Crysis

Quoting myself here because I just did a KM ITF with my newly-respecc'd DP/Martial blaster. I finished soooooo many bosses with a Ki Push + Executioners Shot which landed while they were in the air (or flying over the bridge into the chasm below) and it was enough to make me just gawk with a grin on my face. Again, two powers, not just one which defeats the theme of this thread, but OMG so stylish. Even more satisfying if you did a Burst of speed to the enemy with Ki Push pre-queued to land once you arrived and THEN one-shotted the remainder of their health while they were still flying backwards. So, so much fun.

a Stormies drug of choice!

I should also point out that I’ve learned a BUNCH of game mechanics simply through MIDS. During the “dark years” MIDS (old MIDS) would often be my idle time waster as I’d try different slotting strategies/power selections/pool selections and then use the various MIDS settings like “show values when attacked.” That’s how I sort of discovered how much more potent a Stalker could be than even a Scrapper using the same powersets from a ST DPS perspective, but also how much less +DEF you have than you think out of stealth/hide. Mids wasn’t/isn’t always correct in its values, but it really helps to understand what’s happening with your build in certain situations or versus certain critter attack types. It’s not a replacement for playing the game, but it certainly is a valuable tool for simulating a build. Of course, with the way the test server works, I don’t know why more people don’t just take their MIDS builds straight there, kit them out, and test them ‘live.’ But once you’ve sort’ve mastered MIDS, you find that theory-crafting is kind of a fun mini-game unto itself.

Ive seen several BAF’s where its apparent you have multiple griefers, generally either on SG affiliation or all part of same SG.

I cannot recommend Storm/Storm for anything other than the visual fx the two generate. I can’t even really recommend Storm Blast on a Corruptor. That’s saying something since Storm Summoning is my favorite powerset in the entire game and I’ve played it on every single AT with every single powerset combo available….including Storm/Storm on a Corruptor. It’s just not a strong blast set.

Sorry to necro an older topic, but I wish upon whatever star you want that at some point before this game dies for good, we are given a simple toggle in options to “Change KB to KD.” I don’t think it’s needed to go the other way (KD to KB), but it sucks to be forced to use a slot to get the the KB to KD “luxury” feature. I get that was likely easier to program for a whole host of reasons, but it irritates me so much that I’ve just avoided using KB-oriented powersets. I never use normal bullets on any of my DP players. I’ve not played an Energy blast powerset since Live, etc etc. No player should ever be forced to adjust their playstyle to accomdate mine. That’s why we have the Null the Gull nullifiers for Group Fly, the prompts for teleport, etc etc. Do I think I’ll ever get my wish….no. But I wish it nonetheless.

Re: Crey, I see they were buffed in I27/P3 back in 2021. So long ago I really didn’t notice anything changing “recently.” Re: Arachnos; i can see in the patch notes they removed the auto hit of Scramble Thoughts/Brain and some other Arachnos adjustments. That seems like more of an advantage when fighting them now vs prior, but your mention of CC and relying on positional DEF seems to me to overlook the Defense Type vs Defense positional roll checks adjustment that was made some time ago. That’s why I now try to slot my DEF based AT’s for S/L/R or S/L/M whenever possible since critters now effectively have a better chance to hit me through my defenses otherwise.

To each their own. I found that their transformations makes me want to target them as priority, and it finally forced me to create some binds to ensure I kept them on their back during the fight. So for me at least, with most of my builds, it's -added- excitement, not added boredom. But again, YMMV.

Aye, it sure would be an entirely different gaming experience just playing right now with SO’s. I’ve done it exactly one time on a Tanker (which is already pretty durable) and wouldn’t call that fun in the least bit. Would be even worse if your experience was only SO’s and you didn’t understand the now 20+ year old Enhancement Diversification changes. But agreed, without a posted build, we can only theorize what “their experience” is contextually based upon.

Wow, I didn’t even realize that Arachnos and Crey had been buffed in Page 7 as well….or did this come much earlier? I guess I just haven’t noticed anything different about them recently. Arachnos have always been problematic for -some- builds, even builds that otherwise can take just about anything PvE has to throw at them. Their ranged debuffs hurt.

Second this, pretty good combo, and for me it fit the theme I was trying to rep. And although you asked for Blaster secondaries, I have to give a huge shout out to my Seismic/Storm/Dark Corruptor. Once I experienced Seismic that way I pretty much retired my Seismic blaster. Like PB&J.

I’m not opposed to procc’ing -some- attacks, but I’ve seen blaster builds on here that procc’d out -every- or even -most- attacks. I’ve had friends who complained about their blasters’ survivability and when I asked to see their builds, they literally had every attack filled with proc’s and hardly any set bonuses. Just because you can slot a Proc doesn’t mean you always should, relative to survivability goals at least.

Exactly this. I just did a respec on an old blaster build and ended up with 8 attacks all six slotted for max damage -and- still achieved S/L/E/N/R soft capped defense. In fact unless you just are procc’ing all your attacks (which is a questionable tactic for Blasters) you don’t have to just choose one or the other.

I've continued playing past the changes to these critter groups, and while yes I've noticed they present more challenges than they used to, I think that's sort of the reason they were given more offensive capabilities. Overwhelmingly, Radio missions in PI are COT, Council and/or Carnival. They were farm missions. Since it's pretty obvious the HC Dev team wants to curb farming (likely for longevity reasons), it makes sense they'd buff up the critters. And bluntly, I'd rather they -always- buff up the critters than swing the nerf bat at the players because we have full control mission difficulty settings. But to somewhat look at the world through your lenses, I pulled one of my oldest HC toons, a DP/Martial blaster, out of mothballs. I did a respec on it since most of its powers had outdated slotting and/or I'd just flat out used a weaker build. The new build is S/L/E/N/R softcapped, and since it's a retired 50, I had Clarion for my Destiny. Everything else is heavily 6-slotted for damage output, both primary and secondary, and high recharge/accuracy. I set myself up for +4/x8 and start soloing Radios in PI. Council, COT, Carnies....just took every mission offered. In 15 missions, I came -close- to death one time. Definitely walked away from many spawns at half health, and Preventative Med +Absorb proc went off a bunch of times as I'd get a beatdown from a spawn or multiple bosses at once. I never dropped it to +3, and I made it a point to not use Hybrid or Judgement. It's just not an issue if you have a well slotted toon and when faced with overwhelming odds not in your favor, learn to use basic stuff like strategic retreats, pulling, jousting, etc. And if I ever did run into a situation where I couldn't handle the mission, I always had the option to reset it at +3/x7 or whatever. Didn't have to do that, but I could have. So while definitely more challenging, not impossible.

There was a time when building for ranged defense+offense on a blaster was pretty much the risk-free way to play. Hoverblasting entered the lexicon and stayed there for a long, long time. I still see some people playing that way and it’s neither right nor wrong, but an effective playstyle if you want to dish out damage and take little in return. But many blasters, myself included, play blasters -specifically- because we like the innate risk associated with being up close and personal and having extremely good attacks. Kill or be killed, go big or go home (er…hosp it I mean). With so many IO sets allowing me to play a blaster with S/L/R softcapped, there’s no reason to limit yourself to a single playstyle unless you just -prefer- that playstyle. Range is effective, but I’m not sure it’s the most efficient way to play the AT. Just one of many. And depending on your powerset, it may be really sub-optimizing your overall capabilities. One reason this game is still being played almost 20 years after it’s initial release…..there’s no “one size fits all” in the game itself, let alone each of the AT’s and the powerset selection/slotting for each.

I will admit that Ki Push coupled with an immediate follow-up from Executioner’s Shot (or Ki > Storm Kick > Executioner’s Shot) is one of the most satisfying -sequences- of animation out there. Dripping style points. But I still think Soul Storm looks so much more like a stage act than Ki Push by itself. Sorry, not sorry…..

Vorpal -must- be taken by any Chuck Norris or Rambo-inspired characters. Nothing says “LOOK AT ME AND TREMBLE” like roundhousing the ENTIRE SPAWN all at once.

For the whippersnappers out there….

Soul Storm. Fight meh!

This is largely how I play COH solo. When with PUG’s or friends, I go with the flow and let the leader and/or team sort of dictate what/how they want to play and I just plug in. But solo, I generally do arcs. Caveat: I no longer do any contact missions below lvl 22. I’m just done with that stuff.

I don’t think I’ve slotted a single DO/SO since IO’s were introduced. Levels 1-25 go by so fast that I’ve never found the time or need to do so. I generally outfit all new alts with generic IO’s until their late 20’s and then start swapping for sets in the 30’s. Uniques are the exceptions to this however….Panacea, Numina etc.

Back when Incarnate system first launched on Live I too struggled with the system. What threw me (still does) is the dual path approach to crafting I-components: shard-based vs thread-based, at least for the Alpha slot. Then there’s the “build both sides of the tree to T3 before building a T4” mechanic, the Very Rare drops and how to obtain them, why some iTrials reward incarnate components but bringing provides threads, all the QOL changes HC made to the incarnate system (and the cheese way to grind out incarnate powers via Heathers repeatable DA missions) etc etc. I think the important thing to keep in mind is that much of this complexity was designed to keep level 50’s playing (and subscribing on Live!) for a long, long time as “endgame rewards.” So it was made more complex than it really needed to be.

It depends on whether or not it’s a power-leveled library alt or one I intend to content level. But in general: 1) Find/Create an endgame build in MIDS. I try my best to optimize via min/max and from advice from the great minds in this forum. Once I’m happy with the build I’ll auto-arrange slots based on this likely being a respec build at some point in the late 40’s. 2) Using the endgame build as a template I’ll create a leveling build. For example, Hurricane and O2 Boost are useful at lower levels for most of my Stormies but I’ll never keep those powers beyond level 32. So I may end up with a mid game respec build in addition to a leveling build. I’ll also typically overslot early level powers that will be given fewer slots once respecc’d for end game. 3) If its a VEAT, I tend to multi-build those so repeat in MIDS as needed. Basically, I think I spend as much time in MIDS planning the toon as I do playing it.

Whether it happens or not I feel….vindicated. @Homecoming Devs: It’s time to take a re-look at Regen outside of Sents. In fact I’d say the Sent version is a good starting point.

I don’t play MM’s because they are the “most powerful” of all AT’s. I play them for the tacti-cool ability to direct my pets and this adds a new flavor to the game mechanics. That said, at higher levels and with incarnates, MM’s are pretty great at PVE content. The level shift dynamic is stupid and needs to be dropped I think, that was a game design for a much older flavor of this game and we’ve since far outgrown the need for such a penalty (same for the +END penalties we got). But those two ‘pre-nerfs’ were designed intentionally because the devs saw how OP an MM -could- be if not handicapped. Before Tanks got their upgraded damage, you were basically a +RES (via BG) distributed tanker with a bunch of melee and/or ranged attacks, plus buff/debuffs. But during the dark years I sought many other games to get the feel of an MM in COH. The only thing that came even close was maybe the old school “Overlord” series or newer, the Necropolis series. COH MM’s are rated an “advanced” class for a reason in that only by learning to effectively shift your henchmen around via the various commands and/or learning how to use the Bodyguard feature effectively, then shifting in/out of support vs. assault modes can you really “unlock” their power. Binds are must for this class. Anyone who says they are struggling with them almost always isn’t using binds effectively. For all their challenges to play, MM’s were the original “advanced difficulty” mode of the game everyone was clamoring for but really didn’t want. It’s been here for a long, long time.