Tenacious_T

Yeah, I know its not officially supported. Its definitely not a gaming-intended machine anyway. I was just curious if there was anything I could try, other than trying to convince my wife to let me borrow her new supped-up Pro when I go to work.

I'll try messing around with the shadows. I thought I already went through and turned everything down that I could, but I'll check it out anyway. Thank you.

In CM's guide it says that drivers are all automatic, but I'm wondering if there are any official or unofficial tweaks I can try for my MacBook.

I'm running about a 2 year old model, 2G RAM, and the 64M GMA 950. I take it with me to work because I'm just on-call and need something to do between calls.

It actually used to look halfway decent, but sometime within the past year or so all of my shiny textures on my characters have started looking "splintered." Anything that should be shiny looks like its made up of a bunch of flat surfaces instead.

It was kind of hard to get a screenshot of it, but you can see it HERE on his chest and the side of his head. That's my personal coppermine gallery, by the way. Odd URL, I know.

Am I stuck with having it look like this? Any ideas?

(gah, double post)

Hooray! I just got this message back from tech:

Fire/Fire can definitely do some brutal damage. One of my SG leaders regularly runs a Fire/Fire that destroys things pretty much instantly. He's slotted for +regen (to survive aggro from AoEs), +recov (b/c fire is end heavy), & +recharge (to use the big powers as much as possible.)

Here's a good guide that has individual powers breakdowns: http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showthread.php?t=125895

^^^
While that sounds hilarious, it'd just be running in and dying over and over. I thought something that can stay alive while being annoying would be much more fun.

I absolutely agree about warning people ahead of time. I plan on doing it in character, too. "Um, I'm kind of a crappy hero, just to warn you guys" and so on.

And in regard to the PB sub-topic we've got going on here, I haven't played my PB for a year or two, but I do remember him being really hard to level. He was human-only straight from the beginning, and I play him like a blapper. He's 38 now and it's really hard to play him without mez resist IO sets. I just haven't found the time to upgrade him. I've seen a few great PBs in my time but I've definitely seen my fair share of godly WSs out there in comparison.

Replying directly to the OP, I love blasters. They're by far my favorite. I've had ones that are control heavy, ones that are single-target heavy, ones that are AoE fiends, and so on, and I can say that one of the most fun and relatively easy to play (not to mention high damage even at low levels) is my Arch/NRG. I know you mentioned you're interested in Archery, so you might want to check out this thread: http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showthread.php?t=190442

It's got a lot of really good advice & sample builds for an AoE based Arch/NRG blaster.

E: Fire, of course, is awesome, too, especially now that you can change the colors. One of my friends has a Fire blaster with bright green flames and he looks like a witch doctor. Pretty BA.

Speeking of aggro magnets, my Ice/Ele/Ele is a bit of an unconventional blapper. Aim + BU + Blizzard + pop a blue + head into melee, use Power sink, and blapp it up while Blizzard whittles'em down. The benefit there, too, is that they're all slowed really bad so I don't aggro too much. Works pretty well even without a tank, not to mention that Aim & BU are still up by the time Power Sink hits so I can fire off a Thunderstrike immediately if I want to. I know it has a long activation time, but I still like it.

And as far as speed & quickness goes, Energy Punch & Bone Smasher both have pretty good numbers on them and a super-quick activation time (IMO), so /NRG is still pretty good for blapping. But I agree, /Ele is my favorite choice.

Well, I was assuming that, because I know a lot of pri/sec combos really mesh well together, that there must be some things that are kind of the opposite. Guess I was wrong.

I ended up going with something that I could really crank up the annoying colors on and that would have people saying "what are you doing!". I made an FF/NRG defender that just aggros stuff like crazy with brightly colored blasts and then turns on PFF saying "ee! get away!" And I'll definitely be taking a lot of counterintuitive power pools like a lot of you recommended. The outfit is gaudy as hell, too.

I really am talking about pri/sec combos that really shouldn't be going together, but I do see your point.

I'm thinking more so a pri/sec combo that it counter-intuitive. And also something that I can make really brightly colored in regard to powers and costume, too. Just a general overall crappy hero.

My wife wants me to make her a class that's incredibly useless, just for fun. More concept than anything. She's a seamstress/pattern maker/jewelry maker/crafter IRL, and I'm thinking either Controller or Defender, but I'm not sure. What do you folks think?

Thanks for the tips!

By the way, I found it very interesting that my wife's new MBP doesn't have the issue. It has a 2.8 Core 2 Duo w/512 NVIDIA GeForce 9400M + 9600M GT. I was really surprised that it was just fine (not to mention it looks amazing).

I'm running a GMA 950, but I still sent the petition. They got back to me a few hours later and asked for a system profile, of which I sent. I'm glad they're working to fix this right away.

I totally agree that 70m is nowhere near enough. Even things like Thunderstrikes are a lot more expensive than I remember them. And Posi's have always been pretty pricey, so I know I'm getting into an expensive build, here. The LotGs are something that will have to be added later, I've got no doubt about that, but they're more of an extra perk than an absolute necessity.

And I'd absolutely prefer to have full Posi sets, but then I'd be having to steal from other sets. I didn't know that people hated Explosive so much! It's kind of slow, especially when used with RoA & Fistful. It was really useful back before RoA, but I find myself using it less and less now that I'm in the late 30s. Maybe if I take out Explosive I can 6-slot the Posi sets by shuffling some things around?

I've been working on a similar blaster and thought this would be a good place to see how my build looks. Its got 40.5% ranged def from bonuses which becomes 45.36% (soft cap) with Hover & Maneuvers turned on. It also has Hasten & an extra 51.3% recharge time.

What do you folks think? Other than it being incredibly expensive and will take me a very long time to be able to afford. I've got about 70m saved up so far though!

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

Click this DataLink to open the build!

Ace Pitter: Level 50 Natural Blaster
Primary Power Set: Archery
Secondary Power Set: Energy Manipulation
Power Pool: Flight
Power Pool: Fitness
Power Pool: Speed
Power Pool: Leadership
Ancillary Pool: Munitions Mastery

Hero Profile:
Level 1: Snap Shot -- Thundr-Acc/Dmg(A), Thundr-Dmg/EndRdx(3), Thundr-Dmg/Rchg(3), Thundr-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(11), Thundr-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(15), Thundr-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(17)
Level 1: Power Thrust -- Mako-Acc/Dmg(A), Mako-Dmg/EndRdx(36), Mako-Dmg/Rchg(37), Mako-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg(37), Mako-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(37), Mako-Dam%(39)
Level 2: Aimed Shot -- Thundr-Acc/Dmg(A), Thundr-Dmg/EndRdx(5), Thundr-Dmg/Rchg(5), Thundr-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(11), Thundr-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(15), Thundr-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(17)
Level 4: Build Up -- GSFC-ToHit(A), GSFC-ToHit/Rchg(21), GSFC-ToHit/Rchg/EndRdx(33), GSFC-Rchg/EndRdx(34), GSFC-ToHit/EndRdx(34), GSFC-Build%(34)
Level 6: Fistful of Arrows -- Posi-Acc/Dmg(A), Posi-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(7), Posi-Dmg/Rchg(7), Posi-Dam%(19), Posi-Dmg/EndRdx(19)
Level 8: Blazing Arrow -- Thundr-Acc/Dmg(A), Thundr-Dmg/EndRdx(9), Thundr-Dmg/Rchg(9), Thundr-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(21), Thundr-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(23), Thundr-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(23)
Level 10: Aim -- AdjTgt-ToHit/Rchg(A), AdjTgt-ToHit/EndRdx/Rchg(27), AdjTgt-EndRdx/Rchg(27), AdjTgt-ToHit/EndRdx(29), AdjTgt-Rchg(29)
Level 12: Explosive Arrow -- Posi-Acc/Dmg(A), Posi-Dmg/EndRdx(13), Posi-Dmg/Rchg(13), Posi-Dam%(25), Posi-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(25)
Level 14: Hover -- Zephyr-ResKB(A), LkGmblr-Rchg+(31), Zephyr-Travel(31)
Level 16: Fly -- Zephyr-Travel(A), Zephyr-Travel/EndRdx(33)
Level 18: Swift -- Flight-I(A)
Level 20: Health -- Numna-Regen/Rcvry+(A)
Level 22: Stamina -- P'Shift-End%(A), EndMod-I(36), EndMod-I(36)
Level 24: Hasten -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(31)
Level 26: Ranged Shot -- Thundr-Acc/Dmg(A), Thundr-Dmg/EndRdx(39), Thundr-Dmg/Rchg(39), Thundr-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(40), Thundr-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(40), Thundr-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(40)
Level 28: Stunning Shot -- Stpfy-Acc/Rchg(A), Stpfy-EndRdx/Stun(42), Stpfy-Acc/EndRdx(42), Stpfy-Stun/Rng(42), Stpfy-Acc/Stun/Rchg(43), Stpfy-KB%(43)
Level 30: Bone Smasher -- Mako-Acc/Dmg(A), Mako-Dmg/EndRdx(43), Mako-Dmg/Rchg(45), Mako-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg(45), Mako-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(45), Mako-Dam%(46)
Level 32: Rain of Arrows -- Posi-Acc/Dmg(A), Posi-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(33), Posi-Dmg/EndRdx(46), Posi-Dmg/Rchg(46), Posi-Dam%(48)
Level 35: Boost Range -- RechRdx-I(A)
Level 38: Maneuvers -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A)
Level 41: Body Armor -- S'fstPrt-ResDam/Def+(A)
Level 44: Energy Punch -- Stpfy-Acc/Rchg(A), Stpfy-EndRdx/Stun(48), Stpfy-KB%(48), Stpfy-Acc/Stun/Rchg(50), Stpfy-Acc/EndRdx(50), Stpfy-Stun/Rng(50)
Level 47: Surveillance -- ShldBrk-Acc/Rchg(A)
Level 49: Assault -- EndRdx-I(A)
------------
Level 1: Brawl -- Acc-I(A)
Level 1: Sprint -- ULeap-Stlth(A)
Level 2: Rest -- RechRdx-I(A)
Level 1: Defiance
------------
Set Bonus Totals:

• 10.5% DamageBuff(Smashing)
• 10.5% DamageBuff(Lethal)
• 10.5% DamageBuff(Fire)
• 10.5% DamageBuff(Cold)
• 10.5% DamageBuff(Energy)
• 10.5% DamageBuff(Negative)
• 10.5% DamageBuff(Toxic)
• 10.5% DamageBuff(Psionic)
• 4.25% Defense(Smashing)
• 4.25% Defense(Lethal)
• 4.25% Defense(Fire)
• 4.25% Defense(Cold)
• 29.3% Defense(Energy)
• 29.3% Defense(Negative)
• 3% Defense(Psionic)
• 5.5% Defense(Melee)
• 40.5% Defense(Ranged)
• 5.5% Defense(AoE)
• 51.3% Enhancement(RechargeTime)
• 6% Enhancement(Stun)
• 64% Enhancement(Accuracy)
• 21% FlySpeed
• 103.9 HP (8.62%) HitPoints
• 21% JumpHeight
• 21% JumpSpeed
• Knockback (Mag -4)
• Knockup (Mag -4)
• MezResist(Held) 6.6%
• MezResist(Immobilize) 6.6%
• 20.5% (0.34 End/sec) Recovery
• 4.73% Resistance(Fire)
• 4.73% Resistance(Cold)
• 1.26% Resistance(Energy)
• 1.26% Resistance(Negative)
• 21% RunSpeed

Oh, good, I thought it was just me. Here's hoping its just temporary.

Did anyone else notice that it looks a bit nicer, too? The shading looks better on my 2 year old MacBook w/snow leopard. Or am I completely delusional?

I had my slots really tied up elsewhere, so I put two Lockdowns & two HOs in for max Acc & Hold while getting a 3% damage boost. That's a very interesting idea, though.

Ah, so my original thinking of "shocking bolt is the same thing but faster" still works. Well, except for the extra slow effect. Thanks, folks!

Greetings, blasters! Looking for some advice here.

I haven't played with my lv 50 Ice/Ele/Ele blaster in quite some time, maybe more than a year, and I noticed she's really melee heavy. She doesn't have BFR because she has Freeze Ray & Shocking Bolt instead, and no Frost Breath, either. I remember BFR having a super long animation time, which is why I went with Shocking Bolt from Elec Ancil instead.

She's currently slotted for as much +rech & +dam as I could get without purples. I think the +rech bonus is around 60 or 70%. I typically hover above, stealthed, and launch single target attacks as fast as humanly possible. Whenever I see a big herd I drop Blizzard, pop a blue, rush in, use Power Sink, and then Thunder Strike.

What's BFR like nowadays? Is it totally stupid to not be using it? Thanks!