Rigel_Kent

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kinetics def sonic defender rad defender /rad controller
we invited a tank... "we are gonna need a healer."

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I do the same thing. If I have a slot to spare, an Empath is a wonderful insurance policy. I'm not so arrogant as to pretend that everything always works perfectly and we'll never need heavy healing.

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No team needs "Heavy Healing" whatever that's supposed to mean (since apparently Transfusion, Radiant Aura, and Mutation don't' qualify?). The team you quoted really doesn't need "Heavy Healing." It's good to go. Just fill the 8th slot with a warm body, don't hold up the show for no reason.

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Edited to add:

Seriously. Empaths are wonderful for when things go wrong.

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Lots of sets, including Empathy, can be wonderful for when things go wrong. Vigilance doesn't give defenders a monopoly on panic buttons.

StormyDarkness:
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Empathy, as it stands, is the best healing set. It has three heals, and a rez.

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Highest number of powers != best. Especially when two of the powers, HO and AP, are kind of crummy and redundant. (AP being the crummier of the two for defenders, HO being the crummier of the two for controllers, playstyle-dependent of course.) And the rez isn't that great either--Howling Twilight, Power of the Phoenix, and Mutation rez and so much more, Empathy Rez is more of a slightly nicer version of Resuscitate.

Empathy is hella good at regen buffing though, and for teaming with squishies, especially squishies with moar Empathy. Also curiously good at tanking if you're weird like that.

RANGED: Blaster Psi blast. No brainer.

MELEE: Fiery Assault. Castle's new damage formula hits fire's AoE hard, and doesn't account for fire's lack of a debuff or mez side effect.

BUFF/DEBUFF: Empathy. But it won't see a buff because 1) devs buffing a buff/debuff set? HA!, and 2) if the majority of the playerbase is deluded into thinking Empathy is a great set, the devs might be too.

DEFENSE: Super Reflexes. The source of the problem is passive defenses being weak (especially now that toggles suppress rather than dropping). SR ties with Invul for most weak passives, but at least Invuln's work fully even when your health bar is OK.

CONTROL: Gravity Control. Controller Lift deals inexplicably low damage compared to the dom version and compared to Levitate. Both controller and dominator -movespeed debuffs have potential but need boosting to at least double Ice Control's -movespeed levels (since Ice also does -rechargespeed).

I was all for the "their $15, let them play how they want" approach for a while. That changed when I realized nobody was teaching anybody the ropes.

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Empathy shines on dysfunctional teams

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That's part of the truth, but any good defender is a godsend to a dysfunctional pug. AE is a breeding ground for noobish classism, nothing more and nothing less. Tanker, healer, damage dealer -- you must be exactly one and no more than one.

Actually, economics says it is too much to ask -- for every player who opts not to purchase the pack, or compares the pack to Issue 15 and decides that their $15 per month, still among the highest monthly subscription rates in the industry, isn't getting them enough new "free" content to continue subscribing.

Also, don't forget long-term effects of this business strategy. Some people like MMORPGs with clear haves and have-nots. Some people like MMORPGs where everyone is on more level ground. This business strategy changes City of Heroes to appeal more to one and less to the other than it has in the past.

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P.S. Shenanigans on NetherGoat for calling the players buying the pack and wanting to share part of it with everyone else "entitlement whiners".

Alright. Regardless of the reasoning for banning these words and phrases -- oh, heck, let's just say for the sake of argument they're banned for all of the above reasons. Copyrights and trademarks and drugs and near-naughty words. I think there's still a consensus that the filter is overdoing it.

Elec's okay. It's no damage juggernaut like fire, but it has a very solid utility power in Tesla Cage. And I don't think anyone argues elec's at the bottom of the totem pole anymore, now that the ******* son of psi blast has been dumped on our AT.

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No, don't pin this on Marvel. Yes they started the lawsuit that resulted in all this, but the truly guilty party here is whichever dev came up with this ridiculous banlist of words.

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I'm singling out Marvel because I think Marvel is still making intellectual property demands. I don't know for sure, but there is circumstantial evidence:

1) The new ban list has only a few huge DC trademarks, such as Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman. Globally famous names like that.
2) Other than that, the new ban list is loaded with Marvel "trademarks", most of which I haven't seen or heard of in years, if ever.
3) Marvel has a documented history of being (hmm, how to put this politely) aggressive about restricting use of their "trademarks" in this game.
4) The terms of the settlement in Marvel vs. NCSoft are secret, but my guess is it cemented City of Heroes's already-existing accommodations for trademark trolls -- i.e. you've still got our number, call us anytime. What was once voluntary trademark overprotection could now be a court-enforceable mandate.

If you still think it's someone at NCSoft doing this list, that's also a viable theory. There are some oddballs on the list like "spartans" and "vash stampede" that don't look like they came from an outside source. Even so, that still suggests GMs have a really long list of "trademarks" from Marvel to check against, but not so much from DC or others.

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"Buzz"? Really?

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Ah, Marvel, our favorite trademark troll. Publish some obscure what-if mini-arc lasting all of three issues, and they think they own the word forever. Or at least nine years later.

(And never mind that Marvel vs. NCSoft made it clear that players using Marvel names and likenesses isn't trademark infringement, so NCSoft can't be liable for indirect trademark infringement arising from such use.)

P.S. Marvel also thinks they own the words "amalgam" "showcase" "tangent" and "ultimate" among many others. I don't know how Marvel managed to get NCSoft to cave to this level of blatant trademark trolling, but those words are sadly off limits to us as well.

$10 is not a micropayment. Buying 1000 credits for $10, and spending 200 credits for a respec, 10 credits for use of a mission teleporter temp power on demand, 5 credits per in-game email recipient, etc. -- that's a micropayment scheme. (Ah, if only the game weren't loaded with nonexchangeable currencies already!)

Also, Issue 15 plus this booster pack plus Going Rogue on the horizon, taken together, really tips the balance of extra-cost goodies to "free" (included) goodies. I know not many people are going to be spooked and/or annoyed and/or rationally critical of a rising dollar-per-goodie cost enough to slow their spending, either by taking a month off or passing on the booster pack or expansion, but I know at least one person is. Economics happens at the margin, and everyone has a different price point; price creep leaks sales a bit at a time, doesn't lose it all in a sudden flood.

The blaster leans more toward AoE damage, the defender leans more toward AoE debuff and denial. With some overlap, of course. Try to get a temp/dayjob power with fire or energy damage if you go with the defender.

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way to squishy

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Your solo build should have both Shockwave and Siren's Song. Mutation and Fallout are easy power drops to make room. I'd squeeze at least one of the two into your teaming build as well. Fitness pool is possibly droppable to make room.

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and lacking in damage

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Definitely too many skipped secondaries. Shockwave's damage is decent, just find a way to use the knockback to your advantage. Not tough, since hit targets get knocked away from you equally in one neat pile, instead of maybe-so-maybe-no a la Energy Blasting.

Though I'd still be happy to add the dark, since they're likely to have a rockin' secondary.

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Mind you i feel cold will eventually gain ground and possibly bump dark and storm within the next 12 months.

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Unless Thermal gets ported or the devs stop capping task forces with 220,000 hp regen machines.

If you want to keep a team well defended, the three powers you shouldn't delay are:

8) Clear Mind (1 slot is fine) - Because mez kills.
10) Psychic Scream (6 slots isn't enough) - Because that puppy's stackable.
12) Fortitude (a medium amount of slots is probably ok) - Because Empathy doesn't really have better options.

Use those three powers as the core of your low level choices, and build around them.

Overall, as with many weak primary/strong secondary combinations, it doesn't hurt to think of yourself as a Psy/Emp and build from there. Don't neglect slotting and using Mental Blast, as that's your best single target debuff, handy against low level bosses. To accomodate your best defensive powers at low levels, you'll have to borrow slots from and/or delay Heal Other and Resurrect -- not a bad deal, since HO and Rez enjoy huge de facto endurance discounts already from Vigilance, and aren't that great anyway (inspiration redundancy).

There's a strong correlation between healing powers and primary popularity. Just sayin'.

Woo, 0-day toxic resist exploitz.

I know the following is an engine limitation, but non-stacking debuffs is a pet peeve of mine, especially when mobs get to run wild between my slows.

Cold Domination

Balance Issues

* Infrigidate's non-self-stacking nature grants targets a moment of freedom from Infrigidate's debuffs whenever the power is reapplied. In particular, Infrigidate's slow debuffs are less useful as targets move and recharge much more quickly during this period.

Enervating Field and Accelerate Metabolism are the most direct ways of boosting your teammate's damage. They also have nice situational side effects -- EF is your best defense against GMs and AVs, and AM gives some resistance to a variety of annoyances: slows, end drain, and mezzes.

Also, don't let the fact that Fallout has big damage attached sway your decision too much. It's also a big nasty debuff.

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7th Generation Paragon Protectors - ... I like having to make my attack chain different so they don't use their tier 9 powers...

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Yeah, unstoppable and elude are good annoyances on minions and LTs, forces me to time that Build Up or Aim or knockback or mez to properly finish them off. Same with phasing minions and LTs. But Moment of Glory mobs, with their massive self-damage robbing me of rightly earned xp, goes beyond annoyance and straight into buggy and lame.

Most favorite: I kind of like Tsoo sorcerors, gives a nice easy target for mezzing.

Least favorite: Lost Anathemas. 4 single target psi blasts (the defender versions) and the psi cone and the rikti sword and hold protection? On a level 20 LT? Please.

Still no confirmation on the Fulcrum Shift buffs, but here's something for Cold:

Cold Domination

Bugs

* Frostwork buffs toxic damage resistance, but does not accept damage resistance enhancements or resist damage enhancement sets.

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If you are writing (or peforming or engaging in any artistic medium intended to be presented to the general public) then grow a thicker skin.

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Thick skins go only so far under threat of arc banning and permanent slot loss.

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Looking for tips on a group friendly Rad/Rad build. I like the buffing/debuffing aspect of the powers, not the "I want to DPS" side.

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1) With Rad/Rad, there's not much difference between a solo friendly build and a team friendly build.

2) DPS is also team friendly.

Anyway, Radiation Infection is going to be your best power at the lowest levels. Anything caught within its radius is basically no longer a threat. Slot for extra -tohit debuff to give +1s and +2s the same treatment. Once you've got your defense covered (thanks to RI), you're very much free to experiment.

Irradiate's ok. It's safe thanks to its very fast animation time, and the fact that the DoT nature seems to delay aggro against you. It's also an ok contributor to DPS because of that animation time. But for serious area damage, Electron Haze is the way to go (slot for range for more coverage), and for serious area -defense debuffing, Neutron Bomb is the way to go (Irradiate's defense debuff is usually overkill, Bomb brings much-handier duration and stacking).

Achilles' Heel proc makes your secondary even more team friendly. Don't let what "pure healer" snobs say about defender secondaries get in the way of spamming those support blasts.

So, I was on a couple of failed new Reichsman TFs and thought now might be a good time to dust off my old cold/rad defender.

Wonder how many other people are thinking the same thing?

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226,175. More than the Hamidon.

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Explains why I can't talk people on global channels into doing this. We're definitely back to the -regen bad old days with this AV. Maybe if I mail free carpal tunnel gloves and milkshakes to my @gfriends as bribes.

Illustration of the stupidity of censorship:

Saying Jay is #$%*&@y is way more offensive than the uncensored version.