Yomo Kimyata

I use Combat Jumping early and often. Since it’s usually one of my first defense power picks, I two slot it early with Kismet accuracy and Shield Wall proc. Later I’ll add a slot for the Reactive Defenses proc. And eventually I remove the Kismet and replace it with a Lotg proc.

I'd say it's practice, but a few guidelines: 1. I always craft PvP and purple recipes, and I will convert them into something more expensive if need be. 2. I almost never craft rare recipes UNLESS I can very quickly and cheaply make it into something I can sell right away. Even if I have the rare salvage on hand. I'd rather vendor the recipe and sell the rare salvage on the AH. Example: I will craft a Reactive Defenses (because I can easily make that into a LotG) but I will not craft a Lockdown because I can't change that into something worthwhile except by chance. 3. Opinion vary on this, but I personally don't craft yellow recipes at level 50 UNLESS I have the common and uncommon salvage on hand and don't have to bother buying it. The crafting cost is too high. I WILL craft every single yellow recipe (unless it sneakily requires rare salvage) at levels 1-49. Then I will usually change it into a rare and play rare roulette. A loose guideline is if I can end up with a rare IO -- any rare IO -- at something under 500k inf in cost, then I can make that into something worth my while.

My advice in quote. Many of them I would not have chosen to craft, but once you have them, this is what I would do.

MuahaHAHAHAurgh, *cough cough cough* Much like we used to post a new thread every once in a while when things were too quiet, I wanted to start a new thread. If you want to brag, give advice, complain about how much better things were back in the good old days, whatever! It's your monologue. I'll start with a bit of a strategy I use when I need a WO set, I want it right away, and I don't want to pay buy-it-nao prices. Despite the fact that I own plenty of these things, I can't be bothered to send myself emails or put them in base storage. So let's say I need 5 Avalanches. What I do is buy 5 Winter Packs (still available under 25mm!) and open them. If that doesn't yield you 5 WOs, then buy another pack. Anyway, many people don't seem to realize how easy it is to use the converters/merits that you will get in the pack to make exactly what you want. There are only 5 different sets, and it will take on average only 4 rolls (at 1 converter each) to get the set you want. And converters are free! Or at least already included in the Winter Packs you just bought along with a lot of other stuff that will make you whole. Then when you have five of the set you want, you will probably only need to convert in set for one or two of them. And sell off everything else you got. Is this cheaper than buying a full set at instant prices? In my experience, usually, and it's a lot faster than putting in bids and waiting. I also will do this when there is a disparity in prices among sets, which is often. Next!

Ok, heading into the home stretch on this one. She's about to ding 47, and until 50 all I'm going to get is marginally more protection. Then at 50, with superiorizing ATOs and WOs and one set of purples, she'll get a lot more protection and recharge. This will be my first blaster to 50 on HC, and overall the jury says two thumbs up. I plan on playing her into her incarnates and see if that kicks up her performance into a higher gear. Right now at 46 I'm soloing redside content at +2/x5 (bosses, but no AVs) and doing just fine, but I definitely die a lot more than I do on a melee alt. To be honest, I'm a little disappointed in the damage output. I guess I was expecting to be one-shotting bosses like mad, and maybe it's my build and maybe it's my lack of skillz but the damage feels kind of like I'm running a controller. I'm definitely underwhelmed by the melee damage. I love, LOVE Blackstar as a power, but I find that I spend most of my clean up time using point blank Gloom, Moonbeam, and Life Drain over Negatron Slam and Positronic Fist. I certainly am happy using the two ranged holds as holds rather than proc bombs. Umbral Torrent is the MVP of powers, with Blackstar a close second. Atom Smasher is curiously disappointing, and I'm hoping that will change if I proc it out a little (torn between Fury of the Glad -res or Absolute Amazement -to hit).

Q: How many hipsters does it take to screw in a lightbulb? A: Oh, it's a really esoteric number. You wouldn't have ever heard of it.

How do you plan to play the secondary? If you are going to spend most of the time in Offensive mode, Divine Avalanche from Katana really can help a lot with your survivability. I have very little experience with Dual Blades though, so keep that grain of salt on hand.

DNA Siphon: How would you like a power that refills your green bar every 30-45 seconds? You'd use a power pick for that, right? How about one that refills your blue bar every 30-45 seconds? How about one that debuffs your enemy resistance every 30-45 seconds? IT'S ALL THE SAME POWER! I put Fury of the Glad proc in there because it is a 90% activation when I want it, not randomly like it would be in a damage aura (although Irradiated Ground is a decent back up.) I will jump into a mob and open with this, Atomic Smasher, then beat on bosses while my auras destroy the minions. When I am done seconds later I will jump into another mob and open with this. Parasitic Aura: Also a blue bar filler. PA is a good power but it's not as apparent and having a proc in there helps to remind me to activate it more often. I use Panacea because I am a complete recharge-chasing monster. I've never even worried about capping S/L resistance. I've got soft capped melee defense and good heals, and that is good enough for me. My take on Bio is that the best defense is having no living enemies, but that's just one opinion out of many!

I think the fact that different people (who all know their way around the AH, let me tell you) have different pricing philosophies is a good thing. I'd pontificate that how you price an item depends on many factors, but that's pretty obvious to most, I would think. Some of those factors include your rate of production, the rate of consumption (end demand), how often you want to check in, etc., etc. For the most part, I price to sell towards the low end for anything that I have an assembly line for, even if prices slump on a day to day basis. If I'm used to producing and selling 50 units a day and prices are low for 4 days, that now means I have 200 units to go. Maybe that demand will ramp up on high price days, but I'm not going to keep finished inventory on hand. Work-in-progress inventory, sure, but finished inventory is for someone other than me to spend their market slots and base storage on. But if it's a small market and I have a short- or long-term grip on supply? SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEZE!

If this is your first brute, you are in for a wild ride. I haven't dusted off my Rad/Bio brute in a while, but if he is not the most overpowered of my alts, he is somewhere in the top three. I'm much more experienced in Bio Armor than I am in Rad Melee, so keep that in mind. I also like to play Bio *very* offensively. Radiation is a lot of slow attacks, so I try to get as much help from Bio as I can. Your toughest task will be finding enough slots for everything you want. Rad Melee: Skip Contaminated Strike, Taunt Radioactive Smash -- I actually like to put a FF +recharge in there. Proton Sweep -- Worthwhile taking. It's a tight cone, but it's fun trying to get more than 2-3 in it. Also, I put an Achilles Heel in here. Fusion -- I tend to treat it pretty much like Build-up Radiation Siphon -- If you don't put a Theft of Essence proc in every power that takes Accurate Healing, it's a crime. Literally, it's a misdemeanor in every state of the US except Alabama. Irradiated Ground -- Absurdly broken. Devastating Blow -- I 6-slot it with Unrelenting Fury, but you can drop one and add a proc if you wish. Atom Smasher -- My favorite animation ever. I put an Achilles Heel in here too and 5-slot it with purples. Bio: Hardened Carapace -- 4x Unbreakable Guard Inexhaustible -- base slot with Perf Shifter proc Env Modification -- base slot with LotG proc Adaption -- I'm almost always on Offensive. Switch to Defensive if you must when needed. Ablative Carapace -- I 6-slot this with Preventative Medicine. Evolving Armor -- 4x Unbreakable Guard DNA Siphon -- This is my favorite single power in this game thanks to procs. Fury of the Glad proc and Theft of Essence are musts. Then, do as you will. Genetic Contamination -- I don't do anything special here. I consider it a normal damage aura. Parasitic Aura -- I 5-slot Panacea (all except proc, which goes in health) and Theft of Essence. See aforementioned crime. I don't recall if I ever finished respeccing, but I was working towards something like the following. NOTE: This is not cheap, but we are living in a material world, and I am a material girl.

Form of the Mind -- I never use it, ever. You have three attacks that can slot FF +recharge so recharge is rarely an issue. If you really need the to hit buff from the Sky Splitter finisher, you are probably better off finding it from other sources. Form of the Soul -- I only use this at low levels or with a particularly troublesome secondary (like Dark Armor). Fair finisher with Sky Splitter for +recovery and +regeneration, but again I generally address this elsewhere in my build. Note: build up three levels and don't use a finisher to keep your endurance costs at a minimum. Form of the Body -- All around winner in my eyes. more damage is great. -res finisher from Eye is great. +resistance buff finisher from sky splitter is great.

Defcon Zer0 is now at level 39, has graduated from Praetoria's Night Ward, and has moved on to dirty deeds in the Rogue Isles. Her play style has started to integrate a lot more melee now, and that will increase as I get more defense and more slots in Positronic Fist. I've learned a lot of good things (and face planted a LOT). Here's what I'm planning out at this point: Dark Blast: Gloom -- I figure both the Blaster ATOs really should be 6-slotted, and I just put Defiant Barrage in here. I can fire it when mezzed, but I don't know if the proc triggers whether it will automatically take me out of mez. I guess I'll find out. Umbral Torrent -- A great power. The hard part is figuring out which procs to keep in there. Eventually I will 5-proc it (currently thinking Overwhelming Force, Force Feedback, Cloud Senses, Annihilation, Bombardment) and use a Lysosome for the 6th slot. Eventually I'll have a ton of +accuracy from purple set bonuses, but I'm not there just yet. Also, ranged -to hit is a good thing. The range on this though is a little irksome, and it's taken some practice to not aggro the next four spawns down the hallway. Moonbeam -- 5 slotted with Sting of the Manticore. I'll swap out to Decimation for exemplaring if it comes to that. Aim -- I'm wrestling between 1-slotting this with Gaussians proc and 2-slotting Ionize eventually with two pieces of Rectified Reticle or vice versa. Abyssal Gaze -- Right now I'm getting more use out of this as a control than a ST attack. 4-slot Basilisk. Life Drain -- I've realized that the base heal is low enough that I'm better off slotting for damage than healing. If it's not going to give me 1/2 my health back in one shot, let's use it as my third ST damage power (in addition to Gloom and Moonbeam). Eventually, I'm thinking 5 slots for superior Winters Bite and 1 for Theft of Essence end proc because who can give up extra end? Blackstar -- I love it. But the animation is too long for me to reliably lead with it. So Umbral Torrent is serving as a pretty good intro then I hop in and Blackstar them to smithereens. Also, the build looks like this will be up roughly every 40 seconds by the end, so that's nice. 5-slot Armageddon. Atomic: Electron Shackles -- 3-slot Thunderstrike for the ranged d. I also like the Gamma effect! Negatron Slam -- currently 6-slotting with Blasters Wrath. Positron Cell -- see Abyssal Gaze. Ionize -- see Aim Beta Decay -- I hear a lot about the PITA factor of having to constantly re-activate it when you get mezzed. It's worth it. Achilles Heel proc and 3 Enzymes eventually. Metabolic Acceleration -- I also love this power. If I can find more slots to spare I'll add more, but for now Power Transfer and Performance Shifter procs. Atom Smasher -- Easily my favorite animation. The damage is a little lackluster though, which saddens me. 5-slot Avalanche and 1 for the Absolute Amazement -to hit proc. Radioactive Cloud -- I like it as an oh shit button, and also can serve as a prelude to Blackstar with a much faster animation. 2 slot Basilisks. Positronic Fist -- Only have one slot in there at the moment, but anticipate 6-slotting Makos. Jury is still out on how good this power is. Mids build:

Oddly enough, one of mine with a background (although the background is a lot deeper in my mind than it is on paper).

Ok, I just posted a Guide to Guides in the Guide forum:

I decided to quickly go through the Guides and Market sections of the forums to pull out a number of guides. If I missed any, and I'm sure I did (the "utterly comprehensive" should be considered poetic license), then sing out and I'll be glad to add them. Introduction and basics (these also cover other aspects than just the markets -- well worth reading): Summary of methods: The Auction House (AH) Introductory methods: Conversion: Super Packs: Story Based: Techniques: In addition, there are many threads in the market forums with many, many gems of wisdom. Feel free to check it out or simply to post a question. You simply can't *stop* any of us from monologuing. Happy hunting!

What's the problem we are trying to solve? It seems to me that if two players want to fight, they can go straight to a PvP zone.

I am a very suspicious person by nature (and I've been right a lot, sadly), and that is exactly what I assumed was happening with those contests.

The only issue with doing it at so low a level is that you are going to be crimped by the lack of slots you get at level 1. AH slots, salvage slots, recipe slots. But have at it and good luck!

Based purely on the evidence that I have never won a costume contest: no, they are not fair.

Worth playing around in? Absolutely, but controlling? Probably not. (I consider "controlling" to be buying and selling 90%+ of all volume for an extended period of time). Out of 11 HOs, there are roughly 4 that can be consistently sold for 10mm+. It seems to me that the clear economic choice is to take the merits rather than roll the dice on getting a Cyto v. a Perox. So yeah, supply is in theory unlimited, but in reality less so. That said, you can make a decent living in the HO space.

Yup. The trick would be managing it well enough that you make a good profit and periodically clean out middlers.

Example: say I have a bunch (let's call it 50) of lvl 31 Impervium Armors of various types lying around from a rare roulette bender. I could sell them all as is, but I'd just be feeding a bottom feeder (who again is probably me). I could convert them all in set to get +psionic resist, but that's a lot of work and it's not a deep market -- it would take me longer than I like to sell them all. I could convert them all by resist damage, but at that level, there's just a little too much garbage. So I figure out a good mid-market price and list them all at that price. Call it 2mm. Now I get on another character and bid on level 20 Impervium Armors at 2mm. Now I can convert by resist damage and get a more favorable chance of getting the good sets (Steadfast, Unbreakable Guard) and don't have to worry about some more questionable choices. I can easily sell 50 of either of those in a day. It's really just a method of saving converters at the cost of paying 10% to J. G. Wentworth, but it definitely adds up over time.

This may not be what you're looking for, but I end up selling to myself a lot (one alt to another alt on the same account). Mostly this is in order to change the level on an IO (or even to make the attuned/nonattuned swap). Sometimes it is for nefarious purposes, but not very often.

fixed your spelling

I'm very close to this, but second syllable "per" rather than "pear". "super" like in "superfluous".