Local_Man
-
Posts
3911 -
Joined
-
I'm thinking it may be content for Praetoria for levels 20-50. There may be some new "systems" for missions to vary the gameplay.
-
In the Princess Bride, all the subplots are more interesting than the main love story. The main story is very much a cliche, but it is all the surrounding characters that make the film. Especially, Will Inigo Montoya find the six-fingered man and get his revenge? And the whole backstory of the Dread Pirate Roberts. . . .
-
I have an Ice/Storm at 50 plus a lowish level Ice/Rad . . . never played an Ice/TA as I tend to think of Ice Control as a melee set (with Arctic Air) and TA as a ranged set. My */TA is an Ill/TA.
In spite of my inclination, you can build an Ice controller to be a ranged controller using Shiver in place of Arctic Air. Personally, I prefer Earth as a ranged control set, which is why I think of Ice as a melee set -- that makes it different.
The essential powers in the Ice set are Block of Ice, Shiver or Arctic Air, Ice Slick, Glacier and Jack Frost. On most sets I would include the AoE Immob, but this set does not have an AoE stun to go with it (like Earth and Fire), and the huge Slow powers can mostly take the place of the AoE Immob, which conflicts with Ice Slick. Not to say that Frostbite has its uses -- my Ice/Storm has it to use with Tornado.
If you have room, taking a second Slow power is good -- but you could have Glue Arrow. It just depends on whether you want to try to be in melee to use Arctic Air (which needs 6 slots to be effective, but is awesome when fully slotted), or if you want to stay at range most of the time. If you take AA, max slot it for EndRdx and Confuse. Plan to get the Contagious Confusion Proc at 50, as that proc is awesome in this power.
I never found Flash Freeze to be appealing. Sleeps can be useful solo, but tend to be very situational (and usually wasted) on teams. Ice Control has such low damage that you want to always be on teams. I would take Poison Gas Arrow over Flash Freeze for its Damage Debuff.
Speaking of trying to solo . . . can you? Yeah, but it will be really, really slow. If you want to be able to solo, take Chilblain (single target Immob) and slot it up for damage. It is not great, but it helps. I would not recommend taking Chilblain unless you want it as a damage power or a limited "stop one guy in his tracks" power. If you want to solo, you will also want an attack from the pool powers like Air Superiority.
I wouldn't want to rely upon a proc to light the Oil Slick. Make sure you choose Tech or Magic as your origin so that your Origin power can light the slick. I chose Fire for my APP to have both Fire Blast and Fireball to light the slick . . . Fireball on the slick is particularly fun. -
Quote:There are ways, depending upon the situation, to make Phanty's knockback work for you rather than against you. I find that managing knockback can be one of the more fun challenges in the game. I have been playing a lot of */Storm lately, and even an Energy/Energy blaster, and I find that I enjoy the challenge.Originally Posted by Dr_Dismemberment
It also happens very often, even on ranged illusionists, when on maps with narrow caves/hallways and lots of chokepoints; office buildings, Oranbega maps and old-style caves. There really is no way to stay back in many situations and still be effective.
Yes, that aspect is an issue for Ill/FF and Ill/Sonic. The question becomes whether your bubble provides more benefit than Phanty. If the melee guys can get by without your big bubble, then you can stay with the ranged folks. But the point of my post was that Phanty's knockback can be somewhat managed with the right strategy. I tend to play my Illusionists at range mostly, so Phanty's knockback is far more of a benefit than a problem. (Ill/Rad, Ill/TA and Ill/Storm all work great from range most of the time.)Quote:This might be particularly bad for Ill/FF as well since you really want to stay about half way between the ranged and melee players so that Dispersion Bubble can affect the most people which also happens to be close enough to the enemy for Phanty to be maximally annoying with knockbacks. -
Quote:I agree . . . which is one of the pesky synergy problems that Illusion/Kinetics have. Phanty can be a significant source of damage if he can be Fulcrum Shifted . . . but he tends to knock away the targets needed for Fulcrum Shift.Originally Posted by Nalrok_AthZim
Ill/Kins have to run in if they want all of their FS to hit.
-
Quote:If you stay back at range, then Phanty's knockback isn't a problem. I keep him out almost all the time and rarely have problems with his knockback. There is a certain distance where Phanty will engage on the closest targets, only to knock them back into the rest of the group. Illusionists who run in to try to be scrappers have knockback problems.Originally Posted by Dr_Dismemberment
First let me say that my very first character in CoH was an Ill/FF and I still play him. The only valid reason I can imagine for kicking an Ill/FF in a full group is for those that keep out Phantasm and let it do crazy knockback which can dramatically slow down the entire group. This applies to any Illusionist, not just FF. There have been more than several times when I'm playing an alt when I've wanted to kick an Illusionist that insisted on having Phanty out all the time. The other day I was in a full group with 2 Ill/XXX while I was on my tank and the group was killing about half as fast as it could because of all the knockbacks. While there may be some special Illusionists that try to keep their Phanty optimally positioned so that knockbacks will knock stuff back into the main group, they are *very* few and far between and even they will have occasional issues because of Phanty's uncontrollable nature. Personally, when my Ill/FF is grouped, I only bring out Phanty for difficult single targets like AVs for extra DPS or when there is utter chaos and a bit of emergency control (distraction) is needed, then I kill him as soon as he's not needed any more.
-
Quote:BINGO! Good pick-up. This is probably the effect that the OP is seeing. The Recharge nerf on pets had a significant impact at reducing the number of attacks from the Imps. The Devs said that it was done because some pets weren't cycling their attacks, but the effect was to reduce the damage done by some pets. Others, like Animate Stone and Venus Fly Trap, got a damage boost.Originally Posted by Montaugh
speed boost no longer effects the recharge of pets, so the imps don't attack as fast as they once did for a fire/kin that boosted their pets. They still get the movement and end recovery just not the recharge boost anymore.
-
Quote:If you are doing a "guide," you probably should expand it beyond your personal preferences. I think the purpose of a guide is to help people make choices from the available options. You can certainly include your personal preferences, but let folks make up their own minds. Most of the additional powers that I plan to take will not be "mules" for IOs but situationally useful powers that I would like to have but could not have fit in, but for this change.Originally Posted by firespray
I purposely left them out because I don't feel that they're worth taking. They are all too situational to be really all that useful to most people, and they can't be used to mule any useful sets.
I'm hoping to eventually compile a list of all these as well, but it's going to take quite awhile.
I think that many people will use these extra powers for situational powers that they otherwise would like but felt they needed to skip. Or for powers that they find fun but not as badly needed as other powers until this change. I can see taking Repel on a Kinetics character. Or Telekinesis on a Mind Controller or Dominator.
Recall Friend can be amazingly useful. (In fact, I plan on adding Recall Friend to my main Ill/Rad.) Any character with invisibility can use it to bring the team to the objective of a mission. Any character with a Rez ally power can use it to pull that ally out of danger so he/she can be rezzed. And Controllers can use Recall Friend to pull their pets out of places when they are stuck.
Teleport foe? Less useful than Recall Friend, but many characters can make great use of it. Any Dark Miama character (and some other Dark powersets) can use Teleport Foe to pull a foe nearby for a siphon-type power like Howling Twilight or Twilight Grasp. Kinetics characters can grab a "battery" for their siphon powers. It also makes a nice pulling tool for weaker characters to thin out groups and deal with them one-by-one. Warshades get it as one of their power picks, but it is great to grab a foe, Hold him, defeat him, and then use his carcass to make a pet -- all before going into a big fight.
Bonfire is definitely one that some people will add. It can be more useful than Carnifax suggests -- There are lots of situational uses if you look for them. For example, you can use Bonfire to add some damage to an AV who resists knockback while knocking back all other foes wanting to join the fight (very useful during the Statesman's TF). -
Quote:Just don't respec your characters when Issue 19 comes out, and you won't get Swift. New characters will have it -- sorry.Originally Posted by Oneirohero
I didn't mean to complain about Fitness, I welcome the change but I'm worried about the speed issues. As for the Swift Vs. Speed-Boost comparison, I guess I didn't do enough to state how far apart they were in terms of effectiveness, I'm sorry.
Like I mentioned previously, no problems with Health and Stamina whatsoever. I'm just hoping there'll be a way of putting Swift and Hurdle in to satisfy everybody who really wants to have it and those who really do not want the extra boost in speed.
I'm not a d00M post, honest! D:
Everyone is entitled to their own opinion. It is my opinion that your concerns are silly. Swift without Sprint should be slow enough for you. If it is not, use Walk. I see no downside to this whatsoever. Getting Swift AND Hurdle AND Health AND Stamina on all characters? And they can still be slotted just like now, letting me have three more power picks? Yes please!!! -
Quote:Wild Cards!! (For those of you who don't know, George R. R. Martin has edited a long running series of books (with various authors) about an alien virus that gave people super powers. 90% of the people who get the virus die -- called drawing the Black Queen. Of the remaining 10%, 9% become disfigured -- they are called Jokers. The last 1% get super powers -- they are Aces unless the power is minor. Then they are called Deuces.)Originally Posted by Wayfarer
Croyd Crenson who's powers change every time he goes to sleep, more likely to draw a Joker than an Ace, and then there's the constant fear of one day pulling the Black Queen.
I don't know . . . the one I would least want to be is Snotman, or maybe Bloat. -
This change will allow people to take situational powers that they might otherwise skip. You missed a few:
Recall Friend, possibly Teleport Foe. Stimulant, Aid Other, Aid Self, Resusitate.
Then there are a lot of one-slot powers from powersets, some of which can be situationally useful with only one slot but would be better with more. Bonfire. Group Invisibility. Mutation and just about all other Rez powers that people generally skip. Permafrost and Tempature Protection. One with the Shield. Lots more. -
Quote:Originally Posted by Colossal
Is this secondary ever going to come to controllers? The devs would obviously have to come up with a different tier 9 power for it but no matter what they would do about that it would immediately become my favorite controller secondary. This vary well may have been discussed at great length somewhere else but I have not been able to find a thread about it so I figured I'd start my own. Your thoughts?
Dead horse? Meet Stick. Now apply ample beating.
This topic comes up every two to three months. The Devs will do it when they do it, but it will take some major revisions. -
For me, it will vary widely, depending upon the character. My Ill/Rad will get Mutation and Recall Friend. My Ill/TA will get to add Flash Arrow. My Earth/Storm will add Snow Storm, mainly for the -Recharge.
And some characters may add one or two powers from the Leadership pool, or a second travel power. -
Most of my character names are puns -- some of which I repeat on other servers. The pun usually has some kind of link to the powersets, but might be something else that I found amusing.
My latest pun inpiration has been the electric sets. My Electric/Rad controller is dressed in a simple orange vest with a white short-sleeve shirt and khaki pants, with work-style gloves -- his name is "Ohm Depot." (I have gotten a LOT of positive tells on that name.) I used the same name on another server for an Elec/Shield scrapper, and then made a Plant/Elec Dominator with the name "Ohm and Garden." Then I made an Elec/Fire and named him "Ohm Cooking."
Mostly, I look for variations on the name of the powerset that most folks wouldn't think of. Then I try to put it together with a common phrase. -
It looks to me that this build needs some serious work. Frankly, it looks like you threw together a bunch of sets without an objective. To me, Recharge is far more important than Defense -- if PA and your controls are keeping the foes busy, they won't be shooting at you. However, if you are going to slot for Defense, you need to build off of the Smash/Lethal from your APP, not Ranged Defense or other types. Also, I believe in making a build that makes good use of the powers over IO set bonuses -- I dislike "mule" powers that you don't use.
As MM said, Blind is essential, not only as a single-target hold, but also as a source for damage and Containment for Spectral Wounds. Blind has the same base damage as SW (after the heal-back), and Containment doubles the damage from SW, so skipping Blind puts a serious reduction in your damage ability as well as your single-target control. Plus, if you are going for Recharge, then Blind can be slotted with 4 Basilisk Gaze and some damage.
Warmth and Cauterize: That sixth slot only adds a small amount of Toxic Resistance -- seems a waste to me.
Deceive: That sixth slot adds nice Ranged Defense, but that only helps a bunch if you already have a lot of Ranged Defense, which you don't. I would drop the Confuse IO.
Superior Invis: you don't have enough EndRdx to run this power very much. Consider the LotG Recharge, and then 5 Red Fortunes, making sure you max out on EndRdx. You get an extra 5% Recharge from that.
Do you really need two RunSpeeds in Swift? If you want to run fast, Drop Teleport and use Super Speed.
Phantom Army: Try replacing the Dam/End and Recharge with (a) the two triples from Call to Arms, or even better, (b) Dam/Rech and Chance for Build Up from Soulbound (the purple set).
Spectral Terror: Do you need that Recharge? It is a waste to me. This power needs no slots for the power itself to be effective. The slots are, in effect, a set mule, although the enhancement does make the power more effective.
Forge: That sixth slot is wasted. Status resistance only slightly shortens mez time.
GI: It can be used as a mule, but if you take and slot up Blind, you don't need it.
Phantasm: 4 Expediant plus some additional Acc/Dam in a 5th slot will save a slot.
Combat Jumping: The endurance cost is so low, don't bother slotting for EndRdx. The LotG Recharge in the Default slot is enough. -
Any character, well played, can contribute substantially to a team. Consider the guy an idiot and move on. Realize that you are probably better off not being on a team with him.
-
Thank you so much for doing this!!! I use CityBinder on all my many characters. I have a set of Ultrabinds for each powerset, so anytime I make another character with the same powerset, I can just pull up the Ultrabind. I also have an Ultrabind for my "standard" binds that I use on every character, and a set of complex binds for the sayings I use on every character.
Adding Ninja Run would be a big benefit, but I'm greatful for this update.
I have been having to write in the binds for the new powersets, but this should be much better!! Thank you so much!
For those of you who don't know what CityBinder is, it is a program written a while ago to write your binds for you. It makes it very easy to set up a complex (or easy) set of binds, and then use those binds on as many characters as you want. It also lets you use the "Speed-on-Demand" binds, where Sprint automatically turns on whenever you press a direction key, then automatically turns off (to save endurance) when you let go of the key --the same system works for Hover+Fly, making much easier to fight from the air.
Somewhere in the thread for my Ill/Rad guide, I have the links to where folks can download the program and the last update before this one. -
Quote:Fire is a late bloomer. You need Stamina and SO level slotting to handle the endurance for Hot Feet. And then a lot of damage comes from the Imps.Originally Posted by Forex
Just wanted to add my .02 after sifting through this post. I also wanted to try a controller after coming back to the game in going rogue.
I tried a fire/rad and just found it painful to level. Now I'm assuming it will get better but at level 12 he goes through more endurance than a fat kid eats cake. I recently tried an ill/rad (thanks local man for your guide) and it seems like I'm doing more damage and leveling easier in the beginning levels.
Is ill just a stronger set out of the box then fire or is fire a later bloomer?
Illusion is a fun, but odd bird. In low levels, you can solo very easily. Once you get Phantom Army, your damage goes up quite a bit. The Phantasm adds another chunk. So, it is pretty easy to solo the entire way . . . but teams are easy, too. -
Personally, I evaluate characters with standard builds leveling up, and maybe some lower cost IOs late in the build. There are so many changes you can make with a full IO build maximizing this attribute or that attribute, that I don't think it is very helpful to folks looking for advice to take that final expensive build into account.
Ultimately, it is a matter of personal choice. On my Mind Controllers, I slot Dom, Mez and Lev for damage and enough recharge to get a pretty steady attack chain. Terrify is slotted for damage rather than control. I use Confuse a lot, and Mass Confusion when appropriate. I don't think that Terrify and Mass Confusion make up for the damage of most pets.
As for Tip Missions, my Ill/Rad is my first choice . . . with Superior Invis, Deceive and PA drawing the attention of foes, it makes it very, very easy to stealth missions. -
I don't have a reference, but I think the proc will not work on allies. I seem to recall this being tried out. It will only have a chance to go off on YOU when you activate AM. You would do better using a set of Efficiency Adaptor in AM.
I might be wrong, though. -
Quote:I've taken every controller primary into the mid 40's except electric, with only Mind and Grav not yet hitting 50. I have both a Mind/FF and a Mind/Storm. I soloed my Mind/FF most of the way, mostly because my usual gang of buddies kind of abandoned the server he is on.Originally Posted by Peacemoon
This is not a criticism really Local Man, but everytime you say Mind solos slowly at high level compared to others, it makes me wish I could upload some videos and give you examples of the great killing speed of Mind and how wrong you are. Then again, it also makes me doubt myself and wonder if its purely because my character is super slotted.
Still, I think of Mesmerize, Leviate, Dominate, Terrify and your AoE APP of choice slotted for damage really will give a lot of the other control sets a huge run for their money. Especially depending on what secondary you choose.
Compared to Ice, Earth and Electric I personally think Mind is still far superior even with pets included.
Compared to Gravity I think Mind still has the edge even with singularity. Propel is a long activation (although good damage). Lift is low damage compared to Levitate. Crush takes 9s to deal its damage unlike Mind's powers which are all instant damage and no DoT. So it doesnt have the smooth attack chain that Mind offers, and it doesn't have an AoE attack like Terrify before APP's.
Plant I don't really have the experience to say as I played Plant as Dom, which isn't a fair comparison, but it will seem to rely much more on confuse damage.
Illusion and Fire I will give you, although Mind does outperform them at low level.
Why I keep making this point is I honestly feel because Mind does not have a pet there is a stigma which in my experience is unjustified. Having played the set aslong as I have maybe I am just able to leverage it in ways people new to it simply cannot.
Anyway again this is not a criticism, I am just wondering why I have such a great experience soloing with Mind at both high and low level, but it never seems to reflect on the forums.
I would say that my Earth/Storm and Earth/Rad can solo faster than my Mind/Storm, mostly because of the damage done by Rocky. I would say that my Grav/Storm is faster to solo, too. Certainly Illusion, Fire and Plant go faster.
I would agree that Ice is probably slower, although my Ice/Storm does fairly well -- but he is specifically built to solo with Air Sup, Chilblain and lots of damage in his APP powers.
The great attack chain that Mind gets so early is most of Mind's direct damage. Dom-Mez-Lev works great. Then you get a bit of AoE damage from Terrify in a cone, but after that, no more damage. Confuse and Mass Confusion adds the ability to defeat foes a bit faster if you let them beat up their buddies, but you risk missing out on XP that way. Don't misunderstand me -- I love confuse powers, too, but if you let them do a bunch of damage, you don't really level all that much faster.
Overall, I have just found that it seems to take longer to solo a Mind Controller than most others after the others get pets. I have discussed this at length with a buddy who took his Mind/Kin to 50 -- we both feel that Mind falls behind on the damage curve after level 33 or so, where other controllers get a big bump up. That's not necessarily a bad thing, since Mind trades off that extra damage with greater AoE control, including 3 kinds of control that don't draw aggro. -
Quote:If Flashfire+Fire Cages is OK, then what is wrong with Stalagmites+Stone Cages? Conflicts with your own power? Then don't use it when you use Earthquake . . . or use Stone Cages, wait 12 seconds for the -knockback to go away, and use Earthquake.Originally Posted by Ben_Arizona
I think the Flashfire/Fire Cages combo is perfectly fine if you're not rolling with someone who uses KD patches. I mean, the problem is less with the power combo itself and more with not paying attention to who you're teaming with: if you're teamed with someone who drops the KD patches like candy then yeah, your stunnees aren't going anywhere anyway.
That said, I don't like stun + immob on Earth Control because it's counterproductive to one of the character's own powers and Quicksand works fine to keep wandering to a minimum (and you should always have Quicksand down for the debuffs anyway). I don't even take Stone Cages, but that's a matter of personal taste.
Stone Cages has many uses, and Quicksand is not a sufficient substitute all the time (although it can be sometimes). For example, for an Earth/Rad the combo of Stone Cages + RI is very powerful and up all the time as a form of continual control. Quicksand won't keep the foes all together for very long, allowing some to wander outside of the debuff. And then there is the issue of Containment once you get your APP AoE attack powers . . . -
Quote:On my Kin/Elec Defender, who is built as a sapper, I was able to drain an AV or two with Power Build Up-Thunderous Blast-run in and pop a blue-Transferance-Short Circuit-Ball Lightning. All of those (except Power Build Up) are slotted to some degree with EndMod.Originally Posted by Amy_Amp
End drain is hit, or miss. There are a number of times I can get the end bar to go down at the same rate as health does, but I think in terms of higher end AVs, you most likely need two sappers to consistently pull it off. Note this is based on playing a level 50 Kin/elec defender. Without Transference, and one that uses some sort of buff(Power Build Up), I think doing draining on AVs(certainly higher end ones) will be rather difficult solo.
There was a comment earlier in the thread claiming that Elec control is the most effective low level controller. I think some of the fans of Plant Control might challenge that statement.
One aspect of Electric control that gives it some similarity to Illusion -- more Electric Controllers on a team make the controller more effective rather than less. Multiples of other controllers can often step on each other's toes. (On my Earth Controllers, I can't tell you how many times my Earthquake has been neutered by the Fire Controller casting Fire Cages . . . to the point where I just give up on Earthquake.) -
Not only the points made above, but Acid Arrow is a foe-targetted smallish AoE, while Disruption Arrow is a location-targetted AoE. If your targetted foe moves, you miss out on the full benefit of the two stacking -Resistance powers.
And thanks for the kind words. I try to be helpful. Most of the stuff in my guides really comes from the other fine folks who hang out in these forums, so they all deserve some kudos.
As for the "annoying" graphics of Stone Cages, some people have found the Crystal version or the Lava version to be less annoying. Personally, I like the graphics because they shout out, "Foe here!!" You always know when the effect is working. -
Opinions differ widely. The ones you definitely want to avoid are Ice, Electric and Earth -- you can solo them, but they are the lowest damage.
In the early game, Illusion, Mind and Gravity all have good single target damage powers. Illusion and Mind solo more easily because of Deceive/Confuse -- a no-aggro single target control power lets you confuse all the dangerous foes, so you can actually kill off foes with no danger to you whatsoever. Then Plant comes along with Seeds of Confusion at level 8 -- the best low level AoE control, with some AoE damage in Roots -- it is not fast, but you can often handle groups just as easily as individuals.
Fire is very slow to solo in the lower levels, but in high levels, it becomes the AoE damage king -- especially Fire/Kin, but Fire/Rad is pretty darn good, too. So is Fire/Storm. Other sets become easier to solo once you get your pet at 32 . . . except Mind gets a great AoE control power in Mass Confusion. (Soloing a Mind controller in upper levels becomes slow compared to other controllers.)
My personal favorite solo sets are Ill/Rad, Ill/Storm, Ill/TA and Grav/Storm. They aren't really that fast, but they can solo mostly in safety, and survival is more important to me than speed. My Fire/Rads follow close behind. Ill/Rad in particular works great solo, on small teams or on large teams -- it is an all-purpose character who can tank, blast, control and defend. (You might notice the link to my Ill/Rad guide in my sig . . . just sayin' . . . )
As for Power pools, the first pool attack I look at is Air Superiority. It does a little less damage than Flurry, but you don't get rooted for a long time, and you get that nice knockdown as another aspect of control -- plus you can knock down fliers. I think that if you do a survey of most experienced players, Air Sup will be more popular than Flurry.