Monos King

Aura of Insanity is not currently accepting any ATOs in spite of its damage components and other slotting alotments.

As of 6/15, Consume Psyche on Brutes/Tanks is not applying its -regeneration or -heal debuffs. The -recovery is working as intended. This applies in both PvE and PvP. This also applying to Devour Psyche on Scrappers and Sentinels.

These screenshots tell the tale. This is happening in both PvE and PvP. The scrapper I tested on had over 60% res to smash/lethal and 45% psionic resistance, and should have taken much more proc damage. Somethings going on with their damage.

I do like new mastermind ideas. The implementation probably wouldn't be all that complex in this case either.

If it makes narrative sense, yes. The Wharf skulls I currently have a few issues with for reasons I highlighted in the focused feedback, but the idea can certainly work.

Right, they would be another group like Arachnos and Longbow that scale with the players power progression. Though those are slow, and consistent through the level process, and things like Snakes (and soon Skulls) are a huge sudden jump. My big concern there is that said Shauna and Eagle Eye arcs will be forgotten, as those were already building up for large developments in the Skull world.

On the lore discord, as well as in game, there are two controversial topics that launch into devoted discussion every time it's brought up. Multiverses Scale of Power Increases Multiverses (and similarly time travel) have their own issue amongst the story focused player base due to the convolution and complexity they tend to involve. Scale of Power increases refers to when the story's characters become so much more powerful and the scope so much larger over time, that whatever came before it becomes obsolete and incapable of being relevant in the future. In comics, multiversal stories signal more than unique variations of familiar heroes and villains -- almost inevitably, they will demand a multiversal threat. As such, one tends to lead to the other. But rather than address cosmic hierarchies, this topic will address this concern in a specific context. Should thugs remain thugs? Or in other words, how significant do we want the entry-level, low-end enemies to be? Should the likes of hellions and skulls stay basic, grunt class workers for more powerful groups? This is interesting, and I wanted to hear other takes on this because while the question is one that lightly overlaps with some existing Game Balance conversations, the storyline perspective is one that is heavily underdiscussed on the forums. This isn't to just ask if low level groups should ever be revamped or empowered or given higher level variants. For one, Longbow and Arachnos are groups we see grow in power with the player as they level, along with various other groups. This is more about the groups that have been established as low in the pecking order, both from design happenstance and from the narrative itself. The ones that stop at 20 tops, and are never heard from again. Do you want to see groups like the Hellions, Skulls, Contaminated; the true dregs of the power placement, see advancement in later story? Do you want to see stronger versions or permanent upgrades of previously unimpressive enemies? Or do you believe that there simply should be reliably weaker groups, who don't contribute to the larger stories at all? Making my own opinion known, I am heavily in favor of grunts becoming more powerful in later game content if it makes narrative sense. These days I experience the game through the lore first and foremost. This has been done very well with the Snakes, as well as with the Psychic Clockwork. I'm fond of what HC has done with Goldbrickers as well. I have also been open to a story development that allows higher level thugs, though I believe level 50 should be permanently off limits for them. But I also see notions that there should always be a mook tier that stays mook tier simply because it establishes levels in the story, preserves the hierarchy, or prevents contradictions later. I've even seen the notion that it's simply "lame" to have to fight enemies who you squashed easily early in your career, and that it disrupts the immersion of your own growth as a character. I'd love to hear the other forum goer's stance on this.

Don't think this is the way to handle the Skulls for reasons highlighted in my above post, but I'll have more feedback as it comes together.

I have to tack on that I am very much super not in favor of the sudden power level jump for Skulls. The skulls needed a more native, natural progression in power. This was being built upon by the past arcs, and there was set up for this kind of progression. A sudden, mysterious jump in power from mook to monster is very effective sometimes. The way that it was done with The Snakes is a great example of this. They went from the likes of an easily culled group to a powerful cult with potentially divine origins. But this worked with the Snakes for a couple of reasons. Spoilers below for Operative Grillo if that's a concern. For one, The Snakes did not have a greater narrative that was being built up to. They didn't have really any story from the level when they were introduced, allowing an essentially clean slate for later expansion upon. They weren't established as a weak group with reasons for staying weak, they just happened to be weak. Furthermore, they had an existing narrative that could easily allow a power climb. The plaques discussing the legends of the Children of Enos planted the seed of intrigue in the players, keeping them open to an eventual re-introduction to this low-level group. All of this makes it not only agreeable but interesting that the Snakes end up so powerful. And we find out what is really going on; what seems like a sudden power explosion is actually closer to the group returning to their roots. There's an actual Goddess involved. Not the case with Skulls. For one, their placement in the world is well established. They are intro magical guys. They are mere thugs, they run an illegal business, they depend upon other groups like the family for their supply, and they possess a piffling understanding of magic that leads them (and hellions) to manipulation. We find out that they actually do possess access to more impressive, knowledgeable members in their leadership, and that these people had big plans in the future. I had always looked forward to this being something that leads to actually powerful, high-level skulls. But like...Levels 30-40. That's the biggest issue here, it isn't Skulls are getting a power increase. As I said, I am actually very much in favor of that. I've even been talking about it a lot, because the existing lore is there to permit something happening. But we should really be using the existing lore. The current Skull situation leaves an entire arc, a very insightful one, pretty much dangling off a roof. It is something that needs to be addressed before the Skulls advance in strength and significance. And the other issue is that the Skulls got a power increase...to level 40-50. That's insane. That's Banished Pantheon tier. Even I had a hard time convincing people this should happen, and I was saying it would be like level 38 tops. Skulls at 40-50 is kind of insane. I'm not saying there's no way Skulls could be made to that powerful, far from it, but with this big a jump, there needed to be exposition before the fact, not after. As it stands, it will likely be jarring and strange even with the future explanation, as well serve to undercut or even abandon the Kings Row arcs. It wouldn't even make sense to connect them to the Kings Row arcs, because this big a level gap between the arcs is impractical from a story following perspective, not even considering the power jump. It would be difficult to follow that story during natural progression, and sort of limit the amount of story that could be added during said progression as well. The growth of the skulls could easily take place from levels 14 all the way up to 40, not unlike the Signature Story Arcs. This one might end up having some undesirable consequences. I appreciate the inspiration and passionate work, and I will be following the storyline closely however it ends up moving. Though I am heavily against these developments, as they currently stand.

Noted elsewhere, but would like to see these ported to PvP instances (though staff would still suck).

Power info is currently bugged and stated to be buffing the player. It does not appear to be actually doing this.

Would be nice to see this damage increase in PvP settings as well.

Current Dark Sustenance, in all of its +recovery, recharge time, heal, and +regen is simply phenomenal. It single handedly makes Dark Armor non-trash in PvP. I'll leave the PvE feedback to my friends Sai and Equinox, but I highly vote in favor of maintaining Sustenance at this type of performance. It adds Dark Armor to the viable armor list on it's own. Soul Transfer being absorb is definitely a nerf in PvE, but it seems better in PvP. I am in favor of all of the new/modified AoE based sustains being given a one target top heavy approach where a greater portion of the buff is awarded to the first target and it evens out to the same as in PvE as the subsequent targets award less. But this one is really good.

Some of these I feel are a little much for low level content. Snipe mechanics at the lower level are both sort of complex, but also sort of useless. Mooks are often in Port Oakes which is huge and has plenty of opportunities for them to be meaningful in the terrain. The Hellions are primarily heroside, and they show up at a stage where travel is less familiar. It might not be the engagement for this kind of attack. But more importantly, the types of maps they are in huge little in the way of distance protection (lower level missions have smaller maps or are clustered like the Sewers) and I don't forsee them being anything beyond sitting ducks in most encounters. While hellions do exist in Port Oakes, the mooks already have this enemy type covered, and I don't see hellions as being tactical enough to utilize snipers effectively anyway. I don't think Hellions should have traditional or impressive weapons outside of their upper ranked named members personally. Titan weapons is very dramatic and powerful, and some rando thugs with magic don't strike me as having the discipline or gravitas to have it. It'd be a bit jarring. This would be pretty cool. All of this is pretty much what I mean about it being too much though; this is an extremely potent assortment of debuffs and damage and summoning for a low level group that also isn't established as a threat in the storyline. Groups like circle of thorns with heavy debuffs and means to heal are also limited by very basic attacks at the lower levels. They have a couple of attack types, like spectres, and everything else focuses on control. But these guys will have it all. If the spawn in a large group, that's level of power that could be not only too much, but also undeserving of these mere gangsters.

Yeah legends PvP was my jam. I was a beast. I was a God. Why, if you hooked me up with Two Face I'd... Anyway, problem here vs DCUO is the huge stat variety between Ranks and how to balance that. Legends PvP had the characters quietly have vastly different health pools and crit modifiers without anything in-game actually telling you about it. But with the combat counter system and full-protection shields, it could be worked with. In CoH, if you play a minion you lose to a lieutenant most of the time, if you play a lieutenant you lose to a boss 100% of the time, etc etc. We could divide the NPC PvP by rank to avoid that, but some NPCs power profile is tremendously above others. Even at even level an outcast isn't beating a Cimeroran. And if it's Cimeroran vs Cimeroran, there really isn't anything preventing that outcome from being a coin flip. More importantly, implementing that is rough. Personal stories work on hand creating new temporary power versions of each the real NPC powers. Waaay too much tedious work. It might not need to be that way if this PvP actually made use of the dev commands or something similar to literally make you an NPC, but NPC base to hit stats are poor, along with other things. Ultimately it would still be fun and I'd like it, but there's probably a huge tedium behind it.