Geoff_NA

Pet slotting:

I like 4-slotting Expedient Reinf to get the + rech bonus and set up the pets well (skip acc/rech and the proc). Note: since you can cap the 5-max 6.25 recharge bonus allowed, you can get that with a ton of Pos blasts if you prefer and this positive becomes useless. The 4-slot gives perma-spiders with enough +rech IOs. It is a little short of the damage cap, but not a lot for only 4 slots. However, with this 4-slot you can then use the last 1-2 slots for a lvl 30 Dam/End/Rech of Call to arms to cap Dam, then in CR a +rech will cap recharge. Voila - get some nice set bonuses w/ capped dam and rech along with nice end redux (60%) & solid acc (44%).

CT:O vs TT:O:

I think CT:O is actually a pretty decent option for some builds. Once you have a bunch of Pos blasts & other IOs, +Acc is basically meaningless. However -Acc resist from CT:O still helps agains several mobs, and CSAU gives you some Confues/Fear protection already so the tradeoff I see is:
CT:O - gain ability to hit some of those really annoying foes for no end cost or slots
TT:O - pay some end, use some slots, and get + perception for you along with + percept as well as Fear and confuse resist for the team.

Possibly just skip both. TT:O gets a bump in value if you have pets.

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Then make it a different game. American-style heroes is what this game is based on. Noone is looking for the reverse of anime. I am sure there is profit in an anime-style MMO, but I dont want to spoil this one to get it.

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Lol - we have something of an anti-anime league on this board I think.

I just wanted some variety, not necessarily anime-variety. If everyone's against anime, s'ok by me, but I still want some variation, diversity, creativity and suprises that make me go OOOOOO!!!!

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/e wince

While I wouldn't mind more character options, one of the things that I like about this game is that it is different from all the big-eye anime style and sword/sorcery fantasy style games out there. Adding those types of things would start to blur the lines between this game and "those other games"... IMNSHO, of course.

Storm

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Fair enough. I'm not dieing for an anime toon myself, but I'd think by having this in seperate zones rather than say dumped into existing areas brings new options and new players while allowing others to enjoy the classic game. Plus, haven't you noticed almost every single enemy is either humanoid or stationary? Where are the giant lizards, moth monsters, 8-legged insect creatures, dune-sandworm-type creatures, etc. I want some more variety personally.

Anyway, new players means more revenue for NCSoft which leads to more effort on more and better updates, game longevity, a more dynamic market, more people awake at 4AM to team with (which might be 6PM for them), etc.

Like vet awards are the most critical thing in the world
I wouldn't mind a couple more myself, but don't you think those are kind of second teir requests? Higher priority content has to be stuff like:

> SFs for every 5 lvls of villains as previously stated
> New interesting zones - I've always wanted to see ones that target other hero/villain genres like Anime style (like Princess Mononoke, dragonball Z, etc.) with costumes, big eye character options etc, or maybe a D&D style one with dragons, sword wielding knights, etc (plus some old favs like trolls, hydras, etc).
> QOL upgrades with better graphics for the high end ppl, and more abilities to tailor gameplay, load times, etc based on performance for those w gimpy computers
> More possibilities for enemies. I've felt Heros, AVs and the like are nearly impossible to solo or at least take so long as to not be fun, and elite bosses are too easy to solo. Something in between for those powerful min/max players would be nice.
> New stuff for high lvl, been there/done that players like lvl 50+ content, kheldon-type villain ATs, etc.

Just my 2c

Well stated. I wonldn't claim this is the end all be all, but it's an in dept look at one build that I'd certainly say is working well. When to post was a balance between learning and posting early enough to help others. I felt like my learning rate had slowed a lot so here's all I know.

In the future I plan to fill in some more set IOs to get more bonuses and better power boosts, add the unique IOs I mentioned (just got the Positron Unique one) and eventually upgrade the IOs I have.

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This is just the start of Enhancement Diversification kicking in.

ED starts cutting back the bonus from Enhancements at a bonus of 75% and then really cuts it back hard at a bonus of 100%.

IOs work with ED exactly the same way all other Enhancements do.

Regards, Screwloose.
“I am not young enough to know everything.”

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Yes it is. However, I think many people didn't think of ED power reduction starting at 75% boost but after the second SO (which ends up being true, but isn't true for IOs). So the first inclination I had was even without set enhancements I could just slot everything the same as I had before but with IOs and get better results. This is not true when more than two enhancements are used, and I thought giving people numbers in terms of numbers of IOs to use would help. If everyone already knows this then, oops, I guess I only educated myself.

Guide to Advanced Building with Invention Enhancements (IOs)

I have spent the last couple of weeks playing for about 3-4 hours a day so I thought I'd share with you what I've gleaned from the system to hopefully help you set up your own build.

IOs can not just shore up weaknesses as well as make your character into something a little different than it used to be. However, there are some simple mistakes and pitfalls you can end up in if you're not careful. I write this based on how things are today, and imagine it'll change some in the near or distant future. I'm leaving the basics to other info already posted for instance: Intro to IO crafting, and The Beginner's guide to Inventions. This is what I felt was missing.


General Advanced Building Tips

1. IOs have diminishing returns like SOs, but end up working a little differently. For instance, 1 LVL 45 IO gives a boost of 40.5% as the enhancement states. However, (2) LVL45 IOs yield a 79.6% boost (instead of 81%), or a loss of about .9%. Where did this go? The math for it is approximately 2 SOs would boost about 37% each (74% total - yes I know it's 38.3% for +3s and 33% for even lvl - the math works out to just about 37%), so the first 74% boost from your IOs has no loss in effect. The remaining 7% (of the 81%) yield only 85% of their power (or 7% x 85% = 5.95%), giving a total of 79.95% boost. So 2 lvl 45 IOs count as about 2.2 SOs, and that last .2 gets the usual decrease in power. The important result of this is that slotting about 2 2/3 IOs (at lvl 45, changes some based on lvl) is about the most you'd usually want to do. Beyond this you only gain 15% of the boost from the IOs. Another way to say this is at around 105% bonus for regular boost effects (Dam, ACC etc.), and at about 62% for the lower ones (Dam Res, Def, etc) you've "hit the wall" of diminishing returns where you're getting only 15% of the stated boost.

2. The one huge overlooked advantage of set IOs is their ability to give better boosts (without the set bonuses even) than even generic IOs. If I slot two different set Dam/Acc IOs, I get about 24% boost (at lvl 45) in both areas from each enhancement, or 48% total in each of Dam and Acc, instead of just an ACC and a Dam giving 40.5% and 40.5% each. This can save slots or boost overal power.

3. Some complete IO sets aren't very practicle for most builds, but using 2-3 of them has value. Take the Dam Res sets. They mostly have boosts to Endurance Reduction, Damage Resist, and Recharge Time. For most damage resist powers, either you don't care about recharge time (Toggles you always leave on) or you care about recharge but not Endurance cost (MOG, Power Surge, etc.). This doesn't make the IO sets useless, but you may only want 2-3 of a given type per power, as the set bonuses aren't worth the waste of slots.

4. Mixing and matching different IO sets is a good idea at times. Yes, you often want one set to get a good compliment of set powers, but sometimes combining two sets gives a better combination of boost, a special enhancement gives more value than the extra boost, or getting a complete set is nearly impossible or not useful.

5. There are key cutoff points on salvage at lvl 25 and 40 where after this the rare recipies require the higher level rare salvage, some of which is quite expensive (up to 3-4Million, occasionally needing rare 2 pieces). So in buying recipies, if you exceed these cutoff points, check that you can afford the salvage needed. You may want to buy just at/below the cutoff for some sets until you get more Inf. Also, here's a handy Guide to Salvage.

6. The unique IOs mostly don't change in power based on level, so looking below your level range is a good idea (they're cheaper to build too).

7. When buying or selling, unless the item is relatively inexpensive, look at the history for the item, as well as the history of a few levels around it (for level specific items) before pricing or bidding. You may find for some rare items that for the one you're selling only one has been sold and went for 50,000, but if you look at a level range around it that they've been going for 1,000,000. So maybe price at 750,000 or even well about 1M. The opposite could be true as well, explaining why somebody priced something much higher than the history shows.
Buy low - Aim at the lower end of the price range for items that have a history of more than 3 items sold that day.
Sell high - Just not so high your item will sit there forever. Salvage drops often enough its not likely to fluctuate too far out of a certain range, so don't aim for higer than the top previous price unless you know it often goes for more.
Be patient - Leave a bid up overnight for that salvage at the lower end of the price range. Don't just look at items at your level, but one to three above what you're at now and sometimes below your level. Why? Because unless you have many millions of Inf available to you, you'll find some things are far too expensive for you. Most of the in demand stuff (at lvl 40+) has been going for about 300,000 to 3 Million (as I write this anywya), and where possible you'll need to stay around the 300-600,000 area, because overall build costs can easily be 25 Million with 100 Mil a very real possibility.
But not too patient - Some extremely rare items drop so infrequently that maybe it's worth paying 5 or even 15 Million for them (if you can afford it), as you may have to wait weeks to see it again.


My Example:

I have been working on an Elec/Elec Brute (collecting IOs from LVL 39-42 now) during this period. It's not complete, but I'd say closer to done than not. For those who are unfamiliar with them, Elec Brutes have higher resistance than most brutes, but no self-heal. They have no Tox resistance, and somewhat lesser Neg resistance, but do have solid Psi resist (though more would be good). They have a MOG-like click power that gives huge damage resist to all but Psi for 90 seconds that can be run with all other shields, that can easily cap all resistances but PSI and possibly Neg (depending on slotting). There's also a recharge buff power in the build that brings Hasten fairly close to Perma as well as good endurance gain/mod powers.

So the key areas to improve are Tox and Heal/Health (Heal to counter the lack of heal and to buff all resistance). Then Neg, Psi, Recharge (to make Hasten Perma), ACC, Dam, and End gain all add value.


Total Set and special bonuses:

- Psi Resist +2.5% (+2.5% @ lvl 43 from 2nd complete Crushing Impact set, and possibly another 3% with a unique +Psi resist IO)
- Neg Engergy Resist + 9.39%
- Maximum Health + 4.51%
- Health Regen + 42%
- Endurance Recovery + 2.5% (2.5% more if/when I get another Imperv Armor End/Dam resist piece)
- Damage + 3 %
- Recharge + 10% (w another 6.25% from Positron's Blast in a few lvls. Hasten is close to perma already, so this should just about do it. I may get another unique IO to boost still further if needed (see below).
- Immobilization Time - 4.4%
- Chance of Lethal in my AoE Smash
- (+5% chance of buildup w Mu Lightning attack @ lvl 43)
- Accuracy + 23% (w up to 14% more if I get another Scirroco's or two - nice for Blackwand/Sands of Mu and -ACC enemies. Note, I thought if I had enough +ACC I wouldn't need to slot ACC in any powers, but since the +ACC comes from attacks, I think you'll find this won't work for most builds (possibly with Tactics)

Sadly I have been unable to get any Tox resist going. It's generally the last set power for Dam Res sets, and as I said previously, for those sets, having all 5-6 IOs of a set is a waste of slots. I challange anyone to come up with a good option for me (more because I want to make sure I'm not missing anything than because I'm certain it can't be done).

LVL 1: Charged Brawl - 6 slots w all Crushing Impact IOs
LVL 1: Charged Armor - 4 slots w 1 Impervium Armor (End/Rech/Res), 1 End Red, 2 Dam Res IOs
LVL 2: Lightning Field - 6 slots w 2 Scirroco's D. (ACC/Dam, Dam/End), 1 End Red, 1 Acc, 2 Dam IOs
LVL 4: Conductive Shield - 4 slots w 1 End Red, 3 Dam Res (I'll likely put in a couple Impervium armor later)
LVL 6: Boxing - 6 slots w Crushing Impact IOs (Actually, 1 is lvl 46 so I have an empty slot waiting for it)
LVL 8: Thunderstrike - 6 slots w 5 Scirocco (Acc/Dam, Dam/End, Dam/Rech, Acc/Rech, Chance of Lethal), 1 Multistrike (Dam/End/Rech)
LVL 10: Hurdle - 1 slot w Leap IO
LVL 12: Static Shield - 4 slots w 2 Impervium A. (1 Res/Rech/End, 1 Res/End), 2 Dam Res
LVL 14: Tough - 4 slots w 1 End Red IO, 3 Dam Res IOs
LVL 16: Health - 3 slots w Heal IOs
LVL 18: Hasten - 3 slots w Rech IOs
LVL 20: Stamina - 3 slots w End Mod IO
LVL 22: Lightning Reflexes - 1 slot w Run Spd IO
LVL 24: Grounded - 1 slot w Dam Res IO
LVL 26: Build Up - 1 slot w Rech IO
LVL 28: Weave - 1 slot w End Redux, 1 Slot Defense (2 more coming @ LVL43, with set IOs likely)
LVL 30: Super Speed - 1 slot w End Redux IO
LVL 32: Lightning Rod - 6 slots w 3 Sciroccos (Acc/Dam, Dam/Rech, Acc/Rech), 1 Multistrike (Dam/End/Rech) 1 Dam IO, 1 End IO
LVL 35: Power Sink - 3 slots 1 End Modification, 2 Recharge IOs
LVL 38: Power Surge - 4 slots w 1 Rech, 1 Aegis (Res/Rech), 1 Titanium Coating (Res/Rech), 1 Reactive Armor (Res/Rech)
LVL 41: Mu Lightning - 4 slots w Devastation (Acc/Dam/Rech, Acc/Dam, Acc/Dam/Rech, Dam/End) w a "Decimation, Chance for Buildup" ready for slotting when I hit LVL 43. There's no point completing the Dev set. I don't need the last two set bonuses or the chance for hold much and this power needs no more recharge help. I may put a Dam/End IO in mostly to hit the wall on damage dealt.

All these IOs are lvl 40 or higher except 1 lvl 39 Crushing Impact where I had trouble getting a 2nd higer lvl one, or the Scirroco Chance for Lethal and the Decimation IOs at around LVL 25. It doesn't matter for these two, they're not power is not level specific. In fact they were a lot cheaper to buy and assemble at this level as the salvage was low cost. These two each cost me less than 1M Inf to buy and make.

I also have 4 of Positron's Blast recipies waiting for my lvl 44 power. I will collect more of these as I can (but no hurry as I am already covered through lvl 45 and I am following the mantra of buy low sell high). When I have 6 of these (LVL 46 hopefully), I'll have my first +Tox Res boost.


Explanation on the more exotic slotting:

- PBAoEs - I used Multistrikes in the attacks because, for one thing, the more different effects given by a power, the greater the total boost given (for instance the triple Multis at LVL 45 gives a total of 60.9 Boost!!). Additionally, I wanted extra Recharge that Scirocco's wouldn't give. For the Drip damage (Lightning Field), the Rech IOs from the Scirocco set were pointless, but again I wanted the Health Bonus and the advantage that multi-effect IOs give.

- Dam Resist Powers - Most of my shields are toggles, but Power Surge is a click power. For it I used the three different Res/Rech set IOs to cap my resistances and hit the diminishing returns wall for recharge rate by only using 4 slots. In other powers I found some value in putting impervium armors to get the +End bonus even though they cap at lvl 40 because if you slot with 4 (1 End red, 3 Res) you're deep into diminishing returns for the Dam Resist, but with 3 (1 End Red, 2 Dam Res) you don't get 3SOs worth of resistance so there was a little freedom to get creative with the slotting. I intend to add more set IOs as I can.

- I have considered some of the other special enhancements. Entropic Chaos has a heal, but at 10% chance for 5% heal, this doesn't seem that great to me and was selling for about 3 Mil inf. I think this price will come down as people see how little impact this has.


More unique IOs my build could use and why I don't have them

- Luck of the Gambler - Recharge: This one I want, but it's very pricy and I'm close to Perma Haste already.

- Aegis Psi Resistance/Mez resist - I want this one too, but not as badly as others. I have about 40% Psi resist already with solid if not phenominal Mez resist, so while I like this, I can't see paying the 7.5+ Mill its going for right now. Likewise with Impervious Skin Mez Reduction at 4+ Mil.

Some of you who know prices well may be wondering how a lvl 42 got the millions needed to build this. No I don't have LVL 50s with Millions of Inf to pass around. The buy low sell high has helped me get all my Crushing Impacts for 500K Inf or less (though that might be harder now, prices seem higher). I've targeted mostly magic enemies to get higer value salvage drops (Pangean Soil, Prophecy, Magical Conspiracy, Essence of the Furies, etc. are all magic drops). Also, the Sciroccos are all either lvl 40, or carefully selected ones, all of which use less expensive salvage. Lastly, somebody bought a salvage "Essence of the Furies" from me for 12 Mil Inf. I assume they meant to bid 1.2 Mil - BTW: This is easy to do so be careful with your 0's. However, I have 8 Mil left, so it hasn't been the deciding factor, and no, I haven't had any valuable costume drops : (

I hope this helped and good luck with your builds. Also, if you have a more creative, smarter, or just plain weird build, I'd love to see them.

Nice guide. Very helpful to me in developing my now lvl 34 Elec/elec.

One Important (IMO) point: This build is slot-intensive. Unlike most brutes and scrappers, this build has 4 shields that all provide substantial value (not including the 38 uber-shield) as well as lots of helpful powers like lightning reflexes (LR) and conserve power. Could you skip stamina? You could but I think it's a weaker build without it. Hasten is also very tempting, with this build and Tough is also very helpful if you use Lightning Field regularly, meaning 2 more powers sucked up.

The good news with this build is a travel power is easier to avoid than with just about any other, saving you a power (or possibly 2 if you're not a hasten/SS person). Getting Swift, coupled with LR, sprint, and picking up as many of the temp-power travel powers as you can and using them sparingly once you have LR (which BTW, speeds up the temp powers) does a pretty good job of geting you around. I slotted sprint once to add a little zip and find I get to destinations only a little slower than an SSer (unless its a really long way). Also, since your status protection is linked with being on the ground, a ground-based travel plan is a good one. You even have a teleporting attack that can be used to get over obstacles.

Is this the end all be all? Duh! Of course not. However, its an option that works better with this build than basically any other so I thought was worth mentioning.

Well, it helped me, so thanks!

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These are for the Force of Nature accolade; I guess it is reasonable to expect to get this one around level 40. Most of the tasks are things you would do anyway. Firebug looks like the most difficult one; look out for arson side missions.


Hero Slayer (Force)
Defeat Signature heroes in mayhem missions.

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I'm 33 and have the arson 3/4 completed, but need about 90% more sig heroes. You need only 10 arsons, but something like 100 heroes. I like mayhem missions, but not enough to do 100 of them. What's the best way to take down more signature heroes?

Very nice info, thanks. This has really helped my SG start putting together our base.

I hope you'll update it. Some things I'd love to see - what badges unlock what, what's auxilliary vs main, what some of the things do (like where can you go with craftable teleporters - areas and locations in them), etc.

I found the answer on another post. It put a random hero (one of mine) as the new head because of the 15 day autodemote and I just didn't notice him as I hadn't played him in months and I always thought the larger diamond in the supergroup window meant SG leader. Is that the founder? Anyway, yay for us. The base is forming and we should be forging items in a month or less.

Backstory:

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We can't get a Supergroup Base. We went to the Supergroup headquarters in both Atlas and GC but wouldn't offer one. What's up?

We don't seem to have an Avatar of Peace in our SG. He didn't quit, we're all just lieutennants somehow. I don't know if this is the problem or what

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Yes, that is the problem. If you have no SG leader, you don't have the option of purchasing a base. Therefore, you'll probably have to break the SG and reform.

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We can't get a Supergroup Base. We went to the Supergroup headquarters in both Atlas and GC but wouldn't offer one. What's up?

We don't seem to have an Avatar of Peace in our SG. He didn't quit, we're all just lieutennants somehow. I don't know if this is the problem or what

I didn’t see much I6 build guide help for tankers so I thought I’d put up a quick one. I tried to give explanations of general tanker defense ideas with this, but I used my 41 Fire/Fire tank, Fury of Hathor, so it's going to be focused on her. My tank philosophy is defense first, taunt 2nd, offense 3rd, but all three have to be solid and the build has to be good against almost anything. Because of the reduction in power of SOs in I6, I found myself needing to select powers and SOs to minimize the losses in boost % and spread my defense over a larger range of abilities.

Enhancement power:
SO 1: 100%
SO 2: 100%
SO 3: 85%
SO 4: 15%
SO 5: 15%
SO 6: 15%

So an enhancement works at 100% power for the 1st two added to a power, 85% for the 3rd, etc. By the 4th, you are getting less than 1/6 the boost as a regular enhancement, so a defense or damage resist enhancement in a power like Weave vs Combat Jump, you should start slotting up combat jump because the return from it’s tiny defense boost becomes superior. The same is true for just about all defense powers. There is nearly no more point in putting 4 SOs of the same kind in anything unless it's over 6 times better. Now more than ever, layering defensive powers becomes effective.

This is the biggest difference between this build and I5 and previous builds. It prooved a very effective method for I6. See the test results for this build below.


So, to the build:

Level 1: Blazing Aura Dmg(2), EndRdx (2), Acc(2)
Level 1: Scorch ACC(1)

Blazing Aura slotted like this is more taunting than the usual 3 Dam. It hits even against +5s enough w/o help to still draw lots of aggro. EndRedux is a constant theme in this build because of all the toggle powers constantly using endurance. This power uses 2x more End than other toggles too. Most people would slot a single Dam in Scorch, and that’s fine (gives more damage/less taunt chance). Good fire tanker attacks are all late coming so I don’t slot this in my late game build shown, but may builds should slot early attacks some (or slot early on, respec out later for any build).

Level 2: Fire Shield ResDam(3), EndRdx (1)

Only slotting 3-4 SOs in your damage resist and defense powers will feel strange here if you’ve been 6-slotting for dam resist for months, but the numbers told me this was almost always the way to go. Slot your first defense early.

Level 4: Healing Flames Heal(3), RechRdx(3)

Every build’s heal is a solid addition to your defensive layering. They generally all add Tox Resist, making this a nice power to get early to use vs Vazols and later as a nice “Ooh S#!^” button.

Level 6: Combat Jumping DefBuff(3)

3-slotting of Combat Jump made sense in I6 for most builds. It buffs all defense types now and with I-6, you pull slots out of Weave and some other defenses now. In other tank builds, 2 is probably fine. This also resists immobilization, which is essential for Fire Tanks that want to put tanking first. Of course you can slot another power here and go with Super Speed later since we take hasten. BTW: This power uses almost no end, so no EndRedux needed.

Level 8: Hasten RechRdx(3)

This is essential for the Fire Tank build I prepared because you only have 4 attacks and both build up and firey embrace (similar to build up) to speed up. If you plan 5 or more attacks, w/o build up, this power may be unnecessary for your build now. The end drain when it powers down is enough of a liability for a heavily toggled tank that it may kill you more often than it helps you. Again, putting in more than 3 SOs will not help you.

Level 10: Boxing Dam(3), ACC (1)

I used to save my slots for other things, but now I have extras. This is a power you might Respec in in your 20s from something else (an Attack probably) to get tough and weave at later levels.

Level 12: Plasma Shield ResDam(3), EndRdx(1)

Get your 2nd defense early, but it doesn’t have to be this early. You definitely want your mez resist before 20 and at 20, you often want stamina, and at 18 many builds open up a good power so plan early.

Level 14: Super Jump Jump(1)

Fire Tanks needed Combat Jump (vs Immob) and need Acrobatics to prevent knockback, so this has to be our travel power path.

Level 16: Taunt RechRdx(1),Taunt(2)

This is slot to taste mostly. It can be nice to slot 3 recharge (especially w/o hasten) to protect against minor slows.

Level 18: Swift Run (1)

Time to get Stamina rolling. This power is better for this build than Hurdle because the added Speed helps in lots of subtle ways, whereas between Combat Jump and Super Jump, we got jump height covered.

Level 20: Health Heal (3)

Health improved in issues 3 and 4. This makes a real difference in a drawn out fight now. Consider this a defense because tanks are weak vs Psionics and sometimes 1 other thing. This is one of the few things that helps vs psi even though not as directly as weave. Health and Stamina can be pushed to later in the build for another attack here, but you will miss them every level you don’t have them.

Level 22: Stamina EndRegen (3)

This is essential for my build and most I think. You don’t want to take this later than 24 as you go up. Most tanks are End heavy anyway. Fire tanks could take Consume w/o stamina. I considered this, but found it was only at all helpful vs End drain and if you are getting Sapped (Maltha Sappers mostly), this often won’t help you, it’s just not enough.

Level 24: Tough DamResist (3), EndRedux (1)

Tough will help make up some of your Smash/Lethal resist lost with only 3-slotting Fire Shield. Tough and weave should be pushed back in the build for more Offense if you are not a big teamer or have better D than Fire Tanks do.

Level 26: Weave DefBuff (3), EndRedux (1)

I used to 6-slot this, no point now.

Level 28: Fire Sword Circle Dmg(3), EndRdx (1), Acc(1), RecRedux (1)

An AoE attack is a beautiful augmentation to your Aggro pulling and damage output. This one does solid fire damage too. Now that Hasten is slower and 4 damage doesn't do much, speeding what is often your one or two AoE attacks more effectively adds to your damage output.

Level 30: Build up RchRedux (3)

I’ve exhausted all my defense opportunities now (Temperature protection is outclassed by other Fire Tanker D options), and this will aid my Taunting ability (by adding ACC) and damage. Plus it goes well with FSC. 3 Recarge in Build-up is not essential, but with this and hasten, you get it just about every battle, even if you’re moving fast.

Level 32: Acrobatics EndRdx(1)

I might get this earlier but this feels about right. Knockback has always been annoying and becomes common with lots of enemies post 30.

Level 35: Fiery Embrace RechRdx(3)

3 Recarge is not essential, but with this and hasten, you get it just about every other battle if you’re moving fast.

Level 38: Greater Fire Sword Acc(1), Dmg(3), RechRdx(1), EndRedux (1)

This is a better choice for a Fire Tank than Incinerate because it’s ½ Fire, ½ Lethal damage vs all Fire damage (both do the same total damage though). Since Fire tanks do mostly Fire damage (duh!), the Smash/Lethal is nice against enemies w high fire resist.

Level 41: Conserve Power RechRdx(1)

This is essential for nasty drawn out battles (AVs) and End Drain. It will be slotted more later to make it faster.

After 41 it doesn’t matter so much. Incinerate is a likely addition for more Offense. I might slot in 4th SOs for Damage in some powers, but I will more likely add to Scorch instead.


Test Results

I started w my lvl enemies, then cranked up the difficulty:
- LVL 41 Fake Nem, Warhulk & minion - No risk, battle was a little slow (Fake bubbled)
- LVL 43 Rikti Mentalist or Swordsman Boss - No problem
- Lvl 43 2x Greater Devourers, 8 minions - some risk. Used 3 inspirations and Conserve Power (CP)
- Lvl 45 Dev Earth Minion - w/ 1 med Acc, Build Up & Firey embrace and he went down fast
- LVL 47 Nem minions - used med ACC, large Dam, small Luck insps and CP - did OK until the ACC wore off, then it was a long battle with Build Up being essential.
- Lvl 43-44 Nemesis Rex AV mish with team of 8 (7 lvl 41, 1 lvl 40) 1 other tanker - up to 25 mins and 2 Fakes at once, got in brief trouble once, had 3 team deaths total (none by me).

In this test I saw only minimal psionics with the Rikti Mentalist that were not a problem and heavy Tox against the Dev Bosses which was somewhat dangerous. I could have used Healing Flames before battle and made it less risky. That seemed like maybe overkill, but better to know what too much is. You could certainly back off a little for more themey play.


Random stuff:

Here's a pic of my Tank, Fury of Hathor. I like using 3 trays, keeping toggles on the 2nd row and clicks on the 1st except for my travel power for quick getaways).

Fury workin the pumkin king solo

Remember when soloing AVs was normal? Fury was lvl 24 here

I can certainly understand that you have better things to do than datamine every player to award badges, or datamine specific players. I was wondering if instead, if people could prove within reason that they completed the TF, that you give the badge. For instance screenshots of Ruladak the Strong being taken down by a team (which I just happen to have).

This would allow a reasonable number of heroes to get the badges I think with minimal effort by your staff. Obviously not everyone would have this and I'm biased, but I know I'm nowhere near the only person who takes screenshots of AVs (especially at the end of TFs). This might fix a large % of the problem.

[ QUOTE ]
Here's an idea. We want precise target control with Wormhole, devs want AoE disorient with Wormhole.

We can have both.

Wormhole teleports one enemy, single target and precise. But the exit spot gets the AoE disorient, weak AoE control at level 26. We all get what we want.

The single target grab allows us to throw FF gens, auto-turrets, and DE stumps away from the team. The AoE disorient on exit allows a fig leaf of AoE control. They can even split the to-hit rolls like they do with Blind's hold/sleep setup so the teleport has the normal accuracy and the disorient has the AoE penalty accuracy.

Wormhole gets a clear buff instead of a 50/50 berf. Vote!

[/ QUOTE ]

What a cool idea. I'd be happy to have it this way, however, I do like the current change on test. AoE disorient works with my /storm's thuner clap and mass immob keeps the guys from scattering.

My only reservation with this proposed method is it may be very confusing for new players.

First, here's another Grav guide. It's good and a different take on our powers: another Grav/Storm guide

Next a few things for you:

- Wormhole is becomming AoE in I4 and having it's recharge time increased.
- Propel is having it's damage increased in I4
- Thunder Clap is auto hit at the moment but it's magnitude (1) only affects Minions, so don't bother with the ACC enhances, and don't expect it to disorient LTs and above. This may combo well with Wormhole soon though because both have disorients. So I say slot some Disorient Dur enhances in it and call it a day. (they may change the auto-hit at some point, but doesn't appear to be have changed in I4)
- Leadership can be really nice for Grav/Storm. The Def buff combines nicely with Steam Mist to give you and your buddies some nice D buffage, Dam buf can't be enhanced right now so is not so great, but you do low damage so every bit helps and of course soloing with sings, you get the buff on you and your pets. +ACC is the really nice one here. Of course it's nice for your buddies, but you have so many things that need +ACC (Lift, Gale, GD, CF, GDF, Wormhole, maybe Propel and others) that this is very helpful. You can remove an ACC SO from each of these powers and use it elsewhere. They do use a fair amount of End though.
- Personally I find Snowstorm to suck up too much End to use. I have it now but never find a time where I wouldn't rather toss a hold or other ability. I may respec away soon.

First, here's another more recent Grav guide. It's good and a different take on our powers: Grav/Storm guide

Next a few things for you:

- Wormhole is becomming AoE in I4 and having it's recharge time increased.
- Propel is having it's damage increased in I4
- TP friend can be used to bring your sings from other floors or across the map to you. Slot a Range SO in it because sometimes 1 floor of a building is very far away from the other on the maps. Still doesn't always work, but maybe 90% of the time it does.
- Crush field works well with Freeze Rain. You get almost no hits on you and it keeps the mobs in the rain (chain CF just after FR, not before). This can cover your lack of a 2nd powerful hold (though with AoE wormhole coming any day now it might not matter as much, we'll see).
- With ancillary pools availabel I'd suggest Power or Ice. Hibernate is nice for avoiding aggro while your sings and Lightning Storm do their work, and Power is fairly obvious in it's uses I think
- Thunder Clap is auto hit at the moment but it's magnitude (1) only affects Minions, so don't bother with the ACC enhances, and don't expect it to disorient LTs and above. This may combo well with Wormhole soon though because both have disorients. So I say slot some Disorient Dur enhances in it and call it a day. (they may change the auto-hit at some point, but doesn't appear to be have changed in I4)

Wow, my little guide made it into the Guide to Guides list? I feel like I need to improve it now.

Talos - I reviewed Talos island to see if I had indeed missed the biggest non-mission hunting ground for Masks. I have been doing all of my street mask hunting solo. IMO, if you do hunt solo, DA is a better place to go. People's claims that Talos is better in groups may be true, as there are quite a few spawns there, but I don't know.

Because the BP only spawn in Talos at night it can be a pain hunting there. I don't believe there's a slash command to get Paragon time, and finding a pedestrian with an F name (click on one and they will give you Paragon time) can be a hassle. I found actually watching the sun's position to be a better way to tell when night was coming. The added hassle of only being able to hunt 1/2 the time can make it less enjoyable. You can certaily run back and forth between DA and Talos though. I found this to be helpful in keeping it from getting too boring.

People also mentioned getting DE eminator, Warrior boss, and Tsoo sorcerer badges during the day. My opinion on this is DE are around through enough of the game (all the way through lvl 50) that you don't need to really work on getting their eminators. They will come in time so long as you kill them when they're dropped. They and the Warrior Bosses do not give accolades, so I am not as interested. Tsoo sorcerers though would be a valuable diversion during the day if your build is decent for killing them. They are part of an Accolade.

Talos spawn locations - I will not post the exact coordinates because it's easier to describe verbally. There is a set of office buildings near the DA entrance (a little West and on higher ground than the entrance). The spawn points are there, throughout the paved area and up the road (going West) over the first bridge to the first small island. Spawns do not seem to occur more than about 5-10 feet off the road both on the island or near the office buildings.

I got my mask badge for my main BTW, so I will likely not do much more research on this. Good luck to you all.

I couldn't agree more. Strigia has been a fun experience in it's entirety so far and we're about to start that 2nd TF. Things I especially liked:

- The council base complete with turrets and secret entrance

- The mob vs mob fights. It was cool to see literally dozens of enemies battling each other

- the other little touches, like seeing sky raiders in hangers getting fixed, all the cool temp powers, etc.

thanks for strigia,

Geoff

I remember first getting off the tram at Steel canyon by mistake and turning around only to find I couldn't get back on. I went all the way to the green line with my lvl 6 like a scared little girl only to find that that was even worse than where I was, and then going all the way back to find the real entrance to the Yellow line tram.

I remember first getting to Atlas and thinking "Wow, this place is huge!" How the heck am I going to find that liberty person?

I remember my first time running the Synapse TF with all friends who'd never done it before at lvl 12 and spending 2 debt-filled days trying to make it to the back of Boomtown for our mission.

I remember the first time two of us got TP friend and immedietly TP friend fighting "No he's my friend, BWAANG!, no he's mine! BWAANG!".

I remember having to tell half my supergroup how to view the front their character

I remember when I was a complete NOOB to all MMORPGS and didn't know what KS, PL, SK, FF, Artphobia, etc, etc, etc. were.

I remember getting my first singularity with my Grav/Storm and thinking "YES! I can FINALLY solo!" and within about 5 minutes of getting it watching a lvl 34 Fire/Kin stomp by with a whorde of monkies and slaughteur a bunch of +5s solo

I remember the first time someone wrongfully accused us of kill-stealing after they had jumped into the fight after us and how mad it made me

I remember when I used to not do anything but work and talk to coworkers at work.

This game is too fun!

Hmm... I have certainly seen Masks in Talos, but not enough that I wanted to hunt them there. I'll have to investigate more. I expect to post on this in a day or two.

Strigia Isle: Sadly, I spent about 1/2 hr here looking for masks and didn't find a single one. Maybe it's a day/night thing here too, but I searched the Maw, Bonny Morass, and the Bog extensively, since there were lots of BP there, but nope, no masks.

So you want to get that banisher badge too?

Well sorry, It's not actually all that easy to get. 200 spirits means basically you're either spending a lot of time hunting or farming missions. Note too that only the masks of lvl 20-29 missions, and masks from Paragon city count. Masks from Portal missions (lvl 40+ missions) do not.

Hunting: Some masks appear in Talos near the DA entrance, and if you see one going in, by all means kill it, but don't try to hunt there unless you're a masochist.

Hunt locations in DA:

1) 6-8 spawn points (about 1-6 masks in a typical visit) - 208 yds SSE of Didos View marker (loc 354, 1, 4260) there's a brown rectangle in the far SE corner of the area map. That spot has spawn points through it, and 1 just W of it (other side of wall to dirt area).

2) 3-4 spawn points (0-2 masks in a typical visit) - 285yds SSE of Romeo Heights marker (loc: 4788, 0, 2493) on the basketball court or in the street below.

3) 1-2 spawn points (0-2 masks in a typical visit) - 242yds SSE of Toffet Terrace marker (loc: 3576, -41, 3411)

I have seen a 4th spot, but didn't record it at the time. If you're solo, you might just want to stick to the 1st spot and do loops through it (can get boring though). If you fought for a min or two on your way though the furthest end should have respawned already.

You can of course hunt these at any level, but you might as well get good XP for them too if you can. Most masks in DA are lvl 22-25, so go at the levels that seem best for this to you.

I have also seen some spawns in Strigia I believe, but have never hunted masks carefully there. I may post on this later or if someone finds the info please feel free to attach it to this thread and improve my guide.

Farming missions: Get the Banished Pantheon missions from their contacts and farm them

LVL 20-25 contacts are: Josef Keller, Dr. Cheng, Oliver Haak, Andrea Mitchell, Cain Royce, and Piper Irving
LVL 25-30 contacts are: Miriam Bloechi, and Laura Brunetti

How to farm the instanced missions:
- Check to see if they have spirit masks in them, some are all Totems which don't count. If it's all totems there isn't much point in getting a big group, just do the mission as you like and move on to the next one that hopefully does have them.
- get as many people for them as you can (8 is best)
- To farm a mission: Run a mission with lots of Spirits but not to completion, leaving 1 hostage or not killing all as aprropriate. After you have done this, everyone must leave the mission, and then you must select another non-hunt mission (clicking yes to abandon your current mission), and then reslect the BP mission. This resets it so you can run it again.

Otherwise just completing these missions w 8 people gives you a nice start on your 200 Spirits that you can polish off with hunting.

I hope this helps.


BTW: I am generally against farming missions, but for the BP you're very likely to outlevel them before you get your 200. 200 bosses is a lot (more than for any other boss-only badge), has the least number of spawn points of any other Boss I can think of, and is only available in a tight level range (where you're also hunting Lost Bosses, Sorcerers, Freak Tanks, and CoTs for accolades too), so this one is weirdly hard to get.

While we're talking about friends -

It'd be nice if devs fixed it where if you're teaming with people from your friends list it would not spam that they are online everytime you zone or go through a door. I know they're frickin online, we're teamed! Hello!

This is not a big deal with 1 firend online, but when there are 6 or more of them I have to scroll up to see what we just did or said (people often chat when missions are complete of course) because of all the clutter in the chat window. Yes, I can customize to not see friends, but I want to know who might have logged on. With it showing everyone or if I make it not show anyone, I may or would miss the new guy.

BTW: Thanks a ton devs - looks like you fixed the issue with missions not always showing or no longer showing when you zone. I know I complained about that one. My supergroup is very happy about that one.

Likewise this is not earth shattering, but annoying and likely fixable and the "Hello!" and the like was meant as humor, not an insult to our helpful devs.

Wow! In general this sounds great, and will help weaker solo ATs and casual gamers a ton. Had 2 things to mention though.

Minor issue: I liked the super-nasty bosses for the +25 game. They'll be missed, but I'll be OK with it.

One Large Concern & request for improvement - Contacts should not be filled up (maybe just 1 or 2 missions) before offering story arcs IMO. This is because often players will outlevel contacts before they can complete or possibly even get the storyarc (especially at the sub 30 lvls where there is lots of content and TFs, especially now after Issues 2 and 3). I'd really love to get storyarcs first thing and know I was on one. This is the most fun part of the game for me and my SG.

In order to allow casual play mixed with storyarcs, I'd suggest you offer heros 3 options each time they hit a contact until each option type is depleted. 1) Hunts, 2) Standard missions 3) Storyarcs.

Anyway, don't let my one concern discourage you. In general I'm impressed and, um... Did I say impressed?