Rush_Bolt

(QR)
I've got it on my Energy/Energy.

Basically, I use it:
1) Whenever I come across a boss that I want to take down fast
2) I want to just look at what kinds of buffs are running on a particular foe
3) EBs/AVs as often as possible; every little bit helps

I've got it slotted with 4 IOs from Analyze Weakness (for the +DMG). That puts it up about every 27s. With a 20s duration, that's not bad.

(QR)
Hrm, I love taking Flight on my Blasters, so I'll try to not do so here.

When looking at the Travel pools, I look more at the early powers instead of the Travel itself. Which of those would help the character more? Adding in Suppression means you need to look at more than just the Travel, too.

The Speed Pool's good for Hasten. Some love having that one, personally, I don't, so I rarely take this pool. It may prove to be a real asset when you get your longer charging powers though.

The Jumping Pool is my usual go-to for non-flyers. Combat Jumping + Hurdle makes for some VERY good combat mobility. It's unsuppressed, costs very little to run and can keep you bouncing out of melee with ease.

Teleport? Ehh... odd man out. Not fond of the Travel and the prereqs generally don't endear themselves to me either.

(QR)
1) Disagreed.

Out of the total 12 ATs, Blasters have more power set combinations than 8 of them (Scrappers, PBs, WSs, Stalkers, Masterminds, Dominators, Soldiers and Widows). If we ignore the Epic ATs, Blasters still beat out 4 of 10. This is not the low end. It's right smack in the middle of the pack.

Would it be nice to get more sets? Sure. But that's neither here nor there.


2) Disagreed.

As pointed out low-level Blasters bloom very early. As in, you create it and hit the Tutorial and you've bloomed. Early-game Blasters are the easy street going up to the rocky road of the end-game content.

(QR)
I happen to be one of the strange ones I suppose: I like Gravity. It's my favorite control set. But yeah, as Talen points out it does have its issues.

Grav's a late-bloomer so ideally you want to pair it with an early-blooming secondary. /Electric certainly fits the bill. /Psi does not, though that may change with the upcoming tweaks Castle's got in mind. (For the record, my Gravity Dom is Grav/Psi.)

Something with some decent AoE would probably help as well. Gravity's got some semi-decent ST in it, plus when you plop down a spawn with Wormhole it's nice to be able to take care of them all then and there.

/Ice could probably also work as well for Power Boost to beef up Grav's lowish AoE control ability.

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POST IS FULL OF SPOILERS!!!

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Nope.

AFAIK, the Rikti never encountered Praetorian Earth.









The Rikti Invasion started like so:
1) Nemesis discovers/steals dimensional portal technology. Possibly by having a mole in Dr. Webb's research team.

2) Nemesis creates robotic duplicates of the Freedom Phalanx. He sends the duplicates into the Rikti dimension on skirmishes and attacks, pushing the peaceful Rikti toward an aggressive stance.

3) Nemesis starts a fight with the real Freedom Phalanx. He "escapes" via a portal, but has the portal reset so that instead of following him, the pursuing Phalanx is transported to the Rikti dimension instead.

4) The Rikti assume the the Phalanx have returned and are attacking again, thus they "counter" attack.

5) The Phalanx retreats to Primal Earth. The Rikti follow thus starting the Rikti Invasion.

(QR)
Personally, I found my Grav/Psi to be a fun combo to play with and while I enjoy it, I probably wouldn't go that route again any time soon. I'm not overly well-versed in Dom play as much as I used to be when I was playing it more often, but I can at least give some slotting feedback:

1) END Reducs - A notable lack of them. Even with Domination giving you a full tank and even with DP giving you some breathing room, your number one END drain will be your attacks. And not a single one has even one. :/ At least that can be mostly handled via frankenslotting with IOs.

2) Toggle-madness - Wow. Looking at the build in Mids. You're sucking up about 1 EPS on just toggles. That's gonna eat into your offensive abilities a bit.

3) Slight Overslottings - A couple of them IMO:
Wormhole's slightly over done with ACC. Consider dropping the third in favor of either a Rech or a Stun?
Subdue for Immob? With your other abilities, this shouldn't be needed. Drop in favor of an ENDRed or DMG?

4) Assault - If you're dead set on the Leadership pool, I'd consider dropping Assault and picking up Veng. Assault's +DMG buff is kinda nice (and possibly nicer considering the possible base bump coming up), but it's really not that hot. Especially since you can easily get that much from IOs. At least with Veng you can turn your team into something really mean. Unless this is a soloist build?

Do what they did: Get better.

Yeah, I noticed the Malta bump too. Right when 14 went Live, I had the pleasure of running an MArc that had Malta in it. And I gotta say, seeing the Titans using their Missiles for a change kinda threw me for a loop for a bit.

I figured out pretty quick that these guys had gotten tweaked. Maybe it was intentional. Maybe it was just the MA critter AI accidentally migrated over, but Malta got meaner.

Honestly, I like it. The Titans were cakewalks before. Now, they're pretty threatening. Gunslingers were deadly, now they're OMG! level threats for my Blaster.

Sure I grit my teeth against them from time to time. I watch my steps more now. Maybe I'm just slightly masochistic like that, but this? FUN!

Just a minor nitpick since I see this sort of thing bandied about now and again...

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Note, there are accolades that can increase mez magnitude, and that will will work, but out of the box OG only takes out minions on it's own.

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No there aren't.

There are Mez Duration Accolades and Powers, but none of them actually increase Magnitude. For all intents and purposes, there is no such thing as +Mag... merely in-game trickery that tacks on another power effect that simulates +Mag.

"That's it. No more casual Fridays."

(QR)
/signed

If I recall correctly, this came up quite a while back. BAB responded with that if they ever did add in more dances, something like the caramelldansen would be his pick to go in.

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Anyone else notice this line in the news release?

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its ongoing commitment to further develop and innovate the critically acclaimed City of Heroes® franchise and other MMO games.

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Uhh, yeah, these


http://www.guildwars.com/

http://www.lineage.com/

http://www.lineage2.com/


http://us.ncsoft.com/en/aion/


http://us.ncsoft.com/en/plaync-games/


Why, didnt you know that?

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Except the full line is, "Based in Mountain View, CA, Paragon Studios, formerly known as NCsoft NorCal, will continue its ongoing commitment to further develop and innovate the critically acclaimed City of Heroes® franchise and other MMO games."

Paragon Studios does CoH. Period. NCsoft does all the rest you mentioned.

So that's either a poorly worded sentence... or Paragon's got another MMO in the works.

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AH NUTS!!! The motes don't work when you're hovering or flying

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Thanks for the head’s up. A fix is on the way…

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<3

First off, thank you very much for the review and suggestions. I'll definitely follow through on some of the ideas you passed along. Honestly, I can't say why I didn't in the first place since I'm a stickler for those.

Secondly though:
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An Aside: Mission one features an Elite Boss. To me, Elite Bosses feel like they should be the kind of thing you build up to. Having one straight out of the gates can be disheartening. Now, by the 35-50 bracket, I can see Elite Bosses having a home in everything, being used as big, hard impressive bruisers who lead normal squads... but that's an issue of escalation. So, two steps forward, one step back.

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This is getting changed and removed.

I was stumped as to how to get a proper level restriction going so I just dumped in the only enemy in that group that capped at the right level (35). Unfortunately, it was this EB.

So I'm going to rework Mission 1 and take that guy out. It was really just a complete mess up including him in the first place. I'll find a way to still cap it properly but without resorting to such ham-handed measures.

(QR)
I suppose at this point I will shamelessly ask for a review on my first arc: "The Fan Club." Its ID number and description are linked to in my sig.

It's a Heroic arc, keyed for the 24-35 span though, so that might not be quite your cup of tea. But looking at the very in-depth reviews you've made thus far, I can only hope for some good feedback.

Now I'm gonna have to work on a Villainous arc though.

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Now my arcs are getting voted down without comment. Of course, maybe they deserve to.

[/ QUOTE ]This right here is why I value a review infinitely more than I give a damn about a rating.

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Agreed.

Ratings are nice... in the same way a cup of coffee after a steak dinner is nice.

But please, Please... PLEASE give a good review. And by "good review," I mean something like what Venture's doing here. If you liked it, say why! If you hated it, say why! Give details, be concise, suggest improvements.

Those are worth much more than a star or two ever will be.

(QR)
Man... knowing that sort of thing's going on makes me a bit sad.

For the record, I found "The Perfect Brew" to be a fun arc. I didn't have any super hard issues on my Blaster, but I can certainly see how melees could be given the short end of the stick. It may've been a good thing that you stopped there, Venture, as the final mission has numerous large ambushes that are triggered with an EB fight.

Those ambushes really could've overwhelmed my Blaster if I didn't have Hover/Fly and Boost Range. With those, I was able to shoot at them from beyond their range and whittle down the mob until it was relatively safe enough to drop back down to ground level.

I think, knowing about all this now, I will abstain from giving any further feedback/referrals to the author though.

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Arc #5898, "The Fan Club"
tl;dr: 5 stars
It has a Downer Ending, but this is a great arc, recommended.

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I want to say thank you very much for the review and kind words. I honestly didn't think you'd rate it so highly.

A note on the level capping: It really should be in the pre-33 range all the way. I need to work on mission one to cap it there. This'll allow it to fit better into the established canon: in that range the Devouring Earth are still somewhat of an unknown and their threat value is being explored.

Again, thank you!

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Current queue: 9584, 1462, 1684, 5898, 2007, 7780, 1034, 1297, 14826, 20696, 6999, 1472, 2180, 16108, 1152, 33034, 12669, 1285, 1009, 8774, 8787, 8795, 1665, 12798, 16338, 9028, 2036, 32865, 3615, 19226, 19231, 19238, 4727, 2019, 27136, 34452, 8713, 2409, 1579, 1571, 1881, 18145, 38226, 2922, 1356


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Fixed for you. That's 5898, not 9898.

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Ok My turn

Arc #: 35286
TItle: Paragon Maid Service
Length: 4 Missions
Description: The Maids of Paragon City are sick of cleaning up after your superpower battles, and they are setting out to do something about it!
Note: There are EBs and an AV (which will downgrade to EB) but there are also powerful allies available which makes it soloable for any AT.

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Ran on my Eng/Eng Blaster. This was probably before you tweaked Mission 2 as per your recent post, so I'll give a pass on most of that one.

Overall, it was cute and nice. 4 stars.

There are some level span questions I have, even disregarding Mish2. Maybe work to either limit 3 and 4, or free up the cap on 1?

Some typos here and there:
Mish1 - Photocopy Boy's guard: "...crazy monkey monkey dance..."? Was monkey supposed to be put twice?
- Guido: "Whipe em out?" Accent or misspelled Wipe?

Mish2 - No Warning on Clock. Seriously.
Clue: "get enough foryourself." Needs space.

Mish3 - OP text: Capitalize Council; "Available anwhere..." misspelled anywhere.
- The EB (I assume the AV?)... LOVED the description since that's the absolute first thing I thought when I read the name.
- No warning on ambush (ambushes?). Give a little bit from the Boss or maybe just have them shout?

No issues with Mish4.

The Contact talk was also a bit all over the place. Maybe work on scripting it out a little better so as not to come off as too deranged?

Good job and with a little polish it'd really shine.

Oh, and the Arc# was 39057, not 35286.


EDIT: Removed MArc from post. Just finished running through it with a generally "Pug" team make up and found it to be too difficult. Gonna tone it down a little more.

Will repost later on once tweaked.

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I guess I should put mine up now.

title: Nerf Herder must go!
#2649 (comedy)
2 mish, 1 EB in first, 1 AV in 2nd. Lower diff if solo.

Nerf Herder and his infamous Anti-fun league are on the loose! They are teaming up with the exiled (and angry) 5th Column to acquire a shipment of nerf bats to use on the playerbase.

You've got to stop that shipment and ban Nerf Herder from the message boards!

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Just finished running it solo on a 46 Blaster. A friend joined me halfway through the second mission though.

Overall, cute and light. Enemies were a bit of a cakewalk against a Blaster, but the Scrapper friend seemed to have trouble against them.

Mission 1: Text in opening was a little off in a couple of spots. "...reduce all reward and increase all risk," most prominently. Maybe change up to "... reduce all rewards and increase all risks"?
Nerf Master's death talk was also a bit on the random side, but the rest was good.
I liked the Star Wars nod though, with the Boss clue. Nifty!

Mission 2: Cute 2001 ref with the Computer, but a bit cliche.
I really enjoyed the fight talk from Nerf Herder though. And, of course, he had to have a bat. :P

Good quick run and rated ****



And now I submit mine own:
Title: 7662 - The Fan Club
MArc #: 5898
Length: 4 missions
Description: Pretty easy IMO, but I'm hoping for a good story. Be sure to read the clues! (And yes, the 7662 is in the title; that's for RO purposes.)

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AE System
--------
Welcome to Architect Entertainment -- Neutral
Death for Dollars! -- Neutral
Bare Knuckles of Rage (9304)
*

Character/Supergroup Origins
--------
Birth of a Fossil -- Heroic
*

Classic Super-Hero/Super-Villain
--------
THE BOMBER --- Heroic --- 16607
*

Comedy
--------
The Extadine Lab -- Heroic
The Great Chicken Caper of '09 -- Heroic
MacGuffin Delivery Service (1567) -- Villainous
ParaCon -- Heroic
The new and improved Lord Recluse Strike Force -- Villainous (though I wouldn't recommend against a hero )
The Fire Bunnies - Neutral, They are only bunnies after all...
You Say It's Your Birthday! (3630) - Neutral
Trademark Infringement -- Heroic (2220)
*

Comedy/Drama
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A Super Team is Born -- Heroic
Attack of the Space Clowns (18749) -- Neutral
Cause of How Some Silly Stealed My Wings #1481 -- Neutral
Lawyers of Ghastly Horror -- Heroic
How to Survive a Robot Uprising -- Heroic
Dr. Duplicate's Dastardly Dare -- Neutral
It's a Nice Day for a White Wedding (9059) -- Neutral
TURG FICTION: Ghost in the Machine, Act I - Heroic (althoughs romantic villains could try this too )
Rum Runners of Bloody Bay (3691) - Heroic
Have a Blap, Blap, Blappy Day Kids! (2019)
*

Crime/Gangs
--------
The Bravuran Jobs -- Villainous (16809)
*

Drama
--------
The Fan Club -- Heroic
*

Global Domination
--------
Axis and Allies -- Villainous (10597)
*

Heist
--------
Celebrity Kidnapping -- Villainous (20161)
*

Historical (Realistic)
--------
*

Historical (CoH Lore)
--------
The War on Superadine - The Regulators in their 1980's drug war (Heroic) (Arc 7959)
*

Holiday
--------
*

Horror
--------
Dark Dreams -- Heroic (18914)
The Amulet of J'gara (1709) -- Heroic
Project: Perilous - Into the Chthonian Pit (#3586) - Neutral (Unless you happen to be a mad cultist, in which case, go nuts!)
Small Fears -- Heroic
*

Large-Scale Crisis
--------
A Hero's Halo -- Heroic
This Is War, Part I - the Revenge of Hro'Dtohz -- Neutral
Win the Past, Own the Future - Heroic
*

Magic
--------
The Magical Miss Fitz (5079) -- Heroic
Chains of Blood (5492) -- Heroic
*

Military
--------
Redoubt Operations #1: Fires over Kalago -- Heroic

Red Storm Rising Arc 4912 Heroic
*
Misc. Adventure
--------
The Portal Bandits (3326) -- Heroic
*

Mystery
--------
Blowback (18575) -- Heroic
Dream Paper -- Heroic (13030)
Dream Paper 2: Restless Sleep -- Heroic (16797)
Dream Paper 3: Broken Dreams -- Heroic (13064)
*

Mythology
--------
Anactoria's Descent Into the Underworld -- Villainous
The War of Fate: Betrayal (19698) -- Neutral
The Seelie War -- Heroic
The Unseelie War -- Villainous
Tales of Cimerora, volume 1 : Of feathers and fur -- Heroic
*

Nemesis Plots
--------
Brass Reaver: Part 1 -- Neutral
*

Player-Chosen Outcome
--------
Hunting the Dark Dragon -- Heroic
*

Sci-Fi
--------
Adventures of the Space Marines -- Neutral
Adventures of the Space Marines 2 -- Neutral
Netrunner -- Heroic (14434)
Above Mars - Part 1: The Wellington -- Neutral
The Final Nemesis
*

Un-themed Survival/AV/Time Challenges
--------
The Meatgrinder -- Neutral
*

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I've put arcs people have requested (that they gave numbers for) into my queue, which now has 11 arcs in it so it may be a while before I get to you.

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You're, of course, welcome to review mine (linked in sig), though I honestly shudder to hear it.

I'll need to brush up my writing chops most likely.

(QR)
Some rather nice reviews so far Venture. I'm honestly surprised. You've always struck me as being a pretty strict grader when it comes to these sorts of things.

Keep 'em up. Good feedback is so hard to get these days.

(QR)
Wow... those look so good!

The jacket in pic 1 is super cool. And the high-collared cape? Very nice.

And the boots! LOVE the boots.

I can't wait to see the Costume Change Emotes though. Those sound really good.

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Heres another interview, from Allakhazam, some nice insights and apparently the devs will be using the MA to make missions in the future (and that when they get new tools for it, they will be passed onto the players).

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So wait, if they start giving the playerbase 100% content and creative control, then what will be the reason for us to pay $14.95?

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Just as you are free to stop paying $14.95 per month, NCNC is free to stop allowing you access to their servers.