Luminara

-ToHit. Check and mate.

A higher aggro cap for all archetypes could have some potential benefits, but only if it were specifically decoupled from the caps on targeted AoEs, PBAoEs and cones, which includes defensive powers. The Invention system had some unexpected and unintentional effects on the game, which the Incarnate system has magnified. Single-target powers are less valued and valuable than they were in pre-Invention era. Buffers and debuffers are less desired, unless they bring very specific debuffs, and even those debuffs are available now outside of their previously restricted capacities. Certain sets have fallen out of favor simply because they don't offer enough AoE. Everyone can aggro everything, safely and easily, and burn it all down with AoEs. Yes, it's fun, but considering how frequently people ask if they're wasting their time playing X archetype or Y set, it's clearly impacting the game as a whole. Increasing the aggro cap, and only the aggro cap, might change that. If we pull more critters than we can actually handle with our AoEs, if we pull more aggro than our defensive abilities allow us to safely ignore, if the possibility exists for us to bite off more than we can chew, then we have to change how we respond to the game. We have to stop and think. We have to use our buffs/debuffs to mitigate incoming damage, instead of just letting our toggles and set bonuses do the work. We have to target and deal with dangerous foes, instead of lumping them in with the chaff. Those sets we stopped playing because they were too focused on single-target abilities suddenly become worthwhile again. Perhaps removing the aggro cap entirely is the answer, but only in concert with imposing caps on Defense powers and ensuring that all other existing target caps were enforced. Some limitation has to be present in order for the game to provide some semblance of balance and difficulty, but I find myself agreeing that an aggro cap isn't the appropriate place to impose that limitation. We should be allowed to screw ourselves over. We should have some risk of pulling more than we can deal with. Right now, if we've aggroed the spawn in front of us, the spawns to the left and right are completely harmless, as long as we're holding that initial aggro. And that's just... wrong. We should be in a state of panic, or exhilaration, at the thought of aggroing multiple full-sized spawns, but we aren't, because the existing aggro cap plays the nanny cop for us, keeping us safe and secure, shooing those extra critters back to their spawn point until we free up room in our cap. We're adults. We don't need a game mechanic to babysit us. Nor should we feel disproportionately rewarded for pursuing AoE abilities in lieu of single-target abilities, or set bonuses and pool powers instead of teammates. So if it were up for a vote, I'd say yes, remove the aggro cap entirely, implement a cap on all Defense powers and let's see what we're really made of.

When a cat buries its claws in your hand whilst simultaneously nuzzling you. Nuzlock.

Yes. And so are scrappers, defenders, blasters, controllers, Kheldians, Soldiers of Arachnos, brutes, stalkers, dominators, corruptors, masterminds and sentinels. Completely and utterly useless. The game was specifically designed to ensure that no archetype was necessary in teams, and that works inversely, by making all archetypes unnecessary in teams. It doesn't matter what you play. It doesn't matter how you play. What matters is that you play. That's what makes a team succeed, regardless of which archetypes are present. You. So keep playing, and don't worry about whether or not your characters are useful. As long as you're playing them, they are.

The big glowing pillars of purple light that you see right next to you when you zone in after using the LRT.

This morning's test of my theoretical Wall of Force build was edifying. Adding that third cone proved to be very satisfactory. The animation time is a little longer than I expected (seems to be a short pause after the animation ends), but not unduly worrying. The three cones chain perfectly, even without Hasten up, around 95% global +Recharge. I'm neither a fan of, nor antagonistic toward, Hasten, but having the option to redesign the build without it allowed a couple of changes to suit it more toward my preferences. Combat Jumping has replaced Stealth. This gives much better combat mobility, and Immobilize protection, while retaining the minimum 18% Defense necessary to supplement Flash Arrow's -ToHit and keep the character at the soft cap (bear in mind that even though +X characters resist debuffs (Purple Patch), we're stacking additional -ToHit with TT and NF, so before the attack chain has finished cycling for the first time (TT -> NF -> WoF), the character is still well above the soft cap versus +3 foes, and stays there as long as he/she continues attacking). Grant Invisibility was retained, both as a LotG mule and to make my spider buddy a little sneakier and safer. Since dumping Hasten bumped up the recharge time on OSA by ~8.5s, I added Blackstar so anyone using this build will have the option to alternate between the two. A nuke for every spawn, because it's always Christmas in the Lumiverse. I moved the ATOs out of Life Drain and into Blackstar in order to push Blackstar's damage up to par with only three slots. Life Drain is reslotted so it will continue to function as both a heal and an attack. As a bonus, using Touch of the Nictus added enough global +Acc to put every power in the build over 90% hit chance versus +3 foes (94.23% lowest hit chance, in fact, just under the cap). There is a 0.116s gap when using Project Will and Life Drain as a single-target attack chain, but there should be practically no need to use Project Will, with the cone chain complete. It is, nevertheless, there and usable, if you want to use it. Summon Disruptor's recharge is 20s away from permanence without Hasten. A small penalty for the redesign, but tolerable. Endurance consumption is so low in this build that one can toggle on Sprint and leave it running (with the EndRed IO), for extra zoominess. Alternatively, a Stealth IO can be stuffed in Sprint, to compensate for the loss of Stealth (the power). Nope, still no Lemon Arrow.

I had Dark Mastery on my original server build. I wanted to play with the giant spider this time around.

Acid brings nothing to the table for me. Ice and EMP handle -Special as well as Acid does (better, actually. they both use higher scalars for -Special (Ice because it's single-target, EMP because it has a very long recharge time)). OSA's -Def is equivalent to Acid's. I have no use for it, nor would it work well as a third procced attack, due to the recharge time.

Since this has my attention, I'll share an alternative TA/Dark build I've been poking at. This one ticks enough of the boxes for me to consider testing it. I'm not dissatisfied with my existing build, but the animation and recharge times of TT and NF ensure that there's always a small gap when using those two powers as a complete attack chain. Wall of Force has the same recharge time as TT and NF, and the same base range as TT, so it's an ideal addition to the chain. With three cones, I won't have to bother with single-target attacks unless I want to. Concurrently, the changes I made to my original build allowed me to alter Life Drain's slotting, so it can function as a fully-fledged attack in this build, instead of just a heal, and with Project Will, there's a complete single-target chain as well, so single-target damage output isn't completely reliant on Moonbeam. Why isn't TT slotted for damage? Because TT's damage takes too long to deliver. It's a slow DoT. The procs are far more effective. Why is Wall of Force only partially enhanced for damage? Range is of utmost importance. TT and WoF need to match NF's range so there's neither a problem with missing foes due to being outside of NF's arc, nor a need to move back and forth to maximize the efficiency of all of the cones. Pick a spot, park it and spam cones, that's the idea behind using these cones as an attack chain. With some enhancement for +Damage, Vigilance and a few set bonuses, it's still reaching over 100% +Damage when solo, so it's fine. And, realistically, the base damage is barely above a third of a proc's damage, so it's not like it's a powerhouse on its own. The procs do the heavy lifting, the power is the delivery method, same idea behind TT's slotting. If I'm not concerned with the damage output of TT or WoF, why did I enhance the damage in NF? NF's DoT is fast, and the range is 60', so there was no reason not to enhance it like a normal attack. Isn't this going to be expensive? Eh. I already have an almost identical build, so it wouldn't be "expensive" unless I'm using my second build on the character. Respecs aren't even 2 million apiece, so I'd only be spending around 4 million to test it. If I decide to try it as build #2 instead, it's still not going to cost much because the character is only at level 47, so none of the purples will be necessary yet. I've got about 300 million to play with on this character, too, and nothing else to do with it (already have everything for the level 50 build), so I might as well spend it on an experiment. I can always make more inf*.

Ambushes can still spot your character if you're in combat when they arrive at that location. Summons typically occur during combat, too, so you're never going to be undetectable to those. And some ambushes go to the character, not a location, which makes them impossible to hide from (not many, but a few, and they're very annoying for stealth-based characters). Having a weakness isn't a bad thing. As I said previously, it's our guarantee that TA can't be regarded as overpowered. It's also what makes TA more challenging than other sets, and more rewarding when played well.

I'd explain it to you, but I don't have any crayons.

Your comprehension of game mechanics and mathematics is still abysmal. You've learned nothing in an entire year.

One of the theoretically possible models of time travel is to link two singularities via an Einstein-Rosen bridge, then move one of the singularities. Doing this should allow travel into the past, through the wormhole. Thus, in theory, it's possible for your method to have the opposite effect, to create a temporal loop, continually sending us back to 2020, if it should happen that a second singularity were connected to yours. It would be 2020... forever.

I'd go the other direction. Debuffs at full defender scalar values, very limited or no self/ally buffing. Few toggles (i wouldn't give this archetype any toggles beyond status protection and movement options), de-emphasize control (absolutely no AoE controls, no more than one single-target Stun/Hold per set), and melee attacks at the Kheldian scalar. Focusing on debuffing would require attention to one's surroundings, planning, strategic positioning, tactical assessment of situations, careful use of powers or appropriately designed builds to avoid being left without a threat response... that would be both interesting to play, and an actually new archetype. Melee/buff or buff/melee, that's just a rehash of existing melee archetypes.

That's not evil, it's evolution. This is evil. Evil. Winged demons. Unholy minions of the underworld. Tormentors of every other living thing on the planet. Being an asshole isn't something evolved, it's a choice. Geese choose to be assholes. That makes them the most evil thing known. Oh, they also have serrated beaks AND TONGUES. You'll run afoul of that far, far more frequently than you'll be likely to encounter spiky duck wang.

That is baseless slander propagated by geese. Geese are evil. Ducks are angelic.

I know where the docks are. That's where you go to find sea men and master baiters. I want ducks. Ducks in my hands, ducks all over me, ducks ducks ducks! No ducks in the mouth, though. I don't eat friends.

I checked every channel for ducks. Every single channel. THERE ARE NO DUCKS IN ANY CHAT CHANNEL. The thread title is misleading, and I demand a refund. 😠

Certain situations can occur, like facing multiple Tsoo Yellow Ink Men even at +0/x1. You'll never encounter more than one critter with a Hold in a spawn at +0/x1. You'll only encounter more than one critter with a Stun in spawns under similar conditions once in a while, and then it's only a chance to Stun. But Sleeps... yeah. You can be chain-Slept and killed even when the damage is minor. It's a long, slow, horrible way to be defeated. That's what makes Sleeps worse than Holds or Stuns. Even at default difficulty, it's the most prevalent status effect, and it's not dangerous because it's widespread, it's dangerous because when critters with Sleeps can spawn, they can spawn en masse.

DS9, Season 1, Episode 19 - Duet. This is when I fell completely in love with the show. This episode. Summary follows: I was hooked at that moment. The acting, the character development, the intensity of the stories... DS9 did everything right. It didn't always have great writing, amazing acting, perfect stories, but it was always better than anything else that was on. And no, it wasn't Roddenberry's Trek. Roddenberry's Trek portrayed people as perfect most of the time, and as inspiring as it might have been, it's hard to see ourselves in those shoes. We aren't perfect. We aren't angels. We can't relate easily to that. DS9 showed people as they were, and as they wanted to be (Roddenberry's idealistic representation), without glossing over the flaws and character defects, and that made it accessible to everyone. It made it relatable. It was honest about people. It acknowledged that people are flawed in so many ways, but it also showed that in trying to meet that ideal, in struggling with ourselves, with our demons, with others, and constantly trying to meet expectations we know we can't hope to achieve, that's when we become better people. That's DS9. That's what made it the best Trek.

If you voted for proper pizza, without pineapple, you would've been authorized to use a montage from a good Rocky film. 😛

I do. I created a similarly restricted character in Issue 5. Don't waste time on Acrobatics. Stuns and Sleeps are far more common than Holds, and you'll have protection from neither. That was one of the problems I ran into, and why I eventually respeced out of Acrobatics and changed tactics. Your best anti-mez is going to come from Air Superiority or Rune of Protection. Air Superiority is Knock Up, and it's not a chance for KU, it's guaranteed (barring KU protection and animation issues, both of which occasionally occur). Put the mezzer on its ass and keep it there, and it can't mez you. Of course, you can't do that with Air Superiority alone. Even if you drop the recharge time low enough to spam it, it doesn't override its own animation, so it won't knock a critter up when it's in the process of being knocked up or standing up. You need to chain it with one or more other attacks, and you need to use it at appropriate intervals, meaning, when the critter is back on its feet. Rune of Protection is complete protection from status effects, but it's on a long click timer. It can't be made permanent. Best you can likely hope for is about 50% up time, but if you proceed slowly, or use it as an always-available Break Free, and don't deliberately push up the difficulty so you're facing multiple mezzers in every spawn, you should be fine with it. Barring either of those options, the Presence Pool has two Fears; the Fighting pool has Boxing and Cross Punch, both of which have a chance to Stun; and the Force of Will pool has a couple of powers with chance for KB. Stacking your own mez is just as effective as having status protection, and if your primary/secondary offers anything useful, you can leverage that in conjunction with pool options. Building up massive +Def also works, if you're using IO sets, and with several pool powers offering +Def, it's reasonably easy to make it work, especially if you're layering it with -ToHit (which is in Weaken Resolve, a Force of Will pool power). When you make it to 35+ and can start looking at *PPs, you'll have additional options. More mez of your own, more soft control, more +Def, et cetera, and might be able to redesign your character around that. Lastly, learn which mechanics you can abuse. Powers which cause critters to scatter, like Caltrops, to make one example, can prevent mez simply by keeping the mezzer occupied with running away.

The writing is supposedly better on the other side, so people play villains. That doesn't make them villains, or villainous, merely discerning. Also, I play heroes, and I'm nice. Ish. Look, my cats like me, so shut up. 😛

By examining the way it interacts with other powers and determining whether the cost is worth the investment. Sometimes one or the other is perfect. Sometimes one has better stats, but doesn't bring anything particularly useful. Sometimes neither is worthwhile. It's not what any one power does in, of and by itself, but what it does in conjunction with other powers. If the T1 is "bad", I flip the primary/secondary and look at it from the other archetype. Trick Arrows is, obviously, going to be my example. I've never been a fan of Entangling Arrow. I'm still not a fan of it, even with the shiny new 20% -Res added in I27. It's just not a compelling power for me. So I typically skip it if I can. It's one of the reasons I rarely play corruptors - I love TA, but I don't love everything in TA, and I don't want to be forced to waste a power selection on something I won't use. I'm probably not representative of the majority, but I just don't like powers which are designed only to be used in extreme emergencies or once in a blue moon. That's what most T9 powers have been, historically, and I've rarely bothered with them. Some T9s, I will take. EMP Arrow. Rain of Arrows. Some, I never take and never regret skipping, like scrapper and brute T9s. I can always find another way to do what I want to do. Does it do something contrary to what I intend to do with this character? Knocking foes out of patches, for example, or DoTs which break Sleeps when Sleeps are my primary form of damage mitigation. Does it do something that another power does, but not as well? Then it's probably not worth using. Does it fit into the attack chain? If it's an attack that doesn't actually serve a purpose, or throws off the flow of the chain, it might be better left unselected. Do I have to build in a special way to make this power viable? Sometimes a power looks really good, until you realize you have to redesign your entire character to make it work, or slot your powers in ways you'd rather not. Is it necessary? Often, we consider something appealing in the planner, but when we finalize our character at 50 and start looking at it again, we realize it serves no purpose, or offers nothing compelling. But, really, only you can decide if any power is worth it or not. Sometimes, the animation alone makes a power worth having. Sometimes, powers are worthwhile as IO set mules. Sometimes, we just like to have a power "just in case". Sometimes, we take a power we don't need and never intend to use, because we're fond of it. Pick what you like. Respec later if you want or need to. The worst that can happen is that you learn a little more about the game, what you like, what you need and what you can do.

A video game originally designed to allow players to vicariously experience being a superhero was always going to appeal to a specific subset of the population. Guardians of the peace. Defenders of justice. Protectors of the innocent. Promoters of equality. It stands to reason that the forums would reflect that.