Heraclea

Also, the several ranks of available critters are also taken into account; this being done to discourage the creation of all boss or all lieutenant groups. Again, the patch notes:

Note also that XP, tickets, and inf are tied together in a single reward structure. If XP is reduced, tickets and inf are reduced by the same amount. If there's an XP bonus, there's also a ticket and inf bonus.

So, what does this mean?

Custom groups are still allowed. Only custom critters are penalized.
You can continue to create custom groups of characters to fight. You may pick and choose from any of the supplied critters; you do not have to take entire factions as-is. You may continue to rename or re-color standard critters; doing so will not reduce their rewards.

The changes strike hardest at those creators who devised entire factions of their own critters. If you are content using standard or modified standard critters, your rewards are not diminished provided that you follow the 3-tier rule.

There is, unfortunately, no provision in the current search engine to distinguish custom groups made up of standard critters versus custom groups using custom critters. Both show up as "Custom Group". If you are using standard critters in custom groups, it may be helpful to point that out in your description explicitly.

The 3-tier rule
The only needed qualification is that you must include at least one minion, one lieutenant, and one boss in your resulting custom group. They need not be from the same factions, either.

If you set to not spawn bosses solo, bosses will spawn as lieutenants. with lieutenant hitpoints and rewards (but boss powers). Even though the 3 tier rule requires that your custom group to have bosses, there is no penalty for choosing player settings that do not spawn them as bosses.

Note also that some named characters listed as "bosses" are actually elite bosses, and will continue to spawn as elite bosses if included. Other named character bosses spawn as "Hero" or "Villain" and are significantly harder than bosses. They too spawn with full hitpoints and powersets.

As in standard content, bosses are relatively infrequent. A custom critter with no powers can occupy the boss slot. This will satisfy the 3-tier rule, even though the boss yields no rewards. Such a boss can be ignored unless the completion condition of the mission requires its defeat.

Tailor your custom group to your character's wants
When I tested the changes to MA in i16, I created custom groups of Council and Fifth Column. I purged the factions of various annoyances: damage resistant, flying robots; war wolves; vampyres; Galaxy critters with slows and immobilizes. The resulting faction obeyed the 3-tier rule nevertheless. These characters had ranged knockdown and stun attacks, but the characters I played against them shrug those attacks off.

I have also created groups of Circle of Thorns from which Spectres have been banished, and the spawns were reweighted against the appearance of so many Thorn Casters.

Study of Culex's guide to enemy XP mods is worthwhile. You may prefer not to use critters that have an XP penalty. No standard critter gives rewards higher than 100% in the Architect.

Different characters may get better results from different mobs. I despise the Circle of Thorns spectres on melees; control based characters may not mind them, and they are favored for XP. I don't mind mobs with melee stun attacks on tankers and scrappers; my blasters would not want to face hordes of them. My archery blaster doesn't mind Carnies at all; they don't die next to her. She has a map full of Carnie lieutenants and minions, with a Banished Pantheon mask to fill the obligatory boss spot.

You know what you like to fight, and what you hate to fight. Obey the three tier rule, but fill your mission with stuff you like to fight.

Add missions
Remember that the later missions in a story arc have a ticket reward. You get 20% more tickets from a fifth mission than you do from a first mission in a story arc. By adding initial missions that are easily completed, you can create arcs that yield tickets more efficiently on the mission you intend to milk.

Yes - that's an old-school build, as I noted. My most recent /dark melee tanker is inv/dark, and that one does use Enfeebled Operation.

Immobilize resistance. That's the ticket! It's like -- if you get enough immobilize, and that seems to be the most frequent debuff that stacks enough to break through, it doesn't last as long! What's not to like?

(Actually, I do like a rather eccentric desire for run speed on non-Stone tankers. But given the many players who turn on travel powers inside missions, which is a bit of a pet peeve, they aren't as useful as they might have been. The omnipresence of kinetic this and that doesn't help, either.)

Nobody lets me have any fun.

I slotted up accuracy, recharge, and endurance reduction while trying to freeze out the immobilize with an immobilize set, and added two generic Damage buttons. This allowed me to claim a defense bonus for a fraction of the cost of the melee sets with defense bonuses.

So run speed really is the way to go. Seriously. Q. E. D.

It actually works fairly well. I have seen a couple on Victory.

Dual blades requires a fairly free and undemanding primary. Stone benefits from fast recharge and low per-attack endurance costs. This makes the two sets work fairly well together.

I recommend the "Sai" or the "Red Cap dagger" weapon sets to go with Granite.

I, for one, have no plans to create anything for MA until the XP nerf for custom characters with standard powers is reversed. Yes, I do care about XP and rewards, especially for levelling characters. Custom characters let me fight things I'd never seen before while levelling; I never ran MA exclusively on any character, although there were some level ranges where it was more heavily resorted to than others. The added variety is what will chiefly be missed.

I don't recall any great demand for the customization they gave us, the ability to remove standard powers; but the idea that custom characters with the standard powers are weaker than standard characters with two or three powers is simply false. The one thing I have made since i16 is an arc called "Welcome to the Future", not really a story arc, but very much a proof of concept "arc" that illustrates how the custom critter changes completely missed the boat. I've made some "improvements" in it from the version on Test, too.

That said, I've come to depend on MA tickets, mostly because over the last few issues I've learned to avoid the marketplace. There's too much inf still floating around out there chasing too few goods, so market prices aren't affordable with the inf gained during levelling play.

So I am still playing. But I'm mostly playing farms.

This is because there are too many other players pursuing defense bonuses. We need to tell them that they aren't worth bothering with and that something else - say, run speed bonuses - is really the way to go.

What other players will enjoy is going to be subjective. All I can say is that my Willpower characters that got both QR and Stamina very early were characters I looked forward to playing, and moved up in level very quickly. The toggles don't do a whole lot early on, especially not when you stack HPT, RttC, and Health.

WP/DA is a great combination. I've played it to level 50 on a brute and a tanker.

Skip Dark Consumption, you don't need it.

Recharge, recharge, and more recharge is your friend.

Be like everybody else and get Stamina at level 20. You can put off Mind over Body and Heightened Senses to work it in. You'll enjoy playing your character a lot more this way.

Don't even think about skipping Taunt.

Once you get Tough and Weave on, you can respec out of Strength of Will if you want to free up a power pick. If you work them in before 32, you never need to pick it.

Supplement your weak AoE capability with epic/ancillary pool picks. I recommend Earth Mastery; it puts several large and useful ones within reach without going to third tier.

This is my old-school wannabe build for my WP/DM tanker, actually largely finished with the exception of some of the low-priority healing sets. It's old school, built around +hp and +regen rather than defense bonuses. Works pretty well, and this is my tanker of choice for Lady Grey, Rikti raids, and Maria Jenkins bosses.

Hero Plan by Mids' Hero Designer 1.601
http://www.cohplanner.com/

Click this DataLink to open the build!

Melaena: Level 50 Magic Tanker
Primary Power Set: Willpower
Secondary Power Set: Dark Melee
Power Pool: Flight
Power Pool: Fitness
Power Pool: Fighting
Ancillary Pool: Earth Mastery

Hero Profile:
Level 1: High Pain Tolerance -- Heal-I:50(A), Heal-I:50(3), Heal-I:50(7), S'fstPrt-ResDam/Def+:30(33)
Level 1: Shadow Punch -- C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg:50(A), C'ngImp-Dmg/EndRdx:50(7), C'ngImp-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg:50(17), C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg/Rchg:50(25), C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx:50(43), Zinger-Dam%:21(43)
Level 2: Fast Healing -- Heal-I:50(A), Heal-I:50(3), Heal-I:50(5)
Level 4: Shadow Maul -- Oblit-Acc/Rchg:50(A), Oblit-Acc/Dmg/Rchg:50(5), Oblit-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg:50(17), Oblit-Dmg/Rchg:50(27), Oblit-Dmg:50(42), Zinger-Dam%:30(43)
Level 6: Indomitable Will -- LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx:50(A), LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx/Rchg:50(46)
Level 8: Rise to the Challenge -- Mrcl-Heal:40(A), Numna-Heal/EndRdx:40(9), Numna-Heal:50(9), Mrcl-Heal/EndRdx:40(11), DarkWD-Slow%:50(15), Taunt-I:50(15)
Level 10: Air Superiority -- C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg:50(A), C'ngImp-Dmg/EndRdx:50(11), C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg/Rchg:50(42), C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx:50(46), C'ngImp-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg:40(46)
Level 12: Quick Recovery -- EndMod-I:50(A), EndMod-I:50(13), EndMod-I:50(13)
Level 14: Fly -- Flight-I:50(A)
Level 16: Swift -- Run-I:50(A)
Level 18: Health -- Heal-I:50(A), Heal-I:50(19), Heal-I:50(19)
Level 20: Stamina -- EndMod-I:50(A), EndMod-I:50(21), EndMod-I:50(21)
Level 22: Mind Over Body -- ImpArm-ResDam/EndRdx:40(A), ImpArm-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg:40(23), ImpArm-ResDam:40(23), ImpArm-ResDam/Rchg:40(31)
Level 24: Taunt -- Mocking-Taunt:50(A), Mocking-Taunt/Rchg/Rng:50(25)
Level 26: Siphon Life -- Numna-Heal:50(A), Numna-Heal/Rchg:50(27), Mrcl-Heal:40(34), Mrcl-Heal/Rchg:40(34), Acc-I:50(37), Acc-I:50(37)
Level 28: Soul Drain -- AdjTgt-ToHit:50(A), AdjTgt-ToHit/Rchg:50(29), AdjTgt-ToHit/EndRdx/Rchg:50(29), AdjTgt-EndRdx/Rchg:50(33), AdjTgt-Rchg:50(34), Acc-I:50(40)
Level 30: Heightened Senses -- GftotA-Def/EndRdx:40(A), GftotA-Def/EndRdx/Rchg:40(31), GftotA-Def:40(31), GftotA-Run+:40(33)
Level 32: Boxing -- Acc-I:50(A)
Level 35: Touch of Fear -- DarkWD-ToHitDeb/Rchg:30(A), DarkWD-ToHitdeb/Rchg/EndRdx:30(36), DarkWD-Rchg/EndRdx:30(36), DarkWD-ToHitDeb/EndRdx:30(36), Acc-I:30(37), Acc-I:50(48)
Level 38: Midnight Grasp -- TotHntr-Acc/Rchg:50(A), TotHntr-Acc/EndRdx:50(39), TotHntr-Acc/Immob/Rchg:50(39), TotHntr-Dam%:50(39), Dmg-I:50(40), Dmg-I:50(40)
Level 41: Tough -- RctvArm-ResDam/EndRdx:40(A), RctvArm-ResDam/Rchg:40(42), RctvArm-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg:40(48), RctvArm-ResDam:40(48)
Level 44: Weave -- S'dpty-Def/EndRdx:40(A), S'dpty-Def/EndRdx/Rchg:40(45), S'dpty-Def:40(45), S'dpty-EndRdx:40(45)
Level 47: Salt Crystals -- RechRdx-I:50(A)
Level 49: Quick Sand -- P'ngTtl-Acc/Slow:50(A), P'ngTtl-Acc/EndRdx:50(50), P'ngTtl-EndRdx/Rchg/Slow:50(50), P'ngTtl--Rchg%:50(50)
------------
Level 1: Brawl -- C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg:50(A)
Level 1: Sprint -- ULeap-Stlth:50(A)
Level 2: Rest -- RechRdx-I:50(A)
Level 1: Gauntlet

I've mentioned before: the basic problem is that we now have three (or four) separate currencies that are "backed" by different commodities.

Reward merits are "backed by gold" - they purchase recipes at a pegged rate.

AE tickets are "backed by silver" - they purchase uncommon and rare salvage at a pegged rate.

Inf is "backed" by recycled cardboard - it buys SOs, DOs, and TOs at a pegged rate.

The problem is that since i9 the goods bought by inf are largely obsolete; while not every character I play is going to be fitted with IO sets, most of them do try to replace SOs with generic IOs above level 30; they're at least as good, and you stop the bleeding trying to keep them in the green.

Thus, the trend has ever been to see the relative value of inf fall measured against the other two currencies and the things they can buy.

(Then, there are Vanguard merits, which are like an exotic currency, say Dutch guilders. You only need to acquire enough of them to buy the goods that are only for sale in Amsterdam. When you are done shopping there, you can't use them elsewhere.)

Only one of these currencies - inf - can be regularly traded to other players. Inf is the only currency that the market accepts, as well. The result has been that inf has tended to fluctuate, and hit a fairly deep low in i15. The value of inf relative to salvage has risen; relative to IO set recipes, it still seems fairly low. Holding inf is risky relative to holding merits or even AE tickets.

Those who subscribe to the reigning ideology of this forum will not acknowledge that there's even a problem. There is a problem, though. Those who defend the prices that come about on the markets ignore the fact that those prices are indeed out of reach if all the inf you get in ordinary game play - i.e. running missions and defeating mobs. They may not be out of reach to people who farm for purple drops, random rolls to sell, or the meta-game of manipulating the market. They are out of reach for players who play as intended.

I do think that dev action is needed to shore up the relative value of inf, by pegging it to a more valuable commodity than SOs. I'd allow the uncommon Pool A recipes to be bought with inf from a crafting table, just as generic recipes can be bought.

I have taken to random rolling, usually on the character I typically use to run AE content, with AE tickets. The tickets are easier to replace, and that can be done solo, on a character built to run AE content. Still, much of the random roll stuff ends up getting crafted and saved rather than sold. I still prefer to have IOs banked than inf, even if inf is regaining some of its value versus salvage.

And the things I tend to really want (sets of Kinetic Combat, especially not including the Chance for Knockdown proc) or consider essential to quality of life (Numina and Miracle uniques) --- these things usually fall into that category; it takes less time and bother running a few evenings of task forces than it would to farm up the inf to buy them on the market. And after the collapse of AE powerlevelling and their expanded usefulness in general levelling, task forces are easier to get started now.

This bothers me, a bit. Purples, I don't need. The bonuses, while attractive, are not what I am looking for.

Fortunately, KC's can be bought outright with merits. So I hoard merits and buy, not random rolls, but what I need. And now that everything gives XP to non-50s, I can farm merits on my characters while they level as well.

I still think that the workers need to organize themselves, cast off false consciousness, and seize the means of production. I'm working on translating this vision into something that works in game.

FWIW, the "tanker" and "scrapper" designations of MA critter power sets are there for the sake of familiarity. I don't think there is any difference in damage output or power between the two; so "tanker" Dual Blades is the same as "scrapper" Dual Blades, and the same for each power set they share.

The AI issue with mobs not using their powers has been around for a long time. I wanted to make annoying shield mobs with Phalanx Fighting, but half the time they do not even activate their shield.

I will not be promoting any of my arcs until this is fixed, myself. Nor will I be writing any more; all of my ideas are based around factions of custom critters, and there's no point right now.

I did put up my demonstration arc that shows that the custom critter changes miss the target completely, mostly so my spines scrapper can continue to collect tickets for salvage and recipes. I may tweak it to add more interesting features. But it's not really ready for prime time.

Technically, that build is capped all 3 ways; but for some reason it loads with CJ turned off.

Exactly. The tanker is trying to concentrate the spawn to make your AoE more effective, not so that he can kill them all first.

The same goes with AoE immobilizes, holds, debuffs, and so forth. Use them; just don't shoot them over my shoulder when I'm charging the mobs.

I probably need to roll and play an electric primary tanker as well; I have all the rest of 'em in the high 40s now, and I intend to get a 50 for each primary. But frankly, resistance based sets have issues that mixed and defense based sets can avoid. So I'm not really in any hurry.