Sovera

Pylon tests have always been a terrible way to check MM damage. Maybe now that we have +4 dummies there will be some enterprising souls who will use this as a metric instead of a +0. (And suddenly watch the -res procs' value plummet compared to the altar that they are in currently)

Bad teams, because I invariably build self-sufficient so I can try to hold it together and if possible see what is the crumbling weak point and shore it/give advice.

As others have said but reiterating to add peer pressure: under level 50 only Synapse is long, and even then I can and have whipped the team to do it an hour. At level 50 most TFs take between 15+15 minutes (Tinpex, which is actually two tiny TFs ran together taking in total 30-40 minutes to do. Btw, if you have time for nothing else try to do Tinpex every day since the rewards are OP compared to anything in the game), to 40 minutes for a Market Crash, to an hour for a kill most ITF, to the ginormous Dr Kahn which is only done when it's weekly TF time since it can go for 2 hours without a coordinated team (tbf nowadays most people who only touch that ARE coordinated). Anything under level 50 should be run at +1 so back away if you see +4 for a Citadel or a Yin. Anything at 50 should have the team members looked at: if most have veteran levels then +4 is fine, if most are fresh 50 or even under 50 then +2 or +3 tops.

Bro, no, you have a SG where you dump all the things. I do it so often I do know what I'm talking about. Respec in front of the table, right click the IO, press S for store (I think it was S, it's been a while), dump it all, log new alt, invite to the SG, go to the table, pick it all up. I got the whole procedure in the signature. Regardless you're right it is a pain, but worth it because those 100 million per alt accumulate when we don't have 10-12 duplicates of +3% defense uniques, Panaceia procs, etc. I hope you're selling your merits! (Sorry for the derail, GMs)

I have no idea how deep you are into the market and prices. I'm also not sure you're after advice or even if it's needed. But if you focus on arcs you should be swimming in merits on all those alts. As an altholic myself I used to transfer most my IOs from alt to alt since each alt would make an average of 100 million just leveling to 50 in merits alone. New alt? Old alt had a respec where all stuff was moved. It does take 5 minutes to do and each respec costs around 2 million, but it's worth to move around 500-800 million worth of gear around.

Indeed it was. And those are all valid points to be fair. Are they really that bad at that low difficulty? Asking without sarcasm since I don't usually drive anything that isn't one of my uber twinked characters so it's difficult to gauge difficulty levels when the car is worth almost a billion. The facile answer would be 'buy some IOs' but you've been around long enough that this is already understood.

To be fair this sentiment belongs in the Council revamp thread. CoT have not been lauded as an easy faceroll faction that I am aware of. Also, there is no reason not to finish a character. There are other factions to fight and a difficulty slider to mess with, an Ouroborous to explore, different TFs and SFs, etc. I don't disagree with the sentiment that CoH has always been a nice, easy, casual game btw which is an attractive perk. Just with the idea a character is now blocked from reaching level 50 because of these revamps.

Yes.

First time I see this. I'm as puzzled as my emojii.

I've done that. Even with 8 medium orange and purple insps they blew me apart thanks to the massive stacked debuffs. Not sure which would be worse though. Imagine trying to kill those Brutes with the absorb shield recharging before we were done and Rage making a mockery of whatever defense we had 😄

I have a distinct memory of this one time where I slotted THREE of the prestige sprints to eke another almost about 8% S/L res.

You've just quoted a bug, Neco Betty 😄 It's an *explainable* bug, but sed a bug.

Posi 1 has bugged code with the clones. Bring anything whatsoever Rad and the clones default to rad/rad defenders. I've had times where I was soloing it on a Rad Armor Brute or Tanker and got to face 6 Rad/Rad piling the debuffs on me. Forewarned, forarmed, from past experiences I arrive, pop four oranges, four lucks, and survive for 15 seconds before being annihilated. Cue long slow whittling of being sent to the hospital, buying four of each, return, use all eight inspirations, whittle one clone. Eventually kill it, continue this back and forth until finishing it. I've seen teams crumble thanks to this bug or Controller clones, but when there is more than one person it is a volley of AoE and even if we wipe we can do it the second time with everyone having bought new inspirations.

Bosses also have harder hitting or more annoying abilities. -1 I would not advise since it's truly slow to get XP. +0x1 should not be difficult but it's a bit sad especially with the Blaster you get to a point you throw a Build-up + AoEs and you'll have melted the spawn before they even see you. Place the Gaussian proc in Aim and use Aim to empower your AoEs for the next group.

Only because you decided it could not be completed due to self-imposed rules. Not be able to be completed would be if the devs gave you no option to get it, like a badge in the tutorial you can only get by doing the tutorial. Skipped the tutorial? No badge. But when the devs give you the tools which are as easy as to talk to an NPC it's not up to them to fix this self-imposed 'problem'. And it's like you said, if it's a memento and your villain has no reason to visit the dance floor in blue side it makes sense that they don't have that memento. Anyway, none of my beeswax, if the devs put the badge where you can get it without breaking the roleplay I'm happy for you regardless.

That's their prerogative.

Just as respectfully, collecting badges is an OOC activity, so then what's the problem with using Null to go to Paragon OOCly to collect the badge?

Welcome aboard, Kodo. I would probably go for something like this. No defenses, all resistances. There is still a small hole in Negative (13% hole) but I don't think that it will get you killed as a Sentinel. Otherwise Toxic, Smash, Slash, and Energy are at almost 70% and with Barrier always giving at least a permanent 5% after the big def and res boost runs out it permanently hardcaps those resistances as long as you use Barrier every 2 minutes. Which is not strictly needed since most content is not THAT hard for a Sentinel. The 5% buff narrows the Negative gap and it becomes an 8% hole. Non cheap IO Sentinel v2 (Electrical Blast - Radiation Armor).mbd

Took the build for a spin over Brainstorm since I really wanted to play some. Leveled it son of kypton style (fully twinked with ATOs and event IOs slotted as soon as they could). From 1-15: regular leveling. No AoE (something could be said about picking Jacob's Ladder, but eeeh) meant defeating everything one by one. Wasn't bad, wasn't great, Charged Brawl and Havoc coupled with the origin power (didn't bother picking prestige attacks) carried me through the early lowbie arcs until I could do Posi 1. Posi 1 was not a problem since I was doing it at 0x1 (no AoE so no point in going higher). Posi 2 went fine until I reached Vhaz, who spawned as a +2, which coupled with only a T1 and a T2 and an origin power meant I couldn't outdamage it. I could have forced it with Envenomed Daggers and inspirations, but heh. From 16 to 29: I was 16 by the time I reached Vhaz but had not gone to level. Since I was unable to outdamage its regen I quit and started the TF over. Now armed with Thunderstrike I had at least a heavy hitter (it now hits for just slightly less than Total Focus, which is nice) and some lip service to AoE, but that's fine. Level 17 slots went for Thunderstrike but at 18 I got Burn and kept slotting it until it was maxed. Finally, AoE. Bumped myself from 0x1 to 0x6 even with an unslotted Burn and chugged along. Burn has a longer CD than Thunderstrike, but by using Burn first part of that CD difference is eaten by the animation, then the FF proc kicks, and they were pretty much synced from the very very low levels. Vhaz spawned at +0 and I had Build-up by then so it wasn't difficult or dangerous to whittle it down. Didn't even need inspirations for the guy. Skipped Synapse and went right to Yin. Was level 25 then. Bumped to +1x8. Was stubbornly not wanting to use inspirations and that caused way too many deaths most of them from detoggling. Understandable since none of my armors were slotted (all in damage, baybeh!!). This approach works, but then I'm supposed to live off inspirations, otherwise spare the slots for the armor toggles. It went okay but nothing that really stood out from other Fire Armor combos. Chain Induction remains sucky (does any chain power ever rise from being sucky?), Thunderstrike helps a little bit with AoE but it's most a ST hitter, and it's real job is being a carrier for FF procs. From 30 to 34: With Lightning Rod open I started throwing two slots into it and one into Build-up since they are meant to go together. This can be noticed in LR's slotting where I eased up on the recharge so that it matches BU. Lightning Rod clinched the build and the build went from being okay to being DA NUKE! Build-up + Lightning Rod + Burn + Thunderstrike was erasing the majority of any spawn. But then moping was slow. I threw more slots into Chain Induction, finished slotting Lightning Rod and it got better. For someone who does the whole 'defeat the enemies before they defeat you' this is prime steak and I want to play the build for real. I was trying to be cute and use Chain Induction before Burn so that a) it's still inside the Gaussian window (5 seconds. LR = 2.8, CI = 1.2 = 4 seconds, so Burn still catches it. LR + Burn already take the 5 seconds so TS wouldn't fit anyway), and b) so that I can use it a second time inside BU's window. Can't say I noticed much difference either way but +1 bosses usually die in that first rotation, and with them most of the spawn. I was even managing to burst the Freak bosses before they healed but that's more of a matter of timing to catch them while KD. Also, Thunderstrike does not seem to do KD on the main target and instead it does stun. Did not expect that, but I could be wrong since Mids states it does KD on the target. But if so it messes with the idea of TS being a FF carrier once it comes to ST damage. Problems: Endurance is guzzled fast and I'm not using Focused Accuracy and Weave yet. I attributed it to fighting the horrid horrid Freaks but even finishing to slot Health and Stamina was unable to keep my endurance up (ok, sure, Super Stunners). LR and TS are hogs. Obviously I need to slot Consume next, slot my armors, etc, all things which will help with endurance and see if an equilibrium can be reached. Level 35 onwards is the homestretch where all the slots trickle back down to the neglected powers. I should have also been using Recovery Serums more freely but was being stubborn again which is not a good look against Freaks and Super Stunners with an unslotted Consume. Verdict: Build opens at 18. At 20 the skeleton is up and will be enough to be enjoyable. At 30 it all comes together, 34-ish (going all in slotting only attacks and Hasten) we are in beast mode and no longer sure if playing a Tanker or a Blaster (hyperbole, hyperbole, but check the damage of LR with both BU and Gaussian toggled on). The ST is still mediocre and I found myself spending too much time moping up but that's why we have Fiery Embrace. But, +1 is the time when using T1 and T2 is fine, but when at +3 these attacks will feel like cute little pokes. Even Chain Induction is basically a T2.5 with the same damage as Havoc but 1.2 cast time at least. Ergo the idea remains to spend as much time using TS and Burn. I have a leveling build if needed. Tanker (Fiery Aura - Electrical Melee).mbd

Ouroboros comes to mind. Pick an arc you like and go ham. Plenty to choose from once knowing which is minimal on talkies or glowies. Plus, merits at the end.

Six slotting Health and/or Stamina is commonly known as muling. If you can afford those 10 slots that's fine. I four slot Brawl and Punch a fair bit. If it's for the actual stats that both Stamina and Health brings then, the numbers are weak. Health in particular is a tiny regen bump and in either case two slots for the raw stats would be enough. But, it won't make or break a build to slot that way.

Most powers in the Tankers seem to follow the normal procedure of listing the damage that they do and then at the end they indicate how much Fiery Embrace will do: But looking at Elec Melee it's flagging every power with Fiery Embrace: Just randomly looking at powers from different sets down the list some have this behaviour and some do not within the same set. For exampled Guarded Spin: Elec Melee seems to be the major culprit though. Also, it may just be a incorrect flag but Total Focus has no Fiery Embrace numbers.

You can bring your friend and run the mission at +1. I can read the subtext that the friend will not be getting as much XP but since you avoided using that meter and spoke only of enjoyment then the bashing faces of fashos is there still. Now if people would stop dancing around the subject that lowering the difficulty will bring fewer rewards we could have a more honest conversation about this, but I keep hearing about 'turn off brain fun activity' and 'bring lowbies', and those activities are the same at +1 as they are at +4. Not pointing fingers as I don't have a dog in this race, but if only we could have a more honest 'lucrative turn off brain fun activity' and 'bring lowbies to reap phat XP' we'd be on firmer grounds of discussion.

I've never done that arc, but a player picking a vigilante arc gets an idea of what they will find. This is a hero side low level arc and one of the first found. Regardless just my two bits on the subject.

Since Aaron Thiery has come up a number of times and since we are talking about NPE it would be remiss not to mention how jarring it is to even have the option to kill the guy at the end. It jarred me then, it jars me now as I play in Brainstorm. It's an option that should strictly exist in the rogue side. I don't say this as some sort of moralism or think-of-the-children, just how it gives a bad first impression. I don't remember ever finding this option anywhere else than in that arc when in blue side.