Skydance

Small note, the Atlas mayhem mission is level 5-10. I know when was level 10 and went to do Newspapers in Cap, to get the KR Mayhem, the Broker in Cap sent me back to Atlas Park (was still 10 at the time).
At 11 I got the KR mayhem.

Either I had really bad luck with the terrain, but after some testing of the KB protection in grounded, it seems to be only a low Mag protection. While this fits the whole theme of an auto power compared to a toggle, it makes it, IMO at least pointless.

I did get knocked down by Energy torrents, and a Controllers Bonfire had me in perma knockdown, I couldn't do a thing. On the other hand, a stone melee tankers Tremor didn't knock me down, even though it hit.

Since knockdown is a low Mag knockback, it seems to me, that, since grounded protected against tremor (low Mag Knockback=knockdown) but not against bonfire (high Mag knockback), that the KB protection is of very low Mag, so that it protects only against those effects, that are low in enough in Mag to be knockdowns.

That makes it to me fairly pointless, anyone who hates knockbacks on a melee, and I am sure thats a very very high percentage of any melee players, will still need to go for Acrobatics. So the low Mag in grounded feels, I don't know.. kinda pointless to me.

This is from testing in RV during the lv40 test event, it might have not been fully implemented yet, or is a bit bugged. I am hoping that it is, and that it's not working as intended.

I was at the ground during the whole tests (only travelpower for this even used was Lightning reflexes and swift), though I didn't check the terrain too carefully. The spot where the bonfire got me was 100% flat though, that I am sure off. Well, it appeared flat, but who knows what the game engine things flat is.

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Finally made it to 41 on a sonic/rad corrupter and picked up Black Scorpion's shield. No hard numbers yet, but I did try it out on some NPCs.


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Could you, or anyone else who got it, post some screenshots of how the shield looks.

May sound funny to some, but that is indeed a factor for me if I pick a power or not as well, stats aside.

Thanks.

It's rather odd, I got FSAA2x working now. What I first tried (above post I deleted), was trying to put FSAA to 4x in both ATI Control Center, and the Game. This worked at first, it gave a somewhat cleaner edges picture, but not quite smooth yet. Then it stopped working after relogging, and got the black screen.

Then I tried the setting you original suggested, FSAA 4x in game, application controlled in the ATI Control Center, and this gave me the Black screen again you mentioned, UI working. Then I tried FSAA2x, and that is working now. The rest of my setting as per your original post (so application controlled in ATI control center, FSAA2x in game).

It looks a ton better now, fairly smooth edges, hadn't had this since CoV release on my ATI box, so not gonna touch it anymore, just happy its working somewhat now. Still a big difference in looks to my Geforce box :/

This is with 6.4 and an ATI X800Pro.

Unless I missed it, you should include some more notes on the importance of power selection order in the respec, in regards to mentoring/malefactoring down, or doing PvP zones.

While many usually make sure they got what they need at their final level, some mess up the order they pick the powers.

This can be very important, like going to a PvP zone, which autoexemplars you to a specific level, but you don't have your status protection yet. Or doing Synapse TF and not having Stamina at 20, and so on.

While slots order doesnt matter here, as you noted, the order at what level you pick the power does indeed matter a whole lot. To bad the respec UI doesn't give any clues here at hwat level you currently are, relatively.

IMO, this must be considered when planning a respec.

<Edit> Disregard, what I tried didn't work.

Good work though, keep it up.

Did you know:

... that drones at zones exit, when zapping a mob, didn't eliminate the exp. You could hit a mob for 1pt, then run to a drone, let it zap him, and get full credit. That, coupled with Enervating Field beeing a low damage toggle, made some interesting PL. Drop field on a group of skulls in Perez, run to the drones, get full exp for the group. That was fixed at the end of beta or very early release I think.

... that Enervating field was, as mentioned, a low damage toggle... with no range limitation. You could toggle it on a mob, fly up (or get inside a shop, down an elevator etc.) till said mob was defeated. It was not really worth it though, it was really low damage and took forever.

... that the Education Officer in a 5th Column mission in the teens level range had a fixed level of always 20, and was a Boss. Which resulted in some rather tough to impossible fights, depending on the level you got the mission.
I think there was another 5th Mission, timed in the same level range, that spawned always a Lv20 mob, but this one was a Lt at least.

... that the Doc Vahz mission only finished if you actually clicked on the corpses. So you could reset the mission after defeating him for SO farming.

... that the Vahz wasting disease could bug out and not get removed after the mission which was supposed to remove it. I remember writing a guide back then on how to avoid the bug before it was fixed, back when my handle was Poison_Mistress. I just mention that, 'cause I remember a player sending me a thank you tell in game later, thought that was really cute

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I'll admit this is personal preference, but I'm of the opinion that costume contests should always be conducted with the "powers OFF" rule. It's a costume contest, not a "who has the sparkliest power" contest. You're awarding good costume design.

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I certainly understand your point, and that is the reason I usually don't enter any contest. I usually design the costumes of chars with how the powers look they use in mind.
This is in particular true for brutes/tanks/scrappers, where the different armour toggles are visually very heavy, and IMO need to be integrated in a way to work with the costume.
Like for example Ghost Maiden, my forum name character, she needs to run at least Integration, stealth, and hover (and her aura) to complete the floating, transparent, green glowing ghost look.

Otherwise, good, well written post, just my opinion on this particular bit.

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Why not use surpression here:

Brawl: 50% chance surpressing 1 toggle for 10s
Assassin Strike: 100% chance 1 toggle for 15s, 75% chance 1 toggle for 15s, 50% chance 1 toggle for 15s

Just some example numbers, they would have to be tweaked of course.

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"tweaked" is rather moderate considering the severity of your example... in many ways this is actually worse than the current situation.

You would be enhancing the chance for toggle effect in both brawl and AS significantly, while at the same time increasing the time needed to get ones shields back up for any tank or scrapper.

Most defensive toggles only take around 3 seconds to recharge and have an activation time of roughly 1 to 2 seconds... as such what can be accomplished in around 5 seconds now would take 3 times as long, coupled with the enhanced odds you suggest just makes toggle dropping more potent as opposed to a reduction in capacity.

With the rate at which opponents can brawl and with a 50% chance with each strike for an associated 10 second suppression, you can pretty much be assured that no melee AT will ever have their toggles helping them.

Needless to say I hope that the actual solution is VERY different than what you are proposing (i.e. if they are going with a suppression system that it be sophisticated enough to take into account how long a particular power takes to reactivate under the current system and not just select arbitrary and universal times)

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Sorry, just wrote the numbers down from the top of my head without thinking about them at all. Thats why I said tweaked. I just wanted to show the principle how it could work. So just ignore the numbers I wrote completly at this point, they were just to illustrate the mechanics, nothing more.

If they would actually go with a system similar to that, they obviously had to take in account, how long it in general takes for a standard toggle to bring up and use that as a basis for how long surpressions lasts.

Why not use surpression here:

Brawl: 50% chance surpressing 1 toggle for 10s
Assassin Strike: 100% chance 1 toggle for 15s, 75% chance 1 toggle for 15s, 50% chance 1 toggle for 15s

Just some example numbers, they would have to be tweaked of course.

Basically, the toggles are surpressed, and don't give their benefit, but are not toggled off. Once the surpression timer, which is based on the power used to detoggle runs out, the toggle starts working again.

Addtionally, for PvP you could introduce +Surpression Enhancements, they would not increase the chance of a power detoggling, but the time the toggles are supressed. This would offer new possibilites for PvP slotting.


The same would work for PvE. If you are hit with a hold for example, you are locked into place, and cannot move or do anything like now, and your toggles, whatever you might have running won't give any benefit (debateable if they cost endurance while surpressed). Once the hold runs its course, you can move again, and your toggles are working fully again, without you having to restart each one manually.

The thing that annoys me the most about the whole toggle dropping is not so much the dropping itself, but the aggravating time to restart them all. Having fought the original Balista-1 with Dark Armour Brute, I didn't mind his ability that much, he put up a good fight for once, but the stupid annoying time to go through all the toggle power up animations again and again really pissed me off Surpression, here could be a welcomed tool for once IMO.



As for the buff ability on blizzards (assume rains in general)... Hooray

Good guide, one question though:

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LEVEL 12 Taunt
DESCRIPTION Challenges a foe to attack you. Useful to pull a villain off an ally who finds himself in over his head. I don’t usually recommend this power for Brutes. You’re not a CoH Tank, you’re a Brute. You don’t save your team mates, if they can’t hack it, TOUGH, more for you to SMASH!
RECOMMENDED SLOTTING 1 or 2 acc would be sufficient for this power, possibly a range or 2 as well.

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Why ACC ? Isn't it autohit like the Tanker version ? I don't have it yet on my Brute, but I am curious if its autohit or not.

Great work

I am curious though, what are the Resist caps for Brutes ? 75% as their Scrapper base numbers would suggest, or 90% Tanker caps
.
Not like Brutes can reach those alone, but it's interesting for teaming I think.

I think I remember seeing a post on this back on the Beta boards, claiming 90% caps, while other guides mention Scrapper caps, so 75%. Has anyone tested this ?

Good work, thanks for taking the time doing it.

One question though:

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Despite the similarity in powers the Brute has a resistance
and defense cap that matches that of the Scrapper

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I remember one guy on beta boards doing a quick test with a lot of Inspirations (+Res), that Brutes indeed have the Tanker Res cap of 90%, not the Scrapper one (75%).
Not that they can reach it by themselfes with Scrapper base numbers on their shields, but for teaming this could be interesting.

I didn't save that post though, so kinda curious now what Brutes Res cap is, 90%, or 75%.

My regards to Col. Jessup of course for this



"Son, we live in a world that has code, and that code has to be maintained by the Dev's. Who's gonna do it? You? You, GenericHero3253?
I have a greater responsibility than you can possibly fathom. You weep for your Enhancements and you curse the Dev's.
You have that luxury. You have the luxury of not knowing what I know: that the Enhancement Diversification, while tragic, probably saves Heroes.
And my existence, while grotesque and incomprehensible to you, saves Heroes.
You don't want the truth because, deep down in places you don't talk about at parties, you want me maintaining that code, you need me maintaining that code.
We use words like balance, fun, changes. We use these words as the backbone of a life spent coding something. You use them as a punchline.
I have neither the time nor the inclination to explain myself to a man who rises and sleeps under the blanket of the very game that I provide and then questions the manner in which I provide it.
I would rather you just said "thank you" and went on your way. Otherwise I suggest you pick up a keyboard and start coding. Either way, I don't give a damn what you think you are entitled to"

Good stuff, very well done.

My Supergroup does this since months, we build themed groups, with slotting and selecting powers with in mind what the other picks. We're only 3-4 though, so we have to work with a smaller range.

Something you might want to include into your guide, is preparation.
When we plan new characters, a new team, we always make sure what our goal is: Do we want to consume as much of the given game content as possible ?

If the answer is yes (and for us it is), this means missions, TF, Trials, and AV and Monster fighting.

It helps here of course to have some more knowledge of the game. What damage types to expect. What status effect to deal with (like for example... could this team take out Psy Clockie King, how will they fare against Anti Matter) and so on.

We plan around this, like, do we have enough healing, enough debuffs, how we deal with Psy damage, will be have enough dps to defeat Madame of Mystery when we meet her.

My point is, when planning a team, plan to be able to do as much of the game content as possible... think scenarios through like "Ok, what would this team need to beat Infernal, how will we be able to deal with Master Illusionists, do we have enough to deal with multiple Mezzing bosses, what do we need to do Sewers Trial" and so on.

If you are already planning ahead, building upon each others strenghts, I think it couldn't hurt to not lock yourself out from specific content. And the more people you have, the better you can cover every aspect the game throws at you. Just try to cover as many variables and scenarios you can think of.

Obviously, it helps a ton already having a a higher level character, and having fought many things, so you know a bit of what to expect. Knowledge is the key afterall.

Just my suggestions though

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Will Domination: Nice too. The sleep is just long enough for me to get off lance against a tough con.

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It's perfect too for shutting down toggle users, even if the sleep is just a few seconds, it turns their bubbles, hurricanes, what have you off

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But neither early power is really as vile as has been being suggested.

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I dunno, a power that takes a skillpoint to get, a power that gets some enhancement slots, that, once you get to higher levels and aquire better powers you won't use anymore, that to me is terrible.

Once I had Telekinetic Blast and Will Domination, I hardly used them anymore, and thereby wasted one powerslot, and 2 enhancement slots, for powers you no longer use. That's bad to me.

All that makes them vile to me, and to be avoided at all costs.

The way CoH is designed, you dont really get upgrades to powers, they all scale with level, and as such should be usefull from level 1 to 50. Situational, certainly, but defenatily usefull from start to end.
Subdue's high End. cost, and slow animation, combined with poor damage, doesn't justify this, even if it is the only immobilize in the set.
And Mental Blast with its hideously slow animation and poor damage certainly falls into that category as well. I wish I wouldn't have to take it upon creation, and certainly kick myself from time to time having put 2 slots in it.

The thing is, this guide is written from a high level perspective, so it's recommendations apply to a whole range of levels. Around 10 when I put 2 slots into Mental Blast, I thought, oh, well, its not that bad, and I have to do some damage. But once I got Blast and Domination, I stopped using it altogether, cause it was that terrible. And no power should be like that, not with the level scaling of powers in this game.

This is certainly only my opinion, and as usual, your mileage may vary, but, and I think that's what this guide is all about, people should be informed how powers play out in game, at low levels, and at higher levels. So I wholeheartingly second SoulHealers recomendations on them.

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...assuming you hit all of them..

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That's the point

When we fight Nazis, or Nemesis, or Rikti, we usually have a few mobs not so close using ranged weapons, so I would always hesitate to use something that shuts down my defenses, and thereby the teams defenses.

Anyway, just some thinking on my part about the power, all theory for me, I am only 32, so can't even get it yet. When I will be able to get it, I probably try it a bit on test first, before I make my final call. For now, I don't see myself getting it, cause of the toggle issue. I feel nekkid without Hurricane

Great summarize of the Psy Blast set, thanks for the great work

Maybe you could add somewhere a disclaimer that the Psy nukes do indeed scale correctly with level, as I see still quite a few posts of people saying that it's damage scaling is bugged, cause they didn't read the full thread back then when Geko clarified it.

For my personal play style, I do play the offensive variant too, Telekinetic Blast, Will domination, and Psychic Scream are my main attacks (each with 1 Acc, 4 Dam, they will get 6 slotted eventually, around 37 or so, not sure yet if I go 1Acc 5 Dam, or 1 Acc 4 Dam 1 End. That will depend on how I feel my Endurance holds out once I got a 6 slotted Stamina).
I do use the sniper, but not that often, mainly for long range pulling, but not during the actual fighting. It has currently 1 Acc 3 Dam, and I think that's how it will stay.

As for our final power, I am not sure if I get. Since it drains all endurance, it will shut of toggles.
And since I am usually the defense of our little teams, that is something I tend to avoid, since we rely fairly heavily on Hurricane, Steamy Mist, and to a lesser extent Snow Storm.
Maybe you could clarify this in your description of the power, that, once you use it, the sideeffect will be that all toggles get shut off (kinda obvious, I know), so people like me, how are the center of defense of a team, should think twice before getting this, not only you can't do much for a short while after activating it, but with all toggles down, the defense of the team is down too, for Storm defenders in particular.


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I'd tell you to skip this power, however since it is the level 1 power you are required to take it. Don't add slots to it, you'll regret it later if you do. At level 35 I almost never use this power.

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Yeah, so true.... those two slots i put in Mental Blast still mock me everytime I look at my Enhancements. I can't wait for respecs to correct that mistake. I removed it even from my Hotbar several levels ago.