Eek a Mouse

Yes, and it was before Costume Change emotes. Hence the OP's question about whether they might be added at a later date.

Well, I'lll be. That's amazing. I never imagined there'd be another me. I wonder if I made an account on the EU forums.

Thanks!

How do you lose the "_EU" or "_NA" in your name?

You won't be able to level using JUST those arcs, and they aren't repeatable. Most of the zone arcs are in four parts, but after the first two you usually aren't high enough level to do the last two. And the last two won't take you high enough to start the next zone's arcs.

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1-2 EndRec SOs.

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Translating: 1-2 Endurance Reduction enhancements

Hah, terrific! I forgot all about /toggle and that means you only need one macro/bind. Excellent.

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Maneuvers (6 slots)
Tactics (6 slots)
Assault (2 slots)

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I would definitely recommend only leaving the base slot in Assault, one end reduction in that should be all you need.
The other two powers only need 4 slots as well, unless you are shooting for specific set bonuses.

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Set bonuses are critical for softcapping defense. Specifically, 6-slotting Tactics is the sole reason for taking this power rather than just slotting the Rectified Reticle +PER. Six-slotting Maneuvers with Red Fortune gives me some additional Ranged defense as well as recahrge and damage bonuses.

Since END issues are the reason for making this change, I think I'll want to get all three of these powers as low as possible.

Focused Accuracy was never really a consideration for me. Laser Beam Eyes didn't fit the concept (Shuriken didn't really either but it was closer). I've never taken Conserve Power. I really don't like long recharge powers -- I end up saving them for when I "really need them" and end up rarely using them. A power that recharges every five minutes even fully slotted for recharge is just going to sit in my tray.

I don't mind the Targeting Drone animation (I had it on my first character ever, Outlaw Sniper). But the end issue is just a killer. So my plan is:

Web Grenade (6 slots)
Targeting Drone (6 slots)
Shuriken (5 slots)

will become

Maneuvers (6 slots)
Tactics (6 slots)
Assault (2 slots)
plus 3 slots to play around with (probably including a Miracle or Numina's or both)

I think the OP was asking about actually using the power. Surveillance changes the combat monitor window to show your enemy's stats instead of your own.

There is a /command to open the combat monitor window, and you could easily bind or macro that command. but I'm not sure what it is. Someone else will post that, I'm sure. I keep the window open, and so I don't have to worry about it.

Edit: Wiki to the rescue

http://paragonwiki.com/wiki/Window_show_(Slash_Command)

/window_show window_name
/window_hide window_name

The window in this case is Combatmonitor

So you'd need to macro or bind "windowshow combatmonitor" and "windowhide combatmonitor"

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How about you take Targeting Drone, slot it with the + perception IO (I'm pretty sure you mentioned you were using webnade as a set mule, why not do the same) If for some reason your acc gets debuffed severely you can run TD for a limited time to over come it, but in the mean time keep your guassians slotted in build up, get your perception, but not run out of end outside of situations where you need a powerful to hit buff.

*edit* Also I'd go maneuvers over assault more damage is good but between AAO and build up, and not quite being softcapped I'd definitely pick the extra defense.

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I agree on the Maneuvers over Assault. I have that planned for the respec, but I may end up getting both as I will have a free slot from Shuriken.

I wouldn't want to slot Gaussian's in Build Up because of the loss of recharge. Currently, Build Up has almost exactly the recharge rate of Shield Charge, so I can use them both as soon as they pop up. If I slotted Gaussian's in Build Up there would be a 5-7 second difference, which would either slow down Shield Charge as well or mean I wasn't using Build Up for my big attack.

I never thought of using TD as a mule AND getting the Rectified Reticle +PER IO (probably would slot that in Build Up). Seems kind of redundant but it makes sense.

However I am pretty much set now on dropping the APP route altogether and going with Maneuvers/Tactics. Now I just need to decide if I want to grab Assault to replace Shuriken, or go with Confront to pull and snag runners.

Thanks for the advice all!

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I also realize that I could just get a Rectified Reticle IO and boost my Perception to acceptible levels, but the Guassian's defense bonuses are soooo good.

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Clearly I deserved a TL;DR or two

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I've been thinking that Focussed Accuracy seems rather overpriced myself. It doesn't seem to me that it should cost any more End than Tactics for what it does.

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That was my thinking as well. Focused Accuracy and Targeting Drone seem to be equivalent but for the animation and the other powers in the set. I went with TD because I don't like the long recharge time of Conserve Power, whereas Web Grenade was a decent IO mule. I was stunned to realize that Targeting Drone took as much End as Tactics plus Maneuvers combined.

If I drop Targeting Drone for Tactics this will be my 7th (out of 9) level 50 character without Ancillary Power Pools.

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I know there's no -kb IO, but he get's knocked around like a rag doll,

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?????

Steadfast Protection -4 mag KB Resist


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I know there's no -kb IO,

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Say WHAT? There's not one, not two, but THREE different IO's that give -4 mag knockback protection.
Steadfast Protection - goes in a resistance power.
Karma - goes in a defense power.
Blessing of the Zephyr - goes in a travel power.

Plus, there are IO sets that give -knockback if you have the right pieces all slotted in one power

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I think the OP was saying that he knows there's no -kb IO in his build.

I hate hate hate having my perception debuffed. It annoys me to no end when my enemies just fade away and I am standing there with nothing to attack unless I pop a yellow (and I hate carrying yellows just for this). So for much of the life of my BS/SD scrapper I've been looking forward to Focused Accuracy or Targeting Drone.

I finally got to take Targeting Drone and quickly realized that there was no way I could possibly run it and still have endurance to fight. Even after I have it fully slotted with Gaussian's, I can't manage the .45 end/sec cost.

I looked at Tactics and it only costs .39/second unenhanced and .23/second with a full kit. For what Targeting Drone costs to run, I could run both Tactics AND (Maneuvers or Assault) and get a small Def/Dam bonus for the whole team!

I realize that TD and Tactics are a bit different, but not substantially.

Enhanced TD (self only):
5% ToHit
20% Accuracy
70% Resist ToHit Debuff
60% Resist Perception Debuff
60% Perception

Enhanced Tactics (affects the whole team):
7% ToHit
36% Resist Perception Debuff
40% Perception
Confusion resistance and protection

I understand that TD has an accuracy buff on top of the ToHit and more resistances to ToHit debuffs, but for my purposes Tactics seems satisfactory. I also understand that as a Scrapper I wouldn't be getting the full benefit of Assault or Maneuvers that a Defender would. But every little bit helps.

(Assault/Maneuvers)+Tactics is the same number of power picks as Web Grenade+Targeting Drone. I'd lose out on being able to take Shuriken, but I've lived without a ranged power for a while now and I think I could make do with Temp Powers for runners (I still have 60 charges on my Bow and Arrow from Croatoa!).

So what am I missing here? Tactics or TD? If I stick with TD I either will need to get a +Recovery proc IO and stick it somewhere or continue only turning TD on when I need it. I also realize that I could just get a Rectified Reticle IO and boost my Perception to acceptible levels, but the Guassian's defense bonuses are soooo good.

Also, if I choose Tactics, do I go Assault or Maneuvers? With Maneuvers I am a bit closer to softcapping (I'm 41% melee, 38% ranged, 33% aoe right now) and I could slot Red Fortune for more Ranged Defense and with my Grant Cover my allies would get even more defense. But every Scrapper loves more Damage, right?

Thoughts?

I almost always monitor the following:

Experience to next level (I like to do the math to calculate how many minions I have left before I ding...)
Damage Bonus (To note when I am debuffed, or to monitor Build-up/Rage/AAO/Defiance)
Recharge Bonus (To note when I am debuffed, or to monitor Speed Boost/AM)
To Hit Bonus (To note when I am debuffed)
Melee Defense (To note when I am debuffed, or to monitor Invincibility/Parry/Phalanx Fighting)
Smashing Resistance (To note when I am debuffed, or to monitor SR resists)
Last Hit Chance (So I can tell if I'm not at 95% for some reason)

Then depending on my specific AT or powerset I add in others such as regeneration rate for my Willpower/Regen toons, positional/typed defenses for my defense-based characters, or stealth radius for characters with stealth powers.

You forgot to tell him the range, Aett.

Hah, I knew someone was gonna point that out. I thought it was already confusing enough, but you are right that there's no point in introducing misconceptions.

By the way, I used four SOs in my example because that's what is needed to get to the red zone in Mids. That last SO doesn't give very much enhancement, and that's why the rule of thumb is 3xSO for ED softcap. Of course with IOs it is different because they vary by level. Three level 50 IOs is a 58.5% enhancement, almost as much as 4xSOs.

Also note that the ED softcap is different for other power effects. Defense and Resistance are on a different "schedule" than most other effects. The most common schedule (A) softcaps at 95%, which again comes from 3xSOs.

Finally, you asked about resistance. As far as calculating the value of the bonus, it works like Defense. However Resistance itself doesn't have a softcap. It has a hardcap that varies based on the archetype. Resistance powers still have the softcap of ED, but they add together without a softcap until they reach the max for that AT.

Here's an example using a super reflexes scrapper:

The basic toggle for melee defense is Focused Fighting. It gives 13.9% defense.
Defense uses a different enhancement schedule than most other powers, so a single even level SO gives 20% bonus
1x SO (20%) = 16.7% defense
2x SO (40%) = 19.4% defense
3x SO (56%) = 21.6% defense -- this third SO is affected by ED and only gives 16% enhancement
4x SO (59%) = 22.1% defense -- this fourth SO is very affected by ED and only gives 3% enhancement

ED is Enhancement Diversification, with forces a softcap on individual effects of a power. In Mids' builder, the enhancement value is in red at this point to show that the defense enhancement for this power is at the softcap. You can add more enhancement to this power, but it won't do much good. That's why the previous poster called this the redzone.

Notice that your melee defense is only 22.1% though, even though the power is enhanced basically to its maximum of 59% enhancement (13.9 x 1.59=22.1). Melee defense is not softcapped at this point. just the enhancement of that one power is. At 22.1% melee defense, an even level minion has a (50.0-22.1) 27.9% chance to hit you.

Our scrapper then takes Dodge, an auto power that gives 5.63% Melee defense, which takes us to 27.7%. After enhancing Dodge with the same four SOs, Dodge is enhanced by 59% (to the enhancement softcap for that power), which brings our total Melee defense to 31%. It is still not to the softcap for Melee defense though. We are getting hit (50-31) 19% of the time by an even level minion.

We add Combat Jumping and Weave and enhance their defense values with just one SO, which takes Melee defense to 37.8%. Then we slot two full sets of Touch of Death IO in two of our melee powers. All of these things combined brings our Melee defense up to 45.3%. At this point you would expect even levels minions to only have (50.0-45.3) a 4.7% chance to hit. However there is a guaranteed chance of at least 5% for all enemies of any level. That means that any amount of defense over 45% doesn't really help in most situations. If we added another Touch of Death set, or enhanced Weave more, our Melee defense would go up, but we'd still get hit 5% of the time. So 45% is the softcap for defense.

We have individual defense powers with at the enhancement softcap (ED) of about 59%. However the softcap for defense itself from all sources is 45%.

I say "in most situtations" because it can be useful to have more than 45% defense sometimes. If your enemy has greater accuracy or if your defense is debuffed, it can help to have more. But for the vast majority of the game, 45% is all you need and more doesn't help.

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Level 12 - Invention Tutorial at Steel Canyon University (don't do it at 10 -- at 12 you get a level 15 enhancement)

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If you wait until 22 you can get a 25 enhancement. Much more useful than a level 15.

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Well, a level 15 IO enhancement is about 20% better than an equivalent level DO enhancement and exceeds a +3 DO by a bit. It serves well for 10 levels. However a level 25 IO is actually less than an equivalent SO enhancement and probably isn't even worth slotting. So I'd have to disagree with you.

A friend of mine came back to the game with almost exactly the same situation as you. Here's what I suggested to him:

Level 1-5 - Fiddle around Atlas Park
Level 5 - King's Row, talk to the Detective
Level 5-7 - Do three police missions and the bank Safeguard mission for your jet pack
Level 8-15 - Go to Hollows and run the arcs there, leaving to do the other stuff in between
Level 10-12 - Do three police missions in Steel Canyon and the bank Safeguard mission for your jump pack
Level 12 - Invention Tutorial at Steel Canyon University (don't do it at 10 -- at 12 you get a level 15 enhancement)
Level 12 - Midnighters Club mission arc from the Steel University (Montague Castanella)
Level 15-25 - Faultline, leaving when you need to level up for next contact tier
Level 15-20 - Five radio missions in Skyway plus a Safeguard to get a self rez power
Level 20-30 - Striga, same as Faultline
Level 20-25 - Mercedes Sheldon, Midnighter Club, three arcs
Level 20-25 - Five radio missions in Talos plus a Safeguard to get a summon teammates power
Level 25-35 - Croatoa, same as Striga
Level 25+ - Oroborous, four intro missions and a soloable TF
Level 25-30 - Five radio missions in Talos plus a Safeguard to get a movement increase auto power

That will take you to 30 doing nothing but content new since I7, except Striga and Croatoa, which are worth redoing in my opinion. If you find yourself needing some levels before the next contact will talk to you (happens when you finish one arc but are not high enough to start the next), that's when AE would fit in nicely.