Innigo

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Could have probably used a bit more tact Innigo when asking him about his use of powers.

A lot of defenders get stick if they aren't constantly buffing, there is more than one way to play and I know a lot of kins and bubblers not getting speedboost/deflection shield because they don't want to be a buff bot.

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After 2 team wipes I was losing patience. Not only was he NOT buffing, he wasn't healing either.

It's a tough one. A defender who doesn't want to be a buff bot? What about the scrapper who doesn't want to get into melee?
My advice - back to the toon creator and roll up something you DO want to be.

From the empath in question's behaviour I think he really wanted to be a blaster.

Happened today. On a team with the worst empath I'd seen in a while.

"Are you ever planning on casting fortitude?"
Casts fortitude.

We're just about to go into battle for the 3rd time.

"I think RA once in a while would be appreciated."
Casts RA.

"I see you have CM. Do you ever use it?"
Casts CM on 2 ppl

3 battles later

"I see you've forgotten how to use fortitude and CM again."
Casts fortitude.

The guy genuinely irked me and I had to think about it. I saw him attacking a lot and maybe he'd went for an offender as opposed to my pure defender build, but I think Empathy carries certain expectations with it and perhaps the reason ppl don't think empaths all that good at the later lvls is because most players dont live up to those expectations.

Because, lets face it, if empathy is redundant then ALL defenders are redundant. If the team is doing fine without a lot of heals then it'll do JUST as fine without a lot of buffs, or a lot of debuffs on the mobs. No?

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I think that's why I sometimes dislike playing my Kin defender, keeping speed boosts on a team is a pain.

For an empath with Fortitude though, they aren't many buffs to go round so I'd change your statement to

If someone asks you to use one of your buffs and it is recharged then you're not doing your job properly.

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Not really want I meant. It was more along the lines of; blow the dust off fortitude and use it on SOMEONE!!

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I tend to agree there are some really bad empaths out there, not that there aren't good ones too though.

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There some very good ones and I of course count myself in that number but they're FAR outweighed by the bad ones imho.

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sigh, i honestly feel the ppl who dont like empaths have never actually teamed with a good empath

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Admittedly there are a lot of bad ones out there. I found myself on a team with 2 of them (can't remember the lvl). 6 man team, 2 empaths and not a fortitude or CM between us. I checked them both out, they both had both powers.
Eventually I had to start asking them.

NOTE TO ALL DEFENDERS:
If someone asks you to use one of your buffs then you're not doing your job properly.

Bottom line and what I think gives empaths a bad name, is that some empaths think of themselves as healers and that's all they focus on.

Empaths redundant at 30+ ?!?
If you're playing an 8 man invincible mission an empath is NEVER redundant.

Can't agree that tp is better for moving around than fly. TP is a little clunky and innacurate for me and you've got that period of hovering at the end of it. Great when you're airborne, but a real pain when you're at your destination and need to move quickly.
Besides, you get dwarf step at 20.

I know travel powers are down to personal taste, but I can't help sticking up for fly as, imho, it's simply the most versatile.

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I didn't find my peacebringer slow to level at all. In fact I found it easier than my other characters. And like you I LOVE my Peacebringer.

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I did have quite a problem getting to 22 (about 4-5 hours), but that was a teaming issue and nothing to do with the AT.
I need to do a fund transfer to get everything slotted with SO, but even with just the major items I'm very happy.
I've got dwarf form 3 slotted with SO defence and it can take a pounding. I've found myself hurriedly switching from Nova to Dwarf when the massive AoEs earning me a smidge too much attention.

Now, how many blasters out there would give their eye teeth to be able to switch to being a tank (with a self heal) when things got a little out of hand?

What I find amusing though is the shift in focus when it comes to lvling. When I ran through with my scrapper I always liked getting a new power and was a bit *meh* when it came to slots. Now that's completely reversed.

I'm curious. Someone said to me not 10 minutes ago that Kheldians are slow to lvl. Now, without PLing and just normal running and farting about with the normal waiting about for ppl to get their act together and whatnot I;ve got to lvl21 in 44 hours of play.

Is that slow?

One recurring theme was how difficult Kheldians were to lvl. I personally didin't it too bad. Certinaly harder than my regen scrapper, but no more challenging than my blaster.

I've gone tri-form, as I implied, but with the human component to be the least developed and my once annoyance is having to flick to human form to engage passive powers.

I do have a bind set up that switches me from Nova to hovering human form. In fact if I type (on the kepayd) 0132-enter I flick from Nova to human, engage hasten, essense boost and build up and explode back to Nova form and ready to lay waste to an entire spawn with enough time left in build up to get off three shots.

I dinged 50 on the 2nd March and had my PB rolled up and hitting the mean streets of Paragon within half an hour. As fifty started to loom as started lurking in this forum in order to gleen some information as to which way I would lean PB or WS.
I opted for the PB with a certain amount of trepidation as I've known a few people who gave up on their Kheldians before getting into double figures, levelwise, so imagine my delight when I discovered what an utter joy it is to be a PB.
Flight from lvl 1. A blaster from lvl6 which in the mid teens can not only match a blaster in terms of damage output but (assuming you've slotted right) doesn't suffer from quite the same endurance issues.
And yesterday I dinged 20 and immediately plumped for Dwarf form, still need some slot-loving but I could see the potential when I was surrounded by 5 +1s who couldn't damage me faster than I could heal it.

I'm posting this is a juxaposition to everyone who's played a Kheldian and hated it, who's claimed they're little more than a compilation of a sencond class scrapper/tanker & blaster. My personal experience so far is that this is a very powerful AT that's an excellent addition of any team and a great deal of fun to play.

Just watch out for those pesky void/quantums.

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Many troller builds can stuff up a regenner, not because of damage output, but because they negate the regen capabilties. Lingering rad, or ice powers that slow regen, make any potential battle swing in the favour of the controller ( in a 1 on 1 situation ).

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I used the word annoy deliberately. Whilst I've managed to flatten a few controllers there are quite a few where it quickly became obviously that I couldn't get to them and never, despite all the holds has a troller, single handedly stopped me from bugging out. This would be WITH B/Fs obviously. The result most commonly recorded between me and trollers is a no-score draw.

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These are 1 on 1 figures of course, in teams my Dominator is far more deadly.

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Yes, it's in the team enivornment that hold become much more of a problem. In my experience, and I stress, my experience. Those ATs that can hold can't put out enough damage to be a significant threat. Hence the use of the word "annoy" in my initial post.
But combined with a serious damage dealer you have a very lethal combination.

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You can't have faced many good Controllers then. Xanthus can easily hold me through Integration before I can hurt him.

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Question isn't to do with holding, it's can he do enough damage to kill the scrapper whilst he's held? I personally have never seen it.

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I would like to know how you have come to this assumption? A controller would beat a regen with no BFs in 30sec or less. Hell give em a full tray of BFs and the troller will win 9 outta 10 times.

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Interestingly I've never been beaten by a controller. Certainly not 1 on 1. On the other hand I've beaten quite a few which results in tossing your 9 wins out of 10 estimate straight out the window.

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Had the same. I beat a MA/regen with my blapper. He said "real PvPers dont use insps, fight me with no insps". I said"ok let me go get my controller" He said "err no "

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Really? Controllers shouldn't worry a regen. Annoy them, yes. Worry them, no.

2 controllers on the other hand /em shudder

Admittedly the fear power does annoy me. What's the point of having mez protection when there's incapacitating powers that punch right through it?

Back on topic.
I had a brute call out over Broadcast about how my blaster was a coward because she running away from him, or put another way; I wouldn't hang about in melee range for very long.

Insps aren't only an important part of PvP, they're an ESSENTIAL part for many builds.

Another comedic writer in the gang. Always good to see. Guess I'll have to crack on with the last 3 parts of N00b's story.

I especially like the "where did she get the wool from?" bit.

Nice one.

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Im hoping to join some well team orientated team to help in mission etc.

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Aren't we all mate, aren't we all?

/em shakes head sadly.

One piece of advice I would give you is to lay off the AoEs until you're sure its safe. In the meantime target one of the melee toons in your team. His target will be highlighted and if you fire off an attack it'll hit that target but said melee toon will hold the agro. Works a treat.

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Well, you get a travel power to reach your destination faster, otherwise you could stick with Sprint, so I guess that speed is, in fact, a qualifier for travel power.

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That is a "made up" qualifier. I would like to stress that point; YOU made this up. Equally, I could make up the point of travel powers is to get you to your destination MORE SAFELY, or with LESS EFFORT, or to make moving about simply EASIER. In which case fly come out close to the top as the supreme travel power.

And for the record, certainly more the half the time I can beat people with SS to the mission from the same starting point (depending on the map) since fliers don't have all that annoying going around corners to worry about.

And lets be fair here, in Khedlians fly is free, and effortless in Nova form. What more could you want

Everyone is struggling for invites (unless it's from people you know).

I dinged 50 recently, so I've started focusing on my alts and I'm noticing a considerable difference between the game is now and what it was like then (maybe 4-5 months ago)... I could go on and on, suffice to say, this isn't an AT or build issue.

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Never ever ever thought of picking a PB due to fly, too slow to be even classed as travel power.

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Irrationally enough, it always bugs me when people come out with statements like that, as if speed was the only qualifier for travel-power status.
My 1st toon has super-jump and I maintain it's probably the most fun and 90% of the time faster than super-speed. However fly is by far my favourite travel power. None of the other allow you to head to your destination and roll a cigarette or talks to your mates with as much ease.

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Given the glutton of empaths around (about 80-90% of all defenders at a guess )? are people saying that empaths are actually better than other defenders based on experience?

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I am. I have nothing against any type of defender, but if given the choice I'd choose an empath everytime. I've seen them keep a team alive in situations that didn't seem possible to survive.

I stress the "good" empath. I;ve seen empaths stand about with their hands in their pockets whilst my PB takes a pummelling from a quantum.

Obviously where it says "useless" that should read "useful".
I should stop posting while I'm at work

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No I wouldnt say empathy has had its day. Just that people woke up that its not a must which is good. Although Im finding an increasing amount of layers not picking them in teams to prove a point. That is what bothers me.

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No defender is a must, but if I had a choice I'd take a good empath ANY day, and twice on Sunday's. A good empath turns a scrapper into a tank and a tank into an indestructable lump of flesh.

If you find yourself in a position where you're not thinking; an empath would be quite useless right about now then in my experience its because the mission you're doing is...

TOO EASY.

I'll never say no to fortitude, a heal or recovery aura and my main is a regen scrapper.

However good empaths are few and far between. A good empath ignores the mobs and focuses on the team, keeping CM sunning on everyone, trying to keep fort running on as many people as possible as well as healing where its needed. the mobs? they're someone else's problem.
How many empaths actually display that atitude?

I *could* see a reason for it.

To reflect the rise and fall of an SG, such that an SG that has long since had its day doesn't see a half dozen players sitting on a massive base.

BUT.

If there is a split in the SG and, say, half the members leave and the remainder is left with trying to make enormous rent payments the situation where you have a small SG with a massive base that they can't get into until they stump up the 10s or 100s of thousand of prestige in rent in order to unlock the base and sell off some rooms or items to make the next rent payment.

Not very well thought through.

Although I'm enjoying being a PB I have to confess I'm a little irked about the powers not tranferring between the forms and am a little baffled by it.

Fair enough, I can understand the attacks being form specific, afterall both Nova and Dwarf offer unique attacks, but things like essence boost or build up? Or even health and stamina! Why shouldn't these powers not cross the form gap? Why shouldn't a Nova be allowed to run tactics in a pvp environment?

Would it really prove unbalancing? Thoughs, comments?