tidge

IIRC, Auras are one of the game effects that make ToHit checks, but ONLY show the misses in the log (either by default, or "for because"). There was a thread a long while back about the RNG in the bugs sub-forum that discussed this. The only other combat behavior I know shows the same behavior (only logging misses) are the "aggressive mode" henchmen/pet combat logs against targetable (by the "pets", not by player) objects.

Is this a Brute or Scrapper combo: Dark/Bio ?. The Primary offers Siphon Life, Dark Consumption, and Soul Drain. The secondary offers DNA Siphon and Parasitic Aura.

After page 5: I kept Time Wall, but still only single-slotted it (Endoplasm Acc/Mezz). The only Melee attacks on this character are Future Pain and End of Time, so as a practical matter I see it as a wash to try to do any math if I could slot Aging Touch to make up from the effect and utility of Time Wall. Put another way: I'm typically casting ranged attacks anyway, and when I transition to a melee I'd rather have the effects of Time Wall plus whichever melee attack than just some more melee Psi Damage. If against single hard targets, I definitely would rather have the -Regeneration (and slow) from Time Wall than trying to leverage a single-target (Psi) melee attack.

I'm feeling very much the same way about Water Jet; it feels enough like a T2 primary attack that I'm wondering if instead of this T7 I should just have both the T1 and T2 attacks slotted to be able to cast each of them while mezzed. I like the animation.

Because of that same thread, I've been looking at a similar sort of Blaster build (definitely same secondary), likely a different primary. I wasn't planning on multiple attacks from Fighting... I have trouble squeezing in more than 4 pool powers before level 24. Posting here because I want to keep track of this thread! I've been (slow) leveling up a blappy character 3 melee, plus several ranged attacks), and the biggest takeaway during this effort (pre-50) is that larger spawn sizes can be highly annoying. It doesn't take much for things to go pear-shaped. It takes some effort (slotting, power choices) to get defenses above +30% and resistances are basically *shrug*. The primary source of grief for me has been large spawn sizes that contain multiple sources of (long duration) mezz. Rune of Protection would cure this problem for me(*1), but I simply don't want to dedicate the choices to get it for my "fun" version of the character. I mention this because in the Speedster discussion, the Sorcery pool is probably off-the-table anyway, and it requires 3 power pool picks that Speedster concepts are not likely to have. (*1) I'm not familiar with how well Inner Will can do the same thing, but this is one of the reasons why /Martial was appealing to me.

Certain Mastermind combos are more than adequate for taking down "event GMs". Debuff regeneration, pile on attacks and they are pretty much good-to-go. -MaxHP can help. MMs have another inherent advantage to "clean up" duty, in that the henchmen can be set on aggressive and can be directed to work on cleaning up areas. Other ATs have to take a more active role in cleanup. I find I still need to pay attention to not miss critters that have zipped away. If fighting GMs that natively spawn in high-level zones (e.g. Peregrine Island), since those are scaled up inherent to the zone and take longer to wear down (solo), I find it difficult to keep those GMs from running towards other GMs, because I typically skip the immobilizes.

Not all characters can solo the zone-spawned Giant Monsters, but there are a few of us who will take characters that can for a stroll through certain zones to collect a relatively easy 6 merits (10 for the first daily defeat of Adamastor)... either as catharsis or simply "just because". I want to remind us all that there are zone conditions that will prevent certain GMs from respawning, so if you are the sort of player who finds hunting GMs to be rewarding, please do your part to "reset the event" such that the GM(s) will respawn (for yourself, for others). Generally: The main thing that will prevent a GM from respawning is if it spawned with, or as part of a self-cast, an enemy mob(ile). Some GM events "self clean up" (e.g. Ghost of Scrapyard) but many do not. Some GMs spawn along with (or summon) mobs that are always close, so I won't fault anyone for not noticing they do this... but those mobs also need to be cleaned up (Babbage in Boomtown, Caleb, Deathsurge) if for some reason AoE's haven't clear out the spawns. The main zones that are problematic are listed below: Kings Row (Paladin) There are three different Paladin events, located at [-1614.5 24.1 1760.0] [535.7 131.1 2757.1] [-2812.9 139.7 -457.1] If ANY of the "even level" clockworks from a single spawn point remain on the map, a Paladin event will not respawn at that point. These guys are tricky, as they will move to follow their Paladin (as long as he is on the map) and also follow players that draw their aggro. Practically, this means that they can most likely be found between their spawn point and the "resting place" of Paladin... but also could have moved towards hospital (having chase a defeated player) or towards a door (that was a mission for a player). The easiest way to identify these clocks is to show the villain name, and see the mobs that "even con" /optionset showvillainname 1 Note that "even con" mobs always give XP/Inf and drops, so it isn't as if there is zero reward for cleaning them up. Jurassik (Crey's Folly) This one is a little peculiar, but I have verified (through play) that if a player leaves the Rubble (from the Jurassik Rubble... i.e. the "grand-rubbles") that Jurassik will NOT respawn in Crey's Folly. It takes little effort to make sure these are destroyed before running away from the zone. Unfortunately these con at level 40, and not even con... but they all are summoned when the predecessor is defeated, so it doesn't take calculus to find them after a Jurassik defeat. Croatoa (Croatoa War) This is IMO the most annoying of the "timed" respawns, because when the GMs appear to fight one another they appear with large spawns of mobs, and will also respawn. These mobs are also NOT even con, and are at a high enough level that they may not be trivially wiped out while fighting the GMs. Luckily, there is a zone message Monster activity in Croatoa has returned to normal levels that will let you know if you have got them all. If you don't see this zone message after defeating the GMs, you didn't get all the spawns and the event will not reset. The mobs you have to defeat will be the ones that spawned as part of the event, and not just the usual spawns that appear in the Grim Vale. Note that they are likely to follow someone who just defeated a GM, so they can be drawn away from the Grim Vale by a sloppy GM hunter who heads to the base portal or monorail or wherever. Here is my list of "most likely" ways to find them: Look for single mobs "by themselves", especially if they are on the "wrong side" of the Grim Vale for their type. That is: Red Caps near Witch's side, Pumpkins near Red Caps, etc. Note that there are "normal" spawns that do this, but some experience will teach you which are normal and which are leftorvers. Look for single mobs hiding in the treetops on the Witch's side. Look for single mobs on the Lake side of the grim vale (I've watched mobs follow a GM hunter "over the hill" and stop there outside of the vale) These spawns are not "even con" so they are easy for a level 50 to miss. I haven't had the patience to determine if the mobs that spawn with Jack in Irons or Eochai outside of the Croatoa War event need to be defeated or if they will eventually de-rez after the GM is defeated. I will note that the Red Caps that spawn with Jack are exceptionally prone to running all over creation, but waiting less than a minute after Jack is defeated is enough to get them to come back to be finished off. Because of the areas where Jack will spawn, those Red Caps can end up hiding out of sight. Hallowe'en Events: AFAIK, the Unseelie Court spawn needs to be defeated to get another zone spawn of a GM. As I wrote above, some GMs summon creatures. Babbage spawns "even con", but not many and they are usually defeated by any AoE attack. In my experience Caleb's ghostie pals will always find their way back to him (to be defeated), but because of their nature (flying, ethereal) I wouldn't take the chance of them de-rezzing.

The bolded part is a feature, not a bug. You can opt to slot the unique from the Thrust set, this will keep some of the Speed. I think if you want the feel of "fast-moving melee" you need to leverage power pools that offer you the ability to teleport to targets. I have at least one character that uses Super Speed as a travel power, but also has Combat Teleport. She isn't imagined as a "speedster" per se, but she certainly moves around maps and combat zones like one. If the Experimentation pool is used, Speed of Sound offers the ability to Jaunt. I don't think it makes balance sense to ask for passive damage that isn't part of an aura, or damaging attacks as part of movement pool power. FWIW look at the knockdown when Takeoff is used as part of Mighty Leap... no damage, and the "attack" has a timer. As mentioned by @MonteCarla, I'd plan on trying to maximize running speed... because not being among the first players to a mission door would break the concept for me, YMMV. As I wrote above, I'd want Combat Teleport (or use Jaunt) to "move faster than the human eye" during combat. As far as AT? I'd certainly opt for a non-weapon melee of some sort, but I'd be open to any set that offers animations/powers that could be rationalized. Often comic book speedsters have "electrical side effects", but I wouldn't restrict myself to those. The "arm waving" animation of Wall of Force's cone attack sort of looks like something a speedster might pull off, but it's a third-power pick in the Force of Will pool, so that works against my recommendations above (slots will be tight, and can't take both Force of Will and Experimentation pools). The Blaster secondary Martial Combat has a fun attacks, I just don't know how committed I could be about minimizing a primary choice to stick with melee, cones and PBAoE. [I think a Blaster does a better job mimicking the fragility of comic-book speedsters... I guess Regeneration can do the same, or use Willpower if a player wants the character to be MOAR BETTER, YMMV] EDIT: I'll add another "easy" Power Pool option for consideration. The Concealment pool's Infiltration will also add to Run/Jump speed and control... and when combined with something like a +Stealth piece in a travel power will render a character invisible (while not moving, assuming no Aura) to all enemies except for the "super perception" class mobs. This can mimic a Speedster's moving so fast as to not be noticed. Infiltraion is a single power pick, and the pool itself offers several other powers that can mule defense Enhancement pieces.

I don't have that specific combo, but I have both the primary and secondary on different characters. On my /Time, I took Chronos early in the build and have it on auto; my final build has it firing every 22 seconds, with the first 10 of those with a 90% chance of Build Up. On my Water Blast/ I actually haven't taken Tidal Forces, opting for the secondary's Build Up (Ionize) instead... I wanted MOAR +Damage more than the Tidal Power. I am going to experiment with sacrificing the PBAoE Atom Smasher to add Tidal Forces (some of the secondary effects are quite nice... I am just not sure if I need the extra control of when I have them), yet I hate to give up the PBAoE. The power I WANT Tidal forces for is Geyser.

Melee characters get a macro to teleport to a target, and a bind to teleport around maps (stuck on a torch? try Combat Teleport!) My ranged characters get both of the above, plus a macro to teleport backwards 25 feet (or so); this is usually the right range for a cone attack.

Cross Beam?

I'm assuming Crimson's "World Wide Red" arc. If instead of exiting the mission, always(?) in Founders Falls, a player exits to another zone the GM will spawn in that zone. It's the same with the Babbage from the Synapse TF.

I'd like to see the Rularuu invasions (occasionally) spawn. If tied to the completion of any of the Shadow Shard arcs, it's not as if they would happening as frequently as the Nemesis or Rikti Invasions. I have mixed feelings about the Shadow Shard (arc design, story, maps, lore), yet I still liked seeing those creatures show up en masse on the lower-level open-world maps of Paragon City.

As best I can tell: Some folks are simply unhappy that %damage enhancements helps characters who choose to leverage them. I suspect is because these fall into the category of "I see someone else getting MOAR, that seems unfair." I see very little (relatively speaking) pearl-clutching about the ability to raise resistances and defenses via globals and set bonuses. The current PPM formula is, as viewed by me, working quite well(*1). The player base uses a large variety of ATs (in open world). I know that I can design all sorts of different characters, some try to leverage a lot of %damage, some do not. (*1) There are IMO a few areas vis-a-vis %damage that I think ought to be looked at, but primarily to ADD more options for %damage via Enhancement pieces. Off-the-top-of-my head: Powers with more 'extra effects' can benefit more from the (now, many) %damage pieces. I have no proposal, just something to keep an eye on... especially when enhancement sets include Very Rare %damage options. I don't think we need any more %damage pieces in Hold or Ranged AoE sets, and I think Slows are now in a good spot. Stuns, Confuses and Fears kinda stink, unless they happen to be ranged AoE (and include a damage component) Threat (e.g. Taunt) is in a weird place IMO. I want a Very Rare (or PVP option) but I don't need one. If I had more options, I would do more with them! I still dream about a Very Rare %Contagious Threat piece. If I had to guess, I would guess that Fear and Threat enhancement sets are probably the least-used of all enhancement sets. Threat powers are taken, but I think the disproportionate secondary market cost of D-Sync Provocation reveals how bad the options for Threat slotting actually are (Mocking Beratement is one of the few Uncommon sets I will choose over a Rare, every time). I suspect few people take Fears with the goal of slotting Fear sets (I've done it, but only to chase slightly more global Recharge).

A limit on what? EDIT: is there a better limit than "number of slots"?

I want to explain my "thumbs down": as shown by the damage scale (see the post by @Ston just above), removing %proc damage from low-damage-scale character ATs (Defenders, Controllers, 'pet-less' MMs) seriously hurts the ability of those classes from collecting XP on time scales commensurate with higher-damage-scale characters. The game is fundamentally geared towards doing DPS... that is how XP, Inf, and drops work! [*1] The game is more fun for Controllers (for example) because they don't have to take 2x as much time as a Blaster to clear a "defeat all" map, even at low difficulty settings. If %damage was removed/limited from those classes, the difference would be even more pronounced at larger spawn size settings. [*1] There is no circumstance I can imagine where it would make sense to use the inverse of the damage scales to dynamically alter per-AT how much XP/inf is awarded per defeat, so let's not be too quick to change %damage.

I'm not sure glassdoor reviews are going to sway me to install/use discord. Just sayin'

I have not delved deep into the Teleportation pool since the Homecoming revamp of travel powers. I try to take Combat Teleport on Melee/PBAoE characters, its just that I dislike (personal) Teleport as a travel power, and the rest of the powers strike me as very situational. I appreciate when teammates can pop us around! It can be a fun pool to experiment with. I really like the Presence pool, but the Provoke is a solid meh. It requires Accuracy slotting, and it's target cap is well below a x8 spawn size. The first three powers in the Presence pool all have limited utility IMO, but the last two are awesome powers that (with enough recharge) can pay off (again, for characters in close combat). I do not recommend taking Provoke as a means of trying to generate Threat, unless you plan to use the rest of the Presence pool. A player can generate threat (and have other useful effects) by using other pools. For example, Force of Will includes a ranged debuff, a ranged ST attack, a ranged cone attack, and a PBAoE knockdown.

I won't spoil who is responsible for the split, you will have to do The Mender Lazarus Task Force to discover that.

I'm smirking. I had a PUGmate on a TF mansplain to me a couple of "important" points about my use of Group Fly: Although it is possible to ignore the effects of Group Fly, I shouldn't use it because many players don't know about Null the Gull, or choose to not use it (like his toon did not) As soon as we were on a instanced map where it actually helped his "why should I take a travel power?" toon, he felt obligated to write "this is the ONE instance where Group Fly is a good thing." Meanwhile: while recruiting, before we started the TF, two other PUGmates went to Null to adjust their setting while the subtle points of teaming were explained to me. *eyeroll* I am often surprised when a teammate uses Group Fly, but my surprise never lasts more than 5 seconds. Anyone who has a character with a Flight power should recognize what is going on. I suppose if the character has a significant number of powers that require being "grounded" to use (e.g. Traps) and the player has literally never learned the flight control buttons that Group Fly could rise to the level of a peeve... but seriously!

I recall a couple of changes to AI behavior; I *think* both of them were applied prior to Issue 16. 1) There was a change made to prevent Devouring Earth Swarms from hugging Fire Aura characters until the Swarms sacrificed themselves and XP to the character. Is it possible that this piece of AI was later applied to more/all critters? 2) The second change was not so much in the AI, but the code was tweaked to prevent critters from speeding away from a player at Mach 2 if the critter was disoriented. Prior to that fix, it was obvious that there was something in the AI code that was prioritizing a disoriented enemy to move away from the player who has applied the stun. I have long wondered about the "desire to run" behavior that supersedes all else... it's been part of the game since launch (those Atlas Park purse snatchers). I think I was on a hardware-related break (i.e. "PC was broke, player was broke") from the game when Issue 16 dropped, and while I was playing when Fear replaced Afraid I don't specifically remember how those effects worked with critters.

Enemies with no Melee attacks are reluctant to move, and if the taunter is still with their (debuffed) range, they don't have to move.

FTR: I six-slot Taunt (with Mocking Beratement). I haven't noticed any issues at all with Taunt, Gauntlet, or Punchvoke. I tend to build to maximize ToHit, because if I want to build and keep aggro passive effects and an occasional Taunt isn't enough. My non-tanks can strip aggro from a tanker or brute that is only relying on an aura. Several of my characters go out of their way to do this, just because. There continues to be (since, forever) an AI issue when a critter decides to run, there is nothing short of an immobilize or hold that will stop it.

"Fly 'em if they can't take a Gull."

Like other attacks, it greatly benefits from slotting. It may not need much, certainly Accuracy... and if you begin to leverage it, Recharge and Stun duration. Stuns are a bit of an odd duck: by themselves they don't speed up collecting XP (and/or Inf), yet if used appropriately against an enemy that would otherwise do something to keep you from defeating it (Fake Nemesis, Paragon Protectors, Carnies, Tsoo Sorcerers etc.) it can "speed up" collection of XP (and/or Inf). It is possible to adjust playstyles such that a player would never see the benefits of Stun (e.g. the spawn sizes are so large that they can "wait around" for certain enemies to "come back"), or the spawn sizes are so small that DPS defeats enemies before Stun would be needed. I find Stuns to be oddly satisfying when stacking enough Magnitude on certain enemies, but I won't fault anyone for not using them.