Oedipus_Tex

This is an interesting discussion. I don't have a contender to throw into the ring, but here are a few assorted thoughts.


Active vs Passive
Is it more evil to actively harm someone than it is to know that harm is being done and do nothing about it?


Intimate Evil vs Public Evil
Or the Casey Anthony vs Hitler question. Is it more evil to harm someone close to you than to harm many people you don't know?


Desire vs Eroticism
Does a crime become more evil when the motivation for it is wholely or partially related to sexual gratification? In other words, in a crime context, is a sexual desire more understandable than generalized desire (e.g. "I did it because it was fun"), or less understandable?


Regret vs Nostalgia
Is it worse to do something horrible and regret it, or to do something milder but be pleased with it?


Chaotic Evil vs Chaotic Stupid
Is it more evil to choose alliances carefully and work steadily toward an evil goal, than it is to willfuly engage in conflicts with everyone? An important question, because it may mean that capapcity for evil increases with intelligence.


Duplicity vs Publicity
How important is it that people actually know what the evil character is up to?

Well, I sometimes do it because I consider the name part of the costume. When powers start flying all over the screen, it helps keep track over who is responsible for what and thus whose costume it goes with. In other words, it aids immediate readability in a fast paced environment.

Plus, it seems like a lot of comic heroes are named for their powers more or less directly (Rogue, Iceman, the Human Torch, Multiple Man, Aqua Man, etc. "Strong Guy" embraces the concept rather directly.).

I'm glad to see a positive thread manage to stay on the board for a while. I concur, for the most part. I think they are doing a great job.

I agree with the suggestions above for the most part. I personally like Fire because Rise of the Phoenix turns you from essentially unstoppable to literally unstoppable.

Ok, I have a moment to explain.

First of all, hopefully you're not too upset that I posted a full build. I always do that when I make comments, because explaining is a LOT of work--when I respond it usually takes about 30 minutes to an hour of looking at various values in the build and typing it all out.

Please realize I am not vouching for every single aspect of the revision, or saying you must use this exact build. The build is provided for reference only.


Anyway, short-ish version of it:


- The recharge in the two builds is closer than you think, because of the proc in Psi Tornado. The real difference is probably about 10 to 8 points, which is probably negligible.

- Glacier in your build is underslotted considering that you are slotting a purple stun set into a mule power. Even running Tactics, against a +4 you have about a 75% chance to hold the enemy. The money you are spending on the Purple Stuns in Boxing could be spent on the hold set instead, probably to greater effect. They are currently priced very close to the same.

- Jack Frost could use the pet defense sets. He has a native 25% Defense to all (except Fire and Cold which are 35%). You also took Manuevers, and have Link Minds. So you would have 25 + 4 + 5 + 5 + 6.5 = 45.5. Hello there, soft capped Jack Frost.

- World of Confusion is not a very good power. I would (and did, here) replace with Indominatible Will, which increases Psi Defense from 26-ish to 49.9. Psi is a particularly nasty type of attack for a perma dom because it frequenly carries -Recharge that can knock you out of perma.

- Block of Ice, not the immobilize, is probably the power that should take the Dominator ATO. This may be changing with all the stuff they are doing with procs, but at least as of what I know right now, the proc triggers more reliably in the hold (and on Ice you'll likely be casting the hold more often than the immob anyway).

- If you heavily slot Consume, it should be slotted for endurance, accuracy, and recharge, not as an attack. Since you spoke of prices, especially watch out with Obliteration, which is one of the more expensive sets.

- Several powers are pushing the limits on endurance slotting. That's fixable with incarnate powers, but should probably at least be made note of. For example, Tactics has no endurance slotting at all.

- You don't have knockback protection that I can see, which is why I added one to Hover.

-If you want to REALLY save money, drop the PVP defense IO out of the build. I didn't, because you had it in your build, so I assumed (wrongly it seems) money wasn't that big an issue. But if you were to drop it from either of the builds they'd still be very close to softcapped anyway. What the IO is doing for you right now in both builds is letting you eat 1 purple to soft capped Ranged in incarnate content, so its useful, but that one IO probably accounts for about 1/4th the total cost of the build, on its own.

Actualy what's not covered by any blast set is blasts coming from the sky instead of your hands, which is what I picture here, personally. Like the Holy spell in various games.

Fun fun. Here are a few of mine you are free to steal. Some are pretty big stretches/in need of work but they may get you started.

Aqua Marine
Flush Capacitor
Caped Cod
Super Manatee (and similar variants, beware /generic hammer tho)
Super Man o'War (see above)
Bridal Wave/Idol Wave/Tidal Weave
Clocktopus
The Hot Mess Monster
Tides of March
Zoonami
Mer-Manchild
Davy Jones' Shocker
Lenninaide
Boogity Brew
Man of the Beer
The Hunk of Red October (okay I hate to do this but I am taking this one back on Virtue... concept just hit me )

I personally picture something more like the beams of light in Pocket D and possibly using the holds/flashes of light from Illusion Control.

Luminous Blast does exist but you can't combine it with other sets.

There's other stuff I'd like first--like Swarm Blast, using the buf powers from Beast Mastery--but light sits way up there for me too.


[And don't let me forget Gravity Blast!]

Ugh.. the boards just ate my post. I had a long explanation that I don't have time to type out right now... basically your build is ery good but here are some possible small revisions. If I have time later I will try to explain.


Villain Plan by Mids' Villain Designer 1.956
http://www.cohplanner.com/
Click this DataLink to open the build!
Super Rikti: Level 50 Science Dominator
Primary Power Set: Ice Control
Secondary Power Set: Fiery Assault
Power Pool: Speed
Power Pool: Flight
Power Pool: Fighting
Power Pool: Leadership
Ancillary Pool: Psionic Mastery
Villain Profile:
Level 1: Block of Ice -- SAotDominator-Acc/Conf/Hold/Immob/Sleep/Stun/Fear(A), SAotDominator-Conf/Hold/Immob/Sleep/Stun/Fear/Rchg(3), SAotDominator-EndRdx/Rchg(3), SAotDominator-Acc/Conf/Hold/Immob/Sleep/Stun/Fear/EndRdx(5), SAotDominator-Acc/Conf/Hold/Immob/Sleep/Stun/Fear/EndRdx/Rchg(5), SAotDominator-Rchg/+Dmg%(7)
Level 1: Flares -- Thundr-Acc/Dmg(A), Thundr-Dmg/EndRdx(7), Thundr-Dmg/Rchg(9)
Level 2: Frostbite -- GravAnch-Hold%(A), GravAnch-Acc/Immob/Rchg(9), GravAnch-Immob/EndRdx(11), GravAnch-Acc/Rchg(11), GravAnch-Immob/Rchg(13)
Level 4: Fire Breath -- Posi-Acc/Dmg(A), Posi-Dmg/EndRdx(17), Posi-Dmg/Rchg(17), Posi-Dmg/Rng(19), Posi-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(19)
Level 6: Arctic Air -- CoPers-Conf%(A), CoPers-Conf(21), CoPers-Conf/Rchg(21), CoPers-Acc/Conf/Rchg(23), CoPers-Conf/EndRdx(23), CoPers-Acc/Rchg(25)
Level 8: Hasten -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(25), RechRdx-I(27)
Level 10: Fire Blast -- Thundr-Acc/Dmg(A), Thundr-Dmg/EndRdx(27), Thundr-Dmg/Rchg(29), Thundr-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(29), Thundr-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(31), Thundr-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(31)
Level 12: Ice Slick -- RechRdx-I(A)
Level 14: Hover -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A), Zephyr-ResKB(31)
Level 16: Embrace of Fire -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(33)
Level 18: Boxing -- Stpfy-Acc/Rchg(A), Stpfy-EndRdx/Stun(33), Stpfy-Acc/EndRdx(33), Stpfy-Stun/Rng(34), Stpfy-Acc/Stun/Rchg(34), Stpfy-KB%(34)
Level 20: Tough -- GA-3defTpProc(A), S'fstPrt-ResDam/Def+(36)
Level 22: Weave -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A), LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx(36), RedFtn-Def/EndRdx(50)
Level 24: Maneuvers -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A), LkGmblr-Def(36), LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx(37)
Level 26: Glacier -- UbrkCons-Hold/Rchg(A), UbrkCons-Acc/Hold/Rchg(37), UbrkCons-Acc/Rchg(37), UbrkCons-EndRdx/Hold(39), UbrkCons-Dam%(39)
Level 28: Consume -- P'Shift-EndMod/Acc/Rchg(A)
Level 30: Tactics -- Rec'dRet-Pcptn(A), EndRdx-I(50)
Level 32: Jack Frost -- ExRmnt-Acc/Rchg(A), ExRmnt-Acc/Dmg(39), ExRmnt-EndRdx/Dmg/Rchg(40), ExRmnt-+Res(Pets)(40), EdctM'r-PetDef(40), C'Arms-+Def(Pets)(42)
Level 35: Link Minds -- RedFtn-Def/Rchg(A), LkGmblr-Def(42), LkGmblr-Def/Rchg(42)
Level 38: Blaze -- Thundr-Acc/Dmg(A), Thundr-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(43), Thundr-Dmg/EndRdx(43), Thundr-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(43), Thundr-Dmg/Rchg(45), Thundr-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(45)
Level 41: Mind Over Body -- TtmC'tng-ResDam/EndRdx(A), Aegis-ResDam/EndRdx(45)
Level 44: Psionic Tornado -- Posi-Acc/Dmg(A), Posi-Dmg/EndRdx(46), Posi-Dmg/Rchg(46), Posi-Dmg/Rng(46), Posi-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(48), FrcFbk-Rechg%(48)
Level 47: Indomitable Will -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A), RechRdx-I(48), RechRdx-I(50)
Level 49: Vengeance -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A)
Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Domination
Level 1: Prestige Power Dash -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Prestige Power Slide -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Prestige Power Quick -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Prestige Power Rush -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Prestige Power Surge -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Sprint -- EndRdx-I(A)
Level 2: Rest -- RechRdx-I(A)
Level 4: Ninja Run
Level 2: Swift -- Flight-I(A)
Level 2: Health -- Mrcl-Rcvry+(A), Numna-Regen/Rcvry+(13)
Level 2: Hurdle -- Jump-I(A)
Level 2: Stamina -- P'Shift-End%(A), EndMod-I(15), EndMod-I(15)
Level 50: Pyronic Core Final Judgement
Level 50: Ageless Core Epiphany
Level 50: Rikti Core Superior Ally
Level 50: Cognitive Core Flawless Interface
Level 50: Cardiac Core Paragon
------------

I think Absorb is equally thematic for Force Field or Sonic Resonance. Actually, I consider Absorb a lot more thematic for FF than Defense.

I don't think Cold (or for that matter Thermal or Traps) should horn in on that just because they smell a buff. It's partly (but not quite entirely) the nature of these sets that justify a buff to FF and Sonic to begin with.

I agree that Light or Celestial Blast would be a good addition if the developers had good animations for it. In part I feel that way because it is so abstract and can easily be retooled to many concepts.

(I was personally hoping Dark Control would be a much more abstract "Spirit Control" type set that allowed both light and dark coloring, but we got what we got there.)

Someone may have mentioned it, but don't forget that Damage Over Time impacts the estimate as well. For example, Electron Haze won't have applied all of its damage until about 4.6 seconds after the power has run its course.

There's an oddity with Ice Slick vs Bonfire I hadnt thought of until just now.

Knockdown is weird. At least based on the visuals, there is a period after a knockdown where the enemy is immune to another knock. What this means for Ice Slick is that although it has a ~57% chance to knockdown a standing opponent, opponents who slip and fall have a lowered chance to fall again, because they are immune to some of the knock pulses while they are down.

If that period of immunity is one second (thats the value I've tended to assume in the past), then Ice Slick's actual knock rate over time is reduced by about 30% (I'm too lazy to compute it exactly), to right around 40% total.

Bonfire avoids this issue entirely. Because of the timing of the knockdown, the enemy is never immune to the next pulse. Its full rate of knockdown is always in effect, unlike any patch that ticks faster.

So, yeah, Fire Control really did just pick up Ice Slick with damage, better recharge, and longer duration, more or less.

That self rezz has my name ALL OVER IT.

I personally prefer the slow leak of news to the wait for one big announcement.

BTW I posted this in another thread, but 40% knockdown is approximately the same as Sleet/Freezing Rain. The tricky point on it is that Bonfire can self stack (if I remember right--there has rarely been a reason in the past to do that). When self stacked it reaches 64% knockdown--slightly superior to Ice Slick at 57% or so, though I am not sure how much that would matter.

I'm not sure what slotting the Purple Ragnarok: Chance for Knockdown (20% chance) proc would do. It would for sure grant an additional 20% chance for knock every 10 seconds, but I'm not sure if that pulse exactly overlaps with the Bonfire pulses and would sometimes throw enemies out of the fire.