ClawsandEffect

Pinnacle has decent PvP at times. Sometimes it's dead, other times it's jumping. (I play on Pinnacle almost exclusively, so it's the only server I have firsthand experience with)

Freedom is your best bet for consistent PvP. It doesn't have a larger percentage of PvPers, it just has more players, so more PvPers is kind of a given.

Psi/EM, Sonic/EM, Fire/EM, seeing a trend yet?

Devices can be a good PvP secondary if you build it right.

Psi and Sonic are currently the most powerful primaries, but just about anything can do well if you put the time into it. I would avoid Assault Rifle and Archery for PvP, I've seen a small number that have done well, but in general you have better choices. I have a Sonic/Devices that is somewhat competetive if I'm on my game that day. I also have a Fire/Fire that is kinda fun.

There's a bit of a learning curve with PvP in this game, since a lot of the powers work differently than in PvE, so don't expect to go out there and start owning face right away. You will probably get your buttocks handed to you quite a bit until you get the hang of how it works, but if you're really interested in it stick with it.

Also, try to find a decent PvP SG to join, it will speed up the learning curve quite a bit having people around you can learn from.

Don't take my advice as gospel though, I only PvP for fun when I'm in the mood for it. I suggest you ask in the PvP section of the forums for PvP specific advice.

I might volunteer after a suitable amount of time has passed.

I'll get back to you on it.
















What? You were expecting a Horseman of Delay to be prompt?

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I just wondered if anybody else felt miffed when a archetype has one of it's power sets shared.

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Nope. Could care less if powersets get spread around, the more the merrier.

I AM, however, still highly annoyed that stalkers were given a better version of the scrapper inherent, on TOP of their ability to guarantee a critical by being in Hide.

Not annoyed to the point of a ragequit, but it is irritating. Not only does another AT have the same ability as my beloved scrappers, but they're better at it.

Edit: A fix that would make me happy and not at all annoyed anymore: Give scrappers the same percentage increase for teammates being in range that stalkers got.

Scrappers.

Claws/Regen (50)
BS/DA (50)
DB/WP
MA/Shield
Spines/Fire
Fire/Invuln
Katana/SR
DM/DA

I have 3 blasters, 1 tank, 1 defender, 2 controllers, 2 brutes, 1 stalker, 2 corruptors, 1 dominator. And a warshade in a pear tree.

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/Rad, /Thermal, /Cold, and /Sonic MMs (one of those four, I don't expect. The others, I expect to see eventually.)

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Ummm....MMs ARE getting Thermal in i16. Most likely to thematically pair with Demon Summoning, which is reputed to be fire-based.

I have both a Claws and a DB.

My Claws scrapper and namesake has been 50 for almost 3 years now.

My DB scrapper is stalled at level 40.

That should answer the question.

I worked some extra HP into my build because it was cheaper to get than enough recharge for perma Dull Pain.

My regen with only Integration running is at 686% and my HP without Dull Pain is 1812.

I'm missing 2 LotG recharges from my live build, when I get them I will be at 70% or so recharge, and I don't have Hasten.

Add all that to around 18-20% defense to most positions and types, and 20% or so resistance to smashing/lethal and you have a regen scrapper that in most normal situations will very seldom need to hit a heal. Or at least that's what I ended up with.

I did everything wrong according to the advice given in this thread, yet my character is extremely survivable and my build cost under 200 million to put together. This is just posted as a counterpoint and a reminder that there is no right or wrong way to build a character if it works for you.

Since I don't need to hit my heals as often I don't need an overwhelming amount of recharge, which makes Hasten less crucial for my particular build. As long as I have enough recharge to run my attack chain with no gaps I'm happy.

Dark Blast/Fire Manipulation would have the potential for INSANE AoE carnage.

Tenebrous Tentacles + Burn + Hot Feet + Blazing Aura + FSC + Combustion? Yes, please.

Switch Life Drain to a ranged Follow Up and you're golden.

It will be an awesome set paired with a few secondaries, and an underperforming set paired with a few others.

Rad/Fire will be a potent PBAoE combo. Rad/Ice will probably be halfway decent.

Rad/Devices will probably underperform.

All I was saying is that the negatives of a server merge far outweigh the positives.

I was never saying there aren't positive aspects of it, just that there are more negative ones.

Controller - Dark Miasma
Corruptor - Poison
Scrapper - Energy or Super Strength (with non-broken Rage*)
Stalker - Fire (BaBs mentioned something in one of his posts that hints towards him considering it)
Brute - Regen (we're already getting Claws, which was the top of my list)
Blaster - Dark Blast


* Rage as it currently is would be brokenly overpowered on a scrapper, the rest of the set is fine. Scrappers get more benefit from damage buffs, as evidenced by their 100% BU as opposed to 80% for Stalkers, Tanks, and Brutes. That would mean a 100% damage boost from Rage. Rage is possible to double stack. A permanent 200% damage boost on a set that will already be doing more damage via AT modifiers is gamebreakingly overpowered and will need to be changed before we get SS for scrappers. Most likely scenario is KO Blow gets moved to where Rage currently sits and we get Build Up instead.

Most likely scenario is the set remains as-is with Life Drain replaced with something.

The AoE Stun + AoE Immobilize will be interesting, but they may leave it in there so Dark has something different to offer blasters.

Life Drain, being a self heal, is a little more problematic. Blasters are probably not going to ever get a self heal, but I've been wrong before. If slotted with an Accurate Healing set it could become a significant heal and I just don't see them allowing blasters to have it.

I still advocate a ranged version of Follow Up for Dark Blast blasters. It would function thematically well with Dark Blast's DoT nature, being a rolling accuracy and damage buff rather than a spike of increased accuracy. It would also keep a third ST blast in the set, but probably a lower damage one. Just like Follow Up it would be stackable, adding around 30-40% To-hit and 85% or so damage. On any other set that might be slightly overpowered, but with Dark being a lower damage set it should fit in nicely.


Edit: The powers would probably be slightly reordered as well.

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At one point years ago they did move entire accounts between the EU and US servers for a very limited time, but that was before vet rewrds were in the game

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Yep, and it's the only way to get the Passport badge. Hardcore badgers are still gnashing their teeth over that one. It's one badge in th egame forever barred to them.

OP: I'd say you're screwed on this one. I don't think the devs will ever allow vet rewards to be transferred from one account to another that has not been active as long.

Vet rewards are NOT part of the service. If they were the devs would be obligated to give everyone in the game the same number of vet rewards, whether they had earned them or not. A service is something supplied to anyone who pays for it equally. You can't say "You haven't been here long enough for this service." Therefore, by the nature of veteran rewards they cannot be considered part of the service, because they are denied to brand new accounts.

Vet rewards are exactly what their name implies, a reward for keeping an account active for that length of time. There are people saying that they should be able to pay for their vet rewards in advance as well, which also isn't going to happen, because the reward is for time stayed, not time paid.

You can contact customer support and find out if it is still possible to transfer your account from the EU to the US servers. That is, as far as I know, the only way you will get to play on the US servers with your vet rewards intact. And I don't know if it's still possible.

35-39 will give you a slightly better chance of getting it.

I roll in 30-34 so I can get a slim chance at some of the stuff that stops and starts at 30. I'm usually not hoping for anything in particular when I do that.

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guess not everyone shares your opinions

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Wasn't saying they should.

The thing that bugs me about the idea is, what benefit could possibly be had by merging servers that would outweigh the annoyance of losing character names, losing SG names, and overcrowding everywhere. (instead of being able to play on a lower population server because you prefer it)

I speak from the viewpoint of an exclusive Pinnacle player. If a server merge were to happen Pinnacle would be one of the first merged with, say, Victory. That would irritate me enough that I would quit the game, and I'm sure a decently large number of people feel the same.

Merging servers would ruin the game for those that like lower population servers, either because they like the space, or because their computer can't handle the increased activity. I'm sure there are quite a few people running the game on minimum requirements, they would be literally unable to play on a server with Freedom's activity level.

Benefits include:

1)Easier to find a team

and 2)
...

...

That's all I could think of. The downsides far outweigh the benefits. If you can think of more benefits, please share.

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NCsoft Really needs to look into merging a few servers, IMO.

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No, they Really don't.

A server merge is viewed by the gaming public (i.e. the gamers that watch the gaming news but don't play the game in question)
as a desperate last resort of a dying game, which CoH is definitely NOT.

Also, what happens when Uberguy from Victory and Uberguy from Guardian find themselves on the same server? Who gets the name and who gets to be Uberguy1?

There are so many more reasons that a server merge is a horrible idea that I'm not even going to go into them all.

But it IS a horrible idea.

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I got invited to a team once, then kicked out promptly about a minute after. They said my name was "Offensive"

Well if My mock character was offensive (when based off the Reichman) then so is CoH/V Content and they should just cancel their sub. Seriously, if theres a AV called "The Riechman" Then me having "The Riechman of Hell" Isn't that much worse... Seriously. I'm sure everybody knows how many demon themed villians/heroes are out there runnin/flying/jumping about and they gotta flip over a name... (when I've seen much worse) ;Yeah, if you don't like the name, don't invite in the first place.

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Which is the funniest part of your story, lol. Not sure I've ever invited anyone without knowing/viewing their name!

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Might not have been the leader who was offended by it.

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I have a set of Obliteration on one of my character's main powers. I have recently got drops of a couple duplicates that I could use on a second power my character has. But a guy I team with says I can't do that - that it doesn't give me the second bonuses if I use the same kind of set on two different powers. Is this true? I hadn't heard of that.

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Nope, that's not true at all. I'll give the guy you team with the benefit of the doubt and say he is misinformed (rather than an idiot, which is the other choice)

I'll go with the example of Obliteration, since you already know what it does.

You can have up to 5 sets of Obliteration slotted and still get all the bonuses. If you slot a 6th set (ignoring the fact that no powerset combination HAS that many PBAoEs) you will not gain any further bonuses, but the enhancements themselves will still function just fine. That is because of the Rule of 5. You can only have 5 of any given set bonus percentage.

Now, say you have 4 Obliteration sets and a Doctored Wounds on your character. Since both sets contain a 5% recharge bonus, if you were to add a 5th Obliteration set you would not benefit from the recharge bonus. But...the other set bonuses would work just fine.

Heh, an earlier post just reminded me of something I used to do.

Someone would send me a tell saying "lft?"

I'd respond with "No thanks, I have a travel power, I can get there on my own."

Wait for the confused "What?"

"You asked if I wanted a lift, I said I can get there on my own."

Alternately I tell them I'm not a Gravity controller and don't have that power.

Most of the time, "SG Calling" is a sign of a player who does not like the team they're on and doesn't want to say so.

In other words, it's usually BS.

I happen to agree with you. I'd rather someone say "You all suck, I'm out" than "SG is calling"

Sure, it's less polite, but at least it's honest.

Flares is worth taking now. (if you haven't tried it since they changed it, transfer to test and check it out, or roll a random level 1 fire blaster and try it) It's not the end of the world if you skip it, just saying it's worth taking.

The Decimations are fine 5 slotted with as many accuracy bonuses as you have (you're over the cap of 5 on the 9% bonuses)

I would consider putting the 6th slot back in the 4 instances of Obliteration you have here for the melee defense bonus, since you have so many powers that you need to be close to use. Again, not of dire importance, but worth considering.

If you're going to leave the slots in RotP, I suggest frankenslotting it with Dam/Rech IOs, or even 1 Rech 2 Dam.

The way your build is set up here you will find yourself dying most often while surrounded by enemies (probably the victim of Combustion's long animation and DoT nature) in that case you will probably want RotP to kill off the stuff you already hurt before you died. Enhancing for damage will do that.

Other that what I mentioned here I concur with Kranik. It looks like a solid build that with some tweaking could be damn effective.


Edit: Noticed a couple other things.

You will want some form of KB protection. You already have Fly 3 slotted. Put a full set of Blessing of the Zephyr in there. mag 4 KB protection and ranged and AoE defense.

Replace one of the slots in Fire Shield with the Steadfast Protection Res/Def IO.

If you can't afford the Zephyr KB Protection for Fly, consider slotting Bonfire with Kinetic Crash instead of Force Feedback. Kinetic Crash grants mag 3 KB protection as the 4 slot bonus. If you do that, pull the 5th slot and put it somewhere else.

Simple explanation:

Rad blast comes first because it needed NOTHING in order to directly port over. Transfer it over to blasters, done deal.

Dark Blast is probably a problem because:

A) The devs are hesitant to direct-port a set with that much control in it to blasters. Between Dark Pit and Tenebrous Tentacles you have a de-facto AoE minion hold. (Stun + Immobilize = Hold) Dark Pit will probably have to go or be switched to a ST power that maybe deals some minor damage (to be in line with Screech, Beanbag, Stunning Shot, etc.)

B) I very much doubt the devs will EVER be giving blasters a powerset with a self heal in it. It is appropriate for Defenders and Corruptors, because their Primary/Secondary is a buffing or debuffing set. It could be potentially overpowered for blasters to have access to a true self heal (aside from Aid Self). For the record, Drain Psyche does not count as a true self heal. It is a regen/recovery buff, it does not give you HP back instantly.

C) Tied in with my above two points, BaBs specifically asked that this round of proliferation not require any new animations and a few new powers as possible, because he is busy with power customization. Once that is out of the way and he can address the need of Dark Blast to be tweaked before making it's way to blasters we will most likely see it. I'd say no later than the next round of proliferation, possibly sooner if he feels froggy and wants to fit it in.

I see no need to gut it as badly as Psi was, but we are pretty unlikely to get it exactly as it exists now. 2 powers probably need to be looked at.

I'm still in favor of Life Drain being replaced with a sort of ranged Follow Up type power. A stackable to-hit and damage buff like claws has.

(Note the use of the words "probably" and "likely" throughout this post. I claim none of this as fact, it is simply my conjecture on the reason we got Rad and not Dark)

I'll occasionally accept a blind invite and run a few missions with them. In those (rare) cases I do not tell them I am leaving the team when I quit.

They didn't tell me they were inviting me, why should I tell them I'm quitting?

If a team seems to be comprised of more or less decent people I will inform them before I leave, usually with forewarning if I know I will have to leave soon.

Usually it's along the lines of "Sorry guys, gotta bail, RL stuff came up" [Claws and Effect has quit the team]

If I have a pre-set appointment or scheduled something-or-other I'll tell the team about it in advance.

Things that will cause me to instantly quit with no warning or explanation:

- Being invited to a team and having a TF started that I did not want to run, and was not told about during initial invitation.

- Seeing another player kicked unceremoniously from the team for having the "wrong" powerset. Doubly so if the player in question never got to run a mission with the team before they were kicked.

- Verbal abuse to myself or anyone else on the team. Rudeness directed at me will get rudeness right back, and then I will leave. Rudeness directed at someone else will cause me to quit the team and find players who aren't jerks.

- Being told I'm playing/have built/dressed my character wrong. In fairness, I can deal with this one if the person is otherwise a decent teammate. If they get to the point of telling me what I can and can't do because I "built my toon wrong" I'll tell them they obviously don't need my gimped toon on the team and leave.

- Griefing in any form. If a scrapper or blaster* teammate is deliberately over-agroing to cause teamwipes I will bail as soon as it becomes apparent they are doing it intentionally. I'm a little more patient if they seem to just be a noob or an idiot. If I have the star these players will get kicked with no warning or consultation with other teammates.

My guidelines are pretty simple and (I think) reasonable. Treat me decently and I will respond in kind. Be rude and I'll either be rude right back or just disappear.

(*This can apply to any AT, it just seems to happen more commonly with scrappers and blasters)

I still toggle Hover on instead of Fly simply because it uses less end.

Well, in the tank's defense (and any AT really) it takes more than the first few levels to really see what the AT is all about.

Healer/Buffer/Crowd Control?

Earth/Thermal controller would fit that description pretty well.

Also, you're not locked into one or two characters. Roll up anything that sounds interesting or fun.

I like scrappers and blasters because I like the frenetic damage dealing types. Even my defenders and controllers tend to follow that theme, focusing more on damage dealing than team support (My controllers are Fire/Trick Arrow and Illusion/Force Field, my defender is Rad/Sonic)