MisterD

I really like the event..very cool. SOmething different. After..4 runs, got some hints for the badges.

Ninja Monkey. As soon as the Minotaur/Frank dies, all gather near a gate. This seems to focus the spawns, and allow for max aoe carnage.

Perfect Hitter, part 2. Talk to the Dishelved Drifter, balf guy in the green coat. He is to the right of the room.

Perfect Grifter, part 2. (havent done it myself, info from a friend).flirt, then crass comment then crass comment til she walks away
then golden, then payout/jackpot then security

The others..anyone want to add info?


Question about the Overwhelming Proc. The text says..that is has a penchant for the dramatic... What does this mean exactly?

Just thoughts..

Be sure to remove the BU proc from rage when looking at totals..it will apply to attacks and make them look a LOT more powerful.
Swift and Hurdle need slotting, once obviously. IO in entropic, so SO.

You dont have a PS +end proc in teh build at all. SS needs a lot of recovery..and those procs help a lot. As an interesting point, slotting end mod into SUpCon increases your max end (and therefore rec too) but it also means when Rage crashes, you lose MORE end, than if you had the base amount. Of course, you need to decide if that's worth it, but SupCon would be a good place for +end proc, maybe stam too..so you have it while lower than 50.

Also, having the numi unique in Energise..hmm. I see teh rech on it is almost perma..which is good, but the heal value is low. You would be better off putting the ++ in health.

Kb IO in OL...not needed at all.

Combat jumping..overlostted? The gain is 0.9% s/l def, for example. Also, you want the kismet acc there..+a 7.5 rec, giving a spare slot. You wont miss the tiny regen.

Actually..switch the kismets in ED for gamblers..gaining back the regen and better numbers.

Put the slow resist IO in super jump.

Aside from that..the numbers look good. A friend of mine had the same combo on his brute..and I saw him do flat out amazing things, even before IOs and buffs.

Seriously bad font colors. Awful. Looking at the build now

Back to my pvp concerns about these changes.

We have the most damaging ranged AT..getting what amounts to a massive attack at huge range, better range on the T3 blasters, as WELL as some kind of survival tool.

All that, and nothing in the other direction? Sure, it is unfair to say blasters are great in pvp and therefore need nothing in pve (even if I think that). I saw the point of snipes as being..aiming to pick your spot, powering up the shot, and letting fly. With the changes, there is no actual aim time (besides hitting aim/bu), it is just fire and forget.

Since T3 blasts are getting more range, it sort of removes the argument about snipes even HAVING their extended range, especially without the need to 'Target' something. Firing an assault rifle for instance..just becuse you choose to 'snipe' at someone, does not suddenly make the gun shoot twice as far..it just makes the shot more accurate, slower, and deadly. The accuracy is account for in the power itself, and assuming the to hit buff, the speed..well, no..its FASTER, as for deadly..same damage.

So why the range boost? I would argue that the Fast Snipes have a reduced range, to offest their huge damage, faster cast time, and higher acc. This would not actually matter to anyone using snipes in the old, aiming way. It would also go a long way to helping address the pvp concerns, since snipes will almost always be paired with Boost Range for extra sillyness.

Another pvp concern. With an extra survival tool..to go with pvp staples (hoarefrost, hiber, phase, rebirth)..especially in EnM gets Energise as I heard..I just think it may be too much. I have always thought blasters have to much hp (moreso in a pvp setting) and maybe their max hp, not base, to could to be lowered..perhaps to 1500. This would actually free up blaster slotting, at the max would be more reachable with accolades.

A friend was telling me Control Hybrid is still 'broken'.

It might not be well resisted, in enemies..but it is also pretty low damage for us. I find anyway. Leaving aside blasters and Blizzard (if its still huge damage), I have two ice blast corrs, and was not really impressed. Even more so with the dual nature of the damage..you might get a highish lot of cold damage going, but then the smashing would just drag it right down.

Nom nom, eat faces and heal yourself!

Symbiotic Possession

I know, I know..three new sets are on Test right now and it seems a bit greedy to be thinking about more! However, just from looking and reading about Bioarmour, I had some ideas. Also, given how a lot of our melee sets have ‘pairs’ it would not be totally crazy to want a companion for that set.

Sym melee would be something like what Venom can do, or perhaps Omega Red and his steel tentacles. Even some of the T1000’s stabbing and hacking powers. Ideally, so as not to ruin character looks, it would create the physical power over our outfits, representing the Symbiote manifesting the required attribute. Perhaps the look could be tweaked a bit more, from more flowing Venom style good, to sleek metal, bone, or organic material.
Quick descriptions..basic power info..and thoughts behind powers.
I also realised, after writing, that a lot of the powers do sound quite..evil and nasty. Not to mention tentacley. It is no reflection on my mind, honest.


Symbiotic Possession
A powerful Symbiote has bonded with your body! The interacting may have been forced or willing, from an alien organism or some undiscovered parasite long forgotten. Being the Host has endowed you with many powerful and deadly abilities, as the Symbiote reads your thoughts, creating weapons over your body. To anyone not in harmony with the creature, its touch is poison, and attacks deal Toxic damage along with smaller Physical harm while lowering the damage output of foes. (Yes, it sounds like spines! But it is not spines. Mostly toxic damage, along with smash or lethal portions, to give the targets defence a chance to work.)

Powers.

Tier 1. Lashing Talons
You can cause your fingernails to grow and sharpen, becoming long talons that can slice through flesh. Basic minor damage, Toxic/Lethal with a minor –damage. Talons would overlay hands, swinging each hand in turn, like dual pistols.

Tier 2. Vicious Bludgeon.
As well as lethal weapons, you can form simple yet deadly mauls and clubs from your arms, battering an enemy into submission. Moderate Toxic/Smash with minor –damage. The blunt weapons would form over the whole arm, again being used alternately.

Tier 3. Bone Swords.
Two long and deadly swords extend from your elbows, perfect for slicing and cutting multiple opponents. PBaoe, Toxic/lethal with –minor damage, chance for lethal dot. Something like T1000s blade, with animation like the Vickies cross cut.

Tier 4. Feeding Frenzy.
The Symbiote has an enormous appetite for energy, and if it is not feed often..When you allow it to feed, it creates a multitude of hungry vicious mouths over your body, which bite nearby foes, taking gobbets of flesh for nourishment. This invigorates the Symbiote, in turn strengthening you. A sort of combination of Bu up, soul drain and..a toggle, that provides a scaling damage buff to the toxic damage of your attacks and bonus damage to Tendrils, based on the amount of foes nearby. Lasting say 30 seconds, it would work on the RANK of critters, so a boss would give a bigger buff than minions (and an AV would give a lot, not rendering it useless like some stacking buffs), providing an average lvl of damage, up to a max exceeding BU (think power siphon).

Tier 5. Fleshborer.
Most of your powers stem from close combat, but you can also attack from range when pressed, causing the Symbiote to shoot forth a barrage of toxic shards at a target which borrowing into flesh, eroding its resistance. High Toxic/Smash damage, ranged attack, -resistance. Nearly all the new sets have a minor –res power, and this one makes more sense than most of them.

Tier 6. Gloat.
Infused with the power of the Symbiote, you feel strong and powerful often stopping to mock and gloat over foes imminent defeat. The creature actually feeds of this aggressive, rewarding you with increased speed and motivation. A typical taunt..with a difference (I really dislike how taunts, especially for scrappers, pretty much offer nothing else). Using the power will provide a small, non stacking recharge bonus for a short time, as well as a delayed (delayed! So it happens AFTER they get pulled) fear effect, as the target gets more nervous, the closer he gets to you.

Tier 7. Writhing Tendrils.
Focusing on attack, you cause your body to sprout many long tendrils that surround you, lashing and whipping any foe that comes close. A damage aura like Quills, formed of tendrils (trying to avoid saying tentacles..the Virtue people with hear) doing minor toxic damage, with a small chance of knockdown.

Tier 8. Devour.
Even when fed, the Symbiote is a greedy, needful passenger. When the urge to gorge itself becomes too much, you can feel your jaws start to grow and stretch, hungry for flesh. After clamping down on a foe, it begins to feed, restoring your energy and leaving the victim catatonic from revulsion. Superior toxic/lethal damage, moderate HoT effect, foe hold. A big nasty set of jaws appearing around your head, as you step in and ‘nom nom!’ on their head!

Tier 9. Symbiotic Flux
Surrendering your will to the symbiote is highly dangerous. After all, what happens if you can’t regain control? However, the benefits can be worth it, as the organism goes into a state of flux, reshaping your body into weapon after weapon, rending and smashing through enemies in a brutal show of power. Extreme toxic/smash and minor lethal dot to the target, with an aoe tox/lethal of moderate damage, moderate –damage. Something like t1000 when he gets melted, shifting weapons forming all over you, doing some sort of aoe spinny type animation.

Cardinal Sins

So I was thinking. We have many support sets that CAN be explained away by psy powers, such as emp, dark sonic etc...but we do not have a set that actually IS mental. I mean besides psi blast and mental manip.
After watching Seven..I thought of this. Obviously, it is quite an..evil sounding set. But hey, I love corrs, and it would be perfect for them. Sorta basing the rough framework on Time..since its new, shiny and awesome.
I ranked the Sins according to some list I found from Google, in reverse order. That is..they have Greed as number 1..I have it as the first power. Well..second.

Cardinal Sins.

You can look within the minds of those around you, seeing their hopes, desires, and fears. What they wish to do, and what they have done. Using this knowledge, you can skilfully manipulate them, working small quirks into raging psychoses, minor irritation into blinding murderous rage. The first, must have power in the set is Guilt, functioning a bit like Time Crawl..additional effects etc.

Tier 1. Guilt.
Focusing on the mind of a single foe, you strip away protection, baring their guilt to your gaze. This causes a minor resistance debuff, a lowering the status protection and resists (ie, a boss could be held one magnitude less) and adding the Guilty effect to the target. This would provide extra effects when used before other powers in the set.

Tier 2. Greed.
People want more, always more. The desire for material gratification can blind a person to their actions, as they slip further into their selfish ways, making those around them jealous, wanting more in turn. Chaining debuff (like synaptic overload), -acc and range, if Guilty, gains a higher chance to jump to other foes.

Tier 3. Lust.
A true driving force in our lives, lust makes the world go round. Or at least, down. It may only be a few seconds of bliss, but everyone wants it. Now. The lustful mind is clouded and unfocused, rendering it protected from mental attacks and fear. PBaoe ally click. +psi def and res, with a scaling resistance to Mez effects depending on the amount of team mates hit (obviously if you have less playmates..it’s hard to be as lustful) and fear Protection.

Tier 4. Wrath.
Wrath, wether righteous, vengeful or murderous, is a powerful emotion, and by increasing that desire empowers an ally with the rage needed to bring any retribution. Ally single target, +damage, +additional psi damage to attacks, +status protection.

Tier 5. Sloth
Inaction can be evil, or it can be helpful, when a foe is suddenly crippled and weary. Focusing on a group of enemies, you can weaken their minds, overwhelming them with waves of apathy, so that they drop weapons and relax into stupor. Aoe Drop, foe –dam and resist, chance for immob, higher when Guilty.

Tier 6. Gluttony.
People need to eat to live, and without food, we die. The most basic urge we have, and one of the easiest to exploit. Reaching out to target a group, you first sharpen their hunger, then fire it to desperation, causing them to physically weaken and start to cannibalise each other. Toggle anchor power, -rech/speed, with a scaling Confuse effect, starting at mag 1 and increasing over time to mag 3.

Tier 7. Pride.
The prideful man stands tall amongst his less worthy peers, flaunting his superiority, even if it does not actually exist. In your case, you KNOW you are better than others, and can enhance your own appearance in their eyes..not that you need it. Click, self defence and damage, along with a small ally knockback resist..prideful people stand strong after all.

Tier 8. Envy
Jealousy can have a big effect on anyone, wanting something you don’t or can’t have, pushing yourself to extremes to get it. Or..die trying. Working against the minds of an enemy, you can cause them to suffer overwhelming envy of their fellows, doubting their own abilities. AoE enemy click, -def, -acc, and –special (like poison, but you are making their buffing type powers weaken through Envy)/regen.

Tier 9. Pass Sentence.
In addition to preying on the Sins of others, you can also scramble their minds with so many sinful thoughts that they actually judge themselves guilty. Most often, that self judgement is fatal, as the foe becomes so wracked with guilt they choose to end it all, sending out psychic shockwaves that damage all nearby. Target click, extreme psi aoe damage, target must be 50% hp or less, 75% if Guilty.

I spent a few mins trying to find what to do also. Found her because the body stays..a big clue.

Still, could use some other indication.

If you run the arc as you lvl up (not oro) you can get either badge for killing him, exit, then abandon teh next mission. It will reset a bit of the arc, and you can do it again, for the other badge.

If what Twixt did was Valid..how come I saw posts from people on servers he 'drone-PANCAKE,' who got SO upset and frustrated about it, they logged of in tears. Sure, an extreme case, but I recall he got one of his MANY bans from that.

Just because it might be a valid tactic..does not mean it is NOT annoying and gimmicky. All seriousness though..could you please list the changes the devs did try, to fix droning? I don't know what they were.

You are right Dirges..that is why I said this was all rough numbers, just pulled from Mids. In that entire Blaster change thread though, I didn't see a SINGLE mention of pvp..aside from the questions I asked myself.

The devs also have a pretty bad track record of pve changes carrying over to pvp..with bad results. Not that I can actually think of any atm..But then can seperate pve and pvp powers. We ALL know how great that worked with KM. And then only over a year to actually fix it. I totally admire the resolve and commitment to SO extensively 'test' the KM performance on Live. (Yes I am still bitter)

Dont forget the bug with control Hybrids (didn't pvp in this period myself) were you could apparently chain mez people for 30 secs. A bug with the newest Ipowers..that should have been tested in every way.

I can totally hope these values get tweaked. I just don't have much hope at all.

Does not seem to be any other threads on this..or even people considering it in the original Change thread.
I know it is all lolpvp..but people still do it, enjoy it, spend loads of money getting toons ready for it. I think the changes should (for once) be considered with their impact in a pvp environment.

Just looking though Mids, slotting various snipes with 3 damage IOs, pvp damage on (obviously) and a damage alpha and interface..we have the following. Naturally it is assuming you are at the To Hit level, either through aim/by, or an external buff. Given how common therms, emps, times can be in a zone, I dont think its to much of a stretch.

Doms: (intuition/reactive)
Blazing Bolt: 757. With EoF: 1027 (!!) Range 180
Psionic Lance: 672. Range 210
Sniper Blast: 672. Range 180
Zapp: 593. Range 180
Moonbeam: 593. Range 210

Corrs: (musc/reactive, then aim)
Blazing Bolt: 571. Range 180 With Aim:666
Psionic Lance: 501. Range 210
Sniper Blast: 501. Range 180 With Aim:584
Zapp: 501. Range 180 With Aim: 584
Moonbeam: 501. Range 210
Sniper Shot: 501. Range 150. With Aim: 584
Sniper Rifle: 501.
I skipped a few sets cause they are very similar.

Blaster: (musc/reactive, then aim/bu, assuming boost range active)
Blazing Bolt: 770. Range 239 With Aim/BU:1275 (boom, headshot)
Psionic Lance: 665. Range 239 With Aim/BU: 1098
Sniper Blast: 665. Range 239 With Aim/BU: 1098
Moonbeam: 665. Range 279 With Aim/BU:1098
The most common pvp sets.

I know the above is not a full list, and that pvp builds can vary alot. Also, it depends on the player, what they are fighting etc etc. A ton of variables. However..pretty much everyone I have ever heard talk about the topic, agrees that Range is better in pvp than Melee. Even with TS, it is easier to run about and attack at range. Stalkers with sharks and range attacks are another issue (will their snipes get buffed too?) and since KM got spanked, there really arent many great melee pvp sets (to a degree).

I am not claiming to be all knowing about pvp..but you only really have to spend 10 minutes in a zone to see how stupidly good psi blasters are compared to anything else at range, for pure damage (naturally corrs and defs can swing it either way with debuffs), with /Fire doms also being very powerful.

Given the other change with tier 3 blasts, which would be best on fire/sonic/ice/rad/beam, are these numbers kinda high? I am trying to think of any melee attack (RIP CS) outside of as, or a crit, that can get close. Naturally with pvp resists, about 40%ish will be knocked off the totals but it is still some massive numbers.

Fire snipe for more hp than trollers and Mms get at base? AT 200 foot? Not counting proc'd out snipes and centriole usage.

I really dont want to cry Doom, but, try thinking about a good psi blaster, now with a snipe doing 1000+ damage, in addition to how fast they can kill already.

Yeah I know its the idea. And does a good job of that. I am saying..how OFTEN does anything hit utterly max performance? I doubt that would have been the devs focus with the changes..more middle of the road, average player.
Maybe..add MAX into the title of the thread?

Interesting stuff.
Not too seem rude or belittle the obvious effort you put in...but...you are comparing the absolute best case in all the sets. max slotting, huge rech, all damage boosts, AND perma to hit. Sure, great for those max situations..but how often are everyone of those conditions going to apply?
Not to mention, there is quite a big gap between a lvling up blaster..and the super IO'd to the max end game blaster (as there is with any build).

I just think a comparison and lower, average levels would help more. Well..maybe not more, but different people.

Fair point about villains never getting to be..villains.There are some pretty evil arcs Redside, peter themri and westin phipps come to mind as the worst.
Even the SSA arcs, while different..aren't really evil enough. Surely we would have just torn Wade apart after.
I can understand people getting fed up with the lore, even if it isnt something that would make me leave.
Likewise, it is obvious the Devs cant make things TOO evil..or we would need seperate worlds, for the two sides.

I still wish we had the option of HELPING Cole. I still think he is right..when he says he will destroy us for invading his world and destroying things.

Could you do a quick vid for BioArm too Jay?

Aww booo I just missed it.

Did anyone ask about the impact on pvp, which psi and fire blast snipes? Maybe some poor pvp'r somewhere still has the hope they might make a pve change without further killing pvp.

Sounds about right Oath. Elec isnt so bad on doms. In pvp also. Thorns..no snipe. Does dark get the snipe, I forget?

All of which doesnt change the utter insanity that will be psy blasters.

Feel a bit stupid for even bothering to bring this up...but what about from a PvP standpoint, in regard to snipes.

Psy blast is so far and away the best in pvp it isnt funny..as is Fiery Assault for Doms. Both these sets get a snipe. Granted, the dom has a harder (impossible, when solo?) time getting the to hit, but the blaster...pop aim, bu, snipe. And with that utterly stupid delayed psy projectile speeds..people are going to be dead before then even see the blaster (with 150 ft + boost range).

Oh..and not to mention blasters with base buffing emps getting them constantly over the to hit..