Sanguinesun

Via the smiley face icon in the options 8th from the left in the editing tools on the top row. 🙂

First off, try to avoid thinking of things in terms of "best" in regards to play. Its going to serve you well no matter what you make/play in CoH really. Regarding "raids" post 50, depends on too many variables and your choices of desired content to tell you accurately. Most content will factor more what your team brings to assist you vs necessarily your choice between the two types. Any brute with any build for example can join a Mothership Raid and even if they die sometimes it wont matter due to the sheer volume of people bringing gobs and gobs of heals, buffs, and other tools for the entire group to enjoy. In otherwords, the deficits of any 1 toon are diluted and mitigated by the whole collective efforts of the league. If you're asking for effectivity instead for 4 start ITF play. Then others may make compelling arguments that neither are going to be adequate due to the nature of hardmode content being extreme min/max centric both in terms of power/at choices and that of the actual slotting/enhancer sets etc used. Keep in mind as well that the majority of the player base do not do that content either and the ones that do have honed their skills of playing and builds for it accordingly. The rest post 50 is just on a spectrum fitting between the 2 examples. As for the soloing, that also depends as you level 1-50. Either -could- solo 1-50 depending on how its built(power choices, slotting, use or not of set or standard IO's etc), what difficulty settings you choose, missions/story arcs etc that you opt to use for your leveling or otherwise, and the speed/pace you're willing to accept to level from 1-50. I've seen people level 1-50 over months completely solo, no exp boosters, and with builds that would make people wince in pain upon seeing... and on other AT's much more challenging to play. In other words, its vary relative. They simply died alot but slogged through the agony and even abandoned some missions/arcs they felt even at -1 dif they couldn't handle. Alternatively, if you'd said you were to be teaming 1-50, then I'd've told you -anything- is fine for the most part as teams tend (not always mind you) again support/dilute the weaknesses of any member on the team as you level. Understanding what the two different armor sets bring to the table is also important. Some may define dark as primarily a resistance based set (with some smaller holes) that uses various other mitigation tools for survivability though coming with often discussed endurance issues. Snarky has posted across many different threads about his views with /dark and he pretty explicitly too says you have to build well and understand what you're doing/using. Otherwise, you're wasting your time. Some would define bio as a hybrid set with lesser resistances(even in defensive stance) with regen/heal/absorb mitigations for survivability along with the ability to be more situationally active for more damage etc(ie through the stances). Both sets require pools and other things to then do their best (and it varies and it still has holes) to compensate for their different deficiencies and strengths accordingly. If you do not care about either armor set but that your broad goals mentioned above are the main priorities (and perhaps due to assumed limited experiences with playing), then there may be other armor sets that would be more optimal for your wants or even considerations of being a tank even(again really really depends). I understand that you are wanting more definitive answers to your question but due to the way you framed the question, the variables partially mentioned above(as there are more), and what would or would not be acceptable to you for your broad goals, its not a clear cut thing.

Yesterday on a Synapse Task force, the first warehouse to investigate, second warehouse to investigate and clockwork king's warehouse were..... all the same warehouse. I guess they were saving on leases in this poor econonmy.

Taking more attacks in a build doesnt necessarily equate to having a more offensive tank. It can sometimes dilute the tanks effectiveness for damage actually. Also your endurance/recovery ratio is a bit high meaning your attack rotations end deplete you pretty quickly perhaps. Screwing around, I came up with a Fire/claws tank that does more damage, not just in terms of activation but due to the fact that it also(depending on the rotations you use due to FF, can recharge much faster(meaning more hits per typical mob group encounter per minute. It also has much better overall resists to the build, more overall defense (less minorly less in some parts but that's also compensated for by the much better resists) better regen, and more. And also a bigger change is much much better endurance/recovery ratio going on (to help compensate for the fact you're going to more actively hit more/do more damage). You could change incarnate choices for much more regen at the sacrifice of a smaller amount of damage etc or other similar considerations. I assumed you wanted more overall damage per choices. You also could switch some things around with +buildup proc between tactics and followup but thats more as to whether you want more limited burst vs generalized damage ppm's. Additionally you could also add the range build up proc in focus switching out either the FF proc(I wouldn't) or one of the set pieces(though reducing damage for the build by 4% overall if the proc doesnt hit or if you do not use the power mind you). Shockwave can also switch out one of the set enhancers(small global dam loss) to accommodate adding a kb to kd proc too depending on your desire (and again I'd not remove the FF proc). Also you dont need to run focused accuracy toggle (will increase end drain by a third) unless you needed to so its an optional small +tohit there. You could also switch the enhancer there to suit such needs too. Lastly, you'll notice no travel power was taken. This is because you can just as easily take the p2w travel power for such purposes for 1mil influence to free up power choices. However it that's not satisfactory for you, simply remove vengence(for a rather minor recharge loss overall due to the rest of the build (2.5%)) and add super jump from leaping as you'd had on your other build. So the over all meaning to all this is that you do more much more damage, hit more easily, regen more, recover/use less end in general, and can potentially have a much better recharge. Tanker (Fiery Aura - ClawsMelee).mbd -------- That said then, I would like to play a bit of a devil's advocate for a moment. Mostly your goals overall though seem to be to be an offensive character with some amount of defenses in place. That speaks more to being a brute. Yes, your next point is perhaps to say then that (as you did in your other response) that you wanted something with better range, more targets etc. But: 1. There are no differences between Brute's fiery armor set offensive powers and that of tanks. - Burn, consume, fiery aura all have the same radi and numbers of targets that can be hit with their abilities. No differences. 2. Of the claws powers you've taken, only spin is different and only in the number of targets. Both brute and tanks spin are 8ft with tank getting 16 targets to that of 10 for brute. The other aoe(cone actually) related power that you took in your build, shockwave, hits the same number of targets, range and radius for both brutes and tanks. No difference. Focus range is also the same for both tank/brute with no differences. So since you're focus is offensive, a brute will match or exceed a tankers(yes per the changes last year) damage once the brute hits 13-14% of its fury(ie 1-2 hits or so). At 80% fury(a good average fury sustainability benchmark), that brute will be doing double and a half the base damage of an attack of that of a tank. Of course this isnt factoring build choices, procs etc but it is of merit to mention. However, yes, if building for resistences or defense, then of course the tank is going to build more easily for that and therefore be easier to achieve tanky status there of. However, with your initial build considerations, that you were mostly satisfied with seemingly) it would be arguably able to be achieved on a brute and you would've done considerably more damage offensively. Scaling back even then on a brute some damage to shore up defense and resistance considerations(not to the level mind you of the above build I briefly came up with) would have you still potentially doing much more damage than the above tank build suggestions as well. Again, hard to judge what your goals are and the build I've presented is just after a smaller amount of time dabbling to see what could be achieved for a tank AT wise. But hopefully the thought processes for approaching your tank/offensive build differently may help guide your thinking as you continue to progress your building further. Best of luck.

Something touched upon perhaps worth mentioning more: The market, outside of the very very minimal seeding of items that it does, is not a influence generator. When you "farm" the market, its all just influence distribution vs influence generation. It is also an influence sink(ie via fees). Farming, running missions etc in game where the game generates new influence are different. Such activities do not have market dependency for the influence accrued. For most, its a small distinction because as long as their needs are met at the pace they wish, then playing the market, be it flipping or other means, is the way to go. But at least understanding that the differences do exist has merit in the long run. Regarding the effectivity of rad/fire brutes, this has been discussed before and the differences at this point(especially due to the way newer farming maps have been made), the variations for effectivity become a bit small by comparison and varied with active vs afk farming variables as well. Someone building a rad/fire brute for fire farming or a rad/ma tank for s/l farming is more to one's interests etc etc. Again again, the variables of maps used, transitions between maps, etc all in the name of influence per hour vary.... so much so to the point that rad/fire and other fire farmers are still the predominantly seen farmers at the various AE's on servers like Excelsior(PD I've seen a bevy of fire/SJ or Fire/Staff pretty frequently too(though I would argue they're less effective compared to the other ones mentioned). But for the OP(and in a similar vein with the paragraph above), we also have to remember its a form of game play that they've stated they enjoy. I know people who love instead to farm ticket missions on xp frozen lowbie toons too for just a fraction of the millions (though this is a market playing variation). Different paths up the mountain essentially.

Never stated that they are calling for help. I'm saying -they- werent. -Your- initial post was calling to help them and as you've reinforced by the statements above. My point to you was, that they neither need nor want it in these regards as -if- they did, they would themselves have made a thread/post (beyond what they already have in other capacities) for such needs. Thus, the current situation for them is as they wish it and working as intended. Taken another way, you're also indirectly implying that the HC team isnt capable of devising their own methods of doing the work at the pace and/or means that they wish to; and that your "I invite you all to offer opinion and assistance if you can below." call for help is, by your belief, a necessity. Title of the thread is even "The Devs Need Our Help". They never stated that as I said. You did but imply that they need said help. It just all seems a bit counter intuitive at best and potentially patronizing of the team at worst, especially due to your insistence to call for such assistance when you've just admitted it wasn't asked for. Again, the current status/pace of development makes for rather compelling evidence that they are working as intended per their team's wants. If their needs change, I'm sure they'll be the first to let the community know...

Cobolt's statements are being interpreted by you as a call for help. That's not the take away I got from their statements. My take away was their making those statements as reasoning for why they cannot accommodate the wants of players per the context of that linked discussion. Were the team making a call for help, as you see it, they would have made a very clear thread/post for those specifics. They have not. HC's pace of development along with the manner by which they develop is, for lack of a better way of saying it, working as -intended-. If they wanted it to be different, they would do so. Take a moment to think about the scope of what that means really. Making a call, so to speak, on their behalf is probably not something as attenable as you may wish to think it is.

What are your goals with this build exactly? As you assessed, the build has arguably more offense than may actually be of merit to have and sacrificing more survivability benefits. If you're goals are to be more offensive oriented, then I would argue a brute would be better suited to the build you're attempting on some levels perhaps instead of a tank?

If there are distinctions being made by those who are from specific locales, that's rather... disappointing and hopefully doesnt become a precedent for other considerations.

Nothing for you to be sad about. You've done more than arguably a large portion if not a arguably a majority of the player base have done already, especially with your dedication to spread sheeting things like that.

Thanks for the reply. Why not then make a post in the excelsior forum section here then, if the calendar section cannot be updated without GM approvals? If you're requiring people to use your discord to see it, that seems a bit of a shame since more comprehensively, I would think and arguably more comprehensively, see it here than even the general HC discord or other outlets perhaps too. Anyway, your stamina and consistency with your efforts for the Excelsior community in these regards are appreciated.

Any particular reason why you do not announce in advance the specific costume themes until the day of the event and never on the forums? I know you list your event in the calendar for excelsior but the specific theme for that week you specify is not to be announced when clicking the event on the calendar's linked post and only on that day ro so.

Doesnt work. Gives the error specified above. Works for that specific link but clicking all or some(not all) other options from the drop down will then go to an error page. You're also using an account that has all permissions set etc. That variable may be a factor?

I think the evidence may be more compelling to consider that its not just wholly about the straight math but relies heavily on the context of the situation, the powers chosen for them, proc's chance to activate/pmm in a given situation, team facilitations for the afore mentioned or being solo and more. Controlling for all the variables to tell you xyz is more effective than abc is why you see so many different threads with so many different suggestions to do different things with builds of characters in the game and is intentionally designed that way to be so. It is why there's an almost constant set of discussions for so many data points of this game almost endlessly along with the constant influx of builds people design. Thus one is not necessarily going to "outshine" the other as there are no hard absolutes with the data interpretations. As other mentioned as well, just because someone else on a team has a -res proc doesnt mean that you should ignore having/using it; because again, there are chances theirs do not proc meaning no one on the team benefits.

Check the guides under one of the farms threads section as there's a commonly used one there...

There has been an increase on Excelsior on things being less than optimal in the last few days, though not extremely so from my anecdotal observations. The variables that could cause this are too many to necessarily narrow down as user end or server end or both really.

If the information provided is accurate, you've done more than 90% of the player base of HC have done. Like it or not, that already makes you an outlier for good or ill. Thus arguably, your describing symptoms of burnout. That said, interest is a subjective thing. Seemingly, you like to spend most of your time soloing/on your own. Spending more time teaming may be a consideration since its a different play dynamic that much of the game caters to. Other things you could consider: 1. There's always the min/maxing post 50 to run the 4 star Hard mode TF stuff you could consider. Less than 10% of the player base participate in that. 2. Perfecting builds for specific levels/leveling of content etc. 3. Making your own story missions in AE or farms or other content in AE. 4. Start becoming raid leader and helping guide others through task forces extensively 5. Go be an rper on Everlasting 6. Play goldside 7. Take the worst AT and its worst power set combinations and level it. 8. Create a new toon as a hardcore toon(on an honor system basis of course) delete it if you die. 10. Play the new power sets as I doubt you've done any/all of them as yet to 50. 11. Simply shelve the game and return when you are refreshed and motivated to play(this is the direction I suspect you're heading). Nothing wrong with that as many folks have done that too. List can keep going on and on really. In the end its your decision and really most of us are probably not going to have an answer that either matches you or overcomes any objections you may have to it. I suspect you already know the direction you're leaning in with things and you may just have been looking for affirmation of that indirectly.

Your issue is primarily your level. Most characters leveling up suffer end issues. Your build is your post 50 build which is not congruent to your current state at level 30. If you want to have better end while you level: 1. Make sure you have end redux standard IO's in your toggles. 2. Make sure you have 2-3 slots of End Modification in your stamina. 3. Dont run your travel toggles all the time. If you're in a mission, you're typically not needing to run super speed, sprint and the p2w run at the same time. Just run sprint or the pw2 run as you need or not at all. 4. If you're being the tank on a team, you do not need to constantly be using each and every single attack power that you have while its up. Pace and manage your attacks so that you are pacing and managing your end better. This is the number 1 way your end drops. 5. Be mindful of what you're fighting. Some mobs drain end too. 6. If you are still sucking end, see point 4 and reduce what you're doing even more. 7. Blue skittles are your friend. Even consider making a macro to convert other ones to blues if you think it'll help. etc etc etc

AFK farming is a completely different creature. All indications were to this point that the discussion revolved around active farming. If you're wanting an efficient AFK fire farmer, a Stone/MA tanks is going to be more efficient with Dragon tail (what you refer to as the spinning kick) set on auto, procs etc etc. They're much more suited for that. As for an MA/fire brute, it is still compelling that it may not have the active fire farming damage that various rad/fire ones can achieve. Even if you're slotting dragon tail and crane(since it too can have a FF and you include it in your rotation) to get you at or close to 300% -chance- for +recharge and your proc'ing it like you would an AFK version or similar. If you're lucky at best getting 3-4 sec hits with it, the damage just isn't leveraged as well on the brute versus a tank due to the larger number of mobs it can hit. Some things then to perhaps take into consideration regarding rad/fire brutes: You may perhaps be assuming the auras should be heavily proc'd instead per what you stated. This hasn't been the case since the changes last year, either. They're better suited for the ATO sets though Achilles (from defense debuff set) -res in at least IG is of merit. Some still leverage lots of procs in the auras. I do not. Some may be overlooking the relevance of contaminated and the build up Fusion's mechanics to help with it (similar to fire's fiery embrace in extra damage regards). It isnt to be underestimated, especially on brutes actively farming for additional damage. And then again as mentioned above, one's maps and mob designs have relevance, especially since various newer maps since last fall dip into defense sets(super reflexes being the more common one) for mobs to get to the exp/influence max's. Rad's -def helps with that considerably since every single attack and the aura have -def. Not a single attack in spines nor MA has -defense in them. And then there's the other aspects of builds such as pools, and patrons(never to be underestimated), and incarnate choices. You'd be surprised how many farmers I see in AE's underestimate those options too. All in all, its a recipe and when making those considerations, rad/fire brutes still are more optimal for active fire farming. Unrelated but worth mentioning, S/L farms as well are completely different AFK and Active set of choices(with both being best suited to tank sets). But again, there's nothing wrong with other brute, tank etc options for farming, they're just going to be taking different paths up the mountain so to speak.

Really depends on you. Crane is also another kick that can take an FF proc chance. Remember that more FF +recharge procs in different powers give you more chances for those recharges and that its a chance. There's no guarantee that you can maintian consistently 200-300 recharge within a given minute. However the likelihood is higher with more chances from successful hits from individual powers mind you. Mids stats in other words do not always correlate to actual live play realities. Eagles claw lets you get a guaranteed 1-2 hit +dam to those other attacks, not much but small. But its a long animation by comparrison to other powers in the set. If I build anything with MA, then I personally usually choose to start Storm, dragon, and crane and focus chi. Anything else depends on the build goals in coordination with the armor set needs. Damage procs there after depend on your play goals as well as if you're choosing to be more tanky, then set bonuses for positional defense, shore up more reistances or even just global +dam bonuses may have more merit. As you know, its all a puzzle.

The main danger from fire sword attacks is the -def. On the older farms that werent updated, those mobs when they start hitting cause a very quick -defense cascade due to the -def stacking that pretty much is what kills you. Since the update, there have been plenty of farms where those attacks are taken out of the farms custom mobs and replaced with other attacks/powers to get as close to or at the max exp on those farms. Spines/fire is ok as a farmer. But it isn't capable of the same damage output as other choices like rad/fire. It is more akin to being considered a farmer that can take it slower but has better protections such as the -recharge and slows from the spines attacks causing those mobs they fight/attack less often of course. That said, I have both rad/fire and spines/fire brutes, and both can do some of the older maps even as well(albeit slower and as long as chewing some defense skittles or just simply stepping out of a group until the -def stacks time out). Again though at a much slower pace on those older maps. Put them on non fire sword farms and they're faster but rad much more so in either case.

Seismic/SR though seems like a tough pairing, not for SR's +'s or Seismic's +'s but because of the shoring down of choices in either one or both in conjunction with pools to achieve something decent. How too are your numbers compared to what would be built out of a force field corruptor (and with their acceess to power boost) too (sentinel's inherent withstanding mind you)?

Creativity plays a large part in these things. Colorizing, and other custom choices can bring about many different choices. Then there's the author of such designs(ie you) molding it to your wants or your wants molding the design. That said, shield is likely not coming anytime soon proliferation wise, unless there's something I've not heard. So, there are plenty of shields one can choose from to form the basis for one's wishes for an angel. Electricity as you cite derisively for being a mutant electric eel would be your interpretation. Others could come up with an electric thematic that they(and Im sure others would agree) matches an angel concept. Almost any blast set could be considered (yes even guns as I can cite some movies that went that route for you hehe).

1. If you're teaming, anything you throw together as a build for the most part is going to be fine unless you just absolutely have no understanding of the game mind you.. You do understand the basics of the game so that's not an issue. But with that said, since you haven't really played homecoming servers in a long while as you indicate, and the changes they've made to most all aspects of play over the years you've not played, then in some ways consider that its a new game for you to a certain extent. Frame things as such then as you go forward. 2. Teams doing content below 30's are going to generally be with individuals who have powers unslotted, slotted minimally and almost everyone has end management issues. This is more normal than you realize. Of course there will be mixes of higher level and even incarnated/set slotted folks participating too but most such people do not have over the top expectations for the capabilities of everyone to be playing like its a 4star hardmode ITF. Dont over think it. If you're soloing more, then you're going to be more dependent on your choices than were you on a team. As you continue leveling, slotting, etc end can get better but you just have to be aware that sometimes, some AT combos just do not solve their end management issues until they're post 50 and using incarnate abilities. Thus, you just simply have to be more frugal in your play as you level. Accept that. There's no need to mash everything every second be you on a team or solo. 3. You chose your character for theme. Nothing wrong with that, but does your thematic wants match the reality of you as a player and your play style needs in the game? It may or it may not. That's for you to be mindful of really. But at the same time, accept the strengths and weaknesses of the AT's combo accordingly with you as a player and your strengths and weaknesses too. 4. You cant have it all. Building any character is a matter of puzzling(literally) out options that suit your play needs/wants/goals. Seemingly, you're not using the MIds program yet? If not get it as that's going to help you puzzle things out as well as see more details on builds people put on the forums. 5. Any AT combination can solo. The real question is at what effectivity of soloing. -1/1 or +4/8 That's a very large spectrum of considerations. Also, any AT can contribute to a team. Their effectivity also varies accordingly. You're playing casually not as a min/max'er. 6. You mentioned that you find the pacing of speed team runs challenging. Tricks for that are: -Follow the healer/bubbler/buffers. They'd be the main priority to stick with in case you encounter issues and usually they're also following the tank type folks. This way, you're not chasing the tanks directly. -Dont go off on your own. Dont linger behind (again follow the ones mentioned above). If they're lingering behind then press m look where everyone is as the main group, and go to them. -Speed runs usually have someone who speeds to the last person, rest park at the start of the mission to wait their being teleported. Or the runner to the end objective just takes care of it for the rest of the team. No need to have any axiety over any of that. Its part of the nature of the speed runs. You don't need to follow everyone to the end nor do most groups expect people to, especially in the lower level runs. - Positron 1. Essentially, dont use it as a benchmark for frustrations with task forces. Half the time people do not listen, do not understand whats going on in the mission etc. Just move with the herd as best as possible. You'd be surprised by how many posi 1's fail by the last mission to the point that threads have been dedicated to it. Some even absolutely skip doing posi 1 to save themselves the hassle unless they are needing for other reasons. I can usually tell by the first couple of missions (or sooner) when a team's chances of succeeding are slim to none. 7. Given points above, at this stage, asking for builds isn't necessarily going to help you. The reason why is because good builds are with good focused goals/and playstyles outlined for them. You're in some ways better off looking at not just sentinel forums for build ideas that more specifically match you but also via other AT subforums that use electric or Energy Armor, whilst being mindful of the sentinel's specifics. Then deciding what best matches you. THEN coming back to the sentinel forum section, posting your specific build ideas, specifying your wants from that, and seeing from there.

It makes sense if and only if you actually use kick regularly (or at all) in your damage rotation AND its capable of actually hitting a mob(because the ACC of your build/slotting kick with acc), AND the -chance- to proc actually occurs. In other words, for not a small number of builds that get thrown up on the forums and else where, it really has no relevance to put FF in kick. KB powers you do use and especially if aoe have more relevance to consider.