I must be doing something wrong...

[sjj668]

I have four alts all of different configurations. They play out the same way. From level 1-15 or so everything is fine. I even convince myself that this AT/powerset combo my work all the way to the end. Except that after that the regular minions are 1 level up and the Lts two. Progressively it gets harder and the bosses even more so until I cannot even come close to matching them without loading up on inspirations are waiting until my level outpaces the quests (obviously good only once and no help at the end when my levels max out). For me it is not fun to have my interrupts constantly fail while the opposing boss' constantly succeed or have my attacks miss while his never do. It is not fun to beg like an urchin on the street corner for someone to help on a quest I presume is for solo play. If they are not for a solo player it would be better if they were labelled as such. Simply bypassing the mission in addition to being unsatisfactory isn't always an option.

 

No doubt there is a magic reductive build or macros that ameliorate these problems for each of these ATs. If that is the case more is the pity.

[Sunsette]

So first of all: sorry you're experiencing that.

 

However, I do think four different AT/powerset combos struggling past level 15 suggests that build or play is the issue far more than anything. That's not your fault or failure if so; the game leaves a lot to be desired about instructing people in play and build compared to most other MMOs. If you don't mind my asking, what are your characters? Maybe we can help.

Edited March 12 by Sunsette

[PeregrineFalcon]

Yes. Please post a little info about your characters. Archetype (class), level, powersets, and in general what kind of Enhancements you're using in your powers.

[Communistpenguin]

Also, the game is probably at one of the more difficult phases from like 18-26? 18-30? Enemies get tougher, but your build hasn't necessarily filled out to compensate just yet, especially if you don't have a sugar daddy character to supply enhancements. 

[Glacier Peak]

You can turn Bosses off when soloing by changing your difficulty setting. This is found by clicking the Chat tab Chat bubble icon.

[sjj668]

1) Brute Fiery Melee/ Regeneration (40) w/ Sorcery and Energy Mastery

     Scorch Touch of Death (40) 6 slots

     Fire Sword Mako's Bite 6 slots

     Incinerate Gladiator's Strike (40) 6 slots

     Cremate Kinetic Crash (40) 6 slots

     Build Up To Hit (35) Rech Red (35) End Red (40)

     Breath of Fire Annihilation (40) 5 slots

     Fire Sword Circle Obliteration (35) 6 slots

     Gr. Fire Sword Crushing Impact (40) 6 slots

 

     Fast Healing Heal (25) empty

     Quick Recovery End Mod (25) empty

     Reconstruction Rech Red (35) Rech Red (25)

     Dull Pain Rech Red (30) Heal (25)

     Integration Heal (25) Rech Red (35)

     Instant Healing Rech Red (35)

     Revive (35)

 

     Mystic Flight Fly (25)

     Arcane Bolt Devastation (30) 6 slots

 

     Focused Accuracy To Hit (35)

     Laser Beam Eyes Thunderstrike (40) 4 slots

All the bosses became Red Elite Bosses and untenable; just about all the story line quests ended with fighting these.

 

2) Mastermind Demon Summoning/Nature Affinity (34) w/Sorcery and Medicine

     Corruption Far Strike (22) 3 slots Salvo (22) 3 Slots

     Summon Demonlings Damage (20)

     Ench Demons Rech Red (35)

     Summon Demons Damage (20) 2x empty

     Lash Force Feedback (31) 6slots

     Hell on Earth Rech Red (35)

     Crack Whip Positron's Blast (35) 6 slots

     Summon Demon Prince Expedient Reinf (30) 6 slots

     Abyssal Empowerment Rech Red (25)

 

     Regrowth Panacea (32) 6 slots

     Wild Growth Rech Red (15)

     Lifegiving Spores Preventative Med (26) 6 slots

     Wild Bastion Rech Red (30)

     Rebirth Rech Red (30)

 

     Mystic Flight Fly (15)

     Arcane Bolt Force Feedback (22) 6 slots

 

     Aid Other Heal (35)

     Aid Self Heal (35)

Like the previous build Elite Bosses abound. Early on I could keep the boys fight by pouring heals into them and resummoning. It got too much. My powers increase linearly; the bosses exponentially.

 

 

3) Peacebringer Luminous Blast/Luminous Aura (all IOs are 10)

     Gleaming Bolt 2xDamage 2x Red Rech 2x empty

     Gleaming Blast 2xDamage 2x Red Rech 2x empty

     Bright Nova

       Bolt

       Blast

       Scatter

       Detonation

 

     Shining Shield Res Damage

     Energy Flight Fly

     Essence Boost Rech Red

     Incandesence Res Damage

     Thermal Shield

     Combat Flight

To be honest I haven't played much with the floating polyp because the storied missions all feature a weapon which is specifically geared for massive damage for which the PB has no defense or resistance.

 

 

Arachnos Soldier Arachnos Soldier/Training and Gadgets

     Single Shot 3x Def Debuff (10) 2x Damage (10) Rech Red (15)

     Pummel Razzle Dazzle (18) 6 slots

     Burst Rech Red (15)

     Heavy Burst Rech Red (15)

     Bayonet Rech Red (15)

     Web Grenade End Red (20)

     Venom Grenade End Red (20)

 

     Wolf Spider Armor Res Damage (10)

     Combat Training: Defensive 3x Def Debuff 3x empty

     Tactical Training: Maneuvers LotG (25) 6 slots

     Combat Training: Offensive Accuracy (15)

     Mental Training

This toon I had high hopes for. He didn't die until level 11. This last mission I picked up at 22, couldn't get past a Hero-level boss named Kadabra Kill (I thought he killed him on an earlier mission). Came back at 23 and couldn't get him past half health, Besides his knockbacks proc'ing every time he was constantly healing himself. Let's not talk about his adds that he summoned. That is just churlish.

 

[Rudra]

4 minutes ago, sjj668 said:

1) Brute Fiery Melee/ Regeneration (40) w/ Sorcery and Energy Mastery

     Scorch Touch of Death (40) 6 slots

     Fire Sword Mako's Bite 6 slots

     Incinerate Gladiator's Strike (40) 6 slots

     Cremate Kinetic Crash (40) 6 slots

     Build Up To Hit (35) Rech Red (35) End Red (40)

     Breath of Fire Annihilation (40) 5 slots

     Fire Sword Circle Obliteration (35) 6 slots

     Gr. Fire Sword Crushing Impact (40) 6 slots

 

     Fast Healing Heal (25) empty

     Quick Recovery End Mod (25) empty

     Reconstruction Rech Red (35) Rech Red (25)

     Dull Pain Rech Red (30) Heal (25)

     Integration Heal (25) Rech Red (35)

     Instant Healing Rech Red (35)

     Revive (35)

 

     Mystic Flight Fly (25)

     Arcane Bolt Devastation (30) 6 slots

 

     Focused Accuracy To Hit (35)

     Laser Beam Eyes Thunderstrike (40) 4 slots

All the bosses became Red Elite Bosses and untenable; just about all the story line quests ended with fighting these.

 

2) Mastermind Demon Summoning/Nature Affinity (34) w/Sorcery and Medicine

     Corruption Far Strike (22) 3 slots Salvo (22) 3 Slots

     Summon Demonlings Damage (20)

     Ench Demons Rech Red (35)

     Summon Demons Damage (20) 2x empty

     Lash Force Feedback (31) 6slots

     Hell on Earth Rech Red (35)

     Crack Whip Positron's Blast (35) 6 slots

     Summon Demon Prince Expedient Reinf (30) 6 slots

     Abyssal Empowerment Rech Red (25)

 

     Regrowth Panacea (32) 6 slots

     Wild Growth Rech Red (15)

     Lifegiving Spores Preventative Med (26) 6 slots

     Wild Bastion Rech Red (30)

     Rebirth Rech Red (30)

 

     Mystic Flight Fly (15)

     Arcane Bolt Force Feedback (22) 6 slots

 

     Aid Other Heal (35)

     Aid Self Heal (35)

Like the previous build Elite Bosses abound. Early on I could keep the boys fight by pouring heals into them and resummoning. It got too much. My powers increase linearly; the bosses exponentially.

 

 

3) Peacebringer Luminous Blast/Luminous Aura (all IOs are 10)

     Gleaming Bolt 2xDamage 2x Red Rech 2x empty

     Gleaming Blast 2xDamage 2x Red Rech 2x empty

     Bright Nova

       Bolt

       Blast

       Scatter

       Detonation

 

     Shining Shield Res Damage

     Energy Flight Fly

     Essence Boost Rech Red

     Incandesence Res Damage

     Thermal Shield

     Combat Flight

To be honest I haven't played much with the floating polyp because the storied missions all feature a weapon which is specifically geared for massive damage for which the PB has no defense or resistance.

 

 

Arachnos Soldier Arachnos Soldier/Training and Gadgets

     Single Shot 3x Def Debuff (10) 2x Damage (10) Rech Red (15)

     Pummel Razzle Dazzle (18) 6 slots

     Burst Rech Red (15)

     Heavy Burst Rech Red (15)

     Bayonet Rech Red (15)

     Web Grenade End Red (20)

     Venom Grenade End Red (20)

 

     Wolf Spider Armor Res Damage (10)

     Combat Training: Defensive 3x Def Debuff 3x empty

     Tactical Training: Maneuvers LotG (25) 6 slots

     Combat Training: Offensive Accuracy (15)

     Mental Training

This toon I had high hopes for. He didn't die until level 11. This last mission I picked up at 22, couldn't get past a Hero-level boss named Kadabra Kill (I thought he killed him on an earlier mission). Came back at 23 and couldn't get him past half health, Besides his knockbacks proc'ing every time he was constantly healing himself. Let's not talk about his adds that he summoned. That is just churlish.

 

Can you recall the missions that were upgrading to EBs? Depending on the mission, you may be encountering a bug.

[sjj668]

2 hours ago, Glacier Peak said:

You can turn Bosses off when soloing by changing your difficulty setting. This is found by clicking the Chat tab Chat bubble icon.

Thanks but they are still bosses.

Edited March 13 by sjj668

[Rudra]

42 minutes ago, sjj668 said:

3 hours ago, Glacier Peak said:

You can turn Bosses off when soloing by changing your difficulty setting. This is found by clicking the Chat tab Chat bubble icon.

Thanks but they are still bosses.

Edited 11 minutes ago by sjj668

Possibilities to check:

1) The mission normally has an AV (which would downgrade to an EB) or an EB (which would downgrade to a boss).

2) Your difficulty settings are set up so the game sees you as being on a team. (Which can happen if your difficulty is set to x2 or higher).

3) You found a bug. (Like the overly high leveled Council reported on the Bugs forum).

 

Edited March 13 by Rudra
Edited to apply strikeout.

[Major_Decoy]

4 minutes ago, Rudra said:

2) Your difficulty settings are set up so the game sees you as being on a team. (Which can happen if your difficulty is set to x2 or higher).

I'm pretty sure I solo'ed the "Nemesis Invades Atlas Park" mission set for "No Bosses" at x8 and got Fake Nemesis Lieutenents still.

 

Honestly, with the Brute, I'd say you've slotted your offense too heavily and you should have invested some in defense. Regeneration is kind of thought of as the worst Brute secondary and you can't neglect it like that. If you want to neglect a secondary, I'd recommend Bio Armour or Radiation Armour.

[Rudra]

7 minutes ago, Major_Decoy said:

I'm pretty sure I solo'ed the "Nemesis Invades Atlas Park" mission set for "No Bosses" at x8 and got Fake Nemesis Lieutenents still.

 

Honestly, with the Brute, I'd say you've slotted your offense too heavily and you should have invested some in defense. Regeneration is kind of thought of as the worst Brute secondary and you can't neglect it like that. If you want to neglect a secondary, I'd recommend Bio Armour or Radiation Armour.

Good point. My mistake. I'll strike out that part of the post. Thanks. (Edit: I was thinking having a team of 2 or more players restores bosses.)

Edited March 13 by Rudra

[Major_Decoy]

With the "just about all the story line quests ended with fighting these." and level 40, I'm definitely convinced these are all downgraded AVs. Blueside 35-40 is where you start getting these arc ending archvillains. It's where I had to start putting a team together to finish arcs on my Dominator.

[sjj668]

1 hour ago, Rudra said:

Can you recall the missions that were upgrading to EBs? Depending on the mission, you may be encountering a bug.

Honestly not offhand. I know there was one where I had to fight Positron of al things and I was in the teen level.  There was a frozen dame in a sub pen with a "team" that were as useful at mammary glands on a boar. The MM handled ok the brute not so much. And there was a spate of quest taking down on villain after another in Brickstown. I wish I could remember their names. I think the New Praetorians was one of them because they offered it to one of my toons who was not a Praetorian which I thought odd.

Edited March 13 by sjj668

[Rudra]

15 minutes ago, sjj668 said:

Honestly not offhand. I know there was one where I had to fight Positron of al things and I was in the teen level.  There was a frozen dame in a sub pen with a "team" that were as useful at mammary glands on a boar. The MM handled ok the brute not so much. And there was a spate of quest taking down on villain after another in Brickstown. I wish I could remember their names.

Do you remember the contact? Was it Ambassador Kuhr'Rekt? (And yes, Positron is an AV so he will only downgrade to an EB.) (Edit: No enemies will downgrade more than 1 step. So if you have AVs turned off, they downgrade to EBs. If you have bosses and EBs turned off, EBs downgrade to bosses unless they were AVs and bosses downgrade to lieutenants unless they were EBs.)

Edited March 13 by Rudra

[Major_Decoy]

2 minutes ago, Rudra said:

Do you remember the contact? Was it Ambassador Kuhr'Rekt? (And yes, Positron is an AV so he will only downgrade to an EB.)

In his teens it wouldn't have been Kuh'Rekt. I can't think of any mission to get Positron in the teens, even if he shows up in a Mayhem Mission, Steel Canyon is 20-25. There is the Shining Stars arc in the teens and I can see confusing Proton for Positron, but I think those guys downgrade to lieutenants.

 

The New Praetorians have a bunch of missions against the council, so you'd have hit Maestro, the Nosferatu guy whose name I forget at the moment, the woman at the end of Moonfire.

[sjj668]

8 minutes ago, Rudra said:

Do you remember the contact? Was it Ambassador Kuhr'Rekt? (And yes, Positron is an AV so he will only downgrade to an EB.) (Edit: No enemies will downgrade more than 1 step. So if you have AVs turned off, they downgrade to EBs. If you have bosses and EBs turned off, EBs downgrade to bosses unless they were AVs and bosses downgrade to lieutenants unless they were EBs.)

No the quest line was lower level. The Brute did the Rikti Ambassador quest. The MM definitely did not. The Boss was Kadabra Kill. This was related to the Arachnos Soldier. The quest level was 22; he was A Level 23 Hero and remained that way toggles be damned. So he not only was a hero, he was a level above me, his procs always worked (mine rarely worked on him). He had summons, preexisting mobs and he could group heal. I do not think that was fair at all. That was a quest by Darrin Wade on Sharkhead Isle. It also made no sense. I was to rescue 4 captives of which he was one. My reward for rescuing him was he attacks me (his associate Sigil did the same). They were killed in the previous quest but apparently someone resurrected them off-board.

[sjj668]

6 minutes ago, Major_Decoy said:

In his teens it wouldn't have been Kuh'Rekt. I can't think of any mission to get Positron in the teens, even if he shows up in a Mayhem Mission, Steel Canyon is 20-25. There is the Shining Stars arc in the teens and I can see confusing Proton for Positron, but I think those guys downgrade to lieutenants.

 

The New Praetorians have a bunch of missions against the council, so you'd have hit Maestro, the Nosferatu guy whose name I forget at the moment, the woman at the end of Moonfire.

It might have been that group thing with Twinshot. Ridiculous those things never fought the right enemies and died horribly. You couldn't heal them either.

[Sunsette]

Getting ready to go to bed, will try to help in the morning if all questions have not been answered by then.

 

Just FYI, some newer content like Praetoria and HC-developed content will ignore your boss solo settings from time to time. I've seen a few people complain about this who have bosses set to off.

[Rudra]

1 hour ago, sjj668 said:

2 hours ago, Major_Decoy said:

In his teens it wouldn't have been Kuh'Rekt. I can't think of any mission to get Positron in the teens, even if he shows up in a Mayhem Mission, Steel Canyon is 20-25. There is the Shining Stars arc in the teens and I can see confusing Proton for Positron, but I think those guys downgrade to lieutenants.

 

The New Praetorians have a bunch of missions against the council, so you'd have hit Maestro, the Nosferatu guy whose name I forget at the moment, the woman at the end of Moonfire.

It might have been that group thing with Twinshot. Ridiculous those things never fought the right enemies and died horribly. You couldn't heal them either.

If you are referring to the Twinshot arc where you fight the Praetorians with the Shining Stars, then yeah, it very much depends on your build or being able to help your allies drop the Praetorians relatively quickly. That mission can be a handful and depending on your AT, it is recommended you have a team or check the Praetorians on the wiki to plan out what order you need to drop them in. (Proton with his rad attacks is my recommendation for dropping first, but depending on how your NPC allies break out, it is often best to help one of them with their target and then progress through the enemy line as you start to outnumber them.)

 

Edit: I'm going to change my advice. When go into the fight against Proton and the Praetorians, ignore Proton. Help any ally defeat their foe as quickly as possible and then follow that ally to the next ally and help them defeat their foe, and the mission should get a lot easier for you. The times when I follow that strategy, I will often find that I ahve most of my allies left and the enemies are cleared.

 

Edit again: And yes, you are slotting wrong. On your MM, your pets are your main source of damage. So you want to make them as strong as you can. For instance, using your power sets, I would have probably gone more this route:

1 Summon Demonlings (6 slots)

1 Regrowth (2 slots)

2 Corrosive Enzymes (2 slots)

4 Wild Growth (3 slots)

6 Enchant Demon

8 Mystic Flight

10 Spore Cloud (2 slots)

12 Summon Demons (6 slots)

14 Maneuvers (6 slots)

16 Lifegiving Spores (2 slots)

18 Assault

20 Wild Bastion (2 slots)

22 Summon Demon Prince  (6 slots)

24 Tactics (4 slots)

26 Abyssal Empowerment

28 Lash

30 Overgrowth (3 slots)

32 Corruption or Crack Whip

 

More focusing on making the pets powerful and supporting them with buffs, debuffs, and heals as much as possible. (Edit yet again: This is not a mandatory build, nor is it going to be the best build. However, it will give you  way more robust pets with Nature Affinity's plethora of heals, increase your pets damage capabilities, boost their (and your) accuracy, and give you the ability to cut your enemies' damage, damage resist, ToHit, and regeneration ability making them drop faster to your pets.)

Edited March 13 by Rudra

[Major_Decoy]

Well, the problem with the Brute is that you neglected your secondary.

Your mastermind, I don't play masterminds a lot, but seems like you've neglected most of your summons, and I have played Nature I do feel like you shouldn't need Aid Self or Aid Other.

 

The arachnos soldier, you didn't neglect your defenses, that's good, but you absolutely should not have six slots in combat training: Defense and you have almost no slots in your attacks.

 

There are also ways to get knock-back protection. On your current build, it'd be easy to throw a Karma: Knockback protection in Combat Training: Defense and a Steadfast Protection: Knockback Protection in Wolf Spider Armour.

[MoonSheep]

8 hours ago, sjj668 said:

1) Brute ../ Regeneration (40) 

 

-mechanic voice-

well there’s yer problem!

 

regen is a lovely set but it’s unfortunately quite squishy compared to other defensive sets available

 

paired with fire also unfortunately adds to the difficulty as it has no secondary effects like knockdown, -accuracy or - recharge to help during 1 on 1 combat

 

keep playing it and enjoy it though - good to see something rarer. there will be IOs to help make you a bit tougher as you get higher level

[Sovera]

14 hours ago, sjj668 said:

I have four alts all of different configurations. They play out the same way. From level 1-15 or so everything is fine. I even convince myself that this AT/powerset combo my work all the way to the end. Except that after that the regular minions are 1 level up and the Lts two. Progressively it gets harder and the bosses even more so until I cannot even come close to matching them without loading up on inspirations are waiting until my level outpaces the quests (obviously good only once and no help at the end when my levels max out). For me it is not fun to have my interrupts constantly fail while the opposing boss' constantly succeed or have my attacks miss while his never do. It is not fun to beg like an urchin on the street corner for someone to help on a quest I presume is for solo play. If they are not for a solo player it would be better if they were labelled as such. Simply bypassing the mission in addition to being unsatisfactory isn't always an option.

 

No doubt there is a magic reductive build or macros that ameliorate these problems for each of these ATs. If that is the case more is the pity.

 

Simply put you don't have a build. Having a build doesn't mean you're helpless, but it means you're (most likely) slotting only SOs or generic IOs. With that, yeah, you'll be weak, that's how the original game played out.

 

If you want try the (near) immortal build in my signature since it has very few requirements to start (two uniques and being level 13) and if you don't have the money for the two uniques send me a DM with your ingame @ and I'll mail it over (It is not a big sum for those who have played for a long while).

 

 

Also I suggest reading the guide in my signature as well because there will be most likely good tips.

[JasperStone]

9 hours ago, sjj668 said:

3) Peacebringer Luminous Blast/Luminous Aura (all IOs are 10)

     Gleaming Bolt 2xDamage 2x Red Rech 2x empty

     Gleaming Blast 2xDamage 2x Red Rech 2x empty

     Bright Nova

       Bolt

       Blast

       Scatter

       Detonation

 

     Shining Shield Res Damage

     Energy Flight Fly

     Essence Boost Rech Red

     Incandesence Res Damage

     Thermal Shield

     Combat Flight

To be honest I haven't played much with the floating polyp because the storied missions all feature a weapon which is specifically geared for massive damage for which the PB has no defense or resistance.

It makes me happy to see you have a PB among your alts

It can be a bit tricky out the gate.

 

I recommend posting your build in the Preacebringer and Warshade Forum to get some feedback.

Also, check out the awesome thread/guide by @Laucianna 

 

Not sure where you are level-wise, but White Dwarf at level 20 is pretty sweet.

It gives extra healing, and mez resists too. Pretty durable.

 

Some players just go Human only because it simplifies power choices, etc.

Pretty solid character.

 

My opinion is TriForm is where Kheldians shine.

The power choices may seem daunting, but follow the guide.

Develop a focus, single target or AoE....or blend of both

I chose AoE. I mostly team, and they are pretty awesome for that.

I use ingame key mapping for the trays using the Numpad.

This stays the same across all my characters, so there are no new keyboard patterns to learn.

 

[sjj668]

Thank you all for your feedback. As per the title of this thread. I do not have a clear understanding of the game as it is now. I played a bit back in the day about 15 years ago so things have changed. So if I understand the gist of all these comments:

• Build choices are more degenerate than they once were.
• I will need to find a proven formula to min/max my ATs where possible.
• In cases where my choices for primary/secondary don't fit within the paradigm it's best to restart the character from scratch with better choices.

Appreciate the input.

[Sovera]

2 minutes ago, sjj668 said:

Thank you all for your feedback. As per the title of this thread. I do not have a clear understanding of the game as it is now. I played a bit back in the day about 15 years ago so things have changed. So if I understand the gist of all these comments:

• Build choices are more degenerate than they once were.
• I will need to find a proven formula to min/max my ATs where possible.
• In cases where my choices for primary/secondary don't fit within the paradigm it's best to restart the character from scratch with better choices.

Appreciate the input.

 

No need to start from scratch, sometimes a respec and gear is all you need. There are very few completely helpless cases. But the weaker the base the more money you need to pour in to shores its weaknesses.

 

As someone who is just starting we are trying to tell you some easier choices to dip your toes into the game, accumulate money, get a better understanding of the game, and then start messing with things on your own using that knowledge.