Sapph

Ah. I missed that post. I heard talk that "a redname said so", but the talk was non-specific, so I assumed it referenced the fact that Statesman wrote the guide.

If it is on a non-random timer, I am disappointed. First, the timer seems to place it at o-dark thirty. Second, I enjoyed the proactive stance of CoV. Waiting for a spawn to "magically" happen puts us on the same reactive footing as the heroes.

[ QUOTE ]
Triggered Zone Events - Back in Issue 3, we were told that no zone events were triggered. Recently, we were told Caleb was triggered. Is Caleb a lone exception? Or was there a change in Zone Event philosophy along the way and many zone events are triggered now? If there was a change, was it done for Issue 5, or for issue 6/CoV? Basically, we need a Developer to tell us what's triggered and what's not - so we know to go out and look for trigger events. We don't need the actual trigger information handed to us.

[/ QUOTE ]

That design philosophy was when there was only CoH, and still applies to CoH. However, in keeping with the "proactive vs reactive" design philosophy, all CoV zone events are player initiated. Deathsurge is for killing Gremlins, Ghost of Scrapyards is for killing Scrapyarders, Caleb is for killing on Thorn Isle (whether it is for killing Spectrals or Mages is disputed - I think the former). The Arachnos Flier is almost certainly player spawn, IMO, despite Prima claims. We just haven't discovered the criteria yet.

[ QUOTE ]
You should add to the FAQ the fact that only one character in the history of the game has gotten this badge legitimately, and it should not really be considered a generally obtainable badge at this time.

[/ QUOTE ]

There are now 2. We believe the second player (whom I have confirmed, but has asked me not to publisize) obtained it by reporting the duping bug associated with base storage.

[ QUOTE ]
Illusionist - Some people have reported that the number of MI-spawned Illusionists required for this badge skyrocketed from 200 to 500 in recent months.

[/ QUOTE ]

Confirmed true.

[ QUOTE ]
Lastly, as to questions, one that has talked about, buried, given luke warm lip service to, buried, dug up, and ignored is When will costumers be able to transfer characters between servers? And please don't just ask that and walk away from it. Are there technical problems with it? What are they? Would users have to pay a fee? What about duplicate names inside the same server? Why can virtually every other MMO do this, and yet COV/COH can't.

The answer to the first part is almost meaningless without the required specific responses that go with it. And if Cuppa can't answer the question, can she get those answers? If she can't who can provide those answers - Specifically; someone that we can follow up with and who will respond.

[/ QUOTE ]

This is perfect. Exactly what I was looking for. I'm not asking anyone to do my job - my /job/ has nothing to do with CoH. I'm going to be lucky enough to be on air with Cuppa (it's not MY show either), and I'm trying to spread the love by asking people to submit questions. The issues that burn my mind are not neccessarily the ones that burn yours. Trying to find a question or complaint for Cuppa to address by browsing the fora is like trying to find a needle in a needle stack.

But if you have a question you really want answered, post it here, or PM it to me, and I'll do my best to get it on air.

Now Statesman effigies - that's fun for the whole family!

(I keed, I keed, please don't nerf me!)

[ QUOTE ]
Wow, this game is really turning into a "cult of personality". With ALL the stuff that is defective, broken, unexplained, unfixed, and just downright wrong in this game, it's hardly the time for a press op and back-patting.

If you guys think way-way-WAY back - to like....last week, the same group of people who went "Old Yeller" on 70 employees, left us paying customers high and dry, and unable to login, for the better part of a day.

So, before any "unmasking" is done, let's see if we can get some TOUGH questions answered, instead of a bunch of "Larry King" softballs.

Let's see if there's anything worth listening to.

[/ QUOTE ]

So, tell me - how is Cuppa responsible for the "defective, broken, unexplained, unfixed, and just downright wrong in this game"?

Like a previous post said - if there are questions you want answered - post them here. If they are good questions, we'll ask her. But if their just going to be agressive scapegoating, then I guess we can just pass on each other.

Cuppa is a huge asset to the community - while she can certainly answer questions about player concerns, martyring her does no one any good. Comparing the immense respect the community as a whole has for Cuppa and all she's done on our behalf to mindless adulation of a leader of a totalitarian regime . . . um, yeah. Get some perspective, man.

I would TOTALLY have a 45 villain ready to go . . . if I hadn't spent every waking (and working, thank you Uncle Sam!) moment recoding Badge-[censored].com ;p

To all those who already have 45s from hours of playtesting, providing us with invaluable data - thank you, and good luck!

I would say the only soft spots in this build are for Recall Friend or Petrifying Gaze. Both are great though. You might just wait for I7 and shift Petrifying Gaze or Group Fly to 41.

If Fly is already your travel power of choice, I would definately pick it up. Very neat animation. That doesn't obliviate the need for Recall Friend however. There are just too many times when your bots get stuck somewhere, and you can't afford to run away until it self-ports to you.

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]


2) The Hydra in Perez used to be farmed for xp. 8 man teams would be constantly hydra hunting in the lake.



[/ QUOTE ]

... that Smoke Grenade had a misplaced decimal that caused massive debuffing (400% ?? 200% ?? can't remember the number)? Before they found the misplaced decimal, SG was considered over-powered so they added a To-Hit roll, so that you would miss someone standing right next to someone you hit. This made no sense due to how a real Smoke Grenade would work. THEN they found the mis-placed decimal and corrected it. However, they left the To-Hit roll on the power making it essentially useless. You could also stack your own SG's multiple times, which they also removed, which most players agreed with, except for those that had six-slotted it for recharge. Remember, there was no respec at that time so you were stuck with the slotting.

... that I'm too tired to think of any more of these right now?

[/ QUOTE ]

Even before respec, you could always trash your enhancements. You were stuck with six slots, but they could be any six you wanted.

Cuppa: MARK

The Salvage Chart is still a work in progress, but here is an index of the tabs.

Sapph's Salvage Chart

Note: All tabs that contain recipies of any kind have conditional formatting to indicate if adequate quantities exist in the holdings. Please note that it may indicate adequate amounts for multiple recipies - but you may only have enough for 1 recipie. Once you see it, it should hopefully be self-explanitory.

TOC: Has in-chart links to the other tabs.
Expert Tech Items: Recipies for items on the Expert Tech table.
Advanced Tech Items: Recipies for items on the Advanced Tech table.
Experimental Tech: Recipies for Experimental Tech components.
Tech Software: Recipies for Tech Software components.
Arcane Essence: Recipies for Arcane Essence components.
Arcane Glyph: Recipies for Arcane Glyph components.
Tech Hardware: Recipies for Tech Hardware components.
Tech Prototype: Recipies for Tech Prototype components.
Mystic Element: Recipies for Mystic Element components.
Mystic Foci: Recipies for Mystic Foci components.
Tech Material: Recipies for Tech Material components.
Tech Power: Recipies for Tech Power components.
Holdings: Area for entries of current salvage and component holdings. Entries for multiple salvage holders.

If you have any questions, comments, or suggestions, PM me or send tell to @Sapph in game.

1) Run a demo file for an example on the length of a server tick

2) Respites (for that matter any healing) are instant heath, the bar growth is animation artifact. Testing will confirm this.

3) I know you want to hear it from a redname. Until Castle confirms, this is all you'll get. ;p

A few reasons really.

1) No room for it. Not powerwise - I could always drop the 'port. Slotwise. TP Friend requires no extra slotting to be effective, Fearsome Stare does.

2) Part of the cornerstone of the build is aggro-minimizer. The last thing I need to do is piss off a cone.

3) Its use as a soft control is greatly minimized after 32, when bots throw out AoEs like Octopi at a Red Wings game.

But, YMMV, so if you really like it, you know . . . you're not obligated to follow my build. ;p

Sapph's Power and Tactics Guide to Bot/Dark v2

Sapph's Power and Tactics Guide to Bot/Dark v2

The Mastermind AT is completely unique in the CoH/CoV universe. No other AT gets pets so early, so many pets, or such nuanced control over their pets. In fact, the experience is so different; most people don't even call what Masterminds use pets. They are called minions or henchmen. We will be using henchmen here. Now to the specifics.

Robotics: An Overview

In general, your bots will share a few characteristics. They will have a resistance to lethal/psionic/cold damage. They will have a resistance to sleep/fear/disorient effects. They prefer ranged, and will use energy based attacks. Like all other MMs, you have three henchmen classes, and two upgrade powers. The upgrade powers are called Equip Robot and Upgrade Robot. Your henchmen are as follows:


Henchmen

Battle Drone: Your basic expendable battle bot. They can be quite unintelligent, and will often run to melee for no apparent reason. They have Super Leap as an inherent power, but will not use it as a travel power, only as a means to scale otherwise impassable heights. You get your second bot at 6 and your third at 18. They start with two powers:

* Ranged Blast (Ranged, Energy)
* Smash (Melee, Smashing)


After the initial upgrade, they gain just one ability:

* Heavy Laser Burst (Ranged, Energy/Smashing) BI: 1.78 1.14


After the final upgrade, they gain:

* Full Auto Laser (Ranged, Energy)




Protector Bot: The little defender that could. Your protector bots are perfectly capable offensively, but their primary usefulness to you will be their defender style abilities. You get your second bot at 24. They start with two powers:

* Force Bubble (+DEF(All))
* Ranged Blast (Ranged, Energy)


After the initial upgrade they gain two abilities:

* Limited Repair (Heal Bot) This is not the full heal of Repair in the bot line, but a much more limited heal.
* Heavy Laser Burst (Ranged, Energy/Smashing)


After the final upgrade, they gain:

* Photon Grenade (Ranged AoE, Disorient, Smashing)
* Seeker Drones - These Seeker Drones will follow your bot until they detect an enemy and then they will zero in on their targets and detonate on impact. The small explosive flash of energy does only minor damage, but the concussion can weaken foes. Affected targets will have reduced Damage, Accuracy and Perception and may even be Disoriented for a short while. Your bot can only ever have Two Seeker Drones out at one time and they can be destroyed by its foes.




Assault Bot: This mammoth bot is literally a killing machine. 'Nuff said. It starts with one power:

* Plasma Blast (Ranged, Energy)
* Smash (Melee, Smashing)


The initial upgrade grants two new abilities:

* Flamethrower (Cone, Fire)
* Dual Plasma Blast (Ranged, Energy)


After the final upgrade, they gain:

* Swarm Missles (Targeted AoE, Disorient)
* Incendiary Swarm Missles (Targeted AoE - For ever target successfully hit, an ignite patch will be dropped)


Notes and Tactics

A note about bot control: It appears that bots have two separate path finding algorithms. One for "Attack My Target" and one for "Goto" or "Follow". The AMT pathfinding will cause you nothing but problems. You should always use Follow or Goto to place your bots before activating AMT.

A second note about bot control: Like a bunch of newbs, if you throw your bots in a room on Aggressive Mode, and don't tell them who to attack, they will all pick different targets, sometimes from multiple spawns, they will switch targets randomly, and they will take forever to finish. This is a good way to die. I suggest ALWAYS using AMT for target selection.


Pulling

What I do is set my bots to Passive/Stay. Its best if they are around a corner from the mob you are trying to pull. I then peel one bot off the group, and set him to AMT. As soon as he starts moving, I hit my Go To, and get ready to send him where the rest of the bots are. As soon as he begins the attack animation, I complete the goto command, so he will scamper off and hide. I follow, and drop a Tar Patch on my side of the corner, in case he pulled more than one. Often my trusty little drone will only pull one, however. He's a better puller than I am.
<font class="small">Code:[/color]<hr /><pre>
| * | | * | | | | |
| | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | |
| | -&gt; | D | -&gt; | | | |
| | | | | * | -&gt; | |
| | | | | | | |
-------- | -------- | -------- | -------- |
H | H P | P H T | P H T |
| | D | D |
| | | |
---------------- ---------------- ---------------- ----------------

The prep. The setup. The wait. The gloat.
H is your henchmen. P is you. You're behind your The * is gone
* is the target. D is your drone. bots, you've pulled because he is dead.
the drone back and
laid the Tar Patch
(indicated by T)</pre><hr />

Avoiding Alpha Strikes

Now, there are a number of ways to do this, depending on the type and severity of the alpha. Here are a few methods.

<ul type="square">[*] Set one bot to Goto/Agg, and put him right in the middle.[*] Set them all to Goto/Agg, and put them right in the middle (I might only use this in a large group when my summons were all recharged)[*] Summon a fluffy right in the middle (assuming you have Shadow Fall to get close enough)[*] Howling Twilight. Auto-hit and disorient. The cavalry better come in fast, though, because in a few seconds, their heads will clear.[*] Fearsome Stare. You better have some Acc and Duration slotted, because anything you miss will be looking right at you.[*] Send in the Brute. What's one brute, more or less? [/list]

Upgrades

Assuming you have three recharges in your 2nd upgrade, this is my upgrade order, I find it to be the most effecient. YMMV.

1. Drop toggles
2. Cast Assault Bot, Protector Bots, Battle Drones (in that order)
3. Double upgrade Assault Bot
4. First upgrades on Battle Drones
5. Double upgrade first Protector Bot
6. First upgrade second Prot Bot
7. If you have Stamina, raise toggles. Otherwise Rest, then raise toggles.

By this point the second upgrade will likely be ready (or nearly ready) for the second Prot Bot. Proceed into mission, upgrading as available.


Pet Management

Avoid the Agg stance at all costs unless you have a specific objective in mind, and you really know what you are doing. I often run on Passive. However, be aware that your Prot Bots will not bubble or heal in Passive, so you may want to put them in Def. For bots, you almost always want to use AMT. You want to concentrate your fire, and minimize your aggro. It is a mathematical certainty that you will kill faster and take less damage by concentrating on single targets.

Be aware of your surroundings. If you have a large team in an indoor mission, don't block access to doorways. However, if you have ranged ATs on your team and they have LOS, you can use your bots to block access from the mobs to your mates. If you are not the meatsheild, consider staying in back of the group. If your pets close to melee, make sure they aren't keeping your melee teammates from being able to hit the mob.

Be liberal in your use of the goto command. Pathing can be funky, but goto can often clear it up. Be liberal in your use of the stay command. When pets act wild, and Follow isn't working, sometimes Stay/Pass is all you need.

Think about AoEs. If you know you are going to be encountering an AoE happy foe, consider deploying your bots in a horseshoe, and pulling the mob in.

Think about knockback. Your bots have it, and Tar Patch does you no good if your first attack knocks them out of it. Consider arrangements where knockback will knock them into a wall, and your Tar Patch extends to the wall. There is nowhere out. ;p


Recommended Build

Now to the build. My build is centered on one ideal: Let my bots do the fighting. All of it. I don't take a single attack. There are just too many good buffs and debuffs. Buffs and debuffs are what I like to call a Force Multiplier. A defender running Assault solo is great, and I'm sure he likes that 12% buff. But when a lvl26 MM runs it, she gets her Assault bonus times SIX. I am of the opinion that given a choice between an attack and a buff/debuff, there is NO choice. With that said, let’s move on.

Also a note on Stamina: I know there are those out there that say its not neccessary, blah blah blah. When you are running Tactics, Assault, Darkest Night, and constantly spamming Twilight Grasp and Tar Patch . . . well, you'll see.

LEVEL 1 POWER CHOICES:
Robotics: Battle Drone. This is obvious. Take it and use it. I slot as follows: 2 Accuracy 3 Damage and 1 Knockback. If you plan on teaming with a lot of melee types, you could easily drop the knockback slot and apply it elsewhere.

Dark Miasma: Twilight Grasp. No choice here. But it’s a nice power. Twilight Grasp is a PBAoE heal that will have one of the primary debuffs of this set: Acc. It requires a target, but unlike the Kin set, if the target dies during casting, you still get your heal. If you are near your bots, as you should be with this build, they will all get a nice heal. I six slot this. 1 Acc, 2 Heal, 2 Recharge Reduction, and 1 End Reduction.

LEVEL 2 POWER CHOICE:

Dark Miasma: Tar Patch. Great power. Targeted AoE that is perma-able. +Slow, -Fly, -Jump, -Res. That -RES is a HUGE boost in long fights. Check the tactics section - this power can completely change your pulling strategy. I five slot this. 3 Recharge Reduction, 1 Endurance Reduction, and 1 Slow.

LEVEL 4 POWER CHOICE:

Dark Miasma: Darkest Night. This is also a big help in the big boss battles. -DMG and -ACC. Again, the ToHit Debuff. It happens a lot in this build, and if you slot for it, you will be able to consistantly floor mob's ToHit. It’s a toggle, and so my five slots here go: 3 End Reduction and 2 To Hit Debuffs.

LEVEL 6 POWER CHOICES:

Robotics: Equip Robot. In a game of mandatory powers, this is high on the list. No need to slot it much, it stands on its own. I slot with an End Red and/or a Recharge.

LEVEL 8 POWER CHOICE:

Leaping: Combat Jumping. I hear a lot of MMs will be taking Teleport. That’s all well and fine; insert the lead in to the travel power of your choice. I picked this because I love Super Jump, and because the ability to get out of an immob is useful to me. I slot for End Red.

LEVEL 10 POWER CHOICE:

Leadership: Assault. And here it begins. Three slot with End Red, and love the 11% boost to damage it gives. Coupled with the boost from Supremacy, this is a 36% boost - better than an SO, and with none of that nasty ED business to bring it down. It is pricey, though. Three slot with EndRed.

LEVEL 12 POWER CHOICE:

Robotics: Protector Bots. Since you already have Equip Robot, you can see them shine right from the get go. Their bubbles offer DEF to all types, and they will bubble all friendly henchmen and you. They will repair all friendly robot henchmen, and they have attacks too. Five slot these puppies. You have three real slotting options. If you are using Manuevers, and are planning on slotting Shadow Fall for def, you can do the def slotting: 1 Accuracy, 2 Damage and 2 Defense Buffs. If you want to go wild with the soft control, you can slot 1 Accuracy, 2 Damage and 2 Disorient. Otherwise 1 Accuracy, 2 Damage and 2 Heal. Once you get Upgrade Robot, replace one of either the DefBuff, Disorient or Heal (whichever you went with) with 1 EndRed, because they WILL run out of end.

LEVEL 14 POWER CHOICE:

Leaping: Super Jump. Or whatever travel power you chose. I like SJ.

LEVEL 16 POWER CHOICE:

Fitness: Hurdle. Or Swift. Whatever. You are going to be running some toggles, though, so Stamina is still on the list, ED or no.

LEVEL 18 POWER CHOICE:

Dark Miasma: Shadow Fall. Let’s face it, as a Mastermind we are the squishiest of the squishy. A little stealth never hurt, ESPECIALLY if you plan on doing some PvP. The DEF and RES are minimal at best, but every little bit helps. I three slot this for End Red.

LEVEL 20 POWER CHOICE:

Fitness: Health. Or Swift. Or Hurdle. Whatever. You know what the goal here is, and you know how to get to it.

LEVEL 22 POWER CHOICE:

Fitness: Stamina. We are running some heavy toggles, and respawning and upgrading bots in mid battle can be end intensive. Per ED dogma, this gets just three slots.

LEVEL 24 POWER CHOICE:

Leadership: Tactics. You might skip this power, and slot Acc in your bots instead. But remember that most of your bots are going to spawn at a lower level than you. If you are fighting +2, they are +3 or +4 to your bots. This gets six slots: 3 Endurance Reduction, and 3 To Hit Buffs. This combined with Supremacy should be enough to make your bots hit. Remember that ToHit is more powerful than Acc - this makes up for a LOT of Acc slotting.

LEVEL 26 POWER CHOICE:

Robotics: Assault Bot. What else? This gets just four slots. 1 Accuracy and 3 Damage.

LEVEL 28 POWER CHOICE:

Dark Miasma: Howling Twilight. This is NOT only useful for teams. If you are a pure solo machine, it is an auto-hit high mag AoE disorient. And nothing is better on a team than being able to rez 5 people at once. I three slot for recharge.

LEVEL 30 POWER CHOICE:

Dark Miasma: Petrifying Gaze. This is a departure from the previous guide. I never needed Repair, but oh what a difference a hold can make. When you come across spawns with two nasties (Spec Ops with the Sapper Grenade, or Flamethrowers), you can sic your minions on one, and hold the other. Throw as many Hold and Rech on this as you can manage.

LEVEL 32 POWER CHOICE:

Robotics: Upgrade Robot. Nothing needs to be said here. The recharge on this is a little longer, so I slot 3 Recharge Reductions.

LEVEL 35 POWER CHOICE:

Teleportation: Recall Friend. To be honest, I couldn't think of anything else to take. And it WILL be helpful when your bots get stuck on some doodad sticking out of the wall. This gets one Endurace Reduction enhancement.

LEVEL 38 POWER CHOICE:

Dark Miasma: Dark Servant. I imagine after 37 levels of obedient pets, the Dark Servant will seem obtuse, but it can do helpful things. Besides, who would pass up another pet? I six slot. You can focus on one specific area, or you can go wild. Useful enhancements include Heal, Hold, Immob, To Hit Debuff, Recharge and Taunt. I slot 1 Acc, 3 Recharge and 2 Hold.


Finally, I have found Khaiba's Mastermind Numeric Keypad Pet Controls to be invaluable in my quest for world domination. Acaos greatly helped me vet some of the typos and other errors. Aenix gave me a good common sense tip about power orders. And Hart for clueing me in to the worderful world of Howling Twilight, which I had never used before. AmazingRando gave me some dark news about ProtBot bubbles.

Woohoo! SG advertisement!

An homage to my previous . . .

Sapph's Guide to Bot/Dark Tactics

You asked for it . . . Sapph's Guide to Bot/Dark Tactics

Well, you asked for it, so here it is. Sapph's Guide to Bot/Dark tactics. Some of this will be general to all MMs, or just Bot, or just Dark, but if you have a Bot/Dark, than it should all apply to you.

Pulling

What I do is set my bots to Passive/Stay. Its best if they are around a corner from the mob you are trying to pull. I then peel one bot off the group, and set him to AMT. As soon as he starts moving, I hit my Go To, and get ready to send him where the rest of the bots are. As soon as he begins the attack animation, I complete the goto command, so he will scamper off and hide. I follow, and drop a Tar Patch on my side of the corner, in case he pulled more than one. Often my trusty little drone will only pull one, however. He's a better puller than I am.
<font class="small">Code:[/color]<hr /><pre>
| * | | * | | | | |
| | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | |
| | -&gt; | D | -&gt; | | | |
| | | | | * | -&gt; | |
| | | | | | | |
-------- | -------- | -------- | -------- |
H | H P | P H T | P H T |
| | D | D |
| | | |
---------------- ---------------- ---------------- ----------------

The prep. The setup. The wait. The gloat.
H is your henchmen. P is you. You're behind your The * is gone
* is the target. D is your drone. bots, you've pulled because he is dead.
the drone back and
laid the Tar Patch
(indicated by T)</pre><hr />

Avoiding Alpha Strikes

Now, there are a number of ways to do this, depending on the type and severity of the alpha. Here are a few methods.

<ul type="square">[*] Set one bot to Goto/Agg, and put him right in the middle.[*] Set them all to Goto/Agg, and put them right in the middle (I might only use this in a large group when my summons were all recharged)[*] Summon a fluffy right in the middle (assuming you have Shadow Fall to get close enough)[*] Howling Twilight. Auto-hit and disorient. The cavalry better come in fast, though, because in a few seconds, their heads will clear.[*] Fearsome Stare. You better have some Acc and Duration slotted, because anything you miss will be looking right at you.[*] Send in the Brute. What's one brute, more or less? [/list]

Upgrades

Assuming you have three recharges in your 2nd upgrade, this is my upgrade order, I find it to be the most effecient. YMMV.

1. Drop toggles
2. Cast Assault Bot, Protector Bots, Battle Drones (in that order)
3. Double upgrade Assault Bot
4. First upgrades on Battle Drones
5. Double upgrade first Protector Bot
6. First upgrade second Prot Bot
7. If you have Stamina, raise toggles. Otherwise Rest, then raise toggles.

By this point the second upgrade will likely be ready (or nearly ready) for the second Prot Bot. Proceed into mission, upgrading as available.


Pet Management

Avoid the Agg stance at all costs unless you have a specific objective in mind, and you really know what you are doing. I often run on Passive. However, be aware that your Prot Bots will not bubble or heal in Passive, so you may want to put them in Def. For bots, you almost always want to use AMT. You want to concentrate your fire, and minimize your aggro. It is a mathematical certainty that you will kill faster and take less damage by concentrating on single targets.

Be aware of your surroundings. If you have a large team in an indoor mission, don't block access to doorways. However, if you have ranged ATs on your team and they have LOS, you can use your bots to block access from the mobs to your mates. If you are not the meatsheild, consider staying in back of the group. If your pets close to melee, make sure they aren't keeping your melee teammates from being able to hit the mob.

Be liberal in your use of the goto command. Pathing can be funky, but goto can often clear it up. Be liberal in your use of the stay command. When pets act wild, and Follow isn't working, sometimes Stay/Pass is all you need.

Think about AoEs. If you know you are going to be encountering an AoE happy foe, consider deploying your bots in a horseshoe, and pulling the mob in.

Think about knockback. Your bots have it, and Tar Patch does you no good if your first attack knocks them out of it. Consider arrangements where knockback will knock them into a wall, and your Tar Patch extends to the wall. There is nowhere out. ;p

OP here. I just thought I'd reply to some of the comments, and offer some lessons learned now that I am 40.

At the time of the writing, I had only my beta experiences with Bot/Traps and what I knew of Dark Miasma from CoH.

Some things I wouldn't change:
STAMINA

Sure, it is easy to build without - and the three powers and 2 slots could easily be used elsewhere. But with Assault, Tactics, Combat Jumping, Shadow Fall, and (sometimes) near constant Tar Patch and Twilight Grasp, it comes in damned handy. And god forbid you have to do a combat summon without.
I won't say that its a must have like the days of yore . . . but I wouldn't make a Bot/Dark without.

No Weapons

I stand by this choice. I have heard the detractors and nay sayers. I still believe that not only is there plenty to keep me occupied without attacks of my own. I still believe that attacks can be dangerous aggro pullers. I still believe that the attacks offer far too low DPE to be effecient or effective. And I still believe that there are way too many other better choices (especially in /Dark).

Acc Slotting
Tactics + Supremacy is so very powerful . . . Maybe I can see giving Battle Drones a second acc slot. Nothing further. I've not noticed acc problems, even up to +3.

Things I would change:
Def Slotting in Proc Bot
Worthless. 'Nuff said. My current slotting is 1 Acc, 3 Damage and 1 End.

Howling Twlight
I have seen the light on the solo utility of this power. I'm not sure if I could fit it in any earlier, but I do love it.

Fluffy Slotting
Currently slotting: 3 Rech, 1 Hold, 2 To Hit Debuff. I love the THD potential of my build, and I see it as a key to my survivability.


I'm hammering out a Bot/Dark tactics guide, and I'll put it up once I am satisfied with it.

Too Soon?

Macrone bosses give their own badge.

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Giving a reward for the beat down encourages bad behavior by those too motivated by gain to see that they are being total a$$e$ with their camping and griefing.

Take away bounty and much of the griefing goes away, too.

[/ QUOTE ]
I disagree.

As it stands, Bounty is only collectable on someone who has not been defeated for a set period of time. If you hit somebody who's just come out of the Hospital, you get nothing. This completely invalidates the notion of racking up large quantities of Bounty by just killing players coming out of the Hospital.

And as for griefing... it depends on what definition you're using. Repeatedly hitting the same person over and over and over? No incentive to do so as you'll probably only get Bounty for the first kill and none of the rest. Plus after you get your Most Wanted target, it changes to another player.



What this goes to is that there are incentives to being just AFK in the safe zone and doing nothing at all. People want the badges for being in the PvP Zone for X amount of time, but they don't want to PvP.

In situations like this, if I'm given a target that refuses to leave the safe zone, I'll ask them to either zone out and back in to clear my target, or just come out to fight real quick.

I would ask that ALL players who intend on just sitting around the Hospital to turn on the options to see opposition chat and grant ALL requests for zoning/target clearing.

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I made this mistake too. You don't get /reputation/ for a recently killed target. You still get bounty.