Biowraith

For what little it's worth, for me it's MA > Badges >(>>>>>) PvP

Specifically:

MA - I made a couple arcs to amuse myself, and occasionally I take one of my 50s through either my own arc or try to find a non-farm arc for a fresh diversion from the standard content (or more frequently, for something so-awful-it's-funny). I don't use it for farming, and I can't be bothered wading through all the farmers to find or form a regular story arc team, so I only use it solo.

Badges - The only time I actively pursue a badge is if a) the title would really fit my character or b) it gives a tangible benefit *and* doesn't involve too much grinding (either because it just has low requirements, or because I've already almost met the requirements through normal play). So e.g. I'll pick up the Invader accolade redside since it's not out of my way to run each Mayhem mission on my way to 50 - I probably want to run most of them anyway, and they only take 5 minutes to blitz. I've never opened up Geas of the Kind Ones however as even on chars that spend some time in Croatoa, by the time I'm past that zone's level range I've probably not even got to 50% of the requirements met.

PvP - I PvPed a bit back when CoV first came out. I found I enjoyed it less here than in other games (usually games where PvP is the sole, or at least primary focus). So I don't PvP at all here anymore - there's other games I play for that. I do venture in to pick up a Shivan very occasionally, and a Nuke even more occasionally, but my timezone means I rarely have to worry about other players when I do.

Yeah, I think Larry, Curly & Moe is probably the most common/obvious name choice for tier 3 pets. My Necro has Lenny, Carl & Moe instead

I named my bots after Culture ships/minds from Iain M. Banks' books.

(Ethics Gradient, Limiting Factor, Just Testing; Honest Mistake, Use Psychology; Problem Child)

I slot for resist simply because it gives the bigger numbers and covers damage types that are sometimes holes in other characters' personal shields (or that the patron/app shields don't cover).

I'll also slot for defense if I plan to combine it with other sources of +def, but won't bother if I'm using it in isolation.

My Demon/Thermal (or /Sonic if it unexpectedly becomes available) won't be too worried about what else is on the team. I'll be able to take the alpha if need be, and I'll bring enough support (and aggro-distraction) myself for at least a small-to-medium sized team.

I guess a clued in dominator or two would be nice, for those enemy groups containing mobs with particularly troublesome abilities (at least before I get the patron hold).

Also VEATs that actually took and use Tactical Training: Maneuvers are always appreciated by my masterminds (well, by any of my chars) - people generally aren't going to single-target shield buff my pets, but the radius on TT:M is wide enough that even the more mobile pets tend to get full benefit from it. The other TT buffs, Mind Link, and/or -res debuffs are great too of course.

And more buff/debuff in general is always a winner in this game.

And of course the standard disclaimer about people who know what they're doing, actually use all the powers available to them (appropriate to the situation), and play as a team rather than just "solo together".

I have a Thugs/Pain around the same level (25) and I'd never drop Soothe. I find the 4 sec recharge makes it a lot more flexible than Share Pain (as well as being superior "hps", at least at base recharge). Share Pain is often overkill and I don't want to be in the situation where I pop Share to heal moderate damage then 5 seconds later need the same again and it's still recharging. To me frequent moderate heals are of higher value than infrequent heavy heals.

I also don't rate the damage buff Share Pain gives, as MM's get such low base damage that +dam buffs aren't hugely significant for them.

That said I still took Share Pain because sometimes you just need a big emergency heal (or you need both, if things are getting particularly hectic).


In general the skippable powers in Pain for me, as someone who both teams and solos (but doesn't PvP):

Share Pain - I do get use out of it, but not often enough that I view it as a must-have.
Conduit of Pain - if you don't team then this is an obvious skip. If you do, eh, it's nice to have (and the self +rech/+rec is golden), but ideally your teams are doing so well that you don't get to use it.
Enforce Morale - I've never found mezzes (except maybe confuse) to be a big deal for any of my masterminds when solo. In teams the duration is short enough that I dislike using it pro-actively, and while it can be handy reactively most villain groups aren't mez-heavy enough to require more than a few break-frees. Maybe if you make a habit of hunting Malta or something. If MM pets were still affected by the recharge buffs I'd rate this a bit more highly.

On the Necro side I'd probably take one blast (I have Life Drain on my Necro/Dark - it's garbage, but I took it for flavour), then everything else.

For Soul Mastery I'd pick up both the Tentacles and Nightfall and slot for damage and procs - MM base damage may be low, but you can still dish out a respectable amount with that combo and Necro is a little light on AoE damage if you rely on the pets alone (and hey, those self-damage buff side-effects become a little more attractive when it's applying to a spawn's worth of AoE). The other three powers available are good choices too though.

I prefer Spin due to the higher target cap, and the animation *feels* faster/smoother even if it isn't really.

However, I took both and would advocate (at least for PvE) that others do the same.

I want a DS/Sonic, but I'll probably cave and make a DS/Thermal rather than wait/hope for proliferation.

(usually I try to vary the sets I use, and Poison is the one set I've not used yet, but I'm holding out for a Pistols/Poison Corruptor and don't like the set enough to use it twice)

In principle I agree that MM's Twilight Grasp should have the same radius as Corruptors and Defenders. My reasoning is much the same as others: that if Dark is too far ahead of other sets (Thermal, Pain) in terms of power/effectiveness to have the larger heal radius on an MM, then it is also too far ahead of other sets (Thermal, Pain, Empathy, Radiation) to have the larger heal radius on Corruptors or Defenders. (or if you look at it the other way, if it's balanced compared to other pbaoe-healing sets with the large radius on Cor/Def, it's balanced with the large radius on MM)

In short, I can't see how it is necessary for MM's to have a different radius than Corruptors or Defenders for balance. Or rather, I can't see how it's necessary for MM's to have a different radius *only* for Dark.

Balance to me would be one of the following:
1) MM's have the normal (large) radius on Twilight Grasp.
2) MM's Thermal and Pain sets also have the small radius on their PBAoE heals.
3) Defenders and Corruptors also have the small radius on Twilight Grasp.

If that means the inconsistencies in other areas like using the wrong values for Dark Servant or Tar Patch are also addressed, so be it - it's more likely the set would be balanced with the other MM secondaries that way than it is to muddle around with stronger Tar & Servant than it should have but weaker Grasp than it should have, and hope those balance out.

It sounds to me like some of the arguments for keeping things as they are - the ones that say they're worried it'd mean nerfs to those other inconsistent areas - aren't really arguments for balance, they're arguments to stay slightly more powerful than they know they're meant to be (i.e. they value the superior Tar & Servant more than they'd value the normal Grasp).



All that said, I don't *really* care whether it's changed or stays the same, nor do I actually expect it to change. As it is it's probably a stronger set than it should be for MMs (so yay if you use that set, and I do), and if it were brought in line I'd have marginally less frustration when used in teams or with melee pets (I swear the Zombie AI is tied directly to my Twilight Grasp icon) while it'd still remain a very strong set for MMs. Either way you can be thankful it's not the Dark Miasma the game launched with

Roughly in order of priority/frequency:

Missions (or indeed arcs - oh I wish we could drop an entire arc in one go) that I've outleveled.

Certain courier missions (usually if it's a fairly long run there and back and I don't expect to need to drop anything else in the near future).

Certain hunt missions (I avoid taking these wherever possible; if it's part of an arc it depends how many I've to kill and how abundant that mob type is).

The rare missions that I'm really struggling with solo and don't expect to find help with.

Dark/Dark(/Dark) Controller
Dual Pistols/Poison Corruptor
Either Thugs or Demons / Sonic Mastermind
Ninja/Kinetic Mastermind (for the lulz)

I'd also like to see a variant of Defenders/Corruptors with Assault sets instead of Blast sets. And the same for Scrappers.

I like to have a variety of powersets in my stable of alts, so on the basis I already have MMs using Dark, Storm, TA, Traps and FF, I'm looking at Thermal or Pain for Demons (I'm not keen on Poison for supporting MM pets, though I'd quite like to try it for a Corruptor).

I'm kinda hoping Sonic gets proliferated though; I'm not sure if I'd use that for Demons or Thugs, I guess it'd depend on how Demons turn out.

About damn time.

Besides abusive behaviour, this is my main criterion for deciding who are bad teammates; when there's a particular action (be it a power or a tactic) available to them that will improve the team's performance, and they are deliberately choosing not to use it. A newbie (or veteran, if it comes to that) making mistakes, no worries. If the team's currently doing fine then sure, by all means carry on doing whatever you like. Particularly bad power choices, eh I'll sigh to myself, but to each their own. But if the team is really struggling and you could do something to change that - and someone has politely explained what it is and why it would help - then bloody well do it. Otherwise we may as well just pack up and go home.

Now I'd not normally kick over it (unless I had the option of replacing them with a more team-minded player), but I'd not feel guilt or sympathy towards them if it came to that, especially if the scenario were taking place at the end of a TF and this was all that stood between a failed run and a victorious one.

For whatever it's worth, this weekend I picked up an assortment of pre-crafted level 30 and 35 common IOs for 35-55k each, with bids up no longer than 24 hours (I placed bids before logging for the night yesterday and they were filled by the time I logged on after work today). A little higher than SO vendor prices (which are around 25-40k at that level), but not by a lot (and double xp tends to inflate prices a bit). The price history usually makes it look worse than it is, with some of the ones I got showing 300k+ when I put in the bids.

I also almost never craft common IOs as outside of chars with the crafting badges the crafting fee usually means they're no cheaper (and sometimes more expensive, depending which salvage they require) than just buying pre-crafted ones. I do craft set ones as the situation is the other way around there (to the point you can often make a profit just buying recipes, salvage, crafting them, then posting the result for sale) but they're another kettle of fish.

I only find common IOs to get pricey at 40-50 (especially 50), but I view those as luxury items. A level 30 common IO is roughly equivalent to an SO (if you average over the lifetime of the SO) so those are usually what I look at if I'm on a budget.


Not expecting or trying to "convert" anyone that just plain prefers SOs and npc vendors btw, but for those who are only put off by the crafting part or the prices you can skip the former and the latter is generally not half as bad as first glance may suggest.

So is it prettier with colour customisation, or with the default/original colouring?

Everyone in the area (proc chance pulsing every 10 seconds).

edit to clarify: it rolls a chance for each target in the area separately, so anywhere from zero to all of them could get procced on.

Personally I haven't touched DOs or SOs since IOs became available (and I never used TOs, other than slotting accuracies when they dropped). I slot generic IOs at 12, then depending what I can be bothered doing either replace with more generics at 22 or start frankenslotting in the mid 20s. I start thinking about sets late 30s/early 40s (though I may go for -kb, procs, or 2-set-bonuses earlier).

I almost always buy generic IOs pre-crafted for similar cost as buying equivalent level DO/SOs from vendors (I alt a lot and bid several levels in advance, so plenty time for lowish bids to fill). For sets I almost always buy the recipe and craft it myself, though I'll do a quick run of lowball bids on pre-crafted just in case. I always felt it was a bit silly that my enhancements (and by extension my powers) got slightly weaker when I'd just gained a level, so even ignoring sets, IOs just make sense to me and I'd never want to go back.


But SOs are definitely alive and well from what I've seen; most Pugs I join will at some point have someone break to update enhancements because they've gone red, at all levels of the game.