Vanden

I've found I nearly always get this bug if I charge into the fight ASAP upon zoning. No idea why, but if I'm one of the first players in the mission and try to go straight into the battle I get the -4s, but if I just sit near the mission entrance for a little bit, usually waiting for everyone to join, it never seems to happen.

Moved this stuff to OP

The ultimate goal of the Hurl change would be to improve Super Strength's AoE at lower levels. Putting a new AoE attack at tier 8 doesn't really help that, especially for Tankers, who'd be getting an AoE attack all of 3 levels earlier than they do currently. Adding damage to Hand Clap doesn't really work, IMO, because at 30s recharge and 15-foot radius, it'd be stronger than Foot Stomp according to the damage formulas, and just giving it less damage than the math would have it do feels like a letdown. Hurl could really use some kind of buff anyway because of how slow it is, and I think they're up against the limit of how fast they can make that animation without making it look goofy, so just making it faster isn't a promising prospect, either. There's not a lot of room in Super Strength to add earlier AoE without moving Hand Clap, or nerfing its crowd control ability to justify bringing down the recharge. Really the only other option is changing Haymaker, and then the set would only have two viable single-target attacks for a good attack chain (Hurl is too slow, and Jab's damage is garbage).

And another thing about the MM Epics! They gave an electric APP to an AT that already had access to a perfectly good electric-themed epic in Mu Mastery, and didn't have a single primary or secondary that matched the electric theme!

Can anyone verify this? I have the proc in Overgrowth on a Nature Affinity character, and I've used it on entire leagues and not seen multiple procs at once.

Mercs has a lot of problems that go much deeper than letting the pets swap ammo types could possibly solve. And I'm pretty sure Swap Ammo in Dual Pistols isn't actually all that good compared to Aim.

No, Serum sucks because the numbers on it are garbage, not because it's wrong for the set from its very conception like some powers are. If the recharge was like 3 minutes and there was no crash it'd be a fine power. The biggest "flaw" would be that you can't use it to mule pet IOs.

That's a pointlessly semantic view of the rule. Dimension Shift is not a violation, it's still an AoE foe intangibility power. Disrupt and Pacify I'll grant you, but they're also examples of times where it's justified to break the rule. Repulse was a power that worked completely at odds with the player's goals; as an armor set on a melee class, a power that constantly knocks foes out of melee is counterproductive. It wasn't at all what you'd want out of an armor power set. Other existing powers that could qualify for this treatment would be Entangling Arrow in Trick Arrow, or Web Grenade and Time Bomb in Traps. These are supposed to be buff/debuff sets, so a single-target immobilize or a nuke aren't the kinds of powers you want or need from them. For Pacify, Challenge was largely redundant with a power in the exact same set (Provoke). While anyone using Challenge specifically lost access to that functionality, they could still get mostly the same effect by just switching that power to Provoke in their build. Other powers that could qualify for this are Disruption Arrow and Acid Arrow in Trick Arrow (TA has a lot of problems). They're both AoE -Res powers. If you wanted to give Trick Arrow a new trick, you could double the -res in Acid Arrow, then give some new effects to Disruption Arrow while removing the -Res. You've technically broken the rule, but overall the set's functionality hasn't decreased.

Those powers have new functionality that in most cases has eclipsed their old functionality, but they still fill all the same roles they did before they became sustain powers. A player who relied on Touch of Fear for the tohit debuff and Terrorize effect can still do so with Touch of the Beyond. Thus, the cottage rule isn't broken. The same is true for Serum; granting a single pet mez protection, damage resistance, +recovery, +damage, and +toHit is a perfectly valid, potentially useful ability. The problem is the +damage and +tohit are so small as to be almost worthless, the power lasts only 60 seconds, it makes the pet useless for 20s because of the crash, and takes 16 minutes and 40 seconds to recharge. None of the functionality would have to be lost by buffing those downsides. Unless you consider making the pet do nothing for 20 seconds one minute after you use it the core functionality of Serum. In which case, yeah, breaking the cottage rule would be called for.

I'm not seeing it; Touch of the Beyond is still a ranged single-target fear, Frigid Protection is still a PBAoE slow aura, Cauterizing Aura's still a damage aura, etc. No broken cottages there.

What changes were made that would actually have broken the rule?

Like I said the last time this idea came up, I seriously doubt letting Mercs change a portion of their damage type is going to result in any meaningful increase in performance. Serum isn’t so bad or so out of place in the set that breaking the cottage rule for it is called for, anyway. Edit: @summers, what part of my post was confusing to you? I'm happy to elaborate if you need me to.

I could see one of those things happening at most. */Ice is by far the safest Blaster secondary available, so it’s not going to get a bunch of extra high-damage attacks on top of that.

Hurl would be an AoE knockdown when used in melee and Jab would give a defense bonus. Neither are simple single-target attacks.

Jab and Hurl would serve much the same purpose.

You mean the idea you stole from me 😡😡😡 😉

I don’t even want to think about what it would take to proliferate this set. I don’t envy @Captain Powerhouse there. Edit: I thought about it

I wanted to get these ideas I had for Super Strength off my chest before it gets its official Homecoming Looking-At™ and it becomes a moot point. Brutes and Tankers Power order changes Punch moved to T1 (from T2) Jab moved to T2 (from T1) (Tanker) Hurl moved to T5 (from T8) (Brute) Hurl moved to T4 (from T8) Hand Clap moved to T8 (from T5 (Tanker)/T4 (Brute)) Powers Jab On a successful hit, applies a non-stacking 20% resist debuff on target for 4 seconds and non-stacking 10% defense (Tanker)/7.5% defense (Brute) to all on self for 4 seconds Now takes Defense Buff IOs This gives the power a unique niche where you willingly lower your own DPS to improve your survivability and weaken the enemy for your team. Hurl Damage scale 1.64 -> 2.92 Recharge 8s -> 16s Endurance cost 9.36 -> 15.184 When activated within 7 feet of the target, it becomes a targeted AoE with the following stats: 8-foot radius Scale 1.327 damage 50% chance of .67 magnitude knock 5 target maximum (10 on Tankers) Now accepts both Ranged Damage IOs and PBAoE damage IOs This shores up Super Strength's early AoE potential Foot Stomp Tankers only: Radius reduced to 12 feet. Now benefits from Gauntlet's AoE size increase Foot Stomp gets a 5-foot bonus to its radius with no corresponding change to end cost, recharge, or damage. This bonus is moot on Tankers, who get a 5-foot bonus to radius to every 10-foot AoE anyway thanks to their inherent. This change lets Tankers still get some benefit from that bonus. Rage Damage buff reduced to 40% Now adds a Smashing damage proc equal to 40% of the base damage to all powers that take damage enhancements The damage buff stacks, the damage proc does not This curtails Rage's bonuses at high recharge while leaving lower-recharge builds at roughly the same performance No change to the crash, because other changes give you the tools to mitigate it if you need to; the Smashing damage proc is unaffected by the damage debuff, and Jab can help mitigate the defense debuff. Proliferation to Scrappers and Stalkers Power Order Scrapper: Jab Punch Haymaker Might Hurl Confront Knockout Blow Hand Clap Foot Stomp Stalker: Jab Punch Haymaker Assassin's Strike Build Up Placate Hurl Knockout Blow Foot Stomp Powers Jab Damage scale 0.68 -> 0.92 Recharge 2s -> 3.5s End Cost 3.536 -> 4.784 Does not have the -Resistance or +Defense effects Punch Damage scale 1 -> 1.32 Recharge 4s -> 6s End Cost 5.2 -> 6.864 Haymaker Damage scale 1.64 -> 2.12 Recharge 8s -> 11s End Cost 8.528 -> 11.024 Might A new power to replace Rage for Scrappers 50% damage buff for 10s 30% damage buff for 20s 20% ToHit buff for 40s 135s Recharge Knockout Blow Criticals for only 35% more damage +1 Mag to the Hold effect on critical 15% chance to critical all targets (Scrappers only, Stalkers have their normal scaling critical chance on teams) Stalkers only All attacks give a stacking ToHit Buff on self with a successful ToHit roll. The strength and duration of the ToHit buff is determined by the cast time and recharge of the attack, similar to Blaster Defiance buffs. Just wanted to get these ideas I've had kicking around in my head out there. By the law of "You Said Rage," this is now a Rage thread. So go on, have at it!

The info window doesn't mention if powers are autohit, and it doesn't show up in the combat log, but I've never seen it miss, even on characters with substantial Ranged defense, or when I've aggroed very grey Tarantula Mistresses in Grandville.

Straight from the official City of Heroes forums, it's the triumphant return of the Pants Power Pool! Pants Summer Shorts: This light garment offers unrestricted freedom of movement, allowing you to run faster and jump higher than more constraining articles of clothing. (Run Speed, Jump Height, and Jump Speed boost) Corduroy Slacks: The unique texture and material of these pants produces an annoying sound as you walk, causing enemies to not want to be near you. (PBAoE Fear Aura) Denim Jeans: These pants, are tough, rugged, and a good insulator. Perfect for outdoor activities. You must be level 14 and own at least one other pair of pants to purchase these pants. (+Resistance to Smashing, Lethal, Cold, and Fire damage) Throw Pants: Demonstrating complete mastery of the pants, you utilize the darkest pants technique known to man: you remove your pants and throw them at the enemy. With their vision blocked by your abandoned clothing, they will suffer reduced Perception and Accuracy and be Confused, attacking their allies by mistake. Meanwhile, your pantsless form will reduce your Threat Level, as enemies will not want to look at you right now. (Huge characters will have this latter effect doubled; also, there is a chance enemies will in fact like what they see and your Threat Level will increase instead.) You must be level 20 and own at least two pairs of pants to select this power. No-Pants Nightmare: With a flourish of your hand and and dramatic announcement, you reveal to your enemy their greatest nightmare has come true: they showed up to the big fight with the superheroes with no pants on! The enemy will be unable to act in embarrassment, and your allies will gain a Regeneration and ToHit morale buff from laughing at the enemy's misfortune. (Foe Hold, Ally +Regeneration and +ToHit) You must be level 20 and own at least two pairs of pants to select this power.

He'd appreciate the company in the hospital

Are you sure the problem isn't that you don't know how best to fight Arachnos? Tarantula Mistresses have an auto-hit -25% defense debuff that they love to use. At +4 it'll be -36%. This power alone is about 75% of the trouble Arachnos causes solo players.

Right now I'm working on my Energy/Energy Blaster, Justice Guy. My next character will likely be a Cold/Ice Defender, Just Ice Guy.

Okay, so as we all know it's possible to put custom sounds and textures in the game folders for the client to use. Back in the day when I was making custom icons for powers, I could take the finished product and drop it in the data folder while the game was running, and watch as the icon immediately changed from the standard image to the customized one. I could also remove those customized icon files from the folder and they would immediately get replaced by a white square image (the "file not found" placeholder). Now if you try either of those things the client just hard locks. I'm just wondering if that functionality could come back; I can certainly work with restarting every time I make a new image file, but the old way was handy.

These words are nonsense! Anyone can see there's no way that can be correct! In fact, I was right, it's definitely French. I checked and it's a French translation of I've Got a Lovely Bunch of Coconuts.