Rigel_Kent
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Posts
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Joined
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Quote:Not my job! The star just means I put together a team with a good mix of abilities and a sensible size, pick a mission or task to fit everyone's schedule, select an appropriate difficulty level, and do a bit of logistics in the background. The star does not mean I know how to do your job, and the star definitely does not mean I get to micromanage your decisions for you.Originally Posted by Ultimo_
My question is, what would you have preferred if you were the team leader?
But since you're asking my advice, and I don't know enough about your job to give you a good yes/no answer, all I can do is 1) answer you honestly "I don't know," 2) encourage you to try both builds as a learning experience (for both of us), 3) recruit a little extra support and stock some extra inspirations, just in case, 4) ask the team to pass you any SOs and IOs we find that you can use, and schedule a shopping break for you if you need it, and most importantly, 5) back you up if anyone gives you a hard time over your decision. -
My level 5 newbie kept getting pwned by level 19 Clockwork Princes while running from Atlas Park to Kings Row to meet my new contact.
And then someone told me there's a train. -
Quote:The devs brought down the nerf hammer for enemies (ostensibly) giving 25% too much XP (see: Freakshow XP adjustment in Issue 16). It's completely fair to say enemies giving 25% too little XP is something that needs to be fixed as well.Originally Posted by Rodion
Characters level so quickly now that it's silly to natter on about 15% or 25% less XP.
I see where you're coming from, but your assumptions about what I want out of AE are wrong. What's fun for you != what's fun for me. I use custom costumes to tell part of the story in a visual way, so recolored non-custom NPCs don't always work for what I'm trying to do. The high difficulty of custom critters has proven a very tall obstacle to finding an audience, though I will admit having 25% XP taken off the customs doesn't seem to have made the situation any worse. Certainly didn't make it better, though.Quote:Getting to 50 in the shortest time isn't the most important thing: having fun, playing the character you want, getting the things you want for it are just as important if not more so. -
Quote:Perhaps you haven't played my arc.Originally Posted by The_Alt_oholic
Perhaps, your story missions aren't as much "story" as mine or you are creating custom critters that have extreme power sets.
Oh, let's be honest. You clearly haven't played my arc.
Tell you what. You don't judge my arc that you haven't played, and I won't tell the forum where you have your head stuffed up. Deal?
Fair enough. It'll be nice when that happens, but I'm not holding my breath for "Soon™".Quote:Originally Posted by Obsidius
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Radiant Aura is good at Hami raids for the same reason it's good anywhere else. Self-heal. Just be sure to get away from whatever's hurting you. ***
I have doubts about Radiation Infection. Mito and nucleus attacks seem to be autohit. *
Accelerate Metabolism the entire raid at the safe rock just before entering the goo. This helps the yellow spike teams take out the yellows quickly, and also grants some protection from the blues' endurance hose and shortens stun durations. ****
Accelerate Metabolism throughout the green and blue phases will continue to protect against the blues' endurance hose. ****
Enervating Field and Achilles Heel will reduce the damage resistance of whichever target is being spiked by the raid at any given moment. Yellow teams probably won't invite you, since most yellow team leaders are locked into a only-scrappers-and-healers-help-against-yellows mindset, but it's just as good if you follow them and debuff from a safe distance during the yellow spikes. Keep in mind that Enervating Field is autohit, but Achilles Heel can only hit if the power it's slotted in hits. ****
Mutation on fallen heroes will help keep morale up and keep people coming back week after week to help. It'll also cut down safe rock waiting periods between runs. ***
Lingering Radiation is useful during the monster sweeping phase. Due to the way the nucleus's health interacts with the raid mechanics, it's not essential during the raid itself. ***
Choking Cloud is of minor help against green mitos, but don't try getting close to yellows or blues, and don't bother against the nucleus. **
Fallout is unlikely to be helpful since dead bodies tend to land too far away from mitos to help. The resistance debuff is a little nice, if you manage to land it. **
EM Pulse: You have better things to do with your endurance and recovery. *
Neutrino Bolt, X-Ray Beam, Aim, Cosmic Burst: Helps spike greens and blues. Careful not to get too close to blues. ****
Irradiate, Electron Haze, Neutron Bomb: Helps spike greens only, if your ST attack chain isn't already full from NB XRB CB. **
Proton Volley: Interrupted by goo. *
Atomic Blast: You have better things to do with your endurance and recovery. *
What's your APP? -
Quote:Also, anything you could think about doing to make your custom critters anything less than extremely deadly at any level, or to restrict minion/LT/boss ranks from spawning for story purposes, has been nerfed - for questionable reasons.Originally Posted by The_Alt_oholic
Basically, anything you could think about doing to make your custom critters easily defeatable and worth more xp has been nerfed - for good reason.
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Quote:Hint: I don't put Vengeance on auto just because I'm crazy. Rez on auto should work similarly.Originally Posted by Quinz
Once you click on the name in the window you have about a half-second you ARE targeting the person. If you click and press the rez quick enough, you can bring them back, even though they are gone.
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First!
Traps
Bugs
* Web Grenade reduces targets' movement speed and accepts slow enhancements, but does not accept slow IO sets.
* Force Field Generator summons a flying pet but cannot be targeted in mid-air.
And echoing an issue I had with Cold Domination>Infrigidate:
Balance Issues
Cold Domination
Balance Issues
* Web Grenade's non-stacking slows grant targets a moment of freedom from Web Grenade's slows whenever the power is reapplied. Targets can move and recharge dramatically faster during this period. -
Quote:"Liar Liar Pants on Fire" isn't going to help foster reasoned debate.Originally Posted by Panzerwaffen
Yay! More over-the-top exaggeration! Please, for entertainment, explain how you cannot complete a solo heroic mission without using "a whole tray of breakfrees".
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It's not easy taking what you want out of a character concept, and what you want out of gameplay experience, and getting the two to meet in the middle.
Here, I think the "character concept" side has a little more to give.
Quote:Paladins are a 16th century thing. What backstory did you come up with to resolve the moral, technological, and political contradictions between past and future? In other words, why is he using a pointy stabby metal thing when everyone else has ray guns?Originally Posted by serpentcommander
A futuristic Paladin
Or are you talking WoW paladins? That'd be even a harder job to reconcile with a futuristic world, I'm afraid. -
Don't drop Neutron Bomb for Irradiate because Irradiate appears better at debuffing. There's more to it than just comparing -26% for Irradiate versus -17.5% for Neutron Bomb. Check the durations, too: Neutron Bomb is pretty even with Irradiate for stacking debuffs over time because it lasts 16 seconds compared to Irradiate's 10 seconds.
That said, do drop Neutron Bomb for Irradiate if you want a fast animating power that lets you get on with your melee attack chain quickly. -
Quote:For Mental Blast, you're looking mostly at the "one target left standing" situation, where Scream and Tornado aren't much more than a 5.4 second yawn break. Although Scream (not Tornado) debuffs a single target better than Mental Blast, Mental Blast does more DPA, so it's a tradeoff against a single target. With Traps getting things close to the recharge floor already, I suspect it's a good tradeoff.Originally Posted by Draggynn
Well, whether the -recharge is worthwhile or not depends on if you're taking psychic scream (-62.5) and psionic tornado (-37.5) which together cap -recharge against +2 enemies. This when combined with the additional -recharge you have in traps makes the -recharge in mental blast not especially worthwhile.
Of course, then, it's fair to ask whether a single boss or EB is enough of a threat that you'll need to floor -recharge anyway. I like being able to do it; not everyone would.
And it's also fair to ask whether it's an even better tradeoff to forget secondary -recharge completely and go for straight damage, if Traps is flooring recharge without secondary help. Myself, I don't plan on getting Poison Trap perma, and I expect to fight +2s and higher from time to time, so Traps alone won't floor recharge for me. (Which is too bad since I'm Traps/Energy.) -
Ooh, there's the other guy. Wow, what are the chances we both show up in the same thread?
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Quote:Except that mezzes have this weird tendency to hit my non-AR/Dev blaster right after he hits Aim and Build Up, and healz0rs have this weird tendency to use Defiance as an excuse not to Clear Mind me until I type "zzzzz". So, sorry, but I take exception at the notion that Blasters getting mezzed and unable to use any AoE damage powers for 10 seconds isn't a big deal.Originally Posted by macskull
Given the current PvE mez and toggle rules, people needn't complain about micro-mezzes anymore, and standard mezzes are just a small hurdle that's easily overcome with a Break Free or two.
Now, being the naughty boy that I am, I guess I could fix the situation by typing "zzzzz" whenever I hit Aim and Build up whether I'm mezzed or not. It's tempting. -
I go for utility over damage, so my picks would be Mental Blast for moar -recharge (with Web Grenade and Poison Trap, and the possibility of some self-stacking too), Subdue for AV rooting (Peroxisomes are cheap), and Will Domination to make the two or three guys who play Psi/* blasters jealous (I'm one of them).
Telekinetic Blast is nice as a source of non-psi damage, but since you're Traps, meh, just toe bomb 'em. -
Quote:Good point. Maybe the devs should concentrate on individual critter mezzes, fixing the ones that are out of whack on a case by case basis. Then step back and see if system-wide changes are still necessary.Originally Posted by UnicyclePeon
I just wish Malta minions didnt chain-throw stun grenades that have a 20 second duration...
Which is great when only bosses are mezzing you. But then the minions start mezzing too, at the ripe old level of, oh, about twenty.Quote:Originally Posted by DSorrow
Not needed. If you're afraid of a mezzing boss on a squishy... pop a couple of lucks... or pop a break free... it is very rare not to be able to have either lucks or BFs. -
Quote:Unless you're on a PuG. Tanking with a sarcasm-quoted "squishy" debuff defender will usually get you yelled at or kicked, on a PuG. On occasion I've had PuG buffers (Kinetics most often!) even start to withhold buffs in an attempt to put debt on me and teach me not to tank.Originally Posted by StratoNexus
When I run on [teams with lots of buffs], it is not unusual for a Dark (or Storm or Rad or TA or Cold or FF) to engage the next spawn in order to get it grouped/debuffed. When you have buffs turning most of the team into tanks, you can enagage multiple spawns easier and therefore we often do, which makes a good debuffer still very useful.
Of course, I never learn.
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Quote:Achilles Heel in Slug?Originally Posted by Benchpresser
They don't stack from the same power, but slotting 1 in both Burst and Slug will stack. So I can effectively floor a boss's Defense and Resistance with some luck.
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I'd say game balance is actually the minor concern here. When heroes (without mez protection) are as easy to hold, root, stun, and put to sleep as minions, that's so far out of true-to-genre that I find it's immersion breaking. Heroes should be at least as hard as LTs to mez for that reason alone.
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An */Energy permadom might be more up your alley. Or some flavor of Force Fields, Sonic Resonance, or Traps. Traps in particular might be something to look at, since the jury's still out on how good or bad it is for Defenders (it's at least semi-good for soloing), and it sounds like a match for your theme.
As far as blasters go, you can get good survivability if you've got the inf to buy it, but don't get your hopes up for mez protection. There's Defiance I guess: Power Bolt, Blast, and Thrust will still work when mezzed.
NOTE: I plan on rolling a Traps/Energy defender soon. If you're still on the fence about it next week, necro this thread and I'll let you know how it's going. -
Quote:Sonic Attack and Ice Blast? They can afford to miss out on a buff.Originally Posted by Leo_G
Just curious, but do you think buffing snipes in such a way would upset intra-AT balance with sets that don't have snipes?
I'm looking more at Defenders and Corruptors, who also have snipes, and aren't exactly the strongest ATs right now. One and one together, I don't see why any love for snipes can't be shared equally over all the ATs. -
Quote:Debuff stacking was the norm at launch, with mostly just toggle debuffs being unstackable (for obvious reasons). For instance, all the click debuffs in defender secondaries stack, Siphon Power stacks, Fearsome Stare stacks.Originally Posted by Trickshooter
For the most part, no debuffs usually stack with themselves, at least not from the same caster. The only kinds of debuffs that stack are those that summon pet entities to do the actual debuff, such as Glue and Disruption Arrow.
Click debuffs put into the game after, ohhhh, right around PvP was put into the game, started being unstackable more often than not. Now I can't say for sure that PvP balance is to blame for so many click debuffs being unstackable, but I can say it's odd that click slows from launch, such as Lingering Radiation, are stackable except for the max speed component, which was added later as a PvP balance concern. (Note: Web Grenade was around at launch but had its slow debuffs added post-PvP. Those debuffs are unstackable.)
The big exception is Sonic Attack, which is stackable like the other defender secondaries. (Three cheers for cut & paste game development, I'd say.) -
Thank you for having the guts to post here. Everything suggested so far in this thread also has non-farming applications, so I appreciate the ideas.
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Quote:The good time for it is when you need to stay still for an interruptible power. Fly + Aid Self = much sadness. Fly + CJ + Aid Self = much joy.Originally Posted by TwinBlades_01
Theres a good time and a bad time for movement control...
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Quote:To be fair, a well aimed Disruption Arrow is handy on Hamidon Raids. Situational, but really nice when the situation comes up.Originally Posted by Trickshooter
I mean, the only thing TA can do that Traps absolutely cannot do...
And, fair disclosure, I'll probably roll Traps/Energy sometime this week.
P.S.: How many Traps can be used while hovering somewhat close to the ground? How many Traps can be used while hovering far off the ground?