Triplash

What boggles me is that you can store inspirations but not recipes. You can physically store abstract ideas, but not pages of blueprints. Say what?

Have they ever given a reason why they don't want us to store recipes? It wouldn't bother me as much if I knew the logic behind it.

1. Giant Monsters - Not an enemy group, I know, but nothing says "threat that normal people can't handle" like huge frickin' beasts mauling terrified citizens. They're my favorite thing to fight in this whole entire game.

2. The Rikti - They invade us, sometimes frequently. Besides the fact that I love me a good zone event, this makes them feel like a group that's taking the fight to the enemy instead of just standing around waiting for someone to show up. (Missions and TFs have to wait for someone to actually start them.) Now if only the invasions would randomly happen as well, instead of just in response to a LGTF... the recent flood of them has made me realize how much I enjoy them.

3. Malta - They have mechs. Any villain group with mechs is okay in my book. Then there's the Sappers. One member of their group - not even a big bad boss, just a regular schmoe minion - means that even characters who can reliably resist mezzes need to bring at least a little strategy to the table.

4. Nemesis - Their bosses are just plain cool-looking. They've got that whole steampunk thing goin' on, and when I'm fighting them I really feel like I'm watching a hero battling against a villain.

5. Carnival of Shadows - Another group that looks and feels dastardly, and straight out of a comic book.

6. The Lost - Above any other group, these guys really make me feel like the human race is being threatened. They don't just kidnap people, they brainwash and mutate them into hideous soldiers for an army they plan to use against us!

I read a helpful tip somewhere, I believe it was in the I19 open beta section. The craftable temp power Envenomed Dagger causes 250% -Regen debuffs, and has an 80' range (for those who don't want to get close enough to smell the guy's breath). I used it on my fight with Ol' Trappy, and it basically let me completely ignore his clones. Whenever you see his green bar stop going down, throw another one at him. You get 30 of 'em.

Hopefully that helps a few people out.

One thing I find is that odd levels (the ones that don't end in a 2 or 7) will probably have more recipes available on the market, and possibly also for better prices. Also, lower level characters like your Brute at 12 tend to have less competition looking to frankenslot. In the early levels many players don't seem to bother much with slotting anything beyond TOs/DOs/SOs. So those are likely to be cheaper ways to experiment.

On the other hand, the "upgrade" levels are going to be more competitive in terms of buying from the market. Those are the levels where you can first slot the next grade of enhancement. For example at 12 you can slot a level 15, at 17 you can slot a level 20, and so on. Also some desireable sets open up at particular levels like 20 or 35. Many folks see levels like that as a perfect opportunity to re-examine all of their enhancements, since they're upgrading anyway.

Something to remember when you start planning around sets is "The Rule of Five". You can only have five of the exact same set bonus. You could have 5 that grant you 9% accuracy, and 5 more that grant 7% accuracy, and 5 more that grant 11% accuracy, and they will all get along together very well. But adding in a 6th of either one is pointless as it will just get ignored. (Mind you, this is referring to the game's internal name for the bonus, so there are some quirky exceptions if the bonuses come from different sources. You can find the exact name of any bonuses you have already slotted by opening Combat Attributes, in your Powers window.) Also, for those who are unsure, set bonuses apply across your entire build, not just to the power they're slotted in.

While we're on the topic... you seem to know what "Frankenslotting" refers to, but for those who don't I'll give a brief example. Let's say you have two slots in a power and you've put in two level 50 common IOs, one accuracy and one damage. That power is currently getting 42.4% to accuracy and 42.4% to damage. Now look at a level 50 Acc/Dmg piece from a set. That one enhancement gives you 26.5% to accuracy and 26.5% to damage. So if you can find an Acc/Dmg from two different sets that the power can accept, you can slot them both for a combined total of 53% accuracy and 53% damage. Still only using two slots. That allows you to get the same boosts using fewer slots, or to get more or higher boosts from the same number of slots. Like Frankenstein's monster, you're building something big from a bunch of smaller parts.

I'm no expert, but that's what my experience has taught me. Have fun experimenting

Another thing to remember is, in order to take Tough and Weave you also have to take either Boxing or Kick. So that's three power picks in order to get a very modest defense bonus and a decent damage resistance.

If you insist on going for defense, I'd leave the Fighting pool alone and go for Maneuvers and Stealth. Running Tough and Weave together costs 0.325 end /sec to give you 3.5% (unenhanced) Defense to all, plus 10.5% damage resistance but only to the "basic" damage types (smashing and lethal). Whereas running Maneuvers and Stealth together costs 0.3575 end /sec to give you 4.025% (unenhanced) Defense to all, plus another 1.75% from Stealth when not in combat. In addition Maneuvers grants a little Defense to nearby teammates, and you have Stealth now (not to mention a third power left to choose).

But in my personal opinion, I find it better to forego defense on blasters since generally you can't build up enough to survive on. If you squeeze out every available set bonus, some builds can manage around 30% defense to certain positional attacks like ranged. That's plenty helpful for a few stray shots that escape the aggro magnet, but not enough to protect you if you have constant enemy attention. A couple good mezzes or debuffs break through and the whole thing collapses.

On the other hand, if instead you aim for boosts like accuracy, recharge rate and boosting secondary effects you can be much more effective by taking down the enemy before they get off enough attacks to hurt you.

That's my thoughts on it

I'd have no complaints about moving merit vendors or thinning out their herd a bit, but the trainers wouldn't be my first idea for a replacement. Have you noticed how easy it is to get jostled out of a purchase interface when someone walks past too close to you? (And sometimes just when the wind changes, it seems like.) Trainers are put there specifically for people to run up to and gather around; they have too much of a crowd already.

But yeah, I definitely don't see a need to have clumps of Merit vendors so close together. At least spread them around the zone a bit more.

I like it! A couple courses you might want to add:

- Mind Your Step: The pros and cons of walking off a rooftop
- Out of the Frying Pan: Why it's a bad idea to flee from a pursesnatcher by running into the sewers

And one just for the supers:

- So You Thought You Could Fly: A Hero's Guide to The Paragon City Monorail System

How about "Recuperation" for a category or set name.

It looks like the Witch Tight Gloves have gotten their elbow patches! I'm using them in a costume again now, and I'm perfectly content with the way they look. Yes even when you raise or cross your arms, or do the hands-on-hips thing. While the elbows are not 100% whole, they are at about 98%, which I can more than live with.

Thank you Jay! You big hunky dreamboat you!

I'd be more interested to know what possessed you to collect that many in the first place



But if you need suggestions, I can come up with a few:

• Put them in an empty pool and swim in them like Scrooge McDuck
• Drill a tiny hole in the center and turn them into actual clocks. I'm sure you'd sell a bunch just for the novelty of it
• Glue them together in stacks of eleven and watch Wentworths explode
• Glue them together in stacks of a hundred and watch people try to pick them up
• String them together end to end and hang them at your next SG party
• Make a gigantic modern art centrepiece for your teleporter room
• Donate them to the accolade powers. They could always use a little recharge boost
• Get an industrial grade blender and make yourself a nice smoothie
• Find a way to extract their essence and market your very own brand of energy drink, "Recharge 45"
• The holidays are coming up. They'd make excellent wrapping paper
• Number them 1 - 1700 and call them Collector's Editions. Instant jump in value right there
• Two words: Frisbees, baby
• Two more words: Ninja stars, baby

I'm a big fan of this issue too. Even the "little" stuff. Quit to character select, merged transit lines... these are things you never knew you'd care about until you used them a couple times. I'm sure some players will start thinking of these features the same way as email attachments: how'd we ever get by without them?

Thanks for making a game that's still fun two years after I started playing!

Thank you Beef_Cake and Blondeshell! I've been using these packs for over a year now, and they have made things a lot more fun and simple. Not just for badge collection either... also every time I'm looking for GM spawn points or Rikti ship paths.

*hands over a plate of ginormous cookies*

Thanks for sharing your experiment, Organica! I never used to bother with random rolls... the RNG and I have agreed to just be friends. But this has made me think twice.

I just went through and counted your results, and in fifteen of them you got at least one high-end unique or very valuable rare. That's not including the ones where several smaller values added up nicely. Now I know I can't count on half my rolls being knock-your-socks-off good, but the odds are better than I thought. Thanks for helping me see it!

*gives Organica a ginormous cookie*

Rick Rolled. For when you get so little from a full set of rolls that it seems like the RNG is laughing at you. With cheesy music.

Random Number Generator hits you with their Rick Roll for 19,950,000 inf!

The humanity...