Stormwalker

In my case, I like the game sounds anyway, so I prefer to have the sound on. The problem for me is the sudden volume spikes from the sound stacking problem set off some aural sensitivity issues which makes teaming (where this iis a constantly repeated event since there are always AoE's being thrown around)... kind of difficult. But since it's fixed in Page 4, I won't NEED to try to play without sound anymore, nor will I have to make up polite excuses why I can't accept that team invite someone threw my way. Can't go live soon enough.

I'd never be able to play without sound all the time. I can do it in small doses, but finding glowies becomes super obnoxious and it drives me nuts.

Yeah, this was what I was just thinking. It doesn't completely stop someone from exploiting the system, but at some point exploiting the system becomes more work than it's worth, and this is a step in that direction, while still allowing regular players to convert some of their emps to reward merits.

So... I was still curious. And I was having trouble sleeping tongiht due to my psoriatic arthritis acting up. So... to occupy myself, I put together a DB/SR build in Mids that (using Ageless, which I would probably not be inclined to do in a real build probably, because I'd want to have Barrier for Incarnate content) is capable of actually running BF -> SS -> AS gapless. It has 285%(!!) global recharge. Mids says this is still slightly worse DPS (183.1443) than BF - > AS -> SS -> AS (187.5271). Procs might change this, didn't test that. And I don't know if Mids calculates the stacking damage buff correctly (I didn't bother checking the math, I'm not that bored). Of course, even one additional target in SS's AoE would swing this in favor of BF -> SS -> AS. Here's the build if you want to look at it yourself. Note that Power Slice, Typhoon's Edge, and Energy Torrent are all present largely as set mules (Power Slice to get me over the ranged softcap, Typhoon's Edge and Energy Torrent for more 20% more global recharge and 30% more global accuracy), though Typhoon's Edge also provides a bit more AoE capability. This Hero build was built using Mids Reborn 3.2.17 https://github.com/LoadedCamel/MidsReborn Click this DataLink to open the build! Skyfencer (alt): Level 50 Mutation Scrapper Primary Power Set: Dual Blades Secondary Power Set: Super Reflexes Power Pool: Flight Power Pool: Speed Power Pool: Fighting Ancillary Pool: Body Mastery Hero Profile: Level 1: Power Slice -- PlvFst-Acc/Dmg(A), PlvFst-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(3), PlvFst-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(3) Level 1: Focused Fighting -- RedFrt-Def/EndRdx(A), RedFrt-Def(5), RedFrt-Def/Rchg(5), RedFrt-EndRdx(7), RedFrt-Def/EndRdx/Rchg(7), LucoftheG-Def/Rchg+(9) Level 2: Ablating Strike -- Hct-Dmg(A), Hct-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(15), Hct-Dmg/Rchg(17), Hct-Acc/Rchg(17), Hct-Dmg/EndRdx(19), Hct-Dam%(19) Level 4: Agile -- ShlWal-Def(A), ShlWal-Def/EndRdx(21), ShlWal-Def/EndRdx/Rchg(21), ShlWal-Def/Rchg(23) Level 6: Focused Senses -- RedFrt-Def(A), RedFrt-Def/EndRdx(23), RedFrt-Def/Rchg(25), RedFrt-Def/EndRdx/Rchg(25), RedFrt-EndRdx(27), LucoftheG-Def/Rchg+(27) Level 8: Blinding Feint -- SprCrtStr-Dmg/Rchg(A), SprCrtStr-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(29), SprCrtStr-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(29), SprCrtStr-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(31), SprCrtStr-Acc/Dmg(31), SprCrtStr-Rchg/+50% Crit(31) Level 10: Practiced Brawler -- RechRdx-I(A) Level 12: Fly -- WntGif-ResSlow(A) Level 14: Hasten -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(33) Level 16: Dodge -- ShlWal-ResDam/Re TP(A), ShlWal-Def(33), LucoftheG-Def/Rchg+(33) Level 18: Hover -- HypSnc-+Special(A), HypSnc-Fly(34) Level 20: Quickness -- Flight-I(A) Level 22: Kick -- Acc-I(A) Level 24: Tough -- GldArm-3defTpProc(A), StdPrt-ResDam/Def+(34), UnbGrd-ResDam(34), UnbGrd-ResDam/EndRdx(36), UnbGrd-Max HP%(36) Level 26: Sweeping Strike -- SprScrStr-Acc/Dmg(A), SprScrStr-Dmg/Rchg(36), SprScrStr-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(37), SprScrStr-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(37), SprScrStr-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(37), SprScrStr-Rchg/+Crit(39) Level 28: Lucky -- RedFrt-Def(A), RedFrt-Def/EndRdx(39), RedFrt-Def/EndRdx/Rchg(39), RedFrt-Def/Rchg(40), RedFrt-EndRdx(40), LucoftheG-Def/Rchg+(40) Level 30: Weave -- RedFrt-Def/EndRdx(A), RedFrt-Def/Rchg(42), RedFrt-Def(42), RedFrt-Def/EndRdx/Rchg(42), RedFrt-EndRdx(43) Level 32: Typhoon's Edge -- Arm-Dmg(A), Arm-Dmg/EndRdx(43), Arm-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(43), Arm-Acc/Rchg(45), Arm-Dam%(45) Level 35: Evasion -- Rct-Def(A), Rct-Def/EndRdx(45), Rct-Def/EndRdx/Rchg(46), Rct-EndRdx/Rchg(46), Rct-Def/Rchg(46), Rct-ResDam%(48) Level 38: Conserve Power -- RechRdx-I(A) Level 41: Physical Perfection -- NmnCnv-Regen/Rcvry+(A), Mrc-Rcvry+(48) Level 44: Evasive Maneuvers -- Flight-I(A) Level 47: Energy Torrent -- Rgn-Dmg(A), Rgn-Dmg/Rchg(48), Rgn-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(50), Rgn-Acc/Rchg(50), Rgn-Knock%(50) Level 49: Elude -- LucoftheG-Def/Rchg+(A) Level 1: Critical Hit Level 1: Brawl -- Acc-I(A) Level 1: Sprint -- Run-I(A) Level 2: Rest -- Heal-I(A) Level 1: Swift -- Flight-I(A) Level 1: Hurdle -- Jump-I(A) Level 1: Health -- Prv-Heal(A), Prv-Heal/EndRdx(9), Prv-EndRdx/Rchg(11), Prv-Heal/Rchg(11), Prv-Heal/Rchg/EndRdx(13), Prv-Absorb%(13) Level 1: Stamina -- PrfShf-End%(A), PrfShf-EndMod(15) Level 50: Musculature Core Paragon Level 50: Vorpal Core Final Judgement Level 50: Reactive Core Flawless Interface Level 50: Robotic Drones Radial Superior Ally Level 50: Assault Core Embodiment Level 50: Freedom Phalanx Reserve Level 50: Portal Jockey Level 50: The Atlas Medallion Level 50: Task Force Commander Level 12: Afterburner Level 50: Ageless Core Epiphany ------------ | Copy & Paste this data into Mids Reborn : Hero Designer to view the build | |-------------------------------------------------------------------| |MxDz;1542;699;1398;HEX;| |78DA5594DB4E5A41188507D85405912A4511B4202A27150F6DD3A687C428B5A94A4| |BA5F5AEA15B182CE98E10C044D343D257E88D6FD0F4397AD9E3655FA1270F3D5DF4| |8AFEEC7F4DDDEE847CFB5F336B66CD0CB3B33B99EE7279695ED87A160DBDD128E48| |B75BD5693F5CEEC76536F56AA5B821E6FFED16E596E15653D92D08D66B283B4A0EA| |59C84A43CA74665B370A0B865E928DF0FFA68C245B43A6F3DBED6A4D960DB9231BC| |29DAB568DF49251D97CD87499EFF99A94250FCB6DB5B2B5D96D56AB52AF51D17BBD| |5629A617AAA5DD42566F34657D37401926E8F7B81D869F965D2C10029AB02F82196| |6B6DDC9C69D9CC2456FB39AD07A4037F39417F4303BFDCC271DCA4B665BCC6E8A3D| |09E6E9389864F6A5C009E66D323B30B3C3B1EC30C5334BE04D66FF0DE62DEAEC543| |19D88D78FB801C40C205E10718388F98CCC48DA7276E89A290E6D8045E6D912F800| |94CC1C39BB30B3E86AEF2B896E12DD4A7487386394440F449B073D23E01D6AF4A2D| |1EE5D614704AB8E20681775EA5523F4F6394D71C4CB5CA3469F9AD337CAC3DA49F4| |2BD11F64D141E200446D608EE718692BC3C4DF0E93A37F581FFDCB7C4EA641B5C38| |36FD0F89639F60E7C0F7E60C63E32F3640E297308C713C3F1C4702C711C531CC713| |C7AA35320FABB8C33025D13989C192182405F353328595297C89FF52A9ABE065E6E| |415F01AF32E99A22A66F480B34F1E32A77E8247E00FE6F42FAC9130AEB67A1CC7FA| |D22344429D58629DB34D2F13E39A789DE28B683A267062EB344C5A054FCF71B0E97| |3CCD9F3E005F022F31E059F5123CD60DFC2DAF1D56D0D590AFA04F15CAB27C42916| |73DAF1A515B63116F75DD69E887A70424CB078E8B27E303EF3DE747E61BABE82DF9| |8DDDFC17DE691C56C137BF860BC60AEF8086A3DF5014BF1C9DA32EFB714E6F32A4A| |0A56D4CAB92CCDF7ADC586B5D0AD85E8A7EBAC06D8B34EF60F16E3D068| |-------------------------------------------------------------------|

I am still more excited for the sound stacking fix than everything else put together, because it means I will actually be able to join teams again! This is not to say I am not pretty excited about some of the other stuff, because there is some very cool stuff here. But the sound stacking fix is game-changing for me.

It's not as though getting Reward Merits is gated behind any particular content, though. There are lots of ways to get Reward Merits. The reason they added Reward Merits to the Incarnate Trials is to make up for not being able to exchange the Empyrean Merits from those trials for Reward Merits now.

It's beautiful, isn't it?

Surely you don't expect people to actually read the whole thread before randomly calling someone out for their minor mistake? This is the Internet, there's no room for reasonable behavior here.

If someone creates a SJ/Shield named Capta!n Am3rica, that's a copyright violation. My patriotic catgirl scrapper Kitten America is an homage/parody. An SJ/Shield scrapper named Captain Patriot is also an homage/parody, unless his bio is a straight copy of Steve Rogers' backstory, and then that's pushing it.

I don't think that's quite what he meant. What I think he meant is, "Let's assume the devs have good intentions and are doing what they believe is best for the game," rather than ascribing malice to them as I have seen some people do in the feedback threads. There's a lot of difference between saying, "Let's trust that the devs have reasons for doing what they are doing and that they think those reasons are for the good of the game and community as a whole" and saying "Let's trust that the devs are always right." We should, of course, give feedback. Even the best devs have blind spots - everyone does - and our feedback gives them additional perspectives. But we should also endeavor to be patient and constructive with our feedback and not just rage because our toys are being taken away. There's a lot of raging going on in some of those feedback threads. Some of it by people who don't seem to have done any actual testing at all and are operating purely on assumptions (see: the attack type changes thread). And all that raging just makes it harder for the devs to actually pick out the useful responses from people who actually have been testing things and have a solid basis for their feedback. That's not helpful. Let's endeavor to be helpful with our feedback, and try to look beyond our own immediate perspectives to the bigger picture as we do so.

That is rather a mind-boggling number. I doubt I'll ever earn 60,000 reward merits across all my characters combined. I mean, that'd be... ~1700 reward merits for each of my characters, and, realistically, some of those characters will probably never make it to level 50.

I was going to say no, just based on estimations in my head, but then I realized I was forgetting to account for the fact that you would theoretically occasionally be triple-stacking Blinding Feint for SS, and at that point I gave up because I can't be bothered to actually do math tonight. EDIT: Thinking about it a little more, I think still no in pure single target. But when you are getting multiple targets with your Sweeping Strike, maybe.

The best attack chain I've ever seen a build actually achieve in DB (and It's very difficult to do without going SR or Energy Aura for the +rech) is BF -> AS -> SS -> AS. Which is pretty strong, definitely one of the best scrapper DPS sets... but not quite up to Claws.

They definitely aren't. This is part of why I'm in favor of having the option to exemp down to the level of the zone's radio missions, rather than trying to scale the missions. The other reason why I prefer that approach is that I usually level up via story arcs, so I don't get to see very many of the radio missions, so it'd be cool to be able to go back and have the experience of doing the radio missions in each zone. I mean, I know they're not really that unique, but it's still an aspect of the game I miss out on. Especially since, AFAIK, there's no way to do radio missions via Ouroboros.

We're about the same age, for what it's worth. As for those players existing... I guarantee they do. Based on my Live experiences, I would be willing to bet that most of them are on Excelsior. Nothing against Excelsior, mind you, it's just that those kind of players tend to gravitate to the most populated server. When I had my worst experiences on Live, it was when I was playing on Justice, for exactly the same reason. After I moved to Virtue, things were generally much better (though I still ran into people like that from time to time, it was a lot less often!) It's funny how we get less patient with some things as we get older, and more patient with others? Or maybe we just have a better sense of what we're willing to spend that patience on? Because I am also definitely less patient with that kind of player than I once was, make no mistake. But part of that impatience leads me to stubbornly resist handing them any kind of weapon to use against others.

Well, when I was back on Live, I was generally able to win those players over by demonstrating to them that, properly used, Knockback can be an asset to the team rather than a detriment. But that requires being given a chance, and when you dangle an "easy" solution to their "problem" (their problem being that they hate Knockback) they're less likely to actually give that chance. Without the toggle, a party leader is essentially forced to choose between a). accepting that the energy blaster has knockback and hoping they're telling the truth when they say they know how to manage it, or b). kicking them out of the party just for being an energy blaster and risking having the party rebel. Note that I did a couple of times on Live see party leaders actually choose option b), and I quit a couple of parties (in which I was not the energy blaster in question) because of that. Adding such a toggle gives that party leader a third option: c). demand the energy blaster turn off their knockback and make THEM look like the badguy for refusing to do it. I'd sooner not give them that option.

I haven't been in any teams with my Energy Blaster on Homecoming because I get headaches whenever I join teams because of the sound stacking problem and some sound sensitivity issues that I have. This was actually a problem on Live, too, though back then I didn't know why. Fortunately, this will be fixed when Page 4 goes live! That said, I have played a lot of MMO's. And one of the universal truths of MMO's is that some party leaders think they are God, and try to make everyone else play their way. There might be less of those people on HC (because HC seems to have a more mature player base than most MMO's, probably because most of us are old CoH Live vets), but I guarantee you there are still some of them.

I'd be very interested in seeing your KM build and what your attack chain is. I love the look and feel of Kinetic Melee, but the performance just makes it really hard to deal with, and the higher level I get (currently at 35) the worse it gets. I really want to love my KM/WP scrapper. I have a pretty decent sense of how to slot /WP, but what to do with KM itself and how to get the most out of it... I've played around with several different builds and I've not had much success. I had this same character on Live, and I don't remember it being this bad, so apparently I've forgotten something about how to make KM go that I used to know. I don't need optimal performance. I adore my Staff/WP, and she's far from optimal performance. The difference is my Staff has enough performance to not be a slog, and my KM doesn't. So if you can help me get my KM up to not-a-slog performance, I'd be very thankful.

Travel power is almost universally decided by concept for me, but I have a strong preference for Flight so if I'm building a character with powers that can justify them being able to fly, that's what I'm going to pick. Hover (with NoPose) + Fly for actual travel, and Hover in combat. Probably my second-most common travel power is... Ninja Run. My Katana/Willpower, my MA/Willpower, my Ninja Blade/Ninjitsu, my Staff/Willpower... pretty much all my Naturals use Ninja Run. And nearly ALL of my characters use Ninja Run or Athletic Run (or in one and only one case, Beast Run) until they are done with Kings Row, because there is no need for a travel power that early. The only exceptions are a few characters where Fly is so integral to their concept that I had to take it early. I take Super Jump when it fits with someone's powers. Kitten America has Super Jump because because she has wiry, feline musculature that is good at pouncing, though really SJ is higher and farther than she really ought to be able to jump. But then, CJ isn't high and far enough, so I had to compromise. Kitten also has Infiltration because cats are ambush predators. Sylvie Stardrive has Super Jump because she has a powersuit with a powerful exomusculature that means she absolutely can leap tall buildings in a single bound., and hefty shock absorbers in the legs to handle those hard landings (I feel sorry for the pavement, though)! Similarly for a few other characters who take SJ. I almost never take Super Speed because it drives me nuts. But there are a couple of exceptions. Two of my characters that are remakes from Live take Super Speed because they had it oriignally and I want to be consistent. And my Ice/Ice Blaster uses SS with Slide Stance. All of them take Combat Jumping and they keep a Jump Pack handy. My Dark Melee/Regen Brute needs to go Sorcery anyway for Rune of Protection, so she has Mystic Flight.

I haven't played all of those sets, but of the ones I have played to at least mid-levels, for single target, Psionic > Staff > Kinetic. Kinetic is such a slog that once you get past about level 35 or so it starts to really drain the fun value. Psionic and Staff aren't nearly that bad, in my experience. For AoE, Staff (by a large margin) > Psionic > Kinetic

Well, as was pointed out to me by @Troo on the other thread, the KB enhancement in the Sudden Acceleration set isn't completely nullified by the KB -> KD IO. It does still increase the Magnitude of the knockdown effect, which means you should get knockdowns on knockdown-protected enemies more easily. The problem is that this isn't very useful in the particular powers that people like energy blasters are pressured to slot KB -> KD in (i.e. Nova, Explosive Blast, Energy Torrent) because those are slow-cycling powers where the KD-stacking won't be effective and additionally are powers that are counted on for high damage output in teams (which is to say, AoE powers). Sudden Acceleration as it is might actually be useful in a fast-cycling single-target power, but there's very little pressure to slot KB -> KD in single-target powers because single-target KB is much less of a problem in teams than AoE KB.' Thus, a damage set with KB -> KD would meet the needs of those players much more effectively than Sudden Acceleration does.

I don't really want to change Sudden Acceleration because, as @Rudra pointed out to me, some people would like it and use it the way it is. I mean, I don't think anyone would object to a straight buff of the set* (i.e. just adding damage to it), but some people might actually want to keep all the KB enhancement that is in it and wouldn't want to trade it out. Again, this is why my suggested solution is a new IO set that doesn't spend most of its enhancement value on KB (like Sudden Acceleration), and isn't unique (like Overwhelming Force, which is just fine except for being unique) but does have the KB -> KD function. Or else, as someone else suggested, making Overwhelming Force not unique, but some might consider that to be too strong. My goal here isn't power creep, it's just to give people who feel pressured into slotting KB -> KD to make their teammates happy a better option for doing so. * Well, realistcally, a lot of people would (rightfully) object to a straight buff of the set on grounds of power creep, but... probably not the people who are actually slotting it!

Definitely do not want this. I want to change my KB -> KD in Nova, and only in Nova, and I sure as hell do not want to slot Sudden Acceleration in Nova. Overwhelming Force is my saving grace here. If I had two powers I needed to slot KB -> KD in (which is to say, if I wasn't a hoverblaster who can use Hover to turn my Energy Torrent and Explosive Blast KB into KD as needed), I'd have to slot Sudden Acceleration in one of them, which would suck, and it's to help people who are in that situation that I made my suggestion of adding another attack set - this one not unique - that has a KB -> KD in it in another thread.

Because I don't want to join a team and have the team leader tell me, "Turn the KD toggle on or leave." Which would absolutely happen, based on my previous experience with teaming as an energy blaster on Live.

I just wanted to say thanks for this guide. I know you can just switch to Redside and get Invader for the same effect, but... I can't very well have Kitten America running around robbing banks, can I? It just wouldn't do. So I'll have to do it the hard way.