choose to play on the official servers. Many non-subscribers would even contribute financially via in-game purchases.

On this issue, I am a contrarian. I have over ten incarnate characters, and they all have used shards for their alpha. Notes: It is an advantage to build up your alpha with shards, leaving threads for the other five incarnate powers. The "two currency" argument ignores the original design. IIRC, shards dropped in any non-incarnate play, and threads only dropped during incarnate play. Incarnate powers unlocked during any play. Players demanded an end-game system, and IMO this was a good design for a commercial game with a large player base. All level 50s could earn their alpha tiers, even during low-population hours. They weren't forced to play incarnate content. Dedicated players desiring to max-out their characters had strong incentive to play incarnate content, though, significantly extending the end-game advancement of their characters. The "threads drop a lot more often than shards" statement is true, but ignores that one shard is equivalent to five threads. Many of my incarnates did use threads to help get their alpha power to tier 3, activating the primary +1 level shift good anywhere, so long as your character is effectively level 45 and above. (The other two level shifts are only active during incarnate play.) However, they all used shards to reach tier 4. One shortcut is to use Vanguard Merits. 150 of these can be used to buy a Gr'ai Matter component, a very common component to many alpha tier levels. As soon as you turn 35, see Levantera to do her intial "Introduction to Vanguard" arc. This is very quick, and makes you a member of Vanguard, regardless of alignment. Once a member, Vanguard Merits begin dropping as you and your team defeat Rikti. When you get a chance, take part in a Mothership Raid. These will grant you over 1000 Vanguard Merits. You will have enough to buy as many Gr'ai matters as you need on your way to tier 4. They are bought at a Vanguard Kiosk within the RWZ base. If level 50, the Lady Gray TF grants another common alpha component, Hero 1 DNA Sample. (The Wiki says you have to be at least 45 to run this now, not 35.) Of course, both these common components can be made with 4 shards each, but it's nice to not need to spend them if you don't have to.

Unless NCSoft ever decides to sell the CoH IP cheap, I doubt the game will ever go commercial again. Basically, many would think of it as "yesterday's game." (Note that Ultima Online is still going, and by that standard, UO is "last week's game".) That said, here's a thought experiment. What would it take to make CoH commercially viable? My first thought is that a number of the p2w freebies would need to go back to their initial status. Non-mission features like Walking and Disable All Powers would remain free This was as either cash purchases or obtainable for monthly tickets earned by subscribers. Full time devs would need to be able to earn a living, so we game lovers would need to begin financial support again. Another step to viability would be advertising, which also costs money. My examples (your ideas are welcome): Re-offer a subscription model. Subscribers would earn 2-5 tickets per month which could be used to purchase cash add-ons. Subscription cost would be about $10/month if bought 6 months at a time (more/month for lesser intervals). The game would maintain a free-to-play option as before. IIRC a free account could have 2 characters total. This limitation should be expanded to maybe 2 characters/server. Legacy Homecoming players could access 5 pre-existing characters/server, allowing for a significant number of their current characters. They could move characters between servers to maximize the number of their available characters, and for general flexibility. Subscribers could still have up to 1000 characters/server. (Has anyone actually had 1000 characters on one server??) This wouldn't increase server load (except character storage -- nowadays likely a non-issue), because players would still be limited to one active character per account. Any formerly-free p2w powers would be canceled. However subscribers who were Homecoming players would be granted an up-front subscription bonus of a month's worth of subscription tickets for each month they actively played. This would be limited to a 6-month maximum. I recognize cancelling anything will lead to a backlash, but in the interests of commercial viability, an influx of cash up-front would likely be a necessity. As an example of what an in-game purchase might cost, let's look at the experience bonuses. These (at least the double-xp one) did not yet exist on the live Live servers, but had been on Live's Beta, free for testing. A workable price would scale according to the bonus. The 25% xp would cost 25 cents/hour. You would have to purchase at least a dollar's worth at a time, though (same as the other levels). One subscription ticket would be good for 8 hours at 25%. 50% xp would cost 50 cents/hour, and one subscription ticket would be good for 4 hours. Double xp would cost $1/hour, and one subscription ticket would be good for 2 hours. Monetize instant alignment changes via Null the Gull. (Going thru the alignment+morality missions process would remain free, however.) Cost would be 1 subscription ticket or $2 if paying cash. Prestige travel powers such as Jump Pack or Beast Run would cost 1 subscription ticket or $2. Note that a single ticket equated to about a $2 in-game purchase. If permission could be obtained from whoever owns Mids, Vidiot Maps, and other third-party extensions, these could be offered as separate downloads directly from whoever owns CoH. I'm wording it this way to avoid any responsibility to the company for third-party software. Although I'd certainly have no objection if the company did assume responsibility for the maintenance and upkeep of them. Should the developers be interested, features from the CoH replacement projects might slowly be implemented within a revitalized CoH. I realize adapting such features would likely be a headache, having to be adapted into the likely convoluted code of CoH. That said, those developers might contribute their expertise to this process and receive some compensation for so doing. A long-term from-scratch rewrite would be the ideal, and it obviously would not have to avoid the IP hurdles potentially plaguing these projects. Even if you don't think CoH could ever be commercially viable, I'd like to hear why you think so. And if you could set that aside and offer ideas for what might help, it would be appreciated. My goals included allowing players significant access to game features even if not subscribing, and offering substantial value to those willing and able to subscribe.

While I haven't tried to add more knockback to Ice Patch, based on my experience with other powers, doing so would turn the power's knockdown to knockback.

... and @StriderIV, I look forward to getting him to 50 and checking it out in full glory. My tanks often skip the armor tier9 as unnecessary. Would you suggest that for Shield?

Thanks, everyone, for your advice. I decided to go for the Fighting Pool and replace Parry with Kick. It should be noted when I'm teamed with other melee guys, Phalanx Fighting can bring my Melee, Ranged, and AoE defenses from 40% to up to 75%, maybe more. With Tough, his smashing and lethal resistances are greatly improved, combined with the S/L resistances from Deflection. He'll pick up Weave late in the build (level 47), further improving all defenses. It would seem that Shield Defense is designed for the teaming tank. Phalanx Fighting helps me, and Grant Cover provides defense and some debuff protection to nearby allies. It's not really a solo set, and definitely not for a farmer with teammates sitting by the door. I guess Parry would be nice solo, though. Teamed, it offers very little.

I have a level 17 Shield/BS tank who my Mids plan was to take Parry at 18. Now I'm having second thoughts. The defenses of Shield are positional. Parry is a low damage attack which provides Melee & Lethal defense when it strikes foes. The Melee portion would still be useful, but his normal Lethal defense level is so low I don't think Parry would ever help it. The base damage of Kick is just a tad higher than Parry. It has an occasional knockdown instead of Parry's +defense. Because of its limited usefulness and low damage for a Shield tank, what I am thinking of doing it is skipping Parry and maybe taking Teleport Target instead. The other option would be to grab Fighting Pool powers, Kick, Tough, and Weave. These are not in the plan right now, although my SR tank finds them useful. The build would give up Hasten and Super Speed to make room.

On my setup, I can just shut off the second monitor. msWindows adjusts itself to one monitor, with the mouse not trying to leave the bounds of the only powered-on monitor.

The solution to pleasing the most people is to make armor sound effects optional. Keep them on by default to avoid changing things, but allow players to click the sounds off should they so desire.

As several others have stated, Arcane Bolt on its own is a pretty nice attack. Another factor to keep in mind is the Synergy obtained when a character possesses multiple Fighting Pool attacks. If you have two of the attacks, their damages are both boosted by 15%. If have all three, then the boost to each is 30% total. Side effects are also added or buffed, including even some side effect debuffs given to Brawl.

The new stone armor is so good, there had to be a downside. Crystal Armor's sound effect is it. The sound probably predates the updates, but my "stone armor" tank was for all practical purposes, a Granite tank who very seldom had Crystal Armor active. In contrast, Mud Pots is well behaved. It has a glurpy, bubbly sound when it activates, but has the good sense to go silent after a few seconds. Crystal Armor just keeps ringing those bells. Those bells! Aaaagh! Is there an option somewhere, in menu or at tailor, to shut off an armor's sound? This is crazy that I don't want to use a power because of its sound effect. I've heard I can replace a power's sound effect by playing with files, but I'd prefer not to do that.

One of my guys just visited Bloody Bay and he opened a couple Christmas gifts. The resulting Snowmen were level 15 (min level for entry) and not the level 25 all players become when there. I realize this is a minor seasonal issue, but it would be nice if fixed for next winter. I did not test the other PvP zones to see if they had a similar issue.

Almost all of my guys have Combat Jumping or Hover, so I'm pretty familiar with their idiosyncrasies. As @Luminara already stated, defense is the same on both. A key difference is end cost, though. Combat Jumping only costs .07 end/sec, whereas Hover costs 0.2/sec -- almost three times as much. Both offer some element of mitigation. With Combat Jumping, you have immobilize protection about equal to what a tank gets. Hover offers fairly effective knockback mitigation. Instead of being pushed away, your character does a quick flip. Hover also offers the ability, on open-air maps at least, to fire from above melee range, which is why I think it is more expensive. Both function fine with only their base slot. I usually slot CJ with a Jump and Hover with a Fly. Adding a second slot for the Luck of the Gambler recharge proc is common, although a lot of folks who do this don't add a slot and put the proc in the initial one. If you take Hover, also consider taking Evasive Maneuvers (EM). It boosts Hover and Fly speed significantly and adds protection against -Fly as well as some significant travel defense. The defense goes away while being aggressive, however. It also adds immobilization protection, just as CJ does. The downside is end cost -- 0.25/sec. Blasters and Sentinels often have end recovery powers mitigating this cost. If you are one of the crazy folks who take Fly without Hover, EM grants the same flight control that Hover does.

@Hjarki, Thanks for the feedback. So far he seems pretty effective (up to level 23). I'll keep in mind your hesitations, though. Regarding endurance management, I plan on giving him the Numina and Miracle procs, the Atlas Medallion, and various and sundry other recovery bonuses from sets. This strategy has worked out on a Super Reflexes with 7 toggles (including Tough, Weave, Maneuvers, and Tactics). It's also worked on a Stone Tank also with leadership powers, Mudpots, and Irradiated Ground. These guys have Physical Perfection also. He should be able to mitigate recharge issues taking advantage of set recharge bonuses, as well as several powers slotted with the Luck of the Gambler recharge proc. I don't view Ice Patch so much as a "keep them near me" power as it is a damage reduction power. Melee foes will hit me (and allies) less often while bouncing and slowed. Admittedly it has another problem on large teams -- by the time you get it up and take a swing, most the foes are already defeated or knocked away. But for solo and small teams, I expect it to be quite effective. With the recent change to Super Jump, allowing several follow-up jumps during initial jump (without landing), its utility as a general travel power has significantly increased. It is even useful for getting around the Shadow Shards now, though you'll need to land once on the way to the zone's central "palace". Of more importance to me is actually Combat Jumping, allowing me to hop floors during missions, as well as the ongoing aid to jump control and its minor global defense. I've tried Fold Space on other characters, but it seemed to have limited functionality. As far as I saw, it was only teleporting even-level minions and below. Foes of higher rank and level were not being ported, IIRC. It makes sense that the devs didn't want to make it as useful as Wormhole, though. All in all, I'm not aiming for this guy to be a min-maxed AE farmer, able to efficiently solo +4*8 missions. But as a character who can add a lot to almost any team, I'm expecting him to be quite capable.

I just made an ice/stone brute. He picked up Ice Patch at 8, and somewhere in the teens he'll pick up Mud Pots. They seem like they'll work together very well in mitigating melee damage: * Ice Patch: slow, knockdown (click power, but essentially perma) * Mud Pots: slow, immobilize, minor damage over time Fury seems to be helping a lot already with this essentially unslotted guy. Will it buff a toggle PBAoE like Mud Pots? Frozen Fists and Build Up both seem skippable, maybe eve Frozen Aura, with Mud Pots immediately undoing its sleep affect. He has already taken Combat Jumping and eventually will take Super Jump as well as Maneuvers and Tactics. What other pool powers would fit well? I'm thinking Combat Teleport for those hopefully rare times he'll be in Granite, and Teleport Target because the pool will be open anyway, and it is just so generally useful. What pool powers would you consider? For the Epic set, he'll likely take the one with Physical Perfection. I'm thinking its extra recovery will be welcome, along with its prerequisite power granting 5% bonus to max endurance. Any feedback will be welcome.

@GraspingVileTerror Thank you for clarifications. Time keeps on slipping, slipping, slipping, into the future.

As far as I remember, you are correct. I'll add that in order to play a villain, you needed to purchase an actual copy of City of Villains. Heroes and villains could fight in the PvP zones and work together in co-op zones like the Ritki War Zone and Pocket D. I think this only lasted for 9 months to a year, at which time the Going Rogue issue was released. This completely unified the game, and players could create hero archetypes villainside, and vice-versa.. Also alignment tip missions were added, allowing players to change their alignment via a series of missions. This is still possible, but Homecoming added Null the Gull and few people bother with traditional alignment changes any more. An alignment series only allows you to change to the next alignment in the loop: hero -> vigilante -> villain -> rogue -> hero

Yes. Almost all of my characters take Tactics. Don't leave home without it! Tanks get bonus radius on their Leadership powers, so team can be pretty well protected. Stone armor gets addition confuse protection to self via Minerals, and noticing that got me thinking, "Have any of my guys ever been confused?".

Temporary Powers --> Buffs

With your powers of confusion and my ability to get lost in a cereal box, we could be legendary.

Since I'm now playing my stone tanker with Minerals almost always active, I happened to notice that it offers protection against the confuse debuff. I cannot remember any character of mine ever being confused. Do any foes actually cast it?

@subbacultchas Similar to you, I also had a level 50 stone/rad tank who I had not played in quite some time. I made a 2nd build for him a few days ago. He did not take any of the fighting pool or Hasten, but has all 9 armors including Granite (4 slotted, 2 def(50+5 IOs), 2 res(50+5 IOs). He slotted Stone Skin the same way. Health is 4 slotted, with the Miracle and NumConv procs plus the associated pure Health IO from the respective sets. Brimstone is 5 slotted, including the two res+3% defense procs Rock Armor is 5 slotted, including the 5% resist proc Crystal Armor is 5-slotted, including a level 50 GIO endMod Earths Embrace 4-slotted, two each lvl 50+5 recharge and health GIOs, auto-fire Combat Jumping early and Combat Teleport at 30, just before Granite. He didn't take Super Jump until 49, nor Teleport Target until 47. Energy Mastery with Conserve Power (no extra slots) and Physical Perfection, two each level 50+5 endMod and Health GIOs Maneuvers (4-slotted) at 22 and Tactics at 24 (2-slotted), both always on Runs with all available armors active, except Granite. During missions, Mud Pots and Irradiated Ground are also active. Endurance is not an issue, even at lower levels where Physical Perfection not available Currently has Atlas Medallion and Portal Jockey, and working on Task Force Commander. He is not even finished slotting yet, but has been extremely robust even with team at lvl 50+4*8 missions. Granite has only been used once, fighting Neutron, and he may not have needed it then. His first AV with that build, and turned it on out of habit. I'm holding off testing him in an AE farm until all his armors fully slotted. All the defensive toggles have at least one resist and one defense now. 🙂 As it is, he could Granite one, slowly. This caps all his resistances (excpet psi) at 90 and his major defenses set to at least 39. I'm hoping once fully slotted he'll do quite respectably in the other armors. With those, he may not be able to solo a 50+4*8, but 50+3*6 might be doable.