sturm375

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  1. Quote:
    Originally Posted by Spiritchaser View Post
    I'll also be going end/res on my electric tanker, but not so much for the end, as for the res.

    Sure, chaining combustion, fsc and fireball is rough on the blue bar, but it's manageable...

    Still feeling softer than a lot of my brutes and some of my scrappers is not manageable... and I'm still looking for ever scrap of extra res I can get...

    Now... if they made a +damage/+res Alpha... I'd be all over that. A +heal/+res would be sweeter still.
    Gotta say, very underwhelmed with the end/res Incarnate enh. For my Fire/Fire/Pyre tank my number went like this:

    S/L: 70.67% -> 74.57% (+3.9%)
    Fire: 90% -> 90% (At Res Max)
    Cold: 29.19% -> 31.06% (+2.87%)
    Eng: 47.11% -> 49.71% (+2.6%)
    N.Erg: 56.49% -> 59.09% (+2.6%)

    I don't know why, but I guess I was expecting a little more than that. I was hoping for closer to 5% added. Having a nearly indestructible blue bar is nice though.

    Here's my approximate build:

    Hero Plan by Mids' Hero Designer 1.90
    http://www.cohplanner.com/

    Click this DataLink to open the build!

    JB Incarnate: Level 50 Magic Tanker
    Primary Power Set: Fiery Aura
    Secondary Power Set: Fiery Melee
    Power Pool: Flight
    Power Pool: Fighting
    Ancillary Pool: Pyre Mastery

    Hero Profile:
    Level 1: Blazing Aura -- Sciroc-Acc/Dmg(A), Sciroc-Dmg/EndRdx(33), Sciroc-Dmg/Rchg(34), Sciroc-Acc/Rchg(34), Sciroc-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(34), Sciroc-Dam%(37)
    Level 1: Scorch -- Acc-I(A)
    Level 2: Fire Shield -- S'fstPrt-ResKB(A), TtmC'tng-ResDam/EndRdx(3), TtmC'tng-EndRdx(3), TtmC'tng-ResDam(7), ResDam-I(43)
    Level 4: Combustion -- Sciroc-Acc/Dmg(A), Sciroc-Dmg/EndRdx(5), Sciroc-Dmg/Rchg(5), Sciroc-Acc/Rchg(7), Sciroc-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(9), Sciroc-Dam%(46)
    Level 6: Fly -- EndRdx-I(A)
    Level 8: Healing Flames -- Numna-Heal/Rchg(A), Numna-Heal/EndRdx/Rchg(9), Numna-Heal(40), Mrcl-Heal/Rchg(42), Mrcl-Heal/EndRdx/Rchg(42), Mrcl-Heal(43)
    Level 10: Taunt -- Zinger-Dam%(A)
    Level 12: Plasma Shield -- S'fstPrt-ResKB(A), TtmC'tng-EndRdx(13), TtmC'tng-ResDam(13), TtmC'tng-ResDam/EndRdx(19), ResDam-I(43)
    Level 14: Boxing -- Acc-I(A)
    Level 16: Tough -- TtmC'tng-EndRdx(A), TtmC'tng-ResDam(17), TtmC'tng-ResDam/EndRdx(17), ResDam-I(19)
    Level 18: Temperature Protection -- S'fstPrt-ResDam/Def+(A)
    Level 20: Weave -- LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx(A), LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx/Rchg(21), LkGmblr-Def(21), LkGmblr-Def/Rchg(23)
    Level 22: Build Up -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(23)
    Level 24: Fire Sword -- Mako-Acc/Dmg(A), Mako-Dmg/EndRdx(25), Mako-Dmg/Rchg(25), Mako-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg(27), Mako-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(33), Mako-Dam%(33)
    Level 26: Fiery Embrace -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(27)
    Level 28: Fire Sword Circle -- Sciroc-Acc/Dmg(A), Sciroc-Dmg/EndRdx(29), Sciroc-Dmg/Rchg(29), Sciroc-Acc/Rchg(31), Sciroc-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(31), Sciroc-Dam%(31)
    Level 30: Burn -- RechRdx-I(A)
    Level 32: Rise of the Phoenix -- EndMod-I(A)
    Level 35: Incinerate -- Mako-Acc/Dmg(A), Mako-Dmg/EndRdx(36), Mako-Dmg/Rchg(36), Mako-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg(36), Mako-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(37), Mako-Dam%(37)
    Level 38: Greater Fire Sword -- Mako-Acc/Dmg(A), Mako-Dmg/EndRdx(39), Mako-Dmg/Rchg(39), Mako-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg(39), Mako-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(40), Mako-Dam%(40)
    Level 41: Char -- Acc-I(A), Acc-I(42)
    Level 44: Fire Blast -- Thundr-Acc/Dmg(A), Thundr-Dmg/EndRdx(45), Thundr-Dmg/Rchg(45), Thundr-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(45), Thundr-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(46), Thundr-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(46)
    Level 47: Fire Ball -- Posi-Acc/Dmg(A), Posi-Dmg/EndRdx(48), Posi-Dmg/Rchg(48), Posi-Dmg/Rng(48), Posi-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(50), Posi-Dam%(50)
    Level 49: Melt Armor -- Acc-I(A), Acc-I(50)
    ------------
    Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(A)
    Level 1: Sprint -- Empty(A)
    Level 2: Rest -- Empty(A)
    Level 1: Gauntlet
    Level 4: Ninja Run
    Level 2: Swift -- Flight-I(A)
    Level 2: Hurdle -- Empty(A)
    Level 2: Health -- Numna-Regen/Rcvry+(A), Numna-Heal(15), Mrcl-Rcvry+(15)
    Level 2: Stamina -- Efficacy-EndMod(A), Efficacy-EndMod/Rchg(11), Efficacy-EndMod/Acc(11)
  2. The way I see it, for my main (fire/fire/pyre) tank I want the alpha slot to boost his strengths. I am going cardio, can always use a boost to endo, and the +res fits nicely with the highly resistance based fire primary. It's rare that I find something that I can't hit, got plenty of damage already and with extra endo can do more (and even more now that I respecced out of fitness and got extra slots from those originally placed in flight).

    I've only got 1 defensive power: Weave from fighting pool. This the Acc/Def alpha does nearly nothing for me. Recharge was tempting, but with long fights I was already sucking blue bar before +recharge and I am never at a lack of an attack (unless horrendously slowed).
  3. Please critique and/or comment on my story.

    http://tinyurl.com/COHNEXUS

    Have fun.
  4. Is fan fiction still welcome here? Not sure cause all I see are screenies, vids and such. Anyway, if you are interested I wrote a medium sized story based on some of my characters and friend's characters. Any critiques or comments are welcome.

    http://tinyurl.com/COHNEXUS

    Have fun.
  5. Quote:
    Originally Posted by Grey Pilgrim View Post
    I am... confuzzled to say the least by this. Our secondary sets are being treated like our primary? What do you mean? Not even sure what you mean by HPs, since that has always been an advantage that Tanks have.

    With Bruising, the devs are acknowledging that we have to take that first attack, and that it is potentially a bad thing that many Tankers neglect that attack at later levels (I do not usually, but I know some do: in fact, I'm reworking my main Tanker's build to slot his first tier attack better than it is now). They're now buffing a power that we have to give, helping out our ability to solo, and also allowing us to give more to a team.

    In short, Tanks received a few buffs with this issue, and that means you are deleting yours? That is the most confusing thing about all of this. You list off a lot of benefits, and then take them in a negative direction!



    ? Where are there healbots in this game? Are you talking about geniuses that spam their healing aura and think they're helping the team? Empathy/Pain Domination is the closest thing we have to a healing set, but that's hardly what it is about, and that's only one tier of powers that a character will have access to.

    I won't even get into your "mention" of Tanks, either, as that's even worse.

    For the whole defense debuffing thing, I honestly wonder if melee ATs, or at least Tanks and Brutes, should get some inherent defense debuff resistance. There are a lot of such debuffs in the game, and they're the mostly like to need that defense in a situation with a lot of defense debuffs. I would also guess we're going to see more of such debuffs as well.

    If we can't adjust the defense softcap, that would be one way to address the equal benefits a Blaster receives from being at the same levels of defense as my Tank, Scrapper, etc.

    Just throwing it out there. I know defense caps are only so great from experience. My experience with SR and Ninjitsu, as well as soloing Blasters, has shown me how hit or miss defense can be (ha, ha). I'm still annoyed at how many purples my Blaster had to keep eating when he soloed the EB version of Silver Mantis. However, I still have to acknowledge defense is very nice.
    Been deleting them long before I heard about these buffs. Just tired of meatshielding. Just doesn't seem very comic booky to me.

    Why you ask that I think our secondary is treated like a primary? Well, we have gauntlet, based on using our secondary, no other inherent power is based on using an AT's secondary powersets. Now we get a second inherent that again is based on 1 power in our secondary.

    Don't get me wrong, they are OK buffs. I'd be more excited about these buffs if we ever actually got an official statement from Castle or Posi that it was indeed a mistake to make a defensive primary AT in the beginning of development, and all these band-aids are trying to rectify the situation. Until that official statement is made I assume that having a defensive primary ought to mean something. In actual game play (well 95% or more of it) it's a crutch at best.
  6. Quote:
    Originally Posted by Goliath Bird Eater View Post
    The Issue 18 NDA was lifted today, so here's a new inherent ability that will be possessed by all Tankers: Bruising

    The Bruising effect is added to all Tanker secondary tier-1 powers. When a tier-1 power hits an enemy, a 20% resistable damage resistance debuff is applied to that enemy for 10 seconds. Only one debuff as the result of this effect can be active on a target at any given time, even if multiple Tankers are attacking them. However, the durations of separate applications are allowed to overlap. So it's possible for even a single Tanker to keep the debuff going as long as they hit the enemy with their tier-1 power at least once every 10 seconds.


    As an added bonus, the Tanker maximum health multiplier has been increased from 2 to 2.2. This means that at level 50, a Tanker's maximum health when buffed increases from 3213 to 3534.
    Here's my unsolicited feelings about these changes:

    -Our secondary power sets are treated once more like our primary, HPs are our secondary power set, and our primaries are like power pools.

    -Sounds like we are being told that we are not playing correctly with the devs toys. <paraphrase>"Why aren't you guys using your tier 1 attacks?"</paraphrase>



    With GR, I will probably never make another tank. Still have over half my character slots filled by tanks, but every other month I delete one or two of them because they just aren't any fun to play anymore.
  7. Quote:
    Originally Posted by Tyrrano View Post
    I was reviewing my fire2 build earlier and comparing Combustion and Burn. Seriously considering switching to Burn at my next respec. If Mids is to be believed, it does considerably more damage for less END. Am I reading that right?
    Get both, AoE is your friend, and Burn is still more situational than combustion. But both are good.
  8. Quote:
    Originally Posted by Rangle M. Down View Post
    A couple of quick notes:

    You have no kb protection at all and you'll be getting bounced around quite a bit without. One option is to find a Steadfast -kb IO and stuff it in somewhere replacing a end redux in one of your resist powers early. (Typically you should shoot for either 4 (minimum) or 12 kb protection as anything below 12 doesn't cover what would be the worst kb in the game. ) Another option would be to grab Combat Jumping and put the Karma -kb protection in there. Nice thing about CJ is that it does provide Immob. protection and without burn you don't have any. A third option is Acrobatics, but with the advent of IO's most don't go that route anymore.

    Temperature protection is really only going to be getting you 12% cold resistance and 20% slow status resistance as you'll already be capped to fire resist. If you could live without this power you could replace it with Combat Jumping, but at an earlier time.
    12 pts of KB Protection is overkill for all but 1% of the PvE content. 8 pts will do you for the VAST majority of the game.

    And btw, for the record, I leveled my fire/fire tank to 50 pre-IOs, with fight not leaping.
  9. Been tanking (well mostly solo and skanking, occasionally tanking for friends) since the very beginning. For the most part the PvE content can be zerged with ease. If on a team, just stay with the team, use all the offense you can muster, and take a little more than your fair share of the aggro. Gone are the days when you should try to take all the aggro from a spawn. The game is balanced now so that all ATs can easily manage their own aggro, you as a tank can make their lives a little easier if you can take 25% of their normal aggro and put it on you.

    Can't wait to make my SS/WP brute in Preatoria and bring him blue side.
  10. sturm375

    Scrankers

    Reasons why Scankers exist:

    First, and probably not the most important reason, is that there are no decent punching sets for scrappers. Look at comic books, tell me that Super Strength should be reserved only for meat shields (granted there are maybe 2 meat shields in all of comic bookdom). If scrappers got Super Strength, you'd probably see fewer scankers.

    Second, meat shielding is completely unnecessary for 95-99% of the PvE content. And for a large portion of the PvE content, attempting to meat shield will slow an average team down. Why would you specialize on meat shielding when it's only needed a very small percentage of the time? Far better to be more versatile and actually put out some damage.

    Lastly, defense (Res/Def) is in my opinion underpowered. It's dwarfed by offense in so many ways in this game. It's been nerfed to the point of nearly being insignificant over the many years this game has existed. The devs have not openly admitted it, but having an AT with a defensive primary was probably a mistake. They treat our secondary almost like a primary. Hell our inherent is based on our secondary.

    Those are probably not all the reasons why scankers exist, but it covers a large portion of why.
  11. Quote:
    Originally Posted by Roderick View Post
    [Conditioning] for Spiders and Widows.
    I am totally unfamiliar with red-side epics. Conditioning does what? Is it like Stamina?
  12. Quote:
    Originally Posted by Rylas View Post
    Defenders get an end reduction, which doesn't really modify buffing/debuffing/healing.

    Controllers get a damage bonus that doesn't help mezzing.
    Defender's end redux (even if it is a sucky inherent also) modifies their primary. Controller's get 2x damage, and crit holds, both of which enhance their primary. Ask a fire/kin if that 2x damage is negligible.
  13. Quote:
    Originally Posted by Aett_Thorn View Post
    And a Tanker with Rage, Build Up, Fiery Embrace, AAO, Shield Charge, and Lightning Rod wouldn't be broken or anything.
    Don't forget Taunt. You'd likely get kicked from teams if you don't pick up taunt, the rest would be fine by most other team mates.
  14. Quote:
    Originally Posted by Rylas View Post
    My one wish would be to take away the accuracy check for gauntlet on AV's. Taunt should not be our only guaranteed way to get their aggro, and it would take some of the fuel out of flame-bait threads.
    Would be nice not to need Taunt for AV/GM fights, but it'd never happen. Cause it'd make Tanks "Too powerful" or some such nonsense.
  15. Quote:
    Originally Posted by Roderick View Post
    I'm sorry, but that wish can't be granted until EVERY other AT in the game has an inherent that modifies their primary. Because they don't.
    Which AT doesn't?
  16. What's something between a wish, and an absolute impossibility? Whatever that is, would be what it would take to get the following for tanks:

    An inherent that modifies their primary, like EVERY other AT in the game.
  17. Quote:
    Originally Posted by Shuckins View Post
    I don't think I can list just one. How about three....in order of preference?

    Rage for all tanker primaries.

    Two handed weapon set: polearm/long-axe/great sword

    Broadsword
    Can't agree on the rage thing, I personally hate rage, totally sucks the heroism out of it for me.
  18. One or the other, probably not both:

    1) CoH 2.0 based much much less on traditional MMO classes and much much more on comic book greatness.

    or

    2) Playable (unlockable) incarnates

    CoH is too far away from comics in the eyes of a brick, and too old to change enough, for me to care about tanks anymore.
  19. I spent about 3/4 of a billion inf once to get the best psi res/def on an inv/em tank once. Completely not worth it. You'd be much better of getting good recharge, and getting near perma DP. Also, popping Orange and Purple pills is a LOT cheaper.

    Building that guy out, and not seeing much difference in general play between it and just level 50 Generic IOs, is why I sell most of my IOs when I get them.

    Bottom line: Not enough Psi enemies, and way to costly to mess with it. Roll a WP tank if you want Psi res/def.
  20. My thoughts in a nutshell: Meh.

    Don't get me wrong, it's a good add-on, and much needed. However after playing for a few weeks on another [not to be named] super hero MMO, it's too little too late. And no I am not leaving CoH, I love this community, and as long as it's here, I will maintain a presence.

    Specifically, after over 5 years of asking for it, we finally got the changes to the animations of Super strength, so that a "punch" actually looks like a punch, and a "haymaker" looks like an haymaker. And I love the ground punch animation for Footstomp. However, in that other game's super strength, it's just soo much more. More powerfull looking, more powerfull feeling. Knockback that does additional damage. I could go on, but not here.

    I am looking forward to GR though, that should be very fun. I guess after 5+ years of almost continous play here, I need a break from it, a change of pace.
  21. Quote:
    Originally Posted by blinded View Post
    Something I have noticed while fighting lvl 52 bosses in ae farms with my lvl 50 fire blaster.

    I can strip aggro from a tank who only uses auras as their taunts far, far easier than a tank who spams taunt whenever it is up.

    So my imput to a anyone who want to be a tank is take your auras, TAKE TAUNT.
    Or you know you could just not be a spaz and wait for the tank to gain aggro, then hit your AoEs of doom. Don't worry, you'll still get the kills, it'll just be a little safer.

    With the exception of AVs, GMs and specials (Hami), it is darn hard to take aggro away from a tank, once he has it. However if you don't wait for the tank to gain aggro, I say serves you right to get face planted.
  22. Much as I hate hate hate HATE to say it, taunt is needed for a tank in some situations. For most of the game you don't need it. If you plan on:

    AV missions with a team
    or
    Fight Giant Monsters
    or
    Hami Raids

    You're going to want taunt. I have used an exceptionally high powered, super IO'd out Inv/EM tank with massive ST damage, and Invulnerability, and even with that gauntlet will not hold the aggro of an AV if a team of 8 is pounding on it, especially if some on the team are blasters/scrappers. Maybe Ice/EM could do it, or Ice/SS with multiple aggro fields.....

    Gauntlet is next to useless, and you're not going to be a "tough scrapper" against Hami. (Main reason I will never never ever do another Hami raid, I hate hate hate taunt-boting).

    GMs are similar to AVs and Hami, gauntlet requres a to-hit check on these guys, and doens't last long.

    Frankly it's a stupid piece of [censored] programing crutch of a power. I hate it, it's in my opinion unheroic, and I hate it even more that I need it in some situations.
  23. sturm375

    Gauntlet 2.0

    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Reiraku View Post
    Probably because Tankers, as a whole, are doing quite well, and of all the possible improvements to them, damage is probably pretty low on the list.
    I've bolded the problem point. See it's very subjective. "Doing Quite Well" could mean occasionally soloing an AV to one person, and something much lower to someone else. The devs have never (to my knowledge) quantified what "Doing Well" means to them in terms of AT performance.

    What murkies the waters even more is that there are some ATs that do much better than tanks. The devs have as much as said that debuffing ATs can be too powerful, but they don't have any balance fixes in the works for those.

    When this happens, you get "Haves" and "Have Nots." Even if the "Have Nots" are "doing quite well" according to someone's opinion/metric, they see what the "Haves" have, and naturally want it.

    I'm tired, and have little more point than one person's "doing quite well" is not everyone's.
  24. sturm375

    Gauntlet 2.0

    Just a quick thought. We probably ought to leave IOs (set bonuses, procs, whatever) out of the balance argument. Theoretically, the game is supposed to be balanced with SOs in mind, so let's look at power pools but not IOs please.
  25. sturm375

    Gauntlet 2.0

    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Johnny_Butane View Post
    Gee, thanks for the vote of confidence. In me and in the devs. /sarcasm
    As much as their current priorities lack any sympathy for Tankers, there's always the chance the devs can come around.


    .
    Oh, I am confidant. I am confidant that the bean counters will tell those at Paragon Studios, that to make the changes you and I would like, to make Tanks a conceptual match to their comic book roots, would cost too much, and not bring in corresponding revenue. That, in the end, is the reason it won't be done in this game.