Just a few questions

After getting my accounted reactivated from about a 5 year hiatus, I am starting up again and have a few questions to throw out.

I thought I would polish off my old controller but I kinda feel a little dirty about asking too much. I perused all the way back in the forums to posts which were discussing i18 stuff and the few posts I found releating to the fire kins I wanted to dust off still make it seem like most people are still tired of rehashing some of same old questions that inevitably creep up.

Im not going to post a build and ask to critique it as I feel comfortable enough to play around with that on my own for the most part. I still need to visit the auction house and see how expensive the different sets can be. (apparently my 4 mil influence is rather paltry and I am going to have some work to do)


My first question is about Smoke. It was always an ability I really liked and with the incorporation of some fitness into inherant abilities, I think I can grab it now where I did not have it before. yes shoot me I actually enjoy farming some so I never really used it before, but now I was thinking about getting it to help out in group situations and I was curious what other people's thoughts on slotting it with Dark Watcher's chance for recharge slow and maybe a a hit debuff?

Also, with the new issue out I seem to have a free respec and I had a couple questions about that too:

1) I used to use fire mastery (kinda fit with my character) but even with fire shield I am having a hard time getting some defense at good levels and I read about earth? mastery having some really high smashing/lethal defense values although its ugly as sin. Is that what everyone pretty much advocates these days or can I get by with fire and still eventually pull some pretty nice speed out of the fighting?

2) Depending on the answer above will that have much affect on the alpha slot choice? (which I have not quite read up on yet as I just have not had the time to get to it. So this may be a dumb question)

Welcome Back! We're always happy to see old friends back!

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Originally Posted by Vilephire After getting my accounted reactivated from about a 5 year hiatus, I am starting up again and have a few questions to throw out. I thought I would polish off my old controller but I kinda feel a little dirty about asking too much. I perused all the way back in the forums to posts which were discussing i18 stuff and the few posts I found releating to the fire kins I wanted to dust off still make it seem like most people are still tired of rehashing some of same old questions that inevitably creep up. Im not going to post a build and ask to critique it as I feel comfortable enough to play around with that on my own for the most part. I still need to visit the auction house and see how expensive the different sets can be. (apparently my 4 mil influence is rather paltry and I am going to have some work to do) My first question is about Smoke. It was always an ability I really liked and with the incorporation of some fitness into inherant abilities, I think I can grab it now where I did not have it before. yes shoot me I actually enjoy farming some so I never really used it before, but now I was thinking about getting it to help out in group situations and I was curious what other people's thoughts on slotting it with Dark Watcher's chance for recharge slow and maybe a a hit debuff?

I'm not a huge fan of Smoke, even though I have it on my Fire/Kin and one of my two Fire/Rads. It is somewhat useful solo. On teams, most teams are running along plowing into groups so fast that I don't really have time to use Smoke before the group is aggroed. The ToHit Debuff is not huge, but added to others, it can have an effect.

The Dark Watcher set is pretty good, as 4 give a 5% Recharge. I haven't been impressed with the Dark Watcher proc. I have never really noticed any effect.

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Also, with the new issue out I seem to have a free respec and I had a couple questions about that too: 1) I used to use fire mastery (kinda fit with my character) but even with fire shield I am having a hard time getting some defense at good levels and I read about earth? mastery having some really high smashing/lethal defense values although its ugly as sin. Is that what everyone pretty much advocates these days or can I get by with fire and still eventually pull some pretty nice speed out of the fighting?

Earth APP is definitely the best choice for the min-maxer. (I assume you are on a Fire/Kin.) Fissue is short range but recharges faster than other AoE attacks, and the chance for stun stacks with your Flashfire. The Defense-based armor is ugly but the best choice if you want to build Smash/Lethal Defense. Seismic Smash is wonderful, adding a hard-hitting melee attack to a hold -- you can stack Seismic Smash and Char to hold bosses. And Earth's Embrace will improve your survivability with its HP boost.

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2) Depending on the answer above will that have much affect on the alpha slot choice? (which I have not quite read up on yet as I just have not had the time to get to it. So this may be a dumb question)

It depends on your build. If you are trying for a high defense build, then Recharge isn't nearly as important. High Defense builds don't worry about using Flashfire for control and rely upon Defense instead. If you are not relying upon high defense and are instead relying upon control, then Recharge is essential because you want Flashfire and Cinders up as much as possible. A high Defense build may want to go with Nerve for Accuracy and Defense. Another nice option is Musculature for damage and the other nice things in that tree. If you are going for Recharge, then Spiritual is probably the best choice.