[Best of Both - Blood Widower Fortunado Build]

On 5/7/2023 at 4:35 AM, Gulbasaur said:

Comments and Changes

The significant differences here are swapping out Psychic Scream for Dart Burst - the lack of redraw just makes it more appealing and if I'm totally honest the sound effect was beginning to annoy me.

 

 

I rather like this idea. I've been wedded to Psychic Scream for so long, but I also get annoyed by the sound.

[There needs to be a leaver penalty]

Some men just want to watch the dogs burn.

[Incarnate Shards]

Have you explored the "convert" tab under incarnate powers?

[What AT is best for tanking multiple groups? 'cause "Tank" ain't it.]

The post above by @Ironblade has succinctly identified what I consider to be the true state of affairs for 'aggro play'. It's been almost 20 years since a Tanker could do things like herd all the Rikti monkeys on the PI map. The game has long evolved past the "wait for the Tank to herd them" style of gameplay... for one thing the target caps for damage exist.

 

I occasionally see some other sides to whatever the OP's complaint is:

• I'll often use non-tank characters to grab aggro from distant groups, simply to speed up clear times
• It is not at all uncommon that my non-tanks can peel the attention of single enemies that the tank really ought to be holding the attention of

In the case of the former, I'm doing it because we can handle it. It's not because the Tanker is inferior.

 

In the case of the latter, I don't think it is that big of a deal... minimally I hope it demonstrates to the Tanker's player that they need to step up their game.

[High level enemy group revamps]

My thoughts keep coming back to:

• The Council, and before them Crey, were pretty unimaginative enemies that rarely provided a challenge.
• Neither the Council nor Crey used even a fraction of the sort of powers/game effects that they should have had access to given the game's Lore.
• Neither the Council nor Crey is particularly out of line with other groups that spawn in the level range 40+
• Neither the Council nor Crey are clones of any other groups that spawn

Every time an enemy shows up using tricks that players have been using to defeat critters, there is going to be some who feel twinges of "but that's not fair!"... but it doesn't mean it isn't fair. If anything those formerly mediocre groups now play like they ought to, given the Lore.

 

If anyone wasn't here for the Fire attacks having a -Def component added to them, and you feel like seeing how arguments about how somebody doesn't listen to me play out I recommend spending some time with the search bar. Spoilers: The game didn't end in a fiery cataclysm.

 

[Help with a Mids Build for a Water/Energy Blaster]

Well.... there are Blaster secondaries which don't contain melee attacks... and it isn't like the Epic/Patron pools are brimming with melee attacks.

[High level enemy group revamps]

5 minutes ago, PeregrineFalcon said:

Isn't that also the same story behind Buffy the Vampire Slayer?

 

Also Deep Space 9, IIRC.

[What AT is best for tanking multiple groups? 'cause "Tank" ain't it.]

2 hours ago, Snarky said:

You are saying Tanks can't manage agro. That another AT would definitely be better. So.  

 

 

I think what I'm reading is that ever since the nerf to Tankers, that Dark/Dark Brutes are now the premium Herders, but only if they run Oppressive Gloom and Cloak of Fear.

 

[prismatic drop in WST]

[Drastically increase the radius of team shielding powers]

2 hours ago, Trickshooter said:

They're already so much more convenient to reapply than they originally were, having to activate them a second or even third time just because some people are further away is just not really an issue to most players, I think.

 

 

[Give Medicine Pool Power some love]

2 hours ago, Maelwys said:

Is it really so much to ask that the "Medicine" pool provide better and more reliable healing than Sorcery Pool Spirit Ward with a Panacea proc in it? 🤔

 

^ This is my primary balance issue (with the Medicine pool, not the Sorcery pool)... even without considering the %proc, as a practical matter the %absorb is better than a heal (interruptable or not).

[High level enemy group revamps]

Regular FREEM! was a surprise, but it is not insurmountable problem. Less than 10 points of KB protection isn't going to cut it, and frankly as rare as 12+ KB used to be, sure I can imagine the surprise felt by other players. Have more than 10 points of KB protection but less than 20 points? I suggest crafting a SG temp power for 90 minutes of +10 points of KB protection.

 

I also don't usually have "softcap" defenses... although I do on my main MM... but I don't think that FREEM! is an autohit. My point here is that this issue could seem worse because of the larger spawn sizes and the slightly more resistant enemies sticking around longer.

 

Even Eochai learned a thing or two from players about how to slot Bonfire!

[High level enemy group revamps]

A failure of comprehension on my part: I don't understand the first comment in this thread about Jack E. TBH: I don't remember there being a personal option to increase "team size" in the original game at launch, except of course by teaming up.

 

If the comment was about "times change"... I suppose I agree.

 

If the comment was to make a point about how HC is forcing (or not requiring?) players to team up... particularly in in "High Level Council Missions"... I suppose I disagree.

 

If the comment was some form of side-eye about how Homecoming's management deserves scorn by invoking a commonly used bête noir, I shrug in disbelief.

[High level enemy group revamps]

The Circle has always been debuffing, even if that one simple trick may be newly added to some enemies. I'm <shocked pikachu> that this is a surprise, given the range of content across which CoT appear and the relatively easy ways to tell that a character is being debuffed.

[Help with a Mids Build for a Water/Energy Blaster]

12 hours ago, zenijos10 said:

People are saying Blapper, but Water/ NRG is also great at range.  Water works great from range, and NRG can add a lot of it.  Blappers arent for everyone.

 

I say Blapper, because so much of the DPS potential from a Water/NRG is in the secondary Melee attacks:

1. Energy Punch (melee, or pick Power Thrust)
2. Power Thrust (melee, or pick Energy Punch)
3. Build Up (More +Damage than Tidal Forces, I'd take both but only one of them early)
4. Bone Smasher (melee)
5. Energize (the sustain)
6. Stun (melee)
7. Power Boost (click self boost, don't overlook that a significant fraction of 'extra effects' are the stuns in the NRG melee attacks)
8. Boost Range (click self boost, I suspect this was the power that made NRG look appealing to "range only")
9. Total Focus (melee)

I've played a variety of Blasters as Blappers, and also as Ranged-only. I have a few Ranged-only that went very light into the secondary.  My cautious advice comes from a place of my recognition Water Blast is a great Ranged set (although I think Water Jet is still inferior!), but IMO relying only on the primary for ranged damage (with this combo) has issues:

• A huge amount of potential DPS is being left on the table
• The options for slotting different types of enhancement sets is going to be quite limited without taking secondary attacks... and if you take and slot them, they should be used!
• The control (stuns) from the NRG secondary are all melee, as opposed to other secondaries that offer ranged controls
• The NRG secondary doesn't offer any thing like a PBAoE should the player get surrounded by more than a couple enemy critters

This is not me trying to yuck in anyone's yum: I can imagine a circumstance where a player wants to play a Blaster, and also wants to find a secondary where they can skip most of the secondary powers (I've done it!), maybe to focus more on the primary, maybe to slip in a LOT of power pool powers, or whatever. When I made the choice to make a Blaster that avoided (as much as possible) the melee attacks in a secondary, I found that a nearly identical version of the character played as a Sentinel performed 'better' than the Blaster variant. The AoE was worse, but the Sentinel doesn't care what the enemies try to do to him and he can stand his ground.

[High level enemy group revamps]

The post below was not directed at me, and I promise I'll try to steer my reply towards "high level (?) enemy revamps" (from thread title, I was assuming level 45+ content, but I don't know if that is really what the thread is entirely discussing)

 

9 hours ago, Ukase said:

1. Would you say that you spend more time than other players on figuring out the strengths and weaknesses of your characters than the average player? 
2. Would you say that you're probably inclined to dig deeper into complex problems than the average player?

 

I don't know what the benchmark is for the average player, but for this (points to self) player:

 

1. For so much of the content, the "solutions" (i.e. how to complete the task) are both pretty well understood (by a LOT of people). Many of the "solutions" are common to most of the content, e.g. "button mashing" or "MOAR DAMAGE".

 

2. I am self-convinced of my ability (within CoX) to see that there are multiple different ways to approach content, such that I don't get agitated when I see someone doing something different. To use a classic bit of forum flame-bait: We never go long without someone starting a new thread about how some PUG has done something wrong on a Positron 1, Penny Yin, whatever trials. There are well-tested tactics, but there are different ways to approach those.

 

The page 7 revamps of enemy groups have (obviously, points to existence of multiple instances of this thread) made at least one player feel like their comfortable "solution" to playing content that includes the Council (*1, I want to circle back to this group specifically) is no longer "solving the problem" in a satisfactory way? We can still button mash against the Council and it is IMO still a completely valid approach. This hasn't really changed.

 

(*1) Calling out the Council specifically, along with no other suggestion than "roll them back" has biased me to think that a significant fraction of that feel is not driven by concerns about game balance. From my PoV, the only annoying elements of nuCouncil are (a) FREEM! breaking up my rhythm, (b) more enemies with better resists *sigh* (c) surprise at the Nictus-infused enemies doing Nictus tricks (as they always should have, IMO). As many have written... these are speed bumps, not brick walls.

 

The recent updates to Circle of Thorns ought to be more problematic (ehem, Tar Patch), I believe they are likely not seen as problematic because the old MOAR DAMAGE solution still works fine against the nuCoT. When Crey got its round of updates (MOAR Taunts, Confuses, debuffs) it was a surprise, it made them harder to face, and nobody is calling for them to be "rolled back!"

 

TL;DR. Perhaps I am dismissing concerns about nuCouncil because I believe I have "dug deeper" into the complex problem of nuCouncil and have found that whatever that problem is turns out to be incredibly shallow.

[GM Mini Pet Recipe not dropping]

It's a bad (but typical) RNG. I do a fair share of solo Giant Monster hunting in the off-hours... and while I haven't exactly kept stats I can offer some fuzzy numbers since teh salvage went live:

 

I've accumulated well over 1.2K Monstrous Aether ... This is hard to know for sure, as I've had to convert many because of the inventory cap, and while I am relatively certain that character wasn't holding any prismatics at the start, it has 130+ accumulated plus 900+ Monstrous) and 64 recipes from the GMs I've defeated.

 

It isn't possible to say exactly how many Aethers cam from which GM, but if we average it to 2 per defeat, that would be 600+ monsters and 60+ recipes.

[High level enemy group revamps]

3 minutes ago, PeregrineFalcon said:

I agree with you that Council are really more annoying than challenging now. That being said there's still nothing wrong with turning your difficulty down a bit or picking another enemy group to fight.

 

As I wrote in one of the merged threads, the most challenging element of the nuCouncil was when I was soloing the (IIRC) level 35-40 Warshade arc, and after grinding through the penultimate mission I got to one of the con+1 Archons who hulked(TM)-out and simply pwned me... I had no other enemies left to do most of the Warshade tricks! I did have to rely on inspirations and a Shivan to defeat it, yet at no point did I think the game was ruined by suddenly giving me a challenge in the middle of an ongoing story arc.

[High level enemy group revamps]

49 minutes ago, Rudra said:

There are? How? The only other method I know of is through the two dedicated contacts that only give those missions, but you need signature heroes/villains for the Mayhems/Safeguards to get them.

 

It is really easy to get the hero defeats, the Dakota Berg (Brickstown) part of Who Will Die? can have oodles of "named" heroes that count towards Hero defeats.... if you want to quickly unlock the Lord of the Mayhem missions (and don't mind side-switching).

 

It is slightly more annoying to collect appropriate villain defeats without teaming up for some specific content (assuming that the team doesn't skip past the named villains who would count). At least by level 50 it is easy to re-run the PI Safeguard mission to get two villains from each instance.

 

Back to the topic of the Council: By the time the game was sunset, per the Lore it made zero sense that the Council were so weak in content 35+. Per the lore of the game, they should have had common access to the sort of powers and abilities they just got on page 7. From my PoV it was an aberration that they were so pitiful and commonly available for players 45+. Of the original critter groups who "scale up" across multiple level ranges, they were obviously inferior.

[Iron Man/Hardcore run Badge]

I appreciate trying to add a meta-layer of personal enjoyment/challenge, but tying a reward (badge, whatever) to "never being defeated" has so many potential negatives from my PoV:

• A trivial (or nearly trivial) ability to get the badge through "sitting" (in AE or elsewhere)
• SO much potential for griefing and/or hard feelings (HAHA welcome to the PI league's team led by a level 6! or OOPS, didn't realize you'd all con at -10)
• Debt badges actually serve a purpose (red-side accolades)

 

[High level enemy group revamps]

Just now, Lunar Ronin said:

 

Not to mention that there are easier and less dull ways to unlock both mayhem and safeguard missions now.

 

4 minutes ago, tidge said:

The radios/newspapers are the way to get Safeguard/Mayhem missions (modulo specific badge unlocks), and the Tip missions are a nice change of pace. They are not gutter content.

 

[High level enemy group revamps]

Hero Safeguard's do allow you to face off against Lord Recluse as he robs a bank!

[High level enemy group revamps]

The radios/newspapers are the way to get Safeguard/Mayhem missions (modulo specific badge unlocks), and the Tip missions are a nice change of pace. They are not gutter content.

[How do you slot Health and Stamina?]

As with several other powers and/or slotting choices, I encourage testing "no brainer" choices... in the case of Auto powers... with unslotting some of those Health pieces to see if it makes a noticeable difference in performance.

[High level enemy group revamps]

6 minutes ago, Eiko-chan said:

Do we even play the same game? Malta and Carnival have never been the most annoying groups, at least not since Going Rogue. The groups added in Praetoria were the gold standard for toughness, and the new Council outstrips even them.

 

I don't consider the IDF to be particularly tough; the most problematic thing about them is that so many of them don't move into melee combat. The IDF isn't a common enemy faction in radio missions, and IIRC they only appear as secondary spawns in level 40+ tip missions.

 

At the end of Live, I would probably put Rularuu at or near the top as one of the most annoying groups to face at +4x8.

 

EDIT: Upon reflection, I suppose the new Council remind me a little bit of the Animus Arcana, which can be quite annoying. I think it is possible for players to play the game without ever encountering those however. I liked that the Black Knights would regularly use Taunts, something that was added (or improved) for Crey.