OhGodtheRats

Thanks for hosting it guys....and for letting new players in on the fun. I had a blast and hated that I ran out of time around the chiming of midnight (which is when I turned into a pumpkin). Even weirder, I got to see a side of one of my SG mates that I hadn't seen before. Was very cool. Now the weird question: Is there anyway to casually follow up with social contacts if you're not in Evil?

Again, it was very cool, even to a plot outsider like myself.
-Jared
(The player of Billy Horrorshow and Kaijukore/The Yokai Totoshi)

Well, I officially can no longer say that I play a petless mastermind. The evidence:
Click here to see what I've been waiting to see for what feels like an eternity
Yep, I finally have ONE pet.

Well, I didn't really do the challenge because you're not supposed to team, but I'm still stupid happy. (If you don't what I'm talking about, check out the "Mastermind Disarmed" thread where you can see someone introduce me to the idea and, well, the horror involved). My goal was to get a petless Ninja/Trick Arrow Mastermind to level 26. I played solo early on (to make sure I could) and started really teaming regularly around level 13 or so (Goldbrickers are a Blasterminds Kryptonite, apparently) as it got too difficult to solo. Around level 19 I got pretty discouraged as the difficulty ramped up again. But, with the double xp weekend....struck me as a good time to give my petless mastermind a chance again. So, from level 19 I just reached that faithful level where I get the Oni. So yeah. I'm just posting this because I'm pretty happy that I was able to survive as much as I did. I'll post the build and all that because I know other folks are giving other petless builds a chance. And also I can explain exactly why Kaijukore was the last man standing on more than one near-wipeout (and no the answer is NOT I stood by the door and leeched). Well, I'll do it later because right now I need some sleep.
Thanks everyone who supported me in game (not having to worry about infamy was a godsend) and, well, this was a blast.
-jared

Oh and here's the highlight of my marathon:
No caption is necessary for this

With the Double XP weekend, I did indeed try to make a new character. While I'm sure it could be more accurate, I designed the zombie Longbow character with the intent that his costume would be an older variation. Sort of like from the 1960's or something. Check out my baby:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...ovlongbone.jpg
-jared

Smoooth. Particularly like the atmosphere you've chosen with the color and texture of the background/setting.

:blink blink:

Damn it, I'm paying attention to the wrong thing. Again.
-jared

By the way, the best trick I've been able to pull off with the Teleport Stealth IO and the "teleport teammates" temp power is sneaking up to someone and then summoning EVERYONE into the mix.
Right now I'm too squishy to solo in PVP, but I make a very mean Scout who can always call in the cavalry.

Oh and while I understand what you're saying about being about to out-manuever a TP character chasing you, I still haven't found someone who could. Keep in mind I'm not trying to TP into combat range, I'm just trying to keep up until they slow down. And almost everyone stops eventually. I think the trick is using the ground to limit your TP range...otherwise I'd find myself 100 yards off-course. That said, its still a fun way to hunt down escapees. I think my favorite kill was when someone ran into the center of freedom base (and very near death) and I materialized next to them, finished the job my teammates had started, and teleported out before the turrets could make short work of squishy me.

Damn this thread. I'm supposed to focus on one character this weekend but now I want to make a Zombie Longbow agent named Longbone.
Hell, I think I have to now. That'll be fun to RP something fierce.
-jared

Well, it's on. If anyone wants to keep my Blastermind company this weekend, feel free. Minus a few Roleplay things planned, I should be trudging through the grind with Kaijukore pretty steadily over the next 4 days. Level 26, which is where I get my 1st Pet, here I come! I went ahead and spruced up the character...new costume, tweaked build, and the joy of Inventions. I've used my free respec to rearrange some slots (You guys were right, Flash Arrow does not need to be slotted 5 times, though my pulling magic is no longer quite as magical) and to drop Poison Arrow and grab Stealth instead. So I've got a slight defense boost and now I don't have to worry so much about turning a corner and getting aggro-doomed by surprise.

On Inventions: While it was a bit costly and I was lucky, I grabbed a couple of Damage Procs that work for my Trick arrow set. While I have to wait until level 24 for my Glue Arrow to start actually hurting people (thank you the most expensive IO I've ever bought), the "Trap of the Hunter" damage proc slotted in my Entangling Arrow has been.....amaaazing. Seriously, the random damage my snare arrow now does from time to time is literally my most damaging attack. So if you're playing a blastermind, grab the damage procs like there's no tomorrow. They WILL make your life infinitely easier. I'm still hoping to grab one of the Entropic Chaos: Chance of Self Heal IO's mostly because anything that keeps my arrow-spamming Kai alive is worth its weight in gold.
So, I'm going to psychotically play Kai and see where it goes. Here are some random questions, I'd love answered:

Is slotting Stamina more than three times beneficial?

Can you control/summon Minions while invisible? I see Phase Shift as a necessary "Oh [censored]" button, but was actually curious if Masterminds could literally control their minions from the shadows and not be noticed as long as they didn't take any direct action themselves. Hell, could a mastermind in PVP literally be nowhere to be seen while his minions are everywhere doing horrible things? I know you wouldn't get your inherent Mastermind bonus, but I'm still curious.

Kai is actually a RP concept that doesn't get to RP until level 24....but I'm not sure where to find the codes for making my soon-to-be-mine Oni talk/emote/act like a real character. Anyone know where I should look?

By the way, a LOT of people have told me this is going to get impossible further down the road. While I'm not going to get a pet until level 26 and see how that goes, I have to confess I'm thinking of taking "Call Jounin" (those are the Stalker/Ninja minions from the set) later on if doom literally becomes impossible. I know my plan was to go all the way with only one pet, but I just wanted to say that I'd rather break my vow of one-pet madness later in the game than have a character who literally can't face the challenges the game is throwing at him. I hope I don't have to, but it really depends on how my Blastermind 20's go. If I ace them, who knows...I might be able to go all the way as a boy and his Oni. My friends and team mates are skeptical.
-jared

Edit: Oh and again, if you're curious, look me up on Union this weekend. My global is @Billy Horrorshow, but the Blastermind is Kaijukore. If you also have a blastermind, I think we'll HAVE to team.

On the flip side of this, has anyone seen a Rogue Longbow or a Longbow Infiltrator over on CoV yet? Would be awesome with a Assault Rifle/Traps Corrupter.
-jared

Got to see Moondog's Stalker in action last night....was awesome.
While I do wish the animation for Divine was somewhat cooler, the sheer doom embodied by Golden Dragonfly makes me want to get my stalker to level 32 very, very quickly.
Thanks for sharing, Moon.
-jared

Doc Tox, it shocks me to know that we teamed so much (me being Billy Horrorshow) and I didn't know you were into Roleplay. Very cool. It's weird, but Tam and the gang are the only non-roleplay people I know. See you there.
-jared

Nothing makes up for the most horrifically failed respec mission quite like a 3 or 4 stalker team. Fun as always, guys and girls.

And its less that I'm hooked on Salsa and more that my Salsa partner is going to let me have the computer in copious amounts this weekend. : )
-jared

I just want fish armor/parts so I can play the rogue Coralax.
-jared

I hate to say it, but this weekend I'll definitely be spending my time on Union...the All-Stalker Team is the one that has my "main" that lives on the Defiant Server.

Oh and I hope to see you guys tonight. I won't be able to stay for too long, as I've been pulling too many late-night gaming sessions and I need to save some sleep karma for the Double XP Doom. Still looking forward to more stalker doom though. If memories serves, it's about time we all started living the dream in Cap.
-jared

[ QUOTE ]
Oooooh. Change of heart, Dibs on a Tsoo Sorcerer! *Teleport* *Knockback* *Heal* *Teleport* *Knockback* *Heal*

[/ QUOTE ]

I'm never going to see you on Villains again, am I?
That's awesome. Even better, I think that's one of the ones you can do 100% with the character builder. At least, I think you can.
-jared

The TLF accepts your apology. If you ever do get time, feel free to stop by. Our numbers are small, but our hearts are huge and our addiction to RP missions is vast.

On topic, Not a bad idea. I like the idea of reformed villains, particularly in this context. The pre-established group tension just seems far too fun. Still, I think the problem will be with costume somehow. If only you really could get the assymetry of a renegade freakshow in the character designer.
-jared

Thanks for the input, the warm welcome, and a quick guide to the travel powers in PVP. (I would imagine Hurdle would solve the Super Jump speed issue, does that sound about right, since it increases Jump speed something crazy?)
On teleportation:
I didn't even think about melee archetypes...I'd imagine with them it'd be impossible to get teleport combat to work right. Still, I may have to try teleportation doom with my Assault/Kinetic Corrupter, if only because of the range bonus (I actually am thinking of unslotting my range enhancements in PVP, mostly because I kept overshooting my target whenever they did decide to stop running and make a stand.)

As for what 1damz said:
I was one of the lucky ones who got a Time & Space: Stealth teleport IO. That definitely helped, though since I've never PVP'd before, I'm not sure how much. I do know I wasn't jumped once, unlike a few other folks I was running around with. Also:

[ QUOTE ]
TP are only useful for teleporting yourself out of danger really. If someone is pursuing me with TP as soon as I see him begin the TP animation I simply change direction and hes far far away from me.


[/ QUOTE ]
I'm not entirely sure they got to SEE the teleportation animation, what with the stealth IO. That said, unless they've turned their camera angle to directly behind them, I wouldn't imagine too many people actually see the animation. A few of the people I chased got smart and headed to more crowded terrain (Green Nugget for example) so that line-of-site became far too difficult to keep. Now THAT was infuriating. But smart. (This is where/how that ambush happened that I mentioned. Bastards baited me. It was great.)
-jared

Edit: Just leveled up my Kinetic and researched a future power. Apparently the only power out there that makes you Teleport Foe-proof is "Increased Density". Of course, you can't use it on yourself, so someone in PVP would actually have to have a teammate who had this for it to even show up and be useful...While I don't know if serious buffers roam the PVP circuit, if Teleport Foe ever becomes crazy popular, find yourself a Kinetic and make him your mascot.

Thanks for the input. It's good to know that my speed will also increase my endurance usage (via recharge I mean). Also knowing that Stamina kind of maxes out after 3 slots is good to know. I was afraid you'd have to super-slot it or something.

Another friend in chat asked me what my "style" for the build was, and I was thinking literally of a "run and gun" type character that would focus on the long range advantage that Assault Rifle has. I.e. Running the hell out of enemy range while still blasting away while I could.

The thing my mate suggested: Slot the inherent ability "Rest" with a couple of recharges and an endurance modification. Since I'll be faster than any enemy I run across, escaping momentarily to a safe place to recharge for about ten seconds struck us as a possible alternative.

That said, I've NEVER heard of anyone slotting Rest. It just feels like a bad idea.
-jared

PS: Is there anywhere to see what the speed cap is?
Edit: I found the FaQ on travel powers/speeds and the only bit of information NOT mentioned is Siphon Speed. Go figure.

[ QUOTE ]
whenever obsidian. is online and i have time she's up for Cap SF - still need another 500k+ debt for my accolade....

[/ QUOTE ]

You are a sick, sick puppy.
I'm really not going to forget the moment of horror when we all realized the man who organized the Cap SF at the highest difficulty did so because he wanted the debt badge. And he was sad that we aced it.
-jared

My RP SG needed someone who could heal (having an SG filled with nothing but Brutes and Dominators is fun, but with no buffers just didn't seem right) so last weekend I threw together an Assault Rifle/Kinetic character. I've got him to level 10 but something came up when I checked the endurance costs for my upcoming "doom" attacks (Sniper Rifle/Flamethrower). They're expensive!

So here's my question, though I suppose it doesn't have to be solely related to corrupters:
Does slotting with Endurance Reducers make more sense than getting Stamina? Is it even comparable?
If I do go with Endurance Reduction, would Invention Enhancements be a better idea than DO's? If I do get stamina, how many slots does it need to be effective? I'm terrible at game-math but I'd prefer to get the powers I'd want...but not if it means I'm going to have to worry about endurance constantly until I reach level 35. Because that's no fun.

By the by, if Stamina needs a decent amount of slots to do its job, then maybe I should go the endurance reduction route until I earn that level 24 respec and re-adjust myself with Stamina. But I really don't know what's best.

Thoughts?

-jared
"who confesses he couldn't resist and made another character against his better judgement"

Edit: Secondary Question, because a friend suggested it:
Does Siphon Speed stack with the travel power Super Speed? Is there a speed cap somewhere that would make this a stupid idea? I mean, do the two literally combine to give you a run speed increase of about 650%?

Curious minds want to know.

Let me know how traps works out. Considering how, if you don't team, you have to play cat and mouse games with your enemies, it strikes me as the ideal secondary for a blastermind. Also, the blastermind I originally made on Defiant (Kaijukore is on Union) was a Thugs/Poison, only because the thug dual pistols are just cool to look at and are only cheapened by having teenagers in wife-beaters hanging around (you know, our thugs).
Are you, if you plan on continuing with this, going to get Gangwar? Mastermind Challenge purists would say its cheating, but I think it'd be a great "Oh Noooo!" button to have lying around.
You know, because as a blastermind you're going to have a lot of those.
-jared

Well, I finally got my first taste of PVP last night. I'd gone into Bloody Bay a handful of times but lucked out in regard to never running into any heroes. That changed last night when a friend summoned me there so we could deal with a fairly populated BB yesterday. Now, I've read a few FAQ's about PVP here on the forum, but I have to ask: Why isn't teleport considered THE method of transportation in PVP? Everyone talks about SuperJump like something crazy, but I found that once you wear down your enemy, he takes to the skies/leaps to the nearest Freedom base he can find...or at least does his best to get away from you.
My dominator had a blast out-teleporting people as they tried to get away...and, barring one example when I got tricked into an ambush (which was awesome, go Heroes) no one ever really escaped.
So I'm wondering: Why doesn't teleport get the big PVP reputation that I think it deserves? I know it's expensive but after a few endurance modifications I found (3 slotted) that problem was more or less solved for me.

So what's the big flaw with teleport in PVP?
-jared

PS: I was also shocked at how fun PVP was. For some reason, I pictured it to be a frustrating experience as I knew very little of it. On the other hand, being on a 4-man team lurking just outside the freedom base probably had something to do with the adrenalin rush.

Update: Almost hit 19 last night with Kaijukore...faceplanted a total of zero times as well. Seems like I'm finally getting the handle on the doom of the looming 20's. That said two things:
1: There's nothing more fun than teaming this character with someone who took traps as their secondary. The two work far too well together.
2. I think I'm going to put Kai on the backburner until next week when the Double XP/Infamy weekend goes into action. You know, because if there was EVER a toon that needed to level faster than normal, it has to be a mastermind without pets. Maybe I'll even be able to hit level 26, which is when this challenge more or less ends for me when I purchase my first (and Only) minion. But we'll see.
-jared

The less dramatic answer is hover or flight, but...that's a desperate man's solution. You know, because it doesn't REALLY give you protection...it just makes the effect far less negative. Then again, Hover is what makes ruin mages no longer that scary.
And on a brute, I'm sure the retardedly slow hover speed would be an issue for someone wanting to keep fury up.
-jared
"who really prefers MasterZ's answer, but had to chime in"

Crapsticks...I'm just logging in now because a) I totally forgot and b) I got kidnapped and taken to a salsa club.

You know, because I can dance. Sort of.
-jared

I'll second that. As far as I know, Aim doesn't boost the amount of damage your "pets" do, which is technically what most traps are in game mechanic terms.

Btw from what I've seen, Poison Trap makes everything vomit. While I don't know about web cocoon, I did watch a Traps Mastermind use poison trap to make Synapse (that crazy super speed hero towards the end of the game) blow chunks for the final half of the fight. So if you can use it to make a Hero churl, its got to work on most bosses.
-jared