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Episode 43 – News, Notes, and IO Sets Part 4

This episode we take a break from XPXPing to bring you some news, patch notes, and the (almost!) final installment of the IO Sets feature.

Linkage:

Clicky to see the full text for Part 4 of Fantastic Foe’s IO Sets feature

The following is the (more or less) final installment in the Fantastic Foe IO Set Featurettes, presenting specific character attributes and the IO sets that support them as bonuses.

I’ll be presenting the following topics based on protections to damage type, with commonly associated damages merged: ie. smashing and lethal, fire and cold, energy and negative energy, etc.

The percentage bonuses are rather small, and obviously aren’t meant to replace powersets.

When discussing resistances and defenses, I’d like to make a few statements:

1) 1% defense is roughly equivalent to 2% of resistance. The reasoning behind this non-binding law of protective equivalence has been hashed out in the forums. It’s not an exact science, but for lightweight discussions, it works okay.

2) % bonuses seem small, but they are worthwhile. +5% defense is the same benefit granted a character using a shield in Dungeons and Dragons, or any other +1 bonus to armor class, and I rarely in my days of gaming saw anyone forgo the use of a shield when it was available to them to have one on the basis that the bonus was too small.

SMASHING/LETHAL RESISTANCE/DEFENSE
Smashing/Lethal is not only the most common damage type in the game, but it is often a component of energy and elemental based attacks (i.e. being hit by a cold/smashing attack or fire/lethal) so improving Smashing/Lethal resistance or defense is usually a good investment.

Sadly, your options are limited when it comes to IO set bonuses versus Smash/Lethal.

Smashing/Lethal Resistance
Sets providing Smash/Lethal Resistance bonuses with 3 IOs:

Knockback: Kinetic Crash +2.5% Smashing Resistance

Sets providing Smash/Lethal Resistance bonuses with 4 IOs:

Targeted AOE: Air Burst   + 0.63 Smash/Lethal Resist
Pet: Edict of the Master   + 2.5% Lethal Resist
Sleep: Hibernation   +1.25% Smash Resist [4 out of 5 required]

Smashing Lethal Defense
Sets providing Smash/Lethal Defense bonuses with 2 IOs:

To Hit Buff: Rectified Reticle  +0.95% Smash/Lethal [2 of 3 required]

Sets providing Smash/Lethal Defense bonuses with 3 IOs:

Taunt: Annoyance   +0.63 Smash/Lethal  Def [3 of 3 required]
Taunt: Triumphant Insult   +0.95 Smash/Lethal Defense [3/3]
To Hit Debuff: Discouraging Words   +0.63 S/L Defense [3/3]

Sets providing Smash/Lethal Defense bonuses with 4 IOs:

Sleep:Lethargic Repose   +1.88% Smashing Defense
Slow: Curtail Speed +1.25% Lethal Defense [4/5]
Immob: Enfeebled Operation +2.5% Lethal Defense
Taunt: Mocking Beratement  +1.26% Smash/Lethal Defense

Sets providing Smash/Lethal Defense bonuses with 6 IOs:

Taunt: Perfect Zinger +1.58% Smash/Lethal Defense

And that’s it. More defense options are available than resistance, which is fine if you want marginal gains in defense since the defensive pool powers, ( i.e. combat jumping, hover, etc. ) offer very small defensive bonuses, even when slotted to explicitly improve defense. (I think the base is 2.5%, triple slotting with defense hits around 4% total)


FIRE/COLD RESISTANCE/DEFENSE

Interestingly enough, all but one of the following sets provide either protections against the elemental damage of fire or cold attacks with only an investment of 3 set IOs. So Fire and Cold protections can be interwoven with other 2 and 3 IO set combinations.

When I first began researching IO bonuses against Fire and Cold, I assumed that there would be many sets that only provided protections against cold, or only against fire. That way one could reinforce a particular concept for a character, like you might do in the Champions pen and paper RPG.  Say a character might be particularly resistant or particularly vulnerable to fire, totally unrelated to how they react against other damage types, such as cold damage. But in almost all cases in City of Heroes, bonuses from IO sets for fire apply to bonuses for cold.

Fire/Cold Damage Resistance
Sets providing Fire/Cold Resistance bonuses with 3 IOs:

PBAOE: Multi-Strike +0.95% Fire/Cold Resist
Ranged: Salvo +1.26% Fire/Cold Resist [3 of 3 required]
Targeted AOE: Positron’s Blast +1.58% Fire/Cold Resist
Sniper: Executioner’s Contract +3.13% COLD Resist
Heal: Doctored Wounds +1.26% Fire/Cold Resist

Defense: Gift of the Ancients +2.5% FIRE Resist
Defense: Red Fortune +1.26% Fire/Cold Resist

Immob: Debilitative Action +2.5% COLD Resist
Stun: Rope a Dope +0.95% Fire/Cold Resist

The following are from the rare unique level 50 sets (still 3 IOs):

Melee: Hecatomb +2.52% Fire/Cold Resistance
PBAOE: Armageddon +2.52% Fire/Cold Resistance
Targeted AOE: Ragnarok +2.52% Fire/Cold Resistance
Sleep: Fortunata Hypnosis +2.52% Fire/Cold Resistance
Immob: Gravitational Anchor +2.52% Fire/Cold Resistance
Hold: Unbreakable Constraint +2.52% Fire/Cold Resistance
Stun: Absolute Amazement +2.52% Fire/Cold Resistance

Fire/Cold Attack Defense
Sets providing Fire/Cold Defense bonuses with 3 IOs:

Ranged: Maelstrom’s Fury +1.88% COLD Def  [3 of 4 needed]
Sniper: Exploit Weakness +0.63% Fire/Cold Def  [3/4]
Pet: Blood Mandate +0.95% Fire/Cold Defense
Resist: Aegis +1.58% Fire/Cold Defense
Stun:Stagger +0.63% Fire/Cold Defense

And the exception to all other Fire/Cold bonus sets:
Set providing Fire/Cold Defense bonus with 5 IOs

Taunt: Mocking Beratement +1.58% Fire/Cold Defense

Alright, there are more options for boosting fire/cold and the percentages are larger than the smash/lethal set, although that is tempered by the fact that many of the resistance sets are unique and therefore part of an expensive pool of IOs. Still, you might be able to with very little effort get 3-4% defense, or 7-8% resistance to fire/cold attacks. That’s not too bad on defense, since it’ll stack with hover/combat jumping, and of course with the benefits of a Force Field: Insulation shield. (I say of course, like I know… but for all I know they don’t… I leave that answer as an exercise for the listener…)

ENERGY/NEGATIVE ENERGY RESISTANCE/DEFENSE
I should probably refer to energy attacks such as the energy component in Energy Blast or Radiation as “Positive Energy” since “Energy” in general should encompass “Negative Energy” as well. But I’m lazy, and that’s like 8 whole characters, so take it on spec that Energy and Negative Energy are Positive Energy and Negative Energy respectively. Capiche?

Again, most Energy and Neg. Energy protection bonuses are found in the 3 IO range, which leaves nice options for franken-slotting,Also, about half of the IO sets only apply a bonus to positive energy or negative energy but not both.

Energy/Negative Damage Resistance
Sets providing Energy Resistance bonuses with 3 IOs:

PBAOE: Scirocco’s Dervish +3.13% Negative Energy Resis.
Ranged: Tempest +0.63% Energy/Neg Energy Resis. [3 of 4]
Targeted AOE: Detonation +1.88% Energy Resis.
Immob: Enfeebled Operation +1.88% Neg. Energy Resis.
Hold: Paralytic +0.63% Energy/Neg Energy Resis [ 3 of 5]
Fear: Unspeakable Terror +2.5% Negative Energy Resis
To Hit Buff: Adjusted Targeting + 1.26% NRG/Neg. NRG Res

Set providing Energy Resistance bonus with 4 IOs:

To Hit Debuff: Dampened Spirits +2.5% Neg. Energy Res.

Energy/Negative Energy Defense
Sets providing Energy/Negative Energy Defense bonuses with 3 IOs:

Melee: Pulverizing Fisticuffs +0.65% NRG/Neg NRG Def [3/4]
Melee: Pounding Slugfest +0.63% Energy/Neg Energy Def[3/4]

PBAOE: Cleaving Blow +1.25% Energy Defense [3/4]
Ranged: Thundersrtrike +2.5% Energy Defense

Sniper: Calibrated Accuracy +0.95% Energy/Neg Energy Def
Sniper: Sting of the manticore +0.95% Energy/Neg Energy Def

Resist Dam:Reactive Armor +1.25% Energy Defense
Sleep: Lethargic Repose +1.88% Energy Defense
Fear: Nightmare +1.88% Negative Energy Defense

There’s not a huge number of sets, particularly that only half or so apply both to positive and negative flavored energy damage, but the percentages aren’t too bad, and you could probably get a +5% defense (or possible an equivalent combo of defense and resistance.) This might help plug a hole or two, but doesn’t seem super exciting. Certainly, IO set bonuses can easily improve the 2.5% unenhanced defense Hover gives (4% triple SO enhanced.)


TOXIC/PSIONIC RESISTANCE/DEFENSE

Although Toxic damage and Psionic damage are unrelated, bonuses that protect against them tend to be linked in the IO set bonuses. So, for purposes of this featurette, they are related. So say we all.

With one exception, all Toxic Resistance, Psionic Resistance, and Psionic Defense bonus set IOs require total commitment: 6 IOs. (There is no Toxic Defense, by the way, as Toxic-damaging attacks have an attack vector (usually, I think) of ranged/special. The arcana involving an attack’s damage type and attack vector type might be a worthwhile feature one day….)

So, if you want to get any significant bonuses against Psionic or Toxic, prepare to pay. (Since any investment is probably going to be expensive, I don’t separate out the unique sets from the regular sets, since it’s all going to cost a ton.)

Toxic/Psionic Resistance
Sets that offer resistance bonuses against toxic or psionic damage for a mere 6 IOs:

Melee: Crushing Impact +2.5% Psi Res
Melee:Hecatomb +5% Toxic Res

PBAOE:Armageddon +5% Toxic Res
Ranged: Decimation +1.58% Toxic/Psi Res

Target AOE:Detonation +1.88% Toxic Res
Target AOE:Positron’s Blast +3.13% Res
Target AOE: Ragnarok +5% Toxic Res

Sniper: Sting of the Manticore +3.13% Toxic Res

Pet: Brilliant Leadership +1.26% Toxic/Psi Res
Pet:Edict of the Master +1.26% Toxic/Psi Res

Heal:Harmonized Healing +1.88% Toxic Res
Heal: Doctored Wounds +1.26% Toxic/Pis Res

Resist Damage: Impervium Armor +3.13% Psi Res
Resist Damage: Reactive Armor +1.25% Toxic Res
Resist Damage: Aegis +3.13% Toxic Res

Defense: Serendipity +1.25% Toxic Res
Defense: Gift of the Ancients +2.5% Psi Res
Defense: Luck of the Gambler +3.13% Psi Res

Confuse: Perplex +0.95% Toxic/Psi Res

Sleep: Lethargic Repose +1.88% Toxic Res
Sleep: Call of the Sandman +1.58% Toxic/Psi Res
Sleep: Fortunata Hypnosis +5% Toxic Res

Immob: Debilitative Action +2.5% Toxic Res
Immob: Gravitational Anchor +5% Toxic Res

Hold: Ghost Widow’s Embrace +3.13% Psi Res
Hold: Unbreakable Constraint +5% Toxic Res

Fear: Unspeakable Horror +2.5% Psi Res
Fear: Glimpse of the Abyss +3.13% Psi Res
Fear: Nightmare +0.95% Toxic/Psi Res

Stun: Absolute Amazement +5% Toxic Res
To Hit Debuff: Dark Watcher’s Despair +3.75% Psi Res

Psionic Defense (There is no toxic defense!)

Sets providing Psionic Defense bonuses with 2 IOs
Resist: Impervium Armor    +1.88 Psi Defense

Sets providing Psionic Defense bonuses with 6 IOs
PBAOE:Scirocco’s Dervish  +3.13% Psi Defense

Ranged: Devastation  +3.75% Psi Defense
Ranged: Apocalypse  +5% Psi Defense

Pet: Soulbound Allegiance  +5% Psi Defense
Heal: Miracle  +1.88% Psi Defense
Defense:Gift of the Ancients  +2.5% Psi Defense
Stun: Rope a Dope  +1.88% Psi Defense

Now, that’s a pretty fair amount of protective bonus sets, although of course I’ve munged (fancy technical term for moooshing…) Toxic and Psionic, but usually a set that protects against one does so against the other. Usually.

Anyway, if you have mad influence to burn to complete 6 IOs pieces, I mean a lot of influence, then it looks like you could rack up Resistance percentages easily from 5-15%. I mean, boatloads of influence, and the availability of the pieces in the market.

Defense, eh, you could probably easily (given cash and availability) hit 10% defense. Sure, 10% doesn’t sound that much, but that’s a +2 in D and D terms!

POSITIONAL (MELEE, RANGED, AOE) DEFENSE
This category of sets that contribute to positional defenses is a looooong list.

The previous defenses worked against attacks based on the type of damage that they did or roughly on the kind of elemental attack that it was. Positional defense is different in that it works regardless of the damage type of an attack; it defends against the vector or positional characteristic of the attack. Is it a melee attack like a punch? A ranged attack like a blast? Or an area of effect attack like an explosion? So Positional Defense is usually either a ranged defense, melee defense, or AOE defense

Since positional defenses work equally well regardless of the damage (a flaming sword attack or a kick are both melee, so melee defense can apply to both equally) they are intrinsically more useful than “typed” defenses, where you might have defense against lethal, fire, cold, energy, negative energy, psionic, and then get hit by a 100% smashing baseball.

Positional Defense bonuses from IO sets are also rather expensive, since most sets that offer any positional defenses usually require at least 5 IOs from a set. On the plus side, most percentages are at least +1.25%, so there’s no dinking around with 0.68% bonuses or similar nonsense.

And now, the list:
Sets providing Positional Defense bonuses with 3 IOs

Defense Debuff: Exploited Vulnerability  +1.25% MELEE Def
Defense Debuff: Achilles Heel  +1.88% AOE Def

Sets providing Positional Defense bonuses with 5 IOs
PBAOE:Multi Strike  +1.88% AOE Def
PBAOE:Scirocco’s Dervish  +3.13% AOE Def

Ranged:Ruin  +1.88% AOE Def
Targeted AOE:Detonation  +1.88% AOE Def
Sniper:Extreme Measures  +2.5% AOE Def

Pets:Commanding Presence  +1.88% AOE Def
Pets:Blood Mandate  +3.75% AOE Def

Heal:Harmonized Healing  +1.88% AOE Def
Heal:Miracle  +1.88% AOE Def

Resist Damage:Reactive Armor  +1.25% AOE Def
Resist Damage:Aegis  +3.13% AOE Def

Confuse:Cacophony  +2.5% AOE Def
Confuse:Perplex  +1.88% AOE Def

Sleep:Lethargic Repose  +1.88% AOE Def
Immob:Debilitative Action  +2.5% AOE Def
Stun: Razzle Dazzle  +2.5% MELEE Def

Sets providing Positional Defense bonuses with 6 IOs
Melee:Touch of Death  +3.13% MELEE Def
Melee:Mako’s Bite  +3.75% RANGED Def

PBAOE:Multistrike  +1.88% MELEE Def
Ranged:Thunderstrike  +2.5% RANGED Def

Sniper:Calibrated Accuracy  +3.13% RANGED Def
Sniper:Executioners Contract  +1.88% RANGED Def
Sniper:Extreme Measures  +2.5% MELEE Def

Pets:Blood Mandate  +3.75% RANGED Def
Pets:Sovereign Right  +3.13% MELEE Def

Resist Damage:Titanium Coating  +2.5% MELEE Def
Defense:Red Fortune  +2.5% RANGED Def

Confuse:Malaise’s Illusions  +3.13% RANGED Def
Confuse:Coercive Persuasion  +5% RANGED Def

Sleep:Induced Coma  +2.5% MELEE Def

Slow:Impeded Swiftness  +2.5% MELEE Def
Slow:Tempered Readiness  +1.88% RANGED Def
Slow:Pacing of the Turtle  +3.13% RANGED Def

Immob:Enfeebled Operation  +3.13% MELEE Def
Immob:Trap of the Hunter  +3.13% RANGED Def

Hold:Neuronic Shutdown  +2.5% RANGED Def
Hold:Essence of Curare  +1.88% RANGED Def

Stun:Razzle Dazzle  +2.5% AOE Def
Stun:Stupefy  +3.13% RANGED Def

Knockback:Force Feedback  +3.13% AOE Def
Endurance Mod:Performance Shifter  +3.13% AOE Def

To Hit Buff:Gaussian’s Synchronized Fire Control  +2.5% AOE, Melee, Ranged Def
Defense Debuff:Undermined Defense  +2.5% AOE Def

Now, there are a lot of Sets that contribute to one of the three aspects of positional defense, and there are enough variations in percentages that, should you possess a ginormous supply of influence and the ability to make people sell some valuable IOs in the market, you could rack up some healthy percentages.

Totally as a thought experiment, lets say you could 5-stack three of the common percentages, 1.88, 2.5, and 3.13. That’s probably impossible, but lets just say you could. It is numerically impossible that you could do this for all three of the positional defense flavors, so mentally just pick your favorite, Melee, Ranged, or AOE.

(1.88 + 2.5 + 3.13) * 5 = 37.55%! Since the average even con minion only has a 50% to hit you, if you could mythically slot such a bonus, a bad guy when attacking on the vector you’re protected against would only have a 12.45 % chance of hitting. (More or less. I’m way simplifying the complicated To Hit calculation for conceptual reasons…I would encourage listeners more versed in the To Hit mechanics to confirm or refute my simplified math.)

Now, it’s doubtful you could slot 15 powers of the 24 (for non-Kheldians and not counting inherents) that we get during game to get such a godlike defense (against one of ranged, melee, *or* AOE) but it is reasonable that you could get a 10% bonus perhaps against one, two, or all three position vectors. Reasonable given availability of IOs and your cash reserves, of course.

If I can offer some general opinions on positional defense: even if percentages are small, defense is nice to have and positional defense is nicer than typed defense.

Traditional “hardened” types, Tanks, Scrappers, Brutes, and yes, even Peacebringers (even Human-Form PBs I consider hardened) probably don’t need the extra defense, but it always helps. Percentage bonuses of defense are always worth more to characters when adding to an existing base (this is true of resistance too, but I’m talking defense in this section, so move along with me.)

Non-hardened archetypes can certainly supplement what defenses they might have, and based on their play-styles, a particular kind of defense might be better than others. I tend to suggest AOE defense to characters who don’t want to necessarily be in melee, but end up their anyway, either because they want to get the benefit of an AOE heal being cast on the team tank’s opponent, or they’re using their hurricane to pin enemies in a corner, or they are standing next to a bad guy who happens to be the anchor of a mighty debuff effect. Or they just like being near the tank.

Being next to a tank doesn’t sound bad. Even if he’s not taunting, his gauntlet will be getting attention, and if you get in trouble the tank can start knocking down anyone bullying you, and the team defender (should they possess heals and have been keeping an eye on the tank) has you on their radar.

But… then the boss villain drops a Nuke. Even if none of the enemies are paying attention to you standing in the tank’s shadow, the grenade from that Council Lieutenant, or the missiles from that Malta Titan just don’t care, they are going to blow up next to you anyway while bouncing off the tank. So AOE defense can go a long way.

Second up would be Ranged defense, since characters not planning on melee’ing can usually maneuver out of melee range. But since it seems that every enemy has a ranged attack that waaay exceeds a player’s range, maneuvering beyond melee just gets you shot at. So, ratgned defense cuts down on the times your defeated by madly fleeing. Just stay out of range of the AOE flamethrowers.

But, if you really want Melee defense I’m not going to argue. Melee attacks usually do more damage than ranged, and if you know you’re going to get punched at, stabbed at, clawed, thumped etc, by all means, try to get some melee defense and reduce how often that happens.

Just be aware, positional defense bonuses usually don’t work with the traditional power pool defenses, like Combat Jumping or Hover. Those powers are usually good against all Damage Types, defense vs fire, cold, smashing, lethal, negative energy, etc. Typed Defense values and Positional Defense values don’t stack. I discovered this when Real Numbers became available, and I could monitor the defenses on my Super Reflexes scrapper, who now no longer turns on Combat Jumping.

Again, please correct me if I am talking out of my nether region. You know what I mean.


HOLD AND STUN RESISTANCE

I’m introducing Holds and Stuns together, since thematically they are similar, but I’ll present the sets that support protections separately.

Stun resistance is mostly in the 4 IO range, and Hold resistance is in the 5 IO range, but except for two sets, the bonuses for slotting against hold or against stun are from entirely different supersets of IOs.

I’m not a huge fan of the bonuses available. To accumulate a serious effect, you would probably have to take either Acrobatics to reduce time Held, and  use Aid Self proactively to reduce time Stunned, and add bonuses from IO sets on top of that. Other than that, I suspect you can easily get 10% reductions in time spent stunned or held. I would be interested if anyone could get in the 30% range in either (particular in Stun resistance.)

Stun Resistance
Sets that offer Stun resistance bonuses for 4 IOs:

PBAOE:Multi-Strike  +1.65% Stun Resistance
Ranged: Maelstrom’s Fury  +1.65% Stun Resistance

Pet:Blood Mandate  +1.65% Stun Resistance
Pet: Sovereign Right  +2.75% Stun Resistance

Resist Damage: Titanium Coating  +2.2% Stun Resistance

Confuse:Befuddling Aura  +1.1% Stun Resistance
Confuse:Cacophony  +2.2% Stun Resistance

Slow:Impeded Swiftness  +2.2% Stun Resistance
Hold:Essence of Curare  +1.65% Stun Resistance
Fear:Horror  +1.1% Stun Resistance

Set that offers Stun resistance for 5 IOs:
Stun:Stagger +1% Stun Resistance [ 5 of 5 required]

Hold Resistance
Set that offers Hold resistance for 3 IOs:
Taunt: Mocking Beratement +2.75% Hold Resistance

Sets that offer Hold resistance for 5 IOs:
Melee:Touch of Death  +2.75% Hold Resistance
Melee:Mako’s Bite  +3.3% Hold Resistance

Ranged Damage:Devastation  +3.3% Hold Resistance
Sniper:Executioner’s Contract  +2.75% Hold Resistance

Pet:Edict of the Master  +2.2% Hold Resistance
Pet:Sovereign Right  +2.75% Hold Resistance
Pet:Soulbound Allegiance  +4.4% Hold Resistance

Heal:Numina’s Convalescence  +3.3% Hold Resistance

Resist Damage:Impervium Armor  +2.75% Hold Resistance
Resist Damage:Titanium Coating  +2.75% Hold Resistance

Defense: Gift of the Ancients  +2.2% Hold Resistance
Defense: Luck of the Gambler  +2.75% Hold Resistance

Slow: Impeded Swiftness  +2.2% Hold Resistance
Slow: Pacing of the Turtle  +2.75% Hold Resistance

Immob: Trap of the Hunter  +2.75% Hold Resistance
Fear: Nightmare  +1.65% Hold Resistance
Stun: Rope a Dope  +1.88% Hold Resistance

I find it interesting that the inexpensive set for Hold Resistance is a Taunt set, since the classic Taunter, the Tank, usually has excellent Hold protections for PVE. PVP might be different…

AND THAT IS THAT! I’M DONE!
Well, not exactly. There were a handful of other attributes, but I’m passing on them by mentioning them this way. Some of the Heal IO sets improve all your healing, some of the Slow IO sets improve your slows, Confuse sets improve confuses, Fear sets improve Fear durations, etc. You’ll run into those bonuses pretty much as you gather up set IOs just to slot the usual enhancement bonuses. Those will jump out at you, and there’s no need to state them here.

I’d like to thank ParagonWiki’s page on Invention Origin sets, which saved me from making a big matrix of what each set offers. I appreciated being able to look at bonus values without having to look at recipes or crafted IO enhancements in Wentworths.

That being said, I take responsibility for any errors or irregularities in this report. In my defense, there were a lot of notes being taken and shuffled around, with bits of info being added to, amended, errors found, etc. I would have had my editor wife assist me or proofread, but I can’t afford her rates, the mercenary.

I hope that this report provides some value. I know I’d been wanting to beef up my level 50s, but had not really been putting the time in to see what I could do. After cataloging the values from IO sets, it gave me certain goals to achieve for my characters, which helped me draft up some recipe shopping lists, which of course gave me an Influence goal and prompted me to start in on playing them again.

Any reason to play my 50s is a good reason

27 replies on “Episode 43 – News, Notes, and IO Sets Part 4”

OMG the two best podcasts in the world came out with new episodes on the same day! Vooch or Kelka? Kelka or Vooch? And I still haven’t watched the new BSG!! And I have to go to a WorldsMostBoringSportingEvent Party tomorrow!!! Media overload!!! Ahhhhhhg!!!!!

Lighthouse’s departure was not something I was sad to see happen, to be quite honest. The costume contest debacle and the pvp announcement fiasco showed he was losing (…lost) focus and maybe it was time for some new energy.

The Assault Rifle buffs are … AMAZING! The set, which was already my favorite blaster set, is now so much more fun to play I’ve already created 3 more AR alts. The buffs going in before 2xpW are one of the main reasons I got my first level 50 villain, my AR/Kin Corrupter.

The IO discussion was wrapped up nicely, now we just need an additional segment discussing the newest IO sets. /hint Pat

I do think that some veteran awards could and should be re-worked. Hearing the new stuff that’s 6 or 12 months away from me getting is a carrot that doesn’t necessarily sound completely appetizing, especially with DC and CO coming out within that time.

TRANSGAMING’s CIDER engine is the wrapper used to port COX to Mac, which is the same engine/wrapper used for the EVE ONLINE Mac port. These are for Intel Macs. so PowerPC’s get no love at all. Have you ever seen an eMac cry? It’s not a pleasant sight.

Also, note that the older and lower end Intel Macs with the Intel GMA950 are not supported, but those with the Intel GMA X3100 are.

This link includes a list of Intel GMA950 and GMA X3100 Macs

http://support.apple.com/kb/TA23980

This link includes a list of COX supported video cards,

http://news.softpedia.com/news/City-of-Heroes-Mac-Open-Beta-Commences-100367.shtml

Chooch is correct – PPC Mac users get no love from COX, and no love from EVE Online either. Transgaming’s engine and wrapper is used for porting both games to Intel Macs. I hear my eMac crying in the other room, and it is not a pleasant sound.

Also, older and lower end Intel Macs with the Intel GMA950 graphics card on the motherboard are not supported. Check your Mac Minis and your MacBooks for this.

Supported Video Cards:

* NVIDIA GeForce series 7300, 7600, 8600, 8800, 9400, 9600
* ATI Radeon™ series X1600, X1900, HD 2400, HD 2600
* Intel® Extreme Graphics GMA X3100

This link shows which Macs have which have Intel GMA’s.

http://support.apple.com/kb/TA23980

Oops – can you guys delete one of those comments? They pretty much duplicate each other, so nothing is really lost by killing one. And I want to hear more about Mur’s Hot Doctor Healer.

It’s wild. As you guys have been doing the IO info series it always seems that you do the stuff I need to help me with the character I am currently working on. The insight about vector vs. type of defense is really going to help me get just a bit more life out of my En/En Blapper (Mark Forth). Thanks Fantastic Foe and Vooch!

Hey CameraGuy, glad that the IO info was helpful to you. Best wishes to your EN/EN blapper, I have a Sonic/En blaster who seems to live somewhat in the hairy edge of melee range, so I guess I should evaluate him for blappery potential too.

/en as a secondary for a blaster is pretty much melee. Not that this is a bad secondary—the damage it deals is great

TJ Hooker!!!!
I love William Shatner – I have a recurring dream that he’s my dad 0.o

My dream -> http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii177/leenew1_2007/peapod/tjhdada2.jpg

Favorite TJ Hooker quotes:

“She came to town with stars in her eyes and left with a bullet in her chest.”

“Ethics? Morals? Ethics and morals are living together in a trailer park on the wrong side of the tracks.”

Also, thank you Fantastic Foe. I’ve been setting up my new 50 with IO sets and your segments have been super useful.

Also, I love post-xpxp podcasts. Viv always says something awesome when she’s tired. Mulletcast! News at the front, fun in the back!

Wait a sec – people who have been around that long (since the game started) have probably already played every character combination anyway? Oh Chooch!

There are currently a total of about 580 combinations of powers, from the Archer/Electricity Blaster to the Spine/Willpower Stalker (though counting gets a little odd with those Arachnos characters). That means that you’re going to have to make about 10 characters a month to get one of each type in less than 60 months! And I’m not even counting power pools!

If anyone has alt-itis that bad, I don’t wsnt to know about it.

Fantastic Foe and Misssster Anderson (Dang that’s fun to say) I actually took En/En because I wanted to do a Sniper Blaster and it was the combination that got me my Snipe Attack, Build Up and Aim the earliest. I didn’t realize how great a Blapper it was until I13 gave us the multiple builds and I gave it a shot for the heck of it, he was level 20 at the time.

Hey, I’m here to refute some of Fantastic Foe’s claims! Hover and Combat Jumping also add their bonuses to Positional Defenses. (I must have been very tired when I thought that my Super Reflexes scrapper was not getting the benefits from CJ.)

But in general, defense bonuses from IO sets that are positional do not stack with the bonuses that are typed, so melee defense does not add to smashing defense, etc.

As someone who will get his 60-month badge this May, I have to say that not all of us have a bazillion 50s and every power combo tried out. Me, I only have a paltry 3 50s. I’m a pretty casual player and I have a fair amount of altitis so I don’t always focus on one toon enough to get it to 50 rapidly. I savor the journey and am rarely in a big rush to max out. Just had to chime in with my little perspective from a long time playing this game.

Even seeing it in writing its still like teaching an old dog new IOs. Thanks for all the time you put into the research F.F., but its still Greek to me.

No problem Stormax, I know how it is.

Hey, I’ll take all those Luck of the Gambler and Gift of the Ancient IOs off you, they are totally worthless….

Criswell’s laws of slotting:

(1) If it fits, slot it.
(2) If it doesn’t, sell it.

Sorry, Fantastic Foe, while I have to admit that was a lot of work on your part, it’s just too complicated for me. I’ll stick with Criswell’s laws, until I have a clue what any of it means.

I do my best to slot the IOs that will give me the bonuses I’m looking for. But honestly, some of them are just waaaay out of my reach. I refuse to spend over 1 Million of ANY recipe, no matter how good it is or what bonus I would need it for. Therefore, my IOs may not be perfect, but at the very least they are not a hodge-podge mixed bag either.

Also, just in case there was any question about whether or not you could add the Mac version of the game to a windows account. To para-phrase some politician “Yes, you can.” I picked it up last night and enjoyed the Mission Teleporter quite a bit. (Do wish the recharge time on it was faster than 2 hours though) I can’t wait to play with the new costume pieces when I have some time.

So if you plan on getting the add-on when it’s available as a stand-alone go ahead and get it now. It’ll save you $5 in the long run.

Excellent cast…glad you mentioned the Boxer costume vet award. A friend of mine was just asking me about a ‘championship’ belt for an intergalactic wrestler/brawler toon he recently created. I informed him of the mixed news that he’ll have to wait another 20 something months to get the piece we wants. They should rework the vet rewards, making all of the costume sets available in ‘superboosters’ and replace them with power alterations akin to the 60 months reward.

I just started listening to the podcast, an I am really enjoying it. fantastic foe did an awesome job on the IO feature. I would really like to here more about another aspect of slotting IOs. Specifically, some input on making a PermaDom on red side. I would love to know the cheapest or easiest route to get there. My head hurts just thinking about it.

Hairboy, thanks for the feedback…

Someone else will have to field the permaDom question, I look forward to it as well…

I’ve actually been wondering about perma-Dominate, too. Perma-haste is when you get the recharge time of Haste down low enough that it’s ready to fire off again as soon as the power runs now. I suppose you could do the same thing with Dominate but Dominate has another aspect – filling that blue bar. You can’t even start on that blue bar until Dominate finishes. So what’s the point of making Dominate’s recharge time so fast? {shrug}

So… Yeah im up to episode 32. Im still going…. Uhhhhhhh……… I found that my COH needed to be updated about 30 patches.@_@ its took about 2.5 days to finish, Yet again i uhhh well, I blew up my Lenovo laptop that my dad got from work. So im currently on my 3rd computer that i built.Sad thing is it runs Kubuntu only. So i hope i can get a fix on my other 2 computers… Im getting ready for the SAT;s so maybe my dad wil get another… Uhmm
aI have to go again for i think it my 9th knee surgery. I tore apart myknee again for the 5th time this year (since february 2008)

Must have CoH podcast… been waiting for 2 months!!

Someone plz tellz me whats going on!!

Per Chooch’s tweets they have a ginormous feedback cast recorded and in the process of being edited. Also I think everyone back east is buried under nine feet of snow so maybe they have some extra free time to finish it right now. Podcast! Podcast! Podcast!

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City of Heroes Podcast