Neogumbercules
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Posts
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Joined
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I know it's not exactly what you were looking for but I threw together a Fire/Dark build in Mid's a few months back. I'll probably never make it, but maybe there are a few ideas in this build that you can use.
S/L Softcap, ~40% Energy defense, and enough defense in everything else to get you effectively soft-capped to everything with a single Fearsome Stare. Also has perma hasten, recovers about 3.4 E/PS before the perf. Shifter proc. There are some rather high-priced items in here, but nothing on the super high-end. Cardiac Alpha and your end problems will be non-existent.
Villain Plan by Mids' Villain Designer 1.91
http://www.cohplanner.com/
Click this DataLink to open the build!
Level 50 Magic Corruptor
Primary Power Set: Fire Blast
Secondary Power Set: Dark Miasma
Power Pool: Leaping
Power Pool: Leadership
Power Pool: Fighting
Power Pool: Speed
Ancillary Pool: Mace Mastery
Villain Profile:
Level 1: Fire Blast -- Decim-Acc/Dmg(A), Decim-Dmg/EndRdx(3), Decim-Dmg/Rchg(11), Decim-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg(15), Decim-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(31)
Level 1: Twilight Grasp -- Nictus-Heal(A), Nictus-Heal/HP/Regen/Rchg(5), Nictus-Acc/Heal(5), Nictus-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg(27), Nictus-%Dam(40)
Level 2: Fire Ball -- Posi-Acc/Dmg(A), Posi-Dmg/EndRdx(3), Posi-Dmg/Rchg(11), Posi-Dmg/Rng(15), Posi-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(29)
Level 4: Tar Patch -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(7)
Level 6: Darkest Night -- DarkWD-ToHitDeb(A), DarkWD-ToHitDeb/EndRdx(7), DarkWD-Rchg/EndRdx(34), DarkWD-ToHitdeb/Rchg/EndRdx(34)
Level 8: Rain of Fire -- Posi-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(A), Posi-Acc/Dmg(9), Posi-Dmg/EndRdx(9), Posi-Dmg/Rng(23), Posi-Dmg/Rchg(31)
Level 10: Fire Breath -- Posi-Dmg/Rng(A), Posi-Acc/Dmg(13), Posi-Dmg/EndRdx(13), Posi-Dmg/Rchg(29), Posi-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(33)
Level 12: Combat Jumping -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A), Krma-ResKB(23)
Level 14: Super Jump -- Empty(A)
Level 16: Shadow Fall -- LkGmblr-Def(A), LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx(17), LkGmblr-Rchg+(17)
Level 18: Blaze -- Decim-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(A), Decim-Dmg/EndRdx(19), Decim-Acc/Dmg(19), Decim-Dmg/Rchg(21), Decim-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg(31)
Level 20: Fearsome Stare -- DarkWD-ToHitDeb(A), DarkWD-ToHitDeb/Rchg(21), DarkWD-ToHitdeb/Rchg/EndRdx(25), DarkWD-Rchg/EndRdx(25)
Level 22: Maneuvers -- LkGmblr-Def(A), LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx(34), LkGmblr-Rchg+(36)
Level 24: Howling Twilight -- Amaze-Stun(A), Amaze-EndRdx/Stun(27), Amaze-Stun/Rchg(42), Amaze-Acc/Stun/Rchg(43), Amaze-Acc/Rchg(43)
Level 26: Aim -- RechRdx-I(A)
Level 28: Boxing -- KntkC'bat-Acc/Dmg(A), KntkC'bat-Dmg/EndRdx(46), KntkC'bat-Dmg/Rchg(46), KntkC'bat-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(48)
Level 30: Tough -- S'fstPrt-ResDam/Def+(A)
Level 32: Weave -- LkGmblr-Def(A), LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx(33), LkGmblr-Rchg+(33)
Level 35: Inferno -- Oblit-Dmg(A), Oblit-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(36), Oblit-Dmg/Rchg(36), Oblit-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(40), Oblit-Acc/Rchg(43)
Level 38: Dark Servant -- Nictus-Acc/Heal(A), BasGaze-Acc/Hold(39), BasGaze-Acc/Rchg(39), BasGaze-Rchg/Hold(39), BasGaze-EndRdx/Rchg/Hold(40)
Level 41: Scorpion Shield -- LkGmblr-Def(A), LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx(42), LkGmblr-Rchg+(42)
Level 44: Web Envelope -- GravAnch-Immob(A), GravAnch-Immob/Rchg(45), GravAnch-Acc/Immob/Rchg(45), GravAnch-Acc/Rchg(45), GravAnch-Immob/EndRdx(46)
Level 47: Web Cocoon -- BasGaze-Acc/Hold(A), BasGaze-Acc/Rchg(48), BasGaze-Rchg/Hold(48), BasGaze-EndRdx/Rchg/Hold(50)
Level 49: Hasten -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(50), RechRdx-I(50)
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Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Sprint -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Rest -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Scourge
Level 4: Ninja Run
Level 2: Swift -- Flight-I(A)
Level 2: Hurdle -- Jump-I(A)
Level 2: Health -- Numna-Regen/Rcvry+(A), Mrcl-Rcvry+(37)
Level 2: Stamina -- P'Shift-End%(A), P'Shift-EndMod(37), P'Shift-EndMod/Rchg(37) -
I can confirm that the morale breaking effect of Burn on a Stalker does make it annoying when everything runs away from you. The solution to this is to make sure you kill them all fast enough! Caltrops wouldn't help too much. They would just run away slower... And they won't come back if the Caltrops are there.
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Quote:Fair enough and wording mistake admitted.
No, you just worded it wrong. Because saying "There are ATs that can..." is saying exactly that.
Hardly a cause for angry emotional reaction.Quote:Look above. Just state your point correctly next time.
Scrappers run into melee combat and scrap. That's all they do. Same for Brutes. Same for "blappers". Stalkers make use of stealth tactics, controlled crits, and usually focus on taking out the strongest enemies first. Once that's done, they will change to a more scrapperish role. I didn't say they don't scrap. I said they are less oriented on straight up scrapping. They are. No misinformation here.Quote:Misinformation 1: Well, that depends what your definition of scrapping is. I don't know about you, but all my Stalkers 'scrap', meaning 'duking it out in melee range'. What is *your* definition? I mean, the 'ap' in 'Blap' means to move into melee and throw down melee...so a Stalker is less oriented to scrap than Scrappers when all their offensive powers are melee range?
IIRC a Brute starts to out-damage a scrapper at something like 60% fury but that's besides the point here.Quote:Not really on topic but, Scrappers will deal *more* damage than a Brute with exception of comparing non-like combos.
Stalkers sacrifice powers from their primary and secondary powersets to make room for AS, Hide and Placate. That is all I said. That is undeniable fact. You are inferring that I am stating that as a pejorative, which I am not. I clearly stated that it was my opinion that I don't like having to lose powers to make room for them. I believe that Hide, Placate and AS are essential, AT defining aspects of the Stalker AT and should be inherent. Again, no misinformation here. I would argue that diminishing the point that Stalkers do lose powers is closer to misinformation than what I said.Quote:Another point of misinformation. Stalkers don't give up anything for Placate. Just Confront. Fair trade off since Confront gives no offensive or defensive advantage, if you ask me. I'll give you hide, but AS is usually not much of a sacrifice either. Losing Dragon's Tail or Lotus Drop? Ouch. Losing Whirling Hands, Quills or Repulsing Torrent? Eh. Losing Dark Consumption or Thunder Clap? We got the nice end of that deal.
And I didn't state it as a fact. You read it, inserted your own interpretation of what I said, and blew your top. If you didn't believe it was stated as a fact, then why even respond to it so angrily unless you were just looking for a reason to take a jab at me? I'll quote myself here:Quote:It's moronic if you state is as a fact. As an opinion, say whatever the hell you want. As a fact, it's dumb and false.
The phrase "generally tend" does not imply that I am making a factual statement. It is pure, subjective observation based on my experience playing both this game and countless other games. Observation that as I stated before was supported by the Birkholz interview when he stated thatQuote:...generally tend to want characters that are stronger, live longer, do more damage, defeat enemies faster, or add more to the team environment. This could be because of the power gamer mentality, or the decision that if one is going to spend 100 hours playing something, they want to make the most of it. I am going to make myself guilty of inference here and read into my PR translator that "most aggressive" is PR speak for "most powerful" or "defeats enemies the fastest with as little hassle as possible." Read into that statement however you want.Quote:"in general the most aggressive power sets draw the highest number of players."
I'll just quote myself from my first post here:Quote:Looking to what others can do and then pointing to Stalkers isn't going to get you your change.
I think of all the things I say, that was pretty clear. When mentioning the awesome feats that other Melee ATs with specific powerset combos are capable of I was using it only as a point of example, and to illustrate a point. When a player is choosing a melee AT, considering that player is going to make an informed choice, it's reasonable to assume that player wants to annihilate things as quickly as possible and be tough as nails. Scrappers and Brutes are the most comparable to the Knight or Warrior type class of other games. Those classes are universally the most popular in pretty much any MMO or "old-school" style RPG.Quote:That's not to say that the Stalker is a particularly bad AT, and certainly comparing it against other ATs and specific combos within those other ATs isn't a strong argument for balance issues with Stalkers.
Stalkers are not the best choice for that player specifically because Stalkers are designed around a mechanic that requires stealth and precise control to make the most out of their strengths. They play more like the traditional Rogue class. Brutes and Scrappers are designed around the primary goal of running to a group of enemies, taking it on the chin, and slobber knocking it. Stalkers can do that, but it is not their primary design philosophy.
The problem arises when the ATs are practically carbon copies of each other in terms of what power choices they have. Stalkers, even with AS, don't differentiate their role enough from Brutes and Scrappers to make them a unique enough AT for one looking to make a melee class to not lump them all together when choosing which of the 3 they want to play. This invariably leads to one comparing Stalkers directly to the otherwise numerically superior Scrappers and Brutes, which will lead them back to considering the Stalker's only meaningful, defining trait: Hide, AS, Placate and controlled crits. That's the only practical reason (in the absence of qualitative things like character concept) one would choose to play this AT, specifically, over Scrappers and Brutes. Hence my determination that someone would only play a Stalker if they were very specifically set on using the Hide>AS mechanic. A mechanic, which I stated as purely my opinion, was not worth the downsides one would incur by not choosing the Scrapper or Brute. This problem is magnified in the current state of the game where you can take any AT to either faction and play any content.
I'm not sure if you're specifically referring to me or a general "you", but I was just throwing out ideas at the end of my first post. The only specific thing I would lobby for is inherent AS, Hide and Placate. My biggest problem with the AT is that it isn't unique enough to differentiate itself from the other options. To change that would be to change the entire design of the AT. I doubt that will ever happen.Quote:you won't be getting interruption-less AS, super bad-A superior dmg over everyone else or any other things you seem to have problems with. If I sound like a **** then tough balls. Get some perspective: Stalkers are fine as they are and most likely won't change. You spouting off how bad off Stalkers are is only hurting the ATs reputation or team opportunities of those that like and play the AT. Stating an opinion is one thing, talking down is another.
I'm also not spouting off about how bad the AT is. I generally like Stalkers because I like all of the melee ATs and I certainly wouldn't label them as "bad." I never talk about Stalkers. I haven't posted in the Stalker boards in forever and I can't even remember the last time anyone asked me about Stalkers in game or out, nor have I ever been the type to cherry pick Stalkers out of my teams. I don't think I'm responsible for helping the negative reputation Stalkers have.
When I'm putting a team together, and I usually only team for Tips and TFs these days, my general criteria is to invite X players where X is the number of people I can find playing any AT, any level (as long as it's not level restricted content) any time. That's the great thing about this game. Anything is a viable, useful choice in pretty much any scenario, almost regardless of what level they are. Even if they aren't the "best." -
Quote:Perhpas I didn't word it clearly enough, but I did not mean to say that there are ATs where any powerset you choose can obliterate things on a spawn by spawn basis. Also, to your first point, you must have completely missed this:Originally Posted by Leo_G
No. No no no no no no NO!
You can't do that. You can't point at an AT and say they can obliterate entire spawns just like you can't point to a Defender and say they can all solo GMs or point to every Tanker and say they can all survive well vs any AV. NO! Just because certain powersets and certain powerset combos can do certain things does not illustrate a point that the entire AT can. It's a half-hearted ill informed statement that is solely used to strengthen a flawed argument.
And that's just the the first thing wrong with it. Just because one character can blow up everything or one character can survive a certain scenario, you expect every like character to do the exact same thing? Not only is that bad design, it's bad balance and boring homogenized game play. Might as well throw out the powerset format and just use a branching system that gives everyone the same thing but guises them as different choices.
Really, your whole post boils down to 'just cause we min/max'. Basically, why give us an option. Just choose Tanker or Scrapper and be done with it. It's not a very good argument, really. If it's all opinion then yea, whatever. But as facts, it's too steeped in half-truths and misinformation to be anything but moronically wrong.
So I don't know where the nerd rage is coming from that you're directing at me. As for misinformation, I'd like you to point out where I distributed misinformation. My general point was Scrappers and Brutes are better melee ATs than Stalkers, and a person who is informed and making a decision between the 3 would be better off to choose a Scrapper or a Brute unless they specifically wanted to play a Stalker for their unique abilities. Stalkers fill a role that is somewhat sideways of a typical melee AT, so clearly a player wanting a front line, aggro eating, in your face fighter would be better off with a Brute or Scrapper.Quote:certainly comparing it against other ATs and specific combos within those other ATs isn't a strong argument for balance issues with Stalkers.
I did not say that the power gaming choice is always the right choice. I was merely stating that many gamers, by human nature, will tend to play whatever is "stronger." Most people would lump Stalkers into the "melee" role, and ascribe their preconceived notions of whatever that means to them. That's just the nature of the game and MMOs in general. This is actually supported by the dev interview they just put up where the interviewee stated players gravitate towards the more "aggressive" choices. This does not mean that Stalkers are weak, or that Stalkers aren't worth the time investment. It was just my general observation of typical player behavior.
Is that misinformation? Stalkers are less oriented at scrapping than Scrappers. That is by design. Both Stalkers and Scrappers are also squishier and do less damage than Brutes in optimal scenarios. This is also by design. Stalker's sacrifice primary and secondary powers to make room for Hide, AS, and Placate. This is by design. In my opinion, which I clearly stated as such, is too much to sacrifice for what Stalkers get out of it. So where's the misinformation? Is this a balance factor? No. I never stated as such. You elected to put those words in my mouth. But I guess it's "moronic" to even mention it.
As to my point about demoralize being trivial... it is trivial in a team situation. Put 1 support AT on your team that can control/debuff/buff and that greatly overshadows any benefit demoralize offers. Demoralize is there. It's alright. It works. It's not great, but it doesn't have to be. It is what it is. I don't mean to say the Stalker AT is broken because demoralize is somehow not amazing.
I stated that I personally like the Stalker AT and played one to 50. I love the Ninjitsu power set and personally believe it's probably one of the most survivable armor sets in the game. Control? Potential for capped defense? Self heal? I'm in! I don't have some kind of personal crusade that I'm trying to hold against them.
I think you should cool off and stop throwing around insults and screaming ("no no no nononono!") if you want to have a discussion. Nothing constructive is going to come out of being juvenile and insulting other posters for stating their thoughts on a matter. If I say something that is wrong, then point it out. Correct me. I understand you love the Stalker AT, but that doesn't mean you need to be condescending. Your heated response reads to me like you're accusing me of deliberately spreading misinformation about Stalkers, which is just ridiculous. I have no vested interest in it. -
Maneuvers and Tactics are good choices. I like putting 2 extra slots into Maneuvers. LotG Defense, Defense/Endurance, Defense/7.5% global. You get good set bonuses and a great global enhancement. Combo it up with the same slotting in Weave and a 3% defense in Tough and you'll start to see your survivablity go way up.
I primarily say Leadership pool because everyone else seems to be taking it. That means pretty much any team you're on is gonna be stacking defense, damage and to-hit. It'll be like a mini superteam every time. -
I won't get into the individual minutia of the arguments here. All I really want to say is that for an entire class to be designed around stealth and delivering Assassin Strikes followed by scrapping, the Stalker isn't very impressive in those regards. There are a lot of examples in this game of ATs that do their jobs a lot better and don't have to sacrifice nearly as much as a Stalker does. I've played a Stalker to 50 and even after seeing how good they can be given the right scenario, I'll take a built up Greater Fire Sword over an AS any day of the week.
Hell, there are ATs that can completely obliterate entire spawns with two powers in less time than it takes a Stalker to activate AS to kill or damage a single enemy, and they can do this on a spawn by spawn basis with absolutely no hoops to jump through. Outside of fun or variety, players will come up with what kind of character they want to play (melee in this case) and generally tend to want characters that are stronger, live longer, do more damage, defeat enemies faster, or add more to the team environment. This could be because of the power gamer mentality, or the decision that if one is going to spend 100 hours playing something, they want to make the most of it.
Stalkers are unique in this sense because outside of the Hide, AS, and slight alterations to some secondaries, the powersets are practically identical across all 3 of these ATs. All one has to do is look at the numbers and the individual traits of the 3 ATs to see that Stalkers are completely overshadowed in most ways by Brutes and Scrappers. One must really be invested in the Assassin Strike mechanic to make a Stalker. That style in itself is kind of a niche. What it really boils down to is asking why would the average player look at the 3 primary melee damage ATs (Tanks not included) and choose a Stalker? Scrappers are better at scrapping in general and usually have more access to AoEs because they don't have to sacrifice anything for Placate and AS. The same goes for Brutes. Both Brutes and Scrappers have more complete secondaries as well. The only answer is that one must REALLY want to make use of AS.
And as others have pointed out, AS isn't very helpful most of the time. Yeah, you can take out 1 dangerous enemy. Demoralize is... ok. The value of those two things are completely overblown by some players. In the grand scheme of combat in this game, they are somewhat trivial. Pretty much every other AT has tools for dealing with tough foes or controlling/debuffing everything. Once you get over the AS and the demoralize effect the Stalker just becomes a shoddy Scrapper with a high crit rate if you're benefiting from nearby teammates.
That's not to say that the Stalker is a particularly bad AT, and certainly comparing it against other ATs and specific combos within those other ATs isn't a strong argument for balance issues with Stalkers. Stalkers can be built to survive a lot. They can be built to do a lot of damage. I think Stalkers are fun to play but in my opinion there isn't enough payoff for the stealth/AS mechanic to make it worthwhile.
And to the topic, I have no idea how to "fix" Stalkers. I would probably start with a much higher damage modifier and making AoEs 100% crit from hide. Maybe an idea would be to make it so that hide only drops if you take damage. I don't know... What the problem really boils down to is the original design of the AT itself just isn't that great. It's almost an afterthought to fill in the number 5 spot for villains.
I think the original devs greatly overestimated how useful AS would be when they were designing CoV. The upgrade that they got made them a more team friendly choice, but it didn't address the primary issues. They just don't feel like a fully fleshed out, individual, unique AT. They are second-rate Scrappers with only 1 defining trait that is not nearly as good as it should be. -
Well I've hit level 28 and got Burn. It's awesome! It was definitely the injection of life I needed to keep myself invested in this character. It was beginning to become a drag. Inherent stamina and adequate frankenslotting was giving me a smooth but slowish ride. I am still squishy and I still don't have any ST damage, but seeing the potential Burn affords me is all I need to make the push to 32.
Once I have Fire Blast I can finally put together something resembling a ST attack chain. Until then, I'll just keep leveraging my AoEs. Burn is great because it's the fastest acting AoE I have so far. It helps with the seemingly endless amount of corpse blasting I do with Thunder Strike.
Thinking about it, I can't really come up with anything in this game that can deal the same amount of burst AoE damage that an Elec/Fire/Fire scrapper will be doing with BU>FE>Fire Ball>Burn>Lightning Rod>Thunder Strike + whatever damage Fiery Aura adds in the same time frame. I can't wait. -
Burn supercharges all of your damage. That alone makes /Fire the best farmer.
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HIS just released a PCI 5450 with a passive cooler and an HDMI output. Don't know how that compares to an 8400GS but might be a good second choice if you can't find anything else. It's probably faster, actually. It's a low profile, so it will fit into pretty much any case.
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I agree with you.
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I didn't read your whole quote counter-quote thing but I did see a little excerpt I'd like to correct you on. I like storm summoning.
Edit: Ok I read it all now. I see your points about hovering but that requires you to have a high ceiling. If you don't have a high ceiling you will be in melee range, and chances are you won't get a good cone angle from shooting directly above close targets. Hovering also presents many scenarios where secondary powers and even other powers in the primary aren't ideal for a hovering character. It could also clash with a player's theme. Traps is a good example of a set that doesn't play well with hovering. You need to be on the ground to use all of those powers. It's a pretty big caveat to work around the completely random KB.
I don't think we'll ever agree on Ignite so it's not worth arguing the point, but my experience with that power was purely negative. -
I'm not sure on the swipe/strike problem. Just look at the detailed info and pick whichever one has higher DPA. I think that's Strike.
With Super Reflexes you're gonna want to take every single power and slot them for nothing but defense in the passive powers and defense/endurance reduction in the toggles. The only power in SR that you don't really need is the final power, Elude.
With Claws you're gonna want Strike, Slash, Spin, Focus and Eviscerate at least. Some people don't like Shockwave, but I love it. Not sure how much Follow Up helps a Brute so maybe someone else can inform you better on that power. -
/Dark Armor with good recharge, a +end proc in Dark Regeneration, 1 or 2 perf. Shifter procs, soft-capped S/L, and about 35% to E/NE is almost impossible to kill and pretty much indefatigable.
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I guess I'll justify my nomination of AR.
Burst and Slug are perfectly serviceable ST attacks, if not lacking in creativity/visual flair.
Buckshot is tied for second for lowest damaging early Blaster cone attack. Only Sonic's cones do less base damage, but they all give good -res. It has the added "benefit" of random AoE KB. In a set full of cone AoEs, random KB is a detriment to the AoE chain. It's closest competitor is Fistful of Arrows, which has no Knockback. Considering Sonic's -res and the non-scattering reliability of Fistful, I consider Buckshot the worst Blaster early tier cone attack.
M30 Grenade does slightly less damage than Buckshot, is pure S/L damage, and has a huge mag random knockback effect. Again, in a set full of cones, KB is detrimental to your AoE chain. Starting to sense a theme here?
I know KB lovers may take issue with this complaint. You can mitigate the detrimental effects of KB with positioning, but you can't ever account for the totally random nature that these powers present. M30 is even harder with it's much higher mag and higher target limit.
Beanbag is OK if you like the stun effect. I'm not a fan.
Sniper Rifle is your bog standard Snipe. It's pure lethal damage in a set without Aim, so the damage isn't great, but if you like snipes then you probably like them for reasons other than pure damage.
Flamethrower. Ok. Where to start? First off, when they did the AR "buffs" they lowered the cast time to 2.33 seconds. That was good. But then they went and totally screwed up the projectile speed. That means the further away you are from your target, the longer it takes for your damage to start hitting the enemy. It's soooo slow. BaBs said at the time that this made more sense because the flame has travel time. Maybe he had never actually seen a flamethrower being used before. They are fast. Like OMG FIRE!!! fast. Seriously. Youtube it.
Once your damage does hit the targets, they will slowly begin to take moderately high damage. SEVEN SECONDS later, the DoT will have finally dealt all that damage. A lot can happen in seven seconds. In seven seconds you can unload the rest of your AoEs. In 7 seconds your team can murder the entire spawn. In seven seconds your targets are gonna be dead and the endurance that you spent to deal all of that damage is going to go to waste. Then you're stuck with a slow, expensive, narrow cone attack.
It's even worse on Corrs because this is typically gonna be an opener either before or after Full Auto. If you use it before Full Auto you have no chance of ever scourging and if you use it after Full Auto you might scourge, but you're pulling so much aggro that using another long animating, rooting attack like FA will be extremely dangerous.
Ignite: This power is good. Good IF you can immobilize enemies. Good IF you don't mind spending around 6-7 seconds to set up this combo (4s to cast, + ~2s to use your immob/slow/whatever AND redraw the rifle). Good IF you get more than a couple of guys in the microscopic AoE. Good IF you don't mind having an attack that takes so long to set up and deal all of it's damage that you could literally have used every other AoE attack in the set in the amount of time it takes to pay off this combo. Good IF your team doesn't just slaughter the enemies while you stand there like a moron hosting down corpses. Good IF... oh. It's not good. It sucks. Never mind.
Full Auto: This power is awesome, but it angers me. Why? Well, because it's got a pathetically narrow cone. On top of that, it's got a measly 10 target cap. It's next closest competitor, Rain of Arrows (especially on Corrs), is so much better in so many ways it's astonishing. This is supposed to be the big awesome power that completes the set. You wait till level 32/38 to get it, and when you finally get it, it's really really... boring. Unimpressive. Just bland.
Assault Rifle stands out to me because it's a set that has some good ideas, but constantly trips over it's own feet. It's a cone focused set with random scattering KB. It has narrow cones that are the complete opposite of what you want with all those spread out enemies. It has long animation times even after the buffs and the only powers that aren't hampered by lowish S/L damage or random KB are both excruciatingly long DoTs. One of which requires insane time to cast and use effectively because it is utterly useless unless you can somehow manage to keep an enemy from instantly escaping it's area of effect.
With just a few minor changes AR could be really awesome. With some visual improvements it could become very cool and with some minor mechanical tweaks it can become so much more playable.
Visual: Add tracer trails to burst.
Take M30 off of the rifle and make it an actual tossed grenade. Pull the pin with your teeth and lob it into the crowd.
Have the character get down on one knee to aim down the sight for Snipe.
Make Flamethrower a quick, fiery, smokey blast of fire.
Ignite can be a canister tossed with one hand, then your character holds up a triggering device with the other hand and pushes the button, resulting in an explosion that sets the ground on fire.
Full Auto can start with your character pulling back the cocking mechanism on the gun, holding the weapon at the hip, and unloading a massive spray of bullets with tracer rounds flying everywhere and tons of bullet casings flying out of the gun all over the place. When the shooting stops, your character holds the gun up at a 45 degree angle, and pulls the cocking mechanism again to "reload" as the barrel sends up trails of white smoke.
Mechanical:
Flamethrower should get the same treatment that Midnight Grasp got. I'm thinking 75% upfront damage, 25% percent DoT and it should be LESS than 7 seconds. This is super annoying to me because IIRC the AR buffs came out in the same update as the Dark Melee buffs, but they overlooked Flamethrower and didn't apply the logic of changing Midnight Grasp to Flamethower.
Ignite would actually be ok if the animation time was shorter and the area of effect was larger. Maybe not Oil Slick Arrow huge, but if it was bigger it would be much easier to keep enemies inside of it. You can even give it a slow effect and call it a sticky, napalm like substance.
M30 and Buckshot should have their KB mag reduced to .63 so they can only knock down enemies. This allows you to strategically combo these attacks with the larger radius of Ignite in order to create *gasp* synergy within the damn powerset!! The random knock down will give you the ability to control enemies inside of your ignite patch ensuring they never get out. Because the KD chance is only somewhere like 60%, you won't be able to keep them all in the patch, but that's what makes it exciting, fun, and balanced.
Full Auto should either get a damage increase and a cone size increase OR a target cap of 16 and a cone size increase. Either way, it needs a bigger cone. Archery is the closest basis for comparison. The sets are very very similar in many ways. If Rain of Arrows is balanced for Archery, then 16 targets and a bigger cone would be balanced for AR. -
Quote:Hate to rain on the parade of love for this IO, but there's one big hitch that makes this thing "not so great." IIRC, this particular proc has a global 10 second cool down. That means that when it is triggered, it can not be triggered by you again for at least 10 seconds after the 5 second duration of the buff.Originally Posted by Kokoro
I use Force Feedbacl: Chance for +Recharge in my Super Strength tank, and I love it!
The Proc is a 10% chance for a +100% recharge for 5 seconds.
When slotted into an AOE attack, such as Foot Stomp (for Super Strength), each opponent hit by your Foot Stomp gives you a 10% chance for the Proc to activate.
So, if my Foot Stomp hits 10 enemies, I get a 10% chance from enemy #1, 10% chance for enemy #2, etc... This does NOT mean that I get a 100% chance for the Proc to fire off. Rather, each enemy hit has an independent chance of firing. Also, you do not get a multiple stacking of this Proc from the single Foot Stomp.
What is really great about having this Proc in Foot Stomp is that, the base recycle time on Foot Stomp is 20 seconds, and the radius of Foot Stomp is pretty big. With 5 pieces of the Obliteration set in the power, Foot Stomp comes up every 10 seconds. With Hasten added on top, I can Foot Stomp every 7.5 seconds. IF the Proc fires off on a particular Foot Stomp, my next Foot Stomp comes back up in like 6 seconds.
From observation, with a good number of mobs surrounding my Tanker, I will see the Proc fire off just about every other Foot Stomp. (I will also often times be perma-Hastened as an end result)
The Proc is also nice to have in Thunder Strike (Electric Melee), but Thunder Strike has a significantly smaller radius than Foot Stomp.
The problem with slotting this Proc into Shield Charge is that, the base recycle time is a whopping 90 seconds. With 5 slotting Obliteration and Hasten up, you can get this down to 34 seconds, but the 5 seconds of +100% recharge rate you get from the Proc, while nice, does not significantly impact your character's performance the same way that it does for Foot Stomping tankers/brutes, since the Proc will not come up anywhere near as often for Shielders.
I will way that I do like the Proc in Shield/Electric toons. Between Thunder Strike, Shield Charge and Lightning Rod, you get many, many opportunities for the Proc to fire off.
Hope this helps,
-Kokoro
This IO got nerfed pretty hard when people with big AoE KB powers (like hurricane) were using it to give themselves amazingly high recharge with stacking/chaining it. It was an obvious oversight in the original design of the IO. Unfortunately, it was kind of over nerfed IMO. -
Back to the OT, I feel Assault Rifle is one of the worst sets in the game. I probably sound like a broken record by now, but that's my opinion and I'm sticking to it.
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Mids is still very reliable. Personally, I would go for SS/SD. I tend to prefer the superior safety of defense over resistance. On top of that, at level 35 you gain access to Shield Charge. That power is... amazing.
That said, /Elec is still a very good choice. It really boils down to whatever you prefer. Can't go wrong either way. -
Spike damage is definitely my big aim here. I wanna be the guy on teams who screws up everyone's AoEs by slaughtering everything singlehandedly.
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The best thing about these parades of PR is that some actual awesome news is close to dropping! Well to be fair, we did get some tidbits, and those statistical breakdowns of alignments are pretty interesting. I'm thinking the I20 announcement page is coming soon.
IMO the biggest failure in this game is PVP. Gladiator battles are a little side thing. Not popular. Not great. But not broken. PVP is broken, and there are actual people playing the game who still care enough to complain about it. -
Welcome to the game!
As far as Martial Arts is concerned I can't help you there. Never played the set myself.
WP I can offer some advice on. You're gonna wanna take every power in that set up until the last two. Every power is extremely useful.
All normal enhancements have levels and are only good for +/- 3 of their posted level. For example, a level 25 enhancement can be slotted at level 22. It will last you all the way until level 28, at which point it becomes no good and needs to be replaced. Just remember that you need to be within 3 levels above or below a normal enhancement in order to use it. There's a little bit more to it than that, but that's pretty much all you need to know right now.
Enhancements come in 3 tiers (I'm ignoring Invented Enhancements at the moment for simplicity) Training, Dual Origin, and Single Origin.
Enhancement tiers:
Training: Useful for characters from level 1-11. They continue to exist all the way to level 50, but by then much better enhancements are available. They produce about 8% enhancement value.
Dual Origin: These first become available to use at level 12 (they start at level 15, but because of the 3 level swing I talked about up there, you can actually start slotting them at level 12). These are "dual" origin, and as such, provide double the bonus of a training enhancement. This is where your origin choice comes into play (technology, science, mutant, etc) basically you need to use enhancements that share an origin with you. An example would be a Magic/Mutant DO. You must be either magic or mutant origin to slot these. The stores are located on your map and are easy enough to find.
Single Origin: These start at level 25, meaning you can start to slot them at level 22. They are the best normal enhancements you can get. They provide a 33% boost to the given attribute. You must buy the origin that matches your character. For example, a Magic origin character can only slot Magic origin SOs. Thanks to a balance mechanic called "Enhancement Diversification" all enhancements are subject to diminishing returns. Basically you can slot a power for about "3 SOs worth" of enhancement value. Lets say you're slotting for damage. Once you get to 3 damage enhancements you "hit the wall" and any extra damage enhancements added at that point will be reduced to the point of uselessness. To put it simply, don't put more than 3 SOs of the same enhancement in any power.
A general rule of thumb for attack sets is to slot your attacks with a mix of accuracy and recharge enhancements until you get to SOs. Endurance is useful in your attacks early on as well, but a recent update kind of eased that strain a little bit. Since your primary is attacking stuff, you should focus on getting your attacks slotted up over your secondary powers. Some people go by the 2/1 rule. 2 slots in your primary powers for every 1 that you slot in your secondary. I tend to just go with whatever feels best at the time. As long as you get enough to put at least 2 accuracy Training enhancements in your attacks, you should be ok. The enhancement values are so low at this point that it kind of doesn't matter.
Not missing is the most important thing in this level range. Until you get into DO range you should just slot any toggle power with endurance reduction. Once you get DOs you can start to mix and match to your preference. For Willpower I'll give you the general SO slotting advice to get you by.
At level 2 you are automatically granted a power called Stamina. This isn't a super high priority, but try to add 2 slots to this power before level 22. You only need a maximum of 3 slots in this power. It already comes with 1 by default.
High Pain Threshold should get 3 slots, max. 3 Heal SOs will do you well.
Get 4 slots into Mind Over Body by level 22. 1 end reduction SO and 3 Resist Damage SOs.
Indomitable Will would be ok with 1 endurance reduction SO.
Rise to the Challenge is Willpower's trademark power. It makes the set what it is. For this power you'll want 3 heal IOs and 1 endurance reduction SO. You should prioritize slotting this power as soon as it becomes available. This power gives you a really good hit point regeneration for every enemy that engages you in melee range. This boosts your survivability by A LOT.
Quick Recovery should be taken as soon as it becomes available, which is level 20. This power benefits from 2 additional slots but it's not a very high priority, especially if you've put slots into Stamina. Typically you want to get this 3 slotted and filled with Endurance modification enhancements (not "reduction") by the 30s.
Quick recovery and Stamina both increase the rate in which you recover endurance. That mechanic is referred to as "endurance recovery" in the game, or just "recovery" for short. This is not to be confused with "regeneration" which refers to Hit Points recovered over time. Quick Recovery and Stamina together will ensure that you'll pretty much never run out of endurance.
The last 2 powers in the set are more of a personal opinion. Resurgence is good if you feel like you die all the time and want a self-rez power. Strength of Will is a good "oh crap" button when you feel like you're in over your head. It basically increases your damage resistance and endurance recovery by a great deal, letting you survive things you may not have been able to survive. The problem is when this power wears off it "crashes" and drains a ton of your endurance. WP is usually survivable enough to where it's not really needed all that often.
Hope that helps! -
So does the DXP weekend coincide with the release of the next Alpha Slot update? Cause that sounds fun!
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I'm not totally sure because I haven't actually used it in that power before, but if it works like other procs in summoned entity powers like Shield Charge, that buff is being applied to the "psuedo pet" that is actually doing all the hit rolls. Even if you do see the proc fire off in your buff bar, which may happen since psuedo pets show up in the buff bar, it's buffing Shield Charge, not you.
And on a more general note, it's much more worth while putting that proc in a faster recharging power if you have one for it. But I'm sure you probably already know that :P -
Maybe traps? You don't have to worry about buffing teammates and the debuffing is pretty dang good. With FFG you can easily make a high defense build. Trip Mine helps with damage. It works for a thematic character who only has powers that let her shoot electricity.
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Man. Now I wanna make a Fire/Dark...
must.resist. -
Everyone says Spines and Regen would be too strong on Brutes but... I don't buy it. I think the reason it hasn't been done yet is it's a low priority or they just want to keep some stuff unique to particular ATs.