Redlynne

And this is why we can't have nice things.

So pointing out that a failure to communicate is ... bullying ... and calling that failure "sad" ... is bullying ... and wanting communication to be improved in the future is bullying ... and pointing out how it can be improved in the future is bullying. You can lead a man to water, but you cannot make him THINK.

So let me get this straight. You're taking Kick, Tough (+1 slot) and Weave so that you can slot a pair of +3% Defense IOs that only affect your Mastermind, not your Pets(!), so as to avoid 6-slotting Gaussian's into your Tactics power and not take Vengeance as your LotG mule instead. I'm also going to go out on a limb here and claim that Assault will do more for you (and your Pets, and your Team) over time than having Kick ever will. I'm not seeing the upside for your Pets here, since they're going to be doing almost all of the fighting for you. I mean, I know what you're doing here is "bog standard" on way too many other archetypes ... I'm just questioning the Return On Investment for a Mastermind here, relative to other options.

Speaking just for myself, of course ... Dual Wield can be obtained at Level 2. Executioner's Shot can be obtained at Level 28. If you're making a build that will never need to Exemplar below Level 23 ... by all means, go for Executioner's Shot instead of Dual Wield. But since I plan to Exemplar below Level 23 ... that means that dropping Dual Wield simply isn't a desirable option. From my perspective though, Executioner's Shot isn't competing with Dual Wield. No, for me the tradeoff is between Executioner's Shot (28) and Piercing Rounds (35) as a single target "spike/finisher" attack ... and then between Piercing Rounds (35) and Bullet Rain (18) for which I'd expect to be dishing out more damage on a consistent basis (spoiler alert: Bullet Rain wins at converting endurance into damage when hitting 3+ targets). The REAL kicker though is ... what happens if you slot Piercing Rounds for RANGE using one of the nifty bits of trickery I've posted in some of my other builds on these forums? Specifically ... You'll be getting almost +50% Range enhancement out of this (and have 1 slot left over for whatever you want) ... which, using Napkin Math™, will increase the range of Piercing Rounds out to ~120 ft before adding any Incarnate slotting into the mix. Using a simple sin 4 * 120 calculation we come up with an answer that at maximum range around ~120 the 4º Cone of Piercing Rounds winds up being 8.3 feet wide ... which is a lot better at catching more targets within the Max Targets: 3 limit of the power, turning Piercing Rounds into something of a "poor man's multi-target snipe" that can multiply its efficiency at converting endurance into damage rather efficiently when used at extreme range. You'd lose out on a +6.25% Global Recharge set bonus by doing that, but if you're already bumping up against the Rule of Five for that bonus mod, 5-slotting Piercing Rounds for RANGE instead of Positron's Blast might be a worthwhile alternative in the overall scheme of your build. There are, of course, two edges to that particular sword ... such as shooting into nearby traffic and plinking the next group over along that Line of Sight when enhancing Piercing Rounds for RANGE ... but depending on how you steamroll, that isn't necessarily going to be a bad thing (especially if you've got a mildly competent Taunt Aura aggro magnet nearby to scoop up all those adds). Use 3D positioning to avoid this problem if you don't want to deal with that particular outcome. So at that point, it really comes down to a question of what you value most in your build ... high single target damage (Executioner's Shot) ... high opportunity multi-target damage (Piercing Rounds) ... or another "mow down" target AoE attack (Bullet Rain). Depending on what you want your build to "do" for you will answer that question. In that context, Executioner's Shot is the best answer for "hard single targets" like AVs and GMs. Piercing Rounds makes for a fair compromise attack for harming hard single targets with the occasional opportunity for damaging additional targets due to Line of Sight factors. Bullet Rain will help you mow down crunchies en masse wholesale, rather than retail. You'll need to decide for yourself which of those scenarios happens more often than the others, and whether that scenario is compelling enough for you to want to orient your build around it. Executioner's Shot is really only useful in a 3 button rotation of single target attacks, assuming the build doesn't have enough global recharge going for it that you can get away with using only 2 single target attacks on repeat alternation. Thus in a high recharge build, Executioner's Shot goes from being "needed" (in my mind) to simply being "nice to have" if you've got the power picks and slots to spare for it, but something that can be skipped over for other choices if you don't have the power picks and/or enhancement slots to spare on it. Good enough of an answer for you?

Bot 1 just wants to be renamed "Pick ME!" for use of the Detonator power.

Granted and agreed. We ALL want these servers to succeed!

You know what ... you're right! Which then begs the question ... why are you ... jubakumbi ... so resistant to learning from mistakes? A message gets written up and put into the GM Chat in game 60 minutes and 30 minutes ahead of unscheduled downtime. FACT. I know this to be true, because I saw it ... both of the notices ... but not everyone was playing at that time and saw them. Meaning that some people would have missed seeing the notices, otherwise why would the OP post this thread and other people chime in saying that they didn't know what was going on either with the servers going offline. So riddle me this (bat)man(ticore): How much extra effort would it take to copy/paste that same message into a forum post in the Announcements Forum? Or better yet and for a longer term and more comprehensive solution ... how much effort would it take to put up a (timed) banner with a copy/paste of that same message onto the Server Status Page (where there's plenty of room for info) so that when people try to log in and CAN'T they can come "here" and get that information while the servers are down and for a time afterwards so they don't have to GUESS as to why they are unable to log in? I know ... gigantic, massive, incredible effort would have to go into copy/pasting a message posted into the GM Chat in game into a post in the Announcements Forum and/or a banner on the Server Status Page for Homecoming! Totally unreasonable, right? Well, am I right or am I right? You tell me. Oh and don't look now, but you've got some sewer muck on your white knight costume from when you were fighting Vahzilok in the below the city streets. Might want to wash that off before you get up on your high horse (again).

Considering the fact that you can slot a Level 21 Gaussian Build Up proc by Level 18 ... that means you only need to deal with slotting something else into Nova from Levels 6-17. Either +ToHit or Endurance Reduction ought to work fine before you're able to obtain and slot the Build Up proc.

Only playing Captain Obvious (as seen on TV!) because what ought to be obvious wasn't done ... obviously. So the Homecoming Team can either learn from this experience (recommended) ... or they can repeat the failure as many times as are necessary until Achievement Unlock. Your go.

LF39M Hogger

. *^.^*

Unscheduled maintenance to revert version due to memory leaks and anticpated server crash(es) if not rectified. The fact that such an important ANNOUNCEMENT didn't make it into the ANNOUNCEMENTS Forum is ... well ... sad ... because presumably you would go to the ANNOUNCEMENTS Forum to find any information on such an important ANNOUNCEMENT.

Unscheduled maintenance to revert version due to memory leaks and anticpated server crash(es) if not rectified. The fact that such an important ANNOUNCEMENT didn't make it into the ANNOUNCEMENTS Forum is ... well ... sad ... because presumably you would go to the ANNOUNCEMENTS Forum to find any information on such an important ANNOUNCEMENT.

Seems to me that the general consensus is that */Ninja on a Blaster is woefully inferior to */Ninja on a Sentinel ... for what should be obvious reasons. The real question then becomes whether or not blasting as a Sentinel is "worth it" to you relative to blasting as a Blaster on a */Ninja build.

Still working on it. ^_~ If I spent less time playing the forums and more time playing the game, I'd be getting to 50 faster. The thing is, I'm not in a hurry to get to 50 ...

Feel free to crib notes/pirate ideas from my Tankermindroller build and adapt towards Bots as desired. Granted, I'm using Ninja/Time/Mace, but that gives you a decent set of starting points (especially for Time Manipulation) while you figure out what you're wanting to do with your Bots for slotting.

According to the testimonials I've received from other people who have decided to play it, it works pretty darn well. Once you add Singularity into the mix, and learn how to "combat teleport" using Mystic Flight in order to drag your Singularity into combat with stuff so your Singularity is tanking for you, it ought to begin to get rather ... unfair ... and that's before pulling off Wormhole shenanigans. By the time you're getting into the late 20s/early 30s is when the build really starts to "open up" and get REALLY powerful, because it's at that point that you begin getting 3 slots per slot level, instead of just 2 (and you start getting "more" slot levels than you had before). You'll move from playing 2D chess to 3D chess, and by the time you're reaching towards Incarnate it'll be more like 4D chess.

Well I mentioned this problem over on my Leveling Tri-Form Peacebringer build, but I can't exactly copy/paste (directly) what was needed from that build for use in a Warshade. So ... I found that on my computer (at least), I can't use $$ in keybinds that also include the bindloadfile command because it BREAKS THE PARSER ... as in the entirety of the bind file will FAIL TO LOAD because the whole thing (before and after the offending line) just utterly "breaks" and fails to load correctly. Needless to say, this did NOT make me a Happy Kheldian™ since it ultimately meant I needed to reconfigure my bind files in order to be able to play my Kheldians with ANY degree of competency. This is the result of that effort ... an All In One™ bind file. WS.txt t "powexectoggleoff Dark Nova$$powexectoggleoff Black Dwarf" y "powexectoggleoff Black Dwarf$$powexectoggleon Dark Nova" g "powexectoggleoff Dark Nova$$powexectoggleon Black Dwarf" tilde "targetenemynear$$targetcustomnext alive Quantum$$targetcustomnext alive Void$$targetcustomnext alive Cyst$$targetcustomnext alive Sapper" 1 "powexectray 2 2$$powexectray 1 2" 2 "powexectray 2 2$$powexectray 1 1$$powexectray 5 1" 3 "powexectray 3 2$$powexectray 2 1$$powexectray 6 1" 4 "powexectray 4 2$$powexectray 3 1$$powexectray 7 1" 5 "powexectray 5 2$$powexectray 4 1$$powexectray 8 1" 6 "powexectray 6 2$$powexectray 9 1" 7 "powexectray 7 2" 8 "powexectray 8 2" 9 "powexectray 9 2" 0 "powexectray 10 2" right "powexecname Shadow Step$$powexecname Black Dwarf Step" shift+right "powexecname Shadow Slip" down "powexecname Shadow Recall" shift+left "powexecname Nebulous Form" lshift+lbutton "powexecname Shadow Step$$powexecname Black Dwarf Step" For reference, I have the "q" key bound for "Follow" (only) as part of my standard default keybind set that I use on ALL of my alts. This means that I can do a quick "tilde then q" while in Dwarf Form so as to emulate the Jackie Chan keybind manually (so to speak) without forcing my Human and Nova Forms to automatically Follow when using the tilde key to select the nearest/most dangerous to me $Target to attack.

Well ... this is annoying. >.< Took my Peacebringer up to Level 6, got Bright Nova and went to go test out my bind files (because you ALWAYS need to test these things!!) and ... they didn't work. AT ALL ... After an increasingly angry hour of regressive testing to figure out Whiskey Tango Foxtrot was wrong, I eventually came to an extremely unpleasant conclusion. On the Mac client, via Island Rum ... for whatever reason ... I can't use $$ for extra commands on any keybind that involves use of bindloadfile ... meaning that I can't switch forms AND switch bindloadfile setups with a single keyclick/bind which basically knocks the wind out of using different bindloadfiles for each Form. So once again, I was reduced/forced to rework my bindloadfile(s) to accommodate Wine's insistence on being very very stupid about emulating Windows under OS:X. The result was the following keybind file. PB.txt t "powexectoggleoff Bright Nova$$powexectoggleoff White Dwarf" y "powexectoggleoff White Dwarf$$powexectoggleon Bright Nova" g "powexectoggleoff Bright Nova$$powexectoggleon White Dwarf" tilde "targetenemynear$$targetcustomnext alive Quantum$$targetcustomnext alive Void$$targetcustomnext alive Cyst$$targetcustomnext alive Sapper" 1 "powexectray 2 2$$powexectray 1 2" 2 "powexectray 2 2$$powexectray 1 1$$powexectray 5 1" 3 "powexectray 3 2$$powexectray 2 1$$powexectray 6 1" 4 "powexectray 4 2$$powexectray 3 1$$powexectray 7 1" 5 "powexectray 5 2$$powexectray 4 1$$powexectray 8 1" 6 "powexectray 6 2$$powexectray 9 1" 7 "powexectray 7 2" 8 "powexectray 8 2" 9 "powexectray 9 2" 0 "powexectray 10 2" right "powexecname Energy Flight$$powexectoggleoff Quantum Acceleration$$powexectoggleoff Jump Pack" shift+right "powexecname Quantum Acceleration" down "powexecname Combat Flight$$powexectoggleoff Energy Flight$$powexectoggleoff Quantum Acceleration$$powexectoggleoff Jump Pack" shift+left "powexecname Quantum Flight$$powexectoggleoff Jump Pack" lshift+lbutton "powexecname White Dwarf Step" For reference, I have the "q" key bound for "Follow" (only) as part of my standard default keybind set that I use on ALL of my alts. This means that I can do a quick "tilde then q" while in Dwarf Form so as to emulate the Jackie Chan keybind manually (so to speak) without forcing my Human and Nova Forms to automatically Follow when using the tilde key to select the nearest/most dangerous to me $Target to attack.

Have not tested (nor had the copious free time to do so). I'd advise using Justin as a testing ground for the proposition to get definitive data.

File > New Solved.

https://forums.homecomingservers.com/index.php/topic,5408.msg43109.html#msg43109 You're welcome. *^_^*

/macro SD "petsayall <emote Drink Enriche>" All Demon/* Masterminds are ... encouraged ... to use this macro (it won't work as a bind, only as a macro!) to SHUT UP THEIR PETS. Use of this macro will effectively SILENCE Demons while they are parked and idle. /macro SD "petsayall <emote JuggleFire>" If you want your Demons to do something more ... thematic ... instead you can have them (literally) Juggle Fire. The SD naming on the macro is for SILENCE DEMONS. You're welcome ...

Nemesis Staff does this when attacking Reinforced Doors (for the prison cells) inside Arachnos Lab maps. Against other targets (like Arachnos) this does not occur, so it appears to be an animation keying error dependent upon the target being attacked.

Drug use for Dull Pain? Say it ain't so!