BIGMIKE

Hello,

Does anyone know what priorities status effects have? I mean, if different status effects are applied at the same time, does one take priority? I guess it doesn't happen often, either they stack, or the effects of one overrides the other.

What I'm thinking about is eventually taking, and running, both Cloak of Fear and Oppresssive Gloom on my dark tank.

So I'm wondering what will happen? Providing both effects hit, will I see Minion A stunned or feared?

Anyone have experience of this, or an expert opinion?

Cheers,

Mike.

Hello all,

Yeah I'd be interested too. I'll also second the Wednesday 8-10pm suggestion. Especailly as The Apprentice has now finished .

Post up when you've finalised the time/date, and I'll pick something to fill any AT gaps.

Cheers,

Mike.

Hello,

I've not run Cold/Ice on test, but I've started one on live .

This is the rough build I'm aiming for

1 Infrigidate
1 Ice Bolt
2 Ice Blast
4 Snow Storm
6 Ice Shield
8 Frostwork
10 Travel Pool
12 Arctic Fog
14 Travel Pool
16 Freeze Ray
18 Glacial Shield
20 Swift/hurdle
22 Health
24 Stamina
26 Sleet
28 Bitter Ice Blast
30 Benumb
32 Heat Loss
35 Bitter Freeze Ray?
38 Blizzard?

I'm aiming at teaming as much as possible. Hopefully vigilance will offset the end costs of cold/ice powers. So far I'm only up to 6th level, but it feels like it'll be a safe combination. Infrigidate really slows down targets, Ice blast is nice and quick, and Snow storm is as reliable as ever . Not had enough experience of Ice shield yet.

However, it almost seems like all the slows are a bit of an overkill and I'm considering restarting with a different secondary.

The tricky choice was when to take Glacial shield and Benumb. Cold domination seems like a combo of buffs and debuffs, but I don't know which way to go first. Freeze ray at 16 should be a great pick, I've found having a single target hold helps out loads.

I had a read through corruptor guides and modified the comments accordingly.

Ice / Cold guide on the American forums

Although I believe positional defence was added into the shields after this guide was written. I don't know if it's in the defender version or not.

They way I approach defending is to defend . Keep the team buffed, debuff targets when appropriate and hold / blast when I don't have anything else to do. Keep an eye on who has the buffs, and who actually needs them. Learn to recognise the best targets for debuffs/anchors, which will change from team to team.

Anyway, I'd be interested in hearing your experiences when you get going.

Cheers,

Mike.

Wow, nice welcome, .

Good feedback here. Thanks Zaldor and TG, I think I'll start a new character on Union then. I have limited play time, so I don't really want to level a character as a 'trainer' before starting something 'proper'. However I do appreciate the 'get an understanding of PVP with a robust character' advice here.

Hi there,

I've been playing CoH/CoV for a while now, and this is the first time I've stepped over the tracks into the PVP forum . I've realised that PVP is one area of the game I've not tried before. So I'm after some advice.

I'll most likely be starting a new character off for I12, and I'd like to play something I'll have fun with in PVP. I've played on Union and Defiant, with heroes and villains, playing support and damage characters. I think I'd be most interested in trying out casual zone stuff. So I'd like to know where you lot think I should start.

Is it right that Union has a higher PVP community, or are they both about the same? I'm under the impression that range > melee in general, is this right? Any large PVP SGs out there that can mentor me? Anyone know of any decent guides out there?

Any advice is appreciated.

Cheers,

Mike.

Hi,

I have a level 43 dark/dark corruptor, so I'm almost always running shadowfall, assault and tactics, and quite often running darkest night.

My main way of avoiding being mezzed is to not get hit by them . I've got the big advantage of dark with - to-hit by the bucketful, but you've got radiation infection, (slot it up for - to-hit). Which as Okton has also pointed out should be going on first. Use defence inspirations, get buffs, etc.

I'd also suggest getting the mez in first. You should be able to recognise which mobs will cause you grief, and target them with mezzes yourself. I don't know rad blast much, but isn't cosmic burst a fairly good stun? I use petrifying gaze often, and I'll most likely get my patron hold next. Solo, it should be easy to pick missions light on mezzes, and prioritise the mezzing mobs. Teamed, you should have other abilities on the team to let you to cope with it.

But when it does happen, I turn them back on and get back to the villainy ...

Unless I'm out of break frees and I'm being chain mezzed by stupid Riktis . Then it's a button mashing fest and hoping the team bails me out .

Cheers,

Mike.

Excellent responses guys, that's just the sort of feedback I was after thanks.

Death_Badger: I'm not keen on the look of EM. I have it on a brute and dominator, although they were deliberately EM for the pom-poms look .

There's a lot of disorient in the set, but am I right in thinking that whirling hands is the only aoe? Still its available earlier. What percentage chance to disorient is it? At this point I'd rather have some variety in mitigation (with SM knockdowns) rather than % chance to stun in EM.

Shannon: Ok so I'd have the potential to burn through endurance with constant attacking. I think I've got the hang of endurance management (slotting, toggle use, etc.), so I think I can live with that. I was aware of the large end cost on dark regeneration too; I'm kind of hoping that it won't be needed so much with the stuns available.

I know how useful fear is after playing my dark corruptor up to 40, I just don't know if I'll take cloak of fear. Cloak of darkness. I do like stealth, lets me position myself and fight when I choose to. However I'd picked it because of the immob resist, completely missing it would be available in combat jumping . Am I also right in thinking that the stealth doesn't suppress during combat? If that's the case then I guess this would affect how well you grabbed/maintained aggro too. Might need to think about taking it. I'll second the need for perception too; I hate those widow smoke bombs .

[ QUOTE ]
A problem with relying on utility with dark armour is that there is a lot that you rely on which needs a tohit check.

[/ QUOTE ]

Hmmm I suppose so. Damage aura, heal, fear and disorient all need to hit a target. So the control side of dark armour needs to be slotted so that it's going to hit and not eat all of your end.

Maelwys:
[ QUOTE ]
it'll be utter hell to keep a healthy blue bar.

[/ QUOTE ]
Yeah I'm getting that impression . I think I'm going to leave out cloak of darkness, because of the overlap and the stealth issue. I'm used to 'franken slotting' powers with my d/d corr, so I'll treat dark regeneration like twilight grasp. Thanks for the numbers, are you basing these off existing values scaled for tanks, or are they guesstimates?

PRAF68: Yeah I guess it'll be a challenge , but at the moment, that's what I'm after. I take it the -1 threat comes from the non-suppressing stealth?

Ok, you've all been a great help, thanks. I'll think about this (and maybe dark/ice) and try them out on test for a few levels. I'll try to feed back any opinions later.

Cheers,

Mike.

Righto, new characters for I12 .

I'm looking at all the options that'll be available. There have been a couple of recent posts on the American forums about Dark Armour tanks, and I think I'd like to give one a go. At the moment I'm looking to pair it with Stone Melee, but I have no experience of either of the sets.

The main reason for picking this combo is the combination of Oppressive Gloom and Fault, for regular high mag aoe stuns. I tend to go for PvE characters with strong utility sets (Corruptor, Defender, Controller), so the control aspect appeals.

I'm not going to go for a definite build until the set gets confirmed / finalised, but I'm thinking of something like;

1 Dark Embrace (Toggle: Self +Resistance(Smash, Lethal, Negative, Toxic))
1 Stone Fist (Melee, Moderate Damage(Smashing), Foe Minor Disorient)
2 Death Shroud (Toggle: Point Blank Area of Effect, Minor Damage over Time(Negative))
4 Heavy Mallet (Melee, Superior Damage(Smashing), Foe Knockback)
6 Obsidian Shield (Toggle: Self +Resistance(Psionic, Sleep, Hold, Disorient, Fear))
8 Dark Regeneration (Point Blank Area of Effect, Minor Damage(Negative), Self: +Health)
10 Swift
12 Combat Jumping
14 Super Leap
16 Cloak of Darkness (Toggle: Self Stealth, +Defense, +Perception, +Resistance(Immobilize))
18 Health
20 Stamina
22 Fault (Close(Targeted Area of Effect), Foe Knockback, Disorient)
24 Murky Cloud (Toggle: Self +Resistance(Fire, Cold, Energy, Negative, Endurance Drain))
26 Oppressive Gloom (Toggle: Point Blank Area of Effect, Foe: Disorient, Self: -Health)
28 Acrobatics
30 Build Up (Self +Damage, +Accuracy)
32 Soul Transfer (Self Rez, Special)
35 Tremor (Point Blank Area of Effect, Moderate Damage(Smashing), Foe Knockback)
38 Seismic Smash (Melee, Extreme Damage(Smashing), Foe Hold)

So I'd love to hear how any of you tanks out there are viewing dark armour and what you think the pros/cons of stone melee are.

Cheers,

Mike.

Good work there, some interesting thoughts .

I've always been a fan of alliteration myself, Hurricane Hal (storm/elec meteorologist), Princess Perfection (mind/energy spoiled brat).

When I'm creating a new character, the name I use really has to fit with whatever concept (no matter how vague it is ) that I'm aiming for. More often than not, I'll fire up a word processor and start using the thesaurus, trying out key words to get variations on possible names.

Wikipedia has helped out too. It's let me use geographic features, Diamond Head (stone/fire living rock) is a Hawaiian volcano and Beinn Nibheis (ice/ice frozen warrior) is the Gaelic spelling of Ben Nevis. Although I didn't use pyrocumulus, I did use the common version of Fire Cloud (fire/storm elemental).

As for old characters with poor names, the name change tokens can be your friend here. No need for Snurflepants to be mocked at level 50 any more. I've 're-invented' old unused characters by using the name change feature. When the concept hit, Atomic Eddie (ill/rad) became Phantom Army, with apropriate costumes thanks to some costume change tokens.

One of my pet peeves is unnecessary punctuation and number substitution. I don't think I could have a Mr Awesome' knowing that the "real" Mr Awesome was out there somewhere. However when it all comes down to it, I'd much rather see "Bill the Newt" with an original costume and concept, than another 'tribute' character waiting to be genericed.

Cheers,

Mike

Ok, it's taken a while but I'm finally edging towards 40 with my dark/dark corruptor and I've started to look at the patron pools. They all have something I like in them and I could do with benefiting from others experience here.

I'm counting all the pets as about the same, as long duration recharges mean I'm not expecting them to be around much. This is PvE, not into PvP yet, and teamed for 80% of the time.

I think I've ruled out Black Scorpion. The shield sounds nice combined with the -to hit of dark, but I don't want an aoe immob and I'd prefer my st hold with damage. I'm also not too keen on the mace.

Sirocco is so-so. Teamed, I don't burn through too much end, so power sink is less appealing. The armour would be great stacked with Shadowfall though.

Ghost Widow is interesting. I've always felt lacking in damage and with shadowfall and fearsome stare I'm happy to get into the middle of things. So Soul Drain is very tempting. The armour is less appealing, but the NE res would stack.

Mako. Now I'm really considering Mako. School of Sharks is very tempting, I normally open with Fearsome Stare, then TT and NF. To be able to add another cone to that really appeals. Looking at the stats, it sits between TT and NF as well, 30 degree arc, 50ft. Again the armour is less appealing, on par with Ghost Widow.

So I think I'm down to Ghost Widow or Mako. Both have an armour I'd only use for S/L, both have a ST hold with DoT, both have a pet that wouldn't see much play. Although the Mistress' psi damage is more appealing than the Corolax lethal. So I get to stack immobs with cone damage, or pbaoe +dam +acc.

I suppose the two questions I have that will help are

Has anyone taken Mako on a corruptor, and how does school of sharks compare to TT and NF?
Will Soul Drain mean I can actually nuke stuff with Blackstar?

Any feedback / options welcome.

Cheers,

Mike.

Hello,

Very similar to my current build, although I'm just about to hit 32 so I can't really comment above that. Overall looks fine to me.

Some things I've found, which may or may not work out for you;

I've dropped Hover for Air Superiority, I found I wasn't using hover at all. Whilst I don't aim to be in melee, Air Sup is a nice mitigating attack. I wouldn't choose to 3 slot flight either. I just use it between missions and I'm OK with the slower speed.

I've built my character based on team support, to benefit from the cones and larger spawn sizes. So I did have twilight grasp slotted 2 Acc, 2 Heal and 2 Recharge. I'd rather a heal/debuff was available more often than a larger heal less often. I'm now looking at a 2 Harmonised Healing, 2 Doctored Wounds (Heal/Recharge and End/Heal/Recharge on both), and 2 Common IO Acc slotting.

I've just dropped Moonbeam to pick up Gloom. I found even with the -acc debuffs it was getting interupted mid fight. That and I was shooting corpses far too often. I tend to pull with darkest night more. Two cones and two single targets combined with patch/grasp/stare is enough to keep me busy. I wouldn't choose to have 3 single target attacks.

I took Assault and Tactics at 28 and 30, howling twilight was 26 and pet gaze is my 35 pick. I found, and still feel, that dark was lacking in damage, and the leadership pool also fitted with the team support concept.

How do you feel about Blackstar? I'm going to pick it up but I've heard mixed opinions about it.

Mike.

Hmm ... not a bad idea.

Wedndesdays aren't the best days for me though. I'll be able to log on, but not until about 8pm normally. I'm happy to take the lead though, and set up missions etc. for everyone.

Although I've jumped a little ahead of the new starters and I think I'm currently 6th. So maybe we could do with a little 'catch up' period before upping the rep.

Ok, I'll logon as Mr Johnson as soon as I can on Wednesday, and we can take it from there.

Mike.

Hello,

Good question. Yes I'm interested and fairly active.

However I have a few 'conditions' with my play style. I've got all the character slots filled on Union and Defiant, and I tend to play about 75% of those characters. So I've never had a 'main' just current favourites, I don't stick to one character out of habit. Play time tends to be spread over 2-4 characters that interest me the most at any one time.

The other thing is RP in CoX is a fairly new experience for me. I like actually 'playing' the game, gaining xp and advancing characters. So I get a bit 'itchy' standing around chatting. It's fun and all, I'd just like to be doing something active whilst it's going on.

At the moment I'm leveling up my Fire/Storm controller on Union, I fancy trying my hand at farming in DA. My Ill/Rad controller on Defiant is also fun to play, and I want to get some IO slotting done on my Storm/Elec defender on Union. So I've got plenty of stuff that interests me going on.

I've enjoyed the RP sessions that I've been in so far, and I've got a few ideas of where I'd like to see Mr J going. It's just if I log on and it's a bit quiet I won't hang around for long.

Maybe a semi regular time or day would help?

Anyway, count me in, so that's 2.

((Hello all,

Need to clear something up first. Ok, I'm fine with whatever you want to call Mr Johnson, however just for the record he's not a "kid". Slim build, smartly dressed, not a young face … Ok so I suppose it's partly my fault for not putting up a bio, or correcting assumptions before now.

Anyway, he looks like he's in his late 20's / early 30's, and is/was a physicist, so most definitely not a ‘college kid’. However, all said and done, I’m cool with anyone referring to him however they want. You’ll just have to live with the consequences

Right, 'my' view of the events))

March 4th,

Yesterday I had a phone call from their 'leader', though that implies that they're organised. Now I'm beginning to question if that's really the case, or if they listen to the loudest voice they heard last. At first I was surprised at meeting them in a back alley, although now it makes more sense, but at least they heard me out.

They didn't like being out in the open too much, as if they felt scared of being found out ... do they really want to walk the thin line between law and order?

I started speaking, and unsurprisingly they responded with bluff and bravado. I wonder how long it will take for them to establish their alpha male? It wasn't too long before they felt the need to move on, (spooked by real or imagined threats?).

One of their members, a mutant called Rekkah, had established a crude base off a disused sewer section, an old maintenance room with suitable ventilation and an adequate power supply that wouldn't be 'noticed'.

I went on further to explain my suggestion of one way to make the 'supers' accountable for their actions. Naturally they focused on the worst possible outcome and stuck with it throughout. Quick to react, and probably quick to anger. All I did was suggest a possible course of action and they make me out to be some kind of global terrorist.

A veteran member of their group, Kinsey I think, seemed to be responding rationally to my suggestion. The rest of them got obsessed with the city being destroyed by rampaging giant robots ...

They want to clean up the city by getting rid of the gangs, but they'll act like a gang to do it. They want to get rid of the 'Supers' but don't want to live in a world without them.

This won't be easy, but I could achieve a lot with them.

We'll have to see how the game plays out.

Righto,

I'll be logging on about 7:45 tonight then.

See you there.

Mike.

So then,

Are we going to meet up again? or is it all over?

I think I'm free tomorrow or Sunday.

What about the rest of you?

Mike.

Hi folks,

Right this is the book I mentioned on Saturday

The Boys

It's a 'mature' title but really suited to what you're trying to do with this SG. The page I've linked to shows 'kinda' what I was getting at with David's hands. I'm currently borrowing my copy from the library so I don;t know how easy it will be to get a copy.

Cheers,

Mike.

Hmm,

I suppose I can make either Wednesday or Sunday ... Although it'll be a real rush for Wednesday so I'd have to start a bit later and catch up with the rest of you. Not a lot in it, but I'd prefer Sundays I think.

Mike.

PS: Do we know what the team make up is now?

Woot!

Good to 'see' you back man. I'll keep an eye out for you ... get in touch.

Mike.

Hello all,

I'm free Friday so I'll join up with you, probably around 7:45.

I decided to log on during the week and do a little police work, so I've got the 'Protect Atlas Park Bank' mission lined up at level 7. I figured the rate we were leveling when grouped, it'd be likely that we'd miss it. That and the raptor pack fits well with tech heroes and helps out no end .

Anyway, are we switching to Friday as a permanent thing? Fridays work better for me, but I really need to plan in advance around a single day, so keeping it the same would really help.

Oh and Rock, read the bio on Ace ( Ace Powerfist ), very good. I've got a couple of screen shots of him from last time, if you want to see them, let me know.

See you all Friday,

Mike.

Hello All,

Yeah, last night was fun, keeping in character made it a lot more entertaining than the usual PUGs. How much longer did the rest of you carry on after I left? I'm currently level 7, and I'd like to know whether I've got any catching up to do .

Beetle / Ace: How did you feel about the knockback? I've only been using power thrust (?) but I noticed on quite a few occasions you were running towards me to get the bad guy, then back again to try and get close to him . Was it really annoying, or something you can live with?

All: Are we happy with the group mix? I normally play support characters so a blaster is a bit of a change in pace for me. With VGX, Heatwave (iirc) and me, won't we be a bit blaster heavy? I have a earth/rad controller (currently level 12) that I can fit into the group in a few levels time if people feel we need a bit more support.

"To all: When're we meeting up, then? We know weekends are out. I'm good except for Monday and Thursday"

What's up with weekends? I thought we'd be sticking to Sunday nights.

As for weekdays, Monday - Wednesday are tricky for me, lots of other commitments. If Thursdays are also out then I'd have to vote for Fridays.

Cheers,

Mike.

Yep, definately interested. Although I normally play later in the evening so I'll have to negotiate with my other half first .

However, I'll be playing;

Jack Shot
Archery/Energy blaster.

Bio to follow.

Because I may be a little late arriving, I've gone through Outbreak and I'm stood next to BaB at the moment.

So hopefully, I'll see you Sunday.

Hello folks,

I'm interested in this as well. Although it does depend on which server you're going to be playing on.

What sort of commitment were you thinking of as well? On and off or once a week at a set time?

Cheers,

Mike.

Hello,

I'm currently playing a level 30 /electric defender and I'm considering slotting my damaging electric powers with EndMods. Has anyone done this recently and was it worth it?

I figure I'm not going to wow anyone with the damage so concentrating on the secondary effect might be worth it.

I've got the initial blast, ball lightning and zapp to consider. I'm planning to slot up short circuit with EndMods anyway and I'll focus on the hold / recharge in tesla cage.

Let me know your thoughts.

Cheers,


Mike.

Hi,

Right, I'm looking at starting a AT/Arch defender. Looking into Flash Arrow and I'm wondering if any experienced archers could anyone confirm what I'm thinking here?

1 - Flash arrow is an auto hit targeted aoe.
2 - It lowers perception (substantial) and accuracy (minor).
3 - It is non-aggro, but puts you at the top of the mobs 'hit-list' when they do get aggro'd.

So I see it as a really good way to break down mobs. Flash, ranged pull, only one mob can see you and breaks away. When flash wears off, no aggro, so re-flash and repeat the pull. So can you do this?

What are your opinions of flash arrow in general?

I'm also looking at a 'natural' hero, missing travel powers to pick up swift/hurdle instead. Relying on jet / raptor pack for any tricky moments.

I can't make my mind up but I may fold and go medicine as well. The tricorder fits the theme of 'gadgets' and I'd like a self heal.

Anyway opinions please.

Cheers,

Mike.