Miladys_Knight

My MA/regen does exactly that but he has the end to fuel it.

It's got lots of cones so it can have smooth chain of AoEs.

Solo it's safe but fairly slow, since it lacks Aim and Build up and the secondary takes a bit too long to set up.

On teams MOST of your secondary is going to be pretty useless and if you don't have a controller or a good tank all the AoEs are going make you an aggro magnet.

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]


Where do YOU think most folks are going to spend their time?

[/ QUOTE ]


While I agree with these points for the most part, especially Merit and Zone wise, I find myself playing MORE villains because of Architect. I can PL from 1-20 or 1-30 in notime flat, avoiding the content for the most part. From there, make sure I can get the Mayhems for badges and my Patron Arc. Use tickets for Bronze Rolls and the occasional Gold Roll, sell the proceeds and IO out my alt.

AE is actually going to make the decision a little harder. Overall though, the general slowness of the Black Market will influence my decision more, especially if I can cart my crap over with me.



[/ QUOTE ]

I make a good chunk of my inf (well over 2 billion now heading for 3) placing bets on new issue changes based mostly on "casual" player psychology.

So far I haven't lost any inf doing so (ie: I've judged the "casual" mindset fairly accurately) and managed to make several big piles in the few weeks right after new issue release.

Those are just some of the obvious things that are for sures without delving into the range of less substantial speculation. Once I can see which way the devs are going to jump with the market in the new issue I'll lay my bets for "Vast Sums of Inf".

[ QUOTE ]
I can see it. You can get away with calling almost every one of the Controller secondaries whatever you want from magic auras to fancy mutant powers to...whatever, but Trick Arrow is just a person with a bow who shoots out arrows that are either scientific gadgets or enchanted or something. Makes the concept hard to figure out.

I made my Plant/TA based on the story of the blind Norse god Hud being tricked into killing his brother Baldur with an arrow made from mistletoe by Locke (google Mistletoe, Locke, and Baldur if you're confused and actually care enough to look it up). My character supposedly wears a bracelet made from the mistletoe that killed a god and the bow that fired the arrow, giving his magic arrows and plant manipulation. It was a stretch, but I hate leaving the description blank.

[/ QUOTE ]

Vali

Vali is usually depicted as an archer and is known as the God of Vengeance and Rebirth.

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
I think that if it doesn't happen the Rogue Islands will be mostly abandonded by the player base. Only the hardcore villian only folks will remain there long term.

[/ QUOTE ]
I don't understand this... won't at least some of the Heroes desire to earn the badges and such that are only available by switching over? I would think that since most people play heroes, that the red-side would actually see more players than it currently does...

[/ QUOTE ]

Blue side advantages:

1) There's lots more content available blue side.
2) There is a better (level spread) range of TFs.
3) There are more total TFs blue side.
4) Story arcs pay out more merits blue side.
5) It's easier to find a MA farm blue side.
6) There are hazard zones and sewer teams blue side that don't exist red side.
7) The market blue side is more stable and has higher turn over. Which means it can be cheaper to get stuff, faster to get stuff or both.
8) It's easier to travel around blue side though the zones are larger.
9) Blue side has access to the Shadow Shard.
10) Blue side accolades don't require any time spent in PvP zones.

Red side advantages boil down to:

1) City zones are smaller so it takes less time to get from mission to mission. Provided you fly or jump. Red side zones have so much "flavor" garbage in them that Super Speed is only a viable form of travel if you have all the maps memorized, especially in Grandville.
2) Story arcs tend to keep you in the same zone so you don't waste time traveling.

(1 & 2 are the main reason villian story arcs award fewer merits compared to hero story arcs)

3) You can always fly at a cost of 83 inf per minute because you can get into Grandville at any level and buy a new jet pack for 10,000 inf and the city zones are small enough that you can get away with just a jet pack and sprint as your permanent travel power.
4) Fewer zones means that it's easier to get a VG base up and running with teleporters to everywhere and you can do that on the smallest plot size.

Where do YOU think most folks are going to spend their time?

True but boxing only gives a 10% chance for a 5 second duration mag 2 stun. That makes it strictly a set mule since it doesn't do much damage and it's not aesthetically pleasing mixed in with Martial arts.

I prefer to be able to use all the powers I take and tend not to use them as simple set mules.

Razzle dazzle in Cobra Strike gives both AoE and Melee defense. Its a good power to use for both set mule purposes and to stun a defense debuffing lieut or minion.

OwtS is a good place to keep your res/def IO and because lethal smashing resistance is low on shields and the crash isn't harsh its a good power to keep rather than take Tough especially when you consider that it boosts max hit points while active. With a few +HP sets, ED capped True Grit, accolades, and unslotted OwtS you hit the scrapper hit point cap. Just a res/def IO gives more smashing/lethal resistance than Tough does fully slotted and it only takes 2.5 end to cast. If you have +max endurance accoaldes you break even on end recovery including casting cost with out slotting any end mod in the power at all.

OwtS is up 33% of the time and putting the Res/def IO here saves the slot in True Grit that should be used for heal to increase max hit points.

Here ya go with a self heal and 44.8s on all positions.

Fighting Pool was killing you on both slots and endurance.

Oblit in Dragon's Tail was killing you on end.

If you try this build you will see that it's quite a bit lighter on endurance and the only thing you are really giving up is the extra smashing lethal resists in Tough. You might need a blue insp on occasion, most likely when hasten drops.

If you want Dragon Tail up more often at reduced end cost take a slot from either Active Defense or Hasten and add a Kinetic Crash end/rech to it. (That won't make the KD into KB but emphasizes both of the lowest enhanced atributes of the power).

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

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

Level 50 Magic Scrapper
Primary Power Set: Martial Arts
Secondary Power Set: Shield Defense
Power Pool: Speed
Power Pool: Fitness
Power Pool: Leaping
Power Pool: Medicine

Hero Profile:
Level 1: Storm Kick <ul type="square">[*] (A) Touch of Death - Accuracy/Damage[*] (5) Touch of Death - Chance of Damage(Negative)[*] (5) Touch of Death - Damage/Endurance/Recharge[*] (46) Touch of Death - Damage/Endurance[*] (46) Touch of Death - Damage/Recharge[*] (46) Touch of Death - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance[/list]Level 1: Deflection <ul type="square">[*] (A) HamiO:Enzyme Exposure[*] (3) HamiO:Enzyme Exposure[*] (3) HamiO:Enzyme Exposure[*] (7) HamiO:Enzyme Exposure[/list]Level 2: Battle Agility <ul type="square">[*] (A) HamiO:Enzyme Exposure[*] (7) HamiO:Enzyme Exposure[*] (9) HamiO:Enzyme Exposure[*] (9) HamiO:Enzyme Exposure[/list]Level 4: True Grit <ul type="square">[*] (A) Miracle - Heal[*] (11) Miracle - Heal/Endurance[*] (11) Miracle - Heal/Recharge[*] (13) Miracle - Heal/Endurance/Recharge[*] (13) Miracle - +Recovery[*] (45) Numina's Convalescence - +Regeneration/+Recovery[/list]Level 6: Focus Chi <ul type="square">[*] (A) Gaussian's Synchronized Fire-Control - To Hit Buff[*] (23) Gaussian's Synchronized Fire-Control - To Hit Buff/Recharge[*] (34) Gaussian's Synchronized Fire-Control - To Hit Buff/Recharge/Endurance[*] (37) Gaussian's Synchronized Fire-Control - Recharge/Endurance[*] (40) Gaussian's Synchronized Fire-Control - To Hit Buff/Endurance[*] (43) Gaussian's Synchronized Fire-Control - Chance for Build Up[/list]Level 8: Hasten <ul type="square">[*] (A) Recharge Reduction IO[*] (43) Recharge Reduction IO[*] (50) Recharge Reduction IO[/list]Level 10: Crane Kick <ul type="square">[*] (A) Touch of Death - Accuracy/Damage[*] (15) Touch of Death - Damage/Endurance[*] (17) Touch of Death - Damage/Recharge[*] (17) Touch of Death - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance[*] (19) Touch of Death - Damage/Endurance/Recharge[*] (19) Touch of Death - Chance of Damage(Negative)[/list]Level 12: Active Defense <ul type="square">[*] (A) HamiO:Membrane Exposure[*] (45) HamiO:Membrane Exposure[*] (50) HamiO:Membrane Exposure[/list]Level 14: Super Speed <ul type="square">[*] (A) Blessing of the Zephyr - Run Speed, Jump, Flight Speed, Range[*] (15) Blessing of the Zephyr - Run Speed, Jump, Flight Speed, Range/Endurance[*] (21) Blessing of the Zephyr - Knockback Reduction (4 points)[/list]Level 16: Hurdle <ul type="square">[*] (A) Jumping IO[/list]Level 18: Health <ul type="square">[*] (A) Regenerative Tissue - +Regeneration[/list]Level 20: Stamina <ul type="square">[*] (A) Performance Shifter - Chance for +End[*] (21) Performance Shifter - EndMod[*] (23) Endurance Modification IO[/list]Level 22: Phalanx Fighting <ul type="square">[*] (A) Luck of the Gambler - Recharge Speed[/list]Level 24: Crippling Axe Kick <ul type="square">[*] (A) Mako's Bite - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance/Recharge[*] (25) Mako's Bite - Accuracy/Endurance/Recharge[*] (25) Mako's Bite - Accuracy/Damage[*] (34) Mako's Bite - Damage/Endurance[*] (34) Mako's Bite - Damage/Recharge[*] (48) Mako's Bite - Chance of Damage(Lethal)[/list]Level 26: Cobra Strike <ul type="square">[*] (A) Razzle Dazzle - Accuracy/Recharge[*] (27) Razzle Dazzle - Accuracy/Endurance[*] (27) Razzle Dazzle - Endurance/Stun[*] (29) Razzle Dazzle - Stun/Range[*] (29) Razzle Dazzle - Accuracy/Stun/Recharge[*] (31) Razzle Dazzle - Chance of Immobilize[/list]Level 28: Dragon's Tail <ul type="square">[*] (A) Scirocco's Dervish - Accuracy/Damage[*] (31) Scirocco's Dervish - Damage/Endurance[*] (31) Scirocco's Dervish - Damage/Recharge[*] (33) Scirocco's Dervish - Accuracy/Recharge[*] (33) Scirocco's Dervish - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance[/list]Level 30: Combat Jumping <ul type="square">[*] (A) Luck of the Gambler - Recharge Speed[*] (33) Luck of the Gambler - Defense[*] (45) HamiO:Enzyme Exposure[*] (50) HamiO:Enzyme Exposure[/list]Level 32: Stimulant <ul type="square">[*] (A) Endurance Reduction IO[/list]Level 35: Shield Charge <ul type="square">[*] (A) Obliteration - Damage[*] (36) Obliteration - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance/Recharge[*] (36) Obliteration - Chance for Smashing Damage[*] (36) Obliteration - Accuracy/Recharge[*] (37) Obliteration - Damage/Recharge[*] (37) Obliteration - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge[/list]Level 38: Eagles Claw <ul type="square">[*] (A) Mako's Bite - Accuracy/Damage[*] (39) Mako's Bite - Damage/Endurance[*] (39) Mako's Bite - Damage/Recharge[*] (39) Mako's Bite - Accuracy/Endurance/Recharge[*] (40) Mako's Bite - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance/Recharge[*] (40) Mako's Bite - Chance of Damage(Lethal)[/list]Level 41: Aid Self <ul type="square">[*] (A) Doctored Wounds - Heal/Endurance[*] (42) Doctored Wounds - Endurance/Recharge[*] (42) Doctored Wounds - Heal/Recharge[*] (42) Doctored Wounds - Heal/Endurance/Recharge[*] (43) Doctored Wounds - Heal[/list]Level 44: Super Jump <ul type="square">[*] (A) Blessing of the Zephyr - Run Speed, Jump, Flight Speed, Range[*] (48) Blessing of the Zephyr - Run Speed, Jump, Flight Speed, Range/Endurance[*] (48) Blessing of the Zephyr - Knockback Reduction (4 points)[/list]Level 47: One with the Shield <ul type="square">[*] (A) Steadfast Protection - Resistance/+Def 3%[/list]Level 49: Against All Odds <ul type="square">[*] (A) Endurance Reduction IO[/list]------------
Level 1: Brawl <ul type="square">[*] (A) Empty[/list]Level 1: Sprint <ul type="square">[*] (A) Unbounded Leap - +Stealth[/list]Level 2: Rest <ul type="square">[*] (A) Empty[/list]Level 1: Critical Hit



<font class="small">Code:[/color]<hr /><pre>| Copy &amp; Paste this data into Mids' Hero Designer to view the build |
|-------------------------------------------------------------------|
|MxDz;1410;690;1380;HEX;|
|78DAA5935973124110C7872B843B24017271841873809BF0A 4C62A2D353146B39A1|
|22B0F9A845A61804D28A058CCE1931FC0271F8C96E6CDF323 587E13F59B78601F03|
|567C750BFEBFDD9EEE99EE9E19FD70D92FC4D32BC216BC5E3 32CAB902FB68C6653B|
|65CBA51318BC22D8418EFDA0ABAAC49A9E946AB6D1AB5C2D5 56DB4AF6C6966559D6|
|2DA9E5ABA6AC95BA9FE1B57A55B664BDAD755FBC1B8D464DC B37A52CF9E9F586D9A|
|E4BCBE28F756934CD7A25401FBA2C9945B32EC32B4DB3A85D 6B948E0ABA61B565EB|
|6804D29A83FF0BCC8F9E8E4B3C00CC086781B14338F790B1C 5D8267803001B4539C|
|479805308FB3FEC233A840F7C6DCAD7766A4C88FE5374083F F83AD8D7E558B3D152|
|2B8C5582FF26E31621BB09C8899750834BD5E07A6B4753F41 D61F23DE1CC07C2CC4|
|7C2FC27421AA2B8F88EDD9D1134C2C8315EC1A8474DEBE1D6 04B91903DC8C016EC6|
|20376A90DB1680127C6A5ADF1297975DE2F2728A53307340F 904BE5236C16F84E1E|
|F843E7008711F446896B2718329AC4CE1CBF01217FD601A62 937DE898E39F73F929|
|8A09C1221115138950AF5E434C4C1515DB25AF119351264C5 61855C2C21EE118A24|
|655D4A8458B8F3D66B40913FB8C0342E290F006A2C639CA39 BE4F13250E188784D4|
|11E309210AEE717550E29C6D6A989055C723A79800CF244F2 C9293141C8652D32AC|
|3F40F6AC25487211C849F7C147E317E134E60A26915355DA6 FD3B5B615419266166|
|97B1474842D4ACAA6BF6366538B7CED0197708F377093170C FA8DDCEF06E2FF06E2|
|FF06E0F42EE9ADA262D46AD0B8269916E4D472C728513CEDE 4D851F3C62DDD9BB85|
|706D68AA0DA7B280C9464EC9BF4EFFF57CF67797F7DCF382D E47D940D944D942D94|
|6D94131501EA114513A5F7AD1A10B98D0459425944B28CFD0 C98DD7C687E24709A0|
|0451422803284328519431941394CE1F2633F153|
|-------------------------------------------------------------------|</pre><hr />

[ QUOTE ]
Cool! I especially like tying in a character to Irish mythology since we actually have Tuatha De Dannan and so on in game.

Is it fair to say you're something of a mythology buff, Milady's Knight?

[/ QUOTE ]

Lol very fair. Virtue is my Egyptian server, Freedom my Nordic, and Justice is my Celtic. I don't do Roman or Greek since I always thought they were a bit over done when I was studying and perusing and CoX has gone overboard with them anyway.

Both work very well. The choice is really a playstyle preference.

/Rad has higher debuff values but they are mainly toggles. /Rad has a self heal.

/TA has lower debuff values but they are a little more end freindly, can be stacked with enough +rech, and they can't be detoggled if you are stunned/held/slept etc. which means that Audry, Creepers, and flaming oil continue to benefit from the debuffs even if you are temporarily incapacitated. You don't have a self heal but I never found one to be needed. Spirit Tree worked well enough that I never needed the medicine pool.

The back story for my Earth/TA Nerthus Matres came first.

The back story for my Plant/TA Becuille DeDannon ( Bé Chuille &amp; Dianann ) also came first.

My Fire/TA A shot in the light had character creation done first and back story done after.

My TA/A defender Lost Loon, that I didn't mention previously, is homage to a Native American Scout, Paper and Pencil game character, that my best friend ran in my game world for a good 3 years prior to him passing away. That back story even pre-dates CoH.

It's not all that hard to come up with. My Earth/TA is a primal huntress even based loosely in Germanic mythology. She's the patron hunter gatherer. Her Earth powers come from the growing plants/gathering side and she uses enchanted arrows to take prey alive.

My Plant/TA is one of the Tuatha De Dannon Druidesses. The arrows do special things because she was supposed to fool and delay the attacking Fir Bolg since their forces were so much larger. She does this by deceit with trick arrows and then bidding the plants to destroy her enemies.

My Fire/TA is all about gadgets. The primary is all created through machinery that is built into his super suit. He ran out of room in the suit because he's currently underwhelmed by the tech level. He was on the archery team in High School and College, he needed an accurate way to deliver a few more long range tricks since they wouldn't fit up his sleeves, so he combined his old hobby with his new avocation and the extra tricks are in his quiver since the sleeves are all ready packed full.

All of my rad stuff is going Ultra violet. Heals will be bright white. The Pink Poms of death are going to be blue. That's just to start.

[ QUOTE ]
I know it doesn't NEED a team, but you can't affect huge groups of enemies when you're solo.

[/ QUOTE ]

Try hazzard zones. That's where I take my Plant/TA/Fire when there isn't much teaming going on.

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Maybe I should have rephrased it. I'd rather die than wait for Devices to do its work.

The way I see /Dev used -and I know you use it differently- is generally like this:
Trip mine [4 seconds]
Caltrops [1 second]
Wait for Recharge [5 seconds; may include a second Caltrops]
Trip Mine [4 seconds]
Pull With Fireball [1 second]
Wait Around Corner For Badguys To Arrive [5 seconds? I dunno]

... 20 seconds for one spawn. I could be on the next spawn by then.

[/ QUOTE ]

I normally have a lot of respect for you and your efforts on guides and such, but "i'd rather die?" wtf?

[/ QUOTE ]

Fulmens, like most of us, just has some power blind spots. /Dev, Torrent + Explosive Blast, and soloing a defender are his 3 most prominent ones.

A Plant/TA/Fire doesn't need a team.

Fire/TA is also a very overlooked combination. Flash Arrow + Smoke + Ice/Stone epic shields allows the squishy controller to bounce most of the Alpha that occurs with that opening mez.

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
I have a couple merit/ticket "farmers" locked in at various levels. They all have a concept of some sort but since there is no way to specify the exact level of a random roll except have a character at that exact level I'm stuck "farming" because the options are worse than this "solution".

The devs seem to be trying to move away from forcing this type of "abberant play style" on the player base but since the choice is lock in at level 37 for random rolls at 25 merits a pop or spend ten times as much on a non-locked toon to get the desired level the choice seems pretty clear to me.

When the devs fix this problem those characters will be free to progress again.

[/ QUOTE ]
The devs probably consider your playstyle to be the abberant one.

[/ QUOTE ]

I'm not the only one that does this. I know several folks that do the same thing for the same reason. I build to exemp. That means I don't outfit all my toons only with level 50 IOs.

If it were possible to get recipes at a specified level rather than being locked into what ever level the toon is for Pool Cs (this is the only recipe class that operates in this way, Pool As drop at mob level and Pool B drop at exempted level) this would not be seen as needed.

The main reason that some folks do this is due to the dev decision on set bonuses and exemping. It's just one more of those situations that a dev decision causes an abberant playstyle because of the way things are set up to reward players. No different than badge farming and merits and tickets have compounded the problem since you can carry them over to a level other than the one you earned them at.

I have a couple merit/ticket "farmers" locked in at various levels. They all have a concept of some sort but since there is no way to specify the exact level of a random roll except have a character at that exact level I'm stuck "farming" because the options are worse than this "solution".

The devs seem to be trying to move away from forcing this type of "abberant play style" on the player base but since the choice is lock in at level 37 for random rolls at 25 merits a pop or spend ten times as much on a non-locked toon to get the desired level the choice seems pretty clear to me.

When the devs fix this problem those characters will be free to progress again.

Either one works but honestly Ice does everything that Psi does and does it much better.

Arch or ice would be a much better primary with either of those secondary/epics.

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
One thing that comes up in this forum fairly often is the disparity between red and blue side markets, and the idea of merging them into a single market to "fix" the villain supply problem. While this is a worthy goal, it's often shot down on the grounds that such a merge would be a more or less cataclysmic event, and people who have a lot of expensive things listed stand to lose, big time.

[/ QUOTE ]

Which TOTALLY didn't happen when MA was released.

Oh wait...




there's no valid argument against a merger that doesn't involve magic ponies or squishy nonsense like "It would ruin my RP fantasies!"

Anything less than full and equal access to the same market for both factions is a pointless half-measure that won't get my support.

[/ QUOTE ]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]

Force Fields beats cold up one side and down the other if you have a large number of non-mezprotected squishies on the team.

[/ QUOTE ]
Meh, when high amounts of +Def is involved mez protection is quite minor since they'll rarely hit anyway.

[ QUOTE ]
Cold like Thermal (controller/corruptor) is a combination buff/debuff set.

[/ QUOTE ]
Actually Thermal is Buff/Heal set with 2 debuffs being more of just minor fill-ins to the rest of the set. At it's core, Thermal is about the synergy between Healls and +Res and creating a more aggressive version of Empathy's buffs. The debuffs however overly minor in the grand design and experience of that set.

[ QUOTE ]
All that said I can't stand teaming with a Cold. I dislike both the graphics and the audio that Cold has.

[/ QUOTE ]
Some people find FF's over use of knockback powers absolutely annoying and its sounds as well.

[/ QUOTE ]

There are some non-sleep mezzes that have no positional component and 5% of all mezzes will still get through even hard capped defenses. On an 8 man team it's not uncommon to have 4 or more mezzers (especially in the case of rikti) in a single spawn. A finite number of mezzes will still get through capped defenses FF gives protection in this case where Cold does not.

The annoying parts of Knockback can be eliminated on FF by skill with the set or for those lacking in skill by omitting the KB powers from their selection.

I prefer a power set that does 1 thing very very well. I can always choose what else I wish to excell at by selecting a complimentary or balancing secondary. I don't really care for power sets that do 2 or more things average or less. That's one reason I like TA for controllers and don't much care for it for defenders and it's the reason I have problems with the way shield defense is set up.

If I'm going to make a defense based defender it's going to be FF. If I'm going to make an Offender its going to be a Storm/, Rad/, or Dark/ and it's going to be a /dark or /sonic.

I have 4 force fielders. 2 defenders, 2 controllers, 2 at 50 and 2 in the high 30s. I haven't been able to stand a Cold long enough to get one past 30 with out deleting and rerolling something else.

YMMV of course.

Force Fields beats cold up one side and down the other if you have a large number of non-mezprotected squishies on the team.

Force Fields is a pure buff set, Cold like Thermal (controller/corruptor) is a combination buff/debuff set. It really depends on what you need for the team which primary you prefer. I've teamed with quite a few more FF players than Colds though most teams only have a single defender if there are any at all.

All that said I can't stand teaming with a Cold. I dislike both the graphics and the audio that Cold has.

[ QUOTE ]
I've actually never noticed my defense go up when allies are close with Phalanx Fighting

[/ QUOTE ]

I've noticed..... on the 2 or 3 times total I've actually had an ally close enough. I monitor my defense with the combat attributes monitor. I never ever rely on anything but the base defense in PF and it never ever gets any additional slots. It gets a LotG +7.5 in base slot and thats all its worth.

[ QUOTE ]
Based on my own personal observations, they don't seem rare. That may be the company I keep though; usually the teams I'm on take some effort to make sure a Cold is included and is what I get requested to bring the most, if a Kin is already on a team, otherwise the Kin gets preference.

[/ QUOTE ]

For me it depends on which global channel and which server I happen to be on. I give folks a choice of several, (Forcefields, Empath, Trick Arrow, Rad). If they say healer/Empath for anything other than an STF I know that I'm going to be with a less experienced team. That's ok though I still need healing badges on some of them and I get more progress that way.