Tonality

Scroll up a bit and you'll see my list of sets offering mitigation for elec. This just means that an intelligent player is relying on their primary to close the holes of the secondary - holes that you don't have in other sets - try rolling a fire/elec and let me know how great electric armor is then.

Electric Armor has good form of mitigation (resistance_, with a poor attempt at a second form (end drain). If Endurance drain was elevated, it might help, as would adding another form of mitigation, or raising resistance to higher levels.

There is also a post further up comparing the primary and secondary means of damage mitigation offered in various sets.

Welcome to the boards.

I'd like to offer a little bit of encouragement to you. First of all, I highly recommend you hold out until a few weeks after issue 16 releases. I have a feeling that the trend you are seeing with AE is going to die down a bit as right now those individuals running tricked out builds are often allowing lowbies to team just to get the bigger teams - which is fun for them.

Come issue 16, the new feature allows players to artificially set the team size, which means those lowbies that were getting free rides won't find it as easy.

There are several people that share similar opinions to you. That alone should let you know that there are people that want to play the game.

However, there are people who also disagree with the severity of the situation. Getting teams may not be as easy because there is another option for players to do right now, but there are tools available to help you find teams. Global channels are wonderful, as is being involved in an active SG/VG.

A lot of people are just tired of hearing about the evils of AE.

AE will take some time to die away. I don't believe it will kill the game, and I do see signs that a lot of the farmers are more wary of random lowbies looking for a free ride. Come issue 16, I expect that it will be increasingly difficult for lowbies to join teams of heavily IOd 50's that are farming in AE, simply because they will now have absolutely nothing they can offer the team.

Give it time. If you need to take a break for a while, do it. Things will get better.

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I NEVER said I believed that they *should* remove AE, I simply said that it COULD be done...contrary to what so many people like to say.
Reading comprehension has long since become a lost art on the internet it seems.

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You could have been a bit more clearer. As it is currently worded, it leaves one to infer that you are suggesting that AE be removed - especially your last sentence in the post - here it is:

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It does not matter that they sold a boxed copy called Architect Edition. That box, just like every other MMO box, plainly says "Game experience may change during online play".
The Devs can, will, and do change the game.


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Nothing is incorrect about your post in any way. However, when you pair certain statements together, you also begin to associate ideas between them. In this case, by suggesting that the developers will change the game, in this context may implies that you believe the developers will or should remove AE - whether you intended that to the case or not.

Furthermore, marketing surely would want to remove the new boxes, so the point you are replying to still does stand. It would be foolish to advertise for a feature that no longer exists in the current state as advertised on the box. Even if legally they can do this, commercially, they are bound to deliver what the box promises simply to maintain their image.

I think what you're asking about is synchronization.

Each attack done has a specific animation time, and the game deals the damage at the point where the power will hit the target - at least visually.

So, when you shoot an arrow at an enemy, you will see the damage tick appear when the enemy gets hit.

Now, now, Philotic, we went over this.

Castle has every right to his name.

I mean, you at least still got the knight part there. Can't you be happy?

Quick Reply.

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I not sure which is more pathetic. The 20+ OPs like this every week, or the group of folks that feel the need to respond to everyone of them.

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Well, it could be so I can farm the forum.

It could also be that I don't think apathy is the best solution to the issue of threads showing up.

There are many options:
1) Ignore the threads and develop ulcers from the stress.
2) Post disdain toward the thought of AE
3) Inform the OP that this horse ran in the kentucky derby, broke a leg, got put down, resurrected by necromancy to race again only to break another leg, this time to be burned by flamethrowers by the righteous cause of Mopers Against Mission Architect (MAMA), again brought to life by selling it's soul to the devil, absolved by holy water, nuked to oblivion, only to reform from the ashes as the Thrice Necromantic Horse of the Forumpocalypse to avenge all the unfortunate victims of itself. Yeah.
4) The developers choose to rename Mission Architect into an unpronounceable, unabbreviateable, word similar to Donaudampfschiffahrtsgesellschaftskapitän, which works wonders as it is even in a different language.

MA ruined social security.

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It does not matter that they sold a boxed copy called Architect Edition. That box, just like every other MMO box, plainly says "Game experience may change during online play".
The Devs can, will, and do change the game.

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Just because it can be done doesn't mean it should be done.

I can't believe you even made this point. Removing AE would be the dumbest thing the developers could do, and I am glad that the development team doesn't consist of some of the crazy people here.

Oh, and AE killed my cat. It's all good though, because I was allergic to it.

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I have a level 50 Hero--Tien Niru and 2 level 50 Villains Shadow Wail and Hard Candy Mistress...Yet I cant make VEATS/HEATS!

Am I the only one with this problem?

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Wait, you mean to tell me that you didn't make either after dinging 50? That was the first thing I wanted to do once I hit 50.

In any case, I've never heard of this issue.

My money is on Willowpaw's idea.

Chain induction does not reduce XP now. It is a fast animating attack that has great AoE potential. As was said, procs in it bug the attack, but other than that, it's great to put in an AoE chain.

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let me know what you think peeps.

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First of all, I am not a marshmallow chicken.

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just an idea, which im sure ill get a lot of negative feedback on

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If you're sure you're going to get a lot of negative feedback and inversely, little positive feedback, perhaps ... no wait, I like posting replies. Nevermind.

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but what if you can actually buy a sidekick for 1 mill, and he would be your private sidekick, you can buff him and run solo missions or team missions... when he kills u get half the xp and half the inf.

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....Really?

This is not a feature I would ever use. I wouldn't pay anyone a million inf to earn less reward. If I was lonely, I'd find a teammate that actually hopefully knows how to play the game, not some stupid AI.

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i think this new feature would add to soloing. side kicks include.

healer
brawler
buffing asst.
weapon specialist

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There's a class called a mastermind that does this already. I don't have to pay a million inf, and I don't lose any experience. On top of that, soloing is a breeze because of all my 'teammates'.

Play a mastermind.

What if AE is a nemesis plot?

I mean, it's just perfect. All the new heroes, spending all their time inside of one building, perfectly convenient for a strategic strike when the time comes. That might not even be needed!

-Nemesis could be slowly reprogramming AE to brainwash us.
-Nemesis could be doing troop movements without anyone knowing.
-Nemesis could be watching and learning as various teams attempt to place themselves in the most difficult challenges, searching for weaknesses.

Now, in order for this to happen, Nemesis would need tools to lure people into AE and away from heroic and villainous deeds. The promise that whatever you do in AE still counts towards experience for your character, as well as a new false economic model (I mean, are tickets gold-backed?) was the perfect lure. The custom characters were just added incentive.

AE is a nemesis plot.

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And farming is not working for your Inf.

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Could you elaborate on this?

^^What Thrunk said.

I would also point out that 450 million inf is a drop in the bucket nowadays. This is due to inflation. I've spent that in a day (not bragging as I winced doing it). The real solution is creating better inf sinks, and of course the beauty of issue 16 for farming, which will help supply.

Oh and thrunk:

psst...you should do something about tough activating at the bottom of your signature.

QR:

Tanks are the hope I have that conserve power gets dropped from ElA and thrown in Scirocco's patron pool while they get something actually useful. Powersink makes conserve power useless - even on builds that don't slot for endurance reduction. I run a SS/Elec and Elec/Elec at 50, and both are endurance hogs, and still I have enough endurance with power sink up every 20 seconds (IOs and Lighting Reflexes). It is very hard to burn through all your endurance in 20 seconds, especially with set IOs.

The only advice I have for anyone a rolling ElM secondary is do NOT proc chain induction. The power then adopts the proc's chance to fire as the chance to jump, meaning you'll rarely see a jump.

I recommend heading over to the brute boards to see the Fix Elec discussions, and also I will be more than happy talk about electric melee and armor. The short answer for both is that I enjoy the sets for the fun factor but wish I could perform as well as others.

The only other piece of advice I have is endurance drain is decent mitigation at even-con levels, but doesn't shine against higher cons. With that said, I took my elec/elec/mu brute out against AV Radio just to see if I could drain it solo. Oh, it was hilarious. Don't slot Lightning Field with end drain first. Slot if for dam/end redux. Power Sink is your main endurance drain tool. Lighting Field just maintains it. On my brute, a large amount of AoE damage comes from Lighting Field - it's actually stunning.

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PMing Synapse with this info now...

EDIT: Synapse is having pohsyb look into it. He mentioned that he couldn't reproduce the behavior. There may be something more complex going on than just the team position - maybe the specifics of these particular characters matter somehow.

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The more I think about it, the more I think this was a random quirk. I haven't been able to reproduce it since the original case. For the inf earnings, I knew mine were more in line with what should have been earned 3.5k/lt while his were about half 1.75k.

However, I was also doing one other thing: mapping a map for 8 and running it with less on the team. It is entirely possible that this was the real issue with my situation - I got increased earnings per kill due to the smaller team size, yet my teammate was not treated the same way. The more I think about it, the more likely this seems to be the case for mine. I also think that my problem and the OP's problem are completely unrelated, unless the OP is also boxing and mapping for 8.

I wish I had logged the information. I will most certainly do so if I run across it again.

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Yeah global channels, that does sound like a good idea to keep the game going "The old fashioned way." You are right on both comments to my quotes, i knew there was an underground crowd of people somewhere. I guess why i'm complaining so much is that there's just an underground crowd of us now, doesnt seem like there's anything more. Oh well, life changes, people either cope with it or get crushed by it. Personally i see myself saying goodbye to this game soon . Not before i see myself with a green firesword though!

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Give AE time to die out a bit. Those that PL their characters will be shocked at CoH's lack of extensive end-game content and begin wondering what the point of leveling to 50 really is.

Global Channels are awesome. Even on a less-active server like infinity, I have no problem doing a daily TF. In fact, I often have to turn down team invites because I'm busy helping SG mates work out builds.

As a farmer, I believe issue 16 will drastically change the atmosphere of AE and farming. Those that have nothing to contribute i.e. PL lowbies will find it increasingly difficult to get on a team - farmers are nice people, but we aren't going to work for free.

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It would be pretty cool if they gave /Electric Knock Back protection or a self heal, but I think I'm dreaming.

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/Electric as Knock back protection it is in Grounded

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Exactly. I do recommend one KB IO slotted in grounded for additional KB resistance when you aren't...grounded. Jumping up in the air or even activating Lightning Rod (if you were to go that route) often leaves you porting into the enemies on your back.

As to the OP's build:

1) You won't need conserve power. Power Sink is just that good.
2) Aid Self will make you happier at times. Fire it after a fight.
3) Power Surge is cool to look at but nearly wasted on a scrapper. Taking tough would give you ~60% S/L, meaning a single sturdy would cap your S/L damage. I also loathe the crash, but a scrapper isn't going rip his hair out watching the fury bar drop while I'm resting waiting for my HP/End to recover.
4) Get tough. Weave if you want a LOTG 7.5 mule.

Although I do like defensive sets on electric armor, I have a feeling that divine avalanche will be good enough to provide enough defense. If not, there's at least one spot in your build you can use obliteration. Endurance is not an issue, come level 35. Now health... (well, that's why I'm busy in the brute boards)

I'm speaking heresy, I know. Conserve Power is useless on an electric scrapper.

edit:
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Lightning Field is a good end drainer...

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Powersink is good for draining endurance. Lightning Field is a source of damage first, then endurance drain. If you frankenslot it: Scir acc/dam/end, dam/end, multistrike acc/dam/end, dam/end, and throw in an end mod IO, you'll be happier than slotting for end mod. In my studies, Lightning Field does a very impressive amount of AoE damage. It won't kill anything outright, but it will let you focus on the hard target while you slowly drain anything squishy around you so a quick slice drops them.

edit 2: I said brute not scrapper by mistake.
*runs back to brute boards*

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What about granting a Fear aura in one of the toggles. I know I wouldn't want to get near someone that was spewing electricity. Dark Armor has a Fear aura, it aids in mitigation. I'd just want it in a toggle I could turn off and not miss.

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Any additional effect in a toggle would increase endurance. Electric Armor thrives on Power Sink. Before this, endurance management is very similar to other brutes (providing we don't take CP).

The better question to ask at this point is under what circumstances does Electric Armor tend to crumple quickly. Once that situation is identified (I have my opinions), I think a fix can be addressed.

In the following situation, I've provided mitigation for various pairings of Electric Armor in the end game. Some brutes rely on knockdown, which vanishes the moment a dominator throws down an immob (those poor guys get a lot of ire from me at times). Others have good single target stuns, and very poor AoE mitigation, so they are less likely to wish to take the alpha (energy), which is why I didn't list all pairings.

I've used this technique against what I consider the worst possible enemy one could choose on an electric armor brute - Eldersnakes. Given the tremendous amount of toxic damage, and our toxic hole outside of Power Surge, other forms of mitigation are necessary. In this case, popping a few sturdies always helps, but the major form of mitigation in this situation is knockdown. Thus, a few noticeable sets begin to perform well at certain levels on an electric brute.

As I already said, knockdown is a great form of mitigation, but is not always available. When teaming with dominators, a brute should be clear to explain that throwing down an immob every fight (if the stun doesn't immediately follow it) will eliminate a major form of mitigation for the brute. I do enjoy watching early game dominators throw out their AoE immob and promptly die from it. This isn't to say dominators are evil, but that when poorly played, this is the one AT that can cause a quick death to a brute.

The Electric/Electric/Mu Brute: Endurance Drain

1) Open with Lightning Rod to mitigate the Alpha Strike.
2) Fire Power Sink to drain the minions of endurance, drop the LT's. Lightning Field (minimally slotted for end drain) will be enough to maintain the endurance drain, especially tossing out AoEs such as Ball Lightning.
3) Fire Aid Self if health has dropped to worrying numbers. Lightning Rod + Forced animation of Power Sink typically buys enough time to animate Aid Self following these two powers.
4) Rely on AoEs to slowly whittle down the softer targets while you focus attacks such as Thunderstrike on the boss, and cycle chain induction on whatever has the highest health for the greatest chance of a complete chain.
5) Mob is dead, onto next mob. Ideally, recharge is high enough that you can LR the next mob.

Super Strength/Electric: Knockdown Specialist
1) Superspeed in and Footstomp for Knockdown to avoid as much alpha as possible.
2) Fire Power Sink, same reasoning.
3) Aid Self has a potential opening at this point, and any subsequent footstomp.
4) Focus ST attacks on the hard targets, especially utilizing Knockout Blow on the boss to hopefully get some KD going.
5) Fire Aid Self again after fight is over to regain a bit of health and take off for the next mob.

Stone/Electric: Knockdown
-similar approach, using fault for KD to avoid the alpha, along with tremor for sustained mitigation. On this particular brute, an AoE immob such as Electric Fences isn't a very good choice due to the powerful mitigation of knockdown.

--There are additional sets that have good KD potential. War Axe/Mace have good cones with this form of mitigation. However other sets really suffer when paired with electric armor. Stone Melee has greater mitigation potential compared to both Electric Melee and Superstrength. It makes me want to roll one.

Dark/Electric/Dark: ST Specialist with a Heal.
1) Charge in and hit soul drain, followed by Dark Obliteration.
2) Maintain a good fury building attack chain, making sure siphon life.
3) Fire Powersink when endurance reaches about halfway. Given the +HP in siphon life, one of the most significant holes in /electric armor is sealed. The AoE -to-hit in dark obliteration does wonders. Darkest Night is handy, but often given too much credit.
--This is the one set that gets good damage mitigation at early levels. The AoE damage is not great, but Lightning Field's taunt aura and later patron AoE powers can help hold the aggro (or you could even consider taunt). It's beautiful.

Conclusion

Certain sets work well to close up holes in electric armor. Although it is important to focus on fixing the armor itself, many times players rely on the primary as a means to mitigate when the armor does not perform well enough on its own. Such is the case with Super Strength/Electric, or what I view as a better option Stone/Electric. Other sets rely on endurance drain (electric/electric), which works well with even-con enemies and softer targets, but fails to mitigate situations where electric armor truly suffers - high conning enemies and bosses. Dark/Electric is a unique blend that really works well for electric armor. You don't have the tremendous AoE potential, but having a heal built into the attack chain does wonders for survivability. You won't be invincible, but you are a force to be reckoned with.

What would help Electric Armor the most to sustain alphas and stay upright long enough to rely on other sources of mitigation the best? Well, popping a few oranges before a tough fight works (hence why I advocate 5-7% more S/L resists), but over that, getting the +HP accolades helps a lot. Having a passive or click +HP power that could be made permanent would help extend the lifespan of an electric brute to allow for teammates. Barring a +HP power, an innate heal does wonders as well. This is what helps fire armor out, though the comparably poor resists can still make that set suffer at times in spite of the heal. Therefore, I continue to assert that the solution for electric armor lies in a heal, +HP, and better resistance to common S/L damage. Let negative and fire/cold continue to be an Achilles heel for the set.

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I'm confused by this sorry if I do not understand - which zone are you taking your AE missions in?

I go to Peregrine with my 50's when I want to do AE missions - never see any lowbies there

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Well, that's a change from the old PI, eh?

Redside doesn't have an AE in Grandville (if it does, they hid it well). The zone of choice has become Cap Au Diable. It's the most convenient zone, having the university, market, vault, and AE in one small convenient location. There's a small bit of satisfaction saying 'no, thank you' to the beggars.

The focus of the post was that come issue 16, the need for the role of the padder is gone - and with it, the non-contributing doorsitter, which includes the lowbie, whether or not he's trying to brawl a ~50 to death. This is why I'm happy.

Oh and of course, the end result of encouraging these lowbies to get out of the game and play. The cynic in me tells me that the lowbies will just offer to pay for their levels, which will leave them broke, at which point they will post on the forums asking for more inf drops.

A base +5-7% S/L resistance would allow electric brutes to reach 70% resistance easily with tough/weave. Creative slotting could approach 80%. That is a big difference in survivability.

A mez in the taunt aura is the last thing I would do to change a set. For balance reasons, the endurance cost would likely need to be increased, which would annoy me as lightning field is quite the significant source of AoE damage, which in my in-game tests can comprise 1/4th the potential AoE damage, nearly equal to Ball Lightning. A stun effect would drastically cut down on my damage potential, as stunned minions do the drunk walk away from me. Now, I can use a power like electric fences to lock them in place, but that only solves the problem at 41+, whereas the power in question is available at 2, often not fully utilized until after stamina. Stuns without an immob or -speed are very annoying.

Conserve Power needs to go. In proliferating electric armor, the developers have a chance to do a serious change to the set - an opportunity they shouldn't pass up.

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Anyone else get the feeling someone bought their account off of Ebay?

Or at the very least hasn't been playing the same game we've been playing for 5 years.

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OP's other post:

The OP seemed like fairly nice person. Just not always the most informed at times.

Ugh, I haven't touched AE in a while.

Uhh, the first mission screen (The [1]). Optional Statistics or Settings or something like that.

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Nerfing player skills after a game has been out for 5 years can really hurt player love for loging in. Why spend a lot of hours to make nice builds and save up for sets to have the skills so dimminished. ...Really 5 years into a game we should have been done with the nerfs years ago.

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1) Is the nerf you speak of Psionic Shockwave? That is the only one I can think of. I can still play my earth/psi dominator, albeit I preferred other ATs before and after the change.

2) AE hasn't been out for five years. Given its recent release and the need for tweaking, it is understandable that certain things would need to be brought in line with traditional gameplay.

Perhaps if you were a bit more specific I might understand your point of view a little better.

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Brute and Scrapper survivability is only nearly identical when you only pay attention to baseline mitigation values. Brutes have a baseline survivability benefit that Scrappers can never eclipse because they have greater base HP. This means that, even if a Scrapper and a Brute have the same defense and resistance values, the Brute will still take more to kill him plus any and all native heals and regeneration values will be more effective because they're acting on the larger pool.

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My builds:
Scrapper DM/SD, softcapped to all positions:
1706.157 HP
Brute DM/SD, softcapped to all positions
1921.46 HP
% Difference: ~12%

I know this. I also know that both of these builds are absolute beasts. I'll have to work out the ideal chains on these still (I build for survivability over DPS, so I'm new to the attack chain approach of building that many scrappers on this board excel at). What makes it also more difficult is my chains on both will be quote different, due to the Patron and Epic pools.

The DPA on Midnight Grasp on both builds:
Both are saturated with enemies, soul drain, 100% fury.

Scrapper: 770.3 DPA
Brute: 649.8 DPA

~15% difference.

Once I sort out the chain calculations, I suspect to see similar differences in damage potential.

At least, that's on my builds.

With an innate heal, softcapped defense, survivability levels are similar, even with the healthpoint difference. Yes, I admit there is one, but at this level of gameplay, survivability is stunning on either build.

For some reason I'm having difficulty only exporting the link for the builds.