Berzerker_NA

80% resistant to smashing/lethal
-40% resistant to fire.

Deals toxic damage.

Hmmm. I would think you'd want Assault and Tactics rather than Maneuvers and Assault, especially since Maneuvers gives such a small Def bonus, but it makes sense if it's going to be the difference you need to reach soft cap I guess.

On that note: I'm not sure why you are skipping the Edict of the Master and Call to Arms +def procs. Is getting the full set for Expedient Reinforcement that valuable to you? (You could put both procs on your Gang War power.) With those procs, and your enforcers, and the Force Field Generator going, your pets would be hitting soft cap easily. They'd be nigh indestructible.


Also, you can put Celerity +Stealth on your inherent run power, so there's no need to slot it on Super Speed, unless you just prefer it that way.

I'm just curious. Do most people go natural with that, or tech? (I'm sure Magic/Mutant/Science are possible. I'm just curious what is normal.)

I think you're missing the awesome-ness, though. Tactically, it's true that it is unnecessary as long as temps exist, but it could be a lot of fun, especially if you name them.

Balancing it should be pretty easy. Just do like with the pets you get from the Patron sets, and make it have a very long recharge, and have the pet only stick around for a short time. Also, you shouldn't be able to control it the way MM's control their pets.

An alternative that would be just as good would be to have Hero Patron Ancillaries that grant pet summons just like the villain Patron sets do. Right now, I'm tempted to make all of my Defenders go evil just so I can get the villain patron sets. (And I was accordingly ecstatic to see those patron sets become available to hero AT's, totally drooling as I read what the hero versions were going to look like on Paragonwiki. ;-)

My problem with Rooted and Granite both slowing you is that it means there's no "either-or" choice being made between the two modes of play. I love that the stone set gives you that ability to switch strategies mid-battle. I just wish the contrast was a little bit stronger.

Maybe Rooted should just go dormant when you use a travel power, then immediately reengage once the power is turned off? Or it should have a zero recharge time? I'm just thinking it should do something to make it different. Cause....if both modes are going to be exactly the same in terms of travel difficulty then I've got to say perma-granite is what I'm going to build around.

I wouldn't mind if they disappeared entirely. It would make more sense too. They're on a different plane and we can't interact with them anyway, so....... why not take them off the screen?

I see a lot of talk on the Archtype forums about how certain defender powers are useless unless you're on a team. I usually get around that by trying to pair those power sets with primary sets that give me a summoned pet so I can get some use out of powers like force fields or SB even when I'm solo-ing.

Anyway, it would be really cool if there was a pool power set that would give you a summon-able pet regardless of Archtype. I know there are already temp powers for that, but I'm just thinking that a power pool for it would be even doubly more extra-awesome.

I don't know if "sidekick" actually works...... It might be better if it summoned some kind of monster in order to make it more universal or easier to do thematically. But summoning a sidekick would be awesome.

I'm just curious. I can't seem to find any.

I usually solve this problem by pairing teammate-only powers with power sets that give you your own pet to apply them to. Plant Control/Empathy, for example can be pretty nice. That Venus fly trap puts out a lot of hurt when he's buffed right.

For all other build strategies, just remember: people with awesome teammate only powers are the first ones who get contacted by teams who are LFM, and the most loved. Sure your solo game is ruined, but your online social life gets to take off.

My toon's name is Doctor Deviance. She recruits degenerate drug addicts to experiment on them, and then trains some of them as soldiers, and gives them massive steroid treatments. The reason I've been so torn between tech and science is because she does have kind of power armor, and all her poisons are either shot from her wrist or carried on a utility belt. (I'm skipping every spitting power) ....


So.... she's not caused by any particular experiment gone awry, just a very ruthless person who loves experimenting on people as a means of medical research.

Going Defender will give you the maximum benefit in terms of numbers. The powers of Defender Kinetics are actually stronger (more HP per heal, more Damage per Fulcrum Shift... etc...) than when other sets take it. On the other hand, if you go Controller, then you get a pet who can benefit from your buffs even when you're not on a team.


So... I would say skip "Siphon Power", because it's just not worth the hassle to try and keep that buff current all the time, and use Controller Electricity as your primary, because the End Drain effects of Transfusion and Transference stack nicely with Electric Control's end drain effects to help you get enemies down to zero end so they can't fight back.

I like how it can be pretty much any origin. I always thought tech would be the easiest to justify, but now it seems to be the hardest. Making custom poisons in a lab feels like what a scientist would do, but the trouble with going science is it usually implies you got supernatural powers out of the arrangement.


Does it change things if I say the henchmen are all hopped up on steroids, so they're getting some of their power from the poison? Would that move things more into science, or is that still tech? I'm thinking the MM doesn't take any steroids, but the henchmen do.

So, I guess the in game value of origin is: Penelope Yin's Shop, location of other SO/DO shops, Mission Arc assignments, and special attack power.

Mutants really get the worst attack power. Throwing your own mutagen kind of feels gross, like it would be a hygiene issue or something.

If we assume the poisons are being concocted in a lab, rather than as an innate ability, or a time honored tradition (like natural poisons). Are technicians and chemical engineers who work for pharmaceutical companies more like science, or does technology still make sense for them?

I know it doesn't really matter. I just want to know what people think about it.

How about a /poison MM who is constantly experimenting on people to improve their toxins, and maybe hops up their henchmen on designer steroids. No powers, just carries around a lot of dangerous chemicals. Is that still science, or technology?

I know they don't technically affect anything much (except what your DO's and SO's are called, and where you buy them), but I find choosing an origin almost as difficult as choosing a name. You can't change origins later on (since they're your .....um....origin...) I'm just curious what advice people can give on origin choosing. What choices are most consistent with in-game characters you're going to meet? What choices will make your hero feel like they fit in the most consistently with the game's story line?

Examples:

Shelly Percy in Cap Au Diable - She's science origin, but has no powers herself. She just experiments on others, but then Dmitri Kryov also studies mutants and apparently isn't one. Doctor Vhazilok is science, but he also has powers from it.

I've had some interesting discussions about Batman too (as well as Arachnos Soldiers). I think the general consensus is that he's natural, despite all the nifty gadgets, but what Captain America? Captain America got his power from a serum, but he's not actually super, just enhanced to the peak of human potential. (I think they might make him super if they ever do a movie about him, though.)

Magic seems like the only clear-cut origin there is. But I bet there are some cases where that distinction becomes complicated as well.

I'm trying to go with the whole Doctor Bishop from the Fringe series idea of a mad scientist who's equally good at biological science as building machines.

I can't decide whether to make her science or tech. She's a mad scientist (named Doctor Deviance) who conducts all kinds of experiments on her henchmen to try and enhance their abilities, but she doesn't have any powers. Her henchmen kind of do from all the crazy steroids and such.

I can't decide if the use of designer drugs makes her science, or if she's still technology because nobody on her crew is truly superhuman? I might give her rocket boots later also, so she can fly.

I think you've taken the concept and twisted it into a mixed-up caricature of what I was trying to say. I wasn't suggesting that absolutely every player on every server always does what I said. Nor was I suggesting that absolutely every player on every server would suddenly change. Nor was I even suggesting that in absolutely all cases, the hoped for behavior will result. When analyzing human behavior, you have to use a statistical approach, because human beings are inherently chaotic. The question is: "will the desired result happen more often or less often, and to what degree?" Not: "Will the desired result absolutely always happen?" If the statistical probability of any given newb receiving an invitation to team during a given playing session increases, then the appearance of other friendly players increases from their perspective.

Certainly some vets will try and get newbs to just stand in for them (which they do a lot of anyway). Other vets will actively recruit newbs into their SG's and such, to have them along on their adventures. The fortunate thing about using Vet badges instead of character level to determine the reward is that your mentors benefit if they actually teach you, because then you pull your own weight *and* add bonuses.

I've been invited onto quite a few teams where the inviters told me point blank that they wouldn't have bothered if my vet badges hadn't shown I had at least a year of experience. Odds are they would be polite enough not to tell a newb they were being denied an invitation on the basis of their badges. (The newb just wouldn't be contacted in the first place.)

The whole goal of trying to attract new players is retention, right? And yet, I've noticed online that a lot of people really don't want to team with newbs. They'll actually open up your badges and look at them to make sure you're a veteran player before they let you join their team sometimes. And why shouldn't they? Veterans know the game strategy better, and your whole gaming session runs more smoothly when you're with a group of people who know what they're doing.

But, what does this mean for retention? It's bad news. New players need to immediately be taken under the wing of experienced players, so they can make friends, and get some successful playing hours under their belt, which will make them want to re-subscribe next month.

So, I'm suggesting that maybe vets should get some kind of experience/Inf reward (or an increased drop rate - which would make most vets drool.) for putting up with newbs on their team. (Ideally not just power leveling them up to high levels either..). Maybe they should earn bonus Merits when they bring a player with fewer vet badges with them on a Task/Strike Force. If the rewards were interesting/substantial enough, then veteran players would be actively seeking out newby players to join their teams for the bonus rewards.

Imagine the difference for newbs between being merely tolerated vs. being welcomed.