War_L0ck

Yes, recipes are the same regardless of level, but attuned already crafted enhancements can be comparable to recipe price---or vastly more expensive. I got the FF recipe earlier for 20K, and the Attuned FF was 2-3 million. Anyway, thanks for the tip on the purples.

Thanks for the explanation of Preventive Medicine. As for my other question, I often do use attuned IOs--but my point is, if FF lvl 20 IO is 2 procs per minute--and the lvl 50 is 2 procs per minute, then might as well get the lvl 20 version--right--especially if cheaper? This is a specific case to proc based IO that gives a set % recharge.

Thanks, @Darkir. I'm still in my 20s, and I haven't seen how effective Overgrowth is yet. So I think while leveling it makes sense to slot Lifegiving Spores for Endurance Mod (and include Spore Cloud in my build). Even when I get to Overgrowth, it's not going to be near perma for some time (Geyser is late). Maybe I'll try for now using a couple of non set End Mod IOs and a Panacea Proc and a regular heal or two. One more question about proc IOs--Force Feedback, Panacea, Preventive Medicine procs--I don't think these get stronger/better with higher level versions of the enhancements, right? If they do not, then I presume it makes sense to get the lowest level version for exemplaring? For Preventive Medicine, does the proc only affect you and not anyone you heal?--and how much does it absorb (forum-fu failing me). Thank you both for the education :).

Is this a late game/incarnate level perspective? Generally speaking--from reading forums and from low to midlevel grouping, I am left with the opposite impression. People usually have Def Caps worked in entirely (especially tanks) or nearly (with multiple group Maneuvers or -To Hits making the difference). And also I've read countless forum posts say this game doesn't require healers--because people can take of their health via procs and defenses. While I don't entirely hold this position, I rarely see green bars dropping rapidly--and healing is usually topping off. However, I do see a lot of low blue bars. Specifically with Nature, you're not saying Lifegiving Spores' +END is bad, so can I infer it isn't? And for healing, Regrowth and Wild Medicine are already doing some work, too. Not trying to be antagonistic, but trying to reconcile your statements to my more limited experience.

Question about Lifegiving Spores, I notice youj(nor RedLynne in her Mind over Vegetables Build) slot end modification into it. Is it really that bad? Because usually Endurance Giving abilities are a good thing (one of the reasons I like playing Electric Affinity).

My take was the "job" was to answer which powersets work with Force Feedback (in addition to DP) to get recharge low enough for near perma Overgrowth (and still have room for good defenses). And for those powersets that only have 1 AOE that can take FF, can Wall of Force be used to get another FF into the build to hit the number of procs needed. Water--as was answered by both you and Redlynne--is a good option out of the box. The followup was to again ask if Sonic or Dark (that each only have 1 power that takes FF) could use Wall of Force to get more FF into the build--presumably because bonus -resist or -to hit would be a great team support debuffs. We all know a lot of Defenders do like to take Sonic.

If the difference is 10% between Cold and Thermal on S/L, that doesn't seem like a huge difference, and you get all of that defense for when not dealing with to hit buffed opponents.

Good idea. Also playing villain (or joining villain groups as rogue/vigilante) is probably a decent option, too. You can find full groups on red, but often mission groups seem smaller (in my limited experience).

I have seen a lot of this, too, and I don't care for it. I don't like soloing, and 8 person groups steamrolling content isn't fun at all. I enjoy small groups of 2-4 (where your participation feels consequential), but you rarely find groups of that size (at least that's my experience). There is an event called the Summer Blockbuster that uses a group size of 4. I wonder if there is more content like that.

Compelling case---but isn't Grant Invisibility cast 1 at a time though? So you'd need to cast it 5 times (for the pets) before pulling, right? And this combo misses Defense and -To Hit/-DMG debuffs. Is the idea to use seeds and tornado to disrupt $Target (as you say 🙂 ) alpha and output?

I'm thinking of trying this on a Defender as Empathy/Energy or Cold/Energy. I plan to play with a friend running a fire/storm controller and want to give support (especially endurance--although maybe recharge also if I go Empathy). So I can't wait to try this out. Thanks for sharing this interesting concept. If you have a build for either of these lying around, would you mind sharing? If not, I'll start with your Storm/Energy and go from there.

This seems like a really bad idea if playing Beasts (Pack Mentality). And Demons are going to use want to the primary also.

I have had issues with print screen not working in this game. I changed the keybind to make screenshot Control P, and it works now.

As @Zeraphiahas previously noted in another thread, Beast is a good primary here, because you can run them full damage mode when you want or give up some damage to have them self Def Cap (with Fortify Pack) when needed (while still being able to buff their dmg with FS). I think I'm going to try this out myself. Would love a build if anyone has one.

Kind of a funny comment given we're talking about MMs. To me it's inconsistent to say lore pets are a cheat and this is not. Anyway, not everyone wants to be pigeon-holed into Thugs/Storm and Demons/Storm. As @Coyote pointed out, lore pets are going to benefit from non-Storm secondaries, so I would just remind folks that if you want to play a support type heal/debuff secondary AND/OR a non Thugs/Demon primary, they can and not feel gimped.

The level 40 IOs will be few % points shy of a level 50 IO, but the benefit is you don't need to replace everything all at once while leveling. Say at level 22, you put lvl 25 IOs in everything. At lvl 29, SOs are all red and busted. IOs are still working--you can get level 30s if you want, but they are barely an upgrade and hardly worth the influence. So you can keep them all the way to 50 if you want (or swap in a few that are more important to you)--and then swap in sets to replace them as you get the money/merits.

I wouldn't use SOs for anything. You can buy or craft non-set IOs that are as good and don't ever expire. You can go to the university or a SG base and buy recipes from the table. You can use /ah to also buy recipes, the enhancements themselves, or the materials needed to craft the recipes.

There's a long thread on page 2 that essentially says take what you want--as long as it's sonic 🙂. As a Defender, you're better off debuffing resistance so the heavy hitters can hit even heavier. If you're going to play solo/duo a lot, fire/dark/water/rad/ice.

If allowing incarnates and p2w for -regen is OK, why are lore pets not OK in comparisons?

You're thinking of Bonedancer, amigo (SM just has one spirit pet) :). DAOC was good times. I rolled up a Demons/Cold, because I feel like /Cold would be overkill for Thugs. With Demons, I can get really close to Def Cap and still have solid resists, too. Question -- What attacks should I use for myself? I'm still only 27, and I'm mostly using P2W wand and the Demons AOE occasionally.

@RiverduskGood points. I think the bottom line for me--just on Necro for Sonic vs Elec--can someone (paging @Bopper or one of the Elec testers) tell me is the absorb shields you get better/worse/comparable to the 24% Thermal's Sonic's Shields (Faraday is roughly a wash to Thermal's Sonic's Toggle Resist). If they are comparable, I'd prefer the active playstyle of Elec, because I don't much like the primaries on most MMs. Elec gives you stuff to do (and has a heala and some other good stuff). Edit -- Corrected where I put Thermal and meant Sonic. Also, the absorb is a flat 200 health according to hero creation on the power info scaled to 50. So by my math, they are equal when 24% of damage = 200; so 200/ 0.24 = 833. If you take more than 833 damage per 10 to 14 seconds (depending on recharge), then Sonic is better. It's probably a wash (give or take).

Maybe Mids is wrong--or I don't have a current version, but it raises Cold shields defense from 17.73 (3 Def IOs) to 25.2 with Power Boost activated. As for Sonic, 24% Shields +18% Toggle + 35% Enhancements = 76% is sounds pretty good, but they're still taking 25% damage to heal up from their attacks--and pre-32 is probably rough. Necro/Elec would have only have 18% Faraday + 35% Enhancements = 53% resist + Absorb Shield (Mids says 214.2%?) on short recharge and a heal on a short recharge. My guess is Elec might be better (depending on how good absorbs are). But then again, Demons (have 26% Lethal Resist) and Thugs (T2/T3 Lethal and 2xManeuvers) would probably even fair better and do more damage.

I have been checking these forums, and I don't see a lot of /Cold builds on here (at least under MM). Does anyone have good one (for Thugs, Necro, or Beast)? I think @Coyoteis right in that you'd want some active pool abilities (maybe Wall of Force)--and you'd want some medicine in there probably, also.

I found an older thread started by @SmalltalkJava that looked interesting for Nature (which you posted in), but I it's from almost a year ago. But I am thinking I'd get the most bang for my buck from Kin to be honest. @Redlynneif you ever get to making it, would appreciate it if you post your build. My main concern with Kin builds is being too squishy and dealing with alpha and getting off the FS. But I really Kin, because it would also be welcome in groups (as would Nature).

Has anyone tried this build or a Beast/EA? I want to try out Beasts, and I'm looking at EA, Nature, and Kin. Looking for some guidance on what to pair with Beast.