Tangler

Just as a heads up, this arc has now been restored.

During beta I advocated a "power-up" style play for DP's swap ammo similar to what you get in Contra. I doubt we'll get that now, but instead I submit a new power that you gain with or that replaces Swap Ammo:

Explosive Rounds.

This will be a temporary buff that tacks on bonus damage regardless of whichever ammo you have equipped, much like the the new FE. I would also suggest that the bonus damage hits anything within a 5ft radius, though I am unsure if that is feasible or even just plain OP.

I think there are very few assault sets that can get away with being pure range without crippling their own damage output. At the very least every domi should take their melee attacks until they get their T9 Blast or equivalent.

Soul Mastery for damage. Energy Mastery if you need the end.

It seems to be working fine for my Fire corr earlier today. RoF does take a moment to register before they start fleeing, so maybe the problem is that your friend is dieing too fast before it happens?

Does anyone know if the EC crit rate mods any attack that can crit? The thought of a high crit Fireball enters my mind.

I have yet to try it for myself, but it sounds like what you are seeing are the effects of the new designated helper patch they introduced.

There's really no tactics involved with DP. Oh it's painted to be some super-dynamic powerset but it really isn't:

Soloing? Regular bullets if you need the mitigation, otherwise Incendiary.

Teaming? Incendiary (and according to Umbral's calculations, you are ALWAYS better off using Incendiary for the DoTs than swapping to anything else to exploit the enemy's weakness), and maybe toxic if your team is struggling against an AV.

There are some other quirks but it's just a matter of remembering to turn off/on the speciall bullets for Suppressive Fire and Piercing Round. Ice bullets are a redundant bullet type when normal rounds offer better regular mitigation and toxic for anything else.

Despite being the whole "trick" to DP, swap ammo isn't quite the immediate must-have power it should be. That said since it requires zero slotting investment it can be a good power to take early on, and so you don't have to worry about spreading your slots too thin.

Edit: That said, the DoTs from incendiary really do add up.

I'm slowly levelling a DP/Cold through the Praetoria stuff right now, currently lvl 18.

You're right about the meh'ness early on, I had to 6 slot the T1 and T2 blasts with recharge TOs just to not make it feel so slow, and then went with 3 rech and 3 dmg DOs. That said Praetoria doesn't give anyone favours (oh god why do the ghouls resist slows?).

It's solo viability is fine once you get suppressive fire, or even slotting snow storm for slows until you can get sleet.

One nice thing about cold is that it is stupidly easy to softcap. Even if you cannot afford to invest in that, just taking arctic fog, weave, maneuvers, scorp shield and the steadfast +3% IO will put you at a very respectable 38% S/L, and 19% against all positions. HoB can temporarily push your positional defence to a solid 30% (which is just about the only synergy the two sets have), and all these toggles are completely sustainable thanks to heat loss.

Hey Mordheim, by the sounds of it you're likely going to benefit the most with something that is both solo-friendly and an early-bloomer, and to that end I would recommend a /dark or /rad. Both sets are also amazing on teams.

If you do take either of those sets, then be especially sure to slot Darkest Night and Fearsome Stare or Radiation Infection with -tohit to increase your survival, which you're definitely going to need for the Praetoria content.

If fire blast does not suit your fancy, then ice, archery or sonic are also pretty solid sets. All three of them also provide a mez power which can be useful when you are soloing a tough mob.

I would keep Weave if you are trying to maximise your defenses though, it's a pretty big buff especially if you are thinking of building up your E/NE defence.

I'll throw in that Attack Vitals and Sweep are really the only combos you need.

Yes RoF is that stupidly good for corrs, I daresay you can consider it to be its crashless nuke.

Edit: No Ice Storm doesn't get that. :<

A kin corr beats a fender version by a long stretch, even with the latest buff to fenders. While a fender can get higher initial values with FS, this is eclipsed by a corr's:

• Higher base damage.
• Higher damage cap.
• Scourge.
• Can still self-cap damage after 2 FSs.

Just open with your AoE mez, and your pets won't die then.

Haven't encountered this yet, but I have since gotten wise that in Praetoria you should always carry four purples with you before a mission.

A fairly entertaining and valid review. While I and maybe others have gotten used to the quirks of the game like heavy instancing and samey tilesets, it won't be the case for everyone new. It's easy to dismiss his criticisms as "dumb" and misinformed, but it'll serve everyone better if we try and figure out how those criticisms came about--especially the misinformed ones, and respond appropriately.

That said, that review really did not give the Praetoria arcs justice. They have been some of the best morally-grey depictions of two opposing sides in a game I have seen, unlike certain other games that make similar claims but falls flat *cough*JadeEmpire*cough*MassEffect*cough*.

Ohgodwhatisthis

I agree. I've made a new villain with the intention of fast-tracking her to blueside so I can have someone to run hero TFs with, but as it is I'm really in no hurry to leave this new place. The moment I've finished the Praetoria mishes for her, I'll likely just start up a few more Praetorians to check out the other story arcs.