Glowworm_Nexus

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in other words:

How much debuff can a resist buff resist, if a resist buff can buff debuff resist?

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Hee Hee.

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I've been playing for YEARS,

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Uh huh... years... which is the plural of year, which means by definition two years or more. Since the game hasn't been out for more than two years, that comment is impossibly false.

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The "playing for years" quote could refer to playing MMORPGs for years. Since the subject being discussed is "how to lead" experience with leading MMORPG groups in general could be relevant even if some of that experience is with other systems.

Edit--nevermind, nothing to see here (just read OPs concessionary post).

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In my experience, the secret to a successfull task force, whether it be numina, positron, or anything inbetween is solid class balance, a solid tank, and a solid empath.

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Great original post but the above does not reflect my experience. I think that thinking about defenders as one class is not helpful in the context of team-building since the different builds do very different things.

My only other qualm is the "don't invite people who aren't LFT". I use the LFT flag when I am looking for a team but I frequently accept invites when it isn't on. I don't accept blind invites since if the person can't bother to write a sentence then in my experience it is often a bad sign. But if I am doing missions and I don't have LFT up and get a tell saying that a team my level is doing a mission in the same zone as me I probably will accept.

There is a space for comments in the LFT screen and if people put "not interested in teaming" I don't bother them. But lots of people who aren't "LFT" aren't necessarrily iron-clad opposed to it. I send a tell. If I don't get a response or get a "no" I don't bother them again but I get a lot of "yes" responses.

Static, have you tried Telekenisis on test? It is an auto-hit area hold in addition to pushing stuff away. It's big drawback is its end cost (well, that and it takes some practice to get used to the pushing part). Since you have Recovery Aura the end cost may not be a big deal. Just wanted to know if you had tried it or not since I was thinking about it for my Emp/elec (much later).

I think I will probably go with elec app since I like the way Power Sink works with Short Circuit (and it's more thematic for my toon anyway).

Thanks for writing the guide, Static. I do have a different opinon about:

Aim: Aim gives +50% damage boost in addition to a accuracy boost. I need all the damage I can get.

Short Circuit: A minor quibble, but Short Circuit does damage similar to Ball Lightning (its brawl index is similar). If you are teaming with Kin or have some other way to buff your damage BL+SC can make a nice damage-dealing combo. I'm not saying to slot it for damage instead of end drain--just that it has damage potential unlike, say, Tesla Cage.

Similar to the other poster, I love Fortitude, which also increases damage. Empathy doesn't have a lot of ways to increase damage.

Also if you are looking for end draining powers, Zapp drains more than Ball Lightning (though obviously not in area).

I wasn't sure about Regeneration Aura; nice to see your take on it. I may end up taking it after all.

My Illusion/Storm controller, The Flying-Dutchman, thanks you. Now I just have to incorporate wooden shoes, windmills and tulips with all of the above.

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Manticore funded *and* founded Wyvern. The rest of the Phalanx are not aware of that however.

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They're not? A bunch of crime-fighting archers, named after a mythological beast, and they didn't immediately make that connection? My villain is smarter than the entire Phalanx put together?

Excellent...

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I should have read further before posting. Yeah, I think the Phalanx went into Supering because their SATs weren't so hot...

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Hey guys,

Manticore funded *and* founded Wyvern. The rest of the Phalanx are not aware of that however.

Carry on...

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The Phalanx is either purposefully avoiding putting 1+1 together or they are very dim.

If I teamed up with a rich, crime-fighting, super-archer named after a mythical beast who has a certain vigilante attitude and then all of a sudden a group of super-archers appeared who also were named after a mythical beast and who used similar technology and who shared his attitude it would make me say, "hmm" at the very least. I mean how many super-archers are there anyway?

(By "super-archers" I mean archers who can effectively replace a SWAT team).

If Manty wants to be discreet give them guns. And maybe name them something less obvious, like "Manticore's Super-Agent Team*". *not sponsored or associated with Manticore.

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Holds work the same on enemies as they do players.
Immoblizes work the same way on enemies as they do players.
Sleeps work the same way on enemies as they do players.

So why do disorients work differently?


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Actually holds & sleeps stop all movement powers on players where as they don't drop the perma-hover that NPCs have access to. Only the holds that have an additional -Fly component do that. If I sleep a CoT Ghost he just stays in the air asleep. But yes, I agree with your point.

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No, disorient is useful on Villains, just like it is on Heroes.

Small problem: All Villain powers are Clicks. Even movement powers.

So, just like a human player, a Villain's AI says "get away, you're mezzed!".

And they do. Since they are gifted with Hurdle automatically, and since all movement powers are Clicks, they don't drop when the villain is "mezzed".

See? It's quite simple. Disorient doesn't suck, this is all just a side-effect of the game engine!

Doesn't that make you feel better?

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There's one thing wrong with your logic: You can't use click powers while stunned.

Anyway.. this has already been explained as a bug.

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Any click powers that are on when you get stunned stay on. Hasten doesn't drop just because you get stunned nor does Practiced Brawler. Since all NPC movement powers are click powers if you stun someone while they are flying they stay flying. I believe that if you stun someone who can fly but is not flying then they do not fly away, they walk away. But I haven't tested that; it's just what I've observed and remember from normal fights. -Note- some NPCs (CoT Ghosts) are always flying so they are especially problematic for stunners.

Minerals give defense to Psi which is handy for fighting all the little clocks leading up to the king but I would hate to rely on it providing enough defense to stop an AV from hitting with a tank-killing alpha. I doubt it provides that much defense.

The only tanks that I've seen survive the alpha are those that use a Dull Pain-like power (increase total hit points) and then someone heals them as soon as they get smacked with the alpha.

Damage debuffing before the alpha may make the attack survivable for the tank but I doubt the debuffer would survive (of course Dark would also be debuffing accuracy, so that might work). I'd get a DP'd tank to take the alpha then start debuffing the damage so all the other attacks are less. If you take to long to kill the King but his damage is down to 25% (kin at work) then his alpha recharging may not be the deal breaker it normally is.

A pet stalking horse is probably the safest and easiest route; let Jack or Imps eat it for the team (or Stoney who'll eat it and want more as pointed out above). Just don't have anyone too close by when they get zapped.

The in-game description says that the Damage Resistance inspirations don't protect from Psi, so I wouldn't rely on those.

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I just got back from test to make double sure. Yes, Terrify gets the double damage bonus.

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Sweet! Thanks! I'm eager to level up my 18 Mind/FF now.

Have you verified on Test that Terrify does double damage? I thought it was a pet like Tornado or Freezing Rain so it wasn't doubled. I would love it if you are right but I just wanted to verify that you did test it.

Thanks.

Great Guide! Thanks especially for the TK advice.

Regarding Mass Hypnosis, someone told me a useful tactic that I have used several times to good effect. It goes against your "keep the boss with the mob" advice but it is handy if you have a non-aoe team or are taking on a very difficult boss. You can use your mass sleep as a boss-puller. Start the attack with mass sleep; you will sleep most of the group and probably not the boss. Have your teammates shoot the boss (not aoe) to get him to leave the group. Fight him a bit away and beat him (and the minion or two who might have come too) all outside of the main groups aggro range.

When the main group wakes up they are not aggroed and act like nothing happened. It's not a strategy you'd use all the time but it can be handy when you really need to pare down the opposition into manageable packets. Even if the main group wakes up they don't agro since you and the boss are out of range.

My MC is only 18 but he has found it handy early on. I look forward to my TK and my mass hold as soon as I get Stamina (I wish I'd read this guide first and probably would have arranged my powers a bit different so I would not locked into the 14 travel power, 16/18/20 Fitness pools, but live and learn).

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If you're using your ultimate blast, you aren't doing all that. You're spending all your endurance, getting totally detoggled, and taking on several seconds of no or much-reduced end recovery on an attack that on its unbuffed own is lucky it's able to knock off +1 minions.

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Fulcrum Shift, Blackstar, Transference, (retoggle acrobatics if it dropped--it doesn't about half the time), continue with attacks, debuffs or heal. Downtime--maybe a second after Blackstar before I can hit transference, maybe no down time at all.

Though a maxed out Kin-nuke won't do as much damage as a maxed out blaster nuke, the Kin can slot his with recharge rather than damage (since he has Fulcrum Shift). He can siphon speed to reduce the recharge too. And Transference makes the endurance drain almost a non-issue. So each time he nukes he will do less than a blaster but he can' nuke very often--much more so than a comparable blaster.

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I have a question, did the scrapper damage res being lowered effect DA, i thought we were as bad as we possible could be but

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AFAIK, the damage resistance wasn't lowered--only max damage resistance. So, unless your scrapper had more than 75% damage resistance to begin with it wouldn't be affected.