Dispari

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Even better, like the Auction House sliders when you add multiple items. Slide it left to lower values, slide it right to higher values, or input a number in the text field.

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Yeah. I have three versions of one character who are all supposed to be 6' even, but despite my best efforts they're different heights. I'd like to be able to type in a value.

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Fire lacks: Knockback, Confuse, Fear, Immobilize, Repel

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FA is tricky. Their Immobilize is in Burn.

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Yeah, I know of Burn. Though I wouldn't consider immobilize a weakness for any set given how easy it is to pick up CJ.

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I hear that you have to do the name three times, like that famous incantation 'Hickman Hickman Hickman'.

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Let me try.

BABsyjuice BABsyjuice BABsyjuice!

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Invuln lacks: Confuse, Fear, Repel

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Just right clicked on my Unyielding:

10000.00% resistance to repel on self

10.00 repel protection on self

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*squint*

Sorry, you're right. Didn't show it in the quick-summary for Unyielding in Mids, but it's there in the detailed list.

(QR)

From the level 52 Hamidon that spawns when all 50 people in the zone are on max difficulty!

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It also has some things other sets don't, like a complete package of status resist. Only WP has that.

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Are we just pretending /regen doesn't exist? ( Or is there a hole in Integration that I'm forgetting? )

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Fear and Confuse at least.

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Repel, too.

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I usually forget about Repel. I think almost nothing has repel resistance. Let me look.

Basic status effects are:
Hold
Stun
Immobilize
Sleep
Fear
Confuse
Knockback
Repel *

Dark lacks: Knockback, Confuse, Repel
Fire lacks: Knockback, Confuse, Fear, Immobilize, Repel
Invuln lacks: Confuse, Fear, Repel
Regen lacks: Confuse, Fear, Repel
Shield lacks: (nothing)
SR lacks: Confuse, Fear, Repel (noticing a theme here?)
WP lacks: (nothing)
Ice lacks: Confuse, Fear, Repel
Earth lacks: Confuse, Fear, Immobilize, Repel
Elec lacks: Confuse, Fear, Repel
Energy lacks: Confuse, Fear
Ninjitsu lacks: Knockback, Repel

Note that some of those also have some unique bonuses. Elec for instance resists teleportation. Ice of course resists slows.

Also: True story: When I was a noob, my first high-level character was a regen Scrapper. I thought I was totally immune to all status effects, so I had no idea what was going on when Jack in Irons feared me.

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There are no powers that increase your regeneration, recovery, speed, or recharge. There's no heal. There's no endurance recovery click power. There's no rez.

There's no damage aura. The taunt aura is +Dam (Self), -Dam (Foe), which pales in comparison to pretty much every other taunt aura out there. You can't slow the enemy down or make them less accurate.

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I dunno, I like it. It's the only set I liked enough to take to 50 twice. Once on Brute, once on Scrapper.

It's true it doesn't have gimmick powers or stuff to hit when you're in trouble, but neither does WP and that's very popular. What makes Shield great is that you can dash into a group and often kill minions in one hit (or sometimes two if you need to follow it up with an AoE). You get an amazing attack as part of your mitigation, because dead enemies don't do much damage.

You get some gimmicks. An attack is definitely a gimmick. You also get a +DEF bonus for allies. The problem I see is that those two powers are the ones most often skipped by people. They're crazy, because those are the two powers that make the set unique. Without them you may as well play something else.

It doesn't have +recov, +heal, rez, or +end. Neither does SR. It doesn't have +speed or +recharge. Neither does WP. It doesn't directly have +regen, but it has +HP, which makes you regen more HP per tic. It also has some things other sets don't, like a complete package of status resist. Only WP has that. It also has an incredibly powerful attack. And an AoE buff for teams, which no other defense set has. It's the only set where having more of that set makes all of the characters as a whole stronger, like playing a Thugs MM, but for Scrappers/Brutes/Tanks.

Shields isn't for everyone, but an offensive set that has a chance of stacking with a pactmate is pretty unique and definitely my style.

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Extremely late reply to this, but this is where you contradict yourself. You first claimed that SR without IOs "underperforms", but then in this post you seem to admit that the set is "decent" with just SOs. So which is it?

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I had this huge post written up but if I keep arguing this, I'm just going to be recycling all the posts I've already made in this thread. I'm just saying the same thing every time someone replies to my posts. I'm not sure what part of the communication is breaking down, but at some point I'm not getting my point across.

Recap: All I'm complaining about is low-level SR that doesn't have IOs. If you're low level and have IOs, that can ease the pain. Low level SR without IOs is the least durable set there is. All sets have problems at low levels, but SR is the worst. Even Shield has +HP and +RES to fall back on. Other sets have +regen or heals. SR has nothing other than defense, which almost all low-level enemies debuff, and at low levels you have no DDR or scaling resist. SR is a late-bloomer, and that's why it has problems at low levels only, unless you patch it up with IOs.

High level SR + IOs = extreme
High level SR = decent
Low level SR + IOs = decent
Low level SR = terrible

It's just like Dominators were. If you can suffer through the first 35 levels or so, you get rewarded. But for some people, those early levels aren't any fun and not worth the effort.

A large portion of Shield's defense is being able to wipe out groups of minions in one go. If you're fighting all bosses (like during an ITF), or AVs, it's not always the best choice. It does stand up pretty well, but it doesn't have as many boons for those situations as sets like Willpower or Invuln.

(QR)

I don't know what I really "look" for when I host CCs. I just find people who have good costumes that catch my eye. I don't look for specific qualities usually, outside of "I like that costume." Sometimes I look for things I can't personally pull off, like a good robot. If you'd like to see some of my picks, I have a thread here in the Virtue forums. I do a redside CC once a week.

I know what I DON'T look for. I DON'T look for people who have overly skimpy outfits where they're not wearing anything. It's not a costume if you're just in a bikini. I also don't look for people who are just wearing a set. You may look good in your all-Valkyrie costume, but there's nothing unique or interesting about it. I've seen it before 1000 times.

Ultimately though, no matter who I pick, someone always feels like they deserved to win. Just about every other time I have someone complain that so-and-so (or the person themselves talking) should've won, or I have no taste, or something like that.

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It's 2 minutes in game for Defenders, under the detailed info tab.

I never trust Mids for anything other than a build outline.

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Up until recently, I trusted Mids pretty heavily. It was maintained very well.

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You're confusing opinions and facts.

[/ QUOTE ]Actually I'm not, but you are correct in that many people do.

Opinions are essentially non-factual statements or preferences about subjective topics. They can't truly be wrong, but they can be against the agreed upon norm. Far too often many people will make a statement or a claim about something and then attempt to shrug off logical arguments with "well that's just my opinion." This usually happens about 5 seconds before I tell them to get out. I'm too old and cranky to deal with idiots like that anymore.

Anyway, opinions can be "wrong." As an example there are quite a few people in prison who do not believe that they should even be in prison. In their opinion their actions were acceptable, society however has collectively decided that their opinions are "wrong."

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Your last example still doesn't make an opinion right or wrong. The people are free to believe they don't belong in prison; that their actions don't warrant that punishment. And other people are free to disagree with them. However, neither of those things make "I don't belong in here" true or false.

Facts aren't determined by a majority vote. Even if 100% of the people in the world believed that the sky was pretty, it still wouldn't be a fact. It would still be an opinion. It's still not true or false. And it doesn't matter if the majority of society as a whole has decided that the guy should be in prison. That's still their opinion. It's also their opinion that he is wrong in his opinion. It's not, however, and never will be, a fact that he "should be in prison." His opinion absolutely cannot be "wrong." It can be discussed, and disagreed with, or even outnumbered by people who share the opposite opinion. But that will not and can not ever make an opinion into a true or false statement.

It's also my opinion that this conversation has gone on for way too long. Sheesh!

I think the person leaving the notes is Professor Echo.

Using the accolade while inside the missions was the most convenient time to use it. But I've found that it sometimes doesn't work in other places too. I couldn't use it after zoning out of a mission into Grandville until I walked around for a while. Seems like a bug.

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Two parallel lines run into each other, in my opinion (non-euclidian geometry)

Chicken McNuggets are green, in my opinion (red color blind)

everything can be an opinion. Facts are merely agreed upon opinions.

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Those are still facts, but from a different system or perspective. To the colorblind person, it WOULD appear to be green. So as long as "the person is red/green colorblind," the statement will remain true for them. That doesn't turn it into an opinion.

In the same way, I can say that 1 + 1 = 10. That's in binary, not base ten. I'm using a different system, and as long as other people are using the same system, the outcome will always be the same. It's not suddenly an opinion just because there are scenarios where the answer is different with different variables.

For another example, to say "The dog is brown." WHICH dog? All dogs are not always brown, but "the dog is brown" doesn't become an opinion just because not every dog is brown. Given the correct variables, "the dog is brown" would occasionally be true and occasionally be false. But "the sky is pretty" is not true or false in any scenario. It's an opinion.

Confused yet?

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Given that the set's had a good reputation long before IOs, I really doubt they're 'necessary'.

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To solo AVs and do the RWZ Challenge successfully like the previous poster was saying?

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Dispari:
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It's impossible for an opinion to be wrong. That's why they're opinions and not facts.

[/ QUOTE ]I've always found this phrase to be very annoying. Almost as annoying as that stupid phrase everyone spouts if you dare to ever use the word assume. It is very possible for an opinion to be wrong.

If someone says; "The sky is green, but that's just my opinion." Or if they say; "Humans have 3 hearts and 2 brains, in my opinion." Or; "Gravity doesn't pull down, it pulls up. In my opinion." Guess what? That person is wrongity wrong wrong wroooooooooooooooong! Also if a person says; "I think that Defender Electrical Blast does more damage than Blaster Fire Blast. But that's my opinion." Am I not allowed to tell that person how wrong they are just because it's their opinion?

Opinions aren't facts, but opinions can be wrong.

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You're confusing opinions and facts. You can't tack on the word "opinion" to any statement and turn it into an opinion. "I think the sky is green" isn't an opinion, because anyone could look up and see that it's not green. For it to be an opinion it would need to say something like "I think the sky would be prettier if it was green."

You can't say "1 + 1 = 7, in my opinion." Well, you can, but that doesn't make it an opinion. It's just a statement. An INCORRECT statement. For something to be an opinion, it would have to be a subjective topic that can't be proven, such as "cooler," "better," "more useful," "more interesting," "uglier," "smellier," "weirder," or "stranger."

Mathematic and clearly defined things are facts. Things based on likes/dislikes, emotions, and subjective things you can't prove are opinions. Misusing the word "opinion" doesn't turn any statement into an opinion. In all the examples above, the person was merely stating an incorrect statement. It's still impossible for an actual opinion to be wrong, because an actual opinion is based entirely on things that by definition cannot be wrong, because they're subject to interpretation and personal bias. You can't dash to a lab and pour stuff in tubes to prove that the sky would be "prettier" if it was green. Because not everybody likes green.

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How can a set that has so many videos from various people soloing AVs and having many successfull RWZ Scrapper Challenges be considered underperforming?

Most of which I have seen are /SR in regards to scrappers

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Let me refer you to the "with IOs" and "at low levels" points of my previous three posts or so, and then you can get back to me. It's not about what SR is capable of doing at it its peak. It's about the journey there, which is very unfriendly.

What SR is like is basically like Doms were until just recently. At their peak, maxed out, absolutely extremely powerful. However, at any point below that peak, not very fun to play and one of the worst possible things ever in the pre-30 game. To say that there's no problem because they're good when maxed out is ignoring all the low level bumps in the road. Playing a low level SR character simply sucks, no matter what the set is going to be capable of "eventually."

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I agree with your "number 2", but "number 1" I disagree with. I have an MA/SR who doesn't have anything beyond basic IOs slotted in his powers and he doesn't underperform. 33ish% Defense isn't exactly bad defenses. There's too much emphasis on minimizing your chances to be hit that any numbers that don't reach that point are seen as underperforming.

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A regular SR Scrapper gets hit about 20% of the time (1/5 hits) while an IOed SR Scrapper gets hit about 5% of the time (1/20 hits). You're about 4x more durable once you get IOs.

Base SR mitigation is pretty decent, but once you take IOs it's practically ridiculous. So, not that base SR is bad, but that it becomes crazy-good with the addition of IOs.

Level 50 IO SR is a huge leap from level 50 SO SR, which is a huge leap from level 25 SO SR. Soft capped SR is really powerful, while base SR is fairly decent, while lower level SR is atrocious. It's huge leaps and bounds, and suffering through all the early grade stuff kinda sucks a lot.

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I don't think it's underperforming for anyone, some people just don't like playing straight Defense sets. It's not Supposed to be for everyone. All three ATs that get SR can get Dark Melee. All 3 can IO for soft capped Def. All 3 get Elude. You don't need Parry to get good results out of SR.

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It's not that it underperforms on any specific AT. It's that it underperforms:

1) Without IOs
2) At lower levels

Playing a low level SR was one of the most frustrating things I've ever done. It was basically like playing a Brute with no secondary, but still using up endurance anyway. Every enemy was still capable of reducing me to negative defense, and I had no RES, regen, or HP to fall back on. I just simply died to everything. Eventually, somewhere around 35+, SR starts to do better, and can eventually soft-cap fairly easily with IOs, However, the ride and the non-IO path isn't very fun.

Dispari's 12th Weekly Redside Costume Contest

This week was a little less populated than usual. A bit late for people, I suspect. Still, got 27,000,000 in donations and a sponsorship by Guilty by Association for next week.

Prizes:
1st: 10m
2nd: 5m
3rd: 2.5m
Runner-ups: 1m

Female runner-ups:
Ebon Baroness
Vesper Violare

Third place:
Pyrokinecia

Second place:
Eve Hollows.

First place:
Blindmoon

Male runner-ups:
Crom Cruach
YaDamnFairy

Third place:
Kommadant Macht - level 7!

Second place:
Necro-Khan

First place:
Dr. Bluethorn

That's all for this week. Next week's CC should be around Sunday at 9:00 PM CST. Give people an earlier start time, since this week was a little sparse with the later time. See you all then!

Where do babies come from?

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Everyone's entitled to their (wrong) opinion.

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It's impossible for an opinion to be wrong. That's why they're opinions and not facts.

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However it is very possible for people to miss sarcasm when they see it.

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Yeah right, that's impossible.

CC in 1 hour!

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Everyone's entitled to their (wrong) opinion.

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It's impossible for an opinion to be wrong. That's why they're opinions and not facts.

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I dont see why people complain about Devices. Devices are awesome for a tactician player!

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I've tried time and time again to like Devices. It's designed in a weird way that's unlike other Blaster sets. Almost all the powers are skippable or situational, making it hard for Devices to contribute to a Blaster's build. These replies aren't to try to shoot you down or prove anything; just going to try and explain why me and many others dislike Devices.

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Sure you trade up Build Up but you gain SO MUCH more!

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You lose Build Up, making it the only secondary set that doesn't increase your damage in any way. You also don't have any direct attacks -- also the only secondary set this way. Right off the bat, it falls way behind in how it can deal damage for you in combat. It has 3 powers at the end of the spectrum, that don't start until 28, that CAN do damage. Unfortunately, all three are interruptable. However, 1-27 offer no meaningful damage, and the pet has a huge cast time, huge end cost, and requires 100% recharge to be around all the time.

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Devices is the only secondary ( for blasters ) that let you "set up" a battlefield beforehand with land mines and caltrops! You can take your time and prepare a REAL ambush.

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This sounds cool in theory, and it's always amusing to draw enemies into a minefield, but in practice, it takes forever to set up a bunch of traps. In that time, you could've just gone in and killed the guys. It works if you want the total safety of having them die when they run around the corner, but it also takes about 10x longer than just killing them outright. In teams, this will almost never work, and people will get very impatient waiting for you to do this if you try it very often. Especially because it's unnecessary.

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Targeting Drone: A great power that boosts your accuracy AND perception. All good stuff for blasters.

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Useful, but rarely necessary. Not that it's not one of the best powers in the set, and worth taking for everyone, but you don't always need accuracy and perception. It's a lot more situational than giving you bonus damage, which helps all Blasters all the time.

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Taser is a solid Stun that stacks very well with Beanbags or Stunning Arrow.

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While true, Elec has a hold, Energy has 2 100% stuns, Ice has a hold and sleep, and Mental has confuse and fear. All the other sets besides Fire have just as much of a control ability as Taser, and most of them have MORE than that to offer. For instance, Energy is full of stuns and knockbacks even if they aren't always reliable, and Ice has a bunch of slows.

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Web Grenade: Great immob. good vs AVs, great before using location aoes like Ignite!

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All the sets besides Energy have an immobilize. And Web Grenade is the only one that doesn't do damage. And while all of the immobilizes would cause redraw, Devices is the obvious thematic choice to pair with the weapon sets, meaning the fact that it causes redraw is twice as annoying.

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Sure, the set has some duds or powers that are useful in only a few situations, like Time Bomb. Ive been toying with this one and still cant come up with great uses for it. If only they were giving us a REMOTE Detonator haha. Now thta would rock!

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Part of it's that Time Bomb only offers about a 30% damage increase over Trip Mine, for about a hundred times more hassle and availability. But part of it's that you can't use either one of them when you're actually IN combat. It's also partly that in the 30 seconds it takes for you to plant the bomb and have it go off, you could've easily killed all the badguys already. Or at the very least, planted two Trip Mines.

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Cloaking Device: A very decent Stealth power that stacks greatly with SS or a stealth IO. No need to waste a power choice in a power pool. It comes with your secondary powerset!

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Useful in some situations, but largely unnecessary. Since all it offers is minor stealth and a small defense boost, it doesn't do much for Blasters. The stealth isn't enough unless stacked, the DEF doesn't do much, and there are no other benefits. Maybe if it offered critical hits akin to Stalker-style, it would address the issue of being not very useful as well as not having much damage in the secondary.

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Auto Turret: Decent DPS added to your attacks and it is now mobile! Too bad it doesnt last longer and is so slow to cast...

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You pretty much explained why people don't like it. It's useful, but having to suffer through a 6 second cast time every 90 seconds is annoying. Nobody would try to use it inside combat, so why does it need a massive cast time which is interruptable? Having a longer duration would also make it a lot more tolerable.

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Overall, Devices is very useful for creative players. And thank god it feels different for a change. So bored of playing powersets that are all looking alike with different colors. Devices are UNIQUE just like Traps are UNIQUE!

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Interestingly enough, I like Traps as it has a lot of useful powers. It has a great AoE control/debuff, a great team buff, and a sprinkling of useful debuff powers to apply. None of the powers in Devices, though, really stand out as overly cool or useful.