perwira

Roger that. Have you ever tried to give it a go?

In retrospect, doing it without inspirations at all might be tougher than I originally thought it might be (perhaps not even possible), just because of the DPS/regen limit, something I wasn't aware of even when I made a few goes of it using inspirations.

Out of curiosity too, has anyone come up with an estimate on DPS output of bots, before or after slotting them with IO's? And traps as well? While traps damage is fairly light (apart from the trip mine which still also has a low DPS because of its recharge time), it can get complicated when chance for damage procs are worked into some of these. Along with the MM's own attacks, it's a lot to try to add up because several of these will be going on or be active at the same time. If no one has done this yet, I might try my hand at arriving at a DPS figure with bonuses added, damage buff powers used (i.e. whether assualt is being used) and any other assumptions clearly stated.

Just want to say thanks to both you and Santorican and FreezeWave for posting your build suggestions. I also have a DM/SD/BM scapper at 49th level looking to do a respec. She's not soft-capped in defense and I probably overemphasized accuracy and recharge (for the attack chain) in the build. I chose many of the same powers and IO sets you did, probably more like a hybrid of these with a few cheaper (and not quite as effective) sets in place.

Just curious... is it generally necessary for a DM/SD to include the fighting pool with Weave to attain the defense soft cap? My build is very similar to yours, but without the fighting pool and with the flight pool and air superiority in its place instead - this is possibly where I could glean out quite a bit more defense.

I'll post a build sometime later when I'm actually ready to carry out the respec. Thanks again.

Just curious (again) checking into the Paragon wiki article on this. It states:

# If you are a higher level than the Giant Monster, you will do damage to it as if you were its level.
# If you are a lower level than the Giant Monster, you will do damage to it as if it was one level lower than you.

The wording is slightly different from what you stated (lower instead of higher in the case of your being a lower level than the GM), but perhaps the net effect is the same. If you are doing damage as if it were one level lower than you (as it reads in wiki), does this (still) mean less effective damage than if you are doing damage equal to its level?

I'm curious, is there a table of GM's and their respective levels? (I couldn't find it in Paragon wiki.)

There's discussion in another forum about what archetypes might be able to defeat GM's solo (without inspirations or temporary powers, given base DPS figures) and I think the level of the GM may figure into this.

Well, you've been here since early '04, so you should know, and you've probably played an empath defender by now.

What did you pick at level 12 and 14? Were you so selfless that you chose Fortitude over hasten and superspeed, which would speed up your empath powers and give you some defense and stealth protection? Or over flight which would give you the ability to even make it to the mission door in one piece, being the squishy you are? Or over leadership, which benefits the whole party instead of one or two within the party? Or over the fitness pool to eventually acquire the stamina to constantly cast your primary and secondary powers? Seriously, be honest, what did you really take? If you took Fortitude at 12 or 14 with your (every) empath defender, kudos to you, but don't expect every other empath defender to make the same choice you did. That's right. Choice.

If the defender in question by the OP actually did have Fortitude and didn't use it at all, that's one matter (and still open to question given the incomplete information we've been given). But choosing not to have it in favor of other equally desired or necessary powers is another.

A lot, maybe, but certainly not all the time.

Earlier tonight we had an empath, a scapper, a tanker and an illusion controller (mine) on a team and the focus was more on mob control and elimination.

We didn't lose a single life, much in thanks to our empath, but also in thanks to team play by all of us. Everyone remarked how well balanced our team was, even at +1 difficulty.

Take one of us out and it would have been more difficult. Add one of us, including our emptath, it went so much easier.

And nobody said, great heals, empath. It was more like hey, y'all, nice teamwork.

There, finally, somebody said it.

I felt the same, but have since brought a rad/rad corrupter up to 37, a dkbst/pd up to 42 and (most fun) a bots/traps MM up to 45. There's some fun stuff villian side that you can't get heroside.

If this is true, you're correct. But like a few others here, I'm not quite sure this is true, given the possible power selections an empath can have and choose from at that level. Either way, it's not clear, given the lack of information of exactly what powers the said empath had for the TF.

Ranting tends to lose clarity of faculty.

In all fairness, it was never made clear which powers the said defender did or did not have during the TF. One cannot pass judgment without complete information, beyond which any comment is hypothetical (if not hypocritical) at best. A point was made that is equally as valid as the rest made here with what we've been given.

Just looking, and given your attention to FB, you've got half an end-red in the Ragnorak set for the FB and that's it. Maybe all you need is another half or full end-red in the FB attack to smooth out your end problem, given your preferred attack cycle which includes FB (hey, I'd like that too!). Add a slot for that, take it from anywhere else, your pick.

Thanks from a scrapper who uses shield charge as one of her primary attacks.

Oh, come on! At least the transit line maps should be current (even if others of us know other ways around it)!

FWIW, I often use the Ouro portal or in some cases the PocketD portal to get around. The trains can run slow or be far from desired drop points, after all.

We haven't heard Dech_Kaison enter into this discussion yet, but a key strategy he uses is to def-cap the whole group so that the bot/henchmen are rarely hit, either in BG mode or otherwise. From what I've read in his posts, he prefers the taunt/BG style of play whereby the bots/henchmen as well as the MM will take little damage while delivering a lot more upon the enemy.

I've tested the non-BG focused-fire stealthed-traps tactic with a currently 45th level MM against 50th/51st/52nd level Cimerorans on the wall and it has proven to be successful, albeit a bit scary at times due to the chancy hit numbers. Sometimes the knockbacks are a blessing in disguise as a few fall over the wall, reducing the fight to a few on few. It's important to take out one Cimeroran at a time with all of their hit points to reduce their attack potential. If my MM gets noticed and then hit, it can get hairy (and scary) as I withdraw while laying traps along the way and putting the bots into def-follow mode to shore us up as a squad. I think this is a pretty good accomplishment - fighting serious foes 6 to 7 levels above you and still managing to hold your own and eventually defeating them. I'm not sure how well this would work with a BG/aggressive style (perhaps someone here can say), but I'm fairly satisfied with how the MM bot/traps combo works with selective 'attack my target' concentrated fire in combination with MM debuff/support actions even outside of BG mode.

With an empath at level 50, well-deserved of her hard-earned merits and accolades, having played all sorts of pick up teams on Freedom, I just want to say thanks for this post. I've seen both the best and the worst of the lot, and you put it into proper perspective.

Ok, I stand corrected on Fort at level 12 instead of 14 (call it a memory lapse on my part at my advanced age). And I do agree that the applause at her play may have been unfounded, particularly if she had such few powers to choose from to begin with at that exempted level (formerly being 47 totally irrelevant). Still... I question the OP with the lack of information on what power sets the player in question actually had. I know that my empath, as a sometimes solo player and leader-centric player (with the leadership and fitness build to support it) did not have all of the empath powers, including fortitude, clear mind and rez immediately when they were available. I read the OP as a self-confessed rant, and still consider it such.

Yup, I recall generic 30/35/40's and 50's were white hot last time around, going quickly within hours even above normal stable demand prices. Although generic 50 acc/dam/heal/ends don't have a huge profit margin, they'll move very quickly.

Thanks for your insight. I've only been a member since early this year, so I only have one DXP to compare to. If that one was tame... wow!

Yeah, I'm playing it pretty cool, too, business as usual, perhaps (maybe certainly) a bit more brisk than usual.

(Edited to add): Considering that a lot of folks are going to be playing sub-50's, anywhere from teens up, this might mean not so much 50's recipes/IO's in demand as the mid/upper levels, although we can expect quite a few to peak at 50 and slot up accordingly, just guessing. I'm hedging my bets both ways.

May I, having lived in Malaysia for 20 years, suggest Selangor Pewter? Good stuff, google on the web for it and msg me if you have any questions. Grats on 10! I'm approaching 25 with my wife from Malaysia.

Friday off sounds great! And I may well take just a day off (and on!) for this.

Until DXP weekend.

(*shish* *boom* *bah*)

Thanks for bringing this up. I (and perhaps others of us here) had meant to and you took the initiative to actually do it. While it's not a deal-breaking bug, it is one. I've added a post to your bug thread.