CyberGlitch

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I really do wish I could've seen Regen before now, it must've rocked the house hardcore.



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I'm sure everybody has their "back in the day" story to relate. But I rolled my BS/Regen just a few weeks after the release of I3 and levelled him to 50 before I4 was released, doing just missions....BUT, not your ordinary missions. (insert maniacal laughter here).

I would basically set my missions on Invinc and load them up with 5-7 other players from my SG. Sometimes, I'd just go out and advertise to pay people to anchor for me to increase my spawn sizes. Then, while everyone caught up on their chatting, I'd solo the missions. Did this a couple hours per day....never had help from a healer or buffer of any kind, unless they just got bored and came along to watch me swing my sword. Level 50, even with most of the badges and accolades, came in no time flat. I had respecced out Recon back in those days as nobody really needed it past level 25 or so, and even Parry became useless as it didn't matter what hit you (even Hami!) you could regen faster than they could dish out damage. I think I hit 50 with just my first debt badge...don't really remember. From level 42 on I'd sometimes street sweep in the RCS or PI just to kill time waiting on my anchors, and got to the point I didn't even bother conning my enemies beforehand.....the only signal I needed that I had bitten off too much was when I started whiffing my attacks too frequently. Then I'd con my enemy and say to myself, "How quaint, he's +8 to me!"

Ah, the good old days.......we needed nerfin', at least in my opinion (many said we didn't at all). But I think enough has been done to the set now.

My money's on Dull Pain, with QR a likely close runner-up. Heck, I'm betting they turn QR _INTO_ a combo +HEAL/+END power, but with approximately 1/2 the capability of either power. And Dull Pain will now increase HP's by approximately 25% with a recharge timer to make MOG look downright generous by comparison.

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I feel especially sorry for those poor Fire/Ice tankers and Invuln/anything tankers. In many respects I think you let us down in I5.


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I wouldn't feel too sorry for my Fire/Ice tankers. They were built for team-oriented "true" tanking and control and, quite frankly, they are no less powerful now than they used to be. The only ones you should feel sorry for are those Fire/Ice tankers who were built specifically for Patch-n-Burn powerlevelling techniques.

States and Co:

I've been playing I5 with a combination of several new(ish) toons and have played at least a handful of missions with all of my retired level 50's. I'm very, very happy with I5 overall. I disdain PvP for reasons other than game mechanics, so I can't and won't comment on the changes there. However, within the PvE environment, you're balancing vision appears to be _finally_ coming into play. I still see a few builds out there that will likely require some additional "refinements," both up and down, but overall, I'm quite thankful that you took the time to apply all of your changes at once. It was really appreciated by me at least.

Having said that, I'm eager to see where your investigations of Defense-based playsets leads the game. I will acknowledge that my /SR scrapper finds the game more challenging than it was before, much more so than any of my other scrapper builds. That's not a bothersome point for me per se, but a smidge more benefit from my defenses would be appreciated. I will say that for the first time in the history of the game, I find myself popping every single inspiration I get now, which actually adds to the "seat of my pants" type of feel when I'm playing. Thanks for the added challenge...it's made the game "new" and "fresh" for me.

I look forward to I6!

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In fact, Blasters' initial damage output has been reduced, making them weaker.

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What on earth are you talking about? Blasters haven't seen a reduction in their base damage, early-level damage or any such thing.

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Just because you disagree with someone/something doesn't mean that your only recourse is to "drop your account". Stating that you are dissatisfied with a product doesn't mean that you're never going to use it again, it's just one persons opinion and that opinion is just as valid to them as yours is to you. I don't particularly care that Windex ISN'T always streak-free, yet I still use it. Takes me a little longer to get that steak-free shine because I have to work at it a little harder, but I still get it and I still continue to buy it.

I don't like some things about this game but I still continue to pay my $30 a month for it (for 2 accounts) because even with all the changes I do still have fun. I've made comments on regen, the phase shift nerf, and other things. No, I didn't like what they did and I voiced that dislike just like any consumer that had issues with a product would do. Like my Windex, I have to work a little harder at it, but I still play.

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And all the above is just fine. But it simply means that you _tolerate_ bugs in software and you continue to _pay_ for access to the software, _including_ the bugs.

My point really wasn't that you should just quit paying and leave. My point was that you and I, as consumers, have created an entire industry (software specifically, technology in general) that will pay top dollar just to have something new and different, even when it isn't high quality.

I'm the pot here.....I sell software, very high priced software at that. It gets shipped with bugs all the time, some known and documented in the release notes, some not known until the customer finds it. If I spent all the time/money to ensure 100% error free with every release, I'd rapidly lose market share to my competitors who ship bugged software that contains "enough" functionality and/or "new stuff" to make mine look obsolete, even if mine is perfect.

That's the industry we are talking about, and I was commenting on the views that claim Cryptic should be "ashamed" for pushing buggy code to live and/or not addressing specific user-submitted bugs in very short order. We've created this industry. It works this way because we have paid for it to work this way and won't let it work any other way. And the only way to get what you want is to quit rewarding (paying) for shipping bugs.

Otherwise, learn to live with it...it's what you are basically asking for by demanding rapid deployments of new features. Or be willing to have releases on Test for, I dunno.....6-8 months while every single bug is tested, re-tested and re-tested until "perfect?"

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I just cannot frickin understand why this development company thinks it is acceptable to let bugs "slide" into Live, and then deal with them piecemeal from that point on. It is so against the "Pragmatic Programming" principle.

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Um, maybe because the most successful software companies in the world operate on the basic premise of releasing enough non-buggy code that you can satisfy 85+% of the user base and <gasp!> we still continue to purchase mountains of their stuff? I'll let you figure out which mega-successful software company I'm talking about.

Seriously, if you are incensed by their behaviors, then drop your account. There is no single better way to voice your opinion, nothing else will even come remotely close. Or learn to live with bugs. Any other solutions, like charging higher prices for monthly subs to cover 100% bug tracks and 2-day turnaround hot patches or publishing weekly bug tracking lists for the public to see with status reporting are not likely to result in anything better at this point.

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Granny Gertrudes Grammar mantra...."I can Affect the Effect."

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I love you.

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He was also wrong, "in effect" is correct, if you want to get into it, we cant take it to PM.

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Please PM me your grammar evidence.....<cracks knuckles with anticipation>.

Oh, and make VERY SURE you look back at how I used contextual phrasing in my post.

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Given the massive drawbacks of EF, it should be stronger than TP or FR in effect.

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I never thought I'd see the day when a defender begins to believe that their defender powers should somehow be better than the next defender powers.

Ladies and Gentlemen, Elvis has left the building.

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Oh please, that is NOT what I said. I said it should be stronger "in effect". That means the drawbacks in end usage and application of the power are such that the actual effects (ie the -res debuff) should be more potent. Being weaker is some ways, it should be stronger in other ways. You know, that little thing called balance?

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Granny Gertrudes Grammar mantra...."I can Affect the Effect."

What you intended to say was that you believe that EF should AFFECT you differently when you cast it right? As in take less END specifically.

All those who claim that EF is somehow now "inferior" to the other Defender/Controller debuffs should note that Rad also has a power in it's primary that increases base damage by 25% (?). So you have the ability to increase your base thanks to AM, then bump your TOTAL damage (which is already buffed from AM) by another 30%. Oh and AM also self-buffs END regen, thereby mitigating the END costs of the power.

After using EF for 50 levels on my controller, I'm pretty sure even this modest decrease in power is quite workable inside the Rad set.

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Given the massive drawbacks of EF, it should be stronger than TP or FR in effect.

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I never thought I'd see the day when a defender begins to believe that their defender powers should somehow be better than the next defender powers.

Ladies and Gentlemen, Elvis has left the building.

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Now the biggest pain in the butt Task Forces are most resoundedly the Shadow Shard ones. I talked with Manticore this morning about this and he agreed to rework these into shorter, more engaging, Task Forces in an upcoming issue (possibly 7 or 8, maybe sooner though). The badges for these "new" Task Forces will be the same as the old ones, so characters that get the Shadow Shard TF badges between now and when the new SSTFs come out won't have to re-do them again.

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First off, I respect HIGHLY your willingness to acknowledge that the SSTF's are "less than optimal funnage." That shows to me that you guys really do understand the concepts of "fun."

Secondly, I may FINALLY have a reason to visit the Shard. 6 level 50's and been in there maybe a grand total of 5 times, and only 3 of those for the TF's. Thanks Pos, look forward to a more inviting zone.

I can tell you that with minor modifications, the levelling portion of this guide is still 90% accurate to date for just about ANY Fire/* blaster. In fact, I'd say it goes a bit faster for any Fire/* blaster with access to Aim+BU.

Check my updated levelling advice HERE.

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I was under the impression that scrappers deal the most damage, even though the guidebook says otherwise.

[/ QUOTE ] they do. it is a known fact. scraps = 1'st in dmg. PB's = second in dmg. then blasters and then tanks then defenders then controllers.

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Not completely accurate:

As of I4 (Live) today:

Blasters and Scrappers have equivalent BASE damage

Kheldians, while in Nova form, have higher BASE damage than that of a blaster.

Blasters have a +300% damage cap, Kheldians +350% and scrappers +400%. Of those three, only a blaster and a Kheldian can really hope to get their damage to cap without outside assistance.

Kheldians, while in HUMAN form, are equivalent to Defender base damage.

Defenders and Controllers are about on-par for damage.

Tankers are about 80% of scrapper damage, or slightly higher than defs/controllers.

Scrappers have a "Critical Strike" ability to do double TOTAL damage to a target....ranges from a 5-15% chance per strike, depending on target.

As of the proposed I5 changes:

Blaster and Scrapper damage caps are now equal at +400% to base.

Scrappers had their base damage upped slightly across the board, about 12% or so is what's being reported. This puts them as the highest base damage of all the AT's.

All other AT damage remained the same.

HOWEVER, and this is a biggie:

Scrapper damage is overwhelmingly Lethal based and Lethal damage is likely THE most resisted damage type in the whole game by the villians. So it's a pretty good bet that blasters, with a wider array of other damage types (except Assault Rifle and Archery, both lethal-based), still reign as the highest damage dealers in the game.

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as long as we're talking hover bugs...

Hover, teleport into a zone so you arrive zoning, and then watch as hover drops you like a rock until you turn it off for a couple seconds and reinstate it.

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Yup, I had Teleport and Hover on my Defender (since TP without Hover isn't useful for more than just pure travel), so I'd always be TPing with Hover engage. If I Tp'd myself into a zoning point (viaduct between zones, guards, whatever), on the other side of the zone, Hover would drop and I'd fall the short distance to the ground. Then you'd have to click it once or twice to get it working again.

Just a minor annoyance, as it only happened during zoning and those are typically safe spots anyways. But yeah, was bugged.

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i picked up torrent as an AoE attack but will respec out of it. even tried out EB on the test server to compare. if u feel like u need an AoE definitely go with torrent over EB. biggest reason - costs less end and does similar damage. as a defender u really dont need to be the damage dealer. i mostly use it if mobs get too close. its % chance of knockback is much better than the other powers.


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I don't think everyone is using their meager AoE's to their fullest. While it's true that Torrent does better damage than E-Blast (marginally, but better), unless you've got the time to line it up just right, you'll hit fewer mobs, so it's a bit of a tradeoff.

One strategy I used a TON while soloing was to slot up E-Blast with all recharge. This effectively gave me perma-E-Blast. Run into the mob, fire Fulcrum, then E-Blast, then start dispatching the mobs as they try to get back up with your single-target attacks (Bolt/Blast/Burst works well here for minions). Fire off E-Blast about every 4-5th shot and you will take ZERO damage from the mobs as E-Blast pretty much knocks anything down it hits, giving you another 3-4 seconds of risk-free shots. Your damage you deal from it is all being generated by Fulcrum, so typically by the time I've fired off the 4th or 5th E-Blast, any mobs I haven't gotten to yet are now dead.

For obvious reasons, I do NOT recommend this strategy for teaming, as the mobs will be blown everywhere. But soloing it's almost foolproof....nothing like taking on a mob of 10 or so and not get hit.

That's it Ladioss...I'm taking back your star.

Double-

Gratz on 50 Wytch! A major feat for any player, but especially so for a defender.

Now get back to work on your blaster!

Well it's nice to be gone a month and STILL see folks having to caveat their /Energy defender posts with "knockback" warnings. Guess things didn't change much while I was gone.

Great guide, Wytch. Thanks for your perspectives.

One difference I'd have to your guide is in Torrent versus Energy Blast. I had both...EBlast at lvl 35 and Torrent at lvl 41. As you've correctly stated, Torrent does more damage than EBlast...but only about 2-5% more (I did a LOT of testing at lvl 50 with both six-slotted for damage). And of the two, EBlast does MORE damage given that it consistently nails a larger number of targets and with less need to "line up" your attacks as does Torrent. And EBlast works at much longer range, giving you some nice options for deployment, as well as good "fire and forget" missle quality. Torrent just took me more time to use to the same effect....YMMV.

At any rate, nice guide....now lets go out and annoy our team-mates by concentrating firepower on the anchors and their targets! :P

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Hey, i hunt there myself, as a fire/ice tanker, i got enuff crowd control and resistance buffs that i can take on Riktis.

The point is that currently, you can take on Status mobs with a minimum of strategy, or take on mobs without that hastle (Nemesis for exemple).

Making Stim, ID, or CM longer would just help make the stunning mobs more in line with the non-stunning mobs.
They are doable, but would be easier with certain group members having certain powers. Just like a monster-type mob is easier with a tanker, the respec trial is easier with a bubbler, well, make it that Status-mobs would be easier with ceratin powers too.

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And that's the point of Update 2...to provide more challenge to those players that seek it. If the game's challenge level is lowered to the least common denominator, those of us who have 50 will just cancel our accounts and move on....nothing left here. But varying AT's provide varying degree's of challenge. I leveled a Defender to 50, and it was QUITE challenging, especially solo. I'm levelling a blaster right now...and it's ridiculously easy to level. The differing AT's offer very diverse "game difficulty" settings.

The same goes for mobs....they all give out equivalent XP, so there's no reason to take on "harder" mobs versus "easier" mobs. You can level from 40-50 taking on nothing but cons -1 or -2 to yourself....it's not very challenging, but then again, some folks don't WANT a challenge it would seem. It's also quite slow, but then again, risk=reward, right? You want an easy time levelling? Fine, take on Nem's from 40-50, throwing about 25 werewolf herding missions into the mix. Heck, I enjoy an easy kill myself to help alleviate the grind, so no problems there. But if I want to feel challenged, like putting the game on "hard" setting, then go solo RCS or duo it with a friend. It's a blast....much more so than if they dumbed the mobs there down to the level of Nem's who just line up and wait to be slaughtered.

I for one don't want the "stunning" mobs brought into line with the non-stunning mobs, as I for one enjoy a challenge for my $15 a month. Why everyone wants to dumb the game down across all levels, making every single AT exactly equal to one another, is completely beyond me.

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This is similar to the Increase Density issue. Not only is the buff shorter than Clear Mind, but it has the movement penalty.

It receives some resistance to smashing and energy but doesn't cover Sleep, which Clear mind does.

If the energy/smashing resistance is deemed to be better than Sleep resistance, then why does Increase Density have *two* other shortcomings (duration and movement penalty)?

It seems like the durations should be the same for the two powers and let the movement penalty offset whatever advantage Energy/Smashing vs Sleep is deemed to have.

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First off, ID has an offsetting power (Speed Boost) to easily remove the movement penalty....which is very similar to stealths movement penalty in that it's noticeable, but not a killer.

Secondly, the damage resistance is of significant merit if properly slotted by the Kineticist. It's about as effective as granting someone Tough from the fighting pool...which is considerable when you realize that smashing damage is a very common damage type in the game.

But a player that is Speed Boosted AND has ID applied is getting a 30% increase to END recharge, a 30% increase in attack/recharge rate, a 25% damage resistance to smashing/energy attacks, resistance to stuns (Disorients/Holds/Immobilize) AND a movement bonus....AND THAT'S WITH NO SLOTTING ABOVE/BEYOND THE NATIVE FIRST SLOT! Slot out ID or Speed boost, and these base numbers go way, way up. And the recharge on these powers is 3 seconds or less.

I agree....up the duration of ID to match at least that of Clear Mind, preferably to that of Speed Boost (2 mins). But even if left alone, this is a potent two-buff combo from any Kineticist as-is.

-Sir Payens
lvl 50 Kin/Energy Defender
lvl 26 Fire/Energy Blaster
Infinity

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Thanks for the reply Geko.

I understand how this was a "bug".
But look at the results:
- Medecine power now becomes a good choice.
- Players can finally hunt Eden, Crash Site, and non-Nemesis Peregrine with some kind of safeness.
- Effective stun resistance has become appreciated, sought after, and used.

Maybe, after this 60 sec -6 minute "blunder" you may want to re-evaluate giving it the a comparable duration has force-fields.

At launch, force fields lasted 2 minutes, and it just did not cut it. 4 minutes works fine.

How about 3.5 minutes for stim and 5 for clear mind and ID?

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First off, I've hunted RCS, Eden, Carnies, Malta, etc.....all without personal stun protection. It's called "strategy" whereby you use unique powersets to minimize the stuns. In my case, I used Transference to drain the END of the stunners....I've seen electrical blasters use their powers (slotted for end drain) to accomplish the same. It sounded like you wanted a 'safe' killing spree.....and that's your right, although that sounds like putting a fairly easy game on "don't hurt me" mode to me.

I know of no single buff that lasts six minutes in this game. I personally would prefer if my own Increase Density (Kin version of Stimulant/ Clear Mind) lasted longer, but even I'd acknowledge six minutes to be far too long. As it is now, ID for me is a "stun remover" and not a preventative measure by any means....otherwise, I am a "stim-bot."

But to claim you need this protection to survive these encounters simply indicates an unwillingness to adjust your tactics against varying enemy powers. I assure you....you CAN take on these villians, even solo, in relative "safety" without the use of bugged powersets.

-Sir Payens
lvl 50 Kin/Energy Defender
lvl 26 Fire/Energy Blaster
Infinity

My experience doesn't mirror your own. I have a lvl 20 blaster alt with CJ in that build, and last night, I found myself held several times by stalactities against trolls, usually right after being stunned and forcing CJ toggle to drop. But I'd just tap CJ again, and be free.

Maybe you were talking about "resisting" holds in the first place? Maybe I read it wrong, but I thought CJ just gave you a way to break a hold.

-Sir Payens
lvl 50 Kin/Energy Defender
Infinity