Steampunkette
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Posts posted by Steampunkette
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1 hour ago, Wravis said:
1) Do you think that is a good, productive way to create content for a game? Rush it out to hit arbitrary deadlines you've set for yourself, and fix it later? This is a game. The Homecoming team isn't a group of infallible higher beings who can't be seen as flawed or it'll risk societal collapse. Acknowledging mistakes isn't a weakness. Stubbornly refusing to admit mistakes is
I don't think that is a good way to develop content. So I am voicing my opinion. And people keep telling me to shut up. Stop telling me to shut up.
2) I agree, they shouldn't make a fixed statement about the length required to test things. I'm not suggesting they should. But this was an entirely new set with new feature mechanics, that deserved more time.
I registered my discontent, and keep getting told to shut up.At this point it's not even the Homecoming Team that's the problem. It's the group of people who keep high fiving each other and repeating each other telling me and people who are unhappy to be quiet. Stop telling people who have complaints to be quiet.
Why ask for feedback if the stance will be "if you don't like it, too bad"? I don't think that's the Homecoming team's policy, but I do think that it's the route that tends to be taken because it's easier to accept the praise and ignore the criticism. And I think it's a pattern through a lot of testing. Hence why I pointed it out. Hence why multiple people have pointed it out.
The initial post was not very constructive. I'm aware. I apologize. That doesn't make the opinion presented wrong. I'm not the only one who has that opinion.1) I have no opinion on that matter.
I'm a TTRPG designer. Stuff's done when I'm done with it. I don't have a playerbase of 2,000+ people who want more content every 3 months. Believe me, I'd be happier if I -did-. But I would like to point out how you immediately turned it into a judgement position. Where the team is "Weak" because they don't follow your preference for how to resolve this impasse.
I recognize that I don't know everything and I accept that sometimes I'm not going to be happy with how someone else resolves issues I see with their material. Then I move on. I spoke out, initially, about Kobold Press' approach to the Warlock, for example, where they bumped the Patron to 3rd level and jumped all up in the "You don't know who your patron is 'til third!" defense for the mechanical weakness of a level 1 and 2 warlock compared to contemporary classes. And then... I moved on. It was clear that balance wasn't the reason they made that choice, but unifying all classes to get their subclasses at level 3 was a mandate from on high that kneecapped the power level of the Warlock.
Oh well. I move on.
2) You are literally asking them to make a public statement that they were wrong.
Like come the hell on, Wravis. You can't talk out both sides of your mouth, here.
"They should, at least, acknowledge that it was a bad decision". Your words, my guy.
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11 minutes ago, Wravis said:
I was told to move my discussion from Focused Feedback to general feedback, thanks.
And I am 'ranting and raving' that they should not start their testing when they know they have such a strict deadline. They can delay the release after providing the proper amount of time to test the set. And if they CAN'T, because they set their own arbitrary deadline, they should, at least, acknowledge that it was a bad decision and they will consider it for the future. Rather than pretending nothing was wrong and insulting testers for trying to provide feedback that they don't want to hear.And hey, that feedback can be useful NEXT TIME.
But right now it's spitting in your palm. You can do it, and the spit had a purpose in your mouth. But now it's just there.
As far as acknowledging it or agreeing with it: They -really- shouldn't. Like if this were just an interpersonal dispute and they felt you were right and whatever, sure.
But once it hits a company level there are two very good reasons they shouldn't acknowledge or agree publicly off the top of my head:
1) It Might not be Their Decision to Make
Captain Powerhouse may not have been the one who decided that Sonic Melee should get such a brief test and have no control over it. Acknowledging or agreeing with you, publicly, results in a mark against the people who made that decision. Both causing friction between members of a very small team of volunteers (risking fracture) and opening themself up for response. Maybe it was a member of the City Council saying "This patch is too small without a powerset. Throw one in!" and Captain Powerhouse responded "Sonic Melee is the closest to ready for launch, but it needs more time" and the Council said "Do it, anyway, you can do some more changes later, just get it out the door!" and left Captain Powerhouse with no alternatives.
2) It Limits Their Options in the Future
While they might recognize you're right (assuming you are), internally, making a public statements means making a fixed position for Homecoming that they can't, later, go back on without being targeted with accusations of hypocrisy, lying, or otherwise going back on "Their Word". If they've got a set that really doesn't need extensive testing (say, an assault set made up of powers that already exist in the game that really only needs a short balance pass to make sure the values are accurate) they'd be forced to 'wait' until the start of the next patch cycle to get it briefly tested.
So... yeah. Give them some grace, acknowledge that there may be reasons or information you don't know, register your discontent and then move on rather than continuing to focus on the negativity. It's healthier in the long run for you and the community.
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20 minutes ago, Wravis said:
Now I'm saying "hey wait, we have things to say about the food. Why did you waste our time bringing us out here if you weren't going to hear our opinions?"
Except they heard your opinions. And have stated that while there won't be more changes in the short term, there will be in the next update.
It's almost like they have a deadline to meet, and can't do what you're asking -before- the deadline, and intend to do something after the deadline has passed and before the next one comes up.
And instead of accepting that very reasonable "Rock and a Hard Place" situation, you're ranting and raving about how they don't listen. Even going so far as to move from the "We want your opinions here" section to the Suggestion forums to continue complaining.
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1 hour ago, Seed22 said:
Here's the problem with that last part though: Nobody said they have to release a second page right now.
Someone did. Otherwise they wouldn't be releasing another Page right now.
It's almost like there's a hierarchy of responsibility within the company where the City Council and other people set out schedules and get editorial purview over what gets released and when.
BIZARRE, am I right?
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20 minutes ago, Troo said:
Did you just AI-splain? It looks accurate but the formatting is sus. 6/7
No. I just actually write like that.
AI has to copy someone, after all!
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MMORPGs, just like any game design role, puts developers in a really rough position.
1) Appeal to the Majority of Players
You've got to aim for the masses. If you don't, your product won't sell. Sure, for CoH "Selling" it is less about getting actual return on investment and more about maintaining or growing the established playerbase, but the principle remains. And with an MMORPG in particular you need the widest possible appeal in order to maintain numbers at a level that keeps the game moving since you need a lot of people playing at the same time.
2) Create and Establish Fun Material
Whether it's a character class, a new powerset, a mission, or a campaign setting, you've got to create new material and establish it in a world where there's already other material to enjoy. Without new things to do, and new ways to do things, all the balance in the world and all the appeal in the world won't matter: People will get bored. Humans are more complicated than rats, a shock I know, and require a Skinner Box with more buttons to press and different kinds of treats to enjoy.
3) Maintain Balance
Without game balance, the game loses its fun quickly. Either it's too hard or time consuming for a significant portion of the playerbase (which is what happened to Wildstar) or it's way too easy and the players lose interest in a game they quickly 'Beat'. There's a reason people love cheat codes but almost immediately lose interest after typing in IDKFA a few times. Power Creep is real.
4) Work Within Budget Constraints
This is where Homecoming is absolutely between a rock and a hard place. They have a budget of "However much time people are willing to put in to help." which really isn't a lot. So creating new animations, vfx, costume pieces, model resources, etc is pretty well off the table for most stuff. Recycling what exists is the name of the game as we've all seen.
Sonic Melee is a great example of these four issues in play.
1) Mass Appeal.
There's 4 archetypes that can use Sonic Melee.
2) Create and Establish Fun Material.
Attune is new tech designed to interact with player choice and ramp damage against a hard target encouraging a new playstyle.
3) Maintain Balance.
Gotta find the right values to keep it from being as well loved for value as Kinetic Melee and aesthetics as Sonic Blast.
4) Work Within Budget Constraints.
Pretty much entirely made of reworked extant assets.
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Y'all... look at a Calendar.
Next Thursday is Thanksgiving and this is a volunteer project. They're about to go on Winter Break.
Which means getting this patch out so people can play it over the next two months before they come back in mid January to pick up where they left off.
The Open Beta feedback is being recorded, permanently, for easy access on the forums and stuff so they can reference it after they get back and make additional changes.
Could they just entirely cut Sonic Melee out of the page? Sure.
But consider the alternative: They release it in its current state, and the MUCH WIDER playerbase gets to play around with it for 2 months and give their feedback.
Potentially providing WAY MORE actionable information on the impact.
So calm yourself, it's not that serious.
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I continue to believe that Fury should also contain some debuff protections for things like -Speed and -Damage. As well as control -resistances-, but not protection, to shorten effective duration based on how much fury you have.
It'd be a good solid way to show that brutes, on the whole, are stronger through their fury, and difficult to repress or contain.
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4 hours ago, tidge said:
Fundamentally there is the issue that changes to either AT will run afoul of pre-conceived notions about the AT as well as pre-existing characters.
Personally: I'd violate pre-conceived notions about Brutes (they do more damage the madder they get) to implement something with a similar effect but different mechanics that make them better for team play (the madder they get the more they debuff nearby enemies). Of course debuffs are a huge balancing act, so it's not like I think my idea is easily workable for folks with expectations on things like farm times, etc.
I mean... yeeeah that would be a balancing act...
But I also kinda like the idea of the Brute rounding up enemies and then 7 other people basically fireballing the brute.
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"You want to murder unarmed and unpowered people!"
No. I want to -arrest- them. Shocking, I know, but I don't play murderers. You know who else is unarmed and unpowered? Warrior Pankrationists. And they hit like a freight train because "Natural" is a catch-all bucket for people who don't spit laserbeams.
Sure. They're not holding a gun to anyone's head, so the arrest should probably be nonviolent or minimally violent, at worst. But they're still criminals working with a terrorist organization whose goal is antithetical to everything the City of Heroes stands for. They do not pose an immediate threat, but a long term one. Every person they recruit will become a member of guerilla army that uses literal brainwashing, evil nazi superscience, and alien technology to try and do harm to the people of Paragon.
They should be stopped.
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6 minutes ago, kelika2 said:
at the end of the day you are two humans with differing views but have the same tools and each side thinking they are right
you can pretty it up however you want because they did it too
and the reason why you are so damn bold in typing that message is because you probably have more people on your side not wanting to ascend past both
At the end of the day you are a person who values being uninformed and ignorant who is trying to convince someone who has a better grip on the topic at hand that you, somehow, through innocent and simplistic terms, are in a better position to provide a clear understanding of social dynamics...
And also do so while trying to dictate my motivations and intentions without knowing fuck-all about me as a person.
Is it so blissful to be both willfully ignorant and eager to share it with the world?
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5 minutes ago, kelika2 said:
yeah but whats it called when the opposite team uses power and influence to change others?
Authoritarianism.
Fascism is a more complex issue than "Using power and influence to change things"
Fascism, specifically, is a hypernationalist right wing authoritarian political philosophy which uses xenophobia and othering to scapegoat minority groups or outgroups for national problems. It protects corporate power while specifically undercutting labor laws and protections, involves rampant cronyism, corruption, and sexism. And works to use the targeting of minority groups to roll back human rights as part of a campaign focused on 'restoring law' by expanding the immediate power of both the military and the police for use by the state to enforce control. It's also marked by a disdain for intellectuals and the arts while doing its best to hearken back to a fictitious 'Golden Age' of art and society.
Please. Learn more.
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1 hour ago, Rudra said:
Makes me think of some shows where the corrupt cops plant weapons or drugs on their targets to justify taking them down. If the target is an unarmed noncombatant, then the target is an unarmed noncombatant. Make them surrender when you take down the present Council? Sure. Make some idiot "armed" for the sake of being able to justify being able to attack? No. Doesn't work for me. May work for you and others, but it feels wrong for a super hero game to go out of its way to make an existing noncombatant superficially armed enough to justify attacking. If the devs do so? I won't complain. Hypocritical of me, I know. However, the argument to "just give them a pistol" or "make them like a level 1 Hellion" so people can blast them sits wrong with me.
It was meant to be a joke!
That said, yeah, it'd be best if they just surrendered into one of several "Hands up" poses or something and then despawned after 5-10 seconds to represent them being arrested.
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8 minutes ago, Rudra said:
There is still the concern of them being unarmed noncombatants though.
That part is far more compelling, yeah.
So we give them all a pistol attack power...
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11 hours ago, Rudra said:
As often as I want to take down the Council Recruiter as well, I'm going to have to say I'm fine with the recruiters running for their lives rather than be subject to our attacks. We're supposed to be heroes (or at least heroic in public as vigilantes), and taking down the recruiters just because they are saying something I don't agree with is not something I could justify even in a Paragon City court of law. Not without my character portraying himself/herself/themselves/itself as some sort of intolerant bigot that can't even stand to let others express their opinion and attempt to sway them off that opinion peacefully. The whole free speech and differences of opinion thing. The Council in uniform with the recruiter? Yeah, they're both in uniform signifying them as combatants and they have their weapons on them as evidenced when they aggro on a player or a player on them.
Besides, wouldn't a true blue hero, not that I think most characters being run in the game actually are true blue heroes, give someone like the recruiter who has not personally taken up arms against the city (to the best of our knowledge from that brief interaction) a chance to repent and leave the Council? And wouldn't the most effective means of doing so be to let that person see how easily the Council propaganda falls apart as soon as someone (not all heroes have super powers in the game) challenges it and let that person run back to tell others in the group how wrong they were about the Council being strong and their avenue to strength and power? And wouldn't it suit a vigilante better to track that running recruiter back to whatever cell he is part of to finish taking the group down?
Anyway, just some (philosophical) thoughts on the matter.
I would say that the 'difference of opinion' issue is a red herring.
Someone can -think- the 5th Column is a good idea and be shunned out of society until they change their opinion, sure. The recruiters aren't doing that. They're hanging out with a known international terrorist army in the streets of Paragon encouraging passerby to sign up for a fresh brainwashing by an army attempting to occupy Paragon City, which openly and flagrantly attacks superheroes, cops, criminals, and passerby.
That goes from tacit support to material support, and opens them up to legal action and arrest...
Via battle axe to the face.
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2 hours ago, Krimson said:
Good luck gaslighting gamers who have known about the established history of the 5th Column and Council for over 20 YEARS!
6th word of the FIRST SENTENCE! https://archive.paragonwiki.com/wiki/5th_Column
It always telling when someone needs to 'Splain fascism. Were you playing this game 20 years ago? I was. Where were you then to explain this to us?
Did you read the post I was responding to in which kelika2 asked "isnt using power and influence to get your way and force others to think like you fascism?"
Which is different from asking "Is the fifth column fascist?"
I know reading comprehension isn't a priority for some folks but yikes.
Someone proposed a false definition of fascism which amounted to "Is all authoritarianism and use of political power fascism?" and I said "No". Because it isn't.
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13 hours ago, kelika2 said:
isnt using power and influence to get your way and force others to think like you fascism?
No.
You should probably go read more about fascism from a reputable source if you do not understand what fascism is.
I could outline the various characteristics of fascism, but that's not really what this forum is for and would likely result in moderator activity.
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Power Pool: X-Treme
A riff on 1990s "Extreme" characters and their abilities.
Tier 1: Doubletap
You draw two pistols and fire two shots at your target. Basically the same power as Dual Wield from the Dual Pistols powerset.
Tier 2: Brood
Autopower. When you use Rest you get a scaling damage bonus based on how long you rested. Each stack lasts 15 seconds and improves your damage by 10%, maximum of 5 stacks. You gain 1 stack every 2 seconds while resting. This power is modified by your class's damage bonus scalar, so classes that don't get as big of a damage bonus in general will get 8% per stack or whatever. (Great while solo, garbage on teams, perfect for Xtreme heroes!)
Tier 3: Hoverboard
You get your hoverboard, which is the Rocketboard, Void Skiff, Etc. You do the ice-slide animations on it, and you gain running speed, jumping speed, and jumping height roughly on par with the Infiltration power from the Concealment pool, but with way more slide to it.
Tier 3 Sub-Power: Rocket Boost
While you have Hoverboard toggled on, you get access to a low-cost click which makes your Hoverboard power also grant a fly speed for 20-30 seconds before the buff falls off.
Tier 4: Spinkick
You do the Martial Assault Spinning Kick. This is a skillshot power with a short cone.
Tier 5: Piercing Shot
Long range narrow cone maximum of 3 targets, just like the Piercing Rounds power from Dual Pistols.
Unlike the Fighting pool, you do not get a damage bonus to your attacks based on the number of pool powers you have. Instead you get to take Brood. Also no Swap Ammo function for the dual pistols attacks, here.
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11 hours ago, Sakura Tenshi said:
I just wonder in general about the idea of “long reaching melee” sets. I’m sure it is doable, must never really noticed or felt the “extra range” staff is supposed to have.Knockout Blow has a 13ft reach. You can fire it off from far enough away that it looks like telekinesis if you use a shorter character.
It's a thing!
I don't think it -actually- matters at all. I just think it's neat as a concept!
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2 hours ago, Dispari said:
I was thinking maybe Sonic Melee could have a slight range bonus to it, like how Staff does.
Honestly... give it, like, a 15-20ft range. Make that be a special feature about it. Obviously you'll still wind up fighting at 5-7ft in nearly every circumstance, but it'd just be neat for "Assassin's Whisper" to be something you can use from a short distance away.
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8 hours ago, Wavicle said:
I was with you until this part. No thanks.
Well... Punchvoke, Pokevoke, and their primary powerset Taunt.
And the pseudopet should definitely explode in a taunt that sends everything running after the tank, obviously.
But yup! No taunt aura. A different type of tanking the entire way.
In fact, you know what would be awesome about this tauntpet in particular? You could throw it down and run away to get yourself a several second headstart on not dying if you're traveling through a higher level zone than your character, making it the only tanky powerset capable of completely foiling pursuit between stealth and the clone.
Though this -does- also make me think that a Tashibishi/Caltrops field could also be really useful for the powerset to control enemy movement and positioning. Or you could combine that kind of mechanical structure with Blinding Powder. Just something to make enemies significantly slowed and taking ticking damage that keeps the aggro table up without a strict taunt aura.
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On 10/27/2025 at 11:41 AM, Captain Powerhouse said:
Usually I don't comment on future plans but eventually the hope is to get every viable set on every appropriate AT. SS is likely going to be adjusted for other ATs eventually, we first need to see the impact of the revamp of the set live.
Ninjitsu on tankers/brutes has been an issue design wise as I personally don't have many references on how to implement a tanking ninja that are not based on Final Fantasy XI. If you happen to have a good ninja anime episode (naruto?) reference I can look at to fish for "non-stealthy/tanky/decoy" ninja, please send references my way!Shield Defense on sentinels is likely to suffer technical animation hurdles. Similar issue with Titan Weapons.
Brute/Tanker Ninjitsu? Easy!
Ninja Reflexes, Danger Sense, Shinobi-Iri, and Kuji-in Rin are all unchanged.
Seishinteki Kyoyo and Kuni-In Sha combined into a single power. In the space they leave behind... Glittering Column.
Well. Not -exactly- Glittering Column. But the same sort of tool. A placeable pseudopet tauntbot.
With the lower relative Defense values of the Ninjitsu powerset for tanking characters, having the ability to generate a tauntpet for 5-8 seconds every 15-20 seconds would be a great way to give ninjitsu both a way to survive, and a unique playstyle different from any other Tank defensive powerset.
Leave Bo Ryaku, Blinding Powder, and Kuji-In Retsu as they are, and let them be other survivability tools outside of the tankpet. Which is just a copy of their character (using the Illusion Tech) that stands there, doing the Kata Emote, and taking no damage. And at the end of it's short lifespan, it can do the AlakazamReact emote, turn into a random object, and then despawn.
No Taunt Aura whatsoever. They don't get one. They have to rely on Punchvoke and Pokevoke to maintain aggro while the Clone-Jutsu power is on cooldown.
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I'm not reporting it and it doesn't seem like a statement worth a warning, anyhow.
Anywho. Yeah. There's ways to make stacking Sentinels on a team better than it is currently, which was all I was looking to highlight.
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18 minutes ago, Rudra said:
No, I'm looking at inherents, which was your argument, and how they benefit the team. One of your comments was how a Controller's and Dominator's inherent lets them stack mezzes to lock down a target. See below:
Except there is no stacking of controls from their inherents. The Controllers are simply stacking controls. The powers in their primary power sets.
Then you followed up with a MM comment:
And there have been multiple comments on these forums about how it is better to simply grab a Defender than have even one MM on a team because the individuals making those comments go on about how they can't keep their pets alive and keep up with the team, and MM support isn't as good as Defender support.
You then argued that VEATs are welcome on teams, even desired to have multiples of, which I have to assume is because of their inherents because the entirety of the rest of that post was about AT inherents:
Except VEAT inherents are completely useless on a team. It is their secondary power set's auras that makes them welcome. And most of those auras any AT can get from the Leadership pool. (VEATs get to double dip, but that still isn't their inherent.)
And all to say that Sentinels with their inherent are worthless to have more than one on a team because their inherent isn't stackable. And my point is your argument is garbage. Because most AT's inherents are worthless to the team itself. They don't even get to be applied to the team's benefit in a non-stacking way like how a Sentinel's does. It isn't the inherent, it is the power picks and how they are played. You can employ Sentinels on a team, with multiple Sentinels, and clear high end content just as easily as you can with any other 'does not have a team buff' inherent. Why? Because, yeah, Blasters are going to out-damage a Sentinel every day of the week and do so at longer ranges, but the Sentinel will last longer in a bad fight and still take down the same targets. It will take longer, yes, but they will still do it. Only one Sentinel's Vulnerability can affect a given target at a time? Until you reach that one target the entire team has to gang up on, the multiple Sentinels on the team are making multiple foes vulnerable to the team's attacks. While still being safer on the field than any Blaster can hope to.
This is -WHY- I'm saying you're comparing apples to carburetors: None of those archetypes boost the entire team's damage with their inherents.
Their inherents are entirely internal, self-contained, and provide benefits only to themselves. Sentinels are the only AT in the game whose inherent applies externally.
And that is where the problem lies. Their inherent doesn't stack from multiple Sentinels, so you can only benefit from -one- sentinel on the team.
What you're doing, here, is strawmanning the absolute shit out of my position by trying to claim that I'm "Only talking about the inherents of all the classes" which is not what I'm doing.
My argument is that the Sentinel's inherent makes it worse to have more than one of them on your team instead of picking up pretty much any other AT there is. That their inherent not stacking with other sentinels makes two sentinels a weaker choice than one sentinel and any other DPS AT in the game.
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Ninjutsu defense for tanks and brutes
in Suggestions & Feedback
Posted
I still think Ninjutsu tanks should take advantage of the Glittering Column design and have a placeable taunt-pet that temporarily takes the aggro off of them (so they have time to heal or whatever) and then it bursts after a moment to do a tiny amount of damage and redirect threat to the tank, rather than having a simple blanket taunt-aura.
Yes, it would make them take more effort to play than "Run in, stand still, don't die"... but it could be really need to bounce aggro between yourself and a clone while popping self-heals and dropping AoE for Pokevoke/Gauntlet.