Delta_Strider

I'll admit, my Tanker(SD/WM) didn't have anything but the first attack and Taunt for a long time(35 levels, to be exact). Mainly because Shield Defense called for me to take everything in the set Defense-wise, along with Tough and Weave, but also because my AoEs were later level. However, I did alternate to a Solo build for when I wasn't on a team. Now my Tanker is 41 and has plenty of decent damage flying about along with being very sturdy(Which with everyone farming Lvl 52 Bosses goes a long ways). As for AE, it's a lot like the Winter Lord back in 04(?), where you had lots of Lvl 20 players who didn't know what Stamina was, but I wouldn't say it's particularly harmful for the playerbase who know what they're doing.

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TA does, in fact, have several debuffs that are unavailable to Dark, and against AVs, Flash Arrow alone is superior to the entirety of Dark's -ToHit.

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Wow, are you sure about this? I thought Flash Arrow debuffs only like 3.5% tohit?

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Against an AV, a dark's debuffs are combined not quite as potent. A while back AV's got massive to-hit debuff resistance. I recall a couple rad defenders going "WTF" while fighting one with me when they kept getting hit fairly reliably despite two sets of rad debuffs on it.

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Well, two Rad Defenders could maintain 14% ToHit Debuff and -50% Damage on an AV. The ToHit might not be as beneficial since it's resisted, but assuming the AV doesn't do one damage type along with having 90% Resistance to that damage type, the Rads would still be cutting out 50% of the AV's damage all the time.

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The AV musta been pretty resistant then cause it was still doing quite a bit of damage too.

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Or the Defenders sucked. However half the damage is still anywhere from 250-1200 damage, depending on the AV, so it comes down to what the player or AT can take.

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TA does, in fact, have several debuffs that are unavailable to Dark, and against AVs, Flash Arrow alone is superior to the entirety of Dark's -ToHit.

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Wow, are you sure about this? I thought Flash Arrow debuffs only like 3.5% tohit?

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Against an AV, a dark's debuffs are combined not quite as potent. A while back AV's got massive to-hit debuff resistance. I recall a couple rad defenders going "WTF" while fighting one with me when they kept getting hit fairly reliably despite two sets of rad debuffs on it.

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Well, two Rad Defenders could maintain 14% ToHit Debuff and -50% Damage on an AV. The ToHit might not be as beneficial since it's resisted, but assuming the AV doesn't do one damage type along with having 90% Resistance to that damage type, the Rads would still be cutting out 50% of the AV's damage all the time.

See, I like my Team-build Dark/Dark/Psi Defender. He's as flexible as most Controllers for mob management between Tentacles, Tar Patch, Torrent and Fearsome Stare, and brings plenty of debuffs to a group. However, Dark as a MM secondary is just a snore. I basically hit a toggle and mash FS/Heal until I get desired results.

TA represents a separate disdain, I.E. multiple debuffs that all do thereabout the same and several controls. TA's got one power that really shines, which is Oil Slick Arrow, which is a great power, but just seems like one of those cases where I'd like the other debuffs to have some more "Ooomph".

Everything factored in, I wouldn't take TA over Dark Miasma. Dark can heal, the ToHit debuff is significant enough to still effect AVs(I don't care about "The Unresistable Flash"), and that Darkest Night is a larger -Damage, then times two with the Dark Servant.

However, since I still refuse to play Dark Miasma or Force Field on Masterminds, I'm happy with Merc/TA.

[Edit]: Oh, also: Night Widows can do Unresistable -ToHit, so I guess between TT:M and Mind Link, Night Widows are better buffers/debuffers than both? Yeah, I went there.

That Quarry looks like some AimBot hack gone awry.

Alright, I've tested my Level 40 Mind/Icy Dom on a few missions and all I can say is: SLOW.

... But that's because I've been playing Prototype and have forgotten what pacing is. I must say that my damage is impressive and that's considering how smooth this character is at ST. Plus only having to use Domination when I get held or fighting bosses is nice.

This character isn't built for AoE damage beyond Ice Sword Circle, but with the buffs I notice that even Terrify does better damage. Now I just need Frost Breath and to finagle +50% Damage Enhancement into Terrify and I'll have some good AoE damage going on.

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The set is good, but sometimes I wonder where all that balance is when the set with redraw has such weak debuffs as well as no reactive mitigation. And I don't think it's a case of TA being the balanced set.

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Hmmm so does anyone know what brings it into balence with the other buff/debuff sets?

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I know! I know! A good mix of debuffs, PLUS it also does extreme damage.

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Again, only if you can ignite the Oil Slick.

Apparently it's balanced enough that the increase to base damage didn't call for vast power changes.

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I have never played it but numbers wise it looks like a great set, two AoE res debuffs looks sexy for teams.

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Acid Arrow is only a 7ft Targeted AoE, but if stuff is crawling around a corner due to Glue Arrow it's more than capable of hitting multiples. Other than that, good for bosses. Personally I just want Ice Arrow to sync up with the actual arrow and maybe the Poison Gas Arrow have a more substantial debuff, maybe even Flash Arrow having a bit of a debuff to it too, though then I'd have to drop Slug....

All that aside, it's a little less effective than it looks. It looks like, "Oh dood, -Damage, -ToHit, and all that -Res?! I'M IN!" So long as you don't realize the -Dam is less than half what a /Traps user can do, and only ~20% larger -Dmg than a /Rad can do (If you don't count the mitigation in -ToHit is like 1/5 what Rad can do).

[/ QUOTE ]Flash Arrow actually gives about the same -ToHit on an AV that Rad can do, because Flash Arrow's is unresistable.

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This is true. However, I'm not about to take 5.7% -ToHit for all enemies over 28.5% to the majority which against AVs is still ~4.275%. Of course, Masterminds don't have Rad.

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The set is good, but sometimes I wonder where all that balance is when the set with redraw has such weak debuffs as well as no reactive mitigation. And I don't think it's a case of TA being the balanced set.

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Hmmm so does anyone know what brings it into balence with the other buff/debuff sets?

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A lot of weight on hoping the player can ignite the Oil Slick reliably, I guess.

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I have never played it but numbers wise it looks like a great set, two AoE res debuffs looks sexy for teams.

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Acid Arrow is only a 7ft Targeted AoE, but if stuff is crawling around a corner due to Glue Arrow it's more than capable of hitting multiples. Other than that, good for bosses. Personally I just want Ice Arrow to sync up with the actual arrow and maybe the Poison Gas Arrow have a more substantial debuff, maybe even Flash Arrow having a bit of a debuff to it too, though then I'd have to drop Slug....

All that aside, it's a little less effective than it looks. It looks like, "Oh dood, -Damage, -ToHit, and all that -Res?! I'M IN!" So long as you don't realize the -Dam is less than half what a /Traps user can do, and only ~20% larger -Dmg than a /Rad can do (If you don't count the mitigation in -ToHit is like 1/5 what Rad can do). But really the worst part is that you don't have any sort of buffs or anything remotely close to a heal and most sets that have either buffs/heals still have comparable debuffs.

To sum up: The set is good, but sometimes I wonder where all that balance is when the set with redraw has such weak debuffs as well as no reactive mitigation. And I don't think it's a case of TA being the balanced set.

I've tanked and defeated multiple Heroes from the Mender Silos SF before. Best way to go is /Traps for the AoE debuffs, and /Mace so you have Scorpion Shield, Power Boost and Web Envelope, and of course Provoke. When I tried this I had Soft-capped S/L Defense, BG mode and Triage Beacon for my defenses(yes, no Aid Self ). I've respec'd out of that build since, but more than possible. Holding aggro from Brutes might not be possible since they deal more damage, have Punch-voke, and have Aggro auras, along with how the aggro system works not being in favor of Masterminds.

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And for the record, it's actually Vista.

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Someone never tried ME. I can actually use my Rig that has Vista on it, ME probably wouldn't boot.

Eighty minutes?

Basically what keeps me from soloing AVs on any AT is how easily I get bored in fights that aren't under 10 minutes. My Mastermind can kill most under that time constraint, though.

Very good job, I don't see myself doing it any time soon.

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I make 50 million a day easily.

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As long as you don't do the following:

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RP, leveling alts, hanging with friends or PvP.


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As for the OP: None of Mastermind's Henchmen/Pets can fit in a household vacuum except Seeker Drones.

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For a time, yes; but given that Jack Emeret's still at the helm;

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He's not the lead developer.

Before anyone mentions it, neither is Bill Roper.

(I'll probably get called a fanboy for correcting this. )

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if we get the engine overhaul I'm expecting.

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See, there's the problem. You're setting expectations and setting yourself up for disappointment.

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Yeah, NCSoft doesn't throw huge piles of money at stable online games.

That would almost make sense...

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Stable or otherwise, I'm not sure if 150k subscribers is something you throw a lot of money at.

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150,000 more than Tabula Rasa has, and how much money did that cost?

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if we get the engine overhaul I'm expecting.

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See, there's the problem. You're setting expectations and setting yourself up for disappointment.

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Yeah, NCSoft doesn't throw huge piles of money at stable online games.

That would almost make sense...

Robotics:

Silver and Cold - AFI
Electric Tears - Buckethead
Too Many Humans - Buckethead

Ninjas:

Hyperactive - Thomas Dolby
Kamikaze - Five Iron Frenzy

Thugs:

Master of Puppets - Metallica
Teenagers - My Chemical Romance

Necromancy:

Don't Fear the Reaper - Blue Oyster Cult
Down with the Sickness - Richard Cheese (Disturbed Cover)

Mercenaries:

Disposable Heroes - Metallica
Peace Sells - Megadeth

Both Necro/Pain and Ninja/Storm are very good with the right Secondary. Necro/Pain is really good for survivability, as does Ninjas/Storm when played right. Necro/Pain brings lots of heals for the pets, along with Damage Resistance. Ninjas have very low defenses that aren't as useful to build on, so having Storm to knock enemies down or force them into corners to maximize AoEs is the most effective. I personally have both and enjoy playing them when I'm in the mood for MMs, and those two combos I mentioned are very effective especially if you don't want Dark(I don't like Dark on MMs).

I always thought that FA should just be a TAoE so it'd be like a faster, lighter version of Thunderous Blast. Plus if you're gonna get locked in that animation you better be hitting the whole mob.

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Just double checked this in the game:
Combat attributes for zombies
Info numbers for zombies

It's a good bit weaker than it reads, but the smashing resistance IS there.
Also, it appears that in the info tab the zombies armor scales up a LOT with level, where as in actuality it doesn't change much at all. I

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If I had to guess, the info tab is showing their base resistance, multiplied by the damage enhancements slotted in to them. I'm guessing your zombies are slotted around 98% +Damage from enhancements?

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what?

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Damage Enhancements also enhance Damage Resistance unless the power is marked Unenhanceable. Pet Armours are not enhanceable, but the Detailed Info doesn't know that so it factors them in.

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Skewer + Fling thorns + Skewer + Fling Thorns.

And then you have to hope they don't go 'Oh, let's get ANYTHING ELSE.'

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I lol'd.

I don't think that I'll ever play a Thorn Dom again simply because it's so damn slow for terrible damage. Hell, even fighting Carnies I never cared for the damage unless I could hit two or three with Ripper, and then almost every other mob in 40-50 is Lethal Resistance. Skewer and Fling Thorns is close to all you need, mainly because Fling Thorns is the fastest AoE and Skewer does the same amount of Lethal damage as Ripper/Thorn Barrage.

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Me: Did you see the changes Castle is proposing for dominators?
Others: What is he nerfing?
Me: He is removing the damage buff from Domination.
Others: @#$@!$%


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This is how I inform my fellow Virtuee's of upcoming changes.