pawstruck

Not to be a dick, but: How is the word "underperforming" not self-explanatory? Many weaker sets aren't noticeably bad because IO's are overpowered and this is a twenty year-old, solved game. I know I say this a lot, but people seem to forget how crazy strong we are now compared to Hami-O days. Some sets are so noticeably bad that I cannot even endure them for the perfect concept. Poison on MM's is one example. Storm Blast on blaster is another. Once you've played, say, Ice, I can't help but feel like Storm is just a less effective version of them. (Also, what the hell is that T3 blast? I make my enemies wet with a raincloud, and that's supposed to be more damaging than my Direct Strike lightning bolt??) What I (we?) mean is clearly not that YOU can't play and enjoy these weak sets, but that most of us are bothered enough by their comparative weakness that we do not want to play them until they are buffed.

Seems like we're pretty far from the sentiment of the OP. Giant Monsters, like most content in old CoX, are not a legitimate threat for most players at this point. They definitely lack the "ohhhh shIT" factor from back in the day. I remember seeing Kraken for the first time and getting bonked by a tentacle... Was awesome. Those days may be long gone from this game, though.

If this game was still difficult, you might have a case here. We're far beyond America Online, 15fps on a CRT monitor, thinking George Bush and Obama were somehow importantly different, and the need to have a balanced team in CoX.

Tried to go outside the box with my Bots/Marine Mastermind: Deep-C DEEP maritime robotics was dedicated to scouting the ocean floor for oil, not ancient relics. Nevertheless, one fateful laser-drilling incident led to Unit C coming into contact with something only recorded in its memory as Ocean.Beyond_Sea. Whatever it was, it infused Unit C with incredible marine powers and granted it a commanding sentience over the other droids on the team!

Don't forget that IO's really broke the game, and we're all just here pretending to be superheroes and reliving 2005. For me, I don't need my whole team to "fail" for it to be interesting. If the GM can kill me, specifically, there is an element of suspense. It does deflate the excitement to know that my teammates are practically invincible though, thanks to 500 billion INF builds...

Is joking called trolling now? Kids these days. Ok, I'll be serious: These ideas for primitive weapons are as bad, or worse, than a certain Captain who can only throw his stupid shield at supervillains and giant monsters. Sure, you could say "it's magic," or "it has specific atomic properties," or whatever, but where does it stop? A guy who can throw magical rocks? hock radioactive loogies? blow laser-infused kisses? Eventually, disbelief cannot be further suspended. (Btw, I'm aware we have shields in the game and yes I think they're silly.) ......boomerangs still suck more.

I utterly refuse to believe any claim that a boomerang is, or ever has been, an effective weapon.

Damn, this is good. Best I got was bots/marine: A robotic sea rover team, one of which had an AI malfunction and uncovered a magical artifact granting it sentience and oceanic powers. Name: Deep C (other robots are other letters) Costume is robotic with some sand/coral/water compliments.

Call me dumb, but I don't see how. Beasts are ridiculously tough for me to keep in one area because they're all melee.

IMHO, the thugs thing is a stretch; so much so that it would bother me as the creator. "So I genetically modified random street thugs to... shoot their guns..?" Why wouldn't they just be normal people (not thugs)? Why would they use pistols? Why not ninjas, and call them genetically modified? Sorry, I don't mean to knock your concept necessarily... Just to me, the robots fit and the thugs don't. My 2inf

Huh. I was seeing the no -res debuff combined with the fact that MM minions can't benefit from +Rech, so I was thinking it sucked.

Will I be gimp late game if I combine a defensive primary (ninjas, thugs) with a secondary that provides resists? It's blocking out a lot of my thematic pairings. Also, do Electric and Sonic suck? Thx. 😄

Yeah, but are the upgrades and animations so extensive that you can't even change color palates? I'd at least like my wolves to be all white, or my thugs to be ...not all white... Lol

Qft. I especially hate matching 20 year-old games where half the people are +4/x8-ing on squishies because ATOs broke everything. I'm just here to look cool and pretend I'm a superhero for 30 minutes at a time while my kids nap.

Clever. Better disable most of the costume creator then, if player characters can't be anything like enemy* groups. Or is it just MM's that must be weirdly out of place? *I do not endorse group enemas, as does the person I am quoting.

I really don't want to start trouble. But dammit, it bothers me that Thugs actively avoided being one of the really cool gangster archetypes in our culture. Gasp and clutch pearls all you want, but the urban black gangster culture is fun as hell (in theory, anyway). There is a reason gangster rap is popular. But can your thugs be literal thugs? Nope. Yakuza? Nope. Chinese Mafia? Russian mob? Bikers? Nope nope nope. What we get are generic white kids with weird hair that shoot guns... And a Bruiser that looks like Back-Alley Brawler's preemie brother. All that rant to say... I want to like Thugs so much, but it seems like the power set purposely tries to be milk-toast neutral. Bo-ring. (Customizable pets when??)

I'm just trying to figure out how I summon these fish through the floor of this high-rise office building. ....but seriously, MM seems coolest to me too. The problem is none of the MM sets go well thematically with Marine.

A bubble might be the least damaging thing imaginable. It's like having a glitter attack.

😞 I guess I should have known that. Sorry, and thanks for the help!

I'm getting the "We were unable to locate the game data files. It is likely that your installation is corrupt and needs to be repaired. The game will now exit." message when I try to log in now. I've revalidated, moved the install to a different subfolder, etc. Still nothing. Am I alone? Any fix?

"False dichotomy" does not apply here. It's a philosophical term that attempts to undermine a logical problem by positing a third, hidden solution. Obviously, CoX isn't saying "here are the only two solutions logically possible." It's just... a video game... and it cannot practically reproduce infinite options. Limitations create freedom. No offense, but even your "phone a friend" option is just boring as hell. It provides no dramatic interest. It's like the guy in DnD who goes "Yeah? Well I just jump over all the bad guys, grab the gems, teleport home, and make out with Helen of Troy..!" When I GM'd, there was always a nice stray meteor or lightning bolt available for players like that. 😆 Tldr: The choices are interesting. They don't fit everyone's fanfic or ability to team. Sorry. I like 'em how they are.

Furry theme: Nature (Seriously though, anything can be decent, but Nature won't compete with Cold or FF). ((But wtf I play a 20 year old game where I pretend to be a superhero... I do what makes sense to me))

Ok but... Is "defensive mode" a separate thing from the three commands you can give your pets (that would be on your default bar)? Do you have to use a macro to access defensive mode? How the hell are new players people supposed to know this stuff?

I appreciate this thread. I abandoned my Beast/Nature immediately at 50 because of this problem. I guess I have some research to do... Although I have to say, what I experienced was comically bad compared to when my blaster hit 50. The latter felt like he was growing in power, whereas my MM got wrecked every time and hit like a wet noodle. We'll see if some of these suggestions pan out. I'm doubtful of some, though, just because I'm Inf poor 😆

I don't encounter the steamroll people until 50+. Everyone else seems really chill on Homecoming.