Sanguinesun

That's the Shady Chat 'n Rest. They prefer to keep their visual advertising... well... live as you see above....

It is best to consider conservatively your fury at an 80% benchmark vs 100%. This is because transitions from groups or other factors can of course see it being much less than 100%. When I was meaning in regards to what you're building, putting up your build from the MidsReborn program to show folks what you're attempting has a better way for adjusting considerations for you. Keep in mind though that Mids does have some bugs and inaccuracies currently and info can vary in the more explicit numbers game of it, but that's also why once you find a build that is suitable that you first test it and the numbers on the test server to best confirm what you see in minds. But being vague about what you're building makes it hard for others to give you advice. There really are no secrets per se either, its just how you buid either due to experiential learning or intuitively so. So make a build on mids you htink works for you, then post here then others can help from there.

I'd argue that the sets havent really hand any changes so to speak in the last 2 years so depending what you're building for, they're likely not any different meta that would change their considerations for the builds. In context though with other set combinations for armors and melee, there are differences mind you that causes some sets to become higher or lower in considerations in the last 2 years of changes but not a sav/bio imo in any significance. Best to perhaps say what you're building for, provide a build and then others may be able to offer suggestions to you from there.

They're quite polar opposites of each other really. I'll let you decide what the opposites entail though.

My impression is you're wanting an all around tank that, well, tanks and of course can contribute to damage and more for the team perhaps. I think one of the issues with your build potentially is your hyper focus on melee defense and the potential sacrifice of much else outside of being res cap'd on most all damage types. If you're a tank, you're teaming, and if you're teaming, you're likely getting: 1. Buffs(especially defense being common) easily soft or even higher capping you. 2. Heals 3. Other buffs (damage, absorbs, to hits etc. Mileage of course on those varies. But especially if you're running higher end content scenarious, you can almost guarantee that you're getting good amounts of the above. Of course, if you're doing lower end content, it also really doesnt matter because either people do not have their toons fleshed out, running no enhancers, or more, or the content is such that its not that much an issue otherwise. That said then, you may wish to lessen off the hyper focus on the defense so that you can improve other parts of the build. If you do that, you're going to open up your possibilities alot more in terms of team contributions(like taking leadership), damage, your other powers to focus more in heal/regen and recovery, incarnate choices and much more. I think you'll find you'll be making a better tank in those regards. Also looking over that build you currently have with personal thoughts on things: 1. You may wish to not take the flying pool and instead just taking a p2w fly, especially if you switch into leadership giving you two more potential lotg mules, in addition to more defense potentially along with the benefits for a team too. 2. Decay probably is better served with just a -res proc in the initial slot. Even some of the farmer builds do nothing else except that and remember they're build for doing damage even. 3. Irradiated ground probably is better served putting your Superior Might of the tanker set in it. Your build currently will have holes when the proc chance for +res doesnt go off and putting it in the auto power is a fire and forget so to speak. This frees up your atom smasher to build differently, up to and even including a proc build for it. 4. Taunt also probably would benefit more from a D-synch Provocation instead(recharge taunt acc). 5. Mu Lightning with the +heal proc only is probably a waste because it has to hit to proc and then still have the chance to proc. Putting another slot in endurance and putting it there gives it the proc n forget deal. 6. You're under benefitting Gamma boost I think too. And one could go on but again I just think you're making your situation more cumbersome because you're focused too much on melee defense chasing.

It just really depends on your tankers goals and the state of slotting as to whether you feel taking focus accuracy/do or dont take patron sets instead, especially if you're already running tactics(which also benefits the team) since its a higher tohit buff value than f-a is.

Thanks bopper for chatting with me for a long time on discord and helping discover the bug associated with the proc related stuff. It certainly is a wierd on. Hopefully that'll all get sorted when it can be.

Sigh... do I need to show the total on the other side too? It ALSO shows there.... Placed also on the values screen to the far left. If there's yet some other place to put them please tell me so I can more efficiently screen shot for you and not have to do multi's 😛

Put before and after pics on the bug report

I loaded the builds in question to the report for comparison then and checking peculiarities with the proc slotting and unslotting. As for the storm kick's resistance values, yes, it would seem the ATO bonus was what I was seeing and thank you for catching that. But Im still mystified by the procs being negative values when slotted.

Its the one in her guides for farming section However, as I said in the report, you can build from scratch a new build using all her choices and reproduce the errors for both bugs I listed in the report. For the negative zinger procs one, just simply moving around 1 or 2 of the zinger procs will reproduce the -negative damage on DT and or RT.

Rest isnt on, current data base for HC, etc see my report on your discord, that you havent yet 😛

I hate to say it at this point but the Mids builder is just a complete and utterly broken mess. Not just on updating but on values and riddled with bugs including enhancers giving negative values when slotted combination with others and so much more. I also dont have confidence that Mids is going to drastically improve its situation any time soon either and perhaps another player initiative to rebuild from the ground up a planner and its database may be in order. At this point I strongly discourage the use of the program to be relied on for building as there's just no way to accurately determine values etc. If one does use it, again assume values are very inaccurate and instead use the beta test server to try to test values on a build there. Its tedious but its just about the only way to ensure the numbers more than what the planner shows. I was seeing placing damage procs in sets today causing negative values when placed in some powers, damage values in powers change values only by changing the level order and nothing else. Some powers abilities giving other values not meant to (like storm kick giving defense as normal but also resistance values too. And yes, this is with the most recent version too.

This assessment may not be factoring, as some have pointed out, that some auras do more than one function. They werent meant to solely be taunt auras in almost all cases on armor side. On melee side, auras for tanks n the like too are not just damage but taunt and in other cases other minor debuffs or specials too (like IR's containment spreading) too. Another factor is that those aura powers are often found in builds to be housing sets for bonuses as well. So its a multiple birds with one stone sort of thing. All in all, slot and enhancer value to use is going to be dependent on the build and goals for the build, really.... a spectrum of colors in considerations vs just a simple black and white approach to thinking about it.

Posi 1 is a litmus test. I can usually tell by the first mission or two before the last mission ever comes along as to success(or not) of the last mission. 2 weeks ago, there's was a posi 1 which obviously going to fail on the last mish because, not only did its tank trigger the door ambushes when told by the leader to be careful to not, but they also ditched shortly after. Next day on an alt, I joined another posi 1. This time there were two tankers, including the one from the previous day. Our leader was nice and tended to help give instructions on how to do things as needed because it seemed there were 2 folks not familiar with the run but it was obvious about the mid way point the tank from the day before was going to be trouble yet again. I sent a tell to the leader warning them how things had transpired the day before and she said she'd noticed how the other tank was being and not to worry. Sure enough, we hit the last mission and while this time instead of heading straight for the doors(as the leader said to clear the rescues and then the trash near the doors first, the second we were engaged in the mob group below the stairs, the guy runs up to the doors and triggers the ambushes, I and another call out that we got ambushes triggered by that tank and the tank says he didnt(yet I, the another on the team who called it out too and the leader saw him) and then calls the team in all caps morons saying that going up there didnt trigger it. Leader instantly kicked him while the team managed to valiantly take down the ambushes and that group at the bottom of the stairs. Everything went pretty smooth from there(I think only 1 death on a simulacum, even). My experience has been that 1 out of 3 of those runs have people do what's needed and 1 out of 3 usually has to be given up on because how they go south. Im on the fence about it really. Part of me thinks that by comparison with how every other tf goes and the specific mechanics in that tf, that it may be a mismatch for being the very first tf that a player, especially new, can encounter. The other part of me thinks that for those that don't quit the game in discouragement, its a good piece of experiential learning. Its just the ones that have this as their first welcoming to task forces, its not always very welcoming. Its almost like an initiation and hazing ritual like a fraternity. Maybe we should change the tf's name to Pledging with Kappa Omicron Xi (CoX) 😛

Times have been tough in Paragon and across the planet in the aftermath of what happened with the rikti. Place isnt exactly thriving.

Axe, especially once you get later game and if you decide you wish to get its recharge high, is going to be end centric. Axe does well with Rad armor for various reasons and if you're looking for a good brute with a solid spectrum of resistances. If you're looking for a more offense focused brute then fire armor with axe is very nice since you can pull mobs into the burn with cyclone. Consume also helps with your end too.

For the record, I've never in all these years earned "10's of billions" of influence. I personally do not known anyone who has though Im sure there are some that will chime in on the forums here to say they do/have. I would say they're not the typical player. Your belief that you need to earn that is a bit over the top to be honest. That's more how you perceive things that the actuality of what folks as a whole do, I believe. With all that said then, correct me if Im misunderstanding you at this point. 1. You feel you cant get teams on the most popular server and give up after 15 minute intervals. (btw I've leveled a toon to 32 today, 95 merits, one aether, and have through selling drops, the aether and more gotten over 6 million influence whilst doing so and had zero issues with finding teams throughout the day and this evening having started teaming at level 5 and just finished a task force to be said level 32. 2. You feel only grinding in the AE as a farmer is the only way you feel comfortable with playing to earn influence. 3. You dislike the Auction house and do not wish to use it in any capacity. 4. You dislike playing content in the game that earns merits and also feel its a grind. 5. You dislike invention enhancers, set enhancers. 6. You with the game was just SO and HO's from the early days. 7. You've been dismissive of every suggestion, recommendation, and ways to help you from people throughout the thread. Would this all then accurately characterize your thoughts and feelings to this point? If so, I've only one other question for you: Due to seemingly most all facets of what comprises of playing this game are disliked by you and you're unhappy; because your wants do not match the reality of what homecoming servers are providing, what can we do otherwise to help you?

Invention origin and set enhancers were implemented by the original game devs while the game was live, If you became disinterested in playing before that, that was pretty early on. It can be a complicated thing for the uninitiated to be sure but given years of content was implemented after IO's and sets were introduced, it was to give purpose for that content as well both in terms of challenge and reward. It seems what you're mainly lamenting then is early issue nostalgia/homesickness for. That's fine of course and up to you. Regarding other things... You can purchase enhancers, recipes salvage and more from the merit vendor. You can best earn merits as mentioned before doing task forces and other content too up to and including gathering badges in zones. The game's auction house is also has seeding specific items automatically by the system and not sold specifically by players. Winter and other packs, salvage and a few other minor things are seeded by the system and you can thus just consider that a vendor vs a player market. All in all, again, you do not need to spend time playing the markets like some wow player or some such thing. And you certainly do not need to go about feeling you need to make billions from it. There are those that like doing that and that's another facet of the game for those folks. to earn cash and I outlined that before. This all really sounds like simply an information gap issue. If its just a situation though that the mechanics of a market existing in the game as being the basis of your reticence, then that's perplexing given other games you're lauding/having interest in playing really. But again that's fine as that's your interests/wants. You can also opt if you wish to play on the beta server exclusively, There you can make instant 50's and get all the enhancers and influence you want to play around with as you please. not alot of players frequent it though unless there's a new issue being tested or the like. And as well, you can also freely download the city of heroes set up yourself to play alone as you wish (or not). Someone had a thread on here about that before and maybe that may be of interest to you. All in all, sorry that things arent working out for you as you would wish them to. That's life really.

In the spirit of how this whole thread started and the subsequent sorcery that has transpired, I think this topic has devolved into something no longer Tsootable here....

Primarily in this case and much of your experience, there is just simply a knowledge gap occurring, I believe. I see this pretty often with returnees from live or even just a couple of years ago or new people. Its a shame but it happens pretty frequently. Teams, especially on excelsior are extremely easy to find with caveats: 1. Obviously, if you're on a bad time when there are less folks around, its a luck of the draw. Days of the week also factor. 2. Knowing what teams to join also helps. Not every LFG message makes it clear(out of an assumption players know). If someone says for example, "level 54 (mission/tips/PI) team looking for x number of people" you can join those, typically from level 1 and I see them every single day at various times of the day. They're the defacto power leveling/farming outside of the AE. Also Tasks forces at or below your level are commonly called for and a good way to earn merits too, especially on the weekly task force/strike force ones. Also X level missions team messages can also be sidekicked up to. 3. While the vast majority of players focus on hero side, any time you also see LFG's related to point 2 but are on the villain side, you can join those at any time just quickly and freely visiting the seagull(null the gull) in pocket d. There are no restrictions/tediousness involved in switching sides. 4. Being patient. I am a bit skeptical that each and every time you logged in that 15min went by each and every single time and you didnt find teams, either due to the points mentioned above or time as it were etc. I think if you'd maybe watched lfg more carefully, you'd've found a team. 5. I've not used the queue system either in years. Arguably most dont anymore due to the easy on excelsior to grab a team. 6. Nothing, stops you from making your own teams except passivity. You'd be surprised how fast teams fill once people start asking for task forces or other similar common and incentivized play. Some other things can take time but usually again patience is all it takes, again unless you're playing at 4am server time or some such on a monday or the like. 😛 ------ Regarding influence issues: Even with double EXP boosters enabled (meaning you dont earn influence from mission completion or kills) from the P2W vendor constantly, one can earn enough influence doing points 2 and 3 typically to earn enough influence for IO enhancers either crafting or buying from the AH (which often can be cheaper than crafting). This can be done by: 1. Selling either to a vendor or on the AH recipes that you come across for enhancers. When you're especially joining 54+ teams from point 2 above, you'll get level 50 recipes. Regular IO ones as you know go for around 100k as vendor trash, more in some cases if sold on the AH. Set Enhancers vendor trashing values vary up to about 10k of the level 50 ones BUT some can sell for millions on the auction house (10mil+ even). 2. To get seed money(ie money for listing feeds for the AH too) you can also go to the AH, and offer really small amounts for Single Origin enhancers that are level 50 or just under/above. Those average 15k sold to a vendor. You can also look for the afore mentioned level 50 IO enhancers and vendor for 100k as I said but get lucky and get those recipes for 1-how much ever you're willing to spend to earn a profit from vendoring for them. 3. There are a plethora of guiides on how to making tons of money from the AH too of course that explain how to earn seed money and then to start converting cheap enhancers to millions in value ones and more. 5. You can just take merits earned and convert them to special salvage or valuable set enhancers to sell. (also covered in guides usually). With Homecoming servers since last fall, we've a new item called Aethers which can sell currently for about 4 million on the AH which randomly can be earned when completing a mission(semi rare but I've average 1 per toon while leveling one from 1-50). And I can go on. For the month of May, I've leveled from 1-50 an average of 2-3 characters a week and procured just from the basics(not the super saavy guide style AHing) close to 200mil while doing so. They hit 50 and I just would make a new toon, carry over the money to the next one. This is profit after spending for IO enhancers for them too(non set ones). Im not hyper focusing on making 1 50 to them work on getting them all the sets IO's etc either. They're just toons to enjoy the experience to 50 with. Since I run on taskforces and also earn merits and occassionally the rikti mother ship raid when advertised and get vangard merits, I can also pool the merits to buy enhancers later if I want to focus on 1 toon too. Also once 50 and the double exp boosts no longer work and one starts earning influence, you can do of course any normal 1-50 content and earn too. Running ITF's can earn you millions too if you just wanted to stick to 1 toon that way or those afore mentioned 54 mission teams are also where folks are influence earning capable. This is why crumpet was saying its easy. But the very real and sad part is that for those who do know know these things and more, it can be extremely challenging. Its just simply a knowledge gap. People then who do not ask about what to do in game, ask on the forums, read guides etc then of course tend to be the ones who fall through this knowledge gap and its cracks so to speak. Unfortunately, some in the community do not have much sympathy for those folks either as if they expect the game to be a filter system for those who can and cant, essentially. This game for returnees and new people has a pretty hefty learning curve, arguably, and quite frankly, typical in game experiential learning doesn't weather that curve as well as it could. ----- Switching gears then a bit, despite the teeth gnashers regarding farming, it is integral to the sustainability of these servers as they currently exist, again despite their knowledge gap to the contrary. The auction house is for example cited how to make money as I mentioned above but it is indeed just a --shifting-- of game currency between players and not an actual meaningful nor impactful ---generator--- of influence. And while general game play generates a meaningful portion of that, the famers are a strong component as well. But with that said, for new players, having them focus on farming in the AE isn't always the best nor matching every person. New players who for example get power leveled in a farm but do not know how to play content with their 50 can then struggle or become discouraged once they try to join teams because they are for all intent and purpose, just still a level 1 in the understanding of the ins and outs of the game. However, if they just want to also farm and never step foot out of the AE(hard to do for optimal farmers though but that's a different thing, and they're entirely happy to do that, then there's nothing wrong with it. But if I meet a returnee or a new player, I tend to encourage them at the very least to run through teams on tf's or other missions etc to at least see and understand different game play dynamics. Not all do mind you but that's their choice and nothing wrong with that. ----- Again though, CoH and additionally the culture/game play specific to Homecoming(vs live or other unofficial servers), is a learning curve that doesnt appeal to everyone and often its a challenge to see new players who stick with it because of how overwhelming, even when you break it into bite size pieces for them or they do so themselves, they just dont have motivation to stay with it due to either their being influenced by other games and expectations, aesthetics, or the social dynamics (not as in toxicity but the way people interact in the game may not be their cup of tea so to speak). It is tough. There's no denying that else we'd have much much much higher player concurrencies that we do now(and now's not bad to be sure, Im just saying in terms of comparison to other games, even if not accurate equivalencies). All in all crimson, you've managed to survive through and seem to express that you're thriving. That said, help then others and pay it forward to help them understand the game too so that they dont succumb to the frustrations you experienced and thus quit out of discouragement.

Ston, you've put in a lot of effort with your testing and I think everyone recognizes that. Such efforts are appreciated. That said, thoughts below are just for thinking about for testing considerations and hopefully wont be taken as discouragement towards your efforts thus far. All sets tested were perhaps skewed with the use of powers not from those damage sets (gloom being a prime example). Given seemingly that the premise of the testing is to primarily classify damage sets by tiers of power effectivity, this means actual raw data specific and only to those sets is actually not being tested. It would seem then that its not an accurate standardization and may play into confirmation biases otherwise? As I'll say below, it's almost impossible to have accurate testing of course but parsing more may be something of merit. Most testing looks to have been primarily focused on single target effectivity. Given that content experienced by players is not always specific to that and that sets aoe powers, some of which can do possibly more burst or sustained damage in a rotation, from those sets was not part of the testing either. This would also seem to skew the classifying. In relation to the point just above, some sets as well are more single target or more aoe focused as well. No distinctions were made in testing for them. Burst in a rotation vs sustained rotation and in context to how such plays out in content with teams or solo may not have been distinguished either. Power choices also in the rotations listed may not have been ideal/optimal either for some of the target testing done even if consideration was for single target comparisons. Basically, my thoughts are that testing the variables for sets becomes hard to discern effectively. The game, especially with homecoming's proliferations, makes it challenging(if not actually impossible at this stage) to have good testing parameters and values. Secondaries, inherents, incarnates, teams(and their buffs etc), all skew the data making it become even harder(again potentially impossible) to say a set is XYZ tier. Whether anything I've thus said helps to improve the tests conducted or not, I don't know but I felt it was at the very least worth mentioning. Again, thanks for your efforts thus far.

If you're going to be a predominantly supporting damage offensive scrapper, fire secondary may suit you. Consume also not only aoe damages but also can give you a bar of end when clicked right. Also keep in mind depending on how you do slotting and proc's, axe can have really nice recharge due to the kb +recharge proc being able to go in most any attacks you choose. If you're looking for a more rounded, end helping, and damage helping secondary etc set then radiation armor is a solid choice.

Anyone using the looking for group channel and saying they're wanting to make a team for something is potentially available for you to join. However: 1. If they say a minimum level requirement and you are not that level, you cant. 2. If they say "54 level mission" any one welcome, you can. This is because the missions they're doing allow you to sidekick. up to 1 level below that of the leader of the mission(you dont gain new abilities but the strengths of your abilities match that of a level 49 player (for the most part). 3. If someone says they're doing a mission below your level, you can join any of those and will be exemplared(opposite of sidekicking) to the level appropriate for that mission/group/leader. As for debt, of course because players are teaming and more are usually being killed faster, your debt clears faster. Debt for most people on teams is just a very minor inconvenience as it can clear pretty fast. However of course if the team dies more than survives that's a different story :P... but most of the time its a non issue. Please try joining teams. Its a new set of play dynamics and good to get the practice in now so you can be a good team mate in the future too. 🙂

An important point to make regarding all this: The market is a way to shift influence from one person to another, it actually doesnt (outside of a very minimal seeding) "generate" influence. Only killing mobs, completing missions and similar actually generate the pool of influence by the game. The market outside of that through fees is actually a small influence sink. So when people say its the most profitable, the influence shifting for profit is only sustained by the efforts of people otherwise in the game, up to and including farming be it through that or running any other manner of content. Thus the ones really making significant influence are the ones who both farm and manipulate the market as you point out since they're influencing both sides of the fence(pun intended).