Reyne_Maker

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Please note, the legitimate character deletions/account bans were for people who grossly abused an oversight in the MA that let them go 1-50 in single digit hours.

Some in less than a handful of hours.

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It's been mentioned that this isn't the place to talk about this, and I agree. But it's important to remember we're not talking about legitimate exploiters, they deserved the ban stick, we're talking about the innocent affected.
People, generally veterans, who have two accounts and level pact between them. That's not exploiting, that's twice the risk. So to watch them lose perfectly legitimate characters on account of the developers actions is frustrating to say the least, and should have any sane player asking if the same could happen to them.
That's all.

Now can we talk about the awesome new features that are coming?
The new I15 taskforces perhaps?

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and guy, if you want to come back, the best advice is, give it a shot for a month.

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Even pessimistic me would agree with this advice. There are far worse things to blow $15 on.

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And Pessimistic old me agrees too,
all I'm saying if the choice is between dropping 15$ today on June, or 15$ in two weeks, in time for I15, then wait the two weeks.
But please do drop the 15$ and join us

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Did you miss the "Log-out protest" monday? or was that just a Justice thing?

[/ QUOTE ]How many people did this? Was it even 1% of the player base?

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honestly Lisar, i don't know, it was organised through the forums., And let's face it most regular players don't use the forums, just some of the more dedicated.

But the fact it was even organised to begin with means something, and this is what I'm talking about.

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Did you miss the "Log-out protest" monday? or was that just a Justice thing?

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Everybody I know missed it.

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And aren't you the same troll who's been baiting the Farewell Threads in the Justice Forums?

So Don't pretend you don't know what I'm talking about.

The fact that there even is a "Farewell" thread should be a indication of the state of current morale.

there were unhappy people, some were guilty, some were innocent, some of those innocent were veterans and are leaving, (MrDead knows many of the people I'm talking about, but I'm sure he'll only have rude things to say, just as he has ruined what were solemn goodbye threads in the justice forums)

On the scale of Catastrophes it's not Star Wars Galaxies, but it's at least comparable to ED, and sure, CoX recovered from ED, and there have been a lot of fun times since. But right now, today, is a bad day, so, if you've waited this long, wait another two weeks, things will have settled down, equilibrium will be reestablished, and I15 looks promising.

So here's hoping that tomorrow is a better day, and if you end up on Justice, we will make you very welcome.

Did you miss the "Log-out protest" monday? or was that just a Justice thing?

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Now would be a good time to come back, the Archetype system is really awesome, lots of fun stuff to do there.

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But it's fair you've got all the facts if you're thinking of returning- The community is upset.
The Dev's have been heavy handed in response to 'farming (without defining the term)
This isn't the place to discuss the whole issue, but lets just say that in an attempt to fix some bugs and address the issue of 'exploiting' with those guilty, many innocent people have been caught in the crossfire.

So, over on Justice at least, some our most prominent community leaders (Mermoine who is the regular Hami leader, and Philly who was a prominent member of PERC to name just a few) have up and left.

[u] Server numbers are currently down and morale is low. [u]

But yes, I15 is coming, and will herald a wealth of new players, new issues always do.
And that's scheduled to be very, very soon, So all I'm saying is that today is very definitely a bad time to return,
But wait a while, time your return with the release of I15 and it will be a very different place indeed

Wow, that is a really, really hard choice, there is some truly awesome work there.

I'm going to give my vote to Infinite Mucha by ~TrickyTacky, but it's a close call.

(I did really like the nymphs, and the last supper rendition, asthey captured the spirit of both CoX and the original pieces well, The two based on creation of Adam were also awesome, as was the son of Man, oh heck, they were all good)

No, I wouldn't say now is a good time to return, sure theres lots of new content, but be careful, because if you choose the wrong content or level too quick, that's an exploit, and you'll be hit with a Ban stick.
Whats the "wrong content" or "too quick"? No one knows.
It's a minefield.
And this has seen a lot of Veterans leave.
The community is in disarray, and any of the bigger events, Hami raids etc, are unlikely to be seen for a while (because the veterans who organised them are gone)
most of the smaller servers don't have enough players to form decent teams, so you'll need to rely on your supergroup and friends list for teaming
which comes full circle back to, most of them just left, so theres noone there either.
(And forget about PvP it's been empty for a while)

I'd say wait a month, then hopefully equilibrium will have been restored, of course by that time, you'll be able to make the choice between this, Champions Online or the Marvel MMORPG.

ok, so it's important to note that there are no bad primaries for scrappers. And as you mentioned three sets;

Dark Melee - It's mostly single target, but they are rapid attacks, and soul drain gives a very nice bonus, farming large mobs is probably not such a good idea, but if you find a place with big Bosses (ie north RWZ) it would be very powerful (on account of Siphon Life, which is very definitely awesome) and AV soloing (at least against non psi opponents) will be a breeze.
Oh, and Shadow Maul isn't at great as you may think (comparable to Sands of Mu), but Smite and Shadow punch still have that 'buzzsaw' attack quality, and the +End recovery of Dark Comsumption deserves special mention
(My most recent 50 is DM/Inv, and her survivability is ridiculous)

Fire Melee - has slightly better AoE than DM and more damage (at least on a low to mid cost build) but lacks the other bonuses of DM. But what it is is very pretty, you will want Aid Self if you want to take this and AV solo reliably though.

Dual Blades - Has a few problems compared to the other two, yes the combos add value, and yes, they're very pretty (especially with a cape and Hover on) but Smash/Lethal is the highest resisted damage type in the game, it lacks Dark Melees secondary benefits, and lacks Fire Melees sheer damage. It also requires that you take pretty much every power in the set to see it's full benefits (the combos)

none of these will make for as good a farmer as, say, a Spines/dark, but they could all be used for it if you're prepared to find the right targets (Fire melee excels on the Demon Farm, for instance)
All of them *could* solo an AV , but DM/Inv will have the easiest time of it with Fire Melee probably rating second.
and in terms of just plain pretty, well Dual blaes and Fire Melee are two of the prettiest sets in the game (Dark melee is kind of ugly unfortunately)

On a personal note, Dark Melee is my favourite though, even if the above doesn't sound like it, mainly because of it's huge secondary benefits. I do love Fire Melee to, and am in the process of leveling one (mid 30s currently, only basic IOs currently) And my Dual Blades wielder has been abandoned for some time, I know there are people who love it, but it really is the weakest straight out of the box, and by the time it matures averything you face has strong smash/lethal resist anyway.

Anyway, that's my five cents, if beauty is a key component here, go Fire melee, (your final build will be tighter, on acct of aid self, if you wish to hunt AVs)
But DM/Inv is very awesome and chock full of win.

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With the advent of switching sides will you find yourself making a brute over a scrapper?

Discuss

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Actually I'm thinking a Night Widow, Softcapped Scrapper Claws Fury with a ton of leadership powers, auras and team buffs.

Instead of being the lonewolf who's busy clearing the other side of the map I can be a functional member of the team with more to other than just huge damage and occasional Tank subbing (not that there anything wrong with that)

So I know that I'm late to the party here, but I still wanted to say that I'm sorry to see you(s) leave, you were pillars of the community, and irreplacable in my eyes.
Thankyou for all you have done for us, especially you Merm for the many Fabulous Hami raids that couldn't have happened without you.

Pretty much everything that could be said on this issue, has been said, but just because you were not directly affected does not mean you were not affected. And the game, and Justice especially, is a poorer place today than it was yesterday.

/militarysalute.

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Enzymes only make a .7% difference in the defense of the build I posted but as I said it was a quick and dirty.

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Two Enzymes will give a 66%(pre-ED) Def bonus whereas 3 Cyto's will give you 60% (pre-ED), so the enzymes can be used to save you a slot


As for the rest of it, don't get me wrong, it's an okay build (and damn good for one quickly cobbled together with a few spare minutes)
I guess what i was trying to say in a hamfisted way, is that whatever you do on any reasonable build requires compromises and trade-offs.

The exercise to demonstrate a soft-capped shield scrapper? well, that's the easy part,.
Doing it with enough recharge to use your best attack chain available (which for DM is Smite-SL-Smite-MG)? That's going to be harder.
And doing it in a way that doesn't see you running out of endurance in a prolonged fight? Even harder still.

Any High end build is going to be about making trade-offs.

But you're a Scrapper, which should mean Offense first, and the attack chain here suffers.
Touch of Death might have good set bonuses, but the overall recharge it offers is only 43%, which frankly sucks and Smite at the very least deserves better.

PS- Also on a personal note I'd suggest taking Phalanx Fighting before One with the Shield (or even Grant Cover) and with that one trade you could give Smite what it needs, which is a good set of Hecatombs

Milady's makes a good build, but if you're going to spend that much moolah (and that's still not a 'budget' build) you'd want to make a few tweaks, it'd still need Dark Consumption or Conserve power for instance, and I'd use Hami Enzymes instead of Cyto's save you some slots.
Or to keep it cheaper, use Red Fortune for some of the Defense powers (very good set bonuses, especially given the price to get them crafted currently)

And i guess that's the point I'm trying to make - softcapping isn't going to be hard, but doing it without compromising your end recovery & damage output, that's going to be harder.

(For instance, Purples are not going to help your defense at all, But people slot them, and there are good reasons why)

Dip into your pool powers as well,
take Tough And Weave
and also either CJ or Hover on your way to a travel power, (I took hover, it was a concept thing)

That, and a lot of Six slotted Obliteration and Mako's (along with Blessing of The Zephyr) is where most of my positional defense came from.

It's still a tight build though, and it won't be cheap,

It can be done, or at least close enough you won't notice the difference.
the below build sits at 70% resist and 38% Def to Smash/Lethal. With 6 foes in range on Invincibility it hits the softcap.
in fact, the only thing that might give it pause is the Psi hole.
It's a work in progress, and at current prices will be my third Billion Inf character, but can be made cheaper by slotting 2def/ & 1End IO into any of the powers that use Hamis and LotGs.
And, as it's a Work in progress, please, offer some critique.
(for instance, I'm thinking of dropping the Medicine pool in favor of CJ and SS, would this significantly lower survivability, or will Siphon Life and DP suffice?)

anyway, the build -->

Hero Plan by Mids' Hero Designer 1.401
http://www.cohplanner.com/

[u]Click this DataLink to open the build![u]

Dark: Level 50 Natural Scrapper
Primary Power Set: Dark Melee
Secondary Power Set: Invulnerability
Power Pool: Fitness
Power Pool: Fighting
Power Pool: Speed
Power Pool: Medicine

Hero Profile:
Level 1: Smite -- (A)(3)(7)(7)(9)(9)
Level 1: Resist Physical Damage -- (A)(3)
Level 2: Shadow Maul -- (A)(11)(11)(13)(13)(27)
Level 4: Temp Invulnerability -- (A)(5)(5)
Level 6: Dull Pain -- (A)(37)(37)(37)(39)
Level 8: Siphon Life -- (A)(31)(31)(34)(36)(36)
Level 10: Swift -- (A)
Level 12: Boxing -- (A)
Level 14: Hasten -- (A)(15)(15)
Level 16: Unyielding -- (A)(17)(17)
Level 18: Health -- (A)(19)(19)(21)(39)
Level 20: Stamina -- (A)(21)(23)(23)
Level 22: Shadow Punch -- (A)(43)(43)(46)(48)
Level 24: Tough -- (A)(25)(25)(27)
Level 26: Soul Drain -- (A)(40)(40)(40)(42)(43)
Level 28: Invincibility -- (A)(29)(29)
Level 30: Resist Elements -- (A)(31)
Level 32: Midnight Grasp -- (A)(33)(33)(33)(34)(34)
Level 35: Tough Hide -- (A)(36)(42)(42)
Level 38: Resist Energies -- (A)(39)
Level 41: Aid Other -- (A)
Level 44: Dark Consumption -- (A)(45)(45)(45)(46)(46)
Level 47: Aid Self -- (A)(48)(48)(50)
Level 49: Weave -- (A)(50)(50)
------------
Level 1: Brawl -- (A)
Level 1: Sprint -- (A)
Level 2: Rest -- (A)
Level 1: Critical Hit

Yup, Discussed to death,

Personally I'd like to see "Radiation Melee" A set that is slightly lower on base damage but comes with strong DoT and stronger Def/Res debuffs,

Get Both,

Seriously, Claws level of AoE pwnage is second only to Spines.
The ability to sweep foes around the field (Shockwave, Focus) and line them up for killer finishing attacks (Eviscerate, Spin) is what makes it so awesome and fun,

Drop what you have to to make it happen (Revive is for pansys)

And unless you're aiming for a heavily IOed build, more attacks on a scrapper is ALWAYS better.

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Could someone please comment on this build.

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k, I'm not a numbers guy, and I have had little experience with MA, but I do know Shields fairly well, so,
For my money OwtS is a wasted powerpick, and certainly not worth slotting if you do take it, I say this because it's easy to hit the soft cap without it (though there are sometimes reasons to take it, and the crash isn't all bad compared to many other tier 9s)
Phalanx Fighting should never have extra slots put in it.

Those two small niggles aside what you have looks pretty good, and I'll leave the rest to someone more familiar with MA

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I guess it sounds like I'm being called out here, so if anybody wants to time me on Freedom, I'll demonstrate.

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My BS/Shield isn't far behind you over on Justice, though I suspect yours is the far superior build.

Drop Grant Cover in favour of Hasten, it will at least get you part way there, but yeah, you're going to need to beef up the global recharge significantly,
You don't need extra slots in Acive Defense though, and I used Hami Enzymes to get the most out of the defensive powers, which will again save you slots, which in term can be used to grab more recharge.

On a side note, your overall accuracy is also a little low for a high end build, the kismet will help a bundle, but . . . .

Whoops, just realised you were already at 5 power pool picks,
what you could do is swap Assault,Maneuvers & Grant Cover for Boxing Tough/Weave, which will give you slightly more defense, and allow you to reslot your attacks for more recharge
(for instance if you're putting three Hecatombs into Fire Sword, then 5 is even better)

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Was that the same person who has been doing Hecktic Life this whole time?

Honestly, if all of your future strips are as good as this one was, I won't have another complaint again. Good show.

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Yes it's been me all along, and I'm choosing to take that as a compliment, thankyou,

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(QR)

Anything on a ST BS attack chain? I'm rolling a BS/Regen (First scrapper ever!) and I would really appreciate this info.

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Hack-Disembowel-Hack-Headsplitter

Can't remember the exact recharge needed, but it's very high, so your best alternative is to throw in Parry where needed.

In terms of DPS Hack is your strongest, HS and Disembowel are equivalent, and Parry lags behind (making up for it with the +Def)

My BS/Shield uses Hack-Disembowel-Headsplitter (with a slight lag at the end) and with AAO fully saturated achieves a 6 minute Pylon solo time (though needs a few blues about halfway through) which I believe leaves me at around 250DPS.

Edit - Lol, and Chaos string posts the same while I'm typing, He's better at the numbers than me, so I'd trust him, especially when it comes to the overall DPS (I believe we use a similar build, though I haven't seen his, and both the AH proc and Hecatomb's will help you immensely)

I'd recommend checking out this --> Rikti Pylon results thread

1- DM/shield is currently the King for Av soloing. Really though, Any scrapper can achieve this. (And has)

2- I've got a Spines/Dark I use for Wall farming in Cim, he was cheap to put together and is an AoE god. I'd advise against Fire for your secondary, as it's survivability is lower despite the extra damage it'd grant you.

3- An AV soloer is a very tight, refined build. Very few sets are good for both. Fire?SR for instance can be used to make a very cheap AV soloer, but I wouldn't want to try soloing with one. Likewise DM/Shield, the current AV soloing king would again make a lousy farmer, add a billion inf and that would be a different story, but you're not starting with a billion inf, we're rying to make it quick.
Short Answer, Roll two different toons, and start sidekicking the second when the first hits 46.

4- Okay, so basing this on the fact we're talking about two different toons in all likelihood,
For the farmer I'd again suggest Dark Armor for Survivability, it's a very early blooming set.
But for the AV soloer, I'd recommend Fire/SR, SR is a late bloomer, but can easily reach the softcap, and much more survivable at later levels, and the cost to bring it up to AV soloing level is low. (it's really just a matter of adding CJ, Weave and Aid Self, and could probably be done with generic IOs, though I wouldn't want to try)