Rathulfr

You hit "Submit Reply" faster than I did! 😁

Not necessarily. Who among us hasn't enjoyed the thrill of panic standing in front of Valkyrie in Steel Canyon at level 11 when someone else's Malta ambush comes roaring through the zone because that someone-else-level-50 just happened to zone in moments before? Just because you don't normally/usually encounter high-level mobs in lower-level zones doesn't mean you won't.

Dailies? /jranger

I have an Energy/Willpower Sentinel that's ideal for soloing.

Congratulations, and welcome to The Elite Blasters Club! Here's your ceremonial cap and smoking jacket, along with brandy snifter and Cuban cigar. Only the best will do for only the best, like us. 😁

The GTX 1060 is way more powerful than anyone ever dreamed was possible back in the early 2000s. The MSR slideshow problem isn't your video card: it's the ancient CoH engine. I don't think that upgrading hardware is going to help much, if at all.

If CoH is your only/primary game, then don't overspend on a "gaming" computer. Those are usually overloaded and overpriced merely for bragging rights. You should be able to get a decent Windows computer for around $750. Don't spend more than $1,000 or less than $500. Reasonable specs for that price would include an Intel i3 or i5 CPU (or AMD equivalent), 4 to 8 GB RAM, 256 to 512 GB SSD, and a nVidia or AMD video graphics card with 2 to 4 GB RAM. (edit) To clarify: you can buy a new computer that will run CoH for less than $500, but it might not necessarily perform optimally. For example, I bought a cheap AMD laptop for $350 that ran CoH just fine, but it only performed well at the lowest graphics settings. I was able to bump up the graphics to medium, but then the frame rates started to suffer. This was only because the integrated video chip set was very basic (AMD Vega 3). The CPU and SSD performed perfectly well under load -- only the video wasn't quite up to snuff. So you can get a cheap computer for CoH if you really want to. (edit #2) I neglected to mention that I bought a used desktop computer for $500 that runs CoH flawlessly. It's an HP Z230 Workstation that came with an Intel i5 CPU, 8GB RAM, a 256GB SDD, and a nVidia GTX 1050 Ti with 2GB vRAM. I run CoH graphics all the way up on Ultra, and have no trouble with anything except MSR and Hami.

Young people are so cute.

There wasn't one "dude": this was a design decision by Cryptic Studios. There was a group of developers collaborating on the design of CoV zones: multiple hands touched it along the way. Together, they decided corporately that this was what they wanted: I doubt that all of them, corporately, forgot it was an MMO. Was it a bad corporate decision? Probably. But it wasn't a decision made in a vacuum. Add it to the list of lessons learned, after the fact. You can see how they swung in the other direction when they designed the Going Rogue zones, which were very different.

I think this was precisely the point of the design behind the CoV zones. It posits the question: "What would a City of Villains really look and feel like?" It would be dark and dreary, because of lax environmental regulations. There would be no city planning or zoning, so the buildings and streets would be random and twisted, depending on whoever wanted whatever they wanted placed anywhere they wanted. The streets would not be safe, not even in front of the equivalent of "city hall". There would be trash everywhere. There wouldn't be helpful signage, or if there was, it wouldn't last long due to vandalism and lack of maintenance. There are no civil servants to help ordinary people: they're all just Arachnos flunkies serving Lord Recluse alone.

/edit_base 1

For me, it's Blasters and (now) Sentinels. I just like doing ranged DPS, pure and simple. I love hovering and blasting my enemies into oblivion. Yes, I know Sentinels do less DPS than Blasters, but I love how they feel. I do enjoy playing other ATs, occasionally: tankers and controllers, coincidentally. I've tried all the others, too. But it's not the same with them. Ultimately, I'm back to blasting, most of the time.

Really: where? Link please?

Interesting question: I don't have any particular points to make in regards to leveling. Bringing up baby is always tedious on Blasters, which is why I no longer do it. Whenever I make a new squishy alt, I throw it into an AE fire farm with the Spines/Fire Brute on my second account and bake until 22 or 27, when I can slot SO-equivalent generic IOs. Then I take it out to run the TFs for the Task Force Commander Accolade. If it makes it that far, it's a keeper; if not, it either gets deleted or banished to another server for later consideration.

http://progressquest.com/

This happened to me, as well. The key seems to be to wait until the transfer transaction is completely finished, and the character select screen is fully refreshed, before performing another action. This applies to transfers, renames, and/or character deletions.

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!

FORE!!!

I've been playing and recommending Temporal, because of the stacking -Regen components of the T1, T3, and T5 powers (Time Wall, Time Stop, and End of Time), which are useful for AV fights.

No worries, mate. Happens to all of us.

I'm cool with this. +1 from me, then.

You assume that everyone -- or at least "99% of people" -- shares your opinion on the topic. I can assure that this is not the case, as indicated by the replies whenever this topic comes up periodically. Making KD the default option is not a solution: it's fundamentally altering the design of several power sets, which would affect numerous players (not just me). So it's not just about me, but apparently, it's about you, too. You would rather have everyone else conform to your re-design of these powers, rather than accepting their original design. Who's being selfish, then?

Which is the current state of our options, without any additional Accolades, switches, or toggles. Want KD instead of KB? Slot the Overwhelming Force or Sudden Acceleration IO. I've currently got these IOs slotted in two powers: Explosive Blast and Nova. That's all I want/need.

I think my hang up depends on whether or not the Accolade switch or toggle power is in addition to, or a replacement for, the KB2KD IOs. If it's in addition to, then I have no hang up: I'll earn the Accolade and then never use it, just like the Crey CBX-9 Pistol. But if it's a replacement for the KB2KD IOs, then I'm hung up, for the reasons stated above. This is why these suggestions always have to be carefully considered, discussed, qualified, and explained. It's far too easy to overlook some aspect or assumption, until we've thoroughly hashed it out, as we're doing now. Please understand that I've been trying to offer constructive criticism and drive out these kinds of concerns, instead of just dismissing the suggestion out of hand. I think the suggestion is a good one, and I appreciate your trying to think outside of the box on this.