Miladys_Knight

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Stretching, Water-based sets, Electric Control. No more freaking fantasy based weapon sets. Pistols would be acceptable, but if we get another sword variant powerset I am just going to freak out.

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Except for a couple of weapon models there aren't any fanatasy based weapon sets in the game. No magic wands, no wizard staves, no +7 vs dragons anything, no mithril chain mail etc.

What there is in game is several Archaic weapon sets that actually were in consistant use as little as 200 years ago. Definately time honored themes.

Sure there is an unending stream of arrows that appear out of no where, but there is also an unending stream of bullets that magically appear out of the same nowhere.

Truth be told there aren't any "fantasy sets" in the game yet. It will be a nice expansion when they do come up with a "magic power set" rather than just costume pieces but honestly I doubt that will ever happen. So far the devs have been very good about adding things in for every origin.

Take shields for instance. There are elemental shields, Tech shields, Roman shields, Talsorian shields, Tribal shields, Riot shields, even a manhole cover.

I have yet to see a Dwarf crafted, +3 enchanted, mithril guilded with silver, shield and I doubt I will in CoX.

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With the new expansion, "Going Rouge", I believe a market merger is inevitable now.

Discuss.

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To early to tell. It depends on several factors.
[*]Is this create a hero in red side and vice versa? Kinda lame feature if this is the only option though it does give more content options to those who generally only play one side.
[*]Can an existing character switch sides? If so, does all their enhancements and inf go with them. Once there can they respec?
[*]Can a character switch sides multiple times taking their goods back and forth each time?
[*]Does it cost anything to switch? After all influence is for doing good deeds and infamy is for doing evil. Thematically it would make sense to strip all the influence/infamy you have away from you when you switch and each time you switch.

All of this could make for some interesting logistical problems.

With non-merged markets a villian could do the easier to get to content on red side, level up, switch sides, farm up some cash in the hazzard zone, hit the vibrant blue side market, IO out and switch back.

If you can switch with impunity there's absolutely no point in having separate markets though it does solve the "RP problem" of not buying goods from the other side because you become that side when you switch. Too many possibilities....

Another question not really relating to the market.
[*]Since a villian no longer has their patron if they turn good does that mean they can now access the appropriate Hero Epic powers? Will fallen from grace heros be able to pick up a patron on the other side of the fence and get access to villian PPPs?

Web grenade has standard accuracy just like all the blasts in the Energy primary. You will want to slot it with accuracy the same as your tier 1 and 2 primary since you can fire them while mezzed (Targetting drone is supressed while you are mezzed).

Taser's range is actually longer than it was a year or so ago. It used to be a melee attack (range 5).

As far as it's duration goes it's the same as all most all other stuns. As Frostweaver mentioned Castle just recently did some shredding of Energy Manipulation and Melee. He said that there are too many stuns in the game and it is too easy to stack them (both for teams and solo players). He also mentioned that the over abundance of stuns in the game is also one of the reasons that the duration of most stuns is shorter than that of most holds and he doesn't have any plans to change them any time soon. If he does it most likely won't be a buff.

I'm with Frostweaver. I definately feel that the interrupt durations should count toward defiance buffing for /Devices. The timer on time bomb is a bit much to hope for but there isn't any reason that interrupt time shouldn't be figured into the defiance buff. That would at least make up for the lack of build up in the set.

The other thing that's a problem is that psuedo pets copy the self buffs that you have on you at the time they are cast. TD's self buff ticks every .5 seconds and lasts .75 seconds and does not stack. IMO the way to improve TD's synergy with itself and all the primaries is to increase the tick duration. This would have several benficial effects.

If say TD tick duration was 10 seconds you could toe bomb and not have to worry about accuracy slotting. You would also benefit from TD's last pulse for 10 seconds after you were mezzed. Problem here of course is for Time Bomb to benefit the tick duration would have to be 24 seconds which is verging on the ridiculous.

I agree that the set needs a buff but at the same time I hope that any buff doesn't homogenize the set. Devices is unique in the realm of blaster secondaries. MM is also unique but functions well solo or teamed.

I feel the devs need to boost Devices in such a way that it is more team friendly, while not eliminating its usefulness when soloing, or it's uniqueness in either situation.

Light Control and Light Blast also. No reason that only the Legacy chain should have it.

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... [censored]

I need to finish IO'ing fast! Before another simple set of 3 IOs costs me 25mill Blessing of Zyphers: KB protection = NOT FUN! put a giant hole in my wallet...

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Bruise in your butt from KB or hole in your wallet. Decisions, decisions.....

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I still say Beginner's Luck for Endurance. Give it a cute name, like Wippersnapper, or Too Many Energy Drinks Last Night. One through twenty, you get this bonus, and it diminishes slightly every level. Or maybe every five levels...

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ADHD Adolescent.

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I have NEVER seen an Ice/Psi.

And the combo looks like it could work well... the huge -rech you could stack on baddies would be impressive. Also, /psi's aoe could make up for Ice's lack of aoe.

Also, both damage types are among the least resisted in the game.

I have a lvl 2 ice/psi blaster... some day I start developing him.

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Huh. I have one that is level 46 now (need to update my sig...). Created her the same time as a Psi/MM. One took off, the other is I think in the low teens. I think the combo works pretty well.

Admittedly she probably hasn't been seen very often - I haven't teamed with her in many, many levels.

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I have a 20ish Ice/MM specced as a Posi runner. Works extremely well for both Posi and Synapse TFs.

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psi/dev

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hehe, I'm imagining a toon that is a blend of Psyche and Macgyver

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Sister MacGyver?

Psi/Fire, and you're right. Compared to any other blaster, it sucks.

Power Boost!

The reason that it was removed is because KB was too binary in PvP. Now that PvE and PvP can follow different rules and are esentially different games how about putting the KB back into Power Boost for PvE?

Restore the only real synergy that an Energy/Energy Blaster ever had with that pairing?

Would more gift baskets help the cause?

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And what weakness do these classes really have? A scrapper? A tank? A brute?

The scenario you're describing enables other ATs, particularly the defender, to solo.

I don't see this as a problem. I see it as a strength, not that I have seen the MA used in this manner. When I have seen allies used it has been as an assist against an EB/AV, not to fill in the weakness of a squishy AT on a player's own arc, although I'm sure it could be used as such.

As for the MA store it is past time that this option was available. When game balance overrides fun (in this case of arcane enemies, squishies, and mez protection) there needs to be a redesign of gameplay or the rewards system, or even better, both. If people en mass avoid a certain thing in the game... that means there's a problem with it. Personally I find Freakshow boring but I don't take my solo defender up against Circle of Thorns either because that's just masochistic.

MA Rewards: I enthusiastically welcome the alternative to being a slave to our market overlords.

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I see it as a problem. It's taking me, as a player, down a road that I don't wish to travel. Some of this games greatest strengths and unique features are teaming to do story driven content and the sidekick/exemplar feature. Both of which have been all but neutered inside MA. (Yes, neutered. 95% of what's posted in the MA at this very moment is dreck and farm arcs. In most cases it's not even worth the time it takes to find story driven content in the MA and assembling a team to do it once you find it is nigh impossible.)

Whether you like it or not there are people that play this game to fill a team support role and play defenders to do just that. Every issue the defender's uniqueness and role gets smaller and smaller and you are here telling me that woohoo the toon I created explicitly to team is now capable of soloing by exploiting MA content and I'm supposed to be thrilled by this? I'm not.

The MA as a store is not good. Anything that nullifies existing content is not good.

This is the very reason that the devs are so hesitant to change core functions of powers and the reason that epic pools had powers added in the 11th hour rather than replaced.

The MA as a store changes one of the core functions of inventions. They are now so easy to get and craft that all characters can solo and we are back where we were pre-ED and pre-GDN. Support characters with out roles to fill and everyone capable of soloing content.

The market is almost an entire issue of content that has all but been rendered obsolete. I see that as a waste of dev time.

As far as market overlords go.... pfft anyone with an ounce of patience and 4th grade math and problem solving abilities could get any thing they wanted from the market or make a profit if that was the goal. (My 10 year old grand daughter was able to, I don't see why anyone else ever had a problem.)

Be that as it may, I won't be replying in this thread again as this is a Feedback Thread and not a discussion thread.

I've said my piece, I'm not alone in my views, and my daughter, son-in-law (who had been playing since beta) and grand kids have suspended their accounts and moved on to other games.

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The people screaming "nerf MA rewards" are overlooking the implied intentions beyond that of encouraging use of the MA system and allowing players to aquire things they can use for their characters: Making the market viable again.

I say: Do not nerf MA rewards. MA rewards are not the problem.

The problem is the ease of creating unbalanced farms. That is what needs to be addressed. I've said it before, I'll say it again. Fix the farms. Remove the exploits that allow players to create those unbalanced maps. The developers know what they are. The exploiters know what they are. And the farmers use those maps because they give the best rewards.

Rewards for playing real MA content are in line with what they should be. This is why rewards should not be nerfed across the board. To do so will kill MA and punish the players using the system as intended.

Farming will continue, but it should not be aided and abetted with a nod and a wink as it is being done now.

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I'll start my subjective post by quoting this and pointing out that this is not strictly true.

I'll also add that I am not screaming "nerf MA rewards" I'm pointing out that MA rewards are totally unbalanced when compared to non-MA rewards and that they need to be rebalanced to make either type content "worth the time it takes" or so that the reward strengths in one content are balanced out by reward weakneses in the other type of content making a mix of content the ideal way to play. (Variety is one of the strongest features that this game has always had. This is no longer the case in regards to rewards for playing pre-existing content.) New content should not be a replacement for older content (story arcs, task forces, and yes even the market) but should instead be a compliment to it with similar (or at least comensurate) rewards for all play styles. Which is exactly what was done with PvP IO rewards.

Yes, I admit that I do use the market and I enjoy using the market but "reviving" the market is not my intention with my suggestions. Up to issue 13 every thing the devs had done including all the nerfs/buffs that many despise and other chortle with glee and clap their hands about were all very carefully crafted to maintain a, however shaky, balance.

The MA and issue 14 has thrown all that out the window. MA rewards are not at all balanced with non-MA rewards and not just for the reasons that I listed above. I feel very much as if I am a contestant on Let's Make a Deal with Monty Hall and that the devs no longer are concerned with reward balance and are giving away the store.

For salvage the MA is a store. You are simply redeeming tickets rather than influence to buy exactly what you want with out heed to any rarity structure or the "risk involved" taking your character up against a MoB type that you may be weak against to get salvage that you want.

As an example, many people dislike fighting "arcane" enemy groups which in regular content drop what was harder to come by salvage. The main reason was that many arch types had a harder time fighting the arcane foes and they were glossed over in favor of Tech foes such as Freakshow, Family, and Sky Raiders. MA content allows you to fight the easier Tech foes and redeem the tickets for arcane rewards. Trivializing the difference that was carefully maintained all the way from I9 (I5 if you are taking base salvage into account) to now.

As another example, a Forcefield/Sonic Resonance using "squishy" character gets mez protection except against sleep. Most dev content features at least 1 mob type that uses sleep in their power sets. A Forcefield/Sonic Resonance user can find/create an arc that has no sleep using foes in it and play with impunity having totally negated the one true weakness the set has simply by omitting sleep using opponents. This can occur either by design with intent to exploit this "feature" or by accident by a player creating MA content who has little experience or concern with play balance.

Why is this bad? Prior to I14 the devs did every thing in their power to maintain the "weakness" that was incorporated into every AT by design even to the point of not creating any IOs that provide mez protection and only adding a trivial amount of mez resistance.

On top of the above the MA designer can easily add buffing "allies" to their missions eliminating the need (and marginalizing players that prefer the support role) for buffing classes in these missions. Blasters, Scrappers, and Controllers become power houses that chew through extreme content with out any risk, reaping far greater rewards, far faster than other ATs, because their weaknesses have been negated, by either forethought or negligence, through trivial means.

Objective Feedback:

Experience rewards are too high in the MA. I don't mean just the exploitive farm maps. There are a few reasons that this is the case.

1) No travel time required. Even with radio missions (the fastest and easiest content prior to MA) part of the time you spent was travel. It could take you 30 seconds to a minute to travel to the next mission door and 5 minutes (or less) to run the mission. The MA is a measureable increase in experience/time.

2) Auto side kicking feature of the MA. This feature just allows people to self power level massively increasing XP/time. Even on a non-exploitive map/arc you can go from level 4 or 6 (where ever you get your first AoE) to level 20+ in 30 minutes to an hour even when solo.

3) Mob types that exist only in the 42-42 range. 'Nough said here. These should be disallowed from the MA. Almost all, if not all, exist in other places with wider level ranges. This allows number 2 above to have an even greater impact.

Ticket rewards are not in line with non-MA rewards.

1) The ability to choose Rare and Uncommon salvage with tickets makes these salvages neither rare nor uncommon, they simply cost more tickets. This trivializes the strict rarity divisions "baked into" non-MA content. In an hour of heavy AoE use in a hazard zone you can expect to get 1 or 2 pieces of rare salvage and the salvage you get is 1 of 6 possible (12 possible in the case of mobs that drop both tech and arcane) at best getting the rare salvage you want from normal content takes an average of 3-6 hours. The only control that you have over this in non-MA content is whether you are fighting arcane dropping only, tech dropping only, or mixed. Non-exploitive MA content allows you to purchase the exact piece of "rare" salvage you want in approximately 10 minutes of play. Exploitive MA content allows you to purchase 10 pieces (or more) of "rare" salvage in as little as 10-20 minutes.

2) Salvage purchases should come in the same ratio as they are awarded in non-MA content. The Common:Uncommon:Rare ratio is 22:5:1. MA salvage rolls should be brought into line with non-MA salvage drops.

a) Purchase a single roll for X tickets that has a 1:28 chance of being a rare, a 5:28 chance of being uncommon, and a 22:28 chance of being common. The only thing that you should be able to specify is tech, arcane, or mixed.

b) Purchase a "package salvage roll" you should get a package of 1 rare, 5 uncommons, and 22 commons for a lump sum of "X tickets". The only thing that you should be able to specify is tech, arcane, or mixed.

The same is true of recipes. The non-MA Pool A Common:Uncommon:Rare ratio is: 32:8:1

1) Common recipes are purchaseable from the invention tables. Common recipes should remain purchaseable with tickets as they are now.

2) Common recipes should be included in the Bronze and Silver roll tables. Ratios and costs should be adjusted accordingly to bring MA recipe awards in line with non-MA recipe award ratios.

3) The easiest Non-exploitive MA missions have the potential to be easier than radio/safeguard missions, the exploitive ones are much easier than radio/safeguard missions. Radio/safeguard missions do not award merits that allow you to roll for Pool C/D recipes because they are "too easy" to justify this level of award. Following this same line of reasoning, MA tickets should not have the Gold recipe roll option.

Tier blurring. This was a problem that was noted with the introduction of merits for pool C/D recipes. Merits that were earned while a character was in tier 1 range could be saved and spent in a later tier vastly decreasing the available tier 1 Pool C/D recipes, this also held true with tier 2 though was not as significant.

MA ticket awards makes tier blurring even more pronounced. It is quite easy to carry over every single ticket earned while in the tier 1 range to tier 2 rewards (the reverse however, was never a problem due to exemplaring and especially after the introduction of flashback) which causes a shortage of all non-common recipes except at the top level that any particular recipe exists.

A partial solution would be to have MA tickets drop in 3 tiers. As an example:

1) Tier 1 tickets would be earned only while at tier 1 levels and could only be spent on tier 1 rolls that would never exceed tier 1 level ranges no matter when the tickets were spent.

2) Tier 2 tickets would be earned only while at tier 2 levels and could only be spent on tier 1 or 2 rolls but would never exceed tier 2 level ranges no matter when the tickets were spent.

3) Tier 3 tickets would be earned when the character is in the tier 3 range and can be spent on rolls in any of the 3 tiers the same as current.

Plant/TA is better for casual solo than plant storm. Plant/TA is a little more endurance friendly and is a little less chaotic allowing you to get more out of seeds of confusion.

As far as standard spawns being wasteful on endurance the easiest thing to do is bump up to tenacious as soon as you have seeds of confusion. Typical spawn then is 1 lieutenant and 4 minions or 2 minions and 2 lieutenants, with the occasional 6 minion spawn, and the occasional 3 lieutenant spawn. As long as you have at least 3 targets the end cost is justafiable. On tenacious that will be all most all of the time. On heroic it will only be about a third of the time.

A controllerish blaster is also a very easy way to roll and may be your best option. Then you can both solo at speed and if time permits you to team you can do that well also. My favorite pairings for that are Sonic/Ice/Fire, Ice/Ice/Ice, and Ice/MM/Force. The Sonic/Ice/Fire can solo safely, easily, and effectively with out taking the speed pool or fitness. Though taking those allow you to do what the blaster is designed to do, kill things quickly.

If the time it takes you to finish a spawn is not a consideration you can also solo quite well and safely with an Arch/Dev/Munitions if you like to play a stealthy character and don't mind the extra time it takes to set up mines and bombs.

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Well that does bring up another question. If you are hovering why are you even taking hot feet at all? Hot Feet only works when you are on the ground.

Hot Feet - While active, you heat the earth in a large area around yourself. Enemy movement is Slowed as they attempt to flee the immediate area. All foes in the affected area suffer some damage over time. You cannot fly and must be near the ground to use this power.

Paragon wiki - Fire control

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Not sure if this bit of misinformation has been addressed earlier. If not:


Wiki and the power's text are wrong (or at least deceptive) and have been since the beginning. Hot Feet works perfectly well while airborne. You can only activate it while grounded, but once it's active, it's active and it works just fine as both my level 50 hovering Fire Controllers can happily demonstrate.

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It is indeed. I tested it after posting (none of my fire trollers ever took flight, I have a jumper, a teleporter, and a speeder) using a jet pack. You can't toggle it on while flying but it works fine if you toggle it on and then fly.

I wonder if that is unintended but is not repairable. For instance rooted prevents you from being affected by group fly and if you are group flying you can't turn rooted on (though you should be able to and then drop like, well a stone.)

You know Pippy, I was thinking about this today amidst all of the X spots left for AE farm team broadcasts and it suddenly dawned upon me that the devs HAVE given us unlimited health and endurance just now in I14.

All it costs is a tad of debt (nothing prior to level 10) that is elliminated after killing a mob or 2. Just play in the AE from 1-20. The hospital is right next to the mission entrance no matter what kind of mission you are running.

Just play till you run out of health and end, click the go to hospital button, Poof full bars, and back in the mission without the tedious wait for rest to recharge.

You are back in the mission and right back to the spot you died in taking it back to the baddies usually in less time than it would have taken you to use rest let alone wait for it to recharge.

Wipe out a couple minions, debt is gone, repeat until Stamina.

Problem solved, thanks devs

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Taking Hot Feet any earlier would open up other problems. The earliest it is available is at 8. At that point I need to take Hover (unless I put off Combat Jumping, which I won't since I will not go without immobilize protection for that long.)

If she was a super jumper instead of a flyer, then yeah, I could take Hot Feet earlier.

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Well that does bring up another question. If you are hovering why are you even taking hot feet at all? Hot Feet only works when you are on the ground.

Hot Feet - While active, you heat the earth in a large area around yourself. Enemy movement is Slowed as they attempt to flee the immediate area. All foes in the affected area suffer some damage over time. You cannot fly and must be near the ground to use this power.

Paragon wiki - Fire control

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If you really want to experience low level endurance frustrations, try running a Fire/Kin Controller that is not Tech Origin (meaning the ability to slot Yin Talisman Endurance Reduction SOs starting at level 10).

My FIre/Kin is Magic Origin and she has been sitting at 15 for the past couple months. Even with an endurance reduction enhancement in each of her powers, she still runs out of endurance nearly every fight or every other fight.

I'm surprised anyone has ever managed to get a Fire/Kin up high enough to actually be viable without giving up in frustration due to endurance usage.

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Do you run Hot Feet all the time?

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She isn't getting Hot Feet until 26. Here is her build so far:

01 => Transfusion - ACC/HEAL(2)
01 => Char - ACC(1)/HOLD(3)/END-R
02 => Fire Cages - ACC(1)/END-R(2)
04 => Siphon Power - ACC/END-R
06 => Combat Jumping - Karma -KB Protection
08 => Hover - Winter's Gift Slow Resistance
10 => Siphon Speed - ACC(1)/RCH(3)
12 => Flashfire - ACC(1)/RCH(1)
14 => Fly - Flight Speed(2)

Okay. So one attack doesn't have an endurance reduction yet (been a while since I had looked at her build at the time I posted previously). But then again, that one has such a long recharge, endurance reduction is not too big an issue.

Also, with the exception of the accuracies and one flight enhancement, everything is DOs. The Accuracies are Yin SOs and one Flight Speed is an IO. I'm just not sure what else I could do to manage her endurance any more than I already have.

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Not getting hot feet early could very well be your problem. It's the best DPE available at low level and it's radius is quite nice too.

I had the very same problems until I picked up hot feet early.

Flash fire to stun the spawn, Cages to keep them in place, move into Hot Feet range, Char and Ring of Fire on targets missed by Cages, season with vet attacks. A fight done that way uses up about 1/3 of an end bar and I usually don't have to apply cages more than once per spawn.

As far as time bomb goes, no it doesn't suppress stealth, nor does it aggro mobs until it detonates. Trip mine is the same way but it detonates immediately if there is something in the trigger range. Doing this is what some players refer to as toe bombing.

This build actually looks quite a bit better. Those last 3 slots... adding them to your tier 1 and 2 primary wouldn't hurt at all. You might also want to look at some of the uncommon set pieces for "franken slotting" while leveling but before going for set bonuses. Many of them can be had quite cheaply.

One or 2 reccomendations that I would make in regards to that would be caltrops. 3 slots in this power with a Curtail Speed end/slow/rech a Tempered Readiness end/slow/rech and a common rech. This will let you have 2 patches out at once or, at the speed you should be defeating things, allow you to use it every spawn without slowing down.

Same thing with Fistfull of Arrows.

The following can be done quite cheaply and adds to your performance without altering your build much at all.

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

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

Level 50 Technology Blaster
Primary Power Set: Archery
Secondary Power Set: Devices
Power Pool: Flight
Power Pool: Fitness
Power Pool: Speed
Ancillary Pool: Munitions Mastery

Hero Profile:
Level 1: Aimed Shot -- Acc-I(A), Dmg-I(3), Dmg-I(3), RechRdx-I(5), RechRdx-I(46)
Level 1: Web Grenade -- Acc-I(A)
Level 2: Snap Shot -- Acc-I(A), Dmg-I(5), Dmg-I(7), RechRdx-I(46)
Level 4: Fistful of Arrows -- Det'tn-Acc/Dmg(A), Det'tn-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(7), Det'tn-Dmg/Rng(9), Det'tn-Dmg/EndRdx/Rng(9), AirB'st-Dmg/Rng(11), Posi-Dmg/Rng(11)
Level 6: Blazing Arrow -- Acc-I(A), Dmg-I(13), Dmg-I(13), EndRdx-I(15), RechRdx-I(15), RechRdx-I(17)
Level 8: Hover -- Flight-I(A), Flight-I(17), EndRdx-I(19)
Level 10: Caltrops -- CtlSpd-EndRdx/Rchg/Slow(A), TmpRdns-EndRdx/Rchg/Slow(19), RechRdx-I(46)
Level 12: Explosive Arrow -- Acc-I(A), Dmg-I(21), Dmg-I(21), EndRdx-I(23), RechRdx-I(23), RechRdx-I(25)
Level 14: Fly -- Flight-I(A), Flight-I(25)
Level 16: Swift -- Flight-I(A)
Level 18: Health -- Heal-I(A), Heal-I(27)
Level 20: Stamina -- EndMod-I(A), EndMod-I(27), EndMod-I(29)
Level 22: Targeting Drone -- ToHit-I(A), EndRdx-I(29)
Level 24: Aim -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(31), RechRdx-I(31)
Level 26: Cloaking Device -- DefBuff-I(A), EndRdx-I(31), EndRdx-I(33)
Level 28: Trip Mine -- Acc-I(A), Dmg-I(33), Dmg-I(33), EndRdx-I(34), RechRdx-I(34), RechRdx-I(34)
Level 30: Stunning Shot -- Acc-I(A), Dsrnt-I(36), RechRdx-I(36)
Level 32: Rain of Arrows -- Acc-I(A), Dmg-I(36), Dmg-I(37), EndRdx-I(37), RechRdx-I(37), RechRdx-I(39)
Level 35: Time Bomb -- Acc-I(A), Dmg-I(39), Dmg-I(39), EndRdx-I(40), RechRdx-I(40), RechRdx-I(40)
Level 38: Gun Drone -- Acc-I(A), Dmg-I(42), EndRdx-I(42), EndRdx-I(42), RechRdx-I(43), RechRdx-I(43)
Level 41: Body Armor -- ResDam-I(A), ResDam-I(43)
Level 44: Surveillance -- Acc-I(A), DefDeb-I(45), DefDeb-I(45), RechRdx-I(45)
Level 47: LRM Rocket -- Acc-I(A), Dmg-I(48), Dmg-I(48), EndRdx-I(48), RechRdx-I(50)
Level 49: Hasten -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(50), RechRdx-I(50)
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Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Sprint -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Rest -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Defiance



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Except for Fistfull all of Archery's attacks are range 80. You don't really need the extra range in any of the single target blasts.

You aren't really gaining much from that last Flight IO in Fly or Hover. You would be better off moving those slots somewhere else and slapping a Flight IO in Swift.

Targetting drone doesn't need the extra to hit IO in it either. Archery's secondary effect is accuracy and it's a weapon set so it gets a bit more. You can also afford to put off Targettting Drone until after Stamina due to archery's inherent accuracy and beginners luck.

Fistfull of Arrows should come much earlier in your build. It's cheaper than Blazing arrow to cast and it's your first AoE. It does need range enhancers if you are going to hover blast and adding range will widen the cone at it's base.

Rain of Arrows and Gun Drone both need accuracy slotting. They are both psuedo pet powers and don't benefit from Targetting Drone. Since RoA is a pseudo pet power it has standard accuracy instead of the higher base accuracy that all the other Archery primary powers get. You can get away with RoA as is provided you only use Rain of Arrows after using Aim.

Gun Drone will kill you with it's end costs. 39 endurance is almost 1/2 your blue bar. If you aren't going to fully slot it you might want to consider replacing it with a power that you would get more benefit from such as:
[*]Super Speed (combined with Cloaking Device this will give you PvE invisibility and allow you to plant Time Bomb with out being detected while in the middle of a group)[*]Taser (this combined with Stunning Shot gives you a tool to handle bosses)[*]Assault (moar damage!).

Slotting Aim with to hit buff is, quite frankly, overkill with Targetting Drone. 2 or 3 recharge are enough here.

Damage enhancements are pretty much a waste in caltrops. If you are doing what blasters are supposed to do (making stuff dead) the damage over time total you are looking at is going to be wasted. The mobs will be gone but caltrops will still be sitting there for another 30 seconds.

Unless you are planning on pumping up your defense (Devices can do this fairly well with Cloaking Device, Combat Jumping, and Hover combined with some IO set bonuses) the Defense IO is not needed. End red would be a good choice.

LRM is fun and on tough spawns, with careful Caltrop use, you can hit them with both LRM and Rain of Arrows.

You will also be killing yourself on endurance since you haven't slotted any endurance reduction in your high end cost attack powers. (As an example the KB IO you have slotted in Explosive Arrow might give more benefit if it were replaced with an end red IO.)

I agree with your point here and I want to approach it a bit differently.

The view point of a brand New CoX player. You don't know anyone so getting inf assistance is unlikely. You don't have a super group. You have no clue how to use the market much less gain inf rather than lose inf through it. You may not have (or want at least until you can run the basic controls well enough not to look like a total n00b) a team and your first impression of the game is the make it break it of whether you enjoy it enough to continue playing past the trial.

When you are a brand new player running out of end continually may be the make it or break it of whether you want to switch from trial to paying.

If you use the inf you get to continually up date your TOs (which makes sense if you read any of the tutorial information) you won't have enough at level 12 to buy more than 1 or 2 DOs.

Even on Heroic about 1/3 of spawns in missions are +1 critters. You can use an entire end bar (not to mention health bar) trying to defeat a single +1 lieutenant and you can spend that end in less than 1/3 of the recharge time of rest.

Keeping all that in mind I would suggest.....

1) Cuting the recharge time on rest by 50-75%. I have to rest every other to every third spawn with a non-twinked toon prior to DOs. I generally only slot what TOs drop and I sell all my salvage drops at the market at inflated prices to be able to afford a complete set of DOs at level 12.

2) Tweak (weigh) the TOs that drop. Yes I know that they are all ready weighted but even as it is it's not weighted even close to the reality of what you need. I can't remember a time ever on any alt (I have many) that I ever was able to have an unexpired acc and/or an unexpired end red in every power that I had from slotting drops but that after a couple of missions I have an entire tray full of stuns, ranges, defense debuffs, to hit debuffs, to hit buffs, etc. At this level it is a total waste to slot for anything but the basics. More priority on the RNG dropping acc and end red might even steer the newb in the right direction for slotting powers.

3) Adjust the costs of TOs and DOs. In this day of inventions is it really over powered for a newbie to be able to have unexpired TOs in each and every slot? Is it even over powered to allow them to be able to afford a full set of DOs at level 12 or 13? I don't think so. I'd cut the cost of TOs by 90% and DOs by 50%. If you slot carefully in the early levels you still should have enough influence to slot a complete (or nearly complete) set of SOs at 22 the same as any veteran player that can use the market or transfer influence from an alt. Do we really want to put the new player off? Not being able to fill a slot with an enhancement takes much of the excitement out of getting new slots as you level.

I wish you weren't going but I wish you well in new place/position.

Hope you got a corner window office and a mountain of extra cash.

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i'm pondering trying out an assault rifle/devices blaster,

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don't do it.

AR is an OK primary, but everything on earth resists smashing/lethal damage. Flamethrower and Beanbag are great, M90 grenade & ignite are crummy, everything else is 'eh'.

And devices is hands down the worst secondary.
It used to be pretty good, but the game has changed and /devices hasn't.

power by power:

Web Grenade
the usual 'throwaway' power, no better or worse than any other secondary.

Caltrops
a great power, useful solo or in groups.

Taser
beanbag without range- skippable for any ar/dev

Targeting Drone
the changed to toggles and addition of set IOs make this better than it used to be. Still sort of redundant- beyond the early levels, hitting people isn't really a problem.

Smoke Grenade
the definition of 'skippable power'.
If you really like stealth save up for an IO and save the power choice.

Cloaking Device
see 'Smoke Grenade'

Trip Mine
useless on teams- nobody is going to sit around while you spend ten minutes setting up your mine field.
Useful solo if you don't mind the set-up time, but still situational.
And 'situational' is just a polite way of saying 'skippable'.

Time Bomb
Absolute junk.
All the down sides of trip mines, but it never hits anything.
You'll hate yourself for taking this power.

Auto Turret
Used to be a complete waste of a power. But they made it mobile, which would improve it about 10000%.
Haven't played with it so I don't know how 'good' it is, but it sounds decent.

Of course the biggest flaw with Devices is one of omission- no build up. For an AT who's whole rational is dealing damage this is unforgivable.
Pre ED the ability to six-slot for damage and let your drone take care of accuracy made up for it, but not any more.

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Have you played /device?
SG + CD > Stealth IO
Somewhere in the range of 10 - 100x better. A much much bigger difference in the ability to stealth , not to mention the combination of Defense and -Acc.

Webgrenade smokes the other forced (tier1) secondaries. -50% stackable recharge? Ever fought an AV?
That's true about trip mine. Taser is debatable. I don't agree with the rest.

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The Goat pretty much has it nailed. If what you are looking for is safety while soloing and you don't care about taking a little extra time to get it then devices is a pretty strong contender.

Trip mine is device's build up. You can stack lots of them and do a crap ton of damage all at once. Problem is it will take you a few minutes to do so.

The double boom from Time Bomb + Aim and the tier 9 primary is nice but it's not much more damage than any other Aim+BU+tier 9, plus it takes longer to pull off and takes both your tier 9 primary, your tier 8 secondary, and the associated slots to do so.

A stealth IO in Super speed is just as good in PvE as Smoke Grenade + Cloaking device. Depending on how you want to use it it's better. Stealth IO + SS gives you PvE invisibility more is a waste. Invis in this way costs you one power, it's base slot, and costs you .46 end per second.

Smoke grenade + CD costs .39 end per second (spreading the end cost for SG over 60 seconds) and you can miss some of the mobs with SG if they are out of the AoE. It also costs you 2 power picks instead of 1.

The only extra benefit from the SG + CD combo is 1.75% defense buff and a 4.9% to hit debuff that requires an accuracy check. Granted that perception debuff and to hit debuff is multiplied in a team setting but /Devices isn't a team friendly set.

To fix the set:

Targeting Drone should function like a toggle version of Surveillance.

Trip mine should have it's cast time reduced to 1 second (the recharge is fine where it's at). That won't change it much for soloing but would make it useful for toe bombing on teams. A short range like taser would be a nice perq but would hardly be needed.

Time bomb needs it's cast time reduced to one second and the timer portion reduced to 4 seconds for a total of 5 seconds. Again it's not much difference solo but would reduce total time to use it on teams to 5 seconds making it only slightly more onerous to use on a team than Full Auto or Rain of Arrows.

Gun Drone same deal. It needs a cast time of 1 second (just like the Malta version). This wouldn't really make it any better solo but would make it much more useful on teams which is where /Devices really needs help.

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It depends on what you consider painful.

/Devices is excellent both for safety and utility while solo. The trade off is it takes a little longer.

So if your idea of winning is an ADHD + Scrapperlock play style with arriving at level 50 in 2 weeks with all the debt badges then yeah /Devices is painful.

If your idea of winning is precision + skill and arriving at 50 with no debt badges, while enjoying the content on the way, then /Devices is golden.

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If I wanted to get to 50 slowly, with no debt badges, I'd solo a tanker.

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It's not THAT slow. I figure compared to my fire/fire that it took about the same amount of time to level. The extra time I spent setting up traps or toe bombing was about the same amount of average time that I spent returning to the mission from the hospital after a defeat.

Farming DA with my Arch/Dev it averaged over the career to 35 minutes to fill up the salvage bag. My Fire/EM averages 30 minutes and my Fire/Fire averages 28 minutes. The key with devices is knowing how much damage from the secondary it takes to defeat the spawn in front of you and not wasting a bunch of time being over catious.

Sure a stack of 4 trip mines will blow up an entire spawn, boss included, if you can make sure that you get them all to that spot at the same time.

You can do the same thing with 1 maybe 2 trip mines (depending on the mob's damage resistance and whether you get a critical mine detonation) and your AoEs.

It depends on what you consider painful.

/Devices is excellent both for safety and utility while solo. The trade off is it takes a little longer.

So if your idea of winning is an ADHD + Scrapperlock play style with arriving at level 50 in 2 weeks with all the debt badges then yeah /Devices is painful.

If your idea of winning is precision + skill and arriving at 50 with no debt badges, while enjoying the content on the way, then /Devices is golden.