Legion World Forums LEGION COMPANION The Anywhere Machine City of Heroes: Your Chance to be a Legionnaire

Shadow Lad has Twilight Grasp (group heal) and Howling Twilight (battle rez), in addition to Dark Blast, Moonbeam (snipe), Gloom and Dark Pit (which isn't nearly as effective as I'd hoped) -- plus Aid Other from the power pool.

I think Vee's idea of trying to assemble the Sunday team as completely as possible Wednesday is an excellent suggestion.

With Rez and TP, DM should make a good healer. If he only makes it to 12 by Sunday, he can be SK'd. Moonbeam's a good snipe, but I think Clear Mind would be best to have first, assuming you have Healing Aura and Heal Other.

I don't think Illusion or Radiation have anything that clears someone's mind. I'm only a few levels away from the cool pet powers, woo-hoo!

Can't wait to practice team tomorrow night.

Prism Lord's power list: Spectral Wounds, Blind, Decieve, Flash, Superior Invisibility, Radiand Aura, Accelerate Medabolism, Hover, Brawl, Rest, Sprint

Yeah, Seymour I was disappointed in Dark Pit, too. Hopefully tencacles will be better.

Funny, how one never notices the healer, even as a healer in other forms. I don't remember seeing Shadow Lad go through that eternal animation that Twilight Grasp takes. It's a great power tho, I like how it heals you and debuffs you enemies.

Howling Twilight really is my favorite power among those I've used. Cool enough I sometimes wish one of my teammates would fall in battle when I'm playing that character (then again she is the reformed twin of a vengeful ghost... for the Japanophiles her origin is part Sadako Yamamura part Tomie) It's soooo cool to see the body rise as all the enemies suddenly get stunned.

It's not so cool tho when your team scatters in battle and you've got to scream at them to lead some thugs to the body so you can rez. Sigh, working with a dark defender is a steep learning curve if you haven't played one.

Playing any kind of healer is a steep learning curve. You have to train yourself to keep a close eye on the everyone's health bars so that you can get to the right person at the moment of need. I find that I always try to position myself as close to the central point of the group as I can so I can get to anyone at any time.

During the heat of battle though, it becomes even more challenging because everyone (particularly tankers & scrappers) get pulled further and further away from you. There's no worse feeling than seeing someone's vital signs slipping towards death and not being able to get to them in time.

If you've never played a healer, I don't think you could possibly understand how frustrating it can be.

Lyle; Besides the powers you've already mentioned, the only other ones that comes to mind are:

Magnetics - think Cosmic Boy

Size Adjustment (Growing/Shrinking) although this could be part of shape changing. At higher levels you could also change the size of other things, people.

Magic

Vison Powers (maybe as a power pool)

****

I'd also like to see some improvement in some of the existing ones. For example, Martial Arts is just kicks near as I can tell. It should have hand chops and finger stabs added to make it complete. Possibly also add nunchuckas, staffs, and throwing weapons.

*****

I really like your mimic idea. Not only along the lines you've described but it's negative as well. A variation of it should be that you generate the ability to counter a power (a la Nemesis Kid) Getting attacked by a Damned? Become an Ice demon!

Actually, I probably said that badly. I meant that the dark defender is a class that has a ton of rules that players who team with a dark defender have to learn because a dark defender has to have enemies in range to heal and the healees need to also be in range.

So to take advantage of your dark defender the whole team needs to pay attention to stuff that's usuall only the healer's worry. If a teammate falls, you need to try to try to move your battle to the fallen foe (in exchange you get to see them all stunned after Howling Twilight goes off), if you need healing you should try to get close to your Dark Defender.

That's a steep learning curve but worse is when you have to explain the powers to people. I've been in parties where I ask my teammates to lure a thug to the body of a fallen teammate (requirement for Howling Twilight). One person gets the idea and then another one goes and kills the lured thug once it takes a few steps towards the pack.

Yeah, there is a downside to the dark defender's heal and rez. And it can be especially awful when you do Twilight Grasp and it misses! I've really buffed the accuracy of it to keep that to a minimum. Most of the time, though, there's no shortage of baddies to use. And you don't have to be any closer to the Dark Defender to get healed than you do an Emp healer. And if you've got a teleporter, just move on to the next mob for rez.

I've actually found the Kinetics heal to be quite useful for Saturn Lady. That radiates from the villain. So if your scrapper's in a bind and you're a ways away, you can just hit a baddie in that vicinity.

On the upside, though, I've noticed Twilight Grasp heals more HP in one shot and uses less endurance than Healing Aura. It's all balances in this game.

Yeah that's happened to us as well.. That's one of the few times that you'll ever see Seymour get visibly pissed!

Okay looking at a roster of:

Condo:lvl 15 energy/energy blaster [Power Blast, Power Burst, Power Bolt, Sniper Bolt, Energy Torrent (ranged cone), Power Thrust (punch), Aid Self, Aid Other, Hover, & Sprint, Brawl & Rest]

Tasmia Mallor:lvl 14 (15 by Sunday?) scrapper dark/dark

Porcupine Pete: lvl 15 scrapper spines/regeneration

Andrew Nolan:lvl 15 tanker invulnerability/super strength?

Garth Ranzz:lvl 13 (14 by Sunday?) blaster electric/electric

Shadow Lad: lvl 15 defender dark/dark [Twilight Grasp (group heal), Howling Twilight (battle rez), Dark Blast, Moonbeam (snipe), Gloom and Dark Pit, Aid Other (power pool), Hover, Flight]

Prism Lord: lvl 13 (14 by Sunday?) controller illusion/radiation [Spectral Wounds, Blind, Decieve, Flash, Superior Invisibility, Radiant Aura, Accelerate Medabolism, Hover, Brawl, Rest, Sprint]

Doc Nimbus: lvl 11 (12 by Sunday?) defender empathy/dark blast?

PS: Please post your power assortments so we can all see what we've got as a group.

Argh, when Lyle tries to post just before leaving work he loses the ability to express complicated thoughts clearly.

So, what I mean... Dark Miasma is a very powerful power set but to balance that power there's a lot of requirements to get the power to work. Most of these requirements are very easily messed up by other team mates, usually unintenitionally because they're unaware of how to work with Dark Defenders and Dark Defenders are the only healers with powers so tempermental.

Howling Twilight is an amazing power. Not only is it the only rez that resurrects every hero in range, it also stuns a large number of foes. I've seen teammates die and the tide of a losing battle turn because Howling Twilight did its thing.

However, if your group splits a mob into several splinter mobs so that when two teammates fall they're not in range of each other, you can't rez them both, so only one of them gets rezzed and you've got less firepower than you could have. Also, if the mob is split that means there's a whole lotta foes who would've been stunned but aren't.

As someone who's played every type of character
now, I have to say that the healer job is really
a thankless one in a team. The tanker and the
scrapper are going to have to get in close to do
their jobs ... and the blaster and controllers
have to stay as far away as possible to do THEIR
jobs ... so trying to heal two separate groups
like that is never easy.

And the endurance drain on healing in combat is
frightening ...

Truthfully, I really enjoy having a healing
power, but I'd rather not be the team healer
most of the time ...

Lyle,

Call me Blue. 8-)

And no, I'm not offended.

I really think there are always going to be
limits as to what they can do in the game
for us. As much as I would like to see a
mimic power like we've described, I don't
think it's something we'll see soon.

And one thing to consider ... we'll no sooner
get these nifty new powers than we'll be facing
baddies who have the same powers. 8-)

Here's Powerful Porcupine Pete's powers:

Spines -
*Barb Swipe - Melee
*Lunge - Melee
*Spine Burst - ummmm, you all have seen how it works
*Impale - long range Lethal

Regeneration -
*Fast Healing - just like it says
*Reconstruction - my lone self-healing power; it doesn't respawn very quickly
*Quick Recovery - regenerates endurance VERY quickly - I have it beefed up with enhancements so I rarely need the blue inspirations

and of course Hover & Flight

Here's some completely random comments and observations about City of Heroes.

*I really hate, I mean, HATE the theme music for the Equinox section in Galaxy City.

*It never really matters where I am coming from, if I am going to a monorail, I always approach it from the wrong side. Why did they build these this way?

*My Terra's Fury character on the Triumph server won 30,000 Insp by winning a game of hide-and-go-seek. Somebody (Be'el, I think was his name) broadcasted that he would give 9,999 to the first one who found him in Atlas Park. His buddy was next to him and said that he would throw in another 20,000!! A bunch of people started hovering to the top of Atlas's globe, but I figured that would be too obvious. I picked the top of a statue of a nearby heroine, and voila! there he was!! I won't have to worry about buying enhancements there for a long while!

*Even though they're supposed to be lieutenants, REapers don't bother me nearly as much as Cadavers. I always take the Cadavers first.


*When you are teaming with someone and they offer to give you an enhancement that they aren't using, do you try to trade them something in return? I know some of you have given me stuff and I always feel bad for not giving anything in return. I know I don't have a problem giving stuff to you guys if I'm not using and it's just cluttering my inventory. But I still feel like I'm cheating you somehow. Anyone else feel this way?

*So far, Porcupine Pete is my only character with flight. After I finish playing him, I have a really hard time playing someone else who can't fly. I LOVE flight!!

* I have to begin teaching again next week. If I don't start to discipline myself soon and stop playing this game so much, I might be out of a job!


It's late and I need sleep. Respond if you think anything's worthy enough.

SLK: Some responses to your *worthy* comments...

*I've not spent much time in Equinox so I'm not sure about the music. I'll have to visit to see what you mean

*Know exactly what you mean. I'm convinced the tram sits on a rotating base so that it's ALWAYS facing the other way.

*Had a similar experience with one of my guys. (can't remember which one at this point ) The hero that was making the offer was hiding in the sand lot next to the Perez Park gate and was giving clues. Just as I got to the lot, someone else found him and was awarded the 25K insp. I ran up to them to congratulate the winner and check out the high level hero. When he realized that I had just missed winning he gave me 10K for being so close.

*The cadavers are annoying but I still go after reapers first because I hate killing cadavers only to have the reaper resurrect them on me!

*Regarding enhancements: I understand how you feel. Since I rarely team with anyone that's not from our group of friends, I probably have a slightly different perspective. I don't expect to receive something in return when I offer one of you something.

I look at it this way: If I have a hold duration which I have no use for, I would rather that one of you take it to increase your power. This will keep me safer when we go up against a powerful Boss. In a sense I get more benefit that way than by selling it back for a fration of what it cost to buy or by trashing it, Also, it will eventually clog up my tray and keep me from receiving an enhancement I potentially could use!

However, when someone is trading me, if I have something I think they can use, I will trade it back anyway. (After teaming with someone enough, you learn what is helpful to them.) I guess my perspective is that if it improves the team's (and teammate's) power and potential, it's better for me in the long run.

*I love flight also! I'm so upset at myself for not taking it for Condo at 14!

*Bah! Who needs a job anyway! Without one you could play CoH all day!


Finally, congrats on post #600!!!!!

I think you did fine, but all these followups have been very educational. They're the kind of things I'd been thinking but never put to computer screen for everyone else to see. I just suffered in silence.

The nice thing about having two healers is that one can wade in with the scrappers, and the other can hang back with the blasters if we split up. We'll have to practice staying in better formation tonight and try to let more of the mob come to us -- like those sewer mission we've done where one sniped to aggro them all into the chamber.

Never paid that much attention. Now I'll be thinking about it and will probably wind up hating it too. thanks.

I agree. I also find this to be true with Ms. Liberty in Atlas Park. No matter which way I come, unless it's straight up the stairs in front of her, I wind up going all the way around. It's like the building rotates whenever I'm coming.

I've never seen one of these. I'll have to keep an eye out for them. Fun!

I feel that way with pick-up teams, but with us, I know it all balances out in the end.

I've said it before and I'll say it again...
bottlenecks are our friends!

Which TF will we be doing anyway? The same Vahz
one we tried before, or the one with the Clock
King?

One thing that I'm going to try to do for
Andrew tonight is see how where I might be
able to insert a DO enhancement on his
defense powers. We're going to be going
through a lot of bad guys, and once the
mish starts we won't be able to buy anything
so everyone be sure to get what you think
you'll need before the mish starts because
you never know what you're going to get in
battle.

PS. Guys, I can't wait until we all get to
20. Dark Astoria! With a large group, it's
an easy way to get XP.

We'll be doing the Positron task force. I've only attempted it that one time, so I don't know if his is always Vaz or if he mixes things up. When I took it, he didn't offer me a choice.

And sorry I didn't give you credit for that bottleneck strategy. I was thinking it, but it just didn't come out of my fingers.

Okay looking at a roster of:

Condo:lvl 15 energy/energy blaster [Power Blast, Power Burst, Power Bolt, Sniper Bolt, Energy Torrent (ranged cone), Power Thrust (punch), Aid Self, Aid Other, Hover, & Sprint, Brawl & Rest]

Tasmia Mallor:lvl 14 (15 by Sunday?) scrapper dark/dark

Porcupine Pete: lvl 15 scrapper spines/regeneration [Barb Swipe - Melee, Lunge - Melee, Spine Burst - ummmm, you all have seen how it works, Impale - long range Lethal,Fast Healing, Reconstruction - my lone self-healing power; it doesn't respawn very quickly, Quick Recovery - regenerates endurance VERY quickly - I have it beefed up with enhancements so I rarely need the blue inspirations, Hover & Flight]

Andrew Nolan:lvl 15 tanker invulnerability/super strength?

Garth Ranzz:lvl 13 (14 by Sunday?) blaster electric/electric

Shadow Lad: lvl 15 defender dark/dark [Twilight Grasp (group heal), Howling Twilight (battle rez), Dark Blast, Moonbeam (snipe), Gloom and Dark Pit, Aid Other (power pool), Hover, Flight]

Prism Lord: lvl 13 (14 by Sunday?) controller illusion/radiation [Spectral Wounds, Blind, Decieve, Flash, Superior Invisibility, Radiant Aura, Accelerate Medabolism, Hover, Brawl, Rest, Sprint]

Doc Nimbus: lvl 12 defender empathy/dark blast [Healing Aura, Heal Other, Resurrect, Clear Mind, Dark Blast, Moonbeam, Hurdle, Recall Friend]

PS: Please post your power assortments so we can all see what we've got as a group.

I would like some feedback on what you all think Condo should do about enhancements adding DOs to the 3 DOs he currently has slotted.

He has a single lvl 15 DO recharge reduction on power blast (along with 15++ damage, accuracy, & reduced endurance cost); a single lvl 15 DO reduced endurance cost on power bolt (along with 15++ damage & recharge reduction); & a single lvl 15 DO damage increase on sniper bolt (along with a 15++ reduce endurance cost).

All his other powers are maxed at 15++ ( I'll have to check when I get home today but here's what I think they are slotted with. There are no empty slots on any power.)

* Power Burst has three slots: damage, reduced endurance & recharge reduction;

* Energy Torrent (Cone ranged) may have either 2 or 3 slots: likely damage, reduced endurance cost and maybe range increase;

* Power Thrust (punch) probably has damage & reduced endurance cost;

* Aid Self, Aid Other & Rest: all have only Heal;

* Hover: I think it has flight and defense increase but maybe just flight;

* Sprint: I know has jump increase

* Brawl: damage

I think it would depend on what levels you can start using 20s. Since you'll get one or two levels during the TF (don't train!), you'll probably soon reach the level where you can use 20s and should go ahead and save your money for those. You may even pick up one or two during the TF.

The 15s were great when we were 12, but if 20s are within our reach, I'd hold off for those since you don't have any open slots for stacking.

Don't forget everyone! Legion Night on Virtue tonight at 9 PMish eastern. Dress rehersal (sorta) for the TF this SUnday.

Seymour,

Have you heard that we shoudln't train after
we reach a new level in the TF? In all the TFs
I've been where someone has leveled, they went
ahead and trained when the opportunity arose.