+4x8 question

I think people have to be a bit clear when they discuss 4/8 setting. I was doing 4/8 on my Robot Traps Prior to Incarnates. I do not have an issue with the Alpha slot but I do have an issue with anything else when discussing 4/8 setting or AV fights based on your Arch Type.

Also a bit of common sense has to go along with reading when a certain AT is posting doing a 4/8 setting, fighting an AV or doing the Pylon test. As an example I do not expect to see an empath defender doing these feats without the use of a combat pet, either temp or incarnate wise.

Conversely as an example ( not looking to pick a fight ) I do have issue when someone says I can do 4/8 but they never mention they needed to be fully incarnated and required incarnate powers even to complete the feat. For something like that the player is clearly giving out false information boost the prowess of the AT he is discussing which is not right. Nothing would piss me off more then to find out I get to level 50 with the build posted that does not have incarnates listed just to find out I can't do what was described by the author of the build.

I find nothing at all wrong using incarnates even for an solo AV fight regardless of the AT but at least be honest enough to say you need the power so others know what they are getting into.

Finally I consider 4/8 not to include the tough mobs that pretty much everyone has issues with even on teams. So Malta, Longbow, Carnies and
Devouring Earth fall into that category.

So nutshell I read 4/8 setting on a build I expect maybe Alpha incarnate but nothing more and I do not expect the "tough mobs". If its an odd build or a known weaker AT then I would expect anything goes but I would like the poster to be clear as well in all fairness.

But this all falls back to understanding the game mechanics. Once you understand some of the numbers or at least what you should be seeing for numbers in a build you know if the person can do what they are reporting they did.

My DM/SD can solo at this pace, but I usually am too impatient for it, so I set his level at +1. What I mean by +4/x8 is:

Bosses On
AVs On
Any faction except Rularuu without inspirations. He can take Rularuu, believe it or not, by using his T9 and one orange to get to 75% resistance to smashing/lethal and relying on his 110 hps. DE have the potential to be harder, but I've found them to be manageable.

He usually solos at a decent clip, but because of the lack of AoE he is limited basically to Shield Charge and Fireball, with Shadow Maul used when applicable. Judgement doesn't come up every fight, so it isn't part of the regular attack chain. My strategy is simple. 45% to M/R/A, decent resists to capped resists with liberal use of OwtS (and oranges/Demonic Aura), combined with high regeneration from Destiny and SL allow me to basically survive anything. I have high recharge, with large numbers of procs in my attacks, which supercharges my single target damage. If I encounter a troublesome AV or GM, I summon Lore pets to get the fight over quicker. So far I've soloed every level 50 arc at +2/x8, AVs, and done a MoITF in under an hour at +1, as well as beaten all the normal GMs.

I've seen it mentioned at least twice so I want to say I don't believe +2/x8 or any lower has much relevancy as a benchmark in a +4/x8 discussion. I haven't got a single character that *can't* solo +2/x8 against every faction by level 50. I don't say this to "brag", but rather to highlight the relative lack of difficulty - trust me, some of my characters are pretty bad by minmaxing standards. We might as well be talking about two different games.

*puts on flame proof speedo*

Next players will be asking how someone solos a +4/8, because it's one thing if you jump into a group balls out and another if you snipe/pull one or two at a time. Or better yet they'll ask for chat logs/ hero stats logs and want to know how long it took to solo a particular map.

It's just a game, go kill stuff and have fun

Some of us have fun sharing perspectives with other people (I know, in a massively multiplayer game, crazy right? ), and for that to work at all having similar or detailed terminology is helpful.

Some of us seem to have run raging on the boards about people enjoying the game a different way than they do. It's hard to understand, perhaps because people doing that tend to insist on being vague rather than analyze and rationalize their behavior.

I picked level 50 because, well, I can't say all of my characters can solo +2/x8 by level 33, to use that specific level. Truth be told, most of them can. And most of them *can't* solo +4/x8 unless they cherrypick their foes, even at level 50. My point being, huge difficulty difference, so large that I don't see much point in comparisons. Obviously your mileage does vary. *shrug*

Alright, this is an appropriate thread to ask my question in.

I just made a video of +4/x8 soloing brute. All incarnate powers were stripped. I used a single small purple inspiration to defeat Malta. Does it meet the rules for saying I solo'd it?

lol I love how my question has gone from meaningful and valid to ridiculous and back.

As I'm trying to connect a bit more with the CoH community recently, I was simply wondering what other CoHers thought when they read or heard 54x8 or +4x8. Just simple curiosity.

At the very least, I guess we can all agree that when someone says that they solo +4x8, more information is needed to assess whether that accomplishment meets our own individual standards for what +4x8 means. In other words, the only definitive rule is that we need context to judge someone's +4x8 accomplishment.

On another note, I personally pride myself on my main's +4x8 exploits with alpha/interface only. I almost thought that no enemy could stop me. Until I met Rularuu. Game over without massive insp use. They are just brutal.

In this context I was thinking no incarnate abilities, some IO usage (generally ~1-2B inf all included, that is to say less than I actually make leveling from 1 to 50 when you consider a LOTG is worth 200m but can be grabbed by running the SSA twice after the initial round of tips, etc.), but I definitely don't shy away from (sustainable) insp (ab)use. I don't think IOs play too much of a part - I certainly didn't lower the rep any when I let my account drop down to Premium for a few weeks.

I would say my brutes and scrappers are generally bottom performers. I find SOAs, controllers, defenders, corruptors, dominators to be much stronger and easier, although, sort of echoing Obitus' earlier point, they are more prone to sudden death due to player error or bad luck. I really don't play blasters anymore, except for kicks, and agree they have issues. It's probably more challenging to take on +2/x8 with an IOed out blaster than +4/x8 with a SOed controller. At least it would be, to me.

You're right in asking me to clarify, because I probably play a "tainted", specific variety of characters. Few blasters, stalkers and kheldians (few MMs as well, but they aren't exactly performing poorly in scenarios like this), and generally damage-oriented powersets with quick animations.

When I say my toon can do +4x8... yeah, I'm lying