Arbegla

Not to derail this too much, but what is the definition of 'normal'? I've seen AVs for example give multiple people drops when they died, and GM code seems weird in that sometimes everyone gets something, and sometimes it doesn't. For example, I got the merit and Temp Power reward from the new Paladin in Kings Rows, but I didn't get the badge. So somewhere in the reward code, I was tagged to receive something, but not all of the things.

I see traps as a jack of all trades, master of none powerset. It had a little control, a little buff, a lot of debuff (which blends nicely with the buffs), and some damaging components. In practice however, the damage components (Trip Mine and Time Bomb) are hard to use in a group, and very hit or miss even solo, as you can set up a death zone, and still have to mop up mobs. On a Mastermind especially, they simply aren't worth the time or endurance to use, as you have an entire primary for damage, and the interruptible aspects make the powers really hard to use in the heat of battle. Having said that, the complimentary nature of the buffs and debuffs can't be overlooked. Triage Beacon providing +regen, Seeker Drones providing -tohit and -dmg, Acid Mortar providing -def and -res, Poison trap providing -regen and FFG giving +def and mez protection allows you to affect multiple sides of the combat formula in ways that other sets don't really have access to. -resistance and -damage have a very neat interaction as they boost the others effectiveness, making the combined debuffs much more powerful than their individual sums. The +regen allows you to passively heal up the severely reduced damage the Seeker drones caused, and the combination of -tohit and +def gives you a very nice cushion, before considering any other powers you have. You also have protection from the big Mez powers. The -regen from Poison trap will floor any AV/GMs regen, even with their massive resistance, and the -resisance makes all your attacks hit hard. The ability to stack the debuffs further, by having multiple Acid Mortars (with enough recharge, and careful use of Burnout, you can have 4 Acid Mortars out), and multiple Seeker Drones (the debuff value is PER drone, so you inherently get double the value just using it, and the debuff lasts a long time, so if you can get your recharge down, you can 4x stack it) makes the set have a really high upper bound on its debuff power. Its a very complimentary set, but in order to understand what it is actually doing for you, you need to do some research into the combat formulas, and how different buffs/debuffs interact with each other, which most people just don't do. Because the set really doesn't look that powerful at the surface, I can understand people skipping certain powers that seem lackluster (Seeker Drones come to mind, and I thought I saw someone that actually skipped Acid Mortar, Triage Beacon is another frequently skipped power) but once you understand what the powers do, and how they interact, it can really make a huge difference. The set also works amazingly with minimal proc-ing, as you can put a Panacea +hp/end proc in Triage Beacon, and have it almost act like a HoT with some additional endurance boosting, Acid Mortar can take up to 2 -resistance procs (if you're a MM) and we all love proc-trops. The FFG is also a great place for the scaling +resistance set, or a LOTG mule.

Fundamentally speaking, missions are no different then TFs, as those are just a tightly bound group of missions with a specific story. The MSR might be slightly different, but for the sake of testing, its also probably fundamentally the same. Could you maybe, I don't know, provide the actual information he asked for? Character name and server? For the sake of testing, his parameters seem accurate, as the other 'variables' shouldn't have an impact on drop rates whats-so-ever.

Oh. I just always assumed @Bionic_Fleawas already insane.

They are a developer, they aren't sane to begin with. Especially if they are volunteering to code with the spaghetti that is this games code base.

And another thing here.. The GMs, and Developers are doing this on a volunteer basis. Noone is getting paid right now, so noone can be 'fired', so what punitive action could actually be taken?

I'm more disturbed by the mushrooms honestly.

I guess I don't see the definition of 'trap' the same way you do, so I'm having a hard time seeing that angle. I see a 'trap' as any device, stratagem, trick, or the like for catching a person unawares. It doesn't have a location aspect to it at all, just that the person triggering it doesn't know it is there. Using my definition, the only powers that really fall into that strict definition is caltrops, Poison Trap, Trip Mine, and Time Bomb. Everything else is very noticeable, and/or able to be targeted. Expanding to use the definition of powers that directly affect enemies while regarding position has you include Triage Beacon and Acid Mortar, but still leaves Web Grenade, Seeker Drones, and FFG as powers that have no regard for position. Seeker Drones will actually follow you around (though they are kinda slow) until they detect an enemy, and then they explode. The FFG isn't really a single target bubble buff, and other like powers (things that mirror Dispersion Bubble) are all toggles. Both Sonic, and Force Field have the same power as a toggle. Allowing the FFG to still get destroyed, like a Prestige Pet, still gives it a 'trap' like feel of being a secondary object that is providing the buff, without it just spontaneously exploding at the wrong time. Like I said, if the FFG blows up, and then you get mez'ed, you can't resummon it right away, and the 'notice' that it is about to expire isn't very clear. The animation itself isn't bad, its more the 'mid-combat experience' that I'm worried about. Another thing to consider, is that the Sky Raiders Force Field Generator has no duration, its a permanent pet. Why are the players version self-destructing?

I've noticed that pets really don't like closing the gap to stationary targets. Vault Doors, Barriers, etc have always been a little buggy with pets. the Goto command helps, repositioning them in other ways helps, but sometimes you just get the 'AI is dumb' issue. Now if they could fix that, it would be amazing.

Most (if not all) of the mastermind primary attacks are basically wasted powers. The damage scale, the additional endurance cost, and the higher than normal recharge for them just make them mostly junk in the overall scale of what you could be doing otherwise. I'd say that a Power Pool attack is better than getting a Mastermind Primary power, as you shouldn't be inflicted with the Mastermind Endurance Tax. Having said that, if there is a concept, or set bonus you really really want, the Primary powers are good for set mules, as they are available early. They can also help out in the lower levels (say, sub 20) but after that, mobs hit points scale up so much that you're better off picking literally anything else to use.

As a developer myself, its far more likely that @Faultlinelooked at the code in question (the rewards table, and Vet levels) and couldn't see any direct connection to them from a code perspective. Having looked over that code, he came back with the 'Ok, tell me what other diagnosis stuff the GM you talked to did, because everything I looked at says its impossible.' Its not calling you a liar, its just looking at the code underneath, and going 'Uh, not possible' and wanting more information in the event he missed something. Looking at logs, or drop rates from a few sessions does nothing. He can literally create an environment where he can mass murder mobs with ease in a much faster rate then you ever could (local environment test servers are amazing) and look into it much easier. Just because he vocalized his initial findings, that there is no discernible link between the different code elements within the game itself, doesn't mean he's calling you a liar, just that that 1s and 0s don't line up the way you say they are.

While I get the appeal of 'Well, that server did it!' it looks like Thunderspy is one of those 'power gaming' servers that don't really care about balance. Looking at those changes for Mercs, and Necro, there is almost no balance behind that. Letting you have soul Extraction as a toggle that just pumps out additional zombies? That have all the buffs of the zombies you already get? Plus making all of the control AoE just screams power gamer unbalanced nonsense. You can already do some pretty stupid things with Masterminds in the right hands, and the changes they listed just make it so much worse. I strongly vote no on using the costume model to have pet customization. I'd be much more likely to accept a 'Here is a list of the NPC-type mobs you can command with your Mastermind powers' and having you pick a subset of say, Family, Council, PPD, Banished Pantheon, CoT Demons, Praetorian robots, Skulls, Hellions, etc that have similar powers to what the pets would have, and using those models. Its not full customization, but at least its more diverse and you can have some females within the group.

I would strongly disagree that /traps (and to a less extent, /devices) being about fortifying a location. The recharge on the powers is quick enough that you can create a mobile death zone. I don't think there is any 'desired gameplay behavior' for the set either, you can play it like a fortifier, or you can play it much more aggressively. The choice is yours. FFG is basically a Pet version of Dispersion Bubble, and that's a toggle. Giving FFG the 'Prestige Pet' treatment, where its a toggle pet, even if it costs a bit more endurance it would help a lot in not having your buff suddenly disappear. I've had that happen on more than one occasion where the FFG blew up at just the wrong time, and I got mez'ed, or the mobs got a lucky hit off, as FFG is the bulk of my defense boost. Acid Mortar. at least the Mastermind versions, take Ranged AoE Sets. I'm really not sure why the other versions are different. I can kinda agree with the Seeker Drones changes, as those are AoEs as well, as should reflect the proper sets. Maybe we should post that chance in the Bugs forum, as having the sets work different between ATs seems like a bug to me. Poison trap is very much an AoE. The gas cloud it spawns affects WAY more than the mob that triggers it. Details of what it does it handled here but it definitely has an AoE component to it, for every aspect of the power, including the Hold. The radius of the gas cloud is pretty large already. And the massive -regen debuff will floor any AV/GMs regen, even with their resistance, and the purple patch. Its just that good. It is also very easily perma-able, as the gas cloud lasts a long time, and refreshes the debuff constantly. Web Grenade, being the T1 power is already pretty powerful, with its -fly, -jump, and slow debuffs in addition to its immobilize. Granted, the animation could be a tad faster, but its already a pretty solid power, considering its a T1. Trip Mine and Time Bomb definitely need a rework though. Even just giving Trip Mine the /devices treatment to remove the interrupt will go a long way in making that power more group friendly.

The big difference between Thugs and Bots is that Thugs has a healthy mix of Range/Melee, and bots are pure Ranged. The Bruiser/Gang War will be hard to control with group fly, where with Bots you can just hover and afk blast your way through it all. Also, the bulk of Thugs AoE is Lethal damage, followed by Fire (arsonist) and the arsonist is an aggro magnet, so he can get killed pretty easily. The bulk of Bots AoE is in the Assault Bot, and he can take quite a bit more of a beating than the arsonist can. Also Bots is Energy/Fire, instead of Lethal/Fire. Energy is slightly less resisted if I remember correctly, but I could be mistaken.

Another thing to add to this is HOs, the travel/End one affects ALL travel. 😄

I wonder how a Mastermind will do in these missions... Especially with the "We have infinite pets now" changes...

Multiple web comics reference City of Heroes. From what I remember, Penny Arcade, and Ctrl-Alt-Delete all reference City of Heroes in some way or another.

*remembers the days where 1 billion inf builds were rare on Live, and having more then 10 billion liquid was a pain, because the email system didn't exist* I need to play more, but I'm enjoying the journey. Only two toons, both lowbies (under 30) but rocking well over 200 million inf from just playing and selling my drops. No marketeering yet though. Once I really get in the swing of playing more, and remaking my characters, I'll aim for the 100bn club.

S0 while I was looking at Enhancement Boosters to try to figure out if the cost is worth the bonus, I saw something like this for the last 5: (sorry no screenshots, I'm at work) 1,200,000 1,200,000 1,200,000 12,000,000 12,000,000 And I felt really bad for whoever dropped that extra zero.

Not that its available to Dominators, but Illusion has confuse AND tons of pets....

If they could change the trigger for Momentum expiring to 'Landed from a jump' instead of the current 'Initiate a jump' that would fix this, but its rather minor, and I'm not sure technically speaking its possible. (is there a 'Landed from a jump' event?)

I thought there was some information that the various strength damage words were standardized to the damage scale of the power themselves, but I guess I could be mistaken.

https://hcwiki.cityofheroes.dev/wiki/Canon_Timeline First War of Gods One pantheon, lead by Lughebu, discovers how to feed on pain and negative feelings of men instead of worship. The benevolent gods fight against those of them who feed on negative feelings of men. The war ends when the malevolent gods are defeated and banished to the Spiritual Plane, and are now known as the Banished Pantheon.[2] Second War of Gods The goddess Tielekku learns the secrets of Magic and teaches them to other gods. Among her pupils are the gods Ermeeth and Hequat. The god Ermeeth reveals the secrets of magic to his worshipers. As a result, they stop worshiping the gods. Tielekku's faction, led by Hequat, defeat Ermeeth and his followers, effectively forcing them to flee. They cross the Atlantic Ocean and form the city of Oranbega.[2]

Thing is, its not the sleep portion of the pseudo-pet.. its the secondary pet that grants you endurance (not the original one that puts things to sleep)

This might not be an actual bug, but it also doesn't seem entirely working as intended either. With the new Super Speed changes, when you have max Momentum, you can jump pretty darn high. The problem is that once you land from said jump, the buff has worn off (or expired) so your max jump attribute is back to normal levels, and thus you then take falling damage from using the buff. This can cause some pretty hilarious situations where you run, jump, then splat into a group of mobs who proceed to smash your face in, as you took a decent amount of damage from 'falling' from the height you could jump at just a second ago.