Frozen Burn

And to further add on, in case you did not know - or anyone new reading this thread did not know... you can access Echo: Faultline and Echo: RWZ (and the other Echo zones) through Ouroboros. The portal in the back by the hospital porters will take you to them. They'll each have their own 8 explore badges for an additional 5 Reward Merits each as well.

You are not supposed to be able to earn two day jobs at once. That's the way it was on live, anyway. This is also like in Striga or DA with the base portal inside the grave yard - you have to move away from the portal to allow the Mortician day job to kick in. Otherwise, you only earn Monitor Duty. @Oubliette_Red, this got me thinking about RWZ and the hospital in the base - wondered if it did it there too. In RWZ, standing in the hospital both icons for Caregiver and Vanguard Recruit appear and you lose Caregiver when moving out of the hospital area. However, logging out in the hospital area ONLY awards credit to Caregiver - Vanguard Recruit did not even start the progress bar, despite having the icon next to my toon's name. Standing by the base portal in RWZ, you only get the Monitor Duty icon. Moving away from the portal, and it switches to the Vanguard Recruit icon. So your situation seems to be only in PvP zones where the icon will not return. And it seems RWZ might have a bit of screwiness too.

Yes, I have read it and If you bothered to read elsewhere in my post, I state multiple times, there is freedom of speech provided it doesn't go against the EULA... the opening statement was the set up to all that as a basic principle. 😛

Hi. I understand your frustration and there are times I too can't stand what is being stated in General Chat. However.... 1. Freedom of speech - we all have a right to say our opinions and feelings, even if they are contrary to yours. Even you state this in your final sentence. So, you acknowledge this basic human right that everyone has - even if they are saying things contrary to your beliefs. Given that... You did not have to engage in the conversation about things you did not like. You had a choice to ignore or engage - and you chose to engage. Choices have consequences - whether good or bad - action has a reaction. You received reactions that you are not happy with... but they are the consequences of your choice to engage. I am not defending their actions as they also had a choice to politely listen to your comments and be open to your view points to engage in polite discourse... but apparently, they did not. **IF they stated anything contrary to the EULA (harassment, threatening remarks, etc) - then report the individual(s). Some may report you, if you made such comments as well. 2. People will chat about all topics no matter what - even topics, ideologies, and state things you may not agree with. It's part of life no matter where you go, even in a game like this where there is open forums / chat channels. The General Chat channel is a place for that - otherwise, you WILL get that crap in the LFG channel (still do to some degree), or the Help Channel, Broadcast Channel, Request Channel, etc. It still happens in those channels occasionally but it would be even more so without the General Chat channel. So, this channel needs to stay. 3. "Policing" chat channels - No. It may be a normal thing where you are from, but the game is hosted and operated in areas that allow freedom of speech, as long as it doesn't violate the EULA. Additionally, it would also be a waste of Dev time and resources - and then who is to say one political/religious belief is okay and another isn't. Again, if someone says something that violates the EULA, then you can report them and the Devs will investigate and take appropriate action if need be. But otherwise people can chat about topics you may not like and say things that might offend you and they not be considered against the EULA. 4. You can easily remove the channel from your tab, as you have stated. Yes, you will have to do this for all your characters. But typically, one does this anyway as you add in global chat channels, so it's nothing to remove a channel upon character creation. Everyone else should not have to opt-in to something because you specifically had a bad encounter in Gen Chat. When things like this happen and I can't stand what's being spouted in a chat channel... I turn it off so it doesn't impact my gaming experience. I'll turn it back on later when those people are gone. so I can listen to or engage in the more pleasant conversations. When you watch TV and come across a show you do not like... you switch channels or turn off the TV and watch/do something else for a while. Same concept here. 5. You can also easily "Ignore" the person(s) and you will never see chat from them again. click on their name in chat and select "ignore." Simple.

Between the 2 columns of light, there is a diamond of light floating about head-high... that is where you click. Clicking anywhere else (the base, the columns) and you do not get the blue hand for clicking. I just tested it and it works fine.

As stated above, it's around 59-60% for incarnate soft cap. And yes, some incarnate enemies have buffs, but by that time, you also may have some debuffs as well to counter them, depending on your build and incarnate power choices. And yes, incarnate enemies are found in iTrials, DA, and Cimerora. Resistance can't get any better than it already is.... Resist sets and bonuses are widely available just as Defense is. Generally, you want a combination of Resist, Defense, and Regen/Heal. Whether you take a Resist set and layer on Defense, Regen, and Heals... or take a Defense set and layer on Resists, Regen, and Heals - both routes make strong combos to play. This is why sets like: Willpower, Invuln, Stone, Bio, Rad are so successful. As well as Dark and Fire armors due to having strong heals (in place of regen) and being able to shore up resists and defenses with set bonuses. It is so easy to argue FOR resists sets. Your defense sets are similar and will provide resistance and/or heals to back up along with Defense Debuff Resistances (DDR). And it's really easy to reach incarnate levels of Defense with these sets, and layered resists and regens/heals underneath.... they can be unstoppable. That's the game... it'd be boring if there was no risk, so that is why devs have it that at a bare minimum, foes have a 5% chance to hit no matter what. You layer on your defenses and debuffs to enemies and you increase your odds. This is why Dark/SR (or any defense set) is such a strong combo - it adds a ToHit debuff to your opponent which makes your defense stronger. But do not let that limit your thinking either. My Ice/Energy melee Tank is a beast. So are my Shield/Street Justice Tank, Staff/Energy Aura Brute, Ninja/Ninjitsu Stalker, MA/SR scrapper, Kin/SR scrapper. And yes, back on live - just as it is now - Nemesis LTs give vengeance (+ToHit, +Dmg) to their allies when they die. So that is why you typically want to kill them last, but can be difficult to do as they always rush into melee range making easier targets and get caught in AOEs. (Brilliant strategy on their part and that's why I love Nemesis so much!) 😄

Any AT that has an armor powerset will have Defense Powerset options, so: Tanker, Brute, Scrapper, Stalker, and Sentinel. Even Arachnos Soldiers and Widows have their own brand of Defense sets. The thing about Defense though is... everyone has the same soft cap at 45% (for normal content - incarnate content is much higher). With resists and regen, Tankers get the the highest caps, then Brutes, then everyone else. But the Defense softcap is equal for all ATs across the board - including your squishie ATs (even blasters, defenders, controllers, etc can build for soft cap defenses using set bonuses, pool/epic powers, etc). Your defense armor sets are: Super Reflexes Ice Armor Ninjitsu Energy Aura Shield Defense Stone Armor Invulnerability is a mix of Defense and Resist. They all all good and all have their differences - so, pick what you like and go for it with whatever AT you want to play. There are plenty of choices to make plenty of toons!

Pretty much every contact blue and red side are snitching on a gang or faction in one way or another. There is some of this in Praetoria too... You can throw a dart at the contacts list and will hit many. It's pretty much how the story content is shaped.... we talk to a contact, and they send us to deal with/investigate whatever faction they're interested in. So, pretty much every contact would have an enemy group wanting revenge.

Ice/Energy is what I have and love it. Although, I need to update his build still from the recent changes to the levels that powers are available and the changes to Energy Melee. Otherwise, I'd post a build. Maybe someone else a current one to share. But Ice/Energy is a fun, great, and deadly combo.

Congrats!

Blaster forum! Get that filthy Sentinel talk outa here! lol 😄 Yeah, Sents are better now since the revamp, but I'd still take a Blaster over one any day. So, if we're talking "Best of".... I have many very survivable Blasters that I would call "Best of" and I Blap with all of them (except 1). I will solo +4x8 incarnate arcs with them.... Ice/Fire/Flame (I will also farm with this toon - when I need to) Energy/Martial/Mace Psi/Temporal/Mace DP/Mental/Mace DP/Ninja/Mace Rad/Atomic/Mace Dark/Dark/Soul Seismic/Martial/Mace Archery/TA/Force (non-Blapper)

I'm sorry moving to the other side of a mob is such a difficult thing for you. lol 😄 But seriously.... Ever since CoV came out (issue 6) and MMs were released with all their pet commands.... Controllers screamed for wanting command(s) to control their pets too. Devs have always stated "no" to the request. We're at issue 27 - that's 21 issues later and still this hasn't been implemented. The Devs have always wanted the risk to be on the player and not on the pet when it comes to controllers and dominators, and they give them the tools and means to do so successfully. This is contrary to MMs who have far less HPs (the lowest of all ATs), and basically no attacks - and what they do have, do very minimal damage and mostly aren't worth taking/slotting except for set bonuses. The MM pets are their attacks and defenses and that is why MMs get commands and Controllers/Doms do not. The Devs have always wanted to keep commands separate from Controllers and Doms and for MMs only - other than our incarnate Lore pets basic commands, of course as those are a whole other special thing. Now, maybe the Homecoming team will listen and change up the years of denying this request and implement it. Who knows. But I wouldn't get your hopes up. And everyone has offered solutions for you to get around it while you wait for a change that may never come.

No, I am not fighting -1 and I do allow bosses. Your AOEs will take all mins and LTs out of the fight, and you can quickly follow up with a single target hit to the boss of the same mez type to take them out too. Slotting the Lockdown +2 mag hold proc in your AOE and/or single target holds mostly eliminates the need for double firing on controllers. Doms can hold a boss in one one shot if their Dom is up, which it mostly is for them even if not yet perma. And yes, sometimes you may take a hit from the boss or a minion/LT that got a lucky roll on the tohit check, but you'll survive. Once you're up in levels and have your epic powers and set bonuses, most trollers and doms have better defenses/resistances as well - this only helps to mitigate any surprise damage from the few lucky foes that don't get locked down right away. And if you're really concerned about diving into a particular group first, then there are inspirations you can also take (That is not a sign of weakness - it's a sign of smart playing). If you REALLY want your pet to take the alpha... spawn them in the middle of the group. They'll die, and the foes will turn there attention to you if you're not fast enough to lock them down. If you succeed, you'll be out of having your pet for damage while you slowly whittle away at the mob (controller scenario). For Doms... they can more easily lock down a mob in one AOE and then use their secondary for damage. Sometimes on my doms, I forget to even spawn my pets. So again, I don't see a need for this request to command "uncontrollable" pets. But also again, I won't pitch a fit if the devs implement it.

No, no procs. And correct, it doesn't normally aggro things - except.... In trying to use it like a normal pet and let it follow you (as if it had a longer lifespan and recharge) you can run into some issues because it moves so slowly. If you bypass/stealth past a mob and start attacking a 2nd mob while your storm cell is trying to catch up to you - if it is in aggro range of the first mob when you start attacking the 2nd, it could hit them with a lightning strike and aggro the 1st mob onto you. Or sometimes, if you go to one side of the room, your storm cell goes to the other seeing a mob there. You attack your mob, and it strikes the 2nd mob on other side of room. Both scenarios have happened to me many times while I've tested out this unique set. If there is a longer lifespan and longer recharge of Storm Cell - it would be harder to control when and where you use it. Having a short recharge allows you to recast for the current mob you want to focus on as it will despawn the old Strom Cell. Most fights are over in less than 30s. The 60s duration allows for usage of ~2-3 fights, depending on their size and your speed of defeating and the speed of the Cell to keep up. Or you, can recast for every fight to ensure it's always in place where you want it and not on another mob for potentially unwanted aggro from its lightning strikes.

A big rule of respecc'ing.... never delete any enh at the end - put them in your trays to sell (vendor or market), or recycle with other toons. It used to be that you could cash in old DOs/SOs at the end, but not now - it's a straight up delete. So, put them in your tray (even if old and red) and vendor them, even if it will be a tiny bit of inf... it's still better than 0. If it's generic IOs or set pieces you're pulling out, put them on the market or save them for another toon - again, some inf/use is better than none. I would think, if your respec fails, whatever you slotted would stay (albeit not where you put it, but rather where it originally was), and apparently, anything in the box leftover at the end is deleted. That's a shame, but I guess that's how it is currently working. If any of the slotted enhs are gone too - that does sound like a bug. I suspect it's something to do with the deleting process at end. I am guessing that if you had put all your leftover enhs in your trays, the system could have pulled them back for placing in their original place. But the system trying to follow the "delete" command and the "put it all back because it failed" command made it all go crazy. ....just my theory.

The radius is the same as other "rain" powers, so no... not small. And it follows you... slowly. This is good and bad. It's cool that acts like a pet and goes from mob to mob. But having it despawn and not linger is good as it allows you to move through maps without aggroing everything. Yes, it may suck to recast for long fights, but hanging out any longer, and it would be more annoying.

Other people are mistaken too or they are pulling one over on you. The Loyalist Lounge only has Marchand and his Assistant there as contacts. Bobcat is the only contact in Studio 55. And Praetor Duncan is only on her dais in Nova Praetoria. She doesn't give missions either, although there are some deliveries to her. The only missions Praetor Duncan gives are in Dark Astoria lvl 50 Incarnate content and you don't see her - you only call her. So there is nowhere that she can be found in a bar. Sorry.

Self buffs are never as much as buffs you give to others. And having 2 similar self-buffing powers is overkill. It is fine as is with one being self, and the other to be used on others.

Thank you SO much! I was able to make the switch on the Sonic Blast sounds! TY TY TY! Do you happen to have the Gold-side theme music .ogg to share so i can try looping that on the front end whenever i log out to character screen/costume creator?

On all my controllers and doms... I don't need my pet to take the alpha - except Illusion because they have PA and that is designed for taking alphas. All my others open with an AOE stun/hold/fear/KD/Confuse/etc to mitigate the alpha. While I do strive for high defense, they mostly aren't soft-capped at all - generally, I don't need them to be except for the foes that are resistant to mezzes. Only thing I need my pet to do is provide damage. And I do not need an "attack" command. I understand the desire to control these uncontrollable pets so they attack a certain target and if you give it to me, I'm not gonna argue - but I don't need it. However, I do not understand the reasoning for wanting a pet to take an alpha as any Controller and Dominator worth their salt can make an alpha strike and lock down the mob (or pull its focus with PA in the case of Illusion). The times when a pet does make the alpha and it's a big mob, they usually die and then you have to stop attacking to recast. My Earth/Nature Controller, I play like a tank. With Stalagmites (AOE Stun), Earthquake (AOE KD), and Volcanic Gases (AOE Hold), I can engage 3 groups if needed and take them out of the fight. Plus, I have Entangling Aura (another AOE hold) that I can use to stack or engage a 4th group, if the crap has really hit the fan, which sometimes it does. (Salt Crystals (AOE Sleep) is another good one that Earth has, but I didn't take it as Entangling Aura would interfere.) Fire Control can open with Flashfire (AOE Stun), Cinders (AOE Hold), Bonfire with a KB>KD proc (AOE KD) and can make alphas. ....I was going to list more, but I do not need to - every control primary has abilities for making the alpha and mitigating in-coming damage. Some better than others, admittedly, but all can. If you really need a pet to take the alpha - just quietly/stealthily move to the other side of the group and let it follow you into them.

Ok, off of work and looking into this... Wow... ummmm.... My Ogg folder is empty - well, except a "silence demons" folder I have from long ago to hush those continuously roaring and annoying beasts. 🙂 But otherwise, the Ogg folder is completely empty - no files, no other sub-folders like what you have shown in your thread from the link in your sig. There are no .ogg files anywhere else in my game folders either. Are there supposed to be?? Looked at OuroDev... That site is really beyond me. But I did look at the archives (i think that's what they were) and couldn't download a thing. Clicked links, but nothing happened. No clue as to how to get/view any .ogg files to attempt renaming. 😞

Ah... the never ending tweaking of a build. 🙂 You switched up Epic pools! lol LRM is so fun. I would drop 2 of those slots from Surveillance and put in Body Armor to put back in your Steadfast +Def and Gladiator Armor +Def IOs... those will serve you better, imo. You get more overall def. Surveillance is already a really good debuff right of the box and doesn't need slotting (again, imo). ...and if it was me... I'd take a 3rd slot out and put a Panacea +Heal/+End in Health. Then in the single slot in Surveillance, I'd put a +3 Lysosome HO (or comparable other) in it - they go for pretty cheap on the market.

Thanks @Oubliette_Red! I do have the HC launcher set up with that parameter, so thank you for the advice on how to switch the music around. And thanks for the advice on switching the sonic power sounds.... I'll pore through all this and see what I can do on my own. I am sure I will have more questions. lol 🙂

Ahhh... alt-itis... oh, how I know it all too well.... 🙂 Welcome back to the game! And that is a perfect name for your character... "Whoa" 😄 Your build is fine and you'll do well with it. My only comments are below and are minor tweaks and suggestions, but could be very impactful for you: Turn off your PFF, Vengeance, and Rest... they all give you unrealistic numbers for showing how you'll be in normal combat. When PFF is on, you cannot attack, so you will not get those Def #s during battle. Rest locks you out of battle too, and jacks your regen / recov #s, and drops all your resists. Vengeance is okay to look at, but unless someone is dead and you can click it in time before they rez, you mostly won't have those #s. With that.... your Ranged defense is good at 66% with Melee at 35% and AOE at 37%. This is great! You'll do well. I'd get rid of the medicine pool. Your defenses are fine and you'll rarely use it. it's SO SLOW too trying to heal yourself. You'll find your offense will get rid of the incoming damage better than trying to react to healing it. You will most likely respec out of it anyway later on. Plus, you have Inner Will which is a self-heal. And you have an inspiration tray for times when you want to top-off. Use those 2 powers slots and Enh slotting for something else, like.... Move Hasten from lvl 49 to lvl 16 (replacing Aid Other) - Hasten is better served earlier in your build. Then at lvl 22, instead of Aid self, use all 6 slots for Burst of Speed and the Winter Event IO set for it (Superior Avalanche). Burst of Speed is a very "Neo-esque" power and can teleport you into the middle of the mob, does AOE damage and Winter Event proc will knock most down, then you can Hail of Bullets to kill pretty much everything. BoS is also a great getaway power for when you need it. It also builds a bit of defiance which is more damage. The set bonuses from the Avalanche set will be better for you than what you'll get from Doctored Wounds set. With this, you'll have a open power choice for lvl 49 - take Force of Nature. Can leave just single slotted with any Resist or EndMod procs that you like. Can be a great "Oh crap!" power to boost your resistances and Recovery (if needed) and will allow you to keep fighting as opposed to PFF which will take you out of combat. When you get the crash (and if still in danger), then you can toggle on PFF while you recover. Other things missing from your build that *I* like to put in, but aren't necessities, but are also very handy... Shield Wall IO +Resist Reactive Defenses Scaling Resist IO Unbreakable Guard +Max HP IO (could put in Force of Nature) Health and Stamina Normally, a blaster doesn't need to slot up Stamina because of their sustain power (Reaction Time for /Martial) - you slot Reaction time for end mods and leave Stamina at 1 slot. But I get why you have RT 6-slotted with Numi's for the juicy ranged Def. 🙂 That's fine, so..... Instead of your generic IOs in Stamina and Health - put in another performance shifter and miracle and get more HPs for yourself. This is FAR better than the minute fraction of recov/regen you may lose. Also, be sure to get your stat enhancing accolades (Atlas Medallion, TF Commander, Freedom Phalanx Res, Portal Jockey) as they all give more HPs and End too.

1. I have a flying small-sized fairy Titan Weapon Brute that I tank with and it constantly hovers - it is doable and possible - and to me, FUN! It may not be your thing, but it is doable - just takes some getting used to. 2. If you've never gotten a character over lvl 20 - then you really do not know what your character is capable of. Mid-late 20s they are just beginning to feel their capabilities. Most characters start getting good in their 30s and 40s. You really need to give your toons more time to shine. 3. /Devices is great for hover blasting. You get Gun Drone which hovers and flies with you and does a good deal of damage. It also has a small taunt component to help keep mobs off you. With enough Global recharge, you can have 2 out perma (and if you go extreme recharge, when teamed and speed boosted by someone else, you can have 3 perma). Solo - you will want to land occasionally to set up your ambush. Drop a few trip mines, caltrops, and then you can hover again to pull your foes into your trap and finish them off. When teamed - you will rarely get to use your trip mines as mobs will die before you can set them up. You can "toe-bomb" with them, but it's slow. They are great for known spawn points to set up ahead of time for ambushing. You'll be relying on Gun Drone mostly in team situations. My favorite is my Archery/Devices hover blaster. But pretty much everything pairs with it.