InvaderStych

To date, the worst most frustrating combo I ever tried was also the first. In 2004: Broadsword/Dark Armor scrapper. Which is probably totally viable now, but not even remotely then. Hooray for all those levels before Stamina! Who was talking about endurance just buggering off? What endurance? 😄 On the other hand that was also before ED, and pre-ED Headsplitter was a sight to behold. Too bad it was unplayable for more than about 15 seconds before completely flattening the blue bar.

Public Service Broadcasting BBC remixes above sort of reminded me I wanted to post a couple of these: If War Should Come Night Mail The Other Side

Ack! I always forget Burn. Gotta call myself out on that one too! 😄

This assertion is based on the premise that scrapper does not function "properly" unless it has a source of an automatic taunt. I disagree with that pretty strongly. A Scrapper's contribution to a team is not aggro management, it's priority-target & hard-target elimination while being durable enough that the support ATs don't have to worry about you as much as they do the Blaster. If there is a need to hold a hard target's attention, natural threat and massive dmg in its face do that just fine. A solo scrapper should have no problems with "runners" given that most of us are running an epic snipe and Combat Teleport exists. Honestly, with those two tools I actually enjoy taking out strays that think they are going to escape. But I'm quite odd, I know. The only reason Scrappers have them at all is due to auras with a buff based on mobs being in range; change those into something that is not mob dependent - without nerfing its potential - and I'm just fine dropping all taunt from Scrapper secondaries. And, though I am too lazy to do another quote: Hard No conforming all the Scrapper armors to the Sentinel versions. First off, Sents don't get /Shield, and you can pry my shield from my cold-dead-scrapper-hands. 😄 Second, Sents don't get the good version of Beta Decay and the crappy version of the dmg buff from Meltdown. 3rd, if there are certain armors where the Sent implementation makes more sense (Regen!), then those should be evaluated case by case, not wholesale. Edit: (Okay, less lazy than I thought but ...) Why are we all focusing on the auras while forgetting that neither Shield Charge nor Ground Zero crit either? 😉

I briefly spun up a Kat/Stone on Beta just to give re-rolling my Kat/Rad one more thought. Full Skin Armors with contrasting colors and the "Fire & Ice" Energy Sword looks very good, though not the right look for the toon. Would probably be a very good combo, likely wouldn't need to worry about DA. Did a little more building with Rad/Stone ... my gawd the endurance consumption between all those toggles and IG. Devastating gets a huge Brimstone Proc, but I would probably hate leveling Rad Melee. As a combo for leveraging weird mechanics it will probably be very solid though. If there was a one-handed hammer skin for dual blades ...... 😄

Actually, this is a very cool idea. The "analyzing power" you describe already exists in Surveillance so that is an easy port; a +Perception power is also an easy port. The rest of it is very utilitarian, but doesn't seem to induce scary power-creep. Of course the rest of it is subject to Standard Code Rant, but it is a solid idea nonetheless.

Yeah, I was way off. 😄 I went down the "Colorless green ideas sleep furiously." road after reading the OP and couldn't find my way back. By the time I realized that was the wrong road it was too late. 😄

Let players buy ad space for their favorite toon on billboards for massive amounts of Fake Money Units; simple in-game editor with limited assets to prevent the obvious "image trolling" that would otherwise occur.

Because it should have it's cottage burned down and made into a CT style gap closer that does 0 dmg, is restricted by line of sight, but has Burst of Speed's range. Not yet another power that renders Scrappers into a much less durable Tank/Brute with marginally better burst damage. Scrappers are not Tanks. Please stop trying to homogenize melee ATs. If changes are in line for Scrappers, they should differentiate the AT, not homogenize it. Currently, if I want a Scrapper with a constant taunt, I have options, if I want one that doesn't because tactically I want to select my encounters and eliminate the most dangerous target while letting the tanks and controllers deal with aggro management, I have that option as well. This suggestions limits options and increases homogenization, so still a hard no. Also, if you really must have a taunt on your /Burn scrapper, take the Melee Hybrid branch that includes a taunt (the +def side iirc). All the auto-taunt you will ever need.

It's a way of saying "No." without offering explanation. Is as much a part of the old boards as Strong And Pretty. I was an on/off player from launch until late 2011 or so, it was definitely a thing, but I also enjoy forums and probably spend too much time on them. 🤣 https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=%2Fjranger I take exception to the definition, because any given idea to which someone might use /jranger is not automatically "Dumb," just one that the /jranger user thinks is such - accurately or not. Depending on how one feels about such things, it is either a bit of nostalgic humor or an act of toxic meme-ery. Or something in between. Me? Meh? The internet is the internet and things like /jranger happen. When I see someone using it frequently, especially in threads where an idea merits more discussion I tend to start skimming past their content rather than reading it.

Who the hell is Brandon? I mean /jranger actually comes from the original CoH boards, so I get why people use it and whatever. Not my style, even if I do indulge in silly meme-ery from time to time. But now we're supposed to some person named Brandon? Nope. Too Far, Internet, Too Far. 😛

In before the overwhelming flood of reviews for Pumpkin Spice Enriche.

That is the trade-off between armor choices. Sets that have a taunt in Scrapper Secondaries are the ones that have an aura where the buff is dependent on the number of mobs within the radius of the aura. Sets that have a damage aura (including Stone after Page 3 goes Live) get a passive damage source instead of a mob-dependent buff and a taunt. SR/Ninjitsu don't need one either because that's thematically weird. Especially for /Nin. Seriously. There are plenty of ways to deal with runners between *PPs and Combat Teleport. Taunt dynamics and Scrappers are just fine as they are. Would much rather see Scrapper Secondaries trigger Critical Hits; suits the class better and brings them in line with Brutes/Tanks who's inherent effects are buffs to damaging powers in their secondary/primary respectively. So, thank you but no, we'll have a never mind.

Spines gets a little less, imo, from Brimstone due to the lower modifier to the fire dmg proc for Ranged attacks. Impale's Brimstone dmg was pretty low compared to melee ST attacks with similar activation times, and Throw Spines gets a double-whammy as it is ranged and the fire dmg proc is affected by Area Factor. That can all be extrapolated from patch notes, so hopefully I'm not in trouble for saying that outside of the Beta section. There's more info on how Brimstone works in the /SA Feedback thread though. I haven't tried Katana, but War Mace is pretty satisfying. Rad Melee has also been interesting, but those animations, lol. Despite that I am actually somewhat tempted by Rad/Stone. It's also a nice boost for Savage as well. Haven't figured out the interaction with Leap, but VS benefits from it quite nicely. I think that it's hard to decide between fast attacking sets to maximize applications or slower sets for bigger dmg/tic is a sign that it might be pretty well balanced.

Assuming technical feasibility, I can't think of any game play/balance reason not to add a way for players to purchase builds slots beyond the "Free 3" builds. A few outlier ATs might confer an advantage mid-TF/SF by doing so, but the costs/downsides seem to balance that out on the surface. Also, others have previously mentioned, here is another thing for folks to spend their mountain of Fake Money Units upon. 😄

I'd also love to see what info @Booper and Company would be willing to share with the class about Brimstone's dmg proc. Some anecdotal stuff: Seems to be 0-3 tics with a "cancel on miss" or similar effect. I thought at first the patch notes reference to "(scales from 0-3 seconds)" was the DoT duration from Brimstone, but now I realize that actually means that the dmg scale caps at 3s activation time; anything longer doesn't increase dmg any further if I understand it correctly. It does feel like the "Ranged Scale" modifier is a bit low. Impale's (Spines) Brimstone bonus felt quite low for the activation time after having done light experimentation with Hammer, Rad, Savage, and Spines in that order. For Throw Spines it was pretty abysmal.

Shield Charge -> Mass Levitate Also, Laser Beam Eyes/X-Ray Beam/et al (if there are others), because eye lasers are coolness.

Ki-Push -> <Any Blast> <or> Storm Kick (gotta be fast) <or> Burst of Speed (wait a beat for best results). Bonus Points: Ki Push -> Combat Teleport (targeted macro) -> Ki push -> Combat Teleport -> <<Repeat>> though that one is just a stupid mini-game. 😛 Burst of Speed -> Combat Teleport (<shift>-<W,A,S, or D> as appropriate) -> Vorpal Judgement.

Many thanks to the magical person/people who made this design decision and made it possible, btw. Kinda hope it is a sign of things to come for scrapper secondaries. 😉

So ... I guess I'm the only one playing from a standing desk then? Technically it's not even a desk. Flat-packed shelving that happens to be the perfect height. 😄

Echoing this. Also, is there any way to bring the available palate of Rooted any closer to the rest of the set? I know this is common in a lot of sets (never quite understood why though), but the different in /SA seems quite dramatic. Yup, this looks to be working properly. Yes, also very much into this idea. SS, as noted, is a rather strong auto (values worth some enhancement) and slots quite a few desirable unique/global pieces. More importantly, Brimstone brings the much more interesting and set-defining mechanic of +fire dmg; I'd much rather have that earlier. Which brings me to Brimstone and Geode ... Is it by design that Mud Pots does not seem to benefit from the Brimstone proc? Should we expect similar from the rest of various dmg auras? I expected it not to function with Irradiated Ground because that one is "special" (have not tested, but last time I tried, Firey Embrace didn't buff IG, irrc), but Mud Pots does appear in the regular dmg output, not as Pet dmg, as with IG. I may have missed it just watching the scroll though. Could someone in the know set my expectation? 😄 On that subject - Geode suppresses Mud Pot's damage, but not the immobilize effect nor does it prevent dmg procs (Ice Mistral's chance for cold tested) from firing/applying dmg. The latter doesn't seem in line with intent. Geode is quite interesting; if one has the patience to let the stacks build up, the dmg buff feels significant. Finding practical times to use it should be fun, if challenging in certain circumstances.

As do most who are older than us. You know we had a meeting back in the 90s about this, it's by design. 😛

Can you post what you've worked up? Posted builds tend to get more advice/tips/comments in these threads. 🙂 That said ... I don't think my build will be all that helpful for you as I am likely dropping GZ in favor of tLD (*) and worked more on resists under some defense while leaning into DA or Shadow Meld to conditionally bolster defense. Here's a current draft though just in case it gives you any ideas. Drop Teleport if you're not into CT for CJ (and the 5th LotG), could swap in GZ for tLD although keeping both means moving slots around. The idea here was to leverage Ageless for recharge and DDR, but I don't think I like building such that an iPower is needed, so that might change too. I'm not overly happy with this result just yet. Considering a Hover/EvM/Combat Teleport version, but that's another story. | Copy & Paste this data into Mids Reborn : Hero Designer to view the build | |-------------------------------------------------------------------| |MxDz;1491;729;1458;HEX;| |78DA6594CB4F135114C6EF3CCAA3142A94529047A148E9030AB8F3153442514B136| |2DD9A3AD0111A6BA7999644DDB97069346AA20B9F898A6EFC075CB95591E852FD03| |4C1434F185ABF1CC9C0F5A6313F23BF3CD3DDF39F7DC3BA4CF4D799ECD5C9C1452C| |BE182562E67330BA6562AE966437AB9A255F24651D04F9DBE6014EB29F06FBDCEA6| |F582AE27525A452B6AFDDBEA947E5A2F96F5C4712D9777B2B387CCB38629DAE60CA| |39038413925C3645FB723654ABA9E6B76C2647E71A9922F2E7A9DA7595DCBE96679| |295FEA9A2EE51712998A5638431532C672219BD6CA15DD3CDF491DC5E8EFB2DD9A6| |4376AB9C44B45880955B85F315B5E3377AC826F981D6BCCD0F076AE2A7EB026FF04| |7F33D54DF00F73254A2952CECE91A575D6EA3E31DB7FA90EC3D493221C5F59792F3| |B5AEC0373E4237317D576716DC585DA75A8DD80DA0DA87D95FCEA9D462DA53ECCF9| |EE38B3CD2F31BFF3DA21F26D645FB97140389A6737BFF304E845AF2AAE905F1366D| |6F4907D3A1E31871F832BE013F4FF9419A2DC66CE15CD71F60F534D2FF7A77A7D98| |4527736443766A8E4CF2F3689BE23CCBE4D30A9FD64BA8453E3EC9F111BE17A4F95| |4A1D03A3FE6E4C79CC630A731CC6962EB8C686D00FB0A1C63AD33091E61F6CD30C3| |2978607ED729B78BCFCCD5758ACF71A706CE337B1670BE39506746A8EF6ECE55BA3| |FB36FCF17ECB70F0C325BA94E2FEE5C2F7AEC4BFEDB5BFF5110BDDDA09C207A0BDE| |E69AFD77980377C17BE07DE620667A8D7243C80DED616D702FB80F77713F78007CC| |01EF6B51EC23D1E5AE3B39E780BBE636E7A8488F01A3582FD44B19F28F613C57E62| |D84F8CE615C7D9C771877CD467025A02F77698B471F616E3DDEC1154B7BF59AB471| |5F859F6A36589D9FF943915CB49911C65DD6D7FC15046B9D246AD1661ED6BAD36C0| |D5BF553549C2D7DE7293A796A27F47E3E82CE5230971A8BD1A2703D5F8A0BF1ADFB| |2D77397D6F350553FE9AEC65A4D3C5713CFD7C47F01C510EC49| |-------------------------------------------------------------------| I'm not sure how I broke it several months ago, but in-game it was never really finished anyway so .... 🤷‍♂️ Even unfinished Kat/Rad carves up AVs, a better player could do quite a bit with the combo. * - Ground Zero is a fantastic power, and when I was playing this toon regularly it kept both GZ and tLD, but I was never happy with the 3s activation time - it just doesn't flow with Katana very well, one can fit a *lot* of tLDs into the downtime of GZ, and I needed to make space for my personal "must have" - combat teleport. I am by no means saying anyone else should do what I did and go either/or on those powers. EDIT: Apparently the live version still has GZ, suffice to say I go back and forth on this one.

Ok, I think I get the objection here. The thing is - outliers aside, this is basically what EPP/PPP choices are - re-tuned powers from other ATs (blasts & snipes for melee, shields for blasters, melee, heals, and buff-debuff for Sents, apparently) that add utility or fill some sort of gap. They can also be safely ignored if nothing fits the bill. But "nothing to do with" is inaccurate - thematic pairings are there "fire, dark, psi, etc" and "flesh out abilities" choices exist within them. But if it is the literal definition of "Epic" that you are seeking, then EPP/PPP choices alone aren't the right place to look regardless of AT. Edit: Beam could easily make use Mind Link, or the Caltrops power from Ninja, or several others. Beam could also just not take any of them at all and still be a damn fine toon. Double Edit: Pick the favorite toon you've run so far and play it through to the post-50 game. The "Epic" you are looking for is out there, but it's not hiding in a perfect powerset combination. It's hiding in places like Dark Astoria (how do more people not love this zone?).

Honestly, I see this the other way. Scrapper, Blaster, and Brute EPP/PPP choices are extremely limited simply because certain powers either "stand out" like blaster toggle shields or fill a gap - usually the tremendous endurance costs of 9+ toggles, never mind adding hideously expensive ones like Focused Accuracy for 0.78 end/s. In contrast Sentinel choices look to be much more balanced, lending themselves to thematic flexibility in filling out a build. Almost literally default choices. So much Scorpion Shield. I'm even guilty of it on my most played blaster. It would be really cool if things like LRM Rocket were as good of a choice, but they aren't. While these shield powers are good, they're hardly the reason blasters are what they currently are. Again, for some combinations almost default choices. See above regarding the end cost on FA, and recall that these sets also include the universally reviled Laser Beam Eyes, which would be awesome if it was as useful as say snipes in the other Scrapper Epics, but it isn't. And I'll even admit that as someone who uses it in a build for [Reasons]. Is it a question of their not being a Body/Energy mastery equivalent for Sentinels? That as a specific suggestion might be worth exploring by the folks who know Sentinels better than I, but recall that Sents already have more pool choices than any other AT. They also get Mind Link and an array of pbAoE heals to choose from. There is not a single heal within any of the Scrapper EPP/PPP choices. I don't see this as an issue really, because that sort of thing delves further into "samey-same" territory. Honestly, reading over the various pools, I'll agree that none of them stand out as "default choices," but I disagree that it is a problem. I'd much rather have viable diversity in pool choices than feeling saddled into the same sub-set of them over and over again.