Vanden

Now I know this isn't true. Rage used to put you in Only Affecting Self rather than bottom out your damage, and Castle engaged in a dialog with the playerbase when that changed completely centered around the defense debuff. He even floated the idea of putting in a sort of reverse Power Boost that weakened things like holds and taunts instead of the defense debuff, which was something I suggested to him, though ultimately stuck with the current debuff.

This is the build I use/am planning to use. It's softcapped to Melee and Range. Note that I'm using an older version of Mids, which doesn't have Spider's Bite; that Dominion of Arachnos in Venom Grenade is actually Spider's Bite. Villain Plan by Mids' Villain Designer 1.96 http://www.cohplanner.com/ Click this DataLink to open the build! Colonel Debugger: Level 50 Natural Arachnos Soldier Primary Power Set: Bane Spider Soldier Secondary Power Set: Bane Spider Training Power Pool: Leaping Ancillary Pool: Mace Mastery Villain Profile: Level 1: Bash (A) Touch of Death - Accuracy/Damage: Level 40 (3) Touch of Death - Damage/Recharge: Level 40 (3) Touch of Death - Damage/Endurance: Level 40 (5) Touch of Death - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance: Level 40 (5) Touch of Death - Damage/Endurance/Recharge: Level 40 (7) Touch of Death - Chance of Damage(Negative): Level 40 Level 1: Bane Spider Armor Upgrade (A) Steadfast Protection - Resistance/+Def 3%: Level 30 (27) Aegis - Resistance/Endurance: Level 50 (29) Aegis - Resistance: Level 50 (29) Aegis - Psionic/Status Resistance: Level 50 (31) Aegis - Endurance/Recharge: Level 50 (31) Aegis - Resistance/Recharge: Level 50 Level 2: Wolf Spider Armor (A) Steadfast Protection - Knockback Protection: Level 30 (33) Gladiator's Armor - TP Protection +3% Def (All): Level 50 Level 4: Combat Training: Defensive (A) Defense Buff IO: Level 50 (9) Luck of the Gambler - Recharge Speed: Level 50 Level 6: Build Up (A) Recharge Reduction IO: Level 50 (7) Recharge Reduction IO: Level 50 Level 8: Super Jump (A) Jumping IO: Level 50 Level 10: Tactical Training: Maneuvers (A) HamiO:Cytoskeleton Exposure (11) Defense Buff IO: Level 50 (11) Defense Buff IO: Level 50 Level 12: Poisonous Ray (A) Thunderstrike - Accuracy/Damage: Level 50 (13) Thunderstrike - Damage/Endurance/Recharge: Level 50 (13) Thunderstrike - Damage/Recharge: Level 50 (15) Thunderstrike - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge: Level 50 (15) Thunderstrike - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance: Level 50 (17) Achilles' Heel - Chance for Res Debuff: Level 20 Level 14: Pulverize (A) Touch of Death - Accuracy/Damage: Level 40 (17) Touch of Death - Damage/Endurance: Level 40 (19) Touch of Death - Damage/Recharge: Level 40 (19) Touch of Death - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance: Level 40 (21) Touch of Death - Damage/Endurance/Recharge: Level 40 (21) Touch of Death - Chance of Damage(Negative): Level 40 Level 16: Venom Grenade (A) Dominion of Arachnos - Accuracy/Damage: Level 50 (33) Dominion of Arachnos - Damage/Recharge: Level 50 (34) Dominion of Arachnos - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge: Level 50 (34) Dominion of Arachnos - Damage/Endurance/Recharge: Level 50 (42) Dominion of Arachnos - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance/Recharge: Level 50 (50) Dominion of Arachnos - Recharge/Chance for -Dmg and Terrorize: Level 50 Level 18: Shatter (A) Touch of Death - Accuracy/Damage: Level 40 (23) Touch of Death - Damage/Endurance: Level 40 (23) Touch of Death - Damage/Recharge: Level 40 (25) Touch of Death - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance: Level 40 (25) Touch of Death - Damage/Endurance/Recharge: Level 40 (27) Touch of Death - Chance of Damage(Negative): Level 40 Level 20: Tactical Training: Leadership (A) Gaussian's Synchronized Fire-Control - To Hit Buff: Level 50 Level 22: Mental Training (A) Run Speed IO: Level 50 Level 24: Cloaking Device (A) Defense Buff IO: Level 50 (33) Luck of the Gambler - Recharge Speed: Level 50 Level 26: Placate (A) Recharge Reduction IO: Level 50 (31) Recharge Reduction IO: Level 50 Level 28: Surveillance (A) Analyze Weakness - Accuracy/Recharge: Level 50 Level 30: Tactical Training: Assault (A) Endurance Reduction IO: Level 50 Level 32: Crowd Control (A) Scirocco's Dervish - Accuracy/Damage: Level 50 (34) Scirocco's Dervish - Damage/Endurance: Level 50 (36) Scirocco's Dervish - Damage/Recharge: Level 50 (36) Scirocco's Dervish - Accuracy/Recharge: Level 50 (36) Scirocco's Dervish - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance: Level 50 (37) Recharge Reduction IO: Level 50 Level 35: Mace Blast (A) Thunderstrike - Accuracy/Damage: Level 50 (37) Thunderstrike - Damage/Endurance: Level 50 (37) Thunderstrike - Damage/Recharge: Level 50 (39) Thunderstrike - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge: Level 50 (39) Thunderstrike - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance: Level 50 (39) Thunderstrike - Damage/Endurance/Recharge: Level 50 Level 38: Call Reinforcements (A) Expedient Reinforcement - Accuracy/Recharge: Level 50 (40) Expedient Reinforcement - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge: Level 50 (40) Expedient Reinforcement - Endurance/Damage/Recharge: Level 50 (40) Expedient Reinforcement - Accuracy/Damage: Level 50 (42) Soulbound Allegiance - Damage/Recharge: Level 50 Level 41: Shatter Armor (A) Touch of Death - Accuracy/Damage: Level 40 (42) Touch of Death - Damage/Endurance: Level 40 (43) Touch of Death - Damage/Recharge: Level 40 (43) Touch of Death - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance: Level 40 (43) Touch of Death - Damage/Endurance/Recharge: Level 40 (45) Touch of Death - Chance of Damage(Negative): Level 40 Level 44: Summon Blaster (A) Expedient Reinforcement - Accuracy/Recharge: Level 50 (45) Expedient Reinforcement - Accuracy/Damage: Level 50 (45) Expedient Reinforcement - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge: Level 50 (46) Expedient Reinforcement - Endurance/Damage/Recharge: Level 50 (46) Recharge Reduction IO: Level 50 Level 47: Web Cocoon (A) Lockdown - Accuracy/Hold: Level 50 (48) Lockdown - Accuracy/Recharge: Level 50 (48) Lockdown - Recharge/Hold: Level 50 (48) Lockdown - Endurance/Recharge/Hold: Level 50 (50) Lockdown - Accuracy/Endurance/Recharge/Hold: Level 50 (50) Lockdown - Chance for +2 Mag Hold: Level 50 Level 49: Web Envelope (A) Enfeebled Operation - Accuracy/Recharge: Level 50 Level 1: Brawl (A) Empty Level 1: Sprint (A) Empty Level 2: Rest (A) Empty Level 1: Conditioning Level 4: Ninja Run Level 2: Swift (A) Run Speed IO: Level 50 Level 2: Hurdle (A) Empty Level 2: Health (A) Miracle - +Recovery: Level 40 Level 2: Stamina (A) Endurance Modification IO: Level 50 (9) Endurance Modification IO: Level 50 (46) Performance Shifter - Chance for +End: Level 50 Level 1: Prestige Power Slide (A) Empty Level 1: Prestige Power Dash (A) Empty Level 1: Prestige Power Quick (A) Empty Level 1: Prestige Power Surge (A) Empty Level 1: Prestige Power Rush (A) Empty Level 50: Musculature Total Core Revamp ------------ ------------

I think just making the -Defense resistible would be fine.

You could always just... not click it again before the crash.

WAAAmbulance - Emp/Sonic Defender

You can also set the option to copy the current colors across the entire costume, then set every other piece back as it was. Pretty inconvenient, I know, but it works. You may even be able to use the Undo buttons to get the original colors back quickly, but I’ve never tried that myself.

With the powers that open up from dropping Leadership, you could grab Field Medic from Medicine. Owning this power will make Aid Self restore endurance as well as health.

It’s a Build Up that lasts two minutes. How is a version of Build Up that lasts twelve times as long as normal not something that needs a downside? But hey, if you can convince the Homecoming team to buff Rage, I guess that’s gravy for me.

At the levels where this is an issue, Tankers are not significantly more survivable than other archetypes. This change would likely cause baby Tankers to face plant in groups with much greater efficiency.

Is there really a way to 9-stack Rage?

Endurance problems are pretty normal for characters at your level. It sounds like a lot of your issues could be solved with a revision to your build; six slots in Stamina is definitely not optimal, for example. I’d suggest heading to the Brute archetype forum and asking for build advice from the other players, they should be able to help you sort this out.

Not everyone is built for that, so don't go taking away Interrupt Rdx based on that assumption. Where is this from? It’s not part of today’s patch notes.

ED was a bandaid that needed to be ripped off sooner rather than later. We played without ED for a year and a half, and people still gripe about it to this day. How much worse do you think it would’ve been if the game had had no ED for four years?

I always set my auto-accept team level changes sliders to 50 for level increases, and 5 for level decreases; this should ensure I don’t unexpectedly lose access to my powers. However, I’m never prompted to accept level changes below my current level with these settings. It seems like the slider for accepting level changes above my own is setting the auto-accept option for changes both above and below.

If that’s the way their AI works, I’d think they would just get stuck in a rut of overusing their second-weakest attack.

With this patch, are the changes to name reservations being put into place?

Bombardment actually sounds good to me. Saturation Fire maybe? Or what about Scorched Earth? Erasure, or Extermination could work. But I do like

Honestly, it would be pretty good if it was exactly the same, but if I had to change it, I guess I'd go with: Damage becomes Accuracy/Damage Accuracy/Recharge becomes Damage/Endurance/Recharge Proc becomes some other damage type. Cold I guess, that would be pretty unique. 3-slot set bonus (3% damage) becomes 7.5% Range 5-slot set bonus (5% recharge) becomes 6.25% recharge 6-slot set bonus (3.75% Melee/1.88% Smash/Lethal Defense) becomes 2.5% AoE/1.25% Fire/Cold Defense

Well Obliteration in PBAoE gives accuracy, recharge, and melee defense, and still has good enhancement values. If there was something in targeted AoE that was equivalent to Obliteration in PBAoE, that would be amazing.

That's what I'm saying! They can still activate like the presents in Atlas Park and additional zones during the actual season. But for those that would like to enjoy it whenever, I think it would be fun. I saw on the auction house candy canes going for 50-100k, which means some people clearly want them. People can go to the holiday zones when they want to now, just the missions are not active. You can access them via null the gull in pocket d. But if you prefer to wait, just wait for Oct/Nov/Dec and the rest of us can enjoy it earlier? *shrug* Those holiday zones are fan-made and part of i25, they were never a part of any official holiday event.

I honestly can't see this being very good for RP, either, because losing access to all your powers, while still knowing how to fight properly, in a civilian disguise only fits a small percentage of characters concepts. I would guess that the majority of character concepts are of characters that would either still have their abilities while "off the clock," or be completely unable to fight without their special equipment.

Yes, sets are like powers; we expect certain things of them. A melee damage power set is expected to allow you to deal a certain amount of damage, for example. When that melee damage set does not provide that for you, it's typical to hope for a change so that it does. An IO set is expected to give a good spread of enhancements to the important aspects of a power if you fully invest in it, and Positron's Blast does not do that. Another way sets are like powers is that external ways of shoring up their shortcomings are irrelevant when discussing those shortcomings; if an armor set doesn't offer good Smash/Lethal resistance, the fact that you can take Tough does not mean that's no longer a concern, because every set can take Tough for better Smash/Lethal resistance, even the ones that do offer good S/L resist to begin with. Likewise, the fact that you can get good global recharge or frankenslot to make up for Positron's Blast's lackluster recharge enhancement, does not mean that that shortcoming is acceptable. Furthermore, Positron's Blast is pretty much the only targeted AoE set with good set bonuses outside of unique, expensive sets, which means unless you're willing to grind or pay a huge premium, you're stuck with it.

From using Surveillance on Vanguard enemies, I've found that they all get a 5% ToHit buff as part of a passive. Bosses also grant +25% ToHit with Tactics. This cannot be intentional; since the defense changes in issue 7, no enemy below +5 is supposed to get ToHit buffs because of how they utterly ruin Defense-based armor sets, especially not huge ones like that.

How it would it affect you if you are trying to exit a mission? I know tone is lost on forums, so to be clear, I am really just asking, not challenging... I doubt leaving an instanced mission and traveling from one public zone to another are really treated any differently by the game "under the hood."

Thanks, Solvernia. Your trademark combination of dismissiveness, terseness, and half-thought solutions that address maybe one aspect of the concerns brought up are a real asset to the community.