Mezzosoprano

I've posted my purled build in a previous Plant/Storm thread. There are also a few other builds and suggestions in that same thread.

Yes, and no.

Generally, your blast powers do more damage over time if you have +recharge boosts on your character. After the change, Lightning Storm still technically does more dps as your +recharge increases, because you can have multiple LS deployed at once.

Controler pets and VS on the other hand, recharge fast enough to be perma without slotting, and replace themselves when recast, so their dps does not increase, even if your character is at the recharge cap. (I think Gun Drone also replaces itself, but its base recharge is twice its base duration, so its dps does increase with the first +100% recharge; beyond that, it would have flat dps like the others.)

I love take my plant/storm controller into my MA arc, which is filled with various fire-blasting, debuffing LTs -- fire/dark, fire/sonic, fire/kin, and fire/thermal. SoC with the Contagious Confusion proc is a very safe and effective opener! Of course, it can miss, which creates a challenge....

And while I do benefit from the buffs/debuffs of the confused foes, so do they. I then enjoy the race to take them out before they do too much damage to each other. What makes the mission so much fun, however, is when I inadvertantly aggro two or three spawns at one time. (Tornado, Lightning Storm, Creepers, and Audrey can all spill over to adjacent groups. Further the overwhelming graphical chaos often leads me to throwing an AOE attack at the next group as I tab furiously through -this- group. :P)

The fight to claw my way out of a super-debuffed hole (negative to-hit, negative defense, negative damage buff, etc.) often ends in a faceplant, but feels truly epic. Very little else in the game is as insanely fun as sowing that much chaos and desperately trying to stay alive.

Its probably not very efficient as farming, but it is lots of fun!

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Unless your Peter Molyneux or Derek Smart, then your promise that your games the second coming of christ and will come with free home baked cookies.

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Or, worse yet, Cleve Blakemore. He really knew how to compose a screed about the coming apocalypse or the failings of western civilization on the old RPGs usenet group.

I wish I had an answer for that. Worse yet is trying to find your cursor to click "accept" on a teleport/fortune/rez when all the power effects have hidden your mouse pointer....

Ooh, with Mind/Nrg or Plant/Nrg you can encounter both of the uninformed PUG mantras -- "Confusion costs us xp" and "KB is ebil"!

On the way up to 50, I think the key powers for Plant/Storm are Seeds of Confusion, Roots, and Freezing Rain. I'd take each as early as possible, and slot them heavily.

Seeds of Confusion (Acc, Conf x2+, Rech x2+) is your every-spawn control. Use it to open fights and turn the enemy alpha on themselves.

Roots (Acc, Dam x3, End, Rech) does twice the damage of other controller aoe immobilizes, sets containment, benefits from its own containment, and (later) prevents kb from the high-level storm powers. Once the spawn is confused, give them a second or two to charge into melee range on each other, then spam roots until they all fall down.

Freezing Rain (Rech x3, End?) greatly improves both your direct damage and the damage confused foes do to each other. You want this up as often as possible. The Achilles' Heel proc is a great option to add to FR, as it has a 20% chance to debuff each mob's resistance by 20%, which stacks very nicely with the 30% res debuff of FR itself. Damage procs are also a good choice if you have additional slots, as each should get two chances to fire per use of FR.

Pool powers: Hasten and Stamina. :-)

Stealth: Take Steamy Mist and something that will stack with it for near-total PVE invisibility -- super speed or a stealth IO.

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Nope, we don't even have that in common. The scrapper running off and accomplishing nothing but speeding up the overall kill rate because he isn't slowing himself down by playing babysitter to a bunch of boring players is in no way detrimental to your fun.


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I play all my squishies like fury-junkie brutes, dragging my teammates behind me. Some have even suggested that "Impatience" should be my middle name.

I don't even have a level 50 melee character and I have epic scrapperlock. Sounds like I should team with BillZBubba....

No, now the rest of us ask exactly that -- "How exactly is x y z abusive?"

Min/Maxer is missing from the first list.

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Other things - Gale gets one slot ever. Initially it's an accuracy, later it can be the chance for recharge proc. Health gets a second and or third slot much later in the build. Even if you have both Veteran Attacks, you will want either Entangle, or perhaps Air Superiority slotted for damage to help you kill Lieutenants and bosses, or getting rid of the last couple mobs will take FOREVER, slowing you down to a crawl.

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For me, Gale only got one slot until post-50 respecing into set bonuses. The 4- and 6-slot bonuses from Kinetic Crash was too good for me to pass on: Mag 3 KB protection and 7.5% global recharge.

You can also get max hp by taking the earth epic. With enough global recharge, EE can be up all the time.

As others have said "Moar Recharge!"

Since you're looking to do damage, slot Roots for damage or with Positron's Blast. It does significant damage, benefits from its own containment, prevents kb from Lightning Storm and Tornado, and can be spammed all day long.

Seeds of Confusion should also be taken and slotted asap, since it is an insane amount of mitigation. Once the bad guys are shooting at each other, drop Freezing Rain, Creepers, Lightning Storm, and/or Tornado while spamming Roots and your Epic AOE.

In my build (see post here), I slotted for extreme recharge and for damage. I routinely solo missions spawned for six, largely due to the safety created by Seeds of Confusion. (When Seeds misses too many bad guys, the battle can go south quickly. But the contagious confusion proc helps spread the confusion, and the chaos created by Freezing Rain, LS, Tornado, and/or Hurricane can often get your bacon out of the fire.)

I went recharge crazy on my purple plant/storm build (below). The recent pet recharge change drastically lowered the rate of fire of my Lightning Storm, but I still find it a good power to use against large spawns or hard targets.

Hero Plan by Mids' Hero Designer 1.401
http://www.cohplanner.com/

[u]Click this DataLink to open the build![u]

Fumina Hara: Level 50 Magic Controller
Primary Power Set: Plant Control
Secondary Power Set: Storm Summoning
Power Pool: Fitness
Power Pool: Speed
Power Pool: Flight
Ancillary Pool: Stone Mastery

Hero Profile:
Level 1: Entangle -- GravAnch-Immob(A), GravAnch-Immob/Rchg(3), GravAnch-Acc/Immob/Rchg(3), GravAnch-Acc/Rchg(5), GravAnch-Immob/EndRdx(5)
Level 1: Gale -- KinCrsh-Dmg/KB(A), KinCrsh-Acc/KB(29), KinCrsh-Rchg/KB(31), KinCrsh-Rechg/EndRdx(31), KinCrsh-Dmg/EndRdx/KB(36), KinCrsh-Acc/Dmg/KB(48)
Level 2: Strangler -- BasGaze-Acc/Hold(A), BasGaze-Acc/Rchg(7), BasGaze-Rchg/Hold(7), BasGaze-EndRdx/Rchg/Hold(9)
Level 4: Roots -- Posi-Acc/Dmg(A), Posi-Dmg/EndRdx(11), Posi-Dmg/Rchg(11), Posi-Dmg/Rng(13), Posi-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(13), GravAnch-Hold%(36)
Level 6: Spore Burst -- FtnHyp-Sleep(A), FtnHyp-Sleep/Rchg(9), FtnHyp-Acc/Sleep/Rchg(15), FtnHyp-Acc/Rchg(15), FtnHyp-Sleep/EndRdx(17)
Level 8: Seeds of Confusion -- CoPers-Conf%(A), CoPers-Conf/Rchg(19), CoPers-Acc/Conf/Rchg(19), CoPers-Acc/Rchg(21), CoPers-Conf/EndRdx(21)
Level 10: Steamy Mist -- ResDam-I(A), ResDam-I(23), S'fstPrt-ResDam/Def+(25)
Level 12: Swift -- Run-I(A)
Level 14: Health -- Numna-Regen/Rcvry+(A), Numna-Heal(17), Mrcl-Rcvry+(33), Mrcl-Heal(33)
Level 16: Freezing Rain -- RechRdx-I(A)
Level 18: Hasten -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(40), RechRdx-I(42)
Level 20: Stamina -- EndMod-I(A), P'Shift-EndMod(25), P'Shift-End%(33)
Level 22: Spirit Tree -- Dct'dW-Heal/EndRdx(A), Dct'dW-EndRdx/Rchg(23), Dct'dW-Heal/Rchg(27), Dct'dW-Heal(27), Dct'dW-Rchg(40)
Level 24: Vines -- BasGaze-Acc/Hold(A), BasGaze-Acc/Rchg(29), BasGaze-Rchg/Hold(34), BasGaze-EndRdx/Rchg/Hold(42)
Level 26: Hover -- DefBuff-I(A)
Level 28: Fly -- Flight-I(A)
Level 30: Thunder Clap -- Amaze-Stun(A), Amaze-Stun/Rchg(31), Amaze-Acc/Stun/Rchg(34), Amaze-Acc/Rchg(37), Amaze-EndRdx/Stun(37)
Level 32: Fly Trap -- C'Arms-Acc/Rchg(A), C'Arms-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(34), C'Arms-Acc/Dmg(39), C'Arms-Dmg/EndRdx(39)
Level 35: Tornado -- C'Arms-Acc/Rchg(A), C'Arms-Acc/Dmg(36), C'Arms-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(37), C'Arms-Dmg/EndRdx(42)
Level 38: Lightning Storm -- Decim-Acc/Dmg(A), Decim-Dmg/EndRdx(39), Decim-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(40), Decim-Dmg/Rchg(43), Decim-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg(45)
Level 41: Fissure -- Posi-Acc/Dmg(A), Posi-Dmg/EndRdx(43), Posi-Dmg/Rchg(43), Posi-Dmg/Rng(46), Posi-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(46)
Level 44: Seismic Smash -- Hectmb-Dmg(A), Hectmb-Dmg/Rchg(45), Hectmb-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(45), Hectmb-Acc/Rchg(46), Hectmb-Dmg/EndRdx(50)
Level 47: Earth's Embrace -- Dct'dW-Heal/EndRdx(A), Dct'dW-EndRdx/Rchg(48), Dct'dW-Heal/Rchg(48), Dct'dW-Rchg(50), Dct'dW-Heal(50)
Level 49: Carrion Creepers -- RechRdx-I(A)
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Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Sprint -- ULeap-Stlth(A)
Level 2: Rest -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Containment
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[u]Set Bonus Totals:[u]<ul type="square">[*]4% DamageBuff(Smashing)[*]4% DamageBuff(Lethal)[*]4% DamageBuff(Fire)[*]4% DamageBuff(Cold)[*]4% DamageBuff(Energy)[*]4% DamageBuff(Negative)[*]4% DamageBuff(Toxic)[*]4% DamageBuff(Psionic)[*]3% Defense(Smashing)[*]3% Defense(Lethal)[*]3% Defense(Fire)[*]3% Defense(Cold)[*]8% Defense(Energy)[*]8% Defense(Negative)[*]3% Defense(Psionic)[*]3% Defense(Melee)[*]5.5% Defense(Ranged)[*]3% Defense(AoE)[*]2.25% Max End[*]78% Enhancement(Accuracy)[*]113.8% Enhancement(RechargeTime)[*]4% Enhancement(Confused)[*]8% Enhancement(Heal)[*]5% FlySpeed[*]42 HP (4.13%) HitPoints[*]5% JumpHeight[*]5% JumpSpeed[*]Knockback (Mag -3)[*]Knockup (Mag -3)[*]MezResist(Immobilize) 2.75%[*]MezResist(Terrorized) 4.4%[*]36.5% (0.61 End/sec) Recovery[*]18% (0.76 HP/sec) Regeneration[*]2.5% Resistance(Smashing)[*]15.8% Resistance(Fire)[*]15.8% Resistance(Cold)[*]8% RunSpeed[/list]

For me, my plant/storm was the fastest and most fun ride to 50 yet. She's the only characters I've actually "purpled out", and is the only 50 I continue play regularly. (Of course, YMMV.)

My attack chain @50 involves spamming the following powers whenever they're available. :-)
<ul type="square">[*]Creepers[*]Seeds[*]Freezing Rain[*]Roots[*]Lightning Storm[*]Fissure[*]Tornado[/list]

During beta, I created a mission named "Demonic Horticulture 101".

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It's the "extreme edge cases" that are hardest hit by this change. To be honest, I would bet that the average non-forum-goer won't even notice the change. (I didn't notice for I don't know how long that LS was firing faster when I had Hasten up. Maybe I'm just not very observant.)

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Personally, I could hear the difference in performance for LS on test vs. live, as I had both the +recharge from Hasten and from a slotted Decimation set. Many players might not ever notice a difference in their LS performance, but it was obvious to me.

I also feel that anyone who normally buffs their standard pets (Singularity, Jack Frost, Stoney, Audrey) with Speed Boost or AM will also notice a difference in their damage output. I wouldn't consider anyone with /Kin or /Rad (or who regularly teams with a /Kin or /Rad) and extreme edge case.

Thanks again for the dialogue and info, Castle. I also misread your original post, and assumed the 50% increase in CPU load described a separate proposed code change to fix the pet ai issue.

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However, I believe the LS Pet power Lightning could be flagged as unenhanceble for recharge (ala SOW), which is what it sounds like they just did. (My understanding is that with the current change, LS still inherits the +recharge buffs, but the buff does not affect LS's powers.)

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Ahem. The SoW flag was added for SoW. It didn't exist before then.

OMG!!! First post after a redname!!!

Hm. I don't think it's my first though.


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Good point. Couldn't give anything the SoW treatment until SoW was given said treatment in I11 (November 2007).

Still, I wish we'd had more prior communication that passing recharge buffs down to the psuedopets was not desired behavior.

BTW, somewhere during all these exchanges my caffine has kicked in. I hope my earlier posts did not seem excessively cranky....

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MMO code is a monstrosity. It's worked on by several different people, with folks leaving and joining the team on a semi-regular basis. There's no way to expect that Cryptic could have foreseen today's needs four, three, or even two years ago, and when NCSoft inherited the game they were even more at a loss.

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Agreed. I also haven't said I could find a better solution in their code, just that I wish I could go look for one.

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They could have just as easily fixed it that many issues ago if it was truely a problem.

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You do not know that. Standard Code Rant applies.

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Yes, the Standard Code Rant usually does apply.

However, I believe the LS Pet power Lightning could be flagged as unenhanceble for recharge (ala SOW), which is what it sounds like they just did. (My understanding is that with the current change, LS still inherits the +recharge buffs, but the buff does not affect LS's powers.)

Sneaky you, you edited in the quote from Castle after I went looking for it myself!

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Again, we tried some things, but ultimately, the change that is on the Training Room now ended up being the only viable fix. The alternative, as I understand it, would be to fix that long standing bug I said we couldn’t fix. That would result in up to a 50% increase in server CPU time in the Powers computations, though and that simply isn't a workable solution.

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You are correct that the OP does state that fixing the Pet AI by fixing the multi-aspect slotting bug would greatly increase CPU load. Doh! Reading comprehension FTW!

I suppose that if this change had been applied only to pets with AI problems, we'd have a different subset of players throwing fits.

The other reason this bugs me is that in the real world, I work in software, primarily in QA. I find and/or design creative solutions to many of our technical challenges, either through work-arounds, code refactoring, or feature extension. And while I do believe the devs are a great team who do fantastic work, a small voice in the back of my head screams at me to go study the code and find a better solution.

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If it wasnt meant to be then why let it go on for so long?

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Castle clearly stated why it was allowed to go on so long. The only way to fix it was to introduce huge amounts of lag into the game, and that was clearly unacceptable.

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Lightning Storm could have been fixed very simply at any time since I7, by making the changes on the power that were just made (and are not yet made to Defender LS).

However, the PET AI issue could have been solved by introducing huge amounts of lag into the game, which would not have been acceptable.

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Again, the ability for tangible pets to be buffed externally has been in the game forever. Lightning Storm's inheritance of +recharge buffs was manually and deliberately added two years ago in I7. Lastly, LS doesn't accept the RIP sets.

While I can certainly believe that LS is firing far faster than the devs imagined it would, and I can certainly agree this could be unbalanced, it is not an unintended consequence and I cannot believe it was unnoticed.

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Emphasis mine.

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The “CopyCreatorMods” (or “Pet Inheritance”) code was originally written so that things like hitting "Build Up" then casting "Burn" would cause the Burn to do more damage. To my knowledge, most pet powers were set to only accept Damage, Accuracy and/or Status Effect mods. Recharge time was never specifically allowed for pet powers. This happened in Issue 7.

Now, you combine the two things...and suddenly, pet powers which were never meant to have recharge be altered (Lightning Storm is a great example here) are firing off much faster than intended.

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Emphasis mine. Hasten or speed boost on the summoner has transferred to LS, boosting its rate of fire for two years. It may still have been an error. But somone did set the flags on the power(s) in question to allow the transfer of +recharge buffs to LS.

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Whether or not the former type of pet (psuedo-pet) should inherit Recharge is another argument, but true pets definately shouldn't inherit buffs from their caster, as long as they can be buffed separately.

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That's exactly the problem with this change. Even true pets will no longer have their attack rate boosted by anything, including being directly speed boosted by another character.

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But that is a COMPLETELY DIFFERENT REASON from why psuedo-pets are being made immune to recharge.

Granted, true pets were not intended to never have their recharge buffed. However, it makes it easier to maintain the AI if this factor is eliminated. (I'm not going to say it fixes the AI issues, although from what I have read it has made the situation better)

True pets were NOT intended to have recharge effected by Recharge enhancements (because that effects how often they are summoned, instead) and they were not intended to inherit their parent's powers. (Because they are true pets and thus don't inherit) MM Henchmen may have been intended to slotted for Recharge, but this was removed because it was inconsistent. They were never intended to inherit from the MM. (Except those IOs which specifically apply to the pets, but those aren't part of the inheritance mechanism)


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But the fix to the psuedopets is to make all pets and psuedopets immune to all recharge effects. (With the momentary oversight of Defender LS, which is still capable of firing faster on test.)

Fire Imps, like LS, have one and only one attack. It seems unlikely that they had an AI issue (other than their natural crazy agro ideas). Previously, the imps' attack rate could be boosted by the caster or any other teammate with +recharge powers. Now, they cannot.

To me, the scope of the change seems excessive. Of course, YMMV. :shrug: