James_Bonnell

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I'm still also very concerned about the +stealth IOs stacking for everyone. Until now, only Stalkers were able to stack stealth in PvP. Now it seems anyone can. I think it's going to severely imbalance the PvP game, especially at lower levels.

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Keep in mind Castle has said that they are being changed to be unique with each other. E.g. if you slot the one from the Run set, you can't slot any of the other three anywhere on that toon.

Better, but still broken to me.

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With most characters that means that they'll stack once in PvP. Most other Stealth powers will not stack with each other.

What this does mean is that invis is possible for all character, theorhetically from level 10 on. That's rough, but manageable for organized villain teams (I recognize that might be an oxymoron ).

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Which is no different from now if you pick up, say, Stealth / Steamy Mist / Group Invis / Shadow Fall etc... and Super Speed. (PVE, anyway, as SS doesn't have any effect PVP).

The nice change for me, since I like having two stealth powers, is that I can grab, say, Stealth and slot a stealth IO into, say, Hover if I want on some character, rather than having to have Super Speed for it.

I like that idea.

And besides... for PVP, Super Speed doesn't actually provide any -per. If +stealth IOs work the same way, for PVP, folks have nothing to worry about.

If not, then sure, you need to have more +per powers like Tactics, FA, etc.

Of course, I don't really PVP, so I don't care.

And besides, having +stealth IOs be unique is no different from the non-stacking of Stealth and any other stealth-providing power (e.g. Cloak of Darkness, Cloaking Device, and the ones I mentioned above).

Concept: All traps, all the time.

ATs: Masterminds and Corruptors - any primary acceptable.

Server: TBD.

The tactics: depends on level.

Early: Web Grenade + Caltrops = slow, immobilized, damaged mobs - while MM pets and corrs blow them up.
By 10: Acid Mortar means lots of -res and -def.
By 16: status protection and +def out the wazoo. (more at 22 of course).

MMs take alpha strikes via Bodyguard, Corrs blow mobs up with AOEs and hard targets with single-target powers.

Requirements: Caltrops by 6, Acid Mortar at 10, travel at 14 (or at your discretion); Forcefield Generator at 16; either Stamina (corrs) or Tactics (MMs) by 22. That's about it, but ideally taking all of the Traps powers (Detonator/Time Bomb entirely optional) would be ideal.

QR

If anyone can specify what sound Ice Sword (Blaster Ice Manipulation) uses, I'd be greatful.

I've tried coldsword, coldsword1, coldsword2... but they don't appear to have any effect in either Powers or Weapons, so I don't know which files they might be.

Thanks.

I will also suggest strongly that anyone who loves Superspeed toons make sure you can grab the AP / KR SG powers when feasible, and think about investing the $10 in the GvsE jump pack. It's a terrific aid. Or just grab Hover - vertical + knockdown protection.

If my SS'ers all didn't typically need a knockback/down protection power, I wouldn't feel the need to grab Hover, the GvE jump pack is often enough. Might be tough over Gordon Trench, however.

Makes a lot of these maps a ton easier.

Then again, between freespecs and vetspecs... do many people still go to TV?

Good job, by the way, Samuel Tow. I never even knew those crates were there!

Good guide, just wanted to add two (or three) rather specific combos that several ATs can pull off with TP Foe.

1) So let me see a man about a rez...

Howling Twilight, available from the dark/ defender primary, /dark corruptor secondary, and /dark MM secondary is a very useful power. It's an AOE disorient/slow, combined with a multiple-target rez power which some consider the best in the game just for that reason alone. So your team has almost wiped and someone has Recall Friend and someone has TP Foe? Golden opportunity for a save-the-day mass rez.

However.... it requires at least one mob nearby to work!

So, put your faceplanted comrades in a nice neat pile with Recall Friend (if you or someone else has it), TP Foe nearby and fire off Howling Twilight - mass rez and mass enemy stun in one shot!

Yes, Warshades inherent Recall Friend and pickable TP Foe power also will work for the purpose of ally placement and enemy pull.

2) Boy, that boss is annoying, I'd dearly love to blow him/her/it up!

Sadly... TP Foe doesn't actually work on bosses. So if you're a /dev blaster or /traps corruptor or /traps MM with Trip Mines... you can't pull the boss into your mines. Nor most lieuts. But you can thin out the herd of minions surrounding the boss without actually triggering the nice minefield you laid.

So, especially if you're soloing, take your time! Be patient! Lay that minefield.

Then, simply TP Foe the minions surrounding that annoying boss/EB/whatever to a point near, but before your minefield, and use a power that every dev/traps toon automatically possesses: Web Grenade. Then proceed to demolish the minion. Or, if you're particularly amused by the idea, TP Foe them on top of one mine for a nice boom.... leaving the rest of the minefield for the boss. Rinse and repeat as necessary.

Once the minions (who often tend to rush you, triggering the mines before the boss... which is the entire point of laying a minefield) are gone... do a regular pull of the boss... or, sometimes, you can try to TP Foe the boss, too. It will fail, but if you hit, you will most likely agro them if they aren't agro'd already.

This has the advantage of being triggerable out of line of sight, as I mention later.


3) Mmmm... PVP. Big bada boom!

Personally... I don't, much. But the TP Foe + minefield trick is a relatively sure-fire way to fight, especially as a squishy blaster or corruptor. (Now, with Bodyguard, MMs are not so squishy as they used to be. And MMs probably don't "need" the minefield tactics that /dev blasters and /traps corrs often do to beat bosses solo).

Note that several powers offer resistance to TP Foe, but players are as vulnerable to its goodness as minions. Plus, travel powers will typically take your target away from range quickly.

But... figured it should be mentioned for the sake of completeness.



Furthermore, a few things you (in the audience) may not have known about TP Foe. I've just tried TP Foe out on my thugs/dark MM, because I hadn't really used it before, and I really, really like it. Might be taking it on more toons from now on.

Several reasons other than what the guide discusses above:

It's targeted, and has a decent range (like 200' I believe... at least 150'.) That's longer than most snipes.

It works on runners.

It does NOT require line of sight to the target to work! This is huge.


For instance, if you can get line-of-sight to the target initially to, well, target it... but then you zoom out of line-of-sight (go around a corner, behind a box, whatever), you can still TP Foe it. Be warned... sometimes a group will agro once you TP Foe, so be prepared for them to rush you.

Sometimes, though, you can actually peel all the minions by being careful about not letting the boss have line-of-sight to you, and even though you've agro'd the boss, you won't pull the boss until he/she/it sees you. (I suppose mobs are really all "it" but anyway).

This, at least, has the advantage of getting rid of the annoying minions first. Say, Sappers... Earth Thorn Casters... Sky Raider Engineers... etc etc.

Anyway, just wanted to add a few things to your guide since you were kind enough to put it up.

Hover also works as reasonable knockback/down mitigation, plus it makes SS less onerous in troublesome missions/maps.

I've used Hover as my kb/kd pro on numerous toons, including my ar/dev blaster, and it works quite well, just the little 'flip in the air' and you're good to go.

An end reducer both reduces the cost of the summons and the cost of the abilities used by the minion, I'm pretty sure I read recently.

Heck, on Hover?

3 end reducers? Overkill.
3 defense buffs? Useless (numerically).

3 Flight Speed + Swift? Not too bad actually. Not the sweetness that 6-slotted Hover used to be, but not bad at all.

I use Hover / Fly each 3 slotted for flight speed on several toons, and it works very well. I don't generally bother to slot end reducers in 'em now, though, since Flight did just get a *massive* end reduction in Update 8? 7? Not sure, but very recently.

Well, I'll bite... doesn't sound like you may like what I have to say though. Think of this as numerical analysis, though, and not a comment on your build style or playstyle or anything else, please.

Then again, I also have a level 50 ar/dev, so before you say "try it yourself"...

I actually like most of the slotting. However... IMO you have gone vastly overkill on a few things, like Targeting Drone (which, at best, probably needs one end reducer)... while not slotting any end reductions into your attack powers.

Not throwing a stone here but... you're a lot better off slotting end reductions into large attacks (even, say, slug at 10 end could use one) than that second and third end reducer in TD. Or CD. Or *especially* *especially* *especially* Combat Jumping.

Base end use of TD is .35 / tick (from hero planner, which may be out-of-date)... according to http://www.nofuture.org.uk/coh/powers/ it's .156, but I'm not clear the duration. Hmm. Sherk Silver's planner says .325. Anyway. Point is... you get 1.67 base endurance, and stamina adds +.86 end (three slotted with even level SOs).

So, of your 2.53 end recovery, 3 slots roughly cuts TD's drain in half... from .35 to .16. Of course, tossing just one end reducer into Slug cuts it from 10 end / use to about 7. Better ... ah... bang for the buck there, actually, than that third end reducer in CD.

And Combat Jumping? Problem one: It's, what, a 2.5% +def? Or was that pre-GDN? I don't remember, I haven't played my ar/dev in over a year really. And three slotted, a whopping 4%. Okay, on top of Cloaking Device 3-slotted for +def, you get 15% defense. That's not too bad... but... um...

... 2 end reducers? In the cheapest toggle (.08) in the game? I must ask, why? Okay, yes, every little bit helps, but... um... you take it from .08 to .04 end per tick?

Tossing an end reducer, if you're having end problems, into, say, Flamethrower would take it from 25 end / use to 18. You're saving a LOT more if you slot end reducers into attacks than toggles. And you even have a free slot to do it!

Also, given the AOE limits, IIRC 10 for Flamethrower's cone, are you really helping yourself with two range increases?

Plus... I have to say it... Targeting Drone is a shadow of what it once was. With Update 6's Global Defense Nerf (and subsequent adjustment of TD's ToHit buffs from ... what is it, schedule A to whatever it is now?)... if I don't slot Accuracy in my attacks *anyway*, I have problems hitting.

With spines/dark, believe me, I've tried it all sorts of ways... and slotting more end reducers in my attacks (plus one in every toggle, plus 3-slotted Stamina) really did the trick for long fights.

Aid Other, well, 3 slot it if you team a lot and want to play backup healer, sure. Personally, I one-slotted it. I'm not a "healer", I'm a blaster. I can help you recover out of combat, but I'm not an in-combat healer except in a serious pinch.

SJ 3 slotted? Eh, my wife likes it. If you have the slots, works for me. No different than 3-slotting Hover IMO.


M30 could use a recharge and an end reducer. (Hey, there go those two end reducers from CJ).

Cloaking Device is also overkill. You take it from .29 end to .13 end. And I don't think the +def is what it was, either, but hey, they're your slots.

Just one end reducer in M30 would knock that puppy down from 17.5 to just under 13. That saves you a lot more end over a fight than one extra in CD, TD, or *especially* Combat Jumping.

Boxing? That's your call. I might have picked Air Superiority if I really wanted a melee attack. But... the chance to disorient, while tolerable, is "small". If you want to disorient, why not Taser? Or, for that matter, Beanbag? Those are pretty much guaranteed to disorient if they hit (and the mag is sufficient).

Thing is, Disorients add to *duration*... they don't increase your chance of disorienting.

Stimulant? Eh, I'd do either Aid Other or this. But again, your call.

Smoke Grenade's debuff is pretty small, too, these days.

I found the LRM wasn't up enough for the relatively piddling damage it did, but APP powers are all flavor, anyway.

AutoTurret I found to be pretty meh for me, too, but if you like it, 6 slotting it is fine by me. That's flavor more than anything else.

... also... Aid Other and Stimulant, but no Aid Self? I only picked it up at 49, and man, what a difference it would have made all along.


I guess your concept is "the true squadron soldier" or something like that, but Aid Other with no Aid Self? Blink.

And yes, I have a different build, and I didn't "PL people" with it either (although, PLing with devices? Kinda slow anyway. Big nukes were always somewhat more useful for wolf-dumpster-diving.)

I did hit 50 before the AR slight nerf in Update 4, and the GDN / ED in Update 5... I'll have to check my "final" build at home, since I don't seem to have it with me right now... suffice it to say, I don't necessarily have a "concept" build....

... other than "blow things up good", I suppose...

... but I definitely have some reservations about your slotting, particularly your endurance reduction slotting.

Bingo.

(I've collected X-Men for nigh on 20 years now).

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While I understand that puncturing someone with the claws is a way to harm them you cannot deny that the set has gone from 'rawr, gonna slice you up' to '[/i]meyow, gonna poke you to death[/i]'

Sweeping strikes which show the character slicing and dicing is what the claws set should be about, not standing there shadow boxing with fists held close to your chest with quick short jabs. If you have claws then you should use them to their full potential, not pussyfoot around slowly jabbing at someone.

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"Gonna have to disagree with you there Bob". (Office Space).

I rather think if someone with 6" claws stabbed someone IN THE HEART or the throat or the kidneys they'd be, well, kinda dead pretty fast.

See "Faust" (the adult comic, and the atrocious live action movie) for examples of "real world" action with claws. Stabbing and slashing is kind of the point. Never mind ol Wolvy.

I'd actually call it more like using them to their full potential.

Slashing looks cool, but unless you're, say, Disemboweling (and that's another powerset, isn't it?) or Eviscerating ... well, let's just say, I can't see taking the new Swipe because I absolutely find that animation (old and new) to be unappealing. Now the old animation for that screams "I bat you to death" to me. So I didn't ever take it.

I mean, ooh, I'm sure you'll bleed to death from that arm wound... eventually... whearas I stab you in the heart, you die pretty quickly.

Where I'm a little disappointed at the look of the new Strike, but that's only because I have an SS brute and, well, it's Jab.

But I'll take the faster activation for $100 please, Alex, and I'll get used to the animation.

As someone has mentioned, I've seen more than a few of the ol' Canucklehead with his fist against someone else's chest... and then they fall over because that's what happens when you STAB THEM IN THE HEART. (Sorry. Getting a little too emphatic here).

/was amused by Bill's statement.
//and frightened.
///slashies! Claws is all about the slashies!

Trying to argue the real-world logic of attacking someone with claws strapped to your hands makes about as much sense as "arresting" someone with a sword or an axe... ah well.

Eh, my bots/traps MM was pretty "godlike" before.

If by "godlike" you mean "can do Invincible missions with ease".

Then again, on live, I sometimes get a "stuck" bot.

Always fun when it's the Assault Bot. They will respond in pet chat, but they don't move or do anything else - I generally need to dismiss and resummon.

Would be nice if that stopped happening.

Er what?

Pets aren't following up elevators?

Gah. Have to test that at home after work.

Well, I got to try the new animations... one from a fresh new stalker for Swipe (which is basically the one-two punch of barrage), Strike, which appears to be a right-handed copy of Jab...

... and the replaced Slash (bye-bye baseball pitch! I always liked it for Impale but hated it for Slash)... well, sometimes it switches hands, particularly if you chain Strike-Slash so a right then a left, but sometimes a right and a right.

The change makes the two attacks into a much quicker chain, and that's without any recharge reductions (level 12 and no recharges yet).

I like it.

Now, the color change for invl... anyway.

Tanker/brute SS punch does too, I think.


OT: Um, waiting to try out the new animations...

A familiar name!

Hey, well, welcome back and congrats on the wedding!

Married life is nice.

Did you know...

... the DVD power prestige power slide (or whatever) was once able to be done in a quirky way if you had Flight?

You could have Flight on in a store or other 'inside' map, and zone, and you'd be power sliding along the ground?

I miss that. Neat visual effect.



Perez Park and Boomtown used to be very full of teams, in Update 0 and Update 1.

Did you know... that defenders were once advised never to slot or use attacks? That scrappers were considered to be gimped before sometime around Update 1? That Provoke from the Presence Pool was pretty much universally required of tanks, while Taunt was single-target and reviled as a useless power?

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Different strokes for different folks. I like the debuff effect of Siphon Power. I can't tell you how many times a mob gets HELD or MEZZ'd after a siphon power because I or a teammate stacked some on previously. I just cannot see going without this simple bread & butter power (like siphon speed is).

My fulcrum shift is up often, but I and my teammates usually move through mobs quite rapidly (more than any pickup team seems to, from my experiences), so it's not up as often as we'd like, besides, when there is just 1 mob, SP is more efficient than FS. Still, I have and use both, so it's even more effective. Again, different strokes for different folks.



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Mind you, I can see the value of, and promote, Siphon Power for single-target debuffing - against AVs, SP + FS can leave them ... well, some of them... weak as kittens. Nothing like having a blaster survive Nightstar's nuke with barely a scratch, and then a nice Transfusion to top them off...

... but what does the mob getting mezzed have to do with anything?

Siphon Power's purely a -dmg power. In terms of a debuff, if your have mezzes... well... if the mob is held, they are doing 0 damage to you as it is...

Mind you, if it WAS like, say, RI, which includes a -def effect, I could see it... but...

... I don't think it does what you seem to think it does here.

Stacking siphon power doesn't contribute in any way to help you or your teammates mez land.

And - Dark Pit sucks rocks one-slotted.

It's quite nice 6-slotted... 2 acc, 2 diso, 2 recharge.

And if you happen to have Vanguard or Power Buildup it's quite helpful against minions.

Er, no, I think you were right the first time.

Fulcrum on you when you drop LS - buffs to LS. No damage buffs on you when you drop LS - no damage buffs to LS.

You get FS'd after dropping LS - no buffs for LS.

... do you want them targetable and destructible? Aside from adding more elements with HP to track... not sure how that would be from a performance standpoint...

That might add something to the game, for sure - especially if it worked for both players and enemies ("take out that Lightning Storm! Blow up those caltrops!").

I could see pluses and minuses for some powers.

But, say, Rain of Fire or Blizzard? Not sure that makes any sense...

And it would leave them out of being buffed, say, by Buildup.

Er, actually - since the "death bug" from Transfusion doesn't happen with Twilight Grasp - (i.e. even if the mob is dead when the debuff hits them, it is classified as a 'hit' and you get a heal off)...

... I think Twilight Grasp (if it hits the mob in the first place with the debuff portion), just fires off a "standard" PBAOE heal in the same way that Radiant Aura is a PBAOE.

I don't think Radiant Aura, Healing Aura, or TG are 'pets' of this nature, but Transfusion and Transference definitely are.

Ergo why Powerboost or Vanguard would pump the effect of HA, RA, or TG - but not Trans*.

Well... in a sense, maybe, if what I understand from previous redname statements is correct.

Fulcrum Shift's initial target spawns an AOE debuff effect, which in turn causes every target mob to spawn an AOE 'buff effect'. The debuff AOE size is classified as Large, IIRC, and each AOE buff is 'Medium'. So you can be standing on the front edge of a mob group, and not receive all the buffs, if the group is spread out and you're not overlapping with all of the 'buff' effects.

Transference and Transfusion work this way, too - they create a temporary 'pet' as the way to make the pretty green or blue ring.

However, having Fulcrum Shift 'buff it's own damage' would be, well, silly - so it's probably more in a descriptive sense that it's a "pet" rather than for purposes of getting this change. But I'm speculating.

By the way - since Transfusion and Transference are "temporary pets" ... which has led to the "death bug" where you get a nice green or blue ring but no heal/endurance... is there any way that could be prevented?

Personally, I'd be happy if it was either classified as a miss and no SFX played... OR a hit and you got the ring and the effect.

Not really the same thing, but if you're fixing one long-standing annoyance (no self-buff affects on Ice Storm, Blizzard, Rain of Fire, etc)...

Hmm... no, I don't think it would work that way.

Think of MM pets and controller pets the same way - you can buff them individually, so there is no need to do this fix for them.

Blizzard, Burn, caltrops - in today's world, you can't buff their damage except through enhancements.

Well, you *can* "buff" their damage (in a way)... by using a -res power, like Tar Patch or Enervating Field. But not directly, because -res affects the mob, not the placeable.

Autoturret always was a strange one, becuase you could buff it individually, with, say, Speed Boost or Fortitude, but as I found out in testing, it received damage buffs from Siphon Power (or Fulcrum Shift) only when the player had them on their toon before dropping it.

Since controller and MM pets can get, say, Fulcrum buffs on their own - I don't think they're the kind of "pet" that is included in this fix. And that would be rather brokenly overpowered, anyway.

Giving Blizzard max damage through Fulcrum Shift or Defiance buffs (yay! now it's not just for Inferno/Nova/Full Auto!) is fine, because Blizzard is temporary.

MM pets are 'permanent' until killed or dismissed.

*wonders if this would affect Lightning Storm and Voltaic Sentinel too*...

... which would make life interesting for teaming with fulcrum shift kinetics if I have storm, /storm, or /elec.

Heh heh heh - well, that would help blaster /elec, since as far as I know, VS there is *still* the same BI as defender VS.

At least, for sets that get Buildup and Aim...

BU + Aim + Voltaic Sentinel = 60 seconds of buffed fuzzy ball of attacking goodness, and no more would defender and blaster VS be the same (if they still are).

... of course, with Fulcrum Shift along, that would also be VERY interesting...