StrykerX

Blasters do seem to be the way to go. At level 15 you don't really have a lot of extra survivability on a Scrapper, so the Blaster's higher AoE damage will be more useful. Tankers can have mez protection by level 15, but their damage is too low to solo it fast. An Archery / Mental or Fire / Mental Blaster would be able to take out spawns fast and /Mental would be especially handy against the Clockwork.

I was wondering, what AT / power set is capable of the absolute highest single target DPS? Fire/Energy Blasters? Dark/Shield Scrappers or Brutes? Sonic/Kin Corruptors? Or is it too close to call?

Share Pain could be handy for keeping your Bruiser alive if you let him tank. If you tank yourself using Bodyguard then yes, it's pretty much a team only power. Enforced Morale has good status protection and +perception in it, so it will be handy to use on the pets against certain enemies.

I don't normally play Defenders, but I recently had an interesting idea. I was thinking that a Rad / Sonic Defender with high ranged and AoE defense and lots of +recharge could be an insanely powerful AV soloist, and possibly even solo giant monsters. You'd have tons of -regen, -damage and some healing to help your survivability, -resist in your blasts, and +recovery to help power it. So I was wondering, assuming an unlimited budget, is it possible to get:

Perma-Hasten
Perma-AM
softcapped Ranged and AoE defense

all on one character?

(Yes, I know an Illusion/Rad Controller with huge +recharge can go perma-PA and doesn't need any defense, and can solo anything in the game that isn't timed or the Hamidon, but I'm wondering if a Defender couldn't get close to that power level with the right build...)

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Finally, don't be stingy with Domination. Older Domination gain was terrible, and people were scared of blowing Domi at the wrong moment. But that's past. Dominate often and Dominate hard. It's such a powerful inherent it's not even funny. Full end, high Mez resists and transforming your pew-pew into boom-boom? Yes, please.

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I'm leveling a Fire/Psi now (I want to see first-hand what the fuss is about while it's still here) and it's the first time I've gotten a Dom into the 20s, and I found that pre-Stamina the best thing to do (unless I knew an EB was coming up) was to blast until I ran out of endurance, then hit Domination for a refill and more firepower. Then after Domination wore off and I was out of endurance again, use Rest to heal up and get my blue bar back. By the time I was out of blue again, Domination would usually be back up, and Rest would be back up by the time Dom wore off again. Add in the occasional green or blue pill and I could go fairly nonstop. (I did have one End Red DO in most attacks.)

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-Regen is overrated when you've got a team. While you're solo, -regen is going to contribute more than any other effect at your disposal just because you don't have much damage to multiply. Since we're talking about GM Soloing, -regen is probably the most important tool at your disposal (aside from the player, that is).

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This. "Who can solo a GM?" pretty much boils down to "What powersets combine good -regen, good damage, and enough survivability to not die while applying that -regen and damage?"

I don't believe any Blasters, Scrappers, Stalkers, Brutes, Dominators, Tanks, or Epic ATs get any significant -regen, so that lets them out. A softcapped Rad Corruptor might pull it off, possibly even a /Kin Corruptor if they can get enough survivability. A Rad Defender might also do it if they can get enough damage... maybe a Rad/Sonic with lots of recharge buffs. /Traps MMs have done it, and I suspect /Poison could too. And of course /Rad and /Kin Controllers can do it... with Illusion/Rad being pretty much the only set proven to be able to solo every single GM in the game.

In early levels, I like to use my hold to keep one target out of the fight while blasting the others. The immobilize is also nice if you run into heavy melee mobs or short range mobs (attack at max range and an immobilize is as good as a hold against shotgunners). Since you don't have +recharge at low levels it's easy to work the hold and immobilize into your attack chain... and the immobilize is actually a halfway decent damage source if slotted for damage (the base duration is plenty).

Once you get DOs, slot the hold for duration, recharge, and accuracy and you can keep two enemies out of action or hold a boss, which pretty much guarantees survival as long as your blue bar holds out. You want to be doing about 1/3 control, 2/3 blasting. The hold is what really matters, though depending on your power sets the immobilize can count as a blast too.

What perception bug?

One thing about Axe (and I believe Mace) is that most of its attacks have almost identical DPA. That makes them weaker for billion infamy uber-recharge builds since they lack "heavy hitters", but it also makes them great for low-recharge builds since they also lack low-DPA "filler" attacks. As for AoEs, they both have pretty much the standard frontal cone and PBAoE... they're solidly average. In fact, "average" is the best way to describe them: decent single target damage, decent AoE damage, and a moderate amount of control. They just don't excel at anything, so people tend to skip them since they generally either build for maximum AoE damage (for farming or large teams) or maximum single target damage (AV hunters)... and for the ones who do want a "generalist" build, Dual Blades does the same thing but is fancier.

Personally, I think a big axe absolutely screams "brute", but that's just me...

If you can afford it, the Blessing one would be better, but good luck with that. You can sell the Steadfast for enough to buy a Karma (or close to it), but Blessing of the Zephyr costs tens of millions. You'd need half a dozen Steadfasts to afford one...

Sell it and buy a Karma KB protection IO for Hover or Combat Jumping. You probably won't want the Fighting pool, and you can't get a patron armor until level 41 so that thing will be sitting around a long time if you keep it. If you aren't taking a defense power either, sell it and use the inf for other stuff, then buy a new one at 41 (or whenever you get your patron armor)... you'll be able to afford one no problem by then.

True, but until a true AoE set does get added I'm all for keeping the one we have, "broken" or not. My own /Psi dominator isn't even high enough level to have PSW, but I know a lot of people are going to be very upset if the only decent Dom AoE gets nerfed with no replacement available.

Really, the biggest problem Doms probably have on teams is the lack of AoE. Right now they pretty much act as Controllers against large spawns... but villains are more self sufficient than heroes, and don't need as much control. And even blueside, Controllers are often more in demand at high levels for their (de)buffs or heals, which Doms don't get. You can't hold AVs (barring certain highly focused builds), and against non-AVs most redside teams just rely on damage and a Brute or MM to take the alpha.

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I'm guessing PSW will have its damage decreased or its recharge increased (I wouldn't be surprised if it were doubled). I don't expect anything to happen to DP, but an increase in damage across the board for the rest of the powers in the set would be in order - I'm looking at you, Psi Dart.

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The problem is that it doesn't matter what they do to the rest of the set. They could replace every single target attack in /Psi with a version of Blaze that has a 200' base range and a 0.5 second cast time and it wouldn't matter to most people. At all. /Psi is chosen for one reason by most people: AoE damage. It's the only Dominator set with any significant AoE power at all. Nerfing PSW would make Dominators the only AT in the game with no good AoE build possible.

Remember, some Blasters and Brutes (not to mention Fire/Kins) do more AoE damage than Fire/Psi Dominators in Dominaton do now. The area may be larger on PSW, but with good positioning that makes little difference. Yes, PSW has a stun... but Brutes can stand in the middle of an 8-man mob and not need controls.

Bottom line... is PSW the best AoE in the game? Yes. But it's also the only AoE in the set worth mentioning (Psychic Scream is weak and doesn't work well with a PBAoE since it's a cone). Is PSW better than sets like Fire Blast, Archery, and Electric Melee that have multiple AoEs? Is it better than a Fire/Kin/Fire Controller running at double capped damage thanks to Containment and stacked Fulcrum Shift? I don't think it is. And if Fire/Kins and Fire and Archery Blasters are OK heroside, what's wrong with Fire/Psi Dominators redside?

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great work. I was under the impression that the damage buff was mostly to fix the issue with early leveling (that apparentl exists). Interesting to see it will have a pretty small impact.

Now I'm less sure of what the damage buff is really supposed to address other than the dislike of the jekyl and hyde feel. Which as I understand was the original desing of the AT.

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Remember, only a tiny fraction of Dominators ever go perma-dom, even at level 50. That means most people will see a significant boost over most of their play time (level 20+).

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Poison Trap does not affect movement, but it does slow recharge by 30%. Since Slow enhancements affect both movement slows and recharge slows, Poison Trap can use them.

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Slow enhancements do not affect -Recharge, only -SPD.

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Really? I always assumed they did affect -recharge... so that means that Poison Trap accepting Slow enhancements is a bug, since they do nothing whatsoever.

Poison Trap does not affect movement, but it does slow recharge by 30%. Since Slow enhancements affect both movement slows and recharge slows, Poison Trap can use them.

AVs definitely do spawn as AVs when you solo on max difficulty. I tried a friend's arc that ended with a /Regen AV on my Bots/Traps and he spawned as an EB the first time, but an AV when I upped the difficulty.

(And yes, it was five minutes of pounding on him withoutseeing his health bar move before I gave up. Don't bother soloing an Extreme /Regen AV unless you have ungodly amounts of -regen...)

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Now I don't see any reason for Furio to be a required objective and tested to see if he was by skipping him and taking out the Wyvern Leader first. Indeed it turned out that he was required. I'd recommend making him optional since it doesn't make much sense to force a battle with him if I can simply avoid him. It's also very odd that I knew he was there the moment I arrived on the boat as well, not much of an ambush then.

I also wonder why he is hanging out in a spawn of Wyvern. Shame that we cannot make Bosses spawn alone, but it would make more sense to put an appropriate villain group around him instead. Another possibility would be to make him an escort instead (optional of course) who is set to betray you at the door. Just an idea.

Amusingly, right as I was about to assassinate him I saw a Wyvern patrol wander in and aggro both him and his two Wyvern accomplices. I already knew from his description that he was Energy something, but this way got to see that he was Energy Melee before fighting him myself.

Furio hits hard as he has Total Focus, but appears to be set to Standard (no Build Up) and had no visible secondary so was probably Standard Regen. Overall he was not a very difficult fight, nicely balanced I think.

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Doh! I thought I'd gotten him to spawn alone. I'll tinker around with it some more... if I can't get him to be alone I'll give him a minion or something. I made him required to represent him cornering you on the boat, but I may switch him to spawn on the Wyvern boss' defeat. Oh, he's actually Energy Melee/Energy Blast, but he's set to Melee so he'll only blast if you fight him at range.

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Searching the office, I came across a bodybag that contained the still-warm corpse of the leader, sans necklace. Seems a little odd that the killer was nice to bag him up but I can't think of what else the author could do other than stuff him inside a trunk and hope that I thought to check it.

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I actually saw a skeletal remains clickie in another custom mission that I'm going to swap it for... looks more like someone incinerated by negative energy anyway.

As far as the level ranges go, they're as tight as I know how to make them. The two police maps have no room for any level-limiting spawns like rescues or destructible objects, and the enemy groups involved in the arc have a slight difference in level ranges (some are 20-30, some 21-30, some 20-29).

EDIT: I've changed the custom bosses to each spawn with a custom group of minions instead of the map default (I really, really wish you could set a boss to spawn solo ). The minions are custom critters but should be fairly weak... if anyone has trouble with them please send feedback because they're only there as flavor. I also switched the body bag to a pile of bones and made Furio spawn after you defeat the Wyvern boss.

I just ran the MacGuffin Delivery Service arc on my Bots/Traps MM and it was a blast. First off, I have to say thank you for not tossing in a bunch of custom bosses. Sure the character I ran it on could have handled them but too many people toss them in for no good reason and it limits how accessible an arc is. The whole story was amusing, lighthearted, and generally fun. I especially liked the second and fourth missions.

About my only real moment of annoyance was the "find multiple glowies in Oranbega" mission. I hate looking for glowies in that place with a passion. But at least it was a straightforward (for Oranbega) map... I'm hoping you picked it deliberately and it wasn't just good luck on a random selection. And at least the "red herring" glowies were amusing. I didn't ding you on the rating since it was justified by the story and was still fun. I just hate the place.

(One quick note for any arc builders out there wanting to place a "looking for magic item or book" mission... the Midnight Squad does have a ton of that stuff, and their home is a lot less annoying to raid. )

Overall, it was a fun arc and I enjoyed it. I gave it five stars.

I'd love a review of my first arc... most of my in-game friends have moved on to other games so I've not gotten much feedback.

Arc: The Scavenger Hunt
Arc ID: 187076
Author: @StrykerX
Number of Missions: 5 (first two very short, only Defeat All is in a police station)
Description: The Freakshow are having a scavenger hunt for items belonging to prominent members of various do-gooder organizations. Collect them all to win the prize.

Note: This arc is designed for lower level villains. It caps out at 30 due to the inclusion of Legacy Chain and Wyvern, uses mostly standard enemies, and has no EBs or higher. It's made to be similar in difficulty to standard lower-level "beat up the boss" missions so it should be easy to solo.

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just my 2 inf. on this, but has anyone else seen the loading screen that says "you can level from 1-50 in Mission Architect"?

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You're not supposed to be able to do it in one game session though...

Is there any way to make a "plant bomb" objective where the bombs are transparent until clicked, like in standard missions?

50s are generally easier (ie, quicker) to get, but lower levels are usually cheaper. I normally bid a spread of 3 or 4 levels in the mid 30s when I need a popular Pool A and then cancel the other bids once one fills. It usually takes a day or two, and sometimes I end up with two bids filling, but that's no big deal since I can relist at a slightly lower price and recoup most or all of my inf... at worst I'm out a lot less than it would take to buy a 50.

Of course that takes time and slots. Max level recipes have abundant supply compared to other levels, so you can normally either "buy it now" or fill the bid overnight if you are willing to pay a premium. If you normally make a million or more inf a day per slot you really don't want to have several of them occupied for several days just to save a few hundred k... but if you are just using your slots to sell drops and pre-bid on IOs you'll need later (what I normally do on actively played characters) then it's no big deal.

The great thing about Blood Mandate is that they are all uncommon Type As, so there's a steady supply at all levels. Place a few competitive bids and wait a while and they'll fill... I like the low to mid 30s myself while leveling up (so I can use them sooner) or the high 30s to low 40s for a level 50. I can't see paying the inflated crafting costs for a level 50 IO, and I'd rather keep my set bonuses when I exemp to 40 or even 35 than have a tiny bit more enhancement. The difference between level 35 and level 50 IOs is unnoticeable in actual gameplay, especially if you are in the ED capped range.

No one has mentioned "Can't Touch This" by MC Hammer for Bots / FF yet?

Thematically, I can see Bots and Mercs "fitting in" best blueside. I'm looking forward to making a Mercs / Traps "special forces" character myself. Heroic zombies seems a bit... odd, though Thugs would fit in with a vigilante type.

As far as the min-maxers are concerned, they'll run the sets that perform best just like on redside. Expect plenty of Bots / Traps, Bots / Dark, Thugs / Dark, and so forth.