Teeth

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You have four riders called: Death, Famine, Pestilance, and War. And that isn't "blatant"?

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Not really, no. Video games use those four together all the time; they're pretty generic as "cool sounding group of 4 villain bosses."

Also, as for "real aliens" other than Rikti, Khelds, and Rularuu, there's a lot of PC's who are allegedly aliens...

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Just to test I targeted him, wondering if he was like the Vanguard. Nope, he saw me and almost one-shot me, he was definitely hostile.

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Well, Voids are created by the Nictus, so I suppose they're not interested in the potential Nictus Earth becoming Rikti Earth 2.

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True, but the difference with wargames is that the characters are a known and set quantity. It's like balancing MTG or HeroClix or Warhammer - the pieces are a set and known quantity. While the collection of them may change, it's a little easier since there is no one trying to put uber defense with uber offense as the designers already determined the powers out.

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Isn't it already kinda like that though?

It really should be absurdly easy to jury-rig a better point scaling system long enough to figure it out. My Termagants (an Omega Wolf at 500 points) cost more than my Hive Tyrants (300 point Tank Smasher).

Just make minions cost 0-150 points, Lt.'s cost 200-350 points, and bosses cost 400-550 points for now. Rebalance based on real testing later.

Edit to remove redundancy.
Edit for sentence structure.
Edit for spelling too.
It must be too early in the morning for me to type today.

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The 7th Gen PPs are pricey, but they are squishy as all hell and didn't seem to pack much of a punch
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All Longbows are pricey, and have no "punch" that I've seen.
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Wolfs started out great, but got dropped in a split second and I'm not sure how
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Not really sure the point of having Sluggers. Cannon fodder?


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The gladiators you mentioned, besides a couple longbow, are minions. Bosses can easily one- or two-shot them. Lt.'s don't have much more trouble.

Minions are basically useless in an open match, take bosses whenever possible.

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The AMoA needs to cost something like 1500 points. Either that or it needs some serious nerfing.

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Actually, it's pretty well balanced as a boss. Granted it can tank a little well (you'd think Crey or Freak Tanks would be better than a *mage,* aren't mages supposed to go squish?), but a lot of that comes from siphoning, and two mages can only siphon so much--especially with firepower focused on them. Plus, that 500 points of a second mage could be 2 Calibans. Ow. I would change mages by increasing the recharge time of a siphon to half again (150%) the current value, and that's it.

The problem is the gap between bosses, minions, and lt's. An Omega Wolf costs double what a Caliban does and the Caliban can kill indefinitely many Omega Wolves in two attacks--so two Calibans takes care of all your opponent's minions right off the bat. As do Freak Tanks. As do Warhulks.

The gap between Gladiator ranks is the problem.

Oh, and for a kick-butt team, try:
2 Freak Tanks
1 Warhulk
2 AMoA's

Damage in spades, all bosses, exactly 2000 points, optimal magery, tough as nails.

You can also do two Mages and two Wardens for a virtually unkillable team, though damage is lacking a bit (made up for only by continuous siphons).

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Why not keep costs they way they are, but limit the amount of bosses and Lts you can have to 0-1 boss, 0-3 Lts and 0+ minions per 2000 points?

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Because one boss (say, a 250 point Caliban) can two-shot ALL enemy minions AT ONCE. Lt's don't fare too much better against bosses, nor do minions against Lt's.

House Rules (only minions, only lt's, no Mage, etc.) make things more fun, but an open competition is simply not viable right now. As far as team optimization goes, haveing less than two Arch Mages of Agony WILL get you a loss against a competent player in a duel and having two or more on both teams WILL get a draw. There's no real competition without house rules.

Either way, 500 points for an Omega Wolf minion is waaaaay too much, even in minion VS minion fights. Points costs need adjusting.

You're probably aware, but I can't tell by that last post.... you do know that you go across to Test broke, right?

Fill your inventory with Accuracy SO's if you want any money on test!

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Hover is "perma" as long as you never turn it off or get de-toggled by a villain.

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That's what I meant. Without Flight Speed enhancers (at least a few), you wouldn't be doing that unless you're a serious masochist and don't like teaming.

Permahover = Never Turns Hover Off

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As a foot note...
My main movement power is TP, so I'm not trying to use hover to get from RCS to AP or anything goofy. I just want good manuverability in combat and I like controlled 3d movement. You're right that TP indoors is a chore. It can usually be done, but oy! what a pain!.

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I've done a Scrapper with permaHover and Teleport as a travel power. It's expensive to slot (if you want to put lots of slots in Teleport especially!), but it DOES work quite well. Hover with 6 SO's will let you move around at pretty good speed whenever and wherever you want. It's slow enough to use at all times, fast enough to get where you want in missions quite easily, and so much fun that I consider those 6 slots very well spent. Zoom zoom zoom.

That's the Hover part, anyway. Teleport has beautiful synergy with permahover. You don't have to worry about turning hover on and off like some people who augment Teleportation with hovering since you're always hovering anyway, and you don't really have to worry about targetting your teleport well since you can adjust rapidly once you arrive. The (already limited) thought and planning necessary to begin a teleportation chain is just plain gone. Bind Teleport to something handy and you don't even have to think about using it, it's just "I want to be over there now."

Of course, YMMV as always.

Now, as for Siphon Speed, I've never tested that with flight. I do know, however, that Speed Boost works well on a flyer (crack is a permaHover build's friend before SO's--6 DO's makes Hover tolerably fast, like a slow walk, but with Speed Boost, it's almost as good as the SO version). This would suggest it as feasible that Siphon works too. I've never tried though.

Hmmm, looking at the above, I see I've been babbling like a fanboy. Sorry, but I guess I am. (I wish we could have 5 power pools. I 'specced out Hover for Assault and Tactics. I scrap a lot better, but... )

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I believe the more time you spend on the ground, the slower you go. For the fraction of a second that you're on the ground, you probably slow down to normal running speed. But I don't recall specifically testing for this.

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I think that's right. You feel a lot faster when you're near the ground, but you're actually faster taking full jumps. The game keeps track of how fast you're allowed to move in different methods. If you have SJ on (with NO SS), you will slow down horrendously while grounded. Being in the air maintains a certain speed which, ZeroG, is independent of your vertical speed. Where you are in your jump does not matter--the game just says "SJ is on, player has X amount of air control."

A very good test for this is to walk off a ledge with SJ turned on. You'll be barely moving when you hit the edge and going 80 (literally) by the time you hit the floor, even after only a two-story drop. It's a very noticeable effect (especially when trying to drop onto an enemy from above--I die from overshooting doing that way too often ).

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I didn't test Suppression on either of these as Snarespawn and I were both in a hurry. But I doubt that these are Suppressed.

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Just confirming that neither siphon speed, nor inertial reduction, nor speed boost are supressed.

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Indeed. If they were suppressed, it would 1) violate the powersets > pools balancing (especially Siphon, since it can get you killed due to no stealth) and 2) be useable for griefing purposes (excepting Siphon). That, and I know they aren't suppressed because I use them in combat all the time. (IR is a tad pricey before Stamina, but Siphon is cheap, debuffs the enemy nicely, and increases your attack rate with a .2 modifier--that's better than a DO.)

I'm really gonna miss those two powers, but I need to respec out of them if I'm gonna live as a Sapper.

(I need the Siphon slot for true SS to conceal me while jumping around and I must get the leaping pool for status protection, excepting Jump Kick since I'm not farming debt yet, which makes things tighter also. Heck, I even need to drop Siphon Power to take Lightning Bolt at level 2 so I can blast better. Pity.)

Edit: Improved the grammar of the last paragraph. It still sounds off, but at least it's in English now.

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Before I left, I posted a couple of things that a few posters thought were "flippant" or "snarky." I certainly didn't intend either...but here's the reality. I do NOT pass my posts through PR, community relations or anyone. I post, well, exactly as I think. So sometimes I won't sound polished like a snake oil salesman. Sometimes, I'll sound just like any other gamer out there. I could have someone edit everything I post - but that would inevitably delay responses and cut back on communication. I think, though I could be wrong, that the majority of you would prefer my honest thoughts, rather than sales talk. It's probably pretty different than the game developer norm, but it's what feels right for me to say. I'm not going to always write the best responses, but you'll at least have truthful ones.

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I really respect this. I caught on to it in the don't-call-me-a-liar thread you made on the controller boards. It's appreciated.

Edit: That came out kinda vague. What I mean to say is that posting without putting things past someone to be cleaned up is a laudable action.

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The Ice Arrow seems to violate the new policies for Holds; whereas most Holds now are limited to half duration and doubled recharge,

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That only applies to AoE's, thank Joule.

My comments on the set:
I am concerned that it is too powerful as a control secondary (as compared to the other secondaries, not in general). I do not think that it needs a nerf, but I would consider making it Defender only, much as it pains me. At any rate, that would sate the Defender fanboys who complain that they don't get enough of a distinction from Controllers as is.

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He won't go far,

[/ QUOTE ] What with the Police drones and all! Really, one wonders why they haven't sent those after Hamidon!

Those links are now broken (dang edit window). The pictures are now here and here , for those curious (broken links always make me curious ).

Heh, I got Knight Errant on two characters within 24 hours yesterday and the day before, it was cool.

Anyway, here is what the construction will look like should you ACTUALLY see it (not like those silly pics of it alone earlier in the thread ) and here is what the description is for the construction.

I'm not sure if someone may have posted those earlier in the thread since I read it last, but I really don't feel like reading all that, so...

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I forgot to test the Super Jump + Hurdle cap in my guide. ..

By the way, I forgot to mention a GREAT trick you can use with jumping powers...

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Dang, I just logged on to ask about the Hurdle thing. I take it you don't know. I want to know (if you test it):

1) Will the default slot in Hurdle (with an SO at 50) allow you to reach BOTH the speed and height caps for SJ with less slots in it?

2) If not #1, would one extra slot in hurdle and one (or more) less in SJ reach the speed AND height caps? I figure +1 in hurdle with -1 in SJ would be well worth it--hurdle is perma, and it would be useful if you needed/wanted to jump somewhere, such as in running away, without using SJ. No extra in SJ with extra only in hurdle would be best of course, but I doubt that would hit both speed and height caps.

Essentially--is it possible (at 50 with SO's, of course) to reach both speed and height caps for jumping with hurdle + SJ using no more slots than you would to do it with just SJ, and ALWAYS preferring slots in hurdle to SJ? Oh, and maybe check with a jump enhancer in Sprint if you get close but not quite. Sprint does help.

I'm sorry I can't test this myself, but I have no characters even up to the level of SO's, much less level 50!

Finally: I can't get window-jumping to work well without hurdle or CJ either, but yeah, with CJ, it's a breeze (hurdle sometimes bounces you off the building due to lack of air control ).

Edit: If you're really good, you can get almost all the badges in Atlas and Galaxy by climbing to the top of a really tall building and jumping with hurdle + CJ + sprint. Sure you'll be at one health, but fortunately, most enemies there won't attack level 8's--which you will be at the very least if you have two pool powers .

Hey, wait.

You seem to have tested optimal slotting for just hurdle, but sprint can actually be slotted for jump too. Now, one extra slot in hurdle after the fifth will slow it (also, I'm not clear: is this with or without sprint on, slotted or unslotted?), but would, say six slots of JUMP SPEED in sprint make you jump even faster with hurdle, would five slow that or make it faster....

Basically:
Supposing I had 10 extra slots to spare, what combination of slots of jump speed enhancers at level 50 would make you move the fastest horizontally with both sprint and hurdle up?

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Great job.... this blows my old travel power guide out of the water.

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That it does, and make no mistake--Your guide kicked major [censored].

This is on my favorites list SO fast...

I might have to try the blaster thing though. I admit it, I'm a speed addict. I just love the idea of getting across an entire (Skyway-sized) zone by the time my sk gets through the area transition because my comp was a little faster than his .

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6-slotted with DOs, it is about the same speed as walking (maybe a little faster).

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I think of it as the same speed as walking with unslotted swift (of course, my swift is never unslotted, but....) when the 6 DO's are green (such as when your magic-origin just finishes julius to buy up some of those gems he's got ). You do slow noticeably when they turn white and again when they hit yellow though. Still, think of it this way when they're green--would you rather be walking at X speed (with the various problems involving lack of safety and dodging obstacles, to say nothing of aesthetics!), or flying at 0.95X speed? I'm plenty happy with my 6-DO-hover, especially in the Hollows!

Now, Speed boost (if you can get hit with it) is DEFINITELY your friend in a perma hover build, and it's too bad my chars with siphon can't fly....

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Hey, great guide. I learned alot. Just one question - how can we judge the magnitude of an attack?

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If it's yours, fire it at different mobs. If it consistently takes bosses and isn't the first power in a controller powerset, tell me what it is. If it takes Lt.'s in one shot but not bosses (most of the time), it's mag 3. If it takes Minions but not Lt.'s in one hit (most of the time), it's mag 2. If it takes two hits to hold minions most of the time, it's mag 1.

If it's an enemy's, about my only suggestion is to try confusing the enemy in question and repeating the above experiment with HIS moves. Really, though, I doubt it matters in that case .

I'm still trying to get the Paladin dead, but I've seen him. I was in a pickup group and one guy goes "I'm going to go check on the Paladin." I'm a bit annoyed that he's running off in the middle of a mission, but before I can complain he broadcasts: "PALADIN 80% COMPLETE SOUTH SPAWN ENGAGING" and we're sending blind invites to everyone on the map. By the time I get there, there's a huge [Censored] clock with literally dozens of oscillators storming down the street. We couldn't get them before the Paladin escaped, sadly.

It was sweet. Now whenever I'm in King's I check on the Paladin too. Someday I will get revenge for that defeat, Paladin. *shakes fist*

I've been searching for the locations of Icon stores for twenty minutes. You got my hopes up.

Um... could you include a chapter on Icon?

I want a bind that activates the targeter for teleport when I push it once (which I can do easily) and deactivates it when I push it again if I decide not to teleport at just that time (which I absolutely CANNOT GET TO WORK!!). It works this way when it's on the power tray and I hit the number key, but when I bind it it doesn't. What is the proper bind command for this?

Even better, is it possible to make it such that holding down one key activates the targetter and letting go deactivates it? I mean, is there a way to bind the activation of teleport to lshift being pressed and the deactivation of teleport to lshift being released, so I always AND only get the targetter/option to teleport while lshift is held down? That would be best, for me.

Thanks.

Great guide!

On the topic of fly getting the shaft:
I think the travel powers are more or less even (though I can't see myself ever taking super speed--ever). I would prefer fly lose its acc debuff, but the speed is okay since the mobility is so good. Regardless, I generally choose my travel powers based on the hero concept or aesthetics rather than their effectiveness.