Llewellyn Blackwell

Yes buff botting would be a very real reason not to break every standard and make a stupid long duration. This is part of why long durations never got added. In some, hell most MMOs I have played buffs get cancelled when entering dungeons so they have to be reapplied. Especially when the buffs can lasta long time. CoH buffs persist and as such, making a buff last too long would make it so every supergroup, hell every blaster could use a throwaway ftp account for a buff bot to shadow them and sit outside missions. We also do not have any kind of re entry penalty as many MMO use. The things that make CoH unique also make it so your idea just cant happen. Id say at most 4 minutes, But here is an idea Id offer to maybe make your original idea not needed. What if as part of the power sets with these abilities, they get an inherent aura that refreshes the duration of the buffs they grant, so as long as people stay in regular contact with their ally, the buffs will simply auto maintain, freeing the defenders up to fight, the trollers up to troll etc.

IMO Pool,Ancillary, and epic pool powers should all be as good as any other powers. Every power costs a power slot. The vast majority of powers require at least some slot investment. The only reason for them being second class powers is because there are some who have this silly idea that these powers ( the ones generally called bad,trash, power tax etc) should be as they are. While often making use of those pool powers well known as strong enough to be vital to builds. Hasten is obviously the frontrunner. We have been able to perma it almost the entire life of the game on live( except during the period after ED, and before the rise of sets, though even then 3 SOs in hasten will get it to perma or near enough as to not matter)). Yet Hasten is not as alone in its awesomeness as many think. Air Superiority and Hover from fly are both so good and widely used Ive met many in game that still take sorcery for mystic flight(for flavor) and still grab the other 2 above powers from the flight pool, as flying without them seems almost pointless to no few Ive met in game, and I have a PB that wanted the cool magical fly visual effects so yeah I wasted my PBs inherent fly advantage for flavor. Guy still rocks pretty hard so I dont stress, as when a PB goes perma light form they actually have too many power options. Then there is Stealth/grant invis. Stealth was always popular to pair with Superspeed for lvl 14 full stealth builds to fit in recall friend for fast TF leader builds. A great many of my live runs on original posi, that never was that hard, used this pool combo to make short cutting through the hordes of Vahz. Really the bad powers in pools, mostly have always been the attacks. too long of animations like flurry and jump kick. Or just too little return even 6 slotted with attacks like boxing and kick. Thankfully with cross punch, the early attacks actually to feel good enough to warrant being use at least for flavor builds without feeling like major self gimpage( fun fact my trying to be as human as possible builds often do take these attacks because of their weak nature ironically enough)) The only factor should be at what level these attacks become accessible. And they should not simply be weaker then attacks from primary sets like blaster and scrapper. Really if we want build diversity then we need to make people be able to go Hm you know I dont really see my guy using a fire sword, Id rather punch people and kick them in the teeth. Their 2ndary aspects should be as strong and reliable as Air Superiority. Their Dmg should be as good as a T2 from blaster/scrappers. Especially when you factor in animation times on some of the pool attacks. Hell the new ones from sorcery and force of will are both such long casting times they could be full on T9 Nukes and I know some who still wouldnt touch them simply because they favor attacks and abilities that trigger the moment you touch the button. Powers are powers, and frankly it shouldnt matter how you will a power slot, that power should be a fun new addition to your characters build, not some thing paltry or lame as to make what should be the big fun in an RPG the leveling up and gaining new powers instead be a blah throw away power pick cant wait till I can take a cool power. Every time we get to pick a new power while leveling should be AWESOME! moment and never a blah who cares moment.

Uhm super inspirations are a very reliable way to turn excess threads into inf or stock pile for truly challenging oh shit situations. Why would liquidating merits for inf be hard when your still slotting? That is why you liquidate. To afford filling slots with sets. If you run just zone story arc series like the hollows, faultline, and striga island. between the arcs and the zone completion bonus, you will have a few hundred million for that character. And thats by the late 20s only doing chill easy to run story arcs solo. Add in TFs and random arcs and your looking at likely half a billion. Especially if you get lucky on drops. Plenty of set recipes still fetch a few mil. As someone with both character still being developed, and toons totally done in being built. I really just dont find your issue one of the game. Im not hardcore, I dont play the market. I dont farm. I run arcs adn tfs for fun solo or with friends. And have 0 issue financing builds. Not every build gets top tier sets but that is based more on their concept then anything else.

Uhm sorry cant see this as a need. by the time you are vet level 20 or so you will have all your incarnate stuff unlocked and T3 or T4 easily. People shouldnt be wasting TF rewards on alpha T1 salvage, thats just not using their heads. I doubt anyone is burning a 100 mil on making a bit of T4 I salvage. If they are, well good, we need that inf drained one way or another. Im not sure what Dr. R is going on about above. No one tight on inf is wasting it on incarnate stuff. Yes maybe the old conversion option was based on live when some IO rare could go for several times a 100 mil. Maybe it could be adjusted with the HC economy kept in mind. However in my experience, while sure not everyone is an efficient farmer type. most earn plenty via tfs and story arcs to invest a few hundred mil into even a casual players main toons. Due to taking the time to personally teach them, I can safely say everyone in my mains SG knows how to liquidate merits into influence.

Yeah nope. Your talking a total change up, one that would undermine builds that had been made taking into account those powers. Your totally forsaking the Cottage Rule. Many ATs can get a pet via the epic villain pools. My best snipe user is a scrapper for that very reason. So its clear that going against the grain and outside of the box is very much part of the games unique nature. But lets be honest what this is really about is people hating how fast full teams of incarnates can clear non incarnate content using the 2 specific powers your QQing about here. I know an aweful lot of people who main low DPS toons that consider both of the above essential ways to bring up their average solo clear speeds to a not mind numbing pace. Judgement is generic, even blasters can use a 2nd nuke. Pets are generic, and considering how much more often people ask for more lore pet options, taking them away seems an idea ignorant of what many actually enjoy.

Look Im not trying to come off as combative or rude, but your kinda forcing some blunt speech. Now maybe, just maybe, your play style, your approach, just makes regen bad for you? Because seriously I have no trouble making regen viable. I consider it one of the easiest sets to level, and cheapest to make functional, as its clicks while leveling only need 2 heal and 2 recharge IOs to be useful until one is ready to invest heavily. It doesnt need things like the fighting pool. Its a viable choice, as are all pool toggles because regen has high end recov making it a good platform. I favor leadership,stealth,speed,and recall friend on my Dr. character that uses regen. He can stealth, recall, has the day job rez accolade and p2w rez ready to get people up, is never the first person to die so always has a chance to use veng on an ally. Fun build, very effective, and yes because of heavy investment also while being a team build can solo a fair few AVs. Sets, and how we use them can be pretty diverse. and in actual live play, more then numbers and meta metrics matter. Because buffs and how they impact teams are more multiplicative then linear, for example a scrapper that venges can add a lot to a teams over all dps when a casual/new/less developed character gets dropped.

My friend and I run a proper homage duo, though with some twists. Mine is a STJ/Ninja stalker, and my sidekick is a dual pistol, martial blaster. He built in stealth early so we can ghost together. I bring the instant boss killing, he brings the aoe nuking of mins and LTs. We as a twosome at level did synapse as soon as we hit paragon from praeoria, moonfire, citadel, and manti, though Manti was abit rough but we maanged. Now at cap we easily and often do various TFs as a duo. we usually run at x8 for funs. Im not saying rip us off, but honestly a stalker, plus a 2nd stealthy partner can usually take on almost everything the game can throw at them in general content. We bring soft CC via cc procs in attacks, and temp powers like stun grenades from our utility belts;) to help manage nastier factions big groups.

But the underlying issue is that any kind of DR is really not something that should be part of a set called super reflexes, and meant more to reflect comic book icons like the Flash, and other hyper agility types that if they do get hit usually are hurt bad enough they need to fall back at least for a few minutes while their fast healing helps them to recover. And come on now, espeically when at top end def, its so rare for an alpha to land its something almost to look forward to just for the oh shit moment it can create. For flash thats the time to phase througha wall etc. Which is why my speedster concept that uses SR, also has phase shift. As for the whole toggle tier 9 I said myself that is a totally crazy thing but still what I think would make SR be the set its meant to be. I would btw also not give the set any resistance to slow effects, Id make slow be the sets kryptonite. Id give it no end recovery, so sappers also would be a real threat. Thus if the toggle was dropped due to being drained, while their autos would help, would still be consirably weakened. Which imo would be a good thing and fit the flavor and theme of the concept behind the set. I want sets to be beat down, and overwhelmed when facing their banes. Hence why i dont make suggestions like some here trying to basically remove every weakness and turn their favored sets into unstoppable supermen.

If you go back and reread my first post, my own ideal would be to see all the current toggles turned into autos, remove the scaling DR,, replace that with heal rate boosting, and make Elude a toggle that would be only the defense and move speed buffs. IMO a set for speedster themes should be all about defense, healing though not as much as regen, and run speed, so super speed is not a must for speedsters but an option for speedster RP concepts that also need a different set other then SR for concept reasons, and recharge speed. Basically to sum it up I feel SR should be toggle light, almost all autos, and it should focus on def,speed,recharge, and passive healing rate.

Your wrong, one can actually get Eludes recharge so low a single phase shift will keep you safe between the down time, and thats on ones own. If you run with a time or kin you will indeed end up perma elude with ease. I actually know very few SR users who dont have elude, and do everything they can to shorten its recharge time. But again i am talking from the scrapper/brute side, not the tanker side. Which is basically what this thread is about, because SR tanks get their powers faster, and at higher%s due to being tank. While I do think SR tanks have a place in the discussion, the focus of this thread is clearly on the scrapper 2ndary SR rather then the tanker main SR. And I fully agree a tank SR whose toggles easily push them into the 60s really doesnt need elude at all. IMO we may be reaching an era where more difference is needed between tank and scrapper sets that are shared. Honestly id likely give tanks an offensive T9 in their SR akin to Shields Shield charge, like the vorpal judgement. The tnak version of Flash hitting everyone to stun and disarm them. Liek isntead of a dps rush it would be a stun/imm CC rush strong enough to glue everything down and give everyone a breather.

Yeah throw all the elude builds under the bus good plan. I myself go the ignore toggles and focus on elude route and favor it. Now as a Tank set maybe your ideas are the better path, but on scrappers sorry yeah no thanks.

Uhm yeah ok so you chose one of the worst partners for regen. Fire melee is frankly just bad in actual gameplay, fire res is very common in mobs, and a scrapper is about killing quick so the dot aspect of fire usually doesnt get to do enough to actually make it better dps then most other options. The fact you mention AE farming is starting to hint to me the real issue. Your approach to game play. AE farm builds by their nature tend to suck outside of AE farms. Like I have yet to meet a fire/spines brute that doesnt spend their time eating dirt on TFs unless there is support to back them up. Likewise WP users also often face plant on teams, because this I see very often inn game btw is the WP tank/brute/scrapper runs in to take the aggro and herd, the blaster runs in and nukes, all mins and LTS die, the WPs regen from RTTC tanks, and the bosses then smack down said WP user who suddenly lacks regen enough to sustain through the dmg. In fact while most WP users I see in active game play end up being lightly mocked for their constant dirt naps, my own WP user who does not even bother with RTTC, and is a brute that approaches combat more like a stalker, often gets compliments and called a powerful build even though he is a rp flavor build that is intentionally gimped to be more of a normal human. Also i find it odd you feel regens click spot heals are to slow, I have never once found them to be to slow for my needs. Then again I do like to build my regens with some kind of buffer aspect either defense or to hit debuffing mainly. It sounds like your trying to play them more like a Hulk then a wolverine.

Well I made an Ill/time troller to test this interaction and found ti cool but not game breaking OP. And frankly still would rather be on a scrapper,blaster, brute,stalker,sentinel, or any real DPS dealer that still gets super defenses. I would consider anyone here advocating for breaking a good inter power synergy like the one in question to be the kind of purist build types that really hate it when pools can be used alongside the main power sets to create something amazing. I mean seriously, nerfing support ATs fun tricks is a good way to get those of us who only dabble in the odd support builds to just forsake them entirely for selfish mass murder solo artists builds.

As someone whose first 50 on live was a kat/SR, and who has made a few other /SRs over the years since Ill try to highlight the issues with the set imo. First its toggle heavy and has no real end recovery. Many complain about the end hog that is Dark Armor, but Id bet SR is pretty close in the race, especially because non elude builds tend to delve in pools for more toggles. Even totally kitting out stamina and health with every special IO really does not do a whole lot to counter the heavy cost. Then there is the whole end crash of Elude. When elude goes down unless you got blues at the ready it also means your toggles are not an option, so you go from super hard to hit to bending over and asking for a spanking. Now one can with enough focus basically go perma elude, but then you may as well ignore toggles altogether, though such a build tends to then be rather shitty in low exemped runs. Now I love elude, and frankly I tend to build SR builds as cap only play builds because for me SR only feels good with perma elude. That to me is when SR feels like the flash cant touch me hammer time awesome that I want from the set. When I ponder how Id change SR, Id go pretty radical honestly. Id remove all the toggles, making them all autos of varying %s so taken together and stacked together would provide a decent say 40ish% global def all the time. Id increase the recharge and movement bonuses from its auto about 10% to make them better then the similar ones added to later sets that made SR nerfed by proxy. IMO SR should be the premier go to choice for speedster concepts. Finally Id make Eludes recharge just low enough to make a moderate global recharge investment reach perma elude. Id also reduce Eludes crash to be a 50% drain on end bar though the same no end recovery for x time, so that while they would be dependent on their autos, they would still have some blue for swinging, or reactivating elude if they had gone for perma elude. SR imo is the one defense set unduly dependant upon, but also logically centered around its T9. IMO it should be the one set that making its T9 perma shouldnt take a half bil inf build and incarnate powers to get anywhere near back to the glory days. Honestly a part of me wants to suggest something really mad, that Elude with the same level of def it currently grants, be made into the one and only T9 defensive toggle. No crashing, no handicap. Just good old fashion my weakness is overwhelming numbers or being locked down by ice/slow powers. Id also frankly give it inherent regen, but not recovery. because virtually all SR type characters in comcidom have pretty decent fast healing, not regeneration levels but usually they are the 2nd runner up in self healing among such things in comics. IMO such should be kept in mind as that is the source material and genre CoH is based upon. So Id make every auto def power also have some auto heal rate buffing. Remeber no matter how much def you have numbers will always overwhelm just defense. DR imo has no place in SR and frankly never sat right with me adding the scaling resistance aspect.

Right there with you, my batman homage the black flying fox was so torn I wanted the more over the shoulder cloak look but the collar was just way too much.

What primary offense set are you pairing with your scrappers regen if I may ask? What is your avg number of attacks to kill minions/LTs/bosses? Can they solo AVs from posi pt2 up to manticore reliably? And I am not saying you cant be nasty and use temp powers mine always carry envenomed daggers for AVs did back on live to.

Ehm cough Barrier cough. Its practically made for Regen users. Oh and as a scrapper you may consider building instead for high def by going heavy global recharge, and using Unleashed potential from Force of Will, and Shadow Meld from the patron soul mastery pool. Together they can easily keep a regen users def very padded and make them just that much harder to kill. I mean you dont need super def/res all the time just when closing with a big bad initially usually. but between all of the above a regen is perfectly fine on Itrials.

Does Wolverine? Lobo? Deadpool? No they get put on their ass all the time and then self revive. Wolvy goes rage, DP goes try hard, Lobo....well he is likely bi polar on top of being a real arse. Regen as is actually reflects the comic characters that it is based upon pretty damn well. a regen can self revive and mog can activate so quick that its pretty easy to get up in a middle of a mob and either fall back or just keep fighting. Combine regen with Dark for to hit debuffs, or a sword set to be able to do parrying and regen ends up so damn hard to kill its crazy. Remember Parry effects melee, smashing, and lethal def. Many ranged attacks are lethal and smashing. So it also helps against many ranged attacks like you were a bloody jedi. I remade a dark regen scrapper as a sentinal here on HC and its just bloody stupid hard to kill between being able to stay ata range, regen from everything they throw, and slip into big groups fora nuke. I do like the way they made the self revive in sents regen more then just an oh shit button likely why I see more regen sents with self revive then regen scrappers who foolishly ignore it and MoG way to often imo. Any buff to any regen power could end up making it stupid OP especially in PvP when partnered with an optimal partner set.

Regen is very viable, and has been pointed out is highly rated in PvP, and yes its nerfs back in the day are examples of nerfs done in part due to pvp, and it was a good nerf. I say that as someone who had a favored bs/regen scrapper on live. And he could handle things that would wipe out the rest of his pug teams time and time again. Brutes were not meant to be tanks. so them needing a true tank set like willpower rather then a scrapper set like regen, actually shows good design imo, as it lets the brute player by picking the set focus more on mindless killing rather then tanking. Peeps need to remember Brute was not the original tank AT for red side, it just kinda got shoved into that role by the player base and the devs kinda jsut threw their hands up at peoples stubborn nature. MM was the red side tank counterpart. This was told by devs in forum discussions when people complained about brutes not being able to tank back on the forums over and over. So this constant position by some that a brute not being able to tank with every power set option just gets tiring. If you want to tank, make a bloody tank. Not a Brute built like a scrapper.

People seem to be pretty dismissive of powers like caltrops or a 2nd placate power these days. Many stalkers are skipping their placates now I gather but I still got both on my stj/ninja stalker batman homage The Black Flying Fox. He is by design my most mortal, non IO setted out 50. Those utlity powers come in handy alot. often on TFs when everyone is exemped and many didnt bother to build with such in mind so they feel very weak while running a mid level tf. Was on a moonfire with him recently, and the brute trying to tank kept getting overwhelmed so I kept using caltrops to help slow down the mobs rushing at him, and stun grenade to cc them abit.

Its likely even worse now with out outside the ol bunker base building. I notice my PA almost never moves if in the new expanded area. Partly why I think this actually is ok though. Its meant to be just for fun, and well if some powers etc dont work so be it. I mean we cant teleport in the above roof bases either.

I havea feeling few SGs would leave it toggled on. I imagine it would more be used by SGs for creating inter group RP battles, or fight club type of get togethers to see who is toughest. And when it comes to RP battles its very likely events have been scripted and the winner possibly even determined prior based on RP story plots. The fight could easily be far more about play acting then serious pvp in such groups and would certainly be the main way Id see myself and my SG using it since then such concerns as balance go out the window because its about story first and foremost.

Here is how I view it. A Base is basically that SG leaders Pocket D and they are that zones DJ Zero. If you enter into their domain you play by their rules. When we are in the D we cant fight because Zero says. If you come onto midnight island and I want us to be able to fight it should be my, and my officers call if its an option. People come to bases by invite as is via the passcode system, now if people want to make that public and leave pvp on and make it a wild west, again their base their soul call imo. People could using the current editor and just being actual friends plotting something fun have king of the kill type play simply by saying first group to hold said location wins. Same with capture the enemy base, or controlling multiple location pvp type play all could be done the way this idea clearly is meant to be in the spirit of, a for fun event between players wanting to have actual fun together. For example say I dont want people using meta pvp builds Id simply say no meta non RP builds should be there, if I see one Ill shut off pvp. That is basically the way I would want the sg leader to be in control and dictate the terms. This isnt about serious competition, nor even balance, its about a way for like minded players in their private space to have the fun they want to have. No dif then those with S&M kink fetish rpsgs that are not for the non ERP players at all. What we choose to do in our private domains is our concern alone.

Im not sure why youd be so adamant against this. Its a purely just for fun idea not something that would come with rewards or in any way be able to abuse players, as if your a member that doesnt like it quit, if you enter a base and dont like it leave. It is fact a far more for fun PVP with no carrot being dangled to lure the non pvpers into it like places like the pvp zones do with temp power rewards. I know of someone building an amazing space ship/outer space themed base right now including enemy ships and fire fight light effects. It would be a perfect place for example for good kheldians vs evil nictus fights etc. They wouldnt be open pvp zones they would be controlled pvp arenas with the sg leader as the one in control of if its on or off. Oh and News flash PVP was exploited on live in open world pvp zones. It was the main way they got used. Typically an sg alongside an allied VG would simply get together and take turns killing each other for reward drops. They could keep control because they were large groups, so legit pvpers either got hunted or forced out. Its one of the reasons coh pvp became a laughing stock among MMO. Because it was exploiting farmer types mainly using the system. HC has already removed that by making pvp io recipes drop everywhere. So what actual exploit are you worried about I am truly wondering?

Why? As with everything else base related it should be a setting only the sg leader can set on or off imo or toggle who can set it on or off. If someone wants their base to be open pvp for those who enter that should be their choice. No one forces anyone into a base. And they are easy to instantly leave just by doing a quick relog.