vinque

OK, I'm a little confused here. I haven't played my Kat/SR in a couple weeks, but broke him out last night and noticed my GD attacks were knocking guys back instead of just knocking them down. I didn't see anything in the patch notes and I swear this never happened since I got GD. Does GD knockdown and knockback? Am I doing something wrong?
Just for clarification, I used to notice with GD and SD that the knockup/knockdown affect could leave a guy just out of melee range, but what I saw last night were guys flying backwards. Also to clarify, SD still seems to work the same as always.

Well, thx for the input. I'm not level 50 (or 47) yet so I guess I'll have to wait and see what happens first. I'll either hit 47 or get the "lower" lvl procs, either way I should have them in the next week (if the lvl 50s sell that much better).

I have been trying for a couple weeks now to get two sets of Oblit for my main. I thought I learned a lot from buying my first IO set (ToD), but I'm having some difficulty with this one. The big problem is the dmg proc. I was away thanksgiving week so I filled my market slots with bids and items I wanted to sell. I didn't expect all my bids to fill and was quite happy when I got back and picked up and sold quite a bit, but the one thing I have yet to purchase is the oblit dmg proc. I had about 1/2 doz bids for them at various levels and didn't purchase one. Anyone have any suggestions? Did I just get unlucky (since only two sold of the six I had bids on)? It does seem like these are "more rare" than the dmg procs for ToD in terms of frequency of sales (of course, this could just be coincidental). Anyhow, any feedback is greatly appreciated.

I think I'm getting a slight case of alt-itis. It has mainly come about while I try to get some IOs for my main. Anyhow, I'm only on my fourth char, MA/Regen. He's only lvl 8 but he seems to be WAY behind the others I've created (Kat/SR, FM/WP, Inv/FM). I usually keep the difficulty setting on the default until I get in the neighborhood of lvl 22. This has provided a decent challenge for my first 3 char, but my MA/Regen is dying a lot more often. I know MA/Regen is "underpowered" compared to other builds but it's starting off worse than I thought. Is /Regen this bad? Does it get better when I have more than one heal (i.e. lvl 10)?

Good help and yes, I need to be more specific, but wanted to "test the waters" before I went into detail. Two immediate areas that I think are probelmatic are controls and understanding (God this feels like I'm talking to Dr Drew). First, huge problem is controls. Let me first say I've tried to say at least a billion times how bad I sucked (and maybe still suck, comparatively) with movement and "controlling" my char. However, my girlfriend has the prob of not wanting to use "both hands" (can't seem to avoid sex metaphors) when controlling her char. She moves using one hand and attacks using the same hand. I have also told her how I used to do the same thing and she needs to try to use both hands but doesn't seem to be working. I guess I need to be patient on this one. The understanding might be the tough one. I mean the understanding of the game. I've told her about the abundant resources for the game (online resources), but I think she'd rather rely on me for info. This one might be a suck it up and deal with it, which I'm prepared to do, just thought I'd throw it out there.

My girlfriend has become interested in the game and I'm trying to help her play and I don't seem to be doing a good job. We're waiting on the laptop I ordered (should be here in a week or so) and we can play together, but right now she is playing and I'm providing "backseat driver" help. I don't seem to be doing very good. I can't imagine I'm the first to do this (although anything's possible), any suggestions?

I must admit I usually have trouble with coordinates in MMOs so I know I'm part of the problem, but does anyone know why the coordinate system in this game is so screwy? I mean it's like someone said, "OK, now let's really screw with people, we'll interchange the traditional Y and Z axis, and reverse traditional +/- values for north/south and east/west - that should mess with their heads". I guess I just need to start the shock therapy to retrain my brain.

I just thought I'd throwing something in here since my first two toons are Kat/SR and FM/WP. I don't know about the final build on either since my SR is only lvl 40 and WP is 23, but I thought I'd mention the difference in levelling the two. My SR is my first char and I found it interesting that I didn't even realize some of the perks SR was granting me with the high defense until I played my WP. Of course I was getting hit less often, but this also limited the debuffs. Probably the most notable issue is -end stuff (although -def also sucks). When my WP is fighting something like MU Strikers I have to focus on them first (even before bosses or lt) because I can take a punch to the face better than -end. Anyhow, just something I found pretty interesting.

OK, I was being stupid, thx.

I don't mean to threadjack here, but I'm curious about the comment that this build could use the GC>SD>GC>GD attack chain indefinitely. I'm working on a Kat/SR build (my first char, btw) and was concerned about endurance use if I can get the high DPS chain (the one above). In your build the attack chain uses over 20 end in about 3.5 sec. Doesn't that mean you would need to recover about 6 end/sec to run it indefinitely? I apologize if I'm missing something here this is my first toon and I am trying to figure out the math.

Thanks for all the feedback. I'm actually still confused (just about what might work best for my toon), but it sounds like I won't know until I try. I mean, I don't really know how much exemplaring I will do. I'm forty now and have not done any exemplaring. I figured that might change as I get closer to 50, but maybe not. I'm thinking I will just IO close to 50 and maybe use a second build that's frankenslotted for lower level exemping. Again, thanks for all the info.

I'm curious about what level IO sets others tend to purchase. I mean, looking at builds the sets are always level 50. I don't know if this is just because it's kind of a default in Mids or if that's truly what people use. I've got my first char to level 40 and in the process of getting a set of ToD. My first plan was to get sets in the lower 40s so I could atleast exemplar down to level 40 or so without losing my bonuses. For some sets this doesn't seem like a big deal (i.e. Blessing of the Zephyr, Red Fortune) but for others the small difference might actually be noticeable (i.e. Obliteration, Mako). So just curious what's the norm in terms of IO set levels?

Thanks for the help. I'm now starting to feel like one of those suckers. Wish I could get home now and retract those bids.

I put some bids in for my first IO set last night and it seemed much higher than what I expected. I had to bid under the lowest posted price (this is just for recipes) for just about every piece. I added up the lowest prices for each piece and that came to 38 million. I have read a number of posts that claim this set can be bought for 10 mil. I know prices fluctuate so I'm guessing that's the issue. My total bids came to just under 20 mil. Is that too much?

I'm finally looking at IO sets and have a build I want to try for my Kat/SR. The build gives me 3.56s recharge in GD. I know 3.4s recharge is required for the highest DPS Kat attack chain. To me, this seems close enough. Would that be correct? I can easily get below 3.4s with a purple (Armageddon), but not sure it's worth it. The purple would be nice, and who knows.....someday.

I am a science origin, so I flip between current story arc (terra consp), cimerora, and occasional radio mission. So DE, Cimerorans, and "take ur pick" enemies. Obviously my enemies are another part of the prob. DE quartz is just BRUTAL and Cimeroran def debuff sucks, so.....
It sounds like I need to make quite a few adjustments. For some strange reason I wanted to try to take my first char to 50 w/o sets, but I'm beginning to rethink that decision. I think I'll take the advice here and make some mods to my build (and pry open the wallet). Thanks for the advice everyone.

Well, some good advice already. I have posted my build below, it is my anticipated lvl 50 build, so everything is correct up to 38 (since I'm only lvl 39). You can easily see one of the probs, no DA. I spec'd out in the 20s, is it crucial? I think I'll try having a lot more purples in my insp tray and see if that helps. Also, I can almost feel the comments on my "atypical" frankenslotting of my melee attacks so I'll just say, for whatever reason the crushing impact recipes were quite high over the weekend so if I can get my hands on some cheap I'll swap 'em out, but for now I at least wanted something better than common IOs.

Hero Plan by Mids' Hero Designer 1.601
http://www.cohplanner.com/
Broegar: Level 50 Science Scrapper
Primary Power Set: Katana
Secondary Power Set: Super Reflexes
Power Pool: Leaping
Power Pool: Fitness
Power Pool: Leadership
Power Pool: Fighting
Ancillary Pool: Body Mastery
Hero Profile:
------------
Level 1: Gambler's Cut B'ngBlow-Acc/Dmg(A), B'ngBlow-Dmg/EndRdx(3), B'ngBlow-Dmg/Rchg(5), F'dSmite-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg(7), F'dSmite-Dmg/EndRdx(7), F'dSmite-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(34)
Level 1: Focused Fighting DefBuff-I(A), DefBuff-I(13), DefBuff-I(13), EndRdx-I(39), EndRdx-I(40)
Level 2: Flashing Steel M'Strk-Dmg/EndRdx(A), M'Strk-Acc/Dmg(3), M'Strk-Dmg/Rchg(5), M'Strk-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(9), M'Strk-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(9), RechRdx-I(36)
Level 4: Focused Senses DefBuff-I(A), DefBuff-I(15), DefBuff-I(15), EndRdx-I(39), EndRdx(42)
Level 6: Build Up RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(11), RechRdx-I(17)
Level 8: Combat Jumping DefBuff-I(A), DefBuff-I(11)
Level 10: Practiced Brawler RechRdx-I(A)
Level 12: Hurdle Jump-I(A)
Level 14: Super Jump Jump-I(A)
Level 16: Health Heal-I(A), Heal-I(17), Heal-I(31)
Level 18: The Lotus Drops M'Strk-Dmg/EndRdx(A), M'Strk-Acc/Dmg(19), M'Strk-Dmg/Rchg(19), M'Strk-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(21), M'Strk-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(21), RechRdx-I(37)
Level 20: Stamina EndMod-I(A), EndMod-I(23), EndMod-I(25)
Level 22: Dodge DefBuff-I(A), DefBuff-I(23), DefBuff-I(37)
Level 24: Agile DefBuff-I(A), DefBuff-I(25), DefBuff-I(37)
Level 26: Soaring Dragon B'ngBlow-Acc/Dmg(A), B'ngBlow-Dmg/EndRdx(27), B'ngBlow-Dmg/Rchg(27), F'dSmite-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg(29), F'dSmite-Dmg/EndRdx(29), F'dSmite-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(31)
Level 28: Quickness Run-I(A)
Level 30: Lucky DefBuff-I(A), DefBuff-I(31), DefBuff-I(39)
Level 32: Golden Dragonfly M'Strk-Acc/Dmg(A), M'Strk-Dmg/EndRdx(33), M'Strk-Dmg/Rchg(33), M'Strk-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(33), M'Strk-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(34), RechRdx-I(34)
Level 35: Evasion DefBuff-I(A), DefBuff-I(36), DefBuff-I(36), EndRdx-I(40), EndRdx-I(43)
Level 38: Maneuvers DefBuff(A), DefBuff(40), EndRdx(42), EndRdx(42)
Level 41: Boxing Empty(A)
Level 44: Tough S'fstPrt-ResDam/Def+(A), ResDam-I(45), ResDam-I(45), ResDam-I(45), EndRdx-I(46)
Level 47: Weave DefBuff-I(A), DefBuff-I(48), EndRdx-I(48)
Level 49: Conserve Power RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(50), RechRdx-I(50)
------------
Level 1: Brawl Empty(A)
Level 1: Sprint Empty(A)
Level 2: Rest Empty(A)
Level 1: Critical Hit

I am still fairly new to the game. I mainly play the first char I created, a lvl 39 Kat/SR. I felt pretty good until a recent thread about what diff settings people play. I found I was way lower than others. I took some advice and frankeslotted my attacks. I now have 35% def in all and a decent attack chain (I have GD under 6 sec recharge). I don't have any IO sets yet (other than the frankenslotting but don't think that counts), and I still have trouble going beyond 0 x4 diff settings - this seems to be my limit. At these settings I'm dying once/mission on avg. I don't mind dying and like a challenge, but I feel like I'm somehow not overcoming the challenge because it seems I should be able to do at least 0 x8 diff settings. So, am I doing something wrong? I realize this is a very tough question since I'd almost have to post a clip of one or two of my battles so you could see what I'm doing. I try to use different strategies like pulling guys, taking on the toughest first, jumping in and attacking, moving around when attacking guys (not just standing still button mashing). My two toughest scenarios seems to be very large number of guys and red boss and any number of guys. In these battles I can usually count on either hospital visit or burning most, if not all, of my greens. Anyhow, sorry for the lengthy post, just curious if anyone has any tips/advice on how to improve combat scenarios outside of IO sets.

I believe the important number you want is 3.4s recharge on GD, which is how long it takes to do GC>SD>GC. I also believe that is 250% recharge on GD. I further assume approx 95% recharge enhancements in GD. So you need about 155% from other sources (i.e. quickness, hasten, IO set bonuses).

I am currently playing a Kat/SR (lvl 38) and I think he's pretty darn cool. Of course, I'm probably not the best to comment since this is my first char. However, I'll throw my opinion out there anyway (isn't that what the boards are for?). I have a very simple, non-DA, SO build planned that can easily soft-cap (see below). There are a number of options for IO builds so I won't bother posting, but I can say the SO build is working great. I did use DA early but spec'd out in 20s (when I got melee/range def over 30). I, personally, like the increase DPS when you spec out of DA. If I know I'm gonna have a tough battle I just pop a purple.

Hero Plan by Mids' Hero Designer 1.601
http://www.cohplanner.com/
Broegar: Level 50 Science Scrapper
Primary Power Set: Katana
Secondary Power Set: Super Reflexes
Power Pool: Leaping
Power Pool: Fitness
Power Pool: Leadership
Power Pool: Fighting
Ancillary Pool: Body Mastery
Hero Profile:
------------
Level 1: Gambler's Cut
(A) Bruising Blow - Accuracy/Damage
(3) Bruising Blow - Damage/Endurance
(5) Bruising Blow - Damage/Recharge
(7) Focused Smite - Accuracy/Endurance/Recharge
(7) Focused Smite - Damage/Endurance
(34) Focused Smite - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge

Level 1: Focused Fighting
(A) Defense Buff IO
(13) Defense Buff IO
(13) Defense Buff IO
(39) Endurance Reduction IO
(40) Endurance Reduction IO

Level 2: Flashing Steel
(A) Accuracy IO
(3) Damage Increase IO
(5) Damage Increase IO
(9) Damage Increase IO
(9) Recharge Reduction IO
(36) Endurance Reduction IO

Level 4: Focused Senses
(A) Defense Buff IO
(15) Defense Buff IO
(15) Defense Buff IO
(39) Endurance Reduction IO
(42) Endurance Reduction

Level 6: Build Up
(A) Recharge Reduction IO
(11) Recharge Reduction IO
(17) Recharge Reduction IO

Level 8: Combat Jumping
(A) Defense Buff IO
(11) Defense Buff IO

Level 10: Practiced Brawler
(A) Recharge Reduction IO

Level 12: Hurdle
(A) Jumping IO

Level 14: Super Jump
(A) Jumping IO

Level 16: Health
(A) Healing IO
(17) Healing IO
(31) Healing IO

Level 18: The Lotus Drops
(A) Accuracy IO
(19) Damage Increase IO
(19) Damage Increase IO
(21) Damage Increase IO
(21) Recharge Reduction IO
(37) Endurance Reduction IO

Level 20: Stamina
(A) Endurance Modification IO
(23) Endurance Modification IO
(25) Endurance Modification IO

Level 22: Dodge
(A) Defense Buff IO
(23) Defense Buff IO
(37) Defense Buff IO

Level 24: Agile
(A) Defense Buff IO
(25) Defense Buff IO
(37) Defense Buff IO

Level 26: Soaring Dragon
(A) Bruising Blow - Accuracy/Damage
(27) Bruising Blow - Damage/Endurance
(27) Bruising Blow - Damage/Recharge
(29) Focused Smite - Accuracy/Endurance/Recharge
(29) Focused Smite - Damage/Endurance
(31) Focused Smite - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge

Level 28: Quickness
(A) Run Speed IO

Level 30: Lucky
(A) Defense Buff IO
(31) Defense Buff IO
(39) Defense Buff IO

Level 32: Golden Dragonfly
(A) Cleaving Blow - Accuracy/Damage
(33) Cleaving Blow - Damage/Endurance
(33) Cleaving Blow - Damage/Recharge
(33) Cleaving Blow - Accuracy/Recharge
(34) Multi Strike - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance
(34) Multi Strike - Damage/Endurance/Recharge

Level 35: Evasion
(A) Defense Buff IO
(36) Defense Buff IO
(36) Defense Buff IO
(40) Endurance Reduction IO
(43) Endurance Reduction IO

Level 38: Maneuvers
(A) Defense Buff
(40) Defense Buff
(42) Endurance Reduction
(42) Endurance Reduction

Level 41: Boxing
(A) Empty

Level 44: Tough
(A) Steadfast Protection - Resistance/+Def 3%
(45) Resist Damage IO
(45) Resist Damage IO
(45) Resist Damage IO
(46) Endurance Reduction IO

Level 47: Weave
(A) Defense Buff IO
(48) Defense Buff IO
(48) Endurance Reduction IO

Level 49: Conserve Power
(A) Recharge Reduction IO
(50) Recharge Reduction IO
(50) Recharge Reduction IO

------------
Level 1: Brawl
(A) Empty

Level 1: Sprint
(A) Empty

Level 2: Rest
(A) Empty

Level 1: Critical Hit

I don't know if this is just me or not, but I seem to have a frequent problem doing "Defeat All..." missions. It seems I have cleared the entire map but the mission does not complete. I have either dropped these missions or petitioned a GM. When I petition, they "find" one Mob I missed. Last night I had this happen and after re-running the entire map multiple times I decided to take a break for a few minutes and then search the entire map one last time. I never found the guy and this was in a "lab" map where there doesn't seem to be as many places to hide (i.e. crates, rafters). Does this happen to others frequently? Are there some tricks or techniques I'm missing?

OK, reading this thread just depressed me. I'm curious about lvl of char vs diff lvl. I'm still on my first toon and he's lvl 37. I have adjusted his diff from -1 x8 to 0 x4 and that's about as high as I can safely go. If I up # of guys (i.e. 0 x6) and get spawns with red bosses it seems to be too much. I prefer getting more drops to getting more xp so usually just stick with -1 x8. I'm guessing I need some nifty IOs (currently have common IO build) or I just suck. Well, thinking about it, I don't care too much, still having fun, just a little irritated.

Well, the problem did seem to be using full-screen instead of windowed mode. I switched and everything worked fine. Just a note, I was using same game res as desktop res (1024x768) and I do have nVidia card. If I really feel adventurous I might try to play with it and see if I can get it to work in full-screen mode, but this works so I'm happy. Thanks for the help.

Just thought I'd throw in that I did this a couple weeks ago and had same problem. I "auto-complete" the Hector mission, then did another mish (can't remember the name) and had same issue -couldn't find the last guy(s). I thought it was just me since it happened twice in one night.