Justice Blues

I have the Ice Mastery pool on JB as part of a concept build.

Block of Ice is a great hold, and it stacks nicely with KO Blow for the occasion hold on AVs and Bosses. I use it against Sappers in Malta missions, then run up and hit them with KO Blow. That takes out White or Yellows, and a follow up Footstomp will take care of higher levels, as well as hit the others in the spawn. I found this to be very effective 95% of the time in Malta missions on Invincible.

Ice Blast I don't use much, it does decent damage, recharges nicely and doesn't seem too bad on end usage. OTOH, someone here on the forum recently pointed out that Chilblain does the same damage, uses less end, recharges faster, immobilize, and is -fly. To offset this, it is DoT and has a shorter range. Even so, I will be switching to it when I finally do my I5 respec. Oh yeah, both powers are -Recharge, -Speed.

Ice Storm I do not have and do not recommend for Inv/ tanks. It has a scatter effect that completely overrides any taunts. As IV pointed out, this is a very bad thing for us now.

As for putting EndRedux in your SS attacks, I only have one in Footstomp. All my other attacks are 1 Recharge/* Damage, with * from 2 to 5, depending on attack. 6 slotted Stamina obviously, but that is all. The only time I have endurance troubles is Sappers or Carnie Bosses. An AV fight would cause problems if it was solo due to length, but it since it is always a team event, no problems.

IV, nice guide, but isn't the duration on Unstoppable now 180 seconds instead of 200? I agree with your philosophy on both max resists and avoiding the Fighting pool. I am a tank, my purpose is taking damage. I do like the regen effect from perma-DP and 6 slotted Health, even though it costs me extra slots. And while the heal is not as great as what you get, I do get it more often.

My experiences with AVs since I5 have not been as consistently good as yours, but I am still on my I4 (or I3?) build. My S/L resist is only 52 right now without Unstoppable. When I respec, I have no doubt things will be much better.

[ QUOTE ]
Knockout Blow
Accuracy: 75%
Activation: 2
Endurance: 19.0
Recharge 25.0
Range: 5
Brawl Index: 9.8889
Havok Happy Index:
Description: Ok this power rocks and is what restored my faith in the Super Strength set. Up till I2 when they fixed this power Super Strength was more like Pooper Strength. Then they fixed Knockout Blow. Take this power. It does awsome damage, knockdown, and a strong chance to disorient. It doesn't get any better.


[/ QUOTE ]
I just read this whole thread. Certainly a nice build, but I wanted to point out a small problem here in your description for your next update. KO Blow doesn't have a disorient. It has a hold. The animation is the same as the disorient animation from Jab or Hand Clap, but the mob doesn't move.

It does stack with other holds which means that, as a tank, I can (and have!) encase AVs in blocks of ice. This is much fun.

But nobody is forcing you to team. You won't be able to do all the content, AV missions especially, but it is still an option. You will be able to do probably 95% of the missions, and can mostly avoid the ones with multiple glowies, except for the ones they haven't fixed the mission intro yet (And some of them you don't actually need to click simultaneously, despite what the mission requirements say.)

And if you really want to, for most of the missions you can clear out all but the glowies or AV, then broadcast for help to clear that. There are plenty of people willing to take a few minutes and help out in that situation. I do just because I enjoy fighting AVs. If that is too much teaming for you, then you are probably playing the wrong game.

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
When my real life friend complained about the difficulty of the mission by e-mail, he was told that he should have more people in the group or that he should talk to members of his supergroup to get help on the mission. He was also told that door missions need a minimum of 5 people now. This is the kind of attitude that led us to leave Everquest and if it continues we will leave City of Heroes.

Stop the missions with disarm x number of bombs simulataneously. This contradicts your published statements in the manual regarding being able to solo and is false advertising.

Stop tailoring the game toward uber supergroups and adrenalin-addicted teenagers. Remember us older adults who are casual players who do have a life.

[/ QUOTE ]
I don't know who told you that you need a minimum of 5 people for door missions, but they don't have any idea what they are talking about. I play probably 90% of the game solo, on all kinds of ATs, all kinds of powersets. The lower levels on all of them can be a real challenge, but they are doable. The only time I team is TFs and AVs, either my own or my SG mates. It is easier for me at this point, since my main is an INV/SS tank, but it wasn't easy at lower levels.

A couple of people on our SG duo constantly. They create the characters together, then take them through the entire game. They do most of the AVs with the 2 of them, and have done most of the TFs with just the 2. And they have done it with a couple of different sets of characters. (They do hate the Hollows, but they love Striga Island.)

You are an Ill controller, which means that from 32 on, you won't need teammates anymore, but you don't say what your teammates are. When you are taking on large numbers of mobs in missions, a tank is really useful. If you have one, then you may want to look at your tactics, and double check your difficulty settings.

[/ QUOTE ]

Actualy there are number of missions that require a certain number of people to complete them. Normally they say in the mission text now, but some of them still do not.

If you have played 90% of this game solo you would know this.

Your statement sounds more like you sat in a wolves mission too long or where on hydra killing teams alot, so you didnt actually play this game.

Also for your information an illusion controller could solo starting as low as they want

They dont need phantoms to be great, infact people who rely too much on pets die alot or sit around at level 50 and do nothing but hamidon raids, because they are too weak to do anything else.

[/ QUOTE ]
Wow, way not to read what was written. And to assume things about someone you don't know.

The original person was told by CS that door missions need a minimum of 5 people. Not one mission in particular, not the one they were on, door missions in general. You can read it in the quote right above this. BTW, there is even one mission that requires 8 people, Cavern of Transcendence, maybe you have heard of it.

As for the idea that I have spent too much time wolf herding or hydra farming, I have never done either. Haven't had any need to do either. Doing the story arcs and missions from my contacts, along with the various TFs, has been more than enough to keep me leveling. I do want to do the sewer trial, I am hoping it is as fun as Eden was. But farming hydras sounds boring.

And I know Ill controllers can solo before 32. Mine is level 12 and has teamed maybe twice. But they level very slowly when solo, at least at lower levels I have played, while they can level as quickly as anyone after they get their pets. I doubt the original poster will solo, it sounds like she is part of a good trio. But I was pointing out it was going to be easier at that time.

BTW, I didn't say I have played 90% of the game. Since I haven't played Striga or the Shard yet, I am not close to that figure. But I have soloed 90% of the time I have played.

[ QUOTE ]
When my real life friend complained about the difficulty of the mission by e-mail, he was told that he should have more people in the group or that he should talk to members of his supergroup to get help on the mission. He was also told that door missions need a minimum of 5 people now. This is the kind of attitude that led us to leave Everquest and if it continues we will leave City of Heroes.

Stop the missions with disarm x number of bombs simulataneously. This contradicts your published statements in the manual regarding being able to solo and is false advertising.

Stop tailoring the game toward uber supergroups and adrenalin-addicted teenagers. Remember us older adults who are casual players who do have a life.

[/ QUOTE ]
I don't know who told you that you need a minimum of 5 people for door missions, but they don't have any idea what they are talking about. I play probably 90% of the game solo, on all kinds of ATs, all kinds of powersets. The lower levels on all of them can be a real challenge, but they are doable. The only time I team is TFs and AVs, either my own or my SG mates. It is easier for me at this point, since my main is an INV/SS tank, but it wasn't easy at lower levels.

A couple of people on our SG duo constantly. They create the characters together, then take them through the entire game. They do most of the AVs with the 2 of them, and have done most of the TFs with just the 2. And they have done it with a couple of different sets of characters. (They do hate the Hollows, but they love Striga Island.)

You are an Ill controller, which means that from 32 on, you won't need teammates anymore, but you don't say what your teammates are. When you are taking on large numbers of mobs in missions, a tank is really useful. If you have one, then you may want to look at your tactics, and double check your difficulty settings.

[ QUOTE ]

Ok then give us fire tanks the abilty to take less damage, hold the aggro better, more resistances that are always one versus toggles, and while we are at it make it so we use less slots to max out our resistances the way SS tanks can, the abilty to use inspirations/fiery embrace/build up on burn .... help us with all that and we can talk about your 10 seconds of standing around being a meat shield for your team.

You keep talking about not being able to be an offensive powerhouse and how unfair it is that you can't do as much damage as other tankers can. But, I have yet to see you acknowledge how advantageous the SS build is when it comes to the sheer amount of punishent you can take vs other tanks. How many bonuses does the SS line have over all the others? How well can you herd entire zones over every other tank?

You want to be a damage dealer get a Fire tank and take all the damage one gets. Please quit telling us the SS/INV is broken because there is a down side to one power. Maybe I should be so passionate about my Eng/Eng blaster and nova?

[/ QUOTE ]
Okay, I am not going to get into the Rage discussion again, but you need to get something straight here. Rage is a SS power, not an Inv power. There are plenty of people that take Inv/En, Inv/Fire, Inv/anything, that have nothing to do with the chages to Rage. Don't start comparing Primaries and acting like it has something to do with SS changes. It doesn't.

It does bring up the question though, how many people take Fire/SS, Stone/SS, or any of the other combos with SS?

I did not realize that Mace was that bad. Never played that powerset. Hasn't really fit any of my character concepts yet. But I am sure I will get around to it.

Actually, I would trade my disorient and knockup for more damage, on everything but Knockout Blow and Footstomp. It can be fun to do a chain of knockdowns on a boss, but it is not a sure thing. Even Knockout Blow does not always knock the bad guy over, and it has the best chance. But more damage? That always does what it is supposed to.

I am not saying Rage 3.0 needs more changes. IV's latest tests are promising about holding onto the mobs in group situations. I was just disputing the idea that Rage makes SS some uber powerset because it raises our damage through the roof.

Rage is an 80% boost to your base damage. Not your damage with slots, your base. At least that is what it is supposed to be. If it is doubling or tripling your damage, you don't have much slotted in your attacks.

Just tested it on Test. Against the Clockwork Paladin. (Which can be soloed by a level 40 tank, BTW. And he can put you to sleep and Tesla you right through Unyielding. )
<font class="small">Code:[/color]<hr /><pre>
Power slots Enhancements Damage Damage
W/O Rage W/ Rage
Jab 6 1 Rech/5 Dam 76.09 98.24
Punch 3 1 Rech/2 Dam 70.54 103.12
Haymaker 4 1 Rech/3 Dam 140.16 193.59
Knockout 6 1 Rech/5 Dam 410.47 526.45
Blow
Footstomp 2 2 Dam 146.44
</pre><hr />
I apparently didn't use Footstomp on him when I wasn't under Rage.

So which of your powers does it even double? If it actually did double our damage, then we would need a larger penalty.

I know, you mean it doubles our total output, except it can't unless it doubles the actual damage we do. It doesn't make us attack more often, and my accuracy is already maxed, so it doesn't help me there.

And even with Rage, we are not close to being damage dealing monsters. I am sure someone has the damage done by the other Secondaries around here. Probably in the Brawl Index. I believe it will show that SS is actually next to last in damage dealing. (Poor Ice)

[ QUOTE ]
why am I hearing about all this "after the fact"??? why are we (the players) not informed of changes before they are instituted???? is there not a place to test things out before you implement changes?? oh and when will you update the ingame help file??

[/ QUOTE ]
This is a joke right? It was announced at least 2 weeks before the boss rollback actually happened. And they have this whole "Test Server" that everyone is invited to play on and give feedback about things. As for the ingame help file, who knows.

Well, I will keep playing SS, but I might as well use the respec I have been holding onto. I was going to get Rage, but it is evident they really don't want us to use it. My SG has been calling on me to tank AVs and giant monsters for them. No way I am doing that with a power that prevents me from attacking for 15 seconds.

Keeping aggro with an even level AV is hard enough with Taunt and punchvoke. Trying it for a +level AV would be asking for a team wipe.

Thank you. That makes my various squishy alts feel much better about leveling.

Well, if the present system of 0 endurance at the end of Rage goes live, I will not be taking it.

If I solo, which I usually do, boss fights take more than 2 minutes. And tend to take me right to the edge. Losing my toggles would catapult me over the edge.

If I am teaming, I don't usually need it, because the blasters and scrappers will take care of the bosses, I just need to keep them occupied.

Against AVs, I need teammates, inspirations, and sometimes a bit of luck. No way I want my toggles to drop there.

So I am left looking at Rage as a power that is not even situational, it is pretty much useless. I would rather play with some of the pool powers than use a secondary power that makes me eat dirt.

I am just glad I found out about it before I wasted my free respec.

[ QUOTE ]
Intersting that you brought that up comsidering that Fly was just made mutaually exlusive to SuperSpeed, yet stacking those running buffs on might be even better than Fly + Superspeed, and certainly cheaper on Endurance, heh.

...No I don't have the answer, was just pointing out the Irony

[/ QUOTE ]
SuperSpeed and Fly never stacked. You could have them both on, to leave a nice trail and be stealthy, but you didn't go any faster.

You can save your binds on a character, but I don't know if you can specify the file it will save it to. It will automatically save your binds to keybinds.txt in your COH folder. You could save it to that file then use notepad to cut out all the things you don't want and rename it to healer.txt. You could always try to do the save. That is the only way I know to find out if you can.

Personally, when I start adding powers to a character, I just start a new text file. I then add to it as I add powers. If I was doing a healer.txt file for empathy defenders, I would start with something like this:

[ QUOTE ]

h "powexec_name Heal Other"
lshift+h "powexec_name Healing Aura"
lctrl+h "powexec_name Absorb Pain"
numpad1 "unselect$$team_select 1$$say &lt;bgcolor gold&gt;Healing you $target!$$powexec_name Heal Other"
numpad2 "unselect$$team_select 2$$say &lt;bgcolor gold&gt;Healing you $target!$$powexec_name Heal Other"
numpad3 "unselect$$team_select 3$$say &lt;bgcolor gold&gt;Healing you $target!$$powexec_name Heal Other"
numpad4 "unselect$$team_select 4$$say &lt;bgcolor gold&gt;Healing you $target!$$powexec_name Heal Other"
numpad5 "unselect$$team_select 5$$say &lt;bgcolor gold&gt;Healing you $target!$$powexec_name Heal Other"
numpad6 "unselect$$team_select 6$$say &lt;bgcolor gold&gt;Healing you $target!$$powexec_name Heal Other"
numpad7 "unselect$$team_select 7$$say &lt;bgcolor gold&gt;Healing you $target!$$powexec_name Heal Other"
numpad8 "unselect$$team_select 8$$say &lt;bgcolor gold&gt;Healing you $target!$$powexec_name Heal Other"
numpad9 "+down$$-down$$tell $name, Healing Aura$$say &lt;bgcolor gold&gt;Group heal near me!$$bind_load_file c:\coh\healaura2.txt"
lshift+numpad1 "+down$$-down$$unselect$$team_select 1$$say &lt;bgcolor gold&gt;Absorbing your pain $target!$$powexec_name Absorb Pain"
lshift+numpad2 "+down$$-down$$unselect$$team_select 2$$say &lt;bgcolor gold&gt;Absorbing your pain $target!$$powexec_name Absorb Pain"
lshift+numpad3 "+down$$-down$$unselect$$team_select 3$$say &lt;bgcolor gold&gt;Absorbing your pain $target!$$powexec_name Absorb Pain"
lshift+numpad4 "+down$$-down$$unselect$$team_select 4$$say &lt;bgcolor gold&gt;Absorbing your pain $target!$$powexec_name Absorb Pain"
lshift+numpad5 "+down$$-down$$unselect$$team_select 5$$say &lt;bgcolor gold&gt;Absorbing your pain $target!$$powexec_name Absorb Pain"
lshift+numpad6 "+down$$-down$$unselect$$team_select 6$$say &lt;bgcolor gold&gt;Absorbing your pain $target!$$powexec_name Absorb Pain"
lshift+numpad7 "+down$$-down$$unselect$$team_select 7$$say &lt;bgcolor gold&gt;Absorbing your pain $target!$$powexec_name Absorb Pain"
lshift+numpad8 "+down$$-down$$unselect$$team_select 8$$say &lt;bgcolor gold&gt;Absorbing your pain $target!$$powexec_name Absorb Pain"


[/ QUOTE ]
This sets me up for the first several healing powers. I always leave my attacks on the regular numbers. The h binds are for driveby heals or other things when I am not teamed.

This seems like a lot of work, but there are a lot of binds already done in this thread and others that you can just copy and paste. And finding the binds you want to keep in the keybind.txt file can be a major hassle, because there are a lot more in there than you realize.

BlueVolt, I think you were talking to JonOfTheDead, I didn't ask any questions about binding Combat Jumping.

big_pappa, you need to decide where you want to say whatever you are saying. If you do it like this: [ QUOTE ]
t "local &lt;color white&gt;&lt;bgcolor darkblue&gt;&lt;border white&gt;&lt;scale 1.25&gt;Get over here coward!$$powexec_name Taunt

[/ QUOTE ]
then it will go out over the local channel. Changing the local in the bind to team, supergroup, broadcast, or request will send the words out over those channels. The last 2 are not recommended bindings for attack powers.

If you do it like this: [ QUOTE ]
t "say &lt;color white&gt;&lt;bgcolor darkblue&gt;&lt;border white&gt;&lt;scale 1.25&gt;Get over here coward!$$powexec_name Taunt

[/ QUOTE ]
then it will go whatever channel you are currently talking on. This is a good way to do it, but be careful you do not start using it when using Broadcast or Request.

I have just that. I have a generic.txt in my c:\coh folder that is the first thing I load when I start a new alt. It sets my movement keys, my inspiration keys, and chat binds so that every character starts the same. It also loads a large number of binds that call different bind files for each particular character. Some of those files are used by several characters on different servers, others are for just one character on one server. If I want a particular character to have colors in their chat balloons, I use the same keys as in the generic.txt file and add in the colors I want, so the commands are the same, but the results are different.

You can either do as I do and have a seperate file for each character, which is more work, but IMHO gives me finer control over each character, or have a healer.txt that all your Empathy defenders will use so that they all have exactly the same controls, and a darkdef.txt that all your */DA scrappers will use.

As I said, my way is probably more work, and either can be set up to load your binds the way you want them.

And you would not load the other files with /bind_save_file, you would use /bind_load_file c:\binds\healer.txt

There is a thread here in the Guide section that tells how to change your chat balloon colors with binds. Or you can wait until Issue 3 goes live and change them in the options section.

Because if you have multiple characters, and you want to keep each character as a different text file for modifying, you need to bind each of those to a different key. If you could use $name for a bind, you could just use one key instead. I have 20 different alts, each with their own file, plus a generic file that has the common binds they all use.

COH doesn't recognize spaces in path names. I just put my large number of bind files in C:\COH\ and make sure I don't have any spaces in the file names.

The real trick to finding CoT in KR is by using /camdist 400 and looking down. It places your POV well above the top of the building, making it very easy to see the green glowing clouds of the CoT.

[ QUOTE ]
As an answer to muuto's question.
Gimped powers (If you have them, don't flame me...it's just my opinion)

Beanbag - Why? When you can take other offensive powers...why?
Taser - Don't recall anyone ever taking it...anyone ever see it?
Combustion - I guess if you six slot this bad boy...but honestly I've never seen it deal massive dmg...am I wrong?)
Air Superiority - nothing to add here....
Assault and Tactics - If you are not a defender or controller stay clear of these..the 7% buff is not worth it. Why does this power pool penalize you for your AT choice??? No other power pool does this !!
Flurry - Weak...just plain weak.
Resuscitate - Weak for a level 20 choice.....just keep Revive inspirations handy..save a power pool choice. If you wanted to be a healer...why did you not play an Empathy Defender or Controller?!?!
Hand Clap - Knockback, no damage dealt...slight chance of disorientation. R - E - S - P - E - C, find out what it means to me.

That's all, and really just an opinionated rant. If you have found these powers really work for you, kudos.

[/ QUOTE ]
Can't speak for all of them, but I do have characters with some.

Taser - As a low level blaster, being able to stun the mob that has reached melee so I can get my attacks recharged is a very good thing.
Air Superiority - great attack, good damage for reasonable end cost, and knockup is really useful. Plus it can get a flier to come down and join the party for a while.
Leadership Pool - it does not penalize some ATs, it gives a bonus to Defenders and Controllers. According to Poz (I think, maybe Gecko) all of the pools except travel work better for some ATs than others.
Hand Clap - Fun as all get out. And useful to stun porters or other mobs you are trying to catch.

See, nothing gimped here.

I have my Taunt bound to t, then I have the verbal taunt files bound to lshift+t. So all I have to remember is to hit the shift key. Of course, I don't have anywhere near 75 verbal taunts to use.

I am trying to set my numpad keys to use O2 Boost on my teammates. Currently, they are set like this:
numpad1 "unselect$$team_select 1$$powexec_name O2 Boost"
numpad2 "unselect$$team_select 2$$powexec_name O2 Boost"

And so on up to numpad8. But while it selects the teammate correctly, it doesn't do the heal. I believe the O2 Boost is happening too quickly. I know that it is possible to bind a power on a key press, then a different one on a key release. I saw something on that earlier in this thread, but I am not sure how to implement it. Could someone give me an example please?