Wilfred

My VEAT doesn't fit in caves.

The trick, I'd say, is to experiment. Try other Blasters, try other archetypes. Find something you have fun playing as.

Most powerset combinations can be rather good with a bit of TLC, so you may want to post your current build in the blaster forum and see if anyone can give you a hand.

Failing that, make a Martial Arts/Willpower scrapper.

I'll try not to repeat what's already been said.

Firstly; it is an improvement over your earlier guide, so thankyou for making the effort.

Personal opinion is great for guides; you use it to good effect, and for that I applaud you. You've clearly learnt to use the powers for yourself from scratch rather than from drily reading up on the power descriptions.

I would say, though, that some of the descriptions could be a little more considered. I've already mentioned how useful personal opinion is; as the in-game power information becomes more transparent, there's less need for the statistics-only type of guide, so the community tends to look to player guides more for an actual description of how the power feels in use, how it fits into attack chains and builds, and what sort of returns you'll get from slotting variations. However, posting actual numbers as well prevents the need to use a second reference source (such as the game itself or Red Tomax) and can clarify in the readers' minds what to expect from certain powers.

People are more likely to take opinion onboard when it's backed up by plenty of explanation; it's good to take each power in turn (as you have done) and think about what is good as well as bad, and post it all. Otherwise, any rating system can seem a touch arbitrary.

I tend to sweat and toil over my (albeit few thus far) guides until they are just exactly as I want them; I like to work out what audience I'm pitching them to.

There are several main audiences I consider;
<ul type="square">[*]Comedy seekers;[*]Set-naive players, thinking about what set to use on their new character;[*]Leveling players, looking at what they should leave out, how their build is going so far, or what they could pick at a certain level;[*]Hardened veterans, looking for alternative views on power picks and slotting for a level 50 respec.[/list]
There are, of course, plenty more reasons why different people read guides; I hope occasionally with mine it's for entertainment value. Whatever audience you're pitching to, it's good to consider everyone who might be checking up on it. For that reason, I think it's a good idea to introduce the guide well; give people a good overview of the set, what it's strengths and weaknesses are, how it compares to other sets in its AT, how it performs in teams and on its own, and so forth.

Similarly, in rounding off the guide, it's good to give a few tips from actual play; enemies to look out for, particularly good teaming synergies, how well it synergises with different secondary sets, what sets you may want to consider buying into, whether any pools or particular travel powers are immensely useful, and so forth.

Remember a guide should be what you think the set is about; be sure to distinguish between hard numerical fact and your thoughts on powers. Make it more than a list of powers with some consideration about the powers in it.

Wilf, over and out.

Happy birthday, old bean.

I'd love to see this happen. Of course, you'd only get to level 56 or so before there wasn't anything left high enough to get xp off.

I don't know. It could work...

There's a fly in my Hamidon.

Arch - Classic.

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The ability to design NPC heroes in the costume editor.

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This would be most important to me. The ability to design the main villain of the map from the ground up, and script dialogue for it.

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The OP might also want to read the classic "On the Care and Feeding of Your Scrapper"...

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Wow, that had escaped my attentions. This...

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.... and many regard themselves as a form of tank, or, more often, as a living blender.

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...is the single most elegant description of a scrapper I have ever heard.

The game, of course. This is exactly what we always thought would happen :@ jerk hackers

gone 2 teh americans?

Brawl/Awesome

Emp/Psi
Kin/Psi
FF/Energy
Rad/Ice
Storm/energy
Dark/Rad
Sonic/Archery
Rad/Psi
TA/Sonic
Sonic/Dark

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Badges are fun but is it REALLY that much of a deal?

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<ul type="square">[*]increasingly sarcastic and condescending posts bordering on personal attacks[*]salsa dancing[/list]
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Your MOM likes salsa dancing.

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Upside down.

In space.

On fire.

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With a beeny hat on.

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On Christmas Day.

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with one eye closed

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And a monocle on the other eye

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With one hand tied behind your back.


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Using an old C64 wiggly joystick without an autofire setting.

Nicely explained; a valuable resource! Thankyou.

I always remember the compelling arguments for resistance/def stacking the way I was told back in the day, when I was chatting with an Inv tanker over why he took Tough.

As he explained it, he had ~80% s/l res already. That meant he was taking 20 points of damage from each 100. At that point, Tough put him at 90% s/l res, which meant he was taking 10 from every 100 damage.

With 10% extra res, he had halved the incoming s/l damage.

Of course, on a resistance naive toon, that 10% resistance would only have mitigated 10% of incoming damage.

To that I'd respond that he's playing the game for which he pays the same sub as you, me, or the OP in a way that he finds rewarding.

If anything, the low PvP population (caused by people not playing the game in the fashion for which it is intended, no doubt) is causing the subject his woes.

You're correct in that we have an inalienable right to judge people for their actions; that doesn't mean we have the right to send them abusive tells or sound them out on public boards. In the same way that free speech doesn't equate to spraypainting profanities on peoples' tombstones; an extreme analogy perhaps, but the principle is the same.

Couple of things.

I've had that request, it was very politely put, from a pleasant enough guy.

All he wants is to get a badge; I don't know about you but I never see enough fodder in PvP zones to get to 400 rep, and I only have one toon that would actually be capable of taking out PvP types.

I wasn't doing anything at the time, and since I don't lose anything, felt no qualms about helping him out.

I sense you've put more time into making this post than into helping someone out. Which is good of you.

He asked if you wouldn't mind helping him out; suddenly he's a moron, and an idiot, and should be banned from computer use. From the sounds of it you sent a pretty abusive tell back. If there's a villain in this piece, I don't think it's him.

Try and go for the more powerful single-target attacks; AoE attacks are likely to get you into trouble very quickly! What's been said earlier about energy doing knockback which is bad for kinetics is true, but you'll learn to live with it, and actually the knockback is pretty good control for a defender; to knock enemies out of melee range with you. Energy's really handy as far as resistance goes; you won't have much trouble with resistant foes at all.

Most people don't roll Kin/Energy for exactly that reason, but it's honestly not as bad as all that, and on the plus side you'll be taking a combination that few other people have. Which is great.

Oh, and at 38 you'll get Nuke. Most of the other blaster top tier primary powers tend to get named after that colloquially, for a good reason. It's the daddy.

Nope, pool maneuvers is rubbish on VEAT's. I don't know about vengeance, I'm afraid.

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It's not gonna happen, and you know it.

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Maneuvers used to be much more powerful; it got squished as part of the GDN.

The SoA version... It's insanely powerful.

It gives 10% def at base, so four widows or spiders running it and you've more defence than an ice tank for the whole team. Don't skip it, until they get around to nerfing it.

I used to play villains solely for those rare occasions when a succubus would confuse me and I could spend a few seconds beating on my teammates.

Dominate recharges faster, activates faster, does damage, lasts longer, is a stronger control, and is more accurate.

End cost is comparable.

Scramble thoughts has longer range (~20yds).

They're both pink on your power tray, but scramble thoughts is less garish and has a slightly cooler icon.