FourSpeed

In the past couple days, I've had 1/2 dozen of these, so I'm guessing that
GR/i18 has altered the way they're handling Open GL in the new codebase.

I'm wondering if other folks are getting bitten by this one or not.

It's been awhile since I updated drivers:

A> because I didn't need to for anything else (it's all stable til now on
everything, except CoH/V/GR)

B> previously, "new" drivers didn't work all that well with my system and card

(E8500 Core Duo, 4GB Ram (3.3 usable) on Win XP - SP2, with an
nVidia GeForce GTS-250 card - on 182.5 WinXP-32 drivers).

I'm assuming the fix is drivers but I wanted to get a sense of whether others
are having issues, and what drivers are recommended (yeah, everyone says,
"latest", but frequently that's not the right answer) for XP-32 systems.


Any input, thoughts and advice will surely be interesting to read, and
possibly, even helpful...


Thanks in Advance,
4

/Nin is pretty good in PvP.

DR affects everyone's defense, so a defense based set can still do better
(comparatively) than a non-defense based set... ie. anytime you can make
someone miss, it's only a Good Thing.

This is also a good synergy with Ninja Blade's Divine Avalanche which will
boost Melee def as well (to helpful levels). I've annoyed several tanks and
scrappers that way.

You've also got a quick heal and perception in there.

Trops is far better in PvE than PvP, but it still can help occasionally.

So, /Nin is one of the better secondarys for PvP imho.


Regards,
4

Good advice so far.

The thing to realize with Stalkers is that they're most effective as a "Tactical" AT.

While you can scrap with stuff fine (typically), it's not your forte.

Guile, Cunning, Planning, and Surprise are what you do best...

Since you're a Caltrops fan, consider TP-Foe as well... It offers great
synergy, and with practice, it's a great way in PvE to divide and crush
the enemy.

Nemmi-Staff is also good for pulling a mob - long range, and KB. While the
mob is picking itself up, you've broken LoS and are re-hidden around a
corner. By the time the 1/2 dead guy gets there... Crit, and presto - dead
mob. It works great with Lt's or when you have two groups close enough
together that you'd aggro both - the Nemmi Pull or TP-Foe are good ways
to split them up safely.

For typical groups, the good ole "Triple Whammy" is still as effective as ever too.

AS #1, Placate #2, CritKill #3, then its you vs #2 mano-a-mano -- Cake.

A variation on that theme:

BU + AS #1, Scrap #2 (should be pretty quick since BU is still in effect),
Placate #3, AS #3... Done.

As another poster mentioned, you can be targeting the next guy while the
current attack is animating. The only wrinkle is if the current attack
misses - you need to be a little bit careful about queing the next attack
until the first hits (unless you like to gamble on RNG & the 5% miss rate)

Generally though, if 3 mobs of less than Boss level are *any* trouble at
all, you should probably re-assess your tactics and approach.


Regards,
4

6/day currently based on TheOcho's announcement. He mentions that
they're planning to ramp it up to 20/day "soon".


4

OP:

Nice work - your tips list is good solid advice and along with the screenies
you've posted (and those from other folks - ie. Fury), anyone who wants
to buy a marketing clue should be able to get it at a nice discount price
by simply reading here...

A few other tips I'll toss in as well:

1> Type Fast BUT click SLOW! (The inf you save will be your own) I've lost
count of how many major/expensive typos this has saved me from...

2> ALWAYS start with a ludicrously low bid on anything you're buying - it
works more often than common sense or logic would predict. Ramp up to
normal bids if it doesn't fill immediately, but the 5 seconds it takes to try
it first can save millions.

3> With our "new/improved" market UI, work from the bottom up when
listing items (that helps prevent you listing the wrong item for the wrong
price when the UI "helpfully" shifts items around in the list for you)


Regarding Discount Coupons, personally, I always keep a full set of 10 on
my marketeers. They're not (generally) useful - except for crafting L50 IOs.
More often than not, those savings cover the salvage costs, and, heck,
150K more profit is ... Moar Profit!

They're free to get for simply logging off in the right spot, so why ignore a
free million or so (I craft my L50s ... 10 at a time for just that reason)


Anyway, Good Post, and best of luck with your marketing - Now, more
than ever we need more Ebil Marketeers to squash the casual Praetorian
masses...


Regards,
4

Glad to know it's going well for you, so far.

I didn't take Golden Dragonfly on mine (I had a good "fast enough" chain
with Soaring Dragon by then), so I can't say much there - haven't used
it, haven't missed it (even in PvP).

I would definitely recommend Kuji-In Retsu at L38 though. It's one of the
key "situational powers" you can have, and it's especially good vs EB/AV's
and/or when a battle starts going south on you - it can be a difference
maker. As with most situational powers the trick is all about timing.

With regard to "crash" powers, the issue of course is lack of endurance.

The old Blaster strategy of popping a CaB or two still works fine here.

For stalkers, however, you needn't even do that. Hide takes no endurance.
So, pre-crash, Placate, break Line of Sight, and you're off the hook as you
melt back into the shadows during the crash...

For patron powers, I like Gloom or Sharks. A big gap for NB/Nin is no
ranged attacks. Either of these make a good finisher for runners (Sharks
is better for PvP), and Sharks comes with KB which is a nice mitigator for
PvE as well.

Caltrops is also good (esp. in PvE), and I use it regularly - in fact, that was
an early pick on my builds (along with TP Foe as well).

In any case, I'm glad you're having fun with it - that's the main win.


Regards,
4

Yep.

I have to say Kudos to the Devs on this one.

While I was concerned about the market merger (and all manner of Bad
that could have happened to bids, lists and stuff stored there), I was
seriously nervous about the DB merge across factions for the inventory
system as a whole.

With visions of having a villain PvPIO turn into an L15 Taunt DO when
claimed from gleemail with a hero, I'm ecstatic to see that it appears
(so far) to be one of the smoothest issue releases to date.

I've had my snide commentary posts about the dev's testing skills in the
past, so this time, I'm pleased to issue a positive statement to them.

Excellent Job Devs!


Regards,
4

My Brute has Crushing Impact (5) in it.

It's not a big hitter by any means, but it's fast, and thus has good DPS for
a filler attack.

I went with CI for the Global Acc and Rch boosts. The +Max health is also
a nice little perk for /WP.


Regards,
4

Double checked my build, and I had it right - 6 slots in HPT (4 Numis - not the proc),
and 2 Resists, for reasons mentioned previously...

In RttC, I have 4 slots - 2 Numis, 2 Miracles (again, no procs there).

As for Hasten, I'm generally disinclined to take it on most of my toons,
and this guy is no exception ... but ...

I've left myself the option to take it at L49 (instead of Strength of Will) for
the simple boost to DPS it gives. It's totally unnecessary for normal stuff,
but when I start looking at "crazy" stuff (Pylons, AV's, GMs, etc.) I think that it
may be helpful... <shrug> I still have some time to mull that one over...


Regards,
4

Interesting.

I guess we (OP & I) have varying definitions of "tolerable"

As for the Scrapper/Stalker discussion, I agree with the poster who said
they're very different - in terms of mindset, approach and playstyle.

If anything, I tend to play Scrappers and Brutes similarily, and I tend to
play Stalkers and Blasters similarily.

It's not a case of actual powersets, but rather mindset. Assuming your toon
wants to live (not always true with some of the Blasters I see out there ),
the latter two are about target priority and aggro management. They're much
more tactical generally speaking.

Brutes and Scrappers are about "Do unto them early and often so they cannot
do unto you" My Stalkers and Blasters can always skip a fight, my
Scrappers and Brutes just have to wade into the thick of it... YMMV.


I'm also not getting the issue with the stalker attacks either.

I grab the first two, AS, and typically Air Superiority all by L12 (when I
absolutely take Placate). L14 is a travel power. I tend towards Fly for my
stalkers, again, because it's tactical. I have a couple Super Jumpers, but
I still prefer Fly (even in PvP).

If I "defer" anything, it would be defense / heal. I'd much rather pop a luck
or a respite instead of limiting my initial attack chain.

If I have an issue with attacks, it's usually that I never get the later ones
so I miss out on higher damage hitters. But, by then, the ones I had earlier
are maxed, and are fast (decent DPS) and effective.

On top of that, I have vet attacks as well. Overall, they're not as good in
several ways, but early, they're pretty powerful, and good fillers. Later,
with Global Acc, they're still decent fillers albeit less effective overall.

Finally, how long does it honestly take to get into the L20's??? These days,
levelling is pretty quick and easy.

I guess I get back to the initial point - we must define "tolerable" very differently...


Regards,
4

PS> I usually take BU early as well - BU + AS one-shots a Yellow con Lt.
That's too good not to take imho. It's tight, but it's equally simple too.

Yep - Tough is a big help. I neglected it at first as well - to my detriment.

As for coming into its own, my SS/WP didn't really have an issue wtih that
although there were some distinct "phases" he went through.

Early (L1 - L25)

* I built for End and Acc, and let Fury handle the damage side.
* Also, I found out the early importance of S/L Resist and Regen after
having a lengthy "numbers" discussion with a friend of mine (by which time
I needed a respec to fix it).

Those two factors really helped the early going (esp when that friend
wanted to run the L19 Zig mission in Ouros repeatedly for fun and merits).

In fact, it was that situation which prompted the discussion (& respec)
because I hadn't considered survivability (point 2) well enough initially
until we did that. The respec (which included Tough along with other
tweaks) made a Big difference.


Mid-Level (L25-L40):

* Fully slotted attacks (with the sets I wanted)
* All the Heals and End powers
* HP Accolades & specialty IO's

From about L25 to L40 (he's at L37 or so now) this has been his focus.

Early, he was survivable and playable. Boost the HP (he's over 2000 now),
the damage output, along with sets, set bonuses, and specialty procs (he
has a couple LotG's, and the Numi, Miracle and Regenerative Tissue procs)
and now he is survivable AND lethal. As I mentioned elsewhere, he's now
my 2nd toughest AT from a rather large collection of alts.

In PvE, he has to actually do crazy-stupid stuff to die -- he can literally
stand in a pack of mobs that would kill most (if not all) of my other alts
and be completely immune... He can (and has) brawled them to death -
just for the amusement of it (at least, I found it really amusing)

For me, this guy IS mature in a build-sense at this point.


High Level (L40+):

* FootStomp
* Finish slotting to reach Mid's maximum regen, resist, def, HP
* See what he can do...

Right now, he's still Single Target focused. He's virtually indestructible, but
I lament not having the AoE yet, so he is still a bit "slow" at killing riff-raff.

He's got most of his survivability handled, but there's stilll some slotting to
do, and some of the benefit will come from L50 Purple/PvP IO's I have waiting
for him when he hits L50.

At that point, I want to see how he does with the "crazy" things like AV's,
GM's etc. I want to plop him into some PvP zones just for fun (he's not a
PvP toon, I have Stalkers and Blasters for that, but still...).

I started him originally due to a PvP player who has one. His approach to
PvP (while ineffective in many ways) amused the heck out of me, to the
point where I decided to build this guy to do the same thing.


So, as usual, another long-winded answer from me but in terms of the
original issue, I always found this guy to be "in his own" from the get-go
(if a bit sub-optimal initally), although there have been some distinct phases
where that term had different nuances.

Unlike some AT's I've played, this guy has been fun from minute one.


Regards,
4

I'll have to look at mine when I get home, but off the top of my head, I think
I have HPT 6 slotted and RttC 4 slotted (mostly with Numinas/Miracles).

I did drop a couple resists in the last 2 HPT slots - the return isn't good, but
it put the number over 50%, so I just had to do it...

I didn't use Taunt in RttC either - aggro is not a problem, and I have vet
powers for the odd runner if need be. RttC is purely focused on regen in
my build.

As for recharge, I used Crushing Impacts in the melee attacks so they have
recharge in the attack, plus Global recharge from the set. Add a LotG or 2
along the way, and it's pretty good.

That isn't the massively high recharge of some builds, but it's good enough
for me. My quick hitters recycle fast and the big hitters are available often.

If I were building a Pylon killer, I'd want more recharge, but it's fine for all the
typical stuff. I left myself the option of Hasten later in the build, but so
far, I haven't found it to be a problem that needs fixing yet.


Regards,
4

One other little wrinkle I've noticed occasionally is that mobs have level
ranges where they can spawn at.

So, in some cases (near those range boundaries) certain mob factions can
be a little more difficult than you expect, typically because they can't spawn
at a lower than they're at.

(I've seen that with Wing Raiders, and some other factions sometimes).

For example: say Sky Raider Wing Raiders spawn between L25 and L35.

If you have, an L24 Sky Raider mission, and it has Wing Raiders in it, they
will be L25 (because they can't spawn lower).

Typically, you wouldn't expect them to appear in the mission in those cases,
but sometimes they do anyway. A level or two later, that issue goes away
for those mobs.


Hope that explanation makes sense...


Regards,
4

Yep. Count me in the "definitely triform" camp for PB PvP.

4

I always aim for 60% Acc / 90+%Dmg on all my attacks.

That typically gets me to the 95% ToHit softcap against most PvE mobs (and
quite a few PvP players).

If you add some Global Acc on top of that (Kismet 6%, Set Bonuses etc.) you
can also get Vet Attacks to softcap as well (Nemmie Staff, Blackwand).


Regards,
4

I'm pulling anything I care about off the markets (mostly done now, in fact).

I ran into more than enough troubles when I-17 came out - This strikes me
as significantly more complicated than that (which hopefully means they
actually tested it better, but I already have my opinion on the liklihood of that)


Regards,
4


PS> Following conventional wisdom: "Hope for the best, but plan for and
expect the worst"

I don't get bored all that often (there's always an alt that needs my attn if I do),
but in the old days, I used to gather citizens with my Kheldian (I think they
"fixed" that now-a-days - with shorter tethers and chase time limits).

But, back then, kill a mob, and the citizen chased you all over the map trying
to Thank You for the life-saving rescue...

So, grab 20-30 of them in AP, and lead them into the gate to the Hollows or
Perez, and float up at the ceiling while they all mill around aimlessly below.

The commentary from heroes entering the gate was always hilarious, and
few ever figured out how or why there were a couple dozen citizens hanging
out in the gateway.


Cheers,
4

hehehe, that might be a real can of worms you're opening there.

I'd have no idea on the policy regarding those, other than to say they have
specifically said altering the client software is a no-no...

Then again, there's a guide in the forum describing how to replace game sounds
that, if not condoned, certainly has blind eyes turned towards it, because,
technically speaking, it alters clientside files...

From an historical perspective, it's my feeling that the map add-on and the
stats-keeper had/have their uses, and in the case of the former, actually led
directly to in-game patches that placed most (if not all) of those things on
the game map - clearly the devs decided that function was a useful addition -
eventually.

The game also originally had minimal real numbers, and early versions of the
stat program, along with several other factors have probably had their influence
in the current combat attributes windows we have now.

While it's still not as comprehensive as the add-on, it's at least a more helpful
than before, and arguably a directional prod of sorts to the devs.

Finally, I'd speculate that if the "add-on" is parallel (ie external) to the
game client, rather than integrated with the client, it's got a much better
chance of being "tolerated", provided that it also doesn't give unfair advantage,
or remote (ie botting) capabilities. Mind you, that's pure speculation on my part.


Regards,
4

Some very good suggestions here. (I'm a huge Shard fan myself, for instance)...
I'll add some more thoughts, in no particular order or importance.

1> Signature Monsters: Sadly, this doesn't get done much anymore, but I
can recall several epic fights against various monsters notably: Lusca,
Adamastor, Clockwork Paladin etc. Redside Monsters just irritated me (I'm
looking at you, Deathsurge, you running pansy), but the Bluesiders were
always epic feeling.

2> Read the stories: Some of them are funny, and some are just plain
interesting. Redside is better in this regard, but there are a lot of good ones
on both sides of the fence.
I especially like the Johny Sonata arc, Diviner Maros arc to name just two on red.

3> Explore the zones: Sure, we see alot of the same foes throughout the
game, but most zones have their own unique flavor to them - imho Blueside
is actually better than Red in this regard. The Shard, of course, is the poster
child for a seriously cool place to simply wander around in for awhile.

4> In keeping with #2 & #3, read some of the NPC commentary during
your travels - esp. Redside ... some of it is pure comic win -- hilarious.

5> Try some PvP - put on your tinfoil hat, put in your industrial grade
earplugs, go in, mix-it-up, expect to die some, hope to kill some... Don't
sweat or even evaluate the results - just go in and punch somebody

Just Once.

I too echo the Warburg visit: Seeing one of the rocket launches IS cool.

The first time I saw a Shivan, it was a wth moment... Those guys are pure weird.

The RV Heavies have on occasion made me want to get a remote-controlled
Battlemech of my very own...

Three things I'd never have seen had I not gone into a PvP zone...


All in all, experience the game - I'll share a bit of wisdom given to me by
one of my former flight instructors.

"There's a Big difference between 500 flight hours, and 1 flight hour repeated
500 times".

Depth and Breadth of experience matter.


Regards,
4