FourSpeed
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Posts
1554 -
Joined
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Quote:Yep - this is my take on it too.Originally Posted by newchemicals
I just consider Judgement to be my "blaster nuke" now. Its up and ready to fire more often, its ranged, hits more targets and has no crash. It does less damage so what? At least it doesn't have 10 seconds of no end + time to retoggle a bunch of stuff.
As for the less damage part, I find that Judgement along with my T2 AoE still
wipes out nearly everything - while still leaving me able to deal with a near
dead boss and/or a couple lucky stragglers.
It's long past the time the devs should re-evaluate blaster nukes. A so-called
"signature power" that rarely gets taken or used anymore is indicative of a
problem that deserves attention imho.
Regards,
4 -
This appears to be a (relatively) new design decision on the part of the Devs,
as it also happens with the Atlas Park and new DA revamps.
Evidently, somewhere they lost sight of the fact that the game *intentionally*
did NOT used to do that.
In zones, it promotes Spawn Camping, and while it's not a big deal in AP, it's still
a bad precedent to set imho.
In missions, as you discovered, it can lead to an insta-gank, especially for squishies.
Frankly, I'd expect to see more of that (with our current Dev crew) as they seem
much more inclined to "borrow" gimmicks and mechanics from other MMO's - a trend
that I find rather uncreative, if not lame...
As far as dealing with them, the other posters have offered good advice and tactics,
but I completely see the point (and agree with it) of folks that said they don't play
that content - I too played it once, and haven't been back since.
Irritating mechanic is irritating. <shrug> YMMV.
Regards,
4 -
Quote:Well, there are a few issues that made it difficult (for me at least) even withOriginally Posted by Ideon
Just makes me sad that so many people apparently don't play with map open in a small window stuck to the top left or right of the screen, haha. I've had to reply to at least five people asking me where Scirocco was by the answer "Press M to view your map".
the map open.
First of all, there are several examples of markers in this game not actually marking
the correct place - AP and DA come immediately to mind...
Second, even tho the marker is in the correct area in this specific case, he's
*inside* the force field area which may or may not seem simple to enter, and
additionally, he's pretty small compared to the size of the Wisps and other Rularuu,
so he was difficult to see.
Third, and by far the most irritating to me, is that he's not targetable until you
actually defeat the "guards" - that is a Bad Thing, because if you have a real
handy bind for finding difficult targets (like Maelstrom (Tip), or blinkies, or NPC
hostages in *other* missions), it simply won't work. Period.
So, having the map open is good advice, but it's still quite easy to miss him
even so... YMMV
Regards,
4 -
I don't have many T4's at all.
That said, I do like to get things to T3 as quickly as I can and, since I tend to play
squishies, I tend to get Alpha and Judgement to T3 first - Alpha obviously for the
level shift, but then Judgement as it's what a Nuke should be (in the first place).
Interface is usually the least important to me, not because it isn't useful, but more
because I think of it like some extra damage (similar to chewing red candy - nice,
buff, but not really core to the toon), so T1 or T2 is "good enough" to begin
with.
So, after Alpha and Judgement, Destiny gets my full attention because Barrier is such
a game changer on a squishy (Clarion is also good, but it's far more situational).
Lore is only slightly more interesting than Inferface, and I find that I don't actually
use the pets very much even when I do have them (the iShift is really the main
value for me), except for AV/GM fights, or the BAF prisoner phase. <shrug>
So, Alpha, Judgement and Destiny - then Reactive and Lore "when I get around to it".
Unsurprisingly, the few T4's I DO have are in that first group of three.
Regards,
4 -
Quote:Yep. That's pretty much where I'm at on the Blaster "issues" as well - which is whyOriginally Posted by Memphis_Bill
I am, basically, happy with where blasters are now, in general, wanting (again) only a few tweaks to a set or two.
I've pretty much stayed out of these threads.
I fundamentally disagree with the main premise that a lot of the posters seem to have
about Blasters.
Regards,
4
PS> Kudos to THB for the GM takedown - nice job. -
Everyone knows the answer is: 42
Cheers,
4 -
Quote:/THIS!Originally Posted by Energizing_Ion
hehe yeah I can see that too
But one last point before work...
In the mission where you go to the Shadow Shard and have to 'rescue' Scirocco....
Why can't we target him?! GRRR....
When I entered the mission I did my keybind, "/bind e targetcustomnext Sci" and went all over the map (and inside the ball/chantry) and never got a hit.
So I went around again trying to stay low to the ground (was SJ'ing around last time)....
Then finally saw him when I entered the Chantry/ball on the left side....
GRRR....really?!
After the tip mission with the near-invisible Maelstrom, I learned to use a similar,
and very reliable bind for annoying targets like that ... all to no avail here.
Given that it was quite late already, I was more than a little irritated that Scirocco's not
targetable, and I wasted several minutes trying to find him (thanks to folks on
#FreedomTFs for putting up with my frustration and telling me where to find the putz).
That just about killed the entire arc for me right there (given the hour)...
The chatter in-channel persuaded me to keep going, and Mission #3 saved the arc
for me.
The map was awesome and my eyes boggled with the ships in mission.
As a hero, I also rankled at working with known, egregious villains - bah!
In Warburg, as far as I can tell, the Tanks never fired so much as a shot at me and
I took them out at range, completely risk-free. Their explosions helpfully maimed
the guys I was also supposed to handle, so they were simple 1-shot targets
at that point - handy...
Like others, I couldn't resist using Judgement (Ion, in my case) on the nice
clump of tanks in the last room, and the fireworks were fun.
In the final mission, if there were any particle effects at all with the Beams of Doom,
I didn't see any. It was just a straight 900 HP off the top (after the warnings).
That wasn't enough to kill my Blaster, and was readily dealt with using my heals.
I think I got hit 5 or 6 times before taking out all the artifacts.
I never saw Penelope in the last mission until it was all over and if she was any
help at all, I'm unaware of it - she was just kneeling by the portal. So far as I
can tell, every one of the Beams hit me, and she obviously wasn't in the combat
picture at all -- I did enjoy seeing Lord Recluse get beaten like a drum though
The press conference seemed a little goofy to me. <shrug>
As for the story - it was alright, but I felt FAR more heroic running the new
DA arcs than I did "saving the world" in SSA 7.
I'd rate the arc a 6/10, mostly for the impressive scenery, and I definitely deduct a
full point for the irritating business with Scirocco, and a bit of the buggy feel
with the tanks and Penelope.
Regards,
4 -
Quote:Ok, I admit it - I lol'dOriginally Posted by Stone Daemon
I can see it now...
*One year from now*
New Kheld Player (NKP): Hey I need help with a build.
THB: *pulls out the polygraph machine* Have you, or anyone you know, ever bought or had in your possession a SBE?
NKP: Ummm...
*machine starts making alarms*
NKP:
THB:
As for the main issue - I can see both sides of it although it doesn't bother
me too much either way.
On one hand, NC sells purples to ppl and earns revenue - clearly a silver lining there.
On the other hand, no matter how many purples they sell, we'll still have AE Babies,
WinterLord wingnuts, and countless other types of clueless players (over the years)
who can't find their way out of Atlas Park, regardless of build or slotting.
When all's said and done, MY toons will still be able to do the things I built them to do,
with as much skill as I (as a player) can muster.
Net effect to me? Zero.
So, having been married a couple times, I'm not choosing a position on an issue
that has Zero practical effect for me.
Cheers,
4
PS> Haven't taken a look at the PB build, but since I like PB's more than WS's, I will be
curious to see what you did with it, THB (mine tend to be DuoFormers - N/D). -
I approach the T3/T4 discussion similarly to an IO builds discussion.
In builds, I frankenslot my toons starting around L25-L28. For me, it is hands-down
the best blend of consistent performance, usability, and cost.
Likewise, the handful of toons I incarnate consider T3's as the PoA (Point of Arrival).
T3's, like frankenslotting, are the best blend of performance vs cost (ie. effort),
and for the large majority of my iToons T3 is as far as they're going (barring
blind luck drops).
That said, I do have a couple toons that are "purpled-out" with multi-billion
inf builds - for them, the extra cost and effort was a> part of the plan to begin
with, and b> worth it, once achieved.
For those couple toons, they're also going to go the T4 route as well, for much
the same reasons.
However, with T3's providing all the level shifts, and the bulk of the performance,
there's no time-urgency to get them to T4's, so I've been very gradually collecting
the various bits and pieces for them without actually doing enough of it to feel "grindy".
Rather, I've taken the approach that "they'll get them when they do" and that's
made it more enjoyable for me, rather than burning out trying to load them up in a
specific time-frame.
There's no question that the effort-gap between T3 & T4 is quite large, but that
doesn't mean you *have* to experience it as an @$$-busting grind.
Regards,
4 -
Quote:I won't even go that far.Ah, the good ol' days of having characters I would only play with the speakers turned off...Quote:
Quote:
Originally Posted by Samuel_Tow
The "constant, irritating sound" problem is something I'd thought the art team had learned to solve about four years ago when they killed nearly all persistent sounds for power toggles. Dark Armour used to make my ears bleed, Forcefields sounded like a constant whale song and I still have nightmares about the Targeting Drone.
Then came Demon Summoning, and the exact problem you describe happened... And is still happening to this day. Demons are constantly grunting and growling. I wonder if we need another blow-out flame war over it to get someone's attention and please just kill the repetitive background noise that's out of our control.
I tried a Sonic Blaster the first day they were released, and haven't touched
the set since.
I won't go near the Demons with a 10 ft cattle prod, and on the rare times I team,
and the rarer times I've gotten stuck teaming with Demon MM, I'll usually find
something else to do.
In the couple iTrials I run regularly, there's enough room to avoid them (and the
infernal racket) to the point where it's tolerable amidst all the other stuff going on.
Thankfully, I've not encountered the barking mutts yet, but if they're as bad
as folks are implying here, I'll be adding them to the "Stay Away" list.
As for Sam's comment, you'd think the dev's *would* learn, but unfortunately,
they don't seem to, or once they actually do, they move on...
I see a lot of "repeat-mistakes", that were once thought to be solved, these days.
Regards,
4 -
Welcome Back, Goat!
As noted, lots of changes, the 88'rs are still around, and Fulmens is still altruistically
out-of-control.
Converters are all the rage - and their effects will be even more magnified once
the devs finally get their patches straight and implement ALL the ways they're
supposed to be obtainable.
DA is iReVamped now (which won't matter so much to you atm as a preemie),
but your L22 DA farming opportunities have been replaced with iContent.
In any case, enjoy poking around in the Cities.
Cheers,
4 -
Quote:I-22 post patch released the Enhancement Converters (that were supposed toOriginally Posted by No Torius
I haven't been on the market forum for at least 4 months so I am not sure really what's going on. Thank you everyone for your reply, kind words, and letting me know that the market has changed.
release with I-22 proper).
The basic gist of those (see Plasma's Guide post) is that you can use them to
switch crappy IO's into premium IO's.
Obviously, that's a gihugical game-changer and a lot of folks planned to take
full advantage of that, especially since converters are supposed to be readily
available using r-merits, a-merits, astrals, empys, and even mob drops.
Currently, only r-merits and drops occur right now, but that's still produced more
than enough converters to drop the PvP procs down to 25% of their old value already.
When they add the other methods, converters will very probably become *the*
supply method for those IO's, and stay that way (barring any other changes)
for the forseeable future.
Most folks dumped those IO's a few weeks back before I-22 released.
Sorry you got stuck with yours - that said, if you have a toon that could use them,
you won't be losing much (now) to slot them.
If you're insistent about selling them, do it now (before the next patch), while
they're still worth a few hundred million, because, I'll wager prices will drop further
when that goes live...
Regards,
4 -
I don't announce it either.
More often than not, the teamie has rezzed already if I take time to announce
it first.
Even so, I still sometimes miss casting it - I think some of them have
a rez on auto...
Cheers,
4 -
Quote:I'd count it as a plus if *these* guys would try to live up to it 20-30% of the time.Originally Posted by Coyote_Seven
If every software publisher actually tried to seriously live up to that 100% all the time, there would be no software industry at all.
It would be a distinct and noticeable improvement from what we usually see now.
4 -
I've little opinion on the Dominator slotting (never played one ... yet).
For a different perspective, I have RoF on a Blaster, and it does have the Ragnarok
proc in it, so I thought I'd share that viewpoint.
I'm fairly pleased how well it works, but I don't disagree with the other posters.
In my specific case, I have more than two slots in there and, as a blaster, I'm
not at all worried about RoF for damage - I'm gonna wipeout everything in the
patch with Fireball, Blaze, etc. long before RoF kills it.
I use RoF primarily for the aggro mitigation (like Caltrops), and the proc helps
with that goal.
Obviously, your situation is different OP, so I'm just posting this as an FYI for
other folks who may have an interest in RoF.
Regards,
4 -
Yep. The OP's sense of timing is definitely Not Good right now.
Those prices are already way down, and that doesn't include the other vectors
for obtaining converters yet (A-merits, Astrals, Empys).
When that patch finally hits, it will be doubtful if prices will *ever* reach the
level you're asking, again.
If that patch takes awhile to go live, then prices may recover somewhat (once they
fix the r-merit exploit), and folks finish burning through the bulk of their r-merit
supply.
That said, I picked up the trifecta yesterday (Glad Proc, Shield Wall Proc and
Panacea Proc) for 700M -- total for all 3 of them...
GL selling a single IO for 2 Billion.
Regards,
4 -
I'd agree with the others on the values of Frankenslotting that 5th slot, and/or
considering Acc/Dmg HO to put in there.
The real issue with that slotting is the 23% Acc, which is subpar and needs to
be addressed to make the attack viable.
You have a number of options to consider to do that.
The Erdx and Rch in there are fine - you have more than a +3 SO's worth of
improvement in each of those categories, and for an attack that is very good.
As for Acc/Dmg, my own personal guidelines are 60%/90% Acc/Dmg in any attack.
At those levels, you're softcapped for accuracy against most PvE mobs, and
you're into ED degradation in damage (ie. diminishing returns to adding any more).
So, in your case, any X/Dmg double IO will boost the Dmg value up enough
to be good, but your 23% Acc isn't even close (that is one of the knocks on the
Kin Combat set - low acc).
Typically, if you have a bunch of global accuracy, you can get away with 40-45%
and do "well enough" in PvE, but you'll be less than 95% to hit some things.
You can also consider the idea of a Nerve Incarnate power for your Alpha slot,
which would be the equivalent of an Acc SO in every power that can use one.
And finally, and probably simplest, and cheapest, is to drop an L50 Acc IO in there,
as the 85% Dmg you already have isn't too bad, relatively speaking.
Regards,
4 -
While not quite so frustrated as Dechs, (I *never* considered going human - bah!)
I'm really, really glad these binds are fixed though -- they're integral to playing
the AT "properly" (human, Bah!), so it was very irritating while they were broken.
The fix was the most welcome bit of news for me from the recent patch.
Human Only... Sacrilege!
Cheers,
4 -
For My E3 Blaster, I went "old school" and put in a Spiritual.
While SC and PS are nicely slotted for drain, having SC up every 5 or 6 seconds,
makes the End Mod alpha unnecessary for me.
I'm not saying it's bad - not at all.
I find for my playstyle that having the attacks and holds up as much as they are,
I can easily kill 2 guys of a normal 3 mob spawn with Zapp (Zapp #1, TC #2, Zapp #3).
On teams, or with larger mob groups, the fast recharge makes it pretty easy
to lock down a boss indefinitely (while keeping him drained), and still have powers
available fast enough to deal with the rest of the (also usually drained) riff-raff.
If I need *more* drain, I just recast SC as part of my normal attack chain.
Regards,
4 -
As a follow-up to the prior post, Don't be thinking I don't plan my toons.
I have a Mids' build for pretty much every toon I play (oftentimes more than
just one Mids' plan).
Most of them follow a fairly simple and standard build approach.
Attacks: 60/90 Acc/Dam and as much Rch & Erdx as I can fit.
Core Powers: Ed-max core attributes where feasible and appropriate.
Key IOs: Nearly all of my toons will get a Kismet Acc, a Perf Shifter, a Numina +Reg,
etc. Most of my squishies get a Stealth IO, and a Karma.
Set Bonuses: As I tend to play damage dealers, I also tend to prioritize Rch
first before defense (dead targets require no defense), so I generally sprinkle
a few LotG 7.5% IOs in most builds also.
AT specific things come into play as well, so for /WP I tend to focus on Resist
and Regen as a build goal -- ie. Layered defenses are *always* better than
straight-up +def.
PB's, Blasters and Stalkers, I like to look at +HP bonuses and accolades.
I also plan using Frankenslotted sets with decent ability to exemplar down into
the mid-L20's or so.
You get the idea.
Mind you, *none* of that considers inspirations at all, as mentioned previously.
Regards,
4 -
I'd have to say that I too, don't consider inspirations as a part of my "build".
Definitely not. Not even indirectly.
In fact, I have a "standard loadout" that all my toons typcially carry. It consists
of two columns of heals, and two columns of defense... Done. Everybody (in
my stable) runs that way.
The last column is typcially Breakfrees (for Blasters, Stalkers and other squishies)
or Cabs for those toons that are more Endurance intensive than I prefer, particularly
if they don't have a Consume or Power Sink or Conserve Energy type of power.
Given that I run Blasters, Stalkers, Controllers, Khelds, Brutes, and the odd
Tank or Defender (all with the "standard loadout") I think I can safely say that
inspirations play zero part in my build planning.
They are purely for survival if/when the feces contact the rotary oscillator.
Typically, there's nothing that can't be handled (short term) with Moar Health,
Defense, Endurance and mez escapes.
If they fail to do the trick, the last line of defense (on my squishies at least),
is Phase Shift.
If *that* also fails, it's usually a hospital trip (or pull a wakie out of gleemail).
Regards,
4 -
Excellent!
4 -
I saw in today's patch notes, mention of binds being fixed.
Has anyone verified that it did indeed fix the form-shifting bind issues?
I'm with Joe on this one, it's been *really* irritating, so for me that was arguably
one of the best points in the patch notes - if it really IS fixed again.
I won't be able to check it myself for several more hours, so I was wondering
if anyone else had already verified it or not.
Regards,
4 -
Quote:Absolutely.Originally Posted by Fulmens
There's a rule in software that you're most likely to find the NEXT bug right next to where you found the LAST bug.
I can think of a couple non"SKEEZY" reasons they may have done this, but Additional Human Error is #1 on the list.
...or put another way, I would *not* rule out "clueless" here - there have been
numerous examples where that was actually the most plausible answer (along
with "never bothered testing the change at all")...
As for EC's themselves, meh - got more than enough inf already, so I simply
didn't bother jumping on the bandwagon -- but, I might pick up a few 3% IO's on
the cheap for some of my toons at the tanked pricing.
Regards,
4 -
Whew!
Ducked a bullet there, though I can sympathise with the OP.
I was worried what might happen if high-end prices *really* tanked with Converter Fever,
so I moved all of my "storage bids" to L52/L53 stuff for the interim.
Once the feeding frenzy madness settles a bit, I'll revisit that.
Meanwhile, OP, I wouldn't get rid of those you bought too quickly - I'd at least
wait to see where things settle out to in a few weeks. You may be able to recoup
your costs if you're patient.
If nothing else, any of your toons that wanted those shinies can now have them.
Regards,
4