Frozen Burn

Yeah, I knew about the seeding. But not about the salvage converting to something else to fill an order. Thanks for the info you gave and I appreciate you looking for the Dev post, though. There is definitively something screwy with the queue system. I've posted a ton of salvage for cheap and they never sell over 2 days despite bids being filled at higher prices - so I chalked it up to display bug and let them sit for another day or 2. Still didn't sell. They only sold (and instantly) when I reposted them -- even at the same original selling price! So, yeah, something definitely screwy. And when purchasing, when I get some and not others, and then get further items and still not the ones I bid on in the middle... I can now see how that could be the queue system messing up -- but I didn't recognize that was the case since it's on a smaller scale as I'm only purchasing 3-4 different items (1 or 2 each) at a time. So it appears like this "bucketing" things doesn't exist and I'm just waiting on a specific piece of salvage. Thanks to you, @Andreah, @iBot, @AboveTheChemist, @Yomo Kimyata, and everyone anyone else for the assist in figuring all this out. UGH! ...but relieved I now know where to focus my bug reports! 😄 Hahaha.

I get the appeal of the new Endmod/damage sets. But quite frankly, they're horrible. Not only are the set bonuses "meh," but they do not boost the power's damage enough -- so you will have to boost the IOs themselves to get the damage you want. You say you want a cheap build -- and I am all for that -- but buying all those boosters, is not cheap -- unless you have a stock pile of them from buying a lot of packs. Sure, Infiltration + the Stealth IO for complete invis is fine and yes, does help running around caves better. But you do not need the Stealth Power added in as well - that is completely redundant, unless you plan on PVP'ing where you want the extra invis. You're still all over the place with travel powers. Sure getting across zones faster and getting to the mission quick is great, but if you're a "support" blaster and wanting someone to eat your alphas, then you're still gonna be waiting at the door while they get to the mission -- so a lot of wasted slotting and power picks to be the first one in the mission just to wait for the team. ...something to think about. Teleport vs Flight - pretty redundant especially now that Fly gives inherent Afterburner. If you prefer flying, that is fine (I do too!), keep Evasive Maneuvers, and Hover... but then just keep Combat Teleport in addition. Fold Space is great, add in too if you want, but it does require some accuracy -- even double slotted acc for higher level mobs. Teleport Target also seems like a wasted power pick and you could get something else. The Blaster set bonus is Ranged/Energy/Negative. You get 5% Ranged + 2.5% Enrg/Neg on one, and 5% Enrg/Neg + 2.5% ranged on the other = 7.5% to Range/Enrg/Neg... that's huge. And even if you are in melee range, have a defense to ranged attacks is still good as some mobs will still shoot at you until they close in and/or switch to melee-mode. And having +7.5% extra Def to Enrg/Neg is always good since Energy is one of the most common damage types out there. Yeah, mids hasn't updated Tesla Cage to reflect the change. See the patch notes here: You can also read about Voltaic Sentinel there too. No, it doesn't wander off (too far) like other pets. It stays fairly close and attacks mobs. Mobs will also try to attack it, but since it is untargetable, they can't and the mob runs in circles around it not knowing what to do. It has a soft control that way. Yes, it's a heavy toggle if unslotted, but end redux greatly helps and plus, you have Touch of the Beyond, Stamina, and Dark Consumption - you shouldn't have any end issue at all between the 3. You are exactly right with Dark Consumption - slot for damage instead of end drain. Use it like a PBAOE attack. Even slotted for damage, you can fill your bar off a few mobs. 1 target will still give decent end back, but with the right slotting and use of Touch of the Beyond, you won't need it. Dark Pit - yep, as you said good for taking minions out of a fight. However, still skippable since you are not eating alphas and only coming in after the fact. Take something that helps you kill faster, better, quicker? It is REALLY useful with Oppressive Gloom, like @Nemu build. Toss the Pit, teleport in, and let the Opp Gloom stack to get the LTs and Bosses. But that also means taking a Resistance armor (which I am all for -- I did that with my Dark/Dark/Dark Blaster and they survive quite well even at +4 / other end-game content). ...something else to consider. Totally get that you don't want to melee, but selecting at least the 2 I suggested (Smite and Midnight Grasp) can get you some juicy Defense bonuses with the melee Winter set and either Mako's or Touch of Death (my preference, as it gives similar bonuses to Mako's but with melee defense instead). Even if you don't use the melee powers, they'll give you great bonuses. Good luck! If you make changes to your build, please share what you settle on. 🙂

I have a StJ/Shield Tank and love it! StJ is a very fun set. 2 AOEs plus a 3rd from Shield Charge. With the Tanker buffs, the radii are huge - love it! However, even with end redux in all my powers, stamina slotted, and a Miracle in Health, I have struggled with endurance issues all the way up until I could take Conserve Power from epics. I guess powers recharge fast and I just burn through my endurance. 🙂 I also have been leveling up an MA/SR scrapper - old school, I know!! 😄 Felt the need to go retro for a bit. I forgot how fun it is, despite it being all single target except for Dragon's Tail. I also DID NOT do the alternate animations. I just didn't like them. I was tempted on the one for Crippling Axe Kick, but in the end, just wasn't feeling it. So I did keep the toon completely "old school." hahaha.

You seem to be all over the place with this build. You seem to want to play ranged since you didn't take any melee attacks, but you will need to go into melee for Soul Drain, Dark Consumption, and Short Circuit. Also, Combat Teleport and Fold Space aren't for someone who wants to stay at range either. Given you'll be using SD, DC, and SC - commit to being a melee blaster and add in Smite and Midnight Grasp - they are heavy hitters worth slotting. And I personally would also add in Death Shroud - if foes are in melee with you, let them take more damage! You can also get more Def from melee and PBAOE sets - especially the Winter sets. Too many travel powers - pick 1 or 2 and go with it. I would ditch Flight pool, personally, and that would free up slots for other powers I mentioned above. You don't need Stealth + Infiltration + Stealth IO. pick either Stealth +IO or Infiltration +IO. I'd suggest Stealth (lower end cost) and then put your Stealth IO in Sprint to free up that 2nd slot for a Shield Wall special, Reactive Def Scaling Resist, or Karma KB prot. Touch of the Beyond / Stamina - Don't really need Acc in TotB. The Acc is for the Fear component only. The power is already at base 90% Acc and with enough global Acc bonuses, you'll achieve the Fear on your target - but who cares, since this power is primarily to give you end and regen. However, you have to remember to click the power at least once every 2 mins to get your end/regen buff (which is auto-hit). You will forget to click it. And you may run low on end when no mobs are around - so a couple slots in Stamina may be useful as backup. Feel free to use sets in TotB instead of generics as well. Combat Teleport - Jaunt not needed in it. A single generic range IO will suffice. But the beauty of this power is the +To Hit bonus you get when teleporting. So you could also slot +To Hit in it. Teleport - all those enhs are not needed. Warp Set bonuses are not worth slotting for and those slots can be better used elsewhere. A single End redux and possibly a single range is all you need. Slotting Blessing of the Zephyr is a good way to pick up a little bit of extra Def and some KB Prot. Blaster AT IO sets: Blaster's Wrath and Defiant Barrage, since you said you had extra slots, why didn't you 6 slot those two sets? That's 7.5% to Ranged, Energy, and Neg! Do it. 🙂 I've never seen that many +5 Boosted IOs in a build before! That is a LOT of money for all those boosters. Is that intended or did you have "Show all IOs at max level and +5" selected in your options? This can make you think you're more uber than you are, if that was not intended to have them all at +5. Now for Electric Blast.... You're missing out on some of the best things they changed about the set by skipping Tesla Cage and especially Voltaic Sentinel. Tesla cage is used to execute your Static Charge and it's now a targeted AOE that holds the target and then chain shocks nearby foes doing additional damage. Voltaic Sentinel is now a toggle - so no more constantly clicking! it's an un-targetable pet that constantly does damage and drains foes end. You're missing out on a LOT of added damage and end drain by skipping these. Cold Mastery - I assume you didn't want to go the Scorpion Shield Route, and that's ok. However, I'd switch from Snow Storm to Flash Freeze. I'd think the AOE sleep would be more handy to deal with annoying mobs than having a heavy slow toggle running. I'd also consider switching to Scorp Shield - you can save on power choices, get it earlier, and you can get to or near max +HPs with set bonuses and Accolades - making Hoarfrost not really needed.

Thank you for explaining the "bucketing" theory. I do realize this is the case with IOs and their levels and attuning/un-attuned - I posted about explaining about those. However, for salvage, I find this to be the exact opposite of what I experience. I can put in bids for 3 different types of salvage (same rarity) and sometimes I only get 2. I let the 3rd wait. I put in a bid for a 4th type of same rarity at same price and instantly get it... but yet, I still do not have the 3rd piece I wanted. If what you said was true... I would have gotten that 3rd piece before I got the 4th piece. Also, I've put in a large bid for a rare salvage piece and not got it, but I let it sit - then I put in a bid for another rare salvage piece at a lower bid than first and got it while still never getting the first piece. If the "bucketing" system was true, I would have gotten the first piece at the higher price first. I know the Devs flooded the markets with millions of each type of salvage (albeit, very inflated prices), but why would they do that if there was a "bucketing" / "Converting" system? I looked for the Dev post / patch notes about them saying they did this bucketing system with salvage, but I am not finding one anywhere - do you know where it is? I feel like this is all urban-legend and rumor-mill gone wrong. And if this system truly does exist, then there are several bug reports I need to file.

I tried Poison back on live when it first came out and had a hard time keeping people alive with it and I felt like the debuffs weren't making a difference either. So I never finished playing it or even getting to the T8 and T9 powers, let alone sets and such. I believe there have been buffs / tweaks to the set since, if I recall correctly. ??? Dunno for sure. But maybe I should give it another go this time around and stick with it to see how it goes.

Thanks for the elaboration on the hold mechanics. Good to know! I do realize that Deafening Wave is broken in that it doesn't accept +dmg from other sources. And yes, that is a big part of it's underwhelming performance. But what I meant was, the base enhanceable damage for the power is ALSO lower than other sets with similar PBAOEs. Deafening Wave's base dmg = 60.92. All others are: Atom Smasher = 86.31 Fire Sword Circle = 97.05 Frozen Aura = 79.19 Dragon's Tail = 65.62 Psychic Shockwave = 68.82 The Lotus Drops = 75.63 Thorn Burst = 65.96 End of Time = 68.51 Having played all these other sets, this adds to it really feeling "blah." I noticed it as I was leveling up and before I got my Build Up and Aim and set bonuses. I had always hoped it would get better, and obviously, it didn't since it is broken. But even with the enhanceable damage being the lowest out there, I still felt it.

Correct, a single character cannot buy what it is selling on the market. However, another character on the same account can buy what the first character is selling. I do not find this to be true. Please provide specific examples of these unique "bucketed" items. As this is not the case for invention salvage, recipes, or enhancements. The slight exception to this is recipes and enhancements have no level when buying on the market - you can post a lvl 30 recipe/enhancement and purchase it at lvl 50 - provided it normally exists at that higher level. And you can also buy IOs attuned already as well. So someone can post a crafted lvl 30 Numina's Heal IO and someone can buy it at lvl 50 and already attuned. But in essence, it is still a Numina's Heal IO... You cannot post something and it become something else. A Kinetic Weapon piece of salvage put on the market will always be a Kinetic Weapon piece of salvage until someone buys a Kinetic Weapon piece of salvage - it doesn't turn into a recipe, an IO, or even another piece of salvage. Same with Recipes and Enhancements. Please explain what you mean by an item is "just a collection of a bunch of them" and "just because you put an item up on the AH doesn't mean it sold as that widget." This is not entirely correct. To "BUY NOW" you have to bid at least the asking price AND more than anyone else. So you can still "BUY NOW" equal to the asking price, if no one else is bidding or they are bidding for less than the asking price. A buyer CAN buy the item at asking cost. They do not have to bid OVER the asking amount. Nor does the seller have to post under the amount. So if the seller posts for 1000, the buyer can bid 1000 and get the item, provided: there are no other bids larger and no other bids of equal amount ahead of theirs in the queue. I attune a lot of IOs through the market for my alts using my other account. I can post a crafted IO for a random number that I know is not going to instantly sell and then I can use my other account to purchase that same IO at the exact asking price of my first account's posting. I do not have to bid 1 inf over to get the item. The reverse is also true. You do not have to post an item for 1 inf less than the bids for it to sell. If there are standing bids for an item at 100 inf, you can post for 100 and it will sell to the first person (oldest in queue) who put in the 100 bid, provided there is no one bidding 101 or more.

I agree with @Chelsea Rorec. I found /Sonic to be "meh." It sounds good, but just doesn't sing (puns intended). I made a DP/Sonic and designed him to always be in point blank range. Combat teleport, Fold Space, fighting pool, Scorp Shield, and all the fun sets to help keep him alive while in melee range. He's fun to play in that regard, but his performance is underwhelming. The -Res aura is way too small. Deafening Wave does the least amount of damage for similar powers from other secondaries - and it shows - it's very underwhelming, however the occasional chance for hold on minions it has is nice. Sound Cannon, I skipped because it was a Stun/KB cone with no damage - it didn't fit with my "point blank" killing theme. However, this can be useful with Energy Blast. So for an Energy/Sonic Blaster - fortunately, the lackluster powers are the ones you'd want to skip! For the /Sonic set, I'd take: Sonic Thrust (you have to anyway, but even if there was a choice, I'd take it! It's that good and useful.) Strident Echo - always good to have a melee power for when mobs rush you and it has a chance to hold minions. Sound Booster - gotta have Build Up! Sound Barrier - solves your end problems and gives other buffs (a MUST take and at lvl 20 when it's available) Sound Cannon - the Stun/KB cone will stack nicely with Energy Blast's KB Earsplitter - having another high damage melee attack is always good - also has a chance to hold LTs. Add in the hold, if you want. And as someone mentioned above, if you want to add in Disruption Aura for the little bit of -Resist for when mobs rush you, then take it late in the build - otherwise, just skip it.

I did a Water/Time Corruptor and it lays waste to pretty much everything. It's very sturdy as well. Water has a lot -Speed that stacks with Time and the -Def and KD is great too. As others have mentioned, pretty much everything pairs with Time.

This makes a lot of sense regarding your previous comments - definitely, there is a different experience on more organized iTrials versus random PUG iTrials. You certainly have to adjust your playstyle to adapt tot he situation... if lots of people are dying, then you probably have a lot of people who don't know how to do the iTrial or they are still trying to learn how to play their newly PL'd 50 who are there just to get it's incarnate abilities so it can farm. ...I've been on those leagues, and you do have to play more conservative. However, you also mention you rarely soft cap defenses on any of your toons. While you don't have to always be at the soft cap on all your toons, being close enough to down a purple insp or 2 should be good enough to keep you alive during these iTrial messes - as well as keep you alive when running back from hospital, if you have to.

Yes, newbie 50s in iTrials need to tread more carefully than they may be used to in the non-incarnate content. And that is good that you do so as well - that is adapting your playstyle to the situation. However, as a Dom or Controller, you should also be able to engage an entire group along with a couple teammates to split aggro and increase survivability. You don't have to take the alpha, but you should be able to use your AOE controls to engage and lock down an entire spawn and help kill it all without dying, even a newbie 50. I know the portion of the BAF you refer to - let someone take the alpha while you back them up (and build your Domination, if a Dom), but you should still be able to use your Controls, Buffs/Debuffs, Damage powers without dying that often. Yes, mistakes happen, things go wrong, powers miss, or you accidentally jump in before the tank and you die. It happens. But if you're repeatedly dying, then you're obviously doing something consistently not right and you should earnestly look at your build, playstyle, and powers rotation. Again, not saying you have to "tank" spawns, but you should be able to engage an entire group WITH your team/league-mates and survive.

@Apparition is correct here. FF - even power boosted - is largely not needed for the iTrials and especially in Hard Mode content where you have a limited number of roles to fill. That +Def is not as useful since the powerset provides no debuffs (sparking big dabates on what to do with the set itself which can be talked about in other threads). Yes, Power Boosted FF Shields are good... no denying it. But it only provides a LITTLE use on iTrials to help newbie 50s, as you stated. But largely and overall, it's not that desired because there are generally a LOT of people who take Barrier that recharges every 2 mins and it HARD caps your Def and Resists - and even though it slowly wanes over the 2 mins, there are enough Barriers being cast that they overlap and the buffs stays stronger and longer overall. In addition, many people build their squishie toons to have high enough soft capped defense (pre-incarnate) to survive in the iTrial realm. So that even further limits the need for FF. I actually hate typing those words! One of my fav toons is a FF/Water Defender with Power Boost. I love that toon!! And yes, just like you, I can feel a difference when my FF'er is on a team and doing its thing - but I only feel that in normal content. When I play it in an iTrial, I feel mostly useless because the shields aren't really needed and my blasts don't do as much damage as a Blaster.

I'd like to also add in that you shouldn't be dying that much for iTrials, unless you're a newbie 50 - and even then, only upon occasion. Once you get your incarnate abilities and level shifts, those greatly increase your survivability. If you're faceplanting a lot, then you should look at your builds and try to find powers, sets, and bonuses to get you more defenses and damage mitigation. Also look at your playstyle - are you kiting or just standing still? Are you being aware of your surroundings? Are you standing in that blue or pick patch that does high DoT? Are you away from the healing "bubble" from all the healers auto-spamming their auras? and etc. I play iTrials regularly and with all ATs - from squishie dominators / trollers to Tanks and Brutes - and especially, Blasters (my fav AT)! I have no issues surviving with any of them at range or in melee. So ranged preference over melee doesn't matter. In fact, most of my blasters are melee blasters as many of my best attacks are melee high damage powers - so I build them to be able to withstand being in melee range, even for AVs and GMs (pre-incarnate). I do similar with my Doms, Controllers, Defenders, Corruptors - any "squishie" that needs to be in melee - again, all pre-incarnate so that when I do become incarnate, those abilities are added on top and not just to fill in "holes."

I do have the entire set in Blizzard. It's a good set and worth slotting as Uun states above. But the proc itself, as with most procs, it's best in the longer recharging powers as it will have a better chance to proc. Putting it in a rain power like Blizzard (or Ice Storm) it does not have a chance to proc on every tick (that'd be too OP) - instead it has a chance to proc per mob on initial casting (so you'll get some but not all), and then every 10 secs , it will have another chance to proc. So Blizzard lasts 15 secs which means it will proc twice - once upon casting and a 2nd time @ 10 secs in (5 secs before the power is over). So putting it in Blizzard can be a good thing - It makes them die faster to your DoT.

It's a good power, but highly situational. It's an "OMG I'm about to die power" that completely protects you and lets you regen and recover with a long cool down so you can't abuse it and there's a time limit so you can't stay in it forever either. Really, most ice tankers can get their defenses high enough that they don't really need it - so it is skippable. Or, I am sure a lot of people take it at lvl 47 or 49 (like me) for those rare moments when the 5% rule applies and you've just been hit with something mean that takes most of your hitpoints (like Lord Recluse or other nasties).

My current goto scrapper for soloing is my Katana/Dark. I run at +4x8 and just carve my way through missions from any of the lvl 50 contacts - including the Shadow Shard missions (especially the insp farms for keeping our base stocked).

First of all.... there is nothing wrong with having multiple Fire Blasters! 🙂 Fire Blast pairs with everything! So keep what you've got, if you enjoy it. If you wanna switch, then ST vs AOE blast set doesn't matter - play what you like. Given /Ninja is more of a melee set, you'll want to find Blast sets that compliment that. Dark, AR, and Sonic are better to use at range because of cones so I would avoid those. /Ninja also has swords - so weigh if you want to deal with redraw options between AR, DP, Beam, and Archery - yes, you can select "No Redraw" options in costume editor, but maybe that bugs you to have weapons magically appear (it does me). For the record - I am currently REALLY enjoying my DP/Ninja (with Redraw). Al the other sets would be fine to use. Ice is great for the control with holds and Blizzard and works well in melee range. Rad is excellent and you can stack Def Debuff with your sword attacks. Elec, Water, Fire, Psi, Seismic, Energy - would all work well.

Ah, ok. Cool. Did not know that all 3 ranks (min-boss) were needed to gain that full XP still. Thanks for the info. But it does still stand that you have to give your custom critters (any rank) enough powers to award that full XP - just because you load in all 3 ranks (min, LT, Boss) doesn't mean you get full XP if you limit their powers. The default setting when creating a custom critter is 75% XP, if i recall correctly and you typically need to add a power or 2 to get the critter to award full 100% XP. ...then just be sure to create Mins, LTs, and Bosses to load in, as you stated to get that full XP.

When making custom critters (any rank), there is gauge at the top of the power selection screen that shows the % of xp they are worth. The fewer powers the critters have, the less xp. Add powers to them until the gauge reads 100%. You can add even more powers to the critter if you want, but you can never go above 100%. To also get to 100% xp worth, the critter must have at least 1 melee and 1 ranged power. Then to make all LTs spawn... make a custom group with only LTs in it. You do not need to add in minions or bosses. Then add your custom group to the mish and the map will populate with just your LTs. Spawn sizes will be according to the team size as usual. If you gave your LTs full 100% with their powers, then they'll award full xp. But even then, LTs at full xp reward less than Bosses at full xp.

Maybe this is one of Special Tactics Division's special tactics! 😄

Is your character at the influence cap? That would keep you from earning more.

This is very easy. Create a single mish arc. The Orange warning text on the upper right corner tells you all you need to complete to make it work. Just click on the orange text, and it will take you to the part you need fix. Basically, pick a small map, a foe to fill the map, and then add in a single objective - like click a glowie. Fill in required text - don't have to get fancy... just put "test" in each field. Then Test the mish - get your badge. Publish it - get your badge. (Then unpublish it so others don't find it and think it's something.) lol There are also badges for testing an arc with a rescue or kidnap, destroy and object, and dying while in test mode. You could put all of those in the same mish, if you wanted to do it all at once. Once you publish, you get badges for doing those thing in "published" mode too. There is also a badge for testing with a team of 8. And yes, there is an AE section on the forums.

Yes, you should test Meteor to see if you like it or not. No, Meteor does not break stealth. In fact, your stealth is not broken unless 1) something survives - so if all are dead, you keep your stealth; 2) if something does survive, your stealth doesn't break until AFTER the mobs get up and they have to hit you with an attack, or you attack. Tested this in open RWZ on even con and +3 Rikti mobs (without a drone, b/c they have high perception). Even when I only used Meteor and there were a couple boss and LT survivors on the +3 mob, even though my stealth was not broken - they could not hit me b/c of my defenses and I did not attack - they were still aggroed on me and knew where I was. However, I could run to the next mob and the new mob did not aggro because I was still stealthed. As for timing of the Meteor - yes, it's best as an alpha strike. Launch it, then you can get 2-3 more attacks (preferably AOEs) in before it hits. Obviously, your next attack will break stealth so you need to survive a couple volleys until the Meteor hits. But this just makes one HUGE instant strike to completely devastate mobs and typically, mobs are dead (even +4s) after the Meteor strike (as I've stated above, this mostly makes the KB issue a NON-issue). Also after launching your Meteor, you can use those next 2-3 attacks in the few secs you have to help pull in outlying mobs into the Meteor blast zone. The Meteor puts a shadow on the ground where it will hit showing you where to pull to. Sometimes (not always), you can get a couple outlying mobs to get hit as well. When on a team, it's like Rain of Arrows in that you have to think ahead of the team and fire it early so it hits at the right time. Not all like that. Others are fine with it. I do encourage you to test to see if you like it or not.

I have an Earth blaster and I also tank, and have had Meteor drops on my herds too... it's no big deal. So what if the mobs are KB'd -- they're dead! Maybe sometimes, there are a few stragglers that survive, but they're easily picked off by the blaster or teammates while the tank moves on to herd the next group -- which is what they should be doing -- finishing off stragglers isn't the tank's job. Any tank or melee toon that can't use their "W" button to move on shouldn't be playing a melee toon.