tidge
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Posts posted by tidge
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Normally.... I'd suggest a Defender that also debuffs. However, given the multi-box constraint... I don't think 'passive' debuffs is that strong an option. Personally: I am not a fan of Venomous Gas (Poison's T9) but I suppose it could be made to work on a Pocket Defender if the defender itself has softcap+ defenses and some sort of PBAoE heal is the auto-power. You will almost certainly be able to have very high defenses by skimping on primary/secondary power choices and leaning into pools, modulo power/slotting choices for set enhancement bonuses.
My first instinct/preference would be a Time Manipulation primary. There are a few different primary options for the auto-power (depending on content, and needs)... and when played more actively, the Pocket Defender should be able to buff an ally. My thinking is the toggle powers that reduce/slow down nearby enemy offense.
Something else to consider (for a Pocket Defender): It might be worthwhile to consider an attack from the secondary to be the auto power targeting the Scrapper('s target). My first instinct is some sort of AoE, but that might draw more attention to the Defender than you want. Something 'simple' like Beam Rifle's Disintegrate for some single-target DoT and -Regeneration might do the trick. There may be better (secondary) choices, but a -Regeneration effect is where I would lean.
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I'm not taking a strong side side in the discussion re: Time Stop and wanting more slotting options. My Dark/Temporal Blaster did take it, and has it 6-slotted with (boosted) Gladiator's Net. It is not as if there is a shortage of different slotting options for pure Holds. On the contrary: There are 3 excellent set choices (PVP, Winter, Very Rare) plus a useful Hami-O, plus more %damage options than any other non-damaging control power.... ok maybe I will take a side: I don't think there is any need to update Time Stop. For the record: I only have Time Wall with the default slot, using a level 53 Endoplasm (Acc/Mezz). I suppose it has some %damage potential. I generally don't try to slot single-target slows for much, YMMV.
If I was going to ask for a buff to Time Wall, I'd want to know: Would it break the game if the 20 sec -Regeneration effect was increased? Looking at CityofData: it appears to be -25%, whereas purchasable Envenomed Daggers (10 sec) apply -250%. Every one of my characters restocks on Envenomed Daggers, so it simply strikes me as odd that there is such an imbalance, even when considering the other effects (in Time Stop) and base damage imbalance (that favors the Daggers)
I will write this: paired with Dark as a primary, the Temporal secondary resulted in what is my least Blappy Blaster. Much of this is driven by the primary, but an not-insignificant portion is driven by the other (pool) choices I made for this character concept. In most content, I'm simply abusing the heck out of Chronos... I have it on Auto, with IIRC a 90% chance for %BuildUp.... and relying on Time Wall/Time Stop for select enemies. When this character gets swarmed or there are opportunities, End of Time or the Nuke (Blackstar) get used. Future Pain is in the kit, but I rarely use it... again, it's because of the concept-driven range-heavy choices.
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I don't have a Mind/Dominator; I enjoy my Mind/Poison Controller...but I think these ATs are different enough that not too much from my experience would inform a style of play for a Mind Dom.
I feel like I can write this (about my own thoughts on a Mind Dom):
Confuse and Mass Confuse are must powers. I slot the Very Rare Coercive Persuasion (6-slot) set in the single-target power, and then the AoE gets at least one %damage piece (any damage done gets you a %drop chance).
Domination is what makes the ST Confuse so much "better" on Doms. The +Magnitude makes a big difference against the hardest targets. The content where I see (a full-kit) Mind primaries really shine are:
- Low/Mid 20-ish content that is 'turned up', because the AoE (including Sleep) keeps enemies from blanketing players with attack rolls
- Spawns/encounters with Elite Bosses/AVs
The first bullet is also true for any content above those levels, but not all AoE-clearing builds scale down nicely to those levels.
Mass Hypnosis (AoE) over Mesmerize (ST)... eventually the typical game reaches the point where it will almost certainly be too hard to try to leverage the single-target sleep. There are probably corner cases where Mesmerize could almost pull its weight, but I think this guy (points to self) would have to set up some targeting keybinds to use the single-target sleep effectively. I don't think I'd slot either the T1 or T2 Mind Primary Powers heavily (in a final build), no matter which one I picked. 5-slots of Call of the Sandman isn't a bad choice of Enhancement set for the AoE, but I could understand a build that uses fewer slots in Mass Hypnosis.
For a Dominator, I think the first (and perhaps only) power I would try for any %damage would be Terrify... and depending on if the secondary has a cone attack, maybe that too. Dominators will need Global +Recharge bonuses, and the Holds will present the choice of +Recharge set bonuses or 4+ %damage. I think the set bonuses should be the priority, but mileage varies (secondary choice, play style, budget).
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I have a Mind/Poison Controller... with Force of Will!.... I like the combo but I don't think I could reskin it to be a Mermaid.
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The only reason I can see to 6-slot either Health or Stamina would be for set bonuses. IMO any other non-Auto power that takes the (non-global) enhancements is a better choice of slots. If another power is an Auto (or an early enough power that will be always on) power, I may not invest even a second slot in either Health or Stamina, depending on how tight the build is.
Almost all my characters 2-slot each of them. I will occasionally add a third slot to Health (for Tankers, 2-slots go to Numina's... because MOAR regeneration..., 1 will be another global). On soft characters with few HP and poor defenses, sometimes I will make sure to have the Power Transfer %Heal added to 2xPerformance Shifters (EndMod and %+End) in Stamina.
Leaping from what @roleki wrote: After the third slot in either power, I'm sure every AT has a better use for the slots.
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3 minutes ago, lemming said:
Best way if you have three to seven friends with decent builds to just jump into one of the lesser used zones and just do the banners yourself.
I briefly experimented with a 50+ MM jumping from banner to banner. I'd try to defeat 20-ish enemies at one banner before moving to the next. I did get the blue bar to start to move, but I don't know that I could have completed the blue bar solo before time expired. From what I could tell, I had to have defeated some number of spawns at every banner before it moved... but I wasn't able to pin down what specifically I needed to do (solo). It felt like I would have had to have done this five times (each banner)... but it couldn't verify I had done enough at each banner until I got to the fourth one (in the cycle).
Even in the lowest level zones that get the Apocalypse, I suspect that my MM build would take at least 2 minutes on each (vulnerable) banner... may less time if the Lore pets were out... so I don't know if I could have solo completed the event in 16 minutes.
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3 hours ago, Display Name said:
But my observations have brought me to the conclusion that there's no bug or glitch in banners. It's just that players either don't know how to do banners or aren't paying attention to the league chat (or both.)
I also don't believe there is any 'bug' in getting badges during the Deadly Apocalypse: every case where I have missed a Banner badge is one I attributed to being on a team that didn't do enough (or any) damage to the banner. This season so far:
- The time I was an Incandesence 'anchor' for one the later banners, I never landed a single hit on the banners I didn't engage.
- The time I was on a small team, again anchoring (so away from the action) and my team appeared to be mostly lower-level characters side-kicked up.
I have come to believe that on a large league in a level 50 zone, there is literally no need to have Incandesence anchors... as long as one of the folks rushing between banners summons the entire league (or waits for someone who can) before attacking the banners. Same as with the Greater Aspect.
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2 hours ago, Scarlet Shocker said:
I had also considered "Force of Will" pool as the primary component of her mental side - which is doable but then leaves gaps in other sets making it difficult to get other powers in.
I Like Force of Will, it's a very viable Pool... especially for characters that make have lower DPS scales. Wall of Force is very suitable as an early-ish Cone attack that can use %damage.
My immediate thought was to lean into the Water set early, and then end up leveraging a Psychic Patron/Epic pool. The trick would be to find an AT whose Epic allows the kind of things you want at that tier.... or as was written, lean into the Mind/Psychic early and then leverage Mako's pool for more "aquatic" things.
I wouldn't rule out Pain or Sonic with a Mermaid type character.
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40 minutes ago, bellona100 said:
Try taking the inspiration and holding it over the henchmen's health bar for a second before dropping it onto the UI. You know, the window that lists the henchmen and their buffs.
This is how I prefer to do it (so I don't accidentally "buff" something like the FFG or Maintenance drone. If you keep reading the thread, I think I figured out what the cause it, and have a suggested work around. It's pretty much exclusive to the T3 henchman on my Robotics MM.
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Here is a MM peeve I can't believe I forgot to include:
Henchmen getting in the way of clicking on doors/contact/objectives. This is especially annoying in places where there is a tightly constrained clickable area. I think I use the "goto" function more often in Ouroborous and Hazard Zone gates more than any other situations.
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14 hours ago, Sakura Tenshi said:
Sort of my take on this is that Praetoria is specifically actually built in Florida.
In my head canon, the First Ward on Praetorian Earth is located where Justin Sinclair's mansion is located on Primal Earth; Primal characters never see the outside. Mother Mayhem's "hospital" is inside the Praetorian version of Manticore's mansion.
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15 hours ago, Skyhawke said:
Eochi and Jack in Irons are part of a giant monster fight club and we keep interrupting their sessions.
In the Grim Vale, they certainly don't have Rules 4 or 5, but some of the rest checks out.
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5 hours ago, You said:
Still debating whether to proc personal attacks. Does anyone know if that temp pet proc well?
Generally, for MMs, I find there are competing considerations about %damage in personal (primary) attacks.
- The MM damage scale is terrible, so %damage will boost damage of individual attacks
- MMs can get some of their best set bonuses from slotting their attacks (henchmen tend to be franken-slotted)
If attacks are going to be slotted: I lean towards going for set bonuses, especially for Endurance effects. Keep in mind:
- %damage requires making ToHit rolls
- MM attacks also have a high Endurance cost
If going for a %proc in an MM attack, I prefer using "damage multiplier" %procs that do %-Resistance.... assuming there will be henchmen making attacks.
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My memories of Rescue the Fortune Teller as a mission were these:
- When debt was burdensome, it wasn't that hard to end up with that mission, but...
- If you played with buddies (no SGs!) and avoided debt it was possible to miss it.
I'm also remembering that since actual travel powers weren't available until level 14 (and Fitness wasn't inherent) so there was a lot of motivation to play relatively low-risk content (with PUGs) to level up fast enough to get that precious travel power.
Specific to this mission, it used to be a very painful one to do... especially without a travel power navigating Perez Park. On Homecoming (and all my memories of using Flashback on Live), I'm always sent to Perez Park. I feel like on Live I may have had a single instance where the cave door wasn't in Perez Park.
Here is a place where my memory is foggy: I want to say that prior to badges being a thing, the game was somehow keeping track of some completed arcs/missions. I feel like several of my Issue 0 slow/grind characters didn't have to redo certain arcs/missions.
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5 hours ago, evetsleep said:
As someone whose been here a long time and has just about every MM combo, this was the thing that made my MM life so much easier once I came to terms with "letting them die" after the QoL pass on MM's. It breathed new life into my play style that includes letting my cardboard dragons (previously paper dragons) of Genin die so I could just resummon them. I spend far less effort protecting my pets (especially the T1's) and it's allowed me to play a much more aggressive MM.
This sentiment is basically why I am comfortable with no longer including a MM secondary like Dark in my stable: On Live, I felt that AoE healing the henchmen was somewhat game-changing. I don't feel that way on Homecoming.
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You get "ambushed" by Frostfire's Imps, but that's about it beyond whatever spawns get aggroed.
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I have found that Robotics really benefits from the primary attacks, at least after the recent revamp... for the high HP targets, because of -Regen. I'm sure much of the content can be done without those attacks. I might not take them early while leveling up, but they would probably be early choices in a level 50 build.
My own post-revamp experience has been that the only GMs the upgraded henchmen can handle without my MM using the rifle attacks are the very low-level zone instances. They were more self-sufficient against GMs before; now they perform better across all content.
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I try to avoid having a character that only does exclusively (or almost exclusively) one type of damage; to my thinking this is the best reason to try to have some %damage powers on certain high DPS AT characters.
There are a handful of Giant Monsters that give my GM-hunters slightly more trouble because of their resistances (above and beyond their MaxHP); I usually try to have a Lore slotted that can help against these (beyond debuffs and extra DPS).
Flipping this around: Generally I prefer to try to shoot for positional defenses, and as for specific damage type resistances... it is more-or-less catch-as-catch-can... especially with the more-recent changes to damage typing. I don't specifically build characters to 'farm' but I can understand easy-to-get resistance builds for S/L or F/C.
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On 9/27/2023 at 10:13 AM, tidge said:
The near-random inability for Inspirations to 'stick' to henchmen.
I used to attribute this problem 100% to "not being close enough" to the henchmen, now I attribute 98% to it. Some fraction of the time when the MM clicks on an Inspiration, the insp will 'vanish' from the UI, and then re-appear (not having been used) so I think there is some server lag as well. Other times I think there is enough of a discrepancy in positioning of the henchmen between local and server that may be contributing. What is weird: I rarely have this problem with the Lore pets, it usually happens when I try to put a Red Insp on my T3.
I've been experimenting with this problem. Since I almost always have the problem with the T3 (upgraded) henchman, I am starting to believe it is because (after the upgrade) it is almost always attacking... and so I think the game isn't allowing the asynchronous drag of the Inspiration from my (the player's) tray to the henchman to 'stick' because the hench is either attacking or has a queued attack at the server. I rarely see this issue with henchmen/pets that have fewer attacks.
I have had more luck dragging the inspiration to the T3 when it is in 'idle' mode, such as when having the henchmen go to 'follow' bringing them in close before they start to recognize targets.
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I think a lot of the classic appeal of Thugs was Gang War. I took a Thugs MM to 50+ and I was really unimpressed.
I went with a combo that is strong on offense and debuffs, with just a little bit of support for the Henchmen: Robotics/Traps/Mace. I understand the appeal of Necromancy as a primary, and I don't think it is at all weak... my opinion is that it offers a lot of different cool things that MMs don't really need and that those things can be a distraction. Please don't think I hate on Necromancy!
My only complaint about the Time secondary is this: Time doesn't have that many skipable powers! I voted Traps because with just four powers from the secondary (Caltrops, Acid Mortar, Force Field Generator, Posion Trap) it is possible to get almost all the debuffs and buffs needed to make the MM and the Henchmen capable of facing almost every challenge in the game.
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8 hours ago, A Cat said:
I'm guessing that it also has to do with brutes getting repeatedly nerfed also. As someone who occasionally farmed, I am part of the problem, but it is a shame that the whole AT got nerfed for such a niche activity. A lot of my brutes (used to main brutes) got rerolled as scrappers and tanks. Tanks are a bit slow getting off the ground due to a low number of attacks though.
I'm going to offer my (personal, internal) perspectives on the whole Tanker/Brute ruckus.
On Live: Whatever debate/discussion folks have about TvB... I remember almost the exact argument being had about Tankers v. Scrappers ... long before Brutes were even in the game. Among Tankers;, there was an extraordinary imbalance in favor of Fire Tankers, because of enemy AI (and to some extent the aggro rules). At certain points, there were many loud voices proclaiming "Tankers are irrelevant", with exceptions made for "map herding". Many of us will be able to think of both specific and general content where a Tanker was preferred to relying only on Scrappers; my point is there were many loud voices making the earlier comment.
Some changes (noticeably the AI changes, then the aggro cap) had a big effect on what those loud voices though "Tankers were good at"... so cumulative changes (CoV, Blueside Brutes, AE) resulted in (my PoV both of Live and early Homecoming) loud voices proclaiming "Brutes are superior to Tankers in every way". As near as I can tell: this "Superiority" was being measured in x8 map clearing times. Again: my point is not to argue that, it's just that this always appeared to be a cornerstone of loud arguments of players who really wanted to confidently say "Brutes are superior to Tankers".
I don't personally believe Brutes ever got nerfed. I am bracing myself for a long litany of follow-up posts informing the world how wrong my perception is. I can see how some power set changes affected HC AE Fire Farms. I can see how AI changes "slow down" farming. I can see how altering XP (and Empyrian merit) rewards affects the Inf-building bottom line for some activities. I can understand how the revision to defense/resistance attack typing can have altered the performance (and perception) of specific defense/resist builds. None of these changes were targeted at Brutes IMO. Boosting the AoE radii of Tankers was not a swing of the nerf bat at another AT.
Full disclosure: I generally do not enjoy ATs (or builds) that require constant button mashing or enemy engagement in missions. During play I try to pay some attention to General chat, and who knows what I might be doing with open inventory/auction house windows. Dominators I can tolerate once "perma-domination" is achieved... all discussion about that can be found elsewhere... but Brutes and the Fury bar mechanic has never really appealed to me. This player (points to self) is far more likely to roll a melee concept as a Scrapper, Tanker, or Stalker sacrificing what the Fury bar can do, simply because I don't enjoy building/maintaining Fury.
Fundamentally, my perception of the combat part of the game comes down to "how many button mashes do I need to clear this spawn/enemy?"... so requiring two attacks instead of three attacks is obviously fewer clicks, but I start to lose interest in min-maxing when the difference is seven clicks instead of eight.
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17 minutes ago, carroto said:
I'd love to calculate the regen equivalent of one of these procs but I'm not sure I know the details of how the chances are calculated in auto powers or toggles well enough to be able to do it accurately. Unfortunately there doesn't seem to be a place to go like the wiki with details like that.
There was a spreadsheet showing the relative differences in expected performance for the Panacea %+HP and the Power Transfer %+HP (after the "fix"); it isn't that hard to figure out how much HP will be healed via Regeneration (and at what 'tick' rate). My search-fu isn't turning it up maybe @Bopper recalls the keywords/author?
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10 minutes ago, carroto said:
Well it's not unique, so it's possible to use more than one. I almost always have one in Stamina, but it's possible to slot them in other things like say Superior Conditioning and Physical Perfection from the Body Mastery pool (not for Tanks though, they only get Physical Perfection). Then sets like Rad armor and Bio have another power in them that can take one, so it's possible to have at least four in some builds. You can get a lot of heal proccage going on.
So naturally I was looking for a place to put one in Elec armor and Lightning Field seems like the only auto/toggle the set has as a candidate.
No disagreement from me... although more than two instances of it seems like overkill, at least to me. The large HP AT might be better suited looking at what is going on with their Regeneration numbers, even if it is just from slotting Health.
6 slot health and stamina? Pros/Cons
in General Discussion
Posted
I have no serious criticism of the post quoted below, I'm going to use it to springboard some of my (alternate) thinking:
The Numina's Convalescence unique (+10% Recovery/+20% Regeneration) only ends up in my builds (and always in Health) if I am also slotting a Numina's Healing piece.... and I only do this on high HP characters I expect to be taking regular damage. The 2-piece set bonus and the enhancement to Health itself is aces in my book. Often the high-HP characters are fitting on of these other pieces (Panacea, Miracle) in a primary/secondary power... if not those will probably also be in Health. This is the only circumstance when I ever have more than 2 slots in Health.
Otherwise I never chase Regeneration; IMO a slot that would go to the solo Numina piece can almost always go in some other power that will improve offense, defense, or endurance consumption. There are a number of 2-slot set bonuses that offer +MaxEnd, for example. This is why I almost never add the Regenerative Tissue unique to builds.(*1)
I also don't like the level requirement for the Numina piece. By the time it can be slotted, most characters should have improved defenses and Endurance usage should be relatively under control that those extra buffs are marginal. I suppose if someone took Hasten at level 4 they may have a different opinion, but that is a different field of discussion.
Personally: I am much more concerned about the blue bar being managed than I am about the green bar. Often my characters can 'recover' more Endurance simply by not spamming/button mashing a single attack than they would get from the +10% Recovery from the Numina piece.
(*1) As always, I will experiment with unslotters... and detoggling powers... to see how the choices of slotting impacts play style and outcomes.