SPiNE

Bah, does anyone have a link for me to download SP3? I can't get it from the microsoft website.

Also, what kind of risks are we talking about? Yea, I know there are tons of security updates, but I don't really visit any insecure websites. I've tried to download security updates before by using the Automatic Updates, but my computer always run crappy after installing all those security updates for some reason...anyone know what's up with this?

Edit: Found this website, can anyone confirm that this is actually legit and not some form of malware?
http://www.softwarepatch.com/windows...ce-pack-3.html

Also, this website says that if I'm using an AMD chip, I MUST download a special hotfix prior to installing SP3? I've never heard of anything like this either so if someone can shed some light on this matter for me, that'd be great.

Either that or I need something that would give me some info on the old Electric Armor, the one before Energize was introduced into the set.

By the way, what power was it before they changed it to Energize?

It really depends on the situation. For example, if I was running a farm, I'll simply say "hey this my farm, so please don't grab glowy" or etc.

Other than specific situations like that, I don't care what people do, as long as they're doing something. If they're doing something I don't like, I'll say it and if they keep doing it, I'll simply boot.

You're right, I did use the unsuppressed value of Hide

Btw, if anyone has a build that maximizes defense on an EM/ElecArmor, it would be great. Doesn't have to reach soft cap, just as high as you can get it.

Just wondering what the soft cap for defense on Stalkers is. Also, is the softcap the same for positional defense too?

I have an EM/ElecAura Stalker that I want to soft cap its defense on. I'm planning to get Shadow Meld so that's already a 32.1% defense to everything there. Can someone give me a build with enough +def on it to stack on top of Shadow Meld in order to soft cap defense? Also, if it's possible to get enough global recharge to perma Shadow Meld, that'd be great too, I plan on getting Hasten as well so that should help.

Thanks!

MA is also better than DM for PvP because aside from AS, the rest of DM's other powers are pretty low in terms of damage compared to MA, unless you slot Siphon Life for damage. Yes, yes, what about Midnight Grasp? It's only as good as Eagles Claw because the instant-damage portion of Midnight Grasp deals as much damage as Eagles Claw; the DoT portion of the damage sucks because it's...well...DoT.

Also, doesn't MA have a higher chance to crit? I remember reading the power details in game and most of MA's powers have a 5%-10% greater chance to crit than other powers that are capable of criting. I know for a fact that Eagles Claw has a higher chance to crit though.

Claws has a nice range attack that you can spam. I actually prefer Claws over EM for PvP now that ET's been nerfed and the rest of EM's powers take way too long to animate, not to mention EM is on a much longer recharge than Claws too. Yes, Claws would be more resisted but hey, it's not like I try to take on Tanks by myself all the time.

If you have good global recharge, I'm sure you can make EM useful. Even if ET and TF are nerfed, if you can repeatedly spam those 2 powers along with Bone Smasher, it's still going to do a ton of damage.

As for secondaries, I like /Regen a lot, but sometimes it's a pain in the a** just because most of Regen's powers are clickies and clicking any powers at any time means that:

1. You can't use your attacks.
2. It uses a good chunk of endurance, meaning that if you're low on endurance or if someone halted your recovery rate, you're kind of screwed for the time being.
3. It has a recharge, which means that if someone floored your recharge rate, you're kind of screwed here as well.

/WP is good as well. However, if you want some sort of heal, you would have to opt for Aid Self, which has a pretty long activation time and can be interrupted.

Electric Armor is pretty nice, with Energize, you have your heal and +regen right there. With Lightning Reflex, you have a nice +20% recharge right there as well as a slow resistance, which is GREAT GREAT GREAT for PvP. I would recommend slotting a kb resistance IO somewhere, since Grounded isn't very useful in PvP because you'll be jumping around alot.

I wish the Dev's would go into this more and let you chose your own flight pose so that you don't have to go through the trouble of /em flypose.

Just Alt-Tab. CoH is nice in that it alt-tabs instantly, unlike most game where it takes a good 5 seconds to alt-tab out of game.

Ok, problem solved. Don't really know what happened exactly but I was getting tired of crashing once every 20 seconds.

I reformatted and have been online for 5 or so hours without crashing at all. It could be the whole hard drive space thing or it could've been something completely different.

If you're crashing a lot, maybe just think about reformatting since that worked for me.

Yes, and you can always remove the underscore most of the time as well, to save time, and it will still work.

/bind button4 "powexecname aid self"

Here's a simple build without any enhancements. Can't really slot any IO's in there since I don't know what the person prioritizes. Is this for a team PvP? Arena? Zones? 1v1? Just a general build?

Most PvP Blasters go for defense bonuses and/or +global recharge bonuses.

Rad primary is very bad for PvP. Your highest single-target damage power, aside from snipe, is still weaker than Bone Smasher =|. I would recommend a good amount of -def for a Rad/ simply because that's all the Rad/ primary is good at doing. Have enough +tohit so that you can land your primary on defense-based toons for your -def to take effect. Then take them out with your high damage melee powers.

I agree with the OP. I haven't had that much trouble on my Stalker, but I can see where the OP's coming from. Sure, most of us on the board may not mind having Stalkers on the team. However, reality is that there are probably about 10% of the entire player population that even posts on the board. Most people in game just don't care for Stalkers on the team, it's not because of the players, it's the AT.

Why would you want a Stalker on the team? Yes, they are the king of single-target burst damage, but:
> a Brute can provide more average dps in the course of a mission. Not only that, a Brute can tank and can pull aggro off other teammates.

> MM's have high dps as well, due to their buff/debuff secondary and MM's can also "tank."

> Corruptors provide decent dps as well as buff/debuff secondary.

> Dominators provide control along with some dps.

Do you see where Stalkers are lagging yet? All of the aforementioned Archetypes can provide support for a team in one way or another. A Brute pulls/holds aggro. MM's and Corruptors can buff/debuff. Dominators can control. What can a Stalker do besides being able to kill a certain target faster?

People don't just go /EM solely for Boost Range. Just BU + Aim would make TF and Bone Smasher pretty powerful. Sure, it puts a Blaster in melee range, but if you don't know how to kite, then you shouldn't be PvPing in the first place.

Honestly, you don't need to invest in much, besides recharge, if you go Earth/Earth. Recharge, like you've mentioned, helps to perma dom. It also helps ALL of your powers to recharge much faster as well, therefore providing you with tons of survivability.

You have 3, huge AoE control powers: Stalagmites, Earthquake and Volcanic Gasses. With enough recharge, you can easily perma Earthquake and Stalagmites will be up and ready before you know it. Volcanic Gasses has a longer recharge, but it also lasts forever and will keep on reapplying itself while it's active.

Your secondary offers tremor, a PBAoE Knockdown, which is great for damage mitigation and is up often enough if you have enough recharge...the same applies for Fissure.

There is so much synergy with Earth/Earth that you should be invincible.

Power Boost + Stalagmites? Yea, they're pretty much stunned forever.
Power Boost + Volcanic Gasses? Everything is held, forever, including Bosses since Volcanic Gasses reapplies itself and stacks on itself.
Power Boost + Stalagmites + Fissure will ensure that you stun Bosses as well.
Make sure you DON'T Power Boost + Earthquake, unless of course you want mobs flying in every direction for the hell of it.

Edit: Would also like to add that Fossilize + Seismic Smash will hold a boss. It's also a very powerful hold for PvP as well.

A lot of Blaster secondaries offer survivability if you work toward that goal...

> Devices: Cloaking Device + Smoke Grenade + Super Speed can easily let you set up Trip Mines and/or Time Bomb. Then all you have to do is pick up the remaining pieces. Kind of slow for me to play though... You can also set up tons of Trip Mines and just pull mobs to you. Downside is that this does NOT help you solo EB's/AV's/GM's.

> Electric Manipulation: Goes well with Electrical Blast if you want to go for the endurance drain route. You also get 2 holds this way as well.

> Energy Manipulation: Pretty much high single-target damage and 2 nice utility powers, Boost Range and Power Boost. Sometimes, the best way to survive is by killing your opponents faster and /EM does just that.

> Fire Manipulation: AoE's. Not much in this set alone that actually helps your survivability directly.

> Ice Manipulation: Tons of survivability here. You can easily cap recharge debuff and movement speed with this set. Ice Patch is extremely nice and your Tier 9 allows you to sleep an entire spawn and just pick them off 1 by 1.

> Mental manipulation: Great survivability here as well. Drain Psyche will help you tons with +recov and +regen while keeping recovery and regen down for EB's/AV's/GM's. This set is one of the few that is great against a big group as well as being useful against a single, strong opponent such as an AV due to the -regen in Drain Psyche.

Kind of hard to give you some tips on Psy/ besides just "go for a different primary."

It really is a sub-par primary for Blasters...

That knockdown sounds pretty cool, but what if you're just facing 1 opponent? Would it just be gone after applying it once?

Also, I don't think this "new" knockdown is anything special. It's practically Earthquake with a new animation, since Earthquake continually knocks 1-2 mobs down at a time as well. The Dev's could have simply added the "jumping" animation and call it a new power. However, it would be lame if it can't "bounce" from 1 mob to another if you're just fighting 1 mob, since Earthquake still works with just 1 mob.

With a decent Tanker on the team, this combination is really epic for AoE's. I prefer it over Fire/Fire even, since Rain of Fire is kind of situational and it makes them run all around.

Most of the times, I just tell my team to focus on Bosses or AV's, since the 4 AoE's will always kill most, if not all, of the Minions and LT's.

The only complaint I have is...I wish Electron Haze's cone is a bit wider, it's kind of hard to hit a somewhat spread out group of baddies. Does enhancing it with Range enhancements make the cone itself wider or would it just increase the distance of the power?