Lobster

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Updating now, please check the links and get back to me.

Ex

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Could you please add a link to the dark armor IO guide linked in my sig?

Thanks .

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I can attest to the knockback protection IO working wonders. I have the defense set one [Kimset?] slotted into Combat Jumping and in day to day PvE I have no problems whatsoever. The only time I have knockback concerns is against an occasional EB and always against Ballistas. However, at those times I just go get a knockback empowerment buff from my base and have no worries at all. That empowerment buff is super cheap for the few times I need it.


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I did recently purchase the Karma kb prot io and slotted it into Cloak of Darkness - and yes, I pretty much never get knocked back. I stood in Serafina's hurricane for the entire fight, and only got knocked once - I suspect when Lighting Storm hit me while I was inside the hurricane.

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I will note that with just combat jumping I do get immobilized some times. I've only noticed it when jumping large/multiple spawns of Legacy Chain, as those minions of earth use entangle. [Level 28 elec/dark brute]


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I run Cloak of Darkness 24/7 now in lieu of Acro (since I have the kb prot in it), so with that & CJ, I can't recall being rooted.

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Lobster:
How often do you run Oppressive Gloom? I don't have it yet but I have been making very heavy use of Lightning Clap from the Electric Melee set.


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I recently respecced out of CoF, and run OG 24/7 now - the health drain really isn't enough to notice, and it neuters minions - with Handclap &/or a lucky hit from one of my ss attacks, it takes care of LTs & bosses too.

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And how useful is CoF for you? I'm debating between that, CoD, and a pool power for a late-game power pick. I'm not sure I'll be able to spare enough slots for it, though. Right now my damage mitigation works very well between a combination of resists, healing, stuns, and knockback/knockdown.


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With the right primary (darkness prolly for ToF stacking), or for a stalker, CoF would be much more useful than it was for me. I did get a good amount of use out of it when herding on small teams - it was the only thing keeping me alive after I bunched up the enemies. However, I opted to 6 slot my attacks (trying for some more spendy sets now ), so I dropped CoF to free up slots.

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I agree that waiting for your armor to recharge can be quite stressful the few times that it really matters. I'm not quite following your math, though. Where does the 4% come from?


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I was just totally guessing off the top of my head, but I think this is what I was thinking:

Dark Embrace base resist: 22.5%

The difference for me, between an extra pure resist enhancement, and a something/res, was like, (due to ed soft capping around 55%ish) 57% & 53%. The total resistance yielded by those numbers is: 35.33%(22.5 & 1.57) & 34.43% (22.5 & 1.53). So, I'm giving up about .9% ACTUAL resist in order to get some other random set bonus.

Wow, good stuff. Nice to see an alternative spot for the non-pvpers 40-50 missions to PI & GV! Yay! Co-op missions! Double yay! New costume parts based on more salvage drops? ....hopefully we get some new FREE costume parts soon too...

Here's to hoping they fix the rest of the bugs before then!

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Touch of Death: Damage/Endurance [25-40]


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Pool A, dropped of a random DE minion, somewhere btw lvl 32 & 38 (didn't make level notes in my notes).

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I slotted one kb protection a couple of weeks ago and I haven't been knocked back since. I was knocked down once, but not back. I've been fighting a lot of council, and they used to bounce me around a lot. I think I spent half a million on it, and for me it was well worth it.


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I agree, if you've got the cash, these are worth it. I'm looking forward to dropping acro and running Cloak of Darkness soon!

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I don't see the benefit of having recharge reduction in the shields. I'd rather use a common resistance IO than a res/rech set enhancement.

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I use them for 2 reasons:

1. To get the set bonus, lame as they may be. Something like 1.25% lethal or energy defense is technically better than .9% smash/lethal resist.
2. Because that bit of recharge will help me more than 4% of 22.5% (comes out to about .9% resist). As rare as it is, I do get detoggled occasionally, and the longer you have to wait to get your armors back up...well, you know.

Here's what I suggest in the guide in my sig as an alternative to yours for resist power slotting:

<font class="small">Code:[/color]<hr /><pre>
Titanium Coating: res/end, res/rech, res/end/rech, res
Approx bonuses: (6 slots in 4) 56% resist, 45% recharge, 45% end
</pre><hr />

The recharge does come in handy when you get a toggle drop...

It's not quite max resist, but really that 3-4% of 20-30% is not much at all. And my numbers were not for max level IOs, that probably puts you much closer. Also, you can use a different set if you have the inf, I use Titanium &amp; Reactive because they are cheap. Of course, this also gets you whatever the 2-4 slot set bonuses are as well. I don't suggest mixing &amp; matching sets (unless you are getting 2 from Impervium &amp; 2 from something else), because the 3 slot bonuses tend to be decent.

Titanium gives you 1.5% hp @ 3.
Reactive gets you 1.5% energy &amp; lethal def @ 3 &amp; 4.
Impervium obviously has the better benefits: 2.5% recovery @ 2, 1.88% psi def @ 3, 2.25% max end @ 4.

I haven't looked at defense slotting yet, but I suspect you could do something similar.

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question: aren't there IO sets that resist KB?

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No. There are individual global/special IOs which add KB resistance, but they are not set bonuses or sets. (Although they do FUNCTION like set bonuses in game engine terms)

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What he said. And this guide is for slotting on a budget - if you want to go all out and blow millions, you can get 2-3 of the kb resist IOs (hint, they are very expensive, although I did luck out and get one recipe for 350k after leaving that bid at Wentworth's since I9 came out).

Here's what I have done &amp; tested on 3 different dark armor users: ma/da (35), spines/da (42) &amp; ss/da brute (worked on from 26-36).

It's relatively affordable: 3-6 mill, depending on your level, the market that day, and how patient you want to be.

The goal is not to care about set bonuses (I'm not even going to note them) - the goal is to improve your slot efficiency without spending a fortune. With that in mind, I opted for the cheapest sets that had the bonuses I wanted.

All percentages are from the level 42 character, using 36-45 IOs.

Dark Embrace, Murky cloud, Obsidian shield:
Titanium Coating: res/end, res/rech, res/end/rech, res
Approx bonuses: (6 slots in 4) 56% resist, 45% recharge, %45 end

Death shroud:
Multi-strike: acc/dmg, dmg/end, acc/end, acc/dmg/end, dmg/end/rech
Cleaving blow: dmg/end
Approx bonuses: (9 slots in 6) 97% dmg, 70% acc, 20% rech, 97% end

Dark Regen:
Doctored wounds: heal/end/rech, end/rech
Harmonized healing: heal/end/rech, end/rech
Multi-strike: acc/end
1 SO Acc
Approx bonuses: (8.5 slots in 6) 38% heal, 58% acc, 85% rech, 96% end

Oppressive Gloom:
rope a dope: acc/stun, acc/stun/rech
Approx bonuses: (3 slots in 2) 37% disorient, 45% acc, 20% rech

Ingredients required &amp; costs for level 40 IOs as of 052807 HERO SIDE:
<font class="small">Code:[/color]<hr /><pre>
alchemical gold x6 2800 16800
alchemical silver x4 10000 40000
ancient bone x2 25000 50000
blood of the incarnate x5 1000 5000
carnival of shadows mask x1 2000 2000
circuit board x5 250 1250
commercial cybernetic x4 500 2000
corrosive gas x1 500 500
demonic blood sample x4 25000 100000
ensorcelled weapon x3 2500 7500
improvised cybernetic x3 1000 3000
inert gas x6 450 2700
iron x3 250 750
masterwork weapon x7 22000 154000
mutant dna strand x1 250 250
rune x5 14000 70000
scientific law x1 500 500
scientific theory x3 250 750
spell ink x3 10000 30000
stabilized mutant genome x5 250 1250
steel x1 1300 1300
symbol x2 2200 4400

total: 493950
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None of the above are exceptionally expensive, in fact if you get things at prices close to what they were when I did it most recently, you'll spend less than 500k.

The real killer comes in the cost to create (which I think is at least 25% too high, given the cost of materials for certain items, but that's a topic for another thread). For most items (sorry, I didn't check all these), at level 40, it's about 210k per enhancement. That would leave you with 5.25 mill at level 40, giving you a grand total of 5.75 mill.

Some are definitely less and it will depend on the level of the enhancement you purchase (I only spent about 4.8-5 mill at level 43, and 4 mill at level 35), but this should give you some general ideas.


Addendum: Cloak of Fear

Two of my characters use this, and I already posted an earlier version of this elsewhere, but it does belong here. I kept the costs separate mostly because I don't feel like reformatting everything, but also because most scrappers &amp; brutes I see don't use CoF.

Cloak of Fear
Horror: acc/fear, end/fear (caps at level 30)
Nightmare: acc/fear, acc/end
Glimpse of the Abyss: acc/fear, acc/end
Approx bonuses: (8 slots in 6) 68% fear duration, 89% acc, 97% end

costs (@ lvl 30 for horror &amp; 35 for the other two) HERO SIDE:
<font class="small">Code:[/color]<hr /><pre>alchemical silver 10000 10000
blood of the incarnate 1000 1000
commercial cybernetic 500 500
conspiratorial evidence 50000 50000
corrosive gas 500 500
holographic memory 25000 25000
inert gas 450 450
iron x2 250 500
masterwork weapon x2 22000 44000
mutant dna strand 250 250
rune x2 14000 28000
scientific theory 250 250
spell ink 10000 10000
steel 1300 1300
stabilized mutant genome x2 250 500
symbol 2200 2200

enhancement creation 438000
total 612450
</pre><hr />

Hmm, tough choices.

I'll tell you what I don't want first:

*Electric Hammer: Just a skin swap from the stone mallet animations? No thank you. Tell me this is like Thor's hammer and maybe we'll talk .

*Vibration &amp; Density Control - Sorry guys, but I think you'd take the easy way out with these and they'd play just like one of the other defense or resist sets.

So lets at least go with something that would be visually different. My votes (sorry I'm voting twice, because I can't ignore the shields...arrrgh Cap needs our support! ).

Melee: Dual Blades &amp; Shield Fighting
Defense: Growth &amp; Shield Defense

Ok, it *looks* like this is still on the needed list:

Pool D: Decimation: acc/dmg/rech (lvl 37 recipe from lvl 36 villain respec at villainous)

(also double confirmed as Pool D from the same run: sov right: acc/dmg/end, touch of death: dmg/end/rech, devastation: acc/dmg/rech if you need it or care :P ).

The new wings do look great, but I think the invention system was the WRONG way to bring them in. Especially with the current drop rates, it makes it a pain in the butt to get them, and renders them similar to the "1334" camp/raid/massive time sink items of certain other, not-to-be-named, mmos.

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Some options for the escorts:
<ul type="square">[*] Have stealth suppression when someone is following you. (this is my preferred option, especially if there is a "stop following me" command you can give them so that they can switch to following someone else if you need the stealth. Mind you, this one also only works if the +Stealth from these IO's is suppressed when you attack, which I'm assuming it is)[*] Have escortees have a large +Perception aura around them that affects them and possibly (probably?) enemies as well. (This is my secondary preferred option, particularly if the aura affects enemies. Reason being hostages aren't exactly known to be stealthy, so they can easily give away your position.)[*] Give the escortees an absurdly huge level of Perception, not as an aura.[*] Disallow them from being slotted into passives, and have them be duration based like the pet auras were originally intended to be when slotted into clicks.[/list]
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All these are good ideas, I have zero ideas as to why this is still an issue *boggle*.

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mountains of Yserbius (sierra network)

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Wasn't it 'Shadows of Ysrebius?'


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Wow. I totally forgot about that game. I don't really remember anything about it anymore other than that I played though. And there was a dungeon...gonna have to do some wikigooglesearchamification-ing.

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Oh, and thanks a heap for putting that stupid Flying Machines theme song back into my head after all these years!

Nab him! Grab him! Stab him! Jab him! Stop that pigeon, NOW!

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If you get the "Saturday Morning Cartoons" music CD, they have a remixed version of that song combined with the Johnny Quest theme. They also have a bunch of other good song remixes, such as Gigantor, H.R. Puffnstuff, Underdog, and Speed Racer.

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The very CD which is in my car's CD player as I type this. One of my favorites. Worth it for the Ramones cover of 'Spider Man' alone!

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Hah! I think this CD came up in one of those cool 'do a random mix of ALL your music playlist' thread things that was up in the games board a year or so ago...

I love that cd. Hard to pick favorite tracks...Hong Kong Phooey &amp; Groovy Ghoulies are 2 favs off the top of my head. The liner notes are pretty cool too.

Random trivia...who was on that cd that's now appearing in "The L Word"....life is weird!

It seems a pretty decent event so far EXCEPT for the fact that you have to do the mission 2 times for every single character if you want both costume pieces (never mind badges). When you have 30+ alts at lvl 30+ who might want the costume pieces, that gets old really fast.

It's fine for the badges, but would it be possible to make things like *costume* unlocks ACCOUNT WIDE? Please.

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As mentioned above we have Sappers mentioned twice. This will not do. So... how 'bout


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I figured the sappers were in there twice on purpose..because people find them twice as annoying as the others. But I could be wrong...

I really hope at some point the following will get updated/fixed:

*Flares animation time
*Explosive Blast/Neutron Bomb animation time

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*delurks and puts on First One Hundred hat*

Bah! Bah, I say!!

I was kicking villain butt in The City when most of you were only knee high to a Prototype Oscillator and I've forgotten more about this game then most of you will ever know!!

As an example, three simple words: Naked Programmer Cam.

If ya know it, keep it to yourself and don't spill the beans!

If ya don't, then take THAT ya gosh darn whippersnapper you!!

Now quit making such a racket ‘cause I'm trying to take a nap.

*relurks*

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Ahh, I miss Sabercat's dev tracker *sniffle*.

I don't miss trying to window hop to the top of the KR buildings for those CoT spawns.

I remember the first time I saw phantom army, and promptly abandoned my level 16 fire controller (who eventually became my only 50) to roll up an ill/rad since they got pets earlier.

I remember the first time I saw propel, and thought it was cool, and the first time I tried it on a character, and realized it only looked cool. (Luckily it has since improved!)

I remember my highest level beta char - a level 12 grav/storm who desperately wanted to be a blaster.

I remember when freezing rain was a kick $%% damage power.

Oo...and I think I remember when rains didn't used to cause fear. Could be wrong on that one though.

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Wait... You're telling me there is a Ballista Giant Monster?!?!?!
*boggles*

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Curious as well...

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Curious x6.

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If the target had 20% Defense,it works out this way:
Even Con = 0.3 * 1.15 = 34.5%
+1 = 0.5 * 1.15 * 1.1 = 37.95%
+2 = 0.5 * 1.15 * 1.2 = 41.4%
+3 = 0.5 * 1.15 * 1.3 = 44.85%

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I think those 0.5's are typos and should be 0.3's correct? For base 50% to hit - 20% defense?

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My NPC villain never leaves the station with me. I exit and he doesn't come with. I re-enter and he's gone.

Bug? Intended? Pie?

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I noticed that too. Was wondering where she went to.

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About half the time mine leave the police station, other half they vanish. Of course, they are often useless because they spend more time blowing up scenery than cops .
Maybe this is related to the bug where 1 mm henchman will become disconnected/uncontrolled when you move through a mayhem mission door?

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Hmmm, I know of a group that didn't get it, but it was clear that out of two groups fighting they didn't do 25% of the damage against him. I fought him with someone about Month ago so that they could get badge and they did, what timeframe did you do it, also what server, if you are on Guardian, holler, if I'm on (usually am and on hide) I'll be happy to try to assist.

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It was on Pinnacle within the last month. There were 3 groups who killed him, and everyone complained of not getting the badge.

No worries, I'll get around to trying it again eventually.

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OK, I did a search and nothing came up in the test forums - does anyone know if Caleb is properly rewarding his badge now?

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I think you might be confusing Caleb with Baphomet, who supposedly is awarding properly on defeat with the latest patch.

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Nope, separate question entirely. I noticed (or *thought* I noticed, I can't seem to find it now) that there is a badge listed at the various sites for killing Caleb. I have killed Caleb, and none of the teams participating got a badge. So I was just wondering if anyone knew if this was fixed on test ...or heck maybe we just had a fluke bug on live?

OK, I did a search and nothing came up in the test forums - does anyone know if Caleb is properly rewarding his badge now?

Noticed some wierd issues last night, apparently with bodyguard:

1) Fairly frequently, the combat text (I have it in it's own window) will scroll with 5-20 lines of nothing, just pushing all the text out of the window. Sometimes I get messages about my bodyguards absorbing X damage, I'm wondering if this is related?
2) Bodyguard requires more than just being in defensive/follow. If you are in D/F, and use a "petcom_all attack" command, the pets WILL stay in D/F, but you WILL lose the bodyguard protection. At least as near as I could tell, I was definitely getting hit for full damage with them all near to me in D/F.

Request: Can we get the bodyguard deflect text as its own subcategory of message, so we can remove it if we like? It's a lot of extra spam.

Fun note: During the lvl40 event, as a thug/traps it took a whole team of players to take me down. And before they killed me I got this ice/x tank down to 5% and made him hibernate twice. He must have been taunting or something silly, because I wasn't targeting my pets on him for fear of losing bodyguard.

So, note to tanks: taunting masterminds &amp; pets is not necessarily the best idea .