FupDup

As for Tankers, here is the melee damage comparison that I referenced earlier: Here are the two relevant charts from that thread: Tankers are clearing faster than Brutes with most primaries and in some cases faster than Scrappers too. This also proves my point about Brutes vs. Scrappers because many of these times are pretty close between the two. Buffing the Brute could easily make them outright stronger than Scrappers.

VEATs do actually have a fair number of problems. They've got some good options but also a lot of pretty bad ones, like Banes being just worse than Stalkers. There's a reason most of them wind up being either Crabberminds or Huntsmen. Another thing about VEATs is that there's not much reason to make alts of them since they all have the same primaries and secondaries, so you can just make multiple builds on one toon to play them all. For other ATs you can play around with entirely different primaries and secondaries so there's plenty of replayability and building options.

Popularity and power often go hand-in-hand in video games. There are plenty of people who go against the "meta" to build their preferred playstyle/fantasy (I'm a Sentinel main, so I know), but in basically any game you can observe that when something is discovered as being super stronk it tends to rocket up in popularity. I would really be interested in seeing an updated version of those graphs to see how much Tankers went up since their buffs, and how much Brutes went down since Tankers got buffed to replace them.

Once upon a time, people observed/complained that Brutes were the kings of the game and that they made other ATs more or less obsolete in most content. This can be observed by going into the old demographics thread and seeing that Brutes outnumbered almost everyone, even with fire farmers removed from the equation. I have a really, really hard time believing that Brutes are weak in light of this (very old) data. The main thing that happened since then was that Tankers got their damage buffed massively, to the point that they can clear maps faster than any other melee AT while still having the toughest armor. Put these clues together and there's a clear answer as to what happened: Tanker damage output got buffed to the point where they could just straight up replace Brutes in every way. However, walking back the Tanker buffs even a tiny bit would likely cause an extreme meltdown because people don't like their toys being touched, even for good reason. So really, the only kind of buffs I'd humor to Brutes include: A. Better ATO procs B. Slightly higher armor modifiers so that they sit between Tankers and Scrappers (right now they lean much closer to Scrappers for the most part) I will fiercely protest any kind of damage buff because then we could easily repeat history, making both Tankers and Scrappers obsolete to Brutes like they used to be.

Cones generally have lower target caps than targeted AOE or melee AOE attacks. Uniformity is likely the reason why. Even though Full Auto is a T9, it is still burdened by the limits of being a cone. As to why cones have lower targets, I really don't know. If anything I think their cap should be the higher one since they take more effort to line up. IDK why the easiest to use abilities get higher caps than hard to use ones...

I mean, we did offer a ton of different ideas like a ranged "follow up" power that had a stun built in to it, or moving the stun to a different power like Slug or Incinerator. It didn't even have to be an either-or scenario.

The bigger issue is the massive ideological divide between Malta and Battle Maiden. BM believes that the strong should command the weak, as evidenced by her initial disgust at Max speaking with her. Malta, meanwhile, is an organization of "weak" normal humans that wants to control the "strong" metahumans because they can't get over their butthurt from the Cold War. If/when BM figures this out a betrayal is all but guaranteed. Maybe she might find refuge with Arachnos since they do actually embody the idea of "might makes right." As for GyrFalcon, he got freed in Max's Dark Astoria arc along with some other key Malta figures.

I've noticed the booster price drop too so what I've been doing is spending my merits on winter IO's, making them purple, then selling them to the market. I think (?) it's the most profitable inf-per-merit conversion at the moment, but of course that can change at any moment (when I started this the winters went for 32m, now they're only 25m or less). Well, it's the best "direct" conversion anyways. Playing the converter minigame might still be better if you don't mind RNGesus. There was a point when individual converters went for 120-150k consistently, but now they're like 60-70k. Anything that can be bought for merits seems to be trending down in price over time, which means you both get less for selling but you can also buy cheaper, so there's no real progress in either direction. Basically all you can do is periodically check the inf-per-merit ratio of all the different reward merit items so you can make sure you're selling the most efficient ones. Also, when it comes to leveling, you should be using attuned IO's where possible. They will grow with you as you level up (to their maximum level) and will also let you keep set bonuses if you ever exemplar down. If you don't need them at max level anymore you can always unslot them and hand them down to your next toon so you can build some "generational wealth" of sorts.

I made a Submachine Gun set suggestion about a week ago that was meant to be the spiritual successor to AR and go for a more pure gun direction. After seeing how hard it was to even get rid of freaking Beanbag of all things, a completely separate and new set is the way to go.

Battle Maiden got recruited by Malta after the events of Dark Astoria...I'm really interested in seeing what Malta would look like after that kind of partnership.

Here is something I just cobbled together in Mids. This Hero build was built using Mids Reborn 3.4.7 https://github.com/LoadedCamel/MidsReborn Click this DataLink to open the build! Beam Invuln Sentinel: Level 50 Technology Sentinel Primary Power Set: Beam Rifle Secondary Power Set: Invulnerability Power Pool: Fighting Power Pool: Flight Power Pool: Leaping Power Pool: Leadership Hero Profile: Level 1: Single Shot (A) Superior Sentinel's Ward - RechargeTime/Chance for +Absorb (5) Superior Sentinel's Ward - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance/RechargeTime (5) Superior Sentinel's Ward - Accuracy/Damage (7) Superior Sentinel's Ward - Damage/RechargeTime (7) Superior Sentinel's Ward - Accuracy/Damage/RechargeTime (9) Superior Sentinel's Ward - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance Level 1: Resist Physical Damage (A) Unbreakable Guard - +Max HP (11) Unbreakable Guard - Resistance (15) Unbreakable Guard - Resistance/Endurance Level 2: Cutting Beam (A) Positron's Blast - Chance of Damage(Energy) (19) Positron's Blast - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance (19) Positron's Blast - Accuracy/Damage (23) Positron's Blast - Damage/Endurance (48) Positron's Blast - Damage/Recharge (48) Positron's Blast - Damage/Range Level 4: Temp Invulnerability (A) Unbreakable Guard - Resistance (40) Unbreakable Guard - Endurance/RechargeTime (45) Unbreakable Guard - Resistance/Endurance/RechargeTime (46) Unbreakable Guard - Resistance/Endurance Level 6: Disintegrate (A) Superior Winter's Bite - Recharge/Chance for -Speed & -Recharge (43) Superior Winter's Bite - Damage/Endurance/Accuracy/RechargeTime (43) Superior Winter's Bite - Damage/RechargeTime (43) Superior Winter's Bite - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance (45) Superior Winter's Bite - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge Level 8: Durability (A) Numina's Convalesence - +Regeneration/+Recovery (9) Numina's Convalesence - Heal (46) Performance Shifter - Chance for +End (46) Performance Shifter - EndMod Level 10: Aim (A) Gaussian's Synchronized Fire-Control - Chance for Build Up (11) Gaussian's Synchronized Fire-Control - To Hit Buff/Recharge Level 12: Dull Pain (A) Preventive Medicine - Chance for +Absorb (13) Preventive Medicine - Heal/RechargeTime (13) Preventive Medicine - Heal/RechargeTime/Endurance (15) Preventive Medicine - Endurance/RechargeTime (50) Preventive Medicine - Heal/Endurance Level 14: Lancer Shot (A) Superior Opportunity Strikes - RechargeTime/Chance for Opportunity (23) Superior Opportunity Strikes - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance/RechargeTime (34) Superior Opportunity Strikes - Accuracy/Damage (34) Superior Opportunity Strikes - Damage/RechargeTime (37) Superior Opportunity Strikes - Accuracy/Damage/RechargeTime (37) Superior Opportunity Strikes - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance Level 16: Unyielding (A) Unbreakable Guard - Resistance (17) Unbreakable Guard - Resistance/Endurance (17) Unbreakable Guard - Resistance/Endurance/RechargeTime (45) Unbreakable Guard - Endurance/RechargeTime Level 18: Refractor Beam (A) Annihilation - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance/RechargeTime (37) Annihilation - Accuracy/Damage (39) Annihilation - Damage/RechargeTime (39) Annihilation - Accuracy/Damage/RechargeTime (39) Annihilation - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance Level 20: Environmental Resistance (A) Unbreakable Guard - Resistance (21) Unbreakable Guard - Resistance/Endurance (21) Unbreakable Guard - RechargeTime/Resistance (48) Unbreakable Guard - Resistance/Endurance/RechargeTime Level 22: Piercing Beam (A) Annihilation - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance/RechargeTime (40) Annihilation - Accuracy/Damage (40) Annihilation - Damage/RechargeTime (42) Annihilation - Accuracy/Damage/RechargeTime (42) Annihilation - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance (42) Annihilation - Chance for Res Debuff Level 24: Invincible (A) Shield Wall - +Res (Teleportation), +5% Res (All) (25) Shield Wall - Defense/Endurance (25) Shield Wall - Defense/Endurance/Recharge (27) Shield Wall - Defense Level 26: Overcharge (A) Ragnarok - Chance for Knockdown (27) Ragnarok - Damage/Endurance (31) Ragnarok - Damage/Recharge (31) Ragnarok - Damage/Recharge/Accuracy (31) Ragnarok - Recharge/Accuracy (34) Ragnarok - Damage Level 28: Tough Hide (A) Reactive Defenses - Scaling Resist Damage (29) Reactive Defenses - Defense (29) Reactive Defenses - Defense/Endurance Level 30: Boxing (A) Empty Level 32: Tough Hamidon Origin:Ribosome Exposure Level 35: Weave (A) Luck of the Gambler - Defense/Increased Global Recharge Speed (36) Red Fortune - Defense (36) Red Fortune - Defense/Endurance (36) Red Fortune - Endurance Level 38: Hover (A) Luck of the Gambler - Defense/Increased Global Recharge Speed Level 41: Fly (A) Winter's Gift - Slow Resistance (20%) Level 44: Evasive Maneuvers (A) Luck of the Gambler - Defense/Increased Global Recharge Speed Level 47: Combat Jumping (A) Luck of the Gambler - Defense/Increased Global Recharge Speed Level 49: Maneuvers (A) Luck of the Gambler - Defense/Increased Global Recharge Speed (50) Luck of the Gambler - Defense (50) Luck of the Gambler - Defense/Endurance Level 1: Brawl (A) Empty Level 1: Opportunity Level 1: Sprint Note that I generally have a different building philosophy from other people...namely that I try to pack in as many set bonuses as I can rather than damage procs. The defenses are a little lower than I'd like because I was trying to reduce endurance issues (using Annihilation instead of Artillery or w/e). The Agility incarnate power for the alpha slot helps with both issues but I don't know if you're at that point yet. There are a few points in there that are up for debate. >You could reduce the Toxic/Psi resist bonuses a bit to make room for other things >Maybe get rid of the Annihilation -res proc for another slot at the cost of a little DPS >Could swap Piercing Beam for Charged Shot if you want a faster animation, but it doesn't have a -res debuff on it (probably don't want or need both Piercing AND Charged Shot) >If you don't want to fly, you can yoink out the flight powers for a different pool >Cutting Beam could potentially get a set like Artillery for more defense or Annihilation for better endurance management The meat and potatoes are there though.

Link Minds is available in Psionic Mastery as a tier 3 power. It grants defense to everything, some Psi resistance, and to-hit for 90 seconds, with a default 300 second recharge. It's one of the few Sentinel epics that is attractive but you have to pay the price of two prerequisite powers to get it, as well as the recharge necessary to make it permanent or almost perma. Otherwise, Fire Mastery has a crappy PBAOE heal that you can just use on yourself. Or you take Darkest Night from either Dark or Soul (Soul has it at T2, Dark is T3), which massively debuffs enemy damage and to-hit so it indirectly helps you and your allies live longer, but it costs a crapload of endurance to run. Otherwise that's about it.

Preventative Meds work in any power that accepts healing enhancements, which includes Instant Regen. The proc is global so it doesn't matter if you slot it in a clicky, auto, or toggle. As for whether it's the "best" choice for Instant Regen, that's a bit more nuanced. Numina's Coalescence is another strong contender for something to slot in there. There are some other choices but Numina and Preventative are probably the two best options in most cases because of their set bonuses. So, pick whichever you want. The main attractions in PM are the endurance discount at 5 slots and recharge boost at 6 slots. The main attractions of NC are the S/L resists at 5 slots and R/E/N defenses at 6 slots. The other bonuses you pick up between 2-4 slots are also quite good but less impactful.

Storm/Elec Sentinel. I was planning on an Elec/Elec Sent for a really long time as an evil primal counterpart to my first ever Sent (Elec/Energy, praetorian/hero), and I was making final preparations to roll it as my next toon...then I see that Storm Blast is gonna be a thing. The timing is too perfect.

Okay so I just tested the new Beanbag on an AR/Traps Corruptor at level 50, fully slotted with IO's and a janky but workable build. I found some Circle of Thorns bosses lurking around PI and bullied them relentlessly by permastunlocking them with BB and shooting them in the face. For the last Death Mage I killed him using only beanbag and kick to make it as slow and agonizing as possible for him. I'm pretty sure I violated several Geneva conventions in the process, but war crimes don't matter if you win. So BB does, against all odds, kind of do its job now...if you enhance the crap out of it. I have mine slotted with 2 Hami's (acc/mezz) and 2 Desyncs (rech/end) since it can't accept stun IO sets yet. Also note that this experiment only involved very sparse level 50 mobs roaming the streets. Against a full +4x8 mob I would be needing to use a lot of AoE attacks thus the stunlocking thing would probably be less reliable. And it probably won't work well at low levels where survival is important, since you won't have the slots or enhancement magnitude of a level 50 toon. I'd still rather have Aim tho, or some other damage boosting ability in its place.

Okay probably not: Or at least it would need to be toned down heavily.

For FX I imagine it would be like patron armors, but showing the Vanguard logo instead of the patron's logo. Or maybe the sigil effect can be reused for this? I've never even used the unlockable sigil effect so I can't say if it would suit this purpose or not...

Honestly I think that the idea of "fewer but stronger pets" could just be a different MM primary instead of a whole new AT.

Universal mezz is definitely a type of IO set we need, and I think it's something on the devs' radar already. Or maybe that was universal debuff? I don't remember.

In regards to Suppressive, IMO I think that every ammo type should give a different mezz type. Not just different mag or duration. So maybe something like this: Standard: Mega knockback (basically Nemesis Staff on steroids) Cyro: Sleep Incendiary: Stun Chemical: Hold (puking animation) This would fit with the intent of choosing the right ammo type for the right enemy/situation.

I just tried the new Ignite on my Brainstorm Sentinel - because Sents apparently are included in this change - and it's alright. It's more user-friendly than the old Ignite since doesn't need to be placed on the ground, and can give you a little extra AoE damage sometimes when you weren't expecting it. It's a creative way to appease both the Ignite and Incinerator fans and does a fine job at that purpose. On the other hand, the burn patch still has the obnoxious mag 50 afraid effect that the live Ignite has, which often causes everybody to scatter like someone farted in a crowded elevator. Fortunately the primary target will always take the DoT even if he runs like a little coward, but it's still annoying and unnecessary. Runners are a problem even without afraid patches in the equation. If we absolutely need the afraid effect can the magnitude at least be lower? Like seriously even Controllers and Dominators don't get mag 50s. Admittedly, I tested mine without having any mezz procs in the power...since it takes Ranged AOE sets now I think the Ragnarok and/or Frozen Blast procs would probably help in this regard. It's not unplayable or unusable by any means, just annoying sometimes and not really here for any reason than "just because." I'll test beanbag on a Corruptor or something later (since Sents still got Aim :P). PS: Sentinel Slug still has the old 1.67 cast time instead of the new 1.4 that everyone else gets. If we can get the Ignite change I don't see why we can't get a better Slug too.

Did you click the bubble on the bottom right corner of the chat box, where you normally go to set difficulty settings? The freebies should be in there.

IMO Longbow's lore boss shouldn't have been the Cataphract since those aren't iconic to the faction but the HVAS is very iconic to Vanguard.

That's a buff for early to mid game but a nerf for a fully built character (fully built will get it to 30 seconds or less depending on how much global recharge they've got). So that's probably not gonna fly. Can there be a halfway sort of thing where only a certain portion of the recharge accepts enhancement? I know there are some other powers that are half-enhanceable like that but I don't remember if they did it with recharge or some other attribute. Whatever happens, a fully built character should be able to get it to around 30 seconds or shorter. Any compromise that nerfs a full build isn't worth having. And also, how about my idea of letting people control it like a MM pet?

To clarify Sai's position to those he's arguing with, what he's saying is that the powers devs have created a maximum "power budget" of sorts with Storm Blast, and they believe (whether correctly or incorrectly) that a faster recharge would put the set over-budget, therefore warranting nerfs elsewhere to "compensate" to keep the budget balanced. Sai doesn't believe that faster recharge would warrant a counter-nerf but the people in charge do, and so we have to work within the strange boundaries that we've been given and try to find the lesser evil.