Nihilii

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
My only RSF was done without temps, on a PuG where only two folks had done it before. We didn't have any radiation corr, stone brute or mind dom. We had several people under level 50.

Claiming the RSF is some kind of uber hard challenge only IOed out teams with nukes can accomplish might work in the general discussion forum, but here, we're in the scrapper boards.

[/ QUOTE ]

how many times did you wipe on the freedom phalanx as you attempted to split the spawn?

i do NOT consider wiping-on-purpose to split the spawns and get numina and positron down first a valid strategy. yes it works. it's also stupid as all hell.

[/ QUOTE ]

... Did you already forgot how the last time you made random wrong assumptions about me ended ? I'll give you a hint, it was on the tanker forum. I'll give you another hint, it's not me who ended up looking silly.

So : "Splitting the spawn ?" What for ?

Here's my quick (failed) attempt :

Hero Plan by Mids' Hero Designer 1,401
http://www.cohplanner.com/

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

Level 50 Magic Tanker
Primary Power Set: Dark Armor
Secondary Power Set: Super Strength
Power Pool: Leaping
Power Pool: Fitness
Power Pool: Fighting
Power Pool: Speed
Ancillary Pool: Energy Mastery

Hero Profile:
Level 1: Dark Embrace -- Aegis-ResDam(A), Aegis-ResDam/EndRdx(3), Aegis-ResDam/Rchg(3), S'fstPrt-ResDam/Def+(5)
Level 1: Jab -- T'Death-Dmg/Rchg(A), T'Death-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(9), T'Death-Dmg/EndRdx(17), T'Death-Acc/Dmg(19), T'Death-Dam%(19), T'Death-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(46)
Level 2: Murky Cloud -- Aegis-ResDam(A), Aegis-ResDam/EndRdx(5), Aegis-ResDam/Rchg(7), Empty(48)
Level 4: Death Shroud -- Oblit-Dmg(A), Oblit-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(21), Oblit-%Dam(21), Oblit-Acc/Rchg(34), Oblit-Dmg/Rchg(36), Oblit-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(46)
Level 6: Obsidian Shield -- Aegis-ResDam(A), Aegis-ResDam/EndRdx(7), Aegis-ResDam/Rchg(9)
Level 8: Dark Regeneration -- HO:Golgi(A), Dct'dW-Heal/EndRdx/Rchg(37), Nictus-Acc/Heal(37), Nictus-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg(37), Nictus-Acc/EndRdx/Heal/HP/Regen(40), Theft-+End%(42)
Level 10: Combat Jumping -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A), LkGmblr-Def(11), LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx(11), Zephyr-Travel(15), Zephyr-Travel/EndRdx(15), Zephyr-ResKB(17)
Level 12: Cloak of Darkness -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A), LkGmblr-Def(13), LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx(13)
Level 14: Super Jump -- Zephyr-Travel(A), Zephyr-Travel/EndRdx(45), Zephyr-ResKB(45)
Level 16: Hurdle -- Jump-I(A)
Level 18: Health -- Mrcl-Rcvry+(A), Numna-Regen/Rcvry+(43)
Level 20: Stamina -- P'Shift-EndMod/Acc(A), P'Shift-EndMod(42), P'Shift-EndMod/Rchg(43), P'Shift-End%(43)
Level 22: Knockout Blow -- Mako-Acc/Dmg(A), Mako-Dmg/EndRdx(23), Mako-Dmg/Rchg(23), Mako-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(25), Mako-Dam%(25), Mako-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg(27)
Level 24: Haymaker -- T'Death-Acc/Dmg(A), T'Death-Dmg/EndRdx(27), T'Death-Dmg/Rchg(33), T'Death-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(34), T'Death-Dam%(34), T'Death-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(46)
Level 26: Oppressive Gloom -- Dsrnt-I(A)
Level 28: Rage -- GSFC-ToHit(A), GSFC-ToHit/Rchg(29), GSFC-ToHit/Rchg/EndRdx(29), GSFC-Rchg/EndRdx(31), GSFC-Build%(31), GSFC-ToHit/EndRdx(31)
Level 30: Boxing -- KntkC'bat-Acc/Dmg(A), KntkC'bat-Dmg/EndRdx(50), KntkC'bat-Dmg/Rchg(50), KntkC'bat-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(50)
Level 32: Tough -- Aegis-ResDam(A), Aegis-ResDam/EndRdx(33), Aegis-ResDam/Rchg(33)
Level 35: Weave -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A), LkGmblr-Def(36), LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx(36)
Level 38: Foot Stomp -- Oblit-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(A), Oblit-Dmg(39), Oblit-%Dam(39), Oblit-Acc/Rchg(39), Oblit-Dmg/Rchg(40), Oblit-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(40)
Level 41: Conserve Power -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(42)
Level 44: Hasten -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(45)
Level 47: Super Speed -- Zephyr-Travel(A), Zephyr-Travel/EndRdx(48), Zephyr-ResKB(48)
Level 49: Taunt -- Empty(A)
------------
Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Sprint -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Rest -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Gauntlet



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44.6% melee, 40.9% ranged, 43.4% AoE.
Recovers 1,58 end per second with toggles running, plus the performance shifter proc and conserve power. It wouldn't be enough for a long, solo AV fight, but it would do for normal gameplay.

(Assume the PVP IO is in Murky Cloud)

My only RSF was done without temps, on a PuG where only two folks had done it before. We didn't have any radiation corr, stone brute or mind dom. We had several people under level 50.

Claiming the RSF is some kind of uber hard challenge only IOed out teams with nukes can accomplish might work in the general discussion forum, but here, we're in the scrapper boards.

One with the Shield gives 30% recovery, which is, I believe, equal to 0.5 end per second. With a 120s duration, that's a gain of 60 end. The crash is -60 end ; net result : 0.

With accolades, you get 10% more, so you gain 6 end... in two minutes. You can usually get the same result by not attacking for two seconds.

If you need the endurance now (foe end drains, for example), or if you can finish the fight in less than 2 minutes, it's great, but I wouldn't use it as an end recovery tool in other situations.

[ QUOTE ]
This got me thinking. If a brute is not playing like a scrapper, then how else can it play like? I'm sure it can also function as a tank since I've seen it before. Also, I'm unclear of what it means by "capable of handling the same conflicts." Does this mean able to survive said conflicts, or resolving said conflict in a certain amount of time?

[/ QUOTE ]

I read that as surviving said conflict.

I.E., if you're stopping to use Aid Self/Rest, if you kite while your defense is debuffed, if you wait for a specific power (BU, a tier9...) to engage a tough group, your damage stays the same on a scrapper, but you lose Fury on a brute.

[ QUOTE ]
But would you take it if the cap was 80%? I still wouldn't.

[/ QUOTE ]

I would... if the cap was 85%.

[ QUOTE ]
If the invulnerable scrapper can handle life with unstoppable capped at 75% why can't an invulnerable brute?

[/ QUOTE ]

Correction : the invulnerable scrapper* handles life without Unstoppable, because with a 75% res cap Unstoppable doesn't bring enough mitigation to be worth it for the crash it gets.

* and by "the invulnerable scrapper" I mean "me".

"Relatively easily" is the problem here. Some players claim it is, and that might be true for them, but it's definitely not true for everyone. Numerous other players, including myself, have reported they have trouble keeping Fury above 70%, in which case scrappers are better.

Potentially, Brutes might have 5-10% higher damage than scrappers.

The problem being you have to be at full (90) Fury and to keep it at all times.

Potentially, a DM scrapper might also have 50% higher ST damage than any other scrapper primaries.

The problem being you have to keep 10 targets in Soul Drain at all times.

Potentially, a DB scrapper would do better AoE damage than a Spines scrapper.

The problem being you have to be able to hit the maximum number of targets in your cones everytime, without wasting time positioning yourself.

Numbers might not be exact, that's not the point.

Being able to potentially do something is good, so is being able to do something all the time. Having options is great.

In a way, this reminds me of the "is invul overpowered?" argument after the multiple AVs stuff.

It's really the same situation - we had one powerset with the ability to have higher peak performance if they pick their fight, but lower performance overall, compared to another powerset with the exact same performance in all situations, with a lower peak performance. Here, there's arguing about an AT that, with a specific playstyle, has higher performance, but at the cost of lower performance if you play a different way, compared to an AT with the exact same performance regardless of your playstyle but a lower peak performance.

As of today, prices on lvl 50 crafted range from 220m to 250m, sales from 5/14 to 5/27.

Prices on lvl 50 recipe range from 100m to 200m, one sells every day. I've been watching this IO since about two weeks as well and the price range was the same.

I bought mine for 101m about 3 weeks ago, IIRC.

Two or three folks buying an IO at 400m one week after it's introduced doesn't mean the price will stay that high all the time. Expecting that would just lead to wasting market fees imho, but more power to you if you manage to sell one of these 400m.

Heroside, the contact is in Founders Falls near the Gaspee... and the TF only requires 4 players to start !

Thank you devs. I cannot stress how happy I am.

[ QUOTE ]
The reason I say to pick up the two combos in the early levels is because DB is all about combos and this lets you experience them as you level up.

[/ QUOTE ]

That's a good idea. Myself, I used dual builds to test combos, while keeping the main build like I wanted it.

To play, hard to say. I like both, in different ways.

To play with, Brute. Nothing wrong with the Tanker AT itself, but I dislike the "I'm a tanker, I'm the star of the show, follow my orders peons" attitude that seem to come more often with Tanker players than with any other AT in my experience. Then again, it also happens with Granite brutes. There seem to be something with having great survivability that brings out the worse in some people.

So, assuming a smart player, either AT would be good to play with.

I don't like Weaken, and Empower is (imho) weak at low levels because you don't have enough recharge to run it well. I ignored combos until 26, and then I used Blinding Feint, Attack Vitals, Power Slice, until I got enough recharge to get rid of Power Slice.

I've never been retroactively banned out of the game for rerolling my dices while I was a kid playing Monopoly with my parents.

This poor education is obviously why now I'm an evil powergamer using exploits in video games and causing the downfall of human society as we know it.

*nods*

Well, Fire Sword and Cremate do less DPA than Gfs. Inc&gt;Cr&gt;Fs will also require +204% rech in Incinerate, that's 70% more recharge compared to the Gfs&gt;Inc&gt;Cr&gt;Fs chain. Getting ~+135% rech is much easier and leaves room for lots of impervium armor and gift of the ancient sets, to help with end recovery.

Of course, you'd lose Breath of Fire then...

I'm almost sure the damage ticks stack, although I haven't enough recharge to check it... Damage ticks stack on any DoT power I've seen, I see no reason for it not to stack. As for DPS, it's well over 200 and, being fire damage, it's hardly resisted. You'll be fine.

As you're going to use each attack as much, I'd put the Hecatomb proc in Incinerate (you can always use more toxic RES on CoV, there's tons of toxic damage by level 40+) and a perfect zinger psi proc in Fire Sword - I don't know if that's better than the ToD proc (negative being less resisted than psi ?), but come on, psi on a melee character !

It doesn't seem very fair to allow veteran rewards and say "no" to purples. You can get purples in weeks, but you can't get any veteran attack before a full year.

Exemplared to level 15, all your slots still work, the values you get from enhancements are just lower.

That being said, here's what I would go with :

Hero Plan by Mids' Hero Designer 1,401
http://www.cohplanner.com/

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

Level 46 Natural Scrapper
Primary Power Set: Claws
Secondary Power Set: Willpower
Power Pool: Speed

Hero Profile:
Level 1: Strike -- Mako-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(A), C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(3), C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(3), C'ngImp-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(5), T'Death-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(5), HO:Nucle(7)
Level 1: High Pain Tolerance -- ResDam-I(A), Heal-I(7), Heal-I(9), Heal-I(9), ResDam-I(11), ResDam-I(11)
Level 2: Slash -- Mako-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(A), C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(13), C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(13), C'ngImp-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(15), HO:Nucle(15), T'Death-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(17)
Level 4: Swipe -- Mako-Dam%(A), C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(17), C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(19), C'ngImp-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(19), HO:Nucle(21), T'Death-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(21)
Level 6: Fast Healing -- Numna-Regen/Rcvry+(A), Mrcl-Rcvry+(23), RgnTis-Regen+(23), Heal-I(25), Heal-I(25), Heal-I(27)
Level 8: Follow Up -- Mako-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(A), C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(27), C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(29), C'ngImp-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(29), T'Death-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(31), HO:Nucle(31)
Level 10: Indomitable Will -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A), Ksmt-ToHit+(34), Krma-ResKB(34), EndRdx-I(36), EndRdx-I(36), EndRdx-I(36)
Level 12: Hasten -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(31), RechRdx-I(33), RechRdx-I(33), RechRdx-I(33), RechRdx-I(34)
Level 14: Super Speed -- Zephyr-Travel(A), Zephyr-Travel/EndRdx(37), Zephyr-ResKB(37), Winter-ResSlow(37), EndRdx-I(39), EndRdx-I(39)
Level 16: [Empty]
Level 18: [Empty]
Level 20: [Empty]
Level 22: [Empty]
Level 24: [Empty]
Level 26: [Empty]
Level 28: [Empty]
Level 30: [Empty]
Level 32: [Empty]
Level 35: [Empty]
Level 38: [Empty]
Level 41: [Empty]
Level 44: [Empty]
Level 47: [Empty]
Level 49: [Empty]
------------
Level 1: Brawl -- Mako-Dam%(A), T'Death-Dam%(39), HO:Nucle(40), HO:Nucle(40), HO:Nucle(40), HO:Nucle(42)
Level 1: Sprint -- Run-I(A), Run-I(42), Run-I(42), Jump-I(43), Jump-I(43), Jump-I(43)
Level 2: Rest -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(45), RechRdx-I(45), RechRdx-I(45), RechRdx-I(46), RechRdx-I(46)
Level 1: Critical Hit



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Claws has a good attack chain at low levels, WP has full mez protection, a great +HP power and Fast healing. The damage mobs do in a lowbie PuG of 3 is low enough to make mitigation a nonissue as long as you've got means to recover between fights, and this build has it between regen and low recharge on rest (of course, there's also insps).

There's lots of overkill slotting on attacks, so it retains good values while exemplared. I picked SS as the travel power, coupled with a stealth IO in Sprint it gives total invisibility. Hasten is also great to speed up your attacks.

Between FU and the kismet tohit in IW, tohit should be OK. There's also fluff stuff like KB procs that aren't really necessary unless you turn off IW to save end, a slow resist IO, slots in Brawl, etc. The build would be functional without any unique or HOs (replace them with CI Acc/Dam), costing about 20-30m.

Gloom is ugly, breaks concept and causes cancer.

Lots of people used tons of exploits, including rikti comms and imps, and advertised farms in broadcast (something that was actually banworthy according to the rules when I14 went live) , they weren't banned.

Other people used rikti comms but no other exploits, stayed to themselves and didn't talk about it, did it solo, they were banned.

Do you want to know the difference ? Leveling speed. That's it.

Now, you can stick your fingers in your ears and pretend you didn't hear this. That's fine. Per forum rules, we're not allowed to discuss specifics about bans, so it's not like I can add anything.

Let's not fool ourselves here, it's not about rules or ethics. It's about people leveling too fast in a MMO that, like many other games in the same genre, bases its business model on a certain number of hours needed to reach max level.

And it's not like there's anything wrong with that ! The only wrong thing here is people buying the PR crap and chanting "egregious ! egregious !". Despite looking complicated and all, it isn't a magic word, people who powerlevel aren't children-eating ogres and we aren't living in a magical fairy world where money rains from the trees. It makes sense the devs take whatever steps they feel are necessary to ensure their business keeps running, but please, stop insulting your own intelligence by believing this is about ethics or rules. This is about what the devs feel they need to do in order to ensure an enjoyable experience for the majority and to keep the game running.

*"You", in all this post, refers to nobody in particular.

It might not be worth using on the main build, but... Breath of Fire would be pretty cool IMHO on a Desert themed character.

Your costume is great btw, awesome design as always.

... And saying this, I realise it'd look silly for him to spit fire through his mask.

NPCs with names starting with the letter M will tell you the number of hours you've played on your character.

The best is (IIRC) GFS, Incinerate, Cremate, and you need Hasten to make it work, but GFS, Incinerate, Cremate, Fire Sword is pretty close and doesn't require Hasten.

Seeing as you're going to use EP so much, I'd put the Hecatomb proc in it.

It might be a first, but I disagree with you, Werner.

Aid Self costs an additional pool and one power pick over Siphon Life. It means tradeoffs. You have to lose one between Fitness, Jumping/Flying, Fighting and Speed.

The animation is so long it heals less than Siphon Life over time even if you were to spam it, and that's assuming you never get interrupted - it happens to me a lot, especially if I use additional mobs to fuel Invinc. Spamming Aid Self also decreases DPS, and breaks combos for DB. So not only you get lower DPS because you're not DM, but your lower DPS falls further behind if you have to heal at all.

Between Siphon Life and DM tohitdebuffs, I could almost take Malaise on my Shield tanker before my build was done - that's an AV using nonpositional psi ! Admittedly, the 10-15% psi defense I got from Weave, CJ, Steadfast and the higher tanker HP played an important part in this, but still.

Against quite a few AVs, you need very high DPS to bring them down. Other primaries can do as well as DM - with the right secondary. Running a high recharge chain isn't always an option on an invul that isn't DM if you want to keep enough survivability. FM can do good DPS with low recharge - damn right it should, fire is all about damage. For other primaries, eeh.


Is the lack of AoE enough to balance the strength of the set ? I know for me, personally, it's not. I'm talking about a 30-40% DPS gap without using SD fodder in some situations, between the tohit debuffs (either on a toon that isn't softcapped, or against tohit buffs/defense debuffs), Siphon Life (meaning I don't waste time using Aid Self), and high negative damage. I'm talking about my tanker doing more damage than my scrapper against some AVs, although this is partly because of Shield.

All of this is at 50, but even at low levels I like DM. With Shadow Punch, Smite, Siphon Life and Shadow Maul early on, you get a powerful attack chain, and against normal foes without PtoD the tohit debuffs are very effective (so is Touch of Fear if you choose to pick it). I'd wager the survivability gap between DM and other primaries is actually bigger in the low levels, as your secondary doesn't give much mitigation yet.

When I think about a new toon these days, I pick a new primary I haven't tried yet, for diversity or concept, then I quickly make a build on Mids. Then, a few hours, days or weeks later, I always think "what if it was DM?", and everytime I remake the build as a DM, it's much stronger. There is no performance justification for any other choice than DM for most toons I make. I think that might fall into the definition of "overpowered".

Now, I'm well aware this is just me. I'm not saying DM is overpowered overall - although I know now that the dirty word has been used, someone is bound to read my post that way - but it is definitely overpowered for me. Again, I'm not suggesting the devs balance the game around my playstyle (although I think that would be totally cool and lead to a better game, obviously ! ).

For sure, DM stacks much better with secondaries without a selfheal, especially if they can't quite softcap but get close to it. However, between DM/Fire and Katana/Fire, Katana/Fire is probably the better choice.

... Probably. I've got a Katana/Fire, so I don't even want to look at the numbers ; although I don't think DM would be better here, it'd make me feel bad if it was.

I just noticed you have a Steadfast KB in Res Energies. As it is, between Unyielding and the Zephyr KB you've got enough KB protection. You could trade the 3 slots for another Aegis set, your endurance recovery is going to be fine for anything except AV soloing without insps.

As for tohit, you could pull the force feedback slot away from Vengeful Slice, put it in CJ, and use a Kismet +6 tohit instead. It'll give as much of an increase as 3 tohit slots in BF, and it will be up all the time, without a tohitcheck.

About a month (dec '08 - jan '09), with 93-94 hours of play. Which, if you do the math, shows I played an embarrassing number of hours per day.