Scarlet Shocker

I'm all in favour of giving Controllers more damage but I truthfully don't know how some of the other suggestions would meaningfully impact the game. When I play, I'm fighting the guys in front of me for the most part. If they fall down and fade away and I don't trip to the hospital, I'm pretty happy no matter where that extra couple of percentage points added or subtracted went. It may be my play style but I don't recall noticing any real difference when a tweak here or a tweak there is implemented. I'm still playing the same game after 20 years and if I'm really lucky I'll be playing it in another 20

First attempt at build for critique purposes: Not bad but a bit End heavy Data Chunk: https://api.midsreborn.com/legacy/download?uc=1660&c=738&a=1476&f=HEX&dc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

would Tough from the fighting pool be worth taking to boost resist?

My guy is now at 32, and is a boatload of fun. He's weak soloing, not because he's not surviving but because his DPS is a bit low, to be expected really. I also haven't taken any of the primary weapons... I've got most of the repelling stuff from FF and all the good shields I can so far and that seems to be working ok I have questions about Pool Powers and A/PPP sets: I took combat teleport because I enjoy the effect but I'm thinking that's a waste. I also have Spirit Ward - I was thinking that provides some useful boosts for pets but not sure how good it actually does. Do I need Hasten? Seems to me that there's no significant requirement for it here. What pools (other than flight, which I'm taking) should I use and wha'ts a good Patron/APP?

Personally I am happy of those unfinished story lines never get completed. They are part of the old game and it's very difficult to pick up someone else's story and finish it. Plus it's kind of fitting that we have those hints but never see them come to fruition, given the actual history of the game. I'm pretty ok with the direction the game is going in now, I'm happy for our current devs do do their thing... In many ways they seem more grounded and focused on story rather than delivering the next shiny but that's possibly because they don't have the commercial pressures of having to make a game make $$$ unlike original devs. I think we can all agree that since the resurrection, our current team have done very very well by us and I trust them to continue in that vein.

well seeing a Respec Agent means saves you typing /respec but functionally otherwise it's exactly the same

I genuinely don't ever recall a respec failing in all the time I've been playing this game I've made some almighty cock ups and some bad

Yes but some of us prefer to go visit someone. It gives more... atmosphere.

We have Lupin in Nerva (too high a zone IMO) and Wolfe (late of Galaxy but of course he's longbow so he made sure he got a nice number) in Atlas But we don't have a respec agent in RWZ. We can be members of Vanguard - we have to go through a few hoops to get there - so it's legit we should be able to go see someone in the Vanguard base to get that much-needed-respec we've been holding off on. If we can be a member of a thing, they should be able to give us a respec. That is all

I didn't know I didn't like it til I tried it did I?

That's a nice build actually. It's king of Procs. I would have to swap out Shadowy Binds for Living Shadows but it has given me something to seriously think of Many thanks!

I hope you saved the outfit first!

I have been playing a Beam Rifle/Traps over some weekends, regularly teaming with a buddy. The character is actually surprisingly competent but BR is boring my tits off. I mean it's just so unprepossessing. It works, it kills uh... defeats enemies reasonably well and it doesn't seem to be an end hog. It sounds fucking annoying, but that's about it's worst aspect but it's boring. It isn't exciting it doesn't give you me a sense of accomplishment and it doesn't seem to have a massive impact on enemies but they do seem to fall down. It could be that it's paling into insignificance next to Traps and the teamage going on (my buddy is a Merc/Traps MM - I'll let him chime in on this if he wants to) and we are finding ways to set up and pull and watch those hapless NPCs fall into our traps and cease to be, shuffling off this pixelated coil in short order. So BR doesn't get to work out so much but... the more I think about it that annoying left to right arc seems lacklustre, and the ST attacks, whilst competent, aren't exactly setting the world (or anything else for that matter) on fire. Am I alone in feeling this way? It's not a bad set per se, it's just incredibly boring to me and that lack of pizazz is affecting how I feel about this character which in all other ways seems to be pretty good. He's early 30s yet but I fear he may not make it much past 40 before he gets consigned to the sin bin where all dull toons must go to.

My toon is now lvl 19 and seems like a lot of fun - I rolled a Bots FF and played for a few hours last night, DFB, Posi 1, some PI teams. I haven't taken any "attacks" from the Bots powers yet but even so it seems to be pretty potent.

Angel of Mons is now 50 I'm struggling with a build. I thought I'd got something good but it proved to be a bit disappointing. Lighting OSA has been a challenge to date. I've only had Apprentice Charm to do it for most of that journey and on SBB that's not viable. I've been working in Mids and I can't divine easily how much I'm debuffing To Hit which is the main strength of this toon - is there a way to do that? I'd be interested in seeing your ideas for a build. I should also think about incarnate powers and I'm curious to know what you good people recommend

We know that every mob we come up against has a range of attacks. We know that the more powerful they are the more attacks they have. We know tht some signature characters have some interesting stuff going on (See Personal Stories if you don't believe me) So I'm building a char and it occurs to me that an enemy (I have an amorphous AV in mind) is attacking me back. Imagine for the moment we are one to one. S/he has a variety of attacks, probably about 5 or 6 at that level. What determines the attacks they use once we are in combat? How are the decisions made for an NPC to attack me? I understand that if I'm at range there won't be many melee attacks aimed in my general direction but say s/he has 3 range and 2 melee, I'm outside of melee distance, what actually determines the next attck used? Is it the next cab off the rank? The most damage dealt? A random choice? Cthullhu made me do it? A Nemesis plot? What I'm driving at is simple: Is there an attack chain that NPCs use? Is it predictable? Do they all use the same chain (or not)? etc etc Knowing your enemy's move can save the day.

This is basically it. I don't wanna be constantly button mashing but I actually want to be masterminding my pets, while they deal with the enemy

I have rolled a Beast/FF but I'm thinking a Bots/FF needs to be made too. I dislike the look of Bots... they look too dated for the modern game IMO (yeah I know, we don't even have fingers so why complain?) but they just do

You make some very interesting points. I'm not sure Stealth would work. I do use it a lot on squshies... I use it as a means to get from A2B with the minimum of hassle, as a mule for LotG, and as a last resort to boost my Def, which is less than efficient but if you got it and slotted a global rech, a +Def and the movement speed isn't so expensive for just one slot (though in my case my diverticulitis reminds me that movement speed isn't all it's cracked up to be) Group Fly: I have so much antipathy to it because of its rep and the fact I hate when folk use it on me... but I do see where you're at there. Storm is amazing as a set. I'm a big fan and you get Freezing Rain as a T5 - it's Sleet only accessible much earlier and one of the best single power debuffs in game. Plus I love knockback. I think those who bleat about it need their head seeing to... (although I do remember on live playing a scrapper and having an energy blaster target through me so I almost never hit my target) Let's assume I make a Bots/FF, what do I take as an APP, and also Pools?

I dislike Sonic for the effects (if you're a Brit and old like me you'll remember ReddyBrek adverts and understand some of this) and I think Liquify is seriously sub par. To my mind, Sonic is less useful than Thermal which isn't really a stand off set (but does have some yummy debuffs and helps keep the nastiness at bay. O2 Boost is delicious - provided that you keep reminding yourself that it's not a heal, it's a superior buff with a tiny heal component. It's pretty well like Clear Mind only faster and more useful. On teams with lots of Mez it's beautiful but nobody knows how useful it is because they never get mezzed and forget to thank you for keeping them in the game 🤣

one of the things I like about Traps rather than say FF or Storm is that it's got a good self-heal.

I've been interested in making some "Stand-Off" characters (you might see the thread in GD) By Stand Off I mean that I can stay relatively still and my enemies don't get close enough to me to do me damage. I'm having great fun with a Dark/TA troller currently but I wanted to try an MM. I'm not keen on the original MM pets but I'm thinking Beasts might be a very solid "defensive" choice - I've had experience with them before and enjoy them and given they are mostly melee, they'd be good at destroying anything that gets too close. I'm thinking maybe /Traps or /Storm as secondaries - Traps is probably a lot more "Stand Off" but Storm can just throw stuff around so if they get close they can be sent to the corner right away. Any other thoughts as to what would work as a Stand Off MM? I'm open to all suggestions despite my stated preference.

That's what she said!

In other news, moles are now in charge of terraforming our planet and creating new mountain ranges

There's a significant story progression between 1 & 2. I believe that Posi 2 is basically higher level to encourage players to choose them in order when at a playable level. If you've never done them before they add to your knowledge and understanding of game lore, so to have them equal or lower levels may give you the wrong orders It's clear as mud, I know but I believe that is the intent behind it