Lord Mayhem

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"Baby I Don't Care" on now

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Oh the irony!

None of us believe you don't care

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Never say never

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Never!

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I told you not to say that

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Not listening!

La la la la la

<puts fingers in ears>

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Never say never

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Never!

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It's too late - NCSoft armed guards have already started surrounding some sections of the board

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Ack, this is the end! Flee!


This is the end
Beautiful friend
This is the end
My only friend, the end

Of our elaborate plans, the end
Of everything that stands, the end
No safety or surprise, the end
Ill never look into your eyes...again

Can you picture what will be
So limitless and free
Desperately in need...of some...strangers hand
In a...desperate land

Lost in a roman...wilderness of pain
And all the children are insane
All the children are insane
Waiting for the summer rain, yeah


(or maybe it's a beginning )

Yeah it's very good news - this bug has annoyed me so much.

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am i the only person who thinks this is an awesome update

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Nope. This is shaping up to be the best issue since I12 for me personally (I13 & I15 felt lightweight, I14 lacked variety), mainly for the powerset proliferation - finally I can play an Archery/TA Corruptor! I've been waiting for that since CoV beta!

Claw/ Brutes, Rad/ Blasters and /Earth Doms sound yummy too.

Better control over difficulty settings is something I've wanted for ages too - some characters just thrive with bigger spawns.

Power customisation is just the tasty gravy on top of all that and I'm so glad it's not supporting the entirety of an issue on its own, like MA had to. Issues need to add a variety of stuff, to at least try and please everyone.

I can't wait to see what the unannounced features are - more QoL I suspect, but I'm hoping for some Dev-created arcs/missions, some costume pieces, more purple IO sets (for the categories that lack them, like Fear), some more yellow/orange IO sets (for Targeted AoE especially), more maps/tweaks for MA and hopefully some base additions too.

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you also get to fight them, well at least Mirror Spirit for certain, in end game villain arcs.

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Mirror Spirit and Foreshadow are present as enemies in Scirocco's second patron arc.

The four signature heroes of WISDOM were created for the Asian release of CoH, called City of Hero. The two that aren't present anywhere in-game at this time are Rose Star and Spark Blade. I'm guessing the Devs will wheel them out the next time they need Hero trainers for a new/revamped blueside zone.

Aside from the comics, I think the only place you can see all four members of WISDOM now is in the City of Hero cinematic trailer from the official CoH website (direct ftp download link)

I like facing bosses while solo/duo, so I don't mind this at all. The Midnighter missions outside AE are quite boss-heavy too, so maybe this is a design choice on the part of the Devs. I do hope so.

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And I thaught Val was just making a challenge on his new arc!

most fun I'ev had in ages, though, when 2 groups of council Acendents each with a boss and a couple of Lt's in the starting room of one mish.

"Whoa... big group... should be fun! *jumps in and starts kicking*

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I'm really glad you enjoyed it so much - that wasn't because of the bug, though - that was by design!

There are actually four "boss" spawns of Council Ascendants in that particular room (two can spawn up on the walkway above the entrance, so you may have missed those), set at "hard" spawn difficulty. Ascendants look cool, but we rarely face them in normal gameplay, so I knew I wanted to use them. Originally I made a custom group of Ascendants purely to use as a bodyguard for a certain AV on the final mission (ditto for the Galaxy-only spawns), but they fitted the story for the 4th mission as well so I decided to use them there too, for added colour/variety.

They're just a little extra challenge on an arc that is supposed to be fairly challenging anyway (I was trying to pitch it around the same level as Viridian's "The Conference of Evil" arc). Plus, as I said, I do like facing bosses when solo/duo'd, so I try to add in extra boss spawns (which are not set as mission objectives) on my arcs just for variety/challenge (ditto for patrols). The arc is clearly marked in its description as having quite a few EBs/AVs, so I figured anyone able to handle EBs would be ok with the "Ascendant room" And they're not mission objectives so if the Ascendants prove too annoying then you can always just bypass them into the lift behind them - they won't follow.

I just wish more people would play that arc - hopefully the tagging system will help more players find it. My first arc "A Mythos of Mystical Mysteries" (arc ID 84285) got so much praise that word of mouth spread and my second arc "The Renegade Rebellion" (arc ID 117690), which was published soon after, got a lot of playthroughs in a short time by people who had enjoyed my first arc (or so it seemed from the comments I got). This third arc "Overshadowed by History" (arc ID 220049) took so long to plan, write, create and test that I think it has missed out on any "buzz" my first two arcs created, which is a shame because story-wise it's easily the best of the three. For anyone interested, I'm still looking for feedback on it - though I have tested the arc extensively so it should be bug/typo-free.

Anyway, thanks for your very kind in-game comments, Imoba. Such praise makes all the time I spent creating the arc totally worth it (probably around 30 hours in total over several weeks, not including around 20 hours of testing/tweaking).

My problem was that I just got really bored of the rifle attacks mid-teens - they just seemed so samey - animations were ok I guess, the sound fx were a bit weak though, and it just didn't feel powerful. Like you I also found the damage really lacking, even with Venom Grenade (which I picked up as soon as it was available).

I've rarely felt that way with other powersets/archetypes. My pre-24 soldier experiences have actually put me off playing the Assault Rifle powerset several times (though I'm considering it again now) and I can't see myself playing a Huntsman build anytime soon (or ever).

That made it feel like a real grind to get my soldier to 24, but once I did (and I went Crab to 50, though I prefer Bane now) the archetype changed completely and became tons of fun. My Bane/Crab is now one of my favourite characters (along with my widow and my archery blaster).

I never felt the same way with widow and, in spite of dreadful end issues, I enjoyed playing my night widow non-stop from 1-50.

So really you just need to persist through the dull/weak rifle levels - teaming is the way forward - my duo partner dragged me through the late teens and early 20s, otherwise I might have given up on my soldier.

And with a double xp weekend coming at the end of the month it might be an idea to put your soldier on the shelf until then. There is always lots of teaming on dxp weekends - you could probably get to 24 inside a few hours.

I often get compliments for bios and costumes, but hardly ever for names - iirc the only one of my character names I've ever been complimented for was my widow: Mistress Distress.

I do spend ages picking names for my characters and I try to make them sound right for the genre and the character/bio, rather than doing joke/pun/phrase names, but I do have one character whose name works both in-canon and as a play on words: Marshall Saint, my Bane/Crab, whose name sounds like the reverse of the redside zone St Martial, but he is also an Arachnos official of the same rank as the NPC Marshall Brass.

Personally though my favourite character names are my Archery/En blaster Nightbow and my En/Elec brute Powerbreaker - those are the only ones I'd likely carry forward into a different superhero MMO.

Character: Nemesis, because I'm a fan of Steampunk, plus he's everything a super-villain should be - a master manipulator, insanely ambitious, looks stylish, speaks in a pompous patronising manner, confident in his own superiority, doesn't let failure deter him, he's been around longer than most heroes, and just like with Doctor Doom you can never be sure you've actually defeated the real Nemesis.

Badge: I'm not really a badger so I'd have to say Demonic - probably the easiest Accolade to get redside, but very useful too.

Powerset: Archery - I just love plinking away with pointy sticks and Rain of Arrows is incredible.

Arc: Viridian's "The Conference of Evil" - fun missions, great story, and the dialogue from the gathered Archvillains at the start of the final mission is just priceless.

Memory: Probably my first ever Rikti zone raid. Just seeing those dropships flying over the city and raining down bombs was cool, but then all of the players gathering to fight the Rikti that teleported down felt so epic - like something out of a comic book.

Oh no, Lukas is on the forums - flee!

I've played dozens upon dozens of MMOs over the years and CoH/V easily has the best chat system and best chat interface of any of them (aaaawwwddddsssssdespite the annoying chat bug).

I remember when I was beta testing Auto Assault, Pirates of the Burning Sea and Tabula Rasa that I was so annoyed that their chat systems and UIs seemed so prehistoric compared to CoH/V's - it was like going back to 1999 and playing EverQuest all over again (though tbh the chat system in EQ was better than a lot of recent MMOs I've played).

A poor chat system really does deter you from bothering to socialise. I think a good chat system is essential to having a strong community, and global is certainly one of the main features that facilitates ours being so good.

I respec'd my Bane last night into the purpled build above. He is now capable of the RWZ Challenge and seems as survivable as my Night Widow while doing it, and takes a similar amount of time to take down a L54 triple-boss spawn (no, I didn't actually time it).

As with the Widow I took down several triple-boss L54 spawns just to make sure I hadn't totally fluked it - he managed L54 spawns with 3 Chief Soldiers, ones with 2 Chief Soldiers and a Chief Mesmerist, and the easier spawns with just 1 Chief Soldier and 2 Chief Mesmerists - he did die on my first attempt against 3 Chief Soldiers, but then I do find those the hardest L54 spawns, as it just takes two of the Soldiers getting lucky (i.e. their 5% chance to hit you with their big swords) and you're toast - but two further attempts against spawns of that type were successful without any problems.

As with the Widow, I took out the minions and lieuts first (because they go down so fast, which cuts incoming damage by so much) and left the 3 bosses til last (focusing on Chief Soldiers before Chief Mesmerists, as they take same amount of time to kill but the Soldiers are more lethal).

The Bane certainly does better on the Pylon Challenge too - mainly due to the -res debuffs I think. But again, the pylon hitting you twice consecutively is just death - Aid Self can't heal you back to full before the second hit, even though my Bane has more HP than my Widow. My Bane got the Pylon down to around 30% health before he got double-shotted dead like that, but he didn't have the end issues the Widow did.

I'll have to try again at some stage and see if I can "luck it out" all the way through a pylon without being hit twice consecutively - or maybe I'll just "cheat" and take some green insps along. I'm not actually sure if using insps is against the spirit of the Pylon Challenge, or if I'm just thinking of the RWZ Challenge (which is definitely no insps, no godmodes, etc).

As with all defence builds, if luck goes against you then you're doomed - they're not as predictable as resist-based builds (yet tend to be better against high damage enemies where you'd rather not be hit at all if possible) - but having Aid Self and almost being at melee softcap has certainly made a huge difference to the Bane's survivability. I haven't tried the Bane against any AVs yet, but he mowed through a L54 Rikti Heavy Suit EB without too many issues.

So I can certainly say that purpling my Widow and Bane builds, as above, was worth the inf/effort - they're both incredibly powerful for normal gameplay. The Widow has better dps, but the Bane's better burst damage and -res debuffs plus his considerably better end-efficiency do close the gap - survivability-wise I think the Widow would only seem better against -def debuffers and/or lots of area damage. Admittedly neither of them can clear the wall spawns in Cimerora as fast as my Archery/Energy blaster (which I just purpled-up), but different horses for different courses.

My current project is making a few tweaks to my Crab build to add a couple of purple sets (to get his 6 pets near-perma) and then I'll start raising inf to do a purpled Fortunata build, seeing as I've just settled on a final build for that in Mids which has perma-Hasten/ML.

I've seen lots of people saying they don't think purple IOs are worth the extra inf and that they don't think the set bonuses would make a big difference. I used to think like that. Honestly, if you do go the extra mile and use several purple sets plus other uniques such as LotG +7.5s it really does make a noticeable difference to how they play - at least it does to Banes, Widows and Blasters.

I've enjoyed playing all of my L50s, but there are only three of them that I still play regularly because I really enjoy how they play, their names/bios/costumes just fit them so well, and they're outstandingly effective at what they do. I've recently invested a ton of inf to purple-up all of them as they're easily my favourite characters:

Nightbow - Archery/Energy/Force Blaster - BU+Aim+RoA every 27 secs just makes me grin like a loon, but then so does sniping a runner at near maximum visible range. He was also my first L50 hero (my 3rd L50 overall) which makes him even more special.

Marshall Saint - Bane/Crab Spider - Surv+BU+Shatter makes me grin like a loon as well, but if an uber-stalker isn't needed I can become an area-effect monster with 6 spider pets

Mistress Distress - Night Widow - an uber-scrapper with good ranged attacks that is very hard to kill (I still need to make a purpled Fortunata build for her)

My one perfect character would be one of these three - just don't ask me to choose which one!

At first I just felt dread when I heard the news, but then I realised all the advantages this will bring us:

1) Only one Dev Tracker to check instead of two
2) We can interact more directly with the Devs
3) If we post questions we will get more responses much faster

Sure, some of our EU community atmosphere may dissipate, but as others have said we can just move that banter into the EU server forums on the new combined board.

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Surprisingly many people here that seem to have the same perspective on things as I do. I would never pay over 100mil for one IO, even though I can easily make 50mil or more overnight playing the market...

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There was a time I had a limit and would never spend more than 10million inf for anything. Then I discovered marketeering schemes and gradually my limit went up to the point where, after making my first 2 billion inf, I bid it all away on purples in about an hour.

It still took 2-3 weeks for all those bids to fill - I'm not about to overpay - but I have spent 125mill on a single purple IO after seeing it at that price for 3 weeks solid, not having my 100mill "lowball" bid fill, and just biting the bullet and paying 125mill for it.

Took me 5 weeks after getting that first 2bill to hit the cap again (on both sides) - nearly twice as fast as first time round - so it's all a matter of perspective now - I guess inf has less value for me than it did. Sure, I still underbid and look for bargains, but the actual amounts don't bother me at all anymore - it's not like it's real money.

I'm not about to buy PvP recipes, but for purples/uniques/HOs I'm willing to pay whatever seems to be the going rate - I have no self-imposed limits anymore.

I don't recognise either of the arcs you mention, but then I haven't played blueside for ages (or are those MA arcs?).

My top five favourite Dev-created contacts/arcs in the game are all redside:

1) Seer Marino's "Oh Wretched Man", for the emotional writing/story - best story arc in the game for immersion.

2) Viridian's "The Conference of Evil" for its fun gameplay and the perfect Nemesis moment at the end (and how the other Archvillains react to that is priceless, especially The Center, Requiem & Arakhn)

3) Vernon von Grun's arcs (all 4 of them), for the characterful writing on his contact briefings - everyone loves a mad scientist!

4) Doc Buzzsaw's "Heavy Metal Doctoring", for both her briefings and the dialogue of the 3 Freaks in the final mission. Sadly with the increased xp gain these days I rarely have the Bling badge in time to unlock this contact, but there's always Ouro.

5) Westin Phipps' arcs (all 3 of them), for the writing on his contact briefings and just the sheer despicableness and villainy therein.

I have played through most of the blueside arcs (admittedly a while ago now) and very little comes close to this quality imho, though I did find the Warshade arcs from Shadowstar really well written and interesting, especially the writing of the clues.

Having just written an arc that flirts with the backstory of The Council, 5th Column and Arachnos - and Arakhn and The Center in particular - I have some lore questions relating to their pre-WW2 histories:

1) The lore infers that Arakhn has the same host body now that she had in 1926, the year she first met Paolo Tirelli (The Center) and Ridolfo Uzzano (Requiem's host). So before Arakhn's host merged with a Nictus who was she, what was her real name, and what year was she born?

2) What is the name of Arakhn's Nictus and what year did the current/1926 host merge with it?

3) We know from in-game lore that Arakhn was a member of Arachnos, so what year did she join Arachnos and when did she leave?

4) We also know from in-game lore that The Center tried to recruit Arakhn to his cause in 1926, so was Arakhn a Council spy within Arachnos, or did she not join The Council until she left Arachnos?

5) What year was The Council formed, and did Paolo Tirelli only start using the name "The Center" after he founded The Council?

6) In-game sources suggest that The Center provided funding for Requiem's 5th Column at some stage - was this before WW2 when the 5th Column was being created, or did The Center only fund the 5th Column when Requiem was rebuilding them post-WW2? I guess what I really want to know is whether Requiem, Vandal and Nosferatu were members of The Council before they formed the 5th Column in 1938?

7) Did The Council split from Arachnos, or vice versa, or were their origins separate? (which would be somewhat coincidental with both being present around Mussolini's government in Italy pre-WW2)

8) What is Nosferatu's real name and when was he born?

9) What year did Red Widow assassinate The Weaver? (allowing Lord Recluse to take control of Arachnos)

10) Is The Weaver actually dead, or did he fake his death and become The Center when it became clear Lord Recluse was going to take control of Arachnos? I don't necessarily believe it, but someone had to ask...

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I'd like to nominate:

Apocalypse Cow (27552)
by @Bovine-Avenger

Was a very funny arc, and was great to play through.(though not easy to solo)

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Yeah that arc is hilarious! It turns cow puns into an art form.

Col. Blitzkreiger's arc "Tidebringer" (arc ID 12590) is also very good and deserves a Dev Choice tag, as Xemulas and BlueRabbit have said.

Ahh heck, I may as well post my current Bane build and the proposed build I've been trying to tweak for it. Maybe someone will have some ideas that will help my thought process.

Bane first. First I'll post his current non-purpled build (which works pretty well for my playstyle), so you know his current performance level, and also in case anyone wants a good stalker-like Bane build on the cheap:

Villain Plan by Mids' Villain Designer 1.401
http://www.cohplanner.com/

[u]Click this DataLink to open the build![u]

Marshall Saint: Level 50 Natural Arachnos Soldier
Primary Power Set: Bane Spider Soldier
Secondary Power Set: Bane Spider Training
Power Pool: Speed
Power Pool: Fitness
Ancillary Pool: Mace Mastery

Villain Profile:
Level 1: Bash -- C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg(A), C'ngImp-Dmg/Rchg(3), C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(3), C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(5), C'ngImp-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(5), T'Death-Dam%(39)
Level 1: Bane Spider Armor Upgrade -- S'fstPrt-ResDam/Def+(A), S'fstPrt-ResKB(40)
Level 2: Combat Training: Defensive -- Ksmt-ToHit+(A), DefBuff-I(9), DefBuff-I(9)
Level 4: Wolf Spider Armor -- S'fstPrt-ResKB(A)
Level 6: Build Up -- GSFC-ToHit(A), GSFC-ToHit/Rchg(7), GSFC-ToHit/Rchg/EndRdx(7), GSFC-Rchg/EndRdx(43), GSFC-ToHit/EndRdx(46), GSFC-Build%(46)
Level 8: Hasten -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(37), RechRdx-I(40)
Level 10: Tactical Training: Maneuvers -- GftotA-Def/EndRdx(A), GftotA-Def(11), DefBuff-I(11)
Level 12: Poisonous Ray -- Thundr-Acc/Dmg(A), Thundr-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(13), Thundr-Dmg/Rchg(13), Thundr-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(25), Thundr-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(25), Achilles-ResDeb%(40)
Level 14: Pulverize -- C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg(A), C'ngImp-Dmg/Rchg(15), C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(15), C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(17), C'ngImp-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(17), T'Death-Dam%(39)
Level 16: Hurdle -- Jump-I(A)
Level 18: Shatter -- C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg(A), C'ngImp-Dmg/Rchg(19), C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(19), C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(21), C'ngImp-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(21), T'Death-Dam%(39)
Level 20: Health -- Heal-I(A)
Level 22: Stamina -- Efficacy-EndMod(A), Efficacy-EndMod/Acc(23), Efficacy-EndMod/Rchg(23)
Level 24: Cloaking Device -- GftotA-Def/EndRdx(A), GftotA-Def(27), DefBuff-I(27)
Level 26: Super Speed -- Run-I(A)
Level 28: Surveillance -- AnWeak-Acc/DefDeb(A), AnWeak-Acc/Rchg(29), AnWeak-DefDeb/EndRdx/Rchg(29), AnWeak-Acc/Rchg/EndRdx(31), UndDef-DefDeb/Rchg(31), UndDef-DefDeb/EndRdx(31)
Level 30: Placate -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(34)
Level 32: Crowd Control -- M'Strk-Acc/Dmg(A), M'Strk-Dmg/EndRdx(33), M'Strk-Dmg/Rchg(33), M'Strk-Acc/EndRdx(33), M'Strk-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(34), M'Strk-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(34)
Level 35: Venom Grenade -- Posi-Acc/Dmg(A), Posi-Dmg/EndRdx(36), Posi-Dmg/Rchg(36), Posi-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(36), Posi-Dam%(37), RechRdx-I(37)
Level 38: Mental Training -- Run-I(A)
Level 41: Mace Blast -- Thundr-Acc/Dmg(A), Thundr-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(42), Thundr-Dmg/Rchg(42), Thundr-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(42), Thundr-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(43), ExStrk-Dam%(43)
Level 44: Disruptor Blast -- Posi-Acc/Dmg(A), Posi-Dmg/EndRdx(45), Posi-Dmg/Rchg(45), Posi-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(45), Posi-Dam%(46), RechRdx-I(50)
Level 47: Web Envelope -- Enf'dOp-Acc/Rchg(A), Enf'dOp-EndRdx/Immob(48), Enf'dOp-Acc/EndRdx(48), Enf'dOp-Immob/Rng(48), Enf'dOp-Acc/Immob/Rchg(50), Enf'dOp-Acc/Immob(50)
Level 49: Tactical Training: Assault -- EndRdx-I(A)
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Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Sprint -- Run-I(A)
Level 2: Rest -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Conditioning
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This build has pretty much all of the powers I want, except no Call Reinforcements (though I didn't think pets really fitted a stalker playstyle, but it would be nice to have them for specific moments), no Aid Self (the main thing I want/need) and no Combat Jumping (I really miss it for in-combat movement and to make Super Speed more agile). The above build is also not softcapped, which wasn't a major problem for me at first as I usually duo'd with my Night Widow friend (whose TT:M and ML would softcap me), but as I started using this character more for soloing it became an issue.

So the main aim is to get Aid Self and CJ into this build, then to softcap it to at least melee/ranged (if not area too), without dropping too many powers that I consider core to my playstyle (I'm willing to sacrifice Web Envelope as I only took that for thematic reasons, then found I never used it. I could also live with losing TT:A and possibly Disruptor Blast if pushed), plus getting as much global recharge as I can (naturally). My ideal single target attack chain would be Shatter -> Poisonous Ray -> Pulverise, with Bash as a filler for when slowed, and Mace Blast to kill runners (and because I like having a decent ranged attack).

Yet I've been really struggling to get a Mids build I'm happy with. Of the many many builds I've created and adapted the following probably comes closest to what I want - it has Aid Self and CJ, but loses TT:A and Disruptor Blast (and Web Envelope, but I don't care about that) - it is close to being softcapped for melee (about 1.8% short), is softcapped to ranged, but is nowhere near area softcap - and it has tons of global recharge (Hasten around 5secs from perma). I could softcap it to melee by 6-slotting Shield Breaker in Surveillance, but I'm unwilling to do that as the proc would make Surv cause aggro (which I don't want as I need to fit in BU+Shatter after the Surv, before the target aggroes).

I'm open to ideas. Oh and again the main metric for performance is being able to do the RWZ Challenge.

Villain Plan by Mids' Villain Designer 1.401
http://www.cohplanner.com/

[u]Click this DataLink to open the build![u]

Marshall Saint: Level 50 Natural Arachnos Soldier
Primary Power Set: Bane Spider Soldier
Secondary Power Set: Bane Spider Training
Power Pool: Speed
Power Pool: Fitness
Power Pool: Leaping
Power Pool: Medicine
Ancillary Pool: Mace Mastery

Villain Profile:
Level 1: Bash -- T'Death-Acc/Dmg(A), T'Death-Dmg/EndRdx(3), T'Death-Dmg/Rchg(3), T'Death-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(5), T'Death-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(5), T'Death-Dam%(39)
Level 1: Bane Spider Armor Upgrade -- S'fstPrt-ResDam/Def+(A)
Level 2: Combat Training: Defensive -- Ksmt-ToHit+(A), GftotA-Run+(9), LkGmblr-Def(9), LkGmblr-Rchg+(45)
Level 4: Wolf Spider Armor -- S'fstPrt-ResKB(A)
Level 6: Build Up -- GSFC-ToHit(A), GSFC-ToHit/Rchg(7), GSFC-ToHit/Rchg/EndRdx(7), GSFC-Rchg/EndRdx(46), GSFC-ToHit/EndRdx(46), GSFC-Build%(46)
Level 8: Hasten -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(37), RechRdx-I(40)
Level 10: Tactical Training: Maneuvers -- GftotA-Def/EndRdx(A), GftotA-Run+(11), LkGmblr-Def(11), LkGmblr-Rchg+(40)
Level 12: Poisonous Ray -- Apoc-Dmg/Rchg(A), Apoc-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(13), Apoc-Acc/Rchg(13), Apoc-Dmg/EndRdx(25), Apoc-Dam%(25), Achilles-ResDeb%(40)
Level 14: Pulverize -- T'Death-Acc/Dmg(A), T'Death-Dmg/EndRdx(15), T'Death-Dmg/Rchg(15), T'Death-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(17), T'Death-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(17), T'Death-Dam%(39)
Level 16: Hurdle -- Jump-I(A)
Level 18: Shatter -- Hectmb-Dmg/Rchg(A), Hectmb-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(19), Hectmb-Acc/Rchg(19), Hectmb-Dmg/EndRdx(21), Hectmb-Dam%(21), T'Death-Dam%(39)
Level 20: Health -- Numna-Regen/Rcvry+(A)
Level 22: Stamina -- Efficacy-EndMod(A), Efficacy-EndMod/Acc(23), Efficacy-EndMod/Rchg(23)
Level 24: Cloaking Device -- GftotA-Def/EndRdx(A), GftotA-Run+(27), LkGmblr-Def(27), LkGmblr-Rchg+(45)
Level 26: Super Speed -- Zephyr-Travel(A), Zephyr-Travel/EndRdx(31), Zephyr-ResKB(37)
Level 28: Surveillance -- ExVuln-DefDeb(A), ExVuln-DefDeb/Rchg(29), ExVuln-DefDeb/Rchg/EndRdx(29), ShldBrk-Acc/Rchg(31), ShldBrk-Acc/DefDeb(31)
Level 30: Placate -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(34)
Level 32: Crowd Control -- Oblit-Dmg(A), Oblit-Acc/Rchg(33), Oblit-Dmg/Rchg(33), Oblit-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(33), Oblit-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(34), Oblit-%Dam(34)
Level 35: Venom Grenade -- Ragnrk-Dmg/Rchg(A), Ragnrk-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(36), Ragnrk-Acc/Rchg(36), Ragnrk-Dmg/EndRdx(36), Ragnrk-Knock%(37), Posi-Dam%(43)
Level 38: Combat Jumping -- Zephyr-Travel(A), Zephyr-Travel/EndRdx(45), Zephyr-ResKB(48), LkGmblr-Def(48), LkGmblr-Rchg+(48)
Level 41: Mace Blast -- Decim-Acc/Dmg(A), Decim-Dmg/EndRdx(42), Decim-Dmg/Rchg(42), Decim-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg(42), Decim-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(43), ExStrk-Dam%(43)
Level 44: Mental Training -- Run-I(A)
Level 47: Aid Other -- Heal-I(A)
Level 49: Aid Self -- H'zdH-Heal/Rchg(A), H'zdH-Heal/EndRdx/Rchg(50), Mrcl-Heal/Rchg(50), Mrcl-Heal/EndRdx/Rchg(50)
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Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Sprint -- Run-I(A)
Level 2: Rest -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Conditioning
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[ QUOTE ]
Well if you ever happen to publish your warshade build i would love to see it. I have a broken lvl 50 warshade and it could really do with some help. It's squishy as anything and can hardly solo. I really messed it up trying to achieve a good triform performance.

What i'm after is an awesome tank when in lobster form, and beasty damage when i'm in worm form x)

[/ QUOTE ]
Well currently my warshade has a pretty decent build, it just isn't purpled. It's tri-form, but focused mainly on nova/dwarf forms. I mainly played it as a double-mire build, spending most of my time in eclipsed nova form, but I haven't played it at all since Black Dwarf Mire got nerfed/changed. I understand that double-miring isn't as effective anymore, but dwarf form is now a lot more useful in isolation /shrug.

My original aim was 3 pets out and spending most of my time at the damage/resist/ToHit caps in nova form (i.e. perma-eclipsed and perma-mired) - which, duoing hazard zone spawns with my fire/kin friend, was pretty easily achieved. My main desire for purpling my warshade now would be to achieve that more easily solo. However until I get the chance to play him some more and develop a purpled build in Mids I'm not sure I'm the best person to ask about a current build.

In I12 and before my build worked pretty well in large spawn situations (especially hazard zones while levelling up), including an 8-person ITF where I soloed a lot of spawns (particularly the ones on the bridges/balconies in lag valley) with no problems at all, because the team wanted to test if removing a lot of the extraneous spawns cured the terrible lag for the main team working their way up lag valley (it didn't, sadly). On that same ITF I also tanked Rom (and his Nictus for a while) with no issues whatsoever (using both dwarf and eclipsed nova alternately).

[ QUOTE ]
And if you happen to tweak and improve your widow build, i'd also like to thieve it if at all possible, xD

[/ QUOTE ]
I'm probably going to leave the widow as she is for now. At some point I might drop Poison Dart for Swipe, for a gap-less melee attack chain with better DPE (which would help on the Pylon Challenge), but currently I'm happy with her performance for 99% of the things I want to do (and Poison Dart + Dart Burst proves pretty useful in general play).

From what I wanted to do it's only pylon-soloing that seems beyond her (without insp-usage - blues/greens mainly) and I'm not overly fussed about that (pylon soloing is more boring than soloing AVs anyway, and for zero reward). She can do the RWZ challenge easily and has had no trouble with most of the AVs/EBs I've run into in MA (custom or otherwise), so on that basis I'm happy with her build - which is a relief considering how much it cost

I may be moving back blueside soon, so I may build a scrapper at some stage to do the pylon challenge (thinking Fire/ or Dark/ primary, maybe /Shield or /SR or /WP secondary). Tbh I may just purple-up my Claw/WP at some point (he's incredibly end-efficient), herd up some Rikti Monkeys, and see how he fares at it. It's low priority now though - my current project is getting a Bane build I'm happy with and purpling that up, then buying the IOs for my Fortunata build (I already have one worked out in Mids I'm pretty happy with).

After that my attention will likely shift to blueside to get some godly characters there (purpling some/all of my 3 existing blueside L50s, and maybe the Illu/Rad I plan to level soon with my friend's Illu/Kin, as a potential GM-soloer at L50).

[ QUOTE ]
What's your global? I think i'd like to meet up with ya sometime on villains.

[/ QUOTE ]
@Lord Mayhem, though I haven't been on much lately due to illness. I tend to spend most of my online time duoing with the same friend (and not chatting much cos I tend to focus on playing), so the best time to chat to me is usually around midnight when we finish duoing and I tend to either be doing market stuff and/or chatting on global channels (like Union Chat). Weekends are good too.

Sorry I haven't posted for a while - I've been ill and forum posting was the last thing on my mind. I haven't played much CoH/V either.

[ QUOTE ]
You sound like me, i like to be an absolute destroyer in combat, which explains my NRG/WP brute.

[/ QUOTE ]
I like powerful builds, but do I like to have some versatile builds as well. My doms are hardly godly for damage compared to my brutes/scrappers/stalkers/blasters/corruptors/warshade/VEATs, but I still really enjoy playing them (not often solo, admittedly). The widow and bane just seem especially easy builds to push into "godly destroyer" territory (warshade too, for that matter), seeing as they start out pretty good anyway even without a big spend.

[ QUOTE ]
So you say you've got a godly bane build? I picked up a build called pain asylum a while back that seems absolutely godly. Mind sharing yours?

[/ QUOTE ]
I'm still tweaking it in Mids, although I have started bidding on the required purples already (I did manage to hit 2 billion inf again, both blueside and redside, not long after my last post).

It still irks me that to fit in Aid Self I need to drop TT:Assault and Disruptor Blast and possibly not achieve perfect melee/area defence softcap either (well, I can softcap melee if I switch out the Hecatomb set for a 3rd ToD set, but I'm unwilling to do that), or I can have all of that but not Aid Self. I have several potential builds I keep tweaking to try and fit everything in, but it's not working out - if/when I find a solution I'll post the build. I just wish Banes could soft-cap as easily as Night Widows so I had more build flexibility.

If there is one thing I have learned from my widow it is that, even with soft-capped defences, you ARE going to get hit fairly often and it is going to hurt. You need a self-heal - it just adds so much survivability - and of course it makes the "no insp" challenges possible.

The widow had no issues soloing all of the Council archvillains at AV level this evening - Maestro and Nosferatu were the toughest (as I expected) - and I certainly couldn't have done them without Aid Self - both came close to killing me on a few occasions (as did Vandal once when his Total Focus hit for hideous amounts of damage). Being able to retreat and heal is just essential in those situations, or a second hit will just wipe you out.

[ QUOTE ]
I suck in mids so my motivation for levelling up characters is when i see some expert player post an absolutely godly build and i think, 'WOO i want that!'

[/ QUOTE ]
I used to spend far too much time in Mids. All of my builds are made from scratch, though I might occasionally take slotting ideas for certain powers from forum builds.

I still can't start playing a new character from L1 until I have a final L50 (non-purpled) build worked out in Mids that I can aim for - I might tweak the build as I level up, but I find that having a "potential" build to work towards really helps to give structure to my progress. It also ensures I don't end up assigning too many slots to some powers early on, while leaving more important powers short of slots later.

I'm a serial leveller - every one of my L50s gets replaced, as soon as they hit L50, by my next new character.

Though when I feel like doing end-game TFs/SFs/raids, GMs or high level MA content there's only a few of my L50s that get pulled out of semi-retirement.

My Fire/Fire Brute, Lord Mayhem, was my first L50 and while spiritually I still consider him my "main" character (mainly because his name is also my global), he really isn't as I haven't played him in combat for just over a year (last thing he did was the ITF, just after it was added in I12).

My Archery/Energy Blaster, Nightbow, was my first L50 hero (my 3rd L50 overall) and hasn't been replaced on his side/server - he's still my main go-to character for blueside/Defiant TFs/GMs/Raids, not that I play blueside often.

My Fire/Rad Corruptor, Sergeant Havoc, (my 7th L50) was my go-to character for SFs/GMs/Raids for ages (until I13), simply because when group-leaders asked what I was bringing, and I gave them a choice from all my redside L50s, they always picked him. I never minded - buffs, heals, debuffs and great area/single-target damage makes for a very versatile fun character - though eventually I was wheeling out my brutes for MS Raids instead, as constant detoggles were annoying me. (I adored my Ice/Storm on TFs too, but some groups needed a bit of persuading to take a stormy).

While I13 cured detoggle annoyances it also added dual builds. I got to play my Arachnos Soldier, Marshall Saint (my 8th L50), as a Bane Spider and found I preferred it to Crab. I had a character with status protection that combined most of the playstyles I really enjoyed with great damage and survivability, giving lots of tactical options. Once my Bane was fully slotted I struggled to find reasons to play my other redside/Union L50s.

Then recently my Night Widow, Mistress Distress, became my 14th L50 and threatened to take his place. I think they'll end up sharing the title of my main villain - I enjoy playing both and they're both really good at what they do.

I'm not sure anything can replace them redside... except possibly an Archery/TA Corruptor (come on Devs! Proliferate!), just because I love the Archery powerset so much.

[ QUOTE ]
Why is it that I always find myself agreeing with you Val? Is it because everything you say is very reasonable and resonates well with my own wishes and desires. Or are you psychic and forcing my mind to agree with all you say.

[/ QUOTE ]
I'm afraid it's both, old chap.

Do you have enough carrier bags to put the cash in? Or should I bring some bags when I come to collect it?