Aett_Thorn
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Posts
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I've seen Dark Armor colored blue, and it looks a lot like water. Maybe use that for a secondary for your Water ninja?
For Wind, what about an Archery/Storm Corruptor?
For Elec, I loved my Elec/Nin Stalker, so I'd go with that.
For Void, I'd say that the Warshade is probably the best fit, but maybe a Dark Melee/Invuln Scrapper/Brute/Tanker? -
Interest in writing guides may have gone down, but that's not really why they stopped being written. Mid's Hero Builder is one of the key reasons, I'd say. For a few reasons:
1) It allows anyone to build and see how their character will be different with different slotting
2) It shows how many different ways there are to get to the same goal
3) It allows for quick and easy review of individual builds
IOs are also a big reason why guides aren't written much. With just SOs, a single guide could cover a lot of ground, since there were only a few ways to build characters at that point that were both effective and slot-efficient. Basically, powers could only be slotted so many ways. With IOs, that all changed, and so you could build for soft-caps, recharge, regen, etc. Guides could only usually cover one or two of these builds before they became too long for people to care about.
The last reason I'd say is the community. We've shown that we're very willing to help somebody out who gives us a build to work with. As such, there's less need to write a guide about something since there are so many threads on them anyways. We can just point to recent threads, instead of pointing to a guide. Or, we could just give the advice in that thread, too!
In short, guides just aren't necessary for our community, and they'd be unlikely to hold up to individual interpretations or slotting desires. -
Quote:The threat formula (simplified) is as such:Originally Posted by Le Blanc
Im cornfuzzeled by this. Does that mean the TauntDurationRemaining has various times that it starts at depending on who is doing the taunting? Cuz the AV's change targets pretty quick sometimes. And it seems to me, that when my Brute drops a red pill, and hits way harder, I get attacked more. I always assumed my threat level rose with my damage dealt. Which one beats out the other one, a succesful taunt, or threat level?
Threat = Damage * AT Mod * AI Mod * RangeMod * DebuffMod * (TauntDurationRemaining * 1,000)
So, let's take two characters that are doing roughly the same damage, but one's a Tanker, and one is a Blaster (I know that the Blaster will normally out damage the Tanker by a large margin, but this is just for an example). We'll assume that both are using attacks that have a single debuff value, and that the AI Mod and RangeMod are the same on both.
Blaster Threat = 100 * 1 * AI Mod * RangeMod * 2 * 1 = 200
Tanker Threat = 100 * 4 * AI Mod * RangeMod * 2 * (TauntDurationRemaining * 1,000) = 800 * (TauntDurationRemaning * 1,000)
Now, that means that the Tanker has 4 times the Threat level, not factoring in Taunt or Gauntlet. Now, let's assume that he's just using Gauntlet, so now it's 800 * 13,500 = 10,800,000 Threat. If he just used Taunt, it goes up to 800 * 45,000 = 36,000,000. Compared to the Blaster's Threat, the Tanker is gaining way more Threat.
Now, we know that Threat decays over time. So, as that TauntDurationRemaining value falls, so is overall Threat. So if the person with aggro backs off, they should lose aggro to somebody that is doing damage and applying gauntlet effects pretty quickly, and to a much lesser extent, to somebody just doing damage. -
Quote:Uhhh...what?Originally Posted by _Klaw_
Not 2.
I'd say it was a mixture of 1 and 3. You can't do more aggro with damage but you can increase the length of time that you have aggro, and attacks, holds, gauntlet etc from other players reduce this time.
Attacks and other effects from other players don't reduce the time that you have aggro. And doing damage yourself doesn't increase the time that you have aggro. Doing more damage adds to your Threat level, which isn't a time value.
The only part of the Threat formula that cares about time is the (TauntDurationRemaining * 1,000) value that is there, but nothing that another player does can reduce that. -
Quote:I agree that there is more than one way to build anything in this game. However, your build seems highly sub-optimal, and giving suggestions to others based on it seems odd.Originally Posted by Santa_Laws
I could drop Acrobatics, Super Jump and Taunt and pick up Boxing, Tough and Weave - but why? I don't see the need to add even more Defense (which is still way over the softcap and nearing the hardcap) and just adding Tough for the smashing/lethal resistance in a minimal form? At the same time, I lose my Taunt? Wha?
I wish you guys would admit that since IOs came into the game, and again after Fitness became inherent, that thers is more than one way to build an Ice Tank.
Acro is entirely unnecessary, and while you can give reasons out for not picking up the powers that I suggested, they'd still be of far more use than Acro.
Recall Friend? Assemble the Team is on a 30-minute recharge. You could "assemble the team" so many times over that with Recall Friend. Assault and Hasten using more endurance? Yet, later you say that End use isn't a concern. Frost? You say that you're built for AoE damage, but don't take a great AoE power? Bwah? Slotting Chillblain like you did, but not the hold, even though it can take the same slotting? Again, bwah???
And who said anything about dropping Taunt? The way I see it, you could drop Fly, Maneuvers, and Acro, and take Boxing, Tough, and Weave. You get more Defense base (meaning you can use more IO set bonuses for other things), and some decent S/L resistance for when things do get through. Heck, if you're going to have a power pick that does nothing, you might as well get other powers because of it.
Does your build work? Yes, it probably does. But it could be done a lot better, cheaper, and more effectively. Why wouldn't we point that out to somebody asking for help?
Edit-> Also, I would like to view your build in Mid's and see what the exact values are, but I keep getting an error when I try. -
Quote:Going from 14 to 23 is useless when nothing is going to do over 0.1 mag KB to you. The hold resistance is nice, but not worth the end cost.Originally Posted by Santa_Laws
EDIT: See, I took acro because I needed to take something. It increases my KB protection from mag 14 to mag 23. It also increases my hold protection to 14.98 and my hold resistance to 106.5%... And that is without my Accolades and Incarnate powers added in.
Truth is, my build is overkill. But with good reason.
I'd say that your build is overkill in some areas, but not with good reason. -
Quote:One-slot wonders:Originally Posted by Santa_Laws
And what am I missing in my build that I could substitute for Acrobatics?
1) Recall Friend
2) Assault
3) Hasten
4) Grant Invisibility (heck, it would be better than acro)
Would require some slotting:
1) Ice Sword (which is better than GIS in almost every measurable way
2) Frost (seriously, it's a great attack, and pure cold damage, to boot!)
Basically, I can come up with a lot of ways to use that power pick. But to be honest, with 15 Ice Tankers, I'm kinda wondering why you do some of the things you're doing. As others have already said, you've taken Maneuvers, instead of getting boxing/tough/weave, which makes little sense. Boxing might not be used all that much, but Tough and Weave could be left on constantly, improving your survivability to a great degree, and freeing up slotting for more damage or recharge, instead of defense.
But just in general, some of your power picks confuse me. Why are you slotting Chillblain over Block of Ice? Lockdown of bosses is a great way to help survivability. Why no Frost? Why are you slotting Hoarfrost for the Resistance, and not the Heal? Why does Frozen Fists have no Acc slotting at all? With it delivering bruising, you want it to hit as often as possible. Why not try to max out the EndMod, Defense, and recharge of EA? -
Quote:While this is true for a large portion of the game, if you're going to be Tanking AVs or other tough foes, Taunt is your only guaranteed way of holding aggro. Your attacks and aggro auras will need to roll a ToHit against them, and can miss. Taunt is auto-hit even against these enemies.Originally Posted by afocks
On an ice/ice I personally would not worry about getting taunt. Most of your melee powers have taunt built in. An ice tank does not stand at the sidelines firing off taunt - it aint a 1 power tank, they get right into the action and beat the crop out of foes, more a Scranker. For such a little used power I found it more beneficial to respec taunt out and pick up an extra APP or pool.
For the die hards that would criticise "a tank without taunt is like blah without blah blah" (all iterated in a whiney 3 yr olds voice), YOU'RE WRONG. I have always found it more beneficial to teams having powers I can actually use. Yes some tanks need taunt, ice/ice however does not as it has many taunts built in.
Also, Taunt has to other benefits over the aggro auras and attacks: 1) It's much longer of a duration, meaning that you generate much more Threat using Taunt than without, and 2) Taunt contains -range, which is very useful against mobs that don't like to enter melee range. -
Quote:I really don't get that. Acro does absolutely nothing on a Tanker with inherent KB protection, since they also get -1000% KB resistance, meaning that any KB that does come it gets dropped to zero before it even applies.Originally Posted by Santa_Laws
Because I had to take something. Acrobatics just means that I will never be knocked back... not that I was ever.
Taking Acrobatics, when it does nothing, over a power that might be situational, but actually useful, seems like a very odd choice. -
Quote:Well, not as vocal as Bill was about these changes, but figured I could pipe in a bit here. Basically, my stance was that the last we had heard from the Devs was that if they ever made these kinds of buffs AoE, they'd make the End cost or Recharge time higher. Basically, if they gave them a "buff", then they'd give it a nerf somewhere else. Seeing as I didn't mind how they were, I probably wouldn't have liked the nerfs.Originally Posted by Leo_G
Curious that we haven't heard from Bill or others after more information was unveiled.
Are you still feeling the same about these changes Bill? I'm certain it doesn't solve any issues you have currently with how the game functions, but does it at least leave you where you're at?
However, right now, it looks like we're getting our cake and eating it, too. However, it does seem to me further evidence that the Devs don't mind giving us more power, but there's little thought to balance. Granted, this change doesn't seem that bad in terms of balance (and it's not), but a buffer now has X more time to attack, which is a straight buff to those characters.
This change, combined with a few other recent incorporations and buffs does make me wonder if the new set of Devs even care about balance and/or power creep (I'm looking at you, Reactive Interface and rains). -
Quote:Except that it wasn't the truth. Ice Melee/Ice Armor didn't have any more trouble generating fury than some of the other sets that Brutes did get. However, in I6, Ice Melee was HORRIBLE. One weak AoE (the cone), and poor single target damage. The controls slowed fury generation, but no more so than Dark Armor did. With the changes to Ice Melee, including increasing the distance on Frost and giving damage to Frozen Aura, Ice Melee/Ice Armor would be fine for Brutes.Originally Posted by JayboH
Just telling you the truth. It hurts, I hear.
Ice Melee's poor damage was the killer for having it on Brutes. It had nothing to do with Fury generation.
I've said this countless times since I6, and the myth that Ice Melee/Ice Armor interfered with Fury generation still persists. -
Quote:^This. Peacebringer powers are focused on light, really, and it's the closest you're going to get. Focus on the blasts, and you should be fine. In the process, you'll also likely get a teammate heal, a PBAoE mez, and some shields.Originally Posted by Renardine
Human form Peacebringer.
It's not for everyone (especially once you get into heavy enemy mez territory), but they can be really fun. -
I'll address the Ice/Ice Tanker. Ice Armor hasn't changed much since you've been gone, besides the nerfs that happened to most powersets in the Global Defense Nerf, and then in how you slot enhancements, in Enhancement Diversification. If you were here for those, great.
However, since you left, I'm betting that /Ice Melee has changed quite a bit. Frozen Aura, the much lamented tier-9 power of the set, is now actually a great power. It does the same base damage as Foot Stomp, and has a sleep to go with it (which you probably won't get much out of, but it can detoggle lieuts and minions). Frost got it's area increased slightly, too. Basically, Ice Melee is now a decent AoE set, though it's still slightly lower on single-target damage, and it's control factors are largely untouched.
Also, on Tanks in general, they recently got a buff in the form of Bruising. Your tier 1 attack applies a power which causes the target to give themselves a -20% resistance debuff. This means that anyone you hit with your tier-1 ability, for 10 seconds, will take 20% more damage from you and your team. It's single-target, but can help when you're fighting bosses and above.
Hope this helps a bit! -
Quote:I'm very much hoping that this change will be an OPTION, not a forced change. I want to see how this is handled. I was just about to start a new FF/Rad Defender, but I might see how this was changed.Originally Posted by Rylas
I see a slew of complaints coming out in 20.5.
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Quote:I just wish it was made as an OPTION to use, for times like leagues and such. My hope is that it's not just a global change to the power. Also, how are they balancing the cost when you're just buffing a single player version a whole League?Originally Posted by MajorTractor
My question is how big is the endurance hit on it going to be. It is probably going to take half your END bar to us SB now,a lot like the MM pets buffs.
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Quote:Happy Hunting!Originally Posted by brynsul
wow thanks for the TONS of info, still alot to learn... Since it really boils down to the concept of -play what you will enjoy- I think I will be remaking my Main from DCUO (Fire Tank) I just hope the name is available.
Just to let you know, Fire Tanks tend to be on the squishier side of the Tanker AT. However, they provide more offensive punch (the new Fiery Embrace is a great damage boosting power). If you plan on Tanking for a team, you'll want to look into taking the Fighting Power Pool, for the power "Tough." -
Quote:I'm betting that they won't be, but I'm not sure how they'll avoid it.Originally Posted by SinisterDirge
Its probably too much to hope that the caster is an eligible character.
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Rularuu pets? Awesome!
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Quote:Tanks are fine. I take it you've been reading the "Tanker solos GM, video at 11" thread?Originally Posted by brynsul
everything ive been reading about tankers makes them seem like they are on the shortest end of the stick... Also since I have a lvl 20+ guy the hero classes (kheldarians?) are unlocked for me... are they too complex for a new player?
The problem isn't Tankers. It's the game. And it's not a problem. Basically, no one Archetype (AT) is ever needed to do anything in the game. Another AT can help out to some degree do the same thing, or a combination of ATs can cover the hole well enough. For instance, with enough Buffs and/or Debuffs, you might not need a Tanker, because everyone can survive the little bit of damage that they're taking. With enough survivability on the team (say, a team of Scrappers and Tankers), controlling the mob becomes less important.
Every AT in the game can complain that somebody else steps on their toes, but then they could just as easily say that they step on the toes of others, but you'll rarely hear THAT side of things being said, for fear of the nerf-bat. The only AT that does kinda get the short end of the stick is Stalkers, but even they can do very well.
Peacebringers and Warshades (Kheldians, in general) are complex, but not overly so. Warshades I think are a little less straight-forward, with their reliance on enemies (dead or alive) to fuel their powers, but you could still pick them up. -
First off, welcome to the game!
Secondly, as you've found, while the Mission Architect system can be good, it's a horrible tool for showing new players the ropes, especially the way some people use it. So I'm glad you've made a new character to learn to play "properly."
Basically, anything can solo in this game, though some characters will have an easier time than others. There's much less of a need for the "Holy Trinity" of DPS-Tank-Healer than you might've found in other games, too. That being said, a Scrapper, Brute or a Tanker is a good first character. They've got good survivability, which can help as you're learning the ropes. Tankers will be tougher, but the Scrapper/Brute will do more damage. So that difference will be up to you of which you'd prefer.
Defenders, Controllers, Corruptors, and Masterminds all have buff/debuff sets to choose from. Of those four, Masterminds are easiest to level solo (though it will depend on whether or not it fits your playstyle). Controllers can definitely do a lot of cool things, especially at the upper levels, but some powersets will have problems being solo in the low levels, since they can be low on damage.
I think that a Scrapper or a Brute will be a good choice as you learn, but Tankers aren't that far behind, especially if you like that kind of play. An Invulnerability, Willpower, Electric, or Ice Tanker could be a good first choice. -
Quote:Nope, it's always been this way. The random +1 groups are always the same size as the +0, unless the mission specifically calls for it to do otherwise.Originally Posted by Noxilicious
Maybe I'm just crazy or my memory is playing tricks on me, but I swear the whole +1 mechanic changed with our new advanced difficulty settings. Previously when you were fighting at default difficulty you could get three minions at +0 or two minions at +1, or a minion and a lieutenant at +0 but just a lieutenant at +1. Basically, when you get a higher-level group you get a smaller group to make up for it and get basically the same difficulty.
Now with the new system we get three minions at +1 or a lieutnenant and a minion at +1, which is naturally an increase in difficulty, maybe not a noticable one to a tough melee toon, but to a squishie that can make a world of difference.
Then there's also the issue that where the whole +1 to your setting dealio may have worked with the old system, but I dare say it doesn't with the new one. With the old the highest group-size multiplier was just x2, now we can solo up to x8 if we choose to. Only, the bigger the group is, the bigger the difference a single level makes. Say, you can have high-action battles at +0/x4 but +1/x4 is just a frustrating brickwall. Or say, you and two buddies can deal with an AV at +0, but at +1 it becomes an insurmountable obstacle.
So long story short, in all the ways the new system encourages customisation, the whole random +1 code just ends up discouraging getting too fancy with it and erring on the side of too easy than on too hard just because otherwise the game will flip you the bird. Oh, and before anyone says they like the current +1 code thingamajig, naturally that would still be an option. After all, we all like having more customisability and options and all that shizniz. -
A handful of them are the precursors to the signature heroes around the city (Positron, Back Alley Brawler, etc.). However, they were created very early in the game, and so hadn't gotten their signature outfits yet. However, some of them are just generic heroes created with whatever costume options were around in I1.
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+1's have always spawned inside +0 missions, since before you could choose. Every once in a while, the random number generator hates you, and gives you maps full of only +1's. It happens, but it's rare. On other occasions, the enemy group you're fighting has a minimum level range, so setting the mission lower than that would have no effect. The same can happen the other way, where you've set the mission for +3's, and the mob group caps out at +0, so you get a map filled with +0 mobs.
While I don't necessarily think that your suggestion is bad, I don't really see the need for it, either. Even squishies can take out +1 enemies, as they've been doing this since issue 0. -
I'll /sign this. It makes sense to me.
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Quote:Well, it might make it less stressful on you, but more so on others. For instance, not everyone on the team needs the shields. The support characters who are attracting zero percent of the aggro? Why do they need shields? If they're taking zero damage now, shielding them wouldn't make them take less damage. However, the Tanker who is getting pounded on? Sure, shield him.Originally Posted by Zemblanity
I'd leave it to the devs to go case by case scenario as to where exactly they want the buffs to apply to the caster or not. In any event, I'd still be satisfied if none of them buffed the caster, as my main point in supporting this suggestion is not buffing defenders/corruptors but instead:
a) Making buffing less stressful for me when I play defenders/corruptors, so I can focus on doing other things than refreshing bubbles, SBs and CMs,
b) Making buffing less stressful for others when they play defenders/corruptors, so I actually get buffed when I play on teams,
c) Making more ppl want to roll defenders/corruptors, so I don't feel like I'm playing City of Brutes.
However, if the power was changed, then you'd have to shield all-or-none (or at least, whoever was in range), and would be charged endurance to match the possibility that it would be all. Or the recharge would be increased such that you'd have to account for recharge slotting in the powers so that they could be up permanently.
All you'd really be doing is changing strategic buffing for non-strategic buffing, but that doesn't necessarily mean that it'd be less stressful on everyone. Some people hate the "gather for AM"-type buffs, and they have sets that allow them to avoid that.