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Quote:I hadn't included Illusion because technically I categorize it under Energy (since there is no "Energy Control", Gravity yes, but see how I linked Gravity, Kinetics and Super Strength) but I do like your ideas. Particularly the Cataclysm. Like an AoE Spectral Wounds. I could see an animation of like the whole floor collapsing and everyone tumbling into a pool of lava, and then it fades and everything's back to normal.How about an Illusion secondary? A few suggested powers would be:
If we ever get a Light Blast, then I would like to see Light, Illusions and such all matched up with each other. Although, I suppose technically Light is a form of Radiation. I've found Illusions makes a good conceptual match with Rad Emission if you use a custom color scheme. -
Note that Dominators have Control for their Primary, and then their Secondary is a mishmash of Ranged, Melee, and offense oriented buffs like Build Up, Fiery Embrace, Power Boost, and Drain Psyche. (Drain Psyche is the closest you get to a heal or defense in that mix) Blaster Secondaries are more varied because they were designed before any uniform concept was finalized, but in theory you could say the Blaster Primary is Ranged, and their Secondary is a mishmash of Melee and Control.
Where Blasters differ from Controllers and Dominators is that their control powers are more single target oriented, and geared more towards keeping foes away and off of them rather than held down in large numbers and helpless. Energy really has the best control emphasis because of the large number of Disorients. Which is how you use Melee on a Blaster, you make sure your foe is helpless and unable to fight back before you clobber him. (Same goes for a Dominator, as well)
There has been a lot of talk about a Dual Pistols themed Secondary, not to mention one that could be used with Assault Rifle and Archery, but here are the themes we have left to pair with Manipulation:
Earth Manipulation - As there is no Earth Blast set at this time, it would be likely these would be developed as a pair.
Plant/Spines Manipulation - Combining Thorns with some plant or nature-based control powers, say starting with Entangle and working from there, might make for an interesting set. Seeds of Confusion would probably be a good fit, although the harder holds wouldn't be.
Dark Manipulation - Again, Blasters would have to get Dark Blast, and there has been some mention that the devs might not be open to Blasters getting -Acc as a secondary effect. The effect could be changed to something else, though, perhaps Fear or an Immobilize. (Or even -perception, and a second Blaster Secondary with a stealth power might be interesting)
Sonic Manipulation - There would need to be a Sonic Melee on which to base the melee attacks, but Sonic is a very control oriented set as it is. I could see something like Mental Manipulation implemented this way.
Radiation Manipulation - Again, Rad Melee would probably need to come first.
Martial Arts/Chi Manipulation - I've always thought of this as Energy Melee with kicks instead of punches. The buffing effects of Energy would fit nicely with the idea of Focus Chi.
Blade/Club/Weapon - The problem with this is the redraw. If paired with AR, Archery or Dual Pistols you would have to draw the melee weapon, then put it away to attack at range, then put the ranged weapon away and draw the melee weapon again to swing it. Unless in some way the same weapon used at range could be used as an improvised club in melee. It's not certain that the weapon customization feature would be able to support something like this, however.
Bow Manipulation - I like the idea of using the bow itself as a melee weapon, or perhaps at point blank range, or even martial arts kicks used with the bow drawn. The problem, though, is that you still have the redraw problems. And the bow or other weapon will HAVE to be drawn when the martial arts attacks are used. The Martial Arts option above will HAVE to have the weapon put away when they are used. AFAIK, you only have one option or the other, any given attack must either draw your weapon, or put it up. You can't have a Secondary that works one way with Archery, and another with Energy Blast. Trick Arrow draws the bow for every attack, and the Blaster version would have to, too. Even if it's just to do something like a Build Up. (Build Up draws your weapon for Weapon Sets)
Super Strength/Kinetic Manipulation - This would actually be more like control powers from Gravity, since Kinetic is a pretty strong buffing set. The idea, though, is the transfer of energy, manipulation of energy fields, and so on. Similar to Energy Manipulation, but more indirect, channelling the energy through something else, like a fist. (Thus it's more Smashing than Energy) -
Quote:Knock Up is a totally different story. It doesn't matter how much knockback you slot it with, because it always knocks UP, and thus the foe always falls down right at your feet. Although you may still have to pause in your attacks when the foe rises out of your melee range.Swoop is the only Battel Axe power with knock-up.
All of the others are knock down (ie 0.67 knock back) and state that.
Swoop is stated to have Knock Up. It also states in its long help "can send your target flying upwards". All other powers say that they are Knockback, that they "knock down the target" "knock back the target" or "knock foes to the ground". (or similar variations) The Set description says the attacks "send the target flying." (Not necessarily upwards)
You might also be interested to know other attacks that provide Knock Up. Jump Kick is the most readily available to all ATs, it is in the Power Pool. Air Superiority is a special case, it causes a back flip effect on the foe, which counts as a 0.75 Knock Up. It may have been Knockdown in the past, but it cannot be slotted, however, thus it could never become Knockback. KO Blow is Knock Up, in Super Strength, as is Jawbreaker, in War Mace. So is Broadsword's Disembowel and Katana's Soaring Dragon. The Lift and Levitate powers in Mind and Gravity Control are also both Knock Up. That's all I can find right now, there may be more. -
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Quote:Without Hide (or Placate) Assassination would basically be a 10% chance to Critical, plus 3% for every other member of the party, plus the ability to Critical Held or Slept foes in PvP.Yes, but having an AS without any critical hit chance would still be more useful than Vigilance, especially if it was an inherent.
That would not be as good a chance to Critical as a Corruptor, and it would not do as much damage as a Scrapper (as the Defender base damage is much lower) but it would certainly mean more damage than Vigilance. And would be usable solo.
And I think you mistook "Assassination" for "Assassin Strike". The former is the Inherent, the latter is the Stalker power that makes use of the Inherent for even greater damage. AS wouldn't actually be of any use without Hide either, as it would only do 5/14 of the damage. For a 3 second animation time it would not be worth it. And wouldn't be a substitute for Vigilance anyway. -
Well, question has been answered for the OP, I guess, but in the interest of future visitors to this thread I thought I'd give my views on the matter.
In a sense, what I like to say is that the Scrapper is the "generic" fighter on the blue side, while the Tanker is a specialist. He specializes with defense and heavy (slow) attacks, making him the better tank for the team. The Scrapper is more flexible, having more roles including both tanking and damage dealing. On the red side, it's the other way around, it's the BRUTE that is the generic, and the Stalker that is the specialist. The Stalker specializes ONLY with dealing damage, he can't tank, or at best, can only tank in short bursts, but he needs to LOSE all aggro in order to make best use of his powers.
As for damage, it basically goes Tanker > Stalker > Scrapper, with the Brute basically starting at the Tanker and working his way up to Scrapper as his Fury builds up. Stalkers and Scrappers really do close to the same damage now, but a Scrapper still will do more sustained damage over time. The increased chance of Critical on a team, though, means that in a large team, a Stalker will probably be contributing as much damage as the Scrapper will. He can even tank almost as well, given the right backup. (Despite what some people might say, a Stalker's defenses are, with a few exceptions, exactly the same as a Scrapper or Brute's. It is only the hit points that separates the three in terms of survivability)
Where a Stalker specializes is in single target burst damage. A Tanker, Brute or Scrapper can take several seconds to take out their first foe, more if it's a Boss or AV. A Stalker takes its first foe out in one strike, unless it's an AV, and even then the target and the foes around it will be weakened. This means that in essense the Stalker takes out a bunch of foes in a quick flurry, and then the Scrappers and Brutes catch up with him as the fight ends. This is what makes him very much like a Blaster. (If you think of the strike from Hide as the Blaster's Aim+Build Up, this is similar too) -
Quote:There appears to be a deliberate pattern to the substitution of powers in Stalker sets. There MUST be a substitution, both Hide and Assassination Strike must be made available in both Primary and Secondary. Thus, two powers MUST be sacrificed relative to other meleers. For the Primary, it is typically the PBAoE attack which is replaced by Assassin Strike. So in addition to this stated lack of End recovery, Stalkers also typically have less AoE damage and more single target damage.Stalkers are the only ones who really get shafted, and this appears to be a deliberate design decision. My personal guess is that's it's part of an attempt to encourage quick fighting rather than sustained scrapping, but I'm not sure.
Regeneration and Willpower sacrifice Quick Recovery. Super Reflexes drops Lucky, which decreases AoE defense, although some of this may be compensated for with Hide's extremely high AoE defense when Hide is active. Energy Aura does not drop a power for Hide, it replaces Energy Cloak, thus it also replaces Damping Field with Repulse. Electric Armor drops Lightning Field, which is the set's Taunt aura. Dark is kind of complicated, but in effect it drops Death Shroud, (and all Taunt effects from other auras) and separates the defensive bonus and perception of Cloak of Darkness into Shadow Dweller.
In short, TWO out of seven Stalker Secondaries lack +Recovery bonuses, although they do happen to be the ONLY Secondaries that grant +Recovery to the other meleers. (Unless you count Tier 9s like Unstoppable and Elude) SR trades the AoE defense for more AoE defense in hide, while Dark and Electric drop the Taunt Auras, which would directly conflict with the Stalker's Inherent. Ninjitsu we have no idea what it would have had in another meleer Secondary. Energy Aura adds an aura for some reason, but some players have reported using the power as a momentary click-type power, toggling it off and back on as an AoE knockback. I'm honestly not sure what the devs were thinking...
Personally, I always felt the reason for the choice of Quick Recovery is that the Stalker playing style, as mentioned, is not intended to be sustained DPS. Assuming you make the best use of Assassin Strike, it should be possible to pause between attacks long enough to recover End. And since you are protected by Hide until you make your attack, there is no threat involved in waiting, where a Scrapper or Brute might be having to deal with aggro during that time. Even so, it's not really consistent, and it seems more like Quick Recovery was removed because Regeneration does not have a Taunt Aura, and Rise to the Challenge was replaced with a self heal, instead of dropping it entirely. Given the choice between Quick Recovery and Reconstruction, I'm sure most Willpower Stalkers would say give me the Reconstruction. -
I was going to answer this question, but saw you found it. Interestingly, females have a separate headband option with hair, but they also have Sailor Moon-style tiaras and such as well (Okay, Wonder Woman too) so that might explain why it's a separate option.
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If you tend to spam keys, I would define one keybind for the chat+power, and one that just activates the power. Typically, I keep such powers in my tray, where I can use the number key to fire it, and then map a Function key to the version with chat. (Although more recently I changed to using popmenus for that)
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Quote:You know, I was saying, "Yeah, I know, that's what I was saying, it's crazy." Then you said that, and it made sense.Scale (magnitude) and Duration
and
Scale (duration) and Magnitude
Resistance always affects Scale.
Basically, it's a backhanded way of making the resistance (and the AT modifiers and Enhancements) either effect the magnitude or duration.
I think the point I was trying to make, though, is in the case of knockback it's essentially Magnitude and Magnitude. If there is a Duration, it doesn't apply. (the duration of knockback depends on how long it takes the foe to get back on his feet)
Quote:Well yes, but it doesn't go into any of the under the hood aspects. Nor is there an easy to find guide to game systems and their interactions. -
Quote:A bit more info, (not really clarified by ParagonWiki) Resistance and Protection from Knockback seem to work a little different from normal status protection. Protection actually reduces the magnitude of Knockback, and thus its distance. Reducing it below 0.75 turns it into Knockdown and below 0 stops it. This is a guess, but I believe Resistance reduces the distance of the Knockback after the final magnitude - protection formula has been applied. So both Protection and Resistance reduce distance thrown, whereas for other status effects they change chance of effect and duration respectively.Paragonwiki is your best bet there. For example, they have a page on Knoockback. Its not complete, but it has all of the basics.
I actually tend to use "resistance" to refer to both resistance and protection from Knockback, which is how I meant it above. I think the only real difference between them is that Resistance won't stop Knockdown from happening at all, while Protection will. -
It's all me, actually. I just got my first 50 a few months ago. Everytime I achieve something, they always make it easier right after that.
So blame it all on me. -
Quote:Geez, Arcana, no wonder people think you're an "unofficial redname"!I try to be as polite as possible in the Player Questions forum specifically, regardless of the question or questioner because new players that come to this forum specifically will likely not know any of the side issues related to a post. Its the one place where I think there is an excuse to be ignorant of the complexities of the game and the forums. Even if I think someone deserves a thwacking, the newbees and lurkers of this forum do not and I don't want to discourage anyone from asking questions.
Not that I don't try to sound the same.
Now, my question to this point to Stormfront is that is there some reason that you MUST use the Knockback Enhancement in this set? What are you trying to accomplish? You clearly do not want the the Flight/Run/Jump speed increase for the whole set, that is minor compared to the Melee Defense bonus which is the stated goal. So what it the reason why you are unable to simply skip the Chance to Knockdown proc and not use it?
What are you trying to achieve with the Chance to Knockdown proc? Are you trying to overcome the magnitude of foes' resistance to your Knockdown? Are you trying to increase your chance of having a Knockdown occur? -
Yeah, this isn't going to be true so much as Proliferation continues, but in general Tanker Melee sets have been slower, with higher recharge but greater damage per hit. Stone Melee, which is known to be strong overall, is probably the best example of this. Due to the nature of attack chaining, this means overall a slow recharge set does more DPS - but costs more End as well.
That's what's compensating for your difference in damage between Tanker and Scrapper. If he was a Broadsword, it might have been a bit closer. And likely a one on one comparison between Axe Tanker and Axe Scrapper, should it be proliferated in the future, would likely show a definate advantage for the Scrapper. -
Quote:Um... I would think if that were NOT the case, then I would expect the Thugs pistol attacks to be redesigned to use the new animations.Some attacks just remind me too much of the MM Thugs pistol attacks.
But overall amazing!
I'm loving my test Dual Pistols!
Since... you know... so many petless Masterminds being created to fit a pistols concept was one of the major reasons a Dual Pistols set was so often requested... -
Basically, no Ancillary or Patron Power provides mez protection. If one did, then they would all have to. Otherwise, you would be at a severe disadvantage if you did NOT take Force of Nature.
The two "God Mode" powers available in Ancillary Pools are Force of Nature and Surge of Power. Defenders get the former, Dominators get the latter, Blasters get both. (And Corruptors get the shaft, so be glad to get anything at all)
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The real idea is that tanking is an option for Kheldians, but it's not their role on a team. The Kheldian doesn't have a defined role, the Kheldian's role is that it can take on ANY role. Especially for Peacebringers, if the team needs a damage dealer, they get a damage dealer, if they need a tank, they get a tank.
The ability to shift in and out of tank form means you aren't limited by the tank's playstyle, although you may have to time your shifts carefully to survive it. You can still take a lot of damage in Human form, as well, especially with Light Form. So you have lots of Defender-like options as well, although I do like to clarify that Kheldians are NOT Defenders. (It took me a while to get my mind around that. More like Blasters with defense. The whole team support role, though, is not direct, it's indirect)
As mentioned, if you don't take Dwarf for the mez resistance, you don't have the option to use it to pop out of the mez when held. Then again, as others have mentioned, not having the Dwarf form doesn't immediately make you unplayable. Human Form or Human/Nova Peacebringers can take damage as well as a Scrapper (you've got your human form shields) and do comparable damage. Plus, you've got range, and the ability to fly. (Which doesn't detoggle when you are held)
The short answer is to try out your options, and see what works for you. If you want to take Dwarf and slot it weakly, going for short moments in Dwarf Form to escape from holds, that's a viable option. If you want to build your Dwarf more Scrapper-like, with lots of damage, you can do that too. (Although a Warshade is better for that, I feel) If you decide that you can handle the mez threats without Dwarf, then you can respec out of it, or use your second build. -
Quote:This is my take on the matter. You're basically given four new cybernetic arms. You can't just rip them off like you were taking off a shirt.Becoming a Crab is probably just as drastic (and permanent) as becoming a Tarantula.
In fact, the state of insanity required to want to modify yourself in such a way is the basis of my Crab's character.
In light of Steampunkette's post, though, I will add that different versions of the backpack, some temporary and controlled by circuitry in the gloves and helmet is certainly possible and likely. Those who want to be altered permanently have that option, but Lord Recluse probably would rather have more troops with less precision than less troops permanently wired into their brains. In fact, working up the ranks from temporary backpack to implant to full Tarantula conversion could be part of the heirarchy.
I will add, though, that Tarantulas, at least the human kind, are not reversable. Have you ever taken a close look at a Tarantula Mistress? Don't do it unless you want to be completely freaked out. -
Sorry for not responding right away, but I lost track of this thread. Anyway, the reason I asked about SS is Rage has a +ToHit component. Slotting for it may help you hit. Not as much as Accuracy in the actual attacks, but it could be just the thing you need to help.
The reason I said Inv is that Invincibility adds +ToHit, too. Willpower's Rise to the Challenge does not have that bonus. (Instead, the foes get LESS ToHit) -
Fiery Embrace definately is one of the things that makes /Fire strong. All you really have to do is use the Mind attacks first, and then when that portion of the boost expires, switch to using all Fire. The lack of a +tohit is something, I guess, but I just make sure I'm slotted well enough.
I can't tell you about perma-Dom,but Mind and Fire are both pretty good damage standing on their own. Besides, nothing says "dominate" to me like making a guy quake in fear, setting him on fire and then hurling him into the air.
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The basic idea was that Force Fields originally offered typed defense only, but this made it impossible for it to stack with positional defenses like Super Reflexes. In other words, if a SR Scrapper with an Insulation Shield was hit with a Fireball, the 15% Fire Defense would be picked over the 13.8% Ranged Defense, pretty much making the SR's own shield useless. (Actually, I think back then the numbers were more like 18.4% and 20%, and I'm not counting Dispersion, but you get the picture)
I guess that since FF then provided protection against Psi using the positional defense, it was thought that since it didn't stack with any kind of Psi defense there was a similar issue with that. So the Psi protection was added to Dispersion, even though it had not had it previously.
As mentioned previously, non-positional Psi attacks will only be effected by Dispersion Bubble's Psi Defense, stacked with any of the target's own Psi Defense. Most Psi attacks are going to fall back on the position, though, since Deflection or Insulation will then apply. (And this will likely be greater than the target's own Psi Defense) -
Since you can start a character of any AT in Preatoria, the only issue is at what level you will be able to take that character to Paragon City or the Rogue Isles. If we call that level "X" then:
From 1-X:
In Paragon City you can only play 5 ATs
In Rogue Isles you can only play 5 ATs
In Preatoria you can play all 10 ATs
From X-50:
All ATs Proliferated to all three areas.
I kind of have to ask what is meant by "Proliferating the ATs" that wouldn't be sufficiently achieved by being able to start any AT (except for the EATs) in the Preatorian start area. -
Quote:I think the thing is, the devs have worked at trying to provide some content for 50s, whether raids or otherwise. But that doesn't stop someone who HAS a 50 from starting a new level 1 and enjoying the trek from 1-10, 20-30, or any other range just as much as the first time. Which says more about the non-50 content than it does about the 50 content.You can run any task force, join any mission team, run nearly any mission solo through Ourobos... and while you aren't constantly upgrading your gear, you can work towards perfecting your build with IOs and work towards badges and accolades. It's not that there's nothing to do at level 50, there's plenty that you can do.
Quote:Actually, all those things you listed are (some level)-50. You can do them even if you don't have a level 50. Chad said "level 50 only". There is only TWO THINGS that ONLY people with level 50s can do:
I think it would be truthful to say that the end game content is for 45-50 in this game, not 50s exclusively. Which actually makes levelling from 45 to 50 much less of a grind. And again, Sidekicking really makes it easier to get a feel for the higher level content, even if you can't really contribute as well as others yet. -
More details on the Popmenu command can be found here.
I have found this simple command to be a huge help, not just for Masterminds, but for all of my characters. I have a popmenu with all of the Veteran Rewards, so I no longer have to keep a tray open for them. After the tear off trays were added recently, I changed my UI to have up to four of them (including the original) up at all times. With the popmenu, I've managed to eliminate most of them, and now I only have two.
In addition, I used to have to have two trays for Masterminds, as I needed one for all the summons and equips, and the other for my own personal powers. Now I just need the one. (I have two, like I said, but only the one popmenu takes the place of all my summoning powers)
I basically have the main tray at the lower right, and then at upper left, under the target window, I have a 6x2 tray with the popmenus as the first options in the tray. For Masterminds, I have three macros, one for the Vet rewards, one for the summoning commands, and one for pet commands that have chat phrases assigned to them. (I just use the keys for "silent" commands, but I can select to say something if I want my teammates to overhear)
And for those who still don't get it, how about a picture?(This is from the post I linked to, not mine)
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Quote:This is also a good point. At first glance it may seem like the game is empty. (Although often Atlas Park can seem awfully crowdedSince CoH is highly instanced, chances are even on a high-population server you may not see large crowds of players standing about and it's unusual to see players fighting spawns in zones like you would in a fantasy MMO.
) The best way to find teams is to set your "Looking For Team" selector, first of all, and also to chat in the Broadcast channel. Finding a good SG can be a big help, as with all MMOs.