tidge
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Posts posted by tidge
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For extra damage on a Controller, I pretty much always go Force of Will.
1) Mighty Leap (for travel)
2) Weaken Resolve (reasonable debuff, plus can %damage at range)
3) Wall of Force (Exceleent AoE cone, with a control piece)
4) Unleash Potential (as a self-buff, holds many good sets)
Project Will isn't bad (it also has a control element for Controllers) but typically I don't have the slots for it, and certainly not at low levels. I typically don't have a place in my control/attack chains for it, whereas the Weaken Resolver debuff can fill a gap should I have one.
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Dual Blades is (now) one of those sets that I now only consider if there is a very specific costume/character concept I want to implement. The combo mechanic is fine, but I get bored always executing the same patterns of attacks. The all Lethal damage becomes a mood-killer for me after fighting large numbers of certain enemies.
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On 11/1/2025 at 2:11 AM, kelika2 said:
you can take two weakass sets like katana and radiationarmor for a scrapper and still come out with a mid-tier character ...
This is the talk of a crazy person.
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Strictly my perspective: I feel like the monthly, open-world events amplify the sort of behavior a player favors anyway, no matter if it is:
- Easy XP
- Easy Rewards
- Badges
FOMO seems to drive players (myself included!) to focus on certain things that aren't available most of the rest of the time.
The only thing about (some) common player behavior during Halloween is that I commonly encounter that leaves me with a sour taste is the weird defeatist attitude towards the Banner events... There isn't a reason IMO for a smallish (even 8 players should be plenty) ToT league of 50s to NOT tackle the banners. I don't know if the players think their characters are simply crap, or if they think it is too much work but I'm feel embarrassment for Peregrine Island's heroes who would rather just grab loot from doors.
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I generally do what @CaptA suggests, but with some variation of opinion on:
On 11/3/2025 at 4:07 PM, CaptA said:2.) Save every enhancement set recipe you get. Some of those early ones can be useful at 50 (Steadfast protection, etc.). You don't need to actually have the recipe you need - just make sure they are in the correct level range. Use DO/SO enhancements early on as you level up.
A couple of things: At level 50, a player is (mostly) going to be getting level 50 recipes... which are the priciest to craft. Its more trouble than its worth to avoid getting level 50 recipes, but I will say I almost always vendor Rare (and Common) level 50 recipes, unless the hoard of Rare salvage aligns with the Recipe. Rare salvage otherwise gets used for Purple/PVP recipes.
On 11/3/2025 at 4:07 PM, CaptA said:5.) Convert enhancements to the ones you need or are likely to use. I have 2000+ enhancements in storage.
I used to do this, but I came to think I was just hoarding. I don't make characters fast enough (compared to how much I play characters I already have made) to consume the pieces I have in storage. I'm far less 'proactive' about keeping certain enhancements than I used to be. I haven't 'cured' myself of this, but I've taken to having characters grab a LOT of enhancements out of storage early just to have some breathing space!
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Those times when Maria Jenkins send you to Seige before starting her arc: Jackpot!
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I almost never have all my toggles on. Sprint can do a number on the blue bar during combat.
Set bonuses that increase MaxEnd will help, as will the accolades.
Attacks (and toggles that will be on) need to have some Endurance Reduction.
perma-Hasten is a blue bar killer.The one-track approach to achieving perma-Hasten restricts certain other build choices/set bonuses, but the real nasty is spamming attacks that are probably burning Endurance too quickly. Clicking powers less frequently spends less Endurance and allows more time for blue bar refilling.
I only ever use the Numina global if the character is otherwise going to have a power with just one Healing piece in it. By the time a character can slot it, it should pretty much have the Endurance bar under control IMO.
From memory: the only character of mine that has Endurance issues that needed adjustment via Incarnates was a Fortunata. Something about the toggles, attacks (I took quite a few from the Patron pool, which is unusual for my builds) and controls that have her running exceptionally hot.
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9 minutes ago, Amp Up said:
Can always buy an 8 and pop in another 8 later....
I'll just write for myself: I often find working inside laptops to be somewhat stressful, so I prefer to have them open as few times as possible. I suppose if someone really knows what they are looking for (in terms of RAM) it may not be too hard to track down the new pieces.
One thing I've been really annoyed with (for laptops, especially "business models") is when the model is listed as having a hardware interface (internal) but it turns out that teh spec was just listing potential options... that might have been in the model at some point.... Specifically I've been repeatedly surprised by (lack of) drive interfaces. It wasn't much of a big deal for me when one laptop had two SSD interfaces instead of the 1+1 configuration I was expecting, but I fully expected my recent cheapy Dell to have two drive interfaces but only came with one. It looks like the chipset is there, but Dell being Dell didn't put the connector in place. If I hadn't seen how cheap they were 30 years ago with lack of traces on things like floppy drive connectors, I would have been surprised.
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34 minutes ago, lemming said:
Turtledove replaying WW2 in various ways comes to mind. I'm forgetting who it was, but some series I read, and it wasn't plot, but some description of a fight and it was nearly an exact quote of some other fight.
When this happens in the same book, I blame the editor (or "publisher's reader") as much as I blame the writer. I suppose I can absolve the editor/publisher and assign all of my annoyance to the author when the author is clearly just filling pages with slop. As an example, I'm reminded of Dan Brown's DaVinci Code which has the exact scene play out several consecutive chapters as the characters visit different sites (one immediately after the previous). This was clearly Dan Brown just "getting away with it." and it was the last book of his I read similar to Kevin J. Anderson (see above)... when the author breaks the illusion that they care about their craft for me, I don't have to waste any more of myself on their work.
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9 hours ago, lemming said:
Aw man, we're getting remakes of old threads. It's like when an author puts out a new book and you find out they reused the plot of one of their older books.
Who has some good examples of this? The one that comes to mind for me is much of Kevin J. Anderson's Last Days of Krypton was recycled into one of his earlier Doon novels... I can't say which Doon book, maybe the Butlerian Jihad? I'm pretty sure I read their first Doon trilogy, but had been pretty disappointed, so when I encountered the recycling I pretty much dropped out.
There is another slightly adjacent concept: Robert B. Parker's Poodle Springs (a "conclusion" to four chapters of an unfinished Philip Marlowe novel by Raymond Chandler) recycles (IIRC) one of the first four chapters for a later one, and (again, IIRC) recycles elements from other Chandler work for other later chapters. Chandler of course recycled certain themes and archetypes, and reworked his short stories into his novels, but the Parker effort felt criminal to me... at the very least he needed an editor, and if he had one I shudder to think what the first draft was like.
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I don't disagree with the approach of maximizing RAM for PC purchases (laptop and desktop, although desktops are typically easier to service), but as for early obsolescence concerns I'd focus squarely on having a dedicated video card first and foremost(*1). Besides the focus on gaming, there are just a few of the activities I regularly encounter that leverage video resources more than they do RAM (YMMV, I'm only sharing my experiences):
- Video processing, editing, and playback
- Microsoft programs with a graphical component (like Excel, when plotting)... other companies software probably does this too, but Excel is the tool that hits me hardest
- Business systems that rely on a Web interface for display/navigation/functionality
The last one is a real pisser when working for a company that went all-in on some web-based interface for a critical system, but the interface slows to a crawl for typical business machines. that lack dedicated graphics systems (see also CAD, but that isn't my realm). I wish businesses acted as if they were more aware that their bulk-purchase business laptops might not work so well with their new web-based software.
(*1) I have a couple of laptops I use regularly of roughly similar age. the 8GB RAM + Video system outperforms the 16GB system in every way except in power consumption and portability.
Having written all that... the price difference between 8GB and 16 GB of RAM shouldn't be a deal-breaker, the difference in price will likely come down to availability (especially for laptops and/or slightly older systems).
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1 hour ago, Frozen Burn said:
- Rune of Protection is largely not needed at all due to the unchangeable duration and recharge. I have only 1 character with it so that I can say I've tried it. It rarely uses it as inspires are typically always there when I need them - even in the worst of content: 4-Star TFs/SFs, iTrials, incarnate, etc.
My biggest complaint about Rune of Protection is the animation/graphic; I'd like to have a "minimal FX" option for it. When the recharge could be enhanced it was definitely OP.
My POV on the Sorcery pool is that it is a convenient pool to take to leverage for muling enhancement pieces that would otherwise have trouble getting into a build. As noted, it has a useful travel power (that can take several good pieces), a power that can mule Preventive Medicine's %Absorb, and RoP can mule several pieces (in addition to being an on-demand replacement for some Inspirations), including a pair that together can add +6% Defense. I'm lukewarm on the single-target blast; I have no complaints, it is more that I like it best on explicitly "magical" characters. On my 'tight' builds I usually don't have slots for the pool attacks
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On my first Sentinel... I *hated* the shorter ranges. I suspect this was mostly due to my idea at the time that for blast sets "range = survivability"... and partially due to me forgetting that below level 15, there isn't that much difference between how the different ATs play. Once I got that Sentinel above level 20, I was pretty much unphased by the shorter ranges.
Personally: I like playing in melee too much to make Sentinels a "first choice" for me. I do enjoy sentinels when I have a concept that wants to lean heavily into the blast primaries for all (or almost all) of my offense. I'd get more offense (obviously) if the Sentinel had something like Scrapper criticals, but that's an inherent I think every AT would like to have.
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From Instagram:
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10 hours ago, MsSmart said:
Frankly why do I have to buy two powers to get to the one, I really bought the pool for Rune of Protection?
Seems rather cruel to me, but then again for fighting to get to weave which is what support types really need also forces them to buy two needless powers... Seems the game has a bit of bias against support types being survivable, it seems...
forgive my rant, please
The character-building economy has always had opportunity costs. I believe there are other servers that pretty much allow players to pick whatever powers they want. There have been changes over the years w.r.t. Power Pools, try to imagine how you might feel if Fitness wasn't inherent for example.
There are IMO still power pools that ought to be tweaked, but the "origin" travel pools are not anywhere close. They were among the most recent ones to have been adjusted.
The power pools that deserve a hard look involve the last of the original (mostly untouched) legacy pools, specifically those that have picks that are available at 4,4,14,14,14. Minimally, each of those also has two powers that require two previous picks, so I'd prefer if the available levels were more like 4,4,4,14,14 (with same pre-requisites) or 4,4,4,14,20 (with an upgrade to the final pick) like the origin pools. In no particular order, my hot takes on the pools that need tweaks:
Flight: I'd make Evasive Maneuvers the level 20 (Group Fly would be 14) pick and make it an auto power. The pool has too many toggles, which is IMO motivated by the original devs fear that most everyone would only use Flight as their travel power. (which is why "flight control" isn't trivial to get)
Leadership: Mostly fine, but if Victory Rush was made to be worth taking I'd probably be happier.
Medicine: as with Flight's Evasive Maneuvers, I think Field Medic ought to be an Auto power, and it can be the level 20 pick. There was an original dev fear about "easy healing" that simply doesn't make sense in the game, certainly not now.
Presence: This needs to be a 4,4,4,14,20 pool, and it should be possible to take only Intimidate before Invoke Panic. The powers Pacify / Provoke / Intimidate are "orthogonal" to each other in terms of designing how a character can play. It doesn't help that the Fear and Threat sets offer some of the worst choices in terms of available enhancement pieces.
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If we are sharing macros, here is one I've added to my characters with Mystic Flight to mimic Combat Teleport:
/macro_image "Archery_Aim" "BAMF" "powexec_location target Translocation$$powexec_toggleon Mystic_Flight"
It requires a double-click if Mystic Flight is toggled off.
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I have a different take on comparison of the Flight and Sorcery Pool: I think the Flight pool comes up short. The flight pool has 3, 4, or 5 powers that are toggles to use (Hover, Flight, Evasive Maneuvers, Afterburner, Group Fly) and they each (modulo Afterburner) have to be toggled off individually (unless triggering Walk)... and none are particularly fast to turn on. I find this to be a huge PITA, much more so than what Mystic Flight grants.
The Mystic Flight's teleport can be used as a poor-man's Combat Teleport, among its many other potential uses.
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On 10/25/2025 at 3:22 PM, Runaway said:
I realize that I’m late with this, but I haven’t played in 3 years and I chose to make a sentinel when I returned. When playing it, I can’t help but notice how bland the opportunity mechanic feels. Hence this complaint/suggestion post. I've seen that I'm not the only one who feels that Sentinels are not right atm, but still I’m sorry if I’m flogging a dead horse with this.
I wouldn't criticize a new, returning player for flogging a dead horse, but I definitely think that there may be some lack of perspective from lack of familiarity (with all the other ATs). Sentinels really do have their own niche, so there has to be some tempering of expectations. Specific to Opportunity... it is probably the most reliable and effective debuff in the game available to players... but debuffs generally are not OP... they are most useful against specific targets in specific circumstances. Sentinels already got a rework for Opportunity, and it is IMO in a pretty good place.
On 10/25/2025 at 3:22 PM, Runaway said:Not directly related to the opportunity mechanic, I also wish that some of the nerfs to primary attacks were lessened. The much shorter range on aoe attacks feels especially bad on my sentinel, since having a different range for the aoe and for single targets, makes it so that they can’t be part of the same ranged attack cycle. Yes, it makes it so that I play my sentinel play different than I would play a blaster/corruptor/defender with the same powerset, but this has been accomplished in a negative way. There’s a reason why all those attacks had the same range.
I have numerous Blasters (among other ATs) where the ranged attacks most definitely have different ranges. More than one of these (specifically with Archers/Trick Arrow users) have involved me specifically slotting certain attacks for Range, just to smooth out the differences. [BTW, global range boosts increase the range differences between attacks, even as they raise the minimum range of all attacks] This might be less noticed because Blasters get extra attacks in their secondaries that Sentinels typically don't get.
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As was shared in another thread: the following option in the command line for the launcher has improved the CoX performance of the laptop I have without a dedicated craphics card. That laptop is a 2018-era Dell business model that travels a lot better than my gaming laptop (smaller, lighter, requires smaller power supply, etc). It's quite a game-changer for that machine, many thanks to @biostem for sharing.
-usetexenvcombine
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It would be ripe for explotation. It would be the same for fast-swapping builds without incarnates.
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20 minutes ago, UltraAlt said:
I have to disagree with this.
I freely admit: my own experiences have hopelessly biased my perceptions such that I can't predict what a really new player would do, with or without an infusion of Inf.
Run the DfB and the character gets bonuses. at level 1, 1 hour of bonuses are 1 Kinf (3 different ones for 8 hours max). I've slow-rolled with-and-without these, or enhancements (other than what drops), etc. It all rolls together to me. There are only a few pieces I *want* at level 10 (global defense, KB protection, Panacea) otherwise I'm happy just slotting whatever until 17.
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My /Energy Aura Sentinel is:
1 Kinetic Shield: Kismet +ToHit and 3x Shield Wall (one is the unique)
10 Energize: 6x Preventive Medicine
12 Power Shield: 2x Shield Wall
16 Entropy Shield: IO Endurance Reduction
20 Power Armor: 4x Unbreakable Guard
24 Repelling Force: 2x Defense IO
28 Kinetic Damping 1xSteadfast Protection (+Def) 2xGladiator's Armor (1 is the unique)
32 Power Drain: EndMod IO, but could be a Power Transfer %Heal
41 Overload: LotG
I didn't use the Fighting pool (didn't need for mules or anything else) or Hasten (95% recharge from set bonuses), the only pool powers are from Flight (Fly, Hover, Evasive Maneuvers), a Combat Jumping pick (LotG) and Leadership (Maneuvers, Assault, Vengeance)
A relook at Sorcery Pool's Flight
in Suggestions & Feedback
Posted
Yep, pretty much all the 'origin' pools have containment effects on the attacks. It isn't something unique to only one of them.