Gromar

I did that Beef Cake and thanks for taking care of things so fast.

Yah, I eventually found that note. Most of us old school users (pre merge with badge hunter) have direct links to the World

Map page. Many of my friends don't use anything on the site except Vidiotmaps. I searched the site like this:

Vidiotmaps World Map > Downloads > Vidiotmaps Map Pack > Vidiotmaps Map Pack Overlay > Download File > you do

not have permission to download this file.

Wouldn't a note in "Downloads" make sense? Just a thought.

Thanks for responding.

I'm not sure if it's appropriate to post this here but I just joined Badge Hunter and can't post there yet.

Could the map pack people post a simple little note to the site. Something like:

"Issue 18 map pack is 'coming soon' but not available yet. When it is available you will need to register to download the pack."

I find the map packs useful. I never joined the site before because it wasn't required. You ask and we join - fine.

The site is a bit of a pain to navigate when all you get is "no permission to do that" messages.

Thanks.

I liked how the procs worked. That 120s was a boon for characters fighting Malta or doing certain missions. Sure some people would click the travel power a lot to maintain stealth but it wore off during combat anyway.

Using procs meant not needing to take Stealth (which still has the movement penalty btw). Some of my squishies were lucky and got procs but will now suffer (sort of). Maybe allow run IOs in Stealth to neutralize the penalty.

Freebird stealth may have to have it's meriit cost reduced. Either that or remove travel IO's from Sprint (Jump/Run). Us flyers need some compensation. :P

I've heard that Winscott and others can be approached before they are introduced. i haven't tried it myself. Faultline has some odd bugs related to contacts. Jim Tremblor is introduced by a new contact as an "introduction" mission. If you do a mission for another contact before seeing Tremblor you may get him as a contact. It's a bit confusing and seems wasteful.

If you don't do the Faultline arcs but have a contact there they will insist on introducing another Faultline contact even though you have outlevelled the zone. I've had Doc Delilah and Agent G show up as active contacts post level 30.

I have puzzled over base flashes in my base. Most of the rooms have default lighting and maximum heights and distant objects/walls etc sometimes flash as I move about the base. Flashing gets worse when I use the storage or enhancement bins.

Since i17 the flashing is worse and my toggles slow and pause when I use the bins.

The base is fairly big but the only "intensive" room should be the workshop converted to a lava room. It never flashes - possibly due to the lower lighting. The two large tp rooms have tech teleporters and have always flashed to some degree.

Somebody said it was due to bases having a memory leak.

Good points.

While playing on a team this week one blaster was failing fast and a nuke-like power went off and he died. I asked if that was his nuke and he said it was the Self Destruction power from The Cyborg pack and "I never take nukes".

I haven't taken any nukes on my blasters or corruptors (I don't count Rain Of Arrows/etc). I have a nuke on my PB and after it has helped at times. Sometimes it's a death sentence.

So, I am undecided about nukes.

Mini Survey:

Do you nuke?

When do you nuke? (around EBs, near death, etc)

Best and worst Nukes?

What other powers complement the nuke?

Anything else you'ld like to add?

I sometimes take the "fighting" powers for travel pools (Air Superiority for example) but find the fighting pool attacks lacking. If I am going to go for Tough and Weave I see the attacks as unwanted fillers.

Most of the people I usually team with don't use Tough or Weave on melee toons. They flesh out the existing armors. With my melee types I have never found the need or could justify losing other powers to get Tough/Weave. Some of my blapper blasters have taken the fighting pool and it has helped.

One idea is to make the fighting pool an Armor pool:

Tier 1:
- a click s/l defence
- a click energy/neg def
- a click fire/cold def

Tier 2:
- toggle s/l/cold resist (Tough+)
- toggle energy/negative/fire resist
- click psi/toxic def

Tier 3:
- Weave
- click psi/toxic resist
---
A player could build up some good defenses but it would be costly.
The numbers could be kept low enough to be costly but still effective with slotting.

I found the combination a slow start. End use was a pain and Ice damage is less than oither sets. Ice's mitigation was great though. I felt powerful until I went to Cimerora. All that fine mitigation was wasted and my tank got shredded.

The character is around 37 so I can't say much about the end game.

My Fire/Energy didn't take it and never missed it. He plays very fast and deadly and usually opens with Fireball.

My Fire/Fire has it and so i like it so far. It does make for a slightly slower style. Sometimes i cast it close enough to the character to make enemies run away from him.

I have a Rad/Fire arouns 26 or so and plays fast and mows through mobs. As others have said rad slows down a bit later on - at least redside as my Rad/Dark found out.

Cosmic Burst is a cool and useful power.

Well, Kid Freak - my Elec/Elec ended up with Flame Mastery. DrMike2000's comment reminded me of using Ice patch and Tornado in small spaces to control mobs. As I said Fire was a stretch thematically but so is a 4 ft tall "huge" Freakshow clone.

So far Bonfire is fun and he can either use it to block a spot or to protect himself by standing in it.

I may need Char too and I need to slot my holds more. I also need to finish off at least one of my adjusted targetting sets because holds/stuns cast on me last so long i can't use my holds or bonfire enough.

Aluminum_Dave - thanks. Now if the just had Bow Mastery built along the same lines for my Archer.

The comments about Cold Mastery have had me thinking about my psi/mm. He is Natural Origin but psi should be able to manifest in many forms. He has CJ and stealth, and he can pick up Weave at any time, so Ice Armor would mesh well. Hoarfrost could help too.

I like to stick to a character concept a bit but my goals are surviving and having fun.

I have several blasters getting close to picking epic powers. I want to find good epic powersets to flesh out there powers but I also want to try new sets.

I have tried these epics:

My 50 Ice/Ice took Cold Mastery. It was great for the character theme and it meshed well with his sets. I like the set.

My 47 Fire/Energy took Electrical Mastery. I had wavered between Flame, Electrical, and Force. I decided I needed a hold so Force was out. I wasn't sure I liked the animation for Fire Armor (pre customization) so Flame was out. I am happy with my choice although the crash with Surge Of Power is annoying.

I would take either epic again.

My 40 Elec/Elec:

Electrical Mastery would fit but sometimes I feel the character needs something. Other than the Nemesis Staff vet power his ranged attacks are energy.

How do people like Repulsion Bomb or Bonfire. For the armors: is Temp Invulnerability enough combined with Aid Self? Do you find Fire Shield too glaring?

Fire powers would be a stretch for this character's "theme" so I'm inclined towards Force Mastery.

My 37 AR/Elec:

Will probably go Munitions. What do you think of the Epic? Does weapon customization include the epic powers or will my toon suddenly be holding the old frankengun?

My 38 Psi/MM:

I have been thinking about Force Mastery. It seems to fit the character thematically. I am finding though that the psi attacks are resisted more and feel something is needed. Furthermore he has Tough so TI may be overkill. One person said he used PFF as an "oh &^%$ power". I wonder how this would work with Drain Psyche?

Finally, Repulsion Bomb seems like it meshes with some of the psi/mm powers well.

Does anyone have a Psi/MM/Force?

Okay, enough obsessing about Epics (but it beats grinding out a respec). Any comments would be appreciated. Feel free to say what you like/dislike about any blaster epic.

I have a level 47 Fire/Energy and he's fun to play.

I didn't take the snipe but Boost range makes the fireball, etc, travel! With a snipe it would be even more fun. BR also seems to expand my cone attacks too. I didn't take Rain Of Fire, the snipe, or the nuke from Fire Blast. That way the set feels very fast.

I took Electrical Mastery APP for the hold and the armor.

For mezzing bosses I use breaks proactively and as needed with others. With my /DM corruptor I use fearsome stare and petrifying gaze a lot.

I also make use of set IOs:
Status resistance bonuses: 6 slotted Adjusted Targeting, Aegis: Psionic/Status Resistance, Impervious Skin: Status Resistance, and so on.

In ranged damage powers (especially the ones I use most) I try to add a few Devastation: Chance for Hold. They're rare and expensive but pop up enough if you have a few alts. If you can hold the boss he can't hit you.

For Darkest Night you may have to 3 slot with recharge IOs.

Is the new Rikti drone sound a bug or are we stuck with it? It is so loud (especially when they're are groups) and continues after they are defeated.

Is the bug with hunt mission final xp fixed on test? ie - do the missions grant xp? I seem to have lots of hunt missions on my characters lately and getting no completion xp is a pain. A patch to live would be nice.

Since i17 came out I have noticed a base editing bug. When I choose something to place in a room (or a room itself) I get weird gobblygook ("unknown category signifier" -or similar) instead of the item's category (eg - medical) or price (usually quotes the sg's total prestige).

The item's categories and prices are correct in the lower panel.

When asked to choose Ultra Mode, etc, I chose to cancel and play with the settings at a later time. According to the devs my settings would be the same as before. Well I have noticed two problems since i17 went live.

Anti-Aliasing---

I have a nVidea Geforce 9500GT card and it handles most things quite well and it's good enough for me. I haven't needed to play with FSAA and never noticed problems with anti-aliasing until this issue came out. Now I find horizontal lines flicker or "move" and have jagged edges.

This mostly occurs in outdoor maps/zones like Steel Canyon or Atlas Park. In Atlas if I fly from Wents to the train I notice distortion on the retaining wall of the road from the city hall to the train. The edge is a bit jagged and gray/light areas seem to move to the right as I get closer to it.

In the bases I find that flickering/movement on horizontal parks of salvage racks etc.

Would this lessen if I increased the FSAA?

Lighting---

My computer is only a year old but my CRT monitor is older. I had to play with the nvidea settings to be able to play on darker maps like caves and sewers. I was able to get hero maps to show fine but some villain maps are still too dark. Since i17 I am finding some maps are too dark again.

I don't want to play with the gamma because then certain areas would be too light. I went down into the parkade in Faultline and the lighting there is now a mess. The ceiling areas are unnaturally bright and the lower areas are all dark. Before the light was more even.

Would ambient occlusion help with the areas that are too dark?

Yesterday wasn't pleasant if we had hunts in certain zones. Kings Row had zombie attack skies but no zombies or regular mobs all day. Citizens wandered as per normal. Eden had red skies and was empty. Dark Astoria had no enemies.

Faultline had zombie skies except around Yin's market there the skies would clear up but there were no mobs anywhere.

There was a zombie invasion for Terra Volta and I checked it out. Zombies did arrive but it seemed really slow. For the most part one would rise every 2-3 minutes or so. The event ended normally there (although I forgot to check for regular mobs).

I bugged this ingame and hope this is cleared up when i17 comes.

Devs could rework stealth as follows: Allow stealth to take common run enhancements. 3 slots would cancel the movement penalty.

Set bonuses plus swift can overcome the sluggishness.

I use Stealth IOs when I can but am not adverse to using the pool power. It provides stealth, a bit of def, and can hold kb procs. Furthermore 2 serendipity add a bit of regen.