Question : Effectiveness 'Back Up Police Radio' - thingy PtW Vendor.

[JMacClear]

Minor Spoilers  and Disclaimer: 

 

Newish Player. I am running a Robotic Mastermind - currently Level 14 (only) ....

 

So my 'Lead Scrapper' / Pathfinder Hero recently completed a quest : "Corrupt Police Talos Island". Scrapper at the time was say Level 23 give or take.

 

Part of the quest includes a squad of 3 SWAT joining the Hero in the final confrontation. 

 

Man those SWAT NPCs guys shot the H - E - Double Hockey Sticks - out of everything that moved!  I  was solo but the warehouse crawl included at least 3 oranges / 1 red / and the mobs were approx half yellow.  My Scrapper hardly broke a sweat through the whole mission. Charge in and clean up a bunch of swiss cheese opponents. One SWAT became slightly injured but the other two were hardly scratched... despite various levels and climbs etc etc.  They also followed  quite smartly in order behind me with no Micro Management.

 

Questions:

 

1) Are these the same as the PtW 'Back up Police Radio summons ? I know its fairly pricey for a nice to have but.....

 

2) Now there were no PSI damage opponents  - but there was at least one shocker blaster as I recall - and they never broke a sweat. Do the 'Back Up Police Radio Squad' stand up well to various damage types ?

 

3) Do they scale to encounter level ? ie Are they  good for Mid 20s but obsolete by say 30 ?

 

Like I say pricey and 'nice to have' I suppose but honestly if you are going solo on a number of missions ( 75% of us do I think ) - and they stand up - they may be worth an investment for " Quest Chapter 4 " in some of these missions... 

[DoctorDitko]

You know how your freebie buff pet from the P2W vendor can be useful, both for the minor buff, and for taking a shot meant for you?

Well, these guys cost 100K each, but they're not gonna be 100K times as useful.

 

They will take several shots for you, can be buffed and healed, and sometimes attack who you want them to.

 

That said, they are by far the cheapest mercs to hire, and have been known to keep baddies busy while you run away. And also seen to stand there like renta-cops and watch as you get chewed to pieces.

 

I treat them like Phantom Army (Illusions powerset, a must try on an alt!): by far the best way to get them to reliably attack your selected victim is to teleport to the other side of said victim, and the dumb pets will charge straight after you.

 

Message me in-game, and I'll be happy to send you a million inf to play with. (My global is easy to guess...)

There are other, wealthier players who will set you up to afford everything the vendors offer, for your edification and amusement.

Hero to players @Yomo is certainly worth a try, last I heard he could be quite generous for a simple "Thanks!"

 

 

 

Edited Sunday at 06:24 PM by DoctorDitko
advice

[Snarky]

3 hours ago, JMacClear said:

Minor Spoilers  and Disclaimer: 

 

Newish Player. I am running a Robotic Mastermind - currently Level 14 (only) ....

 

So my 'Lead Scrapper' / Pathfinder Hero recently completed a quest : "Corrupt Police Talos Island". Scrapper at the time was say Level 23 give or take.

 

Part of the quest includes a squad of 3 SWAT joining the Hero in the final confrontation. 

 

Man those SWAT NPCs guys shot the H - E - Double Hockey Sticks - out of everything that moved!  I  was solo but the warehouse crawl included at least 3 oranges / 1 red / and the mobs were approx half yellow.  My Scrapper hardly broke a sweat through the whole mission. Charge in and clean up a bunch of swiss cheese opponents. One SWAT became slightly injured but the other two were hardly scratched... despite various levels and climbs etc etc.  They also followed  quite smartly in order behind me with no Micro Management.

 

Questions:

 

1) Are these the same as the PtW 'Back up Police Radio summons ? I know its fairly pricey for a nice to have but.....

 

2) Now there were no PSI damage opponents  - but there was at least one shocker blaster as I recall - and they never broke a sweat. Do the 'Back Up Police Radio Squad' stand up well to various damage types ?

 

3) Do they scale to encounter level ? ie Are they  good for Mid 20s but obsolete by say 30 ?

 

Like I say pricey and 'nice to have' I suppose but honestly if you are going solo on a number of missions ( 75% of us do I think ) - and they stand up - they may be worth an investment for " Quest Chapter 4 " in some of these missions... 

like all p2w powers it is meh.  but... it is definitely better than nothing and, used smartly, can be effective

[Andreah]

Pay attention to upgrading your enhancements first, but it's a useful power to have for a pinch.

[JMacClear]

38 minutes ago, Andreah said:

Pay attention to upgrading your enhancements first, but it's a useful power to have for a pinch.

 

Yes - perfectly understood and in agreement. As I say "nice  to have" and pricey given other priorities.

 

There are of course a few P2W items that I do consider  'essential' and hence important tools in the Super Hero bag of tricks 

 

- the Nemesis Staff / Blackwand / Defensive drone pet / Mu Fighting as allowed in your archetype allocation.

- Ghost Slaying axe - really good situationally - never regret having it.

- I personally love the Prismatic Taser as nice little back up.. its worth the few grand to keep it charged up. Handy in a swarm rush.

 

Hence I think I want to understand about the "Back up Police" and / or the premium pet summons.  They are a big step up price wise - I wonder if the quality is equivalent but if they are really just situationally  handy.... the above comments like 'meh' make more sense.

 

[Snarky]

5 minutes ago, JMacClear said:

 

Yes - perfectly understood and in agreement. As I say "nice  to have" and pricey given other priorities.

 

There are of course a few P2W items that I do consider  'essential' and hence important tools in the Super Hero bag of tricks 

 

- the Nemesis Staff / Blackwand / Defensive drone pet / Mu Fighting as allowed in your archetype allocation.

- Ghost Slaying axe - really good situationally - never regret having it.

- I personally love the Prismatic Taser as nice little back up.. its worth the few grand to keep it charged up. Handy in a swarm rush.

 

Hence I think I want to understand about the "Back up Police" and / or the premium pet summons.  They are a big step up price wise - I wonder if the quality is equivalent but if they are really just situationally  handy.... the above comments like 'meh' make more sense.

 

the premium are great.  but too expensive

[Andreah]

I keep lots of the Signature Summons charged up, but I'm in-game super-rich, and the cost is a round off error for me. For a normal wealth player, choosing one and getting a couple charges for real emergencies can make sense, but it's a lot of Inf: 10 Million for five charges.

[UltraAlt]

14 hours ago, DoctorDitko said:

Message me in-game, and I'll be happy to send you a million inf to play with. (My global is easy to guess...)

 

So where are you getting these millions of inf that you are throwing around so cavalierly?

 

 

Edited Monday at 08:33 AM by UltraAlt

[Snarky]

2 hours ago, UltraAlt said:

 

So where are you getting these millions of inf that you are throwing around so cavalierly?

 

 

Two hints.  Your money.  The Auction.  

[Maelwys]

17 hours ago, JMacClear said:

1) Are these the same as the PtW 'Back up Police Radio summons ? I know its fairly pricey for a nice to have but.....

Nope; the PTW Backup Summons is this thing - the ally it summons depends on your current alignment but they're all roughly similar (the Arachnos variant has lower damage resistances but comes with some mez protection). Whilst they can take a hit or two... they don't have any defense or self-healing and they have ~1070HP at level 50. So they die pretty quickly unless you're buffing them to the gimlets.

If you want to buy a pet from the START vendor that can take some punishment and is fairly self-sufficient; try the Melee damage Signature Summon (for Back Alley Brawler) if you're a Hero or the Support Signature Summon (for Ghost Widow) if you're a Villain. And if you don't mind running around a zone for ~10 mins then make sure to pick up your Shivan Shards in Bloody Bay (and/or the Warwolf Whistle from Tobias Hansen's Striga Isle arc). And later on, grab yourself a HVAS.
 

Edited Monday at 11:01 AM by Maelwys

[Andreah]

16 minutes ago, Maelwys said:

And later on, grab yourself a HVAS.

The HVAS doesn't have a timer. It'll stay with you for the duration of the mission, or until it's destroyed. This costs 5000 inf plus 250 Vanguard merits, so you would have to be high enough level to earn those. You can only have one charge at a time. 

 

If  you can keep it healed, it's awesome.

[DoctorDitko]

15 hours ago, UltraAlt said:

So where are you getting these millions of inf that you are throwing around so cavalierly?

It's one million, offered to one new player, and it's a mere 1% of the generosity shown to me by other players. I'm offering to help them get their feet wet, not bankrolling their build.

 

But you are right; I owe a profuse thanks to all the players who have been kind enough to help out an old ex-sorceror in-game!

[Ironblade]

14 hours ago, Maelwys said:

And if you don't mind running around a zone for ~10 mins then make sure to pick up your Shivan Shards in Bloody Bay (and/or the Warwolf Whistle from Tobias Hansen's Striga Isle arc). And later on, grab yourself a HVAS.

 

Every single one of my characters has to hit Bloody Bay for a Shivan Shard.  Super useful.

[UltraAlt]

1 hour ago, DoctorDitko said:

It's one million, offered to one new player

 

Don't be surprised if you get get more than one /tell asking for a million.

[Maelwys]

2 minutes ago, UltraAlt said:

Don't be surprised if you get get more than one /tell asking for a million.

No one's stopping you chipping in the other 999m if you want to play sugardaddy 😜 💸

[Healix]

No one's stopping you chipping in the other 999m if you want to play sugardaddy

 

you mean sugarhami

[JMacClear]

INF ebbs and flows - at least for me - through all the missions.

 

The offer is very generous thanks... however I am 'a little OCD' determined to learn the lore / tactics / mechanics of the game.  I am at  heart a slower methodical player and I fully realize my builds are sub optimal. However the satisfaction is in the journey. 🙂

 

 

[Healix]

JM, I so agree with you.

(Everyone has their own way of playing that is fun for them. For me, the idea of just rushing to get to 50 is no fun. I dislike 'speed runs' , although I did create a fire farmer to help my friends who enjoy being farmed.)

This game is SO full of lore and subtle things that you miss if you don't take time to enjoy the journey, as you stated. Even after playing all this time, since 2004, I am still discovering new things I never saw, new sounds I never heard, and loving finding out about all of the new things being added. I laughed when I realized that I know the streets and alleys in the game better than I know the real ones in my home city. 😁