A couple of firsts

Xocyll <Xocyll RemoveThis @kingston.net> wrote:
> After the usual corridor clearing, I went back to explore a branch I
> hadn't taken and came to an ENORMOUS room with huge machinery in it.

It's both nice and unnerving to have the maps changed around. I did get
tired of maps I could navigate with my eyes closed, but every time I go
around a corner I "know" and run into a different room, it's... unsettling.

> CoX locked solid as I was flying across Aeon city center in Cap au
> Diable. Up came a box saying the cause could be sent to them but even
> after that it had to be closed manually.

I had a whole spate of lockups and crashes after I8 rolled out, more than
any prior version. Some strange events, too - not exactly like yours, but
different from the usual P-TANG! to desktop.

They stopped after the usual small patch plus an update to THIS HOUR'S
video drivers. I always forget to snag that update when a new Ish starts -
and it makes a difference, every time.

--
= The UPDATED v1.80 Keybind, Macro & Emote Guide for I8
= is available on HEROICA! - http://www.dgath.com/coh/
= @Shenanigunner (Victory server, mostly)
= See you on ALTGAMESCOH channel!
 >> Stay informed about: A couple of firsts 

oogly <ooglygoogly DeleteThis @dotcom.com> wrote:
>>> CoX locked solid...

> I had this happen five time in an four hours last night. My first set of
> issues since the first I8 patch.

Again - I had repeated problems until I updated to the very very newest
Nvidia drivers - and they replaced ones that were no more than a few weeks
old. This sequence has repeated with every Issue I can recall.

Given the hand-in-hand relationship between Cryptic and Nvidia, I am not
surprised that they develop to the veriest bleeding edge of the driver
updates.

Also: if your crashes are preceded by the dreaded-dreaded-dreaded looping
sound problem, disabling 3D sound can make the system more stable for the
duration of patches and updates.

--
= The UPDATED v1.80 Keybind, Macro & Emote Guide for I8
= is available on HEROICA! - http://www.dgath.com/coh/
= @Shenanigunner (Victory server, mostly)
= See you on ALTGAMESCOH channel!
 >> Stay informed about: A couple of firsts 

Shenanigunner <shenanigunner RemoveThis @NOdgathSPAM.kom> looked up from reading the
entrails of the porn spammer to utter "The Augury is good, the signs
say:

>Xocyll <Xocyll RemoveThis @kingston.net> wrote:
>> After the usual corridor clearing, I went back to explore a branch I
>> hadn't taken and came to an ENORMOUS room with huge machinery in it.
>
>It's both nice and unnerving to have the maps changed around. I did get
>tired of maps I could navigate with my eyes closed, but every time I go
>around a corner I "know" and run into a different room, it's... unsettling.

This was damn near a jaw dropping wow - these high bridges over a vast
black emptiness - thankfully i'm a flyer.

>> CoX locked solid as I was flying across Aeon city center in Cap au
>> Diable. Up came a box saying the cause could be sent to them but even
>> after that it had to be closed manually.
>
>I had a whole spate of lockups and crashes after I8 rolled out, more than
>any prior version. Some strange events, too - not exactly like yours, but
>different from the usual P-TANG! to desktop.

That's actually the only crash i've had with CoH really - course i've
only been back playing for two weeks now.

>They stopped after the usual small patch plus an update to THIS HOUR'S
>video drivers. I always forget to snag that update when a new Ish starts -
>and it makes a difference, every time.

Hrm, maybe i'll do that, I really have no idea how old the drivers I
have are - but it's only a 6800 card, not anything state of the minute.

I've very rarely had to update nvidia drivers for a game.

Xocyll
--
I don't particularly want you to FOAD, myself. You'll be more of
a cautionary example if you'll FO And Get Chronically, Incurably,
Painfully, Progressively, Expensively, Debilitatingly Ill. So
FOAGCIPPEDI. -- Mike Andrews responding to an idiot in asr
 >> Stay informed about: A couple of firsts 

Xocyll <Xocyll.TakeThisOut@kingston.net> looked up from reading the entrails of the
porn spammer to utter "The Augury is good, the signs say:

>So as I was playing yesterday I encountered a couple of new things (for
>me at least).
>
>On my corrupter I got Willy Wheeler's "plant the bombs in the arachnos
>base" mission, which on every previous character had been in an ordinary
>arachnos base layout -multiple floors of corridors and small rooms.
>
>Not this time though.
>
>After the usual corridor clearing, I went back to explore a branch I
>hadn't taken and came to an ENORMOUS room with huge machinery in it.

With the new MM alt, it was the plain old little rooms and corridors
again.

The huge room made another appearance in the Rescue McKnight mission
though and was a major pain in the ass as I had to use the walkways (so
the bots could follow.)

And of course one of the bots just had to leap off a walkway at the very
top of the room and destroy himself - guess I shouldn't have named him
Lemming (not kidding that really is it's name - it's the one that
charges into melee the most.)

And of course McKnight wasn't even in there.

Methinks this MM (robot/dark) might actually remain fun and playable
through the 20's, unlike the robot/trap that involved a LOT of standing
around waiting for health regen (mine and bots.)


So, for anyone playing on Liberty, i'll be on one of the following:
Gallimaufry, the dryad/bug/lizard/raven mix Brute lvl 22 ss/elec
Antheia, the fallen angel (very angelic in white and gold) lvl 17
sonic/rad corrupter
Dark Cometeer, the humanoid alien (very 30's serial look) lvl 17
robot/dark MM

Cute thing, just before hitting 22 on Galli, I won a costume contest in
Pocket D and won a mil inf, talk about timing.
Funny thing - I hadn't even entered (since galli isn't wearing a
costume) but was just hovering nearby watching when I got a team invite
from the judge.

Oh yeah, Happy Holidays all.

Xocyll
--
I don't particularly want you to FOAD, myself. You'll be more of
a cautionary example if you'll FO And Get Chronically, Incurably,
Painfully, Progressively, Expensively, Debilitatingly Ill. So
FOAGCIPPEDI. -- Mike Andrews responding to an idiot in asr
 >> Stay informed about: A couple of firsts 

Xocyll <Xocyll.TakeThisOut@kingston.net> wrote:
> Methinks this MM (robot/dark) might actually remain fun and playable
> through the 20's, unlike the robot/trap that involved a LOT of standing
> around waiting for health regen (mine and bots.)
>

I have a Thugs/Dark MM that is just 3 pips from 40, and my wife has been
playing a Bots/FF MM that is just behind me on the xp meter. I still
adore my MM. Kit likes hers well enough, aside from the whole "have to
set up the pets" routine at the start of every mission. (Extra tedious
at the moment, as we're all out of contacts and will be doing a fair
number of newspaper missions until ONE of us hits 40 and can start
cultivating new ones.

--
Rob Wynne / The Autographed Cat / doc.TakeThisOut@america.net
http://www.autographedcat.com/ / http://autographedcat.livejournal.com/
Gafilk 2007: Jan 5-7, 2007 -- Atlanta, GA -- http://www.gafilk.org/
 >> Stay informed about: A couple of firsts 

Rob Wynne <doc.DeleteThis@america.net> looked up from reading the entrails of the
porn spammer to utter "The Augury is good, the signs say:

>Xocyll <Xocyll.DeleteThis@kingston.net> wrote:
>> Methinks this MM (robot/dark) might actually remain fun and playable
>> through the 20's, unlike the robot/trap that involved a LOT of standing
>> around waiting for health regen (mine and bots.)
>>
>
>I have a Thugs/Dark MM that is just 3 pips from 40, and my wife has been
>playing a Bots/FF MM that is just behind me on the xp meter. I still
>adore my MM. Kit likes hers well enough, aside from the whole "have to
>set up the pets" routine at the start of every mission. (Extra tedious
>at the moment, as we're all out of contacts and will be doing a fair
>number of newspaper missions until ONE of us hits 40 and can start
>cultivating new ones.

Oh the bot/trap one was fun in the early days, but once it hit sharkhead
things got much more annoying.
The problem with traps is there's really no damage mitigation of any
kind except the FF bot which doesn't keep up well and the triage beacon
"healing" is both minimal and not available all the time.
/dark on the other hand has that nice accuracy debuff on pretty much
everything, as well as stealth (for those mission entries where there
are baddies right at the door) leech healing that's available the
majority of the time, and the major acc debuff of darkest night for boss
and nasty LTs.

It should probably remain fun for the long run since it's not horribly
gimped nor as passive as traps.

Xocyll
--
I don't particularly want you to FOAD, myself. You'll be more of
a cautionary example if you'll FO And Get Chronically, Incurably,
Painfully, Progressively, Expensively, Debilitatingly Ill. So
FOAGCIPPEDI. -- Mike Andrews responding to an idiot in asr
 >> Stay informed about: A couple of firsts 

"Xocyll" <Xocyll RemoveThis @kingston.net> wrote in message
news:ecu4p29esk6u7coia4p120c49r276bl930@4ax.com...
| Rob Wynne <doc RemoveThis @america.net> looked up from reading the entrails of the
| porn spammer to utter "The Augury is good, the signs say:
|
| >Xocyll <Xocyll RemoveThis @kingston.net> wrote:
| >> Methinks this MM (robot/dark) might actually remain fun and playable
| >> through the 20's, unlike the robot/trap that involved a LOT of standing
| >> around waiting for health regen (mine and bots.)
| >>
| >
| >I have a Thugs/Dark MM that is just 3 pips from 40, and my wife has been
| >playing a Bots/FF MM that is just behind me on the xp meter. I still
| >adore my MM. Kit likes hers well enough, aside from the whole "have to
| >set up the pets" routine at the start of every mission. (Extra tedious
| >at the moment, as we're all out of contacts and will be doing a fair
| >number of newspaper missions until ONE of us hits 40 and can start
| >cultivating new ones.
|
| Oh the bot/trap one was fun in the early days, but once it hit sharkhead
| things got much more annoying.
| The problem with traps is there's really no damage mitigation of any
| kind except the FF bot which doesn't keep up well and the triage beacon
| "healing" is both minimal and not available all the time.
| /dark on the other hand has that nice accuracy debuff on pretty much
| everything, as well as stealth (for those mission entries where there
| are baddies right at the door) leech healing that's available the
| majority of the time, and the major acc debuff of darkest night for boss
| and nasty LTs.
|
| It should probably remain fun for the long run since it's not horribly
| gimped nor as passive as traps.
|

I'm noticing that effect in my bot/trap MM, and wishing (for the umpteenth
time) you could respec your secondary powers choice. About the only powers
I really use from traps are the caltrops to slow mobs down, and the triage
beacon... As Xocyll said, the traps secondary was great early on, but the
higher I get, the less effective it seems to be.

It always seems a bit funny to me how much time they spend on "power
balancing" (aka nerfing) the more effective power pools, but I can't recall
much time being spent on making the more lame power sets a bit more, umm,
what's the word I'm looking for? Productive? Worthwhile? Non-sucky? One
of those works...

CoinSpin
 >> Stay informed about: A couple of firsts 

"Xocyll" <Xocyll.RemoveThis@kingston.net> wrote in message
news:ecu4p29esk6u7coia4p120c49r276bl930@4ax.com...
> Rob Wynne <doc.RemoveThis@america.net> looked up from reading the entrails of the
> porn spammer to utter "The Augury is good, the signs say:
>
>>Xocyll <Xocyll.RemoveThis@kingston.net> wrote:
>>> Methinks this MM (robot/dark) might actually remain fun and playable
>>> through the 20's, unlike the robot/trap that involved a LOT of standing
>>> around waiting for health regen (mine and bots.)
>>>
>>
>>I have a Thugs/Dark MM that is just 3 pips from 40, and my wife has been
>>playing a Bots/FF MM that is just behind me on the xp meter. I still
>>adore my MM. Kit likes hers well enough, aside from the whole "have to
>>set up the pets" routine at the start of every mission. (Extra tedious
>>at the moment, as we're all out of contacts and will be doing a fair
>>number of newspaper missions until ONE of us hits 40 and can start
>>cultivating new ones.
>
> Oh the bot/trap one was fun in the early days, but once it hit sharkhead
> things got much more annoying.
> The problem with traps is there's really no damage mitigation of any
> kind except the FF bot which doesn't keep up well and the triage beacon
> "healing" is both minimal and not available all the time.
> /dark on the other hand has that nice accuracy debuff on pretty much
> everything, as well as stealth (for those mission entries where there
> are baddies right at the door) leech healing that's available the
> majority of the time, and the major acc debuff of darkest night for boss
> and nasty LTs.

I have a level 34 bots/traps and it works very well alone or in groups. You
just replace the force field critter when its time runs out.

Healing: You have Triage Beacon, which is really an increased heal rate
kinda thing, you have the protector bots and you have Repair. My MM
supplemented with Aid Other and Aid Self.

Dr Akagi hasn't had a particular problem with missions even in Nerva or St
Martial.


--
John Trauger,
Vorlonagent

"Methane martini.
Shaken, not stirred."

Vorlonagent (M), level 44 Blaster (Electric/Energy), Guardian
Fury- (F), Level 38 Brute (Energy/Energy), Liberty
RolIing Thunder (F), Level 37 Defender (Storm/Electric), Infinity
Lemon Tree (F), Level 36 Scrapper (Spine/Invuln), Liberty
Dr. Akagi (F), Level 34 Mastermind (Robots/Traps), Guardian
Pulsar Staraven (F), Level 32 Controller (Grav/Rad), Liberty
 >> Stay informed about: A couple of firsts 

"CoinSpin" <coin^spam^spin@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:12p56tri6d32j0b@corp.supernews.com...
>
> I'm noticing that effect in my bot/trap MM, and wishing (for the umpteenth
> time) you could respec your secondary powers choice. About the only
> powers
> I really use from traps are the caltrops to slow mobs down, and the triage
> beacon... As Xocyll said, the traps secondary was great early on, but the
> higher I get, the less effective it seems to be.

I find Force Field Generator to be very useful. Also Poison Trap and Acid
Mortar under the right circumstances. I've never gotten much use out of
seeker drones. The assault bot makes them anyway once you get Upgrade
Robot. I'm looking forward to Trip Mine and Detonator.

The traps set is very effective and defending a fixed point, so it's the
most useful when the enemy comes to you.


--
John Trauger,
Vorlonagent

"Methane martini.
Shaken, not stirred."

Vorlonagent (M), level 44 Blaster (Electric/Energy), Guardian
Fury- (F), Level 38 Brute (Energy/Energy), Liberty
RolIing Thunder (F), Level 37 Defender (Storm/Electric), Infinity
Lemon Tree (F), Level 36 Scrapper (Spine/Invuln), Liberty
Dr. Akagi (F), Level 34 Mastermind (Robots/Traps), Guardian
Pulsar Staraven (F), Level 32 Controller (Grav/Rad), Liberty
 >> Stay informed about: A couple of firsts 

Xocyll <Xocyll.RemoveThis@kingston.net> wrote:
> The problem with traps is there's really no damage mitigation of any
> kind except the FF bot which doesn't keep up well and the triage beacon
> "healing" is both minimal and not available all the time.
> /dark on the other hand has that nice accuracy debuff on pretty much
> everything, as well as stealth (for those mission entries where there
> are baddies right at the door) leech healing that's available the
> majority of the time, and the major acc debuff of darkest night for boss
> and nasty LTs.
>

I haven't played with traps at all, but I've found dark to be seriously
fun. I wish Twilight Grasp had a *bit* more radius, but that's a small
complaint, and between Tar Patch, Darkest Night, and Fearsome Gaze, most
groups don't last long agaisnt me.

The biggest problem I have, honestly, is that my big guy, the Bruiser,
is overly fond of hand clap, and tends to scatter targets out of the tar
patch just as i've gotten it laid down. I really wish they'd get rid of
it and Hurl (I don't even apply the second upgrade to the Bruiser,
because he'll just stand at range and throw rocks rather than ever
closing to melee. Ugh.) and replace them with things that did
knockDOWN. Air Superiority, maybe. I dunno. Something melee and not
knockback. Knockback sucks.

--
Rob Wynne / The Autographed Cat / doc.RemoveThis@america.net
http://www.autographedcat.com/ / http://autographedcat.livejournal.com/
Gafilk 2007: Jan 5-7, 2007 -- Atlanta, GA -- http://www.gafilk.org/
 >> Stay informed about: A couple of firsts 

"Vorlonagent" <nojtspam RemoveThis @otfresno.com> looked up from reading the
entrails of the porn spammer to utter "The Augury is good, the signs
say:

>
>"CoinSpin" <coin^spam^spin@hotmail.com> wrote in message
>news:12p56tri6d32j0b@corp.supernews.com...
>>
>> I'm noticing that effect in my bot/trap MM, and wishing (for the umpteenth
>> time) you could respec your secondary powers choice. About the only
>> powers
>> I really use from traps are the caltrops to slow mobs down, and the triage
>> beacon... As Xocyll said, the traps secondary was great early on, but the
>> higher I get, the less effective it seems to be.
>
>I find Force Field Generator to be very useful. Also Poison Trap and Acid
>Mortar under the right circumstances. I've never gotten much use out of
>seeker drones. The assault bot makes them anyway once you get Upgrade
>Robot. I'm looking forward to Trip Mine and Detonator.

Protector bots I think are the ones that get the seeker. The big guy
gets the swarm and swarm inferno missiles.

>The traps set is very effective and defending a fixed point, so it's the
>most useful when the enemy comes to you.

Unfortunately there are so many missions where you just can't do that.

I found FFG to be of limited use unless I kept myself and my bots to a
snails pace so it could keep up - this made missions tedious.
Triage was great for fixed fights, but even then, _keeping_ the bots in
it's effect is frustrating to say the least.

I *REALLY* wish bots didn't have a melee attack so they wouldn't run
into melee range of things that have a melee attack that does 5-10x
their ranged damage and of course run away from me and healing.

Oh look, a Shivan Destroyer, stay here and shoot as ordered, nah, run
into melee so it can bat 90% of the bot's hp away in one swing.

What kind of a "mastermind" builds robots that won't follow orders?

It's like herding cats.

Xocyll
--
I don't particularly want you to FOAD, myself. You'll be more of
a cautionary example if you'll FO And Get Chronically, Incurably,
Painfully, Progressively, Expensively, Debilitatingly Ill. So
FOAGCIPPEDI. -- Mike Andrews responding to an idiot in asr
 >> Stay informed about: A couple of firsts 

Rob Wynne <doc RemoveThis @america.net> looked up from reading the entrails of the
porn spammer to utter "The Augury is good, the signs say:

>Xocyll <Xocyll RemoveThis @kingston.net> wrote:
>> What kind of a "mastermind" builds robots that won't follow orders?
>>
>> It's like herding cats.
>>
>
>Heh. My wife has said that her bot's are like a pack of five year olds.
>Enthusiastic, energentic, and utterly incapable of following orders.

I find myself alternating between 2 basic commands for them
3: Defensive Attack my target
and
4: Aggressive Follow me
[1 and 2 are leech heal and pulse blast.]

I _think_ that having them on defensive _slightly_ reduces the charge
into melee syndrome. It sure doesn't stop it

But since this MM is /dark I tend to be closer to combat to fire off
darkest night so the follow to pull them closer doesn't have them out of
combat for as long.

It works for the most part, but god I wish Cryptic hadn't made it
necessary to give them the same order again and again and again.

I'm seriously tempted to add to 4: "local Get back here you metal
morons!"

And of course Cryptic's patented "as soon as the critter _thinks_ about
doing the attack, even if it can't actually perform it for 10 more
seconds, it gets treated as if it went off when they thought it" routine
means the bots get nailed with extreme damage melee attacks even when
they were close to the critter for a second or less before getting
pulled back.

And don't get me started on the "suppression" on flight, even non-pool
flight temp powers.
Oh my god, I fired a gun, so my rocketpack slowed down - funny how it
DOESN"T seem to happen to those goldbrickers that will chase me across a
zone firing the whole time and not slowing down in the slightest. My
rockets suppress, their identical rockets don't.

And a bug I sent in yesterday - that I know I sent in last summer:
Equip robot -> X Bot
You have enchanted the X Bot and enhanced...

How nice to know that tech based modifications count as enchantments.

They did fix a broken map fairly quickly though - that prison
level/hanger where one side was blocked by an invisible wall - and the
mission glowie appeared on the other side of that wall.

They haven't fixed the stealth kill-alls though, they seem to be adding
more of them.

The new "objective can be places at random anywhere in the mission, not
just on the last floor/extreme end" is causing a lot of these to be VERY
noticeable - in at least one case a "find the glowie mission" required
me to clear 2 further floors after I found the glowie because the glowie
was linked to a "boss" critter that was still at the "end" of the
mission even if the glowie wasn't.
That boss btw was called "BOSS_NAME".

This nonsense while they're also adding things like that ultra-ginormous
room that's a serious pain for non-fliers and masterminds of all kinds -
you just *know* a stealth kill-all is going to require clearing that
room from hell.

Xocyll
--
I don't particularly want you to FOAD, myself. You'll be more of
a cautionary example if you'll FO And Get Chronically, Incurably,
Painfully, Progressively, Expensively, Debilitatingly Ill. So
FOAGCIPPEDI. -- Mike Andrews responding to an idiot in asr
 >> Stay informed about: A couple of firsts 

Xocyll <Xocyll RemoveThis @kingston.net> wrote:
> What kind of a "mastermind" builds robots that won't follow orders?
>
> It's like herding cats.
>

Heh. My wife has said that her bot's are like a pack of five year olds.
Enthusiastic, energentic, and utterly incapable of following orders.

--
Rob Wynne / The Autographed Cat / doc RemoveThis @america.net
http://www.autographedcat.com/ / http://autographedcat.livejournal.com/
Gafilk 2007: Jan 5-7, 2007 -- Atlanta, GA -- http://www.gafilk.org/
 >> Stay informed about: A couple of firsts