Vauluur

I've seen a good number of avatars and signature bars featuring player characters drawn in action packed comic book style, and they are making me "jelly" as the kids say.

Anyone out there that would draw up an avatar and signature bar for me? I am willing to pay a commission either in game or via Paypal. I certainly don't expect someone to come along and do it for free. Though, that'd be welcome too

I understand the argument that goals are a benefit IOs give. However, had the incarnate system been released instead you would have had long term goals anyway. Regardless, IOs need more trade offs in the set bonuses. The fact that it's possible to build up 25% or so defense without even trying and get some decent bonuses on the side is pretty crazy. Especially since combat works the way it does.

I suppose something that is different for me from a lot of people is also the fact that many people enjoy making IOs and spending days and weeks for their build to be just right. I'll admit I like making builds. I do it all the time on the forums. What I don't like is actually going through the process of crafting them in game. It really isn't very hard to buy SOs at a store, and takes much less time than buying/selling everything you need for IOs.

I also don't think everyone should be able to softcap. In fact, I think the fact that the softcap exists is kind of sloppy design. It would have been much better for the game if the defense numbers were different and the hard cap was 45%. Incarnate content would not need a different cap, and ATs would still have distinguished roles to play on teams.

A lot of people are saying that without IOs they would have quit the game. I have a hard time seeing why unless all you ever do is craft IOs. Nothing else changed when they put IOs in. I would have much rather seen us getting new powersets and content at the speed we do now than see IOs introduced back then.

The other thing that irritates me about the IO system is that everyone appears to believe it's optional. It isn't. Enemies may be balanced around SOs, but a major percentage of players have IOs. A character on SOs is markedly less effective at tank-maging their way through spawns than a character on IOs. Which means, if you want to compete in terms of survival and kill speed with other players, you have to use IOs.

I think Siren's could be used pretty well if you position your AoEs well and give it a good duration. You could, for example, only wake up half the spawn. Then you could kill that half before the other half wakes up. That makes it a pretty powerful mitigation tool.

I love the benefits of IOs as much as the next guy, and I use them on all my characters. However, they sure do make a lot of powers and ATs feel broken or obsolete. Part of me wishes that the invention system was only ever crafting temp powers. I love using craftable temps on my characters, and would love it even more if there were more options. Keep in mind, I'm in no way advocating that IOs be removed or anything like that. They've been around far too long to go back now. I was just wondering if anyone else ever longed for the good old days when teams ran around more often because it meant something more than "those people I need to start the TF".

I really hope it's something like Soul Extraction and not making a clone of myself.

Another thought: Gang War, but summoning the specter things you get earlier in the powerset. Now you go from having 2 of them to having like 12!

Hmm, that's actually an interesting question. Sadly, I don't know the answer myself. As for what it could mean for KD heavy primaries, it could mean not having to take Hasten if you are willing to replace the damage proc most people put in each attack with a FF +Rech. As to which of those options would be better, that'd probably depend on a number of factors. The ideal choice might be to have both a damage proc and FF. Regardless, I'm not really sure of the answer to your question so it's purely theoretical at this point.

This is something of a from the ground up thread. Mainly because I'm coming to you with a handful of concepts and not much else.

A bit of background before I get into it though. Recently (past few months or so) I've been working on actually getting some of my huge collection of alts to respectable levels. In over 6 years of active account time, I have gotten only 3 characters to 50. 2 of them were deleted because I lost interest in their concept and they were of limited utility to teams anyway. My main (and only current 50) is my BS/Invuln Scrapper. He is therefore a damage dealer on teams. My project just before this (which recently hit 35) is an Invuln/SS Tanker that I can now use to fill a tanking role on many teams. Eventually, the goal is to be able to bring whatever the team needs. I currently am lacking support and control. Since I'm probably going to wait until i22 for a Controller, I have decided to make my Defender now.

That brings me to the general concepts I have in mind. Right now, the first one is a FF/ that focuses on buffs first (obviously) but also uses KB to provide soft controls by splitting spawns and the like. I'd probably also take a serious look at Detention Field for isolating certain troublesome opponents that the primary damage dealers haven't targetted. I'm also leaning towards getting the medicine pool as I don't see much of a reason not to patch up the people that do actually get hit. For the secondaries, I'm looking mainly at Energy Blast and Sonic Blast (with the alternate animations). I could, however, be persuaded to take something else if it fits the concept. The concept itself first formed as a high-ranking Nemesis leader that Nemesis had been fooling for years into thinking he was doing the right thing. When he learned that Nemesis was behind the Rikti War, however, the soldier would have defected. Assault Rifle could fit, but I'm leaning away from it for 3 reasons. I would have to wait until I got the Unveiler Badge to have the appropriate weapon models, it would cause redraw for using Repulsion Bomb or Aid Other, and when I get around to getting a Blaster to 50 there's a good chance it will have Assault Rifle.

While I have that concept fairly well thought out, I'm also kicking around ideas for a Shadow Shard themed mutant. That concept I haven't fully fleshed out yet, though, it could allow for a wider variety of sets.

What I ask of you, Defender Forumites, is to offer up your advice for secondary choices for that first concept. Powers to take, powers to avoid, slotting suggestions, example builds, and anything else you feel like posting is welcome. I'm in fairly unfamiliar waters here.

If, for some reason, you have a strong objection to FF/ then the second concept leaves room for you to post advice as well.

Thanks in advance to everyone that bothers to post

Well, the form shift animations are mitigated on a PB since when you are shifting to Dwarf the enemies are getting back up after Nova's AoEs. When you are shifting to Nova, you aren't actually in combat. It may feel slow, but the shifting shouldn't actually have much of a numeric effect as it is right now.

That said, shorter animations are currently planned for Kheldians and awaiting a moment when the art team can actually make them. That's a change I greatly support.

And that's why I said somebody else should translate it

I would go with something like this. At first glance, it seems endurance heavy. That's because it is. But if you use Energize and Power Sink carefully you won't even notice.

It has a decent chunk of S/L defense (enough to hit softcap with a small purple inspiration) and has good resistances. I didn't worry too much about energy defense because your energy resistance is capped. Overall, it should be fairly survivable. I wouldn't suggest trying to tank for a team though, you don't have the resistance for that without Power Surge. You could try to take Power Surge if you want, but be careful not to sacrifice too much to get it. I personally don't like T9s that include an HP crash. The attacks aren't slotted for accuracy very much because I put Focused Accuracy and a Kismet in there. That pretty much eliminates any accuracy problem and ensures you won't be debuffed effectively. This build will not be cheap, but it should be cheaper than the one you made. Kinetic Combats are hard to find on the market, you'll need to buy them with merits or get them in random reward rolls.

Here's the chunk: