Golden Azrael

Dear Home Coming. 1st the patch is an astonishing piece of work. A love poem to the CoH community. 2nd? Energy Melee. *Open weeping, wailing, gnashing...rendering of sack cloth...ash in hair. It's beautiful. It's a triumph. It's a work of art. It's the best tank melee set there is. I downloaded the new patcher and rolled an En/Bio tank at break neck speed. I did one mission before I released the mission was over. It was THAT engrossing. Faultless. The new mechanism gives the 'old timers/old schoolers' what they wished for in ET short version. And the new mech' gives the new schoolers something more progressive. You can play it old or new school. Old ET. NEW ET. Take your pick. Choice. What I like about this patch in general. But specifically to the Energy patch? You've actually listened to the focused feedback. And now we have 'focused' energy. On a tank. It hits like a truck. We can go quick or go long on the fight style. It has so much more flow, power and engagement. Ie. Variety. HC have really stayed true to the core idea of the set. It's quicker! It's smoother! It's MOAR damage. We have two AoEs! Is that an AoE stun I spy!??!?!!? It has the quicker TF. It has the short animating ET. It has energy focus. Bonesmasher. Oh Momma. Is that an auto stun? :OOOO It's engrossing. It's variety. It's progressive. It's old school. It's new school. I've just +2 x8 on the Council. The mobs heads are ringing. 'That's going to hurt in the morning, son.' (Must say in Aussie accent.) Perfect. Just perfect. DO NOT CHANGE THIS! The king is dead. Long live the king! Yours truly, Azrael.

I've fitted the Scrapper ATs. Still wrapping my head around criticals. I won't fit any more IOs until I hit 50. I want to 'end neutral' this build on SOs. Azrael.

The Doppleganger idea was great. I wish I'd thought of that. 😕 The Fusionette one is inspired. Sound. On that note I'd still like a 'Hero NPC' group Patron/Epic. Where you can 'lead' or have a cast of Hero 'pets' to join you for a while. Eg. Fusionette, Jim Trem, The crazy Fire Blaster etc. Frostfire etc. I'd call that the 'Captain' Patron/Epic. Where you lead your 5 pets in battle. Like a mini Master Mind set. Azrael.

Knock back...it's part of being a superhero. Punch. Send villain flying. 'Super.' As for repulsion bomb. I'd like to see it really turned into a bomb. It's a real duffer power. A 'no take' from me on my L50 Defender. It's not like you have an embarrassment of riches with which to do damage with in the set. I love FF. My 1st Defender was FF/En. I've re-rolled it about 4 times. The last version is a +4 x8 masterpiece on HC servers. Love. It. It's loaded with knockback. ofc. Azrael.

I think that's a poetic summation. HC know what they're doing for. Let's hope for an imaginative return to greatness. Azrael.

Perma-hasten. Always nice. Any chance Dark Melee is going to get that 'Consumption' hot fix? The one thing that stands out to me on Dark Melee/Dark Armour (8 toggles including Acrobatics!) is that it's a real end hog. I'm currently on SOs. x2 end red on some and x3 end red on very heavy end attacks. Just to staunch the end flow going out. And x2 on all toggles. And IF I'm on green ++ then I can 'pace' the end useage. Going with the 'Min/Max' play style. Eg. Shadow Punch then eg. Shadow Maul took a bit of adjusting as the end bar suddenly jolts down. Then you have the end hogs of the 'Build UP' and the 'heal' perish you need it. I try to align the build up with the consumption. But I'm sure I'll put an end red in both. (The heal has one end red but will need another. Because chances are when you need it you'll be low on end. 😛 ) But I do like the cloak of fear and the disorient toggles. Very good. But the 'fear' is a very end heavy toggle and it needs about x3 acc just to give it the equiv' of most powers accuracy of a single SO of acc. 😮 With x2 end reds? That leaves me just one slot for -to hit. But the fear and dis' are very cool forms of 'soft armour' which makes dark armour different. And the shadow melee is very fun and different also. I'm aiming for a chainsaw build with the 1st two melee attacks moving real quick. And maybe squeeze some procs in there? Or the Scrapper AT to get the crit rate higher? Shadow Maul seems to be animating faster. That's good. But I can't help but wonder if we (HC devs) can bring down the consumption recharge time to about a minute with x3 recharges to align with the 'BU.' Just that alone would massively help the end usage of about 7 toggles and very end heavy melee, BU, Heal etc. L38 currently. Now...I like both builds (above) that much. I may try both. AoE or Snipe..? I'll try the snipe 1st I think. But the AoE dark epics are a very good call to address the lack of AoE damage. Sorely tempted by that too. It's no good. I'm going to have to do both as Builds 1 and 2. 😄 It's not often I enjoy two conflicting builds this much. Two enticing points of view. Azrael.

You........don't.....like.....how......Titan......Weapon.....PLAYS.....? Me.....neither..... *Anxiety attacks waiting for the weapons to activate... Azrael.

So. It's perceptional. 'We' don't realise we've become entangled in a power animation trying to dig ourselves out of a hole. Then? We desperately click 3 times on the green and it's already too late. We're queued for death. Maybe it's just my nostalgia that remembers it being instant on live. Azrael.

I don't see any reason why Energy Melee can't have Over Drive NPC style jawbreaking hitting power like 'a truck.' And there's no reason why it's mediocre AoE can't be beefed up. It's up to HC. Shorten the animation times. A trim. Make it a bit more fluid. I don't mind tanks being piston punchers but the end result has to be worth it. And I don't mind each tank being unique. Good at AoE. Good at Single target. I've played an EM/Elec Armour brute. And it seems to give a sign post to where I'd like to see EM go. You get punishing hitting power. A DoT toggle (lightning field which could be an AoE dis' stun...DoT instead of single target stun...for EM.) Playing dark armour the other day. I remember the -HP toggle that does dam and disorient. Have that instead of the Single Target Stun? That would fit in with the Energy Transfer -Hp idea. Do like the Domi Energy storage vs Damage idea. Played it on my domi'. Great stuff. Very satisfying. A lot of the old sets like Energy Melee. Just need sprucing up. They're old. Trim animations. Boost the dam. See if a new combo boost mechanic can make them more exciting to play. Beef up the AoE. These things don't seem like unsurmountable challenges. I like my Rock/Stone Melee tank. A great flow to the attacks even though it's very 'deliberate' in time taken. Very satisfying and punishing stone attacks. I wish my Energy Melee tank was half as much fun. Azrael.

And the long animations. So adding more dam via toxic would make sense. Spraying liberal toxic DoT throughout the blast set may help. Or upfront. Azrael.

I always felt Rad blast on Def/Corr' was feeble. Bar a few biggish hitters like the Snipe and Cosmic Burst? So some toxic damage added into the mix? Sure. Trying to stay alive as a Rad/Kinetics Defender is hard work on the Rad blasting part. It's hard work to take down the mobs. Even loaded with the -def in the blast powers. A very clever couple of power sets. In a game that gets munched by more direct powers. If rad blast had the oomph of Rad melee... Azrael.

So it's tied to animation of power. So if something else is happening. And you need that green to live? You're as good as dead. I see. At least it makes sense now. Azrael.

I thought it was my imagination. But they seem to take ages. click. Klikck. Wait. WAIT. I'm dead. Still clicking. It's about 3 clicks. Especially when the pressure is on. Is it part of the combat queuing system? Azrael.

I didn't take stone armour for the obvious reasons. Appearance. And 'slow boots' where x3 swift is not enough. And the lack of alt granite look. And the slowness of that form also. I never really noticed it lacking defensive 'oomph' on live. But I went with WP as an alt roll on live...to test WP as it was knew and re-rolled as a WP on HC. I've gone with Stone melee and Stone Epic set. I'm using WP's unstoppable and I can get higher S&L res' that way. I tie the recharge to hasten. All on SO's so far at L49. Like the Stone Epics. Pillars of salt, Stone ground spike foot stomp, stone cage hold and the stone slow mat. Great stuff. Adds a level of control to this tank rather than the predictable Fight Pool route. While I'm waiting for the unstoppable, I use tank epic stone controls to slow the incoming S*L damage. And use the AoEs to grind the mob done. And the stone biscuit footstomp to disorient them. And them tremor AoE smashing etc. It opened a new way to enjoy this tank. Be nice to have Stone Armour revisited with magma and crystal looks and the Granite armour form. Maybe even a volcanic rock fire DoT toggle...? As part of the armour. Or a 'Burn' mat from fire as in volcanic rock/magma? Really liven up the stone armour set. Azrael.

Serious answer. Do you? That aside. It's just a private map instance that you can tp to. SGs have 'within base' tp if you 'want to.' The AE is just another tp to map. All the game is 'tp' to inside/outside map/instance. Instead of gaining access to your mission/zone from AE. You just have another tp/terminal point of entry. Instead of it being in AE it could be somewhere else. It's an easy idea. How hard it is to code? That's up to HC to determine. I'll preface it again with 'easy.' See as you liked it that much. 😉 As a mighty coder once said, 'It's just code.' Azrael.

Dark Armour has a '-HPs' to stun/disorient toggle? That would be interesting vs a single target stun. With a nice DoT. A nice way to get AoE into the build...and would amp the disorient. Would tie into the ET -HP for big hit. Azrael.

Nice and easy. Instead of AE you have a choice of zone you can TP or walk into from your SG base. Eg. Kings Row. And a contact there for your story arc. Eg. Like Sun Storm in Atlas has the PB's 'custom' arc. Azrael.

I'm currently playing a Rad/Rad Brute. Boy. It's tasty. It has the single target bite I wish EM had. And it has AoE. And it has defence debuff. And a brute's Fury. It's like a more progressive version of EM. I wouldn't mind 'borrowing' Atom Smasher and having that as an AoE stun for an AoE disorient with mod' damage instead of the single target stun. The other idea I have for that power is like Radiation's choking cloud. And have a 'disorient' toggle that does DoT. Either would stack nicely with Whirling (which could stand a damage boost...) Hands. Azrael.

Favourite? Ice/Ice/Ice. It's phenomenal. Thoughtful. Depth. It has it all. Heal. Defence. End recovery. Slows. Knock down. Hibernate. AoE damage. Holds. Arachnos Smasher. A joy to play. My Invul/EM was rock 'ard ( I did enjoy it, great on ITF!!! (but very dull by comparison. And EM hits like a fairy. Azrael.

I have a Sentinel En/En. It's loaded with Procs. Knockback. PEW PEW!!!! It's about like minded players, I guess. I like a Duo-Partner I can play badly with. 😛 Azrael.

I tried Rock / Stone armour on live. And did the whole 'tp' into aggro' thing. A bit clunky and the slow earth boots...uhm....uh... My re-role of my alt sees a WP/Stone melee tank. And I'm taking the stone epics (RoCKsoR!) Salt Crystals and Quicksand. Like it. Lots. Stone melee never gets old. It feels robust and stone hammers and seismic smash are hot ticket attractions. OVer and over. Brutal with BUp. Some alt looks for stone like the Magma mobs might be an idea. Or the crystal look. As suggested above. So an alt look and... Just boosting the stone boot run speed would help a lot. There's penalties. And there's over the top. I have to run away from a fight or it's realllyyyyy slowwwwww. So maybe you can't do x3 swift speed. But with x3 swift slotted you should be faster than turgid slow motion. A slight bump to Stone's armour performance at lower levels. I don't think these things are beyond the current HC team. The recent tank AT pass has transformed my Ice Tanker and the AoE 'radiating' power has been a sound addition. Azrael.

ET. Trucks aren't slow. So it sure aint hitting like one. The rest of the set feels very tippy tappy. The brute version feels more compelling. As for the original hit like a fairy animation. I prefer the 'tank buster' double fistin' kerrrRRRRRRRRRRR-POW!!!!!! As for the old game. It aint coming back. You can still apply many 'old school' rules. Nobody is forcing anyone to P2W Lady. Or use the loot drops. Or make IO mega builds. Or use the crappily designed incarnate system. My Duo Partner and I are doing an 'old school' 1-50 challenge. Natural Origin. Using Oro to pick the arcs. Sprint/swift travel only. No IOs allow in build other than ATs. etc. Azrael.

Another TF under the belt for the Master Acc'. Our third AV take down..! Did a very interesting Oro Council arc with 3 EBs in Requiem, Maestro etc. Initially struggled with the cramped surroundings of the inner lair at the end. I thought they were AVs 😮. But when we had a second crack at them we regained our composure. ie. after employing some guerrilla tactics...we came good. Even? Pulling two EBs at once for a 'very crowded' fight seen on the upper stairs as the EBs brought their private army. We took both out. Melee S & L defence is under developed (the above arc highlighted that as an area we can get 'surprise' attacked or struggle in tight melee spaces.) Power choices at L41, 44, 47 and 49 to come. Suggestions welcome. Oil and Rain of Arrows could do with an extra damage slot each (and Rain an extra recharge.). Damage here, is therefore, under slotted for such pivotal damage powers. The only others that aren't are the tier 1 and 2 attacks with their piddly damage. Flaming Arrow and Exploding Blast 6 slotted. Ranged Shot (5 slotted...). Under our 'old school' rules only two ATs can be fitted (and no other IO sets.). Flaming Arrow is 6 AT slotted. Ranged Shot is 5 AT slotted. 18 slots left. Debuff and Damage are broadly in parity. (ie two slots of debuff and two slots of damage) Arrows just 'one' slot behind Debuff of Tricks in allocation. Our broad aim was to have most powers 4 slotted by the late 20s/early 30s. Now, at L40, some are getting 5 and 6 slotted. The way this Defender has worked so far is getting enough End. To power the Debuffs. To buy time to control and attack the battlefield. And then having enough Defence to offset any come back (S&L defence is a an area that could stand some improvement.) And then Damage is the next thing to maximise. Victory Rush, Stun Arrow and EMP are only single slotted. Recent choices bar Rain of Arrow at L38. Balancing debuff and attack can lead to slots drying up really fast and you have to think about where your slots go. These 3 powers I used conditionally. Vic Rush I don't use as I'm largely end efficient. Stun Arrow. I'm an Offender and spend more time 'arresting' stuff. And EMP. 'Break glass in case of emergencies.' (The 15 second end torpedo is counter to an Offender's attack, attack, attack...) This is a great team Defender. Excellent for Duos. It's work can go hidden and under appreciated. It's not the obvious healer. It's prevention rather than cure. Many may opt for the 'Blaster' version. I can see why. But if you have somebody of a like minded viewpoint you can have a lot of fun...and take down AVs. (Entangle is great for holding them on the burning oil!) Yes. With SOs. Bow string. And Arrows. Azrael.

Cool pics. Entangle rocks. Azrael.

I miss perma-hasten. I remember when you had to maintain the 'side kick' lassoo. Or when the Hollows was actually one giant death trap. Or a tank could...well...herd the Hollows. And when ET actually hit like a truck. Azrael.