Frosticus

I often used to use bu and FE on my em/fa to smooth out the lack of fury at the beginning of a mission (popping both is like having 80% fury) cause once fury was up I could crush everything. That was of course back when the toon was fun to play and wasn't deleted heh.

The other good use for buildup is when you want something to die

My netgraph for Freedum looks identical to Nihilii's,

My netrgraph on Virtue has not a single red spike, though the ping remains in the high 200's.

*I tested Freedom in Ouroboros, and PI, where there was less than 5 people on the map and in a solo AE mission.

In fact looking at Nihilii's OP again everything is identical. East server Freedom is crapped out and west server Virtue is smooth netgraph. Tons of powers skip animations and mobs phantom teleport and I rubberband on Freedom. Much less so on Virtue.

Depending on team make up /sonic adds more aoe damage than everything except maybe icestorm and and RoA (excluding true nukes as sonic has one of those two, and it is better than most). Howl makes everyone hit 20% harder with their attacks (preferably aoes). A couple blasters hitting 20% harder means sets like /dark, /rad and other sets with respectable, but slow aoe damage get left behind pretty quick.

Sonic is the best st set right now, but ice is pretty good too under very high recharge. Of course if you can afford the damage procs like apoc and/or pvp IO's then sonic pulls way ahead. Trust me, apoc proc in shriek getting fired every few seconds and doing double damage means a lot of extra damage.

OP, if you want to stick with rad you should try rad/sonic, there is a reason it comes as one of the most recommended builds for defenders.

I use /stone app on my plant/kin, it is really good. Very easy to cap s/l.

Seismic smash does the same base damage as the tanker version w/ containment. It is disturbingly good on a /kin troller who never needs to worry about endurance, has capped damage (I hit even cons for like 630 damage with it lol) and uber recharge so it is up often.

It's so good that if I had a good power to sub in it's place I'd drop Strangler and just use Seismic as my ST control, considering that's how I use it already

I have considered /ice app for that toon as well for boss runs just because each spawn usually lives long enough for icestorm to cycle (a kin can have it up every 30-40 seconds). Icestorm+frostbreath is pretty extreme aoe damage on a troller. Admittedly though, this might be a better option for plant rather than fire as a cone means less effective use of hotfeet.

That said, I also really like earth's embrace. It means I don't need to waste time getting my accolades and still have perma capped hp. I've been very happy with earth app.

The armor even makes you look like a dirt mech

Just so everyone is on the same page here:
-Neutrino Bolt is already a 1 sec cast
-X-ray is already a 1.67 cast
That is part of what makes rad blast such an easy port.

I see no reason to push the recharges (and DS values) beyond what archery has with:
2 sec and 6 sec.
However, fire has:
2.18 sec and 4 sec.

I'd be satisfied with 2 sec and 5 sec for Neut and X-ray respectively.

AT modifiers should take care of the debuff values and the stun in CB
Neutrino = 7% (def version is 12.5%)
X-ray = 14% (def version is 25%)
Irradiate = 21% (def version is 37.5%)
and so forth.

Stun in CB = 9.54 sec (def version is 11.9 sec)

Hopefully Castle lets it retain what makes it rad blast, unlike some other changes he's done.

I never saw more than 2 instances of Atlas on freedum either, which isn't that unusual, but then you factor in that pretty much everyone is in Atlas post MA and it makes you wonder if very many people were around for the event... or are around at all anymore...

I look at every zone and they are mostly empty with everyone in Atlas, Steel, and Talos (mostly Atlas though). And then even Atlas isn't full very often (laggy as hell though).

I can only imagine the ghost town that the other servers are. Any ideas what current population numbers are at? I'm worried that regardless of how good CO is or isn't it will push this game well below 100k (if it isn't there already) and the doom siren's will sound outside of the forums (ie game sites).

GR is going to have to do something amazing to get people to unplug from the simulators in MA and doing something other than farming bosses/luts'

Redraw on arch is fairly minimal in that it doesn't have the stupid (ie annoying after the thousandth time) sound of the swords, or worse yet spines/thorny.

I've always found redraw to be a major annoyance if it occurs often (easily minimized on an arch blaster... well compared to a x/thorny dom ) and if it has a horrible sound. So arch isn't too bad.

However, if you hop around a lot (cj+hurdle) you might get sick of it pretty quick. I've switched from my normal combat style to a hover/fly+tp build for my arch/nrg and it is very satisfactory.

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It reads: "...each will receive an alternate animation for their powers." To me, that sounds like one alternate animation for each power, excluding maybe Taunt.

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Exactly how I took it, as well.

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There will not be an alternate animation for every power, but the potential to add new animations or even plug in existing animations that work for the power is there.

Right now we have an alternate animation for Jab, Punch, Haymaker, Foot Stomp, and Knockout Blow that are intended for players who want to play a more 'heroic' super strength character (compared to the somewhat smashy super strength that we have now). Most of those are completely new animations.

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Will all the other Sets powers that use the animations you are replacing in SS get the alternate choices as well, or is this something for further down the road?

ie Footstomp and Stalagmites.

I hope you chose to go with a two fisted ground smash for the new Footstomp.

Part of the problem you are having is that the sets with long casting holds (grav, ice are the main ones, but earth and plant are bad for this too) end up using up a bunch of your hold time just casting the power.

I say earth and plant are less bad that grav and ice because even though they actually take longer they root for less time so at least you can be moving around sooner.

I mean if you are only going to hold something for ~4 seconds do you really want 2 of those already spent just casting the hold?

As for WH, it's initial range is much shorter than tp foe. So where you could use tp foe to pull someone from very far away, you can't do that as well with WH. But WH has its uses.

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they fixed NPC's in PVP zones...Frost you may want to actually PvP a lil in the new system before doling out any sort of "Advice" on it.

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While I'm the first to admit I haven't been enjoying new pvp and have primarily avoided it that != taking a toon into RV a few weeks ago and street sweeping with a lvl 40 hoping for purple drops.

This conversation hasn't sounded like it would just be using AE maps for pvp'ing on (or else just ask for more pvp maps in the arena). But rather, actual integrated pvp+pve like would be found in the way Mayhems could have been designed and the way RV was likely intended to function.

So with regard to these new NPC's that you seem to believe I have no experience with. Do they:
- one shot mez toons with mez protection
- can they perma mez you through bf's/cm/ etc.


Cause I'm sitting here thinking you take some pve players and load them into a PvP enabled AE/Mayhem mission and when some nulifier mezzes the tank and suppresses a bunch of his survivability tools and he faceplants...says wtf just happened and continues to bag on pvp.

Ya, I don't see that working well. But if you say so. Maybe it will be included with GR? and we can watch another poorly implemented pvp plan fall flat on its face.

Sorry i13 rules, even though they have been revised a bit since i13, do not work with pve game play aspects.

And that isn't even going into how people with their softcapped scrappers would suddently feel on a pve map when it is DR'd down to SO level defense. Or the emps spamming heals that just get weaker and weaker. Or the thermal wondering why he is even bothering buffing most of his allies.

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I assure you it does work the way I have described. If it does not, then it's a bug.

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hmm, ya I'll test it this tonight. I've always seen people posting that it eats into the buff time and combat attributes has never given me reason to believe otherwise (unless it is actually an 11.32 second buff).

I'll fire up fraps and see what there is to see. Not that it really makes much difference to what has been discussed in this thread, but accuracy of information is always important.

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OK tested it with Fraps and then loaded into Movie maker. Not the more precise tools, but it is what it is.

Here is what I saw using Buildup on my BS/shield scrapper.
(I've adjusted the times to indicate BU starting at 0 seconds)
BU starts activating at 0 seconds
BU buff appears on combat attributes at 0.5 seconds
(Headsplitter cued, red circle)
HS starts activating at 1.25 seconds (pretty close to the calculated 1.32)
HS completes at 3.68 seconds (2.43 sec cast, expected to be 2.508 according to Arcanatime, but I didn't cue a follow up attack so my number might be a bit low)
Buff expires from combat attributes at 10.61.

Suggested results:
BU does eat into its own buff time, but not fully. The damage buff appears to be on a slight delay. I saw 9.36 seconds of buff.
If it fully ate itself it would be ~8.68
If it didn't it would be 10.0

It just so happens to be EXACTLY in the middle

*I'm not claiming this to be entirely accurate. The tool I'm using moves in 0.02 second intervals and well there are a lot of things that could make it inaccurate.

Edit 2:
I think I know where the belief that it fully eats into its buff time comes from. If you were to go by the icon in your buff tray (below hp/end bars) it disappears much earlier than the actual buff did from combat attributes. In fact it disappears 8.71 seconds after it is cast, which is almost precisely the 8.68 that was predicted.

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Here we go again Sorciere, not playing the game again, stuck on these boards...I love the dichotomy....(big word of the day).

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You may be interested to learn that the lead class designer of WoW recently mentioned that he found the downtime for warriors to be a problem (most WoW classes have abilities to manage and reduce downtime, such as Spirit Tap for priests, and many classes do not have significant downtime at all if they play smart, such as hunters, death knights, or rogues). You may also be interested to learn, for example, that retribution paladin mana recovery in WotLK was specifically calibrated so that unless they used wasteful abilities or bit off more than they could chew, their mana recovery was meant to match their normal attack chains (and did).

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Lets see some actual statements from the lead designers. Proof, evidence, something that doesn't make me think that you just pulled that out of your smock. But if indeed this was the released statement, their not going to change the downtime for Warriors when mitigation in the form of bandages exist. I.e. the catch a breath in this game.

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Useit.com is the website of Jacob Nielsen, one of the pioneers of usability research. It is simply a commonly cited online resource. If you wish, I can probably find you peer-reviewed papers that cover the same topic.

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Let it be known that just because you can "google it" does not make said subject accurate or trustworthy.

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I have a dev credit for Dark Age of Camelot and have worked with the devs (and lead devs at times) for WoW, CoH and EQ. In each of those games, reducing downtime while maintaining the pace of the game was one of the paramount concerns.

Having said that, it has been a downward trend to this date. EQ introduced horrific downtimes (imagine waiting 15 minutes for your group to heal and med (end) up or taking over an hour to buff a raid) and since EQ, each successive MMO that has come along has reduced its down time even more where possible.

Since CoH is 5 years old, one could say it's 5 years out of date with respect to downtime (specifically with regards to the L1-20 game). Many older MMOs have adjusted their downtime cycles downward including WoW. CoH did it with in essence with IOs but this still hasn't effected the L1-20 game which is the essence of this thread with respect to endurance woes.

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CoH has made strides in reducing downtime and increasing the overall pace of this game quite a large amount. Unfortunately they just haven't really done it in terms of endurance yet.

Travel time has been reduced dramatically in the early levels (and the entire game)with more ways to get from A to B. Also temp travel powers at lvl 5 and 10 are major.

Xp smoothing and cutting debt to the point it is meaningless has also greatly reduced the hrs needed to level up toons.

However, for w/e reasons they haven't done anything about the blue bar blues . In fact, now that I can just toggle on temp superjump and leap over to the next spawn rather than waltzing over at a snails pace has only served to exasperate the issue (albeit to a small degree).

In a game where everyone sings about the "Journey" rather than the destination, why does it feel like I'm always working toward lvl 20 with each new toon? That is the definition of a "destination oriented goal".

I agree with pretty much everything Kruunch has said. I haven't looked too closely at his proposal to remedy the problem, but he is definitely spot on with everything surrounding the issue.

Across most areas of the game:
Ill/rad is probably the safest
Fire/kin is generally the fastest

However, plant is getting my vote for it being the best all round package - very safe and very fast and it is that way from lvl 8 on.

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Cold is better than Dark but worse than Rad for AV/GM soloing

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And your reasoning is.....?

It's easier to soft cap a cold than rad
Cold can dish out /alot/ more -res than rad
Cold has /much/ better -rchg than rad
Cold has better defense debuffs than rad (for whatever its worth)
Cold has much better -dmg compared to rad (50% (80% vs fire) vs the 20% that rad has),
Cold has -special, Rad does not
Cold has equivalent -regen to rad with high amounts of rchg
Cold has heat loss effectively giving it unlimited endurance at high rchg.

With high rchg a cold will melt an AV faster than a rad, easily.

A Rad has a self heal
A Rad has a faster rchging regen debuff (which becomes a nonfactor at high rchg)
A Rad has +rchg in AM
A Rad has mez resist in AM, (but cold can get similar results with benumb)

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IME with my fire/cold corr and the few AV's I've tagged the thing that limits /cold is how much time you spend applying your debuffs. They spend upward of 15-20% of their time layering the debuffs, which can seriously eat into dps. Plus additional time healing with aidself.

Conversely, a rad just has to reapply LR, AM every 2 ish min, and heal occasionally.

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Ill/Rad has long been the build that is viewed as the "AV Killer." Fire/Rad is awesome, but doesn't have the same protection of three invulnerable tanks. I'm not doubting that you can do it, but it may be that you are just that good. When lots of folks can do it, that suggests that it is the build that is the cause.

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ill/rad is only percieved as "better" by the general public, but I've come to the conclusion that it's mostly an Urban Legend of CoH.

When fighting these targets, survivability only matters to a certain extent. Once you're at a point where you can survive, having more survivability is irrelevant, at this point it is the offense that makes the difference between the good and the best. Fire/Rad is superior to ill/rad in this aspect.

I'll make sure to post screenies to back my claims soon enough

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I think your perspective may be a little different than mine. I suspect that you are talking only about maxed level 50 fully IO'ed out builds. And even then, a "Perma PA build" is pretty easy to put up against an AV, while a Fire/Rad is going to need a bit more work. Against that single powerful target, a Fire/Rad has more limited options.

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It's true that illusion is easier (and that's where its porpularity and legend status come from) but the difference is comparable to an automatic and a manual transmission car; the automatic car is easier to drive, but once you've learned what you're doing the manual shift car will outperform the automatic in potency, speed and traction.

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New age performance automatics seem to be > manual transmissions. I wouldn't know as I'm too poor to own a car like a Maclaren SLR, or Nissan GTR, but the interweb doesn't lie... ever.

I hear what your saying though.

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Cold is an awesome set for AV fights, no doubt, but I still think Rad is supreme (unless some /Kins or /Storms wanna prove me wrong). It'll be fun to test though.

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Pre LS nerf I was building my fire/storm to just ruin AV's and it looked like I'd have no issues breaking 300dps. On that build LS was contributing over 30% of my damage after proc's. Castle kicking it in the nuts took the wind out of the sails on that project.

I've tried it vs pylons, but I can never get them lower than about 1/2 to 1/3 hp before I die. I don't have aidself. It is a softcapped range build.

I would have put storm of old up for absolute highest damage (fire/storm of course), but all the analysis I've done post LS nerf have fire/rad and fire/cold (soon) and even fire/thermal as high or higher, cheaper, safer, and costing a lot less inf.