Fhorar

I've been working on a build that (although expensive because of the purps and lotgs (there are no pvp IOs though) hits the soft cap on ranged def as well as good rech and acc (6 sec gap on benumb, 21 sec gap on heat loss, and about a 10 second overlap on sleet with hasten running (which has a 16 sec gap itself)). It's quite a bit different from the build you posted BaldDonn but maybe you can get some ideas from it - I took psy mastery for the set mules as well as the utility (aoe sleep, decent damage st hold, psy dam res) - the confuse and sleep purp sets are *relatively* cheap in comparison to other sets and give awesome bonuses like 5% ranged def and a couple hefty rech bonuses. Here it is - hopefully it'll help give you some ideas (also, at the risk of sounding like I'm highjacking the thread (which I'm not trying to), if you or anyone else has criticisms of my build, I'm all ears as well).

Hero Plan by Mids' Hero Designer 1.601
http://www.cohplanner.com/

Click this DataLink to open the build!

Level 50 Magic Defender
Primary Power Set: Cold Domination
Secondary Power Set: Ice Blast
Power Pool: Fitness
Power Pool: Flight
Power Pool: Speed
Power Pool: Leadership
Ancillary Pool: Psychic Mastery

Hero Profile:
Level 1: Infrigidate -- Acc-I:50(A)
Level 1: Ice Bolt -- Apoc-Dmg/Rchg:50(A), Apoc-Acc/Dmg/Rchg:50(17), Apoc-Acc/Rchg:50(17), Apoc-Dmg/EndRdx:50(37), Apoc-Dam%:50(37), Decim-Build%:40(37)
Level 2: Ice Blast -- Thundr-Acc/Dmg:50(A), Thundr-Dmg/EndRdx:50(3), Thundr-Dmg/Rchg:50(3), Thundr-Acc/Dmg/Rchg:50(13), Thundr-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx:50(13), Thundr-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg:50(15)
Level 4: Snow Storm -- P'ngTtl-Acc/Slow:50(A), P'ngTtl-Dmg/Slow:50(5), P'ngTtl-Acc/EndRdx:50(5), P'ngTtl-Rng/Slow:50(7), P'ngTtl-EndRdx/Rchg/Slow:50(7), P'ngTtl--Rchg%:50(9)
Level 6: Swift -- Flight-I:50(A)
Level 8: Hover -- Zephyr-Travel:50(A), Zephyr-Travel/EndRdx:50(9)
Level 10: Hasten -- RechRdx-I:50(A), RechRdx-I:50(11), RechRdx-I:50(11)
Level 12: Arctic Fog -- LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx:50(A), LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx/Rchg:50(40), LkGmblr-Def:50(43), LkGmblr-Rchg+:50(43)
Level 14: Fly -- Zephyr-Travel/EndRdx:50(A), Zephyr-ResKB:50(15)
Level 16: Health -- Heal-I:50(A)
Level 18: Benumb -- Acc-I:50(A), RechRdx-I:50(19), RechRdx-I:50(19), RechRdx-I:50(21)
Level 20: Stamina -- P'Shift-End%:50(A), P'Shift-EndMod:50(21), EndMod-I:50(36)
Level 22: Ice Storm -- Ragnrk-Dmg/Rchg:50(A), Ragnrk-Acc/Dmg/Rchg:50(23), Ragnrk-Acc/Rchg:50(23), Ragnrk-Dmg/EndRdx:50(25), Ragnrk-Knock%:50(25)
Level 24: Maneuvers -- LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx:50(A), LkGmblr-Def:50(40)
Level 26: Sleet -- Achilles-ResDeb%:20(A), AnWeak-DefDeb:50(27), AnWeak-Acc/DefDeb:50(27), AnWeak-Acc/Rchg:50(34), AnWeak-DefDeb/EndRdx/Rchg:50(34), AnWeak-Acc/Rchg/EndRdx:50(36)
Level 28: Bitter Ice Blast -- Thundr-Acc/Dmg:50(A), Thundr-Dmg/EndRdx:50(29), Thundr-Dmg/Rchg:50(29), Thundr-Acc/Dmg/Rchg:50(31), Thundr-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx:50(31), Thundr-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg:50(31)
Level 30: Aim -- AdjTgt-ToHit:50(A), AdjTgt-Rchg:50(43), AdjTgt-ToHit/Rchg:50(46), AdjTgt-ToHit/EndRdx/Rchg:50(50)
Level 32: Heat Loss -- P'Shift-EndMod:50(A), P'Shift-EndMod/Rchg:50(33), P'Shift-EndMod/Acc/Rchg:50(33), P'Shift-Acc/Rchg:50(33), Efficacy-EndMod/Acc/Rchg:50(34)
Level 35: Super Speed -- Zephyr-Travel/EndRdx:50(A), Zephyr-ResKB:50(36)
Level 38: Blizzard -- Posi-Acc/Dmg:50(A), Posi-Dmg/EndRdx:50(39), Posi-Dmg/Rchg:50(39), Posi-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx:50(39), Posi-Dmg/Rng:50(40)
Level 41: Dominate -- BasGaze-Acc/Hold:30(A), BasGaze-Acc/Rchg:30(42), BasGaze-Rchg/Hold:30(42), BasGaze-EndRdx/Rchg/Hold:30(42)
Level 44: World of Confusion -- CoPers-Conf:50(A), CoPers-Conf/Rchg:50(45), CoPers-Acc/Conf/Rchg:50(45), CoPers-Acc/Rchg:50(45), CoPers-Conf/EndRdx:50(46), CoPers-Conf%:50(46)
Level 47: Mass Hypnosis -- FtnHyp-Sleep:50(A), FtnHyp-Sleep/Rchg:50(48), FtnHyp-Acc/Sleep/Rchg:50(48), FtnHyp-Acc/Rchg:50(48), FtnHyp-Sleep/EndRdx:50(50)
Level 49: Mind Over Body -- S'fstPrt-ResDam/Def+:30(A), S'fstPrt-ResKB:30(50)
------------
Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Sprint -- Clrty-Stlth:50(A)
Level 2: Rest -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Vigilance

Thanks! Yeah I moved in last saturday and have been working my butt off trying to get stuff set up and take care of this and that and unpacking... ugh - and now I've been working for the past twelve hours - I would kill to be able to sit down and play with you guys here in a few hours but I'm not sure I'd be able to even if I wanted to as you've already started the Posi TF and you can't add people to a TF after you've started it (at least that's what I thought) but hopefully things will settle down for me a bit by thursday and you guys will have finished the TF by then and I can join back in -- I sware I'm not normally this flaky I've just had a rough past couple of weeks (more so than I thought it would be).

Ok, so I didn't make it Thursday either - man what a rough week (just closed on a house yesterday (thursday) and I've been tried to get everything squared away with that - good news though, the internet is up and running here already (woot). I logged onto Daybreaker Omega and I noticed the SG message said something about being in the middle of a Posi TF? Is this accurate? If so, how far into are you guys?

Sorry I missed this morning guys! I had a RL situation come up :-S but rest assured that I will be on for Thursday's action :-)

As I understand it, it's generally considered better at killing AVs because of Lingering Radiation and Accelerate Metabolism - those two powers make soloing an AV more efficient (and cheaper slotting wise) because of the recharge/endurance/dam from AM and the ability to keep a permanent -500% regen on the AV from LR.

It's not impossible (obviously) to solo with Dark/Son or Storm/Son or even Cold/Son, it's just more efficient IMHO. That's why Rad/Son is commonly known as the AV solo-er.

The only thing that sucks is how will we know how much defiance each power gives?

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What this thread has boiled down to; oranges taste better than apples because oranges are orange.

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Don't forget those who say apples are tasty because they are apples are wrong because oranges are better. Other than that, right on the money.

Who knew that two sets with two very similar powers could make them automatically set in stone that one is better than the others and everyone else is wrong because of it.

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No apples are better because they can be red, green, reddish-greenish-orangish and white-ish on the inside. Also, everyone knows that if you eat oranges you're a noob. Therefore, you're wrong.

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Umm... I think you either misread the analogy or the entire thread. Not sure which.

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Lol don't take it personally, I was being facetious...

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Well, you've already done a buffing set, so now it's time to try out a debuffing set!

Dark Miasma
Rad Emissions
Storm Summoning
Trick Arrow

Take your pick!

For secondaries, you'll probably want to go with Sonic Attacks, though all of them are plenty viable.

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You forgot Cold!!

Nice! How in the heck do you get these missions all ready to go?? I've never been able to figure out how to get that specific badge nor any others of that type.

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What this thread has boiled down to; oranges taste better than apples because oranges are orange.

[/ QUOTE ]
Don't forget those who say apples are tasty because they are apples are wrong because oranges are better. Other than that, right on the money.

Who knew that two sets with two very similar powers could make them automatically set in stone that one is better than the others and everyone else is wrong because of it.

[/ QUOTE ]

No apples are better because they can be red, green, reddish-greenish-orangish and white-ish on the inside. Also, everyone knows that if you eat oranges you're a noob. Therefore, you're wrong.

June 30th?? That's MY birthday!! *bites nails*

Unfortunately Daybreaker Omega (AKA Chris) has suffered from a cut in his funding for this project. He's planning on taking his case to his company's (Edge Corps') board tomorrow morning at 8 AM CST to try to get his project back on track. Since the scandal with their formal CFO Wednesday (you may have heard about it on the Paragon nightly news, he was charged and tried for insider trading), the company has suffered the loss of several contracts. In an effort to reverse Edge Corps' losses and financial downturn, they're cutting any and all projects they consider not vitally necessary to the company's survival. Chris is taking his statistics from his first field test of the new suit a few days ago as well as a well prepared case to the board in hopes of convincing them that Project Omega (so named because of Chris' clever attempt to let the PPD know that his suit will be the final word in modern law enforcement) is not only vital to Edge Corps' survival, but will be the contract that will help get back on their feet. Hopefully it will be a quick meeting and the board will come to their senses.

((OOC - something came up at work so I have to go to a meeting at 8am cst tomorrow (friday) which hopefully won't last long, but will make me late to the group, sorry in advance!))

I loved your stories so far - kind of inspired me abit :-) - as for the negotiator badge I totally want in!

Friday is fine w/ me too.... *yawn*

Server's back up!

Freem posted up above about a half hour ago - said he thought the meet up was tomorrow :-p. Sorry I was late this morning, my alarm went off at 730 (central, so 830 eastern) but I barely remember it and I just fell back asleep. I had fun though the little bit I did play with everyone :-). I don't mind trying to RP, I just never have so I don't know how good I'll be, also, I wasn't trying to be all about leveling up per say, I just thought it would be more fun if we tried something harder.

:-( Odd only half the servers are down

Do you set the level slider down to 40 or 39 and roll the 35-40 gold roll? or do you just get lvl 50 versions of the LotGs and Numina's?

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(Guess I lied, here's another response) I totally agree with you B_Witched - the suggestion I made originally (albeit not the greatest) wouldn't affect players like you at all.

To Grae - that's a small % of the player base, like others have said, you'll never get rid of that, plus, sucking at playing a character is all in the eye of the beholder - you might think a person sucks, another might think he's good, no one is right and both people are right at the same time.

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Uh. trust me.

If an Invuln/SS tanker is level 50. Has the stealth pool, waited till 38 to get his aggro aura, skipped rage entirely, and has 18 months worth of vet badges, i don't care what his friend joebob the pure empath thinks about his playskills, he's still a horrible player.

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Though that would be widely accepted as building a character poorly, it could be argued that those choices were made based on playstyle or concept (just playing the devil's advocate here).

(Guess I lied, here's another response) I totally agree with you B_Witched - the suggestion I made originally (albeit not the greatest) wouldn't affect players like you at all.

To Grae - that's a small % of the player base, like others have said, you'll never get rid of that, plus, sucking at playing a character is all in the eye of the beholder - you might think a person sucks, another might think he's good, no one is right and both people are right at the same time.

Almost tuesday... woo I can't wait!

Meh... Ok one more response and then I'm done with this thread.

First, it was a suggestion so this BS about 'It's surely not your decision if someone should play AE or not or how fast they reach level 50!' -- so WTF mate?

Second, there's a difference between people all about hitting lvl 50 and quitting, and the majority of the new player base thinking AE is the whole game. I'm not on any high horse, I'm not saying I'm any better or worse, I'm not saying farming is bad, I'm not saying everyone who does farm is a noob, I'm not even saying acccelerating to lvl 50 is bad, I'm saying that it is easier and more commonplace now than ever before in this game or any other big MMO to be a brand new player and ding 50 the first day you log in. And I don't have a problem with seeing all the broadcasts... *sigh* way to completely miss the point geek boy... again...

Third, I'm not defending my original suggestion in the OP (believe it or not). I like some of the other suggestions that you guys presented after the OP better. I just originally thought it would be a good idea because it seems like it would be a good idea to get newer people to see the rest of the city before they decide to hole up in a zone and farm AE missions all day. And no, I'm not saying that that's what every new person wants to do (in fact that's the opposite of what I'm saying), I'm saying if given an appealing alternative to AE, there would be a good number of the new players out about in the city vs thinking AP is the entire Paragon City.

Fourth, I don't want anyone to be the way I am B_witched, nor did I say or allude to that in either of my posts, I was simply making a point that a challenge is more fun that getting something easily, that's basic psychology. And you're right, people interested in the content will look for it, but what if the people don't know about the other content? I personally like BBQ_pork's suggestion of playing a farm with some new people and suggestion they join me somewhere else in the game doing something else and I will be doing that here and there. And the example using TFs is bunk because you have to go to different zones to start the TFs and during the TFs and it would take quite a long time to go from lvl 1 to lvl 50 doing only TFs vs staying in one place and running the same farm over and over. To add to this, I'm not saying it's a bad thing that people can go from 1-50 in AE either.

If you want to try to put me down or make me out to be some snob or whatever, then try to actually read my posts and not assume I'm saying something. I started this thread because I enjoy a good discussion, not arguing.

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I think the best solution to your "problem" would be for the mods to ban everyone who talks about these sorts of "problems" for a week or so. The forums would be fricking dead, but the few of us left would have so many interesting things to talk about.

New players are good things. Bad players are a constant.

Honestly, the odds are I'd probably go nuts on a team with all these "uber" players who think all these new folks are terrible at the game. They probably are too, but think that since they got that Peacebringer with no attacks and the Medicine Pool to 50, they're fantastic at this game.

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I think you misunderstand the widespread dismay over all these new people farm/pling their way to 50. It's not 'oh screw all these new people, they're ruining the game,' nor is it 'well I had to get to lvl 50 the hard way, so should they.' It's the fact that new players come into the game, get a lvl 50 in a couple days, then get bored with the game after a week or two and leave. It's the fact that it tarnishes CoH as a reputable MMO because there is a way (though not intentionally created) to accelerate through the levels unlike the other big MMOs. And before you start saying 'well why don't you just go play WoW or something,' try to see my point here. I like playing CoH, I've played on an off since it's release, I've tried a few other MMOs and time and time again I've stuck with this one, and I've done so because the game as a whole is fun to me, and I remember when I was new to the game, it was easy to get pulled into one direction, especially if it made things easy, so it's not about thinking CoH is worse or whatever vs other MMOs, it's that there's a general standard in any video that the creators make it a challenge, and these AE farms have diminished the challenge to newer more impressionable players vs other MMOs.

The point is I (and I think we all) WANT new players, we want more people. Part of the fun is running TFs or missions or whatever WITH other people. It's no one's fault that AE has turned out this way (not the dev's nor the players creating the farm missions), there are always people in any MMO that find the most efficient ways to get to the level cap, the problem is that games normally counteract it by making it impossible to get there in a few hours/days/weeks for the average person. Whether it was considered by the devs or not before AE's release or whether people take advantage of it like a bug in the system is not the point, the point is how to normalize things again so people can 'earn' their lvl 50 character and enjoy getting there, and enjoy playing the lvl 50 content or another character, because no matter what your playstyle, a character earned is a lot more fun than one 'given' to you.

And I'm not complaining about the fact that there are so many 50's who've never even been outside of Atlas and don't know how to play their characters, I'm complaining that because of that, we are/will be losing these potential long time players who could be learning how to play the game and such. I'm not saying people have to play the game a certain way, I'm saying we all pay 15 bucks a month to actually PLAY CoH, and because of the naivety of these new players, they're experience of CoH is diminished to 30 or 40 farm missions vs the whole city of Paragon (and then some).

And anyway, my suggestion was just that - a suggestion, I'm sure it's been discussed a million times, I had just thought of this and thought it would make sense. So if you don't like reading about it, don't :-).

The same way a person feels when they have to get to lvl 50 to unlock the epic ATs?

I have a quick suggestion to solve the problem of brand new people getting characters to lvl 50 and not knowing how to play the game - make MA only available to people who already have a level 50 character (like the epic ATs). That way new people coming to the game have to play the game before farming their way to lvl 50.

What do you all think?