InvaderStych

Not on a blaster, but I did briefly cycle through this one while experimenting on one of my scrappers; based on that some thoughts: In general it should work better for an AoE blaster than it did during my brief fiddling about. Are you sure it's not 40% status resistance? Protection is usually expressed in Mag. I ignored this part, was just testing for the mez personally. I feel, in general, this sort of thing works best stacked against an existing source. Interface could also be one of those possible sources ... I think. Spectral perhaps, but I think the chance to immob is pretty low, it also does some neg dmg, so there's that. By itself, for half-uptime, you're likely better off with Assault, unless the status resistance is better than I think it is. IIRC, fully stacked with the slotted buff included Assault Core is worth +85% dmg, which is significant. If you want a second hybrid for durability, either of the melee choices would probably serve that goal more directly than soft controls. Now, I say all that but I do run Gravitic (for the -rech/-spd) Interface on my Fire/Martial because it stacks with Reaction Time, and that works an absolute treat. But that's 100% uptime and stacks with an existing debuff, so ymmv. It's difficult to lay numbers on it, but the enhanced slows on top of the chaos of Rain causing Avoid, it does make a difference in incoming attacks. If you've got yourself setup on beta, it could be worth a run or three to try out.

Only if it is the "Please, Please Tell Me" Ball.

Motion has been seconded and brought to the floor, let the voting begin: Yes!

You have played through The Graveyard Shift then, yes? (or it's Redside counter-part) Running that in-level is quite fun and can be challenging. Even more so before the Zoombies were tuned down from the original version. There is a mission in there with some constant map-wide effects, good times. I do fully support this sort of thing but I also, in my usual, needlessly verbose manner, have some thoughts: Keyes Island is easily the least popular iTrial, in part because of periodic irresistible damage and that damn disintegration beam that absolutely will kill you without some form of massive burst healing in the moment. Though it is also one that requires quite a bit of organization in order to complete, much less badge - so that has an impact as well. I think the thing on this trial people dislike most though is the Time Stop thing. No one likes to be forced into moments of complete powerlessness. In the 19 months since I found HC I think I've seen a Keyes run in LFG once, maybe twice. But there are still many ways to approach these problems: during Live I had a /Regen brute that I made specifically for Keyes' irresistible damage tricks. Because I was kind of personally irritated in the way that iTrials and other content felt "punishing" to melee characters in the moment. I am not making an assertion that was the intent, but I am saying that when mechanics are introduced that are unavoidable, map wide, or "area denial via immediate death" that can make for some "frustrating feels" if they are not handled carefully in their implementation. Did it work? Mostly. For those unfamiliar, Keyes' Green Stuff makes Battle Maiden's "Blue Death Patches" feel like a nice soak in the hot tub after a lovely day of skiing by comparison. Did I still have a button to call out "HELP!! DISINTEGRATING!!" ... ? You can bet your bippy I did, because even with the massive HP bucket and Regen Clicks he still needed outside heals to avoid dying and giving AM a big fat heal. I cannot remember if Regen was given to Brutes before or after Keyes was nerfed though, but I do remember how very difficult the original version was. So it's a fine line to walk, and I'd submit that the recently released arcs (referenced above) demonstrate that the HC team has a decent grasp on that. Cool. Game your Game, Player. There isn't really any one set of levels in this game that I find more enjoyable than another. For me it's the journey of the toon; I rarely take something all the way to the end, but when I do I put a lot of time and effort into how I want it to play when I get there. And I definitely want there to be big, crazy, toon-breaking, soul-crushing, OMG I CANT BELIEVE WE WON challenges waiting for me when I do. And some of the same on the leveling journey along the way is fine with me too. It's because of the word "Trinity." It just doesn't apply in The Cities. First because "Classic Trinity" makes me think (and others I would expect) "Damage, Tank, Heal" which completely discounts two huge parts of this game, Buff/De-Buff and Control. As "tank" can be considered a form of Control (directing the flow of the opponent's damage is a form of control), what we have in this game is a Quad: Control, Buff/De-Buff, Damage, Heal. I suppose since I have been reductionist with Tanking I could argue against myself and reduce "Heal" into "Buff/De-buff" and we're back down to three. But when someone uses the phrase "Classic Trinity" that's not comes to people's mind. I'll leave out what comes to my mind, because it would seem antagonistic, and I don't really want mess up the thread. More, lol. The point is that without being reductionist we have this: Control, Buff/De-Buff, Damage, Tank, Heal. Reductionist Version: Control, Buff/De-Buff, Damage. I suppose that is a whole lot of semantic nonsense, but either categorization gives way to reason #2 that the phase "trinity team" doesn't apply here: Those tools can be brought to bear by wildly different types of teams. You don't need a "Tanker" to tank - see Ill/Rad and Dark/Rad controllers, see Brutes built for survival. You don't need a "Defender" to have heals. Etc, etc, etc ... More to the point, characters here can bring combinations of those tools. Damage toons can carry soft controls, Control toons can Heal. This game is just too flexible for the term "Trinity" as it typically applies in MMOs where uniformity and extreme character specialization are the norm. What we are looking for here is "Diverse Teams" not "Trinity Teams." I know it's a silly, largely semantic thing. But "trinity" is sort of a dirty word around here. 🍻

Thank you for clarification; however I understand that it is "new content" under discussion and I have highlighted the portions of the clarification which are counter to the phrase "require classic trinity game play." I emphasized the one I feel is more important. "Has significant advantages" =/= "Require." "Cooperation/Team-Work of Different ATs" =/= "Classic Trinity Game Play" No one is stopping anyone from creating "Classic Trinity Teams" to their heart's content. But that is far from the only way to cooperate or to mix ATs and employ team-work. I'm with The Flea on this one - quite in agreement with you in essence, but "requiring classic trinity game play" is a hard no for me. It sounds, however, as though your intent is not a literal application of that phrase. 🍻

Nope, thank you. For some of us nothing is more boring, sorry and no offense intended, but also not sorry. The beauty of this game is in its flexibility; I'm all for setting challenges and I routinely take my own characters to their various (and admittedly quite humble) breaking points on the regular. I'm looking forward to Hard Mode as much as anyone else. Hell, I'm even hoping for greater diversity in team composition and tactics as a response, but the only way to "require classic trinity play" given the multitude of options available in this game would be to impose arbitrary/artificial mechanics that serve only to penalize player creativity. Does it really matter if 8 top end blasters helmed by 8 hyper-experienced players on voice comms can complete a Hard Mode task at maximum difficulty? That's what's called an outlier. We're not balancing for outliers. If there's an issue with blasters (open to that discussion as I was absolutely shocked the first time I read stats on sustain toggles) that's better left for another thread and probably not the metric we should be measuring by if we think that metric is broken. What about 8 Corrs or 8 Defenders? Is running 4 Controllers and 4 Dominators "classic trinity play" or should that team be penalized for non-conformity? Melee characters can be built with all sorts of lite controls, should those builds be penalized in Hard Mode because a team of 8 melee toons with durability/lite-control focused builds don't conform to some arbitrary "classic" form of game play? What if groups of people want to bust out their Soldiers and Widows to run a full on Arachnos assault on Hard Mode? Where does that fit? Make no mistake; I totally agree that cases of successful runs by the likes listed above (theme teams, super-teams, teams of less than 8, challenge teams, etc) should be the rarest of outliers in Hard Mode on Max, and that the "most accessible" path to victory should be one that encourages a much wider breadth ATs in any given team. But in no way shape manner or form should Hard Mode arbitrarily limit the creativity of players in developing builds and team compositions while approaching these new challenges. Don't forget that we are all, effectively, outliers anyway. Even with my ham-fisted, half-incompetent abilities and wacky, conceptual, and often sub-optimal builds I'm still not representative of "the average player" and I don't really think anyone else in this thread is either. 😉 🍻

I want to say that last year at some point, when this was brought up on the forums, there was a comment that it had been previously reported as bug. I could be mistaken. I'll try some search-fu later and if I don't see it in a thread in Bug Reports, I'll go ahead and fire one up. Edit: First reported in May of 2020.

... and I feel fine with this for some inexplicable reason. 😉

Worse: Craft all the way to T4 before realizing that key powers in your sets interfere with the effectiveness of the iPower. To-wit: If you have a source of regen resistance, do NOT take Rebirth Radial, as your resistance will reduce the value of the +regen. I have a /Rad scapper than learned this all too late.

Apologies if I am misunderstanding the question, but .... .... defense debuffs won't necessarily improve the attack that applies them, they'll apply a -defense effect for a duration of time making subsequent attacks more likely to land. So, imo, the question is less about the effectiveness for that power in a vacuum, but a combination of where it falls in your attack routine and the base values for dmg and debuff. If it's low dmg/high debuff, leverage that, if the opposite ... well, do the opposite. 100% depends on the power. Enhancing a 5% defense debuff isn't as effective as enhancing a 20% defense debuff in terms of "gameplay effectiveness" or "slot opportunity cost." I'm not well versed enough in the underlying math to give you anything in concrete numbers though, but there's a "percentage of a percentage" sort-of-kind-f-thing happening in there someplace. For example, I rarely enhance combat jumping for defense, except incidentally to get set bonuses, because the base value is so low that the enhancements are only netting < 2% difference in total defense.

Looks like they've gone through a few of the AT forums trashing each in turn. Still waiting for them to come on down to Scrapper-Town with that noise. 🤣

"Don't make me make you defeat me; you wouldn't like me when I'm defeated."

Someone forgot the first rule of Monkey Fight Club. 😄

Gin Wigmore - Kill Of The Night

Scroobius Pip; w/ P.O.S. and Sage Francis - Let 'Em Come ... listed the artists in verse order ...

Yup. Good note for most of the iPower choices. Though I've yet to find a reason to carry 2 different Musc's. On Scrappers, for example, I like to carry both Melee and Assault Hybrids and swap to the former if I'm looking to be extra-durable while the latter is the default. To a lesser degree, this is a good tip for Interface as well. I've not intentionally build different Destiny options, though I do have one Scrapper that got to T4 Rebirth before I realized that it doesn't play nice with the regen resistance in Rad Armor. 🤣 Edit: At the risk of further stating the obvious; speed debuffs in Clarion Radial look to me movement only, not -rech. I suspect for similar reasons cited above regarding -/+dmg.

Thank you for this. I needed to read something like this. I want to live in this world.

FWIW: It looks to be a great fit for /Martial. Did a little more experimenting. Burst of Speed's already considerable range is boosted by quite a bit. Normally I can hit something about 72 yards away (there was some variance, 72-75 yards seemed to work, which is over the base range of 200', but I think I have some range bonuses in the build someplace), after activating CR T4 I could successfully use BoS from 125 yards. Since Inner Will can cover the "gap" it all just sort of lines up. Probably stating the obvious with the range thing. I still cannot tell if it is impacting -spd in Reaction time, but it probably does if it is supposed to.

Yeah, Yeah, I know. Necromancy at work. Seems to make more sense than starting another thread about the same thing. 😉 It appears that neither Clarion Radial nor Power Boost affect "Slow" or is that part of "RunSpeed." (Edit: Ignore this terrible sentence, the crux of the question is below, and looks to be a yes.) The +Absorb from Martial Combat: Reaction Time definitely sees a boost from Clarion, but I can't tell if the speed debuff is being boosted or not. From CoD: Is RunningSpeed the same thing as "Slow Movement?"

I had the same problem earlier this morning. Took it "as a hint" to switch from Tequila to the new Launcher and so I did. Possibly coincidental but the change-over solved the error and I could login to Brainstorm.

What is the story with Cross Punch? That's a big slot investment for a pool power, sure it's a proc bomb but they're all S/L damage and EM shouldn't need any help with big damage. I don't get it. For another AoE? More recharge and SC covers that nicely. Same with Petrifying Gaze. The Basilisk set is giving you a typed defense bonus. Doesn't help the build at all, and the power is ... well, I've never used it, but why? I'm all for a hold on a Scrapper, but it takes more than the single long recharge mag 3 to be genuinely useful. AoE defense is massively overbuilt as well. I'd re-tune the build before judging the set. Just having high defense numbers on /SD doesn't really do it. You can get better resist numbers under that defense. For iPowers, the list above is pretty good. Consider Degenerative Core vs. Reactive Radial if you are going hunting for AVs and the like. Depending on how deep into Vet levels you take the toon, you'll have enough to build both Assault and Melee Hybrids and switch them as desired.

Include Burst of Speed and Combat Teleport in that list as well; however, it is not on the power side that causes the issue. It came up in the various discussions of teleportation when Combat Teleport was in open beta. Many objects are flagged such that they cannot ever be the target of teleport - iirc to prevent players from pulling sneaky tricks and/or prevent something from breaking. The best examples are doors for Vaults and In-Mission Jail Cells (remember when those were relevant? ... but I digress) - if those could be teleported (previously via TP Foe, now TP Target and FS) then they could be simply bypassed instead of defeated. Destructible mission objectives are the same. (ITF and LGTF examples) Given my Combat Teleport addiction I've run into a lot of things that are flagged this way. I'm not going to pretend to understand the coding issues involved, but somewhere in the feedback thread on beta Teleportation Pool updates one of the Devs explained this in game programming terms. At least they fixed the Chantry/Storm Palace exterior ring so we can use Leap, BoS, CT, et all there now. 😄 I don't think we should be balancing sets on proc chances, for starters, and I am fairly confident that one or more Devs have said similar. Further, playing through the first 33-34 levels of Savage without Leap and before getting slots into it will demonstrate clearly just how lack-luster the set is for single target with Hemo being trash and Leap being lack-luster damage without Procs. While leveling my last two savage scrappers (bailed on the first one in the early 40s to swap secondaries) whittling down a boss with Savage made Spines feel like a Single Target King by comparison. From an experiential standpoint at least. Bear in mind this is on SOs with some select IOs peppered in once I know which ones a toon will keep. This is how I level everything, fwiw, I can neither build a toon nor decide if I even want to build it without leveling it "by hand" as it were. 🤣 It's hard to judge the set properly when it's big single-target attack is woefully bad, but here we are. Resorting to Patron attacks to bolster single target performance. I haven't looked into Fire Melee as I haven't touched it since Retail, but if it is the same as Savage where the secondary DoT is coded "Cancel on Miss" then perhaps a simple change to test would be to remove that flag before anything else. Turn the "bonus" damage into something reliable; the DoTs are most useful on EB/AV targets anyway which is where Savage falls most behind in performance. So, three things for Savage: - Fix Hemorrhage - Remove Cancel On Miss from Bleed damage. - Fix Critical Damage attributes to include Bleed damage. (pending results of the first two and technical feasibility) See where that puts the set. I have other notions as well, but in general Savage awesome and fun, but not great on hard targets without significant investment in IOs/Procs, so most of those notions are overkill. 😄

Badges already have a "look at me, I got a badge" reward; set your badge title to that badge, bang, done. No need to hide anything cosmetic behind badge gates. All the cool kids used to wear Strong and Pretty, but these day's I'm too old to know any cool kids. 🍻

Yup. There are also the groups (or subsets of groups) that seem to be programmed to never cluster up - Awakened (Freed Seers, not the PDD Squids) in the Wards, and PPD Psi Cops in later Redside content come to mind. I absolutely love these things in game. One of the things I struggle with in all MMOs - especially in the Launch Days - were static groups of opponents standing around waiting to get culled; the clustering is convenient, but it's not exactly tactically complex. Give Me More. Why would anyone who can throw fire from their hands at a distance saunter on up to some death-aura emitting veritable wall of fists and put themselves in harm's way? I know it is the way of the MMO, but its never made sense to me. It says something about CoX, it's design, and it's community that I still love this game in spite of the tactical stupidity of a statistical majority of the combat. 🤣 I don't know where I am going with this, aside from to self-identify as one of the few players who actually did go "YAY!" when those "troublesome" mob tactics were introduced to the game. .... that and the thread was drifting downward, it's presence upon page 1 was in jeopardy!