Incursion

The title pretty much says it, but outside of Ouroborus it would be nice if the contact would display the level range so you don't accidentally outlevel something. I know once you are in an arc it lets you complete it, but this would be helpful. I started a new character and I've stopped XP at level 5 to try and run through every possible content, and some of them don't show the book so i'm afraid to level up (which would be nice to have another power at 6). Side note - There is an insane amount of contacts in Atlas, maybe that was increased once galaxy city was no more, but it's way more missions than the leveling pace of a character. Especially because there are a lot of defeat alls from the original origin contacts.

of course, there's no need to create the new FOTM build, I just don't like pre-nerfing things before an imaginary change even takes place (if that makes any sense at all lol).

sure but if said power is crap, and said set is crap, why would you not consider just buffing the power? If it's too much, that's what beta is for and scale it back a bit. The answer could be changing other powers in the set as well. either way it should start somewhere.

yeah but the comparison isn't good. Melee characters are standing in the middle of the burn patch, some are using another damage aura on top of it, and they are using primarily AOE attacks from within to melt away mobs, single target dmg isn't needed at all, except to help mow down a stingy boss level. Two completely different playstyles i think.

Not necessarily, not when the set as a whole is underperforming. We are all chatting with with hypotheticals here, but the goal is to improve the power, thus improving the set, not every change needs to be give and take. I could be wrong and maybe some sort of dmg change is needed to "feel right' but it's a pretty rough set.

Isn't the idea/purpose of removing the fear to allow the current dmg numbers to work better so it's an overall improvement to the set? I get what you are saying by taking a measured/balance approach, but why not see how it plays out first before adjusting dmg numbers. The set needs a buff, it's underpowered according to the data.

i found the patch notes (that you just mentioned) for each issue, but other than the constant regen changes and power buffs across everything else, a lot of the nerfs weren't documented as you pointed out. It would be like searching a needle in a haystack but i wonder if wayback machine has any of the old posts to find out what happened back then. I did see a nice snippet about FEAR change - saying that most powers (didn't specify which) had them change the running away to standing their terrified). Issue 3 or 4 or something i think it was.

I wonder if all of the old patch notes from live archived. I would imagine so, this community in general was so good about holding onto everything. I would love to find a log of all of the changes over the years. AR changes caused quite a stir from what I vaguely remember.

I don’t play against the nemesis enough to really, it is annoying but for the most part a big map missions with them aren’t defeat all’s. i’m a little fuzzy on this, but I know we used to do it on live. We used all huddle up and to around a stiff and stack vengeance. Was that changed in the paper side? Equity would be nice, but making the game too easy probably isn’t the best thing. If you are playing +4/8, or any difficulty really where this is hard or Uber annoying maybe invite a buffer along. I’m sure since IO’s and incarnates some old school buffing sets could use the work.

Truthfully I wasn’t sure myself, it’s been a very long time. Maybe the answer lies with changing more than one power eek

burn had one added as a nerf that has been since removed.....did ignite originally/always have fear effect? Either way, dot powers for ranged at’s in general don’t make a whole lot of sense to me as they don’t have the damage mitigation ability of melee. the set is underpowered, the stats are shown in the blaster forums with actual data. It needs higher numbers, not more ticks. Full auto is already tick tick tick.

If we are going to use the thematic defense, then i guess every melee dmg aura should cause mobs to run away and not try to stand directly in front of you and bash your head in. I don't know but if saw any of you with quills shooting out of your hip, blazing aura puffing away, nuclear/radiation clouds, my butt would be hiding in the cellar. Sometimes a game is just a game, and comic book and super hero lore is fiction and it's for fun. Keeping these in a logical place makes sense for development, but if a power is making it hard to team with someone or simply isn't useful it should be changed to be fun and useful and comparable to the other powers across those sets.

well said, and that's exactly what happened with Burn. There were two very popular burn tankers, fire/fire and fire/ice. The ice patch mitigated some of the nerfs as mobs would just keep slipping as burn would do the dirty deed. AR was very popular at launch. Ignite and full auto were considered OP pre-ED days and they started hitting it with the nerf bat. I didn't have one at the time as i was running around with an energy/electric blaster (my god that character had his debt badges quick). Before burn tankers was the Invulnerability tanks, and i believe invincibility took a hit at some point. Most of the balance changes at the time all had to do with thwarting Power Leveling. Fear was a very very broken mechanic for team play. Was probably the only thing more annoying than KB.

Thought it would be cool to have some of the costume options that are only available during events, or maybe they could be added to superhero/villain, rogue, and winter decks on the market. A simple example was the Vahzilok Eidolon. parts of that custom are in the creator but the mask certainly wasn't. Because that group caps out at level 15 or 25 (don't remember off hand) i was trying to re-create level 50 versions in AE and noticed that a lot of custom options that enemy groups have aren't available to players. Whether it's cards, or something purchased by the tailor etc, more enemy costume options would be fun. I don't know the logistics but think it should be in the framework of what's already available.

Level shifting aside I did start a mastermind about 2 months ago that is now in his 30's. I never played that class much on live so figured i'd try something new. I did notice that there were various levels for my pets and the ability to upgrade them so they are on par. It's understandable that that the low levels were sort of like henchmen, as they were tier 1/2 picks in the set. For controllers, pets are their lvl 32 power, which is a big deal. I think that puts them on par with the high tier masterminds pets, controllers are the original pet class after all and account for much of their damage. I've also lived through the big pet nerf on live when pets were limited (fire monkeys being cut to 3). They were insanely powerful at the time, but now the end game is much harder until you are level shifted and pets being so under level does neuter their ability some to contribute. I think even level makes sense. Tier 9 pick, it should feel like it.

Well you could take a debuff, a blast from sorcery, Boxing or kick if you are going the fighting pool anyway. Basically getting rid of a fluff pick really. If you are going to the pools you have to take something anyway. Respec makes more sense than at game start.

some primary sets have powers that are meant for leveling and in many cases aren’t used later on as more powers from those sets become available. You may choose a primary or secondary for a reason, but you also have no other choice. I just don’t get why the choice can’t be ours on at a least a respec.

Controllers and dominators I almost certainly use both and I would most likely choose those first whether this was implemented or not. Melee characters and range I often skip one of the two because there are so many dmg options either in the pool or in epics etc they become io mules

This actually has nothing to do with a specific build where I’m trying squeeze out one extra choice or the other thread which was about aoe on whirling hands/power crush, shadow meld, melee characters outside of brutes having to take an extra mule/path power to access their aoe (which I guess this has the most resemblance but wasn’t my intent); and of course the hasten, which is what mainly led myself and others down to the principals office. I have multiple characters that have room for throw away powers. I just find that I have too many throw aways on some builds and its wasteful. It’s also prevented me from slotting powers because if I have say boxing and barrage or energy punch, I’m likely only slotting one and in my case neither of them even fit my attack chain and I can’t respec out of the first picks. I’m simply not using them, but I’m putting slots there for io’s it’s just another mule. I feel like we have too many mules and that’s why I’d like to see pools opened up at the start.

Funny you say that, I tried using the name pool girl and pool boy on excelsior and both were taken!

I said in many sets not all, but I’m not going to argue semantics as it doesn’t further the conversation. You may not be required to do so as you said, but it would be constructive and helpful to me to understand your reasoning on why you don’t like the idea. “If you don’t like it, no problem. Just say “I don’t like it”. You don't have to say why if you don’t want to. If you have a reason why you don’t like it, please tell us why. Focus your response on the idea, not the person. “ I hope it’s the idea and not the person, clearly I left a bad impression to some yesterday and I’m trying to keep this topic constructive. I don’t want another thread locked because I really like this idea and wanted to test the waters. If you feel inclined, great. If not no biggie.

So what? I’m not asking for them to be removed or taken away. Very few sets in melee and ranged do I see people take both, that’s an opinion for sure, neither you or I have the stats to back that up. Either way, that doesn’t impact the idea as it’s giving people more choice now that we are given more options in pools. It’s not game-breaking I don’t see how anyone could be opposed to it. So far the only comment against the idea is that it may cause someone to make an ineffective build, which is also just an opinion and not fact. you could at least give a specific reason for saying no.

Unplayable character for not being forced to take 1-2 powers at the start that often get pushed aside later on? I think that’s a bit of a stretch especially in a game that’s literally played by people who used to play the game. People often don’t want to be forced playing a certain way, I know that’s been used in argument against some things I say, the game is introducing more powers to the pools yet still forces these powers on us. We’ll agree to disagree, fair enough forgot to add, offering it via respec feature alleviates the concern for people building unplayable characters if that’s even a thing

Also I didn’t mention secondary where you have to take the first power. Maybe that isn’t required either, so maybe to refine the idea, you can open a pool or pools and access tier 1 powers only in the pools and then at appropriate level can take another etc. goal here is just to be able to skip an unwanted power or powers from the primary/secondary if you choose. There’s just so many mule or path powers that are taken out of necessity rather than wanting to use them.

Hi all, I propose lowering pool powers to start at level 1 which actually enables a character to skip both of their 2 primary choices if they so choose. why you may ask? pool powers have been getting a lot of attention both on what’s live and what’s going through Beta. With pool powers expanded to 5 selections it will cost more power choices to get your character through those pools (obviously). Also now we have 3 new pool choices which offer interesting power selections/utility/ and the 3 new ones have pretty epic high tier powers which are attractive. By being able to skip your primary 2 choices either at the start of the game or respec, we can dive right in. In many sets not all, at least one primary power is skipped, or is later not used as characters get heavier dmg or more control, some sets those 2 powers are integral. With this change the player has the choice, and it isn’t changing the amount of powers we get, gives more reason to slot precursor powers not that they are in the lineup, at least for the early game. ive been playing with sorcery on a new blaster, I really like the fact that I get 2 decent offensive options at the start, made me think, I’d rather slot this than my dot blast I picked up during character creation. Anyway, I don’t this would break anything and could work within the existing framework, enable some neat options down the line for tight builds. thoughts?