Roderick

Well, like I said, I wasn't playing the market at all. I was just running my brute at +0x8, and selling any valuable drops (usually crafting them first). You'd be amazed how much you can earn, once you learn to separate the wheat from the chaff.

Since this thread started, I've made 260 million inf, by playing the game and selling the drops that I didn't want to keep. No farming, no marketeering.

How much money have you made while posting here, Blue?

P.S. Thanks for the thread. I haven't laughed so hard or so often for ages.

If you're under the effects of Daylight Saving Time, That means that KayST is GMT -4. During DST, you're at -3, and it's referred to as KayDT, to differentiate it from areas in the same time zone that don't observe Daylight Saving.

Something I've never tested:

For simplicity, assume all characters are level 50 and in the same SG, and that all enemies are even con.

According to Adeon, a minion is worth 13 Prestige, and a Lt is worth 44 while solo. If there were eight characters on the team, would they still earn the same amount (ie, an even division between all characters), or would there be more (ie, a "bonus for large teams", like granted for XP)?

As far as I know, no damage proc has an additional animation, only the hold procs do (Tesla Cage for most, the hold from Gravity for the purple one).

I really hate that Mids' doesn't work on Macs, but when it was first developed, that wasn't an issue. And rewriting it in a language that can be ported to Mac is probably more work than the Mids' team is going to want to do. :/

Ranged defense isn't the best choice for a blapper, because most mobs won't use ranged attacks in melee range unless they have no melee attacks recharged. So to use Council as an example, assuming that you're at melee range, War Wolves and Mekmen will almost never use a ranged attack, Galaxies and regular soldiers will only use ranged attacks about 1/4 to 1/3 of the time, and Marksmen will only rarely use melee attacks. Your ranged defense will be effective against about 25% of incoming attacks. If you had S/L defense, it would protect you against every attack from every enemy in the faction except ranged attacks from Galaxies, and the fire and cold shots from the marksmen. That's why I recommended S/L. Note that all the attacks that one lets through are covered by the other. Having moderate amounts is good, but getting large amounts of both is going to be difficult without making sacrifices in the build.

If you wanted to stick with the Ranged defense, I'd recommend one of two options: You could stay at range, possibly respeccing into Hover/Fly, so that enemies can only use ranged attacks on you. I hesitate to suggest this for you, because Hail of Bullets and most of Elec Manipulation are useless out of melee. The other option is jousting, which a build with both Ss and SJ should excell at. Jousting refers to queueing an attack from out of range, running into range and jumping away just before the attack fires. By doing this, travel suppression doesn't kick in as you jump away, and you spend more time at range where your defense shines. You can joust PBAoEs like Hail of Bullets too, but it's more complicated, since you can't queue the attack. It's a far more active method, and not for everyone, but it's effective, and if you want to PVP on a blaster, it's a good skill to have anyways.

As I said before, the level 50 IOs are fine, if you don't plan on exemplaring. In fact, if you plan on playing at 50 exclusively, they're better, because they have higher enhancement values. Lower level IOs are more exemplar friendly, but have lower enhancement values, so may make the build weaker, if you're not careful.

Right now, the only way to get IOs out of a build is to respec and put them in your enhancement tray, 10 at a time. Do NOT leave them in the big tray in the bottom; they'll be vendored for far less than market value. The devs have not hinted at a way to let us get back more in the future, in fact they seem against the idea.

There's nothing wrong with what you've got right now, it's just sub-optimally slotted. A character with set bonuses is always better than one with the same enhancement values and no set bonuses. If you want to make a fairly minor change, I'd stick with most of what you've got and change your epic to one with a resist based armor, so that the attacks that get through do less damage. If I remember correctly, some of the Patron Pools come with an AoE immobilize, which would be perfect for keeping them at range, then hopping in to hit Hail of Bullets, Power Sink, and a couple melee attacks, then hopping away again.

I would say that you should keep the character, tweak the build as you get the chance, and level up other characters at the same time - you do have 12 slots per server, after all! Honestly, you're not going to get the best builds on your first try until you've got more experience doing builds. Coming here and asking for help is one thing, but actually playing the character and seeing how things work together makes is all make a lot more sense.

Next time, either click "Verify Files" on the updater, or go into your CoH directory and delete coh.checksum then run the updater. Both of those can correct some errors, and are a lot quicker than restoring a backup, or worse, installing from scratch.

OK, this is what I quickly whipped up. See notes below the build.

Hero Plan by Mids' Hero Designer 1.81
http://www.cohplanner.com/

Click this DataLink to open the build!

Level 50 Natural Blaster
Primary Power Set: Dual Pistols
Secondary Power Set: Electricity Manipulation
Power Pool: Leaping
Power Pool: Fighting
Power Pool: Speed
Ancillary Pool: Cold Mastery

Hero Profile:
Level 1: Pistols

• (A) Decimation - Accuracy/Damage
• (3) Decimation - Damage/Endurance
• (3) Decimation - Damage/Recharge
• (5) Decimation - Accuracy/Endurance/Recharge
• (5) Decimation - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge

Level 1: Electric Fence

• (A) Decimation - Accuracy/Damage
• (46) Decimation - Damage/Endurance
• (46) Decimation - Damage/Recharge
• (46) Decimation - Accuracy/Endurance/Recharge
• (48) Decimation - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge

Level 2: Dual Wield

• (A) Decimation - Accuracy/Damage
• (7) Decimation - Damage/Endurance
• (7) Decimation - Damage/Recharge
• (9) Decimation - Accuracy/Endurance/Recharge
• (9) Decimation - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge

Level 4: Lightning Field

• (A) Multi Strike - Accuracy/Damage
• (37) Multi Strike - Damage/Endurance
• (37) Multi Strike - Damage/Recharge
• (40) Multi Strike - Accuracy/Endurance
• (40) Multi Strike - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance
• (40) Multi Strike - Damage/Endurance/Recharge

Level 6: Swap Ammo
Level 8: Bullet Rain

• (A) Positron's Blast - Accuracy/Damage
• (17) Positron's Blast - Damage/Endurance
• (19) Positron's Blast - Damage/Recharge
• (19) Positron's Blast - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance
• (21) Positron's Blast - Chance of Damage(Energy)

Level 10: Charged Brawl

• (A) Kinetic Combat - Accuracy/Damage
• (11) Kinetic Combat - Damage/Endurance
• (11) Kinetic Combat - Damage/Recharge
• (13) Kinetic Combat - Damage/Endurance/Recharge

Level 12: Havoc Punch

• (A) Kinetic Combat - Accuracy/Damage
• (13) Kinetic Combat - Damage/Endurance
• (15) Kinetic Combat - Damage/Recharge
• (15) Kinetic Combat - Damage/Endurance/Recharge

Level 14: Combat Jumping

• (A) Luck of the Gambler - Defense
• (17) Luck of the Gambler - Recharge Speed

Level 16: Build Up

• (A) Recharge Reduction IO
• (43) Recharge Reduction IO

Level 18: Executioner's Shot

• (A) Decimation - Accuracy/Damage
• (21) Decimation - Damage/Endurance
• (25) Decimation - Damage/Recharge
• (29) Decimation - Accuracy/Endurance/Recharge
• (31) Decimation - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge

Level 20: Super Jump

• (A) Jumping IO

Level 22: Boxing

• (A) Kinetic Combat - Accuracy/Damage
• (23) Kinetic Combat - Damage/Endurance
• (23) Kinetic Combat - Damage/Recharge
• (25) Kinetic Combat - Knockdown Bonus

Level 24: Tough

• (A) Steadfast Protection - Resistance/+Def 3%

Level 26: Weave

• (A) Luck of the Gambler - Defense/Endurance
• (27) Luck of the Gambler - Defense/Endurance/Recharge
• (27) Luck of the Gambler - Defense
• (29) Luck of the Gambler - Recharge Speed

Level 28: Thunder Strike

• (A) Multi Strike - Accuracy/Damage
• (34) Multi Strike - Damage/Endurance
• (36) Multi Strike - Damage/Recharge
• (36) Multi Strike - Accuracy/Endurance
• (36) Multi Strike - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance
• (37) Multi Strike - Damage/Endurance/Recharge

Level 30: Hasten

• (A) Recharge Reduction IO
• (31) Recharge Reduction IO
• (31) Recharge Reduction IO

Level 32: Hail of Bullets

• (A) Multi Strike - Accuracy/Damage
• (33) Multi Strike - Damage/Endurance
• (33) Multi Strike - Damage/Recharge
• (33) Multi Strike - Accuracy/Endurance
• (34) Multi Strike - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance
• (34) Multi Strike - Damage/Endurance/Recharge

Level 35: Power Sink

• (A) Efficacy Adaptor - EndMod
• (48) Efficacy Adaptor - EndMod/Recharge
• (48) Efficacy Adaptor - EndMod/Accuracy/Recharge
• (50) Efficacy Adaptor - Accuracy/Recharge
• (50) Efficacy Adaptor - EndMod/Accuracy
• (50) Efficacy Adaptor - EndMod/Endurance

Level 38: Shocking Grasp

• (A) Kinetic Combat - Accuracy/Damage
• (39) Kinetic Combat - Damage/Endurance
• (39) Kinetic Combat - Damage/Recharge
• (39) Kinetic Combat - Damage/Endurance/Recharge

Level 41: Snow Storm

• (A) Endurance Reduction IO
• (43) Endurance Reduction IO

Level 44: Frozen Armor

• (A) Luck of the Gambler - Defense/Endurance
• (45) Luck of the Gambler - Defense/Endurance/Recharge
• (45) Luck of the Gambler - Defense
• (45) Luck of the Gambler - Recharge Speed

Level 47: Hibernate

• (A) Recharge Reduction IO

Level 49: Super Speed

• (A) Run Speed IO

------------
Level 1: Brawl

• (A) Empty

Level 1: Sprint

• (A) Empty

Level 2: Rest

• (A) Empty
• (42) Empty
• (42) Empty
• (42) Empty
• (43) Empty

Level 1: Defiance
Level 4: Ninja Run
Level 6: Cryo Ammunition
Level 6: Incendiary Ammunition
Level 6: Chemical Ammunition



This gets you just over 45% defense to Smashing/Lethal. You've also got 58% global recharge, before Hasten. This leaves you with about 20-30 seconds of downtime on Hasten.

As slotted, Power Sink will take you from 0 to full off two targets, and will be back every 25 seconds, before accounting for Hasten.

I'm unsure how badly you'll need Stamina. If you find that this build runs dry too easily, use the four slots that I placed in Rest to slot Health and/or Stamina. (This is an Issue 19 build, it assumes that you'll have them as inherents rather than selecting them as power picks)

If you don't need the extra slots for Health/Stamina, move one into Charged Brawl and Havoc Punch, and two into Shocking Grasp, and fill them with your favorite triples or quads from Mako's Bite or Crushing Impact.

I personally would have slotted lower level enhancements in most places, in order to keep set bonuses while exemplared. Of course, doing so will reduce the enhancement values in the powers. This will have noticable effects in two places: Your melee attacks and your defense powers. Kinetic Combat does not provide the best enhancement values; lowering the levels will have noticable effect, especially when you aren't even at 99% damage at max level. Right now, you're just barely over 45%, so lowering the level of the enhancements in the defense powers WILL drop you below the softcap. Not by much; you might consider it an acceptable amount.

You had stated that you were intending to slot Obliteration into Thunderstrike and Hail of Bullets. I put Multistrike in both of those and Lightning Field. Either one would be good for HoB - Multistrike has far better endurance reduction and accuracy, Obliteration gives a better Defense set bonus, and cuts an extra 11 seconds off the recharge. In Thunderstrike, Obliteration will only take 2 seconds off the recharge. With Multistrike, it will be a bit slower, but since you'll still be using it every 9-10 seconds, the extra endurance reduction is a good thing. And Lightning Field needs to be slotted to have its best effect. Because it's a toggle, Multistrike is again the best choice. Another thing to consider in Multistrike vs. Obliteration is that Multistrike is FAR cheaper.

I personally wouldn't use Electric Fence at range, since mixing it into your attack chain will cause redraw. However, once you're at melee rance and start using your melee attacks, it's fine to throw it in as a filler attack if needed.

There's probably places where this build is lacking, but it should be fairly solid, and I'm sure others will show up with their own insights eventually.

EDIT: I just realized that I had completely neglected your Knockback protection. You said that you have some Blessing of the Zephyrs already; just slot the KB protection from those into SS and SJ instead of the common run/jump IOs.

EDIT2: Somehow, I either missed the first part of your post, or it slipped my mind before I replied. Sorry.
Why can't you use Mids'? It's far better than the online planner, so if you can make it work, it's worth it. If you can't, well, I posted a detailed copy of the build, so you should be able to make sense of it anyways.
Concerning the Rule of 5, it's 5 bonuses of the same name. So if you get 6.25% recharge from Posi's Blast and 6.25% from Decimation, both are called "Large Recharge Bonus" under Set Bonuses on your Powers window, so you can only have 5 total, whichever set they came from. If they do the same thing but have different names - like "Huge Recharge Bonus" and "Luck of the Gambler: +7.5% Global Recharge Speed", both of which are 7.5% rechagre - then you can have 5 of each. Generally, it's safe to count the same bonus from different sets as the same thing for the Rule of 5 - it usually is.

First: If you post a Mids' build, you'll likely get more and better responses.

Second: It looks like you're slotting for defense, but your choices are all over the map. I see a variety of positional defense sets, and then you have Frozen Armor. FA gives Smashing Lethal defense, which doesn't stack with your positional defenses (though your Melee defense from sets will grant half its value in S/L def). In the end, you'll block some attacks from just about any enemy, but not a very significant amount.

For a blaster, if you're going to focus on defense, you should pick one type and stick to it. I personally would recommend either Ranged with some extra AoE if you have the slots (for a blaster that plans to stay at range) or Smashing/Lethal (if you plan on being in melee range as often as not). Try to get to 45%, whichever you pick. It won't be cheap.

If you're going for S/L, forget Gaussian's. It eats up a huge amount of slots, and only gives its full bonus to positional defense. To typed defense, it only gives 1.25%.

I prefer Scorpion Shield to Frozen Armor because it gives Smashing/Lethal/Energy defense and Toxic resist, instead of S/L def and Cold resist. It also doesn't turn you into an ice cube. If you prefer the other powers in Cold Mastery, stick with FA. It's not a big difference.

Get the Fighting Pool (I see you have it in the build posted). Four slot boxing if you don't already have 5 single target melee attacks (I'll explain why in a moment). Don't add any slots to Tough. You'll need them elsewhere. Just put a Steadfast Protection Unique in it and pretend that it's an auto power that grants 3% def to all. Slot Weave as you prefer - I like Luck of the Gambler.

Don't bother with the End Redux in Combat Jumping; it's practically free as is. Either slot it with a common def IO, or a LotG +recharge.

Pick 5 single target melee attacks and four slot them with Kinetic Combat. This will massively increase your S/L defense. If they're attacks that you're not likely to use (like Boxing), just slot the cheapest parts you can. If you're going to use the attacks a lot, slot the first four and ignore the proc, then add one or two slots and fill them with triples or quads from Crushing Impact or Mako's Bite.

Stealth and Maneuvers are both usefull for adding a bit more defense, if you have room.

Once you've got 45% defense, work in as much +recharge as you can. Luck of the Gambler +recharge in your defense powers, Positron's Blast in your ranged AoEs and Devastation (I think, I always get devastation/Decimation mixed up) in your ST blasts are a good start. Without purples, I doubt you'll get enough recharge to perma Hasten, but you should be able to get a fair amount.

Building like this will be expensive, but using Alignmet Merits can cut the cost immensely, as long as you're willing to be patient.

I can't say how this would hold up in PVP, but my DP/Energy/Mace blaster with 45% S/L def and 90%-ish recharge solos most groups at x8 fairly well. It took a lot of time and Inf to pull off though.

I'll work up a build later and post it for you. Even if it's not exactly what you're looking for, it shouldn't be too hard to adapt.

They fade in and out, kinda like an Invisibility version of Carnie phasing. It's a real pain.

Last time I ran the arc, I ate the 2-3 yellows that were in my tray (on a toon that already had +perception), and STILL couldn't see them when they went invisible. I ended up getting fed up and eating enough purples to run through the mission and just ignored them.

You can't even stealth past them, either, since they all have targeting drone.

I had died once, in the first or second mission, while still with the team, because someone slipped a mez through the gap in PB, before I realized I needed to keep a Breakfree handy. I never brought aggro to the team - if I was by myself, then I was on my own until the team caught up.

As far as the "token defender" goes, there were four defenders and corrs on the team. One of them regularly came in and threw some buffs and debuffs for me, but the rest stayed together, so I wasn't spreading support thin.

Nobody said anything about it in team chat either, in fact everyone was getting along and chatting amicably, which is why I never said anything. I've been on ITFs and LGTFs where other tanks have outright gloated about stealing the brutes' agggro; I was hoping this guy wasn't doing that.

Well, I was taking alphas. I was letting him do his thing, then heading to an unaggroed part of the room and pulling them to a corner away from the group. Everyone was doing fine, and I was contributing more than poking away in the group with an empty bar. That's what was so strange: He was reducing my effedtiveness, and I'm pretty sure he was putting himself over the aggro cap, so those critters he left behind to chase my aggro would have been dropped onto the squishies, right?

Before I start, I want to clearly state that I have never seen this before, and am in no way judging tankers as a whole in this post. I just want some clarification and insight from those who know the AT better than me.

I was on a TF the other day, using my SS/SR brute. At the level we were exemplared to, I was still softcapped, but due to the loss of a couple set bonuses, neither Rage nor Practised Brawler were perma. I made sure to keep inspirations on hand in case I got mezzed in the 3 second window (they're good at sneaking a mez in during a tiny window!) or to offset the -def during a Rage crash.

For most of the TF, I'd wait for the tank to take the alpha in a new room, then hop past the team and start soloing the previously unaggroed mobs on the opposite side of the room. Most of the time I'd clear about 1/4 of the room by myself before meeting the rest of the team as they finished the front of the room.

About halfway through the TF, I noticed the aforementioned odd behavior from the tank. I don't think he was doing it earlier, but I'm not sure. As before, I was hopping past, and working on a separate part of the room. Then, suddenly I was surrounded by enemies who were doing the "I've been taunted" animation. I don't have taunt.

Paying closer attention revealed that the tank was taking the alpha, waiting for me to move in, then following me and taunting a bunch off me before going back to the rest of the team.

Why would a tank do this? I might chalk it up to him "saving" me, except that I had demonstrated that I didn't really need it. Right now, I'm considering writing the player off as either a jerk who was trying to screw over my fury bar, or too insecure to handle the thought of a player who can survive without him help. I don't play tanks, but I can't think of any reason one would benefit by doing this.

So what say you, tank experts? Did he have a good reason for doing that, or did I just find a jerk?

Because that's when you get access to SO's and SO strength Common IOs. (Barring unusual methods, like SKing up to join AV fights, or purchasing Yin-O's)

To have a seamless attack chain of just Siphon Life and Midnight Grasp, you need to get the recharge of each below the animation time of the other. The recharge of a power can never be reduced below 1/5th the base. Midnight Grasp has a 15 second recharge which can theoretically be reduced to 3 seconds, no lower. Siphon Life has a 1.93 second animation time.

Sorry, but it cannot be done without filler attacks.

Most likely, you already had some story arcs active before you switched sides. If you have any redside story arcs active, finish one off and talk to her again. If you don't have any red arcs, you may have to go back to blue side, finish one or more arcs, then come back.

Hopefully someone can think of something less drastic for you to try first.

I'm fairly certain that you can't.