What's the end game like?

[rk47]

Hi I've been on the 1 week trial for a while and been enjoying my merc mastermind. I'm pretty close to purchasing a digital copy over at plaync.com but I'm quite curious to what sort of gameplay is offered at end game. Due to my different timezone from american players I've been grinding missions solo up to lvl 32 in Liberty server.

How does the end game compare with World of Warcraft 5 man raids, as well as Guild Wars campaign mode?

[UnSub]

Okay, first off, let's define your end game - if it's the final few levels up to 50, you've got the Patron story arcs, the conclusion to the whole "Destined One" story and the Lord Recluse Strike Force (LRSF), where you face off against the Freedom Phalanx in the final mission. You need 8 players for that LRSF and reportedly MMs (and Stalkers) aren't preferred on it, but you should be able to find a team at some point. Many CoV players have indicated that the best story arcs in CoH/V appear in the lvl 40 - 50 range in CoV.

If you mean, "What happens at lvl 50?", then the answers are:

1) you can still LRSF for the special enhancements, but only once every 24 hours (I think); or

2) PvP your heart out; or

3) Newspaper mission / finish your story arcs / badge collect to pass the time; or

4) roll up an alt and start again.

CoH/V has no ultra-rare loot and therefore no raid-type quests for rare equipment that give X% bonuses which forms what is often laughably called "the end game".

Now, I9 is meant to introduce crafting in the form of the Inventions system, but very little information has been released about that to date. The general wisdom about Inventions is that it will allow you to use salvage to create your own enhancements, temp powers, costume items and other things.

As a side issue, there are non-US global channels / SGs / VGs who you could probably hook up with if you are looking for someone to play from your timezone. CoH/V is a lot more fun when your character is in a team (for the most part; bad groups are there own special kind of joy...).

[Der Helm]

As a side issue, there are non-US global channels / SGs / VGs who you could probably hook up with if you are looking for someone to play from your timezone. CoH/V is a lot more fun when your character is in a team (for the most part; bad groups are there own special kind of joy...).

There should even be an option to transfer your characters to the European servers, but I never tried that. Please keep in mind, that you would  only have 2 English speaking servers to choose from if you decide to change.

[Sky]

I actually like that there's no 'end game', not being a huge fan of what passes for 'end game' in these diku things. For me in WoW, the end game was hitting the end game.

Anyway, you're asking the wrong questions. Did you have fun? If so, would you like to continue having fun? That's really my only metric.

[rk47]

hmm i guess u're right. I'll grind some more and get that free re-spec at 40 ^_^

[Llava]

?

What free respec at 40?

[eldaec]

The endgame is alts.

The upside of this is that it means new players can actually get a group.

The other upside is that it encourages the devs to develop content at all levels instead of concentrating on a ridiculous arms race of catassery.

The downside is that it doesn't hide the fact that the grind is the game.

[geldonyetich]

I'd say the games that have long item acquisition activities at level 50 are even moreso "grind is the game" mentality.  They just revert the grind away from the experience bar and into gear acquisition.

Really, CoH is no different there, what with Hamidon Raids.  I'd say the big difference between CoH and other games is that there's so much incentive to immediate roll an alt.  What with all the different power sets and the coming up with a new character concept.

[Glazius]

?

What free respec at 40?

It comes with the patron power pool.

--GF

[Trippy]

Really, CoH is no different there, what with Hamidon Raids.

Hamidon raids on my server were very few and far between post-Hamidon enhancement nerf, not that they were all that common to begin with. It also didn't help that seemingly most of the people on the server went to play CoV as well.

[Llava]

Any day I log into my heroes I hear about a scheduled Hamidon raid.

That's on infinity.

Since people have figured out how to do it, it seems to have become more popular.

[Sky]

I have the chat turned off :)

[Nebu]

I have the chat turned off :)

That single feature enhanced my gameplay by an order of magnitude.

[eldaec]

?

What free respec at 40?

It comes with the patron power pool.

--GF

On the subject of  respecs, everyone should remember that you are getting another free respec in the upcoming patch so long as you've had at least 9 months time

So make sure you've used up any existing free respecs you currently have in case they decide to overwrite the free-spec slot with a vet-respec (most of your characters will have a free respec sitting on them for one damn reason or another, Cryptic give them out like candy).

[geldonyetich]

Cryptic usually gives out a respec with a new Issue release since the changes to the balance of the powers necessitate people have the freedom to swap them out if they feel like it.  So, within about a month (the time it'll take them to get Issue 8 off the test server and onto retail), I'm betting everybody'll have one.

That's good news for me.  I've never received an invitation to get the second respec task force done, and discovered the hard way that Dark Armor's Cloak of Fear is a very bad choice.  They overnerfed it in their decision it cannot affect lieutenants and bosses, and they sort of forgot to add that onto the power description so I forgot when I was picking.

[Llava]

Cloak of Fear is a pretty good power.  Slot it for accuracy reduction, it's supposed to be pretty effective.  Though I, personally, don't use it because I don't like the effect.

Also, though they have usually given out free respecs with Issues, they don't anticipate one this time because there aren't really any power changes going on.  Biggest one, I think, is making it so you can't recall acid mortars and whatnot with recall friend.

Lastly, the veteran reward description indicated that the veteran respecs would stack with the free respecs and the earned ones.  So don't waste a free respec just because veteran rewards are coming.

[geldonyetich]

I actually specifically picked up Cloak of Fear for the accuracy reduction.  However, seeing how I'm only seeing visible FX on minions, I'm not sure it's actually doing anything for me versus the Bosses or Lts.  I haven't even noticed any "miss" icons popping up over the Bosses or Lts, indicating that Cloak of Fear probably isn't even trying to affect them.

Though minions are afraid of me, I'm not afraid of them.  They don't do that much damage and, in another couple levels when I'll have four slots in Throw Spines, they'll all be dead at the start of the fight.  (Or close to it - I might need to do a little touchup work with my Death Shroud.)

[Llava]

This is from memory, you'll probably want to check the guide section of the forums for confirmation, but I'm moderately sure that the accuracy debuff portion of the shield is auto-hit while the fear requires a to-hit.  Only the fear displays the visual effect.

Take that with a teaspoon of salt, but it's worth checking before you drop the power.

[Sky]

I started a spines/dark scrapper drunkenly the other night. Named him the Minmax Munchkin.

 

[rk47]

I actually specifically picked up Cloak of Fear for the accuracy reduction.  However, seeing how I'm only seeing visible FX on minions, I'm not sure it's actually doing anything for me versus the Bosses or Lts.  I haven't even noticed any "miss" icons popping up over the Bosses or Lts, indicating that Cloak of Fear probably isn't even trying to affect them.

Though minions are afraid of me, I'm not afraid of them.  They don't do that much damage and, in another couple levels when I'll have four slots in Throw Spines, they'll all be dead at the start of the fight.  (Or close to it - I might need to do a little touchup work with my Death Shroud.)

I agree, they should add more detail on their skill descriptions. Hover tells me nothing about how fast would I be or how much more DEF+ am I getting. And getting 2% Maneuvers buff at the cost of END regen is a bit too much for my MM. That's why I am more careful when choosing powers now.

BTW, does COV support a mod UI like WoW does? I'm really hating the routine of 'refer to webpage for % and exact numbers cause we won't show you in game' when evaluating power sets.

[Glazius]

I started a spines/dark scrapper drunkenly the other night. Named him the Minmax Munchkin.

 

Well, in a few levels you'll be calling him "More CABs". Spine/dark all out is nice area death but you pay a premium.

--GF

[geldonyetich]

From my experiences with Spines/Dark, I'm going to have to say they're amongst the more limited scrappers, in terms of customization.

Dark Armor is the main limiting factor.  Its immobilizaiton protection is in Cloak of Darkness, but I picked up mine from Combat Jumping instead.  This was advantagous because Combat Jumping was one of two prerequisites to pick up Acrobatics.  Due to lack of knockback protection in Dark Armor, Acrobatics is neccessary to stay off my back and in the middle of foes where my AOE damage actually works.  Also, with all those endurance-sucking toggles, Stamina is a must.  There's three mower powers you don't get.  So I'm up to level 24 and have maybe 2-4 attack powers because I'd had to take 6 pool powers just to cover the overriding weaknesses of the Dark Armor set.

Spines looks like a great set on paper, but one thing I've discovered it does not have going for it is the animation times.  Spine Barb Swipe, Burst, Impale, Ripper - all of those take 3 seconds to execute.  Haven't tried Throw Spines yet, but I'm wagering it's not a real quick attack either.  Your only quick attack is Lunge.  These long attack animations render Hasten fairly worthless once you've got three long cycled powers.

Once that's tackled, though, I have an interesting hero.  Depending on which attacks one takes, a Spines/Dark Scrapper can be a customized to be an AOE specialist, a single target specialist, or a mix.  Death Shroud and Quills (toggled on always on attack powers) actually do pretty impressive damage in the long run, don't have any animation time, and enemy attacks that lower your recharge wont' slow them down.  Personally, I opted out to taking Quills and Spine Burst because I found the minions don't last all that long under a 3 SO +DAM enhanced Death Shroud.  Throw spines and Death shroud is probably all the AOE I'd ever need.  Dark Armor brings some pretty effective +RES scores against everything but positive Energy attacks while simultaniously offering some (weak) mob control and the capacity to instantly heal yourself with Dark Regeneration pretty frequently.  The Spines/Dark Scrapper can work, and be a talented hero that can whittle down the minions while working over the bosses.

Still, if I had to do it again, I think I might take Regeneration instead.  Stamina becomes unnecessary when you have the (25% more effective) Quick Recovery power.  There's two powers I get back from not needing stamina.  Knockback protection is included in Integration, so I don't need Acrobatics.  There's two to three more powers I get back depending on if I want Super Jump or not and considering also that I'd be taking some kind of hold resistance power anyway.  Overall savings of 4-6 power slots and all I lose is resistance to confusion.

As for attack, maybe Martial Arts (due to all those enemy disorienting/knockback moves) or Claws (due to fast animations and -DEF).  The main thing I've learned from my Spines/Dark Scrapper is that just because a Scrapper can be a AOE demon doesn't mean they should.  They're better playing their specialty as a boss killer - leave the minion sweep up to those squishy Blasters.

[Trippy]

I agree, they should add more detail on their skill descriptions. Hover tells me nothing about how fast would I be or how much more DEF+ am I getting. And getting 2% Maneuvers buff at the cost of END regen is a bit too much for my MM. That's why I am more careful when choosing powers now.

You can use the test server to test out powers and enchancement combos.

BTW, does COV support a mod UI like WoW does? I'm really hating the routine of 'refer to webpage for % and exact numbers cause we won't show you in game' when evaluating power sets.

Nope.