Redlynne

This is the KM/Nin/Soul build I'm going to be using ...

Stealth IO in Sprint requires Sprint to be toggled on. The IO got changed to disengage its stealth when toggled off.

Note that this condition does NOT apply to the Teleport Stealth IO. That's because Teleport is a click, not a toggle. As a result, you get 120 seconds of Stealth after teleporting, if using the Teleport Stealth IO ... which I like putting into my Dwarf Teleport power (since I use it more tactically than for travel).

Verrrry interesting niche tactic you have there. Thank you for sharing!

Force Bolt is a heck of a lot more fun with a 6-slotted Kinetic Crash set ... which gives you (among other things), Knockback Protection!

I play Ninja/Trick/Soul (yes, I'm a glutton for punishment...) and I for one can tell you that in any content involving 54 anything, your pets aren't even speedbumps. If anything so much as sneezes in their general direction, they're dead.

On the Apex TF, I was basically a Raptor Packing Trick Shooter ... with no pets. The ninjas just DIED HORRIBLY in seconds, and couldn't figure out what BLUE meant to save their miserable faceless minion lives. The only thing I could do in the Battle Maiden map was debuff. Trying to go on offense (using my pets) was beyond futile.

Level 32: Singularity

• (A) Expedient Reinforcement - Accuracy/Recharge: Level 30
• (33) Expedient Reinforcement - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge: Level 30
• (33) Expedient Reinforcement - Endurance/Damage/Recharge: Level 30
• (33) Expedient Reinforcement - Resist Bonus Aura for Pets: Level 30
• (34) HamiO: Endoplasm Exposure (+2 Acc/Mez)
• (34) HamiO: Peroxisome Exposure (+2 Dam/Mez)

Does nobody even know how tall the Tier 3 Tech Generator is in ft?

You can have 12 different sources proc Achilles' Heel all at the same time. Only one applies. The others ... sluff.

Here's an "Easy Gimmie" that requires no new content that would be an upgrade to Base capabilities.



We have an item called a Mission Computer. It does basically ONE THING ... the Cathedral of Pain.

We have the Pillar of Ice and Flame. It basically enables Flashback Missions.

We have Tip Missions. These are obtained through drops, but the only Tip Missions available to you are the ones which are Level Appropriate to you.



Combine these three functions ... into the Mission Computer.

Allow people to do Flashback Tip Missions so as to permit them to auto-exemp (ala Flashback) to Tip Missions of lower levels ... using the (nigh useless) Mission Computer.

No "new" content need be created for this, other than a UI element which allows players to select a Flashback Tip to run, and specifies the Level Range of that Tip Mission (see Pillar of Ice and Flame UI for how to do this). This system could also allow Flashback Morality Missions to be selected when 10/10 Alignment Missions (of any Level) have been completed.



S imple
E asy
E ffective

... not being done ...

Bases are an Orphaned Feature of the game now.

The only meaningful way to improve SG Bases and the Base Editor is to start from scratch and rebuild everything from the tools on up. That's not a trivial investment of time, people and money. It would pull resources from almost every single department, which is also not trivial.

I think it's not a matter of "the Devs don't care" and more a matter of "in order to do it RIGHT requires a (literally!) monumental commitment" is the stumbling block here.

I'd believe that height (16 ft) for the Tier 1 energy items ... but not the Tier 2, nor the Tier 3.

What are the LxWxH (in ft) of the bounding box for the (tier 3) Fusion Generator and Dimensional Vortex energy items? The Paragon Wiki, sadly enough, does not have this information.

Personally speaking, I like to 2-slot all three of the shields and Light Form. Shields get two common 50 Resistance IOs and Light Form gets two common 50 Recharge IOs. Combined, that's four powers, and four (extra) slots spent ... to get you capped resistance solo when exemplar to level 33+ in Light Form, and gets you "some" worthwhile resistances solo at every other level below that (including the Positron TF, among others).

I'm also, personally speaking again, less supportive of building an attack chain around Radiant Strike ... simply because it does knockBACK (always bad in a Melee Attack, imo) and because without an insane amount of recharge it's difficult to build a continuous attack chain with it. Radiant Strike makes a good 1-2 combo alpha opener in combination with Incandescent Strike, for reasons as documented above ... but after that, you've got to "wait" before being able to use it again, which is less than ideal.

Furthermore, concentrating on Radiant+Incandescent pushes your Human (and Light!) Form(s) into being more of a Blapper style combatant. To be honest, if I'm going to be engaging in Melee Combat, I'd much rather be using Dwarf Form. I personally prefer to use a combination of Gleaming Bolt (not Glinting Eye!), Proton Scatter (the Cone attack) and Luminous Detonation (the Target AoE) and Incandescent Strike (Melee Hold!) ... because of how much AoE damage these attacks can throughput. Yes, you'll do more damage using Nova Form for these purposes ... but if you need to activate Light Form to stay alive, then Nova Form is "inaccessible" for a time.

The way I see it is, if you're going to be taking Light Form at all ... you NEED to have some Human Form attacks selected and enhanced in order to give you something to do while you're in Light Form. And since you'll "need" to have some Human Form attacks to use in Light Form, you need to basically decide what you want your Light Form to be more like ... more like a Dwarf, with heavy hitting, single target melee attacks? ... or more like a Nova, with fast recharging area effect attacks? Though in game experience, I discovered that (with my preferred playstyle) the scrapper/blapper answer didn't work out quite so well since it meant that I couldn't take on HORDES, which were often the biggest reason I had to use Light Form. Yeah I could take things out "fast" with heavy single target melee attacks ... but I had to do so in series, like a Scrapper, which ultimately took longer.

Conversely ... I found it *much* more profitable, and useful more often, to use the AoE attack powers to decimate HORDES in parallel rather than in series. By switching to the AoE attacks, I had a "Human Form Nova" playstyle made possible, which gave me the option of functioning as a Nova with dramatically increased survivability (especially in Light Form). And Human/Light Form permits me to run Leadership toggles (all of them) so as to dramatically close the gap in overall performance between Human attack powers and Nova attack powers. That's because with Assault running, I'm adding +13.5% damage to my entire TEAM ... which on TFs usually means 8 people ... as opposed to just adding +45% damage to myself only. And in a great many circumstances, that Team Damage Buff yields more damage throughput than the Nova Damage Buff ... and I can't run Assault in Nova Form.

And that's before factoring in you need to be in Human/Light Form for Hasten to autofire.



I like the fact that you have the choice to skew your Human Form powers more towards melee (Dwarf-like) or ranged/AoE (Nova-like), since that accommodates more than one playstyle.

Primary Specific Issues and Problems
Ninjas -

Ninjas Balance Issues:
• Ninja Genin and Jounin are melee oriented pets with exceptionally worthless Defense values (7.5% and 12.5%, respectively) which CANNOT be improved by slotting of their respective powers. This makes them excessively squishy in melee combat, especially since they cannot partake of any of the Global Set Bonuses of their Mastermind. In fact, just about the only way to boost Ninja Pet Defenses in any seriously meaningful way is through the Force Field secondary, or (to a lesser extent) the Force Field Drone of the Traps secondary. Without either of those two choices, just about the only remaining viable build strategy left which allows the Ninja Pets to LIVE for any length of time in actual MELEE combat is the Tankermind strategy, which requires the Presence Pool so as to drag aggro away from the Ninjas themselves.

Ninjas Henchmen AI Issues:
• Ninja Jounin need to have their ranged attacks (Poison Dart and Caltrops) "disabled" while they are in Hidden status. As matters stand, without direct player intervention to position them exactly where they NEED to be, Jounin will ALWAYS attack from Hidden status using their Poison Dart ... the most pathetically worthless damaging power they have, WASTING their automatic Critical Hit from Hidden status. Jounin should be "limited" to (melee) sword attacks only while in Hidden status, with a preference for the most damaging per attack power while Hidden.

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Ancillary, Patron and Regular Power Pool Issues and Problems
Power Pool - Leadership
• Masterminds get extremely poor value from the Leadership Pool, when arguably they ought to be among the best. Masterminds ought to be at least on par with Controllers in terms of buff multipliers for Leadership Powers ... if not on par with Defenders. Conceptually speaking, it makes very little sense as to why Masterminds make such bad sources for Leadership.

Power Pool - Presence
• Masterminds should also, for similar reasons, be THE "go to" archetype for Presence Pool effectiveness. Conceptually speaking, Masterminds ought to have increased effectiveness/strength with all Presence Pool powers. That means increased Duration on Taunt powers ... and reduced Recharge plus increased Duration on Fear powers, making it (more) possible for Masterminds to chain Fear attacks using the Presence Pool.

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User Submitted Suggestions and Ideas

• The Devs should consider making it possible for ALL Mastermind Pet powers to accept Recharge Intensive Pet Sets.

• Allow Ninja Genin to cast Grant Invisibility to Ninja Pets (and their Mastermind?) when upgraded with Kuji-in Zen (level 32 power). Even suppressed, this would add to their (pitiful) baseline Defense ... which they desperately need.