newchemicals

Originally Posted by T_Immortalus

That doesn't seem right to me.
Can anyone more technically inclined explain this?

10240MB seems like an odd number for RAM. I didn't think RAM would be setup in a multiple of 5 sticks of 2GB(and 10 sticks of 1GB is even more strange).
Normally you have 4-6 slots for RAM on a motherboard, filling them with identical sticks of all 1GB or 2GB to end up with multiples of 2 like 4GB, 6GB, 8GB and 12GB.

That just looks odd to me.

Originally Posted by T_Immortalus

Oh, well hopefully it will run great.
I've got a GTX 465 that runs well enough that I'm stuck with right now, but I always love being able to turn settings up more without heating up more.

Originally Posted by T_Immortalus

What I found most interesting was its "adaptive Vsync" which definitely seems like a great function.
I was also intrigued by its ability to change its clock speed without a manual adjustment and the usual risks of that(though it may still be risky).

From the way things look, the next time I need a new graphics card, this will be my first choice(when the price comes down) unless something better is out by then.

Originally Posted by Father Xmas

No, you are thinking of the GTS 250 which uses essentially the same GPU as the 9800GT, 9800GTX, 9800GTX+ and the 512MB 8800GT.

The GTS 450 uses a significantly cut down GPU from the GTX 460.

Originally Posted by ClawsandEffect

With the recent stalker changes I started looking at the niche roles the 4 melee archetypes are supposed to fill.

It seems to me that after stalkers got their (admittedly much needed) buff, scrappers are losing their niche.

I read a report of a Street Justice/Ninjitsu stalker soloing a Rikti Pylon in 3:52 with no temps, no inspirations, and no Incarnate powers. I've never heard of a scrapper doing it that fast.

So, now we have brutes surpassing scrappers in both survivability and high end damage output, especially with the sets that have damage auras and lots of AoE.

And with the stalker changes, we have stalkers surpassing scrappers in single target damage, while the survivability gap has been significantly closed. Not only that, but stalkers have the same inherent ability as scrappers and do it better (base crit chance of 10% as opposed to 5, increase to crit chance on teams, and the ability to autocrit when hidden)

Now, I'm not calling for a nerf to stalkers. Far from it, because I'm having a blast with my Electric/Energy stalker. I'm just concerned that the original "solo specialist" is being outshined by both of the two other ATs that do much the same thing. I'm not so sure that the higher base damage is enough to keep the playing field level, since brutes and now stalkers are both capable of outdamaging them with their lower base damage.

Maybe it's just a perception thing, but I feel that scrappers are getting a bit of a shaft here.

Anyone else feel similarly?

Originally Posted by Reppu

Simple The average DPA of each attack varies between 'equal to ranged pets', 'below ranged pets', or 'slightly above ranged pets'. Add in the the critical hit chance, and it's a bit higher in each respect. Beyond that, if you're lucky, your beasts will have 15 seconds, out of 60 seconds, of steroided damage (+100% or so odd damage, but with their base damage this is a deceptive number. Don't be fooled.)

They are capable of 'impressive for a mastermind pet' burst damage. Now, this may seem good on paper, but again; pets have horrible base damage, 100% or so bonus damage is NOT that much on them, but it is good! However, you have to fact in the following.

1) Almost no AoE
2) Literally no ranged.
3) Did I mention they have BARELY ANY ATTACKS?

You may be asking about that third one. Let me explain.

Wolves and Lions: A single attack with out an upgrade. Gain a single second attack with the first upgrade. Gain a single third attack at the second upgrade.

These attacks? 3/6/9 cooldowns. This means, after the first attack rotation, your pets will now be having 'dead period' of 2-3 seconds for the rest of combat. Do you know how many other Mastermind pets have this issue?

The Protector Bots by design, and the Ember Demon, because the Hellfire Demon MORE than makes up for this.

Which Beast Mastery pets make up for this? NONE. They ALL have this flaw. But it gets worse.

The Alpha Wolf, the unique third Wolf pet for the first summon? TWO. ATTACKS. 3/6 cooldown.

The Dire Wolf? 3/6/14/14/60.

So, in retrospective?

You have barely any AoE.

You have literally no ranged.

If your pet AI is smart, your pets will have 100% odd something bonus damage for 15 seconds roughly every minute... but half of that time is wasted because they have so few attacks and the cooldowns are horrible.

Outside of those 15 seconds, you're doing even LESS damage, your pets are idling with their tails up their ***** because of their poor attack numbers, and your Boss Pet is the second most guilty of standing there with his tail up his *** (the Alpha Wolf being the biggest sinner).

So, yeah. They didn't learn anything. 3 attacks maximum on four of your pets. Two attacks on one of them and it's not even worth the trade of (It gets a lame heal in exchange, which the Lionesses do better), and the Dire Wolf? A damn joke.

Originally Posted by Call Me Awesome

Let me say do NOT cheap out on the PSU... a no name or off brand one just isn't worth the risk and many of the cheapos are very poor quality. I've always had good luck with Antec personally but there's others that are also good. I've also seen cheap PSU's fry themselves and the motherboard they're connected to if current draw gets even remotely close to it's "rated" capacity. It's just not worth it, spend the $10-20 extra and get a good one.

Now power... assuming you're running a single video card you should be fine with a quality 600W PSU. If you're going with some power hungry monster card you may push that up to 700W. Right now I'm running an older 275GTX with 5 hard drives on an Antec 600W with no issues in 3 years. I could probably get by with a 400W but the 600 gives me plenty of headroom.

My thumb rule on power is to figure ~300W for the CPU/Mobo/RAM/HD/CDROM etc. and then tack on the power for the vid card, then an extra 100W for headroom.

Originally Posted by firespray

No, we shouldn't. The crash should be removed altogether, all nukes should be made ranged, the target cap should be increased, and the damage on most of them should be increased, not decreased. Because at the moment, the traditional blaster nukes are badly overshadowed by the crashless nukes in some of the sets (Rain of Arrows, Full Auto, Hail of Bullets, Overcharge) and even more so by the new judgment nukes.

Just removing the crash and leaving them alone beyond that would be a good start though.

Originally Posted by Comeuppance

Thanks, guys! I had already planned on upgrading the power supply. Two more quick questions: Will the Nvidia GT 440 run ultra mode, and if so, which particular model am I looking for? I noticed several different versions of that card.