_eeek_
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Posts
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Joined
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Welcome to the game! I remember being frustrated at not being able to find teams when I started, too. Occasionally someone would send me a tell asking to team, but I just had no idea how to go about finding THEM.
Totally agree with what the others have said, but also one of the primary ways to find teams is via the Broadcast on your chat. This is where people look for teams, or look for more players on their teams - it only Broadcasts in the zone you are in. LFM means a team is Looking For More (Click on their name directly in the chat box and it will address a private tell to that person - you don't have to fumble and try to correctly type out "/t TeamPlayer'sNameWithWeirdSpelling"). Also, YOU can broadcast directly and say you are LFT, or Looking For Team. Remember that if the available teams are in a mission, they will not see your tell, so if you get no response try broadcasting again maybe 5 minutes later (note: spamming broadcast that you are LFT over and over is generally considered obnoxious, so don't go crazy).
However, the server you play on makes a big difference in how many people are around. Virtue and Freedom are very different in attitude, and are the most populated servers. If you don't like the atmosphere in one, go try out the other! Once you get out of Praetoria, if you go heroside, it will send you directly to Talos. Though it is a 20-30 lvl zone, it is sort of a hub of activities in Paragon, because it's where everything is pretty centrally located.
In Pocket D (you can get there via a Pocket D pass, or from Club 54 - I think is the name? in Imperial City, I believe - there is a portal to Pocket D) there will be winter events until the end of the month (Go to dance floor in P-d, there is a villian side off the dance floor and a hero side. Look to the window above the villain's side - there is an entrance there to all the winter events). There will be another big event for Valentine's Day - lots of teaming opportunities to be had - again, check Broadcast.
Another thing you can do is look in the Forums under Servers, there may be info you can use for chat channels for your server, and advertisements of open events at a specific day and time. These are typically for higher level toons, but can help you get used to your server, and who is doing what. If it isn't helping you with a slump in your particular zone/level, it will definitely show you that this is a thriving community with lots of stuff going on, so don't worry - the slump IS temporary!
Good luck, and happy teaming - we're happy to have you here! -
Another thing I'd do (though I know it's not the point of your post), is to put another recharge reduction in Boost Range, and make it perma. Won't change any numbers anywhere, but it's truly amazing for one's survivability on large teams and TF's.
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In reference to the question "does anyone blap any more?".... I have always considered the word "blapper" to be preceded by the word "crazy." Just hate that term - sounds ugly, and has developed a connotation meaning suicidal.
My /EM is an ice blaster, who holds, then smacks 'em good. Have never EVER considered her a blapper. She's not remotely crazy. In fact, she dies less than my scrappers. She's just a blaster who gets ranged attacks and melee attacks, just like the other blasters.
I don't think blasters in general have passed over the melee attacks, but now have more options for mitigation, and are thus able to play smarter. I haven't seen a "crazy, suicidal blapper" in ages. I do see a lot of blasters who combine powers intelligently - psi/fire is a pretty common one, isn't it?
So, to answer the question, IMO, I think it's just the term that's gone by the wayside, not having a combination of attack styles. And good riddance, too. Now if we can do something about the term "scranker".....
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Like you, I was going to lose Thunderstrike on my /EM blaster, but decided at the last to take it for the bonuses in a PBAoE set. Plus, ummmm..... I couldn't come up with something I liked more. It will be the last of my punches I'll use though.
I opted for Fire in the epics, mainly for RotP. Not only is it a LOT of fun, but now I regard my untimely demise in an all new way - as just another tool in my arsenal of doom and destruction. Added bonus: I don't feel any need to try and soft-cap my blaster.
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I see a lot of posts that say things like "I'd like to see the numbers on that..." or, "Well, here are the numbers for..." Confession? I stop reading right there. If mathematics is a language, then I'm completely illiterate. I also do not understand techie-speak at all. Nada. I am sure this whole Alpha Slotting business makes total sense to almost everyone. Just looking at terms like "33% pre-ED", probably 99.9% of everyone on the forums not only understands what this means, but gets in on an intrinsic level. I, however, do not. I know what 33% means. I even know what ED means. In practical terms? Not a freaking clue.
I know people who have end. issues, who have filled their Alpha Slot with Cardiac Boost, and almost wept for joy seeing their end bar stay blue. So, seeing a lack in my own toon, I slot my tank with Musculature, because, well, heck, what tank doesn't want to do more damage? I notice no difference. When I mention this to people, I can almost hear the stifled laughter through my monitor, and after a long pause, hear in response: "er, well, yes. You wouldn't. It's still a tank, you see...."
Somehow, I just know this all makes sense to many people (And they can just quit laughing, darn it!). To me, it sounds like rules which change on alternate Tuesdays unless you are wearing socks that don't match. There really must be a way to understand this in terms your average English major can understand.
When slotting the Alpha, do you play to your toons' strengths, or to their weakness? In terms of the tank, do I want more defense? Will that give me more bang for my buck? Or is it possible can I get more strength, not some piddly amount, because it's a percent of your basic blah, blah, I don't understand this part? Or, would I want to go counter-intuitive and get something like Spiritual, because all my defenses do need to recharge...?
See, I am at a loss.
For a lot of support toons, or anybody who wants perma/ anything, the Spiritual Boost is a no-brainer. Yeah, even for me (HEY, I HEARD THAT!) For melee toons and even some blasters, it all gets hazy. What should a Shield Defense tank or scrapper get? How about a Willpower one? My blaster got the Cardiac Core Boost for the 20% range. I think 20% range increase equals about a foot and a half - I really can't see much of a difference, not like having a Boost Range power. So what should I have gotten? So much confusion, so many slots!
Any help from the bilingual among us would be deeply appreciated. Oh, and I should mention that for myself, any glaring problem issues have been resolved by level 50, so no corrective action is needed. Just the whole "bigger and better" thing, and if Teh Uber can be achieved, well that would be even better! Thanks for reading, and to the two people who didn't laugh at my tank, I thank you especially.
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When /MM first came out, I had it paired with fire/, on the advice of, oh roughly a thousand people. After giving it every chance to really be something remarkable, I finally called it quits. I was sick of doing that "Fire Blaster Shimmy" trying to get away from whatever was targetting me, that always seemed out of the tanks' taunt range. I died a lot, which is boring, and the powers were just... blah. That toon has now been sitting at lvl 45 for so long that... well, it still has base salvage on it. I finally puzzled it out and realized that /MM doesn't do anything to augment fire primary - it's just sort of more of the same thing. It doesn't mitigate (though I did get some good jokes off about WoC, saying I'd been caught in a horrible accident at a bubble gum factory). These are the two things I want from a secondary for a really powerful primary like fire/ - I want the secondary to make fire/ more survivable, and, if possible, to make the fire blasts work even better.
Some time later, I wanted to try fire/ again, checked the secondaries once more, and came up with /devices. Surprise, surprise, It is AWESOME. The sheer joy of Caltrops + RoF is a thing of beauty which cannot be described in mere words! I have a fire/dark corr., but this is even better, because the fire damage is so much better on a blaster.
I took the Taser, which is helpful for anything that isn't effected by slows, like council wolves. Also took the Cloak and the Targeting Drone, though am not certain if they are still needed at 50. However, they are both toggles, which means I set them and leave them alone, and they do their things while I do mine.
Have tried most of the other powers in the set during various respecs, but have ended up dropping them all as being far too fiddly for my playstyle. I can, and have seen, the benefit of using the bombs, but I just can't stand the fiddly. Smoke? Well, it works really well on Night Widows, but never did notice it do anything particularly for me, even fully slotted. Also, see: fiddly.
Thus I have all of 4 powers (plus the web you have to take) all of which augment fire/ while giving me much, MUCH more survivability. This allowed me to take everything in the primary - something I have can only rarely achieve on other toons, and all the power pool selections I really wanted. Unheard of!
I hear your complaints about the set, I really do. I would not take it or recommend it for something like Psi or Sonic, which have their own mitigation. For those, I'd likely suggest a high damage secondary. Fire/ doesn't need a high damage secondary, it just needs a few little things that make it function better and help you survive. Devices has those things. -
Quote:Originally Posted by Savos
Try for the 30 minute gold time.
I don't think you can do it with 5 empaths though. If you swapped out the 5 empaths with something like another kinetic, and 4 dark/rad/cold/storm I'd think you could do it.
We can't do it?
(Cause empaths are only tokens, or for really terrible teams?)
We CAN'T DO IT?!
(Cause we need some REAL defenders? Well, not real defenders, but, you know.... the useful ones?)
Oh, it's ON! It is SO ON!
(But um, it's not on at Thurs. afternoon since Halfflat can't make it, of course
-Zippy (the empathy/tank with the big, huge HARUMPH to go with red hat) -
Great video, Doom_Diva! WOW! You nailed it beautifully!
I propose we get together and try another TF next Thursday afternoon. Just imagine how efficiently we could do it if we weren't laughing our behinds off! Oh, wait... that was best part.
Eeek (aka Zippy the WonderGirl - the one in the red hat)
PS Can I be the tank again? I will work harder at not losing runners in trees, honest! (Er...referring to Requiem, the big chicken!) -
I had enough fun on my SD/EM tank (I know, fotm - ick!...) that I made an EM/SD scrapper, too. I know SD is specifically what you did not want, but it's the only experience I have of having a tank and a scrapper with the same powersets. The scrapper wasn't as much fun as the tank - and I'm a huge scrapper fan. I guess this is because I ended up playing the tank like a scrapper (solo only! I do Tank for the team when I'm on a tank, of course!). It was SO much fun playing at /x8 and taunting bigger and bigger groups, then herding them all into yet another group who was ignoring me due to ED, and bashing bejeebers out of this huge group with Shield Charge and Lightning Rod. HUGE fun! (with extra fun bonus points if there was anything that blew up, like Rikti drones!). Though positionally soft-capped, the scrapper did not survive this process as well, I have to say. :/ That made the scrapper less fun (but still fun!).
So, any advice you get from anyone is going to depend on what you're looking for. Do you want to do tanking (the verb), as opposed to possessing a tank (the noun) who scraps?
It sounds like you want to scrap, rather than tank (but I could be wrong). Your point of choosing a tank is that you want to stay alive while doing said scrapping.
I've had the best results for staying alive on tanks with a defense-based primary (shield, ice are the ones I've tried). I have thus far not had any luck with damage aura scrappers - they're far to squishy for my taste. Have not yet tried one, but a damage aura tank (elec, fire, dark) might be just the thing for you to get the most damage out of your tank along with EM. But if you want to stay alive really, really well, do a defense-based armor set. If you don't want Shield, try Ice. -
I wanted to make a fire blaster who would live. My theory is that for a blaster, whatever secondary you choose should really serve the purpose of augmenting the primary. I played a fire/mm, and found it really lacking... mm was kind of just more of the same. With Fire, I didn't need more of the same. I just needed to stay alive more often. So this time, for fire, my augmentation requirements were "I don't want to ALWAYS die!" It seemed like /devices had some mitigation, so I tried it.
Fire/devices is by FAR the most fun I've EVER had on a blaster! EVER! (Did you get the EVER part? Hyperbole? Moi?)
The combo of Caltrops and Rain of Fire is a thing of beauty! I remember last year at Halloween and knocking on doors solo when I was bored or tired, and just had the best time. Lay down Caltrops, knock, hover up out of easy reach, drop Rain of Fire. Pause to giggle at wolfies trying to climb streetlights to get to you, then Taser bad wolfies. Toss out fire ball to finish them all off. Maybe a single-target blast or two for bosses. I think I ended up with something like 38 sets of costume salvage on that one, and 2 or 3 (mid-30's) levels, it was just that much fun!
I did try using the Bombs at the door. I was frustrated the very first time - it took so long to set up, I felt I could have wiped out whatever came out 2 or 3 times over. I ended up respeccing out of all the Bombs and Smoke, too (it never saved my behind once), and never bothered with the Gun Drone at all.
I use the Targetting Drone, and put the Increased Perception proc (from whatever the heck that low-level to-hit set that comes from - name escapes me atm), which counters the night widows' "blinded" effects.
Thus, I only needed a few powers out of the entire set, enabling me to take all of the primary attacks, and ended up with all the defense I was looking for.
The nuke kills everything with its usual "holy moley, what WAS that?!" effectiveness without the Build up. I had concerns. Turned out unnecessarily.
RoF + Caltrops = Pure Beauty -
I'll start slotting IO pieces in less desirable (ie holds, slows, etc.) sets at 22. They tend to be VERY cheap, and give a lot more bang for the buck. And if they are drops, better yet! I don't slot for bonuses until I hit 32, and then stuff like your t-strikes - not anything too expensive. Trouble is, it's hard to get any of the solid IO pieces (like t-strikes) in the 30's range.
Should be mentioned that lot of people don't bother until their final build. I understand that, too. Personally, I want any of my game experience to be as fun as possible, and that usually means being effective as possible. Also, I don't do my builds in advance - there are always powers I don't care for as much, and ones I just love that sounded a bit goofy (even ones I've found goofy on other toons, sometimes I find a great use for on that particular build). I find these things out by playing, so I'm mentally "building as I go." -
Quote:You're absolutely right. I make far more off bronze rolls than I ever make on drops, pre-fifty! But it's a slow and tedious (for me) way to make money for the time it takes. It's far less time and far, far better profits from marketing.Originally Posted by Eva Destruction
Ok, everyone who avoids AE because you get tickets rather than random drops...you do realize that unless you're 50, tickets can be way more profitable than regular drops right? For one thing, the roll results are weighted, so you get fewer immobilize recipes and more recipes people might actually want to buy. For another, you can save them up and roll at the levels where stuff tends to sell for more. And if you roll in a lower level bracket, you can get desirable lower-level recipes. Where do you think all those Steadfasts and Regenerative Tissues come from? .
I am glad you are generating the steadfasts and etc. for us, Eva Destruction. I utterly lack the patience for it. You end up with 20 recipes, vendor half of them, and monkey around in WW's for ages buying all the stuff you need for the remaining 10 or so recipes (and realizing you don't have nearly the salvage capacity, so add a couple more trips to and from base), crafting them, and making yet another trip to WW's to auction them. Average price for all that fussing around crafting items in mid-thirty range? 3 million. I've probably gotten a dozen or so that made 10-15 mill, and 1 or 2 oblits that made even more. But for the time investment outside of the AE mission itself, it's a poor return on my time (Unless the process is something you really enjoy, and it's a fun "game-within-a-game" for you - then it's a smart way to spend your time!).
Lowering the level of the recipes shortens this considerably, since 98% of what you get is unsellable as an IO (No one will pay even half what the salvage costs for a lvl 15 ranged IO, for example). I'm happy to hear you got good stuff! I tried it a few times and got absolutely nothing but garbage. The mid-ranged stuff will at least get me the 3 million per.
For a toon with no infl. to speak of, and no resources, then tickets are a great way to yield a small nest egg. The path to riches, however, it is not. -
I wouldn't like it.
I prefer more well-rounded teammates, I suppose. A defender who smacks stuff around in their spare time is much more interesting (and deserves more praise in my book) than a buff bot who stands around while waiting for the next buff to come up. Where is their recognition? A melee toon who took the time and picked up the day job or temp recipe to rez a fallen teammate is awesome to me (I swear this once made a near-impossible ITF possible!). A melee teammate who goes 3 rooms away and kills everything is someone I wish was soloing, and not on my team. But that's the guy who will get the recognition at the end of the game, using this idea. I could go on and on with similar examples, but you get my drift. I think it's the team player who will lose out under the proposed system. But, just my opinion.... -
I agree with what everyone's saying here (ratings meaningless, tons of utter garbage to try to wade through, and a really clunky interface). I have found one arc I really enjoy. One. ONE! I'm sure there are more. Somewhere. The tons of farms with 5 stars is a big reason I don't mess with AE.
My biggest beef is that I can't get a recipe at a level I'd use from reward rolls. If these were like Hero Merits, and I could use a slider bar not only to go down in level, but to go up 3 levels, I'd be doing AE a LOT more. Whenever I'm between arcs, or can't find anything my level to do. I'd even try to wade through all the garbage to find something non-hideous!
Recipes like Thunderstrike, Crushing Impact, Doctored Wounds, Efficacy Adapter, all flow like water out of bronze reward rolls. And, coincidentally, these are the very recipes I'm looking for on all my 30-something toons. And these are the very recipes which are not for sale at the AH. You'd think this would be a big win, huh? But my 32 blaster isn't ever going to slot a 32 Thunderstrike. The only toons who are looking for an even-level IO are all 50, and they have no difficulty finding recipes of any sort.
Honestly, so many of us have trouble finding mid-level recipes, I think AE could be much more popular for its rewards if we could just shift that stupid slider bar 3 levels up. -
Ill/Rad!!!! Gah! Only set I've got where you need almost all the primary, secondary and epics to really be, well... an Ill/rad!
Most of my toons remained pretty much the same after the respec., except now they have 3 teleports. Well, a few got self-rezzes, too. But without more slots (and no, I'm not complaining about this!) there just aren't many new powers available that don't need multiple slots to be effective (Pool powers like combat jumping were standard on my toons before).
The only one that was really eased up on the power selection crunch was the emp/rad defender. I never had enough pool powers for that one. Otherwise? Everything that had a tight build, still has a tight build, but now they can teleport.
BTW: Please don't construe any of this as in any way critical of the inherent fitness pool - I'm thrilled with the change! I simply don't see it as much of a difference for most of my high level toons. -
I don't care how people play the game. I really don't. Thing is, the AE exploits DO affect me. I'm not talking down the line, like real money businesses, or causing expensive salvage and lack of recipes - that's all after the fact.
What I hate is the incredible influx of complete jerks running around. Hateful bile, spewing out on broadcast... if I wanted to hear that stuff, I'd watch reality TV. -
Thanks so much for your replies, it helped a LOT. Found I had a lot of the things mentioned (aegis, numina sets), but there was no specific goal for these beyond "well, I get a lot of ... something here." Thus, I had a build that was probably above average in some respects, but didn't excel in anything anywhere.
The comments and set suggestions were great - really helped hone in on what I should be aiming for. In particular, thank you for doing actual builds, DrMike2000 and BunnyAnomaly - that was far more work than I'd expected, and the time you took is very much appreciated.
You guys are amazing! -
I've tried any number of different things, but I seem unable to wrap my head around how on earth to softcap Willpower. I totally do not get this set! It seems like a hodgepodge of peculiar positional defenses and resists. Where do you go with all this seemingly unrelated stuff?! And despite all my attempts to get at least SOMETHING capped, nothing is. Aarrgh! Softcapping defense-based melee toons is fairly simple, and that's part of the trouble - I end up going back to what I know (good, positional, defensive set bonuses). What's that you say? The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, expecting different results?
Mids is an exercise in frustration (I don't get this set on a really epic scale!), nor can I find any guides that show what to slot for capping.
The toon in question is a brute (WM/WP), if that makes a difference. She has:
-3 PBAoE attacks
-2 melee attacks
+
-Tough and Weave (w/steadfast proc)
-Combat Jumping
-Hasten/SS pool
+ (misc. info)
-Everything in the WP set except the Godmode (whatever that's called, I can't remember)
-No Epics - couldn't fit into build (This could change with I19 opening up 3 more power choices).
-Plays strictly heroside, and would switch sides for VEAT only as an absolute last resort.
The toon is pretty darned tough, but is much to vulnerable to anything with more exotic attacks, and gets debuffed down to negatives the first time a Ring Mistress sneezes. Other than just fighting Council for the rest of her career, can anyone give me any advice? Cost isn't an issue (except ones which cost 2 billion plus, because I have not yet lost my mind), and do not care about "uber sets" for bragging rights (as am over the age of 9). Any help would be very, very greatly appreciated.
Thank you in advance! -
Quote:If all tanks were tiny fairies, I'd be appalled and make myself a big, burly thing.Originally Posted by Jade_Dragon
Heh. I like unusual tanks. Amusingly enough, for the longest time I had only ONE Tanker, a no-neck type named Blue Diamond. However, for all his muscle and compact build, he's only about 5 feet tall. He's a foul-tempered, grouchy, obstinate jerk, who insists that no one is ever going to beat him. Probably has an inferiority complex. But he's all about being loud and obnoxious and the center of attention to the point where he pretty much exemplified the Tanker for me.
. It's the stereotype that bothers me, not what the thing actually IS.
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Quote:Lose Jacob's Ladder. It's a pretty sucky power. Chain Induction isn't a huge grand and glorious power (that's Lightning Rod), but it's quite good.Originally Posted by je_saist
question is: where would it go? I've got no room to take it.
Well, I take that back. I can see a possible option as being sacrificing some direct damage, maybe dropping charged brawl or havoc, and make up the 5% recharge on Crushing impact with the 5% recharge on Efficacy adapter, just need to pull a slot from somewhere else.
Actually... that's rather tempting to try.
Also, it's unlikely that you need both Havoc Punch AND Charged Brawl - you want AoE's, not several single target attacks. Get more recharge from set bonuses, if needed.
I have EM on several different flavors of toons. The attack chain is the same for all of them, though I've tried a variety of things. Lightning Rod, ---> Chain Induction, ----> Thunderstrike, ----> Havoc Punch. Repeat the last 3 as needed, if spawn isn't dead.
Personally, I like Taunt, so I can get a sizable pile to LR into. For this reason, the last thing I'd want is Lightning Clap (though, if they'd put it on a blaster, I'd be all OVER it!). I tried it, but it really didn't work anywhere, and respec'd out of it.
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Quote:I really could not disagree with you more, Blue. I respect your opinion, I am glad you found stuff that's fun for you to play, whatever it is that isn't a tank.Originally Posted by Blue_Centurion
In my opinion the Devs really screwed up when they made the tank AT.
In every other video game, seriously, every other game. The biggest guy does the most damage. Period. He may have an attack rate that would make a turtle yawn. He may miss more than most. He may lack cool stuff that other characters get. But, big guy = big damage in the videogame world. Heck, in one particular X-man game you cannot unlock Colossus until halfway through the game because he is so awesome compared to the rest. Tanks always do the most damage. Think of the freaking name even. Armored, slow, big punch. They should have named these guys Armored Police deterrent wagons with no guns. Guess that would be too long though.
Seriously, the only hope for the Devs with this AT is to bring the damage to the exact same level as Brutes, no Fury though. Otherwise, the class is only rolled by newbs. Take a Brute blueside, and you got a Tank that does damage. Or just take the Scrapper, as has been posted above, and really kill stuff (and still survive)
the only thing Tanks are good for IMO is for tourists to the city who want a toon that they can walk around the most dangerous places to check out whats going on without fighting/dieing. Its a tourist bot. The way it is written it cannot compete with any other AT at any level (except perhaps level 1, and even then, probably not) Take equal cash, equal level, on any other AT, and given equal level of play, any other AT is a better teammate/soloer/PvPer/you name it-er.
I learned to love tanks as a defender, where I learned the surprising lesson that the safest place in the world is not in the back with a misguided fire blaster, as I had been taught, but as close to sitting in the tanks' lap as s/he'd let you. (Nemmies and Council notwithstanding). What I dislike are BAD tanks... guys with huge bodies and those itty bitty heads, who feel their only function is to impotently punch the same guy over and over (and over and over), because "I have GAUNTLET!" (pause for applause) "I get most of the aggro this way!" Yeah, we are thrilled by your studliness, but geez, big guy, could ya think to get the other 10% who are killing the rest of us??"
I'm not sure I get why would anyone make a huge, no-necked tank, who looks indistinguishable from hundreds of other huge, no-necked toons. Blue, you have cleared it up for me by saying that this stereotype is from other games, where big no-neck guys are all that and a bag of chips. (Which makes me really glad I don't play those other games. YUK!)
I guess bad tanks are like bad empaths. They cause a pretty vocal segment of the players to say they're not needed on a well balanced team of people who know what they're doing. (You know, I think I played on a team like that, back in '07?).
So, to answer the question on this thread, I do love to play my tank, but find I dislike tanking. My favorite is to play the scrapper-on-steroids, on my SD/EM tank, and taunt myself a huge group of bad guys (solo), then go Lightning Rod and Shield Charge into the lot of them. The few Lt's who survive this are easily dispatched, and on to the next group. It goes fast, and never bores me - and I get bored easily. I don't much care to solo, but on this toon I had so much fun, I ended up soloing all the lvl 50 arcs (set at +0/x8). It continues to bring out my inner 6 year old, and a trip to Monkey Island still makes me giggle myself silly.
My scrapper - even my brute - can't survive the same way I play the tank. The EM/SD scrapper (also capped) is good, but can't survive the same abuse. Once on an ITF on the tank, we were taking down the computer and got ambushed at the same time all the robots woke up. My teammates (and they were all very good players) all died almost immediately, and I stood there and beat down and beat down, till every last robot was dead. The team was cheering me on, saying I was a beast (!), etc., and yeah, it felt good. AND it felt bad. Because I didn't save a single one of them. Not one! I taunted all I could, but saved no one. And that's the tank's job. I looked cool, but... epic fail.
I have a SD/DM tank who is very good at tanking. She hovers, taunts, does ranged attacks, and in no way feels that killing anything is her job (even though she does pretty good damage). She's a tiny fairy in strapless dresses and a bad attitude named Punkerbell*. Much as I love her, I find playing this way more than a hour and I want to scream. My back hurts, and my eyes are crossed. I love my tanks (noun), but I find it incredibly stressful to tank (verb). I know I'm responsible for the team's safety, and feel badly when I can't save everyone.
*She also has a neck -
My WM isn't a tank, it's a brute, but I am presuming the attack chain would/could be the same - particularly since my strategy to raise fury is to be tough enough to live through the process of amassing a huge cluster of foes around me to do all the fury building for me. With WM being a lovely for AoE, it works quite nicely.
So, here is my attack chain:
1) Crowd Control (does a sweep, which knocks down everyone it hits)
2) Whirling Mace (360 degree attack)
3) Shatter (if lined up neatly, you can hit 2 or even 3 foes with this) (ALSO does KD!)
4) Jawbreaker (hard hitting single-target)
5) Clobber (also hard hitting single-target)
(Had to take Pulverize, but didn't slot it, and don't use it. HATE those dinky-damage attacks!)
My goal is to have enough recharge going on that I mainly use attacks 1-4. Start back at 1. Attacks 1 and 3 knock them down. They stagger back up on attacks 2 and 4. Start back at 1 if you can (or go to attack 5, then 1 should be back up). Make sure your primary target is the boss, or toughest guy in the group, to insure that one in particular never gets an attack off. You should melt down that group in fairly quckly, and pretty well neutralize (via the KD) the worst of the bunch for your team.
Since you are a SD tank, you can use a lot of Luck of the Gambler defense sets. Put 1 of the +7.5 global recharge IO's from the set with your defensive powers, along with whatever else. (also, I always use an Obliteration set in Shield Charge for the great defense bonuses, but it has almost no endurance reduction in the set, so it's about the only place most melee fighters can use the set.)
For slotting purposes, I don't know your build exactly, and what you need to soft-cap. However, generally speaking: 6) Mako's for melee attacks, and 5+) Scirroco's in the PBAoE's, as they both have quite nice defense bonuses. They also aren't too terribly expensive (unlike the oblits).
Hope this might help a bit. You chose a great set, you should have a blast! -
Hi, Mike, you got an interesting thread started here! I think some replies might be a little at cross-purposes, though. Here is what is coming across to me:
-You sound like a fairly new player - not brand spankin' new, but not a vet, either (and if so, welcome!)
-You are full of enthusiasm and desire to get things rolling, meet new people, and put people together. (and if so, double great!)
-You are not the sort of person to hang back, and wait for fun to happen to you. You take the initiative and create fun and friendships. (TRIPLE great!)
You really sound like your heart and your intentions are all in the right place. I think I hear you saying a bit of "but wait... I really think I'm right here! This WORKS!" You sound like you have pulled together a lot of people, and I'm guessing they're newer players who might not have any real idea where to start to meet people, and get involved. I really do wish there were maybe something established to do exactly that, and if you are able to do it, that is fabulous! Seriously, God bless ya!
So I think you might not be quite understanding some of the responses that you've been getting, and it has nothing to do with what is - or isn't - spam. What people are reacting to is that in THIS game (maybe it's fine in other games) recruiting sight unseen is bad manners. Blind invites to sg's is just something Is Not Done. If you ARE doing it, then you are immediately suspect, and thought of as either a) a goof who doesn't know better (and who wants to join an sg by someone who doesn't know what they're doing?), or b) a jerk/user/creepy guy preying on newbies. This comes from personal experiences or word of mouth about people who are just looking for prestige for their sg's, and have used nice people, and treated them like meat. And that's how you come across, using your approach. Maybe not elsewhere. But here, yes.
The vast majority of people in this particular game are the nicest people you'll ever want to meet. Just amazing people! But they are not weak, spineless nice. Well, they are superheroes! But not only that, they are aware that they are the vast majority here, and just don't tolerate the jerks. You don't have to stop all the good stuff you're doing. Not at all! Just modify your approach in such a way that you don't come across badly.
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I avoid toons with KB too. I don't fuss, and I don't kick from teams, but if I'm on a melee toon (as I usually am), and I've just found myself Lightening Rodded into a whole bunch of empty hallway 'cause the energy blaster got his shot off first, I'll usually give it a mission or two, then suddenly come down with a bad case of some appointment I'd forgotten all about.
Now, if someone were NAMED Captain Knockback, and I KNEW up-front what the deal was, I could have fun with it! I could rollplay that till the cows come home (and fuss that at least cows do not do KB!). Or, I'd ask to go alt to an ill/rad, or plant/storm. Now THAT would be FUN!
At the risk of sounding semi-practical, you could do exactly what you're suggesting, and still slot those obnoxious powers with, say... damage and accuracy? Or, instead of useless gale, why not hurricane and get some use out of it? If something is getting KB'd, does it matter all that much if it's KB'd an extra foot or two? Is it less obnoxious? I think not!
Brilliant idea, just brilliant! -
I love hover. I really love hover. My tank with hover is, I believe, the most effective one I have at tanking, particularly large team tanking. Why? Because I have a great aerial view! The mobs are clustered just below my toes, and I can see what's run off, or what I've missed. That toon also has fire blast and fire ball from the epic pool, and because of hover and her ranged attacks, whatever room they're fighting in, she effectively owns (Another tank is almost 7 ft. tall, and still ends up seeing mostly... smoke and combat effects. Hovering is better!).
Trying to do the same things with fly is an exercise in frustration. I stop flying at the correct spot, yet glide right past the target. If I turn, I slide some. If I stop early, then I either still slide past, or don't get all the way there. Trying to attack something, or navigate a cave or twisty corridor, sliding back and forth and forth and back, until you hit just the right spot....aarrggh! Just THINKING of flying in a cave is gives me a nervous twitch! Hover gives you control. When you stop pressing the button, you stop moving. And, if you get combat jumping to use with hover, you get stop-on-a-dime control, along with extra defense. Not important in a corridor. But real important when you're trying to line up a cone attack.
Slotting? Depends on the toon and what they need. At the most basic, 3) fly, plus 1) in swift. If the toon has a pivotal power I need to be up often, I stick in an LotG +rech. in it. Kismit +acc is great on lower level toons. On melee toons, I usually slot a pair of BotZ (not the KB one, which is ungodly expensive, and unneeded on most melee toons) for a little defense, and the end reduction (most ranged and/or support toons don't have the end issues a melee toon does). A few also have the Kismit KB resist IO (far cheaper than BotZ) - kins, and some other support toons who have to get in close, sometimes end up getting flipped around a lot.
Also helpful for hover are the set bonuses that give you +5% movement increase. Perf. Shifters (end mod) and Aegis (resist) are the ones I can think of off the top of my head. My hovering toons are typically faster than about half the team, ones who are presumably running/sprinting without speed modifiers.