Six-Six

BLASTRO join the channel. What time are you guys usually on?

I suggest playing it from level 1, and take it slow. Learn the toon, what works for you what doesn't. Will you be a stealthy sniper, a hover blaster that rains death from above, or a wanton blapper getting in up close and personal. Doing so familarises you with the attacks and the attack chain you will be using, and hence how you want to build it (build it for debuff, pure damage, kb, etc.) You'll also figure out what IOs or sets to put in or if you need IOs slotted in a particular power at all (sometimes a plain SO is adequate). Take some time to study IO sets and their bonuses. Not all sets are the same, and some cheaper ones are better than pricey ones.

Clave, I suppose it's very similar to the RL lament that "there are no jobs out there" or "it's so hard to find a job"... When in fact there are a tonne of jobs out there, and they are easy to find, it's just a matter of finding a job THEY like.

If you can, try hardwiring it from the router to the computer. It will be much more stable than over wifi. The game itself is an old game so its connection requirements aren't as demanding as newer games. Also, it's the weekend, so a lot of peeps are on. You can also try a different shard (like Reunion or Everlasting) to see if the server load could be the culprit.

@tidge I won't mind. I'm currently learning my first MM. and I think it would be great to have more attacks as well as more control over the robotic spiders. They could be in the form of power picks, so you have to sacrifice a couple of personal attacks to equip your pets with another attack and/or control... which makes you closer to an MM if you so choose. Or it could be a 3rd path altogether... making a total of 4: the huntsman, bane, crab, and brood mother. incidentally, I propose that all the spider pets get a Fear aura, because c'mon they're huge spiders. I also propose that this aura be called the Heebeegeebees.

I'm with Omega on this one. I think the crab is in a fairly solid place. And without meaning any disrespect, I do think you need to get to know your pets a little better. Sometimes the stats don't translate directly to actual play. As for spamming 3 attacks, no one's limiting you to just 3 or 4 attacks. My tankermind crab has 4 melee attacks including Shatter armour from BS pool, 3 ranged attacks (4 if you count web envelope which I rarely use except for pesky runners), 6 pets (blaster, reinforcements, spiderlings)--of which 3 are always by my side and rarely die before they expire. I do have the ginormous Toxic Tarantula T4 lore pet (and another giant spider from Recluse Victory in the pocket), but they rarely comes out to play since I rarely have need of them. Teaming with your spider. Just showing up with your double dipped Leadership is enough. Any damage, debuff, or tanking you do is just icing on the cake. My crab can solo an ITF at +2 or +3, Tank one at +4 without breaking a sweat. My usual attack chain is: open with Venom to soften them up, follow up with Suppression, jump in with Arm lash and Frenzy (and Slice/Shatter), then frag to disperse them again, jump back for another suppression. The recharge is fast enough that either just melee attacks or just range attacks are almost always up when i need them. The pets just do clean up. Armour holds up and rarely dips low enough to need Serum. And I don't even have any purples slotted (save for Panacea and a couple of Shield Walls IIRC)... I'm a cheapskate with many alts to feed. I did spring for the ATOs which I think are two of the best ATOs there are. You can take provoke from presence pool, if you opt for a taunt. I don't think you do if you open with either venom nade, frag or suppression as the attack will draw aggro to you anyway. but if you do, it does open up Unrelenting which you can supplement Serum with (though I think Serum + the villain alignment power is enough). I also have a pure Bane who cannot handle 4x8, but can solo an AV and a few GMs. The mace attack is slow so cycling through 4 or 5 is all right for her.

Took a jab at it. What do you think? Edit: I forgot to put the Slime Aura on the fist to simulate dripping water Ming Hua.costume

Don't take my word for it. I'm no expert. It's just what I've experienced myself... which isn't much to go by 😃 If you have a concept for it, go for it. I usually test drive my bright ideas until level 15 or so. It's easy to level up to 15 or 20 even without XP Boost or enhancements. If by 20, you still like how it handles, chances are, you're going to enjoy it until 50. If not, then not much was invested in it for you to try another power. Not all my concepts end up working out. I think part of the fun is just trying things out 😃

I have a Grav/Energy and a Dark/Martial. Grav is great... if you know how to maximise it. I don't so I make up for it with /Energy, which I'm better at. Same goes for the latter. I'm quite familiar with Dark, but Martial is a new power set for me. My Dark/Martial is currently at 37 and I still haven't figured out her attack groove yet. I like dominators because you can combine control, range, and melee attacks and supplement it with a bit of armour. However, the downside is with so many good powers, you simply can't pick all of them. If you do manage to pick all that you want, you won't be able to devote enough slots to all of them. I feel you have to specialise one way or the other and sacrifice an aspect to be effective. Otherwise, you become a well-rounded but luke warm toon.

But then it's no longer a name release for the sake of releasing names. It becomes something I can wholeheartedly support. If an account hasn't been played for a given time, despite warnings of account termination, then the account deserves to be deleted. The release of names in said account is just a by product. Name release because of Account deletion due to inactivity is not the same as finding a loop hole to release those names because I want them more, and I deserve the names because I (promise to) play more than whoever has it now.

This name release thing pops up every so often, and there is never a closure to it. One side will agree, another camp will not. I personally am not hung up on names. In fact, on more than one occasion a name that I liked was taken and forced me to think of a different one. long story short, the concept for the toon evolved, powers were re-rolled, costume was made to fit the new name. and I must say it ended up being a better toon. It amuses me to think that all these people wanting a name that they were beaten to assume that whoever beat them to it is just sitting at level 1 and will never play it again.

Oh. Ok. I'll keep all salvage for later or other toons. I'll get rid of the DOs I spent with inf from a rare salvage sale. What about Reward Merits? can we sell those off as converters? or save them to buy an ATO or two from the ATM?

Just dinged 16. Took Presence: Intimidate (which I won't use... not until the Time Eddy lets me at past level 40) to simulate taking Health. So, are we following the one Armour Toggle at a time rule? Also, is there a ruling on the AH, crafting, and selling recipes and drops? ATM, I'm ignoring all recipe drops since IOs supposedly haven't existed yet. I do sell salvage to fund my DO (and later SO) upgrades.

Corruptors are awesome. Though I feel they lag in damage behind (of course) blasters, and possibly dominators (debatable), I think they have a very nifty set of tools that sets them apart. In my opinion, they are most comparable to Defenders and like them, can be built not only to be survivable, but strong as well. I won't get into the details since a lot of factors go into one's build... play style being the foremost. (For me, thematic plays a huge role as well). So just some loose guides or pointers: 1) It's not all about damage. If you see yourself teaming most of the time, then damage will always be there. Heals, buffs and debuffs go a long way in a team, even though they're not always as obvious. The corruptor is a force multiplier. Now if you plan to go solo, then you may want to build a bit of damage, but also pay attention to secondary effects. Hydro Blast has KB; KB annoys a lot of people in teams, but I don't care I like KB as it is very useful when I solo. It gives me breathing space when I get mobbed. 2) Order of which power you pick first. Again this depends a lot on your play style. If you team a lot, then ally-beneficial powers take priority. Solo, they can wait. I usually end up not skipping some ally-only powers because I do eventually team a little bit with most of my toons. That said, secondaries like Infection and Lingering take a back seat. They are strong powers of debuff, but are also end-guzzlers. So I wait until my end can handle having them on until I take them. (Choking Cloud is the BOMB! -- it allows me to step into melee without fear). On most of my toons that play maybe 70-80% solo with just the occasional teaming, my order of priority is a) have enough attacks to defend myself--actually kill one or two at one go, b) enough def/res to survive... either through tertiary powers or set bonuses, c) address end issues and d) have something in my pocket for team allies. 3) I haven't tried Water Blast on a Corruptor yet, but I've played it on a Sentinel. On a Sent, which has the exact same powers as a Corr (just that Dehydrate and Whirlpool are switched between T4 and T6), water blast is very fun and strong both statistically and visually. One nugget of advice I picked up is don't sweat the Tidal Power so much. If it's there, use it. if not, it's no biggie. I don't think you need to have your attack chain centred on the Tidal Power mechanic.

Which shard are your Classics on? I'm on Reunion. I kinda like Acrobattle's idea of having a toon isolated in a diff shard from my other toons. 😃

Another clarification (sorry): do we need to do the mission/arc to unlock capes and auras before our toon can have capes and auras? The Red side one is through Rodney in Cap (I'm afraid I'm not so familiar with blue side contact).

oh. ok. thanks 😃

Question: Was Eagle Eye (Kings Row) a valid contact back then? I've set it to +0x1, solo Bosses and AVs as agreed. And I'm facing my first AV at level 8--Morana. can barely put a dent on her.

I wouldn't mind a knife-thrower. We already have the Natural Origin starting power, the enevenomed daggers, 4 Shuriken throwing powers from Martial Assault (Doms) as well as a small cone of knives from Snakes. So, the animation is there, just a matter of putting them all together to form a power set. Alternatively, I have a concept or two for axe or tomahawk throwers, but the animation for that is different. Hell chains would be cool as... well... hell. They can add Nature Affinity's Entangling Aura of leaves and change the animation to burning chains. A one-handed fire arm (either pistol or Ass Rifle) that you can pair with shield defence or a sword/axe/mace power in the other arm for that Old Guard, Deathstroke, Deadpool action.

Mu and Tarantulas can be reasoned with if you talk to them nicely. It's the Widows and Fortunatas that tend to be "difficult" 😃

Screw and Vile are spot on. and yes, totally depends on how you play your toon. Some of my toons never take Leadership Maneuvers as the end cost seems too steep for the benefit gained. (I do almost always take Assault and Tactics). Some of my toons double dip on Maneuvers (Soldiers of Arachnos and Widows/Forts) because they can and that's how they are played: just showing up in a team is contribution enough, any damage I do is just gravy on top. I haven't played tanks yet, but on my brutes and scrappers, I find that their armour is usually tough enough not to need manuevers. As for taunt, I usually skip it and take Presence: Provoke instead. Same basic power, but it opens up Unrelenting for me. Incidentally, I think slotting the full set of Gaussian in Tactics is way better than taking Maneuvers. When I do take Maneuvers, my priority is to minimise its end consumption rather than build for defence. Once that has been addressed, I look into set bonus or muling possibilities.

to clarify on what Vile said, turning off XP will longer gain double inf (in the same logic as double XP from P2W gain no inf). Once you reach 50 any double XP you bought is automatically discarded and you earn XP and inf at the default rate. your XP is used for vet levels. first you need xp to unlock each of the 6 incarnate slots. while you're doing that, you will still level up as you did pre-50. every 3rd vet level, you earn emp merits in diminishing returns: you earn 20 emp merits when you ding vet level 3, 6, 9... until 21 (IIRC), then it goes down to 15 for the next few levels until vet level 42(?), 10 until 63(?), then 5, then emp merit drops stop when you hit vet level 99. (something like that... don't quote me on the vet levels when they change, I haven't touched my veterans in a while). Again, the entire time, you're also earning inf. an ITF run at +4x8 will bag you around 10mil pure inf, 15-17mil if you sell off the recipe and salvage drops.

The things you ask for are available when you choose your path at level 24. Crab attacks are from the crab legs. Bane from the mace.

both. RoP has quite a lengthy recharge. so unless I'm heading into a den of Carnies, I just keep it on stand by until I need it. On my other toons that have no business taking Sorcery Pool, I just grin and bear it. You get used to getting mezzed after a while 😃

I've found my sweet spot to be: +4x1/2 for single target high damage specialists +1x8 for those with lots of AoEs and Nukes, but not so big on damage +2x4 for most other toons Those settings give me the most XP vs time when I solo and I try to get to those settings as early as the toon is able. Anything less feels too easy and slows down the levelling process, anything more becomes a bit too tedious for a daily grind. Every now and then I do dial it up to +3x8 if the toon has his/her incarnates or if I have time to burn.