InvaderStych

Dark/Stone is a solid combo. DC and SD trigger Brimstone on use (Brimstone doesn't take +dmg from buffs like SD/BU/etc though). That was one of my test toons when the /Stone revamp/port was in Beta. Almost rolled one for Live, colored it green and called it The Dank Crystal, but I'm not a teenager anymore so I went another direction. 🤣 ... of course that "other direction" ended up being a Stalker with an only slightly more thinly veiled Scotch whiskey based theme, so clearly I'm not that far removed from my inner teenager either. 🤣

Wait, Lusca can actually defeat players? 🤣 I don't think I've ever seen that happen.

Huh. Didn't know either of those were based on graphic novels. Enjoyed Edge of Tomorrow; didn't see Old, but I sort of gave up on MNS after Signs. Keep 'em coming gang; looks like there are more of these than I thought! 🍻

What primaries are you using and getting good results with it? Tried a few combinations in Beta (Dark/ Rad/ I-forget-what-else/) and even slotting the Ice Mistral dmg/slow set I didn't find the slows to be terribly effective. Might have been the groups I was testing against. 🤷‍♂️ I've also found the Stalker version to be more endurance efficient without it. All the other toggles are the same cost on both ATs.

Don't sleep on Brimstone. It is the only thing in a Scrapper Secondary that will Crit, and when it does it is for full up-front damage of all 3 tics, even if only the first tic hits. Mud Pots sort of drags the set down though; I prefer it on a Stalker as MP is swapped out for Hide. Geode is 100% skippable. At best it is a Combat Rest power that might buy you a few seconds of respite, but more often than not if you are playing against +2s or above it will just get insta-jibbed and be functionally worthless. Crystal grants endurance recovery, so it is a good place for a second Perf Shifter and/or Power Transfer. Minerals grants Mag 30 protection from Confuse. This is a rare protection to find. Rad Armor is another solid choice. New Fire Armor is good, but still pretty squishy and Firey Embrace still isn't as good as it should be. It adds decent damage, but on the matrix it falls behind Brimstone, and well behind the tools afforded by /Bio for adding dmg.

The Radio. Television. Efficiency Expert Pither. Mr. G's entire series of arcs.

They get a bad rap because of the story/deaths/silly choice of the Big Bad in WWD. Pandora's is better. I like running them while I level a toon for the easy merits. Heldenjager is super easy to recruit for as it is a great way to get Unveiler. On Topic for our resident Vamp: That one starts at level 40. 😉 The finale for Pandora's is a hoot. Good times in that last mission.

In fairness, every group in DA is pretty much way, way out of their league. Even the Mot loyalists.

I'm not sure how many of these we'll have on the list, but here goes: Road to Perdition https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0257044/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1 The final film lensed by the late, great Conrad L. Hall, directed by Sam Mendes, and featuring a cast that should inspire envy in the heart of any casting director worth their salt. If you've not seen it, do yourself the favor. I did not know until last year that this one was based on a graphic novel when I picked up a copy that included a bunch of extra materials. So, basically clueless for 20 years on this one. 🤣

Night Trap and Custer's Revenge pretty much win this thread. 🤣

Yeah. "Temporary lapse of the smart" seemed like a nicer thing to say about myself than "Acute Case of the dumb." 🤣

Thanks. I'll give that a try when I update. Historically links have not been reliable for me in previous versions. I don't know if it is a Firefox quirk or what, but I would try to open posted links and end up with a blank slate in MIDs. 🤷‍♂️

That is readable and all since JSON is fairly human-friendly. Can I import that into MIDs though? That was sort of my point. Data Chunks were the most reliable way to share a build in such a manner that someone else could open it in MIDs on their own. Maybe I am jumping the gun here; can MIDs import from either the JSON or PDF? Reading a build is all well and good, but for providing feedback/alternatives importing it to the program is desirable. Without an ability to import a posted build I'd have to re-create it manually from a PDF/forum post, then make changes and send it back to the person asking for assistance, and vice-verse. Edit: Also, thanks for the info/replies. Just realized that I should probably be asking this stuff on the MIDs Discord. 🤣 Double-Edit. Ok, I had a lapse of smart there for a moment, blame it on the coffee not having kicked in. That's just a saved .mbd file opened in another application, which means the solution to build sharing for direct import is just bouncing the .mbd back and forth I suppose.

Hmm ... that is ... unfortunate ... but no stopping the forward march of time and tide or data and code or something and something else. 😄

General Chat. Probably on Excel; I know I've seen it there from time to time.

This. I don't understand the compulsion of some players to see how close they can get to the line of being generic'd without crossing it. Give the HC team a break guys, this isn't The Price Is Right; no prizes are being handed out for being the closest without going over.

Just promise us that if you ever feel compelled to quit your own Strike/Task Force that you'll write us an entertaining story about it? K? 😉 .... I know, I know ... Twice in one week. Just knocking on your coffin, it's all love my undead friend. Your PUG horror stories are highly entertaining. 🍻

I mean its better than Constant Stream of Dad Jokes Player, or Instigator of Pun Wars Player which are much more common than Playlist Announcer Player. 🤣 Kidding ... Mostly ... .... dunno if I'm thinking of the same person, or if there are several doing it ... but their musical taste was (been a minute since I've been in game) a little ... cliche. 😄 Again ... Kidding ... Mostly ... I mean, we're all looking for a some sort of social connection in online/in-game chat; nothing wrong with that. Lots of folks, even solo players, come to online games at least in part for that element. Don't let it get to you; if it does just put them on a temporary ignore then go back and remove them from the list later.

So, I don't really know who this Charlie guy is, or where he came from before doing these YT videos but for some reason I started watching a few of them from time to time and they're somewhat funny, poignant/insightful more often than I'd expect, and generally decent takes on whatever he happens to be talking about in the moment. Mostly though he just trashes one silly tech/social trend or another and his voice is monotone enough to fade into the background if I am cooking or something. Had to post this one - gave it a marker to the relevant bit in case folks don't want to watch the whole thing - for the shout-out to CoH Costume Contests. Checked the comments - couple folks already mentioned HC's existence.

I start from a couple different places depending. I don't roll nearly as many toons as some folks in game, but I do spend a great deal of time on the Keepers. I am more of a "Rotating Main" kind of player. Most often I've a decently formed character concept in mind, then go looking for interesting ways to roll it up. Occasionally I'll get interested in trying out either some combination of sets or exploring some off-beat idea trying to leverage secondary effects that a primary/secondary have in common. Then I'll mold a character concept around that. Mostly I am "direct action/DPS" player. Occasionally I'll try my hand at support/control toons, but no one on a team wants me ham-fisting my way though that. 🤣 In all cases, The Rule of Cool reigns over all considerations. If I'm not into it, I'm gonna get bored no matter how good it is mechanically. If I think something numerically/mechanically sub-optimal is super fun, I'll keep using it anyway. Looking at you Laser Beam Eyes. ... can has LBE buffs nao, plzkthx? ... Once I've satisfied the above I'll run the toon starting from zero for the first 10-15 or so levels. If I am feeling it I'll ship over some resources from my supplies and start adding the usual unique IO pieces and probably start fiddling with ATOs. Run the toon the rest of the way to either the point of "Nah, not into it" or level 50, whichever comes first. If it is a "Keeper" then it gets min/maxed within the limitations of its power set choices. I'll start slotting a build choices in the 20s-30s with attuned IOs so I can see if the ideas are working and make changes to the final build as I go along. At some point I'll decide if the toon works as a viable "exemp friendly build" or wants a fully boosted post-50 build and slot accordingly post-50. .... and I put Combat Teleport on probably 95% of everything. 🤣

At the risk of suggesting the obvious: And basically anything else with Bruce Campbell in it.

Well, on Scrappers an Epic Snipe tends to be SOP for the DPS bump they provide. Top Scrapper chains have included them for as long as I can recall. I'm less sure about that on Stalkers. I tend to build at least one ranged option into my Scrappers, if not a snipe for the DPS, something just for the utility of tagging low-health runners in the back. Carrying this pattern along to my new interest in Stalkers. These days though, I put Combat Teleport on everything because it is fun. On Scrappers/Stalkers that means nothing escapes my targeted macros. I know this is a personal mini-game for me though, and not everyone is on board with the Church of the Almighty BAMF!

Is there a defeat badge series for getting @Snarky to quit your Task Force multiple times? 😉 🤣

Looks like I can still export running v3.4.7 (Issue 27, Page 5) DB Version 2022.11.383. I don't think that is the latest with the export feature intact, but I am not certain. Has it though? It isn't without issue, but it worked fine for me this entire time. Can we at least retain the Data Chunk feature? That was the most useful part, imo. Links often would not open for me in earlier versions of Mids during Homecoming, but the Data Chunks were flawless. 😞

Stalkers have a lower base Threat value than other Melee ATs, no Taunt/Confront ability, and generally less available options for AoE. They're at a significant disadvantage in an x8 Trapdoor run compared to other ATs. Lots of lost time chasing targets. Tried it with the Fire/Stone/Blaze, it's sort of a hassle. 🤣 Might be interesting to see them compared internally to themselves, but not really sure its worth the effort and annoyance of using Trapdoor as the metric. Isn't there an AE map someone made full of AVs? That might make an interesting Stalker test if I am not making up the memory of it. 🤣