Double XP weekend is over - I managed to get Tenmos from L37 up to L42. Just 8 more levels before Level 50! Tank offense is pretty pathetic in the late 20s and especially the early to mid 30s, so I am glad that I am past my slow spot there. The 40s move pretty fast for me, now that I have my major attacks all available and slotted up. On my second account, Fires is getting pulled all the way up there too - this is exciting too in that Fires should be my first 50 on that account. Not too bad progress for a level pacted character.
A few annoying things happened that really got to me this weekend, this one being the prime one:
I joined a 8-man group doing missions in Peregrine Island for XP. The problem was that they selected a difficult, ie, SLOW, mission against Carnies, on a high difficulty setting at that. We were something like L35-40 fighting L43 carnies, if I remember correctly.
Carnies, or the Carnival, as you know, are notoriously evil for all of their endurance draining attacks and deaths. You can't herd carnie purples for easy killing, cause when even a few of them die, they drop your endurance bar to zero. Which in turn, results in your own death from the remaining carnies, cause your defenses have all dropped and you have no endurance for keeping your attacks going.
This sort of thing can be avoided with enough defense numbers like I did with my SR scrapper a long time ago, but that's not how a Willpower tank works.
So basically we were reduced to doing a couple carnies at a time. You could concentrate 8 people on them and kill them quickly, or you could spread your attack power all over the place and kill them slowly. The group I was with was more of the latter - people all soloing a couple of carnies each scattered here and there. We had enough people that there were Master Illusionists in the mission, summoning xpless minions that we wasted a ton of time on.
I actually went to wash dishes and wipe down the countertop with soap, during one fight, and came back to find them all still standing in the SAME AREA doing exactly what they were doing before. That is how slow each fight was going. They were impresssed by how fast I did dishes, I wasn't impressed with how slowly they were taking down the carnies.
It was a suicide run - heroes were dying off on a regular basis against the carnies, which was stupid, so many deaths were slowing us down, using up our resources constantly reviving the dying. We were in way too far over our heads, but not so far in that it was impossible - it was just mind numbingly slow progress, mission and XP wise.
I protested a couple of times - asked them to pick a saner mission, but they didn't really want to. So the next time I saw a team offer appear on the global chats, I took it and left these people doing their attrition war against the Carnies.
They weren't very happy when I left, and rightfully so for a couple reasons: It was bad form to just leave in the middle of fighting a group, but it was a trash group that was taking forever to kill, and they wouldn't see that it was too much to handle properly. Also I was SKing one of their members - when I dropped the team they went down by a few levels, probably resulting in their quick demise. Though, they were already dying pretty regularly already, at that point I didn't care if they minded an extra death.
Anyways, the end result is that I left, they were pissed off, and I was badmouthed a bit on the "BMT of Champion" global chat. They gave up on the Invincible level mission and restarted the mission on a lower difficulty level, and did fine. I wouldn't have left them if they just did that in the first place. :P Oh well.
I guess the nice term for what they were doing is "Scrapper Lock"
I'm probably not going to get invites from some of those people again, but if they are doing stupid things like that, I dont really want any part of it.
Upsen.
Monday, January 26, 2009
Invention Origin Sets Update
After sinking countless hours into staring at the Mids Planner, even beyond that of my last post, I've got a build that falls part way between the highest possible stats I can find (at the moment), and what I have already purchased or found.
The Kinetic Combat sets I wanted are almost done - just one more piece to go.
I dropped one set of Entropic Chaos - it was much cheaper and actually more effective if I slotted out my Taunt with Mocking Beratement instead of Char/Ring of Fire. The cost for all 6 pieces of Mocking Beratement was actually under 1 million inf, while the Entropic Chaos is sort of unavailable and costing between 2-5 million per piece. I was really happy with that.
Reactive Armor is turning out to be hard to find. They don't list for a lot on the auction house, but there is almost nothing ever available to buy. I might have to do these through the merit system - they are only 50 merits each.
I haven't started on the Level 50 IO sets I wanted. I'll need two full Obliteration sets for offense. I'm using plain IOs right now for my AOE attacks.
Defensively, I need two partial Luck of the Gambler sets and a good number of healing set IOs - Numina's, Miracle, Regenerative Tissue, etc. These look like they are going to be the most difficult part of my build. The auction house sells these things for 25-75 million influence EACH. That to me is jaw droppingly expensive right now, and I will have a hard time convincing myself to spend so much influence on single IOs.
The merits system also has these for 200+ merits each, which means they are still pretty difficult to obtain. I did get one Miracle already for 240 merits a while back, but I'm wishing I knew about some other ones at the time, such as Regenerating Tissue's +end/+regen dual bonus. Perhaps I would have picked one of those first.
Sure I could play the market to get more money but that to me is not why I play City of Heroes. If I wanted to play market buying and selling to make money I'd be better off logging onto my trading account to watch the TSX and Dow Jones, not the Wentworths in City of Heroes. Inf costs 10 bucks for 100 million anyways as the daily in-game spams tell us.
I'll be satisfied with just getting these IOs slowly over time - eventually I'll get there. Stuff comes pretty quickly at 50. A few million inf per task force, etc, plus some nice drops, and I'll have those IOs sets complete soon enough.
Upsen.
The Kinetic Combat sets I wanted are almost done - just one more piece to go.
I dropped one set of Entropic Chaos - it was much cheaper and actually more effective if I slotted out my Taunt with Mocking Beratement instead of Char/Ring of Fire. The cost for all 6 pieces of Mocking Beratement was actually under 1 million inf, while the Entropic Chaos is sort of unavailable and costing between 2-5 million per piece. I was really happy with that.
Reactive Armor is turning out to be hard to find. They don't list for a lot on the auction house, but there is almost nothing ever available to buy. I might have to do these through the merit system - they are only 50 merits each.
I haven't started on the Level 50 IO sets I wanted. I'll need two full Obliteration sets for offense. I'm using plain IOs right now for my AOE attacks.
Defensively, I need two partial Luck of the Gambler sets and a good number of healing set IOs - Numina's, Miracle, Regenerative Tissue, etc. These look like they are going to be the most difficult part of my build. The auction house sells these things for 25-75 million influence EACH. That to me is jaw droppingly expensive right now, and I will have a hard time convincing myself to spend so much influence on single IOs.
The merits system also has these for 200+ merits each, which means they are still pretty difficult to obtain. I did get one Miracle already for 240 merits a while back, but I'm wishing I knew about some other ones at the time, such as Regenerating Tissue's +end/+regen dual bonus. Perhaps I would have picked one of those first.
Sure I could play the market to get more money but that to me is not why I play City of Heroes. If I wanted to play market buying and selling to make money I'd be better off logging onto my trading account to watch the TSX and Dow Jones, not the Wentworths in City of Heroes. Inf costs 10 bucks for 100 million anyways as the daily in-game spams tell us.
I'll be satisfied with just getting these IOs slowly over time - eventually I'll get there. Stuff comes pretty quickly at 50. A few million inf per task force, etc, plus some nice drops, and I'll have those IOs sets complete soon enough.
Upsen.
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Mids - CoH Planner
I picked up a copy of Mids and I've been going nuts on a rebuild for Tenmos.
It's a pretty end-game build, except it doesn't use those horribly, horribly expensive ultra-rare purple IOs. However, I really do only have half the influence I need in order to build it. So I guess I'll start slow, on what I can afford first. I've put out bids on Kinetic Combat which people are saying is rare now, probably due to shield tankers, and stuff like Entropic Chaos, Reactive Armor, and Gift of the Ancients, since they reach their max level at 35s and 40s, so I dont have to worry about a sub-standard version of the IO not being L50. These L35-40 IOs are costing me about 90 million influence - pretty much every cent I've earned in the game so far with Tenmos, and transferred influence from other characters I've played. So it's going to be a pretty hefty investment.
Upsen.
It's a pretty end-game build, except it doesn't use those horribly, horribly expensive ultra-rare purple IOs. However, I really do only have half the influence I need in order to build it. So I guess I'll start slow, on what I can afford first. I've put out bids on Kinetic Combat which people are saying is rare now, probably due to shield tankers, and stuff like Entropic Chaos, Reactive Armor, and Gift of the Ancients, since they reach their max level at 35s and 40s, so I dont have to worry about a sub-standard version of the IO not being L50. These L35-40 IOs are costing me about 90 million influence - pretty much every cent I've earned in the game so far with Tenmos, and transferred influence from other characters I've played. So it's going to be a pretty hefty investment.
Upsen.
Monday, January 19, 2009
IO set builds versus non-IO set builds - A Side-by-Side Comparison
I did all the levelups for my secondary tank, Fires of Conviction so he is now L35 like Tenmos.
So after all these millions of inf I've spent on IOs, what do I have to show for it? Is it actually worth while to do all this IO slotting? Let's see what these two tanks look like side by side at L35.
Fires has better HP regen and Endurance recovery than Tenmos. (cause Fires has Fitness Pool Health and Stamina.) Fires has way more HP, since he has had time to fully slot his High Pain Tolerance.
Fires has more powers that are optimally slotted - Tenmos will need more slots to get his powers all slotted out properly, and may run into a shortage later on.
Tenmos has somewhat better defenses (about 4% better for all elemental types)
Fires has somewhat better resistances cause he has more slots in Tough.
(5% better Smashing/Lethal)
Attack-wise, Fires is much harder hitting at the moment. A bit lower in accuracy but about 30% more damage, and 10% less endurance used. That's the difference between 4-slotting and 6-slotting.
Tenmos has more accuracy from a Kismet but Fires could slot the same for the cost of a little more endurance use on his status protection.
So, at this moment in L35, the IOs are a mixed bag. I am doing a lot less damage than I should be doing at this time, but I can make up for it using hasten and buildup. I'm also slightly better on the whole with the higher defenses.
Considering that Tenmos is not quite fully slotted out, there is a lot more room for growth. Fires on the other hand, has 6-slotted a good number of powers, meaning they are already at their optimum performance level. Once Tenmos hits 50 and I get him more fully IO-slotted, the differences between Tenmos(IOed) and Fires(non-IOed) should be quite pronounced.
Overall, it is very worth while to slot with IOs.
Upsen.
So after all these millions of inf I've spent on IOs, what do I have to show for it? Is it actually worth while to do all this IO slotting? Let's see what these two tanks look like side by side at L35.
Fires has better HP regen and Endurance recovery than Tenmos. (cause Fires has Fitness Pool Health and Stamina.) Fires has way more HP, since he has had time to fully slot his High Pain Tolerance.
Fires has more powers that are optimally slotted - Tenmos will need more slots to get his powers all slotted out properly, and may run into a shortage later on.
Tenmos has somewhat better defenses (about 4% better for all elemental types)
Fires has somewhat better resistances cause he has more slots in Tough.(5% better Smashing/Lethal)
Attack-wise, Fires is much harder hitting at the moment. A bit lower in accuracy but about 30% more damage, and 10% less endurance used. That's the difference between 4-slotting and 6-slotting.
Tenmos has more accuracy from a Kismet but Fires could slot the same for the cost of a little more endurance use on his status protection.
So, at this moment in L35, the IOs are a mixed bag. I am doing a lot less damage than I should be doing at this time, but I can make up for it using hasten and buildup. I'm also slightly better on the whole with the higher defenses.
Considering that Tenmos is not quite fully slotted out, there is a lot more room for growth. Fires on the other hand, has 6-slotted a good number of powers, meaning they are already at their optimum performance level. Once Tenmos hits 50 and I get him more fully IO-slotted, the differences between Tenmos(IOed) and Fires(non-IOed) should be quite pronounced.
Overall, it is very worth while to slot with IOs.
Upsen.
Monday, January 12, 2009
WP/Fire at 32 and is really coming into his own
Well it is looking like I'm getting to the point where WP/Fire is doing everything I want it to. I'm actually sort of casting about for powers to take at 30, 32 and 35 - I've spent enough time in the Wentworth's that I don't really need to take the Fitness Pool for health and endurance recovery.
So instead of 3 fitness powers, I took Haste at 30, Buildup at 32, and still wondering what I could take at 35.
Incinerate? Not really needed, maybe it would be good soloing damage vs a boss?
Swap out Haste and Buildup and opt for Leaderships?
Manuevers, Tactics and Vengeance maybe?
Hmm, well the Haste is definitely addictive.
38 is Greater Fire Sword and I know I like that one. 41+ becomes territory for Ancillaries. So I'm sort of stuck as to which I should go with. Gotta think about it for a while.
Upsen.
p.s. here is the general build I am following:
Level 1: High Pain Tolerance
Level 1: Scorch
Level 2: Mind Over Body
Level 4: Combustion
Level 6: Indomitable Will
Level 8: Rise to the Challenge
Level 10: Boxing
Level 12: Quick Recovery
Level 14: Tough
Level 16: Fast Healing
Level 18: Heightened Senses
Level 20: Weave
Level 22: Taunt
Level 24: Combat Jumping
Level 26: Super Jump
Level 28: Fire Sword Circle
Level 30: Hurdle
Level 32: Health
Level 35: Stamina
Level 38: Greater Fire Sword
Level 41: Char
Level 44: Fire Blast
Level 47: Fire Ball
Level 49: Hasten
So instead of 3 fitness powers, I took Haste at 30, Buildup at 32, and still wondering what I could take at 35.
Incinerate? Not really needed, maybe it would be good soloing damage vs a boss?
Swap out Haste and Buildup and opt for Leaderships?
Manuevers, Tactics and Vengeance maybe?
Hmm, well the Haste is definitely addictive.
38 is Greater Fire Sword and I know I like that one. 41+ becomes territory for Ancillaries. So I'm sort of stuck as to which I should go with. Gotta think about it for a while.
Upsen.
p.s. here is the general build I am following:
Level 1: High Pain Tolerance
Level 1: Scorch
Level 2: Mind Over Body
Level 4: Combustion
Level 6: Indomitable Will
Level 8: Rise to the Challenge
Level 10: Boxing
Level 12: Quick Recovery
Level 14: Tough
Level 16: Fast Healing
Level 18: Heightened Senses
Level 20: Weave
Level 22: Taunt
Level 24: Combat Jumping
Level 26: Super Jump
Level 28: Fire Sword Circle
Level 30: Hurdle
Level 32: Health
Level 35: Stamina
Level 38: Greater Fire Sword
Level 41: Char
Level 44: Fire Blast
Level 47: Fire Ball
Level 49: Hasten
Saturday, January 10, 2009
Miracle through Merit System
I picked up a Miracle +Recovery for 240 merits in the Issue 13 merit system - it was pretty pricey considering how many TFs I get to go on right now.
The time price of this Enh was basically the level up process from L14-L30:
- Positron Task Force
- Synapse Task Force
- Babbage during Task Force
- Petition to get back bugged half of merits for Synapse Task Force
- Sister Psyche Task Force
- Citadel Task Force
- Hess Task Force
- Freaklympics Story Arc
- Ring of Peebles Story Arc
- Lusca Monster in Independence Port.
- Kraken in Perez Park
One neat little thing about it - it doubles up when you cross a zone line, like the way you can double up buffs like Speed Boost or Force Fields etc. (cause the game loses track of who buffed you the first time) The doubled up time is 2 minutes, so it is pretty wow. :D
Upsen.
Friday, January 9, 2009
Cyborg pack and Self Destruct
I was thinking of picking up the booster pack that includes the self destruct power, so I looked around to see if anyone had said anything about it. Basically the power is somewhat less powerful than a blaster tier 9 and has an hour recharge.
Why am I thinking of getting it? I dunno really, Self-destruct means I should get a self-res power to match it, and I typically don't take self-res powers. I'd screw up my power selection, to be honest. Also how often would a tank need self-destruct? Maybe on my scrappers or something. It would make for a nice M-66 style character.
Alternatively I could put it on my second account and drag em around as a vengeance target. :D
I also saw some funny things about it on the forums, mainly about people hitting the self-destruct by mistake.
Upsen.
Why am I thinking of getting it? I dunno really, Self-destruct means I should get a self-res power to match it, and I typically don't take self-res powers. I'd screw up my power selection, to be honest. Also how often would a tank need self-destruct? Maybe on my scrappers or something. It would make for a nice M-66 style character.
Alternatively I could put it on my second account and drag em around as a vengeance target. :D
| Recharge | Very Long (60min) |
| Effects | PBAoE 40ft |
| Extreme DMG(Smashing/Fire) | |
| Knockback | |
| Self defeat |
I also saw some funny things about it on the forums, mainly about people hitting the self-destruct by mistake.
Quote:I do wish that the plaync store would get a shopping cart going, it is a pain to have to do all these little pack purchases seperately.
Countless times i say "Gather to Accelerate Metabolism" only to explode myself right after instead...
Accelerated yourself a bit too much?
You're supposed to let some of that radiation out, you know...
Upsen.
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
City of Heroes - Tenmos and LxH
Couple things - I transferred my old WP/Fire tank over to Freedom so I would work on the WP/fire more on Champion. I have him up to L29 now, which is not very fast, but considering I've been playing him level-pacted, ie, half xp rate, its not too bad I guess. I need to get him onto a xp-able Hess TF before he turns 30.
The paired tank has sort of fallen by the wayside as things get more and more hectic when teaming, and teaming is where you get some of the better xp. I've stripped the IOs I've slotted in him and put them on a lowbie scrapper that I've started building. The scrapper is for those days where the tank is just going too slowly by himself - something to do some fast and furious killing.
The Scrapper is Love x Hate - another one of my frequent re-rolls. I picked the name cause of this anime a while back called School Days.
Turns out that it was a Japanese dating simulator computer game and it was remade for the Playstation 2 in Japan under the name School Days: LxH. These are the sort of story games where you make decisions for the main character at certain points, and the outcome could be good or bad (or just different) depending on what you do. Some of the paths take some pretty evil turns and there are scenes with kitchen knives and saws in it.
So anyways, LxH (the scrapper) is a dual blades/willpower modelled after Saionji Sekai, using tanto blades as her kitchen knife.
I pacted her with Kinetic Lass, which is yet another reroll for Lass. They're at L10 now. This level pact stuff is pretty neat, I wonder when I will get to 50 on one of these pacts. Pacts made the early TFs more worthwhile XP wise, but I can imagine how it will slow things down in the 30s-50s.
Ok, I guess that was more than a couple of things. :P
Upsen.
The paired tank has sort of fallen by the wayside as things get more and more hectic when teaming, and teaming is where you get some of the better xp. I've stripped the IOs I've slotted in him and put them on a lowbie scrapper that I've started building. The scrapper is for those days where the tank is just going too slowly by himself - something to do some fast and furious killing.
The Scrapper is Love x Hate - another one of my frequent re-rolls. I picked the name cause of this anime a while back called School Days.
Turns out that it was a Japanese dating simulator computer game and it was remade for the Playstation 2 in Japan under the name School Days: LxH. These are the sort of story games where you make decisions for the main character at certain points, and the outcome could be good or bad (or just different) depending on what you do. Some of the paths take some pretty evil turns and there are scenes with kitchen knives and saws in it.
So anyways, LxH (the scrapper) is a dual blades/willpower modelled after Saionji Sekai, using tanto blades as her kitchen knife.
I pacted her with Kinetic Lass, which is yet another reroll for Lass. They're at L10 now. This level pact stuff is pretty neat, I wonder when I will get to 50 on one of these pacts. Pacts made the early TFs more worthwhile XP wise, but I can imagine how it will slow things down in the 30s-50s.
Ok, I guess that was more than a couple of things. :P
Upsen.
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