fxds

Does anyone happen to know whether the Vanguard w/ Jetpack (under Back Detail > Back Packs) animates when using Hover, Fly, etc.? I'm working on a costume for a Natural character and would like to provide some visual indication of equipment that would explain his flight.

While I was trying to figure it out before posting, I ran across a small section in the Issue 27 Page 5 release notes titled "Stealth Toggle Exclusivity Removal." It notes that multiple stealth toggles can now be run together, but the stealth effects don't stack. The game just uses the best one of the effects instead. And now as I'm typing that, I'm thinking I might have missed something. Even though the stealth doesn't stack, maybe the Def does? In that case there might be an advantage to running both toggles while trying to stealth through a mission to the objective, though I imagine you'd want to turn Infiltration off for combat rather than pay its End cost for nothing more than a movement boost. Or maybe people really like big movement boosts in combat? Personally I find they make me move so fast I overshoot, so they're actively detrimental to positioning myself the way I want. But that may just be a personal skill issue with my age-reduced reaction time.

Aye, there's the rub. Several weeks ago I downloaded over twenty builds for various ATs and power sets that interested me, figuring I would look them all over to learn some (hopefully) relevant things. Unfortunately at this point I don't remember where all I found them, let alone the specifics of where I got each one. I should have made notes of that info. I know better. Sadly that doesn't stop silly ADD brain from being silly. Or just downright foolish, as was the case here.

By coincidence, I finally found the motivation to get Homecoming installed and running on my Steam Deck a couple of weeks before the event, and after over five years away it took me those couple of weeks to start feeling like I actually remembered how to play the game. MS came along at just the right time to be my first non-solo activity, and brought up a lot of good memories of the Second Rikti Invasion back in Issue 10, albeit on a smaller scale.

I'm looking through some builds I found, trying to learn from them toward making my own builds. I found something I don't understand, so I'm hoping someone can clue me in. I'm looking at a Scrapper build that includes both Energy Cloak from the Energy Aura secondary and Infiltration from the Concealment pool. Both are slotted with LotG Def, Def/End, and Def/+Global Recharge, and Infiltration is additionally slotted with Kismet +Acc, GotA Def/Run Speed, and the Thrust Running Speed/Run Speed unique (which I'd never seen before). Not having ever used either of those powers I checked them on the wiki and immediately noted they both say they cannot be used with other concealment powers (little "c", not just the Concealment pool). I assume this means they cannot be used together. So why would a build include both? The only explanation I can think of is based on two things. First, Energy Cloak retains at least some of it's Def bonus in combat, and second, I found a reference that says Infiltration is considered a travel power. And indeed the build does not include any other travel power (though that alone doesn't surprise me because a fair number of other builds I've looked at also omit travel powers, apparently just relying on Sprint + Athletic/Beast/Ninja Run). So perhaps Infiltration is meant to be used for travel around the city (and possibly while stealthing missions?) and Energy Cloak is intended for use in missions and combat. Does that make sense? Is Infiltration actually a decent travel power? But if it's being used for travel, why slot it for Def (specifically the LotG Def and Def/End enhancements)? I don't recall ever seeing travel powers slotted that way, but perhaps that's just because traditional travel powers can't slot Defense sets? Or perhaps it's to help with stealthing missions, because Infiltration doesn't lose its Def bonus when you're discovered, only when you attack? I should note the build takes Misdirection at level 47, so Infiltration (along with Grant Invisibility) also serves as a prerequisite. But I don't think it's just there as a prereq and mule for those various uniques, because then those two non-unique LotG enhancements wouldn't make any sense.

Recently back after about five years away, and still learning and trying to wrap my head around the various changes in that time. So what do folks consider the most fun (as opposed to "best") AT for Dual Blades these days? I generally don't power level, so I'm hoping for a fun time through the levels rather than just at end game. I tend to run solo most of the time and I'm often a slower, more methodical player (though I'll freely admit that scrapperlock is indeed a real thing). Oh, and while this is not a build request, I should mention that expensive builds don't intimidate me, so if an expensive build is a big factor in making DB fun on a particular AT, that's fine. Now that the basic question's out of the way, here's a bit more info about where my head is at, in case it's useful in making a suggestion. One of my favorite characters on Live was a DB/WP scrapper. I really enjoyed the DB combo system at the time, but that was largely because of then-recent experience in another game rather than any virtues of the actual combo system here. In other words, I know now that DB works better if you mostly ignore the combo system, and I'm fine with that. My original conception of the character would have fit best with a stalker, but I wanted the character blue side and that was long before such voodoo was possible, thus the scrapper. Freed of that restriction now I think stalker might be fun, but I'm already leveling another stalker right now, so I'm also thinking another AT might be more fun just for variety's sake. In other words, I'm waffling and confusing myself by overthinking, which is part of the reason I'm posting this...

Thanks for the input. I think I've decided on Energy Aura at this point. Silly question though: what is SL in your comment? Only thing I can think of is smashing/lethal but I'm not sure why EnA or Inv would care about the primary dishing out some smashing damage, as the first few DM attacks do...

After this thread and looking around a bit more, I've settled on Energy Aura, so thank you for the recommendation.

Thanks for the input. And excuse my old man aura, but I am old so I can't help it... From context I assume "cracked" in this case is a bad thing?

I've finally been able to get back to the game after several years away, and I really, really want to hit some bad guys. Mostly with my fists, rather than a weapon. My immediate inclination is Dark/Dark. My first character on live back in Ye Olden Pre-CoV Days was a Dark Melee scrapper. I never got very far with him, but I'm finding DM really appealing both visually and thematically right now so I'm pretty set on that. The choice of secondary is a little more open. My immediate thought is Dark Armor, but (again visually and thematically) I'm also at least considering Energy Aura or Invulnerability. I'm looking for relatively restrained visuals (unless it's DA), and I already have a few mid-level Super Reflexes and Willpower characters I can pick up and play again once I feel like I've gotten the hang of the game again, so I'd like to do something different. None of my old friends are playing anymore so this character is likely to be mostly solo, but of course I want to team up for TFs and such. Oh, and the cost of the build is not really a consideration. I have a reasonable amount of Inf on a couple of my existing characters and can always earn more. Am I forgetting anything else that would be good to know in order to ask for advice? I guess we'll find out... So, first question, do you feel like there's a compelling reason to pick EA or Inv rather than DA as my secondary? I'm not worried about building the best possible meta. Second question, does anyone have a Dark/Dark build (or Dark/EA or Dark/Inv, if that's what you feel strongly about) build that you'd recommend and are willing to share? I was never very good with builds and after having been away for so long I'll be honest that I wouldn't even know where to start.

A trophy room is something I always wanted even back in live. Reading the descriptions of the souvenirs you collect from story arcs always made me wish there was someplace with shelves, display cases, etc. where I could place visible models of the souvenirs. Representations of at least some of the badges as plaques or other wall hangings would be cool too, but the souvenirs were my focus. As far as I'm concerned it wouldn't have to have any of the functionality of SG bases. I wouldn't even care if it was a completely pre-defined layout, though having a few different styles available to suit different character concepts would be more or less a requirement. Having some ability to control the placement of the displays within the pre-defined space and which souvenirs are in/on each display would be greatly appreciated, allowing players to give prominence to the ones they felt were particularly valued by a given character. Allowing friends to visit would be cool, but frankly I'd be happy even if it was limited to just the specific character that "owns" it.

Ferrous_Sapien's lead post in their New PvP Exploration Badge List thread has the names and locations of all of the new Exploration badges in Bloody Bay, Siren's Call, and Warburg, as well as the names of the accompanying Accolade badges for collecting them. It also has the Recluse's Victory badges but I see they've already been added to the spreadsheet. There are also some screen shots further down the thread for anyone interested. In the hopes of making it as easy as possible to add the new badges to the spreadsheet, I'll go ahead and quote Ferrous_Sapien's info here:

I completely understand and I sincerely apologize if my comment sounded critical or entitled. That was not my intention at all. I'm one of those who, as I mentioned, has never even begun to understand how set builds are created, and as such I'm nothing but grateful to those like yourself who are generous enough to share with us the time and effort you've put into builds. This is especially true for you in particular, as I've used several of the builds you've posted here. I worked in IT for more than thirty years, and on occasion I've personally encountered much the same sort of entitled attitude I've often seen directed at build/guide writers, mod creators, and similar folks who share their time and effort with the community, so I have at least some idea what it's like. I've always tried to be careful to make sure any comments I make don't contribute to that sort of abusive atmosphere. Apparently I failed this time, and for that I'm intensely sorry. Thank you for sharing your builds with the community. We're infinitely richer for it, and not enough of us express our gratitude.

Thank you for the updated build, Redlynne. I must admit I'm sad to see the alternate Bane version of the build get left behind though. The backpack just doesn't fit my conception of my current Huntsman so she's been using that variant. Perhaps I'll take a stab at creating some sort of updated version of the Bane variant based on what you've done here, even though my understanding of how to create set builds is nonexistent. In the meantime, I found out some old friends from live are playing on a different server than I'm currently on and I've been meaning to roll a new character or three over there, which sounds like a perfect excuse to use this new hotness with which you've so kindly graced us...

Ah, I wasn't aware you'd already isolated the problem enough to know it was in the server code. Thanks for the clarification.