Jibikao

My only complaint is when I click Dev's Digest, all I see is html codes and none of the dev has posted anything new since July 28?

I thought the forum loads faster now especially after I click submit.

The foreign language option is pretty good too if you want to chat in your own language and not just English.

Overall, I like it. It just takes time to learn the new things that's all. (just fix the html codes in dev's digest!)

Well, you can always skip Soul Storm. I know it looks cool but the hold is kinda lame on Stalker. It had a use before for +critical chance on held foe but not anymore in pve.

I still like Spine Burst because SB is pbaoe. You start with Throw Spines, jump in, use Spine Burst (takes 3s) and by that time, some foes are already around you so you follow up with a jump away Ripper. This is usually my strategy, although I took Ball of Lightning too. lol

It really depends how much +recharge you are going to get. I just know when I play Spines, I want AoE!!

Speaking about which, I have two 7.5% +movement from Gift of the Ancient and I can't really tell the difference.. T_T

I know Virtue was either down or capped at about 12pm eastern time. I usually don't lag but it was too laggy and tons of mapservers. I just quit.

although there is a bug that shows they get 10% psionic resistance as well. Hard to test it to see if they actually get it or not. The text says every resistance except psionic.

If you have Gaussian's proc in Tactics leadership, the game checks once every 10s?

Spines starts out extremely slow if you don't have veteran attacks but after lvl 18, it gets a lot better and at lvl 32, you get the best power in Spines.

My Spines Stalker's gameplay is a lot like Blaster. I basically try to team and start the battle with Build Up + Throw Spines, jump in, Spine Burst and Ripper.

You can deal good aoe damage if you can line up the cone right. That's why I like Spines Stalker because I feel I am doing good aoe damage on a team. You are not just limited to single target damage most of the time.

PS: Throw Spines also debuffs speed a lot.

You know, if the dev actually improves /Trap because Defender is getting it, then I am gonna be "offended"!!

Corruptors had been asking for endurance adjustment for like 3.5 years (that isn't a buff to begin with) and Corrs have been complaining about Time Bomb and how Mastermind can utilize /trap better since they can attack while setting traps.


If the dev improves /Trap just because a "Hero" class is going to get it, then there is definitely favoritism!


Suck on it, Defenders. You are going to debuff/buff the same values as MM and Corruptor. The dev even nerfs /Trap so /Trap MUST BE performing way better than most think.


Yes, I am bitter... and I am serious. I will get a bit offended if the dev end up buffing /Trap just because Defender is getting it! It's like Corruptor fans don't even matter...

Well, Wormhole makes the set more "interesting" but I wouldn't say a whole lot better because some teammates hate wormhole and it really depends how you use WM. It can benefit the team a lot or annoy the teammates.

I have a strong hatred on Dimension Shift so I won't comment on this.

Other than that, Singy is more useful when you solo. Singy's advantage is that it doesn't aggro as much as the imps. It just sits there and spams immb/hold/lift. You can run behind it if somebody is chasing you.


To answer your question, no, Gravity doesn't get a lot better. Wormhole can be a reliable battle opener in some maps (if you do it out-of-sight). If you have whiny Brute(s) on your team, he may not like wormhole.

I say hybrid Fortunata is your best choice.

While Night Widow / Bane deal more damage, Fortunata's damage is nothing to be laughed about.

I say "hybrid" because you can reduce a lot of damage taken by just holding one, attacking another (the same ole' Dominator strategy).

Believe me, I have very well invested 50 Fortunata, Blood Widow (NW but with follow-up and no Hide) and Night Widow (hide, build up type), lvl 50 Crab (semi Melee) and lvl 44 Bane.

Go with Dominate, Follow Up, Lunge, Swipe, Spine and the usual leadership + mind link. You'll solo just about anything.

I've soloed with Bane/NW and one bad thing about NW is that when your luck runs out, you are in a much deep trouble than Fortunata. Bane's base defense is not as high without additional help from sets and since you said you don't want to invest much, I say Fortunata melee hybrid is your best choice.

I just respec my Fortuanta and take AoE immb from Ghost Widow instead of using Psi Tornado. Tornado is ok. It has a large radius but what I find most annoying about farming with Fortunata is when the mob runs away.

I save more time trying to immb (it has some damage too) and just hit range attacks (Scream is a good cone).


That's one advice I can give you.

The beautiful thing about SoA is that as long as you take your leaderships, you'll have a hard time gimping yourself unless you choose to do so.

I've seen some melee hybrid Fortunata.

You can be a Dominator:
Dominate (Fortunata's best power! Slot for some damage)
Lunge
Follow Up
Spin and/or Tornado for pbaoe.

I don't recommend Mask as you don't have build up/Slash for burst damage. You are probably gonna start the fight with holding something anyway. Save that Mask spot and take another Maneuver if you can afford sets.


SoA is highly worth it if you want to invest in them. Endurance cost can be really high if you don't plan on using sets/unique.

I have a lvl 50 Merc/Poison. He is ok when he solos or on a small team. /Poison has good single debuffs and that's about it. Everything else seems pretty lacking for MM.

If you are new to MM, I will not recommend Merc/Poison.


Go with Merc/Storm. It's the best Merc combo I've tried so far.


/Pain has a good single buff that fits well with a boss pet that does most of the damage so Merc/Pain should be decent.

Some of the ideas I have:

1. Make Serum a good single buff with some +health, resist and decent damage buff. I hate god-mode on a pet that can't generate taunt. It's not like Commando can grab all the aggro anyway. 1000s recharge on 60s duration and endurance crash is pretty pathetic. I've taken this power twice and I always end up respecing it out later.

2. A simple good buff on Spec-Op is just to reduce the recharge on the two aoe control powers.

3. Spec-Ops also suffer from having no aoe damage. Maybe a good way to buff them is to add damage to the two aoe control powers. Any aoe damage is better than nothing!

4. If the dev doesn't want to reduce the two aoe control powers, then at least reduce web grenade to 15-20s or make Riflebutt -> Bean Bag!

Other ideas I have:

Lich: Give him the ability to take Accurate Tohit Debuff so he can provide extra damage with proc damage. (why does he have -Defense debuff set listed??)

Grave Knight: Give them Accurate Tohit Debuff

Oni: Give him Immb and Hold sets (why does he have knockback set listed??)

I am still surprised that Gang War can take Pet Recharge set to give Thug primary even more +defense and +resistance. Was the Thug set underperforming??!!

I can understand Pet Recharge set in Soul Extraction as zombies really need some defense/resistance. Undead pets have no lethal and fire resistance which makes fighting Longbow really PAIN in the butt.


I posted in the other merc thread about buffing Merc that does not revolve around "proc damage".

For Merc:
1. Improve Serum: Make serum a good 120s-180s single buff with +max. health, some resistance and 15-20% +damage. God-Mode on a pet that doesn't generate Taunt is pretty pathetic. It's only good for taking alpha but we already have bodyguard mode and inspirations.


For Ninja:
1. I know Smoke Flash is already a good power and many people ask for more defense/resistance buffs on Genins. Instead of focusing on buffing/fixing ninja pets, why don't we improve Smoke Flash even more?? Yes, with +recharge, you can almost perma-smoke flash (there is a brief 1-2s that ninja won't critical right before he throws the smoke bomb), but throwing it every 10s is really kinda annoying.

I suggest Smoke Flash:
- +5% positional defense on the ninja
- Critical duration is 17s
- Recharge increase from 20s to 30s.
- Endurance cost increase from 30 to 35-38.


I know several times Jounin would use Golden Dragonfly/Dragon Soar right before he throws the smoke bomb and then for the whole 10s, he can't cycle that in time and you have to time the whole cycle again and waste criticals on weaker attacks.

I think the original purpose of Smoke Flash is not just for "critical" but for pet to "escape" but sadly a lot of times your genin just dies in seconds that the "escape" aspect of it is pretty un-practical. I say give the ninja 5% more defense so he doesn't die as easily.


What do you guys think?

Two very good Merc buff ideas that do not revolve around "proc damage":

1. Improve Serum


2. Change Riflebutt to Bean Bag! That will make Spec-ops much better at mezzing. Instead of recharging in 16s, the dev can make Bean Bag recharge 30s so at least spec-op can use it more reliably.

I am still amazed that you can put Pet Recharge set in Gang War. I mean how much better does Thug need to be?? I can see the need for it in Soul Extraction.

The two extra unique provide 5% more defenseall and 10% resistance (minus psi even though Pet's Combat Attribute shows 10% Psionic).

Besides Soul Extraction and Gang War, the only other power I know that can have both Pet and Pet Recharge sets is Tornado (hence the reason I love /storm the best but Lightning Storm gets nerfed pretty bad with Zero +Recharge in Pets policy).


I think if the dev refuses to buff Spec-Op's control abilities, then let's buff Serum.

I was thinking the other day that instead of focusing on buffing/fixing pets, let's just focus on the unique power in each Primary. I think Thug and Robot are fine the way they are now. I can't imagine buffing them even more. Necro got a nice neat buff in Soul Extraction.

For Merc, Serum needs to be like Forge kind of power. Instead of being a "god-mode" power, I would much rather Serum being a 120s-180s Good single buff that has a mixture of +Health (like Crab's Serum), +Resistance and decent +Damage so we can truly turn Commando into "RAMBO"! My problem with god-mode on Commando is that he is not very good at holding aggro. He doesn't generate taunt the way Bruiser does. Serum is only good for battle opening (and yet the god-mode has no psionic resistance) but if I just want taking alpha damage, I can just throw purple on him or on myself and save Commando from suffering endurance crash after lame 60s.

Serum should have:
- 10% max health
- 20% all resistance
- 15-20% damage buff
- some mez protection and that's it



I am done asking the dev to reduce spec-op's aoe mezz powers. They seem to be very reluctant in buffing aoeness so let's just buff other stuff like Serum!

It is balanced that Mastermind, Corruptor and Defender will have the same debuff/buff values! Yes, I've said it!

Suck it up Defenders!