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Posts
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Quote:While I do enjoy the set as is, I hope to see an option for less over-the-top animations. Because it's rather hard to make a 'serious' character with the current animations.Tried dual pistols in the beta, and .. yea.
I look forward to playing the set in 2012, when it next gets looked at. Although I'd probably give it another look if we could choose alternate animations that aren't "jump around like an idiot shooting at everything except what I'm aiming at" -
Quote:In my experience, the Drones take too long to summon to use them in the middle of battle. They are also too fragile, often being destroyed before they can apply their debuff.I disagree that the debuff is useless. Each one has a 6% to hit debuff and a 26% damage debuff. Factor that two seekers mean there's a good chance of getting the debuffs stacking and that's a pretty significant amount of mitigation, not to mention the ability to stun minions (and lts/bosses on very rare occasions).
Given that, I don't rely on the debuffs. I focus on what will happen - enemies will see and target the drones, so I can use that to absorb the initial attacks, while I stay out of LoS, behind a few of my other traps... -
Caltrops vs. Web Grenade: ...just one? I recommend both! Caltrops is a good area of denial power - great for some melee protection, and for covering a retreat. The Web grenade isn't as useful early on, but you're going to want to pick it up eventually. And get it slotted out. Without it, you will not be able to leverage your big Debuffs (Acid Morter and Poison Gas Trap) on the hard targets (Elite Bosses and Arch Villains.)
Triage Beacon - Useless without Single Origins or better, and of limited use even with them. This is only useful when your team is making a stand somewhere, or when dealing with powerful, mostly stationary enemies - EBs, AVs, and GMs. It's also good for things like the Invasions, but that's it, really. You can easily skip this power for a long time, or even drop it entirely.
Seeker Drones - The debuff in these isn't anything to get excited over. These really have only one use - to eat an Alpha Strike for you. Summon them in a group of enemies, and they will waste their initial attacks on the drones, before coming for you. Not something vital to the set, but I like them.
Siren's Song/Time Bomb/Dreadful Wail combo - meh. Time Bomb is... bad. Very Bad. Even worse for Defenders. And while that combo may look good in theory, you are forgetting that the Bomb has a high KB effect included. Time the Wail wrong, and you either miss with the Wail, or you miss with the Bomb.
Do yourself a favor. You want to play with explosives, take the Trip Mines. Just forget Time Bomb even is in the set. -
Personally, I would double check to make sure that there isn't some place better to dump those slots into. Don't under-slot one of your real powers to turn Brawl into a proc monster.
If you've actually, honestly got the slots to spare, I'd still wait until you had a Proc or tw in hand before spending those slots... -
Quote:There is more synergy that Boost Range & the Cone attacks:Well on my AR/ice:
Got pos blast, and frankenslotted FT in the cones, so they get some range. With skill I never have problems hitting all the enemies with the powers. if you're using boost range, you're going to be fighting yourself to use the melee powers for ST damage which would be the other issue.
My AR/ice still gets build up, has no problems with the aoe/range and hitting the mobs, so what's so much better when you look at it like that? My Ar/ice pretty much has an attack chain of burst and slug, so no need for another attack, and if that were the case, ice does get ST attacks, not as strong as EM's, but sufficient, not that i'd suggest that playstyle with AR anyways. Then Ice gets ice patch and shiver which are HUGE mitigation tools that work perfectly for the playstyle of AR.
I'm REALLY faling to see where /EM is better with AR. I'll admit boost range may make it "easier" but not "better"
Build Up comes very early, which can provide some much needed punch in the early levels.
There are plenty of stuns to go around - it's easy to get even bosses disoriented for a time.
Not unique to AR/, but still there, is that Power Boost not only improves the stuns, but also any To Hit bonuses - like, say, Build Up?
And again, not only for AR/, but... Energy Manipulation has several powers self buffs that don't need anything more than a couple of extra slots... meaning there's plenty to go around for Power Pools and Epic powers.
The only thing the combo really lacks is some way to leverage Ignite - enough so that Ignite may even be dropped from the build. -
Knew I was forgetting a set. In fact, I'm surprised I haven't seen this already.
Energy Melee: Once was the Single Target Burst Damage master. Now, it's a crippled set fading into memory. I wasn't sure such a Single Target focused set would be good in the first place, but after it was 'balanced,' any interest I had in it faded away. -
Sets I won't play, huh...
More like sets I shouldn't play, but I know, sooner or later, my Altitis is going to strike and I'll be rolling one of these up again...
Nonetheless:
Broad Sword/Battle Axe/War Mace: The sets themselves are not bad. But the ponderous animations are all clones of each other! I took a Broad Sword Scrapper up to the 40, and I can't stand him anymore. Until/unless we get some alternate animations here, I think I'll pass on these.
Stone Armor: Yeah, this is pretty much the only defense set that I can't tolerate. But the built in -Recharge and -Speed kill it for me.
Any Control set: I just don't seem to click with Control sets. They are awesome to see, but in my hands... I just can't get them to work. No matter how many times I think "That would be an awesome Controller/Dominator..."
Ally-centric Buff sets*: Yeah, I mostly solo (combination of limited play time, non-existent team building skills, and personal preference,) so these kind of sets just plainly unattractive to me.
(* - On a Mastermind, some of these are okay. I'm bringing my own team with me, after all.)
Trick Arrow - Really, is it just me, or is Oil Slick the only really worthwhile power in the set? And then only when you can light it on fire?
Ice Blast/Assault Rifle - Assault Rifle just doesn't flow well for me. Too much AoE for a mostly solo player. Ice Blast is just, well... slow. Oh, I know, it ANIMATES fast... but that just makes me feel the recharge times all the more.
Devices/Fire Manipulation/Electricity Manipulation: Fire Manipulation doesn't provide the amount of protection and/or boosting that I look for in a manipulation set. Electricity Manipulation is too Melee oriented. Devises... do I really need to explain why? The set's horribly out of date and mis-balanced. Until it gets some reworking, it will be safely ignored.
...
Yeah, I think that's it... -
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For the record, this brute isn't getting any of the Patrons for theme reasons - this is a theme character, after all.
The Brute I was referencing earlier is a SS/Fire Brute - Who will have Blazing Aura, Foot Stomp, Soul Tentacles, and Burn for an AoE massacre (and Consume to keep me going). I'm not certain, but I think the extra AoE of Dark Obliteration would be a bit redundant - especially without being able to 6 slot it, while the extra survivability of DN may shore up Fiery Aura's low numbers... -
...And on most of my Brutes, I'd be LUCKY if I can devote three additional slots to that attack.
Don't get me wrong, there is another brute of mine that I would have liked to work Dark Obliteration into. But, without six slots to devote to it, I don't think it would be worth it. So I put Darkest Night in instead.
I guess I'll see when I get there if that's a mistake... -
...Don't all those Patron AoE attacks do rather low damage, on an extremely long timer?
I know AoE is big in this game, but do those attacks really help all that much? Unenhanced, they do about a Tier 2 attack level of damage... while taking 1/5 your end, and needing 32 seconds to recharge. I have never seen a real use for these attacks, to be honest.
Besides, that's neither here nor there. This is a concept character I'm talking about, here... -
Here's the current build, but I'm not sure I'm happy with it:
Villain Plan by Mids' Villain Designer 1.601
http://www.cohplanner.com/
Click this DataLink to open the build!
Level 50 Science Brute
Primary Power Set: Super Strength
Secondary Power Set: Invulnerability
Power Pool: Leaping
Power Pool: Fitness
Power Pool: Fighting
Villain Profile:
Level 1: Punch -- Acc-I:35(A), Acc-I:35(3), Dmg-I:35(7), Dmg-I:35(15), Dmg-I:35(40), EndRdx-I:35(40)
Level 1: Resist Physical Damage -- ResDam-I:35(A), ResDam-I:35(37), S'fstPrt-ResDam/Def+:30(48)
Level 2: Haymaker -- Acc-I:35(A), Acc-I:35(3), Dmg-I:35(7), Dmg-I:35(15), Dmg-I:35(25), EndRdx-I:35(34)
Level 4: Temp Invulnerability -- EndRdx-I:35(A), ResDam-I:35(5), ResDam-I:35(5), ResDam-I:35(13)
Level 6: Combat Jumping -- DefBuff-I:35(A)
Level 8: Knockout Blow -- Acc-I:35(A), Dmg-I:35(9), Dmg-I:35(9), Dmg-I:35(13), EndRdx-I:35(25), RechRdx-I:35(31)
Level 10: Dull Pain -- RechRdx-I:35(A), RechRdx-I:35(11), RechRdx-I:35(11), Heal-I:35(19), Heal-I:35(46), Heal-I:35(48)
Level 12: Hurdle -- Jump-I:35(A)
Level 14: Super Jump -- Jump-I:35(A)
Level 16: Unyielding -- EndRdx-I:35(A), ResDam-I:35(17), ResDam-I:35(17), ResDam-I:35(19)
Level 18: Health -- Heal-I:35(A), Heal-I:35(40), Heal-I:35(43)
Level 20: Stamina -- EndMod-I:35(A), EndMod-I:35(21), EndMod-I:35(21)
Level 22: Rage -- RechRdx-I:35(A), RechRdx-I:35(23), RechRdx-I:35(23)
Level 24: Boxing -- Acc-I:35(A)
Level 26: Tough -- ResDam-I:35(A), ResDam-I:35(27), ResDam-I:35(27), EndRdx-I:35(31)
Level 28: Invincibility -- EndRdx-I:35(A), DefBuff-I:35(29), DefBuff-I:35(29), LkGmblr-Rchg+:35(31), LkGmblr-Def:35(37)
Level 30: Resist Energies -- ResDam-I:35(A), ResDam-I:35(36), ResDam-I:35(36)
Level 32: Foot Stomp -- Acc-I:35(A), Acc-I:35(33), Dmg-I:35(33), Dmg-I:35(33), EndRdx-I:35(34), RechRdx-I:35(34)
Level 35: Tough Hide -- DefBuff-I:35(A), LkGmblr-Rchg+:35(36), LkGmblr-Def:35(37)
Level 38: Weave -- DefBuff-I:35(A), DefBuff-I:35(39), DefBuff-I:35(39), EndRdx-I:35(39), EndRdx-I:35(50)
Level 41: Hurl -- Acc-I:35(A), Acc-I:35(42), Dmg-I:35(42), Dmg-I:35(42), Dmg-I:35(43), EndRdx-I:35(43)
Level 44: Hand Clap -- Acc-I:35(A), Acc-I:35(45), RechRdx-I:20(45), EndRdx-I:35(45), EndRdx-I:35(46), RechRdx-I:35(46)
Level 47: Resist Elements -- ResDam-I:35(A), ResDam-I:35(48), ResDam-I:35(50)
Level 49: Unstoppable -- RechRdx-I:35(A), RechRdx-I:35(50)
------------
Level 1: Brawl -- Acc-I:35(A)
Level 1: Sprint -- Run-I:35(A)
Level 2: Rest -- RechRdx-I:35(A)
Level 1: Fury
------------
Set Bonus Totals:- 3% Defense(Smashing)
- 3% Defense(Lethal)
- 3% Defense(Fire)
- 3% Defense(Cold)
- 3% Defense(Energy)
- 3% Defense(Negative)
- 3% Defense(Psionic)
- 3% Defense(Melee)
- 3% Defense(Ranged)
- 3% Defense(AoE)
- 15% Enhancement(RechargeTime)
- 20% (1.25 HP/sec) Regeneration
A few Set IOs for making things easier - the two Recharge IOs should give me the ability to double stack rage - not enough to really matter in combat, but enough to avoid the Defense debuff - and if I'm putting those in, I might as well slot the pure Defense from that set, and get the Regen bonus. And, of course, the +3 Defense IO is always useful. Other than that, though, I doubt I'll invest in IO sets.
I'm just not sure if I should try to move Hand Clap and Hurl - the two powers I'm making this character to take - to a point earlier in the build... -
Altitis strikes again!
Okay, this may take some explaining. I want to make the a Super Strength Brute... but not just someone using their fists to fight. I want to FEEL the Super Strength. Or, in short, I want to be sure to include Hurl and Hand Clap into the build - two powers I typically avoid.
Now, this is a concept and 'For Fun' character, not one I'm going to invest heavily in. This is the character I'm gonna take back to Mercy to rampage across the zone, throwing things everywhere.
That said, some questions:
Will Power or Invulnerability. Neither are ideal - Hand Clap's not good for either - but they both fit the concept well.
How should Hand Clap be slotted, if at all? Keep in mind, again, that I'm probably sticking to generic IOs.
When would you recommend that Hand Clap or Hurl be taken. Obviously, I'm not taking Hand Clap right away - I have much more useful things to grab at level 6 through 20 - but should I work it in sooner, or later?
Thanks for any help! -
I'd like to see a Hero Corp faction, that actually DID something. Right now, despite a few contacts and the operatives that change your difficulty Blue side, Hero Corp might as well not exist, yet its implied that it's a huge organization. They'd be a good alternative for Longbow in a few places, I think. Similarly, I'd like to see the Midnight Squad in action more than once...
I would like to see more with the "Flash-in-a-Pan" enemy groups: Sky Raiders, Tsoo, Warriors, Banished Pantheon... Groups that you out level so fast, you can miss them entirely.
And that's just Blue Side. Red side there are even more. And while some - like Luddites and Mooks - have plot based restrictions upon them, others (Goldbrickers in particular) could easily be expanded upon.
Speaking of Red Side, could we maybe expand upon the Legacy Chain and Wyvern? Then use them instead of Longbow several places. Between them and Hero Corps, I think we finally break the reflexive groan most villain players get when faced with more red & white... -
...wait, this thread is still going?
...
I feel bad, as I ended up deleting that character. My Altitis has been out of control, recently, and I've deleted several alts to make room for others that I probably won't stick with long. ^^;;
Hmm... Fire/MM... yeah, Psinferno... May rebuild him when GR hits, for the side change... -
Let me chime in with Claws. Instant Healing gets very little benefit from Healing enhancement: Without any enhancement, your IH give a 602% regen boost... with 3 50s, you're getting 604%.
That 2% is meaningless.
I've also got to agree that going Body Mastery, and specifically Physical Perfection, doesn't make much sense to me. This build should not need more Regen or Recovery... Unless you've got a specific theme reason for taking that, I'd switch it out for another Epic pool... or the Fighting pool for Tough. -
Despite the +Regen in Energize, you will see a lot more survivability from adding Defense.
Energize is only going to give you a little less than 200% added Regen for 30 seconds. With maxed out Recharge and Lightning Reflexes, it recharges in about 55 seconds. This is pretty good... but Energize's 49% heal is much more important to you than the drop in the bucket of its +regen.
Basically, with maxed out health and Energize up, you're looking at about... 375% regen, or 23.5 hp/sec (Not considering any +HP from Accolades.) On the other hand, lets look at a set where Regen is an integral part of its survivability: Willpower. With Fast Healing, Health, and Rise to the Challenge with no one in range... all unenhanced, WP has a Regen rate of 315% (19.7 HP/Sec without HPT; 23.7 HP/Sec with HPT unslotted; 25.6 hp/sec HPT maxed out.) Max the regen for each, without enemies in RttC range... 523% Regen (32.7 HP/Sec without HPT; 39.2 HP/Sec with HPT unslotted; 42.4 HP/Sec when HPT is maxed for Heal.)
And, of course, the more enemies around, the more Regen for WP.
Now, I don't know for certain (I certainly haven't tried this before), but I think if you can't get around 40 hp/sec Regen, then you aren't going to see any more benefit from it than as a downtime reduction. (Exact % will depend on your total HPs...) Does anyone have a more precise number?
Furthermore, there isn't a huge amount of +Regen you can really build into a /ElA Brute (er... depending on your Primary...) I simply don't think it's worth it.
Defense, on the other hand, will be (relatively speaking) easy to build into your character. And grabbing even 20% defense to all positions will make a big difference to you survivability. -
There are a few Temp Powers that fit the theme - powers that use a rod/staff/wand to cast through, for example. And, above all, the Rune of Warding - that looks like a magic attack!
As for power sets that can easily be interpreted as 'magical'
-Blast Sets: Electrical; Energy; Fire; Ice; Psychic; Dark
-Manipulation Sets: Any but Devices
-Control Sets: Yeah, all of them work. Yes, even Gravity.
-Buff/Debuff sets: Only Trick Arrow and Traps really feel off, here... but Sonic Resonance may also be a bit hard to swallow for a "Magic" set.
-Assault Sets: Thorns is a bit iffy, personally. Otherwise, their all good.
-Pet Summoning Sets: Necromancy. Demon Summoning will work too, post GR.
If you're going for a "Mage" feel, I doubt you want to use melee sets, so I won't bother there.
Of course, all of this is open to interpretation. I've seen a Assault Rifle/Devices Blaster that was Magic in origin. Character story was that she used 'Numerology" to design all her equipment... -
Personally? I want to read the other half of the story... but I think that's not going to be reveiled until we actually see GR - it'll be shown in the story there.
I say the other half, because we KNOW things are missing from this story. Like... a part neatly ignored in the Bio - we know Praetorian Cole still found the well with Richter... and murdered him there.
How about this: What was Cole doing for so long that he completely missed people nuking the world to fight the DEs? Australia isn't THAT cut off!
And Cole's defeat of a much different Hamidon through sheer willpower? Yeah... I'm casting my doubts there, too.
I'm pretty sure this Cole earned his name "Tyrant." I have suspicions about how things went down... but I do forsee that I need to budget in the price of this expansion in my future... -
Have I mentioned I'm a masochistic altaholic? That's the only explaination I can come up with for this...
So... I've got a hankering for something I've never really tried before - a mastermind with primarily melee henchmen. In other words, unleashing hoards of Zombies, or commanding a group of Ninja.
Similarly, I wish to dip into a secondary set I've never really tried before... so that means /Pain, /Poison, or /Thermal. (I've got plenty of /Traps, I will never again try /Force Fields, and understand that /Trick Arrow is counter productive with these pets...)
So, does anyone have a recomendation as to which of these work together well? Perhaps with more detail than "They Do" or "Well"?
Thanks, all. -
Both of these are still works in progress... but here's my plans:
Miz Roxy: Thugs/Traps
Punks: Simons, Dug
Arsonist: Hollywood
Enforcers: Axl, Slash
Bruiser: Big Bull
(Bonus points to those that get the theme there.)
Vlasta: Merc/Traps
Soldiers: Mauser; Luger
Medic: Colt
Spec Ops: Heckler; Koch
Commando: Gatling -
Quote:I've seen this happen to. I always went with "The RNG hates me today."So, my level 21 toon, running solo at +0/x2, yes boss, no AV. A Lost radio mission. It spawned absolutely nothing but bosses. Known issue?
I'll go several missions without seeing a single boss, then have one mission with nothing but.
It's annoying when it happens, but I'm not really sure if it's a problem, though... -
Whoa... more of a response than anticipated...
Anyway, I did consider both /Devices and Traps, but they don't mesh well with my play style - to much set up to do. I love Traps on a Mastermind, but I'm pretty sure it would drive me batty on a Defender or Corruptor.
I'm going to try out both an AR/Energy Manipulation blaster, and an AR/Mental Manipulation blaster, and see which I prefer.
Thanks, all! -
To the OP -
You might want to check if a Winter Lord was left active in the zone.
I've noticed if a Winter Lord is up, but just left alone, no other zone events happen in that zone. (Unless said zone event started before the Winter Lord was activated.)
Over the last week, on Victory, a Winter Lord was activated in Sharkshead and left for two days before a team got together to knock him off. During that entire time, the Ghost of Scrapyard was conspicuous by his absence.
Similarly, the only time I've seen Deathsurge and a Winter Lord up at the same time, was when the Winter Lord was activated after Deathsurge appeared. (I know this because I was on the team forming to take out 'surge, and someone decided to open the present that generated the WL.)
It's worth looking into, at any rate. -
Dang Altitis... How I ever managed to get any 50s with it is beyond me...
Okay, so... just like it says on the tin. What works best with Assault Rifle?
And I'm not asking for any particular AT. I mean, across all the ATs that can use the Assault Rifle. (Well, okay, not a Merc/ Mastermind.)
Which Blaster Secondaries are good? Which Corruptor Secondaries are good? And Defender Primaries? (Not that I think the last two lists will be all that different.)
Thanks, all.