Gaias_Voice

I'm in need of some ideas on how to make my spines/electric "farm worthy."

I'm not rich by any sense of the word so I need some input on enhancement sets that are good but won't break the bank (ie: No chance of me getting full sets of Kinetic Combat anytime soon, or purples of any kind). I am more than happy to chew a few purples periodically if it'll make some "lesser" sets work. I have a couple hundred mil to work with and an occasional useful enhancement to help fill out sets.

I also need some ideas on good strategy tips and power combinations that will improve survivability...for instance, I'm looking at the end draining potential from Power Sink and Lightning Field to help mitigate damage...stuff like that. I'm not new to the game but I've never been serious about soft capping defenses or farming in any way so I'm in unfamiliar territory here...so any (useful) input anyone has would be most welcome.

Oh, I should also note, a travel power is optional...been getting around with Ninja Run and a jetpack so that frees up a couple of powers for other abilities that might be helpful.

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No, you're pretty wrong about what I mean.

Statesman has stated, elsewhere, that defense isn't really scaling. Resistance is a flat out resistance, whatever comes in is reduced by 'x' amount. If it's huge damage from someone +3, it's reduced the same.

Defense, otoh, works differently... from the formulas to calculate to-hit, it seems that you add accuracy and subtract defense, or something similar. Considering how higher enemies have to-hit bonuses over you, a small measure of defense just won't be that effective. And once you DO get hit, you'll be killed.

Again, if you had read what I said, you'd see that statesman also mentioned that defense is being studied, to see how it can be reworked so it DOES scale.

But right now, if something just has TOO much accuracy, it'll blow past your defenses. And since you have no resistance, you'll take the full brunt of the blow.

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So you aren't saying that defense is inferior to resistance right now, just that defense is inferior to resistance right now? I see I see, I was wrong then, my mistake.

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And the blaster story: vs. blasters (if they're not blappers) my brute can do pretty well, most of the time. They can NOT one-shot me with 3 attacks. I might be hurt bad, but I'm still alive, I can pop DP or eat insps. And if I get to them, I can turn the tables. From the story of the blaster, he 3-shotted the EA brute. Pure defense also has that disadvantage: when you do get hit by something big, you drop FAST.

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So you're saying that defense lacks in some situations, kind of like how toggled resistance becomes useless if you get held/disoriented/detoggled, where defense might have saved you. Not saying that defense doesn't need some love but it's still got it's bonuses.

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And of course they're strategies. They're just not GOOD strategies. Cooldowns are something you should use in exceptional situations. Otherwise you're fighting 3 minutes and waiting 4. If your winning a fight has to rely on some massively powerful cooldown of yours, you have to reevaluate your strategy or your build or the enemies.

I mean, I could build a strategy which involves my keeping 4 purple insps active on me always. And head back to town to buy more, when I run out. It really is not a good tactic; it's desperation. Overload and unstoppable are the sort of thing you pop if you need to take aggro from an AV. Not because a certain LT-level minion can make everything else you have superfluous.

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All I'm seeing here is you calling for skill balancing, make em all good. You don't want Overload to cover for defense lacking, you want defense improved, etc. All of this is a call for the devs to "balance" the skills. Fix the stuff that's broken. That's all fine and dandy, but until things are fixed, all of us are left with this idea of "making due with what ya have."

Why hail Overload as awesome? Because it's a tool for covering weaknesses in a set. Until the day defense is "fixed" Overload is going to be one of those. Blasters can 3 shot EA, but at least with Overload you have a chance until defense scaling is fixed (keep in mind that overload isn't just defense, it seriously bumps up your hp max, making you harder to kill period). I haven't been suggesting Overload is a fix, I've been saying that it'll help against EA's weaknesses. Whether or not those weaknesses will be fixed is irrelevent, we're in the here and now and unless everyone wants to hang up their EA until defense is improved, they have to make do, and Overload helps with that.

I had a huge post I wrote for this but it sounded too argumentative so I deleted it. Gonna try to summarize...

The impression I get is that you believe every class should have an equal chance of defeating every other class. And part of that equality is that every skill should be good, no great skills to counter lacking skills, everything equal. You believe that defense isn't good enough, that resistance is better. You believe that strategies like using unstoppable, are not strategies, but "workarounds" (define workaround and why it's bad, can't figure this one out).

Would that be accurate?

Thank you for at least putting something a little bigger on the table. Now here's my angle.

I went in and just flat out tested it out. With 3 rec reds with a single + on hasten and overload, overload ran 3 mins on, 4 mins off. If you time it properly you could have Overload available for taking alphas and eliminating the problem mobs for half the groups you fight. If you get lucky you can even prevent the end bar crash from killing any toggles by hitting a blue as it drops, then energy drain, kill on. If you had 2 brutes with Overload...problem solved. If you have a kinetics and/or radiation corruptor that could also lessen the issue with AM or Speed. The fact that you can't have it available all the times you need it is true, but at least you can improve everyone's survival chances somewhat. In a group it's so easy for something to go wrong against the 40+ and end up in a party wipe (healer gets emp'd, tank gets held, kd'd, stunned, dead), so until more methods against it are figured out, at least Overload can help.

The only other note I have is that I was speaking purely from a grouped standpoint. 40+ longbow solo, unless you're playing relentless, aren't a deadly threat...they're a friggin irritating threat but not deadly. Nullifiers are the ones that turn longbow into nastiness. If an EMP grenade or hold drops toggles nullifiers always seem to be right there ready to knock you down or beanbag you which can be serious trouble. The only time I really prefer to hit Overload solo is when I'm going to go pop the boss or if I get into some sort of unforseen issue (double group agro, etc).

Finally, my one objective with citing overload in all this was just to point out that EA has some worthwhile skills in it. People who think that it sucks because it doesn't have a self heal are missing out, and that's why I brought the whole thing up in the first place. Honestly, with overload and energy drain in there if EA had a self heal I'd think the set was overpowered...

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Of course, if you're relying on overload for regular mobs, something is wrong. Either that, or you enjoy waiting 5-12 minutes between fights.

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Either you haven't fought 40+ longbow or you've been really lucky. You're comment leaves me thinking it's the 1st possibility, because anyone who has had to fight the 40+ understands. 39 longbow...sissies. 40+ longbow...sick.

Another detail of note, Overload recharges a tad faster than what you think, especially with hasten working for you.

Come back when you know a little more about what yer saying.

Heheh, this is another reason I love EA and Overload...Hit Overload, run into mass of longbow, commense laughing. Can't drain end or stun something you can't hit muah ha ha! Erm...sorry

I do know your pain tho...first time I got caught with an end drain grenade I lost my toggles, was immediately knocked down 2 times consecutively and died before I could even hit a respite. The Overload retribution I laid out was swift and merciless after I got back from the frickin hospital.

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This is all so true about energy. It has too many advantages, especially when it comes to blasters using it. Add to this the unresisted damage which tanks already lost a HUGE portion of post i5-i6. Detoggling, stacked stuns, and knockback, along with no energy resists....WTH...I mean if no one can see the implications of this in PVP, they have got to be blind.

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This is one of the reasons I won't play an energy brute...as I said before, the most popular classes are usually the ones first in line to be whacked with the nerf bat. Ever since SWG, where I watched my MCH/MTKA turn from a powerhouse into panzy***, I have taken to playing the less common classes and types. Nothing is more frustrating than having a load of power then having it taken away. Far better to be lacking and suddenly find yourself beefier one day.

The other reasons? Don't like pompoms. Don't like "hissing." I do like using big stone hammers to SMASH pathetic little mobs with, and I like the SMASH sound effects that go with it. I also like the bodies flying through the air...I find it therapeutic.

If you want to min-max you won't take stone...it doesn't quite deal the damage that ss and em do.

That said, one thing you might want to consider is that energy is by far the most played villain melee type (brute and stalker). What does this mean? If there are going to be nerfs passed out, em is first in line.

Another consideration, in terms of pure dmg output, stone lacks, but it's knockdown is excessive. This is a non factor in pvp, since most people have knockdown resistance, but in pve you will dominate mobs. You can cut back on defenses because you don't get hit as much, leaving you other build options.

One final consideration...what do you get when you put together an energy melee brute and a ss/stone brute with knockdown in pvp? Energy melee stun + ss/stone knockdown = dead heroes. Stun knocks off toggles, knockdown makes sure the hero never gets a chance to put them back on. The combination is brutal.
Just a few thoughts on the matter.