Mystic_Cross

I feel like there should be a face carved into this... a big, glowing, deviously grinning jack-o-lantern face. Also, now that I've seen it I can't believe no one has ever done it before. What a great idea!

I think it would possibly be equal to something like a 15s duration Medium defense inspiration at most for defense powers. I think the only "click" defense powers Melee ATs have are their T9s, and a few have Anti-Mez clickies... but if it were made to be a static 15s duration regardless, as suggested, I doubt it would have that large of an impact on defense. Especially with only half of the original +special% buff. It's something like +98% originally. I can't really see why Energy Aura would be more OP on Tanks than Super Reflexes is. I wasn't aware of that decision, but it seems like an odd one to me *shrug*

I think the overall balance of an MMO is important. Whether it's a Triple-A juggernaut, an obscure Indy or a niche fantasy game that was resurrected on a private server. There are different levels of balance, and it's ok that sometimes things get too far off kilter. But when they do, adjustments eventually need to be made. Obviously I'm not the only one who thinks we're currently in such a place. I think the devs have a good idea on where they want their balance to be, and have set goals to eventually get there. It's probably going to take some time, but it seems to me that they're trying to hit most of the right notes along the way. IMO Tweaks and changes are what keep things fresh and interesting. Buffs, Nerfs... in the end they both open possibilities and end results that may otherwise never come to pass if no action were taken. IOs likely never would have happened without ED, the game may not have even lasted that long. Did ED upset a bunch of people? Undeniably. Did it completely ruin the game? Well, it's still here... and with dedicated and passionate players so... No. The people who didn't throw a hissy and quit, they adapted and the game eventually became better for the change. Changes in any game I'm invested in come with a certain level of fear or apprehension. Some things may be worse, certainly, and some things may be better. My favorite powerset may become unplayable to me after spending hundreds, if not thousands of hours perfecting it. All that time and effort wasted. Of course I'd be pissed off, but that's just where the dice land. Unless you're completely new to gaming or MMOs in general, it should be expected at some point or another. You don't have to like it, but you still have to accept it or move on. Some people can't accept change, but without it everything would become stagnant and unbearably boring. I prefer to try to adapt, and sometimes that makes for pleasant surprises. Personally I have no illusions that I'll agree with everything that may change, but the fact that we're getting updates with new and interesting things at all, let alone with some frequency, speaks volumes to the devs interest and dedication. That it's all being done on a volunteer basis only makes it that much more impressive to me. As does the tolerance for criticism, the willingness to entertain player ideas, and the consideration to implement some of those ideas. All of this has earned at least a percentage of my trust and support for their current and future endeavors. I think the plans, such as they are in the OP look promising. While nothing may be set in stone, it provides a good outline of what direction is intended. I'll save the final verdicts until things are actually available for testing.

The way I see it, Tanks and Brutes are currently opposite in-game from what you describe here... in an AoE vs ST comparison at least. The reason they are slow is simply because they do less damage. Their description in-game is misleading because nearly every other AT hits harder in practice. Tanks plainly get better AoE now in any set that has 10’ or less PBAoE radius or sub-90 degree (I think?) cones due to their inherent. Brutes have far better damage due to their inherent which in turn gives them better ST output while still maintaining decent AoE range, and still better damage in that regard as well. So long as the targets are closer. Brutes are akin to the Bull charging after the red and directing all their rage at it. Tanks are more like the Matador, controlling the arena and directing their opponent’s’ fury. This isn’t Tank vs Brute discussion though, so pardon my off topic rant. What I’d personally like to see from EM In a nutshell: - reduced activation/animation times for Barrage, Whirling Hands, Energy Transfer and Total Focus. I think these four powers make the entire set unnecessarily slow-feeling. It’s possible that simply reverting ET would be enough, but I wouldn’t stake the future on it so... - IF ET wasn’t fully reverted for whatever reason, then either removing the self damage, adding an energy return or slightly increasing it’s damage further (yes I know it already gets bonus damage etc) or some combination there of might be acceptable recompense. - Increase Whirling Hands damage reasonably and/or give it 50% stun chance (mag 2) with a 2nd %chance (20-30%?) for additional +1 mag. - Replace Build Up with Power Build Up, 80% damage, 20% tohit, 43% special enhancement (est.) with 15s duration and 120s recharge. (the %special and recharge are reduced approx. 50% from the APP version). Duration of special buff should be made finite regardless of power type (i.e. click, toggle, etc.) - Make Stun a 10’-15’ PBAoE stun (mag 3) with minor damage (so it could still be proc’d if desired) or a 10’ PBAoE damaging power with a stun component (50% mag 2, 20% chance for +1 mag or similar). Making it a proper AoE would give that benefit to Stalkers as well. That’s my Christmas wish list anyway. Fairly certain is doesn’t matter either way because as I understand it, EM is already on closed beta, and has been since possibly even before the “weekly discussion” on EM took place. At the very least, changes were likely already in progress prior to the discussion. I can’t imagine it would’ve been available for CB so soon otherwise. I suppose that doesn’t mean changes can’t be made, however I doubt it will change drastically from whatever has been decided already. Guess time will tell.

For this threads purpose, yes the goal was to have ET returned to its original design. For EM fans (and other interested parties) I’d say the above statement was not the only desire for the set. There have been many suggestions in various threads, but I don’t recall any of them being to disperse ETs damage across the set.

I see. As I said, I was using Mids numbers... but I was looking under Tanker AT. It seems there is something wonky going on with the tanker damage calculations in Mids. Set to "Damage per activation at 50" it says Whirling Hands would deal 94.25 damage and Spin would deal 126.5, meanwhile Whirling Axe is only at 50.19 and Whirling Sword is at 74.28. I should have realized that those numbers didn't look right to begin with. In any case, that was the basis for me saying the 18% increase would put WH closest to Spin, but it was obviously dead wrong. Completely my fault for not validating those numbers in-game before speaking. Thanks for the clarity @Bopper

Poor phrasing I suppose. What I meant was that it's been mentioned multiple times that the formula should have Whirling Hands doing about 18% more damage than it does currently, and that +18% damage would put it "similar" but also "lower" than spin. Not being a numbers guru myself, I referenced Mids to compare sets and damage numbers of similar powers. Of all the melee PBAoEs with the same radius, end cost and recharge, that damage increase would put it most closely to Spin. I didn't mean to imply that it would be the "same" as Spin. If that's incorrect then I'll take your word for it, as I've seen your previous work with damage formulas and it seems you know what you're talking about 🙂

Speaking for myself, additional mechanics, even with “hidden” ones like Psi Melee Insight, often prompts a reaction from me to do everything in my power to make the most I possibly can out of it. In other words, It fundamentally changes how I would play the set if that mechanic were not present. Someone may say that is a psychological thing, and I’d be hard pressed to disagree... but by the same token, someone who finds those mechanics fun “all the time” is just in a different boat traveling the same river. When I want to play those sets with mechanics that I feel obligated to make use of, I play them. When I just want to relax and do “whatever” with no obligations, I play Energy Melee. My Invuln/EM tank is the epitome of “idgaf cuz I’m chillin” gameplay. I feel like putting in a mechanic like EF would fundamentally change how I’ve always played my “main” and threaten to destroy any sense of enjoyment I get from playing her. If the devs are truly considering going that route, then I’d also ask them to consider this: Rather than adding a damage increase mechanic like EF, why not simply increase the damage of all the powers as a flat bonus to achieve the same goal? Example: If this mechanic would increase damage by say 10% over a pre-determined course of time, then instead of using the mechanic, simply increase the sets base damage to a point that will achieve the same end result without said mechanic. Everyone benefits. No convoluted new mechanics and the set still gets a performance increase and remains inline with what it is at its “core”. A no-gimmick, hard-hitting Melee set. This post is only addressing an alternative to using EF, of course, and in no way reflects a summary of what myself or others would like as an end result.

Something that may help you folks that are new to IOs, or just enhancements in general, is Mids Reborn. It's technically a program that you can use to plan out your characters build, but it could also be used to learn about all forms of enhancements, enhancement sets, set bonuses and how they interact with both your character and your powers. You can use it to view what the difference is between enhancing a power with a level 25 set instead of a level 50 set, or what sets are available at different level ranges, what sets a given power can take and really a whole lot more. This post from Felis Noctu has a link to download the program and a link to the Mids forum section, in case you have any trouble getting it up and running, or to ask questions about using it.

I'm pretty sure that EleMs powers mainly apply Sleep, not Disorient, and those have a %chance to apply that's very similar to EM. Only Thunderstrike actually provides Disorient in the attack, and it's only half the duration of EMs Total Focus disorient. Of course EleM gets Thunder Clap (Lightning Clap?) as an AoE mag 2 disorient with a decent radius and a chance for +1 mag. I'm pretty sure it doesn't necessarily do disorient better, so much as you have more control over when it happens... which in turn makes it "feel" like it's better. If EM got say, Stun turned into an AoE disorient, even with a smaller radius than Lightning Clap I'd bet you would see a pretty big change in that performance ratio. Currenty I also skip Stun, and Energy Punch. Edit to add: I'm glad you don't skip Whirling Hands. Nobody should skip WH lol. 😉

I disagree that the utility part of the set is the main problem, but there is a problem with the utility part of EM... it's that it can't reliably be controlled, directed or intentionally stacked beyond a single target, and oftentimes that target is required to be boss level or higher in order to make it semi-reliable. Whirling Hands isn't exactly god awful, but it's worse off than it should be. It's supposed to have similar damage to Spin from the Claws powerset but it's a bit lower. The radius is nice on Tanks though, and it's the single best power in the set for making use of EMs utility. You don't skip it, do you? it sounds like you skip it... Electric Melee huh? I like it better on Blasters, but I guess it's OK on Stalkers too. It's no Energy Melee though.

Thank you. and you're right. Energy Melee was formerly considered an excellent top tier power set... truth be told, I remember now that it's part of the reason I stopped playing my Invul/EM after about the first 45 minutes and let it collect dust for nearly 2 years while I levelled a Grav/Kin troller, Elec/Elec Blapper and Energy/Kin Corr to 50, along with a healthy stable of other non-top-tier alts that I was determined to make amazing despite "popular opinions". In fact, the whole reason I picked my Invul/Em tank back up and started playing it again was due to hearing about the EM changes and how much it sucked at the time. Along with how Invuln was looked down on before it's rework, the pairing was really a match made in heaven for me. It became one of my most played alts from the time after the EM nerf until sunset. Funny I had almost completely forgotten about all that. So yea, it's entirely possible I'm not taking it fully into account. Then again, formerly is still an important distinction. Formerly was before lots of new power sets were added. It was before a plethora of changes that would be far too exhausting to list. It was before IOs and Incarnates and double-stacked Rage. It was before the game officially shut down. It was before the game was resurrected with code that has been either rebuilt or built from scratch. Formerly was nearly 12 years ago... a lot has changed since EMs heyday, to put it mildly. The thing is, to me current EM feels like a sloth. The entire set, not just one or two powers. Maybe spending nearly 8 years playing faster paced games while CoH was in oblivion has colored my outlook, I don't know, but the slow feeling has really been getting to me lately. I'm sure the long animation times of both ET and TF aren't helping matters, and I have no doubt that fixing both of those will alleviate some of the issue, I'm just not convinced that it will completely fix it. Still, I'm far from against reverting the nerf and returning EM to the same state it was in the "glory days". Throw it on beta for a week or so and lets see if it lives up to the hype. My preconception is that the rest of the set will still feel sluggish, slow and underperforming... only worth using as filler fodder until the next ET is available in 6 seconds... but I'm willing to be proven wrong and see how it feels for myself. After all, seeing for myself whether a set is good or bad is practically the only thing I did for 6 years on live. That... and making alts, costumes and builds, with the occasional story arc/tf/itrial sprinkled here and there. As an aside, I was recently messing around with a Shield/Em tank on the beta server. The increased damage across the board and the 2nd AoE really made EM feel like less of a slog, and I found myself thinking that it was actually pretty close to my ideal of how I'd like EM to end up.

I disagree with point 1 because I feel that Stun would make an excellent candidate for a 2nd AoE. Whether simply an AoE stun with little-to-no damage or a damaging AoE with a stun component doesn't really make a difference to me personally. An already stun-heavy ST focused set doesn't need another ST power that -only- stuns, but even a stun-only AoE power could be useful in -some- builds and open up additional synergies with other sets at the very least. A largely ST focused set by itself could also largely benefit from having decent AoE crowd control while maintaining minimal AoE damage. It would be a unique niche setting it apart from other ST focused sets without interfering with or changing the focus of the set to an AoE oriented one. Has the added side-benefit of not really mattering one way or the other in PvP too, if I'm not mistaken. (I -could- be very well mistaken though, as I don't PvP) For point 2, stun is EM's mechanic... though somewhat unreliable to the point that most simply forsake it completely to focus on damage, point 1 above would make it reliable as an alternative and frankly, I'd rather not lose EM's unique mechanic. Rather I'd try to build upon it to make it more reliable without compromising the current structure and appeal of the set as a whole. However I'd take your meaning to be that it doesn't need any additional mechanics beyond what it already has, and it definitely doesn't need any kind of combo system or oddball mechanics. If that is your meaning, then point agreed. Point 3 is a bit contentious for me, because if the set is being looked at then there's a good chance that it's already been decided that more than one power needs changing. Nothing you, I or anyone else is going to say will likely change that viewpoint, unless the vast majority agrees that it shouldn't change at all. So far as I can tell, that isn't the case... which means that the best thing we can do going forward is to present a solution that is acceptable to most, if not all parties. There is already a great chance that it's being re-envisioned as we speak, so leaning on the side of outright refusal will likely only end in disappointment. The best option then, is to submit to making a compromise and hope we can come out the other side with what is most desired. Personally I think a little bit of re-envisioning can go a long way, and could be done without compromising the "core" of what makes EM.... well, EM. Personally I'd prefer those who know it best be the ones contributing reasonable ideas for a rework to, well, you know... others who aren't quite as familiar with it. Sorry if that all sounds preachy or whatever... it's late and I'm overtired so hopefully it doesn't come off as d*ck-ish. Not my intent. I'm curious though, how some of you other long-time players of EM would "re-envision" it?.... aside from the quite obvious "revert the ET nerf", which I take is an unmoving pre-requisite above anything else? Assuming that particular change was solidified, what else, if anything would you suggest to tweak or change about EM if you knew the entire set was also going to be overhauled? also, agreed on point 4. 😉 nothing should be that strong on SOs

Thank you for the feedback. I was in my car with my 5 year old when I made that post, and it was kind of a quick and dirty rundown of some thoughts that have been bouncing around in my head lately. I posted hastily because I saw this thread is near the end of its life, however I will check in on those other threads you linked. Regarding the above, I did actually make the character before the EM nerf, but it sat at level 4 until some time afterwards so I didn't actually have powers like ET until after. That said, EM never really bothered me at that time. It's only after having to re-level the character on Homecoming that I've noticed how extremely slow the entire set feels in comparison with nearly everything else. Regarding Barrage and Bone Smasher... those were last minute thoughts that I figured might be acceptable without changes to the recharge or end cost, partially due to removing build-up and replacing it with Power Boost. You're right though, and Power Build Up would be a better solution. I knew there was another power like that, but I couldn't remember the exact name or effects. Ultimately though, the suggestion was born of my desire to have Barrage be more equal in damage output over time to Energy Punch, not Bone Smasher. Perhaps that could instead be achieved by shaving 1s off of Barrage's recharge time to make it 5s and/or reducing the cast time to 1.2s instead of 1.33s while maintaining the same damage it currently has? Bone Smasher would be fine to remain as-is. Between Whirling hands and Stun, the idea was to make Stun a 10' AoE like Atom Smasher, with approximately the same or slightly less damage than the current Whirling hands and maintaining its mag 3 stun, or possibly even reducing it to mag 2 if necessary for balance. Meanwhile moving Whirling Hands into Stun's position and giving it a damage buff would allow it to maintain its position as the premier AoE power in the set. Fact is, this would improve EM's exemplar down to Posi 1 by having two AoE's and better mob control via stun available for Tanks and actually giving Stalkers a single AoE and a bit of control just like if they finally got (the current) Whirling Hands. With Stalkers crit and the slightly larger radius it would be a boon to have a power similar to WH. Brutes would still have only one AoE at posi 1 exemp level, but if Stun were similar enough in damage to current WH then they really wouldn't be losing anything and would still gain a 2nd higher damage AoE a little later on at 26. I hadn't considered the weak radius, which I guess could still be a detriment on non-tankers... WH actually has a decent radius of 12' on tanks due to their inherent but anything larger than 8' default for a tank would make it a Foot Stomp clone, especially so with a damage buff. I suppose if anything I'd agree to make WH a 10' radius for Brutes only, simply to alleviate the "anemic" radius a little without really stepping on any toes. Scrappers don't get EM and Stalkers don't get WH so the point is moot in those regards. If Scrappers did eventually get EM, I don't think it would be a big deal to also allow a 10' version for them as well. Correcting WH to where it should be according to the formula may be all well and good too, but that would still maintain the weak radius on anything but a tank. Personally it doesn't matter that much to me either way but the damage or the end cost/recharge and cast time need to be adjusted to a proper ratio. Currently it's not enough of one and way too much of the other three. Shaving the animation down a few hairs would go a long way in making it feel better with the rest of the set. Also, it would be really nice to have an AoE on Stalker EM if Stun were to change to an AoE. In all though, Stun would be worth taking if it just became a PBAoE stun with the same damage it has now... possibly even with no damage and without swapping places with WH. At the very least I'd be more inclined to consider taking it. As an ST control with meaningless damage it's even more situational and useless than an Armor set t9, if that's possible. As for the "cottage rule" there is already precedent for an AoE stun with Hand Clap in the Super Strength set. SS is a near carbon copy of EM, or vice versa, depending on how you look at it. More than likely EM was only given the ST stun to differentiate the two more, and because EM already has the stun effect in it's other powers. Some speculation on my part, sure... but it makes sense and I don't personally feel like it would necessarily be breaking the cottage rule to make Stun an AoE... bending perhaps, but not breaking. Ultimately that would come down to whether or not the devs feel the same I guess. For Energy Transfer, I'm aware of the call to change it back to pre-nerf status with a 1s animation. I don't exactly disagree with that... performance-wise it would be great for the set I'm sure. I'd just like to see something more unique that maintains the sets pretense of powerful, hard-hitting melee strikes, but is moderately faster all around... not just one power. I'm not sure how impactful of an animation can be accomplished in 1s. Energy Punch is the least impactful power in the set, with a .83s activation... and we're talking an extra .17s animation time between the weakest and the most powerful attack in the set? Meanwhile all the other far weaker attacks are also far slower than this uber-attack? It just doesn't seem like it would feel in-line with every other power in the set. If I can unleash this ultra-powerful strike in this ultra-short 1s time period... why am I jumping in the air for 2-3 seconds for my 2nd most powerful attack? dramatic effect? It all makes perfect sense to the min-maxer in me, but the thematic purist in me is screaming "no, it wouldn't fit". Being a bit closer to the 2nd most powerful attack in animation time, yet slightly slower than the 3rd most powerful (Bone Smasher) fits... because you're using a portion of your own life to fuel the attack, making it stronger and faster while simultaneously costing less energy. I'm aware that the power has an already massive damage scale, but KO Blow with double-stacked Rage can still out-damage ET and do it with no -life cost. Obviously SS is an outlier case, but it still shouldn't be better in both ST and AoE, while also being able to AoE stun and costing less. But I digress, this isn't an EM vs SS debate... the point I'm trying to make is that an additional burst if hitting ST, and the small AoE burst when corpse blasting feels like it would be justifiable, to me. As far as I'm concerned EM should have the highest damage ST attack and the best stun capability with middling AoE, and SS can keep its almost-as-heavy rage-fueled ST and king-sized AoE with middling stun capability. Much like the recent tanker changes differentiated tanks and brutes. Total Focus, I agree the Dominator TF animation would be more adequate than what we currently have. It would still run into the corpse blasting problem though as it's only a .14s difference from the current ET time, and ET can corpse blast all day in a group. ET's animation time is the bulk of complaints in all these threads, so why do we think giving TF a similar animation time to current ET is all it needs? If that's the case and it would make TF ok... then what exactly is the problem with ET as it currently is? With only an animation change, TF will still end up remaining useful only when solo or against large targets. That would be unfortunate for both the devs and players if it ended up in basically the same place that it currently is, even after putting in the time and effort to make it better. If nothing else would be needed other than the animation change, then nothing else should really be needed for ET... it would have similar animation time to Dom TF and still have the higher damage. In that case, give TF the Dom animation and leave ET as it currently is. I'm sorry but no, I agree that it will be in a better place than current but I do not agree that it will be in an overall better place with just an animation change. Being able to corpse-blast an AoE is the best Idea I could come up with to keep Total Focus relevant even with the long animation time. That's not to say it's the only solution, but it would surely be unique to the set and thematically appropriate with discharging energy into a corpse. Rad Melee's Contamination works similarly, only with "contaminated" targets rather than "dead" ones, and that is also an energy based set. If there's going to be work done on EM, I'd like to see each power at least become a viable choice where you have to decide "would it be worth it to skip this in-set power for this pool/app/patron" instead of having multiple powers that are just an automatic or easy skip and only a few powers that you must take while virtually ignoring everything else.

I’m late to the party, but I just saw this so I wanted to add my two cents. My first character on live was an Inv/Em tank and at sunset it was one of my favorite and most played alts. This had much more to do with Invulnerability than it did Energy Melee. Not that /Em was completely horrible, but between the super long animations and sub-par damage (mostly due to the looong animations) along with no real AoE capability, Invuln’s durability carried it in most cases. I’ve thought a lot about how how I’d change EM to make it more fun and interesting to play, but never really fleshed out any of those ideas... so I’ll just throw some of them out there. Disclaimer: any numbers or percentages in this post are simply based off estimates of what I “feel” would be appropriate approximations. As such, they should not be taken at face value. Okay then, let’s get down to it. Barrage - Increase damage approx. 20%. Energy Punch - No changes Bone Smasher - Increase damage approx. 20% Taunt - No changes (duh!) Whirling Hands - 50% damage increase. Swap position with Stun. Cut animation time by .5s, modify recharge time if necessary. Stun - Swap position with Whirling Hands. Apply 100% damage increase. Copy AoE aspect and a slightly faster animation of Rad Melee’s Atom Smasher. Build Up - Replace with Power Boost. Energy Transfer - Reduce animation time to 1.8s and make it so that the self-damage component also applies as bonus damage when hitting a live target, or applies as an AoE effect when hitting a corpse (may not be possible but it would be cool) Total Focus - reduce animation time by .5-1s. perhaps also add an AoE component when hitting a corpse. This is more or less similar to how I’d like to see the set. A tad better AoE but also an Improved ST attack chain, and I think power boost replacing build up would make it more unique and interesting than just being a ST “king” set.

Just saw this and it reminds me of song lyrics from a band called "The Nearly Deads", which I also find hilarious considering the subject of the thread. Maybe I'll change my evil ways Stop taking shots one of these days I'll settle down, I'll rearrange Maybe I'll learn from my mistakes Stop breaking hearts, forgetting names I'll settle down, and act my age One of these days... but not today! But I can sympathize, I'm 43 and my kids tell me I don't "act like an adult", rofl

I've never played bio armor, but I've heard it can be a busy set. No doubt staff could make it tougher, but you'd need to keep reapplying the buff via combos while in form of the body. Could require a very active playstyle if bio is also pretty busy.

Right. finishing with Sky Splitter always buffs you, and finishing with Eye of the Storm always debuffs enemies, regardless of which form you're in. As @Sovera said, Sky Splitter comes in at 38. The form buffs don't stack with each other, but they refresh duration each time you apply them, and they last for 15 seconds. In practice, that leaves you with about a 5 second window between applying the buff and needing to begin the combo process again in order to keep it going all the time... assuming that you'll miss at least one attack.

For SR alone with just the Reactive Defenses unique that may be true, but staff's form of the body buff adds another +13.3% resist to all. The Might of the Tanker unique also stacks more than once, but mids only ever shows 1 stack at any given time with no way to show additional stacks, so add another +10% or so resist all because having that proc in an AoE and fighting x8 mobs can usually manage 2-3 stacks near constantly. Along with the scaling resist unique that would put me around (an estimated) 85% f/c resist and over-capped s/l resists at 40% health. Still no way it was happening at full health, so it still means I must've remembered that incorrectly, as I stated.

This is the build I've been using for SR/Staff. It's funny though, because I know I've had s/l/f/c resists capped a few times... but looking at the build here I'm not quite sure how that happened unless I just remembered incorrectly and wasn't at full health *shrugs*. In any case, it's far from a perfect build but it plays well for me and I've never died on it. You could easily drop some of the defense bonuses and get more +dam bonuses if that's what you're after. | Copy & Paste this data into Mids' Reborn : Hero Designer to view the build | |-------------------------------------------------------------------| |MxDz;1644;746;1492;HEX;| |78DA6D944B4F135114C7EFB4534B4B79D3F228055AE55190CAF888CA3351D485D41| |031EE4C33CA2D541A68FA4870E9C20FE0CA8D20AC4414A2C6E71751D40FA02EB428| |BE70339ECEF9DB4E084DDADF99FF9D73CF7FCEB9D3E8C29867E3DCCD51A1784E27F| |54C2676499F9B9569E7053D9B4BEB4951F838E91B603D3626E3722E232393B9145D| |5D94F1A45C90193F56A33229692DABC7E3B1B389E9996C626E5A544CCCCF2723FF2| |FCBF92A59B8749BF1644ACAA92A331C97FA944C67661229EF9954E25AE4543A9795| |B1682E16D5335999BED1484E8ED1F7B88F7E948237C32EF276213455ECFBCE2CDB6| |6B69E67E683021FC321E2C2D46CD3E00CD39360365F67B6CE324F501D0575946A85| |EBD431CBEA99F55EE637AA63E77B1DF64DAEADBE03DF333D6F988D6FE1F1037380E| |A383857387AB9F649D29CAC294ED472A3D620ADB9B0E6DAB536446BE5F05C0ECF95| |F05CB9CBF31679AE406F2AD01B1F7AE3436FBAD09B307AD383DE6C536E1572AB06F| |839AA07C12166ED309E7784D93CCA1C268F35ECD156034FB5F0A4B5F2FE3F68FF3A| |BEC7B0D111F4722DE1BD6533D7EDA435608F8642105045F030EF1FDC618E509D26F| |4B5A98FF7FD43FBFAE1DBFF4035B59655708DD9FE90197CC43CB0CE7451CD007C04| |FC54A3511521D2DAE0A30DB36BDFC51DAA1942CDD05DDE6BFF22B804DE43AD65708| |5F997723B70AE3A30A34ECCA81333EAC48CBA30A32ECC284616BB51B75BE3BE8517| |85D9ABF012B367195C61F6DD16E673E994DB8BDCDE67ECE5E073F005F892D9F70A7| |CCDBC4F872AC2B96A649DBD1CDA001F834F98DA53662DF5B11FB3EA0FB2D6A216DF| |DDC231300C11568B6FBED1635DC574FBAD1A76D1F6D08EEC917BD4AA75B3366ED55| |CDCC1091516485330615735BDFDAC195FDCC57F0DA160EF7C495394209F4EED329F| |F8AFD6FB5177CBAADDB19913F9E82B7A313E59E2CFA57F43E367E1AD81FECB12FFB| |6C4136EF369CCF88A25D62DF1554B3C4E891AE24D4B1CAAA71875D72CFA6AA8143B| |3A4AF7FC03291CF683| |-------------------------------------------------------------------| I have it set up so that you need to change through the forms in order to get the most out of it. There's no perma-hasten by default, but you can use "form of the mind" buffs and/or the force feedback proc in kick to reach it. Movement and recharge debuff resistance is capped, so there really isn't anything that can slow you down. There's no travel power and no Taunt. I haven't found a need since I only play this solo, BUT, there are 10 attacks in the build (really more than you need, but it's fun!) five of them are AoE, four of them are ranged. With clarion radial and the tanker passive you can cover a stupidly large area with carnage, so even without taunt you can still punch-voke your way to group victory. I have hover for vertical movement, but you could easily replace that with your preferred travel power. It has decent EndRec if you have the +end accolades (accolades are toggled off in the build, but I have them) but "form of the soul" will boost recovery/regen a good bit and also gives an EndRedux buff to your attacks. "form of the body" will buff your resists, lower enemy resists and give you more +dam. However If you really just wanna be lazy, you can probably stay in Form of the Soul all the time.

The SR/Staff tank I built has only 4 slots on the 3 toggles, 2 slots on the passives. All attacks are 6 slots, 38% damage bonus with Assault (pre tanker changes) and Set bonuses I wasn’t really pushing hard for. I took Tough from fighting pool and only have it slotted with unique io’s. Positional defenses are all at 60%, around 27hp/s Regen and, if I try, I can cap s/l/f/c resists and nearly cap e/n resists while at full health between the unique resist io’s, might of the tanker proc and staff’s form of the body stance... Went with musculature radial alpha and assault core hybrid because it didn’t really need anything else. I don’t even have the medicine pool because the mitigation between Sr/staff is so good I haven’t needed it. Been running hasten on auto because the bulk of my set bonuses were for +rech and half the time I forget to use the anti-mez clicky and don’t even notice. Running +3/x8 for “speed” is about as fast as doing -1/x8 on some of my other tanks, and AFAIK staff isn’t known for it’s damage potential. overall I’d say I’ve been impressed with SR.

Well then it makes a lot more sense that nobody else said that now, lol. I guess coffee doesn’t make up for sleep where reading comprehension is concerned! thanks for the correction.

SR is the only tank primary I’m aware of that doesn’t seem to have a taunt aura. Pairs well with secondaries that have lots of AoE but feels like it may have to work harder holding aggro in a group setting. Especially so if you have an ST focused secondary, or one with longer animation times. It’s worth noting that I’ve not played an SR tank in a group, so it’s possible that is not the case. I can see it being one of the more boring primaries for some people, unless you have a more active secondary. Something with fast recharge and short animations like Claws... or one of the “combo” sets like SJ, DB or staff would all likely be favorable to SR. It feels great for soloing too, it’s not high maintenance... like many have said it’s basically cruise control above 20. It doesn’t need a lot of investment to softcap so you can focus on other things like +dam if you wanted. Most of the above is personal observation from a few days playtesting on a private server, so take with a grain of salt. Others like BillZ that have played SR extensively may have a different opinion, and if so I’d say it’s probably better to listen to them, haha.

Yea I've got around 50+ of the cards you made in '09 and some other stuff backed up on my storage drive, like this comic cover 🙂 Funny I started on Torchbearer, but my old grav/kins name was taken so I switched to Indomitable. Glad you're all still around, I'll def look you up!

Holy carp! is that Starwind!? How are ya bud? It's been a long time, so long that you probably don't... remember.... me.. haha. Anyway, I was just scrolling through here and saw American Shaman, I'm like... "I know this guy, wait that's STARWIND". So, are the rest of the Imps on here too? Love that costume, I still have his card around here somewhere... yup, found it! That's a throwback if I ever saw one. You're the first person I've seen around here that I knew from the old days so, glad you're still around!