EnergyStar_MsK

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So is Epic Unstoppable just not that great? Is that why you left it out?

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Unstoppable became Force of Nature.

"and FoN (Force of Nature) is a good power w/ 35% resist and a 13 min base recharge with a full end drain but no HP drop."

I posted quite a bit on these awhile ago, looked back and found these on TI and PFF: The others will require some digging, but basically I only tested Force and Munitions Mastery. The repel FF power is too much of an end hog but useful for a blapper, and FoN (Force of Nature) is a good power w/ 35% resist and a 13 min base recharge with a full end drain but no HP drop.

TI:
Base resistance to Lethal/Smashing 22.75% Near immediate recharge

PFF:
-Base recharge 30 seconds, with one SO and 6-slotted Hasten: 15 seconds. Longer than the Defender (primary) version.
-Dmg resistance (unenhanceable): 28% to all but Psi. Stacks with TI.
-Defense: Good but as with recharge, not as good as Defender (primary) version (understandable). Feedback on Defender PFF is that it does not need extra enhancements. Blaster EPP/APP version is good 1-slotted, but noticable improvement occurs with 2nd enh (and to a slightly lesser extent, a 3rd) -- note I was running hover & hasten at base (unenhanced) defense also at the time. Did not test over 3 enhancements.

Brickstown imho. FF is nice, but the alleyways and density make it easy to accidently aggro mobs.

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States has posted 114 times since 10/1/04.

*Goes to check post count of other MMO Lead Designers*

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10/1/4....ermmm that 10th January (the correct way of laying out day/month/yeah ) or 1st Oct

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Heh CuppaJo posted the way we use dates here in the US, I see you're in the UK. Now if CuppaTea posted...

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I personally think that most of the post by Statesman is useless. I personally rather have answers to pending issues then having him drop a line here and there about non-sense stuff. I can understand they try to be fun and all but I think we need to address pending issues first. I know this is negative post but I am personally not happy at how long it has taken for them to release update 3. Wasted so much time with that whole REG issue which if they supposedly do internal testing should have never left internal testing. Again just wanted to point out that having alot of post is overrated.

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I personally (would) rather have Devs working on getting things "right"/"balanced" (whatever you choose to call it) and reading through constructive posts while eating pie than sifting through negative, unconstructive, unsupported comments (not necc aimed at the person whom I've quoted).

Reading between the lines there's a reason for the new structure of the Developer's corner and guidelines for posting. These guys work long hours during a time when most of us as so slow at work or on school vacation that we can post during the day. We have opinions because we feel passionately for the game...that means we care for it. Let's keep in mind, especially during the holiday season, that the Devs are people too and may be affected by what, or better yet, how we post.

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Temp Invul:
Le/Smashing: 22.8% resist (close to States posted target of 22.75%, probable difference due to rounding/decimals)


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Really? I was getting somewhere around 29 -30 % maybe I wrote something down wrong

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I believe with one dmg resistance SO you'll get 27% resist, I tested initially TI unslotted to form a baseline.

Previously I posted my intended Issue 3 build, after testing the new Force of Nature and factoring Issue 3 playstyle (mission slider) I came up with this build. I will miss Torrent and Explosive Blast for allowing me the varied gameplay of hitting larger groups, and may later respec them back in (and go back to the build I posted previously on page 7 of this thread), but I would like the increased defense, and in setting my mission slider to the max where spawns won’t increase in size but will by level (+2) the single-target/defense oriented build I have here should serve me well.

Brawl/Acc
Rest/Recharge
Sprint/Run
Power Bolt/Acc/5 Dam
Power Thrust/Acc
Power Blast/Acc/5 Dam
Build Up/4 recharge (30 sec recycle time)
Swift/Run
Sniper Blast/4 Dam(1)
Power Burst/1Acc/5 Dam
Hasten/6 recharge
Super Speed/Run(2)
Hover/6 Fly Speed
Hurdle/Jump(3)
Stamina/6 Endurance Recovery
Aim/4 recharge (30 sec recycle time)(4)
Stealth/Def
Power Push/Acc
Conserve Power/6 recharge(5)
Power Boost/Recharge
Nova/3 recharge/3 Dam
Bone Smasher/1Acc/4 Dam(6)
Total Focus/1Acc/4 Dam(6)
Personal FF/1 Recharge/2 Defense Buffs(7)
Temp Invulnerability/4 Dam Resistance(8)
Force of Nature/6 Recharge(9)
Boost Range/1 Recharge

(1)Boost range = 60% boost to base range (= 3 SO), so I’m able to save slots here to put into defense.

(2)I will be dropping my 2nd run speed enhancement for this build, stacked with sprint this is near/at the speed cap. Additionally Power Boost affects run speed.

(3)Dropped Health for Hurdle. Health regenerates at a speed that decreases time between battles, but not at a rate helpful in-battle. Hurdle will help overcoming objects while running in super speed.

(4)Upped this from 3 recharges so as to sync with Build up and Power Boost. PB, with one recharge SO has a 30 second recharge. Since PB has a duration 5 sec longer than BU or Aim I activate it first, then the others.

(5)No changes here, but it’s close in recharge to my slotted Nova, which was very helpful when I used it in leveling. It’s slotted two power choices before Nova so I’m able to slot it up before nova for syncing.

(6)Previously I only had damage here as I used them as an alpha-strike combo on a boss right after buffing with BU + Aim (and later adding PB). I noticed however that after this combo I would still need to cycles through my usual attacks (Bolt, Blast, Burst) and still they’d be standing. W/o PB they’d usually recover from disorient by now (problematic as I’d be using Power Push on the other boss in the typically Peregrine Island 2-boss groupings). Adding PB as a buff helped by doubling the base stuns (TF and Bone) but I found I frequently missed w/ my 2nd round of TF-Bone. I was/am very tempted to further slot PFF and TI instead of the 5th slots here, but I use this combo often and it is always necessary when facing this grouping, and the consequences of missing both (or even one) are considerable, so I added the 5th slot for accuracy.

(7)This is where I’d like to add more enh slots into. I gave up Grant Invisibility and Phase Shift for these powers. TI is better for the player than GI, but in teaming GI is a great help. The weight of this concern will depend on your playstyle. For me, several of my SGmates have GI so my usual teams are not too badly affected (heh we’ll see if everyone respecs it out!). PFF is a far cry from Phase, but others can buff me through it and it does have an activation time one second less…and it has a nice look to it! It’s less powerful than the defender version (which needs no additional slotting). I noticed defense increases through 3 defense SO enhancements (did not test higher). For me I also like the recharge time reduced to 15 seconds (1 recharge SO and 6 slotted hasten), but I intend to keep a def SO on hand to swap out as needed. Since it’s an “Oh-crud/runaway” power I’d be most comfortable with it fully slotted, but alas I need the slots elsewhere.

(9)I like the least recharge time in case I need to use a cpl of times in a door mission, but with the removal of mezz protection I may change a couple of slots for damage resistance for boss/AV battles. Slotted only for recharge and stacked with TI (slotted as above) I was able to take 2-3 boulders thrown from a DE monster.

For other comments on my intended playstyle and rationale, see my earlier build/post on page 7.

I just rolled "Conduction Bond" last night. Hopefully I'll meet up w/ you soon.

Tested (L50 Nemsis minions)

Temp Invul:
Le/Smashing: 22.8% resist (close to States posted target of 22.75%, probable difference due to rounding/decimals)

Personal FF: 28% damage resist (Le/Smashing and Fire tested)

TI + PFF: 51% resistance to Le/Sm, 28% resist to fire.

PFF base recharge speed 30 seconds w/o Hasten.

Hey! Regarding two accuracies, I'd def. say that one SO in them will be good mid-game (20s-39), esp. with build up/accuracy.

Now here's a twist. Since Energy is a boss-killer AT and bosses are harder to hit than Lts/Minions you might want to consider this (I did consided it before I hit 50). IF you want to target say +2 or higher bosses consistantly AND you want to alternate BU and aim, consider a 2nd accuracy. It's harder to hit bosses higher than +1, but if you can it we still dmg well. They offer good xp, but when I used 1 acc SO they were poor xp/minute and dmg/min.

Hey! Regarding two accuracies, I'd def. say that one SO in them will be good mid-game (20s-39), esp. with build up/accuracy.

Now here's a twist. Since Energy is a boss-killer AT and bosses are harder to hit than Lts/Minions you might want to consider this (I did consided it before I hit 50). IF you want to target say +2 or higher bosses consistantly AND you want to alternate BU and aim, consider a 2nd accuracy. It's harder to hit bosses higher than +1, but if you can it we still dmg well. They offer good xp, but when I used 1 acc SO they were poor xp/minute and dmg/min.

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A suggested, mind you I said suggested, would be to use knock back on the power slots to insure they hit the ground. Embarrassingly enough I do have a badge that says I've been held by them for an extended period of time, I blushed 3 shades of red when I suddenly got that badge.
Dawnstarr

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Great points Dawnstarr. Just one thing, knockback enhancements won't increase the chance of knockback, but they will increase the distance of knockback. Each power has an inherent chance to KB, with powers like Nova, Power Thrust and Power Push having higher % chances.

Oh and don't feel embarrassed about getting the held badge. When badges came out and the respec trial was all wonky I got my first debt badge that day!

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MSKnight--just wanted to thank you for your very detailed look at my build! I haven't responded yet because you gave me so much to think about. I've already made a few changes.What do you think of adding one range enh to Power Burst? Would it then be as long ranged as Power Bolt or Power Blast? That might be a nice addition to my ranged attacks, too, along with PP.

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You're welcome Jury.

Power Burst has a base range of 20' whereas bolt/blast have 80'. Each SO will increase range by 20%, so that'll only be 24' for Burst. I tried it and it wasn't enough of a difference to me. Stacking SS and stealth I can get close enough to a grp so that I can buff up, snipe (longest animation), then combo w/ some string of bolt/blast/burst. W/ good control over your travel power you can quickly move farther out to use bolt/blast then come in for burst. BTW P Push has a range of 70' I think, maybe 80' but no further.

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I noticed none of you are big fans of CJ/SJ/Acro so I was wondering, are you posting mostly outdoor street hunter builds? I'm not a huge fan of the street grind method of levelling so I do a lot of door missions, both solo and in teams. Also, with no CJ or Acro, these builds have pretty much abandoned any kind of mez protection. Not a criticism, just an observation. Might I be better served taking CJ and then eventually Acro for some mez protection instead of 6 slotting Hover if I prefer missions to outdoor street grinding?

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Hey there, good question. For me it's playstyle. I love SJ on my scrapper, but for my playstyle as a blaster I can't fit it in:

I dip into the speed pool for hasten to quicken my attack rate, and SS helps w/ the concealment stacking important w/ setting up my Nova (I could prob SJ in, but I'm not that precise at it).

I prefer to stay out of melee range so flying via hover is the way I go.

One could SJ into a position one could adjust using less than 6-slotted hover, but again for my purposes the SS/hover combo works best for my blaster.

By all means use what's best/most fun for you (the general "you").

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Ms Knight would you please review the build I posted on this thread and give me your analysis ???

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Okies...you like smashing from above...some melee (E Punch/Bone)...and battlecry emotes

1. Concern abt. snipers in PI/CF/Bricks/FF in getting SS. Honestly if you don't need SS to get around (you have fly and I figure you like it) consider this: take another power in the concealment pool (you already are considering stealth "armor") then take phase...snipers can't hit you if you're phased...but you are more exposed if you should fight (w/ phase off..whereas stealth + SS can be used in combat). This would be good up through 32 when you get nova. You can decide then if you want SS to stack w/ stealth so you can walk up to nova...oooooorrrrr...you can stealth, hover high, turn off hover then activate nova (and assumedly a cool emote). Note about a couple of things, I noticed my accuracy was a bit lower with this, and nova will go off where it's pressed, not where you wind up. So activating nova while you are dropping could result in nova's center being several feet in the air. Nova is a sphere, so it'll still hit, but you might miss the widest radius. However with practice you can probably get this down and it will fit into your style. Later in the game you can think about swapping Phase for PFF.

As it stands tho', at 26 you have a few levels/powers to play with before reaching the sniping zones.

If you get SS, consider swapping out health for swift...stacked w/ SS you'll be at the travel cap i think.

2. Air Superiority: I tried this on test and didn't like the close range...but it was nice to have another attack when having fun w/ sky raiders in TV. I hear that it's the best dmg power in the pools (for what that's worth) so you might still have fun w/ it, maybe later in the game tho....flying sky tend to be Lts or bosses...tho it is fun fighting them while flying/hovering.

You have rng enh in bolt/blast/ET. Consider this: boost range. it gives like a 54% or 75% base boost (dep on who ya ask). w/ only 1 SO, it recharges immediately after going down.

How's your end? I notice stamina's 1 slotted whereas hasten is 3 slotted. Are your fights done quickly or do you run out of end mid-fight? Might want to balance this. Punch will free up 2 slots, and Aim and BU are good at 3, but it might be too early for that (you gain 3-4 sec w/ each, but you could put these elsewhere.

Oh, and when/if you get Total Focus, you'll need to have a nice new emote to go with it!

Hi Jury.

I assumed your list was prioritized so here's my thoughts (I'm skipping around your list):

Endurance and recharge, you look good. I tried adding in a recharge to bolt and blast w/ 6 hasten, no appreciable difference.

Energy Torrent: Glad that you like it. Consider Explosive blast as they made a decent 1-2 combo on minions, while it won't fully defeat them, you can polish them off w/o getting defeated. Plus expl. blast has a nice power animation. Also consider how you use it for slotting. Solely alpha or mid-battle? I 99% alpha with it, so I only 4-slotted it.

If you plan on r'sking for, say the Striga TFs (L25ish) you might want to consider re-ordering your powers. You said you hate end problems (I'm assuming more than hating recharge), and stamina is much later than hasten. I found that hasten, before stamina got good, boiled down to a quick way of draining my end. Also w/ the wolves on Striga (and assumedly in the TFs), getting hover earlier might keep you out of melee range.

Sniper Blast: I think you already posted on considering the slotting in light of the 400% dmg cap so I'll leave that to you. I know it's one of your favorite powers. Consider this tho...if you like it alot you can swap out a dmg for recharge and another for accuracy. Still hit the dmg cap w/ BU + aim, and a quick recharge and acc to use again in a battle.

TF is a great power, but you don't like melee. You can go a few different ways with this:
1. Keep and optimize current slotting. I noticed you had a disorient slotted, but you also have power boost. PB will double the base disorient. As it looks right now the combined stun will be a bit longer than TF recharges, much moreso w/ your recharge enh in TF...might want to consider reslotting that disorient w/ a dmg or and the recharge w/ acc (for a 2nd hit), then watch how long the stun lasts compared to TF recharge, you can always hit again (w/ added acc) to re-stun.

2. Go further into melee by getting bone smasher for a good 1-2 combo (gd dmg and stun). This will require good slotting to be "great" and will require you to do the melee you don't like.

3. Get rid of TF and PB. They're great powers, but maybe not your playstyle. Consider this: drop those, get expl. blast and begin to slot it for an aoe 1-2 combo (both really need max dmg to be effective together). with the extra power you can get boost range, which will mesh w/ your love of snipign ant attacking from the air.

Further, since you already have SS and like to attack from the sky, hate melee and don't like too much risk consider this:

Drop fly, use the 3 slots to 4-slot hover. s/b good enough for combat. Instead of fly take power push. It's effectly the same as P Thrust, but you don't have to wait until they are in melee range, which prob won't happen much when you are flying/hovering (unless facing sky, freaks). But since it's ranged and d/n need any extra enh you can use while hoving over a battle. it also comes in handy 40+ when a malta sapper zaps your end when they are hovering at range.

One more thing to consider: how do you like to use nova? I noticed 3/3 dmg/recharge, so it'll be up every 2-3 min. CP is only 1 slotted, so the recharge is still around 5 min w/ 6-hasten. If you use CP before nova, then pop a cab after, you'll have enough end to finish off bosses after nova.

Hope I've given you some decent stuff to think about!

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Repulsion is an end hog. If you're a blapper I can see a good purpose, but I'd suggest a healthy supply of CaBs, because if Repulsion Bubble drains your end and it drops (along w/ all toggles) it can get dangerous.

(in case you didn't know) TI will give u better resistance than BA, but it's a toggle and uses some end. The other powers in munitions use guns btw.

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I wasn't really planning on *using* RepFi much, just taking it to unlock TI. However, after reading the EM guide, I'm leaning towards taking Armor, then picking up some of the EM powers that I hadn't really considered useful before reading the Guide.

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Ah gotcha. Well Personal Force Field can also unlock TI so if you go FM v. EM you might want to consider it.

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Torn between Repulsion+TI, or Body Armor (nothing else fits concept)

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Repulsion is an end hog. If you're a blapper I can see a good purpose, but I'd suggest a healthy supply of CaBs, because if Repulsion Bubble drains your end and it drops (along w/ all toggles) it can get dangerous.

(in case you didn't know) TI will give u better resistance than BA, but it's a toggle and uses some end. The other powers in munitions use guns btw.

Generally I don't like giving "cookie cutter" advice, but here are a few which I chaulk up to universal constants:

-If you can, try things out on test server first.
-At somepoint you owe it to yourself to 6-slot nova w/ KB and take it into PP. Take a friend. With waypoints you can measure the distance of minion-tossing.
-The same is also fun with Power Thrust and Power Push.
-Clearing a rooftop w/ Nova is almost as much fun.
-All rules have an exception (including this one).
-Never listen to MsKnight.
-When SnipeFu says he's out of debt, run away. Fast.

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I just posted my build in another thread, but I thought I'd post here as I'd love to hear SnipeFu and MSKnight's comments--and anyone else too!

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I hate to give "cookie cutter" advice, so can you tell me what you have fun doing and what you would like to do? I can offer my input then to you!

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max resist is the same for everyone but tankers.
75%, anyway it's really hard to reach such level for a blaster.

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For me, the easiest way of reaching the 75% resist damage cap, is to team 75% of the time with a good tank!

Yea...it's a common misperception about conserve power. It d/n prevent the end drop, but it makes the recovery more efficient by halving the end requirement of your powers afterwards.

Times...I hate to give advice on an "optimization" build at any level because it's different for everyone (i.e. not everyone wants to focus on XP...and that has a way of getting old too...from experience).

Tell you what: can you post what you like to do, and what you would like to do? That way I can advise what might help.

BTW for the Ice/Energy or Energy/Ice builds...I have an Ice blaster but not very high. I can't really offer specific advice but in more general terms (which I think is probably better anyway). Ice generally has faster activation/recharge times than Energy, with holds rather than KB, and a slow effect rather than range. To make best use of those combos I'd suggest having stealth and using your travel power to quickly change back and forth in battle between your ice and energy power's ranges. For SS this means zipping back and forth, for Fly/Hover it'd probably mean a good bind (posted under "The best hover/fly bind" or something like that, or 6-slotted hover.

Good luck!

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MSKnight, your build is a perfect complement in this thread!

Curious--why waste an AIM slot in Snipe? I always use snipe with BU/AIM anyway, so I say why not put in 6 damages?

Also, can you post your thoughts on each of the Energy Epic powers? I'd love to hear what they each do, how effective each is and how you'd slot them and why...

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Thanks! I'll address your questions in bullet summary:

-Snipe: why slot with aim? Yes with BU+Aim it's near perfect accuracy, but w/ 4 dmg SOs it's also at the damage cap. So If it's just used as an alpha strike anything more than 4 dmg enh are unnecessary. I only added 2 extra slots as it's generally regarded that snipe 6-slotted for range is necessary for a blaster to take part in a Hammi raid.

Buuut...during some battles (AVs, DE Monsters) I fire off snipe again..and BU & Aim aren't always available. I tend to like using both for an great initial volley (did 750 once on one L50 DE Monster yesterday), then snipe recharges in about half the time that Aim & BU (4 slotted) do, so I fire off an unbuffed snipe shot...for that I like the accuracy. I'll probably try the 6 dmg slotting and alternating method a bit more, but I generally like all my buffs sync'd...I'd rather activate 3 buffs every 30 sec in a battle than be distracted by differing recharge times. I hit for a little less, but I'm more aware of my surroundings and can use power push or thrust to manage the mobs.

I've tested two of the epic power pools, as I didn't want to stay too much from my character concept. It's not really a concept, but it's how I'd like to be hero-wise with powers (energy) and looks (animations).

I tested Force Mastery (in its various iterations) and Munitions pool. Personally I think the holds in the other EPPs are great for En/En as we have none to call our own, but the look wasn't for me.

Munitions: Probably a better synergy (at least prior to testing V2 of FoN coming out w/ no HP drop) with energy...except the animations. You pull out the AR from out of nowhere to activate the powers. I suspend disbelief enough when MsKnight pulls out the Crey Pistol from some 4th dimensional pocket in her cape. Body armor was decent...I didn't test the numbers but my hunch is that it's less resistance (Le/Sm) than Temp Invul, but as a balance as it's auto on and no end usage (whereas TI is a toggle and uses end). The AoE hold wasn't very strong on even con minions, but I think since some I tested on were Nem robots that they had a resistance to that particular type of hold. Slotted decently I'm sure it'd be OK, but wasn't impressed by it. I tired LRM but not the remaining power. LRM is an AoE attack with damage north of Ex. Blast but south of snipe...around Power Blast I'd say..I didn't test for numbers...just c/n get past the animations I didn't fully slot it, but it wasn't the "AoE" snipe shot that I'd heard some ppl talking about (either through testing or hyperbole I don't know). It wasn't bad but it was probably on a par with the "meh" of most other EPPs...they fill a hole but aren't as good as the primary/secondary powers.

An extra attack is never bad, esp. ranged, for a blaster. Built in Le/Sm resistance is nice, and a(n assumedly) workable AoE hold sounds nice (but if you attack using an AoE attack you just wasted the AoE hold, as they wake up).

I've posted my findings on the Force Mastery EPP in other threads but I'll type up a seperate on here summarizing them. When FoN V2 comes out I'll test and post my findings/observations. It sounds nice, and I have two builds ready to go with it, but I think I'd still trade mezz resistance to the proposed FoN V2, although it's a very very tough arguement.

With perma-hasten you'll have a straight 1-2-3 combo of bolt-blast-bolt. You'll then have a 1-2 second downtime that you can use either for a buff (ex. BU, Aim, CP or PB) or another power (ex. Power Burst for damage or Power Push for damage avoidance).

Now if you buff for an alpha-strike using sniper shot you are faced with a dilemna I go back and forth on. The 10 sec duration of BU/Aim is enough for that 1-2-3 combo, but only 1 or (maaaybe) 2 shots after snipe (due to the longer animation time). So you can either string that 1-2-3 bolt-blast-bolt combo, giving your weakest attack that buff...or fire off blast right after sniper shot...you get a bigger impact from the buff...and you can immediately fire off bolt...but then you have that downtime (from blast really) for a cpl of seconds when you won't be dealing damage. I use both, but probably more often go the "blast" route.