Rathulfr

Did you also ask for help on the Discord? The response time there is often faster than it is here.

Same here: I've been forcing myself to play without Hasten as much as possible, and find that in most cases, I don't really need it, especially if I have enough +Recharge from IO sets.

The last time I was involved with a thread suggesting that we change Hasten, I barely made it out alive. There were a few other survivors, but mostly it was just charred corpses as far as the eye could see. Messing with Hasten is like messing with Social Security: it's the third-rail of CoH politics. Touch it and you will die horribly.

@Solarverse: NOOOO!!! I just got my new Beam Rifle Blaster to level 29, and now I have to create a new Dual Pistols Blaster, too??!!?? AGH! You're killing me, Smalls. 🤣 Again, well done. I look forward to enjoying my new DP Sentinel with these sound effects! 😉

I make water after a few glasses, myself: does that count? 😏

(Copied and pasted from a previous post.) Much of the concerns about knockback are overblown, and one can completely ameliorate most concerns by simply being a little more thoughtful about it. As a once and current Energy Blaster, here are my simple rules for managing knockback on Energy Blast: Put KB-to-KD IOs in your AoEs. You don't need KB-to-KD IOs on all of your attacks. KB is fine on single-target attacks, especially when soloing: it's a form of damage mitigation/control. KB is a headache on AoE attacks, as it affects you and your team. Therefore, only your AoE powers really need to the KB2KD IOs: Energy Torrent, Explosive Blast, and Nova. I usually skip Energy Torrent (I hate cones), so I have the KB2KD IOs in the latter two, only. You knock it, you kill it. If you do keep KB on your single-target attacks, then you take full responsibility for your KB targets. Don't KB and run: stay on target until it's down. Pay attention to your targets. Don't KB buff/debuff anchors. Don't KB tank/brute targets. Focus on picking off the stragglers or those menacing the other squishies. Pay attention to your backstop. What's behind your intended target: a wall or a ledge? Try to KB into solid objects, or towards the rest of the team. You don't necessarily have to line up every target like a billiard shot, but do try be aware of what's going on around the targets and elsewhere on the field of battle. Hover over and blast down. Hover is the Energy Blast-er's best friend. Get above the fray and KB down into the floor, if possible. Hover also offers great mobility, a little defense, and a slot for LotG +Recharge and/or Kismet +ToHit. Have fun and happy blasting!

FREEM!

It's also my favorite team drinking game. Because Propel's summoned objects are rendered randomly on the client-side, not everyone on your team (or vicinity) sees you hurling the same object. In fact, it's possible that nobody will see the same object at all. But it does happen, infrequently. That's where the drinking game comes into play. Whenever a teammate casts Propel, everyone else on the team shouts out what they see. If any two or more teammates sees the same thing, then those teammates need to take a shot. This is a hoot to play on voice chat, like Discord, because everyone ends up screaming and laughing along the way. For example: Forklift! Chair! File cabinet! Forklift! Auto body! In this case, teammates 1 and 4 would need to take a shot, because they saw the same thing. Try it sometime!

I suspect that for most players, especially ranged characters, the nut of the problem is Hasten. Hasten is often the only power pool taken from the Speed pool in many builds. Nobody would choose the Speed pool otherwise, except for those characters who take Super Speed or Flurry for concept reasons (there are a also a few who take SS to replace Stealth) . Let's face it: Hasten is stupidly good and OP, period. It's the poster child pool power for metagaming: most of the uber 1337 meta builds simply wouldn't exist without it. Perma Rage. Perma Dom. Perma PA. With its +70% recharge (and then on top of itself, no less), Hasten is the cornerstone of all of the builds that revolve around ridiculously over-the-top recharge. I think Hasten needs to be neutered into the Fitness pool so that everyone gets a weaker, non-stacking, version of it automatically. Or else it simply needs to be nerfed into oblivion. If that happened, we wouldn't need more than 4 power pools, because everyone would either have all the recharge they can get without a pool, or have no additional recharge beyond Enhancements. Of course, this will never happen. Hasten is so ingrained into the metagame now, has such a long history, and is essential for so many builds, that any mention of touching it would result in a global thermonuclear meltdown the likes of which will make Chernobyl look like a Cub Scout campfire. If Hasten ever got even the lightest of balancing passes, easily half (probably more) of the player base would evaporate faster than a drop of Everclear on a stone in the Sahara desert. And the rest might take a few more minutes to leave.

You might try checking in with folks on the HC Discord: they're generally pretty friendly, helpful, and knowledgeable about these things. I don't speak "Mac", so I'm afraid I have nothing more to offer. Good luck!

My problem was never being able to find super thirsty gals who found me attractive. 😭 Then I found one, and she hasn't left me alone for 28 years. 🤣

I've had the same experience. I really don't understand why my friends who love WoW, ESO, Warhammer, etc. have zero interest in CoH. I think they don't "get" the whole "be a super-hero" appeal. Or maybe that has a negative connotation, like I'm suggesting they dress up and act like Adam West or something. It's frustrating.

Us aging boomers have *lots* of cash to throw at the right game. And the right game for this particular boomer would do well to not alienate me by requiring fast reactions and use of both thumbs. My kids do not understand why I don't like most modern games. I won't touch a console with a ten foot pole (much less both of my thumbs), and it puzzles them to no end. I like my aging PC games and their keyboards just fine, thanks. If CoH can develop into the future without abandoning the past, then my wallet is wide open for that.

Yeah, I completely lost all respect for Jack when he told us about his Game Boy on a plane experience, and how that altered the trajectory of game design for CoH. It was a complete SMH moment that I'll never forget: Statesman really died that day, as far as I was concerned.

I wonder how many of the people who responded to the poll actually play(ed) Sentinels routinely or to max level with completed builds? I can count on one (maybe two) hand(s) the number of players that I know for sure have thoroughly played and tested Sentinels sufficiently. I've heard far more players complain about Sentinels who either have only played briefly or simply skipped it because the numbers didn't look good on their spreadsheets. It seems like people either love or hate Sentinels, with little to nothing in between those extremes. The lovers seem to exaggerate the numbers in their favor (I was unable to replicate some of the claims no matter how hard I tried). The haters seem to exaggerate the criticisms in their favor (my experience is that Sentinels are nowhere near as "gimped" as they seem to imply). I suspect that the truth is somewhere in the lonely and unexplored middle ground. Either way, I find it hard to reconcile this with the overwhelming response for "Completely Change It!" I suspect that many of those votes are from those who have never played Sentinels, or those who simply wish to sacrifice Sentinels for a completely different AT concept (e.g.: the oft-requested "melee support" AT, such as Paladins or Guardians). Consequently, I'd consider the votes for "Completely Change It!" to be highly suspect and would give less weight to that option. There's room enough in CoH for both "ranged scrapper" and "melee support" ATs -- we don't have to sacrifice one for the other.

Oh, I know, believe me, I know. It's still annoying AF.

Is it Tuesday already?

And in quite a few cases, they couldn't be farther apart. It's why I gave up on Sentinels after playing about a dozen of them to 50+. It's far easier to make a tanky Blaster than it is to make a blasty Sentinel. 😞

I don't think Argumentum Draco realizes who OldSkool is, when it comes to Sentinel expertise. In a nutshell, Sunsette and he wrote the book on play-testing Sentinels. I don't know anyone here who knows as much as he does: maybe Sovera and Nihilii come close, but not quite.

E-mail it to @Rathstar. 😎

I thought of another one: Aim Build Up Snipe MISS! WTF??!!??!!

Yes, that last little bit is what I don't understand, either. It's maddening.

Well done, Solarverse. I just tried these out on my new BR/Devices Blaster, and I'm enjoying them!