How you guys enjoying the ATOs?
By
Blood Red Arachnid,
Posted on: 2012-02-14 16:20 in Archetypes and Powers General Discussion
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Which is why I think it is about time the devs allow Astral Merits to see there full value. I don't think it makes sense to have ATO's available for sell via AM's and EM's, but keep purples and PVP IO gated behind EM's only. Just do what you did for ATO and charge a lot of AM's. Geez...
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Originally Posted by Doctor Roswell
Right up until you factor in the merits that come in the packs themselves. I bought the 24-pack and came away with over 1,000 merits yesterday -- 175 from a single pack. Sure, that just gives more incentive to do things like... buy more packs, or run the WST (and this week, the WST is VIP-only! Probably not a coincidence -- subscribe now and you can earn all these cool new enhancements with your merits!), but you have to know they want us to do those things anyway.
I often have close to 200 merits sitting around that I accumulated "by accident" just from normal play. If I were actively trying to earn them? A few hundred in a week wouldn't really be much harder than earning fifty or so Astrals or a handful of alignment merits every couple of days. ATOs are still easier to get than purple/PvP IOs, at any rate. To me, 400-500 merits honestly doesn't seem out of line for the things. The VIP requirement is kind of a pain, and the length of the timer seems a little harsh, but the price itself? Actually not too bad. |
The development team and this community deserved better than this from NC Soft. Best wishes on your search.
Stalker proc rocks! I have a very high activation rate when slotted in my AS.
I haven't used my SoA proc; still haven't decided which of my Crab's AoEs to slot it in yet.
I haven't used my Brute proc either; still waiting to find out if it generates Fury when slotted into a damage aura.
And I haven't used my Kheld proc; last on the priority list.
Apparently, I play "City of Shakespeare"
*Arc #95278-Gathering the Four Winds -3 step arc; challenging - 5 Ratings/3 Stars (still working out the kinks)
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The controller proc doesn't enthuse me. The controller recharge does! Come to me, sweet recharge, says my illusion controller.
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I agree. Damage proc? Even superior chances to proc don't impress me much. Maybe I'll toss it in Time's Distortion Field and use the rest of the set elsewhere.
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Originally Posted by MriBruce
The controller proc doesn't enthuse me. The controller recharge does! Come to me, sweet recharge, says my illusion controller.
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Yeah, is not great, it would be much cooler a "chance for +1 magnitude" (+2 on the superior?) or something like that.
I will probably six slot it in Heart of Darkness in my incoming Dark/Dark troller
Last night I got 5 of 6 of the stalker set for less than 250mil total (including the proc). I replaced a 5 slotted crushing impact in charged brawl for a pretty major upgrade in set bonuses (more def, more recharage) and the proc to help up my single target damage dps.
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Slotting the SoA set in Psychic Scream for my Fortunata is fantastic fun. Watching a good bit of the spawn start cowering during my AoE salvo is so very satisfying... even if they're dead shortly after regardless. 
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They are super cheap on the market right now.|
Originally Posted by Blood Red Arachnid
I am not enjoying them too much, since I can't afford them. At 400 merits a pop, they fit the role of "shiny thing in the window" nicely.
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Originally Posted by Doctor Roswell
Right now, they're only available through the super packs. Once Issue 22 goes live, they'll be a normal (rare or very rare, I believe) drop, supposedly from pretty much any mob at any level.
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There are no words for what this community, and the friends I have made here mean to me. Please know that I care for all of you, yes, even you. If you Twitter, I'm MrThan. If you're Unleashed, I'm dumps. I'll try and get registered on the Titan Forums as well. Peace, and thanks for the best nine years anyone could ever ask for.
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I could have sworn that wasn't happening until i22... I've gotta do some incarnate trials tonight!
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Originally Posted by DumpleBerry
The catalysts are dropping in Incarnate Trials right now.
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FUN FACT: That burst of light when you level up is actually the effectiveness escaping from your enhancements all at once.
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I can confirm this, as I got a Catalyst as a drop during the warehouse potion of sLam last night.
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Originally Posted by DumpleBerry
They are super cheap on the market right now.
The catalysts are dropping in Incarnate Trials right now. |
- Xyzor, Lightning.Rod, Kagyx - Rubber Mulch / Wholesale Candy - Freedom Server
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Awesome, thank you. This makes the fourth post I've seen stating that they are dropping.
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Originally Posted by Xyzor
I can confirm this, as I got a Catalyst as a drop during the warehouse potion of sLam last night.
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There are no words for what this community, and the friends I have made here mean to me. Please know that I care for all of you, yes, even you. If you Twitter, I'm MrThan. If you're Unleashed, I'm dumps. I'll try and get registered on the Titan Forums as well. Peace, and thanks for the best nine years anyone could ever ask for.
Quote:
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Originally Posted by Doctor Roswell
Right up until you factor in the merits that come in the packs themselves. I bought the 24-pack and came away with over 1,000 merits yesterday -- 175 from a single pack. Sure, that just gives more incentive to do things like... buy more packs, or run the WST (and this week, the WST is VIP-only! Probably not a coincidence -- subscribe now and you can earn all these cool new enhancements with your merits!), but you have to know they want us to do those things anyway.
I often have close to 200 merits sitting around that I accumulated "by accident" just from normal play. If I were actively trying to earn them? A few hundred in a week wouldn't really be much harder than earning fifty or so Astrals or a handful of alignment merits every couple of days. ATOs are still easier to get than purple/PvP IOs, at any rate. To me, 400-500 merits honestly doesn't seem out of line for the things. The VIP requirement is kind of a pain, and the length of the timer seems a little harsh, but the price itself? Actually not too bad. |
The problem isn't the merits from the packs. The problem is the benchmark set for players who want to get ATOs but don't want or have the IRL cash to pay out for them. If you are going for the set instead of just the proc, it'll cost 400 merits for each piece, with the full set being 2500 merits.
Anyway, after spending some money, I have slotted two of the ATO sets into my characters. My stalker has that ATO set, and my Dom has that ATO set. I have only tested out the stalker set, and it rocks out loud sweet suzie.
With the proc where it is now and all the recharge that comes with it, I can fire off triple, quadruple, and even in one case quintuple consecutive assassin strikes from hide! Since each AS does 1000 damage on an even conning enemy, I'm dishing out 5000 damage in a rapid burst fashion! Seriously, my attack chain is like this now:
BU -> AS from hide -> concentrated strike -> smashing blow (proc) -> AS from hide -> another attack -> placate -> AS from hide -> build up concentrated strike -> smashing blow (proc) -> AS from hide...
keep on repeating. Every time AS is charged up, either the proc triggers or I have placate up. I'm shredding AVs like they were EBs with this power output. It is unfortunate that the ability to instantly recharge buildup isn't working correctly.
I haven't had a chance to really test out the dominator one yet. I'll get back to you on that.
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/ Lambda trial guide video / Keyes trial guide video / Magisterium trial guide video / Underground trial guide
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I have yet to get a catalyst drop...I think. I've only attempted one trial since these went live: the TPN trial. I could've sworn I saw in by chat area that I was getting some Catalyst drop - stuff like Catalyst: Resistance or something like that. |
Originally Posted by Xyzor
I can confirm this, as I got a Catalyst as a drop during the warehouse potion of sLam last night.
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There's a TPN bug causing the trial to crash, so the one I was on crashed, and when I logged back in, I didn't have any Catalysts...
So, is that part of the TPN bug (making drops disappear), or more likely I just didn't get a Catalyst drop?
I love procs and specials of all sorts, so the idea of having a few more to choose from made me grin just on general principle.
That said, I really do like the Stalker proc a lot. My red-side main has the upgraded version, while my two blue-side favorites got the standard ones and it's been useful for all three.
Since they were cheap on Wents, I also picked up the Kheldian special for both of my bi-form Peacebringers ('Dropped 'em in Photon Seekers, since neither of them had anything interesting there-), a Mastermind set for the Bride, the Tanker proc for my blue-side main and one of the Defender procs for my Empath.
I haven't had time to see how the tanker one works in play, but the little defender AoE heal is cute. It actually fires often enough to have come in handy keeping her squishier Lore pet alive in the last iTrial I had Karasu on. The forum population seems to have deemed the Mastermind set a massive failure as a whole, but so far I don't have major complaints with the special. The Bride's zombies need all the help they can get.
I've gotten ahold of two of the Scrapper procs, as well. (I did say that I love specials and procs, didn't I?) I'm curious to see how those will work out... I'm giving them to my favorite Dual Blader and my Broadsword guy.
@Brightfires - @Talisander
That chick what plays the bird-things...
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My drop was a purple 'Salvage-type' drop that just said 'Enhancement Catalyst'. It appears in your Salvage under 'Special'.
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Originally Posted by Socorro
I could've sworn I saw in by chat area that I was getting some Catalyst drop - stuff like Catalyst: Resistance or something like that.
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- Xyzor, Lightning.Rod, Kagyx - Rubber Mulch / Wholesale Candy - Freedom Server
Just wanted to throw this tip out there... The scrapper and stalker ATOs give you 2.5% S/L defense and 1.25% melee with 3 of 6. Might be common knowledge but, you can slot 3 in 2 different powers. This gives you 5% S/L 2.5% melee. And then if you get and use the enhanc. catalyis on them it will double to 10% S/L 5% melee.
On a few of my builds getting this much extra defense with so little lets me use more slots of other powers.
Check out this!!!! http://www.youtube.com/user/LastRoninCoH/featured
Very generally speaking, the 'extra' effect on most of them don't really impress me, but that's not why I would get them either. The main benefit, I feel, is the enhancement values/set bonuses associated with them with the extra effects just providing icing.
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I've only played with three of them so far, but of those three, the only proc leaving me flat is the blaster one. More damage is great and all, but... I'm already doing that. The brute one is allowing me to not only max out my fury meter (which hasn't happened in recent memory at all), it's letting me get it there early and keep it there consistently. The defender one isn't all that great mechanically, but I honestly think it's my favorite, because I just started at Trick Arrows character, and now the mythic "healing arrow" is finally a reality!
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Originally Posted by Warkupo
Very generally speaking, the 'extra' effect on most of them don't really impress me, but that's not why I would get them either. The main benefit, I feel, is the enhancement values/set bonuses associated with them with the extra effects just providing icing.
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FUN FACT: That burst of light when you level up is actually the effectiveness escaping from your enhancements all at once.
It was suggested that I could put the defender's healing proc into Rain of Arrows on my Kin/Arch....
That tickled my funny bone a little. 
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Don�t say things. What you are stands over you the while, and thunders so that I cannot hear what you say to the contrary. - R.W. Emerson |
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Oh good tip!
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Originally Posted by LAST_RONIN
Just wanted to throw this tip out there... The scrapper and stalker ATOs give you 2.5% S/L defense and 1.25% melee with 3 of 6. Might be common knowledge but, you can slot 3 in 2 different powers. This gives you 5% S/L 2.5% melee. And then if you get and use the enhanc. catalyis on them it will double to 10% S/L 5% melee.
On a few of my builds getting this much extra defense with so little lets me use more slots of other powers. |
What's left is to normalize all Assassin Strikes and improve Stalker's old sets (Claw, MA and EM)! You don't need to bring back the missing PbAoE attack. You just need to make the existing ones better! For example, make Slice a WIDER and LONGER cone.
for the merit vendor price? Expect complaints.
I often have close to 200 merits sitting around that I accumulated "by accident" just from normal play. If I were actively trying to earn them? A few hundred in a week wouldn't really be much harder than earning fifty or so Astrals or a handful of alignment merits every couple of days. ATOs are still easier to get than purple/PvP IOs, at any rate.
To me, 400-500 merits honestly doesn't seem out of line for the things. The VIP requirement is kind of a pain, and the length of the timer seems a little harsh, but the price itself? Actually not too bad.
FUN FACT: That burst of light when you level up is actually the effectiveness escaping from your enhancements all at once.