Rathulfr

Right, another creative suggestion that I dislike at first glance, because it complicates my rotation. I'd have to routinely switch it off and on depending on which attacks I happen to be preparing to use to determine which get KB vs KD. While more flexible than an automatic universal switch (such as a Null the Gull option or Accolade stat buff), a toggle is still a universal switch after all: I presume it would apply to all or none of my attacks. How do I include/exempt specific powers from the effect of this toggle? This is the heart of the problem for me with most of these suggestions that come up every few weeks: they're not better than the current solution, which is to simply slot a KB2KD IO wherever needed/desired. So far, that seems to be the only solution that offers the best flexibility for everyone.

My problem with the Accolade is two-fold: I'm a bit of an achiever, so if you put an Accolade out there, I'll try to get it. But I'm effectively penalized for doing so by the effect it will have on my game play (the conversion of KB to KD). I'm unaware of any other Accolade in the game that someone might want to actively avoid. "More HP? No thanks, Atlas Medallion. KD instead of KB? No thanks, Roleki Medallion." How does one "turn off" an Accolade reward? Heck, I've never even considered trying to delete any powers associated with an Accolade, but I suppose it's theoretically possible. And if I did so, would I ever be able to get it back again later, if I wanted it? Again, I'm not sure that's something that's even possible: I think Accolades are one-time binary switches. Do they reset if deleted? The suggestion, although creative, basically subverts the fundamental conceit of an Accolade in the first place: a one-time achievement with a singular reward (or singular reward set) that's universally desirable. And since KB2KD conversion isn't universally desirable, it's not a good fit for an Accolade.

Or a purple cave hallway.

+1

I should think that a Celerity +Stealth IO in Sprint is sufficient for situational stealth when needed, but then again, to each their own, I suppose.

A good suggestion, but still problematic. I like my single-target attacks to have knockback, but I slot my AoEs with the knockdown IO. Adding a toggle for this unnecessarily complicates my rotation, as I'd have to constantly toggle it off and on as a prerequisite to certain attacks.

If you prefer not to use Stealth, then why is it in your build, instead of Combat Jumping, which offers the exact same defense values at significantly less endurance cost?

For me, it's Energy Blast all the way. I love the animations and sound. I feel the power rushing through me with every attack. There are definitely better-performing ranged DPS sets (Dark/Fire/Ice), but none comes close to the feeling of Energy, for me at least.

This is spot-on. After playing my EB/TM Blaster the last few weeks, I re-visited my EB/WP Sentinel (both are 50+3 T4), and had fun playing it again. Sure, the DPS seemed a bit slow and tedious when compared to my Blaster, but it gets the job done. And it's still better than leveling a non-DPS-oriented character (I've been working on a couple of low-level Controllers recently -- talk about a slog). A minor buff to damage and redesigning the Inherent should be all a Sentinel needs to become my daily driver again.

WHY IS EVERYONE SHOUTING?!?!

DON'T FORGET ENERGY MELEE SCRAPPERS!

I thought I was reading an old-timey telegram. In my mind, I kept hearing "STOP" at the end of every sentence. 😄

Obviously.

I have a great third-party add-on for keeping track of all kinds of information about my characters. It's called Microsoft Excel. It's a bit pricey, but way more versatile than my previous one, called Notepad.

*checks calendar, nods* Yep, it's about time for us to re-hash The Great KB-to-KD Debate again. LOL! 😆 Yes, there should be an option for players to toggle KB-to-KD, if they want to do that, as long as it doesn't force other players who don't want that option. Personally, I prefer having the freedom to choose which of my powers get KB versus those that get converted to KD (even if that means costing me a slot per power). But we need to make sure that the "slot penalty" doesn't just get shifted in the other direction, though. Knockback is, and has always been, part of the game's original design. It's a feature of many ATs and power sets. And many players actually like it (me, for example), even though many others don't. Changing that is something that needs to be considered carefully, as it might break an entire village of cottage rules.

That happens regardless of AT, so you're basically saying I should just not play ranged characters at all?

While you're tinkering with the CC UI anyway, would you mind looking at changing the color palette, too? I'd like to have more than 160 color choices. Perhaps a 256 or 1024 color palette would be nice? Thanks, @Number Six!

The second Rikti ship was added with the new MSR in LFGQ. I think it's a nice visual hint and tip of the hat.

And this here is the crux of your argument: "IMO (in my opinion) can not happen". I have a different opinion: I want something like "blasters with defenses", and I believe it can happen. If Titan Weapons/Bio can be as stupidly OP as it is, and not be considered "[too] uber", then Sentinels can be a ranged DPS class with defenses, like Iron Man and Captain Marvel and many other similar examples from comics. I don't want Sentinels' base damage modifier, range, or AoE target caps be the same as Blasters: I agree that would be OP/too uber. I think sacrificing those for defenses is a good trade-off. And on paper, the current Sentinels config seems like a fair trade: it looks like they intentionally under-tuned Sentinels to prevent them from being OP. But now that Sentinels have been played for thousands of hours over the past 6 months, it has become obvious that their damage is sub-par, as a whole (there are some outliers, of course). This is why most of the suggestions have included a conservative buff to increase the base damage modifier to 1.0, which is still significantly less than Blasters (and not more than EATs). And don't even get me started on the */Atomic, */Tactical Arrow, and */Temporal Manipulation secondaries for Blasters, which are legitimately too brokenly good to be true. Hell, it's why I'm playing an Energy/Temporal Blaster now, instead of a Sentinel. At 50+3 T4 with the proper IO sets, my EB/TM Blaster is as durable as my Sentinels (the only gap is mez/status/debuff). The whole point of Blasters is to be "glass cannons", but now they're "reinforced-bullet-proof-glass cannons". And that's just wrong (even though I'm going to abuse the hell out of it for as long as I can). 😈 In a perfect world, TW/Bio, */Atomic, */Tactical, and */Temporal should be nerfed (along with some variations of */Rad, while we're at it). Yeah, I said it, I said the "N" word. The real problem is unchecked power creep across most of the other ATs, not Sentinels' range+defense. Blasters should never have been allowed to soft-cap defense/resistance without team buffs in the first place, if we want to be honest. Blasters are supposed to deliver the most damage, but at the highest risk. But power creep has eliminated almost all of the risk, in most circumstances: that's what's "too uber". Sentinels should be ranged damage dealers that are able to mitigate risk (not eliminate it), but at the cost of reduced damage, range, and AoE effectiveness. Don't mess up the AT by adding melee attacks, which would completely change them (and render them indistinguishable from other existing ATs). This is just one player's opinion. Thank goodness I'm not a CoH developer. LOL! 😜

On HC, I started off with my OG Blaster (Energy/Energy), switched to Sentinel (I got 3 of 7 to 50+), then switched back to Blaster 3.0 (the new holy trinity: Atomic/Temporal/Tactical). I think Sentinels are great, but underpowered. I'm waiting patiently for the proposed but unscheduled revamp. Until then, I'm playing my Energy/Temporal Blaster.

/jranger

No thank you. One of the reasons I play a Sentinel is to avoid melee attacks: there's already far too much of that in the Blaster sets.

No, thank you. If I want to play a melee character, I'll play a Scrapper, Brute, or OG Blapper (*/Energy Blaster). If I want a melee/ranged hybrid, I'll play a Dominator. I don't like any of your suggestions for Sentinels, so I respectfully decline.

Not me! That's why I rolled a Blaster in the first place, so that I don't have to chase down targets. I've always thought that the original design of mixing ranged and melee attacks was dumb when I first created my Energy² Blaster, back in 2004. Even so, I have to grudgingly admit that punching bad guys halfway across the zone with the T1 secondary attack is hella fun. I even macro'ed it with: "How 'bout a nice Hawaiian punch?!"* (*: Those of you old enough to recall when domestic violence was an acceptable trope in advertising for children will get the reference.)

And heaven help you if you have Stealth turned on for the minor defense bonus. 😒 Hostage: "Rathstar! Where did you go?" Me: "I'm right here, you moron!" 😡