Aliana Blue

DM/Fire is incredible. Absolutely incredible, just so much fun to play. You will be constantly clicking things and adjusting your play as you mow down hordes upon hordes of enemies. It's really interactive and very devastating.

I've got a levle 50 DM/Fire and I love her to bits. And even with a weird build she just kicks butt. Her top end performance against hard targets isn't as good as some of my other scrappers, but she performs admirably when in a sea of enemies.

Sit back and enjoy the ride. Brace yourself for when you hit 30 and beyond, because that's when the turbo really kicks in.

I have two level 50 scrappers with Fly (and Air Superiority, it's a very fun attack!), and two level 50s with teleport

Worry not, your scrapper will manage to kick immense amounts of butt no matter the travel power you choose!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y5u3dxo2txs

Make of that what you will. I have a good opinion on Stalkers

[ QUOTE ]
Rares equalized across the board, which--aside from being kinda weird--was, I think, probably a net plus. However, some of them are starting to creep up again, while the formerly cheap stuff has remained inflated. If that trend continues, it'll negate the overall advantage that was gained.

[/ QUOTE ]

I don't think it was that weird, it was pretty predictable if one thought that the MiA would meet with a moderate amount of success.

Rares are a profit opportunity that competes with everything else that can be bought from tickets, so after the initial shakeup (bronze roll rush and all that), it's normal for all rares to settle down at a close price range. The "constant" amount coming from regular play diminishes as the ticket generation raises, and because you can choose what to buy, "up" outliers are quickly undercut for profit, whereas cheaper pieces are not generated with tickets until the price picks up.

In the same way, there'll be a limit on how high the ones that are creeping up will go. After all, if it looks profitable, anyone can go whack some bosses and drop some rares in the market for profit. In a way, the variability of the cost of rares may be an indirect reflection of MiA usage: The more it's used, the less variable prices should be.

[ QUOTE ]
The only thing that turns me off from the DM/SD is how I feel a bit of a dead weight in a team.

[/ QUOTE ]

Do you PvP? If not, you could get yourself a second build geared towards teaming with well slotted Phalanx and Grant Cover, and full Leadership. You can cheaply softcap if you don't have great requirements for the rest of the build (and, being for teams, you shouldn't have a problem), and take it from there.

That said, a hard hitting scrapper is never a dead weight anywhere IMO. If you feel that way, try either chasing the hard/dangerous targets first, or working on keeping the rear guard safe(r), both are perfectly adequate and useful roles that any scrapper can fill and be useful in - the usefulness of each depending on the team composition.

I know, scrapperlock is a hard thing to overcome (do I ever know it!), but give it a try

Well done!

[ QUOTE ]
Yeah been playing with mids....I guess I havnt played enough with differnt power sets and what I can do with IOs...that being said. HOs are 50 mil a pop...well..dont see that happening lol

WAIT>...Ill go pimp myself out! WOOT!

lets see 150 milllion divided by 250 inf per pimp...mmmm Im gonna be sore

[/ QUOTE ]

You should really consider what you want to do with your character. You don't really need hamis, or even the more expensive stuff, to make a pretty badass DM/Inv scrapper.

Actin's first build did not include a lot of the good stuff up there. With a build that had a proper travel power, used Air Superiority as part of the attack chain, and didn't even have Hasten, she completed the RWZ challenge under a Pylon, and a 2-spawn challenge with five +4 bosses. Posting the build was for two purposes:

- Satisfy the curiosity of the build used to take several AVs at once.
- Give you ideas of things to consider when building your own. These include:

<ul type="square"> [*] Consider the benefits of Kinetic Combat, which isn't hard to get nowadays, specially if you use tickets from AE.[*]Balance between Reactive Armor and Aegis on your resistance powers.[*]Eradication, Basilisk's Gaze, these are "new" sets that some people don't really consider, but are very suited for your character.[*]How high to aim for defenses and resistances. With Tough you have 70% S/L resist. Add in a lot of S/L defense and you will have massive, MASSIVE overkill in the S/L department (so much that it'll allow you to take on several AVs at once). Consider, do you really need that, or should you bolster your defenses in other areas?[/list]
And so forth. Consider it a build to get ideas from, not so much a guide to build your character. And remember, unless they're Psi, very few things that the game usually throws at you will be a great challenge on a 1-on-1 situation once you've finished a reasonably sturdy build, even without maximized protection against them. And for masses of enemies, there's Invincibility (play with the bar to see just how high things can go with several enemies around you).

Okay, here's Actin's "AV fighting" build:

Hero Plan by Mids' Hero Designer 1,401
http://www.cohplanner.com/

[u]Click this DataLink to open the build![u]

Actin: Level 50 Science Scrapper
Primary Power Set: Dark Melee
Secondary Power Set: Invulnerability
Power Pool: Fitness
Power Pool: Fighting
Power Pool: Speed
Power Pool: Leadership
Ancillary Pool: Darkness Mastery

Hero Profile:
Level 1: Smite -- KntkC'bat-Acc/Dmg(A), KntkC'bat-Dmg/EndRdx(3), KntkC'bat-Dmg/Rchg(3), KntkC'bat-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(29), C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(36)
Level 1: Resist Physical Damage -- Aegis-ResDam/EndRdx(A), Aegis-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(5), Aegis-ResDam/Rchg(5), S'fstPrt-ResDam/Def+(15)
Level 2: Shadow Maul -- Erad-Acc/Rchg(A), Erad-Dmg/Rchg(7), Erad-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(7), Erad-Dmg(9)
Level 4: Temp Invulnerability -- RctvArm-ResDam/EndRdx(A), RctvArm-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(9), RctvArm-ResDam(11), RctvArm-ResDam/Rchg(48)
Level 6: Dull Pain -- H'zdH-Heal/Rchg(A), Dct'dW-Heal/EndRdx/Rchg(15), Dct'dW-Heal/Rchg(21), Dct'dW-Rchg(46)
Level 8: Swift -- Run-I(A)
Level 10: Boxing -- KntkC'bat-Acc/Dmg(A), KntkC'bat-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(11), KntkC'bat-Dmg/EndRdx(13), KntkC'bat-Dmg/Rchg(13), C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(19)
Level 12: Siphon Life -- KntkC'bat-Acc/Dmg(A), KntkC'bat-Dmg/EndRdx(34), KntkC'bat-Dmg/Rchg(37), KntkC'bat-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(43), Nictus-Heal/HP/Regen/Rchg(43), Nictus-Acc/Heal(43)
Level 14: Health -- Mrcl-Rcvry+(A), Numna-Regen/Rcvry+(33)
Level 16: Unyielding -- RctvArm-ResDam/EndRdx(A), RctvArm-ResDam/Rchg(17), RctvArm-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(17), RctvArm-ResDam(19)
Level 18: Dark Consumption -- Erad-Dmg/Rchg(A), Erad-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(23), Erad-Acc/Rchg(23), Efficacy-EndMod/Rchg(31), Efficacy-EndMod/Acc/Rchg(31)
Level 20: Hasten -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(21), RechRdx-I(39)
Level 22: Stamina -- P'Shift-End%(A), P'Shift-EndMod(25), EndMod-I(27)
Level 24: Maneuvers -- HO:Enzym(A), LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx(25), LkGmblr-Rchg+(36)
Level 26: Soul Drain -- Erad-Acc/Rchg(A), Erad-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(27), Erad-Dmg/Rchg(29), Rec'dRet-ToHit/Rchg(34), Rec'dRet-ToHit(37)
Level 28: Invincibility -- HO:Enzym(A), LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx(31), LkGmblr-Rchg+(33), Rec'dRet-ToHit(37), Rec'dRet-Pcptn(40)
Level 30: Resist Energies -- Aegis-ResDam(A), Aegis-ResDam/Rchg(34), Aegis-ResDam/EndRdx(46)
Level 32: Tough -- RctvArm-ResDam/EndRdx(A), RctvArm-ResDam/Rchg(33), RctvArm-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(40), RctvArm-ResDam(40)
Level 35: Weave -- HO:Enzym(A), LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx(36), LkGmblr-Rchg+(39)
Level 38: Midnight Grasp -- C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg(A), C'ngImp-Dmg/Rchg(39), C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(42), C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(45), C'ngImp-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(45), RechRdx-I(46)
Level 41: Resist Elements -- Aegis-ResDam(A), Aegis-ResDam/EndRdx(42), Aegis-ResDam/Rchg(42)
Level 44: Tactics -- Rec'dRet-ToHit(A), Rec'dRet-ToHit/Rchg(45)
Level 47: Tough Hide -- DefBuff-I(A), LkGmblr-Def/Rchg(48), LkGmblr-Rchg+(48)
Level 49: Petrifying Gaze -- BasGaze-Rchg/Hold(A), BasGaze-EndRdx/Rchg/Hold(50), BasGaze-Acc/Rchg(50), BasGaze-Acc/Hold(50)
------------
Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Sprint -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Rest -- RechRdx-I(A)
Level 1: Critical Hit
------------
[u]Set Bonus Totals:[u]<ul type="square">[*]23,6% Defense(Smashing)[*]23,6% Defense(Lethal)[*]12,4% Defense(Fire)[*]12,4% Defense(Cold)[*]18,6% Defense(Energy)[*]18,6% Defense(Negative)[*]3% Defense(Psionic)[*]13,3% Defense(Melee)[*]10,8% Defense(Ranged)[*]7,69% Defense(AoE)[*]5,4% Max End[*]7% Enhancement(Accuracy)[*]42,5% Enhancement(RechargeTime)[*]5% FlySpeed[*]145,6 HP (10,9%) HitPoints[*]5% JumpHeight[*]5% JumpSpeed[*]MezResist(Immobilize) 13,8%[*]MezResist(Terrorized) 2,2%[*]20% Perception[*]2% (0,03 End/sec) Recovery[*]40% (2,24 HP/sec) Regeneration[*]1,26% Resistance(Fire)[*]1,26% Resistance(Cold)[*]20% RunSpeed[/list]


<font class="small">Code:[/color]<hr /><pre>| Copy &amp; Paste this data into Mids' Hero Designer to view the build |
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Things to note:

- As I said, no Touch of Fear. It's a good power with a fantastic debuff and a great place to place mule sets, but the build's tight enough as it is.
- Rectified Reticle: Learn to love it, 1.88% S/L defense for 2 slots.
- NO CONSERVE POWER. You have Dark Consumption, it beats the pants out of CP. More importantly, Basilisk's Gaze in Petrifying Gaze gives fantastic bonuses (2.5% E/N defense with only 2 slots!)
- Note the recharge. 42.5% not counting hasten, there's plenty of room for improvement.
- Similarly, look at S/L defense. Softcap (and a bit more) with a single enemy in range of invincibility.
- No travel power. Temp jetpacks ftw

What you can do? Purple in Midnight Grasp, purple in Shadow Maul, purple in boxing, you wouldn't be giving up that much and you'd get more recharge - great for more survivability with dull pain and siphon life, at the expense of some debuff buffer, and extra accuracy that can give you more freedom when it comes to complete powers with Kinetic Combats. PvP global +def IO. Not have that much defense debuff cushion and trade more S/L defense for recharge somewhere. There's probably more. Go. Load Mids'. Play.

*Laughs*

I do have the demos, so I suppose I could make a video. Problem is, the runs were over an hour each, I'd have to make a "highlights" or something like that.

As far as the pics go:
http://www.walkiry.com/CoH/Actin%20vs.%20AVs/index.html

And the funny ones with customs
http://www.walkiry.com/CoH/Random%20Stuff/index.html

Hand-picked AVs for S/L damage (heck, one of them was Chimera, bowboy is pretty useless), and no purples. It's a matter of managing risks; with a smaller margin for defense debuffs, and purples to increase recharge and recovery, you can probably push it further with some increased risk.

I'm posting at my lunchbreak right now, so I don't have access to my stuff, but when I get home I'll dig Actin's build and post some food for thought. Just off the top of my head:

- She doesn't use Touch of Fear. The debuff is awesome for regular play, and it's a decent place for placing sets, but for AV-killing it doesn't help that much, because:
- Her global recharge is low. I can't recall how much exactly, but it is. Consider that the regular Smite -&gt; Siphon -&gt; Smite -&gt; MG has a (small) gap in MG even with Hasten up. Without Hasten it's even worse, I can add Boxing in there and STILL have a gap.
- Her DPS is comparatively low. On the Pylon test she clocked in at a bit over 147 DPS IIRC.
- She depends a lot on Dark Consumption for functioning. This can be read two ways: With all the toggles and a tough build you will use a lot of end; also, Dark Consumption is really very dependable for regular play, and that's a huge leverage you can use.
- Most defense comes from a combination of Reactive Armor, Aegis, Obliterations and Kinetic Combat. KC is awesome. Gaussian's set is pretty "meh" for Soul Drain, you need to six slot to get as much "net" defense as a single Kinetic Combat (7.5%), it has no accuracy, and the proc is wasted in a long recharge click like that (the last's obviously IMO).
- I know there's room for improvement. Once I post the build you'll likely see it. That'll be later.

No pony

[ QUOTE ]
&lt;QR&gt;

I predict the ability to set max spawns on missions is going to cause all the same problems that AE did. Inf is going to flood the market driving up prices on key enhancements

[/ QUOTE ]

Eh? Granted, I haven't kept up with the market much lately (too busy having fun with already built characters, heh), but last I checked the only prices that really soared were purples, and yellow salvage that occasionally spikes if you need to buy it NOW; things that you could roll for with tickets plummeted, rare salvage was normalized to a lower price than the highest had been before... There's always stuff to come along with the influence when you're clearing bigger missions, I don't think the prices in general will really go nuts just yet.

What annoys me the most is that making the "clear last room" objective shows up in the description as "kill all" :-/

Three, actually; but yes, maximized windowed mode ftw!

My UI

Only thing missing is three windows with global channel tabs, just had closed them for taking SShots (I forgot to anchor and close the "Friends" window too, so I whited it out ).

I'd recommend you start with this thread

They seem to be healing even in death...

For what I heard that is.

The alternative is to man up and take on Recluse with the towers up...

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Back before AE hits the streets, there was talk on these boards about finding our Ed Woods and it looks like they just might turn up in this thread sooner or later.

[/ QUOTE ]

*Points at sig*

I've had good feedback on that one, YMMV.

[/ QUOTE ]

Doesn't count when you deliberately aimed for Ed Wood territory.

[/ QUOTE ]

:_(

http://www.activestate.com/activeperl/

Comes with a windows installer, you can run it from cmd.exe

[ QUOTE ]
Back before AE hits the streets, there was talk on these boards about finding our Ed Woods and it looks like they just might turn up in this thread sooner or later.

[/ QUOTE ]

*Points at sig*

I've had good feedback on that one, YMMV.

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
They changed the screenshot filename format from this:

screenshot_2009-06-30-00-00-00.jpg
screenshot_yyyy-mm-dd-hh-mm-ss.jpg

to this:

screenshot_090630-00-00-00.jpg
screenshot_yymmdd-hh-mm-ss.jpg

[/ QUOTE ]
Great, now our screenshot filenames are not y3k compliant...

In all seriousness I have to assume that change "helped" something.
What that something was I haven't a clue. *shrugs*

[/ QUOTE ]

OK.. so who is going to make the utility to update the names of the hundreds of thousands of screenshots I have under the old format?

[/ QUOTE ]

perl -e 'opendir (DIR, "."); while (($file = readdir(DIR))) {if ($file =~ /creenshot/) {$newfile = $file; $newfile =~ s/_\d\d(\d\d)\-(\d\d)\-(\d\d)/_\1\2\3/;rename ($file, $newfile);}}closedir DIR;'

Haven't tested it, but something like that should work fine. You can probably shorten it a bit by making the substitution straight into the IF statement, but it doesn't help readability. YMMV.

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Haven't you noticed that despite having so many bus stops in Paragon, there are no buses? That's because those bus stops are actually full of gold! Tasty, tasty, pirate booty! And it's alllll mine!

[/ QUOTE ]
Actually it's because a strike by the bus driver union in protest of the "new" monorail being built. It is the longest labor strike in US history, and there have been accusations in the past that Arachnos is somehow involved in the continued impasse.

In a related note, continued fuel shortages in the Rogue Isles continue to mean that there is little road traffic on several islands. Few oil tankers have risked travel to the Rogue Isles since Miss Liberty sank the Cairo Queen off the island of Port Oakes.

[/ QUOTE ]

One expects that Miss Liberty would get in trouble with environmentalists due to sinking an oil tanker full of crude, but since they get mysteriously eaten by Devouring Earth critters every time they open a new office - with heroes accepting to go rescue them become mysteriously busy and unavailable -, it's all good.

[ QUOTE ]
I've honestly been wondering about this myself. I have a thread of my own reviews: Shifting Through Time! In-character Reviews which was a way for me to get arcs involving time travel to play from level 1 to 50. Unfortunately, I didn't get many arc submissions, and many I did get were either too high level, or not actually about time travel. So, I just go through and search for "time travel" or "temporal" or something similar, pick an arc close to my level range, and give it a review unasked.

[/ QUOTE ]

Yeah, I'm waiting for your character to hit 35 before submitting mine for review. May be a while

Also, you may be able to find some if you search for "Ouroboros" or "Mender", since that's the game's flavour of time travel, I guess (heck, you'll probably hit mine, I don't think I have "time" or "timetravel" in the description).

Time difference makes it a bit of a pain for me to join anything, unfortunately. If something is run on Saturday afternoon/evening, it'd be Sunday morning for me and I'd be able to join

Actin (DM/Inv, Victory), Walkiry (BS/Regen, Guardian), Waldrada (BS/Shield, Guardian), or Funny That (DM/Fire, Justice), all could be on Test too. I'm guessing either Actin or Waldrada would fit better, with a few shielders thrown in the mix it'd be a lot easier to get high enough defense for all these experiments. Shields, people, shields!