gec72

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When I used multiple accounts, I'd always use gamecards for the additionals. I'd always check Gamestop first, as I have not one, but 2 of them within 5 minutes. They never, ever have time cards. They sometimes have game copies of CoX, but that was it. At one point I asked the managers why stock an MMO, a successful one at that, and not time cards when they've got an entire display full of WoW products. More or less the same answer, noone buys them, the sipments haven't arrived, sold out...yada yada. Needless to say, I don't buy games there anymore. Best Buy always has them but I don't like driving 30 minutes for a time card. Never shopped at Walmart so I couldn't tell you about them.

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I have a couple of GameStops within short driving distance too (and another by work, actually). Both appeared to have one copy of the Architect Edition. Both also had a lone copy of GvE - for $9.99. I bought one for each of my accounts. I'm wondering what the odds are that I will be able to pick up the copies of Architect once the next box update comes out.

Oh...and at the one store when I was buying it, the cashier remarked "hey, you know Champions Online is coming out soon, right?" As if I was loco for wanting to buy CoH.

OK, here you go.

Villain Plan by Mids' Villain Designer 1.401
http://www.cohplanner.com/

[u]Click this DataLink to open the build![u]

Treebucket: Level 50 Science Dominator
Primary Power Set: Plant Control
Secondary Power Set: Thorny Assault
Power Pool: Speed
Power Pool: Fitness
Ancillary Pool: Leviathan Mastery

Villain Profile:
Level 1: Strangler -- Thundr-Acc/Dmg(A), Thundr-Dmg/EndRdx(3), Thundr-Dmg/Rchg(7), Thundr-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(15), Thundr-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(34), Thundr-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(46)
Level 1: Thorny Darts -- Dev'n-Hold%(A), Dev'n-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(3), Dev'n-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(7)
Level 2: Entangle -- Entrpc-Heal%(A), Entrpc-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(5), Entrpc-Dmg/EndRdx(13)
Level 4: Roots -- Posi-Acc/Dmg(A), Posi-Dam%(5), Posi-Dmg/EndRdx(11), Posi-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(37), Posi-Dmg/Rng(48)
Level 6: Hasten -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(9)
Level 8: Skewer -- C'ngImp-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(A), C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(9), C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(11), C'ngImp-Dmg/Rchg(27), C'ngImp-Dmg/EndRdx(34)
Level 10: Impale -- Dev'n-Hold%(A), Dev'n-Acc/Dmg(17), Dev'n-Dmg/EndRdx(19), Dev'n-Dmg/Rchg(21), Dev'n-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(25)
Level 12: Seeds of Confusion -- Mlais-Acc/Rchg(A), Mlais-Acc/Conf/Rchg(13), Mlais-EndRdx/Conf(15), Mlais-Acc/EndRdx(17), Mlais-Conf/Rng(29), Mlais-Dam%(31)
Level 14: Super Speed -- Run-I(A)
Level 16: Hurdle -- Jump-I(A)
Level 18: Health -- Heal-I(A), Heal-I(19)
Level 20: Stamina -- EndMod-I(A), EndMod-I(21)
Level 22: Spirit Tree -- Dct'dW-Heal/EndRdx(A), Dct'dW-EndRdx/Rchg(23), Dct'dW-Rchg(23), Dct'dW-Heal/EndRdx/Rchg(45), Dct'dW-Heal(46)
Level 24: Aim -- AdjTgt-ToHit/Rchg(A), AdjTgt-ToHit(25)
Level 26: Carrion Creepers -- KinCrsh-Acc/Dmg/KB(A), KinCrsh-Rechg/EndRdx(27), KinCrsh-Dmg/KB(31), KinCrsh-Acc/KB(37), KinCrsh-Dmg/EndRdx/KB(40), KinCrsh-Rchg/KB(40)
Level 28: Thorntrops -- Posi-Acc/Dmg(A), Posi-Dmg/EndRdx(29), Posi-Dmg/Rchg(31), Posi-Dmg/Rng(40), Posi-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(45)
Level 30: Fling Thorns -- AnWeak-Acc/Rchg/EndRdx(A), AnWeak-DefDeb/EndRdx/Rchg(45)
Level 32: Fly Trap -- ExRmnt-Acc/Rchg(A), ExRmnt-Acc/Dmg(33), ExRmnt-Dmg/EndRdx(33), ExRmnt-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(33), ExRmnt-EndRdx/Dmg/Rchg(34), ExRmnt-+Res(Pets)(46)
Level 35: Ripper -- Oblit-Dmg(A), Oblit-Acc/Rchg(36), Oblit-Dmg/Rchg(36), Oblit-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(36), Oblit-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(37)
Level 38: Thorn Barrage -- Thundr-Acc/Dmg(A), Thundr-Dmg/EndRdx(39), Thundr-Dmg/Rchg(39), Thundr-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(39), Thundr-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(43), Thundr-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(43)
Level 41: Water Spout -- Posi-Acc/Dmg(A), Posi-Dmg/EndRdx(42), Posi-Dmg/Rchg(42), Posi-Dmg/Rng(42), Posi-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(43)
Level 44: Hibernate -- RechRdx-I(A)
Level 47: Vines -- BasGaze-Acc/Hold(A), BasGaze-Rchg/Hold(48), BasGaze-EndRdx/Rchg/Hold(48), BasGaze-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg/Hold(50)
Level 49: Shark Skin -- Aegis-Psi/Status(A), Aegis-ResDam/EndRdx(50), Aegis-ResDam(50)
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Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Sprint -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Rest -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Domination

Honestly I don't know if mine will play out this way - this is how I specced things out before I15, and I'm only just to level 24. Plays ok so far though - managed to survive getting jumped by Sea Witch (got in aggro range before I meant to), but had a harder time with Silver Mantis (trying again tonight).

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What worries me is that all of these new characters that are so horribly unsuitable for gameplay... someone has to be helping them level their characters somehow, right? Or is it even worse than I thought, and AE is actually enabling people to run horrible builds through missions using Flurry and Air Superiority, Aid Other and Aid Self and nothing but?

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I had a tell out of the blue over the weekend - "want free levels?"

So yeah, "help" is apparently out there.

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Heya folks, i'm thinking of making an Energy/Kinetics Corruptor and i was wondering if they are any good solo or whether Kin is pretty much a group powerset.
How do they fare against EBs/AVs on their own, can they take most of them out like /Rad can or do they get swat like annoying bugs?

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Here's a link to my build that I posted to a similar thread about a month back: http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showflat....99#Post13578899

It was challenging at times (no real mez protection will do that), but by the 40s my Energy/Kin was a solid solo toon. Well capable of soloing EBs. Didn't try AVs.

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Heh, those bosses they're farming in AE are purposefully designed to be as weak as possible.

Go fight a bunch of level 54 Vanguard bosses and see how well THAT goes. Mmm, massive -DEF -RES debuffs feel GREAT. Or, Rularuu. Eyeballs with hax accuracy, Wisps that can shove you inside a bubble.

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That's why I wondered in another thread (does AE need XP) if XP was scaled based on how difficult you build the mob. If they are Standard/Standard they should have less XP than if they are Extreme/Extreme (or anywhere in between).

More on-topic...I'm fine with the level of challenge. I want to be occasionally challenged, but not to the point of going into a joystick-hurling rage (not that I play CoH with a joystick). Sometimes I don't really want to be challenged much at all. The difficulty settings and the ability to pick and choose groups to fight and contacts to run has generally been sufficient for the range I'm looking for.

Oh - I am also not in favor of anything FPS-like. Heck, I couldn't even last more than a minute in the original DOOM...just not suited for FPS.

I was playing my Emp/Psi last week and was invited to do the Numina TF (figured what the heck, she needs to team to get XP and the family was away so I had the time).

The TF was very well organized (leader delegating duties for all the Kill X missions), ran really smoothly and had very few deaths (actually, I think the only one was ME, when I got a little too close to the tank and stole a little aggro ). It was a nice experience.

The only regret is that it didn't get me from 39 to 40, even with loads of Patrol XP.

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Perhaps (re drasticaly inflated opinion). Or you vastly under rate how many lurkers use marketing posts for information, or how that information is dasiy chained along.

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I spent a lot of time and energy in here blowing the horn for Dark Astoria, back in the early days of the market when "everything" was too expensive and "only 50's" could afford anything.

Farming DA and selling drops could make anyone rich.
The thread went on and on, and eventually I convinced all but the most cement-headed reprobates that it worked.

The result?

DA was still empty every time I went there.

I did turn on quite a few people to the joys of blowing up zombies, but the number wasn't even a drop in the ocean of the larger game world.

I'll agree that with things that are super simple with zero entry requirements there can be a snowball effect. Meow farms, fer instance.

But for anything with higher requirements, the #'s won't be meaningful.

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I ran in DA a couple of times with my Fire blaster. It was fun, and I did get some ok drops. I got to the point though where I just felt like my time could be better spent leveling up other toons (if I had a toon in that level range naturally, might have been a different story). Basically, I was looking for XP over INF.


That was a while ago of course. These days with the MA cutting down on salvage levels, I'm getting decent enough chunks just by running missions. Best of both worlds.

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Last night I was running the Mayhem missions for Atlas and Kings. I ran each of them twice to make sure and the second time through I purposely ran through every Longbow spawn point on the maps. Not a single Longbow called out "Stop in the name of Longbow!"or appeared to fight.

I also noticed that approaching the Vault door no longer seems to spawn the 3 wave ambush that usually happens there. Nothing, complete and utter silence until the door was busted and the money was grabbed, at which point the Hero and his/her team spawned as normal.

My questions are...

How high does this change go?

Did anyone else run Mayhem missions last night at any level?

Did you also notice the lack of ambushes?

Is this a cross the levels change or limited to just low level Mayhems?



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I ran the Steel Canyon Mayhem last night, and indeed, the Longbow Ambushes were missing. None from roaming around the map, none from triggering alarms in the snatch and grab, none from the vault door. The Hero and team did spawn however.

I've never bothered to look...but do all custom AE minions of the same level give the same XP? Or does it vary based on standard/hard/extreme settings?

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Haha, hey guys don't jump down my throat. I was right there farming the recipes too. I'm just being honest about the fact that I knew it wasn't going to last long and I had a pretty good idea that it could be considered an exploit.

Sunday I farmed for about 4-5 hours and got 1 recipe worth 600m, two worth 80m each and 4 or 5 in the 10-20m range.

I agree that they should fix afk farming. It's lame and should be fixed. I also agree that fixing it by turning off ALL arena rewards is ridiculous. I also agree that they're valuable because they're extremely rare, as I implied in an earlier post, so turning off arena drops is only going to make them MORE valuable and move the farming to pvp zones. That works for me, I'll just farm there until they nerf that too...and that's the whole problem of course.

So yeah, let's be clear and honest here. 1 - I did it too. 2 - I'm not calling anyone a 'dirty exploiter'. 3 - We're all (well most of us) intelligent people and knew EXACTLY what we were doing.

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I don't bother with PvP and don't care much about PvP IO (I don't even know how to use the arena...I think it's silly that you have to for one of the villain accolades). I do pop in the Market forum from time to time though, and have seen posts on this strategy. That the devs would disable Arena drops comes as absolutely *no* surprise. No risk for high reward. I'm guessing the idea that this will move things to the PvP zones will a) introduce some uncertainty (other parties might try to steal the bounty) and b) increase population in the PvP zones*. We'll see.

Pretty sure that at least one of the mods would have seen posts on this - they weren't exactly hidden.


* I actually like emptier PvP zones, at least when I need Shivans...

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Now, with AE in place, I find that much of the preceeding content is being skipped by "new" players and they are more and more ignoring the aspects of the game which made it unique and interesting. Instead of AE bringing a whole new level of interesting content to the playerbase, it's implementation has brought "instant leveling gratification". A new player can in very short order skip all the content of the last 6 years to achieve what goal? To become a level 50 and not know how to play it? To constantly have to ask basic questions that the typical 12mos vet knows because they actually ran content?

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I was amused over the weekend by finally seeing this first-hand. I solo a lot, but I got a request while on my MM for help with a patron mission. I figured what the heck - those can be a pain sometimes, and I had the time to help out (after I took care of my own EB problem anyway).

So the guy invites me, and I join him after dumping some salvage on the BM. I see that he's a Brute...and level 43 (my MM was level 41). Well, ok, that's fine. A bit odd for a brute to need the help, but whatever.

First mission is a find info type mission, and he had stealthed to the first glowie. I joined him and we found the second, but had to deal with the mobs. Nice battle at the end.

Next mission he has to go AFK to help his brother with something, and I figure that's fine - I can try to clear some of the mobs (lvl 43 mish on villainous). I clear up until the back room, he comes in time to help with the boss. He remarks *finally* - even though he wasn't there for most of the mission! I raise an eyebrow, and take a look at his info...yep, no vet badges (but a bunch of AE badges).

So the next mission is Silver Mantis. He stealths to where she is, and I carefully weave my way back there (yay Midnighter Visage) to attempt to help. We go after Mantis, and have her down until she pops Unstoppable...then I fall - he runs for cover. Ok, back from the hospital to try again. By this time she's almost healed. We try again, and he falls in quick order. I kept fighting...and managed to defeat the purple-con EB by myself.

On the way to the next mission (Barracuda) I get another "wow, this is taking long" and "oh, I could have taken her if I'd slotted my defenses". Wait, what's that now? You haven't slotted your defenses? "I figured I'd wait until I was level 50". "Ahh, I take it you're taking a fast track on up". "Yep."

My guess...the toon hadn't been out of the AE at all until that point, and finally had to in order to unlock the patron. I'm fine with that, and had a nice challenging time lifting most of the weight on his missions...but I can't fully understand what the draw for playing like that is.

I used one on my Emp/Psi yesterday, figuring she needed a tweak and I'd get another frespec eventually. I wasn't aware that I15 was coming down *that* soon.

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The patch notes for Dominator changes are wrong too. The updates from 6/16 are live but not reflected in the notes.

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Ah, nm then...just incorrect patch notes.

So, this further adjustment:

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Thorny Assault / Impale: Increased this power’s damage scale from 1.32 to 1.64, increased its recharge from 6 seconds to 8 seconds and increased its endurance cost from 6.86 to 8.53.

Thorny Assault / Thorny Darts: Reduced this power’s damage scale from 1.16 to .84, reduced its recharge from 5 seconds to 3 seconds and reduced its endurance cost from 6.03 to 4.37.

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didn't make it then?

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Actually, Kadabra Kill cons as "Hero" whenever I fight him.

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I mowed him last night with a mace/invulnerable brute slotted with a mix of level 15 & 20 generic IOs and he didn't seem particularly imposing.

I also took him out a few weeks back with my ninja blade/willpower stalker, which was a much larger challenge and necessitated burning some inspirations.

Both on the second difficulty level.

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I've faced him a few times recently, and I only really had problems with him the second time you face him in the arc.

On my Merc/Poison he was a Hero, accompanied by a Lost Boss (I was on either setting 2 or 3). I tried a few times, but could never even drop the Lost (Kadabra would just heal him). My henchmen just didn't last long enough to be able to make headway. Ended up dropping the mission.

On my Plant/Thorns, I know I was only on Villainous. The first time I approached him I might have had a chance with Domination up, but I blew it. Without it I felt like I didn't have much of a shot - level 18 facing a guy who summons a Singy...not fun. Maybe I could have rigged it to build domination outside the mission and pop a lot of purples...but after running back from the hospital three times already it just wasn't worth it. I wasn't going to bother getting a Shivan just for that fight, either.

edit: forgot my Mace/Sheild Brute. I *think* he's faced Kill as well, and didn't have a problem with him.


THAT SAID...the game is extremely soloable most of the time. I've taken Scrapper, Tanker, Controller, Controller, Blaster, Corruptor, Blaster to 50. Mastermind soon to follow. The only one which teamed a bit was the first Controller, and that wasn't all that much.

Defenders...not so sure I'd *want* to solo them, outside of a few combos. My Emp/Psi doesn't solo well, at least not how she's built. I've a Sonic/Sonic that is stuck on level 10 (my guess is she'd improve down the line). Other combos would be a lot more viable.

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Do you get Hasten on your corruptor Kinetic? if so why?

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I did not. I use Siphon Speed regularly, had few long-charging powers (I don't nuke often), and had plenty of powers to click that I didn't figure I really needed it. I may be atypical though, and I tend not to take Hasten on many toons.

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Do you get Travel Powers on your corruptor Kinetic? if so Which ones & why?

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No actual travel powers, but I did pick up Air Superiority (for offense and mitigation) and Hover (tactical and at one point for KB protection).

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Lemon Chill

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Hmmmm.

*ponders yellow color option and rename token*

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Yeah...thinking I should have reserved this on a server or two before posting.

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I'm gonna bet on it being set-wide.. and maybe disallowing ice powers from being yellow. I can think of no good reason for ice powers to be yellow unless you want them laced with peee!

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Back in the 90s there was a vendor at Camden Yards (Baltimore Orioles) that sold lemon ice; he'd bellow a chant of "Ice cold icy ice! Ice cold Lemon Chill!" It was catchy, and I remember a few of the fans joining the chant with him. That guy would want yellow ice.

Oh hey...looks like it *has* been updated.

http://boards.cityofvillains.com/showfla...=0#Post13170970

Yep, it's a really old guide, so no surprise some things could be updated. Still, not a bad one.

1. Alkaloid - yep, it's end-hoggish as heals go, but it's a heal. Good to have at your disposal I figure. I have Stamina in my build, so the end is more manageable.

2. Envenom - I actually like envenom. Debuff defense AND resistance? That means I'm hitting more often and for more damage. It's a somewhat weaker single-target version of Freezing Rain I figure (and I love Freezing Rain), with -Regen -Heal instead of slow. Good enough for me. Six-slotting it with Shield Breaker.

3. Weaken - yep, really good power.

4. NtB - I disagree with a couple of the posts above. Yes, if you lead out with it you take the alpha strike. But I play in Bodyguard mode - I WANT to take the alpha strike!

5. Elixir of Life - I solo, so I have no use for this. Others will.

6. Antidote - again...solo. If my mercs become stunned, that's largely their problem. Or the Medic's.

7. Paralytic Poison - I personally like having a hold. Hard hitting Lt? Throw out the hold. Longbow Flamethrower (those things TEAR through my Mercs, who are too stupid to run from fire)? Hold it. I'm working on six-slotting mine with Lockdown for the Defense bonuses.

8. Poison Trap - yeah...I'm not taking it either.

9. Noxious Gas - I'll be taking this thanks in part to Auspice's assessment (had it slated for 41, but was starting to be on the fence). I figure I'll use it situationally for bosses and EBs (coupled with Serum, possibly).

My Ice/Psi will probably be keeping the same colors (her costume matches them already). My Fire^3...may have to go to blue to match her name.

I wouldn't mind it being dark red-side more rather than just...overcast.

And St. Martial is wonderful looking at night.

I'll be playing my Plant/Thorns a bit more. I also might reroll a Stone brute I have as an Earth Dom. Goes with the name, and I haven't really played Earth Control. Not sure on the secondary.

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If the new game is Going Rogue then thats great. I'd love to see Preatoria as an entirely new city that has several zones, and you could go 1-50 there.

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This is what I'm hoping for too (with a new set of ATs).

edit: not that I'm anywhere NEAR finished with the old ones...

Ahhhh....line of sight. That would make sense. The location where I was getting beat on was at an intersection between a couple of bank rooms and a hallway. My minions were running around a bit, and I think it's likely that at some point some of them were around the corner/in other rooms - very close by, but out of line of sight. Good to know, thanks. I will be more careful to try not to run into problems because of geometry.

I typically stay in bodyguard mode, but do venture out of it for things like mayhem missions (for blowing up objects, not for escaping the bank). And I do try to position myself opposite my minions for AoE concerns. When I pick up powers like Serum (yeah, I know...frowned upon power) I'm going to play with keeping my Spec Ops and Soldiers in defensive, but my Commando on the attack.

I probably do need to look at binds more. I've edited a few buttons, but nothing too involved.