Lox_Def

This thread needs some serious Red Name lovin'...

I've read the past 4 or 5 pages, and one thing is consistent... This set needs more damage. While the use of "Chain Lightning" er... is amusing, you need some bursty damage for PVP.

Some things that we see most often...

Reduce LR recharge (to somewhere around Footstomp land).
Do something with Jacobs ladder (either make it a single target, or a hop like induction) it's not acting like an arc currently.

Change Chain Induction to be an Extreme single target, you can leave the paltry electricity hop in if you like, it does like what, 40 damage? Another solution would be to make the hop much faster and start off a little more extreme in damage.

"Dramatically" increase the endurance drain. If we're not going to be "Great" PVP killers, then at least let us be great End Drains. LR should drain 50% or more base endurance with it's crazy recharge. Have you ever seen someone get struck by lightning!?

I think that's about it. I'd be happy with those changes.

Oh, as an edit I have a 32 Elec/Stone

Thanks

I'll admit it, I just wanted this thread to hit 300.

*shameless*

~Walks~

[ QUOTE ]
Could we get the AT's of Cherry and Radient Foley?

And where did you get that info from Positron? I read this thread and didn't see it- (I could have missed it) Thanx!!


[/ QUOTE ]

They are both Rads, Fire/Rad and Ice/Rad. Our Therm was Arctic.

We only posted the second win to say that the first wasn't a fluke, and because it was an all Shadow Empire effort (although we <3 Skrape's )

The info from Posi came from a PM.

[ QUOTE ]
well hey major gratz if u did beat it but hard to beleave u beat 8 lv 52 heroes but if u did gratz so how did u over come the 8 lv52 heroes b/c we cant

[/ QUOTE ]

It is hard to believe it, especially with that spelling! ;-)

The first time we killed the first of the 8 heroes we could hardly believe it ourselves, let alone the remaining 7.

This thread has a congrats from a red-name, I don't think they'd come in here and say congrats if it wasn't true... but hey I could be wrong.

And Insp, what the heck is your major issue? Didn't your mom ever teach you the golden rule?

******* SPOILER ********

******* SPOILER ********

******* SPOILER ********

******* SPOILER ********

Mission 1: Clear Long Bow Base

3:18 Started
:23 Chasers dead
:26 Bombs planted
:27 Scientist arrives at terminal
:28 Crimson Dead

Mission 2: Clear Malta Base

3:33 Start
:36 Kronos Titan killed / key
:42 Acquired rifle
:43 Slinger dead
:44 Exit

Mission 3: Defeat some people in the future

3:50 Start
:51 Hero 1 Dead
:52 Hero 2 Dead
:54 Hero 3 Dead
:59 Hero 4 Dead (we had some problems with the phase shifting)
4:00 Exit

Mission 4: Clear Vindy base

4:06 Start
:10 Hero 1 dead
:12 Hero 2 dead
:14 Hero 3 dead
:15 Hero 4 dead
:16 Hero 5 dead (1st Kill)
:16 Hero 5 dead (2nd Kill)
:22 Got key to Liberty's door
:26 Liberty down
:26 Exit

Mission 5: Defeat the freedom phalanx

4:55 Started (we had a LOT of dissconnects )
:04 Hero 1 dead
:15 Hero 2 dead
:25 Hero 3 dead
:31 Hero 4 dead
:37 Hero 5 dead
:39 Hero 6 dead
:41 Hero 7 dead
:42 My game crashes, so the team had to stop, Foley tanks states for awhile while I do a full file scan
:50 Statesmen dead

I'm very disapointed that I got 2 Single Origin enhanements on this final mission, I'll wait though to see if the Devs help me out. It is my hope that this bug will be fixed and that my SHO will be given to me, for my 2.5 hours of effort I've spent.

I have faith that the Dev staff does keep a log of these things and I'll be fairly compensated.

I am very please with the duration required to beat these, they are right on par with Hamidon, good work on that Devs

~Walks Among You~
Shadow Empire

[ QUOTE ]
that it took 5 ice corrs

[/ QUOTE ]

The fact that their primary is ice, was irrelevant at the final battle. Fearsome in PVP for sure... but for the final fight, they weren't doing much attacking.

~Walks Among You~

[ QUOTE ]
I opted for 2 more brutes instead of the MMs (I figure they could hit harder) but the extra Buffs/Debuffs from the MMs probably really helped

[/ QUOTE ]

The MM's served another purpose too ;-)

As far as levels it was posted earlier, but for a recap:

We were all level 50, except for Necro, he was 47/48 for the mission.

~Walks Among You~

[ QUOTE ]
NOTE: You can only earn the The Lord Recluse Strike Force reward once every *24 hours* This is by design to help prevent farming.

[/ QUOTE ]

Was a pleasure beating you up last night Posi 0:-)

[ QUOTE ]
The villains are the ones who will have it easy getting thier sHO's.

[/ QUOTE ]

Just for the record, I wouldn't say "Easy". I will be very impressed the first time a PUG does this. And I mean a group of 8 complete strangers, not using Ventrillo...

In my oppinion, because of the difficulty of the event (it is difficult) and because of the massive head start heroes have, and the fact that heroes can get 120 HO's per night, villains will NEVER catch up to them. I would wager that on any given night Villains will bring in 32 SHOEs tops.

~Walks Among You~

Badge images for completing the mission (someone wanted to see)

[ QUOTE ]
What is the black "Elude" type logo in nearly all the villains buff bars?

[/ QUOTE ]
That would be Black Scorpions shield, we're mostly black scorpion patrons power followers.

As far as tips for the event, in honesty nothing causes success better than a few successes on the way:

*********SPOILER**********

*********SPOILER**********

When you get to the Kronos Titan, don't clear around it, pull it and the Zeus near it, when we beat this it felt pretty good and was good practice...

When you get to the 4 50 heros, pull them all at the same time...

When you get to the room of 5 level 53's plow in there and get some...

The first night we tried this we played very cautiously, smarty even. We cleared every mob around every hero, pulled most of the heroes/monsters by themselves or in pairs, but when we got to the final fight, even some clever pulling techniques didn't do us anygood, it was time to put up or shut up.

So the best tips are: Get a team that can beat the first 4 challenges, easilily (like no deaths, or maybe a few dead masterminds) and you'll find that winning tough battles is the best thing for morale and practice.

Always challenge yourself

Some shots, more coming from the others I beleive... I'm going to bed :P

Some random fighting

Citadel down, States and Brawler to go...

Just Mr. States Left...

The prize (top right) ;-)

PS Great work from our Guild Leader, Foley (*grins*)

[ QUOTE ]
Both of these problems have been fixed, and yes you STILL WHINE. wow. Bodyguard is amazing. AMAZING. Anyone who complains that its useless has either never played an MM with it, or has no idea that you can change your pets stances at the press of a button. A good player can be a force to reckon with in pvp a bodyguard equiped MM. Even a ninjas or a nerco mm. All of the problems everyone is complaining about is that bodyguard requires skill. Get used to it.

my .02 cents.

-Bosor



[/ QUOTE ]

I don’t see any whining going on in this thread; well, except for your post. What we’re presenting is very thoughtful insight as to why the class is still broken. I’ve played my Necro/FF through 40 levels and many hours of PVP on both the live and test servers.

My conclusion is that Bodyguard effectively turns us into a bunker, with no guns. Now, it is true that I haven’t gotten web grenade, but even if I *DID* root a blaster (let’s say preemptively after a teleport foe) my pets will just sit there and look at him. If that blaster doesn’t attack, he can sit there unharmed until the web grenade wears off. Worse, he could Nova and kill me and all my little friends. Or, he can wait until he sees my pets attack *then* blast me and kill me.

I don’t see some kind of miracle fix here. Just because you think it’s some kind of miracle panacea doesn’t mean you’re right.

I’ve said this a hundred times and I’ll continue to say it. Bodyguard doesn’t help us WIN fights in PVP, it helps us not loose. But you’ll never build up your reputation by not losing…Instead, you’ll roll up an Ice/Nrg or a Spines/Regen just like everyone else…

Bodyguard, great idea, terrible implementation… what’s worse is, I don’t think the Dev’s care, the seem to feel this is something wonderful, but haven't responded to any of the three threads out here in the forum land. I hope they implement the change sides feature soon so I can roll up a spines scrapper and be done with it.

~Walks Among You, 40MM~

Basically the skill "Body Guard" would be okay in my oppinion if they did one of several things:

1: Up the hps on the pets dramatically. Since no one bothers to attack them anyway, why not up their hps in PVP zones/situations. I don't care if they're paper thin in PVE, I can't get AE Nova'd in PVE. And I generally don't have stupid powerful bosses attacking me and them.

Or:

2: Fix the pet UI, it sucks plain and simple

Or:

3: Remove the limitations on bodygaurd, if your pets are in supremcy range, they protect you, plain and simple.

Or:

4: Anything that makes MM's not worthless in PVP.

The truth is, MM's are still not needed to be a great PVP team.. The Devs got it right with Corruptors (Great job) now let's see about getting the rest of the AT's up to at least sub-par.

Bodyguard is not a fix. It does NOT help you be a better PVP player. It helps you NOT die, it does not help you WIN.

I don't want to "Not Die" I want to kill the bad guys.

I would've been happier if they upped pet damage and added pet taunt. I would've been happier if they had just left me alone...

[ QUOTE ]
Yet, I have never had the problem you have described and neither have many other masterminds I have talked to.

[/ QUOTE ]

I can't believe you came back for seconds... you really are a glutton.

Pet AI is broke.

I say this, because I've seen it, and I can say honestly I'm not lying. I've pretty much lived in Warburg for the past few months PVP'ing with my MM and I tell ya, there's some funky problems going on, allow me to enumerate:

1a: Most problems with pets remanifest themself after pet resummon, that is, they die, and I bring them back.
1a.1: Pets run back to the last thing they were fighting before they were killed, no command buttons will stop them.
1a.2: I've found that using the "Command Pet" buttons on the "Pet Window" *some times* will recall them, but very rarely
1a.3 This also happens during PVE missions
2: Pets will not attack anything while in Defenisive mode
2a: Because of Jousting, a scrapper can jump over me, use impale for massive amounts of damage, and be gone again before my pets can aggro.
2a.1: This makes for a double problem because the only way I can then *attack* said jouster is to say "Attack my target" at which point I loose body guard.
2a.2: This makes me into a totally defensive player (aka Worthless like a Dom)
2b: If a lich fears a target, that target is no longer a threat apparently and the pets stop attacking
2b.1: This wouldn't be a problem *per say* if it weren't for the fact that intermintenly while fear the enemy can still do things, so I can't tell my pet to attack, or I loose my bodyguards
2b.2: This makes me useless, like a dom
3a: Pets don't respond quick enough to commands given
3a.1: Let's say I do get jousted, and tell my pets to attack a target, generally that target will run towards a friendly NPC, or something else that will whack my pets, when I hit "Follow me" the pets should respond INSTANTLY. When you hit a button, something generally happens right away (i.e. how would you feel if you hit attack... and nothing happened for a good 10 seconds, or BETTER yet, you had to hit your attack button 1-8 times before it would work, YES!)
3a.1.1: Instead what happens when someone hits the "Follow Me" button, the pets give you a big old "KMA" and keep going for the old target, normally repeated hits of the button may or may not work, it's a total crap shoot.
4a. Lastly, and this problem has only a small "tie" to the Bodygaurd feature, this is the problem of pet follow AI being totally borked. Instead of using the "Follow" command, when in Follow mode pets should litterally be under my direct control, when I push W, we all move forward, simple. And we all move at the same speed.

Masterminds have TONS of problems still. The Dev's threw us a cookie, and some gulible people, like you Paris; bought into it.

We, the people who play masterminds every day we're online know that the cookie is laced with lots and lots of poison. It's a move to placate the majority of the masterminds with out really providing ANY value to the PVP mastermind.

Remember, the goal of PVP is to KILL the other players, the goal isn't to "Not Die". Unless they fix either they way bodyguard works (always on if pets are in supremcy range) or dramatically increase our damage to make us not suck, then MasterMinds are worthless in the grand scheme of things.

~Walks Among You~

[ QUOTE ]
The referance you posted stated the bug was fixed, meaning there is still a bug and the devs were lying?

[/ QUOTE ]

This might be good enough to put in my signature The previous poster flamed you enough for it, so I won't bother

~P~

I think that each skill should've been evaluated instead of just carte blanche nerfed.

I will, of course, speak to my own skills, actually just *one* skill, Force Bolt.

The only reason I used force bolt was because it was a long range brawl, with some knockback capability.

I would spam that and drop 1 toggle every 5 hits or so, it wasnt GREAT but it worked. The skill does ~5 damage. No Problem! It shouldnt be that powerful, it's a detoggler.

Well, okay... so now you've nerfed it's one of it's very useful component, leaving it as a low damage, knockback... how the hell is that supposed to be useful against anyone who is good in PVP?

Do something with it, up it's damage, increase it's knockback magnitude, or up it's detoggle chance.

Please, stop nerfing skills into obsoleteness...

I'd complain about Repulsion Field and Force Bomb, but I'm not *FORCED* to take those skills, although you've nerfed them into oblivion also... (Yay, a force bomb that's slow, does no damage and doesn't disorient or detoggle! A force field that doesn't detoggle, doesn't really repel and uses lot's of endurance, YES MORE PLEASE!)

Pfft, you people need to stop using data mining and start playing. Your getting as bad as the EQ staff.

Hi, I'm not going to read 20 pages of text it's nothing personal, just tossing out my 2cents.

Look, I'm all for the "Zero Health" we you die and respawn aspect of this zone, but the zero endurance is killing Masterminds.

You reduced the recharge on our 32 skill, but it's still a brute on endurance. Normally when I die in a PVP zone, I summon all my pets, apply 2 tier 1 buffs, 1 tier 2 buff, then use my rest. Now, I have to use my rest, and I'm back to ye'olde 5 minute buff cycle, meanwhile everyone else in the party is back out in the fray ;-)

Please, let us start with no health but full endurance. Or at least MM's...

[ QUOTE ]
Those three little macro buttons that you get at the start of the game...they can be edited. Try changing one to defensive/follow. If I can figure that out in a handful of seconds...anyone can.

[/ QUOTE ]

It's not about keybinds, it's about getting whacked and the pets just standing there looking dumb.

The pet AI is what needs to be fixed. Bodyguard, with out a useful AI is total garbage.

Today, doing more 1v1 testing on test (I'd group if more people were interested in actually testing), I got absolutely hammered by a tanker. It wasn't even close, he'd hit me with an upper cut that would stun me, he'd run my pets off into some nearby mobs, he'd come back and just crush me. It wasn't pretty. I tried putting up PFF but no such luck.

I suppose here's my quesiton, currently we suck like blasters at taking hits. A tanker can kill me in two hits, which is just terrible.

If I take damage like a blaster, why on eart do I do damage like a controller?

Bodyguard is worthless for PVP, let me tick off the reasons again for everyone:

1: Pets are dumber than rocks
2: Defensive stance doesn't work
2a: Pets stop attacking if they fear a mob that they had been previously attacking
2b: Pets are dumber than rocks
3: * Won't get into the problems force field has*
4: Pets have a serious problem with travel and getting attacked by zone NPC's are a result of it
4a: Pets, are dumber than rocks
5: We do controller damage and have blaster resistances
5a: We go down quicker than Monica Lewinsky

and lastly...

6: Pet AI is simply terrible

[ QUOTE ]
I'm a lvl 41 Bots/FF and I've been playing a lot in Recluses victory on test. Now overall I approve of Bodyguard, its been pretty useful 2 or 3 times in very constrained situation. However As a FF its much much much much less worth it for me. In fact, I dont even bother summoning my pets for PvP anymore. If i cant get some heavies to do actual damage I might as well stop pretending. All i have right now, is buffs for teamates and making heavies that much harder to kill.
In any situation where i have my pets around me on bodyguard I'm sitting still for quite a while and I get ganged, and die. Yes bodyguard keeps me alive for a few more seconds, but that just means there are more hero's beating me up.
I cannot think of one situation where I lived due to bodyguard where i would have died before.

[/ QUOTE ]

Summed up my thoughts exactly. QFT. You can also read about an extensive list of FF problems here...

Okay so that covers the FF problems and BG, I've been playing in RV, and while normally it's 54 heroes vs. me, I've managed to get in a few (VERY VERY few) one vs. one situations... So now let me talk about body guard problems...

I've YET to be saved by it. Let me describe EVERY fight I've had so far...

Start off where I TP foe into a corner in an attempt to pin them.

Foe walks out of corner like my force bubble wasn't there, and doesn't attack me, so my pets stand there looking at him thinking... hym... what should I do.

So, I put them on attack, and back to follow, and cycle through this a few times, and I turn off force bubble, since it's not working anyway.

Hero takes an eight of a bar damage from my opening assualt (with tactics, assault running).

I take an eight of a bar damage, pets also.

Hero does something that stuns me (or roots me, or generally stops me from doing anything). Since I've already used my 300 breakfrees, I kinda stand there looking dumb. There's GENERALLY a 50/50 chance as to what mode my pets were in (Defensive, follow or Defensive, attack my target).

Assualt and Tactics drop, dispersion bubble drops, pets are reduced in effectiveness

There's another exciting bonus to using my Necro pets! BONUS: Sometimes, they'll fear the oppenent, and STOP attacking, YAY!!!11!!oneone!!! So, I'll put them on attack my target, but as BONUS 2!!: The PC can still occasionally attack while feared, YES!!!!1!!!1!!!

So being a mastermind means doing this a lot (121212121212121212121212121212 <-- Average battle, SOME fun! I'm thinking about buying a nostromo pad and just macroing it to the pad like the bards did in Everquest, if it constantly cycled 1/2 it would mean I'm in Body guard 50% of the time, not too bad)

Now, say pets are still in defensive follow for grins and giggles, the Hero will either now run pets off to get whacked, or just hit me up with the coups de gras (sp?) and off me.

Net result, I lived...about 30 seconds longer than normal, hero lived, MM's still suck in PVP.

Look, Devs, not that you're reading this crap, get the hint; Lord Recluse the most powerful villain is a master mind, he didn't get that way by STAYING IN DEFENSIVE FOLLOW MODE cause if he did, he'd be hiding in a corner like a LITTLE SISSY. Which is what my mastermind has become. You should change the AT title to masterhideinbiggroupsnadpraytoGODyoudon'tgetseenca useifyoudoyou'reprettymuchdead-mind.

Your bodyguard changes are worthless for PVP... Worhtless!

It's not enough to survive in PVP, if you want to WIN you need to do offensive and defensive power. This is how scrappers do it, they're little defensive powerhouses and little offensive powerhouse, a mastermind should be somewhere in there, if we're so damn weak (which we ARE) then we should be damage output masters (which we AREN'T).

Your body guard system is terribly flawed in it's logic, I think the movie about the little chess player kid (Finding Bobby Fischer?) said it best... the bum and the kid are playing some street chess, and the bum says, "What are you doing? You're playing not to loose, you gotta play to win, you gotta put it all on the line"

You've given us a skill that helps us to not loose, we still can't win.

FIX Bodyguard
FIX Force Field

...fix PVP

[ QUOTE ]
You're making the rather large assumption that the PFF nerf had anything to do with bodyguard.

[/ QUOTE ]

Castle has stated (although I couldn't find the post where he was quoted) as saying something like 'Because of upcoming changes to the MM set, PFF had to be reduced' So it's not an assumption, it's from the Devs.

[ QUOTE ]
Caveat: It may well be the case that */FF is no longer the best MM PvP build (in which case I definitely feel for you.)

[/ QUOTE ]

We went from first to last, this is a bit extreme IMO. And it's not because of just the PFF nerf, although that hurts, it's a combination of the toggle nerf, pff nerf, and the fact that bodyguard bypasses our pet defenses, combined with our inability to group heal or to debuff our opponents in any way shape or form.

[ QUOTE ]
I do think you're underestimating how powerful bodyguard can be, however.

[/ QUOTE ]

It's okay, but it really does suck for offense, especially in a set that is already gimped for offense (PVP)

[ QUOTE ]
then only if he played at 32+ and got headsplitter (my MM is only 30 - no 2nd upgrade and I haven't optimized for PvP yet).

[/ QUOTE ]

When I7 comes out I really have no intention of playing in Sirens if I can avoid it, why would I want to? Players really do skyrocket in effectiveness post 32, so you should probably try it again at a higher level.

[ QUOTE ]
*/poison debuffs (yay -regen!) wiped him out pretty quick.

[/ QUOTE ]

Force field has no debuffs, which also reinforces my earlier point.

[ QUOTE ]
MM versus MM 1v1 are interesting in a way I hadn't encountered in PvP before.

[/ QUOTE ]

Every MM that wasn't FF, 1v1 crushed me that I've fought. Dark are simply insane and poison wasn't much easier. I havent fought a traps or TA yet.

I believe that my post on the previous page stands, the Force field set has been [censored] so that the other MM's could benefit.

The FF set, needs something to counteract the massive amount of nerfs they've been hammered with to pull them out of the basement of PVP usefulness.

It is my belief that NO class should be considered "PVE only" ...ever.

~Walks Among You~

Since this is a long post here's an executive summary: This post will relate the nerfs of the ForceField MM to the effectiveness of the Bodyguard ability. It will first recap the negative changes that have affected the Force Field mastermind, then relate those changes to the marginal effectiveness of Bodyguard. Lastly, I'll offer some solutions to solving these issues.

Negactive Changes to FF MM's (The Nerfs):

Nerfed PFF to 2 minute recharge: Effectively this took the mind game out of playing an MM, it used to be you'd put up PFF defensively, until the person you were fighting figured out you had it on, then you'd take it off and fight, until they caught on again. This didn't always work, but it was very strategic, much like a chess match. This method allowed a force field MM a chance to PVP. The nerf caused MM's to turtle up MORE, which oddly is what the nerf was meant to repeal. This was nerfed because with Body Guard "It would be overpowered" according to castle.

I7 Beta release:

PFF Nerf: Bodyguard doesn't work when in PFF mode, this means that blasters that could kill you before, can still kill you inside of PFF, making it possibly more of a liability. This also brings into question, why was it nerfed in the first place, if it was never intended to work with bodyguard.

PFF Nerf #2 (the stealther!): Pets can no longer be controlled while in PFF, making the skill increasingly useless. Now if you use PFF and get attacked while pets are in defensive, an enemy player can run your pets into the pleathora of orange boss mobs on the map, your only option for stopping them is to drop the skill which has a 2 minute recharge.

Detoggle nerf: Our 100% chance to detoggle skill is dropped to 19%/19%. Our primary form of defense against blasters (force bolt) is also nerfed (down to 5% chance to detoggle, more effective to brawl at this point). It also reduced Repulsion field to a STELLAR 1% per half second... or roughly one toggle dropped every 45 seconds, of course, it sucks down more end than running the Boston Marathon.

With all of these slams, we've gotten 1 new ability... Bodyguard... let's talk about this skill...and how it relates to the Force Field mastermind

Now, originally, when PFF wasn't nerfed, I could use tactics to strategically heal my pets, I could unshield, heal, go offensive and if it got a little too hot, return to the shields. This worked well enough I suppose... but with the assault of nerfs, Bodyguard isnt really a benefit for us... my fights last night proved that despite other MM's quotes of:

[ QUOTE ]
Nothing got taken away from you to add this.

[/ QUOTE ]

Something *DID* get taken away, my ability to effectively challenge people one on one has been decimated.

The bodyguard change [censored] Force Field MM's, and gave very little back. And I don't care what it did for PVE, PVE in this game is mostly dull and repetitious, I'm talking just in PVP.

Before the nerf I could earn 20-30 points a night in Warburg, last night on test, I earned 4! And that was with constantly going out and buying greens and break frees.

Bodyguard, at the cost of PFF... Not Worth It

So how can it be fixed:

Well, there are a few things that would make me happy, we'll start with the NON-PFF related ones...

Make our knockbacks not so easilily counterable with things like acrobatics, my primary method of "Control" as a master mind, is my ability to push people around. I have no slows and my primary control power (My Liches Fear) is lack luster at best.

Increase the effectiveness of Dispertion Bubble, so that I can have some prayer of surving hits, since everything that whacks my bodyguards AVOIDS my only method of protecting them.

Make the bubbles we use self targettable. You would basically change dispersion bubble to an AE skill same with insulation shields.

Provide us with a group heal (although I have no idea what skill you'd get rid off to be honest, I use just about every skill in the FF line)

And of course, un-screw PFF. The prefered fix would be to repeal the duration nerf. I don't care if I can't control my pets, and I don't care if I loose body guard, I do care that if I get TP/Foe'd or jumped by an AOE'er.

Another option (NOTE: This is NOT a fix for all FF'ers, just necro's) is to increase the heal of the pets significantly with out enhancements. Or make it so that the zombies have an ae heal (targetted damage, like Darks I think?).

Another idea, since the Defensive Follow option is terrible, change it to Defensive/Any. This wouldn't be a perfect soltuion but it might help, I could then respec out of PFF (amazing that you've taken a great skill and rendered it useless)

Drastically increase the range of supremcy and body guard (although this is more a melee pet fix, it doesn't help FF's all that much.)

Lastly, up our damage! More Damage! means less time I have to try and survive.

Anyway, final conclusions on Bodyguard: Not worth what was taken away from the FF masterminds, you robbed us to feed the many... we need repairs.

[ QUOTE ]
Issue 8 will also bring with it the Veterans' Reward system. This will allow us to give out special thank-you gifts to our players based on the number of months they have been subscribed. These gifts will range from costume pieces to powers to base items and beyond. You don't even have to do anything to get them, other than keeping an active account.

[/ QUOTE ]

Heh, is this an attempt to get people to stop quitting between issues?

~P~

Great post. First, I'm not sure what the protocol is for posts like this, I thought I'd toss out my thoughts for a PVP build of this same set. If this is a faux pas, please let me know and I'll delete the thread, thanks.

Dark Blast
If you’re going to PVP, I’ve found that the attack powers for the set just aren’t worth it. You’re going to need this and Glooms spot in order to max out some of your power pool skills.

Zombie Horde
Obviously a no brainer, you have to have your zombies.
I’ve found adding two acc, three damage, then a debuff in them works well, your mileage may vary.

Gloom
Like dark blast, skip this, you’ll take up some power pool slots.

Enchant Undead
Great stuff here, no brainer. Don’t add any slots to it, it recharges fast enough, 1 end reducer is enough.

Life Drain
Skip this, get aid self. Remember, if you are in a LOT of trouble, there’s a good chance you’re going to turtle up, at which point you can probably get in an Aid Self.

Grave Knights
Your bread and butter damage doers. 3 damage, at least one accuracy, the rest is up to you.

Soul Extraction
Don’t slot SE out for recharge, in PVP your pets aren’t going to be dying much and if they are there’s a good chance by the time they have, you’ll have it back up again. SE is worth getting though, they have fantastic mobility.

Liche
Despite his lame appearance, you have to take Liche. Slot him out for Fear, then experiment with the rest, I like tossing some items into hold and 1 into accuracy.

Dark Empowerment
Another No brainer. This is worth three slotting if you don’t want to sit around for 8 hours buffing up.

Force Bolt
You have to take this. But it is your primary attack in PVP. With Personal Force Field down, this skill can literally disable anyone with out Knockback protection. As a bonus it detoggles. I slotted mine with 2 ranges, 2 recharges and 2 accuracy. With that on you can constantly attack with it, it also helps to whack folks outta the sky with, until we get our roots.

Deflection Shield
You have to take this skill (as part of the progression). I slotted mine up, but to be honest, in PVP I don’t really use it except at the zone in. Mostly it’s a pain.

Insulation Shield
I didn’t bother with this. Same reason, it doesn’t do all that great (pets are low on hps anyway).

Detention Field
I kinda like Detention field, you may or may not. It’s very handy when I need to resummon up some pets. Just slap this on your enemy and they get to watch you buff up. What’s really fun is that your pets can still “attack” the target (although do no damage), so the instant they’re out of it, you know it. This is also very useful if you’re fighting a group with a defender, just put him on Pause while you kill his buddies.

Personal Force Field
You must have this skill. Period. Three recharges and some defenses can’t hurt. I’m not going to get into tactics in this thread, but you simply have to have this. When I get teleported, sniped, AS’d, or am just in an “Oh [censored]!” moment, PFF comes on. Remember, use it to get the people off you then TURN IT OFF. You need to get it back up and recharged for the next time you fight.


Dispersion Bubble
I like dispersion bubble, I don’t love it. It’s a total endurance hog. The benefit is though that it puts a bubble around you that looks like PFF, so you can hop into PFF let them waste their alphas, then leave it while still looking like it’s on.

Repulsion Field
I’m still experimenting with the idea of taking this. The problem is knockbacks don’t stack. So if I have force bolt on auto already, why bother? Personally I say skip it.

Repulsion Bomb
This is another one of those damn skills that I keep thinking, “Maybe I should take it, 100% to detoggle is nice”. I tend to lean towards “Skip this” but you might have better tactics/luck with it.

Force Bubble
You simply must have it. Must. It’s our 38 skill and it has tons of tactical uses.

Reccomended Pools

Leadership
Assault and Tactics are worth it. The damage from assault is 10% or so, but it’s for every guy near you, that adds up. Tactics gives you the +perc so you don’t have to eat as many yellows to spot stalkers. Also, your minions will be blue to the bad guys, a little accuracy helps.

Fitness
Skip it, seriously. Even with three or four toggles running (you gotta slot em for end redux X 2) Stamina just isn’t worth it. The only attack you’ll be doing is Force Bolt and it barely uses anything.

Speed
Skip it, even with the PFF nerf, I don’t think it’s worth it. Up to you though.

Travel
Personally, I recommend hover (3 slots) and teleport

Teleport
Teleport Foe…
Must have in my opinion. Your pets are your alpha, but if they’re running all buck stupid, you’re not going to get any kills.

Teleport
Eh, worth having to get out of a pinch in a hurry. Up to you, you might want hasten and super speed

Medicine
In my opinion this is a must have. Remember, once people think you’re in PFF they’re going to go after your pet, heal other does wonders cause your pets dinky-[censored] heals aren’t going to keep up. You also get heal self, that lets you patch up inside your bubble when you need to.

Again, no build is perfect, I have about 80 hours of PVP with Walks, this build has been working well for me. As I said earlier, your mileage, it may vary ;-) Happy haunt...er, Hunting
~Walks Among You, 40 Nec/FF~

You can keep this change, just give me back my old force field, at least it's useful.

Devs yet again proving they don't play this game

~P~

Uhm, I took SS cause, well, I don't crunch numbers like a fiend. I saw it had an AE, and I like AE's. AE's are what drop the packs in a hurry if slotted right.

And Rage, well, rage just kicks butt... period. With rage up and some +ACC in the attacks I can take on reds and purps like a champ.