Jump to content

pyrocumulus

Members
  • Posts

    40
  • Joined

  • Last visited

Everything posted by pyrocumulus

  1. Soon I shall be powerful enough to feast upon the Demon of this Isle!
  2. Several of my more malicious villains have done Westin Phipps' arc. There are actually multiple resolutions to it; you can deliberately choose to fail the last mission, with a unique Souvenir for doing it (Miss Francine writes you a letter). I'd also add Dr Creed to the 'I am really quite evil' list, personally: https://hcwiki.cityofheroes.dev/wiki/Doctor_Creed#Kidnap_homeless_people_for_medical_experimentation
  3. I made stone melee/bio armour as a scrapper when stone melee was proliferated. As you say it's a great combination and @Xeph will have fun with it. For the notably tricky visuals I went for a sort of 'fey summer champion' thing with the bio FX themed as living wood and vines and the lava FX coloured green - it looks like moss-covered stone. A leafy aura and a leafy cape later it all came together: The Hedge Knight
  4. 5/16/96 - Beam/time blaster ... Sure sounds solid, but doesn't prompt any non-obvious concepts. 61/64/44 - Ninjas/pain mastermind ... hm, I can think of something nifty here... 87/19/69 - Dual blades/radiation stalker ... Too similar to my fully IOd DB/elec stalker I already have. Bonus roll - 34/28/80 - Dark/thermal corruptor ... I'd like to give this a go but need a cooler character concept. Therefore my first roll from the slot machine, clawing her way out from Hell by force of will with the suffering shades of sinners following, is... Hungry Ghosts, ninjas/pain MM
  5. My Poisoner is a Defender, but I went with Dual Pistols. I felt the -dam of Chem stacked nicely with Poison's debuffs and Hail of Bullets and Venomous Gas have positional synergy. Also worked well for the 'trench warfare' theme I went for.
  6. Leave a bid on the AH for a stack of Level 31 Kinetic Crash recipes. They'll fill over a day or two. Craft them and then Convert Out of Set (Knockback). You'll get a mix of Force Feedbacks and Sudden Accelerations. If you're lucky you'll get a Sudden Acceleration (KD to KD). If not, you can convert in set to get one. You can then do what you like with the remaining rare enhancements - use them, or convert them and sell them off to make a profit.
  7. As of this evening, I am astonished that in 2 years I am the first person on Excelsior to attempt to name a plant controller Hedge Fund. Does anyone else hear a phrase or idiom in normal conversation and feel compelled to rush to log in to see if it's free as a character name, or just me?
  8. There's plenty of time (the character is L26) and respecs are cheap. Taking Charged Armour softcaps S/L/E resists and leaves defences across the board at 19-22%. Seems quite solid but I'd be concerned about mez, Sonic Dispersion is pretty nice but low mag protection. How often do you get hit by mez? Electrifying Fences also nullifies KB, which is great on Bots, but would negate my Wall of Force soft control, which is another element to consider. They get 10% ToHit from Supremacy and the slotting above gives them about 50% extra Accuracy. Do you still find it's adequate vs +2 and up enemies without Tactics? Or do you slot more heavily for Accuracy (the only way I could fit this in really is to remove the procs). The pets suffer with diminishing level difference returns, that +2 mob is +4 to the poor T1s. It is pretty tedious, for a not too impressive +def bonus in return. The ability to sneak pets around a map is nice, though. In my current respec I've taken Wall of Force first and haven't got GI yet, but I had it before I slotted all the IOs. I'm surprised you needed GI on a Ninja/FF, unless it was for concept?
  9. Slowly, I'm doing solo content on this in between normal play on other characters. Currently just dinged 26. It was downright painful leveling this before 22, when I slotted IOs (with commons or SOs to fill in where the build uses min lvl 30 IOs). Since then I've done a full set of vigilante tips and the i27 Agent Watkins arc*; post-IOs, the build is far more viable as the pets are significantly sturdier. I still can't push higher than +0x2, though, I tried +1x2 and +0x3 and got smacked down in short order. I found the playstyle that makes this combo function (prior to any significant personal defences from IO set bonuses and Scorp Shield, which I won't see for another 10 levels) plays completely differently to my other masterminds. The tankiness is all in the pets; it's trivial to get them to nearly 70% S/L resist at level 22 between natural resists, unique IOs, the Sonic shields, and Sonic Dispersion. If I feed them a couple of oranges, they'll softcap. My MM has virtually no survivability in comparison (Sonic Dispersion, Manoeuvres), and Res does nothing for the pets' survivability when they take Bodyguard damage. Therefore if I can use the environment to bottleneck a wall of pets with Goto/Stay in a tight corner or corridor and always have them start the attack, I can stand with relative safety behind them healing and buffing. As they're all ranged, they can stay in position for the whole fight, and using all 80ft of their range means they can take minions down before they get anywhere near melee. I Sonic Siphon any Lt or Boss and have Disruption Field running on one of the pet-wall; any mob trying to get to me has to try to run through it. However, this breaks down against ambushes, on outdoor maps, or vs flying mobs; I have frequently got overwhelmed in these conditions and had to run off and resummon. TBH, I could have achieved the same sort of playstyle with mercs/traps, which I suspect is a stronger combination, but I already have a corruptor trapper I play frequently and I didn't want to repeat a set. I am expecting that Web Envelope will be pretty useful at maintaining range. The two Spec Ops' flashbangs and spamming Wall of Force w/ Overwhelming Force together provide a definitely helpful level of soft control, albeit a bit random - it would be nice if the flashbangs had shorter cooldown, or higher magnitude, or Overpower, but such is life. I tried M30 Grenade out, but it costs a fortune in endurance and has a higher recharge time than Wall of Force. *The two EBs were beyond my sustainable capabilities; I got an sgmate to help vs Pathogen and ate a whole tray of purples vs Cortex.
  10. I really, really like this idea. What could be more fitting for incarnates than taking on an insane god-entity in his own dimension? Firebase Zulu (and maybe the Cascade Archipelago) could remain 41-50 content so the TFs and few lower level missions there still have a home, and the Chantry and Storm Palace be Incarnate zones?
  11. I'm a single data point, but I was one of these players. My friends were CoH players from launch who all converted en masse to CoV at the release of Issue 8. I played a 14-day CoH free trial, promptly took out a sub to CoV only, and played red exclusively until both sides of the game unlocked for the cost of the single sub in ... issue 12 I think. By then all my mains were red ATs. Nowadays I have a mix of all 4 alignments in my roster with a slant towards rogues. Personally, I love the sense of dark humour that suffuses the Rogue Isles from day 1. Paragon City can be a stuffy, straightlaced sort of place. Do a DfB for each side and tell me that Arbiter Sands' snark isn't infinitely more amusing than Positron taking himself so very seriously, or that blowing up scenery in a Mayhem isn't just hilariously petty compared to a boring Safeguard.
  12. Recall Friend got replaced with TP Ally/Foe. TP Foe got replaced with Combat Teleport. So... yes you will have to respec. But you get Recall Friend for free to make use of with Superior Invis, which isn't a bad trade in my mind. Me, I have to work out how to re-do my Warshade's teleport binds to make use of the new TP powers.
  13. I did not advocate for any change or nerf to the Incarnate system in any way. I advocated for a challenge option to switch off Incarnate powers in non-incarnate TF and Ouroboros content and associated badges to provide an incentive to run it that way. Look at all the AT forums in which people are doing no-insp/no-temp/no-defeat 'Master Of' solo TF challenges, there is an audience out there for further self-imposed challenge. I explained my personal feelings about the impact Incarnate abilities have on non-Incarnate play as my reasoning for wanting such a thing, but my proposed solution has absolutely no impact on anyone who doesn't feel the same way.
  14. As I implied when discussing the ITF (which is why I specifically said L35), they don't directly affect lvl 35-44 content, but my game experience in PUGs. Every PUG I join in which I am sidekicked to a 45+ exemplar will inevitably have incarnates in it. Yes, I could explicitly just run Ice Mistrals and Morty Kals and Manticores until I ding 50 to avoid it, but I still find being stuck with the choice of 1) PUG above L45 and be an utterly useless deadweight or 2) deliberately avoid any and all L45+ content or 3) solo makes my personal game experience less fun.
  15. Level 35 is the lowest level for ITF. If you attempt to run one at L35-44 you will struggle to form and keep an 8-man team unless you agree to give the TL position to a incarnate and sidekick to them.
  16. My issue, as a player that vastly concentrates on the 1-49 leveling game (probably 90-95% of my total play time), is that incarnate powers bleed into the level 35-50 game and overshadow it badly. Playing a vanilla character in any of the capstone TFs, content that was designed for you to learn to master, feels like no matter how carefully you structure your build to squeeze every drop of efficiency out of it or how skilfully you can play your class, it still becomes the 'Stand back and watch the incarnates' show. I find leveling 40+ in any team content at all to be significantly less fun because of this. I should feel like I'm really mastering my character and rounding out their final few powers and sets and it's all just irrelevant when someone breaks out a Ravager lore pet. I would like to see expanded Challenge options to disable Incarnate powers and have a wide variety of 'Master Of' badges associated with playing under this challenge condition. This means I could recruit for a badging run knowing that I could test out my ability to really build and play my primary and secondary without OMGWTFIONJUDGEMENT spam making my build decisions pointless. The player community would be just as free to play in standard conditions with full Incarnate power as they like, but this would provide an incentive to have an alternative. Possibly there could even be an accolade badge for achieving every L50 TF/SF (excepting Tinpex) without Incarnate powers (something like 'Refused the Call').
  17. You probably know the concept but not the community name of Frankenslotting. Say you wanted to enhance Call Thugs' attack and damage, and you put 6 slots into it. 3 Accuracy and 3 Damage SOs, level 50 +94.3% Accuracy, +94.3% Damage 3 Accuracy and 3 damage Common IOs, level 50 +99.08% Accuracy, +99.08% Damage Edict of the Master: Acc/Dam, Blood Mandate: Acc/Dam, Sovereign Right: Acc/Dam, Call to Arms: Acc/Dam +94.21% Accuracy, +94.21% Damage ...for the opportunity cost of four slots not six. You can now use the remaining slots to chase any (2) or (3) set bonus from one of those sets, add procs or globals, enhance different things (e.g. endurance), or save the slots to use elsewhere in your build. Frankenslotting is a particularly powerful leveling build tool, as you can get bigger enhancement values when your build is still short of slots. Homecoming allows you to change them out if you want, so if your Technology character would be the sort of person to use Throwing Knives, you can. They have no real use past level 5 or so outside of being thematic.
  18. Or if you want to do it the old fashioned way, by getting the Field Crafter badge (this is a lot more effort than just buying it...) My crafter uses a crafting table and /ah while hanging out in the Pocket D Tiki Lounge bar. There are crafting tables in a bunch more places if you look, including 'Abandoned Labs' (Port Oakes, St Martial), the 'Cultural Centre' (Imperial City), and in the Vanguard base.
  19. There is a distinctly different animation if you are flying (sort of a whirlwind twirl); might fit some character concepts, such as celestial beings, who permanently hover.
  20. Mercs/sonic is definitely not a power combo, but I want to see what I can do with it for concept reasons as part of a 'level every MM primary to 50 and try out secondaries I've never used' project. This is a leveling build, so it emphasises hitting survivability milestones at lowest levels possible, and doesn't use any purple IOs. I am unlikely to play it into incarnates. The playstyle intent is to spam Project Will and Wall of Force to keep knocking enemies down to mitigate damage and provide +rech to minimise pets being on cooldown if I need to resummon, and then Web Envelope to stop them being knocked back by the pets once the power is available. According to Mids' Web Envelope doesn't prevent KB. I have used procs to leverage -res quite hard and to diversify the pets' damage type. Sonic Disruption is tricky to use solo as all the pets are ranged, but can be used easily on teams. I'd like to keep Misdirection as a concept pick, the character concept is Men in Black conspiracy tropes as a black ops squad leader with alien ray guns. Liquefy is a proc damage/controls mini-nuke for hard fights only but I could spec out of it. I would like to squeeze in Assault for a bit more damage, but I chopped it out for Tactics (if the pets can't hit, no point buffing damage). I am currently L20 so most of this is still theorycraft and not trialled in game. Self: At L35 - 32% S/L 30% E defences (1 Luck from cap) 32% S/L resists, 25ish% to everything else except Toxic (42%) and Psi (nil) Mez protection from Sonic Dispersion At L50 - 42.6% S/L 35% E defences (1 team member with Manoeuvres to S/L softcap) 42% S/L resists, 28% F/C, 34% E/N Pets: From L30 onwards: 16%ish defence to all when Grant Invisibility used 90% S/L resists, 68% everything else resists except Psi (nil) Mez protection from Sonic Dispersion Villain Plan by Mids' Reborn : Hero Designer 2.7.2.10 https://github.com/Crytilis/mids-reborn-hero-designer Click this DataLink to open the build! Majestic 12: Level 50 Technology Mastermind Primary Power Set: Mercenaries Secondary Power Set: Sonic Resonance Power Pool: Medicine Power Pool: Force of Will Power Pool: Leadership Power Pool: Concealment Ancillary Pool: Mace Mastery Villain Profile: Level 1: Soldiers -- SvrRgh-PetResDam(A), EdcoftheM-PetDef(3), SvrRgh-Acc/Dmg(3), SvrRgh-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(5), AchHee-ResDeb%(5), TchofLadG-%Dam(7) Level 1: Sonic Siphon -- Acc-I(A) Level 2: Sonic Barrier -- RctArm-ResDam(A), RctArm-ResDam/EndRdx(7), RctArm-ResDam/Rchg(42), RctArm-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(42) Level 4: Sonic Haven -- RctArm-ResDam/EndRdx(A), RctArm-ResDam(15), RctArm-ResDam/Rchg(43), RctArm-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(45) Level 6: Equip Mercenary -- EndRdx-I(A) Level 8: Aid Other -- Prv-Heal/Rchg/EndRdx(A), Prv-Heal(9), Prv-Heal/Rchg(9), Prv-Heal/EndRdx(15) Level 10: Mighty Leap -- WntGif-ResSlow(A) Level 12: Spec Ops -- CmmoftheM-Rchg/PetAoEDef(A), MarofSpr-EndRdx/+Resist/+Regen(17), MarofSpr-Acc/Dmg(19), CaltoArm-+Def(Pets)(19), CaltoArm-Acc/Dmg(21), TchofLadG-%Dam(29) Level 14: Project Will -- Thn-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(A), Thn-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(23), Thn-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(33), FrcFdb-Rechg%(37) Level 16: Disruption Field -- EndRdx-I(A), EndRdx-I(17) Level 18: Maneuvers -- LucoftheG-Def/EndRdx(A), LucoftheG-Def/Rchg+(23), LucoftheG-Def(34) Level 20: Sonic Dispersion -- RctArm-ResDam/EndRdx(A), RctArm-ResDam(21), StdPrt-ResDam/Def+(31), RctArm-EndRdx(31), RctArm-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(33), GldArm-3defTpProc(33) Level 22: Tactics -- AdjTrg-ToHit/EndRdx/Rchg(A), AdjTrg-ToHit/EndRdx(36), AdjTrg-ToHit(43) Level 24: Grant Invisibility -- LucoftheG-Def/Rchg+(A), ShlWal-ResDam/Re TP(25), Krm-ResKB(25) Level 26: Commando -- ExpRnf-+Res(Pets)(A), ExpRnf-Acc/Dmg(27), SvrRgh-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(27), SvrRgh-Acc/Dmg(29), SvrRgh-Dmg/EndRdx(31), ExpStr-Dam%(37) Level 28: Wall of Force -- OvrFrc-Dam/KB(A), PstBls-Dmg/Rng(37), PstBls-Dam%(39), Ann-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(39), Ann-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(39), Ann-ResDeb%(40) Level 30: Stealth -- LucoftheG-Def/Rchg+(A), LucoftheG-Def/EndRdx(34), Rct-ResDam%(34), Rct-Def/EndRdx(42) Level 32: Tactical Upgrade -- EndRdx-I(A) Level 35: Scorpion Shield -- LucoftheG-Def/Rchg+(A), LucoftheG-Def(36), LucoftheG-Def/EndRdx(36) Level 38: Aid Self -- Prv-Heal/Rchg/EndRdx(A), Prv-Heal(43), DctWnd-Heal/EndRdx/Rchg(40), DctWnd-EndRdx/Rchg(40) Level 41: Field Medic -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(45), RechRdx-I(45), EndRdx-I(46) Level 44: Web Envelope -- EnfOpr-Acc/Immob/Rchg(A), EnfOpr-Immob/Rng(46), EnfOpr-Acc/EndRdx(46), EnfOpr-Acc/Rchg(48) Level 47: Liquefy -- GhsWdwEmb-Dam%(A), Lck-%Hold(48), CldSns-%Dam(48), TchofLadG-%Dam(50), PstBls-Dam%(50), Bmbdmt-+FireDmg(50) Level 49: Misdirection -- RechRdx-I(A) Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(A) Level 1: Prestige Power Dash -- Empty(A) Level 1: Prestige Power Slide -- Empty(A) Level 1: Prestige Power Quick -- Empty(A) Level 1: Prestige Power Rush -- Empty(A) Level 1: Prestige Power Surge -- Empty(A) Level 1: Sprint -- Clr-Stlth(A) Level 1: Supremacy Level 2: Rest -- Empty(A) Level 4: Ninja Run Level 2: Swift -- Run-I(A) Level 2: Health -- Heal-I(A), Mrc-Heal(11), Mrc-Rcvry+(11) Level 2: Hurdle -- Jump-I(A) Level 2: Stamina -- EndMod-I(A), PrfShf-EndMod(13), PrfShf-End%(13) Level 1: Soldier Level 1: Medic Level 12: Spec Ops Level 26: Commando Level 0: Born In Battle Level 0: High Pain Threshold Level 0: Invader Level 0: Marshal ------------
  21. I really love naming pets, and having a whole character concept just click by coming up with a naming scheme. As in my post above, I try to name them such that they can be addressed by petcom_name macros for tier groups also. To add to the characters above, I've just built a new mercs/sonic with a Men in Black/X-Files/XCOM alien conspiracy theme (you do seem to have access to endless black helicopters...) Majestic 12 Soldiers: Agent Black, Agent White, Agent Grey Spec Ops: Codename SERAPH, Codename SHADER Commando: Operative X The F10 is "We were never here."
  22. Ringmistress, circus themed demons/time: Bobo, Coco, Jollo (Demonlings) Fire Eater (Hellfire demon), Juggler (Ember demon) Strongman (Prince) Gallows Grove, druidic necro/nature: Holly, Hawthorn, Hazel (Zombies) -> Hemlock (Tier 1 spirit) Alder, Ash (Grave knights) -> Aconite (Tier 2 spirit) Oak (Lich) -> Nightshade (Tier 3 spirit) Prophet of the Atom, post-apocalyptic cult leader thugs/rad: Cultist Alpha, Cultist Beta (Thugs), Zealot Gamma (Arsonist) Child of Atom, Chosen of Atom (Enforcers) Apostle Neutron (Bruiser) Shinobi Eclipse, prophetic ninjas/time: Umbra, Penumbra, Antumbra (Genin) Apogee, Perigee (Jounin) Syzygy (Oni) Dread Space, undead astronaut bots/dark: Eagle, Intrepid, Aquarius, Antares, Falcon, Orion
  23. Apologies for necro-post, but in the event someone Googles this looking for a solution: In the Slots menu, Choose Slots>Auto-Arrange All Slots. Mids will re-number the levels of all the slots from L1 onward and free up all the unassigned ones. This will allow you to slot freely in Mids' without the slots you are trying to assign being level-locked. Of course the game respec interface doesn't care. If you are trying to produce an exact leveling build (so you need specific set bonuses to kick in at specific level break points) click on Dynamic to switch to Level-Up mode before building.
  24. Definitely! My first 50 on HC is a fire/traps corr, having played a ice/traps on Union. I play him very aggressively, fighting in melee and dropping traps at my feet. I've had a few "I didn't know traps could do that!" from people who've presumably only seen trappers being too late to the party.
  25. My Grav/Storm/Mace controller, Vendor Trash, is a mad inventor who roots through heroes' discarded trinkets he finds lying around Paragon City and and slaps them together into a jury rigged battle suit. Conceptually, you can make just about anything work, and it's fun to devise a costume and backstory for two sets that don't seem thematically matched. Grav/Storm is very fun and synergistic, allowing for very effective soft mitigation through stun and knockdown and clever power placement (Create a corner of doom with Lightning Storm, Wormhole mobs into it, Thunder Clap bosses, hold them there with Hurricane or Gale, and Propel them to death.) For a Defender/Corruptor, I like Ice, Water, or Fire for stacking rains. Storm is also one of the most damaging Mastermind secondaries, with probably the most synergistic combo being Thugs (keep your T1/2 pets safe in your Hurricane, have the Arsonist throw his molotovs onto things knocked down on Freezing Rain, and stacking the +def of Steamy Mist with the Enforcers' Leadership and the -tohit of Hurricane. The Bruiser's handclaps and footstomps add to all the knockdown). Be an Outcasts gang boss, a leader of a storm cult, or a Longbow Warden turned vigilante leader.
×
×
  • Create New...