ClawsandEffect

The biggest hurdle in learning how to play DA is learning how to time the gigantic heal. Hit it too soon and it won't be up when you REALLY need it, and if you wait too long you might be dead by time the heal actually hits (there's a delay)

Also, pick up a Theft of Essence: Chance for +End IO as soon as you reasonably can. Dark Regeneration takes a full third of your end bar to use unslotted. The Chance for +End checks to go off for every target in range, you can actually come out ahead on endurance if it goes off enough times.

Dark Armor isn't the hardiest set as far as resistance and defense is concerned. You CAN soft cap it to 2 out of 3 positions, but you might have to give up too much elsewhere to do it, and it will likely be expensive. DA has other tools to mitigate damage, though, in Oppressive Gloom and Cloak of Fear.

Given a one-or-the-other choice I would say go with DA/Stone/Stone. Stone Melee has a lot of mitigation in knockdowns and stuns to help keep DA alive and Stone Mastery also has an AoE stun if I remember right, which will stack with Oppressive Gloom to stun anything up to and including a boss (mag 5 when stacked together)

That's my take on Dark Armor, I have 64 levels of experience with it on scrappers, a 50 and a level 14, so I hope it helps a little bit.

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My team play consists of 90% of my playtime to be honest. My friends play a tanker and a controller. So together we have the basics: tank + heals + dps to beat most situations. We planned that from the get go.

It sounds like i'm on the right track. I will probably take Nemu_s approach to the character. Thanks for all the advice it was very helpful.

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One point to make: Unlike WoW, the holy trinity of Tank/Healer/DPS is not crucial or even necessary most of the time.

The game is designed so ANY group of characters can handle the vast majority of the content.
Heals are the least effective form of damage mitigation, the buffs and debuffs in this game are that good.
I mean, which would you prefer? To heal back all the damage you've just taken....or to not have taken the damage in the first place?

The trio of tank/heals/DPS will work just fine, there's nothing wrong with that playstyle. I just wanted to point out that you don't NEED a particular combination to succeed. I'm presuming that since you referred to your controller partner as a healer that they tooke either Empathy or Thermal? If that is the case, and I can't stress this enough, MAKE SURE THEY DO NOT IGNORE THEIR BUFFS IN FAVOR OF HEALS. In both sets there is a power that will protect YOU from mez effects, just like your tank partner has, there is another that boosts damage and defense. I have friends who play WoW and they told me that buffs in that game are pretty much useless. That is not the case in CoH. One of the first things you need to do is take all the stuff you learned in WoW....and forget most of it. Different game, different mechanics. The teamwork you learned will serve you quite well, but CoH plays very differently, which I'm sure you're starting to see.

You picked one of the highest damage output blaster builds there is, with the downside of having almost zero damage mitigation of your own. A ranged playstyle will work, but if your tank is good at holding agro, you will shine in melee range.

Speed_Force, you would be wise to heed the advice of Umbral and Werner. In the past few months since I started paying attention to the scrapper forums again they have both proven themselves wise in the ways of Regen.

Without some form of mitigation aside from healing you are going to have serious problems with burst damage. In the STF (which didn't exist when you played last) there is an enemy that can deal damage in excess of scrapper HP cap. Which means it can one shot you through Dull Pain. Healing just isn't an option when something will one shot you with your HP maxed.

I hate to say it, but you are never going to get to the levels of regen you had before. It was changed into a click heavy set and is very unlikely to be changed back. If you want passive regeneration without using click powers, roll up a DM/Willpower instead.

The Spy AT will probably be added, or something to that effect. Also, from rumors (unconfirmed) that I've heard they've been working on this expansion since probably 2006 or 2007.

If anyone has the date of that survey they sent out, that would probably shed some light on when they started working on it.

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Whats the issue anyway? Why can't PVP/PVE have the same combat system?

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I'm guessing by this question that you've never been the victim of a Mind Controller or Dominator's Telekinesis power before. Prior to the changes in mezzes if you were caught by this power and didn't have 4 or more Break Frees to pop all at once there was literally NOTHING you could do except die. In PvE it is a TOGGLE hold, it's duration lasts as long as you have endurance to run it. In this era of insane endurance recovery a Mind controller or dominator can keep an enemy in this hold indefinitely.

I disagree with a lot of the changes, especially travel suppression when attacked. But this change I agree with. That one power made Mind Control characters unbeatable unless you got the drop on them, if they saw you first you were quite simply dead.

There are a lot of powers that have similar issues, I'm just using Telekinesis as an example because it was the biggest outlier.

Stalker one-shotting was a problem as well. An enemy that you could not see that was capable of killing you in ONE HIT. That was actually the first PvP change. Stalkers brought about the anti-one shot coding.

If PvP was exactly like PvE it wold be even more unfair than it is now. No one likes fighting an opponent they are helpless against. The zones would turn into nothing but Mind Control, stalkers, and blasters, with an occasional suicidal scrapper. Just like it used to be. Honestly, they need to find a middle ground between i12 PvP and i13 PvP. A lot of the changes needed to happen, but they took it too far.

See, what Blackavaar suggested, I could support. Ouroboros Menders and Midnight Club members might be workable ideas for an Epic AT.

I just don't like the idea of an Epic AT that has no reason for existing. The ones that already do exist are tied very firmly into the storyline of the game, creating one out of thin air with no story attached to it would be pointless.

I already know what your rebuttal to that is going to be. You're going to (probably) say that it would leave it open for the player to create their own story. Which we can already do now. There would be a lot of people saying things along the line of "Wow, that's a really cool powerset, too bad I have to use that stupid wand" That would limit creativity.

Now if the wand/staff users were introduced as being Midnight Club members, suddenly there is a pre-existing story to write your character into. Anyone who has encountered the Midnight Club in game knows that they use wands and staffs to focus their powers, so there won't be any complaining about having to use them. Anyone creating a Midnighter would be aware that they use wands or staffs and would probably take that into account when creating their character.

They got their powers by being in the Midnight Club, it is up to the player to determine: Why did they join? What were the circumstances? What is their goal in relation to being part of this?

This would be a good example of taking what is already there and elaborating on it, as opposed to cooking up an idea and expecting everyone to like it. Also, the devs would be far more inclined to make Midnighters a playable AT than they would be to add wands and staffs for no apparent reason.

I PMed Castle about this. If and when he answers me I'll let you all know definitely one way or the other.

Doesn't explain how my character who is NOT a leader can edit bin permissions.

It goes like this:

Super Leader
Leader
Commander <---Character I'm referring to.
LT
Minion
Underling

I was referring to setting the permissions of the RANKS to be able to set permissions, not setting the bins. I'm aware the bin permission setting is gone in the SG window.

A scrapper (either Iggy_Kamikaze or Powerforge, I don't recall which) soloed the door mission version of Kronos, with video to prove it.

I feel pretty confident that once I get my ranged defense up to snuff I'll be able to solo a couple of the weaker ones on my Sonic/Devices blaster. Maybe Babbage would be my cut-off point, I can already almost get Kraken with him. I haven't pulled it off yet, because he gets a few too many hits in after I run out of Lucks. I can definitely move his health bar and keep it going down though. Just survival is the only issue I'm encountering thus far.

I have a Gravity/Ice Dom that is pretty fun. Fire/Dark corruptor also comes highly recommended. I have a Dark/Kin corruptor that can solo decently, the debuffs in Dark help make up for lack of defense in Kinetics.

I have a DM/Nin stalker that absolutely rocks the house, so you could look into that as well.

That's about all I have villainside that I can offer any advice on.

Shield/SS Tank, Fire/Fire blaster, Kin/Sonic defender. Fire/SS tank is an option as well if you are willing to trade a little survivability for more damage and a self heal if Transfusion misses.

There will be very little the above combination can't handle with ease. I know you only asked for ATs and not specific powersets, but I figured I'd throw the powers at you too.

Shield/SS will be survivable and have a decent amount of AoE in the late game. Fire/Fire blaster will put out obscene amounts of damage and shines in melee range if agro is sufficiently controlled. Kin/Sonic defender will boost damage output of the other two by ridiculous amounts, both by buffing their damage and reducing the resistance of the enemies. The heal in kinetics is melee based, which will be good as both of your teammates will spend the majority of their time in melee.

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I'm betting that it would check on each mob hit. However, remember that there are damage caps for each AT, so you'd never see a +1000% scenario. For the Brute, you'd cap out at 800%.

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Yeah, I know about the caps. I was looking at the effect of the power before the cap was taken into consideration.

If you pop Dull Pain while you are 400 HP away from the cap, it still gives you the full amount, it just doesn't do anything past the cap.

Thanks for answering the question though. We'll never really know until someone tries it and sees it proc more than once, but I have my slotting figured out now.

Also, I have my build planned out to not need the full set of Gaussian's to soft-cap, so that isn't a concern.

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Im sure we can all agree that when it comes to picking the origin of your character, not many people care which one it is, unless you're heavy RP and you put it in your description. The only thing origins ever have done are decide what enhancements you have to buy, give you a little ranged power at level one, and maybe mess with what missions you get from what contacts. My friend and I were discussing this, and we propose a new step to the origin of your character.

Nearly everyone in game has wanted power customization, to change the color of your attacks and such. This is kind of like that. When you choose your origin, it should affect on how exactly you use your powers and how they look.

For example: If you're a Blaster and you choose Technology, perhaps you can throw your fireblast with little flamethrowers attached to your wrist, much like Pyro in Xmen The Last Stand.(Stealin the idea aside) Or say you're a Controller and you choose Magic, maybe every other attack or so, the animation of the attack gives off a magical aura, similar to that of the new Magic Pack buffs.(Fortunes)

Hopefully you see my point. Having your specific origin change the way your powers are used and work would give players much more to think about when choosing they're origin.

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Yes and no.

It would be a very, very cool thing if it were introduced as an OPTION with your origin, giving the player more choices about how their character's powers work.

But a very, very BAD thing if it were hardwired into origin, giving the player no choice in the matter.

I have a magic origin Broadsword/Dark Armor scrapper. His powers come from the sword he wields, take the sword away and he is a normal human. That character would never perform an incantation to activate his armors because it is the sword that is granting them to him, not any magical knowledge or ability. If I were forced to have auras and incantations/gestures in order to use his powers it would kill the concept of the character.

I have another magic origin character that is a mage/alchemist (Fire/TA controller) His fire powers stem from years of training and natural affinity for magic, his Trick Arrow powers come from alchemical knowledge (he's a lousy archer, but a bow is the most efficient delivery system for his concoctions) Incantations, gestures and auras would be perfect for him.

I gave you those two examples just to show that not all characters fit into all origins the same way. What is appropriate for one character would be inappropriate for another. So, while the option for custom power effects based on origin is cool, the idea of there only being one way to represent those powers in a given origin is not.

Okay, I know from experience that the Theft of Essence Chance for +End proc can fire multiple times on one activation of a power (in Dark Regeneration from the Dark Armor powerset) I have actually had endurance gain from firing it off before (it procced on 4 of the 8 targets and gained me 40 endurance, while only using 21)

My plan is to slot Scirocco's Dervish into my DM/SR brute's Soul Drain for the AoE defense. I only need 5 slots to get the defense bonus.

My question is: If I slot the Gaussian's Synchronized Fire-Control: Chance for Build Up into the 6th slot of Soul Drain, will it function the same way as the Theft of Essence proc? Or will it just check once when I activate the power?

In other words, is it possible to have a potential +1000% damage boost if it procs on all 10 possible targets? (ludicrously unlikely, but it would be cool to see)

It's a flat 3% added to your defense total.

If you are at 42% to something that IO will put you at 45%

The two sets in question are so close performance-wise that it's really a matter of "Which one sounds cooler?"

If you start the attack while your target is in range and it makes a successful hit check, it WILL hit, no matter how far away the target is.

It sounds to me like the stalkers you have been facing in PvP have exceptionally good timing if you are moving. Remember that the only key to an Assassin Strike is that YOU have to remain still, your target does not.

Note: You cannot joust with an AS because of it's interruptible nature. But your target only has to be in range for the power's range check and after that where the target is is irrelevant. The ONLY ways to avoid being hit with an AS that makes it's to-hit check are A) Hit the stalker during the interruption window, and B) Break line of sight before the attack resolves.

You can.

If it hasn't changed too drastically the Super Leader can grant any rank the ability to set permissions in the SG window under Settings, and then under Set Permissions or something to that effect.

At least that's how it used to be, I don't know if they've changed it or not, I will check when I get home and update.

I speak from experience because a character in my SG that has the 4th rank can set permissions on the bins, so I'm presuming that you can set it to allow anyone.

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Just shows how lazy the dev's are when it comes to fixing problems.

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First off, this is a good way to get the devs to put you on ignore. Back Alley Brawler does ignore people who call the devs lazy or stupid. I'm sure others do as well, he's just the only one who has come out and told us he does.

Secondly, this sounds like a recent bug, as I have not encountered it or heard about it until now.

Third, just because it's not fixed yet doesn't mean they aren't working on it. Fixing a bug isn't as easy as some people think it is. A bug could be being caused by something apparently unconnected to what the bug is affecting, and it takes time to sift through all the programming to find out where it's coming from. There's no "Bug Fix" button they can press to solve the problem, they have to FIND the problem first. The programing of the game is all interconnected. A slight tweak to, say, Voltaic Sentinal, could cause Synapse's head to disappear in Skyway City. They can see what the effect of the bug is, but there is no indication that the source is the tweak to Voltaic Sentinal until they actually look at the power.

Good idea.

I was wondering what the Wheel of Destruction looked like myself. I kept picturing 3 contestants standing around a giant wheel with pegs in it and an arrow clicking between prizes. And some blonde chick turning over the letters in the clue message.

A visual representation of what exactly it is we're collecting or finding would be very nice for the feeling that we're actually ACCOMPLISHING something besides gaining levels.

They got it pretty good as far as the variety of opinions on /Devices.

I have a Sonic/Devices that I love to death. The later powers in Devices favor planning and strategy to use effectively. If you get good with them it will be hard to find a safer, more survivable blaster. Downside is you will not move fast and safe at the same time.

I have limited experience with Ice, my highest character with that set was deleted at level 20. I'll share what I do know, whether it be first hand or second hand information (I'll clarify which is which)

Awesome single target damage, kind of mediocre AoE damage, with the majority coming from the two rain powers (Ice Storm and Blizzard)

A pair of holds will let you hold bosses, as just one is not enough to do it by itself.

Slows are an often overlooked form of damage mitigation. If they are not shooting at you as often you take less damage.

The highest damaging nuke in the game. Blizzard will put other nukes to shame with it's sheer damage output. The catch? They have to remain in the radius of the power to recieve all the damage. Other upside to Blizzard is you do not have to have line of sight to use it, you can nuke around a corner. (second hand info, never got one high enough)

Ice/Devices is a solid combo, but if you're finding that you don't enjoy it you may be better off rolling something else.

A word of advice here: If you DO decide that Ice/Devices is not for you, don't delete the character. You may come back to it later and decide you really like it. I have a number of characters that got deleted that I wish I hadn't. My aforementioned Ice/Electric being one of them, my Kinetics/Sonic defender being another.

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Remove upkeep? Why? I have a decently large plot with plenty of stuff in it. My upkeep comes up to 500 prestige a month. I don't know about you, but I routinely make 500 prestige in ONE MISSION.
I just wish it were more convenient to pay it, especially villainside because I can never remember where the door is.

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Because it's a drain with no return. It's... Well, it's upkeep. One of THE selling points of this game for me is that you NEVER go backwards. No matter how slowly you may move and how long it may take you to advance, you are ALWAYS moving forward. Base rent is a clear, unambiguous move backwards. I don't just have to make a base and pay for the things inside, I have to keep paying to KEEP it, which is NOT a zero-sum equation if I don't have any income. If I one day decide to stop fighting enemies and doing missions, I will never lose access to my slots, powers or enhancements. They will always be there for me. However, base rent will slowly but surely drain my pockets. And I don't like that.

I'm afraid I can't really agree on a good way to pay rent when I don't believe we should HAVE to pay rent in the first place. I am simply not bothering with bases as long as I have to work to keep them running. I do that enough in my life to want it in my games, too.

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You say that like your base disappears when you don't pay your upkeep. It doesn't, the power just gets shut off.

Also, if you decide to stop fighting enemies or running missions, why do you need the base to be active in the first place? So you can get to the nothing you're doing faster?

I really don't see what the big deal about base upkeep is, especially now that they've reduced it. My SG's upkeep before was 20,000 prestige a month. That was a bit of a drain. Now it's 500. We have over 9 million prestige banked. If we stopped doing any content at all and never earned another point of prestige we have enough banked to power our base until the game shuts down. All this is without even trying and just playing the game normally.

I gotta admit, I cannot grasp why you are so dead set against base upkeep that you refuse to even have a base.

All in all, not a bad idea. Except this part:

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You have to recieve a special Temp Power to weaken the scarecrow in order to defeat him.

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You should never need a temp power to defeat a free-spawning Giant Monster. Unless you can just stop at a store and buy it. Relying on it dropping is not a good idea. If it spawns and no one has the temp power you have an unstoppable GM running around, potentially killing everyone in the zone.

I have no issue with the rest of your ideas though.

Remove upkeep? Why? I have a decently large plot with plenty of stuff in it. My upkeep comes up to 500 prestige a month. I don't know about you, but I routinely make 500 prestige in ONE MISSION.

I just wish it were more convenient to pay it, especially villainside because I can never remember where the door is.

That's weird. No one's doing task forces anymore? Then who the hell are all these people sending me tells asking if I want to run them?!

They clearly don't know that no one wants to run TFs anymore so they're wasting their time trying to put them together. Imagine that. 12-15 people a night putting together random Task Forces with no clue that they should be farming AE instead.

It's very sad.

As far as solo friendly task forces go: The hell? A one person TASK FORCE?

"Hey, Sanderson, you're the Gang Task Force tonight."
"You got it, Sarge, I'll show those gangbangers whose boss."

A Task Force is BY DEFINITION a group event.

Solo-friendly Task Force is an oxymoron.

Eh, don't think I can get behind this one. Would lead to far too much confusion.

Did you know there are two different shades of gray for gray conned enemies? There is a light gray for enemies that are exactly 3 levels below you, you still get XP for those. Then there is a darker shade of gray for enemies that are much lower than you, which you don't get XP for. Most people are unaware of that and assume that all gray enemies give no XP.

Your idea would lead to confusion about the relative strength of the enemy in question.

"WHAT?! I got 3 shotted?!? But it was BLUE TO ME!!!!!"

The color their name shows up should not change from side to side. Someone who has played heroside for a long time and decides to make a villain will probably not run the tutorial, or skip past all the text. If the color coding for difficulty is different they will find themselves getting killed a lot because they don't know the relative challenge of the enemy they're fighting.