This game is absurdly easy. So far, its been far to easy to mow down anything that stands in my way. I am an alt-oholic, so this post is written with several power sets in mind.

 Archery is still absurd. So far I have managed to 1 shot damn near every mob that has crossed my path, besides a villian. Oops, I pulled 10 mobs, sonic arrow dead, sonic arrow dead, sonic arrow dead, sonic arrow dead, yawn. Im sure there are a few out there, that enjoy complete domination over everything that crosses their path. I for one, am not one of those type of people. I prefer a challenge and there are a lot of power sets that function like archery.

 I am not saying that I agree with how and when Cryptic chose to nerf several powers. I for one believe that instead of gathering all the information that they could, from beta, launching the game, then doing mass changes to power sets, is a fucking horrible idea. Cryptic, learn from age of conan, If your game isnt finished, dont fucking release it. Cryptic should have extended beta a couple weeks. Altho, I am sure that they didnt want to compete with Aions launch.

 As I continue to play this game, I notice more and more powers that are either pathetically weak OR way over powered, I realize that more sweeping changes are going to occur. I have no problem with tweaking powers. I do have a problem with the lack of a test server and the fact that Cryptic seems to have no idea how to take things a bit more slowly. In the end its Cryptics own fault. They balanced releasing the game to soon, allowing players to level up extremely fast due to over powered abilities with, taking the time to balance out abilities over another beta and creating a test server before the game goes live. Obviously, Cryptics chose to have cash flow now at the expense of game balance and polish.

You should try Electric. I just run into 3-4 mobs and Sparkstorm them dead in seconds, while fighting a villan :)

I have to agree about the ease of the game in it's OB state.  As many have said previously, had Cryptic said "Hey, we are doing this patch tomorrow, and your defensive skills are going to be much weaker, along with mob strength being higher for X amount of days", people would be much less PO'ed.  Hopefully they will learn that information for your players works miracles in terms of keeping Hulk-rage under control.

I do agree with the OP, it was far too easy as it was and did need some changes.

However I think the changes they made were too drastic and almost glib in nature.

Myself, and many people went from walking powerhouse to opening stand up comic in a biker bar. I for sure feel less then heroic, and now I feel like a sidekick who just gets kicked around.

I would have perfered the changes thay made to be less sweeping and more thoughfull.

With that all said, I think they wil fix it and soon.

Right now theres plenty of really bad powers and a few that just make you play them! I think the high dmg aoe need to be nerfed  for sure, but as of  last patch the hordes of henchmen are just killing any close combat character in short order, anyway my advice is not to get to attached to any characters because they will be nerfing everything down to the lvl of the crap powers to make things even, is my guess. It may be a few months before things settle down. Anyway the formula for success seems to be dex, ego and con on a ranged guy, close combat is a lost cause.

Originally posted by bensculpt

Right now theres plenty of really bad powers and a few that just make you play them! I think the high dmg aoe need to be nerfed  for sure, but as of  last patch the hordes of henchmen are just killing any close combat character in short order, anyway my advice is not to get to attached to any characters because they will be nerfing everything down to the lvl of the crap powers to make things even, is my guess. It may be a few months before things settle down. Anyway the formula for success seems to be dex, ego and con on a ranged guy, close combat is a lost cause.

 I feel you when you say, melee is a lost cause. Also, for a high defense damage based character, dex and ego are perfect. Regeneration doesnt feel gimped when focusing on dex/ego, so you get a very spike based damage build that can take it also. I believe with a small change to how travel powers work in combat and some small tweaks to melee abilities, things can turn around very fast.

Been playing a Might Str/Con toon w/PA power set for close combat and still been excelling at it.  I kept Invuln at rank 2, LS at rank 2, have Unbreakable and Laser Knight advantage for Energy Shield, and I can still mow down most mobs, so long as I don't get more than 8 or so on me.  Thats not including the more elite mobs, which I can still solo.  Yes, this build isn't very exciting as hitting LS repeatedly and then rebuilding End to repeat is a lil yawn inducing, but I made the mistake of taking Eye Beams right after patch with no clue it was nerfed as much as it was.  On respec, I'm going to throw in some Might powers.  That way I can keep my theme of super strong melee Power Armor dude, and have a lil variety in my powers.  Had to learn some serious End managing with this build though.

Edit:  Using Unbreakable if its availabel to you for the extra defense and 800 HP is a great way to prolong your melee life btw, along with getting your crafting up to make Healing Patches :-)

2nd Edit:  Horrific spelling

They have a test server now. It was just set up in the last couple days.

Also, you may find that some powers you thought were absurdely weak are useful for certain builds or for certain situations. There are still quite a few stinkers and many powers are only good for theme, but even taking that into account there is still a HUGE variety of viable powers to choose from.

Well, the absurdly easy comment definately depends on the powers atm.

Munitions is NOT OP and neither is DB.  Neither of them is UN-playable but, they are definately NOT OP.

Originally posted by NovaKayne

Well, the absurdly easy comment definately depends on the powers atm.

 

Munitions is NOT OP and neither is DB.  Neither of them is UN-playable but, they are definately NOT OP.

Being that my main character is a dual blades/munitions guy I will agree and say that I do not feel overpowered anymore. During the headstart I did but after the launch day patch my guy is actually fun to play now since I do have to watch what I am doing or else I will get put on my butt. Before it was just run in and kill whatever  just as long as it was not more than four levels above me. I can still take on mobs that are one or two levels above me solo but I do not always survive.

 They needed to adjust individual powers a load needed nerfing a load needed buffing. Instead they chose a blanket nerf plus upping mob damage 25%. It was knee jerk poorly thought out and doing it on go live day just boggles the mind.

Incidentally sparkstorm dosent scale too well and munitions has perhaps the single most OP power in the game, mini mines.

 Oh and another thing they re nerfed exp leaving some nasty  exp gasps with the crap exp from mobs the game is possibly one of the grindiest ever where these content gaps are. Not sure what the hell they are up to.

Originally posted by Gorilla

 Oh and another thing they re nerfed exp leaving some nasty  exp gasps with the crap exp from mobs the game is possibly one of the grindiest ever where these content gaps are. Not sure what the hell they are up to.

 I like to PvP for Exp anyway, but those quest gaps are easily remedied by running some PvP.

It just feels that they've lowered the powers, and will probably tweak them as they get player feedback and testing.

There are some builds which are broken on the other end... my claws character is fine 1 on 1 mostly, but that quest in Canada crisis where you talk to the clone and 6 of the stealth dude spawn in around you, this char dies before I can kill 1 (without a healing pop), or just after 1 with using a heal pot.

However, I then fight Black Mask or whatever it is, and kill him easily.

My dual blades character utterly crushed the 6 dudes at once, but could barely dent Black Mask and that fight took an eternity and a heal potion or two (only boss I have had that issue with though, most of the time all my chars do equally well vs the boss chars).

I don't have a problem with a superhero being able to crush 3 or 4 henchmen at once. They are superheros after all. I will say that melee chars are at a definite disadvantage in fights where all the mobs are ranged. And of course, PvP is an utter joke balance-wise and should have been left out.