I love the new difficulty settings! <3

I decided while I was bored to copy a few toons over to test and give the new character customization a try. As expected, it was a lot of fun. Then I decided to run some toons through some radios with the new mission difficulties. My Fire/Kin was first up and as expected, he did pretty well, except for once when I got stunned and forgot to load up on BFs before the testing. (I was also fighting Rikti and he's only soft-capped to S/L) So, then, I dug out my Claws/DA Scrapper that is only lightly IO'd (some CIs in her attacks and frankenslotted Dark Regen with the +end proc) and set the mission to 6 with +2s, wondering if she could handle it.

It was freakin' amazing. I love how more enemies seem to make her more survivable and I was taking out the +2s like they were greens.

One thing I have to say is that the current difficulty settings allow you to accumulate a ton of inspirations, which make it even easier to take out large mobs than you otherwise would be able. I'm talking about constantly having an orange, purple and two reds going and still being full before I could do anything about it.

That said, though, spinning around and taking the council down like so much wheat was exhilarating and it's an experience I recommend to everyone.

Anyone have any good stories about playing around in test with their scrappers? My love for my Claws/DA has been renewed.

I have to be careful with Arachnos at +4/x8. Psi attacks and heavy acc assassin strikes hurt a lot. It was nice to be challenged by normal content again.

Well, that's because you're a showoff, Bill :P

Anyone who goes below +4/x8 is a wimp :P

At +4/x8, I DO use insps. Don't have to, but I'm in it for the money not the glory!

Once this goes live I'm planning on attempting Citadel TF and Hess TF(I'll have to use second account for one mish)at +4/x8. I'm confident I'll have to use inspirations, but I wanna see if slotting all level 33 IOs on MunkiLord was worth it or not.

I thought we still weren't going to be allowed to run task forces solo? If we can, I may finally get to experience the half of the game that I haven't experienced. That would be cool.

Getting good drop rates on recipes?

You could go with a mind/FF controller. Mesmerize is no confuse but sleeping bosses in one shot has its uses. Turtle it up with PFF if it gets too tough.

Edit : gave it a shot. I'm getting wrecked by a 0/x8 group at level 1.

Hey Werner and Bill, I haven't been on the forums much, but I didn't know you guys were like legends in CoH. I checked out some of your solo-ing vids on youtube....you guys KILL IT! Those builds must be very expensive. That claws/SR of yours Bill is a beast. With the market being in the shabby state that it is i can't really AFFORD to build up a beast. I have to rely on AE tickets. Hoping for good drops on the bronze roll. I want to solo my DM/SR. I'm new to solo-ing. I normally play teams. With this new difficulty system I can really "test my might"

You should be able to do a good Dark Melee/Super Reflexes on the cheap. Skip the top tier attack chain in favor of the almost-as-much-DPS Smite -> Shadow Punch -> Midnight Grasp -> Smite -> Shadow Punch -> Siphon Life. Frankenslot Siphon Life. Use pool powers as much as sets to hit the soft cap. Profit.

I'm going to do +4/x8 for a bit just to see what I can handle on that setting (and cause I'm not a wimp), but then switch down to +2 or +3, it's far more efficient. +4s just take too long to kill, especially since I don't plan on downgrading my bosses.

Eva, I found that not to be true. Please see chart of earnings efficiency.

LATE EDIT: I feel it necessary to add that this is me on my claws/sr scrapper. The chart does not take travel time between missions into account. Other primaries with different ST to AoE ratios may see drastically different results.

Well I admit I don't have a fancy chart. I'm just going on subjective observations taken in the RWZ, where +2s and +3s make up for their lesser rewards through higher kill speed and less risk of taking two +4 Chief Soldier swords to the face at the same time, which can drop my DB/SR.

Does your chart take drop rates into account?

Travel time between missions will favor harder missions with more enemies. Still, +0 missions may be best due to drop rates. I'm not here to farm, though.