Timeshadow

Hey everyone. The MM boards are a place I frequently visit but don't post in often because I'm not a Mastermind fan. I love 'em when other people are behind the keyboard but the AT's never appealed to me personally.

But none of that's really relevant to the topic. As of late I've seen several MMs (Mostly Demon Summoning) stroll up to the Black Market with their blazing, snarling pets in tow and just leave 'em to howl infernally while they go about their business. I'm just curious as to what you all think about that. Considering the presence of those pets in a non-instanced zone can slow down some older systems, is it thought to be poor etiquette to leave 'em out while you're marketeering? Do you dismiss your pets when you hit the market or just leave 'em hangin' around?

I'll add something else (And shamelessly plug for myself at the same time ). Make good use of your friends list. If you team with a player you like or seems particularly helpful, add them to your friends list so you can find them again. You can also send a request that'll give you both the option of adding each other to your respective global friends lists. Players listed as global friends can find each other regardless of what server or character they happen to be playing on at the time.

Also, finding a good supergroup can provide with you a lot of excellent benefits. In addition to a good group of players to run with you'll have access to amenities like storage for your stuff and even teleporters to different zones if your group has the resources to afford 'em.

Here's the plug: I lead a supergroup on the Triumph server that focuses on new players. We like to teach and help new players out as much as possible. We're very small at the moment but our base is fully equipped and we'd love to have you with us. If it sounds good to you just send me a PM here and we can talk about it more.

This comes up pretty regularly whenever a new wave of players get access to EATs. They're not familiar with what powers are essential and which ones can be skipped without doing detriment/upsetting anyone. It's part of the reason I was opposed to such a drastic lowering of the level requirement (Though we saw the same thing in I12 when VEATs were first released).

Only thing you can do is try to educate them. And keep in mind it's not just VEAT players. I ran into a level 50 Dark Armor Brute the other night who only had Dark Embrace (The first shield) for protection, both Oppressive Gloom AND Cloak of Fear, Aid Self, and two travel power pools (Leaping and Speed. He even took Whirlwind). Not everyone bothers to really learn much about the games they play. They just wanna smash stuff.

What message does it give you when you try to install the latest version?

Hey fellow Khelds. I've been meaning to write a Kheldian guide for quite some time now but I could never get through much. After some thought I've come to the conclusion that a journal type of style is much more up my alley. This'll be more of a journal/guide combo rather than a pure version of either (Appropriate for a hybrid AT don't ya think ). I plan to do a write up of my experience with both Peacebringers and Warshades but I'll start with PBs because, in my opinion, that's the type of Kheld players new to them should start with. Anyway, without further ado, let's begin.

General Info:
Kheldians are unlocked by having a level 20 hero character on your account. This change came with I17 as a way to make Khelds more accessible to casual players (The previous level requirement was 50). Again, unlocking Kheldians requires a level 20 hero character. Villains don't count. They have their own epic ATs that unlock at 20 as well. Once you've unlocked them your account is flagged as such so you'll still have access to them even if you delete all toons on your account at level 20 or above. However, there have been instances after a patch where the flag was reset unintentionally. This could only be fixed by logging in a character of the required level so be careful when deleting toons.

Inherent Powers
Kheldians have the most unique of all inherents and the only ones whose effects are dependent on a team's makeup. Both, Cosmic Balance (Peacebringers) and Dark Sustenance (Warshades) provide different buffs according to which Archetypes the Kheldian is teamed with. The in-game excerpt does quite a good job of explaining the exact breakdown so here ya go:

Cosmic Balance: Kheldians naturally thrive off the energy and essence of their teammates. Peacebringers' metamorphic nature allows them to bring balance to their team. Your Damage will increase for each nearby Tanker, Mastermind, Corruptor or Defender teammate. Your Damage Resistance will increase for each nearby Scrapper, Brute, Stalker or Blaster teammate. Each Peacebringer, Warshade, Arachnos Widow or Arachnos Soldier on their team gives a 10% Recharge Slow Resistance. Finally each nearby Controller or Dominator teammate will grant you limited protection from Control effects. You cannot put Enhancements in this power
Dark Sustenance: Kheldians naturally thrive off the energy and essence of their teammates. Warshades' absorbing nature allows them to draw on the power of their teammates' power to increase their own. Your Damage Resistance will increase for each nearby Tanker, Mastermind, Corruptor or Defender teammate. Your Damage will increase for each nearby Scrapper, Stalker, Brute or Blaster teammate. Each Peacebringer, Warshade, Arachnos Widow or Arachnos Soldier on their team gives a 10% Recharge Slow Resistance. Finally each nearby Controller or Dominator teammate will grant you limited Protection from Control effects. You cannot put Enhancements in this power.

Life and Times: Journey of a Peacebringer

Levels 1-5: You May Feel A Little Woozy

The first few levels on a Peacebringer are similar to those on any other AT. Your initial power selection will make you choose between either Gleaming Bolt or Glinting Eye. I chose the latter because shooting piercing beams of light from your eyes is "ZOMG teh awesomesauce!" Gleaming Bolt animates faster so it can be loaded with procs and spammed but the whole thing's more a matter of taste than real combat effectiveness.

One thing that's completely different about Peacebringers are their inherent flight powers. You'll have access to Energy Flight, a carbon copy of Fly with a cosmic looking trail, from level 1. I had great fun zooming around the tutorial zone and confounding my enemies with searing laser beams from above. Don't be surprised if you get frantic tells from other lowbies asking how you're able to do it

Whether you choose to run the Outbreak tutorial or not you should head to Atlas Park first and talk to Sunstorm, the starting contact for all PBs. The Kheldian arcs are all very enjoyable (Though they do run you through a lot of Council bases in the mid levels) and new ones become available every 5 levels or so. Don't forget to visit Ms. Liberty and level up when you can. I picked up Shining Shield at level 2 since it provides some nice Smashing/Lethal Resistance early on and I didn't care much for picking up Gleaming Bolt.

At level 4 I grabbed Essence Boost. This is a great power. It's a Dull Pain clone and provides the usual big self heal and +MaxHP at the cost of having a long recharge timer. Due to that you've gotta judge the situation to determine how best to use it. You can use it during battle as a heal or before battle so you have more HP to work with in the first place. I find the latter strategy is best used when you know you'll be up against hard targets or after level 20 so you can stack it with the +MaxHP from White Dwarf.

Really, the first 5 levels are nothing special. They're just a run up to level 6. That's when things really start to get interesting...

Adding to what everyone else has said, don't forget about Pummel. Obviously you don't wanna be rushing whole spawns just to Stun one guy but if something gets in your face Pummel's a great tool to have.

Definitely follow the advice you've gotten so far. The run to 24 can be a real slog on SoAs. You're flimsy and the damage output isn't that great to make up for it. Teams and tactics are your best bets. Believe me, it gets much better after the freespec. So good, in fact, you might end up bored.

SG Name: The Pathfinders
Leader: Timeshadow
Motto: "Where there's a metahuman there's a way"
Base Amenities: Teleporters to 8 major zones, crafting tables, personal salvage vault, group salvage racks, enhancement storage tables, inspiration collector

The Pathfinders are a small supergroup focusing primarily on casual play. We're open to all game content including (but not limited to) regular door missions, story arcs (Mission Architect included), Task Forces, and raids. We understand that real life isn't always conducive to busting bad guys so we don't have any restrictions on AT, powersets, level, or even login time (Though we do prefer members to play at least once every 30 days). More than anything though we're here to have fun

If you'd like more info or are interested in joining feel free to PM me here on the forums or send a message to my global @Timeshadow.

SIDE NOTE: We're also in the market for good coalition partners so if you've got an SG of your own and would like to expand your group of friends feel free to contact me as well.

I worked up a Fort build yesterday that's softcapped to melee and 5% shy of the softcap to ranged without Mind Link. AoE Defense is lacking but w/ effective invisibility and Aura of Confusion I'm not too worried about it. Thanks for your replies. Just needed someone to confirm that I wouldn't have to scour the team window whenever something above Boss rank spawned.

Hey all. Been sitting on my 50 Widow for quite some time now. I'm lookin' toward IOing her out but I've got a conundrum. I'd like to IO her Fortunata build but the ability to take down Elite Bosses (And maybe Archvillains) solo is important to me. I'm wondering if that's feasible with a Fort since they're the AoE focused branch of the AT.

To get specific, my current build has Subdue, Dominate, Lunge (With crits from Mask Presence), and Gloom as its ST attack chain. Will that provide enough ST DPS to bring down an EB if I have/want to solo one? Thanks in advance for any insight you can offer.

Very intriguing responses so far. You guys are even more creative than I expected

Thanks for the link all_hell. It was posted in that other thread I mentioned. Gonna go ahead and PM the author to ask him some questions.

As for the 30 second cooldown on costume changes I don't see that bein' a problem since I'm planning on binding the switch to powers that'll be recharging in near 30s.

Hey all. I recently rolled up a concept shapeshifter. She's an MA/Regen Scrapper and I'm looking into different methods of changing her "form" via costumes. The process got me thinking about popular types of comic book characters that aren't present in the form of actual CoX ATs. I'm talking about things like Speedsters, Cosmics and Shapeshifters (Khelds are a bit of a combo but they're story locked so I'm not including them).

I'm just curious to know if you guys roll up toons to embody these and other concepts. If so, how do you do it? What powersets do you choose and why? Is there any particular playstyle you use (i.e. A werewolf that only uses certain powers depending on the form they're in). Just curious to know.

Hey fellow forumites. I read a thread about using batch files to randomly select various phrases for a character to say. I'd like to modify the idea to have my concept shapeshifter change costumes at random when I use certain powers. Unfortunately I'm not familiar with how to setup and use batch files and I've lost track of the thread. If anyone knows how to work with them oor even if my idea is possible I'd greatly appreciate any help. Thanks in advance