Snarky

UKASE IN DA HOUSE!!!

Once I met Ukase I realized what DJ Zero was saying in Pocket D allatime... UKASE IN DA HOUSE!!!!!

Ukase is one of the more stubborn individuals you might meet. (A high compliment from me!) I can see the reasoning behind the process and realize good, bad, or ugly that the project will cross the finish line. But yeah, a Dark/Dark Defender seems a tough run. I think it will mostly come down to RNG. Store inspirations in the base and use the allowable base equipment. Take it one mission at a time. Upgrade those DOs and SOs....that is allowed?

This is how a lot of people feel about most of the game it seems. I myself am target focused. I will do X content for A reason. 1) Playing with friends 2) badge 3) merits. 4) experience. I used to run an alt through 4 DFBs, then run as many Task Forces in order to level them as I could. Earn merits, badges, level, good stories for posting about the misery of LFG. Finishing with a couple ITFs and late game TFs. Now I have an alt account farmer and just PL the crap out of alt experiments. In a few hours I can stand up a 50 and slap a build on. Then go back and run Posi 1/2, Synapse etc to see if the build plays at all like what I thought. This game has a lot of content. Not infinite, but a good warehouse full. But people need a REASON to run it. That is just human nature. Add 5 weekly story arcs (with increased rewards and a way to figure if peeps were there for everything not just final mission - I assume through everyone doing the contact simultaneously) to the weekly TFs and slap on a badge for doing 100 weekly story arcs.... Carrot, not stick. Works real good.

THank you. I will now monitor stealth radius for constant feedback. I am also taking Placate. As a dedicated solo character that has got to help, plus I want to learn how to most effectively use it.

I run both. THe Hold is important and useful in certain fights. The animation is slightly too long on a fast rolling team unless you NEED the hold. Like Ice Patch, it is a power I took but only use when I need that exact thing. (I stay at range so Ice Patch is an indication things went south)

Yes I do the unlocks. Veluta no longer requires an unlock in PO. Or if she still does it must be easy. My last run was over the winter and the only unlocks that I remember were a pain was one in Grandville and one in Nerva. Arbiter Leary in Nerva requires you to do the Treespec trial first. I solo'd this last time (on a Dark/Dark Brute) and let an army of temp pets storm the AV tree. Number 204 in Grandville has a very interesting story. 50 toxic tarantulas to unlock. Pain in the tookus.

Danged Ukase. I read this last night and was like "this is madness." I came over this morning to give a thumbs up to the hardcore gamer and was like....ooooohhhh lol. Good luck with this. Of course, I know you will do well. I am pretty sure with a little luck you will have a decent build as well. Well, Thumbs up!

Americans (and that is mostly what we got) are conditioned to have a certain market mentality. Bread is always X, gas is always Y. If the prices change dramatically over a short period of time "Dark forces are at work" I am a victim of this type of thinking but I am aware. The prices spiking for me this weekend were just a catalyst to change the way I handle recipe drops. I spend too much time crafting and converting garbage to get 3 mil a enhancer, which works out to a little more than two million after market fees. And how many converters did i burn to get that 2 mil? Plus the LOOOOONG time investment. Time is money. I/O prices have been on a steady march down. This is where I get off.

Nice! Glad to know there are others that really enjoy the Redside experience. I’m not sure j could do it on a Fender. As it is I still want to Brute once in a while. But overall enjoying the Stalker vibe I tend to shut exp off. Then when ready for the next level bump i farm for 5 min and get the 5 levels and re shut off. Just makes stuff less complicated for me and i can focus on the story arcs. It is a little longer after 34 but then you only have 3 pushes to go

one 4 pt -KB in anything solves 98% of KB issues in game. You keep missing, they never miss. or you hit but could not kill. On a Blaster. To me this SCREAMS they were way above your level. It could be comically bad luck, but pretty sure you were in over the head of your Blaster.

Evil or not I just know the Rare prices spiked. So I am rethinking my entire crafting strategies. i can farm for the amount of time I craft and make equal or better cash. So, the price spike is just the kick I needed to stop crafting. so, count my few hundred weekly drop of perf shifters, numinas, and various other little i/o out of the market. I can sell the rares and use the merits to do other things to make money, no doubt either making the same or more for much less time investment.

I had heard salvage was seeded in the Market. I always assumed that 500k was the point the Devs had a gajillion rare salvage loaded at. I usually buy reare at 425-475 and once in a while at 500k. I was seriously shocked (and pissed!) that prices climbed to the 600-1m mark this weekend. I craft and sell and most of my stuff goes for around 3 million. That is after crafting costs, salvage costs, the converters I burn and then market price. It is not a huge margin. I just want to move the stuff and like to keep the community in low priced Perf Shifters, Numinas etc. But if the price of rares go up I may end up changing my ways. (I tend not to change back once I alter my behavior) so that would be a few hundred enhancers each week that are NOT on the Excelsior market anymore. It takes a bit of work to craft all that crap and I can earn more farming. The recipes i can burn at this price and make more money.

In the back of my mind is always the next solo Redside project. I have always done these on Brutes. Many times the exact same SS/Will (especially on live). But this time I knew it would be different. I auditioned a LOT of ATs and builds. No one was as surprised as me that I just rolled a Stalker (not even a tested or examined option) and started the run on Saturday. Woot! I chose a Dark/Invul for the Vampire theme named Snarkula. Dark/Dark might be slightly more thematic. But Dark/Invul is one of my all time melee favorites. Also, I am writing a little story about this vamp and the Invul part is definitely in play. Lot of good writing behind "they shoot you in the head, and then freak out when they realize it had no effect." Well, I think it is funny at least. I have just finished all arcs in Mercy. (Except Fire Wire which is mutually exclusive with another contact and must be picked up in Ouro later) This is pretty much on easy mode. Ton of cash dropped onto the character and all the P2W goodies. The run is at +0/x1, bosses okay, No AVs. I have an alt account now so I did something a little different. I booted up both comps and ran Lord Schweinzers nine bank missions to get Invader Accolade. I tried to get a Redside DFB going for the 4 buffs. Now I usually go Rogue in the last few years and get these Blueside. But I decided this will be a pure Red toon. I managed an 8 person team for 1 run, and we had 4 stay for a rough second run. That netted me Dam and AC buffs until 22. Missed the harder to get badge both times. Sigh. Will keep a weather eye on LFG for a couple more Redside DFBs. I am grimly looking at my prospects of getting four DiBs for buffs to 30. Might have to recruit some guildies using guilt and bribes. I do every contact on every map, stopping experience to do so. When I "do a contact" I mean every story arc, every side mission, every thing they have until they tell me to stop bothering them and they got nothing else. Finally, Mercy Island. How I love thee. I listen to so much trash talk about Mercy. The complaints about the story lines meaning nothing. The whines about being an errand boy/girl. Sigh. Such schmucks. It is all right there, perfect. A Shakespearean play in all it's ugly little glory. The dialogue in Dr Graves arc sucks mighty, I will give you that. The mechanics are a lot of nothing as well. But the story itself? That had a lot of potential. The bones of that story are a solid supervillain arc, and a wonderful couple plot twists. It was just never edited, like, at all. I read nearly every dialogue box in all the Mercy arcs, but I had to skim the Dr Graves arc. Just too damn painful. But overall Mercy Island is an introduction to the life of a low level SUPER villain. Who uses their powers to kill scores of individuals who get in the way of the evil schemes that need to be accomplished. The sinister organizations, the mad scientists, the crazy loyal villains, the crazy independent villains. The weird and alien enemy groups. The corrupt cops. Such a grim little tableau. I have bid adieu to Mercy now and am moving on to Port Oakes. Mr Bocor, the Radio, doing some odd 'work' for the Family. Good times to be had there. See you in the cities villains.

Throw a tomato? Why waste it. This is a LOT of stupid all bundled up in one example. I started a new Stalker to solo all Redside with. Have completed seven of the contacts on Mercy. Currently level 8. He has 4 (4!) F O U R Single Origin Enhancers. and no, please do not multiply 4x4x4 and try to claim I said 64... If those SO were not available through merchant I used to stockpile DFB ones and buy some from Auction for later use and store in my base. But if there were no SOs pre 25 I would (oh no!) have used Dual Origin. And have. And it doesnt make a squat to of difference in clear times on these stupid missions. So, stay up on your soapbox rambling about that nonsense. I'll save the tomato

It just happened again on a cargo ship full of wyvern. irritating. level 8 mission from Dr Creed. I killed one two guys and moved to the next room. but i know that is a 'soft' mission divider not a separate area. and was being attacked (damn arrows) while 'hidden' I am 60% sure it is because they were all part of the same wyvern pod. just damned hard to calculate.

as i play i am realizing there is a difference between "hidden" and "no one knows you are there" if i assassin strike a target and use a jet pack to fly off, and become "hidden" their buddy is still pissed as hell. i think with the large groups of snakes i may have been encountering part of the "linked group" of someone i killed. but that is a guess. at the time it did not seem that way. between the targeted ambushes in the bank and the attackers who are part of the same group that may be the entire explanation. but again, just guessing. Does Hide need Invisibility in later game content? The power specifically says it stacks. I really wanted to run a stealth character.

i get what you mean about the targeted ambushes okay. But i was running kalinda/burke/mongoose missions and getting spotted (and attacked) by snakes while i had the power Hide activated and running with message "Hidden" up while inside missions. not sure what to expect from this power as i level, but if level 1 minions are agro on me while stealthed i do not expect much

nope running invul with only hide and one non toggle dam reduction going in some bank missions i was running (my 50 alt farmer acct) the farmer running two damage autas. guards and longbow run past the farmer to find me hidden in a vault dead end and wail on the hidden stalker. new to stalkers but seems like a crap power.

So unless I am wearing really squeaky shoes Hide is not working the way I thought it would. I had assumed it was "Invisible" until I attacked. There are level 1 minion snakes on Mercy that are like "What the F you looking at hidey stalker?" and come over and attack me....

ITF is not "end game" now. It is end game adjacent. Same high rent, less cool stuff.

It would have been a veey different game if we has an option to pacify Marauder (even briefly) with control powers. Especially if it did not screw the badge. Just open a one or two second window for league damage with level 4 mez or something

For Dominators accuracy and +mobs this is largely not an issue. They tend to slot for global recharge. A LOT of sets that give global recharge also give global accuracy, and not just purple sets. There is a lot of sets out there that follow that pattern. What kills it for control types is the trials. Name some fights where you really get to use control effectively. BAF, Lambda? Keyes? TPN? Maybe a little inside the buildings. Magisterium? lol. Maybe some of the Underground stuff. The Devs used very choreographed setups to ensure we do not just control and burn stuff. So....

Yeah, I went Dark/Invul. One of my first Brute beast builds on live. Very good times. This will be a very slow crawl Redside, doing every contact/arc/side mission. So...the build is not going to be primary importance for a while. Pre 20 everyone is lucky to cram a couple slots on things lol. I will be using Hyperstrike's template and the ideas from the pinned Stalker guide to throw together something Tanky yet Stalkery. I will post it after I make a first pass and see what can be tuned.

I would say that at incarnate level Dom and Trollers usefulness drops off quite a bit. The damage they give up for control is not coming back. The control is either useless or not necessary in a lot of high end content Sentinels and Crab Spiders invested in a multi faceted AT and in end game that suffers a bit where pure damage is king. Other squishies are propped up by league buffs with no investment in armor