AerialAssault

This thread in a nutshell.

Get rid of Scrappers, Tankers and Brutes. They're more trouble than they're worth. Stalkers and Blasters are on thin ice. The rest are cool. They can stay.

While I wouldn't want to discard this data, I feel that basing a change to an AT based on it's highest potential vs other ATs is a recipe for disaster. All ATs have a power ceiling, which will never be completely flat. During the betas, I've often tested new sets with a bling build, a modest build, a levelling build and a naked build, so that I can see how a set can perform at all stages. Tweaking something as far ranging as entire ATs based purely on pylon times and the absolute highest tier of content can only end up in some really off-kilter results. There is more to CoX than pylons and multi-million inf builds.

When I started playing the game back in .. Issue 10, or maybe 12, I distinctly remember seeing adverts for a film. I think it was Aeon Flux. At the time, I thought it was super weird and out of place. Honestly, what I would like to see is another contest to design new advert billboards, like what happened on Live. Personally, I would prefer it if these designs were not for existing supergroups. There's already hourly adverts in all chat channels on Everlasting, I don't need to see it plastered around in-game.

Honestly, i've never done LGTF at anything other than level 50, so it didn't occur to me that Hamidon was hard-locked at 50. I can see how that would be an immediate run ender for a group at level 35. Personally, I would rather Hamidon spawn at the level of the group, rather than put the minimum level up to 45, since most of the TF is fighting Rikti, which should be doable by a team at level 35. However, if it is the case that Hamidon is unable to be levelled down, then yeah I think the minimum should be 45. At level 45, Hamidon is going to be one seriously tough nut to crack, but still in the realm of possibility. At level 35? No chance.

One needs only to look at Nintendo to know that a fan project being non-profit does not magically shield them from legal action. If you absolutely must play as Wolver1ne, Dar3dev1l or Superoman there's other servers which don't give a hoot about that kinda thing.

I don't really see the need or rationale behind it. The main issue with this is that the way powers and animations work is that you can't have two attacks firing at the same time. If Brawl was an auto-attack, and thus always animating if possible, it would disrupt a character's power rotation. Additionally, Brawl's damage at higher levels is so pitifully weak against anything other than the weakest of minions. The time it takes to cast Brawl would be better spent on casting an actual power. To be honest, most T1 & T2 powers recharge fast enough that they may as well be auto-attacks. As the description for Brawl says, it's meant to be used as a last resort.

The Engineering Bay Ten dismissed the staff from the engineering bay. The staff hurried out, knowing full well the repercussions for not following their robotic overlord's orders expediently. Having received the highly requested item, Ten wanted complete solitude to investigate it fully. A smooth metal container, cool to the touch, it had been brought to them on orders of The Boss. Now, finally, their plan could be put into motion. Ten's machine mind whirled with possibilities, and a malicious glee whelmed up within them merely thinking of the chaos that could be sown. As they peeled off the metal lid of the container, their mind reset and became clear. Using a set of manipulators, they pulled the frozen prize from the container. To an outside observer, it would look like a set of soggy meat with a random collection of electrical components wedged in. Ten had to give their commiserations to Dr. Zhou for the separation of the cybernetic components. The cerebral implants once belonged to one of the Sinister Squad's deep cover plants within the United Nations, whose explicit goal was to uncover the location of one of their assets. The operative had reported back with some findings, but then their cover was blown. The rest, as they say, is history. Ten briefly considered simply wiring the implants into themselves, but the thought of interfacing with anything biological filled them with revulsion. Instead, they took the implants to one of their many analysis machines. Working with unmatched speed, Ten plundered all available information contained within. Memories of their final moments, their next of kin ... useless. For a brief moment, hope began to fade from their processors until .. there. They gestured to the output screen, placing a finger on a string of numbers and letters, pointing it out to nobody in particular. A set of co-ordinates. It wasn't much, but it was a start. Bringing up another screen, they punched in the co-ordinates. It didn't take long to show a tiny spot of water out in the Pacific Ocean. Current satellite images showed nothing, but that did little to dissuade Ten. An inconvenience for one such as them. Searching through online forums at a speed that only a machine could achieve, they found innocent comments from sailors and pilots alike about a sudden and mysterious no-fly zone which had appeared in the area less than a year ago. Yes, the timing was too coincidental. Nodding in approval, Ten tapped their communicator. "Blackwell. Location of Subject Zano identified. Beginning Phase 2 operations."

That would be far, far easier said than done I'm afraid. I don't know if there are any other servers out there which have managed to roll back as far as i19. Even were it possible to do, I would have to disagree. It would mean that the already stretched thin development team would have to develop content for the base Homecoming servers and an older server. I believe it would be more efficient to create newer content that is aimed at 50+4. If the Vahzilok arcs are anything to go by then the Homecoming team are more than capable of creating challenging content.

@Doomguide2005 does make a point that the utility of this suggestion means it can be useful for everyone. Sure, you might not be able to break someone out of a Stun, but you can see that your ally is in trouble and help however you can, usually by distracting or eliminating the enemy that is attacking them. Or slipping them a Break Free.

After reading the below thread, a suggestion suddenly came to me. One of the issues with the Mez Protection powers such as Clear Mind is that, in a large melee it might not always be obvious that a teammate is being Mezzed. The suggestion is simple: When a player is Mezzed, the word "Held!" appears above their head like damage numbers do. It would, of course, change depending on the type of Mez, and it would repeat every 5-10 seconds so that their teammates will be aware. Naturally, there should be an option to disable this if required, perhaps it should be off by default. Only main issue I can see is when people use an Awaken and get shamed by the game by repeatedly announcing to everyone that they are Stunned.

Wow! A thread by the actual Horny Police!

I'm about to do what's known as a Pro Gamer Move. *slots Taunt Proc IO into Repulsion Bomb* *taunts a bunch of enemies* *activate Personal Force Field* don't try this at home

Gets hit with a single stun:

I honestly believe this would be the best solution to the "Mez Problem". Although, if I am completely honest, I don't believe there is a problem. If I get defeated, I generally don't blame the game for it. But I would seriously suggest reducing the time of many NPC mez effects. Malta Sleep Dart is beyond a joke.

Hoho, I've got a few on Everlasting Assimilator Hammer of Dawn Merchant Demon Slayer Dominant Species Responder Firing Range Limpet Meat Feast Dream Sequence Stutter Forever Box Death Cult Pseudoscience Worms

I think the end-game has certainly reached it's limits, but to say it is broken is a simplification of the situation. There's still plenty of challenge in the game, unfortunately, most of that is in the 1-40 range. While we do have Ouroboros, it's very rarely convenient or conductive to be able to organise random groups with. I think making more content 'backwards compatible', so to speak, by allowing you to play arcs & missions for contacts you have out-leveled without having to trapise to Ouroboros would go far. The Night Ward arcs certainly have a higher bar of entry than their City of Heroes/Villain counterparts. I don't see many groups advertising doing Night Ward arcs. Unfortunately, I think by and large, people are not seeking this content out because they do not want to be challenged. This is fine. I sometimes feel like that myself, particularly after a long day of work. The last thing I want to do is get continually pile-drived by the game when I'm trying to relax, because I don't find that relaxing. City of Heroes is great like that because I can choose to be pile-drived, or I can choose to do something more relaxing. If the ability to do that was taken away or changed because someone found my idea of relaxation not 'the true way the game should be played' I'd probably close my account and never look back. And I suspect many others would as well.

Not until after we buff regen first.

I'll cut you a deal; We undo the changes to Energy Melee, but we get to Nerf Regen. Those are the terms no take backsies.

A vignette effect would be great for when you're mezzed or on low health. If it could be adjusted for the strength of the effect, or disabled entirely, that would be the best.

Mez Protection is not a system of 'haves and have nots'. The Live Devs didn't roar in mocking laughter as they decided that Defenders do not get inherent Mez Protection. Nor did they absent-mindedly forget. It was an informed decision backed up by game design theory. City of Heroes has clearly defined classes, in clearly defined roles. A Tanker cannot buff to the same degree a Defender can, and a Defender cannot take the heat in the same way a Tanker can. There are exceptions, but these are usually exceptions backed up with a lot of character investment and a canny player at the keyboard. This is the way the game has been constructed since Issue 0. Ask yourself this; why is it in D&D that a Wizard doesn't get heavy armour training? Wouldn't it be considered unfair that Fighters get something (Armour Class) that is required to survive in a fight while Wizards do not? No, they're designed that way because Wizards can do things that Fighters cannot, and vice versa. In CoH, it is much the same way. As I usually say in these topics, if you keeping getting defeated, it's not a fault with the game, you're simply punching above your weight and getting smacked for it. Max difficulty solo is not a requirement for any character to be playable. If you keep finding yourself faceplanting, consider how you can change your approach rather than demanding the game make up for your own failings. I want to be honest, a reconstruction of Rune of Protection was in order. As with Titan Weapons, these were artefacts of the Live devs development, and late development at that. As such, they hadn't been put through any type of rigorous testing, and if we're honest with ourselves, the Live Devs were encouraging power creep. Most of the post-GR powersets are clearly better than their predecessors i.e. Titan Weapons & Bio Armour, and I would like to see them brought in line. Rampant power creep leads to more people, ironically, coming to the forums and complaining that there is no challenge left in the game. Challenge comes from two places; the player's limitations and the abilities of their foes. Removing player limitations creates a massive imbalance, and we can see by the Live Devs attempts to bring up the latter that you end up with enemies whose power far exceed those of the players just in order to challenge them. Wow I didn't intend this to be as long a post as it ended up being but there you go. I hope people read it and earnestly take into consideration what I've said.

If the issue is Mez from NPCs lasting too long, just reduce the duration of Mez that NPCs use. Probably a lot of faffing around changing values, but we all know there are some egregious powers which have no business lasting as long as they do. I don't believe any NPC Mez should last longer than say, 10 seconds, which doesn't seem like a lot, but it's more than enough time for a Boss to pile drive you. If you're getting chain-Mezzed for longer than that then you've got much bigger problems, and should reconsider your difficulty choices.

I think some Mezzes have no business lasting as long as they do. I'm looking at you Malta Sleep Dart. Realistically I don't think any mez inflicted on a player should last longer than 10 seconds. Now, if you get chain stunned, that's just plain unfortunate, and you're probably going to get defeated anyway. But apart from that I don't see any issue with the current system. The AT's without Mez Protection have powerful support and control abilities that those with Mez Protection don't have, or in the case of Blasters, heavy ranged damage and also the ability to mitigate some of the effects of Mez through their inherent. I think that's a fair trade-off.

It's pretty trivial to soft-cap this build, but really, it's not needed. This build would deal so much damage that the few enemies left will be destroyed by the single-target attacks (To note, that's not the pool powers doing, Fire Blast is just that good). Having that access to Rune of Protection, or any of the other origin mini-god-modes would massively cut down on expenditure in the build. Now, I got a low C in maths so don't expect any big brain numbers from me. Naturally, Mids won't allow for more than four power pools so it's hard for me to quantify exactly how much more powerful it would be, but the real metric of 'better' would be investment, in that with unlocked power pools it would take less investment.