Jade_Dragon

Just to point it out, Detention Field's icon indicates that it provides an Energy Shield (originally Insulation Shield only protected from heat and cold, and "Refraction Shield" was the energy version) and Telekinesis has the icon for flying. (originally it made a teammate fly)

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As I stated before, Spines Scrappers have been stated by Castle as only existing because they were there when he got here. Focus and Shockwave in Claws share this dubious attribution as well. He has specifically stated that he thinks that giving Scrappers ranged attacks in any primary powerset was a bad idea, but he's not going to change them because they're an integral part of the power sets at the moment.

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Don't forget Super Strength, Stone Melee, and technically Lightning Rod is a location based ranged attack. And I would argue whether Combustion, Breath of Fire and Frost are long range melee attacks, or short range ranged attacks. (Frost is well within melee norms, but Combustion has the exact same range as Spine Burst. In fact, that may suggest why Scrappers and Brutes don't get Combustion...)

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I was talking about Epic Archtypes and the epic archtype mission arcs. Did you read my post?

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Actually, I completely misunderstood your post. I thought you were talking about Patron arcs.

I am guessing that if a Kheldian or SoA side switches, they will lose access to those contacts and arcs. There's no telling for sure, but it seems like the simplest solution. Actually, if you stay Neutral you will probably be able to retain access to your Epic arcs while still being able to go over to the "other side". It will only be if you go full Villain as Kheldian or Hero as SoA that you will lose those arcs.

But you will still be able to level on the same content all other ATs get. It's not like you will be unable to level a Kheldian on the Villain side. If side switching is even allowed for the Epic ATs, which it may not be.

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I used the Force Bolt juggle. It may not have been the most endurance efficient, but it's the only defense I had. Power Bolt is the only attack I have, other than melee powers (Air Superiority, Sands of Mu).

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At level 12, you should not have needed Force Bolt to provide defense. You haven't reached the 0.65 damage modifier yet, and you have more hit points relative to your foe than at level 20. You're no Blaster at that level, but you should have been able to deal enough damage to finish the fight. You did not, because you don't have enough attacks.

My main Defender is FF/Rad, so I've gone through that sort of mission with LESS damage per shot than you have. I'll grant you it's slow, I've been saying FF needs a damage boost since release. But if Power Bolt is all you've got, that's because you have chosen to only take Power Bolt. At 12 I had Neutrino, Irradiate, Punch, and Brawl, and I used them. And that was before Vet Rewards, nowadays I wouldn't use such a build without Sands of Mu and Nemesis Staff. (And I've also replaced Irradiate with Electron Haze, at the time I didn't realize it was a better attack in the long run)

As for Controllers, I had a Controller back in Issue 1 and I soloed him, too. Bosses were hard, but I could actually take on Minions and Lts just fine. My secret was I was a Kin (so a damage boost right from level 2) and I took Pool attacks. Lots of Pool attacks. Containment basically let the average Controller solo, but it was possible before that, if hard.

There is still no option to let the general Defender solo. It's just luck that the soloable Defender choices outnumber the less soloable ones. Which really says nothing about Scrappers.

They really need to remove the ability to enhance Group Fly, and make it so other enhancements such as Swift or Accelerate Metabolism don't work on it. That way everyone in the bubble will move at the same speed. They can just raise its base speed to compensate.

Another idea I thought of was to have the edge of the bubble "bump" anyone who tried to leave it. So effectively anyone who didn't keep up would be Knocked Back into the bubble. I think there are people who wouldn't like being "trapped" in the bubble, not to mention the potential for griefing.

Right now, Group Fly seems to be really only useful for Masterminds. I've got a character that's got it for concept reasons, though. (He never uses it, so it just takes up a slot)

Actually, what I would like to see is Fire, Ice, AND Electricity as elemental attacks. The demons could also be both fire and ice based, the CoT demons come in fire (Behemoths) and ice (Hoardlings, Hellfrost) varieties. Not to say I think we should be summoning CoT demons (any more than the Robots are Clockwork or Council bots) but they could be similar in design and powers.

It's also interesting to note that in the Going Rogue demo, Desdemona summons what looks like a red flaming orb, and then it turns into a blue orb. This is meant to represent her changing sides, I'm sure, but her attack affects could be something that looks like fire, but has more of a magical feel to it. Like the fire is more vaporous than "real" fire.

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I can ssure you he does generate taunt, but it doesn't initiate Gauntlet.

I know this because he held Synapse's Attention away from the rest of the team for QUITE some time before Synapse knocked him away. (We didn't have Brutes, so no one else generating Taunt)

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The Bruiser generates Aggro. He does not generate Taunt. There is a difference, but it's subtle. In effect, any Taunt power multiplies its aggro effect (it doesn't do damage, but it much generate some aggro number) by some huge number, say 100,000. This means there is NO way to pull aggro off of a target that has Taunted except with another Taunt.

In the absense of Taunt, aggro works like this. The damage that an attack does is multipled by the Threat modifier. (Plus one, I think. Threat has a minimum of zero) So this means that a Bruiser would generate an amount of Threat due to his attacks equal to 3+1=4 times his damage. Since the Bruiser's attacks are typically very high damage, such as KO Blow and Haymaker, this has a good chance to be a higher value than any "squishy" on the team, which would normally have a Threat of 1. You as the MM have a Threat of 2, but your attacks are such low damage that it might as well count as 1. And your other henchmen, while they also have a Threat of 3, will not be doing as much damage per attack as your Bruiser.

Once aggro is established, you have to do TWICE the amount of damage (modified for Threat) in order to pull aggro OFF of that person. So if your Bruiser pegs aggro with a KO Blow, it's very unlikely a non-Brute or Stalker would pull Aggro off of him. The Stalker, of course, will have mechanisms to throw off aggro, so he shouldn't be grabbing any. That basically means that any other MM, Dominator, or Corruptor on the team will probably need Provoke himself to pull the aggro off the Bruiser. IF the Bruiser got in the first punch.

Gauntlet is in effect multiplying the damage by the Taunt modifier. So it's like a Tanker or Bruiser has a Threat rating of like 400,000 or 300,000. (Instead of 4 or 3) Then again, for a Brute that would be ONLY on the target he's hitting, foes around the target would only get the normal aggro, unless he uses actual Taunt. The Bruiser would actually have exactly the same Threat, 3, to foes around the target he is hitting. (Although the Bruiser would still do less damage than the Brute, unless the Brute was much lower level than the Bruiser and had no Fury)

I am not sure about how long aggro lasts. Taunt durations are listed, but aggro, I'm fairly sure, decays, and I can't say what that rate is. I don't even know if it falls off quickly, all at once, or if it decays over time. If the latter, then as a Bruiser or other tanker continues to punch, he should continue to stack aggro, building it up higher and making it even harder for him to lose it. Your Threat rating could effect this, too, which might explain why Brutes and Scrappers seem to hold aggro for a long time with spiked damage, but the more fragile types only seem to hold it momentarily.

In addition, I believe being in melee has a large effect on aggro as well. Foes seem reluctant to leave a melee with a foe right next to them to attack a foe further away, even if the aggro is greater. So again, Bruisers would be very good at holding aggro. Even so, I've pulled aggro off my Bruiser before, and I know it's possible. It really seems to be a matter of random chance, most of the time, normal aggro results in certain attacks being aimed at other members of the team that might not have as much aggro.

So in short, Taunt is the only thing that is 100% effective. It isn't necessary, though, and you can hold aggro well enough if you just send in your Bruiser first and let him get aggro. This is the way I play, and it works perfectly well for tanking, maybe even as good as Tankerminding. My Bruiser can't really take as much damage as a Brute, but he can serve for one in a pinch.

I should also add on the original topic that the association between Taunt and Flee is a bit of an unknown as well. I know that aggro alone does not counter the Flee reaction, and in fact, too much aggro (or just too much damage) may cause the foe to Flee. If the foe believes that he is not making progress in defeating the tank, even if he's hitting him, he could run away. Taunt appears to be the ONLY way to counter this. And even at that, again, I think if you Taunt a foe that is seriously below your level, sometimes that will make him Flee. I'm not really sure how the rules work.

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How we'll unlock the epics is really a small issue when compared to what will happen to the Epic mission contacts.

Will we get a whole new set of contacts for the other side for our AT's? It would make sense, especially for a side switching VEAT. That would be something...

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Personally, I think this is the best idea. Add some arcs you can do for some of the known heroes on the hero side. Then, once you do an arc for one of them on either side, you unlock your Epic Pools -- no change needed for anyone who's already 41 (unless they just want to run them for the XP) but any new player will need to run them. Then, you have access to whatever Pools are available to your AT, whether hero or villain side. It won't be tied as tightly to Patrons like they are on the villain side, but the devs have been moving away from that with opening up all the Patron Pools instead of just allowing one of them.

Or, create a set of Epic-type Pools for the villain side, and Patrons for the hero side, and then if you switch sides you will have to respec out of the Patrons and into an Epic. That would actually add more choices, but give those who stay on their "side" a little extra bonus. But it would obviously mean adding a while lot of new Power Sets. (Even if only with 4-5 powers)

Actually, it would make a lot of sense if taking a hero or villain and switching sides with it, and then getting it to 50 would unlock a third, neutral Epic AT.

Just speculation, of course...

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- Take the slots out of the Dark Nova form. Slotting for tohit doesn't do much and endred only affects the cost of running the form (its a toggle), not the cost of your attacks.

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If you slot EndMod instead of EndRed you will gain more End overall, allowing you more for attacks. (cost is 0.13, gain is 0.15, so if you slot for EndRed you will gain 0.15-0.10=0.05, while if you slot for EndMod you will gain 0.20-0.13=0.07. Or so I calculate it, corrections are appreciated)

And actually, the Dwarf form was slotted for EndMod, but that was dropped from the second build. I personally like to use my Nova form to recover End and (3) slot my Dwarf form for Resistance, but that was pre-Stygian. End recovery isn't as big a deal as it used to be.

You know, I hadn't thought of this... my Kheldians aren't actually Kheldians. My Human Form is actually a hero who found an artifact that he though was magic, but it turned out to be a Shadow Cyst. The Nictus is dead, but the crystal is enchanted to use its energy, so all he has to do is recharge it and he has Warshade powers.

And my Tri Form is just a shape changer, he emulates the Kheldian forms instead of being one himself.

I actually might create an actual Warshade just so I could have him turn Nictus, though.

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Shifting forms based on your situation does help fill holes in groups, as you rapidly become a "Jack/jane of all trades"

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Taking my cue from some of the Tri-Form strategies on this board, my Tri-Form never stays in one form. He's constantly shifting, but then, that's his concept, he's a shape changer, he uses his shapeshifting as another weapon. I've had teammates tell me, "You're crazy, but you're really good with that Kheldian."

Obviously, if I'm taking more of a Tanker role I'll be in Dwarf form more often, while if I'm trying to deal damage I'll be in Nova or Human form. But I'll wheel around while in the middle of an aggroed group, shift to Nova, AoE a group of foes on the other side of the room, shift back to Human with a Essense Drain or Stygian Circle to recover the HP I lost by dropping my defenses, then go right back to Dwarf and Taunt. I don't know how effective it is, but it's fun.

I have a Human Form Kheld for staying in one form all the time. And really, if I slotted Dwarf or Nova for staying in it all the time I'd do that, too. But except when I get bored and just want to clear a whole map in Nova form I like shifting around.

First of all, if you're having Endurance problems in Nova form, slot an EndMod in the power instead of whatever you've got there. (Likely Fly) If you can, add a second slot. If you're at least to DO level, you should be able to run Nova for a while without running out of End. By SO level, you should be able to get by with only one slot. Do slot your AoE and Cone for End, though, that way you can use them as often as your single target attacks without draining End.

Since you only have four attacks to choose from, though, and no toggles but Nova itself, you should not be running low on End, unless you're switching back to Human form a lot, to "fill in" your attack chain.

In Human form, Warshades mature slowly, so you really want to rely on it for utility and control until you get to 22. Don't worry about blasts, that's what Nova form is for. You might want to go with Shadow Cloak and Starless Step so you can sneak around and single out foes until you get to higher levels. Gravimetric Snare and Essense Drain are going to be your big powers, not for the damage, but for things Nova can't do.

Finally, there is Sunless Mire. I advise getting it, but there are plusses and minuses to it. You can fire it off and then shift to Nova for a damage boost, which is good, but in order to get a good bonus you need a large group, and firing it off in a large group can be fatal to anything but Dwarf form. So I actually advise using it against smaller numbers. Get the End cost down so you can use it carelessly, and just get 11% damage boosts from using it on single targets. You can use it as you're about to take on two or three if you want.

PBs aren't quite as bad, but really, you're waiting for 22. At 22 you'll get Stygian Circle, and that changes everything. Of course, you'll probably get Dwarf form, too, but just hold out until you get there. Stay in Nova form most of the time to recover End, and use your Human form to support it. With my own Tri-Form Kheldian he has no blasts at all (outside of the eye beams) he's totally melee. That provides the least amount of overlap between Nova and Human form. That may or may not work for you, but the main thing is to try and use your forms together instead of trying to do everything in either one separately.

The Bruiser has no Taunt in his attacks, however he does have a Threat rating of 3, the same as a Brute. (This would be the 400% modifier LtZerge mentioned) The Fury mechanism does not attract aggro itself, this is coded into a Brute's (and Tanker's) attacks.

Gang War does have Taunt coded in its attacks. Necro's Grave Knights also generate Taunt with their Siphon Life. Your friend might have used Gang War, that would explain it.

Although, Freezing Rain/Snow Storm could also be the problem. There is nothing in FF to cause a foe to flee like that. If you're worried about dealing damage, remember that FF doesn't get a damage boost at all. Of course, it's better protection from Psi damage than your Storm defenses...

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I wouldn't be surprised if they put a damage debuff on Domination (down to dominators w/o domination right now, or so). Then, you can choose to be control-o-matic w/ bonuses by hitting the bubbly button or just damage it up.

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This was actually a suggestion Castle made quite some time ago. Since he has removed the damage debuff from Domination, I'd say he decided to drop that. Probably because a lot of Dom players (myself included) said that they would rather go from weaker to stronger than from weak one way to weak another way.

It wasn't that it was a bad idea to go from weak to strong, it's just apparently Castle feels the shift was just too great. And I have to agree, 75% is a pretty big damage boost.

Seems like the solution to the problem of Tankers using more Endurance is to make Claws Tankers.

Seriously, though, Tankers are just going to use more Endurance in general. Claws/Regen is very efficient, yes, but so is Willpower. WP/SS is going to be fairly End efficient, since Rage will only be costing you End when it crashes. And Claws may also mature early, being much better in the early levels than, say, SS, and giving you the impression it will be better overall. I know from playing my Claws/Inv that it seemed to grow fairly quickly, but then around 25 or so it seemed like I couldn't squeeze any more damage out of it. It wasn't until I got Shockwave that I really felt like my damage got any better.

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I'm surprised they don't lazy out and do something like 'dual mace.'

Just lethal > smashing, use same animation but with batons, and there you go!



(Actually, come to think of it... that WOULD be kinda neat...)

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If we were going to do some sort of dual smashing weapon powerset, I'd definitely go with more Escrima flavored animations.

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Not to mention it, much less mention it a dozen pages after it was first posted, but I've thought this would be an interesting way to implement Staves. It's a splitting weapon, which depending on the attack can be joined and used as a staff, or split and used as two clubs. When running it can be held in one hand, and you can avoid some of the animation problems with having a whole power set of two handed weapon animations.

I'm not going to respond to the specific powers suggested as Power Sets here, because I don't see that as the overall topic. Rather, it's the idea of a staff or wand as a weapon for a Ranged Set.

My first thought is that this is something I've thought about for Power Customization. Instead of having the current Fire Blast or Ice Blast powers come out of the hands, have them come out of a staff. Obviously this is far beyond the current concept of weapon customization and would require work equivalent to Power Customization, if not being that itself. But that being said, it would be a way to, for example, cast a fireball.

The problem is the difference in timing in animations that involve using the hands to summon effects, and using a weapon/wand/staff. To be completely balanced, Power Customization would have to have no effect on cast time. So, perhaps in that sense a staff or wand use as a DIFFERENT Power Set would be a better concept.

Plus, there's the fact that I really want a Staff as a melee weapon. This for once provides a weapon that can actually be used as both melee and range, unlike, for instance, a sword or a gun. The concept is a bit constrained, because usually normal staves do not fire attacks, but you could have a Staff Melee set, and a Staff Ranged set, and have that as a new set of Power Sets for a lot of ATs across the game.

I suppose it gets down to the conceptual constraint of the Set, which to me gets down to the question, would you rather have a staff from which you can fire a Fire Blast, or would you rather the Staff be a totally new set? One is an option which can be opted out of, allowing other concepts to use it, but the other is far more flexible, and actually can be implemented under the current game engine.

I suppose my answer to the question of concept would be to point out that it's interesting that a magic using or mutant hero can use a machine gun, and that's considered secondary to whatever his "real" power is, and yet it's not considered as likely that a Tech or Science hero would use a wand or other magic to augment his power. I've noticed this discrepancy about Natural heroes before, it's usually acceptable for them to use gadgets, but the use of magic pushes them toward the Magic origin. Magic seems to be regarded by most people as something that is "not compatible" with science or technology, you cannot use magic and use anything else.

I will point out, though, that the Nemesis Staff is a perfect example of a technology based staff. It may not be a usual sort of thing, but it does exist in this game, and suggests that there are some technologists who try to develop weapons that look like they could be magic. And of course, "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic." A REALLY high tech staff, looking so advanced that it seems like, say, a crystal with some sort of energy conduits feeding it, would probably be accepted as firing out blasts of energy or fire, even if such a thing doesn't exist in the real world.

I personally say it should be given a try. Heck, the wand option could be a small energy pistol in Technology form. Something like a Phaser. Although bringing that up, I don't know if they should both be the same set, with a wand or staff selectable from the options, or two different sets. Usually a wand attack would come from the hand, while a staff would be more of a "flinging" animation, like current staves have.

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Another reason it won't work is because of different character sizes. A tall huge male would hug air while a tiny female would hug, well, let's say his knee to keep this from being moderated.

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Plus, there isn't really any way to make two characters move towards each other. (Outside of voluntarily activating "follow") This is one reason why there are no "grapple" or "carry" powers in this game.

You could make two people do a hug emote and place them so they looked like they were hugging each other, but making the animation take control of them and move them so they were touching wouldn't be supported by the game's engine, I don't think.

Yeah, it can vary depending on the mission. If you get all hard minions at the front, they will get easier towards the end.

If EVERY minion you see in every mission you run is yellow, then I don't know what to say. Except, don't go to Vegas, don't ever play Russian Roulette, and don't try to buy a new house on a mortgage.

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And yet people are being threatened by the Devs for creating/running missions that they want which include but are not limited to farm missions.

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And now, the point.

Moving along...

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You're pinging an enemy down with the .6 attack. It gets to a point where the 1 attack with scourge would fully kill the enemy with only a tiny (If any) bit of damage overkill. But you use the .6 attack twice instead. It scourges both times, and the enemy is left with an almost full overkill scourge. That means that the scourge on the 1 scalar attack yielded close to 100% effective bonus damage, but the scourge on the .6 scalar attack only yielded 50% effective bonus damage (Total over the two hits).

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This is assumes that the foe has an HP which is a multiple of the 1.0 factor. (after true damage is factored in) While this may be the case, it is probably only likely at particular levels. (For instance, foes might have 3, 3.2 and then 3.5 times the damage factor at each of three levels, just for an example)

It is just as likely that the 0.60 attack would do exactly the damage needed and the 1.0 attack would end up creating overkill. Or, even more likely, it is totally random. It will become even more random as you mix in various attacks with different damage scales.

I'm guessing that this is why there are often such severe jumps in the percentage tables, like when it jumps from 14% for 0.60 at levels 30-40, and then goes DOWN to 13% at 40-50. The HP levels from 40-50 may not be quite as evenly divisible by 0.60.

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As a tip, the Hellions probably have not set their own headquarters on fire

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Not that the rest of the post doesn't have a lot of good ideas, but IIRC the early Hellion map you run into which is on fire IS their headquarters. Hellions love fire and are resistant to it. So I think setting a place on fire is their version of making it look "homey".

Skulls wouldn't set their place on fire, though.

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Second, if any of those attacks tend to come up at just the wrong point for overkill, even the .68 damage attack could be wasting a noticable fraction on a minion.

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It's interesting to note that according to the table, even the weakest attacks are usually overkill against a Minion. You can't get more than about a 14% bonus in any condition. This is because for the most part, even a basic attack is a large portion of a minion's HP.

I've actually underestimated this effect myself. However, it applies to Scrapper/Stalker/Controller Criticals and Brute Fury, as well. So I'm not sure it compares Scourge unfavorably to those Inherents.

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You would make your program smart enough to figure out the best attack to deal the lowest overkill deathblow via scourge.

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Well, I may be misanalyzing this, and Starsman can say if I'm making a mistake, but I think likely this would have no effect on just using the best possible table for that rank of foe. He's not really considering DPS or time to kill in these tables, merely what portion of the damage is overkill. If we assume that that portion is the same for every single table until the point where the foe dies, that is, there is no overkill prior to where the foe dies, then the only difference would be in the last shot. That difference would then be in the appropriate table.

So your best results would be for the 0.60 table, or if you want to say it is more likely you would use ONE of your weaker two powers (and they are not likely to both be available at all times) then an average between 0.60 and 1.0.

Best Results:

Minions (1-10) ~ +3.5% damage.
Minions (10-30) ~ +11% damage.
Minions (30-50) ~ +13% damage.
Lts ~ +15.5% damage
Bosses ~ 19% damage
EB ~ +20% damage
AV ~ +20.5% damage
GM ~ +21% damage