A powerleveler's guide to blasters (very long)
By
45th_Parallel,
Posted on: 2004-06-14 07:36 in Player Guides
I am a lvl 33 Ice Blaster and lightning fast is totaly capable of doing what he says at lvl 30.
If you want to keep the mobs together all it takes is Shiver and the mobs will take 75-100% of the damage of Ice Storm after they are hit with Frost breath. Also with Hasten the wait from Frost Breath is not that long after you cast Shiver and then Ice Storm. So if you are AOEing anything yellow and above oh well just hit them again with frost breath. Frost breath is a cone that gets wider as it extends out farther. The trick is first to extend it with enhancements and then stand as far back as you can and center yourself on the most distant bad guy. If you do this the cone width will actually be as wide and a lot longer then other blasters AOE that explode in a circle such as fire. Stealth also helps a ton here so you can sneak up and get positioned just right.
Also another thing I have discoveredÂ… The larger the group of bad guys there are the easier it is to keep them together with shiver. This is because the Ice Storm has them bumping into one another trying to run away and they basically ping pong off each other slowed by shiver and in the end they are effectively not going anywhere and taking full damage from Ice storm and the caster has no worries of taking damage in return.
I am sorry but an Ice/Ice blaster that knows how to AOE has to chuckle at the other blasters in this forum claim to be the best AOE blasters there are. There is a lot more to AOEing then raw damage and when you play an Ice/Ice blaster you start to understand that.
Edit - Just saw lightning fast is Ice/Device so going to retract the Shiver comment of mine I thought he was Ice/Ice. Still very doable on his part with Ice Storm Frostbreath just a little harder to keep them together over time.
Koolaide
Just a tid bit of info for the person that made the huge deal over someone saying elect blasters powers sometimes cause targets to shake, and seem stuned. I've tried it, and if you read the descroptions of each power in the creation phase, you'll notice I believe its says lightning blast, can cause the foes to be stuned, shaking and disoriented from the blast which can last up till the for takes more dmg.
I've witnessed this when a Emp/Elec defender hit a foe with that power, you see a faint static discharge around the foes body, and he stands there shaking violently for a few momments, roughly 2-3 seconds as it was during the first we were engauged in. This happen several times from just a defender's blasts, so imagin a true powered Elec blaster using it, with hasten, means almost unlimited shock stuned foe, when you fire off the same power over and over. Now then, in my own trials with a elec blaster, as was my first choice before I desided I thought Fire best fit my characters background and story line. I noticed this stun effect very rarely in the early levels. Maybe 1 in 4-5 foes would get shock stuned. However, this amount went up marginally as he leveled, and by time he was 10th, the blast would most times shock stun them after 2-3 hits from that same power. Means it ramps up in power and effectiveness with levels, and like alot of powers, has its secondary effect percentage increased with levels as well.
Now, you can say, your 5 min servey of the power is absolute, and that you know better then anyone else, but you can't disallow another persons insite on the point cause they are testing it via higher levels and different enhancements. In fact I tend to believe the effect triggers more with more ACC you have, cause my bud is a Elec/Dev blaster, and uses targeting drone 100% of the time. This doesn't mean all elec powers can stun or shock stun as it were, but some can and will. THough some are rigidly made just for it and others use it as a secondary minor effect for mostly visual reasons, but also to a degree, for tactical use when and if it does happen, you can watch for it and know when to leap in with other powers to knock them out faster.
Now then, I don't know if its possible to constantly stun, guess it could be, but in effect it is possible to stun with some Elec powers, 3 that I know of for sure, one is lightning blast the second power in the set, and it even says it will do it in the description given in the power selection screen.
even tho u said someone would say that electricity is good but it does some serious damage compared to fire enegy and ice and ya i actually more like usasly make all the guys not be able to attack when i solo bc it takes a lil long than in a group but when i solo i always make all the guys not attack me and it is very usefull but w/e ever i power lvl more with electicity than i did with my fire
Sorry about not replying for several days, the new content has my
attention. Since the daily maintainance happened today at an
unexpected time, an hour and a half late, I thought I'd recheck
the thread.
Lightning_Fast, the only possible AOE combinations Ice/Devices
has to kill AOE in the 20s is Frost Breath/Frost Breath or Frost
Breath/Ice Storm. That's it. You don't have access to any other
AOE powers. Well, unless of course you are using the special Ice
Blast powerset that has other AOEs none of us get.
You've explicitly stated that you don't Frost Breath twice. Ice
Storm won't do it. Even if we discount the mobs running out of it
(let's say you have Provoke and can tank), even if we discount
the fact that its damage doesn't scale up, it still is a
slow-acting DOT. In other words, it'd be faster just to skip it
and wait the 10 seconds for Frost Breath to recharge. It sounds
like you are relying on some magic to get the mobs to just stand
in the storm and do nothing while you run to the next pack. Hmmm,
what could that be? Oh wait, Terra Volta, bugged spawns. Good
thing you got the 20s done before this patch which is supposed to
have fixed all those spawns.
But, forget that. Even if we just got rid of all Ice Storm's
drawbacks and pretended it did all its damage in one fell swoop,
the 60-second timer alone is enough to disqualify it. There is no
way you can get anyone to believe that you can earn exp remotely
close to a Fire blaster with his AOEs recharged in 16 seconds
while you have to wait 60 between each of yours. Fire can burn
away almost four packs in the time it takes you to get one. At
least in Dark Astoria, you can often find 3 or 4 packs all within
sighting distance of each other. Fire blasts one, blasts another,
blasts another while Ice, even if everything else fell into
place, blasts one then goes and gets a cup of coffee while
waiting for the AOE to come up so it can blast another.
As for swarms, what are you talking about? I didn't say you were
doing them, I said they were the 'easy' mobs post-30 and they no
longer are an exping possibility. And as for Dark Astoria having
mobs weak to fire, well that's the whole point. Mobs weak to your
attack is a good thing, and Ice not having any is just another
strike against it.
So, once again we have another poster who gives unbelievable
numbers, gets performance from abilities that no one else seems
to be able to duplicate, and won't explain how its done. So you
are either lying, trolling, or not soloing. I urge people NOT to
try out other builds and see how well they powerlevel. Its an
oxymoron. The whole point of powerleveling is to get to 40 fast,
not to try something random only to find it sucks and you've
wasted many hours on a now-worthless character. The reason many
people reas posts on powerleveling is that they do want to
powerlevel, they don't have the time to experiment, they want to
find something that works, something they know will get them to
the higher levels in their limited playtime. It would be insane
to take the advice of one poster who makes claims that goes
against the experience of a lot of other experienced posters. If
you want to come straight out and tell us exactly what you are
doing, so we can analyze it and try it ourselves, great. But the
mysterious, 'trust me it can be done', kind of posts don't earn
you any believability, they just explain exactly why people are
drawn to powerleveling posts: they want something they know will
work, and they know it because a lot of people have tried it and
it works for them all.
---
Ashiitakka, according to Hero Planner Conserve Power has a
recharge of 10 minutes. And even with the recent change, it lasts
I believe 90 seconds now. That's just too long a recharge time
for it to replace a consistent, always-on power like Stamina.
RoninDF, the test was to prove, as I said, that the shake itself is not a stun. And I did. As for if there is something else that can cause a stun, my housemate is a 36 Electricity blaster, I've played with and watched him play plenty of times. And I talked to him. He said, on occassion, it looks like a stun effect is going off. But no way in heck was there a consistent, 3-second stun going off on every attack. Not even close. An occassional benefit? Perhaps. Something that will make an electricity blaster in PVP? No way.
And just standing there shaking doesn't mean he is stunned. He is only stunned if he stands there and shakes WHEN HE HAS AN ATTACK RECHARGED. In other words, if he is shaking but he'd just be standing there waiting anyway, that is meaningless. You say you shock-stun them in 2-3 hits. Well, of course. First hit, they shoot at you. Second hit they shake. But that is because they just shot at you and have a number of second left before their attack recharges. They aren't stunned, they just have nothing to do.
A random occassional stun I can believe. But the person claimed a 3-second stun on each and every shot, all the time, that he could always chain-stun any opponent. On that I call BS.
[ QUOTE ]
I am a lvl 33 Ice Blaster and lightning fast is totaly capable of doing what he says at lvl 30.
*snip*
Edit - Just saw lightning fast is Ice/Device so going to retract the Shiver comment of mine I thought he was Ice/Ice. Still very doable on his part with Ice Storm Frostbreath just a little harder to keep them together over time.
[/ QUOTE ]
You shouldn't waste your breath (no pun intended). You are fighting a sea of FOTM fanboys. No one wants to think for themselves or try something that isn't what they have been told is "the fastest xper". Doesn't matter how you define AOE or powerleveling, it's all about conformity.
BTW, dev has caltrops also for slowing, and as long as they are tightly packed, it's not much worse than my controller's shiver on minions/lts near my lvl.
For the poster that commented on me being lvl 30 on my posts, actually the sig changes for all your posts as you update it, which I do every couple days as I sit here at work. So my first post in this thread was speaking for a lvl 14 or 16 ice blaster and now for a lvl 30.
I must be doing something right with AOE...
I have never used an exploit, nor fought nerfable mobs for xp/hr (and couldn't anymore regardless). It has been 17 days and I have a level 30 ice blaster and also leveled up an ar/dev to 16 in that time. I play a few hours a night, minus breaks and kid/wife interruptions.
One more suggestion to players... mess with your slots. If you are xp grinding and your attacks are doing more dmg than you actually need to kill, perhaps replacing a slot or 2 with something else could be advantageous. Maybe some recharge reductions would speed things up even further than just haste alone? Oh no... I can smell smoke... who's trying to think?
[ QUOTE ]
Frost breath is a cone that gets wider as it extends out farther.
[/ QUOTE ]
As opposed to the kind of cone that stays the same width all along its length? Heh. Rectangle attacks coming soon to a Blaster near you!
I want a trapezoid.
Sadly, I am falling into the forum pit I really hate... having to reply to a post about topics already discussed, simply because someone posts inaccurate information in an attempt to disrepute someone elses posts. I understand from your post that you have been otherwise detained and may have not read my posts up to this point... so I will give you the benefit of the doubt.
[ QUOTE ]
Ice Storm won't do it.
[/ QUOTE ]
This is incorrect.
[ QUOTE ]
It sounds like you are relying on some magic to get the mobs to just stand in the storm and do nothing while you run to the next pack. Hmmm, what could that be? Oh wait, Terra Volta, bugged spawns.
[/ QUOTE ]
I have said I don't use these spawns... they are slower XP regardless of the freakshows not moving pre-patch. They are not tightly bunched and involve killing a boss, sometimes 2. I have had to kill some that magically spawn at a point normally taken by my regular mobs.
[ QUOTE ]
Good thing you got the 20s done before this patch which is supposed to have fixed all those spawns.
[/ QUOTE ]
Yes, the same patch that ammusingly made DA spawns harder for AOE blasters.
[ QUOTE ]
And as for Dark Astoria having mobs weak to fire, well that's the whole point. Mobs weak to your attack is a good thing, and Ice not having any is just another strike against it.
[/ QUOTE ]
Actually, let me quote a previous post of yours:
[ QUOTE ]
I'll stand by my definition. An AOE blaster is such because such a blaster has powers which are good enough to destroy packs, and don't require special weak packs that may get nerfed or may only be in a specific zone.
[/ QUOTE ]
So which is it... you want people to kill something that is only in a specific zone (AOE compliant DA Pantheons groups) and weak to you, or that is wrong and not a true AOE blaster? You should really pick one side to argue.
[ QUOTE ]
The whole point of powerleveling is to get to 40 fast, not to try something random only to find it sucks and you've wasted many hours on a now-worthless character. The reason many people reas posts on powerleveling is that they do want to powerlevel, they don't have the time to experiment, they want to find something that works, something they know will get them to the higher levels in their limited playtime. It would be insane to take the advice of one poster who makes claims that goes against the experience of a lot of other experienced posters.
[/ QUOTE ]
Well, to the first point... why waste time on fire? AR is superior AOE to fire and even you have to admit this. If the true goal is "the fastest", then why offer the second fastest? Sure, fire is faster earlier... but those are the quick levels, right? Could it be you wanted to allow other options, but have a problem when someone else does also?
As for posts from "a lot of other experienced posters"... where? I haven't seen a lot of this. I have seen an abundance of posts asking questions and more about PvP, but it appears the bulk of experienced players (which are better than experienced posters imho) have not bothered much with this thread amazingly enough. There have been only a few.
[ QUOTE ]
mysterious, 'trust me it can be done', kind of posts don't earn you any believability,
[/ QUOTE ]
Again, not to point out the obvious... but you, as the original poster, specifically talk about powerleveling to 40 with 2 builds you haven't taken to 40. Isn't that a tad bit of "trust me, it can be done"? I digress, as I don't think we should get into credibility discussions. They have no bearing on the actual topic.
Lastly, you mentioned something about not being solo. Interesting. What if I was? What if the numbers I posted involved a 2 man group? What if I wasn't, but could make better numbers than that by grouping? Is that a bad thing? If the true point is to powerlevel as quickly as possible, isn't legal xp/hr the most important value in the discussion? The end justifies the means... and all that rubbish?
That being said, I have duo'd and solo'd with the ice blaster. XP per hour is very close. It appears the increased speed at which I can kill due to buffs/debuffs is pretty much negated by the xp loss. But, it is more fun to duo with someone then grind solo, especially if you can talk over ventrilo at the same time. To each their own.
On that note, I think I'll take my leave of this thread and remove it from my favorites.
All the points I could make have been made.
RSR, feel free to pick apart my credibility, question my intent, accuse me of running away, whatever you feel like. Just know that everything you say along that line detracts from the focus of your original post. You will only do yourself and this thread a disservice, as even a few of my posts have. I've tried to not do it, but it's easy enough to get carried away.
Good luck to everyone out there. Don't be afraid to think for yourself!
Ice/Device, with caltrop and (assuming) Hasten is on, how do you do all right with aoe, -without- dual FB/Ice Storm? The -other- aoe is Trip Mine?
Look...if you are trying to say 'it works but since I found it, you'll have to find it on your own,' then just say so, instead of claiming it works but evading inquiries.
sad to get picked apart for valubale reliable information
thank you for your contribution Lightning Fast
glad there are still a few people who stand up to the cookie cutter model for sucess in this game
So I decided to reread his posts again.
1. His stable attack combo is caltrop + 2 attacks.
2. He claims to be a viable -1/equal minion AOE'r. I believe him since most 'simple' (ie. physical attack only, no hold/mez/diso) mobs at blue/white can be killed easily.
3. The 'valuable reliable information' never went further than the previous two points, he did not want to disclose hunting grounds, and he didn't reveal what the second attack of that combo is. We just know it's caltrops, -one- FB, and whatever else.
So let me get this straight...posting in a powerlvl thread to say that his build won't be going as fast, but definately viable at underhunting, while casting a negative glance at people who want to use what's known to work...
Yeah, valuable reliable information of what not to do. I've learned another lesson at someone else's expense. Thanks.
[ QUOTE ]
On that note, I think I'll take my leave of this thread and remove it from my favorites.
[/ QUOTE ]
You have the thanks of a greatful nation.
Over in the Scrapper forums, we had a guy exactly like "Lightning_Fast", who went by the name of "Tahiro". He was always posting about his Uber Super Reflex Build (stop laughing, I'm NOT making this up!) that was basically invulnerable to harm, and could one-hit entire troops of Purple Bosses.
Oddly enough, HE wouldn't post his build either.
The fact is that there's a severly limited number of ways to build and slot an Ice Blaster, just as there are only so many ways to build an SR Scrapper. You'd have to be retarded to "refuse to post your build because you don't want people copying". Anyone with even a tiny bit of CoH experience can pretty much make an optimal build of ANY Archtype Primary- there's really no Voodoo involved.
Oh, and much like Lighting_Fast, Tahiro disappeared from the boards once he was called on his nonsense.
[ QUOTE ]
Just a tid bit of info for the person that made the huge deal over someone saying elect blasters powers sometimes cause targets to shake, and seem stuned. I've tried it, and if you read the descroptions of each power in the creation phase, you'll notice I believe its says lightning blast, can cause the foes to be stuned, shaking and disoriented from the blast which can last up till the for takes more dmg.
I've witnessed this when a Emp/Elec defender hit a foe with that power, you see a faint static discharge around the foes body, and he stands there shaking violently for a few momments, roughly 2-3 seconds as it was during the first we were engauged in. This happen several times from just a defender's blasts, so imagin a true powered Elec blaster using it, with hasten, means almost unlimited shock stuned foe, when you fire off the same power over and over. Now then, in my own trials with a elec blaster, as was my first choice before I desided I thought Fire best fit my characters background and story line. I noticed this stun effect very rarely in the early levels. Maybe 1 in 4-5 foes would get shock stuned. However, this amount went up marginally as he leveled, and by time he was 10th, the blast would most times shock stun them after 2-3 hits from that same power. Means it ramps up in power and effectiveness with levels, and like alot of powers, has its secondary effect percentage increased with levels as well.
Now, you can say, your 5 min servey of the power is absolute, and that you know better then anyone else, but you can't disallow another persons insite on the point cause they are testing it via higher levels and different enhancements. In fact I tend to believe the effect triggers more with more ACC you have, cause my bud is a Elec/Dev blaster, and uses targeting drone 100% of the time. This doesn't mean all elec powers can stun or shock stun as it were, but some can and will. THough some are rigidly made just for it and others use it as a secondary minor effect for mostly visual reasons, but also to a degree, for tactical use when and if it does happen, you can watch for it and know when to leap in with other powers to knock them out faster.
Now then, I don't know if its possible to constantly stun, guess it could be, but in effect it is possible to stun with some Elec powers, 3 that I know of for sure, one is lightning blast the second power in the set, and it even says it will do it in the description given in the power selection screen.
[/ QUOTE ]
Pardon my absence... It was in affect to protect certain powers as RSRobinson has finally and for the first time guessed correctly.
Ronin DF, you are correct.
RSRobinson conducted a 5 minute survey with his gimp toy and still refuses to admit there is a stun inherent on certain electricity attacks.
Others notice it, but attribute it to a graphical anomaly that only occurs when the enemy is NOT attacking, but SOMEHOW doesn't occur when the enemy Is attacking.....
Ronin, again you are correct.
The shock/stun effect does increase in occurence with higher levels. It IS influenced by accuracy but is MAINLY dependant on the amount DRAINED. Thus, if you DRAIN more, you SHOCK LONGER. Apparently this too, although i hinted at this, escaped RSRobinson......
RSRobinson wrote " RoninDF, the test was to prove, as I said, that the shake itself is not a stun. And I did. As for if there is something else that can cause a stun, my housemate is a 36 Electricity blaster, I've played with and watched him play plenty of times. And I talked to him. He said, on occassion, it looks like a stun effect is going off. But no way in heck was there a consistent, 3-second stun going off on every attack. Not even close. An occassional benefit? Perhaps. Something that will make an electricity blaster in PVP? No way."
This is interesting. He merely states that he has relations with an electricity blaster (who most likely read RSRobinson's nub guide and slots all dmg, producing 0 shocks) and then comes to a conclusion. How quaint! Perhaps I could simply say NO, provide an example that takes 2-3 powers into account and ignore all notions of slotting!!! And then say thats all.... because i said so!
No no... I don't have that luxury, i have to PROVE to him and his cult that he is sorely wrong and refuses to admit that he has not the means nor the knowledge on how to produce a stun blaster ... aka electricity
He refuses to comment on my ability to COMPLETELY stun almost ANY pack of minions White and below. From start to finish, I can prevent packs or single minions and LT's from firing a SINGLE shot.... I mean this statement ALONE negates ANY possible argument attempting to disprove a stun exists.... NO! He won't accept that! He WONT accept my occurences, only his own! Or
"If I can't make it happen, then it MUST not be true! Not only that, but I won't accept any theories on how its possible because they most likely mean my statements in my guide are inaccurate."
Its time to make a level 5 character, who has access to the FIRST minor power that has a stun effect ! Poorly slotted he STILL notices the stun, but EASILY dissmissed it with a recharging of the enemy's attacks. Interesting that he merely stated what he saw, not WHEN he saw it, or HOW it happened..... NO! He just saw it, and applied his theory again...
What most likely occured, is that he opened with lightning bolt, and noticed the monster, if shocked, COULDNT attack TILL the animation was over! As Ronin pointed out.....
No, he refuses to respond on HOW A MONSTER COULD BE RECHARGING IF THE MONSTER HASNT FIRED YET. No, he won't comment on that, because he can't. There is no refutable, rational, explanatory statements he could make that would justify his argument.
I also offered to any, and all a brief meeting on the freedom server so that I could flagrantly display my shocking (stun) powers.... No, thats not good enough either.
Apparently, RSRobinson said it was so, therefor it must be so!
In truth, he has an argument. His argument is his guide. He states his case, and the premises within. The masses read this guide, and praise him for his guidance..... partly because they lacked their own and perhaps aren't as astute as RSRobinson and cannot make decisions themselves when faced multiple tempting options.
The problem though, lies within his stubborness. He refuses to admit and will continually deny certain aspects of a blaster type that HE scorned in his guide! Having certain fans and respect, he takes the sophist approach, and merely presents evidence that apparently cannot differ from his own findings... which were brief and biased. He has seen, never controlled.....
Ironically, he can NEVER achieve the same results as another who is suggesting an alternate outcome, because he ONLY follows his OWN model. Thus, he OBVIOUSLY can't produce anything different. He has his own guidelines to follow and thus he has to defend them in fear of public ridicule.
What powers does he have available?
How is he slotting?
Does he even KNOW which powers can produce certain shock?
Is he AWARE of certain situations which are ONLY possible under hasted effects ?
Apparently not... he said she said got the best of him. He 'saw' ... but won't come to watch me. And I won't post, or make some guide on how or why X blaster is the best. Although i could, but then again he nor his cult wont understand something which cannot programmed, categorized , or easily referenced.
i've watched ice blasters frost breath + rain = lvl minions for over 30 lvls now.
thats without build up
with build up fb can do well over 2/3 dmg, and rain still doing half
thats still = dead equal lvl minion. whats teh problem?
RSRobinson,
Do you have any advice for 41-50 yet? or any comments on where best to powerlevel without swarms and monkeys for 31-40?
Also, my own addition courtesy of the patch: The zombies in Dark Astoria now jump around like crackheads instead of shambling about like they did before. It's now worthwhile to throw out caltrops before flamethrower so that they stop long enough for you to line up a cone (and you'll be waiting on caltrops recharge timer if you don't have hasten by the time you hit DA).
This wasn't mentioned in the patch notes but I kinda noticed after being there 5 levels and seeing the sudden change in zombie behavior.
Ok, I give up... I'm not above it all. I admit, I try and advise people when they are obviously far above my advice. Call it a character flaw. Could I let this thread go... no. Sadly. Too much misinformation and too many confused kids.
I have given 2 examples up to now. I know many people don't read and probably never saw them. Another Ice blaster (33) gave a possible solution. I'll give even one last one, a specific example based on everyone's desire for me to use 2 frost breaths. Heck, i'll even use exact numbers, since that seems to be more important than reality.
TV - 10 packs of lts, -1 level.
Full Time Haste (6 slotted rech)
Caltrops/smoke
Ice Breath (5 slotted dmg, 1 rech)
Ice Breath (same)
Since it's all about the numbers and not real game time... total battle time, including animations 13-14 seconds. All powers ready for recast upon reaching next group, usually 3-5 identical groups within a combat jump or 2.
Based on XP needed per level and xp/mob, you would have to kill about 170 groups at lvl 28 (or close). Taking a rather leisurely group/minute number of 2 (I like to stroll, maybe kill a missed mob or 2), it would take a grand total of 86 minutes to level. Say what? How can that be? Damnit, fire must be faster! By math, it is. RSR states that he could get AR down to that speed, even lower, but no way ice could get close. In fact, my original statement of 120 minutes of in-game time was obviously embellished according to RSR, despite it being almost 50% more time that my relaxed example above.
Since both fire and ice would use 2 attacks, a well slotted drone should make their statistical hit/miss rate identical (for the kids, that means we will both miss some over time that we have to cleanup or leave). I would belabor the chances of missing a guy or 2 with the cone, but I have given myself ample time to clean up by allowing myself 30 seconds per group (at least 10 seconds of non-travel time to cleanup... with 1 sec animation powers to do so with).
So what now? Obviously if everyone isn't leveling this fast or faster, it must be human error. Bad clicks, bad cone aim (happens to fire too... fire breath and all), grab a coke, hit the restroom, etc.
The problem is, you people are so hooked on the specifics and statistics, you can't even see the obvious. Is one going to level faster, sure, I have never argued that and even said that they would many times. In practical terms, is it really that much of a difference between some of them? No. But people aren't about practicality, it's all about decimal places.
And now the big one... which has been the commonality of my messages all along:
Can Ice be an efficient AOE blaster based on RSR's original post's mob criteria?
Ummm... yeah, of course.
P.S. I welcome any factual retorts, but I won't be checking the thread as often as I have. After all, I am a superhero and have to come back to fight injustices, even when the humans don't realize they need saving... hey... I feel like spiderman... thhhwwwbbbtt.
I find it amusing how so many people come out of the woodwork to flame someone for just trying to help others. They have this goal of proving you wrong and showing you every flaw they can find when all you did was provide your opinion based on your own research.
On behalf of those who don't fight with our noses in the air, thank you for the post. It had a lot of good information and helped see a few mistakes I was about to make with my AR/Dev blaster.
[ QUOTE ]
I find it amusing how so many people come out of the woodwork to flame someone for just trying to help others. They have this goal of proving you wrong and showing you every flaw they can find when all you did was provide your opinion based on your own research.
On behalf of those who don't fight with our noses in the air, thank you for the post. It had a lot of good information and helped see a few mistakes I was about to make with my AR/Dev blaster.
[/ QUOTE ]
Agreed. This is a good guide and I hope it stays that way.
If anyone has an uber build that uses a secret strategy to work, leave it out of this thread please. This thread is for 'sharing' information on powerleveling.
[ QUOTE ]
all you did was provide your opinion based on your own research.
[/ QUOTE ]
Isn't that what RSRobinson was basing HIS experiences off? His OWN research?!
Which only happens to be with a few of the combinations possible concerning blaster classes?
And then coming to certain conclusions which couldn't be further from the truth??? WOW
[ QUOTE ]
Fight with our noses in the air
[/ QUOTE ]
Maybe you meant to say your noses in his ***?
[ QUOTE ]
It had a lot of good information and helped see a few mistakes I was about to make with my AR/Dev blaster
[/ QUOTE ]
The ENTIRE reason ppl 'fight' in the FIRST place is over the creditability of these statements.......
ACCORDING TO WHOM were the choices you were making a mistake???
wow! I should have left the this FOUNTAIN OF MISINFORMATION
[ QUOTE ]
Sadly. Too much misinformation and too many confused kids.
[/ QUOTE ]
Yes!
[ QUOTE ]
I have given 2 examples up to now. I know many people don't read and probably never saw them. Another Ice blaster (33) gave a possible solution. I'll give even one last one, a specific example based on everyone's desire for me to use 2 frost breaths. Heck, i'll even use exact numbers, since that seems to be more important than reality.
[/ QUOTE ]
If your findings do not coincide with RSRobinson's orginal statements, then you MUST be wrong. As a matter of fact, if when he makes his level 5 Ice blaster, and does not find it posisble to solo efficiently using frost breath.... Well then, your WRONG and you probably DONT even play COH!
[ QUOTE ]
Based on XP needed per level and xp/mob, you would have to kill about 170 groups at lvl 28 (or close). Taking a rather leisurely group/minute number of 2 (I like to stroll, maybe kill a missed mob or 2), it would take a grand total of 86 minutes to level. Say what? How can that be? Damnit, fire must be faster! By math, it is. RSR states that he could get AR down to that speed, even lower, but no way ice could get close. In fact, my original statement of 120 minutes of in-game time was obviously embellished according to RSR, despite it being almost 50% more time that my relaxed example above.
[/ QUOTE ]
The few times i decided to get xps for my ice toon, I went from 21-27 in 5 hours in dark astoria (Ice/Eng) <--- Maybe I should have checked with the poster of this thread first??.... Then ofcourse back to the top of the brickstown tram station for me!!!
[ QUOTE ]
So what now? Obviously if everyone isn't leveling this fast or faster, it must be human error. Bad clicks, bad cone aim (happens to fire too... fire breath and all), grab a coke, hit the restroom, etc.
[/ QUOTE ]
Hmmmmm...... Your probably just wrong or something, I mean I didn't see that anywhere in the guide *opens first page *
Someone wants to play the theory game even though it disproves his point.
[ QUOTE ]
Heck, i'll even use exact numbers, since that seems to be more important than reality.
[/ QUOTE ]
It would have been better to use *correct* numbers instead of exact but incorrect numbers.
[ QUOTE ]
TV - 10 packs of lts, -1 level.
Full Time Haste (6 slotted rech)
Caltrops/smoke
Ice Breath (5 slotted dmg, 1 rech)
Ice Breath (same)
Since it's all about the numbers and not real game time... total battle time, including animations 13-14 seconds.
[/ QUOTE ]
Activation time for *frost breath* (not sure what ice breath is - my ice/ice blaster sure doesn't have it) is 3 seconds with a 16 second recharge. Activation time for SG is 2 seconds and 1 second for caltrops. Assuming you used the powers in the exact order you listed, SG + caltrops + frost breath + 2nd frost breath would take a total time of 16.7 seconds with hasten. Further, this is assuming you are using a +3 level recharge SO in frost breath. If you use caltrops after your first frost breath you'd save 1 second.
In either case, you are *not* at 13-14 seconds unless your hypothetical ice breath (in whatever game you are playing) has a faster activation/recharge time than frost breath in CoH.
For comparison, a Fire / Dev blaster could use the SG + fire breath + fire ball combo in 6 seconds. About 2.8 times faster.
[ QUOTE ]
Based on XP needed per level and xp/mob, you would have to kill about 170 groups at lvl 28 (or close). Taking a rather leisurely group/minute number of 2 (I like to stroll, maybe kill a missed mob or 2), it would take a grand total of 86 minutes to level. Say what? How can that be?
[/ QUOTE ]
How can that be? Easy. We are playing the theory game, remember? You should as you were the one that started it.
[ QUOTE ]
Damnit, fire must be faster! By math, it is.
[/ QUOTE ]
Yes, it is. Assuming the fire / dev blaster did 4 groups / minute (24 seconds of combat / minute versus 33.4 seconds / minute for your ice / dev blaster) he would level in 42.5 minutes. This is assuming 170 groups / level. That's twice as fast even assuming that the fire blaster spends less time in combat and more time roaming (which is reasonable since he needs to find more groups to slaughter).
I have 3 blasters. My highest is a 30s energy/dev but I also have an ice/ice and a fire/dev blaster in their 20s. I can state from experience that both in theory and in practice that a fire blaster will significantly outlevel an ice blaster.
Does this mean my ice blaster is gimp? No. He's just not as good at powerleveling as my fire blaster.
This is a thread to help others with quickly leveling a blaster. RSRobinson has created a helpful guide to help players. It gives insight into primary / secondaries considerations, powers to select / avoid, advise on how to slot them, where to hunt, etc. Simply put, it is a resource.
If you don't want to take part in that, then don't, but please stop derailing this thread.
I don't think there's anything wrong with someone not wanting to post their strategy or build, even with this being a guide(even if it being on PLing is kinda lame) We all have the capacity to think and to plan. Play the game the way you want to play it. A guide is supposed to be just that. Something to Guide you...not something to base your game career off of. If you play that way, then you're playing the game for the wrong reasons.
With my gaming history, I would be considered a powergamer. Back then it more meant someone who strives to be the best that they can using the skills and tools they have available. Evidently today it means Who can best replicate a planned out strategy that everyone uses.
Anyway, this isn't the place for this post. I merely came to say that for this to be truely a guide to help people level(I'm not going to call it a PLing guide anymore), then his comments are completely viable regardless of whether he lays out exactly how to do it. Now if he's wrong, he's wrong and there's no point in beating him to death in the thread. I personally would never want to post my build on a char(unless it was an early version) except in parts...like saying I have this and this..and I can choose this or this..what would compliment best, type of thing.
But hell, I chose fly so I'm considered stupid from the get-go just because some people don't want to deal with the Z-axis movement.
Personally I like the idea of if I have to run, which isn't often, I can just zip straight up(assuming they can't or won't fly after me, even then all I'd have is the flyer) and not worry about dodging other groups of enemies
Things we know from what Lightning_Fast has revealed:
1. His blaster (according to his sig at the time of posts) is lvl30 Ice/Device
2. He doesn't use Aim/Build up/FB/Ice Storm, or he could be saying that he doesn't use Build up.
3. He doesn't seem to use dual FB either, or he doesn't want people to start copying exactly what he does, hence the hesitation.
4. At lvl30, effective aoe for an Ice/Devices are FB and Trip Mine. But setting up a good trip mine (center of a pack) usually requires a smoke grenade.
5. Blizzard is at clvl32, and Time Bomb is at clvl35.
So, if no dual FB (assuming he has Hasten), what else can you use to wipe out a pack of mobs with effective use of aoe?