Warboss

A bit late to the dance, but here are some random thoughts to start with. Use them as you see fit. How bad is the crash? I mean it's annoying, but easily worked around. If damage is your main concern, fire off Sands of Mu. By the time it completes the crash is over. You can also use other temp powers, or take Energy Mastery and get Torrent (slot with KB to KD porc), you won't do much damage during the crash, but you can still keep mobs on the ground (especially if you have Hand Clap). Another option would be to run Assault in place of Rage. Folks messed with this years ago and although not optimum (another End cost, reduced damage (compared to Rage)) it does boost the base damage a bit (10%? on Tanks?), then take Musculature as you Alpha. Based on the previously posted build Dark/SS, I'd find a way to take OP (one slot wonder), then take Electric Fences, to keep mobs from wandering, (Mu Mastery instead of Energy Mastery) as my Epic/Patron. Slot Armors with either Unbreakable Guards or Impervium Armors to help reduce Endurance costs (min 4 each, if looking for just End Rdx then 2 in Minium), and provide other needed set buffs. Since you already have the Titanium Coatings, should be easy to convert to the others. Get both sets of Tanker ATO then go from there. Also check the Tanker forums for other Dark builds. Dark can be difficult to deal with when first playing it (due to the high End costs), but you can make it work. Physical Perfection is over slotted, and I'd slot Dark Regen for Recharge, Damage and End Redx. It's already one of the best self Heals in the game, it really doesn't require healing sets (other than Theft of Essence pro for End). I have a few more thoughts, but not sure what your goal with the build is. Stop by a Tanker Tuesday to get more build advice (and run your Tank with MORE Tanks). Many of us have run Dark/SS and there are various ways to build the sets for game play.

It was good to get back to a TT. Very fun times on Excel tonight. I think we had a full league. Thanks for cat herding Ronin! We started with a Zombie invasion and a Kronos Titan (tank you to whoever brought that!). Then off to the normal fun and games (TFs and missions). I was on "X's" Numina's TF team and with a mild glitch (logging off and back on (whole team). No real issues. Hopefully I'll see you all next week!

Hi all, Sorry for the late post, the were three of us (MsA, PapaS and myself) to start the Reunion TT. We ran Hess and afterwards @Bananiac joined us for a AE mission. I was able to get my "challenge" Bio/* Tank to the magic level 47 (poor guy, he's hasn't been played much). It was good to get back to some Tanking. Hope to see you all soon.

Hey all, sorry I missed it last night. I planned on attending, but got called off on some other projects. I'm hoping to make the MSR next week. Hopefully I'll see you all then!

Well can't say that I'll be showing up with any frequency for a bit yet, but I was there last night...

Hey all, it was good to get back to a TT. I had a lot of fun running the respecs, and hopefully things will calm down to a point where I can join more events. Take care all, hopefully see you soon! Thanks for leading the events Ronin, and thanks to all the vets and new players joining and keeping the event going.

True, but my thinking with Ice/Rad was to get all the auras cooking together. But I think the End drain is too high while leveling Ice/Raders (unless you start IOing very early). That said, Ice/Axe would be fun due the "drawing in" of Axe Cycle (jumping herds, "room vortex") are just a few I can think of. Ice/Dark would add back the AoE madness somewhat like my goal for Ice/Rad. We'll let the group decide. Not sure if I'll be able to make the kickoff or many TTs for a bit. So go with whatever feels right.

Sorry I couldn't make it, but something came up. I think my next pairing was going to be Ice/Rad (currently working on one, slowly, on Torch-not sure I'd recommend it...). But, I would like to put forth Ice/Axe or Ice/Dark as the next sets.

I generally jump over the mob and face the team while releasing Repulsing Torrent (slotted with a KB>KD) to put them down while the team moves to engage. Then I fire off Concentrated Strike. I use the ranged attacks (slotted with KB>KD) to knock the runners off their pins and keep them in the general melee vicinity. Then Burst to keep them down, followed by another RP if needed. It's a good set for mitigation. I'd like it better if the recharge/cast time were shorter (some of this may be an illusion due to the animations).

Actually I did, on several threads and sent comments as well. Unfortunately with life you don't always have time to visit the test server. That doesn't mean feedback after a rollout is wrong. The Devs should be will to reevaluate the change and community response based on feedback provided at several different points in the rollout. For many players, myself included, it was the first time I encountered them. As the game is community supported, you have the right to provided feedback at any timen. As I recall "Freem" wasn't extremely popular in the original game when it was initially tested/rolled out (April 1st or such iirc), so I'm a bit surprised it got pushed through here.

A couple a few things off the top of my head: 1) You can help mitigate stealing aggro by NOT slotting Taunt Enhancements into your aggro auras. If you want to be "aggro king" do it, otherwise you'll likely not need them (and based on what I've seen of the aggro mechanics, you'll still probably grab and maintain aggro over other toons, unless someone else has specifically slotted for aggro). Chilling Embrace's slow effect and slow degradation make it idea for holding aggro and difficult to down play. 2) Yes, you will grab aggro, be aware of this on the early levels of your toon as your Def and Res won't be high enough for the incoming damage. Not to mention there's something like a three minute recharge on your Heal. If you're teaming, it shouldn't be an issue. If you Duo, it might be depending on what AT the other player is running, If you're solo, it will be at some point. 3) Although you say your concept is for a Spiner, if you want a good back up Tank, maybe look at Dark Melee, or Electrical Melee. Dark Melee provides a "Combat Heal/Damage" power in Siphon Live, an additional End Management power with Dark Consumption (which you can add procs too - such as the self heal from Power Transfer), and a pretty fun To Hit/Damage buff power with Soul Drain (very procable as well). Switching gears, last time I ran my Electrical Melee toon he seemed be be reducing the enemies End more than I remember (did I miss a buff/rework of the set?). I think I only have the equivalent of one End Mod in every other attack (roughly speaking). Elect Melee also provides many options for procing. 4) Maybe look at SR for your primary and use costuming to make an "Ice" look? I don't know about Stone, Rad would work as you can play up the team heal from Ground Zero and use costuming and coloring to make it an "ice/cold" toon. 5) All said and done, I usually have a lot of fun running my Ice/Spiner, so whatever you decide, Enjoy!

I always called it "Ice Stomp"....

I'm trying to get my head around this. If I understand what you're saying, because they did it, it was the correct thing to do? Or, because they did it, it was just worth their time? I'd like to point out that just because you do something, doesn't make it right (and perhaps, not worth your time). As I've already said, the change disproportionately effects certain sets over others. Based on that alone, if that it was known, and the change was done anyway, it would imply that their intent was to impact those sets. Does that seem like a well thought out change? Really? Impact all set but the top tier ones? Seems like set choices to use when running said content just got trimmed down.

I'll take your word for it, but based on what little testing I've done (I don't have a lot of free time these days), I don't think the change/bad will was worth the cost of a developer's time. As you state, they will become routine again. Base on other aspects of the game that are "farmable", I have a hard time understanding why these changes were needed. One other thing I forgot to mention is that these changes disproportionately affect Resistance sets vs Defensive sets (for armors, I would image it's the same for other power sets as well). With Dark Armor and Fire Armor taking the major hit as they have no to little KB protection to start (FA now haw a whopping 1 KB from Temp Protection now). While at the same time, the recent buffs/changes to Invuln and Stone move them to the S+ tier (arguably to the S++ as they were already pretty awesome to start) as the KB doesn't affect them due to the KB Resistance the sets have (10,000 mag (?), sorry don't recall the exact number/increment). Seems like the other Armor sets should get some level of the Resistance as well, or have there base level raised so you don't have to commit extra slots to more KB protection. Overall it seems like this was rushed, and not fully tested. As I stated before, did anyone really care that players were enjoying the game running Council. After all, there are other ways to do basically the same thing.

I don't care for the changes, but you can mitigate them by building with certain sets. What I don't understand is "why"? If you can offset the issue with a base buff or change your build (which I don't like because it limits build options), and I doubt this slows teams down that were running Council only mission, was the change worth it? I mean, did anyone really brag about having an amped out build that could defeat Council? If so, did anyone really take that seriously? The change just makes the group a pain, and didn't really move the game forward. I would have rathered the dev time being spent on something else, new content, new costume pieces, new groups, pretty much anything... So, did it really solve the problem? If the rez'd boss/Lts (or whoever can rez) grant additional xp and inf... then, ummm... did it work?

Not based off the feedback I just received. It seemed tone deaf and displayed a lack of understanding of game mechanics. I think we're stuck with the changes. I don't like them as they seem to impact Resistance based sets more than the Defense based ones. I'd like to add that not every enemy group needs to be "A" tiered (or above). Having enemy difficulty diversity allows for players to advance in the game at their own speed. Upping difficulty of all the enemy groups limits the enjoyment of people casually playing, or just getting into the game. Also "more debuffing" is a pretty bad way to "balance" a game. From what I can tell, the only way to make your voice/option heard is "vote" with your donations...

True, but you can open with KD (FSC (Avalanched)), then hit them with a proc'd out Combustion, Epics, Incarnates. Works pretty well, and you get to see them on their backsides at the start. Plus FSC fires pretty quickly and you can get a fast recharge on it (atm).

Did you ask to see the build/toon in action? If you ever get it, post it, I'd love to see FA with those kinds of numbers.

Back to slotting FM for KD for me...

That was my thinking as well. So anything that interrupts the attack process would achieve the same "results".

Hmmm, an interesting thought, but I don't see any documentation that indicates that Particle Shielding would be providing that, unless there's a rather LARGE allowance to the term "Absorb" meaning KB as well as damage... could be, can't really say. But with the number of Rads I've run, I don't find that power to prevent the issue.

Understood, I just don't see the reason for the change or the power/s being deployed the way they were. It seems like stealth nerf, or poorly research/tested (again, unless the intent was to punish Resistance sets over Defensive sets). The change basically forces Stone and Invuln back to the top of the Armor tiers (arguably Defensive sets as well (haven't had time to test)), and that is my frustration with the change. Why shouldn't there be other sets that compete with top two "classic" sets?

Okay, but why should we have to? Other than GMs and AVs no other group can really do this, and there are no way to compensate for the KB (other than running a Stone Tank... or maybe that's the goal). Sorry, but this one to me seems ridiculous. I have a lot of respect for the folks that saved this game, but this is a swing and miss to me.

I don't care for either affect, and not sure what the thought process was that pumping both affects up to the levels they're currently at would add more fun to the game.

Don't look at me. I didn't change the friggin' mechanics of the game. I was running a Rad. Recent changes are the issue. I've already stated multiple times how I feel about them.