dave_p
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Posts
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Joined
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OP's right. Prices are too high! How dare I make 250M from selling a purp drop I got (and crafted) just the other day? The horror that I'm now* able to pretty much S/L softcap one of my new toons w/that single sale. Really, I need the devs to protect me from suffering like that ever again.
(*Okay, I already enough inf to softcap like every toon ever, but only because I obviously buy from RMT'ers.)
Seriously, if I were poor & lazy, I'd be a lot more bothered by Kinetic Combats going for 75M than Armageddon's for 250M. Good thing I'm neither. -
Quote:Hax!Originally Posted by Fury Flechette
I'll tell you an "exploit" that I use. I buy a recipe right off the market for real cheap, put lowball bids for any salvage it needs, craft it and sell it for a profit.
Another "exploit" I use is do random rolls on merits I get from doing taskforces and mission arcs. I then sell those recipes on the market. Somehow, this earns me a profit. -
Good advice so far. So I'm leaning towards Spines/Dark atm. I can just about cap the S/L def on this build (with the lack of ST attacks, I'm having to 4-slot Brawl, which is just wrong on so many levels...), but end is looking dodgy, even w/the Nunima/Miracle uniques. Question: Is Cloak of Darkness not suppressed in combat? City of Data shows it as not suppressing at all, which would make my life a whole lot easier.
I'll have to put together a Spines/Invul build and compare, but yeah, I'm really liking the idea of 2 damage auras. -
First, to stipulate, I don't repeat powersets within ATs so Regen, WP, Fire & Shields are out.
Second, I'd like to stick to a concept, though you can stretch things pretty much where you need to.
I'm thinking of making a tech-oriented Spines/? scrapper using the new metallic Spines costume option. I'm thinking of a guy wearing a suit of liquid metal or something like that. So...
Spines/Invul - Fits the concept well. How's the synergy? I actually have relatively little experience w/Invul--my Invul tank is only in his 30s or so. I'm assuming Spines wants lots of mobs to attack, which is good for Invinc, so guessing this is a good combo?
Spines/SR - I've been meaning to reroll an SR scrapper (first one ever back in I0 was a Dark/SR, but it never worked out), but I don't see this as a good concept (yeah, the suit gives me enhanced speed... meh), and I don't know about how well Spines & SR suit each other.
Spines/Dark - Black liquid metal w/suitable costume options should make this work. Again, not sure about the synergy, though lots of mobs + Dark Regen always work together nicely. Plus the added damage aura sounds good. Wonder how OG would play out with Spines?
Spines/Elec - Currently have zero exp. w/ELA, but will be making an Elec/Elec tank for sure. Prolly similar to Dark in that it's resist based and has a damage aura, plus pretty much infinite end post Power Sink. Conceptually, electrified liquid metal Spines of Dooooooom.
Opinions? -
Still Elec/Elec for me w/S/L capped def. Was thinking of Ice/Elec (fits thematically too since cold increases conductivity and all), but wanna play w/new powersets.
Re the OP's build, there's just no excuse for Shields to not cap all 3 positionals. Also, it'd be good to get Shield Charge & LR on the same recharge synch as BU, I'd think. For my Elec/Elec, I have BU + LR every 30 sec or so for much tasty win. -
So I've been too busy w/work to play I16 yet, but just from the newly released Mids' planner (thanks to Stoney!), the new ELM numbers are looking much better. ST still isn't great, but it's not as pitiful as I once thought (which is to say worse than Ice Melee). No heavy hitter so I won't be soloing pylons any time soon w/it, but AoE wise, it's looking very good. Lightning Rod is just a beast (and for scrappers, it's just flat out cheating!). Fortunately, it's balanced around a 90 sec recharge or it'd get nerfed to hell & back.
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Quote:So, you're basically saying you *think* this is the way it is, but have nothing to back it up. Not to be overly sarcastic, but if you were going to disagree with me, the least you could do is provide some evidence. And, no, there's zero onus on you to convince me or anyone of anything, but if you're going to come out with a strong statement like "X is or isn't crap," I don't think it's unreasonable to ask for some non-anecdotal data.Originally Posted by Clouded
I don't care enough to convince you one way or the other. I'm not here to champion ELM as some uber set. I've already stated the ST damage is not great but it's not crap either, and I tend to let my experience ingame dictate my responses about sets. Not some numbers on paper.
Play or don't. <shrugs>
Please note, I wasn't being confrontational w/my previous post (or hopefully this one) and genuinely wanted some hard data, if you had any. I'll of course get my own now that I16's going live and post about them later. Hopefully, you and others will find them useful. And yeah, I play the game and have fun w/o any numbers too, but I also find crunching numbers fun it its own right, not to mention illuminating. You'd be surprised how inaccurate "personal experiences" can be.
Peace. -
Quote:You got any numbers to back that last sentence up? I'd post my own, but they're unverified atm (I'll say that both CB & HP's DPAs are worse than every other T1 or T2 tanker attack except Frozen Fists, so yeah... crap). I'm not doubting you, per se, but would like to see some empirical evidence that the numbers aren't crap.Originally Posted by Clouded
If I were looking for a ST damage heavy set then I wouldn't be taking Electric Melee. If I were looking for a great AoE/team heavy set, then I would consider taking Electric Melee.
The damage isn't anemic nor is CB/HP utter crap.
I happen to like AoE damage a lot, esp for tanks. I'll take Ice Melee (see guide) over EM any day of the week. I would like *some* ST damage though, and so far what I see is... well, crap. Please convince me otherwise--you'll make me very happy if you can. -
I wanted to make this thread earlier, but have been out of the game for a month. Now that also means I have yet to test anything on Test, but at least using Stoney's Mids' numbers, Elec Melee damage looks absolutely anemic, at least for DPA. LR is awesome, of course, but recharges too slowly as a regular part of an attack chain (tho it synchs nicely w/BU). CB & HP are both utter crap, JL is worse than Frost and is narrower to boot and while I only have expericnce w/TS on my Defender, I recall the splash damage was mostly useless, and its full damage DPA is pretty pathetic. CI is difficult to factor into, but w/it, LR, JL & TS, I'm thinking the AoE damage will be good to very good, but ELM's ST damage is worse than Ice Melee at this point, and that's just pathetic.
Again, this is all on paper and using unconfirmed numbers. I'm still waiting for Test Sever to synch my account status, but I'm hoping I16 hits live this week and I can do some more testing, but my Elec/Elec tank is looking decidedly less tasty than he did a month ago. Hope I'm wrong. -
Quote:QS the OSA first to lower its def! Oh wait, does OSA debuff its own defense as well?Originally Posted by Local_Man
Those temp powers have a short range and unenhanceable accuracy. I haven't tested whether the temp power misses more often than Fireball/Fire Blast, but I bet that the temp power misses more often.
Okay, in all seriousness, I used my taser for 40 lvls and noticed it didn't miss very often at all. I'm guessing it has a 95% chance to hit. The short range was a PitA, I'll admit.
Still, when you got Fireball... -
I hit ranged def-cap on all my 50 controllers (after debuffs, even on AVs) w/o Weave. Fighting pool for controllers is a waste of two slots, mathematically or otherwise (I mean, unless you really want mediocre S/L resists...).
On my Fire/Rad, I take SS, CJ, SJ & Hover, and 3-slot all 4 w/BotZ sets (my AoE def is also pretty high). Much utility too: SS + SJ = best travel. CJ + Hover for combat def. CJ + Hurdle for just in-combat mobility. LotG's slottable in CJ & Hover too as a bonus.
On my Ill/Kin, I only have Hover and my Kin "travel" powers, but w/Siphon Speed, Hover in combat is pretty damn sweet, as is unsuppressed run speed. Inertial Red. for normal travel.
On my other controllers, pretty much SS + CJ is the norm w/Raptor Packs for vertical mobility. SS also gives me full stealth once I stick a stealth IO into Sprint or something (IO skippable if I have a stealth power like Steamy Mist--my Ill has Sup Inv, so is my only controller w/o SS). -
Quote:A med purp is +25% def. Chew 3 of those and w/even a controller bubble (and I'm assuming the tank has at least CJ and preferably Weave running), you're sitting at well over 90% def. Carry 12 med purps and you're good for 4 min on your own. Have the FF feed you 12 more and that's 8 min total (also an orange for each of those minutes). Use large insps (2 at a time for +66% def) and you can extend that into 12 min (run out of oranges at 8 min mark, but the red tower should be down by then), or more likely carry a spare large green or 2 instead. Either way, should be more than enough time to get through the red & blue towers for a decent team.Originally Posted by Brakner
The only way I can see this is if everyone in your team carries 8+ purple/oranges for you with a constant inspiration feed chain to you. Thats the only way I can see SO'd fire/fire doing an MSTF with only a single Controller's 18% bubble and no temp powers or direct heals other than your own.
It wouldn't be my preferred way of handling it, but it can be done, and w/o the hassle of forming some insp chain or anything silly. -
Quote:Not really, since the mobs would just rotate their melee, ranged & AoE attacks all on the tank (or whoever's got the aggro), who presumably is in melee range. If there are squishies in melee range, they already get beat down from any AoE attacks directed at the tank.Originally Posted by Silverado
In my experience, it works like that in pretty much every MMO I've played (Asheron's Call, Anarchy Online, World of Warcraft, etc) so I've never seen it as an 'ai hole' but more of a norm. Besides, the whole point of taunting/aggro-managing is to keep the mob's attention on the stronger target (in this case, the controller himself) while your weaker damage-dealing teammates (fire imps) do their thing. Otherwise, the concept of tanks in this game and every other game would be useless/obsolete
That only breaks down if your tanker was taunting from range while your squishies were in melee for whatever reason (say, tanking GW from range and your blappers got frisky or something). I do agree w/your general premise in that the current CoH mob AI is par for the course, but I wouldn't mind if they got a bit smarter about their attack rotations, esp if it meant our pets would also get smarter (tho they're far better than they used to be). -
Not to belabor the issue, but you realize that you can fit in FT & IS in about the same time (just a hair more thanks to arcanatime) as GIS alone, right? And do a lot more damage to boot. FT alone almost does as much damage as GIS and in half the time if you're just looking for a cleanup attack.
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Quote:Ya know, I prolly cause myself more headaches than needed by staying within cone and other AoE ranges instead of just staying the hell back at 80'. I have this obsession w/AM'ing my imps--I should only bother w/that on just pylon time trials and just sit back and make life easier for most AV/GM fights.Originally Posted by Frosticus
I know my ranged soft capped troller gets eaten alive by most AVs if I close in and let them use Aoe's and cones, but I just stand way back in almost complete safety while my imps eat them up.
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For one thing, you can get some good coin for selling some of your HOs. Dunno if you'll be able to fund all of this, but a few AE farms and you should be able to.
Just w/some very minor tweaks, I got your melee def up to 33.4%. I prefer S/L def on a fire tank, but that can get more expensive, esp if you go after the Kin Combat sets. Only major change I made was dropping Consume for Taunt--not because I like Taunt the power, but for the sets you can slot in. I find that w/proper attack slotting and once you get in the Numina/Miracle uniques, that you really don't need Consume at all. Fiery Melee is actually very end-efficient so you really shouldn't need a slow recharging end bar filler. If you really want Consume, you can still take it, but slot those same Taunt enhancements and you'll still get use out of it (no +end mod, but you hardly need it except for AV fights and the like).
Hero Plan by Mids' Hero Designer 1.401
http://www.cohplanner.com/
Click this DataLink to open the build! -
Quote:Considering the hard cap for def or resist is not reachable by anyone by themselves, I assume most ppl understand "cap" means soft cap. My apologies for any confusion.Originally Posted by Coldmed
cappped defense is like 90%....your most likely soft capped at 45%..theres simply no way for you to be capped on a fire tank...
Brakner: Even if LR was floored (2 Rads should take his to hit down by around 12% or so), he's still gonna hit a little over 10% of the time (AV multiplier & +4 con), so yeah, you'll get smacked, and smacked hard. Fire's real drawback in this case is its lack of a +HP power which can better absorb a bad streak.
Depending on how fast your team is at taking down the towers, an SO'ed Fire tank carrying 12 med purps and 4 med oranges w/a single bubbler (who can also feed him insps) should be able to tank LR unless he gets in a lucky streak (but that applies to any tank). Even easier to do w/large insps, which btw is all I keep stocked in my SG base. Having said that, I've never lead tanked LR on my Fire tank, cuz I only got him fully IOed out a few months ago (usually "tank" LR on my Fire/Rad or my Stone tank), but I did tank him for a bit on my Ice controller w/Hibernate on. That last didn't end well, cuz... well, Hibernate wears off sooner or later.
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Quote:Yes, but... why, when you can just toss in a Fireball?Originally Posted by Vermain
Can't you do the same thing with the temporary power from Magic or Tech origin?
Seriously, I was very happy when I got to remove my Tech origin power from my tray after picking up Fireball.
VG also works, but that seems like a waste, tossing in VG after OSA. Except for laughs. Like casting QS, EQ, OSA & VG, all from behind a fence/around a corner, then just sorta giggle as everything slows/flops/melts. -
Who were the rads on? 2 Rads, a FF & a Storm, I think an SO'ed Fire tank could do just fine on LR, towers or no. Worst thing, he'd have to chew on a med purp or 4.
Again, if you're comparing IOed out Fire tanks to SO'ed whatever, of course Fire looks comparable. My Fire tank has capped S/L def and mad end recovery. He's awesome. I would never, ever play him again w/just SOs. So if the OP wants to know how to play a Fire tank, the answer is IO the hell out of them. Aim for high def, high end recovery, if you can, high regen & recharges as well. -
Earth epic is good for ST damage, but if you want to mow down mobs in large numbers, Fire or Ice are still tops, and by a lot.
Fury: Have you considered Blood Mandate for rocky? You lose the global recharge and the 10% resist buff, but get better AoE def and ED cap his Acc & Dam too. It's not like you really need more recharge for the power itself.
OSA needs damage. Lot of damage.
Also, I'd drop Glue for Stone Prison and 6-slot Thunderstrikes in there (take slots from Stone Cages) to near-cap your range def and give yourself a better ST attack chain also. And put that 6th Stupefy in Stalagmites (yes, the KB is annoying sometimes, but you can always Cage first, esp w/capped range def). This should get you to 44.6% ranged at 19.9% AoE def. Actually, I don't bother slotting up Fire Shield all that much (just 2 for 2 Steadfasts) so you can still 5 slot Stone Cages, but w/more damage & procs.
I never slot QS beyond its base--it's pretty much always up for any fight. Also, Disruption only needs 2 recharges. Last nitpick, I'd use a Numina's instead of a Miracle unique in Health. I find I don't often run out of end w/my Earth/TA, but having no self heal, some extra regen is nice.
Oh, I'm sorta undecided about 6-slotting Lockdown in VG for my own build. The set bonuses are of course awesome, but all that Acc is wasted in the power when I can stick in some more hold procs (which fire every 6 sec in that power) instead.
Try this adjusted build:
Hero Plan by Mids' Hero Designer 1.401
http://www.cohplanner.com/
Click this DataLink to open the build! -
So what's the optimal AE ticket random roll these days anyway? I never paid attention to the discussions before cuz I never ran AE mishes, but I have a few (10s of) thousand from 2X weekend that I wanna dump. Golds? Bronzes? I know silver is a crappy bet.
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Quote:Um, care to elaborate? Or are you just saying you can IO out a Fire tank to higher standards than an SO'ed WP or Invul?Originally Posted by Coldmed
and yes fire tanks can be built better then wp or invuls...its already been proven..its just up to you if you wanna take the time to build one up or not.
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You shouldn't need that long. About 2 cycles of my ST chain and I got any GM/AV aggro all day long. I actually start w/my imps a bit away, get AM on them, then go start in on the target allowing for enough time to get RI/EM up, then a few attacks in before the imps catch up. Usually works out okay that way. The only tricky part afterwards is timing the GM attacks so you can get close to the imps to re-AM them w/o them getting hit.
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Fulmens, you mind if I link to that in my own guide? I say a blurb about frankenslotting, but not in any real depth.
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