StratoNexus
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Posts
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Joined
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Quote:I believe the real problem is the fact that they still haven't figured out how to make a good UI for searching.Originally Posted by Sister_Twelve
But unless the devs decide to fix the real problem - the inferiority of AE when compared to the rest of the game as far as rewards go, the situation will never improve no matter how many contests Dr. Aeon runs or how many events we decide to create in this forum.
The find team member window is sorely lacking. The auction house is way more complicated, unintuitive, and limited than it needs to be. Trying to find something in AE that may intrigue you is hit or miss.
When I search for Lost in the AE interface, chances are I am not looking for arcs about my lost brother, the lost cause, or the lost pendant. Its nice that we can say our arcs are sci-fi, but no one can search for arcs that are labeled sci-fi. If 40 people play my arc and 32 rate it as challenging, I'd like people to be able to find my arc by searching for challenging. -
Quote:Soloing my FF/Nrg got pretty painful from 27-36 (and therefore I rarely did it, 2 or 3 missions every level or two). After I got Explosive Blast slotted, I was content with my kill speed, but I think I have a higher tolerance for slow killing than most.Originally Posted by Bill Z Bubba
Too low based on what? Given the mitigation provided by defender primaries, I can't even see what case you could make.
What's even stranger, unless this FF/Ene def's soloability plummets after 22, I might just keep it.
It is easy enough, for me, to grab one scrapper or blaster on my FF/Nrg and make them unkillable. But as far as game balance goes, I see no reason why defenders must solo as slow as they currently do. The only reason I care is that when I search for a defender, I'd like to be able to find one.
The only reason I can think to buff defender damage would be due to low population. If defender pop is plenty high, then I am fine with how they play right now. The pop seems low enough, from casual observation, to at least be concerned. Would a damage buff increase defender pop (enough to matter if it is an issue)?
I believe it would and not just because it would help them solo, but also because people would feel like the AT is good at both of its roles (something I already believe, but I think its a widespread belief that defender secondaries are pointless, even among some people who use them anyway). -
Happy Holidays and thanks for all the fun.
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Quote:Would you delete your tankers and scrappers if your defender(s) did 23% more base damage and had scrapper base HPs?Originally Posted by UberGuy
Was this slow compared to some other ATs out there? Well, honestly, it depends. I have some melee characters who would have had a horrid time with the multiple patrols piling in on them like that, plus the cascading defense failures. All my "slow" time was spend in clearing the map, not so much the EB itself.
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Quote:I find it disingenuous that someone who may find playing a MA/Fiery scrapper painful claims it would be a breeze to solo a FF/Nrg defender.Originally Posted by Bill Z Bubba
Wow... a bunch of defenders talking about soloing EBs. Imagine my complete lack of surprise.
I just looked at what could be done with IOs at level 39 on a FF/Ene defender.
I wouldn't be able to raise the diff much... maybe run at +0/x4, but for what *some* say isn't solo capable, I'd be tearing it up.
Even dropping everything back to basic IOs, +0/x2 would be a breeze.
Hover in, drop detention field on primary boss, Explosive Blast, Repulsion Bomb, Energy Torrent, single target attacks, keep boss in detention field, when surround spawn is gone, aid self, single target chain of p-burst, p-bolt, p-blast, p-bolt, repeat. Use PFF/AidSelf if things get hairy.
What's the problem here again?
I find it disingenuous that someone who claims Khelds need to be buffed so that they do not have to take powers they don't won't also claims others should build properly or not complain.
Someone who won't even play a defender because their damage is so poor telling someone else not to request changes they desire would be like telling someone they should just make a tri-from Kheld and stop asking for the human form to be buffed.
Perhaps the OP might continue /signing and posting their agreement whenever they see a thread pop up asking for more defender damage. At least until this game's lead designer pops in and states, for the record, that it will never happen. If such a thing occurs, they could save the post as a favorite and simply point all newcomers asking for more defender damage to the statement in question.
Maybe I spent too much time on this post.
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Hidden at the bottom of the English forums is this gem of a Multimedia section.
In the guides there, I found a link to this site which has some useful downloads.
Looking through the list of moves, I would guess the command you are looking for is SNIPERBLAST and the list below probably contains the FX for the move.
OneShot POWERS/ENERGYBLAST/ENERGYBLAST.FX OneShot POWERS/ENERGYBLAST/ENERGYBLASTHIT.FX OneShot POWERS/ENERGYBLAST/ENERGYBLASTSINGLESHOT.FX OneShot POWERS/ENERGYBLAST/ENERGYEXPLOSIONHIT.FX OneShot POWERS/ENERGYBLAST/ENERGYEXPLOSIONHIT2.FX OneShot POWERS/ENERGYBLAST/ENERGYTORRENTBLAST.FX OneShot POWERS/ENERGYBLAST/ENERGYTORRENTBLASTRED.FX OneShot POWERS/ENERGYBLAST/MEGA.FX OneShot POWERS/ENERGYBLAST/MEGABLASTHIT.FX OneShot POWERS/ENERGYBLAST/NOVABLAST.FX OneShot POWERS/ENERGYBLAST/POWERPUSH.FX OneShot POWERS/ENERGYBLAST/RAPID.FX OneShot POWERS/ENERGYBLAST/REDENERGYBLASTHIT.FX OneShot POWERS/ENERGYBLAST/REDRAPID.FX OneShot POWERS/ENERGYBLAST/SMALLENERGYBLASTHIT.FX OneShot POWERS/ENERGYBLAST/SNIPERBLAST.FX Maintained POWERS/ENERGYBLAST/SNIPERWINDUP.FX OneShot POWERS/ENERGYBLAST/ZERO_ENERGYBLAST.FX -
Congratulations minimalist. I especially enjoyed the DE office map, it looked perfect with your customs and the Lanaruu. I also spent about 20 minutes just wandering around the first mission checking out all the festival goers and trying to find that beer tent.
p.s. I used the Grandville map for my last mission of this challenge. In all my runs through it (and I ran through that mission more than any other), I did have a failed boss spawn, but just once. I have hardly anything on the map, so maybe that lowers my potential for incident. -
Quote:Yeah. I purposely left all purples out of my guide. I almost made an exception for the cheapo purples, but I decided that I never knew what the market/drop rate was going to be like in the future. It is possible I should have done the same for Hamis, but they had been around so much longer and there were guaranteed ways to get them, so I decided to include them.Originally Posted by Harkness
Given the relative-cheapness and huge-benefits of Coercive_Persuasion, I'd mention six-slotting that before three-slotting Hamis...
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There are times I want to go into my guide and give a more unvarnished opinion on WoC.
I'll start brief here. Skip it. It is bad. Never look back.
A Rad/MM or an Elec/MM who decides they want to live in melee range (they start fights in melee range, they stay in melee range, they end fights in melee range; CB and LB are recharged, but you run up and MP something instead) can barely get a decent effect out of it, occasionally. Really, any blaster who wants to live in melee could get this useful effect, but I am not sure why any of the other blaster primaries would make that choice combined with MM.
I have it on my Fire/MM. I never really use it. I turn it on and stay mostly at range. I want to respec out of it, but I don't care enough about that character to do so (when I want to play a level 50 Fire blaster, I'd much rather play my Fire/Fire, so my poor Fire/MM kind of languishes, only used rarely).
My guides more PC description:
Quote:Originally Posted by StratoNexus
World of Confusion Level 28 PBAoE toggle, Minion Confuse, Negligible Damage, surrounds you in the pink bubble. This is not a damage aura; think of it more like a defense toggle. Some attacks will not be aimed at you or your team, because the confused enemy will shoot his friends instead. Without slotting, this power does not work well, so do not judge it before slotting. The confuse portion hits at a penalty, so this power requires good Acc slotting. The power only ticks every 4 seconds, and the confuse lasts 1.5 seconds, so it also needs good Confuse slotting. Once slotted with at least 2 Acc and 2 Confuse, you should notice a reduction in incoming minion attacks. This power is very playstyle dependent, and in many ways does not mix well with range attacks. Another problem is this power is really only useful vs. minons, and many blasters will have them destroyed so fast, that this power can become somewhat irrelevant. You will have to make your own choice about this power. I would take it on some builds, but skip it on others (an Elec/Mental who plans on sticking with a lot of melee and make use of the PBAoEs will see some decent use out of this, for example). The size of this effect is a bit small (a mere 8 foot radius), further limiting its usefulness. World of Confusion uses very little endurance, so at least that is not a concern.
Mid-level slotting 2 Acc, 2 Confuse
Late Slotting 2 Acc, 3 Confuse
Useful Sets There are not a whole lot of Confuse sets, so its not all that hard to choose what you want to do. While slotting the power for damage is useless (since it is very low damage on a 4 second tick), you could choose to use it as a place to put the PBAoE damage sets, if there are any set bonuses there you really want.- 3 Endoplasms (Acc/Mez Hamis) capped Acc and Confuse in 3 slots, good stuff.
- 5 Malaises Illusions, 1 Endoplasm, capped Acc and Confuse, +2.5% recovery, +2.5% Confused duration, +2.5% Damage, +6.25% recharge
- 4 Sciroccos Dervish, 2 Endoplasm, capped Acc, great Confuse enhancement, +10% regen, +3.13% Neg resist, +9% Acc
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Thank you much for this awesome treat. I will definitely use it to live the dream for a few weeks, before cold, harsh reality comes crashing back.
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Quote:Oh. I must have gotten AVs lack of resistance confused with the purple patch. Most AVs do not resist damage and resistance debuffs then (unless they have resistance of the same damage type)?Originally Posted by Kahlan_
It's because AVs all have something like 85 resistance to tohit an defense debuffs, so that on top of the purple patch can make them pretty much useless in many scenarios.
Thank you for the correction and further clarification. -
Quote:You can't laugh at yourself? Seriously, that was funny. You should laugh instead of complain that someone made a joke at what you wrote.Originally Posted by GangstaBlade
Wow I typo ONE letter and you all get up in my computer screen Seriously is there something wrong with you?
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Quote:Oops. Not sure what I was thinking then. I have this nagging (and apparently wrong) thing in the back of my head telling me that damage and resistance debuffs are not reduced as much or in the same way as to-hit and defense debuffs. I don't know why, I must be getting it mixed up with something. I hate when the brain gets full. That will teach me to post while I am trying to figure out how to do plumbing.Originally Posted by UberGuy
No, that's not correct. Resistance debuffs are definitely affected by the purple patch.
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Quote:Heightened Senses grants 60% resistance to perception debuffs.Originally Posted by Biospark
Yeah, for some reason MIDs is showing 60% on Heightened Senses, but its 17% in game.
Too bad really, might as well be 0%
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Quote:As far as I know, resistance debuffs are unaffected by the purple patch. They are affected by enemy resistances, if they have any.Originally Posted by NeonMan
To pick a random example Freezing Rain debuffs resist by 22% vs. +3 opponents (more if they're lower). So by hitting one power per fight, running Assault, and shooting said Defender is contributing more damage than any blaster I've ever managed to build. Maybe there's some miracle blaster who can top that, if so I'd like to see the build.
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Why say the following?
Quote:It is not true. A typical spawn of three foes will not do that. There may be a few spawns that could, if they all hit. A typical blaster can defeat/control a typical spawn of three foes facing a three attack alpha (or less depending on what the blaster opens with) and then only facing 0-2 more attacks. 3-5 attacks from a typical 3 foe spawn will not move a blaster below half health.Originally Posted by Ultimo_
You have decent health, but with no defenses, two or three hits is enough to kill you. When a typical spawn of three foes can defeat you on their first volley, I'm left wondering how you're supposed to be successful.
Solo, blasters do not scale well vs. harder targets. Many do scale well vs. more targets. Teamed, blasters are a good addition vs. many, hard targets. In this game, Iron Man's armor is built by allies. Get a defender or Tanker friend modeled on Ho Yinsen.
Do not solo your own arc that you list as challenging and designed for teams with a character you are not capable of soloing well. Find AE arcs that feature normal challenges or play a regular contact arc.
You could try a brute or stalker. EM / EA or Ela with Mace mastery. You do not get the blasts until high level though. An Arachnos Soldier is pretty close as well. -
I enjoyed the story. I always liked the psycho-drama of the bad guy and the hero chatting it up. Silence of the Lambs, Piers Anthony's Satan and the other incarnates in his Incarnations series, Callisto and the heroes in Xena, Buffy and Spike, the story of Job, Cancer Man and Mulder, Magneto and Professor X, etc.
45+, EBs in every mission, defeat alls, all timed. I grabbed my Kat/Inv scrapper. And I dropped my diff all the way down to +1/x2, to make sure I could read leisurely.
Beat up Council, Click glowy. Take down Arakhn. Oh crap, she is running. She didn't get far.
Beat up CoT. Click glowy. Take down CoT dude. I pulled him all the way to the back of a room, in case he runs too. Good choice, he is Ice control/Ice Armor, which means he is going to be slowing me while he runs. And run he does. He also did not get far before I was able to body block him against a wall with the help of an Ice Thorn Caster. Thankfully, he didn't remember he can fly.
Beat up Crey. Click Glowy. I swear if this dude tries to run I am doomed. His resistance to lethal was surprisingly high (glad I do not use energy damage). I managed my blue bar well, keeping an eye out for the Power Sinks. I am glad this one does not try to run.
Beat up Family. Click glowy. Ooohhh! Sword fight! You killed my master, prepare to die. Oh damn, he is running. There is no way I am going to stop him! In a moment of inspiration, I ran ahead of him and occupied a doorway. I got into just the right position apparently, because he could not get past me. I easily dispatched him as the AI futilely tried to figure out how to squeeze past me.
After reading all of the mission stuff (mission intro, mission send off, mission begin clue, return to contact text) I look up. Hey! That is a whole lot less time than the other 4 missions gave me. Crap.
Enter big outdoor map. Raptor pack FTW. Fly around until I find the big bad (although I did kill one Mu Guardian flying around in an attempt to save a PPD guy, but sadly the Mu's pet took out the PPD while I took out the Mu). Dive at the bad guy, patrol wanders in, gather them up, take out the three PSI slingers, and use the rest to feed Invincibilty. Crazy missle guy does not try to run (although he never would have made it where he spawned).
Story critique. Since I enjoy this kind of story and I like how you did it, there won't be much for me to say. There were two things that rubbed me the wrong way.
First, " -sigh- Would you please stop that? I have called you here for a reason. There is little time for your histrionics. Believe it or not, I am here to offer my help to you." While some of my characters would have histrionics just seeing the brassman, many would not. I hate to assume immaturity or overreaction from my players and I hate it when my DMs assume I should react that way to their NPCs. Obviously, he needs to explain that we are not meeting to fight, but I'd rather not assume an extreme player reaction (the player can roleplay that as they wish and probably will do it better than me if that is what they want).
Second, you use a few too many specific assumptions/examples about your player's backgrounds. I do not need to have a family to be sympathetic to those who do. I also do not need to have dated a woman recently in order to appreciate my connections to other heroes (which was especially ironic on my asexual cybernetic/super soldier serum catgirl).
Game play critique. Obviously, its a tad repetitive. Different maps and enemy types help, but do not eliminate this concern. Since it is five short missions, its not a huge issue, but I think it is a drawback. Running EBs that make you fail a mission is harsh. It sure did amp up the fun factor for me, but I doubt most people would feel the same.
I reloaded the arc and deliberately let them get away (or failed the timer in mission 3). It took Arakhn awhile to escape. The CoT guy was able to escape pretty quickly. I need to load up mission 4 and then 5, but I am going to bed soon, so it will have to be later.
There did not seem to be any mechanic in place to make the last mission hard other than the short timer. I guess the patrols would be more problematic for something less sturdy. I'd probably increase the timer but add ambushes to the boss fight (and if I really wanted it to be harsh, I'd add all three ambushes to the fight, although I'd recommend just one or maybe two). -
MA/Fire/Wpn
CaK boss - Caltrops - Burn - Dragon's Tail -
Quote:Hmmm. Mud Pots has always been a melee range aura, as far as I know.Originally Posted by MinMin
They got drastically reduced AoE radii. In the case of Mud Pots, down to 7' which is melee range. Fissure is only slightly more.
I see that Fissure got reduced from 15 to 10 feet. That seems a bit backwards considering they has just normalized Dom's PBAoE powers to 15 feet. I know this one is a "ranged" targeted AoE, but with its short range, it is practically a PBAoE.
Hmmm. Thank you for this thread. I intend to make a Fire/Earth Dom after GR comes out and this thread has been helpful. -
Quote:Have you tried this or this?Originally Posted by New_Dark_Age
It is too subtle. I want characters who have Energy, Fire, Ice, or some badass powerful prominent glow to them that makes them look formidable. Will Power has none of this. It is boring and quite frustrating because I would have made a WP long ago if the effects when you first activate the toggles remained on the character or the effects were similar to Invul.
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I enjoyed this arc (enough to play it twice so far). I soloed it both times, so I can't speak for how it plays on a team, but, of course, the story works best as a solo adventure.
I have three possible interpretations. One, its all a Nemesis plot that my character stops and hopefully Sister Psyche helps me out at the end. Two, I am a person who jumped on a bomb and was rebuilt by these nice people, but the damage to the brain was a tad much and I am crazy. Three, I am that purple guy in the cannon having a bit of trouble (again, or in the past?). All of them work for me and are fun to think about.
Good introduction. It sets up the right feeling and hits the tone right on the head, IMO.
Mission 1 is a great little mission just to get the story going and to introduce our helper. The return text after mission 1 is cute, but I feel it detracts from the tone. Its too early for comic relief, the story is still trying to set up the horror/madness/conspiracy angle and breaking the immersion this early in the story did not appeal to me. I'd do something more serious here.
I love mission 2. The visuals are perfect. Roomba, Janitor, and Nurse work nicely. The clues work well for any of the three interpretations I have of the story. I found it fun. Overhearing the conversation while pretending to sleep is a nice touch.
I enjoyed the exercise equipment and the Freaks. The horror level is still high and this mission keeps it there perfectly. Its getting hard at this point to not feel that I am the crazy one and maybe this hero life is all my imagination. Were the Freaks just innocent people in physical therapy? Thankfully, Sister Psyche is there at the end to reassure me that I am on the right path and that there is definitely something wrong at this hospital. The return to contact text also fits into any interpretation.
Back to work (or out to investigate what is really going on). Automatons, sweet, I knew I wasn't crazy! The few customs are a nice add here. Good dialogue, I especially like the Receptionist, she almost seemed like she was on my side; its a shame she wasn't real. I like that the collection clue is a brief description and the mission end clue is done after you had more time to read the documents.
The mission intro and send off for Save the Day work well for either of the scenarios where I am crazy, but not as well for the Nemesis plot scenario. They could be Nemesis discussing the need to evacuate before I come back and uncover their plan and stop them, but its a stretch.
The BAB/Mike dialogue is also difficult to reconcile unless I am crazy. Larson's dialogue is great. Sister Psyche's dialogue is the clue I needed to attach Jean to the purple guy. The Synapse/Janitor dialogue is both amusing and appropriate. The Destroyed Automaton clue as well as the mission exit pop-up really capture the essence of the arc fabulously.
The map gets a bit tight, a lot of stuff can be jammed close together, depending how the random spawns occur, but I enjoy that dynamic.
I do not understand the return to contact text. Either I am crazy and have just killed the nurse and doctor or else they were automatons. I am not sure how they could have that conversation in any interpretation (I have ideas, but I have to reach to make it fit).
The souvenir works well for all interpretations and will be nice to read from time to time.
The gameplay was fun. Mission 1 is short, but the EB and ally are entertaining, and mission 2 has no fighting. The first impression of the arc may therefore be that there will be little play. However, missions 3, 4, and 5 all have fun fights and are visually appealing on top of the great story.
Thank you for your time and effort, I appreciated the journey on this one. -
Quote:What exactly happened to these two powers when proliferated to Dominators?Originally Posted by MinMin
It also went to my expectations based on the stats of Earth Assault and a distaste for the hosing that Mud Pots and Fissure got on the way into the Assault sets.
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Come on!
Log in.
Choose Character.
Choose Server.
Just do it already! -
Quote:But you don't get Screech until 26.Originally Posted by Majek
(without looking at others' answers...)
#1 -- At 23 I'd have a stun (let's assume Screech since my current blaster is sonic), so I'd probably slap the sorcerer from range, then Kill a Green Inkman. I don't remember the last time i was slept by a yellow... they must suck at it
/edit -- after reading other replies... DOH i forgot about Siren's... yeah sleep the whole group and then stun (Screech at range or Stun for melee) and kill each one at leisure.
#2 -- Embalmed first, those things can wreck a team. Then I'd probably work on the Mort and save the Eidolon for last.
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Quote:Fire/Fire. Its a shame I do not have acro, but only 1 level to go. Run at them, hit build up, land in the middle. FSC, FB. I may have been slept on the way, but someone else hit me and woke me up. I may be stunned at this point, Flares and Ring of Fire. If not mezzed, Blaze the sorcerer (if they didn't tp away), if its dead, FS the Green (unless it died in the ball + FSC), otherwise determine which attack I need to finish off the sorcerer (FS, Flares, or Ring). If the sorcerer stuck it out I may be getting knocked. Either way the fight is near over and has gone on long enough (6 or 7 seconds at least) that the variables are now huge.Originally Posted by Fury Flechette
Quiz question #1:
In the following group, who would you attack first?
a) Tsoo Sorcerer (healer, hurricane, foe hold)
b) Tsoo Green Ink Man (melee stun)
c) Tsoo Yellow Ink Man (ranged sleep)
I asked a number of SG mates this question, and I was fairly surprised at their answers. Assume you're a level 23 blaster, and the minions are orange con, which means you can probably take out one of the minions outright with 1 aim + build up blast but would take 2 shots to take out the Sorcerer. Who would you attack first and why?
Sonic/EM - Siren's Song. Choose by whimsy. repeat ad nauseum.
Ar/Men - Tanker goes in and groups them (and there will be a lot more of them than 3). Build Up, FT, Scream, BS, M30. *giggle maniacally* (as I am doing it I enjoy saying, Fire, Mind, Bullets, Bomb). I haven't really ever soloed this chaarcter; a few mission here and there probably, but I don't remember them.
Fire/Fire. Its a boss fight solo. I'd drop one or two purples and one or two reds, no Aim or BU (because I can't until 12 and 16) and run in for FSC + Ball. At that point the variables start to pile on fast. I have Sword, Flares, and Ring to use. Is the embalmed dead? Is it puking or squatting? Is the mort and Murk in melee or has the fire made it all kinds of runaway scared? Is OG on and I am now stunned (which only takes away one attack, which I may have already used)? Did they all hit despite the lucks?Quote:Originally Posted by Fury Flechette
Quiz question #2:
In the following group, who would you attack first and why?
a) Vahzilok Mortificator (ranged -slow, revive fallen cadavers, hard hitting melee attack)
b) Vahzilok Embalmed Cadaver (explodes, dumb AI)
c) Vahzilok Murk Eidolon (downgraded from a boss to a Lt, Midnight Grasp, Opressive Gloom)
Assume you're a level 11 blaster, and have build up but not aim. The Lts con yellow while the Embalmed cons white.
Sonic/EM - I only ran at low levels under old defiance. By the time I hit a boss spawn I'd probably be low on health and charge screaming, stun the Mort, Air Sup the Murk, Power Thrust the embalmed. Scream (this time I mean the power) then BS the Murk. Shout then EP the Mort. I may not have even needed all those attacks depending how much defiance I had. Kill the embalmed. I saved a lot of end and time waiting to heal in the low levels under old defiance.