The_Hegemon

I love the heck out of my Fire/Fire Dom.

Found it very hard pre-32, but that was before the dom buffs, so my experience there may no longer be representative of reality. Once I began IOing and approaching the level cap, the character turned into a total badass. Once I finished her IO build, I ended up with a character that can solo 8-man spawns with ease and efficiency, beat most Scrapper builds in raw DPS*, and permahold AVs.

My opinion is that Fire/Fire can be difficult and unforgiving, but with investment of time and inf (the price tag can actually get quite intimidating), it's a build that can kick much butt. Mine spoils me for damage. It's put me off Blasters because they can't hope to compare with her.

* Used this thread for comparisons. My dominator's score was 248 DPS.

Depends on the character and the plans I've got for an IO build.

In general, I find that adding more end reduction to powers is a better and more cost-effective solution than building for +recovery. I usually shoot for 40-50% on most builds, and 50-70% when I can get away with it. If my goal is to fight forever, I've found that adding endurance reduction to attacks and spammable powers is the most cost-effective way to do this... especially for characters that have large numbers of toggles, like Scrappers or Brutes with the Fighting pool, or characters with Leadership. I like to reserve the final slot in attacks for a dam/end, rech/end, acc/rech/end, or a generic End Reduction enhancement for endurance management.

Sometimes, however, this is not viable. If I'm looking to increase my character's damage output with procs, or if I need the 5th bonus of a power to further the overall goal of the build (Positional Defense bonuses frequently come as the last bonus in a set), then my hands are tied in adding more endurance reduction to powers. I have to make do with the end reduction naturally in the set.

In this case, adding +recovery can do a great deal to mitigate my endurance costs. Through +recovery uniques, Stamina, the performance shifter proc, and +recovery bonuses scattered throughout sets, it's possible to add huge amounts of recovery to the build.

The upside to this is that it's slot efficient. An extra slot in Health and Stamina will let you slot both recovery uniques and the +end proc on any character, giving you the recovery equivalent to unslotted Stamina (on top of regular, slotted Stamina) and a 20% chance for 10 free endurance points every 10 seconds. This does a ton to help with endurance management and is a great option for performance builds, where you need to make every slot count for damage dealing, mezzing, debuffing, or making your character more survivable.

The downside to this is cost. The Numina and Miracle uniques are very expensive, and the +end proc isn't cheap either. Any character with Fitness can use them, and most characters will invest in the Fitness pool, making for a lot of buyer competition for these enhancements. I didn't even include the Panacea unique here because it just costs too much money to be worthwhile, in my opinion. You do have to pay quite a bit for this slot efficiency. Frankenslotting for end reduction is the cheaper option by far.

There are also a lot of +recovery bonuses floating around in the sets, and you will probably pick up 10-15% +recovery without even building for it. These help, but aren't enough to eliminate endurance issues by themselves.

Some ATs and Powersets give you access to endurance efficiency tools as a part of the package, too, which can be very useful if they're available.

In general, I use a combination of all methods by necessity. Endurance efficiency is important, but it tends not to be the focus of my build goals. I do make some slot or power decisions with an eye toward lasting longer in a fight, but these tend to be tacked on to the main goal of any given character build.

Start with a goal, give yourself a realistic budget, and build accordingly. You can't not get at least some end reduction if you use sets, and it's similarly hard to avoid +recovery bonuses. It's just a matter of whether or not to add slots or money to get more.

tl;dr version:

End Reduction is better and cheaper, but demands more slots, which may get in the way of your overall build goal.

+Recovery is good enough to do the job without soaking up a lot of slots, but will require a more substantial inf investment.

Most IO builds will have some combination of both, but those with higher budgets will often migrate to +recovery uniques in order to save slots for other things.

Edit: Maximum endurance is nice, but not really viable to build for. You can get the accolades for an extra 10 end, and you can get a few bonuses here and there, but it's just not really possible to build for loads.

Most fun:

Propel. I know it's not a great move, but would never drop it. Hitting people with random objects is just too fun.

Hurl. Again, not a great move. But having my Brute use his anti-air pavement slab to take down pesky Longbow Eagles rarely gets old.

Midnight Grasp (on a DM Stalker). Also Slash on a Night Widow. One-shotting things on command never stops being fun.

Power Thrust. Talk to the hand!

Shield Charge. I wasn't having fun with my Shield Scrapper, and then I hit level 35. Shield Charge completely turned my experience with her around... it's loaded with win.

Fire Imps. Sure, they only have one attack. Sure, they lack utility. Sure, they express their love for you by training spawns onto you... there are three of them, and they're rabid.

Waterspout. Seriously, this power makes it hard for me to pick any patron other than Mako for characters where it's available. Especially if there's Hibernate there, too.

Least Fun:

Short Circuit. Highly underwhelming.

Flash Arrow and Entangling Arrow. Both are underwhelming, and you have to choose one.

Dimension Shift.

Jump Kick.

Blasters and Masterminds.

Played an Elec/Elec Blaster to 38. I couldn't stand it. It felt very weak compared to the others in my character stable.

My most beloved character is my Fire/Fire Dominator, and every time I start to plan out a Blaster, I will inevitably compare them to her and find that they come up short. I'll probably find the Blaster build for me eventually - I'd really like to do a Fire/Fire Blaster at some point, and will probably try that out when Going Rogue comes out. In fact, most of the characters I have planned for GR are Blasters. For now, though, my Fire Dom scratches my damage-dealer itch just fine.

I also don't really enjoy MMs. Played a Necro/Dark to 41 waaaay back when CoV was young, then just lost interest. Every attempt at an MM since then has failed to keep my attention. The playstyle is too slow and risk-free for me to enjoy. Which is a shame, because Masterminds are an incredibly powerful AT. I'm trying to get into a Necro/Pain MM at the moment.

If there's anything I can say that I've learned from reading 'to PvP or not to PvP' threads, it's that adding badges as incentives for PvP was ultimately a bad idea.

Personally, I don't get it. I've never been a badge fiend, and really think most badges are dumb and don't mean anything other than that you're willing to spend a long, long time repeating a task for a non-functional reward that most people never see. But it is clearly true that some hardcore completionists will do what they can to get all the badges.

This means that, on occasion, the hardcore badger will come into contact with the hardcore PvPer in an environment that allows and encourages PvP. This results in quite a lot of frustration, and even a rant on the boards once in a while, because hardcore badgers and hardcore PvPers are infrequently the same people.

I actually don't have a whole lot of sympathy for people who go into a PvP zone for badges and expect other players on the opposite side not to attack them. Do you seriously expect that Stalker on the opposing side to send you a tell, asking permission to stab you? The PvP zones are there specifically for PvP - it's right there in the name! If you're repulsed by the sight of fish, you should probably avoid the aquarium, even if the cafe there is awesome.

Adding badges to PvP zones and for PvP was a well-intentioned mistake, just like adding so many badges to AE at I14's launch was. It does encourage abuse of the rewards system, in the form of reputation farming. It adds incentives for players who can't stand PvP to put themselves at risk of it, which is no fun for anybody. Not even the guys doing the killing - I mean, I can only speak for myself, but I've killed a badger in a PvP zone before while playing with enemy broadcast off, and let me tell you, the single rep point wasn't worth the stream of invectives I got in a series of global tells.

I'm seriously glad that PvP zone badges aren't required for accolades anymore. I wish they'd go one step further and remove the exploration badges altogether.

I want to say 'Yes,' because it's certainly true that I used to PvP much more often than I have since they changed the system - five or six hours a month compared to zero (I have no interest in it since the new system has been implemented, since I just don't understand it at all and haven't liked what I've seen). But the truth is that I probably wouldn't, at least not any more than that five or six hours a month.

The best experiences I've ever had in this game have been in PvP zones, in fact. But the worst experiences I've ever had in this game have also been in PvP zones. Overall, the bad has outweighed the good. By a lot.

I like the dynamic fights against unpredictable opponents, many of whom could easily wipe the floor with me if I'm not careful. I like to win, of course, but I don't mind losing, especially if the player I'm losing against is nice about it as he's grinding my face into the pixelated dirt. I've met some truly cool people through PvP. I even enjoy losing battles against better players, if they're good sports about it when they win.

I dislike the trash talking, the excuses for losing, the complaining, the constant broadcast drama, and the occasional total jerkwad who also happens to be way, way better than me. These things ruin it for me, though I will be the first to admit that they are inevitable in an anonymous competitive environment like this. It is a failing of mine, not of the people I meet. I just can't seem to thicken my skin enough to keep enjoying PvP when I'm confronted by this.

But worst of all, I dislike playing a character from 1 - 50 (which takes months of casual play for me), lovingly building that character and dominating the PvE content, and finding out that this creation of mine is totally non-functional in PvP just because of how the system works. (Ever try to PvP seriously with a Warshade? Heartbreaking, that.)

Once in a while, I get the urge to PvP. Just to see how it goes. Sometimes, I even do quite well, or at least have a ton of fun. My interest will sustain itself until I have one rage-inducing experience at the hands of another player, which inevitably happens after a week or two of PvPing an hour or so a night.

I'm honestly surprised that Time Bomb has remained mechanically the same since Omega Maneuver was added to the game.

I like "Hardcore plays to win. Casual plays to play."

I'd consider myself a 'Hardcore' player by my own standards.

For me, the difference between the two isn't hours played. I have a number of friends who play many hours a week, yet I'd still describe them as casual. I think the difference lies in a willingness to do things that seem like work in order to advance in the game. PLing, farming for influence and drops, that sort of thing... stuff that people tend not to find fun for its own sake, but rather because it allows them to advance in the game toward a state of play that they enjoy more.

I think that's the line. Occasionally, I'm willing to farm for tickets, drops, and infamy because I really like IOs and that's the best way I can see to get them in large quantities. By contrast, I have friends that would rather just stick with SOs or make builds with what they can afford to buy playing the game normally. Even though some of these people play more hours a week than I do, I'd still call them casual and myself hardcore.

I play a lot of melee ATs and frequently allow myself to slip into Scrapperlock. But the most definitive experience I've had with it came not from getting locked myself, but rather from watching it happen to somebody else.

It was a year or two ago by now, around the time of the Winter Event. I was playing my 50 Fire/Thermal Corruptor, teamed up with a friend's mid-30s Spines/Regen Scrapper. We decide to rescue Baby New Year for some temps and badges. (We're sitting next to each other on laptops in real life.) With resistance shields, heals, and forge, he's ripping his way through enemies with no problems at all, and I'm throwing fireballs and the like behind him, trying to get at least a few kills as he has himself a grand old time.

Then, through a bad stroke of luck, I die when we get to the cave with all the redcaps. I watch him continue to rip things apart, and since he can't give me an awaken, I'm stuck making the awkward choice of either a) waiting for one to drop or b) asking him to stop killing things while I come back from the hospital. Since I've totally been there before (Got a scrapper and two brutes myself), I decide to let him keep marauding, at least until the buffs wear off.

Then he finds Snaptooth, and 'I'm too far away for my mentor to help me!' appears over his head at the same time. Looking at him, I realize that he does not notice the big, red message that has appeared on the screen. He has smelled the blood in the water, and he's sighted his prey. In other words, he's entered Scrapperlock, and the target of his fury is a purple elite boss with 15 levels on him.

I look over at him, and I see his intentions. I could easily point out the folly of what he's about to do. But, in the spirit of true friendship, I decide to let him kill himself.

He pops IH+DP, charges in, and dies in two shots. Not fussed by this, he hits revive, clicks MoG, lasts a little longer, but dies soon enough anyway.

I look at him again, smiling and trying not to laugh. He turns to me and says "This is BS! That shouldn't happen. I'm Regen!" There is a bewildered look on his face.

That's when I truly understood the power of Scrapperlock for the first time.

A few general points that help me, personally, come to terms with the fact that my heroes arrest the hell out of people with bullets, swords, and fireballs to the face:

Paragon City's hospital system is really, really good. Seriously. My heroes can, and frequently do, take missiles, swords, bullets, energy blasts, fireballs, lightning bolts, toxic acid and the like to the chest in amounts that necessitate a teleport to the hospital - trauma that would almost certainly kill him or her if left untreated - and have these wounds treated in mere seconds thanks to the magical Rikti-based reclamator rings. My hero pops out fit as a fiddle, ready for a fight, and still just as ruggedly handsome as before, despite the fact that without this treatment, they would have survived for just a few minutes more. Presumably, we give criminals access to the same medical care, and this is where they go when they disappear from the screen after they've had the bajeesus arrested out of them.

Criminals are tough in this game. Like, really tough. Even the lowliest street gangs out there - the Hellions and Skulls - have some metahuman ties. My level 1 AR Blaster can put five or six bullets into a Hellion and he might still be able to get up and swing his knife at me. In this game, lethal force isn't actually that lethal against the enemies you're fighting. Just as even the squishiest of heroes can get shot, stabbed, fireballed, hit with a sledgehammer, and electrocuted more than once, villains can take it. So go ahead and put a bullet in that Fallen Gunner. He's still going to get back up and shoot at you until you put a few more in.

There are an awful lot of rescidivists in Paragon City. By the OP's observation, there are a lot of heroes with lethal-style powers out there. On their way to Hero of the City, they will end up 'arresting to death' thousands (tens of thousands?) of villains. Given the number of heroes that use swords, guns, fireballs and such, this adds up to a whole lot of villains... if even a small-but-significant fraction of these heroes is being killed as a result of this arrest, we're looking at a whole lot of dead criminals in a week. There's no way that this is happening on a regular basis. Most criminals 'arrested' by heroes probably survive and enter the justice system relatively unharmed, or we simply wouldn't tolerate costumed heroes arresting people for loitering with their broadswords.

Yes, I am aware that this is is stretching suspension-of-disbelief way, way too far. But that's the point of discussions like these, no?

Another thing I would point out is that if your hero has lethal powers they didn't pick, like a mutation that lets you throw fire balls, sprout sharp spines, or emit surges of electricity, and they're that interested in making sure that the actions they take are non-lethal, they probably wouldn't be using their abilities to fight crime in the first place. If they went into Hero work at all, it probably wouldn't be with the fire, globs of acid, or lightning bolts they can throw without thinking about it.

However, despite the subject line, I don't think the OP is about wanting more 'heroic' heroes at all, but rather about wishing there were more non-lethal powerset or weapon customization options out there. In which case, I'd agree that more options are always a good thing and would even be happy to see something like this come to the game... but given the amount of work involved in making a new powerset, I doubt we'll see something specifically catering to non-lethally minded players unless it gets a whole lot of support. Because it's not that hard for most people to watch their cartoony, pixelated hero riddle a pursesnatcher with slugs from his assault rifle and call it an arrest.

Thanks for the replies. I guess this is working as intended?

What's the purpose of this change? Farming prevention? Reduce the number of tickets going to the players? 160 for a single mission (even one on a very small map) seems... low. Two bronze rolls worth of recipes or 20 pieces of common salvage is less than what I'd expect running through a normal mission.

Doesn't this act as a deterrent for players who want to run normal player-made story arcs? I like playing with high spawn counts for the rewards. I'd rather play through legitimate stories and actual arcs for my tickets, but this change gives me a rather forceful nudge toward large farm maps with click-to-complete objectives if I'm actually interested in earning tickets. I'm still fighting through hordes of enemies on a smaller map - you still have to defeat mobs to earn tickets - so it's not like players can bypass the risk for their rewards by choosing a smaller map, can they?

Why can't I have both the experience of running an actual arc and the full rewards for the mobs I'm defeating?

If I have to choose, I guess I'll stick to farm maps. Player-made arcs can be hit-or-miss, but tickets are always good. I just wish I didn't have pick one or the other. ::shrug::

(Apologies if this has come up already. I couldn't find anything when I searched.)

Just got out of an AE mission with my 50 BS/Shield Scrapper, fighting against Longbow. Settings were 8-man, +1, with bosses. After a few minutes of rockin' the broadsword, I got the 'One or more tickets were not awarded, as you have reached the ticket cap for this map' message. This isn't that unusual for that character - she usually hits the ticket cap in missions due to the large numbers of enemies she fights - but I'd only collected ~160 tickets. I had less than ten tickets in my inventory starting the mission, so I'm nowhere near the max number.

What gives? I thought the cap was a lot higher than that - like 1200 or so. It wasn't a very large map. Does that affect how large the Ticket Cap is, or what?

I crunch the numbers, use Mids, and plan out IO builds. And I usually have a plan in mind long before I hit 30, which is when I typically begin IOing.

As for why I think this way... for me, it's just another level of customization. I'm a huge sucker for character customization in a game, and when an RPG offers me a great many combinations, almost all of which can be made effective, I end up playing through it many more times than I ordinarily would. City of Heroes does this for me - I love that no two characters are alike. Even two characters with the same AT and powersets can perform very differently when you put them against each other. Player choice in the build makes them unique.

There are a number of different ways to 'win' and do well. Every AT and powerset combination can. I absolutely love exploring what's possible with IOs because it allows me to make my characters uniquely my own.

So I crunch the numbers, because that's a huge part of the continuing fun of this game for me... finding new and different ways to be awesome.

Ninjitsu also only has two toggles that cost endurance. I found it to be very light on the blue bar, and I never run out of end (or even come close to it) unless something is actively draining me. And whatever that something is has to hit me first. As a Ninjitsu Stalker, you won't have any serious endurance issues, and if you use IOs - even a bargain build - you should never, ever run out.

I used to think that Brutes were going to wipe Tanks from the game. Mostly because once I can make a blueside Brute, I'd never play Tanks again. I don't really like playing them and don't ordinarily find them to be better than Brutes at taking the hits for the team when I'm grouping with 'em.

But I talked about this with a few of my friends, and have recently decided that it's all just a matter of taste. Some people like Tanks over Brutes. I don't get it, but hey, they probably feel the same way about me. A friend of mine is convinced that Corruptors will completely replace Defenders, and I don't agree at all. I totally prefer Defenders to Corruptors. Another friend thinks Controllers will be gone once Doms are available to both sides... you get the picture. What it boils down to is that we'll see basically what we see now. A little of everything. People will play what they want to play, and enthusiasts exist all over the AT spectrum. Sure, you could argue that X is better than Y, and you might even be right... but much of the player base doesn't make their decisions based on what's optimal. And those that do will continue to roll up Fire/Kins.

This game isn't that hard. You can make basically anything work. That's one of the reasons I like it so much, really. They might address AT balance when GR actually comes out, but they might not. I could totally see them deciding that it's just too much work and not worth addressing unless there turns out to be a problem, and I doubt there'd be a problem.

Hokay. So. I have this level 50 DM/Nin Stalker that I really like. My build is PvE focused, but prior to I13, it's a build that I would've been perfectly happy taking into a PvP zone for kicks. I was pretty comfortable in old PvP, and was good enough to be competitive with some of my PvP-focused friends - even though they'd roll me most of the time, I could still put up a good fight and have fun.

And then they changed everything, and I just don't understand it at all. I've been sort of avoiding getting back into it. But recently, these friends of mine have been getting back into the habit of asking me for matches, or to come and fight against them in the zone, what-have-you. And... wow, I suck. Like, a lot. Now, I was never an expert, but I could win more than I lost against other average players. After fighting against some of my friends (not the best test, as they're just better than me anyway and more devoted to that aspect of the game by far) and running around in RV for a while, I got pretty frustrated. I didn't win a single fight, my damage and defenses seemed way, way lower than normal, and basically got my keester kicked repeatedly.

This is most likely because I know very little about how to pilot my character in I13. I did much better in one-on-one fights with my Night Widow under the same conditions - that is, arena matches, 1v1, sometimes with inspirations, sometimes without depending on my friends' preferences. These two characters are fairly interchangeable in PvE (with a slight advantage going to the Stalker), so I'm not really sure what the deal is.

So basically, the long and short of it is that I'm asking for advice. Tactical advice, mostly. I'm really pleased with her PvE build and don't want to change it at all. Assume that I'm a complete newb to I13 PvP, as that's pretty much the case. Anything from the most general advice for Stalking to the most specific advice for DM/Nin in particular would be useful.

Title says it all, basically. Was messing around, collecting badges on my newest 50, and read the description for the Nerva Wreck badge:

'You have visited the famous Nerva Wreck. What strange creature might have caused this disaster?'

This alludes to some sort of monster as responsible for it. Was it Caleb? Or Lusca? Then I started to wonder why Lusca isn't in the zone at all. It's a huge place, with lots of open water. There are many places you could put that huge, huge GM where it'd fit and be somewhat appropriate. Is there a canon reason why this can't or shouldn't happen?

(QR)

When it comes to single-target holds, the difference between a Blaster and a Dom is quantity versus quality. The Dom will only have one single-target hold, where a Blaster can have several. But the Dom's hold lasts longer, recharges faster, and (if Domination is up) can hold a boss in one move.

You'd have a point in claiming that a Blaster's controls can seem better for locking down several targets faster, as you don't have to wait for the power to recharge before you can toss another control out. On the surface, this is true. However, every Dominator set gets access to one or more 'soft control' options that are typically up before every fight. These powers will lock down much of the spawn (even if it's team-sized) in a single click. These powers accomplish the same goal - controlling multiple enemies at once and softening the spawn - with just one click. Even if they don't last for the whole fight, they still provide you with enough breathing room to establish the ST hold on multiple enemies. And with Domination/Overpower, you can sometimes control bosses in just one application, mitigating any painful alphas entirely.

And the Dom/Controller ST holds are good enough to do things that the Blaster holds just can't, like permahold multiple bosses or, on some powerbuilt Doms, stack enough magnitude to break through an AV's purple triangles.

Fortunately or unfortunately, you picked Gravity Control, which doesn't get its best Soft Control option (Wormhole) until level 26. The other sets get good AoE soft control options way earlier than that. Once you do get it, you'll see the difference. And once you get to 32 after that and pick up Singularity (an incredibly tough control-heavy pet), the gulf gets even wider.

Just finished leveling my first Stalker to 50, and it was Ninjitsu. I've had an easier time getting into that set than I have with SR, and find it generally better.

With a tiny amount of IO investment, it's easy to get Ninjitsu past SO'd SR defense levels, and it gets a great, fast heal in Kuji-In Sha.

Ninjitsu is also light on the blue bar, as it only has three toggles, one of which (hide) costs no endurance.

And /Nin gets a couple of great tools in Blinding Powder and Caltrops. Even Smoke Flash is occasionally useful.

I've played SR to the 30s twice and didn't like it either time. I feel that Ninjitsu's disadvantages compared to SR - lower defense numbers, no KB protection - are easily compensated for with IOs, whereas SR's disadvantages to /Nin can't be made up as easily.

But I'm rambling. The point is, /Nin isn't as bad as you've heard. It's easily one of the better secondaries, at least in PvE. (Can't speak for PvP.)