Replacement

This sounds like a Navmesh, which is certainly what a lot of other games use. Talking out of my ghostly Casper bottom here, but I wonder if a sort of "low resolution" mesh (few lines and thus vertices) would result in this sort of behavior. Basically, imagine players are standing on a chess board with very tiny squares, while the NPC version has much larger tiles.

This, of sorts. I have 2 issues with Vigilance: Bad incentive structure. And I should mention my bias here: I do not like vengeance sacrifice tactics. To me, that's the logical conclusion of what would happen if the low hp benefit was actually good. The payoff mostly applies to healers, at least in theory. Ostensibly, the reason for the endurance discount is to help save the low-hp ally. But that context doesn't make sense for most defenders. If you're instead using it for, say, tar patch, then you're back to the poor incentive structure from point #1. Honestly, I can forgive #1. I want to be clear that it's "a thing that is weird" and this isn't causing me great grief. But it would be super if their passive was a little more accurate to their role. And if you clean up point #2, you may as well fix #1 while you're there. Edit: I'd be really curious to know what it would take to kill permadom. I would love to see it become less mandatory. But that is certainly worth it's own thread.

Yeah! Number Six figured out how to remove that limit! The thread I linked at the top is an exciting read.

I think you're weighting my use of the word "optimal" heavier than I'm implying, here. It's simple: if the game says "here is a thing you can do to increase numbers," then they are implicitly stating "it's a valid tactic." It's simply a weird mixed signal. I really don't believe most players would do this, but the optimizers in us see this and it makes us squirm. I'm reminded of an argument in Warframe, where there was a character that had a repeating-aoe that kept getting larger and doing more damage the longer they stayed still. They could be built in such a way that they could do this so long that they would be booted from missions as AFK. Everyone said that's "working as intended, don't use such a scummy tactic if you don't want booted." But the designers told the players to stand still and play that way. The player is not the jerk for simply doing what they're told and optimizing it. EDIT: Leo, I'm reading the rest of your post thoroughly several times over. There's a disconnect between us, here. You're saying I'm saying things I don't think I'm saying? Can you maybe elaborate on what I'm doing that is essentially stacking up such a strawman and knocking it down?

Proposal: Given the shocking revelations of this thread: ...And not having a clue what is easy/hard to implement in the costume creator... I humbly propose a thigh texture option. Goal: There's a section between torso and knee that often requires certain concessions on the part of our fashion designers; compromises to our dreams. This could be implemented as a "leg" category, or as a secondary selection on the Pants/Bottom section. Visual aids to help explain what I'm speaking of. Observe Thigh of the Tiger here: See something wrong, here? I particularly have a lot of female characters where I like to show some skin but... would like a little more cover on the legs! If it helps, I know Titan Icon's NPC creator mode has options for *ahem* crotchless leg parts. As far as I can understand it, if it's a pattern in female's "Bottoms" but not in "Bottoms with skin", it appears to be a separate piece and could feasibly be added alongside any existing bottom. Is this worth the effort? Probably not. I'd sure like it, though. The Steaks are not Thigh, Butt this is just another Leg in the journey to keep our character creator Hip. ...Femur.

There are a lot of options for making this work. My two preferred paths: Combine Recall Friend and Teleport Foe into a single power. Make a new combat teleport with lower cast time, range, and no hover time. Consider slight increase to hover time to actual-teleport now that there's a choice. Simply add a trick to existing Teleport to instant-block the hover effect when needed. I'm fond of the Descend (X) key. If there's a way to make it so the Hover instantly ends on Descend, we'd be golden. And for clarity, when I say "combat teleport," I mean "teleport that a melee could actually use to get around in a fight."

I'd still break the cottage rule with Stone Armor. That would be best. Basically, they need Earth Glide (Teleport that only works when targeting the ground). Barring cottage things, like combining some of their armors and totally reworking Granite, I'd settle for adding Earth Glide as a rider power to Rooted. They definitely should not get it through Granite.

I think it's really worth pointing out there's an implicit bias in that second half of Vigilance that enforces the very thing Defenders are not: healers. It's very clearly meant to read like "you have an edge in delivering Clutch Healing" but most sets aren't heal-based. It enforces a paradigm that most Defender players dislike (and I'm drawing a distinction here between the Defender players and Empathy players). Whether or not Defenders actually would let allies die for an asinine Endurance Boost really isn't the point: it's that the game has told you that's an optimal path. An optimal path for a context (healer) that does not make sense for the vast majority of Defender Primaries. I think picking apart the OP's numbers is besides the point -- that's what balance testing is for. Separate the issue from the suggestion. The issue is valid, and I support changing it up. I'm ambivalent to the suggested fix, but I've come to realize the best thing a community can do for developers is explain the problems; not present the solutions.

I'm always up for an alternate starting zone. Heck, copy/paste of Cim with all the arcs scaled down, make a single new one that ties you back to the city. I'm not a fan of medieval/back in time shenanigans for my Supers, but I've long held that if I were making a super MMO, I would sink a lot of resources into diverse character starts. Basically, the first chapter of your characters' story should still be part of character creation. SR 4e predicted Citizens United.

EA seems to have several "not quite holes" when I look at it. Resist passives include Toxic, but only a token amount (around 9%). Compare to most other damage types, where they're clearly balanced around stacking that minor Resistance on top of almost-SR defenses. Only source of Psionic protection is the base 3.75% defense in the stealth aura The +resist passives curiously overlook Fire and Cold entirely. Instead, their associated toggles gain an extra 2.25% defense. I have a feeling any typical build that softcaps their S/L defense is likely (over)capping their C/F defense, and the complete lack of Resist for that damage type causes problems.

Trying to simply replicate even the first go-round at the moment. This time it's WP/Claws. When I set active build to #2 or #3 and go to train up and I get this: (hey, I really like the little plus sign on attached pictures to insert into post) Level 20, but only trained up to 14 on the 1st build. Logging out and back in (or rather, getting booted for afk and logging back in) seems to have fixed the issue... At which point, I can't even recreate the original bug. All sorts of weirdness here. Don't know what to think.

Steps to reproduce: 1: Create a tanker, choose to start with your T2 armor power instead of T1. 2: Choose an alternate build (level 1). 3: Train up to next level. Expected Result: Choice between T1 and T2 Armor power Actual Result: T2 power is selected; T1 is grayed out. Tested with: level 50 tanker. Primary: Willpower Secondary: Electric Melee Maybe this has been a thing with alt builds forever and I'm only now finding out about it? EDIT: I went to try this again with my 3rd active build and it did not occur. It only happened when I went to Build 2.

So in these instances where it was helpful and/or build-defining, like @Nyghtmaire was outlining... how necessary would you say they are?

"This is how I want to play so it's how you have to play too." k

Ok, but I would. So something opt-in (where you claim on individual characters a bonus your account has unlocked) is ideal. That's the fundamental issue I have with shutting down ideas like this... As long as you're not forced into it, why try to stop a thing for those who want it? It's like hazing... "I had to have it this bad so you must as well" is the same faulty logic as "I don't want a nice thing so even though I could just opt out, I won't let you have it." (This last half is not ranting at you, particularly, Infinitum, I'm just... Musing.)

Introducing Medals: Global badges/meta-badges. Use the old Veteran Reward system to claim the badges right for you! Examples: Atlas Tour Guide Medal: Earn Atlas Tour Guide Badge on 4 separate characters. Click to claim your reward, which will grant you the 8 badges required for Atlas Tour Guide. Slayer Medal: Earn the Slayer Badge (200 Vampyri) on 2 separate characters. Click to claim your reward, which will grant you the Slayer Badge. :::: I've seen similar ideas bandied about before. I figured I'd flesh out some structure to it. I could get behind an implementation like this, at least.

Dissenting opinion: I do not want this. Dailies make folks feel like they're missing out if they can't fulfill them. Just about every game I've played that has, or has introduced, dailies has ended with me finding I was only logging on to take care of my dailies. All progress halts, because "it can wait until tomorrow, but my dailies would be wasted if I waited." This always leads to dissatisfaction and uninstallation. This is a core difference between a game that makes you grind for your achievements and an outright Skinner Box.

Nope. Way easier than that silly Primal. @golstat2003 just in case you didn't see DougGraves' last post.

Just curious about what the community thought. I don't mean specific sets - I more mean do any particular ATs suffer greatly by skipping Epics entirely? Example: every Blaster Ancillary/patron has an armor power. No matter which one is your jam, you're losing a lot of survival skipping out. Is that ok for a lot of builds? What are your thoughts on assorted ATs and how would you rate their Epic Skip-ability?

What the hell is going on in this thread? @boggo2300 @Obsidius He never said this would affect your khelds. What he did say was to open up the AT to other fictions, which would mostly affect new characters. Seriously. This suggestion is absolutely in the spirit of what Back Alley Brawler opened up so many years ago with Power Customization. Why is this the one time everyone's like "actually, nope. I don't think you should get to write your own story"? Implementation-wise, I could imagine shapeshifter entries on the power customization page, where choosing non-default launches a message prompt telling them that option will disallow the starting Kheldian contact. With that contact severed, everything else would fall just fine.

What Defenders (most types) provide is often called "invisible power." By most standards of game design, it's anathema: The only way to make them feel impactful is to be incredibly OP. For the record, CoH's invisible power numbers are probably more in the OP camp than the "feels weak" camp already. This game just broke all the rules in exactly the right ways to be awesome.

My big realization recently has been this: If Blasters had 90% resist cap, Brutes would still be better. The truth is, any time you try to make an AT keep up with Brute, you will overshadow other ATs. They just weren't designed on the same scales. And it's funny to see a comment like this: ... When Brutes had a decade of being untouchable by nerfs despite all objective measurement, and high priority for every proliferation, allowed access to melee sets of both broad aesthetics (light/skillful scrapper sets and heavy tanker melee). Seriously count up the number of available primaries of any AT and then look at how many Brute gets to choose. Brutes have had their run. I'm not screaming nerf, but anyone against raising up other ATs really needs to get over themselves and enjoy the future.

Hey, I'm not going to post in this thread anymore. It's clear there's no support for my suggestion. I just want you to know this was very uncool of you. NONE of this is on-topic of what I was talking about. All you did was assign me false arguments for you to knock down, told me I'm ruining the designer's art and pushing my will on others (mind: for a change that would have no adverse effects on current play styles and instead create a new one). Your high horse is misplaced.

@MetaVileTerror here's what Number Six said in the beta discord about font changes: @Replacement There has been some more work on scaling things up for high DPI (i.e. 4K and/or UHD) displays. Some text was already being scaled but on beta the outline size also gets scaled up along with it.