Organica

I can't imagine any regen scrapper having endurance problems with quick recovery and stamina, but whatever makes you happy I'm sure. Personally I think you'll get a lot more use out of combat jumping with the defense and 7.5% global recharge.

I have a 50 broadsword/regen and I imagine that or MA/regen would be two of the more endurance-heavy regen sets, but my broadsword/regen is slotted with basic IOs and I don't have endurance problems that I can remember.

Is this a serious question?

Scrappers aren't forced to take Combat Jumping, you know. I'm sure it's a popular choice but hardly universal.

Well, that's another reason. If you're playing a blaster, and the tanker or defender is "challenged", you'll definitely notice. On a scrapper, not so much.

Let's see...

I solo'd Adamaster too, back when GMs had levels. He was well below my level.

I remember my 2nd day in the game, joining friends hunting hydras in the lake in Perez Park. For the longest time people loved to join hydra teams in Perez, despite the fact that they weren't really great experience. It was hard to convince people of the truth.

I remember tankers herding every hellion or skull in the entire park and bringing them to a single place for people to attack. Young players would get run over, people complained, but a lot of people thought it was fun.

I remember finding a devouring earth fungus emanator on a rooftop in King's Row. I was afraid to go near it, but I watched it for a long time to see if it would do anything.

I remember people were always broadcasting in King's Row looking for the Lost and for Circle of Thorns. There were hunt missions for them and the CoT mostly spawned at night and high on rooftops, at a time (and at character levels) where nobody could fly yet.

I remember being taken to Talos Island at level 17 by some friends. I was playing an empath and it was my highest-level character at that point, and I was scared of everything in this "high level" zone. This was before IP when level 40 was the max level.

I remember my first visit to Founder's Falls. I was low level and stayed near the Talos zone entrance (there was no tram to Founders) while my friends did something. I'd been warned that snipers would kill you if you wandered around in that city.

I remember seeing Nemesis for the first time. They were the robots, it was an ambush, and they were in Talos and were much higher level than nearly everyone in the zone. This was on Pinnacle, and I remember the high-level player that killed them for everyone was Link Oot.

I remember herding freaks at the back end of Crey's Folly for several levels with my fire tanker. I gained several levels in the mid to upper 30's that way over maybe a week or so, and thought it was great experience. Which, at the time, it was.

I remember one SG mate taking me to Dark Astoria and showing me how many zombies a fire controller could burn. This was back when you could potentially have as many as 15 imps out at once. I started my own fire/kin, (his was fire/something else, I forget) and he said, "fire control and kinetics should be a pretty powerful combination." Heh, ya think?

Then I leveled my fire/kin on Winter Lords and for a while I got to experience the fun of 12-15 imps at a time myself. ^_^ So I guess I can say I was one of the original PL'd fire/kins.

I remember the big thing was to get the Vahzilok story arc, and then farm the final misison with Doc Vahz. You'd get an SO for killing him, it was usually around level 18-20 so it was earlier than you could buy an SO, and the mission didn't end until you clicked on all the corpses so you could run it over and over and get a bunch of SOs. People really did that, lol. These days I sometimes don't slow anything before level 22, and then go direct to IOs. ^_^

I remember how people fought things up to 7 levels above them for the massive experience. A lot of people left when they implemented the great "purple nerf".

I remember when female characters had nipples...

There's something positively refreshing about a "good old days" thread that is 3-4 years old. ^_^

Yeah I noticed that too.

Well, I did roll on a bunch of common salvage and throw it up on the market, only to save myself from paying over 150,000 for a scientific supply or waiting 3 hours for my bid to fill. But yeah, it's clear that people redside are using AE more than blueside. Rare salvage is comparatively cheap, usually around 1 million, often even less, while uncommon salvage is remarkably expensive and in short supply.

But just overall, redside suffers from lack of supply. Conceptually the whole black market thing makes no sense to me anyway. It's not like criminals aren't allowed to buy stuff from regular stores in real life. Usually a black market sells stuff even cheaper, avoiding government taxes or regulations or price fixes, or simply selling stuff that isn't legal to sell or is cheap knockoffs of name brands. But basically, cheaper and more choices, not more expensive and less choices. And the Rogue Isles must be the only country in the world where no government-approved stores exist, period.

In a real world you wouldn't prevent criminals from buying at a legitimate market, you'd worry about heroes tempted to buy stuff cheaper off the black market. A black market would exist to circumvent the official government-sanctioned market (doesn't exist redside). And Wentworth's wouldn't hesitate to open up in whatever market they were allowed into.

What you need to to is frame it in the form of an "influence gathering experiment" to see how much money can be made by soliciting donations from other players.

So I spent all my play time yesterday and today on my top two villains, and I hardly did anything.

I respec'd my level 50 DM/EA brute and, with 1 billion influence, tried to completely redo the character according to my latest planned build. This involved a lot of buying recipes and waiting for salvage bids to go through, and buying salvage from AE, and running a couple of missions in AE to get more tickets (ran the Mercedes Lackey arc, it was okay, and later the "Relativity Be Damned" arc which was a great deal of fun).

I also respec'd my 43 bots/dark MM. She had about 600 million, and I only spent about 200 million fixing her up, although it still took much of the weekend to accomplish.

Anyway, my build for my brute was fatally flawed. I had decided to use power sink and dark consumption both and forgo Fitness/Stamina entirely, which allowed me to pick up some other powers I wanted such as most of my EA powers and my own personal widow pet. I was also trying to build in as much smashing/lethal defense as I could, which still amounted to something less than 30%, and meant I was running six toggles with tough and weave. The flaw would have become evident eventually I think, but was extra obvious when I was exempted down to 26 for the Mercedes arc (I was set to +4 at the time). I was bleeding endurance all over the place, even as I chewed blue inspirations like candy. It wasn't pretty.

I spent some time trying to rework my new build to factor in as much recovery as possible, but then I decided to give up. Even in the best of circumstances, a long fight was going to be a problem. Sooo... I went back to the drawing board, stuffed Stamina back into the build, and after debating with myself for a while gave up on the idea of much defense at all and dropped Weave. It's not such a great power anyway, and I still wanted Power Surge and my widow pet. Had to get rid of Dark Consumption (not really needed with stamina and power sink) and touch of fear (nice power but I rarely used it, and I have midnight grasp to freeze an enemy anyway).

Then I used two vetspecs to disassemble my new build and sell off parts of it, which eventually returned about 250 million back to me (still got some stuff for sale, of course). And I spent a lot more time bidding on recipes and the salvage to craft 'em. Also rolling bronze rolls to raise more money.

I still don't like the redside market, but I finally have my brute to where I'm pretty happy with her. She's still pretty squishy, but that's normal for EA anyway I guess. She has a nice 1-2-3-4 attack of shadow punch, smite, air superiority and siphon life, and can throw in quite a bit of AoE with Soul Drain, Dark Obliteration, Power Sink and Lightning Field.

I ran through the Relativity arc set for 4 people at +2, and I only managed to get myself killed once, which is okay solo against large groups of Arachnos I suppose. I didn't need a single blue inspiration that whole time, so that problem's solved, but I ate a lot of purples and greens.

And two idiots begged me multiple times to PL them. I put one of them on ignore.

That was my weekend. ^_^

I agree with the post last week (was it you, Fulmens?) that said that adjusting the influence --> prestige rate so that you buy MORE prestige with your influence would probably result in a lot more people using it, and thus destroying influence.

Maybe they need to introduce a few new things that you buy with influence, that people will want, but that won't dramatically alter the game. Again I say, an ebil badge that costs 2 billion influence would be a start. ^_^ But other things... more temporary powers, something the equivalent of "epic mounts" if they ever consider adding vehicles, or perhaps new craft-able costume recipes that you can only buy from a special vendor for influence/infamy.

Or the Fulmen's Co-Op Task Force, with an entrance fee of 5 million. Entrance fees for actual missions to be sold separately.

Smurphy gets his own Smurphy Task Force, with multiple AVs and every enemy set to +4. No, wait, you can set it to +4 (or even higher? ) if you pay enough influence. Also, you can have the task force renamed for your own character, with your character as the contact, for a modest fee of... One Beeeeellion Dolla... I mean influence!

Likewise, just thrown together and probably not the most spectacular build around, but this gives you 49.3% melee, 50.8% ranged, and 55.2% AoE. Which is overkill. Just an example of how easy it is to softcap an SR.

Hero Plan by Mids' Hero Designer 1.601
http://www.cohplanner.com/

Click this DataLink to open the build!

Level 50 Magic Scrapper
Primary Power Set: Dark Melee
Secondary Power Set: Super Reflexes
Power Pool: Fitness
Power Pool: Leaping
Power Pool: Fighting
Power Pool: Speed

Hero Profile:
Level 1: Smite -- T'Death-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(A), T'Death-Dmg/Rchg(3), T'Death-Dmg/EndRdx(3), T'Death-Acc/Dmg(5), T'Death-Dam%(5), T'Death-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(7)
Level 1: Focused Fighting -- S'dpty-EndRdx/Rchg(A), S'dpty-Def/EndRdx/Rchg(7), S'dpty-Def/EndRdx(9), S'dpty-Def/Rchg(9), S'dpty-Def(11)
Level 2: Focused Senses -- S'dpty-Def/EndRdx(A), S'dpty-Def/Rchg(11), S'dpty-EndRdx/Rchg(13), S'dpty-Def/EndRdx/Rchg(13), S'dpty-Def(15)
Level 4: Agile -- RedFtn-Def/EndRdx(A), RedFtn-Def/Rchg(15), RedFtn-EndRdx/Rchg(17), RedFtn-Def/EndRdx/Rchg(17), RedFtn-Def(19), RedFtn-EndRdx(19)
Level 6: Shadow Maul -- Oblit-Dmg(A), Oblit-Acc/Rchg(21), Oblit-Dmg/Rchg(21), Oblit-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(23), Oblit-%Dam(23), Oblit-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(25)
Level 8: Siphon Life -- Theft-Heal(A), Theft-Acc/EndRdx/Heal(25), Theft-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg(27), Theft-Acc/Heal(27), Theft-+End%(46)
Level 10: Swift -- Run-I(A)
Level 12: Combat Jumping -- ULeap-Stlth(A), LkGmblr-Def(29), LkGmblr-Rchg+(46)
Level 14: Super Jump -- Zephyr-Travel(A), Zephyr-Travel/EndRdx(29), Zephyr-ResKB(31)
Level 16: Health -- Mrcl-Rcvry+(A), Numna-Regen/Rcvry+(31), Mrcl-Heal(40)
Level 18: Practiced Brawler -- RechRdx-I(A)
Level 20: Stamina -- EndMod-I(A), P'Shift-End%(31), P'Shift-EndMod(33)
Level 22: Dodge -- LkGmblr-Def(A), LkGmblr-Rchg+(33), LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx(33)
Level 24: Quickness -- Run-I(A)
Level 26: Dark Consumption -- Erad-Acc/Rchg(A), Erad-Dmg/Rchg(34), Erad-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(34), Erad-Dmg(34), Erad-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(36), Erad-%Dam(36)
Level 28: Soul Drain -- Erad-Acc/Rchg(A), Erad-Dmg(36), Erad-Dmg/Rchg(37), Erad-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(37), Erad-%Dam(37), Erad-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(39)
Level 30: Lucky -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A), LkGmblr-Def(39), LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx(39)
Level 32: Midnight Grasp -- Cloud-ToHitDeb(A), Cloud-Acc/ToHitDeb(42), Cloud-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg(43), Cloud-%Dam(43), P'ngS'Fest-Acc/Dmg(45), P'ngS'Fest-Dmg/Rchg(46)
Level 35: Evasion -- GftotA-Def(A), GftotA-Def/EndRdx(40), DefBuff-I(40)
Level 38: Boxing -- Dmg-I(A)
Level 41: Tough -- S'fstPrt-ResDam/Def+(A), Aegis-ResDam(42), Aegis-ResDam/EndRdx(42), Aegis-ResDam/Rchg(43)
Level 44: Weave -- LkGmblr-Def(A), LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx(45), LkGmblr-Rchg+(45)
Level 47: Touch of Fear -- Abys-Acc/Rchg(A), Abys-Dam%(48), Abys-Acc/EndRdx(48), Abys-Acc/Fear/Rchg(48), Abys-EndRdx/Fear(50)
Level 49: Hasten -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(50), RechRdx-I(50)
------------
Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Sprint -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Rest -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Critical Hit

Positional defenses are melee, ranged, and AoE. If you can soft cap all three then you're in really good shape. That should be doable on an SR or Shield scrapper.

Typed defenses include smashing/lethal and other types such as energy, negative energy, fire, cold, etc. Please note: If you're softcapped for melee defense, then an attack that is melee and smashing/lethal will check against the melee defense (whichever is higher). Therefore you do NOT need to softcap vs. both melee and smashing/lethal. In fact it's pointless to do so.

Given that you're SR, you should have no problems softcapping melee and ranged, if not AoE as well.

As for what's better, resist or defense... softcapped defense is going to make you much tougher in most situations than high resists will. But when defense lets you down, it can do so in a big way, yes. I'll let the numbers people explain in more detail, but the difference between 40% defense and 45% defense can be pretty huge.

Also you can't really build for resist through IOs. There are just a couple that add a little bit, but basically if you play a resistance set you have high resists, if you don't, you don't. But a resistance set can have very high defense through IOs or even softcapped defense (to melee or to smashing/lethal usually), and that can be a great combo. ^_^

(Admittedly, mostly because I don't spend enough time working it for influence. Anyway.)

I've grown pretty used to outfitting blue-side characters however I want. Admittedly, I've only "purpled out" one blaster, but I have multiple scrappers and tankers with sofcapped builds of various sorts... probably 15 or 20 toons built out how I want them to be, give or take a couple of the harder-to-get IOs. And I tend to buy a certain amount of that at the "buy it NAO" price if I can (if it's not too expensive), just so it doesn't take so long to outfit my character. But I also outfit characters with IO sets in the 27-33 range for exempting purposes, and that often requires bidding and waiting a week. Still, I know those bids will fill.

Meanwhile, I have a level 50 brute. Last Summer or Fall I had over 2 billion infamy on my brute, and set about "purpling out" the character. Only I ran out of influence very quickly due to the high cost of purples redside. I set about earning more infamy and eventually I had a 5-piece set of Hectacomb and a 5-piece set of Armageddon for my troubles.

I've been in a holding pattern since, waiting until I had the infamy so that I could respec into a better build and fully IO out the character properly. This morning, with over 1 billion infamy in hand, I tried to do that... and including bids I have in for 5 pieces of Gravitational Anchor (isn't that supposed to be one of the cheap purple sets?), I'm back down to 8 million infamy.

The build I'm working from has me placing a 5 piece set of Apocalypse in Gloom and a 5 piece set of Ragnarok in Dark Obliteration... which admittedly is overkill and will probably never happen. Even so, I've spent more than 3 billion on this one character and my build still isn't quite complete.

I don't think I've ever spent even as much as 2 billion on a hero. Maybe that much on my purpled blaster, who has 3 different damage sets, but I bought most of those purple recipes last Summer and Fall when they seemed to be cheaper. Is it just my imagination, or have purples continued to go up in price despite what everyone predicted with the coming of the new mission settings?

Anyway, no big insights here, just kinda sticker shock from price of nice sets redside. I'm mostly reluctant to put bids in for stuff at lower levels too if it isn't already for sale, a lot of stuff takes 1-3 months for one recipe to pop up for sale at that level.

Time to earn more infamy I guess.

FYI:

The names Doomy Doom Doom and Doom Doomy Doom are free on Virtue and Justice. Doom Doomy Doom is available also on Freedom, but Doomy Doom Doom is already taken. (/em shakes fist at Doomy Doom Doom of Freedom.)

Doomsayer is, of course, taken on all servers. Doomcryer, however, is still available on Justice, Infinity, Pinnacle, Liberty, Protector and Victory.

Sounds like a good deal.

I can not believe people are complaining about the Posi TF being revamped. Really? I mean, seriously? Do you have no idea how many people have been begging for that for how long?

For an issue that they originally didn't even plan to release before GR?

I swear, they could introduce 3 brand new zones for each side, revamp Dark Astoria and give it a series of zone-specific missions that lead to a new Task Force, turn the Shadow Shard into a co-op zone with revamped Task Forces, and people would STILL complain about it.

Because waiting sucks.

1. Waiting to find a team sucks.

2. Waiting for the team to assemble sucks.

3. Waiting for the tank to attack first sucks.

4. Waiting for the tank to gather aggro sucks.

5. Waiting for mez/sleep/hold to wear off sucks.

Waiting sucks. I wanna attack now! Scrapper can do.

I've always skipped Crippling Axe Kick. I didn't like the animation, but I was under the impression that it wasn't that great a power anyway given the animation time. Maybe I was wrong?

And I've always, always, skipped the taunt and Cobra Strike.