How I Feel When I Go To The Market In CoX

Castle Hints at Further Invulnerability Buff

I spent the better part of two days running various numbers and options early last week. Invulnerability is fine in the up front damage dept. Human Beings post illuminates a potential need for some regeneration increase (something I am considering; although I'm thinking less about straight up regen and more about a small +Health in RPD) and really, that's about it.

If you ask me, Invulnerability is just fine.  Where the set looks weak is on Scrappers.  This is likely due to Scrapper primaries not offering the mitigation of Tanker/Brute primaries as well as Scrappers having fewer Hit Points than either Brutes or Tanks.

I'm a big fan of the set, it's one of my favorites.  I can't stand it on Scrappers though.  Scrappers have a very, very rough early game with that set.  But on a Tank or Brute, it's just fine.  Better than fine.

But, it's getting another small boost looks like.  I just hope it doesn't get boosted until it's on par with the clearly-overpowered Willpower.  And Willpower needs a nerf.  It seriously does.

Check it out at the official forums.

Vertical Stuido

I don't recall if I posted about them before, but even if I have it bears repeating:

Vertical Studio does amazing City of Heroes video work.  Amazing.

P.S.  I hope they add a feed to their site so I can more easily Follow them.

Like Numbers? Arcanaville Has Something For You

Arcanaville has released the latest version of her melee defensive set analysis spreadsheet.

City of Heroes Comes to 7-Eleven

1up is reporting that 7-Eleven is now carrying video games, including time cards for City of Heroes.

Now I can get my Slurpy and my super heroics in one stop.  Thanks 7-Eleven!  And I welcome our new convenience-store overlords.

Read the article at 1up.

Episode 40 of City of Heroes Podcast

I wouldn't normally do a post just to announce the release of an episode of a regularly produced podcast, but lately City of Heores Podcast hasn't been regularly produced and has been on hiatus for some time.

So episode 40 is out, that's the good news.  The bad news is it's part 3 of the IO set feature.  You know, that kind of information belongs on tables and forum sticky posts, not read outloud on a podcast.  It's like reading the telephone book or a dictionary.  There's just better ways to get the info.

Don't hesitate getting the episode though because they also feature news and actual interesting, fun things.  The IO part is easily skipped, or listened to if you are so inclined.

And hey, at least it is'nt the lastest episode of Jerk Radio. ;)

Visit the weird looking CoH Podcast official site.

Subscribe to CoH Podcast in iTunes.

Bad News: Tabula Rasa Dead, NCSoft Shrinking

I'm very worried for City of Heroes upon hearing this news.  The good news is the CoX staff has been increasing, not decreasing, and revenues for the game are up even in the face of the second-lowest subscription rate in the game's history (probably due to micro-transactions; there's the upside of micros right there).

I'm always saddened at the news of the closing of an MMO, but Tabula Rasa was always a very questionable game.  MMO players don't want a first person shooter, and first person shooter players don't want an MMO.  They are different audiences and games like Planetside and now Tabula Rasa are proving that it's just a bad idea generally to mix the two.  Will SOE's The Agency turn that trend on its head?  It's free to play, so it just might.  Don't be shocked if it doesn't, though.

Read the article at Kotaku.

Discuss it on the City of Heores forums.

Drop Ship Bites The Dust Commentary

Ex Libris worked very hard getting these events together, and they've been very successful.

Samuraiko put the video together and it is a really great one.

My only regret is that the Drop Ships are rarely ever challenged.  It's a city full of Heroes, and yet the Drop Ships, an invasion force, are ignored 99.9% of the time.  Why?  Because it is very difficult getting so many people together, and numerically speaking it's very unrewarding.  So, people rarely ever bother, and that's too bad.  If they made Drop Ships easier to take out and made them rewarding in something other than fun (fun is good, fun+rewards is best) it would become a much more common sight seeing people attacking them as one would expect given the setting.  Too bad that'll never happen.  It's poor game design, if you ask me, the way it is currently.

Not that I really have a dog in this fight.  I take a break from the game when Rikti Invasion weeks happen.  Still, something to think about.

Drop Ship Bites The Dust

Synapse and Sunstorm Join the Rednames

Jonathan Sunstorm Courney

and

Phil Synapse Zeleski

Castle's announcement on the official forums.

Not much to say about this but, "Welcome!"

Character Contest Winner; A Prediction Fulfilled

Anyone remember this thing was still on?  Well it was, and now we have a winner:

Swiftwing

Now, if we can all remember, what exactly did I say about this contest in my previous post on the topic, "LOL@Character Contest"?

My prediction: the winning character will be a hot girl character. Just like last time. And every other time. :p

No, I'm not psychic.  Randi's million is safe.  Costume contests are just pretty predictable.  Here's one for the road:  :p

That is a good costume, though.  Congratulations to the winner.  But still:  :p

P.S.  The winner gets an ATI video card.  Sounds more like a punishment, doesn't it?  ATI+CoH=you're gonna have problems

Once Again, UBB Sucks

Forums seem to be down.  UBB's fault?  Dare I hope the upgrade is in progress (and if so, way to drop the ball on not announcing it)?  DOOM!?

I vote "upgrade".  Hey, sometimes I'm an optimist. :p

EDIT:  Yet another temporary outage.  Oh, phooey!

Awesome City of Villains Art Project

It speaks for itself.  It's pretty amazing, if you ask me.

Check it out at the official forums.

Note to Self: Rikti Invasion = Go Play Rappelz

When it's going to be a Rikti Invasion week in game (like it is right now), I'm gonna go play something else. I'm so done with Rikti Invasions.

There are no Rikti Invasions on Test though. Hmmm...

Capitalism Isn't Heroic

Yeah, I've done some market playing. I make a nice chunk of change whenever I really need it. Once you know a few techniques (or just plain old craft) making a few million is trivial.

But after I've made so many market runs, I get increasingly frustrated with each one. At first I wondered why. Why was it working with the market for a comparatively trivial amount of time each day had me wanting to tear my hair out in frustration. It's pretty simple, really.

Nearly three years ago, I signed up for a super hero/super villain game. I wanted to make like the super powered characters of my dreams and save the day or do crime. I wanted to do grand, amazing things. What I didn't sign up for was to play a market simulation.

IOs in and of themselves promote the super powered feeling, since essentially the sky's the limit on how powerful they can make your characters. But how you go about getting those IOs, the market, is anything but super heroic. It's mundane, it's tedious and it's entirely out of genre.

For a super being to modify, make or even acquire something they need to get the job done is very much a part of comic books. But standing in front of an interface, day trading or playing the market...very much isn't.

Some people have fun with the market, I can respect that. But I still wish there could have been a better way. An in genre way. A way that didn't make me feel not only unsuper, but like a beaurocratic policy wonk.

When looking at the fact the game has fallen to its lowest concurrent user base ever, I wonder to what extent the market is to blame for that. Do others look at it with the same resentment I do? Are people not touching the game, in part, due to the fact they want to be a super and not a shopkeep? I wonder.

One thing is certain: capitalism isn't heroic.

Today's PvP Session

OK, I admit it. Elusivity is kinda broken. Nothing that can't be fixed, though. All that really has to be done is Elusivity needs to replace Defense rather than be stacked on top of it (according to Arcanaville). Along with some other tweaks. And IMO Fortunatas need to have plain vanilla Defense, not Elusivity (Forts are unbeatable 1 on 1 right now).

After a good couple of sessions today I came away with:
20.8 rep, 3 deaths (6.9 rep per death)

Not too shabby for a melee. Webnade is back in my build and let me tell you it helps tremendously. I missed it and I'm glad it's back.

I look forward to the Elusivity fix.

Help Arrives for Shield Defense

The #1 complaint about Shield Defense from open and closed beta was that the set felt quite squishy, especially solo. I experienced it first hand at various level ranges and I agree with this assessment. The set is rather squishy.

In my opinion, the feeling of squishiness came from two basic factors: the +Health power comes too late in the set, and the plethora of -Defense powers critters in the game throw around willy-nilly (I have no idea why they thought so much -Defense was needed by critters in this game) remove most of the 22% or so of Defense you're depending upon for survival. Combine the two, and you end up with a very squishy feeling, espeically pre-level 28.

Luckily, Castle is on the job and I think he nailed it:

Shields changes:
1) Altered Level availability of True Grit (earlier in the set) and Phalanx Fighting in all versions of the Sheild Defense powerset.
2) Increase +Health in True Grit from scale 0.75 to scale 1.0
3) Add Scale 1.0 Resist to Smashing and Lethal damage to Active Defense, and scale 1.0 resist to Energy, Negative Energy, Fire, Cold and Toxic damage to True Grit. In all cases, that brings the total resistance provided to scale 1.5.
4) Make Grant Cover affect the Caster, except...
5) Add additional Defense Debuff Resistance to Grant Cover. This is the only aspect of the power which would apply to the caster -- the Defense only applies to allies still.

This addresses exactly the two problems I identified with the set very nicely. It'd be nice to see the Endurance cost of the set lowered as well, but we'll see.

Starting from a clean slate, the way I would have gone about doing Shield Defense would be: The set would have 24% Typed Defense (to everything but Psi) and 37% Resist (to everything but Psi). The set would give Allies within 12 feet 3% Typed Defense and 5% Resist. 75% Defense debuff protection (none for allies). A team of 8 shielders would be quite impressive, and the set would solo quite well.

The way they are doing Shields in open beta is a bit...over-engineered IMO. But workable. Especially with the upcoming changes. When it goes live I'll definitely be rolling a Shield/Super Strength/Pyre Tanker. Having tried a Shield Tanker in open and closed beta, they actually feel very Scrapper-like thanks to the extra damage the set has.

Me liking a Tank. What hath Shields wrought? ;)

Boomtown (not the one you think) Interviews Positron

Interesting tidbits:

• Shield Defense is intended to be stronger on teams than solo.

• Positron believes Villains need to have powers different from Heroes, specifically in the case of Pain Domination they were wary of giving Villains any healing sets. [I'm guessing based on this Positron isn't a fan of the idea of crossover either. That's good news for the anti-crossover crowd.]

• PvP was indeed broken with only a tiny fraction of the player base partaking, so things absolutely had to change. [The PvP conservatives need to just get used to it. The PvP they like is going away because nobody but them likes it. Good riddance to it, I say.]

• Day Jobs are this game's version of secret identities. [Though secret identities, in the way they usually work, just don't fit well into the City of Heroes world. Heroes are very much above board in this universe; even licensed, so the classic secret identity just doesn't fit. Day Jobs is a reasonable compromise, though I would also include "Alter Egos" in the future that would give you an Alter Ego costume slot and change the name that appears over your head.]

• Mission Architect is the only feature of Issue 14. [Bold move there, but I can see how that would be enough for its own Issue, it's so potentially game-changing.]

With the game reaching an all-time low concurrent player base, very stiff competition just around the corner (DC Universe Online is the one to watch as a potential threat; Champions Online is repeating a lot of the mistakes City of Heroes made), and such a long lag time between Issues (despite a larger team), the way the developers handle City of Heores in the next several months will be make or break for this game. Personally, I think the game is in an excellent position to maintain, and perhaps even grow, its player base if they play it right and if the larger dev team really starts churning results out.

City of Heroes has an exciting future!

Read the article at Boomtown.

City of Heroes Subscriptions Down

The quarterly report is out and things aren't looking good for City of Heores. The game had 124,939 active subscriptions over the last quarter, down from the previous measure of 137,026. This is the second-lowest popoulation the game has ever had.

Given how long it's been since the last Issue, this isn't terribly surprising. However, if previous trends hold, next quarter will probably be back up to about 140,000 subs.

For those wondering if quitting PvPers are causing this, the answer is "no". It was revealed on the forums by Castle that during the time the "I'm leaving" posts were heaviest, the actual number of account cancellations actually declined. Hardcore Arena PvPers are a tiny, tiny minority in this game. They could all quit and it wouldn't even register. The real culprit, IMHO, is the long lag between Issues, and the fact that CoH is just a very mature MMO that's down to its core audience at this point.

Read Leandro's report to the forums.
Get the quarterly report.

New Drones? No Drones?

There are reports on the forums that according to the Euro boards, big changes are coming to Police Drones ("non-lethal Police Drones").

This is...interesting. If true, what could they have planned?

Super Strength Still Out of Whack in PvP

I've taken more averages from Super Strengthers attacking me in PvP. They have up to a 60% chance to hit me. Rage is still broken for PvP. It truly needs the Focused Accuracy treatment.

My #1 annoyance is Fortunatas' Dominate. It hits me 95% of the time, does very good damage, and can be recast in a matter of 2-3 seconds. Definitely unbalanced.

2 wins and 1 loss in a short session today puts me at about 8 rep per loss. Not bad for a melee. I am missing Web Grenade a little. I can get it back if I want it now, though. :)

My Live PvP Score vs. New Test PvP Score

Elusivity is working beautifully! People can still hit me often enough to kill me, but I've got a real chance at survival 1 on 1 now. The Scores:

Live: 2.5 rep per death
Test: 7 rep per death

I don't feel like I have to rely on Elude all the time to survive, and it's a wonderful feeling. Now I can save it for when I'm outnumbered or my health gets to 50%.

*tears well up*

I'm so proud! My Daemo is all grow'd up! :)

And Super Strength no longer hits me 78% of the time. Depending on slotting and bonuses, I noticed it was hitting (outside of Elude) anywhere from 30% of the time to 50% of the time. I consider this very acceptable, though I reiterate Rage must get the same treatment Focused Accuracy got (nobody needs that much ToHit 100% of the time in PvE, and in PvP it's still unfair compared to powers like Buildup which get the same bonus Rage does but only for 10 seconds.)

All SR needs now is Elusivity of the Psi type. About 25% or so should do it. This is because Dominate still hits me 95% of the time (that is to say, I'm completely helpless against it). I can Taunt Forts left and right now, but all I can do is force the stalemate with Taunt. To get close enough to kill them I still have to expose myself to that 95% hit rate (which is suicide).

Breaking News: New Patch Hits Open Beta

Lots of PvP changes.

Squishy resists have been reduced (what a relief! When a squishy doesn't even bother to get out of melee with a Scrapper, something is wrong.)

The anti-gank ToHit penalty is gone. Boo! (I play SR lol).

In-set self Heals no longer heal suppress. Eh, ok, but Regen needs to be adjusted down in its effectiveness.

And a real biggie: ELUSIVITY! Oh FUCK YEAH! (excuse my French, but I'm STOKED!) This basically levels the playing field between Defense sets and Resistance sets in PvP. Previously, lots of ToHit (as from Buildup+Aim) broke Defense completely, making it worthless. Elusivity (proposed by Arcanaville, the community numbers person, some time ago and loved by all) cannot be overcome with lots of ToHit (except marginally), allowing Defense sets to survive in ToHit-heavy environments (which PvP naturally is).

This is a long time wish of mine, and it looks to be coming true! [toki]Oh, wow-wee![/toki]

P.S. I direct your attention to this post in which I said:

...Castle hinted to me on the closed beta boards that things are looking up for Defense.

Who's your daddy? ;)

APP/PPP Powers Spared!

Big news that I almost missed! The powers that were going to be taken out of the APPs and PPPs are going to stay as alternative choices! I among many others suggested this would be possible on the forums, due to the fact you can have mutually exclusive power picks with the VEATs (eg, on a Widow picking Followup locks you out of Buildup, so you can take whichever one you prefer).

Good move guys! Issue 13 just got even more awesome!

Read it at the official forums.

P.S. Electrical Assault Dom, Soul Mastery Pool. Oh, yes.

Positron's Issue 13 Open Beta Letter

I almost missed this one but today Positron issued a statement about open beta. There's nothing remarkable in it, though Posi does reiterate that the Patron Powers and Ancilliary Powers were imbalanced (which is always nice to hear).

Read the full story at the official site.

Daemodand Joins King's Row Police Force!

In some rare Daemodand news, the Hero was recently spotted working with Detective Freitag in King's Row. When questioned he would say only "No comment," but it can be safely assumed he has joined with the King's Row division of the Paragon Police Department to help with the many persistant crime problems there.

Could the extra large order of Tear Gas requisitioned by the King's Row Police be related?

Not coincidentally, Daemodand's name has been removed from the Recluse's Victory active roster where he was previously assigned.

Leave it to a Hero like Daemodand to go where people need the most help!

Interesting factoid: Daemodand is a member of the Freedom Phalanx Reserves.

LOL@Character Contest

Some of the contestants have been removed due to IP violations. Generic FTW! LOL

Also, does anyone even remember this contest is still on? It kinda got lost in the I13 excitement.

Yeah, I'm kinda glad I didn't enter. It's turned into a real circus. A circus that no one is attending LOL.

Oh, just in case you care, here's the voting thread.

My prediction: the winning character will be a hot girl character. Just like last time. And every other time. :p

Caught on Film: The Colloidal Cruiser

I was recently in the Hollows (the taxi took a wrong turn. Trust me, no one was as surprised as I was!) when I got a real treat: an encounter with The Colloidal Cruiser! I snapped these shots of him (using the ultra-fast exposure film I just happened to be carrying lol) in action:

I was getting directions out of the Hollows from Julius the Troll when our Hero arrived!

The Cruiser spots some bad guys, and dashes off of at light speed to enforce justice!

The fight took about 3 seconds. His fists were nothing but a blur!

And then he picked me up and had me back here safe and sound on the west coast within 60 seconds! Boy is he fast!

Thanks Cruiser! (And thanks for the advice to take my vitamins and eat my vegetables.)

I managed to use the Surveillance Device I also happened to have (don't ask why lol) to take a sample of The Cruisers vital signs. Here's the data chunk you can upload for your supercomputer to crunch and see some of The Cruiser's vital statistics (keep in mind a Hero's vital signs often change as they practice, eat their vegetables and become more powerful):

| Copy & Paste this data into Mids' Hero Designer to view the build |
|-------------------------------------------------------------------|
|MxDz;1288;560;748;|
|>-JEDUMO$D$4QX=;5^Y%I"V]"(*UK<B:OGEY,!$T:2(66?1))5N8RL;-@KO0E#<_@%_|
|!#V+\;`;/95BGX=%)^)W9__G/F;/#;.>ZG1'B^PL1R;5<.P@&UM"WIU/I&];0D=Y0EO|
|IC66U-7'?BC&RWVO+G3@!9(41Y91UTI"NEV;;]KSRMA)FVO)1>($UKCD\]>>G*:QD4S|
|KRQ]*4W,U>33'<R<<W7SLR309"B!VLJY2C-NNM\&<\*-#_SKIS`N7!<9[8HO)HZ0_/E|
|9+08=.Q@)OW%#O1U`C]JD,8R(98P1%SCAL9;Q`[Z(^2/"4U/:?QF*`O4C)"RJ?&VQCO|
|$`/PQY8]I^I;&'8WGX$^H'A*DY(B[S#^0.!!S,!FJJ$&)?8UWB56-73`GV2^2#0BG(@|
|%2FJ5HNDE2YD;8`$.6&Q%9JO(.E#PKT3PI]S2^A6Q!-5[0]N9LG8\3/$55H:CI]XDUR|
|)942R5-9]8ANZW>89N4'BAE5:W,3=<Y/.!@@6%/&?9HR1'QA,L:>)2</=`.CKF`;$4=|
|<45;Q7RXQC[X:^KU:Z0\6N-[\!RJ?@[Y;SCB3IL<^G!3CM4['M,2"Y2&:J-!2I/X>(V|
|GQ"O8PE053%(0R_UX^"4(OMEO_BE1P;M';X1N/+SH@B]Z)1Y^'O\U?F566R=[*6`?T4|
|5\0'Q$?$)\1MB("\00L?P=KLX_P8:>(IXAGB-^H,G`FYU&9!!91`Z11VPBBH@MQ"[B)|
|V+Y%YOIY_(`|
|-------------------------------------------------------------------|

Open Beta On Now! Surprise! I Was In Closed Beta ;)

Played it pretty close to the chest there, didn't I? Yep, I was in closed beta. My very first, and I have to say it was lots of fun. A few notes:

• PvP is looking up, especially for melee. I'm a bit concerned over the state of Defense for sets like Super Reflexes, Castle hinted to me on the closed beta boards that things are looking up for Defense. Otherwise, I'm well pleased with the direction of PvP. (Also, squishy inherent resist needs to be lowered).
• Shield Defense is great fun, but needs a bit of a buff. And it looks like it'll get it. Potentially a great set. I ran a Dark/Shield Brute, Electric/Shield Brute and a Shield/Super Strength Tanker.
• Patron Powers are now worth picking! The only beef I have is Stalker Mace Mastery actually got worse with the Spiderlings being traded for the very weak Distruptor Blast. I'm very happy with what Doms got (Soul Drain, Personal Force Field and Power Surge!) And everyone (except Mace Stalkers) came out ahead. Fantastic!
• Day Jobs are a fun bonus. I especially like the XP from Patrol. My favorite Accolades? The Police Baton, Sleep Grenade and Placate Power. The -Teleport Accolade is great for MM PvP. I wish the Accolades stuck around for more than 2 hours of play or 20-30 uses, however. Still, very much worth it and a nice addition to the game.

The announcement and details at the official forums.

Today's DING!s

It's been a while but today debuting on the DING!s:

The Colloidal Cruiser, level 11 Dark Melee/Super Reflexes Scrapper

He's my new favorite Hero! A super speeder concept character, and he's already feeling pretty powerful even at level 11. The synergy between DM and SR is undeniable, and I've wanted to make a true super speeder for some time. City of Heroes is pretty limiting in this particular concept (most sets just feel way too slow for a speeder) but he's working out pretty well. Shadow Maul+Sands of Mu for lots of fast-punchy goodness. ;)

I need to post a picture of his modern costume (he has a Golden Age costume, too) because it came out unbelievably good.

Fan Art at the Official Site

Check out the new fan-art section of the brand new official City of Heroes site. It's pretty slick!

A New Month, a New Wallpaper

It's November 1st. Do you know where your City of Heroes wallpaper is? Hint: it's right here. ;)

City of Heroes wallpaper collection.

Oops, I Forgot! October 31st was CoV's Anniversary!

My favorite half of the game turned one year older on Halloween. I guess that makes it 3 years of Villainy. I've been playing for about 2 1/2 (with breaks).

Sure, it has its wrinkles (the Snakes should have been a Hero group instead, for one) but it has its strong points too (the Archetypes are its #1 selling point).

Happy anniversary City of Villains!