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I'll agree with your final statement here, but not the first. There's no good reason to go through, e.g., level 17 with yellow enhancements when you could be buying shiny new green ones. Not buying any until they're combinable doesn't buy you any additional effective time, it just delays the first purchase.
When you do buy them, though, it is definitely wiser to combine existing enhancements with each other where possible than it is to unnecessarily trash enhs by replacing them with level+3 enhs.
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"There's no good reason..." --> So, all I have to do is come up with one? Easy.
Effectiveness: Level 37, you have level 35 SOs with 2 pluses (effectively 37s). Until you level, these are White, not yellow. Which means, they are still effective. When you hit level 38, if you are still in a mission, finish it, of course, but as soon as you leave the mission, excuse yourself, go level, and buy your new enhancements. Minimal yellow-time.
Cost: Lets suppose that you are going from level 35s to level 40s upped to 41s
Poster's Way:
Starting from level 33, you buy 18 Level 35 damage SOs at 42000 each = 756K to get 18 level 35+ SOs (assume all combines are successful)
During the next 5 levels you purchase 18 more level 35 damage SOs to up your damage to 35++ (assume all combines are successful) = 756K
At 38th level you purchase 18 level 40 damage SOs at 52K = 936K
==========
18 level 41 damage SOs = 756K + 756K + 936K = 2.448M
Now your way;
At level 32, you buy 18 Level 35s damage SOs (replacing your old 30++s) = 756K
Over the next 5 levels you purchase 36 level 35s to up the enhances to 35++ (assume all combines are successful) = 1.62M
At level 37, you purchase 18 new level 40 damage SOs = 936K
At level 38, you purchase 18 new level 35 damage SOs (because you are daring that way, and its cheaper than the 40s) to up your 35s to 35+s = 756K
=====================
18 Level 41 damage SOs = 4.068M
1.62M more your way? I don't know about you, but I need a hell of a lot more than 18 SOs, and wasting 1.62 million influence is not a smart solution. The difference between a white and a green + = 0.1x damage --> is that pittance worth 1.62 million influence?
My contribution:
SS+Cloaking Device+Smoke Grenade makes you completely invisible to all enemies, including Snipers, Rikti Drones and Rularuu, regardless of level. Nothing is better than being able to scout without fear. Glowie missions become much less of a hassle. Also, aggro seems to drop faster when you have invisibility, so mobs don't chase you as long, and quickly forget that you attacked them.
If you get lost/confused on where you are, click on one of your teamate's names and then right-click to Follow them (F is default for Follow). You may run into a wall, but you will also get their green HUD box and you can get a better idea which way to go.
When using FlameBreath, set up with the thinest profile of the group possible, then target the enemy furthest away from you to get the largest group possible.
AoE attacks: AoE attacks are weaker than single-target attacks; if a boss or tough Lt. is in the middle of a group, use your single-target powers on the minions until you can be sure to set off your AoE without aggroing the boss.
Force Fields #1: The Dispersion Bubble draws aggro. For the best results, put Deflection and Insulation Shields on your teamates and then put on your PFF. Once someone has gotten aggro on the mobs, get near to the lead melee'er and turn off the PFF and turn on the DB. Beware of AoE attacks from the enemies.
Force Fields #2: Force Bolt is an excellent tool; if a teamate (read blaster) is getting hammered by a melee mob, FB them off of your teamate, which gives the person time to throw some damage at the mob, and rarely gives you aggro. FB is also useful for protecting you from melee attacks or protecting an area (read Reactor Core). FB is good from driving retreating mobs back towards your damage dealers (read Scrappers), nothing gets a Scrapper more excited than to have a FF'er pop a FB onto a runner and knock them right back into melee range.....neat trick, and its amuses all.
Force Fields #3: Two FF'ers' bubbles WILL stack. Even slightly slotted, this will reach the Def cap, plus the other FF'er gets a rarity, to actually enjoy the protection of some bubbles.
Trip Mines: Trip Mines are sensitive to your location/nearness. If you aren't near, they won't go off. This offers the */Devices blaster a nice side-effect, you don't need the 9th/ultimate power to do a "blow-up".....set down 4+ mines in a small area, get far away but within line of sight, then have some nervy soul bring a whole slew of baddies into your mine field. Run into the mine field and, BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM... plus you can still do your ultimate if you need to 
Hydras: Hydras are suseptable to Lethal damage, which makes AR/* blasters especially effective in Hydra hunting.
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1.62M more your way?
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If you're sweating 1.62M in the level 37-38 range, you must have something else you're spending your cash on. I've given away 3-4 million, bought new enhancements as early and as often as possible, and I still have 3-4 million just sitting there at level 39. My SG mates in their 40s have between 15-20 million.
Assuming you can find someone to help transfer inf, all you need is one character above 35 and money problems are pretty much over.
-Garrik
A Scrapper in Steel Canyon will level faster solo than in a team, as long as you're not a crazy suicidal scrapper.
Any kind of defender is an asset to any team.
DON'T TEAM WITH STUPID PEOPLE! Nothing ruins a game experience more than a Blaster who thinks he's a tank, a Defender who thinks they're a blaster, a Scrapper who thinks he's invincible. or ANYBODY who doesn't listen to the plan. Learn to read the names and descriptions of the characters inviting you to a team, or those on a search list before inviting them yourself, and recognizing the warning signs. Air Superiority is one of them, along with Teleport Foe and Flurry, when owned by Controllers and Defenders (note, these are just common warning signs. 'There are exceptions to the rule, as there always will be).
A forcefield Defender cannot constantly refresh both Deflection Shield, Insulation Shield, and run Dispersion Bubble constantly in a six-man team or larger, and still expect to help with damage. Slot your defenses, not your attacks, if that's what your goal is with the character.
Combat Jumping is awesome. Unless you have no room for it whatsoever in your build for a scrap or tank, it's worth grabbing.
Fly is expensive. Plan accordingly.
Superspeed is FUN. Get Hurdle to make it better.
Teleport is not for everyone. It takes creativity to use well, and end reductions to make it efficient for travel.
Mezzing kills. This applies to heroes and villains equally, so love your fellow Controllers.
Controllers CAN solo, Illusion and Mind Controllers in particular. Grab Concealment if you plan to do so at any length.
You don't NEED any archetype for a team. Not even defenders. All you need is intelligence and strategy.
High-end gaming is fun, even if you're only sidekicked into it artificially.
There's more, but I'm tired. COH FOREVAH!!!
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A forcefield Defender cannot constantly refresh both Deflection Shield, Insulation Shield, and run Dispersion Bubble constantly in a six-man team or larger, and still expect to help with damage. Slot your defenses, not your attacks, if that's what your goal is with the character.
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Actually they can, eventually. At 37 with 6-slotted Stamina and an Endurance Reducer in all bubbles not only can my FFer keep everyone double-bubbled, run Dispersion and blast but can also run Maneuvers and Accuracy from the Leadership pool at the same time.
Oh and that's with Energy Blast, with Psi (very low End cost) it's even easier.
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If you're sweating 1.62M in the level 37-38 range, you must have something else you're spending your cash on. I've given away 3-4 million, bought new enhancements as early and as often as possible, and I still have 3-4 million just sitting there at level 39. My SG mates in their 40s have between 15-20 million.
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You go ahead and waste 2M, that's your business. The poster said there is no good reason, and to me, 2M influence is a good reason. Tell me you wouldn't participate in a mission or costume contest if it offered 2M influence.
And, I do sweat 1.62M influence at 38th level. I don't know of any other way to spend influence than to buy Enhancements and Inspirations (trivial at this point), but I do tend to only go to one shop and sell instead of running around to all the specialty shops just to sell the 1-2 enhances that I have for that origin.
here's one for all the SJ'ers out there, I know I wished I had known about it earlier...
/bind key ++up (auto jump button!)
now you can auto run and auto jump and its almost like flying! Set it and forget it!
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The poster said there is no good reason, and to me, 2M influence is a good reason. Tell me you wouldn't participate in a mission or costume contest if it offered 2M influence.
And, I do sweat 1.62M influence at 38th level. I don't know of any other way to spend influence than to buy Enhancements and Inspirations (trivial at this point), but I do tend to only go to one shop and sell instead of running around to all the specialty shops just to sell the 1-2 enhances that I have for that origin.
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I wouldn't participate in a mission or costume contest for 2M. I might do it for fun, but not for the money. In fact, I gave away 1M at the last costume contest my SG sponsored.
Having said that, some food for thought:
1. You get roughly 2/3 the value for enhancements not sold at the proper store. If you're worried about influence, you might want to consider selling in Talos where the round trip to several stores only takes a minute.
2. At level 37, you're running around with all white enhancements. If you buy lvl 40s that will be +3 to you, you get a bonus of 1.15x the enhancement for each one. For a power that does 100 base points of damage with 5 SO damages in it, you do 266.5 points to my 291.5 points.
3. I'm not trying to knock how you play the game - your money, your time. I'm just trying to allow people who may not understand the math to see the difference in approaches.
4. The real difference between the 2 methods you laid out for purchasing enhancements is in when you buy the 'next level' upgrade. I buy them as soon as available (i.e., 40s at level 37). When I do, I cannot combine, but must replace. You wait one additional level, so when you buy the level 40s, you can combine with your existing enhancements. This saves you one round of purchases. The original statement was that there was no good reason to wait. There is a reason to wait, but how you define good is key. To me, a savings of 2M is not a good reason, at least not in my current financial situation. However, this may be a great reason for you!
-Garrik
Garrik,
I agree, it is a money management issue, and you are free to spend your money as you wish. But, I would like to mention that during the life of your toon, assuming you go to level 50 and start buying SOs at level 22, you actually buy five extra sets of enhancements when you replace as soon as you are able.
I just got my Fire/Dev alt to level 38 today, and I ended up buying 59 level 40 enhancements (not counting the 6 or so unsuccessful combines I had). On average, they cost me 45K each (I bought 34 damage enhances at 48K each) which equals 2.655M influence (not a trivial sum to me, although I guess it is to many).
For the sake of ease, since 37/38 is in the middle between 22-50 and taking 59 enhancement slots as an average (yes, I know there are more awarded on the topside of the levels, but I want to make this easier), 5 extra sets actually comes to ~11M extra.
As far as damage, I calculated that I would be doing a good bit more of damage (4.6x vs. 6.11x) after I upgraded to 40+ enhances, but I guess that the villians' HP went up faster than my damages did, because it was still taking me a Blaze+Fireblast to take out yellow and white minions.....here I thought I would be knocking them down faster...oh well.
I suppose over the life of your character, 11M is a small amount, but I'd still prefer to save my money, especially when it seems to have no major effect (for me) to have the latest level enhancements. Level 37 was really pretty painless...so, no complaints from me in the damage department.
BTW, anyone know an actual number on the bonus blasters get for damage?
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I suppose over the life of your character, 11M is a small amount, but I'd still prefer to save my money, especially when it seems to have no major effect (for me) to have the latest level enhancements. Level 37 was really pretty painless...so, no complaints from me in the damage department.
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Someday maybe we'll have something to do with all that money. Then it will matter!
Sorry to hijack the original thread a bit - hope someone finds it useful!
-Garrik
Here's something that happened yesterday to me. I offered to take a beginning tank (lvl 3) with me on a miss. No, it was not powerlevel and I asked them. I do it because I love watching new people play and I want to promote my fellow tanks. Anyway, I sidekicke the toon and tell him to fight as well - which he did. What I don't tell them is at the end of the miss I give away all the enhancements I pick up - usually several DOs and a few SOs. This person fought and then left as soon as it said miss accomplished stating he was off to play with his SG. I told him 'no prob, have fun'. So lets see, he missed out on something like 30K worth of influence just to speed it along. Who wouldn't have loved that at 3rd?!?!? Shame shame.
My advice to new players...go slow, enjoy the view, and when a high lvl toon offers to take you for a ride, go for the whole ride!!
Here's one I like:
When doing a "Stop 15 <baddies name> mission", & the contact says "You can usually find plenty of Tsoo in Talos Island", & you dont' think you can go there yet or just don't want to, you can go kill them whereever they hang out in the lower level areas. Example: I had a Defeat 15 CoT mission & the contact told me to go somewhere where I knew there would be CoT that I prob couldn't handle in large groups Solo. So I went to King's Row, & blasted 15 CoT offa the rooftops in about 2 minutes. Be aware though that you obviously won't get any XP from the arrests for this since they're such lower level, but you get the mission XP MUCH FASTER, then you can move on. Some missions won't let you do this... the ones that specifically say "Defeat 15 Clockwork in BoomTown" means that you haveto go to BoomTown to do it.
The other thing is that if you use your Powers Tray, once you get enough powers & you want to open the 2nd teir of the tray, go into Option & resize your Windows from 100% to 80-85% if you havent' already done so. Otherwise the tray takes up too much of the lower-right of you're screen.
Air Superiority might become an issue depending on how City of Villians will be implemented. Can't wait to see what they will look like LOL.
Im a New Newbie, so what are us new newbs doing?
Well first off I ordered this game online so it took a couple days to get here, so I was reading up these forums, I read this entire thread, saying ok I wont do that, ok I wont do that. Well I did them anyways.
Been playings since feb 4th
just two days ago, I was doing the Pos TF and was waiting at the train station after I got off for my team leader to tell me which city to deliver the book too, i was lvl 16 and you'd think I would know better by now, specially since reading this thread, well.....
I TRIED TO GO IN THE EXIT OF THE TRAIN! That whole time until then i was like yeah baby im not the 95% who's done it or the 5% who has lied about it! lol wrong I did it.
I havent tried exiting the mission thru the door, Im glad i read this thread for that one.
I had some high lvl blaster who was like my tutor, i was asking on broadcast some questions about enhancements, had no idea about DO's and he took me to the store that sold them, and gave me 500k, just for the hell of it!!! He said he was glad to help someone who was new and he had so much he didnt care, WOW I was like awesome, I have had a UBER Blaster ever since. LVL 18 and broke, ok i have about 30k but this is money ive earned from going down to about 1k
that wasnt really a newb mistake but still a awesome experiance when you've only have your first lvl 10 guy on your 3rd day of playing.
Dont SJ onto a group of mobs that are even or above you! bad! lol
Dont stand in the middle of the street in Skyway, or you will get dealt with by a rouge ambush! lol Try 400+ damage points by a lvl 40 advanced drone. me...lvl 16, and it happened TWICE in 15 minutes lol
Get on at 845am, not knowing the servers usually go down at 9am for scheduled maintaince. Excited about playing and was just able to run around a bit. <sigh>
thats all i can think of at the moment
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Powers can well be slotted in any fashion desired - each slot gives the same amount of benefit, so go with the ratio that you feel comfortable with.
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Actually, thats not true, and I think it's one of the as-yet unadressed probelms of the game.
For damage powers anyway, it's far more efficient to slot for damage than anything else
If anyone wants a break-down of the numbers, feel free to pm me and I'll gladly provide them, or if I get enough requests I'll post them, but the way it works out, assuming you dont have problems with endurance, it's always better to slot attacks for damage than for end redux or recharge time.
LOL some more things learned. AKA Things I will not do as a noob.
1> I will not run up to the first group of gang members I see without checking who is there. Mr Fallon Shotgun is not my friend and impact lead poisoning makes for messy tights.
2> After realizing that Mr Fallon Shotgun is not my friend I will not run down the pavement attracting the attention of more of his friends.
3> I will also not randomly hop fences because the Clockworks seem to get horribly annoyed when you land on top of them.
4> I will not mess with the Nasty man with the cadavers. If I do I have to arrest him not the Cadavers since he had the annoying tendency to wake them back up.
5> Sewers = Bad Idea.
Nobody will read this far!
Don't turn off TOOLTIPS in the Options menu!
With ToolTips, you can hover the mouse over your XP bar, and it will tell you how much XP you've made since your last 'level up', and how much more you need to make.
You can select a player or a mob, and hover the mouse over their Health bar, and see how many hit points they have! This is most useful when you're fighting Archvillains who you are connecting with but they don't appear to be losing health -- hover the mouse over their health and you will see that the Hatched Kraken has approximately 28,000 hitpoints!
Some others:
* Decieve the Sky Raiders ForceField emanators! Cool trick.
* Ice slick is way too good to avoid for an Ice Controller!
* Hasten is cool, but because you attack more, your endurance goes out the window. Be sure to get Stamina. My tank re-specced OUT of Hasten/superspeed into CombatJumping/Superjump and hasn't had endurence problems since. Not everyone *needs* Hasten, but ...
* most everyone *NEEDS* Stamina! Those blasters who are level 30 and don't have the Fitness pool -- they are slowing your team down enormously.
* As a Tank jump over and behind mobs before using Taunt. That way they turn to face you, and are far less likely to attack your team-mates, plus because you'll now be FACING your team-mates, you'll be able to see if they are being attacked before their health bar starts to (rapidly) shrink, and hopefully do something about it.
* As a blaster/defender/controller do NOT alpha strike (be the first one to fire) at any new group, since this will aggro the entire group and they will remember for the entire battle. Let the Tank or Scrapper get their attention BEFORE you strike.
* Paragon Protectors -- these guys use Moment of Glory when they get below 25% hitpoints, this effectively makes them unhittable (or hit for very few points of damage). The trick to killing them is to whittle them down to 50% and THEN use Build up/Aim on your Blasters, pop a red inspiration, and snipe or use your most powerful attacks. Then the Paragon Protector is -dead-. Usually people use their most powerful/boosted attack at the BEGINNING of a PP fight, and thats just not the wisest choice.
* Team invisibility + Invunerable Tank with Invincible = not very invisible, since Invincibility auto-aggros groups as you come into range.
* I wish I had read this entire thread six months ago.
Archvillain Q (Level 39 fire/fire blaster, Justice)
Titan-Ice (Level 37 Ice/FF controller, Justice)
Arsenic Man (Level 33 Ice/Ice blaster, Virtue)
Puzzle (Level 32 rad/rad defender, Justice)
Acutely Velcro (Level 28 Inv/Stone Tanker, Justice)
Ftoomsh (Level 9 Kin/Psi Defender, Justice)
--
Ex.
Part-Troll, who used to be Excession777, now playing pantomime with people's mindlets.
--
Hi all, I really like this thread. So much so it inspired me to put a player guide togehter, a link to which is in my signature. Please take a look and provide feedback. It's a beta version and I'd like to get a final one posted. Thanks.
If you choose Hover, going vertical in an open area is a nice way to be safe when recovering. Just hold down space and rise, rise, rise. Mind yourself near buildings, though. Nothing like rise, rise, rise *BOOOOOOM* fall, SPLAT hospital visit thanks to the Outcast pack on the rooftop. Look both ways before levitating.
Inspirations are good. Try and keep 1-2 slots open by using them against anything decent (whites/yellows+). Odds are, they'll fill in one of the slots when you arrest a few.
Blue (even green) con mobs are usually good ways to pick up Inspirations without getting chewed up in the process.
You can activate Fly/Hover in mid-fall. Learn the timing and getting down from high places can be a very easy experience.
Bosses usually take multiple applications of a status inducing power to have it take effect. Don't expect Mr. Mire Eidolon to stop moving because you used Electric Fence. If a boss is charging you, this usually means he intends to take your head and jam it into the nearest hole- making that hole with your head, of course. If you are squishy, give yourself plenty of room to move. Some opponents are just going to be annoyed by certain powers-you can Fence that Cadaver all you like, all it's doing is damage. So be careful with newly names on your target. Laughing at all the Prototype Oscillators on the ground is good. Shooting one, having four fly up and chop you to bits on their helicopter rotors is bad.
Embalmed in Paragon City is another word for "blows you up".
If you want a bit more goodies out of fights, find citizens in trouble. Once you mash the bad guys threatening them, they may end up bringing you a little bonus Inspiration/Influence.
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* As a blaster/defender/controller do NOT alpha strike (be the first one to fire) at any new group, since this will aggro the entire group and they will remember for the entire battle. Let the Tank or Scrapper get their attention BEFORE you strike.
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/Disagree
Depending on build, a controller can start a fight with a group and never get hit... sometimes even keep your whole group from getting hit. By using an AoE Immobilize, one can potentially freeze up a group for an entire fight, far more likely if there are two immobilize AoE's in the group. Sometimes it's the best idea for a controller to hit em first... the rest of the time it might not be the BEST idea, but it usually works decently with the right controller and the right person behind the controls of said controller.
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Clicking the "Mission Completed" message on the top display will transport you out of the mission.
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Here is one: Pay attention during the tutorial - very valuable information can be picked up in Outbreak.
I learned this morning that if I actually use enhancements my Fire/Fire Tanker does better in combat and I get even more enhancements. LOL was wondering why I was getting spanked.
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Depending on build, a controller can start a fight with a group and never get hit... sometimes even keep your whole group from getting hit. By using an AoE Immobilize, one can potentially freeze up a group for an entire fight, far more likely if there are two immobilize AoE's in the group. Sometimes it's the best idea for a controller to hit em first... the rest of the time it might not be the BEST idea, but it usually works decently with the right controller and the right person behind the controls of said controller.
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As a gravity controller, I would like to make a clarification on this point. An AoE Immobilization and an AoE Hold are two different animals. Immobilized mobs can still attack you at range, and will. Even then, tanks (invulnerable in particular) like the opportunity to herd before controllers lock anyone into place. So I generally will allow a tank or scrapper to make the first move. AoE holds have an accuracy penalty compared to single target holds, so be sure to slot it with an extra accuracy enhancement if you're going to make the initial strike.
Another point I did not see mentioned relates to following a runner. If you hit the F key you will run at the speed of the runner, even though you may be faster. I kept wondering why the runner would slow down AND SO WOULD I! I thought it was lag or a bug, but it's just literally following in their footsteps. So use follow to get going the right direction, but then press the forward key to close the gap.
You're right saturn... I get them mixed up (you'd think I'd know better by now, I guess I need to play my controller more). With the group holds it's a good idea to have at least 2 slots worth of acc, since they can be inaccurate... like I said though, 'Depending on build'.
First, in response to an old post about the minimum level to change your outfit.. There is none. I've changed mine at level 1 (I skipped the tutorial.)
Second, one simple bit of wisdom. Kill stealing is bad. No, i take that back, its badong.
"If I didn't enjoy the ludicrous mayhem of an 8-person pick-up team and my eventual glorious triumph over seemingly impossible odds bereft of lucid and competant comrades, I would have left this game a long time ago. " - mean_liar
For all those console players out there....
There is a neat program called Joy-To-Key that is invaluable. You can map keys to all the buttons on any controller you have.....and you can also use binds with it. I hardly ever touch my keyboard or mouse.
I love these posts!! ......keep em coming.