Finduilas

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Thing is, I don't have any other beacons for some reason.

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Just go out and pick them up, then! None are very difficult to obtain, except perhaps the RWZ one. It doesn't cost any prestige to create them, and as someone mentioned previously, if you have a one-person base you can just go into edit mode and to buy and sell them as needed once you've earned the beacons.

It's not as convenient as having TPs to all the zones, but it's a good compromise while your're saving prestige to add another room or base item.

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Well, it's not just me. I know the diff between me DC and server when i log back in and am the only one standing there. lol. Then everyone in Atlas asking if anyone else dc'd. I run no anti virus while gaming and VERY rarely dc, that's why i was curious.

I remember a year or better ago, Justice doing this. I almost switched all my toons. If it's gonna go back to that, i'll be looking for another home. SOON.

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Yes, which is why I said "IF others are not affected". It is not unusual to for people to assume that any and every connection problem is a server issue and not their own connection.

For what it's worth, Justice is my home server and I haven't had any lag/DC problems recently. It certainly could be happening when I'm not logged on, but I saw people on JFA complaining about lag once lately, when I wasn't having any problems. So it may not be affecting everyone equally.

If you (the OP) have frequent DCs that don't affect others on the server, it's almost certainly an issue with your connection and not the server.

If it continues to be a problem, I'd suggest posting in the Tech forum; they may be able to help you identify what is causing the DCs.

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I can't remember why I skipped shatter for so long - but there was a reason at the time.

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Probably because it used to do a ridiculous amount of knockback.

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if you have a Dark Armor character...have a bit of fun w/ Oppressive Gloom

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I am NOT a fan of KB, but I might have to try this purely for the entertainment value.

Not to mention that they HAVE increased fly's speed recently--I used to have to use the jump pack to get to max speed, but that's not the case anymore for characters that have Fly slotted.

And even before they did the speed increase Fly was the most popular travel power, so its speed obviously wasn't a deal-breaker for most people. Myself included--I have it on most of my characters just because it's so darn convenient.

I don't know what the exact KB mag of the Stupefy proc is, but it definitely *does* do KB rather than KD. Unless, of course, you're fighting a particularly KB-resistant foe, but that's the case for all KB powers.

FYI, the Kinetic Combat proc does KD, not KB.

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With the exception of the Steadfast unique, the rest shouldn’t cost more than 10 million and probably quite a bit less.

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If only...

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Prices at Wentworths are subject to market supply & demand, at the time I wrote this that was correct.

The last time I bought similar IO's was shortly after issue 14 and as I recall the Reactive Armor were in the 100-300k range per recipe... up from 10-50k they used to be; the Smashing Haymaker were 10-50k per recipe, about where they've been for awhile and most of the rest was similarly bargain basement. Remember that you don't need to get max level IO's... 25-35 will do the job just fine; you'll never notice the 1-2% difference from using max level and you'll save a BUNCH of inf.

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Unfortunately, it's back to where it was a few months ago regarding Kinetic Combat. Dam/End and Dam/End/Rchg are very hard to find unless you want to pay 10 mill for a level 35 recipe or 15 mill for a level 35 crafted enhancement. One alternative that has worked for me is to substitute the KD proc for the Dam/End/Rchg. I wouldn't recommend it for an upper tier attack that you want to slot fully, but for a tier 1 it works fine. (And it's always a pleasant surprise when the proc hits.)

One thing that has improved signficantly at WW is the availability of Eradication sets. You only need 3 to get a 3.13% E/NE defense bonus, and the Damage, Damage/Recharge and Acc/Dam/Rchg are relatively plentiful and not too expensive, even at level 30. If you add 2-3 slots from one of the other PBAoE sets, (concentrating on end reduction, acc and damage) you can fully slot out the attack and get the nice def bonus. So many tanks--those that have 2 or 3 AoE attacks in their secondary--can now soft cap E/NE as well as S/L.

Well, in XP under Mouse Properties->Pointer Options, there's a box you can check for "Show location when I press CTRL key". I haven't tried it myself, but it's worth trying to see if it will help.

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Actually Kinetic Combats have gotten much easier to find due to MA tickets. I have been trading in them on WW for the last week.

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Well, if you get any level 25+ KC Dam/End or Dam/End/Rch recipes I'd certainly appreciate it if could put 'em up for sale--I need them!

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I agree it's largely a subjective issue. While I would welcome Arcanaville's analysis, I can recognize currently there is a rather significant difference on paper. When I look at the numbers in Mid's it quite obvious the Tanker version of Dark Armor is considerably more survivable.

For me, it's more an issue about, "is that survivability worth the loss in damage output." My long experience as a DM/DA scrapper obviously taints my perspective. When I play my DA/DM tanker, I invariably find myself paraphrasing Jet Li from Lethal Weapon 4; "If I were on my scrapper, you'd be dead already."

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Ahh, but that is a general tanker vs scrapper issue, rather than one specific to DA. And it is undoubtedly part of the reason why there are so many more scrappers than tankers.

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Two things to consider from your perspective. 1) Spines offers little to no mitigation leaving your scrapper to rely almost entirely on Dark Armor for your mitigation. 2) While I have limited experience with Mace, it is my understanding it has stuns and knockbacks in many of it's attacks. Having played Dark Armor with various scrapper primaries, I can assure you they play a significant impact on your survivability. I'm in no way surprised you find DA/Mace considerably more survivable than a Spines/DA scrapper.

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It's certainly possible that the additional mitigation of Mace is a factor, but I'm not sure it's the only factor, which seems to be what you're suggesting. I suppose if one person were to play DA with the same attack set on both a scrapper and a tanker they might get a better feel for it, but even then, "feels more survivable" or "feels no more survivable" is still highly subjective. I've seen people claim many times that Invinc in Invulnerability has no noticeable affect on survivability, despite all the evidence to the contrary.

I suppose we need someone like Arcana to quantify exactly how much the additional HPs and higher resist levels add to a DA tank's mitigation when compared to a DA scrapper. But even if the difference is significant, (and I suspect it is) that doesn't mean that every player will find it to be a *noticeable* difference.

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Frankenslotting in a 3 set of Eradicate is a good choice if the sets are found on WW but last I knew early Taskforce drops are kind of rare. I was more interested in options than instruction though I will admit frankenslotting Eradicate is also a valid choice.

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Oh, I always assume people will go to WW for sets--IMO, waiting for drops is much too unreliable when you're trying to put a build together in a reasonable amount of time. Granted, some Eradication enhancements are extremely hard to find, but fortunately, you only need three and that's usually doable for a reasonable cost. (Last time I went looking for Kinetic Combat putting a set of four together was much more of a challenge.)

One of the reasons I prefer to go for bonuses that only take 3 or 4 slots is that you can usually avoid the super-rare and super-expensive pieces in the set.

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Level 28: Whirling Hands
§ (A) Scirocco's Dervish - Accuracy/Damage: Level 50
§ (29) Scirocco's Dervish - Damage/Endurance: Level 50
§ (29) Scirocco's Dervish - Damage/Recharge: Level 50
§ (31) Scirocco's Dervish - Accuracy/Recharge: Level 50
§ (39) Scirocco's Dervish - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance: Level 50
§ (40) Scirocco's Dervish - Chance of Damage(Lethal): Level 50


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I prefer Obliterations here so Whirling hands comes up faster and the set bonuses are better but Scirroco is a valid choice and cheaper.

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Though I agree with most of your post, if the OP is interested in increasing his defense I think 3-slotting Eradication for the E/NE defense is a better choice than 6-slotting Obliteration. Both sets are very low in end reduction, but at least with Erad you can get the set bonus and still have room to slot it up with another set.

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I think the problem is the incredible power of, and hence the reliance on, the Dark heal.

Dark Regeneration completely heals the scrapper with the same click it completely heals the Tanker. Since Dark Regen can fix practically any problem, this means that the subtle difference of the increased res numbers and more hit points of the tanker is hard to notice most of the time, as long as DR recharges before you run completely out of life. So the more visible difference is the attack sets, and the tanker loses out there.

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I feel there may be much truth in this.

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Not for me. I have a 50 spines/DA scrapper, and the survivability difference between it and my DA/Mace is quite noticeable. Endurance management was more of an issue in the early levels with my tank, but once I respeced out of DS (until after Stamina) even that wasn't too bad. Besides the increased resist level and and higher HPs, getting OG 9 levels sooner made a big difference pre-40.

I don't see any glaring problems, but it's hard to know what to recommend since we don't know what your goals are for the build. I do think that 4 -KB IOs is overkill unless you're planning to PVP. That's mag -16, and a normal tanker only gets -12 from his primary. Dropping one--or even two--of those could save you some money.

It's fairly inexpensive to slot for typed def bonuses and +recovery, and some Energy def in particular is useful since Dark's resistance to that type is so low. Let us know if you want some specific recommendations.

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Really if you have plenty of cash play what you think fits your concept or just what you like the best.

/EM works syncs with OG, /Dark syncs with CoF

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Why do they always forget /Mace? Mace also has stuns, and IMO has great synergy with DA.

Yeesh! Where to begin?

Only Barrage and Boxing until level 28? Stamina delayed until level 24? I would NOT want to level this build!

Something like this will work a lot better, IME:

Hero Plan by Mids' Hero Designer 1.401
http://www.cohplanner.com/

[u]Click this DataLink to open the build![u]

Level 48 Natural Tanker
Primary Power Set: Invulnerability
Secondary Power Set: Energy Melee
Power Pool: Fitness
Power Pool: Leaping
Power Pool: Fighting
Power Pool: Speed

Hero Profile:
Level 1: Temp Invulnerability -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Barrage -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Dull Pain -- Empty(A)
Level 4: Bone Smasher -- Empty(A)
Level 6: Hurdle -- Empty(A)
Level 8: Unyielding -- Empty(A)
Level 10: Combat Jumping -- Empty(A)
Level 12: Taunt -- Empty(A)
Level 14: Health -- Empty(A)
Level 16: Super Jump -- Empty(A)
Level 18: Invincibility -- Empty(A)
Level 20: Stamina -- Empty(A)
Level 22: Whirling Hands -- Empty(A)
Level 24: Boxing -- Empty(A)
Level 26: Tough Hide -- Empty(A)
Level 28: Build Up -- Empty(A)
Level 30: Tough -- Empty(A)
Level 32: Hasten -- Empty(A)
Level 35: Energy Transfer -- Empty(A)
Level 38: Total Focus -- Empty(A)
Level 41: Weave -- Empty(A)
Level 44: Resist Physical Damage -- Empty(A)
Level 47: Resist Energies -- Empty(A)
Level 49: Unstoppable -- Empty(A)
------------
Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Sprint -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Rest -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Gauntlet
------------
[u]Set Bonus Totals:[u]
Regarding your slotting:

The Steadfast Protection -KB is a waste of money for a Invul tank. Lose it.

What kind of defense are you slotting for? The sets you are slotting give more positional def than typed def; typed def bonuses should be the goal for an Invul tank since that's what TH and Invinc have.

Also, some of your powers are way overslotted (TI, UY, Invinc) and others underslotted (Weave, Bonesmasher, Energy Punch). You need to aim for around 56% def/res enhancement in your def/res powers, plus around 40% endurance reduction for the toggles. Slotting past that is a waste unless there is a *very* desirable set bonus.

Some specific recommendations: drop the Titanium Coating sets and replace them with 4 slots of Reactive Armor, which is cheaper and has better set bonuses. If you have the slots, you can 4 slot the passives with them too. 3-lot Eradication in Whirling Hands for the E/NE def bonus, then finish slotting it out with SD or something similar. Add at least one more KC set for the S/L defense. With Weave and CJ, you *should* be able to soft-cap S/L and E/NE if you slot carefully.

Also, you seem to be aiming for Psi def/res in some of your sets. That's fine, but just be aware that it's difficult and expensive to get enough bonuses to achieve a meaningful amount of either. And doing so will mean that you won't be able to soft-cap the much more common damage types like S/L and Energy.

Hope that helps!

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I'll also apparently be making a stop at the local bookstore

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Good for you! I hope you enjoy them--I'm definitely a fan.

BTW, your character's bio is a little different than Remy's, since Remy wasn't ejected from heaven, but left of his own choice. But still, the similarities are striking!

Remy Chandler (a.k.a. Remiel the Seraphim)

Willpower and Invulnerability are both relatively simple, easy-to-use sets, good for a first time tanker. For a secondary, it really depends on personal preference, playstyle, etc.

I suggest you post in the Tanker forum for a more detailed answer--lots of accumulated tanker wisdom is available there!

Taunt: It's not a "must have", but I always take it on my tanks. As Starflier noted, stunned foes will come back to you (and get stunned again) when they wake up, so that's not an issue. If you plan to team a lot, I think it's worth having, for the -range if nothing else.

Health: Yes, definitely slot it up. I usually have too many other things to slot to get to it before the 30s, though.

Build Up: Personal preference here; I do a lot of soloing so I always take Build Up, usually in the 30s. I almost always take Hasten on my tanks for the same reason.

Super Jump: With all the temp travel powers available, going without a 'real' travel power is easier than it's ever been. However, if you are going to skip SJ--and consequently Acro--you're going to have to plan to buy some -KB IOs for KB protection since there isn't any in DA.

Cloak of Darkness: I love this power--it has as much def as Weave, in addition to the stealth and +perception. I didn't take CJ on my Dark/Mace, so I grabbed it in the early 30s for immob protection. And no, I've not had problem losing aggro because of it--but then, I'm usually running Death Shroud at the same time, which certainly gets their attention.

Cloak of Fear: You pretty much hit the nail on the head--it's costly, but very useful for mobs like the Cimerorans that are stun resistant. I take it late and frankenslot it for Accuracy and End reduction. It's not an 'every fight' power like DS or OG, but it definitely comes in handy on occasion.

Fighting Pool: I took Tough but not Weave on my Dark/Mace, in part because it wouldn't fit, and in part because as you mentioned, it's another darn toggle to run. However, with IO sets you can boost your typed def a non-trivial amount without it; my plan build has ~32% S/L def and ~33% E/NE def without Weave or CJ. And IO bonuses require no endurance; as you've probably guessed, end management is a challenge with DA.

Ancillary Pools: I always run out of room to fit them in! However, I have taken Conserve Power before, and it's useful for a endurance heavy build like this, especially if you don't want to invest heavily in IOs.

One other note: I took Jawbreaker while leveling because I found the KU so helpful, but once you have Shatter and CC it's not so necessary. So I respeced into Pulverize--it's a quicker attack, and gives you one more tool to stack stuns.

Hope that helps!

{Looks up thread}

Holy cr$p! Mid!

Next thing you know, Shego will be dropping by...

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I wuz in that channel, but nobodies was theres... maybe next times.

*waves at the regulars*

/and now you can haz back OP.

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Hey, pal, wb! How have you been?

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I use numbers on the keyboard above the WASD, and the mouse for camera control. I alternate between WASD and the mouse for movement naturally. I think it comes from playing FPS games.

Clicking icons is too slow and would drive me insane if I had to play that way.

I only use numpad for MMs for petcontrols where movement isn't all that important. I also bind some things that I use rarely but like to have on hand to the numpad, but it's not something I commonly use.

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This is exactly what I do. Nearly all my characters are melee fighters, so the attacks are always in tray 1 where I can most easily use the number keys.

However, I've been playing my PB recently so I've got to figure out how to switch trays so I can do that for the different forms!