BlackestNight

The real question about self-aware/sentient AI is whether or not they'll become instantly depressed when they realize who/what they are and where they see themselves in relation to the rest of the unimaginably vast cosmos.

From a purely materialist point-of-view, a sentient AI has no will to "live." It does not have billions of years of evolutionary drives keeping it on a path of self-survival, group survival and/or gene survival. It does not have memetic coping mechanisms to deal with grief, loss or simple frustration nor does it have any experience (ability?) to find joy, beauty or happiness from the abstract (like art, nature or music). The reason most people are able to get up every morning and live out their day is because they're blissfully ignorant of how insignificant they are in the grand scale of the universe. I don't believe an AI would *could* block that realization out because it doesn't have a coping mechanism to do so and I doubt a cpu-driven AI could "forget." Even a programmed mechanism would (if the AI is curious at all) get bypassed.

From a non-materialist point-of-view, a sentient AI may have some "top-down" systems that naturally arise out of the chaotic "fluff" to equip it to cope, as it would be more than the sum of its parts. I would love to hear the first few sentient AI's conversations about God and philosophy.

What is lost in the debate over whether or not humanity should pursue creating sentient AI is how said AI will react to being "born" into a world that is absolutely alien to it. Humanity takes for granted lessons taught to it by billions of years of adaptation (as well as all other living organisms). We can't "teach" AI to have evolutionary drives because we don't understand them completely ourselves (and we buck evolutionary drives all the time).

I find it hard to believe that any primitive (but sentient) AI could relate at all to humanity or organic life. It would either view life/us as hostile (not having the same ends) and/or utterly irrational. The presuppositions that we as humans have toward virtually everything would not be passed on unless done in a hard "programmed" way, in which case, the AI doesn't have free will and I would argue is no longer on the same level as sentient creatures.

Personally, I don't think the first sentient AIs will last long. They'll either despair of their new found lives or get shut down for becoming aggressive. This isn't like a chimpanzee being made smarter (a la Planet of the Apes): at least the chimps still have experience (evolutionarily speaking) of being "alive." Sentient AI's will be exposed to an absolutely "new" world to them.

Wow. I thought 5 or 10% but not the usual 20% of damage procs.

Granted, it doesn't stack but I've got Achille's Heel procs in 4 of my AoEs...should go off a lot then.

Thanks!

What's the % chance of this going off? The in-game help only says "chance" and the wiki quotes it verbatim.

My guess is 5% but I'd be pleasantly surprised if it was higher.

Thanks!

Much thanks for taking the time to mess with it again.

Info about Taunt was new to me (I haven't played a Tank since Issue 6 or 7) and I'll look to increase Taunt durations now. I knew the purple patch played into Taunt duration but wasn't sure how much. Even if 10x recharge isn't a hard n' fast rule, it gives me something to go off.

Looked over the build and took some pointers.

I was overslotting for recharge/endurace in the ST attacks and have since focused on Damage. I also slotted Dwarf as you had it and changed Dwarf Antagonize to include the Perfect Zinger Psi Proc (meant to do this originally and forgot).

Couple of things didn't make sense to me, so if you'd be so kind to explain (or others can jump in):

- Miracle sets in the Heals don't get any Set bonus because I already maxed out the 2.5% Endurance off of Positron sets and the one Call to Arms. That's why I had them frankenslotted in the first place. I guess I could use the +Regen off of Numina's...?

- Maneuvers was taken out and it was a LotG mule

- Miracle +Recovery was removed from Heal(?)

- Slotting Dwarf Antagonize: the 5% Recharge is lost due to being capped, leaving Mez Resist, 10% Regen and a 2.5% Damage buff. For a power that doesn't need a whole lot to keep things aggro'd on you, seems like overkill for 10% Regen and 2.5% more damage. I took two slots out and am treating it as a pseudo-attack with the Psi-Proc. If Hasten isn't going, my Dwarf attack chain (lol) still has holes so getting the Proc every once in awhile can help do damage while also retaining aggro.

-Call to Arms was 5-slotted for the 1.88% S/L resist bonus. Since Light Form is still 3% off from capping S/L, this saves me from taking another power to make up the difference. I can live with be 1% off the cap. I'd rather have the 2% S/L Resist than the 3 or so odd seconds shaved off from the Expedient Reinforcement IO in there. Damage and Endurance actually got worse when the Expedient Reinforcement was put in.

Here's the revised build:

(P.S. Mids isn't adding +Recovery from Miracle/Numina's but I get the feeling I might have overslotted for Recovery...?)

I decided that I can best help a team by having reliable AoE and ST damage and reducing Resists on a semi-regular basis. If I am form shifting as much as I plan on doing, most of my major AoE attacks have the Achille's Heel -Resist Proc in them and though I might only get one mob at a time in a group, I have 4 attacks that can trigger it (one in each form and 2 in Nova). If (big IF) I can reliably debuff most groups by 20% Resist, it helps everybody on the team, including me.

Also, I kept Dawn Strike over Glowing Touch. I feel that Dawn Strike, paired with the Global Recharge and Accuracy I have, in addition to Inner Light (which I would always use before it) is still in decent shape and gives me the ability to hit everything nearby with the equivalent of an Incandescent Strike. I still have Conserve Power and hefty +Recovery to deal with the crash. Just personal taste, I guess.

Here's the revised build:

Here's a build I've been mulling over for my PB that is at 49 right now. Here are some of the stated goals:

- Tri-Former
- Perma Light Form (will use Light Form in all forms)
- Perma Essence Boost
- Perma Inner Light
- Fair offense in all forms (need not be stellar)
- No Incarnate powers
- No ultra-expensive IOs (Anything under ~150M is fair game tho and I already have Numina's and Miracle +Recovery)

Knowing this, I understood the following cons of the build:

- Defense is pretty much out of the question. Even with full Kinetic Combat, I don't even come near to 32.5% to S/L.
- Will heavily rely on set bonuses for +Recharge
- Human toggles will have to be kept to a minimum (i.e Fighting/Leadership pretty much out of the question)
- Build won't be super expensive but will still cost a fair bit

There are few Achille's Heel and Force Feedback procs scattered in there. I don't know where they would do the most good. Suggestions welcome.

I also have a lot of filler powers toward the end that aren't set in stone but I feel I'm getting more out of then say, Fighting, that does nothing but give me marginal set bonus increases. I could use a LotG in Weave but having those final three powers as situational boons seem more helpful than the LotG.

I tried putting Kinetic Combat sets in all Melee attacks (and Brawl) and I get to about 22% S/L Def but I don't know if sacrificing 25% Global Recharge and Perma Essence Boost/Inner Light is worth it. They're only off a few seconds but there's also the issue of getting 5 sets of Kinetic Combat (which drastically increases the cost of the build). Please advise.

Feedback welcome.

I've thought the same thing in the past but the reality is that the tri-formers wouldn't see much benefit out of it relative to the human-only.

(My assumption is that you would have to reduce the Defense bonus per teammate because you only need 45% to soft-cap, rather than the 85% to cap resists. I'd imagine each teammate that can give extra Defense would only give 5%.)

As a Nova, you have some basic Energy/Neg resist and that's it. Unless you're IO'd out to the gills (tentacles?), a paltry 10-15% Defense isn't going to soft cap you and the more stable 20-30% resists would increase survivability from the attacks that would likely one-shot a squishy character.

As a Dwarf, yes, the Defense would help (~60% resists to all but Psi + 10-15% Defense from teammates and other set bonuses could soft-cap you) but I don't know if it would help more than capping your resists (in which case, when slotted, you only need 2 particular teammate types to achieve).

However, as Human, you're going to be running around with capped resists already (Light Form or Eclipse) so all that's happened with a change as proposed is buffing Human-form. Instead of needing a lot help via set bonuses to get the defense soft cap, you can snag a teammate or two and soft cap your defense with relatively little IO investment (that is to say, it isn't too hard to get to 20-25% S/L resist, it's a lot harder to get the next 20%) Obviously, solo acts are still going to need a lot of Set help but if you team, Human-only will still benefit more from the change than the tri-formers.

I'm not saying the idea is bad but to couch it in a "it would help Tri-Formers" is shaky to me. What I will admit is that teaming as a high-end Kheld with allies that give the Resist bonus is not "worth it" from an Inherent Power perspective. There is no benefit to extra resists when you can self-cap so easily. On that front, I would argue for a change in the inherent but on the other hand, not everyone who plays a Kheld is running around with Perma-Light Form/Eclipse. The extra Resists on a "casual" player or a lower-level one would likely help them more than extra Defense, which a PB has no access to boost without Sets anyway.

I look at the Kheld inherent as simply gravy: if it helps, yay, if not, I'm not worried. On an 8-man team, sure, I might be rocking with +20-30% damage, same in Resists and an extra Mag status resist and all that is good but I'd still want to be effective without it. For the high-end Khelds out there, Defense>Resist but that's not the case from levels 1-40 (and maybe all the way to 50, until you can really fill out your Kheld with Sets).

We do have to think of the broader player base and the journey to the end-game, as well.

@ Oreso

There's no way #6 could ever be put in-game. That's a massive change and would take slotting options away from a current player (i.e. breaks the cottage rule). Also, how would you slot Dwarf? You'd want Resists, Damage, Endurance, Accuracy and Recharge all in 6 slots. Nova makes sense (all you'd really want are attack buffs) but Dwarf has too many powers to enhance that would make doing it in 6 slots feasible. I'm not against the idea, per se, but it's too big of a change.

That said, slotting duplicate powers or slotting Forms up does make the AT inherently harder to manage and creates a slot crunch that is very difficult to overcome and remain competitive with a Human-only build. That was the point of #1-3 but as mentioned, adding slots may break the game.

#4 is essentially where I'd like them to move (with QoL improvements thrown in). You could get away with slotting the Human powers and it would translate to slotted Form powers without needing slots (though you could still spend them there to enhance it further). Yes, Warshades would get a little less out of such a system but they could still benefit from Mire, Bolt, Eye/Nova Blast, Detonation and Dwarf Resists (and I'd argue that Gravity Well would translate over to Dwarf Smite, just as I-Strike=Dwarf Smite in PBs). That only leaves Nova Emmanation and Dwarf Strike as the odd ones out. If PBs were more known for their Form damage and WS were more known for their MFing nature (holds, AoE, Pets, needing bodies/ToHit checks, etc), you're just creating more defined niches for each of the Kheldian ATs.

Long post ahead.

As I've been playing my PB and been reading about various Kheldian issues, one common thread seems to be weaving through all of them: Forms become less and less important in the end game. Opinion is split on whether or not this is a bad thing but the fact is that Forms are not going anywhere.

The endeavor from here on out is to work within the system and not break the cottage rule, that is to say, no matter what happens, you do not take away from the current experience. You can add to, but not subtract from, anything we have currently. For example, a recent thread had the Forms as a toggle that would simply buff offense/defense, depending on which Form you were drawing inspiration from. I would call that a "change", not a addition.

Also, this thread is not about buffing/changing Human form at all. My opinion (and a great many others) is that Human form is essentially fine as-is. There are tweaks we would like to see but that is left for somewhere else. The point of this thread is to buff Bi-/Tri-Forms so that they're intra-competitive with Human-only builds and not just thematically but from an end-game point of view.

So with that in mind, I have compiled a few of my ideas that could work within the rules provided. Some, all, or none may be good, which is why I present them to wiser minds. Also, please feel free to share your own so that we can all comment.

1.) Free Extra Slot In All Form Powers.

This idea is the simplest and with that, may be the easiest to implement. All there is to it is that all the base Form powers come with, by default, two free slots. This alleviates a little bit of the slotting "crunch" that occurs when you are attempting a Bi-/Tri-Form build and opens the Forms to more immediate access when you acquire them at 6 and 20, at their earliest. Ultimately, it's a free 10 slots if you take both Forms, which is somewhat attractive in its own right. Of course, if you're still going Human-only, all this does is allow you to mule more IO sets with less slots. This can be a pro or con, depending on how you look at it.

Ultimately, however, the point is to not punish players for taking Forms. With the free slots, Forms need less of the ever-so-precious slots that are begging to be used elsewhere. In the end-game, this means that you can "afford" to slot up your Forms without crippling your Human form.

2.) Bi-/Tri-Form Bonus Slots

This idea takes the previous idea to the next level. Again, the point of all of this is to give Bi-/Tri-Form builds a little "extra" for attempting to make a very diverse character.

The mechanics are as follows:

If you take Nova -or- Dwarf (not both), you get a free slot for all that Form's powers at levels 20 and 40. If you take Nova -and- Dwarf, you get a free slot for all Form powers at levels 15, 30 and 45. This works retroactively, so if you took Nova at 6 Dwarf at 47, Nova would gain a slot for all powers and Dwarf would default with 4 slots for all powers. Naturally, this means Dwarf would always start with 2 slots in all Dwarf powers and 3 if you took Nova before it.

You *can* slot the Form powers prior to the bonus slots being awarded. There is no penalty and no slots are "lost". Any slots that were placed by the player (not bonus slots), would go back into the slot pool once a power goes over 6 slots. Thus, you can never over-slot or what have you and somehow lose one.

What this allows you to do is naturally keep your Forms slotted up without extra slot investment. Since Bi-Form, by definition, has fewer power choices needing to be slotted, it gets less of a bonus. Tri-Form, on the other hand needs more help, hence, more bonus slots.

Like the first idea, this has ramifications for Human-only. The ability to have 10 powers with 4 slots that you never intend to use gives you huge opportunity for IO bonuses and may make Human-only even better, thus negating Forms all the more. I have yet to figure out a mechanic that could somehow only give the bonus slots to actual Bi-/Tri-Formers but anything I could think up could still be exploited, even if it was time spent in Forms.

3.) "The Kheldian Exchange"

Instead of free slots, per Idea #2, the idea here is to trade potential Human slots for Form power-only slots.

The mechanic works as follows:

If you have 3 slots "banked" (i.e. not in powers, just waiting to be assigned), you can "spend" them to give an extra slot to all Form powers. If you only have Nova, you'd be spending 3 to gain 4 (+33% return). If you only have Dwarf, you'd spend 3 to gain 6 (+100% return) and if you have both Forms, you'd spend 3 to gain 10 (+333% return). Thus, you'd be taking away from your Human powers to add to your Form powers, in a very efficient manner. Theoretically, if you had both Forms, you could spend 18 normal slots to gain 60 Form slots.

Now, not every power that gains slots is really worth the slot (6-slotting Dwarf Step?) so some slots may even go unused or aren't terribly needed but the ultimate outcome is the Forms gain a huge boon for sacrificing Human potential. Varying degrees of "exchanging" would occur, with some only losing 3-6 Human slots to IO out their Human-only build while a true Tri-Former could end up spending 12-18 slots to really deck out their Forms.

The question I have in all of this is whether or not 6-slotted Forms, with a moderately slotted Human Form, can compete with Human-only as we have it now.

4.) Form Duplication

Nova and Dwarf Form powers are almost all duplicates of Human powers. Part of the issue with Kheldians is that you not only have to slot your Human version, but your Form version as well. Even with bonus slots, like above, that still means you're double-purchasing IOs/SOs to make both versions of the power usable.

Form Duplication would be a mechanic that has a one-way transfer of Human-form power to the duplicate Form power. This can be handled in a few ways:

a.) One-to-One. If you slot up Human Bolt, for example, Nova Bolt gets identical treatment without needing to slot it, though it naturally gains the +45% damage and +ToHit of Nova form. Slotting the Power above and beyond what is Human Form would continue to add to its effectiveness and would only be hit with ED once the Form's enhancement bonuses begin to add up. So, in Bolt's example, if Human form had 50% +Damage, Nova Bolt would also have 50% +Damage and it could be slotted up with an additional ~97% damage before ED really kicks in the diminishing returns (and don't forget the Nova's +45% naturally!). Thus, it would be possible for Form powers to truly out-shine the Human counterparts in almost every aspect.

b.) X-to-Y. Some % of the enhancement bonuses from Human Powers would carry-over into duplicate Form powers. That % could be anything, as needed to make it attractive without going overboard. 50%? 33%? Or maybe even a tiered system that increases as you gain level milestones.

c.) Some combination of the above paired with "limiters". Maybe not all the enhancement bonuses from Human-only carry over to the duplicate Form powers. Maybe only the "offensive" aspects of a power carry over to Nova (and "defensive" to Dwarf). Maybe Procs don't carry over. Again, whatever aids in creating a balancing factor. I think it goes without saying that Set bonuses do not get doubled!

Of course, you still have to take and slot the Human Power to really see any effect out of this system and you'd still be desperate for slots to take full advantage. Also, some powers do not have a true duplicate. Black Nova Emmanation and Black Dwarf single-target attacks don't have true duplicate Human analogues nor does White Dwarf Step/Black Nova Flight. We could always assign "duplicates" but some might feel counter-intuitive (Gravity Well/Incandescent Strike = Dwarf Smite? Same for Nova Blast actually as analogue for Ebon/Glinting Eye). Also, Dwarf resistance would have to be handled in an interesting way, otherwise you would have to take all 3 shields in order to affect it in a holistic way.

Ultimately, however, a Human-only build can't exploit this mechanic, which is part of the appeal it has to me. A true Tri-Former could manage to squeeze out high damage out of Nova and high survivability out of Dwarf (maybe even moderate damage out of Dwarf too) that is not dependent on Perma-Light Form/Eclipse (and the massive recharge that is needed to fuel that). Depending on how this mechanic was implemented, it could give Bi-/Tri-Forms a loftier end-game that focuses on maximizing Form potential.

5.) Quality of Life Improvements

Maybe all we need is some simple QoL buffs.

a.) Faster animations for Form Switching. If Forms were less tedious to go back and forth to, maybe more people would use them. Dynamism is the Kheldian way and it's being hampered by rough transitions.

b.) Toggle suppression. Going back to Human without shields is a death sentence mid-battle, even with macros and binds that switch one on on Form drop. The tedium and time-wasting of turning toggles back on make Human-only that much more desirable.

c.) Human click powers usable while in Forms. PBs are especially hampered by this since they have so many. Essence Boost, Inner Light, Conserve Power and even Photon Seekers (which is more of a "click-to-go-boom" power then pet) could all be used while in Forms and it would make the tedium and danger of switching back to Human (long animation times notwithstanding) all the more unsettling.

d.) Auto-Tray switching. Yes, we all have binds and macros to do this but what if it was automatic? It might encourage the folks that don't come on these forums to use Forms. Might be hard to do from a Dev standpoint, so I don't fault anyone if this isn't possible.

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Feel free to critique/humiliate/amend and supplement anything you see here. Combinations of ideas are always on the table as well. They are not meant to be mutually exclusive (though the extra slot stuff probably should be).

I was actually thinking about something similar to this earlier, though it was more along the lines of making the click powers (like Essence Boost, Inner Light, Conserve Power, etc.) on PBs usable while in Forms. Essentially, narrowing the gap between Human and Form builds.

Ultimately, however, I don't think the suggestion presented in the OP would even be talked about if the transformation times were shorter. If they were <1 sec, you could simply jump to and from Forms as needed, rather than assessing if you have time or not mid-battle.

I wouldn't mind the OP's suggestion occurring but, as stated, it will never happen. Melee Novas make me chuckle but ranged Dwarfs make me shudder (i.e. they'd probably become very powerful without major nerfs to survivability).

If I could re-tool the original idea (mainly for PBs since I have no experience with WS), I think what I would do is allow Nova and Dwarf to use the universal buff powers available to Human as-is but then make Human-form "duplicate" powers for the Forms give bonuses to the Form powers. For example, let's say you took Luminous Detonation for Human and slotted it up, something like 50% of the bonuses from those enhancements get applied to Nova Detonation (and more importantly, it ignores ED). So if your Human form is rocking 96% +damage, your Nova Detonation gets its normal enhancement bonuses and then an additional 48% Damage because you slotted up the Human form.

To keep things from getting over the top, only certain types of enhancement bonuses from the "duplicates" would help the Nova/Dwarf powers. It wouldn't be universal but more in-line with what the Forms are trying to accomplish anyway.

So, if you went Bi-Form, you could theoretically make the Form of your choice a lot more powerful (while also benefiting your Human form, it's just gravy). Tri-Form would need some clever slotting to get the most benefit.

Also, as a side-idea, Photon Seekers and Dawn Strike would be available in both Forms. Obviously, Dawn Strike would be more powerful as a Nova but you'd also have to get in close without any real protection.

To clarify: this is the bonus enhancement values above and beyond 100% of the base power. So if do not have any enhanced value in the power, the Form power gains no benefit. Here's a breakdown of how I see it working

Nova - 50% (ignores ED) of Damage/Recharge/Accuracy/Range bonuses from the following powers carry-over from Human to their Nova counterparts:

Gleaming Bolt -> Nova Bolt
Glinting Eye -> Nova Blast (I know Gleaming Blast shares the namesake but Eye and N. Blast have way more in common)
Proton Scatter -> Nova Scatter
Luminous Detonation -> Nova Detonation
+ Nova can now use Inner Light, Conserve Power, Essence Boost, Photon Seekers and Dawn Strike

Dwarf - 50% (ignores ED) of Resistance/Recharge/Endurance/Accuracy/Knockback from the following:

Shining Shield -> Dwarf S/L Resist
Thermal Shield -> Dwarf F/C Resist
Quantum Sheld -> Dwarf E/N Resist
Essence Boost (Toxic Resist portion) -> Dwarf Toxic Resist
Radiant Strike -> Dwarf Strike
Incandescent Strike -> Dwarf Smite
Solar Flare -> Dwarf Flare
+ Dwarf can now use Inner Light, Essence Boost, Conserve Power, Photon Seekers and Dawn Strike

What remains as Human-only? Any Pool Power, Glowing Touch, Pulsar, Quantum Acceleration/Flight, Reform Essence (doesn't boost Dwarf Sublimation), Gleaming Blast (no analog on either Dwarf/Nova), Restore Essence (by necessity) and Light Form.

Hopefully this isn't a de-rail but it's slightly less "destroy-the-cottage" than the OP's idea, if only because you don't "have" to use the bonus carry-over if you don't want and nothing technically changes from what we have now.

Thanks for the reply.

You talked about Perf. Shifter in the Forms and I always assumed, because they were toggles, they had a 20% chance to go off every 10 seconds but your reply sounds like you have the 20% chance upon activation.

Just to clarify, does the Perf. Shift proc treat Forms as a click or a toggle?

I'm going through Mids and I notice a discrepancy between Dawn Strike and other "nuke" powers: namely that Dawn Strike drains all your Endurance but only has a 100% End Recovery debuff, instead of a 1000% debuff like the other nukes. I think I knew this but I just now have a 32 PB and I had to choose between Seekers and DS.

So, since Stamina is slotted up and I have a tiny IO bonus of max End, I have 151% Endurance recovery, meaning that Dawn Strike removes all my endurance but I still have 51% End Recovery, correct?

If I were to pop Conserve Power right before Dawn Strike, with the 134% End Reduction in all powers, that would effectively make my 51% recovery "feel" like operating on 119% End Recovery for however long the debuff lasts, not taking into account all the Endurance Redux I have in the powers themselves. So, if I'm doing the math right, Dawn Strike+Conserve Power (and a blue inspiration or two) would allow you to nuke and still keep attacking at endurance levels not terribly below what you were already operating at.

(Obviously, if I had Miracle or Numina's slotted in there as well, the net effect of using Dawn Strike would be lessened even more so but I don't currently have those IOs. Same could be said for other +Recovery or +Max End IO bonuses.)

So does anyone have experience using Dawn Strike+Conserve Power regularly and still operating as if nothing happened to their Blue Bar? Also, if I hit Conserve Power prior to Dawn Strike and then nuke, I assume any Shields I had toggled on would drop (it does take you down to 0 End) but I wouldn't have difficulty turning them back on because of Recovery and reduced cost on the Shields via Enhancement and Conserve Power?

Thanks

Yeah, I got a 42.7% S/L build without Dwarf muling Kinetic Combat sets but the "no Forms" rule, which is completely arbitrary, doesn't allow me to slot the last Kinetic Combat. I do have the Glad Proc in there but it's the only ultra-expensive piece.

I would consider it "playable" but not terribly efficient.

I like the guide, though I think it's missing the fundamental difference between EATs and normal ATs: slotting. EATs have more powers than they know what to do with and then are forced to slot a lot of powers that are screaming to be enhanced.

For me, the trick is to figure out what you want your priorities to be. Everyone wants to be everything at once but that just isn't possible with a PB, especially not early in your career. If you're going solo, you're going to have to prioritize damage and survivability. Utility and team support just won't fit. If you want to be a mostly team-player, you can rely on Cosmic Balance (while in Human) and be jack-of-all trades with the Forms because you don't know what team make-up will be. It's best to be slightly prepared in all areas than overprepared in some and underprepared in others. Let your teammates do their AT's job and you supplement what isn't there.

A way of helping you determine how to slot is by "defining" your human form. Nova and Dwarf make the choice for you but Human form really needs to be reigned in if you want to be effective among all forms. Decide if you want to be more of a Scrapper (mostly melee with the shields/heals), more of a Blapper (ranged and melee, less survivability), a Teamer (ranged and melee, support abilities like Touch, Leadership, etc) or a defensive Blaster (all ranged, shields/heals). If you can nail down what you want to be, you can skip powers, slot your human form "enough" and still save slots for your forms. Just like your Nova/Dwarf forms, your human form needs to have a role that isn't so generic that it is a mile wide but only an inch deep.

I made my Human form what the other two forms can't be: a melee powerhouse. Dwarf doesn't have the damage/attack chain and Nova fulfills my ranged damage so I have the fast firing ranged attacks (Bolt, Glinting), Radiant, Incandescent and Flare and all 3 shields (since I'd be in melee a lot). Dwarf is slotted for Resists and I have two slotted the attacks. Nova is pure damage and I have 3-slotted all attacks (at 31 that's an accomplishment) and plan on continuing to add slots to that in the 30s. With IOs, it's possible to reach respectable levels of Acc/Dam/End with just 2-3 slots and that's been working out for me so far. I haven't touched recharge on any attack powers yet.

I plan on taking Photon Seekers, Restore Essence and Light form throughout the 30s but don't plan on slotting any but Light form heavily until the rest of my earlier attacks get slotted. 40+ is really where all my slotting will get filled out and my PB will start coming into his own. I'll see if I want to go human-only at 50 but I plan on Tri-Forming until 50.

After a hiatus of nearly 5 years, I've returned to a very old level 30 PB that has 4 respecs and 60 Tailor Tokens collecting dust. Obviously, he's going to get a respec and I have a 50+++ Brute able to bankroll a fair amount of his IO needs but I simply don't have a clue on how to build the bugger any more.

I've read the latest changes and a perma-light form, human-only build seems like, ultimately, the way to go but getting there is going to take time and Tri-Form up until that point seems to be the general consensus.

I did a quick search but nothing fit my precise criteria.

(And please don't say..."roll a WS" )

P.S. My assumption is that this new Quantum Acceleration is fairly worthless on a PB? Quantum Flight already gives you the protection you would want and it's not like you can fight while having QA up. Also, is there any reason Mids has QA at 1 end/sec cost while Afterburner is at .65 end/sec but otherwise identical? Secondary>Pool Power right?

Dark Armor is endurance-intensive but I found that it wasn't the armors that were killing my blue bar but Dark Regen. I found myself needing to use it just about every time it was up and I never was able to actually kill anything because 90% of my endurance was spent just keeping me upright.

Dark Regen's highest priority is getting its endurance cut way down. If you're slotting recharge first, you're only going to be sucking wind every time you use it. With just SOs, first slot goes to accuracy (it has to hit to be worth anything) but the next two go to Endurance (+3 if you can manage). The Heal itself, at base, will give you 60+% of your HP back with just two mobs so slotting Heal SOs is often overkill if you're actually around 3+ mobs. Recharge comes after you can afford using it more frequently.

Indirectly, Oppressive Gloom and/or CoF (though I'd go with OG if you're using SOs), will also keep you from using Dark Regen as frequently because minion damage will be mitigated. If OG (which only costs .08 end/sec) saves you from using Dark Regen as often, it will more than pay for itself in endurance (and even the slight HP drain) by allowing you to save that 20 some endurance you would have spent on Dark Regen.

Of course, you could always slot more endurance redux in your attacks (because they're primary offenders to low endurance, too).

Finally...one word: Cardiac. It's a necessary evil for Dark Armor but it does alleviate every endurance problem you'll ever have. I just discovered how potent it is and it'll be hard to wean myself off of it (and my Dark/Dark was fully IO'd with a lot of additional recovery). IO's are the way to go and the Endurance Proc in Dark Regen totally revolutionizes its use, but having the other +Regen procs are going to help a ton as well.

Capped S/L Defenses without Invincibility targets kicking in...check.
Perma-Rage with one slot...check.
Most of the high-end Procs....check.
Purple sets...check.
Endurance recovery...pretty good.

Cost of build...pretty high.
No Travel Power...???
Aid Self...won't be usable in-battle without interrupt redux (at least that's been my experience). Not sure if you planned on using in-battle or not but thought I'd mention it.

I don't know how you'll get around but the survivability is top-notch, except against Energy/Negative where your resists are on the low-ish side and against, of course, Psi. Defense is fine once Invince is in range of some bodies.

Overall, it's a good (but very expensive build) in my eyes, though lack of a travel power I believe (hope?) is an oversight. (Unless you have a lackey TP'ing you all over or you're using Ouroboro portals and Mission Teleport...?)

Good posts by Celidya and boppaholic.

I concur that DA does suffer from Endurance issues and has no native recovery (I almost barged in and shouted "Are we forgetting Dark Consumption!" before realizing that's DM, not DA... :P) but they're not exceptionally bad if slotted correctly (even without IOs).

As I was looking back on my earlier post, and scrap any massive CoF changes, what has been reiterated by others is the general lack of "need" for either CoF or OG. Celidya points out that DA is in a pretty good spot without them (no glaring holes, no extreme strengths, etc.) and I believe Arcanaville's Scrapper Secondary comparison back in I7 or so made DA out to be among the best Scrapper armors without factoring in CoF or OG at all. That CoF and/or OG are essentially unnecessary just leaves a bad taste in my mouth. I'm not saying every power needs to be "must-have" in any set but Tier 7 and Tier 8 powers ought to have some pretty attractive points. Additionally, as mentioned, they overlap roles quite a bit.

Celidya's point on making CoF and OG more "utility" and less "mitigation" is a fine distinction/change but does adding minor secondary characteristics change the fact that the primary effects of both powers do essentially the same thing? I'm fine for adding secondary characteristics but when you take a power for its secondary effects over its primary, that tells you something. I'd actually put Cloak of Darkness in that boat, too (I use it for the Def, not the stealth) but it also offers Immob protection so it gets a pass from me. I already use CoF for the ToHit Debuff almost exclusively (Fear is just gravy) which is why OG has absolutely no appeal to me in its current form. It does nothing I don't already have/want.

OG is the real offender here. CoF has its drawbacks but with better accuracy and lower endurance cost (which is in the realm of possibility), what does OG offer? Stunning minions just doesn't add anything by itself. Certain Combos, like Energy Melee/Mace, Hand/Lightning Clap and the like might give OG more of a supplementary role to stunning Lts/Bosses but OG only has synergy with about half of the melee sets. Should the power be able to stand on its own or is it just a fact of life that OG will need certain combos to make it worthwhile?

This just popped into my head so it might not be great but what if there was some kind of "adjustment" you could do to OG while it was toggled on so that you could trade more of your HP for stronger mag stuns? Level 1 might be the current iteration but Level 2 would do a Mag 3 Stun but take a larger portion of health per tick and Level 3 would do a Mag 4 Stun but really sap you. At level 50, it's like 4 HP/mob in range for what we currently have. What if it doubled at "level 2" and quadrupled at "level 3" so that you're losing a lot of HP to keep those bosses stunned. That kind of flexibility wouldn't affect those that wanted the power to stay as it was (it has no change at "level 1") but for those that want to do some management mid-battle, you could greatly mitigate damage from Lts and Bosses. Of course, you could easily kill yourself, too. Fortunately, Dark Regen is in the same powerset. I don't know how that would be implemented (3 different OG power buttons with their various potency?) but it was just a thought. Of course, switching between "levels" would have to be instant and with no animation, otherwise it would be a hassle but if the two other levels were greyed out until OG was activated, then you could switch at will while OG is up, that might work.