Aracknight

The best players will always find a way to get better, and will always find creative ways to separate themselvea from the next tier no matter what the limitations are. Are we designing for or against the bleeding edge level of play, or for everyone? I think thats the best way to explain my particular question.

It's not that im debating whether or not the creep exists, but rather the magnitude. If we're talking about a 3-5 second solo pylon time reduction from an acknowledged pylon expert with a bleeding edge build, that's a far different cry than a minute off your time, and if it's the former, is it really that game-breaking? And if someone like you, who clearly enjoys pushing that envelope, has fun (!!!!) and a feeling of accomplishment at reaching a new plateau, does the cost truly outweigh the benefit? Not everyone pushes the envelope like you. Some of us just want to fly without refilling the fuel on our jetpack because we had to take stupid Boxing which we will never, ever use. We might even arrive slower based on what our land and jumping speed already are, and we might even see a bit more of the game world we love so much because otherwise we are zipping by so fast we barely see it. The hardest thing about perspective is truly seeing someone elses. They say not everyone reada the boards, and that not everyone is...lets use purpled out as the term. The game is allegedly balanced around SOs. So if someone on your end gets a little faster, and someone on the bottom end gets to fly, while never even attempting to solo a pylon, why can't it be both?

How much time do you estimate the effect on your pylon time will be?

My pylon time varies between 4 and 5 minutes depending on if i use diamagnetic or degenerative interface. While degenerative is 30 to 45 seconds faster, i prefer diamagnetic because the -to hit decreases incoming damage. I also often forget to use assault hybrid because im monitoring PB. My attack chain is Storm kick(on auto fire)-Crippling axe kick-Storm kick-Cobra strike. I prefer tactics with Gaussians to Focus Chi. Im aware of how to decrease my pylon time largely thanks to your posts which i very much appreciate. I just made different choices based on my playstyle and preference. Im choosing to believe you were truly interested in my pylon time and not jumping directly to the pancake measuring contest. For now. Question though. Can you please demonstrate how removing boxing/kick from your build and replacing it with any other one slot pool power will appreciably decrease that pylon time?

Zen and the art of tongue-in-cheek compromise. I have created, for you, my friends, Power Choices Really Everyone Everywhere Picks. We'll call it Power C.R.E.E.P. for short. Since every post seems to tell me that if I'm not taking the following powers, I'm playing the game wrong, I've created the Power C.R.E.E.P. pool. Here's what it includes: 1 Hasten 2 Combat Jumping 3 Aid Self 4 Tough 5 Weave Here's some tips: Hasten: I have never taken this power, but I used to not understand why everyone took it. While yes, I use SR primarily, there's plenty of set bonuses to build a good attack chain, so why aren't they? I understand it now. They either slot for nothing but Acc and Dam and rely on Hasten for their recharge instead of enhancements, or they're slotting for Acc and Procs for the same reason. Combat Jumping: Never used it. a little jumping, a little Def and Immobilize resistance. Good for squishies I guess? Or people who aren't taking full set bonuses to maximize their defenses because they are....chasing procs. Aid Self: Never taken, never used. It's a self heal, I guess, and if you don't take it you're a noob of some sort. Guess I'm a noob. Tough: I need this power, I always take it and I never even turn it on. It's a mule power for three IOs I generally need for my builds. But hey, at least in this scenario I've custom created for myself, I still have to take other pancake I'll never use to get it! Maybe if it Tough granted +Res to all instead of just smashing and lethal, similar to how Weave grants +Def to all, I'd be more likely to turn it on and slot it intentionally. PS: While the pool this power comes from is clearly named the Fighting pool and not the Self Defense Pool, I assure you, anywhere that isn't trying to take your money and convince you that their teacher is a deific being worthy of your eternal adoration (and financing!) will teach you defense first, usually through avoidance, and offense second. Weave: What's awesome about this power, is that this pool power does something not even my SR toggles do. It gives +Def to everything, and some Immobilize resistance too. I know from my years and years of Kenpo and Capoeira training that you learn to avoid fire, negative, and psionic energy attacks between 7 and 9 on Mondays, Thursdays, and Saturday evenings. If I didn't have to take Boxing to get to Tough, I don't see where there would be a game breaking power creep from a one-slot wonder. My attack chain is solid, even with Dragon's Tail and a generally superfluous Crane Kick that I generally use only when exemplaring: I don't need hasten. My defenses are solid, and Infiltration is awesome, I don't need more movement or defense. Maybe I would add Flight instead of refueling jetpacks weekly? I even have Warrior's Challenge. Maybe take and move my Preventative Medicine: Chance to Absorb to Experimental Injection (I primarily solo or do Itrials or other raids for badges where you're buffed to the gills, so hurray for another power I'll never put in my bar or click to use) so I can eke out another 25.1 hit points and 8.7% regen? I already have a taunt, so would a one slot epic power pool pet be something worthwhile? I mean, I even have Elude. I really can't understand how the sky falls over this request. This is obviously written in a combination of jest and disgust. It's never just an idea with some of you people. It's a holy cause, and the infidels must die. For pancake's sake, someone posted a political spectrum illustration to prove their point that Someone Was Wrong on the Internet. I'm out, see you in the city. Peace.

I see both sides. On one side, I hate having to pick a power, that I will never, ever use, to get the power that I want. We'll call this power "Boxing." On the other hand, without it, now I have to figure out what other power, that I won't have a slot to put anything substantial in it. But then maybe I could squeeze in a taunt or something. I think I'm generally for this. But I do see both sides.

Very Rare Slow set A taunt set with a Fear proc. A proc that increases (and another that decreases) Threat Level. Might mitigate runners.

That's some good Insane Troll Logic right there.

Perhaps "expertly" would be a better word than "properly."

When I found Homecoming, I admit to using farms, MSRs and any other means necessary to rebuild my main, a scrapper from live. I felt ok with that because while I dont claim to be a master of all scrappers, i knew this one inside and out. When i decided to try to build a tanker version of my ma/sr scrapper, I did the same thing, figuring it wasn't that big a deal. I was wrong. I had never played a tank, let alone this tank, and although my mids-fu is strong, i didn't know how to be a tank. The 1-50 grind is what teaches us how to play a character properly. My tank was a bAEby, and it shows. He's survivable as hell but as a Scrapper all i knew about protecting a teammate was to annihilate the bad guys before realizing "oh yeah, im on a team." The bAEby phenomena is real. A 50 incarnate tank, piloted by a veteran player should know what they are doing. You cant convince me the bAEby phenomena isnt real when 3 members of an ITF who are t3+ incarnated 50s and running shiny forum builds can't find their pancaking way to Cimerora.

Rune of warding would be a fantastic alternate animation for arcane bolt. And so would immobilizing dart from ninja training as an alternate for toxic dart from experimentation.

I'd finish the other "Origin power pools," and make them free like the Fitness pool is to the applicable origin you've chosen for your character. This would be especially helpful for melee types who could use a (arguably mediocre) ranged attack, as well as give folks a free travel power that isnt temporary for those with tight builds. You could also create....for lack of a better term..."Origin Invention Origin" enhancement sets that can only be slotted by the applicable origin, sort of like ATOs. Catalyze them and all for more goodness. You could create a long recharge clicky power that is Origin based like the alignment like Call to Justice or Duplicity. You could create mini-zones that only allow in your origin type. There could be training mini-games that are travel based keyed to your origin travel power with badges like the slopes in Pocket D. This could be a place to buy the OIOs i mentioned above. There could also be Empowerment stations flavored to your origin if for some reason you aren't in an sg or vg with a base. There could even be teleport stations for the same reason. And, though i do not know if this is even possible, you could have Origin Tip Missions that if you do enough of them, allow you to change your Origin, similar to how it was done for alignment before Null the Gull spoiled us. That's the immediate stuff that came to mind.

I dig it. Would use.

Pitchfork melee, pitchfork ranged, and angry mob MM pets confirmed.

Is...is this what acceptance feels like? Damn, you guys. Thank you Scrappers.

I dunno. Stealth makes a lot of missions pretty easy and they handed that out. Is only tankers getting taunt auras that different from only stalkers should be able to stealth missions?

Since we've migrated over here: Is there a way to split the difference by creating an IO enhancement that has an aoe taunt component while the power it is slotted in is active? Like stealth IOs in sprint. This way: -No powersets get altered. Devs win. -People who don't have a taunt aura and don't want one don't have it forced on them. Nays win. -People who want this can now have it. Yays win. -People don't have to invest in another power pool and 1-3 powers to get it. Everyone wins. It worked with kb to kd. Why not here?

If they added it to a pool, it could end up gated behind 1-3 powers like the aforementioned Acrobatics. No deal.

Is there a way to split the difference by creating an IO enhancement that has an aoe taunt component while the power it is slotted in is active? Like stealth IOs in sprint. This way: -No powersets get altered. Devs win. -People who don't have a taunt aura and don't want one don't have it forced on them. Nays win. -People who want this can now have it. Yays win. It worked with kb to kd. Why not here?

With absolute truth, and no snark, this is the highest praise I have ever received in this game. Thank you.

A Longbow Chaser flying travel power, like the rocket board, however, could be cool.

The Belgariad. Discovered it in the 90's during high school. Re-read it once a year. It's a sword and sorcery (Sworcery?) series by David Eddings. Can't recommend it enough, but it'd probably be butchered on the screen.

So you may be asking yourself, "What is Martial Arts good for?" Well, a few facts are in order to answer this question... 1. MA Scrappers are mammals. 2. MA Scrappers fight ALL the time. 3. The purpose of the MA Scrapper is to flip out and kill people. Fungah, 1/18/2006 Before I even bought the game, back when I was researching it, this excerpt from a post was what stole my heart. I could read what powersets did and how well it did or didn't do it. I suspected Super Reflexes was right for my unborn Scrapper because I am a lifelong Spider-Man fan. But the post the excerpt the above is from is what convinced me, unbought and unplayed, that Martial Arts on a Scrapper was special. Sure, at the time, one attack was ugly (Crippling Axe Kick), one did no damage (Cobra Strike), and one felt like it looked awesome, took a year to go off and would always, at the dramatically appropriate moment...miss (Eagle's Claw). But that guide taught me about soft controls, about how to layer in Air Superiority, and for the first six months my attack chain was Storm Kick-Air Superiority-Jump Kick (!!!!!!!)-Dragon's Tail-Eagle's Claw (After Cobra Kai, My mind refuses to not call this power Eagle Fang). And it was awesome. The animations seemed to flow one into the other, I had a lot of soft controls that covered up the fact that I had no idea how to play a Super Reflexes powerset. I probably did crap damage but the unbridled joy I felt jumping around, flipping around, and knocking trolls around is probably the single greatest time I have ever had playing an mmorpg. I didn't know about Mids, and when Inventions first came out, I just threw extra stun and knockback into my Scraptroller powers and let it rip. And then when I did learn about Mids, and I learned about mitigation from many posts by Arcanaville, and that if I build SR correctly, I didn't necessarily need those soft controls and I could just slot for damage and wreck shit. So with my scrapper built, I created five macros, one for each power in my attack chain, and each one of them began with Target_enemy_near. I would dial up...what is now known as +1/x8, scroll out the camera, dive into a map full of Council, and watch them FLY. The camera rotated every time I hit a button, and my Scrapper would kick or punch someone into the air and in the words of the Foo Fighters, he was done, done, and I'm on to the next one. These days I know a little more, and the powers that be saw fit to tweak things, sometimes, that felt specifically for me. Cobra Strike got damage, but it didn't look awesome. AND THEN THEY GAVE ME AN UPPERCUT ANIMATION. Crippling Axe Kick was allegedly part of the best mathematical attack chain, but it's "Smell my foot! Now Smell it again!" animation was lame to me. AND THEN THEY GAVE ME A RIGHT HOOK ANIMATION. Right? So I have enough recharge to run Storm Kick-Crippling Axe Kick-Storm Kick-Cobra Strike and the obligatory single AOE Dragon's Tail for large groups. I have Crane Kick so I can run SK-CS-SK-CK at lower levels with no real drop off. I also keep Crane Kick as my finsher, because no matter how smart I get, I will never not love watching a bad guy ragdoll off into the distance, especially if they get stuck on a chain link fence. He's smooth, cuts through minions in one-two shots max, Lieutenants in two, and I probably aren't even doing it at peak efficiency because I like Tactics better than Focus Chi. My Scrapper is a monster these days. I would read on the boards how Scrappers were usually run by min-maxer insane geniuses who wanted to do things no one else could do, like solo AVs, GMs, and Pylons. Some of you might not realize, but there was in fact a time when these things, while plausible, weren't necessarily possible. And I would try these things. I don't pull the insane times some of the legends of Homecoming pull, but I can do them. (Most recently someone yelled at me on Everlasting for fighting both GMs in the Croatoa War zone event by myself without inviting anyone. It took a while, but I took them both out.) Then I would go do them on a Stalker, before Going Rogue, and people redside would trip out and watch my Stalker, well, flip out and kill people. By the roomful. MA/SR is special because it taught me how to play. It brings me joy no matter what. I even built a Tank and a Brute version after being inspired by BillZ, though to be honest, I haven't even levelled the Brute and I'm still not very good at the tank playstyle yet. But when I get there, I have a feeling that's gonna be special too. Peace.

How about tying incarnate slotting to builds? Build 1 has these slotted, 2 could be different, etc.

Hmm. Defeat or gladiator badges could earn you summonable pets outside the arena. Exploration badges could give speed bonuses. Healing badges a bonus to healing, damage badges a bonus do damage, damage taken a bonus to resistance, time mezzed a bonus to mez resistance. These could all be very small bonuses that could ignore ED like the Alpha slot does. Might be something to this.