InvaderStych

Since last post I've gotten to about 1/3 of the way into Book #8 of The Expanse. Read This Series.

Agreed ...

Alright, who approved the use of Level 6 forum tools for a Level 1 arching? If they come clean now I promise not to throw them into The Tub.

Psi/SD is one of my favorite Scrappers - should work just as well on a Brute. Charge shores up Psi's light AoE offerings very nicely and the shield can be made to match the Psi powers using the Energy option. Of course this is sort of true of /EA as well. /EA has more tools for survival, but less DDR. /SD gets superior mez protection that doubles as extra DDR when it stacks, but no tools for healing or endurance. Either is going to be a strong choice; both /EA and /SD are top-of-the-line sets with /EA gaining more durability where /SD adds a bit of damage.

Funny you should drop a wakie on this thread; I finally got around to watching this one last week. Expectations met - enjoyable if a bit on the "safe" side to keep it palatable to the masses. RJP's performance was the highlight for me; well balanced between taking itself seriously and not really taking itself seriously. I'd watch a movie or series focused on that character; backstory, continuation, end of the road, or otherwise. Very much doubt that will come to pass, and it would be quite a stretch if they did. Enough nods to the D&D fans in the audience without drowning non-players in overt references. Probably as many that I missed as I caught given that I haven't played in probably 25 years or more. I'm sure some found cause for nerd-rage in there somewhere. Didn't see it. Of course I went in expecting pretty much what I got, a safely written, accessible film that gives a mainstream audience the expected story beats on the anticipated page. For what it was, it was well done though. There's no "universe" or "sequel" here that I can see (despite admitting the above about the paladin), but they might try to cobble one together anyway. 🤣 Loved the treatment on the displacer beasts, but since those were in the trailers I sort of knew I would and was looking forward to them. 😼

Night Ward arcs while in-level (not through Oro with a kitted 50) can be pretty tough as well. Assuming content run at "natural level" is allowed in the thread.

Don't Forget:

Thusly: BUTTON4 "powexec_location target combat teleport" SHIFT+BUTTON4 "powexec_location target teleport" Replace "BUTTON4" with the key of your choice.

Local Man was a player during Retail. Always wondered if they were lurking around Homecoming. On Topic: Bella V. Arc Spoilers Within:

Combat Teleport or Teleport with targeted binds. If the path between you and your target is with the valid range of either one you will port to the target's location. This works on friendlies, mobs, and NPCs like trainers, as long as they are your target. Technically you aren't going "through" walls because range is tied to a legitimate path through the maps, but it does circumvent the need to run the course.

During Retail: Don't Pair Broadsword with Dark Armor before Inherent Fitness. During Homecoming: Don't waste merits on ATOs, they are dramatically cheaper on the market. Did this on the first toon I ran through to 50 a couple weeks after finding Homecoming in early 2020. Never did it again. Quoting these pro-tips for emphasis. Button4 and button5 will correspond to extra buttons on your mouse. On my 10 year old Death Adder they are the two thumb buttons. A little EndRdxz in a toggles on a toggle-heavy toon does help, marginally, but don't over-do it because the returns are too small. It's the rotation of clicks that will burn your blue bar the fastest. EndRdx in your most expensive clicks - or just all of them really - is a more efficient use of slotting by far.

Is there anybody in there?

At the risk of stating the obvious: some people are trash and you're describing one in this story. Bots aren't a problem around here, but it seems that occasionally garbage-people are. 🤷‍♂️ Sounds like a good use for a global ignore and moving on with your day. 🍻

This is the most correct answer. Second most correct involves spoiler's for Mr. G's Redside Arc:

Dunno if this is useful, but you can also use ... teamselect # Where # = 1 through 8 to select a teammate by number rather than entering the full name.

To clarify: I meant critters like Smelters with dangerous debuffs. Points about Scrapper are interesting though. I play a lot of Scrappers and had gotten the apparently mistaken notion that "meta" 4* teams basically only wanted Tanks in melee. I'd mostly be running casually though, if at all. Too much RL aggro going on for serious business in the 4* world these days.

I might be imagining it, but I think if you have a friendly targeted then hitting tab (default setting) should switch you to their target directly? It is probably my imagination. Someone will be along shortly to confirm or (more likely) correct. I am probably mixing it up with being taunted where tab (if set to default) targets the thing taunting you.

Generally speaking: Stamina: PerfShifter and Power Transfer in most cases. If the build is heavy on the blue bar and lacks other options I'll pair one or both with an EndMod from their respective set and boost it to +5. Health: Basically "Procs" only here. I've not seen a reason (for the majority of my toons) to supplement them with an additional piece from a given set as I do with Stamina. I've never chased the set bonuses from the Heal sets in here. Mostly because I want those slots elsewhere, but also a little because adding Recharge/etc enhancement to a power that doesn't benefit from it makes my left eye twitch in unhealthy ways. 🤣 Prior to reaching a level where a desired IO piece is available I'll usually just slap an SO in there and use the upgrade button because I'm lazy.

What if the circle is within the square?

Um ... 🤣

Which reminds me ... I should update mids. 🤣 Couple things on the "map delete" point - most folks on an HM team are going to know the content better than I do at this point. If memory serves there aren't that many maps with a single objective at the end. Several have staggered objectives, so perhaps that less of a use case? Before I moved I gave a solo 1* ASF a go with the F/S/B, but 'Bricker's have fat resistance to fire, so that was too much of a slog in the moment and I bailed. Survival was a non-issue though. /Stone is a beast. Comprehensive mez protection is good to have in that content as well. Lots of Taunt and Confuse to deal with, which is a fairly rare coverage to find. Ice/EA might be very interesting though. Edit: Ditto for Ice/Fire. Traditionally squishy for an armor set, but the KB/immob hole is easy to fill and we are talking a team buff/defense rich environment, so ... hmm ... Stalker version gets the revamped Phoenix Rising, yes?

Something I've been mulling over during my hiatus; while my monitor is finally up here in the new spot with me, my RL Aggro is still keeping me from indulging in much more than theory-crafting. Anyone successfully running Stalkers in HM? Here's my thinking: - Leaning on team buffs/defenses might open build possibilities for a full dmg focus. - Lower threat value means being less likely to draw a Hard Target's attention away from the aggro magnets. - Building for mobility (CT/Jaunt/Translocation with binds) + insta-jib levels of single target damage means being able to eliminate troublesome things like teleporting Surgeons or debuffing Smelters with abandon. - Never hurts to have a ninja that can delete a map and gather the team at the objective if trying to speed. Or maybe I am just crazy? Not sure what sets I would pick for this. As fun and subjectively awesome as my Fire/Stone/Blaze stalker was/is to play, he's not built for this sort of thing - would probably want to take a modified @Linea approach and be able to cycle RoP/Shadow Meld/<Armor T9> for survival potential. Which means more binds, but no reason to fear those. The table is now open to the experts and peanut gallery alike! 🍻