Steampunkette

The reason I say that animation time is a part of the standard damage formula is, simply, Arcanatime and the game's core structure around TTK. There's a reason the game lists damage per cast cycle in the power window, after all. It's the rate at which you interact with the world around you, no matter how hard you slap Recharge into your build. A final arbiter of output. Hell, it's why so many top-tier builds wind up favoring short-animation-time powers because the DPS vs DPA doesn't line up well for testing metrics. It's -why- the changeling is so alluring, since you're able to outright -ignore- the activation times to increase DPS. Blows my mind how some folks will bend over backwards to try and excuse blatant exploits as perfectly normal and acceptable gameplay mechanics.

The Standard Damage Formula also includes animation time. Which you are specifically skipping. "Technically" correct my ass. I'm outright correct and you're hemming and hawing and hedging to try and preserve the illusion that the changeling gameplay loop is 'normal' but elevated play. It isn't. It's breaking the game for an advantage. If you're gonna play "But the Devs left it in!" as your canard, then hide behind that flimsy placard 'cause the Devs have also said they'll be addressing the Changeling after they decide how to bring Kheldians in line with the gameplay model they're looking to do. Because, yes, THERE'S SOMETHING WRONG WITH THE ATs that needs fixing. That has been acknowledged, too. So we'll see that change come down the pipeline. In effect: Changeling is on borrowed time, as it well should be. But "We don't wanna mess with that mess of spaghetti 'til we have a plan on how to untangle it" is not "Changeling is the right way to play Kheldians."

Changeling play requires using exploits in the way the game's animation system functions to ignore the standard damage formulas and animation times that the game is based around in order to maximize your damage potential. It's not "Playing an instrument well". It's sneakily replacing every piece on your side of the chessboard except your King with a Queen and crowing about your ELO of 2800. You are fundamentally breaking the rules of the game system for an advantage.

1) Increase PB/WS Damage Cap to 400% an provide some debuff resistance This would go a -long- way toward making them more valuable on teams in general. And having some debuff resistance baked into their resistance toggles would make humanforming a PB a hell of a lot more attractive in general and give multiform PBs a reason to drop into humanform for longer than it takes to hit build up and a couple animation-canceled attacks. 2) Collapse attacks across forms. Bolt, Blast, Scatter, and Detonation, as well as Strike, Smite, and Flare (same with Emanation and such over on WS) could all be folded down into the base class so that you wind up less slot-starved with the form-changes and are able to use the forms as Scalar Boosts rather than having separate powers tied to the form-shifts. Yes. This would make the form-swap a little less useful out of the box since you'd still need to purchase the attacks that form can use as a separate thing... But that would make Dual-Form, and Tri-Form Kheldians a lot stronger overall without increasing the values of individual powers or anything like that, and would make it a lot easier to bounce between forms without feeling like you're underslotted, everywhere. It would also nerf the hell out of Changeling Builds since you'd be using the same attacks in humanform, nova, and dwarf, even with animation canceling.

What it says on the tin! Was hoping to maybe get a little feedback on this idea. Here's what the statline looks like with saturation on RTTC and such... As you can see, she's not capped against anything, hard or soft. The idea was to get a somewhat comprehensive level of defenses with some solid S/L resistance so that if I'm on a team with even a single Defense or Resistance buffer, she'll be able to softcap or get near cap from buffs. In either case, having 'decent' values in the other category just make things better overall. And then here's the slotting.... As you can see, not as much proc-bombing as is possible. Crushing Uppercut had to take Critical Strikes because the recovery time on Rib Cracker was too long to be able to toss off more than one attack in the Critical Strikes +50% window. By putting it in CU, though, I can get off an SB, an HB, and an RC if the enemy is standing long enough, but just -barely-. As you can see I went for Infiltration and Combat Jumping for some vertical with my speed, but I also went with Musculature Radial Paragon to get an extra 33% runspeed, bringing it to 92mph (148kmph) with a jumping speed of 78mph (125kmph) and a jump height of 82ft (25m). So what do y'all think? Are there things I could do better with this build while maintaining the movement? Velocitrix - Scrapper (Street Justice - Willpower).mbd

I'd be down with some account wide accolades. Not the ones we have, now, but things like "You have a 50 of every Hero/Villain/Epic Archetype!" accolades which give every character on your account a badge with a nifty title. Same thing with "You have 50 Magic Heroes!" and you get a badge that's like "Magician" or something similar. I think that'd be nifty.

Oh, sure. If you do it that way. I was kinda looking at it like an IO that improves Defense AND Resistance AND Healing on the individual IOs, rather than Resistance on this one and Defense on that one. 'Cause we absolutely can do that kind of thing. HamiOs show it pretty clearly with the +Control HOs. There are a couple power sets where that might be more useful than others, but it'd probably work fine overall since most powers just do one or the other and the ones that do both typically have the 'unenhanceable' flag on one of them. And you'd need to do the same thing for the Arachnos Soldier, Peacebringer, Scrapper, Stalker, Sentinel, and Warshade secondary ATOs, too. I would say "Widow" but their secondary is pretty much just Defense, I think.

You know... Creating an ATO set that can be put into your secondary, and doing the same thing for all the ATs, could be great. Except Tankers, obviously. You'd need to make an ATO set they can slot in their primary. Not changing what exists, but making a new third full set of ATOs for every archetype.

A lot of this thread reads like Giles Coren pissing and moaning in a 2021 Times article about how men aren't allowed to write anymore... Because in 2005 he wrote one of the worst possible takes on sex in an awful book. The passage that won him the award was a paragraph consisting of one run-on sentence 137 words long and then a 2 word sentence. The first contained things like "Rattled against her teeth" and "like a shower dropped in an empty bath" and the two word sentence was "Like Zorro". By all means. Go read the excerpt. Giles Coren, Winkler, 2005 Bad Sex Award is all you need to find it, though the keywords I've added above will help. A lot of suggestions, including many of my own, are bad suggestions. And other people may see the problems in the idea that we, ourselves, don't. In the same way Mr. Coren thinks that society shuns male novelists because he wrote something and didn't get massive fame and acclaim, and insults those who critique his bad writing, do we run the risk of holding our suggestions and ideas beyond reproach. Embrace critique. Go from there. Don't be like Giles Coren.

Starlight. ❤️

There's already an "Replacing this enhancement will destroy the original" prompt that you've just already turned off.

Verticality is an issue. The 2d bitmap you get for a map doesn't always include height variation for the zone which could result in you appearing way above or just below the map to plummet into infinity. There's also the issue raised of it negating travel powers/travel times, allowing you to circumvent obstacles, etc. All in all I just don't think it's a solid suggestion.

The only reason we don't see a bunch of new stuff like that is there's no 3d Modeler on the team. If anyone knows 3dMax, apply to the team, immediately, and prepare to get joyously embraced, probably!

Morales was Mayor in 2005. Christie is the person behind commissioning BWI, reopening the tram line, and various plaques in Kallisti Wharf. That all indicates he's the Mayor. After all, who else but the mayor can institute policies involving Vanguard in Paragon? The "Safehouse Policy" is not something some private entrepreneur can implement. When he was looking to rebuild the Wharf corporate patronage was important. Patronage doesn't make a lot of sense if he WAS the corporation and not the Mayor. -He- compromised and replaced the PPD with BWI. Some wealthy guy has the ability to do that with the city's funds? Probably not. He also confirmed Adamstown Infirmary as a protected historical site. Something else Mayors have the power to do but not rando corporate interests. Nothing outright -states- he's the mayor. But context clues indicate he's more than a lobbyist. Maybe he's the mayor of the Wharf but not of Paragon? Like how Bower is mayor of Salamanca?

My issue is: The lack of Allegory. That's it. The "One Step Separation" between reality and characters in a game. As far as Emil Christie: He is both the owner of a tech company and the current Mayor. The various plaques around Kallisti Wharf are meant to be a self-aggrandizing series of permanent public statements for his 'Legacy'. The corruption of the PPD in Kallisti is actually kind of great, as a story. Like the Back Alley Brawler storyline, it indicates that even the "Idealized" police force has rotten members. And in a district full of refugees and people struggling with mental and emotional disabilities (Awakened in the area are often presented as trying to reclaim their lives and control rather than just being crooks) there's room for some significant problems. And with Nemesis, Crey, and the Warriors who are trying to re-structure their image? It makes a lot of sense that it'd be the place with the most corruption. Especially while the Rail Line was down for an extended period of time. Personally I super liked the "Port Noble Citizen's Brigade" as a bunch of Fascists trying to pretend to not be fascists by wearing khaki pants and hawaiian shirts. Is it similar to reality? Yes. Is it the same? No. There's a degree of separation through allegory that makes it feel topical without being a direct one to one of reality. But then Major Ben is just... it's like someone went to their uncle's twitter-feed and copy-pasted the grievances directly from there after he live-tweeted his rage arguments at Thanksgiving dinner before being permanently uninvited. It absolutely fits that the guy would be bigoted, don't get me wrong. I'd just prefer the layer of allegory to make it obvious and clear without it being potentially painful for some people to experience. Y'all's arguments about centrist superiority or modern politics or bad writing are missing the point by a mile.

Magepunk.mbd

The only reason I'm uncool with how it was presented is: There is no content warning at all and you got bombarded with a lot of abusive text. That could be really upsetting for people with triggers and anxieties. I recognize this is supposed to be a comedic over the top ridiculous character... but yeesh.

My take on this is simple: City of Heroes is Sci-Fi and Fantasy. So tell this story, and those like it, in allegory. Have the Council be made up of people who hate "Mutants" and think Malta has taken over the government. That the Rikti Invasion was a false-flag for the UN to gather a bunch of power and military strength for their Vanguard to enforce a new world order. Have the Council be pissed off about the "Handouts" the Praetorians are receiving while good hard-working Primals are being crushed by corporate interests. Make it obvious, and allegorical, rather than just taking modern talking points and sound bites and sprinkling them about. I promise. I'll hate the Council -just- as much if they're hating on "Mutie Lovers" as I would if they were hating on "(Insert slur here) Lovers".

To be clear: This isn't a "Magic Wand Assault" set. It's -wand- assault. You can RP it as a Star Girl style techno-weapon, or magic, or whatever! Which also functions as a Warmace. Maybe call it Scepter assault, instead?

Tier 1: Pulverize Tier 2: Wand Bolt (Minor Energy/Toxic, Ranged) Tier 3: Jawbreaker Tier 4: Wand Gloom (Moderate Energy/Toxic. Ranged) Tier 5: Build Up Tier 6: Shatter Tier 7: Wand Burst (Moderate Energy/Toxic, PBAoE) Tier 8: Wand Blast (Moderate Energy/Toxic, Ranged AoE) Tier 9: Crowd Control Pretty much just uses the Warmace options for weapon models, with a few of the Staff options added in. Use the Volkov animations for the Blackwand attacks from Volkov Skulls. Blackwand Blast uses the Disruptor Blast animation from Mace Mastery. Toxic damage either represents the power of magic or the same weird energy blast Arachnos uses. Minimally resisted in the game. And then make an Assault Primary archetype and slap this thing on it as a flagship powerset.

Slippery Slope detected! Anyway. Yeah. If you don't like Group Fly you should have the option to be immune to group fly. Other people can still use and benefit from that power, you just aren't affected. This would be a more accurate comparison. Blaster Nuke thing is an EXTREMELY out there argument which amounts to arguing to absurdity. Self-Rez is just balls to the wall insane argument to absurdity. No. They aren't. This is gonna shock you, but people CAN tell the difference between Gay Marriage and Sex With Ducks. People can recognize that there's some reason some people might dislike KB reducing their effectiveness without immediately accepting that self-rezzing ruins someone else's good fun. (Granted it's not a perfect metaphor, since Gay Marriage is infinitely less onerous on the populous than the Anti-KB Hatred in this community is, but I just really wanted and excuse to use the song and point out how bananas this slippery slope argument is) Not only does KB not bother me, I much prefer to play WITH KB. Myself and the KB of others. I am, however, against the CONSTANT pressure from the Anti-KB community to either change the entire game to be KB free or demand that anyone who has any KB power slot an ever increasing number of KB Stopping IOs in order to appease their playstyle. At least this way the onus is on them, and the impact is limited, rather than it being a constant fight.

No, not really. 1) Not an interrupt. 2) No "Mez Condition" Think of it like a Stack Tracker for Assassin's Strike or Street Justice. Only it's how many magnitudes/scales of each type of control are you under, right now. If that number is over X, you lose access to One With the Shield. If it's over Y you can't use Crushing Uppercut. If it's past Z you can't cast Hasten. They "Grey Out" on your bar as if you were exemplared. It's like that, but applied to NPCs rather than players.

It is a potential problem. I do like the Overpower suggestion, though. Something like that could be built in to make Controllers catch up in overall efficacy. Could be pretty cool... but. Would mostly result in players complaining they're being locked out of their "Best Powers". I think this'd need to be one-sided for it to be fun, rather than punishing.

So this was an idea my husband and I had years ago, specifically to make it so that Control characters are more useful against EBs/AVs from the control side of things. 1) Every NPC gets a "Hinder Level" tied to their various powers. 2) If the NPC is under a specific control magnitude equal to a power's "Hinder Level" they cannot use that power. Even if they're not locked down. Tadah. That's it. That's the entire idea. We can see something similar going on with Blackwing Industries, where if their HP is above 75% they don't have access to specific powers they would otherwise have available. This way, even if the Purple Triangles of Doom are up on an AV, the Controller or Dominator in the group is still having an effect. Perhaps a somewhat invisible effect, sure. But a direct mechanical benefit even if the AV is uncontrolled or uncontrollable. Same thing for Giant Monsters and stuff, too. They still get their binary lockdown, too, obviously, once the stacks are high enough... Just also get to deny baddies access to their big powers when they're not locked down, too. The easiest way I can think to implement it, is have an invisible Hinder "Power" added to all NPCs. If they get control stacks above X value, powers with a recharge time above 8s are locked out. If it's above Y stacks powers with a recharge time over 6s are locked out. And if they're above Z stacks, powers with a recharge time above 4s are locked out. And then define X, Y, and Z by the rank of the enemy. This also means the Purple Patch affects this setup, since your controls aren't as effective against NPCs of higher levels than you.

Ultimately, this is why I think the onus of 'fixing' the problem belongs on the shoulders of the people who don't want KB. Because either EVERYONE has to pay the slot tax or get shunned... Or the person who doesn't want KB can have a method to disable KB in their immediate vicinity so they can have their fun without forcing other people to do anything.