ShoeTattoo

There's a simple solution to the OP's situation, even if it would take a fair amount of work. The devs can make all game-related rewards not specifically tied to the act of PvP itself and that are currently available only by entering PvP zones available in some way in the PvE game.

Trying to lure PvE players into PvP zones so that they offer up their characters as bait for PvPers was never a great idea; plenty of PvE players have undoubtedly come to dislike, or perhaps even hate COX PvP that way. The sooner they stop bribing PvE players to offer up their characters as bait in PvP zones, the better.

Once you are ready to slot level 50 IOs, the Contagious Confusion proc is apparently very helpful in Arctic Air. I don't have experience using it myself, but I've read very good things about how it improves the effectiveness of Arctic Air, especially while on teams.

You're about to run into a slew of elite bosses in the 40s, so getting the Achilles Heel -res proc into one of your attacks moderately soon would be quite helpful. Thorny darts sees a lot of use and would proc relatively often.

Beyond these suggestions, playing around with Mids is a good way to get a feel for what sets can help your ice/thorns become a permadom.

The OPs suggestion is a good one. The rate at which new toys are acquired slows down substantially in the 30s, compared to earlier levels, and having some more variety in mission types would help to keep the 30+ game fresh for some proportion of all players.

That some don't feel that way is to be expected, and doesn't nullify the potential value of the OP's suggestion.

As a thought about implementation, a new contact could appear in the contacts list in the 30s who can offer some of the newer mission types (instanced or not instanced). Temporary costumes, costume slots, or other novelties could be purchased, or could be rewards, for participating in these different kinds of missions. Such contacts could have a carnival-related thematic focus (Carnies or a regular carnival, as befits blueside and redside), especially if rewards included temporary costumes, costume pieces, and costume slots.

There are a lot of other possibilities, as well.

Having no responses was probably a bit of a downer after you spent time carefully crafting a post like this, in addition to thinking through the ideas that went into your post.

The lack of any real meaning to the contacts (beyond listing their respective origins and attaching them to particular villain groups) may have been an error, in retrospect, and your suggestions for grouping them would have given them some distinctive flavor. If something along these lines had been added at the launch of COX, it seems likely to have been well received by players.

I don't know whether a revamp of this kind would be attractive to many players at this point, though. My initial sense is that it would not, and I know that it wouldn't matter that much to me.

I've been wrong before, though; it may be that many players keenly feel a lack of any real meaning to having contacts, other than as a hoop through which they have to jump, and that giving the contacts more structure and providing some incremental benefits from working with particular contact groupings would, in fact, still be well received by players.

I like the improvements for finding teams, and for team leaders finding teammates. Those would be *highly* appreciated QOL improvements. If there was a way to make forming SG/VG specific teams even easier, that would reach new levels of "neat" and "cool."

The leader commands I see as a minor QOL improvement, for most situations. I wouldn't mind having them and I wouldn't mind not having them.

The OP's graphics are spiffy and the topic is definitely worth taking a look at.

One of the nifty things about /devices is that you can leave your secondary mostly at one slot. A single recharge enhancer in caltrops will keep you out of melee quite nicely, and let you solo fine; a single endurance reducer in targeting drone will still leave you with enough endurance (and damage) to solo well, thanks to improved chances to hit mobs.

The light slotting needs for /devices, and good defenses, allow you to slot up your primary quickly; that helps while leveling up. And, the ability to stack stuns (your primary and secondary each have one that's up reasonably often, and the psy nuke also stuns) allows you to handle bosses reasonably well.

I have a psy/devices at 30 who has solo'd his way almost exclusively, no IOs, and the ride getting there has been very easy.

A solution that is non-optimal, but simple, is to edit two out of your three initial pet control buttons, the ones that show up in your power tray. Edit the "follow" button so that you switch the mode from "Aggressive" to "Defensive", which puts your pets into bodyguard mode every time you press that button. Second, edit the "Attack" button as well, changing "Aggressive" to "Defensive" once again. That tells your pets to attack the mob you have targeted until it is defeated. You lose bodyguard mode while your pets are carrying out that attack, but they automatically switch back to bodyguard mode after they defeat that mob.

I've found necro to be an easy primary to learn and operate. The lich functions kind of like a dark controller, while the other pets like to operate in melee range. The easiest secondaries to use well, with relatively minimal effort devoted to learning how, are probably /dark and /traps.

I don't bother with macros; they're helpful, but still a hassle. Instead, I edit two out of the three initial pet control command buttons that show up in your power tray. I edit the "Attack" and "Follow" commands, changing "aggressive" to "defensive" for both of them. That leaves me with a "passive" command button to get pets to follow me and not attack, a "bodyguard" mode through a "defensive follow" button, and an "attack" command that shifts the pets back to bodyguard mode after the critter they're attacking has been defeated.

By default, I tend to keep my zombies on defensive follow, my lich on defensive follow, and I switch my grave knights to aggressive using the main pet control window that shows up after summoning pets.

My way of controlling necro pets is not optimal, as macros will definitely allow you to get more damage and control out of them. But, making a few small adjustments to the default controls seems to be good enough for team and solo play, and those changes are quite easy to set up.

That can work just fine.

And, play your PB however you like, whether that be human only, bi-form, or tri-form. All the different combinations have their particular benefits and drawbacks, but they all work in-game.

Below is a planned build for my current all-human warshade, who is level 38, almost 39. With a few noticeable differences, the build adheres more or less to what is being given here, except that (of course) enhancer levels are different and a few enhancers are from different sets than is being listed.

This is a build that is not optimized, as eclipse is a long way from being perma. There are also quite a few ways to improve the current slotting, with minimal changes. Still, this build was paid for with influence that this character generated on his own and it is quite inexpensive. It is also quite effective in-game, functioning as a blend of a stalker and a dominator who brings along hard-hitting pets. Gravity well hits very hard as an opener from stealth, while gravitic emanation and inky aspect mez everything up to boss level, when stacked.

Minions often never get off a single shot before they're mezzed and arrested. Lieutenants find themselves facing the same fate because gravity well or gravitic emanation to open leaves them mezzed and incapable of defending themselves.

Hero Plan by Mids' Hero Designer 1.621
http://www.cohplanner.com/

Click this DataLink to open the build!

Wizard of Shadows: Level 50 Science Warshade
Primary Power Set: Umbral Blast
Secondary Power Set: Umbral Aura
Power Pool: Speed
Power Pool: Fitness
Power Pool: Leadership

Hero Profile:
Level 1: Shadow Bolt

• (A) Ruin - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge
• (3) Ruin - Accuracy/Endurance/Recharge
• (17) Ruin - Accuracy/Damage
• (37) Thunderstrike - Damage/Endurance
• (50) Ruin - Damage/Endurance

Level 1: Absorption

• (A) Steadfast Protection - Resistance/+Def 3%

Level 2: Gravity Shield

• (A) Titanium Coating - Resistance/Endurance
• (3) Reactive Armor - Resistance/Endurance

Level 4: Orbiting Death

• (A) Cleaving Blow - Accuracy/Damage
• (5) Multi Strike - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance
• (5) Multi Strike - Accuracy/Damage
• (15) Cleaving Blow - Damage/Endurance
• (17) Endurance Reduction IO

Level 6: Shadow Blast

• (A) Ruin - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge
• (7) Entropic Chaos - Damage/Endurance/Recharge
• (7) Ruin - Accuracy/Damage
• (9) Thunderstrike - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance
• (9) Ruin - Damage/Recharge
• (11) Ruin - Accuracy/Endurance/Recharge

Level 8: Hasten

• (A) Recharge Reduction IO
• (11) Recharge Reduction IO
• (15) Recharge Reduction IO

Level 10: Hurdle

• (A) Jumping IO

Level 12: Sunless Mire

• (A) Eradication - Accuracy/Recharge
• (13) Cleaving Blow - Accuracy/Recharge
• (13) Recharge Reduction IO
• (43) Obliteration - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge

Level 14: Shadow Cloak

• (A) Karma - Knockback Protection

Level 16: Health

• (A) Healing IO

Level 18: Gravity Well

• (A) Focused Smite - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge
• (19) Focused Smite - Damage/Recharge
• (19) Smashing Haymaker - Damage/Endurance/Recharge
• (21) Crushing Impact - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance
• (23) Focused Smite - Accuracy/Damage
• (25) Recharge Reduction IO

Level 20: Stamina

• (A) Endurance Modification IO
• (21) Endurance Modification IO

Level 22: Stygian Circle

• (A) Harmonized Healing - Heal/Endurance/Recharge
• (23) Regenerative Tissue - Heal/Endurance/Recharge
• (25) Doctored Wounds - Heal/Recharge
• (37) Endurance Modification IO

Level 24: Maneuvers

• (A) Red Fortune - Defense/Endurance
• (43) Serendipity - Defense/Endurance

Level 26: Gravitic Emanation

• (A) Rope A Dope - Accuracy/Stun/Recharge
• (27) Rope A Dope - Accuracy/Stun
• (27) Razzle Dazzle - Accuracy/Stun/Recharge
• (31) Razzle Dazzle - Accuracy/Recharge
• (31) Rope A Dope - Endurance/Stun
• (40) Recharge Reduction IO

Level 28: Inky Aspect

• (A) Rope A Dope - Accuracy/Stun
• (29) Rope A Dope - Accuracy/Stun/Recharge
• (29) Stagger - Endurance/Stun
• (31) Stagger - Accuracy/Stun/Recharge
• (39) Disorient Duration IO

Level 30: Tactics

• (A) Gaussian's Synchronized Fire-Control - To Hit Buff/Endurance
• (34) Adjusted Targeting - To Hit Buff/Endurance
• (43) Adjusted Targeting - To Hit Buff

Level 32: Dark Extraction

• (A) Call to Arms - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge
• (33) Call to Arms - Accuracy/Recharge
• (33) Call to Arms - Accuracy/Damage
• (33) Call to Arms - Endurance/Damage/Recharge
• (34) Damage Increase IO
• (34) Recharge Reduction IO

Level 35: Essence Drain

• (A) Touch of the Nictus - Accuracy/Endurance/Recharge
• (36) Touch of the Nictus - Accuracy/Healing
• (36) Touch of the Nictus - Healing
• (36) Focused Smite - Accuracy/Endurance/Recharge
• (37) Focused Smite - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge
• (46) Harmonized Healing - Heal/Endurance/Recharge

Level 38: Eclipse

• (A) Efficacy Adaptor - Accuracy/Recharge
• (39) Performance Shifter - Accuracy/Recharge
• (39) Titanium Coating - Resistance/Recharge
• (40) Titanium Coating - Resistance
• (40) Aegis - Resistance/Recharge

Level 41: Vengeance

• (A) Red Fortune - Defense/Endurance/Recharge
• (42) Gift of the Ancients - Defense/Endurance/Recharge
• (42) Red Fortune - Defense/Recharge
• (42) Doctored Wounds - Heal/Recharge

Level 44: Unchain Essence

• (A) Detonation - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance
• (45) Air Burst - Accuracy/Damage
• (45) Detonation - Accuracy/Damage
• (45) Detonation - Damage/Recharge
• (46) Kinetic Crash - Recharge/Endurance
• (46) Recharge Reduction IO

Level 47: Dark Detonation

• (A) Detonation - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance
• (48) Detonation - Accuracy/Damage
• (48) Air Burst - Accuracy/Damage
• (48) Detonation - Damage/Recharge
• (50) Kinetic Crash - Recharge/Endurance
• (50) Recharge Reduction IO

Level 49: Stygian Return

• (A) Healing IO

------------
Level 1: Brawl

• (A) Empty

Level 1: Sprint

• (A) Empty

Level 2: Rest

• (A) Empty

Level 1: Dark Sustenance
Level 1: Ninja Run

• (A) Empty

Level 10: Shadow Recall

• (A) Empty

------------


The data chunk to copy into Mids is given below:

I ran into a positive, enthuasiastic, but inexperienced team leader last night, redside. The leader kept trying to get eight players on a PUG mayhem, until it was pointed out that seven players earning XPs is better than 7 players standing around, looking for an eighth player. By that time, a couple of people had given up waiting and dropped, so it was good that the leader was willing to listen. Then once in the mayhem, the leader (DP/pain) ran around with lots of hit points missing and ... seldom used his aura heal. He kept getting defeated over and over because he so infrequently used his heal. He also wanted to go to jail after his first couple of defeats, and had to be coaxed into not doing that so that the final ambush that allows the mayhem to complete wouldn't split.

That leader did at least listen, came across as a nice person, and will probably do better at playing and leading after some more experience.

This morning I got onto a better PUG, with skillful teammates who were there to have fun by being social. We started early with the jokes and dialogue, even before the first mob was encountered, and it kept up for pretty much the whole session.

Lots of levels earned so far, but that's a pleasant side effect to having enjoyed being on several different teams.

I feel the same way as the OP.

I'm also looking forward to being able to email between characters; that will be a *very* nice QOL change.

Thinking long term, its probably better that the devs put new sets into the middle, in terms of numbers and performance, than if they keep pushing the performance envelope up or down with each new set; established sets would lose their lustre over the long run if new sets were obviously and consistently superior, among other potential problems, and players would tend to reject new sets that were seen to lag badly behind more established sets.

I would still have preferred to see better single target DPA for dual pistols before launch, however they achieved that objective. Low end single target DPA hurts the set's performance in the later levels, in particular, when lethal resistance happens to be abundant; that's the kind of double whammy that can make you feel like your character just got nerfed, just by reaching those upper levels. The AOE damage is unexceptional in a good or bad way, which means they probably set the AOE damage about right.

I used to IO up at level 32, or even sometimes level 27. Lately, though, I'm relying on SOs longer, and I'm not missing IOs. I usually only IO up these days to cover significant hole in endurance management or to get a highly specific IO (ie: knockback protection). Still, even that is becoming increasingly rare.

Its the tedium, not the time or expense, that is bringing me back to relying on SOs more and more, once again.

Name: Health Insurance CEO
Powersets: Thugs / poison

punks: Bureaucracy, Talk Radio
arsonist: Denial of Care
enforcers: Recission, Exclusions
bruiser: Paid Lobbyist

He's an overweight, balding older white guy in a suit.
His battle cry is "FOR SHAREHOLDERS!!!!"
I'll also set up a macro for him so that when he swings his Ghost Slaying Axe, I can have him say "Its time to cut costs to the bone!", from time to time.

Swamp ammo is quite attractive in later levels because the ability to switch 30% of damage to a different type makes a noticeable difference when fighting highly lethal-resistant foes. The ability to change suppressive fire's mez effect from a stun to a hold is also quite handy when facing stun-resistant foes.

Even in earlier levels swap ammo may still be worth a power pick; it provides some flexibility and value even at the base slot, just at a point in a character's leveling curve during which many powers are hungry for slots.

When soloing, lethal ammo does just fine. I sometimes switch to incendiary rounds for more damage. On teams, if I'm in a support role then I often switch to toxic ammo for the -damage. If my primary role is damage then I tend to use incendiary rounds.

In terms of concept, a jewel thief seems more likely to use a bow (quiet) or dual pistols (easy to conceal) than an assault rifle (which seems more like GI Joe). On a power curve, archery seems stronger than dual pistols. I don't have enough experience with AR figure out how it compares to the other two sets.

TA/archery is a good fit on conceptual grounds and it also offers no redraw, in case that matters for aesthetic reasons. Still, some have expressed chagrin that other secondaries seem to fit better with TA than archery.

Any other combination you're considering will put your character through redraw. Among the "redraw" combos, the easiest to play would be archery / devices. Archery gives plenty of damage and you can have stacking stuns (taser + stunning shot) for bosses. You get good defenses with devices and built-in stealth that doesn't require you to invest in anything more than SOs. Plus, targeting drone and the to hit bonus of archery means you won't miss very often, or you can skip targeting drone entirely, with archery. You won't bring the nifty buffs / debuffs of a traps defender to teams with archery devices, but you'll still contribute with ROA and other powers.

Vanden:

The OP's experiences with EBs don't parallel yours, and mine don't either. Some EBs were more of a pain than they were worth to fight solo (Woodsman, Zenflower, Mynx, and Recluse come to mind). And, I did get defeated once or twice by a few others (I believe Arch A toasted my minions and then my MM once, and I think Calystix and his helpers did once or twice as well). But, every other EB went down smoothly on the first try for my necro/poison, fighting at +1 level to my MM.

I didn't have provoke or challenge, but I would habitually open boss/EB battles with weaken, envenom, and neurotoxic breath to take initial aggro. I'd send in a pet with noxious gas afterward. I typically waited because pets with noxious gas tend to draw heavy aggro and I liked taking out the small fry near the EB early in such fights, to have the EB duking it out alone with my pet that has noxious gas, and then match the EB's determination to take out the pet with noxious gas on it against my ability to heal that pet with alkaloid. That usually went very well, by the way.

When fighting bosses, I would begin by stacking envenom, weaken, and neurotoxic breath. During that time the lich and grave knights stack their -to hit (for which the lich was heavily slotted with enhancements). Bosses fought like Big Balls of Whiff after that initial volley, in most cases, and in those cases where that didn't happen a follow-up noxious gas on a grave knight that was in melee range was more than good enough to knock a couple of levels off of the boss and make them much easier to defeat.

The most difficult battles with bosses would be when there were two of them together, as happens with some missions. As part of a boss duo, consiglieres could be a real pain for my necro/poison, as their singularity knocked my minions away and kept both bosses upright longer, plus they and their pet had an annoying habit of targeting and severely damaging my MM. I definitely learned that getting hit with cars and toilets is not as much fun as hitting mobs with cars and toilets. Malta bosses can also be difficult foes, when paired up with another boss.

Incidentally, with ranged pets like mercs, you have a lot of freedom to space them out when fighting EBs. Move your tier 1s to one place, your tier 2s to a little ways away, and send in your commando with noxious gas on him. Splitting up your minions is your best defense against AOEs, in addition to taking initial aggro yourself while you stack your first round of debuffs.

PS: Echoing what some others have said, this is a helpful guide. Somebody who would like to learn about the poison set would definitely benefit from reading it. Kudos to the OP.

I like both TA and storm very much, but I'd lean toward suggesting storm for a first journey to 50 on the evil side of the fence. Storm will have an easier time with EBs than a TA will and there are plenty of EBs along the way to 50 when you're a villain (especially in the 40+ game, during which time you can have both tornado and lightning storm to whittle away at EB hit points). Since you're more concerned with being underpowered than with being challenged, storm might be the way to go.

Another benefit from choosing rad/storm or dark/storm that might matter to you has to do with the potential to stack thunderclap with cosmic burst (or with stacking dark pit and thunderclap). Stacking stuns can be helpful in ways that having a stun and a hold (ie: for a rad/TA) would not.

I don't believe somebody needs to be anti-market, or anti-marketeering, to be behind the OP's idea.

This is about reducing hassle costs associated with IOing out characters. Redoubtable's concerns about making it "too easy" reflect a concern about pricing. Pricing issues are fixable, and not a reason to jettison the idea of allowing players to pick a specific common salvage item, when buying them with AE tickets.

I wouldn't care if the price of common salvage ended up being relatively high when you got to pick what you were purchasing, as long as it wasn't astronomical. And, I know I'd IO up earlier in my characters' careers if it was less of a pain in the a## to do it.

Speaking of hassle costs, I have no desire to use the email system as a kind of storage system. I'm guessing a lot of players would feel the same way. Why would somebody voluntarily choose such a tedious and annoyingly complex way of organizing their gear, if there was a less tedious and complex choice available?

What it boils down to, for me, is that I'd rather have the option to play longer to earn tickets to purchase specific common salvage items than get a cheaper price on random rolls for common salvage, and then carry excess salvage to the market and/or use the email system to store items. Playing is fun. Setting up and running a kind of warehouse, or Fed Exing items between locations and dropping items into the market screen is boring.

My characters had about 70-120 million influence or infamy upon reaching level 50, a pattern that has held true for half a dozen characters so far. My characters have all paid their own way to 50, so the influence / infamy totals for each were self-generated.

I wouldn't fit the definition of casual offered up by the OP. But, my market activities may look a lot like those of a casual player because I find using the market to be an unpleasant chore and I try to minimize my time spent muddling around with it.