UnicyclePeon

Did they announce a port of /Dark Miasma, sans Fearsome Stare, or something? Or was the Dark/Dark controller and/or Illusion/Dark just a wishing-out-loud kinda thing?

Lewis

Btw, I do have AA, I just dont enjoy it much. But it is a tool that I will sometimes use. Similarly, there are times I avoid frostbite and I go heavy on the ranged soft control (on teams with no other -kb). So, I mix and match. But I definitely want to keep the -kb for times when I want to lean on storm.

I also prefer to keep it on my ice/energy dom, because I like to prevent knockback then too;and sometimes I like it. I let frostbite determine which I get.

Lewis

OT,

I use Ice Slick and sometimes I add in Shiver. But not for long. As soon as they are falling and slow, I touch them with hurricane to neutralize their accuracy, then immobilize them. That kills the ice slick, but it has done its work. From there, once the opening control of ice slick has worked its magic, it is all about crushing them with /storm. And so from there, I want -kb.

Lewis

Ok then. I'll give it a fair chance and see how it goes. I did incarnate trials for a month solid before I decided that it was not something I wanted to do regularly. I suppose I should give the new Dark Astoria the same level of effort.

Thanks,

Lewis

However, I am not better off as a paid subscriber if I am not having fun. I enjoy the normal 1-50 content. The incarnate stuff, not so much. And in fact, the new accuracy rating is probably the number one reason, other than the fact that the whole system makes my collection of 50s not so much "complete, and playable on a whim" but rather more what I'd call "obsolete".

Lewis

Oh, ok, so it is incarnate content. Well, I decided to avoid (most) incarnate content since it just makes the game harder, and makes all my level 50s weak by comparison unless I spend a long time doing the incarnate content (that I dont like) in order to upgrade each one. I would rather play normally through level 50 with new characters rather than get on the treadmill.

So I guess I will just ignore Dark Astoria. Too bad ... it was my favorite zone after Kings Row. I will miss its quiet serenity and oceans of gun-wielding undead.

But its all good. I recognize that I am in the minority. So no worries.

Thanks for the reply.

Lewis

I like -knockback on my Ice/Storm controller, so I am against getting rid of that. Also, I hate Arctic Air. So making it even more of a lynchpin of the set for my Ice Doms will make me like the set less.


Lewis

Thanks man!

Lewis

What is a Spring Fling?

Lewis

Sorry for being out of the loop ... been playing Skyrim a bit ... but are these grav changes live yet? I suppose I should update my client and check.

Lewis

I think my altitus and lack of attention span are going to screw me then. It will take 2 nights to qualify. 1night to earn the bonus ones (which would give me 4?). It could take me a week to do that, if I even stick with it past 1 night. But even if I did, I could only get 1 merit a week since they share a timer.

Oh well.

Maybe I need to alter my spreadsheet to track whether a character has confirmed or not.

Thanks,

Lewis

Thanks everyone. Looks like I will have some issues sticking with the initial affirmation. Two nights in a row on the same character? Crazytalk! Anyway, thanks for the info. I just need to figure out whether my own personal quirks will allow this.

Speaking of which, my need to have all my characters be hero status, and my need to have the scorpion shield on about 8 newish characters, means I have got to get 8 characters to 35, patron quested, and crossed over. So I guess I am still QUITE a long way away from being able to run SSAs and Tips, thanks to my compulsions.

Thanks,

Lewis

/would totally pay 200 points on the paragon market for a LOTG.

All,

I tend to be slow to adopt new habits, and I keep hearing about Signature Story Arcs, but I dont quite know what they are, how to do them, what the rewards are, or anything. I tend to click past new contact popups and I never look at the game login splash page. So thats probably my problem.

Anyway, I thought I heard you can get hero merits doing them? If do, how often? I am still unable to make myself do tip missions on a single character long enough to generate hero merits, because I am an altaholic. So if these have a chance to generate hero merits without me having to do 5 missions across 2 nights in a row, I am curious to try.

Thanks,

Lewis

I would say Illusion/Storm. Mine is perma PA, including the cast time.

Earth/Storm is close tho.

When I want to do melee, its a toss-up between ss/sr brute, stone/wp brute, or fire/sr scrapper. Probably in that order.

Lewis

My Super Strength/Super Reflexes brute surprised me. It was that combo which turned my hatred of Super Strength into love.

I have a new AR/Dark Corruptor that is just silly good fun. I just giggle as the bad guys die in droves to my scourgey cone awesome!

My original surprise character was an earth/storm controller way back in the day. Once I had quicksand, freezing rain, and earthquake, I was in love. That combo really turned me onto controllers and to stormies.

Lewis

I am not sure I can help. I have mental quirks in this area.

I consider chi martial arts to be magic. BatGod is a tech hero. SuperDude is a natural hero. A barbarian with a sword that can hurt superpowered beings is a tech hero ... albeit low tech. Anybody "without powers" that can fight a level 50 foe is certainly not natural .... unless the members of his race are simply all like that.

You could decide that, like BatGod, you carry a gadget or 10, but that your predominant focus comes from natural talent (despite the gadgets). The line between natural and tech in this sense is pretty blurry.

Lewis

I was planning on a Rad/Fire build myself. My build is unconventional I guess, in that I didnt try to go for crazy recharge, and I didnt take advantage of crazy procs in Neutrino bolt. But I do manage to take all the powers I want, and hit 32.4% on S/L defense, 32.5% on Ranged defense, and 52% on energy defense. I also have 42.5% global recharge. I didnt take the nuke, or the snipe, or consume, but otherwise ... well anyway. Here is the build. Maybe it will give you some ideas for sets and defense, even if you dont go with it per se.

Lewis

Hero Plan by Mids' Hero Designer 1.952
http://www.cohplanner.com/

Click this DataLink to open the build!

Cosmic Strike: Level 50 Science Blaster
Primary Power Set: Radiation Blast
Secondary Power Set: Fire Manipulation
Power Pool: Speed
Power Pool: Flight
Power Pool: Leaping
Power Pool: Fighting
Ancillary Pool: Mace Mastery

Hero Profile:
Level 1: Neutrino Bolt -- Thundr-Acc/Dmg(A), Thundr-Dmg/EndRdx(15), Thundr-Dmg/Rchg(15), Thundr-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(25)
Level 1: Ring of Fire -- Thundr-Acc/Dmg(A), Thundr-Dmg/EndRdx(17), Thundr-Dmg/Rchg(17), Thundr-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(33)
Level 2: X-Ray Beam -- Thundr-Acc/Dmg(A), Thundr-Dmg/EndRdx(3), Thundr-Dmg/Rchg(3), Thundr-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(23)
Level 4: Irradiate -- C'ngBlow-Dmg/EndRdx(A), C'ngBlow-Dmg/Rchg(5), C'ngBlow-Acc/Rchg(5), Erad-Dmg/Rchg(31), Erad-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(37), Erad-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(40)
Level 6: Electron Haze -- Posi-Acc/Dmg(A), Posi-Dmg/EndRdx(7), Posi-Dmg/Rchg(7), Posi-Dmg/Rng(31), Posi-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(37)
Level 8: Combustion -- Oblit-Dmg/Rchg(A), Oblit-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(9), Erad-Dmg/Rchg(9), Erad-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(31), Erad-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(37)
Level 10: Fire Sword Circle -- C'ngBlow-Dmg/EndRdx(A), C'ngBlow-Dmg/Rchg(11), C'ngBlow-Acc/Rchg(11), Erad-Dmg/Rchg(29), Erad-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(36), Erad-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(42)
Level 12: Fire Sword -- Mako-Acc/Dmg(A), Mako-Dmg/EndRdx(13), Mako-Dmg/Rchg(13), Mako-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg(33), Mako-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(43), Mako-Dam%(43)
Level 14: Super Speed -- Zephyr-ResKB(A)
Level 16: Build Up -- AdjTgt-ToHit/Rchg(A), AdjTgt-EndRdx/Rchg(34), AdjTgt-Rchg(40)
Level 18: Cosmic Burst -- Thundr-Acc/Dmg(A), Thundr-Dmg/EndRdx(19), Thundr-Dmg/Rchg(19), Thundr-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(21)
Level 20: Aim -- GSFC-ToHit(A), GSFC-ToHit/Rchg(34), GSFC-ToHit/Rchg/EndRdx(40), GSFC-Rchg/EndRdx(46), GSFC-ToHit/EndRdx(46), GSFC-Build%(46)
Level 22: Hasten -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(34)
Level 24: Hover -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A), Zephyr-Travel(25), Zephyr-Travel/EndRdx(33)
Level 26: Neutron Bomb -- Posi-Acc/Dmg(A), Posi-Dmg/EndRdx(27), Posi-Dmg/Rchg(27), Posi-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(29), Posi-Dam%(36)
Level 28: Combat Jumping -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A)
Level 30: Boxing -- Acc-I(A)
Level 32: Tough -- S'fstPrt-ResDam/Def+(A)
Level 35: Web Envelope -- Enf'dOp-EndRdx/Immob(A), Enf'dOp-Acc/EndRdx(36), Enf'dOp-Acc/Immob/Rchg(39), Enf'dOp-Acc/Immob(43)
Level 38: Scorpion Shield -- LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx(A), LkGmblr-Def(39), LkGmblr-Rchg+(39)
Level 41: Weave -- LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx(A), LkGmblr-Def(42), LkGmblr-Rchg+(42)
Level 44: Burn -- Erad-Dmg(A), Erad-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(45), Erad-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(45), M'Strk-Dmg/Rchg(45)
Level 47: Hot Feet -- M'Strk-Dmg/EndRdx(A), M'Strk-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(48), Sciroc-Dmg/EndRdx(48), Sciroc-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(48)
Level 49: Blazing Aura -- M'Strk-Dmg/EndRdx(A), M'Strk-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(50), Sciroc-Dmg/EndRdx(50), Sciroc-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(50)
Level 50: Cardiac Total Core Revamp
------------
Level 2: Swift -- Run-I(A)
Level 2: Health -- Mrcl-Rcvry+(A)
Level 2: Hurdle -- Jump-I(A)
Level 2: Stamina -- P'Shift-EndMod(A), P'Shift-EndMod/Acc(21), EndMod-I(23)
Level 1: Brawl -- Acc-I(A)
Level 1: Defiance
Level 1: Sprint -- ULeap-Stlth(A)
Level 2: Rest -- RechRdx-I(A)
Level 4: Ninja Run

Best Wishes, MB!

Lewis

I have a character name camped just ready for the day I can make a Super Strength/Ice Armor brute.

I also want Ice Melee/Super Reflexes, tho for that I am not sure if I will be a brute or a scrapper.

The funny thing is that I can make the above as Tankers. I have tanker placeholders for them. But conceptually they need to be higher damage types.

And so the waiting continues ....

Lewis

I also love /Super Reflexes, but Willpower might be the way to go. The endurance management is nice due to having inherent stamina stacked with the Quick Recovery power, and it is a layered set that uses defense, resistance and regeneration. I really like the regen aspect. With 2- or 3-slotted Fast Healing, and inherent health slotted the same way, and Rise to the Challenge, I go through a lot less green health inspirations between fights. Also, you just turn on your toggles and go, which lets you focus more on your attack set.

Katana/Willpower would be good, as someone else pointed out. The Katana attack that gives you melee defense (or is it smashing / lethal? I forget) is nice, since it becomes another part of your varied layered defenses.

Any primary with a bit of mitigation is good though. Super Strength has lots of single target incidental knockdown and later you get Foot Stomp. Tho dont take hand clap with willpower ... It knocks stuff out lf your foe-dependent regen aura (rise to the challenge).

I also have a ton of fun on my Stone Melee/Willpower brute. You clobber stuff with big earthen hammers, and you get fault at level 8, which is a point blank stun that does *not* cause knockback. So its great. The downside is that your level 32 aoe damage power has a smaller radius than foot stomp from super strength. But hey. Great set. Stone Melee can be enduranbce-heavy, but willpower nips that in the bud with Quick Recovery from level 20. And the set isnt too end heavy pre-20 anyway.

Or you could go flat out carnage and do Fire/Willpower. No mitigation, but lots of killing.

So yeah, Kat/WP, Stone/WP, or Fire/WP. All great choices. Oh and one other great thing about willpower is that it works just fine with SO enhancements. So its a super cheap option, but with lots of useful ways to improve with sets and money if you fall into some influence/infamy later. But if you never do, its still all good.

Lewis

Oh I dunno. You could model him after a SupaTroll, or whatever those dudes are. Call him SupaNatural Activity. Make him green and shirtless with the version of the lightning bolt on his chest that looks like an arrow pointing down to his ... Well, to his Activity. By which I mean his sneakers.

Lewis

Someone else already told you about the Mids' finder, so thats all I was gonna do. But I am curious about which primary and secondary you will use. Forgive me if you mentioned that. I looked quickly and didnt see you mention that.

I started my most recent blaster as a villain so I could pick mace mastery for the smashing/lethal toggle. For a melee-Heavy build, I try to get ranged defense and smashing/lethal defense to 32.5%. That lets a small def inspiration (or any ally with a defense buffing set) top me off for shootage or blappage. At least, thats what my ice/ice did. And thats how I have planned my new blasters.

Lewis