Cognito

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I did BS/DA with my Magic scrapper (also outlandish backstory involving celtic war goddesses... it always fits nicely). She was quite hard going till Stamina, but once i hit Stamina and then SOs she's been immense fun, being able to both mookinate and dish out immense amounts of ST damage. Though BS/DA, or indeed any DA benifits most from large teams (therefore large mobs)

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And thats the core of the issue really...

Teaming more? Lots of big mobs?

Dark Armour is a winner!
Spines is a winner!


Solo more? Small groups?

MA is a winner!
Regen is a winner?


Invun, SR, and most of the other scrapper sets are fairly balanced between the two; although scrappers as an AT are strong solo and less good in big teams.

My Warshade, suprise suprise, is greedy for respec...

Anyone up for the 1st one at 3pm tommorow?

Currently at level 31, so am looking for level 30-32 toons ideally (or ones that can be sidekicked up to that).

Aside from Max usually being right, I can confirm that Combustion dosent cause scatter. Its a joyous power up there with FCS.

I have heard whispers that Hotfeet slotted liberally with slow enhancers (2 or 3) can make the use of Burn, Rain of Fire, and Hotfeet itself, rather tasty by limiting scatter.

Sirens Song has made soloing my blaster childs play.

Like any other solo freindly power, it has the stench of manure about it when it comes to teams. AoE sleeps do have their uses when things start to fall apart a bit, or when a second mob comes wandering along. In these situations, they can actually be golden. Sirens has a fairly lonfg duration too. I have it slotted 2xacc, 1 x sleep, which does the trick for me - after all on the occassions when you NEED it, you NEED it to hit!.


As for the rest of the sonic set. All good. Bit lacking in AoE damage, which is a shame, and makes it a more solo freindly blaster (which is why I took /fire secondary! ).

Shockwave is the standout *ahem* power. Mediocre damage at best, and Knockback... Yeah, teams love knockback...

Hmmm

Sonic certainly has some awful powers: Repulsion one, Cage one (for PvE anyway), and Liquefy.

Sonic Siphon I find a good power, only needing 2 acc
Sonic Shields are a very attractive buff (probably not as good as FF ones, unless you are a resistance based tank in which case they are better)
Sonic Dispersion is, like FF, a truly AMAZING power. At high levels, with all those mez effects, nothing makes me happier than this power on the FF equivilent.
Sonic Disruption is, I have to say, also an AMAZING power IF you have a reliable tank to put it on. -resistance has to be the most valuable debuff in the game IMO.

That leaves Clarity (another solid power).

I make that 3 rubbish powers, 4 good powers, and 2 amazing powers (one of which is admitedly highly situational).



Its not a solo freindly toon but I think it compares nicely with FF. What it lacks in protection (from the repel effects and defence), it makes up in offence (the two -res effects).

I suppose in terms of synergy you may want to consider the epic. /FF would go better with ice and stone, wheras /Sonic would go better with Psionic, Fire, and Primal? (best to stack resistance or defence). I dont think the normal advantage of defence, its ability to avoid mez effects, is quite so pertinent given the mez resistance of sonic/FF dispersion.


Im not saying /Sonic is better than /FF, but I cant see it being worse either. Then again, I dont see any particular sets gimped. Maybe Rad/Energy or Kin/Energy.

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As i stated above I Want to be a DMG Dealer who can PvP & is able to solo without worrying about End to much.



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Oh, and with regards to endurance, Ice and Fire both have inbuilt end recovery powers (Energy absorbtion and Comsume), which may make them more attractive to you. They dont work particularly well solo or PvP, however (the more enemies near you, the more you get).

Firstly, there is little in this game thats nerfed (Jump Kick, Im looking at you), so dont fret. However, different sets are good for different things.

If you want to PvP or Solo a lot, you want single target attacks (Superstrength and Energy great for this, Fire is probably the worst).

If you want to PvE in teams, AoE damage is king (especially for a tank). Fire is the best, SS/Energy the worst.


So if you want to be a "Damage Dealer" there is no real answer. You will do the MOST damage by taking Fire attacks and being in an 8 man PvE group.

Its worth mentioning /Ice attacks are probably the lowest damage in the lot, but will make you MUCH tougher to kill, due to ice patch.


With regards to primary:

FIre armour will give you the most damage of the lot, but is probably the least tough of the lot too. Its a good choice for solo/small teams as you wont need to be super tough and the extra damage comes in handy. Its good in big teams too (AoE damage), but you will need more support to survive than the other sets.

Stone is solid protection, good for PvE. Your handicap is making you less mobile which is tough in PvP. Granite armour, the teir 9 power is special: You will be the toughest tank around at the penalty of vastly decreased mobility and significant damage output penalties. /Granite in PvP is a bit of a waste of time. Nobody will attack you, because it takes so flipping long to take you down, but on the other hand, you wont be able to attack anyone either being so slow (and even if you do its at a penalty). A bit pointless in PvP is my opinion, because you wont actually be fighting anyone.

/INvun is a pretty solid set. It gets more powerful (in terms of defence and accuracy) the more enemies you are facing, so its a good set for PvE and biggish teams.

/Ice is another solid set. It has some damage potential (in Icicles) but rather weak. Like invun, it gets stronger the more enemies you face, although not to quite the extent that invun does (this is the energy absorbtion power). It is also the best aggro grabber in the game. Its final power, Hibernate is rather rubbish in PvE, but fantastic in PvP. The ability of ice tanks to slow enemies and to resist slows is attractive in PvP.


...anyways....

For PvP, I understand Ice/Energy is considered one of the strongest, combining mobility, slows, resilance, single target effects, and Hibernate. It wont shine until the late 30's however when you get Hibernate, Energy Transfer and Total Focus.


For PvE, if you want to be a damage dealer, it depends: in Big groups you probably want Fire/Fire, although anything/Fire is probably good. If in smaller teams, I would probably say Fire/EM, or Fire/SS.



As a Invun/Fire, Id say you would be a solid tank, with very good damage potential, but needing Big PvE teams to shine.



All pointers, mind. Good luck with tanking, and dont miss taunt!

DM/Elec

Can anyone fill me in?

AFAIK Fury boosts damage by what is it, 800% at full bar?

Bearing this in mind, how useful is it to slot your attacks with damage? And is build up actually worth it?. If you play at near full fury (something I have found reasonably easy to do up to level 25... well, at least 90% fury) then does extra damage enhancements slots actually mean anything? would i be at cap anyway? add in a few external buffs from assault/AM/etc

What does it all mean?

Sorry both are Knock down... I was actually asking a generic question about how Knock back/down/up and Repel effects stack. Bit of a derailment, I know.

I would actually say that ALL Earth powers are wonderful.. including Salt Crystals. AoE sleeps are usefull all the time but sleeps do have a impressive duration. Lovely when needed. Earthquake is, however, one of the more wonderful powers in a wonderful set!

AFAIK Earthquake is wonderful, Liquefy is one of the two rubbish powers in sonic.

What I would like to know is do they stack? Im never clear about how KB and repel powers stack together

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Earth is the most control-oriented primary (i.e. not much damage), and sonics is (imo) the weakest secondary for controllers. You really need a large team because it will be very hard to solo. And focus on the good powers from earth/ i.e. NOT Salt Crystals but Quicksand, Earthquake, and the holds/immobs. From /sonic, get the shields, Sonic Dispersion, Disruption Field (if you can find a tank or scrapper) and Clarity. Sonic Cage is good for PvP, but not that great for PvE, especially on a hard-to-solo toon. Liquefy is quite bad. Swift and Power Slide as only travel powers??? I would go for CJ/SJ/Acro, or Hasten/SS.

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Any particular reason why sonics is weak for controllers? Other than the lack of holds found in /rad or /TA?

Earth will always be low damage, but I would have thought /Sonic would be one of the sets of choice to bump up damage with two -res powers. I certainly find my Grav/Sonic has quite satisfying damage output.

Thanks Guys

I think its two acc, 3 recharge, then. Im not really ever short of end being a kinetics with stamina and transference.

I suppose 2 accuracy and my tactics running will max out my accuracy to pretty much anything? Just toying with 3 accuracy so I never miss (even against +4s which is what I think the reasonable maximum is for any toon). I have rad secondary for additional -def too.

Hey ho folks,

Can anyone give me sage advice on Fulcrum Shift Slotting? I was thinking 2xacc, 3xrecharge, but all opinions greatly appreciated.

Thanks for the posts, and sorry I did mean 28th Sunday, mebad!

Im afraid the experience was marred very badly for me. I would like to apologise for any part I had in the OOC tensions of the SF.

It is unfortunate that after over 15 months of playing CoX I had to use the /ignore command due to the (mainly pm'd) abuse I was receiving. I cannot justify the tells I was getting no matter how badly I was playing (which was probably rather badlly). I cannot, and will not, accept sincere apologies being flung back in my face in a sarcastic and derogatory manner. Faced with the choice of quitting the TF and using the /ignore command, I chose the latter which I hope was wise.

I sincerely hope that the rest of you had a good time, and I would gladly team up again. I hope the tensions did not mar your experience too badly, and once again apologise for any part I had in it.

Calling all union Role Players:

Some of the SG "Militia" are aiming to do the Manticore TF this Sunday at around 11am. We are level 30-32.

Its a 7 man team so if any RP'ers on union are free to help out and around this level range, we are meeting at Manticore (Brickstown, next to IP exit) around this time. I will be on as Force Commander.

Not sure if we can get a whole team together but fingers crossed!. I find TF's very good for roleplaying myself as it adds a real sense of purpose and mutual progress.

Make freinds, only team with them... only use right powers in right team... etc etc...

Id whine on, but the depressing truth is your right...

*Sigh*


I still refuse to take aid self on any toon other than my ice tank, tho.

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Bah.

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Holy Bah-cakes...

This really has to be top priority to fix? It almost completely breaks the AT.

Thank the lord my main tank is ice/ice... about the only way to grab aggro properly now is CE, Icicles, Ice Slick and heavily slotted taunt...


FIX ASAP PLEASE!

Quite a difference tho Max

Primary sets are more efficient than Secondary Sets that are more efficient than Pool Powers.

Tanks sheilds are a Primary Set

Medicine is a Pool Power


So there is quite a difference between a Tank getting temp invun and invincibility and a Blaster getting aid other and aid self.

(I'm not saying dont take them or they arent good, but there is a world of difference!)

See this attitude gets me a bit upset.

Theres this really effective thing in CoX that will really make you t3h ub3r 1337.

Its called teamwork.

Thats right!

My dominator teams with a fire brute often. I can tell you that when timed right, an AoE immob followed by burn makes Hit points vanish at a truly collosal rate. Would I use burn without an immob or at least a heavy slow? no, I wouldnt.

I wonder what it would be like with a fire blaster standing next to an ice tank on top of said ice patch with a chilling embrace slotted for slow?... Burn, Hot feet, Blazing Aura running, with Combustion and FSC? Maybe a consume to keep end up and add a little more damage?

Seriously, we dont see burn used at all these days because everyone thinks it gimped. But put it with someone else you team with who can immob and it rocks. YOu dont see it often because people avoid Burn and avoid AoE Immob... because...

A lot of it is to do with "no aggro on me, thankyou"... If everyone stopped worrying about aggro and we all took AoE powers, CoX would become seriously unbalanced IMO. And anyways, what are tanks for?

Aid Self? why waste two powers and more slots on getting this when you should be teaming with somebody else who can heal you or protect you from getting damage in the first place?

Free you mind!

tbh i wouldnt trust the hero planner then. I havent noticed 90% damage mitigation from a FF'eilder. If a FF'eilder could truly produce this, alongside team mez protection, with just three powers it would be hideously overpowered? You would just need a FFeilder and 7 fire blasters to blitz through missions at a sick pace.

Might just be me of course... but with scaling defence ( a good thing), a defender who could make 90% of all mez's, damage, debuffs, etc miss... thats just wrong... I mean, compare it with sonic...

(and not in keeping with my observation as FFeilders who are very very good but not astounding).

THanks chaps

Im pretty sure that 45% defence from one FF defender is not possible. It would equate to 90% damage / mez/ debuff mitigation which is pretty over powered. I love FF defenders but I havent noticed that ridiculous level of protection (even with manuevers). I used to have a /FF mastermind to level 33 and whilst good, and stacked with robots own FF and manuevers, it certainly wasnt near 90% mitigation.

It seems to Force Bubbles a bit of a waste of time then, thanks for that info.

I suppose two dispersion bubbles is pretty good.. no mez for team bar sleeps I would imagine. Everyone more resistant to mez than a tank. Probably worth running together and the def bonus handy.

Repulsion feild.. has anyone tried to FF defenders/trollers using this in tandem? I would imagine you could do quite nasty pinball manuevers (two FF'ers approaching from different directions) to herd mobs into a corner for perma knockdown? anyone tried this?

Lastly, I have a level 33 Grav/Sonic controller, so dont really want to do the sonic thing again, lovely as it is.

I wish someone could explain to me how KB/Repel magnitude stacks.

Heyho folks,

Ive heard that two FF defenders / controllers are the bees knees. Any opinions?

Im sure the stacked def buffs would make everyone an Ice tank, but what about the other powers?

Mez resistance - does this need more than one dispersion bubble?

Is it worth having more than one repulsion / force bubble? do they stack to keep bosses away?

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Not effective enough, seems to be the general consensus.

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Because?

Im planning on them. Yummy AoE for me please.

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I never tried the combo on my grav/sonic, but given Sing's AI, unless you use Recall Friend to place him every time, I'm not sure this will work very well. And even if you put him next to bosses, it seems like it will be "situational" to say the least.

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Depends how you use it. Im not talking perma knockback, but Standing under sing effectively prevents any lt/minion attacking me. If I stick the sonic KB on him... and it stacks.. I wonder if that means nothing short of an EB/AV could get into melee?