laudwic

Leveled a Grav/Savage dom to 50 on red side content, solo without a problem. Solid from range, great from Melee, decent single and group holds that really come into their own when you have perma dom. Personally, I didn't like the phase power and abuse the heck out of wormhole. Wormhole has a great range and recharge. Don't grab the entire spawn, no big deal, you didn't aggro them. The spawn wonders, well, why didn't you send them into a corner? Throw in feral charge, its just fun. Plus, you get Singularity, one heck of a wonderful pet. Highly recommend Gravity/Savage.

Personally, leave it how it is. If you extend rewards further, then there are going to be more requests to extend it further. For example, it appears from looking at paragon wiki that there were going to be categories of incarnate powers beyond Hybrid. (Genesis, Mind, Vitae and Omega - yes Incarnates would go from Alpha to Omega - I have no idea what the design idea was for these.) I'm surprised there isn't a call for those to be built and expanded as they seem to fit the idea of veterans rewards. Problem is a ton of content would need to be developed to go with it, more missions, enemies, and trials. That isn't even counting the work necessary to add the additional abilities and balance them. In my mind, this would be far too much work to hope for or expect from the volunteer group that is so incredibly kind to keep this game going for us. If someone is playing so many levels above 50, then they are having fun doing what they are doing and they don't need more. I would expect that the high post 50 portion is probably a small but rabid portion of the player base that is not going to leave if there is not more post 50 content. So, I don't see a need to create rewards past 50 any more than they already exist. Personally, I would rather see effort go into other areas. I love the Sentinel add. Savage Melee on my Dominator has been great! I would like to see more Archtypes and powersets. I am enjoying the week long July events. My computer couldn't handle monstermash but I was happy you all did it. As for the whole farming discussion, I don't do it but if someone else wants to do that it doesn't hurt me. I like exploring my power set. At times I wish I level quicker, other times I shut down xp, there are ways I can deal with both. If you want to get to 50 in AE while never leaving Atlas in a far shorter time than it takes me to get a toon to 50, good for you if it makes you happy. I enjoy how I play, and while it is slower, I'm fine with it. It is on each person to decide how they want to play with the exception of non-consensual AFK. If you join a team or league, if they don't agree for you to be AFK and not contribute, then you shouldn't be there getting benefits without contributing. <edit to add comment about AFK>

Think of Tidal Power as building up a potential boost for your powers. You don't need to have it to use your powers, but it makes some powers better. Aqua Bolt, Hydro blast, Whirlpool, and Steam Spray always give you a tick. Dehydrate and Water Jet give you one if your less than 3 or use it all if your at 3. Water Burst and Geyser use all your tidal power. If you have three tidal power, some powers (the ones that can take all tidal power) give additional effects. Like Dehydrate heals more if it hits, Water Jet immediately recharges, Water Burst will 100% of the time knock targets into the air, Geyser does more damage for every point of tidal power you have, and 3 stacks gives you 100% to disorient targets. When you have three stacks of Tidal Power, the powers that benefit from it get a gold ring around them. Make sense?

I'm playing a Water/Dark Corruptor that is predominately solo and I'm having a good time. In slotting out IOs, I'm noticing I can get a good number of + Damage Io Set bonuses for example: 2 IOs from Dampened spirits gives +2 Damage (I can put that in 2 or three powers) 2 IOs from Lockdown give +3 Damage (planning to pick up a second hold power so I can stack holds - and 2 in Dark Servant - I can have this three times in my build) 2 IOs from Undetermined Defenses + 2 Damage (can slot in Aqua bolt) Malice of the Corruptor is giving another 3% 3 slot Overwhelming force gives another 3 (Hydro blast with a Force Feedback Proc) 4 slot Devastation +3 (put into Dehydrate with two healing IOs) I'm not really trying to, but it looks like I can have around a +23 or 26 to damage when I'm just slotting for what I need anyways. Some powers I'm slotting in different sets as I want to improve different portions, like Aquabolt is also slotted for defense debuff and a separate set for damage. Twilight Grasp I'm using two different healing sets (2 from Theft of Essence (Heal and the +End Proc) 2 from Touch of Nictus (Heal and Acc/Heal) 2 from Dampened Spirits (tohit and tohit/end) I liked the idea of the +End proc but I don't want to stay totally with Theft of Essence as those IOs don't improve past 30. The Damage bonuses are an interesting afterthought. I'm running Tough, Weave and Shadow Fall so my defenses are pretty good so I don't feel I'm really missing much and I'll be adding another either resistance or defense power later. Is slotting IOs for damage worth it? Does the percent increase go on base damage or damage after modified by other slotting? Am I basically running as a free Enrage (basic level damage inspiration) at all times with this? If its not, I could make some changes, like switch out Dark Watcher's Despair for Dampened Spirits to get a health bonus rather than damage or unbreakable constraint to do a 4% recovery rather than lockdown with 3% damage. (note 2 slot theft of essence gave me 10% Regeneration better than two times of slotting unbreakable constraint - I would do Numina's except I wanted the accuracy)

Please no, I solo generally in the game as can't guarantee being able to make the time commitment for the trials. So, it takes me a good amount of time to get to 50 and incarnates would be a true pain. As the system is, I can generally get to the second to the highest tier of incarnate abilities through threads and merit around the time I finish the incarnate mission content. I think it works out great. The game being too easy is more of a factor of the AE farmers than those of us that are trying to enjoy the game and to keep rewards workable when your not doing taskforces and trials.

Or worse, someone's ambush that they didn't clean up.

I discovered this game was alive again after the start of the pandemic. While I still have a job, things have been stressful. This game has provided me a needed distraction. I appreciate what you are doing very much, and I am constantly amazed at the insanely good level of service being provided by an all volunteer team. With the server problems recently, I didn't want the game to be down for a few days or a week, but I certainly would have understood. The fact that you got it up so quickly, are so quick to investigate bug reports just astounds me. I appreciate and thank each and every one of you.

I just finished leveling up my Gravity/Savage Dominator to 50 and all incarnates. I did it completely solo on the red side and had a great time with it. I had very little trouble with content (early at level, bosses once SOs started, kept at Elite bosses not AVs, and increased level and spawn amounts after my alpha slot) Wormhole is great fun grabbing groups and shoving them into a corner. It was a great control power, grabbing groups of enemies does not agro the ones you didn't grab, recharges quickly, and if you teleport them into a corner you don't have much problem with them wandering around. Singularity deserves its reputation as the best pet in game. Too many times my Singularity held off an ambush that I wasn't even aware of. I was really impressed one time when I turned around and found my singularity holding one of the weaker elite bosses. Savage is just fun with feral charge. The heal is just ok, the PbAoE is not worth it, but the rest of the power set is fun. The endurance mod and small recharge mod from having blood certainly helps. I made this character to do red side content, one of the nice things the Villian Alignment reward power completely fills your domination bar. Its great to have if you accidentally let permadom slip.

It is a power that you need to use once your starting to get into trouble rather than when your in trouble. I have only an IO in it. Its helpful but I make sure to use it far earlier than I would with other healing powers. Basically, I use it when I'm almost at half, still having a fight and as I'm taking more damage more healing is coming in.

Just leveled a Dominator to 50 and I took the Mace Patron Pool. I don't mind/like the missions to unlock access to the power sets. One basic reason that I took the Mace power pool is, as a Dominator, it was so much better than the others. That pool has two powers that you can slot Luck of the Gambler into. The other pools the toggle was a resistance power and no defense powers. Most dominators try to get as much recharge as possible, you can slot a Luck of the Gambler Increase recharge into a defense powers with Mace Scorpion Sheila and Personal Force field. For me, that was the deciding factor as it now gave me three uses of Luck of the Gambler and Personal Force Field has been a pleasant surprise as a one slot OH BLEEP power. Heck, you can slot a Force Feedback: Chance for Recharge into Disruptor Blast (I don't use that power enough to make it worth it, but you could. As a Grav/Savage Dom I have Force Feedback: Chance for Recharge in Lift and Propel.) I think Mace is far better than any other sets for Dominators and I would be curious about what % of Dominators use each set.

Running a 48 level Grav/Savage Dominator, I have 145% recharage rate when Hasen is up. I have two Lvl 50 IOs in hasten so I still have a short downtime in that power. I also get some additional recharge from two force feedback: Chance for Recharge IOs and the recharge bonus you get from blood in the Savage power set. So, if I'm fighting, I can guarantee that my domination power will recharge before domination runs out, but I was having trouble making sure I hit the button on time. One thing I found incredibly helpful is turning on the numerical recharge timers under the options menu for my powers. This way, instead of watching my domination power get bigger for when to click it again, I have a count down that shows me exactly when it will be available. I find this much easier to keep track of when the power will recharge and it makes it far easier to keep permadom going. This way, I was able to keep it going through three missions, and traveling between missions, solo last night.

I have it slotted in Gravity Distortion (a single target hold) in my Grav/Savage Dominator and it stacks pretty consistently.

I added one slot to it and put two pieces of the Entropic Chaos set. One Acc/Damage the other Chance to Heal. That gives me a 10% Regeneration Stat bonus and I get the occasional minor healing proc. I also have the full Entropic Chaos set in lift. So, while using those two in my attack chain I get a good chance of minor healing as I go.

On my Gravity/Savage I gave swarm a second slot. I've got two pieces of an IO set Entropic Chaos in it, first is an Acc/Damage the second is Chance to Heal. That way I get a 10% recovery bonus, and while the damage is low, the power activates very quickly as to not give a chance for their alpha before I hit them with Gravity Distortion (a hold). Swarm gives me the recharge and end bonus for having a point of blood, a chance for a small heal, and it fits nicely in my attack chain. (Swarm, Gravity distortion to lock down before they get their alpha off, Propel to knock them and the others around them down, soft control, with the extra impact damage, and then lift with the extra impact damage.) Plus swarm is nice to use for that mob that has just a little health left because the activation is so quick. Since I have to have it, I might as well take a step or two to make it useful. Plus, don't discount the small recharge rate and endurance discount having blood in the savage set. I use this power in my attack chain simple because it is very fast and it gives a decent little boost.

I have a little bit of a different take so here it goes. In making these suggestions, I just want to thank you all for everything your doing keeping this game going. I played CoH and CoV years ago, and it has been a wonderful stress relief during the current Pandemic/reduced work load. I appreciate everything your doing and I'm fine if you leave the zone as is. (I like the convenient University for crafting.) Personally, I don't think the ascetic of the zone needs to change, as I want this zone to function more as a 'wealthy' zone with a tension between the haves and have nots. The ascetic reminds me of a planned and manicured community. One that puts on a pretty and controlled face but has no soul and serious problems underneath. The community looks nice, its clean and pretty, but, when you get down to it, its only pretty on the surface. For example, have you considered having sewers here, nicer ones than the caverns but having people live in them because they can't afford to rent an apartment on the service? Think of New York or Las Vegas. This sewer system would start out safe as normal paragon streets, but lower levels could have more enemies and also mission doors. One of the many things I like is that CoH has litter in zones, places that look just dirty. There shouldn't be any here, there shouldn't be paper flying in the wind. Its clean in this zone. When adding people walking around, add people cleaning up. Everyone walking around should be clean. Not shaggy people pushing shopping carts. There are no homeless on the streets of Kallisti Wharf. In the main parts of the streets, there shouldn't be enemies. This is the safe community in Paragon. They pay to keep it safe to keep the other dangers out. In the alley's there will be mobs but I think it would be better that they are not directly in sight. Maybe the protest mechanic from Going Rogue could come in to protest the 1%. Maybe we could have the occasional 'Occupy Kallisti Wharf' event. Make one of the buildings in the zone a museum dedicated to superhero art. Reward your volunteers by having pictures/screen shots of their characters in it and do a contest to add more from the community. Add other exhibits via existing art in the game. Make it a place to go in and look at the art. Put in a badge or two. Also set missions in there. Set mayham missions to destroy the art, other missions to protect. A story Arc about the museum, obtaining artifacts for the display, finding out that new sculpture is actually a person that has been petrified, mission attending a gala in the museum only to have it attacked, villains attacking a gala to steal a diamond on display. While players could normally access the museum main floor, the back rooms, storage, offices, restoration areas would normally be off limits but could be used in missions. For villains, you could have a mission to 'case' the museum where you have to click on certain things ala a patrol mission. The University was initially for crafting, but we could have a ton of contact there. Maybe open up another one of the buildings and put contact in. The anthropology department could always use help. I wouldn't mind if my character helped out a very overweight and unattractive member of the archaeology department named Dr. Smith who would definitely go out and retrieve that item or take care of that problem but he has a lecture coming up and the students would just be incredibly upset if he wasn't there to present. Groups I would like to see: The Family hasn't seen the use it could. A break up the protection racket story arc could be fun. Its time to meet and deal with the heads of the crime families in Paragon. Instanced ambushes in a store or the university would be a new twist. I remember a post on the old live forums during one of the early Rikti invasions that a player fleeing from Rikti went into a store and the developer, playing a Rikti, followed him in. Imagine crafting in the University and suddenly a mob starts shooting at you. Nemesis is always good. I would love to see disguised Nemesis mobs walking around, not clickable, as normal civilians and then attacking as an ambush. Personal Security forces and 'Rent a Cops' - Paragon city is a dangerous place, people are being accosted everywhere you go, if you can afford it, shouldn't you have security for your family. Isn't it the right thing to keep them safe. Who is really running those security operations are they using their knowledge and access to blackmail or worse. . . . Plus, you could have villain robbery missions (go in and get the clickie) and these are the enemies. A couple of crazy loner villians out to take over the world would be nice. Hope it helps, and thank you for all that you do!