Madam_Enigma

Sometimes that's true, and I try to have a full IO'd out build by 27... But the salvage sometimes gets to be dang expensive. 20k each for salvage to make the basic IO's is not cheeper then buying the SO.

SR doesn't really need a travel power. With the glut of slots take swift instead of hurdle. Then by the low 40's have 3 run speed slotted in swift, sprint, and quickness. Presto, mini-travel power. And training for people who do drive by cave speedboosts.

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O.o What the... I know they want to make controllers and dominators viable for pvp... But why neuter melee characters in PvP? It's hard enough to take down all those super leaping kiters with melee. And now they can hold us too? I gotta test this. Anyone want to meet me on test with a level 50 with a hold? I'll bring Madam Enigma.

I just have to see this for myself. (where's the patch note for that?)

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It's actually better for melee in the long run actually. Melee was actually made to be able to compete decently. Attacks now trigger diminishing returns in movement for both the target and the attacker, allowing melee characters to actually force engagement to some degree. Damage was also normalized pretty heavily as well. Plus, they also shortened the duration of all mez powers and, if you didn't read it the first time I wrote it, there are significant diminishing returns on holds (and pretty much everything else too) so that it's impossible to chain mez someone.

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I'd still like to test this myself in the arena. Care to join me?

O.o What the... I know they want to make controllers and dominators viable for pvp... But why neuter melee characters in PvP? It's hard enough to take down all those super leaping kiters with melee. And now they can hold us too? I gotta test this. Anyone want to meet me on test with a level 50 with a hold? I'll bring Madam Enigma.

I just have to see this for myself. (where's the patch note for that?)

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Werner's got it pretty dead on here. RttC shuts off anytime you are mezzed, which is very often, every AT in the game has some sort of mez available to them, and if it hits you it WILL stick.

Most players that can do so will fight you at range and never enter melee range, making RttC worse than useless in PvP, it's pretty much just an endurance drain that doesn't do anything. Add in the fact that the set lacks a self-heal, and is a jack of all trades set that isn't very good at any one thing, and you have a set that gets annihilated in PvP.

Basically all the things that make it awesome in PvE are the same things that make it suck in PvP.

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Any scrapper that is routinely getting mezzed in pvp to me seems weird. what, don't PvPer's take their mez protection? How is anything except a Dom using dominator or controller mezzing a scrapper?

Solo any level 50 mission with all psi damage? I know I keep seeing invuln tanks who think their the most unkillable thing on any legs go down fast trying to tank those.

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If you want to go strictly historical, I would recommend BS/SD. Dual wielding blades in real world historical warfare was, generally speaking, a bad idea. The shield is just that important. However, if you are set on Dual Blades then the Gladiator, Swashbuckler and possibly Samurai would work well, also possibly a Norse berserker (who historically wore shields for the most part, but they're crazy enough that some of them no doubt went without). The Samurai for the most part just used their katana, with the shorter wakizashi being a tool for Seppuku, but Musashi Miyamoto became famous for his dual wielding technique and he was quite successful with it indeed.

As far as shields go, the Swashbuckler would fit perfectly well with a buckler, it was used in duels well into the Renaissance. If you have the Valkyrie set, its blade has a basket hilt that fits the look, though its blade is a bit short for a sabre.

The Knight should be sword/shield, no doubt about it. A kite shield with some sort of bright heraldry on it would look fitting.

The Samurai didn't use shields, Katana would be ideal but Dual Blades would work for a deviant Samurai, as described above.

Use a bronze khopesh and shield for the Egyptian.

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While gladiators did duel wield, it was mainly with trident and net. When using a sword they still fought with just one weapon. As for the gladiator idea, use the gladiatorial shoulder armor which leaves the chest bare. While a gladiator had armor, there was barely any of it. They also used slings and cesta. That's a spiked gauntlet by the way. Gladiators didn't really carry shields because the spectators wanted a bloodbath. That's not to say they never carried one though.

Samurai would be served well by katana or dual wielding. And that's right, they didn't carry shields.

For egyptain I'm not sure if they have a shield that would fit. When they had shields they were simple ones made of leather.

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WOW....DOs people still use those..

I slot at 12 lvl 15 IOs never touch DOs anymore

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I use IO's, but refuse to buy the recipes. As such I'll use DO's till I get a recipe for the IO. Same for SO enhancements. I'll replace them with IO's as I can.

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Now I'm only level 13, but my new scrapper project, and MA/SR, seems ridiculously squishy compared to my other scrappers. SR is also eating through end like a wildfire. I know that with SOs I'll be able to reach 50%def at half the end price, which seems amazing. But what should I be doing in the mean time?

My build so far
1 - Storm Kick
1 - Focused Fighting
2 - Focused Senses
4 - Agile
6 - Hurdle
8 - Crane Kick
10 - Practiced Brawler
12 - Combat Jumping

This is putting me at about 20% ranged defence and 15% melee defense. I have both of the toggles 6 slotted with endred DOs so end is alright now. It seem like I should be dodging a decent amout of attacks, but it seems like none at all.

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Six slotting the toggles?! Man oh man oh man... Drop 3 slots from the toggles and put them into your attacks. Replace the end red with defense. Sure endurance costs will go up a bit, but if slotting DO's your defense will go up more. Pre-stamina most defensive sets feel endurance heavy. Most of your endurance woes likely come from attacks though. Slot your attacks 1 ACC the rest damage for now, and you should drop enemies fast enough to not have problems.

Those six slots you saved from defensive toggles? That can boost 3 attacks by 2 damage enhancements each. And if your six slotting defenses, your skimping on attacks likely. Also don't forget the passives don't get any benefit really after the first 3 enhancements.

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So, I've been wanting to make a little Fairy Winged blade using scrapper for ages.

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I am so envious of you all that create concept characters. I never seem to have any concept I would like to create. I have a great imagination, or so I've been told.

Any suggestions on how to spark something in this regard?

I can only imagine how great it is to level a concept character, working to keep the powers in line with that concept and everything else that goes with it. I can also imagine that people with that ability are much less likely to get burned out on the game itself.

Anyway, I don't mean to go off topic here. I have nothing to offer on topic as I am pretty much a noob around here. I just thought I'd ask this within this thread instead of creating another one.

Good luck on your character, btw. Sounds like a lot of fun.

Acidon

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Well, concept characters are fairly easy to get ideas for. As an example I'll give my TA/A defender. She is a woodland pixie (and quite vocal about the difference between pixies and faeries). She originally was made back in issue 5, so her wings had been ripped off by a cruel human. As such no travel power at all. She couldn't fly without her wings after all.

Once wings got added as a vet reward MAGI managed to successfully cast a spell to regrow her wings... Sort of. It wasn't until much later that they got it right (invented insect wings).

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English Gentleman: Rapier and main gauche, complete with top hat and monocle. Again, no shield really works here.

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Bucklers were used in duels sometimes. In addition the lantern shield was a weapon designed with dueling in mind.

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Angry Scotsman: One of my favorites, if only the kilts were plaid. Barbaric looking, flamberge and shield or ... I'm not sure for the dual blades.

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For this pick a shield that looks like a round wooden shield that covers the entire torso.

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Spartan/Roman: Spartan if I use a shield (He's not from Sparta if he doesn't.), Roman if it's two gladius (think Russel Crowe). This will be close to the last costume because of ITF being a requirement for the costume pieces and weapons. I know it's a roman costume, but they borrowed everything from the greeks anyway.

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The movie not withstanding, ignore the two gladius idea. No roman soldier would be caught dead without his shield. Correction, they WOULD be caught without the shield. Their tower shields were an integral part of their warfare. When they stood shield to shield you saw a solid wall of metal coming your way. They would then stab around the shield with the gladius. That's what the blade is designed for.

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you'll eventually want to take all the powers except Resurgence.

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Why the hate for self rez powers? I mean, even with how nutzoid us scrappers can get we still die once in a while. And when that happens we don't always have a handy medic available to get us back on our feet. Nor do we always have an awaken (or dare use it). As such self rez powers can be handy.

My view of OG (based on the similar power for warshades) is that it's a useful, but situational tool. If you already deal high damage it's not too helpful solo. But in some teams (notably ones lacking any sort of defenders or controllers) it can be a great way to ghetto controller. In this capacity it's a potentially huge help to teams. Remember, stunned minions aren't wailing on the blasters. And what about bosses/LT's? Well their usually the first targets anyway.

Or if your claw/sr... Go pick the biggest target, then proceed to become a clawful blur of slashy death which sometimes awes the team as you just survived the party wipe, and killed the next spawn over too.

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Hmm, my favorite scrapper? Uhm... Hmm, let me think... Wolverine. Baring that, Madam Enigma.


OOOOOH you mean powerset! Erm, anything-except-martial arts/anything

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So, based on your Wolverine comment your favorite is claws/regen?

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No, I based it on my favorite is Wolverine. Spiderman comes in third.

I love shield defense. I love the idea behind it. And yet... My lowbie BS/SD scrapper feels extremely weak when compared to any other secondary (outside of same level regen). It may get really good once I can outfit it fully with SO/IO, but right now it's 11.25 defense gets bypassed easily, and negated even easier by anything with -defense.

Hmm, my favorite scrapper? Uhm... Hmm, let me think... Wolverine. Baring that, Madam Enigma.


OOOOOH you mean powerset! Erm, anything-except-martial arts/anything

For sheer DPS I'd personally say claws. I don't find bosses troublesome, in fact sometimes I don't even realize I'm fighting a boss. I just slaughter them all. While claws does have some niiice aoe, it's more single target then some would lead you to believe.

I know the level 20ish final vahzilok arc SUCKED on my dm/regen. I mean, after part 1 I had zero regen for an entire freaking mission. That is soo not cool. Having to rely in dull pain and reconstruction entirely cause the rest of your secondary got shut down isn't fun.

Although, this would also neuter /poison's capability to deal with regeners entirely. And /poison is really a regen scrapper's only true bane from the villains. Sure villains get more -regen powers, but none really hold a candle IMO to /poison's reliable -regen, -heal, and -special.

First of all, I don't play Madam Enigma often anymore, not since she hit 50. I log in once in a while to run a story arc or if someone wants help with a GM. Maybe run a task force. As such I'm not swimming in influence.

Second of all, I took all of my secondary, and all but confront from claws. So I don't have the slots in most powers to devote to 5 or 6 enhancement sets. I have to go for the 4 enhancement sets more often, and that means losing defense if doing so for my secondary. If you read the claw/sr guide I posted as Poison Bloom you might get an idea of how I'm slotted.

Third, soft capping defense is not THE best way to go. Sure it's possible, but requires making sacrifices I'd rather not make. I already sacrificed having a travel power to get my all attacks/defenses. To make up for this I took and slotted swift. I was getting it anyway to get stamina. My character concept requires laser vision, so body mastery is also a must. That means I only have 1 power choice that's really optional. That power choice currently is hurdle.

Expense isn't always just influence. Sometimes it's the expense of having to cut things that make the character fun to play too. To me 24/7 godmode isn't fun. Having the risk (even if slim) of being taken out is fun. Right now Madam Enigma is almost unstoppable in missions. That too is why I don't play the character often. There's no challenge anymore really.

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Here is why I don't believe you. Elude Only last 2 min if you hit elude and charged in it would take you more then 2 mins to get LR down the that point were he would summoned his bane, if he was a AV. If he was a EB yes you could get him down that fast. EB and AV or not the same thing. If you look at Powerforge video LR is not even close to being dead at 2 min when your Elude would crash. You will also see that he summoned his Bane 12:23 mins into the fight, again 10 +min after your elude would crash.

Also I can make a soft capped /SR scrapper with just 1 IO and it will only cost me 10 mil. If I would to use more then I could make a soft capped /SR scrapper of under 30 mill. You don't need to get the best IO to have a good build.

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I'm not stupid enough to think I can take on an AV solo. Some EBs give me trouble enough. Heck, I still haven't finished one of the Oraboras arcs.

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I have a Claws Scrapper and am in the process of leveling him up, I would like to slot Evicerate and one more Aoe type attack, but I don't need Both Spin and Shockwave, can anyone give me their oppinion on these two attack's?

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My personal answer? Yes. Shockwave is a good opener, and also good for boss juggling. Spin is a nice power for large battles. Why not take both? Eviscerate's cone is so narrow your not bloody likely to hit more then 2 enemies at most usually, 1 more often then not.

Personally, I feel you can do without aid self on SR even without soft capping defense. I run around with about 30% defense to ranged, melee, and aoe. The only real regen boost I have currently is 3 slotted health since I'm still (slowl) working on IO sets. And yet, I find that I chew through things like there's no tomorrow. And if things do get a little dicey there's always elude.

The only time I really have issues with things hitting me is if I go to firebase zulu.

Believe it, I tried fighting him first, I hit elude, charged in... And while Recluse couldn't hit me, his banes he summoned could and did... And they kept Stealth Striking me to boot. After banging my head against them for a half hour, I got me some super powered npc help.

And your right, soft capped defense doesn't have a crash. It does have a huge inf cost in expensive IOs, and having to go into the fighting pool or leadership pool for more defense. My main isn't fully IOed with sets yet. Why not? Because unlike what people think a 50 is capable of doing, I can't afford them all. I'm constantly broke getting one IO at a time. That, and those super expensive pieces of salvage.

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I loved my DB/WP toon but wanted something slightly different - so I created a "Peter Pan" toon. DB was perfect for him with his little knives - but the only secondary that seemed to fit the concept (perfectly) was Super Reflexes.

While he's only 16 now, I placed him in Mid's and gave him every secondary poer except Elude, which I read here isn't needed or isn't so great, though I'm not sure why - but that's a different thread.

What concerns me is that with all those other powers it seemed like defenses weren't really all that high - and right now I am being one-shot killed like crazy.

So how does defense really work? (I usually make dam resist toons) ... and what can I do to make this character less vulnerable as he grows?

Any and all advice appreciated, as usual...

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Others probably explained it better, but I'll try too. This is using my main, a claw/sr scrapper.

Your fighting an enemy, and he's got a 50% chance to hit you. That means half the time he misses, the other half of the time you take damage. This is the default for even level minions if you have no defense. It's also the default for PvP before enhancements are added in.

I have 30.6% defense to melee, ranged, and aoe. I subtract that from the enemy's 50% to hit, giving them a 19.4% chance to hit me. That means a little over 80% of the time I manage to avoid that attack.

I hit elude, and now have 110% defense. Subtract my defense from the to-hit of whatever is trying to hit me now, and it'll likely be below 0. That's not possible, so it give the enemy a 5% chance to hit. This is then modified by the enemy's accuracy bonus. An EB that's my level should have 50% to-hit, and I think an accuracy rating of 1.5

So the EB's chance to hit me is (50-110)=x*1.5
X=5 because the enemy's final to-hit can never be below 5%

Thus the EB will hit me 7.5% of the time if I'm eluding. That also means that defense beyond 45% is overkill. Or is it? In PvP people use a lot of +tohit. As such more defense helps to offset their +tohit. And some foes have really high tohit AND accuracy... such as Rullu overseers.