Local_Man

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The oly thing you forgot was to specify "say"... i.e.

/bind t "say Bity Kitty claws and scratches and begins to teleport group $target to her location.$$powexec_name Recall Friend"

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As said above, it would be better to use "team" instead of "say," and you want to delete the word "group" from your message. I think you intended "group" to be your channel command, but it has to be at the front of the statement, instead of just before the variable.

Nice update, Pilcrow. I tried the link to the calculator, and it came up as a dead link. However, that may be because I tried from my office computers, which have all kinds of Firewalls.

I have a high-level Ill/Rad, but my spouse wanted us to set up a pair of characters to team always. So, I made an Ill/Kin and she is an Ill/Rad. (They have matching costumes, too -- really nausiating!) Great synergy between the two, as Illusion Controllers complement each other, unlike most other controllers. This weekend, we went from level 16 to 20. She said, and I agree, that no other AT is affected with a substantial change by one power as the effect that PA has on Illusion Controllers. At level 17, we tried a mission, with a tank, that caused a team wipe. After hitting 18, picking up our PA, resetting and going in without the tank, the mission was no problem. Our six (count 'em! Six!) marshmallow men (and women) made all the difference.

At 19, we both slotted two recharge, one damage. If we alternate, we can just about keep PA out constantly. I presume we will end up with three recharge, three damage. ED sure seems like it reduces the options, where the only choice is whether to replace a damage or a recharge with an accuracy.

Do you think we will ever get any pet controls, other than the "Dismiss Pets" command? Positron's guide to MasterMinds on the CoV boards make it clear that we will never get the level of control over pets that the MasterMind has, but it kind of suggests that we may get some kind of command ability. Any thoughts?

Excellent job, Cat! Great analysis with the numbers to back it up. The one thing that might make your analysis more effecive is to see how this DDR concept would apply to various builds, possibly using a DDR scale to reflect overall defense.

One more factor that should be considered but would be very difficult to quantify: Pets. Many pets, by drawing aggro, substantially increase "defense" by reducing the probability of attacks on the player. Some pets also debuff. Illusion Controllers have a unique power in Phantom Army. Is there anything else that can completely ignore the "one-shot"? What about the effect of Deceive/Confuse?

(It probably goes beyond the scope of your anaysis, but I had to throw in something that it appears you did not think of.)

Here is one my level 38 Ill/Rad controller just discoverd. There is a diference between the "sewers" and the "Abandoned Sewers." When you enter the Sewers, look around for an extra door in the wall. If you get the blue hand, this will take you to the Abandoned Sewers, for level 38 and above.

I wandered the Sewers for quite a while, looking for Rikti a few nights ago. Everything was such low level! Didn't know about the extra door!

My Earth/Kin, Dirt Napper, is only level 12 at this time, but I read a lot, including this guide, so I have some suggestions.

Stone Prison is mainly useful on bosses and AVs, but Stone Cages is sufficient otherwise. Use Fossilize on the single targets, and wait on taking Stone Prison until you need it for AVs. Take Siphon Power or Repel instead, depending on your play style. (I took SP to debuff the boss, and buff my team.)

Taking any travel power other than Super Speed creates build problems, since all the others require an extra power to take as the prerequisite. If you take Siphon Speed at 10, you can even make do with no travel power for a while. Siphon Speed is a nice single target slow while it boosts your speed and recharge. I love having a travel power at level 10!

I actually took Flurry at 8, with plans to respec out of it into Hasten later. Needed the damage for containment, and it works as my prereq for SS. Hasten is very tough on your Endurance before Stamina, so it is easier to respec into it after level 20.

You took Quicksand at 18 (I took it at 6 but probably will respec out of it to get Stamina at 20). However, at 18 one of the best powers of the set becomes available. Take Earthquake! Even if you have to wait on Quicksand!

Speedboost is one of the most in-demand team powers. Why delay it until 30? Take it at 22! Is Acrobatics that important?

Pilcrow--

Thanks so much for the hard work! Awesome job!

At level 38, I have my PA with 5 recharge and one damage (with Hasten and AM), and I wanted to know if I needed to change the enhancements. You confirmed that I have exactly what I want out of them! Available almost all the time, but as much damage as I can get. Enervating Field would then increase the damage by 40%, right?

An interesting question for you . . . for those Ill/Kin controllers, what does Siphon Speed or Speed Boost do to the recharge? (I know a Kin can't cast Speed Boost on himself, but what effect would it have on another Ill controller?)

Actually, I think that EM Pulse is getting nerfed along with all the AoE holds for Controllers. Almost Half duration, double recharge. That means it will be next to forever before it is ready to fire off again, but it lasts so long in I-4, that in I-5 it will still be useful.

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Last I knew, you only needed 4 SOs in AM to make it perma, assuming you also had perma-Hasten (which similarly only needs 5 SOs to be perma if you have perma-AM).

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This is true . . . but only if you remember to click AM all the time, the moment it comes back up. Putting that sixth SO in Hasten will keep you not-always-vigilent people from having downtime on Hasten. Personally, I prefer to six-slot Hasten, and then wait on setting off AM until I can get maximum benefit for my team by hitting as many of them as I can.

This sounds like a lot of fun. Nothing better than a team of team-oriented players working together with a common strategy. I would enjoy participating, but I suspect RL will get in the way of playing every night. Still, I will keep an eye on these posts and try to join in when I-5 goes live.

Have you thought about having a common name/costume element or other such thing to identify team members? At one point I was talking with some others about an Ice-oriented SG, where all the names would have "Ice" as the last name. We were sure common ones, like Italian, Vanilla, Black and Blue would be taken, but we were aiming more for names like Kickyer and Saviour. I knew a group of tanks, where they had a common last name of "Sherman." Of course, there is a multitude of Dark/Electric Defenders with "Darth" as the first name. I know it seems silly, but it creates sort of a team feeling about things. We could use "Tankmage" as a first name. Or use something shorter, like "Tkmg." Just a thought . . .

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WARNING: Teleport is the most draining travel power......n large zones like IP, Talos, etc., u might have to stop and take a break....which can make it take just as long as any other travel power....so slot this power wisely....both w/ end redux and range increase

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Actually, end is only a problem before Stamina is fully slotted. I have TP with two end reducers and fully slotted Stamina, and my end bar doesn't move at all no matter how far I teleport.

I have set up a macro that I fire off just before I begin a TP trip. It turns off sprint and then says says to my team something like, "Can't type now, I am teleporting!"

I have a lvl 16 Ill/Rad. I took Blind, Flash and Deceive early and love them, and my groups love them. Blind's fast execution speed is key.

For battles with large groups of Mobs, I will Deceive the biggest bad guys from a distance if I can, then apply AM to the team. The Tank or scrapper quickly runs into the group, and I follow right behind, hit Flash, and back out. I then use Blind to catch the stragglers who were not blinded by Flash. I keep deceiving the big baddies, and use Blind to stop any runners. The damage dealers wipe up the mobs without being hit. If a mob heads for me, he gets a blind, too. With Hasten 5 slotted with DOs, I can pop Blind very fast to prevent damage to teammates. If I focus on holds instead of damage, I can carefully preserve my End (usually). If I have enough end, I will throw in SW to pick off a few. There is less of a need for heals since no one is getting hit until Flash runs out.

I figure that if I can hold the mobs, there is no need for RI and EF, so those can come later. I slotted Flash with two DO Acc and will add hold duration later. Also slotted Blind with one Acc and one hold, and will add more later.

I regret not having Group Invis yet, but I just took Hurdle at 16 to get to Stamina by 22. (Of course, I'll take PA at 18.) GI will have to wait until 24.

Any comments, or recommendations of where I need to be headed? I almost always team up with a scrapper (another player from my family), and we may bring in others, so this is almost never a solo toon.

Local Man, Dark/Elec Def
Area Man, Ill/Rad Contr
Shiver Shot, Ice/Ice Blaster