Jibikao

Originally Posted by Vanden

I don't think there's anything better for survivability than an FF defender, but it's so boring to play as a primary. We need incentive to play it in the form of it being fun for US to play!

Originally Posted by Mind_Over_Matter

Why should a new player just crossing over to Paragon/Rogue Isles be able to create an archetype that is deeply embedded in the lore of a place they have only just begun to explore?

If anything, I think the restriction for new Praetorians who have never started a character in Paragon City or the Rogue Isles at least provides a logical restriction. It also encourages players to begin characters in the Rogue Isles and Paragon City at least once in order to gain an opportunity to experience the respective storylines from their genesis.

If players want access to the VEATs/HEATs *without* ever leveling a character from the start in Paragon City/Rogue Isles, I could see a compromise by granting Praetoria-only characters such access at 50. By the time they reach 50, they would have come into contact with story arcs/task forces that offer exposure to the lore behind the Kheldian War/Arachnos Heirarchy.

Yes, this is a lore-based argument for retaining such a restriction. I think lore-based arguments help reinforce the VEATs/HEATs as "Epic" in that they expand upon lore and are deeply invested in the storyline of the game. Keep in mind that this would only be a restriction for people who haven't played through the 1-20 storyline of the city prior to GR.

Originally Posted by The_Demon_Hunter

I believe they did this in order to attempt some kind of balance with Khelds, which don't have any epics available. Not saying I agree with it, but it is what it is. Personally I would have loved to get my hands on Physical Perfection for my Widow. It is what it is though.

Originally Posted by Pixel

Defenders can get Power Boost instead of Power Build Up (faster rchg). Scrappers can get Sharks or Shadow Meld.

I think those are the only real temptations for my heroes to take Patrons.

Originally Posted by Memphis_Bill

I'll take a poison/poison. Secondary, modified, of course. Primary? Throw 80s hair band members at enemies.

Originally Posted by twelfth

Apparently, given how the boards seem to emphasize it, the craziest thing I've done on my corrs is not softcap def to S/L.

Originally Posted by SkarmoryThePG

Last I checked, that is a bug.

Originally Posted by Luminara

Tenebrous Tentacles with the Clouded Senses, Positron's Blast and Trap of the Hunter procs, plus Night Fall with the Clouded Senses and Positron's Blast procs. Acid Arrow and Disruption Arrow in play, 40% -Res.

71.8 damage per proc.

(71.8 * 5) * 1.4 = 502.6

502.6 potential extra damage per target.

Alternatively, averaging out the damage to account for the 20% chance for each proc to trigger, you end up with 100.52 extra damage per target, per use of TT + NF.

I won't presume to speak for anyone else, but to me, that's plenty of reason to get hot and bothered over damage procs. I spend most of my time playing my TA/Dark, despite having hit 50 at least a year ago, because I can do things like that with damage procs. Extra Accuracy isn't going to give you an extra 100 damage per shot, much less put you anywhere near the neighborhood of 500 extra. Nor will you find it hiding in Endurance Reduction, or Recharge Reduction.

Originally Posted by Kydon

So i've come back to CoX after a veryyyy long break and a lot has changed! I have a level 40 DS/Nin Stalker I want to continue leveling. Let's just say I need a refresher for IO's and all that terminology as I can't remember half of it.

I'm also wondering what a good build for farming would be, or if it's even possible on my stalker. If not i'm looking for an extreme damage build. If someone could post a build and/or give me a little refresher on the enhancements I should be aiming for, I'd really appreciate it.

Thanks

Originally Posted by maxtsorm

I have several level 50s on both sides now....I just cant focus on ONE "main" lol

Originally Posted by Rooftop_Raider

I logged into all my Doms recently, after hearing about the changes to the AT since I've been away, and it appears that every one will need to use one of the free respecs I've earned. So far, it sounds like the AT as a whole was buffed, but with some side effects like increased endurance (in large part because of increased damage), and some normalization of powers (IE, less ineffective and overpowered attacks).

So last night I spent some time respeccing my lvl 26 Ice/Ice and lvl 25 Plant/Thorns. Both characters had been set used for all-Dom superteams, so were less suited to solo play originally - but now I will be soloing them more often, and with the changes, they were even worse off before the free respecs. Once I got them taken care if, I took them for a spin on some missions.

The Ice Dom was more effective than he had been, but endurance usage was high. I had to abandon using Artic Air, but I didn't really need it because I was able to hold a mob (usually an LT), attack a second one, and in the case of 3 minions, usually I was able to take out one of the three quickly enough to get another hold up, and then take the rest of the group out with practically no injury. But I'm not really high on Ice Control, at this point. Maybe at higher levels that will improve. The Icy Assault set seems very competent, however.

The Planet Dom was just amazing solo. I almost never used the single target hold, as Seeds of Confusion was just as effective as it ever was. I also found this powerset combination to be a little more endurance friendly, though I am not sure why. But I would say this character is just a better solo one than the Ice Dom - at least from last night's experience.

I still have my lvl 50 Mind/Psi to try out, but apparently I deleted my high 20's Fire/Fire Dom awhile back - probably to make room for one of the VEATs - which is unfortunate, because I never really clicked well with them. But I imagine it wouldn't take long to build Fire Dom up as the AT stands, currently.

My first impression so far is _very_ positive for the first two Doms.

Originally Posted by firespray

Does demon summoning even have a melee pet to put this on? I couldn't tell from the descriptions.

Originally Posted by HeroeMan

I respecced out of my demonlings and took my 3 whip attacks and some other secondary powers and swiftness. I am going to take my ember demon and see how this build does solo. If worst comes to worst, I can always pick it up along the way.

Has anyone have success with such a build?

Originally Posted by GunnerSam

With villain ATs now on the team, I'm not sure who gets priority for Fortitude. So, who gets Fort now? What is your Fort order?

Originally Posted by HardRider

so whats better to make then people?

Originally Posted by Arcanaville

I *think* what he means is that if an AoE can hit many targets and rack up lots of damage, single target attacks should be capable of generating similar levels of damage just concentrated onto a single target. In terms of AoE factor balance, AoEs are typically balanced around hitting something between 2 and 3 targets, in terms of their recharge and endurance costs relative to single target attacks. So if you can hit 6 or 8 targets instead, your AoEs will be doing perhaps three times the damage for the cost that a single target attack is allowed to do. So to compensate, he's suggesting that single target attacks generate that much damage so that a set of single target attacks kills ultimately just as fast as something with a lot of AoEs.

The example, though is specifically stated to be one-shotting a +3, which for a stalker requires an attack almost as powerful as total focus when slotted to +95% damage, and also requires that attack crit for (near) double damage on top of that.

This line of thought is wrong on so many levels. Mostly because few offensive powersets can make reasonably full attack chains with nothing but AoEs. Ultimately, everyone uses single target attacks sometimes, and the AoE advantage is diluted somewhat because of that. And not everyone faces the large numbers of targets necessary for AoEs to reach those levels of efficiency. By attempting to balance single target attacks based on the maximum amount of damage that AoEs can deliver, you end up being forced to grant ridiculous amounts of damage to those single target attacks.

I'm not sure I could give a specific numerical example which would make this make sense, because I'm not sure one exists. But if you wanted to follow this line of thought - and as I said, I don't buy it myself - the logical way to approach it is something like this. Pick two sets to compare, say MA and Broadsword (just to keep things a little simple, I'm leaving stalkers out of it for a second because they have additional quirks to their offensive sets). MA has the one AoE, Dragon's Tail. Broadsword has two: whirling sword and slice (not counting headsplitter here). If we say that DT and WS are similar enough, MA falls short of BS on AoE potential, because it has no corresponding AoE to Slice.

So, we take Slice and we guestimate in some manner (or just pull numbers out of thin air if we need to) how many targets we believe Slice should be "balanced for." Suppose we say six. Slice does scale 1.23 damage. Hitting six targets it would do Scale 7.38 damage. So we say ok, to compensate for MA missing an analogous cone, we'll take Storm Kick, say, and buff that attack to deal 7.38 damage but with only Slice's end costs and recharge not what the formula would predict (which would be 44s of recharge and 38 endurance). Its a single target attack with the damage potential of an AoE and the costs of an AoE. And if that's high enough to one-shot a +3 minion, well, that's cool (on a scrapper it would one-shot an even LT and come very close to one-shotting a +1 LT, and with Build Up it would blast away more than half the health of an even level boss at level 50).

As I said: I don't buy this theory. But this is the version of the theory with numbers attached.