ketch

Legend
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  1. Quote:
    Originally Posted by Spiritchaser View Post
    It's been a while since I played him but "spiritchaser" was actually an Ice rad, and when IOs made def capping possible, I don't remember having too much problem getting capped ranged def and (if you count the debuff) melee as well, even while still running those toggles, plus with the mez shield from the psi epic, I don't recall much of anything mezzing him.

    Now in fairness, he is an IO'd build. If the discussion is intended to adress SOs only then I conceed the point.

    Actually I must still have some good IO's in there... I should pull those out... I could desparately use the resources...
    If you've got the Indomitable Will on a reasonable recharge, you will avoid a lot of mezzes. However, if you rely solely on defenses then you'll come up short. Master Illusionist's Blind has no positional component. Rikti will circumvent positional defenses with Mesmerize, Dominate, Mass Hypnosis, and Total Domination. There's a very solid reason Ice/Rad is most often paired with Psi Mastery. An Ice/Rad with any other APP is likely going to get mezzed quite often even with soft-capped ranged defense. The point of ranged defense is much more to mitigate damage outside the radius of CC/AA.

    For me, I haven't had a major game changer with the alpha slot though it has helped my mind/energy/fire dom considerably with her endurance consumption. I find the alpha slot helps most often if your build has one prominent weak point.
  2. Quote:
    Originally Posted by Atomic_Woman View Post


    To be fair the controller was /Rad
    3/7 potential buffers/debuffers. Try again?
  3. Quote:
    Originally Posted by StoneBanshee View Post
    WOW thanks alot guys for all the input. And I always thought I was the only grav/emp out there, never seen another one. But this gives me a lot to think about. I do solo this char. ALOT. I prefer solo'ing sometime because I get tired of hearing " Why are you not CM or Fort us?" It gets on my nerve, especially when you have a tank/brute that needs the help and you are solely worried about him. Just my opinion.
    In my experience with empathy, it is far more effective to support the whole team rather than lean on one individual. Remember that Fortitude is as good as FF's ally bubbles, and CM will allow people to pop those oranges/purples/greens to keep them on their feet. Bear in mind, as well, that a defensive tank will need your Fortitude far less than a blaster or corrupter. Buff up a nuke happy blaster with Fort and AB and most mobs won't stand long enough to challenge a tank.

    But overall, it sounds like you'd prefer a more offensive role and less supportive. I think some of the debuff secondaries lend themselves better to that approach than Emp, which is purely support.

    Quote:
    As far as Wormhole, i have yet to find any team who likes it. I did have it to begin with and respec'd out of it because the team doesn't like it. I play with certian ppl all the time, never a pick up team so I have to meet thier wishes. I wasnt aware that flight was capped and that i didnt need it slotted, that will free up a few slots for me, thanks for that info, no one told me. As far as my fire epic, i LOVE the damage when solo'ing. With GD, CF, propel and fireball, the enemy is GONE quick. IMO! but I am going to do some respec'ing. and hopefully see how things go. Thanks alot for all your comments and if any of you are Virtue, look me up, characther is Grav Star, global is @Storm Fire. See yall in game. Good hunting.
    Wormhole is unwieldy; unfortunately, it's also the lynch pin of Gravity's control. At one point, Castle mentioned they were looking at some of Gravity's animation times, however, if any changes are in the pipeline remains to be seen. To me the long activation and difficulty of directing where the spawn lands means that, while a shiny gem in Grav's set, Wormhole is a bit lackluster in comparison to the likes of Flash Fire or Stalagmites.
  4. Quote:
    Originally Posted by Lady_of_Ysgard View Post
    Actually, it is perfectly right and thematic for the superhero comic genre for something like this to happen. Think about it for a second. You're denied access to the best of your powers as a player and as a character. In game system terms it's purely systematic to ensure that the TF isn't too easy even with the new exemplaring rules.

    ...

    Look at it from the well's perspective: "You set aside the extra abilities I've given you to help her with that small problem? You're more interesting than I thought." (Favor of the Well granted.)
    This is, perhaps, a reasonable RP justification but the mechanics just don't mesh with it. Holding back is usually done to create a level playing field which, for the most part, has never existed in this game. Teams will run rough shod over most enemies, and squishies will be laid low with one or two blows. A few trips to the hospital and it no longer feels like I'm holding back; it feels like I've taken a step back in my journey.

    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Shadow Wail View Post
    Wasn't the reason we didn't get the Incarnate System in GR because we didn't have enough content to play with as an incarnate? I feel that going back and doing non-incarnate level SF/TF is just the thing Posi wanted to avoid.
    This was my impression as well. I think it's becoming obvious that the Incarnate system and content simply weren't completed and polished in time.

    Quote:
    Originally Posted by twelfth View Post
    What is with all this HAET over the lowbie TF/SFs being recommended as the WST? Half of the problem with the endgame at this point is that it is a grind-cycle of the same five or six things over and over again (STF, LRSF, ITF, LGTF, Hami, MS Raid, rinse, repeat). Why not give an (extra) incentive to do some lower content? Let's get the Moonfire and Ouroboros TFs a WST! Why not? It's not like you aren't getting rewards one way or another (merits, Inf/prestige, recipe drops, etc).

    OH NOES WHERES MAI SHARDS!! Whatever. It's not a race to the T4s.

    Meanwhile, the Psyche TF and the Mantis SF give mildly disproportionately high merit rewards than their difficulty and time sink really justify, so why complain about running them?
    For one thing, the later task forces were created well after the original eight and display a much more interesting design. Should the WST ever fall to Numina I'm gladly sitting out that week because of how very much I hate the mish after mish of hunting gray-conning enemies. Or Manticore with its Crey map after Crey map filled with Crey. Or the constant Council hunt that is Citadel. Quite frankly, I don't like them while leveling and I like them only marginally less when exemped.

    Secondly, some people just don't enjoy exemplaring as we see here...

    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Dispari View Post
    I don't like exemplaring either.
    There are some characters that I simply don't enjoy exemplaring on. There are some that perform well across all levels, but some that only bloomed in the 30's or 40's, others even blossomed only with the introduction of IO's.

    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Seldom View Post
    I've always wondered why so many people do not think of exemplaring when they invest in level 50 Io sets, when level 30-ish yield similar results with a larger breadth of availability.
    Ever since the introduction of merits, mid-level recipes have been throttled. A lack of supply led people to use max level IO's. Few enough people demanded mid-level IO's for anyone to bother rolling in that range to create a supply and the shortage continued to propagate itself.
  5. I will respectfully disagree with Local's assessment of the Leadership pool. While controller buffs aren't on par with Defender's, they are still quite useful. I'd hesitate to thumb my nose at a 10% tohit buff. Additionally, the Leadership pool is very friendly towards earning recharge buffs. Manevuers and Vengeance both offer a place to slot LotG: +7.5% and Tactics can garner 5% recharge with 5 slots from Adjusted Targetting.

    As for Creepers, I recommend slotting 2 recharge IO's, 2 acc/dam Hami-O's, and the damage proc from Impeded Swiftness. Because Creepers have slow in all parts of their attacks it will fire most often. If you dedicate a sixth slot to it then the Explosive Strike set will do, which will fire with the Vine's smash attack fairly frequently.
  6. Is anyone else a bit miffed with the inclusion (and placement) of Sister Psyche and Silver Mantis as weekly strike targets? We'll unlock an a rare with the STF/LRSF and a second rare can be unlocked by facing off against Reichman. However, to open the ultra rare we'll need to acquire two Notices to craft the Favor of the Well, the fiirst from LGTF and the second from Sister Psyche or Silver Mantis. So we'll unlock the pinacle of our power (thus far) by completing a level 20-25 task force?

    To me, that just seems poorly timed. Perhaps, the STF and LRSF should have fallen at that point.
  7. I'm not too crazy about the notion of the Notice of the Well being earned through low level task forces. The other rewards (double merits, the xp bonus) are fine, but why are we doing content that doesn't utilize the incarnate abilities (or even the full extent of our powers) to gain more access to incarnate abilities? The Well notices our power when we're not even using all of it?

    To top it off, folks that have been doing the WSF will be unlocking their very rare alpha tier with Sister Psyche or Silver Mantis. Just doesn't seem right...
  8. Quote:
    Originally Posted by Fuzun View Post
    Two Phased entities can't touch or affect each other not can they affect the "normal" plane. Phasing in the game gives the target a status of Untouchable. Which means (with 1 exception) that game abilities will not affect the Untouchable target at all. The exception are abiliies that have a special flag in their effects which says they can affect (touch) Untouchable targets. The prime example of this is the Hamidon's and Mito's attacks. They can reach out and touch you regardless of your "touchability".

    Edit: And I do use the Phasing trick on mezzing NPCs which I can't use a Gravitic Emanation easily or safely on my Warshade. As the mezzing attack power animation plays (the attack roll has already happened and not effected you), I will de-Phase allowing my mezzing and damage auras to kick in, and I'll Gravity Well or Gravitic Emanation on the mezzer.

    The thing to remember to make the trick work effecting, the Hit/Miss determination along with the game effect determination happens instantaneously (relatively speaking) at the instance the attack animation starts. You don't see the results (hit/miss/not effect) until the attack and game effect animations and timing play out. If you are phased at the start, you can safely unphase and do your thing. But hopefully during a very long attack animation.
    Phase and Untouchable are separate statuses, though at one time Phase powers used Untouchable and Affecting Only Self. The change to Phase powers was first introduced in PVP, and quietly ported over to PVE, allowing two phased entities to affect one another. You can, for instance, use Dimension Shift or Black Hole on an enemy, use Phase Shift or the temporary power Ethereal Shift, and once again affect them during the phase period. You can not, however, use a phase to affect an enemy captured with Sonic Cage or Detention Field (these are cage powers that *do* use the untouchable and affect only self statuses), or use a phase to affect enemies that become untouchable (Carnie illusionists).

    Misinformation about the phase status has continued to be disseminated because, while a nifty trick, enemy phases still remain mostly useless powers. To top it off, the visual affects are tied to the intangible effect, which generally is only mag 3 and is subject to both level scaling (because the magnitude is flagged as variable, rather than the duration) and inherent levels of protection due to rank.

    Of course, you don't have to take my word for it. You can always set up an AE mission with an ally with nothing but Dimension Shift and Black Hole. Go in with a phase power and see how it works for yourself.
  9. Quote:
    Originally Posted by Oedipus_Tex View Post
    So any pet the caster summons gets the buff? And you can slot both +Defense IOs for a total +10% buff? If so, any lvl 50 /FF troller can more or less soft cap his or her pet(s) as long as they stay within the big bubble, even without Power Boost or alphas.

    +17.67% (Basic Shield)
    +12.06% (D Bubble)
    +04.18% (Manuevers)
    +10.00% (IOs)
    =43.00% Defense

    Very close to capped. And capped by the defense alpha.
    I can confirm that both the defense IO's stack when slotted in different abilities on my mastermind, as do the resistance IO's. There's always a bit of lingering doubt, but I feel confident in saying that it works the same for controller pets. It also seems to work with the veteran buff pets. They are surrounded by the purple and orange triangles up on characters with those IO's slotted as well. However, I'm unsure if it applies to pets that are summoned via temporary powers.

    So, as you demonstrated, a FF can bring their pets very near the softcap.

    Edit: A simple test for this would be to slot the one of the defense auras in one power and a resistance aura in another. Both buffs should appear around the pets. I'll try to confirm this when I have a bit of time.
  10. Quote:
    Originally Posted by Teraman View Post
    Well, I can tell you this. Our STF ran fine with a less than optimum team. Tank was a pre-50, as were a few others. But we handled it without a debuffer, and using a Kin for heals (which was fun for the Kin while missing a lot on Recluse). Everything went fine, and alpha was made after run was done and exited.
    A bit of a derailment, but I'd suggest just pulling LR near one of the towers so the kin could target it while healing the tank.

    At any rate, I hope tonight's patch put that ugly crash bug to bed. It shakes my faith a bit in QA that something this substantial went live.
  11. What is a god? A miserable little pile of secrets!

    Enough! Have at you!
  12. Quote:
    Originally Posted by Oedipus_Tex View Post
    I'm meanwhile unsure of how the 5% defense IO in the epic pet works. I figure the pet is coming in at around 44 defense to all but Psi as long as it stays within my big bubble. I don't know whether the extra defense also affects the imps.
    The pet defense and resistance IO's grant the caster an aura (40 feet as I recall) that buffs their pets. When you slot them you'll notice the little defense and resistance upward triangles on your pets. This includes even the veteran reward buff pets, which survive a surprisingly long time when their defense is buffed. I personally prefer the blue wisp with its buff to defense and endurance.
  13. Jolting Chain is going to become a scatter bomb... if only someone would have suggested making it knockup, rather than knockdown...Yes, I'm implying I suggested this.
  14. I'll second the suggestion of Plant. It's a pretty straight forward control primary and not too busy like some of the other /kin combinations I have tried (thinking particularly of mind/kin). It's also more damage oriented that most Control sets and will benefit nicely from Fulcrum Shift.
  15. Quote:
    Originally Posted by Wavicle View Post
    Dechs list of ways is quite good.

    I'll mention one more: Go in with Nebulous Form running but with Shadow Cloak OFF. They will try to mez you, but they can't cause you're Phased!

    Not sure if that will always work against Illusionists though, since they Phase as well.
    It should work as Illusionist don't enter a true Phase. They only become untouchable for brief periods much like Phantom Army.
  16. Quote:
    Originally Posted by HellsPixie View Post
    The "ride roughshod" part comes in when you take into account the fact that having the rare and very rare Incarnate upgrades slotted will give your character a virtual level. This determines how big of a "damage shift" the game engine gives. Once all ten Incarnate slots are unlocked, the game will treat you as being 10 levels above level 50 enemies. This would be the same as a non-Incarnate level 50 fighting level 40 NPCs. The damage and accuracy of your attacks are shifted up, while the damage and accuracy of your opponents are shifted down. And don't tell me a level 50 can't "ride roughshod" over level 40s.
    Has there been confirmation that all Incarnate slots will feature a level shift? I can't recall if so or not.
  17. I have a question that's a bit more specific. If I put the Performance Shifter: +End proc in Nova or Dwarf will it proc while I'm in human form or will it only proc while shifted?
  18. Quote:
    Originally Posted by SkarmoryThePG View Post
    Hmm.

    What synergy would that be?
    Hot Feet is an endurance hog, and Heat Loss is an excellent counter to that. The imps are squishy which Cold can address with both defensive shields and an HP boost from Frostwork. On top of those is the greater synergy of fire providing higher than usual damage for a control set and Cold's defense and resistance debuffing.
  19. ketch

    Is it my secret?

    I was just pondering today how effective a couple of Cold Domination defenders and controllers would be at neutralizing Lanaru the Mad in the CoP trial. His Hurricane gives a lot of meleers trouble. Considering resistances, how many Benumbs would it take to drop it to a neglible level of tohit debuff?
  20. I don't see how this would work very well. Capping range and AoE could work out, but you have no way to immobilize the AV. There's nothing to stop him from simply coming into melee and smacking you. I'd also be fearful of his Fist of Tyranny slapping you with a stun in the nearly 20 second downtime of IW.
  21. I kind of like having Conserve Power, though I went into Primal for Power Boost. Generally, when Recovery Aura is down I'll have Conserve Power up so I can go at full tilt all the time. Of course, Consume can help cover endurance management as well.

    One of the downsides to Power Boost is that it won't be up for every single Fortitude so I do reserve it for when I'm Fort'ing someone that will benefit more from the defense. Timing PB'ed heals is a difficult thing as well; when someone needs that much healing I generally don't have time to PB the first heal. Instead, I end up healing them enough to keep them standing with the first heal then PB'ing a second heal to put them back at full health. Of course, if you have Vengeance then it's tempting to let them die, Power Boost Vengeance, and rez them. A little down time in exchange for a team soft-capped to everything? Sounds like a good exchange.
  22. Quote:
    Originally Posted by Evanescah View Post
    I'll try out that AB thing the next time i'm on a team w another emp. that last part tho - that's the hardest trying to get members to stay together. I say all the time that I can't heal everyone when you keep running around. But i really love being support - how else did I get to lvl 49 with such a sad build! lolz
    Be sure to let the other Emp in on the plan, even then some folks don't realize that AB offers 100% recharge. It's nice when you get someone to cooperate though.

    As for worrying about teammates spreading out, I don't. Take Leadership, get Vengeance, then wait for the sucker to die. Everybody gets a nice buff and you help them pick their face up off the floor... and maybe, just maybe, they learn where their limits lie.
  23. Quote:
    Originally Posted by BrandX View Post
    But claws themselves is seen a lot.

    And when I said "Masquerading Vampires" I was trying to say a game's name without saying the actual name
    Finger tips claws are pretty common. So are fingers... but we don't get them.

    Really, I'm a Virtue player myself and I don't see that many vampires. Of those I have spotted even fewer allude to that particular franchise that must not be named. Of course, I tend to spend my time smashing bad guys in the face rather than roleplaying.
  24. This looks better I think. There are still a few minor changes I would make though. For instance, the -tohit proc in Fissure is a bit questionable. I think you would get a lot more mileage out of the Force Feedback chance for recharge proc. Changing your Touch of Death set in Seismic Smash to Kinetic Combat (with a regular accuracy IO in the 5th) will also shore up defense better and free up a slot.

    Also, the Ghost Widow proc in Stangler won't add the damage you're looking for there. One damage IO will increase Strangler's damage to the same amount that you get when the proc fires, and considering the proc only fires 20% of the time it's easily outshined. My general advice for using damage procs is this: use them in AoE powers and/or powers that fire frequently. Fissure, for example, is a good place to slot a damage proc. In fact, dropping the damage/range and adding the chance for energy damage from Positron's set still leaves you with damage enhancment above 95%, but now with a chance to proc on multiple enemies with each use.
  25. Quote:
    Originally Posted by BrandX View Post
    Interresting. I haven't seen this 4 color MMO. And ewww on the golden age.

    That said. *shrug* I see a difference between putting in a modern day demon slaying manga hero in a superhero setting and putting in a War of Worldcraft Day Elf.

    And once is one thing, but seeing so many. That's probably my problem with it. In comics, this is a rarity, in game I see it way to much.

    But if it helps, I feel the same way about Shields. In comics it's such a low low LOW used powerset, in game...EVERYWHERE! You can't turn around without seeing one!
    How many iconic characters with 3 metal claws sticking out of their hands are there? Yet I see tons of them in game.

    The problem here is that in the world of comics super-powered beings are unique little snowflakes, ones that happen to save the world. In CoX you can't throw a stone without hitting someone with super powers. There aren't a lot of comics that deal with superpowers being as common as allergies, but I'd imagine they might be interesting.

    As for vampires... well, I don't know DC well, but in Marvel we've got Morbius, Blade, Dracula himself, and both Storm and Jubilee have been struck with a case of vampirism at one point.