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How good are pets? My character is rounded enough that there's essentially no power I really want or need for him, so I bought the healing drones thing. They're performing pretty well on training dummies, but I wish the game would tell me exactly how much pets affect my energy gain/energy costs so I could make a real decision.
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Sep 25, 2011 08:28
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Heavy neutrino posted:How good are pets? My character is rounded enough that there's essentially no power I really want or need for him, so I bought the healing drones thing. They're performing pretty well on training dummies, but I wish the game would tell me exactly how much pets affect my energy gain/energy costs so I could make a real decision. The energy drain for a single pet isn't too bad. It's generally better to either go all-out with them or only grab one though, since once you get past three or so the drain on energy costs and regeneration is quite noticeable, and once you have four or five you'll likely be mostly using your energy builder unless you're in Sentinel stance. Similarly, if you're taking pet powers, you should really get them up to Rank 3, since you're paying a tax for having them out and you may as well get the most benefit for it. That said, pet builds can do really well, depending on the specifics. I leveled a Gadgeteering character from 1-40 without issues, and grabbed Ritual of Arcane Summoning (it's kind of robotish, right?) and Aura of Radiant Protection too. Between the extra defense on me and all the pets, the support drones healing everyone, the toys and golem taking aggro usually, and the attack drones doing crazy AoE damage, the character as a whole was one of the easiest I ever leveled and is probably still my most potent 40.
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Sep 25, 2011 08:38
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Pet builds can murder almost everything in their path. However, due to aggro issues, they also tend to be forced into murdering everything in their path, so it can be easy to level, but it's also a bit slower.
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Sep 25, 2011 10:50
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That reminds me: I recommend against taking a pet-based build unless you have Flight (or its variants) or Teleport as a travel power. If you have a ground-based movement the pets will invariably lag behind a bit, take the shortest path to you, and aggro a bunch of poo poo. And if you have super leaping, you're not quite in the air long enough to trigger their flying-type follow, so they path along the ground and... also aggro everything in the way. It's not that big a deal, but it's still an engine quirk that's good to know ahead of time.
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Sep 25, 2011 11:18
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I miss my zombies/single blade boss rapist. Glad they fixed zombies infinitely applying bleeds, but goddamn that was hilarious. Outside of some early pre-retcon levels as a gadgeteer and my muni character toting support drones around, that's the most pet build I've ever done, and it's really more a pet-buffed MA build. But it's true - pets are really quite solid right now. I've seen some great pet builds in ZA, too (and... killed them, but the point is they do very well even in that PVP environment.)
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Sep 25, 2011 16:43
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The nemesis thing is looking pretty interesting and fun. I wonder why they wait until level 25 to introduce it. I made a Maniac personality Voldo clone in a pink suit commanding an army of ninjas. It's great. re: bots. They're performing really damned well in healing mode, easily keeping me up on their own against several packs. In weapons mode, though... well, they draw aggro, push enemies away from each other and from my melee character, and barely make a visible impact on enemies' health bars.
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Sep 25, 2011 17:57
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Yeah, if support drones are your only pets, there's no real reason to put them in offense mode. The healing they do is crazy good (and doesn't require any time or effort on your part, so being stunned or knocked back doesn't affect it unless the attack hits them too), and you'll still have enough energy regen and low enough costs that you can keep your full offense going. Their damage isn't too high, the big thing is the damage reduction debuff the rank 3 version can apply, but that can be ignored if you aren't in a group.
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Sep 25, 2011 23:34
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Their gold/silver status thing is confusing as hell. If I subscribe to gold for a month and make a new character and go free form, or use one of the prebuilds that they don't offer silver accounts, wtf happens to the character at the end of the month if I don't resubscribe?
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Sep 26, 2011 14:54
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You can't play that character anymore unless you convert it down to silver. Edit: I'm a moron! Double edit: VVV You'd have to buy the build with cash, and if it's freeform you'd just have to pick a standard build that's either free or you bought. Maxmaps fucked around with this message at 15:34 on Sep 26, 2011 |
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Sep 26, 2011 15:08
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What do you mean by convert it down? Would I have to buy the character build with cash?
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Sep 26, 2011 15:13
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Which archetypes are decent at pvp? I played some at release and want to mess around with it again and liked pvp the most, but I have no idea what is any good anymore.
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Sep 26, 2011 21:25
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Bruc posted:Which archetypes are decent at pvp? I played some at release and want to mess around with it again and liked pvp the most, but I have no idea what is any good anymore. Disciple: You kill single targets ridiculously fast, and can automatically heal when landing criticals with Siphoning Strikes. Especially in terms of how the roles of archtypes play out, Disciple actually is probably the most resembling of the classic Melee PVP build out of all of them. The build even includes a built-in hold. Behemoth can be very easy to play in PvP due to its defenses. Soldiers can use their smoke grenade to blind their enemies and land charged strikes with their sniper rifle and rocket launcher. Devastator's early access to moves which interrupt enemies make it quite powerful in early-game PvP, but late game, they'll be hurting for a method to keep themselves alive.
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Sep 26, 2011 22:13
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20% sale this week. 20% off Black Mask's rear end judging by the homepage. Looks to be all costumes but Golden Age, All Devices, All Powers (Including Heroic Power Flight), all Adventure Packs of course, all Hideouts but the Penthouses, all Action Figures, and all services but Hideout bank slots.
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Sep 26, 2011 22:47
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Any idea when the Power Armor review will be?
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Sep 27, 2011 02:10
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meecrob posted:Any idea when the Power Armor review will be? Or the new martial arts animations. Everyone says they look cool but will they show us? Noooo...
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Sep 27, 2011 02:19
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Noooo don't change Power Armor. I'm just getting my dude working and having several systems working at once just mows down poo poo. I feel like I really am Iron Man.  Fakeedit: I do feel pretty much locked into my powerset cause nothing I've tried plays nice with my Power Armor powers at all.
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Sep 27, 2011 04:54
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Maxmaps posted:Noooo don't change Power Armor. I'm just getting my dude working and having several systems working at once just mows down poo poo. I feel like I really am Iron Man. Nothing plays with the PA powers not even half the PA powers. I don't think anyone could possibly argue with them revamping PA. It sort of works but good god does it not live upto what it should be. Compare it to any other power set and it falls so flat on it's face it would make Iron Man hang up his suit forever. The fact that it doesn't synergize with itself it just ridiculous. What you use at level 10 is pretty much your power for the rest of the game since the higher level abilities just cost too much to use with the effective low level powers is just sad.
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Sep 27, 2011 05:28
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Been playing this game for about a month now and I'm just now starting to get a grasp of how the powers+stats work. My tempest character is so powerful she never has to use her energy builder, while my invincible behemoth repeatedly pummels characters for very little damage. How successful are characters that stray from their primary stats in freeform? I'm not looking to powerlevel or anything but rather play the kind of character I want, so if I drop constitution from the behemoth in favor of say, recovery, and pick offensive passives instead of defensive ones, will he clobber dudes and be fun to play or just be really difficult? Also, I saw on the wiki that there's a nightstick unlockable for single/duel blade characters, which I think greatly opens up the options for my martial arts characters. I know a lot of stuff gets added to this game on a regular basis, but what are the chances of there being like a staff related archetype, or even more options for the way powers are used, like shooting fire or lightning out of a staff or a gun? Are these things on the drawing board at all?
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Sep 27, 2011 07:52
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Lame as Heck posted:Been playing this game for about a month now and I'm just now starting to get a grasp of how the powers+stats work. My tempest character is so powerful she never has to use her energy builder, while my invincible behemoth repeatedly pummels characters for very little damage. How successful are characters that stray from their primary stats in freeform? I'm not looking to powerlevel or anything but rather play the kind of character I want, so if I drop constitution from the behemoth in favor of say, recovery, and pick offensive passives instead of defensive ones, will he clobber dudes and be fun to play or just be really difficult? You're pretty much free to go with whatever the hell you think you want more. There are several no-brainer choices though, like Strength for the melee sets (at least I think so: the tooltip displays +20% melee damage regardless of my strength value), Presence for healers and tanks (it has opposite effects depending on whether or not you're a tank) and Ego for the psi sets. Remember that whichever stats you choose as super will add to your damage total, so the only real result of picking Recovery over Constitution is that you'll have less max HP and more max energy / a higher equilibrium. Max HP isn't terribly useful if you plan to build good self-healing and defensive capabilities into your guy. For example, I just played with a guy who used the dual blades skill Eye of the Storm, which generates a shield around you and deals a shitload of AoE damage, and the Supernatural slotted passive Regeneration, which gives you a massive health regen rate. He would have been really goddamned hard to kill regardless of his max HP. I haven't played any of the Elite / end game or PvP stuff, though, so take this with a grain of salt. Speaking of Eye of the Storm, does anyone else think the skill is pretty unbalanced? It simply costs way to little energy for its numbers. Also, remember that the Role you choose for your character (press C, click the builds tab) has a large effect on your performance. It's likely that your Tempest was in the Avenger role by default whereas the Behemoth was in Guardian. Also electricity skills are really loving strong from what I've seen so that probably has a lot to do with it. About difficulty, well, the way the solo part of the game works is that it's going to be really, really easy for a defensive character who can keep himself up forever, but taking a long time to kill bad guys gets boring quick. It's all about striking the right balance of overpowered minion grinders and overpowered survival combos, like lightning reflexes + chi resurgence + reiki discussed before. Most importantly, it's all about building a champion you like the way you like and having fun playing it. If you gently caress up, you have a free respec, anyway. Lame as Heck posted:Also, I saw on the wiki that there's a nightstick unlockable for single/duel blade characters, which I think greatly opens up the options for my martial arts characters. I know a lot of stuff gets added to this game on a regular basis, but what are the chances of there being like a staff related archetype, or even more options for the way powers are used, like shooting fire or lightning out of a staff or a gun? Are these things on the drawing board at all? I'd be a real sucker for alternative ways to fire spells that would use weapons, like sending a huge fucken fireball by slashing your sword at the air.
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Sep 27, 2011 08:49
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Heavy neutrino posted:There are several no-brainer choices though, like Strength for the melee sets (at least I think so: the tooltip displays +20% melee damage regardless of my strength value) Yeah. Strength buffs all melee damage as well. Caps at 70 STR. Same with Ego for Ego weapons. This is addition to SS bonuses. So if you SS STR, you will cap the inherent melee bonus fairly quickly.
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Sep 27, 2011 09:13
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Heavy neutrino posted:Speaking of Eye of the Storm, does anyone else think the skill is pretty unbalanced? It simply costs way to little energy for its numbers. Should still take it though. Even if it's not "unbalanced" it's still in the good top 10% of powers.
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Sep 27, 2011 10:01
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Lame as Heck posted:but what are the chances of there being like a staff related archetype Pretty low right now. quote:or even more options for the way powers are used, like shooting fire or lightning out of a staff or a gun? Are these things on the drawing board at all? This they said they'll be working on. It won't be any time soon, though.
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Sep 27, 2011 11:09
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Is there a way to make something useful out of the Sorcery trees? It's not very good at healing, its paralyze and confusion moves aren't terribly useful, it has no powerful single-target attack, and its main minion grinder (Storm calling) is okay at best. Skarn's Bane is a ramp-up maintained move that is impossible to cast for its full duration unless you superstat Endurance because its cost is completely insane. Hex of Suffering is a pathetic 10-foot sphere and not worth casting unless it hits several targets. It would probably make a decent skillset with a tier 2-3 single target attack and revamped Skarn's Bane / Hex of Suffering.
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Sep 28, 2011 00:35
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Heavy neutrino posted:Is there a way to make something useful out of the Sorcery trees? It's not very good at healing, its paralyze and confusion moves aren't terribly useful, it has no powerful single-target attack, and its main minion grinder (Storm calling) is okay at best. Skarn's Bane is a ramp-up maintained move that is impossible to cast for its full duration unless you superstat Endurance because its cost is completely insane. Hex of Suffering is a pathetic 10-foot sphere and not worth casting unless it hits several targets.
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Sep 28, 2011 01:26
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I'm really having a hard time with Skarn's Bane because of how expensive it is. I was a dunce and superstatted Intelligence and Presence like the wiki suggested, and it's impossible to use it to full effect because with a 41% cost discount from intelligence, it costs 36 energy per second to use. You'd need a max energy of 180 to use it to its full potential, and I'm pretty sure that's impossible to get if you don't superstat Endurance. I'll probably fully respec and go Intel/Endurance. Do you have a good suggestion for a single-targetted damage spell to supplement Skarn's Bane? I was thinking of using Psi Lance but the character is only level 17, so tier 3 telekinesis is pretty far away.
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Sep 28, 2011 02:25
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If Endurance is a problem (and it is a costly power, even if Super-Int helps a lot there), just switch into Sentinel stance if your passives allow for it. The damage debuff is negligible, and while the defense debuff is annoying, you basically have infinite energy and Skarn's Bane will melt whatever's in front of you. If you're not planning on healing or the like though (and you might want to, Sorcery has a lot of good powers for it), there's no reason to keep Presence around yeah. As for what a good single-target spell is... it depends on what your slotted passive is? If you're using one of the Sorcery ones, then it doesn't really matter since they're damage-type agnostic, just pick whatever sounds best. If you're using Seraphim or Shadow Form then you'll want to grab Ebon Ruin or Telekinetic Lance or the like, or even Ego Blade Breach/Ego Blade Annihilation if you don't mind having to melee.
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Sep 28, 2011 02:54
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Heavy neutrino posted:I'm really having a hard time with Skarn's Bane because of how expensive it is. I was a dunce and superstatted Intelligence and Presence like the wiki suggested, and it's impossible to use it to full effect because with a 41% cost discount from intelligence, it costs 36 energy per second to use. You'd need a max energy of 180 to use it to its full potential, and I'm pretty sure that's impossible to get if you don't superstat Endurance. I'll probably fully respec and go Intel/Endurance. Force shield/sheathe advantage, tap block as you run into combat. That'll give you energy back for each hit you take, so you'll regain energy almost as fast as skarn's bane eats it. Super-statting both end and int (in the long run, int is a better choice, imo) would be a bad idea, imo, as you'll have a real hard time getting any good levels in your superstats, since they both use the same upgrade slots. I was having fun playing around with what's basically an all-pets arcane build; even if you stick within the various arcane frameworks you get something like six pets, with slots to grab a couple heals or other utility-type things (the pets will be your main source of damage). But then again, I was fooling around with a character that was already 40, probably wouldn't be very good to level with at all.
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Sep 28, 2011 04:12
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kaosAG posted:Super-statting both end and int (in the long run, int is a better choice, imo) would be a bad idea, imo, as you'll have a real hard time getting any good levels in your superstats, since they both use the same upgrade slots. That's a good point. Do we have a good idea of what each slot boosts the most? My experience is Offense Strength Dexterity Defense Constitution Recovery Presence Utility Intelligence Endurance Ego Ideally, you wouldn't want to pick two stats from the same set, although I don't think it matters all that much because my Dual Blades guy is Strength/Dex and he steamrolls everything. Dex/Ego probably would have been a better choice, though.
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Sep 28, 2011 04:43
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You can stick with Int/Pre. As for END, just use talents (+5/+5 are always better than +8) and gear. END and INT can be slotted in Defense and Utility secondaries, while PRE in Offense and Utility. EDIT: Also, dual SS in the same slot are feasible, but only at level 40 with access to Nemesis/UNITY purples and/or AP superblues. Mewnie fucked around with this message at 05:08 on Sep 28, 2011 |
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Sep 28, 2011 05:02
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Heavy neutrino posted:That's a good point. Do we have a good idea of what each slot boosts the most? Based on the Wiki, items are capable of giving the following stats: Offense Slot Primary: STR, DEX, REC Secondary: STR, DEX, CON, PRE, REC Defense Slot Primary: CON, PRE Secondary: STR, DEX, INT, EGO, REC, END Utility Slot Primary: INT, EGO, END Secondary: CON, PRE, INT, EGO, END Keep in mind that primary items get both a primary and secondary modifier, so they also give a small stat boost that secondary items usually have. Blue drops from adventure packs, if done on higher difficulties, have a third modifier that gives the item a small amount in ANY one stat.
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Sep 28, 2011 05:34
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Mewnie posted:EDIT: Also, dual SS in the same slot are feasible, but only at level 40 with access to Nemesis/UNITY purples and/or AP superblues. Feasible with regards to what? Again, my main character is a Str/Dex level 20-something dual blades guy and I can solo every adventure pack, although that's an iffy proposition because I'd likely have a really hard time with Endbringer in Resistance if it weren't for the bugged Dr. Destroyer. It's a really lovely bug.
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Sep 28, 2011 06:07
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In terms of hitting at least 30% damage increase to powers from either superstat - that's the benchmark for end-level performance, generally speaking. You hit this, at 40, at a little bit over 200 in your SSs. It's a soft cap and can go higher (by a fairly large, if difficult to achieve, margin). You want to squeeze everything you can out of basically everything, so you can straddle the same slot or juggle a bunch of stats all at once - but like Mewn said, you need some special gear. STR/DEX works out p. well because MA essentially desires it and you can get STR-heavy primary offenses and dex-heavy primary defenses. It's not an esoteric combo by any means. Frankly, two of any stat works out just fine.. you just might run into some trouble - depending on the stats - if you try to work a third one in. Most builds can easily get their SSs to 220-230 and get a third stat to at least the upper 80s, with bits and bobs trickling into your other stats. It's when you've got CON/INT superstatted and are pushing STR, PRE, and DEX as well for power or role reasons that things get hairy.
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Sep 28, 2011 06:42
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Keep in mind that the "disadvantage" from 2 stats in the same tree would really only show in PvP or high end farming... of which the only purpose is to get gear for more high end farming. So don't worry about that. What does it matter what your stats at 40 are when the only worthwhile thing to do then is roll up an alt anyway?
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Sep 28, 2011 11:46
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Aphrodite posted:Keep in mind that the "disadvantage" from 2 stats in the same tree would really only show in PvP or high end farming... of which the only purpose is to get gear for more high end farming. So don't worry about that. If you're that worried, stick to a Str/Con, Dex/Ego, End/Rec, or Pre/Int pairing; these seem to be the "natural" choices for most powersets, and it's usually obvious which are which. Dex/Int (for anything using Quarry, or that doesn't have to focus too much on crit procs) isn't bad either.
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Sep 28, 2011 12:03
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doomfunk posted:You want to squeeze everything you can out of basically everything, so you can straddle the same slot or juggle a bunch of stats all at once - but like Mewn said, you need some special gear. Special but not necessarily rare or even all that expensive. One of the nice things about the Adventure Packs is that there are people who farm them all the time for superblues and then drop them in the Auction House. It's not worth it most of the time at lower levels, but when you get up into the mid-30s and especially at 40, it's time to go shopping. A typical superblue at level 40 will have the normal (excellent) blue upgrade stats, plus +7 to each of two other random stats. Is up to an extra 126 stat points worth shopping around and maybe farming some extra components to sell? I'd say so. It beats the living hell out of anything you'd get from crafted/UNITY purples and their effort required. First stop: This list of Item Prefixes will help make the awful AH interface manageable. This will allow you to specify a level range, a quality (Rare) and a prefix to narrow it down to upgrades that fit the exact primary stat/ability you need. For example, if I want a +CON secondary offense with bonus stats, I know I'll want to search for "Reinforced" and "Bio" and see what's out there. Then go fishing. The majority of blues will have the same stats (say, +20 CON at level 40); dig around and look for one with something like +20 CON, +7 DEX, +7 INT. If the same stat is hit twice, it'll generally be an extra +13 rather than +14. Poke around until you either find upgrades you like or they start getting priced ridiculously. Quality secondaries are available quite often in the 5-20G range, quality primaries a little higher depending on what you're looking for, but if you're spending over 40G on any one item it had better be spectacular. Where do you get all these Gs to spend? Same place as always, L30+ areas. Crafted travel power components always always always sell. Market prices for Reinforced Tissues hang around 2G each, Dragon Power Cores / Ritual Blood Knives / Major Dimensional Mutations around 3G each, Atomic Neural Receptors / Shamanic Bone Rattles often higher than that. Got leftover blues from Blood Moon? Research 'em down, Blood of the Dragon / Questionite / Pulson Particles are usually in the 6-8G range for each. Money is simply not an issue for anyone who (a) actually plays to L40 and (b) sells their components rather than trying to build a CTP themselves. I'm about to reach L40 for the fifteenth time on my main account, and not one of them hasn't had 400G+ _without deliberately farming_ by the time they hit L40. EDIT: Also, as far as endgame-level equipment goes, keep in mind that you'll get some pretty nice items along the way. Mysticism crafters can always get Hotsleep Fists from the main Stronghold mission (Primary Offense, End on Kill + Health on Kill + 5% Offense boost + 5% Stun on Hit all on one item), which don't help your stats but provide a nice batch of abilities. The Old Switcheroo in Andrithal provides an easy purple Primary Utility (mostly focused on END or EGO, but some are more balanced). The rewards for Excavation's Overseer are excellent Primary Defense items; I usually take the Coruscator for high CON but your mileage may vary depending on your superstats. If you can settle for those as your primaries, shopping for just secondaries is much cheaper. delfin fucked around with this message at 14:26 on Sep 28, 2011 |
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Sep 28, 2011 14:18
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As far as I know, taking superstats which occupy the same upgrade type slot isn't that problematic. If you consider how many upgrade slots you can find your superstats in on secondary gear pieces, it's very possible to bleed out your stats over secondary slots instead of worrying too much about the primary stat boosts. Though looking at the charts, INT/END does seem to be one of the more restrictive combos. If you're still having energy problems, another possible power you can take to help energy issues would be Molecular Self-Assembly, which directly boosts energy generation whenever a recharge ends. Really, any INT character with at least 1 or 2 recharges they use regularly will find great benefit from the energy return.
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Sep 28, 2011 18:16
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Might super stats, str/con building int or str/int building con.
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Sep 29, 2011 04:27
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I kinda sorta got back into this again recently. Mostly i just hang out at the tailor making costumes. What's the best costume pack to pick up during this sale? I'm thinking the asymmetric/elemental tights pack probably has the best content/cost ratio.
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Sep 29, 2011 05:50
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Uuuh, is the Arcane Sorcery pet bugged? He'll attack big targets like tanks fine, but if I order him to attack a humanoid, he'll run up to them, clip into their model, and sit there doing nothing. edit: this seems to only happen against VIPER mobs. The big deal is that he doesn't tank very well. How helpful is the rank 3 "Invulnerable like" ability in helping him survive more than 5 seconds? Radiant Sanctuary and Circle of Ebon Wrath already force me to stay in place, so I guess losing Unbound Ritual isn't a very big problem. Heavy neutrino fucked around with this message at 14:53 on Sep 29, 2011 |
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Sep 29, 2011 14:35
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All Viper mobs, or specific ones? Is he maybe getting smoke bombed by infiltrators?
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Sep 29, 2011 22:19
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