[PUG Life: I was the problem]

The AoE sleeps fall into the category of "plays one way solo, plays a different way on teams."

 

I know nothing about the new Arsenal sets, but on my other characters with an AoE sleep... I occasionally take it early to help with solo survability, and on PUGs it isn't often used in heavy rotation.

 

I used to always skip the AoE sleep powers, but I have come to find them to be very useful to help avoid situations going pear-shaped.

[If my Bots build only have room for 1 four-slotted Rifle power]

I'd recommend AoE, because just two slots of Annihilation set gets you a little more Endurance, plus more %-Resistance.

 

What else is in your build? I like having the attacks for -Regen, but also to grab aggro from spawns.

[Returning player looking for some advice.]

A few random comments:

 

While leveling, I rarely slot the Tanker primaries. Enhancements values don't do very much until you are at the point where set bonuses come into play (special except for Kismet +ToHit and the Defense/Resist PVP global pieces). The primary becomes more important as you turn up spawn sizes.

 

In order to NOT be frustrated by turning up spawn size, you will need endurance under control and attacks. Tankers do well with AoE attacks, I am certain you can get specific advice depending on the the build later.

[Day Jobs: personal value]

I roughly use this priority:

 

1. Travel speed buffs
2. Invention discounts (IIRC I think the max is ten?) for Purple crafting
3. Ally heal/rez
4. self buffs (recharge or defense)

I will also try to keep the base-teleporter charges at max, but that particular power is a "last resort" teleport for me.

 

[What Movement Ability For Missions]

19 minutes ago, WuTang said:

What is LOTG?

 

LotG is shorthand for the "Luck of the Gambler" enhancement piece *it is a defense set) that when slotted gives characters a 7.5% boost to Global Recharge... even if the power is not toggled, provided the character is playing at a level where the "set bonus" would work (relative to the level of the enhancement).

[How are Giant Monster Mini Pet drops supposed to work?]

20 hours ago, Zhym said:

From the patch notes:

 

 

What does that mean, exactly?  I thought it meant that if you got enough credit on defeating a GM that you received reward merits, you also had a 10% chance of getting a recipe for a mini pet version of that same monster.  But I joined Scrapyard Beatdown 2024 for a while today, and after defeating Scrappy about 70 times, I don't see any pet recipes.  So now I'm wondering if I'm reading the patch notes wrong.

 

I haven't done anything like repeat farming of a single GM, but I have done a significant number of solo GM defeats since the update (probably ~300 regular merits, including a couple of solo Lusca runs) and I've only gotten two recipe drops. I've joined up for many more GM fights(*1). I've accumulated enough Monstrous Aethers for over 20 random mini-pet recipes. I kinda lost track after Saturday.... I am beginning to wonder if my henchmen are getting the drops and not telling me!

 

(*1) If I conservatively estimate 40 solo monster takedowns, and a recipe drop rate of 10%, only 2 recipes is on the "bad luck" side of the distribution but not inconceivable. If I had done 70 or 1000 kills (yeah, lets get that Scrapyarder exploit closed) and only gotten two... that seems wrong.

 

Straying away from evidence-based math: There has long been as sort of feeling among some players that "random table" reward drops don't quite skew evenly for teams and leagues. Writing only for myself... I often do enough x8 content solo that within an hour or two (of enemy smashing) I get a Very Rare or PVP recipe drop. When I am on a PUG for the same amount of time, it is far less likely (but not impossible!) that I get that kind of drop... and often I feel (sorry no evidence!) like I've gotten significantly fewer common recipe drops as well. LVL 50 Common recipes are pretty easy to pay attention to, as the retail for ~100K each and none of my characters need them.

 

The RNG and I have our issues! I do believe that it is implemented in almost as fair a way as possible (flat filling of the probability space in a pseudorandom way) but that doesn't mean I like it when it skews deeply unevenly. I have to believe it takes a lot of work for Streakbreaker RNGesus when a 95% chance ToHit AoE on a tightly clustered spawn of 8 enemies ends up with 3 MISSES.

 

 

[[OPEN BETA] Patch Notes for February 24th, 2024]

18 hours ago, Wavicle said:

I saw something unusual yesterday in Defeat All Snakes in Area from Kalinda:

The Arachnos Flyer was visible on the map.

 

The Arachnos flier is present, but unfightable in Mercy Island. It would be nice if it was visible in Grandville (via the map), because of its mechanics: (1 of 4 possible routes, untargetable while flying, etc.)

 

19 hours ago, OldPenn said:

 

Yes, Adamastor rewards only being available every 18 hours per character was specifically noted as changed in the original Page 7 notes.  No, there was no mention of a complete pass on GMs, so if you can think of another that is summonable that doesn't have a reward cool down I'm sure that would be appreciated.

 

There are other red-side Giant Monsters that can be spawned, but there are specific zone-related peculiarities (Deathsurge) or other times (Caleb's day/night cycle) that prevent them from being rapidly summoned like Scrapyarder. Caleb has other elements (flying, stealth) that make it less-than-optimal to try to "farm".

 

I should disclose: I honestly don't know if Caleb has a 4-hour timer or not, because it is such a PITA to (a) spawn (b) find (c) guarantee all of its cohorts have been destroyed. I'm assuming it doesn't have a respawn timer based on the few times I've gone an spawned it. I want to say on at least a couple of occasions I've spawned it "right after" a server reboot.

[Adding stuff to GM drops without fixing spawn rates was just idiotic.]

2 hours ago, ZemX said:

 

Looking at patch notes again, I only do see Adamastor (in page 7) and now Scrapyard (on beta) mentioned in reward limits.   Seems none of the other Giant Monsters have or are getting reward timers... yet.

 

This is how it should be: the other Giant Monsters are not "exploitable" in the same way as Scrapyard. Four hours between spawns, combined with the general improvements to toughness  is enough to motivate teaming.

 

Adamastor having a daily limit was targeted at a very specific set of players who (per discussions on the forums) parked themselves at the Adamastor summoning spot and would either resummon the GM or just be present when others resummoned the GM to score 6 merits an hour. They also got the shame of admitting that this is what they were doing!

 

If other Giant Monsters get reward timers, I hope that we'd get the option to buy (via Aether)  specific pet recipes as opposed to the random roll. The drop rates for the pet recipes are pretty poor... I have several hundred Merits from Giant Monster drops, but only two pet recipes have dropped. If ALL the GM rewards are put on timers, it will make it that much harder to get a specific recipe. Since the pet recipes are also planned to become non-fungible on the market, this next set of updates could be really miserable for those of us who have characters that want a specific pet.

[Adding stuff to GM drops without fixing spawn rates was just idiotic.]

3 hours ago, Krimson said:

What... Which GMs have timers other than Adamastor? I've never soloed Adamastor because since I started hunting in 2021, I've NEVER been able to get him alone. Heck I was able to solo Paladin ONCE and only because the player that called it out bailed to do a TF.

 

Where are these timers? Have I been doing ridiculous search patterns for years for no reason at all? 

 

The Goliath Warwalker in Boomtown has a one hour waiting period before it can be summoned.

 

Deathsurge can be summoned, but the mobiles necessary to summon it are few in number and spread all over the map.

 

Caleb can be summoned, but it is on the day/night clock.

 

The Grim Vale event is on a two hour cycle, but only from the time when the last mobile from the previous event has been cleared.

 

Pretty much all the other open world zone-specific giant monsters are on a four hour cycle, from the time when there spawn conditions have been met.

 

[What Movement Ability For Missions]

My "grounded" characters usually keep their travel power, athletic sprint, and sprint toggled on inside missions. If I think I am burning Endurance I will detoggle.

 

I like to keep the travel powers toggled on for the secondary effects like teleportation (targeting a mobile or a location) or PBAoE knockdown.

[Help me make up my mind]

I play a lot of Robots/Traps, and it is the preferred MM in my stable to other builds. Other pairings are fine, but what I like about the Robots/Traps combo is that through playstyle and power picks/slotting choices it is possible to have a very layered approach to debuffing enemies and buffing the henchmen. This combo's debuffs are more than just applying a toggle or using an aura, so it can be a surprisingly rewarding combination to master. I understand why Robots/Traps sometimes is referred to a "training wheels" combination, yet once those wheels come off, it can be a very high-performing set.

 

The Page 5(?) robotics changes improved the damage output of the henchmen, but moved most of the debuffing elements into the MM primary attacks. The debuffs are less necessary for typical minion/lt/boss spawns, so for almost all content this was a big improvement. The only cases I've experience where this change hurt was that the robotic henchmen by themselves could no longer take down Giant Monsters (or other enemies with bags of HP). I think this was a perfectly acceptable trade off, but at the time I think it caught some players with the Robotics primary off guard.

 

As for "most versatile" on a team... My attitude is that when playing solo your henchmen are your "team", so whatever works for the henches should work for a PUG. As enemy debuffing is the force multiplier for teams, this is the primary reason I lean hard into enemy debuffing for MMs. On the flip side, most teams usually have defenses and resistances (and to a varying degree "health management") covered I tend to not focus on those aspects of MM secondaries. Mileage varies of course, especially across content and playstyle.

 

Whatever you pick, you won't be doing it wrong.

[Which one of you jokers dumped a bunch of cheap LotG on the Market?]

Some folks just want to clear space, and maybe get some auction house badges as well. By some folks, I mean me.

[we eschew issues?]

Imma confused. Is the question about naming these as "issues/pages" or is the question about QoL issues?

 

I like that we get new "comic book" content, although I am less invested in the Lore than others. I do think there are a few QoL "issues" that could be looked at, for example: henchmen had their collision boxes removed (for players), but many pets still have them. Umbra Beast likes to pin teammates (and owners) into corners!

[New Alignment tip drop feedback]

The previous system worked fine: If I wanted a specific Tip, they only cost 1 merit via a SG Base. If I had tips I didn't want, I'd just dismiss them.

 

I don't like having to "start" tip missions to keep them, because it is too easy for those missions to screw up things like trying to get to arc doors via Team Teleport and Mission Teleport. Having more than one mission active means that the player has to make sure to set the active mission to the one they really want to go to. Not impossible but enough of a PITA that I never kept an active door tip mission.

[Quick Form Snipes. Bleh.]

As written above, the advantage of the Fast Snipe is that the +ToHit becomes extra damage, up to 22%. IMO the biggest drawback to Fast Snipes is the loss of Range, not damage.

 

I only have one character that leverages the Experienced Marksman Range/Fast Snipe piece. That particular build was designed to have better options than a long ranged Snipe, and also has a lot of +ToHit.

[New Alignment tip drop feedback]

"Other than that Mrs. Lincoln, how did you enjoy the play?"

 

I don't mind tips dropping in mission or out of mission. I want them to drop in each circumstance. Previously I would do one tip to get the next one... And after the morality mission I'd street sweep to get a tip...

 

It is the unnecessary notifications that aggravate me. Maybe for my account they could just be turned into Enhancement Catalysts?

[New Alignment tip drop feedback]

The vector of my dislike for this change to alignment tips is the same (as above), but the magnitude of the personal animosity is less.

 

Please roll back this unnecessary change that is also highly annoying.

[updating crap mids and maps...]

I'm glad MIDs (whatever version) works for some folks. I gave up on it years ago because (at the time) it was such a resource hog and it felt like it was requiring too much of my PC to do what (I think) should have been a rather straightforward database implementation. I am 100% aware of the complexities inherent to the various character building options in CoX, but as a software designer it felt to me like the focus was more on the bajillion corner cases and less on refactoring the database implementation to run in a more 'minimalistic' way. I haven't seen the code, so this is purely my feels as a consumer. Similarly: I am guessing the UI is designed with whatever the team feels they understand the best, likely because it "works". That doesn't mean that the UI code implementation is the best for all consumers. Kudos to the folks working on it.

 

These days I construct my builds in Excel (of all things!) while referencing City of Data and my Enhancement cheat-sheet. I typically try to approach builds by having no more than three primary design intents (depending on AT and mood) after those I find I can tweak the higher-order effects without needing a MIDS... but I usually only do THAT after some time running the characters.

 

Personally: Ever since Homecoming lowered the level requirements for powers, I have found designing character builds to be easier. Partially because there is less of a need to put 'filler' power choices early-ish in a build, and partially because with higher-tier powers available sooner I like being able to slot those early. At level 50 it makes little difference but I like having more play time with a power as I level.

[Yuuuuuge Stalker [Placate] Buff in Build 3]

I haven't taken a Placate-ish power since before the previous rounds of changes (to the power, to the set options). I am now leveling up a Stalker with Placate and I like it!

 

14 hours ago, StriderIV said:

Need to respec. Placate a one slot wonder? How do you slot it?

 

With one slot? I'd probably just go Recharge. I want it available as often as possible. It looks like the stalker version doesn't take Accuracy, so usually this means it is an 'auto-hit' but I haven't done testing to see if it ever misses.... my character is too low level and doesn't have it slotted yet.

 

My current Stalker has a 5-piece slotting of Mocking Beratement planned (not using the pure Threat piece). I don't have the slots for the 6th piece bonus (from that set) and the effects of the extra global recharge would be somewhat minimal for this build. If it turns out that I don't "need" that set's extra Defensive boosts, I'll pull slots from Placate. I like the +MaxEnd from Mocking Beratement, so I'd probably keep 2 slots in the power.

[(Alignment? Event?) Tip notification keeps announcing]

Writing only for myself: I check the Initial Beta release notes, and then I will follow some fraction of the subsequent updates for those that interest me. I full admit to NOT reading the official page 7 release notes because... well... WALL OF TEXT. I do eventually circle back to them, but I have to admit I never expected a change to the TIP system... especially in an area that I don't recall anyone asking for. Specific to alignment TIPs, the only ask I ever recall players asking for was the ability to pull TIPs from previous level ranges.

 

So bad on me for putting it in the BUG forum without checking the actual release notes. Mea culpa.

 

EDIT: I want to add this bit of my annoyance of this change: I don't know what problem/issue this change addresses. We always had the ability to pick any alignment tip mission we wanted using a SG base device, for the cost of a single merit. If we needed 'room' for the mission, it was trivial to dismiss another alignment mission.

[Invul tanker/brute and +def all questions]

I agree: Invulnerability (on Homecoming) doesn't have to worry so much about Psi damage, with a caveat.

 

When Psi enemies appear, the biggest issue with them IMO is that there are several groups that are not easily gathered (because they have mostly/exclusively long ranged attacks) and so Invincibility is less likely to be  boosting a Tanker's Defenses (when a non-ranged dogpile is defeated). IMO knowing that there are groups that don't "swarm" a Tanker (IDF, Seers, Rularuu for example) is my favorite reason to leverage slotting choices that most Invulnerable Tankers will do anyway, like picking/slotting

• Positional defense boosts (Weave, Maneuvers, Combat Jumping)
• Scaling Damage Resistance
• +Heal/%Absorb

...And of course there are individual pieces that can layer on extra resistances, as well as set bonuses. I do typically add a little bit more Psi Resistance to Invulnerables but only after planning to hit (some/all) of the bullet points above.

 

 

[Adamastor]

16 hours ago, tidge said:

50s would get 10 merits + 5 threads IIRC, maybe that is what you saw?

 

I tested with a non-50 defeating (nu)Adamastor the first time: 10 Merits + 6 Merits (no threads, obviously)

 

EDIT: I went back and tested with a level 50, and got 10 Merits, plus 6 Merits plus 5 Threads (plus Monstrous Aethers) . This is a pretty generous drop IMO.

[IOs with 120 second buffs]

IIRC Auto powers act as if they are being triggered every so many seconds... 10? Those reactivations  replace the previous application (with same duration), which is why they will be 'perma' in an auto power.

 

Some enhancements have Global effects that work like an enhancement set bonus that does not need to be triggered.

[Adamastor]

30 minutes ago, Greldek said:

Isn't Lusca the merit pinata now? I thought i read she was worth like 20 merits now. Go farm that.

 

I decided to try nuLusca with my monster hunter. I did get 22 merits (plus 1 pet recipe, + 2 monster Aether's) but it took me 30+ minutes. I didn't think this was a good use of my (solo) time.

 

Those aren't terrible rewards for time spent, but I could have spent the same time in a less stressful set of SSA1 runs ... Likely 5 of them... In the same amount of time.

[Adamastor]

2 hours ago, Marshal_General said:

Yes, but I think I got 16 for my first defeat of the day. I will do it again tonight and see if I imagined it 

50s would get 10 merits + 5 threads IIRC, maybe that is what you saw?