Snarky

This is what I mean exactly. I know how to find (most) everyone. But sometimes they think they should not talk to me!

I just leveled a Ice Ice through all TF SF and it was smooth and wonderful. Worst? One of the best! Pure Tank. Massive Agro control, great armor. Owns the room like a rockstar. Farmer? Nope! TF Rockstar! Oooooooh yeeeeaaaahhhhhhh!!!

I run a bit of solo story arcs. Always an issue when you outlevel them. I do not know if this is possible. Open every contact to anyone above the contacts minimum level. This way you have access to the entire game and not just the ouro arcs. Also, these would be "part of your world" unlike Ouro that is "a different timeline" I suppose this might only be doable for 50s? Possibly anyone over max level of contact could also do it? Then you would walk up to the contact and start their missions as if you were low level. I assume being auto examplared while you were doing the contact. Character chooses when to break connection. One mission, one arc, all arcs, all content until the contact says "I have nothing more for you check your other contacts."

I would assume the number of presents opened in one zone is 200 to spawn the Winter Lord. Data point for that is...Redside. Bestside. To spawn the Cap Au Diable Giant Monster a total of 100 gremlins at power plants need to be killed. (total by everyone ever, then spawn, counter reset) The number of Gremlins needed to be killed by an individual to get the gremlin badge? 100! The number of presents needed to be opened to get a badge? 200!

is this the personification of Hanlon's Razor?

If your concept requires a rifle go beam rifle. They are the flat out best Single Target damage in the game Always welcome on teams hitting hard targets. I pair mine with temporal but energy would work as well. If you want to clean rooms Fire primary. If its dead it cannot hit you Personally i am now on a Dark Temporal. Lot of utility. Dark Temp Soul has three ST holds. Its amazing the things that will stop and dpin in the air. Great for neutralizing things like paragon prot before the mog.

You are not far wrong. I will post the build in the next day or two. 50d it this weekend and have been busy badging and TFs. But yes, lot of ranged defense. 50% or so while “in combat” if I remember. I took Musculature for the Alpha but chose the odd 33% instead of 45 due to the secondary buffs and my perception that the difference between the 33% and 45% was negligible. And the secondary buffs on Dark/Temp were near perfectly aligned. Any thoughts?

Honestly for solo leveling Scrapper will be faster clearing story arcs. (With good powersets and build). Or if you want super safe just run a Energy/Willpower Brute. At anything even level that will grind through

If you really want to understand this it is pretty easy to see. Take one Dark Armor tank or brute. Crank a mission with a ton of Longbow to 1x8. (For speed). Then go in and start combat You will notice the spawn that you engage with behaves normally. The spawn standing next to them will not behave normal. Which would be to attack you. And wander over as you chew the spawn down below 17. Nope. They just stand there oblivious as you eat their friends. It behaves differently than stealth in the game. Lets call it something else. Oh, perfect name. Lets call it “Cloak of Darkness”

I am a bit of a purist. I will over reach on to hit accuracy, recharge and 1 more point of resistance rather than consider anything like defense. And that can be a weakness. Or a STRENGTH!! Thanks for the deeper look

I do not know the data. And this may have changed when the Devs recently gutted the long standing agro rules to ensure mobs far away attack you no matter what. Disclaimer made In my 6 months non stop running of a Dark Dark Brute (very similar to Tank) you could run in solo to a room with a hundred longbow. ONLY the group in your aura (and those interconnected as same spawn) will notice and attack you. The guys clumped a few feet away as a separate spawn. They stand around smoking cigarettes wondering why their friends keep disappearing This does not apply to groups with stealth penetrating tech. Rikti, Rularuu, Nemesis. Etc

A good modern toaster has enough processing power. You will need a video card though

Rarely do I disagree with you Hyperstrike. I am standing my ground on this one. I fully agree with your layered mitigation. THAT is what Dark Dark has. Non Suppressed Stealth. A Stun Aura. A Fear Aura. To-hit Debuffs. High Resistance values (which are their own debuff resistance.) Best heal in the game up every few seconds. I am saying build Dark Dark to THOSE strengths. Rather than looking at it and right from the time you pull up to the curb be like "hmmmmm, how can I get this to be the same as Invulnerability?"

I never knew it was called that but I think of this daily as I drive through big city traffic

That is the way it goes. What is best for you is the best. For me that still varies a little with my mood and the task at hand. But I have very particular ideas what I like. Glad you found what you like!

I do a lot of robot stuff. The real trick is the blend. Look at ascension, the gloves and boots. Technically i do not think that costume set is mechanical, but it works to add a completely different theme to a robot design. Then that closes the door on a bland set and screams make the final product be something

I could not tell if you posted your build or just that snippet of armor screen shot. You think I misconceive how to build and run Dark Dark. Okay, your opinion. Very BIG opinion. Hats off for making a stand. In my view, Dark is different than all other armors. For a variety of reasons. The first is non suppressing stealth. This is...Defense. Then you have a Fear aura. This is Defense. Then you have a stun aura. This is defense. Dark Dark puts out a buttload of to-hit debuffs. This is....Defense. In my view that is the Defense the Armor has, your focus on that. That is why I run high accuracy and to hit buffs. My Auras pound any minions that get near me. Long enough, and that is all I need. Mitigate the incoming damage and the best heal in the game that is up every few seconds takes care of the rest. The auras do not affect EBs and AVs. The super high resistance values I run (and the fact that I am stealthed until I WANT to face that boss/av....) do the lifting. Without an army of minions backing up a Boss/AV with cheap shots (they cannot see me or they are feared/stunned) my resistance and heal are just fine. Now, maybe I hilariously misconceive what is going on with Dak Dark Tanks. But I ran a Dark Dark Brute using these concepts daily for over six months. I can show you the toon in game. Badges and all. For me it worked quite well. I am considering moving to Tanks as the current Dev writing completely favors the Tank AT in my opinion. Especially on the Dark Dark.

Let me point out something real bedrock to Dark Armor. You have NO Defense Debuff Resistance. So in some fights (the tougher ones) kiss your Defense goodbye. Sorry you built for it. Worthless.

I am giving this a whirl. I try to stay Dark to fit my undead theme. Darkness Manipulation is just too unwieldy for me even if you are committed to serious jousting. One thing I noticed that is nice. When you make a Dark/Temporal/Soul you get 3hree ST holds! Now I like 2 for Victoria robots and helping with late game weirdness. But 3! Hello low level Paragon Protectors! Late game Hello Minds of Madness. And I do not think a Vicky will ever break free from me again lol. I am going to be seriously useful in a LGTF as well. I have not made a build for it yet. I have my Dark Dark, Elec Temp pulled up and am trying to cram them together into a coherent synergistic monstrosity. Ranged defense, stealth, only blipping in to Blackstar will be signatures of the run.

I remember a college art exhibition. I entered a drawing a man holding up a skull of an antelope. It was from a picture i found so the concept was not mine. It was in colored pencil. My technique was mostly good. My command of color and attention to detail very good. Did not get accepted. As i was picking up the piece in the reject phase the man handing it to me spoke with me. Told me it was very nice. Just so happened they had a guest judge who wanted a woman themed art show. No one mentioned that in the art show announcement….

I mean bland bland. My favorite contests were private ones Cosmic Council used to hold regular. themed. Lot of great designers. I remember I was going for a fireman look and could not get the jacket right. So I made something else. In walked a costume that used 3 pieces to create a firemans jacket that I never would have dreamed of doing. Tip of the hat, and if I remember that person placed but did not win. Because....better costumes.....

i know exactly! wait...wha.....

beauty is in the eye of the beholder and all that. bullshit, i been to art school i am seeing people regularly place in contests in outfits so bland i would delete the toon...

So much more...

I have a Blaster I built that was inspired by a Blaster that joined me (on a Brute) when I was farming. They would fly in and do damage while I had agro then zip away (and use phase shift) when they took heat. It worked pretty good. So….I made my Elec/Temp Blaster. 50%+ ranged defense, all ranged attacks including nuke and judgement, phase shift AND personal force field. This thing is an easy long range farmer. Prefers to work with a Tank or Brute on a large open area. City blocks or carnie tents type maps.