Crysis

I’ve no formal knowledge but often wondered if part of CO’s “apathy” was in fact legal challenges trying to ensure they didn’t exactly clone COH and/or run afoul of Marvel/DC litigation threats? The reason many startups are so successful at innovation is that they have almost nothing to lose and everything to win. But the second startup often faces challenges because the founder -now- has something to lose…..mainly the wealth created by their first success. So they don’t swing for the fences quite as hard and often fail to achieve successive wins due to lack of courage to risk it all like they did the first time. Just conjecture…..but many of the players were the same between COH and CO yes?

Eh, not really. I’m speed running 4-star Aeons almost daily now. Once you get it down, it’s actually easier than MLTF let alone a 4-star ITF and can be run in 30-40 mins tops. The typical D-syncs don’t run at this price. It just seems that its this one (Provocation/Threat). And it’s luck of the draw if you get one of those. I’ve gotten one, slotted it into a Taunt aura to save some slots. I’m sure there’s better uses for it or maybe it can even be exploited somehow…I’m too dumb to figure that out. But reward vs. risk isn’t there for the Aeon 4-star at least. *Edit* Someone PM’d me the “exploit” for D-Sync Provocations in Benumb to save a slot. I’m not that slot starved to pop 700MM on it to buy a slot for elsewhere on any of my toons. But, I get it….if you’ve got the funds to blow, what else are you gonna blow it on?

Y'all are why we can't have nice things.

The D-Sync Threats are going for ridonkulous prices right now. Last 5 sales are betwee 400MM and 700MM. Don't think I've seen something priced like that since Live marketplace.

I have a Thugs/Time with the MM at softcapped +DEF and the entire fighting pool, including Cross Punch. Thanks to Times Juncture, which is massive -TOHIT for enemies, I just put myself on Follow for the Bruiser and the two of us just give the beatdowns together. It’s a lot of fun and gets a ton of laughs from PUG teams when they see me playing “tanker.” Note that your damage output is pretty anemic, even fully procc’d out, but the Cross Punch knockdown mechanic is pretty good mitigation regardless and makes you look tougher than you really are.

Respecs to me are a HUGE time sink. I do about one per character, even if I do start with a full, complete build. There’s the leveling build pre-50, and then the post-50 build accounting for Incarnates. Sometimes there’s a third for the 40-50 game but I usually just hold out for 50 not because I want to but because I realize a respec is going to take me almost an hour minimum of scarce playtime. Thus when changes are made to the game, I typically just leave my mothballed stable of old toons out of play. Sometimes, if the change is big enough to leave them totally gimped, I’ll pull them out and do the respec but they have to be -really- gimped to force that. When they’ve reached retirement I’ve typically eeked out every single possible min/max model I can think of and typically am quite satisfied with them by that point. For the few I’ve not been, I melt them down via a respec that strips out all their IO’s and I delete them…..or re-use their name to build a better alt. But it’s unusual for me to do that post incarnates. Almost any toon can be made highly effective after incarnates are obtained. Respecs are just awkwardly hard for me for some reason. Doing a bunch of ‘trial respecs’ via Mids and test server have become my playstyle now more now. I have even skipped leveling builds and just powerfarm alts to 38 to avoid needing to do that since it takes less time to powerfarm an alt than it does to do the respec.

Ill/Savage just feels so good together, especially if you take the TP pool and throw in some macros for TP’ing straight back 30 feet and then Savage Leaping right back for max damage. All that zipping about the battlefield is frenetic and fun and the PA’s just create these “mirror images” of you to confuse and confound the chaos even more. Very fun set, very Nightcrawler-esque as a TP’ing melee character with your illusions being added DPS but primarily distractions to the enemy.

Boy would it be game-changing if we actually had control over henchmen’s targets/application of their powers. You can direct them to attack a particular target , to follow you and/or to attack anything or just something that is attacking you or them. But that’s it. Beyond targeting selective enemies, you can’t target yourself for their buffs. But sadly…..nope. They do what they do when they do it and to whomever they choose.

Thugs/Time and Thugs/Storm are both high +Rech builds, with /Time also giving you high +DEF, but /Storm giving you some -TOHIT which can effectively produce similar results. But of the two, Thugs/Storm puts out OMGWTFBBQ levels of DPS plus GangWar is perma and PLUS PLUS you can get Double Gangwar about every third spawn with Burnout. Storm is just -RES and additional Damage, plus a lot of FF +RECH procs. Personally, I prefer Thugs/Storm, but /Time is no slouch either. Thugs/Traps is a bunch of fun too, although I find in later game you seldom have the chance to use all your fun toys so its more of a solo build. /Dark, /Kin and /Elec have some good utility value for teaming but none of those match /Time or /Storm for DPS and in the end, the best debuff is a dead critter due to higher DPS. If the goal is to RP “Beverly Hills Cop” via renaming the Thugs to match in-movie characters, I’d suggest that the Beverly Hills setting for much of the movie /Nature might be a good secondary (greenery, stuff growing around the battlefield, etc). But admittedly, that’s a bit of a stretch. Then again, I have a Thugs/Time that’s built around Anchorman (Ron Burgandy and his news crew, plus Octagon, Dr. Kenneth Noisewater and James Westfall for the t1 pets) and /Time was selected partially for the opening line of the movie (“There was a TIME, a time before cable, when the local newsman reigned supreme….”), but honestly more for overall build effectiveness instead. My Thugs/Storm is built around Sons of Anarchy with the leader being Gemma Teller and all the henchmen being her primary “sons” of the gang. /Storm just seemed to fit her personality. If you really want theme, look into key catchphrases, settings, easily-identified scenes, etc when choosing powers to match a theme. You don’t have to gimp yourself by force-fitting a powerset you don’t want. Lots of stuff in all the BHC movie franchise to choose from! One of my fave lines from the movie would fit into the superhero world nicely: “Before I go, I just want you two to know something. The -SUPERCOP STORY- was working…okay?”

But effort = reward tends to be the nature of pretty much any gaming platform built around the concept of rarity of a particular reward. I recall when the FPS Battlefield 1 came out playing for literally weeks to figure out the secret to obtaining a particular pistol. There were no guides yet, no way to 'speed run' it. You had to follow a rather obtuse set of steps and figure it out for yourself. There are already speed runs for the 'hard way' trials. I participate in about one per week already. There will be shortcuts shared/guides created for obtaining these badges and/or costumes over time. The best way to not let grind-to-obtain mechanics bother you is to not worry about the "obtain" part in the first place. I've no desire for the costumes. I admire people who have them and have built entire characters around them and somewhat even rp them that way. I was one of the early acquirers who sold everything I got knowing I'd be able to buy as many as I wanted at 1/4 the price later on. I actually have enough on my various alts right now to outfit two with all badges -and- the minifig costumes. But I don't do that because I just don't care about those rewards. Hopefully, something will come along to make me want to spend/invest these PA's but until then, it's like all my influence....there's just nothing of interest for me to spend them on. So I just hoard and wait. And if nothing ever comes along, I just enjoy the time I spend playing the game and don't do it for the rewards beyond my enjoyment factor. Obviously....YMMV and I respect that.

Sounds like a cover story for a vampire killing spree to me…..

I did a minor respect to the original but other than throwing an extra slot or two into the upgrades it really didn’t surpass the original all they much….but then again, with all T4 incarnates, not much improvement was needed.

I was originally a player on a number of “Hami superteams” that tried all sorts of crazy things to attempt to beat Hamidon -before- it was a widely-beatable zone event. Some that I recall: 1) All blasters with six-slotted snipes for Range. 2) All Regen-scrappers with a backup cadre of Empathy defenders flying around to juice up any Regen players who were taking too much aggro. It may have actually been this model that, while it failed, ended up being one of the unlocks to defeating Hami as a Regen Scrapper with Taunt would just hover-taunt Hami while the rest of the league took it out. 3) At one point I was part of a hybrid tanker/defender/blaster league where the Defenders would use Group Fly for all but the Blasters, who remained at range. It’s sort of comical looking back on it today, but speed-TF’s and speed-Hami’s weren’t really a thing at one point. The common “how-to” guides weren’t really known and in fact the few SG’s that had claimed to defeat Hami kept it pretty secret for awhile and the Dev team was making active changes to anything that they felt ‘cheesed’ their precious end-game raid content.

Gotta upgrade your PUG-o-friends…..

Good luck with that. Usually im kicked off the TF mid typing how to address. Dont use Group Fly while teaming unless you ask and all are ok with losing their preferred movement and playstyle to cater to yours. Its selfish to impose yourself on others. I understand why they might not like it. Just dont use Group Fly while teamed. Its a solo only power other than maybe some rare missions in the Shard.

just know you will be despised by many when using Group Fly. Yes it can be ignored by a knowlegeable player. No, most dont know this. if you solo, dont worry about this. If you team, dont use Group Fly.

Most pet emotes will silence the Demons btw. Of course, that’s only when idle, demons not receiving group buffs, etc….so really only matters for standing around between missions. Personally I play with sound off except when soloing and always have. I have almost every primary coupled with /Storm for high DPS MM’s. Even with the new enhancements to Zombies, which I agree are game changing, I’d still give the edge to Demons over Zombies when coupled with /Storm for high recharge/high DPS builds. The difference, of course, remains the controls from the Lich. But at higher levels against +4 foes, those aren’t all that beneficial either. Necro/Dark on the other hand….seems to fit both thematically as well as augmentative to what the Necro gang already is throwing out. I have a Demons/Dark and a Necro/Dark and in those pairings, the new Necro/Dark shines.

Indeed, TJ is fantastic for “tankerminding” and debuffing at the same time! TJ + Farsight + Chronoshift are the three pillars of the /Time set.

Had this happen a couple times now on two different AT's. When you are being "possessed" by the Nictus, if it succeeds and you use a self-rez power, you come back into game as a level 1 character. It stays like this for several seconds before reverting you back to your normal level self. Obviously, unless you are far away from the battle when it happens...you get insta-gibbed and die again. Not sure it was always this way?

These are actually a nice "best of" set of macro's relative to Sandolphan's binds. Although I use those on every MM I play, the three main ones I use every gaming session are what you have above. However, one of the nice advantages of Sandolphan's binds is the ability to go partial defensive with just your T1 henchmen, and remain aggressive with the T2 and T3 henchmen. But I'll be honest...I typically only do that when solo fighting critters that cause me issues (Rularuu for example) or when taking on a GM/AV solo. Otherwise, yeah...it's all pets same posture. I just tend to view the T1 pets as cannon fodder and often keep them in defensive follow while allowing the T2/T3 pets to be on aggressive. Some MM's don't like micromanaging their pets that much though. Thanks for sharing your binds/macros!

So at 50 with most Incarnates T4'd now, there's a couple of comments I wanted to make in this thread. First, for anyone on the fence about Mercs, I -hated- the old Mercs. The new changes are really an amazing transformation for an absolutely under-performing primary of old. I wouldn't list them as top tier...that still goes to Demons and Thugs....but I'd definitely say they aren't far behind. They cluster together nicely in a little murder ball now and ARE SO SHOOTY. PEW PEW PEW PPPPPPAH-PEWWWWW. Just an amazingly fun set to play now. As for the builds posted, here's what I did. I more or less followed @Meknomancer 's build above for levels 1-50. It gives you super sturdy Mercs and the MM also has really good defenses. It works fine even after 50 but that's where I have to tip my hat, as always, to Sir Myshkin. If you LIKE Mek's build up until you get Destiny Barrier T4...you gonna LOVE @Sir Myshkin 's build. For someone who really doesn't understand the concept of synergistic powers (ahem...as we've seen by at least one clueless wonder in this thread) you'll be looking at that build and saying "Oh hey, you underslotted this or that, let me fix that." But the beauty of the build is that once you've achieved Destiny Barrier Core Epiphany, you really can go all out on DPS instead. That, plus Hybrid Control with Soul Mastery pool, is just overwhelmingly powerful against all but the foes resistant to the Mercs firepower....and even then, with enough procs, you'll still do well. I'm not sure I'd enjoy the build for leveling given my playstyle, but post Barrier....it's just all out powerful and a lot of fun. I'd still say my Thugs/Storm and Demon/Storm likely put out more damage overall...but this is a really sturdy, fun and did I mention SHOOTY-MCSHOOTSALOT build? Oh and the Enflame trick? OMGWTFBBQ why didn't I do this before? That alone adds a significantly noticeable level of damage all by itself. Coupled with lots of -RES coming from Sleet and Benumb's -Regen, soloing my way through AV's and GM's isn't even all that hard. Really amazing use of an otherwise "meh" power. PS - to reiterate what I said earlier. Don't go Powerboost kids. Literally does absolutely nothing for either Mercs or Cold. I can't even see it working with Frostworks. Thanks to both of you. What a fun ride and what a massive redemption to a formerly despised (by me at least) primary!

Blast from past. I tend to respec my toons at around 38 (Epic/Patron Pool choices) and then again somewhere after 50 once I open up my Incarnates. So sure, you can skip it if you'd like because you are going to level fairly fast to get Fulcrum Shift anyways. But it is semi-useful against EB's and AV's also in mid-levels. I find it utterly useless by your 40's or so, especially with fast-moving teams and players with higher-level control/hold powers are generally debuffing the snot out of stuff by then. But as always, season to taste. But personally...its never in my 40+ builds for any Kinetics toon, regardless of AT, unless I literally just need a free power pick (eg; absolutely nothing else available is useful to you).

Oh wow, yeah, I remember I had dozens of alts parked at level 30 or whatever -just- for Sirens. Stalkers especially. Because at that time that’s about all they were good for.

Reminds me….I recall when the TV Respec trial was finally released. Up until then, you were stuck with your build/power choices once you chose them during a level up event. So if you chose poorly, too bad. I wasn’t yet a forum regular in those days, so eagerly jumped onto a TV trial with a couple of my original toons that were borked beyond recognition. I’m talking 6-slotted Acrobatics levels of borked. I was so excited playing that trial at the prospect of a) surviving it (it was initially quite challenging) and b) getting my respec token so I could rebuild the thing with any different powerset I desired. Of course, I’d learn quickly that you could only respec your power pool choices and your slotting. Not your primary/secondary powers. Was still a godsend but not quite the respec I envisioned. I also remember when they introduced CoV and there was, at the time, a lot of misinformation and/or wishful thinking being spread around the forums. I had the mistaken expectation that CoV would introduce the concept of a “personal arch-rival” for any heroes, a player character toon that would randomly show up as a personalization feature in your mission arcs to PvP you during an otherwise PvE oriented mission. They’d get an alert in CoV you were running a mission and would be invited to insert themselves as the “boss” for that mission and then take you on. Of course, this turned out to be all sorts of conflated misinterpretations of what became the Nictus/Void Hunter special critters when a PB/WS would be on the team coupled with the marketing for PVP zones. But it was a really fun idea to consider, however impractical it would have been, not to mention the absolute meltdown people would have that didn’t want to be forced to PVP in an instanced mission. That’s where the boards I think have always played an important role in any MMO….spreading rumors, gossip and “what ifs.” Some of them actually become features over time. I also recall the good-old-days of herding entire maps or even entire zones’ worth of street trash, having a Kinetic Fulcrum Shift them all at once and destroying everything with a couple of full Fulcrum’d Nova’s or Inferno’s, the Burn Tankers picking up anything left. You had to be careful about how many you applied Fulcrum to at the time as if you hit some magical upper limit, the buff icon’s would totally fill the screen and you ran the risk of crashing everyone’s game clients as a result. Many a time I’d be in a herding mission and someone would do that and I’d log back in lying in a dumpster or on top of phone wires in the Wolfie mission lol.

I don’t remember the old Eden Trial, but I do remember running around with a pack of other */Regen scrappers, all of us running perma-MOG. It was glorious. Unlimited +END, nigh-impenetrable +DEF and a teeny-tiny sliver of health. You literally just ignored all your other Regeneration powers because you didn’t need them/couldn’t use them with MOG up all the time. But yeah…that’s a grandpa story. It was OP as fxk. Thus the skull crushing beatings Regen took from the nerf bat…repeatedly.