Madam_Enigma

Actually, getting double inf when exemplered isn't a myth, and never was. Now by default you get xp (which you didn't use to). You can change it in options to "no xp, double inf" though.

You pull out the gun and fire it. Fortunately, the crab spider attacks themselves have no redraw. Your weapon is always drawn. Anything from the soldier stuff (pre 24) requires the gun.

That's odd to me. When playing my ninja/poison I have to set pets in stay/passive to corner pull. Other wise the instant something shoots at me, my ninja charge forward. Thus ruining the multi-poison trap setup I made for the EB.

For those low level missions, my playtesting in my arc caused me to drop the idea of the boss running. Maybe make it a timed mission, because after X lenth of time he'll flee or something?

EDIT: The second arc (taste of evil)... SHADES OF GREEN! That was very well written.

Are you sure? Unless you specifically enable it to record attack rolls made on hench, you wont see the misses. Especially if the enemy is out of your sight. Also, sometimes a hench wont obey right away because it's already readied the attack.

First of all, you start out a wolf spider or widow. Widows play kind of like a cross between blaster and scrapper. Wolf spiders play sort of like a blaster, only better defense and they get some auto-power mez protection.

At 24 (I think) you MUST respec. Wolf spiders can respec to remain a wolf spider, become a bane spider, or become a crab spider. Banes, well you know what bane spiders are like. You probably got taken out by them more then a few times. Crabs are sort of a blaster/scrapper hybrid. Either way, you can still take powers from the wolf spider stuff. The attacks though cause redraw, and the grenades are mutually exclusive.

Example: If you take wolf spider venom grenade, you can't take crab venom grenade.

Night widows continue the theme of a widow, only more attacks. Meanwhile fortanas lose all access to the melee attacks as I recall. They then play like a mind controller/blaster hybrid.

If something makes an attack roll, it doesn't matter if you ducked around the corner. Also, with follow defensive if anything attacks the hench they fight it.

I think henchmen are coded to always have 1 or 2 at range when you order an attack. You know, to prevent aoe devastation. You'll notice enemy mobs do the same. Some will charge in, while others who prefer melee will stay at range. I just wish my arsonist would stop thinking he's a boxer.

On my A/Dev blaster it's fairly accurate. But then I also have targeting drone up constantly. It's base ACC is rather good too.

Yes, the pet gets the Aim damage and acc buff. Trust me on this. Since my arch blaster doesn't have it slotted yet, I see it doing x2 damage almost with AIm activated first. Still get the bonus from Aim with other attacks too.

In teams, I usually view my role as an MM as "big nasty threat slayer". Weather that threat is the freakshow tank, or the malta sapper. I always gun for the most dangerous enemy in the group first. But then, that's the role I assign myself no matter what I'm playing. If I'm a dom or controller, that just means I hold them first, then work on the other stuff.

I do heal team mates on my ninja/poison. However a team mate isn't always my top priority. It can take a lot of my focus just to keep henchmen alive on an 8 man invincible team (old rep system of course). And without those pets, I'm toast. Their my damage reduction, offense, and the team's distraction. For every hit a hench takes, that's one less hit the dominator or corrupter took. Or the stalker for that matter.

Then again, most of what my MM does for the team is offensive. I turn the tough enemies into kittens, then turn them into bleeding kitten corpses. If I have a choice between healing my Jounin who's at 1/3 health, or the brute who's at 1/3 health I almost always pick the jounin first. I know the brute can handle himself for a few more seconds. And if he can't, well he's back on his feet right away. If the jounin dies, that means the other pets will die quickly too usually. At which point I'll probably be dead, and no longer helping the team.

Did you know that when the power description lists average damage for Dual Pistols abilities, it doesn't always include the secondary damage type in the figure? For example, Executioner Shot was giving a listed average damage of 101 with my current slotting of it earlier today. And yes, the power was doing exactly that much damage... But that was JUST the lethal damage that it always does. It was also hitting for another 40 or so points of lethal/fire/cold/toxic depending on which ammo type I had equipped.

Funny, they are usually spot on from what I've seen.

So, tell me oh science master. How else does one try to determine information that must be extrapolated? Last time I checked, you did so by using observation (in this case my observations while fighting various enemy groups for the last five years). You then take those observations and use it to extrapolate. In this case, taking observations combined with average damage values we're given to determine what an average case situation might be for damage vs high resistance enemies.

Or is there some super secret school of analytical thought you went to?

Wait, you mean you assume everyone has access to a crafted temp power? Even if they have gotten exactly 3 temp power recipe drops EVER since the crafting system was added (all 3 were pistols)? You also assume everyone is fully aware of every single temp power they could craft, even when they had just returned to the game Thursday, the first of April, and been spending most of their time actually playing instead of doing the market mini-game?

Heh, you have no idea do you? Madam Enigma fights a whole lot of robots. She's gone through more then a few council missions, random police band ones at that, which contained more robots then any other type of council troop. She fights nemesis robots frequently. The only high end robot type she doesn't regularly fight is the malta ones.

Try to grasp a very very simple concept.

If a example is given to illustrate how something can offset a perceived weakness, in this case 'this attack is inherently weaker then the other similar attacks with nearly identical average damage', does it really matter if real values are used? To you I guess it does. I pulled a value out of my rear end. And in the post your so eager to criticize I admitted the number was pulled out of my rear end. I used that number FOR AN EXAMPLE.

Please, consider what the example actually states. I gave an example for if an enemy has X resistance to one lethal damage, and no appreciable resistance to another type. Let's say hypothetically your attacking something with 40% resistance to lethal but only 30% resistance to cold, fire, or toxic damage. You will still end up doing more damage with an attack that combines lethal damage with one of those three then if you used an attack which has the same average damage but is all lethal damage.

But I suppose those you think that example is invalid too because again I pulled numbers out of my rear end. Wait a minute, I just realized something. Your saying I can't use the info from the Detailed Description of powers because it can be wrong, but your then willing to trust the info gained from something else devs put in. Something that could have the wrong info. I find that laughable. Or did you take characters with each and every damage type, and use 100.00 point damage attacks to check resistances?

[quote]Don't make me beat you upside the head with numbers and existing precedent. I've already given you a link to the post where I definitively proved that HoB is underpowered. Do you want me to repost it right here, just for you, because you are under some kind of delusion that your terribly flawed attempt at analysis was correct?[quote]

Again, did you miss that I was pulling numbers out of my *** for the example of vs resistance, and ADMITTED IT in the very same post the example was given? Or are you incapable of handling hypotetical examples? Are you only capable of analyzing a example if it's grounded in numbers you can admit are proven? If so, then maybe what you should do is try to prove that the power description doesn't list average damage for Hail of Bullets. And keep in mind that the average is not "maximum" or "minimum" damage, but what over the course of time the damage averages out as. If an attack always hits with every tick of damage, then the average damage should be identical to minimum and maximum. But if an attack only has a chance of hitting with each tick, then the damage would average out to X amount, which can easily be different then minimum or maximum damage.

So let me get this strait, you've ignored my statements of "Until I actually get the power, I can't make a final assessment, but on paper it looks fine"? I am the very first to admit I don't know exactly how well Hail of Bullets preforms. My DP/Dev blaster is currently level 19. I expect to be able to try it out next month at least. Assuming demon summoning doesn't distract me. Nor do I know how well rain of arrows works. I just got it earlier today, and have not used it in combat.

If after using it I find the power is underwhelming, you can bet I'll be posting well reasoned criticisms of it. Until I can actually use the power or see team mates using it (read be able to pay attention as they use it during a chaotic battle) I will not claim it's broken or not. I will say this though. You all keep saying it's damage is lower then Rain of Arrows. And yet according to the in game info on the two powers, it's slightly stronger.

Think about that please. Then maybe you will grasp that until I can actually test out the power, I can NOT make any judgments on it.

By the same token, everyone here seems to think Bullet Rain has too long of an animation. I find it's about right. Everyone seems to think that Executioner's Shot has too long of an animation and does too little damage. I disagree. I feel it may be right where it should be. In fact just now I managed to one shot a even con minion with it. Of course I still had 2 or 3 damage buffs from other attacks. Usually it leaves a bit of health left. I'd put it in the same category as Blazing Arrow for damage (based on what I've played so far). Only it's animation is shorter then blazing arrow.

But then, from the attitudes I'm seeing in this thread, the mindset of "I'll wait until I can test it myself before damning the power" is less desirable then being a lemming who agrees with others sight unseen.

I'll tell you what. I'll switch over to my archery blaster for a bit and actually try out Rain of Arrows. I'll check what it's currently listed average damage is first. I'll then compare that to actual damage, and I'll even look at your link to factor in their damage resistance.

Started to run this test. At my level, it says that RoF does 3 ticks of 57.65 damage, for an average damage of 115.29 points. In actual practice it has been doing 67.56 damage per tick, but only hitting with 1 or 2 ticks half the time. I think it's applying the damage buff from it's self. It's also taking into account I leveled once before entering the mission. Thus enemies are -1 to me. So still seems pretty accurate. It's averaging around what it said it would. As I slot it up, the average damage will go up.

Although as I'm doing this I noticed something you may have consistently missed.
Copy/Pasted directly from my enhancement screen, and set to level 50:

Average Damage:150.15
Damage Per Activation Time: 37.54
Damage Per Cast Cycle:2.35
Activation Time:4.00s
Recharge Time:1m 0s
Endurance Cost:20.80
Accuracy:1.60X
Available Level:32
Power Type:Click
Target Type:Friendlies
Power Range:90.00 ft.
Effect Area:Location
3 Ticks of 75.07 lethal damage over 1.00s on target
+5.60% strength to all damage for 11.50s on self Ignores buffs and enhancements unresistable

I bolded what may be of interest to you. It's listed average damage IS accurate. Notice how it states the average damage is lower then that of 3 ticks added together? That is because it is not maximum damage. It is AVERAGE damage. It is the damage you can expect to get over time. If the power always hit with all 3 ticks, the average damage would be the sum total of the ticks. Because it does not hit with all 3 ticks all the time, the average is not the sum total.

Keep this in mind when talking about how the in-game info for the power is wrong. Or do you only compare powers based on maximum possible performance? In which case I guess you factored in having Aim and Build Up (I think) from /energy activated for RoA. Of course by doing so you automatically disqualify any set without Aim from competing if comparing similar powers.

So yes, if your only comparing values with maximum possible self +dam buffs activated, RoA is the clear winner. But, and I've said this multiple times in the past, I will not pass a damning judgment on a power until I have actually tried it.

Yeah, the STF. Done it eight times. Failed it eight times. Although I never really looked on the AH for hammi's. I'd always figured anyone farming for them is gonna use them.

I love Gang War. Sure, the damage it does to an EB may be negligible. What it does do is distract the EB while your thugs blow them away.

Awakens are fine and all, but if I'm in the heat of combat on a /poison mastermind or my dark/rad defender... I want you on your feet and fighting NOW! As such I'll use a combat rez. That, and on my /poison mastermind I get to laugh as you vomit your toenails up after 30 seconds.

We've all been there (us defenders anyway). It stems from the Unholy Trinity of mmo combat: Tank/DPS/Healer. In most MMOs that trinity is required. You must have 1 'main' healer and one 'backup' healer. You must have 1 'main tank' and one 'off tank'. And you then need damage dealers, because the 'tank' classes are usually built for survivability but little damage. And the medics will be barely capable of dealing damage (even if they have high damage spells not in their hotbar).

In CoX though you don't need that unholy trinity. Heroes can roll with nearly any combination of archtypes. Some meleers Some support types can't heal, but can keep the team so safe they don't need healing usually or kills things so fast healing's unneeded. And EVERYONE can select healing abilities if desired regardless of AT.

The problem is that the 'healer' mentality is very entrenched. And almost every single non-superhero MMO feeds that mentality. It creates situations where a TA/A defender can join a team, be not only the sole survivor of 3 fights in a row but ALSO the one who won the fights before handing out awakens, and then gets booted as 'dead weight' due to not healing. Heh, to me the rest of that team was dead weight. My level 10 TA/A defender in issue 5 was the one actually killing the +5 con enemies in the mission. And remember that in issue 5 Trick Arrow was really and truly gimped with EVERY core debuff having a duration of 30 seconds, and recharge of 2 minutes.

Yes, I got extremely lucky that time. Every time I dropped an enemy I got one of three types of inspirations (which got used right away). I either got a Luck (+def), a Catch a Breath (+33 end), or a small green (+25% health back instantly). At one point I had something like 8 Lucks active at once.

Problem with that advice is.... In five years of playing I've NEVER joined a hammi raid. Thus I've never gotten any HO enhancements.