Arbegla
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Posts posted by Arbegla
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Interestingly enough, both Assault Rifle, and Mercs got a buff recently, with the Auto Fire animation changes. Granted, it wasn't enough for Mercs to actually change any, and Assault Rifle also got a flamethrower animation decrease, so i think assault rifle is in a good spot right now.
Gotta love that franken-gun
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DPS
in Mastermind
The short answer, is it depends.
It depends on your secondary, it depends on how many procs you can slot in the pet attacks, and it depends on what you're fighting.
But, overall, I think Thugs/, Robots/, and Demons/ have the highest DPS potential, but for different reasons.
Thugs/ -> Mostly Lethal/Smash damage, BUT almost all of their attacks have -def, which means you can slot damage procs AND -res procs in them. They also have fire patches with the Arsonist, and lots of cones, so their AoE is really good.
Robots/ -> Mostly energy damage, which surprisingly isn't as resisted as you would think. The Assault bot also has Fire Patches and -regen, which is a direct DPS increase as the mobs are healing up the damage you're doing.
Demons/ -> Mostly exotic damage (Fire/Cold) and spread out over the different pets. Very few mobs have high resistance to ALL of the damage types ALL at once, so your pets are going to deal a fair amount of damage pretty much all of the time.. They also have -res in their attacks built in, and lots of AoEs.
Some of the more 'force multiplier' secondaries are /traps, /rad, /dark, and /thermal. I basically just looked at secondaries that have -res and -regen debuffs that can be set up to be perma pretty easily. Your mileage may vary.
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I was here at the beginning, and argued a bit. But now, we're arguing over definitions of words. So here we are.
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I don't quite have all of the new names for the Hard Mode memorized yet, so I'm going off of * levels. (0* being default, 1* being lowest hard mode, going up to 4*)
Now that I know I can do 0* at +4/x8, I'm going to try a run at 1* with base difficulty settings for the badges. I actually took Becky hostage in my run, and was going to go for Best Friends Forever, but she got eaten alive on the first mob in the last mission. I figure running at 1* will give her a chance to survive. I did attempt to take on the 5th column AVs in my +4/x8 run, but there were just too many mobs to try to control for me to make any real progress, especially with the timed nature of those rifts. I should have much better chances at 1*, with default difficulty. Once I have that under my belt, I'm going to work my way up. My eventual goal is 4* solo as of right now, but we'll see how Ripplesurge is and if he becomes my wall.
I think the 'default' difficulty for the ASF is +0/x4, because it has a minimum of 4 people, but I could be wrong. I'm going to set my default difficulty at +0/x1 when I attempt the 1* and higher runs. I do know that 3* sets you at +2/x8, and 4* sets you at +4/x8, which is why I ran the +4/x8 just to see if I could even beat a +4 AV on a MM. Not just can I beat them, but with my defense, and debuffs, I was able to floor their tohit, and not take very much damage when they did connect. I also have the +maxhp Rebirth at T4, which helps make, and keep the pets pretty durable, as it just about doubles their maxhp for the first 30 seconds or so. -
All of the builds, all of the time!
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On 5/15/2022 at 3:53 PM, desarix said:
It is always such a painful feeling to lose a whole slot to the kb to kd enhancement on each pet. Yeah that is a sore point indeed. It also affects all the global set bonuses.
I enjoy my Bots/Trap MM though and wouldn't give up those noisy adorable tin cans for anything. I think every pet is unique and they have their shortcomings.
the /mu Electrifying Fences AoE immobilize applies a -KB effect on mobs, even if the immobilize doesn't stick. Granted, its a Patron Power Pool, so you have to run the Villain arc to unlock it, and the earliest its available is level 44, BUT but you do it it, its a game changer. Turns the Assault bots rockets into MASSIVE damage, and the fire patches into something a Fire Armor Brute can only dream of.
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My biggest dislike is the VERY low maxhp that both the MM and the MM pets have. While you can get softcap defense, and near capped resistance with some secondaries, the low max hp means the pets are going to get 1 shot regardless of how much effort you put into trying to save them.
It makes healing sets way less valuable at higher tier content (like +4, or the Hard Mode stuff)
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Hey guys,
I'll post screenshots later, cuz I'm at work now, but I finished my solo attempt at a +4/x8 ASF last night. Little over 44 hours (I took breaks in between..) and only 30 deaths! I did a +4/x8 run to see how I could handle the higher level AVs/mobs for a later attempt at a solo 4* (max Hard Mode) ASF, as that forces you to run at +4/x8 regardless. I plan on running through the Hard Mode settings at base difficulties later, so I can start building up the tactics to push through it.
The hardest parts were Ripplesurge (He actually bugged out a few times, so I just ended up swarming him with temp powers/pets) and the Princess Zoe/Rodney fight during the last mission. I had the most deaths there. Face tanking two +4 AVs and all of the -resistance that the Gold Brickers push out was rough, but I did managed to down them both once I got rid of all of the adds.
I also gained around 10 vet levels throughout the whole thing, so that was really cool too. Here's to trying out 1* (lowest Hard Mode) setting over the weekend and seeing how I do there.
This is on my Bots/traps/mu Mastermind, Full T4s, and completely IO'ed out. I can post the build later if anyone is curious.
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On 5/2/2022 at 2:43 PM, Ukase said:
I will never use keybinds for this. It would make me have to rewrite binds for other powers and actions - and then I'd have to remember which binds did what. Binds, unless they are the same for every character you have, would render me incapable of doing anything.
Again - when you switch from an MM to another alt - and play that for a stretch, and then re-visit your MM - how would you remember which key did what? Study a keybinds text file? Does that sound like something someone should have to do before playing a character? That just sounds pretty crazy to me. I ain't gonna do it. Props to those of you who can actually remember which key does what without having to review a text file.
I'll use macros, thanks. I can at least right click on those if the label doesn't remind me.While I can understand not wanting to use binds for the MM, one thing I do like, is setting my 'thumb' button on my mouse to the '3 attack, 3 defense' command that was talked about here.
I tend to use that button a lot on any AT but for different reasons, usually its the swap targets quickly, or teleport, but as it gets use out of any AT I play, having a pre-determined bind for MMs doesn't seem too bad.Macros are also really nice, because you can do some neat things with them, including having your pets do emotes, or say things during combat. It does add another layer of customization to the AT and gives it a much different feel then anyone else.
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9 hours ago, Carnifax said:
/logcombat toggles it on / off if I remember right. Do that and Global will say if you've switched it on or off
There's a menu option for it too I think, does the same thing
I have a Combat, and a Pet Combat 'chat tab', but I'm sure sure how to run them through the parser to get the pretty output you have. Is there a third party thingy to help parse stuff out?
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15 minutes ago, Doomguide2005 said:
Fun facts
- 60 mph is 88ft/sec
- That's 1.467 ft/sec
- Shield Charge 60ft range
- Combat Teleport 100ft range
- Savage Leap 70ft range
- Wormhole 80ft range
So at 40 mph you'll move ~58ft/sec
At 80mph that's ~ 117 ft/sec
None of those are more than 2 seconds worth of distance.
My scrapper moving at 40 mph will arrive before the Shield Charge (cast arcanatime 1.716 sec) carries the teammates Tanker to the same target point.
Pretty sure she moves faster than 40mph completely unsuppressed.
What's the problem again?
This is exactly my point. The instant teleport powers still have a cast time, and a target time.
Even with the fastest macros you have have, you're still limited by animation time. Is it really faster to teleport instantly to a group, or run up to them?
Either way you need to animate an attack to get their attention, and with teleport, you'll still only affect the mobs you happen to land next to.
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1 minute ago, Luminara said:
OMG, why aren't any of you people reading?!?!?!?!?!?!? You're just inventing problems that would be solved (for one person) by Teletaunt!!! All you have to do to play the way you play now is
wastespend a pool power selection that you would've used on something elsepick up Provoke or Teleport Target or something (because forcing everyone else use pool powers is okay, as long as it's not the OP)!YOU'RE NOT READING!
You said TeleTaunt, and my first thought was Teletubbies, and now I'm scared. Teletubbies with taunt just seems like nightmare fuel.
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1 minute ago, Solvernia said:
Why is "diversity and uniqueness" more important than personal preference? Why should people have to play Elec or Savage just to have a gap closer? Why shouldn't they be able to play what they want to play without feeling weaker or less effective? Again, if your fun relies on having something that other people don't have, that's a pretty crappy way of having fun.
As previously stated, the handful of posters in this thread are not "everyone else".
I'm still failing to understand the actual issue at hand, as Ranged ATs also have to move towards mobs, and experience travel suppression as well. Would they feel weaker or less effective if Melee ATs could all instantly teleport to the mobs and they couldn't? What about Dominators and Blasters, who have higher DPA attacks in their melee powers then their ranged ones?
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I'm going to number these again, because I want to respond specifically to the points you're bringing up.
44 minutes ago, Solvernia said:1) Moving at 33% speed in combat and then randomly being shot around to full speed due to bad suppression mechanics is not fun.
2) Being locked out of taking other pool powers because you have to take Speed of Sound or Combat Teleport to have a gap closer is not fun.
3) Incorporating a gap closer into the useless taunt/confront powers would make them a better choice. It would make Taunt more effective and the Confront powers actually worth taking in the first place, resulting in more fun.
4) Since every single melee powerset already has taunt/confront, it would not result in any more homogenization than what already exists. There would be no reduction in overall fun, unless the idea of having access to something that other people don't is fun to you, in which case that's pretty selfish.
1) Its not random at all, its actually about 3 seconds of not attacking iirc. I know this, because I used to PvP and travel suppression is a major feature you have to overcome to be a good PvPer, as it affects everyone, and a slow target is a dead target. Also, as @Luminara pointed out, you can easily get over 50mph combat speed, which is actually quite fast, especially in some of the smaller maps. Think the small caves, or the CoT maps. Anything above 50mph and you're going to literally be bouncing off the walls. Combat suppression is easily overcome by skillful use of attacks, 'jousting' or other movement tricks that PvPers and veteran players of City of Heroes have developed, outside of picking specific power pools and powersets.
2) As many people have pointed out, you literally can not play this game without taking some power pools. I've listed 3 of them that give you boosts to combat speed, and you've listed a 4th. That is a large number of power pools available to give you boosted combat speed, which you are required to take somewhere in your build already, due to the limited number of primary and secondary powers available to you.
3) Taunt is not useless. Many people have pointed that out. Confront, however is mostly useless, especially when you consider Taunt Auras in the secondary powers that are available to every armor set. But Taunt itself, which Brutes and Tankers have, is not useless at all. There are many uses for it, especially when handling multiple groups at once. Provoke, another power pool available, is also not useless, though it does hit less targets, and is less effective then Taunt. Would your proposal also convert Provoke into a gap closer?
4) I'm also finding it hard to understand exactly what you're asking for, as Taunt already pulls mobs to you due to the -range modifier. Which while you agree is a thing it does, because movement speed is involved, its too slow to accurately do what you want? Do you want Taunt/Confront to work like Wormhole/Fold Space? So the mobs are instantly teleported to you? Do you want Taunt/Confront to teleport you instantly to the mobs, like Shield Charge/Savage Leap/Lightning Rod? Why would this be better/faster then what is already available via power pools like Combat Teleport, Fold Space, Speed of Sound, and Spring attack? What problem are you actually trying to solve, using real world examples in THIS game, not comparing this to other games, which I've asked specific examples for, and you haven't provided.
Certain powerset combinations already have those powers built into them as mentioned above and there are power pools that lets you decide how best to approach the mobs. Under your proposal, would Savage Melee, Elec Melee, and Shield charge have 2 'gap closer' powers? What about those who are already picking the power pools available? Do they just get a potential 3rd gap closer?
Why are you taking away build diversity and uniqueness between the different melee sets to accommodate something that seems to only be a problem you are experiencing, as everyone else seems to either not care about travel suppression, or found ways around it that exist in the game now.-
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Just now, Solvernia said:
It is a very simple and sensible change, for the following reasons:
1) It's not fun to slowly walk up to a group of enemies before you're allowed to use your attacks.
2) It's not fun to make a group of enemies slowly walk over to you before you're allowed to use your attacks.
3) It is fun to quickly close the distance so you can use your attacks as soon as possible.
Do you disagree with any of these statements? If so, why?
I'm adding bullet points, just to address the statements specifically.
I disagree with all of them, for the following reasons:
1) Again, my, and others definition of 'slowly' is different than yours. Also, multiple melee sets also have a ranged attack.
2) See 1)
3) See my previous post about power sets that include a gap closer, and ranged attacks.
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3 minutes ago, Solvernia said:
Most of the opposition in this thread boils down to "I don't like change, please don't change anything, everything is fine as is". Not an argument.
My opposition to this thread isn't that I don't like change, its that this change legit doesn't make any sense, especially when you consider the other options available to suit your needs, including using a primary OR secondary power set that has the 'gap closer' you want.
Shield Defense -> Available to Scrappers, Brutes, and Tankers has Shield Charge, which is a gap closer.
Elec Melee -> Available to ALL melee ATs, has Lightning RodSavage Melee -> Available to ALL melee ATs, has Savage leap.
That's 2 primaries, and 1 secondary that already includes the very thing you're advocating for.
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5 minutes ago, Rudra said:
How is quick-form AS higher Damage per ATTACK than the long-form which does... double? triple? that damage per attack?
DPA is damage per activation time, not damage per attack. Long-form AS is ~4 seconds, short form is ~2? I'm actually pretty sure their DPA is about the same to be fair, I just can't open mids at work to verify.
DPS is damage per second, which considers recharge as a another variable. DPA is the highest damage you can do with a certain power, regardless of recharge being slotted. Its literally the amount of damage per second of animation time that you can't do anything else.
For example, brawl does somewhere around 15 damage at level 50, in about 1.117 seconds. Its DPA is 13.43. However, it recharges in around 2 seconds, so its DPS is 7.5.
I think anyways, again, I don't have mids open, so I can't verify the numbers. -
5 minutes ago, Solvernia said:
Quick form AS is more DPA than long form AS on almost every stalker powerset.
DPE is irrelevant. Ageless exists, recovery serum exists, panacea/performance shifter/numina/miracle exists. Empathy exists, Kinetics exists. There are always ways to fix end problems.
Yes, quick form might be more DPA then long form, though I think they are about the same, due to short-form doing about half the damage in half the time, but long form is more DPA then any other attack. If you kill the mob in 1 hit, vs 2 hits, you're doing more damage per activation, as you only did 1 activation (vs 2 activations)
So wait.. you can use outside powers for DPE arguments, but not for 'gap closing' arguments? Pick a side buddy, you can't have it both ways. -
1 minute ago, Solvernia said:
Long form AS is objectively the weakest attack that Stalkers have. There is no reason to use it over the above rotation, except for RP purposes. Adding a gap closing element to it (without otherwise changing the functionality of the power) would make it actually somewhat useful.
From a DPA perspective, with is objectively the only thing that matters in high end City of Heroes game play, I'm pretty sure long-form Assassin Strike is the highest damaging attack in the game. But that could just be that pesky math getting in the way of my RP reasons for keeping it around.
Especially when you consider the DPE (Damage per End) of two attacks, vs the DPE of just 1. -
1 minute ago, Solvernia said:
I'm not ignoring the -range component of Taunt. In fact, that's another reason why it should be changed. It's not a good thing to make enemies break off a pack to slowly stroll over to you. This makes AoEs less effective, and you still have to slowly move towards them as they slowly move towards you.
It is not fun to wait for enemies to come to you, and it is not fun to run towards enemies at a slow speed. This is why gap closers exist, and this is why they should be incorporated into the taunt/confront powers that every single melee powerset already has.
I'm pretty sure your definition of 'slowly' and literally any other definition of 'slowly' are not the same thing.
And you can move too you know, so while the mob is slowly moving towards you, you're also slowly moving towards them, and thus closing the gap yourself. As we don't yet have missions where mobs just endlessly come to you the entire time, I'm really having difficulty imagining the scenario where your concern is actually reality.
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1 minute ago, Solvernia said:
Other games wouldn't be doing it if it wasn't for good reason.
You remember how boomers would tell you "if everyone jumped off a bridge, would you do it?" The answer is yes, I would, because people generally don't jump off bridges for no reason. If everyone's jumping off a bridge, there's a very good reason they are doing it, one that everyone agrees would be preferable to the alternative.
Every modern MMO has gap closers for their melee characters because melee characters are objectively more fun when they have gap closers. They're not doing it just because everyone else does it, they're doing it because it's a good thing to do.
Ok, lets play devils advocate for a second.
Please list other games that also let you take on 20+ mobs and have any chance of survival? Please list how many mobs the "gap closer" actually closes the gap on, and what is the uptime of that power? (i/e how often can you use it, is it only available out of combat, etc) Please list other games where you can travel 40+mph in combat at all times.
Also, you're flat out ignoring that Taunt in City of Heroes already provides a -range debuff, which forces the mobs to come you to, thus being a gap closer in and of itself. -
2 minutes ago, Solvernia said:
Giving melee ATs the ability to close the distance does not fundamentally change the game. They can already do this albeit at the cost of having to waste a power pool selection to do so (Experimentation, which is a set that is 80% useless, or Teleport, which is 60% useless.) If you pick Speed of Sound, you can't pick any other origin-based pool sets.
Taking a gap closer as a melee AT requires you to sacrifice other pool power selections to do so, which is not fun. Making it a core feature of the AT by replacing the useless taunt/confront would give them better options for pool power picks, which means more fun.
So... lets dive into the power pools for a second.
Hover -> Doesn't suppress in combat, stacks with swift, and Evasive Maneuvers.
Evasive Maneuvers -> Doesn't suppress in combat, stacks with swift, and Hover.Combat Jumping -> Doesn't suppress in combat, stacks with Sprint, Hurdle, and Swift. Gives pretty decent inertial control, and +jump speed, allowing you to bunny hop to mobs.
Spring Attack -> Another Lightning Rod clone, letting you teleport into a group of mobs.
Combat Teleport -> Teleports you to the mobsFold Space -> Teleports the mobs to you.
All of the above powers are also in very common travel power pools, meaning you can pick them up while also getting your travel power. You have a TON of powers to pick from between your primary, secondary, epic, and power pool powers.
That's also not counting the fact that ranged characters also have to deal with traveling in combat, and are affected by travel suppression as well. -
1 minute ago, Solvernia said:
It forces... five mobs to come to you. That's it. In fact, it only makes things worse since it breaks up the pack, reducing AoE effectiveness and making the game harder to play.
The only reasonable use for Taunt right now is to take aggro from your allies. Which is a great use, but not when it's limited to only one, or only five, enemies. A gap closer would be better as it would allow you to immediately follow up with an AoE attack to take all the attention off your allies, not just the attention of a single enemy.
Why do Scrappers have taunt in the first place? They are not tanks. They literally can't tank because they can't hold aggro. Confront does not help with this. Nobody takes Confront. Replace it with something better.
Actually Tanker/Brute Taunt targets 10 mobs, and its autohit. Some Scrappers have taunt auras in their armor sets if they don't have a damage aura, and some melee sets actually have damage auras in them, which stack with taunt already (and have a short, 10ft range?)
At this point, the argument boils down to "I don't know/understand how to play Melee characters in City of Heroes, but I know/understand how to play them in <insert other game> so make City of Heroes more like <insert other game>."
This isn't <insert other game> and the mechanics here are MUCH different then <insert other game>. Very very few MMOs let you take on 20+ equal level or higher mobs and have any chance of survival. City of Heroes basically encourages that behavior due to the way mobs are thrown at you left and right in missions.-
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1 minute ago, Solvernia said:
The ranged power in these sets aren't super useful except either as a filler attack or to catch enemies running away from you. The ranged attack from epic pools usually significantly outperforms them, which is honestly an issue in itself, but not the issue I'm discussing now.
The issue I'm discussing now is that melee ATs are frustrating to play because of their outdated design and lack of a gap closer (unless you waste a pool power pick on one), and it would be very simple to replace the useless taunt/confront with something that does the same thing but is much less annoying and unfun to use.
Again, I'm about 95% sure that Taunt/Confront gives a -range debuff, which forces mobs to come to you, as they can't use their ranged attacks (due to the -range debuff) so the powers aren't actually useless at all. There is also corner pulling, and other tactics you can use to get the mobs to come to you.
Also, you're playing a melee character, why aren't you running to the next group before the ranged characters get to them? Ranged characters are also limited by movement suppression, and very few powers are greater then 80ft range, so movement is definitely involved in City of Heroes combat.
Solo 0* (Not Hard Mode), +4/x8 ASF
in Mastermind
Posted
As Promised, here is some screenshots and my character build.
Arbegla_entomb_proc-Mastermind_Robotics.mxd