kenlon

How are your defenses that low at 40? I don't have a low level version of my SR/Katana build lying around, so I whipped up a quick test build in Mids (with the unofficial updates) and at level 40, using mostly level 25 common IOs, I had 57.7% Melee/Ranged/AoE defense. Three Defense buffs and one EndRx per toggle, Three Defense per auto, using Weave and Combat Jumping in addition to powerset powers. The only set IOs I used were the uniques from Steadfast Protection and Gladiator's Armor, slotted into Tough. And I didn't gimp the rest of the slotting - three attacks six-slotted, two five-slotted, three slots in PB for easy perma, two slots in Build Up. I have to assume that you a) skipped getting any pool defense powers (which is a mistake) and b) didn't actually fully enhance your powers. This isn't a SR issue, this is a build issue.

Because Tankers didn't have access to Claws in the live game - the set was proliferated onto them in i25 and the restriction on combining it with stone armor was not kept.

Personally, I just want the SO changes that have been on beta for the past month. Being able to play through Praetoria on the test server without it being an act of masochism was amazeballs.

It's been an excellent build. I can take on villain groups that used to require eating inspirations by the bucket with no problem, and the damage is passable. (Doubleposting because I can't insert a quote when editing a post because there's no plain text forum editor so I can't copy and paste the quote in. And that's terrible. *cough*)

I think the assumption is that the stuff on beta now will be a part of Page 6, hence the question the OP asked. And yeah, given what's going on in the world, delays are understandable.

Hah. Try Tanker SR sometime - that'll break you of those silly notions right quick. But even for the lesser versions of the set, you still have staggeringly good Defense Debuff resistance. With only a pair of common defense IOs in each power: 93.23% resist for Brutes and Scrappers, 82.87% for Stalkers. Defense cascades are not a problem for SR. And there's a lot less untyped damage around than there used to be.

Sure, but it would be good to have some idea what they're up to, given that a really nice set of simple changes have been on the test server for a month now with no word on what the next step will be. Is there anything that needs further testing? Are the SO changes something they've decided to ditch? Or is it waiting on development of other things that they are planning on putting into Page 6 (which is fine)? It's mainly due to the fact that it's been on the test server for so long that people are antsy, I think.

It's got the worst AoE damage of all tanker sets, and the second worst ST, IIRC. (Pretty sure Ice Melee is worse at ST damage, but is in the upper half of sets on AoE.). The secondary disorient effect on EM is pretty nearly useless, and the Stun power is completely useless. Energy Transfer is pretty slow, but at least hits for decent damage, while Total Focus both takes forever and hits like a wet noodle (in terms of DPA). It's effectively no better than the T1-3 attacks. It needs some or all of: A new secondary effect Animation changes. Increase in damage. A better AoE. Personally, I'd like to see it continue to have lousy AoE, but be taken up to be one of the top performing ST sets (excluding Titan Weapons, because that shit needs it's own rebalance pass.) That's a terrible idea. The old sets deserve to actually be addressed and rebuilt to the point they are comparable to the later designed sets, not just slap a half-assed bandaid on them and call it good.

All of that is true, and because I'm recreating someone from live waaaay back in the day, it's all irrelevant. 😄

I'm not, actually - hover and (suppressed) stealth provide the same defense. They both give a base of 1.75% defense on a blaster - I verified this on test just in case I was misremembering.

I'd say almost 29 percent more regen/s would be worth it, combined with the absorb shield from Preventative Medicine. *shrug* Though I agree with using it and Thunderstrike to start out fights - jump in, TS, and then FoT. So, here's my revised build, based mostly on Hyperstrike's, since it was almost perfect for my needs. I dropped everything flight related because trying to use hover in melee is pain, took Stealth (same defense as Hover, when suppressed), Vengeance as LotG mule and Short Circuit because it would feel weird playing the set without it.

Why would you not slot a sustain power to increase healing? I'm curious.

That's basically exactly the sort of thing I was looking for, and will make an excellent base to tweak from. Thank you.

You fundamentally do not understand economics. If supply goes up because more people are farming/converting/auctioning, then prices will go down. If prices go down and people stop doing those things, then the supply will contract and the prices will come back up. There can't be price gouging in a market where a) everything is convertible from one product to another and b) no one can control the creation of new goods to feed into the market. Sellers dump things at 1 inf on the market because they do not feel it is worth the time for them to go and travel to a store, sell the items, and then go back to whatever they were doing. That's a perfectly reasonable thing to do, given that stuff like low end recipes drop in enormous quantities and are not in much demand. You have a solution in search of a problem. What actual problem does this behavior cause for anyone? Given that the major source of the IOs people want come from converting and reselling things that people don't, thus keeping the price of desired IOs down to a reasonable point, then requiring people to sell at store prices will actively harm the players!

What you've got there is a far better generalist Blaster build than what I had put up, but I'm intentionally making a gimmick build. The only ranged attacks I had slotted were Thunderous Blast and Tesla Cage, and the latter was only slotted up for the recharge bonus, as I have no intention of using any ranged attacks ever outside of the nuke. Like my original post said, making a blaster with the intention of not using your ranged attacks is dumb, but I'm doing it anyway. 🙂 Any ideas for a better way for me to build him under those guidelines?

Getting a feel for the minimum survivability you can build for and get away with it takes time. And often involves things that aren't obvious at first glance, so don't worry, we've all been there. Just remember that getting more damage output helps your team more than excessive durability. You want to go for Musculature Core Paragon, not Radial. The only thing Radial really gets you is a miniscule amount of endurance/second (.14 on the suggested build I made), and the reason for taking Musculature at all is damage. So go for the extra damage. Barrier is great for squishy ATs - my MA/Regen uses it, frex - but is overkill for tough ATs. The only thing that is going to kill you is a defense debuff cascade, and you have no inherent Defense Debuff Resistance. Take Ageless Radial and you get DDR, a recharge bump to shorten your Hasten cooldown, and a good solid shot of endurance. On the Hybrid power, Assault Core is better than Assault Radial, as you won't be anywhere near the damage cap most of the time, and thus it does more for you than the doublehit from Radial. Focus Chi is, again with the sample build I made you, +80% damage for ten seconds on a thirty second cooldown. Gaussian's proc is +80% damage for 5.25 seconds on a 1PPM schedule. Even discounting that a damage boost that you can control the timing on is infinitely better than one that goes off whenever it feels like it, Focus Chi is straight out better. And, if you want to slot in the Gaussian's proc in Focus Chi, then it will go off 95% of the time when you hit Focus Chi with the build I gave you. (I'd suggest dropping the Winter's Gift slow resist you have in Super Jump for it since Ageless Radial gives you debuff resist.) Not to mention that Tactics in your current build has you way over the needed value of accuracy, so it's doubly wasted.

It's a good, solid build, though I would suggest dropping Cardiac alpha in favor of Musculature. That only loses you about 3-4% DR. and you've got heavy enough layered defenses that the tiny boost to +res is negligible, and you have Ageless which helps with avoiding defense cascade failure. Boosting your survivability caps out - once you can live through anything, more is wasted. Damage is permanently additive. Tactics is also massively overslotted, with it not really being needed in your build at all. If you pull it out and instead take Vengeance, you not only get the 5th LotG in and have access to a fun thing to use on blasters you team with, but you can take the five slots from there, put three into Combat Jumping and one into Maneuvers, to snag those set bonuses while at the same almost entirely negating the def loss from dropping the six slot Gaussian's set bonus. And you end up with one enhancement slot unused, so you can put that elsewhere. You end up, in total, dropping 0.1% S/L, F/C and E/N, while actually gaining 1.15% Psi. Now, it does hit your pure positionals a little harder, at 1.35% Melee/Ranged/AoE . Even with the drop in +To-Hit, you're still at 98%+ against +4s for everything but Dark Regeneration, which is at a mere 92%. You also really don't need the trifecta of Conserve Power, Physical Perfection and Ageless - you could easily drop Physical Perfection for example, take Focus Chi and drop the spare enhance slot in there. Pop in two Membrane Exposure HOs and you have a massive increase in your ability to hit hard targets for ten seconds out of every thirty, putting you up to the 160-180% range for that time. Here's the build after I fiddled with it. Note that the build was made using the Unofficial Mid's Reborn updates, found here, which fixes things like the level for Dragon's Tail and the ability to slot in the Achilles Heel proc.

One of the first characters I made back on Live was an elec/elec/elec blaster, with the hopes of using end drain and secondary attacks to play him like a melee controller. Needless to say, it was an utter failure. So I'm having a go at it again, with this E3 pure blapper, This build is bad. I know it's bad. Making a blaster with no intent to ever put a ranged attack on your bar is a stupid idea. I don't care, I'm doing it anyway. 😄 I'm pretty sure I've sacrificed too much in order to get permahasten, and I'm not sure exactly where to go with it, so I'm hoping to get some ideas from the experts for how to make it just a little less terrible. Hero Plan by Mids' Reborn : Hero Designer 2.6.0.7 https://github.com/Crytilis/mids-reborn-hero-designer Click this DataLink to open the build! Edgerunner: Level 50 Science Blaster Primary Power Set: Electrical Blast Secondary Power Set: Electricity Manipulation Power Pool: Leaping Power Pool: Fighting Power Pool: Speed Power Pool: Leadership Ancillary Pool: Electrical Mastery Hero Profile: Level 1: Charged Bolts -- Empty(A) Level 1: Electric Fence -- Empty(A) Level 2: Charged Brawl -- SprDfnBrr-Acc/Dmg(A), SprDfnBrr-Dmg/Rchg(3), SprDfnBrr-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(3), SprDfnBrr-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(5), SprDfnBrr-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(5), SprDfnBrr-Rchg/+Status Protect(7) Level 4: Combat Jumping -- LucoftheG-Def/Rchg+(A), LucoftheG-Def(13), LucoftheG-Def/EndRdx(13) Level 6: Short Circuit -- SynSck-EndMod(A), SynSck-Dam/Rech(15), SynSck-EndMod/Rech(15), SynSck-Dam/Rech/Acc(17), SynSck-Dam/Acc/End(17), SynSck-EndMod/+RunSpeed(19) Level 8: Lightning Field -- PwrTrns-EndMod(A), PwrTrns-Dam/Rech(19), PwrTrns-Dam/EndMod(21), PwrTrns-Dam/Acc/End(21), PwrTrns-Dam/Acc/Rech/End(23), PwrTrns-+Heal(23) Level 10: Havoc Punch -- SprBlsWrt-Acc/Dmg(A), SprBlsWrt-Dmg/Rchg(25), SprBlsWrt-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(25), SprBlsWrt-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(27), SprBlsWrt-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(27), SprBlsWrt-Rchg/Dmg%(29) Level 12: Super Jump -- BlsoftheZ-ResKB(A) Level 14: Aim -- HO:Membr(A), HO:Membr(29) Level 16: Build Up -- HO:Membr(A), HO:Membr(31) Level 18: Boxing -- Empty(A) Level 20: Force of Thunder -- Prv-Heal(A), Prv-Heal/EndRdx(31), Prv-EndRdx/Rchg(31), Prv-Heal/Rchg(33), Prv-Heal/Rchg/EndRdx(33), Prv-Absorb%(33) Level 22: Tough -- GldArm-3defTpProc(A), StdPrt-ResDam/Def+(34) Level 24: Weave -- LucoftheG-Def/Rchg+(A), LucoftheG-Def(34), LucoftheG-Def/EndRdx(34) Level 26: Voltaic Sentinel -- ExpRnf-Acc/Rchg(A), ExpRnf-Acc/Dmg(36), ExpRnf-Dmg/EndRdx(36), ExpRnf-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(36), ExpRnf-EndRdx/Dmg/Rchg(37) Level 28: Thunder Strike -- Arm-Dmg(A), Arm-Dmg/Rchg(37), Arm-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(37), Arm-Acc/Rchg(39), Arm-Dmg/EndRdx(39), Arm-Dam%(39) Level 30: Hasten -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(40) Level 32: Thunderous Blast -- Rgn-Dmg(A), Rgn-Dmg/Rchg(40), Rgn-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(40), Rgn-Acc/Rchg(42), Rgn-Dmg/EndRdx(42), Rgn-Knock%(42) Level 35: Power Sink -- SynSck-EndMod(A), SynSck-Dam/Rech(43), SynSck-EndMod/Rech(43), SynSck-Dam/Rech/Acc(43), SynSck-Dam/Acc/End(45) Level 38: Shocking Grasp -- Hct-Dmg(A), Hct-Dmg/Rchg(45), Hct-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(46), Hct-Acc/Rchg(46), Hct-Dmg/EndRdx(46), Hct-Dam%(48) Level 41: Static Discharge -- Empty(A) Level 44: Charged Armor -- ResDam-I(A), ResDam-I(45) Level 47: Maneuvers -- LucoftheG-Def/Rchg+(A), LucoftheG-Def(48), LucoftheG-Def/EndRdx(48) Level 49: Tesla Cage -- BslGaz-Acc/Rchg(A), BslGaz-Rchg/Hold(50), BslGaz-Acc/Hold(50), BslGaz-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg/Hold(50) Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(A) Level 1: Sprint -- Empty(A) Level 2: Rest -- Empty(A) Level 1: Defiance 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 4: Ninja Run Level 2: Swift -- Run-I(A) Level 2: Health -- Pnc-Heal/+End(A), NmnCnv-Regen/Rcvry+(7), Pnc-Heal(9), NmnCnv-Heal(9) Level 2: Hurdle -- Jump-I(A) Level 2: Stamina -- PrfShf-End%(A), PrfShf-EndMod/Acc(11), EndMod-I(11) Level 1: Quick Form Level 50: Musculature Core Paragon Level 50: Reactive Radial Flawless Interface Level 50: Barrier Core Epiphany Level 50: Melee Core Embodiment ------------

I have found a Weird™. (This is on a freshly downloaded version, right out of the repo today.) On an */elec blaster, take Force of Thunder (the level 20 sustain power). Note that even though it's a self-buff power, there's no option to toggle the power on to show it's effects. Then, slot a self-affecting proc - I used Preventative Medicine. It will now have an option to toggle it on, because of the proc. Do so. Open up the totals window and look at the status tab - you now show as having -2 stun and -2.08 KB protection which are, not coincidentally, what that power applies to enemies. Is this a known issue? I went through the thread but may have missed it. (It does also apply the buff effects to Regen/Recov at the same time, too.)

EDIT: Gah, wrong mids thread. I am fail.

Oh, EM still sucks, it just sucks less than it did. This guy was my first 50 on live, so there's no way I'm going to stop playing this combo. 😄

This would be in the context of rebalancing and tweaking the set, not just stripping out the crash and leaving things alone. Most of the launch era sets badly need a rework, given how much better (and more interesting) the sets that were built later tend to be.

As they work their way through the older sets, hopefully crashing T9s will go away. Because they need to.

Hasten is overpowered, true. It's bad design, true. It is, however, not required to make a viable character in the way that Stamina was, back in the day. Every build *should* take Hasten from a min-maxing perspective, you can still play without it just fine. Therefore, there's no good reason to make it inherent. Some things are eternal. (Besides, I like these threads because my view on Hasten is apparently incomprehensible to plenty of people on both sides.)

If it doesn't make it live, I may cry. Seriously, the idea of being able to play through Praetoria without fighting the urge to claw my eyes out the whole time? Yes please!