VV

That's a lot of hate for something that only happens once out of 20 times. Seriously, I hardly notice. If your build requires the need to hit every single time, it's a bad build, that's all. You know you're gonna miss every now and then, take that into account when you build.

LMAO I love that GIF meme!

Because they have lives. Because nobody is paying them. Because time is not infinite and entropy exists. I mean, seriously, what a senseless question.

I think that the idea of putting a time sink into a freebie game that nobody makes any money off of is ridiculous and the assumption that anyone would do that is equally ridiculous. (Of course, the time sinks that were already in there notwithstanding)

Have you been on a Hami Raid recently?

The thing is, I think a really great build come be made from an Ill/Emp combination. Slot the primary up for damage. Cast out your pets, drop some locks, and then you are free to move about the combat buffing everyone else, making them feel like GAWDS. You are still contributing damage and mitigation on your own through your pets, so you have that covered, too. I don't think the lack of empathy is for the empathy powerset directly, it is for the idea of a "dedicated healer."

Speaking of Binds/Macros, using the powexec_location command do you prefer to drop your pets/traps at your feet or at your target?

This is really nice, Hew. Can you drop your build for it. I'd love to see if I could get my numbers closer to yours.

I have been playing FA for years as one of my primaries and even I only learned a couple months ago that Consume provides End Debuff resistance. Note that this Res enhances as you enhance the EndMod of Consume. So, on my FA tank, it gives a 98.75% resist, which basically means I can ignore any energy zappers. While it does not give Recovery Debuff Resistance, it does give bonus to your Recovery, another little talked about gem. But, to me, it does not seem relevant, since I hardly ever run out of energy before everything is dead. Fear is about the only issue my FA faces. It can be heavily mitigated through set bonuses, but when fighting stuff like +4x8 Drudges (I think they are) or anything that can stack a ton of Fears on you, it can be a bit of a problem. That just becomes a matter of targeting a timing, though. And this, I think is the important point. If you make a tank pretty much immune to everything, combat just becomes stand and button mash. With small weaknesses here and there, tactics, the actual skill, not the power, becomes important. Like, if I'm going up against something with a lot of fear, I don't mind taking the time to prioritize targets. A little challenge makes the game more interesting.

So, I've gotten my Ill/Traps to 49.5 and I can say, it plays WAY different than any other alt I have. In combat it is near totally hands off. I will often pretty much ignore what is going on around me and just wander around casting pets and traps. I do need to watch out for stepping in too many AOEs. But, basically, the bad guys mostly just ignore me while I go about my business. So, this is very different than normal characters where the interaction is direct. Even the buffs and heals are indirect, as are the debuffs. I can see how this would be off-putting to people who have a strong preference for directness, but to me, it is nice to have something different to play.

Honestly, I don't understand how you aren't bored as heck. I play a number of support, Grav/Storm is one of my mains, and I play a Plant/Dark a lot. The times that I really need to throw a heal are pretty few and far between. If I didn't have a bunch of other stuff to do in terms of attacks, I don't know what I'd be spending my time doing. I mean, if Empathy is good for your concept, great, go for it. But, focus on contributing proactively via buffs, damage, and control, and less on reactive heals.

1. Don't listen to those people. 2. Don't tell people your build. 3. Don't play dedicated healers because they are really unneeded.

Just finished leveling up my Fire/Earth. It is as fun and powerful as you imagine. I like to lay out the fire AOEs, then go to town with the big stone hammers. The only real problem is that stuff rarely lasts long enough for me to fully enjoy gunching them.

It's funny, a lot of people pick on Elect/, but I find my Elect/Nrg to be one of my most powerful Doms. That sleep patch is total hax, and spamming Jolting Chain + Chain Fences is some serious AOE destruction. With that and Conductive Aura, most opponents are drained of End within a few seconds, and kept there. I combined it with Ice Mastery, and I can barely get through a whole AOE attack chain before nearly everyone is dead. Anybody who gets too in my face gets a Total focus for their trouble. And, of course, she can spam away without worrying about Endurance, so that's nice.

Interesting, I'm not really a fan of Caltrops, either, unless I also have an aoe Immob in the build. Just the running is so bad. That being said, I love everything else about Nin.

Oh, has always been that sound and feeling of Fire Sword Circle. It's just such a pretty power. I overspam it just because I like it so much.

I guess the question is, why would you even take Blinding Powder? I have a /Nin Scrapper and that was the one power I skipped. I read it, sounded like garbage. I tried it, it is garbage. I respecced out of it. If I was going to take it, I would slot it for -ToHit, not confusion.

I do not remember that on Live. Maybe when Red first came out, but most of the time, the ratio seemed even lower than it is now. Anyway, to OP, as was mentioned, changing shards is super easy now. But, also, changing alignments is. Run some red stuff and encourage people to swap over. Show them how. Really, I think your main problem is that more soloers play redside than blueside. People who want to be left alone go there specifically because of the lower population. If you look at the numbers, 70-80+ on Everlasting and Excelsior should be plenty to put together a team, IF they want to team up.

Good tip!

Yeah, I often have extras and toss them all up for 2500. Though, I've seen them for as low as 150. This is a great tip.

Well, Singularity is singularly one of the best powers in the Controller AT. It is better to take than basically any power. The thing about Gravity Distortion Field is that the recharge rate is so long that you end up not using it much. On my Grav/Storm Controller, I keep GDF as an "uh oh" power, and only ever use it when stuff goes sideways. That being said, if it were me, I would dump Vengeance or Assault for Singy. Or maybe the Fighting Pool (more on that later). Skipping Propel seems a little bit odd, considering it is a great damage and mitigation power, as well as one of the funnest blast powers around. I highly recommend picking up both Singularity and Propel, but that means you need to swap 2 powers. Back to the Fighting Pool, and the Leadership Pool. You haven't invested heavily for DEF/RES, so I'm not sure the Fighting Pool is really worth three powers and all the slots you gave it. You might think about dumping it and focus more on control as your survival mechanism. That would give you space to pick up Propel and Singularity, and give you another free slot to grab Stealth or something.

When fully buffed during MSR to 400% recharge, I have had up to 6 specters out at once. They do stack.

I've been working on an Ill/Traps controller recently and when I saw the new Teleport changes, I thought this exact same. Seems like a few Trip Mines is all you need.

Reminder to level tanks with Holds, we need all the help we can get on "Green Team"

Yeah, go ahead and try the ITF challenge in the Tank Gods thread.