MaestroMavius

Greetings fellow blasters!

I'm currently at a cross-roads of sorts. My one and only level 50, my main, is confused.
I'm pretty clueless when it comes to pimping out a 50. I've toyed with sets here and there but nothing compared to min/max.

A few months ago I loaded up Mids and took the time to look through all the sets, trying to put together a build that maximized ranged defense. Got a build I thought was the best it could be.
Went in the game and promptly used a Vetspec to get him ready. Changed some slotting, picked up the new Power Surge and then made a gigantic mistake.
I decided to leave all my IO's and SO's unslotted, figuring I could then use the money to buy my new build.

Wrong.

So, there he sat. Dejected, with no enhancements, save the one thunderstrike set I saved.
It was at this point I realized I hadn't really thought this through.

You see, this guy is a blapper. A solo stealthy boss killer.
I really should've looked into maxing out his melee defense instead.

So, now he's sitting with a paltry sum of 40 million infl. and no clue what to slot.

My computer has since decided it hates mids and refuses to load it for me, even after uninstall and redownload.

I come here for guidance.

What would you consider to be most important when slotting for a blapper? One that mainly SS+Stealths missions?

I was lucky enough to get a Karma KB protection recipe dropped, quickly added that to stealth!

Anything I shoud be aware of?
I'm currently farming away with ouro arcs for cash and doing the flipping recipes strat for extra.

Keep in mind I'm not that worried about being maxed out, just looking for a reasonable '50' build for my favorite blaster!

That's exactly what I'd envisioned.
When did that air? Missed it entirely.

As much as I love my undead posse. I'd avoid Necro if your goal is outright AV pwnage.

My Necro/Dark can and has soloed AV's, however since they all (minus the Lich) really wanna be in melee some of the AV's out there can whomp em good with a well timed PbAOE.

My vote would be;
Thugs/Dark
Or
Bots/FF - with the mandatory warning of this combo becomes COV on easy mode which = boring.

I'd love to see some TV ads, maybe on G4 or Spike.
You could even do them up like a spoof on the 'I'm a PC, I'm a Mac' ads and have a I'm a hero, I'm a villain banter.
Then have a rogue pop out saying I'm neither...

I often wondered if I was the only person in the entire state of Alabama playing this game.

I work at a hotel and recently I overheard some guests enjoying breakfast. Someone mentioned finally getting their paladin to level 80 to his friend, you'd have thought that everyone in the room instantly knew him. People from other states started chiming in about their experiences in the game.
Made me really....
Jealous.

I've often hoped to hear someone talking about their blaster being too squishy, or that lusca was to tough solo.
I'd imagine being able to strike up a conversation right away with them. trading tips and tricks.

You see, I have no friends. At least none that care to play an MMO.
The ones I do know are so vested in 'that other one' to even give COX a glance.

So I have nobody to share this game with in real life.
I have an SG, really great group, but it's not the same.
I've tried to get my girlfriend to play but it's just not for her. She's still struggling with Super Mario afterall.
My RL best friend played for a few months but quickly burned out, just wasn't for him.

Way it goes I guess. I was just curious, have any of you ever run into someone that plays?
Maybe they overheard you talking about it.
Maybe they saw the boards on your laptop at starbucks and just started talking about it.

Anyone?

Just dump that one layer cake cave of doom. You all know the one I reference.
I don't think anyone would complain about taking away that tile. If it meant never getting that most annoying cave anymore.

A recent thread made me realize what kind of goldmine we have here.
Some of the most interesting characters from any genre reside in Paragon City/Rogue Isles.

My specific questions are;
Who actually created Nemesis and his back story?
Who actually created the Freakshow and gave them life?

I thumbed through the Manticore Lore thread but that seems to be dealing with the in-game lore, I'm curious as to the behind the scenes part.

Was Nemesis a collaboration? Did one Dev play a huge role in the creation of his backstory?
Kudos to them!

I'd just like to know who weaved together such a wonderful villain.

Was it all Manticore? Did Jack have his 'vision' with this one?

Anyone know?

He would if it served to further along one of his billions of plots...

After reading The web of arachnos I've always wanted to see a small schale onslaught by him, having Warhulks appear on a random street and start smashing things. Have a signature hero battling it and asking for assistance.

You could get the Posi's sidekick badge or something.


On topic;

Yeah, COH has me so spoiled I can't even begin to get into another MMO. COH was my 1st MMO and I'm soooooooooo thankful I bought it way back in 2005 instead of Ultima!

Saw this a while back, made me laugh then. Still does!

1st time I read it was in a 'I hate my job' thread, naturally I was half-way through it before the lightbulb went off.

Short answer is yes.

I must ad my voice to the chorus.
I ended up deleting the channel myself due to the immature rantings of a select few. It takes a great deal to offend me, usually. However, the banter on the channel lately was so lowbrow and off putting I couldn't stomach it.

Thats saying something.

Please, take it to IC and leave AEA for those serious about finding good teams.

**Gives cookie to Bane for keeping his cool**

So, you spent your DXP weekend powerleveling a stranger? Now your upset that they've up and run off to do other things.
Consider this;
Perhaps they've had RL issues come up and haven't had a chance to sign back on.

Maybe your l33t PLing skills caused their computer to x'plode
Maybe your l33t PLing skills made them run and hide in a corner.
Maybe you got pwned...

Just gotta add;
Next time, say
"Sure buddy, you 1st though"

Or you know, not PL someone you don't know...

I don't know you but everyone deserves cake on their B'day! So here ya go...



Enjoy it!!

I have to have a concept I can embrace to overcome my altitis.
I don't actively RP, but the concept helps me form the character in my head.
I've avoided Assault Rifle on blasters for that very reason, I could just never get behind a Hero using a gun. Always seemed more... vigilante like.
Even with rubber bullets and the like.

I rolled up an Archery/Mental few months back and found the combo very enjoyable. But, I was having a hard time rationalizing using Arrows to defeat the mobs.
Then I realized, he's a superhuman with uncanny accuracy, his arrows never actually penetrate flesh. Instead he simply pins them to crates, walls, floor, what have you. Rendering them motionless.
Blazing Arrow isn't actually on fire, it's an Illusion he creates.
Mental Marksman has become one of my all time favorites now!

My Fire/Ice blaster wasn't as easy to explain. I ended up asking myself what it'd really feel like to be hit in the chest with a ball of fire.
I tried to visualize how I could do it in real life.
From what I could imagine, it wouldn't really hurt all that much. Even more so if you were clothed. The fire would splash about, maybe cinging them.
So it was okay to see him hurl a fireball at the mob and not expect it to do much, just overcome them with smoke.
Sure, he could walk up to someone and just hold his hands out and flashfry them. But he's a Hero so he tones it down. Besides, he has Ice powers to cool them down afterwards.
Coming up with these little 'insider secrets' is actually part of the fun for me when creating new toons.


As far as the alternate skins options go, I'm all for it. Though, if I recall correctly. The Dev's said they wouldn't give alternate weapons to a set unless they matched the damage type. I.E. if your set had alot of stabbing attacks the weapon had to have a point. If the set was slashing based, weapons had to have an edge.
Otherwise you could pick Katana for you WarMace tanker and it just wouldn't 'feel' right.
That said, they do seem to be going the way of more cusumization/ less restrictions. So we'll see.

Wow! Great job.
I've been thinking about starting to make shadowboxes of famous comic book covers. Your figures are making me envision doing all kinds of CoH toons too!

I've got mine frankenslotted with a mixture of Acc/Tohit debuff and hold durations atm. Thinking about upgrading at 42 though.

"I teamed once, but then those stupid bonus pets it gave me kept ignoring my commands and talking without me using /petsay."
- Kelenar

I'm in a SuperGroup of all Empaths, if you play on Infinity you might have heard of us, Paragon City Search and Rescue.

We pride ourselves in being defenders. I've found that heals are really, really useful.
Until around level 16. Then you'll notice your teams health dipping less and less (as their defenses increase)
Thats where buffing comes into play.

Back on topic.
It's a sad fact that big green numbers get recognized quicker than anything by most players.
I never recieved a single compliment on any other toon. Whenever I team with my Empath, even if I don't use a single heal the entire mission, inevitably someone will say "Great heals!" at some point.

I think it's a holdover from the 'other' games where healing is a fundamental mindset.

Once, I was on my blaster, the tank died mid battle, the mob started to spread out to the rest of the team. I decided to sacrifice myself to save the rest so I dove in and used a damage aura, then ran around the corner and let them kill me. Buying the tank time to rez.
Not a single comment. In fact I was accused of playing recklessly.

I then jumped on my empath and accepted an invite from the same team. They didn't realize it was me though, They'd picked up a second tank in the mean time. Half way thru the mission and I'm getting bored, not a single health bar is moving. Fort's on the blasters and RA's charging. I realize, with 2 tanks I'm only using my attacks. Then it happens. We clear the mission and zone out, as we're waiting for the next mission the chorus of "Amazing job with the heals" and "You rock Capt.!!"
start appearing in chat.

I'm like, ummm what heals?

Just the simple fact that you can heal makes the team 'think' it's invincible. Even if you don't ever use them, even if you have 2 tanks soaking up all the aggro. Players are going to thank you for being an awesome healer.

I can really only recall one occasion where I felt I deserved the praise. This was on an 8 man invincible team with no tank, 4 blasters and a 3 scrappers. It was the most work I've done in game. ONly time I've put the Aura on Auto. I was firing off heals on everyone constantly. Killed myself twice with absorb pain and somehow managed to keep everyone alive.
Felt like I'd earned a medal for that one.
Oddly enough, that team didn't really say anything other than "That was rough"

Go figure.

I've got a blaster with every combo imaginable. They are, by far, my favorite AT.

I've only got Snipe on one of them.
My Energy/Energy is the only one that actually makes use of the Snipe, a big reason for that is the Knockback allows me time to use it in battle.

My Fire/Ice had far more useful powers so it got skipped.
My Ice/Fire likewise
Thought about taking it on my new Rad/Fire but the build is really tight and I just can't see getting much use out of it.

I adore my Energy snipe. The rest I can apparently live without.
Except on those rare builds were I'll take it for the extra damage at low levels, then vetspec out around the 20's.

I'm a little miffed about the new Demon summoning set.
My only real villain is a level 41 Necro/Dark.
I have to have a good concept in order to stick with the toon. Struggled for 2 years to figure out a villain concept I could get behind. Then one day outta the blue it struck me.

Maestro Morbidus was born. His story is he was a dark magician in the 1800's. Was killed, sent to purgatory and subsequently figured out how to trap the demons within himself, this gave him enough power to actually escape hell. Now he walks the Earth using the souls of the undead to do his bidding. He has 2 alternate Demon forms(other costumes) that he can call forth for more power but otherwise looks human.

Thing is, once Demon summoning is available I'm thinking his bio isn't going to look right. Hmmm...
Now that I've wrote it all out it doesn't seem to be a bad thing afterall. In my head I thought it'd be all wonky saying he controls Demons without having that set. Now that I look at it though, he 'absorbs' demons to increase his own power, then uses his dark magic to summon souls. So I'll stop rambling now and drink some more coffee.

I had that misconception about blasters way back when myself. Then I learned more about the game and the AT.
I'd avoided taking any melee attacks on my main for 20 levels because...
Blasters are ranged fighters.
Right?

Wait? They're not? Oh, hmmm...

Once I realized/was told, that blasters are all about putting the enemy down quickly. Be it at range or otherwise. I was all set, the whole AT seemed to change at that point. I respec'd and never looked back.


As for what the others said.
If you want tools in your secondary to keep the foes at bay I recommend either Ice or Devices.

Devices will give you Caltrops very early. This is a wonderful power to deny the enemy your face.

Ice will give you the above mentioned Ice Patch as well as Shiver. I can't begin to tell you how great that power is at doing what your suggesting.
Put a few slow SO's in and wow, aint nothing coming at you quicker than a snails pace then!

Hover snipe, float a few feet above your foes and blast them into the ground. They'll pew pew and not be able to melee you. (not applicable against flying mobs)

TL&DR version;
Blasters aren't ranged fighters, they are damage dealers.
From any range

Clarity!

It's whats for breakfast.