OhGodtheRats

In my defense, I'm playing a Mind/Psi Dom. Melee is death for me anyway and I go into any PVP zone expecting to be hospitalized a fair amount. As for melee AT's...I've tried and I just don't think I get them very well...they're just not my style for the most part. And, maybe I'm the freak, but I use Teleport regularly in missions. Since I have no reason to ever be in melee combat if that ever happens I simply materialize on the other side of the room/hall/warehouse whatever. It's also good for getting into the center of a mob and firing off Drain Psyche or Invoke Panic (or Psychic Shockwave once I pick it up) when need be...and escaping the moment that you're done.
I use hover and Teleport, mostly because without hover you're just not as flexible on where you want to materialize. Plus, hitting a lag bump during that 5-seconds you have to re-teleport while you're mid-air usually ends in catastrophe. Unless you have hover.

The other advantage you didn't mention is that while there are -jump, -fly, and detoggling attacks, none of those will affect a Teleporting character. Considering how a lot of powers detoggle (at least those in the Dominator secondary, not sure of other AT's) having an unsuppressable escape button strikes me as another plus.

As for a melee build having teleport in pvp...I can see how that would be incredibly flawed when it came to using it to get into melee range.
I'm just surprised with the number of range AT's there aren't more people using it. The ability to 'port yourself 100+ yards in a direction you're not facing...it's pretty confounding. If I ever get CoH, I'll have to try out a teleporting blaster. From my experiences with that breed from the villains side...they kill me easily enough when I can see them coming. I don't want to picture one with teleport. Like, at all.

Then again, I don't solo in the pvp zones. I usually help out my friends and generally play the stealthed teleporting distraction. I think I've only been able to take down (by myself) another controller and one blaster who really, really, really needed to stock up on some break-frees.
-jared

Thanks for all the great advice Shannon. I got my Dark/Dark almost to level 18 last night...and I see what you mean by mob balance/control. Dark Regeneration has totally flipped a losing battle around several times now and as soon as I respec my toon I'll be grabbing a few more Dark Melee powers I missed earlier. (I very early on took Kick and Tough, mostly for the Smashing/Lethal res stacking...something I'm finding unnecessary at the moment) Problem is there's just not enough room for me to get everything I want.

Right now I'm trying to prioritize Death Shroud, Touch of Fear, and Oppressive Gloom. I can't take all of them but I like them all quite a bit. From the looks of things if I ever get this toon high enough I'll most likely be skipping the patron powers only so I can fill in the gaps in my primary/secondary. Any input would be awesome. Basically what will keep me trucking longer:
Death Shroud, Touch of Fear, or Oppressive Gloom?

(If I plan on snagging and slotting Cloak of Fear as soon as I get it...do I still need touch of Fear?)
-jared

[ QUOTE ]
Errr vs a teleporter you just have to use "follow" with ss+sj on

[/ QUOTE ]

I had no idea you could follow enemies. That's crazy. but still:
If they're willing to set it to Follow while I'm still next to them instead of attacking me....as well as use up 4 of there powers to get 2 travel methods....they deserve to catch me.
Btw how does the "follow" method work if you have a Stealth IO slotted in you TP (or whatever travel method)? Do they suddenly "stop" following you at some point?

I take back what I said about Siphon Life. I ended up rampaging a bit last night and it kept me alive many, many times. I re-slotted it for recharge since I figured an attack that heals me is better if I do it more often rather than an attack that heals me more but less often. It makes sense, I swear.

[ QUOTE ]
For my end not to run out my shadow maul has to hit more than one at a time.

[/ QUOTE ]
This scares me a bit. I got a lot better last night at hitting more than one enemy, but many, many times enemies were right next to each other, practically standing on each other's shoulders and the shadow maul would still only hit one of them. Any advice on this? If the stamina-free build is reliant on getting Shadow Maul to hit more than one, methinks I may have a problem.
-jared

Fun with Ink and acrylic! The original is actually white on black, but that's because I just couldn't find enough white ink or black paper to play with. Still, I'm pretty happy with out it came out.
Jared's Entry

Thanks for the contest....this was fun and I hadn't rotoscoped anything in far too long.
-jared

(For those playing our home game, "rotoscoping" is the professional term that Disney and other animation companies use instead of the word "tracing". Oddly enough, it's easier to say you rotoscope images rather than say you professionally trace them. Go figure.)

Edit: Here's the other one I threw together.
Black and Blue version

For what it's worth I'm using IO's...but if it's actually 10% and can be boosted to 20%...later down the road, that's not too bad. I was just surprised at how minimally effective 3 Healing IO's were to the HP gain. You have a point with the life total though.

Very cool...you'll have to let us know how the Dark/Electric thing works out.

By the by, Siphon Life does not slot well for Healing. Triple slotted with level 15 IO's should make a difference...but it's really minimal. It's a lot like slotting Caltrops with damage enhancers, if that makes sense to you. The gain is trivial.

That might change with better enhancements, but the triple slot trick only gave me an extra 3 or 5 hit points per use. I'll recheck the numbers when I log in tonight, but it went from 40 HP gain to 44 HP drain after the healing slotting I was far too excited about. As soon as I have the infamy, its going to get recharges all the way around.
-jared

According to shannon from the dark/dark thread, she seems convinced that Dark Consumption is ALL you need to keep the endurance train rolling and stamina is unnecessary. With /elec it might be golden though. Nice combo.

As for Dark Melee...My experience does not match Shannons. The cone for Shadow Maul is very small (level 1-14 I think it hit multiple enemies about 6 times total) and the animation is kind of long and really embarassing looking if you miss. While Smite and Shadow Punch do less damage, if I respec I might grab them only because they recharge faster, use less endurance, and I can get off like two attacks from Dark Punch in the time it takes to get Shadow Maul off the ground. Then again, if it does connect it's pretty nice. Up to you, but I'm finding Shadow Maul is really slowing me down...particularly when I have to set myself up in combat with surgical precision if I even want to pretend that Dark Maul will hit more than one. Though, when it does hit more than one, it's a brutally awesome attack. It just doesn't happen very often for me.

And yet again, Shannon's experience with DM is different from mine. She's seen the higher levels, I"m still at 14.
-jared

@billyhorrorshow, mostly because any drama like this just goofy.

Though now I'm curious to know what the hell a forumite is and what a smurf cartel smuggles into the country. Aren't we all Forumites or am I a Forumian?
-jared

My vote is the ever unpopular Teleport option, only because it's very hard for them to figure out which way went. (Thank you unusual camera angles while trying to escape...nothing's more fun than being chased by a super speeder and then teleporting direction behind yourself.

Doesn't work for Melee AT's, but man, Teleport brings me too much joy.
-jared

By the by, Shannon, how do you slot your Dark Regen/Dark Consume? 2 accuracy, 2 recharge, 2 health/endurance mod?

Just curious.
-jared

Very cool. I took Open Sore to sirens the other day for the first time. I've decided I need to get CoH now if only to find out what blasters use to kill me in two shots. Pvp didn't go badly...there were some great charges directly into poison trap. But yeah. The hell is a Blaster and why does it own me something fierce?
-jared

Thanks. The worst thing is that on Defiant I have all my character slots filled, they're all around level 14, and they have a free respec sitting on them. They're like my secret candy stash when I can't resist the altitis.

And yeah, I'll let you know the moment it's stalker time for me again. I'm sure it really just comes down to me nothing playing it right.
On a similar note, it took me 15 levels to figure out how to really pull off a brute. It took me that long to realize I wasn't as squishy as my other toons. Go figure.
-jared

Ok, might as well say it.

I'm not a stalker player. At least, not just yet. I'm going to back out of this (officially, since I forgot to log in this wednesday) since right now the All Dom and All Traps teams are rocking so much. The All-stalker team was a blast and I'm sure I'll pick it up later, but in my quest to stop making alts I think I need to just admit I don't have as much fun as a stalker.

That said, I think it's just how I play. I love having options (like those that corrupters and Doms have) because I'm just a terrible judge of what mobs my stalker can and can't handle. I think this'll get easier once I level him a bit (getting placate made him a lot more fun for example) but right now...I just don't have the time for three theme teams.

That said, most of you are already teaming with me on the other theme nights, so it's not like I'm going anywhere.

Right now I'm finding that focusing on IO's before level 30 isn't as effective as I want it to be...mostly because I just don't have the slots to double, triple, or quadruple stack the IO sets that work for me. My mind dom's focused on fear IO's (Glimpse of the Abyss is golden) for terrify/invokepanic/intimidate, and I'm finding my fear isn't being resisted at all the way it was before I had those sets almost fully slotted 3 times. Then again, I do have those powers slotted with ENHANCEMENTS so maybe that's doing a lot of the work.

As for the Teleport Stealth IO...I'm not finding that to have much effect...though I've yet to be jumped since I got it, so maybe that counts for something.

By the way...I need to go to Warburg and find out something about the Stealth IO. Basically I'm curious to see if the IO isn't active and then I teleport away from doom....do I reappear "stealth" and far enough away that they can't see me? I'm working off this assumption, but I just don't know.
-jared

By the by (and I hope to bring me and Private Dancer to the party next week), have we thought about doing a SF or PVP one night for a change of pace? Think it would be hilarious to be the trap-wielding army doing the patrol sweep in Sirens, bounties aside.
-jared

Edit:
OH and hey Kaeze! Guess there is something good about waking up at 4 AM and deciding CoV is better than sleep. Welcome to the party.
And Echo: While we do have 3 AR/Trappers in the team, I need to point out that most of the masterminds involved are also wielding rifles, equiped with grenades and what-not. Team T.N.T. is starting to look like an NRA meeting.

Monday Night, all-trapper team. This is your reminder. Maybe we can convince them to head into Sirens. Should be fun.

Oh and always awesome having you on my friends list as the toon "that can always save the day". It's like your mastermind has a Traps Signal that lights up the sky telling him when my [censored] needs saving. Curse you and your build. I'm going to have to respec Kai now, just to see how Ninja/Traps compares properly to Ninja/Trick Arrow.
-jared

Back on topic, after taking part in the all-dom team and seeing what the different pets do, I've noted that the Fly Trap and Jack Frost often are standing in the back watching the fight, possibly sharing a bag of popcorn.

It doesn't happen all the time, but as someone who's doing his best to stay out of range, I notice that these pets are sort of hanging out beside me. They're not mine and their "masters" are usually in the middle of a mob dominating things...so what's the deal? Do you have to walk "past" a mob to get them to notice it...or what?
-jared

Awesome Shannon. That was exactly what I wanted to know. I'm having a lot of fun with the build...it's nice to know that you can survive without stamina as long as you keep the mobs coming.
-jared

Actually when I saw this thread I thought it was us at the TLF too. You can be TLF2 if you'd like, followed by the TLF2000.

Yes, there are roleplaying anarchists that team fairly regularly, though not all of us are as anarchy-filled as the next. If you'd like to join or check out the Terra Liberation Front (we'd love the company) I think you'll find your character goals fit in really, really well. The SG leader is Hatesman and I believe his global is (he just changed it)
@The Architect

I'm on fairly regularly and my global is @billy horrorshow which is also the name of my main in the TLF.

Oh and welcome to the game!
-jared

Ok I lied. Lots of questions.

I dusted off my Dark/Dark brute the other day...and now that he's level 14, I need to sort something out. I know that I'm going to snag Dark Regeneration & Dark Consumption...are these, if slotted right, enough to keep me standing with enough endurance to spare?
Right now I run 4 Toggles when necessary....Dark Embrace, Murky Cloud, Tough (for the smashing/lethal stacking), and Obsidian Shield. I only use the last one when fighting enemies with holds, sleeps, or psionics...so it's not "ALWAYS" on like the others are usually.
I assumed that I would need stamina but can a Dark/Dark keep himself happy and in the blue and green with the Dark Regen/Dark Consumption combo?

Right now I could grab Stamina as early as 22...but is it 100% necessary? If I do grab stamina will that and the above mentioned powers keep me going if I also snag Cloak of Fear or Death Shroud later on (neither of which would be on "all" the time, like my Obsidian Shield? How good is Dark Consumption?

-jared
"who thanks you for answering his rambly questions"

To be honest, I LIKE your build. While Poison Trap is awesome and Beanbag is great, you've decided on the AR/traps options that help keep you at range. Combined with your Super Speed, you're going to be out of enemy range fairly often and with the traps and ignite, you're going to have more options when it comes time to pick your battles. Keep in mind the force field generater moves very slowly, so if you really are zipping around, it'll get really faaaaaar behind you. That said, this build looks fun and good at keeping enemies far away.

(On my AR build I avoided beanbag, buckshot, and Flamethrower early on as those all have really short ranges compared to burst, slug, and the grenade.)

My only criticism (that hasn't already been said....acid mortar works for a speedy sniper, while poison trap might not) is why the pool powers from Concealment? By not getting those you could get Aid Self, or Teleport Foe (great for trip mines and traps) or...well...Poison Trap as everyone else is telling you. I'm thinking you were going for phase shift somewhere in your 40's....that I can understand. If that's not the case and you were thinking of patron powers, I'd say there are better options for you than Stealth and Grant Invisbility.
-jared

(My AR/Kinetic character has a simliar build...I use siphon speed to keep outmanuevering the mobs. Traps would have been a better secondary for the concept as they often require the mob to come to (or at least towards) you.)

I'd be curious to see the stats for Acid Mortar's debuff next to the stats for Acid Arrow and Disruption Arrow's debuffs. I uses both those together pretty regularly and they're pretty good for making mobs turn to butter.

Thanks again for the PVP invite last night, Dancer. I stuck around in Warburg for about an hour after you left and pretty much used up my Temp Jump Pack power playing the "bait" as the Mastermind with only one pet and the annoying Trick Arrows (My use of Glue Arrow and Ice Arrow were...attention getting at best, though far from lethal) really was meant to be slaughtered. Thank God for no debt.

But it still was a blast. Mostly because of using Ice Arrow on a Hero flying a couple hundred yards up in the air. Watching an enemy that's actually another player fall to their doom was very, very satisfying.

10 seconds later though, her friends ripped me in half. Naturally.
-jared
"Mr. Squishy in PVP"

Got to see Private Dancer's Ninja/Traps last night. Besides learning that glue arrow is a much more horrible slowing tool than caltrops (we had a trick arrow/traps sparing match) and that I really need to keep my one-pet MM out of Warburg (I stayed after he had to log, it was nightmarish), I got to see PD duel with a random Brute.

Whoever said Masterminds suck at PVP is just foolish. That [censored] was insane.
-jared

On a whim I threw together a quick Necromany/Force Field Mastermind (mostly because I haven't seen that combo in-game as of yet) and have a question:
If I don't plan on using my own attacks, do I really need stamina to keep Leadership Toggles going? I'd love to avoid stamina if I could, but didn't want to get too far in the build to find out much later that Stamina is practically required if you want to keep two or so such toggles going.
-jared