GavinRuneblade

I'm not sure but I think it has something to do with a bug the devs keep threatening to fix but haven't yet. Dunno. Just know that I've seen a few builds posted with membranes in the power. Mine's not 50 yet so I can't experiment for myself.

Seriously this. Look into the mac forum for a perfect example. People having issues and trouble, and poof, there's the community, I tried this it worked for me, I tried that it didn't. Hey what about this other idea here... Granted, about 4/5 of the solutions are from CuppaManga but even so, the community is helping each other. And just from looking through the forum posts, I don't see any more threads than usual with a new issue.

Love this community, love the game, love the devs for the work they do.

I have a couple builds that are spectacularly built and IOd. And watching me use them is a bit like watching a teenager behind the wheel of a Bugati Veyron, or Ferrari Enzo. Sure I can make it move. But I can't do with it what it is supposed to do. And on the other hand I have characters with total garbage builds that have done wonderful things on teams and for teams.

In the end, I have fun and my friends enjoy having my on the team with my junk builds and with my amazingly IOd out builds both. And that's what is important.

Just for the record, Katana is one of the most user-friendly primaries, and /SR is widely regarded as the second most user friendly secondary nearly tied with willpower. So *insert Raiders of the Lost Arc voice* You chose Wisely *end Raiders of the Lost Arc voice*

As others have said, it comes down to patience and choice. Looking for your AoE powers, sure the "best" set is Obliteration, and it costs 30 million per slot. However, any double (Acc/Dam) from level 24 or higher, and any triple (Acc/Dam/End) from level 20 or higher gives the same or higher bonuses as a level 53 SO. So if you can find anything on the market from level 25 and up, for less than 60k (and if you look you can find level 30+ Multistrikes and Cleaving Blow for 15,000), and if you can get the salvage cheap (and you can as long as it is not a rare), then for the same price as one SO, you can have sets.

Recently I bought two PBAoE set enhancements for 85k from cleaving blow and multistrike including crafting cost and salvage. But getting a Scirroco's Dervish (not as good as obliteration but still an in-demand set) was just over 1 million. Really, there's not a big enough difference to justify the cost. You will be fine with Cleaving Blow and Multistrike. If a scirroco's drops for you, then craft it and slot it. If not, don't worry about it. And if an Oblit drops, craft it, sell it, and then you can afford your whole build using the cheap sets =)

If you're just looking for common IOs, you want level 35+ I often find the best deals are level 45s which people need to craft for badges, but min/maxers all want level 50 IOs instead so the 45s sell for between 100k and 400k each if you are patient. One level 50 SO is about 60k so you should be able to afford these easily as it's not too much of a markup.

Since we have dual builds these days, what I like to do is to have my Build A be all the cheap stuff. SOs that dropped, some cheap sets etc. Then my Build B is my "dream build that is way too expensive for me to afford". I play build a. As things drop by luck and as I get money I slowly fill in Build B. It's kind of amazing how much faster than you expect you can get a Build B finished. And this way, you always have a working, good and fun build to play with.

But you're already ahead of the curve having chosen a good primary and secondary for SOs.

Rule #1 never, never, never, never use SOs on any character at any level ever. Unless you're just piling on Accuracy at low level into the fewest possible slots = exception that proves the rule. =)

Level 20 Def/end IOs = cheaper than SOs, can be slotted at level 17 instead of level 22, and two of them give a higher bonus (40% compared to 38%) than +3 SOs without ever expiring. If you do triples (acc/dam/recharge, dam/end/recharge, acc/dam/end etc) for your attacks, the level 17 IOs can be slotted at level 14 and give a higher bonus than a +3 SO. You can reliably buy these from the vendor-trash sets for less than 40k on the black market even as crappy as it is, or run a couple AE missions and roll them with tickets.

Seriously, the cost to SO one slot from level 22 to 50 is over 200k. You can get a higher bonus starting at level 17 instead of 22 for 40k to 90k. Crafting a memorized level 30 common IO (gives more than an SO) is about 70k including salvage. And the 35s are almost the same price. Never use SOs.

In fact that's part of my nin's problem. He's on SOs varying from 0 to -4 (or worse) and a few expired. Keeping them fresh is an issue. He's a very old character from when I was new and hasn't received the IO love other later characters have. As a result, most of my younger characters have higher numbers AND more money. SOs really suck. Pay more for less, woohoo. Go team.

Anyway, my shield has phalanx, toughness, and weave at 36. She has aid other but not aid self yet. Don't forget the -dam/+dam aura that shields get also. My nin has just his secondaries plus combat jumping. No maneuvers, no tough, no weave. But at that point we're arguing builds not secondaries. See below.

really, most of that is moot (and for my money the top two heals in the game are in order Stygian Circle and Dull Pain). Assuming equal primaries, equal pools and equal slotting. Killing them faster AND reducing their damage beats stopping my attacks to heal. And that's why nin is squishier than shields. I can say that with a -damage aura and one defense toggle, my /sd has better staying power than my /nin with just a defense toggle. Against any given attack, that's where it really is. One toggle giving you defense against that position. Well, the nin has hide which shields doesn't, but all else can balance out. The nin has toys, the shield has a +dam to me -dam to them aura.

Pretend both have combat jumping, weave, tough, and maneuvers. What then is the difference?
nin = one defense toggle, hide, heal
Shield = one defense toggle, -dam/+dam aura, phalanx

That's the difference right there. all the rest is probably attributable to slotting and primary.

Once I found the forums, I started researching and got very sad. According to The Results Are In on the scrapper forums, 100% of my melee toons are in the very bottom of the damage dealt, and on top of that I don't even use the right attack powers.

Remember, SOs expire and drop as low as 18% bonus at -3 level. SOs suck. Really, really, really bad.
My status is not recharging because one of the two recharges slotted in it is expired and the other is low level.

Generally you want the order to be recharge-hp-regen. But it's not really a big deal, certainly easier to hit the hp cap on a stalker than a scrapper =) But that is a for sure goal if you're doing regen. Get both the +hp accolades, and make sure you're capped on hp. Makes a much bigger difference than adding more regen set bonuses because it multiplies the effect of all your heals and your regen both, while adding another regen bonus just adds a tiny amount of hp/sec one time. If you have enough to cap your hp, then it's all regen and recharge. Def is nice, 15-20% vs S/L makes a very noticeable difference all around.

It's clicky. When my regen is down, it is always because I forgot to use my clickies or because I used them wrong. On average I have 3 of them up and ready to be used when I faceplant. Regen is a skilled set. The more skill you have the better you can do with it. That said, at full tilt my scrapper pulls in 152 hp per second after my most recent rebuild. That is why I can afford to be sloppy with my clickies =)

That was patched quite a while back (roughly near i15), but it was a long-standing bug.

My very first character is a BS/Regen scrapper who turned herself into a giant bunny. Because she doesn't like getting blood all over her clothes before every mission she takes them off and puts them back on again after. Of course, for a giant bunny, clothes just means the mini vest and a scarf anyway...

And I had a stone/elec brute who would swap to the stone armor costume before entering missions.

I really should have gone and posted my results in those threads. I don't always make that much. Trips back from the hospital really cut into your earnings per hour. So does waiting for rest to recharge after every spawn. I do have level 50 builds this bad. Multiple.

I have a cold/cold defender who hasn't finished a radio mission in under an hour solo on 0/x1 for months. I'm looking forward to seeing what the new vigilance does for him.

I also have a fire/kin who makes about 20-30m/hour on a good day. That's because I have no idea how to use it properly, the build is capable of much more. Heh.

I recommend looking into the cheap sets. As I mentioned in another thread, I picked up a level 25 acc/dam for 85k. Oh sure if you want one of the expensive sets they're in the hundred thousands or millions. But you can buy the vendor-trash sets and get much nicer bonuses than the common IOs. And even an SO at 25 will run you 30-40k. A common accuracy at level 25 is probably 200k if you buy it already crafted, and uncrafted you need a luck charm. But pull down vendor trash? You can sometimes get those for 500. not k, just 500. Plus crafting fees and salvage.

Ah. So he got the Arsonist/Medic AI. Good for him. Sort of.

I only care for one reason: I have the reflexes of a bowl of jello. So going 1-2-3-2-1-2-3-2-1-2-3-2 is really easy =)

Yes Miracle heal/rech, heal/end/rech, numina heal/rech, heal/end/rech. Faster, heals more, plus gain recovery and regen. Only lose a touch of endurance per activation, but I think over the course of the recharge time, the extra recovery pays for itself. I think. Not sure on that but I will lie to myself and say it is so.

Very solid thinking.

Because you're missing the real reason. Going perception, tohit/rech, rech, frees up one slot. Put that slot into fireball and get 5 posi's.
Lose: your buildup's tohit and less than 3 seconds of recharge. possibly but not guaranteed a bit of damage and recharge on fireball
Gain: global 9% accuracy, global 6.5% recharge. Note that this negates the losses on buildup and enhances every other power you have. The actual loss of damage on fireball should be small.

And you can keep the perception IO if you don't care about the tohit io. So that's all good.

I agree 100%. Took me over a year for my first hero and also longer for my first villain. And I'm glad the newer players get them sooner than I did.