Antigonus

Yes, they are getting a huge nerf. Instead of doing Energy and Smashing damage, they will now be doing Smashing and Energy damage. I predict this will completely change the power rankings as we know them and people might as well just give up on those FoTM Sonic Blasters they were leveling illegally in MA.


LOL ALL YOU NOOBS ROLLING SONIC BLASTERS!!

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alexandros it dont matter how much "skill " you have, blasters and doms are best no matter what. If youare a COMPLETE nub make a stealthcap stalker.

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You just described 95% of Stalkers in the game.

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I guess my point was not that Red is better than Blue, but that simply because more people play on Blue that once they are allowed to switch in order to gain rewards (or simply just experience the side-switching content) that more characters will end up on Red than the much smaller population of characters doing the reverse.



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I would guess that there would be a small temporary bump in villain population initially as the badgers switch sides to get the shiny, but most of those will switch back (assuming they can switch back) for all the reasons that have been mentioned.

I think the list is gonna move around a bit depending on the zone. I would put Stalkers and Blasters way at the top in the lower zones, but they will move down some in RV. Corrs and Doms will rate lower in SC, but move to the top in RV.

In general I think, with the exception of Stalkers, villain ATs don't hit their stride until at least Warburg.

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Not meaning to repeat myself or anything, but if I can get similar results to Thunderstrike, from 80 feet away, for 7 less endurance, with some time to move in the middle of the cast time, and can do it over and over again, not to mention reduce their resists by 20% some of the time, why is Thunderstrike better? Having a knockdown and a mez seems redundant in PvP for a Mind Dominator, as my primary will take care of those on demand, from range, and then they will be immune for a bit. I'm just not feeling the idea of intentionally going into melee range as a squishy, seems counter-intuitive, and it seems to me that there's a better option available.

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Sounds like you've pretty much made up your mind then despite what people who have tried it are telling you.

Good luck with that.

Yes it's legal. No, it's not what the devs intended. Zero chance Posi will delete anybodies characters for it like he did the AE farmers.

My suggestion if you are lucky enough to come across it again is to farm the farmers.

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Need? No. Eight points is enough to stop the majority of KB that's floating around in the zones (KO Blow, and attacks with KB as a secondary effect such as those in Energy Blast), but there are powers people will take and slot specifically to knockback players to set up damage spikes (examples include Lift, Levitate, Force Bolt, and Power Push). My Therm has 12 points (3 -KB IOs) and that's enough to stop almost everything short of the powers I mentioned in that second list. Ideally you'd want to build for KB protection in the high 40s but not all builds can squeeze that in (most of mine are somewhere around 30, including Acrobatics).

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Keep in mind that DR wrecks -KB. My Corr has 14 points of protection in PvE that gets reduced to 4.9 in zones.

I've never seen Matt outside of Sirens, which is the zone where Stalkers have the greatest advantage. He's one of the best in Sirens, but that's not saying much.

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So is anyone using Flurry? lol

what what???
All squishies have a 40% base resist to EVERYTHING?
So corruptors are now like a low budget Brute?



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After Diminishing Returns it works out to 28%. Not Brute levels, but it is free.

The bad news is that additional buffs do jack squat to increase that number, so support ATs are worthless.

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Move around. Kite. Use inspirations.

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Mac cheats in duels! CHEATER!

I'm not bothering with MA anymore. I have the one that I list in my sig and that's all I'm going to bother with if I even decide to leave that published. I learned the hard way that the forums are a bad place to have an opinion since my arc got 1 starred by a vindictive poster that didn't like what I had to say in one of their threads here. That combined with Posi's hamfisted approach to bannings for "exploits" means I'm done with MA for good.

If you go Tank, /SS is best. Rage makes defense sets cry.

Spine/Regen Scrapper or just about any Tank. It should take multiple opponents to take you down. If you get killed by a single Stalker on one of those, then just give up and play villains only.


Seriously.

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As I recall, Phase Shift and its ilk were given a 30-second timer for activation chiefly for PvP reasons. Issue 13 added tech that makes it possible for the game to distinguish between PvP and PvE play, and the biggest PvE exploit for Phase Shift, clicking glowies while phased, was fixed long ago. So does Phase Shift still need to have a 30-second use limit while in PvE? Obviously it would keep the limit in PvP.

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The timer was not added because of PvP. It was added because the devs didn't want people to use it to ghost through missions completely untouchable. Since that would still be possible without a timer, don't expect it to go away.

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You may as well just run paper mishes, or even *gasp* story arcs.

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Because some people have run those *gasp* story arcs so many times it feels like farming.

Given a choice between old stale content I've run a thousand times or a new shiny farm with possibly some lame excuse for a story that will get me past the painfull levels, I'll take the new shiny.

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What is this that I hear about de being the new meow and that it is even better then the old meows??? Is this gonna be needed sand a big crazy brawl is gonna break out again??

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And you felt you needed to post this why?

In case you felt this was some kind of exploit, I feel I should mention that pointing out specific exploits on the forums for all to see is as frowned upon by the devs as those that actually do the exploiting.

Petition it in game, but don't bring it here. All it will do is make trouble.

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There is no PvP / PvE difference. However, there is a Fortunata / Night Widow difference.



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Actually, there is due to diminishing returns in PvP. You will need significantly higher recharge bonuses in PvP if you want perma ML, if it is even still possible.

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I'm curious, maybe some of you veterans could tell me. How close do you need to get to a base to be considered base camping?

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Close enough to get droned.

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<QR>

Dr. Pepper and Jack Daniels is really good.

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My in-laws swear by this. Is this strange mix a Kansas thing?

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... they just didn't think things through.

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In a nutshell...

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2) Diminishing Returns affects +recharge. If you are going to test +recharge then you need to account for DR if you are in a PvP zone. Test using the O-portal if you want to investigate +rech without the hassle of DR.


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PvP zones use a different set of rules for powers than PvE zones. I didn't use Oro because I didn't want to compromise the test by using the powers in a way that was not consistant with the intended use.

I took a Sheild/SS Tank to test and stripped him down of all enhancements except for a lvl 33 Obliteration set slotted into Foot Stomp that he has at lvl 38. Obliteration give a 5% recharge bonus. Same test as before. I cast Sheild Charge and Active Defense multiple times and averaged the times both inside and outside Sirens Call. Both powers were unslotted.

Sheild CHarge:
90 sec base recharge.
85 sec in Steel Canyon with 5% recharge bonus
85 sec in Sirens Call with 5% recharge bonus


Active Defense:
3 min 20 sec base recharge
3 min 10 sec recharge in Steel with 5% bonus
3 min 10 recharge in Sirens with 5% bonus


It looks like Fallen hit it on the head with DR affecting my other tests on live.

I'm convinced. It would appear that sets do in fact give bonuses from powers that are not available provided the sets are of the appropriate level. This is rather enlightening. Also a bit disconcerting considering we were told by the devs that this was not how it was supposed to work. I guess it just demonstrates again that they have no clue how their game works.

For many of us, PvP is the end game. It can provide the ultimate test to your characters build and your ability to use that character. You will face a thinking opponent that is capable of adapting rather than just the stupid AI that will always do the same thing.

You will hear many negative things about PvP from the haters, but really you should try it before forming an opinion.

Ok after giving it some more thought, it really bothered me that what we were seeing was so different from what the devs have told us about how IOs are supposed to work.

So I went back and did some more testing.

I logged on my lvl 45 Ill/Storm Controller again and checked the real numbers. He has 36% bonus recharge from sets in PvE at level 45. All of the sets that give bonuses are level 33 and below. This includes the one Call to Arms set that is in Tornado, a lvl 35 power, which provides 6.25% recharge bonus. I stood outside the Sirens Call gate in Steel Canyon and cast two powers multiple times and checked the times with a stop watch. I then went into Sirens Call and repeated the castings.

Freezing Rain:
1 minute base recharge.
36.99 sec recharge with 62.2% slotting
30.32 sec recharge avg. in Steel Canyon
33.22 sec recharge avg in Sirens Call


Phantom Army:
4 minute base recharge
2 minutes 30 sec recharge with 59.8% slotting
2 min 3 sec recharge in Steel Canyon
2 min 15 sec recharge in Sirens Call

I will do these same tests on other characters after some reslotting, but it seems pretty clear to me that the character is not getting the bonus 6.25% recharge bonus from the Call to Arms set when in Sirens Call, even if the real numbers feature says he is.

In short, it appears that the real numbers are not accurate.

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Antigonus!!

You broke your promise to me!


KHAAAAAAAAAN!!

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I logged on my Ill/Storm Controller that has a Call to Arms (lvl 30) set in Tornado (lvl 35 power).

He did have the bonuses in Sirens Call.

I was indeed wrong, however I think this should be carefully thought out before large amounts of money is spent. Something changed along the way because it was not always this way. Considering that is goes contrary to everything we have seen in the past and also to everything the devs have told us about how IO sets are supposed to work, I would guess this is a bug of some sort and is likely to change. Be carefull of what you choose to spend your game money on because those bonuses might be gone with the next update.

That being said...I need to hit the market...

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2) IO sets only apply if used in the powers that are active in a given zone. Sets put into level 32 powers and above will not work in SC regardless of the IO level, so you might as well slot them higher. The exception to this is purple sets. Those are good at any level.

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I'm pretty sure that is untrue. Sets slotted in powers past level 30 will work in SC as long as the IO's are 33 and below. I have a few SC toons and the sets slotted in powers 30+ still work there.

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Correct, it's the level of the IO set bonuses that matter.

I can confirm that powers gained after level 30 slotted with level 33 IO set bonuses will gain the beenfit while in SC. This applies to both set bonuses and individual IO bonuses (like LOTG +recharge.)

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You're wrong. I absolutely promise you they do not work. The exceptions being the already mentioned purple sets, PvP specific sets and certain uniques. Those will work at any level.

As a note, there is a bug of sorts that allows some effects to carry over when zoning. If you are checking your numbers when you first enter a zone you will see numbers that are not meant to apply or are stacked from the previos zone. Wait at least two minutes for any previous applications to wear off before checking real numbers.

If you are still experiencing those effects, please take a screen shot. I'm sure we would all love to see it.