Yes, yet another hero on Triumph. I've been missing the action with Mantlet as a Tank on teams a lot (I guess I am very Tankish at heart) and I wanted to try something a bit different with AoE potential. So, after some investigation, I came up with Peltier Justice. He's an Ice/Fire Tank built for the Alpha Tank role on 6-8 man teams. At level 12, his current S/L Defense is over 25%, which is pretty good considering his level. I've been successfully Tanking with him on good sized teams and so far I am pretty satisfied with how he's developing.
Costume-wise, I went with a Tech background as I was remembering the neat helmets that they had on the old Battle of the Planets cartoon (also known as G-Force). The geo-shield has that nice hawk-beak kind of point on the lower edge and I was able to work it into a helmet with some accents to support it. I was also able to tie in both the Armored Pads (legs) and Tech Sleek (new with my latest vet reward) costume elements together. Both have a kind of honeycomb fabric texture that ties the two separate costume patterns for the overall look. A slate-blue and off-white were used for the body, as I like the cool colors for an Ice Tank's costume. Looks good with his armors up.
Anyway, he's IO'd out at the moment (no surprise) with some L15 set and common IOs. I was able to sell some common Tier 1 arcane salvage drops and do my flipping thing with Thunderstrike recipes to afford them. With a comfortable 2.5M left over after the IO/Recipe purchases, he's good for a while.
Hoping for the best, he's been a blast to play so far. And I dig the costume... : )
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
Yes, another new character...
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OK, so an update with some impressions...
Last night I recruited and lead an 8-man team on Triumph after the kids went to bed. Over the course of the evening, Peltier Justice started at Level 17 and at the end of the evening was just shy of level 21. My initial response was, "Whuuuu?" Granted we were fighing mostly +2/+3's on a team with great synergy (two DB/WP Tanks with me as the Alpha Tank, a Kin/Arch Defender, an Emp/Nrg Defender, a Fire/Fire Blaster, a DB/WP Scrapper, and a Ice/Cold Blaster). We were steamrolling missions with me gathering spawns to corners and letting the team cut them to shreds while I held aggro.
Even with that, the effect of "XP Smoothing" was readily apparent. I have absolutely never climbed through the teens so fast. Yeah, it was pretty smooth, but also was fast. Maybe too fast considering the rate XP was rolling in. We had several missions in the Faultline arcs where people leveled TWICE in a single mission. Those weren't big outdoor mission maps, either. And we were fighting mostly Lost.
Granted, playing on a good team where things are working well and you are steamrolling spawns is always a good thing XP-wise. It's also fun as hell. I just wonder about the impact to the game if people are blowing past arcs and story content now that they are leveling more quickly...
Well, for whatever it's worth, that's my quick one-night assessment.
So, after last night, Peltier Justice is Level 24 with a few bubbles to spare. He's really developing into a solid alpha Tank for a big team and so far has been performing extremely well. Attacks are light, but his defenses are well slotted out with just under +31% Defense to Smashing, Lethal, Energy, and Negative Energy. With team buffs (bubbles, Fortitude, etc.) he's easily over the 45% "soft cap" defense for enemies in-mission.
He's also holding aggro like mad. He steals aggro from other Tanks, and with two taunt auras (Icicles and Chilling Embrace) plus Taunt, he's got all the tools in his toolbox. Aggro spill onto the team is virtually nil unless the team scatters in big rooms.
Style-wise, I've been honing my herding skills. With the mobility that the Ice primary brings to the table, I've been able to capitalize on the Hurdle/Combat Jumping combo to hop like an angry ice-rabbit from group to group, grabbing aggro with my auras. From there, it's hop to a corner and watch the enemies come streaming in. This is particularly effective on most teams since AoEs and Mass Confusion wreak havok on a closely packed group. And me in the middle, laying down the smack and pumping my AoE attack.
IO slotting is progressing, I was able to pick up the Pacing of the Turtle Proc in Chilling Embrace giving a 20% chance for a 20% Recharge slow on each opponent in-range every 10 seconds. Not visibly apparent, but it does help to cut down the incoming attacks and helps with damage mitigation. Currently I have mostly L20 IOs slotted but I'm looking to invest in some more IO sets. There are a number of good ones (Luck of the Gambler, etc.) that open up at Level 25 and I can currently slot up to L27 enhancements.
Ahead is Energy Absorbtion, a BIG power in the set. It's an auto-hit PbAoE attack that drains endurance from foes and buffs your defense at the same time. More endurance for you and better defense, and the more foes, the better it gets. With EA I should be able to come close to the soft cap Defense with a decent sized spawn. That and the endurance boost will be VERY helpful.
Anyway, more later but Peltier is turning into a Damn Fine Tank.
Well, Peltier Justice is up to Level 32 now and is still climbing. I've been putting together solid 8-man teams and rolling through Croatoa mission arcs for the change of pace. Current "average" team composition is generally:
1.) Peltier Justice as alpha Tank
2.) Off-Tank or Scrapper
3.) Kinetics Defender/Controller
4.) Empathy Defender/Controller
5.) Fire/Fire Blaster (I run with one)
6.) Blaster
7.) Blaster
8.) Warshade
Peltier is starting to show his worth as a large team Tank. With Combustion, Fire Sword Circle, Taunt, and his two taunt auras, he's grabbing and keeping aggro in a large radius around him. Generally, that frees the rest of the team to wail away at range or up close (for Scrappers/Warshades). I have a hard time helping melee players nearby, since their getting splash from AoEs targeted at me. No direct aggro, but the indirect stuff can be hard on them.
At this point, my Defense vs. Smashing/Lethal/Energy/Neg Energy is a hair above 33%. Tough was my last power choice, both for the added S/L Resistance and also to open up Weave. Weave is coming at Level 35, and once slotted, should bring my Defense up to 41% vs those "big 4" damage types. Spamming Energy Absorption in fights will allow me to be around or above the 45% "soft cap" for Defense in most spawns.
Weak spots in the build continue to be Fire, Toxic, and Psi. Fire is the most notable now, since I have low resistances to it and very little defense. These three are generally holes for Ice Tanks in general, so I'm trying to craft an approach with IO sets to bolster both my Psi Defense and Resistance. Fire I'm stuck on since there is not much in the IO catalog that can help with it. Truthfully, late game Psi damage is more of a concern though, so...
Peltier's getting a good rep on Triumph too. I log in and start getting tells from people to see if I'm putting a team together. Nice for my ego, at least :)
Peltier is up to Level 36 now. After picking up Weave and slotting it, my S/L/Eng/Neg Eng Defense is all over 41% I'm over the "soft cap" of 45% with Energy Absorption hitting 4 or so opponents in a spawn. Not hard to do since it's got a big radius and is auto-hit.
I've Tanked the first Respec Trial now with him leading a solid support team. Also ran the Katie Hannon Task Force in Croatoa to get the "Ten Times the Victor" accolade.
He's turning into a monsterously tough Tank, although I had a huge CoT temple map that completely kicked our ass. CoT were +2 to us and the mission was on Unyielding with an 8-man team, so they were EVERYWHERE. Too many to hold aggro and the mages just kept healing and debuffing. Ugh. Total of 5 team wipes that mission alone.
At any rate, a lot of fun. I'm digging the Ice primary a lot.
I think we have to hand it to Greg on sheer look this time around. This is a damn fine costume and I got to sit it briefly in person. A single screenshot doesn't do it justice.
As for the name, I had to look up the Peltier Effect to add relevance to the great backstory. I thought he was named after the "political prisoner." Ironically, you'd talked about picking up a Pacing of the Turtle and I guess I associated him with Leonard Peltier because Leonard, I think, grew up on Turtle Mountain Reservation.
I think I have to question Greg's honorary paladin status and Boy Scout leanings. Having this many toons reveals a deep need to be dictator over millions. LOL!
Thanks for the kind words Rob. I do really like the way the costume developed. I posted some additional screen-shots on the blog to try and illustrate the costume choices I went with. Too bad it gets almost completely obscured with my Ice Armors up in missions...
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