Rathulfr

I gotta admit that I also love Zepp's commentary, but despise his choice of fonts with serifs, which makes reading them a bit of a chore sometimes. As for the topic at hand: I agree that we need to look at recharge values across the board. But if we do so with the powers, we'll also need to do so with IO sets, or else all of the Hasten + Global Recharge Bonuses builds will become OP. Heck, the reason those builds exist/persist is because nobody's really looking at the inconsistent/punitive recharge values in the powers. If we address the root of the problem in the powers, then the builds will become less appealing. However, the min/max meta-gamers will take advantage of any powers reductions with those builds if we don't compensate the IO sets accordingly.

So why not try it on the Beta servers, where you can instantly boost a char to 50 and equip it for free? Check out the Beta forums for instructions.

I use my farmer for leveling alts to the mid-20s so they can use common IOs that are functionally equivalent to SOs. I'll also farm if I'm tight on cash for a level 50 build. Oddly enough, most of my farming was done with Spines/Fire Brute equipped with common IOs and a few procs. Then I reviewed a few of the budget builds and decided to try building one with orange IO sets -- no purples, no ATOs. I actually got a decent build that's almost soft-capped on fire defense while idle (Incarnates fill in the rest). I spent about a week refining the build, and then tried it on both a Brute and a Tanker: I decided the Brute was still better.

That's an option, yes.

If anything deserves a /jranger, this definitely deserves a /jranger. /jranger

Use the FIND command.

/jranger

The thing most good tankers do is play like controllers: the job of a tanker is get and maintain aggro and keep the mobs focused on the tanker, not the team. This is why taunt is essential to a good tanker: it's your ranged AoE "hold" power. And it's far more powerful than any damage you can do. This is what separates tankers from brutes. They sacrifice the glory of getting the big orange numbers for the benefit of the team. Even after the recent changes, tankers still aren't going to get those big orange numbers. They get more than they used to, sure. And that makes soloing a lot easier. So if you want damage, stick with Brute. But if you want to lead teams, go Tanker.

No thanks. I prefer to keep KB in my single-target attacks, and use the SA KB2KD proc only in my AoE attacks.

I also recommend that you not get too attached to any proc monster builds, as the devs have indicated that they'll be taking a look and making some changes about how procs work in the near future. But they haven't given any details on what that might entail just yet. Just something to keep in mind before you get too invested.

I downloaded the program and ran the installer (Windows SmartScreen was not happy, but that's probably because the code isn't signed, so I proceeded ahead anyway). It opened an older version of Mid's (DB Issue 26, Version 19.1021), not the MRBU. Is that intentional? Can we apply the MRBU to this fork? The installer doesn't indicate where it installed the app: from where is it running? It doesn't appear to be running from the same directory as my MRBU version of Mid's 2.6.0.7 (DB Issue 26, Version 20.2605). So does this mean I have to run Setup.exe every time I want to run this fork? I mentioned in the other thread that I'm a bit of an ID10T. Well, here's my ID10T question: how to I make it work? What buttons, keystrokes, or menu selections make it "go"? I've loaded one of my builds, and I want to run the AI to make it better. How do I do that?

Haven't seen it yet in the this thread, so here it is: /jranger. Use the search function to find all the other threads about Hasten for supporting documentation. The comments above were meant for the duplicate post, not this one. Now I'll simply edit this with a brief summary of my personal opinion on the topic. About half my builds take Hasten, but more often than not, it's only because I need a smidge more recharge than I can get from IO sets alone. Hasten is way more recharge than I need, but I don't have an alternative. This is why I originally suggested (last year) that the inherent Swift be modified to include +10-15% recharge (the functional equivalent of 1-2 LotGs). That would allow me to remove Hasten entirely from those builds that don't really need it. Of course, if we add 10-15% recharge to Swift (which everyone gets by default), then we'll need to compensate by shaving off that amount from Hasten (nerfing it from +70% to +55-60%). Well, all anyone heard was "nerf Hasten" (never mind that I also said "buff Swift") and all hell broke loose. I was massacred in the forums (along with @Steampunkette, who followed my post with her own variant) for daring to approach this sacred cow. When this master thread came along (not the new one that's been merged with it), I suggested the following: Add +15% recharge to Swift. Nerf Hasten to +50% recharge. Make Hasten a toggle that costs 0.32 end/sec. (Yay, perma-Hasten!) Add the same ~2% defense to Hasten that's also in Combat Jumping and Hover. This suggestion was originally made tongue-in-cheek, as it would obviously add to power creep. However, I came to realize that it wasn't a bad idea, as it would "normalize" 3 of the 4 original power pools. And I was surprised that it got pretty good reception by other posters.

I look forward to using this tomorrow. Thank you for doing this. I appreciate your hard work.

I do this with the Gaussian's IO set. I boost the 4 with +ToHit, and attune the other two.

It's Rick Dees, plural.

I consider most of my Blasters to be "tanky". I build them as hover-blasters, and focus on soft-capping Ranged defense and Smashing/Lethal. They are not blappers: being in melee for longer than the time it takes to set off the primary T9 (usually Nova, in my case) is a death sentence. I've attached a couple builds for your review, below. Perhaps you can use them for ideas. Wrongbow - Blaster (Archery).mxd Rathstar - Energy² Blaster.mxd Blasterman - (Energy_Devices).mxd

Thank you for the Michael Ironside: always welcome.

Nobody mentioned the Tanker changes? They got their damage buffed and AoE increased to 16 targets. They lost Bruising in the process, but that's no big deal, as it wasn't all that significant. That's all off the top of my head -- someone will correct me, I'm sure.

That depends: do you plan on ever exemplaring down, or will you just be running 47+ content all the time? If you swap out the attuned for boosted, you'll lose the set bonuses when you exemplar down below 47. If you keep the attuned, then you'll keep the set bonuses all the way down to 3 levels below the minimum level of the set.

That was the inspiration for the character. Although Don doesn't have a Scottish brogue. 😜

You mean like this? Don de la Mancha, at your service!

I dig it.

Why do you want to do this? It's a noble goal for experienced players, but if you're new to CoH, this is not the best approach to take. You might be setting yourself up for failure or disappointment. There's no need for that, at least not before you've had a chance to play and enjoy the game as intended. That said, there isn't really any one "best" character/build for doing all of the things you mention: soloing +4x8 missions and AVs. As others above me have pointed out, this can be done with a number of different builds using a variety of different approaches. And even then, those optimal builds won't necessarily apply to all missions or AVs. Not all AVs are created equal: each have different strengths and weaknesses. So there's no one build that can address all of the possible permutations. For example, I have an Energy/Energy Blaster with soft-capped Ranged and S/L/E defense that can waltz through +4x8 missions solo, and even take on a few AVs at that difficulty, as well. However, there's no way I can do that with every AV or GM (giant monster). As a Blaster, I've got plenty of DPS/DPA, and with IOs I've got enough defense; however, Blasters are vulnerable to mez, and to achieve a good balance of both damage and defense, I had to sacrifice resistance, regen, and recovery. So any AVs/GMs that mez me or get past my defenses can destroy me with relative ease. I recommend that you try out several builds for yourself to see what suits you. I think you'll find that some are better than others, depending on your tastes and circumstances. In the end, you'll probably end up with more than one "best" character for doing different missions and AVs at different difficulty levels. And hopefully, you'll enjoy yourself along the way. I know I do! Good luck.

Yeah, that's basically what I do with mine, as well. My SG bases (plural) become the mechanism for centralizing and storing resources -- except for Recipes. And because I can't store Recipes, I just go ahead and craft them into Enhancements, which I can store. So all of my SG bases have multiple Enhancement and Salvage storage bins. A few are even separated by SG rank: I have a few that are restricted to me and my alts, and a few that are open to everyone else in the SG. I have at least one Salvage bin for oranges, and another for yellows. In some of the SG bases, I don't bother storing the whites because they're so cheap and plentiful. In those SG bases where I do have bins for whites, I usually have at least 2 (more often 3-4), and they're available to anyone. And I usually also have a separate bin for Special (non-Invention) Salvage: boosters, brain storms, catalysts, converters, unslotters. In one of my SGs, I have a separate bin for Holiday Salvage. I don't store TOs/DOs/SOs in bins, as they're readily available. Instead, I have separate bins for common IOs. At least one for 25s, one for 30s, one for 35s, and one for 50s (I usually don't bother with 40s or 45s). Then I have separate bins for named/set-bonus IOs. These are usually restricted to me, my alts, or SG officers. So even without bins for Recipes, base storage offers a lot of flexibility.

I like saying that I play an E² Blaster. E-squared = Energy/Energy. (Press Alt+253 on the numeric keypad for the ² char.)