Mezmera

Just as an fyi my point is not off topic if there's an insinuation directed the way of being critical of an attack chain nerf to DP. I logged onto my Trick Arrow / Dual Pistols Defender on Beta first before coming to speak in this topic so I am giving focused feedback. I alted to my 2nd build with Standard Ammo that has Suppressive Fire and Piercing Rounds. I wanted to see how the weapon redraw would now affect both pistols and the bow running together along with what I surmised would be a lowering of performance for the DP powers adjusted. The animations being more fluid is nice but I'll never alt to my 2nd build with those powers ever. The output was noticeably less. I'll never take the hold on DP again with that low dpa and I guess I will work in Piercing Rounds into my Chem Ammo build since I'm on a debuffer anywho, although that animation is atrociously long. It's working as intended is the feedback given although I'm not sure that's all a good thing.

DP lacks any major ST dpa attack like some of the other better assaults like fire and ice blast. Ice lacks a snipe which it makes up for with major ST damage along with a few highly procable powers a few of which are holds (one with more ideal recharge rate). Fire has raw damage output through fast animating high damage attacks in Blaze and its snipe. DP sacrifices fast animations with raw damage and snipes to have some neat proc'ing powers. If we're going to remove the best powers to proc then the ST damage is very lackluster and its aoe is just okay.

This nerfs the capable damage output big time. This does not give you another viable attack in your chain. At that old recharge time any damage proc you dropped in there had a 90% chance to fire. Since holds have a ton of damage procs you're losing out on 1 Moderate damage and 3 minor damage boost plus any last proc you want to toss in there to use that good fire rate like a Decimation proc just to lose all of that for a moderate damage. Big nerf on this attack in your chain.

At a quick first glance speaking on Dual Pistols this seems like a net nerf even with the redraw speeding up attacks a smidge. The redraw cleanup is great for all weapon sets sure but how good was it going to be that it all out nerfs the proc rate of the hold? Then there's the Piercing Rounds change that sure it's nice to now have that resistance debuff capable on all ammo builds but removing the ability to stack on itself is a half nerf since on some builds that are spec'd to standard ammo made use of this nice resistance debuff along with how great the hold used to detonate procs. It feels like we've taken a midtier powerset which with some creativity you could do some unique things to put yourself close to the almighty blaze/blazing bolt and removed the viability of building around Suppressive Fire and Piercing Rounds to stay competitive with other assaults.

Yes Spinning Strike with the bigger aoe now and having highest damage is quite nice, you can also slot a Force Feedback proc into it which it'll always fire. Typically yes I'll hit Combat Readiness into a Shield Charge then let the targets I just aggro'd group up on me a bit then I'll use Spinning Strike while the BU effect is still active. Then if the target count is low with tougher targets then I'll make use of the Crushing Uppercut with the max stacks. CU is real good it's both a hold and a stun and can slot lots of interesting procs which are sure fire based on the powers internal recharge even if you slot in some recharge. It is also pretty easy to build up to max combo with the other faster attacks like Rib Cracker and the t1 so that it's not just the BU effect that's optimizing your top damage output which other sets can't match. I have a StJ Stalker so I knew it was a strong set with top tier ST damage only second to the newly revamped EM so I gave it a chance on tank long ago. The problem was always how small Spinning Strike was but with the added area it feels great now for the damage it puts out.

Street Justice is quite a good secondary if you know how to make use of it. The biggest gripe about StJ before the tanker revamp was how small the aoes were but now that Spinning Strike is 9ft instead of 6ft it does feel a lot more useful. One of the best things about StJ is that the combo mechanic at max stacks will allow you to do highest damage comparably to any other tankers best aoe or ST attack. Max stack Spinning Strike does the best aoe damage and you have that uber Shield Charge to fill in for any extra aoe that you ma feel might be missing. A max stack Crushing Uppercut is the best ST damage you can get on a tank and it also procs really well even if you have the power slotted with a bit of a set. You can slot all kinds of hold procs into this one which on my proc build I have 3 of the Hecatombs with the dmg proc and then 3 more hold dmg procs, on my regular tanky build I sub in 2 of the Entombs with that nice Absorb Proc which between that and the tanker one I have a 900+ absorb shield always running. Then Rib Cracker is a nice little attack which comes with some debuffing of the targets resistances and damage output. Street Justice is a very fun and fluid set that you can get by with paring down to the best stuff which will allow you room for other things.

Honestly the sets we do have are already quite good. I think that's why we won't see new sets for Healing, Defense and Resists in terms of purples or winter sets. With how good most of those sets already are and the various special IO's in those sets I couldn't imagine what kind of OP unique they'd have to come up with to top all of the current ones.

I for one would like to see the last 4 incarnate powers introduced along with some more itrials to warrant their introduction. Once introduced it would be easy for a lot of people to instantly build their t4's which might take a little shine off of them so the t4 Very Rare salvage I'd only like to see get rewarded from any new itrials. Another thing though is that the devs are doing a good job of compensating for how much stronger you get with all of you and your teams incarnates so it might be tough with their current Hard Mode to compensate for additional incarnate powers. So it would have to be something where these last 4 that would get added would need to make you choose which can be active. It would be something where you would align the powers next to the current tiers and select which of them is active. For instance you could only have one of the Alpha or Omega active, then there'd be the Interface, Judgement and then a new power in that row and you could only have 2 of the 3 active, same with the Destiny and Lore row and Hybrid. That way if they make some new great incarnates by having them it just doesn't make all of their new stuff they are creating obsolete because you would have to lose either the Lore or Destiny spot which are both some real powerful powers.

But that's always happened. Way back when Excelsior was created there was a big SG called Phoenix Force that were able to put together the first runs of Hami on the server with just their members. The leads didn't stick around as long as Cosmic's and when that happens with no one to take the bull by the horns and constantly organize stuff then people find other avenues to join in on playing. That Cosmic has been able to maintain activities as long as it had is a testament to the dedicated leadership. But eventually people move on or take time off. The culprit is no one thing and specifically not the HM content or anything supposedly gating anyone. I'd say its the lack of content in such a long time is one thing causing people to take extended breaks more than anything.

Well what's better than building a "steady state" tank? One that is steady and can add some extra cheesecake on the side from time to time when it could really come in handy. I try to avoid using OWS if I don't have to but it's a decent little power to slot for some more bonuses and it's a manageable crash, nothing as absurd as Unstoppable.

I'll give you a general take on what I like to do with the armor. First off I always go with one of the alpha's t4 with defense values either Nerve or Agility since it gives you good values over ED curve and you can short slot some defenses with Gamblers and still pull in good numbers. Another thing I like to do on my tank is also build in decent psi resists from some Impervium Armors. I build in as much resistances that I can aiming specifically for toxic/psi/energy/negative since you can come across a lot of fire/cold bonuses easy. And I +5 everything that I can. Deflection: I do 2 Titanium Coating, Steadfast unique, Impervium Psi res and the 2 lotg like yours. If I wasn't going for psi resist I'd slot this as you have it and put the Steadfast into True Grit. True Grit: 2 Titanium Coating, Impervium Psi res, 3 Numinas with the Unique (or Preventative Medicine). I have the full Preventative set in a heal so I use half the Numi's here. Battle Agility: 4 Shield Walls all +5. You can enhance the DDR in this power so I make sure to slot the defense very well in this one Active Defenses: 1 50+5 recharge Against All Odds: 1 50+5 End Redux. Not sure how well that psi proc will fire for efficiency's sake. Grant Cover: 1 50+5 Lotg +recharge Phalanx Fighting: 1 50+5 lotg +recharge (this has a very tight aoe to get use out of stacking allies so I find this power to be skippable if I had to skip an armor) Shield Charge: 6 Armageddon's. One With the Shield: At least 4 Unbreakable Guards and I put the unique here. This is a nice Oh Shit power which doesn't carry a harsh crash and it gives a nice HP buff for a while. Nice power to have in your pocket.

If the proc nerf ever does happen and is so bad that it will not fire off even when there's just the one proc in the power then I think the biggest issue then would be a lack of player base to play with.

Yes and procs ignite them as well. My DP ignites the Oil easy even when I'm not running Fire ammo. With the Armageddon fire proc in my pbaoe nuke it always ignites the Oil patch without me ever needing to target it. Same with any energy procs.

Yes I HAD to learn how to bind stuff with all of those target location powers. Once I did my TA became lots of fun to play and real good since I didn't have to fidget with pointing and dropping 3 of those powers. Playing this made me better on all of my other characters. I bound the EMP, Oil and Glue arrows with the powexec_location to fire 15ft in front of me and then bound Disruption Arrow to my right mouse button so I had freedom to point it wherever needed and I use it a lot.

Yes my TA/DP defender is my top 3 favorite characters to play. She just melts stuff.

Fire or Cold would be the best ones to pair with the TA yes. Cold for more damage and better single target damage. Fire for strong ST damage and great aoe damage plus you'll want to mainly build Fire attacks with sets since its more beneficial to use sets instead of just all out procing. TA is a great debuffer set, tons of aoe debuffs and you get some very special stuff in Acid Arrow and Ice Arrow that'll make yours and everyone else's stuff much more potent. Take all the arrows that you can, if you must skip any Glue and Net would be the ones. And you'll want to set up some target location binds so you can get those arrows out fast. The debuffs last usually a minute so you don't need to spam your arrows since they won't stack on each other but rather get them all out then get into your attack chain until you need to move again which the arrows will recharge fast to travel well with you.

Yes but its an inconvenient one because you have to remain full villain which locks you out of 60-70% extra stuff you can play. Once my characters are done accolading I'll switch to Rogue to be able to play everything and never switch again.

Are you questioning whether a Vampire is good at his job?

My Dual Pistols defender has Power Build Up with a full set of Gaussian +5 which the proc still is sure fire for massive damage. Just gotta think outside the box a little. Chem ammo's -dmg debuff is very noticeable and invaluable in the hard mode content. Using your aoe's on mobs you're netting the team 40%+ damage resistances which any resistances to that would at worst take it to high 20's%. Still quite a good bit of survivability you're bringing to the team. Then outside of that you can switch to Fire rounds to provide more damage. My DP defender also has a 2nd build strictly for standard ammo which that -resistance attack then becomes useful albeit it is a slow animation which is why I don't like it much to begin with.

Swap Ammo is actually pretty strong on Defenders. Chem Ammo gets quite a bit of -dmg debuffing, near 40% with a few of the aoes, that's pretty much like giving your team resistance shields but they're not beholden to a cap. I find when I'm doing the extra hard content I run Chem Ammo and everything else I can switch to Incendiary Rounds. Beam feels a little clunky with little aoe but it does have some decent -regen and -resist. I enjoy playing my DP toons, not so much for my Beam ones.

My Energy Melee stalker is Invuln but I have experience with Shield. As far as EM goes your chain will go Total Focus, ET, AS hopefully another ET or an epic Snipe. You'll rarely use Barrage so if your setting it for bonuses fine, I would not take Bone Smasher. I'd take all of your armors and slot them well, True Grit for resists and HP, Deflection I use 4 slots for resists and 2 Lotgs. Power Crash is meh but if you take it I'd 5 slot it with the winter set. Your aoe will come greatly from Shield Charge.

All the various debuffs in Ice Arrow with all that -special plus the fact it procs well make this a hard one to skip. It makes things like holds and all types of stuff better on target, I could never fathom not having this in my attack chain. I wouldn't skip any arrows but if I had to Net and Glue arrows are the ones I'd likely drop if I had to.

Soul Mastery all day! If you choose an assault that is light on aoe but has great ST damage consolidated into a few bruising powers like Energy Assault you can just take the best powers and then use Soul to fill in your aoe. Soul might be a little less optimal on more aoe oriented assaults like Psi though. First you get Soul Drain which nets you 100% damage boost and 30% tohitt boost for 30s every other 30s. Not only does it do that but it also does good pbaoe damage on its own and procs decent, hell of an attack to supplement into your chain. Then there's Dark Obliteration which is a nice fast animating and fast recharging target aoe blast that hits 16 targets for decent damage and it feeds some -tohitt. Powered with the damage boost from Soul Drain Obliteration is Fireball-lite. Lastly another overlooked power is Dark Consumption. The recharge is quite high so this thing is set for proc bombing and since you're a dommie building for recharge this attack will recharge well. Any procs you slot in this will fire on 9 out of 10 targets guaranteed which I have the gladiator -resistance proc which at -20% resistance nets me most of the value of going Ice Mastery for sleet at probably 3x the recharge though, but it'll shine bright on AVs. Then you can also load all kinds of other damage procs. Yet another power that supplements more aoe damage for your dom. It also doubles as an endurance refill if you're far off from reclicking domination. Bigtime power. To top it all off the epic armor is one of the best doms can get and heck even the Seer pet at boss level does decent damage and can amp up your dps on AV fights. The 3 aoe attacks are arguably the best ones doms have access to with a few exceptions like Drain Psyche, all packed into one fabulous epic pool.

It's the optimal thing for you to do. Why wouldn't you want to build your tank into the tankiest thing in the game if you have the know-how to do it? Isn't tanking what is expected when teammates see your symbol? I've sacrificed no real damage uptick or anything else that would make me more effective running all content than maximizing my ability to tank aggro at full throttle save for not going with Fold Space. My tank set up as she is can pull even some of the puggiest teams through these in good order as long as I know to build the team for a few essentials. I can tank the first 16 targets and since I'm aware of the increased perception enemies have in these I am much more mindful to watch for incoming aggro from the side so I can head it off before it reaches the team. Once you absorb the alpha the team tends to settle into each group so if we over aggro I'll pick up that incoming alpha since the team should have a handle on the current group. Most other content in the game is so laughably easy that I would just hop onto a blaster or something to 'tank' regular content, so yes I have more damaging characters to breeze through normal+ content if needed. You're not doing your job as the tank if you're not maximizing what you can do and just assuming others can carry the day for you. What this hardmode stuff has done is get me to play characters to their max ability throughout all content. Instead of thinking high benchmarks are a bad thing maybe you should strive to get more creative so if it falls to you that you're able to be relied upon to get your team through one of these superhero.

Well once you go perma you'll not want to come out of it if you can avoid that. I don't even like losing domination when I'm goofing off semi-afk.