Call Me Awesome
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Way back in issue 7 or 8 someone compiled statistics from several hundred players at dozens Hami raids and determined that there was indeed some weighting. I don't remember the exact results but the most common drops overall were Nucleolus and Centriole while the rarest were Microfillament and Ribosome with something like a 20 to one spread between most common and least.
From what I recall roughly 50% of recorded drops were Nucs or Centrioles while less than 5% were Ribo or Micro.
This was a long time ago and I've forgotten who compiled the statistics... I think it was a thread on Pinnacle. Any old time Hami raiders remember the details?
From my personal experience that weighting makes sense; in several hundred raids from issue 4 to issue 8 I had exactly 3 Micros and 7 Ribos drop. -
Quote:Definitely +def over +HP in my book. I'd probably focus on typed S/L def for an elec and punch that to 45%... that should get you the best bang for the buck in defense since S/L will protect you from something like 80% of all incoming damage due to most attacks having a S/L component. After you've soft capped S/L I'd start thinking about E/N... I wouldn't worry about F/C or Psi.Originally Posted by Rylas
When it comes to mitigation, I've always found pure resist to be bit. . . lacking. Even if there's a heal thrown in for good measure. I don't want to get into a def vs. res argument, let's just call it my opinion.
That said, I was wondering if anybody has any luck with bonuses on their ELA. I'm caught between giving moderate defense to all (20-30%), or going with lots of +HP. Whenever I get an FF defender on the team, I notice a huge leap in mitigation, and that's about the same defense as what I'm shooting for. But I wasn't sure if a lot of HP would end up doing the same or not.
Thanks in advance for any input.
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Hmm, thinking it over I'm starting to wonder about the E/N def since you're at the 90% cap for energy resistance... you may do better soft capping S/L and then focusing on F/C or simply stopping at the S/L and then worry about other bonuses.
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S/L typed def is a better choice than any single positional defense and it allows you to focus your defense instead of spreading it over all three positions. Best of all is, of course, to soft cap all three positions but that would be extremely difficult starting with zero defense in your primary.
Remember, def gets more valuable the closer you get to the soft cap... that last 5% from 40-45 protects you as well as the entire first 40%. -
Quote:It's still PBAOE for Scrappers; it hasn't changed.Originally Posted by Mngwa
Sorry,this might be a bit off topic, but I don't want to start a new thread for it, and it does involved Broadsword.
Head Splitter for BS Stalkers accepts Melee Damage IO sets. On my Scrapper it was PBAoE. Is this working as intended, or did they change it around for Scrappers too? -
Personally I'll look at powersets and vet badges as a team's forming so I've an idea of what to expect. More often than not if someone has 12 months or more I can assume they have a decent understanding of the game mechanics, and someone with 0-6 months may be spotty on things. This is, of course, not a hard and fast rule but I've found it a useful guideline.
If I'm on a team of predominantly 12+ month veterans my initial approach is to assume competency on their part unless I'm proven wrong. The new players I'll assume that they may not know what they're doing as well and play cautiously for the first mission or so until I see how they handle themselves.
Like many of the replies so far I've run across the 40+ month noob and the 0 month player who's highly competent so vet badges can only tell you so much. It's always pleasant finding a new player who knows what they're doing; and I always try to have more patience with mistakes that new players make.
As an example, if a new player pulls a bonehead maneuver that causes a problem for the team I'll be a lot more forgiving than if a long time vet pulls the same stunt.
I tend to assume competence on everyone's part unless I'm proven wrong... for example a recent TF with a storm controller with perma Hurricane who loved to stand beside my tank was a rather unpleasant exception, and he had 48 months so by god he could do no wrong and was the best player in the universe!
I've also run into players who'd only been playing a couple of weeks and were eager to learn, those are among my favorite teammates.
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Quote:Sure you can, you just need to build for it. All you're loosing with Fly is 2.5% defense and that's relatively easy to correct for. For example, you can get:Originally Posted by Vitality
My real problem is the fact that I want high defense and flight...but I can't have both.
- 3% def to all with the Steadfast Unique
- 7% def to all with Weave (slotted)
- 1.88% def to S/L with 4 Smashing Haymaker in your melee attacks (very cheap)
- 3.75% def to S/L with 4 Kinetic Combat in melee attacks (expensive and hard to find)
- 1.25% def to S/L/E/N with 4 Reactive Armor in your resistance armors
- 3.13% def to S/L with 6 Perfect Zinger in Taunt - or - 2.5% def to S/L and 3.13% def to E/N with 5 Mocking Beratement in Taunt
- 3.13% def to Range/1.55% def to E/N with 2 Blessing of the Zephyr in your travel power
- 3.13% def to E/N with 3 Eradication in Foot Stomp (a bit expensive)
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I've played tankers at one time or another with every one of the travels. For my money it really comes down to personal preference... with the exception of Stone tanks. There you're pretty well locked into TP.
In my experience the travel power you choose has zero effect on your tanking ability. Bad tanks are simply bad tanks, their travel power has nothing to do with it. I've used fly to range tank some AV's who can't fly... one example would be Romulus in the ITF... get close so Invincibility aggro's the puffballs, then fly up a few feet to get the healer out of Romy's range and taunt him. Just don't forget to occasionally dip down so that he gets a chance to swing at you or he'll run away.
CJ is good for 2.5% defense to all so it's certainly a valid choice and the mobility can be handy but it's hardly the only choice. Super Speed is also useful for getting around in a mission. In the final analysis any player should pick whatever travel power THEY like best; all of them have pluses and minuses. Again, this is excepting Stone tanks who really need TP for their best functionality.
Looking over my melee characters I have:
- 3 Super Jumpers
- 2 Fliers
- 2 Super Speeders
- 2 Teleporters (both Stone tanks)
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Quote:Now I'm afraid I have to rather strongly disagree with that... a tanker without mez protection in combat is just asking for a quick trip to the floor. In my opinion it's foolish to actually be in combat and not running a mez shield. With a Stone tanker that means either Rooted or Granite... in rare situations both of them together.Originally Posted by W Peace
Earth's Embrace is the "Dull Pain" of Stone Armor. It gives you a large heal and a good amount of extra HP. You are probably thinking of Rooted, Stone's Mezz toggle, which is what gives the -speed. Incidentally, Rooted has the higher -speed of the two, meaning that once you get Granite Armor (which provides its own mezz protection), you can just run around in that and not move as slow.
A few other things to consider. First of all, both Granite and Rooted are, as should be considered, situational powers. You don't have to run around in Granite all the time. Rooted is only needed when you know you are going to fight an opponent with a mezz, or end drain, or if you foresee a lot of incoming damage that you will need the +regen for. As far as mezz/end drain goes, remember that Stone is at it's core a defense based set. You *can* get a small amount of s/l resistance from Stone Skin, and Granite gives resistance and defense, but other than those two powers, Stone Armor relies on not getting hit as much, or at all. If you aren't getting hit, you aren't getting mezzed, or having your endurance drained. This means that Rooted is even more situational, because even when you fight an opponent or two that may mezz you, odds are likely you won't need to worry about it, because the mezz is a lot less likely to get through.
I've played two stone tankers to 50 and I fully understand the -speed & -jump involved but I can't count the number of times detoggling Rooted to move from one group to another has gotten me mez'd. Even non-mezzing mobs tend to have knockback and if you're on your butt you're not tanking.
Bottom line, always run mez protection on any tanker anytime you're in combat.
Actually Mud Pots will be your #1 most damaging power. I'm not joking here, run Herostats and then run a few missions. Look at the total damage done by all your powers. Mud Pots will have done more damage than anything else.Quote:One last thing. Mudpots. Take it. Use it. It's just that good a power. It taunts for you. It *slightly* adds to your damage. It's taunt aspect isn't affected by Granite's -recharge, meaning when you do need Granite, you can still keep a mob focused on you without worrying about whether or not Taunt is up, or you have an attack ready to get attention. Turn it on and leave it on for as long as you have endurance to run it. The best part about it, though? It slows enemies down, with a small chance for a weak immobilization. Granite/Rooted running and a mob is trying to get away? With Mudpots affecting them, they'll likely run just as slow as you do.
~WP
The reason for that is because while the damage may not seem significant it's applied to everything in melee with you every 2 seconds. Insignificant damage stacked up every 2 seconds on all around you adds up to quite significant amounts over time.
But getting back to the original topic, the only valid answer to the question of "does it slow you down" is a definite heck yes. There are things you can do to mitigate the situation.
First, take Swift from Fitness and 3 slot it for runspeed. That will get your speed with Rooted up to a walk.
Second, the "magic wand" cure for the speed issue is, of course, a Kinetic with Speed Boost... it will totally eliminate your run speed problem. Failing that you can help things via IO bonuses for runspeed or you can do what I've done and simply rely on TP as a means of combat mobility. -
Quote:the "buycoh$$dialog_Yes" crashes me as well... once in a hard crash that required the reset button.Originally Posted by Master-Blade
I just tested that cause I was curious, and it crashed me. lol
I just use "quit$$dialogyes" for instant desktop and reload the client, or have a second copy of the client running in the background and simply log it in (which kicks me off the other client automatically).
I'm not sure what the problem is, as a couple of SG mates have no problems with it and a couple more crash every time. I'd guess it's something hardware related? -
Quote:Well, I got my 54 month badge a couple of weeks ago so I suppose that qualifiesOriginally Posted by GarfieldZ
This for the uber vets! I class these as players who have like a 48 month badge and higher!
What toons? Well, a little bit of everything, I've played every AT blueside to 50 at least once, some of them 3 times.Quote:for these uber vets, i have 3 question! what toons have you been playing for all this time?
Well, my very first 50, CMA, still sees frequent play; he gets pulled out whenever a team needs a competent tanker... I like to flatter myself that I'm at least that. He's an Inv/Stone tanker, soft capped to S/L/E/N damage and he's incredibly resilient, and one of three level 50 tankers in my stable.Quote:have you played one from when you started till now?
CMA was the second or third (been too long to remember exactly) character I created and the oldest still around. I remember that I originally rolled him up after being too frustrated by constantly dying with a Fire/EM blaster in my, at the time, very newbie hands.
To some extent whichever of my characters I'm playing at the momentQuote:whats your favourite build? .
In all seriousness I tend to enjoy Tankers and Scrappers most, although I do have a lot of fun with my 50 Fire/Rad 'troller and my 50 Dark/Dark defender. My 50 Blaster, Sagitarii, is an Archery/EM and has been a lot of fun.
Characters I've enjoyed enough to play all the way to 50 would be:
- Call Me Awesome, Inv/Stone tanker
- ScaleBalancer, Tri-form peacebringer
- Gortak, Broadsword/Regen scrapper
- Dusk till Dawn, Dark/Dark defender
- Bogus Wave, Rad/Rad defender
- QuickWit, Mind/Kin controller
- Granite Flame, Stone/Fire tanker
- BlarneyStone, Stone/EM tanker (not one I'd recommend now)
- Offline, Spine/Regen scrapper
- Sagitarii, Archery/EM blaster
- Nameless Drifter, Fire/Rad controller
- Sword of Damocleve, Broadsword/Shield scrapper (my current default character)
Other combinations I've enjoyed are:
- Algie's Bear, mid-40's Plant/Storm controller
- Nameless Stranger, 40 Ill/Rad controller (conceived as a companion character for my Fire/Rad)
- Ryzza, 35 Kin/Rad defender
- Hazmat Siren, mid-30's Rad/Sonic defender
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Great accomplishment there guys; I'm VERY impressed that you managed to pull it off as a duo.
Looking at the screenie you had an Ill/? troller (/Rad?) and a Shield/? tank. I'm assuming some pretty heavy duty IO'ing was in play but even so I wouldn't have thought it could be done, especially in that amount of time.
Very well done. -
Quote:I'm not entirely sure that's right, it seems like there's a bug right now with the portal.Originally Posted by BrokenPrey
Sadly Oro portal doesn't work on Posi or any TF below 25 now
But it is still great to have.
For example, I was running a Sister Psyche the other day on my 50 BS/Shield and was leading the team until a zone wide DC happened. I could use the O-portal just fine the entire TF but nobody else on the team could, including the other 4 level 50's. After the DC and the star passed I could still use the portal and the new leader suddenly could as well.
I'd tentatively label that as a bug with the system... it could be intended behavior like you're saying or it could be yet another unintentional bug. By the way, everyone on the TF who was at least 25 had no problem actually USING the portal; but only I and the new team lead could actually summon it. Three of our teammates who dinged 25 on the TF were able to get the badge with no problems... I didn't ask if they could then use their shiny new portal. -
Quote:That... actually sounds like a good idea; at least the increased AOE of Taunt. I could see bringing it up to 10 to match other AOE attacks. I'm not sure about higher AOE target caps than Scrappers of Blasters however... damage is their thing after all. Something as simple as increasing Taunt's AOE targets to 10 and leaving it at that would certainly give Tanks an inherent aggro advantage over Brutes.Originally Posted by Vox Populi
I expect some tweaks will be made if every AT becomes available for either side.
One way I've suggested to keep Tankers somewhat unique is to make them the best at control and debuffing- better chance for mez or longer duration, better debuff numbers than Scrappers and Brutes, AoEs hit more targets (including Taunt, it could be bumped to eight or even ten targets).
That said with the higher defenses and higher HP Tanks are already tougher than Brutes out of the box. It isn't until you start bringing in outside buffs that Brutes can really match Tanker mitigation. This is comparing strong sets to strong sets, not something silly like Brute Granite and Tanker Electric.
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Quote:AOE is certainly less important than melee/ranged but I wouldn't ignore it... once you get melee/ranged to 45% I'd shift my focus to punching as much AOE def as is practical.Originally Posted by Musey
Ah great. Im just going to cap melee and ranged though. The toon has lots of kb to offer. Thanks for the io tips
Oh, another IO you'll want is the Steadfast +3% defense unique. I imagine that went without saying but I wanted to make sure.
I almost forgot, 6 slotting Gausian's into Build Up will give you 2.5% to all positions; another thing to consider. I forgot about it earlier since I didn't need it to soft cap my BS/Shield... I went with two Adjusted Targeting and a common recharge for the damage bonus. -
It's going to be tough to get to the soft cap with Fire or Elec but it's possible.
A couple of thoughts about it:
- Combat Jumping/Super Jump both slotted with 2 Blessing of the Zephyr adds 3.13% ranged defense each, totaling 6.26% ranged
- Mako's Bite gives 3.75% ranged defense at 6 slots (Single Target Melee attack)
- Touch of Death gives 3.75% melee defense at 6 slots (Single Target Melee attack)
- Scirocco's Dervish gives 3.13% AOE defense at 5 slots (PBAOE Melee attack)
- Obliteration gives 3.75% melee defense at 6 slots (PBAOE Melee attack)
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Quote:I have the opposite philosophy, first I try to build as much def as is practical to give my regen a chance to work. After I'm around 25% def I then work on recharge. That makes for a proactive type of survivability instead of a strictly reactive one.Originally Posted by DaveMebs
To get maximum survivability out of a regen you want to go for maximum rech. Once you cannot get anymore rech into the build, go with enhances that will help your positional defense.
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Quote:I have over 50 HO's in base storage, some of them 51-53 and I have a whole bunch on various older level 50 characters. In total I've probably run close to 300 Hami raids back in the issue 4-8 era; I've sold some on respecs and stored others.Originally Posted by xeaon
Yeah i got that part, havent heard from those since the old WB tricks...
But some lvl52 synt Nucleosus got sold this month....
so unless an old player who was innactive had those in reserve and just sold them....
then... someone found a way...
So yeah, you can't get the 51+ HO's anymore but there's lots of us who have them either on older characters or sitting in base storage. Interestingly enough all of the 51 or higher HO's I have were all traded for at raids since I personally didn't use the "exemp down at the end" trick since I was usually tanking Hami... lowering my effectiveness at the critical time would have been a big no-no. -
Quote:It's a tempting combo; from the closed beta I have a 50 Shield/Elec tanker and it's a nice 1-2-3 punch. If I didn't already have so many toons I'm working on.... Shield/Fire tank, Plant/Kin troller, Fire/WP brute, Ill/Rad troller, Claw/Regen scrapper, Kin/Rad defender... and that's just the ones I'm currently working on leveling.Originally Posted by Dispari
What about Shield Charge with Lightning Rod and Thunderstrike? I've been thinking of breaking down and making one of those.
Although that 50 BS/Shield scrapper keeps butting in on the playtime squeezing out the lowbies. -
Quote:Mind would be a fairly poor choice for soloing 8 man spawns... it's much stronger single target than AOE. Mind starts out strong with a full single target chain early but it drops off in effectiveness in the mid-late game... actually it stays relatively constant while other primaries hit their stride and blow past it. I say that as someone with a 50 Mind/Kin; it's a capable set but it's far more of a team support than a soloer.Originally Posted by TRTerror
I want a new trolller for solo/occasional teaming that would be able to solo 8 man spawns reasonably fast(other than fire/kin).
Currently i´m looking at plant/kin and mind/kin but the road to fulrcrum is long so i was wondering if there was any other suggestions
Plant does have a bunch of AOE, but it lacks punch... most of it's powers are heavy on control and weaker on damage. Again, it's a very capable teammate but not so much a soloer. That's my perception anyway with my 43 Plant/Storm.
Really the best soloing primaries I've played are Fire and Illusion. My 50 Fire/Rad can easily solo quite a few mob types although as you'd expect there are some that all 'trollers struggle with... Nemesis, I'm looking at you.
Teams of Fire/Rads completely lay waste to everything in the game.
The classic soloer is the Ill/Rad of course; it's light on AOE so large groups are problematic but it's excellent against low numbers of hard targets. -
End cost can be worked around with slotting; I have a BS/Shield scrapper that's as good on end as a Regen, and BS is certainly NOT an end-light set. I did it two ways, via end reduction in attacks (free as part of IO sets) and by boosting total endurance and recovery via sets and accolades.
I used 4 Gift of the Ancients sets in all my defenses giving me 2% recovery and 1.8% additional endurance per set... I ended up with 5 sets slotted. Also I got the Atlas Medallion (5% additional end) early and Portal Jockey in the early 40's for another 5%.
Now at 50 that character runs 7 toggles full time, and I frequently forget about Sprint making it 8... I have effectively zero end issues at all.
If a Broadsword/Shield scrapper can have no end issues there's no reason that a Shield/anything tanker can't have the same benefits.
I will admit I've been enjoying my mid-20's Shield/Fire tank... still on SO's at this point but it's starting to mature nicely. -
Quote:I've actually been thinking more for the regen than the end. In any case it's certainly a matter of fine tuning rather than necessity.Originally Posted by Black_Marrow
If you're fine on END now I see no reason to take Physical Perfection.
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Quote:I guess you're just too slowOriginally Posted by muon_neutrino
no, that's not the way it works. When you respec, it moves all of your current enhancements into a sort of 'holding area' - once you've finalized your power/slot choices, it takes you to an enhancement screen where you can move all of your enhancements back from that holding area into your powers. You only lose ios if you can't fit them back into your powers or into your enhancement tray.
Edit: Doh - scooped by 1 minute! :d
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Quote:You can re-slot everything if you like, or you can change your slotting and keep 10 unslotted IO's.Originally Posted by Tw00sh
Thanks for the tip on the knockback.
My other questions is:
If I respect with my full IO set, do I lose everything but 10 IO's? If so, I guess I will need to get more inf to change to this newer build.
When you respec, at the end you're faced with your enhancement screen and ALL of your enhancements in a large window. You may place all those enhancements back into powers and if you're changing things you may also place up to 10 IO's into your enhancement tray. Anything you haven't placed into either your powers or your enhancement tray will be sold for either the crafting cost or the full shop cost (for SO's) once you complete your respec. -
Quote:Well, S/L amounts to over 70% of the damage you face... Fire amounts to around 5%. Which do you think would help you more?Originally Posted by Thunderwolf
In my build I am trying to decide on tough vs permafrost, without perma frost I only have 18% fire res and 15% fire def, with it I have 37% fire res and the same fire def. With tough I have about 20% smash/lethal res, and 0% without it.
I am softcapped to everything but fire, cold and psi.
So which would be more important, fire res since I have no fire def, or smash/lethal res since its the most common damage?
Your primary goals should be first reaching the 45% defense soft cap for S/L and preferably E/N; then increasing your S/L resistance as much as you can. I see you've gotten the first part of that done already. I'm not familiar enough with Ice to offer specific advise but going by the numbers that's the way to play it.
Prior to IO's Permafrost was widely regarded as one of the worst powers in the entire game... it's only real purpose now is to act as an IO mule for set bonuses. -
Quote:I certainly would not recommend dropping IH or MoG from a regen; both are invaluable in tough situations. You also really don't need to either, there ought to be room in your build for a few extras. Both of my Regen scrappers have room for a couple of extraneous powers; in fact my problem is I tend to run out of powers I really want and end up with fillers.Originally Posted by Captain-Justice
Hello! just a little background, i'm no expert so this may very well be silly. Im working on the final build for a claws/regen and i'm just speculating.
Anyways, would it be completely out of the question to trade "moment of glory" and "Instant Healing" from the regen secondary, for "Manuevers" and either "Assault" or "Tactics" (i havn't yet decided if i want the extra damage or accuracy yet) from leadership?
The reason i'm thinking about this is I seem to click IH and MoG kind of situationally if im in over my head or something, an could trade that for the buffs from leadership for a more 'toggle an go' approach (kind of willpower-ish) an only have to worry about clickin "Dull pain" and "Reconstruction". Plus it would help out a team.
P.S as i already said im no expert and fairly new, so this suggestion may be completely ignorant. Thanks in advance for your advice an please no flame
Post your proposed build and people should be able to better advise you. -
Well, if you're looking for synergies then you want to take a given primary or secondary and think about what it's weak points and strong points are, then choose something that complements it.
For example, Shield is defense based with good damage potential and a great AOE. Now, how about pairing it with Broadsword? You get to add melee defense with Parry and you're pairing a very high damage primary with a secondary that boosts your damage.
Or there's Spines, which is high AOE damage and thus benefits from being surrounded by mobs. Now Shield would be the ideal complement but we can't use shield with spines so we look further. Regen works quite well to overcome end problems but it has some issues with large alpha strikes. Invulnerability however also works best when surrounded by a big group so it might be a good choice.
That's the kind of thought process I would use to figure out how to best pair up a primary/secondary.
Of my three level 50 scrappers my first was Broadsword/Regen; the recovery of Regen nicely offset the end use of Broadsword while the defense of Parry added nicely to the survivability of Regen. This is still a very viable and powerful build; it's been somewhat overshadowed by the BS/Shield combination in recent issues.
My second 50 scrapper was Spine/Regen... an absolute AOE killing machine who never has to pause for health or endurance. Some caution was required with alpha strikes but the two sets worked well together.
My latest 50 is a BS/Shield and once you've gotten the endurance issues under control via IO slotting and end reduction it's a phenomenal killing machine with tanker level durability. Excellent synergy with the primary/secondary leaving only the hole of endurance to be taken care of.