Kyriani

I've never had difficulty getting a group with my empathy/archery defender. Just watch the channels or start your own group!

I currently have Absorb Pain on my emp/arch defender but when Sorcery goes live I'll be replacing Absorb Pain with Spirit Ward. I'd rather shield someone from damage than just heal them and take damage myself. It also gives me a tool to be more proactive in my damage mitigation.

I can't for the life of me think of a reason to skip Fortitude though. Sure many people have softcapped defenses but it gives + tohit (which will be popular with the upcoming snipe changes) and +damage as well. And who doesn't want "MOAR DAMAGE!"?

For Group Teleport I think they should just change it to be a group recall friend that works across zones. So you can summon your whole team to a specific zone where a mission is regardless of where they are in game. That would make group teleport worthwhile.

For Group Fly I'm not sure... about the only thing I can think of is to make it like Kinetic's Inertial Reduction, make it a PBAOE buff that affects team mates and gives them a temp power that grants flight for a specific duration. Even that's a little hokey but it offers more versatility and reliability than Group Fly as is.

I like the idea of merging boxing and kick.

I don't expect us to be able to get Tough as a 1st tier power pick.

I like the idea of replacing the old kick with something new... maybe even just a passive that gives +perception and 3% to-hit (enhanceable!) so those AT's who can't just tactics/kismet their way to perma-fast snipe have an option to fill that 5% gap they inevitably have. They could call it combat awareness or some such.

Even non snipe users can benefit from some extra +to-hit and +perception isn't exactly doled out alot so why not? And as a passive this power requires no art time!

I know there's some technical issue with making them account tradeable only... but couldnt they just let one of the Ouro npc's or merit vendors take one from us plus some inf to stick it back into the email/account claim thing where the catalysts end up when you get them from super packs?

Also some AT's/Power Set Combos can solo him without it taking too long either. It's worth doing each day if you have the time/inclination.

I've only found data for two... I fully expect there to be more because I am confident that these will be big sellers because it's an account unlock that can affect more than just newly made characters.

We've only seen 2 potential "specialized" power pools from leaks with no guarantee they will make it to live. With that said, this seems to be what's intended in the future. Power Pools would sell better than regular power sets because players can potentially use them on all their characters if they wish (through use of a respec of course) instead of having to make a new character to level.

One thing I think many people may not be aware of is that the "specialized" power pools were listed with a limitation that states "NOTE: This is a Specialized Power Pool. You can only have one Specialized Power Pool in your build." which means that total "free form" won't exactly be possible. But that doesn't mean these pools won't create a vast variety of potential new builds! And of course the devs could possibly nix that limitation if and when they release these pools.

I'm not sure which has the higher over all return but I can say one advantage the proc has over just +end is that even if your end recovery is floored to zero the proc will still return end regardless.

That doesn't necessarily make it better overall, I just figured it wouldn't hurt to mention that fact.

While I can't suggest a specific combo as the best I would say look at the power sets you have to choose from and try to get the most bang for your buck. The first that immediately comes to mind is Storm Summoning. Why? because it gives you air/gas (Gale, Tornado, Hurricane), Water/Ice (Freezing Rain, Steamy Mist, Snow Storm) and energy (Lightning Storm, Thuderclap). Now pair that with something fire related like say earth control and fire mastery on a controller. you'll basically have all the elements. I know right now water blast is the new hotness but it isn't vital to do so for the liquid end of things.

As a companion to Martial Combat for Blasters and as a set I am sure many players who enjoy Defenders and Corruptors could develop a concept around, I would like to propose a new blast set!

I present: Thrown Blade Blast (the name is open to change!)

Blade Toss - ST minor lethal + toxic dot dmg -def
Blade Throw - ST moderate lethal + toxic dot dmg -def
Blade Fan - cone aoe moderate lethal + toxic dot dmg -to hit
Vital Strike - ST high lethal + toxic dot dmg -res
Pinpoint - as per traditional aim + increases the toxic dot dmg from the set
Shrapnel Blade - targeted aoe moderate lethal + toxic dot dmg -res
Pommel Strike - ST mag 3 stun minor smashing dmg
Flurry of Blades - narrow cone superior lethal dot (3 ticks) + toxic dot dmg -def
Blade Dance - PBAOE Tier 9 Nuke extreme lethal +toxic dot dmg -to hit

I choose a variety of secondary debuff effects for the attacks to give the set some interesting choices. The concept basically revolves around poisoned blades of varying sorts leaving customization options for the animations. I'd imagine there's be a shuriken option, a knife option, maybe a sai option, etc.

Since I believe thrown weapons don't have a "draw" animation the set should play nice with the other secondaries. The varied secondary effects allow for a variety of IO sets to be leveraged. All in all I think this would give players an option they've been asking for a while much like the Martial Combat/Assault sets.

So from watching the vid... it was mentioned a few times that snipes will now need 97% to get the insta effect? Wasn't it 22% before? I don't have a problem with this mind you I just want to be sure I didnt misinterpret what was said or miss some sort of dialogue where they announced/explained the jump from 22% to 97%.

I think it is unrealistic to expect any sort of nerf to existing set bonuses.

Alienating the player base at large because a few malcontents don't approve of the power levels possible is not going to help the game it'll kill it.

That's all I really have to say. You can spout your "balance" rhetoric all you want but at the end of the day Paragon Studios needs money to survive. Any major nerfs on the scale of ED/GDN (which is what you guys are basically talking about doing) would kill the game.

If we have to lose you as subscribers for not changing things to your taste vs. losing the whole game over a change that would be so vastly unpopular as to decimate the player base we currently have then so be it.

So let me get this straight... you're looking for a partner to "fill your (psi) hole" is that what you're saying?

Ok all joking aside... even without outside help you can have significant psi resist/defense if you use the right IO's. My own inv/ss tanker has around 32% resist AND defense to psi without any outside buffs and goes as high as 52% with a full stack of the ATO proc buff.

With that said yes a dark defender who stays near you with Shadow Fall will provide a nice chunk of psi resist and multi-positional/type defense. 20% is nothing to sneeze at. I'd say go with the defender over the controller if your really concerned about high amounts of resist since they will provide stronger buffs and debuffs. A dark/dark defender also has a fair amount of control as well as some nice blasting potential.