Call me skeptical, but I doubt that many will be willing to contribute to a thread that might also be titled, "Hey Devs, here's what to nerf next."
My characters at Virtueverse
Faces of the City
I'm looking for an excuse to quit playing CoX so I'll respond.
I created a new farm last night in AE that works well for power leveling and for ticket farming. If you create a "mixed" custom group of 1 standard minion, 1 standard lute, and 1 CUSTOM boss, the pack of mobs will consist of 75% bosses.
So I create a hard / hard boss with War Mace / Granite Armor and the xp and influence rewards are the same prior to the I16 nerf bat.
The only downside is that the auto lackey brings lowbies up to 49 instead of 45, but what do I care, as long as they are still willing to pay me.
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This is why power leveling will never go away, as long as lowbies will pay for it someone will provide.|
Originally Posted by ThugsRus
as long as they are still willing to pay me.
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More power to you and milk them for all it's worth.
I did some work on my boss farm with story and limericks - basically just added lieuts and minions to it, but never got around to actually farming it. The nice part is that I'll be able to add triple the number of limericks, but unfortunately they'll be on undesirable minions and lieutenants.
That's just for leveling stuff up though; for infamy farming I'll be doing -1 / 8x on the TV map with bosses off and hoping for purples. Unfortunately I've got that map at 50, so I'll probably have to reroll to pick it up at 48 to get the most out of my time.
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Wow, that's good to know. Customs tend to be MUCH harder than slammers though, so I guess this is going to take some work and testing to refine.|
Originally Posted by ThugsRus
If you create a "mixed" custom group of 1 standard minion, 1 standard lute, and 1 CUSTOM boss, the pack of mobs will consist of 75% bosses.
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Originally Posted by ThugsRus
So I create a hard / hard boss with War Mace / Granite Armor and the xp and influence rewards are the same prior to the I16 nerf bat.
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I'm also curious about WM vs Battle Axe - I'd think that anyone can get a -kb IO and neutralize BA's knockback, but the WM stuns could be more dangerous in large numbers. It's lethal rather than smashing, but don't all sets get the same resistance/defense to both?
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Very well put.
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Originally Posted by Megajoule
Call me skeptical, but I doubt that many will be willing to contribute to a thread that might also be titled, "Hey Devs, here's what to nerf next."
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Originally Posted by Nericus
Very well put.
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| this is for constructive and helpful information, there are plenty of farm debates out there already. |
Consciousness: that annoying time between naps.
I find running a standard minion/lt/boss mission with a 2 or 3 man team is about as efficient inf/tickets wise as running an all boss farm with an 8 man team was.
It's just nothing close to as fun.
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Does that ever work?|
Originally Posted by Donna_
Obviously this topic is very controversial so please if you don't agree with farming on any level don't post about it
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I don't mean to come across as hostile, but I always am sort of brought up short when I read someone say "you can only speak if you agree with me;" it just seems sort of like giving orders.
For some reason I see that a lot on message boards these days. It wouldn't occur to me to say that, even if I thought that random people on the Internet would actually obey me.
Anyway, sorry for the hijack, please continue.
If we are to die, let us die like men. -- Patrick Cleburne
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The rule is that they must be loved. --Jayne Fynes-Clinton, Death of an Abandoned Dog
I run +2 set for 8 ppl.
Hard / Hard custom bosses are very difficult. I dual box so I have multiple combinations to farm with. Prior to I16 I had two favorite farmers:
Spines / Fire Scrapper 45.02% smashing lethal defense and 52% resist.
AR / Fire Blaster with 46.4% smashing lethal defense and 49% resist.
Support: Rad / Kin Defender: 48% smashing lethal defense and 72% resist.
The scrapper is useless now. His damage is too low mobs scatter too much since i was previously doing back room farms.
The blaster is still fun but it's rather challenging since "build up" on mobs HURT. So i use personal force field to round up mobs and wait for Build up to wear off then take the shield down and destroy them. But even with this technique, it's not efficient.
So for my new farm, I've switched back to my old reiliable SS / Shield Brute. With Rikti War Zone not having a level cap anymore I can run level 1 heroes and villains there with my Brute / Defender combo.
I use War Mace primary because it's smashing damage. When you perma-team with a kinetic who has "increased density" picking mobs with smashing damage is awesome.
I tried a bunch of secondaries and wasn't thrilled with any of them. Rage destroyed me with SS. Regen was way too much work. Another power set with build up was not desirable. Earth seems pretty easy mode except for the mud pots which causes my defender to get "stuck" every now and then. Super Reflexes seemed a bit scary but I think i'll give that a shot.
I would say SR is a no for a trolelr cause of the mez click (rather then togle) they have
okay just tested WM / SR hard / hard. with perma-doube-rage on my brute I have no problem hitting the mobs. SR is definitely the way to go. Couple that with my defender's irradiate and i'm set.
Thank you for having the guts to post here. Everything suggested so far in this thread also has non-farming applications, so I appreciate the ideas.
I'm not sure what people are looking for from a farm, being I primarily play solo or on radio/paper PUGs, but this is something I built on test during I16 open beta, to check out the MA changes. It seemed to worked just fine for generating a lot of xp/inf/tickets in a fairly short amount of time. I was running lowb characters on this mission but it was set for 3 to 54.
I took a 3 hold ship map that had 19 spawn points. I built a custom group of 1 Dev minion, 1 Dev Lt (Same Dev group.), and 1 Custom Boss. I gave the Custom Boss Tanker Stone Melee and Tanker Super Strength (Hard/Hard), because I noticed that MOBs will not cycle through all of the attacks. They will stick with one attack group, and every once in a while switch over to the other attack group (Given enough time.). I selected Tanker attacks because they should be lower damage, but I did not care enough to verify this. I chose Stone and SS because they are the same damage type, though they do have different secondary effects. The fact that a MOB will not cycle through both primary and secondary attacks essentially means that the Boss has no secondary, yet they are worth full xp. I also found that a certain emote will keep the Boss from attacking for a few seconds after the initial attack (Thought the emote was cool looking and the FX worked well for the theme of my Story arc.). Im not saying what the emote is, just that its selectable under the MA Boss starting emotes list.
I made every spawn point a Boss spawn. This meant that on this map there are 19 boss/lt groups and nothing else. At the setting of Boss and O, you will see 1 Boss and 1 minion in each group. I did not try settings above this.
This mission generated full xp at the end of I16 on test, and it took me less than a half hour to build this mission on live just now, and it was giving full xp. (Though for a while I could not figure out why it was only 2/3 xp of an outside mission. Forgot about patrol xp. 
). On test I took my levels 6 through 17 Stalkers just over a half hour to complete, solo. From level 6 to about 13, I could make a level each time I ran this mission. From 14 to 17 I would make about 80% of a level from this mission. I built this mission specifically for my Stalkers. I tried this mission with my lowb Plant/Rad Controller but found the inability to hold the Boss for any amount of time made it a lot more difficult than for my Stalkers (Never came close to dying though.). My lowb Thug/Dark MM did not have that much trouble with this mission, especially after level 12.
Like I said at the top, Im not sure what people are looking for from a farm, and normally I would not point out the flaws to a system, but what the Devs have done to Custom story arc/missions when they released the I16 changes have got me totally POd. So do what you will with this info.
LT farms have been the most efficent types of farms (exploits aside), and are, still the most efficent. I added a boss and minion to my group, set diff to +2/8-No Bosses, flooring a group in approx. 8 seconds.
Thing that had the most impact on the efficentcy of my farm?
SSK.
Doing the math, the MA specific changes bring down my XP to 63-86%, SSK is what truely hurt the system.
How do you create a farm that has different proportions of types in the group?
I created
1 minion,
1 luitenant
1 boss
but in the group I got 2 bosses, 3 luits and the rest minions... how do you determine what ratio they spawn in ?
Consciousness: that annoying time between naps.
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You cant directly. A spawn is based upon the difficulty level you set for the spawn, and then is adjusted by the players settings. |
Originally Posted by Donna_
How do you create a farm that has different proportions of types in the group?
I created 1 minion, 1 luitenant 1 boss but in the group I got 2 bosses, 3 luits and the rest minions... how do you determine what ratio they spawn in ? |
In my Boss spawn setup. The Boss spawn is set to easy. This causes one 0 level Lt and one 0 level minion to pop. If the player sets Boss on, then one 0 level Boss and one 0 level minion will pop. The more the player plays with their settings the more variables will be in the spawn. Of course the more players in the mission also affects this. Or used to. I have not teamed since I16. Does the number of players affect the missions still?
Leaving the spawn setting to easy allows the player to adjust the difficulty level to their liking (At least while solo.). The ability to so dramatically effect missions, I feel, is a good thing that came with I16.
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Just on this, it makes no odds what "AT" you pick for Custom Powers, there's only one version of each. The AT listings are mostly there for convenience. For example if you pick a Defender Blast over the Blaster version there's no difference at all, both use Blaster versions (and hence can attack with Tier 1 & 2 through mezzes) and the damage is identical (since Damage depends on AT modifiers which, for Customs is Minions / Lieut / Boss as far as I know).| I gave the Custom Boss Tanker Stone Melee and Tanker Super Strength (Hard/Hard), because I noticed that MOBs will not cycle through all of the attacks. They will stick with one attack group, and every once in a while switch over to the other attack group (Given enough time.). I selected Tanker attacks because they should be lower damage, but I did not care enough to verify this. |
So if you're making "Blasty" enemies for your Mezzer to fight, pick a set which Blasters don't have (although I'd say Defender / Corrupter Rad Blast probably still uses the non-Blaster version).
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If you are serious about that, then I have to laugh.|
Originally Posted by Donna_
Obviously this topic is very controversial so please if you don't agree with farming on any level don't post about it as this is for constructive and helpful information, there are plenty of farm debates out there already.
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I do think it is kind of humorous that the huge debate spawned by the inordinate amount of farming during i14's heyday amounted to little more than: "I can play how I want, it isn't wrong."
Now, we see that, indeed, it was wrong. How do I know this? Because the Devs have the final say on what is "proper" gameplay and what is not. The Devs changed major aspects of what was currently getting farmed to death. Therefore, it WASN'T a matter of prerogative, but of taking advantage of the system.
Carry on with picking the new thing to get nerfed, and the new entitlement that comes along with the fact that "the game lets me do it so it's okay."
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I started this thread so that farmers could swap and share ideas.|
Originally Posted by Thirty_Seven
If you are serious about that, then I have to laugh.
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I am serious about that, lol all you want but keep it to yourself.
You continue to say,
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| I do think it is ...... |
It's not constructive and the original post that states,
"this is for constructive and helpful information, there are plenty of farm debates out there already"
was obviously put there because there are idiots out there that think it doesn't apply to them. (p.s - I can see now why you turned rep off)
As for everyone else, thankyou for your replies, lets keep the thread going as it was intended, as a source of useful information to those who want it.
Consciousness: that annoying time between naps.
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I'm in MA missions until they fix the recipe drop rate in standard missions. Been using a smattering of easy or higher-than-standard XP canon NPCs (I'll let you people figure that out, you're smart) to fill the ranks of my custom group. As far as build changes go, I have no plans to adjust - I was considering finding a way to add that last 15% to the softcap on my Fire/Kin/Stone during I14 and I15 when everyone was doing boss farms but with the price of purples what they were I decided to forego that and just brought a tray full of Lucks with me. Now, I won't bother, since after running boss farms everything's incredibly easy - I don't even use Flashfire most of the time anymore. My other farm toons have builds that are more general-purpose and won't be going anywhere anytime soon, like my Fire/Psi, Fire/SS, SS/Fire, SS/WP, Elec/Shield, SS/Shield, Fire/Kin Corruptor, Plant/Fire, and Spines/Fire.|
Originally Posted by Donna_
For all the farmers out there. . . how do you plan to adapt ?
What measures and changes will you make to your build? your AE mission? What is everyone finding most lucrative way to spend your time now? This thread is for ideas and suggestions, and when I say farmers, I mean lvl 50's not power leveling nubs. Obviously this topic is very controversial so please if you don't agree with farming on any level don't post about it as this is for constructive and helpful information, there are plenty of farm debates out there already. Thank you, I hope everyone reading this learns something helpful from the thread.  |
Been running +2x8 and +3x8 with the Fire/Kin/Stone using my mish-mash MA group and I PLd a lowbie on my second account from 1-33 in something around 8-9 hours (NPC says 10 but I spent a good deal of that just sitting around). Once they fix recipe drop rates in normal missions I might use Council or something.
@macskull, @Not Mac | XBL: macskull | Steam: macskull | Skype: macskull
"One day we all may see each other elsewhere. In Tyria, in Azeroth. We may pass each other and never know it. And that's sad. But if nothing else, we'll still have Rhode Island."
"One day we all may see each other elsewhere. In Tyria, in Azeroth. We may pass each other and never know it. And that's sad. But if nothing else, we'll still have Rhode Island."
Replying to this thread so its in my subscribed to list. Also i approve of the OP's post, not asking for an expoit, just asking for the next farm.
I have been thinking about it logically... i know not like me :P
What we need, and what you need to get it.
to get 100% xp you need groups of,
Minions hard/hard
Luitenants hard/hard
Bosses hard/hard
I want the highest xp for my lowbie as possible, so I set my missions for +4's and 8man.
So this now leaves us with the question, what power sets would be the easiest to overcome.
I have tested, a few... most effective so far being
AssaultRifle / Fire Assult, no build up, no aim, no rage or extra accuracy.
Spec your toon for Ranged defense, and mobs with all ranged attacks miss the majority of the time, however getting tight groups is a pain in the bumski.
Anyone got further than this?
Consciousness: that annoying time between naps.
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FWIW, the "tanker" and "scrapper" designations of MA critter power sets are there for the sake of familiarity. I don't think there is any difference in damage output or power between the two; so "tanker" Dual Blades is the same as "scrapper" Dual Blades, and the same for each power set they share.|
Originally Posted by Jeuraud
I gave the Custom Boss Tanker Stone Melee and Tanker Super Strength (Hard/Hard), because I noticed that MOBs will not cycle through all of the attacks. They will stick with one attack group, and every once in a while switch over to the other attack group (Given enough time.). I selected Tanker attacks because they should be lower damage, but I did not care enough to verify this.
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The AI issue with mobs not using their powers has been around for a long time. I wanted to make annoying shield mobs with Phalanx Fighting, but half the time they do not even activate their shield.
<《 New Colchis / Guides / Mission Architect 》>
"At what point do we say, 'You're mucking with our myths'?" - Harlan Ellison
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Why not just use an SO slotted Spines/Elec scrapper with Fireball, make the enemies all Mu and just go to town?|
Originally Posted by Donna_
I have been thinking about it logically... i know not like me :P
What we need, and what you need to get it. to get 100% xp you need groups of, Minions hard/hard Luitenants hard/hard Bosses hard/hard I want the highest xp for my lowbie as possible, so I set my missions for +4's and 8man. So this now leaves us with the question, what power sets would be the easiest to overcome. I have tested, a few... most effective so far being AssaultRifle / Fire Assult, no build up, no aim, no rage or extra accuracy. Spec your toon for Ranged defense, and mobs with all ranged attacks miss the majority of the time, however getting tight groups is a pain in the bumski. Anyone got further than this? |
Or a Claws/Fire/Mu or Fire/Fire/Mu Brute, choose standard Fire wielding enemies? Or make Custom Fire Blast/Fire Melee ones for each tier? No need to slot for Ranged Defense at all really.
For all the farmers out there. . . how do you plan to adapt ?
What measures and changes will you make to
your build?
your AE mission?
What is everyone finding most lucrative way to spend your time now?
This thread is for ideas and suggestions, and when I say farmers, I mean lvl 50's not power leveling nubs.
Obviously this topic is very controversial so please if you don't agree with farming on any level don't post about it as this is for constructive and helpful information, there are plenty of farm debates out there already.
Thank you,
I hope everyone reading this learns
something helpful from the thread.
Consciousness: that annoying time between naps.