ketch

Legend
  • Posts

    1596
  • Joined

  1. I've been running those same old tips day after day and very soon I'll hit 30 Hero merits and, hopefully, the big pay off. However, I have a few questions about how transactions are made off market.

    First, do sellers ask for all inf up front or do you accept partial down payments?

    Do you e-mail the enhancement/recipe or open a trade window so the buyer can examine the goods?

    Finally, would I be better off using the market? Does the security justify lower profit?
  2. I tend to not use e-mail for storage, but with the free respecs there were several IO's that I was moving out and around for different characters.

    What's the procedure for recovering lost e-mails? I can't recall which character I sent the e-mails from though the time frame must have been in the past 4 days.
  3. Quote:
    Originally Posted by Teldon View Post
    But I thought Castle said that if pets didnt go into melee all willy nilly they would be grossly over powered.
    He has acknowledged the problem and that it is also affecting Dominators' and Controllers' pets.
  4. Something does seem off. I've had 3 purple drops in the last two days. Good luck? Perhaps. I think it'd be worth keeping an eye on at least.
  5. Quote:
    Originally Posted by Eva Destruction View Post

    Now, if some of my powers were suddenly greyed out because I'd "forgotten" I had them, or the Rularuu started conning friendly and other player characters started conning hostile, or I was hit with a debuff or a temp power of some kind...then I'd buy that the Shadow Shard is messing with my character. But don't tell me the game is doing something to my character and expect me to buy it when obviously nothing is happening, and nothing will continue to happen no matter how much time I spend standing on the badge.
    There are a few locations in the Shard, the monuments of Pain and Agony if I recall correctly, that have massive debuffs. Though they're actually a bit hard to stumble across even if you're looking for them.
  6. Quote:
    Originally Posted by Local_Man View Post
    There are some exploits involving Hami-Os. The Defense Debuff Hami-Os also work to buff Defense by the same amount -- they are kind of opposite sides of the same coin, and since the EndRdx will work in almost any Defense power, you can slot Enzymes in there and get higher enhancement values than if you slotted the Defense ones.

    Technically, it is an exploit and the Devs know about it. They could theoretically fix it and make those enhancements worthless. However, it is doubtfull, after years, that it will ever be done.
    I was looking for a Enzyme to use in my mind/rad's Radiation Infection and was surprised by the cost. Knowing this, it becomes clear why. I'm sure anyone using a Hami-O's in a defense power will appreciate the schedule A enhancement of an Enzyme over the schedule B enhancement of a Cytoskeleton.
  7. On the control side: Plant, Earth, and Mind all spring to mind. They all offer good AoE control. Plant, in particular, I find to be a very straight forward, easy to use, and front loaded set.

    On the assault side: Fire and Psionic Assault spring to mind. Fire works pretty well at range, which allows people uncomfortable with moving a low hp AT into melee a bit of comfort room. Psionic Assault offers some decent AoE, but an excellent survival/recovery tool in the form of Drain Psyche.
  8. ketch

    So sad...

    I've been on both ends of the spectrum with this mish: easily solo'ed at +2/x8 with a Plant/Psi dominator and limped through at +0/x1 with a mind/nrg dom. I imagine for anyone without mez protection this mish becomes a real bear. Of course, that's only half the story. Use BF's and you're still at the mercy of being sapped of endurance.
  9. Quote:
    Originally Posted by Oedipus_Tex View Post
    Except that this Recharge ignores ED...
    I should have clarified a bit there. I wasn't referring to the diminishing returns on enhancement values, but the actual diminishing returns on recharge. A quick look at the chart in the Paragon wiki entry should suffice to explain how the first, for example, 100% of recharge reduction reduces a power's recharge time more than the next 100%, this includes global recharge.

    For a concrete example, let's look at Mass Hypnosis. With a generous ED adjusted slotting of 99.08% recharge reduction, it's recharge becomes 22.6 seconds, shaving off 22.4 seconds of its base recharge of 45 seconds. If I use Hasten and AM, for example, for another 100% recharge reduction it only reduces Mass Hypnosis' recharge to 15.05 seconds, an additional 7.35 seconds. Even though the second 100% recharge reduction ignores ED, we can see from this example, that it reduces the overall recharge by less than the first 100% of recharge reduction.
  10. Quote:
    Originally Posted by StarKitten View Post
    My plant/rad/fire went with Nerve. I already have the uncommon for the 33% Acc/Hold. Love. It.

    I almost went with recharge, but the more I looked at nerve, the more I saw it as being benificial to me. In the end of it all, with he big rare, its 33% to:

    Acc, Hold, Confuse, and Fly, all of which, I use. I think going with nerve will give me more bang for the buck, so to speak.

    I geuss you can always experiement and see what works best for you. Contrary to popular belief..."moar recharge!!11' isn't always the answer.
    I agree with StarKitten. Recharge suffers from diminishing returns. For many of my characters, they've reached the point where additional recharge will add little to their performance.

    When trying to determine which alpha boost to use, it's going to take a careful examination of all the powers I use for that particular character.
  11. Quote:
    Originally Posted by Titaniuma View Post
    The best build is the one you like to play.
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by _Malk_ View Post
    The one that participates to the fullest and doesn't slack off.
    No offense intended, but these canned responses don't really contribute to the discussion. The OP obviously wants to participate and enjoy based on a contribution to the team. It's valid to suggest things that we feel add to a team dynamic.

    Quote:
    Originally Posted by JamMasterJMS View Post
    Grav/storm is awfully well rounded for team play.

    you have consistent every spawn control with freezing rain and your aoe immobilize. With stackable aoe stuns available everyspawn at latter levels.
    tornadoes damage equals the majority of AV's regen rates...
    O2 is great mez protection
    Not to mention hurricane and wormhole for mob placement...
    Let's see, it has -slow,-recharge, -def, -res, +def, +res, ally mez protection,
    About the only thing it can't do is heal.

    Pretty well rounded in my experience.
    Grav/storm is a well rounded combo, however, it also has the potential to be disruptive if the user is unfamiliar with its powers. Wormhole, Dimension Shift, Hurricane, and Tornado can all cause confusion and scattering when used improperly. Because of the steeper learning curve of gravity and Earth's ability to halt some scatter from knockback, I'd recommend an earth/storm before I recommend a grav/storm.
  12. When I first read this thread my initial reaction was earth/rad. I see I was not alone. Earth control offers excellent control with a side of defense and tohit debuffs, which I think people tend to overlook. In my experience, Earthquake is an excellent option for problematic mobs that resist controls. Radiation is also an excellent secondary of with an array of effects to cover different situations and layers its debuffs very well with those in the Earth primary.

    While an earth/rad may never been the damage machine some other controllers are it offers a greater transformative effect on teams than some other combinations.
  13. Quote:
    Originally Posted by Techbot Alpha View Post
    I'm much less fussed about S/L caps or even much shielding on a Domi, mostly because, especially with that I've seen of Elec, it's pretty hard to NOT lock everything around you down very quickly.
    If possible, aiming for perma-hasten would be good. But, again, trying to slot everything with enough slots was proving incredibly difficult.

    The biggest problem I face isnt really Sets/HOs, but levelling 1-47 and using regular SOs seems like a nightmare to me, with trying to find enough slotting to making powers effective, especially the AoE Hold which only starts with 60% acc.
    In my experience, I'd agree Electric has a lot of control. Unfortunately, its primary controls, Static Field and Synaptic Overload, are soft control and a bit slow in jumping from target to target respectively. Both are good powers, but in teams lack the upfront hard mez you'll find in most other sets. Of course, that's balanced out when Electric has sapped the enemies. Survival until that point can be more difficult for a dominator, lacking the redundancy of a controller's debuffs via their secondary.

    As for SO slotting (or generic IO, if I recall correctly these become more effective around level 35), you'll have to sacrifice the efficiency of all powers for those that you truly need. As such, I would put slots for the AoE hold on the cutting room floor. It is much more of an emergency backup rather than an essential every-mob power. Tactics may be a viable leveling option to allow you to go lighter on accuracy slotting for all powers and distribute them more evenly. Also, in picking up Tactics you can acquire Maneuvers and the Kismet: +tohit proc (a small investment while leveling), further alleviating the need for accuracy slotting and allowing you to focus on control, damage, and recharge.

    Also, I believe you are mistaken about the accuracy of the AoE hold. The standard accuracy is 80% for AoE mezzes. Unless Electric control is different for some reason unknown to me, it's accuracy should be same 80% just like Cinders, Gravity Distortion Field, etc.

    Edit: Ah, I see. You were referring to the final chance to hit rather than the inherent accuracy modifier of the power.
  14. Quote:
    Originally Posted by Techbot Alpha View Post
    Really? No one? I keep seeing how people are sick of people going "I needz X/Y/Z buildz, someones make it foar me?!", yet I can't get any help with a build that I've actually mostly done, just cannot get the slotting right? Sad robot panda...
    Woah, patience, my friend. Yesterday was a holiday in the US so many people were quite busy.

    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Techbot Alpha View Post
    Just another mess around, and realised I was totally ignoring some very powerful enhancements...

    Do people still use HO's? It seems mad not to. I know their pretty rare, but they still give unbelievable bang for the buck, all things considered.

    How feasible does this build sound? It also ignores the actual 1-47 journey, which I still need to figuyre out how to slot...
    Hami-O's? Yes. I find they're useful to shore up some of the enhancement that you don't get for slotting sets. For example, I sometimes four slot Expedient Reinforcment for the recharge bonuses and used Hami-O's to secure a bit more damage and accuracy. They're similarly useful in your single target hold (4 slots of Basilisk's Gaze, 2 slots of Nucleus Exposure for damage/accuracy).

    I can't open your Mid's builds at the moment, but I've glanced over them. Without knowing the specifics of you recharge and defenses I can only offer some very general advice for now.

    First, Electric Fences will serve you better slotted with an end mod set. With Domination and Power Boost, the immobilize duration will be long enough. Slotted with end mod and PB'ed, you can knock 25%ish endurance with each application of Fences. It's also your best source of -recovery.

    Total Focus and Energy Transfer are both very long wind up powers, if I recall correctly. That's not a problem if you intend to solo a lot, but you might find them falling to the wayside on teams. It could also be difficult to fit them in to an attack change as Electric is a control set that requires a bit of attention and maintenance to leverage.

    Electric and Energy seem to me like they will play well together as both do well in melee range (Energy will deliver its most damaging powers there, and Electric will benefit from Conductive Aura and standing in Static Field). My preference for the combination would be toward building for smashing/lethal cap, which may be easier with a different PPP or APP.
  15. Quote:
    Originally Posted by Angelofvalor View Post
    I do not remember getting by with group invis with one slot and having it perma how are you doing that?
    It sounds as if a bit of the advice given went over your head. That is entirely not you fault though; there have been substantial changes to the game in the past two years and you may not be aware of the intricacies of Invention system. In a nut shell, it is this: a series of special crafted enhancement that when used in sets provide extra bonuses such as damage, recharge, and defense.

    For controllers, it is common to chase after sets that offer bonus recharge. This recharge is a global bonus to all powers similar to how the recharge from Hasten affects all other powers. If you collect enough recharge bonuses in your build it is possible to make permanent things like GI and even Hasten, Accelerate Metabolism, and Phantom Army.

    Mid's is a popular application used to plan out a build outside of the game, which you can find here. It will allow you to see what sets of enhancements can go into a power and the bonuses they provide. It can be a little overwhelming initially, but with good information like LM's guide and the helpful community here most of your questions can be answered.
  16. Quote:
    Originally Posted by Psychic Guardian View Post
    So post-i19 do you think it would boost your regen/recov from boosting the fitness powers? That'd be cool haha. What's strange is you explained the reasoning behind Dom not affecting Whirling Hands, but Power Boost double's it's stun duration...hmm. I wonder how.

    Edit: Just checked the fitness thing, it doesn't change them as pools so that's a no for when they go inherent. I guess because they're auto? Or flagged maybe lol.
    The reason for this that Power Boost does not affect regeneration or recovery, which are different from healing and endurance modification. Power Boost will increase straight heals like those in Empathy and powers that drain endurance such as Electric Fences or Transference.
  17. Quote:
    Originally Posted by Wavicle View Post
    I would recommend taking a travel power.

    With permaDom you don't really need Power Boost. 1 Slotted Hoarfrost isn't that great. 1 slotted Hibernate isn't that bad. However, I think playing without a slottable travel power is not that much fun, so that's my suggestion.
    Electric is a curious case in which Power Boost has a bit more value than usual and Domination has a bit less. First, note that Domination won't affect Static Field and only affects the first target of Synaptic Overload. It's still useful for the mez protection and boosted holds, but it doesn't benefit as much as Mind or Plant, for example. Power Boost, on the other hand, is going to increase the amount of endurance you sap with your Electric Fences and Conductive Aura. Depending on how important sapping is to your playstyle, you might want to pick up Power Boost to make your sapping faster.
  18. Quote:
    Originally Posted by Count_Scottula View Post
    I have a 50 fire/ dom and two 50 kins, but not a fire/kin so I'll explain my comments with that caveat.

    Things I'd do differently and why.

    I'd pull several slots from other places and slot up Siphon Speed so you can stack it.
    Take a look at it stacked in Mids. I usually run two stacked all the time.

    I'd use Obliteration on Hot feet instead, unless I'm wrong and you are capped on 5% recharge bonuses.

    I don't think the 10% proc on Fissure is worth it. I think adding a 5th slot to Seismic Smash and adding Crushing Impact would allow you to use siphon speed faster and overall increase recahrge more often and reliably.
    I'll second shifting some slots to Siphon Speed. I'd even suggest another Accuracy in Fulcrum Shift to ensure you're getting capped damage when you use it.

    If you do decide to go with Obliteration, be sure to use the damage proc for extra damage when you are capped with FS.

    Shifting some slots from Cinders to Char may also be useful. Char could be slotted with 4 pieces of Basilisk's Gaze and two Hami-O's to help you maximize acc, hold, and damage. That will make it a bit more useful when polishing of stragglers that aren't swept up by the AoE.

    Also, I'd switch the Dam/Range in Fissure for the damage proc. You'll be in melee for FS so the added range does little. The proc, again, will add more damage when you are capped by FS.
  19. Quote:
    Originally Posted by icemanstryketh View Post
    Yeah an hour of coding (probably copy pasting mostly) to make your pets look like you with or without a color variation.

    It's not rocket science.
    Simple, right? Simple like adding the Fitness pool as inherent? So simple it broke Kheldians and Dominators and prevented people from leveling new characters beyond level two.

    It is far from simply replacing x with y in an equation and would most certainly take more than hour of coding. It is a desirable feature, but it comes at the cost of development time. I think that time is a steeper cost than some folks estimate.
  20. Quote:
    Originally Posted by Sun_Runner View Post
    Or it is someone, like, say, my teenager that isn't allowed to install programs on the computers used and has most of the internet under a blanket blacklist unless whitelisted site-by-site by an interfering parent. (I'm so mean. My kids agree, too.)

    Restricted computer/internet access is not as uncommon as you might think.
    I wish that this accounted for the majority of people posting for builds. However, there's little evidence to support or even suggest that. More often I see the request for x/y and someone will post a Mid's build which they generally are at least thanked for later. My good friend is a Mac user and as such has no access to Mid's. When he requests advice he post a suckerpunch build and explains that he cannot use Mid's. If you are an individual requesting build help and cannot access the most common build program then that is something you should let people who intend to help know.


    Quote:
    Some people do concepts. (An angel with a sword.) Some people do entire biographies. (Look at our RP communities.) Some people just want performance. There is no badwrongfun, only different flavors that you may or may not like.

    Personally, I want performance. I then wrap a concept around that performance, eventually an interlocking series of ficlets I share with my own social groups wrapped around that concept.
    I only mention concept because it is one of the things that keeps me playing CoX. That said there is no dichotomy of performance or concept. Both can exists within the same character. However, part of the fun in creating the character is finding how you can have both. When I see people request builds I see them skipping over the fun of concepts AND the fun of min/maxing.
  21. Quote:
    Originally Posted by ebon3 View Post
    All of this smacks of a min/maxer or power gamer or what-have-you. Not that its invalid in any sort of way, but usually folks just looking to copycat the most successful build for whatever they are doing are in it to dominate whatever aspect they are interested in. Thematically correct concept builds are irrelavent in this case.
    I would definitely draw a line between this type of gamer and the min/maxer. For the min/maxer, and I consider myself one to a degree, enjoyment comes from finding the best setup. Having it handed to you is hardly satisfying. The person content to copy a build, in my experience, isn't the same person calculating their DPS and tweaking their build for the best performance.

    I think, rather, we're discussing individuals that want the path of least resistance, something Guy touched on in his own thread. They want a build that makes things easy rather than the experience of creating a powerful build. They'll settle for farming maps for rewards while real power gamers will set crazy challenges for themselves like solo'ing Pylons and GM's.
  22. Quote:
    Originally Posted by Flarstux View Post
    If it was just you, just the once, no, it wouldn't be 'spamming'.

    But what you're not seeing here is, you're not the only one who does this. There are others out there doing pretty much the same thing. After a while, all those 'single' instances blend together and become... say it with me... SPAM. And it no longer matters to the 'spammee', so to speak, that this was the first and only time YOU, personally, did it.

    That's probably where the guy was coming from.
    I think this hits the nail on the head. It's not about the individual incident. It's about what happens when everyone starts doing it. You become inundate with sg offers that you simply don't want.

    Also, if I receive a tell from someone looking for teammates it can be annoying if a.) my flag is not set as lft b.) I have not broadcast lft, and most importantly c.) when I am explicitly flagged as NOT lft. When sending out team invites I always follow the courtesy of asking only folks that have broadcast lft or are flagged as lft. In both cases, I send a tell first.
  23. Is it spam if I send one e-mail to thousand people I don't know? Yes. Recruiting in this manner is a terrible, terrible idea. I expect this wasn't the first time and won't be the last time you encounter some displeasure with your recruiting method.
  24. Perhaps this is something that bothers me alone, but I have noticed it more and more frequently. Many people aren't requesting help with builds, but are instead simply soliciting a completed build outright. Check any AT forum and you'll likely find a post akin to "Any got a build for an x/y?" without any guidance to what they player hopes to achieve with said build.

    This irks me for a few reasons:

    First, it smacks of laziness. Creating a build with Mid's is a reasonably simple thing. Posting without one suggests that you haven't consider power selections, sets, or even an over all goal. Put some effort into it if you expect others to put effort into helping you.

    Secondly, requesting builds generally eschews all conceptual considerations. If I've decided to create a build there are still some powers I'd like simply for thematic reasons. I, for example, like to have Flight for magical characters. Eventually, you may butt against the problem of performance vs. concept, but to me it's disheartening to see people throw concept out from the get-go.

    Finally, there is the difficulty of offering advice to these individuals. Those that would help are face with a blank slate. Do you want an AoE damage machine? Do you want a strong team support character? An AV solo'er? There are many ways to build a character in this game, even using a single AT with the same primary and secondary. Do you want top performance or do you hope to incorporate some conceptual powers into the build? What is your budget? It's like asking "How to I go to China?" We need to know where you're beginning, how you want to travel, and how much you can spend on the trip.

    So, please, I implore anyone that plans to request a build. Put some effort and some thought into what you want before making a blanket request. You'll find people more receptive if you give them something to work with.
  25. Yep, I've got a lethal/smashing, softcapped perma-dom Plant/Psi. I typically run her at +2/x8. Single target damage is a little on the weak side, but it generallly rolls through even troublesome groups like Malta.