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Everything posted by tidge
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The LotG Def/Gobal Recharge piece is a little different than many other "Global" pieces. The LoTG piece is NOT unique, so you can have as many as you want! But,.. ...by itself, the piece grants a particular type of bonus, and only the FIRST FIVE of any particular type of bonus will "work" within a build. Not that the 7.5% boost to Global Recharge is different than 7.5% boosts from having slotted multiple pieces from a single set and getting a "set bonus" that way. This "five is the limit" is why you can't get +60% global Recharge from Superior ATO and Very Rare sets.... but for many ATO you can get 50% from the Very Rare/Purples and NOT attune the ATO set for +57.5% should you desire (and still add five LotG pieces!) Some powers are more 'natural' for using different enhancement sets than others. Some commonly seen suggestions: I explained my Defense and Resistance choices above, but with so many good 'Global' pieces I almost always mix and match It is common to 5-slot a Very Rare set in an attack, and add a Very Rare %proc as the 6th piece long-ish recharge AoE for low damage scale AT can improve their damage output by adding reliable "%damage" procs, because the proc damage isn't tied to the AT scale (often this is less useful for high-damage-scale AT, unless the AoE isn't a high-damage attack, like DNA Siphon) Holds specifically have many %damage procs, Long-ish recharge (or many-target) AoE attacks often can benefit from a %debuff. I'm not as quick to add this to all of my toons, since "resistance resists resistance debuffs", but I won't argue that it doesn't help. I've only seen relatively few advocates for increasing the size (length) of ranged cones, but I'm a true believer here. So few sets will have pieces increase range by themselves so going outside of sets is a necessity (obviously, this advice is less important for Scrappers) Have fun, and be sure to visit the Market forum to get some ideas how to afford all of the different pieces you want for your builds! SCRAPPERLOCK FOREVER!
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I have a StJ/SR Stalker, so it isn't exactly the same, but I can point out some differences. That toon is one of the ones where I have 2-slots each in Health (Panacea, Miracle) and Stamina (Performance Shifter, 50+5 IO), so it runs 'hot'. I also have Evasion 5-slotted, but with Reactive Defenses, for an Endurance Discount. This includes the Scaling Damage Resistance piece. I also have Tough very late in the build (lvl 49 for me), but I don't toggle it on. I use it to mule Steadfast Protection, Gladiator's Armor and Unbreakable Guard. I don't use Confront. I like taunts, but in practice the auto-hit single-target Confront has very narrow uses where it will be necessary (or useful). Super Reflexes isn't (IMO) a great set (for a Scrapper) to try to hold aggro from single AV/GM opponents with... just PUNCH 'EM! FULL DISCLOSURE: My StJ/SR Stalker has Provoke (Presence Pool) 6-slotted with Mocking Beratement (I like those set bonuses better than Perfect Zinger). Provoke requires a ToHit check, but it can hit multiple targets. I tend to use this power on low-ish level content with PUGs that can't well-handle alpha-strikes or are otherwise drawing too much aggro. Above a certain level I find that it is only useful for protecting a Controller/Defender that gets in over their head. I very rarely slot more than the Global Recharge pieces for Luck of the Gambler. My reasoning is: Generally, extra slots in a Defense power is overkill... I find this is especially true for toggles and powers that don't provide any extra effect. I'm not crazy about the multi-slot set bonuses from LotG (mileage varies depending on AT, and Primary/Scondary) I can get more of the precious Defense/Endurance Reduction/Recharge by boosting common IOs or using PVP Shield Wall. For example, I have Focused Fighting with only 4 slots (1 LotG, 3xShield Wall). With all that said: if Enhancement Diversification is cutting in, I will occasionally 3-slot LoTG (if the Global Recharge piece is desired/planned in a power)... this isn't a point of dogma for me. Agile is an auto-power, which makes it a perfect place to slot teh Kismet +accuracy (really +ToHit). You don't have a Snipe, so this is less important. If you intend to only have 2 -slots in Combat Readiness (I have 6 slots on my StJ/WP Scrapper, I like Gaussian's set that much - it contributes a further Endurance discount, damage buff and defense buff at 4,5,6 pieces) I suggest that you replace the ToHit piece with pure recharge IO (boosted). You will get more mileage from having the power available more often than by just boosting the To Hit. Flight Speed hits the speed limit quickly, so You may have an extra slot that can be pulled from there, or different slotting choices could be made in Fly. (I don't think that Regeneration from the Freebird set bonus is as valuable as other options, YMMV) I have 5xHecatomb and 1xUnbreakable Constraint (%smashing) in Crushing Uppercut, and the ATO sets in Heavy Blow and Rib Cracker.
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To add to the small number of limited circumstances where I have found Group Fly to be helpful: Until Immobilize or -Fly comes into play, the following Redside GM/AVs are best chased with Group Fly (by Masterminds): Caleb (Nerva GM) Colonel Duray (Silver Mantis SF) Extremely circumstantial, but I have activated the rocket boots on the Robots to go after these two.
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On my Fire/Psi, I have the 6 pieces slotted in Flashfire. I believe the Superior version, even with all the slotted recharge still has better than an 80% chance to proc (per target). Flashfire is one of those AoE powers that doesn't really benefit from a +Damage boost, IMO. Flashfire is a good candidate for %damage procs, but... Ignoring somewhat typical franken-slotting in Bonfire, I felt I only had one primary/secondary power that I could 'afford' (from my Global Recharge 'budget') to frankenslot with a diversity of %damage procs while increasing the potential area of effect. I instead opted to use a couple of Hami-O Centrioles to increase the cone of Psychic Scream (from 60' to 80'+) and load it with the %damage procs (plus Ragnarok's %Knockdown) that could have gone into Flashfire. The total damage is ~5% less per target (as opposed to multi-slotting a specific set) but I feel like the increased cone size makes up for this. Obviously I'm relying on Global Accuracy and Recharge for this power by franken-slotting.
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I have a few characters where I placed bids on rares a LONG time ago, I should go see if they filled. I typically only make limited bids on rare salvage that isn't already horded in the SG base, when: crafting a specific PVP or Very Rare recipe a limited number of Rare recipes that I know will sell without conversion I will craft less valuable Rare recipes, but only when the SG base's storage needs to be trimmed down of specific rare pieces. There are always a couple of rare salvage items where I end up having 15+. Otherwise I stay away from investing 350+ Kinf in a recipe when the raw materials for a common (including 2 converters) is under 150 Kinf.
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You should definitely try it and see how it does. It looks like you should be able to have fun with the build. The only specific area where I will quibble is that I feel like you have a few too many extra slots dedicated to Recovery (and +End, for many builds one %+End Performance Shifter is 'enough')) and Regeneration. Of course, I don't know how 'hot' you intend to run (or at what content level), but my experience has been that with the Accolades you should play fine for most content. As I wrote above, an unslotter is a small price to pay to check this on a 'complete' build. I have just one area where I feel a little more serious: The small number of slots that you could free up in from the extra recovery can be used to make Build Up available more often... and that will be a tremendous boost to damage from your primary attacks. (Keep the Gaussian's %Build Up there, IMO this is one of the few 'high-level-only' sets that is worth keeping in a low level power). As a Scrapper, typically you want to be able to excel at damage dealing and the Build Up (w/ 90% proc chance) is key to this. Don't sell your primary short! Remember that you can toggle your Bio-focus between Offense/Defense/Recovery.
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Looking good Gene.
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I outlined the controls earlier: the main one is to have no other powers which require RNG checks (such as auras and %procs in attacks)
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I just want to be able to test in a controlled way... and I can't imagine why you would oppose this. If you're able to collect the data in a less controlled way and can share it... that's great.
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If the RNG was truly 'fair', then if a player had always had a 95% chance of final to hit, then Streakbreaker should appear "on average" only 1-in-20 times. I have a suspicion that it appears more often than that. I'd like to be able to test this directly...which is why I ask for practice drones, because they could be positioned for PBAoE and AoE attacks. Alternately: I'd like to be able to see if (on average) Streakbreaker is discarding no more than 95% of to hit rolls (that is the expected fraction which would have hit otherwise). If Streakbreaker is throwing away MORE than 19-in-20 rolls (for 95% final to hit chances)... I'd like to get rid of Streakbreaker. I'd have far less of a problem with Streakbreaker if it actually 'waited' until it was needed (i.e. to break a streak) instead of auto-firing. A better name for it would be as implemented would be "StreakPreventer".
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The 'invisible hit check' I am referring to is things like auras, not attacks. This is exactly what I wrote. I will believe it is 'perception bias' if we have data that shows Streakbreaker firing less often than 1-in-20 attack rolls (on average, for Final ToHit at the 95% ceiling), but it is very difficult to collect (a lot of) this data in a controlled way. I totally believe that the RNG is fairly filling the probability space, I just think that Streakbreaker isn't improving actual averages at the one end of the spectrum. There is some content where I am convinced )my personal) 'perception bias' is playing a role in my own attitude: enemies who self-buff their defenses or (massively) debuff the attacker... as soon as the final ToHit is less than 90%, the Streakbreaker count will increase (on top of just having a moving average instead of a constant ToHit)... but this isn't the case for the extremely low-level enemies. I'd like to be able to set up targeting drones in AE (to test AoE and PBAoE), but no one has ever confirmed that this is possible.
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I can tell you are trying to be helpful, but I don't think you read my post. For example, I specifically wrote to turn off all 'invisible' ToHit checks. I am aware that Streakbreaker has the same behavior at 0.90 and 0.95, but it is far easier to ceiling to hit at 0.95, and since that is where MANY lvl 50+ players are, Streakbreaker is more likely to 'mess up' a 1-in-20 chance than it is a '1-in-10' chance. If you go and test Streakbreaker (single target, against a practice drone) with a 95% chance to hit, you will see that whenever you miss, your next attack (assuming another 95% chance ToHit) will be forced to hit by Streakbreaker. It doesn't wait for another miss. It simply throws away the next roll (NO MATTER IF IT WOULD HAVE BEEN A HIT OR A MISS) and gives you a hit... and then it starts looking for the next miss.
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I didn't log into the game to get exact wording (slaps wrist) but you should be able to check the wording from the Auction House. IIRC, it is similar wording to the Overwhelming Force (which only exist as attuned) and Winter travel (which exists at many levels, as well as attuned) sets.
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Oh, I don't want to get into the specific details of the RNG, as I accept its behavior. It's Streakbreaker that is my bete noire. I think that Streakbreaker was introduced not because of any 'defect' in RNG, but to try to address a perception bias. Until I can make a direct assessment of the rolls that Streakbreaker is actually tossing... it sure looks like characters that have a 95% chance to hit are missing more than 1-in-20 times. Without seeing the actual rolls tossed aside by Streakbreaker, It's hard to set up a controlled experiement to test this... if there was a way to reliably set up multiple test targets in controlled patterns, this would help. The nearest I can come to approaching this from a different direction is: set up a character with no toggles that run 'to hit checks' avoid including %procs in powers (this should not strictly be necessary, I suggest it just to avoid more RNG calls) avoid DoT (and debuffs) <- again, not strictly necessary, but I want to avoid having enemies run away Have a ceiling 95% chance to hit The one place where I've found I can get lots of enemies grouped in rather confined areas to experiment with AoEs and have a reliable 95% toHit is Tunnels of the Trolls (even the Sewer Network has too many walls and large rooms for my taste... but the explosives have to be watched for). The 'backwards' way of testing what is going on is to count the number of times Streakbreaker fires versus the number of rolls made against valid targets. I believe that if it all things are 'fair', Streakbreaker should be called only for 5% of all attack rolls... but my experience was that I saw it called much more frequently than that.
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I'm not in a position to offer advice with the issue of specific 'resistance holes'... I accept that certain power sets will leave holes and try to lean into the strengths of those sets. You can always craft resistances to certain damage types at a SG base. I have the 6-pieces of the Superior Scrapper's Strike in Pulverize. I really like DNA Siphon as a PBAoE %proc 'attack', in addition to it helping against hard targets (via -Regen). For the (exemplar) content where DNA Siphon is available you will probably have a decent attack chain (because of global +Recharge) anyway, but I find it to be very useful when facing large groups of enemies, even if they are 'soft'. EDIT: Re: Nuceolus HO prices, You can always use common IOs boosted to 50+5. The key IMO is to not skimp on the Accuracy of an AoE attack... you need to hit to have the %procs fire! FURTHER EDIT (comments on resistance slotting): This is really up to you. I tend to not over-slot Resistances, especially toggles like Tough (feel free to point-and-laugh, but defeating enemies as fast as possible is more important to me than having a little more S/L resistance). <- Other players feel VERY differently about this! It all comes down to what kind of content you want to play and where you want to emphasize slots. I have 4xUnbreakable Guard in Hardened Carapace, and Tough is where I have (only) the 2 Global +Defense pieces (my Stalker). My scrapper is Invuln, so Tough only holds a Psi Resist piece.
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In my experience it's very situational. The pros: It offers a very precise amount of control when Flying. Hover has to be slotted for speed to match this. It is handy for bringing your pets (and teammates) to certain hard-to-reach areas when you want them. The con is pretty much: Some teammates will see it as you griefing them. I don't know if it is because of a perception that you are 'forcing' a power on them they don't want the player relies on 'jumping' around to reposition during combat an unfamiliarity with 'Flight' as a power the player has changed keyboard settings of the 'up' key (or is using it in some non-default way) ...but you will hear about it from those players who want to complain. Don't mind them, they are just mad at themselves because they don't know (or remember) to visit Null the Gull.
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I was playing around with a character where I happened to have three slots in a power that can take the Universal Travel set Blessing of the Zephyr. The text for the set implies that this set hevaes like a Very Rare/PVP set, "The bonuses are independent of level", blah blah blah fishcakes, so I thought I'd drop level 50 pieces into it, boost the Endurance piece etc. (Don't judge me, I had them lying around!) Anywho, while running lower level content I noticed that I was getting tossed around like a doll, and than my travel speeds seemed a lot slower than I expected. I eventually attuned the -Knockback piece and all was well... the Knockback was no longer an issue. I am led to believe that these pieces really don't behave like the PVP/Very Rare sets. Is this something others have noticed about this set?
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I'll make my usual complaint: I'd like to have Streakbreaker report the toHit roll for the forced hits. While I completely agree that the RNG returns uniform (a.k.a. "flat") distribution of p between 0 < p < 1, I think Streakbreaker is forcing more misses at ToHit = 95% than 1-in-20... but it is actually very hard to tell (because of the 'hiding' of a roll that is forced to hit by Streakbreaker. For consecutive toHit chances of p > 90, Streakbreaker assumes that after a first miss that the second roll will also be a miss and force a hit (throwing away whatever the roll actually was). The simplest way to explain my thinking is this: Most RNGs "fill up" the available result space in a uniform manner... so a second roll of p > 0.90 is only 10%, but Straekbreaker acts as if this possibility is 100%... and then resets the streakbreaker count, such that when the next 'unlucky' roll occurs ( p > 0.9) you will see it, and thus the final percentage of actual hits (in aggregate) is likely to be below 90%. This is exaggerated when the final ToHit is p = 0.95, because chance of the second roll being also p > 0.95 is 1-in-20, but again Streakbreaker acts as if it is 1-in-1. I do believe in perception bias, but I don't believe that's what is happening at the extreme end where players have the (95%) ceiling on their toHit rolls. If Streakbreaker would return the ToHit result of the 'forced' hits, we could easily see if the fraction of those hits would have missed or not. And then I'd shut up about this.
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While the purple patch brings it's own sort of annoyance, wouldn't an unresistable debuff from Dominator controls be OP? I appreciate the out-of-the-box thinking, but many Dominators can apply different mez effects, so with just a couple of Dominators there would be some serious debuffing of AVs/GMs, etc.
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I also don't trust Windfalls to improve the drop rates or rarities (of salvage, or recipes). I did some experimenting (using several I had from opening packs) with familiar x8 (non-AE) content and I noticed absolutely no difference in the recipe/salvage haul. I was paying no attention to XP or Inspiration drops. I don't object to this game's RNG, but I'd certainly like to be able to disable/modify Streakbreaker. When I'm swinging at enemies with 95% ToHit, It isn't the next attack roll (which gets ignored) that I want to autohit, it's the next toHit roll of >95% (which almost always comes in fewer than 10 rolls) that I want to hit!
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Without knowing your specific goals/concepts I'll just ramble about some powers I've taken on similar classes. I have a War Mace/Invuln Scrapper and a /Bio Stalker. Generally: I invest fewer slots on resistance and defense powers... I typically look for set bonuses elsewhere. This is a matter of personal preference (of course), but I would pull at least three slots from Weave. Note that you can boost (50+5) not just IOs but also the non-unique pieces of PVP sets. The Kismet +Accuracy (really +ToHit) is a tricky piece. The bonuses help (especially while leveling up). It will only work when Combat Jumping is toggled on. The real advantage of that piece is IMO when using Fast Snipes (because the first 22% of +ToHit translates to MOAR DAMAGE) but you don't have a Snipe, so I feel like there is a better use for that slot. I didn't see Reactive Defenses Scaling Damage Resistance in the build. Maybe I missed it. I feel like Hasten is too late in the build for most game content, at least to invest a second slot in it.. I should note that my Stalker has it at lvl 38, my Scrapper doesn't have it all! Build Up: Even with a full set of 6 Gaussian's this power will %proc at the ceiling of 90%. I encourage you to at least add a second slot here for a Recharge IO (at 50+5). No matter what else you are going for as a Scrapper, you probably want this power available as often as possible. DNA Siphon can be an effective PBAoE, but it isn't worth slotting for Damage, IMO Accuracy and Recharge serve it better (since it is also a -Regen debuff). Here is the slotting I use (on the Stalker). Touch of the Nictus is providing a global Accuracy bonus, plus more HP. The other 3 slots can be tailored to you preferred %procs. Level 28: DNA Siphon (A) Touch of the Nictus - Accuracy/Endurance/Recharge: Level 50 (39) Touch of the Nictus - Accuracy/Healing: Level 50 (40) Touch of the Nictus - Chance for Negative Energy Damage: Level 50 (40) Eradication - Chance for Energy Damage: Level 30 (40) Obliteration - Chance for Smashing Damage: Level 50 (42) Scirocco's Dervish - Chance of Damage(Lethal): Level 50 I think you don't need the second slot in Health (in the level 50 build). I would keep the Miracle, dump Numina. Extra Recovery/Regeneration hits a point of diminishing returns, and Bio has many ways to address Health/Endurance. If you doubt my advise, just play without it unslotted for a bit and see how it affects your play. With all the %PerShifters, you certainly shouldn't need extra Recovery. EDIT: Does the build include one (and only one) Power Transfer %Heal? If not, I would replace one of the %+End Performance Shifters (preferably from a low-level Auto power) with it. This %proc will only fire once, no matter how many you have. My Scrapper has one slotted in Stamina, but with Bio you may not need one... it's the kind of thing you only need when you need it. Similarly, I would drop the Panacea Global (slot) from Physical Perfection and include it as one of the five used with the others. I happen to use 5 Panacea plus a 50+5 EndMod in Boundless Energy (I think this is Inexhaustible on Scrappers), and all six pieces of Preventive Medicine in Ablative Carapace. Just a few comments on the War Mace attacks: My own preference is to put the ATO pieces in the lower level attacks, and use the Very Rare sets in the higher level attacks. I have considerations of: Getting the 5-piece recharge bonus, while balancing %damage proc rates Being able to boost Enhancement values (without impacting %proc too much) <- e.g. ED may hamper +Damage, but a small Damage boost (or Endurance discount) goes further on the BIG attacks. Just as an example, I have Crowd Control 5-slotted with Armageddon and the 6th slot is a +Recharge piece from the Force Feedback set. The only franken-slotting I have in the War Mac attacks is Whirling Mace, I wouldn't fault anyone for opting for more conventional slotting. Level 18: Whirling Mace (A) HamiO:Nucleolus Exposure (25) HamiO:Nucleolus Exposure (27) Obliteration - Chance for Smashing Damage: Level 50 (27) Scirocco's Dervish - Chance of Damage(Lethal): Level 50 (29) Eradication - Chance for Energy Damage: Level 30 (29) Armageddon - Chance for Fire Damage: Level 50
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Here is how I have it slotted on my Stalker (my only /Bio character), other %procs like Armageddon's %Fire is elsewhere in the build. I didn't go with %-Res on the Stalker, YMMV for a Tanker. Similarly, if you have Endurance issues, adding the %+End piece is a no-brainer... but Bio has other means to mitigate that issue. DNA Siphon (A) Touch of the Nictus - Accuracy/Endurance/Recharge: Level 50 (39) Touch of the Nictus - Accuracy/Healing: Level 50 (40) Touch of the Nictus - Chance for Negative Energy Damage: Level 50 (40) Eradication - Chance for Energy Damage: Level 30 (40) Obliteration - Chance for Smashing Damage: Level 50 (42) Scirocco's Dervish - Chance of Damage(Lethal): Level 50 The HP set bonuses from Touch of the Nictus are certainly better for Tankers than for Stalkers. IIRC, I have the (non %proc) Touch of the Nictus pieces boosted. When I was choosing to use and slot this power, I was happiest with having extra PBAoE damage as well as the set's Accuracy bonus, and I think I have the total recharge 'just so' to maximize %proc chances and have power ready to reapply a -Regen when its effects would expire. EDIT: I should add something that may be obvious: On Stalkers, Bio is a secondary set, and the available level range for it starts higher than it does as a primary set. This may have some effect om the choice of certain %procs.
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The Warriors are boring - is that a problem?
tidge replied to DougGraves's topic in General Discussion
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This is 99% me, unless it is on a character with nowhere else to slot Global resistance pieces. The last character I took to level 50 (a Mastermind) didn't follow this advice, and instead went with 4-slots of Unbreakable Guard.
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I did say it was a minor quibble, and it wasn't about the entire suite of Dominator secondaries.