dmcfarland907

Its more an offensive set than resistance set IMHO. Its not good or bad, it just works differently than say willpower.

I love huntsman because there are so many ways you can build them. Some people have some mace stuff in their builds. Other people have cloaking device which I might consider once I19 goes live and fitness becomes inherent or I might take super leap instead of ss. I don't know yet. Huntsman have choices and my recharge with hasten is about 137% so my powers are always popping back up.

That is like comparing apples and oranges. Banes can solo certain eb's, however they are sol when it comes to eb's that can unstop like Statesman. I think they were designed to function well in a team environment and excel when there are other VEATS in the group.

I think a fairer comparison would be Crabs that have spec'ed into the BS pool. Crabs are like pocket MM's with a lot of aoe's but no heals.

MM's built right are a team in themselves.

I have tough and weave on my EM/WP tank and for willpower its a great synergy. Those two powers are end hogs but that mitigated by having quick recovery and stamina. It really rounds out the wp set. I don't see the need for it with the builds you listed as a brute. I am not going to take it on my brute as my brute is more geared towards offense than defense. I also think the whole tough and weave debate has changed because of physical perfection in the body mastery pool. Now villains and heroes can access each others pools now and things are going to get really interesting once they make the fitness pool inherent. Everyone and their mother is going to have tough and weave.

Brutes are not tanks and never were intended to be. With GR its a moot point because tanks can cross over now. I just hope I don't see any of the Timmy the Non Taunting Tanks over there. I know, I know everyone says having taunt is bad but its good for gathering aggro, pulling and getting that add off of your squishie.

Thanks

I was asking because I have not seen any guides or FAQ's for that.

I think Dark melee and shield would be a good combo. Any thoughts?

I am ok with a complete design overhaul. It would be good to see what the devs can come up with and all I have to say is do you see a lot of khelds? I am on infinity and I don't see a lot of khelds and for the record I have leveled up a pb from 1-50. I feel a player should be able to choose a kheld form and stick with it

1. Bane is just as close to Brute/Stalker as Night Widow is. My point is Night Widow can deal even more melee damage than Bane so what is your point? You don't need to ask about my build. I know what I am doing. Trust me. I came here because even after set bonuses are included, NW > Bane in terms of damage and Crab, while not having as much ST damage as Bane, survives better, has way better aoe and can also debuffs faster with Venom (since Bane needs to draw Rifle out).

-Like you I used to just look at damage. However the more I played the game the more I realize damage isn't everything. The devs design these classes with the team in mind. Bane as they are now contribute greatly to a team. Night widows offer a different mechanic than Banes do. I have never been told to get another toon when I asked to join a team either in my huntsman spec or bane spec.

I am not a min/max nerd number cruncher, and those people are the reason why pvp in this game sucks. I like playing a toon because of the power sets, the animations and side abilities of various powers.

2. Surveillance is ok if you use it before you run in but when you use it again during battle, you have to draw mace again. Why is it so hard to understand? If Bane's "special ability" is to debuff, it shouldn't penalize Bane for using it during battle. And quite frankly, I don't give a !@#$ about Huntsman needing to draw Rifle out. Surveillance belongs to Bane soldier and it should favor Bane more. Question?

-Actually it should favor both as the Huntsman is more a leadership type build and what does a good leader do before going to battle? He recons his enemy!!! I love the surveillance animation. I am disappointed that their are only two career paths for SoA's, and I feel their should be a third ala the Huntsman, but fortunately the Huntsman build is doable without the need for a third path.

3. Did you even look at Black Scorpian Mace Beam attack? It has the same awful long activation with a bit more damage but on 9s recharge. You are not even reading what I am saying. I am saying THE RANGE ATTACKS ARE SO BAD THAT MOST BANES DON'T WANT TO TAKE THEM. It's not about "choosing styles". The range attacks take forever to shoot and quite frankly, Soldier has better range attacks than Bane's. So yeah, my Bane would rather just use melee attacks. And since range attacks can't critical from hidden, there is really little reason to take range attacks on Bane because the most beneficial thing to do is to just BU + Shatter/Crowd. I don't mind spending 2s on every attack if it is worth it. The current Mace Bean only recharges in 4s and spend half of its time on just activating it.... this gotta be the worst range in the game.

-Then don't get the Black Scorpion patron powers. Get bile spray from the Mako pool. Sure its not theme worthy but hey it does better damage, and of course that is all you seem to care about-well that and the fact that you hate the surveillance animation, because it chops a few seconds off your attack time.


4. Who says Bane is mostly ST melee damage? 4 out of 8 attacks (yes, 50% of them) are range. I certainly don't agree Bane is designed to be mostly melee. NW is more Melee than Bane. The enemy Bane usually shoots mace attacks and then go in for melee but that style would suck because Bane can't take advantage of "hidden" unless he can critical with range attacks as well.

-Banes are ranged fighters, and sure they have ranged attacks but they are weak attacks. I think the ranged attacks are more for filler and theme than anything else with the exception of venom ray or whatever the hell its called. I have venom ray, and the st ranged attack from mace epic set. I don't need anything else because my job as a bane is too sneak up on someone and turn their head into a gravy boat with my mace.

I don't need a surplus of offensive powers either. I like building character where the primary and secondary work hand and hand. That has been the case for the most part and I like making toons that follow a theme.

5. I have no issue with Bane having less survivability than other 3 branches. I never mention that Bane needs a health boost or defensive boost. Where I have problem with is Bane's lower damage (due to long animation), slower debuffs and just overally...very slow.

-The banes are using a mace and I think that was factored in when the devs made the class. Maces are suppose to be slow and devastating. I like the way it looks when I use shatter on some poor fools face. I wasn't referring to you when I mentioned survivability. I was mentioning the comments another poster made.


6. I am giving dev ideas because 1. 8/10 Soldiers are Crab from what I've seen 2. with two sides merging (sort of), there is even more reason to look at sets that are under performing.

-Go to the kheld forums and give the devs some ideas for fixing them. They need work especially for a viable human form build that doesn't require 2 billion INF to make viable. I like surveillance the way it looks. I have a lvl 50 dual build Huntsman/Bane and my bane build is a lot less IO'ed than my Huntsman build and does just fine. I use that build on hard EB's or if I am on a team and they need a front line melee build to either bookend with another melee like a scrap or brute or just be the tanks shadow beating things down.

In closing if you have so many problems with banes then respec to crab, make a huntsman or roll a widow. Better yet roll a straight class type of toon IE.. tank, scrap, blaster etc. SoA's are hybrids so their are going to be some downsides. I love my Huntsman/Bane and it was fun leveling him to 50 and building him.

You really sound like a min/max type and I think people like you really drag the game down. For you types its not about having fun, teaming with people, or building your toon. It's all about the numbers for your types and by all means have fun with that but don't ruin my game.

I have come back to the game after a long break and I have noticed that Khelds are still screwed up IMHO. The human only form is still weak but I have a suggestion to make all forms usable without having to spend a small fortune on IO's. (I know I am going to get crap for this by the zealots.)

I think all three forms should have their own unique abilities and benifits and heres my idea.

1.Light form: Melee w/limited ranged powers, mez, kb protection and a version of unstop. The light form would essentially be a pocket scrapper/blapper form.

2. Squid form: Expand the powers selection, include buildup, some AOE's, and an nova.

3. Crab form": Tanker powers, take away the damn slow movement, expand their tanking abilities, have a power with a taunt aura, mez protection, an unstop power similiar to tanks.

4. Customizable options for all forms and powers.
I would do it like they do with banes and choose a path at lvl 24. I would do away with the team buff bs. Mind you they can still transform to human form but they would be watered down. The pb and ws (which I have no experience with so I am not commenting,) should be like the druid class in wow. They have actually four forms-one being their normal form.

I know this is going to NEVER happen and I know the zealots are going to pick this to hell. I wouldn't mind playing a kheld again if they did this.

Banes are fine as they are. I don't see the need to buff them. They are already engines of destruction as they are. Making surveillance have a mace redraw is just dumb. I don't mean to be hard on you, but you kind of walked right into it. The don't need a self heal, or the ability to crit with their ranged attacks nor do they need more ranged attacks. They have plenty and they are not meant to be played as ranged. Their ranged attacks are meant to be somewhat weak. Bane ranged attacks are also part of the theme, not to mention they can choose the Black Scorpion patron set and get more ranged attacks. The banes are mostly single target stalker/brute hybrids with leadership powers.

I don't how your toon is built but that might be some of the reason your calling for a buff and yes making surveillance have a mace redraw would piss Huntsman off. Namely me. If you want a ranged SoA roll a crab or go Huntsman.

Don't give the developers any ideas. They are doing a decent job at the moment. Don't ruin that.

Freaking sweet. I can take three more powers now. I think I'll go with cloaking device and the rifle melee attack on my huntsman and pick up the melee stuff on my crab,.

I have a huntsman/bane build and its quite easy to explain. A good arbiter uses the right tool for the right job, and I do great on most eb's with the huntsman, and some other require a little blunt force trauma. I am however in trouble when it comes to eb's like statesman that can do unstop. I need some help on those because they can outlast me due to the nature of their powers.