[Any teaser what is being worked on? (January 2024 edition)]

I'd like to see the Thugs, Demons and Beast Mastery mastermind sets get an update like the other four sets got.

Since it was mentioned by a dev after that went live that it was being worked on and would probably be coming "soon".

But then again, "soon" in development terms usually means anywhere from 6 months to 5 years.

[The Old Days]

On 9/11/2023 at 8:32 PM, Mjolnerd said:

Dying multiple times trying to sprint across Steel Canyon from one train station to the other because the yellow and green lines hadn't been combined yet.

That's one of the things I remember most about old-school CoH. Yellow and Green tram lines.

"Okay, so you want to come join us in Peregrine and you're in Atlas. So you'll need to hop the yellow rail to Steel Canyon, then run north through the zone and hop the green rail to Talos, then run over to the docks area and hop through the ferry to get to the island..."

<and 10m later when they were halfway there>

"Oh dang, the person he was sidekicked to just had to bail. We're going to need to recruit another person to sidekick them..."

[Officially Unofficial Weekly Discussion #46: Power Enhancement (what do you prioritize when slotting a toon?)]

A lot of my slotting will depend on the powersets, end management, and concept. 

 

I'll generally try and maximize everything I can while keeping set bonuses to reach certain checkpoints of resist, defense, end management, etc. 

I don't use procs very often, and almost never use purple sets unless I'm absolutely desperate for more +recharge (like trying to make Phantom Army permanent). 

I'm a huge fan of set bonuses, so I don't frankenslot things too much unless I absolutely have to, or giving up a couple of set bonuses will get me something that I really want, or it's a power that I don't worry about set bonuses in (like Fortitude just being slotted with 4 defense/recharges so they're both at ED cap).

I also use pretty much exclusively attuned enhancements, so that I can exemplar around as much as I want without worrying about things not working anymore.

 

Health I generally slot with Panacea health/end, Numina regen/recovery, and Miracle recovery. If one of my powersets has its own end recovery or restoration tool I might drop Numina or Miracle, if I can use that slot somewhere else for another set bonus.

Stamina is almost universally slotted with Power Transfer heal and 3 parts Synapse (end mod, end mod/runspeed, and end mod/recharge), to get almost ED-capped recovery, +22% run speed, and 10% slow/recharge resist. Combined with Winter's Gift's unique somewhere in the build and it's 30% resist to those, which is definitely noticeable (at least until a bunch of Tsoo go "nya ha ha, take 15 siphon speeds!"). 

 

I always try and get the ATOs into the build (and superior at 50), though they can be split up depending on what I need. Particularly the Mastermind set that gives +10% recharge for two parts, so I often split that up amongst all three pets for 30% global recharge. And the four-part bonus of the other set for another 10%, so 40% global recharge from just my ATOs. Though if my secondary isn't super recharge intensive I'll put the full set into a pet, as the higher set bonuses are pretty nice. 

 

A lot of my build/slotting choices will also be determined by the concept for the character. I'll take powers that fit the concept, ignore others that don't (even if they would be a superior choice from a min/max perspective), and generally try and build them to fit the concept. For my "D&D Characters in Paragon" builds, I'll try and have them conform as closely as I can to the class. For instance, the Paladin uses radiation armor with Ground Zero slotted heavily for healing instead of damage to replicate the "Healing Burst"/"Lay on Hands" ability that Paladins get. Of course if the Medicine pool had an alternate animation for Aid Other that was just a power activation instead of the tricorder, I'd have used that.

 

 

[Updated Tier list?]

1 hour ago, Gobbledigook said:

If fun factor is considered in the tier list then for me Beasts would be top. I don't know why but this is the first MM i am really having fun with. Watching the beasts charge in, knock a few mobs down and crit a few is quite fun lol.

 

Beast Mastery isn't a bad set, overall. None of the Mastermind sets are "bad". BM is just the bottom of the pile in terms of effectiveness and mechanics for the pets.

It's like being offered a bunch of food you like, and going "Well, this is my least favorite out of all the things I really like, but I still really like it."

 

The biggest drawback is that Fortify Pack punishes you for using it. The pets gain damage and crit percentage based on how many stacks of Pack Mentality they have, and if you ever pop FP, it burns all those stacks and converts it into defense. Which wouldn't necessarily be bad, other than the fact that while FP is running, they can neither gain nor benefit from Pack Mentality. So they lose about 20% damage and crit chance, which is a HUGE blow to their damage output. 

 

Stat-wise, the animals are very solid. Decent resists, and defense on top of it. There's an issue with their attack chains though, in that there's a "dead zone" at the end of each attack animation which causes them to pause and do nothing for a second or two between attacks. Some of their cooldowns need looking at, as well. Lick Wounds has a 60s cooldown, and is a relatively small heal (around 100 hp), so it definitely shouldn't be on such a long cooldown for such a weak ability. Same with the Lioness +def roar, which lasts for something like 10-15 seconds, and has a 120s cooldown.

 

I'm curious to see what the devs do with the overhaul of BM (as well as Thugs and Demons) when they eventually get around to it, the same way they did the other sets back in October of last year.

[What is your most fondest or favorite memory of COH?]

My favorite moment from back on live was getting to level 6 on my first character and picking up hover, and lifting off into the air to float around in the sky. Flight was and still is my favorite travel power. Just being able to fly is awesome.

 

And from HC, logging in for the first time and seeing Atlas Park again.

[EBs Running Wild]

A lot of it also depends on the EB/AV.

Some of them, like Mary MacComber (god I hate her) have a passive power called "Positioning", which makes them actively try and avoid melee combat, but it's hyper-tuned so they'll just go sailing off at escape velocity and keep running for ages. 

[The Old Days]

5 hours ago, carroto said:

Ah the good old days.  People intentionally being annoying and spamming powers at the popular auction house locations, the complaints about which led to the indoor auction houses with the power dampening fields in Praetoria.  /ah may be the best feature of Homecoming.

Pretty sure /ah predates HC. It was a veteran reward if I remember correctly, which existed on live.

 

But yeah, I remember the days of being happy at finding a luck charm, since they'd sell for 50k or so. I'd hunt magical enemies specifically just to get more drops of them, to finance my early levels. 

[Upgrade, replace or retire?]

As far as the Family goes, I don't really see a pressing need to have them be an "end-game faction".

They're not out to conquer the world, they're not threats on the scale that Arachnos, Council, or other things are.

They're a bunch of crime families who manage drug trade, steal cars, run gambling dens, and the like.
Redside definitely fleshes them out a lot more, but they're fine being a low to mid-range group. 

Once you're up to the point of saving the world regularly, fighting planar entities, and the like, a bunch of goombahs with machine guns who are trying to steal a couple cars seems like something that just doesn't measure up to the same level of threat.

 

If they wanted to make some more Family-specific story arcs I'd be fine with that though. I just don't think they need to be running around being threats on par with Malta, Arachnos, Ruularu, etc. 

[How is Personal Force Field supposed to be used?]

I have a couple of characters with PFF, and what I generally use it for is one of two things:

 

1) A panic-button for when I need to get the heck out of a situation.

2) An alpha-strike soaker. Turn on PFF, jump into a pack of mobs, let them dump all their big attacks, controls, and other things, then drop PFF and fire off my own.

 

<edit> Wow, necro thread. Neat.

[Can you go through walls]

I know (or at least I think I know) there's a way to use teleport and the "teleport to target" bind to pop yourself to a teammate if they're within range, even if you can't see them. 

I was scouting ahead the other night on a TF and someone blipped in next to me while I was running through a big crowd of mobs, and he instantly face-planted when they all pivoted to stare at him.

[what is the toughest location on city of heroes or villians you can go to]

1 hour ago, DoctorDitko said:

Go to PI, set your diff as high as it goes, and play Malta radio missions.

Dark Astoria works as well. The Ditko Zone (aka Shadow Shard) has a different set of challenges, but is worth a try.

Might not be the greatest challenges in the game, but they'll give you an idea of how the high-end challenges go.

 

(Please don't solo Hamidon, it summons the nerf-herders.)

 

I have a knee-jerk disdain for folks who do all that in PI, except they only face Council.

(A joke at that level!) Then they complain about how easy this game is.

 

Every now and then I'll go to PI and do the "PI team forming, +4/8 carnies only" or "malta only" and see who's brave enough to come join me.

I get a number for carnies, but usually it's crickets if I mention malta.

 

Running +4/8 in DA can be fun, especially if you don't just stick to Tsoo and Knives. BP in DA are no joke if you don't have massive amounts of defense or capped resists to about 6 different things, because they throw everything and the kitchen sink at you. And then there are the Talons, who laugh at your puny 60% defense and just slap you around with auto-hit aoe stuff. 

[Tanks and Brutes question]

12 hours ago, Yomo Kimyata said:

The current damage to survivability meta strongly favors the tanker.  It is significantly easier for a tanker to add brute damage in the form of damage procs than it is for a brute to add tanker survivability.

 

Normally when I build my tankers and brutes I'm after set bonuses, not looking to slot as many procs as possible and be forced to take hasten, lotg mule powers and everything else I can cram into the build to try and get as much global recharge as possible.

Hence why my brutes tend to vastly out-damage my tankers. 

For normal mission running, would a brute with normal slotting whose attacks are on 3-5 second cooldowns clear faster or slower than a tanker who relies on randomized procs? Or are proc-tankers basically trying to run around and herd up a bunch of stuff so that when they DO attack their procs have a higher chance of going off? 

I'd think that would slow down killing rather than speed it up, vs a brute who can just jump into any given group, wipe it out, and be running to the next group while the tanker is still herding up mobs. 

Maybe I just don't get the whole "proc meta" thing, though.

[Knowing Your Characters Stats]

On 8/30/2023 at 12:23 PM, biostem said:

To add to what @Without_Pause stated, you can also right click then choose to track certain attributes on your main screen at all times, but it is limited to only showing 10 at a time.  These stats also include things like XP to next level, influence/infamy/information (money), and even your stealth radius.

 

The stuff I normally track is:

Current HP

Regen Rate (on characters who focus regen)

Recovery Rate

Endurance Spend

Lethal Resist

Other Resist (other being whichever one my build tends to focus on)

Melee Defense

Ranged Defense

Exp to next level (if below 49)

Inf

Last To-Hit Check (if I'm not tracking regen, means I can keep an eye on how much defense or to-hit debuffs I've been slapped with easily)

 

[Tanks and Brutes question]

On 8/29/2023 at 2:47 PM, drbuzzard said:

Sentinels raise their hands and ask "Really?"

 

Hey now, the proc for Sentinel's Ward isn't bad.

The other one we don't talk about because it's poop.

[How do you keep things interesting?]

I keep myself interested by creating new concepts or batch-concepts of characters. My current project (a bunch of D&D adventurers who wound up in Paragon) has taken me months, and I'm nearly done with all the classes. It's been fun coming up with builds that fit each class, and I gave myself the limitation that I wouldn't repeat any power sets. So once one had shield defense, nobody else would use it, etc. Of course, I've had so much fun with it I might start making "multi-classed" characters, and allow myself to have a bit of overlap of powersets as long as it's one that the "pure" class uses. (The fighter is an axe/shield tanker, for instance, while a fighter/rogue might be broadsword/shield or axe/ninjitsu)

 

My next project will probably be one that I started ages ago, but never really finished. A bunch of elementals summoned by the Circle of Thorns and then who went rogue, and are now on their own exploring the world. The usual air, earth, fire, and water, but also the "para-elementals" of lightning, ice, magma, and mire. 

 

And I still have a bunch of other group concepts lying around, like my Rikti-hunting aliens, an ex-original member of the Circle of Thorns who broke off and formed her own cabal with a bunch of apprentices, etc.

 

So I've got tons of stuff to keep me occupied. 🙂

[Still take a travel power?]

Whether or not I take a travel power is based on the concept I have for the character. And a tiny bit from wanting to squeeze in some set bonuses/lotg slots.

 

The vast majority of my characters have flight as their travel power. Sure, I could just buy a flying carpet or flying disc or jetpack, but the flight power with a couple slots in it gives me set bonuses, 20% slow/rech resist, kb resist, and/or about twice the speed.

I'm not a fan of superspeed, and I rarely take hasten on any characters, so none of the powers in that pool really appeal to me much.

Superleap feels a bit clunky, and I'm not fond of having to constantly be holding the jump button down to travel.

Teleport is fast for long distances, but then you have to slow down and carefully aim in order to get to the final destination, and going around buildings can be annoying. On the plus side, you can get teleport + a prestige flight power (which I've done on a couple characters) and it's pretty convenient. 

 

A few of my characters have flying carpets, since it fit their concept. A couple of them have the flying disc thing (either created by force energy, ki, etc). 

Several of my characters just get around with athletic run + sprint + combat jumping. 

I do miss some of the more interesting travel powers from CO. Like "earth flight" where you rip a chunk of the ground up and fly around on it. Or tunneling. 

 

[New Computer - Any pitfalls to worry about?]

46 minutes ago, Captain Fabulous said:

The game runs on a potato. Although it will run on integrated graphics (AMD is better than Intel), a discrete GPU would be better. But pretty much any machine from 2010 on will run it.

 

During my work trip a month ago I had CoH running on my old windows-8 laptop with 2 gigs of ram.

It wasn't pretty, and I had to turn the graphics down to minimum, but it ran enough that I could do missions. Solo though, since it took about a minute or more to load new zones. 🙂

[Why Blapper Over Scrapper?]

58 minutes ago, macskull said:

The Scrapper is still going to do more damage in melee, but Blasters have strong melee attacks for a reason. At any rate, the Blaster is way more likely to get suddenly deleted from existence by stray mez or pulling aggro which I think balances out the damage potential.

 

That's generally how it goes for blasters on the teams I've been on.

BOOM, lots of mobs get deleted. Blaster is laughing maniacally.

Oops, the bosses that survived got pissed and two-shot the blaster.

Especially running incarnate content, where the "capped defense" goals are FAR higher. So that 45% defense with zero defense debuff resist means absolutely squat.

The first time I found that out was on my traps defender, smugly assuming my 60% defense would be more than enough. Two debuffs later and I was looking at a red number where my defense used to be, and a bunch of pissed off talon boss mobs hitting me for hundreds of damage per swing. 

 

But I guess that's why people stick to Council farms in PI. They're like the training-wheels mobs at high level. 🙂

[Why Play Any Control Set Other Than Mind Control?]

2 hours ago, Rinwen said:

 

But from a practical standpoint, I don't understand. Sleep is orders of magnitude better than a root... "

 

Situationally, yes. And generally those situations happen more often when you're soloing.

In a large team, sleep is inefficient, since it leaves mobs just standing around in a large area, rather than clumping them together to be obliterated by aoe's.

On a team, I've often found that aoe immobilization is incredibly useful IF you time it properly. When the enemies all pile onto the tank/whoever has aggro, you aoe immob them into place, especially if your immob keeps them from being knocked back, and then damage pours down on them to erase them. 

I've been on a number of teams where people with aoe knockback powers were quite happy that they could just cut loose without worry once they saw the immobilize go off, and the mobs wouldn't go flying.

 

But in the end, the best form of control is a dead mob. Dead mobs cannot deal damage. 🙂

[City of Heroes Collectable Card Game help needed!]

My friends and I played a few superheroic games back in the day, but the one we played the most was Champions/Hero System.

I still have a ton of old character sheets in my gaming filing cabinet (back before we moved stuff to computers). 

And the old information on the game world I made for our games.

 

[Health/Stamina Slotting]

Slotting them for me depends on the build.

 

My GENERAL go-to for health and stamina is:

 

Health: Panacea +health/end proc, Numina regen/recovery, Miracle +recovery

Stamina: Power Transfer heal proc, Synapse end mod/run spd, Synapse end mod, Synapse dmg/end mod

 

Gives me two proc'd heals, 91% end mod in stamina, +22.5% run speed, and 10% resistance to slow/recharge debuffs

 

If a character is seriously struggling for endurance, I'll toss another slot into stamina for a Performance Shifter end proc

If they're pretty solid on endurance and recovery, I might drop the Miracle out of health

[Lazy Toons]

23 hours ago, Owl Girl said:

controllers are sort of a blind-spot in my CoH experience, because every time i play one it seems like it's almost a waste of endurance to bother attacking anything. just lock 'em down and wait for my two effective powers to cd.

Depends on the controller, really. I have a bunch that I enjoy playing.

 

The standouts are:

Illusion/Radiation is basically "summon phantom army, debuff, murder". Not really cut out to deal with huge groups of enemies at a time, but against small groups/AVs/GMs, she's vicious. It was my first "kill GMs solo" build back on live. Her claim to fame was killing Lusca by herself. Took about an hour. 🙂 

Symphony/Kinetic is the Bard from my D&D adventurers group. Drop sleep cone, jump in, fulcrum shift, jump back out, cone, cone, cone, cone, everything's dead but a couple stragglers.

Earth/Radiation is the Wizard from my D&D group. Open with tossing Rocky into the middle of the enemy group with spirit ward on him, toss down debuffs and aoes, profit.

 

 

[Lazy Toons]

For masterminds in particular, it depends heavily on the sets. A bot/ff will feel a lot safer than, say, thug/ta. 

Some setups can be incredibly busy, constantly having to manage pets, keep them focused, rein them in when they start getting a bit too aggressive, healing them (even more so if your secondary doesn't have an aoe heal in it), etc.

 

I have a beast/TA mastermind that I really enjoy playing. She's very hectic and busy, since the pets don't have a lot of defense, and TA provides no real mitigation for them. So it's very much a "kill or be killed" hyper-aggressive playstyle, especially on +4/8. On the other hand, my bot/FF is a "tank" who walks slowly through missions murdering everything in her path. And others that are various flavors in between.

[What AT/powerset keeps you playing?]

I don't really have one powerset or AT that keeps me going. 

All my characters are concepts that I want to see play out.

Right now I've been working on a whole bunch of "misplaced D&D adventurer" characters. Some of them were easy (fighter, monk, rogue, etc), while others were more challenging to work out builds for (took me ages to figure out what defensive set to go for for a paladin, as they need to be tanky and be able to heal, and I won't use aid other because of the tricorder).

It's also been a bit more difficult because I don't want to reuse any powersets, even across ATs. 

When I'm "done" with them (I have about 3-4 more to go), I might go back to working on my "summoned elementals" character ideas.

[Will we EVER see Wind Control ?]

14 minutes ago, Sykar said:

Yeah, I am having a blast, pun indented, with a wind control dominator on TS atm. Also made a MC controller because TS gave much needed buffs to MC and they make MC a lot more fun.

Though honestly, I think they kind of broke controllers and dominators. Giving them their pets at 1st level makes the 1-30 game insanely trivial, especially since they added 2-3 attacks to all the pets. 

I made a water/traps troller, and by the time I'd hit 6th level I had the difficulty at +1/8 because anything less wasn't a challenge.

A lot of the changes they made seem to be geared towards making people VASTLY more powerful, with no downside. 

Most buffs are easily made perma or are perma straight out of the box.

Almost every buff now affects the caster as well (some with reduced effect however).