Yep. Got to spend some time online after the kids went to bed this weekend. Amy was quilting, so I was Tanking. Peltier continues to impress me with the resiliency of the Defense-based powerset. Good defense coupled with Regeneration and Smashing/Lethal resistance from Tough yeilds a strong Tank indeed. I'm beginning to appreciate why it has a good reputation on the forums.
The Fire Melee secondary also has some good synergy with the Ice Armor primary. Icicles is a PbAoE and adds to the AoE love from Combustion and Fire Sword Circle. I'm in the process right now of 6-slotting all three with Scirocco's Dervish enhancements for the +3.13% Psi Defense set bonus on each. Coupled with Weave, the Steadfast Res/Def IO, and Combat Jumping, this will bring my Psi Defense up to about 25%. Not great, but a damn sight better than nothing.
And it looks like I'm going to need it. I SK'ed with a group of 41's over the weekend and was Tanking +5's no problem. Freaks, Council, Nemesis, you name it. That was, until someone pulled a mission with Carnival of Shadows. Ouch. Double Ouch. Those temptresses with heavy face paint and colored lingerie spanked me hard. Unbeknownkst to me at the time, the Ring Mistresses have a special attack called the Mask of Violition (or some such) that acts as a progressive Defense debuff. Stack that with the Fencers and other Psi-wielding enemies, and I was getting slammed. I faceplanted 5 times on that mission, and it was a short one. I was suitably humbled.
I had not planned on working on Psi Defense/Resistance until the 40s, but I'm starting early to try and get a jump on it. Probably a good idea given the expense and scarcity of the Scirocco's set recipes.
Oh, and Energy Absorption is a GREAT power. I've been looking at the Combat Numbers data for the power, and in a large spawn, I can click it, get 100% of my endurance back, drain about 1/2 of my oppenents' endurance, and gain about +11% Defense to all but Psi attacks. With a 41% base Defense, that shoots him up to +52% which is significantly above the "soft cap". This means opponents have the default 5% (minimum) chance to hit him, akin to rolling a natural 20 in D&D. Now THAT is some serious damage mitigation.
See you all on Wednesday, I'm looking forward to some Incredible Squad action...
Monday, March 17, 2008
Peltier Justice hits Security Level 39
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After last night, Peltier Justice is at Security Level 40 with 4 bubbles to go to 41. His enhancement set slotting is coming along, as well. He needs 4 more Scirocco's Dervish recipes and one more Crushing Impact to round out his build. Now that he's in the level range to run in Perigrine Island, he'll need the set bonuses for the Psi defense and resistance.
The second team I put together last night was bloody horrible. One blaster did nothing but bitch and complain. One Scrapper convinced me to let his Level 7 buddy roll with us as a sidekick (can you say "dead weight"). Since his buddy had no travel powers it took him almost 20 minutes to get from Atlas Park to PI where the rest of us were waiting. Then we went in mission and his mentor immediately went AFK, so there were 2 team members doing flat out nothing. Ugh. Next time I'll just kick them and/or not agree to letting a L7 leach XP from the rest of us...
Anyway, see you guys Thursday.
Hit 41 last night with Peltier in a brief play session before bed.
I went to the Abandoned Sewer Network below Steel Canyon and was chewing through spawns of CoT there.
I have to say... I'm damn impressed. At one point I had herded three spawns together and was standing in the middle of 10 Death Mages banging away with my AoEs, Sands of Mu, and Scorch. They could not touch me. Hitting Energy Absorbtion kept my Defense pegged and my blue bar filled to capacity. All the while pushing out fire damage to beat the band.
Last time I did this area was with Flambeau Noir. I thought he was tough and fast... Damn. Peltier has him beat hands down. None of the debuffs/heals/etc. that the CoT are throwing down are hitting me, so they don't heal and I don't get debuffed. Big difference over Fire/Fire where you get hit by damn near everything.
Anyway, I picked up Hibernate and I'm still looking for more IOs to complete the sets I'm working on. Plenty more to do, but he's coming along great...
I'm starting to think that Greg alone, with his unique ability to level so many toons so quickly, and still always show up for slower SG only play, is the reason the devs need to focus really hard on quality super-extra content for vets. Not only does he deserve it, and we also, but besides us as buddies, repeated badges, and being a wiz at the market, I have to wonder what keeps Greg just THAT interested.
When I had started playing SWG at the same time Eric was participating in the COH beta, Greg and Amy bought me the first SWG expansion, Jump To Lightspeed (which I still haven't figured out why the release didn't stay Lucas authentic and call it Jump to Hyperspace.)
This was the perfect expansion. Given that Lucas Arts had licensed to and been so involved with Sony (arg) on the Star Wars MMO, it was almost a freak of technology that the expansion was so good. The original did loads with planets, creatures, the PVP galactic civil war, loot, sentient species, etc. It really FELT like you were in the Star Wars saga. However, it had no space battle or travel.
Spacefaring is such an integral part of the Star Wars brand, we all expected one of two things. Either to make it authentic would be too hard and they'd never add it to the game, despite promises, or they'd add it and it would suck.
Well, my God! It was tremendous! 3-D mapping was spot on, waypoints as guides, building ships from scratch (all Lucas classes), gorgeous backdrops, asteroid fields, space PVP, PVE, armadas; I can go on and on. Hands down, best space battle game I'd ever played in the best fantasy world in which I'd want to play it.
Yet, WHY, do I think it was a perfect expansion? It was hard! Hard as hell! It was the kind of hard that no matter how many times you were defeated, you just craved getting back up in the air to do something else. My Y-Wing, built from hackneyed loot, had great shields, above average speed, but was about as maneuverable as a three-legged pig with two asses. Sure, I built others and even upgraded the hell out of the Y-Wing, but the maneuverability was just capped. Running a mish against 3 or 4 more maneuverable ships was certain doom, but I never tired of looking for a way.
Even when Sony twice over changed the entire combat system, fucking it up both times, and even when they nerfed the heck out of the entire game, the space stuff remained the same. I would never have wanted to play ONLY the space game, but given that it was my guy, Grigg Rathskeller, in that ship, I stayed in the fantasy and went back again and again. The harder it got the more fun it was the try to fly through an asteroid field for cover. There were just so many possibilities.
I love COH. After Sony had their way with SWG, COH proved far better in keeping my interest, staying true to the fantasy, and making the game truly communal. It is my game of choice in every spare moment I have. I ask myself, however, if the devs have ever achieved full out content like the perfection that was SWG spacefaring. Have they made any newer content yet that is more than just a passing interest for us, especially for beta-old Eric and high-end toon heavy Greg.
Maybe I'm a little scared at Eric's email comment about Champions Online. Doesn't stop me from wondering though. I know the devs in this game seemingly have our interests at heart and the ability to rock our worlds when they feel like it. I also know that so much of the fun for us is each other. These are aspects that will never change. I just wonder if your guys’ needs are outpacing the fun factor. I hope not. I'm willing to do anything we'd agree on differently in order to change that if it ever happened. I’m even going to compile my content suggestions when I get a chance and send them over to the new RedName. I guess I’m just trying to put myself in your places and wonder what you get out of my poorly slotted company anymore besides the occasional piece of rare salvage and a hopefully well-written I.D. card.
We like hanging out with you. Seems simple enough to me.
So... Pelt's up to Security Level 44 now. I was able to get a couple hours of play time in last night while Amy was quilting and ran through almost all of the Tina McIntyre arc in PI. Good night with a slow start, we ran one team with Four tanks, 2 Scrappers, a Blaster, and an Empathy Defender. It was slow but interesting. Tanks were duking it out for who got aggro. Team split multiple times resulting in deaths... Ugh. Thankfully, Pelt's high Defense to Energy and Lethal damage made those Malta Gunslingers and Sappers exceedingly more managable than other Tanks I have played. Nice not to be afraid of Sappers.
So Pelt's also trying a few new things with his build, as well. I set aside a slot for the Impeded Swiftness: Chance for Smashing Damage proc in Chilling Embrace. It's got a 20% chance of dealing out smashing damage every 10 seconds to foes within the radius of CE (up to 10 targets). It's like free damage and helps to amplify the aggro effect from the aura when the proc fires off.
I also invested in a Performance Shifter: Chance for Endurance Recovery proc for Stamina. With two Level 45 Common End Mod IOs and this Proc, it actually outperforms just three common IOs. The proc has a 20% chance of returning 10 endurance every 10 seconds. On average, that amounts to more endurance recovery over time... It seems to be working too, and it's nice to see your endurance bar in fights suddenly leap up by a bit when the proc goes off. Looks good.
Also got a nice compliment last night from a Fire/Kin Controller I was teamed with. He was following me into spawns just after I alpha'd them and then was laying down the fire powers as I was cycling my AoEs. It was very effective. About half way through the second mission we took a quick break and he commented "Damn, Peltier. I don't know what you're doing but I'm taking so little damage it feels like you're cheating or something..." He then related that the Stone/Fire Tank he routinely teamed with had resulted in him getting all his debt badges and the first three damage taken badges... Impressive for a Controller. Anyway, was nice to hear :)
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