TwoHeadedBoy

Warshades actually have better ST output too.

I know that. I'm not putting small servers down and I'm sorry if you took it that way- I made most of my best friends in COH on Protector which is probably the smallest server in the game.
The thing is that by default, content gets run more on Freedom. More people do things more often, and you're left with a large amount of players who know how to do things properly. It's not an insult to the quality of players on smaller servers, it's just the fact that the more often things are run by more people, the easier it becomes to complete things in PuG's.

It is not uncommon at all to log into Freedom, walk into Pocket D, and see an MoM or TPN recruiting in broadcast within 5 minutes of entering. That's on top of the 4 BAF's and 2 Lambda's recruiting. On smaller servers, you're seeing one or two groups of people a day running trials. That means that the rate at which trials are being completed is much lower. Sure, your ratio of success might be higher or as high as large population servers, but they are still doing them more. More players are learning at a faster rate.

See, I don't think the AOE heal should be lackluster at all. Personally, I think it should replace Pulsar entirely. I think it should work like the awesome Time Manipulation heal. I think that giving Peacebringers powerful healing abilities would let them contribute as much value to a team as a Warshade's stuns do, in fact, even more in many situations. Peacebringers suck at mezzing. They only have one stun power- Even if it got buffed, they'd still have nothing to stack it with. It also makes more sense thematically for Peacebringers to heal their allies than stun their enemies. It wouldn't be overpowered because they still wouldn't have access to the buffs/debuffs that other support AT's do.

A Tri Form- Er... Rather, MFing Warshade is going to pump out more AOE than a Peacebringer without pets.

Wait... Your character? You mean that thing just under the damage numbers, and to the right of the combat logs? When do you find time to look at that?

There's a tremendous difference in the damage output of Warshade pets and Photon Seekers. The "big bang" effect is nothing in comparison to the power of the Dark Side. Seriously though, the specifics are a Microcosm question- I can just tell you that they do not do nearly the damage of my fluffy balls of doom. This is universally agreed upon.
An AOE heal is a support skill that adds value to the AT in a team scenario. Just as Warshades can contribute to teams by stunning mobs and filling the role of a Dominator/a Controller's primary. Peacebringers have no real team function aside from the ability to play off tank- But Warshades have that ability also, on top of their mitigation skills. Giving Peacebringers an AOE heal means that they are able to contribute something besides lackluster damage output.
Yeah, but it needs to happen from a logical perspective. Energy Blast is given to squishy Archetypes who benefit from the KB when solo during the level up process. KB isn't a secondary effect that has a place on an AT that plays best in Melee range and has such high survivability.
The thing is that Warshades damage output even before Sunless Mire is considered is going to be ~the same as Peacebringers when pets are taken into account. When there are Mire targets, it's not even a contest. That's on top of Warshade's control potential. Once the Mire(s) come out, Peacebringers might as well go sit and weep in the corner, too embarrassed to show their faces.
A good suggestion that I believe was first brought up by AIB was to have Photon Seekers provide a reduced version of the initial "boom" effect followed by lingering wisps (comparable to the Polar Lights lore pets) linger for x amount of time afterwards, dealing less damage than Warshade pets but being able to be summoned on demand and made perma with the right amount of recharge. This would help the damage issue.
Even if it's not "balanced" around IO's, they still need to be considered. Potential is a factor, and with end game being the focus of a good amount of the player base, these giant disparity issues need to be addressed.

Baby steps, Microcosm.

Wouldn't the best solution be to have one monologuing build and one playing the game build?

Well I'm sure if you wanted to make a build meant to be comfortable soloing AV's on enclosed maps (really a specific tailor made build wouldn't be necessary) it wouldn't be impossible or even especially difficult- I would just personally find it annoying/likely view it as more of a chore than a leisure activity. It just comes down to being enthusiastic enough to peruse the idea and invest the time into accomplishing the goal. I think that the method of summoning fluffies to help with the AV would be the best approach to take in this case. They're a part of your native powerset so there's no shame in using them- It's definitely a solid approach, just not the one that I personally prefer to use.

Well when it comes to things like soloing AV's, I'd say the challenge itself is enough of a challenge without putting yourself through the unnecessary stress of navigating an annoying map. The Praetorian AV's are great for these types of feats because they generally spawn on large, outdoor maps. I think at the point you're getting at, it's a matter of multiple hurdles which I just don't feel the need to subject myself to. The large outdoor Praetorian maps in the Maria Jenkins arc for instance don't have ambushes, but you can set it to x8 to provide large spawns in relatively close proximity.

Editing to elaborate. Basically, once you know you have the output to solo x AV at x level, mathematically speaking, it is generally possible to solo any AV at the same level as long as they have the same regen and resistance to your given damage type. Of course, you need to consider the damage and secondary effects of the given AV also- For instance, Anti-Matter stomped me at 54 with his defense debuffs, but this was before I had a t4 Ageless to bring along for DDR.

The point is that, yes, you can create multiple hurdles for yourself such as a difficult map, but for feats like AV soloing, the point is to test your build, dexterity, and strategy in order to accomplish a specific goal. If you choose to add additional obstacles, more power to you.. Personally, I feel it would be more gratifying to me to solo two level 54 AV's at once on a convenient map than it would be to solo one AV on an annoying map. Everyone has their own idea of challenge though, so if your perspective differs from mine that's totally cool.

Even level it shouldn't be a problem. Also AIB soloed 53 and 54 AV's (in his Dwarf form if you didn't know) by summoning pets and using them to augment his DPS which is a sound strategy if you can't pump out the personal output to down the target. As a reference point, a human form Warshade running an optimized attack chain pumps out more DPS with a single saturated Mire than an optimized Black Dwarf can assuming both Mires are always saturated (not accounting for form shift times or the rapidly increased rate at which the Dwarf would need to pull more food due to burning bodies faster with Dwarf Mire.) Human Form does significantly more ST damage generally speaking.
Actually, any mission with an AV can be set to x8- If you're soloing it, the entire map will have ample Mire food to down a 53 or 54 AV if you're diligent in pulling your target and/or move fast enough from mire back to attacking. AE arcs are just my preference due to convenience. I'd rather create an arc or play a pre-created arc than have to play through flashback missions until I get the AV I'm looking for.

Your third build serves a great purpose if you implement the Microcosm strategy. I assume his play style for his comparable build that he's mentioned (I still haven't played with him) is based around taking stupid alpha strikes on tough team content and Scrapperlocking 54 Incarnate boss spawns down to the bitter end, presumably turning his resistance toggles on when Eclipse expires and there are only a couple targets left- In that case since incarnate spawns generally resist mez, I could see the resistance toggles being more useful than trying to mez the last few targets- For me, I'd rather keep my mezzes and use demonic aura/make a couple of purple inspirations/bring my t4 barrier and some break frees, just trying to rationalize the approach though.

The problem with that line of thinking if one were to make this build choice based on potentially soloing AV's, is that you're going to need your Sunless Mire to stay saturated in order to keep your DPS up to high level AV slaying status, so you'll be pulling mobs regardless.

This is the bottom line- Building for mez resistance will do nothing at all to help with the lack of status protection. Clarion and break frees are all that human form Warshades have available, unless you count mezzing stuff before it mezzes you, killing stuff before it mezzes you, or facing off against specific damage types that either don't have any mez powers or only deal damage which you have very high defenses to. The Winter's Gift IO is still useful though, I always run one on my human form build because the difference in the longevity of -Recharge debuffs can be the difference in how fast you can next execute the power that saves your life in some tough situations. It also takes only the default slot in an inherent TP friend power, so there's really no point in not slotting it for me.

-_-

Well you have to think more in terms of individual power sets than AT's as a whole. For instance, while a Rad/Sonic Defender can solo GM's like they're nothing, an Emp/DP would be hard pressed to take down an even level AV. Peacebringers and Warshades only have access to one primary and secondary each, and so in that case it makes sense to speak in a more broad sense in terms of what the AT's are capable of. For other sets and AT's that is not the case.

But Warshades still do more damage than Peacebringers. To me, the solution would be buffing Photon Seekers, changing KB to KD, and giving Peacebringers an AOE heal. Bam, balanced Kheldians playing different but equally useful roles.
Well they are glaringly deficient and it's unfortunate. The last round of buffs did a lot to help them catch up to Warshades, but it only addressed the survivability issue. Warshades still have significantly higher AOE and ST damage potential, much more useful mitigation for end game purposes (stun>KB,) and no crashing issues with their t9.

Granted the LF crash is needed to stop the power from being too good, but I'd like to see the cooldown and mitigation on Conserve Power reduced to match that of LF so it can mitigate every crash on a high recharge build.

Before the Light Form buff, one of the unofficial rules of Kheldian Fridays on Protector was that all Peacebringers must have Glowing Touch to heal Warshade's fluffies, so as to not waste spots on the team.

Edit, cause I've been meaning to ask you- What is your recovery at on your "human form" build? I think mine is "good," because I can sustain my attack chain while running defensive toggles and Orbiting/Inky, but yours must be through the roof if you're running resist toggles, defense toggles, AND Orbiting.

He should have called me Mr. TwoHeadedBoy.
You're also selfish. I like to be a team player, and stunning entire groups at a time is a great way to help protect my team mates. Playing straight-up-damage-output is actually probably the least valuable approach to bring to most group content IMO- Not that damage output isn't necessary or awesome, I still build for it heavily- I just prefer to be less of a one trick pony (or alien) and bring more to the table.

"I've been here longer, so I'm smarter."


I don't have a personal gripe with you. All I have an issue with is you providing misinformation to people who are still learning the Archetype, which I have played extensively and developed a very solid understanding of. I've met people who have been playing this game for over 7 years and still haven't figured out that the word "you" has three letters in it.

If you're going to disregard what I'm saying based on my "sign up date," that's something you have every right to do... But I have made great friends in this game who frequent this board and the forums in general, that would probably "vouch" for me, if needed. I sort of feel like I'm entertaining a child now though.