Smiling_Joe

O.o

::blink! blink!:

::reads it again::

So you're saying - let's test my reading comprehension - that the costume lock is shorter for White Dwarf Flare, and so even though the game client fires off the Dwarf Flare, on my screen it drops to human form before flaring the first time? It sounds technical and over my head, therefore I must agree with it.

Because both powers animate after I drop to human form. The Solar Flare actually waits for the human-form dwarf flare to animate before activating, and mostly what I see is the glowing "shatter pattern" in the ground without the step, often followed by the stepping animation after the power has fired.

Eh. TBH I prefer the two key method, since I really don't see an advantage to only having one keypress do all three things, but I did think it was neat in a "huh." kind of way.

I agree, but that brings up a (very)minor concern - where's the line between bug and exploit? I can't see how this could be justifiably considered an exploit, given how quirky the binding system is anyway, and given the fact that it's really just two powers that happen to look the same that people like to chain. Should I even have posted it?

....Moderator 8 is standing right behind me, isn't he?

QFT

Excellent, excellent guide, and a welcome addition to my favorites! It's gonna take a while for me to wade through all those builds, but it will be well worth the journey.

Oh, and major thanks for the section on Mids tips and tricks- something every guide should have.

Yeah good idea - I've just gone through and started an edit of the main post with binds somewhat organized. I've got more, just no time right now.

But more is coming.

Hopefully more folks will contribute binds and strategies.

Really? How? TBH I've quite forgotten to incorporate that bind into Aether Flux, but haven't really missed it, due to how weak the quantums are now and the fact that with experience you can pretty much tell when the next spawn will have a quantum or void.

Let's just say I've learned to put my back to a blind corner and scroll waaaay out with the camera

And if I forget and just charge in... well they don't hit that hard, anymore!

That's why I'm listing binds as /bind [key]... so people can plug them in wherever they're comfortable.

I use the mouse wheel to change the camera's distance, but I really like the camdist addition to your binds! I'm not at home right now, but if it does what I think it does, I'll bet it gives you, regardless of whether your camera is close in or far out, a snapshot of the battlefied at the time you switched. Very handy indeed, and likely an addition to my binds.

Quote:

NUMPAD4 "+down$$powexec_toggle_on Gravity Shield$$powexec_toggle_on Shadow Cloak"

So basically you just hit 4 and while it's down, it toggles on shadow cloak. Then when you let up it toggles on gravity shield. It's so simple I can't believe I never tried it! That, sir, is ingenious! Hat's off for that one! I'm definitely incorporating that one!

Quote:

SUBTRACT "unselect$$target_custom_near enemy defeated"

That's pretty handy for warshades with extracted/unchained essence targets, but don't those powers automatically select a target now? Still, it's good to know how to do that. I guess this also would be a good place for this:

/bind TAB "target_custom_next cyst$$target_custom_next quantum$$target_custom_next void$$target_enemy_next"

For automatically targetting those pesky nictus jerks without having to scan every spawn.

Quote:

ADD "powexec_toggle_off Dark Nova$$powexec_toggle_off Black Dwarf$$goto_tray 1$$bindloadfilesilent wsHumanTP.txt$$camdist 16$$powexec_name Eclipse" NUMPAD5 "powexec_toggle_off Dark Nova$$powexec_toggle_off Black Dwarf$$goto_tray 1$$bindloadfilesilent wsHumanTP.txt$$camdist 16$$powexec_name Stygian Circle" NUMPAD6 "powexec_toggle_off Dark Nova$$powexec_toggle_off Black Dwarf$$goto_tray 1$$bindloadfilesilent wsHumanTP.txt$$camdist 16$$powexec_name Sunless Mire" NUMPAD7 "powexec_toggle_off Dark Nova$$powexec_toggle_off Black Dwarf$$goto_tray 1$$bindloadfilesilent wsHumanTP.txt$$camdist 16$$powexec_name Unchain Essence" NUMPAD8 "powexec_toggle_off Dark Nova$$powexec_toggle_off Black Dwarf$$goto_tray 1$$bindloadfilesilent wsHumanTP.txt$$camdist 16$$powexec_name Gravity Well" NUMPAD9 "powexec_toggle_off Dark Nova$$powexec_toggle_off Black Dwarf$$goto_tray 1$$bindloadfilesilent wsHumanTP.txt$$camdist 16$$powexec_name Gravitic Emanation"

Quote:

The wsDwarfTP.txt and wsHumanTP.txt files contain respectively: SHIFT+LBUTTON "powexec_name Shadow Step" SHIFT+LBUTTON "powexec_name Black Dwarf Step" These files allow me to use the Shift and Left Mouse Button for teleporting myself no matter what form I'm in as long as it's not Dark Nova.

Bindloadfilesilent? I'm embarrassed to say I'm not familiar with that one. What's the difference between that and /bindloadfile? It just doesn't say it loaded the file in your chat window? Huh. I can see how you'd find that annoying. Good to know.

TBH, I always just bound the human tp to lshift+lclick and the dwarf tp to lctrl+lclick, but to each his own!

Quote:

This layout makes driving my TriFormShade™ very easy for me and allows me to execute powers and switch forms on the fly by tapping keys while targeting and camera control can be simultaneously done with the mouse. The BD-Mire/Eclipse/Mire/Nova maneuver for example is performed by going into Dwarf (NUMPAD2), executing the Black Dwarf Mire power (on my trays it's keyed to the '6' key) and then pressing the ADD button and NUMPAD6 to drop to Human form and execute Eclipse and Sunless Mire respectively and then pressing NUMPAD1 to switch back to Dark Nova form. Note :: I've found messing with auto-power activation to be less than a good idea for my Kheldians, which is why I simply leave Hasten on auto and do not attempt to use auto-power activation sequences in my binds. YMMV, of course.

Thanks for the strategy, and the post! I've never really auto-power activated in my binds, either, but in case anyone is curious, this is done mainly as a means of activating more than two powers per single keypress.

For example:
/bind [key] "powexec_toggleoff white dwarf$$powexec_toggleoff bright nova$$powexec_auto incandescent strike$$powexec_name build up"

So what happens is you drop into human form, set incandescent strike up as an automatic power, and fire off build up. Now, if you just happen to have a target selected, and just happen to be in range, then incandescent strike will also fire off.

Just imagine being in dwarf, selecting a void, initiating a teleport next to the void, and hitting that bind as you teleport. You just zoomed in out of nowhere and teleganked that void for your maximum damage before he knew what hit him.

THE PROBLEM with this is that you have to remember to control-click incandescent strike aftwerwords to take it off auto, or it will automatically fire the next time you just happen to select a target that's in range, so use at your own risk.

Thanks for the reply, LX! What I might do is quote your binds (and anyone else who responds with tips) in the original post for easy lookup and link them down to your post. Might make for a good quasi-guide that we all write, eh?

No, I got that. Performance of a role is what I meant, as well. What I'm saying is that the developers have a demonstrable history of making changes that didn't necessarily increase an archetype's performance of its role, but also didn't necessarily decrease it. Fear and -toHit pbaoe in a stalker's AS and the increase in HP didn't play to the stalker's role of melee glass cannon. In fact, it worked a little bit against the "glass" part of that role, in that they were no longer as fragile in the performance of what is essentially the same role.

Performance of the role, or performance in arresting? Couldn't resist a little joke!

Actually, the argument could be made (and was made, by some) that pre-I13 Kheldians were performing just fine with regard to their role of being adaptable. Shape-shifting Khelds could still switch forms to change roles in battle, and teaming khelds of all flavors still enjoyed bonuses while teamed that depended on team makeup.

That didn't change the fact that Khelds needed help. The damage buffs, the dwarf-form breakfree and the range increases only indirectly helped a Kheldian be more adaptable, but were addressed principally to problems that were independent of the role of the archetype. After all, how is a direct damage buff making a kheld more adaptable? It enables the kheldian to get through a battle quicker? That's an indirect benefit.

Taking the animation time out of shapeshifting would have been a direct boon to our adaptability, but that wasn't done. Allowing auto pool powers like Stamina and Health to transfer to the forms would have been a direct help, but that wasn't done either. The only change they made that directly affected our adaptability was to allow the team link inherent to carry over to the forms.

Adding epic pools - or kheld specific pools of any sort, really - actually would directly help us be more flexible and adaptable, and so long as they come at the cost of other power choices from our primary and secondary, wouldn't overpower us or starve us for slots. Kheldians are performing their role just fine, I agree. But then, they were just as adaptable before I13 as after - they just the balance between killing and being killed while performing that role more towards the killing side.

My point is that the archetype's performance of its role isn't necessarily the mean by which it is measured when it comes to requesting changes. We've gotten tons of changes in this game not because something wasn't working as intended, but simply because we as a community asked for them.

If no further changes are made to the kheldian archetype, it's not necessarily because the developers aren't willing to make changes, but more because there is no solidarity among we the players. Most of us are content with Khelds as they are, and those of us who do want change seldom agree on what form it should take, and really aren't discontented enough to pursue it.

And really, there's nothing wrong with being happy.

I know. I know. There's a form-specific bind in there, but let's keep the teleport powers together, shall we?

If you've got white dwarf, you can substitute white dwarf step in the above bind for shadow step.

/bind lshift+lclick powexec_name white dwarf step

EDIT - what follows in red is apparently no longer working, but I'll leave it just in case I've got something mistyped:

Coolio suggested a bind on the third page of this thread that should bind both powers to one key:

/bind shift+lclick "powexec_name shadow step$$powexec_name black dwarf step"

Source
IF YOU HAVE TROUBLE with the above teleport binds, you could try what Microcosm suggests here:


4) Activating TWO powers with one key (source):
Lord Xenite had a clever way to use a toggle bind:

/bind [key] "+down$$powexec_toggleon orbiting death$$powexec_toggleon inky aspect"

Now if you're a warshade you're not flying, and the +down does absolutely nothing, travel-wise. HOWEVER, since it designates the assigned key as a toggle, it will activate Inky Aspect upon the key's press, and Orbiting Death when the key is released. Pretty nifty, LX! You can, of course, substitute whatever two powers you'd like, so long as the +down stays where it is.

You multi-formers out there might want to use this bind after dropping from form with one of the below relevant form-dropping/powexec binds...

NOTE: This isn't a quick key-tap we're talking about here. Just tapping the bind key for this and letting it up really quick will result in only one toggle (the middle command) being activated. If you use this bind, HOLD THE KEY ALL THE WAY DOWN until your first toggle cues, and then let it up. YMMV.

5) Read. This. Guide. for indispensible break-free macros!
Microcosm's excellent mini-guide gives you four macros that no human-former should be without. I won't even bother repeating the information here.

Okay, lemme sum-up. It's three macros that can combine three of any inspiration to form a break free (small, medium and large, respectively) and one to gobble said break free. I will pull Granny's bind a couple posts down because I like it so much:

/bind [key] "inspexecname escape$$inspexecname emerge$$inspexecname break_free"

Granny bound it to the escape key, which I thought was appropriate, but insert any key you like in place of [key]. What I like to do is put it at the end of a form shift bind (source):

/bind [key] "powexec_toggleoff black dwarf$$powexec_toggleoff dark nova$$goto_tray 1$$powexec_name gravity shield$$inspexecname escape$$inspexecname emerge$$inspexecname break_free"

Okay, now for some specifics:
TRI-FORM AND BI-FORM WARSHADES

1)Obligatory shift-to-form binds (source):

• /bind [key] "powexec_toggle_on Dark Nova$$camdist 18$$goto_tray 9"
  
  
• /bind [key] "powexec_toggle_on Black Dwarf$$bindloadfilesilent wsDwarfTP.txt$$camdist 26$$goto_tray 8"

The idea is to put your form's powers in the appropriate tray. You can find these binds in any of the guides, but we'll list them here, too. Plus, Xenite does this cool camera distance thing that keeps you from getting disoriented. Also note the loading of the bind file? That requires that the bind file be located in the same folder with the City of Heroes executable.

Of course, if you don't like bind files, you could always put bind in your /bind. It looks like this:

/bind [key] "powexec_toggleoff black dwarf$$powexec_toggleoff dark nova$$goto_tray 1$$powexec_name gravity shield$$camdist 18$$bind lshift+lclick shadow step"

WARNING!!

I don't think the following section in red is working currently, apparently because of multiple powexec_name commands bound to the same key, but haven't had the chance to test. Use at your own risk! I'll update when I get the chance to test it out.

Switching Forms Without Switching Trays!

Now some people might not like so much the notion of swapping trays, and as someone who's accidentally toggled off a form in combat without switching trays, I can certainly understand. Never fear. Taxibot Joe's got yer back (source). Essentially it involves binding three attacks to your number keys. Lemme 'splain:

For example, as a triform Shade you might have Tray 1 full of human form attacks as such:

Gravimetric Emanation | Sunless Mire | Gravity Well

...and so forth. For Dark Nova, you might have:

Dark Nova Blast | Dark Nova Bolt | Dark Nova Scatter

...in your Nova tray. Likewise, your Black Dwarf tray might begin with:

Black Dwarf Smite | Black Dwarf Mire | Black Dwarf Drain

Now if you use tray switching binds to swap forms, you'd just go right on like normal and whatever attack that was in slot 1 of your form's would fire when you pressed 1. However, If you used the following bind:

/bind 1 "powexec_name Gravitic Emanation$$Powexec_name Dark Nova Blast$$Powexec_name Black Dwarf Smite"

...then there would be no need to swap forms, since the powers in the bind are all forms-exclusive! Essentially, since there's no chance more than one of those powers would be available for use no matter what form your in, then it wouldn't violate the "no two powexec_name commands in a single bind" rule, and the power available to you would fire! Even if you do want to swap trays, you can still bind your number keys to make them tray-independant.

If you do keep your tray-swapping binds, however, just remember that if you - for any reason - change the order of the attacks in a given tray, the keys will still be bound to the same attack.

Thanks, Taxibot Joe, for bringin' that to the table!

2)Fun with Human Form: (source):
Dropping out of form and simultaneously executing a power is key to these binds:

• /bind [key] "powexec_toggle_off Dark Nova$$powexec_toggle_off Black Dwarf$$goto_tray 1$$powexec_toggle_on Sprint$$bindloadfilesilent wsHumanTP.txt$$camdist 16"
  
• /bind [key] "powexec_toggle_off Dark Nova$$powexec_toggle_off Black Dwarf$$goto_tray 1$$bindloadfilesilent wsHumanTP.txt$$camdist 16$$powexec_name Eclipse"
  
  
• /bind [key] "powexec_toggle_off Dark Nova$$powexec_toggle_off Black Dwarf$$goto_tray 1$$bindloadfilesilent wsHumanTP.txt$$camdist 16$$powexec_name Stygian Circle"
  
  
• /bind [key] "powexec_toggle_off Dark Nova$$powexec_toggle_off Black Dwarf$$goto_tray 1$$bindloadfilesilent wsHumanTP.txt$$camdist 16$$powexec_name Sunless Mire"
  
  
• /bind [key] "powexec_toggle_off Dark Nova$$powexec_toggle_off Black Dwarf$$goto_tray 1$$bindloadfilesilent wsHumanTP.txt$$camdist 16$$powexec_name Unchain Essence"
  
  
• /bind [key] "powexec_toggle_off Dark Nova$$powexec_toggle_off Black Dwarf$$goto_tray 1$$bindloadfilesilent wsHumanTP.txt$$camdist 16$$powexec_name Gravity Well"
  
  
• /bind [key] "powexec_toggle_off Dark Nova$$powexec_toggle_off Black Dwarf$$goto_tray 1$$bindloadfilesilent wsHumanTP.txt$$camdist 16$$powexec_name Gravitic Emanation"

Now there's a list for ya! Follow the source link for how LX puts them all together (especially the part about dwarf mire/eclipse/sunless mire/nova - LX uses his numpad to really do some serious shifting magic!), but let's just say that which power you activate when dropping from dwarf and when is key to success. Nonetheless, we'll cover some oft-mentioned strategies here, too.

THIS JUST IN!!!

File this one under the "Now why didn't I think of THAT" category. Dremster has a couple of binds that will drop form, execute a power and go back into form when the key is let up. It's all in this post.

The binds use toggle keys and autoexec together. Now I'd tried toggle keys, and I've had my share of binds using autoexec, but I never thought to put 'em together! Here's the bind:

/bind [key] "+down$$powexec_auto stygian circle$$powexec_name black dwarf"

See what he did there? Totally drops you out of black dwarf, fires off stygian circle and puts you back into dwarf - all in one keystroke. Just make sure you press the key all the way down before you release it. You know, the standard warning for toggle keys. As Dremster said, the real beauty is that letting up the key also toggles off the autoexec, so everything works just hunky-dory after that!

You can substitute just about any command, as well. Here's Dremster's other example:

/bind [key] "+down$$target_custom_next enemy defeated$$powexec_auto dark extraction$$powexec_name black dwarf"

Now this one had me shedding tears of joy. It drops you out of dwarf form, targets a corpse and yanks a fluffy out for you. Then, as above, you're back in dwarf and stompin' away.

Thanks, Dremster! These are going on my warshade tonight!

3) The Double Mire:
This is the most basic trick that makes warshades so powerful - it capitalizes on the black dwarf's ability to mire and stacks it with sunless mire. It used to be that BDM had the same duration as SM, but has since changed so that BDM has a MUCH shorter duration, so they don't stack for as long. Nonetheless, it's very effective for, say, double-miring and hitting a boss with gravity well:

/bind [key] "powexec_toggleoff black dwarf$$powexec_name sunless mire"

Use this before you have eclipse or when eclipse is down. What you do is teleport into a spawn in dwarf form, hit black dwarf mire and this bind. Then gravity well the nearest boss and go from there. Another way to do this is with a macro, and put the macro right in your dwarf tray if you need to. Tell you what - we'll list macros separately at the end as people list them.

The TRUE Double Mire!

That's right - there's a true one. It's a double mire that you can execute with JUST ONE KEYSTROKE! Using this bind:

/bind [key] "powexecauto Sunless Mire$$powexecname Black Dwarf Mire$$powexectoggleoff Black Dwarf$$gototray 1"

you will immediately drop to human form and perform BOTH mires at the same time.

BIG OL' HONKIN' CAVEAT!! This bind will put Sunless Mire on auto fire, meaning that it will fire automatically every time it charges. It works in this bind because it merely sets Sunless Mire to auto fire, which then fires all on its own when dwarf form is toggled off.

Now the powexec_auto command toggles the autofire mechanism on and off, meaning that the second time you hit the bind it will only toggle the autofire on Sunless Mire off, and Sunless Mire won't fire.

In short, if you hit it once, make sure you hit it again before you jump back up into dwarf form. Just note one more thing, however - don't double-tap the key in rapid succession, or you'll only get one mire. YMMV.

4)The Double Drain

We've all been there. You're tanking an AV or an EB in dwarf, and your health starts dropping. There are no more bodies around to use Stygian Circle on, and your black dwarf drain is up. Now you know you've got essence drain, but you need to drop to human form to use it. SO you fire off BDD, drop form and BAM! Cat aggro. (or spouse aggro, or parent aggro, or whatever) It's only for a moment, but in the time it takes you to find your keyboard again you get pwn't by the AV, taking away any healing you got from BDD and possibly downing you.

No more. Just use this bind(source):

/bind [key] "powexec_auto essence drain$$powexec_name black dwarf drain$$powexec_toggleoff black dwarf$$goto_tray 1"

When you hit this bind, you will drop out of dwarf and perform both drains in human form in a single keystroke! No actual thinking required.

BIG OL' HONKIN' CAVEAT!! Just like the double mire bind above, this bind will put essence drain on auto fire, so the same rules apply.

So just to repeat myself, if you hit it once, make sure you hit it again before you jump back up into dwarf form, and don't double-tap the key in rapid succession. As above, YMMV on this one.

5) Invisible fluffies of DOOOOM! (Source)

Don'tcha hate when your fluffies get picked on for no good reason? Now it's one thing if they float off and start something (sometimes I think the extracted souls of my enemies do it on purpose to mess with me) but it's entirely another thing altogether if they're minding their own business and someone's got a wider aggro range than them.

Fortunately, you've taken grant invisibility for a LoTG +recharge mule. Or for concept reasons. Or because your significant other's toon has this REALLY HIDEOUS costume and you don't want to get in trouble telling them to change it.

To each their own. Microcosm's got what ya need:

/bind [key] "powexecname Grant Invisibility$$targetcustomnext Extracted Essence"

Now remember the game reads binds right to left (actually it reads left to right, it's just on the inside looking out at you) so what happens is it targets a fluffy and then you cast grant invisibility on it. Not bad, eh?

TRI-FORM AND BI-FORM PEACEBRINGERS

1) Obligatory form switching binds:

• /bind [key] "powexec_toggleon white dwarf$$goto_tray 9"
  
• /bind [key] "powexec_toggleon bright nova$$goto_tray 8"

Same deal as the warshade binds, but these are simpler. You can always put LX's camdist/bindloadfile commands in, too if that's your thing.

STOP!

What follows in red is apparently not working! Until I can come up with a way to make it work, ignore it completely - I'm leaving it in just in case I am successful, and I'm too lazy to retype it if I am.


Switching Forms Without Switching Trays!

If you're daft enough to read this post top to bottom, you'll likely notice that what follows is pretty much copy/pasted from the Warshade Section above with the appropriate names changed. Sue me. I'm lazy.

ANYway, some people might not like so much the notion of swapping trays, and as someone who's accidentally toggled off a form in combat without switching trays, I can certainly understand. Never fear. Taxibot Joe's got yer back (source). Essentially it involves binding three attacks to your number keys. Lemme 'splain:

For example, as a triform PB you might have Tray 1 full of human form attacks as such:

Radiant Strike | Incandescent Strike | Solar Flare

...and so forth. For Dark Nova, you might have:

Bright Nova Blast | Bright Nova Bolt | Bright Nova Scatter

...in your Nova tray. Likewise, your Black Dwarf tray might begin with:

White Dwarf Smite | White Dwarf Flare | White Dwarf Strike

Now if you use tray switching binds to swap forms, you'd just go right on like normal and whatever attack that was in slot 1 of your form's would fire when you pressed 1. However, If you used the following bind:

/bind 1 "powexec_name Radiant Strike$$Powexec_name Bright Nova Blast$$Powexec_name White Dwarf Smite"

...then there would be no need to swap forms, since the powers in the bind are all forms-exclusive! Essentially, since there's no chance more than one of those powers would be available for use no matter what form your in, then it wouldn't violate the "no two powexec_name commands in a single bind" rule, and the power available to you would fire! Even if you do want to swap trays, you can still bind your number keys to make them tray-independant.

If you do keep your tray-swapping binds, however, just remember that if you - for any reason - change the order of the attacks in a given tray, the keys will still be bound to the same attack.

And again, as I said above, a big THANK YOU to Taxibot Joe!


2) Your basic "drop to human and raise a shield:"

/bind [key] "powexec_toggleoff white dwarf$$powexec_toggleoff bright nova$$goto_tray 1$$powexec_name shining shield"

Again, a no-frills bind. You can drop form and insert any power you like - even an attack - but the format remains the same.

3) The Double-Stomp:
The famous Peacebringer double-stomp:

/bind [key] "powexec_toggleoff white dwarf$$goto_tray 1$$powexec_name solar flare"

It works like this: activate your white dwarf flare, and as your dwarf is bringing its "flare foot" back to stance with its other foot hit this bind. It will drop form and activate solar flare as they're getting off their butts. Then, if you're quick and Pulsar is in your tray 1, you can hit the Pulsar key while they're in the air to stun them when they land. The animation will still be going, but if they're in Pulsar's radius when it starts, they'll be stunned when they land.

3.5) Double-stomping with one key (source):
Yes, there is a quirky little bind that accomplishes this:

/bind [key] "powexec_auto solar flare$$powexec_name white dwarf flare$$powexec_toggleoff white dwarf$$goto_tray 1"


USE AT YOUR OWN RISK! This bind makes use of the powexec_auto command, so hitting it once will set Solar Flare on auto-fire, and hitting it a second time will take Solar Flare OFF of auto-fire! That means the bind will work properly only every other time you hit it, so if you do decide to use it, get used to hitting that key twice anyway.

MACRO-RONI! WITH CHEESE!!

So if you're like me and forget which keys you've bound to what, you might be looking at your nearly-empty nova tray and saying to yourself: "Self, I think it might be time to convert one of those shapeshifting binds into a macro and drop it right there in slot 5"

No problemo. Just copy the relevant /bind listed here, replace /bind [key] with /macro [name] and you're all set! Pretty much any Kheldian bind you find will have a dollar-dollar in there somewhere, signifying multiple commands, so leave the quotes right around them in that case, and everything will work out right.

For example, this:

/bind F1 "powexec_toggleoff dark nova$$powexec_toggleoff black dwarf$$goto_tray 1$$powexec_name stygian circle"

will become:

/macro healz "powexec_toggleoff dark nova$$powexec_toggleoff black dwarf$$goto_tray 1$$powexec_name stygian circle"

See? Easy. Make macros for all your favorite drop-form combos and fill those form trays out!

I disagree. Just look at the most recent buffs to stalkers, for example. All the more experienced players really wanted was a buff to the damage scalar, and successfully demonstrated that Stalkers weren't performing as they should in the damage area alone. However, there were a wide range of suggestions for everything from increased survivability to fear effects and -toHit added to AS to scrapper-like criticals, each with their own camps of devotees. In the end, the outcry for change was so much that the devs implemented ALL of the requests (or nearly all of them) regardless of whether it was demonstrated that the stalker as an a/t was failing in that area. I mean, really - the fear effect? That was just gratuitous, right there!

But none of what they implemented was game-breaking, so they did it. The point is that so long as it is something an archetype's community is behind and they can demonstrate that it won't unbalance or break the archetype in question I haven't seen any evidence that performance (or the lack thereof) has to be directly related to the changes requested.

Besides, Epic Pools wouldn't take away from an adaptability role - they'd add to it.

You're referring to Castle not adding human form mez protection, right? If so, you're also assuming Castle thought human form wasn't viable without it. He never said we should be forced into form-shifting; the only thing he said was that the addition of mez protection obviated dwarf form.

Since the majority of the changes were focused on problems with human form (increased damage in human ranged attacks, increased human damage scalars, and increased range of human ranged attacks), I don't see how it could be read that Castle didn't agree that human form should also be a viable way to play, and so I don't quite see how he disagreed with Geko's vision, there.

Did I misunderstand you?

A Kheldian Binding Guide might not be a bad idea, either - one that covers not just the binds themselves, but strategies and examples.

I'll volunteer to do the work to compile/write it, so long as it gets universal contribution. Tell ya what - I'll start a thread with some binds and accompanying strategies that I use, and everyone is invited to contribute if they choose, any resulting "guide" that gets compiled then becomes OUR guide and not just MY guide.

And of course it goes without saying that if someone else wants to write a guide and get credit then win! I have absolutely zero interest in setting myself up as some "Kheldian bind strategy guru guy who wrote a guide." I just volunteered because I'm mildly proficient with writing and actually enjoy it. Anyone else has one in progress, already done, or always wanted to do it feel free to speak up. (There's always Hardball's guide to /bind, but I'm thinking something more tactical in nature an specific to Kheldians)

Either way, I'll start the thread rolling and we'll see where it ends up. Besides, it would be good to see something that we can show some solidarity on.

Teaming is indeed the key. Heh. In the scenario I described the Brute and the Stalker teamed up, so the Brute would stun me with KO blow and the Stalker would AS me while I was flying very slowly away. Of course, I was teamed too, so it wasn't a complete bloodbath.

I've never liked RV because I don't really care to heavily IO my characters. I just don't play enough to make that kind of influence, and I'm apparently really, really unlucky with purple drop rates on my 50's.

I'd probably recommend Siren's Call to any Kheld driver just starting out at PVP - you can get dwarf and Nova and all of their powers by Siren's, and by 30 even have some almost decent slotting. If you use a respec to pre-slot nova you'll be doing some good damage. You're on a lower damage scalar than some of the heavy hitters, but they don't get their heaviest attacks 'till 32, and so are exemplared below them. You get yours before 26. (well, not counting pets and nuke, but only a warshade's pets would be all that great, and who nukes in pvp?) Heck, given some set bonuses you could probably get some decent positional defense for your nova, too.

It's not Bloody Bay, so there are people actually there, (and I can imagine a respec-slotted PB doing very well in BB, provided he/she could actually find someone to pwn.) and it's not Warburg, so you're not completely outclassed yet by tier 9 powers. So IMHO Siren's Call is a great place to PVP with your Kheld.

EDIT - Just wanted to add a note to the OP that Princess Darkstar's suggestion with regard to building a human/dwarf for pvp is a very good one, and one I agree with - don't go rolling a human/nova just because I write a mean anecdote. Get some experience on your Kheld in pvp before deciding on a final pvp build, and the easiest/least frustrating/safest way to do that is with a human/dwarf build. Once you get some IO sets for positional defense and damage buffs you can either think about nova or stick with what ya got.

Actually, I once specc'd my second build into a human/nova build, heavily slotted the nova attacks and nova, threw a Gaussian's +perception into nova, and wandered into Siren's Call. I was actually surprised at how well I did. Nova's unsuppressable fly meant that a certain brute could hit me with ko blow and stun me, but couldn't bring me to earth to finish me. I'd kite, drop form, heal, and be right back. A flying stalker was my only true enemy.

And a couple of hospital-sitting VEAT's were very sorry to see me enter the zone.

Mind you, though, I didn't do GREAT. I really am bad at pvp, and a Kheldian in Siren's isn't what I'd call easy mode.

Obligatory request for quoted binds.

Just don't ask where it was hidden before the assassin strike....

What he means is that the only pool powers whose benefits are felt while you are in dwarf or nova form are clicks like Hasten. Come to think of it, I think Hasten is the only pool power whose effects carry over into the forms, but someone correct me if I'm wrong.

So taking the fitness pool will only benefit your human form, since even the auto powers from the pools don't carry over. Instead you can slot end mod enhancements into the form powers themselves, although the benefit you get from slotting Nova for endurance mod is negligible.

Popular IO slotting for dwarf form, on the other hand is one endurance reducer, one endurance mod, and one Performance Shifter Chance for +Endurance proc. And three damage resistance. Yeah, don't forget that.

The slight endurance gain you get from the forms, however, was meant more to pay for the cost of running the form than it was to give you any kind of stamina-like endurance, so don't expect miracles from slotting alone.

Actually, the copy of Brightstorm that I have on test is level 44. My global there is @Barak the Frozen. @Fyst is on the live servers.

My wife is @Nightshimmers, and her lv 43 WS Selena Stormcloud will also likely be in attendance.

I'd prefer Thursday, Friday or one day this weekend. The following weekend is my parents' 40th celebration, so that's a no-go for us.

::shrugs:: I suppose scrappers do what they do with other stealth powers; take super speed or a stealth IO.

Shouldn't really be an issue, if the radius is left alone. If 35 feet is too big then bring it in line with Dark Regeneration from DA and make it 20 feet.

Use Kujin-To to stealth just outside their perception range, use flash bomb, go to melee range, use soul drain (if dm, as I'd plan to be) then shadow maul. Win.

But I'm thinking a short enough activation/recharge and a long enough duration to use it in battle and keep a perma tohit debuff going.

If you have to learn to use it, then all the better to keep it from being overpowered.

I'd thought of that before I posted.

Blinding Powder is a ranged cone that does confuse, sleep and -perception. Different enough, I think from a pbaoe -tohit that also happens to have -perception to merit the duplicated effects.

It's the -tohit that I would want.