MTeague

It always varies by character... some have greater endurance needs than others. But I tend to use: 2 slots in Health: Miracle proc, and Panacea proc 2 slots in Stamina: Perf Shifter proc, and Power Transfer proc. If I find myself losing the END curve, I'll take out the Power Transfer proc and slap in a Perf Shift:End Mod piece to at least get a 2-piece bonus there. And of course, it's not always *just* about Stamina and Health. My Storm/Sonic Defender also leverages Annihilation set, and Reactive Defenses, and Preventative Medicine to stack a few "-% End Cost For All Powers" bonuses. My Fire/Fire/Fire Sentinel went nuts and uses Annihilation, Reactive Defenses, Unbreakable Guard, and Preventative Medicine for 4 sources of that set bonus. It really makes a heck of a difference over long fights with many toggles and many click powers activated.

Not quite. PvP zones, you enter the zone, you're exemplared down. There is no choice. There is no option. It just HAPPENS. I'm envisioning something where, It's optional. Activated by talking toi someone inside the zone, maybe at the tram, maybe a trainer, something. Your level 50 can walk up to them and say "See here sonny, when I was your level..." and by clicking on that option SHAZAM, you'd exemplared down from 50 to top of the level range for that zone. When you select a zone at the tram, it tells you the range for that zone. Take high value from that range for that zone. You stay exemplared until you log out, or exit the zone, or go back to the NPC and cancel it.

I still like the idea of having an NPC in the zone that, can Exemplar you down to the max level of that zone, for the asking. a) no one has to use it who doesn't want to b) likely to be far more contained in impact then using GIant Monster / Zombie Apocolypse levels to all existing mobs c) no need to redesign for what kinds of powers an Outcast or Skull or Sky Raider should have when they'r fighting a lvl 54 character. d) you could do street sweeping for XP if you were so inclined, or refuse the exemplar if you want to be incarnate terror blowing up Perez Park. e) it would not have to impact normal mission contacts. I mean, it'd be nice, but if the logistics sucked, those could continue to go by your real level and just Ouro as needed. f) would be nice if it affected Newspaper/Radio though.

Depends. My Mind/Kin uses a resist armor... Mind Over Body... primarily for concept reasons. But he's ungrouped, just for walking-around values he's sitting at: If he's soloing, that's plenty enough defense, because he'll have all of an opening mob Held or Confused or Slept, or at *least* Feared, in very short order, unless there's Purple Triangles going on. LOTS less attacks will be incoming once I use controls to turn half the enemy against itself. Teamed, that 33.7% ranged defense generally goes well over 45%, and melee goes over 40% just from random team buffs. A few teammates will have manuevers, or maybe we'll have a bubbler, or a Cold Domination or Traps user or a Widow/Soldier. Could he stand to have a bit more AoE defense? ya probably, but it hasnt' been an issue thus far. And the having Smashing/Lethal resistances being so high makes him plenty durable enough to squeeze off a transfusion. Maybe min/max would say I should have gone Scorpion shield or Frozen Armor, but he's never felt squishy to me after lvl 41.

This is true, but, each time you're put into a fresh cell with a new cell door to beat down. That gives you time to put your toggles on, to re-summon your pets. etc. Unless of course, you die so many times that you run out of cell doors. (so, 9 times?)

I like it. 🙂

I wouldn't slot for status resistance as a goal in and of itself. but it doesn't suck to pick up some as a target-of-opportunity. If it just happens while you're stacking other resists. Particularly when I'm soloing a Controller or Dominator, and I'm up against enemies that try to use Holds on me, it's import that their Hold doesn't last long. If their Hold is very short term on me, I can win the war and keep them held or otherwise CC'd while I'm free to act and heal up or kill them. If their Holds are 10+ seconds on me.... I'm probably dead unless I have a Break Free. And I don't always have one.

I admit, my stalkers tend to be plausibly sneaky. Someone who's protection is that they're ON FIRE seems like they should have big penalties to the oldschool D&D "Hide In Shadows" roll

Hm. There is that. I admit, if Assassin's Focus wasn't a thing, and if I did not have the ATO's, my stalker would be.... lots less fun. I'd still play him, I'm very attached to the character concept from Guardian Server back in the Old Days. But it really is night and day. The Stalkers who used to be bedraggled starving puppies with sad eyes sitting in the rain hoping for a group, grew up to become face-wrecking machines with the Assassin's Focus changes and the ATO's.

I have 36 characters. Not one uses Mace Mastery. Eventually I'll probably have a handful who do. But very few.

Conversion Types: IN SET CONVERSIONS: what it says. the thing you convert will become a different IO in the same set. Costs 3 Converters per In Set Conversion, the most expensive mode. But if you get a Luck of the Gambler Endurance/Recharge, you can use this mode until you get the shiny +7.5% Global Recharge that you really want. Same with Steadfast Protection Resistance/Endurance to shazam it into the Res/+3% Defense piece. OUT-OF-SET CONVERSIONS: also what it says. the thing you convert will become an IO from a completely different set. Exact cost here can vary. Once you choose the "Out of Set Conversions" radio button, there is a dropdown next to it that gives the sub-type of conversion. Some methods you can choose, some are locked in. OUT-OF-SET (BY RARITY): The result will be an IO of any set of the same rarity. Rares stay Rares, Uncommons stay Uncommons. But HIbernation (Uncommon Sleep) could become Steadfast Protection (Uncommon Resistance), and Ghost Widow's Embrace (Rare Hold) could become Kinetic Combat (Rare Melee). These cost 1 converter per roll. OUT-OF-SET (BY TYPE): the result will be an IO of the same TYPE, but not necessarily the same rarity. Defense will stay Defense, but Serendipity (End/Res) could become Reactive Defenses Scaling Damage Resistance. Immobilize will remain Immobilize but Enfeebled Operations (uncommon) could become Trap of the Hunter (rare). This costs 2 converters per roll. to the best of my knowledge it is impossible to turn a yellow or an orange into a purple by this conversion type. to the best of my knowledge it is impossible to turn a non-pvp into a pvp by this conversion type. to the best of my knowledge it is impossible to turn a non-ATO into an ATO by this type. to the best of my knowledge it is impossible to turn a non-Winter-O into a Winter-O by this type. PVP: can convert any PvP IO into another PvP IO. MUST start with a PvP IO. But Gladiator's Net could become Panacea, or Javelin Volley could become Gladiator's Armor, etc. ATO: can convert any ATO into another ATO. MUST start with an ATO. Call of the Mastermind could become Critical Strikes. Will of the Dominator could become Kheldian's Grace. Winter: can convert atny Winter-O inst another Winter-O. MUST start with a Winter-O. But Avalanche could become Entomb, etc. Purple: can convert a Purple to a Purple. I believe only "classic" purples count for this. Not "Superior" versions of ATO's, etc. But Fortunata Hypnosis can become Ragnarok or Hecatomb, etc. NOTE: If you are converting a levelled (Non-Attuned) IO, the result will be an IO of the same level. This means if you're converting a level 15 IO, it can never ever ever ever become a Luck of the Gambler, because LotG has a minimum level of 25. Know the high / low ranges of the sets you're hoping to get.

<Miracle Max voice> But mostly dead, is partly alive.... I actually really like Praetorian content. Ambushes and all. But it's documented that I'm an odd person to begin with. 🙂

@SurfD It depends on the MM. Some MM's are very much built for Tankerminding. Particularly if you also happen ot have some form of AE healing in your toolkit, which you did. You could ping defense, spread out any pain that got trhough to your pets, and keep maintennce heals rolling as they stomp down the ambush. Compare and contrast to say, how Ninjas/Poison would do in that case, or Necro/TrickArrow. But all MM's can have serious problems if they're under attack again as soon as they respawn, with no chance to summon pets back up. Now yes, the trick to this is "Don't Die", but again, some combos will do much better than others. @Sakura Tenshi It also depends on the Stalker in question. My Spines/Regen stalker handles the ambushes right fine. It helps that he's *very* well kitted out but he's using Assassin's strike from normal combat FAR more than he uses it from stealth, and Spines gives him a lot of AE options and Toxic damage to wear down foes. And of course, /Regen, as long as the incoming damage is below a certain threshhold, you can just go for DAYS and never get worn down. And the more set bonuses you stack, the more you bend the curve of that threshold in your favor. But a Dark/Electric stalker, or a MA/Nin might have trouble... just from their Single-Target focus. And the /Nin stalker particularly could have a bad day if the laser-guided ambush includes lots of Defense Debuffers, unless they've also build up lots of +Resist set bonuses.

Guilty. I don't see WO's as acronym for WinterO's so my brain incorrectly autocorrected to ATO's.

I only buy SuperPacks and WinterPacks when I have enough influence for at LEAST six of them at once, plus 5-10 mil left over. So if I have 65 mil? I might buy 6 superpacks for 60 mil, and have 5 mil left over. Or if I have 155 mil, I might buy 6 winterpacks for 150 mil, and have 5 mil left over. Why save 5-10 mil after? I hate being totally broke. to afford market fees if I feel like posting anything for sale and/or to be my Seed Money for the next round of Converter Roulette Why buy 6 at a whack minimum? because duds happen. If you were still getting used to the market, still at a point where saving up 25 mil seems like a HUGE undertaking... then you don't want to spend all 25 mil on a single winter pack and be the unlucky guy who gets ZERO IO's and just gets a single booster and 80 Brain Storm Ideas for your rares. You'd feel like you just took a massive gut punch, you'd be burned and you'd never buy them again. But if you buy 6 or more packs, sure, you might get 1-2 packs with duds, but you also might get a few packs that contain TWO winter-O's per pack. I am personally convinced if you buy in bulk, you WILL get something like 1.4 Winter-O cards on average. I do not have hard data on that, it's just my impression / experience. it's just if you can't front the cost of buying in bulk, you'll have more change of scarring bad luck. Because some times the RNG gods smile upon you, and sometimes the RNG gods point and laugh at you. I also tend to no longer post Winter-O's for sale. I tend to mail them around to my alts, perhaps converting a few times first. Some of the sets are *Quite* nice for set bonuses when you Superiorize them, and are still Not Too Shabby even before then. Avalanche in particular.

That sort of feels a little too cheesy to use... but on the other hand.... when mobs plainly don't fight fair, I can rationize a certain amount of "Fine! Neither will I!" Though usually that's when I whip out a Pocket Shivan. The problem with Protean is the Shivan will stay in melee vs him. Soooo.... maybe elevators, if I ever do that arc again. We'll see. I'd probably do at least 2-3 tries without though. Still. It's good tactical advice, if I can bring myself to accept it. Thanks!

I'd be on board with a means to exemplar yourself down to the zone's normal range. I do not like the idea of everything scaling up. A great many mob types simply do not exist outside normal level ranges, and just adding more HP/To-Hit/Def/Res is not really the same thing as facing an enemy who was actually DESIGNED to go up to 50 and who actually has access to a complete array of powers in their powersets.

The fight vs Protean was not the most fun to solo on a Mind/Kin. Exemplar'd too low for Fulcrum Shift. Relatively lower damage. Used a GIANT pile of purples and reds, and still goofed up once, spending just a touch too long in the animaton for Siphon Speed and got caught in his Power Siphon. At which point he prompted healed up from like 33% health to 100% and all my prior inspirations were just WASTED. It happened again, on the next go-round. I invented some new words that day. Or at least new combinations of existing words. Got him on the 3rd mission restart though, being a LOT more judicious about what to cast when.

Honestly, because of this, I don't expect that sale, or any like it, to ever happen, ever again. Do I have any kind of inside information here? No, none at all. This is hunch and guess. But from various postings I've read, the tone seemed to be that it was regarded as a mistake to slash the price like that. And it's noteworthy that they did no such sale even on a temporary basis during Mender Derek's activation of the Winter Event.

IF such a change were made, I'd like to see it apply to single-target ally-only status protection buffs, too (Clear Mind, Increase Density, Enforced Morale, Clarity, etc) However, I'm also fine with none of the above being changed. Is it a hassle to maintain buffs on a good sized team and/or or your MM pets? Yes. Is it that big a deal? No, not really. It'd put it well after "Darn Your Socks" on the priority queue. But just bumping the duration (not casting to all, just the duration effect...) sounds like it's probably a *very* small lift.

Your bodyguards need not be human. You could do robot bodyguards if you wanted, etc. But I admit, the concept screams out to me "Thugs/Poison" for a Walter White. Or perhaps "Ninja/Poison" if you wanted an eastern twist. Also, I strongly recommend the "Experimentation" origin pool, since you can jab people with a needle for a few of it's powers. Poison has POWERFUL debuffs, but the splash area on them isn't huge. That wouldn't be a problem for default difficulty. But you might find this punishing if you wanted to crank up the difficulty to +2/x5 or so. There might just be too many mobs to reliably debuff all you needed to. So you can kittenize a boss and anything standing next to the boss, but if you have foes who are spread out, your thugs will be taking it on the chin hard. I strongly recommend getting good with pulling them back to a corner or door and unleashing the venom as they clump up. You would do right fine on a team, as long as someone else is soaking the alpha. Just be wary if you get a team of all damage dealers who wants your pets to tank for them. I had.... bad experiences.... with this way way back when CoV first launched with a Ninja/Poison character. It was pretty much the Debt Express.

That's Tar-And-Feather worthy design right there. If someone doens't want to answer they won't answer. If you force an answer out of them, they're not going to consider your question and give you good data. They're going to click the first choice, no matter what it is, just to get past this stupid popup that they want to close. So if you want a forced-answer-poll? then you should make sure the answers you HATE the most and sincerely wish are NOT TRUE, are the first answer. Just so that answer can be weighted extra hard, as punishment for creating such a bad forced-answer popup.

It's a great face for a Brute. I use it on one of mine. Can you imagine the wailing and gnashing of teeth if certain faces were restricted to certain alignments only? Plus, Going Rogue? Your face changes out from under you if you change alignments? Now a different sort order, I could get on board with. Or if you want to rename the face "Villain Face 1" while still keeping it available for characters of any alignment, then sure.

I probably woulnd't use it, because I wouldn't trust it when to use Empyreans vs when not but... depending... could be nice for the T1 and T2's.

You're assuming the NCSoft designers were not sadists .... 😉 Part of me likes it as it is, because, well, you're defending the mansion from an imminnet invasion. If you're overwhelmed and crushed, the rest of the midnighters aren't going to manage to hold them off while you port to a hospital, get fixed up, catch your breath, have an orange juice and some crackers and have the nurse make sure you're okay before you leave the infirmary. If your team wipes, the mansion is just LOST. If you wipe, I think it should just be Mission FAILED, and you should have to start over from the beginning. There's several missions I'd do that for, actually. Still. I'll acknowledge, that on any mission that I personally think should be a "Mission FAILED", nothing stops me from exiting the mission, changing to another mission and changing back to reset it. And I could still do that even if the Devs changed where you respawn at / prevented the enemies from chasing you.