OhGodtheRats

Ok. My Italian vacation is over. I'm here for these from here on out...and even better, I've already got my FFG and am working on getting my poison trap. Who's running this show this monday and where do we meet?
-jared

PS: 8 FFG is going to be intense.

Random Art from the Request thread (I'd post it there but refuse to feed the madness and by madness I mean the organization of said thread makes my brain implode):
Catz and friend

Stalingrad's Gausius Somnium in Ink
-jared

My Bane: Brutes. With Mud Pots.

May you all die in horrible flames.
-jared

Oh man, I thought it was just a "wouldn't it be cool" talk. You know, like that Mimic power suggestion.
-jared

Blastermind update.

Up to level 11 (had a week vacation in Italy so that explains the slowdown) but I've been seriously introduced to faceplanting. (I've also learned that no one in CoV seems to know about the Flash arrow pull trick, but that's for another time when I describe the horrors of team pulls) I'm typically getting slaughtered by enemies that I didn't notice before turning a corner, so I'm thinking....Stealth? It gives a defense bonus (which would be a godsend right now) but I don't know much about the power, really. Other solutions just mean being careful but I'm pretty cautious its the surprise mobs that are 3 feet from the corner that keep eating me alive.
Also I'm thinking I NEED to get Fistful of Arrows, only because it'll let me wound the above-mentioned mobs all at once instead of my cowardly glue + entangling + Ice + hide behind corner and plink the ones that actually can still run around it" trick.
Also the next level is level 12 and if I'm going to get either aid self or Health I need to decide very soon.

Any advice for a suddenly-struggling Blastermind?
-jared
"who is still having too much fun with Kaijukore, even if he won't stop eating the floor"

Wonky schedule aside, it was very cool to run a bit with you guys. Also, I now know the importance of power selection if I plan on malefactoring. Apparently I didn't buy any traps until AFTER I reached level 11.
Oops.

(See you next week)
-jared

Kaijukore, my Blastermind is now level 9...and still lots of fun. And I haven't faceplanted since the other day.

Thanks for the advice on Glue Arrow. While it does make most fights look like a porn re-enactment, it's totally saved me a couple times. Particularly using it on the door of the Bank so the mobs don't all come in and slaughter our ill-prepared team. So thanks.

By the way, if it wasn't for Flash Arrow, I don't know how I could have survived a few of the mob doom moments. I know that pulling is a normal thing but pulling after a flash arrow (unless the Mob is Longbow for some stupid reason) means you can fire into a crowd and ONLY the one you shot leaves the mob to come get you. I know that's just good pulling but when you're week and mobs = death, having the flash arrow pulling magic keeps you alive.
-jared

PS: Of course you don't NEED to pull the big mobs so much when you have pets like a normal Mastermind, but, well, yeah.

It's a cointoss whether I'll have time to join the party tomorrow. I want to but, well, schedule is wonky.
Where are you guys meeting and if I'm late who should I send a tell to?
-jared

Italian Vacation starts soon, but I hate ignoring requests. Here's a quick version of Callista, as I'll have to do a detailed one later.

Callista in ink and lilac

I'm heading out on vacation, but still sat down to do a quick one before the weekend ended. It's not what you're looking for, but I thought of you.
A Chestful of Arrow
-jared

To clarify about how "MA looks nice, but is less shiny":

With Martial Arts, you DON'T have a character that is a cheerleader of destruction armed with giant glowing pom-poms of light.
Ever since I teamed with someone who made the cheerleader/pom-pom joke, I haven't been able to look at my character the same.
-jared

Thanks for the breakdown. Really.
Since Flash Arrow was my first "this is required for me to survive" I slotted it a bit more than I should. Oops.
And I definitely will have a way to ignite the oil slick. Oni's are fire-tossing bastards, if online reports/stats are to be believed...that's still a long way away from that (because then technically I'm not a Blastermind then because I have a partner) but it is closer than the Oil Slick Arrow of fun and doom. It's also good to know taser ignites it too. I took that origin because it fit the character but man, I don't think I could have survived the lower levels without it "shocking" my enemies into not attacking me almost every time I used it.

And even though I'm only a few powers in, I'm already liking Trick Arrow. From everything I've played in the past area of effect things are more scarce and sought after. This? This is just nutty fun.
-jared

Blastermind Advice question:

What will keep me alive longer:
Health, slotted like crazy
or
Heal Self, slotted like crazy?

I prefer the first because I need my stamina and my play style with Kaijukore so far is "don't let them hit you so there's no need to heal" but there's a crossroads there. One I've heard people cite Health as one of the useless powers, but at the time I thought they were just whining that they couldn't buy Stamina at level 14. I've never had either, so advice would be totally appreciated. When the game difficulty ramps up, I'm going to need something to deal with this.

Glue Arrow it is. If I can't plink it to death with two attacks (3 if you count the vital taser dart...sigh), getting a cone attack that does less damage than Aimed but costs almost twice the endurance just seems goofy. (Thank you Tomax's guide to all things CoV). Sure being able to DAMAGE a group sounds nice, but as long as my arrows can keep them retarded and unable to hit, I'm happy.

Oh and I've learned that corners + Entangling Arrows are my friends. Nothing makes a mob smaller than plinking a few before making a run for it. Damn. I can't believe how much fun I'm having playing a coward.

Btw, if anyone has any advice to give on the other Arrow levels, I'd love to hear it. Since I kind of have to focus on those to keep me alive (with a little help from secondaries) I'd like to avoid something that just isn't going to work. Ice Arrow seems like a given but does Poison Gas Arrow work as well as its description implies? Am I correct when I notice that using AoE Arrows DOESN'T agro mobs affected, only the one that I hit? (I keep flash arrowing a mob that was busy pretending to fight one another and, aside from the one I tagged, the rest just sit there blind not realizing I've taken on of their number). Trick Arrows don't aggro if they don't do damage...or is that just flash arrow because of the perception debuffer?
-jared

Update:
Mastermind Ironman Challenge sort of started. I'm only doing it to level 26 so it'll be a boy and his demon friend AND I'm not saying no to teaming because teams are why I play. While the true spirit of the Ironman is "I am a mastermind with no pets or friends playing with me", I can't pull that off. To balance that fact, I made my Blastermind arrow themed. To my surprise, I've only eaten the floor about three times since I started.

Kaijukore: my Ninja/Trick Arrow Blastermind

I also made an actual story about how the character is actually just a WW2 magical prison built to house a japanese demon that eventually will break free(the Oni, see level 26) so at least my Blastermind is on his own for plot reasons. That lets me sleep at night and feeds my roleplaying addiction.

By the way: Glue Arrow or Fistful of Arrows? Fistful strikes me as aggro doom for me (I live by the snipe and run) but it's also the ONLY area attack I get. Glue arrow strikes me as incredibly useful but
glue arrow vs fistful of arrows.

Thoughts?
-jared
"who is having far too much fun with this character"
Kaijukore (on Union)
Global @Billy Horrorshow

I think my goal will be to get to level 26. I'm sure I'll crack because I KEEP getting distracted by new build ideas but somehow I like the idea of a character "earning" the Big One, as it were.
Again, damn you Crossfire. Damn you plenty.
-jared

Damn you Crossfire. Petless Mastermind challenge here I go. :sigh:
I almost have to now. Of course I haven't read the whole thread yet...it could make me change my mind.
-jared

If Pocket D has taught me anything, it's that Good is Blue. Very, very blue.
-jared

Thanks for the affirmation guys.

And damn you Sinergy. I'm going to have to try the Blastermind thing just because it sounds freaky. Stupid and weird, but freaky.
-jared

Edit: Where was that FUnky Build thread? I think that if you made a mastermind without ANY pets, you definitely qualify as gimped. I'm not sure that can be debated.

I'm just joking. My biggest line with City of Villains is that you don't really feel that evil sometimes.
I mean, my first character fights zombies, snakepeople, corrupt cops (You know, on mercy where they beat innocent people with truncheons), infernal gang members, and the like. How's that not heroic and, in general terms, Good?
I would say that longbow might be the only innocent people I've had to smite but to be fair I'll call that self defense: When they see me they set me on fire. I swear. No tact.

But don't worry. The whole "LOOK AT ME I'M BIG AN EVIL" thing is overdone as it is...I get enough of that just having to team with "Dr. BabyEater" when I'm running around in Cap.
-jared

[ QUOTE ]
And yes, you can bring villains, as long as they're sociable and won't start talking about who they eviscerated that day.

[/ QUOTE ]

Please. Depending on my mood it'll be an Elderly Ex-hero from the 1950's trying to resimplify the world with moral polarity or an inhuman Bengali Prince. Sure he's got lots of teeth, but he's my only character that doesn't kill women for moral reasons. Makes for fun team runs when Widows and Seers shows up. I haven't played much higher than the low twenties, so if more female enemies show up he might have to redefine his stance and decide that woman are equal to men. You know. So he can, as you say "eviscerate" them. In the name of equality.
-jared

PS: Does this mean I won't have to listen to heroes blather on about how many lives they saved that day? :P

:relief:
The Jane & Nene example just threw me because they started talking about roleplaying and GM's, that's all. I don't play CoH (only CoV) so I didn't realize that Wizard's Well/Galaxy was a place in-game. The line between character/player just seemed to blur and I wasn't sure what side was coming up where. Sorry about the confusion.

Btw if I only have villains, is it still worthwhile to show up?
-jared

Here's a weird question. I know that in the later game a mastermind barely needs any attacks of his own...since, after all, his pets are his attacks. I had a conversation with someone and wanted to know what the veterans thought of the logic:
Is it wise for a mastermind to have no attack powers directly linked to himself? If Poison is your secondary (and you focus on debuffing/etc), it's entirely possible to never have to attack an enemy yourself. Now somehow this just feels wrong. I know I'm new and maybe everyone respecs out their attack abilities later in the game, but is a level 20 Mastermind that has no direct attacks (besides the default mutagen & brawl) that don't require pets goofy-stupid in some way that I'm not thinking about?
Is it smart to ignore the seduction of Gloom, Photon Grenade, & Empty Clips (not to mention the "basic" attacks)? Or is it just a playstyle thing (how dirty does the master get his hands kind of thing)?
-jared
"total newb, if you will"

Holy [censored] I'm glad you posted this thread. I've been stacking debuff poison attacks assuming that they worked. You know, because it just makes sense that they would. Does this mean that most debuff attacks don't stack? (Like Infridge from Cold Domination?)
-jared

PS: Forgive the newbie-ness, but where do you find this info?

I'm a corrupter junkie. Mostly because they all seem to play so differently for me and my brain just seems to click with the choose your targets with precision and keep your friends alive/enemies weak mentality. My favorite build right now:

Fire/Cold. For two reasons. One: Cold makes everything retarded...and as far as I can tell nothing resists it. Drop Snowstorm and suddenly an angry mob/boss starts charging at you slooooooowly.
Reason Two: Rain of Fire. Rain of fire, besides doing damage, makes enemies scatter and NOT attack.
Three: Snowstorm and Rain of Fire means that mobs of enemies are on fire, stuck in slow motion, and are not even thinking of attacking you any time soon.
Good times.

I think the real reason I like corrupters so much is that when teaming with them you never know what their contribution is going to be. Brutes, Stalkers, and even Masterminds to a lesser extent...you know what they're bringing to the party more or less. But corrupters? Debuff monster? Knockback psycho? Buffbot extrodinaire? Healer? Sniper of Doom? I don't know. Corrupters just strike me as far too flexible for their own good. That's probably why I have so many alternative builds on the servers of them.
-jared

Oh man. Art pays my rent but there's no way I'd start a conversation with "Hey, i'll totally do it for money." Maybe I'm too new to the forum, but that just screams dirty pool.

On topic: I'm a request junkie and I'll throw this on my pile of stuff to do in this weekend's painting marathon. Be warned, I don't make things pretty. Or sane looking.
-jared