Bill Z Bubba

Game starts with a difficulty spread from 1 to 5. Power creep is added so the spread becomes 2-5 because 1 is so easy that people don't bother with it. Repeat, repeat, now the game is so easy that new systems and/or difficulty ranges have to be tacked on to the top as happened when CoH's difficulty system was changed, then with incarnate enemies and now with Aeon TF Relentless mode. How many people do you know or play with that leave the diff on +0/x1 for a character's entire leveling life? Further power creep just adds to the problem forcing the need for higher diff levels and content specifically due to all the calls from the playerbase that "the game's too easy." Edit: I didn't consider the speed-running crowd when I posted that chart or with this post. So, yea, people are still running at +0 when the only goal is the TF reward but thanks to power creep, they're completing said TFs faster and faster.

Cuz power creep don't matter. He's already stated that and expounded upon it fully. It doesn't matter so let's do it all. Because I'm making it in this thread while simultaneously making the other suggestions on the other side of the spectrum showing how ridiculous it all is, has been and continues to be. Look at those population numbers. Power creep ain't helping, and NO, the new Aeon TF diff levels didn't help either. So if power creep and escalated difficulty are both failing to retain players, perhaps MORE power creep and MORE escalated difficulty Aren't The Correct Fucking Answer.

Just as you can't know how many leave due to fighting against power creep making it a "stagnant museum piece until the remnants of the player base wither away." What we DO know is this:

That you're incapable of seeing how constant compromise towards power creep ends up with a product that's just an I Win button says everything we need to know.

As for this: how many folks have stopped playing because it's all too easy? There's 1300 people online right now. What was the population count on a Saturday night back before the snap at its highest point? Change is fine. Making the ridiculously easy even easier isn't. Might as well just grant that clear map button usable once an hour.

Fine. Lemme take shockwave at lvl 1. Appropriate for power creep and compromise.

The game DID go boom when they tried it. That was then, this is now. Code can be rewritten. Code can be fixed.

Course... then I'm gonna have so many build options we'll need to go ahead and allow for more power pools. Then, FINALLY, I can build BZB scrapper properly with nothing but powers I actually use. Slash Focused Fighting Focused Senses Agile Spin Fly Master Brawler (Since SR will get the sentinel treatment as we're in the land of dreams now!) Hasten Followup Dodge Focus Tough Weave Combat Jumping Lucky Quickness Shockwave Evasion Conserve Power Physical Perfection Provoke Assault Tactics Yea... that'd be nice. Let's do that. Edit: Cuz power creep don't matter.

And why should we stop with the pools? Many of my characters are forced to take the T1 or T2 from the primary and the T1 from the secondary and especially on the primary side end up unused and unslotted with my lvl 50 builds. Let's skip them as well and allow the T3 to be chosen at level 1. Since power creep no longer matters.

I fail to see how popular equates to good. Let's examine that. All pools get changed to T1-T3 available at lvl 4 with no prereq. T4 and T5 available at 14, T4 as long as you have 1 prereq, T5 as long as you have 2. So I'll get Tough at lvl 4 with no prereq and Weave at 14 since I have tough. Hasten at 4 and Burnout at 14. Tactics at 4 and Vengeance at 14. Aid Self at 4 and Field Medic at 14. But power creep doesn't matter so why not, right?

It is true that the rules were tossed when those running the SSPS allowed movement at lvl 4 with no prereq. But we don't have to leave that in place. We can fix bad decisions that occurred during that period. Revert all pools to how they were at shutdown including APP/PPP.

I don't disagree. I can improve my constitution without ever learning how to throw a better punch or use my feet for anything but carrying my weight around. But that's the real world. In game, all pools should follow the same rules.

Definitely time for male and large versions of fishnets and corsets.

Regen is "solid" but SR "under-performs." There is a very distinct disconnect from observable reality going on here.

That would no doubt get the job done.

To be coupled with his SR under-performs statements because nerfing SR will benefit it! /twitch-twitch

Sounds like elitist snobbery to me. Also, not relevant. Every AT and every combo should be able to achieve similar XP/time ratios. Anything less than that is horseshit.

Where trolling = proving unequivocally how wrong your are. It's not odd at all. People that think balancing a powerset around its complete lack of use of pool powers is a complete moron. Nobody that builds characters worth a damn in this game ignore power pools. Only complete imbeciles would ever think that's how folks should play. Edit: Someone should probably quote this post so that they see it since they've ignored me.

Amplifiers didn't exist on live that I recall.

It is a game and we should all be able to have fun playing it regardless of the AT or powersets we choose. It becomes very specifically NOT fun when it's fully observable that playing X is not nearly as fun as Y because playing Y means I level faster, kill faster, survive more and thus have more fun playing than X.

Exactly. And we aren't playing the pay to win game anymore. That garbage should be corrected along with all the P2W shit the SSPS added. Nuke it all from orbit and let the dark gods below sort it out.

Rune of Protection is a ridiculous amount of resistance and mez protection up 1/3 of the time. Adrenal Booster and Unleash Potential can both be brought down near the same uptime. They're as over the top compared to other pool T5s as Shadow Meld, Hibernate and arguably Darkest Night are in comparison to their equal level APP/EPP picks. And I won't ignore Hasten. It should have been made a +20% passive back in issue 2.

Not at all. I have controllers than *can* solo at max diff *IF* I'm 100% on the ball and manage not to faceplant more than once or twice but they'll take VASTLY longer to get the job done than the tanks I have. We can have fun with every combo/AT we come up with. Some love masterminds. I hate them. Some love blappers. I fail completely at them. It's an irrelevant point. Fun has nothing to do with balance. Again, fun has nothing to do with balance. I give two shits about what I or anyone else has fun doing. More power to ya and me. It's a different topic entirely.

You're not wrong but that still doesn't excuse the ridiculously overpowered nature of what they provide.

There is that. Being able to softcap to all three positions by 22 (or lower, I don't remember my own damn posts) with SOs helps a lot.