StormDevil

Way back in the first week of September, rolling blackouts (fallout from Irene; I live in upstate NY) wrecked my PC. I'm finally at a point now where I'd like to replace it. I pasted Hyperstrike's mini-FAQ below, and answered the questions to the best of my (limited) technical knowledge, but I'm sure there will still be some back-and-forthing since I'm a bit of a luddite. Anywho:

1) What will you primarily be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc
***Gaming and browsing, though I'll likely need to be able to run ArcGIS (Geographic Information Systems) for some of my urban planning classes/work.



2) What's your budget? (Real Dollars) Are tax and shipping included? This is important as it allows people trying to help you to suggest things appropriate to your budget.
***I'd like to stay below $1000, but I'm fine with anything up to that limit.



3) Where do you live? This is important as it affects what vendors you may buy from and how much shipping costs might be.
***Upstate NY, US of A.



4) Are you planning to buy or build?
***I would prefer to just buy, outright, as I only really have experience with swapping out a graphics cards.



5) What exact parts do you need for that budget? CPU, RAM, case, etc. The word "Everything" is not a valid answer. Please list out all the parts you'll need. If you're unsure what exactly you need, say so.
***Well, I want to buy, so...is "everything" valid in that sense? Actually, I'm just switching out the CPU, so keyboard, mouse, speakers, monitor, I'm fine on all of those.



6) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.
***...hm, I'll have to check on that.



7) Will you be overclocking?
***I don't think so?



8) What size monitor do you have and/or plan to have?
***I'll have to check on this one, too. I'm also open to switching/upgrading my monitor, if that helps.



9) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
***ASAP



10) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? USB 3.0? SATA 6Gb/s? etc.
***Oh lord, I have no idea.



11) Any specific must-have features? Must be able to max out Ultra-Mode? Must have 6+GB of RAM? Must have an SSD? etc.
***I would like to be able to max out Ultra-Mode...the rest is negotiable.



12) Are there any vendors/brands you'd specifically prefer to use?
***Nope.



13) Are there any vendors/brands you'd specifically prefer to avoid?
***Nope.



14) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? If yes, what OS? Is it 32bit or 64bit? (Note: If your current OS came with your computer, odds are that it is NOT transferable.)
***Mine came with my computer, so probably not.

Those are the numbers from the Valenzetti Equation on Lost; 4, 8, 15, 16, 23, 42

I actually almost always "come up with" the name first. The "come up with" is in quotes because I will, on occasion (usually the occasion being "I want to make a new character"), spend a probably ridiculous amount of time plugging names into the Check Name (or /friend if I'm in-game) to see if there's anything available that I like. This process has always led to my favorite names, such as Mister Wizard, Doctor Blood, Starboy, Moxie Danger, and Crime Queen. Then the character's powers and "theme" flow from there, with the bio added in later.

Sometimes I want to play a certain set combo, and I go hunting for names that fit the concept. This is usually pretty frustrating, though I do luck out on occasion.

I think if I was going to try this, I would make a */FF MM. Just put the pets on Follow Passive, put your bubbles on an auto macro, and click-follow the Tanker/whatever.

I also think this is a terrible idea.

There actually exists at least one non-Incarnate, non-outside buff option for completely mitigating a nuke's End crash; Mental Manipulation's Drain Psyche. Slotted to the ED cap for Recovery (and with other Recovery IO bonuses as well), it's possible to boost your Recovery past the point of a nuke's crash. I used to do it with a Fire/MM; run in with PFF and WoC, click Aim+Concentration, detoggle PFF, click DP, nuke. If you manage to hit the target cap with DP--admittedly difficult due to its 10' radius--you will actually not even lose any toggles. Well, I didn't, at any rate, but I wasn't using very many toggles. It also worked for Force of Nature.

It was an awful lot of work for something that wasn't successful every time, not to mention that Ageless does it better.

Cool, thanks guys. I was leaning towards /Rad anyway, but all this just cements that sentiment.

I just wanted to get some opinions on these two combos. Although I've been playing for five years, I've not taken any of these sets to high levels, nor do I have much experience with Corruptors. A couple of things to take into account:

I mostly solo; when I do team, it's usually either duoing with a friend, or a full TF team
I won't be taking Hasten, unless the graphic effect gets reworked (ie, removed entirely or flagged as customizable)

This thread subject, followed by the poster's name in the index, should get an award for "Best Rhetorical Post 2011".

Do you mean literally seeing the tics, as orange numbers, on your monitor, or are you monitoring the power in your Combat Log? If it's the former, most rain powers overload the game's/your PC's ability to render all the ticks.

It wasn't even the numbers with which I had the contention; it was with the subjective and flawed analyses of each archetype. Should this hypothetical uninformed forum reader take what was written at face value, then the OP would have done them a disservice.

Which is why posts like that need to be killed with scorn, fire, and Sonic Blasts, the last of which I'll be slotting with -Res enhancements, as per the OP's suggestion.

I think you're right, I did answer it myself. That'll teach me to post past my bedtime.

*sigh*

Guess I'll start making the popcorn...

Nope; every other Mez shield is on a 90 second timer. Now, none of them offer the +Res or KB Res that ID does, but they offer other "side benefits" instead (most notably Pain Domination's Enforced Morale). Additionally, ID is the only one saddled with a built-in ally debuff.

Just curious; what is the reason/line of thought/argument for the incredibly short duration of this buff? It seems somewhat goofy, but I'm sure I'm overlooking some sort of balancing factor, since the power hasn't been tweaked (as far as I know).

I keep seeing a common theme pop up in regard to multiple Kins on a team; that damage cap is damage cap, so there's a huge drop in marginal returns. Which would be true, if +Dam was Kin's only trick. It's sort of analagous to the "Emps only heal" line of thought. Multiple Kins mean: extra healing; extra -regen; extra -Dam; extra EndRec and Recharge (o hai, rolling crashless Nukes!); and extra Mez protection (teehee Ghost Widow, stop, that tickles).

It probably doesn't mean extra mags of Repel.

Apologies for the necro on this one; just had a quick question regarding Mind/Earth and soloing AVs. Is Sleet completely necessary to pull this off? I only ask because I slapped together a quick Mind/Earth/Fire build in Mids, and the DPS--even with T4 Musculature and Reactive--doesn't look like it can overcome an AV's regen.

So in regular gameplay, when you click Heavy Strike, it will execute either of those two animations? i.e., you don't actually choose which one it performs?

Question about that video, Stryph; it looks like there are two different animations for the second tier attack, but I'm not seeing you choose between them. Am I just not catching you making the switch, is the demo alternating between them on its own, or is that attack actually a slow, two-part animation? Really hoping it's not the last option.

Hey all.

I'm bringing up an Elec/SD, and worked out a Mids build that I like. I don't have access to Mids right now, but I do know that the nukes were displaying better DPAnimations than Jacob's (and were recharging in ~24 seconds). I want to say the disparity was just about 50 damage in the nukes' favor. Is using them against single targets a viable option, or is there a wrinkle that I'm missing?

Well, the biggest issue is, I don't want to be a Hover Blaster; I like punch-y animations, and from a performance standpoint, Energy Punch and Bonesmasher are the second and third best attacks in the set combo. The purples are there for recharge, accuracy, and end recovery, and really, purple prices aren't really an issue (I mostly do Tips, Flashbacks, and TFs, and roll those Merits into AMerits, then market the resulting IOs).

Specific to the build you posted; it's getting 17.97% Ranged Defense from IO sets in powers from Devices. The only Range-providing sets in there that a Fire/Energy could slot are Gaussain's and Stupefy. I'm also not sure what you mean by better numbers; it's got a higher rate of End burn, fewer HPs (though only by 14 or so), damage is about the same across the board, accuracy is quite a bit higher, but unnecessarily so (ie, past the accuracy vs. +4s cap)...just not sure what you meant by better numbers.

I took a closer look at that video, and it does seem that the Def boost from PBU isn't lasting as long as I thought it was; I assumed that it would last the entire 15 seconds of the power's duration, but it looks like it's closer to 7.5 seconds.