tidge

January 21

I'm in agreement that the Fighting pool being chosen for Tough/Weave is something of old-school thinking, at least for me. In the Homecoming era, now that enhancement sets (of all types) are easy to get (via Inf, via Merits) I look for opportunities to mule(*1) the +3% Defense pieces, the +5% Resistance piece, the Scaling Damage Resistance piece, etc... and having to take a pre-req power (Boxing, Kick) that I'm unlikely to use seems like such a waste of a power pick to me. I certainly have characters that have taken this path, but it is almost never my first choice.

Tough in particular is something I find to be weak sauce when used as a toggle. The changes to damage typing have made the old-school approach to "maximize Smashing/Lethal" much less important than they once were. I'm not swayed by the casual "but most enemies do Smashing/Lethal" arguments... that sort of thinking can serve someone who only plays specific content I suppose, but nobody gets XP/Inf/Drops from just reducing incoming damage.

(*1) Some Epic/Patron pools (for Doms) require a pre-requisite before being able to choose a "mule" Defense/Resistance powers, some do not.

The two non-Patron pools that I particularly like for Dominators are:

Fire Mastery: <- I am not crazy about either of the level 35 picks, but either can be used to hold an enhancement set (for recharge bonuses) and neither is embarassing... my complaint is simply that level 35 is a long time to wait for such a power! The final three picks are excellent, and IMO Rise of the Phoenix will be more useful than Tough/Weave (for a Dom).

Psionic Mastery: Because the first three powers are good mules in addition to being good powers. Link Minds at 35 is sooo much better than Tough/Weave!

I like the powers in Ice Mastery, but I've never taken it on a Dominator. The other sets have things to offer, but I have that bias against waiting until level 35+ to get (more) offense, so sets heavy with attacks are less appealing to me.

January 20

This is a question with not much of a (general) "right answer", IMO.

For me, it mostly depends on the primary and secondary I want to play (for concept) and which powers I want to take from each. Folded into the answers to those questions, I'll think about which enhancement sets I intend to slot, and what levels the powers will be taken.

Personally? I lean slightly more towards Defenders, but I don't have an allergy to Corruptors. The reasons for the slight preference are subtle:

I don't like when all the damage (from attacks, what not) is of the same type, so I lean into %damage from procs... and the final yield is a bigger deal for Defenders (relatively)
I feel like I can stretch the buffs/debuffs from Defenders more than I can with Corruptors.

I agree that for some content, with well-tuned (and smart) allies, the final effect of buffs may not matter that much... but the same is often true about damage dealing! One key consideration for me is to make sure that if my build has a strong debuff to make sure that it is as available and reliable as possible.

January 20

2 minutes ago, Maelwys said:

To be fair, most of the armor auras have a base duration of ~13.5s which isn't too bad.
Willpower's Rise to the Challenge has a base duration of just 1.25s. You can peel aggro off it with a rolled up newspaper... 🤷‍♂️

I don't really go out of my way to play that game, but I think there is often more going on than some players using a 'taunt aura' realize... it could be that many auras require ToHit checks, for example. These sorts of things are hard to observe in solo play, certainly in terms of 'keeping aggro', so my opinion is that some players overestimate how good their semi-passive aggro management actually is on teams.

January 20

The attributes I watch are 99% common for my characters;

To Hit Bonus <- Mostly to look for debuffs, but also to keep an eye on if I have all my toggles up

Last Hit Chance <- This is the giveaway to "maybe stop swinging"

3x Positional Defenses <- Again, to look for debuffs, and to see if a toggle is not up or otherwise not available

Positional defenses are typically easier to build for across ATs and Power picks, so I monitor those by habit. If I am playing a character with explicitly typed defenses I may monitor the "worst" of those.

I have occasionally monitored other attributes like travel speeds, endurance/recovery but those are usually for short-term testing.

January 20

1 hour ago, Onlyasandwich said:

Taunt is definitely better than provoke for all the reasons outlined above.

However, if you're going in for Unrelenting or other powers that require a prereq pick in the pool, I would just use Provoke and save the power pick. It's adequate.

I meant to add something else about choosing Provoke instead of Taunt (for the path towards Unrelenting), because of the non-autohit Provoke.

Taunt, because it is an auto-hit in PvE, can be used with minimal slotting and have no direct effect (AFAIK) on streakbreaker. Provoke, which requires a ToHit check, ought to be subject to all the standard rules around streakbreaker. Minimally, this implies (to me, YMMV) slotting Provoke for Accuracy. The same goes for other powers (ehem, Brawl, Kick, whatever) that players may be tempted to toss into an attack rotation.

Personal preference: on characters with a threat power, I try to 6-slot with the Mocking Beratement set, although I have a few characters with "threat" powers that have used as few as three and two pieces of that set.

EDIT: and another thing... regarding the potential choice of Provoke or Pacify when already planning to take Taunt...

For characters with a Placate (Stalkers, Banes) using Placate will, in most cases, stop an enemy from running away from you in a way that Taunt will not. I believe this is because Placate effectively causes the critter to 'refresh', while Taunt is just applying more aggro math on top of a critter that has already decided to run for the hills. I also think that I've observed Placate (on a Bane) to get enemies like Clamor to drop debuff toggles as well... can't be sure here, this fight is a little frenetic solo.

Because Pacify is not the same as Placate, I can't be certain that it would work the same w.r.t. getting enemies to stop running away... but if dipping into the Presence pool it might be a valuable tool for that purpose, even if only in solo play.

January 20

7 minutes ago, ZemX said:

The taunt effect is essentially a multiplier. For the person who has put a taunt on that NPC, everything they do while that taunt lasts has its threat value multiplied. This is how a Tanker who does much less damage than a Blaster can still keep the attention of the NPC. It's like hitting for 10 damage and having it hate you like you just hit it for 1000 damage.

^This^ also explains why it isn't difficult to strip aggro away from a character only relying on a 'taunt aura'.

January 20

54 minutes ago, ZemX said:

It's not trying to be deceptive. The game calculates recharge assuming all current buffs/debuffs will go on forever. It can't really work any other way.

[snip]

All that said, in order to understand what you're seeing, you need to include the power monitor in your screenshot like @Maelwys has (showing Recharge Time Bonus and the breakdown below it) to see how many and how strong each of the debuffs are.

Whenever a player thinks they are being debuffed to the point that they begin to feel that something is wrong, monitoring specific combat attributes is a really good idea. Up to 10 may be monitored at any one time (without keeping the large window open).

In my own experience, most debuffs (especially -Recharge) are pretty short in duration, so a glance at my attribute monitor is usually enough to clue me in for cases when I don't recognize a visual clue on my character.

As for the OP... I've convinced myself that there had to have been some sort of engagement/flyby of a Winter Lord that isn't being shared. There is very little in the open world that will cause the massive amount of -Recharge described, and certainly none by grey con enemies. Winter Lords are pretty much the only thing I encounter in open world con-grey zone that can be just standing around (that is, they don't self de-rezz) that can have that effect.

January 20

Taunt is an auto-hit in PvE, Provoke is not. Typically I don't recommend Provoke for this reason.

I agree about the utility of Unrelenting. However, if the build is tight I suppose Provoke can sub in for Taunt.

January 19

Without being too critical: pull the 6th slot from Sniper Blast, get the full x6 set of Coercive Persuasion.... the extra defense from the 6th piece is quite nice. Seeds of Confusion doesn't really need the enhancement, but this is not a set to stop at 5 IMO

January 19

6 minutes ago, Andreah said:

There are unlockable contacts in Steel Canyon and Port Oakes that will give you any bank safeguard/mayhem mission on demand.

Lord Schweinzer is IMO somewhat trivial to unlock, but it involves swapping to blue side and doing the Dakota Berg (Brickstown) entry in "Who Will Die?" arc at a something like x3 (I'm not sure if x2 will be enough) to get "Bloody Hands".

Some recent-ish updates have made it easier to get Agent Hassell unlocked via Villain Disruptor, but I haven't found a single mission (either side) that can get it for me. The least painful, but still grindy, way for me is to run the first SSA 1 arc repeatedly, now that the final mission's enemy counts. There is quite a bit of red side content (including patron arcs) that provides both heroes and villains (for both badges), but these aren't quick. See also some villains in higher level TFs (Kahn, etc.)

Finally: I believe the 20-29 Frostfire Vigilante morality (alignment changing/confirming) mission offers more than one potential villain to count towards the badge. I used to run the PI radio missions to get the safeguard and fight the bank robber and the jail breaker, but that is also somewhat grindy.

January 19

I also mix them up:

The advantages of contact missions are (IMO, in no particular order):

Badges, Merit rewards (for certain arcs)
"Newer" contact missions are often all in the same zone (think blueside Hollows, Faultline, Striga, Croatoa, etc.)
Most of the game's lore is exposed through these

The advantages of newspaper/radio mission (again, MMV)

With only a few exceptions, they will be in the zone you pick them up
They can (mostly) be completed quickly
There is a little bit of player agency for choosing enemies
The eventually unlock Mayhem/Safeguard missions

The advantages of Safeguard/Mayhem missions

Badges, and progress towards badges
Temp powers

The advantages of Tip missions

Progress on alignment, badges
unlocking 40-merit Morality missions
some minor (sometimes funny!) lore
potential exposure to more varied enemy types

Of these, the biggest drawbacks are IMO:

Tip missions can be 'buggy'; they often have multiple triggering things that can get real screwy
Contact missions can have some pretty lame objectives (e.g. find 12 special mobs, plus defeat alls)
Newspaper/Radio can have escort missions, one of the villain Mayhem objectives can be a kidnap

The ONLY thing that players can miss out on by "leveling too quickly" are:

Tip Missions can be out-leveled and cannot be done for lower level ranges (20-29, 30-39)
Certain non-badge, non-merit contact missions can be out-leveled

Neither of these affects 'badge hunters' AFAIK.

January 19

34 minutes ago, Sovera said:

2 - STILL having the fear code in so mobs run at % HP. Good lord, it's 2025 and soloers are still divided in first and second class citizens. Any thing without an agro aura should expect to take twice as long to go through a mission, no hyperbole. Lets please have mobs NOT run, and agro auras simply mean they will prefer to hit the agro auro owner instead of a nearby squishy.

I've been thinking about this one a lot recently. Mostly because I've been playing a Scrapper recently, a little bit because of another thread I don't feel like mentioning. There were plenty of times when I'd watch a solo runner, on the ground, go more than 250 feet away before slowly coming back. Fliers did the same, just much faster. This is not a problem on my ranged attackers or control types.

I couldn't think of a a good solution to propose. This behavior was seen as some important part of critter AI, implementing it *did* eliminate trivial gaining of XP. I looked a little at the potential implications of scaling up some damage sets, but that was misguided I think.

I think the "fairest" idea that crossed my mind was this: What if enemy critters that went into "escape mode" got a movement debuff/penalty, so that there was a slightly better chance for melee types to get them before they high-tail it? I don't know if that is a very elegant solution, and it would spoil some of the game I think.

January 18

January 18

I can't speak to all toggles, but AFAIK for many (if not most) the answer is "yes, the toggle will be available sooner with a Recharge enhancement than without." The times may be short enough that it is barely noticeable.

As a practical matter, I am rather certain *I* only observe this on powers where I end up slotting pieces of a set which includes /Recharge Time components... such as Maneuvers or powers that are Resistance toggles.

January 18

I find myself looking at Epic/Patron pools (for each AT) with one of two perspectives:

The build has some gaps that the pool can help to fill,
There is a power (or two) in the pool that I feel especially compliments the concept

In my stable of characters, it runs roughly 4-to-1 in favor of the first. This is mostly because I like my characters to feel 'complete' by level 30, with a little bit of my 'character concept' drives AT/Primary/Secondary more than anything else. Part of this "completeness" feeling extends into picking up (explicit) ranged attacks at level 35+. Mileage varies of course.

My thinking specific to Controllers follows:

Usually I've sunk so many slots into the primary and secondary that I don't have many spare slots to dedicate to epic/patron pool powers. Especially when I look at a "level 50" build, Controllers generally have fewer opportunities (in terms of power choices) where to slot their ATO... and if I want some ranged attacks, there isn't anything stopping me from picking them up from 'regular' power pools earlier than level 35.

As a practical matter, when there isn't a specific power I want at level 35+ from a pool, I tend to lean into pools that allow me to mule Resistance and/or Defense Enhancement sets. Psionic is one choice, and IIRC each of the Patron pools allows for a Resistance toggle at level 35 with no pre-requisites (beyond having opened the Patron pools).

January 17

14 hours ago, groobark said:

1. Search missions in open area maps

I don't think there is a single open area map in the game that is free of problems with geometry, non glowing/humming clickies, visibility of non map objects, hostages under stairs or bridges, etc.

Sometimes, finding objectives is like...

January 17

18 hours ago, Troo said:

To sate the lust of power; more horrid still,
The foulest stain and scandal of our nature
Became its boast — One Murder made a Villain,
Millions a Hero. — Princes were privileg’d
To kill, and numbers sanctified the crime.
Ah! why will Kings forget that they are Men?

-1759 Church of England Bishop Beilby Porteus (not @Snarky)

January 17

Domination offers three benefits:

The Controls are more powerful <- see comments above about which sets this makes a big difference for
It offers resistance to controls
It refills the Blue Bar

Perma-dom is getting domination again, before it expires. If Domination expires, you must refill the domination bar to use it again. You probably know all this but I thought I'd mention it.

To get the global recharge necessary for perma-dom, I believe the minimal value is 123%, rounded up, but because it is easy to get 'stuck' in an animation, every little bit above this is useful. Hasten IIRC offers 95% global recharge. Hasten doesn't need to be 'perma' for Dominators.

I prefer to achieve perma-dom without Hasten, and also without FF +Recharge pieces, but mileage varies. The disadvantage of my approach is that the slots and set bonuses required to get global recharge for perma-dom aren't feasible until level 50... so taking Hasten while leveling is a reasonable compromise for me.

One sly effect of getting high global recharge will be that it becomes easier to spam attacks/controls, which will burn the blue bar faster. Dominators tend to live on the edge of a knife.

January 17

7 hours ago, kelika2 said:

that mentality is thankfully long gone in most current day MMOs and city of heroes

tanks nowadays can deal decent damage, and amazing damage if they are geared for it. having khelds do less damage is a step back, even in tank form.

^this^ is sort of my point about how the Kheldian non-human forms are effectively channeling and old-school manner of thinking.

Specific to Dwarf form: my recollection from Live was that in some place like Bloody Bay, with the old/Live level requirements for power picks, was that a reasonably slotted (but not particularly heavily slotted) Dwarf could hold off entire teams in PVP... sort of like how a level 50 Tanker could do it in RV, but much easier. This is one of the memories that reminds me that for the level at which the forms unlock, the Kheldians are quite impressive.

Dwarfs, with minimal (PB)AoE are never going to be as good at spawn-clearing as other ATs.... but the tricks they have in Dwarf form make them good (old-school) pocket tanks.

My thinking is that the primary reason to leave the "changeling exploit" in place is to allow players who want to use it to feel like their Kheldians are keeping pace with other ATs to do so. Any potential revamp would be a LOT of effort, and whatever direction chosen to revamp isn't likely to be the one a majority of players are asking for.

January 16

8 minutes ago, Shathal said:

That's something I've noticed a lot of ppl sleep on when picking their Fighting-pool powers.

Alternative read: ppl tried it and found it to be of relatively low value.

January 16

Is there a technical reason why the F10 Battle Cry is limited to 32 characters? I'm not asking for even as many as 64, but 32 is often too short to write a simple sentence.

January 16

5 minutes ago, Carnifax said:

It's my most damaging power pre-Imps, even solo running at 0/0 (don't judge me)

I pass no judgement! I usually bridge those low levels with temporary attacks from START. They are also endurance hogs, but I feel like I have more agency.

My comment was made more of a general observation on enemy-affecting PBAoE toggles. There are some that work for me, many more that do not (especially on squishier characters). Minimally I find that they need to be slotted for both Accuracy and Endurance Reduction before even considering whatever the actual effect of them is supposed to be!

January 16

w.r.t. Hot Feet... this is one of those PBAoE toggles that initially looks appealing to me, but in practice is something I find very hard to make work without a lot of slots (for the entire build, if not the PBAoE toggle itself). These sorts of powers have lots of theoretical uses, but in practice don't pan out well for me. YMMV. Once of the competing issues I've found with such powers is that enemy critters are often too spread out (by their nature and/or by application of controls) that their isn't as much return for the (Endurance, slots) choice to use the PBAoE toggle as opposed to investing in some other power.

I've taken it, but it was never something I used semi-regularly until near end-build... by then I have the slots and I can turn up spawn sizes.

January 16

My advice is to try different things. Try different ATs, different powers, different pools, different slotting choice, different strategies, different content.

Eventually, each of will land somewhere and think what we are doing (with respect to whatever) is "optimal"... but no matter whatever, that assessment, even if correct, is only true for the limited scope of yardsticks we have to apply.

Even a question as simple as this has different possible answers, depending on many variables:

16 hours ago, JMacClear said:

ie. It seems universal that you do not create IOEnhancements till post level 20 due to scale.

- I didn't happen to note this in a guide - I think I picked it up of a YouTube video although I could be mistaken

Many players shoot through levels 1-20 so quickly such that the question might not even be relevant to them! There is a sort of "correct answer" with respect to relative enhancement values between slotting choices, but the 'best answer' might be informed by less abstract and more specific (to the character, to the player account) details.

January 16

12 hours ago, Ghost said:

When will the mods put this thread out of its misery

Obviously we all have to declare the user with the most posts in the thread the winner, and then everyone will be satisfied.

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