roleki

I have Speed of Sound/Jaunt and I keep it on at all times; it's .46/s native but with a boosted EndRedux that sits at .30/s which isn't awful. That said, Jaunt without an endurance penalty sounds pretty good.

Sorry if this has been covered ad nauseum, but how does Combat Teleport differ from the Jaunt power out of Speed of Sound?

Focused Accuracy is a weirdo. +5% raw ToHit, and a +20% global accuracy bonus is nice (plus some added perception and -ToHit resistance) but that 0.78s endurance cost is a bit steep. If you slotted a couple Cytos and a Gaussian's ToHit/End it drops to ~0.41s, and if you took Physical Perfection and dropped a couple boosted EndMods in it, you can almost get FA for free. But that's two powers, ~4 slots and about 90M in inf for ~7% ToHit and some other bits of fluff. Or, you can pay 4M for a Kismet +Acc, and use up one slot in a power you already have. That said... I still take FA/Physical Perfection on my Brutes and Scrappers, because if I don't, every time I miss I'll be disappointed that I haven't done everything I possibly could to hit.

I'm a weirdo, but as soon as I get 12 Shards, I roll up my T1 Alpha with those useless things, then T3 when I hit enough Emps, either through content or hitting VL3. I never convert emps to threads, because threads are easy to get, while emps are kind of a pain to accumulate. I would rather exercise a little patience than run short of emps when I am crafting 2nd or 3rd slot choices once my first choices are T4'd. As for the order I slot Incarnates, I go Alpha, Destiny, Judgment, Hybrid, Lore, Interface. Destiny is second because it is usually very important to the build, and Judgment after that because that helps me earn Catalysts that much faster; everything beyond that is kind of fluff.

It depends what you are doing/how much you want to spend, but if you're routinely going after Orange and Purple stuff, ToHit gives you more bang for the buck, by far. Please bear with me on this, I swear I have done this before and it was more elegant, but I can't seem to find it. Anyway, I am going to try and show how +Accuracy and +ToHit affect combat vs an even-con, a +1, and a +4. Say you're up against an even-con critter, firing off a power with a base accuracy of 1.0, no Slotted or Global Accuracy Enhancements, no ToHit buffs or debuffs. With your inherent ToHit of 0.75, your chance to hit that critter is 0.75 because HitChance = Clamp(1.0 x Clamp(0.75)) Now say you slotted the power with 0.33 Accuracy, bringing it up to an AccMod of 1.33; your chance ToHit that critter skyrockets to 0.9975 but gets restricted to 0.95 by Clamp because HitChance = Clamp(1.33 x Clamp(0.75)) But now say you're taking on a +1 and go to swing at it with your 1.33 Acc power; your base ToHit vs a +1 is 0.65. Your ToHit vs that +1 is 0.86 because HitChance = Clamp(1.33 x Clamp(0.65)) For some reason, you feel like swatting at a +4. with your 1.33 Acc power; your base ToHit vs a +4 is 0.39. Your ToHit vs that +4 is 0.52 because HitChance = Clamp(1.33 x Clamp(0.39)) So now, let's add a 0.15 Global Accuracy Enhancement from 120M worth of Purple enhancements, so your AccMod on this power is now 1.48 (1.0 + 0.33 + 0.15) Even-Con calculated HitChance = .95 (clamped from 1.11) because HitChance = Clamp (1.48 x Clamp(0.75)) +1 calculated HitChance = 0.95 (clamped from 0.962) because HitChance = Clamp(1.48 x Clamp(0.65)) +4 calculated HitChance = 0.58 because HitChance = Clamp(1.48 x Clamp (0.39)) But say you drop 4M on a Kismet +Acc instead of getting the Purple Set. Your base ToHit vs an even-con is now 0.81 (0.75 + 0.06), vs a +1 is 0.71 (0.65 + 0.06) and vs a +4 it is 0.45 (0.39 + 0.06). Even-con calculated HitChance = 0.95 (clamped from 1.07) because HitChance = Clamp(1.33 x Clamp(0.81)) +1 calculated HitChance = 0.944 because HitChance = Clamp(1.33 x Clamp(0.71)) +4 calculated HitChance = 0.60 because HitChance = Clamp(1.33 x Clamp(0.45)) How about instead of slotting Kismet, you just take Tactics at a +10 ToHit? Even-con calculated HitChance = 0.95 (clamped from 1.13) because HitChance = Clamp(1.33 x Clamp(0.85)) +1 calculated HitChance = 0.95 (clamped from 1.0) because HitChance = Clamp(1.33 x Clamp(0.75)) +4 calculated HitChance = 0.65 because HitChance = Clamp(1.33 x Clamp(0.49)) Ok, what happens if you take Tactics at +10 AND slot Kismet, adding 0.16 to your base ToHit? Even-con calculated HitChance = 0.95 (clamped from 1.21) because HitChance = Clamp(1.33 x Clamp(0.91)) +1 calculated HitChance = 0.95 (clamped from 1.08) because HitChance = Clamp(1.33 x Clamp(0.81)) +4 calculated HitChance = 0.73 because HitChance = Clamp(1.33 x Clamp(0.55)) How about Tactics, Kismet, AND a Purple Set Bonus of 0.15 Acc? Even-con calculated HitChance = 0.95 (clamped from 1.35) because HitChance = Clamp(1.48 x Clamp(0.91)) +1 calculated HitChance = 0.95 (clamped from 1.20) because HitChance = Clamp(1.48 x Clamp(0.81)) +4 calculated HitChance = 0.81 because HitChance = Clamp(1.48 x Clamp(0.55)) I honestly can't remember what the ED ceiling is on slotting ToHit, but say it's 40%, meaning you could push Tactics to 0.14 and you added Kismet, with the purple... Even-con = .95 +1 = .95 +4 calculated HitChance = 0.87 because HitChance = Clamp(1.48 x Clamp(0.59)) Assuming you have maxed-out Tactics and taken Kismet, you would need to push a power's AccMods (slotted Accuracy + Global Accuracy) to 1.62 in order to bring the Clamp to a +4 fight, but that is assuming you aren't being debuffed, their def isn't buffed, and so on.

I don't want to hijack this thread any further, but I'm just so surprised to see other mind/poison folk show up that I can't really help myself; I've never seen another mind/poison in the game. It's interesting that you found Venemous Gas as the odd duck, as Terrify is what feels clunky to me. Given that Venomous Gas and a proc'd-out Poison Trap complement each other, that's the combo I work towards after incapacitating the mob from range. I have a few /poisons so I'm not 100% sure how the m/p has Venomous Gas slotted, but it's either 3x Enzyme Exposure and the Achilles' Heel proc, or 2x of the HO, an endurance IO, and the Achilles' Heel proc. Either way, everything hits like a truck off this guy.

Anyone have an opinion on what would be a decent upgrade for the guts of a Haswell-era PC (~2013) and/or when would be a good time to do it if I was looking to stay on the intel side of things? Like, does intel have anything coming down the pipe that might lead to current stuff getting a price cut or anything like that? I've got about ~700.00 I can slot towards motherboard, CPU and RAM. The rest of it is staying so I don't need to buy that stuff. Current machine: Asus Z87-WS LGA 1150 (going) Intel i5-4670K (going) 2x 8GB Corsair Vengeance DDR3 (going) Corsair HX750 750W PSU (staying) Noctua NH-D14 CPU cooler (staying) Samsung 860 EVO 1TB (staying) EVGA RTX 2080 Super (staying)

What Epic did you take? I went Stone, and between all the procs, containment, and -Res, it will consistently take a 1500-point chunk out of an Orange con.

I've got a Mind/Poison controller and it is one of the more untouchable characters I run. Two AoE holds, two ST holds, AoE sleep and AoE terrorize that are available every mob, an AoE confuse... then throw in Poison's debuffs? It's almost unfair.

Workflow porn! Think I'm rolling an Elec/TA this evening 🙂

I know it would require more resources than what it's worth, but I would love to see a giant, ski-worthy snow-hill in RWZ ostensibly made of snow that fell on the mothership shield and was teleported to that location.

Granted, every build is going to be a little different, and every player will play those builds a little different, but speaking from my own experience running Fire/TA, I have found that Hot Feet is pretty much unnecessary in that pairing. By the time I've closed into melee range (if I close into melee range at all) everything that would be most-affected by Hot Feet is already dead. It might help kick over a hard target a little sooner, but so would a -Res proc in OSA or whatever.

Hate to see this languish out here unanswered; even with the TA buffs from I27, I suspect that there will still be a relative dearth of /TA folks running around for a bit. I've got a Fire/TA and it was decent before the buffs, and its downright indecent afterwards. Some observations, just from running my own and what I run into over time... If you're going to drop one of the arrows from TA, I would argue it should be PGA, Flash, or Glue Arrow before Acid Arrow. Acid Arrow is a force multiplier and is "pretty darn good" now. Perma-Hasten is nice, but it's not really needed with Fire/TA; with the exception of Glue Arrow, Cinders, and EMP Arrow, all of the 'regular' powers are on decent enough timers that global recharge isn't a priority. I would consider dropping Hot Feet; it's of some use in melee but not a good enough reason to get into melee range on its own, especially when all the relevant sets you COULD slot primarily address ranged +def and almost nothing on the melee side. With the slots you save by cutting Hot Feet, you could drop a Kismet +Acc in Maneuvers, and slot a Panacea unique and Preventive Medicine proc in Health to help shore up endurance/survivability. With the open power slot from Hot Feet, you could take Tactics and improve your +4ing, and give your dual ST holds more chance to stack on hard targets. If you're not opposed to frankenslotting, a build like yours you could chunk out a Bonfire every ~13s or so if you slotted it Annihilation Dam/Rech, Annihilation Acc/Dam/Rech, Artillery Dam/Rech, Artillery Acc/Dam/Rech, Sudden Acc KB/Recharge, and Sudden Acc KB:KD; good as one Bonfire is, a second (and third one) is even better 🙂 As for Incarnates... Alpha Musculature is pretty decent, especially on Fire since damage is already its calling card AND it has 3 pets to benefit from the extra bonus enhancement (as opposed to one or two like most other controller sets get). Once you're slotted up, Endurance shouldn't be THAT much of a problem, but the extra EndMod from Musculature can make sure of it. Musculature becomes a more important choice if you opt to go for Hybrid Control as opposed to Assault, and with so many controls (and so many of those controls slotted with procs/damage) you should go Hybrid Control, because those two minutes are amazing. You could always pick up recharge out of Destiny, if you're willing to park in EMP Arrow and only move every 2 minutes or so. I went with Clarion before the I27 changes, and I'm sticking with it after. Life as a non-healing support character can get a little crazy, and I like having that emergency button there in my tray 🙂

Fire/TA was sneaky-good before I27, now it's just ludicrous. There should definitely be more than 15 of us running around 🙂

Glad to hear it! I would have felt bad if it sucked 😉

They don't even need to craft new ones, just tweak the existing sets so the bonuses aren't complete turds.

I'm substituting "nostalgic" for "satisfying" but... for me, the most satisfying "feel" was (and is) bounding around with Super Jump. As soon as my first HC character got SJ, I spent an easy half hour just bouncing around AP and KR; there's nothing like that in any other game I've played. As for sounds, like a lot of other folks I've a fondness for Energy Blast and Howling Twilight, but until I heard it again, I never realized how much I missed the sound of things colliding with Singularity.

These may all be facts, but it's also a fact that only while soloing or as part of a duo would anyone even notice if a character was a "dedicated healer." It's not a game that requires optimization from every (or any) character.

There should be a level check for KB, and if a player is +10 or more to the mob, KB effects increase by X% for each level above the critter. I sorely miss knocking Hellions so far across the zone that other players had to act as spotters and give coordinates where it landed.

Depends. If you want the most KB going in one general direction, En/En blaster is there for you. If you want stuff flying every which way, go Bots/Storm.

Love the idea of dial-a-bubble; one of the many joys of running my Fire/FF controllers is just zipping around a zone with Force Bubble, ticking off mobs and drawing them into the murder spot... because the power is essentially useless outside of that. Having a smaller radius would allow for more precise execution, but, I would hate to lose the big bubble, because...it IS fun at times.

Always sell salvage before recipes and enhancements, so you don't list an Apocalypse for 18M, and 10 pieces of Ceramic Armor Plate for 18M.

To a couple points on this... I may pop in on my PL'd 50 and do exemped/Ouro content to give me a pipeline of level 10-30 recipes, so's I can flip them into the various Kismets and Miracles that I stuff into virtually every build. I also will Ouro back into badge missions, like Spelunker, so's I can get the Atlas Medallion on demand. As for skipping content I'm "bored with" only to run a farm mission into the dirt, there's two things afoot (for me, at least): first off, it isn't just the slog-level content I am bored with, but also the slog-level gameplay. Part of the reason is, I prefer support characters over DPS types, and the level-up experience of support types is far more tedious than that of a scrapper or a brute; while *most* DPS types start out great and just keep getting better, support types start out weak, get a little better, get great, then might as well fall off a cliff. To suffer incomplete attack chains, floored endurance bars, and unmitigated mez along the way to obviation just isn't worth it to me. Secondly, and this is specific to what I do, but I may spend ~3 hours PLing an alt from 0-50.3, but that is in 45 minute chunks with maybe 10 days in between sessions for THAT alt. In the interim, I might work on another alt in the same manner, or run around on one of my existing alts. On balance, I spend far more time outside of AE than I do inside. I've tried my hand at creating missions in AE (even had one get rated!) and respect the amount of work that can go into them; it kind of stinks that there isn't a better way to present the results of that labor to the intended audience. I have a very hard time finding the missions that *I* created, and I know exactly what to search for. How anyone found it out of the blue is beyond me. At a distance of 6' or more, of course.

Sure! Many moons ago, people came complaining that AE farmers were getting more rewards than sloggers; eventually the cacophony grew to convince the devs to curtail AE rewards. Then the complainers came complaining that AE farmers were driving auction prices through the roof, and after repeating that for a few months virtually unopposed, the devs chipped away at inf in AE. This week, @Solarversespeculated that power-leveling may be responsible for players drifting away from the game; they may not have intended that to be a call to nerf AE, but to those whose goal it is to nerf AE, "player drift" is going to become the bleating edge of AE nerf complaints, because most PLing occurs in AE farms. And when the nerfers do take up that call, and people like me are primly shouted down for being "defensive" or "not playing the game the way the devs intended" eventually the devs will be compelled to retask resources that WERE going toward improving the game, and instead focus them on finding some new way to nerf AE farming. And I am just saying, if and when they do, at least one player (me) will no longer be here, because I am absolutely done being whipped around by the whims of serial complainers. It appears that many, many people have yet to figure out that whatever player base you have today? THAT is the player base you have. Some of them slog. Some of them farm. Some of them play the AH. Chipping away at those things that keep people around? Not smart.

My apologies. I didn't realize I was replying to a goal-post mover who would wimp out and stop reading if they didn't agree with what I said. In small words, the ability to power level my characters enables me to skip the content of the game I do not prefer and head right to the content of the game that I do prefer, with a character that performs exactly how I envisioned it from the moment I finish the build. Some people may have a preference for the little dopamine spikes they get from incremental progress, I do not. If I had to nurse every character through content, I would not continue playing because I do not enjoy that experience. But... I also do not enjoy spending time shitting on people for playing a game "the wrong way" or blaming them for the natural ebb and flow of the attention span of the world at large, which is apparently a very strong urge among people who enjoy slogging. Bottom line, if the devs continue to play around with AE to mollify serial squealers, you can count on at least one less player logging in. If the game is losing players, farmers aren't the problem. If people are drifting off to play other games, power-leveling is not the problem. If a single dev out there had the answer to achieving 100% retention on a damn-near 20yo game, they probably wouldn't waste it on a damn-near 20yo game.