Sailboat

Duh.

Can't seem to get two of the new Boomtown exploration badges, End of the Line and Towering Inferno. End of the Line looks like it's on the tip of the broken-off monorail line, judging by Badge-Hunter's snapshot, but I've crawled all over that and the ground below it without getting the badge. The picture for Towering Inferno is harder to match up (sooty and smoky area) but I've jogged all over the burned-out top of that building and finally gave up trying to blunder into the badge marker.

Any suggestions? Is it possible these are bugged? Or am I simply missing my targets?

Well, that's pretty screwy in practice. A stealth IO in Super Speed doesn't make you visible when you start running, although it sounds like it would when you turn on the SS toggle. But in practice you can run, stop, run and stay stealthed. But not with Teleport?

Hrm, anyone tried a stealth IO in Super Jump? Do you uncloak for an instant every time you kick off the ground?

Anybody who's not deadweight and who is having fun. Bonus points for occasional snappy banter.

So I have one of these. It works.

Mostly.

After I port I am stealthed for a period of time...I assume it's the "120 seconds" period, but I haven't actually measured it. I can get fairly close and not be seen, but it's not true invisibility.

I can walk around the enemy in a circle, and (as long as I stay that certain short distance away) not be seen. I can walk AWAY and not be seen. I can TELEPORT INTO close-but-not-too-close range and not be seen.

But if I teleport again while relatively close, I am suddenly seen right at the moment of teleporting.

So, once I am, say, 30-40 feet from the enemy, I can walk out of close-ish range and stay stealthed but I can't teleport out of range without waking up the spawn and getting attacked. I am visible for an instant right as I 'port.

What's going on here? Is this working as intended, or a bug?

I've recently taken to running Oroborous arcs with Nemesis in them to pile up Fake Nems and Merits at the same time. The Nems are always in my level range when in Oro flashback mode, not gray, so I get other rewards too.

Claws is already a blindingly fast-recharging set, and SR gives you Quickness to stack on that. That's very nice, and to some extent you won't need to have lots of power picks open for attacks, since you'll be able to get them back fast enough to build a decent chain with a few attacks.

That said, I otherwise agree with Cyber_naut. My own Claws Scrapper is /WP, mostly for concept, but I haven't regretted it.

One weird thing with Storm Defenders -- Hurricane tends to scatter enemies radially away from you, making it tricky to keep a lot of foes debuffed (you can do it but you have to move around a lot unless you have good terrain).

However, one foe goes straight back from Hurricane and there's no one else for him to be forced away from. So Hurricane completely owns any solo enemy who's not an AV. Even a mid- or lowish-level Storm Defender who has trouble with medium-sized spawns will totally dominate lone bosses. As soon as I get Hurricane, I like to go looking for them (Steel Canyon has a lot of solo Outcast bosses running around in the teens, for example). It's great fun to throw a red Lead Scorcher around and have him completely in your power. My Storm defenders are always on the lookout for single powerful enemies.

I agree that Martial Arts has a similar hard-hitting single-target attack chain, satisfying sound effects and good dominating secondary effects.

I do love Broadsword though. As I have said elsewhere, Broadsword is a toolset...and every tool is a can opener...and the can is labeled "whoopass."

Try Vidiotmaps in the Badge-Hunter site: Vidiotmaps

Once you've clicked on a chosen map, then notice above the map there's a pulldown menu currently showing "Interactive" right next to the zone name. If you pull that down and toggle it to "Viewable," and hit the "get map" button next to the zone name, it will show you what level and type of enemies are in each colored area of the map. For some reason that's ONLY available on the "Viewable" option.

For example, I picked Skyway City. The bottom-most red area (by the faultline entrance) over on the left margin says "Clk 17-19, Lst 17-19, Trl 15-19."

That means you will find Clockwork and Lost there ranging from levels 17-19, and level 15-19 Trolls.

This is a gigantic help in street hunting or especially when sent to find a particular group. A few clicks and you'll know where to fined Vazhilok in Steel without having to beg in broadcast.

Bump.

Last night I pulled out an alt for a Numina Task Force. Even though that's a "lower" level TF than the alt was (she was 40), she motored up from 40 to 42.3 during the TF without even trying. A few hours of fun and I've closed a substantial amount of the distance to 50.

All you gotta do is play...especially teamed...even the supposedly "long" levels fly by.

I have no idea what epic to pick for a team-built Earth/Rad Controller. I like the holds, so maybe Power Boost? Does that even work with Volcanic Gasses, though?

Concur that of the primaries, MA, DB, Katana, and perhaps Claws are the flashiest / most stylish choices.

I will add that I personally find MA/Shield (with the right shield customization) a very good-looking and stlyish combo.

Also, as regards fun and versatility, I've been pleasantly surprised by Broadsword/Shield. I made one for concept and found out by accident that the combination of ruggedness and hitting power are outstanding. Long before adding set bonuses, stuff that might overpower Shield's defense is thwarted by Parry or mercilessly cut down by Broadsword's hitting power. Boosted by AAO, Broadsword has carved my way out of trouble more times than I can count.

Point of order: The Incarnate slotting that gives the large recharge bonus plus healing looks attractive to Fire Tankers. Consider that some of that recharge bonus will be reduced by the ED caps...but all of it will improve stuff that's substantially below the cap, such as one- or low-slotted Consume. So an Incarnate build like that could easily pick up Consume for emergencies with one of the one-slotted powers opened up by the Fitness Inherent change.