Purrfekshawn

It says that it gives power's target small infusion of Endurance, so maybe you are charging up your Enemies with Endurance this way? Pay attention to enemies' blue bars.

Issue is with Fire Patch caused by Assault Bot. When there are several targets, patches are created under each target. Each of those patches deals AoE damage. When they are created they have chance to KD something on first hit. If more then one patch KD's same target - their magnitude sum up and adds get knocked back. So choice is - either you want your Assault Bat permaknock enemies through patches and slot OF. Or you don't want knockback and then slot Sudden Acceleration.

Maybe after -1000% knockback reduction, the power's Knockback value is braced, and rounded to 0.67 (least possible KB), then extra KD chance (mag 0.67 as well) sums with it and it becomes 1.34, which is already KB level. But l noticed that chance to AoE knockback adds this way is insignificant anyway, like 1 or 2 adds knocked back if 16 are hit. It also depends on +? level you run content, at +4 magnitude seems to be reduced below 0.67 anyway. l don't slot any KB to KD on my Main except Overwhelming Force in Assault Bot, it turns it to almost perma-knock type crowd control powah. Also KB to KD may not work when you use it against lvl 1 or around adds, because of level-related power buffs, which when caused by 49% level difference may exceed KB value. Powers those usually never knock back (like Dragon's Tail) may cause knockback to underleveled adds. Edit: Incendiary Swarm Missiles, those naturally don't knock targets at all, have another source of KB, if one tick is triggered by Incendiary Swarm Missiles power caused by bot (0.67), and another - caused by flames, generated by power (0.67 too it adds up to 1.34). These may KB targets. But if there is bunch of adds, and Assault Bot fired Incendiary in center of it, flames spawn under each add, and all of them deal AoE damage and can KD targets, and if adds packed tightly, their KB may trigger simultaneously, resulting alot bigger KD values, and therefore solid KB. Well now l think Bot's OP Knockback control & AoE damage through flames has this sudden KB side effect because of it. What to say - win some, lose some... But please, leave it as it is. Don't nerf Goofy. Let it be balanced this way...

Well, it seems to be pretty pricey enhancement, l should craft more of them.

Well today l tried to run one of Task Forces on mah Main (thematic toon, extremely delicate princess, but due to various enhancements/incarnates still able to solo 8m +4 Council pretty safely), but set TF's difficulty to +0, because defeating bosses at +4 get too boring (especially counting its RUNAWAYS (theme of this topic)), and when We reached boss fight at long last - what would you think - the boss, the HUEG brave knight in armor began running away from Us like a headless chicken! What a goddamned shame!!! And not only running away, but also jumping like 100 ft up (and mah toon needs jetpack for that) onto various structures like a flea! CoH is the first game with so many enemy runaways l've seen. In majority of games enemies just stand on their place and fight until they die (or you die). This CoH feature seemed for me like attempt to feature a bit of realisticity (like street thugs, encountering opponent, won't fight to death, but prefer to run for their lives, and it makes sense). But when mission's key Boss starts to run-jump around like chicken-flea hybrid, that's not even closely realistic. That's a blah. l have nothing to complain if one minion, who miraclously escaped mah splashes prefer to run for its digital life, at least it's what snares and slows for. Maybe even lieutenant. Or a tougher enemy, but when affected with powers those inflict Fear status. But when a Boss, Elite Boss or AV begins to do this kind of blah, it's just cock-a-doodle-doo. All of them are literally immune to all immobilizes/slows/mezzes, and begin headless chickenning across the map. l even lost one Cyclops add this way (maybe he fell through texture while doing this). l think something is wrong with the part of the code, that weights strength of enemies and makes decision - to fight or to runaway. Maybe it considers PETS like REAL PLAYERS. When l use mah Nuclear Cyborg tank enemies seem to stand and fight to death, despite they can't even land a tiniest scratch on mah Tank. Releasing 2 Lore Pets, however, seems to make enemies more cowardly, so their Lieutenants may RUNAWAY from the character when Lore Pets are out. But when a white, delicate and really soft girl approaches - they begin to tremble in terror, running away in panic and covering their head with their hands, every single add from Underling to Archvillain. Other games, perhaps, don't have any sort of engine, that causes enemies to run in overwhelming majority of cases for a reason - game stops to be fun when player is forced to chase after each single add he encounters. It becomes not matter of realisticity anymore, it's a matter of annoyance, which has to be avoided if possible. Can this stuff somehow be fixed? l'll try out specific solo build with Taunt (or maybe use something else) on Private Server. How build system works - can same enhancement be used in 2 different builds, or l need 2 sets of enhancements (which is not only obviously pricey, but also what's about more valuable enhancements like ATO?). Sorry for Newb question, l just had no chance to try out CoH before its "shutdown", which, however, isn't that bad, as back then l would not have had access to bunch of features, those would need real cash.

But won't that make Kismet activate only when you use "Afterburner" (& therefore become unable to attack)? As l understand mechanic - it is "chance" type enhancement, so it gives permanent buff only if is placed in automatic powers, or in toggle powers, if that toggle is running at that time, but when placed in occasional powers, it won't trigger until you activate that occasional power. l've same lssue on Mah Main, where l placed Numina's Convalescence Regen/Rec on Aid Self power (& l dunno into what to respec with that), but there energy isn't much of an lssue, so it's probably kinda okayish (maybe).

l understand a way the Gauntlet works, but... There seems to be something specific about "Crane Kick" Martial Arts power for Tankers. Tooltip notes that it's a single target attack, but also it says that it has max target number of 5. l found out that it happens because of entry "0" where it (maybe) should be "2" (at least there is "2" for other Tanker attack powers). l tested it on Private Server and replaced 0 with 2. This resulted in: Before: After: As a result of that - it might be that Crane Kick doesn't produce Aggro in AoE area around the target, as intended. And thus it may hurt Tanker thematic characters, those want to keep aggro with kick-themed powers. l want to get a straight answer about this, as l may make aforementioned thematic character someday, but l need to be sure it's not bugged in either way.

Well, it seems to be even mentioned in patch notes: https://docs.google.com/document/d/11cLJiSYlfueJheOumRywG8Evip2Mjmu_30Y6ePaetqY/edit Beam Rifle’s Quick Snipe now has a 55% chance of Disintegration spread; regular slow Snipe chance remains at 100%. But just why did they do that? And only for Blasters. Possible by mistake. But no matter, l've 100% chance of it on Private Server & enjoy that. As well as Mastermind's Pets on Blaster Character. Very nice non-standard build n.n

l noticed one day, that Tankers have powers tagged as AoE's. And then my attention was attracted by Crane Kick (Martial Arts) power, which was tagged as having 5 targets max, but at same time being Single Target attack. l thought it's something wrong, thus looked into "powers.bin" file and found a reason: File: "powers.bin" - responsible is one, that's on server in "C:\COH\data\server\bin" directory Position: 0x1DA3BC4 - SCORE version. or 0x1DA3E3C - homecoming version. 12 bytes are responsible for the attack splash radius 00 00 00 00 05 00 00 00 00 00 10 41 need to replace 1-st byte to 0x02 02 00 00 00 05 00 00 00 00 00 10 41 While testing results l also found, that despite the attack is AoE (initially l thought kinda - yah, Tanker has most AoE attacks, shud be so kewl, sorta mass destruction and all...), but actually these attack dealt Single Target damage, so my guess now - these attacks are tagged as AoE's because they apply Threat (or if you prefer other term - Aggro, Hate, etc...) to enemies in a sphere around primary target, which makes easier to get attention of enemies from Teammates for Tanking. But for some reason there's certain Tanker powersets, those don't have that additional Threat generation (it is Claws and Savage Melee) and thus it might be harder for them (as well (maybe) as Crane Kick, until it gets fixed (it is fixed now on My Private Server. There's no Teammates there, so keep attention from Mastermind's pets purchased through command "/mmm". Pretty fun-to-play My lnvention it is - hybrids mastermind/blaster, mastermind/tanker etc XDDD. Don't need Teammates thousand of years n.n)).

Well, if it's "nerfed" it's surely not intentional behavior. And thus should be fixed as well. Recently l managed to develop a software, that can equalize Quick and Normal versions (within the file "powers.bin") of specific snipes for specific classes in all terms, except the stuff that needs to be different (charge time, interrupt time, animation times). But that will work only on if you have your own Private Server (like Me). Do you have it. l could post here a link, that will allow you to fix this stuff, if you're playing on Private Server, but not sure if it's allowed by the forum rules. Also it might work erratically a bit, depending on which parameters you fill it with (in my test it corrected all Beam Rifle Quick snipe powers successfully). This might be a bit offtop, but In order to overall increase Beam Rifle's AoE capabilities (as it's currently gimped) l would increase Cutting Beam's target cap to 16, cone arc to 45° and Piercing Beam's target cap to 10, cone arc to 15°. Doing it on Private Server right now to see what happens. This slight splash buff might provide a bit more enjoyable gameplay for Us ;D.

Well, are there other examples when Quick shots of snipes from any other Powerset become weaker than Normal shots of same snipers from same Powerset? If answer is no - then l think there should be used non-Quick animation time of Penetrating Ray in that formula for both Quick and non-Quick shots, that will give the result of 100% (and they used Quick time for that just by mistake). Or even they were going to make Penetrating Ray unique power, that is Reliable to spread Disintegrate, which is noted in its tooltip (not have chance to spread Disintegrate, but WILL spread Disintegrate). But it's just mah opinion. Anyway - lMO Beam Rifle would be more appealing and fun to play if chance was 100%, but it's just for me. It's not hell of a buff anyway. Edit: if the formula is (cast_time+recharge_time)*0.04, which seems pretty likely, then chances are: Signle Shot: (1+4)*0.04 = 20% Charged Shot: (1.67+8)*0.04 = 38.68% ≈ 39% Lancer Shot: (1.9+11)*0.04 = 51.6% ≈ 52% Penetrating Ray (Normal, all classes (Blaster, Corruptor, Defender)): (4.4+12)*0.04 = 65.6% ≈ 66% Penetrating Ray (Quick, all classes (Blaster, Corruptor, Defender)): (1.67+12)*0.04 = 54.68% ≈ 55% They seem to approximate it before putting. But there's a deal, that Normal Penetrating Ray shot percentage is NOT 100% according to that formula, not anywhere near, while tooltip says "WILL", which points directly at 100% chance. Having placeholders on all 5 snipes, except just one looks wonky for me.

This is not a bug. The AOE damage is based on the length of the power's cast time. Fast snipe has a shorter animation, so it has a lower chance to AOE; 55% to be exact. Long snipe has a long animation, so it has a 100% chance to AOE. Working as intended. [*]Then why Corruptor/Defender Penetrating Ray quick shots have 100% chance to spread Disintegrate effect? Do they have longer animation? So quick shots are weaker on Blaster character, and same as powerful on Corruptor/Defender characters. Why? There's nothing weaker in quick snipes in any other powerset, no matter cast by Blaster/Corruptor/Defender, and then Beam Rifle has to be unique at this point. Seems somewhat wrong. In addition to that accuracy bonus may be provided by a teammate (via Tactics) - and weakening power through it looks like teammate trolling. And that shouldn't be a thing in any MMORPG. [*]If it's not a bug, it should have been mentioned in a tooltip. [*]l had never been in CoH, but as l know history - previously all Beam Rifle snipes had not 100% chance to spread disintegrate (most likely 55% chance), then devs decided to make it 100% to buff powerset. They buffed all of the related attacks (there are 6 of them: "Pets.Blaster_BR_Snipe.Penetrating_Ray_Normal", "Pets.Blaster_BR_Snipe.Penetrating_Ray_Quick", "Pets.Defender_BR_Snipe.Penetrating_Ray_Normal", "Pets.Defender_BR_Snipe.Penetrating_Ray_Quick", "Villain_Pets.Corruptor_BeamRifle_Snipe.Penetrating_Ray_Normal", "Villain_Pets.Corruptor_BeamRifle_Snipe.Penetrating_Ray_Quick"), but forgot about Beam Rifle Blaster's quick shots (it is "Pets.Blaster_BR_Snipe.Penetrating_Ray_Quick"). Quick Snipes became a thing before chance increase, right? l'm glad you've answered me (most of GM's in most other games don't), but l still dare believe it's a bug and might be fixed for quality of life. Beam Rifle is pretty underpowered anyway (especially in AoE terms).

Also l found that it's safe to do this: copy contents of "subfile" (dunno how to call that record in "powers.bin" file) "Pets.Blaster_BR_Snipe.Penetrating_Ray_Normal" to "Pets.Blaster_BR_Snipe.Penetrating_Ray_Quick" and "Pets.Defender_BR_Snipe.Penetrating_Ray_Normal" to "Pets.Defender_BR_Snipe.Penetrating_Ray_Quick" from position like 0x600 to the end of record (simultaneusly increasing size of records to "Pets.Blaster_BR_Snipe.Penetrating_Ray_Normal" and "Pets.Defender_BR_Snipe.Penetrating_Ray_Normal" sizes respectively). As sizes are changed - first DWORD of these records must be same as XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX_Normal. Because "Pets.Blaster_BR_Snipe.Penetrating_Ray_Quick" contains bugged chance to spread disintegrate, mentioned above in this post, its sequence: 00 00 C8 40 CD CC 0C 3F needs to be overwritten to 00 00 C8 40 00 00 80 3F Also need to correct DWORD value, that specifies "powers.bin" size, it's placed between header and data. It needs to be increased by 216 (0xD8). Here's what l got when tried to do this. Dear devs, please make it happen because it looks so astonishingly beautiful @_@: Result: Beam Rifle quick snipes now look like a real snipe, not the Charged Shot (visually distinctive and looks more powerful ^.^). It also seems so increase shot animation a bit, which might be considered as a slight Beam Rifle buff, but this is even for good, since it's currently kinda gimped, so buffing it a bit could be awesome! Edit: Also need to correct "Villain_Pets.Corruptor_BeamRifle_Snipe.Penetrating_Ray_Quick" l somehow think.

Well, it seems to be l've found out the reason of this. And also there's solution how to fix it for ayone, who also wants to enjoy Beam Rifle on private server. Also it's very important info for those who run this server, so please spend your time and listen carefully, maybe you won't regret it. File "powers.bin", two of them are placed on SERVER in directory "C:\COH\data\bin\" and "C:\COH\data\server\bin\". It's better to change, although it seems only "C:\COH\data\server\bin\powers.bin" matters. Open it in hexadecimal editor. For "SCORE" version of "powers.bin" goto address "0x1582A68". For "Homecoming" version of "powers.bin" goto address "0x1582BB0". They differ for some reason (do they change powers?!). There are following 4 bytes: CD CC 0C 3F It is actually floating point number, that's equal to 0.55. It's current chance of Blaster's quick Penetrating Ray to spread the effect. Need to change it to 00 00 80 3F Which stands "1". That's correct chance of disintegrate spread for other types of Penetrating Ray. If "powers.bin" had already been changed before, in order to fix stuff you can search following 4 bytes: F5 37 02 00 then 12 random bytes, then F5 37 02 00 again (F5 37 02 00 is the address of the string "Pets.Blaster_BR_Snipe.Penetrating_Ray_Quick", placed on the header of file "powers.bin" minus 24 (0x18) btw) After that search forward for following 8 bytes (they should be pretty close): 00 00 C8 40 CD CC 0C 3F and change them to 00 00 C8 40 00 00 80 3F Update this way both of aforementioned files on the server, client modifications are not required. Result: 100% chance to spread Disintegrate with Penetrating Ray on Beam Rifle Blaster characters, as it's intended. For players: client-side modification won't fix the bug, so have to use Private Server (like Me XD). l'm not just mere player. l'm INTO THAT STUFF. So if you find some funk, wonk, etc. that is desirable to be fixed - you can ask me, perhaps l'll find out why that happens. l would be glad to help a team, that works for the good, and absolutely for free... But l wish to get a favor - fix Blaster's quick Penetrating Ray so l can play Mah Main Princess not only on private serva, but also hea. Or else l'll play Mah Main Princess only on private serva, and not hea XD. And also We've found out that character's name length more than 100 characters sometimes may cause server crash XDDD. You hafta keep it in mind, when you shall extend Naming Buffer for Us. :-*

l've just made a testing on Private Server - and it seems Penetrating Ray quick shots have 100% chance to trigger disintegrate spread effect on Corruptor character. It's really sad, because they don't have access to Targeting Drone (Devices set). Next step l'm gonna take is - to find out what exact byte in exact file on server is responsible for that effect and put here exact solution what is needed to fix this problem.

Beam Rifle (Blaster) - Penetrating Ray power - has 100% chance to spread Disintegrate when it's NOT 97% to hit. When it's >97% toHit it also plays another animation (Charged Shot), although this may be intended. But its chance to spread Disintegrate varies depending on version - 100% change when ≤97% toHit and ≠100% chance when it's >97% toHit. This really messes the rotation & its AoE capabilities, because in team there's always 97% toHit, and it makes Penetrating Ray unreliable at some point. What could it be connected with?