TeChameleon

Hmm... hadn't thought of poking around in the text document... but... argh, I hadn't really wanted to unpublish the old one, so that's not really an option -_-;

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
And 64 any detail, 35 bosses, and 312 collectibles doesn't help my need for an ally/rescue point in the slightest

[/ QUOTE ]
I don't understand. Why can't you use one of the any detail spots for an ally?

[/ QUOTE ]
I'm really not sure, honestly- I had originally used the Smooth Caves 9 (large) map, tried adding an ally to one of the Any spawnpoints there, and it glitched out hideously at first (wound up being uncompleteable), then told me I had too many rescue/ally/whatever details and wouldn't let me republish.

I may have to try re-ordering the objectives, *sigh*... it's irritating that the order of objectives should take priority over where you've coded things to go -_-;

Thanks for the help, anyways.

I've tried every single position- Front, Middle, and Back, and he still spawns in the same damn (unmarked) place.

Yeah, but that's the Atta Cave, isn't it? It's sodding huge, to the point of borderline unplayability :/

And 64 any detail, 35 bosses, and 312 collectibles doesn't help my need for an ally/rescue point in the slightest

I've been scrounging through the various cave maps, trying to find one that supports a good number of 'any' objectives, at least four boss spawnpoints, and also allowing for an ally/hostage rescue/whatever the other thing you can do there is. The only one I've found so far is Large Office-to-Cave Transition 7, and it's proving... problematic; bosses spawn front-loaded, while the ally I want to provide spawns at the very back of the map, no matter what I set him at.

So... are there any other cave maps out there that fit my objectives that anyone has come across? I've spent a while on this, and it's getting frustrating (er, one other caveat- I'd prefer the Troll/Smooth Caves if possible, but it's understandable if it's not :/)

*chuckle*

Not so much 'home', but Founder's Falls has always felt very Dutch to me, for some reason- I think it's the tall narrow buildings and the canals (although there aren't enough bicycles, heh...).

On the other hand, Perez Park feels like a slightly gloomier version of Stanley Park, in my hometown of Vancouver, but that may just be general park-ness rather than any specific resemblance....

[ QUOTE ]
"(and for those playing along at home, I'm Wall of Knight) >.> "

snip.

This is something that messes me up. Why not change your forum handle to your @global? I know you're not alone in ths WoK, so this is aimed at all of you split presonalities.

//Jack

[/ QUOTE ]
My forum handle predates the existence of globals, so the various forumistas know me as TeChameleon; it just seems needlessly confusing to me to change either my global or my forum handle when there's so little overlap, usually.

And yeah, it's a shame when people leave- Guardian is very much (a very weird) family.

Thanks for the run, LJ! Couple of quick things-

[ QUOTE ]
For instance, if one of the Malta soldiers indeed did mention that Crimson was supposed to be in China during the third mission, I missed it entirely.

[/ QUOTE ]
Er- nope, that was just in the clue (it was in the laptop you raided).

[ QUOTE ]
Someone could easily miss the fact that the robots are planning to take over the Arbiter Drones in the second mission as well, until they read their clues and go "U-wha?"

[/ QUOTE ]
Again, that was just in the clues (a couple of times)- the 'bots don't mention it.

[ QUOTE ]
I defeated it without incident using Elude and having the help of the elite boss ally that had kinetics. My experience however is probably going to be the exception rather than the rule.

[/ QUOTE ]
I've squishy-tested the HVAS repeatedly on my Blaster- he goes down without much trouble as long as you maneuver the EB Ally into position so that he's taking the shots and not you- the HVAS even gets held every once in a while, given that the ally is a grav/kin.

[ QUOTE ]
In the third mission, a lot of the groups are just straight out Zeus Titans. Not a Hercules in sight.

[/ QUOTE ]
I realize this may bug a lot of people, but I never really intended for the Zeuses (Zeusi?) to be fought- they're more an environmental hazard than an actual enemy, and a nifty lightshow to run in the background while you skip them. Again, this is something I've tested repeatedly- they can be easily avoided with nothing more than Fly, or even just Sprint (there's only one group that you have to get close enough to to cause aggro, and if you move quickly, they'll be occupied slaughtering the Malta).

As far as I've been able to test, there will almost never be a situation where you have to engage the Titans- you can just dodge them and do your thing without too much difficulty.

[ QUOTE ]
As for the last mission, I couldn't see any reason not to play it on difficulty 4. Sure the ambushes were big, but given the fact that the mission has 3 elite boss allies who all have some form of buildup, it was a complete cakewalk. Kind of boring for the climax of a story, really.

[/ QUOTE ]
Hrm... I'm having a really hard time balancing that last mission. The three allies are actually just bosses, not EBs, although they do all have Build Up or some variant thereof... and more often than not, you don't get two of them until you've already cleared most of the mission. I've had wildly varying reports of the difficulty, and my own testing showed similar- if you have too many of those custom 'bots, most builds will get stomped into mush by the Endurance drain and nonstop high-mag KB.

Guess it's time to go back in and fiddle with that one a bit more- I just didn't want to fall into the 'last mission time for generic boss fight X' trap (especially since, at this point, the mastermind behind all this doesn't even have a body :/).

Ah, well. Thanks again for the runthrough and the review (and, little secret- assuming I ever find the time, I'm planning on doing a sequel to this arc).

... which means that the markers are worth pretty much bugger-all :/

Do they have any relation to what actually spawns where? If the popup help marker legend is to be believed, then things should be spawning in radically different places than they actually are; I've been trying to get an ally to spawn at the front of the map (where there's clearly a marker for one), but it simply won't. It's getting a bit maddening, since the only place it spawns is at the very end of the map, where there's no ally markers at all >.<

Hah... I remember that. Typical Guardian lunacy, heh (and for those playing along at home, I'm Wall of Knight) >.>

Eh, the Rikti-tribute-to-I4 would be kinda fun, but I vote for it just exploding and dumping everybody inside back in Outbreak/Breakout at level 1

[ QUOTE ]
Here's one. Have the Atlas AE building get sucked into the Shadow Shard. AE babies, meet Rularruu!

[/ QUOTE ]
... you know, I never really noticed it before, but doesn't saying "Rularuu" out loud make you sound like Scooby Doo?

Yeeeah... sorry 'bout that, Venture.

I've been re-writing and reworking my arcs in the order that I originally wrote them, and Trollbane was the last. With my limited time, I haven't actually gotten to it yet- I made some quick changes when i15 hit (trying to insert BABs into the final mission, for one), but haven't tested them or even looked very closely at things.

I doubt that I spent more than five minutes on my Trollbane thus far, rather than the several hours of rewriting and testing that the others have been subject to, and which this one will also go through once I have the time.

Apologies for wasting your time- the reason things don't seem to have changed much is, well, they haven't. Although if the final mission is now a defeat-all, that wasn't my doing... I suspect the mission is badly bugged by my attempted insertion of BABs, but I'm really not certain, since, as I said, it hasn't been tested (or changed particularly). I did ask you to hold off on it for now :/

Thanks for the re-run, Airhead, although it's a pity you stopped there. I'd be more than a little curious to see what you thought of the revamped third mission and the edited souvenir.

Oh, and as an aside, the reason it's only Council robots (well, aside from the 'boss') in the first mission is that it's a reference to this enemy group, part of an odd little sub-arc that you can get in the early 30s in City of Heroes. It's a lot of fun, and one that I remember playing through nearly four years ago.

Heyas Airhead-

"How to Survive a Robot Uprising" is... I think... fixed. At least, I think I took care of most of the bugaboos- it should read a little more cleanly now, and I think I tightened the plot a little (although the reflection robots are still glowing and transparent, *sigh*... can't level baddies up, just down Mind you, they do have the correct text now, at least.)

Hmm... favourites?

Let me see.

Freakshow. I think it's because they're such absolutely unshakeable optimists. They may be anarchic, drug-addled, gangbanging thugs with less sense than God gave a chicken, but you have to give them credit- they're resolutely cheerful, and, well... "Hey, this cape just beat me and six of my buddies unconscious with their bare hands. I think I'll jump up alone and go after them again!"

Tsoo. I don't know what it is- by rights, I should loathe them, as they were my first introduction to the 'fun' that was i3-era status-effect-heavy mobs, but there's just something about them. And hey, they're magically-tattooed Vietnamese(?) Ninja with what appear to be Chinese ghosts as their ancestors. How can you not love that?

Soldiers of Rularuu. Huge eyeballs with laser-vision that chew on you with their eyelids. Pure, concentrated awesome, and the other mobs are fun as well (although the Natterlings are kind of meh :/)

Un-Favourites:
Circle of Thorns ghosts. Hate them, hate them, hate them. Way more damage than they should have, -tohit, slows, stealth, running, and take way too sodding long to bring down with smashing/lethal damage. Just a massive ball of irritation all around.

Knives of Artemis. Just so boring, visually. They all look the same!

The Council. Boring, boring, boring visuals. Whee, it's an ocean of olive drab! Well, aside from the Galaxies, who just look silly. LUCHADORES... FROM... SPAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACE...

[ QUOTE ]
he had more in him -_-

[/ QUOTE ]
... well, Steelclaw has a lot of SOMETHING in him, but...

[ QUOTE ]
Out of curiosity The Damsel of Distress. Empyreal. and The Crimson Fist, the heroes mentioned by Buck Salinger over in Croatoa, who were they? Were they just random names pulled out of a hat or do they have actual back stories?

[/ QUOTE ]
I can't say for the first two, but the Crimson Fist has a fragment of backstory on one of the plaques in Steel Canyon (the "Just Said No to Superadine" one, if I remember correctly).

His name was John Knox, he was a Midnighter, worked closely with the Regulators and Back Alley Brawler, and was the first to connect Superadine to the Frost Cartel (aka "The Family") using his psychic abilities. He died during the First Rikti War (I used him in one of my MArcs, which is how I know all this- "Trollbane", in my sig ).

*shrug*

My Energy/Energy blaster has the Munitions pool also; I actually created him shortly before epics were introduced, and got to the appropriate level shortly after they came out.

My reasoning was fairly simple; his powers had nothing to do with forcefields (the 'logical' choice for Energy/Energy), and he wasn't stupid- why not invest in a set of lightweight Body Armour and some backup weaponry?

... did I have any arcs with you for re-review, Talen? Can't remember off the top of my head

Er... oh. If I did, don't run 'em yet- I've made some changes, but they're untested, and I don't want to inflict them on anyone until I'm sure they're working right

*chuckle*

There's of course the way to raise the difficulty that's been mentioned- run a MArc with custom-designed murder-bosses (or AVs as far as the eye can see, whatever).

Another simple way: run with people that don't know what they're doing. Believe me, the challenge will rise sharply

Oop- hey Venture, if you're planning on a re-run of 106553 any time soon, could you put it on hold? I haven't had time to test out my i15 changes yet, so it may be horribly borked- not sure just yet. Hopefully I'll be able to tune it up sometime in the next week or so.

Yay, Dominion Day!

>.>

<.<

*hugs Noire*

We'll keep the light on for you, oh cookie-mistress

Wow- thanks for the quick responses.

Appreciate the feedback, Santorican, but you'll get my Superspeed when you pry it from my cold, dead fingers

So, the general consensus is that I'll get more from recharge bonuses than I would from global damage bonuses? Hrm. Alrighty, I can roll with that. Another_Fan, I like the look of your tweaked build for that... going to poke at it a bit once I wake up again- for now, bedtime

Greetings, Blaster forumites.

Been blasting for a long while now, and it's finally looking like I might be able to purple my main out, so, before I sank massive amounts of cash into it, I figured I'd get some feedback.

Er, one thing- didn't have any real goals in mind other than 'make things die fast'. If you have a better suggestion, I'm all ears.

Hero Plan by Mids' Hero Designer 1.401
http://www.cohplanner.com/

[u]Click this DataLink to open the build![u]

Energon X: Level 50 Science Blaster
Primary Power Set: Energy Blast
Secondary Power Set: Energy Manipulation
Power Pool: Flight
Power Pool: Fitness
Power Pool: Speed
Ancillary Pool: Munitions Mastery

Hero Profile:
Level 1: Power Bolt

[*] (A) Devastation - Accuracy/Damage[*] (3) Devastation - Chance of Hold[*] (3) Devastation - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge[*] (5) Devastation - Damage/Recharge[*] (5) Thunderstrike - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge[*] (7) Thunderstrike - Accuracy/Damage[/list]Level 1: Power Thrust
[*] (A) Kinetic Crash - Accuracy/Knockback[*] (9) Kinetic Crash - Damage/Knockback[*] (31) Kinetic Crash - Recharge/Knockback[*] (33) Kinetic Crash - Accuracy/Damage/Knockback[/list]Level 2: Power Blast
[*] (A) Apocalypse - Damage[*] (9) Apocalypse - Damage/Recharge[*] (11) Apocalypse - Accuracy/Recharge[*] (11) Apocalypse - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge[*] (13) Apocalypse - Damage/Endurance[/list]Level 4: Build Up
[*] (A) Adjusted Targeting - Recharge[*] (13) Adjusted Targeting - To Hit Buff/Recharge[/list]Level 6: Hover
[*] (A) Freebird - Endurance[*] (7) Luck of the Gambler - Recharge Speed[*] (37) Freebird - FlySpeed[/list]Level 8: Power Burst
[*] (A) Devastation - Accuracy/Damage[*] (15) Devastation - Damage/Recharge[*] (15) Devastation - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge[*] (17) Devastation - Chance of Hold[*] (17) Thunderstrike - Accuracy/Damage[*] (19) Thunderstrike - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge[/list]Level 10: Sniper Blast
[*] (A) Sting of the Manticore - Accuracy/Damage[*] (19) HamiO:Nucleolus Exposure[*] (21) Sting of the Manticore - Damage/Endurance[*] (21) Sting of the Manticore - Accuracy/Interrupt/Range[*] (23) Sting of the Manticore - Damage/Interrupt/Recharge[*] (23) Sting of the Manticore - Damage/Endurance/Recharge[/list]Level 12: Energy Torrent
[*] (A) Ragnarok - Damage[*] (25) Ragnarok - Damage/Recharge[*] (25) Ragnarok - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge[*] (27) Ragnarok - Accuracy/Recharge[*] (27) Ragnarok - Damage/Endurance[*] (29) HamiO:Nucleolus Exposure[/list]Level 14: Fly
[*] (A) Soaring - FlySpeed[*] (39) Soaring - Endurance/FlySpeed[/list]Level 16: Swift
[*] (A) Flight Speed IO[/list]Level 18: Health
[*] (A) Healing IO[*] (31) Healing IO[*] (50) Numina's Convalescence - +Regeneration/+Recovery[/list]Level 20: Stamina
[*] (A) Endurance Modification IO[*] (31) Endurance Modification IO[*] (33) Performance Shifter - Chance for +End[/list]Level 22: Hasten
[*] (A) Recharge Reduction IO[*] (39) Recharge Reduction IO[/list]Level 24: Super Speed
[*] (A) Quickfoot - RunSpeed[*] (40) Quickfoot - Endurance/RunSpeed[/list]Level 26: Aim
[*] (A) Adjusted Targeting - To Hit Buff/Recharge[*] (29) Adjusted Targeting - Recharge[/list]Level 28: Bone Smasher
[*] (A) Hecatomb - Damage[*] (33) Hecatomb - Damage/Recharge[*] (34) Hecatomb - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge[*] (34) Hecatomb - Accuracy/Recharge[*] (39) Hecatomb - Damage/Endurance[/list]Level 30: Energy Punch
[*] (A) Mako's Bite - Accuracy/Damage[*] (34) Mako's Bite - Damage/Endurance[*] (40) Mako's Bite - Damage/Recharge[*] (42) Mako's Bite - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance/Recharge[*] (42) Mako's Bite - Accuracy/Endurance/Recharge[*] (42) Accuracy IO[/list]Level 32: Nova
[*] (A) HamiO:Nucleolus Exposure[*] (36) Armageddon - Damage[*] (36) Armageddon - Damage/Recharge[*] (36) Armageddon - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge[*] (37) Armageddon - Accuracy/Recharge[*] (37) Armageddon - Damage/Endurance[/list]Level 35: Conserve Power
[*] (A) Recharge Reduction IO[*] (40) Recharge Reduction IO[/list]Level 38: Boost Range
[*] (A) Recharge Reduction IO[*] (46) Recharge Reduction IO[/list]Level 41: Cryo Freeze Ray
[*] (A) Unbreakable Constraint - Hold[*] (43) Unbreakable Constraint - Hold/Recharge[*] (43) Unbreakable Constraint - Accuracy/Hold/Recharge[*] (43) Unbreakable Constraint - Accuracy/Recharge[*] (45) Unbreakable Constraint - Endurance/Hold[/list]Level 44: Surveillance
[*] (A) Analyze Weakness - Defense Debuff[*] (45) Analyze Weakness - Accuracy/Defense Debuff[*] (45) Analyze Weakness - Accuracy/Recharge[*] (46) Analyze Weakness - Defense Debuff/Endurance/Recharge[*] (46) Analyze Weakness - Accuracy/Endurance/Recharge[/list]Level 47: LRM Rocket
[*] (A) Positron's Blast - Damage/Range[*] (48) Positron's Blast - Accuracy/Damage[*] (48) Positron's Blast - Damage/Recharge[*] (48) Positron's Blast - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance[*] (50) Positron's Blast - Damage/Endurance[/list]Level 49: Body Armor
[*] (A) Aegis - Resistance[*] (50) Aegis - Psionic/Status Resistance[/list]------------
Level 1: Brawl
[*] (A) Accuracy IO[/list]Level 1: Sprint
[*] (A) Celerity - +Stealth[/list]Level 2: Rest
[*] (A) Recharge Reduction IO[/list]Level 1: Defiance
------------
[u]Set Bonus Totals:[u]
[*]23% DamageBuff(Smashing)[*]23% DamageBuff(Lethal)[*]23% DamageBuff(Fire)[*]23% DamageBuff(Cold)[*]23% DamageBuff(Energy)[*]23% DamageBuff(Negative)[*]23% DamageBuff(Toxic)[*]23% DamageBuff(Psionic)[*]0.94% Defense(Energy)[*]0.94% Defense(Negative)[*]1.88% Defense(Ranged)[*]80% Enhancement(Accuracy)[*]71.3% Enhancement(RechargeTime)[*]108.4 HP (9%) HitPoints[*]Knockback (Mag -3)[*]Knockup (Mag -3)[*]MezResist(Held) 3.3%[*]MezResist(Immobilize) 4.4%[*]MezResist(Stun) 2.2%[*]23.5% (0.39 End/sec) Recovery[*]70% (3.52 HP/sec) Regeneration[*]2.5% Resistance(Smashing)[*]11.7% Resistance(Fire)[*]11.7% Resistance(Cold)[*]2.1% Resistance(Psionic)[*]8% RunSpeed[/list]