Why so many Ancillary/Ppatron pools

[TIto Vendetta]

I understand the need thematically but from a game standpoint, it would appear at least from what I am seeing in the forums, there is nothing but followers.(or infiltrators) of Black Scorpion, why bother with anything else

[macskull]

Anecdotally, most of my builds don't use Mace Mastery. Mace might be the most attractive option for many Defender/Corruptor builds because it's the only defense armor you can get, but it's far from the only one.

[Apparition]

Not to mention you can get Charged Armor from Mu Mastery on defense-based Defenders and Corruptors for either capped S/L resistance, or near it.

[Vulpoid]

Choice is good.

[Coyotedancer]

Not everyone "plays to the meta"... There are quite a few City players who go for theme or personal preference over strict build advantage.

[Williwaw]

"So many"?  I wish there were *more*.

 

Every AT should have Fire, Ice, Electric, Dark, Plant, Earth, Energy, Psionic and natural/weapon-based APPs (and I'm sure I forgot some), so you can complement any theme.  And that's before taking PPPs into account.

Edited January 5, 2021 by Williwaw
Added psionic

[Nafsmar]

A true hero would never turn evil even if it meant bettering himself. 

[Lines]

Scorpion shield is one of the most meta-appealing powers out there, which is why it's in so many builds. It makes sense that build guides often include it.

 

CoH isn't a particularly well balanced game, and probably doesn't need to be, but people still enjoy the variety more often than just sticking with the known meta builds.

[Yomo Kimyata]

Any AT that has the minimum resist damage cap (75%) will/should? try to maximize their defense.  

 

[Heraclea]

I tend to mostly ignore the ancillary and patron powers except on brutes and tankers, where the appeal of Superior Conditioning/Conserve Power and Physical Perfection is strong.  One or two more Performance Shifter procs are always welcome.  I have unlocked patron powers on several characters, but ended up not taking any of them. 

[skoryy]

20 minutes ago, Nafsmar said:

A true hero would never turn evil even if it meant bettering himself. 

A true hero would have no qualms about suckering Arachnos into handing over the goods.

[MTeague]

2 hours ago, TIto Vendetta said:

I understand the need thematically but from a game standpoint, it would appear at least from what I am seeing in the forums, there is nothing but followers.(or infiltrators) of Black Scorpion, why bother with anything else

I have 36 characters.  Not one uses Mace Mastery.  Eventually I'll probably have a handful who do.  But very few.

[Coyotedancer]

9 minutes ago, MTeague said:

I have 36 characters.  Not one uses Mace Mastery.  Eventually I'll probably have a handful who do.  But very few.

I'm in the same demographic, there.... I've used it in the past when it made sense to, but none of my current gang have it. The ones I did patron pools with here have all either gone Mu or Soul, typically for theme reasons.

[Ironblade]

3 hours ago, TIto Vendetta said:

I understand the need thematically but from a game standpoint, it would appear at least from what I am seeing in the forums, there is nothing but followers.(or infiltrators) of Black Scorpion, why bother with anything else

(shrug)

I have exactly one character with Black Scorpion as patron and one with Ghost Widow.

I also have:

- one blaster with Munitions Mastery

- one scrapper with Body Mastery

- one controller with Stone Mastery

- one defender with Power Mastery

- one corrupter with Dark Mastery

 

And I have a tank planning to take Arctic Mastery.

My other tanks (three), my other corr and my other defender took no Ancillary/Patron pools.

 

Variety is good and I am indulging in it.

[Jaguaratron]

There isnt enough, I NEED stone mastery for my Earth/Stone dominator.

[Luminara]

1 hour ago, Nafsmar said:

A true hero would never turn evil even if it meant bettering himself. 

 

What if it meant buttering oneself?

 

Mmm... buttered heroine...

[Mezmera]

Don't think I have one character with the Scorpion epic, almost all of my squishies I go with Soul Mastery.  On my Corrupter she gets Powerboost, Soul Drain, a well rounded resist shield and a pretty neat looking hold if you want it.  Box of win right there. 

 

You can already get so much more defense from other things you'll be able to softcap most defenses so in most cases the shield is a waste and solely a lotg mule.  I do find the Epic pools to vary on it's effectiveness dependent on the AT.  All in all the more variety to choose from the better I say.  

 

 

[drbuzzard]

4 hours ago, TIto Vendetta said:

I understand the need thematically but from a game standpoint, it would appear at least from what I am seeing in the forums, there is nothing but followers.(or infiltrators) of Black Scorpion, why bother with anything else

The only place I used the Black Scorpion set is on my blasters to get some softcap going for energy damage. I use other pools pretty much everywhere else.

 

For tankers I usually do either the EEP which gives a place for endurance, or Mu mastery.

Brutes, I do the energy mastery one, which also helps endurance, or Mu mastery.

Scrappers have mostly been body mastery.

Sentinels either the Psi pool or the fire one (EPP).

Defenders- sometimes fire, sometimes psi.

Controller- psi

Stalkers- soul mastery

 

While you do see a heck of a lot of the Mace Mastery, it's for reasons already made clear. Defense is easy to work with in an IO world.

 

[Hyperstrike]

53 minutes ago, Luminara said:

 

What if it meant buttering oneself?

 

Mmm... buttered heroine...

Now I'm remembering Stef from Userfriendly.org

[TIto Vendetta]

SO, if I have filtered down most of what I am hearing in these responses,  its strictly the metagame aspect that i am seeing, and it is still a viable survivable solo build to stray from the BS pool, not necessarily effective for farming, I can feel confident I will be effective and still use other pools?

Edited August 5, 2020 by TIto Vendetta

[Coyotedancer]

My fire-farmer went Mu if that helps your assessment any.

[Mezmera]

1 minute ago, TIto Vendetta said:

SO, if I have filtered down most of what I am hearing in these responses,  its strictly the metagame aspect that i am seeing, and it is still a viable survivable solo build to stray from the BS pool, not necessarily effective for farming, I can feel confident I will be effective and still use other pools?

Don't even think it's the "meta" folks we're talking about here.  If they were meta they'd see the pools as a better way to build around your character with much harder things to attain through the Epic pools and just let the easy to get IO bonuses build your defenses.  

[Nyghtmaire]

4 hours ago, Coyotedancer said:

Not everyone "plays to the meta"... There are quite a few City players who go for theme or personal preference over strict build advantage.

This. All the time. Otherwise, what’s the point? Playing to meta gets you stuck in a farm somewhere. I like the city...

[Greycat]

5 hours ago, TIto Vendetta said:

I understand the need thematically but from a game standpoint, it would appear at least from what I am seeing in the forums, there is nothing but followers.(or infiltrators) of Black Scorpion, why bother with anything else

A few things -

1. the forums are not the majority of the player base.

2. Even among forum users, you're probably not seeing a majority, but people who enjoy min/maxing.

3. If you go by in game chat, scorp also sounds popular - but that's also because it's a faster, easier patron arc. Running it unlocks all patrons.

4. It's a game. Take what sounds useful or fun to you, not what "it looks like everyone takes." If someone criticizes you for not taking scorp, it's because they're an ass, not because they're correct.

[drbuzzard]

30 minutes ago, TIto Vendetta said:

SO, if I have filtered down most of what I am hearing in these responses,  its strictly the metagame aspect that i am seeing, and it is still a viable survivable solo build to stray from the BS pool, not necessarily effective for farming, I can feel confident I will be effective and still use other pools?

Way I see it, it depends on what AT you're talking about. The advantages of Mace mastery for blasters is pretty large. I don't see it as huge for other ATs (just my opinion though of course).