View Full Version : Q&A Thread
Morvran
05-16-04, 07:50 PM
Had a question and figured I'd start a Q&A thread for other questions.
Regarding enhancement slots:
1) Is there no way to "save" slots for powers you get later? It seems to me that eventually the higher level powers will have fewer enhancement slots available to them. Already at lvl 9, my original powers have a good number of slots, but the ones I have gained recently have one or two...and this will get worse the higher I get I would think.
2) Regarding the actual enhancements, if for instance I put two +dmg enhancements in the same power, do they double the dmg? (assuming they are the same level enhancement).
3) What's the best way for a scrapper with martial arts/super reflexes/fitness to try to keep his endurance up? I hate to sacrifice dmg for endurance too much, but right now my endurance goes down pretty quickly, even with endurance enhancements on each of my attack powers. Eventually the stamina power should help I'd think.
That's it for now.
Slyy Daugg
05-16-04, 08:27 PM
1.) Not possible as far as I can tell.
2.) Multiple same-type enhancements work pretty much like this:
Training enhancements give an approximate 8% bonus to a power. So two of the same type will give an apporoximate 16 percent bonus. 3 will give about 24% and so on. The same goes for DO's and SO's, though with higher percentages.
3.) My main so far has the exact same set up as you, and let me tell you it's a definite problem. My solution has been to toggle defense buffs and things that keep endurance from rising quickly whenever I don't need them. Personally, I think scrappers need a boost from Cryptic on the endurance issue, and this is especially true for scrappers with the Super Reflexes line as those powers realloy keep end down and it gets to be pretty tough to toggle them off and on all the time. I can tell you this much will help: turn off sprint when you are on a mission where you know you won't have to run. And super jump as well if you have that.
SD
I'm using martial arts/reflexes for Nightprowl and I'm eagerly awaiting level 20 so I can get Stamina from the fitness pool. As for conservation of endurance, I actually found Focus Chi is a roundabout way of saving endurance, as it increases the damage of my attacks by an impressive amount.
I pop "catch a breaths" like a drunk driver pops breath mints while approaching a road block, and I won't use all my defensive abilities unless it's a boss fight. I have Agile, Focused Fighting, Combat Jump, and Stealth; Stealth is on until I know I can't get add-ons by unstealthing (then I'll unstealth and use just Combat Jump), and Focused Fighting is only on against a tough group of meleers. Against white minions or worse I might not use any defensive abilities (except the always-on Agile).
For attacks, I use mainly damage and accuracy buffs, so while I'm not reducing the endurance cost, I am increasing the damage done per endurance. For example my Crane Kick has six enhancement slots, four of them with Dual Origin damage buffs, and two with Dual Origin accuracy buffs.
Morvran
05-16-04, 08:55 PM
One way I am trying to curb the endurance drain issue right now is to have two powers, the fast kick and the "stun" kick (which never seems to stun) with endurance reducers and ok dmg. My crane kick is my major dmg one, but with no endurance reducers, so I try to use that one sparingly. Just for opening attacks usually.
I attack by going Thunder kick, Storm Kick, Thunder Kick, Crane Kick (then repeat unless your target is at a sliver of health; brawl if that'll finish him off so you don't waste a kick). On bosses or lieutenants I may switch storm and crane (since crane has a knockback, sometimes you want to save it until the end so the mob stays in front of you, or use it to put the mob on the ground).
My big damage attack is to hit Focus Chi, then go Thunder kick, Crane Kick, Thunder Kick, Storm Kick. All four attacks will get the Focus Chi damage increase, and with the damage output I can get orange bosses down to half health if all four attacks hit. You can switch the storm kick to second and crane kick to fourth if you want; doing crane kick second gives you a bit of extra time to make sure the fourth kick gets the Focus Chi bonus (though you can still just fit the crane kick in if you want to do it fourth).
Don't worry about Crane Kick's endurance cost too much - it does more damage than Storm Kick, is instant damage (not four hits like Storm Kick), and the knockdown is great for preventing the mob from attacking you (it has to get up before it can attack again). Storm Kick costs 10.1 endurance while Crane costs 12.3.
As for Thunder Kick, the disorient never went off for me until I put a DO disorient into one of the slots; the disorient is a nice little bonus against minions, but I don't think the disorient has ever gone off for a boss or lieutennant (but I go back to mentioning the Crane Kick - it knocks down bosses and lieuts like a champ).
Morvran
05-17-04, 03:24 AM
Yeah, my attack style is about the same. Depending on whether I want the guy to get knocked back (if I don't want him to aggro others), I use crane last. But against bosses I always open with Crane in the hopes it'll land and disrupt whatever nasty thing the boss is about to do.
I must say that this line does kick butt. Until last night in Perez Park, I hadn't grouped once. I've soloed the whole time, and can easily take down a large group of bad guys. My own endurance is my worst enemy actually hehe.
New Question:
I haven't spent any "money" yet. I still basically have all my influence points intact. I have depended on combat to give me all my enhancements, which has worked out great so far. So....when do I start spending those points?
I suggest you start spending around 12, when level 15 dual origin enhancements are available for purchase. these enhancements are twice as potent as training and can be found in steel canyon shops.
Yeah the regen line (I have a level 8 MA/Regen) gets a nice endurance regen type spell, which kinda was the deciding factor for me taking Regen over Reflexes.
1) Is there no way to "save" slots for powers you get later? It seems to me that eventually the higher level powers will have fewer enhancement slots available to them. Already at lvl 9, my original powers have a good number of slots, but the ones I have gained recently have one or two...and this will get worse the higher I get I would think.
Generally your early powers will be your most often used and primary ones, and will need more enhancments than other later powers.
2) Regarding the actual enhancements, if for instance I put two +dmg enhancements in the same power, do they double the dmg? (assuming they are the same level enhancement).
Well, For things Like Damage, yes it works that way. You get 2x the bonus damage from slotting 2 identical Damage enhancements.
However, for some items, like Recharge Reduction enhancements and Endurance Cost Reduction Enahncements, it doesn't work quite that way. Lets say a given Enhancement reduces Endurance Cost for a power by 10%. SO it takes a 100 Endurance cost item down to 90. If you use a second Endurance Cost Enahncemnt, it takes 10% off the Remaining 90%, not off the original 100%. i.e. The second one would be worth 9 points, not 10.
I tend to group with a bunch of Scrappers, almost all of whom go through end like Crazy. My next power to pick is going to be a group wide END Recharge buff. Initially I'll probably be able to keep it up only part of the time, but After I enhance the heck out of it with recharge reducers, it should be on most, if not all the time.
Gnmish Gearbinder
05-17-04, 07:12 AM
Ok, my turn because I haven't been able to figure this out yet.
1.)What are the numbers on the Enhancements good for?
2.)When you combine, for example, two 10 Training Enhancements, what does that do? Am I now getting 16% plus another 20% or something?
EDIT: Oh and kind of a stupid one.
3.) Someone on the official boards mentioned sitting on a park bench, is there actually a way to interact with the 'chair-objects' or do they just mean getting on them and /em yoga?
The numbers = level. If you're level 15 the level 15 enhancements will work like normal, but if you're level 12 they'll work better and if you're level 17 they'll work worse (but they'll still give you a bonus).
Successfully combining any two identical enhancements (ie two damage or two accuracy) will give you a one level bump on the enhancement that's the highest level; the closer the two enhancements are in level, the higher the combining success will be, but you can combine a level 1 enhancement with a level 10 enhancement and still succeed (I think at around 50% success rate) to form a level 10+ (which equals level 11) enhancement. Combining two level 10 enhancements is a 100% success guarantee to get a level 10+ enhancement.
As for question three, they probably just used yoga.
Gnmish Gearbinder
05-17-04, 08:05 AM
So, if I understand you correctly if you combined two level 20 training enhancements, it would be as if you had 1 level 21 enhancement? Why would you want to do that? Wouldn't it be better to have those in two different enhancement slots on the same power?
Is there a really thorough explaination of Enhancements somewhere?
What is the max number that Enhancements go up to?
So, if I understand you correctly if you combined two level 20 training enhancements, it would be as if you had 1 level 21 enhancement? Why would you want to do that? Wouldn't it be better to have those in two different enhancement slots on the same power?
Yes, it absolutely would. But if you have all slots filled, and you get an extra enhancement, you can combine it to make your powers even more powerful. And Odds are, you will have all your slots filled quickly, just from training enhancemnts that drop. The higher level the enhancement, the more it boosts your powers.
Gnmish Gearbinder
05-17-04, 08:38 AM
The higher level the enhancement, the more it boosts your powers.
Wait wait, by higher level you mean Training, Dual Origin or Single Origin? Right?
/em holds his head
:beatup
Lemac Dushae
05-17-04, 09:00 AM
Med is somewhat correct. A Training: Healing 10 will help a level 10 Defender heal just as much as a Training: Healing 8 will help a level 8 Defender.
However, that Training 10 would give a bonus to the level 8 Defender by virtue of being "green" for him.
If the level 10 Defender used the Training 10 and then added the Training 8 to it, making a Training: Healing 10+ the level 10 Defender would now get a bonus since the 10+ is higher level than he is. Once he becomes an 11 Defender, the 10+ would turn white and give the normal amount of increase.
A 10+ and a 11 Training: Healing would give the same extra bonus to the level 10 Defender. Both would be one step green.
DO and SO have greater effect, but technically all kinds of enhancements can give an extra bonus. You just have to keep them in the green for maximum effect.
pimpsareus
05-17-04, 12:56 PM
Ok this is a question about mission difficulty.
Around lvl 9, my INV/SS Tanker, SHaii-Hulud, got some missions that increased in difficulty severly. I try to solo my missions as much as possible, but these "kill boss and his flunkies" missions were too much. I was getting owned severely by bosses, and even by minions in the entrance. Has anybody found some way to beat these? (aside from getting more lvls, that is)
Morvran
05-17-04, 01:30 PM
To piggy-back on the last question: If I'm on a mission, and I kill most of the bad guys in the warehouse, but get pwned by someone else deep into the mission, when I come back to the warehouse after the hospital will I be able to pick up where I left off? Or do I have to start over again killing everything from the beginning of the mission?
1) Is there no way to "save" slots for powers you get later? It seems to me that eventually the higher level powers will have fewer enhancement slots available to them. Already at lvl 9, my original powers have a good number of slots, but the ones I have gained recently have one or two...and this will get worse the higher I get I would think.
No way to save, however according to the hero planner you get 3 slots at 31, 6 slots of revery 2 levels from 33 to 40).
The makeup I managed to make most aimed at enhancing your highest level powers is: 1 slot (base) on the first 2 powers, 3 (2+base) on the next 13, 4 (3+base) on your 16th power, and 6 (5+base, max) on the last 4 powers.
With regards to the mission difficulty, if you enter a mission and find it too difficult, you can group with another person and so long as you're in the mission while you group up with the person, it won't be any more difficult (and with two people you should be okay). If you group outside then go into the mission, the mission will scale up the difficulty. I'm guessing the difficult mission you're encountering is one of the ones that has difficult mobs near the entrance, then easier mobs as you get deeper into the map (some missions do that).
Missions will be as you left them unless you log off or start another mission - then they'll reset and you'll have to start over. If you die against a hard mob, try running back to the mission; the mob may still be near the health you left him, so you may be able to defeat him on the second try.
Axterix
05-17-04, 07:46 PM
I'm starting to come to the believe that mob quantity can scale mid-mission, that as long as you haven't seen the mobs, it'll adjust. Just a few too many cases of seeing minions + lt + boss groups, time after time...then one person goes LD and suddenly no more bosses. Or seeing the mobs suddenly be one level lower, on a non-front loaded mission, again, after someone leaves the group. Haven't gone out of my way to prove it yet, though, just a suspicion I have.
But as to how to beat those, solo, you can pop inspirations, pound them. You can also beat on them quite a bit and then run away, use rest, then re-engage. If you have a contact nearby, you can use a bunch of inspirations, then run, buy more inspirations, and return before they have fully healed. Finding the right mix of inspirations is often key.
But depending on your power choices, you might well be hosed. Much easier to pwn a boss as a scrapper with build up, for instance, than one without it. A melee against a mezzing mob will find it easier with an anti-mez ability. In such a case, getting someone to help can solve the problem.
Morvran
05-18-04, 03:39 AM
I actually haven't had a problem on any missions yet (I'm lvl 11 now), and haven't died, I was just wondering what would happen if I did die. Hardest mission I did had an orange boss with a couple yellows nearbye, but I kung-fu'd them good. ;)
BUT, this begs another question: I haven't grouped on a set mission like that yet...how does that work? You mentioned something about grouping while "in" the mission, but as far as I can tell, no one can enter doors to a mission unless someone who has that mission, or is already grouped.
I've done every mission solo so far without a hitch, but I'm sure at some point they're gonna get real hard. Plus it'd take much less time to go through with help. THese missions filled with cadavers are very annoying, and take forever to finish.
You can invite someone who is in another zone with the /invite command, and then they can enter the mission zone while others are in there.
Dragynphyre
05-18-04, 06:35 AM
...and as Meddik and I found out from a friend of his last night - the latecomer will see everything on the mission map that you've already cleared.
As a scrapper I love to solo missions. One of the most important strategies I've found is picking the low hanging fruit. When there is a group of 6 mobs, find a close one (the lowest level one if possible) and beat him down as quickly as possible, then run away. Rest up and go back and take the next one. At 20 I was able to clear a group of 2 20 minions, 1 22 Lt, 4 21 minions, and a 22 Boss by picking all but the boss, then hit and running the boss.
Morvran
05-19-04, 08:23 AM
Does the taunt skill (in the martial arts power set) allow you to pull single targets away from a group?
Taunt takes a lot of practice, but if you position right, have the right distance between target and friends, and mix in a good sized dollop of luck, you can single or small pull from a good sized group. Also if you taunt and then run around the corner they wil follow.
Gnmish Gearbinder
05-19-04, 09:07 AM
Heh, the corner trick is simultainously the greatest and cheesiest thing in the game.
I use it all the time, I can just see it in my head. <Taunt> "Hey, that guy just gave me the finger! <pulls out gun> I'll show hi...aww damnit he's running down that alley. I'll just trot over th..."<Air Superiority>SLAAAAMM!
:lol
As I sit there at the corner, my back against the wall, I imagine this conversation:
Hellion Slugger: Hey, that guy said my mom wears combat boots!
Hellion Slammer: She does wear combat boots.
Hellion Gunner: You should teach him a lesson.
Hellion Slugger: I would, but you know he already ran around that corner.
Hellion Gunner: So, go get him. What, are ya chicken?
Hellion Slammer: Sluggers a chicken!
Hellion Slugger: Ok, fine I'll go see if he's still there.
Hellion Gunner: Right behind you bud, really!
The Slugger then wanders around the corner and takes a beating.
Hellion Slammer: Hey, weren't you supposed to have Sluggers back?
Hellion Gunner: You think I'm stupid? I ain't walking into no dark alley!
Lemac Dushae
05-19-04, 09:50 AM
As a Tanker I have Taunt and have pulled off some supprising single pulls with it. Taking a page from EQ Rogue sneak pulling, mob facing seems much more importaint than mob proximity. So long as no other mob is facing your pull-to-be, you stand a pretty good chance of peeling.
I've split side by side yellows with taunt at max range (with range increase training enhancement added) by waiting for one to look left while I taunted the one on the right. Be sure to back up once the pull is incoming. If your pull uses a range attack on you while they are still close to their friends, you'll prolly get more than a single. If you back up out of range (or around a corner) they should be alone enough to not bring help.
Morvran
05-19-04, 12:10 PM
Great info guys, thanks. I may grab taunt in the next couple levels.
Is there any way for a solo scrapper to do something about the bastards that run? It's very annoying when you're right on their butt but your attack action won't kick in unless they pause.
Lemac Dushae
05-19-04, 12:43 PM
Taunting runners usually brings them back to you too. ;) Same goes for Provoke.
Runners don't have to stop to get hit, YOU have to stop to hit them. Sprint past, stop and hit your attack button and they'll take it on the chin as they run past.
Morvran
05-19-04, 03:53 PM
omg I hadn't even thought of it that way Nymm. I usually hit "follow" (f) when I'm attacking so I don't waste time being out of range, but you're right. I tried it out and it works like a charm. Now I can run ahead, do a crane kick to knock those bastards on their butts, and wail away. Thank man.
Crane kick is good, punch for SS people, and jumpkick as well. Also your flurry type kick will work even if they then run out of the range.