Soul_Stormer
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Posts
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Joined
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too bad there isn't a fighting manipulation blaster secondary, or i'd say that for sure.
corbin is a bad-***, so i'd think blaster or maybe corruptor. DP/devices if you have to go theme, but we all know devices isn't great.
you could do energy or elec manipulation and color them as non intrusively as possible. the reason i say manipulation is that not only is he good with guns, but isn't bad at hand to hand either and could be RPed as special gloves or something for the residual effects. -
i do it on occasion, but i would never leave the team if i over-invite. i try very hard to not over-invite, by sending personal messages to those who have responded and keep a running post on the global TF/SF channel (Triumph Watch 2.0 for me) of how many more spots are open to try to keep extra tells down.
i also tell the first extra tell that the team is apparently full, but they'll get the spot if anyone doesn't show or leaves before we start. in the case when i do over-invite, its a first-come, first-serve decision, and i apologize to whoever got the shaft.
i figure, it happens, but no need to beat yourself over it. just apologize and be considerate. maybe you're not selfish about spending all that time forming a team, but i don't see anything wrong with turning that last person away, especially if you warn them before hand.
(if they just switch after a tell saying 'i'm switching now' without any response, well, its their fault for being hastey). -
so, we see that unlike group fly, although it isn't terribly popular, at least TP foe has numerous uses.
if the defense based pool powers weren't so useful for lotg mules, i'd imagine we'd see more people with TP friend and foe. i know i would. -
lets look at the bigger picture.
1) these are the *first* trials in what we assume is a series of trials (i'm thinking maybe 8-12?, released two at a time?). if we completely save the world from the praetorian threat in the first two trials, what else are we going to do? so instead we take incremental steps in preventing cole from taking over primal earth. and even at the end, when we 'beat' cole, it's not like praetoria will change... we just know story wise we've won. the praetorian arcs will remain, cole will still brainwash his citizens, the resistance is still fighting the loyalists, etc. it'd be too much work to completely change the brand new zones, and either eliminate or drastically change all of the work they put into the new content.
2) any more than 1 global level shift will seriously undermine and trivialize all lvl 50 content. but the incarnate shifts are only one small part of the incarnate buffs. so what if we can only get 50+1 in the normal game. that in itself is a huge buff. its not like we'll lose the judgment blast, the destiny buffs, the interface debuffs or the lore pets, or the alpha slot when doing the regular content (lvl 45+ anyway). being +1 already means that the former +4s in zones (say, RWZ), are already tuned down to +3 - making them much easier to handle. any more and why even try, it'd be boring. i've already become much more powerful with tier 3 and 4 alphas (even a tier 1 cardiac makes a HUGE difference in play speed for me), and i like at least the chance of death.
if you think about the following 3 statements, then you realize why we can't have more than one global level shift.
(challenge = fun, too challenging = frustrating, too easy = boring)
even without the other level shifts, players are already worried about how easy the 'hard' content will become. in any case, i will welcome all incarnate powers with open arms
, regardless of gates and restrictions.
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Quote:i beg to differ on the soft cap part. banes can almost softcap themselves with just an additional pick of the pool maneuvers, before IOs. specifically, soft cap to range and about 35% to melee.Originally Posted by Linea_Alba
Bane: Stealth Melee with near Soft-Capped Armor and buffs. (Difficult to soft-cap, but possible)
i think overall the descriptions in this thread are accurate. from my experience lvling both a bane and a night widow (only to 30 though on the NW), the SoAs are powerhouses right out of the box, regardless of what branch or hybrid you choose.
it is weird though that you will lvl to 24 forced into a particular playstyle, then have the potential to completely change when you go into the forced respec. also, if you really hate redraw, don't take both bane attacks and huntsman attacks, as you'll have both a gun and a mace you'll have to alternate between (although many will suggest its worth it for venom grenade from the huntsman branch - i disagree on this myself and have an awesome bane).
best of luck with your choice.
(of course, with alternate builds now, you could level a widow and a soldier up to 24, respec, and then lvl up the alternate build and choose the other branch or a hybrid and see how they feel to you before you decide on which to lvl to 50) -
i would try what rsclark said.
try running normal hero content with other people first and see if that helps. -
you need to be do tips in paragon city to transition to full hero from the rogue alignment. those in the rogue isles will only keep you a rogue or transition you back to villain.
the bigger issue may be what you're fighting in paragon city. i've never had a problem getting tips, i run around until i find a boss, defeat it and the surrounding mob (as long the mobs are lvl 20+) and i eventually get a tip (at most a few mobs). you have a much higher chance getting a tip drop from bosses than the other lower ranks, so concentrate on that.
oh, and by paragon city, i mean the city zones. not cimerora or RWZ. go to talos or PI. you shoudn't need to run radios to get tips either but i can't see why you wouldn't get a drop if you're doing radios with bosses enabled.
hope that helps.
PS: do you have other arcs still open? i don't know if that matters, especially if you can get tips redside already. -
Quote:remember that nerve only helps with powers that can be slotted for defense. in your case, none of your primary or secondary will be effected, only cj and weave (or invisibility if you're running it for def and not just a lotg mule).Originally Posted by Helluva_Goon
I haven't reid other avenues such as using Nerve for the extra 20% glonal defenses but since I've made dozens of builds trying this way, I will experiemnt much more with those there.
lucky for you, there is a button at the top of mids to allow you to add in the different alpha slots and see how much you might gain (it won't be a lot, but might add a few percent).
could always add in maneuvers too, although to get any benefit for the end cost, it'll need slots. -
last friday, i did 3 ITFs - one on a speced out controller (ill/kin), an about to hit perma-dom dominator (ice/fire), and a recently i19 speced with only SOs SoA (pure bane).
all went nice and smooth as complete PuGs with none of that 'we need X or we'll fail/take forever' stuff. and i'm sure that surveillance and shatter armor helped a lot, not to mention stacked maneuvers (even though my end bottomed out often) and being able to quickly take out the healers.
next time someone passes over your SoA, just start another team and rock it PuG-style while they are looking for whatever they think they need. clearly the team leader doesn't know any better or isn't a good player to begin with. -
Quote:i'm still on XP and i'm not upgrading. i prefer being able to play all of my older games :P.Originally Posted by Kitsune Knight
(if you're still on XP, shame on you!
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it would also be nice that in the SG message that indicates you are past due, that it indicates which zone to go to.
and at least 1 high lvl and low lvl zone to do it in, so either Talos or PI heroside, and GV inside the base of the tower with the LT statues. -
This is my current working build for my bane soldier:
I'm not sure what else to do to tweak this build better. Prefer suggestions that do not either change or gimp my power selection, but set suggestions would be awesome. Not completely opposed to purples, but prefer non-purple or cheap purple builds.
Softcapped to range w/o cloaking device, to melee with cloaking device. Only two i really care about, but wouldn't mind more AoE.
Villain Plan by Mids' Villain Designer 1.92
http://www.cohplanner.com/
Click this DataLink to open the build!
Mercy's Bane: Level 50 Natural Arachnos Soldier
Primary Power Set: Bane Spider Soldier
Secondary Power Set: Bane Spider Training
Power Pool: Speed
Power Pool: Leadership
Power Pool: Leaping
Ancillary Pool: Mace Mastery
Villain Profile:
Level 1: Mace Beam- (A) Devastation - Accuracy/Damage
- (3) Devastation - Damage/Endurance
- (3) Devastation - Damage/Recharge
- (9) Devastation - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge
- (A) Titanium Coating - Resistance/Endurance
- (5) Titanium Coating - Resistance/Recharge
- (5) Titanium Coating - Resistance
- (A) Steadfast Protection - Resistance/+Def 3%
- (9) Steadfast Protection - Knockback Protection
- (A) Defense Buff IO
- (50) Defense Buff IO
- (A) Recharge Reduction IO
- (7) Recharge Reduction IO
- (7) Recharge Reduction IO
- (A) Recharge Reduction IO
- (11) Recharge Reduction IO
- (11) Recharge Reduction IO
- (A) Run Speed IO
- (A) Devastation - Accuracy/Damage
- (13) Devastation - Damage/Endurance
- (13) Devastation - Damage/Recharge
- (25) Devastation - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge
- (A) Red Fortune - Defense/Endurance
- (15) Red Fortune - Defense/Recharge
- (15) Red Fortune - Endurance/Recharge
- (17) Red Fortune - Defense/Endurance/Recharge
- (31) Red Fortune - Defense
- (34) Red Fortune - Endurance
- (A) Red Fortune - Defense/Endurance
- (17) Red Fortune - Defense/Recharge
- (19) Red Fortune - Endurance/Recharge
- (19) Red Fortune - Defense/Endurance/Recharge
- (31) Red Fortune - Defense
- (43) Red Fortune - Endurance
- (A) Touch of Death - Accuracy/Damage
- (21) Touch of Death - Damage/Endurance
- (21) Touch of Death - Damage/Recharge
- (23) Touch of Death - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance
- (23) Touch of Death - Damage/Endurance/Recharge
- (43) Touch of Death - Chance of Damage(Negative)
- (A) Endurance Reduction IO
- (37) Endurance Reduction IO
- (A) Run Speed IO
- (A) Defense Buff IO
- (A) Recharge Reduction IO
- (27) Recharge Reduction IO
- (27) Recharge Reduction IO
- (A) Analyze Weakness - Defense Debuff
- (29) Analyze Weakness - Accuracy/Defense Debuff
- (29) Analyze Weakness - Accuracy/Recharge
- (31) Analyze Weakness - Defense Debuff/Endurance/Recharge
- (37) Analyze Weakness - Accuracy/Endurance/Recharge
- (40) Analyze Weakness - Chance for +ToHit
- (A) Adjusted Targeting - To Hit Buff/Endurance
- (37) Adjusted Targeting - To Hit Buff/Endurance/Recharge
- (A) Obliteration - Damage
- (33) Obliteration - Accuracy/Recharge
- (33) Obliteration - Damage/Recharge
- (33) Obliteration - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge
- (34) Obliteration - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance/Recharge
- (34) Obliteration - Chance for Smashing Damage
- (A) Ghost Widow's Embrace - Accuracy/Recharge
- (36) Ghost Widow's Embrace - Endurance/Hold
- (36) Ghost Widow's Embrace - Accuracy/Endurance
- (36) Ghost Widow's Embrace - Hold/Range
- (A) Expedient Reinforcement - Accuracy/Recharge
- (39) Expedient Reinforcement - Accuracy/Damage
- (39) Expedient Reinforcement - Damage/Endurance
- (39) Expedient Reinforcement - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge
- (40) Expedient Reinforcement - Endurance/Damage/Recharge
- (40) Expedient Reinforcement - Resist Bonus Aura for Pets
- (A) Enfeebled Operation - Accuracy/Recharge
- (42) Enfeebled Operation - Endurance/Immobilize
- (42) Enfeebled Operation - Accuracy/Endurance
- (42) Enfeebled Operation - Immobilize/Range
- (43) Enfeebled Operation - Accuracy/Immobilize/Recharge
- (46) Enfeebled Operation - Accuracy/Immobilize
- (A) Touch of Death - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance
- (45) Touch of Death - Damage/Endurance
- (45) Touch of Death - Damage/Recharge
- (45) Touch of Death - Accuracy/Damage
- (46) Touch of Death - Damage/Endurance/Recharge
- (46) Touch of Death - Chance of Damage(Negative)
- (A) Edict of the Master - Defense Bonus
- (48) Edict of the Master - Accuracy/Damage
- (48) Edict of the Master - Damage
- (48) Edict of the Master - Damage/Endurance
- (50) Recharge Reduction IO
- (50) Recharge Reduction IO
- (A) Luck of the Gambler - Recharge Speed
Level 1: Brawl- (A) Empty
Level 1: Sprint- (A) Empty
- (A) Empty
Level 2: Swift- (A) Run Speed IO
- (A) Miracle - +Recovery
- (A) Jumping IO
- (A) Endurance Modification IO
- (25) Endurance Modification IO
------------
Set Bonus Totals:- 26% DamageBuff(Smashing)
- 26% DamageBuff(Lethal)
- 26% DamageBuff(Fire)
- 26% DamageBuff(Cold)
- 26% DamageBuff(Energy)
- 26% DamageBuff(Negative)
- 26% DamageBuff(Toxic)
- 26% DamageBuff(Psionic)
- 18.63% Defense(Melee)
- 5% Defense
- 12.69% Defense(Smashing)
- 12.69% Defense(Lethal)
- 3% Defense(Fire)
- 3% Defense(Cold)
- 7.063% Defense(Energy)
- 7.063% Defense(Negative)
- 3% Defense(Psionic)
- 11.13% Defense(Ranged)
- 3% Defense(AoE)
- 2.25% Max End
- 20% Enhancement(Accuracy)
- 3% Enhancement(Immobilize)
- 32.5% Enhancement(RechargeTime)
- 132.52 HP (12.37%) HitPoints
- 4% JumpHeight
- 4% JumpSpeed
- Knockback (Mag -4)
- Knockup (Mag -4)
- MezResist(Confused) 2.5%
- MezResist(Held) 8%
- MezResist(Immobilize) 12.4%
- MezResist(Sleep) 4.7%
- MezResist(Stun) 6.9%
- MezResist(Terrorized) 2.5%
- 1.5% (0.026 End/sec) Recovery
- 44% (2.361 HP/sec) Regeneration
- 11.58% Resistance(Smashing)
- 14.08% Resistance(Lethal)
- 12.52% Resistance(Fire)
- 12.52% Resistance(Cold)
- 10% Resistance(Energy)
- 11.88% Resistance(Negative)
- 10% Resistance(Toxic)
- 10% Resistance(Psionic)
- 5% RunSpeed
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the basic crey are glass cannons. if you're soft capped or a melee type, yeah they are easy. however, they can easily floor squishies if not soft-capped. they have heavy ranged and melee and have fast recharging ranged attacks. thats without paragon protectors. no need to change the crey, outside of updating their armor graphics to be more than just white armored suits.
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Quote:i know people will say 'you can farm them' but its really just how fast can you clear lvl 50 enemies (non-AE). the drop rate is so low you could potentially farm for days and not get a drop. more consistent would be farming hero/villain tip missions and get alignment merits to get lotg procs and other valuable IOs sell the crafted version for 100-150 mill and buy what you need. or wait for 20 alignment merits, but that will take weeks.Originally Posted by Shadow Wail
What is the easiest way to get purples to drop ? My feeling about slotting to max something means that I have to sacrafice some powers in favor of powers that can be used for set bonuses and useless slots to get those bonuses.
My earth/Ice/Ice can do some serious carnage just by IO slotting and setting up stuff but it isnt soft capped or anything. I just dont feel like giving up powers that can be fun for survivability
(Excuse the spelling, I'm at work)
my ice/fire/fire just got 68% global rech with hasten 3 slotted and *just* hit perma dom. no purples. i still have another lotg to go plus at least 3 more non-purple sets for more rech. -
you'll also know when you target any lvl 49+ critter and notice that their 'color' is one lower than before. so lvl 50 minions will con blue instead of white, etc.
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even though you are planning on playing from range, i'd still heavily suggest getting your heaviest melee attack. there will be times when you have everything but the boss defeated but you have to cycle through your ranged attack chain over and over to defeat that boss when you could hit it hard a few times with your melee attack too. and that boss will most likely be held - so the danger of being in melee range is gone.
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Quote:yep, it seems like a very vocal subset (i won't assume how large though) would rather be able to customize everything over having everything work correctly and be balanced.Originally Posted by Delta_Strider
Customization is a low priority compared to giving some standardization in terms of powerset performance and fixing the A.I.
Unfortunately most people disagree with the former(That goes for all ATs)
guaranteed there were would be a pimp with zombie hookers if we were able to customize the pets though. although i think we'd have a lot of slave owners in some fashion - even my MM has a egyptian themed costume that i could make the zombies into classic egyptian slaves - and that might not sit well with people either... -
well, i went and played my old bane last night - i did choose CT offensive over CT defensive (Doh!).
however, i did a quick respec into inherent stamina, and got shatter armor.
basic build for pure bane (i think this is the order i used - got most everything when available and filled in the empty spots):
1 mace beam
1 bane spider armor upgrade
2 wolf spider armor
4 CT defensive
6 BU
8 hasten
10 super speed
12 poisonous ray
14 TT maneuvers
16 TT assault
18 shatter
20 maneuvers
22 mental training
24 cloaking device
26 placate
28 surveillance
30 TT tactics
32 crowd control
35 web cocoon
38 call reinforcements
41 web grenade
44 shatter armor
47 summon blaster
49 combat jumping
on a SO/common IO build, i had just enough slots to give all the attacks 2 acc/3 dam, both pets 3 rech/1 acc/2 dam, 3 def in both maneuvers, 3 rech in placate, BU and hasten, and everything adequately slotted. i also have ~40% ranged def, and ~30% defense to all (i have a little more due to a steadfast res/def i didn't realize i had in the build previously).
he also has net gain of +2 end/sec or so, although he eats through blue fast - he usually defeats the spawns fast enough that he doesn't bottom out and recovers quickly once they are defeated.
tested against the alpha unlock arc - trapdoor was a breeze, the minotaur got a few lucky hits in when i rushed with all 3 pets and killed me (for got to pop a purple to soft-cap myself), but came back and slaughtered him when i returned sans pets but with a purple. web cocoon and grenade are great for slowing him down while my melee attacks recharged so i could pelt him with poisonous ray and mace beam.
not sure on best attack chain though that will incorporate shatter armor (as it doesn't crit from hide). i though it might be surveillance->BU->shatter armor->placate->shatter for the double -resist. this is the best chain when not hidden, but from hide you gain nothing by using shatter armor from hide. any ideas? -
Quote:it wasn't removed. it was granted to everyone as an inherent (at level 2 i think), and that was very recently.Originally Posted by Kelraz
Thanks for all the posts!
Fitness I see was removed from the game, that's a curious change.
i can't imagine anyone really hated that change, except maybe needing to respec all of their characters (modify power choice and enhancement slot order). 
[note: 3 people beat me to this point lol]
there are lots of new things from 5 years ago. you'll hear everyone talk about IOs and incarnates and whatnot, but honestly, i'd just look through the powersets between you and your girlfriend and see what you would like to play and either try it or ask on the boards if that combo is good (most are) and whether the sets you picked will work well for a duo (still, most will - there are some that synergize a little better than others).
don't get hung up on IOs though. if you want to know more about it, look on paragonwiki.com. btw, IOs refer to invention origin enhancements - which work like gear in other games where combinations of the same set will give you bonuses. the low level IOs are rarely that useful, with exceptions, and the old options of TOs, DOs and SOs are still available - and still completely viable to use through lvl 50. and you really won't need to worry about anything incarnate until lvl 50, although you can read about it ad nausem on the boards currently.
the exceptional low level IOs (you should watch for these once you start getting drops at lvl 10 i think)
steadfast protection res/def
steadfast protection -KB
karma -KB
achilles heal -resist
there might be more, but know that there are in-game markets now, where you can sell these recipes and crafted enhancements for lots of in game $$. you can literally make millions of influence/infamy/information on these low level drops as they provide things the high level ones don't.
hope that helps. welcome back and enjoy. -
i went with a 'pure' bane build (no venom grenade) and i had a ton of fun with him right after VEATs were introduced.
(going off memory)
i picked up mace blast over bash as a personal choice (from hide there are many better options than bash), skipped pulverize, and got the other utility and melee powers from the primary as well as poisonous ray (oh so good - even w/o venom grenade). all of the bane training, and most of the wolf training, including the armor, definitely skipping CT
ffensive, and definitely picking up TT:defensive (unexpectedly high +def).
i tried the other mace blasts, including the one from the epic and they all suck (i guess it's a toss up between mace blast and mace beam). basically only if you feel you must take them, but they are basically worthless, especially once you start using crowd control from hide for massive AoE damage.
reason for taking placate has been already discussed, but unless you're going for dps exclusively, placate will make you so happy. even if banes do not get the same critical damage as stalkers, it makes me happy to see 'Executioner's Strike' after using shatter. (i haven't used shatter armor yet, need to respec into it as it wasn't available when i leveled him up). not to mention crowd control has a 50% chance for crit from hide and you can get more mileage out of it with placate than without.
the pets help a decent amount too, especially with the tactical training buffs.
this makes me want to dust my lvl 50 bane off, respec him and wreak some havoc.
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yep, no redraw. hard to beat the bane + mace mastery combo.
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i have an ice/fire/fire i recently speced into the fire epic. he works relatively similar.
i didn't take the tough/weave route, so i had room for consume (which does help a lot with my similar end problems), but even so, my consumption is very high due to RoF+fireball+fire breath+AoE control, EVEN with cardiac. i'm not quite into perma-dom yet, but i want to see where i'm at with perma dom and a miracle and numina proc before i settle into cardiac forever. -
Quote:not all doms lockdown first, or rather, not all doms have to go for total lockdown first. definitely fiery assault (as i have one), or maybe elec assault can straight up attack if they feel confident or the mob is small. of course, some primaries can partially control with one power regularly which might be enough mitigation to go into blast mode after that's activated (say ice slick or quicksand). this of course depends on relative level and slotting.Originally Posted by TankShock
From a numbers standpoint, Dom seems to match up with Blaster. But from a playstyle standpoint, my Fire/Storm Corr plays much more like a Blaster than any of my Doms. The Doms all lockdown first, then damage. The Fire Corr damages first, then debuffs whatever is left (Freezing Rain excepted ).
i only have one corruptor, but my ice/fire dom definitely feels like a blaster with controls, not a controller with attacks (although my ill/kin/stone almost feels like a dominator). -
however, one consequence of the pet melee-range bug is that it is much easier to buff phantasm with FS, provided you can time it between when phantasm rushes and fires off energy torrent.
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'must have' maybe not.
however... every single one of my characters have it. not even a question to take it, always in the build. even my tank. my necro/poison didn't have stamina, but he has hasten.
it also depends on if you build for IOs, where extra recharge is rare in an SO build. but i still would be hard pressed to not have it.