Polecat

Despite the humor, I probably should gt the thread back on track and point out that, despite complaining about the powerset, this thread is about just wanting more cosmetic options for Staff Fighting. Personally, I'd be happy with a few Elemental options and maybe a couple more non-lethal looking options. But that latter one, Non-lethal weapons, has been a longstanding issue with CoH. I mean, we're cutting up people with swords, shooting them with bullets and rayguns, and it's only sending them to some teleporter that brings 'em back instantly, ready for round two? Yeah... doubt. As someone who likes to play heroes, I at least like to pretend I'm using non-lethal options, and not... lighting a person on fire until they die. Comic logic is weird.

You have a better memory than I. I might have been in CoH since release, but I won't claim my memory of what they did was very clear, beyond my annoyance at the Enhancement Diversification patch at the time (5 stacking damage was the only way my old rad defender used to stay relevant on DPS back in the day). Thank you for clarifying my hazy memory of it.

Actually, your set of pictures probably indicates an interesting problem that likely extends to all the weapons, and one I vaguely remember hearing when the game was live. The model of the weapon is dictated by the size of the avatar's hands. Thus the "heavy" model would have larger weapons than any, while the female model has the smallest. Now I freely admit I may be misremembering something, but a quick glance through the various weapons does make it SEEM like that's true at a glance.... If so, that could further complicate newer models, as it still requires one singular model fit all three body types.

I'd actually call out two powers in Staff that have you hold it from one of the ends. Very specifically "Serpent's Reach", which holds the staff near one end to extend the staff fully. The models I see have it hold the staff about 3/4s towards the end, and the staff lurches forward in their grip during the animation. This is seen very clearly if you use the "Staff of Stheno" on a female hero, as the staff will literally leave the characters hand for a moment. The other animation for "Sky Splitter" has the character hold the staff once again in that last quarter of the staff and slam it down on the ground. Again, if you use a female model, the staff of Stheno literally will come out of her hands at the point of impact. So yeah, the staff can't be 'sharp' at both ends, because one end, especially for female avatars, are where the staff is held. EDIT: Just going over the animations, seems the 3rd high level staff ability I overlooked. "Innocuous Strikes" has a female avatar grab the staff right near the base for a series of pokes at the enemy's feet. So that's another animation ruling out having a staff that's "sharp" at both ends.... And Confront, the animation for females holds the staff very close to the end as well. Even Precise Strike and Mercurial blow have the right hand stay at the lower quarter of the staff. This causes female toon's hands to clip into anything near the base (Re: the Studded staff).

I won't argue that the anims could use a slight tweak, when the "assassin strike" animation is long enough the game frequently cuts it off to restore the normal standing animations you know it's on the long side. Hell, the preview of the animation never shows the actual strike, just the warm-up. That said, I agree totally about the options not being symmetrical and mostly focusing on spear or weighted variants. If I recall, the original version didn't unlock a lot of other staves that the HC crew made available to us (Staff of the Nemesis and the Carnival of Light trio, for example). But that focus from the original game on using the staff in a lop-sised manner also comes through on the animations. For those of us looking for a Donatello or Nightwing/Robin type of fighting, this ain't it. But honestly, the animations were set by Cyrptic way back when, so I wasn't gonna complain about that. So yeah, I just wanted to air some grievances about the single most important aspect of the game, at least for me: The costume. As I said, staff technically has more choices than some others (Claws, for example, has far less options than staff does), but it really does feel much more thin when it comes to what it does.

Yes, you read that title right, but no, not the power. If anything I've been pleasantly surprised by how GOOD the set is. No, what I'm mad about is the lack of good costume options for the weapon! Seriously, it desperately needs more weapon models. Now don't get me wrong, I think ALL the weapon based powers could use more models, but Staff is among some of the smallest number for such models (I think the actual smallest is claws, but bear with me). What's more, there really needs to be some more elemental options for these weapon sets. We have decent elemental options for most of the other sets (again, claws could use some elemental models too), but staff is really missing some good ones. So... why did I get mad about this? I made a Staff/Ice Stalker, and was desperately trying to make the staff look like an extended icicle, and I just couldn't make it work. Honestly, I think it'd be a slam dunk to see some weapons with just a see through ice/crystal look, some with a fire effect tossed on them (even if for the staff the effect is just at the tips like one of those Polynesian fire batons), and even some stoney looking ones for more options. Now... here's the rub. I have ZERO idea if the HC crew have anyone that can do modelling on staff (pun fully intended). I assume they do, since they've made some totally new powersets for us to use, but I don't know if they might just be borrowing things found elsewhere in the game and repurposing them. But I really do hope they've gotten some folks who can do this sort of thing. And I'll admit I'm not asking for a ton of new options, but I really would appreciate a few new weapon models added here or there, if only to bulk up the repertoire we have. Maybe you can borrow bits and bobs from Titan Weapons for staves? Anyway, thank you for running this place guys. The fact I even WANT more expanded options means I'm actually playing and enjoying the game you saved from the brink. Even without my 'perfect' solution, I'll still be thwacking bad guys over the head with my staff (and other weapons, I have a lot of charas).

Elec seems to get a great deal of love, but I am trying to branch out a little. Right now I'm experimenting with a Pistols/Elec Sentinel, so I don't want to jump on another Elec yet. Tho if I did, Kin/Elec, or StJ/Elec seems like a better pick (I just really like Kin, and StJ seems to really perform well, esp on my Stalker)

Thanks for the feedback. I'll give EA a try, I've not used it before. If that doesn't work, I'm familiar enough with SR I should be able to muddle my way through. Thanks again!

I'll admit I've had bad luck with Invuln outside of a Tanker. I'm already using Bio with a Spines brute (a very fun combo, I must admit). EA and SR sync well with TW? I suppose with that first -def attack, it would go well with them. I had an old Kat/SR scrapper back in the live days....

Just a quick question for ya'll. What's a good secondary for Titan Weapons? I tried Will, but it doesn't feel right. Any recommendations for a secondary that'll work well with TW? Thanks in advance.

That spreadsheet looks horribly out of date. It's missing at least two sets that I could see (Rad and Savage), and seems to account for details back when t he game was live, not any balance changes the current team have made....

Only if you run around screaming: "Tis but a flesh wound!"