OVWyx_EU

However, with the speed of CoH, and the enforced "downtime" due to animations/rooting, I am highly doubtful it would make a lot of difference to someone with good coordination even if it may not be the most efficient way. I think people are overestimating the "twitch" element of CoH.

I would also be highly highly surprised if 90% of CoH players had FPS background. In general when I've spoken to people (outside the SG I play with) in CoH about other games played I've generally met a fair amount of contempt for my main interests (FPS and flight sims), most others' gaming experiences from the people I've spoken to have been along the lines of EVE, Guildwars, WoW, table top RPGs or LARP which really, would have been what I'd have expected.

Yep, I'd definitely swap those with you, I was about to post something similar but the other way round - we've got shed loads of the stuff.

You about this evening at all? I'll need to double check a couple of characters, but I think I'll be able to do you a like for like trade on that.

Wyx.

Our group uses teampspeak rather than ventrillo, I have no problems with it. The sound quality is certainly good enough, I like some of the features it offers (Particularly the ability to have channels accross channels, which can be useful for coordinating multiple teams/squads in some games - ventrillo didn't offer that last time we looked in to it) and I know how to use it, it's very simple, which is good for me, I'm about as technologically advanced as a fish.

Regarding sound quality, I believe it's just that the default codec on teamspeak is lower than ventrillo which often leads people to thinking ventrillo gives a significantly better sound quality. The default can be altered quite easily though, which will massively improve the sound quality. We run our SG server on 16.4 Kbit (although that would be quite harsh on anyone still running on dial-up) which gives a pretty good sound quality. The default is about 5, which makes you sound like a Darlek under water.

A chilli in the fruitbowl? That must really surprise guests when they visit.

[ QUOTE ]
unless for some reason I'm playing one handed

[/ QUOTE ]

I like the idea that it sounds like something that succeed or fail, will finish before midnight.

I'd show up and give that a go, an hour or so of an evening, even if it ends up being on something that falls on it's face, is neither here nor there to me.

I suspect the numbers involved in making that work are massive. Champion, if I remember correctly, is one of the busier US servers. I'm not sure that Union has the numbers to do it, but I can't see how it could be less successful than the old method has been. I also imagine a lot more people are happy to give up an hour of their evening to give something a go than to give up 4-5 hours, so you're more likely to get the numbers needed to give it a good go.

I don't need all the movement keys at any one time though, or need all the power keys at any one time.

Also, you can change target and queue your next attack while the current one is animating, to allow for movement adjustments between times.

I'm not sure I could put powers on the "f" keys too though, I use that for inspirations, but really only f1 and f2 ever get used (respites in the first row and break frees in the second) I mouse click any others I use. I have quite small hands and I find it a bit of a stretch.

[ QUOTE ]
use ctrl+tab to target near enemies

[/ QUOTE ]

Actually, I never really thought about saying this, but it occurred to me when I read that.

I bind nearest target to a mouse thumb button to allow me to keep my right hand over WASD and the power pressing keys most of the time. I think I picked up the habbit of getting as much on my mouse as possible from playing FPS games, I like to have everything I want either on the mouse or an easily reachable keyboard button. Control + tab just feels awkward to me.

[ QUOTE ]
Given the time it is taking to get bases up and running I am interested to know how many SGs are prepared to actually get an item of power so that they can then be raided and have to replace destroyed equipment? Just losing your generator and computer is going to cost 375k to replace let alone databases, teleports etc

[/ QUOTE ]

I think this is a valid point. CoH is a game that gears us around no risk, no loss. You die, you don't lose anything, you just get a little debt, it's a little harder to gain the next thing you want, but not much and you haven't actually lost anything. In PvP you don't even get that.

Introducing a system where by people can buy items that are (in game time) exceptionally expensive to get, and making them very easily losable if you try out a base raid, is going to make a lot of people back away from it.

I think we'll hit a stage where everyone's going to raid "soon". Very few people will be able to defend the basic minimum base you can have to do the trial. Base raids at the lower end of the scale appear to be massively skewed in favour of the attackers. You need an all singing all dancing multi-million prestige base to stand a good chance of defending it. But then you have more to risk losing, so you'll wait a bit longer, until your base is a bit more secure, but then you'll have yet more shiny kit to lose. I've seen this in other games and can't see this one going any other way if the current system is left unchanged.

An element of risk is good, it adds a little excitement, current levels of risk will deter the majority from taking part in base raids in my opinion. Particularly in a game where we are otherwise coddled and protected to the point that for the last year and a half we have been unable to lose anything. This is such a radical turn around I think it could really hamper raids getting off the ground, and certainly prevent them being a regular occurance.

The key to maintaining a solid mele attack chain is knowing when not to use them.

The best advice I can give is to learn the relative damage outputs of your mele attacks so you can judge by looking at a bad guys health bar what's going to drop him. Don't ever waste a big hitting mele attack on something that could be finished of with, say, fire blast (I think I remember you're fire/energy?). Likewise you don't want to use Total Focus/Thunder Strike if Charged Brawl/Enegy Punch would finish the guy off and it's recharged.

I don't personally like to auto any power for exactly that reason, my blapper is elec secondary but I think the principal holds true no matter what. I personally believe a large part of blapping well is simply due to being able to make a quick decision as to the best power to use in any given situation.

Wyx.

Just a few comments to give a slightly different perspective.

I would strongly suggest thoroughly testing a no stamina build on the test server before going for it. I personally don't think it works very well, even with 6 slotted power sink I found out of endurance before it's available again, plus I prefer to slot for recharge than end reducers in my attacks. It would depend on your pace of play and what you normally team with I guess, but that's a fairly drastic change to make without trying it out before hand, particularly if you're wanting to run the leaping pool (acrobatics is a fair end usage) an epic shield and possibly stealth too.

Regarding mele elec/elec/elec builds. I have all three holds, the end drains, the mele attacks, plus a few ranged attacks which I'll come on to in a minute. I spend almost all my time in mele and work on a "not getting hit" basis, not on a damage soaking basis, although I do have an epic shield just incase

I tend to open from range with holds to take any particular nasties out of the fight first, then close up to use end drain and the mele attacks. (On all minion groups I wouldn't bother with end drain, only when it's something that would take me a while to kill). I also use lightning bolt regularly in my attack chain with the mele attacks (a good finisher on anything you knock away from yourself), and I have air superiority (knock down, works on bosses, I slot it for just acc and recharge) which I do find very handy for dealing with multiple bosses (hold one, knock one down, drain etc, it just gives another option for dealing with tricky situations).

Invis/end drain I am sorry to say just doesn't work. You unstealth the minute you start the short circuit anmiation and you'll be taking fire until you've finished power sink, all in mele range. That hurts. Not that there's necessarily no advantage to stealth or invis, but not for lining up an end draining alpha strike any more.

Regarding ranged attacks, having a couple is good in my experience, even if I don't use them as much as my mele attacks. I've chopped and changed these on a regular basis.

I'm currently edging towards AOE damage for ranged attacks (plus lightening bolt). Ball lightening, thunderous blast and static discharge - a pretty good combination - will flatten +3s easily if they're not resistant to your damage type. I use lightening bolt to pull with if I need to, I do not have snipe and don't miss it at all.

The leaping pool is handy for the limited hold protection although you'll still need to carry break frees, and very useful for the knockback protection.

The fighting pool doesn't do that much for you, as already suggested I'd wait until you can get an epic armour.

I find the elec epic goes very nicely with elec/elec all round, it seems to complement the set very well.

Just my two penneth.

Wyx.

It really depends on how quickly you want to be able to move after you've fired.

Personally I find that after firing a shot I often want to move straight away, if you rely on switching to fly for all movement then you have several seconds of base hover speed from fly immediately after firing before you really start moving. For moving around mid fight I find slotted hover is a lot more useful.

It is also significantly lower endurance cost.

We've got a level 35 ish Sonic/Energy blaster in our SG and I have to say I was quite impressed with the set for teaming, he seems to have build something that really works quite well with a pretty fair mix of primary and secondary powers.

Archery is just a poor set. It looks nice and everything, but on the very rare occasions I team with a high level archery blaster regardless of how well they may play the set I feel like I'm standing alongside someone who's using a defender secondary, the damage just doesn't cut it. And all you get in return for the lower damage is higher accuracy - you can slot for that on another set and get much better results all round.

Just a few suggestions, mostly on slotting.

Regarding endurance modification, I would suggest removing the lot barring power sink, short circuit and stamina.

If you want to get any drain done then you need three end mod enhancements in short circuit and power sink to be able to drain +2s, with only two in each you'll drain very little.

When you slot your blasts with end mod you have a small chance to gain back a percentage of the already negligable endurance drained from an attack. Slotting for endurance modification just gives you a percentage increase on an already small amount, which you aren't going to get every time anyway. Occasionally you get a bit of endurance back from a blast, it's nice, but it's probably not worth slotting for. Similarly the increase in what you will drain is so small it is negligable.

What I would suggest instead is that you look at getting some inc. attack rates in your blasts insstead, if you're determined to skip the mele attacks you're going to want the attacks you do have to be available a little more often. Elec suffers from the lack of mutiple ranged attacks so having the ones you've got recharge faster is good, specifically ball lightening, charged bolts and lightening bolt. Zapp isn't really worth slotting for recharge due to the animation time in my experience.

Another slotting point: Both Thunderous Blast and Zapp have a very high inherrant accuracy, added to which it is rare that they're used without aim or build up before them, so they dont generally need slotting for accuracy.

I'd probably suggest taking a couple of those extra slots out of Zapp and getting them in the tesla cage, the longer you can hold people for the better.

I'm curious about the end reducers in fly? Is that because you're using it while you're fighting? If so you might want to look in to some flight speeds in hover instead for fighting, it's much quicker than the supressed flight speed on fly when you attack.

The elec epic goes well with elec/elec, shocking bolt is a very solid hold, and aim/build up/ball lightening/static discharge/thunderous blast will flatten +3s with no outside buffing assuming they're not resistant to your damage type. The armour is OK, energy resist is particularly useful, and EMP is good if you have slots to invest in it. As you're ignoring a lot of your secondary you will probably have the slots to make it work.

Regarding PvP, I am sorry to say that a totally ranged electricity build is not going to be particularly strong for PvP. You're really lacking quick animating single target attacks there.

It also gives a 62.5% damage buff, which is not to be sniffed at, although the to hit bonus is definitely it's biggest merit.

It's regeneration aura that does that, not healing aura. It's not a heal as such, merely a massive boost to your normal heath regen rate, and it still works after AP.

Basically you need a primary that gives you some control and a secondary that gives you big attacks to bash stuff with and a bit more control for good measure.

Elec/Elec or Ice/energy probably give you the best options for blapping, elec/energy and Ice/elec work well too.

Elec/Elec is probably going to give you the most hardcore mele orientated build, you can pretty much get in there and stay in there once you've learned how to take advantage of your end drains and holds, however it's a set that really becomes effective at higher level. Elec/Energy works along very similar lines, less holds, but with the stun element in the attacks instead, using power boost to make short circuit effective instead of combining it with power sink to get a reasonable amount of end drain.

Ice/Energy or Ice/Elec on the other hand give you far more versatility, very good ranged options, and in the case of ice/energy a secondary that very much supports your primary in addition to three good, strong, mele attacks.

Whoever I think will most benefit from it, I have no hard and fast rule about who gets it.

Having said that if I'm in a team which is running pretty smoothly it usually goes on damage dealers. If I'm in a team which is not it'll go on whoever I think needs it most to keep doing their job in the team, probably starting with who ever is managing aggro, particularly if it's not a tanker.

I'm also open to bribery in the form of sweets, cookies, chocolate or alcohol.

The percentage resistance on tough is so low (I really can't remember the figure off the top of my head, but I think it's ~5% base) it does virtually nothing for you even slotted.

Just some very quick thoughts that I had from scanning through that build, in no particular order:

Blaze is a very good attack, exceptionally good damage when slotted, I really wouldn't advise ditching that.
I find fire sword preferable to flares given the long animation time on flares - I actually just don't have time for flares in my attack chain.
Getting rid of rain of fire is a good idea, it's only really useful if you regularly team with someone who can slow/immobilise. Plus it's such a hated power by tankers from people using it badly that even if it's used well it tends to be badly received.
Another pool suggestion - air superiority - quite handy for bosses if you're soloing on a fire/fire. I've got that slotted with two acc and one recharge and I can keep most bosses on their bums pretty much permanently.
The leaping pool can be very useful on fire/fire, most particularly in the 30-40 range when you're coming accross a lot of mezzers and have no access to holds etc yourself, the ability to absorb one hold while dealing with the offending bad guy is very useful, gives you an outside chance of carrying sufficient break frees.

Some of those suggestions do gear towards a build that spends at least some time in mele though, and that seems to be something you're trying very hard to avoid so they may or may not work for you.

And the best suggestion of all - try it on the test server first, you'll be cursing if you respec in to something you don't like at level 24 with another ten levels before you can change it.

[ QUOTE ]
what's the upper level limit on Eden?

[/ QUOTE ]

41.

Gar, I love this trial, it always tempts me. I'd like to run it again with one of my blasters but I'm not sure I'll be home from work in time. I will definitely try and make it though.

On mine I took it, I don't use it a lot, but I do like to have it just incase. I use it primarily as a tanker heal, although I'll use it on anyone if I need another heal quickly and I'm not taking damage, I don't use it often in situations where I'm already taking damage of any kind, even more rarely when I actually have aggro myself. There are just some situations where being able to heal over half a tankers hitpoints in one pop then forget about them for a bit are bloody useful.

Also, you can use it when regeneration aura is running quite easily, of course the chances are you don't need to use AP after you've used regeneration aura, but if you do, you can do so fairly safely.

Cool, I'll be about then.

If you have others who need the badge I don't mind skipping it though, I just like the frontline mission, as I said, I have the badge, but I'd like to do it if there's room in the team

[ QUOTE ]

I may not need acrobatics that much but I hate being unable to fight not because I'm dead ot held, but because i keep getting knocked down..

[/ QUOTE ]

Couldn't agree with that more, all my blasters take either hover or acrobatics, nothing annoys me more than getting repeatedly knocked on my bum.

The limited hold protection from acrobatics is handy too, although you'll still need to be carrying break frees it certainly cuts down on the amount you need, particularly when soloing where you're unlikely to be facing more than one mezzer at a time.

Essentially I found it not worth slotting unless I've got an excess of slots on a character because with no other regen powers it doesn't really offer that much in comparison to how quickly I'd take damage if I pulled aggro in a fight. I wouldn't wait about for health to regen my health in a fight, 9 times out of 10 I'll just pop a respite. I'm sure occasionally it comes in handy, but personally I wouldn't slot it ahead of an attack/hold/boost which give me a real tangible survivability bonus.