gec72

Question about this....does bodyguard mode ever suppress? I was in a bank mission yesterday and got held/stunned; it seemed like when I was I was taking the brunt of the damage, even though I thought I was in Def/Follow mode. My minions still seemed relatively healthy. Or was it just that my share of the burst damage was that large?

Has anyone suggested "B*tch my Niche"?

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Leverage factor 1 would be "transfer to a level 1 mule, delete the mule."

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And we shall name him "Monty Brewster".

One other trick I've used it for: maximizing a boost from leveling.

If you have a mission that has a particularly tough EB and you are close to leveling, turn off XP until you are *just* about there - an amount less than the XP from a minion. Turn it on again right before you approach the EB. Defeat one of its minions and BAM! The EB is one relative level lower AND you have the boost of all the large inspirations. Sometimes you can hold off on defeating the minion until a little into the fight (say, if you need the large end insp).

Of course, I did this in a fight against Scirocco...and STILL faceplanted in a horrible fashion. But in theory this works.

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Some might say that the debuffs from Poison make up for it. While that's more or less true against single tough foes, the fact is that you just can't debuff multiple enemies fast enough to make up for it. In addition, in order for the debuffs to really matter, you've gotta have Noxious Gas on them. I can't tell you how many times I've fought bosses pre-38 or when NG isn't up and stuck them with Weaken and watched them casually kill all my pets anyway. Sure I can heal or two of them with Alkaloid, but by then the boss's next AoE volley is up and all the other pets are dead.

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I have a level 34 Merc/Poison, and I'd agree that there are times when my pets die ALARMINGLY fast. Like, facing Longbow Flamethrowers. Talk about melting.

Bosses are usually fine, as long as I grab aggro first and do my darnedest to keep it. I try this by teleporting just to the other side of the boss, getting Envenom queued up during the TP. Then I continue with Slug, Weaken, Neurotoxic Breath, etc while constantly positioning to keep the boss between me and my minions. Usually works. But yeah, if it goes bad, it goes bad - and Alkaloid isn't going to be enough to help. At that point I just try to resummon best I can while trying to keep the Commando on his feet.

I tend to not use a ton of extra costume options on the top half, so when I use plain pants or tights on the bottom half they match pretty well. I rely more on colors and patterns to design, I suppose.

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I have a feeling they aren't going to announce it until they sort out everything with the MA. It is possible (based upon no ones opinion but my own) that they want to set it up so MA content is not subject to double xp, but that would take work to implement, and may take time (due to lower priority). Keep in mind this is all speculation on my part.

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speculation, yes, but logical speculation. i feel the same way, they have obviously put thought into MA in that regards, as patrol xp doesn't count, so i would assume that MA won't give 2xXP.

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Yep, I was thinking this too.

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Don't remember what I was running on the mission in question, but I keep wanting to say a Fire/Fire Blaster. For some reason, I remember them scattering a lot and draining me to nothing in a little over a single volley. That's Electric/Electric minions and lieutenants, by the way. Think they ran the gamut of available Electrical powersets, too. Electrical Blast/Electrical Manipulation, Electrical Assault/Electrical Armour, Electrical Melee/Electrical Armour and so on. Quit mid-way through the same mission because it wasn't worth the slog.

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Hmm. I don't know about larger groups, but I made an Elec/Elec Armor EB for my arc that my blasters took down pretty easily. My DB/WP on the other hand...not pretty. And that was with a Fire/Kin NPC to help. So I had to tone down the EB (I think she was Hard/Extreme before).

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Malta Bosses can be dealt with on blasters, but they are tricky. Fire/Fire relied on dishing out damage as fast as she could (Aim->Build Up->Blazing Bolt-> RoF then unload) and having Bonfire try to keep the boss on his back as much as possible. On my Ice, Bitter Freeze Ray->Freeze Ray or bust.

The worst was probably my NRG/Kin corr. The only thing I could try to do was to keep them debuffed and knocked down/back (NRG powers + Air Sup).

Of course, it was only after I'd finished playing my scrapper and tank that I even realized that Malta Bosses could hold you.

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My UI...it's the same on every single character...even brand-new characters open up tray4 and tray5.


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Ohh, not bad. I like how 4 and 5 are stacked.

Even on newer characters, I stack 1/2/3 very early. Attacks go to the left, defensive toggles/heals to the right. AoE attacks (or later "larger" melee attacks) go in the second tray, less often used powers or temps go in the third. Generally anyway.

On my mastermind, I haven't really used binds (I know, I know) so I added two columns to the right of my regular tray (I recently switched to a widescreen monitor; after doing so, I never moved my main trays all the way to the right so I had the space). I forget the exact size. But they have things like the rocket packs, base teleporter, ouroboros, market teleporter.

Oh, and I still click, click, click. Movement is from steaming ahead with 'w', then angling with 'q' and 'e'. On teleporters, I activate the reticule with '1' or 'alt-1' then point and click.

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The heroside is false, as well, because what you've done to "save the world" is the same thing everyone before you has already done. You are, in practice, just a hero, one of many.


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No CoH isn't false. The story arcs is the story of THAT character's career. SuperDuper Lad didn't forestall a second Rikti Invasion, your character did. Other heroes (PC and NPC) are renowned for other things, your Souvenir window is filled the stuff that YOU did. That's the way that the story arcs we play are mapped out. You and your alone (maybe with some teammates along the way) play out the story arcs. You follow all of the different intertwined plot threads to their ends.

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Hmm...in some story arcs though - I think more so red-side - it's as if you're in someone else's comic book. Psimon Omega, you're in the middle of his battles vs Romulus and Aurora Borealis. Darla Mavis, it's her vendetta against Aurora Borealis. Willy Wheeler is all about the demise of Willy Wheeler. Timothy Raymond's arc is about Timothy Raymond's memories. Vernon von Grunn, as fun as he is, is about HIS schemes. The story isn't about you - it's about them. Not saying this is good or bad, it just seems to be that way.


re: thread - Malta are a bunch of rat-$@5%@&^s. But a nice challenge.

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6) Many long story arcs are simply plain bad, too challenging, have too many objectives, are using annoying maps and annoying mobs, have too much text , too many ambushes, too many AVs, finally just too much of everything and that makes them pure PITA to run. They get an auto 1 star from me.

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I have seen a bit of this, and I've not even run that much in the MA. And it always seems to happen in the LAST mission. One arc had *60* glowies in it, each on a :15 timer (a PM exchange with the author revealed that as a mistake though, as they weren't meant to be required; otherwise, a good arc).

Did another arc tonight that was fine, no great work of art but was ok. Until the last mission, in which you had to beat versions of:

Vandal
Requiem
Nemesis
Countess Crey
Nosferatu

...and a couple more I forget. There were like eight EBs. I got Vandal down to a sliver, then faceplanted twice, and I decided that I wasn't going to go through that seven more times.

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In a vacuum, Izd have to say the best pets would be from Necromancy and Bots.

All the others, except the oni, would instantly die when their lungs collapsed from lack of air, and the oni would be useless with no oxygen to fuel his flames.

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If we're allowed to look outside MMs, Singularity would be a good choice as well.

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Fire/Kins were powerful pre Containment. My point was if you want to nerf containment, then controllers (non- Ill/rad, fire/kin, etc) would be relegated to the "must have team" types that they used to be.


Imagine a pre Containment Ice/FF.

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Heh. I have a friend who had one of these. Teamed with him with my Emp/Psi...

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Solo spawns, mass hypnosis is just fine.

Say you have the standard 3 enemy spawn.

MH....Dominate one (containment damage....enemy now held).....Hypnotize the next (containment damage....enemy still slept)........Dominate the next (containment damage....enemy now held).....Levitate the first (containtment damage.....enemy still held from earlier)....Dominate the second (containment damage...enemy held)....... (well you get it)

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This is how I approached things. MH, then rotate the ST powers. Duration on all of them is pretty long (I have my MH at ~45s with a 25s recharge...Mesmerize is at about 100s dur), so keeping everyone locked down really isn't all that hard.

Agreed on the minimal usefulness of TD. It became an emergency power for me.

Haven't used TK.

Mass Confusion - could probably use a buff. Maybe cut it's recharge. I like the power*, but compared to Singy on my Grav...I think I prefer having Singy up all the time.


* I like the power, but often I'm not sure what else I should be doing while the power is out. Mass Hyp doesn't mix - why sleep guys who could be damaging each other? Plus the sleeps just get broken anyway. Terrify? Again, cuts down on the self attacks. Same goes for locking down with Dominate/TD. On a Dominator where you have secondary attacks you could be using, different story.

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You use transfusion, siphon power and siphon speed primarilly on one target. Make sure its a nice easilly hit minion that you purposely keep right in melee with you. It has lessened damage hits less often and heals you. Everything else gets your attention and that minion dies last. To that effect you can use energy torrent on groups and knock them in one direction, away from your helper minion.

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Good advice. Definitely need a good buff anchor; keep that guy in melee and the rest of the mobs away from you with the knockback. I also took Air Superiority to try to keep the melee guy occupied w/o blasting him out of range.

Here's my build:
Villain Plan by Mids' Villain Designer 1.401
http://www.cohplanner.com/

[u]Click this DataLink to open the build![u]

Zap Dingbat: Level 50 Science Corruptor
Primary Power Set: Energy Blast
Secondary Power Set: Kinetics
Power Pool: Flight
Power Pool: Fitness
Ancillary Pool: Mu Mastery

Villain Profile:
Level 1: Power Blast -- Thundr-Acc/Dmg(A), Thundr-Dmg/EndRdx(3), Thundr-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(5), Thundr-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(7), Thundr-Dmg/Rchg(15), Thundr-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(29)
Level 1: Transfusion -- H'zdH-Heal/EndRdx/Rchg(A), H'zdH-Heal/Rchg(3), Efficacy-EndMod/Acc(7), Efficacy-Acc/Rchg(11), Mrcl-Heal/EndRdx/Rchg(25), Mrcl-Heal(29)
Level 2: Power Bolt -- Entrpc-Acc/Dmg(A), Entrpc-Dmg/EndRdx(5), Entrpc-Dmg/Rchg(9), Entrpc-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(13), Entrpc-Heal%(21), FrcFbk-Rechg%(39)
Level 4: Siphon Power -- Acc-I(A)
Level 6: Power Burst -- Dev'n-Acc/Dmg(A), Dev'n-Dmg/EndRdx(9), Dev'n-Dmg/Rchg(11), Dev'n-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(27), Dev'n-Hold%(31), Dev'n-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(33)
Level 8: Hover -- Zephyr-ResKB(A), Zephyr-Travel(27)
Level 10: Air Superiority -- T'Death-Acc/Dmg(A), T'Death-Dam%(37), T'Death-Dmg/EndRdx(37), T'Death-Dmg/Rchg(39), T'Death-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(43), T'Death-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(43)
Level 12: Sniper Blast -- ExtrmM-Acc/Dmg(A), ExtrmM-Dmg/EndRdx(13), ExtrmM-Acc/ActRdx/Rng(15), ExtrmM-Dmg/ActRdx/Rchg(19), ExtrmM-Acc/Rng/Rchg(34), ExtrmM-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(43)
Level 14: Siphon Speed -- P'ngTtl-EndRdx/Rchg/Slow(A), P'ngTtl-Acc/Slow(19)
Level 16: Energy Torrent -- KinCrsh-Acc/Dmg/KB(A), KinCrsh-Rchg/KB(17), KinCrsh-Rechg/EndRdx(17), KinCrsh-Acc/KB(23), KinCrsh-Dmg/KB(36), KinCrsh-Dmg/EndRdx/KB(36)
Level 18: Hurdle -- Jump-I(A)
Level 20: Aim -- AdjTgt-ToHit(A), AdjTgt-ToHit/Rchg(21), AdjTgt-ToHit/EndRdx/Rchg(31), AdjTgt-EndRdx/Rchg(42), AdjTgt-ToHit/EndRdx(42), AdjTgt-Rchg(42)
Level 22: Health -- Heal-I(A), Heal-I(23)
Level 24: Stamina -- EndMod-I(A), EndMod-I(25)
Level 26: Explosive Blast -- AirB'st-Acc/Dmg(A), AirB'st-Dmg/EndRdx(31), AirB'st-Dmg/Rng(33), AirB'st-Dmg/Rchg(33), FrcFbk-Acc/KB(34), FrcFbk-Rechg%(37)
Level 28: Inertial Reduction -- Jump-I(A)
Level 30: Speed Boost -- EndMod-I(A)
Level 32: Nova -- M'Strk-Acc/Dmg(A), M'Strk-Dmg/Rchg(34), M'Strk-Dmg/EndRdx(40), M'Strk-Acc/EndRdx(40), M'Strk-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(46), M'Strk-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(46)
Level 35: Transference -- Efficacy-EndMod/EndRdx(A), Efficacy-EndMod/Acc/Rchg(36), Efficacy-EndMod/Acc(39), Efficacy-Acc/Rchg(45), Efficacy-EndMod(45), Efficacy-EndMod/Rchg(46)
Level 38: Fulcrum Shift -- Acc-I(A), RechRdx-I(40)
Level 41: Charged Armor -- Aegis-Psi/Status(A), ImpSkn-Status(48)
Level 44: Electric Shackles -- EoCur-Acc/Hold(A), EoCur-Acc/Hold/Rchg(45)
Level 47: Summon Adept -- ExRmnt-Acc/Rchg(A), ExRmnt-Acc/Dmg(48), ExRmnt-Dmg/EndRdx(48), ExRmnt-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(50), ExRmnt-EndRdx/Dmg/Rchg(50), ExRmnt-+Res(Pets)(50)
Level 49: Increase Density -- S'fstPrt-ResDam/Def+(A)
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Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Sprint -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Rest -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Scourge


I'm sure there are some things in there that could be improved on (accurate heal sets in Transfusion, better set in Nova...sets came out late for this toon), but it got me to 50 solo.


Don't know why, but I never thought of that Repel trick with bosses.

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Safe=Easy for a noob.

It may be slower, but only if you solo.

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I felt much safer on my controllers than on my corr, that's for sure. I had to darn near play like an idiot to die with my Min/Kin (and sometimes I would). Well, or not plan well for certain EB or mob types (curse you, Nemesis!). My Grav/Storm took more damage, but dished out more too.

My corr did ok, but I never felt like the extra damage she might have done quite made up for having very little mitigation (NRG/Kin...another thread kicking around on energy). So even with a heal, she planted a lot (Transfusion while guys are pounding on you << Transfusion while all mobs are slept/held). I was mezzed much more and I didn't feel like I could take on groups that were as large.

I need to try more corr combos out to really compare though.

I'd say my Fire^3 was more fun than my Ice/MM/Ice, but I enjoy(ed) both.

Re: MunkiLord:
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Ice/EM. It is by far the fastest soloing character I have made.

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It felt like my Fire was faster than my Ice/EM, but I need to click a citizen sometime to check. Could well be that patrol xp led to a shorter time for the Ice/EM.

Re: Santorican (Re: Stern_Verdict)
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If you want to run around hazard zones, yeah, AoEs are essential, but if you just want to solo mission content (both "official" arcs and AE arcs) then your single target damage becomes way more important than your AoEs.

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This

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Not a bad point at all. A few folks seem to shortchange the ST powers (especially the Tier 1/2), but fully-slotted and in these kinds of situations, they perform pretty well I think.

Think of it as a comic inventory one-shot between other story arcs.

This reminds me of a troublesome player on a MUD I played in college...went by the name 'Esprit'. Specialized in griefing, PKing, etc. One of his tricks was to get a bunch of gold, then he would go around typing "drop gold" or whatever the command was. But he would just drop one, many, MANY times. Eventually the sheer number of items would crash the MUD (stack overflow is my guess).

My 1st 50 came around March '06 or so; I started in June '05, so let's say about 9 months. 400+ hours of playtime. Soloed BS/Regen.

My 2nd didn't come until Sept '07 (altitis!)...and that was the first character I created back in '05. Largely soloed INV/EM, probably 400+ hours.

Third came in Jan '08. Mind/Kin, teamed a little bit more than the others but mostly solo. He was lvl 41 when the tank hit 50 which explains the smaller gap.

Fourth was June '08, Grav/Storm.

Fifth was Sept '08, Fire/Fire blaster. Probably only 200 hours played (solo). Was the first 50 that wasn't of the batch created in '05. Also was the first on my 2nd account.

Sixth was mid-Dec '08. NRG/Kin, first villain 50. Created maybe a month after CoV came out. Soloed, not sure on hours.

Dilly-dallying on the seventh. I have an Ice/MM that is around 47.5 (was 26 when I hit my last 50). But I've also been playing a MM, a DB scrapper and a Plant/Thorns Dom (well, I have a Shield brute parked too). Without distractions she'd easily have been 50 already.

Got a Positron's Chance for Energy Damage over the weekend (off a Hellfrost or Succubus...forget which). Was quite surprised.

Just finished playing a couple of hours solo on my Merc/Poison, level 25, villainous. Gained about half a level, got a dozen common IO recipes, a Cacophony end of mission drop, no set recipe drops from mobs. Boo. Ah well, maybe better rolls next time.

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Well I am kinda of torn what I want isn't endgame content, I just would like some more higher end content. I think the expansion pack will bring some. But I get the feeling this might be a huge co-op zone letting people play maybe not from level 1 to 50 but maybe level tenish and up.

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I am really hoping that you CAN play from level 1. CoV was a paid expansion that let you start in the Rogue Isles. I am hoping that Going Rogue will let you start at level 1 in Praetoria. Heck, maybe even with ATs unique to Praetoria. Level up in the Praetorian world until you get to level 20 or so, at which time if you've become either good enough or evil enough you can then hop between Praetoria and Paragon City/The Rogue Isles.

What I'm thinking here is open up a set of middle-ground contacts to everyone; but some build bad rep, some build good rep. Move to one side or the other and you start to see some new contacts unlocked that continue you along that path, if you choose to do them.

Similarly, once you reach a certain level in CoH/CoV you can travel to Praetoria, question your loyalties, and while there switch sides. This doesn't have to be an immediate thing, maybe there are a number of contacts to be played before you can switch. Or if you're evil, go to Praetoria, run the evil contacts and don't switch, but have more content available.

I need to start paying more attention to my drops. I know I've been getting common IOs (red and blue side) soloing, but can't recall very many set IOs dropping from mobs. Probably same as usual, but it seems like less stuff is dropping.

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...That's *not* stoked about Going Rogue? For me, I see less pros and more cons. Like, if defenders make their way to villains, corruptors will most likely be ignored. People will prefer Tankers to Brutes. Am I just being overly-negative?

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So long as they don't turn the regular game into City of MishMash and keep the mixed game in the Praetorian world then i'm not particularly worried about it.

That being said and even if its only in the Praetorian world, I hope they only allow 1 rogue character per account per server per direction and disallow them from epics/patron pools if they switch.

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This is exactly what I was wondering - will the switching be limited to Praetoria? I don't particularly care either way, but that possibility is intriguing.

Either way, I'm liking the idea of having a new sandbox to play in with a few new dynamics (not that I am at all tired with the old one).