Robert_B
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Posts
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Quote:Yey your back! I was gonna hijack this thread with my TA/A if you didn't post soon, mine is up to level 17 so far.Originally Posted by Level
Sorry I've been away from this post, but I found playing the TA/A defender to be soooo tedious. However, I'm not giving up. I hit 13 and took Acid Arrow and immediately slotted it with a recharge. I'll keep you posted.
you really HAVE to team with this toon for the lower levels till you get OSA, I'm mostly with a fire troller so with Flash Arrow and Smoke from Fire we can walk right up to most mobs and they don't know we're there tee hee.
Keep at it, it's actually fun if not overwhelming..... -
Quote:I'll reconsider that Arrow as I raise my difficulty settings....Originally Posted by Davester
I tend to use PGA when facing large groups. In those situations, the damage debuff is much more noticeable. Acid Arrow, on the other, there's a power that's good solo or on teams.
Also, TA starts out slow but really opens up as you gain levels. Good luck! -
Quote:I went Tech with mine so there are no worries there, also, I tend to play with a Fire troller so.....................Originally Posted by Doughboy
I'd love a new update on Silk Fletcher.
By the way, TA gets so much better when you get oil slick arrow. Also, selecting tech or magic origin means you can light it with your inherent power. -
Quote:Originally Posted by Zandock
So, a friend of mine wants to get back into the game and talked about running some characters together. They were never very good at making builds or the like, so I wanted something simple we could run together. I figured what could be better than running a duo of Empaths? The only problem I have now is trying to decide what blast set to use.
The first thing that came to mind was using Sonic Blast, just knowing how awesome it is on my Rad/Son, and two times the -res can only be a good thing. I'm unsure if the lack of aoe damage will be good for trying to level up though as it will be likely we'll be able to take on larger spawns with all the survivability. I've heard that Ice Blast is pretty amazing with Ice Storm and Blizzard seems like a fun nuke to use with perma ABs going on. I know Rad Blast has some nice AoEs as well.
Like I said my friend has really never worked on complex builds before and knows absolutely nothing about IOs, so I'm trying to design a pair that will level up smoothly on SOs or common IOs. The builds are going to be identical for flavor purposes as well as ease of planning. Any suggestions or experiences would be most appreciated.
As someone who dual/triple boxes and has done the emp route I would suggest either Sonic or Ice. Sonic lets you slice and dice with the -Res and you get that cone sleep which, with two of you would allow you to put large groups to sleep and take them out one at a time. Ice is good for the reasons already listed on this thread.
But, if you want to do Massive AoE, you might consider Archery (my personal favorite).
A better option AoE wise would be two Plant/Emp trollers, Seeds everything so that they don't hit you and watch the damage pile on with containment, you might erase this duo due to boredom as your gonna kill everything and laugh at how easy it is, and I don't mean a little chuckle kind of laugh, I'm talking a maniacal laugh, like Mr. Burns putting his fingers together and saying "excellent" -
Quote:I guess what I meant to ask is do TA's normally take this power or is it skip-able? it doesn't seem to do much ATM but that might change as I get to higher levels.Originally Posted by Amy_Amp
The only other thing worth slotting is the sleep and that's really for solo play, or purples. It's really used for the -dmg so that's why it just gets the recharges,
Is this power considered a "must have" in my arsenal? -
Quote:Not to hijack this thread, but I'm on the same journey as the OP so since you offered....Originally Posted by New Dawn
Yeah I've blown respecs on one thing in early levels that had to be rid off, but really that attack hits 5 at a time, so I would of looked at its potential damage to group and kept it. But you may be soloing or small teaming.
What might be nice if assuming you do 8 man teams, soak in what sets they have and what problems occured fighting enemies. Sometimes a problem exists that TAs need help in knowing how to solve. If you have issues just say anyhow.
I picked up and then dropped PGA as I didn't find it to be useful at all, you would think that -DMG would be awesome, but so far (and I'm only level 12 mind you) it's not.
Everything I read shows it to be slotted with just Recharges, should I do something else?
Also, to the OP "Level" keep posting!!!! -
Quote:Heh I gotta take a few on and see what happens!Originally Posted by DoctorWhat
Trick Arrow, compared to other debuff sets, tends to be more of a 'Jack of all Trades Master of None'. It's resistance debuffs will help with AVs, but as mentioned it has limited regen debuffs. I imagine that while it will help with most AVs it will really shine in massive mobs since A) all but two of TA powers are AoE and B) you have so many different debuffs the mobs will be a lot more ineffective.
I guess TA could use some love from the devs, but it gets the job done. -
Quote:Yea, I have some Corr's so I didn't want to go that way again, and I'm dead-set on a TA/A so that limits me in other ways... Oh well, it's not like we suck or anything, I am hoping that getting OSA + ROA will get me over that level 40 hump when I get bored to tearsOriginally Posted by RiverOcean
It sounds like your trio is going to have lots of solid control.
The problem is going to be consistent damage (even though Fire and Plant provide damage in their primary).
If you're dying to shoot pointy sticks at things here's a couple of suggestions:
Stay a Defender and go:
Traps/TA or TA/Sonic
- Traps does everything TA does, but also provides team buffs & more reliable -regen.
- Sonic Blast does quite a bit of -resist for a defender. With two emp controllers buffing you, you should be golden.
- If you're still want to be thematic, you may I suggest an Arch/TA Corruptor? Especially if your team is starting off in Praetoria. You'll get the debuff later, but have near blaster level damage.
In the end you have to play something that you enjoy. If you stick with a TA/ARCH defender there's still plenty of synergy with your team mates. For example the Fire Controller will play especially nice with you Oil Slick Arrow. You guy's won't lack for safety via control against most normal mobs.
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Quote:Surly there are SOME AV's that this trio could defeat? considering that everyone will have Fort (the TA/A will have 2x fort) along with 3x assault and such?Originally Posted by Bionic_Flea
The -regen is in emp arrow -- a more than decent -1000, just like Poison Gas Trap. Unlike poison gas trap, it kills your recovery and has an incredibly long recharge. Chances are you will only get to use it once against an AV while a trapper can get a few in.
And yes the -tohit will stack with smoke.
But I'm not sure that 2 emps and a TA can take an AV. Not a lot of -regen or damage. It may be possible but it won't be easy and would require all three to have very specialized and expensive builds. If you add a fourth with either high DPS or more debuff it should not be a problem at all. -
Quote:Seems like there is alot of debuf in this set, what, in your opinion is missing? I see there is no -regen, so is that it?Originally Posted by Miladys_Knight
The short answer is, no it doesn't. An Earth/TA controller would though especially if you slot Achilles Heel proc in Earth's AoEs.
My usual Debuff order (assuming standard spawns) is: Target the boss, Flash Arrow > (OSA if recharged) > Glue Arrow > Acid Arrow > Disruption Arrow, target OSA, > Blazing Arrow
Also,
The fire troller took smoke, so if we both slot up those powers [flash arrow and smoke] will the -tohits stack? -
Hey All,
So I'm playing in a trio with a Fire/Emp and a Plant/Emp, I've decided to go TA/A since I've always wanted Oil Slick and RoA is fantastic.
I would have gone with a Emp/A but I decided to get some anchor-less debuffery going here, so the question is, does TA offer enough debuff that our team will be able to do AV's if we wanted too?
Also,
Assuming that all my powers are recharged, what would be the order that you would toss out debuffs before attacking? -
Thanks all!
I took my bots/traps to 22 and I am going to park him for a bit while I try my Thugs/FF, I really cant wait for I20.5 and the group shielding
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Hey all,
I have my Bots/Traps MM to level 20 and I am really enjoying it, but I did like my Thugs as well and the Level 18 power (the one that calls an army of Thugs for a little bit) seemed very useful (I didn't get my thugs that high before switching to Bots).
So I guess in the end I wonder which set is better, that repair power for Bots is useless in my case (I team with some Darks for healing) and since they are /dark I could swap out to Thugs/FF (with the new changes coming).
So, if you'll ignore the rambling aspect of this post, which set (Bots or Thugs) is the better set? -
Quote:Which two IO's are that? I'm at level 22 now and it's a bit of an issue.Originally Posted by Adeon Hawkwood
A lot of Masterminds have a weak spot between about level 18 (when their first pets drop to -2) and level 26 (when they get their boss pet). I'm currently going through that with my Demons/Thermal and it does hurt.
There are a few things you can do to try and help. One option is to take provoke and draw aggro onto yourself (Tanker-minding). This serves to spread damage more evenly over your pets so they are less likely to die to a spike. Additionally, picking up the pet defense aura IO (and the pet resistance one in a few levels) also helps toughen up your pets a bit. -
Quote:Hence we need a redname to respond to this issue, but as for what you wrote above, I gotta tell you the way the pets feel now seems like it was "flung out there".Originally Posted by prae
This isn't something that you just fling out there and hope it's not any worse; if you want to do it right (and if you're not going to do it right, why would you spend precious project manager, developer and QA hours on it?), you do it just as carefully as any either major project.
I've played plenty of MMO's that have pet classes and they have never been this bad. -
Quote:Turning off Melee attacks is part one (I would just want to do this anyway even if it didn't fix the issue) that should stop some minions from checking for range, Prot bots have another issue which is covered bellow.Originally Posted by Dechs Kaison
Except Protector Bots are notorious for going into melee when they have no melee attack. Letting us set pets to not use melee attacks won't help.
Actually it is, if you can program the bots to move closer to a target you can turn that code OFF, it's not even making new code, it's just disabling some.Quote:Originally Posted by Dechs Kaison
I'm not arguing that it's broken. I think the best thing for pet AI would be to let goto/stay override the henchmen's desire to move. I just know that the coding isn't that simple.
But yes Goto/Stay/Follow should trump everything and if they can do that it would fix most of the issues (hell, if stay worked properly this thread would never have existed).
It's such a pain to have to hit passive/follow so many times in a fight to get my bots to return to my side and then tell them to attack again, this is not WAI. -
Quote:The code does exist, witness our pets running in and meleeing, it's more of a matter of tweaking what is there (letting us set our pets to NOT use that attack) rather then reinventing the wheel.Originally Posted by Dechs Kaison
Ok, you just missed my point. You claimed this code already existed. I said it didn't. Your retort was "Well just add it."
Fine. That doesn't change the fact that it doesn't work that way now like you said it does.
The goto/stay commands should override any movement actions other then follow if thats our choice, and from what I keep reading, that is the case.
The AI is broken, and it would be nice if they would fix it, and the code to do that exists as well, it's a matter of taking some of the code from passive mode and applying that to attacks we want to skip. -
Quote:They should tweek the AI for MM's and give what we have now to controllers, it would make them happy atleast.Originally Posted by Lewisite
The AI in CoX is incredibly simple, and very bad. You didn't notice too much before masterminds came along and your interaction with the mobs was very limited...
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Quote:Umm, you add them my friend, you make it sound as if they can't add anything to the code, like it was written by a higher intelligence or a Super(I would say)Villan but they can do whatever they want to it, so, using good ole Pseudocode :Originally Posted by Dechs Kaison
Except there isn't different code for those two actions. The code says "use these attacks as they recharge, if you're not in range, move into range." The only check is "are you in range?" There is no "Is this a ranged attack? Can I move back and still fire?" All they do is attack and move into range. There are not separate AI strings for ranged and melee attacks.
Attack One Recharged
If UseThisPower = True
Call Check_Range
Use AttackOne
Else
SkipAttack
End
Attack Two Recharged
If UseThisPower = True
Call Check_Range
Use AttackTwo
Else
SkipAttack
End
ect. ect.
Check_Range would move them into range to use a power (like brawl) if necessary but is overridden by the Stay or Goto command, so if you put your pet too far away it does nothing, I'd rather have that then what we have now and if the user sets it to skip the attack it would skip the power, they can do this, they just don't feel it's necessary, it's not impossible, it's actually very doable with some effort on their part.
Whatever the code is they can change it to fix this behavior if they want to, it's just up to someone up the food chain to make it a priority, it has NOTHING to do with the tech, it's changeable. When I wrote Point-Of-Sale software, customers wanted some crazy stuff, but I had to make it happen.
But as long as people are sasitifed with complete crap about "how things can't be done" or "The code doesn't exist" they'll just keep stringing us along, and having a cheering section that believes this crap just makes it easier. -
Quote:How would you like to see it fixed?Originally Posted by Lewisite
Sure, but someone was lazy making the ai code, if it was done properly it wouldn't be the irritating player-infuriating problem it is now. Pet ai was always lazy rubbish in this game. Games that played on apple ii machines had better ai.
They should do the right thing and just fix it once and for all. Its not like this game is going anywhere after all.
Personally, I would like to be able to right-click on a minion and a menu would pop up with all their powers and radio buttons for priority (ie. High, Low, Off) and have the "Pet goto/Pet stay" force the pets to stay rooted to that spot (or have a max range that the MM can move away before they follow) and assuming that the melee attacks are off then the pets would not have any reason to move (unless you do).
Just doing those two things would help a lot (I know I know, JUST) -
Quote:Actually it is. There is code that has your pets attack at range (we know this works cause our bots do it), There is code that has your pets attack at Melee range (and move to the target if they are too far), your talking about disabling PART of the code depending on a setting, it's doable, everything is doable, it's just a matter of someone else's timetable (ie the devs) as to if/when this gets fixed, and nothing else, when they say it's impossible what they are saying is that "we are not going to devote the time to fix it".Originally Posted by Bookkeeper_Jay
Not that simple.
Remember, colouring our powers was impossible too and they listed a ton of reasons why, then CO come out and boom it happens.
Oh, and before anyone asks, Fortran, COBOL, pascal, turbo pascal, Basic, Qbasic, Visual basic, VBA, C, C++, these are the languages I have programmed in for the last 20+ years so I have an idea of what I am talking about and I've heard enough bull from Dev's and their fanboi apologists to see it for what it is. -
Quote:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dZiHKbaX8PEOriginally Posted by Bronze Knight
A Youtube link would be grand mate.
I didn't make a connection, but then again I could hardly listen to it. -
Thanks everyone for your suggestions, thats exactly what I was looking for.
But as for this:
Quote:I find I have to take them or I get bored out of my skull waiting for my minions to finish something, once I set a trap or two (Acid and PGT) then it's just a matter of sending "Attack this" commands, so I get to fire off a round of two as well.Originally Posted by Katie V
A quick build, based on the powers you've selected. I'm not a fan of the mastermind attacks (personally, I'd drop one of them for Triage Beacon and another for Fly), -
Hey All,
Well, my SearchFU has found alot of really useful guides to build some really tricked out IO builds for Bots/Traps, but, what about us folks who can't afford it or are still on our way to 50? Could anyone suggest regular slotting for all the powers that are listed bellow, please ignore when the powers are taken as I just quickly tossed them all in.
Villain Plan by Mids' Villain Designer 1.942
http://www.cohplanner.com/
Level 48 Science Mastermind
Primary Power Set: Robotics
Secondary Power Set: Traps
Power Pool: Flight
Power Pool: Leadership
Power Pool: Fighting
Villain Profile:
------------
Level 1: Battle Drones Empty(A)
Level 1: Web Grenade Empty(A)
Level 2: Caltrops Empty(A)
Level 4: Pulse Rifle Burst Empty(A)
Level 6: Equip Robot Empty(A)
Level 8: Photon Grenade Empty(A)
Level 10: Acid Mortar Empty(A)
Level 12: Protector Bots Empty(A)
Level 14: Hover Empty(A)
Level 16: Force Field Generator Empty(A)
Level 18: Maneuvers Empty(A)
Level 20: Poison Trap Empty(A)
Level 22: Pulse Rifle Blast Empty(A)
Level 24: Assault Empty(A)
Level 26: Assault Bot Empty(A)
Level 28: Seeker Drones Empty(A)
Level 30: Boxing Empty(A)
Level 32: Upgrade Robot Empty(A)
Level 35: Trip Mine Empty(A)
Level 38: Detonator Empty(A)
Level 41: [Empty]
Level 44: [Empty]
Level 47: [Empty]
Level 49: [Empty]
What I am looking for is something like...
Level 26: Assault Bot 2 Acc/3Dam/1 Endredux
Or whatever you would use.
Thanks everyone. -
Quote:How would we be overpowered? cause our pets act a little less stupid and don't rush in and die? The mobs can still just walk up to our pets and smash them, rather what this does is force us to stop them attacking (when using a command to have them follow us to get back to where we want them), there are other ways to reduce the power of our pets without making them act this way.Originally Posted by MaestroMavius
Thing is, since they were so quick to acknowledge and correct the MM issues with the trials it has me questioning if this is an actual 'bug' or is WAI.
To my knowledge, I've never seen a redname comment about it ever.
More than likely, it's left in to ensure we aren't overpowered. Honestly, MM's are very formidable even while suffering the bug. It's just now with the +4 mobs that it's starting to weaken us thus the proposed level shift for pets.
When you think about it. If we had that level of control over the pets we could break the game. Even more so with Incarnate powers.
This is why I doubt it'll ever really go away.
I could be wrong, feel free to point out a dev statement that it's being looked at. I'd like to be able to play my bots/storm without the little buggers turning into scrappers. I just don't think it's a bug like everyone else.
My guess is, as others have pointed out, they changed pet behavior with the introduction of /demons and messed them all up and haven't taken the time to fix it, it can be done it's not impossible, remember customizing out effects colour was "impossible" too.
I doubt this is WAI at all, the whole point of a MM is that we can control our pets, unlike, say a controller...