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Quote:The Sagas seem to make it pretty clear that Lanaru (and presumably Faathim) were enslaved to serve the Ravager's purposes. Lanaru was the executioner, and Faathim was charged (as best I can tell) with keeping the other slaves healthy. Far from Lanaru's madness being the reason for the Shard's problems, it seems to be the only thing preventing the problems from being far, far worse. When Lanaru started going nuts, it loosened Rularuu's control of him, so he deliberately drove himself deeper into madness, breaking not just the world, but Rularuu. He may be the only reason there's any freedom in the Shard, though I certainly don't think he did it out of any concern for the other slaves.Originally Posted by IanTheM1
I'm so glad this thread showed up, so I can post a theory I came up with earlier today:
Who says Rularuu is a strictly a bad guy? If Faathim is an aspect of Rularuu (and he definitely is, considering the huge hole in the big guy's chest), then clearly Rularuu had some amount of benevolence.
This also makes the entire tale more tragic in several ways, with the Midnight Squad being forced to cage the equivalent of a bear who wandered into town and most of Rularuu's/the shard's problems being blamed on Lanaruu completely losing it, likely as a result of being unbound from Faathim's influence.
Faathim and Lanaru hated what Rularuu made them; Lanaru willingly courted madness to free himself, and Faathim is suicidal. Both were apparently "resurrected" and forced to become part of Rularuu, presumably because they were useful to the Ravager. Personally, I would guess that they are reflections of the Ravager from other worlds it has consumed--the Mysterious Letter Writer asks about "the version of Mender Silos from Faathim's reality" in the letter in the ITF.
Short version: Yes, the Ravager is strictly a bad guy. The fact that he enslaved a healer--a healer that, in a sense, could be considered his own brother--to ensure that his slaves could continue to work does not make him benevolent. -
Quote:I would prefer an alternative. I see two possible approaches: mirrored zones and coexistence zones.Originally Posted by Fleeting Whisper
Now, as for why I don't think the Shadow Shard should be co-op: I think we've got too much co-op already, and I find the trend of "make every new zone co-op!" annoying. I realize that making zones co-op makes them accessible to more players, but frankly that argument has held little water since CoV and CoH were merged (since any player can simply make a character on the other side of the game), and it will hold even less water once GR arrives.
Mirrored zones would be simpler; they would work much like the Ouro zone--a separate version of the Shard for each faction. I find this justifiable in the game's fiction by the scale and complexity of the Shard zones. You could easily wander the Shard for ages without bumping into someone from the other faction. Of course, the villains would need their own versions of the content, and a hidden base (perhaps in an abandoned Mole Point, rendered irrelevant by the Expeditionary Force's discovery of a way to tap the Hortha vines remotely).
Coexistence zones would require tech that doesn't currently exist, allowing heroes and villains to be flagged as non-hostile to each other, but not allowing them to team. This stretches the fiction a bit more, because you would expect the factions to go after one another, but I could handwave that away with an uneasy truce in the face of the native dangers of the zone. Of course, this would still require content to be added for the villains, so it doesn't really make anything easier, and requires new tech, so it's not an ideal option.
I would love to see the other Aspects and zones added, as long as they came along with content. I would prefer to see both sides have access to all of them, however, one way or another.Quote:On the other hand, we're missing a large portion of the Shadow Shard. - Cascade Archipelago: Ruladak the Strong (Brutes)
- Factory Cubes: Chularn the Slave Lord (Wisps)
- The Repository: Kuularth the Scavenger (Natterlings)
- The Palace: Aloore the Watcher (Sentries)
- Garden of Memories: Uuralur the Mirror (Reflections)
- The Storm Palace: Lanaru the Mad (Storm Elementals)
- The Chantry: Faathim the Kind (None)
- Firebase Zulu: None (None)
I'd say that villains need their own four Shard zones, all to themselves. One of them would need to be a beachhead, similar to FBZ. That would leave one remaining zone/aspect not assigned to either heroes or villains: this, I would make into a co-op or PvPvE zone (the latter being PvP via PvE action akin to capturing pillboxes in RV or PvP missions in the other PvP zones, rather than direct conflict)
I'm particularly fascinated by the Garden of Memories as a zone. It seems to me that you could introduce some very interesting event mechanics to it. Say, a PvE version of one of the PvP mechanics, for example: When a PC zones into the Garden, the zone spawns a Reflection of the character (a Mission Architect-type NPC with the same powersets and costume, but with the Reflections transparency effect added.) The Reflection uses ambush AI, and is flagged as hostile only to its target. Defeating your own reflection X times would award a badge ("Shattered Mirror"?) that counts toward a Shard accolade. -
Quote:You want to know the best part about that? If you're falling slowly (having just activated Fly, or having a -Fly effect drop) when you hit it, it can do two ticks of 44,984,156. I know this from the very first AE mission I ever created, in which a boss one-shotted me...with Snow Storm.Originally Posted by Red Valkyrja
And no, that's not an edit. Got that from dropping off the floating CoT island while in AE. (I think it's been fixed since then.) I had to do it a couple of time, because I was sure that it was a couple of numbers over the top of one another.
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I wouldn't drop any of the recharge, even if you take Hasten (which I would drop Soul Transfer for, personally). You've clearly built with the intention of using Howling Twilight as a mez/debuff, for which lots of recharge is good, and your current levels of recharge (which you'll revert to when Hasten is down) are about right for your overall slotting--if you reduced it any, I'd start recommending more recharge slotting in individual powers. Also, the bonuses will get you more Hasten uptime, which is nice.
I know I mentioned them as a possible option, but damage set bonuses really aren't cost effective, particularly not on a defender. Slotting a few damage procs here and there, in powers that are already at the ED cap on damage enhancement, would do more to increase your damage potential. I also find most of the recovery bonuses profoundly unimpressive and you have both Stamina and Dark Consumption to cover your endurance issues.
There's very little that I'd change about the build. You can never be sure without playing it, but it looks fairly quick, highly survivable, and solid offensively. Certainly, there are things I'd like to slot more in it, but it's pretty tight on slots, so it may just not be possible. I might go with a different ancillary pool, just out of personal taste (I've respecced out of Dark Mastery on more than one character), but it may be the best choice with this build. -
Quote:Is he still an arrogant jerk? That seems to be the real Cole Constant.Originally Posted by Techbot Alpha
Theres one in the arc in my sig that isn't evil
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Quote:Well, it probably is overkill. The debuffs alone will provide a lot of mitigation, at least against anything that you hit first. On the other hand, the defense will help you with alpha strikes and other situations where enemies either get past your debuffs or resist them, so it's not useless--just somewhat situational.Originally Posted by Cylert
This build was focused on recharge, ranged defense and to hit debuffs. My biggest question is whether or not 34% ranged defense is overkill with the debuffs and if so, how to better utilize those slots. Please take a look and let me know what you think.
I'm not sure what other bonuses to tell you to aim for, though; you've already got substantial recharge bonuses (though you could always scrounge a few more, since you don't have Hasten). You could try increasing your damage slightly at the expense of your defense, either by slotting sets with damage bonuses or by swapping in some damage procs. On the whole, though, it looks like a well-balanced build in terms of sets.
I do have a couple of comments on your slotting aside from bonuses, though, specifically on Twilight Grasp and Fearsome Stare. Your current slotting doesn't include any accuracy enhancement for these powers at all, and they need it. I suggest dropping the Miracle Heal from Health and the PShifter EndMod/Recharge from Stamina. The set bonuses you're getting from them aren't working now, anyway, since you have more than 5 2.5% Recovery bonuses. That will give you two slots you can use to slot one generic Accuracy IO each in TG and FS. -
Quote:The mez resist bonuses are a joke...a rather unfunny one, at that. They're not worth slotting for. The 2.5% slow enhancement is also trivial. LR is one of your key weapons against AVs and GMs. You want it available as much as possible, so I'd advise slotting it for recharge and accuracy above all.Originally Posted by Torroes_Prime
There are a couple places that I didn't feel particularly sure about what I slotted in, but had reasons behind my thinking (Not claiming those reasons are sound mind you), and I'll elaborate.
Lingering Radiation: I was looking at what bonuses I could get buy slotting what for this and I saw the bonuses for Pacing of the turtle. An extra 2.7% resistance to sleep can't be a bad thing, but at 3 slots I'm the -recharge proc and a 2.5% enhancement to slow. So with the 3 PatTs in there, I'm looking at -865% regen and -75% recharge to affected targets.
Good or bad thinking here?
I really would not slot AM for movement. It's another power you want recharging quickly, so I'd go for the recharge ED cap first, and EndMod second. You don't need a second Zephyr here, really; one KB protection IO is generally enough, especially since your debuffs will keep you from getting hit much.Quote:Accelerated Metabolism: I was looking at 3 slotting celerity in here. I would have gotten an additional 2.2% mezResistance to immobilize, but the 1.5% HP at the third slot didn't strike me as being worth it. 3 slotting a Zephyr gets me all the defense bonuses associated with that set so it seemed a better slot investment.
Good or bad thinking here?
In both Proton Volley and X-Ray Beam, you're sacrificing a substantial amount of damage slotting for some very minor set bonuses. Bonuses are just that--bonuses. Slot for the primary effect of the power first. I'd keep the Manti set in Proton Volley, possibly dropping the proc as Laevateinn did. (As much as I love procs, you don't really fire a snipe often enough to make it worthwhile.) Slot X-Ray with a set of your choice; Laevateinn makes an excellent point about your build needing recharge more than defense, so Decimation is probably a good choice.Quote:Proton Volley: What's the phrase? Frankenslotting? I think that's it. I was looking at my totals and seeing my EndRech was stricking me as a bit iffy at this point and I wanted to get that up. So, I slotted PV with 2 Thunderstrikes for the 2% end bonus, Execuctioners Contracts for another 2% end bonus and finally 2 Shield breakers for a 2.5% end bonus. I dropped in the two procs thinking that if I inflict more damage and disorient the target, then that target is that much more likely to be dealt with before it can become a threat again.
Good or bad thinking here?
I recommended Zephyr mostly for the defense bonuses, but again, Laevateinn's recharge vs. defense argument is compelling. You definitely want a KB protection IO somewhere, and this is a good place to put it, but you can use either the Zephyr or the Karma, whichever is cheaper. The LotG +Recharge is also a good bet. That's not going to leave much room for flight speed enhancements, so it's not going to be very fast, even for Hover. It'll be enough for combat maneuvering, but you'll be better off using fly to move between fights.Quote:Hover: I 3 slotted a blessing of Zephyer into Hover because I don't intend to use fly much if at all and thus don't intend to slot it if I can avoid it. Slotting the Zephyr is hover versus fly gives me a boost to speed since I'll be hovering most of the time anyway and gives the additional defense bonuses. BotZ bonus will stack 2x right?
Good or bad thinking here?
Resistance bonuses aren't really worth much consideration; they're too low and too specific to make much difference. Likewise, typed defense is often overridden by positional defense because typed defenses are more scattered--in your build, your typed defenses will only come into play in melee (where you will hopefully have the mobs' ToHit floored with RI.Quote:With this new build I think I'd addressed several of the issues in my previous build. I've picked up an additional 11% regen, another 1% max hp, and brought my End Rech from 2.56/s to 2.8/s. My res to Toxic, Cold and fire are lower by 2.9% but my defense to those damages as been raised by nearly 4%.
On the whole, I like Laevateinn's suggested build; I'm persuaded by the recharge advantages it offers. There are only a couple of tweaks I'd make to it:Quote:So, thoughts? Comments? Critiques? Offers to back hand me for being stupid?
1) Keep your current RI slotting, except swap the Dark Watcher Recharge/End for a DW ToHit Debuff and drop the DW ToHitDebuff/Recharge/End. You're overslotted for endurance on it. You can use the slot elsewhere, or stick a proc in it--maybe another Achille's Heel.
2) I'm a little doubtful about the slotting on Choking Cloud. It's slightly overslotted for endurance, and the mez slotting may be a bit overkill for a toggle hold. It seems odd not to use the Basilisk set, given the emphasis on recharge elsewhere in the build.
As I understand it, CC ticks once every 5 seconds. That means that ideally, you would want at least 10 seconds hold duration (base is 5.96s), so that a held mob will stay held if you miss a single tick. It also holds that much longer if you move away from a held target. You also want lots of endurance reduction (CC is a real pig), and a good bit of accuracy.
Say you partially slot it with Basilisk's Gaze--BG Acc/Hold, BG Rech/Hold, BG End/Rech/Hold, BG Acc/End/Rech/Hold--plus one generic EndDiscount IO. That gives you these enhancement values:
Acc: 36.98%
End: 74.52%
Rech: 54.38%
Hold: 75.51%
versus
Acc: 66%
End: 96.7%
Rech:0%
Hold: 90.17%
Based purely on the percentages, my slotting looks clearly worse, and it's undeniably weaker on accuracy. Recharge is its only percentage edge, and it's pretty irrelevant to the power.
If you look at the rest of the numbers, though, the picture changes a bit:
My slotting offers 10.5s hold duration, as opposed to 11.3s for Laevateinn's slotting. That's less than a second difference, and both are above the 10s threshold I was looking for.
Endurance cost for my slotting is 0.48/s, as opposed to 0.42/s, a difference of 0.06/s. My slotting also provides a 0.03/s recovery bonus, which offsets the half of the difference.
Accuracy is definitely a weak point in my slotting, but 36.98% is respectable...and you're going to be debuffing the defense on everything in sight, and the set bonuses from other powers include substantial accuracy bonuses.
On the whole, my slotting shows a very minor decrease in effectiveness in the power. In return for that, you get another 7.5% global recharge bonus, which is nothing to sneeze at. I think it actually pushes the build just over the edge into perma-Hasten/perma-AM territory. (It was within a couple of seconds of it, anyway.)
Sorry for rambling about it. Either way, it's a good build.
Meowzer, that's one of the wackiest builds I've ever seen. I thought I was proc-happy. It looks like it would be a tremendous amount of fun when the dice roll your way, and really painful to play when they don't.Quote:Originally Posted by Meowzernot sure if this helps, but this is currently what Im using thanks to some amazing friends who gave me heaps of influence to get the purples I needed. -
Quote:Those people were idiots. A Rad/Rad has a primary full of powerful debuffs; the debuffs in the secondary are just a bonus, and should take a back seat to damage. A well-built Rad/Rad, slotted for offense, can swat most PvE opposition like flies.Originally Posted by Torroes_Prime
When I originally slotted it I was slotting for damage first and debuff second. People kept jumping down my throat about how Rad/Rads are meant for debuff not attack.
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Quote:To quote Coach Rockslide, "Lesson One: Sooner or later, a villain will whip out something like this gizmo. This baby is called a 'demetatizer'."Originally Posted by brophog02
For folks that play a super hero genre game, it is amazing how many of the things native to superhero comics they do not like.
The genre is full of things like power depletion, knockback, mez states...
BZOWNT!
"All of your powers have just been temporarily neutralized. You are all mere mortals, and you are in my power. Blah-blah-blah."
Mind you, I'm don't particularly like the way mezzes work in the game. It's not because they don't fit the genre, however, it's because the way they're handled is rather inconsistent with both the genre and reasonable interpretation of our characters. Consider: in an actual comic, which is more likely to be vulnerable to mental control, a powerful psychic, or a really strong guy with tough skin? (Hint--it's the opposite of the answer in City.)
That, however, is a function of the way defensive powers were originally designed for the game, which Arcana has covered more eloquently than I could. As a result, I just accept it and work around it...and hope I can be forgiven a bit of a chuckle when I see a tank or scrapper get drained and toggle-dropped and bail them out with my defender.
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I don't know what's going on with your copy of Mid's, but the build looks relatively endurance-friendly, as long as you don't try to run both toggle debuffs, Choking Cloud, and Fly at the same time. Even then, you could probably get away with it for as long as AM was up.
I'm not really a rad/rad expert, but I still see some slotting issues, both major and minor, in your build. Take a look at these suggestions, and see if they help.
Major:
Mutation does not need all those slots, and the PShifter bonuses are nothing to write home about. Leave it at the base slot (with maybe a recharge IO) and use those slots elsewhere.
Hover/Fly--you've got Hover 3-slotted, to relatively little effect. I'd slot Fly instead. Either way, you'll get more use out of a Zephyr set. Knockback protection is good, and unlike brutes, defenders don't get any natively. Besides, the set bonuses are better.
Fallout is not a debuff. It's a situational nuke. Scrounge a couple of damage slots for it from somewhere, or drop it, depending on how often you expect to have a conveniently corpsified teammate around to blow up.
Cosmic Burst is one of your best blasts. It does substantial damage and inflicts a solid stun, which you can stack to stun bosses pretty quickly. I suggest 6-slotting it with Thunderstrikes. (I like the defense bonuses, which will stack nicely with the bonuses from Zephyr.)
Stamina is not a good place for sets. You end up wasting a lot of enhancement value, and the EndMod set bonuses aren't that good. I'd take a couple of slots out, and just stick generic EndMod IOs in the remaining 3.
Neutron Bomb is an attack. Slot it for damage; maybe 5 PosiBlasts (including the proc) and possibly a Lady Grey proc. (I've been known to go overboard on procs, but I particularly like them in AoEs.)
Atomic Blast is your nuke. It will leave you drained of endurance, so you can't attack, and most of the stuff you hit should be dead or held. Slotting it for defense debuff is...not optimal. If you're going to take it, slot it for damage--PosiBlasts or Obliteration, depending on which bonuses you prefer. Bear in mind that it's generally a finishing move or an "Oh, crap!" move, not an alpha strike.
EM Pulse is another gem of the Rad set. Those slots I've been telling you to pull from various places? Use some of them here. The purple hold set doesn't really impress me all that much, especially not in a long-recharge hold like this. I'd go with a full Lockdown set. It gets you very good enhancement and some nice set bonuses.
Minor:
Neutrino Bolt is one of the best blasts to turn into a proc-monster. Consider swapping out the Devastation quad for a Lady Grey proc, and maybe the triple for another proc of some kind--Achille's Heel or Shield Breaker, perhaps.
Radiation Infection carries two nice debuffs, Defense and ToHit. Your current build overslots for defense debuff and ignores the tohit debuff, which is a significant part of your damage mitigation. I'd switch a couple of the Lady Greys over to Dark Watchers.
If you freed up enough spare slots, you can add a proc to X-Ray beam for a little extra damage, or you could switch the set over to 6 Thunderstrikes for the ranged defense bonus. (A little bonus defense to go along with Radiation Infection can increase your survivability significantly.)
A full Armageddon set in Irradiate shows the right attitude, but it's going to be wildly expensive. Also, if you do pursue it, the full set goes overboard on damage slotting, and the last bonus is pretty crappy. I'd only use 5 of the set. You could fill the last slot with a Lady Grey proc or just a generic EndDiscount IO--the power has a pretty hefty endurance cost, and Armageddon is pretty light on EndDiscount. -
Quote:*subscribes to newsletter*Originally Posted by Arcanaville
(Although, in this dream passives would be stronger than toggles, but that's another story about how the original devs broke defenses, messed up mez, and made sure the playerbase would never allow any creativity in foe effects other than various color-coded versions of death.)
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Quote:I'm actually working on a set of GIFT arcs now, specifically for this reason. I also have some ideas for ELITE arcs to follow, if I should ever have both time and space to build them.Originally Posted by Arctic_Princess
However, I fear I have been making a suggestion as opposed to discussing the OP. So I say go ahead and perhaps design some arcs to highlight how you'd like the factions to be redesigned or even make the arcs/custom critters for an FBSA Origins idea.
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Quote:Well, the category says "last name", as opposed to "surname" (or equivalent), though people tend to use the two interchangeably here. If we bring that reasoning into it, we make even more of a mess of things. I still say that the flaw is in the puzzle more than in the answers. A randomly-generated grid of reasonable size for the puzzle is often going to include extra answers when some of the potential answers are so short. Maybe the category should have been restricted to names of 4 or more letters? Of course, that assumes that none of the short names are correct.Originally Posted by kidengineer
True, but given Black's reasoning for Cho, there's a flaw in all 3 submissions...
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Quote:I'm not entering, so I don't have a horse in this race, but reading your rules for the contest in the first post, it looks like any entry that marks 10 words that meet the defined category--hero contacts' last names--is a valid contender. I'll stipulate that it should probably be 10 distinct words, though that isn't stated explicitly.Originally Posted by Avatea
:S I'm sorry, we are still looking for a winner. It looks like the Word Search generator has also introduced a couple of random words and names (I find the coincidence quite disturbing actually).
And I'm definitely getting the hang of this game!
Since you don't provide a list of the words, and don't allow multiple entries in the contest, it strikes me as unfair to dismiss an otherwise valid entry because it doesn't match your secret list. It's not the players' fault that extra words crept into the puzzle. -
I'd actually like to do something with a set of groups that have almost no presence in actual gameplay: the Origin organizations. The only one that has any NPCs other than contacts is MAGI, which has Yanamahri (the grav/dark from the Bonefire arc), the fortune teller, and four mystics in a Croatoa arc. For the most part, you only deal with the organizations for your first contact (assuming you don't street-sweep or run the sewers to level 5).
I think they should get a little more play, and a few active agents each--something like the Kheldian arcs. Every 10 levels or so, your Origin group should contact you for an arc, exploring the different approaches each takes to heroism.
Each could also use a set of named bosses. In addition to appearing in the arcs and expanding the roster of heroes for Mayhems, I'd like to see them appearing on the streets (as fairly rare spawns), interacting with villain groups with the same origin. So, you might happen across a GIFT mutant trying to talk to a bunch of Outcasts, a SERAPH researcher taking measurements on some Vahz, or an ELITE swordsman dueling with a Warrior boss.
Oh, and speaking of Warriors, I asked War Witch long ago if she could throw the Warriors a bone in Talos, and let them at least look like they were winning a fight. As I recall, she said she'd try to help them out...but they're still getting pounded. So there you have it: not even War Witch can save the Warriors.
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Quote:When I was fighting Sky Raiders with my Illusion/Storm, I'd deceive the force field generators and gale them around the map with me. Confusion powers are my big addiction. They get used on any excuse, and often with no excuse at all, but I especially love confusing mobs with pets.Originally Posted by Niviene
Deceive is another I use too. I have been known to keep an enemy deceived just so I can TP Foe him around a map with me and Siphon Speed as it recharges. It's not even necessary to do this but I love it so much that I just can't stop.
I used to go out to the Storm Palace with my emp/dark and snipe storm elementals from extreme range (I had 3 centrioles in Moonbeam back then). For whatever weird AI reasons, they almost always tried to run away, and the blast would make all these fancy loops and curves as it homed in on them, and I would fly along with it. It was a blast (in more ways than one).Quote:Originally Posted by PsychoPezOut running my sniper shot, and running circles around it is more fun than you can realize. -
Quote:I got the title and the quickest zero-to-Illusionist-badge time I've ever seen, so I'm not going to complain too much. (My jokes about Frequent Dier miles notwithstanding.Originally Posted by Ignicity
I pwnt a muumuu full of Carnies and all i got was this lousy gold title.
)
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Quote:That's old-style Hami raid lag. I gather it means we were actually bogging down the server, making game time slow down, so there's nothing your computer can do about it. It makes your powers take much longer than you expect to recharge, and movement is erratic. It also confuses the game client, so your power icons don't show recharge states properly--you can see when a power really recharges if you watch the combat channel.Originally Posted by StarKitten
Same. I set all my details to minimum and even when I wasn't held, I couldn't move or use any attacks. I basically stood there and/or died for the entire time. No, my PC isn't an old thing. I've never had this sort of trouble before... The lag was horrendous. And when almost everything was spawning at a lvl 54... Ow.
It wasn't any fun for me, I'm afraid. -
Quote:Stealth is not the best option for that. It provides very little defense (2.5% base), and half of that suppresses when you attack. It applies a substantial -speed debuff to you as well, which directly hinders your ability to speed around. It costs only slightly less to run than Maneuvers (.1625 end/tick vs. Maneuvers .195 end/tick), while Maneuvers provides more defense (3.5% base), provides its buff to everyone nearby, doesn't suppress, and doesn't debuff your movement speed.Originally Posted by mintmiki
I thought about getting rid of stealth, as per many suggestions, in favor of hover, but I want the added defense without hindering my ability to speed around. Stealth is the best option for that, imho.
Any comments? Further suggestions?
The only reason I can think of to take the actual Stealth power if you're already going to have Super Speed and a stealth IO is if you're planning to try to sneak around in PvP (the stealth from Super Speed only works in PvE). From your build and your post, it doesn't look like that's what you have in mind.
That aside, this iteration of your build is a definite improvement, particularly in Fortitude. My comments on Dark Consumption (you don't need it) and Adrenalin Boost (you need to slot some healing into it) still stand, though. -
Quote:On Mercy lives a necro named Schultz,Originally Posted by Dolphin
Is it really necrophilia if you're conscious? [/Owen Harper]
And in bodies gone cold he exults.
He sleeps with the dead.
"It's legal!" he said.
"As long as they're consenting adults." -
I've gone through power by power and offered comments...probably more than you want to read. I hope some of it is useful to you.
Level 1: Healing Aura -- Nothing to argue with here. I prefer Numina's, but you said you were going for recharge in your bonuses, while I lean toward defense.
Level 1: Snap Shot -- Again, it looks like you're aiming for the recharge bonus. I would point out that Snap Shot is a good place to slot a proc as well.
Level 2: Heal Other -- Also in line with your goals.
Level 4: Absorb Pain -- I'm a bit torn on what to say about this one. I personally dislike Absorb Pain and find it unnecessary; I would probably drop it in favor of another attack--maybe Fistful of Arrows. That may just be my bias speaking, though. If you keep it, I'd suggest paring the slots back--it's way overslotted for what it does. You're losing a lot of the healing enhancement to ED, and that much recharge isn't good for anything but suicide with this power. I know you're looking for the bonus, but I think you could use a couple of those slots more effectively elsewhere.
Level 6: Resurrect -- I agree with Biospark. If you don't free up slots for Hasten from somewhere else, definitely take them from here.
Level 8: Hasten -- You want recharge, this is recharge. Slot it up a bit more.
Level 10: Blazing Arrow -- Very nice power, and no real argument on the slotting. You might see if you can free up one more slot from somewhere (like AP) to add another recharge IO. Blazing Arrow is never up as often as I'd like.
Level 12: Clear Mind -- There's not much you can do with this slot, really. Recharge isn't necessary though--it already recharges faster than anyone really wants to cast it. Personally, I stick a range IO in there, so it has roughly the same range as Fort. It doesn't really matter either way, though.
Level 14: Fortitude -- Fort is one of the gems of Empathy. Personally, I prefer slotting it for defense rather than to-hit (actually, I have it slotted with Membranes these days, but that's beside the point). It's a little overslotted for the things you're enhancing, though. You're losing a lot of the to-hit and recharge enhancement to ED, and the power is cheap enough to use that major endurance reduction isn't necessary. You can drop the ToHit/End/Recharge IO without significant loss in performance, and the status resistance bonus you lose isn't that important (though it is one of the better of its type). If you really want to push your recharge, you can slot a LotG +recharge IO in its place for an extra 7.5% global recharge. Otherwise, you can slot it with a defense IO for about an extra 3% defense, which is not too shabby.
Level 16: Stealth -- As Bio pointed out, you have Super Speed and a stealth IO. You don't need this power, or this pool. Ditch it. You could take an attack in its place, or open another pool--maybe Leadership. If you replace it with Maneuvers, you could keep the same slotting (or swap one IO out for a LotG +recharge) and get higher defense numbers that apply to the whole team.
Level 18: Hurdle -- I assume the extra slot is to help hop over things with Super Speed? Not a bad idea, though there should be enough temp travel powers available to cover your vertical movement needs.
Level 20: Recall Friend -- For rezzing, I assume. I don't do that myself, but there's nothing wrong with it.
Level 22: Explosive Arrow -- I'm not a big fan of Explosive Arrow, but it's okay if you're good with knockback. I don't see any problem with the slotting.
Level 24: Recovery Aura -- The endurance component is overslotted a bit, and the accuracy component of the set is wasted. It could stand a little bit more recharge, too; RA is another of those powers that's never up as often as you'd like. I'd swap the EndMod/Acc/Recharge for a plain recharge IO. You'll lose a smallish damage bonus, but get noticeably better uptime on the power.
Level 26: Regeneration Aura -- The healing component is a bit overslotted, but you need to keep it to get your recharge bonus. No complaints here.
Level 28: Super Speed -- Fast travel, invisibility, and knockback protection. *Hold up an "Devs are unfair to fliers!" sign*
Level 30: Ranged Shot -- I like snipes, and my Emp/Dark's Moonbeam is slotted with a Manti set, so I can't argue.
Level 32: Adrenalin Boost -- I slot AB for healing, mostly, with just one EndMod to help nukers. Its base recovery buff is plenty for anything short of a nuke aftermath, so a lot of EndMod enhancement in it is kind of wasted. Don't pursue set bonuses at the expense of primary function in your powers.
Level 35: Health -- The Numina unique is nice, and this is a good place for it. The bonuses you get for the others probably aren't worth the extra slots.
Level 38: Stamina -- Stamina isn't really an efficient place for sets. A lot of the enhancement you're putting into it is going to waste (acc, recharge, end discount), and the set bonuses are very minor. Two standard IO EndMods with give you better performance; you could slot a PShifter proc in the third slot, if you want to spend the influence.
Level 41: Rain of Arrows -- Nothing to complain about here. You could probably swap the Acc/Damage/End for the proc without hurting your accuracy too badly. The Rag proc probably isn't the first purple I'd go for, but I can see your reasoning, I think.
Level 44: Dark Consumption -- DC is on a long recharge, so it's not really the best place for a proc. Also, it has to hit to do anything, so I'd probably swap the proc for accuracy. I can't really see why you'd need DC, anyway, in a build with Recovery Aura and Stamina. I'd probably drop it entirely for something else.
Level 47: Dark Embrace -- Armor is nice, and the slotting is reasonable.
Level 49: Soul Transfer -- I think I'd put a heal or endmod here, rather than a recharge. At least, I hope you don't need a fast-recharging self-rez. -
This ought to be awesome. Mercedes Lackey is one of my favorite authors, and Hickman is...well, Hickman (and the author of by far the best of the City comics, among other, frankly more impressive, credentials). I'm delighted to see both of them contributing Guest Author arcs.
I'm not familiar with Grossman's work, but I'll be happy to give it a shot, purely on the basis of the company he's keeping.
-
Quote:Perhaps also a red one.Originally Posted by PumBumbler
=o.O=
A pink name!?
(Carnie Lyn->carnelian, maybe?) -
Quote:I've been beating this drum for a while. Pounding on a sack of hit points is dull. Making the sack bigger doesn't make it more challenging--if you can beat the regen, you can still smash it--it just makes it dull for longer. I'm okay with that in certain scenarios, like some of the GMs, and even as a once-off on an AV, but not in general.Originally Posted by Fury Flechette
2. No more big bag of hitpoints as the big challenge. I really don't want to see a repeat of the Khan TF in any form. The tricks are lame because they (at least on the villain side) dictate or rather strongly influence AT choices and the final challenge really boils down to how much debuff you have. I hope they take the Khan TF and the Baracuda TF as examples of what *NOT* to do.
Honestly, I think most normal AVs have too many hit points as it is. I think they'd be more interesting (and honestly, more challenging) with improved scripting and more powers, but fewer hit points. I know that's more difficult to create from a technical standpoint, but I believe it would make for a better experience.
In short, I hope that the foes we face in the new Mystery End Game aren't so much "tougher" as "smarter and better-prepared". -
Quote:The problem with that is that it requires you to take World of Confusion, when you could possibly take a useful power instead.Originally Posted by Nny_the_mad
i know it's a bit expensive, but only me think that the coercive persuasion proc in world of confusion is a good tool too? ^^'