Golden Azrael

I think that's the thing. (Like your 'progressive' post.) Mobs can evolve as you shift gears through the level brackets 1-10, 11-20 etc. Evolve in appearance and capabilities. As if going from the lower tier of an organisation or gang through the hierarchy to the boss or overlord who runs such a mob type. That gives mobs more dimension. I like Trolls and Warriors as they are (as you initially encounter them.) But as you go further in the game, it would be nice to have them re-introduced in areas such as Brickstown and they have new tricks and appearances as well as the familiar. That way you have subtle progression to the mobs and enemies you encounter through 1-10, 11-20, 21-30, 31-40 and 41-50. My favourite mobs are the ones you start the game with...Hellions, Outcasts, Warriors, Council. But it would be nice to see them evolve later on in the game and populate the mid and later game. It's a narrative thing also. 'You remember me (hero name)? Well, you thought you'd beaten me...and my organisation...however, I return to...seek revenge etc.' Azrael.

Council. Azrael.

*nods. It's a thought I had. Just bring up the base dam' of the attacks in line with all the other sets for starters. HC, at least minor. (You can fit a dam proc' in it now and that does make a difference...) Probably 'moderate' damage for me to give it a one-two AOE punch with Foot Stomp. There are plenty of melee style attacks eg. in Radiation Melee. Pinching one of those could give SS an extra attack. It could be a special attack to act as a 'click' to initiate a sustained period of to hit and dam in much the same way as the dark build up (from dark melee/dark armour) sets do. Could be a Rage build attack. There's lots of ways to go at it. There's excitement in the possibilities. Azrael.

I like Handclap (and 'Thunder Clap') and have both on my respective tanks SS and Electric Melee. Very useful to put a mob on it's backside. (I use the Knockdown converter recipe.) It's mitigation as much as any +HPs button is. Also, with Handclap. I did find '1' Dam proc to put in it. With a Forcefeedback in there? You have an almost guarantee of proccing that turbo charge. All in all. A bomb packed pivot of a power. If I had to improve it? Moderate damage so it can stack with Foot Stomp. I'm with you on the Rage '10 second of wait.' (There are things to do and you can swerve it's non-damage with Mu, Incarnate Damage and that dam' proc in Hand Clap. You can also use taunt and move onto the next mob.) There are numerous ways to turn this punitive old school nerf into something more positive (see the excellent job the devs did on Energy Melee.) For me, you could strip out Rage entirely and put in a double hit proc. With the Rage button, you could put in another attack? Or replace Rage with a 'Builder/Domi' 'builder' style button (an idea Captain PowerHouse had...) and once it pops you get uninterrupted Damage and To Hit boost for 2 mins. Lots of ways to do it. I'm looking forward to seeing what HC Devs come up with. And probably, the devs are going to look at more than 'fixing' the Rage nerf and more thoroughly address SS. It's old. It could do with a complete refresh. The damage is very so-so on the 1st three tier attacks. No high damage in there. Then you get KO which is extreme. It all feels a touch imbalanced to me. Super KO, Hand Clap and Foot Stomp are the highlights for me and something to build on. Azrael.

I think the 'Tank Patch Update' really added to the 'Tankiness' of the Tank. The 'radiating' nature of the powers has seen me roll ten tanks since that patch. The Dark/Dark tank was a revelation. Azrael.

I think the level of impatience comes with the incarnate uberness. There's not alot of patience for waiting for the mobs to 'clamp on' the tank before attacking. I remember on live people having more patience with this and even demonstrating tank techniques and 'leading' the group on attack strategy. Corner pulling etc. Now you get 'that' which you outline with tanks, you get Controllers who play 'City of Lamposts' before the tank secures aggro which means the mob are semi-scattered, not bunched up so take longer to kill etc. It can seem a bit 'every man for himself.' Or headless chickens battle strategy. And to think someone still question if tanks have relevance. I just pull mobs to the corner, round that pillar, bunch them up and give them the gift. Playing solo, I get to practice this alot without interruption. You can still tell when a good tank is on a team. They make a significant difference. Azrael.

I've taken Rage out of my attack tray completely. Fed up of the 'trivial' Epoch of time the crash takes to 'crash.' -9000-ish damage for ten seconds, my defence completely collapsing and half an end bar going AWOL is something I tend to notice. I'm a tank, at the centre of a mob that's try to wreck me and all of a sudden I have the chill wind of finding my combat trousers around my ankles... It bothered me less on live. But after the recent changes to Energy Melee and Stone Tanker? You can't 'unsee' how yawning Rage Crash is. Punitive. Very 'old school.' There are work arounds. You can take Cardiac alpha to soften it's impact. You can proc certain attacks to side bend around it. eg. Hand Clap with a Dam' Proc. Use a prestige power eg. Sands of Mu. You can use your Judgement power etc, etc. You can even taunt and move onto the next mob. eg. On my Fire/SS Tank, I procced the hell out of KO Punch. Floating numbers booming as you hit a mob into the next dimension. You can give an old set like SS a real lift by doing this. I opted for the Stone Epic set for extra AoE melee carnage. SS. Is a quintessential CoH attack set. If it's gone 'quiet' on the Rage issue, I suspect the developers have a more substantial update in the works. It's 'old.' It needs some love. And given how fantastic the Energy and Stone updates were, I can't wait to see what they come up with for SS. Azrael.

Interesting. I've never really farmed using tickets. Have to try this. Good idea to turn off the inspires you're not focused on. Getting something that can sell through converters (before going in Cat to get rare and even more converters...) can take alot of flips, I find. Though when the 'luck' (of the gambler) is with you... Update. An awareness of the Recipe table categories and how that hierarchy works is essential to 'not wasting' converters. 'Ah...Grasshopper, now I see.' *Penny falls from a great height. 'Doink.' Aha... Azrael.

I built a Spines/Fire Brute 'budget' Brute farmer early on HC. It has hit the Fire Resistance cap with ease. But the fire defence is far short of what is required for a fire farm. So you can't leave it AFK. It doesn't have any purples in it. So it's time to respec and take it to the next level. Anyone got any juicy AFK Spines/Fire Brute builds that can 'take the heat' on fire farms AFK? Ironically, my Spines/BIO (great armour set) Tank is fire def' capped (just about .5 off...) but the Fire resistance is pitifull and it gets found out on a fire farm. My plan is to follow this with a Rad/Rad Brute along a similar design brief. Azrael.

What? Like the 'Bank of America' Fed printing dollars? Azrael.

With Pitchforks. Azrael.

I held all my alts upside down and waited for the change to fall from their pockets. Looked 'down behind the sofa.' Tens of millions in influence, reward merits, orange salvage and purple recipes. I'd collected well over 100 Purple recipes. I just didn't have any use for them. I've finally made a base. 1.3 billion in influence. 80+ Rares in Storage. 80+ purples in storage. 50+ Orange Salvage. 100+ Catalysts. 13 Hero Merits. 680 Merits. Instead of selling recipes for peanuts ('1' on the A' House...) I now take a moment to craft. If it's above what I need to save in the SG for future use? I sell it for 10-15% below market price. My influence pile is slowly growing through osmosis of play. (Though I still maintain the best way of getting influence for new players is to get a L50 who can rinse Council Maps on +3x8 and sell Orange Salvage and Ordinary IOs (100K a pop at the vendor plus you get the influence ticking along in real time as you play. L50. Play it. Before rushing onto the next alt. You'll be at 100 million in a week pootling along.) Invited all alts to join the SG. Self invite. They're all 'on the same team' working toward the 'next' build regardless of what I choose to play. Like some hero support network. A 'fictional eco-system.' It's nice to now have a game by the fans for the fans. Azrael.

I just hit L50 for Invul/Super. S*L and Melee Def. Both Capped++. (Which was my aim. Fire defence around 37%.) Res' capped for S*L. With MoAR recharge, I've finally got two stacks of Rage racking and stacking the pain on Council Mobs. Super KO punch (Weep, Vampire into the air, one shot!) It's very old school meat and two veg' tank. Could do with another couple of 'high damage' attacks. Beef up Hand Clap into a moderate damage attack. Think I'll use the Cardiac alpha to soften the end problems SS has. (I have four sets that have an End Red' bonus...plus the usual Stamina Proc suspects...) And reduce incoming damage. Update. Cardiac. Tackles the Rage 'half a bar' End drop. Works like a charm. (Something I did on my Shield/Super Brute on Live.) I've put Rage out of my power tray. I'm fed up of the uber drop. It's 'ok' (not great) damage without it. Plays good with invul'. +++Shift levels Alpha. Destiny. Lore. Have 'Assault' to boost damage periodically as my 'none-crash Rage' damage booster. Handclap and Foot Stomp. Mobs barely have any time stood up. Cross Slap to send the odd vampire flying across the room. Update: I think I've found that happy place with a Non Rage Invul/SS Tank. Putting in carefully targeted 'procs' into Tiers 1-2, Handclap and in Super KO have made a noticeable different to thinning mobs and KO-ing the 'Boss Man' in a mob. I was thinking. (It had to happen eventually...) I'd like to see a Dual Sword style mechanic for SS which would distribute 'Rage' style damage and to hit over the set. And with several combo moves delivering 'new' melee strikes for each combo. That would be cool. It would give the set even more reach for the set. More excitement and more bite. Azrael.

That link was handy. It puts in a nice 'easy to understand' chart. Azrael.

Pick Hand Clap. Put a Dam Proc in it. That then does AoE effect dam whilst Rage Drop. Tip 2. So does a Psi Proc Taunt. Tip 3. Sands of Mu for AoE beat down. All whilst filing your nails on Rage Drop. Azrael.

I'm relatively new to 'playing' the market. I used to 'just' sell the 'junk' I got farming Council maps (recipes) and sell for '1' on the auction house or vendor it. Before I realised that this was giving other people money. It takes a 'modicum' of time to craft. (And then convert.) You get far more for you LOTG recipes when you craft them (go figure, eh?) I find you can plough through quite a few Convertors on Uncommon to get anything decent. (But I'll try to follow your tip and see if it is more efficient than 'simply' what I'm doing below. Back on Live. It was 'simple.' Use Hero Merit to buy a Miracle Unique and sell for serious tens of millions. I'll have to look at L25s Uncommon. But the L15 Uncommons seem to be going for 'COIN' and availability is poor. Sure. I seem to have had more luck on Rare. The Uncommon eat up the convertors more so before you get something that will drop that you can sell for 'a million' (not worth the 20 convertors it took to get it?) Maybe I need more practice. Free drops. Craft. (Rares I find better odds on getting something 'decent') Convert. Sell. 'Student of the Market.' Azrael.

The fragility of the pets. Azrael.

I'd rather the values halved for To Hit and Damage. And no Crash at ALL. Then you can stack it without punishment. Quite simple. Cut it in two. The punitive mindset is from live. Honestly, waiting around for 10 seconds whilst Energy Melee and Electrical Blast receive state of the art improvements seems archaic. Perhaps why it's taking so long is that broader and more sweeping changes are coming to Super Strength. Azrael.

Some good advice here. And it's true. From a 'certain point of view.' The game 'all but' hands it to you IF it's 'obvious' to you. It wasn't obvious to me at all. Until the penny dropped. But then, email seemed like rocket science (everybody else was doing that when I wasn't...) until I'd done a handful of them myself... Azrael.

Sage advice. Azrael.

I think the key for beginners. Get a L50 as soon as you can. Play the L50 alot. This will fund your next alt. (Some get a L50. Don't play it. Roll another alt. And start rolling that boulder up the hill by stating with nothing for their next alt and wonder why they're always broke.) A couple of weeks of osmosis playing Council maps on +3 or 4x8 (or whatever your cup of java is...) and a couple of hundred million influence will happy soon enough. Ordinary IOs drop readily. 10 of those? 1 million. Sell at Vendors. Plus other 'orange' salvage drops. Plus Converters, Cats (usually one drops a day on your L50.) It all adds up. And that's without playing the market. Crafting yellow Enhancement 'junk' is quite cheap and you can pick up 250k, 500k, 1 million, 2 million for each recipe (rather than selling it for '1' as I used to do selling it for peanuts rather than maximising it's value with a modest bit of time investment.) Azrael.

What was the Rage fix? Are they still working on it? It's the most annoying thing. A gaping amount of time (in combat bullet time...) waiting...waiting for the Rage drop to go away. I look at what they did for Energy Melee and think SS needs a bit of work. I find the Tiers 1-3 a bit modest in damage. The Rage drop really stands out as a 'show stopper' just as you're 'getting into it.' Another thing. Hand Clap. Many don't take it. I do. It could do with some moderate damage in it to stack with Footstomp. Yeah. I think SS could do with a decent pass over the whole set. Maybe stick in a double hit mechanism for some truly KO performance. Azrael.

Haven't they booted the annoying Rage drop yet? Or they still working on it? It's the most irritating thing about SS. I often notion the idea of just running without it and proccing the damage here and there to compensate. Azrael.

They seem to be in demand... Azrael.

Back to Dark/Dark Blaster. Currently L27. It's very Bad Az. Range. Blap. Control. AoE. Bone crunching Single Target. You can beat the 'Smite' out of them. 😛 And that Snipe...they'll be Moonbeamed onto the Moon. Devastating to Mobs and Bosses. That -to hit comes in handy. Coupled with some fledgling defence. Azrael.