Defenestrator

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Guess I'll have to update the guide to afk damage badge farming I posted yesterday.

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Just make sure it stays up. My Mastermind is almost 46 and still haven't even taken 1 million damage. 100 million was going to drive me insane. 10 million will just make me a little crazy.

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So - here it is.

Added to the patch notes:

The Hamidon has been increased in difficulty. It is now capable of using one of its attack powers even when Held, Slept, or Stunned.

Evidently Hammy got a laser beam on it's head a long time ago but just now figured out how to use it.


The Mitos are AVs and are acting according to this patch note:

AVs/Heroes and Giant Monsters now ignore threat level damage multipliers for different Archetypes. They are still affected by Taunt as before.

As for the drops? Bug.

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Just want to thank the people who worked on this profusely for making a Hamidon Raid much easier for griefers to destroy. Griefing used to take a little bit of skill to do. Now all you need is a tanker or a kheldian in the hold group spamming his or her attacks. WAY TO GO, CRYPTIC!

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(Any chance we can get a ratty looking detective named Beltzer calling gang member hairbags?)

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This needs to happen.

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and remove some of the nastier mission doors in the HEART of the Perez Park maze. (not sure if anyone noticed that change)

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I doubt I'd have noticed, but that's going to be one of those great unnoticed quality of life changes. How awesome is this?

Nicely done! If I could give you 5 stars I would.

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Yes, I understand that it is nice if you have another hold to stack it with but my point is that holds are not a crossover skill for every AT. Giving a corruptor or a mastermind a Mag2 hold in their PPP's that recharges in 32 seconds would be like giving brutes a 2.5% smashing/lethal resistance passive in their PPP's.

I understand that these powers are not totally horrible in their current state but I do believe they could be buffed and made more appealing to the players without causing any balance issues. Introducing new powers in a slightly weakened state and then buffing them if possible at a later date is always better than giving us something too good then ripping apart but I doubt that is the developers intentions here.

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The APPs/PPPs can hold a lieutenant in one shot. That makes them MAG 3 which is equivalent to controller holds (with the exception that a controller can occasionally land a "critical" hold that will be MAG 4). It takes a MAG 4 hold to hold a boss.

My point here is that the strength of the holds are not worse than other holds in the game. I suppose people can challenge and debate the recharge values on them, but I don't think they want these pool powers making someone better than a controller.

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Noticed a lag in activation vrs the recharge of the attack icons. Would click an attack when it was available and get the recharging message. Could have been server lag though.

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That's server lag.

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You may not need Stamina with this build (need to experiment) so that frees up slots to grab Acrobatics.

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Catch 22 here.
Energy Aura can get away with this because it only needs to run 3 toggles to be successful.
You just proposed not taking Stamina and adding two extra toggles. Good luck with that.
You need 3 basic toggles for your damage resistance/mezz protection. If you want to run the damage aura, that makes 4. CJ and Acro? Now you have 6. Tough? 7.
Keep in mind that you still to actually attack and, if you're one of the desparate folks, use Aid Self as well.
No way would anyone be able to funtion running 6-7 toggles without Stamina, especially in PvP.

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Like I said...it needs experimentation. In CoV beta though, I ran a character successfully with plenty of toggles and without stamina (a fiery aura brute). I don't plan on taking Tough. And Acrobatics would definitely have END reducers in it. Combat Jumping? Takes hardly any END to run and you don't need to run it all the time.

Keep in mind if you take Electric Melee there is some END recovery there. How much, I don't know at this point as my electric brute is level 2.

My only hesitations on this set are:

1) No self heal. I think this works okay with a defensive set like Energy Aura, but not necessarily with a resistance set.
2) Conserve Power and Power Sink seem redundant. I feel the same way on Conserve Power being coupled with Energy Drain in the Energy Aura set. If you do take Stamina, you probably won't need Conserve Power. Power Sink is pretty awesome though, even if just for the draining ability. It's also a long road to 35 to get Power Sink.

Some other people above suggested taking Hover and Fly as travel powers. I may just do that. I can't say I've played that way as a melee character before, but it might be interesting.

I also will wonder how many people also taking Electric Melee will skip over powers like Lightning Clap because it does no damage. Disorienting a huge group of MOBs can go a long ways to damage mitigation.

My take on some of the complaints so far:

Resistance levels: 26.25% base. This is better than the Fiery Aura set which has a 22.5% base. Fire also doesn't have a tier 9 defense power (but they can rez themselves when they die). The fiery aura set has a self heal though, which is certainly missing from Electric Armor.

Status protections: balancing these is difficult. If you give too much to electric it's going to be overpowering. End drain resist isnt' good? Longbow spec ops, carnies and Malta sappers make me say otherwise, and at lower levels you have Clockwork and some other random electricity users here and there. Lack of Knockback resist? You may not need Stamina with this build (need to experiment) so that frees up slots to grab Acrobatics. Otherwise, I'll find a way to get Acrobatics in here. No immobilize protection? Take combat jumping OR just realize that you have a TELEPORT SMASH attack for a reason in the Electric Melee set.

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Pos, any word on any changes for Dominators?

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There is a positive change for Dominators in Issue 7.

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Positron...thanks for answering questions for us. Though the answer on this one is killing me thinking about it.

(Doms definitely needed a wee bit of a boost!)

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I love this game. I almost never complain. But this time I feel I need to.
Patron choice being permanent? Bad, but perhaps necessary.
Having to chose a patron? Very bad. I'm sorry, but my Mastermind is an evil genius with plans of world-domination and an ego the size of a galaxy. In-character, he would never, NEVER take a patron. From the sound of it, I'm going to have to break character. I want to play an archvillain who's trying to take over, not an apprentice of a bigger villain!

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But couldn't you play it as climbing up through the ranks of Arachnos and duping a patron into bestowing upon you great power a means to that end?

Step 1: Take over Arachnos
Step 2:
Step 3: Profit!

Positron,

I really would hope the Dev Team would reconsider the proper counter on the Bling Badge. I understand that you want an air of mystery, and I'm cool with that, but the Bling Badge is tied to a hidden contact that won't talk to you if you're level 30+. I've had 2 character manage to get Bling in time, and one failed at it despite taking measures to avoid hitting 30.

If it wasn't tied to an unlockable contact, I'd agree with you on this.

Castle,

I'm going to echo what others have been saying. My brute has been insta-killed by high level Longbow Wardens (that were only +1 in level to me). This is NOT working as intended. The Longbow Wardens were more lethal than the Hero (Binary) we had to take out in the mission. The other brute on the team experienced the same thing. Each time we encountered a Warden in the mission, ONE of us went down instantly without fail. They also managed to stun me (on the occasions I wasn't the one gaining debt), in one hit, through Fire and Plasma Shields. Again, this can NOT be working as intended.

There. Finally settled on one.

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I don't get the extreme danger in popping 4 reds and queing 2 buttons for a kill then superjumping or teleporting out of danger into a hidden state or phase shifting out of danger to rehide.

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If the target in question has the Leadership Pool active they'll have you dead before you can line up the AS. And many defenders and controllers take the Leadership powers.

Taking out that lone, oblivious hero is really super easy. You're correct on that. Taking out a smart hero who stays with his or her group is very difficult and extremely frustrating at times.

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Actually you just made me more confused...??

You say it affects targeted based powers but not summoned entities. But then you say it affects Burn????

Since when did Burn become a targeted based power?

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It always has been. It's just that the target was always at your feet.

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Thanks for the replies all, here is my build up to 8 as requested:

Archetype: Brute
Primary Powers - Ranged : Super Strength
Secondary Powers - Support : Fiery Aura

01 : Fire Shield damres(01) damres(5)
01 : Punch dam(01) dam(3) acc(7)
02 : Haymaker dam(02) dam(3) acc(5)
04 : Blazing Aura dam(04) dam(7)
06 : Healing Flames recred(06)
08 : Knockout Blow recred(08)

Slotting might be SLIGHTLY off, I didn't go in game to check, have to get ready for work.

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ouch! same type brute here but i took jab and it works wonders for fury...i think that is your problem. in fact rest of powers i have the same powers and i solo on viscious, had to tone that down when i was facing a psi elite boss but other then that been soling since 1-10 on viscious...i do use insprs for bosses but that is normal imho.

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I didn't see this build before my initial reply, but i need to echo the above...Jab is a GREAT power when you're starting out and looking to build Fury. Blazing Aura is pretty good when you have the END for it, but it's going to be a few levels yet for you and as the bad guys get tougher, the damage on it really doesn't scale all that well. (Blazing Aura also doesn't help build Fury.)

I did this:

1) Jab
1) Fire Shield
2) Punch
4) Haymaker
6) Healing Flames
8) Knockout Blow

I didn't take Blazing Aura until I was 30 and I never missed it unless I was in a group and wanted an easy way to gather aggro. At level 30 though, I seem to attract more attention than my defenses can handle with it, though.

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Thank you everyone for the great information, we even got a developer post! I'm going to remake my Brute and take everyones advice and see if I like it any better. I'll also be evaluating the power sets to figure out what would best suit my style. But, maybe you guys can help here too!:

I want a self heal.
I want good damage mitigation. (+res)
I want to avoid an abundance of toggles.
I want a great single target attack.
Summary: Great solo.

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Hmmm...let me see...how about Super Strength / Fiery Aura?

Self heal -- check (Healing Flames)

Good damage mitigation -- 53% against all except toxic and psychic (more if you add Tough). It's not the best but it works.

Avoid abundance of toggles -- 2 toggles gets you all of your defense. Tough would be a 3rd toggles (should you choose it). A 4th very optional toggle is Blazing Aura (great to gather aggro when grouped).

Great single target attack: check (Knockout Blow, and Haymaker ain't too shabby, either)

Great solo: check! I've had a few problems with some of the elite bosses who tend to have Invulnerability powers, but other than that not much can stand in my way.

Other advantages:

--A really solid AOE attack at level 32
--Rage! It's an outstanding buff that seriously boosts accuracy and damage. It has some downsides but you can learn to live with it.
--Lots of fast attacks to get that Fury bar up quickly.
--A ranged attack that can knock down fliers.

Disadvantages (hey, there has to be SOME):

--Only one damage type, and it's the most resisted (smashing)
--No AOE attack until you hit 32 (Hand clap, while an AOE, does no damage)

I'm at 32 with this build so far and it's very very fun in PvP and in PvE.

Another good possibility -- energy / fiery aura

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Ballista is a Toggle Dropping *******!

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Yeah, he is. He was designed to be as close to a Player Hero as we could make him. How do you guys like the Toggle Drop on him? Is it too nasty or does it add a nice challenge?

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After encountering Ballista for the first time, I'm going to chime in wi th the chorus and state that this game has NO PLACE for toggle dropping in PvE. If you're trying to make a villain "as close to a player hero" as possible, then his powers should do damage equal to that of the player heroes. Those forcefield powers were dropping multiple toggles AND doing tons of damage.

By far the lamest encounter in this game yet. It's cheap and lazy.

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Apparently numerous bugs with contacts still exist too. A new one has cropped up, requiring us to log out after doing a newspaper mission in order to get into the next mission.

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You know, all you have to do is pull up your "Missions" screen, select the mission in question and hit the button "Select Mission." Seriously. I've hit this bug many times and never had to log out to fix it.

One last comment on this:

This ability should extend to other defense-based powers.

This includes Force Fields (various powers), Invincibility, Tough Hide, Weave, and anything else I missed that grants a Defense bonus.

Invulnerability builds were essentially turned into Reflexes tankers with Issue 5. They'll need this ability.

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Why, this is a bad idea:
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What you in essence are doing is taking all meaniing away from a character who specializes in defense debuffing. What is the point of defense debuffing if it is not to make an unhittable character hittable? Is the point to make some one that can already be hit be hit easier? Gosh, I hope not that does not sound like much of a power to me.

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Gosh, reflexes scrappers are still hittable, even with these changes. Accuracy SOs, Targetting Drone, Enhanced Accuracy, Build Up and Aim all pretty much negate Reflexes without Elude. (With Elude active, it's a different story, though.)

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Why is there such a problem with a set of powers having a weakness to another set of powers?:
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Superman has Kryptonite and Magic
Green Lantern has Yellow or Wood (depending on which one)
Batman and bullets dont go well if he actually gets hit
The Flash has sonics to slow him down

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In theory, I don't have a problem with this type of thinking. The problem is that Accuracy Buffers and Defense Debuffers are highly prevalent in this game.


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The greatness of a hero is defined when he defeats that which is most dangerous to him. Thats what makes them a hero, when they find another solution to defeatng their nemesis.

After all does not your datamining show that Peacebringers can survive in a world of challenge that have quantums interspersed?

Please, stop trying to make it so I can defeat every challenge without thinking.

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Let me see, my Reflexes scrapper gets stuck in Quicksand. Can't run, jump or fly out of it and becomes a pincushion. What thought was involved there?

These forums for months were complaining about Issue 4 and how nobody ever uses PvP. Now that a change (a needed change for PvE, by the way) was made, everybody is basing their arguments against it on PvP. "PvP changes shouldn't trump PvE needs" was a paraphrased battlecry.

I'm sorely confused here. PvE needs these changes but we shouldn't do them because it hurts PvP?

(When Issue 4 was on Test, my blaster OWNED Reflexes scrappers with Build Up and Aim. That took no thought to do so since I just stayed out of reach until Build Up and Aim recharged.)

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As some players have pointed out, Defense builds (Super Reflexes, Ice Armor, Stone Armor to a degree) have an inherent weakness in that there are a plethora of powers that debuff Defense in PvE and PvP.

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I quit. that fist line was the biggest load of bull cocky anyone ever tried to feed me with a straight face, so-to-speak. Do you devs actually PLAY City of Heros??! I mean with real players, who dont know you're devs and try to kiss your bottom for it? Cause my magic 8-ball says, "signs point to NO!"

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Have you ever played a Reflexes scrapper who gets hit with Quicksand (Earth Thorn Casters), Vengeance (Nemesis Lts.) or try to fight in range of a Geode's emanator?

"Signs point to NO!"

ARRRR!

Avast, ye scurvy dog! I approve of these changes!

Off to the alehouse!

ARRRRR!

/likes "Talk like a pirate Day"

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No. We have NOT been recording SG mode since ANY issue. I will also confirm that NO datamining will be happening (for exactly the reasons given above).

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Thanks Positron! Excellent news!

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How is that good news? It means that until the prestige system goes in, nobody is earning any and an SG that's been around since Day 1 has to start from scratch just like a brand new SG just made to get a small base.

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I wouldn't worry too much. A super group filled with level 40+ members is going to be able to score TONS of prestige quickly on the day CoV goes live (unless they're all over playing CoV).

The CoV groups have to start from scratch and balance between gimping themselves and having a super base.

I'll also point out there I know of several supergroups that move their level 50s to an allied group to make space in the main super group. (We did this.) What happens to any prestige those level 50 toons might have earned?

I'm completely okay with everyone starting at 0 on the day CoV goes Live.