Wavicle

In combat Stealth suppresses and loses part of its defense. In theory you could remove Only Affecting Self and instead the power simply loses most of its defense in combat. Frankly, though, that is literally what Hover is for. Afterburner is fine as is, a poor man’s Personal Forcefield.

The reason why is that prior to i24 it WAS Conserve Power.

If you can't solo +4/x1 on a lvl 50 Blaster then there is something wrong with either your build or your play.

Well if they nerf TW a little then only Savage might be ahead of Fire and the tradeoff there is about damage type and build up.

yeah, I'm seeing this too...what does it mean?

Oh definitely. I never meant to suggest otherwise. I always assumed it would take some serious tinkering.

it is not quite analogous to the "range as defense" situation Blasters were in. It is however very similar to the situation Stalkers were originally in, the thought being that since they could placate and then AS again so safely they didn't need to be able to scrap it out more quickly. Just because they're safe doesn't mean their damage is high enough if that is their primary contribution in a team context.

This seems fair: AoE=Blaster>Sentinel>Scrapper>Stalker Single Target=Stalker>Scrapper>Blaster w/melee>Sentinel>Blaster w/o melee Obviously not in every single case, but as a general way of looking at it. Unless I am wrong that Scrapper does more single target than Blaster w/melee? I don't really know.

This is completely irrelevant. The game is not, never has been, and should not be balanced around solo performance. Go to DA on a TEAM and bring your Blaster in one mission and your Sentinel in the next. You should not be dieing enough on the Blaster to make the Sentinel contribute more overall and if you are there's a problem with your blaster.

Fundamentally I believe the game Is flexible enough to allow for two ranged damage dealers that are neither support nor tanks, one a glass cannon and one not. But Sentinels do not currently measure up.

But, as was determined with blasters, it isn’t Enough of a defense to call for such a large damage penalty. What it comes down to is inviting a Blaster, Scrapper, or Stalker to you’re team are all roughly equal helpful. Inviting a Sentinel is not. Again, just surviving is not a team contribution unless you have aoe taunts.

But heck, as long as I'm dreaming, a brief description (spoiler free!) of each story arc could be included! Under Ashwin's button:Ubelmann the Unknown--Investigate the mysterious 5th Column operative!The Redemption of Alexander 'The Great'--Seek out the Warriors leader!Under Miriam's button:The Scroll of Tielekku--Discover the mysteries of the Scroll!Find the Pantheon: Rescue the Mystics--Prevent the sacrifice!Under Colin's button:The Freaklympics--Stop the Freaks from destroying the city!

There could conceivably be more info presented, such as number of missions, enemy factions to be encountered, but that's less important.

Sure. Just recently I completed the lvl 25 Safeguard mission and was presented with 3 choices for contacts. Ideally the info would be presented individually with each contact, however the actual panels with the contacts pictures and information are already buttons themselves, so presenting an Optional button directly on those might prove difficult. So perhaps something like this: Underneath each button to choose a new contact there could be a line of blue text that reads "Click Here to see some of the missions this contact may offer." Let's say, just as an example, the contacts offered to me were Ashwin Lannister, Miriam Bloechi, and Colin Larson. I click the button under each and it unhides the following text (or variations on it depending on level, faction, etc), also in blue. Under Ashwin's button: Ubelmann the Unknown The Redemption of Alexander 'The Great' Under Miriam's button: The Scroll of Tielekku Find the Pantheon: Rescue the Mystics Under Colin's button: The Freaklympics I think with some time I could actually make a mock up to illustrate, but is my description pretty clear?

Future contacts are unlikely to be presented as choices. That’s the most important part of the suggestion, that the information be provided when the choice is made. The suggestion made above that the info be hidden until clicked on was good. I know you’re right, it is unlikely to be implemented. However, the HC team have indicated they want to make CoH the best it can be. This is a relatively easy addition that would be an improvement.

Only if they share it.

Just to be explicitly clear, no, I don't really care about your opinion. I posted my idea so the DEVS can see it and consider it. What you think of it is irrelevant.

Perhaps so, which I would take as evidence the devs who created that content agreed that choices in game should be informed in game.

Nobody else has given an opinion. Everybody else just said you can already find this elsewhere on the Internet and so it’s not necessary. That’s not an opinion. I realize it’s on the Internet elsewhere, I think it would be a good idea for it to be available in game when you’re choosing a new contact. Maybe people are right that it shouldn’t be everywhere you read about the contact, maybe just when you’re making the choice. The point is I’ve made an actual argument for why it’s a good idea and the argument in response is just Google it.

Nevertheless, I think it would be a good idea to have some idea what I’m choosing between when I’m asked to choose a contact.

When looking at the biographical information for any contact, (when offered a choice of contacts, when given a new contact, or when looking at any existing contact) I would like to see underneath the biographical information the names of all story arcs and badge missions the contact may offer, in blue.

Good analysis. I agree with all your points. I am glad we agree on roughly where the balance point lies. Blasters=Better AoE, Better Single Target IF they go to Melee Sentinels=Better Ranged Single Target Whether they need to contribute to "support" at all is a question. I figured since Scrappers can "tank" a little bit it was acceptable for Sentinels to "support" just a little bit as well. But if that stands in the way of making them an effective damage dealer alongside Blasters, Stalkers, and Scrappers then get rid of it.

Probably, in some but not necessarily all cases, the Blaster should have to go to Melee to beat the Sentinel's SINGLE TARGET ranged damage. Obviously the Blaster should almost always beat the Sentinel at AoE.

I've been playing Sentinels a lot lately and I think I was basically right. Increase base damage to 1.0 and significantly improve the strength and ease of use of the inherent. Whatever is done to the inherent should slightly increase the team support contribution and significantly improve the self damage contribution. Probably it should be a separate button, not part of an attack, and should include both Offensive and Defensive buffs on every casting. End goal should be for Sentinel and Blaster to have roughly IDENTICAL single target damage. Sentinel will still be behind in range and in AoE size but make up for that with their armor and the team support element of their inherent.

I think you have to take into account not just how safe they are but also what they contribute to the team. Being safe, unless you have taunts, does not contribute anything to the team. If opportunity did a little bit less for team damage then higher base damage would be fully justified if it isn’t already.