KaizenSoze

One thing I would like to clarify. Initially I want to create macros for the low level TF/SF. There are plenty of folks willing to run the iTrials. Ukase among them, know them like the back of their hand. I think it's the low level ones TF/SF that need the most help. This is when folks have their first experience running a TF. Examples of tips that should be provided: Posi 1: Last mission description of how to avoid triggering the ambush too early. Drowning in Blood: Which contacts to use to progress from zone to zone. How the battle against the twins unfolds. Evening some high level ones could use help like Lady Gray. So, many little details that need to be typed out.

If you look the guide forum, there isn't a guide for SIlver Mantis. At best there is the HC wiki page, but that not something you can cut and paste into a team chat easily. Also, the macros could contain nice tricks like pulling Duray back into the ship. Another example: Lady Gray's TF. "Kill the pylons, but leave the RIkti. They distract the mitos." Then the description for each mito weakness. Maybe, I should make a teaming 101 tutorial video guide.

I have seen some comments about players being nervous to create task forces. Because, they don't know a particular task or strike force well enough. I had a thought, maybe we could create a list of text macros that players could use for each mission in a TF. Something that would provide direction for that mission if needed. Examples for SIlver Mantis: "We just need to click the six glowies and defeat the two named boss spawns" "Once, Duray appears I will step back into the ship and fire Assemble the Team. So, we can fight him inside the ship, for an easier fight. Please, accept the ATT when it appears." Then we can create a guide for each TF/SF.

Toons with type defense sets like Energy Aura and Ice are actually going to be bit better due to the toxic/psi improvements. Now, toons without defense sets, like blasters, defenders, dominators, etc... In general I play VEATs (positional defense) and defenders, blasters, controllers, and masterminds. My defenders, blasters, etc... were fine with their existing defenses in my testing.

I think you are overstating the amount of change. Yes, positional defense is now slightly more desirable. The amount of enemies that actually got their attack types changes that will have a noticeable effect is small. Maybe one or two mobs in an entire enemy group got one or two of their attacks changed. More of the nasty groups were already using non-s/l typed attacks. Ones I personally know about from testing or other's testing: CoT: Ice thorn casters, minion, Ice sword is now ice/melee, was lethal/cold/melee. Council rifleman, minion, ice/fire projectiles are now ice/fire/ranged, was lethal/ice/fire/ranged Arachnos Toxic Tarantulas got a big boost due to their main attacks using toxic. Really just brings them into line with the other Arachnos boss. Lord Recluse in MLTF got a huge boost, because his attacks are mostly toxic. This is way some toxic/psi defense was added to defense sets in compensation. There are plenty more, but you can look at the attack type changes beta thread Testers are not reporting massive changes in survival due to these changes. I did not run into any road blocks at 4x8 with several toons that was not there before the changes. A lot of attacks are still s/l, so don't throw out s/l defense. For soloing, I think the aggro rule changes will have a bigger effect. No more abusing the aggro cap to stand in the middle of three spawns.

I enjoy difficult content, but I agree that these mission should be level adjustable. Just like DA missions which are also incarnate.

I have run this arc on a few ATs, scrapper and standard Night Widows fared the worst at 4x8. Even fully kitted out. I found that I must use all the solo tricks, LOS pulling, jousting, stringing them out and picking off strays. Scrapper don't joust well, it's tedious, but doable. Standing in melee too long or pulling two groups usually ended badly. Night Widows was doable, non Night Tank version, could joust better and pull better with smoke nade, but suffered badly in melee due to lower hit points. Those crits really hurt. Night Tank version was fine, liberal use of smoke nade, and incredible durability allow her to duke it out in melee. Fortunata was fine, because of the good mix of range/melee/control. Still a couple of crits and it got dicey. The most fun was my elec/ice/mace blaster. Slow, end drain, then move into melee to finish. Lots of jousting, LOS pulling, but still it was a fun challenge. TLDR. I loved the challenge, but can really wreck some toons due to high melee damage. I just had to turn it down, at least the team size if not the difficulty for my melee focused toons.

I understand that some folks might want the old behavior back. My first testing was on Dominators and the pet was almost a liability solo against tough groups. Think 4x8 DA or PI mobs. The pet was so stupidly aggressive that I could not safely prep groups. One memorable experience was peeking around a corner to confuse a BP boss and then watching the pet charge into the spawn at full speed. The pet was much more manageable on a controller, at least with dark/storm/trick arrow. Especially, dark and trick arrow. But there still remained the issue of charging into melee and turning its cone powers effectively into single target powers. The new ranged pet is an improvement IMO, but it has trade offs as people have noted. CoH's core pet AI is not good. The devs have made it better over time, but there is only so much they can do.

From what I have tested, it will be easier to herd when groups are close. They won't wander off if they are a patrol for instance. On a full team, it won't matter a lot, plenty of aggro to go around. Small team or solo, it will be noticeable with more incoming fire. Initial pulls of large rooms might be a bit more exciting. No more using the aggro cap to only have to fight 17 at a time when there are three close groups solo.

At this point I would suggest posting videos to show the differences. Not saying you're right or wrong. Just hard to get context of what people consider fast or slow. A Rad tanker does seem like a good idea. The -defense is really needed for the lowbies to hit. Having been a lowbie many times. The constant missing is frustrating.

One toon I have been testing that is working shockingly well is my Ninja/Trick Arrow Mastermind. So much debuff that rarely anyone dies and lowbies appear to be able to hit things. The ninjas do plenty of damage that I don't have to manage too much. If there is any addition support toons in the team, the ninjas never die. I ran a team for more than 45 mins yesterday. I lost 5 pets the whole time.

Several missions in red side's Mr. G arcs.

Page 5, Council is replaced with, The Awaken. Added to the pool, Rularuu and Malta, yes I know they rarely appear.

I am not saying you have to make a toon specifically for PI radios. What toon do you think would work best running a PI radio team?

We have plenty of thread discussing the page 4 changes. I don't want to talk about that here. Assuming page 4 going forward as is. I expect more teams running PI radios for power leveling. What toon would you use to run PI radios? Not just council, but all possible enemy groups in PI radios. Things I am considering when deciding on a toon: Durability to handle most or all of the aggro This could be thru high defense/resists or massive debuffs Enough damage to complete missions in a reasonable time with sub 50s on the team -defense or toHit, so lowbies can hit +5 mobs -resists, so the lowbies can do some damage to +5 mobs Buffs or healing to keep the lowbies alive Things I haven't thought of... What are your favorite toons to run PI radios to help level others?

Yes, those two Carnie attacks are very annoying. I will sometimes have to retreat till they wear off. But they have always been this way, attack type changes didn't alter them. Mark of Vitiation, ranged, negative: https://cod.uberguy.net/html/power.html?power=carnival.carnival_ring_mistress_inherent.mask_of_vitiation Mask of Weakness, ranged, negative: https://cod.uberguy.net/html/power.html?power=carnival.carnival_steel_strongman.mask_of_weakness&at=lt_grunt

I have quibbles around the power selection order and I am not a big fan of Arctic Breath due to it's cast time and cone size. AOE. If you have enough recharge, which you seem to have, I think Venom and Frag grenade are enough AOE for a Bane. Don't forget that Crowd Control is AOE. Alpha. I use Muscularture Radial. Banes don't have the endurance issues that plague Widows. Unless you proc too much, another reason I don't like Arctic Breath, end expensive. Procs. Poisonous Ray procs above average. So, does Surveillance, but I didn't have the slots to do that. ITF Hardmode. Bane's biggest weakness is no DDR (Defense Debuff Resistance). Teleport. Using Fold Space to pack mobs for nades and Crowd Control really helps. Also, makes the team AOEs more effective. I use /bind lshift+s powexec_location back:35 "Combat Teleport" after fold space to get out the ball of mobs I just created. Here is my current build as food for thought:

Read Luminara's post a few up. He details some of the history of defense in the game.

Final note about controller testing. Unless something changes. If you want to solo regular content I would suggest Symphony/Storm. More team orientated or hard mode content I would Symphony/TA. Of course, you can use either for solo or team. Both can solo 4x8. Trick arrow just brings more debuff that stacks nicely with Symphony for very tough mobs.

I haven't seen this in my testing, but I believe you. It's possible you got very lucky with the rolls. The proc rate on Aria is poor, but if you're hitting enough targets you could get a couple of streaks.

Not true, specifically for Banes, because of the switch between two weapons. Gun and mace. I agree single weapon redraw does not hurt DPS.

Completely agree. Night Widows are good, just Fortunatas are awesome!

I do think Fortunatas are superior to Night Widows. One non-obvious thing Night Widows have over Fortunatas, durability, it is easy to make and manage a much more durable build than Fortunatas. Night Widows have easy perma Mind Link and have slow resists. This advantage is only noticeable in extreme content. Diantane, search for, Night Tank, if you're curious. Going to quibble here. Banes are stalker/debuffer with a nice defense aura. They have two powers that inflict -resist. Huntsman are what Sentinel want to be when they grow up. 🙂 Lots of AOE, high defense, and resists. A flying Huntsman is practically un-killable. The price is your single target damage sucks. One weakness that all Bane/Huntsman/Crab share. No Defense Debuff Resistance, zero, zlitch. You will always take the full debuff hit. This is very noticeable on ITFs. Also, there is no way to turn off weapons redraw, which does eat into your DPS if you are switching between gun and mace attacks. Mostly effects Banes, because you want to use Venom and Frag grenades.

Interesting. I was just testing with my controller and I definitely could CC things. I don't have a super strength toon to test with alas.

I might be mis-understanding. Cimerora mobs are notorious CC resistant, even before the changes. The surgeons are a pain for melee characters.