Six-Six

Thank you. I've been lost since reaching 50 for the first time. Haven't fully understood the sub-50 stuff. So I'll be tying up some loose ends with Crimson and Maria Jenkins and Unai before trying this. I've been looking for guides in the wiki, but couldn't make heads or tails out of them. Thanks again. 😃

I'm still trying to absorb every single bit of information, and there's quite a lot to process. Initial thoughts are, other than the obvious "outstandingly thorough work," are: I wholeheartedly support this. I know that knockback is not as popular with players for precisely the reasons you provided. However, I for one enjoy knockback and use it (rely on it) in most of my tactics. Maybe it's my lack of other-mmo-experience type of game play, or preference to solo most of the time; I feel that having knockback as an option gives players more variety in terms of play style and not just the formulaic herd and aoe nuke. Also, I find knockback just fun in a very primal reptilian-brain way. The set names are just perfect. period. I'm afraid the math and systems are still quite over my head as of now. While I haven't familiarised myself with purple sets, at a glance Escape Velocity seems over-powered. And given that it can only be slotted into a knockback power, it seems unfair to powers without KB. (I could be working from a wrong premise here.) And while you're at it, another set suggestion might be a PvP variant. KB seems like it will be more effective when used on human players who tend to be more elusive and evasive as opposed to AI that will have set behaviour. Just a thought. *off-topic. With all the fantastic work you've been doing, I feel you deserve a statue somewhere in-game. 😃

Good lord, Sunsette! This is top shelf work! Thank you. I don't think I'm in a position to critique. I do have one question regarding: I'm not at that level yet, but does this statement apply to recharge reduction in general? I'm asking with Luck of the Gambler: Defense/Increased Global Recharge Speed in mind. Does LotG hurt procs(ination) more than it helps?

You guys are awesome!

That's it. I'm taking the long way around from now on. This decision is partly made by your comment and the first two episodes of The Boys where one guy is only invisible when he's totally naked.

They come with snow.

I think heroes (and villains) should at least get their own special train. ... so what's your power? I can manipulate time, I can summon the dark power from the depths of the netherwo... oh hang on, this is my stop.

No, I wasn't stressing the clunky part. I love rocket boots and rocket packs and mech wings. But I usually feel goofy running around Atlas park in those until I get the fly power. 😃 I still feel dorky riding the monorail (with civilians, mind you) with a rocket pack or giant wings.

I think after a while, you get a feel for the market. You get familiar with what sets and which pieces of the set sell higher than others. The AH is a mysterious place. I tend to take the History more of a loose guide. For example, you have something you know is worth squat and post it of 2 mil, you're going to be waiting a while. A lot of the common in-demand things will usually go for within a range, that I've found depends on the time of day and the day of the week; the market reacts to live players, not AI. so a LotG might sell less on one day than it does on another. That said, it will never really sell for less than 2 or more than 5 mil. Similarly, that rare salvage of yours will sell for 450-500k even if you just sell it at 2 inf.; Good luck seeing it move if you post it at 600. Unless I'm selling in-demand items, I'm not greedy. I just try to make roughly 1 or 200 more than what it cost to craft it (salvage cost, crafting cost, recipe cost -- although salvage and recipe, I get for free). Some of the cheaper things, I run through the conversion lotto once or twice as any more would be counter productive in terms of cost and profit. Some things I just try to get rid of. And if it's really not selling, I email it to one of my lower level alts who can put it to use.

Yes, Rocket Boots are free. But you'll have to get the power to fly from power pool pick. (just so you don't feel so goofy running around wearing clunky rocket boots). 😃

The Vanguard had to find a way to pay off some debt arising from a bad contractor deal. Those Heavy's weren't cheap, slow, but not cheap.

Imagine if it wasn't auto target or target-locked. Now, that should be funner.

Yes, I've read that guide. Quite devious, and surprisingly obvious... in retrospect. I do play the market. I enjoy it. I treat it like a mini-game. Craft, convert, sell, buy, repeat. 😃 I usually do it in Vanguard HQ in War Zone where merit vendor and crafting table are a few steps away from each other. So at times, I'd be standing there for a good half an hour or more. Some player actually wondered why I was just standing there, not AFK.

Thanks for the awesome clarification Oldskool. Sorry if I misconstrued your original post and thereby make it misleading. But between you and Sunsette's guidance in various threads, I've come up with a build that's both fun to play and quite effective/efficient. I'm not good with all the math and science that goes into the slotting/procs and whatnot, so I usually take other people's word for it. You suggest purple IOs. How dare you think I can afford them. 😃 Thanks again.

Sovera. Wow, great write up. Just read the linked post. Thanks. Right now, Sonic turns me off PRIMARILY because of the sound + power effects. Yes, I'm shallow like that. But your write up may have just convinced me to try one. 😃

I've learned to like Opportunity specially with hardier bosses. Knowing your preference to "basic" IOs, I'd take Opportunity if I were you. Don't know enough about other T1s, but my DP T1 is weak. I instead use it for the debuff to set up a much more damaging attack chain afterwards. Both types of Opportunity contribute very nicely to that set up when it fires. My T2 has been built up and can keep up with my Executioner Shot and Suppressive Fire, minus the debuff and hold/stun. It does however have knockback which I maximise in my strategy. Plus both T1 and T2 have a fast recharge off the bat, so I don't get any dead air. So with 1 weak and 4 fairly high damage single attacks with each attack delivering additional debuff to the target, the result is a faster charging Opp bar. One of the Sentinel ATO is Opportunity Strikes + Chance for Opportunity. That helps the bar fill up even faster. (Note --I think Oldskool posted it somewhere else-- that the +Chance for Opp proc works better with my T9) so can I go in mob of 10-15, unleash my nuke and just go around picking off the left overs with a shot or two. I've done a mission with 3 - 4 of those mobs (same level) in close proximity, LTs and Bosses in the mix. Went in, did my thing, left alone standing barely winded or scratched. Initially, my take on Opportunity was if it's there, fine, if not I don't miss it. But I've learned to notice how much it really adds to my gameplay. Sometimes I even rely on the Def Opp for that small return of end. the Health regen, I don't need at all. But you can never have too much end. Edit: just had an afterthought. Maybe the reason people consider giving up T1 and T2 (and thereby giving up the opportunity for... well Opportunity) is because of the Epic pools. I didn't take one for this build, but I've been studying them for another. They have 5 more attacks, 2-3 of them are usually worthwile. So maybe the trade-off between that and T1, T2, Opp is worth it to them? Too much of noob to know.

I don't know... I've been lying to myself most of my life. Another one might be the tipping point. 😃 Of course, I'm just messing with you folks. No such drama. Recolour = reconcept sounds very attractive. She's on a waiting list to go on, though. I got a butt-load of them made/remade, just waiting for me to get more familiar with the game. The second most played toon is my Energy Blast/Radiation Armor. She's at level 21 now (and Vulpoid, no enhancements). Haven't had the time to switch to her. Been having a tonne of fun with my Dual Pistol/WP Sentinel. the guy's a beast (as sentinels go).

Yes, I heard water blast is... well a blast... and many good things about how strong it is. I have an alt for it. Not too fond of the splashing animation, to be honest, but I'll take it for a spin one of these days. I paired mine up with Ice Armour since I like thematic stuff. Went with Aquaman orange/green/grey colours. Do you prefer to do missions, story arcs, or just going out and killing?

What AT power sets are you playing?

If you're going "purist" try these: High Pain Tolerance (Auto/Heal, Resistance, max health) 3 slots of health -- ups your healing and your max health Mind Over Body (Toggle/Resistance) 2 slots of +resistance Fast Healing (Auto/Heal) 1 health Up to the Challenge (Toggle/Def) 2 slots of +def Indomitable Will (Toggle/Regen) 2 slots of health Quick Recovery (Auto/End Mod) 2-3 slots of Endurance Modification (depends how many you have in stamina) Heightened Senses (Toggle/Def) 2 slots of +def I didn't take Resurgence because I was opted for Back to the Battle power from P2W lady for almost the same effect while freeing up a power pick. I also didn't take Strength of Will because I don't like the idea of an endurance crash As you level up, you can add either more of the base power type (+def, +res, +health, etc.) as it fits your game play, or maybe an endurance reduction if you find yourself getting winded a lot. Remember, WP is toggle and forget. While it's on, it's good to go. But when your endurance runs out and your toggles turn off, you're up the creek without a paddle. So keep the end drain in check. Note on "basic IOs" There are different kinds of enhancements: Training & Single Origin: these are the usual kinds dropped by mobs. useful in the low levels, but not worth your time past 15 or so. These "rot" meaning an enhancement 3 levels below you (red number) will not give you any benefits. Dual Origin: these are the ones you can get from stores and pertain to your origin (Natural, Tech, Science, etc.). These are also dropped by mobs and depending on the kind, you can or cannot slot them on your toon. They are however available for purchase in stores. Note that the stores will carry 2 types. the ones toward the bottom of the list give higher values, but are also more expensive. These help a lot around the 15-25 level range. You can also stack/combine them so you get a damage(15)++ meaning you get level 17 damage. However, after a while they become too expensive to be viable as you go higher level. These rot as well Non-set Invention Origin enhancements. These are what you want. You'll need a recipe, ingredients, access to a crafting table (university or a portable one) and a pouch of inf. These offer better stats than the ones above and don't rot per se. This means your level 20 IO will give you the same benefit whether your level 20 or level 45. Obviously, you'll want to replace these as you level up with ones closer to your level. Set IOs. These are give set rewards on top of the direct benefit. While nice and shiny, they are as the GMs will confirm, not necessary. But mobs will drop recipes and ingredients for these so might as well look into them. They're practically giving it to you. You don't have to have the complete set (this is referred to as Frankenslotting). I have in a slot of 6, 2 of one set and 4 of the other, or 2, 2, 2 or 3, 3. I even have the complete set but split it into 2 different powers so I get the set bonus for 3 pieces twice rather than the set bonus for 4, 5, and 6 pieces which I don't deem essential to my build. Another use for them is trading. You craft one you don't need? you can either convert them to something you can use or sell it in the Auction House so you can get the money to craft or buy what you do need. What's nice about the set IOs is you can "attune" them. You do this by buying enhancement catalysts from the merit vendor and upgrading your enhancement. (There's a better guide for this in youtube or elsewhere in the forum than I will be able to explain). Basically Attuning IOs means your removing the rot factor. They keep up with your level. You have the AT-specific. these are unique, meaning you can only have one of each on a single character. And as the name suggest, are specific to your particular Archetype. So Blasters cannot slot Sentinel ATOs even if they tried, begged, or cried. You can get them from the merit vendor at 100 merits a pop, but don't. Instead, take your 100 merits, buy 300 enhancement converters (at 3 converters for every 1 merit). Selling rate for 1 converter is around 100k. so 300 converters will sell for 30,000,000 inf (minus the AH fee). One ATO fetches around 8-10,000,000 inf. So 100 merits will get you 1 ATO from the merit vendor or 3 from the AH. Purple IOs. These are super expensive, but give very rare benefits usually pointed towards PvP play. One usually costs about 20 mil upwards. Crafting, converting, trading is a game in itself. I find it fun and I get IO sets in the process, so I do it even without the intention of getting my toon "all IO-ed up." It's just a by product. I even have a drawer full of Attuned IOs that I don't use or need which I'm holding for future characters.

This thread made coffee come out my nose. Ouch, but thank you. 😃

Slightly off topic, but did you guys realise that they are actually fake elevators. I mean they don't go up or down. The "next" floor is beside the map your on. I know this because clue "hums" can often be heard from the next floor, markers seem to suggest so, and once or twice I accidentally hit R instead of an attack number button, and I end up in a wall, blacked out map and able to see the "mobs" hiding in the next room. 😃

I was able to catch the first two episodes and thoroughly enjoyed them. I'm looking forward to the rest. I hope it's not as bad as what I've read above. Seems like a good, realistic premise, nothing ground-breaking. In fact quite a natural train of thought. But something that would have come sooner or later given how popular the MCU is. Watchmen pioneered this, but not a lot of people got on board at the time.

One thing you do have to worry about WP is enemies that can drain your endurance, like Malta Sappers and Vanguard Mages(?). WP is basically toggle and forget. But without those toggles, you'll be in a bit of trouble. Also, WP's T8, the one with the self res, if you want a free power you can skip that and get the "back to the battle" or "something of light" from P2W vendor, which goes for a small pouch if inf, free if you have the Unbreakable Badge (from dying a number of times). Works almost just as well.

I thought 9 was the magic number. On the right-handed and left-handed debate, I'm not sure it applies. I've read a few articles arguing what side you drive on affects your choice of turns, which I don't subscribe to as well. I have, however, come across a study that suggested gender or left-brain, right-brain dominance may have a play at it, that females in particular tend to go left (which I can vouch for with my wife's behaviour in malls). Another thing to consider is ergonomics. I feel there may be a correlation between getting to the elevator foyer and swinging your mouse to the right is slightly "more natural" to some than the left, primarily because most of us have stronger extensors than flexors in our forearms. And factor in the reaction time/arc of swing, then elevator 3 becomes the path of least resistance to most.