Fleeting Whisper

FWIW: It's not a defeat-all. I don't recall whether defeating the Rikti around the shield generators is required (maybe, maybe not; don't remember, but it's probably a good idea anyway), and defeating the Hydra Head without defeating the tentacles is impractical to say the least, but it's not a defeat all.

And I only recall 2 Krakens in the basin when I ran it last, so I suspect their location is random. And I know you don't need to defeat them, because we skipped most of the Krakens in the catwalks.

I don't think the level difference, Krakens, or the timer are what really makes this trial difficult (or at least, not when I've run it). It's how the Hydra itself hits like a mac truck loaded with nitroglycerin. Psychic nitroglycerin.

We know

While true, I seem to recall someone saying that they flashbacked the mission with their lv50 Crab Spider, and the clones were using Summon Spiderlings (a lv35 power)... which isn't even available to the flashbacked player. It may just be a specific bug (and a hearsay bug at that), but it seems like it's not impossible for the clones to get access to the higher-level powers

Damn, really? I mean, I can understand having only a single shard (like EVE Online), but if you've only got one shard you should back it up with more than just one server. (I'm not sure if you could find a single computer able to act as EVE's single shard.)

Now, I know we make jokes about having to grope the officers to get through... but licking? Really? Doesn't that push us towards an AO rating, or at least an M?

Not impossible, just infinitely improbable*. And we all know how that turns out...

Edit: Also, Deep Thought was created by the pan-dimensional, hyper-intelligent race of beings (whose three dimensional protrusions into our universe are ordinary white mice). So we can assume they're a lot better at making computers than we are. (And we can also assume that a computer built by pan-dimensional beings would itself be pan-dimensional.) And even with all the extra awesome that these pan-dimensional, hyper-intelligent beings' power, Deep Thought was still the size of a small city.

It took 7.5 million years to come up with '42', and Deep Thought assures us (the reader, and the pan-dimensional beings) that he checked it "very thoroughly", and 42 is "quite definitely" the answer.

* Since we apparently have some non-hitchhikers with us, the spaceship used by the protagonists runs on an "infinite improbability drive", which causes the ship to simultaneously visit every point in the universe before arriving at its destination. Also, it caused two incoming missiles to transmute into a blue whale and a bowl of petunias.

... a bowl of petunias which said "oh no, not again".

Normal Damage Resistance resists Damage debuffs, as noted earlier. Level differences affect the debuff as well (see Purple Patch).

However, assuming X% Damage debuff actually affecting the target (whether X% vs. a target with 0% Damage Resistance, or X% after the Damage Resistance has reduced the original value), it is exactly equal to X% Damage Resistance buff on yourself.

Of course, while on a team, a Damage debuff will benefit all of your teammates, while many Damage Resistance powers only affect yourself.

In theory, Theory and Reality are the same.
In reality, Theory and Reality are very different.

In the abstract, yes, the only change was that the damage buff was moved out of Domination and directly into the Dominators' attack. However, that small change makes a world of difference when playing the characters. Everyone benefited hugely from the change, except those people who were stacking Domination (which would give them stacked damage buff).

That's pretty creative. I like it!

I don't know if I'd call it the greatest, but then I'm a Mastermind fanboy. However, you'd be hard pressed to find many players who think Gauntlet is absolutely fine. Whether it strengthens your case or not is irrelevant.

If you haven't played Dominators since the change to Domination, then you really have no idea what you're talking about.

Previously, Domination doubled the magnitude of your mezzes, increased their duration, filled your endurance bar, and increased your damage. Now, the damage no longer comes from Domination, and instead all of the Dominators' attacks (except Psychic Shockwave) have been equivalently buffed. (And while PSW wasn't buffed, the rest of Psi Assault got buffs to disperse how drastically weighted the set was toward PSW.)

So, Dominators do more damage than they did*. Like Containment, Dominators can increase the magnitude of their holds (except Dominators can double their magnitude, instead of just adding 1). Unlike Containment, Dominators can increase the duration of their effect. Unlike Containment, Dominators can instantly refill their endurance bar. Unlike Controllers, Dominators now always have the extra damage available.

Not only are Dominators playable without their inherent, their inherent is far and away better than their closest counterpart.

* With the exception of people who managed to stack Domination before

Yeah, Controllers always get Containment damage, Blasters get the benefit of Defiance on their opening salvo, Scrappers always Critical, Kheldians get buffed by Cosmic Balance/Dark Sustenance while solo, Masterminds only sometimes have Supremacy running, and Soldiers of Arachnos don't have higher base Regen and Recovery.

I take it you don't like Blasters, then? Blasters have fewer means of survival against PToD than Dominators do.

It is not a developer's job to buff things. It is a developer's job to balance things. (Or, more specifically, it is the job of the powers designer[s] to balance things; other developers work on things like art, animation, AI, story, etc.)

I'm not big into melee characters, but I believe single-target DPS charts still show EM as the leader. The problem, of course, is that for high-end/team gameplay, you're usually facing 10-15 enemies at once, if not more, and so single-target damage isn't sufficient. The other issue is that ET, the set's big hitter, now takes far longer to animate, meaning you'll often be corpseshotting an NPC while on a team, or you'll be killed during the animation in PvP.

Again, not generally a melee player. But I was under the impression that the reaction to the EA changes were overall positive.

While I think 'afraid' is the wrong word... um... duh. And they have every reason to be, considering the history of the game and its players.

Except if you count damage output as survivability, then you're extremely wrong. The biggest problem with Kheldian and Tanker (and until recently, Defender) inherents is how useless they are solo, in a game which is supposed to be solo-friendly. I certainly agree that both Tankers and Kheldians should get an update on their inherent. Most of your reasoning is unsound, but the core idea here is something I agree with.

Also, there's no disadvantage to Domination, and I shall now laugh at you for claiming so: hah!


No argument that FA suffers as a shield set. Healing Flames helps, but I don't think it's enough.

Dark Armor has no knockback protection either, and I don't see you complaining. I think the issue is twofold: first, FA and DA are relics from an earlier design philosophy with regard to mezzes, where you need to manage your powers to get what you want. Second, both FA and DA offer effects not available to other armor sets. In theory, FA trades knockback protection and some survivability for damage, while DA trades knockback protection for interesting extra effects.

Note that I don't mention FA trading off immobilize protection, because it's there. The fact that it can be frustrating to use wasn't considered in the original design. This is similar to the original design for Unyielding (then Unyielding Stance), which offered all your mez protection in one place, but you could move when it was on.

There is reason to the madness, but I agree that FA could stand an improvement.

If we're including T9-style shields like FoN, I submit a Dark/Elec brute with res cap to all, including Psi, when Power Surge is active. Energy and Psi are capped without PS (since Elec is good with Energy resistance, and PS doesn't grant any Psi resistance). The build was made a long time ago as an exercise in reach resistance caps (psi cap in particular), so doesn't quite meet the Res/Def combo we're talking about*, but I've already got it on hand:

Villain Plan by Mids' Villain Designer 1.707
http://www.cohplanner.com/

Click this DataLink to open the build!

rescap brute: Level 50 Mutation Brute
Primary Power Set: Dark Melee
Secondary Power Set: Electric Armor
Power Pool: Speed
Power Pool: Fitness
Power Pool: Fighting
Power Pool: Leaping
Ancillary Pool: Soul Mastery

Villain Profile:
Level 1: Shadow Punch -- Hectmb-Dmg(A), Hectmb-Dmg/Rchg(19), Hectmb-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(19), Hectmb-Acc/Rchg(21), Hectmb-Dmg/EndRdx(48)
Level 1: Charged Armor -- ImpArm-ResDam/EndRdx(A), ImpArm-ResDam/Rchg(3), ImpArm-EndRdx/Rchg(3), ImpArm-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(5), ImpArm-ResDam(5), ImpArm-ResPsi(7)
Level 2: Smite -- C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg(A), C'ngImp-Dmg/EndRdx(7), C'ngImp-Dmg/Rchg(9), C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(9), C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(11), C'ngImp-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(15)
Level 4: Conductive Shield -- ImpArm-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(A), ImpArm-ResPsi(11), ImpArm-ResDam/EndRdx(36)
Level 6: Touch of Fear -- Abys-Acc/Rchg(A), Abys-EndRdx/Fear(23), Abys-Acc/EndRdx(23), Abys-Fear/Rng(25), Abys-Acc/Fear/Rchg(25), Abys-Dam%(27)
Level 8: Siphon Life -- C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg(A), C'ngImp-Dmg/EndRdx(27), C'ngImp-Dmg/Rchg(29), C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(43), C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(46), C'ngImp-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(50)
Level 10: Static Shield -- ImpArm-ResDam/EndRdx(A), ImpArm-ResDam/Rchg(13), ImpArm-EndRdx/Rchg(13), ImpArm-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(15), ImpArm-ResPsi(17), ImpArm-ResDam(33)
Level 12: Super Speed -- Clrty-Stlth(A)
Level 14: Hurdle -- Jump-I(A)
Level 16: Grounded -- ImpArm-ResDam/EndRdx(A), ImpArm-ResDam/Rchg(17), ImpArm-EndRdx/Rchg(37), ImpArm-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(37), ImpArm-ResDam(37), ImpArm-ResPsi(39)
Level 18: Health -- Heal-I(A)
Level 20: Stamina -- EndMod-I(A), P'Shift-EndMod(21), P'Shift-End%(48)
Level 22: Dark Consumption -- P'Shift-EndMod(A), P'Shift-EndMod/Rchg(33), P'Shift-Acc/Rchg(48), P'Shift-EndMod/Acc(50), P'Shift-End%(50)
Level 24: Boxing -- Empty(A)
Level 26: Soul Drain -- RechRdx-I(A)
Level 28: Tough -- ImpArm-ResDam/EndRdx(A), ImpArm-ResDam/Rchg(29), ImpArm-EndRdx/Rchg(31), ImpArm-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(31), ImpArm-ResDam(31), ImpArm-ResPsi(33)
Level 30: Weave -- SW-ResDam/Re TP(A)
Level 32: Midnight Grasp -- C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg(A), C'ngImp-Dmg/EndRdx(34), C'ngImp-Dmg/Rchg(34), C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(34), C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(36), C'ngImp-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(36)
Level 35: Lightning Reflexes -- Run-I(A)
Level 38: Power Surge -- ResDam-I(A), ResDam-I(39), ResDam-I(39), ResDam-I(40), Aegis-ResDam(40), Aegis-Psi/Status(40)
Level 41: Gloom -- Decim-Acc/Dmg(A), Decim-Dmg/EndRdx(42), Decim-Dmg/Rchg(42), Decim-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg(42), Decim-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(43), Decim-Build%(43)
Level 44: Darkest Night -- DarkWD-ToHitDeb(A), DarkWD-ToHitDeb/Rchg(45), DarkWD-ToHitdeb/Rchg/EndRdx(45), DarkWD-Rchg/EndRdx(45), DarkWD-ToHitDeb/EndRdx(46), DarkWD-Slow%(46)
Level 47: Energize -- RechRdx-I(A)
Level 49: Combat Jumping -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A)
------------
Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Sprint -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Rest -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Fury
Level 0: Ninja Run

* The original build didn't even bother trying to make the offense even usable, and wasn't a complete build. After City Traveler became available, I updated the build to make it possible to play without ripping your eyes out; in the process I removed Hasten, but got 50% recharge from set bonuses and 20% from Lightning Reflexes anyway.

No, certain roadways are specifically called "parkway", much in the same way you might see "ABC road", "DEF drive", "GHI street", "JKL lane", "MNO circle"... you also get "PQR parkway".

What's that, 6 copies of Tactics against some opponents that rely on Defense?

That was my reading of the suggestion, and I also like it. It's less "lemme haev yur vet rewardz nao!" and more "Let's make the vet system better!"

Isn't that part of the point of the heroside Dark Mirror arcs?

Alvays remember: Any plan vere you lose you hat iz a BAD PLAN.






Also, adding to the /facepalm images... I can't add bigger guns, but I can add the funny guns:

Raiding the snake temple at +4 was a challenge...

In the Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy series, a computer named Deep Thought calculates that the answer to "Life, the Universe, and Everything" is 42. When the creators of the computer are extremely confused (and who wouldn't be?), the computer replies that while the answer was correct, the creators were confused because they didn't have the question (which is also why it took so long to calculate the answer).

The same race then creates a bigger computer to calculate the question. That computer was called Earth. Unfortunately, the second computer was destroyed by Vogons just minutes before the calculation was completed, in order to construct a hyperspace bypass. You've got to build bypasses.

Later, they discover the question. I always said there was something fundamentally wrong with the universe...


(Note: While 6 x 9 does equal 42 in base 13, Douglas Adams didn't intend any actual connection between the question and answer when writing.)

I'm not very good at FPS games




buttcape