First of all: you should probably download mids hero designer to show off your build here: http://www.cohplanner.com/
Second: Your friends are probably using IO's on their builds. Which not only act as enhancements, but also give you extra bonuses for using sets of them. Here is a guide to help you with that: http://cityofheroes.wikia.com/wiki/I...n_Enhancements
If you have anymore questions just feel free to ask 
Welcome to the game
Let's see...got some problems here. I'll go over some general points and let those with more recent Stalker experience handle specifics.
First, your attack slotting's a little wonky. Generally you want 1 Accuracy, followed by 3 Damage and wrapped up with Recharge and/or Endurance Reduction to taste. Yours are either out of order or kinda all over the place. Stalkers are about burst damage so place emphasis on slotting your big hitters first. Then get slots in your weaker attacks as availability allows. [B]NOTE:[B] Divine Avalanche should be slotted for Defense buff and maybe a little Recharge. Its real benefit is the Defense it grants you; especially when stacked with the Defense you get from Ninjitsu.
Only issue I see with your secondary is your enhancement choice. Get those toggles fully slotted for Defense. A lotta new players make the mistake of slotting End Reduction. Truth is, your attacks take a much bigger bite outta your blue bar than your toggles ever will. Also, get Caltrops and Blinding Powder and learn to use 'em. They'll save your life in addition to making fights with lots of enemies much easier. Smoke Flash is meh at best.
Finishing with your pool powers, Flight is way overslotted. There's a cap on flight speed and you only need one enhancement to get really close to it. The other two are wasted. Recall Friend's already got huge range. It doesn't need any enhancement.
Hope that's a good start. Did my best from memory of my old Elec/Nin Stalker.
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) While I really do appreciate the enhancements advice, I am more looking for advice on how to level/gain influence so that I can cap and then, once I have, I can respec and focus on optimising and such
Get into the Midnighter club and travel to Cimerora and join a global TF/SF channel on your server and try to get on to as many ITFs as you can (or other TFs).
Solo wise doing constant paper/radio missions is good, they aren't the fastest way but they give nicely paced xp.
i've been doing radio missions in PI for the past 4 days on and off( a guy's gotta sleep) and I start with +2/x8 and move difficulty up depending on how many lowbies are on the team and how many 50's. So keep a lookout on the help channel if you are ever on freedom.
Also, people don't usually join an ITF unless they are lead by a 50. And some, but not all, leaders won't allow anyone below 50 to join. So best chance would be radio/paper missions as stated before.
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Well for starters, if you do that you will find that you have missed 90% of the content. City is not like other MMOs where the goal is to get to the end game. The game is about having multiple alts and playing through over and over to see things from different sides. And much of the system is built to support that.|
Originally Posted by Rapthorne
While I really do appreciate the enhancements advice, I am more looking for advice on how to level/gain influence so that I can cap and then, once I have, I can respec and focus on optimising and such
|
The devs only recently started adding end-game content and they still add as much or more mid-game content as end. (First ward caps at level 29, the two signature story arcs are level 20 and 30, etc).
that said, everyone enjoys playing their own way so if that's your thing, the recommendation of going to cimerora is solid. But I found that it is also worthwhile to try and run all the main task forces. If you're hero side, you want to get the posi, citadel, synapse, manticore, sister psyche and numina's done. This gets you a permanent free boost of 5% to your hp. So it is very worthwhile on any character. It also gives you a TON of experience and merits. Merits will help you afford your optimized build. Villain side it is a bit more complicated to get that power.
The sewer trial is intended for characters leveled 1-10. After that, while you CAN do it, it's not a good idea. Part of the reason you have so little money is that most of those enemies don't drop any loot at all. If you were playing the main parts of the game you'd have a lot more drops and those translate into money.
Other fast ways to level are look for the Weekly Strike Target and be sure to run it once. This gives double exp rewards (typically a half level or more) and double merits, AND it is fast and easy to find teams because lots of people want to do it. The target changes on Tuesday, but I never have trouble on the weekend finding a team.
Also the signature story arcs are great if you are a VIP.
Last, it's not farming, but it's fun and fast exp, and that is the "AV Mission teams" running in peregrine island. They are doing story arcs by Maria Jenkins and Tina McIntyre against the Praetorians. There's one or two AVs in each mission and people run them at levels 45+, mostly at 50. You can sidekick up and join in, it's extremely rare that anyone would mind a 30s joining. Hell, I've gone there at 12 and been welcomed.
But the ITF is a fast task force, everyone loves it, it is cross faction so both heros and villains do it together. Lots of Elite Bosses and bosses for good drops. You can do it from level 35 to 50. I typically gain a level or two each run.
My most recent character leveled purely on taskforces and trials and is swimming in money thanks to the merits. So really, if you're new and don't have anyone to bankroll you, I strongly recommend stop using the sewer after level 5, start using real task forces at level 10 (Positron #1 in steel canyon). And use tips and signature story arcs once you're 20+ to get alignment merits. It's fast, a lot less boring than the sewers, and you'll have way more money.
Two quick questions:
Are you a hero of villain? And what server are you on?
"Hmm, I guess I'm not as omniscient as I thought" -Gavin Runeblade.
I can be found, outside of paragon city here.
Thank you everyone at Paragon and on Virtue. When the lights go out in November, you'll find me on Razor Bunny.
I've level'd 3 or 4 toons to 50 with the ITF and noone ever complained that I was too low. They were on Triumph though, Triumph roolz.
Quote:
|
Originally Posted by GavinRuneblade
Two quick questions:
Are you a hero of villain? And what server are you on? |
Hero, playing Villain made me feel bad >.> and Exalted.
As for the zooming through the content, I know. With this particular character I just want a 50 ASAP to join in with my friends. I fully intend on going back over the game many multiple times
Also update on my level, I'm now at 43
From the looks of things, I'd say Radio/Scanner missions will be the best choice - as a Stalker you can stealth to the end of the 'Defeat Boss and guards' type missions and clear the last room, get mission complete xp bonus, then do it again.
Also on the build: slot 2 recharge in Rin and put it on auto (hold CTRL and left click the power on your tray). It's your mez protection, and you want it up all the time.
Quote:
You know you can join in with your friends right from level 1? The only things you can't do are some of the task forces and incarnate trials. But everything else you can sidekick up and play with them. From the get go, city was all about ensuring that there was no need to powerlevel and that people could play with their friends.|
Originally Posted by Rapthorne
Hero, playing Villain made me feel bad >.> and Exalted.
As for the zooming through the content, I know. With this particular character I just want a 50 ASAP to join in with my friends. I fully intend on going back over the game many multiple times Also update on my level, I'm now at 43 |
also, if your friend exemplar down to play with you, they still get exp and influence based on their level, not the level of the enemy you're fighting. Just no chance for purple recipe drops though if enemies are lower than 47.
"Hmm, I guess I'm not as omniscient as I thought" -Gavin Runeblade.
I can be found, outside of paragon city here.
Thank you everyone at Paragon and on Virtue. When the lights go out in November, you'll find me on Razor Bunny.
I've leveled a few characters to 50 by ITF too. A good week of running 4 to 12 a day covered me from 35 to 50 on my second 50.
Anyway, running the regular mission content isn't too shabby a way to get exp at the end of an arc. Although, having bypassed a lot of the newest content, you may be in for a lot of kill-alls if you go that route.
Let me understand....you are doing nothing but the sewer trial(death from below obviously since it doesnt get effected by the MERTy thing) and the exp to leveling ratio has begun to slow down....so you want to know what to do to level faster.
Ok thats easy...not sure why you showed your build....
All you need to do is get into some task forces and do those...
As for the build....it will work but you have alot of holes....with using normal crafted enhancements of those levels....you will easily have the equivilent of SOs.....so might want to slot the kuji in retsu power for at least 1 defense, and 1 recharge, probably 2 recharges would be best so you can actively use it.....
You will want to make sure your armors are six sloted....the hide power...you are not going to get much more defense out of it.....with those three you are now probably getting close to 3.5% defense to all when it is supressed.
you want to make sure your attack that gives you more defense is six slotted as well....that way you will be able to survive longer due to more defense....
In your kuji sha power make sure you slot recharges....since you have the health recovery coming back at the pretty much maximum for the power at this time....
Not sure why you slotted recall friend...but i guess you have a reason....
kujiinrin needs to have recharge added to it....
you said you only had 3 million to spend.....you can get more eventualy....so you want to invest in a few things that will help you a million percent....on and beyond what the couch quarter back players are telling you.....since they dont seam to play ninjitsu much....whihc is noticable.
By now you have noticed your hole....the huge hole.....knockback....the most annoyign weakness.
Spend your 3 million and try and get the karma defense knock resisatnce IO....slot that into your hide.....if you can get 2 all the better.....and put the second one somewhere...doesnt matter where.....that will give you knock back resistance of +8 and that will be enough to no longer care too much about knock back.
You spent chunks on thos IOs....so ok next issue....you wanrt to get some set IOs....doesnt matter really which but your best bets would be crushing blow...its cheap to buy.....you want to try and slot those sets into your atatcks if possible.....the combination of set bonus should increase your powers exponentialy.
Now i suggested you do task forces....you will get merits for doing so....also try to get people to kill giant monsters with you....you get merits fromthat too.....take those merits and spend them on a specific set IO enahcnement from performance shifter that will give you every so often +5 endurence.....also slot the stamina at least 2 slots so you can put the enahcnemnt from performance shifter in that gives better endurance recovery as well.....that gives you a set bonus and extra energy.
anywise thats what advice i can give...for the 3 million you have.....and for building.
As for leveling....as i said...do task forces.
Try to do them all....work onthe task froce commander accolade for the bonus power it gives to your energy and health....Task force commander you get awared when you do all 6 of the main task forces....or all of the villain strike forces.
If you are having trouble either on villain or hero side....you can always do your tip missions and change aligment...then you can do the other sides task forces as well.
The way I leveled my stalker and did so rather quickly was pretty much from radio missions. Run them long enough and you memorize every map. You begin to know where the bosses are and where the glowies are.
I typically went for "Kill leader and his crew missions". If one didn't come up I'd zone and look again. I was getting to the point where I could run a radio mission in just a couple minutes. I would set the difficulty to +3/+4 depending on my accuracy tools (Such as build up) and then use AS and my second biggest attack to take out the boss.
Placate one of the lts. or minions with the boss, take that out with a crit, and then scrap down the other. If it was a particularly large group, I'd smoke flash and let them reset before finishing them off the same way I started.
During and between missions I'd keep my eyes open for any TF, especially the ITF, that I could get in on and join that. The leveling was actually pretty quick and I was at 50 in just a few days.
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The Brute I self-pl'ed in AE to 33 in 4 hours didn't get caught by MERTy. Not that self-pling is a good strategy for a Stalker and for a new player.|
Originally Posted by PsychicKitty
Let me understand....you are doing nothing but the sewer trial(death from below obviously since it doesnt get effected by the MERTy thing) and the exp to leveling ratio has begun to slow down....so you want to know what to do to level faster.
|
But well now:
1) Can't see if you have combat jumping - it adds more defense, as much as Hide suppressed iirc (om mac os x now, too lazy to open the game to check).
2) 5 or 6-slot your attacks - 1 acc, 3 dmg, 1 rech or endredux - both if you 6-slot them. You can get away with 1 acc with focused acc or even with a kismet IO which isn't expensive these days in Hide or C.Jumping. You'll also want a karma -kb IO in one of these - ask your 50 friends, they can afford it, they're dirt cheap nowadays. The Steadfast +3 def Unique is cheapish too.
3) You can skip Sting of the wasp, it's not really good. Also, since you won't use Assassin Strike every time it's up like other attacks, 1 acc+3 damage is okay (it's up fairly often already, and you'll use it less at later levels).
4) Kuji In Sha - 3 rech, 3 heal
5) Kuji In Rin - 2-3 recharges, 2 is enough with hasten ime even with SOs.
6) Kuji In Retsu - 1-3 recharges is enough depending on how often you plan to use it, no defense needed, you'll be way over the defense softcap.
7) Your defense toggles - 3 defs, 1 endred - your attacks cost will cost more endurance than your toggles.
8) Smoke Flash is meh, get Blinding powder, slot for acc, confuse and if you have room, recharge.
9) Placate is fine with two recharge IOs, get lvl 45-50 ones when you're higher level.
10) If you really want Recall Friend, just 1 range IO in the base slot is enough.
11) Didn't see of you slotted Health - put a heal IO for now until you learn the invention system for a unique (Miracle, Numina, your friends probably know about those).
12) 3 endmods in Stamina - you can get away with 2 since /Nin is not end heavy neither is ninja blade, but ymmv.
13) Divine Avalanche - 1 acc, 2 dmg, 2 defense - it recharges fast enough.
If I forgot something, other people can correct/add.
The thing is, to level fast you need to defeat a lot of mobs quickly. That either requires you run on a team, or to run solo at higher difficulty (x4 or more) and use AoE attacks to defeat the maximum number of mobs in the shortest time.
Stalkers aren't particularly good at that, since most don't have many AoE attacks. You've only got one AoE attack, a melee cone, so your potential for leveling quickly on your own is minimal. Assassin's Strike often takes the place of an AoE attack in stalker primaries.
I'm running a Street Justice/Energy Aura stalker, currently at level 37. I'm going for soft-capped defense across the board (except psi), and at 37 far I've already got 40+% S/L/Energy defense. I can easily run Energy farms in AE at +0/x4, as well as tip and radio missions against Council, Freaks, etc.
SJ has one cone attack and one PBAoE. The XP/second is not as good as, say, a SS/Electric brute, but the character is already quite durable, and I don't even have Weave yet. The solo leveling speed is completely acceptable to me. One tip or radio mission solo usually gives 10-20% of a level at level 36.
I play the character like a scrapper that has a big alpha attack. Since I'm running at x4, assassin's strike is usable only at the beginning and the end of the fight (if a boss is still standing and has enough hit points to bother placating). If you try to use Assassin's Strike more than that you wind up wasting too much time for hide to come back and mobs to forget about you, or you get interrupted trying to use it.
Since you don't have much AoE potential, you might try running at higher level difficulty (+3/x1) for more XP/minute, but you'll need to fix the slotting on your character before doing that.
But your best bet is to get on a big team that knows what it's doing.
When I want to get to 50 quickly, I just do blueside TFs/Trials as often as possible. Below are the ones I form or jump at while leveling (I avoid the Shadow Shard TFs).
Lvl 1-10 - Sewer Trial: Death From Below
Lvl 10-15 - Positron TF part 1 and 2
Lvl 15-20 - Synapse TF
Lvl 20-25 - Sister Psych, Moonfire and Sutter TFs
Lvl 25-30 - Citadel and Hess TFs, Respec Trial (24-33)
Lvl 30-35 - Manticore, Katie Hannon and Lazarus TFs,
Lvl 35-45 - Numina and Imperious TFs, Eden Trial (39-41), Respec Trial (34-43)
Lvl 45-50 - Imperious, Kahn, Statesman and Lady Grey TFs, Respec Trial (44+)
Do radio/alignment/AE/ouros missions between TFs to bump up to the next level.
A lot of players like to do speed runs because they just want a badge/accolade. That doesn't help you much as you need the xp. Try forming the team yourself and recruit players around your level as they would want the xp too.
With the exception of the Sewer Trial and Positron, I run most of the TFs at +1 or +2 depending on the makeup of the team. Some at +3 depending on the TF and if most of the players are the same level. +4 if all the players are fully IO'd or lvl shifted/incarnates.
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I have NEVER seen that happen. I play on Justice and Infinity, and have done countless ITFs (it being my favorite TF in the game).|
Originally Posted by Icesphere
And some, but not all, leaders won't allow anyone below 50 to join.
|
I just lead an ITF the other day... on my level 36 Brute (granted that I did pass the star to a 50 after the team was formed), but only one person on the team asked about that issue while I was forming it.
For a soloing strategy, I have found that for characters that do not have a ton of AOE, setting missions to +2/1, no bosses was the best experience-wise. Fighting lieutenants that con red to you should up xp gain. Then do radio or newspaper missions, or even better, tips missions. Collect those hero merits, you can buy a lot of neat stuff with them.
-Largo
Founder of A.G.O.N.Y. Supergroup on Victory
Member of Thought Sanctum VG on Victory
Member of St0rm Batallion SG on Guardian
Quote:
This happens on Freedom and Virtue but 95% (maybe 100%, not sure) of the times I saw people requiring 50s were for Mo attempts. I think I saw one or two occasions that were speed runs.
|
Originally Posted by Thirty-Seven
I have NEVER seen that happen. I play on Justice and Infinity, and have done countless ITFs (it being my favorite TF in the game).
I just lead an ITF the other day... on my level 36 Brute (granted that I did pass the star to a 50 after the team was formed), but only one person on the team asked about that issue while I was forming it. |
Seriously i said this on another thread too...
If you find people are not inviting you to say for example the Imperious Task force....due to your level or Archtype.....you need to Switch servers....
I might be hyping a bit too much...but on Guardian Server that sort of thing...just doesnt happen....if it does it is so infrequent....its like some weird myth almost on that server.
All the advice in this thread is solid. I'll reinforce the fact that you're missing out A LOT by not doing the Weekly Strike Target TF. It gives you an autolevel (or 1/2 bar, forget how it works) and double the merits you'd normally get. Plus you get plenty of xp and goodies.
Add the "Virtue LFG" tab, if you're on Virtue. You can find teams easily with that. Also, go here to find out what TF is up for WST:
http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showthread.php?t=251519
TFs can be a lot of fun (can be) and doing enough of them (certain ones) will earn you accolades, which give you permanent bonuses to that character/toon. Some of those accolades will help a lot post 50.
Just as an extra note, you can cash in merits from TFs at Merit Vendors in WW and other places. With merits, you can buy recipes (if you're a crafter) and you can do reward rolls where you kind of roll the dice for valuable recipes and salvage. It's worth it, especially when you get a recipe worth 200m for a simple 20 merits.
Aside from that, running with higher level toons also comes with the possibility of being recognized as a lowbie/newbie and being given some extra cash. As you've probably already seen, people are very generous in this game and if you get to know people (by playing through an 1 1/2 hour TF, for instance) they'll see you're new and a nice guy and they might throw you a quick 10 mil just for existing. Don't be ashamed to admit you're new and trying to make a decent late level 20's/30's build for a measily 3 mil because if you're nice about it you'll be rewarded. I was teaming with someone new to the game a month ago and after some chatting I found out he was so happy about making 20 mil off of a recipe so I gave him 100 mil. I don't do much level 50 content so I'm not super rich, but he seemed cool and really appreciative of 20 mil so I knew the 100 mil would blow his mind (pretty sure it did). There are far richer people than me doing that on a daily so venture out of your sewers and explore!
right now, there's also the option of heading to Peregrine Island and joining a trick or treat team. Those are like UBER ambush farms with a chance for purple drops instead of AE tickets. And they're seriously fast exp.
"Hmm, I guess I'm not as omniscient as I thought" -Gavin Runeblade.
I can be found, outside of paragon city here.
Thank you everyone at Paragon and on Virtue. When the lights go out in November, you'll find me on Razor Bunny.
Okay, I only recently started playing (3 weeks ago) However my friends are all level 50 (+ whatever) and I really, really want 50 to be able to join in with the things they are doing.
So far my favourite AT is stalker.
I have been doing sewer trials constantly and am now level 39, so sewer running is getting slower and slower when it comes to experience gain. My question is what can I do to level faster?
My funds are limited to 3 million inf, and here is my enhancement set up
Thanks in advance.