[Supergroup rename tokens]

1 hour ago, ShardWarrior said:

Yes, I read the post, thanks.  Again, building simple bases does not take long at all.  "A lot of work" is subjective to the person. 

I get the feeling this isnt about simple bases. I mean what would be the point of gifting a pos? Personally Id be offended and put a person on ignore if they gifted me with anything less then a massive full sized outdoor base with at least one major building with very detailed interior.

 

I mean what are you one of those who put a 5 instead of a 50 in a kids birthday card?

[Supergroup rename tokens]

Honestly I dont really see a need for this. I mean if your goal is to make bases to give away, they either need to be very generic bases to begin with, or custom made, and then you can customize the name when you start the project.

 

Or get in synch with all the others working the expanded cityscape, and name bases after buildings,neighborhoods, or exotic locales and simply put their codes up on the forums for all to use. I do get what your wanting to do, and dont see it as a bad idea, just not really a need. And honestly if we make SG names too easy to change, then those that earn negative reputations will have perhaps too easy of a time shedding one to adopt another and get away with fresh slates to begin anew with bad behavior.

[Aim?]

5 hours ago, Clave Dark 5 said:

I base my love of Tactics + Gaussian's proc for the fact it has a chance to fire for everyone your Tactics is buffing, which includes mastermind pets, etc. (Unless someone's proven that not to be true?  Pretty sure not, but I can be wrong) When you're in a league, that ain't nothing, and I love MSR, ha ha. 

 

Have to admit I hadn't thought about the use of some extra accuracy when you're gonna blow a huge AoE off in everyone's faces though, that's a fair point.  I suppose I could check a build for another form of BU or something before skipping.

 

And it's funny, I think every build always takes Leadership but many seem to skip travel powers all together now (which is fine, Ninja Run+Sprint with an occasional jet pack can do just fine, but it does get old after a bit).

Whoah whoah whoah now bud, I cant believe this didnt have 6 replies right after it all aimed at it, pardon the pun. No your procs in buff powers do not magically transfer to others. Thats as nonsensical as the guy who thought that IO set bonuses on an MM should apply to all their pets.

 

Leadership is popular now days almost entirely because it has 2 powers that can mule lotg recharge specials. and while it wont see a lot of use a throw away veng is still more useful then a throw away stealth to most folks.

 

Your build up proc effects ONLY YOU!, its like if you put a performance shifter end proc on a power that can buff an allies end recovery, they wont ever get a surge of end from that PS, only you will.

[Human only PB help?]

Pardon I know I am abit late to the chatter box here but I myself enjoy a human form PB, and am often surprised by how few appreciate their full power. I wont get into the whole build but I basically eschew all the dmg res toggles and rely entirely on perma light form. I dont do too much low end exemping with the toon, but thats fine as his rp concept is almost entirely aimed at the rikti.

 

I actually use the sorcery pool for run of protection for the 20-38 gap, its free break free effect keeps it as always a handy oh shit button. And yeah I even took its flight, just for the pretty runes.

 

See the thing about a PB is that def is really just not needed. I mean build some in, it wont be hard but its not gonna be a priority. A PB is basically the best of Invulnerable, with extra healing, and a tier 9 that can be kept up all the time. With a dull pain like power that can basically always be timed to be used right after a light form crash to both heal and keep your health upped, and a 2nd heal click with a very low cool down for extra spot healing, and light form getting you to 85% res in just about everything that matters You should be feeling confident rushing into just about any horde,

 

Then there is your offense, You get a nuke, and you get a melee super punch. Also a build up like power with a duration that with a strong global recharge set theme will be overlapping for a nice bit of extra oomph.  Really if a double build up nuke isnt killing off everything but the boss, and knocking them on their arse so you can casual hover over and finish them with a single punch, then you must be pushing above your pay grade a fair bit.

 

Finally keep in mind khelds really shine on teams, if your gonna solo a lot it really is going to feel abit sub par. Now a full team of things like defenders and corruptors who passively boost your dmg, and often buff it further, well when your the spear point for such a team you feel like Superman.

[This bio...]

1 hour ago, Greycat said:

Hell, if someone wants to argue about Requiem suddenly taking over the meaning for everything (I highly doubt they're renaming a mass for the dead, or the music involved in it,) we can look at another example -

a person who is experienced in the art of government or versed in the administration of government affairs.

a person who exhibits great wisdom and ability in directing the affairs of a government or in dealing with important public issues.

 

... you know, "Statesman." I don't think the character was at all "experienced in the art of government or versed in the administration of government affairs." Or that his existance in world keeps anyone else who deserves the title from being called one.

 

Or that neurosurgeons stop calling synapses and neurons synapses and neurons.

 

Or that any shark or spider breeds have been renamed.

 

Or any of the other examples that can be come up with.

Not really at all akin to my point which specifically is because of thier terrible nature of who Requiem is. If anything based on my point, your point would likely lead to politicians proudly calling themselves statesmen, and Id lay money every smart politcian in cohverse has Statesman merch on display.

 

Hell what little we do know about the political scene of cohworld, it seems a mixture of the truly corrupt put in power via the wealth and manipulation of powerful crime syndicates, or are the impossibly noble minded trying to live up to the ideals of Statesman. We do know Statesman seemed to have sway not just with the U.S. government, but also the U.N. to the point that at least in a few of the RP circles I run in, gets our Cole half jokingly called the Tyrant State because he seemed to already be defacto ruler of our Earth.

[This bio...]

1 hour ago, huang3721 said:

I apologize because I may derail this thread. I feel that there is something wrong with this idea.

 

They are not lost. This word may refer to a fascist leader, but "Requiem" is also a Latin word. It is from Requiem Aeternam, a Christian prayer.

If the City of Heroes universe mirror ours, then this word has been commonly used for hundreds of years. 

 

At least I wish our beloved Requiem (the 5th column one) lives up to his name. May God grants him eternal rest (and perpetual light too)!

 

/rant

Well it most certainly has not really mirrored our own since at least ww1 in the timeline. And a pretty damn likely going back to the time of the games fictional setting/era that cimorea is set in. Its pretty safe to say the presence of the kheldians on Earth for around 5 millennia has created a very distinct alternate timeline to our real world that only resembles it  superficially in the modern age.

 

Also and this isnt trying to stir anything up, but the concept of gods as we have them in RL, do not exist in CoHverse. In CoHverse aside from 1 cosmic godlike being more akin to the elder gods of lovecraftian lore, are basically sentient energy life forms that feed on human psychic energy via faith and emotions. Hence the Banished Pantheon who chose to feed on fear of death, greed for life etc.

 

Even those beings with over lap to our worlds mythologies like the Greek Pantheon, have their own twists in this setting, with all such divine like beings seemingly just aspects of the "Well".

 

And my point above was more simply this. Take a term like Diablo. Now days and for the better part of my life time, that word has been basically owned by Blizzard, and now days in random polls the game Diablo is more often then not what people think when they hear that word.

 

Now take a being like Requiem in our CoHverse, He almost certainly would be more infamous then Stalin and Hitler combined. He is after all a literal undying force of fascism that also happens to be hosting what basically amounts to a Space Nazi. While all the details of his true origin are not likely known to the public, the villain who has ties to both the 5th Column, and the Council, and has been active as a villain since WW2 has almost certainly entwined the word requiem with such ideals to the point it likely has fallen out of popular usage in much the same way germans rarely name their kid Adolf these days from what I have read.

 

Id even lay money that the film Requiem For  Dream either got a different title in coverse, or all the characters in it are struggling with fascism rather then drugs.

[Disable SG base passcode access in PvP zones]

5 minutes ago, arcaneholocaust said:

Nice necro. Good to know Bentley has been acting like PvP'ers are subhuman for a year or more lol.

Taking what I say out of context I see. I love PvP, good quality pvp in a game built for it. CoH does not have this in any semblance. There is just too wide a gap between build power possible to consider it balanced or viable. And yes those who pvp here who basically exist only to gank, grief, harass, and have no actual interest in playing pvp on a pvp centric game are indeed seen even in pvp mmo gamer circles as subhuman trash.

 

I still to this day often for a pvp itch go play Guild Wars 1 and do random arena team pvp because it is always different, fun, and well matched. Were even a squishy elemntalist can with the right melee skills stand against a warrior primary long enough to slip in a shock touch to stun and KD them and finish them off while deflecting attacks with parry skills. Not to mention a game where gear all has the same stats basically so no one has any gear score advantage.

 

IMO the coh servers out there that give max level and all possible character upgrades at creation are the only good pvp CoH servers, because only in such a variant can every one be entering PvP on remotely equal footing, and even then because of the additional power factor caused by certain power pairings, pvp just cant be called well balanced nor designed in CoH. Something the devs themselves felt for years after it got forced into creation.

 

PvPers in CoH literally are composed of meta gamers with top tier builds afking at key ambush sites to try and gank the random wanderer. Usually in groups because they are too cowardly to wander the zones alone.  And such a minority of the least valued players in the greater coh community that thankfully its very unlikely the HC team will ever devote any energy to them with the few resources they have.

 

And you can call me Berk, Mr. holocaust fan. Like serious you have a name that just cries I love the Council and 5th Column.

[Thought on speedster characters]

Considering we have our top speed well defined within the game verse, at for super speedsters around 90ish mph, I myself have never felt the need to have my speedster characters be described as something akin to the Flash. Keep in mind the MCU movies have horribly overblown the more sane speedsters like Quicksilver who in the comics speed ranged only between 200 and 500 mph if I recall right. This is part of why in the marvel vs DC cross over event people felt like Flash vs Quick Silver was such a BS pairing, Everyone I knew back then felt it should of been Flash vs The Silver Surfer, who at the time was typically seen as marvel's fastest mover.

 

So here in CoH our speedsters are fast, but not even faster then super fast jets etc.  I mean you can say your character is, but wont ever be able to back it up so it would be pure RP fluff with no substance.

 

That being said I am leveling a speedster concept this very moment, an energ/elec sentinel called Mr. Energy. I went with the super speed variant from the experimentation pool, IMO its bursts of teleport help to better portray being able to move faster then the eye can follow.

 

 

[Biggest pet peeves...]

So wth I got one to add. Bit of a story even.

 

So In a rare moment of just trying to help out others I join a run for citadel on one of my rare support/cc toons an ill/time troller as they specifically were asking for some support and figured eh why not be a nice berk.

 

So we begin. First mish in I notice one team member is just sitting back at the entrance. I think well kinda rude to go afk inside the very first door but stuff happens. 2nd mish same thing. 3rd mish the player says " god I hate caves they make me motion sick," At which point I mention its all caves, and ask if they plan to pike the whole time. The TF leader says so is that a problem? I am like well its your run your call and all but I dont carry pikers or anti cave QQers and shall be on my merry way, at which point I left.

 

Pikers, especially those who try to use such a weak excuse really annoy me. If you cant play the game because it makes you ill, and a hell of a lot of this games content is in tight caves that unless your gonna move at walking speed, are gonna cause you issues, and sorry but if you are gonna get sick from it, probably just find a different game or sick to street sweeping or something.

 

As someone who gets very real migraines from pushing myself playing high speed action games for too long of a time because of the heavy input of visual data on games like WarFrame and Path of Exile, someone trying to say CoHs speed of play while running around caves causes them issues, is truly suspect to me and if such is really enough to be causing you issues, then you likely need to stick to visual novels or other very low pace visual mediums.

[I can't believe I got that name!]

I just whipped up an energy/elec sent for fun and named him Mr. Energy and it was available. And people say all the good easy names are gone!

[Let people auction base items/designs]

Ive joked with my base building bro on a few occasions that he could like net a few hundred bil for his base work. Even some of his early more unpolished designs are really quite amazing, and his more recent are just art work with the system.

 

Also there is a game, now FTP on Steam called Planet Explorer, fun little sci fi game actually, but it used a micro voxel system to allow for amazing creations, and one could put the designs up online for others to DL and use. Frankly I am more a action gamer then builder in such games so always made use of the great designs of those who enjoyed that aspect. So its not really odd to want some kind of share system for designs imo.

 

However I do think it would undermine the current base selling trend which does exist. I do know a few who have straight up paid others to make their pretty epic bases. Lucky for me I just have one hell of a devoted servant.

[Let the blood flow: Bringing the Blood of the Black Stream to life]

Not exactly in love with any of your specific ideas, but I do concur that this bit of coh lore would be nice to see expanded upon. However as Ive said in many threads like this Id much rather the tools just be added to AE and let players write their own fan fic, and let the HC team focus on things like power sets and animations and new mob types etc.

 

For example give us a map in ae that reskins the golden giza into a proper pyramid, and a few more egyptian themed costume bits and we could make some things up no doubt.  Hm mental note talk with base building buddy about pyramid themed desert base ideas.

[Slottable Inherent Origin Power Pool and temp powers power pool.]

Honestly Id love to see a primary ranged set based on throwing weapons. As you point out several of the origin starter powers like the throwing knife and taser would fit well together in such a set, we also have no few grenades in temp power form that would make for good additions to such a theoretical pool. It could actually even be a unique more dps control primary actually now that I think about it, maybe even a dom primary mainly ideally since it would pair so well with some of their 2ndaries flavorwise. Or maybe even mimic the archery sets in a way and do one that is a dps primary adn one a control primary or something. I just know throwing devices is at least as popular in comics as archery if not more so, we have a lot of throwing devices in game, but no throwing power sets.

[This bio...]

Sounds exactly like the kind of rhetoric that space parasite nazi Requiem would say to manipulate folks into signing up for nictus fragments.

 

Seriously though yeah all in all a nice poetic bit of bio right up till they use a name that is in coh lore forever tied to some of its most vile villain factions that ofcourse have ties to some of histories worst.

 

Ive actually seen a  few who use the word requiem in their name, and it seems lost on all of them that in our game world they may as well be using references to stalin or hitler.

[Change the Self-Rez powers in powersets to Auto cheat deaths.]

11 hours ago, HelenCarnate said:

So you totally ignored the part about it being a lesser version?  The untouchable part is only in self rez powers so you can turn your toggles back on so you don't hit then drop to the floor again like when you try to use a wakie in the middle of a fight.  That could and should be removed if it fires off and prevents your death.  If there is a damage component, stun or KB those should be reduced as well.  From a balance perspective it would need to be enough that those with RotP are not encouraged to slot full damage and recharge and intentionally drop their health for a nuke (like blasters used to).  It would also not give you as much health meaning you could drop again if you are not careful.  It would not be god mode like you seem to think. 

 

And please do not assume you know my motives.  I would not take a self rez even if this were put in.  I don't get dropped to 0 enough for it to matter and my power picks are generally pretty tight.  If I did have a self rez I am normally the last one standing anyway so I would not use it to keep fighting but rather to pop back up after it is safe.  I am not against the change however because it would not affect my play at all and would allow others more options on how they build their characters.  As long as it is always off in PvP zones and can be turned off in Arenas I see no issues. 

 

And please don't mention debt protection.  No one who has played for any great length of time makes serious choices based on if they will get debt or not (outside of intentionally killing themselves for badges.) 

So you dont even seem to grasp that right here you are indeed advocating to radically change a power that you claim you never use, that would have a sweeping impact on the wide spread and very popular firex3 blaster build.

 

ROTP has never once been seen as a balance concern, and does exactly what players want it to do. In fact the only complaint I have ever heard about it consistently is because your dead when you use it you cant do a build up first.

 

The only kinda change some self rez powers might need is like the change made on Sentinels regen and its slight buff over standard regen. I suspect that is about as far as the HC devs would be willing to go( I HOPE)

 

A self res should not be a get out of trouble free card. I use it combined with mog on regen quite adeptly to get up even when surrounded and incapped when pushing my build to its limits.

 

This proposed change is the def of dumbing down because it would be a power that required no thought or strategy to use well.

[Question :: Current task forces and abbreviations]

TFs and the slang for their names isnt exactly a hard and fast rule. A fair few have to do with the name of the contact that gives them, but a few things get called something more to do with the where.

 

ITF for the imperious is the most common, but I have seen some, not many mind you, but some call it the CimTF as an example.

 

The I trials tend to reference the where such as the BAF.

 

I tend to shorten the Penelope Yin to YinTF or Pen Yin tf.

 

I myself usually include the min level range if I am doing an open advert for puggles. but I actually tend to use the search function to look for players lfging, and who have some kind of text blurb like always ready for a tf etc.

 

However OP its all kind of moot for a thread here because most players dont forum, and well in game its just kinda something you do in every MMO learn the local slang for things like content, abilities etc.

 

Hell some 2 letter terms here can have multiple meanings, and it like any language has to do with context. Such as DP. In a more general sense DP mainly refers to Dual Pistols. However if you see someone say something like I jump into a big group to DP and feed my toon, odds are they have the power Drain Psyche and are referring to it.

 

Or PL, PL usually means power leveling in MMOdom. However here if its a PB saying it, odds are they are referring to perma lightform. A PL PB is basically saying they are a human form super tank.

[Switch "Echo" zones to free for all zones]

8 minutes ago, Glacier Peak said:

Well it's a game mechanic that has existed in this game for a long time, so I'm advocating for it to be implemented in Echo zones. 

 

Thank you for your post. 

See here is what you dont seem to be understanding, and are certainly not making any kind of real argument, you just keep stating what you want, and finish with a condescending thank you. What your advocating for would be a active deterrent to the above reasons people might choose to go to these zones currently. I am certainly not going to feel comfortable holding an RP memorial for Galaxy Girl in Galaxy City and her statue if while we are all there with our toggles turned off and having a  nice social RP moment, we can get ganked by scum bags.

 

Nor am I going to go hunt  the GM in DA echo with less then a decked out 50 loaded for war if I have to risk ganking. Nor are badge tour guides going to casually use their own fresh alts while showing others the routes to the more obscure badges in such zones if they can be ganked.

 

You need to offer actually arguments for why what you want would not lead to any negative impact on players current player habits.

 

Otherwise nothing you say has any substance nor validity. Thank you very much!

[I think you could make two small changes to Dark Armor to make it fit in better with the more modern and versatile armor sets.]

3 hours ago, chi1701 said:

Honestly cant remember his primary. Katana is a good set for regen and and was good choice back on live.

Thats some good memory and info your giving to make your case a regen you kinda remember but cant even recall his primary, but he was like out tanking your lobster and out dpsing him, something literally every scrapper can do no matter their build if played remotely competently.

 

While a tri form build can be a fun flavor gimmick build, it has never been a true meta build not for PB anyways. Shades are abit of a different story on that aspect of the kheldian nature.

 

This is because a lobster cant out tank a real tank, let alone a tanky scrapper or brute. And its Nova that is their DPS form, and that is still leagues behind blasters and other DPS builds again including scrappers and brutes. And well truth is since the tnak buffing, even normal tanks are giving way better dps then the average lobster can.

 

The forms really in general while a cool idea, just didnt really ever work well in actual practice. And is likely why I know a whole whopping 1 tri form shade and the rest of the kheldies I know on everlasting are all human pure that abhor the forms on every level.

[I think you could make two small changes to Dark Armor to make it fit in better with the more modern and versatile armor sets.]

7 hours ago, chi1701 said:

Ive seen what regen can do on scrappers, could never really build one, but he had a batter tank/dps than my pb in dwarf form with capped resists.

lol at a dwarf. You do know a pure human perma lightform build has capped resistances without any other toggles being used, and deals out way way way more dmg then the lobster form can ever hope to right?

 

So far your only giving me reason to think even less of any suggestion or idea you have about these kind of topics. Even if you are not a meta gamer, you need to be able to think and build like one to actually have a good finger on the pulse of something enough to have a valid idea of what needs to be looked at for possible fine tuning.

[I think you could make two small changes to Dark Armor to make it fit in better with the more modern and versatile armor sets.]

3 hours ago, BrandX said:

I'm curious to see this build, as I've never seen this.  Or is it, it was something akin to Katana/Regen, so it had Parry to carry it?

That would be how my bs/regen does it. Though with a heavy investment in global recharge, you will end up with mog avail around every min or so, making it useful to use both as a opening super buff to close in and negate initial enemy alphas, and will be up again by the time mobs if facing huge numbers start to stress your healing ime. Still Dark/regen is far far more effective as a optimal pairing.

[Switch "Echo" zones to free for all zones]

I should point out that I actually do enjoy good PvP. Going all the way back to pen and paper D&D, nothing imo gets the blood flowing like having to roll on your best bro in RL because your character needs that holy relic for his church and the rogue you brought along for traps and locks wants to sell it to the highest bidder.

 

Or a game with even half way decent PvP. Hell Age of Conan in its first few months before it followed wow with pvp gear and gear in general being buffed up and being more important then the class build and player knack with their combo system, stealth system etc.

 

On that game during its golden days of the first month or 2 after it launched I played a ranger who went everywhere pvp could occur in stealth, slowly traveling, always using tracking to have an idea if another player was about, and if I found one within 5 levels of me above or below, even on tankier melee classes that would murder me if they got in close fast enough, I loved the pvp and engaged at every opportunity in open world one on ones, yes always from the point of ambush.

 

But that isnt to say I didnt take on more then 1 now and then. One day My aquilonian ranger was wandering the deserts of stygia, when I caught the tracks of a pair traveling together. One was a demon  summoning witch, the other a hellish blackgaurd clad in heavy plate and carrying a mighty two handed sword. Both about my level.

 

So I stalked these 2 for nearly an hour, watching them, and they were not clueless, one of them must of caught a glimpse of my foot prints in the sand or the like and began to use their search regularly to break my stealth, I had to step up my stalking and use terrain to keep them from seeing me, always just a dune or two away but always on their track.

 

Finally they approached a small village, more a trading post and few huts, at an oasis, and my chance came. The warrior must of needed to sell or turn ina  quest there, but the witch waited on her horse just outside the gate. And this is when i struck. A volley of arrows flew, and then i leapt upon her with sword and dagger and finished her quickly. My danger sense tingled and I spun around just as her warrior companion came charging down the hill towards me. Now many a ranger would of attempted to leave a snare to slow him down and flee. But by chance this warrior coming at me was on the only other class Id been playing, so I knew what was coming at me.

 

As he closed blades flashed, we circled and parried and strove to complete our comboes while breaking the others, but he didnt know the arts of the melee ranger, few ever bothered with them, and I knew his own arts as well as my own. So after a heated 20 seconds or so, he too lay dead alongside his witch friend.

 

And both those players gave me huge props for it. We ended up becoming friends. Each fight was a fair contest that only my use of ambush tactics and player skill let me win against them both in the end. I learned it had even been a trap I had sprung and managed to fight my way through. They had thought for sure that the witch could of kept me busy enough for the warrior to double back, and had I been a pure archery ranger spec I may well have fallen to it

 

However the BIG dif between a game like AOC and CoH is that PVP was baked into that game from the get go, and at least until they added stupid pvp tiers and gear it was pretty fun even with the classes not so evenly matched as long as you were around 5 levels of each other. Also that game worlds setting, in the world of conan, no one is truly to be trusted, no wandering stranger on the road is to be treated as any less of a threat then a pack of starving hell hounds.

[Switch "Echo" zones to free for all zones]

39 minutes ago, Glacier Peak said:

This is a valid observation. As I mentioned in my OP, these zones do not serve any game play function besides players like myself badging there or going to chill. And I agree, I can't prove my suggestion wouldn't end up doing the opposite of what I intended. My hope is it doesn't though!

 

Thank you 

Uhm yeah at this point I think you are either being intentionally obtuse to try to play the innocent, or.... nope yeah i think your just being willfully obtuse about this, because there is zero chance anything positive could come from this.

 

Players go to echoes for all sorts of reasons, and making them a pvp zone is something I can promise you the vast majority of CoHers here now or who may eventually find their way here would ever want to see. For example going to hunt mot in old DA. yeah in that hellish mist we really want ganking stalkers waiting for around to sucker punch the GM hunting groups and fuck them over.

 

You can not use things like hope, and feelings to fuel game dev energy. The team is small, their resources thin, and anything they do needs to be aimed at things the majority will want and enjoy.

 

Needs of the many, outweigh the wants of a few who get their kicks from PKing.

[I think you could make two small changes to Dark Armor to make it fit in better with the more modern and versatile armor sets.]

2 hours ago, chi1701 said:

lol no they dont, since i primarily play a peace-bringer, its always, ive played that class but didnt like the constant form swapping so gave up. First impressions are always what happens. People want the easy option, not interested in putting hard work into anything. Plus no one is interested in class balance, mainly because people are comfortable right now that they have chosen the flavour of the month/year.

This is where we shall have to disagree, frankly you seem to have a very low opinion of our fellow gamers. One of my mains is a PB, a Human form PB because I from the moment they got added, wanted one due to their inherent flight, but loathed the idea of their forms. Perma light form ftw! If people forsake PB because of the forms, and never try a pure human build, then well at the very least we can ignore any opinions they ever have to offer about the AT and powers, because they dont have any experience to form a real idea of any substance or value and thus invalidate themselves before they even enter into relevancy.

[I think you could make two small changes to Dark Armor to make it fit in better with the more modern and versatile armor sets.]

7 minutes ago, Galaxy Brain said:

he was mentioning new/casual players, not necessarily good ones.

Since I seem to have to always spell out the obvious for you Mr. Brain, my point is that a good gamer( not one who is good at the game but a gamer who is good at learning to play new games) will not simply write off a power set as bad, but instead learn enough to understand why their initial attempt with the power set went bad. And learn enough about the game mechanics to make it work better for them if it even suits their actual play style.

[I think you could make two small changes to Dark Armor to make it fit in better with the more modern and versatile armor sets.]

46 minutes ago, Cutter said:

I can't argue against your first point- a better baseline would result in a better top end. The question perhaps should be (and I'm not at all saying I'm equipped to answer it): "Is a more potent top end, for those who deeply invest in it, an acceptable tradeoff for a better introductory / "newb friendly" / minimal investment experience?"

 

To your D&D comparison, typically the Fighter descriptions tend to be a pretty sparse affair while the Casters have pages upon pages of material. The differences in complexity are known right up front. That's not the case here. With D&D, it's easy for a new player to look at, say, a Wizard, and think "that looks hard, I'll come back to it when I'm more familiar with the game". With CoH, given that lack of information, a player who tries DA and finds it lacking isn't likely to think "that was hard, I'll come back to it when [same as above]..."; I would suggest that the response would more likely be "that was hard, DA sucks, never gonna try that again." Which is a shame.

 

I don't think we want to go down the road of labeling sets "advanced users only", as that opens a whole barrel of worms. And we're long past the era of experience-gated ATs. Honestly not sure what the "correct" or "ideal" approach to that might be. But I'm pretty sure letting inexperienced players struggle, hate and abandon the set isn't it.

I think perhaps you and I have a different idea of what a good gamer would do. See my first toon to cap on live was a kat/sr scrapper, and after the ED era and end of perma elude in that era I certainly felt SR had lost a lot of what I loved about it. However I also was quick to see that even though SR now wasnt nearly as easy to use in general and had a lot lacking in it being a pure def set with no sustain powers built in, made a dark/sr before it became the default mass av solo slayer it would come to be known as.

 

IMO its perfectly fine for a game to have obscure enough aspects that a new player and their first character are likely not going to be especially good against the content. And we actually do already have advanced vs easy starting classes. Its pretty well known among games large and wide, that classes like tank tend to be much easier on new players learning the game as their inherent survivalability offers a larger safety net for flubbing up. The fact some power sets just take a good partner to excel is the nature of the beast and one I would hate to see dumbed down. I prefer a world were not all are simply going to achieve top tier power without some understanding and effort put into learning how to get there.

 

The fact is there are more answers then just elec to pair with dark armor to make it work better, thats just imo the most obvious starting build choice one can make. DA is as easy to manage as keeping a supply of recovery serum from P2W. Which is not remotely unfair to ask players to use, as it was once upon a time a crafted recipe easy to come by and make charges of even back on live. Now its right there and evena  new player wont take long if someone teaches them to monetize reward merits to have more then enough to keep plenty of RS charges to keep their blue from running low.