Yomo Kimyata

My main on Live was a BS/Inv scrapper and he was my main here when I started up on HC. On Live, the argument was about how superior katana was to BS because of better dpa/dps numbers, but I don’t think people paid much attention to proc activation chances (at least after the switch to PPM). I’m sure that the design was trade off of damage v. survival . Parry is a wonderful survival power and a terrible damage power. The PTB kept that trade off for things like Staff and Kinetic Melee, then looked away for Titan Weapons. And now survivability is no longer a real concern in the meta. Broadsword is fine, but it also is at the bottom of the pack right now. I have zero doubts that it is going to be re-examined and power crept.

I’ve got more time now. 1. Devastation is a ranged damage set and Lockdown is a hold set. Sometimes you can only use one in a power. As a pure proc Devastation is better but if you are two slotting the set I prefer Lockdown bonus for a little more damage. 2. It depends on your proc chances but it feels like overkill. If either trigger you will hold bosses, but if both trigger you still won’t hold elite bosses. 3. Oh my yes. Stacking mez effects when you are not playing a mez character can be extraordinary. Check out this list: https://homecoming.wiki/wiki/Set_Enhancements_with_Special_Effects

Devastation has a higher PPM (3.0 v. 2.5) so will trigger more frequently.

You make a good point on inspirations, but then you are dependent on inspirations. If I am going to be using a power frequently, I'd much rather have it in power form than pill form since you know you aren't going to run out (although watch the timing!). I rarely take a rez power, for example, since although I die I don't die enough to need it every spawn. On the other hand, if I'm pushing it, I will use Shadow Meld a handful of times during any given mission, and I don't have to refill my tray after the mission. Yes, the cast time on Shadow Meld is a pita, but to me it is less of a pita than managing my insp tray to be full of purples all the time! Also, and this is just me, inspirations always feel like cheating to me, so I try to avoid them and then when I use them I pretend no one saw me pull that red seven out of the deck in solitaire.

Well, do you skip Tough because you are better off having some large oranges?

I’m not talking bout the linen

I'm on a team?!? If I'm on a team I started and recruited for, I'll ask a few questions to see if people are familiar with the task at hand. I'll establish what kind of a run it will be and ask people to stick with that plan. I'll also take a quick look at each team member and set the first mission at a difficulty level that seems appropriate but on the easy side, and after the first mission ask if everyone is ok if we raise the level to whatever (if appropriate). If I'm on someone else's team, I'll read the leader's chat and follow their wishes. If there is a tank on the mission, I'll follow them; if there isn't I'll usually volunteer to be point. Sometimes I'll go off tangent a bit, but not majorly, and I often won't bother to notify everyone. Example: I was on a sub-50 ITF that was very pet heavy. When we got to the final Rommy fight, his health wasn't budging, because there were a dozen pets running all over the place whacking away at whatever was in front of them. Rather than post in team chat or send tells to the leader to get them to concentrate aggro on Rommy, I just ran around and cleaned out all the enemies the pets were targeting. It just wasn't worth my time to type it all out, and who am I to tell the leader how to control their pets?

Also worthwhile noting that since Knockback and Knockdown are the same mechanic, different immobilizes will have different effects on the immobilized mob. An immobilized mob under the effect of the power listed here will be able to attack even if hit by a knock* effect. An immobilize power without this will keep them in one spot, but they will fall down and there will be a few seconds where they are unable to attack.

For me, part of the enjoyment of playing a brute is the psychological aspect of "Gotta hurry up, build that fury, keep going, keep going!!!" which really isn't true at all anymore (if it ever was), so I'll tend towards power sets that constantly keep moving offensively (either through consistent attack chains or through busy animation) and that keep you upright and full of green and blue defensively. People say that resistance-based sets are better on brutes than scrappers, but that's only true if you are moving about the 75% barrier. Offensive sets I would play on a brute (I'm not saying they are best on a brute, but I'd be willing to play them. I've also got lvl 50 brutes with other primaries than this, but I no longer particularly enjoy playing them as a brute rather than as a scrapper): Claws Dark Melee Electrical Melee Energy Melee (maybe) Ice Melee Radiation Melee Savage Melee Spines Staff Fighting Super Strength Defensive sets I would play on a brute (I'm not saying they are best on a brute, but I'd be willing to play them. I've also got lvl 50 brutes with other secondaries than this, but I no longer particularly enjoy playing them as a brute rather than as a scrapper): Bio Armor Dark Armor Electric Armor Fiery Aura Radiation Armor Regeneration Stone Armor

Keep in mind the difference between mez magnitude and mez resistance. Magnitude for PvE is generally going to match up with the rank of the enemy -- bosses are mag 3, which means they will not be affected by a mez unless it is higher than 3 or unless it stacks higher than 3. How long it does effect them is going to relate to their mez resistance, and I'm not 100% on the mechanics of that. I know, for example, that if a player has 100% resistance to a mez effect, then it cuts the time in half. However, there also seems to be a shortcut for some enemies, for example: https://cod.uberguy.net/html/power.html?power=nemesis.nemesis_warhulk_defense.resistance&at=boss_grunt Warhulks are listed as being immune to fear, confuse, disorient, and knockback, but vulnerable to immobilization. This manifests as an automatic +1 mag immobilize (so that you only need to stack with something greater than 2 to immobilize), a +75% knock* resistance (which I don't really understand), and a -200% confuse/afraid/terrorized/stunned (which confuses me again). I'm working off the assumption that the -200% is a shortcut to immunity because maybe -100% isn't enough in some circumstances, but this is not the same as, say, a +200% resistance, which if a player had would reduce the time of the effect to 1/3 regular time.

Willpower as an armor set starts to fall apart at (what I consider to be) the high end of the game. There's just so many times you can cross your fingers and hope the RNG works in your favor, and Willpower doesn't really have any inherent "come back" powers. The T9 is ok, but needs to be activated before you get in trouble (in my opinion) and the fact that recharge has no effect means it can only be up 40% of the time. I would add Shadow Meld from Soul Mastery or Hibernate from Leviathan Mastery as additional "time out" powers a willpower scrapper should consider at high levels of +/x.

What's my take? Ten percent. Best, Albert Wentworth

Well, in terms of having defense only and zero investment in resistance, no. My current build is looking something like this: But in terms of dealing in resistance by taking three slots in Sorcery and basing my incarnates around it, I'm not doing that. Although I'm working on an alt build for that very purpose.

I front load Kick in a lot of builds in order to slot it with accuracy and fill in an otherwise sparse attack chain. At end game I put a FF+recharge in there and if I remember to use it, see if I can get that dopamine rush from hitting the jackpot of a hit, a knockdown, and a +recharge proc. Also, animation-wise, to me it always seems that kick lengthens your leg temporarily, which makes me think of Robert Crumb's "Keep on Truckin'."

One of the things I enjoy about this game is learning new things, and sometimes that thing is that I was looking at things in a different way than perhaps others were looking. I have never liked defense-based armors (Ninjitsu, Super Reflexes, Energy Aura, Stone Armor -- somehow I'm ok with Ice Armor). What I have telling myself for years is that I don't like them because it is easy mode -- you soft cap your defenses and there you are. However, I've been spending time on my WM/Ninjitsu scrapper and finding that dinging 50 and playing at +4/x8 *feels* much more difficult than it does on say, a WM/Bio. Why would that be so? I'm softcapped to all relevant defenses so only 1 in 20 blows should be getting through. And hitting the T9 shouldn't *majorly* affect my survival, since still only 1 in 20 should be getting through, but it really does. And *smacks forehead* of course, the purple patch. Before I get level bonuses from T3 incarnates, my effective defense is not 45%, not at all. And I'm so used to playing multifaceted armor sets that I'm used to proactively healing or boosting my defense or whatever, and not having those tools in pure defense sets are killing me smalls. Another thing that I forget about incarnates (and I don't pursue them on all my 50s) is that lots of my endurance woes go away once I hit Radial Musculature and Ageless. So I do see what some of you are saying that I'm overbuilding for endurance, but I'm overbuilding for my *future* endurance. As of now, I'm firmly in what I consider the sweet spot, but once I T3 I suspect I'll respec again.

I think my biggest error is relatively insignificant -- buying a bunch of converters with an extra digit or two in there by mistake and only realizing after I've hit the Bid button a few dozen times. This booster mishap was probably my most significant win:

Nemu taught me the gospel of knockdown.

He's ok.

The OP is a real life friend of mine, and not only has he not played this game in over a year, I'm not sure he even knows how to use his computer anymore.

nope. I’m not going to support any of you whiny kids who want moar. How much of a penalty should we enact on those who don’t do what we want? I’m hoping for 100%

my first thought is to change the title from Pretty Good to Pretty Damn Spectacular but I’ll take a look

I hate to give away obvious secrets, but this is, in fact, the way.

Honestly, I don't have any idea of how much liquid inf I have anymore. Whoever is managing the PvP factory and/or the purple factory may well be in the mutilple trillions range, but I cannot imagine how much time it might take them per day in order to lock it up -- I generally just get involved there at weak points nowadays. Yes. Actually at this point, somewhere in my gallery, I have someone with either a factory for making everything or have hundreds or thousands of things in storage. Generally, all of my alts self finance, and the only things I will consider emailing are lvl 53 HOs (and then only the expensive ones). Everything else I just buy and sell on the open market but since I am not in this business to give things away I will generally do things like buy ten things, use one and sell the other 9 for a 25% profit.

Also, thanks to the devs front-loading powers, I find that the levelling experience is more annoying pre-31 since I generally am wishing for the three enhancement slots than I am for getting my T9 at level 26 and then not having anything constructive to do with it until I level higher then exempt back down.

It's worthwhile noting that your playstyle will affect your perception on this. If I'm levelling a scrapper, I will up my difficulty and number of opponents as I move along. By the time I'm in my 40s, I'm probably running x5-x8 and that increases your experience rate like mad. Generally, my 40s are like a fever dream because they move by so quickly.