dave_p
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Posts
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Quote:What are you talking about? Can't you see free Fitness is going to force me to take on new toggle powers that will require yet more endurance! Double (free) Stamina's effects and give me like 10 more slots or this change sucks!Originally Posted by Local_Man
This is silly. I can't believe how many people complain about such a great change with NO DOWNSIDE.
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(a) 10 ebil marketeers, each worth 20B never ever spend another inf they've ebilly accumulated, they'd affect the economy not one bit.
(b) Same 10 ebil marketeers each destroyed some or all of their 20B instead of merely hoarding, this in and of itself also has zero effect on the economy.
(C) Those 10 ebil marketeers decide to buy things w/their barrels of inf, they will by definition drive up prices. By what factor is irrelevant. They raise demand, thus prices go up.
But doing (b), they're guaranteed of doing less of (c), thus the demand side pressure is eased and prices, while they may not go down, will go up slower. If they are merely doing (b) instead of (a), they're not helping or harming the economy. I get the feeling the OP is stuck on this point, but there will be *some* less of (c) going on as a result of (b).
If Buffett and Gates both had no intention of spending another penny of their billions, no more charity, no inheritances, etc, they no longer affect the economy any more than if they just had a giant bonfire. However, the bonfire guarantees that they'll never spend their money, thus decreasing overall money supply and lessening inflationary pressures. Without that bonfire, they're almost certain to spend more of their money, thus increasing inflationary pressures. -
Purely anecdotal, but my def-capped (or nearly capped) toons rarely get hit, certainly no more than the normal running Tips. I do speed runs, so a lot of times, I'll just click on a glowie w/o bother to clear mobs around it (Malta included, I do deal w/Knives & Rikti drones who see through stealth). They see me, attack and usually whiff while I finish up and move on to the next glowie. Of course, I'm not silly enough to try to save Panther 952 at +2/x8 during speed runs either.
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Quote:He's obviously satisfied with American cheese.Originally Posted by Misaligned
Heathen.Quote:
There's also the old plain SOs that are ALWAYS buyable, no matter what. -
If I can't buy caviar today for cheeps, but I know there'll likely be a sale next week (or the week after, or the week after that...), I'll wait. Same for feta cheese or anything else that is basically an optional good. What, you need that feta for a party you're throwing that night, and you can't reschedule? And some schmuck is buying up & burning all the feta in your town? And Gouda's not good enough? Well, yeah, that sucks, feel free to complain full and loud. I'll even ignore the fact that there's a random chance some feta will fall into your hands from the sky on a regular basis, since you're obviously very unlucky as well.
By the same analogy, the only ppl impacted by Goat were ppl who were planning on running a specific TF/trial/whatever that was starting RIGHT NOW, w/a specific toon, that had a specific recipe that he needed right then & there, and that recipe needed NMI. If you fall into that category, feel free to rant & rave. No one else should give two sh**s. -
That's a good question. I don't have a good answer. I think it got stuck in my brain that it stood for something, which it evidently doesn't.
Tips farming, it is. -
Technically, the TIPs drops themselves should happen faster w/a high level (i.e. 50) killing masses of greys in a 20-25 zone. I went through the full morality arc once w/my 27 brute who had zero AoE attacks, and it took considerably longer, though not unbearably so, to get his drops compared to, say, my 50 Fire blaster.
I'm down to 25-30min for my top guys, but my 50 Son/Son defender, even w/full stealth, is still kinda painful to solo through (which is to say it might take him all of 40min to finish a set), and that's w/no bosses. My Earth/TA isn't too bad, tho he'd suck pre-OSA & Fireball. I can't even imagine doing this w/a FF/* def or */FF controller... -
Quote:I wasn't being disparaging w/my last comments, though it may have come off that way. He has a different outlook on how he wants to play his tank than what I provide in my guide and my usual posts on the various boards. That's fine, and I'm going to leave this debate at that. Personally, I see zero reason to sacrifice on offense to become a great tanker (and in fact, I could make many argument just to the opposite), but if that's not your concern, so be it.Originally Posted by Dechs Kaison
A quick word on this, as GuyPerfect seems to know what he's doing and I want to back him up. Dave, there is a very large difference between a tank that disregards his damage output and one who simply doesn't optimize it.
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Quote:LOL, okay, I see where you're coming from now. I'll stop here.Originally Posted by GuyPerfect
Optimizing damage on a Tanker is like building a bungee cord out of condoms: technically feasible, but why bother with it if it's not even what it's designed for?
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Quote:Sort of besides the point, but the big draw of Fire/Ice was that you used IP to keep things in your Burn patch. Now, you don't need to any more... which doesn't keep IP from being awesome or anything.Originally Posted by Genesis Man
I ran a Fire/Ice Tank on GR Test... with the changes to FE and Burn, the combination of Ice Patch + FE + Burn + FA is just... ridiculous. If you can get over some of Fire's holes (which admittedly Shield has a lot less of), it also makes for an impressive damage tank.
I'd imagine fully soaked AAO + SC + FA is pretty spectacular too. Both SD/Ice & Fire/Ice are going to kick all sorts of ***; I just wished I didn't have a no repeat rule or I'd totally roll both combos. -
Quote:May I ask what your attack chain is? And how you slotted Freezing Touch? I find it odd that you don't have at least Ice Sword recharged at any given time.Originally Posted by GuyPerfect
This is where your argument doesn't apply to my situation: there are times that, with the Soul attacks included, every single one of my attacks is recharging, including Greater Ice Sword.
When that happens (which requires just the right amount of power spamming), I'm sitting on my thumbs for one or two seconds and usually cast Taunt or Ice Patch or something to pass the time. I have Frozen Fists and Ice Sword and the epic blast and whatever else, and they're not ready to cast by the time Greater Ice Sword comes around. Removing it would make me sit on my thumbs even longer; there is no benefit to not casting it.
Gut it for Boxing? That's quite a stretch, as I'd still have five Enhancement slots to assign somewhere. It sounds to me like you're not suggesting improvements to my character, per sé, but that you just really don't like me having Greater Ice Sword for some reason.
I couldn't care less if you use GIS or Jump Kick; all I offer is the data with which you can build, hopefully, a more informed attack chain. Again, the evidence shows GIS is a suck power. I mentioned boxing as an alternative for a *set mule*, and only if you're taking Tough/Weave anyway. I'm certainly never said Boxing is a better alternative for damage, which is the conclusion you seem to have incorrectly drawn.
Edit, after revising my guide, I realized I went into a little more about how much GIS sucks, esp in relation to other tanker "heavy hitters". In case you didn't read the replies:
http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showp...22&postcount=9
Again, if you like the power, have fun with it. Just realize that you can likely do better. -
Bumped for I18 edits. Mostly added Bruising information for Frozen Fists, but fixed a rather crucial typo for Greater Ice Sword (said DPS when I meant DPA). Thanks to GuyPerfect for the catch.
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Actually, DPA-wise, Incinerate is the best Fire attack (60.17 vs 57.48 for GFS for tanks), which is why a very good (but not quite top end) attack chain for brutes & scrappers is Incin > Scorch > Cremate > Scorch, not available to tanks due to the lack of Cremate. GFS does have the 2nd highest DPA value and is part of the very top chain, but that one requires a lot more recharge.
As for why anyone would infer GFS's (lack of) gimpiness from GIS... well, one's on fire, it should do *some* more damage. Just not that much more, which is to say, bring up GIS. In fact, you'll notice that it's a rather popular sticking point among the more informed Ice Melee'ers that GIS is the one lagging power in the set that may need to be normalized. I actually think the set as a whole is very well balanced for AoE damage & mitigation, but that's another discussion. -
Quote:Wow, that's a huge typo on my part, tho it's technically accurate. I'd hope from reading the context though that you'd inferred I meant DPA, not DPS. And if you read the whole guide, you'd see that GIS does in fact have absolutely pathetic DPA, worse than IS and worse than an epic blast (well, not LBE). Still, thanks for the catch--I'll be fixing that ASAP.Originally Posted by GuyPerfect
It's a misnomer that Greater Ice Sword is somehow inferior to Ice Sword or the epic blasts due to having a lower DPS. If you look at virtually any power, the quicker, less-damaging powers almost universally have higher DPS (see Burst versus Full Auto). This is nothing exclusive to Greater Ice Sword; it's just a big fat case of lrn2play.
GIS will absolute make your overall DPS lower. When you introduce a lower DPA attack in your attack chain, your overall DPS suffers. Very simple math. You're better off cycling back in Ice Sword or an epic blast in place of GIS in your attack chain than including it. If you can't make a gapless attack chain w/just FT, IS & an epic blast, or if you're taking Energy Mastery (but you're not, you're taking Soul), then GIS is better than FF (though I haven't done the math on how the new bruising affects things), but not by enough to justify a power selection.Quote:Additionally, I have Ice Sword as well, and I have the epic blast, so why would I remove Greater Ice Sword? That will make my damage go down; there's no way to argue with that.
If you're using it as a set mule, well, you still have brawl (I mean, it's about as useless as an attack, but at least you don't have to spend a power slot), or if you're taking Tough/Weave, Boxing. No, I'm not saying GIS is worse than Brawl or Boxing, just that you shouldn't be using any of those powers in a late-game attack chain.
What you're going to take in its place is entirely up to you. I find it difficult to believe you have no better power to take than a gimpy, 34.77 DPA ST attack, but ultimately, it's your call. -
Honestly, for concept, I'd do EM. Give yourself some orange pom poms of death and imagine the extra concussive impact coming from a sonic effect. No -res in the attacks, but the stuns replicate at least one Son blast power.
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Quote:Sweet, I can't wait to roll my EM scrapper!Originally Posted by GreenFIame
Energy Melee is really Awesome on Damage, but not greatest on End, it's can be heavy.
Welcome to the Scrapper Club Btw.
On a slightly more serious note (I'm assuming you got confused w/brutes, so that is my reference point), EM has the same normalized DPE as most other powersets. Scrapper/Brute sets like Claws & Fire have superior DPE values than all the other sets, of course, but considering ET also has the one of the highest DPE in the game because of the self-damage, on average, EM is actually more end-friendly than most. -
Quote:I know this is more about DA and the Epic pool, but may I suggest you pull that slot from GIS? Or better yet, drop it altogether? See guide in sig for my reasons why.Originally Posted by GuyPerfect
I put one in Greater Ice Sword for more recharge (it's only 10s base, but why not?), then the other turned into a -Recharge proc in Darkest Night. There, problem solved.
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Depends on your secondary. For something like Ice Melee, which has sucktastic hard target killing speed, I'd go -1~+0/x8 to kill a lot of low level minions fast. On the flip side, EM/SM/DM have horrid AoEs, but good ST damage, so I'd go +2~4/x1~3 w/bosses. For SD/WM, I'd go +0/x8 after you get SC slotted, maybe +1/x8 when you can handle it (i.e. capped positionals). WM is definitely AoE friendly, esp w/SD as your primary.
If you're farming for drops and not so much for XP, you're not going to beat -1/x8 for any build. Even XP-wise, +0/x8 might be optimal, +1/x8 if you can clear a spawn at the same rate as +0. For just plain fun, I definitely like -1/x6~8. You're surrounded by mobs, who're just fueling your damage, and you can mow them down like crazy. At -1, you should be able to handle it w/insps, even before capping your defenses. -
I certainly don't wanna get into the BS vs Kat debate either, but I should point out that Kat also has superior AoE offense to BS. Won't make a difference soloing Pylons, but I think the "casual" gamer would get more out of Kat, just running missions and stuff.
Of all the scrappers I play (and I play just about all the powersets, though not in every combination), I find my DB/WP the "easiest", and frankly darn effective. He's IO'ed out to have softcapped S/L def, but before doing that, he was still plenty easy mode.
The combos are a bit tricky to get into, but once you basically settle into your top combo (Attack Vitals), you don't have to worry about any of the rest (which is to say you can, and maybe should to squeeze out even more performance, but you can get by plenty fine w/just the BF+AV combo). WP, of course, is the definition of easy mode; adding IO bonuses for survivability is just gravy.
Would a Kat(BS)/WP be more survivable, esp at lower lvls? Sure, but I find w/Kat, you have to pay attention to how many DA's to stack for minimal/necessary/optimal performance, plus you don't get your top chain til 32, vs 26 for DB's AV combo.
I got scrappers that kill faster (both ST & AoE) and survive better at the top end, but if I just wanna blow through some missions w/o thinking too much about it (like say farming TIPs missions), I usually grab my DB/WP. -
Thanks for the replies. Some followups:
Quote:Yeah, I really rue my "no repeats" rule sometimes, cuz I'd love to play Elec/Rad, but I'm sorta stuck w/Elec/Therm, which I'm not crazy about tbh. CC+CA seems like a good combo. So no real problems w/JC waking up mobs before the next pulse of sleep?With my Elec/Rad, Jolting Chain is part of the overall mitigation in the set. Static Field - Jolting Chain - Chain Fences, then I keep alternating JC-CF. It keeps the foes on their tails about 30-50% of the time.
Really? I thought it did absolute crap damage?Quote:Its pretty much going to be your main source of damage until you get pets.. and even afterwards.
Is that a good opener? That is to say, even assuming it hits all the mobs, won't it only actually KU the 1st mob, and the rest will get their shots off at you while JC is actually jumping through them?Quote:I often will lead with it, hit them with [Chain Fences] before they get up, and then drop [Static Field] before they have time to fire back. Then take them down safely and at my leisure - no end even if they do wake up.
One thing I've noticed was that JC still KU'ed things that were immob'ed by my Fences. Does Fences not have a -KB, or does JC just work anyway (if so, awesome). -
I have a lowbie Elec/Therm and I'm trying to figure out if JC is a long term power or not. Teaming in Praetoria, it seems kinda useless cuz most mobs are too far apart and I don't often see it jumping much. Then again, the few times I've soloed, I can gather a bunch around me w/CA on sucking up end, and kinda spam JC & Chain Fences til things die (or I run out of end, which is more likely). I can totally see this working far, far better in later levels w/more recovery and better slotting all around.
What do more experienced Elec controllers think of JC? Useful in bigger groups? Too little damage? Takes too long for all the jumps to happen? -
As I replied in the other FRad thread, the HF+CC combo is awesome, and I'm currently employing it to great effect, but it is entirely possible to play your FRad from 100% range and be damn good at it. I too leveled to 50 w/o it (of course, this was way back before even IOs) and never felt anything but uber (having 12+ imps out didn't hurt either). When I was doing the AV/GM soloing thing, I totally ditched both powers and never missed them. If I actually bothered w/dual builds, I'd make a ranged-only build and a PBAoE build; I'd use the latter more for teaming and casual gaming, of course.
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Quote:For whole days? My god, how do you live?Originally Posted by Gehnen
Does anyone else get so fed up collecting salvage for their recipes that they quit crafting? I've amassed almost all the Thunderstrikes I need for my Blaster, but I just get so fed up going through my vault, SG storage, and the Market that I put off crafting for days.
Seriously, TSrikes require no rares. Put your (reasonable) bids in, go to sleep, wake up and craft the next day.
I paid some semi-Nao prices last night on a lowbie praetorian to craft a jet pack, cuz I didn't wanna schlep him all the way to some day job spot (thank you for not giving me Day Trader in Praetoria, devs), then ninja run back the next day to save a few K, so I bought a few AlSil's for like 56K (true Nao pricing would be >100K, mind you). On principle tho, I normally would've bid under that and come back in a day or two, even though a few K are so utterly insignificant, it shouldn't even occur to me to count them. -
I'm sorta asking this question myself, as Ice is the last primary I need to play as a tanker. I think it's mostly the aversion to typed defense, esp since it leaves gaps in Psi & Tox. I've done a few test builds w/EA (brute) & Ice and I actually get better numbers w/EA (close to 35% Psi def), but of course Ice has far more overall mitigation than EA. Still, CE + Icicles is a big draw, and w/powers like Hoarfrost & Hibernate, most things should be survivable, even at the top end. Yeah, stuff like quartzes suck, but they suck for my Shields guys too--just learn to kill them first.
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Another thumbs down for no nukes on CoP. The storm AV is hard enough w/nukes. Casual CoP runs, even among experienced players w/fairly IOed out toons will be dead if this goes live.