Siolfir

Sonata's one of (but not IMO the) easiest AVs on villainside; he has nothing particularly special. The Radio in the TV's 45-50 arc is fairly easy too simply because of the stationary nature, but it has a habit of throwing out Dreadful Wail which can cause some issues if you're not ready for it. The easiest IMO is Infernal during the Tarikoss Strike Force - boss level mez protection with no purple triangles, and knockback resistance (so he doesn't go flying) but no knockback protection (so you can ensure he never gets to stand up).

As for the one level advantage, it increases your base tohit to 80% and gives all of your powers a 11% boost in effectiveness, lowers the mob's tohit by 10% giving you an effective 10% more defense while simultaneously reducing the effectiveness of their powers by 10%.

Is a 21% swing in effectiveness going to make a significant difference?

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For teaming, Brutes provide a great basis for taking buffs. If you happen to get a kin on a team - Scrap vs Brute might still be close. If you happen to get 2 kins, then the Brute becomes the most destructive force in the game.

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The first Fulcrum Shift puts the Scrapper way ahead, the second - if they're double-stacked and saturated - puts the Brute back to about even, and they pull ahead as they go over around +650% damage without counting criticals (+710% once you figure in criticals over time) on the way to the +750% cap.

While it can happen, I generally don't count on having perma-double-stacked Fulcrum Shifts and assume that +dam buffs are going to help the Scrapper more. But yes, with the right teammates, Brutes are downright insane (Tanker hp/resistance at those caps, and slightly higher damage than Scrappers when damage is capped).

For a general case, though, the higher base damage on Scrappers makes them much better for +damage buffs until you hit the extreme levels where everyone else has been capped already. The higher hit point and resistance caps for Brutes makes them better for survivability buffs.

If you ask a question like "what does it mean to be a Brute on a team" you'll get a number of different answers likely equal to the number of responses.

Part of the reason for this is because of the powerset variety; certain builds do some things better than others - Energy Aura won't be the best one for holding aggro, for example, and Fiery Aura probably isn't the best choice for tanking psi damage AVs.

In general, however, there's little difference in playstyle between a Brute and a Scrapper. Brutes are simply rewarded for playing with Scrapperlock through their Fury bar, and they will end up tanking by default on most teams by rushing in first and trying to do as much damage as possible. The fact that they draw aggro (intended to aid Fury generation) is why they have more hit points than Scrappers.

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Next dumb queston...Can I have more that one hero/villain on the same account..or do you have to pay for each character you create? Or can you have like two or three villains before you have to pay another subscription fee???

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Without any veteran character slots (you're given one for each 12 months that your account is active), you are given 12 character slots per server. You can purchase more at variable rates ($6 for 1, $10 for 2, $20 for 5) up to 36 per server. The slots that you buy or receive for "veteran rewards" can be added one at a time to any server, or banked until you decide where you want to put them.

The game is really all about making alts, although many players have a "main" character that they try to do the most with.

The second paragraph in Laxx's post. Really.

Pick something you think you'll like, learn on it, then decide what would do the best against what you're running into. If you jump in and start walking all over everybody, then so much the better - you're doing well on something you enjoy.

For silliness, Electric Melee has some silly potential from hidden status with Thunder Strike; the guaranteed critical is harder than the critical from Total Focus or Energy Transfer plus it has a 50% critical for the energy portion.

To put it into numbers, an Assassin's Shock critical is 389.28 base damage at 50; Thunder Strike is a guaranteed 290.22 with a 50% chance for 386.96 and isn't interruptible.

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Ok, Just want to make sure I understand.

1) I can only get a purple when I'm 50. = TRUE.

2) If I kill ANYTHING in PvE that is level 49 to 55, then there is a chance at a purple drop AND the drop rate is the same reguardless of the level of the mob.= TRUE.

3) No purple drops in Architect. = TRUE


One more follow-up question...Does anyone have any idea of the actual prup drop rate %? I've heard someone say that they get a purp about 1 out of 80 PvP kills. Which would be 1.3%. I imagine the % in PvE would be smaller.

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You can get purple drops before 50 - the important thing is the level of the mob.

You just can't slot them before then.

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So the STF takes longer because the Heroes are afraid to fight?

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Ghost Widow has Dark Regeneration. The fewer people in melee, the smaller the chance that she'll abruptly recover thousands and thousands of HP.

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So, short answer, yes.

Still? Nope.

3 arcs published, none of which see a great deal of play, 1 of which is a "farm" that is apparently okay since I PM'd Positron about it already, another is the first one I wrote (but second one published) that's been up since day 2 with maybe 20 people having gone through it (including the two teams of 8 I was on dragging them through it), and the last - and first one I published - is a broken arc since the custom mobs were changed that I simply haven't gotten around to replacing.

MA doesn't appeal to me much; if I happen to run MA missions because I like teaming then so be it. Otherwise I only go into missions to farm tickets, either for recipe rolls or to sidestep price-gouging on uncommon and common salvage.

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2) That Fury by itself takes you high enough on damage that you cap damage, and that since you've hit the cap, the SOs aren't relevant any more.

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Theres that phrase again 'damage cap.' I never thought this at all, because I was already aware that no single toon by themselves could hit the 'damage cap.' It takes a lil help in the form of buff and such from other toons

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Ehhh... no Brute can hit the damage cap solo without using a lot of inspirations.

That may be what you meant, but in case it wasn't there are several builds that can cap their own damage: pretty much any Kinetic Defender, Controller, or Corruptor; my Warshade can and does self-cap damage on large teams using Mires, typically while at the resistance cap due to Eclipse as well; a few Dominators using stacked Domination were running at the cap most of the time; a Shield/SS Tanker needs enhancements to hit it but can, and Fire/SS can also but only for the duration of Fiery Embrace.

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It's either SS/Shield or SS/Fire for AoE purposes.

Burn probably gives SS/Fire more mathematical damage. Shield Charge probably gives /Shield more effective damage.

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Yea, burn does a ton of damage if you use your patron immob right.

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Or against larger targets such as AVs that you'd really want it against - they typically don't even need to be immobilized since most won't run out of the patch.

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You're right. Stalkers are much better now, and I often see them going shoulder-to-shoulder with the scrappers and brutes. But the OP was about Dark Melee, and stalker DM loses Soul Drain, which is a selling point to the set for many.

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Yes, but instead it gets Build Up which has a shorter animation, doesn't require a tohit check (albeit one at with a bonus, having a 1.2x base accuracy), and doesn't break hidden status so you can still have a guaranteed critical on that first hit after using it.

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I like energy blast just the way it is, tyvm. The non-energy blast players that complain about knockback are wrong and need to get over themselves.

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Have fun soloing.

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Rad/Dark, Rad, Cold or Kin. /Kin depends highly on your patience. I'd say Rad/ because of the huge defense debuffs and good AoE ensures you and your team will always be able to hit their targets. It's especially useful early on in the pre-SO range. Rad/ can also slot a very useful proc in pretty much every attack. Achilles' Heel chance for -res.

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Don't forget the Lady Grey, Shield Breaker, Positron's Blast, Obliteration, Armageddon, and Apocolypse chance for damage procs - you can put 3 damage procs in almost every attack power along with the Achilles' -resistance if you're so inclined...

Then just toss in 2 Acc/Dam SHOs, and make heavy use of Fulcrum Shift so that you're damage-capped anyway on a Rad/Kin.

Fury = +2% damage per point.

3 level 50 IOs = roughly +100% (= 50 Fury)

Brute damage cap: +750% (8.5x base damage)

A SS/SD Brute with Against All Odds saturated (+65%), double-stacked Rage (+160%), 100 Fury* (+200%), and with a saturated Fulcrum Shift from a Defender (+300%) still has 25% more they can gain before they hit the damage cap.

I wouldn't worry too much about wasting enhancements unless you're teaming with Kinetics all the time.



* - 100 Fury is impossible to maintain and you'd be very lucky just to spike to it.

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5. Siolfir (rad/kin Corruptor) *pending on lvl


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I'm reasonably sure that I won't be able to get the Corruptor up to 45 by then due to time taken up moving things into a new apartment.

If the spot's filled by someone else by then, great - if not and there's a "pity spot" for an Elec/Nin Stalker I can bring her (she's already 45); if you'd rather not deal with a Stalker in general and a low-level one for the SF in particular, I have a few 50s (including an Ice/Rad/Mu, Fire/Kin/Soul, and Dark/Cold Corruptors, and a SM/WP/Soul Brute). I'd just rather get the badge (and Marshall) on someone that hasn't already run through it.

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On the other hand, I think it IS good policy for the company to discuss their policy or philosophy regarding discipline, including aggregate numbers. For example, I think it would be OK for them to state (with my own made up numbers):

"Recently we took disciplinary action on 157 accounts that had engaged in exploitive conduct inside the mission architect. On further review we realized that we had mistakenly disciplined 15 accounts. Those accounts have been fully restored, compensated, and have our sincere apology for the misunderstanding. We are reviewing our internal policies and systems to ensure that those errors are not made in the future."

I would appreciate seeing a post like that. I'm sure others would as well; and a bunch wouldn't like it all . . . like most things in this forum.

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That's really my biggest issue with the whole thing - they said they'd be handling each disciplinary action on a case-by-case basis, and then somehow managed to hit people who hadn't done anything wrong... then rather than admit to it and take responsibility they just try to shove it under the rug under the cover of "not talking about disciplinary actions" and deleting any thread talking about it, causing a large crowd to just blather on about how superior they are and that "if you got banned you're an evil dirty cheater, because the devs never got anyone that didn't deserve it".

Honestly, the comments from the rabid anti-farming players are far more harmful to the community (and continuity) of the game than the actions the devs took or are taking - complete with the "shut up and go away" posts that are oh-so-helpful (and in my opinion should be banworthy themselves). But the devs made a mistake and should own up to it, or at least give some (empty or not) promise about how it won't happen again. All it'd take is a simple post like the example you provided.

So can we get to talking about unmentionables now and stop all this forum nonsense?

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For the record, I first thought the thread title was referred to the things I said to a returning player today that you shouldn't say on the forums:

-Healer
-Meow farm
-Jack Emmert

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I thought it was a thread about underwear and bras.

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lol

That was my first thought as well.

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Yeah, I showed up for the lingerie discussion.

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Next time you level up to 40, copy that character to the Test server four times and try out all four Patron Arcs.

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Yeah, this is the only way to see all four of them on the "same" character. You really only need to copy them three times, though - you can run the one on Live through one also, and it's not like you're stuck with that Patron power set like you used to be so there's no reason to do one twice because you did all four on test and then one on live.

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Waterspout is hilarious for those people who aren't packing KB protection. I put it above FH for that reason alone.

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Yes and no... not so much anymore now that the KU chance has been lowered. I've had it sit on mobs (PvE) for 5-10 seconds before they were thrown - and not mobs with KB protection/resistance either, I was playing with Luddites in Cap near the university.

It was a lot more fun (but not quite as damaging) before.

Although I do occasionally throw it on people who hibernate just on the off chance it'll catch them before they take off - it lasts longer than they can stay phased.

Meh.

I would comment, but as someone with only half a brain instead of a whole one (which is why you apparently can't grasp certain issues with timing and maneuvering) you wouldn't understand it anyway.

But you're right... you'd need half a brain to think that Energy Blast performs as well as the other sets.

For PvP, I'd probably go with it second after spirit shark jaws (which at least locks them in place for 1-2 seconds). Revive is useless since if you're dead they still get kill credit and you getting back up means nothing, resilience is negligible resistance, and water spout is amusing but also a dead giveaway for where you are when used.

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You know, since this is about a hypothetical situation where incoming damage doesn't matter (like fighting a dummy), I have to nominate Thug/Poison or Thug/Trap (or even Merc).

Thug/Trap
Enforcers with AH Proc, Acid Mortar with AH Proc and if the master has high recharge, you can easily lay down two Acid Mortar to get 2x debuff values. That is A LOT of resistance debuffs. Bruiser at melee range of course.


Thug/Poison
Noxious gas is easier with Brusier and if the master's recharge is high, you can put it on Brusier pretty frequently. And /poison has one of the nastiest single debuffs that also includes -regen. Sometimes -regen > dps.

And both Thug/Trap and Thug/Poison, the master uses tier 1 and tier 2 attacks as well. MM's damage is quite high when master uses personal attacks. And does MM get Knockout Blow too? LOL

I am not so sure if Blaster is all that > Thug MM.

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I was thinking solo, sustained DPS... specifically against archvillains and higher. In particular, I was wondering if it's possible to actually outdamage a Giant Monster's regen without debuffs, or failing that, who can take out AVs the fastest.

I know debuffs help a lot, but I was looking mainly at the pure damage ATS and they don't get many. It looks like Fire/Shield and DM/Shield are strong contenders since they can keep a crowd of minions around them to buff their damage (and survive all that aggro). I wonder how a high-recharge Stone/Shield or Fire/Shield Brute compares to the Scrapper once you figure in Fury?

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We're throwing out debuffs because it wasn't in the listed criteria.

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More so, you can also ignore some auto-hit powers (KoA caltrops as well as the CoT crystals) that normal stealthing can't.

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Teleport does have some advantages as a travel power.

My Dark/Cold Corruptor - the only one I have that uses Teleport for travel since I deleted my level 50 /Stone Brute - has multiple ways to ghost (Stealth IO + Arctic Fog, Invisibility, Phase, and simply teleporting past every spawn and/or autohit AoE).

I skipped it on both of my /Nin Stalkers since they were going with softcap builds anyway. The plan for my /WP Stalker is to nab it and focus on getting its recharge down, though.

Another + for Scrappers is a higher +dam modifier with Soul Drain, and the general "I don't need Fury for damage" that's usually thrown out as irrelevant.

But really, what you want to make depends on which side you want to play on currently.