ForeverLaxx

From 3 to 6. Someone disable his submit button!

I find pets to be far more valuable solo than in a team. The amount of damage VS brings to the table, at least in a team setting, is outstripped by the team. The fact it also has no AoE capability hinders this further, and it can't even be an attack target to divert mob attention and absorb a hit. Solo, this VS is going to be useless to me. I don't really care about how it performs in a team setting since old VS is just as impactful there as the new one.

I feel like the only feedback this needs is: Not having to hit attacks to do the combo? It's about time. Though now the question is, is DB still "optimal" on the DPS front by ignoring the combos? At least, I think that's still true once you get enough recharge.

I don't like VS as a toggle if it's going to shut off while mezzed. Having extra damage while locked down was one of the few perks Electric Blast had and Blasters are particularly prone to being locked down; so much so that they're the only AT who can still fire their "starting attacks" just to avoid auto-dying to random bits of mez. I know we're essentially just trading one inconvenience for another (having to remember to recast the power vs having to turn it on after being mezzed) but a Blaster is going to be getting mezzed more often than they'd be recasting a duration-based VS. Just think of how many times you've played a Defender with an anchor debuff that gets knocked off randomly from enemies who use 0.5 seconds of stun or small duration sleeps, or an attack with a tiny Hold component attached? That's what's going to happen to this new VS design and I won't really enjoy it. It makes one of the neat things about the set, that is, giving Blasters a "pet," almost entirely skippable for me. It's bad enough that Elec Blast has a reputation for having a bunch of skippable powers based on playstyle, so adding another probably isn't going to feel good.

This set sure does have a lot of -Jump and -Fly. Now, I haven't done any real PvP on Homecoming but I used to do a lot of it on Live. I'm sure you can see where I'm going with this, but has the meta of PvP shifted far enough to where a ton of -Jump/-Fly is no longer considered necessary, or is the fact that every player is carrying around Web Grenades anyway make this set not as scary to fight against as it looks on paper? I can't imagine trying to fight off all that -mobility from someone who isn't hindered at all, though I guess you can still SS around unhindered (until you hit a tiny curb).

This all sounds good to me, and entirely optional. I'm kinda laughing at the "build around Inspiration Spam" people now, though.

You're free to think what you want but that doesn't make it correct. Not liking what someone has to say doesn't make them a troll. Oh, right, I forgot you have a nasty habit of deciding what is and is not "fun." My mistake. Maybe if the OP hadn't made a habit of the last month of making inflammatory "my opinion is fact" posts and abandoning them after they get 5 responses and disregarding the actual early advice, perhaps people would be more willing to converse. As it is, this particular OP seems mostly concerned with trying to stir up drama and watching the fallout so they're being treated as such. They have no interest in getting to the bottom of the problem just as they clearly have no interest in communicating to their team in-game. In his mind, everyone he invites should just be psychically aware of how he wants to run the team and if they don't fall in line, then they're the problem. The fact you think he "has a point" should be concerning. Why you insist on always coming to the defense of anyone claiming their fun is being impacted so you can parrot the same "play my way or don't play" rhetoric is expected, if tiresome. You seem to have some inflated sense of self-worth and a very low bar for what counts as "trolly" behavior that lets you continue to feel good by slapping anyone who does light ribbing with an ignore. You're not as important as you seem to think you are -- you aren't being trolled, but you are being kinda sad.

I think you missed the satire as that post was written just like the OP's original post, subbing out "mission hoppers" with "complainers" (and a few more liberties to make it read properly). Someone else did this too, using "thread hoppers" instead. Is it customary for people "well over 50" to not read the thread before posting?

Considering your other posts from as early as a month ago, the terminology you use suggests you aren't a "veteran player" so I question how you claim to know how "most veteran players" play the game. That said, I don't suspect you'll be back to elaborate as your post history also shows a high level of "thread hopping," to borrow someone else's parody of your own thread title. You can't say you get "more exp" by clearing the maps either, at least from a time spent perspective. If all you care about is per-mission exp, then sure, you get more if you clear the map. Completing more missions in that same timeframe though comes with the end-of-mission bonus exp and you can often complete more missions to make up the "lost" exp in that same time frame and meet (and more often, exceed) the same amount of Exp/min metrics. Plus, you see more actual content and story this way. As far as sticking inside the mission once it completes, I usually only stay just long enough to finish the spawn we're fighting and only leave right away if everyone else is leaving. There's no sense in sticking around to finish off a spawn set for 8 people that are all about to turn and look in my direction once all the other targets, I mean my allies, have left the building. Teams running smoothly together is more important than picking off the last couple groups of Vahz or Clockwork that ran half-way across the map and people want to progress through the arc, not get bogged down with strays. If you're going to demand everyone on your team stay to do a clear-all, then make that clear when you're recruiting. Once again, one your problems comes down to lack of communication on your part.

I should probably check CoD more often, then. I stand corrected.

May as well throw mine and my roommate's into the ring. Why not. EDIT: Mine is the orange one

There are melee attack sets that have some ranged options, like Claws, Spines, Staff Fighting and Kinetic Melee (though I hear KM is only serviceable on a Stalker). However, these sets are 95% melee and usually contain only one, maybe two, actual ranged powers (excluding Taunt/Confront/Placate). I'm not sure if that's exactly what you mean since it sounds like you want a melee weapon that has reach on every power, which isn't a concept the game currently utilizes, though I suppose there's nothing stopping the devs from designing a weapon set with a melee attack range of around 10 feet. That said, it doesn't exist currently though the closest might be Titan Weapons since it has so many cone attacks to simulate the large cleaving effect you'd get swinging such a big weapon around. There are also some Ancillary Pool Powers that are ranged attacks, like Arcane Bolt, but these tend to be themed to the set in question and might not fit your character concept. If that doesn't do enough for you, though, the Epic/Patron Pools you unlock later in your character's career, for a melee AT, will usually have one or two ranged options to pick from in each Pool. On the flipside, you could roll a Dominator or Blaster, though you'll be pretty squishy defensively for a long time. Dominators have attack sets that mix melee and ranged attacks, but their Primary is full of control powers. Blasters have a full Ranged Primary with Secondaries that are stuffed with Melee attacks + General Utility/Control. While this might give you the playstyle you're looking for (melee/range mixed fighter) you will, again, have low personal defenses against anything you can't outright defeat or lock down until you pick up defensive options elsewhere, such as Tough/Weave/Maneuvers/Epic Pool Armor and combine them with Set IOs for a complete build.

Ah, the classic drive-by Thread OP. Drops a thread topic they know will stir something up, hangs around just long enough to give it a few good swirls, then disappears into the night while the cauldron rages on. I already posted in here once, but honestly, I don't know why anyone is so upset over who is doing what on which team. If you don't like how the team is functioning, then leave and find another one. If you're "stuck" because it's a TF, then I guess just deal with certain players who play differently than you and don't attribute your own biases to their actions in order to demonize them to feel better about yourself. I'm the kind of player who goes with the flow on a team because I'm usually there just for some minor social interaction and merits (because I almost only ever team for TFs and other coordinated content like GMs and the like). I attack stuff, take the alpha if that's my team role, and let everyone else do their thing. It's just not worth being upset at the one guy charging off on his own with SS trying to out-defeat everyone else on the team combined. If he's being a sod about it and bemoaning how slow everyone else is, and you're the leader, then kick him out and move on. If it's a normal mission it won't really change anything that matters and if it's a TF, the TF should adjust for the next mission anyway. At worst, if you don't have the star but don't want to miss out on the merits/badge, put that person on ignore (temporarily, since I never perma-ignore someone unless they're spamming me to hell and back) so you don't have to see their words, finish the TF, and part ways. Maybe stick a note on their global reminding you who they are so you're aware of what may happen in future teams with that person. If you want, you can just ask if the "offending" player would mind sticking with the team. In my book, everyone gets one chance to "follow the rules" and the team lead makes the rules. If they refuse or ignore, then they forfeit their spot. It's as simple as that. Making a thread about it and getting into huge arguments about who has the best philosophical or moral pillar to stand upon just seems like a waste of time. And yes, I'm aware of the potential hypocrisy in saying that considering I've written this diatribe myself decrying people who write their own diatribes about why they're correct and everyone else is wrong. To that end, I bring toast to the thread because I like toasted bread. I wouldn't be caught dead without that having been said.

Kind of the same problem with Red Side, but applied to the server level.

People who demand that sort of thing rarely know precisely what they're talking about, and often, any mechanic that does get added isn't what they wanted. Most MMO fight "mechanics" are: interrupt the room nuke, stay out of the fire, and face the boss away from the raid (because cleave is a thing). Sometimes they'll try to freshen that up with dragging bosses into specific areas/into walls, or making sure the enemies all die at roughly the same (otherwise they just keep resurrecting). While technically mechanics, they aren't interesting and usually enforce particular team comps in order to pull off. Hamidon gets away with this because it's an entire zone with a large player cap, practically guaranteeing you're able to field everything you realistically need to make the fight possible. This guy wanting that kind of restriction placed upon teams of 8, in a game where one of its biggest strengths is that "every team can be successful", just seems like a bad idea. When I read comments like his, I just see someone who wants another angle of elitism to leverage against his fellow players.

I solo because I like to take my time. I'll go through missions at whatever pace I want, frequently stepping away to go do something that needs doing, or just sit inside a mission afk while I do something else entirely for an hour. I also like to solo because I can read all the clues and other story bits without holding a team back. Despite being here since 2004, I still like to read just about everything. The other advantage for soloing, for me, is that I get to more effectively pick and choose which contacts and which arcs I want to do that would seem most appropriate for that particular character's story. Things like a DE-inspired character tending to favor missions that feature them, or a "rogue agent" of an enemy faction going out of their way to disrupt their old organization. It lets me craft a story, at least in my head, of a more unique and fleshed out character. I'm not the kind of soloist that turns off exp just to experience every single arc on a particular character. Sometimes I'll turn off exp if I'm going to go past a contact I want for their relationship to my own character, but never to "see everything the level range has to offer," so to speak. Frankly there's just so many contacts in the game that repeat the same kind of missions over and over, particularly the old contacts, that sometimes it doesn't even feel like you ever changed contacts at all. Multiple "defeat 50 dudes on patrol" in a row can be exhausting. A small, but important reason that I also solo, is that I like experiencing the character and what they can do under their own power. I will team for things like TFs, but it's hard to gauge just how "good" your character is when everyone else is flying around, blowing up spawns four blocks away. My definition of "good" is usually different from others' though. I value the concept much more than the clear speed when soloing.

This is reminding me why I solo practically everything save for Task Forces. Which, of course, gets people upset because I want to solo in a multiplayer game and that makes me weird.

No room in the concept for bubbles that are permeable, so no ally shields and I'm pretty sure Dispersion is off the table too. I'd have to look at her again to be sure on that last one.

I only have one FF character and said character has none of the ally-only shields. Then again, she's also Energy Blast and I'm building her to use as much knockback/knockdown as possible in addition to Detention Field instead so I'm sure she'd be hated by default even with ally bubbles. But since I mostly solo, I don't really care. Energy Torrent, Wall of Force, Explosive Blast, etc are just plain fun to use in rotation. Who needs defense when everything's being knocked over all the time?

It will probably take a good measure of -regen debuff resistance before you could even consider making the set into a Tanker primary. Either that, or port over and tweak the Sentinel version for Tanks, but I've heard from more than few people that they don't like Sentinel Regen due to the different feel and playstyle that version uses despite being the best version of Regen in the game. I can understand this viewpoint because I don't like New Energy Melee even if it's undeniably better than Old Energy Melee but I won't raise that horse from its grave just to start kicking it all over again. Right now, original Regen needs -regen resistance somewhere. We should probably work on getting Regen in a better spot before thinking about giving it to another AT.

Just be aware of the platform you stream on. Some of them don't officially allow "pirated" or otherwise "illegal game" streams. Whether or not that platform enforces that stance is another matter, but it's good to be aware of it. Twitch, for example, technically doesn't allow a game like this one to stream but they seem to not care enough to shut down the accounts doing it. Still, it's good to keep in mind that a CoH stream could "disappear" for seemingly no reason despite Homecoming giving the OK to do it.

I'm mostly curious how this plays out in a way that doesn't feel cheap or overly punishing to ATs/Powersets that don't offer ways to lock down foes beyond simply defeating them faster. I'm going to hold a bit of skeptical optimism about this, personally. I understand the goals you're going for, but too often, attempts to make a game more "inclusive" of previously undesirable characters ends up translating into a "requirement" of previously undesirable characters. Or worse still, people just change their builds and the previously undesirable characters remain undesirable once you spend enough on the market. Hopefully things work out and my concerns are assuaged.

I'm going to preface this with: I don't care if you farm. Farming is fun for some people. But I will say this: I don't care if you're a newb, noob, veteran of 2 years, veteran of 50 years, or the Second Coming of Jesus Christ himself -- if you're spamming chat, begging for an invite to ANY team, farm or not, you're annoying. No one likes a beggar. If you're looking for a specific team, and can't create that team yourself for some reason, then send out your message and wait. Re-sending it every 20-40 seconds is just bad online etiquette. If you can, increase your chances to find that team by putting yourself in the area those teams happen. For a TF, hang around the contact. For a farm, hang around the most popular AE location. I don't like "chat police" either, but spamming, regardless of the reason or content, shouldn't be acceptable.

My biggest concern, and one you probably have no direct control over without just plain removing options (something I don't want, either), is player tendency to take the "new top" and make that line the new baseline. If you can't handle things at the top, then you're just "not allowed" in the first place regardless of where you go. Admittedly, CoH has much less of this mentality than other games, even when the game was still Live. The "play your way, at your own pace" stance has been held mostly intact by both the players and the devs as it's one of the primary draws. That said, as the game moves forward into the future and begins to pick up newer players with different expectations, as stated previously, my concern becomes one of enforcement. Too often, when difficulties are turned up, the hardest one becomes the only one and not wanting to (or not able to) step up to that level is met with derision and exclusion from activities.

Not to mention that an arbitrary price cap just becomes the price floor also without sufficient, overwhelming supply like we have with the seeded salvage here. The people complaining they can't afford it without a price cap probably wouldn't be able to afford that new cap when it's now also the floor, either.